Featured set of the day: Forestmen's Hideout
Posted by Huw,
Today we have a change from Classic Space: a set from another highly revered subtheme, chosen by Forestman_Bygger:
Waiting for Christmas Day as a 7-year-old is surely one of life's great endurance races. My mother had a tradition every year of celebrating Advent together during the weeks leading up to the holiday. This wasn't part of our church's relatively low-key approach to the season, so instead happened during our weekly 'Family Night' which was always on Wednesday evening.
Each year, the weeks of Advent were centred around a kid-friendly theme: music, food, crafts and the like. This year, the theme was 'The Senses' and we spent time each week thinking about the Christmas story through the lens of sight, smell, touch and taste.
Unique for this year was that instead of waiting until Christmas Day to receive our gifts as usual, we would get smaller gifts connected to each sense every week of Advent. What could be better for my young (tiny) reservoir of patience! The great endurance challenge would not be as draining, aid stations were distributed along the way.
I remember only one of the gifts from that year, the most perfect Lego set every created (a completely unbiased and nostalgia-free statement of fact) which is of course 6054 Forestmen's Hideout. This gift naturally connected to the sense of touch and each of us brothers received some very tactile gift. Being of prime Lego age, my parents picked this set out, not knowing fully what a masterpiece it was.
Where to begin in describing its perfection? First, there is just the instant appeal of the form of a tree. Touching some deep primal urge, we are drawn to trees, to walking in the forest, to dappled light of overlapping leaves. All here, Lego style, served up for children's imagination. The proportions of the tree are perfect too, not too tall and flimsy, but not too short and stubby either.
Then, one is drawn in by a shock of blue roof. That protective canopy hints at much more going on inside this tree than mere vegetation. Closer inspection reveals intriguing details not of organic form: a few perfect arches, some reindeer shields and a secret back entrance.
Physically, the model opens up through cleverly concealed hinges along one side of the tree. The overlapping branches perfectly interlock from above with no seams visible, yet gracefully allow the tree to unfold. Many models now struggle to know how to balance the inside/outside dynamic of an unfolding model. Often they are too closed off requiring full removal of floors to see inside, or completely open from the back like a doll house and not fully realised from all sides. This set is the best blending of the two.
From a design standpoint, this set stands out amongst all the Forestmen sets as the best as well. 6077 Forestmen's River Fortress is too much of a castle with trees attached to it whereas 6071 Forestmen's Crossing is clearly a tree connected to a castle with a bridge. Forestmen's Hideout, however, is it tree? Is it castle? Yes! It is an ambiguous superposition of both that meets the kid's heart wherever needed.
The play value is through the roof - literally! That blue roof opens up to the sky too. This is perhaps the only design critique, that enticing shock of blue would not be very wise for a true hideout. In my childhood imagination, though, this Sherwood Forest band of outlaws had no true enemies or fears as their generosity to the poor and environmental embrace of forest management endeared them to all. OK. So I didn't think that at that age, but that's clearly the intent of the designers, right?
I rebuilt this set recently as part of my 'staying sane in lock-down' strategy that I've noticed many users have been actively pursuing too in this age of Covid-19. I love how challenging the old sets were to build in comparison to new sets. No easy bubbles identifying which new pieces to get out, no shading or highlighting of where the new pieces go. I frequently missed a black-on-black new piece and had to retrace steps to complete the full build.
Needless to say, through this set I became a Lego lover for life, dark age aside, and will cherish the Forestmen forever (cue the 'bring back Castle theme' chants!). It still stands the test of time and was accessible at a price point to modest income families. It's beauty, play-value and challenging build make it a perfect seed for a lifetime of building. (If anyone knows of a reasonably priced new version of this set, please let me know as I would love to give to a new, dust-free version of this to my own young son someday soon. Plus, I want to keep mine.)
I hope to continue building my way through this lock-down, reminding myself how important the sense of touch is through the physical bricks and connections that we are all so desperately missing right now. Keep Calm and Build on!
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33 comments on this article
I randomly got it at a flea market thinking I'm just buying a random pile of bricks. It's lovely, never had this theme before.
I remember playing with this one a lot. Its a stone cold classic, the whole sub-theme of Forestmen sets were really well designed and packed with play value.
Nice article and set.
But where it says 6077-1 Knights Procession it should be 6077-2: Forestmen's River Fortress
Just happens to be the same set number.
I never had sets of this theme, so loved when they did a reference to Forestmen in 1 of the Nexo Knight sets.
Now here's hoping the IDEAS Castle in the Forest will get selected to be a set, as it's basicly Forestmen remastered.
Ohh, my Dad had this one! He let me and my brother (who were between the ages of 6 and 8 at the time) play with it, and in a few weeks it was no longer a hideout, but a pile of bricks :D
Beautiful
A very nicely written and very accurate article about one of the most charming lego subthemes - Forestmen! I got the "River Fortress" as a christmas present when I was six and I still remember the challenging build at my grandmothers house in the Netherlands were we spent that particular christmas and weeks of playing with this thing.
After reading this I'll have to rebuild it, I'm afraid. I still have the instructions and probably most of the parts...
Thank you for sharing your memories!
Oh yeah: "Bring back Castle!"
Yes, LEGO please bring Castle back! ... and don't forget the goats, GiveUsTheGoats!
