Random set of the day: Vladek
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 8774 Vladek, released during 2004. It's one of 24 Castle sets produced that year. It contains 48 pieces.
It's owned by 2,071 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $15.60, or eBay.
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43 comments on this article
In the world of Jelly Bean Knights, black licorice is the clear villain.
Yup. that's Vladek alright.
I wouldn't want to be a minifigure who has to fight him in battle!
@Maxbricks14 said:
"I wouldn't want to be a minifigure who has to fight him in battle!"
Batman could take him...
This is not a theme I knew existed.
@Randomness said:
"This is not a theme I knew existed."
Never heard of the castle theme! Where have you been living? under a rock?
@PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I wouldn't want to be a minifigure who has to fight him in battle!"
Batman could take him..."
Maybe with prep time
@Graw:
He’s already got a file.
There were so many variations of these figures! Paper shields, plastic shields, cards or no cards! Argh!
@PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I wouldn't want to be a minifigure who has to fight him in battle!"
Batman could take him..."
In the time period that Vladek is in Batman wouldn't have all his fancy tech, so he would lose.
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @Randomness said:
"This is not a theme I knew existed."
Never heard of the castle theme! Where have you been living? under a rock?"
Well, yes, but I meant the Knight's Kingdom bit.
@Randomness said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @Randomness said:
"This is not a theme I knew existed."
Never heard of the castle theme! Where have you been living? under a rock?"
Well, yes, but I meant the Knight's Kingdom bit."
Makes sense. But still, Knights kingdom II had the most sets out of all the Castle subthemes.
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @Randomness said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @Randomness said:
"This is not a theme I knew existed."
Never heard of the castle theme! Where have you been living? under a rock?"
Well, yes, but I meant the Knight's Kingdom bit."
Makes sense. But still, Knights kingdom II had the most sets out of all the Castle subthemes."
That's because they released the same few figures in different forms several times. The Bionicle of Castle?
@Maxbricks14:
71017-4.
Oh oh I know this one!!4! This is the evil guy with red eyes, he wears red and black everywhere, is an eeeeevil tyrant, and the name is Lego spelled backwards4!! So Vladek is really... Kedalv?!4!
Jokes aside it was a very fun and accessible theme, despite the overwhelming disdain towards it.
Why do people dislike Knights Kingdom 2 so strongly?
@PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I wouldn't want to be a minifigure who has to fight him in battle!"
Batman could take him..."
Not sure if I remember correctly, but I think Sauron's portrayal in Lego Lord of the Rings used some parts of the old KK2 large figures...
EDIT: The TT video game of cause.
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I wouldn't want to be a minifigure who has to fight him in battle!"
Batman could take him..."
In the time period that Vladek is in Batman wouldn't have all his fancy tech, so he would lose."
You assume Batman wouldn’t readily adapt to the time period and whatever means would be at his disposal. He’s not called “the Dark Knight” for nothing.
Ah, my boy Vladek! I never got any Knights’ Kingdom sets, but I was fascinated by the lore. Looking back, this guy may have lasted longer than he should have. He gained and lost control of two separate kingdoms, but still came back for a third round.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14:
71017-4."
Too far!
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @Randomness said:
"This is not a theme I knew existed."
Never heard of the castle theme! Where have you been living? under a rock?"
I never knew that theme had such Bionicle style figures.
I got 8877 about 95% complete in a lot on ebay when sourcing parts for Anio's Venator Star Destroyer MOC (some then rare dark red pieces).
That castle, while quite impressive looking when complete, also contains lots of large (even printed) pieces and very little detail. Plus especially the dark red pieces seem to be of very low quality. Brittle and with much more translucency than the current new dark red.
Overall not a great set imho, and I can understand why the theme (which happened during my dark ages) maybe wasn't as popular - at least from a quality standpoint.
Ah, Vladek. A goofy villain in the first year, but unlike most he actually became more threatening with each defeat and subsequent re-emergence. This figure holds a special place in my heart for personal nostalgic reasons. Even when I purged the rest, this one I couldn't part with!
For those who weren't around at the time: this is the debut of those ratchet joints used for the limbs! Other parts also debuted in the Designer theme at the time. The same goes for those curved and lipped modified bricks. Those are still around too!
