Sam Sinister Switcheroo: The History of LEGO Adventurers Names
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- čas přidán 16. 06. 2024
- 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!
Table of Contents:
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:58 1998
0:21:36 1999
0:32:30 2000
0:46:33 2001 - 2002
0:59:52 2003
1:06:29 2004 - 2008
1:10:49 2009
1:17:12 2010 - Present Day
1:27:21 Conclusion
At last, the video teased as my 1000 Subscriber Special is finally released! Whew, this is... quite literally, my biggest video ever. It's the culmination of 20 years of being a big LEGO Adventurers fan followed by 4 years of in-depth research, documentation, and tons of Brickipedia edits to catalog every instance and source I could find on the series' confusing and convoluted history of naming characters. I had no idea when I started that this would be over an hour and a half long! That's why it took so long to make, and unfortunately why I missed the deadline on getting this video out before the end of 2023, the Adventurers' 25th anniversary.
Thank you all so much for watching. My videos really don't get many views, so the amount of time and effort put into this video is probably disproportionately high compared to how many people will see it. But for anyone who is as much of a LEGO nerd as I am, I really appreciate this opportunity to share my love for the franchise with you.
For all CZcams videos sourced in this video, see this playlist: • Sam Sinister Switchero...
For all music used in this video (or at least, music currently available on CZcams), see this playlist: • Sam Sinister Switchero...
For all images used in this video, as well as an Excel sheet that lists their sources, download this ZIP file: www.mediafire.com/file/32di8f...
LEGO Adventurers and all other associated media belongs to The LEGO Group. Additional footage comes from Donkey Kong 64, Wacky Races, Dudley Do-Right, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, San Diego Living, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and belongs to their respective owners.
Since it's inevitable that I will have missed something or made a mistake in this video, this pinned comment will be updated with any new information or corrections that need to be noted, with the most important at the top:
*(1) Ulrich Unhold's primary source has been confirmed! The Orient Expedition board game instructions call him "Sam Sinister" in every language except for German, which calls him "Ulrich Unhold". Thank you @user-mt2vi6dp6o for pointing this out! I can't believe it was staring me in the face for 21 years and I've never noticed it before...*
*(2) @catalogues4741 has uploaded a 4K version of the 1998 Danish catalog video and confirmed that the pilot is named Harry Caine, not Harry Cane. I'm very sorry for the misinformation in my video.*
(3) I extensively covered the Sam Sinister Switcheroo and the Harry Cane Switcheroo, but I forgot to mention that there's also a Johnny Thunder Switcheroo! On the 2001 online LEGO Shop, the product description for 5902 River Raft seemingly refers to Rudo Villano as "Johnny Thunder". This is especially odd, since the 2000 LEGO.com page had a different product description that correctly identified Rudo Villano.
(4) It's possible that "Sanister" is intended as a pun on the surname "Banister/Bannister", which makes it more clever than I give it credit for. But I still think it looks like a bad typo, so maybe the pun would've been clearer if it was spelled "Sannister".
(5) Why is Pharaoh Hotep missing from the group shot at the end of the video? Funny story about that! I've owned all the Dino Island and Orient Expedition minifigs (plus Harry Cane) firsthand since 2000-2003, and I acquired Slyboots and the Jungle minifigs secondhand more recently, but Hotep was the only named Adventurers character that I never owned. But then, just one week after finishing this video, I finally acquired a Hotep minifig and completed my collection!
(6) One article of the Summer 2015 LEGOLAND Times uses a picture of Jake Raines' minifigure to represent "World's Greatest Adventurer", further muddying the issue of whether the World's Greatest Adventurer is supposed to be Johnny Thunder, Jake Raines, or a mashup of the two characters.
(7) As verified by @simenon5929 and @JB-ey4mi, the French Dino Island commercial is definitely saying "Johnny Thunder" and not "Johnny Tonnerre".
(8) Although I showed English scans of World Club Magazine in 2000, I forgot to specify that these scans come from the Australian publication. And while it's shown in the video, I did not mention that both "Sam Sanister" and "Sam Sinister" are used in different issues from that year: Sanister in Number 2 (38:12) and Sinister in Number 3 (34:44).
(9) Bricks To Bytes has two different versions of the LEGO Chess FMV script. I showed one version in this video, but the other version appears to be an earlier draft with some minor differences, most notably the fact that Dr. Kilroy and Pippin Read are called "the Prof" and "Pippa Grant".
(10) As verified by @Reitid, "Villám Tamás" should have been translated as "Thomas Lightning" instead of "Lightning Thomas".
(11) The box flap for 5976 River Expedition has text in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Curiously, only Portuguese translates Johnny's name (Johnny Trovão) like other sources, whereas French and Spanish retain the English name instead of translating it to Johnny Tonnerre and Johnny Trueno.
(12) Jungle Explorer appears in LEGO Fortnite. The bad news is that he has a new name: Sawyer. The good news is that he mentions that he also goes by Johnny Thunder, Sam Grant, and Joe Freemann.
