Brickset Bouts, the final: Castle vs. Space
Posted by TheBrickPal,
It has been a long journey to get here, but at last it is time to crown the best set of the last five years. You've all been waiting and debating, so without further ado, let's get right to it!
In this final bout maffyd defends the massive medieval fortress, and I try to convince you to support the sleek retro spacecraft.
Read the pitches after the break, then cast your vote.
10305 Lion Knights' Castle
When I was asked if I could provide my case for the Lion Knights' Castle (LKC), I must admit I was a little daunted. First off, this was the final. Second off, it's against the Galaxy Explorer - a set I have imagined owning since the Great Unfairness of Elder Brother took place sometime back in the 80s.
But then I thought some more about it, and I'm actually very glad I have the Castle to defend (he he...). And I shall tell you all why.
The first thing is the heritage. Lego Space has similar, but Castle has both in-universe Lego lore, and Real World(tm) history. You can come at it from a medieval viewpoint, a cinematic viewpoint, a fantasy viewpoint, or just a storytelling viewpoint, and it all works. You can present the set in as many situations as you wish and the way it's built and how it looks and the features it has all fit in with any milieu.
And then there's the size. With a spaceship you can get by with a smaller craft and the story about zooming around the galaxy will still work. But with a castle, it needs presence, or it's just a little fort (no offence 31120 Medieval Castle or 31168 Medieval Horse Knight Castle). LKC has this presence, and more. The right colours, the right shape, the right gatehouse, keep, ramparts, towers, wattle and daub, machicolations, water wheel, primary and secondary portcullises and even a little jetty. It's very much the whole deal.
And then there are the interiors. Don't know why, but the toilet and the froggy poo always come first to mind. But that's the least of the unique rooms hidden within. Kitchen with flour mill and pantry, dining hall with fireplace and decorative shields, bedroom with model castle under construction. Then there are dungeons with secret doors, a treasure room, stabling, armoury and food stall.
Pretty much everything a castle needs. Well, it also needs inhabitants...
Lion Knight Defenders, Black Falcon Entourage, Forestmen Collective, wizard (or soothsayer in a more historical context), peasants, animals - there's enough to create any story you want, but space for you to add more (which I'll get to later).
Honestly, it's got everything.
If these features have you thinking it might actually the best set ever, here's a few more points to consider:
- It was the overall winner of the 90 years of Lego poll
- The Brickset review called it the new pinnacle of the Castle theme
- Numerous other sets have since been introduced to further the storytelling possibilities, including GWP sets, but also retail sets like the castles previously mentioned, 21343 Viking Village and 10332 Medieval Town Square
- Price per piece is almost identical to the Galaxy Explorer, so it's actually good value!
Thank you for reading, and Go Castle Mafia!
10497 Galaxy Explorer
I think we all knew where this would lead. Of course it was going to come down to Castle vs. Space in the end. There may be people slightly bothered by this; you might be sick of the 'nostalgia bait' from LEGO. I even understand why many think that 10316 Rivendell should have been the overall winner. Rightfully so! It is a beautiful set. But the final showdown deserved to be a celebration of the essence of what LEGO is all about, and that includes the beauty in the simplicity – back before the licences and the 'big bang' story themes. What captures all of that better than 2022's Galaxy Explorer?
This tribute to the early days of LEGO Space is packed with functionality, while not being obtrusive to its appearance. And as simple as the features might be, they really help the set come alive; these include a sliding airlock door, an opening back that releases a buggy, and retractable landing gear that seamlessly blends into the underside of the spaceship.
The Galaxy Explorer has everything you could want for your crew of Classic Spacemen. The fully furnished cockpit is fantastic, fitting all four figures! The living quarters are generously detailed, even featuring a BIONICLE reference on a screen – sparking your imagination, making you wonder what kind of adventures this crew could get into. There are also multiple places for accessory storage, making great use of space. The building techniques are marvellous, forming incredible angles in the wings, brick-built arrows, and even beds that can fit air tanks. And of course, it's all very swooshable – though you might need two hands!
