I just hope I will menage to get it for normal price...
I still don;t like how they gave BLACK falcons SILVER armor...

This looks great. Definitely a Day One Purchase for me.

Yeah it is great

Falcon knights.
Nothing needs to be added.

The buildings really nice.
The figures, not so much.

I had no interest in the original submission- but this is a definite purchase for me

Black Falcons with individual personalities! They're stunning!

Thank you, LEGO :-)

It looks good but that's just about it. To be a good display piece it's too obscure and not stunning enough. Might get the Falcon minifigs, though.

Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic.

Can't wait for this to be on 'back order' sorry I mean released. Looks awesome, day 1 purchase for me.

Lovely set but £134.99 is a weird price imo why not £129.99.

Lovely set, will hopefully be a day one purchase.

Looks awesome but a bit pricey, I'll get it eventually.

@mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic."

This is a toy..... not real life. Time to put away the misogny...

AS someone who doesn't have many castle sets this one is a possible purchase, especially with how good it looks

Cool build - congratulations to Ideas designer Clemens Fiedler. Not sure how this will assimilate with my medieval market village scene? Tempting, but still undecided. Price may ultimately tip the scales one way or the other.

Really loving this set. The initial leaked photos looked small and cartoonish, but this is way bigger than I expected. Packed with details, and the light brick is a nice touch as well. This is on a par with the modular buildings!

@mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing?"
I think it was a bit of a rarity, but medieval women did wear armour and ride into battle. Joan of Arc, for example.

Where is the "as it stands / on sale" option? Light + nice look Black Falcon, I will buy it on promotion, the problem is the lack of matching sets.

Genuinely can’t complain about any aspect of this. It looks amazing!

I'm going to cling to my dream that the husky was meant to be a placeholder for a goat in the initial planning of the set but they just forgot to make the swap at the end.

Some day.

I love that bearskin rug, though!

I'm a huge fan of anything medieval or fantasy, but wasn't as a kid so I never got any of the Lego Castle sets when they were available. This, though is a definite buy from me, just as soon as I have any money!

First non-licensed set to have a horse in it in a long time.

Also I think it's good the downsized it a bit, better price, and scale compared to other potential sets.

Husky dog feels a bit out of place, but also because it's been pretty common in sets the last couple years.

You know what would have been great for this? If they had come up with a horse shoe print for one of the half-round 1x1 tiles.

Again in The Netherlands it's ridiculously more expensive than in Germany: € 170 vs € 150.
At first sight, I think the set looks very nice. Just a shame of the price (and the ever more boring box).

Although the colors of the roof could have been better, day one purchase for me!

I would have liked another minifigure or 2... also, the dog doesn’t quite fit the set I don’t think?

The more I looked inside the more the goat wasn't there...

Curved fachwerk... Does the desiner actually knew how it supposed to work?

It looks good but I had hoped for a lower price point. May be strange for an AFOL but I've never bought a set for over €100 before. Will be looking out for a discount and then this may be the one to change that.

As expected, this looks much better than the original single leaked photo, with more pictures and the designer video. A definite buy, although not day 1 with Jan 1st deliveries still pending!

@mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. "

I mean if it bothers you that much, you can swap out the head. And then maybe sit down and have a bit of a think about why.

Beautiful. This thing is MOC-quality. I don't even care about Castle or Black Falcons or whatever. They were way before my time. This is just a pretty perfect set in my opinion. Can't wait to get it. Lord of the Rings figs would fit in here too.

Wait is that a bearskin rug? That's a surprising move from Lego!

This is what a lot of us 80's LEGO fans are waiting for!!! Please release more of these LEGO !!!

Well, I love the set, but I don't love the price: here in Belgium, it sells for 169,99 euro, while in Germany, it sells for 149,99 euro. I thought Lego had eliminated the price differences between Eurozone member states, but apparently not. 20 euro difference is quite significant, especially when you consider that 169,99 euro is equal to ca. 206 US dollars, while in the US, the set ships for 150!

I was not a fan of the original submission but this is a very beautiful model. Looking forward to the review...I'd consider buying this and modding it to fit in the winter village but I have a feeling it may be slightly out of scale, on the larger side. Snow would look really cool with parts of the roof & framing peeking out. I had been out on this one but now I'm intrigued.

Wish I could get this day one, but I'll have to wait until May. Nowhere to put it in my dorm room.

Nice set, but could anyone explain to a complete layman what the Black Falcon knights are all about?

Thank you in advance.

Dog? Really this'd be much better as a goat... medieval huskies?

That aside, I love it but I love about £1,000 worth of 2021 Lego released so far, so this will need to be prioritised alongside Ninjago gardens, the Chinese new year sets and several others...

Gorgeous! Hopefully my Nexo Knights will be hanging out here in the not too distant future.

@Able said:
"Curved fachwerk... Does the desiner actually knew how it supposed to work?"

The curved support beams are a sticking point for me too. Makes no sense.

Not a day 1 purchase for me but would probably get this at a discount if the world ever returns to normal and we can find discounts again.

