Lego Review: Spinjutzu Training 70606

Theme: The Lego Ninjago Movie

Year: 2017

Price: $15AUD

I’ll be honest; I’m pretty ambivalent to the Ninjago theme as a whole. There were some very cool sets in the 2011 and 2012 releases, back when it was kind of a He-Man and the Masters of the Universe setting, but with Ninjas as the heroes. But it’s since moved into more heavily sci-fi territory, and I don’t really like the tech-heavy look they’ve gone with for the Ninjas. If I had my way, Lego would instead update the Ninja sets from the 90s, which were originally a sub-line of Castle.

However, money talks and AFOL bullshit walks – there’s no doubt that Ninjago has been a huge success for Lego. It’s spawned a huge amount of spinoff material, including books, clothes, TV series and a theatrically released movie. For any theme that isn’t City to run for 7 years continuously is a huge achievement.

As might be expected, the aforementioned film – The Lego Ninjago Movie – got its own series of building sets, which is where the subject of today’s review stems from. But if I’m not that fussed on  Ninjago, why did I pick this set up?

Well, despite my ambivalence to Ninjago specifically, I am a bit of a ninja tragic. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles helped spark my interest as a kid, but it quickly grew into its own thing. I think it was the black outfits that did it, to be quite honest. Also probably the combination of myth, folklore and flat-out pseudohistory that surrounds the subject. See also: Men in Black.   

As the name of the set implies, this looks like a small training dojo; it’s a total martial arts film cliché, which I find very endearing. There’s four primary elements and two minifigures:

• a Wing Chun-style training dummy – ideal for practicing close quarters combat
• a bop-bag style dummy, complete with samurai helmet
• a katana rack, for safe weapon storage
• a “shrine”. Presumably, this is where students bow upon entering and exiting the dojo.
• Kai (the red ninja)
• Zane (the white ninja)

The shrine is probably my favourite of the bunch. As a corner piece, it could be slotted into other sets easily enough, and it has some nice touches; the scroll on the wall and the red lantern look great, and the sides provide storage for two more weapons.

The minifigures are also pretty solid. The white ninja is particularly striking (if impractical for “real” ninja missions). While I think they should have stuck to solid red for Kai, the added black does make for a nice contrast.  My only real misgivings are about how the cowl has been split into two pieces now. I liked the turban-style mask from the original sets, as well as the armoured masks that were introduced later on. The new ones look pretty good if you can align them properly, but I don’t feel they stand up to play quite as well.  

Nonetheless, this is a nice back-to-basics set. It’s well-priced and can be enjoyed entirely separately from its larger franchise. My main disappointment is that it doesn’t include a traditional black-clad Ninja, but this seems like a relatively small gripe. 

Lego City – Arctic Snowmobile (60032)

Assembly time: 15-20 minutes

Pieces: 44

Year: 2014

Theme: City

RRP: $9AUD

THE BACKGROUND

City is Lego’s widest spanning theme, covering situations that run the gamut from the mundane to the borderline fantastic, all presented in the unique Lego fashion.  But I’ve never bought much from the theme – in recent years, only a Creator Treehouse that could pass as part of the City series. My interests always tended more towards things like Castle and Pirates, rather than the real world. Nonetheless, City is Lego’s best-selling theme, and the sets are consistently well-designed and of high quality, even if they’re not usually my cup of tea.

But I may soon be changing my tune, thanks to the recent release of the Arctic sub-theme of City. Not only does it combine the extreme cold and science – Lego have accidentally recreated Jon Carpenter’s version of The Thing in block form!  

THE MINIFIGURE

The minifigures for this range don’t appear to have been given distinct names – most City stuff is just a blank slate for kids (or adults) to project whatever they want onto. So this is just a guy— presumably some kind of scientist – who’s working out in the middle of the Arctic to dig up and study these crystals from the ice. The blue and orange colour scheme is really appealing, in spite of also being shockingly ugly – the bright colours would certainly make sense in the blinding white snow of the Arctic. His hood and pants are blue, and his jacket and sunglasses are bright orange (complete with reflective sheen!). Lots of little details are printed on him, including carabiners on his pants and a smaller version of the Arctic logo on the snowmobile on the back.     

