Which is the best LEGO set released since 2020?

Even though I am on Team Classic Space I am happy with the result. It's a worthy winner.
And the best thing is, this title doesn't take anything away from the awesomeness of the Galaxy Explorer.
Neither does it take away anything from the looks of Rivendell, or any of the positive aspects of all the other sets that were in the running.

Therefore, everyone who wanted a different outcome - relax and chill. In the end it was just a fun contest where there's no real loser anyway.

@Huw: one interesting idea might be to re-run this competition, but explicitly only for sets with an RRP of up to 50 Dollar/Euro.
Because it's much harder to make an awesome set at a budget so affordable.

@AustinPowers said:
"Even though I am on Team Classic Space I am happy with the result. It's a worthy winner.
And the best thing is, this title doesn't take anything away from the awesomeness of the Galaxy Explorer.
Neither does it take away anything from the looks of Rivendell, or any of the positive aspects of all the other sets that were in the running.

Therefore, everyone who wanted a different outcome - relax and chill. In the end it was just a fun contest where there's no real loser anyway. "

Indeed. I'm more disappointed at the margin of victory than I am that the GE lost. And I'm glad that the finals came down to two sets homaging classic themes, rather than two licensed sets.

Wow, the expensive one won. How suprising.

@GusG said:
"Wow, the expensive one won. How suprising."

Fallacious thinking. Correlation doesn't imply causation.
And a lot of people usually consider value for money as a plus, so a moderate price for a great set, like for the Galaxy Explorer, is surely a positive for the set, rather than a negative.

Anyway, both finalists were absolutely worthy of winning, and I'm pleased this final could potentially remind Lego that so many fans still want Castle & Classic Space sets!

I ended up voting for the Galaxy Explorer, but only because I was a Space kid back in the 80s. For me it really ended up being a decision of heart over head. But, yes, LKC is a certainly worthy winner.

Also, a big thank-you to Huw and the team for running the competition. I'm already looking forward to seeing what sets are released between now and 2030...!

"They chose poorly."

You look at the amazing sets the Lion Knights castle beat to win, it is clearly a worthy winner even though I voted for the Galaxy Explorer.

A little tidbit regarding classic sets.
I was at my mother's house yesterday because in a couple of weeks the roof will get renovated, so I had to clear out the attic.
Many of the boxes I hadn't looked into for years or even decades.
When I opened one of them I got a huge surprise: my parents had kept quite a few of the boxes of my childhood LEGO sets, and I was pleasantly surprised to find so many in good condition. Most were carefully flattened for easier storage, but you could easily put them back into shape.
There was even the box of one of my Classic Space stations I treasured as a kid (6971), even including the clear plastic inlay with the Classic Space logo.
Made my day :-)

Interesting by the way to see that some boxes still had the original price stickers attached, showing how expensive LEGO was even back then.

I am glad Castle won, it is indeed a great set.

My vote was for Vincent van Gogh - The Starry Night

I wish we, as a community, were more open to new ideas and sets rather than still being nostalgia-baited by TLG

Judging from the short list of 16, the votes each got initially, the rounds in which they were knocked out and the ultimate winner, I suspect there's a main underlying dimension and it's not nostalgia. I reckon it's Fantasy/History (Castle, Tolkien, D&D, Pirates etc) vs (Pseudo)Science (Classic Space, Star Wars, NASA etc). I wonder if that's only true of AFOLs or if it reflects LEGO buyers/recipients more generally.

Not my choice, but a winner I can live with. Happy an original theme won, not some IP. And still happy the cheapest set of all contenders made it to the final. Bit surprised by the margin though....

And yes, I do really like that idea of another competition for cheap sets! I can already think of quite a few good contenders.

While my candidate didn’t win, still a worthy set won!

Though I would have one complaint about the contest: it took almost two months to conduct. At some points I even forgot that it was still going on.

@Zander said:
"Judging from the short list of 16, the votes each got initially, the rounds in which they were knocked out and the ultimate winner, I suspect there's a main underlying dimension and it's not nostalgia. I reckon it's Fantasy/History (Castle, Tolkien, D&D, Pirates etc) vs (Pseudo)Science (Classic Space, Star Wars, NASA etc). I wonder if that's only true of AFOLs or if it reflects LEGO buyers/recipients more generally."

