Review:70500 Kai's Fire Mech/NovaFlare
Joined: December 29, 2006 
№ of Reviews: 17 
№ of Featured reviews: 1
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This is one of the first 2013 sets I've managed to acquire, and as usual, the Ninjago sets live up to expectations.
The Set[edit | edit source]
What you see on the box is pretty much what you get- it's a small set, so there aren't really any hidden features. There are some very slight repetitions in the build for the arms and legs, but nothing long enough for you to get bored with the construction (unless you have a very short attention span). The legs and arms can be easily posed, and the legs do a good job of holding the rest of the mech up- one you stand it up, it doesn't fall down on it's own very easily. The mech's hand does a good job of holding the elemental fire blade, and once it grips it right, it doesn't fall out easily. You can also pull off the top two pieces and give them to Kai for the minifigure-sized version of the blade without having to take the rest of the blade out of the mech's hand, which is convenient. I thought that Kai in the mech may have been hard to do, or may have looked a bit awkward, but neither are the case. It's very easy to stand Kai on the flat tile and make him hold the handles, and he sits right in there and the mech around him doesn't look too short or too tall. The set contains a few stickers- some placed on the red curved bricks at top above the driver's head, two on each hand, and one at the back. It seems like a lot of stickers for such as small set, but I've moved on from wishing for printed parts, and I think the sticker design does make the set look better than what it would look like without them. The elemental blade included in the set looks great, and the blade may have potential to be used as MOCs in other themes (I'm thinking of using them as blades for unstable lightsabers personally). However, I must say that the contrast between the "core" colour and the colour surrounding the blade isn't as great as depicted on the box or some of the images, with Cole's seeming to be especially faint. But they're still definitely really good looking pieces.
The Minifigures[edit | edit source]
The set contains a minifigure I think we're currently calling a Stone Scout, and a new unnamed variant of Kai. The Stone Scout looks nice, not exactly the most eyecatching enemy when compared to some of the Skullkin and Sepentine, but these Stone Army minifigures still look alright to me, and have a good level of detail on them (including back printing on the torso). I also like the red hat and quiver.
Kai, like the other ninja in this new variant, looks amazing. The mainly black torso and legs, contrasing with the red and gold is just a really nice effect, topped off by the red and gold mask, which are nothing new since they're from the ZX variants, but while a new mask would have been great, it probably isn't needed in this case. I would have probably expected some sort of "ultimate form" for the ninjas in the final wave of Ninjago which looked something more along the lines of NRG with battle armour, but now we know that Ninjago will be continuing in 2014, I can say I'm 100% happy with this variant and can just appreciate it as a very nice looking variant instead of the last type of Ninjago ninja I'll ever get.
Overall[edit | edit source]
The set looks great from all angles, and there aren't any problems with playability. And I definitely don't have any real complaints about the minifigures either. So, basically, it's a solid Ninjago set, and a good set to buy and would recommend it to anybody who likes the look of it on the box, from those being just after a relatively cheap set, to the biggest of Ninjago fans.
| Overall |   4½ / 5 |
| Playability | 4½ / 5 |
| The Build | 4½ / 5 |
| Minifigures | 4½ / 5 |
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