Classic Castle

Classic Castle is the first iteration of Castle. Its releases were in 1978, 1979, and 1983. It was discontinued in 1984, when the Castle concept was rebooted with new sets and factions that would later be called the Crusaders and the Black Falcons. It had 6 sets total, including minifigure packs, and 7 emblems. Four of these emblems appeared in 375 Castle and the rest were in the other two sets, 677 Knight's Procession, and 383 Knight's Tournament, as well as the minifig packs. One town set, 1592 Town Square, released in 1980, included four castle minifigures with a unique emblem only seen in that set.
Some features of the theme were brick-built horses, a complete lack of ranged weapons, and unique visors (see notes). The theme could be considered as Lego's first step into medieval themes. Evidently it was judged a success, as many years later Castle sets are still being produced.
== Sets ==
Classic Castle saw the releases of three sets, including a castle, small cart, and arena stand, as well as three early battle/supplementary packs.
* 375 Castle was released in 1978 in Europe and later elsewhere. It had a large yellow castle, 4 horses, and 14 minifigures. Eight of these wore the shield emblem, while each of the other 3 emblems was worn by 2 figures. It is one of Lego's most famous sets.
* 677 Knight's Procession was a group of 6 knights, all sharing the same "red and white shield split down the middle against a blue background" emblem, with a small cart. It was first released in 1979.
* 383 Knight's Tournament, released in the same year, featured four knights. Two of these knights, with slightly different "checkered" emblems, are shown jousting, whilst two other soldiers and two civilians look on, with one civilian bearing no emblem and all other spectators having a triad-style emblem. Two flags on either side of the structure bear the triad emblem.
* 0016 Castle Mini-Figures, released in 1979, had three soldiers, all with differing emblems.
* 6002 Castle Mini-Figures had four soldiers, with two bearing each of two emblems.
* There was also a set, 15 Castle Mini Figures, a Service Packs set, that contained 6 minifigures.
== Minifigures ==
== Notes ==
* Horse figures had not yet been created by LEGO during this theme, and so the horses included in 375 Castle and 383 Knight's Tournament were brick built.
* The emblems in Classic Castle have never been seen outside the theme.
* Most of the knights of the theme have unique movable visor pieces, with eye slits, and a crest that runs backwards from the frontward-facing part of the visor along the helmet, looking like a tail. These visors were only seen in this theme and have not been used again yet. These knights also universally had emblems on their chests. It was not again until 1990 when knights came with movable visors and armor breastplates, as the knights between 1984-89 had solid grill helmets while their "armor" was just a texture on their body.
* Many of the pieces used in the subtheme, such as the weapons (swords, axes, lances), have been used in nearly every castle subtheme since.
== External links ==
* Classic Castle Sets
Category:Themes
Category:Castle
Category:Themes introduced in 1978