Looks great. Lots of nice little details (I particularly like the whetstone and archery target). From the Lego.com photos, looks like they've also addressed the problems with black background in instructions back to a lighter colour.

@Able said:
"Curved fachwerk... Does the desiner actually knew how it supposed to work?"

Looking online I was able to find this image of a building with curved fachwerk:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTT0BvONqmMF9o2sGM_087LKrXbyPFYToB-wg&usqp=CAU
So I don't think it's as big of a problem as you make it out to be.

@mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic."

Neither are dragons and wizards, both of which Lego Castle has had in great quantity

It would've been cool if they had made the archer a forestwoman.

@Able said:
"Curved fachwerk... Does the desiner actually knew how it supposed to work?"

I’ve seen a few wattle and daub buildings like this in the UK where the diagonal piece is curved

This looks brilliant! Love the full and highly detailed design. Looks great from every angle and not just as a façade.

The price difference between Germany (€150) and Netherlands (€170) is ridiculous though!

@TimotheusFlavii said:
"Well, I love the set, but I don't love the price: here in Belgium, it sells for 169,99 euro, while in Germany, it sells for 149,99 euro. I thought Lego had eliminated the price differences between Eurozone member states, but apparently not. 20 euro difference is quite significant, especially when you consider that 169,99 euro is equal to ca. 206 US dollars, while in the US, the set ships for 150!"

Whenever I see complaints about price differences the US is always mentioned. Nobody ever seems to remember to account for the fact that the US display prices include no applicable taxes whilst most other countries do.

The Belgian price is a bit higher and that isn't explainable by the difference in tax rates between Germany and Belgium but you can't directly compare them to the US listed price.

@TimotheusFlavii said:
"Well, I love the set, but I don't love the price: here in Belgium, it sells for 169,99 euro, while in Germany, it sells for 149,99 euro. I thought Lego had eliminated the price differences between Eurozone member states, but apparently not. 20 euro difference is quite significant, especially when you consider that 169,99 euro is equal to ca. 206 US dollars, while in the US, the set ships for 150!"

Hah, in Finland it's 180€

Tsk. No goat :(

Great interior as so often with Ideas - that's another lovely Lego bed! And I really like that there are fireplaces connected to the chimney on all three floors.

@Haay said:
"The price difference between Germany (€150) and Netherlands (€170) is ridiculous though! "
As usual it's even worse in Sweden: SEK1899 which is equivalent of €190!

@DoonsterBuildsLego said:
"looks like they've also addressed the problems with black background in instructions back to a lighter colour."
Indeed! Box art next?

The color choice for the roof still doesn't work IMO. It should have all been just dark blue, not dark blue and bright blue. Those two colors just don't mix well together, especially for a medieval-themed set.

Lovely set. Hate the black box.
LEGO really needs to let go of that bad idea.

The pretorian guard shoulder pads? IN SILVER!? Imagine the possibilities!

@MisterBrickster said:
"Wait is that a bearskin rug? That's a surprising move from Lego!"

Maybe that's a dragonskin rug. That would be okay I guess.

@audaver said:
" @TimotheusFlavii said:
"Well, I love the set, but I don't love the price: here in Belgium, it sells for 169,99 euro, while in Germany, it sells for 149,99 euro. I thought Lego had eliminated the price differences between Eurozone member states, but apparently not. 20 euro difference is quite significant, especially when you consider that 169,99 euro is equal to ca. 206 US dollars, while in the US, the set ships for 150!"

Whenever I see complaints about price differences the US is always mentioned. Nobody ever seems to remember to account for the fact that the US display prices include no applicable taxes whilst most other countries do.

The Belgian price is a bit higher and that isn't explainable by the difference in tax rates between Germany and Belgium but you can't directly compare them to the US listed price."

US sales taxes are at most 10%, if I remember correctly. Even then, 150 + 15 USD = 165 USD, which is still 41 USD less than what people in Belgium have to pay, and apparently 53 USD less than what people in Finland have to pay. Hell, even the Germans, who have to pay 182 USD for the set, still pay more than US citizens. There is indeed a price difference, even if you take US sales tax into account.

With more pics, I feel this is a superb set. Will buy it to accompany my medieval market village.

@mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic."

mate they're oblong-shaped people with claw hands and bright yellow skin in a children's building brick toy, "realism" isn't a scapegoat you can hide your views behind here aye.

As for my thoughts on the set itself, I'm usually not a big castle fan but I really love how this turned out - the lighter brown compared to the original concept really stands out, as does the mix of blues for the roofing tiles. Doubt I'll grab it day one but its definitely going on my wishlist to nab in the future!

Loving the bear-skin rug!

I really like the building a lot and will definately get this.

However, as someone else said, the huge Ninjago shoulder armour just looks so wrong and I find the accessories in general really poor for a blacksmith set.

Finally, since LEGO really wants to be politically correct, I demand 50% female Stormtroopers in the next Star Wars battle packs!

Hmm, looking at the pictures more closely, it seems they forgot to put any stickers in this set...

Looks like a few people are having issues with female Minifigures here... seems like there’s still a lot of male chauvinism out there. The world will never change.

@antsbull said:
" @mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic."