Love the write up, love the enthusiasm, love the Forestmen!
6066 Camouflaged Outpost is the equivalent of this set for me. I have never owned 6054. Something I hope to rectify someday.
Bring back castle! Bring back castle!
crazy coincidence: today JANGBRiCKS built this set in live stream!
Oooh, another Castle classic! I love this sub-theme. Always wanted this one to add to my 6066 Camouflaged Outpost. I like the tall tree and the use of the hinges. It also added items I didn't have at the time: the vines, the awesome shields, and the cool target!
Finally! Something besides Classic Space! I love Classic Space, but I was getting tired of no variety.
Bring back castle! Even if LEGO were to bring back just one Castle subtheme, if it was Forestmen then I would be content.
Lovely article, by the way. Thanks Forestman_Bygger.
Looks good. Great story!
Bring Back the Castle Theme!
Bring back castle! Bring back castle! I loved those deer shields sooooo much as a kid. Great write up of another great classic set that I have fond memories of...thanks!
Huw, this was a phenomenal bit of writing...nostalgic, evocative, and humorous. I loved reading it and loved this set. What I love a little less is the overwhelming urge now to find a copy to satiate the bricklust you just induced. Cheers!
I remember stealing money out of my mother’s purse to buy this one. I had a Lego problem at a young age! A downright lovely set!
This set is a perfect quintessence of all that makes Forestmen great. It ties with 6066 as my favorite Forestmen set, being a more aesthetically pleasing compact structure and containing most of the Forestmen-specific items missing in 6066 - vines, stag shields, and an archery target (but 6066 just has so many Forestmen!). The only thing I would change about this set is giving the second minifig a bow and quiver so the two could hold archery contests.
Bring back Castle!
Oh the memories :)
I got this used from my uncle in the early nineties when I was regularly watching the 1990 Robin Hood anime series, so was quite interested in the theme itself.
It is really incredible how the designer managed to pack in that many hidden features in a relatively small set, especially given the limited parts palette.
I especially like that hole in the basement floor, where a Forestmen can hide to shoot arrows or throw spears at unsuspecting intruders!
The color scheme is a bit unrealistic, since there were no brown bricks (at least not that many) in 1988, but I think it works somehow. I once tried to replace the black "wood" with brown parts from Dragon Masters and other loose parts I have, but I have to admit I didn't like it. Maybe Dark Brown works better?
I don't remember how or if I named the figures back then, but some catalogues suggest that the fully green guy is Robin Hood, whilst the red collar guy is Little John.
(That would probably leave: Black collar guy = Friar Tuck, Forestwoman = Maid Marian, Blue collar guy = Much the Miller's Son? Who knows...)
Another brilliant set from back in the day.
I was able to buy this set off my buddy, Rick. The same friend whose 6038 Wolfpack Renegades I so admired.
I had this set, as a kid, but I was too young to appreciate it properly, and I broke it down and used the bits in other builds (those black arches made for great gardens for my Lego city), and it's one of my greatest Lego regrets.
@Froggage said:
The last castle theme ended only 6 years ago
You had great parents. Happy Mother's Day, Mrs Huw's mom. We had this set too and would love to revisit the forest men.
One of the best small sets ever! Still on display overhere
"bring back Castle theme"!!!
These oldtimers were so full of surprizes...
Great article.
Forestmen came out at a time when as a kid I was all about Classic Space. I don't recall noticing them as a kid on the shelves. But when I had just entered my dark age the younger boy of family friends had several forestmen sets and I saw them and even though I had already turned away from Lego I wanted them anyway. Those leaves! That blending of nature and construction!
A couple of years ago I bought a copy with the box - and it along with 6066 Camouflaged Outpost are on my display shelves. Great, great set.
Had the set as a kid and picked one up recently. I really like the more challenging instructions where you have to deduce what has changed from the previous step vs having everything highlighted for you on Easy Mode like in more modern instructions. :)
Thanks for your contribution. I need to get this one out of storage.
My sister has this built in dining room (her husband’s childhood copy).
A gem of my childhood era...
Bring back Castle!!!
Great article, it was really nice to read, I remember this set, I was 6 then, and I had quite the same feeling with the famous 6067 Inn, and for me it was a castle, my own castle just becaus of a little bit of wall...
@covfefe2020 said:
" @Froggage said:
The last castle theme ended only 6 years ago
"
That's right, but Castle 1984 - 1992 is just different, it's more basic and pure castle.
After 1992 there were dragons, withes, trolls, knights who don't look like knights, ugly sets,...
In the eighties, when you had a few sets, you had a small army to do battles.
If you had bought all the sets from the 2013 wave, you would have 3 horses!
THREE!
That's just ridiculous.
There are many useless details (which cost money) and to little minifigs.
Excellent pick, all of the forestmen sets are really amazing (I hit my dark ages just about this time). I have a bunch to sell, but I'm thinking more about keeping them as they really are cool (and pricey now as well).
Would love to see LEGO redo this subtheme (heck any truly Castle theme would be welcome)
Old instructions were harder to follow in general, but in one way they were MUCH easier... COLORS!
I don't know how many times in modern sets I've put down the wrong color grey piece not realizing it was supposed to be a darker or lighter grey (or even supposed to be BLACK).