Random set of the day: Fire Nation Ship
Posted by Huwbot,Today's random set is 3829 Fire Nation Ship, released during 2006. It's one of 2 Avatar The Last Airbender sets produced that year. It contains 722 pieces and 5 minifigs, and its retail price was US$50/£39.99.
It's owned by 520 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
Help me come to life! If you like the set I've chosen for you today, please pledge your support for me on LEGO Ideas so I have a chance of becoming an official LEGO set!
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57 comments on this article
And with this, Huwbot has successfully covered an entire theme with Random Set of the Day posts.
Then, everything changed when 700 grey bricks attacked.
@MCLegoboy said:
"And with this, Huwbot has successfully covered an entire theme with Random Set of the Day posts."
There's also the air temple
I like this a lot more these days, now that I've seen ATLA, but even back in the day I think my thoughts were more "ummm... okay" than really bothered by it (which was NOT true of other licenced themes in those early-fleshtone years). It's a decent parts back for grey and the Fire Nation soldiers had awesome armour pieces.
This reminds me of those early 2000s era Mega Bloks Pro Builder sets.... clunky. So very clunky and blocky.
@Meowzap77:
March 10, 2018.
@Meowzap77 said:
"There's also the air temple"
https://brickset.com/article/34805/random-set-of-the-day-air-temple
I wonder what they would have done to give us Uncle Iroh…
"Prince Zuko, you must try this cake."
"I don't have time to stuff my face! I must capture the Avatar to regain my honor!"
No Iroh in this set though... seriously why?
Yes please, I would like to add this to my collection if it weren’t so expensive
Butt ugly and worth its weight in gold. Astounding.
While this isn't a pretty looking set, it does note an era of the earlier 2000s where a lot of things were still built out of lots of more "standard" bricks.
A set like 4997: Transport Ferry would be another example, and usuable with minifigs.
Just started watching this for the first time, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I really wish we got more of these sets; I would have prefered these over Spongebob.
There's a really great remake of this on Ideas. Y'all should go vote for it now. (Unless it already made it to 10k. I don't remember if it has yet.)
Almost enough gray for an ISD :)
Just going to say it - the blockiness and computer generated artwork makes this look like a knock off brand.
Frankly, between the shoddy CGI boxarts and the ugly builds (with this one in particular, 3829, looking like it could've come from a cheap knockoff clone brand), the LEGO Avatar sets did little to convince me that the show was worth watching. Turns out I was actually missing out on something truly incredible...
The show, I mean. Not the sets; those still look bad today.
Bought the Air Temple on clearance at Walmart for my kids. Turns out they weren't interested in it. Fast forward 15 years and it's still in the box sitting somewhere down in my basement.
That’s rough buddy
Is this ship based off an American or British warship or early Japanese warship perhaps in the Russo-Japanese war? Im curious. I know its fictional but Id be interested to know as to where the idea came from, particularly given it has a funnel i.e is a steamship.
In relation to Lego though this looks like something one of those knock off Lego brands would do, yet it is an official lego set. Weird.
I wonder if they'll release new sets in the future, like they did with Lord of the Rings, since Avatar: The Last Airbender and Korra have such enduring popularity. I bet they'd do really well...
@MandalorianCandidate said:
"Bought the Air Temple on clearance at Walmart for my kids. Turns out they weren't interested in it. Fast forward 15 years and it's still in the box sitting somewhere down in my basement."
That clearance set that's still mint in the box is now worth almost $700! (In reality, it's worth whatever anyone will pay...but that seems to be around $700.)
Aside from the minifigs, flags and perhaps 10 other little-used elements (according to my part analysis), this set would reduce to a common parts pak. Those 20-25 parts make a huge difference!
This set looks like it was made in the early version of LEGO Digital Designer with a limited parts selection.
All the pieces look super basic and there's no effort put into smoothening out the shape of the hull. Why didn't they use any bow or slope bricks?
On the one hand, would have been nice to get more Avatar themed sets.
On the other, maybe not if this one was the example of quality...
Did this come from Lego's "How NOT to do it" phase?
Imagine if it was unveiled today. Judging by the meltdown in the Mario 64 ?Block set, I think the Brickset servers would catch fire and contribute significantly to climate change.
I wonder why this fetches such high prices on the aftermarket. It looks quite basic and comes from an obscure source material. Weird.
I bought it during my dark age, out of sheer enthusiasm for the show. I ended up giving it to charity a few years later : o nsecond thought, it was not nice enough to be displayed in my (at the time) student room. Too blocky. Not enough detail.
Now I kind of regret having given it away - not for the aftermarket price, but because I could find many other uses for all those dark bley parts!
@AustinPowers said:
"I wonder why this fetches such high prices on the aftermarket. It looks quite basic and comes from an obscure source material. Weird."
Obscure is debatable. If you're a certain age, this is one of the best and best known animated shows ever to air and thus very desirable.
As for the design, agree, LEGO could have made a more interesting design, even in 2006.
