Favorite Ninja Fortress

**Brick Miner** · September 24, 2006

But good Japanese Castles are symetrical

ok, so what you are saying is that you don't like the fortess because it is not realistic... not because it doesn't look good.

well, as we know, LEGO is hardly realistic... and that doesn't stop me from liking their other sets, so it doesn't stop me from liking the Flying Ninja Fortress either :-P ;-)

--------------------------------------------------

in any case, that last structure is 8-

**Norro** · September 24, 2006

i think the ninja line is pretty consistant with previous LEGO lines, as far as how many closed or open sides there are in a set.
there are always three... front, left and right, right ???

Many of the old sets (castle and pirate) hinged open and so could be closed... where they did not they were closed with a low back wall, examples include: Royal Knight's Castle, King's Mountain Fortress, and Fort Legoredo to name a few... Ahh the good old days ; )

God Bless,

Nathan

**oo7** · September 24, 2006

But good Japanese Castles are symetrical
ok, so what you are saying is that you don't like the fortess because it is not realistic... not because it doesn't look good.

Nope, I'm saying in my humble opinion The Flying Ninja Fortress does not look nice, and does not reflect traditional Japanese architecture, thus is not a good set. Any other ninja building besides Robber's Retreat is better.

Here, let me give you a better picture portraying 6093s weak design;

.thumb_PB101432.JPG

(It's supposed to be small)

**WesternOutlaw** · September 24, 2006

Any other ninja building besides Robber's Retreat is better.

Watch it now! Robber's Retreat is my favorite of the Ninja theme.

**oo7** · September 24, 2006

Any other ninja building besides Robber's Retreat is better.

Watch it now! Robber's Retreat is my favorite of the Ninja theme.

Yes, I know, I stated this and my reasoning behind it in my origainal post.

**Brick Miner** · September 24, 2006

But good Japanese Castles are symetrical
ok, so what you are saying is that you don't like the fortess because it is not realistic... not because it doesn't look good.

Nope, I'm saying in my humble opinion The Flying Ninja Fortress does not look nice, and does not reflect traditional Japanese architecture, thus is not a good set. Any other ninja building besides Robber's Retreat is better.

ok, so you are saying that you don't like it becasue it's historically incorrect AND you think the design is bad... got it ;-)

but are any of the ninja designs historically accurate ??? i don't think this is a good enough reason to not call it my favorite ;-)

Here, let me give you a better picture portraying 6093s weak design;

(It's supposed to be small)

hmmm... yes, it does look bad there.... i wish the photo was larger.

see this set is hard to evaluate, because in the image your provided above the set is built differently than in the box cover art. the photo above could be argued to be and "alternate-model".

now, i admit to not having this set... but all photos i have seen of it where the model is built like on the front cover art looks good (two decorated panels facing forward), and has the asymetrical balance that i was talking about.

here is somebody's BS folder wher the model is built like the cover... and it looks just as good to me here...

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2000492

however, when the model is built to have four panels facing forward (like in the image you provided) it DOES looks bad.

BTW, thanks for the discussion, this is a good one ;-) BrickMiner

**WesternOutlaw** · September 25, 2006

Symetry has nothing to do with why I don't like it. I just don't like the overall design. It reminds me somewhat of KK. Just a lot of pieces stacked in a Janga fashion to arrive at a few towers. All the other sets have more design and flow to them. I do, however, like the slanted brick pieces which work well in this theme. I wish I had a few more to build a larger MOC.

**Brick Miner** · September 25, 2006

Symetry has nothing to do with why I don't like it. I just don't like the overall design. It reminds me somewhat of KK. Just a lot of pieces stacked in a Janga fashion to arrive at a few towers. All the other sets have more design and flow to them.

yes, i agree with the fact the towers are poorly designed... that is why i was pointing out the good points... to explain why the fortress is well liked (and in the lead of the poll).

again, i think it is the overall balance and shape the fortess has.

- BrickMiner

**oo7** · September 25, 2006

see this set is hard to evaluate, because in the image your provided above the set is built differently than in the box cover art. the photo above could be argued to be and "alternate-model".
now, i admit to not having this set... but all photos i have seen of it where the model is built like on the front cover art looks good (two decorated panels facing forward), and has the asymetrical balance that i was talking about.

here is somebody's BS folder wher the model is built like the cover... and it looks just as good to me here...

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2000492

however, when the model is built to have four panels facing forward (like in the image you provided) it DOES looks bad.

Oh, I didn't even notice that was a slightly different model, that's really strange! Here's an accurate pic (I think) but I still don't like it.

.thumb_PA131160.JPG

And BTW, I don't have any ninja sets either, I was too young when they came out. :-(

I also agree with The Brickster about the slighty "<insert that tiresome argument>" and thoughtless building technique, but it's mostly the general shape which I don't like. And almost nomatter what lego set it is I have that Super Mario Jump delema, each floor is so tiny as it is and even more cramped after filled with yet another Jewel holder or table with a goblet that there is no room for any stairs!

Here's a site with some good pics of a few ninja sets including 6093.

BTW, thanks for the discussion, this is a good one ;-) BrickMiner

Your thanking me? I didn't do anything worthy of a thanking!

**WesternOutlaw** · September 25, 2006

Thanks for sharing this very good link. Here's a good picture of the set. I was NEVER impressed with the design. In fact, other than the figs and the piece selection, I think this is the worst of the Ninja sets:

**Brick Miner** · September 25, 2006

Your thanking me? I didn't do anything worthy of a thanking!

sure you did... you and brickster represented a good opinion contrary to the result of the poll. even i had to rethink my inital vote,... and that qualifies as good discussion.

so, maybe a "thank you" wasn't in order... but i love converstions like this, and its a good way of letting you and all the other members reading this know what kind of converstions i like. its my little way of letting members know what type of converstions are quality, so that maybe we can recreate similar topics in the future.

