Random set of the day: Ninpo Water Spider
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 3017 Ninpo Water Spider, released in 1998. It's one of 22 Castle sets produced that year. It contains 25 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$2.
It's owned by 303 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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18 comments on this article
Polybags before polybags were a thing. I liked the grey ninja with his little bat-winged hang-glider. That one was cool.
I never had a dark ages, but for me, there was a period where I was no longer playing with the Lego sets (I wasn't coming up with complicated stories about my characters, and the villains they were fighting to protect Lego city), and was slowly transitioning into just collecting them because I thought they were cool. Ninja and Adventurers both popped up around this time, so these themes with so much potential for cool stories? It's like, I just missed out, if I was a couple of years younger, I could've incorporated all this cool stuff into my Lego games. Anyway.
Honestly, I would rather have the surrounding rocks and water as a set than the actual thing.
P.S. super disappointed that we didn’t get technic set number 4 in a row. Bummer. There goes my conspiracy theory.
^No, but 4th of this theme in the last 12 days. in the last 18 days 55% of the sets (10/18, or more than HALF) have been either Techinic or Castle.
What a wierd Technic set.
@Zordboy: Most of the late 90's polybags were mainly available through the Kabaya promotion in Japan, but there were still a lot of them.
Ninpo Water Spider? I thought the set was called Ninja Water Spider.
@sanderkoenen
Ninpo is another word for ninjutsu, the martial arts of ninja. Ninpo represents the larger scale of ninjutsu - the spiritual aspects and the physical aspects.
I have this one, but think I got it as a gift on an EVA flight. Very cute.
I really miss these Japanese themed Castle sets. I know there's Ninjago, but that's mostly fantasy stuff and the designs are gaudy.
It's like Castle and Ninjago had a baby! (but obviously before Ninjago had even begun).
@Nikolaevna, The Japanese-themed minifigures they came up with in the late 90s were the best ninjas and samurais LEGO has done. I have several in my display collection.
An interesting name for sure. :D
@Your future president:
Yeah, I agree with you. IMO I still think the set looks somewhat cool, but I definitely prefer the background!
Classic Ninja, aaaaah! :D
...I will be forever disappointed that the only set I got from that theme was 6013. Ninja was my introduction to Lego themes with actual storyline and characters - thanks to the UK Lego Adventures magazine, which starred this theme in its very first issue - and... man, that was the beginning for me. I was hooked on themed Lego for many years after that x3
I forever have a soft spot for those late-90s themes, even when they haven't aged so well... don't judge me xD
I never got into ninjago, but I could get behind these Ninja sets. Definitely more appealing. Ninjago is too fantasy with the mech dragons and skeletons.
Ninja theme had pretty nice looking buildings/caves for it's time.
I never got any of the theme's sets, but even now, I think the look aged well.
Good mix of horses, cannons, gliders, carts and boats/rafts within the theme.
For such a short running theme there still was a lot of variation, and 3 factions by looking at the flags, yet the figures were easily mixed and matched and not too specialized.
This theme appeals more to me then Ninjago.
I wonder if Ninpo is intentional or a typo since there is such a thing as Ninpo but I do wonder why didn't they just call it Ninja? In any case it is a nice little set and it makes me kind of miss the old Ninja mask element and wish it would come back for some minor characters in the Ninjago sets at some point, Don't get me wrong I still love every other Ninja mask from the Ninjago theme but this was the one that got the whole thing rolling! I'd love to see it used for something like the Ninja in there training outfits or something along those lines as a nod to the themes origins!
Ancient Ninja philosophy: "When the river drifts away from you, and so the crossbows follow its course... mount your bow on a stand and mount that on a raft."