Opening Thoughts

So since today is my birthday, I'm going to treat myself by reviewing one of my favorite sets ever (I wrote this on my birthday, 8/11, but I didn't publish it until October). This set comes with an incredible selection of minifigs and a beautifully constructed temple to go along with it.

Build Experience

Wow, I actually have something to say here. Constructing the temple was a lot of fun to build, especially as you see the temple get taller and taller and eventually finish off with the roof, which includes the main play feature.

Model

This model looks great from the front, but definitely not as good from the back. The details showing the lower level of the temple looks great, especially the blue plates to represent water. The bottom floor has some nice stickers, but it's nothing compared to the upper floor.

The upper floor features some turntables which I find sort of random. The fact that you can't turn all three masks around is puzzling, but it's fine since this feature is optional. You can push a hinge on the back to make the temple roof collapse to reveal Garmadon. This feature works well, and I especially love the added detail of it making the temple look like a monster (you'll know what I'm talking about if you have the set). All the small lanterns and flags add a lot of pizazz to this build.

Minifigures

Harumi and Hutchins are both standout minifigures, and they look amazing, featuring a nice green color scheme.

Chopper Marroon is another generic bad guy, but his design is at least interesting. Mr. E looks incredibly, and he's certainly an outstanding villain minifigure.

Cole and Lloyd are featured in their Season 8 suits. I personally hate these suits, but that's definitely my personal bias and I can at least admit that they are high-quality minifigs.

Garmadon looks exceptional here, featuring some purple printing to accentuate some gory details on his upper torso.

Value

For $70, this set comes with just the right amount of pieces and play features to sell me on its value. It is also a highly displayable set, with gorgeous details. This was the only SOG set that I got, but I didn't really want any other ones because this set has everything you need for a SOG display. The three masks are included, and these pieces are just awesome. The fact that you can get them all in a set as cheap as this (in comparison to other large Ninjago sets) is astounding.

Pros

• ALL 3 MASKS!!!
• Exclusive Harumi and Hutchins, and rare Garmadon
• Incredible build
• Display and play values are high

Cons

• Somewhat pricey (especially nowadays)
• Mostly a facade

Overall Thoughts

I am so glad that I got this set before its price SKYROCKETED! It's the perfect SOG set, and I really have no problems with this. If you can afford it, I suggest you go on Bricklink and get this set! It's totally worth it.

— Spruce

The Temple of Resurrection is by far my favourite Sons of Garmadon set. It recreates a pretty dramatic scene where Humri is trying to bring back Lord Garmadon form the Season 8 episode Dread on Arrival. Its a pretty great set so lets get into it!

Minifigs Lloyd comes in one other set in this wave. He's a very nice minifig he comes with his sword form the lego ninjago movie and 2 more swords strapped on his back. His patterned robes are very nicely done too. Cole is also a nice figure. He has his hammer and swords on his back however you can put baby Wu (Spoilers!) on his back so you wish. Mr Hutchings is a very unique figure. He has a gold staff and hat and his clothes are beautiful! Humri is very good too. Her hair and robes are very good but in the show she wore a skirt but here she just has plain legs which is a bit odd to me. Also in show while at the Temple she had her Sons of Garmadon black robes on. But still it's a good figure nonetheless. Mr E is very nice as well. He has his trademark red swords and helmet with his creepy red eyes as well! A Sons of Garmadon henchman is also included. He has a sliver spanner and red sword with a red mohawk and bandit mask. Garmadon himself is only found in one othet set that being the Oni Titan and he is by my favourite figure in this set. He is very similar to his movie counterpart but with a few subtle changes. Such as purple goo coming out his body! Last but by no means least is Baby Wu! He is very cute but personally I wish he grown up slightly to be accurate to the show.

The Set Itself It starts of with a passageway into the Temple and room with crates containing weapons. There are also stickers too. The top bit has the three Oni masks that you can swivel around there is a swich where you can bring back the evil spirit of Lord Garmadon and give the Temple evil eyes! The detail is as amazing as we have come to accept from Ninjago. However there are a few things missing such as the portal to the Departed Realm and the cages which Lloyd and Misarko where locked up in. The lower bit has two hidden compartments but one of them is very tricky to close in all the way. The playability is great thanks to the large set and minifigure selection. And it looks great on display in my loft!

