Random set of the day: Castle Mini-Figures
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6102 Castle Mini-Figures, released during 1985. It's one of 3 Castle sets produced that year. It contains 36 pieces and 6 minifigs, and its retail price was US$5.5.
It's owned by 1,669 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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An alliance must have been struck between the two kingdoms.
Or perhaps not, that one guy's about to get an arrow to the back.
I can’t imagine how hard it must be to wield an axe that big while using a shield with the other arm.
@MCLegoboy said:
"An alliance must have been struck between the two kingdoms.
Or perhaps not, that one guy's about to get an arrow to the back."
Oh it's just a friendly arrow to the shoulder. 'Tis but a flesh wound!
@MCLegoboy: That Black Falcon must not be sure of his aim at all.
Castle Battle pack. We need a re-release.
Talking about shooting someone in the back...
Look how happy the dude is about it too
Everyone were happy. Those were simpler times.
Why do the Falcons have low-quality weapons that appear to be made of wood? If that archer shoots the Crusader swordsman in the back, there's an enemy archer and axeman with a black axe. A black axe that is made to chop wood and could break the Falcons' weapons. Then again, black also has represented wood in the Castle sets, such as the trees in Forestmen sets. I guess what was meant to be a joke over which side would win in a fight has come to an analysis of weapon material. Well, just going by the solid colors, before metallics were introduced, brown is probably the worst. It's either wood or thoroughly rusted iron. I suppose it could also be bronze or copper, but that would be anachronistic. Black could also be wood, or iron or steel. Gray would be stone if going by Minecraft logic, but of course, even if it's the same color as the castle bricks, gray weapons are probably meant to be a metal like iron or steel. Bows were always wooden and brown, but crossbows were sometimes gray. I don't know if crossbows were ever historically on occasion made of metal, but I wouldn't be surprised if some launching mechanisms would be too forceful for wood. I guess I might write more of my thoughts on Lego weapon materials tomorrow, as it's behind Brickset's GMT.
On the way to the Blacksmith from a few days ago
I was just searching up the Juniors Castle sets (as a seventeen-year-old guy I think the Princess Play Castle is one of the best Juniors sets) and this becomes set of the day. Coincidence? I think so!
Oh wow! Classic! @JRBricks mentioned a re-release. How fun and shocking would it be if TLG out of nowhere sold a Castle minifig pack. Us AFOLs would go bonkers. Oh well.
That reminds me, I had a deal going for two copies of this set with boxes. Better get on that before someone else does.
My brother and I had the next Castle Mini Figures pack, 6103, which had an even better assortment of factions (including a peasant!), but this one is pretty awesome, too!
Ah...these guys :D...second favorite theme (Classic Space being first of course)...
Kinda' makes me want to do a diorama of 'Holy Grail', probably the second time the French Knights are encountered near the end of the movie ("Come back here, so I can taunt you a second time..."...), or A.D.&D...or both :D.
Look, it's Australian politicians in the 13th century! Using lousy weapons and ready to stab their 'allies' in the back! haha.
This is a great set, perhaps we will get something like this for the 90th anniversary.
Given how happy they all are, I can imagine them walking along with the theme from Monty Python's Holy Grail and then they break into "We're Knights of the Round Table, we dance when we're able"... (or perhaps it should be square table since they are Lego LOL).
Side note: I wonder if the Forestmen ever encountered the Knights of Ni in the forest?
True BATTLE PACK!!!
Three soldiers for each side - ready to fight to the smiley death.
Ok see!?!
We JUST had the first Town Battle Pack, and now huwbot picks a Classic Castle Battle Pack?
Honestly Huw, you might need to check that code and make sure it’s not modifying itself.
The Black Falcons using brown weapons (this could represent copper/bronze, I suppose, or rusty iron) is a nice touch, but ideally the two should have different helmet types.
I remember "battle packs" like this from the good ol' days. We got 6 minifigures and NO crappy token vehicle...AND WE LIKED IT! Really, this is all people want for Stormtrooper battle packs. No need to throw in some speeder bikes or something else. Just give us the minifigs!
Hell, if they made packs of 6 Castle, 6 Space, 6 Town, and 6 Pirate minifigs for the 90th, I guarantee they'd sell like crazy!
