There was a discussion a week or so ago about LEGO Castle factions, and this got me wondering what people think about the Ninjas. There are factions, obviously, but how they are divided up is a little tougher. My analysis:
Blue: Samurai / Grey Ninja
Red: Robbers/ Black Ninja
Black: Emperor/ Green Ninjas
Also Red: Red & White Ninjas.
However, there seems to be a bit of ambiguity about whether those last two are working together or not... the LEGO Club magazine has them fighting, but 3050 has them working together.
I'm not even gonna get into how Orient Expition fits in...
To my knowledge the white ninja (was the princess), was leader of the red ninja. To which that black samurai guy was also apart of.
I never got any of the little green ninja sets, so I have no idea where they were supposed to play. It seemed that red wasn't really allied to anyone, but themselves. So three seperate factions.
I see three clear factions, identifiable on their signums:
Blue is the crew of the "Flying Ninjas Fortress 6093:
Red are the robberers from Ninja Surprise 6045:
And since the red Samurais from the fig packs 3344 and 3345 also are red and come with a black ninja I count them in. Samurais are also better qualified for carrying a banner than robberers are. So each faction has its own lord.
The black sign belongs to the guys from Emperor's Stronghold 3053, and I count the green Ninjas in, since they guard the tenno in the figs pack 3346:
Azaghal wrote:I'm not even gonna get into how Orient Expition fits in... :roll:
Orient Expedition is not at a Castle line, so the Chinese (not Japanese) figs don't fit in the above scheme, either. Of course the figs and the buildings ARE well suitable with the Ninja line. And yes, I know it's arguable if Ninja is a Castle line at all.
Bye
Jojo
This is just the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put. Winston Churchill
I agree about the Samurai and the Bandits ... but as far as the Ninjas themselves go, I always thought they were total mercenaries. Hired, assassins or thieves, whatever needed doing.
Each color of ninja was meant to be a different clan of ninja, maybe.
The blue banner went with the blue Samurai and the Shogun character, the heavily armored and obviously the leader who came with Flying Ninjas Fortress, the red went with the red samurai, and the black dragon banner went with the white guy with matching dragon emblems, and the "Emperor" or whoever the old man was. The princess character was his daughter who was a warrior in her own right, the red ninja was his personal bodyguard and the green were the enemy in that set.
Ninjas are bound in secrecy, so they probably wouldn't have their own symbol. Neither would robbers.
And personally, I split everything up as the Shogun's House, the Red Samurai's House and the Emperor's House, and then the Grey Ninja Clan, Black Ninja Clan and Green Ninja Clans were all hired to do whatever the packaging showed them doing.
But naturally, duplicates of the white ninja and the red allow for lots of ninjas and, that's just where the imagination kicks in.
It's pretty much however you feel like dividing them up. I stuck the blue samurai and other blue guys with the blue "banana head" flag, the various red guys with the red "horns" banner, and the white guys with the dragon banner. Ninja that remain as ninja are seperate clans (see Kage no Gundan - good guys wear black ) unless they have been converted to ashigari in which case black with blue samurai, red with red samurai, and gray with white samurai (green get drafted into European knights of all things). The white ninja is royalty in disguise and is usually plotting to get the others into trouble.
Redwine the Ribald: Stare long enough into the abyss...
Two-Tonic Tippler: ...and you spit into it.
I tend to refer to the Robbers as Ronin who were masterless Samurais and warriors, meaning they had no Daimyo to lead them and thus were basically rogues.
The Shogun was the most powerful Daimyo and basically ran the country. The Emperor who according to Japanese law and religion should never be dethroned was basically left as a figurehead and somewhat spiritual leader. Afterall, the Emperor of Japan, much like those of Ancient Rome and many others were considered to be a living god.
When Europeans met up with the Japanese, the Shogun was refered to as the King or Emperor of Japan, while the *real* Emperor was refered to as the "Pope" of Japan.
