Review: 40912 Sea Serpent
Posted by CapnRex101,
6057 Sea Serpent was released in 1992 and the vessel remains very popular today, as an outlier in the Castle theme. A modern iteration won the LEGO Ideas A Twist of Nostalgia contest last year and that design has been modified further, resulting in 40912 Sea Serpent.
Certain features of the original set are instantly recognisable on its successor, including the essential crenellated handrails and decorated sail, but the translation has proven contentious in other regards because its shape has completely changed, relative to the 1992 design.
Summary
40912 Sea Serpent, 241 pieces.
Something has been lost in translation here, but I still like 40912 Sea Serpent overall
- Appealing colours and proportions
- Printed shields and sail
- Fairly realistic design
- Misses the shape of the original set
- Only two minifigures
- Boring box artwork
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Box and Contents
The packaging for 40567 Forest Hideout and 40601 Majisto's Magical Workshop were inspired by their respective original boxes, so I hoped the Sea Serpent's box would be similar. However, this is the usual 18+ style, which feels like a missed opportunity to me. The contest was entirely focused on nostalgia, so the box should surely have been designed accordingly.
Inside are three numbered bags and a paper envelope that contains the fabric sail, so it should arrive in pristine condition.
Minifigures
Five minifigures appeared in 6057 Sea Serpent and while extra minifigures are almost always welcome, that was potentially excessive in hindsight. Only two knights crew this version of the Sea Serpent, using the same torso as the Griffin Knights available in 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine, but with dark blue arms instead of dark red.
The chain mail design is reminiscent of the Black Knights from the 1992 set, though with dark blue and golden details, they more closely resemble the Fantasy Era knights. That is great for me because those are my childhood Castle sets, but dark blue is still an unusual colour choice for the Black Knights.
Both minifigures are armed with printed shields, featuring the Black Knights' wyvern sigil. The decoration looks superb and I like the Hylian Shield created for The Legend of Zelda, though this modern element feels somehow inappropriate here. The older shield accessory remains in production, so I wish that had been used instead.
Reference
6057 Sea Serpent
HallowedBrick02's LEGO Ideas submission
The Completed Model
6057 Sea Serpent is certainly a distinctive set, given its unusual black and blue colour scheme and use of battlement bricks for the fore and aft castles. This normally bodes well for refreshed versions of classic sets, as the designer can select certain features to retain, without needing to mirror the original set exactly. With that in mind, I think HallowedBrick02's translation was quite effective and so is the final model.
The vessel measures 20cm in length, including the bowsprit, which is smaller than the original set. Its proportions are quite different as well, as the forecastle is much less prominent and the 1992 Sea Serpent's sloping handrails are gone. The result is a more realistic ship, undoubtedly, but I wish its shape was closer to the earlier model.
However, I love the blue tiles forming the crenellated handrail around the bowsprit and the red stripe on the hull looks lovely, mirrored at the stern. Furthermore, you can attach the shields to clips on either side, which is another feature similar to the 1992 model. The ornamental dragon from the earlier set's bowsprit is omitted though, sadly.
The symbol on the sail has been changed to match that on the Dragon Knights' shields, which I appreciate. I think the prior symbol was slightly too cartoony. The dark blue and pearl gold flags are a peculiar choice though. These colours look nice together, but again, I only associate them with the Crown Knights from the Fantasy Era range.
The barrel and goblet on deck and the oars clipped to each side both originate from 6057 Sea Serpent, so these are welcome details. The crenellated taffrail is appealing too, although there are noticeable gaps at the corners and between the upper deck handrails and those below.
While two minifigures are arguably sufficient for such a small ship, there would comfortably be space for three on deck, as in the Ideas submission. The hatch to reach a compartment below deck remains from the Ideas model though, with a cookie inside. The wooden barrel contains a printed coin, meanwhile.
Another crate is found inside, accessed through the hinged sides of the ship. I like the golden windows and other decorative details, while the box includes a pair of pearl gold ingots on top, but nothing inside. Perhaps the ingots on top are supposed to be overflowing from the crate.
