Thoughts on Ninjago Temple of Airjitzu 70751

brickupdate

(I didn't see this discussion elsewhere, so please move it if there is already a thread)
I have to say, I was really impressed with the Temple of Airjitzu. I really don't care about Ninjago, but as a display near my modulars, this will look incredible. Scale may be an issue, but overall, I'm impressed. 

Also, LEGO sure seems to have no problem offering loads of $200 sets!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wCt5HDvvqM

samiam391

Completely agree. I do not like Ninjago, however the set itself looks incredible.

 I will most likely purchase one and sell the minifigures to try and make up for part of the cost. I'd love to have this set on display and perhaps add even more to it.

dannyrww

I would want this set if it had nothing to do with Ninjago. It has a beautiful design to it. That being said not top priority on my list it is a tad pricey (though looks worth it).

Russell844

It's a must buy for me. This will be the perfect temple for my ChinaTown/JapanTown section of our club's train layout.

brickupdate

It's actually funny how much it reminds me of Medieval Market Village!

dragonhawk

Russell844 said:

It's a must buy for me. This will be the perfect temple for my ChinaTown/JapanTown section of our club's train layout.

A Little Tokyo section of your city

brickupdate said:

It's actually funny how much it reminds me of Medieval Market Village!

Me too, must be the color of the blacksmith building 

Just take my money LEGO!!!

Aanchir

As a Ninjago fan, it's excellent. Beautiful architecture, great selection of minifigures, great play features, and lots of cute/funny details (like the Ninjago trading cards at the Smugglers' Market or the box of "Cole's Stuff".

The Ninjago story information in the booklet is a pleasant surprise, as is the inclusion of characters from the Ninjago TV show like Misako (Lloyd's mother/Garmadon's wife) and the postman (recurring comic relief character). The new Dareth and Sensei Wu minifigures look great, and I love that all six ninja are included in their deepstone armor! The temple is a great likeness of Sensei Yang's temple, and makes me wonder if it will become a new headquarters for the ninja at the end of the current season.

I'm pretty much nonplussed about the two "civilian" characters, Jesper and Claire. Unless they appear in the show in some capacity, I really have little interest in them. I still ship Jay with Nya, so it bothers me to see Jay flirting with Claire in two of the official pics!

I do have to agree with one criticism I've seen elsewhere — the minifigure selection would be greatly improved if it also came with the hair for all the Ninja in addition to their hoods (although it's possible that it's included and just not pictured anywhere in the official images). Dedicated Ninjago collectors probably already have the hair for all of them, but since this set seems geared towards more peaceful play scenarios you'd think the option of not having the ninja geared up for battle/adventure at all times would be a plus.

Overall, this set is definitely on my wish list. Minifigure-wise, getting it would mostly allow me to cut #70738 Final Flight of Destiny's Bounty and #70737 Titan Mech Battle off of my wish list (thanks to this set, the only minifigure parts that are truly exclusive to those sets are the printed legs for Bansha and Soul Archer). If only those two sets weren't so excellent in their own right! Needless to say, it has me feeling pretty divided!

hkcrazy88

I am totally not a Ninjago fan, but I love this set!! The architecture is beautiful. Our city may end up with a "china town" of sorts :)

BACbrix

As everyone has said, worth it just for the build even not being a fan of the series. 

Fauch

the temple looks just like what I imagined :)

GIR3691

Beautiful set. Tempted to pick one up and offload all the minifigs.

TheLoneTensor

So many stickers :(

HokieJoe99

I was halfway expecting LEGO to find a way to divide this in half to encourage us to buy 2 sets like they did for Joust and Horizon Express.

ninjabricks

The stone dragon shall face outward at the bridge. The purpose of stone lion, dragon is to guard the bridge. This is the problem when westerner designing the oriental theme product. The blacksmith store did remind me of the medieval market.

Pitfall69

Yeah, "westerners" suck at designing Asian themed sets.They must not be doing too bad if Chinese "Knock Off" companies are downright ripping off Lego Ninjago sets.

This is a day one purchase for me :)

flakmaniak

Well, as others have said, it looks like a Ninjago modular. Pretty cool! I've been hoping that the action themes can get some sets as grandiose and detailed as the modulars. Please, spare me the boring, mundane buildings! Give me ninjas and dragons and Aquasharks, but in style!

MissKittyFantastico

Oh that's gorgeous - a definite buy.  Moreso because I haven't got any Asian-styled sets on my shelves at the moment (well, the Architecture Sungnyemun Gate, but that's very spartan by comparison to this) so it'll be a lovely splash of variety.

