Set #70668 Jay’s Storm Fighter: It has been some time since I picked up any LEGO Ninjago sets and this particular set has interested me for some time. Why? Well because it is LEGO Ninjago Legacy, a new Sub-Theme for this year (2019) which re-imagined and re-designed older sets to commemorate the Theme’s origins.

Jay’s Storm Fighter is a re-imagined set based on the original vehicle piloted by Jay during Season One of the cartoon. This set features a lot of charm and character as well as a return of some of the Serpentine in Minifigure form.

Packaging

The Legacy sets all feature a similar design, showing the image of Kai in the top corner along with the Ninjago Legacy logo in the opposite corner and a call out to which Season the set was featured in prominently. This packaging design is nicely designed and showcases the set quite nicely on the front and back panels.

There’s a call out on the back as well telling you to Collect the Golden Weapons. It’s a neat idea, bringing back the Golden Weapons and the characters of the past. The manuals show off some great instructions for building the set via the numbered bags. There is also a sticker sheet included for detailing.

Parts

This set features a load of parts common and uncommon, the standard plates, bricks, studs, teeth, spinner tops, loads of elements in blue, white, black, grey and gold. The biggest element which sticks out to me is the plain unadorned blue NEXO Shield parts. These 2x2 triangle shaped plates are highly versatile and have appeared in many sets since Nexo Knights created them originally and extremely functional for builds. They are also a favorite element of stickers, LEGO really likes using them to put stickers on sets for added details.

Minifigures

Jay: Dressed in his Legacy outfit, Jay looks extremely impressive. He has a golden dragon design on the front of his torso which wraps around his back. I think the Legacy designed costumes for the Ninja are some of the best, his head is borrowed from The LEGO Ninjago Movie Jay, in fact the print is pretty much identical to many releases from that series. He gets a brand new Golden Nunchuk of Lightning, which uses a brand new dragon shaped handle piece introduced for Legacy. I loved this weapon, it is so much more impressive than the original 2012 golden weapons.

Lasha: Ah the Serpentine. It has been far too long since I last discussed them. I don’t believe I’ve had Lasha before… Oh, I stand corrected. I have an original Lasha Minifigure, you know what though I feel that the Legacy version has improved upon the design considerably. The head piece is the same, with the same print on it, but the facial print has been improved upon with a greater touch of details. The scar for his missing eye isn’t as noticeable either.

His torso and legs have a more detailed print. It includes some animal detailing for the scales which seems to be taking what they learned from Legends of Chima and enhancing the classic look of the Venomari soldier, his armoured belt and vials of Venomari venom are highly more detailed including some little poison faces on the black bottles. The previous version had simple gourds strapped over his chest. For a weapon the standard Serpentine blade is included. Not a Fangblade, but a fangblade, using a white tooth part for the blade and some additional elements to expand on the look. Overall a great upgrade for the character.

Nya: Set in Season One it’s really strange to see Nya dressed in her Ninja attire. This figure is dressed up pretty much identical to how she looks in the Skybound era, at least as far as her colours are concerned. She’s using her Movie head print as well, which means this Nya represents three eras of Ninjago, The Movie, her Water Ninja days and Season One. Her weapon is a long staff with a sai used for the blade. I like her overall look, she has a nice golden dragon design printed down her front and carries over to her back. A pretty solid version of Water Ninja Nya.

Pythor: As with Lasha, Pythor’s print has been improved upon considerably though I can’t help feeling like they could have changed the placement of his head, the old python head element looks a little too low for my liking, making him at least look straight would have made him more menacing. Overall though he’s an impressive looking Minifigure. His diamond print looks so much better with this upgraded figure and for his weapon he holds a fang tipped staff with two dark tan tooth elements. Pretty nice.