Being produced for the 90th anniversary of LEGO, and serving as a remake of the lauded 1979 set, you'd surely expect some nostalgia. The Galaxy Explorer delivers it in spades! The model has remarkable attention to detail with respect to the original version. It includes all you would expect from a new iteration, with the aesthetics improved but the shaping still intact - all at 1.5 times the size! Even the space buggy carried over. There's also a reference to a later Classic Space set, with the robot from 1987's 6809 XT-5 and Droid. And if you somehow aren't persuaded yet, the set can be rebuilt into new versions of 918 Space Transport and 924 Space Cruiser! All of this for only $100; a bargain in this day and age.
I didn't grow up in the 70s and 80s (my childhood LEGO Space was Space Police III), so I can't claim to have lived in this golden era of LEGO history. However, this set helped me understand why it's so beloved, and gave me a set that I will certainly still love in another forty years, like how old folks feel about the original. I couldn't have asked for better, and neither could you, I am sure. This is the best set of the decade so far; it's truly perfect, and you know it in your heart to be true. All that's left to do is to vote 10497 Galaxy Explorer!
Cast your vote!
Having read the above, which of these two sets do you think should be crowned "best set of the last five years"?
53 likes
63 comments on this article
Rooting for Lion Knights' Castle!!!
Space team represent!
TO THE STARS!
I suppose it was always going to come down to this, but it would have been nice to see a wild card. Like Pigsy’s Noodle Tank or something. Are we appreciating these sets because they’re genuinely the best, or because they’re just scratching the nostalgia itch? Probably a mix of both, but it doesn’t always make for an interesting discussion.
Atari 2600 for the win.... Oh.
We all knew it would come down to this..... Team Castle!
@Mister_Jonny said:
"I suppose it was always going to come down to this, but it would have been nice to see a wild card. Like Pigsy’s Noodle Tank or something. Are we appreciating these sets because they’re genuinely the best, or because they’re just scratching the nostalgia itch? Probably a mix of both, but it doesn’t always make for an interesting discussion."
Well I did put Galaxy explorer on my list, and the original was way way WAY past my time. I do genuinely think 10497 is a great set
Man we gotta get a version of this without nostalgia bias, like no way these are the highest quality sets, they’re literally the two anniversary sets from 2022. Like some of the best LEGO sets just aren’t big, some of the best sets have around 500 pieces not 3000, the bias towards large nostalgia remakes is just so frustrating because all this presents as data is which LEGO sets are the most exciting for a 45 year old man who misses his childhood and the LEGO that was around at that time, not a genuine measure of quality
Two Lego marvels but for me at the end the winner is Mike Psiaki who participated a lot in both models. We know his talent and we see it in those models again. Well done. Having grew up with classic space, my vote went for the Galaxy explorer. Good luck.
Celebrating 25 years by voting for sets based around (or remakes) of previous 1970's/1980's sets.
These are both amazing sets that I love. Rather than comparing what they have, let’s look at what they lack. LKC is missing Majisto printing. Galaxy Explorer is missing the moon base! Another reason to vote for the Castle!
Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP!!!
This is an easy one for me. The Castle is far superior. My Galaxy Explorer set was so terrible with such weak clutch power during the build that it repeatedly fell apart during the build.
The Galaxy Explorer was an absolute garbage dump of a build. Easily the worst of hundreds of sets I own. It was so bad I never finished the build and it's the only time that's happened.
0/10 for the Galaxy Explorer.
10/10 for the Lion's Castle.
@ALFIE22 said:
"Man we gotta get a version of this without nostalgia bias, like no way these are the highest quality sets, they’re literally the two anniversary sets from 2022. Like some of the best LEGO sets just aren’t big, some of the best sets have around 500 pieces not 3000, the bias towards large nostalgia remakes is just so frustrating because all this presents as data is which LEGO sets are the most exciting for a 45 year old man who misses his childhood and the LEGO that was around at that time, not a genuine measure of quality"
This is why, the last time we did this, I nominated one of the Mixels sets. I still think they’re some of the best things Lego have ever made: a great sense of character, inventive parts usage, and a price point that actually served the primary audience.