@GSR_MataNui:
Oddly enough, released from that range, the arrow really wouldn’t do as much damage as you’d expect. Much like how a bullet achieves its fastest speed as it exits the barrel, an arrow gains speed up until the moment the nock leaves the bowstring. At full draw, if you pressed the arrowhead against your target and released, it might puncture skin, but won’t punch through the other side. Step back three feet and a proper English longbow will pin you to the wall.
@Norikins:
Like rifles, I expect the body of a crossbow would have historically been made of wood. A crossbow is worthless if you can’t lift it to your shoulder to fire even the first bolt. The mechanisms would absolutely need to be metal, though, as wood would splinter under the stress. I think the bolts might have been solid metal, possibly because they didn’t have to deal with “archer’s paradox”, so there was no need for the shaft to be flexible. Modern centerfire bows might be able to handle metal shafted arrows, but those would have been tricky to aim in the medieval era.
@brick_r:
Accidental Death & Dismemberment?
@Brickchap:
Oh, you said it! Now I said it! I said it again!
It looks like the Black Falcons and Lions are teaming up due to getting lost in enemy territory (possibly Black Monarch's), and are strategizing a plan to get out. The Falcon archer is making sure the Lions' sword-arm doesn't try nothin' fancy. Lion archer is keeping watch, and the axes are awaiting orders.
@PurpleDave , The prongs (bow) of medieval crossbows were initially wood or composite non-ferrous materials but in the later medieval/early Renaissance period, crossbows were being made with steel prongs that could cope with heavier draw weights. Mechanisms were developed to draw the heavy-draw-weight crossbows including goat foot levers, windlasses and cranequins. The stock (body) of crossbows were wood, though sometimes decorated with metal, horn or bone. Medieval and early Renaissance crossbow bolts had an iron or steel head, wood shaft and either (goose) feathers or wood flights.
Entirely metal crossbows did emerge but not until well into the Renaissance. They tended to quite dainty and be novelties/sport/hunting weapons rather than for war.
@Norikins , Because LEGO used not to dual mould or print on weapons (and often still doesn’t), I assumed that the colour of the weapon was for the majority part by volume. So a brown halberd had a wood haft but still had a metal head; it just isn’t represented that way.
The LEGO Group are complete fools for thinking Castle Battlepacks wouldn't sell... Just look at how expensive most of the casual Castle solider figures have gotten on Bricklink because of the sheer amount of army builders and the low supply.
If a set like this were released today, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it managed to outperform even some of the Star Wars Battlepacks.
Who knows, maybe we should start a fan campaign where we keep spamming ReleaseCastleBattlepack and if we keep this for long enough, maybe LEGO will listen. They certainly did listen when the Star War's fans kept asking for the 501st Battlepack, so who knows...
@PurpleDave:
Well...the two things usually go hand in hand...'til afterwards at least...
"Tis but a plastic wound..."
"Oh, come on...I cut off your arms and legs..."
"Right...we'll call it draw then..."
And best thing: You could pull the scene off with minifigures sooooo easy...:)
So in which team were you as a kid? Falcons or Lions.
I was in the black falcons
Probably the best battle pack ever released!
This is one I own. Still got the minifigs in good condition.
I really liked these figure packs. As previously commented, when you want extra figures, that's all you want plus a few accessories.
Wait....only one sword and it doesn't even have a pommel? How are they supposed to end each other rightly?
Apart from that, great collection of figures.
@brick_r said:
" @PurpleDave:
Well...the two things usually go hand in hand...'til afterwards at least...
"Tis but a plastic wound..."
"Oh, come on...I cut off your arms and legs..."
"Right...we'll call it draw then..."
And best thing: You could pull the scene off with minifigures sooooo easy...:)"
https://youtu.be/ZucB5MUYcRs
I love these Minifig packs from the 80’s - I only bought a few at the time, but buying the rest now.
And there’s so many… town, pirates, space, castle…
What glorious times back then... pure figures and accessories. Try and buy 6 of the new black falcon knights from bricks and pieces and you'll think SW battle packs are actually cheap. Sadly the days are gone when selling minifigures only without bricks was a business model.
