Sam Sinister Switcheroo: The History of LEGO Adventurers Names

[PeabodySam]

Are you confused by who is who in LEGO Adventurers? Why were the heroes' names changed between 1998 and 2003? And is the bad guy Baron von Barron, or Slyboots, or Lord Sam Sinister? Then this is the video for you! Join the LEGO Detective as we solve the infamous Sam Sinister Switcheroo!

Adventurers has been my personal favorite LEGO theme ever since I started collecting the Dino Island sets back in 2000 and got infected with incurable LEGO mania. But it wasn't until I played LEGO Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge in 2004 and wondered "Hey, why is Sam Sinister called 'Mr. Hates' here?" that I first experienced the series's long and confusing history of naming characters differently in various markets and publications. Originally inspired by the popular Adventurers fan site on Geocities from 1999-2008 and kickstarted by the release of 10273 Haunted House in 2020, I began researching and compiling every alternate name and source I could find so I could one day present it all in an easily-accessible guide for fellow LEGO fans. This video is the finished culmination of the past four years of research.

In this video, I make sure to cite and show every source I could find, but there are a few missing sources that remain unidentified. Note that one uncited name, Ulrich Unhold, has already been very quickly identified by viewers within a day of the video's release: it's in the German instructions for the Orient Expedition board game, which is the only language that changes Lord Sam Sinister's name (honestly, I'm not sure how I missed that!). So I'm hoping that someone here on Eurobricks may be able to help me track down the remaining names.

The first is what I believe to be a Swedish print ad from 1998, which I saw once on Brickshelf but I can't find it again. This would name the characters Hjälten, Rita Reporter, Professor Påläst, Lars Looping, General Galning, Knock-out Berra, and Faraoh Hotep. As shown in the video, here is a rough mockup of what I remember it looking like:

The second is a publication (presumably a catalog, but could have been a magazine or a print ad) from the Netherlands in 2000, described by LFB.nl on Lugnet. This refers to the villains as Alex Gluipstra and Alexis Gluipstra. I believe that this may also be the same as the third missing source, described on the aforementioned Geocities page, which refers to Mr. Cunningham as Sluwe Jacques. EDIT: The primary source has been verified! See my post below.

If you're able to identify (and better yet, provide scans of) these unknown sources, or if you know of any other alternative names that I missed in this video, please let me know!

Edited June 21, 2024 by PeabodySam
2000 Netherlands names confirmed!

[BrynnOfCastlegate]

Great video! I am all about Adventurers character names. That game design document from 1997 is funny (King ROM DOT COM ). According to The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks, the Adventurers theme was approved at the same time as the Western theme, so it was presumably in advanced stages of design in 1997, so I wonder if any of those names are original names for the minifigures, or if they were unique to the game concept.

[Tazakk]

What a journey! Fabulous video, I'm thrilled to finally see a 1998 Danish print ad that confirms the original names matched up with LEGO Media's early publications. The snapshot of Palomar's bio was a nice surprise too - wild to see it laid out plainly that von barron was the art collector, and using his original name at that.

Happily adopting the idea that von barron is a descendant of the batlord line into my moccanon, too. fits nicely with their vibes as well as the plaque in the haunted mansion set!

[PeabodySam]

I've got good news to share! With the help of makreel on BrickLink, I've finally verified a primary source with the names Alex Gluipstra, Alexis Gluipstra, and Sluwe Jacques. As I suspected, these were used in the mid-2000 Netherlands catalog. Here is a photo below; take note of the product descriptions for 5955 and 5987:

I placed an order for this catalog so that I can scan it myself. Maybe there's some other obscure goodies hidden in here! But for now, that's one mystery that's finally been solved after 24 years. I believe that only leaves the obscure 1998 Swedish print ad as the last unverified set of names listed in the video.

[Autumn]

Cool find! Harry Cane, or Lars Looping, actually kind of makes sense as having originally been a bad guy. That way there would be three good guys and three bad guys. Wonder why it was changed?