Random set of the day: Sam Sinister and Baby T
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 5914 Sam Sinister and Baby T, released during 2000. It's one of 17 Adventurers sets produced that year. It contains 21 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$3.
It's owned by 1,860 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 $20.00, or eBay.
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31 comments on this article
Well, I think I can safely say that there is certifiably nothing even vaguely Bionicle or Constraction, or even Technic about this. Pure System all the way, the only real obscure thing of note that doesn't quite match here is the Fabuland net.
I still wish I'd gotten my hands on one of those baby T. rex pieces.
honestly, such a powerful set name right there
but Baby T though, sounds like the sort of name a rapper would have :sobs:
but Adventures, as much as I didnt grow up with the theme. I did however with Laser Raiders at Legoland winsor
that was the best
@Worrissey said:
"honestly, such a powerful set name right there
but Baby T though, sounds like the sort of name a rapper would have :sobs:
but Adventures, as much as I didnt grow up with the theme. I did however with Laser Raiders at Legoland winsor
that was the best"
Baby T sounds like the name they would give a rapper on a kids show.
Could they have thought of a more Sinister name?
@Maxbricks14 said:
"Could they have thought of a more Sinister name?"
Yes - Sin Sinister.
@TheOtherMike said:
"I still wish I'd gotten my hands on one of those baby T. rex pieces."
As far as I can recall, they came pretty common afterwards. I wound up with a whole bunch of them in all different colours.
I never even got this set -- and the baby T. rex would've been the drawcard -- but I never ended up needing to.
This set name sounds like an up-and-coming rap duo
@PurpleDave:
Regarding yesterday's rubber bands - I always thought the square section bands were standard issue items purchased by an external manufacturer (similar to most strings and magnets) rather than produced by TLG themselves. I wonder if a source exists to proof any of the 2 cases.
Maybe they even switched to in-house production (or vice-versa) in the late '90s explaining the poor quality? It seems to align with the time the first stickers and instructions were made in-house - with stickers suffering similarly around that time.
=====
Back to set:
I already had a T-rex baby when I got this from the Johnny Thunder cart (both came out quite earlier than the regular sets in Germany). Still I really wanted this. Not much going on there except the dino baby and ol' Sam, though I guess the build is somewhat unique in regards of topic.
It is strange that the "Fabuland" net actually only ever appeared once in a de facto Fabuland set - then vanished for almost 15 years from the parts palette to return here (and a Mickey Mouse set from the same year). It feels a bit too large for a minifig, though it's still nice to have!
The old brown 4x6 plate was somewhat rare too and unusual for a set this size, Sam Sanister featured his white epaulets, giving you the complete version of him!
This set was actually part of 4 set series (5911-5914) all featuring small builds and a different Adventurers character (the others had Johnny Thunder, Dr. Kilroy and Mike). Each set came with a little comic book featuring the set and a part of a combiner model instruction.
This type of marketing was quite common in 2000 - Knights' Kingdom being the most popular example with the "chrome Cedric" collection. Oddly Dino Island has another quartet of small sets in 2000 for the Kabaya line, where they even switched Sam out for the more rare Mr. Cunningham.
Dino Island also marked the first time the characters were named identical across all regions, adapting the US names for most parts. Though they seemingly switched around Baron von Barron and Sam Sanister from the older Desert line (unless he was always meant to be Sanister). It also marked the debut of Sam's sister Alexia Sanister.
Starring one of my all-time favourite elements, the Baby T-Rex! One of its last appearances was in metallic gold in Agents and dark bluish grey for Indiana Jones (where it was placed upside down to apparently look like a face or sideways to look like serpents... but I just thought they were baby dinos hanging around lol).
I sadly never got my hands on the golden or red dinos.... maybe one day!
@Atuin said:
"Dino Island also marked the first time the characters were named identical across all regions, adapting the US names for most parts."