He comes with two accessories for himself – his pickaxe and walkie-talkie – and two accessories that aren’t specifically his, but fairly important to the set – the ice block and the mysterious crystal. All of the items are pieces we’ve seen before across different sets – the crystal has been Kryptonite, CHI Energy, and an evil wizard’s artefact in the past, just to name a couple of things. But the coolest reuse is the way a simple recolour has changed the rocks from the Mining subset of City into big chunks of ice. Hooray for clever parts reuse!  

THE BUILD

This build won’t challenge you, but it yields a pretty cool result. The orange of the kit gives it an almost Tonka truck-style look – it’s toy-ish enough to grab the kids, while still looking convincing enough to pass as a "real" vehicle. Front and centre on the bonnet is the Arctic logo, which too me looks like a modified version of the Ice Planet 2002 logo, from all the way back in 1993.

Not being a snowmobile expert, I can’t offer too many points on realism, but it certainly looks about right. And though it’s intended for this Arctic theme, there’s no real reason you couldn’t incorporate into some kind of snow vacation-themed City display. Hopefully we'll see a recolour for such a thing in the future.   

It also features a small, similarly-coloured sled for hauling the ice block, which can also be detached if you prefer. One does have to wonder how this guy manages to move the ice block onto the sled by himself though…

OVERALL

I love Arctic-themed stuff, and was a huge fan of the Ice Planet 2002 stuff as a kid, so this theme grabbed me as soon as I first heard about it, earlier this year. The Snowmobile is a great kit, though the self-contained nature of this Arctic subtheme means that you’re probably going to need to invest in more than one set to create an effective display.  Fortunately, all of the Arctic sets look pretty darn good. It’s the first theme in a long time where I’ve wanted to own every set, though I will probably just restrict myself to the base camp for the aforementioned The Thing re-enactments and possibly the massive helicrane. It depends how good Santa is to me this year, I suspect!  



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Lego Monster Fighters -- The Mummy (9462)

Theme: Monster Fighters

Pieces: 90

Construction time: 15-20min

Year: 2012

RRP: $14AUD

THE BACKGROUND

Well, I’ve moved on from being fairly unimpressed with the Monster Fighters theme through to owning most of the range. Funny how that works, isn’t it? So today we look at my latest (and likely last) purchase from the range – The Mummy.   

MINIFIGURES

There are two minifigures in this set – the Mummy himself and Ann Lee. Both of them are okay, if not great. The Mummy has printing on the front of his head, chest, back and legs, but the arms are blank. He fits in well with the Pharaoh’s Quest sets, but as a standalone figure, I still prefer the Mummy from Minifigures series 3.  

Ann Lee completes my set of the Monster Fighters themselves. She’s the only female fighter among the gang, and has a similar kind of visual aesthetic – Victorian-era meets combat fatigues. Ann Lee has two printed faces – a stern, determined one, and one with more of a smirk on it. She’s got some cool little details on her, like the garlic and stakes printed on her trousers (though it won’t be much use against a Mummy, of course). But overall, I’m not really sold on her. I think my main problem is with her hair – she reuses the same hair as the Cave Woman from Minifgures series 5, but styled with a crossbow bolt instead of an arrow. It’s a good piece, and it worked fine for that character, but here it looks a little strange. Maybe they should have just given her a ponytail or something.

 

THE BUILD

There are two vehicles this set – a one-person helicopter and an Egyptian-style chariot.

Like most of the Monster Fighters vehicles, I wasn’t overly impressed with the helicopter on first glance, but it’s grown on me since. It’s got a cobbled-together look that ties in well the overall theme – the Monster Fighters are facing deadly supernatural foes with very little in the way of resources. Of the vehicles I own from the range, but it’s still kind of cool – just a little too specific to be used in other settings too, I think.    

But the real centrepiece is the Mummy’s chariot. It’s got lots of ornate little details – the golden scorpion, the moonstone, the spears put on the side of the harness, the gold horns on the front and the green “lamps” on the chariot itself. There’s a lot going on, but never so much as to overwhelm the eye.    

