Ninjago City (70620) - The First Floor

We finished the first floor over the weekend and had an absolute blast doing it. Lots of cool little features, some very interesting and unique uses of existing designs and some very neat looking stickers.

The first thing that got installed was this loud speaker tower - I am really not sure how else to describe it. It's got a set of loudspeakers facing outwards. I am guessing various shops and businesses would alert the neighborhood of sales or special deals they had going on.

Both mom and I were blown away at the features and the detailing of the 2 mini buildings that make up the first floor. The two buildings seem to feature the 2 parts to a bed and breakfast rental. To the left is a teahouse/dining room while the right room contains a bed and a TV. The two are joined by a pretty rickety looking monkey-bar setup that you have to walk across (at least there is a handrail to help) while the entire floor is reached by a ladder mounted on the side of the maintenance shack. Getting to this bed and breakfast is certainly no walk in the park!

We absolutely adore the neon orange lanterns that hang off the bottom of the teahouse - they are so quintessential asian. As is the circular window of the bedroom that overlooks the sidewalk underneath.

Here we see the same 2 rooms from the rear. Now the bedroom is to the left while the teahouse is to the right. The roof of the maintenance shack is equipped with a bank of solar panels to power the charging station for Sweep. The wide open window area of the tearoom also allows guests to have a great view all around them (though it also allows fishy smells to waft up from the seafood store downstairs ...)

Let's take a closer look at the bedroom. It's a pretty spartan space. There is a doormat at the entrance where you can leave your shoes. Directly to the left side of the entrance (as you are coming in) is a TV with a drawer underneath. Ahead is the bed with a chest of drawers to the side for clothing and whatnot.

One of my favorite things about both of the rooms on the first floor are the sliding doors. Again this is SO Japanese and just reinforces the attention to detail of this set. The door of the bedroom is currently open while that of the teahouse is shut. The doors slide very smoothly on tracks mounted to the floor and ceiling of the entryways.

 Here is the bedroom from a different viewpoint. From this vantage point, you can see that the sleeping area is a mat on the floor. No box spring, no mattress like we are used to in the western world. Sleeping on mats on the ground is very Japanese. Windows line both walls, allowing plenty of natural light to suffuse the area.

And now for the teahouse. It's a cozy little space. Again, there are no chairs but rather mats on the ground for occupants to kneel or sit cross-legged on. There is a doormat at the entrance for footwear and a snug little setup for 2 in the middle of the room. The small table is just big enough for a traditional Japanese tea ceremony and hold a pot and 2 mugs. To the bottom of the room is a vibrant green potted plant that lends some color to the room. I am assuming it's a potted plant anyway ... from this angle, it is difficult to tell but it's actually a green hairpiece. Maybe I am wrong and it is actually a toupee stand?

This view of the tearoom gives a really great view of just how airy and naturally bright the space is. Large windows frame the 2 long lengths of the room and the shutters can be adjusted into any position depending on how bright the occupants want it.

Here we get a look at the tiger painting that adorns the wall - yet another example of some of the really detailed stickers that come with the set.

And finally we have a look at the 2 buildings on the first floor from directly outside. In this closeup of the bedroom, you can see the solar panels that adorn the roof and can see right through the windows to the circular window on the other side.

And here we get a glimpse inside the tearoom, as well as the hidden round window that lies behind the tiger painting on the wall.

Ninjago City (70620) - Fish shop, phone booth and more banners!

Yesterday saw the addition of some "consumer oriented" amenities to our "Chinatown". Namely a seafood store, a walking bridge over the canal and a public phone "booth".

First is the public telephone. I used the term "booth" very loosely as it's really not a booth at all but just part of the outside wall of the seafood store. You'll also notice the colorful orange banner to the left (which was a sticker) as well as some ornamentation that hangs from the roof. I really wish that the roof ornamentation was colored instead of being poo-brown. Even a few small stickers would have really livened it up and made it an extraordinary addition in both color AND form. You can see there is a tight walkway just to the right of the phone. On the left side of that walkway is the seafood store which we shall check out next. On the right side is the maintenance shack that Sweep calls home.

At the present moment, the seafood store is fairly pedestrian. I am not sure if future building will see more activity and color in the space. It sits right on the waterfront, which makes sense as the fisherman has a minimal distance to travel to get his wares from his boat to his shelves.

Back to the street side, we see a set of stairs leading up to the canal bridge. There are a couple of brightly colored banners here, presumably advertising for the seafood store and perhaps some directions on what lies across the bridge.

The bridge itself is nothing too fancy. There are some wrought-iron rings hanging from the bridge as decoration - these are positioned on both sides of the bridge. The bridge is also high enough that the fisherman can pass under it comfortably (we tested!!).

Ninjago City (70620) - Introducing Sweep!

Any decent city needs some way of keeping its streets clean. And in Ninjago City, that is the job of Sweep - the robotic street cleaner!

Here he is perched on the side of the canal and ready for duty. In his right hand, he carries and extended gripper for picking up large pieces of trash - candy wrappers, soda cans, etc. In his left hand is a broom that he uses for sweeping up smaller bit of detritus that can't be picked up. A large straw hat keeps the sun and rain off his delicate electronics. Not shown in the picture is the large back basket he wears, in which he can deposit whatever trash he picks up to take to the disposal center.

When he is not out and about keeping the streets clean, he can be found recharging and carrying out self repairs in his very own maintenance shack. It's a cozy little room that is unobtrusive and fits well into the surrounding landscape.

We got to apply more of the stickers last night, including some very elaborate ones. This is the outside of the maintenance shack - as you can see, the sticker is very detailed and vibrant. It really adds a lot of color and character to the building.

