The title summarizes the weirdest part of this set: the ninjas are mostly going into battle on dragons and flying backpack things, and the pirates on airships and other cool flying stuff. And here we have Kai and Nya on bikes. Hmm.

Box/Instructions

The contents of the box:

The first thing that jumped out to me was the presence of 2 instruction booklets. This is a $20 set. The first one corresponds with bag one and builds Sqiffy's jetpack thing and Kai's bike, and the second bag/booklet builds Nya's bike. It just feels excessive. I don't care, really, but it seems like this all could have fit in a single instruction booklet.

Parts

TLG has made so many different kinds of wheels now that I honestly have no idea what kind these are. They're big, though. The tires are extremely thin; the thinnest I've ever seen. Some other parts that aren't immediately obvious in official pics are the black bowl piece (cheapest set to get one), reddish brown fez (also in Airjitzu Kai Flyer if you want a cheaper way to get one), and those two dark bley technic pieces which are new to me. There are a number of dark red slopes, 7 of the new studs with holes (5 in light bley, 2 in dark red), 6 dark bley angled flags, 2 pearl gold exhaust pipes, and somewhere near a million pearl gold katanas. Ok, 7. I thought they were hard to find until I started buying Ninjago sets. Goodness, they're everywhere. A low 4 for parts, since there are some surprises, but this isn't really "parts pack" level stuff, especially considering Kai and Nya's bikes use different wheels/tires, making it harder to re-use them in other vehicles.

Minifigures

This set comes with Sqiffy, who always seems to have a glider of some sort, and Nya and Kai in their Skybound outfits. Fun fact: Kai has already appeared 4 times in Skybound sets. I'm getting the impression he's important. Sqiffy comes with a transparent 1x2 neck bracket for mounting the glider.

The build

There isn't really too much unexpected stuff here. The technic construction on the outside of Kai's bike is reminiscent of the bike in Swamp Raid. I'm impressed with the amount of construction made possible with brackets, but TLG has been using them a lot recently, so that has definitely dampened these techniques' "impressiveness", if possible. A solid 3, as there was some interesting sideways building on Sqiffy's glider made possible with clips and hinges.

The completed model

I honestly got this set just to bring me 231 bricks closer to finishing off Skybound. Now that I've finished building it, I'm happy I got it, and not just because I'm a completionist. I'm big on sets "feeling" like they are worth the cost (pretty arbitrary), and this one definitely feels like $20. There's a lot of playability possible, with 3 bikes and a glider. Sqiffy also comes with 2 bombs (there's enough extra parts for 1 more) that he can lob at Kai and Nya, which is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, there is no built-in function for this...but there are bigger problems.

It's Nya's bike. I just think it looks ridiculous. Kai's bike had a beefy, intense feel to it. This one is just all over the place. I think the problem is that the sides look very unfinished, as you can see in the photo above. Katanas just don't cut it (ha) as vehicle-building materials. I like the thing on top just for the pearl gold exhaust pipes. I guess they're guns, since they raise up and down, but it honestly just looks so strange. Thankfully, the bike looks darn awesome from the front and back, where the side issues aren't noticeable. The stacked dark bley fins look fantastic from any angle, and create a really neat effect that I might have to copy in my MOC's.

Another thing about Nya's bike is that the wheels shift side to side. Now, recently, I've been making a lot of mistakes building official models - skipping steps, etc. I even rebuilt this bike once due to misplacing a key plate in the center. But the wheels on Nya's bike definitely shift in their axle, no matter how I build it. The wheel just isn't wide enough to fill the space. One of those always-useful bushes will fit in there and probably solve the problem, but it seems like a strange oversight by TLG.

Now we come to Sqiffy's glider, and another problem. First off, I love the way this looks. The combination of the black bowl and fez mentioned earlier make for a great engine-esque detail at the bottom of the glider, and just the general shaping of the wings and dart pieces looks great. That's not where the problem is. The problem's the bombs. The container in the back holds one bomb comfortably, and will just barely balance another one on top. But, since they are made from ball joints and flame pieces, there is no way for our poor pirate Sqiffy to hold and lob them. Of course, this is pretty minor, but it really hurts the playability of the model not having some way to toss bombs at those pesky ninjas.

Overall opinion

Here's an obligatory shot of the set plus extra parts. Also, if you think it looks plain, it's probably because I usually don't use stickers.

So...should you buy this set?

If you're looking to complete Skybound, as I am, then of course! Otherwise, I'm not so sure. I mean, it's a solid set for $20, but the playability is really hurt by the lack of interaction-ability between bikes and glider, and there really isn't any consistency at all between the two bikes' designs, if that is an issue. I would say the only reason not to get this is that there are better sets to save money for (if that is an issue), or just better sets at this price point. If you're looking for a parts pack, Elves has probably the best value out of any theme right now, and that is probably a better way to spend $20.

All that being said, it's not like "oh, no, I have to buy this to get all the Skybound sets!

It's nice to have. It's just dwarfed by a lot of quality sets out there right now.