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As for me, this is how I put the Ninja Theme factions. And yes, I regard them as Castles, as the Japanese lords or Daimyos lived in Castles. :
~Blue Shogun, Blue Samurai, Blue Ashigaru (foot soldier), Dark Gray Ninja
~Red Ronin w/ green vest, Red Ronin with leather armor, Black Ninja
~Emperor (White Shogun), his two personal guards the Green Ninja, his daughter the Ninja Princess
~Warlord (Red Shogun), Red Samurai, Red Ashigaru, Red Ninjas, Red Ninja Master
To me this is how I view the story... The Blue Shogun ousts the Red Shogun Warlord and conquers all of Japan, with the Red Shogun himself losing his title of Shogun, now just a mere Warlord. The defeated Warlord's army is now spread out hiding from the Blue Shogun. To keep their location secret the remainder of his army are kept in the dark as to the Warlord's fate and basically have become the Ronin. The Ronin raid and attack the forts and all the jewelry aquired by the Blue Shogun during his rise to power and defeat of many enemies.
Meanwhile the Emperor angered that his old friend is now apparently gone sends his daughter to seek help to rebel against this now powerful Blue Shogun. She meets up with the Red Ninjas and Red Ninja Master who were the elite ninjas of the Red Shogun. So she enlists their help and along with the Ronin are attacking the Blue Shogun and his army. Meanwhile the Emperor, having no real power to oppose the Blue Shogun, and the Blue Shogun forbidden to harm the Emperor are at a stalemate. Its up to the Emperor's daughter to tip the balance by making an alliance with the former Red Shogun's faction... which split into 3 groups: Ronin, Red Ninjas, and the last remaining Samurais and Ashigarus as well as Warlord (former Red Shogun) to topple the Blue Shogun and his armies.
~Fish-Tails horn and fan = Blue Shogun
~Red Horns emblem = Red Shogun/Warlord.... the Ronin still carry the emblem of what they think to be a former master
~Black Dragon = Emperor and his personal guard.
Far from killing you, I wholeheartedly agree. I think the Ninja set designs were really fresh and interesting at a time that the "traditional" castle line had become Fright Knights -shudder-. I picked up several of the mid-sized ninja sets and a bunch of loose ninja figs on e-bay when I was coming out of my dark ages. One of these days I'll have to do a big Japanese castle.
Bruce N H wrote:One of these days I'll have to do a big Japanese castle.
Big japanese castle eh? Since you're so good at finding mocs in 2 seconds could you then find an outdoor display I once saw? There was a classic style castle in one end and a very well done japanese castle in the other end.
Megablocks! I hate getting offtopic...
I have all the figures except for the Red Samurai and the green ninjas. I used to always use the samurai as a clan and the ninja as another. The main purpose of the ninja was to assasinate the Emperor. I didn't have a story line really.
Bruce N H wrote:One of these days I'll have to do a big Japanese castle.
Big japanese castle eh? Since you're so good at finding mocs in 2 seconds could you then find an outdoor display I once saw? There was a classic style castle in one end and a very well done japanese castle in the other end.
Megablocks! I hate getting offtopic...
Umgarla,
I'm not Bruce, but I think you are looking for this display by KK Quah and Classic Castles' own Lenny Hoffman:
And to keep this on topic - I've never paired my samurai and ninjas together into factions. Samurai serve different Lords according to their color. The ninja all work together and wear different colors depending on where/when they are working:
Grey Ninja: Mountainous/rocky terrain and/or mist and twilght.
Black Ninja: Night/dark places.
Green Ninja: Forests and jungles.
White Ninja: Leaders/elite fighters.
Red Ninja: ?
I do wish that TLG had made Tan (desert) Ninjas also.
I'm pretty sure that the gallery Ken linked is the one you wanted. If you click "up" in that gallery you'll see more of KK's great Asian-themed creations--various Japanese fortresses, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, etc. He's also got a website. Most (all?) of the images on that site are found in the Brickshelf gallery, but there is also accompanying text that gives more details.
) unless they have been converted to ashigari in which case black with blue samurai, red with red samurai, and gray with white samurai (green get drafted into European knights of all things). The white ninja is royalty in disguise and is usually plotting to get the others into trouble.