The build

Bag #1: Jay jumps back, flips around and spins as you construct the main bulk of the chassis. This build was engaging and interesting, however there was some frustrating elements, the method for building the wing deployment feature is extremely interesting, but it also has some easily separated sections. Overall I’m beginning to see a large change in the clutch power of LEGO elements. I have no idea if this is something in the molds, the plastic creation process or what, but some of the plates and bricks seem to like popping up far too often. I should not need to apply as much force as the competition in order to get the elements to stay firmly attached. But in some cases it has begun to happen with LEGO.

Bag #2: Pythor is found here, aiding in the build of the central cockpit, which is a very interesting build. I enjoyed the way you built the cockpit upside down then flipped it over for some SNOT tricks that really make the vehicle stand out to me once built. Stickers are used in both this bag and the previous for detail work, placement of them may require additional builder support.

Bag #3: Nya helps Jay finish off one wing as you build the model for the wing. This build is clearly impressive and I enjoyed it immeasurably. The use of the old Spinner toppers as part of the model was really enjoyable to see again. It was definitely a good idea to bring them back into the Legacy sets.

Bag #4: Lasha of the Venomari returns as you get to build the final wing and the small Serpentine altar where the Golden Nunchuk of Lightning can be placed after it’s been captured. Granted that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, since the weapon is needed to make the Storm Fighter appear around Jay. This build is mostly a reverse/mirror build of the previous bag, which means the wings are finished and the Storm Fighter is ready for action.

The completed model

The Storm Fighter is awesome, it’s sleek design is far more fun to play with than The Movie Lightning Jet I picked up, easier to carry, easier to play it’s just truly impressive. There are flick-missiles under the wings, and you can spread the wings out with a simple activation gimmick located in the central area of the jet. The design just looks impressive, there are stickers everywhere for details, including the words Lock as part of that gimmick I mentioned where you can push it into the locked position for the wings being open.

An absolutely jaw dropping model. Really great upgrade to the first era of Ninjago using the techniques of the modern era which just improved all around some of those older model designs. I mean looking at the pictures of the original set, which I did not get to experience personally, I can just… there is no question, this model is larger, the wings design is more accurate to what they ultimately made for the show and the details are a step up. Even the little Serpentine pedestal is a vast improvement with the little purple snake heads being used for great effect. I think my only complain about this set is that they did not give us the Serpentine staff that the original had.

Overall opinion

Ninjago Legacy is a great way to pay homage to the original sets while modernizing them for a new generation to experience and enjoy. The Storm Fighter has more details here and the characters are better detailed as well. Lasha and Pythor are excellent villains and for the price they are asking this set is completely worth it. Hands down some of the best I’ve seen from Ninjago in a while. Highly Recommended.

This set was my first "real vehicle set" from Ninjago that wasn't a dragon or a mech. Because of that, I really had high regards for how playable this set was, and I'll admit, even to this day I think the playability of this set is the absolute highlight. Even though I don't really "play" with my LEGO any more (and buy more sets based on their display value), I still think this function is great. Of course, it's based off the original storm fighter, but I think this version improves on the actual function as well as making the splayed out version of the wings look even more complete. Otherwise, that's really the only outstanding part about this set, the rest of it is just good. When I first got this set, I thought it was one of the coolest looking vehicle sets, however even though I still like it, there are definetly other vehicles, even other flying vehicles that go a bit more above and beyond with their design. This one is just a really good standard plane. I am glad though at the very least you can get Pythor in a $40 set, especially since the original minifigure was so difficult to get. I am glad I got this set altogether since it's pretty great, even though it doesn't do anything imaculant.

Summary

Jay's Storm Fighter (set 70668) is part of the 2019 Legacy wave of sets: re-imagined versions of Ninjago sets from the first seasons. In this case, its predecessor was also a Jay's Storm Fighter (set 9442). IMHO, even a cursory glance at the original makes it clear what a vast improvement this fighter is over the 2011 set. And that is taking into account that these two sets targeted a different price point ($20 in 2011 vs $40 in 2019). The build itself was nice but no more than that. The swooshability is good, the wing-changing mechanism works quite good as well. Add in the four minifigures and this generally makes for a good set. I am not completely sure about the price to 'volume of stuff' ratio (to borrow Jang's term), but the PPP is good; taking inflation into account, it beats the 2011 set by miles. If you like Ninjago, Jay, aircraft or are simply looking for a nice Lego set for your own collection or that of your niece or nephew, than this set is definitely worth consideration.

