Review: 71513 Nightmare Scorpion Digger
Posted by benbacardi,
The 2026 DREAMZzz wave continues to expand the Nightmare Creatures’ ranks, and this year's offering of 71513 Nightmare Scorpion Digger leans fully into the darker side of the theme.
Not only is it the only one to focus on the antagonists of the TV series, it's the smallest (and therefore cheapest) of the five released, with just over 500 pieces. The usual choice of designs is offered under the 2-in-1 banner, this time choosing between a scorpion or a wasp.
Summary
71513 Nightmare Scorpion Digger, 505 pieces.
£44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 | 8.9p / 9.9c / 9.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A dark and imaginative DREAMZzz set with a choice of two impressive nightmare creatures.
- Striking nightmare creature designs
- Usual detailed minifigure designs
- Creature's legs lack articulation
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
Each DREAMZzz set comes, of course, with at least one of the Dream Chasers, the series' protagonists. Defending the dream world from the Nightmare Scorpion are Mateo and Cooper, the two most common characters. Their 2026 outfits are new, each featuring highly detailed prints on both torso and legs.
The same incarnation described in my review of 71508 Fox Guardian Mech, Mateo's vibrant and detailed outfit clearly identifies him as one of the "good guys", with the large Dream Catchers logo featured on an impressive gold strap across his shoulders. Cooper's contrasting red jacket, also showing the hourglass logo, is unzipped, revealing the metallic skin that he gains in the dream world.
Mateo is, as usual, accompanied by Z-Blob.
Their heads, hair, and hat are repeats of previous versions, but they remain just as detailed and really do not need updating every year. They both feature a cocky smirk on one side, and Mateo a wider grin and Cooper a full metal face.
Their antagonist is the new-for-2026 Arika, a shape-shifting nightmare creature. Her top half is the same as that of 71512 Crocodile Submarine, with a tattered black hood and pink and magenta vines winding their way around her torso. Unlike the crocodile set, however, she comes with minifigure legs this time, which continue the detailed vine printing and include some claws on the ends of her feet.
Even though this set focuses on the Nightmare Creatures' mech, Mateo and Cooper are not to fight it bare handed. Mateo is wielding a huge sword, the same as Logan as mentioned in my previous review, but with a trans-green blade and gold handle this time. This is the second of the three sword designs released as part of this wave.
Cooper has a full mech suit, complete with four articulated arms, two ending in large claws. The other two house a stud shooter and a circular saw.
When not piloting the Nightmare Scorpion, Arika fights with two large scythe-like weapons.
Finally, we have a new colour of the collectable Treasure Creatures, this time in a delightful trans-orange. This time, their crystal "egg" is pink, implying it has been corrupted by the Nightmare Creatures and needs the Dream Chasers to rescue it.
Nightmare Scorpion Digger
The titular Scorpion Digger is a rather terrifying creature! Six arachnid legs (there should really be eight?) protrude from a segmented body, in vibrant shades of hot pink and gold contrasting well with the black and grey body—pretty standard colours for the creatures of the Nightmare realm. A third trans-pink rock shell makes up the top of the scorpion's head, above four glowing eyes and some neon-green mandibles.
The scorpion's trademark tail arches up and and over the back of the creature, made of three segments joined by click hinges and finished with an excavator bucket. Just below the bucket are two forward-facing stud shooters, and the click hinges provide a significant range of movement for the tail, allowing them to shoot at a wide variety of angles.
The scorpion's pedipalps consist of more excavator buckets, each decorated with a pair of identical stickers (incidentally, the only stickers in the set), and cleverly used as enormous pincers, with smaller claws forming the inner halves of each. Attached via large click joints, they too have a wide range of movement, and the pincers can be opened and closed.
The scorpion's back houses a seat for Arika, tying in with the excavator theme with the use of a frame often found as the canopy of a forklift or other construction vehicle in City sets. The photo below also shows how each leg of the six legs are attached by Technic axles—no articulation or movement in sight, I'm afraid. This does make the scorpion very stable, but at the expense of playability. I also found it a pain to line up the gold accents on top of each leg, as they are attached by a single bar and clip, and can easily swivel out of place or get pushed in too far.
