Random set of the day: Knight's Castle
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6073 Knight's Castle, released during 1984. It's one of 10 Castle sets produced that year. It contains 410 pieces and 6 minifigs, and its retail price was US$27.
It's owned by 3,007 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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54 comments on this article
I appreciate how this can become a barrier wall or stay a full and complete castle.
We need more sets that can be complete buildings.
Oh no... the horse on the left needs help...
classic lego
"why doesnt lego release more Castle sets" in 3, 2.....
Lego made castles? How come they're never mentioned?
“I don’t imagine this set will be very popular with this crowd.”
This has been your daily dose of sarcasm. Thank you.
I like how all the flags are blowing in the same direction!
Haven't seen that set in many, many, years. I probably still have all the pieces, though.
Looks like a scaled down version of 375.
Not that there is anything wrong with that.
It was a cheaper way to get a castle, but not have to buy the 6080 King's Castle, Nice set. Recently bricklinked it back into a set as I had all of the pieces (well most) and the figures. Missed these as they were pricey when I was a kid, but got most of the mid eighties Castle sets again.
In the Netherlands this was called Castle Donkervoort. Does that mean anything in Dutch?
@Virgilnz said:
""why doesnt lego release more Castle sets" in 3, 2....."
Followed immediately by
@sjr60 said :
"Lego made castles? How come they're never mentioned?"
Is great cosmic timing
Simple, yet effective.
Could've sworn I've seen this one as RSoTD already? Or maybe there was a throwback review recently...?
@Norikins said:
"In the Netherlands this was called Castle Donkervoort. Does that mean anything in Dutch?"
Perhaps the name was inspired by the Dutch sports car brand Donkervoort.
Classic Castle is the Classic Space for Castle guys.
This is one of their sets. We salute it.
Interesting that both this castle and 6074 are built on normal green plates, while other castles from this era - 375 , 6080 , and 6085 - are built on baseplates, or a raised baseplate for 6081 and 6086
This castle (when closed) is actually wider than it is deep. I appreciate the inclusion of 6 shields in this set compared to the comparatively stingy 2 included in 6074.
So...yellow saddle gets a shield with blue trim, and blue saddle gets one with yellow trim, plus they have entirely different outfits. Was this castle built before the invention of matching uniforms?
That splash of red for the archway just seems so out of place, especially when you surround it with predominantly blue Falcons like that. The rest of the castle could have used a bit more colour to balance it out a bit
Come on, it's Black Friday.
This RSOTD should have been 6085
:-)
Great set. I think the first time out for that 4623a 1x2 plate with arm part?
6 figures, 2 horses, and had many small sets with horses and a bigger castle in the same year.
I mean, 31120 isn't bad, the 2 knights are great, the parts and build are nice, but even with 21325 it doesn't make it a Castle theme. (I'm not complaining those sets exist at all, since it's been years since pretty much anything even Nexo Knight ended in 2018 so that's 3 years minimum) , but I hope it won't just be a large set every X years, but more regular smaller sets in-between as well.
At the very minimum a horse under Xtra would help a lot, like a Castle version of 40341 : Sea Accessories with a horse, and maybe a weapon/shield pack version of 40375 : Sports Accessories
LEGO had Starter Packs, then People Packs and Blister Packs in City but nowadays in 2021, all that seems left are the €20-€30 Star Wars battle packs ?
I found weeks ago an extremely copious and in-depth theory about the Black Falcons that would give MatPat a run for his money: http://nblug.org.uk/general/the-black-falcons/
Unfortunately, this was before this year's Creator Medieval Castle was released, and the article hasn't been updated. 31120 is sort of a wrench to throw into the theory. I think suddenly having a large new castle contradicts the given narrative of the Black Falcons falling out of power. The new set may be intended to be set in the 80s Castle world, but that would undermine the article's assumption the in-universe timeline was chronological and synchronous with real life release of the sets.
@Norikins said:
"In the Netherlands this was called Castle Donkervoort. Does that mean anything in Dutch?"
Donkervoort is an typical Dutch surname that has some medieval vibe to it. It' hard to explain cause you actually have to know our language and culture to understand that.
The Donker part means dark. Voort is a slang from voorwaarts which means forward, like the one that created the name wanted his family to go forward.
It would be awesome if Lego made a much larger castle but similar to this, with Black Falcons, for the anniversary set they put out polls for previously.
I really hope if Lego ever does any more castles that they include some regular buildings either separate or built into the castle walls (like in Kingdoms Joust), to represent the medieval towns that were inside castle walls. It would also be great to get some regular peasants again.
I don't understand those who have to hate on historical themes. If you don't think Lego would ever do them again (whether as individual 18+ set/s or a whole new theme), cool that's your opinion. No reason to go around dissing anyone who wants historical themes back, often for good reasons.
I myself wasn't even born when many of the Classic Castle/Pirates/Western/Space sets were around, but I'd still like modern versions of them (like POBB and Medieval Castle Creator Set). You can't blame 'nostalgia' in that case. (and nostalgia isn't a bad thing either!)