A separate section for anyone who was mistakenly left uncredited in the video itself:
(1) Although the CZcams channel @ireallydontcarewhatthisis was properly credited, their Internet Archive account "I can put anything in this text field oh sweet" was accidentally uncredited.
(2) Nostalgist's Archive on the Internet Archive was uncredited for their high-quality scans of Kabaya box art.
(3) It's Fun 4 Me! was uncredited for the image of the LEGOLAND Hotel Treasure Hunt.
Apparently Johnny Thunder is coming back in a Lego City Jungle Sub-Theme (this year) with new molds for a Tiger and a Red Panda so I think we may be going back to Orient Expedition...
1:06:21 Ulrich Unhold is the name used in the german translation of the Orient Expedition board game (featured in the back of the instructions from 7417, 7418 and 7419) .
You're absolutely right! I'm honestly shocked that I've never noticed that before. It looks like all other languages for the board game instructions use "Sam Sinister", so it's very curious that German is the one exception. Thank you so much for pointing that out to me!
You know we've hit Peak CZcams when a channel with less than 1,500 subs puts out a video on an obscure Lego minifig character from a long-extinct theme line that's almost as long as the first X-Men movie.
yep, lol
As a native French speaker, I can confirm you again that the French commercial does say "Johnny Thunder", just like the English version. We always knew the character as such.
Really good video, keep it up!
It's funny, I always knew Sam Sinister was two guys and Baron von Barron was only one. But somehow I had never heard the name Slyboots!
What is this? A 1.5 hour long video from a channel i dont know, about a lego-series i have never heard of, about a lego-series lore question i have no idea about? at a time where i really should go to bed instead? well i will be damnded youtube, i will watch it right know!!
OK, my headcannon is as follows: Baron Von Barron's full name is Lord Samuel Sinister, Baron of Barron. Sly Boots is also called Sam Sinister, so perhaps he's related to the Baron (might be his son, or, more likely, since they look to be similar age, brother). Sly Boots has black hair just like Baron von Barron and Alexa Sinister, and just like Baron he needs spectacles. And in Aristocratic and royal families repeating names are very common. Since Sam with Hook and Monocle holds the title of a Baron, he must be the eldest. As such, Sam with tophat and glasses must be named as Sam Sinister II, and Sly Boots has to be a nickname. So it should be Sir Samuel "Slyboots" Sinister II, as opposed to LORD Samuel Sinister I, the Baron of Barron. And then there's also their sister Alexa/Alexia/Alexis Sinister. Since Alexa is the short version of Alexandra, her full name would be Lady Alexandra Sinister. So we actually have three Sinister Siblings:
1. Lord Samuel Sinister I, Baron of Barron, who is, going with DK Rap jokes "The Leader of the Bunch",
2. Sir Samuel "Slyboots" Sinister II, Who tagged along with his big brother to an expedition to Egypt, and was never seen since,
and
3. Lady Alexandra Sinister, who went with Samuel I to Dino Island.
That works pretty well! I like how you even managed to work in Sally Dark Rides' "Sir Sam Sinister" moniker with this MOCanon.
Oo, I dig this one.
Mate, you include a lot of materials from around the world, to just depict a differences of few plastic figures to what is right and ''canon''... brilliant work, You have done a lot of research and made very good video montage ❤
It's now my headcanon that Slyboots was the original Sam Sinister, and that he had a tragic Indiana Jones-esque villain death at the end of the Egypt subline, and Baron von Barron assumed his identity in order to claim Slyboots' estate and double his own wealth.
As I started with Lego in 1998, to me Slyboots is Sam Sinister where as Baron von Baron is the correct name for the one with monocle and hook hand.
As a media preservationalist, it pains me to say that it's actually very thematic, that Adventurers has so many misconceptions, misnomers, and lost media. It really is the Lego equivalent of ancient history with pieces of information that have yet to be put together.
As a lifelong Adventurers fan, this is amazing!
This is my absolute FAVORITE LEGO lore video on CZcams. And I've watched alloooott of videos like these.
Hungarian here, Villám Tamás means Thomas Lightning 44:32 . Epic video!
Thank you for correcting me! I'm sure I've made at least a few translation mistakes here, and I was unsure whether Villám Tamás should be "Lightning Thomas" or "Thomas Lightning".
May I have your attention please?
May I have your attention please?
Will the real Sam Sinister please stand up?
I repeat, will the real Sam Sinister please stand up?
We’re gonna have a problem here.
So, I grew up with this whole theme…and loved your explanation here. Appreciate the matpat jokes throughout 😂
Just when I had accepted that Baron von Barron was Sam Sinister, Lego went and released Manor von Barron, throwing everything into turmoil. Baron von Barron and Sly Boots seems more correct to me now, even though it's the North American names while everyone else goes by their original DK ones.
I don't know why Lego had so many regional differences in the first place when they had already standardised it in other themes, or why they changed Barron's name and erased Sly.
