The Ninjago theme has a great track record for mechs and dragons. Combine those things with some great colors and you have a very enticing set. How could I pass up all that sand green and a great selection of minifigs?

The contents don’t disappoint. A lot of sand green elements, but a surprising amount of earth green and black too.

The sticker sheet deserves a closer look. I won’t be applying them to my build, but these look like they’ll be great for sci-fi builders. The faux-asian characters and metallic gold print are super! There is a great control panel in there too, sized just right for a double-cheese.

The movie version of the Green Ninja is in the first bag. He’s identical to the one that I found last week in my 70618 Destiny’s Bounty.

So many interesting elements in this set. Most of these elements have only appeared in a couple other sets and are new this year. The curved panels and wedge bricks are new in sand green. Those warm gold plates are particularly exiting.

The first bag builds the dragon’s chest. A lot of very sturdy building here. There are jet engines hiding under the hinged panels.

Bag two gives us Charlie, one of Garmadon’s mooks. These guys will be useful for all kind of modern and sci-fi builders, as the torso decorations look like a fairly generic tactical kit. His fish is a ridiculous weapon, but I approve of all the new light royal blue fish elements.

The back is more of the same. I like the detail of the carabiner hanging on the harness.

Again, a lot of uncommon elements here. Those two-axis click hinges are new in all-black, certainly a boon for mecha builders.

While assembling the second bag I found this excited word balloon. I guess that there has been some confusion about how to assemble those hinges. Kind of distracting.

The second bag builds the back half of the torso and the dragon’s front legs. I can’t say that I’m in love with the legs. Those plates at the top seem awkward to me, but I’m not sure that tiles would have been better.

The Master Wu in bag three is the same as all the other sets in this wave. The new Garmadon is great. As usual, he uses a secondary torso (that won’t fit onto legs) on top of a regular torso to achieve his two sets of arms. That massive helmet is new for the movie sets. He dark blue cloth robes to finish off the look.

More great uncommon elements. That warm gold element was last used as part of the 70734 Master Wu Dragon!

The third bag builds out the tail and adds the back legs. There it  geared knob above the hind legs to make the tail lash. This guy is getting long.

The last bag has another batch of fun elements. That translucent green element is intended to be a HUD and I can’t wait to see it in more cockpits. The two elements that make up the dragon’s muzzle are unique to this set. The warm gold bar-end elements are new in that color and should facilitate all kinds of lovely brass piping in steampunk builds.

The last bag gives us the muscular neck (with cockpit) and head. I like the purple elements in the mouth, contrasting nicely with the sand green. The designers have used a number of elements in the head that were also in the dragon head prow on Destiny’s Bounty. The visual continuity works.

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A lot of great details on the model. This is a very swooshable model and the play value should be high for the ‘kids’ out there. On top of that it makes a lovely display model and mine is joining some of my other favorites on the shelf of dragons.

All in all, a great set. Even as a parts pack, this one wouldn’t disappoint.

Keep building and enjoy!