 

I can’t speak for how “historically accurate” it is – not very, I suspect – but it nonetheless conjures up a great pop culture idea of what an undead Ancient Egyptian chariot should look like.  

AVAILABILITY

I first saw the Monster Fighters theme in stores around Halloween 2012, and apparently they had their American release in May that year. Most of them disappeared pretty quickly from stores; Halloween isn’t that big a deal in Australia, so I suspect that most retailers didn’t order a huge amount. However, since late last year, Kmart stores have had the range popping up in larger quantities than I ever saw them during their “official” release period. I can only assume that they got a good deal with an overseas warehouse or something. Still, they’re thinning out in numbers now – if you’re keen to get this set I would suggest grabbing it ASAP.  

Apparently there are two versions of the set – initially the Mummy and the skeletal horse both glowed, but the later runs of the set have only the horse as a glowing piece. Mine appears to be from the later run, which isn’t surprising that I bought it about two years after initial release! 

OVERALL

I bought this set as a birthday present for a friend earlier this year, but I fence-sat on it for a long time for myself. However, with my recent acquisition of the Rise of the Sphinx and the Scorpion Pyramid sets, I thought the chariot would be a cool supplementary piece. Taken as part of the Monster Fighters range, it’s not my favourite set (which would probably be the Vampire Castle), but it’s a great Egyptian-styled piece and a welcome addition to the collection.   

Lego Review -- Dragon Mountain (70403)

Set: 70403 Dragon Mountain

Theme: Castle

Pieces: 376

Build Time: 1 ½ hours

Year: 2013

RRP: $AUD69

The Background

The 2010-12 Kingdoms series was a little underwhelming. Ditching the more fantasy-oriented elements of Castle in favour of a more “realistic” approach was a mistake in my opinion, so when Castle returned in early 2013, I was initially quite pleased. However, the sets left me a little cold at first – I was pleased to see a dragon and an evil wizard, as well as good and evil knights – but I didn’t see myself buying any.

However, I ran across some sets instore recently and reassessed my position. Dragon Mountain particularly took my interest. An evil wizard, a princess to rescue -- and of course, a dragon. It hits on a lot of fantasy archetypes in one fell swoop. So I decided that I would like it, and my wife was kind enough to oblige a few weeks ago for our first wedding anniversary :)

Minifigures

There are 5 minifgures in this set – 2 Lion Knights, the princess (the good guys), the Dragon Wizard and a Dragon Knight (the bad guys). None of them seem to have names, but that’s okay – all you really need to know is that the Lion Knights (silver and blue) and the Dragon Knights (black and red) are battling against one another. The rest is up to you.

The Dragon Knight looks like most of the others – black armour with red and silver detailing. His head is goateed, with stubble around it. He does the job of generic henchman quite well.

The same goes for the first of the Lion Knights – nothing out of the ordinary, just a conical helmet with a noseguard, and a spear as a weapon. He gets to tend the catapult.  

One of the Lion Knights looks significantly more “heroic” than the other, though he’s still not given a specific name. He’s armed with a sword and shield. He’s also got a closing helmet, with two faces beneath, seen in the pics in the review – one confident-looking, and the other terrified.

The role of the Princess will be seen by some as sexist, as she is depicted on the box art as being locked up, waiting for a knight to come and rescue her. But this is Lego, so you can make your own story. She uses the standard dress piece, and has two faces – anxious and happy. Her hair is cast in soft rubber, rather than hard plastic, and her crown/tiara slots into the top.  

The Evil Wizard uses a black rubber beard piece, like Gandalf, and comes with a cloth cape and horned staff – a bit like Skeletor’s but without the skull. He’s a nice, standard Dungeons and Dragons-style evil villain.

Build

The set is relatively simple to construct, consisting of two main elements – the Lion Knight’s catapult and Dragon Mountain itself. The catapult is nicely detailed – and I would have enjoyed flinging the “rock” around immensely as a child – but it’s neither here nor there to me. I can’t help but think that the dragon’s flames would consume it quite rapidly. Still, it’s a nice generic piece to add to the medieval pile.

