I see the Gurren Lagann inspiration, but the components seem to draw more inspiration from Gridman (Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad, in the US): core robot, drill tank becomes arms, treaded tank becomes legs, flyer armors up the body. If they do a transforming robot dragon with a similar core robot, it's definitely pulling from Gridman. Nice to finally see universal ratchet joints. Might need to reward LEGO & buy one.
20:58 The two black exo-force arm pieces are there, so that you could use them for attaching all the different collectible banners from this wave to the bars that stick out of the back of the big monastery temple set, as a display option, although I don't think it's actually being advertised anywhere. Notice that most of the banners aside the ones in this set are connected to their respective builds using these parts.
I had mixed feelings about this set upon seeing the initial pictures, but I think this review might've won me over, the alternate mode vehicles have a bit more going on than I initially expected. Great review as always Jang!
Yeah, the Gurren Lagann inspiration is extremely apparent here, between its "hands" and the whole combining thing, even the way the color scheme is laid out to an extent. Very cool to hear that a designer was a fan, I adore that series as well.
Combiner mechs are the best type of mechs, imo. I've been tempted to get one of the previous Ninjago or Monkey Kid mechs, but didn't. I think that's going to change with this one though! It looks sick, and I love the way the individual parts combine.
For some reason, I always love seeing sets that include ONLY/ mainly focus on the OG 4 Ninja. Hits me in the nostalgia as someone who doesn’t watch the show anymore but loves the sets
I've seen multiple reviews of this set, but no one tops your quality. Your vibes, opinions, the amount of detail you cover and overall aesthetic are one of a kind. Thank you!
The way the legs of the kai mech fold back and the knees connect to Zanes vehicle legs feels like an old Power Rangers megazord toy that I used to have as a kid and for that reason alone I love the set.
This looks cool, scared about how the legs would turn out though. Still the shape of the upper half looks so reminiscent of older japanese style models
Honestly, thinking it over, these designs make me think that LEGO might be gearing up to release a brand new theme that just focuses on anime style mecha as the main sets (with some exceptions for variety, of course). In which case, awesome!
The Core line will still be represented in animation, just in the form of a handful of shorts of dubious canonicity (so like the shorts that accompany a season or Wu's Teas or something)
Ninjago was made for this kind of thing. Always wondered why they didn't have the ninja's vehicles combine in the past waves, really seemed like a missed trick.
I loved that you had the Voltron Mech available for comparison. It adds a lot to good review, when you can compare the set to similar older sets which the viewer might have at home himself.
Yeah the Gurren Lagann influence is so obvious and I love it. It also reminds me vaguely of a Braves Combiner or any older Super Robot combiner mech. The new ratchet joints are really interesting and I'm excited to see what Lego Designers do with them in the future.
I generally dont care much about minifigures but something about the new ninja designs is so cool to me. The really cartoony colourful designs and prints are just really pleasing and unique
Love the colors and transformative playability of this. But personally, I still prefer the recent Zane Titan Mech, it has a much more elegant look to it and has all desirable articulation.
I just finished building this a couple days ago. I made a point to not look at it too much prior to getting it, and it made the build so much more fun! It was great to build each separate vehicle and the small Mech, then get to go through the process of combining them all without really knowing what to expect! I really like this set and it was a great addition to my Ninjago Mech collection of which I’m only missing a couple of the first sets from the beginning of the theme. Definitely towards the top of the list with my favorite Ninjago mechs!
The Cole vehicle reminds me alot of when I tried making a a lego robot that could be transformed into a car, many years ago. The way the legs make up the back with a big gap between with this one is very much like how mine ended up as well. xD
I'm pretty sure those extra Exo-Force arm pieces are for the system where you place the banners from the top of the mech on the big temple set. You're supposed to collect all the banners and put them throughout the set, but it all attaches to bars with the ends of the clips there.
This is such an impressive set and it looks like it will appeal to fans of Voltron, Gundam anime, and even Power Rangers. Even if you're just a fan of mechs there is something here for you and I hope this extra appeal encourages non-Ninjago fans to purchase this set even if they're never bought Ninjago before. Hopefully it will show people just how good Ninjago can be.
It reminds me a bit of Dai-X Mech from X-Bomber. Loved that show. It’s a valid try, not an easy thing to build. Kind of glad they went with 4 vehicles. The Mech looks stunning really. Such a good playset, and value feels good… nice run through. I’m sold!
Lately I've been getting back into Ninjago and I saw a picture of this Lego build and I came across your account, and I wanted to say that it's nice to see that your still making videos, the last time that I saw one of your videos was when I was 8 or so and I'm now 14
such a great set / review, thanks jang - could of done with this 10 years ago as my nephews each played a character and I could of just bought this one mech !
I'm so excited to get this set. It's just crazy how cool it looks and how functional it is. It looks like it may be the biggest mech that Ninjago has had yet. I personally don't have much problem with the ninja minifigs this time around; at the very least they're not insultingly cartoonish (like most of the "seasonal spinjitzu gimmick" minifigs have been for awhile now) or just downright awful (season 9- ugh.) They've definitely been better, but they've also been much worse. I think these are a happy medium of being generic while also being visually unique.