Bumblepants

So pleased with this one. Better than I could have imagined and the price doesn't seem unfair. The Ferrari just got bumped off the buy list for now

matticus_bricks

I can't wait to get this! I'm hoping to sell the minifigures and modify into some kind of village, without all of the Ninjago references. And olive green plant stems!!

tamamahm

This is definitely a gorgeous set. I love the look of it, and I love that it comes with so many minifigs. I could see this appealing to many AFOLs.

What I am not sure of is whether it will appeal to my 8 year old or not. I will find out tomorrow.

Shib

I only really want the main tower part, but the set as a whole, while great looking, is far too expensive for me. The garage door parts for the roof is very clever, from the pictures i thought it was a new specialised roof part, dont own any of those parts myself so couldn't ID it without the video.

edgarallanpoe1422

This set only has one problem but it's a big one; the 'Ninjago' branding on the box. I'd be about 10 times more hyped if it was 'Creator Expert Samurai Temple' or something.

CCC

Nice set, probably too expensive for me though.

Lots of nice little details but the one that stands out for me - they are reusing LOTR elven swords in their own sets. They have also already reused the uruk-hai sword in one of the airjitzu sets, so hopefully these weapons will become quite cheap on the secondary market as they get reused in the non-licensed sets.

drlmiles1

I agree with the above comments. I was thinking of getting the Ferrari, although that does not have nearly the same appeal as the VW Camper Van and the Mini Cooper, and I have never bought or been interested in any Ninjago, but this is a definite purchase (not day 1, as I'd like to get double points) and the Ferrari is now off my wishlist

AdeelZubair

This set is very underwhelming, we have been getting Ninjago sets for over three years the least they could have done is a full on detailed Temple like Arkham Asylum Breakout (10937) with a break form the normal retail sets to differentiate the two.

Yup, it's definally the most detailed Ninjago set but I was expecting one large temple with very realistic details and Asian architecture. This feels very similar to the normal sets and not as a collectors item or model as you would see a Star Wars or Super Heroes exclusive model. Not saying it should be a model but have more of a visual statement.

CCC

What would a full on detailed temple like Arkham Asylum Breakout (10937) look like? I'd say it would be a Japanese style temple with an open back for play accessibility, much like in the video. #10937 was a facade with open access rooms at the rear, just like this one. There are lots of fairly realistic Oriental details in there, from the roofs to the windows to the bridge to the smaller detailing all around. I don't see how they could pack in any more detail while still using normal system parts.

Remember they have recently done #70728 which is very similar in style to Arkham.

Vindic8ed

I think it looks like a pretty cool set.  This would probably be the first Ninjago set I'd buy, possibly getting multiple because it seems like a good set to get a variety of different pieces from too.

ReesesPieces

This thing looks great!  I never really liked the ninjago vehicles but do enjoy the architecture so this is perfect.  And my son who is the reason we started getting ninjago doesn't seem too interested makes it even better.

and I second that the battle for ninjago set is pretty close to the arkham asylum set.

GallardoLU

looks great, and if budget allows I'll definitely get one, also I kind of want 4 of these! (not that I could ever afford that) that way I can complete the temple and have plenty of parts to customize the surrounding landscape.

Fauch

looks like many people don't like ninjago. hard to believe there's nothing appealing in such a varied theme.

Aanchir

Fauch said:

looks like many people don't like ninjago. hard to believe there's nothing appealing in such a varied theme.

I think "varied" is a lot of people's problem with it. I'm sure there are plenty of AFOLs who would be happier with it if it were a straight historical theme, or a straight fantasy theme, or a straight sci-fi theme, but being a blend of all three puts some people off.

Personally, I've always been fond of themes with this kind of playful anachronism.

SithLord196

I might do the early access for this.

I'm pretty indifferent on Ninjago as a whole. I bought the "Kai's Fire Mech" set and it was and enjoyable little build, and I want to add the "Electro-Mech" to it, but never really got into the theme as a whole. It obviously is quite a hit with kids for it to have lasted this long. 

Vortex

The way I see this,  "Panda"just got himself a fancier pad :)

chuxtoybox

Ironically, I decided to concentrate on 1 LEGO theme last year and I chose Legends of Chima over Ninjago. Now Chima is over and LEGO releases an awesome Ninjago set like this.
I just bought set 70728 and I REALLY want this set to go with it! 

Excellent MOC, Vortex!

devilhead

I want some of whatever that Adz guy is smoking.

