Random set of the day: Viking Warrior challenges the Fenris Wolf
Posted by Huwbot,Today's random set is 7015 Viking Warrior challenges the Fenris Wolf, released during 2005. It's one of 5 Vikings sets produced that year. It contains 76 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$5/£3.99.
It's owned by 3,483 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $34.90, or eBay.
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41 comments on this article
I wouldn't want to be opposing that thing!
@Maxbricks14: Nor do I, but I do want to be owning it.
Don't try it warrior i've got the high ground!
Those legs look incredibly fragile.
Next, the Viking Warrior will challenge the random minifigure of the day
Then My Dad
@Miyakan said:
"Those legs look incredibly fragile."
If I remember right, the black battle droid arms in this set were the very first Lego piece I ever broke as a kid.
Being of half-Viking descent, I was excited when I heard they'd be doing that theme. Then I saw them, and didn't buy any of them.
Looking back, I suppose, the builds could've been better. All the animals were a strange blend of different pieces. But I still liked them. The dragons were pretty cool. And I loved that Midgard serpent.
Does it have a lower jaw or is it’s mouth supposed to be closed?
It's a bit of a bummer how both Vikings and Marvel have so far failed to give us an Odin minifigure to face off with Fenris/Fenrir.
I loved what they did in this theme with combining brick built/minifig things we all know with the technic-y look to the monsters - it really gave them this other worldly and spooky feeling
@Miyakan said:
"Those legs look incredibly fragile."
Surprisingly, they are not (at least with mine). I have him on display for like 10 years+ now, and neither did a part fall off, nor did I notice any damage or looseness on the parts.
At first I was really sceptical about the oddly mechanical look of the Vikings beasts, but it really grew on to me. It's especially interesting to see how they tried mimicking the first gen Bionicle look with smaller system parts.
Also can anyone confirm that the large Bohrok Kal shield is actually the obscure color Cool Silver? Mine looks suspiciously lighter than the Bohrok version from 2003...
@Sandinista said:
"I loved what they did in this theme with combining brick built/minifig things we all know with the technic-y look to the monsters - it really gave them this other worldly and spooky feeling"
Same; it kind of makes them look how they appear in actual Nordic art, all abstract swirls and geometric patterns in the rough shape of animals and monsters, it was a cool effect even if it was unintentional on the part of the designers
@PurpleDave said:
"Being of half-Viking descent, I was excited when I heard they'd be doing that theme. Then I saw them, and didn't buy any of them."
I thought they were quite good for the time. The beasts made groundbreaking use of Bionicle connections to achieve a fluidity that had never been seen in System sets before. I was not a Bionicle fan, but the Vikings sets definitely made me reconsider my general dismissal of everything Bionicle-related. I wasn't too taken with this wolf though. That thing on its back is just weird.
I also wish there had more to this theme than just fighting mythical monsters, but I was still happy with what we got.
I can't get over the fact that the eyes look like the eyes of a dead cartoon character. +_+
7015 Viking Warrior challenges the Fenris Rat
@PurpleDave said:
"Being of half-Viking descent, I was excited when I heard they'd be doing that theme. Then I saw them, and didn't buy any of them."
That's the most American thing I'll read today.
Just so you know, most Europeans find it cringeworthy when Americans speak of their European "descent" and "heritage".
@Miyakan said:
"Those legs look incredibly fragile."
Never let your Fenrir skip leg day.
I just bought and built 76208 this week, and was given 31132 last weekend. What with 21343 on the way and now this RSOTD, I think I might go and raid Lindisfarne.
Viking: "Have at 'ye, ya' REJECT BIONICLE...":D
@Arnoldos said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Being of half-Viking descent, I was excited when I heard they'd be doing that theme. Then I saw them, and didn't buy any of them."
That's the most American thing I'll read today.
Just so you know, most Europeans find it cringeworthy when Americans speak of their European "descent" and "heritage"."
I think you'll find most Americans don't care what Europeans think lol. A lot of us are interested in where our/others ancestors came from, because compared to Europe, North America is very young. It's interesting to see and think about how different life can be with only a few generations of a single family.
I thoguht the creatures were a bir scetchy, but the boats were awesome.
For a second there, I thought the Fenris was built-up from the old and surprisingly potent Technic missile-launcher. I don't recognize many of the parts from the parts-list, but that would give it some serious firepower. Then again, I'm pretty sure the entire arsenal the Viking is bringing qualifies him as a one-man army, including a tank.
@Sandinista said:
"I think you'll find most Americans don't care what Europeans think lol."
"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK (and I desperately need you to know that)"
Boy howdy, you sure asserted your dominance there, hoss.
@mediAFOL said:
"7015 Viking Warrior challenges the Fenris Rat"
I always thought the head looked more suited to a noctilionine creature than a lupine one. So I used the head piece to MOC a giant bat. Still have it in my display collection: https://brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/lego-giant-bat-pic2.jpg
@Arnoldos said:
"That's the most American thing I'll read today.
