Review - 70591 Kryptarium Prison Breakout

[makoy]

I’m back and this time I got a Ninjago set to review. This is my second EuroBricks review so let’s get it on!

Overview

Name: 70591 Kryptarium Prison Breakout
Theme: LEGO System / Ninjago
Year: 2016 (2H)
Pieces: 207
Minifigures: 5
Price: USD 19.99 / EUR 19.99 / GBP 17.99 / SGD 39.90 / MYR 99.90
Resources: Brickset & Bricklink

Quote

 

Team up with Kai to rescue Zane from Kryptarium Prison where he is being held alongside bad guys Captain Soto and the 4-armed Giant Stone Warrior. This action-packed model includes a drop-down main entrance gate, 2 prison cells (1 with an explode-function door), an escape route through the toilet, plus a table with a catapult function, hidden treasure map and shuriken weapon. Includes 5 minifigures.

• Includes 5 minifigures: Zane in prison outfit, Kai in Skybound outfit, Giant Stone Warrior with 4 arms and prison outfit, Captain Soto with prison outfit and a prison guard.
• Kryptarium Prison Breakout features a drop-down main entrance gate, 2 prison cells (1 with an explode-function door that is activated by turning the red telephone), a toilet escape route, and a security camera-style element.
• Pull or push the toilet through the wall to create a hole for the Titanium Ninja to escape.
• Also includes a buildable table catapult with a bread roll element to launch and start a food fight, plus a hidden treasure map and shuriken weapon.
• Weapons include Kai's golden sword, 2 golden shurikens, plus a spear and a red crowbar attached to the back of the toilet.
• Accessory elements include the prison guard's mug and handcuffs.
• Recreate and role-play epic scenes from the NINJAGO™: Masters of Spinjitzu TV show.
• This set offers an age-appropriate building experience for ages 7-14.
• Kryptarium Prison Breakout measures over 5” (15cm) high, 9” (23cm) wide and 3” (9cm) deep.

 

Introduction

The day I saw the official images after its announcement I knew that I will be getting this playset. Kryptarium Prison Breakout includes 5 minifigures and it has relatively good amount of system bricks and plates to be considered as good parts donor.

Before I go into more details, let’s look at the box art at the back and the sides.



Inside we get 2 numbered bags, an instruction booklet and 1 sticker sheet.

 

Bag #1 contents

Bag #2 contents

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the sticker sheet because I rarely apply stickers. In this review, I won’t be applying them.

 

#1 is supposed to be a “seal” for the prison. I can’t find any concept art for the show if this dragon actually exists. Even after rewatching the Ninjago TV episodes, nowhere it is hinted that Kryptarium is guarded by dragons. This could be just one of those artist’s decision to include random dragon art.

#2 depicts a map of the escape route from Kryptarium Prison to Tiger Widow Island.

#3 is the plan showing how to break out off the prison via toilet using a crowbar… it's funny that the designers needed to supply this sticker to make it more obvious  what the plan is.

 

Minifigures

We get 5 minifigures which is so awesome for the size of this set. There is Kai in his Skybound Gi outfit, Zane in prison uniform, Captain Soto in prison uniform, “Giant” Stone Warrior in prison uniform and a lonesome prison Guard who thinks he is cool with those sunglasses on. 


 

At the time of its release, this set is the cheapest way to get Zane’s titanium hair. Another compliment is the choice to include a gold scabbard for 2 swords because I don’t like it when the designers leave out the armour accessories in smaller sets. Just how expensive is that accessory to be removed when TLG can include a few more extra pieces that you rarely even use? So, I so am happy that Kai has a gold scabbard for his swords.

If I need to nitpick on the minifigures - I wish that LEGO included a gold hook for Captain Soto as well as his pirate torso instead of the prison outfit.  The “Giant” Stone Warrior is so small compared to the TV show version. With this price point I am even surprised they managed to squeeze in an extra Prison Guard with a generic headpiece. I just hope they included the right uniform colour because in the TV show the guards wore sand yellow (BL: dark tan) uniforms. 