I remember being confused by this at the time, having also first known the Dino Island line and grown up in Europe with the European names. It is interesting how a new generation of fans is making content on late nineties and early 2000s Lego as opposed to the eighties themes that dominated the fandom for most of the past decade. Very well made video.
I adore how this video is the length of a movie to explore the mystery
I was introduced to Baron von Barron through the Lego Racers PC-game. I even managed to beat Rocket Racer while driving as him! Lord Sam Sinister will always be the Baron to me.
The big news is that as of June 1st 2024, Johnny Thunder has officially returned to store shelves as part of the Lego City Jungle Exploration sub-theme. He appears in 2 sets:
60424: Jungle Explorer ATV Red Panda Mission.
60426: Jungle Explorer Off Road Truck.
A bit off-topic, but also being released this year (as part of the Jurassic World Theme) is a new Lego Stegosaurus. The last time a Stegosaurus appeared in a Lego set was as part of the Adventurer's Dino Island Sub-theme in 2000. So it's good to see the animal return after such a long absence.
Love this, very worth the wait and a great way to spend the morning! I remember getting that Dino Island Mania magazine, opening it to the first page and being like...what. the. heck. Little did I know all the twists and turns it would take over the years. I had no idea this was going to be a video (heck, probably THE definitive video) about ALL of the Adventurers name changes over the years, not just the Baron's, so it was even more than I expected.
I also learned a good bit that I didn't know! I'd definitely picked up on the hints that Palomar was working for Von Barron in the Jungle sets, but I didn't know there was a smoking gun that clinched it. Also, it somehow didn't even occur to me that the Dig documents predated the entire name confusion in the first place and were just really prescient, so kudos for that observation.
I suspect that Carl Merriam was the deciding factor in reviving the Von Barron name, and it's probably just a nostalgic fondness for those early Mania Magazine bios that won out over the years of "Lord Sinister." (Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but the lord/baron thing isn't too much of an issue since a baron can indeed be called a lord.)
I did note that Von Barron doesn't seem to appear in the early Adventurers concepts from Niels Milan Pedersen, but Slyboots does. It may be my preferences influencing things, but I kind of think the cool Baron minifigure stole the spotlight away from Slyboots, who is a little more generic, so combining the two later on may have been an attempt to bring the early idea of Slyboots being the consistent adversary to fruition.
Such a great video, I hope you have another mystery lined up to tackle! :)
Wow! Thank you for this deep dive into my all-time favorite Lego theme!
Unfortunately at least three of the pre-Orient Expedition Flash games are lost, but I am so glad that you cited them. I distinctly remember playing all of them (I would have been 7-8 at the time) but aside from the one magazine ad, have never been able to find anything else about them on the Internet. The games were set up on a map, with Johnny Thunder reclining in a chair. The user would click on a blinking red dot in its geographic location to launch each game. There were at least four games:
1. Clicking in North America, Johnny Thunder would kayak down the rock-filled Colorado River (yes, it was specifically named). Possibly he was chasing someone. Hitting a rock would make your kayak flip and I believe that Johnny had three lives. Winning was rewarded with a cutscene of Johnny kayaking into a sunset.
2. Clicking in South America, Johnny would go through an Amazon temple maze trying to avoid spiders and spider webs. Running into a spider would trigger an overlay message where Johnny says he hates spiders.
3. Clicking in Egypt would trigger the Restless Mummy game, which has survived.
4. Clicking in Australia would trigger a game in the Outback where Johnny Thunder would throw boomerangs to pop red hot-air balloons that were carrying stolen golden treasure.
I do not remember playing Lost Treasure of Ancient Greece at this time, but I do remember playing it c. 2004.
The controls were basic arrow keys+spacebar and had similar style to Restless Mummy/Lost Treasure of Ancient Greece. I only remember one cutscene and I believe each opened with a small text about the game and its controls.
Source: trust me dude ;)
I also recall the main page being a world map where you click on the different countries to access the Flash games, so we're definitely remembering the same thing. When you say "trust me dude", I trust you dude!
Based on the archived URLs, there were also Flash games for "Alaska" and "Dino". I actually vividly remember the Dino one: Sam Sinister (i.e. Baron von Barron/Mr. Hates) had captured a dinosaur and was holding it captive in a cage. To unlock the cage and free the dino, you had to complete a slider puzzle that would form Sinister's face when completed. Does this one ring a bell for you too?
Unfortunately, I don't remember any details about the Alaska game. I'm guessing it has something to do with searching mountains and caves for the Russian Czar's jewels, based on the corresponding entry in the Minifig Handbook. I wonder if anyone remembers this one?
Oh my gosh I do remember that Dino one now as well! The Alaska one may have seen Johnny climbing up a snowy mountain (similar to the minigame in Treasure of Ancient Greece). Obviously didn't play those as much as the others though. The river one will hold a special place in my heart because it was the first web game I ever beat. That's pretty cool you've extracted that much though! I also remember Alexia Sinister in Tales of the Lego Express but I didn't know her name at the time.@@VezonWireless
Looking forward to this!