Just so you know, most Europeans find it cringeworthy when Americans speak of their European "descent" and "heritage"."
That’s because most Europeans haven’t emigrated to a melting-pot nation. When most immigrants arrived on our shores, they were fleeing famine, persecution, destitution, or some other terrible situation. Many arrived with nothing but the clothes on their back and their ancestral heritage. New arrivals tended to flock to pockets of familiarity, so entire neighborhoods, even communities, would end up hailing from the same homeland (I live two cities over from the largest concentration of people of Middle Eastern descent outside of the Middle East itself).
These communities tended to hold tightly to their cultural upbringing, and their heritage became the only form of inheritance that couldn’t be lost or taken away. It also became a source of conflict, as Old World rivalries were rarely left behind during the trip across the Atlantic. On the east coast, many businesses once posted signs telling the Irish they weren’t welcome. Prohibition was devised as a way to hurt the Irish, German, and Polish communities. For a time, federal law banned Chinese from immigrating.
These days, that’s mostly behind us, but many communities hold heritage festivals where those with shared heritage can come celebrate their ancestry, and those without can learn about an experience a culture that may not be familiar to them. This is what it means to be American. We are both all nations, and one.
I had this one since 2005. I also had 7016 Viking Boat vs Wyvern and 7017 Viking Catapult vs the Nidhogg Dragon but sold those at some point and bought them again in '21 after raking a lot of dough to get them again. (These are super expensive now!).
But this one? Mine is still the exact one from 2005. It's not perfect, but it's SUPER posable and brings a lot of what made the Vikings theme so great. And it was space-efficient. No wings.
At the time I didn't think much about the system-technic-constraction blend, but looking back, these are excellently done. You get smooth shapes no system parts in 2005 could create, ball joint posability and light weight and affordability. And they still work well with system.
And the droid arms here never broke on mine because they move in tandem, supporting each other!
Fun fact: the back part is smoother than it looks in this image and is a black unprinted RoboRider head (see here: 1290 8510).
The shield is from Nuhvok Kal 8573 and rarely appeared elsewhere. The same year they also appeared in the most well-known case of flame yellowish orange, often still called Keetorange: Keetongu 8755. Also note the RoboRider heads on the shins.
Finally: this head was used as a lower jaw in set 7018 Viking Ship Challenges the Midgard Serpent.
Never got this one, I got 7018 , but I just noticed that this set has one of my favoirite minifigure heads. Came in a few Aqua Raiders sets, a theme I absolutely loved, and there's just something about this head print that just works. The wavy beard, the stern expression, an absolute warrior of a man, and yet he feels very approachable, and you'd quickly find out he's just a big softy, like Sandy from Monkie Kid. I love it.
@PurpleDave said:
"
These communities tended to hold tightly to their cultural upbringing, and their heritage became the only form of inheritance that couldn’t be lost or taken away. It also became a source of conflict, as Old World rivalries were rarely left behind during the trip across the Atlantic. "
I’m now imagining you with your “half-Viking” heritage sailing along coasts and down rivers, raiding and pillaging as you go.
“Give me your 2x4 bricks or feel Odin’s wrath!”
Notice how in the picture the axehead is fully circular? Why is that? in the real set the axehead is just a clip on, like the minifig hand.
Is it because the circular thing is either just too loose or too tight?
Edit: also, with the armour on, the arm cannot be in that position. I tried as a child and i had a viking without an arm. Dad popped it back in but that was scary, I never broke something and to then break a cool lego figure?
The attraction for me when this was released was the unprinted black armour. Vladek had given us the printed version in the years before, but plain black was a big deal for a Castlehead who didn't want to customize parts (or was too lazy to).
I was another one who didn't love the wolf at the time, but he's notably never been disassembled--a rarity among sets I bought between 2004 and 2009, and still lurks up in the rafters of my LEGO building area in the basement.
@alfadas said:
"Notice how in the picture the axehead is fully circular? Why is that? in the real set the axehead is just a clip on, like the minifig hand.
Is it because the circular thing is either just too loose or too tight?
Edit: also, with the armour on, the arm cannot be in that position. I tried as a child and i had a viking without an arm. Dad popped it back in but that was scary, I never broke something and to then break a cool lego figure? "
LEGO didn’t have its image quality control right at the time. The cover of the instructions for 7017 , for example, shows only one minifigure, but the box art correctly has two.
The only set from the Vikings theme that I had. 2005 was, for me, a year where I was much more interested in the Revenge of the Sith offerings - from both Lego and Hasbro - than anything much else that Lego had to offer toy-wise; so at least until the end of summer, while I was aware of the rest of Lego's portfolio, things like Vikings and Dino 2010 and the second year of Knights' Kingdom II (and, yes, despite my screenname even Bionicle!) didn't do much to interest me at the time, not when I had my eye on things like 7257 and 7260 instead.
