Still Raindrop

Just finished building the temple last night, and I have to say that I'm even more impressed than I thought I would be! It's huge, detailed, and beautiful. There are a few things I would have changed, but none of those things make me feel like the set wasn't worth it. I think I would have liked three main changes: •I would have wanted a few more plates to finish off the pond. Medium azure isn't the easiest color to come by, so the extra parts would have been nice. •I would have wanted the decorated parts to be printed, instead. •Finally, I would have preferred the inclusion of hairpieces for the Ninja in addition to their head wraps--and maybe even unique training outfits or new heads, or something along those lines. However, these three are small, and they all fit into the category of "things it would have been nice to have," rather than "things the set really needed." My wife and my brother have been similarly impressed, and the temple is sure to become a focal point of my Lego cave. Sorry, Black Seas Barracuda!

I'm not positive about Tiger Widow Island--it looks like it could be great, depending on price and all that. I'm excited to see what the final pictures look like--that landscaping looks great. It's a perfect mix between believable and fantastical. The Command Zeppelin, on the other hand, looks amazing. I have $25 of VIP points to use, and I may well use it on that--such a cool-looking set. I hope they don't change too much about it, because it's just about perfect now--it perfectly sums up "sky pirates" to me. The others look cool, but those two are the ones that I'll seriously consider buying. Maybe Cole's Dragon or that pirate polybag to bulk up my pirate crew if I skip Tiger Widow Island.

Keep in mind that, as these pictures are preliminary, any of this could change. After all, Nadakhan is orange, not white as the prelims show.

Ah, that makes sense. I thought it was a bell, myself (lamps usually have a trans-yellow or trans-clear piece), but the reviews I had read called it a lamp, so I was unsure. Thanks for the insight!

I've been building this over the past few nights (with several more to go--I'm limiting myself so I don't stay up too late), and it's an amazing build. I do have one question--what is the gold fez piece in the blacksmith's shop supposed to be? Is it a bell? A lamp? Some sort of blacksmithing tool that I'm not familiar with?

Judging by the reaction to the "new" toy shop, I'm guessing building the Winter Village Bakery with a few recolored pieces and entering it as a new creation would be frowned upon?

I have to agree with rollermonkey--although I haven't picked up any of the sets (they're very low on my priority list), they look like a nice blending. I suppose Lego could have made all the changes you suggest, but that would have meant significantly more new molds in a theme that was already receiving new molds. I don't think the theme has been successful enough to justify all those proposed new molds in addition to the ones we have.

I just had a thought; if these names are based on descriptions, rather than a translation of official names, I wonder if the kendo guy is actually a baseball catcher. The masks look similar enough that it's a mistake someone could easily make, particularly if they're not from a baseball-watching country. It would be odd to get a kendo fighter after kendo suits already appeared in Ninjago...but I guess that's not unheard of.

Thanks, everyone! And dr_spock, I went through about five different scale designs before finally getting it right.

Well, as long as photographers are around. The owners may have written the descriptions, too. Thanks for the compliment! I wanted to make a good "dive" Chinese restaurant (with a nicer tea shop above), and I thought it would fit in nicely with the DO.

Hi, everyone! A while ago I had a modular street that I had built, though the style was more akin to classic town in modular format (bright colors, fewer details, smaller height, etc.). I recently started getting official modulars, and built this one to accompany my street. It's still shorter than the rest, and I'm not entirely happy with all the detailing, but it's relatively complete at the moment. Let me know if there's anything you want more/better pictures of. This building is the China Dragon, the oldest Chinese restaurant in Redbrick Springs. The restaurant is downstairs, and upstairs there is a tea shop. Here's the front view of the store itself. Outside, you may happen to see a postal worker delivering some of the stacks and stacks of menus the China Dragon sends out. Walk inside and you'll be greeted with a smile and a friendly "Welcome!" The interior has a small table and lots of information on the food offered--in multiple languages! The kitchen is always clean and tidy. And everyone is cheerful when they see the imitation jade Buddha statue. Here's a top-down view of the restaurant: Upstairs, you'll find a charming tea shop. Here are some of the wares that are sold: loose black, white, green, and wulong tea, discs of pu'er, plus teaware (including teapots and gaiwans). Here's the tea merchant's table, with scales and her own gaiwan/cups. In the background you can see boxes ready to be unpacked. The back is a little less exciting: Thanks for your visit to the China Dragon! Sorry if the pictures aren't the greatest--I'm still getting used to this new camera.