Sadly still missing this.
Nice small but effective castle
@Collector_Nonas said:
"Oh no... the horse on the left needs help..."
Just noticed this, can't unsee it now!
"It's only a model." ... Wait, it really IS a model!
@PurpleDave said:
"So...yellow saddle gets a shield with blue trim, and blue saddle gets one with yellow trim, plus they have entirely different outfits. Was this castle built before the invention of matching uniforms?"
Simple: As it turned out, after the made the saddles fit, one of the horses relly didn't like its rider, so the knights mutually agreed to swap steeds. They couldn't order new saddles because the military budget for this year was already mostly used up and the royal treasurer said no.
However, they kept the shields as intended.
High-five for Huwbot!
As a child I had 6080 and not this nor 6074 but recently I acquired both of those and I was surprised just how small this castle is compared to 6080. 6074 is also a lot smaller but at least has those big towers next to the gate making it look bigger.
@LordDunsany said:
"This castle (when closed) is actually wider than it is deep. I appreciate the inclusion of 6 shields in this set compared to the comparatively stingy 2 included in 6074."
This. If there's one thing 6074 could have done better it's to give at least a couple more shields.
@myth said:
[Interesting that both this castle and 6074 are built on normal green plates, while other castles from this era - 375 , 6080 , and 6085 - are built on baseplates, or a raised baseplate for 6081 and 6086]
Also this :-). So you have 6080 and later on receive 6067: they don't match up exactly... unless you slide another baseplate under the baseplate of 6080 and then it does match, you just have to find a way to anchor the castle on the baseplate underneath ;-)
The epitome of rose tinted glasses.
This was my first castle set and the biggest one I had as a kid. Added a few more later but still this was the base for all play. I still have it and put it together from time to time...
@Collector_Nonas said:
"Oh no... the horse on the left needs help..."
I think the horse on the left needs to wait until the shrooms wear off.
The larger Kings castle 6080 was the recent RSOD. This was the medium sized black knights castle, who could be seen as a renegade wanting his own castle and baseplate leading to lots of potential play conflicts with the king once you add all the other accessory sets. As the former was more popular, this is potentially more difficult to find in the secondary markets. The large wall panels where new at the time and seemed to lower the age to 5 years, just leaving the battlements as the only slow part of the build.
castle, Castle, CASTLE ...
I had this one as a kid. Just loved it. I knew the construction steps by heart then :D
Gotta love the classic Castle sets.
Personally I have 3 of this set alone, along with my other classic castle sets.
I really LOVE the classic Castle sets from the 80's and early 90's
LEGO really need to get back into these solid sets that can be used either as a closed castle/fortress or a wall section with a gate and drawbridge. that can be connected to various other sets from the theme, like the Blacksmith shop 6040 or the Armor Shop 6041.
One of the best features with the old classic sets were that you could create towns that were surrounded by a ringwall for protection against bandits and enemy forces.
Well if you had enough sets obviously.
Anyway nothing beats the classic Castle and Space sets from the 80's and early 90's. The sets of today don't come near them in awesomeness.
Well that's my oppinion anyway.
Toh, the castle set of my infantry!
Still a nice small castle set, with a good bunch of minifigures, I've enriched it with parts and extra minifigures in my display shelf but I'm considering to resume it as it was originally.
408 interlocking pieces. Love it
@Brickchap said:
"It would be awesome if Lego made a much larger castle but similar to this, with Black Falcons, for the anniversary set they put out polls for previously.
I really hope if Lego ever does any more castles that they include some regular buildings either separate or built into the castle walls (like in Kingdoms Joust), to represent the medieval towns that were inside castle walls. It would also be great to get some regular peasants again.
I don't understand those who have to hate on historical themes. If you don't think Lego would ever do them again (whether as individual 18+ set/s or a whole new theme), cool that's your opinion. No reason to go around dissing anyone who wants historical themes back, often for good reasons.
I myself wasn't even born when many of the Classic Castle/Pirates/Western/Space sets were around, but I'd still like modern versions of them (like POBB and Medieval Castle Creator Set). You can't blame 'nostalgia' in that case. (and nostalgia isn't a bad thing either!)"
People don't hate on the themes themselves so much as they are tired of the people that complain that they haven't made castle sets like these recently... on places like press releases of a Home Alone set for example. Or with the review of the new creator castle. Which is, you know... a complete, enclosed castle just like this one. (And no, not exactly. But it's as close as you can reasonably expect).
Yes, we get it. There are plenty of AFOLs who want castle sets. But too often it's 'why can we have X, but not castle!? X is so niche! Why would they produce that, but not castle?' Or the equivalent of 'X sucks because I don't like it. Bring back castle!!!' (because apparently this kind of fan only likes castle).
This also happens with classic space, but less often on articles unrelated to spaceships.
The irritation comes from these kind of people. There's nothing wrong with wanting castle sets. There's just a vocal minority that seem to be present in every article to the point of being drinking-game material sometimes.