I think that when we’re considering what makes the “best” Lego set, we’re almost dealing with two competing impulses - something that is technically ambitious, or something that children can easily acquire and appreciate. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, necessarily, but with Lego getting more and more expensive it’s arguably heading that way more and more.
The castle just isn't swooshable enough. Stuff keeps falling off. 0/10, would not swoosh again.
> the set can be rebuilt into new versions of 918 Space Transport and 924 Space Cruiser!
Surprised TLG didn’t make some official instructions for castle as well. Considering that both Play and Rebuild are big promo pushes for them
The castle is lovely... but: Spaceship. Spaceship! SPACESHIP!
@guachi said:
"This is an easy one for me. The Castle is far superior. My Galaxy Explorer set was so terrible with such weak clutch power during the build that it repeatedly fell apart during the build."
Little tip, don't buy knockoff LEGO on Temu!
;-)
Seriously though, I will be the first to admit that LEGO quality isn't what it used to be.
But falling apart? Come on, that's just plain BS. Even the worst LEGO sets I built over the last few years didn't fall apart by any means. They might have colour issues, ugly huge mould marks, or terrible sticker quality, but other than that they are perfectly serviceable.
As for the final, of course I voted Galaxy Explorer.
There's nothing wrong with LKC but I simply have always been more into Space than into Castle, even back as a kid.
@Hylian_Warrior said:
" @Mister_Jonny said:
"I suppose it was always going to come down to this, but it would have been nice to see a wild card. Like Pigsy’s Noodle Tank or something. Are we appreciating these sets because they’re genuinely the best, or because they’re just scratching the nostalgia itch? Probably a mix of both, but it doesn’t always make for an interesting discussion."
Well I did put Galaxy explorer on my list, and the original was way way WAY past my time. I do genuinely think 10497 is a great set"
Oh, I do too; it’s a fantastic model, with plenty of great features in it. I just think that we can maybe think a bit more creatively about what “best” means in this context.
With regards to Classic Space, I think it’s interesting in that its audience probably transcends the people who directly grew up with it. Like, since the late 70s we’ve had Classic Space references seeded throughout Lego sets (and more overtly in media like The Lego Movie) so it’s not surprising that something like the revised Galaxy Explorer has risen to the top in an endeavour like this.
@Mister_Jonny said:
" @ALFIE22 said:
"Man we gotta get a version of this without nostalgia bias, like no way these are the highest quality sets, they’re literally the two anniversary sets from 2022. Like some of the best LEGO sets just aren’t big, some of the best sets have around 500 pieces not 3000, the bias towards large nostalgia remakes is just so frustrating because all this presents as data is which LEGO sets are the most exciting for a 45 year old man who misses his childhood and the LEGO that was around at that time, not a genuine measure of quality"
This is why, the last time we did this, I nominated one of the Mixels sets. I still think they’re some of the best things Lego have ever made: a great sense of character, inventive parts usage, and a price point that actually served the primary audience.
I think that when we’re considering what makes the “best” Lego set, we’re almost dealing with two competing impulses - something that is technically ambitious, or something that children can easily acquire and appreciate. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, necessarily, but with Lego getting more and more expensive it’s arguably heading that way more and more."
Last time Brickset did something like this wasn’t there a category for Best Set for under $20 (or that kinda range) specifically to give the spotlight to exactly those sorts of sets for exactly those sorts of reasons? I do think there should absolutely be more consideration for things like that, but on the other hand if we’re defining “best set” the larger ones have more scope for creative building and inventive techniques that you maybe don’t get in smaller ones that kind of propel them to the top in people’s mind.
But since my options here are limited to these two options, I’m going for the Castle. It’s one of the only times I’ve broken my normal budget limitations for Lego and sits proudly on a spot where I can still tinker and play with all its functions. The Galaxy Explorer is cool and all but it just lacks cool features like that, and is a direct remake of an older set rather than simply being inspired by them as the Castle is. Gotta give props for originality!
