Set Review ➟ LEGO® Ninjago Legacy 71866 Ninja Character Display
Because I am old, slow-witted, and not in-the-know like the kids, it took me the better part of two hours to wrap my head around just what the heck was going on with this set. After that time I am quite sure I am still not one hundred percent on the whole thing, but here goes, as best as I can figure.
What got me confused was this: the minifigure headgear.
I have what I believe to be one of the original Ninjago sets, and it is still in the box, set 2518 Nuckal's ATV. I checked. That set uses an original design Ninja head wrap, part 30177, dating back to the 1990s. So, if this is an anniversary of the first year, then there ought to be something akin to the original head wraps, right?
In the instruction book for the review set, a page highlights the 2011-2012 versions of the team…but wearing head wrap part 91833 with the three-point emblem. This is not the first-year head wrap. It is the second-year head wrap.
Yeah, that 2011 there might be fudging it a little. I get it. It would have been weird to have weapon storage be a clip on the back of the head wrap for the TV show.
Being one who does not like to have the facts wrong, I checked to make sure I had my story straight, and, yup. Part 91833 head wrap does not arrive until 2012. So while it may be the fifteenth anniversary of the show…which according to IMDB premiered Friday, December 2, 2011…the 91833 wrap doesn’t arrive until episode 6 dated Wednesday, February 15, 2012. So there is a liiiittle bit of fudging going on. The Ninjago line debuted in January of 2011, the show debuted December 2011, and the head wraps highlighted in the instructions debuted January 2012.
Head wraps: (2011) 30177 left, (2012) 91833 center, (2026) 7554 right.
So, with all that sorted out I am guessing the mold for 30177 is long gone while 7554 which resembles 91833 is current, and making a “true” fifteenth anniversary set of the original team would have been parts problematic, so we are where we are with fudge.
We get eight minifigures in the set: Master of Lightning (noted as an exclusive), Zane, Nya, Jay, Wu, Lloyd, Kai, and Cole.
I do not know who elemental Master of Lightning is in Ninjago canon, but, fun fact, the figure’s name came from mashing the names of Metallica’s second and third albums together. Okay. Not a fact. I made that up. Also, did you know that 68% of quoted statistics are made up on the spot? Something I learned from a niece.
Other things I do not know is why elemental Master of Lightning is perched atop the little fifteenth anniversary stand, why the stand has pins that are backwards from what one would think they would be to plug into the holes on the monastery piece, nor why in the promo video LEGO sneakily flips the assembly around so they can show it attaching appropriately to the monastery. Maybe LEGO is coming out with a whole bunch of these fifteenth anniversary exclusive figures in all the Legacy sets and they all connect together or something. Anyway, here it is another little bit of fudge.
Vid cap from LEGO promo video.
The set has pins on one side of the base and holes on the opposite side so there is intention of the model being able to be modular-attached to another model. As the title of the set indicates, this is a display set, even though LEGO’s propaganda highlights opening doors and a tea room as play features. Well. Okay.
Monastery without figures.
Monastery with figures.
Tea room.
Now, if you were paying attention four pictures back, you would have noticed that Zane is pictured below the cherry tree. And he is pictured there in all the promo shots. And on the box cover. And on the back of the box. And probably in some places of which I am unaware. However, the instructions show Nya in that position on both the cover and the last page of assembly. This is how I have shot the set.
Upon building the model it is immediately evident why Nya is not in that position in all the promo materials. She doesn’t fit. The horns on her helmet are tall and bump into the pink of the tree. So rearranging the positions of the characters is a viable solution. I am also claiming it is fudge number three.
Instructions cover.
Last page of instructions.
The Randolph T. Fielding Absolutely Administrivia Section
Lloyd, Cole, Kai, Nya, and Master of Lightning use previously released 3626 heads. Jay, Zane,and Wu use part 3274. Jay and Zane feature new prints; Wu repeats the print from set 71847.
No printed parts in the set aside from the minifigure elements. There are two stickers.
Summary
If you can make peace with all the fudging going on, this is a nice display piece featuring the original seven ninjas in retconned garb.
Disclaimer
Thanks to LEGO for kindly providing the set for review.
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