Not quite. In 2000s media, the US still used its own localized set of names for the heroes ("Dr. Lightning" for Dr. Kilroy and "Gail Storm" for Pippin Read), and Mr. Hates still went by "Baron von Baron" in some early media. Later magazines and catalogs replace "Baron von Baron" with "Sam Sinister", which was formerly Slyboots' localized US name; his sister's name was likewise localized as "Alexia Sinister". Eventually, "Dr. Lightning" was phased out in favor of "Dr. Kilroy" (set 5913 even had its name changed on the online LEGO Shop at some point), and 2001-2002 media likewise cemented "Pippin Read/Reed" as the heroine's name.
Internationally, most sets of localized names were abandoned in favor of the original Danish names becoming more consistent: "Sam Grant" became "Johnny Thunder" in the UK, "Professor Articus" became "Professor Kilroy" in Germany, etc. However, this isn't 100% true either, since Germany and Japan still hold onto their localized names for Johnny Thunder (Joe Freeman and Adventurer Jones, respectively). Some countries (like Japan) continue referring to Mr. Hates by his Danish name, but the majority adopt the new "Sam Sanister" variant for the character; wherever this is the case, his sister is named either "Alexia Sanister" or "Alexis Sanister" depending on the source.
The other new villain, Mr. Cunningham, is almost consistent worldwide. But then the Netherlands catalog throws a monkey wrench into everything! Here, the villains are named "Alex Gluipstra", "Alexis Gluipstra", and "Sluwe Jacques".
The one character whose name is totally consistent in all regions would be Mike. (At least, until Soccer Mania referred to him as "Harry Cane" a few years later...)
Only missing the red baby Rex. I used the green one for Rex in my Toy Story 2 Pizza Planet truck, and had the dark-bley one from Indiana Jones, but with our ill-fated dinosaur binge this summer, I picked up a few more of both, plus the gold one.
@Atuin:
The only parts I know for sure that they farmed out were baseplates and electronics. I’ve heard monorail stuff, but never if this was specifically the (electronic) motors, or if it included the molded track elements. I could see rubber bands, since extrusion would require a different machine, and it would have to be one that could handle rapidly cutting them to “length” as they were extruded. Technic bands they could produce on their own injection molding machines.
No wonder our T-Rex from a few days ago looked so angry, Sam here has kidnapped its child!
@SJPlego said:
" @Atuin said:
"Dino Island also marked the first time the characters were named identical across all regions, adapting the US names for most parts."
Not quite. In 2000s media, the US still used its own localized set of names for the heroes ("Dr. Lightning" for Dr. Kilroy and "Gail Storm" for Pippin Read), and Mr. Hates still went by "Baron von Baron" in some early media. Later magazines and catalogs replace "Baron von Baron" with "Sam Sinister", which was formerly Slyboots' localized US name; his sister's name was likewise localized as "Alexia Sinister". Eventually, "Dr. Lightning" was phased out in favor of "Dr. Kilroy" (set 5913 even had its name changed on the online LEGO Shop at some point), and 2001-2002 media likewise cemented "Pippin Read/Reed" as the heroine's name.
Internationally, most sets of localized names were abandoned in favor of the original Danish names becoming more consistent: "Sam Grant" became "Johnny Thunder" in the UK, "Professor Articus" became "Professor Kilroy" in Germany, etc. However, this isn't 100% true either, since Germany and Japan still hold onto their localized names for Johnny Thunder (Joe Freeman and Adventurer Jones, respectively). Some countries (like Japan) continue referring to Mr. Hates by his Danish name, but the majority adopt the new "Sam Sanister" variant for the character; wherever this is the case, his sister is named either "Alexia Sanister" or "Alexis Sanister" depending on the source.
The other new villain, Mr. Cunningham, is almost consistent worldwide. But then the Netherlands catalog throws a monkey wrench into everything! Here, the villains are named "Alex Gluipstra", "Alexis Gluipstra", and "Sluwe Jacques".
The one character whose name is totally consistent in all regions would be Mike. (At least, until Soccer Mania referred to him as "Harry Cane" a few years later...)"