Overall
My preference for sets like this has always been to choose a few essential features that should be retained for an updated design, without seeking to recreate decades-old building techniques. 40912 Sea Serpent generally satisfies my preferences, as its colour scheme and battlement-like railings are translated well.
On the other hand, the shape of the original Sea Serpent has been completely lost, particularly around the prow, which is a shame. I still think this is a good design on the whole, but the 1992 model had a certain character this version lacks, in my opinion. Naturally, it would be brilliant to see sets like this available to buy, but as a free item when spending £160, $180 or €180, I hope 40912 Sea Serpent is successful.
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51 comments on this article
Ive been waiting for this promo to make some purchases.... :) thanks for the early review!
An OK looking GWP but unfortunately not a theme that holds the slightest nostalgia for me, even though I have several wanted sets that would make the threshold. Next...
Let's hope the aftermarket price will be doable. It looks a bit small. Mainly due to including two figures.
Ship will probably flip.
The oval or triangular shield would have been much better. The classic factions deserve that! They can use this new type of shield for their new spin-off factions like Serpents, Griffins, etc. for all I care.
I really hope they will make a large castle for the Black Knights, but I'm afraid that the dragon plumes will never come back and it wouldn't be the same without those.
While it's a nice update, I don't think it actually improves upon the original 1992 set. Now, it's always hard to beat sets people have such deep nostalgia for, as I have with the Sea Serpent, and LEGO has proven with some previous remakes how hard it can be to get it right, so I'm not too disappointed with this. However, I do still feel like it could've been at least a bit better. The minifigs looking nothing like any of the original Black Knights configurations from 1988-1993 is probably the worst offence, because if the figures were just given plain red and blue legs and arms with black helmets, they would've pretty much nailed the modernizing.
Feels crazy that they made a printed sail and new shields just for this (or...?) and it only has two figs. I did pass on the Leonardo GWP to save for this one, and I think it'll be worthwhile as I do have spare BK figs to kit this out.
It does feel like it'll be OK to try to expand, getting those L tiles in blue should work well enough when combined with 1x2s from my collection.
The shield print is great. But man that design, with the vertical bar, is horrendous!
Still don’t like the change from yellow to gold and the change to the figures as well as shield shapes. I can get past the ship shape easily enough, but the shield shapes, muted gold vs yellow, and blue rather than yellow arms makes this not even feel like classic castle to me.
The changes to this set make it the perfect companion to the DnD set. Matching flags on the ruined tower and a dock to park it at… and of course the wyvern theming is appropriate!
I really don't like the shape of the ship. It looks like a creation of a kid having only a limited of bricks to choose from...
@R0Sch said:
"The oval or triangular shield would have been much better. The classic factions deserve that! They can use this new type of shield for their new spin-off factions like Serpents, Griffins, etc. for all I care.
I really hope they will make a large castle for the Black Knights, but I'm afraid that the dragon plumes will never come back and it wouldn't be the same without those."
I dunno, I think it's kinda cool to have them use a newer shield design instead of a new print on the classic version. The former can expand options for the faction alongside the classic ones whereas the latter would merely feel like an update/replacement for the versions that already exist.
I can't believe they went cheap on the minifigures...
My review may have been a little different…
This is the Alien 3 of LEGO sets. It works well enough on its own but it is a God-awful follow up to what came before.
I’m going to have to retcon a narrative to make this work for me.
Three exercising Lion knights commandeer a Crown knight ship which had been transferrring captured Black knight and Griffin paraphernalia. During the daring heist, one of the Griffins fell so the remaining two then try to obfuscate the livery as they navigate the dangerously winding serpentine path out of enemy territory…in sweat pants.
Just buy the real ship. It will probably be cheaper than whatever this is on the aftermarket bro
I think this is a great set.
@troynos said:
"I think this is a great set."
Troy, no.
Lego finally cutting us a break but decreasing the buy in from $250 to $180!