This is a toy..... not real life. Time to put away the misogny..."

I don't think this is reason to accuse someone of Misogny... kinda jumping to conclusions. He was asking about it, not accusing or berating anyone. He never said he didn't like the fact the were doing that.

Not defending anyone, just saying give people a little more grace before accusing them.

Very beautiful set. I am definitely getting this one.
But the pumpkin, is that not a thing from the new world??

@mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic."

Replace the female head with a male one. Sorted.
Maybe do this at the same time as replacing the pumpkins/squashes with carrots and closing off the outdoor forge. Oh yes- the husky dog, replace the husky too.
Or maybe a female blacksmith would be good?

@Bricksrunner said:
" @ShadoWind At the beginning of the Castle theme there really wasn't factions, just various design for the knights with no story around them. Then in 1984, for the second wave of Castle sets there was a story around 2 different factions of knights, the Lion Knights (with a lion, or 2 crossed halberds for emblems), usually wearing red and being the good guys, and the Black Falcons (with a falcon for emblem) usually wearing blue and used as the "other" guys (they really weren't the "bad" guys, just not the faction meant to be the hero one); Later on a Forestmen (kind of Robin Hood) faction joined in on the fun.
They are "important" to most AFOL growing up in the mid to late 80's because these are the Castle knights we grew up with and look less tacky than most of what came after them (the 90's and 00's WERE a Dark Age, pun intended)."

Thanks.

@The_Toniboeh said:
" @mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic."

Neither are dragons and wizards, both of which Lego Castle has had in great quantity"

Not Classic Castle

@ArmoredBricks said:
" @antsbull said:
" @mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic."

This is a toy..... not real life. Time to put away the misogny..."

I don't think this is reason to accuse someone of Misogny... kinda jumping to conclusions. He was asking about it, not accusing or berating anyone. He never said he didn't like the fact the were doing that.

Not defending anyone, just saying give people a little more grace before accusing them."

People with "grace" don't make the comment in the first place because when they see both male and female figs in a set they think "oh cool" or it doesn't even occur to them because of course, why wouldn't there be women in the set? Call it out when you see it.

@mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic."

There were no female medieval knights as women were not permitted to be knighted, but a few women did have auxiliary roles throughout the middle ages, though it wasn't common practice.

One thing's for sure, there were no Siberian Huskys in medieval Europe!

@Pongo said:
" @mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic."

Replace the female head with a male one. Sorted.
Maybe do this at the same time as you replace the pumpkins/squashes with carrots and close off the outdoor forge.
Or maybe a female blacksmith would be good? "

Like in A Knight's Tale. Like it.

I like the two-axes-and-an-aerial chair-backs.

@mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine."

Well, Jehanne d'Arc wore men's clothing and armor... but she was put on trial for it.

What a beautiful set! The designers really know how to create magic from bricks. The colors really pop like after a summer rain, and I love the details such as the brilliant bear-skin rug.

The gnarled apple tree is especially nice imo, cut short (as seen by the thick trunk) so you can reach the apples easily. I’ve heard that at least here in Sweden, it used to be tradition to plant a “house tree” next to a newly built house, maybe that’s what it is?

The Lego website has much better pictures and a video. https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/medieval-blacksmith-21325

The set looks better than these photos suggest. I still really don't like this compared to the original. It went from spectacular to average. I know that changes were needed to follow Lego rules, but it went from a day 1 purchase to a never buy. I think I am done with castle and will stick to star wars.

@larsnelson said:
"I still really don't like this compared to the original. It went from spectacular to average.
"

How is this "average"

@Norman_Richards said:
"Well, lego decided to choose knights to be elderly and women, im very concerned of this kingdoms fate LOL!
but i guess it checks all the diversity boxes, and thats all that matters nowadays"
Did you create this account just now just to say something obnoxious?

How do you sleep at night knowing that not everyone is a young, white, cis-male?

They replaced the goat with a dog?

Bummer :(

@bananaworld

And who are you to accuse a random person? do you have some kind of moral high-ground in this? why do you think he's even white?

jeez, calm down, everyone has rights on opinions on this set

@CCC said:
" @TeriXeri said:
"First non-licensed set to have a horse in it in a long time.
"

Only if you ignore ...

41431 (2020)
41367 (2019)
41369 (2019)
41371 (2019)
41339 (2018)
10726 (2016)
"

I don't think those count as they have the friends horse which is a different design to the regular Lego one.

Who needs a goat when it comes with Sensei Wu's dog!

So I may have to pick it up just for the Black Falcon bits. Well played, Lego.

The female knight head is getting swapped out pretty quickly as that's incredibly out of character for the period. At least the body appears to be gender neutral so having two male knights will be a simple head swap away.

The overall build looks... just okay. And I'm not sure why they bothered to change it so much, unless it was purely a cost-cutting move, as the original version had a lot more character to it and the new look isn't any closer visually to the classic Black Falcons / Lion Knights theme.

I think it looks good, plenty of great details.
The bright blue roof, having a husky dog in medieval Europe, and the in my opinion weird oversized Ninjago armor are the main things I do not like. But they are a reminder that this set is more play oriented than the original submission, and that is fine, considering that with Lego you can change things to how you want it. I do think the proportions and size have been improved.