I was pleasantly surprised at how realistic the digger bucket was for a scorpion's tail!
As noted above, the tail can curve quite far over the back of the scorpion, much like the real creature. At this angle, however, those stud shooters are more of a danger to Arika than any opponent!
Biomechanical Wasp
Unlike the majority of DREAMZzz sets, where both models are built around a common core, this one is more like a Creator 3-in-1, with the entire build needing to be disassembled before starting on the second.
Sticking with the insect-like theme, the alternative nightmare creature is a wasp. Standing proud on six legs smaller legs (the correct number this time!), the wasp makes use of the same trans-pink head piece, but this time positions it over the eyes, just above a smaller pair of mandibles. The scorpion's larger leg pieces have been repurposed as wings, and each can be positioned independently of each other.
The excavator buckets make up the wasp's large abdomen, which comprises three sections attached via click hinges, each capped with a bucket on a ball joint. The buckets therefore have a fair amount of movement to them, but really only make sense in one specific position.
When off the ground, the abdomen can curve around beneath the wasp's body, similar to how the real creatures do when preparing to sting.
The wasp's wings have a decent degree of articulation, as well as each individual wing tip being able to be positioned individually. A stud shooter faces forwards from the top of each wing.
Verdict
Overall, this set provides a pair of satisfyingly sinister nightmare builds, and includes a strong minifigure selection as we have come to expect from the DREAMZzz range.
I love the insect/arachnid vibe of both models, although I think the scorpion just edges it over the wasp in terms of playability and durability. It makes clever use of excavator elements, and an impressively articulated tail, even if the fixed legs limit poseability more than I’d like.
I always appreciate that at least one set from the range each year is focused on the Nightmare Creatures rather than the Dream Chasers, and the creativity and imagination of the designers is very clearly at the forefront throughout the DREAMZzz line, of which this set is a particularly good example!
71513 Nightmare Scorpion Digger is available at LEGO.com for £44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99.
41 likes
34 comments on this article
@CommanderR3x said:
"I completely forgot about this theme. When it first came out I considered watching the Netflix show and the sets looked neat but lost interest once I found out it was woke"
ROFL
If I'm guessing correctly, this wave of DreamZzz means that we won't get Chima-like sets within Ninjago anytime soon. That aside, this is my favorite of them.
Huh. The wasp is markedly more successful than I thought it would be. I still like the scorpion better, though.
Dreamzzz continues to be a fantastic line of kits and I’m very much hoping the rumour that this is the last hurrah turns out not to be true. Not least because there’s no real Izzie kit in this wave, and those are almost always some of the best ones. Or a Zoe kit, for that matter.
Still sad that this set is the smallest of the wave. And I find it overpriced for what it does.
An amazing wave but this one just doesn't do it for me, especially at that price point.
@CommanderR3x said:
"I completely forgot about this theme. When it first came out I considered watching the Netflix show and the sets looked neat but lost interest once I found out it was woke"
What?
What's f*cking woke gotta do with this again?
@lORDoFtHEbOARD said:
"What's f*cking woke gotta do with this again?"
...it's a theme about sleeping.
I'm gonna need one of those flame cat things plz.
@CommanderR3x said:
"I completely forgot about this theme. When it first came out I considered watching the Netflix show and the sets looked neat but lost interest once I found out it was woke"
Trying and failing to figure out what is "woke" about the theme... that there are Spanish-speaking characters? That there's more than one girl main character? That it takes place in Brooklyn? That one of the characters refers to having moms who are not even ever shown onscreen?
Us people who actually want more diversity and representation in Lego themes are out here begging for scraps while chuds complain about some of the most bog-standard kids storytelling being woke, I swear.