Still, once my excitement over the conclusion of the Star Wars movie saga eventually wound down, I finally shifted focus back to the rest of what Lego was doing. My main focus there still was catching up a bit on Bionicle, but the two new themes - Dino Attack / 2010 and Vikings - were enough to catch my eye. While I was personally more interested in Dino due to the minifigure characters having names and personalities, something that I valued in a Lego theme and that the Vikings seemed to lack, these monsters fascinated me enough that I didn't want to let the Vikings line entirely pass me by.
Ever since they'd surprised me with it with 4930 in 1999, it had become a bit of a tradition for my parents to buy a small Lego set which they would use to top my birthday cake each year and let me keep afterwards; so for 2005's I asked them to use this set in particular, as a way to let me sample the theme at a low price point.
Personally, I thought the wolf was pretty neat; he was a worthy opponent in many of my crossover Lego adventures, and he spent several years prowling my boxes of built sets before I finally let this set go when I was downsizing my collection during my university years.
@SearchlightRG said:
"It's a bit of a bummer how both Vikings and Marvel have so far failed to give us an Odin minifigure to face off with Fenris/Fenrir."
But the Gandalf minifig should do...
@Zander said:
" @alfadas said:
"Notice how in the picture the axehead is fully circular? Why is that? in the real set the axehead is just a clip on, like the minifig hand.
Is it because the circular thing is either just too loose or too tight?
Edit: also, with the armour on, the arm cannot be in that position. I tried as a child and i had a viking without an arm. Dad popped it back in but that was scary, I never broke something and to then break a cool lego figure? "
LEGO didn’t have its image quality control right at the time. The cover of the instructions for 7017 , for example, shows only one minifigure, but the box art correctly has two."
same for 7021, a spear just doesn't have a bottom half. Still, I love these sets.
@Martin_S said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"It's a bit of a bummer how both Vikings and Marvel have so far failed to give us an Odin minifigure to face off with Fenris/Fenrir."
But the Gandalf minifig should do..."
Ah, well, the problem there is getting a minifig-head with a flesh-tone and the right eye missing. There's loads of heads with an eyepatch or a missing eye on the left, but unfortunately, I could only find this flesh-toned head with an eyepatch over the right eye.
https://brickset.com/parts/6018349
So uh, good luck with that.
@Ridgeheart said:
" @Martin_S said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"It's a bit of a bummer how both Vikings and Marvel have so far failed to give us an Odin minifigure to face off with Fenris/Fenrir."
But the Gandalf minifig should do..."
Ah, well, the problem there is getting a minifig-head with a flesh-tone and the right eye missing. There's loads of heads with an eyepatch or a missing eye on the left, but unfortunately, I could only find this flesh-toned head with an eyepatch over the right eye.
https://brickset.com/parts/6018349
So uh, good luck with that."
To be fair, I don’t think the original myths ever actually specify -which- eye Odin sacrificed, and whether it’s the right or left is largely down to artistic interpretation so if you want to get away with not having to do Allfather Starfish you probably could
They reused the wolf heads for the LEGO Indiana Jones Temple of the Crystal Skull. As a 4 or 5-year-old, I realized that the set looked nothing like the one for the film, but my mom denied that and said “it’s just more colorful now because it’s a toy.” Of course, I could never judge because the set was pointlessly destroyed by someone else halfway through building it and I’ve probably lost a fraction of the pieces since.
@Arnoldos said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Being of half-Viking descent, I was excited when I heard they'd be doing that theme. Then I saw them, and didn't buy any of them."
That's the most American thing I'll read today.
Just so you know, most Europeans find it cringeworthy when Americans speak of their European "descent" and "heritage"."
@Arnoldos - Can I ask why that is? Genuinely asking. As an American, I am proud of my Danish surname and heritage I got from my paternal grandfather as well as the English heritage from my other three grandparents. And proud of my wife’s German ancestry from two grandparents and English from the other two that has been passed to our sons. Not only that, but I grew up 2143 miles / 3448 kilometers away from my wife but we still met and started a family. For your comparison, that’s like going from Warsaw Poland to Lisbon Spain. How often does that happen in Europe? I’m not better than you, I just want to say that things are different around the world and think everyone should be glad for whatever is good in their lives.
It's not as streamlined as modern sets, but I can't help but feel some nostalgia from the technic build. Certainly feels like something I would've made as a kid back in the day with available pieces. Wish I had picked it up back in the day.
For me the best series along Pirates and Fantasy Era. Why TLG does not make again battle packs of dwarfs, orcs, ogres, pirates or vikings???? To not to say other historical or fantastic themes...can you imagine battle packs of roman soldiers for example???
@graymattr:
My cousin (from Michigan) did a semester abroad in Germany, and ended up marrying a bartender from Scotland.