As others have mentioned, curved Fachwerk is not historically inaccurate, there are some very elaborate examples of half timber framing with curved elements. I think the Lego 1/4 round element, while being perhaps too circular, adds to the interesting design.

I wonder why the Falcon shield from 10223 was not used? Now we have another interpretation of the same faction?

@meesajarjar72 said:
"Looks like a few people are having issues with female Minifigures here... seems like there’s still a lot of male chauvinism out there. The world will never change."

The issue is the jarring anachronism of trying to fit today's preferences back into history. It is immediately apparent and off-putting to anyone who's studied the time period. Let's take politics completely out of the equation and pretend that it wasn't done because of current tendencies to push political agendas into entertainment mediums including toys. Taken completely agnostic of that, putting in a female knight would make Lego simply look foolish to the trained eye, and ignorant of the time period. Yes, just like using the wrong dog breed. Both are oversights that evidence ignorance of the time period and locale.

We can all be feminists and still find it an odd choice. So rather than trying to be a moral crusader of today, smearing people with distasteful labels for pointing out anachronisms, maybe try to grow and learn and appreciate that others may know more about the time period than you. You can keep the silly politics of today out of the conversation, the issue here is valid regardless of your political affiliation.

The hunter is kinda funny to me. Shooting left handed but using the right eye to aim. Not unheard of but a bit rare.

@yacoub said:
"The issue is the jarring anachronism of trying to fit today's preferences back into history."

This isn't a docu on the History Channel nor is it a museum piece. Stop giving cover to this toxic crap. This happens every single time and then @Huw sighs, shakes his head, and rightfully closes the comments because there are too many hurt feelings over female minifigures in a toy set.

Cool set, prohibitive price, embarrassing comments. Business as usual then!

To the people complaining about the set being too colorful or historically inaccurate in various ways, maybe (and I mean this honestly) lego isn’t the right hobby for you.

Lego is a toy which means given the choice between having a cool character for girls to identify with and historical accuracy, they will choose a female knight.

Lego is a toy which means that its pretty limited color palette contains a lot of colorful colors, and if you want the colors to be “realistic” (i.e. what I see when I look out the window on the excruciatingly drab Swedish winter) you’re left with one shade of blue instead of multiple.

This wouldn’t have been a problem if lego was aiming for “realistic” miniatures (then it would’ve had multiple shades of dark blue), but since it’s primarily a toy, the palette leans toward saturated colors.

In other words, if you’re very bothered by this, there are probably better options for miniatures out there for you.

The set looks great, a lot better than that one leaked image from Amazon a while ago.

I don't understand why so many commenters are upset at the inclusion of a female knight, a simple google search tells you that women were allowed in some knights orders such as the Knights Templars. And if their village got attacked when the men were all elsewhere fighting they would have to don armor and fight. Then again these people also bemoaned "realism" by saying Medieval buildings aren't supposed to be colorful so you shouldn't really trust the Brickset commenter history buffs.

@yacoub said:
"So rather than trying to be a moral crusader of today, smearing people with distasteful labels for pointing out anachronisms, maybe try to grow and learn and appreciate that others may know more about the time period than you. "

This would sound less pedantic, less troll-ish, and more like the concern of an historian if we were talking about something actually intended to be historically accurate…
Anyone who's studied the time period would recognise at once that this is a medieval-fantasy toy. Why even bother discussing its historical accuracy?

@Mechalex said:
" in what is, first and foremost, a children's toy."

A set that's labelled 18+ shouldn't be primarily geared towards children.

@Legonk said:
"To the people complaining about the set being too colorful or historically inaccurate in various ways, maybe (and I mean this honestly) lego isn’t the right hobby for you.
(...)
In other words, if you’re very bothered by this, there are probably better options for miniatures out there for you. "
Perfectly put.

If anyone is willfully ignoring that this sort of LEGO is in no way intended to be historically-accurate, they're very likely hiding a prejudice or two.

If that makes me a snowflake, I'm completely fine with that; at least I can walk down the road without huffing everytime I see a woman driving a bin lorry or a boy playing with a pink dolly.

> "I don't understand why so many commenters are upset at the inclusion of a..."

The astute reader will note how the only commenters introducing emotion into the issue are those projecting words like "upset" onto the calm and rational comments regarding anachronisms observed in the set. A subtle form of ad hominem they hope to slip by you with one hand while they attempt to beat you over the head with the larger slanders they utter for daring to have a different opinion than them. Ah, the tyranny of tolerance so-called. :)

I WANT IT!
I'll hug it, squeeze it, and name it Georgina!
@p0dracer said:
"With more pics, I feel this is a superb set. Will buy it to accompany my medieval market village."

I'm just worried it would take all of the business from the MMV blacksmith.

My Lego storage is over capacity as it is. This'll have to be a day 2 purchase :)

I like that the archer is an unaffiliated ranger. Lego however, should make more simple leather armor torsos. The ones from Dark Forest are $40 or more, when they're even available!