@guachi said:
"This is an easy one for me. The Castle is far superior. My Galaxy Explorer set was so terrible with such weak clutch power during the build that it repeatedly fell apart during the build.
The Galaxy Explorer was an absolute garbage dump of a build. Easily the worst of hundreds of sets I own. It was so bad I never finished the build and it's the only time that's happened.
0/10 for the Galaxy Explorer.
10/10 for the Lion's Castle."
How the heck did you build the Galaxy Explorer!?!? With Chop sticks?
I voted the Galaxy Explorer, I actually own that one, still have to buy the Castle later this year before it goes EOL! Besides a bit of nostalgia (for both), I really liked how the Technic parts were used to build the frame of the GE! A TON of MOCs and I also liked a LOT of the parts ,so ended up buying multiples of the set. The same happened with the the 31120 Castle, 10305 looks a lot better, but due the price and the distribution (pretty much Lego exclusive), no way was I ever going to buy multiples of it...
I don't own the castle and it seems like a very nice set, but... I think it costs too much money to be awarded the title of Best Set of the Last Five Years. I like Lego to be play sets and this certainly is one, but it is way out of reach for way too many children (including my own).
10497 is also a great play set, I really like the build (I just rebuilt it) and it is, indeed, space. And I like space better than medieval times (what could be versus what has been). So...
Classic Space all the way for me
>the set can be rebuilt into new versions of 918 Space Transport and 924 Space Cruiser
For less than the cost of LKC you can have all 3 Spaceships
This was a very difficult choice because I like both sets very much. I ultimately chose to vote for the Galaxy Explorer.
Ok, how did I manage to go up against @Huw in the final?
I vote for Rivendell :)
@maffyd said:
"Ok, how did I manage to go up against @Huw in the final?"
I'm Huw? News to me! :-)
spaceship... Spaceship... SPACESHIP!!!!
I was a Space kid, and never had any Castle sets as a kid. So this should be an easy decision for me... however, LKC is spectacular, a real milestone set, so for me it's a case of whether I go with my head or my heart.
Can't believe Rivendell lost to a slice of space pizza
I AM JOKING
Congrats
@ALFIE22 said:
"Man we gotta get a version of this without nostalgia bias, like no way these are the highest quality sets, they’re literally the two anniversary sets from 2022. Like some of the best LEGO sets just aren’t big, some of the best sets have around 500 pieces not 3000, the bias towards large nostalgia remakes is just so frustrating because all this presents as data is which LEGO sets are the most exciting for a 45 year old man who misses his childhood and the LEGO that was around at that time, not a genuine measure of quality"
It’s easy to point fingers and blame nostalgia but I don’t think that’s entirely the case here. I’m a millennial who grew up on bionicle without any experience with classic space or castle and I absolutely loved these two sets, easily top 5 over these past five years in terms of design quality. For me, it was quite evident that more resources and design iterations were allocated towards these projects than the run of the mill 500 piece sets you argue are superior, but in the end we all have our biases and I respect your opinion.
In some ways, it's easier to have an impressive set when the final product can be big and expensive. But well designed within tighter constraints, and within the budget for more people to experience it (rather than appealling mostly to superfans) - that's a harder bar to clear.
Galaxy Explorer for me. And y'know, it's space.
I recently got hold of my first 1978 Galaxy Explorer. It's good. But having built and fallen in love with the remake, it was actually rather disappointing as a build and as a finished article. 10487 is so completely packed with detail, features and clever techniques that it transcends it's source material in every way – a celebration of how far Lego has come (without losing its soul).
So for me it's not about nostalgia, it's about revelling in the progression within the 'System'.
Also 'Swooooooshhhhh!'. The fact you can pick it up by the wing-tip and whirl it around feels miraculous.
To me Galaxy Explorer has already won no matter the outcome of the poll. First, its a $100 set up against a $400 set, which says a lot in and of itself. For 4 times the price we should get something amazing compared to a lower set price, yet here we are. Second GE was available to a lot more people, both in terms of price and where it was sold (Walmart in the US). Both are high quality sets, but to put a high quality set in the hands of the general public is quite an achievement for Lego.
