I'm most excited for the Riverside Scholar set. I love anything I can use for a medieval fantasy world, and this fits that so well. I can see this as a secret school in the woods. I love the unique look and the setup. Definitely my favorite from this series.
My personal collection would welcome the Seaside or Siege sets, but the others are amazing too. I’m really impressed that BrickLink boosted the minifig count, that makes it more enticing to pick these up!
Certainly planning to buy at least the Siege encampment and possibly the Medieval Seaside market. The most important thing is, as medieval builders and collectors, we've had exactly one set released in 2024, the Medieval Town Square. It was a great set, potentially it could have been improved, but I was perfectly happy with it. But that was it, ... absolutely nothing else. There are no other medieval sets to buy, except for sets from previous years. (which I also did buy in 2024) For the most part, we are relying on Moc builders and our own design skills for almost all of our Lego builds, so it is nice to potentially have access to 2 medieval sets for this year, assuming we are able to buy them in the very short window in which they will be available. So far, my trackrecord for BDP sets is abysmal, I missed the deadline by 2 weeks for the Mountain Fortress, I didn't even know the BDP program existed back then. I missed the release of the next series by a few days, series 3 I also missed the release day, but luckily there wasn't anything I desperately wanted anyways. Hopefully this year, I'm going to be able to finally pre-order my very first set. Thanks a lot for this very well put together overview. Especially the non-medieval sets look a lot better than I imagined. I'm quite sure my brother would love the Wild West Train, if not for the massive price. The Scholar and Boat set are much more streamlined than I originally noticed.
@@brickstarsofficial I'm not ruling out having more released from Lego itself this year, there is the Ideas program too that might have something interesting. Last year we were surprised with an absolutely excellent D&D CMF series, which had amazing minifig parts for medieval and fantasy mocs. This was actually my #1 set of 2024, if you can technically call it a set. We also got Barad-Dûr and the Dungeons and Dragons set, so it is not a complete drought if you can afford sets at high pricepoints, but I found those a bit too expensive for what they offered. Best of luck to you too, I hope you can get at least one copy of each set you want!
1- Wild west train. 2- Seaside market. 3 Siege Encampment. Was planning on getting two trains, but that price is a lot. Sooner have another Orient Express than a second Wild west train, so one it is. Getting two seaside markets because of the 5 extra builds, so the 2nd set will be used to build all the extra builds that complete the set, or at least a couple of them. I will need a pick a brick order to have enough parts to do the five builds that add to the set and complete the full port and market. Getting the Siege encampment as a stupidly expensive Advent Calendar. There are 12 smaller builds, so instead of having a tiny build every day there is a bigger build every two days, plus 18 figures that will go with the Mountain Fortress. And then at the end of the vid it turns out your buying choice is the same as mine.
One thing I don't see people mentioning is that the Seaside market has two alternate builds already published for free from the designer on rebrickable, I think that takes it up a notch on top of an already excellent build.
Isn't the whole basis of the BL-design-program that they just use parts in production? Lego dosen't have to do any RnD, they just bring out the right amount of pieces from their storage to produce these low-run sets. This is also why there is no instruction booklet, it is just a pdf. That is why we will never have new pieces/colors or uniqe minifig prints in them, only stickers (to me, this would mean in the long run the sets with stickers will get a premium on the second hand market, compared to the other sets, that anyone could build just by gathering the pieces (throug BL if nowhere else).
Without any new prints or pieces, you still see a ton of amazing potential out of just available parts. This really shows Lego they do not have to re-invent the wheel to make good sets. Ofcourse they are doing a good thing by avoiding stickers and making prints instead, or making more parts in colors that weren't previously available, but it is insane at how much even the current Lego parts can produce given enough creativity.
I am getting the fancy castle sets. Still on the fence regarding getting 2x of the Siege encampment. However, does anyone here know why LEGO changed the 2 medieval sets (added more minifigs to the siege camp and made the market modular) ? I find it odd that they did. The result is better, but I wonder what that means.
