The Flying Ninja Fortress: One of The Absolute Best Ninja Themed Sets In Lego History
Written: Aug 31 '08 (Updated Aug 31 '08)
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Pros: Nine figures, exceptional base plate, weapons, easily modified.
Cons: Only one horse, only one red ninja, no longer in production.
The Bottom Line: One of The Absolute Best Ninja Themed Sets In Lego History
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| Freak369's Full Review: LEGO - Flying Ninja's Fortress |
When I started building my castle scene years ago I knew that there were sets that I would never be able to get my hands on. They were the ones that were released about ten years prior to when my love of Lego started and to buy them would mean selling off internal organs. When the Ninja themed sets came along I saw a lot of cool elements in them that I could use for my castle; I never expected to start collecting them but when the Mini Heroes Collection added three ninja themed sets to the line up, I got hooked on them.
There are a lot of similarities between the castle and ninja themed sets; most of them have really cool base plates that you can build on and the figures are some of the coolest you will find. The ninja sets have come and gone but there is still a huge market for them and every once in a while you will come across one of them in the "Hard To Find" section of the Lego World Shop.
Lego Flying Ninja Fortress
When you see the completed set it is an amazing looking fortress; there are three main building sections, one of which has three and a half levels to it. It all starts out with a stenciled high rise base plate, this is something that you could easily spend $20.00 if you want to buy it today as an individual piece but it isn't something that Lego sells so you if you want one you will have to go through a reseller. The base plate adds support and gives the fortress a lot of rugged appeal; if it were built on a regular flat plate it wouldn't be as jaw dropping as it is. There are ripped sectional pieces that connect the bottom of the towers to the base plate, these are optional but without them in place you wont be able to add the middle tower section to the scene.
Building the fortress can be a little frustrating at times; the instruction book that comes with it walks you through the step by step build but because of the different colored pieces it is sometimes had to tell them apart when you are assembling it. You might want to separate all the pieces according to the steps in the book; if you end up with let over pieces you can go back and double check to make sure you grabbed the correct pieces for the towers and walls. Thankfully there are a lot of column pieces so that cuts down on the build time and adds support to the towers. This is a "back end open" type of design so anything that you need to add or remove from the rooms or towers can be done easily and without having to remove anything to get to the elements. Some collectors say that this type of design looks sloppy or incomplete but if you are actually going to play with the set, it is a definite perk.
You can do some very easy modifications to add this to castle sets; you will want to remove most of the black and white elements on the roof tops and towers and replace them with gray pieces. As much as it sucks to say this, you are better of building the set according to the instructions then ripping it down to do the modifications than to try and do the mods on the fly. The way that the fortress is designed is 100% solid and a lot of that is thanks to the base plate and the columns. Without those two key factors, you would end up with something that would wobble and collapse. If you are going to convert this to a castle add on you might want to check into the Castle Expander Pack to add some old world charm to it. The fortress looks great as is but if you want to modify it to add to another theme it is easy to do but it will take some time and planning.
The three tower sections that make up a build of the scene are incredible but to really appreciate all the little details of it you have to see it in person. The blue ninja themed banners can be moved anywhere within the scene that you want; that gives you a little bit of creative freedom with how the fortress will look when its completed. The banners tie in perfectly with the large flag that the samurai swordsmen is carrying on horseback. You can replace the white and gray ribbed pieces that connect the towers to the base plate with another color to change the overall look of it. It’s the small things that really make the fortress look great; I wish there were a few more black window grates but the two that come with the set are used well. Brown ladder pieces are always great to get and if you have extras from other sets you can use them to connect the back ends of the tower sections.
The figures in the set play a huge part in its success; there are a total of nine; six ninjas and three swordsmen. The actual break down on figures depends on how you accessorize them thee are lots of ninja elements but the swordsmen also have cool weapons, battle gear and of course swords of varying sizes. The downside is there's only one horse in the set so if you wanted to have the swordsmen attach on horseback, it wouldn't be all that effective. If you wanted to add horses from other Lego sets you could because their scale is standard. As far as the ninja figures are concerned, they all look great and each of them have small differences between tem; some have a plain ninja logo on their torso, some have stenciled armor detail. That doesn't cling to what a ninja would normally wear but we are dealing with Lego figures here.
Sadly there's only one red ninja in the set. The color themed ones were originally part of a promotional series then they were added as individual characters; the others include the White Ninja, Black Ninja and Gray Ninja. If you want to add more ninjas to the scene or don’t care for the ones that come with this set you can try to find the now out of production Ninja Knights set. The figures can all use the different weapons and accessories in the set so they have a high replay value in that regard. Some of the smaller pieces like the knives, helmet adornments and pieces of gold can get lost easily and they make the most nerve crunching sounds when they are sucked up inside a vacuum.
So what can you expect to pay for this set? It has an original selling price of $59.99 then when it was reissued the price went up about ten dollars. Considering what you get with it, it isn't a bad price by today's standard but that doesn't mean that you are going to pay that price for it. You have two routes to take; buy an open set and take the risk of there being missing pieces or check sites like eBay for people who are selling it in mint and unopened condition. If you buy an open boxed set you are going to pay less but you won't know the condition of the pieces until you pay for it and it ships out. Likewise if you are paying top dollar for a new boxed set there is always a chance that you are going to get shipped the Emperor's Stronghold or a set that looks like the fortress or has a similar name.
If you are dealing with someone that is honest and tells you that there are pieces missing from a boxed set, all is not lost. If they are common pieces that you have duplicates of from other sets you can use those. If they are rare or something that you don't own, you can see if a reseller like Baylit [Bricks as You Like Them] has the pieces that you need. I have dealt with him on numerous occasions and he's always come through with pieces that I lost, got destroyed or stickers that needed replacing. By today's pricing you can expect to pay about $80.00 to $90.00 for this set if it is still in the original box, for opened sets, about $60.00 if all of the pieces are included.
Name: Flying Ninja Fortress
Set Theme: Ninjas
Set Number: 6093
Piece Count: 687
Age Recommendation: 6 and older
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Build Time: 20 - 40 minutes
Price: $89.99
If you want to get all of the sets in the first series of Ninja sets, here are the names and set numbers. Most of these are no longer sold in stores so you may have some trouble getting your hands on them. If buying them on line make sure you check the name, set number and description so you are ensured to get the set that you really want. 1269 - White Ninja, 3016 - Ninja Blaster, 3017 - River Ninja, 3018 - Ninja Cart, 3019 - Gray Ninja, 3050 - Shanghai Surprise, 3051 - Blaze Attack, 3052 - Fire Fortress, 3053 - Emperor's Stronghold, 4805 - Ninja Knights, 6013 - Samurai Swordsman, 6033 - Treasure Transport, 6045 - Ninja Surprisem 6083 - Samurai Stronghold, 6088 - Robber's Retreat, 6089 - Stone Tower Bridge, 6093 - Flying Ninja Fortress
As always, thanks for the visit…
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2008 Freak369
3344 - Ninja Knight I - Mini Heroes Collection
3345 - Ninja Knight II - Mini Heroes Collection
3346 - Ninja Knight III - Mini Heroes Collection
3064 - Kabaya Red Ninja Dragon Glider
3075 - Kabaya Ninja Master's Boat
3076 - Kabaya White Ninja Attack Cart
3077 - Kabaya Ninja Shogun Small Fort
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): see review
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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