Review: 71811 Arin's Ninja Off-Road Buggy Car
Posted by CapnRex101,
Although obviously not as popular as mechs or dragons, off-road vehicles have appeared quite frequently in the NINJAGO theme. This example looks good on the whole, although the price of £44.99, $49.99 or €49.99 seems extraordinarily expensive.
With that in mind, I hope there is more to 71811 Arin's Ninja Off-Road Buggy than it appears, similar to the surprisingly function-packed 70589 Rock Roader from a few years ago. Maybe the functions will prove equally interesting on this occasion.
Summary
71811 Arin's Ninja Off-Road Buggy Car, 267 pieces.
£44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 | 16.9p/18.7c/18.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Arin's buggy is a reasonable set on the whole, but inexplicably expensive
- Perfect size for play
- Spacious cockpit interior
- Basic suspension mechanism
- Good minifigure selection
- Hugely overpriced
- Little suspension travel
- Superfluous anchor function
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
Unlike most of the ninja, Arin retains his robes from the previous season of Dragons Rising. A new design would have been welcome, but this figure looks marvellous, as always. The colour scheme of flame yellowish orange and orange is superb and I love the dragon wrapped around the torso, reminiscent of the memorable DX robes worn early in the NINJAGO theme.
Climber Cole, on the other hand, is a new minifigure and one only available with this set. The black and orange colours are effective and I like the ropes crossing Cole's chest, matching the other ninja. Moreover, the dual-moulded shoulder armour piece is remarkably detailed, studded with pearl gold accents and complementing the head wrap element well.
Cole's double-sided head presents an energised design on one side and a more conventional smile on the other, returning from last year. Arin's head also remains unchanged and therefore lacks a second expression, unfortunately. Both heroes are equipped with pearl gold katana and climbing hooks, the latter of which is new for this season.
Even though a slightly older version of the character appears in 71810 Young Dragon Riyu, it seems Baby Riyu will also feature in the upcoming season. As normal, this sand blue dragon looks absolutely adorable and the moulded ridges on his back are attractive, alongside printed dark blue scales and vibrant green eyes.
Cinder has already appeared in a couple of sets, but I am glad to see him again because this minifigure is highly detailed. The combination of dark blue and purple clearly identifies Cinder with his fellow Wolf Clan members and the sand blue collar looks fantastic, particularly since Jordana includes the same torso and legs, so the fur collar is helpful in distinguishing the two.
The words 'wolf moon' are inscribed in Ninjargon on Cinder's attire, while the Wolf Mask Claw Warrior just displays the word 'wolf'. This generic warrior is available in many recent sets, so building a small army is fairly simple and collecting another warrior is always nice, especially given the character's stunning dual-moulded mask, complete with dark azure eyes and teeth!
Removing the outer mask reveals another printed on the head underneath, reminiscent of real samurai masks. The metallic silver details are excellent, but the yellow decoration is noticeably washed out. Cinder's head uses the same technique and is actually trans-black because Cinder is the new Elemental Master of Smoke. Befitting his stature, the minifigure wields an incredible dual-moulded sword, with a jewel in its hilt.
The Completed Model
Despite consisting of only about 240 pieces, Arin's buggy is relatively substantial. The vehicle measures 22cm in length, which is bigger than I envisaged, even though the tyres account for quite a lot of that size. However, the beefy tyres are splendid for play and I find the combination of flame yellowish orange and dark blue appealing, perhaps indicating this buggy belonged to the Wolf Clan before Arin.
The proportions of the wheels and the chassis are unusual, as the cabin almost becomes lost between the wheels when viewed from certain angles. The dramatic forward rake, by contrast, is fairly common among buggies of this size, including the aforementioned 70589 Rock Roader. As well as appearing powerful, this maximises ground clearance for traversing rough terrain.
I mentioned the wheels overshadowing the buggy's body to some extent and that is especially true near the front, in my opinion. There are some brilliant details, including ornamental golden blades and pantograph pieces forming bullbars, but the huge tyres distract attention from those features, sadly. I appreciate this texture though, concealing the Technic frame.
While much of the Technic structure is hidden, the blue Technic pins behind the front wheels remain visible and are distracting, as the colour scheme is otherwise broadly consistent. The cockpit, for instance, neatly incorporates 4x4 textured wedge slopes on each side and a trans-orange canopy, the shape of which fits with the surrounding bodywork.
The cockpit is constructed around a 6x12 chassis element, mainly used in Speed Champions sets, so there is space for two characters seated side-by-side inside. That is rare in NINJAGO vehicles and very welcome. Furthermore, I like the stickered dashboard and the steering wheel looks good too.
The engine is situated behind the cockpit and maintains the reasonable standard of detail from the front, including pearl silver exhausts and dark blue grilles on top. The rear wing, meanwhile, incorporates two Technic panels. Although I like their curved shape, the sudden use of exposed Technic pieces seems strange, relative to other sections of the buggy.
Nevertheless, the stickers on the rear wing are attractive, as one displays a stylised Baby Riyu and the other features Arin's name in Ninjargon, highly stylised as a monogram. Moreover, twin stud shooters are attached to the wing. These could definitely have been integrated more neatly, but another function is great for play. In fact, the vehicle's functions are primarily focused here.
The rear axle is connected to a spring, so these wheels can move up and down. Suspension functions are always desirable for off-roaders, but the travel is rather limited, in this case. The anchor also leaves something to be desired, in my opinion. This idea is fun and the storage on the buggy's underside is clever, although there is no mechanism to deploy the anchor and its chain is very short.
