REVIEW: 70752 Jungle Trap

[WhiteFang]

Hello everyone,

It has been a very long while since I last visited the LEGO Ninjago theme. Time flies and LEGO Ninjago is now at the fourth year of their release since its inception in year 2011. I am always fond of Ninjago storyline and occasionally, I will get myself immense into the theme from time to time. Well, I don't follow closely of their story since they moved onto the Stone Army, but before all of those, I was definitely watching all of the cartoon episodes in the first two seasons and it kind of went into a hiatus for me.

I wasn't expecting that I will be collecting the new LEGO Ninjago 2015 until my wife and I saw the new set designs without even watching the new season. We are somehow attracted by the striking bold colours of the box design and we simply couldn't resist not buying them. In the end, we bought some of the recent new Ninjago releases ranging from the smallest set to some mid-range sized sets as well. I hope to be able to continue sharing my thoughts in this review as I continue. Without further ado, let me show you the simple fun of this set.

Name: 70752 Jungle Trap

Theme: LEGO System / Ninjago

Year: 2015

Pieces: 58

Minifigs: 2 minifigures

Price: USD N.A, GBP 5.99, EURO 6.99, SGD $12.90

Resources: Brickset, BrickLink

Stage a tense Tournament of Elements duel!

Let battle commence in the Tournament of Elements! Team up with Kai in his unique tournament outfit against evil Anacondrai warrior Krait. Stage a hand-to-hand duel with Kai’s sword and Krait’s skull axe. Avoid the trap step, which triggers 2 slashing swords, and get to the double Jade Blade first to win the bout! Includes 2 minifigures with assorted weapons and accessories: Kai and Krait.

• Includes 2 minifigures with assorted weapons and accessories: Kai and Krait

• Jungle Trap features a double Jade Blade, tropical leaf decorative elements and a trap step with moving swords

• Weapons include Kai’s sword and Krait’s skull axe

• Accessories include Krait’s skull helmet

• Kai is wearing his unique tournament outfit

• Take on evil Krait with Kai

• Don’t tread on the trap step!

• Get to the Jade Blade first to win the duel

• Recreate your favourite scenes from the NINJAGO Masters of Spinjitzu™ TV show

• Jungle Trap measures over 2” (7cm) high, 2” (6cm) wide and 5” (13cm) deep

An original box image of the 70752 Jungle Trap

Back view of the original box image of the 70752 Jungle Trap

Let the battle commence in the Tournament of Elements!

This is the smallest set in the 2015 LEGO Ninjago release. The Ninjago theme happened to see the release in Europe and Asian region as of January 2015. This duel scene feature a portion of Tournament of Elements where you are able to see the brave Kai springing in action to take on the enemy and gain an important weapon in his possession. Well, I have not seen any of the new episodes yet even though I really wish I am able to relate this story plot with this set design. In less than 60 bricks, I think there are some decent fun within this set which can actually provide a good sampling as to whether you will enjoy this theme and the characters design as it is.

The content of the sealed box

The sealed box comes with two mint packages and an instruction manual to guide the user to build up the set. After the building is completed, these are the remaining spare parts which include an additional red half-ninja wrap or mini mask that is an useful minifigure accessory. Once you have opened the packets, I will immediately poured and mixed all of the elements together. I also managed to identify some of the useful elements. The weapons accessories especially the new tan scimitars are good stockade for your own assembling and customisation of minifigures, while the foliage is good for landscaping.

The main characters - Kai and Krait

These are the two main minifigures characters. Firstly, let's show Kai who is the hot-headed red ninja. This design seems to appear in three sets so far, including a polybag and a supposedly store-exclusive 70756 Dojo Showdown set. Kai is armed with his golden katana and seen with his red mini-mask which I believe is a new designed element. His hairpiece is made up of slightly tougher rubber and personally I am fond of his messy hair appearance. His clothing seems lesser now and perhaps is due to the hot tropical jungle. The colour scheme of his outfit still stay true to his fundamental fire element.

While, our new evil counterpart is a guy named Krait. Krait is an Anacrondrai soldier. He is one of Master Chen's henchmen who has been transformed into a human-Anacrondrai hybrid. He is a nasty fighter who is totally devoted to his Master's cause. He seems to be a fairly common minifigures and I do mixed up with his other evil counterparts such as the rest including Sleven and Kapau. Geez, their colour schemes and outfit is rather close resemblance to one another. He wield a skull axe to take down his foes. This guy also have a new snake craved helmet with the tattooed snake prints on the muscular body.

You can take a closer look at their outfits with their weapons attached. There are also back-printing behind their bodies as well which add good deals onto the character designs.

Front view of the Jungle Trap

This is the completed built of the Jungle Trap. It form a platform to the placement of the double Jade Blade (one of the four priced weapons that the Ninjas are fighting for) which look like a small temple shrine, hidden behind the jungle foliage. Obviously, it won't be easy for Kai to reach it despite of just a few raised steps. Because once Kai stepped onto it, something nasty will happen to him. The design of the trap wasn't very effective. No doubt, the dual scimitars are well-hidden behind the jungle foliage. It was supported by technic pins at the back that held the scimitars together. There is a temporary gap being raised for the 1x2 grey brick, where the brown flat tile is disguised as a wooden step. By right, if you are able to depress it, the trap will spring and sliced the person into halves. Unfortunately, the trap wasn't so responsive. It requires a lot of adjustment to get it right and it is abit hard to describe this experience across. Basically, each time you spring the trap, you will need to adjust carefully to ensure that the trap is being effective.

