Samukai

**Samukai** is a Ninjago minifigure released in 2011. He was one of the first four armed minifigures to ever be released. According to the Ninjago Website, he is the King of the Underworld and Skulkin general of fire, until Lord Garmadon arrived in the Underworld and defeated him in a duel, thus Garmadon became the new King and relegated Samukai into being a servant of his, though Samukai remains general of the Skeleton army. He is the secondary antagonist of the pilot episodes of Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu.

## Description

Samukai had four arms and a large head. He also had two scars above his eyes, and wore the standard chest plate of a fire-based General of the Skeleton Army. In the mini-movie An Underworldly Takeover, he wore the helmet Lord Garmadon wore in 2011, so it seems that the helmet is the helmet of the leader of the Underworld.

### In the Video Games

In LEGO Battles: Ninjago, Samukai appears with many of the other skulkin. He appears in many of the game's cutscenes. Most of these are from the Skulkin story. They are as follows:

* Build Your Army- Samukai appears before Garmadon and bows. Garmadon turns around to face Samukai, and casts a cloud of dark smoke, in which appears pictures of each golden weapon. Garmadon then points to the door, and gives an evil laugh.

* What's That Rumbling- Samukai is questioning Nya about the map to the golden weapons. He leans forward to hear what she says, and she headbutts him in the face. He then leaves her with Nuckal and Kruncha.

* Dark Places- In order to get to the Scythe of Quakes, he is ordering the Skulkins to use their bulldozers to dig out the collapsed tunnel leading to the cavern where the scythe is located.

* Within Grasp- He battles Sensei Wu, who begins to gain the upper hand over Samukai, until Garmadon blasts Wu with dark magic. He drops The Sword of Fire, and Samukai takes it instead of giving it to Garmadon. The Weapons then lift Samukai into the air and transform him into a portal. Garmadon then leaves via the portal.

In the game, his first form features him with no weapons and he punches his enemies. His second form features him with his knives. His third form is identical to his second except that he has two Skulkins that always follow him.

## Background

According to the Ninjago Official Guide, Wu and Garmadon defeated Samukai before Garmadon turned evil. When Garmadon was banished to the Underworld, Samukai attempted to kill him, but was himself defeated and deposed, though he remained Garmadon's general. Before he started attacking Ninjago, Samukai looked up Zane's father, Dr. Julien, and revived him with a potion. Samukai forced him to build powerful vehicles that would aid him with his attack, and when he refused, he was locked in a deserted lighthouse in the middle of the sea. Years later, he lead an assault on the Four Weapons Blacksmith shop to find the map to the four Golden Weapons. He fought Kai one on one for a small amount of time before subduing him, but before he could finish him off, Sensei Wu intervened. Samukai then used his daggers to make a large water tower begin to fall on Kai, leaving Sensei Wu with a choice: Rescue Kai, or capture Samukai. Samukai used the distraction to capture Nya, and escape in his Skull Truck. He and his army stole the map from Kai and Nya's shop that leads to the four weapons. The ninjas, Cole, Jay, Zane, and Kai, later steal the map back.

He then went to find the first Golden Weapon, the Scythe of Quakes, hidden in the Caves of Despair. However, Nuckal read the map upside down, and was digging in the wrong place. After the four Ninja accidentally gave away their presence, he took his army in to fight them and claim the Golden Weapon. Soon after the Ninja discovered Spinjitzu during the battle, he called a retreat, as he could not fight four Spinjitzu masters and the Earth Dragon appeared. Garmadon then gave Samukai new orders: Let the Ninja think they're winning. Samukai continued to seek the Golden Weapons, but allowed the Ninja to dominate until just before they began to search for the Sword of Fire. Then, Garmadon's scheme came into play. Kai was lured away from the rest of the group, and Sensei Wu followed. Samukai and his army then ambushed Jay, Zane and Cole, claiming the Shurikens of Ice, the Scythe of Quakes, and the Nunchucks of Lightning for Garmadon.

Garmadon then sent him back to the Underworld, where he fought Sensei Wu, who was wielding the Sword of Fire. Samukai defeated him, and took up the Sword, intending to use the Four Weapons and their power to defeat Garmadon and regain control of the Underworld. However, the power of the Four Weapons united was too much for anyone to handle, and as a result, Samukai disintegrates and The Portal through space and time appears, which was Garmadon's true plan all along. Having succeeded in his plan, Garmadon then escapes through the Portal vowing to return with more power so that he can wield the Four Weapons and recreate Ninjago in his own image.

Samukai is one of the villains revived by Sensei Yang during Day of the Departed. He, alongside two Skulkin warriors, attacks Jay at his parents' junkyard, but Jay is helped by Ronin, who had come with plans of stealing the place.

## Notes

* The preliminary images showed him in 2520 Battle Arena, but he does not actually appear in that set.
* Samukai's mouth opens and closes similar to the Rock Monsters from the Power Miners theme.
* His name is a play on the word "Samurai".
* He, Snike, the Serpentine generals, and the Stone Army are the only Ninjago characters that don't appear in spinners. This is possibly due to his large size (for a minifigure) making him less balanced.
* Samukai could be considered the rarest figure in the 2011 Ninjago line as he only appears physically in the two largest sets, 2505 Garmadon's Dark Fortress and 2507 Fire Temple.
* In the Spring 2011 catalogue, under the minifigures for 2505 Garmadon's Dark Fortress, Samukai was mistakenly labelled "Kai" and given Chopov's torso.The names are in the same order as the 2011 January catolouge.
* In LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, Samukai is similar to General Grievous by advancing on Kai with four arms outstretched and hands rotating, while holding daggers, and also by pushing a minion away from the driver's seat of a vehicle.
* In most promo images and pages on Ninjago.com, Samukai has different cloths.
* He is the only Ninjago minifigure with an opening mouth.
* He was defeated by Sensei Wu and Lord Garmadon.
* Samukai was briefly mentioned by Pythor P. Chumsworth in the episode **All of Nothing**, when he claimed Lord Garmadon had betrayed him and the Skeleton Army.
* Samukai and Wyplash are the only skeletons that do not appear in the app Ninjago: Rise of the snakes.
* In the season finale of Masters of Spinjitzu, when Samukai picked up the Dragon Sword of Fire, the Shuriken of Ice in his lower left arm was missing.
* In a picture, Samukai is holding 4 daggers that look similar to the Fang Blades.
* In the first season, Samukai's back is brown. But in "Wrong Place, Wrong Time", Samukai's back is White, in the same scenes where it was brown in the original episode.
* Samukai is the only revived villain from "Day of the Departed" who doesn't have a personal grudge against his chosen enemy, a fact he mentions to Jay. He and Morro were also the only Day of the Departed villains not to be released in any of its associated sets.
* He only appears in one Ninjago video game which is LEGO Battles: Ninjago.
* In the Netflix *Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu - Happy Birthday* short, Samukai inexplicably emerges from a portal to attack the Ninja before being defeated.