Ninjago City (70620) - Sushi Anyone?

We've been busy little lego bees over the past few days and last night, we finished off the rooftop sushi bar. It's got a neat sushi conveyor and offers diners a spectacular view over the city and the surrounding areas.

The conveyor moves quite smoothly and is actuated using the translucent orange knob at the center of the conveyor assembly. It would have been cool to have this linked to a power function box so it could turn on its own. Along the bottom of the table is the prep area where the chef can prepare the sushi and sashimi offerings.

The sushi bar's only access is from the elevator, which is a bit of a pain for the occupant of the apartment just outside. Unless he is very athletic and can just vault the wall he would actually have to take the elevator up to access the restaurant.

The menu display is located right by the elevator and is the first thing diners will see.

The set is reaching an impressive height and continues to offer amazing detail in every aspect. Some of our previous sets (which seemed really great at the time) look very plain and boring beside this one.

Ninjago City (70620) - A Very Cramped Apartment

We spent a solid couple of hours legoing last night and got a start on the rooftop level. There is a tiny tiny TINY apartment crammed onto this level. I guess it's pretty typical of a Japanese apartment which tend to be very space conscious.

The small square footage, however, does not detract from the amount of detail that the Lego designers have crammed into the apartment. Virtually every inch of the place is used, whether it's the floor or the walls.

In the below shot, you can see a very compact bunk bed along the far wall. The headboard seems to have a trophy of some sort on it as well as an electronic device - hard to tell what exactly. On the shelf beside, all the occupants clothes have been neatly folded and stacked and on the top shelf are some additional display models. Looks like a humanoid model as well as a car/truck and perhaps a lava lamp?

No apartment would be complete without a TV and there is one stuffed into the corner of the combo kitchen/living room/dining room. There is a microwave mounted on the wall - no stove but then again, who needs to cook when the sushi restaurant is just outside? There is a chair and table crammed up between the bottom bunk and the kitchen counter.

From the outside, the apartment looks very picturesque. There are some Asian designs on the side wall as well as a lattice window to help cool the place down.

 The roof continues the overall Asian look of the set. And of course, there is a satellite so the occupant can enjoy the thousands of channels available!

 The apartment has an ideal location in the city. It's got a great view of the rest of the city and the Japanese Cherry Blossom tree is growing right outside the window. An additional benefit (though not yet built) is the Japanese sushi restaurant which will be located just steps from the front door. Maybe it's the sushi chef that lives here. That would be a nice short commute to work!

Ninjago City (70620) - It's a tree!!

So after a little more building, we did indeed find out what that odd-looking protrusion was from the single room on the 3rd level.

It is a lego representation of the iconic Japanese Cherry Blossom Tree! The strange looking piece that protruded out from the window of the building is actually the trunk (we initially thought maybe it was a cannon although that seemed to be pretty out of place with the rest of the set).

The tree looks quite realistic and I really like the knobby nature to it - with projecting branches jutting this way and that. And it definitely adds more color to what is already an amazingly colorful set.

The completion of the tree signals the completion of the 3rd level of the building. All that is left now is the 4th level (or roof) and the tower that sits above it.