Random set of the day: Samurai Swordsman
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6013 Samurai Swordsman, released in 1998. It's one of 22 Castle sets produced that year. It contains 13 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$3.
It's owned by 1825 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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11 comments on this article
Ah, gold old Ninja. It didn't last long, but it was such a great little theme.
This is what I wanted when I first heard about Ninjago. What an amazing theme.
Even though I bought Garmadon's helmet and a katana online and fitted them to a spare Vladek minifig, somehow I still regret overlooking this set back in 1998. Watching movies like the Last Samurai, Ran and Seven Samurai in the early 2000s was what got me interested in feudal Japan (or whatever it's called). The new helmet design would actually look great on this Samurai if the Ninja subtheme was rereleased today.
I have this set. I'll never understand why Ninjago went to the square handguards on the sword when these guys had octagonal guards.
Very neat figure as well.
ah, the ninjago prequel! is this guy really just a samurai? I thought he was supposed to be the shogun?
I always wonder how Lego picked the age recommendation, like this one being 5-10. If you're 11 or 12, you shouldn't play with anymore.. It may be just me, but I loved castle more at late elementary school than the age of 5.
If I'm not mistaken, they only got rid of the upper limit this year.
LEGO should incorporate more authentic elements in Ninjago but, the recent theme seems something mixing old school ways with Futuristic technology.
Aaaaaah! :D
I love this little set SO MUCH. It's so small, so simple, but...
I got it on holiday in France, back in '99. That was the first year I'd really started to recognise that Lego had specific themes and characters - thanks to the old Lego Adventures magazine which debuted that year. Ninja had starred in the comic strip of the magazine's first issue and I'd fallen for it HARD. I hadn't picked up any of the sets by that point, though; so finding this little guy, being able to grab him (not long after 5906, Ruler of the Jungle, on that same holiday; the two sets and their minifigures are now inseparably linked in my mind) was REALLY COOL to me. It was the first I knew of Lego making horses, or plastic flags, or armour, or...
Still love this Shogun minifigure... and the theme as a whole, honestly. There are, like, five themes from this era of Lego that are still my favourites of all time (based primarily on aesthetic and character and how much they captured my imagination as a kid), and Ninja is almost right at the top of that list.
Does anyone know if there was any more story development, or story material of any kind, produced for Ninja besides the two comics from Lego Adventures? I'd love to learn more about Lego's take on the lore of this theme.
What so many said, I had about 80% of the series as a kid. I would have been 12 and oh man the memories on my floor...
My Great Grandma replaced her old carpet with more Lego wheel friendly carpet just for me to play on LOL.
Great little set! My first samurai minifigure if memory serves.
I have since replaced the minifigure’s head with a younger looking one and have him on foot, not on horseback, but he has been in my display collection since the late ‘90s.
@Darth_TNT: The change in katana guard shape actually occurred slightly before Ninjago — the updated mold first started showing up in 2010 in the Prince of Persia and Harry Potter themes. In its first year, Ninjago actually featured BOTH hilt guard shapes shapes: square hilt guards in standard sets, and octagonal ones in the spinner sets (which at that time were made in China using the same mold as the Minifigures Series 1 Ninja and Series 3 Samurai).
I'm not sure if there was any reason for the change in shape other than needing to replace the earlier mold after it wore out, which is often accompanied by slight design updates. But square hilt guards are far from uncommon in real life: https://www.hanbonforge.com/BLOG/Common-shapes-of-tsuba-(sword-guard)
@Brickalili: LEGO set names back then (American ones like this, at least) were usually more concerned with sounding cool than any kind of technical or historical accuracy. That much became obvious after another Japanese-inspired Ninja set, 3050-1, being named "Shanghai Surprise" the following year.
@Lordmoral: That's pretty much been the norm with Ninjago from the beginning. The first year of sets mostly stuck to traditional subject matter for the heroic Ninja faction and modern or futuristic subject matter for the enemy Skulkin faction, presumably for simplicity's sake. But even early concept development pictures and videos for the theme explored other high-tech directions the theme could take and established its setting would contain modern or futuristic urban environments.
For example, take a look at the "Mystical Land of Ninjago" map and transforming dragon concept in this gallery: https://www.brianandrewellis.com/design
Even so, there have been no shortage of sets this year without any high-tech or modern elements, like 70666-1, 70670-1, 70671-1, 70674-1, 70678-1, 70679-1, and 70680-1. So clearly the designers still have opportunities to depict that kind of stuff, even if it's more fantasy-leaning than the classic Ninja theme was.
@BionicleJedi: Not sure about which comics you're referring to specifically, but there are character bios and a comic in the UK Bricks and Pieces magazine and the US LEGO Mania Magazine. The ninja character bios and set names varied between countries, but the comic was illustrated with the same photos in both and had mostly the same script, besides changing out the bios and referring to the "LEGO Maniac" as the "Adventurer":
http://www.miniland.nl/LEGOclub/Bricks%20en%20pieces%20january%201999.htm
http://www.miniland.nl/LEGOclub/lego%20mania%20magazine%20jul%20aug%201998.htm
LEGO Mania Magazine also had a page with a brief story summary for the second year of ninja sets in 1999, but it was not nearly as in depth as the previous year's promotional material, since there were fewer new sets to promote:
http://www.miniland.nl/LEGOclub/lego%20mania%20magazine%20jul%20aug%201999.htm