Love your video! I knew most of the information. Alas, I always felt like Sam Sinister/Slyboots was the main villain and evil genius and the Baron was the associate mogul and patron behind Sinister plans. They are partners in crime. I'm writing my own lore of the characters adding some bits but keeping the original US names. Always thought the weather theme names were great and in sync with the next pharaohs quest theme. I use the alternate names as alias sometimes, but personally I like my stories using the Thunder & Storm comic title 😅
What an astonishing collection of information! And your video is so well made that it is enjoyable to watch the entire thing! I'm very impressed.
Regarding the names: I grew up with the Adventurers theme in Germany and I can assure you that I knew the main protagonist as Johnny Thunder. I can't tell you where I knew this from back then, but until watching this video, I had no clue there was a name like Joe Freeman.
I'd love to hear your summary of the recent return of Johnny Thunder as part of the City Jungle Exploration theme.
I found your channel by random clicking you on a video reading a lego Scholastic Castle book. I was extremely delighted to see that another person besides me was also hunting for a digitised version of it.
"LEGO Medieval Adventures: Troll Attack", right? If you're still looking for it, I've got good news! The Internet Archive has a digital copy of the book. All you need is to create a login and then you can "borrow" the book from the library for an hour. I won't link it here (I've been finding that my CZcams comments with links have a tendency to disappear), but just search for "troll attack" and it should come right up.
@@VezonWireless Thank you!
Just finished watching and I thoroughly enjoyed it! So cool to see the backstories behind all the names, and I was surprised to see Baron Von Barron/Lord Sam Sinister also have another alias in Mr. Hates, which I had never seen him named as before. This is definitely one of the best and most dedicated Adventurers videos out there, and I can’t imagine the amount of work and research that must have went into it!
Even though it has been disproven and makes no sense overall, I kinda like the idea of the Baron and Slyboots combining into one entity, with nobody ever addressing it. Maybe because you really don't see this type of thing being done anymore. So I guess I kinda like being gaslit :P
What's also insanely inconsistent is the Baron's nationality. Sometimes he's just a generic moustache-twirling villain with no specific accent or anything, sometimes he talks like a German stereotype (which makes sense, considering the "von" in this name and the fact Indiana Jones also fought against Germans). Johnny has always been Australian, but his arch-nemesis has been all over the place.
Amazing video! I remember I used to think that Slyboots, Baron von Barron and *Sam Sinister* were three brothers.
Thank you for the time you have invested in creating this gigantic video! I always wondered how this mess of names had happened. It's fun to see how the DK names mostly made it into Orient Expedition with the big exception of Baron von Barron (as a German speaking boy I always found that name so hilarious). I was quite surprised to find out that his original DK name was Mr. Hates (I had always assumed Baron von Barron to be the oldest variant), which has not been used a lot over the years. I always thought the mistake was just that Lego Racers 1 named Slyboots incorrectly. But it seems the Americans have to play their special game from time to time.
The whole story now makes a lot more sense. But in a way I feel almost a bit disappointed to learn about the long and confusing story of the name Sam Sinister, when in my personal canon (due to Lego Island and Lego Racers 2) over all the years there had only ever existed ONE Sam Sinister (meaning Baron von Barron).
Btw your intro was pure comedy gold!
Hello, I am no longer a huge lego fan but I always like to keep up with lore or even weird tangential points about the hobby ie videos about bionicle and power miners. All this to say that this video has quelled my desire for long form video on lego topics. Thank you again and keep up the great work!
Wow, the amount of research is impressive! Definitely digging up some lost treasures in terms of sources I wasn’t even aware of!
Excellent video! Love the Adventures theme. I wish Lego would go back to original themes like these from the 90s instead of all these license themes they only do now...
My god, can you imagine if Bionicle had different names in different markets, all with completely separate lore?
Hearing the LEGOLAND Lost Kingdom music hit me right in the nostalgia center. Great video! The fella with the top hat and monocle will always be Sam Sinister to me.
This is the Lego version of the yellow lightsaber kenner put out for Luke. Love it
Is it wierd that i remember a lego set that i had 26 years ago, and wondered what's the official story was, and there is a fresh (3 month old) youtube video, that in great detail for 1.5 hours exploring the topic?
Absolutely incredible amount of work that you've invested in this! How many months must you have spent compiling together seemingly every piece of Adventures media ever published? I'll be sharing this far and wide to help it get the recognition that it deserves.
This helps a lot. Gotta love adventurers
Amazing video with so much interesting details! Thanks for making this!
And I have to say, your Dutch pronunciation is pretty good 😊
Thank you so much! Whew, that's a relief to hear; since I don't speak most of these languages (and let's be honest, I don't even speak English very well!), I was constantly worried that I was messing up when trying to read names in Dutch, Danish, etc. I have a couple embarrassing bloopers of me absolutely botching the German and Norwegian parts of the video...
@@VezonWireless Obviously, this makes me very curious about the blooper episode, haha! But seriously, kudos for your European language skills, sir! 👊🏻
I always thought Pippin Reed was another pun name, just not weather related. Pippin closely resembling Piper, like a musical wind instrument. And Reed, the bit on the end of most wind instruments.
