Random minifig of the day: cas291
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random minifigure is cas291 Knights Kingdom II - Shadow Knight Vladek, Black Neck-Protector, a Castle figure that came in one set, 5998 Vladek, released during 2005.
Our members collectively own a total of 2,925 of them. If you'd like to buy one you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $8.30.
Image and minifig data courtesy of BrickLink.com
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22 comments on this article
Johnny Thunder is Vladek?
Sneaky reuse of Johnny Thunder's head 2 years after that theme ended. Maybe they had extras laying around.
Theory 1: Johnny Thunder is secretly Vladek.
Theory 2: Johnny Thunder travelled back in time using the Dial of Destiny and disguised himself as Vladek. (But does that mean he did all the terrible things Vladek did?)
Theory 3: Vladek is Johnny Thunder's very similar-looking ancestor.
Whatever theory is true, it's clear Johnny Thunder has been hiding some dark secrets for a long time...
One thing I don't think Lego gets enough credit for is, they have this long history of really amazing original villain characters. And okay, there's been some misses in the last 20 years, but most of the time, they really hit it out of the ballpark when it comes to making badguys, which I absolutely love.
Vladek the Scorpion Knight is one of them that I'd really like to see again, at some point. I really hope they use him again, in the future.
@goldenguy880: Theory Four: Vladek is Johnny Thunder's evil twin from an alternate universe.
@goldenguy880 said:
"Theory 1: Johnny Thunder is secretly Vladek.
Theory 2: Johnny Thunder travelled back in time using the Dial of Destiny and disguised himself as Vladek. (But does that mean he did all the terrible things Vladek did?)
Theory 3: Vladek is Johnny Thunder's very similar-looking ancestor.
Whatever theory is true, it's clear Johnny Thunder has been hiding some dark secrets for a long time..."
RE: Theory 2: This this theory makes my old Alpha Team meets elderly Johnny Thunder fan-fic get complicated quickly... especially since Ogel is Vladek's direct descendant, as confirmed by LEGO!
Oh, @Huwbot, you had a chance to pair a RPotD with either of two matching RMotD possibilities, and you BLEW IT! Well, there’s still the hot dog, carrot, a few different bananas, a few different ice creams, several cakes, and a turkey. We’ll even take pizza or watermelon, even though those are just prints.
Theory Five: Vladek achieves immortality, but suffers amnesia, and becomes Johnny Thunder.
So Thunder + Shadow = Johnny Vladek. Ok.
Vladek's face is always covered, so nobody knows what he actually looks like. I think Johnny may have gone back in time and is using a disguise in order to recover an artifact from the Middle Ages that was lost in a battle. Since he doesn't have pupil highlights like in Orient Expedition, I'd say the mission was a success! Or at least he lived. So he goes on adventures in Egypt, then the Amazon, goes to Dino Island, goes back in time to the kingdom of Morcia (With the aid of the Time Cruisers of course), then comes back and ventures across Asia. That explains the 2001 and 2002 gap years in Adventurers subthemes even though Knights Kingdom II came out later. It's the inbetweenquel of the Adventurers story.
1) Actually, that is a Shadow Knight, NOT Vladek.
2) This figure also appeared in the KKII chess set from 2005 as pawns, meaning it had 8 of them!
3) Originally, all five knights would get a 'generic soldier' polybag responding to their kingdom/color. However, only Jayko and Vladek versions were actually released. Since all of those used color-coded weapons and helmets, this resulted in quite interesting color versions of classic castle parts (especially the green and purple ones). Suspiciously many can still be found on Bricklink and other markets, so not all is lost :D (the other knights also reused heads from other themes)
It could be a time traveling Johnny impersonating a lower Shadow Knight and then Vladek himself to gain access to most secure places in the kingdom, probably the treasury.
After researching: You would think that the Vladek in 8877 Vladek's Dark Fortress would be THE Vladek, perhaps using a unique head that differentiates. But no, that minifig uses the same head as the other Shadow Knights in the set.
Me thinks KKII was that well thought out/executed.