Dragon Mountain, on the other hand, is very cool. Split into two towers, connected by a bridge with a small catapult that shoots flaming projectiles, there’s a number of intriguing features packed into a relatively small set.

The most obvious is the jail cell on the taller of the two towers, where the Princess (or any figure of your choice, really) can be positioned. But turn the set around and you’ll see the bottom section of this tower is something of a break room or miniature mess hall. There’s a small table, complete with goblet and slice of cheese.  

 

A level up from the jail cell houses the a red crystal – one can only assume that it is some sort of nefarious object, perhaps the source of the Evil Wizard’s sinister powers. And at the top of the tower is the platform on which the wizard stands – though how he got there without a ladder is open to debate. Perhaps he can fly?

Over on the back of the other tower, you’ll see a large spiderweb, and a deadly spider lurking on it. But flip it down and you’ll see that concealed within is the Evil Wizard’s lair. Two keys (presumably for the jail cell), two mysterious flasks and a lit candle lie within.





It will sound silly to some, but one of the things I was most excited about was the inclusion of not just a treasure chest – but gold coins! I used to love these coins back in my childhood days, when they were included in Pirates sets. Now, as then, they have different denominations embossed on them -- and this time there’s an actual bar of gold included. It’s awesome!  

Last but not least, the mousehole – complete with mouse poking out – is a great touch. Presumably he was after the delicious cheese within.

The real centrepiece, though, is the titular dragon. Since 1993, Lego has produced several different dragons (and there are some amazing customs out there too!). This one was first released in 2007, and is classed as version 2.5, according to Brickipedia.  

Somewhere between an action figure and standard animal figure, his arms and legs are all swivels, and his neck is kind of swivel-hinged both where it connects to his head and body (albeit with somewhat limited range). His tail can be rotated to change its angle, but not moved much more. He’s also got a hole on the lower part of his mouth, where a flame piece can be inserted. This allows you to display him either neutral or breathing fire, whichever you prefer. His jaw is also articulated, so there’s a number of different looks you can go for here. Last but not least, his wings are ratcheted – which is very handy for keeping his wings in your preferred pose.

He looks pretty good on the whole, though in real life I was initially a little underwhelmed – I think due to the shape of his next being different to what I had expected. Nonetheless, he’s grown on me and is an impressively large piece – a terror for any minifigure to behold.

Overall

The set is a little small for its price, but it does come with a large amount of minifigs and obviously the dragon is where a lot of the cost is coming from. It’s not the best value-for-money set I’ve had from Lego, bbut as mentioned above, it was a gift from my wife for our first wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago, so money wasn’t such an object J

After initially being ambivalent to iteration of Castle, I’ve come to quite enjoy it. My wife recently purchased me set 70402 (The Gatehouse Raid) -- but it’s similar enough to 70806 (Castle Cavalry) from The Lego Movie that I don’t think I’ll review it separately.

I owned a little bit of Castle Lego as a kid, but never a huge amount – it does not hold the same nostalgia for me as say, Pirates. As a boy King Arthur did not yet hold the same appeal as Robin Hood (granted, I did own some of the Forestmen), nor had I started reading fantasy novels and playing Dungeons and Dragons. Even though I’m quite late to this party, I’m glad that I decided to come. Now I’m eyeing off the King’s Castle – but at nearly $140 wherever I go, I’m having a hard time justifying it!

 

 

Lego Review - The Wizard Battle

Set: 70095 - The Wizard Battle

RRP: $17-22, depending on retailer

Pieces: 113

Build Time: 30-60 min.

The Background

Love it or hate it, Lord of the Rings has exercised a profound influence on modern fantasy. I enjoyed the movies, but (as is generally the case with adaptations) I preferred the book. Tolkien can be as tedious as he was creative, but there is no doubting the richness of his literary creation. Few have managed to equal it, though countless writers have followed in his footsteps. Its influence is evident in just about every mainstream piece of fantasy produced since the 1950s. 