@@octav1600 oh i didn't realize they tweaked the original designs at all - good catch! Perhaps they're starting to do small updates not as much as ideas lineup but enough to refine sets and hopefully one day introduce some custom elements
@@brickstarsofficial Maybe they just needed some more minifigs to justify the price they wanted to ask for it. But getting 2x minifigs is a HUGE upgrade to the siege camp. Especially if you already wanted 2 of them. The thing they changed for the harbor is the fact that it's modular now (and I LOVE IT ) and they added a brickbuilt boat instead one of the pirates one (not sure why, but I dislike this, but not enough to complain - the modularity is so good
@@octav1600 Luckily all those spike wall parts are incredibly cheap and available in enormous quantities on Bricklink, so they should be no problem. The spikes are even up in the online PAB from Lego itself, albeit a bit expensive (15cts each)
@@huaiwei the place I work at I suppose. By the time I get home, these things tend to be sold out already. I just picked up the most important set, recently, the Lion Knight's Castle. Before it is retired! Not complaining here. Also picked off of Bricklink the remaining missing pieces to a couple childhood sets. I might not have the newest, but I have some vintage ones which will bring me joy when I get around to build them.
@@teakat9608 I see. But I suppose you might take some comfort in knowing that the situation could be worse. I used to be unable to buy these bricklink sets at all before Lego finally added my country to the list of places where these sets can be sold to. And due to the time zone differences, I sometimes had to stay up till 2am to buy the sets before they sell out by 6am in the morning when I normally wake up for work. Hope you will have better luck this time since the five sets with a higher price points and being almost equally popular will likely spread out the demand and hence the time taken for them to sell out. I am foreseeing that the Adventure in Transylvania set in Series 5 might sell out in a heartbeat though....
@@zh7334 both great but yea the train is great build and seems very reasonable for price! If it had unique figs it would probably be up there as one of the best lego train sets
I'm going to say it...the sea side market...it's not that good...the set is just bland. Build style is basic, but not in a good way. The two towers on either end are straight up duplicated, the center structure is a glorified grey box with giant gateway sized doors that open nonsensically to only 1 room. From there a smaller raised entry leads to the market/docks, meaning that every person, and all market goods: food, livestock, anything in bulk, wither imported or exported must use said 1 raised door...THAT'S WEIRD. The main structure is topped with a square tower that's mostly identical to the towers we find in legos 2 other available midevial sets. The rest of the build from there is just walls and awnings. This set lacks overall dynamicsm that every other bricklink castle set (and many rejected submissions ) have. Example the falcons mountain castle fits in with modern/classic Lego castle build style, but it's interesting spacially. The entrance corridor winds around and through the building, exposing intruders to maximal wall defenses and bottleneck passages...makes sense historically, but it also makes the building layout, more Interesting, your brain WANTS to explore it! Good Lego castles allways had secret passages, trap doors, even raised baseplates that funnelled entry paths into the castle...there ARE reasons why these things existed they way they did. The detailing work is quite good...5 market stalls, wall reliefs, chains against the see wall..that's what makes this set shine...but I don't think these details alone are worth it. So many pieces are used for a bland, repetitive, and faulty backdrop that is really visually secondary to what is good. It's like using 80% of your Lego parts budget building a stand. Do we need to construct a entire theatre stage in order to build the scene? Maybe, if it's a Broadway or even Muppet theatre where every detail matters...but otherwise?
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm most excited for the Riverside Scholar set. I love anything I can use for a medieval fantasy world, and this fits that so well. I can see this as a secret school in the woods. I love the unique look and the setup. Definitely my favorite from this series.
It is a beautiful set and very unique!
This is an amazing video. Thanks so much for the price analysis and comparison. So well done!
thanks so much glad you liked it :)
My personal collection would welcome the Seaside or Siege sets, but the others are amazing too. I’m really impressed that BrickLink boosted the minifig count, that makes it more enticing to pick these up!
Yup we were surprised to see 18 and 22 figs!
Certainly planning to buy at least the Siege encampment and possibly the Medieval Seaside market.