Re-checked the materials I could think of and yes you are right "Joe Freeman" was still in use in Germany in 2000. However all other names used the US versions (though Pippin Reed was never named anywhere except the 2001 videogames). There's also a single mention of Kilroy as "Prof. Titus" and occasionally Alexis was called "Alexia Sanister".
Also I confused Charles Lightning as the UK name. This makes the name changes even more confusing - part is UK, part is US. Finding any real sources for the Danish names (for any theme) is surprisingly hard...
Keeping a baby T-Rex in a cage is never a good idea.
So 'sinister' just means... 'left', it comes from the belief that 10% of the world's population is untrustworthy simply because they favour their left hand. Sam here is a southpaw, even though that left hand is a hook. The thing is, the vast majority of minifigures are left-handed, and you can look that up. You're not alone, Sammy! It's not just Flanders and Link, it's damn near everyone who's on your side!
Read only "Sam Sinister and Baby" and my mind immediately pictured a comedy in which a baby unexpectadly falls in the hands of Sam Sinister. Then, shenanigans happen...
@Miyakan said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"Could they have thought of a more Sinister name?"
Yes - Sin Sinister."
Plot twist! Sam is the less evil twin!
Don't you need to hold the net the other way around? Little T may only be a baby but he still has baby jaws.
"Sam Sinister and Baby T" is a great name for a metal/rap duo
@Lego_lord said:
"Keeping a baby T-Rex in a cage is never a good idea."
Seems safer than raising it free-range.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Lego_lord said:
"Keeping a baby T-Rex in a cage is never a good idea."
Seems safer than raising it free-range."
That's what I was thinking.
ADVENTURERS! Be still my beating heart - this is one of my top three favorite themes, barely taking the second spot from Classic Space and just behind Trains!
I think this set name, like that of 5903, may have been cut off; is there a character limit for Brickset's set name field? I'm sure they were called "[character name] and baby T-Rex" at the time, not just "baby T".
Like others have said, I definitely had eyes for both that set and this one when I was a kid, specifically for the baby T-Rex piece, as the only set to include a dinosaur that was within my pocket money budget...! I never quite did go for either of them - though I did "um and arr" about this one for a bit, late in the year while they were still available in Woolworths - because I already had both of the minifigure characters. If it had been one of the new faces in such a small set with the baby T-Rex, I'm pretty sure I would have gone for it, but for a duplicate minifigure I couldn't quite convince myself...
(Eventually I got the baby T-Rex (and adult T-Rex too) in 1349 when I got it for Christmas a few years later after it had been on deep discount, so I was happy with that instead!)
@SJPlego said:
"Internationally, most sets of localized names were abandoned in favor of the original Danish names becoming more consistent: "Sam Grant" became "Johnny Thunder" in the UK, "
Legitimate question from a guy in the UK, but do you know what story media ever used the name Sam Grant? I know the name was in some catalogues at least; but every piece of story media I saw as a child - Lego Adventures magazines, the two DK Puzzle Storybooks, various video games, the 2000 Lego Adventures magazine, everything on the website - used the Johnny Thunder name for him from at least as early as 1999, so I'm genuinely curious. Was there more Adventurers story media over here that I wasn't aware of, that used the Sam Grant name? If so, I'd love to find out about it :o
I guess with the main hero at least sometimes being named Sam over here, I can understand why they decided not to use "Sam Sinister" as the name for either of the villains at first, could have confused matters a bit if they'd shared the same first name...!
@ThatBionicleGuy said:"I think this set name, like that of 5903, may have been cut off; is there a character limit for Brickset's set name field? I'm sure they were called "[character name] and baby T-Rex" at the time, not just "baby T"."
"Johnny Thunder" and "Sam Sinister" don't have the same number of characters, so if there was a cutoff limit and both set's names ended with "Baby T-Rex," they wouldn't have cut off at the same point. Besides, just looking through the history of the VSotW will tell you that there are sets with much longer names.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @ThatBionicleGuy said:"I think this set name, like that of 5903, may have been cut off; is there a character limit for Brickset's set name field? I'm sure they were called "[character name] and baby T-Rex" at the time, not just "baby T"."
