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LEGO Ninjago Hands of Time sets review

by Thita (admin) on January 14, 2017

in LEGO Ninjago

LEGO Ninjago has been a favorite of younger LEGO fans since 2011, and it is still going strong. At the beginning of January LEGO released seven new LEGO Ninjago sets based on Season 7 of the TV show, titled LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu – Hands of Time. The new episodes haven’t aired yet, but the sets give us a glimpse of what they are about. Below we will look at them in more detail. 🙂

➡ #70621 LEGO NINJAGO THE VERMILLION ATTACK: This is one of the best budget LEGO Ninjago set ever released. Three minifigures with new printing and armor, new pieces, and great play features, all for just $10. Make sure you watch the video-review below to see the minifigs up close. The new armor and helmet pieces are gorgeously detailed. Here is the official description: Stage a swamp battle between Kai and Vermillion warriors Rivett and Slackjaw to win the Forward Time Blade. This LEGO Ninjago set features a Vermillion egg with an explode function that releases three red snake elements from inside, plus cool minifigure weapons to dial up the role-play conflict. Includes three minifigures: Kai, Rivett and Slackjaw. 83 pieces. Price: $9.99 – BUY HERE

➡ #70622 LEGO NINJAGO DESERT LIGHTNING: A simple set with two racers and three minifigures. Small vehicles like these have been popular with Ninjago fans, and the minifigures (again) look excellent. Jay’s bike got a couple of stud-shooters, but the badguy’s racer has nothing, so as far as play-features the set is lacking a bit. Here is the official description: Beat Commander Blunck’s Vermillion racer to claim the Slow-Mo Time Blade with Jay’s Desert Lightning bike, featuring stud-shooting headlight-style elements, foldout lightning bolt booster elements and big wheels. Includes three minifigures: Jay, Commander Blunck and Tannin. 201 pieces. Price: $19.99 – BUY HERE

➡ #70623 LEGO NINJAGO DESTINY’S SHADOW: This set includes a very interesting flying/floating vehicle using a lot of olive-green elements and other unique and rare pieces. I particularly like the translucent-black 1×2 printed tiles at the back. You can watch the video-review below to see how the boat transforms into a flying vehicle. Here is the official description: Fight the Vermillion for control of the Pause Time Blade with Lloyd and Cole aboard Destiny’s Shadow. This convertible boat/flyer features flip-out wings for flight mode, two stud shooters, plus two detachable canoes and two oars. Dial up the ninja vs. Vermillion conflict with Vermin’s V-shaped hoverboard and Vermillion axe. Includes three minifigures: Vermin, and Lloyd and Cole with swamp outfit decoration. 360 pieces. Price: $29.99 – BUY HERE

➡ #70624 LEGO NINJAGO VERMILLION INVADER: This set is all about the badguys. They get a large vehicle running on a single track, and fires two catapults with rubber bands to quite a distance. Here is the official description: Help Zane escape with the Forward Time Blade under attack from Commander Raggmunk and Slackjaw’s Vermillion Invader. The Invader has two minifigure cockpits, a rubber track and a spring-loaded dual egg catapult to knock down the included barrier—and any minifigure trying to hide behind it. Includes three minifigures: Zane, Commander Raggmunk and Slackjaw. 313 pieces. Price: $29.99 – BUY HERE

➡ #70625 LEGO NINJAGO SAMURAI VXL: The vehicle here looks very similar to some of the other ones in previous LEGO Ninjago set, but it also has an unusual tilting feature. I like the shaping and the colors, but I’m not sold on how the tilting feature works. You can watch the video-review below to see it in action. Here is the official description: Steer the armored Samurai VXL vehicle to help Nya and new Samurai X defeat the Vermillion warriors and capture the Slow-Mo Time Blade. This detailed vehicle features an opening minifigure cockpit, special tilting four-wheel-drive steering and six-stud rapid shooters. Includes four minifigures: Nya, General Machia, Rivett and new-for-spring-2017 Samurai X. 428 pieces. Price: $49.99 – BUY HERE

➡ #70626 LEGO NINJAGO DAWN OF IRON DOOM: This is the second largest in the 2017 LEGO Ninjago sets. It includes a tall fort and a very large mech. There is a lot to see in this set, so make sure you check out the video-review below to see all the features. It is also worth nothing that this set includes all four of the Time Blades. Here is the official description: Join Lloyd and Jay’s mission to free Master Wu and stop the Time Twins taking control of time in this Dawn of Iron Doom set, which includes the highly posable Snake Mech with wheel-operated spinning Time Portal and plug-in points for the four included translucent-colored Time Blades, a missile-shooting eye and two big detachable blade weapons. The Vermillion swamp fort has an egg-drop function and opening prison, and can be built in different ways for alternative layouts. Includes six minifigures: Lloyd, Jay, Acronix, Krux, Commander Blunck and Master Wu. 704 pieces. Price: $59.99 – BUY HERE

➡ #70627 LEGO NINJAGO DRAGON’S FORGE: This is the largest of the first wave of 2017 LEGO Ninjago sets, with a really nicely shaped forge, a gorgeous 2-headed dragon, and a small mech for the badguys. Here is the official description: Swoop to conquer the Dragon’s Forge with Kai and Nya on the Fusion Dragon, rescue their parents from the Vermillion and claim the Reversal Time Blade. The Dragon’s Forge building has loads of play-starting features and functions, including a hidden Dragon Dagger to activate the turning chimney function, a blacksmith’s hammer function and a leisure area. The highly posable, two-headed Fusion Dragon has seats for two minifigures and a shooting crossbow to take on the buildable Buffmillion mech. Includes six minifigures: Nya, Kai, Ray, Maya, Commander Raggmunk and Slackjaw. 1137 pieces. Price: $79.99 – BUY HERE

I would say that this is a very solid wave of LEGO Ninjago sets, and I can’t wait to see them in action in the TV show. Even if you are not a Ninjago fan, there are so many interesting new pieces and colors in these sets, not to speak of the unique minifigure accessories. You can find them all under the LEGO Ninjago section of the Online LEGO Shop.