The blacksmith has printed legs, hmm... Should I go with reddish brown or bright light blue (or whatever that blue is) medium legs to make a dwarf? Either way is pricey, so maybe I'll stick standard smalls.

When Brickset does its review, could whomever put a Modular Building next to it for size comparison?

@mr_Fikou said:
[[Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing?]]
I think it was a bit of a rarity, but medieval women did wear armour and ride into battle. Joan of Arc, for example.
]]

Exactly, and let us not forget Brienne, please!!

Which Lego castle set has ever been historically accurate? Yellow castles don't really exist, and while I would love to, I have never met a dragon or a wizard in real life. By upholding this set to some unrealistic standards of historical accuracy, you actually ignore the long history of the various castle themes that Lego has produced.

In addition, many people have correctly pointed out that it is indeed historically accurate that women sometimes had to don armour as to be able to defend themselves or their loved ones, even though they may not have been officially knighted.

I, for one, certainly welcome the inclusion of a female warrior in this set, especially because it might welcome some girls to play with this exquisite set. Lego is a toy meant to be enjoyed, and if this inclusion allows for more inclusive play, I can only celebrate it.

I love this one, but I don't have any other castle set. Don't know if it's that good as a separate display piece. If Lego reopened the Castle theme, that would be another story.

> "Which Lego castle set has ever been historically accurate? Yellow castles don't really exist, and while I would love to, I have never met a dragon or a wizard in real life."

Ideas sets that play on classic Lego themes are often seen as the AFOL version of those themes, adding in a level of attention to detail, complexity and quality that surpasses the average child-oriented Lego set. This would seem particularly evident in a set like this that does not go back to the simplistic (but beloved) Black Falcon or Lion Knight theme from the '80s but chooses to have a distinctly more complex, detailed rendering of the theme. This holds true whether talking about the original submission or Lego's apparently cost-cutting de-tuning of it that is making its way to market.

So paying attention to detail while missing on some rather apparent anachronisms leaves only a couple possibilities -- ignorance of the time period or the current trend of political agendas being infused into everything. It's probably a bit of both, considering how unfortunately little historic research is apparently performed when building a set themed to a particular time period and most of the errors being non-political in nature (e.g., the dog breed), while the other is a purposeful tactic that we know is already present in some Lego decisions so may have played a role here as well.

Honestly, none of it is a big deal and the anarchonisms are easily remedied. If anything it's just unfortunate that merely pointing them out triggers certain folks with less cognitive maturity to start attacking and slandering fellow AFOLs for even making the observation.

Lego: Makes a German shepard coloration for Husky FOR ONE SET
Also Lego: Adds Husky to Medieval set

If it ain't historically accurate, then it ain't historically accurate, and that's fine to point out. Neither the woman or the dog are accurate. LEGO should be striving towards accuracy.

@antsbull said:
" @mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic."

This is a toy..... not real life. Time to put away the misogny..."

I think LEGO Castle stopped being concerned with realism around the time witches and dragons started popping up.

Although I do remember in the 2000s there was a Knight’s Kingdom book that did touch on that. One of the plot points was (if I remember right I was 7 at the time) that the princess wanted to be a knight but wasn’t allowed to due to certain standards at the time. But come on, this is a toy that’s supposed to be fun and imaginative. Nothing kills the imagination more than being told “you can’t be a heroic warrior that saves the kingdom because you were born on the wrong side of the coin toss”.

Plus this blacksmith workshop can easily fit into a generic fantasy setting of some sort where female knights aren’t out of the question. You know, something like D&D or the Elder Scrolls.

Black Falcon Knights: We are here to find Balian of Ibelin, who defended Jerusalem against the Saracens.

Balian: I am a blacksmith.

Hmm, I guess I'd need to give the blacksmith a different hairpiece first...

Great set!

Does anyone else find the 18+ packaging a bit gloomy for a set like this? I like it for the display pieces, like the train and the helmets and the mosaics, and obviously architecture, which pioneered it, but this feels a bit too fun to be so serious. It's like the adult covers for the Harry Potter novels.

Why would you be into Lego if not because it's fun?

@PixelTheDragon said:
" @antsbull said:
" @mr_Fikou said:
"Okay, so aren't female medieval knights like, not an actual thing? Same goes for the female hunter, although to a lesser extent I imagine. And also, I really dislike the huge Ninjago shoulder armor for that one knight. Sooo unrealistic."

This is a toy..... not real life. Time to put away the misogny..."

I think LEGO Castle stopped being concerned with realism around the time witches and dragons started popping up.

Although I do remember in the 2000s there was a Knight’s Kingdom book that did touch on that. One of the plot points was (if I remember right I was 7 at the time) that the princess wanted to be a knight but wasn’t allowed to due to certain standards at the time. But come on, this is a toy that’s supposed to be fun and imaginative. Nothing kills the imagination more than being told “you can’t be a heroic warrior that saves the kingdom because you were born on the wrong side of the coin toss”.

Plus this blacksmith workshop can easily fit into a generic fantasy setting of some sort where female knights aren’t out of the question. You know, something like D&D or the Elder Scrolls.

