Emperor's Ship Pic Review

[WesternOutlaw]

Emperor's Ship 7416 - Orient Expedition (China)

Released: 2003

Piece Count: 175

MiniFigs: 3

Original Price (USD): $20

I thought I'd do a pic review of this set based on discussion from a poll re. Favorite Adventure Boat

A side image of the ship docked in Adventure Harbor:

A diagonal view of the ship. Notice the great color combination:

The front of the ship. Nice use of the horse armor:

I really like the rear of the ship with the lanterns. I love the lantern pieces:

Lord Sinister (aka Brickster) standing at the wheel:

The front crossbow weapon. It can be moved 360 degrees:

And my favorite part of the ship, the cargo compartment:

The cargo compartment opens to reveal a small area for hiding barrels, weapons, or even treasure:

And within these barrels, four precious gems:

A top view of the ship:

And I must say that I love these figs, esp. the guards with much detail. And the faces were nicely done:

A closer view of one of the guards:

A close-up of the sail:

The front of the box:

And the back:

Conclusion: In my opinion, this set is one of the best Orient Expedition sets (esp. considering the set was only $20); a great value for a nicely designed set with much detail. Some say that this ship is more along the theme of Ninja, and I can't disagree, but it is still a very nice addition to the Orient Expedition theme. The ship compliments the Dragon Fortress (7419) and the Passage of Jun-Chi (7413) as the color combination (red, black, and tan) are used in all the Chinese sets.

I picture Johny Thunder's team trying to cross a river on their way to the Dragon Fortress, only to encounter the Emperor's Ship. Crossbow bolts fly through the air as gun shots fire! What will happen next? It's up to your imagination.

[Mister Phes]

Once again another stunning picture review Mr Brickster! I shall provide some decent feedback at such a time when its not 2AM in the morning...

But what I will write is this... With a few modifications this would make a nice pirate ship! :-D There was definitely a lack of ships constructed like this in the Pirate theme...

[Sting]

Wow, I really didn't think the set was that good. I'm not going to lie, I'm going to have to go see how much the set costs on Bricklink/eBay now...

I never knew about the cargo hold. That alone is something reminiscent of older higher-quality lego sets (not that the Adventurer theme was ever juni0rized as bad as most themes). I didn't realize how cool the back area was either. Those lanterns are great! My only beef is it seems the sail gets in the way of the main deck... but it looks like it can rotate pretty good out of the way for placement and unloading of the secret compartment. And THREE minifigures including TWO "Generic Soldiers" in a 20 dollar set - thats awesome.

I agree with Phes that the Pirates definately needed some ships like this. Small merchant ships or even small pirate ships like this would be a welcome change. A small demolitions ships with some crazy one eyed, one legged, and one-handed pirates would be pretty neat.

But I won't go off topic. THis is a much better set than I thought.

[WesternOutlaw]

My only beef is it seems the sail gets in the way of the main deck

The sail is about an inch from the main deck and can rotate 180 degrees. The front section stops it from turning all around. It's not bad at all, esp when tilted at about 45 degrees which enables one to have full access to the main deck (as pictured in the 2nd "diagonal" view).

[Sir Dillon]

Nice review, Brickster. :-)

As stated in the other thread, this is my favorite ship/boat in the Adventure theme, for various reasons.

It's a neat ship with some nice details, like the cargo hold, the figure head at the front of the ship, the lamps in back, the rudder (I know it was in almost every pirate ship, but it could've easily been left out) Three nice minifigs, and a nice sail. I also like the side fencing. The colors look good together and don't clash.

Plus, this was a pretty cheap set, at one point I think TLC was selling it for 20% off, too.

Overall, I think I would give this a 7 or 8/10. :-)

BTW, Brickster. What is that MOC is your sig? Do you have anymore pictures of it? :-)

[Norro]

Thanks for the review... This was the best (or most natural) castle ship lego has made outside the theme. Unfortunatly it was the dock that stole the show in your picture review ;-) demonstrating once again that MOCs are superior to sets.

God Bless,

Nathan

[WesternOutlaw]

BTW, Brickster. What is that MOC is your sig? Do you have anymore pictures of it? :-)

Thanks for the review... This was the best (or most natural) castle ship lego has made outside the theme. Unfortunatly it was the dock that stole the show in your picture review ;-) demonstrating once again that MOCs are superior to sets.

Here's a few images of what I call Port Adventure.

[Mister Phes]

Port Adventure looks good in the background, The Brickster! I almost thought it was part of the set till I woke up and realised what was going on.