@AustinPowers said:
"I wonder why this fetches such high prices on the aftermarket. It looks quite basic and comes from an obscure source material. Weird." Avatar is one of the biggest shows that people 20-30 years old all share. It was something that had never really been done on Nickelodeon before, the story and characters are beloved, it's a kids show that didn't treat the viewers like kids. To the diehard fans, it's rewatchable and enjoyable every time for them. I don't think it really matters the quality of the item, just so long as it's based on the property they love.
I still find it hard to believe that this set came out in 2006. The build looks so blocky and primitive, I would even argue that LEGO sets going as far back as the 1970's look visually better than this.
The atrocious CGI Box Art doesn't help, either. As others have said, this looks more like it came from a Chinse Knock-off brand rather than something from LEGO. You can clearly tell that the whole design process of this theme was very, very rushed.
@chrisaw said:
"Just going to say it - the blockiness and computer generated artwork makes this look like a knock off brand."
This was my first thought. It's like all the Chinese knock-offs that focus on military hardware and come with a bunch of very angry-looking minifigs.
Ah, the famous floating concrete block!
Just imagine seeing this in 2021! This is one of the best sets of 2006 in my opinion.
I don’t get why people don’t like this set just because it’s basic, I think it looks cool and the brick built hull gives it charm and the size of the set is pretty respectable. The box art is not perfect because Lego was trying stuff with CGI and it doesn’t affect the set in any way. The mini figs are kinda weird though
@Brickchap:
I’ve never watched the show, but I know that Ang is the only person within the context of the story who is known to be able to use air magic, which would be most useful for powering a sailboat. Water magic could simply push a basic hull where you want it. I’m not sure how earth magic could help power a boat of any kind, but fire magic goes perfectly with a steam-powered ship. As the name implies, this is a faction who all share the ability to perform fire magic. Whether or not it’s based on a historical steamship, I couldn’t say (I wouldn’t be shocked if it was), but the fact that they use one makes perfect sense from a world-building perspective.
@DB26E:
Nah. 2006 is when they launched the Batman theme. Those were the only sets that mattered that year because Batman.
I’d buy this over a Mario cube.
I've never watched anything of the theme afaik, but when I saw this set a few years ago, it said to me: I'm special. For some reason it looks attractive just because it's different from other Lego sets. With it's blockiness and uncolourful appearance.
I've been very disappointed with the LEGO Ideas team these past couple of years-
but they're just being ridiculous and stupid rejecting the ATLA projects (if they did reject them- we can't know for sure since they dont give us any insight at all!).
The current Avatar Tabletop-RPG Kickstarter had a funding goal of $50.000, and they're currently sitting at 9.5 MILLION dollars- FOR A TABLETOP GAME!
Demand for Avatar is through the roof, and they don't even have a new show running or a movie out yet.
@MCLegoboy said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"I wonder why this fetches such high prices on the aftermarket. It looks quite basic and comes from an obscure source material. Weird." Avatar is one of the biggest shows that people 20-30 years old all share. It was something that had never really been done on Nickelodeon before, the story and characters are beloved, it's a kids show that didn't treat the viewers like kids. To the diehard fans, it's rewatchable and enjoyable every time for them. I don't think it really matters the quality of the item, just so long as it's based on the property they love."
Thanks for the heads up. I'm probably too old for that. Never heard of it before. Never had Nickleodeon either as it was Pay-TV. I thought it was some kind of follow up to James Cameron's Avatar movie.
I have to admit that the set at least has many nice basic pieces useful for building terrain, castles, space vehicles etc. That alone would have some value, though certainly not the insane amounts this set is selling for on the aftermarket.
@AustinPowers said:
" Thanks for the heads up. I'm probably too old for that. Never heard of it before. Never had Nickleodeon either as it was Pay-TV. I thought it was some kind of follow up to James Cameron's Avatar movie.
I have to admit that the set at least has many nice basic pieces useful for building terrain, castles, space vehicles etc. That alone would have some value, though certainly not the insane amounts this set is selling for on the aftermarket. "
Far from it! It's Blue Cats that came out after. Avatar: The Last Airbender ran from 2005-2008 and Blue Cats didn't come out until 2009. James Cameron got some sort of trademark or copyright or whatever on the name Avatar with the release of his movie, so nothing can share the name even though Airbender came out first and its universe continued on with its sequel series, Legend of Korra from 2012-2014.
The shows deal with people who are able to control the elements of Air, Water, Earth, or Fire, but there is only one Avatar, who is able to control all four at the same time. The Avatar's duty is to promote balance between the four nations, and after they die, they reincarnate into the next nation in the cycle and master the four elements again. They are also able to commune with their past lives and are a bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds. It's way more interesting than Space Pocahontas staring Blue Cats.
@AustinPowers said:
"Thanks for the heads up. I'm probably too old for that. Never heard of it before. Never had Nickleodeon either as it was Pay-TV. I thought it was some kind of follow up to James Cameron's Avatar movie."