@Kwolly said:
" @Norikins said:
"In the Netherlands this was called Castle Donkervoort. Does that mean anything in Dutch?"
Donkervoort is an typical Dutch surname that has some medieval vibe to it. It' hard to explain cause you actually have to know our language and culture to understand that.
The Donker part means dark. Voort is a slang from voorwaarts which means forward, like the one that created the name wanted his family to go forward."
It could also be meant as an old Dutch form of fort. Which would make it dark fortress.
What a coincidence! I just got the medieval blacksmith from my parents after my final HSC exam!
I will say though, this is a nice castle!
I was 11when this came out, and I do recal Lego being very pricey, thus beginning my own Dark Ages. It wasn't for another 10 years until I rediscovered The Brick and kicked myself for buying GIJoe when I could have built a Medieval kingdom.
It's... Just.. So... Beautiful
@Brickchap:
Bionicle won the poll as it had been set up, and they reorganized the numbers to put Space on top, but I believe even combined numbers didn’t change where Castle ended up ranking. I’d be shocked if they do anything besides Space for the anniversary set.
As for the other bit, liking a theme doesn’t mean you have to be delusional about how successful it would be in today’s market. Kids (except perhaps in Germany) aren’t exactly seeking out castle-based toy lines, or you’d see more castle toys in stores. I see more pirate-themed toys these days. Castle superfans May talk loudly, but money talks louder.
Somewhere I saw a statement by a LEGO employee that said the three classic genre themes (Space, Castle, and Pirate) are currently being limited to the occasional Creator 3-in-1 set, so if this is what you really want, don’t pass on those sets when they come out. They’re really your only way of providing hard proof of any claim that these themes would thrive in the current market. If they don’t sell, a full theme has a snowball’s chance of getting approved.
@jkb:
I’m pretty sure the old horses are all clones of a single horse, and just dyed to make them different colors. The saddles, therefore, should be interchangeable. From what I understand, the original horse is no longer around to clone, so they had to find a new subject that looks really similar, but does have a slightly different build that doesn’t fit in all the same outfits.
@T79:
Uh...not quite. A baseplate floating on top of another baseplate sits nearly flush with a plate pressed down onto a baseplate. So, you can fix the height mismatch by shimming _everything_ with baseplates. Of course, putting a full-size baseplate on top of another full-size baseplate doesn’t leave any exposed studs that you can use to anchor the set in place, but now that the construction surfaces are even, you can anchor the sets to each other and trust that will keep the baseplates underneath from shifting out of position.
@PurpleDave As far as I understand, back then they didn't have the technology to clone horses.
As a city child, I have to admit that, if they hadn't different colours, horses would all look the same to me.
@jkb:
Clearly they did. They’re all the same size and shape, habitually take the same pose...
@Brickalili said:
"That splash of red for the archway just seems so out of place, especially when you surround it with predominantly blue Falcons like that. The rest of the castle could have used a bit more colour to balance it out a bit"
My head canon: It's either paint that's wearing in places (painted glossy to look like blood); blood (possibly enchanted to weaken enemies); or a magic infused stone like dragonstone used to repel magical creatures. If the latter, perhaps the Dragon Gate was built long before the rest of the castle.
This is the set! This is the set that got me started on LEGO when I was a kid. Sure, I had owned a basic building set and a handful of small classic Space sets prior to getting this set, but this was the set that really got me into LEGO. And to think, it almost didn't happen: I had wanted a Transformer named Skyfire for my birthday, but K-Mart didn't have him in stock. Rather than wait on a raincheck, my mother suggested that I find another toy. I picked this LEGO set. Over the years, I collected all of the classic Castle sets from 1984-1992ish (at which point my spending shifted to more adolescent concerns). I kept this and all of my Castle sets in their boxes with their instructions. Such memories!
@Norikins said:
"In the Netherlands this was called Castle Donkervoort. Does that mean anything in Dutch?"
Its just a name and a car brand
@Librarian1976:
If you were shopping for Skyfire, you never would have found him. That’s the Japanese name. In the US, he’s called Jetfire.
@Librarian1976 said:
"This is the set! This is the set that got me started on LEGO when I was a kid. Sure, I had owned a basic building set and a handful of small classic Space sets prior to getting this set, but this was the set that really got me into LEGO. And to think, it almost didn't happen: I had wanted a Transformer named Skyfire for my birthday, but K-Mart didn't have him in stock. Rather than wait on a raincheck, my mother suggested that I find another toy. I picked this LEGO set. Over the years, I collected all of the classic Castle sets from 1984-1992ish (at which point my spending shifted to more adolescent concerns). I kept this and all of my Castle sets in their boxes with their instructions. Such memories!"
And having owned Jetfire from the 80s since the 80s, I can tell you first hand LEGO holds up much better. Mine was well played with and though mostly complete, he is definitely struggling.
@peterlmorris:
I knew someone in college who had green poster putty holding part of his together just to have it displayed on a shelf.