Haha, that's fantastic! I know a decent amount of French (it's rusty, but I was at one point able to read French literature--and I can still manage Tintin), so it's funny to understand exactly where Google goes wrong; in this case, "pierre" is French for stone, while "Pierre" is French for Peter. I have a suspicion that "arms" is indeed mistranslated as well. It'll be interesting to get the official descriptions!

Those look fantastic!

As much as I'd love to see a Johnny Thunder/Adventurers comeback, the chances seem pretty slim. It looks a lot more like Lego dropping references and making homages to one of their all-time greatest minifigures. Of course, I'd love to be proven wrong! It would be great to get some Adventurers sets done in the newer style.

Great review! As if I needed any more incentive (as soon as my Black Falcon's Fortress and Winter Village Cottage sell, this set shall be mine!)! Great pictures, as usual--really highlights the beautiful design.

It's been a long time since I've been as impressed with a set as I am with this one. I'm so impressed that I even decided to sell a few of my prized older sets to attain funds for this one.

I feel the same; I like cool display pieces that I can also play with (even if that play is sometimes just setting up dynamic scenarios and poses for display). My wife isn't an AFOL (but she's supportive); she loves the exteriors of my modular street, but thinks the interiors are also very cool.

If anyone is wondering--the character on Wu's teapot on the sticker in the Master Wu Dragon set means "tea".

That tweet just ups the hype! Since it's beginning, I've found Ninjago to have some cool designs, but I've always had respect from afar--like when I see a cool model train set, but know that I don't want to get invested in all it would take to set one up. This year, with the Master Wu Dragon and the Temple of Airjitzu, has got me buying Ninjago sets (I bought the Kai vs Bonezai set from the first year and got the free Kai drifter poly, but that's been the extent of it). Now, for the first time ever, I'm actually actively excited to see the new Ninjago sets! I think the sky pirate aesthetic we've seen so far (with just one polybag, but still) has been fantastic--it seems cobbled-together but still solid in terms of design, and I love the nautical pieces being used for different purposes. I think...I think I'm an actual Ninjago fan now!

I like the laundromat--not only for the play value, but also for the varied look it gives. I like aristo in my town--different building heights, widths, styles, etc. We've had three corner buildings that were one building with a door facing the corner. This bank gives us a different door position, as well as what looks like a 24-wide building with some depth next to a 10-wide building (that actually has a somewhat larger interior). I understand why you don't like it--it's certainly not as grand as some of the previous corner buildings--but it's perfect for me.

Zoom in on the aerial shot of the entire first (or ground, of you're European) floor--the floor tile in front of the teller's window, where the customer first walks in, has (I think) dark bley and sand blue shields. It's a really NPU to get some angled tiles.

I love the bank, but I'm not sure if I like that portrait on the wall of the manager's office. The face is not a classic smiley face, but a detailed, City-style one, which goes against the modular aesthetic (and the hilarious wanted poster from the DO).

Yep, this will fit in perfectly with my street (which has the DO, the PS, and a Chinese restaurant MOC so far). The style is perfect.

I wholeheartedly approve of the continued expansion beyond elements into different occupations and time periods. These are amazingly creative, with lots of cool parts and NPU! I particularly like the drum set, the trumpeter, the fire hydrant, the ladder truck, the treasure chest crab, and the tooth dentist. It'll be hard to save up for bigger sets with great impulse buys like these! And I'm glad that the musical ones look like they won't be called the Misical Muxels.

That pirate plane is fantastic! Really great aesthetic.