@PDelahanty said:
"I remember "battle packs" like this from the good ol' days. We got 6 minifigures and NO crappy token vehicle...AND WE LIKED IT! Really, this is all people want for Stormtrooper battle packs. No need to throw in some speeder bikes or something else. Just give us the minifigs!
Hell, if they made packs of 6 Castle, 6 Space, 6 Town, and 6 Pirate minifigs for the 90th, I guarantee they'd sell like crazy!"
677 are we a joke to you?
Pirates came with 4/5 figs, later castle battle packs had 4 figs and a horse. Western did have 3 soldiers and a horse for a pack.
And old town figs are hardly intresting, you cab get them for $0,50 each
Second minifigure pack random set in a week!
I always really liked these classic Castle helmet pieces. Later castle themes have cool helmets too, such as Knights' Kingdom I's https://brickset.com/parts/design-30273; but there's something of a classic charm about the older designs, especially the two in this set. My aunt and uncle had a box of old Lego which included several of both, and on the occasions I played with it when we visited them, I always had my eye on those helmets in particular.
Eventually I did add one such helmet to my collection from 2538, but I never did get any of the other type in the end. Except on a keychain minifigure, I guess, but that wasn't removable so I would say it didn't really count.
LEGO needs to re-release this set!!!
@LegoDavid:
Sells =/= Sells enough.
Look up the prices of older SW minifigs for some perspective. Some top $100. These would absolutely sell to nostalgic AFOLs, but to take on SW, they’d also have to sell to kids (and not just in Germany). If licensed themes couldn’t sell circles around the vintage themes many of us grew up with, there wouldn’t be so many licenses these days.
@Brickodillo:
Forestmen, Dark Forest, and Dragon Masters.
@WizardOfOss:
The short sword has a pommel. It’s a ball the same diameter as the hilt. He’s just holding his grip so low on the hilt that it’s hidden from this angle.
As for why there’s only one, swords were expensive, and required extensive training to use well. Polearms and spears often had cheap wooden shafts, mass-produced heads, and you could quickly train up a whole army.
@PurpleDave said:
"The short sword has a pommel. It’s a ball the same diameter as the hilt. He’s just holding his grip so low on the hilt that it’s hidden from this angle."
Ah, okay, that's good to know! I mean, it's Lego figures, if they are gonna kill each other they should do it rightly....
(for anyone utterly confused by all this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jETLCm7k3sU )
Does anyone else get the sense that Lego intended the Crusaders to be Western European and the Black Falcons to be Central or Eastern European? As evidence, we have not only the heraldry, but also because actual Crusaders from the west attacked pagans and "heretical" Christians in the east during Medieval times (mostly predating the heraldic age, but not entirely).
@Lord_James said:
For some reason, I always saw the Black Knights as being Central European. I also felt that the Dragon faction from the Kingdoms subtheme had a northern European vibe.
@PurpleDave said:
" @LegoDavid :
Sells =/= Sells enough.
Look up the prices of older SW minifigs for some perspective. Some top $100. These would absolutely sell to nostalgic AFOLs, but to take on SW, they’d also have to sell to kids (and not just in Germany). If licensed themes couldn’t sell circles around the vintage themes many of us grew up with, there wouldn’t be so many licenses these days.
@Brickodillo :
Forestmen, Dark Forest, and Dragon Masters.
@WizardOfOss :
The short sword has a pommel. It’s a ball the same diameter as the hilt. He’s just holding his grip so low on the hilt that it’s hidden from this angle.
As for why there’s only one, swords were expensive, and required extensive training to use well. Polearms and spears often had cheap wooden shafts, mass-produced heads, and you could quickly train up a whole army."
Polearms/spears are, in most situations, also more effective weapons all other things being equal. Even among knights on foot on the battlefield, hafted weapons were the main ones with swords as back-ups. We like to think of swords romantically and for symbolic reasons as being the ultimate weapon, but that wasn’t the case.
