Review: 70621 The Vermillion Attack
Posted by CapnRex101,
70621 The Vermillion Attack is the smallest of the seven new NINJAGO sets which make up The Hands of Time range, priced at £8.99 or $9.99 and containing just 83 pieces.
These little sets are often overlooked in favour of larger models but I decided to purchase it based on the inclusion of three excellent minifigures. This price point yielded a great little set in the form of 70599 Cole's Dragon last year so I hope 70621 The Vermillion Attack will prove to be similarly impressive.
Minifigures
The six ninja sport new outfits this season and each one features their elemental symbol and established colour schemes. Kai is not wearing a head wrap in this set so his spiky hair is exposed and it looks great in combination with a red bandana which covers most of the face. Removing the bandana reveals a grimace and a scar over Kai's left eye. Unfortunately there is no alternative expression on the other side as this would not be fully concealed by the back of the hair.
Every year seems to yield a more detailed uniform for the ninja and 2017 maintains that trend as Kai wears a red sash and belt over a dark red tunic. His chest is protected by some light armour and this continues onto the back of the torso where a golden fire symbol is found. The legs are also printed with some banding around the knees and he is equipped with a single katana in readiness for a fight.
A pair of Vermillion warriors are included to compete with Kai for control of the Time Blade. Rivett wears heavy armour over his head and torso and these elements are impressively detailed despite their monochromatic finish. The pearl dark grey colour scheme looks great and this matches the metal plating which covers the warrior's arms and legs. I love the manner in which the helmet fits tightly around the top of the cuirass and this leaves only a small area of the face exposed, providing a great deal of protection against Kai's attacks.
The Vermillion consist of snakes which twist themselves into humanoid form and removing the armour reveals several such creatures emerging from the gambeson on the front and back of the torso. This is a lovely effect and is also present on the head which includes a single visible eye and two upturned fangs.
Slackjaw has the same head but shows the other side, with two piercing red eyes and an open mouth. He wears an ornate helmet consisting of pearl dark grey and trans-red plastic. It is reminiscent of the headgear worn by the Trolls in the Castle theme so provokes a welcome wave of nostalgia for me. Rivett is armed with a spear while Slackjaw comes with a large hammer, although the latter armament is described as an axe in the official set description.
The Completed Model
The battle is focused around a tree stump in the middle of a swamp. One of the Time Blades is mounted at its base and a Vermillion egg rests on top in readiness for an unsuspecting ninja to wander past. This incorporates the only function in the set as twisting a Technic liftarm at the back will cause the top of the egg to burst open, revealing five red snakes inside.
The elements which make up the egg previously appeared in several Galaxy Squad sets and feature a hexagonal pattern which suited the insectoid aliens very well but is not quite as appropriate for these serpentine villains in my opinion. Nevertheless, it is nicely detailed and I like the pearl dark grey colour very much, particularly in combination with a trans-red component on the top. Five snakes are included and they can all be placed inside the egg, although there is room for even more if you wish.
Grey pieces dominate the back of the model and these include two bars which allow you to attach the tree stump to the structure in 70626 Dawn of Iron Doom. Both sets feature complimentary olive green and dark green foliage so they combine perfectly, particularly since no characters are shared between the two.
The front of the tree stump consists entirely of dark brown and reddish brown elements which are arranged to present an organic appearance. A chainsaw piece forms the mounting for the Time Blade which occupies a tempting position at the centre of the model. The dark bluish grey chainsaw looks a little odd among the brown shades of the tree but could represent a carved stone of some sort.
This green Time Blade appears in three sets and allows the wearer to speed up time. The copper and trans-green colour scheme is created quite unusually as trans-orange plastic covers pearl silver at the centre and the trans-green has then been moulded over that to create the blades. It looks brilliant and slots neatly over the hand of a minifigure to be used in battle.
Overall
It is unusual to see so many minifigures included in such a tiny set and these alone provide a great deal of play value. I therefore think this would be a great gift for a younger fan of NINJAGO but the larger sets in this wave offer more of interest for adult collectors in my opinion.