@yellowcastle said:
"My review may have been a little different…
This is the Alien 3 of LEGO sets. It works well enough on its own but it is a God-awful follow up to what came before.."
It could also be TMNT 3 then...
@ToysFromTheAttic said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"My review may have been a little different…
This is the Alien 3 of LEGO sets. It works well enough on its own but it is a God-awful follow up to what came before.."
It could also be TMNT 3 then..."
Toys, no. :o)
Well, as a huge Castle fan, I'm happy to be in a position where we've had a few Castle sets released over the last couple of years, so we can actually complain instead of accepting everything without a second thought.
I'm a little disappointed that there are only two minifigures, but I can make up my own story: the two Black Falcons have successfully rescued the Lion Knight (as we saw in LKC they are buddies now), while the two disgraced Black Knights have to head back home.
They're smiling because the way the oars are constructed means they can't go anywhere. That saves them from having to face the wrath of their chieftain/king at the end of the journey because there won't be a journey...
@yellowcastle said:
" @troynos said:
"I think this is a great set."
Troy, no."
@yellowcastle said:
" @ToysFromTheAttic said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"My review may have been a little different…
This is the Alien 3 of LEGO sets. It works well enough on its own but it is a God-awful follow up to what came before.."
It could also be TMNT 3 then..."
Toys, no. :o)"
Illiad: the original Troy Story.
Meh.
@yellowcastle said:
"My review may have been a little different…"
Has yellow only turned yellow today or have I just not noticed before?
@sjr60 said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"My review may have been a little different…"
Has yellow only turned yellow today or have I just not noticed before?
"
I’m no more scared than usual.
I do not care for lightsaber oars. That's too iconic for the ship not to be noticeable.
Not having the original I'll be happy to get this. I'll probably try to get a few while they are available. While none of the remakes are classic castle I'm glad they are giving us some castle stuff. I like that they changed the color of the arms so these differ from the Griffin Knights. Too bad they probably won't make it to PAB.
It looks like a son of 6057 Sea Serpent and 6018 Battle Dragon. Nice set, but a frustrating homage too.
@Ecclesiastes said:
"The shield print is great. But man that design, with the vertical bar, is horrendous!"
The horizontal boss on the kite shield was the bad design. It’s useful for hanging the shield on a vertical spear, and for posing the bearer in a resting pose, and that’s pretty much it. The human body is vertical in combat (if you’re doing it right), so you want to deflect blows to one side or the other. A horizontal boss would deflect the blow up into your head, or down into your legs.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Ecclesiastes said:
"The shield print is great. But man that design, with the vertical bar, is horrendous!"
The horizontal boss on the kite shield was the bad design. It’s useful for hanging the shield on a vertical spear, and for posing the bearer in a resting pose, and that’s pretty much it. The human body is vertical in combat (if you’re doing it right), so you want to deflect blows to one side or the other. A horizontal boss would deflect the blow up into your head, or down into your legs."
A shield boss is the structure in the middle of a shield, usually made of metal, so I think you mean to refer to the handle or grip.
Reading the comments and thinking that a GWP would be as great as the original set seems like an overstretch.
@pedro_lego said:
"Reading the comments and thinking that a GWP would be as great as the original set seems like an overstretch. "
The problem is the Ideas submission was great and this is mid at best. They literally had it in their hands - just add a cloth sail.
@Lyichir said:
" @R0Sch said:
"The oval or triangular shield would have been much better. The classic factions deserve that! They can use this new type of shield for their new spin-off factions like Serpents, Griffins, etc. for all I care.
I really hope they will make a large castle for the Black Knights, but I'm afraid that the dragon plumes will never come back and it wouldn't be the same without those."
I dunno, I think it's kinda cool to have them use a newer shield design instead of a new print on the classic version. The former can expand options for the faction alongside the classic ones whereas the latter would merely feel like an update/replacement for the versions that already exist."