(The system technically debuted with Galidor, but this is the first 'brick' version).
Also, although considered 'constraction' as well, these are the polar opposite of Bionicle from the time. Whereas Bionicle is Technic-based, these were compatible with System despite being mostly new pieces. You could use your own parts to bulk them up, but sadly there were no 'titans' as retail sets.
Another thing of note are the shields. They were flimsy pieces of cardboard or plastic, but you could knock them off using the built-in geared arm function (note that in Bionicle such functionns were built up). Like the mask-knocking feature of that theme you could 'duel' with two knights. Some releases had cards to use as shields like a proper game.
@SearchlightRG said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I wouldn't want to be a minifigure who has to fight him in battle!"
Batman could take him..."
In the time period that Vladek is in Batman wouldn't have all his fancy tech, so he would lose."
You assume Batman wouldn’t readily adapt to the time period and whatever means would be at his disposal. He’s not called “the Dark Knight” for nothing."
He, relies heavily on his tech, and has nowhere near as much experience as Vladek, resulting in Batman getting destroyed.
Ah yes, the guy dressed all in black with red highlights, covered in spikes and with a scorpion as his insignia…
Remind me why this guy was trusted to become right-hand adviser to the king?
@I_RedArcher_I said:
"Why do people dislike Knights Kingdom 2 so strongly?"
The first wave (2004) builds were weak/basic blocky the heroes (power ranger) are quite unique the shields were nice but the colours are overkill and they lack normal soldiers.
Villains are great
The big figs you like them or you hate them, I'm team hate and stuck with 15-20 of them from second hand lego I bought. Only the shields have use for me, selling them is harder that a basic police car so I won't bother.
2nd and 3rd wave were better but still loved the oversized part
Don't forget 8801 when making a D-Day set
Vladek, of the Putinignan dynasty
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I wouldn't want to be a minifigure who has to fight him in battle!"
Batman could take him..."
In the time period that Vladek is in Batman wouldn't have all his fancy tech, so he would lose."
You assume Batman wouldn’t readily adapt to the time period and whatever means would be at his disposal. He’s not called “the Dark Knight” for nothing."
He, relies heavily on his tech, and has nowhere near as much experience as Vladek, resulting in Batman getting destroyed."
Batman does make use of tech, but he can still function without it quite well. He’s usually depicted as a master martial artist, armed or unarmed, and has also been depicted being pretty knowledgeable about magic for a non-practitioner. And it wouldn’t be the first time he’s gone medieval: check out 71344.
Vladek the scorpion knight is one of those characters I feel like Lego is just sitting on quietly, until they have the chance to reintroduce him. Lego's gotten really great at making interesting and original villains, and I feel like Vladek is one of the ones that could be easily reintroduced in almost any setting.
Oh, and in a fight, Batman would take him apart like a cheap watch.
Now that I look at Vladek again (and I have this figure somewhere in my collection), this should definitely be used in a LEGO Dark Souls theme as a boss...
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14:
71017-4."
Too far!"
71344. I mean, just imagine stepping on that sword…
All hail the Scorpion King!
Wait, that's not The Rock...
Fun fact: Vladek is Ogel's distant ancestor, as revealed in a 2003 (or was it 2004?) LEGO Magazine article.
Knight's Kingdom II was kinda interesting NGL. I kinda want a Danju minifigure literally just because he has a wolf theme :-P
Apparently Vladek was related to Ogel from Alpha Team.
@Maxbricks14:
Batman could just shower the area in itching powder (which he spent years building up immunity during his time as the Dread Pirate Buccaneer Bat), and then use the crest of his Baturion helmet to tickle Vladek into immobilization. He could moon Vladek in his Tartan Batman outfit, and make him feel inadequate. He could just show up in Tears of a Bat, because I’m pretty sure Vladek is deathly afraid of clowns. Batman can keep this up all day, and so can I.
@SearchlightRG said:
"Batman…has also been depicted being pretty knowledgeable about magic for a non-practitioner."
Wiz-bat:
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
"https://www.mikerayhawk.com/knights_kingdom.htm
what can i say except... you're welcome!"
Wow, what a treasure trove - thanks for sharing this!