What an amazingly detailed video essay! Incredible work. I had no idea the Sam Sinister Switcheroo went so deep. I also didn't know that we were robbed of two Adventurers-themed LEGO Island sequels. Ah, well. Hopefully City Summer 2024 does Johnny Thunder/Joe Freeman/Sam Grant justice.
I especially appreciate that you included of all the music and video sources as playlists. It's like you've attached two extra treasure troves to an already excellent video.
Amazing how much effort went into this! Very interesting video!
The Name Ulrich Unhold comes from Orient Expedition. In the sets that included the board games, they had manuels for those games in the back of the instructions. In the german version Sam Sinister is called "Ulrich Unhold" (roughly translated to Ulrich Crook/Unholy in english) for whatever reason. Somehow even after all this time, they still had to give this guy new names 😀
Also in the shop at home catalog from 2003 he is named Johnny Thunder for Set 7416 though that probably is a simple switch up.
Another commenter already pointed out Ulrich Unhold's source, but I still appreciate you doing the same! Thank you!
You're right: the Fall 2003 catalog description for 7416 correctly says Lord Sinister is the ship's commander, but instead lists Johnny Thunder among the included minifigs. It's fixed in the Holiday 2003 catalog. On a similar note, the January 2003 catalog misidentifies Pippin Reed as Dr. Kilroy in the 7414 product description!
This is an incredibly thorough amount of information regarding Adventurers. Thanks for making it! I see you have your sources for videos and music in the description, but do you think you could upload a zip of all the images and documents used in this? I'm especially interested in the preliminary documents and images. I haven't seen most of it before. Thanks!
Sure thing! It took me several hours to organize everything neatly, but I've just added a ZIP file with the images and documents used in this video. This ZIP also includes the Excel file that I had been using to document all the names I could find and their original sources, so hopefully everything should have a link leading back to where it originally came from. As for the preliminary documents, most of these came from Bricks To Bytes and can be found on their website; I think the only exception is the 1996 concept artwork, which comes from Blocks Magazine.
I knew that Adventurers’ localization was confusing, but not THIS confusing! It seems wherever in the world you were, you had to deal with inexplicable name changes. I remember being mightily confused as to why Sam Sinister was called Mr. Hates in Lego Island 2-that was probably the only piece of media with that name that reached the United States.
The use of “Sanister” for Sam and Alexia has to be the most bizarre choice though. I truly don’t know what they were thinking there.
Would the real Sam Sinister please stand up, please stand up, please stand up?
I am now watching this video for the 4th or 5th time, it is just that good.
Thanks for establishing the Danish names right off the bat, I'm kinda glad people are slowly starting to move away from treating the old US names of everything pre-99 as default. Now if only we can get people to do the same for Insectoids...
I do wonder where exactly the alternate names originally come from, I would assume localizers chose to keep some names and change others, but then why would Lego take one character's American name and replace a different character's international name with it? Did each character have a pool of names Lego came up with that localizers could pick from? That wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, but neither does people in the UK or Denmark going through American magazines and saying "yeah Slyboots's name in America, we should replace Mr Hates's name with that everywhere!".
I think besides the internet, the other reasons they started unifying names everywhere in 99 might have been. One, the Rock Raiders game, the development of that was already heavily shared between Futura and UK-based Lego Media and DDI, and the US localizers couldn't make up their own names since the theme and game were meant to tie together more heavily than previous video games. (Didn't stop Lego Mania from changing the story anyway to them just mining a fuel source on earth (under your floor) instead of being on an alien planet.) And two, Lego Star Wars - obviously they couldn't change any names for that.
Finding the video with the 1998 Danish catalog was definitely a game-changer for this video. My first draft of the script opened with the US names in 1998 (like in 1999 and 2000), and then later proposed a hypothesis that the Dorling Kindersley/LEGO Island 2 names (which seemed to be an international melting pot of US's Johnny Thunder and Harry Cane, UK's Pippin Read and Pharaoh Hotep, and DE's Mr. Hates and Sly Boots) might have represented the original Danish names, citing the Danish LEGO Racers names as supporting evidence. Since the catalog proved that to be true, I had to overhaul that whole portion of the script accordingly. Knowing that these are the "original" names definitely sheds a ton of light on why they became the international standard (except Mr. Hates, for whatever reason...).
@@VezonWirelessProbably because “Mr. Hates” is not as a cool or creative name as “Baron Von Baron”, it’s just a better name overall.
Maybe Sam Sinister was doing the false villain thing, going in disguise under the pseudonym of Baron von Baron to get to the prize first, and had Slyboots disguise himself as Sam Sinister to throw everyone off the scent. This would be Sinister's first encountering of Johnny Thunder, and may just have a general description known overall.
Another idea, maybe Slyboots is a two bit thief presenting himself as Sam Sinister as Sam Sinister is in disguise as Baron von Baron, same reason as above. Afterwards the rug is pulled, and Sam goes back to his original identity as Slyboots is arrested under Sam's charges, allowing Sam to continue his evil pursuits without any legal problems.