So when I saw Lord of the Rings Lego sets turning up in stores last year, I was intrigued. I don’t like much of Lego’s licensed stuff (outside of the video games), but I was hoping that they’d do this one, knowing that it would lend itself to some exceptionally cool minifigures.

However, on closer inspection, I wasn’t that impressed with most of them. The first one that piqued my interest was set 9469 (Gandalf Arrives), which currently sits unassembled in my cupboard. It was purchased more as an investment piece, but I may open it (or possibly pass it on) in the near future. Time will tell.

I didn’t mind some of the other sets available at the time, but there was nothing that particularly jumped out at me, insisting that I must take it home and buy it. But recently I found myself in a Big W, checking out the new batch of sets had just been released. These were a whole different proposition. The Wizard Battle caught my eye instantly, as it featured my favourite character (Gandalf) alongside Saruman, who’s played by one of my favourite actors (Christopher Lee) in the film. The duel between the two is one of my favourite scenes as well, so all the pieces (pardon the pun) fell into place on this particular set.

My birthday was not far off, so when my one of my sisters asked me what gift I’d like, this was one of the more obvious choices. As requested, it arrived shortly after the day itself – well done, sis.

The Minifigures

For me, minifigures are the keystone that most sets live and die on. It’s been more or less the same since I was a kid, really. For some, Lego is an opportunity to build a model which is never ever to be touched again. For others, they’re like any other toy. You build them, but you darn well play with them afterwards. At the age of 28, I now sit somewhere between these two spectrums.

This is a fairly minifigure-centric set, so I’m pleased to report that I was very happy with the way they turned out. The heads have two expressions printed on them, one on each side. However, the main difference that you’ll notice once the beards are attached is that their eyebrows are slightly more furrowed in one than the other. Still, when the beards are off you’ll be impressed at how impressive the resemblance is to their real-life counterparts…almost eerily so. It’s something for those learning about the uncanny valley to keep in mind, I suppose.  

I’m slightly disappointed that Gandalf doesn’t have a cape, but they’d already given him his cape and signature hat in at least one previous set, so I can’t really complain. His staff also seems a little plain, but granted it’s fairly plain in the movie itself….

Saruman is particularly impressive. His beard and hair are all one rubbery piece, and his face comes in two expressions – “good” and corrupted. His staff as well, though simple, is quite effective.

Overall, I’m very happy with these guys – I built them about a week before I put the rest of the set together, and set them up with my copy of The Hobbit on Blu-ray...which unfortunately, I still haven’t watched.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
                             

The Build

The build is relatively simple, taking me around 30 min. There’s not a lot to it – it’s essentially Saruman’s throne, and an extended platform with a palantir on it. Still, simple as it is, it has a couple of cool features.

 

First and foremost is the Eye of Sauron itself, which gazes out through the palantir. It doesn’t do anything as such, but it does look very cool. The palantir’s stand also rotates via an axel system, the controls of which sit on the back of Saruman’s throne. Judging by the pictures on the back on the box, this is intended to aid in simulating the two wizards flinging themselves around the room at each other, just as they do in the movie.

Saruman’s throne also has a nifty feature – there’s a flick-trigger at the back of it, which violently ejects the evil wizard from his chair to lunge towards Gandalf. I can’t see myself using it, but it’s a cool little extra add-on. I can see kids getting a lot of enjoyment out of it.

Aside from that, there’s not a lot to say – it’s a bit too simple for the hardened builder, but I think it still manages to convey the look of the scene surprisingly well.

Overall

This is a cool, simple set, but it suffers from what I like to call the “licensing tax” – essentially, you pay extra because the name “Lord of the Rings” appears on the box. This is something that’s all too common with licensed Lego sets – if this were a generic wizard battle, I daresay it would only be around the $14-$17 mark. It’s only a few dollars of difference in this case, but on a small set like this it can be a real dealbreaker. It’s a problem that’s particularly prevalent in ranges like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Wars and Super Heroes.

There’s not a lot in it for those who are fans of building structures, rather than the using the minifigures as part of a small playset. Still, for those who are keen on minifigures, I think you’ll be particularly happy with Gandalf and Saruman. 7/10 from me, on the whole.