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The LEGO Ninjago Movie sets review – part 3

by Thita (admin) on August 18, 2017

in LEGO Ninjago

While we have discussed some of the other sets from The LEGO Ninjago Movie in batches, I thought it would be best to talk about the #70617 LEGO Ninjago Movie Temple of the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon separately. First of all, because this is the only substantial structure in the collection (besides the exclusive #70620 LEGO Ninjago Temple Ninjago City), and thus hard to pair with anything else, and because it has so many unique features. So let’s take a look. 🙂

When I first saw pictures of this set, it immediately reminded me of the #7419 LEGO Adventurers Orient Expedition Dragon Fortress from 2003 – one of the nicest oriental architecture themed LEGO sets ever released, and one of my favorite sets of all time (see picture below). The official images of The LEGO Ninjago Movie set show a similarly large, stocky and imposing structure, but it is actually very different in shape, once you see it in real life. While the front of the building and the general shaping may look similar, The LEGO Ninjago Movie temple is actually much taller (19 inches or 49 cm), but also much narrower than the Dragon Fortress. You basically get a very nice facade, but there is not much space behind for play. Because of this, the #70617 LEGO Ninjago Movie Temple of the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon appears to be more of a display set rather than a set for play.

The temple actually does have some nice play-features, which we will discuss below, however the look of the building from pictures is definitely deceiving. The main part of the structure is only six studs wide, with an additional four studs for the gate section. Because of all the play-featured and structural decorations are crammed into such a narrow space, there is not much room left for placing minifigures, or playing out any scenarios. I think the set still looks very nice and has its merits, however I just wanted to make sure you are aware that it doesn’t exactly look like as you would expect. (Below, I have included the video-review from JANGBRiCKS, which will allow you to see the temple from all angles.) For kids, it would probably be best to place this set on a large baseplate, so there is some room for play, and even build up the walls and floors so the ninja can actually fit inside.

As far as play-features, there is a secret entrance, trapdoor function, rock-dropping and dynamite-dropping functions, blade-shooting and chopping-sword traps, dungeon, a hanging cage to capture a minifigure inside, and a pull-out section with poles for minifigures to leap between to reach the treasure chest (you can see all of them in action in the video-review below). All of the play-features work very well, it’s just that you kind of have to hover the minifigs outside the building to use them (except for the ground floor, where there is enough room to actually put the minifigs inside). The tall tower in the middle is pretty much useless for any play, and there are no play-features in this section. (See product animation below.)

The architectural detailing of the #70617 LEGO Ninjago Movie Temple of the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon is quite beautiful. The colors, small decorations, and interior detailing all come together tastefully. I especially like the construction of the door and the frame around it, the scroll, the cage, the transitioning from rock to building, and of course the guardians. A lot of the small details are achieved with stickers (26 in total), however if you don’t like stickers, you could probably leave most of them off, and replace them with brick-built or printed options. Speaking of printing, The LEGO Ninjago Movie writing style is used all over the set, which you may have fun translating with The LEGO Ninjago Movie Alphabet Translator, or just watch the video-review below where JANG translates the texts for you.

A major highlight of the set is the two stone guardians. LEGO must have known this, because the instructions make you build the guardians first. They are sort of a cross between lions and dogs, and they are very poseable and expressive. They are also an excellent introduction for building animal statues. And they are larger than you would expect!

Once you finish building the guardians, you begin building the temple itself. Parts are divided into eleven bags, with the first two bags building the guardians and three of the minifigures (Kai, Lloyd, and Garmadon). The third and fourth bags include Zane, Jay, Nya, and Cole, plus all the parts for building the stone base of the temple. The fifth and sixth bags finish the walls of the first floor, the seventh bag starts adding some of the dark-blue roof elements, and the eighth bag includes the pieces for the front gate. The ninth and tenth bags make up some interior decorations and the tower, and the last bag adds the broken steps at the front. While this set is pretty large (1,403 pieces), there are so many interesting details, that putting it together never becomes boring. The only hard part is applying all those stickers. Use an X-acto knife or something similar to lift off the stickers from the sheet, and apply them to the pieces. This way, you won’t get any fingerprints on the elements and stickers, and you can take your time positioning them just right.

Another major draw of this set – besides the nice temple facade and the guardians – is that it includes all the ninja, and even Garmadon! Kai, Nya, Cole, Zane, Lloyd, and Jay all wear traditional ninja suits with their regular hairpieces. I really like these suits because they work very well for regular ninja, not just the ones related to The Ninjago Movie. Garmadon wears a great little jungle cape piece – the same as we have seen in the #70608 LEGO Ninjago Movie Master Falls set. There is also an eight minifigure; the statue inside the temple. He comes with a Vermillion armor, the same as in the LEGO Ninjago TV show sets, which is an interesting crossover between the TV show and the movie. And you also get a skeleton, that you could consider the ninth minifigure.