On a side note, LEGO made so many great flash games back in the day that nobody can play anymore, I wish the would release a greatest hits of all their best, or just all of them, for everyone to play. Especially the Bionicle games, I've really been wanting to play the matoran point and click adventure game again, it was SO GOOD! it actually follows immediately after the Lego Bionicle game on the GBA, and then leads into him becoming the next Toa, so great! Sorry, I just really love how interconnected they all are, very well thought out. The second isn't bad, but I always had trouble with the kohli matches, I kinda wish I could retry them now.
Absolutely, LEGO's old Flash games such a big part of the online experience back in the day! Have you heard of BioMedia Project or Flashpoint Archive? If you still have an offline Flash player, you can download many old LEGO Flash games from BioMedia Project, including most BIONICLE games like the classic Mata Nui Online Game. If you don't, then I believe Flashpoint Archive allows you to play these games without needing Flash, although I admit that I don't know much about Flashpoint and I've only heard it come highly recommended by other fans.
@VezonWireless Cool, I'll check it out! I actually really want to try out the one you mentioned in the video, the Lego Train Heist, looks like a lot of fun! But it sounded like that one wasn't available anywhere to play, from what you said. (Unless I misheard...?) But yeah, all of them gems.
So many of those old games on flash, and old computer software, just end up as lost media so often, it's such a shame, like that old game Terratopia! It introduced me to point and click adventure games, but it is very difficult to track down and play. I hope many of them get either a remaster or port, some kind of modern re-release that allows newer generations to experience these classics.
28:42, the song of my people. 29:51 that’s gotta be her best name by far.
I had some Lego catalogs in the '90 that I would endlessly peruse and remember fragments of an English animation. I knew the main character as Sam Grant until I discovered on the Internet that people collectively refer to him as Johnny Thunder.
I'll have to check if I still have the catalogs at my parent's house. This was Romania and some catalogues were in English and some were localized.
Oh, that's neat. I hadn't come across any non-UK sources that used "Sam Grant" in my search, so I'm definitely curious to know if Romanian media also uses the rest of the UK names. If you still have those catalogs, I'd love to see some scans!
I did recently see photos of a 1999 Australian catalog, where it appears that the 1998 Egypt sets use the same names as the UK (5978 Secret of the Sphinx, 5988 Temple of Anubis, etc.) but the 1999 Jungle sets have a different set of localized names (e.g. 5936 is Jungle Lair instead of Senor Gomez's Expedition). None of the characters are named in the product descriptions, and neither 5900 nor 5918 appear in this specific catalog, but I wonder if Sam Grant and the other localized UK character names were also used in Australia. At least, when it comes to catalogs... the Australian World Club Magazine uses the US character names instead!
For me honestly the biggest reveal of this whole video is that Slyboots in German is more of the muscle than the brains he's implied at being in North America which is really funny to me because the adverts and the like all do seem to bias much more towards him being a Snidley Whiplash Dick Dastardly sort of skinny villain and this leaves our good baron, Barron, as something of a posturing asshole lol. Personally I'd combine the two and have Slyboots be both a hulking heavyweight that's deceptively smart, or a conniving looking scrawny mastermind that's stronger than he seems.
Anyway I grew up with the original Baron and Sam names from 1998, but I always assumed as a kid since the Baron clearly dumped Sam and burned through other Henchmen (Palomar, Villano, Alexia, Cunningham, and the myriad of goons he works with in Orient Expedition) that he just took Sam's name as an alias lol. Or maybe they're brothers both named Sam. That sort of nonsense seems on brand with LEGO's sense of humor, lol.
I got my hands on Manor Von Barron in December of 2020. Googling the hieroglyphs that were on the obelisk, the moment I made out Ogel from the O G E, I immediately went to CZcams to see if Baron was Ogel only to come across Boone’s review. He didn’t mention it; but, to me, gothic style manors such as this are common to have Grandfather clocks; Instead, we have a monument at the center of all of Baron Von Barron’s accomplishments, an obelisk being an epitaph to one’s greatness.
Why would Baron idolize someone else? He wouldn’t; no, this is a monument in his house - converted theme ride - written in a language very few would even know how to translate with very dark secrets hidden in the attic including a dynamite plunger ready to destroy any and all evidence. Not to mention, If the contents in the orb react with fire, the orb going off would effect everyone in the proximity. Don’t know about you, but I’d say that’s pretty sinister! 😅
If Baron has been known to create aliases over the years, Ogel could be one of them. Taking a look at Ogel in Lego lore, Ogel is a descendant of Lord Vladek in the Knights Kingdom series. With that, all we have for the Barron is House of Barrons but have no further history. We do know that Ogel has an cybernetic right eye in conjunction with Baron Von Barron’s bad right eye. Ogel doesn’t have a hook in the first season but, if Baron happened to be Ogel, being that Alpha Team takes place in a distant future from The Adventurers, it wouldn’t be too far fetched to say Baron could have created a prosthetic for himself and, after Alpha Team destroyed his first base, Baron could have barely escaped damaging his prosthetic in the process and went back to what he knew best - the hook.
