WesternOutlaw

Are you a fan of the Emerald Night LEGO Train? If so, have you pondered on a project to add an additional car or two? EB LEGO Train fan CCOOK had the perfect solution, and that was to create a Club Car. Built with the beautiful colors of the Emerald's passenger wagon, his Club Car offers a scenic observation deck as as well as a complimentary beverage in the lower lounge. Next stop... Willoughby; no, but how about the EB Train Tech Forum.

With all the hipe over the new Ninjago LEGO Theme, I thought it would be interesting to revisit the 1999 Ninja theme to highlight some of the beautiful sets that have not already been reviewed here on EB. During the year of 1999, many toy and department stores had prominent LEGO Ninja displays on their shelves. Only one to two years later, some of the sets could be found on clearance as stores made room for new themes. This was a great thing for fans of the Ninja theme, and while I wasn't a huge fan at the time, I did manage to pick up Ninja's Fire Fortress after Christmas, only to be sucked into the magic of the Ninja and Samurai theme. 4805 Ninja Knights was the "Army Builder" of the theme. This set was all about the minifigures and who wouldn't love to have two blue Samurai (one Shogun), a red Samurai Robber, and grey and black ninjas. I'm just surprised that no one has already reviewed this outstanding little set here on EB. Set Name: Ninja Knights Set Number: 4805 Theme: Ninja Year of Release: 1999 Pieces: 26 (according to box) Price: $6 (USD) The Ninja theme had wonderful boxart. I always thought the green foliage pictured in the image resembled "Life-Like" shrubs from HO model train/railways - perhaps that's just the LEGO Train fan in me. Not much more on the back of the box except you will notice the $3.50 clearance price. I regret not buying 10 more at the time, but as I recall, there were only a couple on the shelves. I did buy a 2nd set at another store for around $6. As mentioned above, the set has three variety of Samurai. The blue one on the left is a young Samurai (judging by the face and Brickset mention). The middle is a Shogun recognized by the beautiful golden horns on his helmet, and the one to the right, a "Robber" with his red shirt and green vest. My favorite figs among the Ninja theme were the Robbers for I like the combination of red and black dress with black helmets. I'll also mention that while the Samurai were building their elaborate and ornate csatles, the Robbers were secretly nestled into their mountain and forest fortresses, a lot like the Forestmen of the European Castle theme. We might even get a closer look at one such forest fortress here on EB (Hint! Hint!). Let's take a closer look at the Samurai without their helmets and armor: The face of the blue Samurai on left does look youthful while that of the Shogun in middle is certainly an older gent. The face of the Robber always reminded me of actor Toshirô Mifune in the 1980 made-for-TV miniseries Shogun. Toshira played the part of Lord Yoshi Toranaga, not quite the Robber as portrayed by the LEGO Ninja theme. You'll notice that all of the legs/pants of the Samurai feature two-tone colors, a nice additional detail for older minifigs. Equally nice was a variety of helmet colors including light grey, dark grey, and black. This was of course was before LEGO changed their greys to bleys. The golden horn can easily be placed on any Samurai helmet, beautiful helmets I should add. Interestingly, the Ninja theme also had its Samurai and Robbers using guns. These; however, were not of the typical "brown variety", but rather black. Black rifles and pistols to shoot at Ninja. Contained in many Ninja sets were also the blue Shogun flags/banners, as well as the red bull-headed Robber Flags. The flags/banners used classic brown lances to hold them proudly in the air: No Ninja theme Army Builder pack would be complete without Ninja, so within this set is a grey Ninja and black ninja. Taking off the maks reveal their true identity: Each Ninja has a different top design with different placement of a dagger and throwing star. How I would have loved actual minifigs stars for added play back in the day. Ninja Knights also includes three Katana, two light grey, and one black for the Black Ninja. What I never liked about these LEGO swords is the softer bendable plastic, but I suppose this is safer for the little kiddies who wanted to recreate their favorite battle scenes. So, how does the 1999 Ninja and Samurai minifigures stack up against the modern-day minifig? Here's a comparison of the black Ninja from 1999 to 2011: While the head gear remains unchanged, as well as the sword, there has been some variation of the torso and legs. Ninjago also offers the small dagger and the new Ninja star piece, but this review focusses on the 1999 theme. And the last shot of the Fab Five: Conclusion 4805 Ninja Knights was and still remains one of the best little army building sets among any theme. What is also nice is that it includes a fine variety of minifigs for creating differect factions, and not just limited to two. Ninja vs. Samurai, Blue vs. Red, the set offers a number of outstanding variations only limited by ones' imagination. I hope you have enjoyed this review, and I look forward to visiting a few other sets among the 1999 Ninja theme. Comments welcome.