"Johnny Thunder" and "Sam Sinister" don't have the same number of characters, so if there was a cutoff limit and both set's names ended with "Baby T-Rex," they wouldn't have cut off at the same point. Besides, just looking through the history of the VSotW will tell you that there are sets with much longer names."
Character limit would only matter at the time a set is named. If there’s a limit then, and it’s raised a year later, it’s not like anyone is going to go back and fill in the partial names. Likewise, if the set has a name, and a shorter limit gets imposed a year later, it’s a matter of how the code reacts to existing limit violations that determines if it would automatically shorten the name. Where I work, they used to have a fairly short limit for one field that we could enter, but you could exceed that limit by scanning a barcode that had a longer text string encoded, and the screwy thing was the character limit sometimes made it nearly impossible to fix the situation if you didn’t catch the mistake and immediately rectify it.
Cute little set--I was happy to get it used (complete and with instructions) a few years back, which was a surprise, because it was in a bag otherwise LEGO-less. It's mildly surprising that the Baron has his epaulets here, as those are the sort of thing LEGO tended to drop in sets this size, but that is not a complaint from me.
Such a simple set, but it encapsulates perfectly what Dino Island is about :)
@ThatBionicleGuy said:
"every piece of story media I saw as a child - Lego Adventures magazines, the two DK Puzzle Storybooks, various video games, the 2000 Lego Adventures magazine, everything on the website - used the Johnny Thunder name for him"
Just to clarify that I mistyped; I meant "the 2000 Lego World Club magazine" rather than listing Lego Adventures twice. Specifying the year in that case because I didn't start getting that magazine until 2000 so I don't know what name the earlier issues used for him.
@Atuin said:
"Re-checked the materials I could think of and yes you are right "Joe Freeman" was still in use in Germany in 2000. However all other names used the US versions (though Pippin Reed was never named anywhere except the 2001 videogames). There's also a single mention of Kilroy as "Prof. Titus" and occasionally Alexis was called "Alexia Sanister".
Also I confused Charles Lightning as the UK name. This makes the name changes even more confusing - part is UK, part is US. Finding any real sources for the Danish names (for any theme) is surprisingly hard..."
Interesting, would you mind sharing the non-US sources where the US names are used in 2000 media? As far as I can tell, the US is the only country that uses "Dr. Lightning", "Gail Storm", or "Baron von Baron" during the Dino Island line.
We can verify that the original Danish names (at least, as far as the 1998 Desert line is concerned) are Johnny Thunder, Dr. Kilroy, Pippin Read, Harry Caine, Mr. Hates, Slyboots, and Pharaoh Hotep. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9772VG3lW5c
With the exception of Harry Caine (whose name is more commonly spelled "Harry Cane"), these match the names used in various international media such as the Dorling Kindersley puzzle books, LEGO Adventures! Magazine, Japanese media (excluding Adventurer Jones), and LEGO Island 2 (especially the GBC version). Based on that, I think it's reasonably safe to assume that Senor Palomar, Rudo Villano, Achu, Mike, Alexia Sanister, and Mr. Cunningham are also consistent with Denmark, but this should ideally be verified first. I also don't know whether Mr. Hates was renamed "Sam Sanister" in Denmark come 2000, but it seems likely.
@ThatBionicleGuy said:
"Legitimate question from a guy in the UK, but do you know what story media ever used the name Sam Grant? I know the name was in some catalogues at least; but every piece of story media I saw as a child - Lego Adventures magazines, the two DK Puzzle Storybooks, various video games, the 2000 Lego Adventures magazine, everything on the website - used the Johnny Thunder name for him from at least as early as 1999, so I'm genuinely curious. Was there more Adventurers story media over here that I wasn't aware of, that used the Sam Grant name? If so, I'd love to find out about it :o"
UK's Bricks 'n' Pieces Spring 1998 (which you can now find scanned in its entirety here on Brickset!) has the same comic as the US's LEGO Mania Magazine January/February 1998 issue. The only difference is that the names are swapped for the UK localization, so Johnny Thunder is "Sam Grant" and Baron von Barron is "Evil Eye" (although interestingly, Dr. Charles Lightning retains his US name instead of going with "The Professor"). Does this count?