The walls have started going up as well and there is a distinct Japanese feel to the construction. Aside from the very obvious Japanese vibe of the sticker, the white "glass" in the brown frames is distinctly Japanese as is the wooden slat effect of the bottom wall.

Ninjago City (70620) - We're going fishing!

Mum worked really hard on her Lego homework this weekend and finished Chapters 2 and 3. We are still very much laying the foundation for the set but a few notable things that got put in were a cute fishing sampan and the waterway for it to travel and fish along.

The sampan is pretty detailed. You can see what looks like comfortable padded cushion where the fisherman can sit as he waits for a fish to come along. It looks like he is a spear fisherman - which definitely adds more challenge to things! The one thing I couldn't quite figure out was what the portion on the back of the sampan was. Underneath the covering are some gears (which would lead one to believe that it was a motor) but from the rear, it looks much more like a hydrofoil as there is a big fan at the back.

The water detail has some real depth to it thanks to the varying colors of the layer underneath. You'll recall that the areas closed to the "shore" were a lighter shade of green while the deeper sections were either dark green or black.

There is a small bamboo dock nestled into the side of the building where the sampan can dock and the fisherman unload his catch. It can only accommodate one boat at a time so people will need to learn how to share!

Another item of interest that we started on is what I believe to be the elevator. It looks like there are some mechanical components that have been installed at the base of the shaft and the control panel has also been installed.

Something else that we were really impressed with is the sheer detail of the stickers that came with the set. Typically the stickers we see are fairly nondescript but these are super colorful and extremely detailed. We got to put the first 2 on - they look like signage for the canal.

We normally don't apply stickers because in the interests of re-playability, we want to keep the pieces as generic as possible. Often stickers also span more than one piece, which also either necessitates keeping the chunk of pieces of together or going through the messy prospect of trying to remove the stickers. However, in the case of this set, we felt that we had to use the stickers, otherwise we would be missing a lot of the detail and color that really make this set stand out.

In the picture below, you can see the two placards which presumably notify passersby of the entry to the waterway. These are not the most colorful of the stickers but you can definitely see the detail that has gone into them.

Ninjago City (70620) - The Adventure Begins!!

We dug into the set last night and managed to finish Chapter 1 in record time - I think it took us about 1.5 hours. Since this is a new set, the instructions have a red border around each of the new pieces in each step. This made it a lot faster for mom to find the additional pieces and get them in place.

The first thing we built was one of the mini-figs - Kai Garmadon. Never having seen the Ninjago Lego movie, the name really doesn't mean much to us. We re-named the figure Daylin after my sister's fiance. The hair looks a lot like his just after he has woken up and the croissant that he has poised to shove in his mouth is quintessentially Daylin as well.

The first thing we noticed was how compact the build is. The image on the box makes it look quite large and grand but the baseplate that it sits on is no bigger than a regular city module base. From what we can tell though, this building is significantly taller than a regular city building. And in fact, this is backed up with the little history given at the beginning of the instructions. It said that due to crowding issues and lack of real estate, the building had been forced to grow vertically rather than spread horizontally. That is definitely captured well in the set.

Chapter 1 just lays the foundation of the building and there really isn't much to see. The black, dark and light green section to the left looks like it will eventually be the small canal that flow through the area. You can see the lilypads and other water greenery that dot the area.

Ninjago City (70620) - Chinatown!

With the Parisian restaurant finished, mom decided she wanted to up her game and tackle the Ninjago City set next. This was a Christmas gift from my sister and her fiance this year and it's a set that mom has been drooling over for a while. I think the Asian aspect of it particularly appeals to her, along with (of course) the color and what looks to be an amazing amount of detail in the set.

It will be our biggest build yet, coming in at almost 5,000 pieces (4867 to be exact). And I anticipate that it will take us a few months to finish. Mom has recently discovered Prison Break and has been watching that fiendishly. She hasn't even finished watching it through on the first go around and she is already talking about watching it again! I can't say I fault her, I really like the show myself and have watched it 3 times myself ...

Anyway, stay tuned and as soon as we get going on this baby, I'll be documenting it here!

Parisian Restaurant (10243) - Final Thoughts

This set was a really great building experience. Not only was it very detailed but it was colorful and authentic. It would have been nice to have a few more mini figs (the artist and occupant of the second floor apartment, and perhaps a few more customers to fill up the restaurant).

As you can see, it's a very compact build. There is a lot going on in a fairly tight amount of space. The detail is superb - from the decorations on the roofs and windows, to the odd colored bricks on the chimney stack. The restaurant looks very tasteful and elegant with the awning and menuboard, and the roped off front terrace as well as the upstairs terrace complete with potted planters.

Here is a closer shot of the upstairs dining terrace. It really shows off the detailing of the chimney stack. Not only can you see where some of the plaster has been replaced after cracking and peeling off, you also see spots where it has worn through to expose the underlying brick and hasn't been repaired yet. It's a little odd for the entrance to the apartment to be through the dining area but maybe it's the chef who lives there, so he wouldn't need to disturb diners as he made his to and from work.

 

Naturally the detail on the back of the building is not as bold and colorful - but that's the norm for any building, even the ones in real life. Even so, it's decent - instead of a completed blank wall like some real world buildings, this one is pretty ornate. Of course, there are the garbage and recycling bins out back of the restaurant but the artist studio looks particularly good. The large skylight windows along with the colorful flower planters, and even the bright yellow and white awning over the entrance. Each of the back entrances even has a lamp by it so occupants don't go rolling down the stairs when coming or going at night.

All in all, this was definitely a fun build. Hopefully it's the first of many modulars - I am still trying to convince mom that it would be fun to build a city!