All this is purely fan fiction but, it could be pieced together for a very fun Lego story. As I digress from my theory, I’ll leave off with an alternative theory. If Baron is not Ogel, then perhaps he has found keen interest in why there is a villain out there seemingly more sinister than he is baring the same name etched upon the ancient obelisk in his collection. Did the ancients foresee an evil to come, or did they have a deeper understanding of their universe that if Lego was all that is good, then all that is evil would have to be Ogel
While Ogel is often called Evil Ogel, there is an advert for the Alpha Team PC/GBC game in the September/October 2000 LEGO Mania Magazine that refers to him as "Sinister Ogel". Additionally, the Baron's signature evil laugh from The Lost Treasure of Ancient Greece and the Orient Expedition comics/games was reused for Ogel in one of the Red Lens minigames. Hmm, perhaps you're onto something here...
On that note, while Ogel's left hook hand and right red eye are reminiscent of Baron von Barron, he actually shares the upper half of his face with a different Adventurers villain: Senor Palomar. The wrinkles around their eyes, the shape of their eyebrows, and the glabellar line on their foreheads are identical. It probably has no deeper lore meaning or connection, but it is an interesting instance of LEGO reusing assets between different character designs.
For years I had wondered what that wierd blue line is that goes over Sam Sinisters torso print. As a kid I used to stare at it and try to figure it out because it looked like they originally wanted to give him a scarf but then didnt complete the file in photoshop.
Only now have I realised that it is probably supposed to be lanyerd for a holstered pistol or something, having looked at him for a while now after all these years again.
So sad lord Sam Sinister and Baron Von Baron 😢didn’t return in this years jungle theme. They could have had a great story of these characters trying to capture animals the gorillas (set 60437) and the red panda (set 60424) all while being thwarted by Johnny Thunder and crew. Please Lego bring these guys back fully with an in house animal and dinosaur theme including those tomb sets too hot air balloons and old school vehicles. It would be so cool. And maybe throw in Zombies and team up with Dr. Rodney Rathbone x Johnny Thunder. Oh the possibilities are endless. Come on Lego make it happen!!! 😊
This was always a much more interesting theme than just wholesale dropping Indiana Jones into LEGO.
I'm surprised that R R Slugger wasn't involved in this video an some way.
Full Lego Adventurers universe timeline when?
44:45 I speak french, the narrator says "Johnny Thunder"
Thank you for confirming! I kept finding myself in a bias loop where if I was listening for "Johnny Thunder" then I'd hear "Johnny Thunder", but if I was listening for "Johnny Tonnerre" then I'd hear "Johnny Tonnerre" instead. Since I'm not familiar with the nuances of speaking French, I couldn't trust my own opinion here.
To me, Sam sinister is the main bad guy in Desert, and von Baron is his partner in crime/henchman, as Baron von Baron is trying to acquire the ruby for his fascist military country, hence his uniform. At the end of desert Sam sinister dies in Pharoas forbidden ruins, and von Baron gets away with the knowledge of sam sinisters demise.
During jungle, von Baron is recovering from the events of desert and is contacted by Alexia sinister, Sam sinister's sister. Sam sinister is no doubt the owner of the haunted manor and Alexia is the next of kin so in Sam's death it goes to her, hence her contacting BVB. Von Baron confirms Sam sinisters demise, and Alexia gets the manor, and also has starts a relationship with BVB. during this time BVB is being hunted by his fascist country of origin for not retrieving the ruby. So in order to disappear Baron von Baron, with the help of Alexia takes on the name Sam sinister aka Baron von Baron, also BVB's first name must be Samuel also. Since they're both bad people who like history and schemes, they go to dino island to capture baby dinos and sell them to the highest bidder, along with the other dinosaurs they can ship back with them. Johnny stops them and Alexia is eaten by one of the dinosaurs, and Sam sinister aka Baron von Baron gets away once again. He's the only one closest enough to Alexia at this point, he gets the sinisters estate ( haunted manor).
Orient expedition must Happen after some time between dino island, so in the time between those two, SS aka BVB has become depressed and angry hence his facial expression, and adopted the full black look of the original Sam sinister.
That's just my head canon though! It's a little more grounded than some of the other canons haha maybe I overthink about Lego themes too much. God bless ✝️
My head canon was also very similar! Love yours!❤
It's interesting how some people perceived Sam Sinister (Sly Boots) to be the main bad, and the Baron his henchmen, while others believe the reverse. For me the Baron was the main bad because he was decked out with shoulder pads and hook hand, while Sam Sinister was his underling that was also a mad doctor/scientist opposite to Dr Kilroy.
@@LordShrub In my head they are both associates with only one goal: steal ancient artifacts and defeat johnny thunder!
Wait! There is one more lego Baron that appears in this video that does not wear a top hat: Baron Rosso.
