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In a recent thread someone asked what made classic Lego so soulful and comfy using pic related as an example.
I think that the reason, especially for Castle, is the relative simplicity, they form a good basis for telling stories because they’re pretty standard medieval fare, A blacksmith shop, a not-Robin Hood hideout, a castle, a joust, a (God forgive me for mentioning something so horrible) knights procession. These would provide you figures and some basis for storytelling but the onus was on you to make more scenery and props with which to tell your own stories out of your own bricks. These sets also didn’t have gimmick catapults or pointless vehicles in them
I actually think that the aesthetic of the current castle sets fits this the best of essentially any of the castle sub themes since fright knights made it more specific in theme, but the current sets are still not very good because there aren’t enough of them and they are too large and expensive, some like the blacksmith shop that recently was discontinued are also much too complicated for what they are even if it’s a very pretty set with good details, The gift with purchase forestmen set would be the archetype for future better castle themes.
The aesthetic simplicity is might be of greatest important because it grounds it more for you to add onto or tell your own stories, this is why the best castle set of the 2000s was the medieval village, even if it was too on the large side, it was aesthetically grounded still with good play features and minifigs with good designs