While my favourite factions are Lion Knights and Futuron, and I’m not a big fan of the Classic Space (Come on, they still don’t have visors! How do they survive the vacuum of space?), I voted for the 10497 Galaxy Explorer.
The price point speaks for its affordability, it’s relatively quick to build and therefore ready to play with, and most importantly, it’s swooshable!
@ALFIE22 said:
"Man we gotta get a version of this without nostalgia bias, like no way these are the highest quality sets, they’re literally the two anniversary sets from 2022. Like some of the best LEGO sets just aren’t big, some of the best sets have around 500 pieces not 3000, the bias towards large nostalgia remakes is just so frustrating because all this presents as data is which LEGO sets are the most exciting for a 45 year old man who misses his childhood and the LEGO that was around at that time, not a genuine measure of quality"
While I do partially agree with the nostalgia complain (although I'm totally guilty of it as well), I can tell you from watching my nephews (6 and 8 yo) that the Galaxy Explorer definitely IS a high quality set even without the nostalgia glasses. whenever they come visit, no matter which sets are on display in my home they always go straight for the Galaxy Explorer and its siblings (I bought a second one and extra pieces for the alternates). I do rotate which sets I build and display to get some variety and the one time they weren't there, I can't tell you enough the crisis that caused xD
Trust me, that won't happen again...
The fact that it’s down to these two sets is quite disappointing but something I should have seen coming. As an owner of both, and nearly all of the top 16 voted sets, I genuinely don’t get the hype for these 2 sets . Neither deserve to win and yet, here we are.
@guachi said:
"This is an easy one for me. The Castle is far superior. My Galaxy Explorer set was so terrible with such weak clutch power during the build that it repeatedly fell apart during the build.
The Galaxy Explorer was an absolute garbage dump of a build. Easily the worst of hundreds of sets I own. It was so bad I never finished the build and it's the only time that's happened.
0/10 for the Galaxy Explorer.
10/10 for the Lion's Castle."
Remember - the anti-studs go ON TOP of the studs...
Into the infinite skies!
Let’s go SPACE!
My two favourite sets made it to the finals, such a treat! It’s a tough choice, but I’ve got this soft spot for Classic Space, so yeah…
@Jman007 said:
"The fact that it’s down to these two sets is quite disappointing but something I should have seen coming. As an owner of both, and nearly all of the top 16 voted sets, I genuinely don’t get the hype for these 2 sets . Neither deserve to win and yet, here we are."
I think what it means is that you’re a smaller minority than you realize. Might want to de-emphasize your own self-importance in the world, and maybe lighten up a little.
@guachi said:
"This is an easy one for me. The Castle is far superior. My Galaxy Explorer set was so terrible with such weak clutch power during the build that it repeatedly fell apart during the build.
The Galaxy Explorer was an absolute garbage dump of a build. Easily the worst of hundreds of sets I own. It was so bad I never finished the build and it's the only time that's happened.
0/10 for the Galaxy Explorer.
10/10 for the Lion's Castle."
@guachi
I’m calling B-S on this comment!!
You are either the worst LEGO builder of all time,
Or else you have been engaged by the Castle Mafia to denigrate the Space Mafia set so that the Castle wins!
Which is it?!…..
As for me, these are two brilliant sets that are really hard to split - despite the vastly different subject matters, price points and number of parts!
I guess if I had to find one thing, as someone raised earlier …. The Galaxy Explorer is missing a Moon Base, or at least a gray baseplate with brick-built craters and hills! That would have made it pretty much the perfect set!
So I guess Lion Knight’s Castle for the win!….
even though we all know Rivendell is an objectively better and much better-looking set!
;)
@ALFIE22 said:
"Man we gotta get a version of this without nostalgia bias, like no way these are the highest quality sets, they’re literally the two anniversary sets from 2022. Like some of the best LEGO sets just aren’t big, some of the best sets have around 500 pieces not 3000, the bias towards large nostalgia remakes is just so frustrating because all this presents as data is which LEGO sets are the most exciting for a 45 year old man who misses his childhood and the LEGO that was around at that time, not a genuine measure of quality"
Whenever I walk into a LEGO Store, I mostly see 45-year old men reliving their childhoods... and clearing out the Pick-a-Brick wall.