- Brick Miner

**WesternOutlaw** · September 26, 2006

Whose the other Ninja out there with all six sets? Is it you, Athos, or Starwars4J?

**Hinckley** · September 26, 2006

I bought the Emperor's Stronghold four times, so I voted for it. I couldn't ever stop myself. It had so many cool pieces.

One of my favorite sets is the Stone Tower Bridge. I think it's beautiful and I wish LEGO would have stuck with this theme longer. As I always I hope they bring it back.

--Mark

Whose the other Ninja out there with all six sets? Is it you, Athos, or Starwars4J?

It's me!

Starwars4J · September 26, 2006

Actually there are three of us with all six sets. I was the second one who voted for having all six ;-)

**WesternOutlaw** · September 27, 2006

Actually there are three of us with all six sets. I was the second one who voted for having all six ;-)

I wish I had purchased the Stonetower Bridge. I actually had it in my hands in a TRU.

**WhiteFang** · May 29, 2008

I understand that this is an old topic when I am browsing through the search relating to Ninja polls, and I am glad I found this.

By reviving it, will allow this topic to generate more responses towards Ninja theme. Personally, I feel this theme is a fanastic theme which I had missed most of it.

Recently, these are some of the reviews which provide some in-depth towards some of the mentioned sets in this poll. I hope someone out there whom have the rest of them is kind to do up a review too.

3053: Emperor Stronghold

6083: Samurai Stronghold

Some other Ninja reviews I found,

4805: Ninja Knights

Do let me know, if you had found any Ninja reviews, I am planning to do some Ninja reviews within a week or two.

As for my votes, it went to Emperor Stronghold. Why is that so? For this set, I am able to obtain a decent fortress which is able to house my armies, even though its not as big as Ninja Flying Fortress. However, most importantly the rare elements which appear in it are the famous White Ninja and the Samurai Barding. Furthermore, it includes two red ninja along with it. I loved this set very much and sad to said, I have not been able to find one which meets within my budget yet.

I owned only one set out of the six sets which is 6083 Samurai Stronghold. I am glad I am able to find this. It certainly makes my day bright when I am building a set which is out of production 10 years ago.

Do share your thoughts on these Ninja sets mentioned and give your views.

Edited May 29, 2008 by WhiteFang

Klaus-Dieter · May 29, 2008

That's a very interesting poll, TheBrickster!

It's very good that WhiteFang dug it out - otherwise I wouldn't have noticed it and that would have been !

I perfer the

Emperor's Stronghold

because it's simply :wub: with it's perfect design, the nice minifigs and the great horse!

I personally own two of these sets:

-Flying Ninja Fortress

-Robber's Retreat

But I really hope that I'll be aible to buy the other amazing forts in the next years via Ebay - or perhaps from Lego? - too!

Ninja was an amazing theme!

I really would like - after the comeback of Western which I like even more than Ninja - a comeback of the Ninja theme. On the other hand I think that it surely wouldn't become as good as the old theme because it surely would include this profuse fantasy aspect (like in the new "Castle" theme) and much too much action "things" like catapults etc. and which means that TLG avert its eyes from the great architecture, nice interior and nice minifigs - and that would be !

Klaus-Dieter

Edited May 29, 2008 by Klaus-Dieter

Dovchenko · May 29, 2008

The Small Red Ninja one gets a pity vote, and that Flying Ninja Fortress looks like a SWEET set! I have no problem with open backs, and honestly, not having them would be a pointless idea. Low walls like in LEGOREDO are the best idea, but fully closed and only-accesable-by-removing-pieces-or-moving-hinges can be just weird! People claim that having open sides makes fortresses hard to attack. I hate to say this, but who came up with that arguement? Of course, no one's going to make a side attack when they're playing! Do they in other sets? No, most "sides" and "backs" of sets have no substance anyways! I'm not going to call it a stupid idea to complain, but I think there isn't enough evidence to prove that open sets, forts and sides etc decrease the set visually.

Edited May 29, 2008 by sdpirate

**WesternOutlaw** · May 31, 2008

I understand that this is an old topic when I am browsing through the search relating to Ninja polls, and I am glad I found this.
By reviving it, will allow this topic to generate more responses towards Ninja theme. Personally, I feel this theme is a fanastic theme which I had missed most of it.

It's very good that WhiteFang dug it out - otherwise I wouldn't have noticed it and that would have been !

As a fan of the ninja theme, it's great to see the interest resurface on EB. As others would say, Ninja On! Oh, and feel free to dig up some of those great Ninja MOCs that others have shared.

Flashback: I moved a couple of years ago, and the ninja theme was the first collection of sets I pulled out of the Lego storage boxes (I think). It was fun building some ninja MOCs as I never did when I first bought the sets.

**WhiteFang** · June 4, 2008

As a fan of the ninja theme, it's great to see the interest resurface on EB. As others would say, Ninja On! Oh, and feel free to dig up some of those great Ninja MOCs that others have shared.

These are some of the great stuffs related to Ninja theme/MOCs that I have dug up. In case, I have missed any, do inform me.

I have done a simple index for Ninja related topics. It might be useful for ImperialShadows in the future for his indexing.

Review

1184, 1185, 1187: Cart, Raft, Glider

3053: Emperor Stronghold

6083: Samurai Stronghold

4805: Ninja Knights

MOCs

Battle Scene

Black Samurai Fortress

Chinese Junk

Ninja Scene(WIP)