What a great set, but please adhere to our site guidelines of not posting images larger than 800x600. I've replaced your images with links to the images. Love those classic images. I think I may have an old one of the Brickyard for Christmas. I need to locate. Thanks for sharing.

Amazing! I love the colors, and the roof and bell tower are outstanding. This deserves a front-page!

It is great to see LEGO Town fans still building historic structures in their cities. EB member Hoexbroe creates this splendid LEGO version of the Old Town Hall of the Danish town Ebeltoft. Constructed in 1789, the structure now serves as a museum, but also stands proudly in our EB LEGO Town community where anyone can visit.

Awesome set! I hope to see this in the US later in the year. Either way, it's a great fig set. Front-paged!

2011 appears to be an exciting year for LEGO City as well as LEGO Dacta / Education. SilentMode brings EB an early image review of one such Dacta set, 9349 Fairytale & Historic Minifigures. Visit the Town Forum to see more images.

Very clever review DrNightmare of a a great little set. I've got a few of these little river boats and must say that it's an outsatnding adventure craft. To me, Adventurers is all about travelling unexplored jungle rivers in search of hidden cities of gold, lost treasures, and even long extinct dinosaurs. From African Queen and Disney's Jungle Cruise, to Indiana Jones and even Jonny Quest, Jungle River is a fantastic set that offers a vast amount of play value for a nominal price (at least when the set was available), allowing one to create and re-create amazing jungle adventures. For me, Jungle River has inspired scenes like this: (Click for larger image) Needless to say, this is a five star set!

Welcome Teddy and JCC. Teddy: I'm a big fan of your magnificent Town creations and your most recent locomotive is stunning! JCC: The Emerald is my personal favorite - and that's coming from a fan of Classic Trains, esp. the 12V era (of which I don't own a single train). Welcome and I hope you both continue to enjoy our LEGO Train community. Happy New Year!

Beautiful Teddy! I've always been a fan of big black & red German engines, since my HO-scale days as a kid. I think this is well-deserving of a front-page to start the New Year out right.

Happy New Year from Train Tech! No LEGO Train creation can start the New Year better than EB Fellow Teddy's amazing BR01-1075 (loud train whistle can be heard in the distance as fire works shoot from the train yard). Teddy has created a highly detailed 1:45 scale version of a Dutch Steam Association SSN locomotive and tender. If you haven't seen this beautiful black & red LEGO Train engine, make sure you stop by Train Tech to comment.

This is a very nice layout/town Andreas. I esp. like the train. Please resize your images though. EB's guidelines are 800x600 max. Usually 640x480 work just fine. Much appreciated.

What a nostalgic topic. It's enjoyable to see all these Classic Town sets. Here's mine - I think the Brick Yard was my first real Town set, pre-dating moveable minifigs: And a number of sets re-constructed a few years ago for a Classic Town Restoration Project:

Topic moved to Train Tech. Nice - I think this is the first brick-built Club Car that I've seen for the Emerald. It has the charm of the LEGO Metroliner Club Car. I like the observation deck with the trans. 2x2 pieces - they look good. Overall, very nice, and I like the truck as well.