The weird red suited character in lego racers 2
That is true. I deliberately excluded Baron Rosso (as well as Baron Blomberg, the UK name for Tony Twister) since he did not fit the top hat-wearing trend. After all, my exact words were "a few other villainous LEGO barons" and not "all other villainous LEGO barons". Perhaps that's a little manipulative on my part, but when it comes to framing your data, sometimes it's necessary to eliminate the clear outliers.
@@VezonWireless oh, I missed your exact wording. That's entirely fine then, I stand corrected. The argument really stuck with me, which is why I came back to it. It felt like a revelation.
To add more substantial material: I also got the impression from your video that Slyboots is meant to be the evil counterpart to doctor Kilroy, as the evil, greedy historian. That was also my thought for why in one case Harry Cane is put with the villains; as a kind of counter part to Pippin Reeds
1:01:08 that was $20 on eBay well spent to archive this. :)
I actually own a copy myself! Way back in 2003, I saw the adverts in LEGO Magazine and I stopped by an Applebee's just to ask if they could give me one of the menus. While working on this video, I was surprised to discover that it was so obscure. I was considering scanning my copy and posting it online, but then I saw you had already done so and beaten me to the punch. Thank you for doing your part to help conserve and archive obscure LEGO media!
@@VezonWireless Yea I'm surprised the menu was obscure too, and just as much the cups! Was happy to finally find those back in 2020 but I always hope there's more of them out there.
Achu is my tribal cheif ☝️☝️
1:12:51 lol 😆
Sooooo, where'd Linda Lovely come from???
From the German World Club Magazine March/April 1998 issue (shown at 18:09) and Die Jagd Nach Dem Pharaonenschatz audio drama (shown at 17:52).
@@VezonWireless Ah! Overlooked it. This is such a great resource and one I'll definitely be coming back to when needed.
did you need german scans? I can look for it. But ya, Lego and his names give us more pain in brain as we want it 🤣 i only remember that, mainly in german, the characters use codenames in different adventures. You know, like agents with hundreds of passports...
Thanks for offering! Would you happen to have any scans of the German DK puzzle books ("Der Fluch der Mumie" and "Der vergessene Tempel"), or any 1999 media for the Amazon Jungle subtheme (i.e. anything that names Senor Palomar, Rudo Villano, Gabarro, and/or Achu)? I think those were my only major gaps in this video's German coverage.
WHY IS ALEXIE USED AS GAIL
I have a mandela effect memory of the character being called "Johnny Thundter". Years later I tried googling it and came up with nothing. I asked my brother what he remembers the character was called and he said "Johnny Thundter" also.
I will say as much of an incredible production this is, the groaning and moaning in regards to the errors in the books just seems to be so arrogant. Like I understand it can be annoying but do you except them to put the same level of research you put? With these publications they were probably going off material that LEGO sent them, or the online resources that you showed. The gowning and anger you covey translates to "how dumb can you be to mess this up" but in actuality it is genuine human error. But that's just a ntipick. Still a great piece!
I want to make sure this is clear: the groaning and anger in this video is purposefully exaggerated for the sake of comedic entertainment. I might not scream and swear like Angry Video Game Nerd but, much like James Rolfe when he plays the AVGN character, I understand the value in making a caricature of myself and playing up my mild annoyances as cartoonish rage. The idea that anyone is a big enough nerd to get genuinely mad about this is just plain silly. Don't forget that I label myself as "a cringeworthy loser with no life" at 1:32:57. I'm making fun of myself just as much as I'm calling out DK books for their errors.
But on the other hand... a video like this should not have been necessary if the authors and editors of the DK books had either been provided proper materials by LEGO, or else done their proper research. Before 2009, the LEGO Adventurers names were already a notorious and confusing subject among LEGO fans. The DK books like Standing Small could have been LEGO's chance to clear up the confusion, but they only made matters worse. Then, as shown in this video, that creates a feedback loop where the mistake becomes widely-circulated misinformation and then, instead of catching the error and fixing it, it gets repeated and reiterated as though it's become fact. For example, that "mea culpa" moment in the video is me citing Standing Small's "Gabarros" as fact and believing that various websites saying "Gabarro" were incorrect, because I was unaware that it's actually the other way around... and consequently, here we are more than a decade later, and "Gabarros" is still widely used in websites and publications.
I'm just a nobody, writing this video without any budget or backing from LEGO. Someone writing an officially licensed book should have more resources than me. And if not, then that's a problem.
Obviously it comes down to basic human error and not any malicious intent. But when you're writing an encyclopedia that is published and sold to readers who trust that the book's information is reliable and accurate, then you need to make sure that you're doing your job properly... or else you're feeding misinformation to your readers. That's not pretentiousness or arrogance; that's just rightfully expecting you to do your job diligently. And if you're not going to do your job diligently, then frankly you shouldn't be the one doing the job in the first place.
Yes, at the end of the day, we're just talking about something as silly and pointless as the names of fictional characters from an old Danish toyline. But apply this principle to something with greater real-world relevance, such as journalism, and you can see where poor research and easily-avoidable errors can escalate into a far more severe problem.