So what do you think? How do you like the 2017 LEGO Ninjago sets? Do you have any of them already? Feel free to share your thoughts and own review in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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Updating my LEGO minifigure display wall

by Thita (admin) on January 13, 2017

in Community Articles

I have been thinking about redoing my minifigure display wall as it was getting overcrowded. There are many different ways to arrange minifigures using various display cases and stands – some made by LEGO, some by third parties, and you can also build your own.

Collectors tend to prefer closed display cases to protect their minifigures from dust, and this definitely makes sense for rare and expensive characters. Personally, I like to keep my displays open and accessible for play, customization, or just for an occasional rearranging.

My original display area consisted of a metal sheet that I attached to, and painted the same color, as the wall. It was basically a hidden metal wall perfect for attaching magnets. I used the 2×4 magnet bricks from the LEGO magnet packs to display minifigs on the wall. While this solution worked great for a while, my minifigs eventually grew out the space, and the metal sheets were kind of expensive to get more of.

At this point, I upgraded to a large magnetic dry-erase board, which basically provided the same thing as the magnetic wall I had before, and I could still use the 2×3 magnet bricks to display minifigures on the board. I liked the versatility of being able to rearrange minifigures quickly just by sliding them around, however as my collection grew this mobility became a hindrance; when I moved one minifig, the others started to get misaligned too. I realized what I really needed was a display option that is still open and versatile, but the minifigs can be placed into fixed positions.

So I started looking at other display options. One solution that I found very attractive was using large LEGO baseplates attached to the wall. There were just a few problems; individual LEGO baseplates are expensive, they come in a limited range of colors, and they have rounded corners, which are somewhat unsightly when you place them next to each other.

This is when I ran across a video by JANGBRiCKS where he shows off his Collectible LEGO Minifigure display. Instead of official LEGO baseplates, he uses large plates produced by a company called Strictly Briks. I was super excited about this solution, got some of the plates, and also wrote a review on them (see: Baseplates for LEGO in a Rainbow of Colors).

Just to be clear, Strictly Briks produces two types of plates. Standard thin baseplates with studs on top, smooth bottom, and rounded corners. They are just like what LEGO makes, but in a larger selection of colors, and sizes. Then they also make what they call “stackable baseplates”, which are the same thickness as regular LEGO plates with studs on top, tubes at the bottom, and sharp corners. These are the ones JANGBRiCKS used. They come in a number of different sizes and in a huge variety of colors. Landscaping colors like blues, greens, browns, white, gray, and black. Bright colors like yellow, orange, red, pinks and purples. Metallic colors like gold and bronze, and even some translucent colors. Colors and sizes can be bought individually or in various bundles.

I first got a bundle of twenty-four 32×32 stud plates in a rainbow of colors just to see how they compare to LEGO. As I mentioned in my previous review, they are the same quality as LEGO, and most of the colors perfectly match LEGO’s own color-palette. The plates also have some very thoughtful features, like the bottom tubes are not as dense as on standard LEGO plates. This is to prevent the plates from sticking together too much when they are stacked. I also like that their name is moulded onto the studs, which makes them very similar to how LEGO studs look like. All in all, I was very impressed and super happy with them.

By this time I was sure these were the plates I wanted to use for my new minifig display wall. All I needed to do was measure the area and calculate how many plates I will have to get, and also decide on the colors. While I really like the bright and transparent colors, I decided to go with the two lightest and most subdued colors, white and tan, in an alternating pattern. This is because my room is already a bit cluttered with LEGO displays and so many colors, and also because our house is under a lot of trees and mostly in the shade. As I needed 21 plates in total (3 columns of 7), I got three 4-packs of each white and tan plates, and a roll of double-sided mounting-tape. It took about an hour to mount all the plates on the wall.

Next, I needed to decide how to attach the minifigs to my new display wall. There are various L-shaped LEGO brackets that are great for this purpose, and you can also use bricks with studs on the sides. I eventually went with 1×2 bricks with two studs on the side. I mostly choose these because they take up very little space on the wall, and they come in both white and tan, so would blend in well with the plates. I’m still in the process of displaying all my minifigures, but I have taken a couple of pictures for you to see how the wall looks like so far.

Overall, I’m very happy with this solution, and plan to use the same plates for other projects as well. They are of course great for providing a play-surface or a platform for large displays, and they can also be used for building a minifig display wall as I have demonstrated here. Other projects I have in mind with them are mosaics and brick-built backgrounds for displays. I should also mention that Strictly Briks doesn’t just provide standard square and rectangle plates, but interesting shapes like a circle, half-circle and triangle as well. These open up some interesting opportunities for designs both for LEGO dioramas and large wall-displays.

If you are interested to check out the Strictly Briks baseplates and stackable plates, you can find them at their online store at StrictlyBricks.com, and also at their store on Amazon where they often have discounts: STRICTLY BRIKS ON AMAZON

What do you think? How do you like these baseplates as a solution for a minifig display wall? What kind of system do you use to display your minifigures? Feel free to share your thoughts and own review in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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LEGO Ninjago Hands of Time sets review

Updating my LEGO minifigure display wall

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