"

I mean it is the Renaissance era (shortly after the Medieval age though) but Joan of Arc is pretty famous as a woman warrior. The Knights Templar also admitted women to its ranks for at least its first decade of existence. A siege on Tortosa, Spain where the men were already off to battle elsewhere caused the women in town to armor up and go to battle against the invading army eventually becoming the Order of the Hatchet.

Yes knights were usually predominantly European males, but there were many exceptions; such as African (Moorish by the name of the time) knights who fought for European crowns. So its pretty disingenuous to try and gatekeep history as "this was a white man role" when history repeatedly showed their were women and ethnically diverse people in the role of knight, even if they were indeed rare.

More info here: https://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/wom-kn.htm

@Ayliffe said:
"mate they're oblong-shaped people with claw hands and bright yellow skin in a children's building brick toy, "realism" isn't a scapegoat you can hide your views behind here aye."
I'm not supporting the person you're replying to, but I just want to say that I hate this argument of "this aspect of a thing is unrealistic, therefore you are not allowed to point out any other unrealistic aspects", which unfortunately is often used to dismiss any criticism against various stories and fictional media (I'm speaking in general here, not specifically about this set). There are a lot of dimensions of "realism" or "believability", and although these things are subjective to a degree, there are generally some expectations of what is considered plausible or believable even in the context of an "unrealistic" thing, based on the genre, style or setting of the thing. E.g. most people would probably agree that it is "unrealistic" to suddenly have modern technology in a medieval fantasy setting, even if such a setting is already unrealistic by itself. In terms of this particular set, the word "medieval" in the name may impose some expectations of historical "believability" for some people, even though it's just a "toy" in the end of the day. The choice of minifigures for this set doesn't bother me personally, but if it bothers someone else, I can't really blame them any more than if they were bothered by the inclusion of, say, a phone or a laser gun in such a set. And that doesn't automatically make them a horrible bigoted person or whatever.

@Legonk said:
It is also important to remember that if this is an actual building in medieval times, it would probably have been painted in bright primary colors (it's not like medieval painters necessarily had access to our vast modern color palette). Color preferences in the past also definitely tended towards bright, saturated, eye-catching shades that may look garish or childish to our modern aesthetics (just look at reconstructions of the painting on Roman and medieval statues or heraldry). Also who would want to paint their (medieval) business with muted colors - that would not attract business!

More drab colors generally result from fading/aging/exposure to elements, and if this is a well-maintained building, it would be repainted regularly (for protection as well as aesthetics). When one sees old buildings today, their colors are often not what they were in the building's heyday.

@TimotheusFlavii
Yes, there were yellow(ish) castles! (though the description says salmon pink):
https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewgabriele/2018/09/12/middle-ages-garish-colors/?sh=42d544182416

There are multiple recordings of women donning armour in the middle ages:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_post-classical_warfare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_CrusadesWarrior_Women_of_the_Crusades

An interesting thesis on the matter:
https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10092/2915/thesis_fulltext.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

To say that women never donned armour during the middle ages, is, in fact, historically inaccurate. Yes, social norms were strict, and the vast majority of women never wore armour, but there are multiple recorded instances of women performing military roles. If you want to judge a Lego set on historical accuracy, please do not disregard a lot of historical sources stating the opposite of what you describe as "historically accurate".

Additionally, Lego has not stated its goal while making this set was to create a historically accurate representation of the middle-ages. I think its goal, as with most sets, is to create a nice play- and display piece, and I think with the addition of a female figure, a lot of interesting playtime can be achieved for a wide range of kids and adults alike.

Wow, people find all sorts of things to complain about... Meanwhile I'm just very happy to be living in a time that has so many great sets that people feel like they can nitpick the fatchwerk (that's a new word for me today). I thought my 10193 would be the peak of medieval architecture in my collection, but I think I'll have to buy this and relegate that old blacksmith's to being a grist mill or something.

@CCC said:
" @TimotheusFlavii said:
" @audaver said:
" @TimotheusFlavii said:
"Well, I love the set, but I don't love the price: here in Belgium, it sells for 169,99 euro, while in Germany, it sells for 149,99 euro. I thought Lego had eliminated the price differences between Eurozone member states, but apparently not. 20 euro difference is quite significant, especially when you consider that 169,99 euro is equal to ca. 206 US dollars, while in the US, the set ships for 150!"

Whenever I see complaints about price differences the US is always mentioned. Nobody ever seems to remember to account for the fact that the US display prices include no applicable taxes whilst most other countries do.

The Belgian price is a bit higher and that isn't explainable by the difference in tax rates between Germany and Belgium but you can't directly compare them to the US listed price."

US sales taxes are at most 10%, if I remember correctly. Even then, 150 + 15 USD = 165 USD, which is still 41 USD less than what people in Belgium have to pay, and apparently 53 USD less than what people in Finland have to pay. Hell, even the Germans, who have to pay 182 USD for the set, still pay more than US citizens. There is indeed a price difference, even if you take US sales tax into account."

