REVIEW: 4805 Ninja Knights

[WesternOutlaw]

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.

Edited May 21, 2011 by Rufus
Indexed!

[ZO6]

Thanks for this review, TheBrickster.

I picked up a couple of the NinjaGo sets the other day (Ninja Ambush and Ninja Training Outpost) as they were cheap sources for some of the new figs. I too could not help but get nostalgic over the original Ninja theme. Ninja Knights is as you said - a perfect army builder. It's great to get a diverse range of wonderful minifigures. I personally much prefer these classic characters over the newer generation of ninjas.

Let's take a closer look at the Samurai without their helmets and armor:

I too immediately thought that the one on the right was truly Toshiro Mifune in minifigure form. But surely the one in the middle must also be Takashi Shimura, and the one on the left seems to be a combination of Toshiro Mifune and Koji Tsuruta in Duel at Ganryu Island.

Thanks again for this trip down memory lane and I look forward to more to come.

[prateek]

Oh man, we need more sets like this. I would love a new Ninja theme untainted by 9-year-olds' fantasy skeletons and such

Edited January 2, 2011 by prateek

[Niku]

Truly a nostalgic set

We need more sets like this, with a good amount of minifigs and excelent price.

[XimenaPaulina]

Thanks for this great review TheBrickster! I regret missing out on this set, as this is clearly one of the best minfig 'BPs'/army-builders at that time. The selection of figs are excellent with a good variety of weapons and accessories. Taking a closer look, the ninjas of this set are much better than the more recent NinjaGo and S1 collectible Ninjas IMO. And one thing that makes the shogun look much better is the presence of the gold 'horns' which is lacking in the S3 samurai fig.

[Sirens-of-Titan]

Great review Brickster

I missed out on these back in '99, and it seems there was a lot of potential for army-building. I like the comparison shots of the 3 ninjas; there is definitely a gradual progression to a more-cartoony art style, but the NinjaGo one looks the most balanced, while the other two seem to be lacking the character of modern minifigures.

[Iysk]

I want this, then I wouldn't need to wait for MF Series 3.

Anyone know if Samurai sets are being brought back?

[WhiteFang]

Thank you so much Brickster, old pal for reviewing one of my all time favourite minifigures set.

I remembered or come across that you have done something like this before? Not really a review but I am quite sure there is something quite similar to this set before.

I really truly loves this set and unfortunately, I only own 1 of this set in my Classic Ninja collection. For such an affordable price, I could easily obtain the more common Ninja and Samurai to build your army of various factions. Mind you, nowadays, we could only build one faction by buying one battlepack or whatever. If I could turn back time, I could just grab more than a dozen, just to assemble the troops.

As usual, your reviewing presentation is excellent.

[buddy]

Great review for a great set! The minifigs in this set are great; they are all highly detailed.

Very well done oin the review.

~buddy~

Edited January 4, 2011 by buddy

[pedro]

Thanks for the retrospective review Brickster.

The original Ninja theme was one of the best concieved and executed themes in my opinion. Sadly, I don't any now but it's great to see such nice pictures. Classic Ninja is still leaps ahead of the desparate Ninjago line. When I'd heard of the return of Ninja I'd hoped for so much more than Ninjago. I think kids would have loved the classic style setting without all the bells, whistles and absurd skeletons. O well!

[Bingo Little]

I loved this set. I find that with the right armour underneath, the shogun's armour can make okay medieval european armour too - always useful.

It's jogged my memory about that blue armour on the left, though. I should really try and find that, as it looks pretty useful.

[Sam Vimes]

Very Nice Reveiw and comparsion with the Ninjas.

[Clone OPatra]

This is one of the several Ninja sets that I got at the time. It was a great way to get some of the figures. It's sad that LEGO stopped making figure packs just like this, with just the figures and accessories and nothing else. There used to be ones for Castle and Pirates and Space and almost every theme, but then it all stopped. At least LEGO still makes some $10 range sets with a bunch of figures, even if it includes a model as well.

The new Ninjago outfit does look pretty nice, though.

[WesternOutlaw]

Thank you all for the nice feedback. I have two of these little sets but wish I had a few more as well.

I remembered or come across that you have done something like this before? Not really a review but I am quite sure there is something quite similar to this set before.

So I did back in 2006 WF. You've got a great memory. I had well forgotten about mentioning it in Why doesn't Lego make troop sets anymore?

[Enpaz]

Great review Brickster!

This is a set I got multiples of at the time of its release. It seems that even my parents had understood the importance of owning many of them.

It's truly a bad thing such "troop sets", as you call it, aren't produced any more.

Cheers!

[Zorbas]

Wonderful review TheBrickster, really eye-catching. The comparison shots are great and very informative.

The minifigs look beautiful and very detailed and it's a great way of expanding your army - or even begin an army building with this set.

I must admit that Ninja minifigs from back then are among the best TLG has ever produced.

The strange thing is that although the Ninja theme made its debut during my dark ages, (in fact, I wasn't even aware that this certain theme existed until I joined EB) everytime I look at LEGO Ninja photos it somehow feels familiar and "classic".

Thanks again for the review!

(I still haven't opened the only Ninja set I have in my possession. Hmmm..;)

[-obelix-]

Thanks for the great review Brickster! A truly nostalgic one, as others have noticed before me... I am very disappointed I wasn't able to get this set at the time of its release but, in my case the end of the ninja theme was the beginning of my Dark ages...

Nevertheless, reviews like this one always make me smile and keep my hopes, of one day getting this set, up!