LEGO Ninjago Kai's Elemental Fire Mech 71808 review! You get a lot, for a little

[@owene2530]

The wolf mech actually looks great, very lanky

[@A-Ner2]

so much character in what is essentially a side-build, its my favorite part of the set honestly (still really like the kai mech though)

[@DavidConant]

I oddly like it too especially considering the part count. We need a full sized wolf mech now.

[@EvilLobsterKing]

The Kai mech is simple, but it is really sleek. Feels like theh have arrived at a really nice place for these mid size mechs.

[@Amy-yf9zc]

i think weirdly thin and lanky was the intent for the wolf mech. going for a werewolf vibe

[@jazzbee9857]

It's fascinating how every Ninjago set for the January wave this year is such great value for money except the Egalt set.

[@mintakamothkind]

I actually really like the wolf mech here, it feels less like a mech to me and more like an actual big werewolf. The long arms give it a very monstrous and unique feel to me. I could take or leave Kai's mech, honestly too much of the plain red for my taste, and the "fire" elements just look like lightning bolts to me, because that's what they are.

[@Lordodragonss]

Exactly, and you can put it on all four!

[@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369]

The wolf mech was intentionally made like this, it was based off an old nexo night wolf creature a designer made for a wave that never came, that was meant to look lanky like this so it was just made into a mech. I dont like it much either but its actually fairly true to vision

[@JANGsLEGOreviews]

Yep insider explanations passed from LEGO to help explain & justify the design definitely doesn't change anything for me. I don't like how it looks and it's even more awkward feeling in the hand.

[@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369]

quite fair

[@hikaru_4351]

Darn, Lego is on a roll lately. So many good sets that are also of good value. I haven't felt tempted to buy so many sets in a long time 😅

[@BrandonLinkerz]

I actually like the idea of the pre bent pieces but only downside is that the pre bent pieces limit the movement of the mech, I wish that the pre bent pieces actually move and turn, because that would make the pre bent pieces 10 times better, instead Lego made the pre bent pieces non movable so therefore you can't actually do all that much with playing since there is very little movement with legs and the arms and in most mech sets both the legs and arms.

[@undead.rising]

The wolf Mech looks animalistic, so it's just perfect! I wonder if they have done this Wolf Army on purpose this year to coincide with the return of the Wolf Knight in the medieval set...

[@ark2331]

I actually like the wolf mech a lot, the weird proportions on it and how its suppose to look more like a wolf is way better than all the other look alike mechs

[@heisenberg6142]

This is very nice mech I prefer the mid scale mechs to the massive expensive ones, especially cuz there’s two here

[@YCookieYMe]

Love the way they approached the NINJGAO mechs for this wave and fun gimmicks as well

[@Howlox]

The wolf mech looks cooler than the main mech imo. I love it. Good use of pieces, doesn't feel budget to me, I think some of those choices were very intentional

[@bt1234567892010]

The wolf mech being very lanky looks very skeletal and menacing to me, I could see it being very fast but very fragile and as such having a large mass of them attacking our heroes and being genuinely dangerous.

[@skyborne80]

That's two Nijago sets with mechs (I'm not counting the wolf mech in this set) that I've seen in this wave without thumbs. I hope this isn't going to be a trend in Lego mechs moving forward. They really look much better with the suggestion of a thumb.

[@AldenG]

This really puts last years Battle of Wakanda set to shame.

[@octobotimus]

Honestly the wolf Mech feels like a set you would get back in the 2010’s, which is rather awesome. Minimal pieces stretched to seem large and give kids a larger 1v1 pack.

[@ActionJacksonVideos]

I’m a fan of this set by a lot. I wish there was more color variation for Kai’s mech, but it’s tall and I adore it. The wolf mech feels like a counterpart designed to exploit the bigger mech’s weaknesses, being lightning fast, but at the cost of armor. Since I’m passing in the Egalt Dragon, I’ve gotta wait until March for the matching Lloyd and Nya in this set, which bothers me, but I’ll persevere.

[@eliasbreaux105]

i actually love the wolf mech. it looks so stalky and lanky and cool

[@empatheticrambo4890]

These modular mechs are actually pretty dang neat

[@pewpewdragon4483]

I was gonna say unpopular opinion, but it seems like a rather popular opinion that the wolf mech is actually quite fun. Personally I prefer mechs to be at this size, its not overly built up and massive like all modern lego mechs. All it needed was a bit more parts budget to strengthen its structure and some visual flare pieces or prints/stickers and it would've made for a nice $20 set on its own.

[@Ozkabot]

These medium sized Ninjago mechs are almost there for me but held back a bit by the age range, which is completely fine; I know they're not designed for me. Just talking as somebody brought up on Bionicle G1 I'm missing seeing buildable characters with that kind of poseability & display value that aren't a substantial £70+ purchase.

[@Lordodragonss]

Go get them and mod them!

[@Kepora1]

As a Chima fan, I for one welcome the return of our wolf overlords.