The color scheme is so unusual I love how unique it is
@CommanderR3x said:
" @Lyichir said:
" @CommanderR3x said:
"I completely forgot about this theme. When it first came out I considered watching the Netflix show and the sets looked neat but lost interest once I found out it was woke"
Trying and failing to figure out what is "woke" about the theme... that there are Spanish-speaking characters? That there's more than one girl main character? That it takes place in Brooklyn? That one of the characters refers to having moms who are not even ever shown onscreen?
Us people who actually want more diversity and representation in Lego themes are out here begging for scraps while chuds complain about some of the most bog-standard kids storytelling being woke, I swear."
I don’t have a problem with diversity and representation in Lego (and I think they do a great job of incorporating it) but even suggesting the idea of someone having two parents of the same gender to me is disgusting"
Dude wtf.
@Hiratha said:
"Huh. The wasp is markedly more successful than I thought it would be. I still like the scorpion better, though.
Dreamzzz continues to be a fantastic line of kits and I’m very much hoping the rumour that this is the last hurrah turns out not to be true. Not least because there’s no real Izzie kit in this wave, and those are almost always some of the best ones. Or a Zoe kit, for that matter."
I am sad that this wave seems to have abandoned the attempt to make sets that appeal to stereotypical ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ type audiences. It’s going hard on angry animal meets cool machine and missing out on the beautiful animals and magic vibe that some of the sets had in previous waves. Less Elves, more Ninjago.
@CommanderR3x said:
"I don’t have a problem with diversity and representation in Lego (and I think they do a great job of incorporating it) but even suggesting the idea of someone having two parents of the same gender to me is disgusting"
Ok but you're like 13 years old. So your opinion is insignificant. You will find there are much more "disgusting" things in the real world, and you will need to learn to adapt your tastes.
Also, objective morality stepping in real quick: there is no problem with having parents of the same gender, so long as they properly fulfill the required parenting roles and as long as such couples remain a minority of the overall human population. So get over yourself.
Can we get back to the giant construction-scorpion now, please? I will almost definitely grab this if I can find it on discount. Same with the rest of this Dreamzzz wave, which is a problem for my budget....
Watched a couple of episodes of the show, but just couldn't get into it. Might try again when I have more time and all the cool sets are retired....
Hey can we get some moderation for the blatant homophobia all up in here please
I want to talk about the fun lego kits without being exposed to more bigotry than having to tolerate the presence of Harry Potter coverage, thanks
ETA: Thanks. Although the first comment they put in the thread - which is also the first comment - could probably do with being removed, too.
ETA2: And there it goes. Appreciated.
@MisterBrickster said:
" @Hiratha said:
"Huh. The wasp is markedly more successful than I thought it would be. I still like the scorpion better, though.
Dreamzzz continues to be a fantastic line of kits and I’m very much hoping the rumour that this is the last hurrah turns out not to be true. Not least because there’s no real Izzie kit in this wave, and those are almost always some of the best ones. Or a Zoe kit, for that matter."
I am sad that this wave seems to have abandoned the attempt to make sets that appeal to stereotypical ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ type audiences. It’s going hard on angry animal meets cool machine and missing out on the beautiful animals and magic vibe that some of the sets had in previous waves. Less Elves, more Ninjago.
"
Yes, I agree. Previous waves did a great job of going for a more universal appeal, whereas in this wave I think the closest it gets to not-totally-a-boy-kit is the Fox Guardian, and that’s in Mateo’s colours. We need some Izzie and Zoe to balance this out! And maybe a fun magical building, too.
@Huw Did you guys turn off the function for tracking Amazon prices? That was so useful. I used to see the current prices of "Items on my wanted list" on the right side in a small table. It's gone from my frontpage.
Hey there, Scorponok.
For a second there I thought the hubbub was about known green-poster, CapnRex101, and I thought the good Captain had lost his fornicating mind. But then it turned out that - no, it's just some random dude. Who cares? Why would you ever care about some random dude?
I like this set.
@Spacefarer said:
" @Huw Did you guys turn off the function for tracking Amazon prices? That was so useful. I used to see the current prices of "Items on my wanted list" on the right side in a small table. It's gone from my frontpage."
