Inchersting.

I remember owning this set as a kid. I loved the minifigs and created all kinds of castles and adventures for them. Hopefully we get some more castle sets soon!

I loved the original Ninja theme, and I remember that I bought this one as soon as it was available. My one criticism is that it's very fragile (the spears, banners and lantern all tend to break off easily), so while it's got fantastic display value, the play value wasn't so great. Still. Red Ninjas FTW.

Great series! I have almost every set of the Ninja theme and it was refreshing at the time. A nice little side step from the Castle theme.

I remember getting this set as a boy from a friend of my mum. It was my second ninja set after 6088. Even though I knew nothing about ninjas (I didn't even know Japan as a 4 year old). I really liked the minifigures (which I consider to be great even compared to contemporary ones), the swords, especially the black ones which seemed to be rarer. This set also contained my first jewels. The other ninja set did not contain any and my other sets at this time were released the year before were the jewels hadn't already been invented. E.g. my very first castle set the fright knight castle 6097 only contained yellow and transparent 1x1 pieces.

Am I wrong, or did this whole second wave of ninja sets never launch in the UK? I don't think we saw anything except the grey and black ninjas.

@JonMarten: The second wave was not available in the Netherlands as well. Fortunately this set and the 3051 blaze attack are easy to find for sale on events and internet.

So this year sees the end of Nexo Knights and rumours of the end of Elves, that's got to leave a castle sized hole for 2019, right?

I enjoyed the first year of Ninja sets but didn't really buy any from the second year. Part of my frustration was not knowing who was allied with whom. In the first year, there were a clearly defined blue and grey "good guy" faction and black and red "bad guy" faction. In the second year, the emperor, red ninja master, and new red and white ninjas all appeared to be part of the same faction, which as a kid was a confusing change of pace.

This wave may have been more enticing if it were clearer how these new characters related to the existing factions. Then again, this particular set doesn't have too much of a draw for me anyhow. It's a boat, and there's not a whole lot going for it beyond that. The build is not particularly innovative, the treasure is nothing we hadn't seen before, and the minifigures all come in other, more distinctive sets. It's certainly no Destiny's Bounty or Destiny's Shadow.

@Dorayaki: There were a few China-based sets in the Orient Expedition theme (7413, 7416, and 7419)

@Kynareth: I wouldn't be too surprised to see a new Castle theme next year, considering that since 2004 Castle has been renewed/reinvented every three years almost like clockwork. Of course, what new themes we see next year might also depend on what sort of sets are planned for The LEGO Movie 2. It might be hard for any new Castle theme to actually live up to LEGO Elves, though. There's not a lot of precedent for castle themes where the castles feel genuinely livable besides Elves and Nexo Knights.

Is the surprise that Japanese samurai and ninja are in Chinese Shanghai? XD

That set is setting on my display shelf right now along with all of the rest of the original Ninja Sub-Theme.