While the Germans pay more than the USA, this is down to government, not LEGO. 150 USD plus about 20% VAT gives 180 USD so the difference is minimal. US citizens pay for things like healthcare and social care in other ways, whereas other nations tax instead. As for Belgians paying more, you are a smaller country with different language requirements for advertising and customer services, so extra costs are spread over fewer people. You can always travel to Germany and buy it there if you want to pay the German price."

Translation itself cannot account for such a high difference, it's a load of balderdash and piffle, just like when TLG claims that the VAT difference between Belgium and Germany (21% vs 19%, if I'm not mistaken) is responsible for higher prices in the former country. If so, why are certain sets like Ninjago City Gardens (€299.99), Mos Eisley Cantina (€349.99), Police Station (€179.99) exactly the same price?

While I'm absolutely thrilled by this set, I am absolutely gutted by the price difference. Besides, going to Germany to buy a set at a more reasonable price (which I enjoy doing, as I can taste some German culinary specialties) is presently not an option due to travel bans and also the closing of shops.

I'll be writing an e-mail to Customer Service in order to let them know that I'm fed up that Belgium and other countries are always being disadvantaged — all prices in the Eurozone should be identical.

@DavidBrick said:
"If you want history, read a book. This is a toy company."

What's wrong with wanting your toys and models to be historically accurate? I want Star Wars UCS sets to be screen accurate too.

I like the set, but im afraid it will make one of my favorite display pieces, medieval market village, look like mediocre market village...

Sidenote:
I would really appreciate if brickset stays clear of twitter-hatemob bs like calling others "cis white males" accusatory.

Can someone remind me - was there this much commotion about historical accuracy when the Pirates of Barracuda Bay set was revealed? Pirates never flew the skull and crossbones flags permanently - they only used it when they attacked another ship, and in the set no other flags are present... If we start judging sets by historical accuracy, I think a lot of fan favourites will come under intense scrutiny...

> "If you want history, read a book. This is a toy company. Heck the minifigures are yellow, that's not historically correct either."

Please direct your attention to Baldarek's reply a few posts above yours that addresses that sort of silly comment. They put Medieval in the set name, therefore it is tied to a specific historic time period and critique can rightly be made without anyone who is pointing out discrepancies necessarily being some sort of horrible monster. Civil communication is unfortunately no longer taught, it seems. Everything has to be some sort of moral crusade (pun intended). Sad.

@Graupensuppe said:
" @DavidBrick said:
"If you want history, read a book. This is a toy company."

What's wrong with wanting your toys and models to be historically accurate? I want Star Wars UCS sets to be screen accurate too."

The difference there is that for Star Wars UCS sets there is a single definitive reference (what's onscreen in the movies or TV episodes) with authoritative ancillary materials (production drawings and promotional art). This set isn't based on anything singular like that, so UCS-style "accuracy" is undefined, like zero divided by zero. That leaves a lot more room for creative freedom, including fun stuff like a female knight.

Anyone else notice what appear to be 3x3 round tiles near the front steps and furnace? (Look at the round tile under the barrel with the swords in it.)

@LordDunsany said:
" @Legonk said:
It is also important to remember that if this is an actual building in medieval times, it would probably have been painted in bright primary colors (it's not like medieval painters necessarily had access to our vast modern color palette). Color preferences in the past also definitely tended towards bright, saturated, eye-catching shades that may look garish or childish to our modern aesthetics (just look at reconstructions of the painting on Roman and medieval statues or heraldry). Also who would want to paint their (medieval) business with muted colors - that would not attract business!

More drab colors generally result from fading/aging/exposure to elements, and if this is a well-maintained building, it would be repainted regularly (for protection as well as aesthetics). When one sees old buildings today, their colors are often not what they were in the building's heyday. "
Interesting!

The set looks great. Wes did a great job with it. Let's have some positivity here. You don't like it, don't buy it.

The colors are different, but this is more eye catching. I think this will have a MUCH better chance at selling to the masses. And the inclusion of Black Falcons is awesome.

I like the little details and overall design. Only flaw would be no goat (even though I have some, could always use more). The husky likely should be a different breed, but oh well. Maybe they need a sled pulled in the winter?

I will get it eventually. Day 1? I'm debating. I have such a backlog that it seems silly to buy more.

Excellent set!
Female knight? That's a very good!
Many of so called purists here easily overlook the fact this is no HISTORICAL RECREATION, but PHANTASY , so all their arguments against female knights and such are utterly pointless.

I always liked the color scheme of the Black Falcons. Lots of Castle factions use black and red, so it's become a bit basic. The 2011 Dragons used black, green, and brown and while that was nice and earthy it didn't really "pop." The BFs however used black, light gray, and bright blue. A dark base color with popping accents that hasn't been done to death in media. Quite pleasing.

If anyone has copies of 10193 and 7189 laying around this would go AMAZINGLY with them!

@jcilkmfoster said:
"Anyone else notice what appear to be 3x3 round tiles near the front steps and furnace? (Look at the round tile under the barrel with the swords in it.)"

Good eye. This piece is new to me also, however I checked Bricklink and it appears to be approx a year old and in 6 sets, not counting this one.

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=67095

Note the casual D&D dice in the set photo with the lamp...