The most important thing is, as medieval builders and collectors, we've had exactly one set released in 2024, the Medieval Town Square. It was a great set, potentially it could have been improved, but I was perfectly happy with it. But that was it, ... absolutely nothing else. There are no other medieval sets to buy, except for sets from previous years. (which I also did buy in 2024)
For the most part, we are relying on Moc builders and our own design skills for almost all of our Lego builds, so it is nice to potentially have access to 2 medieval sets for this year, assuming we are able to buy them in the very short window in which they will be available.
So far, my trackrecord for BDP sets is abysmal, I missed the deadline by 2 weeks for the Mountain Fortress, I didn't even know the BDP program existed back then. I missed the release of the next series by a few days, series 3 I also missed the release day, but luckily there wasn't anything I desperately wanted anyways. Hopefully this year, I'm going to be able to finally pre-order my very first set.
Thanks a lot for this very well put together overview. Especially the non-medieval sets look a lot better than I imagined. I'm quite sure my brother would love the Wild West Train, if not for the massive price. The Scholar and Boat set are much more streamlined than I originally noticed.
@@pinobluevogel6458 thanks! Agreed seems like this may be it for big medieval sets for the year. Good luck on pre order day! :)
@@brickstarsofficial I'm not ruling out having more released from Lego itself this year, there is the Ideas program too that might have something interesting. Last year we were surprised with an absolutely excellent D&D CMF series, which had amazing minifig parts for medieval and fantasy mocs. This was actually my #1 set of 2024, if you can technically call it a set.
We also got Barad-Dûr and the Dungeons and Dragons set, so it is not a complete drought if you can afford sets at high pricepoints, but I found those a bit too expensive for what they offered.
Best of luck to you too, I hope you can get at least one copy of each set you want!
1- Wild west train. 2- Seaside market. 3 Siege Encampment.
Was planning on getting two trains, but that price is a lot. Sooner have another Orient Express than a second Wild west train, so one it is.
Getting two seaside markets because of the 5 extra builds, so the 2nd set will be used to build all the extra builds that complete the set, or at least a couple of them. I will need a pick a brick order to have enough parts to do the five builds that add to the set and complete the full port and market.
Getting the Siege encampment as a stupidly expensive Advent Calendar. There are 12 smaller builds, so instead of having a tiny build every day there is a bigger build every two days, plus 18 figures that will go with the Mountain Fortress.
And then at the end of the vid it turns out your buying choice is the same as mine.
@@neilrusling-je6zo what's the saying - great minds... 😄
One thing I don't see people mentioning is that the Seaside market has two alternate builds already published for free from the designer on rebrickable, I think that takes it up a notch on top of an already excellent build.
@@alphonsesuitperson we missed that thanks for sharing!
Isn't the whole basis of the BL-design-program that they just use parts in production?
Lego dosen't have to do any RnD, they just bring out the right amount of pieces from their storage to produce these low-run sets. This is also why there is no instruction booklet, it is just a pdf. That is why we will never have new pieces/colors or uniqe minifig prints in them, only stickers (to me, this would mean in the long run the sets with stickers will get a premium on the second hand market, compared to the other sets, that anyone could build just by gathering the pieces (throug BL if nowhere else).
@@emilandersson4217 yup all true good points
Without any new prints or pieces, you still see a ton of amazing potential out of just available parts. This really shows Lego they do not have to re-invent the wheel to make good sets.
Ofcourse they are doing a good thing by avoiding stickers and making prints instead, or making more parts in colors that weren't previously available, but it is insane at how much even the current Lego parts can produce given enough creativity.
I am getting the fancy castle sets. Still on the fence regarding getting 2x of the Siege encampment.
However, does anyone here know why LEGO changed the 2 medieval sets (added more minifigs to the siege camp and made the market modular) ? I find it odd that they did. The result is better, but I wonder what that means.