 

Build 

The first build is a small table that can catapult the bread roll into the air. Underneath is a brick yellow (BL: tan) 2x2 tile with a map sticker that I didn’t apply, as well as a shuriken.

It’s a fun small build and is great for launching anything you fancy for a good prison fight.

The main build is the facade of the prison which has a passing resemblance to the older sets 70756 Dojo Showdown and 2504 Spinjitzu Dojo.

Those who watches the Ninjago TV show would know how big the Kryptarium prison is in-universe so this is a very small representation of what Kryptarium Prison is supposed to be. Even if you buy 20 boxes of this set I doubt you can put them all together to create a full-scale Kryptarium Prison. Therefore, this size is very reasonable for the price of what we paid for.

I didn’t expect this set to contain any unique or interesting pieces because I wasn’t looking for a complex build since we already have 5 minifigures. It’s a small playset packed with play features. Those who are looking for a fun building experience-- you just won’t find it from this set. 

That is not to say there is nothing to highlight from this set -- I find the sliding drop-down gate in the middle cleverly built. I think kids will enjoy sliding the door up and down with ease. It also uses the top roof as an anchor to hold the gate from sliding down accidentally. In addition, the prison cell build uses hinges so you can swivel the prison cells to your preferred angle.

Security cameras in real life are generally dull, black and not brightly coloured but the one included in this set is blue -- most likely to highlight this play feature to kids.

This is how the guard had imagined the job... Easy peasy.

But in reality --

The toilet build in one of the prison cell is amusing. If I am not mistaken it is also the first toilet to ever appear in any Ninjago set.

Picka-poo!

Hello guys, I think I broke something...

Of course this is not a complete review without the extra pieces. Even though I know there are 2 handcuffs, I didn’t include the spare one here.

Conclusion

In summary, this set is a fun small playset that kids can enjoy to roleplay a prison escape much like any City prison set but with more action. The 5 minifigures included is unprecedented for the price point and the main build, a prison rigged with escape routes, will offer hours of fun.

Despite lacking any special pieces that adult fans will appreciate more, the simple build can be considered as good parts donor. After all, the main reason why any adult fan will buy this set is not for the build but for the minifigures included in the set.

 

Review summary

Playability: 9/10 - fun little set that is more enjoyable than any City prison break of the same price range
Design / Building Experience: 6/10 - nothing exciting but that’s expected for this type of set
Price / Value for money: 10/10 - 5 minifigs at this price point? Give me more of this!
Overall: 9/10 - If only we got Captain Soto’s pirate torso & his gold hook, this set will be golden.

[VaderFan2187]

Thanks for the review @makoy. To me this set is pretty poor. It uses minifigures to mask what is truly a pretty bad build in my opinion. Don't we buy LEGO for the build experience? I get that minifigures are appealing, but the true meaning of LEGO is the builds, and in that aspect the set fails. I also find that, even as a facade, the jail looks pretty poor and doesn't seem to have much interesting play features (barring the sliding door). Still, I enjoyed your review, especially the humorous tidbits!

[makoy]

1 hour ago, VaderFan2187 said:

Thanks for the review @makoy. To me this set is pretty poor. It uses minifigures to mask what is truly a pretty bad build in my opinion. Don't we buy LEGO for the build experience? I get that minifigures are appealing, but the true meaning of LEGO is the builds, and in that aspect the set fails. I also find that, even as a facade, the jail looks pretty poor and doesn't seem to have much interesting play features (barring the sliding door). Still, I enjoyed your review, especially the humorous tidbits!

That's true coming from an AFOL but  I began getting opinion from my son -- and our opinion vastly differs. I think the play features are "age appropriate" and when you compare it to LEGO City then this is a very good set. As a NINJAGO minifigure collector I give it a high score for trying to appeal to both kids and adults.

Btw, thanks for the compliments! 

Edited February 13, 2017 by makoy