Knowing the audience of Brickset, it was very easy to predict that this competition would mostly include sets that would tie into nostalgia, either for LEGO's own legacy or for other franchises. With these type of polls there will always be a bias that correlates to the pool of respondents, and here it was pretty obvious.
I do wonder what the outcome would've been if LEGO's main target audience, the kids, would've cast their votes. I'm sure it would've been something else than big castles and retro spaceships.
@TheBrickPal said:
" @maffyd said:
"Ok, how did I manage to go up against @Huw in the final?"
I'm Huw? News to me! :-)"
We are all Huw. There is only Huw.
Go Team Space!!
I know there are several comments about nostalgia being a a massive reason for these 2 finalists, and a few talking back to them about how they need to "reevaluate" and such. But theyre not wrong. This competition is just not interesting, because the general population of Brickset isnt interesting. just a bunch of nostalgia driven AFOLS. I would love to see a version without the bias of nostalgia, I mean look at all the crazy new sets we get nowadays. Ninjago city Gardens would have been my top pick any day.
Some of these comments are just really tacky.
I'm sorry but this competition has really fell flat for me. I expected better from the members here. The subject is 'What is the Best LEGO set' not 'What is your favourite'. I don't think enough people have put aside personal bias and opinions to give a true reflection. Apologies, I expect pushback on this and maybe rightly so but during this competition I voted for sets that I don't own over sets that I do because I genuinely thought they were a BETTER set than the one that I wanted to own. The Daily Bugle is my FAVOURITE set from the shortlist here but there's no way I could claim that it is the BEST set. There are Dreamzzz sets better than the Bugle!
Sad to say, but I do not see the point of voting here, as none of these two sets deserves to win. It seems that people voted for nostalgia, rather than for the actual best set of the last 5 years...
@peterlmorris said:
" @Jman007 said:
"The fact that it’s down to these two sets is quite disappointing but something I should have seen coming. As an owner of both, and nearly all of the top 16 voted sets, I genuinely don’t get the hype for these 2 sets . Neither deserve to win and yet, here we are."
I think what it means is that you’re a smaller minority than you realize. Might want to de-emphasize your own self-importance in the world, and maybe lighten up a little. "
Yeah, ok buddy, didn’t ask for your opinion (self-importance? what a nonsensical thing to say). Considering the way the votes have gone so far, It’s very fair to say that this isn’t the outcome 40-50% of us here wanted statistically speaking. I suppose you are right on me needing to lighten up a little considering the unimportance and lack of impact this vote brings, I’m just really invested :)
@BOBJACK_JACKBOB said:
"I'm sorry but this competition has really fell flat for me. I expected better from the members here. The subject is 'What is the Best LEGO set' not 'What is your favourite'. I don't think enough people have put aside personal bias and opinions to give a true reflection. Apologies, I expect pushback on this and maybe rightly so but during this competition I voted for sets that I don't own over sets that I do because I genuinely thought they were a BETTER set than the one that I wanted to own. The Daily Bugle is my FAVOURITE set from the shortlist here but there's no way I could claim that it is the BEST set. There are Dreamzzz sets better than the Bugle! "
I objectively looked at myself from a perspective hovering a few feet from myself and neutrally observed the silliness of all humans from my vantage point aboard the Muthership parked in God's lap.
I had to vote Galaxy Explorer on this one, but it was tough! I think the GE did something incredible by emulating the feeling of building a set as a kid, whereas LKC is more like a fun experience for adults that remember building castles as kids. Big, detailed builds are a hallmark of AFOL sets, and I feel like that's an "easier" design missive than making the builder feel like they're winding back the clock.
I voted for the Galaxy Explorer. The main point in it's favour IMO is that it costs a quarter of the price of the LKC.
That aside, I personally think it's one of the best sets of the last 5 years despite my being over a decade younger than the set it's based on.