Side view of the Jungle Trap

Back view of the Jungle Trap

Engaging in battle through hand-to-hand duel

A clash of weapons with the double Jade Blade and Skull Axe

To conclude, I love the simplicity of this set. In actual fact, I am getting this because of the useful parts being found in such an affordable price tag. You are able to get two very decent minifigures and at the same time, you could be able to see how the new evil baddies will look like in the new storyline. I think it is good that this set is inexpensive and this is a good draw for it.

Summary review

Playability: 5/10 (The trap could improve further as it will need additional time to refine the trap function.)

Design: 7/10 (With limited amount of bricks, I felt it did a good illustration of such a small duel scene and the placement of the double Jade Blade.)

Price: 9/10 (Price is definitely very reasonable as compared to other small LEGO sets in general.)

Overall: 7/10 (Nice set in general and I could definitely recommend you to get it if you are into this theme.)

I gave it a "4" based on my Review Score Card. What about yours?

I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are strongly welcomed.

Pictures can be found in My Flickr.

[Athos]

I've got to get that snake helmet for a Serpentor figure.

Steve

[TheBrickPal]

Wonderful review! A bit upset that these sets won't come out until March in the US, but at least there are other themes I can buy from for now.

[Arkanta974]

Good review ! Not a bad set for the price. Hope Lego give us more set like this

This set reminds me the set ninja ambush in 2011.

[Peppermint_M]

I too was getting really excited by the new sets. Rebooted didn't really grab me, but this and a lot of the other sets are really good. Thanks for the review.

[WhiteFang]

I've got to get that snake helmet for a Serpentor figure.

A good reference for the Serpentor indeed. This should not be too hard for you to get since this accessory is made available in polybag and in this smallest set.

Wonderful review! A bit upset that these sets won't come out until March in the US, but at least there are other themes I can buy from for now.

At the very least, you could save up and get other sets first, before the big wave made its way in March.

This set reminds me the set ninja ambush in 2011.

Yes yes. I agree that there are some similarities.

I too was getting really excited by the new sets. Rebooted didn't really grab me, but this and a lot of the other sets are really good. Thanks for the review.

Thanks Peppy. I am glad to share this in your forum. Same here, the reboot version didn't caught my interest at all. The only set that interest me last year, is the Battle for Ninjago City.

[Lady K]

Thanks for the great review. I hadn't really planned on any sets from this theme as other themes have my attention (and money), but now I think I need to look into this more.

[TheLazyChicken]

Great review! This one does remind me from the one from 2011 too.

[Lord Tyrus]

I will hapily buy this set when I see it, though I'm not in a hurry to go and order one. The minifigs are very nice! Damn you LEGO, 2015 is burning through my wallet!

[lightningtiger]

Thanks 'Fangy' for this review......only the minifigs make the set worth sadly.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Great review - I actually bought the set last week, primarily for the minifigs and the Jade blade.

I'd rate the playability a bit higher - otherwise I agree with WhiteFang's findings.

[EverythingisAwesome]

That was a great review, but some pictures were blurry.

[Stelario]

Finally some nice ninjago set. You have some "real" enemy you can use in MOC not robots that don't fit anywhere.

And with this price looks like good way of getting nice pieces for collection. If i find it on discount probably will buy whole shelf.

[AmperZand]

Thanks for the great review and pictures, Fangy!

I bought Jungle Trap yesterday, mostly for Krait, the snake cultist minifig. I think he needs a cape and a different weapon, but I really like his printing and skull headdress.

I appreciate that the characters on Kai's gi aren't supposed to be any real language, but even as made up characters, they look upside down. Maybe they're supposed to be read by an opponent who's been thrown by Kai.

[Aanchir]

I appreciate that the characters on Kai's gi aren't supposed to be any real language, but even as made up characters, they look upside down. Maybe they're supposed to be read by an opponent who's been thrown by Kai.

I don't know if they have any real-world meaning, but they are the characters that since 2011 have been featured on the costumes of the individual Ninja. From top to bottom are the characters featured on the costumes of (from top to bottom) Kai, Cole, Jay, and Lloyd. So here on the new "tournament outfits", they represent the Ninja's team in the tournament.

[LegendsOfNinjago]

@Anachir I beileve they are of some asain origin, Skylor's symbol translates to "six" or "large"

[Alexander The Great]

Great review! I'm looking forward to buy this set.

[BearHeart]

I just picked this set up today. You get a good assortment of pieces for the price plus some nice figs. I'll definitely get multiples of this set plus the Lava Falls one.

[horizon]

Got this set today. It has a nice vibrant colour tone in it.

[Hive]

I'm not usually into Ninjago (in fact, I only ever bought 1 other Ninjago set) - but was intrigued by the looks of this Krait figure. He'll make a great evil sorcerer for my Castle lineup!

However... after buying and assembling this set, I noticed that the print on his legs was blurry and faded and did not look nearly as sharp as in pictures of the set. I've never experienced something like this with any of the many other figures I've bought through the years.

Has anyone else had this issue with this particular set?

[darthzane321]

this one is my favourite of the four small sets