Beyond nostalgia, which I am sure plays a role, I think this is a good observation and a valid point. Though I'd also think (more of a gut feeling) that many who like one of these dimensions/themes also like the other.

Regarding "general" Lego buyers, I'd say have a look at what gets produced a lot or every year (e.g., police and fire fighting vehicles) and Lego's yearly report. That lists the most popular themes. The one for 2024 lists Icons (which can be anything and everything), Star Wars, Technic, City, and Harry Potter.

A well-deserved winner. By the way, I love the rosette (or cockade... escarapela in spanish), @huw . It would be nice to add it to the sets that have won a Brickset competition...

Although my vote went to the Galaxy Explorer, the Lion Knights’ Castle is a very deserving winner. It really captures everything a Lego set should be: a fun build, great design, lots of room for storytelling and for me personality…it brings back a lot of good memories.

I was expecting this to be much closer too, though not surprised to see the castle win.

I second @AustinPowers call for a re-run using price divisions. Its not really fair to sets a £300+ X thousand part set against some of the smaller budget ones afterall.

Quite what I expected. Now, we'll need a "best since 2025" poll in 2030.

@darthnorman said:
"I am glad Castle won, it is indeed a great set."

ICONS won. There isn't a Castle theme any more!

I wonder how many people complaining about bias would be making the same complaints if their favourite had won?

Like, there’s definitely a discussion to be had on the merits of a large, expensive set that might can use more inventive techniques due to its size versus small sets that actually fulfil the role of toy better and which constitutes the Best Set, but so many of the negative comments read as sour grapes

@MrSmartyPants said:
"My vote was for Vincent van Gogh - The Starry Night

I wish we, as a community, were more open to new ideas and sets rather than still being nostalgia-baited by TLG"

The community (whatever that is) is open to new ideas, as those sets get voted for through IDEAS and get selected by LEGO. They have also followed it up with the Sunflowers. They would not have done that if LEGO buyers were not open to buying that type of set. Look at how Botanicals have taken off. That was a new idea and has become very popular.

A set that you like not winning the best set in five years doesn't mean consumers are not open to new ideas. There is no way The Starry Night is the best set of the past five years. It doesn't do anything apart from hang on a wall.

@Angel_Clanger said:
""They chose poorly.""

Only the penitent man shall vote for the Galaxy Explorer.

@morvit said:
"I prefer the Bricklink Forest stronghold or castle in the forest. Smaller and more detailed. Lion Knight’s Castle is nostalgic in that the bricks used are simple, but techniques and pieces available have advanced. It’s stuck in the past."

The BDP sets have given us way better castles than LEGO will ever do. I think it is down to LEGO playing it safe with official sets, in that the designs are rather traditional, solid builds. They tend to be predominantly studs up with multiple studs attached to create a relatively strong structure that isn't going to fall apart during building or play. Whereas anyone used to BDP or that MOCs is more used to the level of detail that can be added if you go off the official script, and do things in a way that LEGO designers would not use in an official set.

@MrSmartyPants said:
"My vote was for Vincent van Gogh - The Starry Night

I wish we, as a community, were more open to new ideas and sets rather than still being nostalgia-baited by TLG"

Interesting and perhaps unintended juxtaposition, considering The Starry Night is a LEGOfication of a 19th century painting. However, once you're over 30, it becomes hard to resist nostalgia.

A worthy winner.

I think a lot of the conflict surrounding this competion would have been negated if, instead of being titled 'Best Set', it was titled 'Favourite Set'.

It's fair to argue someones opinion of what constitutes 'Best' but there's no arguing what is someones 'Favourite'.

Wow I thought Galaxy Explorer would win for sure, but like others I’m not disappointed. My brother had some Castle sets and they were cool.

And of course, All Parts Are Space Parts. But I didn’t buy six Castles. I bought six Galaxy Explorers!

The problem is that I now want more of these. I own four, and I will almost assuredly buy four more.

Damn you, Huw! :)

Of the 16 sets, I own 3. Ninjago City Gardens (my first set out of my dark ages), Eldorado Fortress and Galaxy Explorer. My brother owns the Lion Knights Castle. So we decided to trade our big sets so we each could experience them and the build experience. All I can say is that, while Ninjago City Gardens is so visually different than the castle, the build experience of both is a 10/10. It is truly difficult to understand why the Lion Knights Castle is the “best set since 2020” until you have built it for yourself.