[JoeMI6]

That looks great, very nice review. Good pics, you may have me converted to buying some more adventurers sets. I like the writing style of yor reviews. Keep up the good work Brickster!

[SkaForHire]

This is one of my favorite small ships lego has ever made! so much that i have a bag of 20 of them sitting unopened in my basement :P (KB Toys had a buy one get one half off sale, and they mismarked the set at 8 dollars... needless to say i went into debt to clear their shelves.) they are just waiting until i have space to build to become a junk fleet to terrorize my imperial guard trying force open the orient...

It goes really well with Ninja, but just kinda well with Pirates, which is the main theme I collect. Though, I don't see a reason why the european looking pirates can't sail into oriental waters to confront these ships. though, i have armed some of these shits with small cannons so that they may stand up to the pirates.

Good review.

[WesternOutlaw]

Great idea for a Shogun battle! - between the East and the West.

That looks great, very nice review. Good pics, you may have me converted to buying some more adventurers sets. I like the writing style of yor reviews. Keep up the good work Brickster!

Good review.

And thanks.

[Mister Phes]

This is one of my favorite small ships lego has ever made! so much that i have a bag of 20 of them sitting unopened in my basement :P (KB Toys had a buy one get one half off sale, and they mismarked the set at 8 dollars... needless to say i went into debt to clear their shelves.) they are just waiting until i have space to build to become a junk fleet to terrorize my imperial guard trying force open the orient...

It goes really well with Ninja, but just kinda well with Pirates, which is the main theme I collect. Though, I don't see a reason why the european looking pirates can't sail into oriental waters to confront these ships. though, i have armed some of these shits with small cannons so that they may stand up to the pirates.

This sounds promising Mr SkaForHire. I like your ideas! When will they come into fruition?

[WesternOutlaw]

20 of these ships would really make a great single MOC.

[Mister Phes]

The Brickster, what do you mean by "single"? 20 of these ships combined into one big MOC or a fleet of 20 ships in the same MOC?

[WesternOutlaw]

The Brickster, what do you mean by "single"? 20 of these ships combined into one big MOC or a fleet of 20 ships in the same MOC?

One ship made from combining many of these boats. A larger sail would be needed though.

[Dreamweb]

This was the first new set I bought in a shop after a few years of not buying any Lego at all. Because, you see, although I actually never had a period in my life known as the dark age, I did have two periods when I didn't buy any new Lego (or used Lego, for that matter), just kept using the stuff I already had. And this set ended the second of these periods. I thought it was so great I just had to buy it. So it has some sentimental value for me.

[Mister Phes]

The Brickster, what do you mean by "single"? 20 of these ships combined into one big MOC or a fleet of 20 ships in the same MOC?

One ship made from combining many of these boats. A larger sail would be needed though.

Is that something you'd custom make or is there a sail in existence that would suit such a ship?

[Akkhraziel]

Reaching back into the way back machine, our very own Ed_dotcom had this posted in his Bricklink gallery, a fusion of at least two (perhaps with a few extra bricks) of the emperor's ship.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=117361

Akkh

[WesternOutlaw]

Pretty nice. Neat use of the arches. This is what I was picturing.

[Mister Phes]

Reaching back into the way back machine, our very own Ed_dotcom had this posted in his Bricklink gallery, a fusion of at least two (perhaps with a few extra bricks) of the emperor's ship.

Did he create a thread for it?

[Akkhraziel]

Not really.

I gave it a passing comment back when we were first sorta assembling a moc compilation page in the castle/pirate forum. (Mocs to share from circa May 4, 2005) I loved what he did with it then, and still do.

Akkh

[Mister Phes]

Well create a thread and we shall honour it in all its glory! It would appear this thread is almost at the ends of its life so a new oriental ship MOC to discuss may be needed in the near future.

[Athos]

A lovely little set. My only gripe (and it is very minor, because the red is such a good color scheme for the ship) is that the boat hull pieces are red. I am personally a bit sick of red lego sets. It must be Lego's favorite color, as it is everywhere.

Steve

[The Hordesman]

One of the most useful adventurers-sets around. Can be used for castle, pirates and, well, adventurers. With lots of these, one can build a chinese fleet and need no actual modifications on them.

Amazing set, thanks for the review!

[Mister Phes]

A lovely little set. My only gripe (and it is very minor, because the red is such a good color scheme for the ship) is that the boat hull pieces are red. I am personally a bit sick of red lego sets. It must be Lego's favorite color, as it is everywhere.

The LEGO Company never used to favour red, why back in the days of pirates they hardly ever used red. It was really only seen in Skull Harbour and the Red Beard Runner. Other than that it was kept to a minimum...