Set #70313 Moltor’s Lava Smasher: The first of the Monster’s vehicles, this fun little model is in keeping with some of the better sets from LEGO Chima and Ninjago. Mostly due to the fun nature of the design and play features. This set is also the cheapest set that features the new LEGO Book element in this theme to date, read on for my opinions on the set.

Box/Instructions

Box: As mentioned in Lance’s Mecha Horse I find the box design a bit bland compared to what we’ve seen in other Themes of the past. Many of the older LEGO Space and Castle themes had more going for it than the combination of Space and Castle that is Nexo Knights. Still it serves its purpose well.

Instructions: A single manual for this model. All of the pages are together and you can follow the build fairly good, nothing stands out as too difficult. The page designs makes following them very easily. The checklist is again in the back and there are many images of the sets and detailing the app for the Nexo Powers for the cross-promotional stuff.

Parts

This is a smaller set for parts, there aren’t a lot of blue pieces in this set, but you’ll still find some transparent orange bits for the lava monsters. There’s also a black unprinted shield piece in this set. Not many parts for MOC fans here, at least nothing rare I’d say.

Minifigures

Aaron: This is Aaron Fox without the fancy colours. Instead of having all green his torso and legs are ordinary silverish grey with green printing for the armour, his helmet and armour match this colouring quite nicely. Built into the back of his armour is a spare storage area for another bolt for his stud-shooter designed crossbow.

This piece fires small bolts, shaped in translucent clear orange like tiny LEGO drumsticks. This system is new for NEXO Knights, it allows for added play and more projectiles to lose when playing with your minifigs. Aaron has the same double-sided face as his other Minifigure forms adding great personality to the character with the large grinning smile while his eyes are closed. The weapon is built differently here compared to his Ultimate version, it uses two space guns and two translucent orange droid hands from Exo-Force to make a futuristic looking crossbow.

Book of Chaos: A new element introduced with Nexo Knights is the improved LEGO Book element. This is a two piece element that uses hinge elements to connect the cover to the rear section of the book. Two studs inside can allow you to attach a 1x2 tile element, this one is printed with Scurriers. The cover is printed with a LEGO skeleton face in a magical looking symbol… If Moltor gets the Book of Chaos you can bet the Knights will be doomed. I say it’s a welcome addition to LEGO’s parts catalogue and has been a long time coming to improve upon the original element introduced in LEGO Harry Potter sets.

Moltor: Moltor is an all-black Minifigure with red printing on his torso, legs and head to indicate his origins as a Lava Monster. He’s quite impressive actually with a lot of little details, like his three red toes on each foot and the bit of extra detailing on the back of his head that makes him look like he could erupt in flames as the super-cooled magma making up his body heats up to impossible degrees.

He uses the Chima Fist accessories for weapons bulking up his hands in a nice dark brown colour and a matching piece of shoulder armour with orange spikes. He has no head piece, he’s a baldy.

Rolling Fire Ball Nexo Power: This NEXO Power is printed on a translucent orange piece and features an orange ball of fire on a green background, I’m not sure how effective launching fire at Lava Monsters is, but it’s certainly an interesting looking ability.

The build

This model is all in a single build, no modular components here and the build itself is relatively quick to follow along with in spite of the Technic elements being used to accommodate the play feature. This is a small set, for twenty-five dollars that’s to be expected, the build is very compacted and makes a solid model, there are also a few stickers included for detailing.

The largest step of the build that may require assistance for younger builders is the step completing the attachment of the large lava hammers on the side of the large front wheels, because of the nature of the play feature things need to be aligned properly or the gimmick won’t work. And since they are being put onto moving wheels some help may be necessary.

The completed model

Moltor’s Lava Smasher: This is a great little compact vehicle, similar in design to some of Cole’s vehicles the Lava Smasher rolls on four big tires, behind the imposing face-like front design Moltor sits and controls the dangerous vehicle.

Rolling it along causes the two hammer style arms to rise up and down to smash Aaron with two large burning LEGO lava hammers, which are built up with translucent orange rock pieces and flame elements. It’s just all around fun to roll this thing back and forth and watch the hammers rise and fall.

For added defensive measures there are two small catapults on either side of the driver’s section that can launch small cylinders at Knights. These require a bit of force to get them to work very well, you’ll have to flick the ends pretty hard to have the cylinders clear the large front wheels, otherwise they’ll just fall between the wheels and the desk or floor and not reach the knights.

Overall opinion

Overall this is a really fun little set. The vehicle is a great compact design and functions with loaded play features that are both fun and not intrusive. The front of the vehicle looks like a menacing beast ready to pounce due to the techniques used in building and the Minifigures are both suitably fun and detailed.

I strongly recommend tracking this down, it’s a great little vehicle and worthy of owning. The new Book Element is also really nice and the only way to get the Book of Chaos is with this set.

This is one of the smallest Nexo Knights summer 2016 sets, but it's still very good!

The Box and instructions

The box shows an exciting action scene, where Aaron tries to get the Book of Chaos and Moltor defends it with the Lava Smasher. There's 187 pieces, 2 minifigures and the age range is 7-14 years. The box also shows the set includes one Nexo Power Shield for the Merlok 2.0 game.

The instructions are easy to follow, like usually.

Minifigures

The set includes two minifigs: Aaron and Moltor.

Aaron has his regular suit and armor, and awesome crossbow. He has also funny double-sided head. This same Aaron minifig appears also in three other sets.

Moltor is an gorgeous minifig. He looks awesome with his brown orc armor and giant brown fists. Moltor is exclusive to this set.

Parts

The set includes some cool parts: The trans-orange/black rock pieces (i don't know the official name of them), 1X1 pyramid slopes in gold & trans-orange and a new book piece, what is much better than the older one. There's also a lot of different slopes in dark brown.

The build

The build is fun and includes one quite interesting technicue in the fists.

The Completed model

The completed model looks great! The Lava Smasher's monster face and giant, flaming fists make it look monstrously awesome. The play features work very well. When you push the car, the fists move alternately up and down. There's also two small, rock-shooting catapults in the back of the car.

The Price

I bought this set for 24 euros, and the set includes 187 parts, so i think the price is bit high. I think 17-20 euros is more appropriate.

Overall opinion

This set is awesome set for it's size! Great-looking model, good pieces and two minifigures, and one of them is exclusive! This set is very good purchase, if you want dark brown and trans-orange parts, or if you only like Legos and want a fun set with cool minifigs and play features! I think this is best of this price range's Nexo Knights 2016 sets!