For whatever it's worth, LEGO Chess also uses "Sam Grant" in its script for the unused Adventurers cutscenes. However, judging by the Admiral and Sheriff, it's unlikely this name would've been used in-game and instead he would've been named whatever the player named their save file.
@SJPlego said:
" @Atuin said:
"Re-checked the materials I could think of and yes you are right "Joe Freeman" was still in use in Germany in 2000. However all other names used the US versions (though Pippin Reed was never named anywhere except the 2001 videogames). There's also a single mention of Kilroy as "Prof. Titus" and occasionally Alexis was called "Alexia Sanister".
Also I confused Charles Lightning as the UK name. This makes the name changes even more confusing - part is UK, part is US. Finding any real sources for the Danish names (for any theme) is surprisingly hard..."
Interesting, would you mind sharing the non-US sources where the US names are used in 2000 media? As far as I can tell, the US is the only country that uses "Dr. Lightning", "Gail Storm", or "Baron von Baron" during the Dino Island line.
We can verify that the original Danish names (at least, as far as the 1998 Desert line is concerned) are Johnny Thunder, Dr. Kilroy, Pippin Read, Harry Caine, Mr. Hates, Slyboots, and Pharaoh Hotep. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9772VG3lW5c
With the exception of Harry Caine (whose name is more commonly spelled "Harry Cane"), these match the names used in various international media such as the Dorling Kindersley puzzle books, LEGO Adventures! Magazine, Japanese media (excluding Adventurer Jones), and LEGO Island 2 (especially the GBC version). Based on that, I think it's reasonably safe to assume that Senor Palomar, Rudo Villano, Achu, Mike, Alexia Sanister, and Mr. Cunningham are also consistent with Denmark, but this should ideally be verified first. I also don't know whether Mr. Hates was renamed "Sam Sanister" in Denmark come 2000, but it seems likely.
@ThatBionicleGuy said:
"Legitimate question from a guy in the UK, but do you know what story media ever used the name Sam Grant? I know the name was in some catalogues at least; but every piece of story media I saw as a child - Lego Adventures magazines, the two DK Puzzle Storybooks, various video games, the 2000 Lego Adventures magazine, everything on the website - used the Johnny Thunder name for him from at least as early as 1999, so I'm genuinely curious. Was there more Adventurers story media over here that I wasn't aware of, that used the Sam Grant name? If so, I'd love to find out about it :o"
UK's Bricks 'n' Pieces Spring 1998 (which you can now find scanned in its entirety here on Brickset!) has the same comic as the US's LEGO Mania Magazine January/February 1998 issue. The only difference is that the names are swapped for the UK localization, so Johnny Thunder is "Sam Grant" and Baron von Barron is "Evil Eye" (although interestingly, Dr. Charles Lightning retains his US name instead of going with "The Professor"). Does this count?
For whatever it's worth, LEGO Chess also uses "Sam Grant" in its script for the unused Adventurers cutscenes. However, judging by the Admiral and Sheriff, it's unlikely this name would've been used in-game and instead he would've been named whatever the player named their save file."
Not exactly Dino Island, but Australia used both "Dr. Lightning" and "Miss Gail Storm" in 1999: https://archive.org/details/LEGOWorldClubAU-1999No2-Brickshelf/page/n1/mode/2up
That Danish catalogue is interesting - So the finalized version used in Orient Expedition is actually the Danish names?
@ThatBionicleGuy said:
"I think this set name, like that of 5903 , may have been cut off; is there a character limit for Brickset's set name field? I'm sure they were called "[character name] and baby T-Rex" at the time, not just "baby T"."
I wondered about that myself, but you can find box images showing the name as 'Sam Sanister & Baby T', like this one: https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/5914_Sam_Sinister_%26_Baby_T
I think we are using 'Sinister' for consistency, but this character famously goes by many names, depending on region and appearance.