@AustinPowers said:
" @Huw: one interesting idea might be to re-run this competition, but explicitly only for sets with an RRP of up to 50 Dollar/Euro.
Because it's much harder to make an awesome set at a budget so affordable. "
@Huw: I second this motion.

A little secret: I'm actually a Space fan to the end. I had a whole story I could tell about the original Galaxy Explorer (I think I alluded to it in my article) but I had to realign to the LKC instead. It was remarkably easy to be enthused about it.

I kept on thinking about how well it combined with other medieval sets recently (and the D&D one, and those minifigs), and after each realisation I thought "But you don't need that - it has it all there just by itself".

It also goes well with a Lego City layout (if you imagine it to be in a European setting) with tourists looking around and re-enactments taking place. That's a slightly different vibe but the scale works.

@bengal said:
" @GusG said:
"Wow, the expensive one won. How suprising."

Fallacious thinking. Correlation doesn't imply causation.
And a lot of people usually consider value for money as a plus, so a moderate price for a great set, like for the Galaxy Explorer, is surely a positive for the set, rather than a negative.

Anyway, both finalists were absolutely worthy of winning, and I'm pleased this final could potentially remind Lego that so many fans still want Castle & Classic Space sets!"

Besides, if people were just automatically voting for the more expensive set in every poll, the final would have been AT-AT vs. Titanic.

@StudMuffin24 said:" @Angel_Clanger said:""They chose poorly.""

Only the penitent man shall vote for the Galaxy Explorer."

That's not the castle of a carpenter.

Huh. While I personally definitely prefer the castle over the ship - albeit specifically because I find a detailed building with a nice cast of figures far more appealing for play, storytelling, and display than I would a vehicle, rather than due to any specifics of the sets themselves (neither of which I own) - I am quite honestly surprised by this result. Judging by the comments on the voting article, I was certain the spaceship was the easy winner with how many people seemed to be rooting for it.

And on that day, 41% of the Brickset-audience furiously dumped their collection on BL and went over to Playmobilset instead.

Well, that was fun. I don't agree with the result, but overall I enjoyed this competition, so thanks Brickset!

It might be interesting to have another such competition for sets under 100$/playsets. They were - for justifiable reasons I think - forgotten in this competition but many deserve consideration.

The best thing about this competition is that it was a good opportunity to rethink about several sets I had not necessarily thought about for a while. That'd be fun to do with sets under 100$/playsets.

is it a good set? Yes I won't argue that. Is it the best set to have been released since 2020? I disagree

I do think that Rivendell would have beat GE by a wider margin

I’m a galaxy explorer fan but forgot to vote.

I like the castle and I’m glad it won.
No nostalgia at all, but because it has a construction technique that we no longer see enough : SMOT (studs mostly on top). And bricks! Most recent sets are built from plates and brackets, with complex (but interesting) techniques. This castle is a better ‘part pack’ to build other things, especially for less experienced builders.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @bengal said:
" @GusG said:
"Wow, the expensive one won. How suprising."

Fallacious thinking. Correlation doesn't imply causation.
And a lot of people usually consider value for money as a plus, so a moderate price for a great set, like for the Galaxy Explorer, is surely a positive for the set, rather than a negative.

Anyway, both finalists were absolutely worthy of winning, and I'm pleased this final could potentially remind Lego that so many fans still want Castle & Classic Space sets!"

Besides, if people were just automatically voting for the more expensive set in every poll, the final would have been AT-AT vs. Titanic.

@StudMuffin24 said:" @Angel_Clanger said:""They chose poorly.""

Only the penitent man shall vote for the Galaxy Explorer."

That's not the castle of a carpenter."

And this is how we say good set in Germany.

Frankly I'm just happy its something non-licensed.

Clearly not the best set of the last 5 years, so it is probably time to change the title of this competition or the way it is organized. And thanks for including the nominations ranking which shows that Rivendell would have easily won if there had been only one round of voting between all 16 sets at the same time :-)

I'll take a 2nd place finish for my favourite set, no problem! Excellent final matchup!