[@TTHBLOX_]

I dont care what people say. These mechs are amazing! I even love the wolf mech

[@BrickHQ]

Pretty good set

[@lbricks7631]

The set was more simplistic up close. Pass for me.

[@nicholassnell3092]

These elemental mech sets are giving some Bionicle 2015 vibes.

[@ItsBrickAstley]

Not gonna lie, while some Ninjago mechs are great, I really miss the Exo-Force era. Still the best LEGO mechs IMHO. But from a kids perspective I can imagine they'd prefer the Ninjago mechs.

[@aarondowd7346]

These mech-heavy waves make it hard to get enough shoulder pauldrons for each ninja

[@starscream7755]

Ninjago is a pretty cool theme

[@warrennewman5325]

Looks amazing set great review jang 👍

[@VolkAus]

It does have me wondering what I would need to do to improves the articulation on these.

[@TyphonMar]

Love the wolf mech.

[@Lordodragonss]

Lego CAN make cheap good looking sets. They just preffer to make everything oversized for cheap wow effect

[@Zenlore6499]

That looks sick!

[@monsteroftheeast1683]

Good review

[@TheOneTrueBeard]

I wish Lego would do some 18+ mechs

[@starscream7755]

might buy this one

[@starscream7755]

cool set

[@lopoa126]

The enemy mech looks skeletal, like the flesh fell off of the mech.

[@EvanMoon]

Jang is the great

[@starscream7755]

I wish my comments would actually show up here

[@felps_4500]

👀

[@jacobtamisari8570]

i feel like the no elbows/knees + limited ankle movement is too much sacrificed for the sake of stability. even for little kids, i wonder how much fun can be found from a build like this that cant easily run, or kneel, or anything like that. and it also looks like lego is phasing out wrists as well as elbows, which is even worse. again, even for little kids, that feels like something that should still be there. especially when elbows and wrists are not used for stability. kids can get action figures with more posability, and i wonder why they wouldnt. if this is for kids, more value can be found in an action figure of a mech that has to take less compromises with shape and parts for strength, and if its for adult collectors, the posing doesnt work well for them either. i dont mind the no knees really, but limiting ankles on top of that, and the removal of wrists seems like too much simplification

[@JANGsLEGOreviews]

Nah if you watch 7-8 year olds playing with mechs 95% of the time you do not see them trying to do the most precise and intricate Instagram collectors' montage poses. Movements are wild, imprecise, and fleeting, focused on fun, action and role playing. It's easy to lose touch with the reality of childhood once you pass it and then project your own completely different viewpoint & experience backwards to a fault. This is why so many TFOLs & AFOLs online instantly and automatically hate on almost non collector level sets, even when it's thoroughly uncalled for. These sets are not designed for us. We can like them if we want, but we shouldn't full-on hate on them if we don't understand the context of their design and intended users.

[@jacobtamisari8570]

@@JANGsLEGOreviews this is very fair, and i agree with you. I don't hate these sets either. more mechs = more better. I do remember very vividly when i was very small getting the original hero factory sets, and really disliking them not having elbows and knees, and much preferring the season 2 onwards versions that had the extra joints. i think the lack of knees and elbows are fine overall, but limiting ankle and wrist mobility really does take more away than it provides. but again, more mechs = more fun, and i do think the mechs look really cool, and the customisation options that are built into this wave is great.

[@The_AGL_Group]

Just saying, when *I* was 7-8 I was playing with the Toa Inika, and having all of that articulation was a definite boon to active play and allowed for dramatic moments in addition to inelegant battling. That said, I understand the stability concerns between true constraction and Lego mechs are different, but having raised a cousin on Hero Factory and Chima when he was that age, he definitely wasn't just clumsily bashing them together. I get that we can subconsciously gaslight ourselves into misremembering our actual desires and habits when we were younger, but there's a big difference between 4-5 year old kids and 7-8 year old kids, growth is exponential. Nobody's complaining that 4+ mechs are super stiff.

[@The_AGL_Group]

This all said I do agree that we need to admit that normal retail Ninjago is firmly for children and we should accept it's firmly designed to be a toy and not a hobbyist buildable figure. The bigger problem is probably that Constraction refugees have either used Ninjago or Marvel mechs/figures to scratch their itch and they're evaluating them from that standpoint than relative to something like Exo-Force.

[@JANGsLEGOreviews]

Oh people *definitely* do complain that 5+ and 4+ mechs are too stiff, calling them "trash," "waste of resources," "proof LEGO is out of touch" etc. There's also plenty of the "Well I happen to know a 3 year old who can do calculus so I know I'm right and LEGO should include 13 pts of articulation and a Technic mechanism in every mech otherwise there's no point." I exaggerate only slightly. I really fight hard against that mentality because it's pervasive and counterproductive. Nobody seems to accept or care about how much hands-on research & play testing LEGO does with kids in their target age ranges every single season.