Overall while it's by no means perfect and could have used Misarko and Humri in her black robes this is still a great set. And if you find it at toy store or somewhere and you can afford it. Buy it!

Summary

The Temple of Resurrection is a nice addition to the range of temples and temple like structures in the Ninjago range. It is also nice to see the development in design - from the Fire Temple (2507, released in 2011) through the Temple of Airjitzu (70751, released in 2015) to this set.

The set is a nice and fairly quick build - roughly 90 minutes, perhaps even quicker - without pushing the pace. It is one of the bigger sets in the series, and with a nice number of minifigures (7 in total, plus a skeleton). There are a number of play features (the roof, trap doors, movable rock faces, turning back screens), and even then it makes for an OK display model.

Overall I think this is a good set, and the RRP as is, is IMHO acceptable. As more often with the Ninjago sets, whether you like this type of building has much to do with personal taste.

Build experience

I had hoped the build experience to be more rewarding, It is a fairly easy build; most tricky is lining up the roof and technic mechanism properly (so it can move) and putting in the roof of the cave/ temple floor. What disappointed me most is the way the pieces are divided over the bags. It was as if the bag was finished before one had properly started building. Personally I expect the rebuild to be more rewarding in that respect. The set has a limited number of stickers (10 in total), that are easy to apply (flat surfaces) and easy to line up with the edges of the bricks they are applied to.

I like the overall design of the set, and some of the construction techniques used - especially for the movable roof - are interesting. Some of the panel structure and the colour choices (red and claret) seems to be inspired by the Temple of Airjitzu. The big rock pieces are nicely integrated within the structure as a whole. Overall I think the designer has done a good job. Construction steps are well thought out, logical and easy to follow - and the majority of 8 year olds should be able to finish this set without too much difficulty.

Minifigures

Based on the minifigures tab on the Brickset page, there are 8 minifigures included in this set. Personally I would limit it to 7 minifigures and a skeleton - and all of them (currently) unique; this might change with new releases though. There are two ninjas (Cole and Lloyd), two bad guys (Chopper Maroon and Mr. E), two anciliary characters (Harumi and Hutchins), a resurrected Garmadon and the skeleton (with a scarf). There are some swords (red for the bad guys, silver for the Ninjas), a wrench for Chopper Maroon (almost Fabuland large), and a staff for Hutchins. In the cave as well as part of the temple furniture there are some additional weapons (spears and other pike/staff weapons).

Lloyd and Cole both have new prints for the torso and legs, a scabbard (two swords) with shoulder patch), new two-piece Ninja head gear, and a double face print. They are nice, but IMHO not too special.

The bad guys look good; they have nice face prints (only one face though) and torso and back prints. Mr. E also has a print on the legs (like knee patches). I like the mohawk of Chopper Maroon, not sure though if it is a new piece.

The star figure in this set IMHO is Harumi. She has a nice torso and leg print (depicting Harumi wearing a robe); the torso print is continued nicely on the legs. There is no print on the back, and there is only a single face print. The head gear is a recolour of the helmet-and-hair piece known from Lady Iron Dragon / Misako. The cape is fairly stiff (paper-like), printed on one side, and looks awesome. Folding the stiff collar up is a bit tricky, but in the end it looks awesome. Personally I think it was smart to make it a one-piece, rather than the two piece used for Harly Quinn's collar in the Harley Quinn Cannonball Attack (set 70921). Getting the collar to sit properly is a little tricky, and children might need some help from adults to get that done.

Hutchins is good looking, though, IMHO, not on Harumi's level. The torso has a front and back print, and the front print is continued nicely onto the legs. Again, only a single face print. His armour is gold.

The resurrected Garmadon is somewhat ghoul-like, but in general a very nice figure. I am not sure whether the helmet is a new piece or not. The upper torso carries some armour, and the print on the front of the upper torso is continued nicely onto the lower torso and eventually the legs. Only the lower torso has a back print. Garmadon has no alternate face.