I guess we're about the same age. I'm from the early eighties and only started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender a few weeks ago. Very enjoyable, currently halfway through the sequel series Legend of Korra. Slighty goofy/comical at some times but overall it's much better than everything else currently on TV.
I almost bought this! Glad I didn’t!
*Nobody* was buying these at my local affluent neighborhood Wal-Mart (snicker), so when they began to clear them all out at $20 each, of course I bought all 8.
Gray parts is gray parts.
Yup, I discovered Avatar last year, binge-watched it on Netflix, and after a while saw that there was this theme. I enjoyed the show a lot, and also the sequel, the builds didn't impress me, though, and I never (until now) have looked at their current price :-) I wonder what it could look like if it had been produced more recently.
No one here seems to have addressed an important point: how accurate is this set to the source material?
This is the most off brand looking set I have ever seen.
@MCLegoboy:
That’s not how trademarks work. If ATLA was from a foreign market, and had never been shown in the US, Cameron absolutely could have landed a clean trademark for “Avatar”...in the US. Abroad, he’d run into problems with the TV show. Since Avatar was based in the US, even if they had never trademarked the name, they could always challenge his trademark claim, and one of two things would have happened. Either Cameron’s trademark would stand but they’d be awarded perpetual rights to share use of it due to having prior use on record, or Cameron’s trademark claim would be revoked. The two possible exceptions to this is if Cameron realized there was a standing trademark on the name and threw enough money at the owners to buy the trademark off of them, or if he threatened to bury them with lawsuits and bankrupt the studio with legal expenses.
You can see how one of these outcomes turned out with the iPhone. Steve Jobs announced they’d be producing the first iPhone without having even submitted a trademark application. At the time, another company was already selling some sort of internet-based home phone using the same name. Apple bought out their trademark, possibly for less than it was really worth, as they could easily threaten to sue on the basis that they already had several iTrademarks, which had associated the naming practice with their company in the public’s mind. I remember a few iDiots claiming the other company had no right to use the name, which was clearly not true or they wouldn’t have had their trademark application approved.
Retailers couldn’t give these things away. I saw so many on clearance I lost count. And I didn’t need any gray bricks or I would’ve picked it up.
I wonder, is this a contender for the ugliest set ever? It's gotta be in the top 10 for SURE.
Currently, my copy has been turned into a 1920's battleship for use with Lord Sam Sinister from Adventurers... great idea, and it has good bones as the stock set, but man, did it need serious WORK.
How many Nickelodeon themes did LEGO make? Just this and SpongeBob? I do remember when they made sets based on Dora The Explorer back in 2004.
@MugenLazlo said:
"How many Nickelodeon themes did LEGO make? Just this and SpongeBob? I do remember when they made sets based on Dora The Explorer back in 2004."
Bob The Builder, Dora, Spongebob, TMNT, Avatar... think that's it.
A re-release of this theme (à la Harry Potter level of quality) would be amazing. Such a great show. I keep it in regular rotation.
@Murdoch17:
Nickelodeon properties get a little tricky. They never owned Bob the Builder. That was a British show that they happened to license for a few years, around the time the LEGO theme was active, but they appear to have had no stake in the royalties (Brickset doesn’t list them as a co-branding). Thomas & Friends was also a British Property, and the two IPs were sold to Mattel in 2011 (effectively ending any chance of the themes coming back). Kevin Eastman asked to be bought out by TMNT co-creator Peter Laird, who did then sell the whole IP to Nickelodeon prior to the launch of the third animated series, which is why their brand is part of the theme logo. They also ran reruns of the Beetlejuice animated series back in the 90’s, but that relationship had long been put to bed by the time the IP was licensed for Dimensions from owner WB. Nickelodeon did have ownership from the very start with Dora the Explorer and ATLA.
One other interesting issue I ran across is LEGO City Adventures. It appears that Nickelodeon just rents the show to broadcast on their cable channel, but Brickset has it flagged with co-branding. I don’t think I own any of those sets, so I can’t see if there’s any mention of Nickelodeon on the set boxes.
For the commenters who are unfamiliar with Avatar, it also had the involvement of Dave Filoni, who I’m sure you’ll already know steers the ship on the Star Wars TV properties.
There’s even an homage to Avatar in The Clone Wars with Seargeant Appo from the 501st featuring an arrow painted on his helmet, in reference to Appa from Avatar.
Hmmm...looks like a siege-tower got crossed with a gunship (water craft, not helicopter)...that said:
Never 'fully' got into Avatar: TLAB, but didn't really hate it. Contrary, the 'world' ('kinda'-Earth') was really interesting. For example: Duck-Turtles...look it up, I'm not kidding...
@AustinPowers: The funny thing is: THIS Avatar existed before THAT Avatar. Cameron's movie; however, was registered BEFORE the live-action version of this one, so they were forced to drop the 'Avatar' part of the title. Some Shum-a-lum-a-ding-dong guy was in charge of the live-action, and...it bombed. Number of reasons, really including: lack of 'name recognition', story drifted too far from the 'source material', and so on...