We are aware of a problem with the Amazon price tracker. Huw is unavailable to fix it at the moment, but when he is back, I am sure it will be a priority.
@Crux said:
"Hey there, Scorponok.
For a second there I thought the hubbub was about known green-poster, CapnRex101, and I thought the good Captain had lost his fornicating mind. But then it turned out that - no, it's just some random dude. Who cares? Why would you ever care about some random dude?
I like this set."
I don’t really understand why anyone would only care about bigotry if the person saying it met some arbitrary standard of importance.
@Hiratha said:
" @Crux said:
"Hey there, Scorponok.
For a second there I thought the hubbub was about known green-poster, CapnRex101, and I thought the good Captain had lost his fornicating mind. But then it turned out that - no, it's just some random dude. Who cares? Why would you ever care about some random dude?
I like this set."
I don’t really understand why anyone would only care about bigotry if the person saying it met some arbitrary standard of importance."
I think the idea is noise begets noise so responding to blatant trolling may be counterproductive. We can just wait for the nearest moderator. This person having a similar name to our Captain was a silly aside.
Welcome back 8548.
...
They made the Nui-Jaga woke. :P Bwhahahaha.
@yellowcastle said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @Crux said:
"Hey there, Scorponok.
For a second there I thought the hubbub was about known green-poster, CapnRex101, and I thought the good Captain had lost his fornicating mind. But then it turned out that - no, it's just some random dude. Who cares? Why would you ever care about some random dude?
I like this set."
I don’t really understand why anyone would only care about bigotry if the person saying it met some arbitrary standard of importance."
I think the idea is noise begets noise so responding to blatant trolling may be counterproductive. We can just wait for the nearest moderator. This person having a similar name to our Captain was a silly aside."
There’s a reason I didn’t quote the perpetrator or acknowledge them until they went from vague-if-awful dogwhistle to outright stated bigotry, yes.
But I think assuming trolling when there are quite clearly plenty of people in the world willing to state such things openly under their full legal name and for that matter while in elected office is, at this point, perhaps a little optimistic at best. Well worth it to demonstrate that such opinions are shameful and wrong and will attract social censure beyond moderation, which could be handwaved away as merely trying not to annoy Lego or somesuch.
@Hiratha said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @Crux said:
"Hey there, Scorponok.
For a second there I thought the hubbub was about known green-poster, CapnRex101, and I thought the good Captain had lost his fornicating mind. But then it turned out that - no, it's just some random dude. Who cares? Why would you ever care about some random dude?
I like this set."
I don’t really understand why anyone would only care about bigotry if the person saying it met some arbitrary standard of importance."
I think the idea is noise begets noise so responding to blatant trolling may be counterproductive. We can just wait for the nearest moderator. This person having a similar name to our Captain was a silly aside."
There’s a reason I didn’t quote the perpetrator or acknowledge them until they went from vague-if-awful dogwhistle to outright stated bigotry, yes.
But I think assuming trolling when there are quite clearly plenty of people in the world willing to state such things openly under their full legal name and for that matter while in elected office is, at this point, perhaps a little optimistic at best. Well worth it to demonstrate that such opinions are shameful and wrong and will attract social censure beyond moderation, which could be handwaved away as merely trying not to annoy Lego or somesuch."
I thought we were witnessing the public breakdown of a moderator, which isn't something we see happen every day. If it's just some random guy instead, well, we see that every day, it's nothing special. That's just the internet.
I shouldn't have to explain that. But I did, and you should feel bad about that.
@Crux said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @Crux said:
"Hey there, Scorponok.
For a second there I thought the hubbub was about known green-poster, CapnRex101, and I thought the good Captain had lost his fornicating mind. But then it turned out that - no, it's just some random dude. Who cares? Why would you ever care about some random dude?
I like this set."
I don’t really understand why anyone would only care about bigotry if the person saying it met some arbitrary standard of importance."
I think the idea is noise begets noise so responding to blatant trolling may be counterproductive. We can just wait for the nearest moderator. This person having a similar name to our Captain was a silly aside."