The issue with the hylian shield is that it's not historically accurate and less practical for builds. The heater shield could be stuck to walls or headlight bricks using the bar ends and the kite shield put on swords and spears while riding the horse. New one only has the vertical grip so needs a clip/hand horizontal. This here is only an ornamental/fantasy shield, not something used in medieval battles.
Was thinking of making a large pickabrick order now I have a reason too. You are right this set would fit nicely with my Crown knights.
Was thinking of making a large pickabrick order now I have a reason too. You are right this set would fit nicely with my Crown knights.
@R0Sch said:
" @Lyichir said:
" @R0Sch said:
"The oval or triangular shield would have been much better. The classic factions deserve that! They can use this new type of shield for their new spin-off factions like Serpents, Griffins, etc. for all I care.
I really hope they will make a large castle for the Black Knights, but I'm afraid that the dragon plumes will never come back and it wouldn't be the same without those."
I dunno, I think it's kinda cool to have them use a newer shield design instead of a new print on the classic version. The former can expand options for the faction alongside the classic ones whereas the latter would merely feel like an update/replacement for the versions that already exist."
The issue with the hylian shield is that it's not historically accurate and less practical for builds. The heater shield could be stuck to walls or headlight bricks using the bar ends and the kite shield put on swords and spears while riding the horse. New one only has the vertical grip so needs a clip/hand horizontal. This here is only an ornamental/fantasy shield, not something used in medieval battles."
It's also useful as a snowboard, although that rips through its durability. In combat, I like to attach a flamethrower on it, and have the shield barf fiery death on to my enemies.
What I'm saying is, the grip is vertical because that's how Link holds it in his games. In-game, the grip is closer to the edge of the shield, and it comes with an arm-strap for added strength.
I do agree that the heater-grip would have been fine for the Hylian shield, I just think it's kind of a stretch to say that the older shields are more "historically accurate". Not many armies used perfectly flat, plastic shields designed for claw-hands. If anything, the curve on the Hylian shield reads as more accurate to me. And also, again, much better for shield-surfing, which as we all know from the LotR-documentaries, is very historically accurate indeed.
As I don't have the original, I quite like the look of this and I worked out what sets I could get off my list to meet the threshold without going overboard. Yes, it's going to leave me poorer, considering the math I had to do after bricklink, but I think I'd rather get it off lego than ebay, where it's quite a inflated price at the moment, plus points, which considering how much I will have spent, should prove worthwhile.
I do wish they'd increase the ratio of points earned though.
Anything else happening on insider days? Double points again maybe?
@Father_Nathan said:
"And of course one of the minifigures had to be female for PC's sake..."
It's not historically accurate anyway, so why not also a woman. My son and daughter both like lego, so I'm happy both genders are represented.
@Adrianucho said:
"It looks like a son of 6057 Sea Serpent and 6018 Battle Dragon. Nice set, but a frustrating homage too."
I was thinking that, too!
Actually, that's what I liked about the arms. in both 6018 and 6057 there was some ambiguity/flexibility with the minifigures - especially in 6018 (which is admittedly quite confusing). Even CAS176 from 6074 had red and black like CAS322 from 6057 (although, yes, the red mustache has always been for the black knights).
likewise, by adjusting the arms here to blue, they could fit in the black falcons or black knights! I think it was a very nicely confusing move. but still too few figures. (;_;)
@Father_Nathan said:
"And of course one of the minifigures had to be female for PC's sake..."
Yeah, everyone knows women weren't invented until 1831.
Cool build, worse than original imo .
I will wait for shields to be on P@B
Both sailed Black Knights' ships look they would be escorts to the Durmstrang ship 76440, though much less flamboyancy (had to bend that into pun).
@RecenteRetro_Eek said:
" @Father_Nathan said:
"And of course one of the minifigures had to be female for PC's sake..."
It's not historically accurate anyway, so why not also a woman. My son and daughter both like lego, so I'm happy both genders are represented. "
Lego is about creativity and building new little worlds with toys, not about accurately depicting the non-toy world. When I was growing up, I always had far fewer minifigure parts for creating female characters, and I heard similar complaints from other childhood Lego fans (or their siblings). I think Lego's trends toward diverse representation are great.
a poor up to date rendition of the original, same problem as with Maestro's workshop...