@MrSmartyPants said:
"My vote was for Vincent van Gogh - The Starry Night

I wish we, as a community, were more open to new ideas and sets rather than still being nostalgia-baited by TLG"

Username checks out.

Whichever set won from among all the nominations, it's cool. This is ultimately a matter of opinion and doesn't really matter in the long run. I have many of the sets nominated and enjoy them all. Anyone who gets bent out of shape about this...surely you must have something better to do with your time.

I am not surprised at the winner (I voted GE). I am surprised at the margins. Respectful win!
Now, time to get that Castle before it retires.

Basically, all Lego has to do is put a traditional theme set in a yellow box and it's good enough for me - how about that for nostalgia? Aside from LKC (which I'll get soon) I managed to get all the recent old-style yellow box sets. I still buy new sets with interesting building techniques - I also try to buy at least one set form each theme just to see what its all about - but it is interesting to revisit the main themes when the minifig started. I was not into Pirates and Castle back then but I discover these themes nowadays through these nostalgia-fueled sets. And I'll take a re-imagined set any day rather then a re-issue. More please!

I also second the idea of redoing this for sets under a certain threshold ($50 and $100 were proposed so far)

*meanwhile, in a dimly lit alley*

"Hey LKC, that's a very beautiful and prestigious award you got there. Shame if something terrible happened to it."

The LKC strained to make out the dark figure, but could only see the shadow of a double tank of some sort slung on its back. LKC quickened its pace.

"We'll see ya 'round castle man."

@yellowcastle said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @bengal said:
" @GusG said:
"Wow, the expensive one won. How suprising."

Fallacious thinking. Correlation doesn't imply causation.
And a lot of people usually consider value for money as a plus, so a moderate price for a great set, like for the Galaxy Explorer, is surely a positive for the set, rather than a negative.

Anyway, both finalists were absolutely worthy of winning, and I'm pleased this final could potentially remind Lego that so many fans still want Castle & Classic Space sets!"

Besides, if people were just automatically voting for the more expensive set in every poll, the final would have been AT-AT vs. Titanic.

@StudMuffin24 said:" @Angel_Clanger said:""They chose poorly.""

Only the penitent man shall vote for the Galaxy Explorer."

That's not the castle of a carpenter."

And this is how we say good set in Germany."

'my armies be the rocks and the trees - and the space sets in the sky!'

@Murdoch17 said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @bengal said:
" @GusG said:
"Wow, the expensive one won. How suprising."

Fallacious thinking. Correlation doesn't imply causation.
And a lot of people usually consider value for money as a plus, so a moderate price for a great set, like for the Galaxy Explorer, is surely a positive for the set, rather than a negative.

Anyway, both finalists were absolutely worthy of winning, and I'm pleased this final could potentially remind Lego that so many fans still want Castle & Classic Space sets!"

Besides, if people were just automatically voting for the more expensive set in every poll, the final would have been AT-AT vs. Titanic.

@StudMuffin24 said:" @Angel_Clanger said:""They chose poorly.""

Only the penitent man shall vote for the Galaxy Explorer."

That's not the castle of a carpenter."

And this is how we say good set in Germany."

'my armies be the rocks and the trees - and the space sets in the sky!'"

You lost today, Space. But that doesn’t mean you have to like it

@Brickalili said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @bengal said:
" @GusG said:
"Wow, the expensive one won. How suprising."

Fallacious thinking. Correlation doesn't imply causation.
And a lot of people usually consider value for money as a plus, so a moderate price for a great set, like for the Galaxy Explorer, is surely a positive for the set, rather than a negative.

Anyway, both finalists were absolutely worthy of winning, and I'm pleased this final could potentially remind Lego that so many fans still want Castle & Classic Space sets!"

Besides, if people were just automatically voting for the more expensive set in every poll, the final would have been AT-AT vs. Titanic.

@StudMuffin24 said:" @Angel_Clanger said:""They chose poorly.""

Only the penitent man shall vote for the Galaxy Explorer."

That's not the castle of a carpenter."

And this is how we say good set in Germany."

'my armies be the rocks and the trees - and the space sets in the sky!'"

You lost today, Space. But that doesn’t mean you have to like it"

GE, I'm sorry. They got us.

Much as I think Rivendell's the right answer, it would have been sad had a licensed theme won this contest. Lion Knights castle is doubtless a worthy a winner!