There’s a reason I didn’t quote the perpetrator or acknowledge them until they went from vague-if-awful dogwhistle to outright stated bigotry, yes.
But I think assuming trolling when there are quite clearly plenty of people in the world willing to state such things openly under their full legal name and for that matter while in elected office is, at this point, perhaps a little optimistic at best. Well worth it to demonstrate that such opinions are shameful and wrong and will attract social censure beyond moderation, which could be handwaved away as merely trying not to annoy Lego or somesuch."
I thought we were witnessing the public breakdown of a moderator, which isn't something we see happen every day. If it's just some random guy instead, well, we see that every day, it's nothing special. That's just the internet.
I shouldn't have to explain that. But I did, and you should feel bad about that."
I didn’t think I should have had to explain that bigotry is bad whoever says it, either.
@Hiratha said:
" @Crux said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @Crux said:
"Hey there, Scorponok.
For a second there I thought the hubbub was about known green-poster, CapnRex101, and I thought the good Captain had lost his fornicating mind. But then it turned out that - no, it's just some random dude. Who cares? Why would you ever care about some random dude?
I like this set."
I don’t really understand why anyone would only care about bigotry if the person saying it met some arbitrary standard of importance."
I think the idea is noise begets noise so responding to blatant trolling may be counterproductive. We can just wait for the nearest moderator. This person having a similar name to our Captain was a silly aside."
There’s a reason I didn’t quote the perpetrator or acknowledge them until they went from vague-if-awful dogwhistle to outright stated bigotry, yes.
But I think assuming trolling when there are quite clearly plenty of people in the world willing to state such things openly under their full legal name and for that matter while in elected office is, at this point, perhaps a little optimistic at best. Well worth it to demonstrate that such opinions are shameful and wrong and will attract social censure beyond moderation, which could be handwaved away as merely trying not to annoy Lego or somesuch."
I thought we were witnessing the public breakdown of a moderator, which isn't something we see happen every day. If it's just some random guy instead, well, we see that every day, it's nothing special. That's just the internet.
I shouldn't have to explain that. But I did, and you should feel bad about that."
I didn’t think I should have had to explain that bigotry is bad whoever says it, either."
I like your hill. I think that's a fine hill to die on. I wish your hill well, and I hope your death will be as glorious as you envision it to be.
Now get off mine.
This is probably why we should delete all off topic comments, rather than picking and choosing who has a right to say what and which unnecessary comments can remain, even if a lot of people might agree with them.
@SMC said:
"This is probably why we should delete all off topic comments, rather than picking and choosing who has a right to say what and what unnecessary comments can remain, even if a lot of people might agree with them."
So basically just hellban @Crux? :o)
I wonder what a powerminer colour swap would look like?
@Crux said:
"Hey there, Scorponok."
I had the same thought when this set was revealed.
@SMC said:"This is probably why we should delete all off topic comments, rather than picking and choosing who has a right to say what and which unnecessary comments can remain, even if a lot of people might agree with them."
That would make the RXotD comment sections (and a lot of other comment sections, come to think of it) boring.
By the way, the printing on Cooper's face looks more opaque than usual. Has lego finally gotten their printing issues fixed? If so, it only took them a decade... XD
@CapnRex101 said:
" @Spacefarer said:
" @Huw Did you guys turn off the function for tracking Amazon prices? That was so useful. I used to see the current prices of "Items on my wanted list" on the right side in a small table. It's gone from my frontpage."
We are aware of a problem with the Amazon price tracker. Huw is unavailable to fix it at the moment, but when he is back, I am sure it will be a priority."
Thank you for the update, Captain. I appreciate it.
I'd say the weakest of the wave, but I'm so prepared to collect all the others, that I'll likely pick it up.
Though while on the subject, I'm rather disappointed it seems none of my local retailers are carrying this wave. Not even the Lego Store has them. I was looking forward to going in a store and coming out with one of these awesome sets, but looks like that won't be the case :/