Review: LEGO NINJAGO City Workshops (71837)

A Mech Builder’s Dream Workshop!

The LEGO NINJAGO City modular buildings are on of my favourite sets to observe over the years. Where people would get modulars, I prefer these. With a large backlog of models like LEGO NINJAGO City Gardens and Docks, how does this set hold up against its predecessors? Read on!

The Mech

The Mech is a pretty titular focus of the set. With a lot of the set’s play functions and additional parts all coming together for the model. This is LEGO’s first customisable that has a a skeleton frame, allowing you to choose what armour goes where. In reality, there are little customisation options, but having the mech come together as a whole model using the play functions is a lot of fun.

There’s lots of potential for this mech to customised with previous mech elements too. So if you’re a big LEGO NINJAGO mech collector, this should feel right at home, but albeit new. The elbow joints, knee joints and rotational ability of the mech makes it one of LEGO’s best ones in a while. All with that signature customisability to boot.

Garage

The garage section of the LEGO NINJAGO City Workshop is located on the lower floor. With a really nice rounded garage door and catapult pieces for roof thatching, it stands apart from generic LEGO City garages of yesteryear.

The garage also comes with a play function. A simple turning of the gears allows us to raise and lower the door at will, revealing a simplistic workshop garage inside. This is a place where a part of the mech is normally stowed, but seems compatible with the smaller bike models in previous LEGO NINJAGO City sets.

We are also introduced to some lovely sticker element details inside and outside. We get a posted with Sora in an opposite side pose to Rosie the Riveter, A picture of the Ninjago dojo like a travel poster, and a fantastic movie-like poster too. These are great additions to what is otherwise a craggily old wall.

Bedroom

With a lot of space dedicated to the mech, a lot of the houses get a bit of size downgrade. This particular room is one of those examples. But it manages to fit a lot in a small space! This room is heavily implied to be Zane’s room, with his shuriken of ice on the wall, his LEGO NINJAGO Move vehicle on the table and pictures of his creator, Dr. Julien.

I’m also in particular fascinated with how the designers used books as part of the walls of the window – giving moveable shutters too! This is weirdly one of my favourite rooms – and the stickers here are just gorgeous.

Dorama’s Workshop

Dorama is a minor antagonist of the ninja in the latest seasons of LEGO NINJAGO – and also a famous pyrotechnician. His works ultimately were either cons, scams or working with the main antagonists of the series.

His workshop here contains a lot of references to his nefarious work – including the Dorama puppet up on the rooftop. Inside the workshop, we also get a few fun throwback references too; Cole’s previous flying ship and even to Krazi, the skeleton jester.

The exterior poster to his workshop also contains lovely throwbacks to the classic System Ninja and Samurai sets that debuted back before the 2000’s.

Noodle Shop

The Noodle Shop is such a fun hidden gem of the set, with my all-time favourite use of the minifigure scarf element. We see here a small kitchen serving space, but we also get a chopstick holder, Fabulan poster and lovely stickered elements also. It’s a small gem that I don’t think many people spy until they look really close at the final set.

Crane Area

The crane area of the model is more function over form, with little aesthetic details befit for a rugged construction area. The strike of dark blue against the otherwise brown and grey of the city really highlights it. Admittedly one of the lesser detailed parts, the signs still try to being it back more in line with the city.

Pop Culture Shop

Adorned by a mech with a peace sign thrown up, you know that this place will be a lot of fun. Adorning the exterior of the model, we get lots to look at. Ice planet 2002 logo reference, the Lava-Tides with a gemstone. A reference to He-Man Masters of the universe and even an outline of Cole’s Latest big mech.

When moving inside the model, we get ourselves a display of Cole’s mech, as well as mechs available for purchase on the shelf. We also find various craft necessities, such as scissors, paintbrushes and paint samples here too.

The Chopsticks in this space actually represent tweezers, and really showcase how much of hobbyists the LEGO group can be.

Minifigures

The minifigure line up for this set is one of my lesser favourites of the LEGO NINJAGO City sets. We get ourselves some fun characters for the first time, Twitchy Tim and Dorama, as well as some newer prints on faces and torsos.

I like that we get P.I.X.A.L. and Harumi here, but the rest of the line-up feels a bit drab. We get some generic civilians alongside the set, but they don’t feel like they add anything to the set other than filler.

Most Minifigures that come with the sets usually fit some kind of role. Fishermen in the City docks, Villains to chase, ice-cream stands to manage etc. But here, they don’t feel like they serve that great of a role. If the figures were to be in attire to serve the noodles, or had more construction workers to make the set feel like a proper construction zone, that’d work.

But alas, there’s no real combative threat or mini-stories to tell. Some of these characters quite literally just exist. If it were only one of them, sure, but there are four I put to question.

Verdict

The LEGO NINJAGO City set line up continues to be a real big favourite of mine to view over the years as they come out. They have some really great build techniques, NPU and little stories to tell.

I like that the model has a huge focus on the Mech Workshop part, but something feels incomplete. I wish we would have parts to customise, or vehicles to fly around and work on the mech with. It has the foundations for fun, but not every part fits the mech workshop aesthetic.

It’s a really fun set to build, don’t get me wrong. But I can’t help but think that there’s something missing from it. I’m sure the mech guys will figure that one out.