Happy [Cinematic] Turkey Day

Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot wish you a happy Turkey Day (and remind you to check out their MST3K Turkey Day Marathon of roasting cinematic turkeys) in this charming creation from SPARKART!. I am not a huge fan of MST3K myself (I do find it funny, but don't make any effort to watch it) but I did recognize the MOC instantly, which says a lot about the build.

"I went to lose a jolly hour on the trolley and lost my heart instead."

Having recently become a more avid Lego train fan, I find myself quickly enamored with some of the elegant train MOCs of others. Couple that with the simple backdrop of the modular buildings (which I also love) makes it quite easy to lose my heart on PrisonBricks' trolley car (though, I am a bit concerned for the safety of the girl on the green bike). The brown doors on the opposite side quite well done and create a nice contrast with the blue and white color scheme. The lighting on the headlights is also a nice touch. More of a microscale fan? Well, he's got you covered too.

If you would like one of your own and are, like me, not skilled at train MOCs (yet), you can support the project on Lego Ideas.

Rebuilding the Past: 3053 Emperor's Stronghold

Is that guy in the black helmet the Emperor? I always though he looked a little young for an emperor.

I really like the color scheme of this set. Black, blue and tan work really well together. And the red ninjas fit in nicely. Plus it really looks and feels like a high mountain fortress, which is a very nice contrast to the more lowland feel of the first ninja sets. The brown baseplate helps with that a lot and I would love to get my hands on about a dozen more of them.

The little treasure chest carrying thing is simple but neat. I really like these little accessories. They add that extra touch to make the set come alive. I wish Lego would include more such things in their sets nowadays.

As to a bit of a commentary on the building: the middle tower part is very nicely done. Its interesting how Lego can used a bunch of different colors in a wall and still make it work. I'm going to have to try that some more, I tend to use a very limited color scheme in my structures.

Rebuilding this set, I was struck by how such a tall structure could be built out of such a small pile of bricks.

And, I can't skip the white ninja. I don't consider her to be all that special of a figure, beyond her rarity and gender. Her torso is just the standard ninja pattern on white. It seems her price has come down since her rerelease in the vintage collection.

Rebuilding the Past: 6083 Samurai Stronghold

Not much of a stronghold is it? Seems more like a shrine, which would still be alliterative: Samurai Shrine sounds good, doesn't it?

I really like the white long panels here. Its a nice change from the usual brown. The black pirate pistol is a nice piece too. Not sure what else there is to say about this set. I'm mixed on the little rock trap in this set. Its not obtrusive in the design, but I'd have rather had some little living area instead. I really don't like the falling axe trap. Those halberds seem very non-ninja-esque to me.

And I'm not sure what they're going for with those spears on the side. They don't stay in place real well and don't seem to be there for any reason. I took them off from mine. I also removed the falling axe trap.

I also feel this set makes the Flying Ninja Fortress look all out of place up on those brick-plates.

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.

Rebuilding the Past: 6033 Treasure Transport

Another ninja set to reminisce over. I don't remember much about this set. I do remember not liking the little glass dome part and that I was not impressed when I saw it in the box, but eventually decided to pick it up anyway. But I'm glad I did.

Two robbers and a ninja are a nice selection of figures. The strong-box is nicely constructed too. Though I do think the handles for it are too long. And I'm not really sure the blue antenna piece was necessary...

Comparing this set to some of the more recent sets of similar size is interesting (7040, 7090, 7950). They all seem to have similiar piece and figure counts. And really, with the exception of the dwarf thing, the prices have stayed nearly the same over 12 years.

Though, the comparison makes the recent sets seem somehow lacking. Its not something I can put my finger on. Maybe some of it is nostalgia, even though I don't have a great deal of nostalgia for the ninja line. I think some of it is that this set is unique. Its not another catapult or goofy shooting vehicle. And its not a prison carriage. Its more of a slice of almost civilian life: two guys carrying a strong box. Though of course, there is still the potential for conflict play, with the ninja lying in wait.

One other thing I'd like to mention. I'm very disappointed with how easily the leaves break off the bamboo pieces. Both of the ones in this set lost leaves and nearly half of the ones from this line are broken. While I like the piece for landscaping and texturing, I'm not sure Lego did a good job designing this piece.

Rebuilding the Past: 6040 Ninja Surprise

I wonder what the surprise is... That the robbers have taken over the cave? That the flying ninja is dropping from the sky? Or the axe cutting off the greedy gem thief's hand? Or that Lego did not go with their usual alliterative name for the set?

Anyhow, this was one first ninja set I picked up. It had everything: a ninja, a hanglider, bamboo pieces, a light grey axe and a trans-flourescent-yellow gem (I think this was the first color it came in other than red).

Not much to say about this set. I've covered most of the highlights. I'm still not sure what Lego was going for with this set. Is it a shrine? Is it a cave? It is a cave-shrine?

But since this is a short post, I'll do some padding and talk about another issue I have with the Ninja line: all the traps. But I'm not going to complain about the idea of traps, that's been done a lot. I'm going to complain about how they were executed in the Ninja line. Specifically, I don't like how all the pins that hold the traps in place are so prone to falling out. It is nearly impossible to move any of these sets without the pin falling out. I've got big pins, small pins, some as big as your head (oh wait, that last bit is about coconuts) laying all over my Ninja shelves.

Maybe that was the surprise: falling pins.