It’s been a busy few months. Too busy perhaps. Over the Easter break, I opted to build a LEGO Set without the pressure of knolling and photographing every step of construction under studio conditions. I have been waiting for a chance to put together 71819 Dragon Stone Shrine from the moment it arrived from Denmark, but other things have been getting in the way. So I waited for the family to go to bed, and sat down at the table and started to build.

So, how did it go? Read on to find out…

The Building Experience

Now there are a few things to bear in mind when starting to build a set with over 1200 pieces, designed for older builders (13+): this won’t be an hour to build. In my hands, it is probably closer to four. As such, sitting down at 11:00pm on Friday night was possibly more than a little ambitious, especially when we had people coming to visit the following day.

But I sat down and started to build. Bricks fell together with a degree of ease. The build was paced well – minifigures appearing gradualy as the build progressed, as well as little gasps of joy when I realised what individual steps were doing.

We start with a large rock on a narrow plinth. I was intrigued by some elements incorporated the base of the build which were revealed to allow that rock to tilt one way or the other: just perfect for the dramatic battle.

We moved down and across to extend the base – initially foundation bricks followed by the transparent blue tiles setting up a serene water feature. The printed koi tiles tiles completed the effect. The base is tidied up around the edges and then stretched out.

Somewhere around this time, common sense prevailed. I looked at a clock, and was stunned to see that two hours had gone by. It was one o’clock.. Perhaps a little later than I had been planning. That time just slipped by, and I stopped because I was away I was getting a bit tired, not because I was forcing on regardless.

I am grateful that I didn’t get to that point where I was having micronaps inbetween reading the next step and finding the piece. Sometimes, during high review season, or struggling against a deadline this happens, and I wake up feeling as if I have developed a mild case of whiplash, as I drift off to sleep, only to be woken up by the sensation of my head snapping back..

The next morning,I was up early to finish the model. Well, not too early. There was coffee to drink, breakfast to eat and time to spend with the family. But I was now on a bit of a schedule. Still, I set out not to rush, so much as let myself roll with the build, wondering at the way the

The rocky body of the Dragon Shrine is essentially a SNOT Core, wrapped around a 2x2x16 brick. Around the outer service, we attach small modules which build up the texture on the surface. The rocks are predominantly medium and dark stone grey, with some olive green added in on undersides particularly to imply a mossy effect. A reddish brown root, built up of maxaroni – 2×2 curved elements – as well as a tail element wraps around the rocky base.

The dragon’s body also conceals two rooms: one demonstrates a collection of scrolls, while as we build upwards, we have another room set up for a tea ceremony.

The ‘dragon’s ‘back’ is made of opposing 6x6x62 Cockpits in dark grey. The upper one conceals a small altar containing a book of undefined purpose.I’m sure we will learn more next week when Seadon 2 of Dragons Rising drops.

This altar is revealed when you push on one of the books on the shelf in the tea room.

The floor of this room extends out and down, forming an arch wick leads from the stream to the library. As we build it out, we add the right hand stony claws to the top of the arch- made possible by the 1×1 with round bar, which can be rotated once placed into position. The left arm is connected by a small ball joint at the shoulder, but is otherwise fixed. We also extent the tree out, piece by piece.

As the top half of the build continues, The left hand side of the shrine – the part you see in most of the publicity shots – is stony, while the right hand side opens up to the rooms, and starts to incorporate a tree, with light bright purple foliage and blossoms. while the left has the stone greys and mossy green palette, the tree is a mixture of dark orange, reddish brown and dark brown.

Finally, we construct the dragon’s head: predominantly in medium stone grey. We add the lower jaw, and complete a trickle of water, running from the Dragon’s head to the stream below.

Time to put the model on show

With the model completed, I put it away, and reconnected with the family. The next morning, I was up at 6:30. One of the great things about this time of the year is that sunrise occurs at around 7:30am. And this Easter, it was low tide at the local beach around 10am. But also…it was a verrrry low tide. So on Sunday morning, I put the LEGO in a box, picked up my tripod and camera, and wandered down to the beach.

Now, I could go into how the light was a bit dull one day, so I returned the next as well, talk about the low tides as well as rocks and pools. I would also like to reassure you that I passed on all relevant warnings to the sailors and shepherds on viewing the red sky. But perhaps I should start highlighting some of the aspects of the set.

The Minifigures:

To start, there are 6 minifigures included: Lloyd, dressed as a Ninja Master, Kai and Nya – both with headbands/hair rather than hoods. We have Wu Sensai as well as the new Elemental master of wind – Euphrasia. She has both a white hood, as well as the hair featured in the CMF female programmer from Series 18. Finally, Lord Ras returns, in all black. We have seen him in some of the other sets we have looked at recently. I found it particularly challenging to capture the detail of this figure.

The Silhouette

As the sun rose, it was possible to capture the model in silhouette. A little manipulation of the sky enhanced the effect. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a good angle of the whole model, with Lloyd’s head not getting mixed in with the foliage of the tree, while he took a seat next to Sensei Wu – but a little movement of the camera , and branch, got his head clear.

I returned the next morning to be stunned by some brighter, warmer light, although the morning was hazy to start.

Reflections

I had experimented with some reflections of the model on the first day – on the second, it is where I started.

Kai and Nya Drama

While Day 1 had seen me focus on Ras vs Kai, It was Nya’s day on the second. I sometimes imagine these epic battles in Ninjago happening under a dramatic purple or orange sky. Sometimes, but not always.

More Minifigures

Finally, some generic Hero shots.

In Conclusion

As a builder, this set has a lot to offer: I love sets which work hard to demonstrate useful building techniques for landscaping. I am in awe of the design team’s ability to incorporate a sculpture in that landscape. The amount of detail that was incorporated into the rooms is remarkable, and the play features are a lot of fun.

The range of minifigures is terrific. Characters old and new, and while some torsos are repeated across the range of sets this year, we also have some new figures, particularly with Wu Sensai, and Euphrasia, and while Master Lloyd appears one other time this year – so far – he has not previously had the golden ceremonial shoulder pads.

I am normally happy to take a few minifigures, or maybe a small vehicle down to the beach, particularly early in the morning. This is, however, the first time I have brought a large, location based set down to the rock pools, and taken most of my images there.

The build itself was serene, with lots of interesting building techniques, terrific sculptural detail as well as play spaces withing the build. It has been designed as a 13+ build. Targeting that age where LEGO might be starting to become less interesting to play with, and hopefully, providing some inspiration for those kids to stick at it. It is certainly more challenging than the typical Ninjago set that I have put together in the last few years, and the final result is sublime: a relatively small footprint, with great detail, and some fun along the way.

Chasing the morning sun is always a challenging exercise. will the light work today? Will it be gray and filtered, or will a little of that warm light that makes it ‘Golden Hour’ shine through?

I am happy to award it 4.5 arbitrary Praise units out of a possible 5. If you are an older ninjago fan, you will love it. If you are a fan of landscape builds, designer Lee Chi Wing presents you with plenty to think about. If you love toy photography, this set offers so much! But most importantly, if you just let the building flow, you will find your self isolated from the rest of the world, and might just find a little inner peace.

What do you think of this set? I’d love to know your thoughts – why not share them below.

LEGO Ninjago set 71819 Dragon Stone Shrine is now on sale at LEGO.com, and wider retailers. It has a recommended retail Price of AUD 179.99/USD 119.99/ £104.99/ €119.99/ CAD169.99. Click on this link to see the set at your local LEGO.com.

This set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!