The Exo-Force arms are to connect the banner to the Dojo Temple! I don't think it's shown anywhere but considering everyone got the pieces and that they're in the parts list it's definitely not a mistake. Though considering recent problems with quality it wouldn't be too surprising - for example I got an extra 2x2 round plate in red in my Lloyd's Legendary Dragon, and I know someone else who also did (and my Pixal head in the Dojo Temple being a bit smudged which is way more disappointing). And all the sets that have been cancelled or delayed recently.
This is definitely the first Ninjago set I'll actually be going out of my way to pick up! I've been wishing they'd do a Megazord/Combiner mech for some time and this does not disappoint.
This is really cool, and I haven't bought a Lego Ninjago set since the original samurai Mech but the thought of "lego Gurren Lagaan" is really enticing.
The leg articulation on this mech is phenominal. I've added knees to previous big mechs before, but because of the complete lack of ankle articulation they're almost completely useless. This combo mech is straight up capable of going into a walking pose simply because it has ankles. Knees
This set is definitely cool, but I think it could have benefited a lot from more focus on how the combined mode looked. If the piece count was a concern you could take some out of Jay's plane, either tank, or Kai's legs and give Kai's mech the ability to fold its arms back and move the large arms in more instead of the weird 4-arm look it currently has with none of the arms really able to get a full range of motion.
Me and my two considerably younger brothers all bought our own Lloyd's legendary dragon set and mine had an extra one by two pink tile that wasn't in the parts list and my two brothers sets were both missing pieces, they returned theirs to the store and got different Lego sets but we are very disappointed with Legos quality control this year
Amazing review as always, really a huge fan of this mech. I plan to get it eventually as I am trying to collect as many ninjago mechs as I can. I really thought they would do a Titan Mech for Nia or Jay next. Did not expect this guy which is so awsome, reminds me of alot of old mech animes.
I'm a big gureen lagann fan and you said it well enough, I can see the 4 arms, and the drills, the face shape chest, the ring crown, and the katana also its a Mashup of a fee mechs from the anime I love.this set just from the inspiration
This design is great and price is a value for Lego these days... however I'd love to see a bulkier version with more details... a UCS version would be fantastic. Great review, thanks for your time, video production quality, and thoughtful commentary!
Personally my only complaint with this set is the posability, which it's good for the weight but no proper knees, even on the internal one, is annoying. it makes sense for the combining gimmick to not have them for stability in the big boy, but I feel they could have fit a joint like on Zane's titan mech in the small one and lock it for combined mode. Now I want to see an expansion set with Lloyd and Nya that goes with it, and can combine with it...
I also got the two black exo force arms, and I also went back through all the steps trying to figure out what I missed, and also saw that they’re in the inventory list 😂
My reaction to first seeing it was exactly the same; saw the second pic and I was sold. Been waiting for a combiner mech from Lego for quite some time, it just seems like such a good idea for Ninjago. Not quite the "best" mech design for my preferences, but this is way better than I expected Lego to do. I personally really like the graphic design of the minifigs (the patterns), it's the style that I don't really like (it being flat as you pointed out). Also, is there no spare for Zane's katana..?
I think the color choices for the ninja were a good idea, even if I’m not really sold on the designs used. I was never a fan of bright neon yellow for Jay, but that banana yellow works and fits the blue a lot better, and sells the lightning idea. And that leaves the strong yellow-orange for Kai, which also fits very well. The dark tan also fits Cole well but the design muddled it and the inner torso/undershirt makes no sense. I don’t think Zane really needs more blue though. We have Jay and Nya who both also have blue as a prominent color. Zane works best keeping blue as an accent, not as the main accent
I really like this because im a huge power rangers/super sentai fan and i’ve watched ninjago since it came out and the set is like a combination of both which i love!
I IMMEDIATELY thought of Gurren Lagann when I saw this, so it's awesome to hear that's exactly what the designer was going for! I've never picked up a Ninjago set before and I've been all in on Monkie Kid lately, but this... has me tempted.
If you put this into your melamby district you could have a mech arena where this is being put together by cranes or helicopter type machines. It would enable you to keep this set around that you are so fond of as well as any otehr mech sets and you could potentially swap them around.
Never would have guessed Gurren Lagann as the main inspiration as it looks more Megazord than anything else. Still really cool mention. I think my favorite part of this is the new ratchet piece combined with all the previous pieces for a more secure/playable connection. I'd like to think the 2020 ATAT could have benefited hugely from this new system , but then the problem there is the outer half which can get super lose over years of display, unless the inner new piece as a longer lasting clutch opposed to the original half of the joint. Personally I much prefer the look/aesthetic of last years mech, but this was still a great review, and gave me a lot more appreciation for the design/work that went into this not only to make it functional/combinable, but playable/stable as well.
The big thing of this set is the new hip joints! OMG! I love making mechs and I have wanted something like this for so long!! This set is going to sell out to people who do MoC's due to this part IMO so if you want this set I would get one sooner than later
Flyer Ball Joints I dislike that to build the flyer you need to snap in those Large Ball Joints compared to small clips or technic pins, those joints are really tight and might be tougher for kids to work with
