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For more than a decade of long wait, TLG has finally heeded our voice in the far oceans. Yes, the Pirates are once again re-appearing in retail stores and shelves after what seems like an eternity without them. Now new fans the world over can share the joy of building the latest Pirates LEGO sets. This is a golden opportunity for others and myself to collect this amazing theme that we all have such fond memories of from when we were children or younger AFOLs. I missed mine in my childhood and none of my pirate sets and minifigs are bought by my parents or me. In fact, the classic pirates’ minifigs are given to me as a gift from my friends’ collections.
Nevertheless, I am very pleased to embark this very new theme of Pirates. Please pardon for my inadequate Pirates’ knowledge if I have written my content or used wrong terms throughout my course of Pirates’ reviews.
Name: Soldier's Arsenal
Theme: LEGO System / Pirates
Year: 2009
Pieces: 17
Minifigs: 1
Price: USD$3.50, GBP 1.95, SGD$6.90
Resources: Brickset, Peeron
An image of a 8396, Soldier's Arsenal
The proud Imperial Soldier, backbone of the Imperial Royal Navy. These brave soldiers whom charge at the front with their wide assortment of weapons arsenal give them various measures to launch a forward offensive against those brutal pirates.
This is the one of the most affordable Pirate’s set to begin with, to build your Imperial Soldiers. Most of us will refer 8396 as an Impulse set or an Army Building set. This set enable avid pirate collectors to expand the strength of their armies by buying multiple sets with minimum low cost and inclusive of many useful weapons accessories that allowed collectors to customise according to their standards.
Mini Instruction Manual
This is the overview of the 8396 instruction manual. For all impulse sets, the steps required are usually less than 7 moves to complete the entire process. It is simple and ideal for very young children to have basic building experience, related to System sets.
Imperial Soldier's weapons and accessories assortments
In this review, I have mentioned this phrase, “wide assortment of weapons arsenal”. True enough, this is the first distinct attribute. Firstly, how do I justify this set weapon’ capabilities? Take a look at its affordable price of USD$3.50 and compare with its minifigs’ accessories. I am able to acquire 2 x cutlass, 2 x brown flintlock pistols and 1 x brown musket. There is an Imperial Soldier’s shako, backpack and 2 x blue epaulette for my soldiers’ apparel.
The proud Imperial Solder
The second distinct attribute, is this fully armed brave Imperial Soldier. From the top to the bottom, this soldier is fully equipped for battle. The shako with red feather and gold badge, matching with its blue epaulette that represents his soldier’s identity and wearing the soldier’s jacket that has blue fringe, white vest and straps pattern. This is the sheer beauty of the Imperial Soldier’s combat effectiveness.
Imperial Soldier's back
At the back of the minifig, the torso is printed with a small backpack. This is a nice addition to its current detailed design of the soldier.
Comparison against former companies
The true blue Classic Pirate’s Imperial Soldier on the left, and the new Imperial Soldiers’ regiment on the right. Taking a clear comparison on these 2 minifigs, without taking the age of these minifigs, the differences are pretty obvious, but yet it is able to retain the classic appearance in the current release. One of the nicest touch added in the new minifig, is the addition of red feather and gold badge on the shako. The new torso is much brighter in colors. I am sure the navy must have hired a new tailor to design the new batch of conscripts. The new soldier looks much masculine compared with its former friendly counterpart.
Accessories differences
The shako’s difference has been mentioned above. One of the differences in terms of colors is the musket. Apparently, the newer musket design has a lighter tone of brown compared against the darker tone which was used in the earlier Classic Pirates’ sets.
Soldier's weapon rack
As you can see, the weapons’ rack is very simple to construct. It is used as a holder for the soldier to place their backpack, cutlass and musket when is not used. The rack could be used for the soldiers to place it inside the barracks or used multiple racks together to form an armory for storage.
3rd Patrol reporting for duty, Sir!
Marching on...
One of the best impulse sets ever released from TLG in recent years. I have to mention it again, that the resurrection of Pirates’ theme is indeed a dream come true for many Classic Pirates’ collectors and the creation of these Imperial Soldiers’ sets serve as one of the best approach for many collectors and army builders out there. More importantly, this set offers many useful parts and minifigs’ accessories that allow us to hoard in our bins for future add-ons and customisation. This shall be one of my highest ever rated impulse sets given.
Summary review
Playability: 9.5/10 (Soldiers' are highly needed in order to integrate with the rest of the sets.)
Design: 10/10 (Weapon Rack is extremely simple but the minifigs and accessories are the main attraction of this set. )
Price: 9.5/10 (Price is affordable to obtain a soldier plus a wide range of accessories.)
Overall: 9.7/10 (One of the best impulse sets of all time and defintely an essential one for those whom are keen to build an army of Imperial Solders.)
I gave it a "5" based on my Review Score Card.
What about yours?Credits: A special thanks to Eurobricks Fellow and Academy Teacher, svelte_corps for rendering his kind assistance to edit some of these images to much better format than before. Thanks.
Hope everyone of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Critics are strongly welcomed.
Pictures can be found in My Brickshelf (When moderated)
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MultiQuote
I guess it's like the Castle sets, though - I've yet to open a set with all the shields or horse bardings correctly printed.
) WhiteFang!
These minifigs are a gift to me taken from their childhood collection and I do cherish these classics especially when I never have a chance to build them from MISB. 
