Samurai X 2.1

It seems like LEGO Ideas has become the place where I document my journey to building my ultimate Samurai X mech. I write LEGO Ninjago stories that I read to my kids at bedtime (pre-Dragons Rising, mind you, as my kids and I love classic Ninjago the best) and sometimes my son and I try to build the characters, creatures, or vehicles from the stories. He's into minibuilds, while I like to stick to minifig scale.

Right, so, back to the mech. When I first created this particular version of the Samurai X mech for the story, I had some basic requirements. The mech had to have wheels that functioned as skates, and he needed to be a bit more compact than some of the more recent Ninjago mechs. In addition to that, I wanted him to have a cockpit so he could accommodate an operator, but the cockpit had to be subtle, not obvious, which meant it had to be almost hidden in his design. Basically, the mech needed to have a cockpit, but to look like he didn’t have one when he didn’t have an operator onboard. 

Lastly I wanted him to be able to reach behind his shoulders to grab his swords. This seems like it shouldn’t matter, but it did, because the mech grabbed his swords like that in a pretty pivotal scene in the story, and the brick-built version absolutely had to be able to do that. Oh, and he needed to have that particular hat, and a head that appeared almost lifelike and would look good even when the hat was off. Anyway, the first rendition of the mech ticked most of the boxes. 

Then, just before I submitted the mech to LEGO Ideas a second time, another ‘must have’ reared its head. If this mech is a skater—which he is—he should be able to achieve some of those iconic skater poses, which the first mech couldn’t really do because of the way I’d built his arms and legs. In the end I decided to resubmit the mech ‘as is’ and to leave the upgrades for another day.

Then that day came… and with it came some more requirements because, as my story had evolved, so had the mech. He was now a much more integral part of the adventure, the mystery around him had grown, and he had developed a definite ‘ice hockey player’ vibe in terms of his movements, which I could no longer ignore. This meant that his arms and legs needed better articulation and his proportions had to change slightly, and some parts I absolutely loved had to be given up, but, as is often the case in these kinds of situations, what you give up isn’t a patch on what you gain. Oh, and I gave him spare wheels, coz those are generally handy to have.

So, here he is: Samurai X 2.1 (I’m not sure whether I’m using the versioning correctly from an IT perspective, but the internet says the .1 stands for a minor revision in the release, which I believe applies here. 😁)