@huw : There should be a way to have Brickset credit artists who develop artwork that is in the instruction manuals like Mike Rayhawk or Dan Veesenmeyer. There are obviously countless more that I don't know about but this kind of information is really helpful. Just an idea.
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
"https://www.mikerayhawk.com/knights_kingdom.htm
what can i say except... you're welcome!"
Awesome read, thanks!
It's interesting that the theme was originally meant to be called 'Future Knights'. The name is a bit meh, but I would have preferred anything other than 'Knights' Kingdom' since it implies a connection to the 2000 line which is nowhere to be found.
Also that name (and the entire development story) clearly indicates that KK2 is more in line with themes like Bionicle or Ninjago than it is with other Castle themes (for Nexo Knights, most people seem to have agreed at some point over that).
@PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 :
Batman could just shower the area in itching powder (which he spent years building up immunity during his time as the Dread Pirate Buccaneer Bat), and then use the crest of his Baturion helmet to tickle Vladek into immobilization. He could moon Vladek in his Tartan Batman outfit, and make him feel inadequate. He could just show up in Tears of a Bat, because I’m pretty sure Vladek is deathly afraid of clowns. Batman can keep this up all day, and so can I."
Yes but, that is cheating because he's using modern equipment, not a sword.
@SearchlightRG said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I wouldn't want to be a minifigure who has to fight him in battle!"
Batman could take him..."
In the time period that Vladek is in Batman wouldn't have all his fancy tech, so he would lose."
You assume Batman wouldn’t readily adapt to the time period and whatever means would be at his disposal. He’s not called “the Dark Knight” for nothing."
He, relies heavily on his tech, and has nowhere near as much experience as Vladek, resulting in Batman getting destroyed."
Batman does make use of tech, but he can still function without it quite well. He’s usually depicted as a master martial artist, armed or unarmed, and has also been depicted being pretty knowledgeable about magic for a non-practitioner. And it wouldn’t be the first time he’s gone medieval: check out 71344."
Even so, Vladek has 10 times more experience with a sword, whereas batman has a lot less because he uses his modern gadgets more.
@Maxbricks14 said:
"Yes but, that is cheating because he's using modern equipment, not a sword."
What modern equipment? Itching powder? Just ground up poison ivy. Baturion helmet? Ancient Rome predates medieval castle. Clowns? Just another name for court jesters.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"Yes but, that is cheating because he's using modern equipment, not a sword."
What modern equipment? Itching powder? Just ground up poison ivy. Baturion helmet? Ancient Rome predates medieval castle. Clowns? Just another name for court jesters."
You don't understand what i mean. Just batman vs Vladek with a sword each. nothing else. Vladek, who has much more experience would cut him down!
@Maxbricks14 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"Yes but, that is cheating because he's using modern equipment, not a sword."
What modern equipment? Itching powder? Just ground up poison ivy. Baturion helmet? Ancient Rome predates medieval castle. Clowns? Just another name for court jesters."
You don't understand what i mean. Just batman vs Vladek with a sword each. nothing else. Vladek, who has much more experience would cut him down!"
And just how are you so acquainted with the respective experience and skill of these two fictional characters, exactly? For all Vladek’s experience, he gets his butt handed to him by Jayko, youngest and least experienced of the heroes in Knights Kingdom.
@SearchlightRG said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"Yes but, that is cheating because he's using modern equipment, not a sword."
What modern equipment? Itching powder? Just ground up poison ivy. Baturion helmet? Ancient Rome predates medieval castle. Clowns? Just another name for court jesters."
You don't understand what i mean. Just batman vs Vladek with a sword each. nothing else. Vladek, who has much more experience would cut him down!"
And just how are you so acquainted with the respective experience and skill of these two fictional characters, exactly? For all Vladek’s experience, he gets his butt handed to him by Jayko, youngest and least experienced of the heroes in Knights Kingdom."
And it's not like Batman is one of his world's foremost martial artists or anything... (/sarcasm in case anyone couldn't figure it out)
@Maxbricks14 said:
"You don't understand what i mean. Just batman vs Vladek with a sword each. nothing else. Vladek, who has much more experience would cut him down!"
“If you can dodge an undodgable Omega Beam…you can dodge a sword.”
That’s the movie quote, right? I’ve never actually seen any of it except the trailers.