Ultimately, good though this set is, I think it can be missed in favour of something larger such as 70623 Destiny's Shadow or even 70627 Dragon's Forge. However, this is a worthy purchase if you are looking for an inexpensive taste of the Hands of Time subtheme and the Vermillion figures alone present an appealing prospect for minifigure collectors as they are exceptionally detailed and include some great new pieces.
I hope you have found this review informative. Let us know by liking this article and share your thoughts on the set in the comments below.
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20 comments on this article
Nice review!
One nice thing is this includes 3 minifigures when most in this price range only include 2.
The only Ninjago set I ever bought was a vehicle I needed for the wheels. This review compels me to break that precedent. Nicely done!
Good review! I love the swampy look of this year's sets, particularly the way they use both Bright Yellowish Green and Olive Green together. I also love the way this set can connect to the larger structure in Dawn of Iron Doom—I'm a sucker for that kind of compatibility.
A minor correction—Kai didn't actually acquire that scar in the Rebooted arc. The minifigure version of Kai has always had the scar (except for the Stone Armor Kai from the 2015 Target Minifigure Cube), but the version in the TV series has never had the scar. It's a long-standing inconsistency.
Is it only me, but when I see these new Vermillion helmets I get a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger saying "Two Snakes!!"
Though they are backwards.
Wow, these figures look really cool! My resistance to Ninjago is crumbling. Oh dear.
I had no idea this villains were composed of snakes (I left Ninjago during half of the geni arc so I don't know what the gang has been up to, thought I will say that I don't like time travel temporal distortion events), wonder if these guys will make great additions to a SW MOC to ilústrate variety in the galaxy denizens.
Very useful review! Thanks. I'm still in two minds about this set but at least my buying decision will be well informed.
The Ninjago villains have for some years reminded me of D&D's Yuan-ti (snake-men). The Vermillions are reminiscent of Yuan-ti Anathemas in being humanoids made up of entwined snakes.
Looks like a great army builder. The design of the enemy is really interesting. Question: doesn't vermilion mean green?
I will definitely be picking up at least one of these. Great army builder set. I'm not a big fan of Ninjago but the baddies in this theme over the years have been great for starved castle/fantasy fans like myself. I really liked the guys in the snake-skull helmets from a few years back and now these guys look pretty cool too.
actually, teriyaqi, its a shade of red
@Teriyaqi: You might be thinking of Viridian. @Brickalili is right that Vermilion/Vermillion is a shade of red or red-orange. But the name of the new Ninjago baddie faction also seems like it might be sort of a pun on the words "vermin" and "million", since they and their armor are made up of a bunch of little snakes.
Few Ninjago sets interest me, but I absolutely love the pieces they bring! Those armour pieces are phenomenal.
Great review!
I will buy a TON of these, just the parts are worth it!
I do love Ninjago for all the great figures it provides, but more snake-themed villains? Isn't this like the third or fourth batch?
Gorgeous figs, though.
Already have two of the new Ninjago sets (Desert Lightning and Destiny's Shadow) but I think I'd rather save my money for something bigger.
It's still a great army builder and has great pieces.
This, Desert Lightning, and Dawn of Iron Doom are the NINJAGO sets that really interest me, but to be honest, all of them look fantastic.
I'm not sure that "This is a lovely effect" is a good phrase to describe snakes slithering out of the torso of the humanoid form they comprise. ;) Anyway, I didn't know that the snake people on this theme were made up of many small snakes. I guess that's why their faces are twisted and look like they've just smelled the foulest fart in the world.
I have to agree with many others here—this is a great parts set, and I plan to buy several because of that.
Great pieces, great armor and headgear, great that it has 3 (also great) minifigs. What more to ask?
@shaase: For me it is more reminiscent of "I Have had it with these ... snakes on this ... plane" by Samuel L. Jackson