The build

The building is of substantial size without becoming too wieldy. What is more, there is sufficient depth to pose minifigures - something that has been missing from other buildings. The mechanism to move the roof works well, and is very well integrated - and so are the other play features. No bright yellow pins or red bushings and such sticking out. There is quite a bit of space in the cave at the bottom, and the mouth of the cave looks quite good. There are two movable front-elements of the cave (one with a spider web (hiding a gem)), the other with the skeleton. The one with the spider web does not close as well as the other side if the spider web is attached too far to left/inside. The only 'connection' to between the cave and the temple structure are the two trap doors; there are no stairs going up.

The chosen colour scheme works well, and the temple as a whole is quite sturdy and feels solid to handle. The two rotating panels are solidly attached as well. The technic construction supporting the floor/the roof of the cave is covered up quite well in the front, although IMHO there is room of improvement there - mostly by extending the floor of the temple.

Play vs display

This set is above all a play set - the rotating back-panels, the moving roof, the moving cave walls, the trap doors all the accessories as well as the numerous minifigures make this clearly a play set - somewhat reminiscent of the Temple of the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon. There is also enough depth in the structure to pose and move around the numerous minifigures. The many minifigures allow for numerous scenarios to be played out.

The model is less of a display model, even though it can be a good basis for one. For a true display model it begs for a landscape to be built around it - although it probably already looks quite well on a shelf.

The verdict

Overall, IMHO, the Temple of Resurrection is a nice building and a well thought out set. I like the amount of minifigures, and although not all of them stand out (IMHO), Harumi is a stand out. The play features work well, the design of the temple is nice. This seems to be the 'big' set of this year's first Ninjago wave, and I think it is a good one. Overall the RRP is acceptable. If the set can be found on a discount, it becomes an almost no-brainer if you are a fan of the Ninjago range, or this type of structure.

Overall

This set, overall, is pretty good. It comes with all three collectible masks for the year. It comes with 7 minifigures, one skeleton, and a baby.

The Set

The set itself has some really nice landscaping and rocks on the bottom, and a beautiful temple on top. The temple on top has a rotating base for the masks, so you can conceal them if you choose. If you pull out the stops on either side, two trapdoors open up and the minifig standing on either of them will fall into the bottom part, which resembles a cave. If you open the two loose rocks on the left and right side of the front and pull down the lever on the back, the temple looks like... a face? OK. It also reveals the Garmadon, the dark lord himself, with a firey entrance. The cave at the bottom has some paintings, a crate for weapons, and lots of space for minifigures to stand in.

Minifigs

As stated before, this set comes with 7 minifigs, 9 if you count the skeleton and the baby.

The first two are Lloyd and Cole. Lloyd's printing is good, he has some on the front, back, and legs. He uses the helmet mould first introduced in the LEGO Ninjago Movie sets. They both come with dual katanas that fit in the sheath at the back. Lloyd comes with his Chinese Dao sword, which is a fantastic looking weapon.

Cole's printing is about the same as Lloyd's if we are talking about quality. He has bare arms instead of sleeves and has a lower neckline. He also comes with a brick-built hammer

Next up is the baby (which is revealed to be Sensei Wu by the end of the season) he uses the standard baby head and is made up of 3 total pieces. He comes in a bag.

Hutchins is next, and This figure is one of the highlights of the set. He has back. Front, legs, and even toe printing. He comes with a golden staff and golden armour.

Harumi is by far the best minifig in the set. She has a very nice dual-moulded hairpiece, excellent printing throughout, and has an AMAZING cape.

Chopper Maroon is nothing to write home about, but I do like the short red mohawk. His accessories include a red katana, which is good-looking, and a wrench

Mr. E is a nice fig, the head is interesting, and the armour piece is great. He comes with two red katanas

Garmadon uses the same helmet mould as the Ninjago Movie, but uses different printing for the second set of arms. No back printing for him though, which is fine. He has the same printing for the body and legs as the one from the Ninjago Movie.

Final Verdict

This set is pretty good. The rock shaping is phenomenal and the minifig selection is amazing. The set has decent play features, and was an absolute steal with that $70 price tag. Too bad the price is so high that its virtually impossible for anyone to buy it now.

I just went to my local toysrus and found that this set was out early! I had some christmas money so i decided to get it. Well, once i started to build this set, i loved the rock and temple designs. The set is built nicely and has some cool play features! The minifigures look cool, and its nice that the set includes both Good guys, and Villains.