REVIEW : 9551 Kendo Cole

[daro]

Hi everyone, just thought I would do a review on this Ninjago booster pack since it's my first Ninjago buy. The Ninjago theme never really appealed to me although I remember wanting the old ninja sets when I was young. Well, I saw this booster pack at a reasonable price and the main thing that attracted me was the Kendo mask! Alright here goes

Name : Kendo Cole

Set no. : 9551

Theme : Ninjago

Release : 2012

Parts : 28

Minifig : 1

Price : RM19.90, US$4.99, GBP3.99, EUR5.19

Front

Back

Nice attractive polybag design on both front and back. I guess minus the card packaging and spinner explains the cheaper price.

Contents

*I didn't open the pack of cards, but if anyone wants to see what cards are inside let me know

All parts in one bag.

Instructions & advertisements

Parts & Weapons

Really weird weapon designs shown in the instructions but another thing I'm happy with is the chains included plus the lightsaber handles in black!= cool nunchucks!!I know the parts are used for the spinners but it'll be useful for other MOCs since I don't plan on getting those spinners.

New Parts:

Front

I don't know if this is a new part but it sure is new to me.

Back

Minifig:

Cole with super thick eyebrows

With so many choices of weapons, obviously only the kendo stick is suitable for KENDO Cole

Verdict

Price : 9/10 - Legos here(Malaysia) are usually twice the price of US prices, so it's almost the same price for this

Minifig : 9/10 - Nice face print and of course the awesome Kendo mask!

Parts : 9/10 - As mentioned above, the nunchucks that can be made from the parts and wide selection of weapons to use

It's a really cool pack to start with if you haven't had any Ninjago sets before this. Some useful parts and weapons at your disposal too! Would totally recommend this to every non-Ninjago collector!

*This is my first review or mini-review so all comments and advice are much appreciated! Thanks for looking!

Edited February 11, 2012 by Rufus
Indexed

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for this review 'daro', Kendo Cole looks fantastic....even if you don't have spinners and you just want the figure in armour and those cool weapons....oh, yeah and some parts too !

Brick On Review On Spin On 'daro' !

[Aanchir]

Great review! I've seen some pics where the printing on the Kendo mask is slightly off-register, but yours looks perfectly aligned so I guess that isn't a problem with all copies of this set.

The silver 6M chains, the sai, and the golden chainsaw blade would definitely be the selling points for this sets IMO, since Kendo Cole isn't by any means a rare figure in the 2012 wave of sets.

I suppose for kids interested in the Spinjitzu game, the cards could be a selling point, but they're not all that remarkable as far as I can tell. They can be seen here if you click "Images". The Kendo Cole character card has somewhat mediocre stats, and can't use the Liquefy or Rock Force cards also included unless Flash'n'Burn is played first. So the intended strategy seems to be to use Flash'n'Burn (when holding a golden weapon, of course) to raise your Fire and Earth SP, then use Rock Force to make use of the parts in the booster pack. Of course, the thing about a booster pack like this is that it pretty much counts on the fact that you will also be buying a spinner set, hence the presence of the "Backup Plan" card that while usable has little strategic value using this set's cards by themselves.

I think I'm a little old to totally get into the swing of the Spinjitzu game, but having played with Pokemon cards, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and Beyblade battle tops in my childhood, I can understand the Spinjitzu game's appeal. I can also respect it as TLG's first attempt at a trading card promotion that actually integrates the LEGO toys in a meaningful way-- certainly far better than the Knights' Kingdom II cards, although like those the value of these cards to an AFOL is probably in the lovely character art and not the gameplay component.

[Lordofdragonss]

I think I'm a little old to totally get into the swing of the Spinjitzu game, but having played with Pokemon cards, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and Beyblade battle tops in my childhood, I can understand the Spinjitzu game's appeal. I can also respect it as TLG's first attempt at a trading card promotion that actually integrates the LEGO toys in a meaningful way-- certainly far better than the Knights' Kingdom II cards, although like those the value of these cards to an AFOL is probably in the lovely character art and not the gameplay component.