Here is the official description of the set: Join a ninja mission to infiltrate The LEGO Ninjago Movie Temple of The Ultimate Ultimate Weapon. The temple features a secret entrance, trapdoor function, rock-dropping and dynamite-dropping functions, blade-shooting and chopping-sword traps, dungeon, a hanging cage to capture a minifigure inside, and a pull-out section with poles for minifigures to leap between to reach the treasure chest. Includes 7 minifigures with assorted weapons: Kai, Nya, Cole, Zane, Lloyd, Jay and Jungle Garmadon (with 4 arms and new-for-August-2017 jungle outfit decoration) and 2 buildable temple guardian figures. Temple of The Ultimate Ultimate Weapon measures over19” (49cm) high, 14” (38cm) wide and 11” (28cm) deep. Temple guardians each stand over 3” (10cm) tall. 1,403 pieces. Price: $99.99 – BUY HERE

Overall, I would say that the #70617 LEGO Ninjago Movie Temple of the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon will mostly appeal to LEGO fans who like oriental architecture and decorations, as both the building and the stone guardians are very nice. The set might also be interesting to those who would like to collect all the ninja from the movie without buying several of the other sets. With 1,403 pieces, and a price of $99.99, the price-per-piece ratio is excellent (only 7 cents!). In addition, this is one of The LEGO Ninjago Movie sets that you can earn Double VIP Points on this month (199 points!), so you get an even better deal! You can find it, along with the other sets in the collection, under The LEGO Ninjago Movie section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like The LEGO Ninjago Movie Temple of the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon? Do you have it already? Or are you planning to get it? 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 building technique: LEGO brick walls

by Thita (admin) on August 17, 2017

in Building Techniques

LEGO fan Simon NH is known for some stunning LEGO creations, like the Island of Catan diorama pictured below. As you see, Simon is a master of blending colors and using some very advanced building techniques to achieve a lifelike result. Simon also shares many of his techniques, so you can experiment with them on your own. Below, I will show you some examples, and also include links to where you can find his tutorials. 🙂

➡ LEGO WALL TECHNIQUE WITH CHEESE-SLOPES: The small LEGO 1×1 slopes (also referred to as “cheese-slopes” because of their shape), are very popular for adding delicate details to LEGO creations. They are tiny, smooth with only one hole to receive studs, and come in a huge variety of colors. The most obvious way to use them is to attach the hole to a stud, but this can quickly get too repetitious and boring. LEGO fans discovered however that these small slopes can also be treated as mosaic pieces, and even if they are not attached to studs, if they are framed properly, they will fit in place snugly. Katie Walker, the “Queen of LEGO Mosaics” is the revered inventor of this method.

In the picture above, you can see Simon using the mosaic technique with cheese-slopes, but for building intricate weathered walls. The cheese-slopes sit in groves created by 1×2 panels attached to bricks with studs on their sides. The key to this technique is the framing on the two sides, which keeps the otherwise loose cheese-slopes in place. To add some additional variety, Simon also added some standard 1×1 LEGO plates and tiles. I have tried this technique myself as I wasn’t sure how sturdy it would be, but it actually works very well, with all the cheese-slopes tightly remaining in place.

➡ LEGO WALL TECHNIQUE WITH PANELS: While this technique is very parts-intensive, the end result is a very realistic bricklaying pattern. The key here is the placement of 1×2 panels back to back, with a complicated framework behind it to space them and connect them together.

The technique is used in the stone walkway that leads up to this gorgeous little church, also built by Simon. Make sure you check out all the other different techniques used here, as there are many wonderful details.

➡ LEGO WALL TECHNIQUE WITH PLATES: The two techniques below are simple and subtle, but quite handy. They appear the same from both sides, which is great when you want to have a finished look from both front and back. The technique on the left uses 2×2 plates and 2×2 jumper-plates, and it can also be done with 1×2 plates and jumpers. The technique on the right is done with 1×2 and 2×2 jumper-plates and provides a little bit more texture.

➡ LEGO WALL TECHNIQUE WITH JUMPER-PLATES: A quite simple, but very decent looking wall technique using 1×2 jumpers (the newer ones with grooves at the bottom) and 1×2 door rail pieces. As you can see on the first picture below, you can achieve quite a bit of texture with just these two elements. A variation of this technique adds some other interesting pieces to create even more detail (second picture).

The techniques are demonstrated in this excellent castle wall, which also includes a curved section to create a tower. The wider you make the round section, the more subtle the stonework will appear.

➡ LEGO WALL TECHNIQUE WITH TILES: The technique below stacks different size 1 stud width tiles. While they may look loose, they are actually strategically connected at the back to support pieces. The end result is a very nice and sturdy brick wall that looks quite realistic.

➡ LEGO WALL TECHNIQUE FOR THIN WALLS: If you have little space to work with, but you still want to create some detailed weathered walls for your castle or other older building, the three examples below will give you some good ideas. The first method simply uses a larger plate that you stack with different color small pieces (plates, tiles, jumper-plates, plants) then attach the entire section sideways to the main structure, using bricks with studs on the side. The second method stacks pieces in the traditional way, but incorporates some pieces with interesting textures to break up the surface. Notice that there is even a minifig leg in there! The third method takes advantage of some bricks with studs on the side to add even more detail to the otherwise traditionally built wall.

There are many other very interesting wall building techniques Simon shares, which you can find in his LEGO Techniques album. Also, you can visit his main album here, with more beautiful creations. They will give you more ideas and examples of what can be achieved with these methods. If you like to experiment with advanced building techniques, I highly recommend checking them out.

What do you think? How do you like these LEGO wall building techniques? Have you tried any of them already? Which one is your favorite? Are there any other wall building techniques that you really like? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

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

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The LEGO Ninjago Movie sets review – part 3

LEGO building technique: LEGO brick walls

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