@yellowcastle said:
" @Brickalili said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
" @bengal said:
" @GusG said:
"Wow, the expensive one won. How suprising."

Fallacious thinking. Correlation doesn't imply causation.
And a lot of people usually consider value for money as a plus, so a moderate price for a great set, like for the Galaxy Explorer, is surely a positive for the set, rather than a negative.

Anyway, both finalists were absolutely worthy of winning, and I'm pleased this final could potentially remind Lego that so many fans still want Castle & Classic Space sets!"

Besides, if people were just automatically voting for the more expensive set in every poll, the final would have been AT-AT vs. Titanic.

@StudMuffin24 said:" @Angel_Clanger said:""They chose poorly.""

Only the penitent man shall vote for the Galaxy Explorer."

That's not the castle of a carpenter."

And this is how we say good set in Germany."

'my armies be the rocks and the trees - and the space sets in the sky!'"

You lost today, Space. But that doesn’t mean you have to like it"

GE, I'm sorry. They got us."

This is a castle, and it does have many tapestries, but if it's better than the GE, then I am Mickey Mouse!

Congrats to LKC! I voted for the Galaxy Explorer in the end, but it was a tough choice and I'm not disappointed.
That said, I can finally confirm that we have voted for Brickset's favorite set since 2020, not the best one. LKC is a great set - I voted for it over Rivendell, even - but it is not the best by any objective measure. Both LKC and GE have good minifigs, lots of playable functions, cool aesthetics, and an excellent building experience, but the GE costs 1/4 as much as LKC. This makes it more accessible to kids, who are and must remain LEGO's core audience, because they are the key to LEGO's future success. So, objectively, the GE is the better LEGO set (not THE best, mind you, just better).

This doesn't mean that LKC is bad! As I said, both of the finalists are excellent sets and I like them both. Nor does it mean that every LEGO set has to be accessible to your average child - but if a set is going to claim to be "the best LEGO set," it must also succeed on that front.

A very worthy winner! I voted for the Galaxy Explorer but it was very difficult to choose because both sets are fantastic.

@BOBJACK_JACKBOB said:
"A worthy winner.

I think a lot of the conflict surrounding this competion would have been negated if, instead of being titled 'Best Set', it was titled 'Favourite Set'.

It's fair to argue someones opinion of what constitutes 'Best' but there's no arguing what is someones 'Favourite'."

"Favourite Set" would cause just as much conflict as would the correct spelling "Favorite Set" ;-)

I’m a little mystified at the rampant dislike-bordering-on-self-righteous-disdain for licensed IP.

Correct me if I’m mistaken, but didn’t LEGO Star Wars save LEGO from going out of business? Would there be the LKC and GE sets without Star Wars? Why be belligerent towards rather than appreciative of licensed IP when it has literally made collecting LEGO possible?

I think the dismissive attitude blinds the holders of it to the fact that the licensed IP sets are designed by all the same designers that work with the home-grown IP sets. IP is IP; whether licensed or internal, all IP has rules and boundaries within which designers must operate, and generally speaking they all do amazing work representing the IP, but a lot of it is unfairly dismissed out-of-hand simply because it’s licensed. In my opinion, Mos Eisley Cantena, NINJAGO City Gardens (NINJAGO is practically a licensed IP), Rivendell, and my unabashed favorite Daily Bugle are all amazingly vibrant, action-packed (they can have lively arguments in Rivendell), intricately detailed, and fun for anyone who is interested in their respective worlds. People who aren’t interested in the subject matter can at least appreciate that each is an excellent example of the LEGO designer’s art.

OT: Titanic, Discovery, and The Starry Night are great examples of what can be done with LEGO, make no mistake, but they felt out-of-place in this competition. Amazing display pieces though they are, they aren’t any fun. Maybe there should be a separate competition for sets that are all display, no play.

Yeah, I know this is flame bait, but the dismissiveness towards licensed IP is off-putting so I’m bringing it up.

Here's what TLG will conclude from this poll: just make more adult licensed sets for new target audience, because AFOL's complain too much and don't have any space left in their homes for more nostalgic themed sets anyway.

@R0Sch said:
"Here's what TLG will conclude from this poll: just make more adult licensed sets for new target audience, because AFOL's complain too much and don't have any space left in their homes for more nostalgic themed sets anyway."

