LEGO Castle

## Unreleased LEGO Castle Sets

The set that was built for the proposed Europa theme from the 1990's

## Collectible Information

### Status

Lost (the 1980's/90's Castle sets, Europa theme, and Knight's Kingdom minifigures)Found (Catapult & Skeleton Chariot sets and Rascus minifigure)

### Location

The Catapult and Skeleton Chariot were included as part of the Brickmaster set while Rascus is owned by a private collector

## Product Information

### Year(s)

1980's-2005

LEGO Castle was a medieval and fantasy environment featuring knights and castles, and was one of the company’s three original themes.

## **Summary:**

It was introduced in Europe in 1978 and North America in 1981, and was supported continuously until 1999. The “Classic” period featured simple yellow-brick castles and generic knights with movable visor pieces and a coat of arms (either a tunic or breastplate over their body). Starting in 1984, LEGO sets started featuring castles with more realistic greyish colours and many new pieces & weapons would be introduced over the years. The knights would each be split into their own factions including Black Falcon (1984-94), Lion Knights/Crusaders (1984-92), Forestmen (1987-92), Black Knights (1988-94), Wolfpack Renegades (1992-93), Dragon Masters (1993-95), Royal Knights (1995-96), Dark Forest (1996), and Fright Knights (1997-98). In 2000, a completely new environment that had no relation to the original Castle sets, but filled its place was Knight’s Kingdom: an original theme that focused on the conflict between the Lions and Bulls (it was the first Castle theme to feature two female minifigures). It received a sequel theme in 2004 with revamped minifigures and larger, action-figure like sets. The line was discontinued in favour of a Castle revival first launched in May 2007, focusing on a human faction led by the King against an opposing undead faction ruled by the Necromancer. The first series to have a royal family, it also included a Champion, Court Wizard, Jester, dwarves, and orcs. While the normal white skeletons were used a lot of this time, the new Castle sets saw the debut of a black variant. It lasted until 2009 and was replaced with 2010’s Kingdoms which did away with the fantasy settings and harkened back to a more realistic Middle Age with two human factions against each other: the Green Kingdom/Dragon Knights and Red Kingdom/Lion Knights. The first theme to include back-printing on the minifigure’s torsos, it came with new knight helms, new horse armour, goats, and a new portcullis piece. The Kingdoms theme was discontinued in 2012 for the *Lord of the Rings* sets and in 2013, LEGO released their third and final Castle theme (as of writing) with only five sets released that year and two battlepacks in 2014. The two factions were “King’s Knights” and “Dragon Knights” with one set featuring a very large dragon.

## **Cancelled Sets:**

Given their very long history, it should be no surprise that some LEGO Castle sets never wound up getting released; one of them including an original theme that never made it past the mock-up stage. These are their stories:

Going back to the theme’s earliest years, there were several medieval playsets that were shown in catalogues from the 1980’s to 1990’s. One was a Medieval Market Village that featured a wishing well, clock tower, some sort of drawbridge, and a jail cell for robbers. There was another village that came with a building that had red tile roof pieces and a black horse pulling a wagon. Another unreleased set was a typical castle full of horseback knights, kings, a drawbridge, and utilized the very rare “raised mountain” baseplates that are hard to come by these days. One of the more interesting mock-ups shown in these catalogues were a medieval jousting arena, a waterside mountain fortress that came with a Loch Ness monster figure, and a dwarf mine fortress; the latter of which would receive another chance during the 2011 wace. Though several changes were made from the final product (ie. altering the wings of the dwarf helmets and making the troll bigfig light brown instead of olive green. There have been a few 1980’s Castle minifigures that never got released including red king/knights with a grey crown, golden crown, and a black dragon shaped crown.

Europa was a proposed subtheme from the 1990’s best described as a hybrid between Castle and Pirates. It was to be based off 18th century Europe villages & transportation with the possibility of witches, bridge trolls, and even Count Dracula. They would have also included minifigures of “politically correct” soldiers from the Scottish, Russian & Dutch armies with Colonial-era ships and hot air balloons. One of the main sets would have included a civilian market town, a military fortress with a gate archway, and minifigures of Bluecoat soldiers borrowed from the Pirates theme; which may have been the main reason why this theme was never made as it was to similar to both that and Castle. Many of the sets from the 2011 *Pirates of the Caribbean* wave featured European villages with pirate minifigures, though its unlikely we will ever see a revival of this theme or the original mock-ups ever again.

There are three mysterious sets from Knight’s Kingdom II that never got released which include 5595 Danju,  5596 Rascus,  and 5597 Santis.  Of the three, only the minifigure for Rascus has been found, though its whereabouts remain unknown.

5373 Knight & Catapult and 5372 Skeleton Chariot were two sets from the 2007 theme that were never released as individual builds, but were included as optional builds for the Brickmaster Creation Book.

## **Final Verdict:**

With a majority of the mock-ups made during the 1980’s-90’s, its unlikely they still exist as they were either thrown out (if glued together) or taken apart by LEGO designers for another project. In that case, they are considered: **LOST.**

As I’ve alrady mentioned, the Rascus minifigure has been found and is likely in someone’s collection, but the other two are missing and will leave this case open: **PARTIALLY FOUND.**

While Catapult and Skeleton Chariot were never released on their own, their inclusion in the Brickmaster set technically makes them: **FOUND.**

## **Gallery:**

The first medieval village prototypeThe second medieval market village prototype with a clock tower and wishing wellAn unreleased castle setUnreleaesd minifigures of knights with uniquely shaped crownsA lakeside fortress with a sea serpent guarding the moatThe prototype of a 1980's dwarf fortress setThe prototype of a 2000's dwarf fortress setAnother prototype of a 2000's dwarf fortress setEarlier versions of the dwarf minifiguresA Rascus minifigure that was to be released with set #55965373 Knight and Catapult which was later included with the Brickmaster Creation Book5372 Skeleton Chariot which was later included with the Brickmaster Creation Book

## **References:**

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego\_Castle
2. ↑ https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/52994-prototype-castle-sets/
3. ↑ https://en.brickimedia.org/wiki/Europa
4. ↑ https://en.brickimedia.org/wiki/5995\_Danju
5. ↑ https://en.brickimedia.org/wiki/5996\_Rascus
6. ↑ https://en.brickimedia.org/wiki/5997\_Santis
7. ↑ https://en.brickimedia.org/wiki/5373\_Knight\_and\_Catapult
8. ↑ https://en.brickimedia.org/wiki/5372\_Skeleton\_Chariot