$5.50 from 1985 is $13.72 today. 6 castle figs for less than $15… maybe even better than Benny’s Space Squad
@Zander:
We also forget that central Western Europe wasn’t the entire world. In Japan, the katana was revered. There were companion weapons used for close quarters (wakizashi) or last resort (tanto), plus the yumi for ranged combat, but it was frowned upon to stray too far from the katana. Interestingly, the Japanese nagamaki is the only historical pole-sword I’ve ever heard of.
In the Middle East, speed was the name of the game. Plate mail would cook you alive, so there was less need for massive poleaxes that could cleave through it. Horses from the desert weren’t built for fighting with lances, and wood wasn’t exactly easy to come by in some parts of that region. The scimitar was ideally suited to that culture.
Both of these were slashing weapons, where broadswords were aerodynamic clubs. They were more effective against opponents with little to no armor. Polynesian cultures didn’t have access to steel, but obsidian is even sharper. They would embed that or shark teeth in wooden clubs. Again, they didn’t have to deal with plate mail, so things didn’t really get bigger than swords.
In North America, there really wasn’t anything like a sword that I know of, but spears were pretty common. One thing I discovered in Alaska is that, of the six major tribal groups, only the one from the panhandle had weapons that were intended for warfare. The other five were too focused on ensuring the survival of their communities to fight with each other, but they did have need of spears that were capable of hunting large marine mammals.
Where swords did spring up, they usually gained a prominent place in society because they could be worn at your side all day long, most could be sheathed so they didn’t pose a risk of injury if someone bumped into you, and they were often a status symbol due to the amount of work and steel required to produce them. In Viking society, Ulfberht swords were so desirable that counterfeits were produced because they’d fetch a higher price. If ambushed, swords were far more convenient for defense than hauling around a weapon that’s longer than you are tall, especially in tight quarters.
Oh, to be nine again :-)
If only Lego releases a new version of this!!!! Would buy 100 of these!
There is strong demand for castle from AFOL as proven by a lot of the voting and crowd funding. A lot of AFOLs returned from dark ages after the last main line release from 2013. If they do an updated line now, it would sell much better imo.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Zander:
We also forget that central Western Europe wasn’t the entire world. In Japan, the katana was revered. There were companion weapons used for close quarters (wakizashi) or last resort (tanto), plus the yumi for ranged combat, but it was frowned upon to stray too far from the katana. Interestingly, the Japanese nagamaki is the only historical pole-sword I’ve ever heard of."
There is an interesting parallel between European knights and Japanese samurai in the symbolic value attached to swords in both settings and the recognition that other weapons were superior in combat. For centuries, samurai were primarily archers - either from horseback or on foot - not swordsmen. The Japanese also recognised the advantages of polearms over swords and - on the rare occasions that women took to arms - their favoured weapon was the naginata, not the katana or wakizashi.
With regards to staff-swords, they certainly existed in Europe. The Swedes used them for example.
One of the components missing alongside the release of blacksmith and creator castle, the other being more horses.
I guess the lonely knight from 5004419-1 could convert / equip the peasants in those 2 sets and you'd have a 4v4 + a skeleton and horse. ;)
@Zander:
Part of that status probably comes from the fact that weapons like lances were disposable, often not lasting a single battle, while swords could be passed down for generations (especially the more ornamental swords favored during peacetime, which wouldn’t have seen a lot of use in combat).
Women who trained to fight did indeed favor the naginata. It was lighter, faster, and had longer reach than any katana, and could help compensate for disadvantage of size and strength (I know of someone who claimed to be able to fight with naginata and wakizashi at the same time). Besides that, Japan was rigidly hierarchical, both in terms of class and gender, and it was probably almost as taboo for a woman of the samurai caste to use a katana as for a man of a lower caste to do so.
Regarding the nagamaki, it’s really not the same thing. What you’re referring to is a sword-like blade mounted on a spear-like shaft. The nagamaki looked like a regular katana with a really long katana-style hilt that was often equal in length to the blade. It’s likely the basis for Darth Maul’s lightsaber as he uses it during his first confrontation with Qui-Gon on Tatooine. The nagamaki wasn’t a particularly good weapon, which may explain why there are no other weapons like it that I’m aware of. It did have a little more reach, and a lot more leverage, but it was slow and cumbersome, and the added length of the hilt probably made it difficult to change the angle of attack.