Rebuilding the Past: 6089 Stone Tower Bridge

This set was released in 1998. I was out of high-school, living rent free with my parents, working full-time and attending a community college, which meant, for the first time, I had money to spend on Lego, which was lucky for me. Otherwise I would likely have passed on this set and that would have been a shame.

At first, I was not impressed with this set. I had never been into ninjas, and the ninja line did not really impress me. And looking at the box, it seemed like merely a copy of the Royal Drawbridge from just a few years earlier. But, for some reason, standing there at the Toys R Us in Yuba City, CA (for some reason I remember where I bought this set, though not much of that first build), I decided to bite.

As I alluded to earlier, I don't remember much about the first time I built this set. But I do remember I was pleasantly surprised. The construction was much more substantial than the Drawbridge and the trap door actually worked well. And the cart was (and still is) one of my favorite carts ever designed by Lego.

But there are still some downsides. First, the bridge is build on blocks, rather than plates. I did not like that method at all back then. Now I'm more ambivalent about it. The blocky plates are nice to have for landscaping MOCs, but I feel they take away from the final official model (Does anyone know why Lego went this way, when baseplates or regular plates seem like they'd be cheaper?). Also, and this still grates on me, the printed pieces on the rock wall and wall panel, are only printed for one side and seemed really like a cheapskate way to go. I guess cost-cutting started clear back in 1998. Still, its better than stickers.

The set held up well overtime, though one of my rotating panels is hanging a bit loose. The set was a fun build, though the modular method seemed unnecessary in this set, and the ninjas have really grown on me in the past 12 years. I'm still not much of a fan of bridges, since its hard, without building massive train-head style landscaping to raise your playspace three to six inches off the table, to have any real chasm for them to pass over.

So, how do I conclude this ramble? I guess I'll make an exception, in my distaste for bridges, for this set and call it the best bridge Lego has produced.