Ninjago Moddin'

[MoralWarfare]

With all these crazy sales Walmart and Target have been having on Lego, I figured I'd try to get back into the swing of system building. Which I haven't done in quite some time, but when I saw these two sets I just couldn't say no.

So I went ahead and picked up a Turbo Shredder, and Kai's Cycle (Forgot the name, d'oh!). I think the Turbo Shredder was all of $12, and the Cycle Target sold to me for $7 because it was incorrectly placed in the clearance aisle. Score! The Turbo Shredder I quite liked right out of the box, the Cycle didn't fair so well. I thought it looked pretty atrocious out of the box. So I went to town modifying both sets. The Cycle much more so than the Shredder. Anyway, enough of my blabbering, and onto some (crappy) pictures.

Basic overview shot, just to get a feel for some of the modifications..

This is one of the first things I added, because those wheels and treads needed some kind of covering. I dig the look now.

Added horns to the skull face. Why? Because I like horns! Haha.

This is the area beneath the Skull Chomper gimmick. It was really an ugly area to witness whenever the gimmick was in motion, so I added a few bits.

And this is the modified cockpit. Nothing fancy, just fleshed out the interior.

Now onto the Cycle, which I must admit I really love now

Another generic overview shot. You can see how heavily modified this set has been.

Gimmick still works! Although its completely manual now, and only the bladed wings will move. Didn't see a need for the other parts to.

I don't know how I landed on this headlight configuration, but when I did I was quite pleased with the aggressive look it gave the Cycle.

Hard to make out, but there is in fact a 1x2 clear red tile acting as a tail light just below little Kai there.

Here is a side view of the bike with one of the blade wings pulled back to expose whats beneath. I've gone ahead and cleaned that whole area up as well.

View of the cockpit/seat (whatever you'd like to call it!) The clear yellow 1x2 plate you see was placed there to act as some sort of HUD or dashboard display.

At any rate, I had a good bit of fun taking my first few babysteps back into System building. Nothing too fancy, but enough to make me happy for the time being. Hope you guys like 'em!

Edited January 2, 2012 by MoralWarfare

[Flipz]

Whoa, that's awesome! Any chance of instructions and/or a parts list for Kai's Blade Cycle? I'm going to be getting it soom and I definitely like the looks of those modifications!

[Dharkan]

Very nice job, well done. :)

I have an idea of making the dragon version of rattlecopter but not sure if i'll have enough (or proper) pieces to do that. Haven't bought any 2012 yet but going to do my shopping according to that :P

[Aanchir]

I really, really like many of the changes of the Turbo Shredder. They make it appear all the more stylish and creepy!

However, I'm not a fan of the changes to Kai's Blade Cycle. It ends up feeling boxy and overloaded with red parts, while the new parts that aren't red (like the transparent cheese wedges) feel a little bit tacked-on. The gaps that haven't been filled in, which looked pretty much fine on the actual set, look inconsistent with all of the modded sections of the bike, which are almost tanklike in their bulkiness. Gone is the sleek mechanical look of the original model, replaced with a somewhat clunky war-machine look.

Sorry if my opinions on the bike are a bit scathing. One of the reasons I liked the original set was that in spite of its massive size and heavy stylization it still looked and felt like a motorcycle. And it feels like a lot of that has been lost due to the heavy modding.

[MoralWarfare]

Your criticisms would find more merit with me had the original set been even remotely sleek. Which it was not. It was a rectangle on wheels. With the only things vaguely motorcycle like being the wheels and handlebars. I ditched the motorcycle notion quickly, and instead went for what you see above. I don't know what kind of motorcycles you have seen, because Kai's certainly didn't resemble one. I now enjoy the brutish look of the cycle, because it looks like it could actually do some damage. Instead of being the piddly little set that it was out of the box. But I find most of Lego's attempts out of box are, overall, disappointing.

Glad you enjoyed the Turbo Shredder, though!

I'll post a few exploded shots of the bike for you, Flipz.

Edited January 3, 2012 by MoralWarfare