Me and my friends pretty enjoy this game, it greatly combines cards and spinners. And just add some your own minifigs and make some cards by yourself and you get even better game :D

Thanks for the great review- I'm sure that I will try to get all boosterpacks, just for pieces :D

Edited January 10, 2012 by Lordofdragonss

[TheLegoDr]

Thanks for the review. For some reason I am liking these new Ninjago figures. I don't care for any of the sets and do not plan on spinning in the future.

This looks like a good figure and piece pack, if equipping an army for other purposes.

Keep up the reviews. We'll keep reading them.

[Brickmamba]

Good looking figure, will pick one up if i see it the shops, thx for the review

[daro]

thanks for all the comments and insight!I would definitely try to improve on giving more opinions. The kendo actually has a very small part where the paint was not covered so I guess it's not such a big deal! looking forward to doing more reviews!! thanks again!

[Esurient]

Thanks for the great review. The only reason why I am interested in Ninjago is because of their minifigs. These booster series are a great way of collecting Ninjago minifigs without buying the sets. Does anyone know where these booster packs are made in?

[daro]

I dunno if the photo is clear enough but if you can see the back part of the packet it says components made in Denmark,Sweden,Mexico and Czech rep, all pretty high quality parts which is another great selling point!

[Huntleyfx]

I think I will definitely pick up this, it even makes a great addition to my old-school Ninjas.

[Ceroknight]

Thank you for the review!

I will probably pick this up, but I don't think it's worth two CMFs

[CptMugwash]

Thanks for the review, I'll be keeping my eye out for these in my local toy store, I'd like a couple of those masks and those sais are pretty cool. Also that golden chainsaw blade would make a cool zombie killing weapon in an apocalypse rpg.

Cheers.

[sharky]

Not a bad mix of parts and a decent minifigure. I'll be sure to pick it up.

[GeluNumber1]

I may get one fo these Kendo Packs if I stumble upoun some extra cash sometime. Doesn't seem like a good action figure, but the parts are sweet.

[the enigma that is badger]

Minifig:

Cole with super thick eyebrows

Kendo Cole . . . or Bogden from Breaking Bad?

[LEGOman273]

I wish that the Lightsaber hilt were gold. That would be :wub_drool:

[just2good]

Nice review!

I like the new idea of these Ninjago booster packs... I just wished they were $3.

There are some cool pieces in this one, including the Kendo helmet and the round 2x2 brick with grille.

[Or2Me2]

Does anyone know what the round brick with the ridges is used for?

[Darth Nihilus]

Does anyone know what the round brick with the ridges is used for?

Part of the spinner game, you put it on the bottom of the spinner between the 2 x 2 curved inverted tile and the spinnner to make your spinner higher than the opponent's to give you an advantage.

[Or2Me2]

Part of the spinner game, you put it on the bottom of the spinner between the 2 x 2 curved inverted tile and the spinnner to make your spinner higher than the opponent's to give you an advantage.

Thanks, dude!

[Im a brickmaster.]

I always did like the Ninjago theme as a whole, and I have been thinking about getting this

pack for the weapons and spinner parts. As for the game, I do actuly like it and it's a little

cooler then it sounds.

[LEGOman273]

I wish that the Lightsaber hilt were gold. That would be :wub_drool:

Wub-Drooling is in order.

:wub_drool:

Edited April 5, 2012 by LEGOman273

[Aanchir]

Wub-Drooling is in order.

:wub_drool:

Gold ones will be included in 9570 NRG Jay, 9572 NRG Cole, and 9591 Tool Pack (NRG Kai vs. Chokun, which has two of them), so if you're really itching for gold lightsaber handles and don't mind buying spinner sets, you won't have to wait more than a month or two!