After seeing the track on clearance, I was just thinking that perhaps LEGO just planned to offer a box of straight and a box of curves - just like 9V. I must admit that I never liked any of the bley non-metal track since 9V was eliminated. I don't have a lot of 9V track, but it suits my needs and limited table space. LEGO seems to have made a number of critical mistakes when it comes to Trains, and if curved track will be replaced with flexi-track, it's just one more bad decision. I'll keep my 9V track - thank you very much; while LEGO tries different things until they lose more train fans. In regard to MojoLego's comments above: IMO, Trains always sell well around Christmas time because people like to set them up with their decorations (i.e. tree, etc.). Also, here in the States, Harry Potter movies are always shown on television - so I can see why Hogwarts Express did well. I was looking for a Cargo Train that was stocked before Christmas and it was sold out. Hopefully the stores will get a few more so I don't have to order a crushed one from LSAH. Trains also make great gifts for the kiddies as the price point is much higher, and they love opening and setting-up a train on Christmas morning; at least I do if I'm able to wait until morning.

Great review WF! I love how you pictured each minifig in a set of like-related figs (esp. the WW collection). In fact, as I was scrolling through the images, I looked forward to seeing which set you would show under each fig - nice. Positive: The woodland elf is not the super-rare fig in the set (I'm glad it's the fisherman). Negative: Those dots are hell on your eyes if you're trying to find that special someone in the box. And after only a few days at Toys R Us, they jacked up the price to $4 (USD) double suggested retail. Unfortunately, it's the only store I've seen them. I had to stock up on a few extra mummies. Didn't end up with a case this time, but I'm fine with a couple of each. They sure get pricey. Again, a fine review.

I've been tinckering with the idea to create a stand for my spooky minifigure collection for some time now, and finally decided to break out the pieces. The result is this eleven (11) - minifigure castle display stand for my favorite figs: The minifigures easily slide into their respective places with their stands, and the black fence pieces hold them in place once they find their new home. Two additional spaces are available on the roof tops. I placed the Skellie and Werewolf in for now, but plan to remove these as new monster figs become available in future Minifig Series collections (like Frank, Werewolf, and Mad Scientist) from the next wave. Comments are welcome.

I'm not a big "pirate poster", but I am a sucker for lighthouses. You've certainly created a nice little MOC here. I love how you incorporated a number of unusual pieces, like the wrenches for the roof top. Your pelican is "top-notch" with use of a minifig hand -quite clever. Other aspecs like the classic green doors and the sloped design of the main rock/island structure look nice. Great job pif!

This question comes up every few months, or at least some discussion regarding Playmobil, LEGO, and other brands. As a big fan of both LEGO and Playmobil, I actually enjoy reading these discussions and the points presented. IMO they've been doing it for many years, and vice-versa. Just last year, Playmobil came out with their awesome Egyptian theme. Many Playmobil fans label the theme historically accurate as well as highly detailed; in fact, some of the best Playmobil figures produced from the quality of the details. Now we see LEGO go back to Adventurers with Pharaoh's Quest. Unfortunately, LEGO didn't offer a Romans theme like Playmobil, but if enough AFOL express interest, we may just see Romans in the future. As far as Playmobil being a "Toddler Toy", many adult toy fans enjoy Playmobil as well. In fact, around my Christmas Tree is a Playmobil G-scale train that I set up just about every year, as well as a new Egyptian diorama nearby. Check Ebay sometimes for older sets that adult collectors are after. They go for hundreds of dollars. Don't discount Playmobil, especially with their high quality plastic, detail, and desire to create themes that appeal to many, especially adult fans. They'll be around a long time, just like LEGO, and offer ideas that LEGO can certainly incorporate.

I don't think this topic is specific enough to be in the Train Tech Forum as a few might respond with other non-related train items. I see there's a similar topic in the General Forum called, Your Lego Christmas Haul Thread - What'd ya Get!? that may be more fitting. I've merged this topic with it.

The entries have been amazing!