My nostalgia is for the late eighties onward and I outright hate the constant aggrandizing of Seventies Space, wherein we get a new blue/gray/trans-yellow spaceship homage every 6-8 days and the one time Lego decided to nod to *my* childhood instead people got really mad and unironically insisted that the Space CMF series should have been 12 different-colored versions of the "Classic Spaceman." So I can assure you all that when I say 10497 is a fantastic set that deserves the win, it is absolutely not because I'm wallowing in nostalgia.
If you were to change out the factions in the castle set to completely new ones, that set would not really connect at all to Classic Castle. It's a bit of a charlatan in that way, positioned as nostalgia yet the set itself doesn't really give off that Classic Castle vibe outside of the minifigures. Amusingly, two recent Creator castles are mentioned in the write-up, both of which give me far more Classic Castle vibes than the big one. It's a great set for what it is, but it doesn't really feel representative of what it's trying to honour either.
The Galaxy Explorer on the other hand is unmistakably Classic Space. I did criticise it previously for not having the simplistic charm of those old sets, but in this duel of nostalgia it undoubtedly does a better job at honouring what came before it, and so it gets my vote.
I said it before in some of the discussions. You cannot argue with 'best,' unless there is a clear definition of what 'best' is supposed to mean, i.e., there are measurable characteristics of (or criteria for) 'best.'
Since we don't have them here, 'best' is whatever you, me, and the other guy consider to be 'best.' That may, and most likely will be, very different between us. But your criteria for 'best' are as good as my 'best.' It's a question of preference or taste. Nothing you can argue with in any meaningful way.
In other words, what we discover with this little exercise is the 'Lego set of the past 5 years most preferred by a specific sample of all Brickset users (given a certain bias stemming from how the pairings have been).' You can call this 'best' if you want to...
Having said this, given the choice of those two, it is obviously the Galaxy Explorer! Who needs a lump of all that grey? :)
Galaxy Explorer all the way! But if LKC ends up as the winner I'll say it's well deserved.
So glad these two went to the final bout, well deserved !
In fact this tournament made me buy the LKC this summer (I already purchased two GE day one)...
What a great 90th anniversary this was :-)
And thank you to the lovers of Lego for their passion, there's no bias (or whatever negative) to be found where the love is so present !
Now... Go little affordable GE, to infinity and beyond !!!
sitting this one out...still bitter about rivendell lol
As a kid, castle and space were my preferred themes. Better PPP than pirates, and more creative adventures than town. This is a rough one for me. At this point, I own a lot of the early castles and a (fragile) Galaxy Explorer, and I love them all! AHHHHHHHH!
@lego4elio said:
"sitting this one out...still bitter about rivendell lol"
Same. Now all we'll here about is "Space Mafia this" or "Castle Mafia that". I pegged Rivendell as the winner from day 1. I still can't believe it got taken out.
Go Lion Knights!
This is as it should be. 2022 was a great year to be a LEGO fan. In this battle, it comes down to which theme is your preference. Both sets are worthy. My first LEGO love was Classic Space, and I missed out on 497 as a kid, so 10497 wins easily in my book.
I did not see this coming. I thought that Rivendell would be the winner. Now it is nostalgia versus nostalgia - but since I am bothered by the much too high price for the lions castle my vote goes to the space explorer, which is somehow affordable for almost every dedicated lego fan. And it is a fantastic reimagination of the original.
@TheBrickPal said:
" @maffyd said:
"Ok, how did I manage to go up against @Huw in the final?"
I'm Huw? News to me! :-)"
Ha ha! Oops! In my defence, Huw told me he'd publish this morning - so I didn't even look to see who the poster was, I assumed it was him.
Many apologies for the error - and congrats on the win (presumably - I nearly voted for 10497 myself until I remembered which one I was advocating for)!
"the best" set has to be one that delivers a stunning amount for a fair price. a $350 castle that takes up half a room isn't doing it for me.
I've ignored this whole thing until now but gotta go with Lego showing off how far they've come in 40 years.