I'm pretty sure the only poll Lego pays attention to is individual set sales. I would give my left nose to see that data. Maybe Lego could release it 20 years after sets retire?

I loooove Galaxy Explorer, but I voted for Lion Knights Castle. It’s that good.

This is the right result.

Thanks for running a great and interesting competition. Though it did drag on a bit, it was a lot of fun and interesting to read so many different opinions. I was quite amused as the various Mafias sprang back to life and personally found the lingo quite funny.
As has been mentioned in numerous comments - 'best' is very vague for a category.
As can be seen from reader reviews, the categories of :
- Building experience
- Parts
- Playability
- Value for money
are all important and should contribute to the 'Overall Rating'. I don't think Brickseters did this so meticulously. I know I didn't. But I did contemplate, perhaps too seriously, the values of Playability versus Display. Or that if a set should aim to achieve a good portion of both.
Also nostalgia-baiting for us is like shooting fish in a barrel. ..... But if it is executed extremely well, then WIN WIN for everyone.

@AustinPowers said:
" @ak41984 said:
"Thank goodness though I like some aspect of explorer. I don’t think it’s was even a top 10 set in the year it released much less last 5 years. I think best 5 in last 5 are D & D the 2 big LOTR sets, lion knight and titantic. My biggest knock on explorer is it didn’t sell as well as a lot of retailers expected which speaks to its appeal IMO. I saw these as cheap as $40 a great set will never be 60% off. Black Friday walmart had them at $50 and that’s when I picked up a few copies. "
This is where I envy you so much. Over here it was just the opposite. The set was very hard to get because it was almost constantly sold out at every shop I tried. Didn't help that it was only available directly from LEGO and from Smyths (or for absurd scalper prices on ebay - up to 250 Euro!)
Therefore there were almost zero discounts either. Of the three I got, one I paid the RRP and the other two were 10 Euro off. That was the best deal to be had over here.
At 60% off I would have bought ten, or more. "

This is indeed weird. Here also (in Canada), this set was nowhere to be seen - I ordered mine directly from Lego. If I would have to come with some negative points about 10497, it would be: (1) the set was not sold widely enough, (2) the set did not remained on the shelf long enough (16 months according to BriskSet) - I would have bought more.

If Lego would like to shut down the 'Spacemafia' group-craze forever, it would be fairly easy to do: create a set called "Every Spacemen is Awesome in 15 different colours" and keep it on the shelf for at least 3 years. After that, just release a trans-yellow piece from time to time. The AFOLs will load up on those over 3 years - the new kids don't care much about that design and a few trans-yellow parts allow the fans to create their own things.

@Volfogg said:
" @GusG said:
"Wow, the expensive one won. How suprising."

2nd most expensive ;)"

Third, overall.

I really don't understand why people continue to proclaim 10305 - Lion Knights' Castle won due to nostalgia. At this point, I can only assume it's because they're not sure what the word actually means. In order for it to have won for that reason, it would've needed to have resembled or been a remake of a set that people owned in the past so that it triggered strong, earlier memories with which sentiment was attached, e.g., 10497 - Galaxy Explorer or 10320 - Eldorado Fortress.

Lion Knights' Castle, by contrast, was a brand new set with homages to the earlier castle theme. That is all. To declare otherwise would require one to stretch the word "nostalgia" so much that it takes on a much broader definition. However, at that point, someone could reasonably label every set involved in the competition as being nostalgic--whether because it's associated with an existing intellectual property or because we, as adults, are nostalgic of our time spent playing with LEGO itself.

It's also worth keeping in mind that nostalgia can go both ways. In fact, I think it's more common for nostalgia to play against new offerings, as is often the case with reboots of television shows and movies.

Point is, it's nonsense.

I believe it won because it nearly perfectly encapsulates what LEGO is meant to embody.

From the perspective of a kid, it's a huge, fun and imaginative play set with numerous working features, hidden areas, Easter eggs, interesting minifigures, etc., and for adults, it's an interesting and fun build without excessive repetition, can be expanded upon or modded with relative ease without the baggage that comes with changing sets based on an intellectual property, it has a wide selection of useful parts both common and uncommon, and it makes for a perfectly adequate and imposing display on its own.

