Subject:
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Re: New Castle Sucks (so far...)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.castle
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Date:
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Tue, 28 Dec 1999 15:16:41 GMT
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Viewed:
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401 times
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On Mon, 27 Dec 1999, Richard Marchetti (<FnEyty.98r@lugnet.com>) wrote
at 19:15:34
> The gist
> of this post is to complain on behalf of new castle buyers -- that new castle
> sucks!
That depends.
>
> Its not the chunky pieces that make a cool set, its the overall design,
> cleverness of that design, and bricks -- baby -- bricks!!!
This is a very AFOL oriented view. If you look at it as a toy for a
young person, it has to be playable when finished. And by and large, the
new Castle sets have lots of play opportunities.
>
> The best things about the new castle sets are the following: the new king
> minifigure (great face!),
Disagree. Bring back smileys, instead of these juniorised faces with
*pre formed* expressions.
> the return of steep corner slopes, the black maiden
> hat,
Who cares what colour a hat is?
> the female knight, ballistas, and the the stained glass element -- even
> though it shouldn't have been made as a revolving piece (naughty, naughty).
Agreed.
>
> My biggest complaints have to be the lion heads element in tan and the new
> castle curved wall. The lion should certainly have been one of the grey tones
> and NOT tan!
Wrong.
> If they were going to make it tan, could we at least have a tan
> castle to go with it?
No. Having visited a *substantial* number of castles here in England,
and in Wales, I can see nothing wrong with the contrasting colour. If
you think of it as sand instead of tan, it's the right colour for
sandstone.
Sandstone is a nice soft rock which is easy to carve. So the high status
details, like doorways and decorative corbels, are often fashioned from
this sort of stone, while the bulk of the walls are made from rougher
stones which happen to be available locally.
Actually, as most castles were whitewashed, most castle elements should
be white :-)
> This new jousting set (6095) has too many colors where
> the king is seated -- there is nothing coherent about the color choices being
> made -- its just slapping pieces together as a novice might do.
I agree with you here. If they'd used sand instead of grey, it would
look fine :-)
> And it must be stated VERY firmly, that the new castle wall is REALLY poorly
> designed. I am calling for the immediate dismissal of the designer of this
> element! This person hasn't a clue as to what LEGO is about. Truly the most
> horrifying element to yet be seen by these lego-loving eyes...it must be
> understood that the new blue spires are 4x4 at the base, but that the new
> curved castle wall which supports this style of spire is itself 3x4, leaving
> you without the possibility of making a full round/octagonal tower and with a
> spire overhang of 1x4 studs worth of spire!!! You could have made a perfect
> octagonal tower, if it had been designed right, but now you just can't...
Agreed, it's an appalling piece.
But given that TLC is a fairly sophisticated multinational company, I
think you have to give them credit for knowing what they are doing.
If you think of modern LEGO sets as visualisation aids for their
software games, I don't think you will be far off the mark. The fun is
no longer intended to be in the building, but in the playing.
>
> Someone said this to me recently: "I think it must be made clear that lego has
> changed
> and is catering, just like before, to the child market. This does them credit
> and is to be respected." I said, "Yeah, but then what was their mission
> before? Why the change?" Does LEGO think children are even dumber now than
> in my own youth? I hardly think this is a credible assumption...
No, they're not dumber, they just have different interests.
Did you play with the same toys that your parents did?
No. Because some of the things you played with hadn't been invented when
your parents were children.
TLC has to change its products to be able to sell them to its market -
children. I think I read somewhere that children are the most fashion
conscious group in society, so you've got to be on the ball when selling
to them.
>
> Some chunkier parts are okay, some even fairly clever or interesting. But
> replacing elements with chunkier alternatives at the expense of the original
> elements is just not stepping in the right direction, in my view. It has to
> stop -- it simply must stop!
It won't stop.
TLC didn't start out making plastic bricks, and it probably won't end up
making them either.
>
> Rumor has it that the new S@H catalog lists all parts packs as "limited
> quantities available." Consequently, I have begun to think that Brad Justus is
> just a pacifier while they do the REAL damage to us AFOL. The mere fact that
> this bulk purchasing is a preview to be done in a "limited format" in late
> summer is all becoming very suspicious to me. Why isn't the phasing out of
> one service better coordinated with the phasing in of its replacement
> service? What gives? Maybe I have enough post 1997 Lego after all...? LEGO
> will decide for me with their actions. Where will it end? With me
> voting "no" with my dollars, most likely...
Bulk ordering was only *one* of the areas that Brad mentioned. As
service packs are just the small end of part ordering, I imagine LEGO
Direct will start taking orders for those as well. (Fingers crossed)
>
> The gauntlet has been flung down!
Chill out, man!
Remember, this is the season of good will to *all* men (which in this
sense applies to women and children as well - doncha *love* the king
James II authorised version :-)
--
Tony Priestman
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: New Castle Sucks (so far...)
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| (...) True enough... everyone's opinion differs (as obviated by the frequent posts on the issue :) ) (...) Actually, I'd disagree... Lego's niche is not in playability-- it's in creativity. There are PLENTY of toys that do cool things with trapdoors (...) (25 years ago, 28-Dec-99, to lugnet.castle)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | New Castle Sucks (so far...)
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| Fellow Lugnuts: I just had the good fortune/misfortune to receive 6095, 6094, and 6032 as Xmas gifts. I am not going to review these sets except in a cursory way. The gist of this post is to complain on behalf of new castle buyers -- that new castle (...) (25 years ago, 27-Dec-99, to lugnet.castle)
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