I think if it had just been a little chunkier with the crenellations around the prow it would have looked better. This comes across as a bit more of a tribute act than a remake
@CapnRex101 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Ecclesiastes said:
"The shield print is great. But man that design, with the vertical bar, is horrendous!"
The horizontal boss on the kite shield was the bad design. It’s useful for hanging the shield on a vertical spear, and for posing the bearer in a resting pose, and that’s pretty much it. The human body is vertical in combat (if you’re doing it right), so you want to deflect blows to one side or the other. A horizontal boss would deflect the blow up into your head, or down into your legs."
A shield boss is the structure in the middle of a shield, usually made of metal, so I think you mean to refer to the handle or grip."
Of all the shields used in Europe, the ones with a boss in the center are the only ones I know of with a grip that's also in the center. So, "boss grip", if you prefer. Neither kite shields nor heater shields should have a centered grip at all (technically, they should have straps that transfer the weight to the bearer's neck, but even Hollywood doesn't do that). The grip on the LEGO kite shield is still oriented the wrong way.
It looks good, but it's not special. So no, won't be enticed.
@RecenteRetro_Eek said:
" @Father_Nathan said:
"And of course one of the minifigures had to be female for PC's sake..."
It's not historically accurate anyway, so why not also a woman. My son and daughter both like lego, so I'm happy both genders are represented. "
Thanks for replying. As you can see, my comment has been deleted.
Having done the laziest possible version of research (went to the Royal Armouries collection, typed “shield” into the search box and looked through a bunch of pages of results):
1. Round shields are the most common and it isn’t even close. For every Fun Variant there are SO MANY round shields.
2. Flat and flattish shields basically don’t exist unless they are also Extremely Tall, and those aren’t really part of medieval Europe to a meaningful extent and also look nothing like the classic shield anyway.
3. There was a shield that looked pretty much like these do, which honestly surprised me but was pretty cool.
Anyway thank you for coming to my TEDx talk on Lego shield historical accuracy.
I'll be getting this on the secondary market, and I'm tempted to borrow the dragon from 71047-3 or 71052-7 to put on the end of the bowsprit.
@Hiratha said:
"Having done the laziest possible version of research (went to the Royal Armouries collection, typed “shield” into the search box and looked through a bunch of pages of results):
1. Round shields are the most common and it isn’t even close. For every Fun Variant there are SO MANY round shields.
2. Flat and flattish shields basically don’t exist unless they are also Extremely Tall, and those aren’t really part of medieval Europe to a meaningful extent and also look nothing like the classic shield anyway.
3. There was a shield that looked pretty much like these do, which honestly surprised me but was pretty cool.
Anyway thank you for coming to my TEDx talk on Lego shield historical accuracy."
From what I can tell, flat shields usually include a boss grip in the center, and you'd defend with them by punching the shield into the attack. The shield would pivot to either side on the grip, helping to both deflect the attack and absorb the impact. Not all shields with a boss grip were round, however. There were also oval shields.
Shields with straps that hold it to your forearm seem to be curved in some manner. The straps would prevent the shield from pivoting with the blow, so the rounded shape would help prevent the blow from finding purchase on the shield, allowing the weapon (and the impact of the blow) to slide off to one side or the other. It's also believed that the shallow bowl shape of the shields used by the Greek hoplites allowed them to help carry the weight on their shoulder, similar to how kite and heater shields used a strap slung over the opposite shoulder to prevent the bearer from having to carry the full weight on their forearm.
@TheOtherMike said:
"I'll be getting this on the secondary market, and I'm tempted to borrow the dragon from 71047-3 or 71052-7 to put on the end of the bowsprit."
I was thinking something similar. Not the chocolate dragon (that would look too plain for a figurehead on such a brightly decorated boat), but also not necessarily the D&D dragon. There are other red dragons, but the advantage of the D&D one is that I already have at least one spare.