I am excited for this set. The Medieval/Fantasy genre was always something that resonated with me. I remember learning to play Warcraft: Orcs & Humans with my tiny child hands on the old family computer. My little brother and I had a huge collection of Fisher Price Castle sets and figures, and when I was old enough for Lego, one of my first sets was the "Sea Serpent 6057".

I appreciate that Lego hasn't compromise their own aesthetics with this set and theme and went with a more colorful palette and playful design. I'm not getting my hopes up for more castle, but I wouldn't be opposed to it.

Like the Barracuda Bay set from last year, this one may just spark my interest in designing more MOCs based on this theme. I'm currently redesigning the Red Beard Runner in an updated style reminiscent of the new Barracuda, if you are interested in seeing it fleshed out, follow me on flickr;)

@Baldarek

Thank you. People make this fallacy all the time and it bugs me. There's a difference between things that are inaccurate but suit an aesthetic/concept, and things that are both inaccurate AND stick out like a sore thumb.

Nobody noticed or cared that some of the props in Raiders of the Lost Ark were from the 40's, even though the movie took place in the 30's, but if one of the Nazi characters had been a black guy, it would've raised a few eyebrows.

I like this a lot, though I liked the leaked image from earlier too. I note that it isn't nearly as bright in the lifestyle images as the first picture we saw.

Sad there's no goat, and I'm not feeling it for the husky, but that's not of much consequence. The chairs shown in the dining scene look rather large for minifig scale, not sure what's going on there? I'll look forward to a detailed review of this, it'll probably be a while before I can get it. So many nice sets on my want list...

Anyone else considering including this in a modern city/street? I'm thinking it could maybe be a museum of blacksmithing and life in the middle ages.

I’ll be getting this day one, I can’t wait to build it as soon as I get it sometime in March

I really dont understand why this set in the netherlands is €169,- and in other European countries its €149,- or even less, this is a huge price difference.

What are called the Middle Ages extended from the 5th to the 15th century. Even from a Western European-centric view, it is vast historical period covering a range of cultures, kingdoms, empires, and civilizations, with its own highs and lows (the Middle Ages are thus often divided into Early, High, and Late phases). It is important to remember that there was not a single monolithic "Western" medieval civilization. Thus it is difficult to map something marketed as "medieval" to an exact historical template. The idea that most people have of what is properly historically medieval is thus often a gross oversimplification and tends to ignore/gloss over historical examples that do not fit into their tidy view.

That being said, there are some common trends that can be generally concluded (again staying in a Western European-centric world). It is true that knights (in the mounted warrior class sense of the word) were almost never women (unless in disguise). However, as has been pointed out by several others, women bearing armor and arms were not unheard of in the Middle Ages, if still a bit uncommon under ordinary circumstances. Thus having an openly female warrior in the set, while not necessarily the norm, is not exactly conspicuously anachronistic for the time period either. As for the husky dog, one could also view it as an adopted wolf pup.

Ten years later... my medieval village finally has a new building. This is absolutely gorgeous and the nod to the black falcons is.. *kiss*.

Day 1, hour 1 purchase.

@lordofdragonss:
I’m disappointed that all three Black Falcon logos match. What happened to the time-honored tradition of every Black Falcon having a slightly different logo?

Pretty sure they didn't have ABS in the "mid-evil dark ages" - this set is a load of rubbish. I can't believe that TLG would try to sell us something so grossly . . . sorry, I can't think of the word. What's the word for when someone is selling something, but you don't want to buy that thing for some ridiculous reason, and therefore the seller clearly designed the whole scheme just to personally insult you and your values/online degree in history? There has to be a German word for that. . . . I can't wait to buy this set out of spite and then easily modify it - because LEGO - to better suit what I would like to display/play with/hoard in the closet to resell later. February 1 can't get here fast/slow enough.

Ps. TLG must be congratulating themselves for convincing at least some people that branding a set 18+ means it's not a "toy." Several of the above comments have completely justified that marketing decision.

@DavidBrick said:
"Stop making excuses / changing the subject for your sexism."

Do you consider those who pointed out that the husky may be out of place in a European medieval setting canine racists too?

It seems there were plenty of women who fought In medieval times

https://www.quora.com/Were-there-any-women-knights-in-the-Medieval-era

While watching the official launch video earlier today on YouTube, something the official set designer and graphic designer said reminded me of a previous article here. I think we now have the answer on why an official release Ideas set might vary so much from the fan submission.

They admitted that they already had their own ideas of doing this; that they had made several of their own MOCs and designs and so had some parts ready to go from the outset. It seems that this pair of designers were just waiting for a castle theme set to get past the 10,000 mark so that they could make a new (and profitable) Ideas product which is, in the end, actually of their own design. The level of respect shown to the actual Lego fan by including "mountains" in the door sign and a back pack and compass are so minor they will be forgotten in a short time.

TLG have obviously been waiting for a chance to relaunch the Castle theme in some way and this has given them the perfect opportunity. I just hope it doesn't take away from other themes that are also deserving of development and investment. At 6.2p (UK) per piece I might pick it up at some point, but not a must-have for me.