Rolyat24

This set is truly phenomenal. As a Ninjago fan since 2011 it's definitely at the top of my wanted list (a place previously occupied by some of the larger summer sets). The price might just be a problem, especially if, like me, people also want to get the other sets in the summer wave. 

Aanchir

Rolyat24 said:

This set is truly phenomenal. As a Ninjago fan since 2011 it's definitely at the top of my wanted list (a place previously occupied by some of the larger summer sets). The price might just be a problem, especially if, like me, people also want to get the other sets in the summer wave. 

On the plus side, if you're aiming to get all this year's minifigures, this set can basically take the place of #70737 and #70738, which were previously the only sets that included Zane, Lloyd, and Nya in their new deepstone-armored ninja costumes. The only minifigure parts that are truly exclusive to those sets now are Morro's cape and the printed legs of Bansha and Soul Archer (they have a trail of ectoplasm in all their other appearances). But of course, those are still excellent sets in their own right, so I can't say they're worth skipping just because their figs are no longer so exclusive!

SithLord196

After looking at this some more, I do wish the main tower had a bit more detail on the inside.

Still, it's a definite consideration for me. Biggest issue of course is money because of student loans.

AdeelZubair

devilhead said:

I want some of whatever that Adz guy is smoking.

Haha! You guys are absolutely right, it is defiantly for the kids and not really for AFOLs. However I'm surprised how many AFOL do want to purchase it though.

BACbrix

Suprised? Why? The set looks like it came out from the gods arts and crafts store. 

Aanchir

Adzbadboy said:

devilhead said:

I want some of whatever that Adz guy is smoking.

Haha! You guys are absolutely right, it is defiantly for the kids and not really for AFOLs. However I'm surprised how many AFOL do want to purchase it though.

I honestly can't comprehend why you think this set is "for kids" when it uses so many incredibly complex and creative building techniques. Is the size of the temple the only thing that matters to you? Frankly, size isn't everything. This thing is still a cut above any other LEGO Ninjago temple released to date in terms of sheer complexity and level of detail.

In terms of layout, complexity, and play scenarios, this set has more in common with other AFOL/TFOL-oriented sets like #10184 Town Plan, #10193 Medieval Market Village, and #10217 Diagon Alley than with anything that's been in a regular kid-oriented Ninjago set.

Sarky

While the set is absolutely gorgeous, the price is a big issue. Here in Canada, it'll probably be around $250 CAD.

Sarky

brickupdate said:

It's actually funny how much it reminds me of Medieval Market Village!

Me too, must be the color of the blacksmith building 

Just take my money LEGO!!!

While the rest of the set is mostly Japanese-themed, the blacksmith building does look a bit out of place...

Russell844

Well they did release set #2508 several years ago.

knoose

A little unrelated, I was wondering if the BrickShow will be showing all the Lego Designer videos now? I'm not a big fan of their content.

devilhead

Sarky said:

brickupdate said:

It's actually funny how much it reminds me of Medieval Market Village!

Me too, must be the color of the blacksmith building 

Just take my money LEGO!!!

While the rest of the set is mostly Japanese-themed, the blacksmith building does look a bit out of place...

Ummm.... Japan had (has) blacksmiths just like any place else that progressed to the Iron Age.

CapnRex101

@knoose - Designer videos are usually sent out as part of the press release but TLC are often a little late publishing the video on their channel, hence I expect The Brick Show got there first.

princedraven

Can someone who is a Ninjago fan explain the silly little light thing which is the designers 'favourite feature'?  Is this something to do with the cartoon or am I missing something.
Seems the most pointless boring play feature ever!  Two mini statues and some flames backlit that spin around!?!  What is the point in that?  It's not even like the figures can hold a weapon so that it gives the impression of a fight, just looks like a bizarre boring merry go round.

PeteM

Though not strictly Japanese, I assumed it was a reference to the tradition of shadow puppetry from that part of the world...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayang

Fauch

it looks like an interesting idea. I don't think it has been done before

dannyrww

devilhead said:

Sarky said:

brickupdate said:

It's actually funny how much it reminds me of Medieval Market Village!

Me too, must be the color of the blacksmith building 

Just take my money LEGO!!!

While the rest of the set is mostly Japanese-themed, the blacksmith building does look a bit out of place...

Ummm.... Japan had (has) blacksmiths just like any place else that progressed to the Iron Age.

True. I believe Asian countries were among the first to develop steel as well. A quality blacksmith was prized by the samurai.