If this part-icular head is always Johnny, then his time travel exploits also sent him into the modern era, where he became a soccer/football all-star, rotating between the teams of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, and Wales.
Hmmm...I picture this guy either saying stuff:
"Tis but a flesh wound...", or
"You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur king, you and your silly English knnnnigets. Thppppt!" (last part being "blowing a 'raspberry'" as it's called...)
Must be Vladek in his early years before the perma-scowl set in
@Zordboy said:
"One thing I don't think Lego gets enough credit for is, they have this long history of really amazing original villain characters. And okay, there's been some misses in the last 20 years, but most of the time, they really hit it out of the ballpark when it comes to making badguys, which I absolutely love.
Vladek the Scorpion Knight is one of them that I'd really like to see again, at some point. I really hope they use him again, in the future."
Like M-OC? 75185: Tracker I
Funny that Lego used this character to imply that all us MOCers are evil Sith Lords, and our creations to be demonic annihilators.
Not only that he was a knight, he also had quite a remarkable football career too.
I think the name is just meant to refer to Vladek's faction. For more interesting to me is that Johnny Thunder's face had actually been updated in the 2003 theme of Orient Expedition. So not only did they use his face, it's also one that hadn't appeared since 2001 in Studios!
EDIT: It's also in many 2003 Soccer sets.
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
"Johnny Thunder, that outfit belongs in a museum."
in it's country of origin, right?
...right?"
HAHA, clever use of a meme dialog
@Murdoch17 said:
" @goldenguy880 said:
"Theory 1: Johnny Thunder is secretly Vladek.
Theory 2: Johnny Thunder travelled back in time using the Dial of Destiny and disguised himself as Vladek. (But does that mean he did all the terrible things Vladek did?)
Theory 3: Vladek is Johnny Thunder's very similar-looking ancestor.
Whatever theory is true, it's clear Johnny Thunder has been hiding some dark secrets for a long time..."
RE: Theory 2: This this theory makes my old Alpha Team meets elderly Johnny Thunder fan-fic get complicated quickly... especially since Ogel is Vladek's direct descendant, as confirmed by LEGO!"
"No Johnny. Dr. Kilroy never told you the truth. I am your great great great Grandfather"
@rahlmaclaren said:
"It could be a time traveling Johnny impersonating a lower Shadow Knight and then Vladek himself to gain access to most secure places in the kingdom, probably the treasury.
After researching: You would think that the Vladek in 8877 Vladek's Dark Fortress would be THE Vladek, perhaps using a unique head that differentiates. But no, that minifig uses the same head as the other Shadow Knights in the set.
Me thinks KKII was that well thought out/executed.
If this part-icular head is always Johnny, then his time travel exploits also sent him into the modern era, where he became a soccer/football all-star, rotating between the teams of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, and Wales."
He IS a soccer player anyways... See Lego Football Mania xD
EDIT:
Whilst the audio drama does not directly contradict he was born in Australia, it says he lived in England during 1910.
Which is the year he and Kilroy/Lightning/Articus (kinda fishy for a serious archaeologist to have that many aliases...) discovered the 'Red Ruby' (AKA the 'Re-gou') of Pharaoh Hotep/Ramses IV.
And of cause the Egyptian jewel (and mummy) ended up in an English museum.
@Atuin:
Is there a greater repository of other cultures’ treasures than a British museum?
@PurpleDave said:
" @Atuin:
Is there a greater repository of other cultures’ treasures than a British museum?"
If there was we’d have nicked that too XD
@Brickalili said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Atuin:
Is there a greater repository of other cultures’ treasures than a British museum?"
If there was we’d have nicked that too XD"
Probably. I’ve been trying to catch all six episodes of Stuff The British Stole on TV, and recently finished listening to all three seasons of the podcast. Crazy stuff. There’s things that were clearly stolen. There’s things that probably weren’t, but people claim they were. There’s things that definitely were…but from whom is difficult to nail down. And there’s things that definitely were…but probably wouldn’t exist today if they hadn’t been. That last one is a real problem, since it just reinforces the idea that it was okay to loot the world in the first place.