Overall
There is more to 71811 Arin's Ninja Off-Road Buggy than official images suggest, although still nowhere near enough to justify the price of £44.99, $49.99 or €49.99. I suppose the large tyres account for part of the cost, but it is otherwise hard to comprehend how LEGO thought the price could possibly be justified.
That being said, I do like the overall structure of Arin's buggy and its huge ground clearance is perfect for play. The spacious cockpit is satisfying too, while the functions are nicely integrated, but otherwise underwhelming. Clearly, I would not recommend this set at full price and there are many more interesting NINJAGO sets to choose from, but this one is better than I expected.
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20 comments on this article
This is the only set from the March wave I'm not sure if I'll get. I only really want Cole, hopefully he shows up in a magazine. Maybe if I can get it on a big discount I'll grab it but otherwise I have enough buggies.
Wait... but Riyu was an adult in that one set... but now he's a baby again here... AAAAAHHHHH MY BRAIN HURTS
@Ridgeheart said:
"Between Cole's armour and some of the weapons here, it looks like the designers are really tapping into the look and feel of some of the older World of Warcraft-games. For better, not worse."
You’re right! Coincidentally, I’m leveling a Demon Hunter in Legion Chromietime and just got my grappling hook this morning. I might have to pick up the climber ninja minifigs later this year.
@AverageChimaEnjoyer said:
"Wait... but Riyu was an adult in that one set... but now he's a baby again here... AAAAAHHHHH MY BRAIN HURTS"
Agreed. It's enough to give someone a headache!
Kinda weird that the earth ninja,cole,is exclusive to this when they have all this climbing stuff going on.
The wheels are taller than the minifigs! I think that's a little too large to be called "car", even by American standards...
Yeowch, so much for Ninjago normally having pretty decent PPP. This would be overpriced at $40. My only guess is "buggy" type vehicles must sell well with the target demo.
Dark blue plus flame yellow has got to be one of the best LEGO color combos, tho.
It feels like a $25 set. This is another one of those "lets try an insane price and see if anyone buys" products.
@SummerSanta said:
"It feels like a $25 set. This is another one of those "lets try an insane price and see if anyone buys" products. "
Overpriced yeah but $30-40 would be more logic
2015 70755 - 2 figs and 188 pieces was $19.99
71811 - 4 figs + baby 267 pieces is $49.99
@SummerSanta said:
"It feels like a $25 set. This is another one of those "lets try an insane price and see if anyone buys" products. "
They're definitely pricing with discounts in mind these days. A small portion of buyers who either don't care about the price or don't know better will buy it at the inflated price, while everyone else will just wait for eventual cuts to $40 or less.
It feels like how video game companies operate, with the biggest difference being that LEGO sets are available for only a limited span of time while video games are basically always obtainable. Frustrating stuff.
To me it seems like a great set in every way except the price--which hurts. A lot. The only positive thing I can find to say about the price is TLG are...working over...everyone equally, rather than having a good price for some customers and a terrible price for others. It's a shame, as it's a fine collection of minifigures, a nice-looking vehicle, and of course baby Riyu is something I'm still trying to add to my collection despite not really collecting Ninjago seriously. If I do buy it it will only be because it's the most attractive smaller set containing baby Riyu I've yet seen--but that doesn't make it worth $50 to me. (Being given a penny back doesn't really change the price IMO!)
@GenericLegoFan said:
"Kinda weird that the earth ninja,cole,is exclusive to this when they have all this climbing stuff going on."
At present I believe each of the Climber Ninja (except for Kai, of course) is exclusive to one set.
Suddenly yesterdays friends research rover set feels cheap compared to this price tagg. Just insane! Again, who will buy this for 50€!? Good that Ninjago isnt a minidoll theme, otherwise it would be even worse!
On a 50% discount its 5 € cheaper than the city space rover at normal retail price, but still about 50 pieces short. How can anyone possibly put a price tagg like this on something like that!?
By the way the city space rover i recently bought from amazon for 15,99€! Almost 50% Off.
Those yellowish-orange hubs give me hope for a JCB set.
Gonna try and find this one on clearance, as I genuinely like the set, but there’s absolutely no way I’m shelling out $50 for it.
The baby dragon is the highlight - a great little figure. The set is definitely overpriced. As for the vehicle, I get what they are trying to do with the color scheme, but given how large the wheels are, for me the different color of the front vs back wheels just doesn't work for me - it looks like a first-draft MOC one would make where one didn't have enough of the wheels in either color so temporarily used two of each.
Heartwarming to see the set overpriced in every region instead of either the US or UK/EU randomly having it be substantially cheaper
A bit pricey, but not ludicrously so considering there are a number of large pieces that skew the price per part ratio. Definitely overpriced though.
@SearchlightRG said:
" @GenericLegoFan said:
"Kinda weird that the earth ninja,cole,is exclusive to this when they have all this climbing stuff going on."
At present I believe each of the Climber Ninja (except for Kai, of course) is exclusive to one set."
Oh right
I really like that this buggy can fit two figures side-by-side, that's a relatively uncommon feature in Ninjago. I liked that they also did that for 71769 as well, which is actually part of the reason I bought the set.
(I don't know, I just weirdly like how minifigures look when seated in realistically offset seats.)
The minifigure selection is also really great, and I especially love Climber Cole, so I'll definitely pick this one up following a 30% discount.