I never intended to build this set. By the way, I am talking about Jay’s Elemental Dragon.  I bought it primarily to boost my supply of pearl gold pieces, which in turn was going to add some bling to the Raid Zeppelin (70603). The Zeppelin is predominantly reddish brown, black, dark tan with orange highlights. I wasn’t a fan of the use of the orange in that set, and wanted to use a more metallic option to make the airship look a little more ‘steam punk’.  I understand why orange was used over a more metallic colour: pearl gold is a colour used as trim in the Ninja sets, for their vehicles and dragons, as well as their swords.  The sky pirates skate along with a colour scheme that includes black, brown, dark tan/dark orange and so using orange rather than gold made sense.  It doesn’t mean I have to like it as an example of steampunk airshipness.

And the dragon in this set is covered with bling: the chains, blades, claws, fancy wing trim all in pearl gold. And they should just slot in nicely to the airship. So… Mission almost complete? Possibly if I hadn’t been distracted by the actual build here.

This set has 2 minifigs (Ninja Jay, and Skypirate Cyren)- and a robot monkey ‘Monkey Wretch’- and a total of 350 pieces. The box shows the small pirate flyer taking on Jai, riding on his elemental dragon. Jai’s element is lightning, and the Lightning motif extends across this model.

I appreciate Monkey Wretch’s grappling gun: a chain and hook attached to a stud gun.  It works remakably well.

The flyer is a small, extremely swooshable craft- it is a simple build: just big enough to carry a minifig, and amusingly overpowered with a large multi stud firing weapon on the front. There are a few too many stickers to put on this small part of the set, but they are certainly not essential for the look of the vehicle. This is good, because it took 2 days to find the sticker sheet!

 

The dragon is a large creature: as well as the gold, there is plenty of dark blue and trans medium blue in the head and legs. The legs are more steady than the Elves dragons: supported by click hinges, it is almost twice as long and significantly taller than the Elves fire dragon, which is coming across a little more like a pony next to a draught horse in comparison.  The larger joints allows this dragon to hold post a little more reliably than the smaller models. (to say nothing of the trans light blue bricks in the legs).  The chains hanging from his bridle left me expecting to say that he might ‘…pity the fool…’. Please pardon the gratuitous ’80s reference.

The wings are brick and plate built: the proximal part is on a fixed angle next to the body. The outer wings are based on an a frame plate,consisting of dark blue and trans blue hinge plates ( 1 x 12 with Angled Side Extensions and Tapered Ends) with lightning bolts filling the gaps in between. The outer parts are a little more posable, attached to the body via a small ball joint. I was not expecting to enjoy the effect of the separate flat elements to make the wings as much as I did. There are some stickers that can be used to ‘hype up the lightning aspect of the dragon.  Unfortunately, my sheet was folded upon the bottom of the box, and only found on the 3rd look.

 

As a play feature, there are two of the now not so new spring loaded rocket launchers (with trans blue missiles). The instructions come with the requisite warning not to fire these at anybody’s face.  I can testify that this is a useful instruction to follow.

As well as the several shades of blue (including a number of offset plates in good old classic blue), the highlight of the dragon for me is the double jointed jaw.  Attached to the main part of the head by a pair of droid arms, this gives multiple degrees of freedom for moving the jaw.  The jaw itself is worth a mention: it features Metalbeard’s neck,inverted and in dark blue, with a wispy beard attached. I like it a lot! The double articulation here gives us a wealth of expressions – even without posable eyes.

Compared with the Elves dragons, this is certainly a sterner looking creature: pointy, business like eyes, brick built goodness.  This starts me wondering how I may brick build and elves dragon head… the gears start turning (and inspiration for another post is created.)

The use of bionicle style ball and socket feet, with golden claws enhances the ability to pose the dragon in a stable fashion: it’s the trade off between stability and great looks, but to keeps the size of the feet in check.

I like this set: Blue Ninja, Female Villain, Dragon, Bling and a little glider.  This set is a nice build, and as a blue and gold parts pack, it is also pretty terrific.  I’m giving it an arbitrary four out of five pearl gold claws.  I got it on sale (buy 2, get 50% off the second, so 25% off). The thing that makes me sad here is that I am now pulling it apart for the gold!

Play Well