I think all of the sets in the competition were great sets in their own way but none of them captured all of those points as well as Lion Knights' Castle.

In fact, if you look at the sets objectively, many of them don't even capture half of that criteria. The NASA shuttle and Starry Night can be captured much, much better in different formats. Sure, Starry Night represented in the LEGO format is impressive but to proclaim it's the best set is mind-boggling.

In the future, it might be worthwhile providing some criteria for people to consider while voting. It seems that some people don't really consider the LEGO format itself when they vote. However, that's just my opinion. Maybe there was some other objective in mind with this that I'm not seeing.

@Vesperas said:
" @lordofthedreams9 said:
" @Zander said:
"Judging from the short list of 16, the votes each got initially, the rounds in which they were knocked out and the ultimate winner, I suspect there's a main underlying dimension and it's not nostalgia. I reckon it's Fantasy/History (Castle, Tolkien, D&D, Pirates etc) vs (Pseudo)Science (Classic Space, Star Wars, NASA etc). I wonder if that's only true of AFOLs or if it reflects LEGO buyers/recipients more generally."

It reflects the society on the whole. Many more people choose humanities over STEM, fantasy books over science fiction etc."

It's probably because the humanities and the arts encapsulate what it means to be human better than STEM, and everything we have now is built on what came before.

Above all, I think people know, at least on some level, that space travel and colonizing other planets is nonsense (because it is), so our imagination has a tendency to lean more toward world history, nature, our own inner worlds and primordial, Earth-based instinct than it does toward the emptiness of space and unknown."

Both of you have misinterpreted @Zander 's original comment, I think. He was pointing out that most of the top 16 sets in this poll fell into either a historical/fantasy (~7/16) or science/space (~4/16) category, and sets from those two categories lasted the longest in the poll, down to the final two. This suggests that historical/fantasy and science/sci-fi sets are the two most popular genres for LEGO sets, at least among Brickset AFOLs. That the castle set beat the spaceship set in the final is not that significant, and has nothing to do with an "art vs. science" perspective on real life. Let's not forget that silly "STEAM" concept getting pushed these days, which would merge those two together.

Also - "many people choose humanities over STEM" sounds like a pretty big assumption, and even if it were true, I'd attribute that to modern society's laziness: the humanities are easier degrees in school than the sciences. And,
"...space travel and colonizing other planets is nonsense (because it is), so our imagination has a tendency to lean more toward ... our own inner worlds ... than it does toward the emptiness of space...."
THAT is nonsense. Colonizing other planets is far-fetched and IMO impractical, but space travel is very real and has been ongoing for decades. As for our imagination, why is it that things like Star Trek, Star Wars, the moon landing, and LEGO Classic Space received so much attention and praise? Why did the ancient Greeks look to the stars and try to understand them? Why does so much of old literature refer to the heavens with curiosity and reverence? Space and the unknowns it presents have captured humans' imagination far more than any mundane thing on Earth ever has.

@MutoidMan said:
"STEM is how we will become a spacefaring civilization and ensure our survival. We must become a spacefaring civilization, or one rogue asteroid or supervolcano could wipe us out..."
I agree with the sentiment, but a spacefaring civilization seems highly unlikely. We'd have to achieve Star Trek levels of world peace before than would work. And the chances of a civilization-ending asteroid impacting Earth are pretty tiny, for a number of reasons. A supervolcano going off is also unlikely, at least anytime soon.

There's a lot of speculation in the comments, but the reason for this outcome is really very simple.

One of these sets included a cow, the other did not; all other considerations are meaningless given this distinction.

@BLProductions said:
"LKC is a great set - I voted for it over Rivendell, even - but it is not the best by any objective measure. Both LKC and GE have good minifigs, lots of playable functions, cool aesthetics, and an excellent building experience, but the GE costs 1/4 as much as LKC. This makes it more accessible to kids, who are and must remain LEGO's core audience, because they are the key to LEGO's future success. So, objectively, the GE is the better LEGO set (not THE best, mind you, just better). "

What objective measure would you use to rate the best? I cannot think of a single objective measure to determine the best. I can think of plenty of subjective measures and plenty of objective measures that measure other things (best selling, best ppp, best price per weight, etc) but not 'the best'.