@@octav1600 oh i didn't realize they tweaked the original designs at all - good catch! Perhaps they're starting to do small updates not as much as ideas lineup but enough to refine sets and hopefully one day introduce some custom elements
@@brickstarsofficial Maybe they just needed some more minifigs to justify the price they wanted to ask for it. But getting 2x minifigs is a HUGE upgrade to the siege camp. Especially if you already wanted 2 of them.
The thing they changed for the harbor is the fact that it's modular now (and I LOVE IT ) and they added a brickbuilt boat instead one of the pirates one (not sure why, but I dislike this, but not enough to complain - the modularity is so good
@@octav1600 Luckily all those spike wall parts are incredibly cheap and available in enormous quantities on Bricklink, so they should be no problem. The spikes are even up in the online PAB from Lego itself, albeit a bit expensive (15cts each)
The EXCLUSIVE nature to the designer program means I will never be able to pick them up.
@@teakat9608 the last wave didn't have an instant sell out if I'm not mistaken
Even the castle last time took 7 hours to sell out...that is plenty of time. Its not really that exclusive.
Is it due to the place you are located at?
@@huaiwei the place I work at I suppose. By the time I get home, these things tend to be sold out already. I just picked up the most important set, recently, the Lion Knight's Castle. Before it is retired! Not complaining here. Also picked off of Bricklink the remaining missing pieces to a couple childhood sets. I might not have the newest, but I have some vintage ones which will bring me joy when I get around to build them.
@@teakat9608 I see. But I suppose you might take some comfort in knowing that the situation could be worse. I used to be unable to buy these bricklink sets at all before Lego finally added my country to the list of places where these sets can be sold to. And due to the time zone differences, I sometimes had to stay up till 2am to buy the sets before they sell out by 6am in the morning when I normally wake up for work.
Hope you will have better luck this time since the five sets with a higher price points and being almost equally popular will likely spread out the demand and hence the time taken for them to sell out.
I am foreseeing that the Adventure in Transylvania set in Series 5 might sell out in a heartbeat though....
Debating between the train and the siege encampment. I'll probably choose the train.
@@zh7334 both great but yea the train is great build and seems very reasonable for price! If it had unique figs it would probably be up there as one of the best lego train sets
Can you get vip points when buying these?
Yes you do.
@@horustortoise6110 yup
These sets have no new parts. And all in current production. That, by itself, should ease the price, in my opinion.
@@joseramalho3297 good point we didn't touch on that but you are right. No specialty new parts and no unique minifigs
What editing software do you use?
we use a bit of everything :D for graphics we use illustrator/photoshop and for videos a mix of powerpoint and premiere
I'm going to say it...the sea side market...it's not that good...the set is just bland. Build style is basic, but not in a good way. The two towers on either end are straight up duplicated, the center structure is a glorified grey box with giant gateway sized doors that open nonsensically to only 1 room. From there a smaller raised entry leads to the market/docks, meaning that every person, and all market goods: food, livestock, anything in bulk, wither imported or exported must use said 1 raised door...THAT'S WEIRD. The main structure is topped with a square tower that's mostly identical to the towers we find in legos 2 other available midevial sets. The rest of the build from there is just walls and awnings. This set lacks overall dynamicsm that every other bricklink castle set (and many rejected submissions ) have. Example the falcons mountain castle fits in with modern/classic Lego castle build style, but it's interesting spacially. The entrance corridor winds around and through the building, exposing intruders to maximal wall defenses and bottleneck passages...makes sense historically, but it also makes the building layout, more Interesting, your brain WANTS to explore it! Good Lego castles allways had secret passages, trap doors, even raised baseplates that funnelled entry paths into the castle...there ARE reasons why these things existed they way they did. The detailing work is quite good...5 market stalls, wall reliefs, chains against the see wall..that's what makes this set shine...but I don't think these details alone are worth it. So many pieces are used for a bland, repetitive, and faulty backdrop that is really visually secondary to what is good. It's like using 80% of your Lego parts budget building a stand. Do we need to construct a entire theatre stage in order to build the scene? Maybe, if it's a Broadway or even Muppet theatre where every detail matters...but otherwise?