Build experience

I built this set over 4 nights (1 bag a night before going to bed). Overall I would say building this set should take one a little over an hour. There are a few stickers to be applied, all fairly easy. They also IMHO add a lot to the looks. The build is easy, an many kids considerably younger than 9 years old should be able to complete this set. The designer has done a great job in making the construction of the locking mechanism for the operation of the wings as fail safe as possible. About the remotely tricky part is making sure the rope-piece is attached properly, and not stuck underneath some bricks. That is it. Another thing I could not figure out for the life of me is why there were 4 bags, rather than three. The fourth bag is finished in 5 minutes, and for a company that publicly claims to care about the environment a definite waste of plastic. Put the pieces in one of the other three bags, and nobody would have noticed it.

The construction sequence itself is logical, and there are some interesting techniques used - like the wing changing mechanism. The nose and chare are cleverly done as well.

The minifigures

There are four minifigures (Jay, Nya, Pythor and Lasha) included in this set, where the original contained only two (Jay and Snappa). And this is where I have a serious issue with this set. None of the minifigures is unique: Pythor appears in two sets, Jay and Lasha in three, and Nya in four (!), I would have gladly traded Nya and/or Lasha, Lasha and Pythor, or even Nya, Lasha and Pythor for a Snappa minifigure. Or otherwise they should have dumped Snappa in another set, as there is not a single Ninjago Legacy set that includes a minifigure belonging to the Fangpyre branch of snakes; which IMHO is serious omission.

The minifigures themselves are well done. Nya and Jay have two face prints, all four have a nive torso print on the front and back, and the three with legs have nice leg prints. In my sets, all the prints were well done: in register, and where the print continues on the legs, everything lines up nicely. Nya has a nice staff weapon (spear like), Pythor carries somethin sceptre like, and Lasha carries some knife. Jay's weapon is one of the elemental weapons (which can be collected or gotten together in the Monastery of Spinjitzu (set 70670).

The build

The Lightning Jet seems to include elements of several fighter jets introduced in the 1950's and 1980's. As a result, IMHO the whole aircraft looks really aggressive, ready to take on whatever Serpentine shows up in front of it. The designer has made great use of the opportunity that the scaling up of the jet (compared to the 2011 original) provided him with.

The designer has made great use of new parts that have appeared since then as well. This definitely helps with the aircraft looking much better than the original. It has also allowed him to find a nice balance between studs showing and creating smooth and nicely curved surfaces.

The wing-changing mechanism (a locking switch) allows for two different wing configurations - something like a reversed swing-wing - and is well integrated. The mechanism itself works OK: the unlocking goes well, but fixing the wings in place in the folded in position is a little more tricky. The clips sometimes do not lock into place, so you have to fiddle a bit. To me the best look is that with the wings in the 'folded' position. In the unfolded position, with the golden blades sticking out forward and looking from some angles, the wings resemble a bit the wings of some crane species (a bird species) folded out to shield a piece of water.

One major difference with the original is that none of the stickers features the lightning element, associated with it being a 'storm fighter' and Jay himself has been associated with the element of lightning in the past. I would have liked the current version to integrate some of the lightning in the design (in lightning colours rather than gold) for the tail.

Overall, I think this aircraft is a clear improvement of the 2011 original. Yes, the designer of this set had a clear advantage with the set being considerably bigger (and being slotted in at a higher price point), but to argue that that is the sole reason for this improvement is IMHO simply unfair to the designer.

Play vs display

This aircraft is definitely more play than display. It is very swooshable, and easy to hold. The wing-changing mechanism is easily operated, as are the two spring-loaded shooters. Even more so, the finish of the under side of the aircraft suggests it as well. It is just the plates on which the fuselage is built. The stand for the Golden Weapon is simple but effective.

As a display piece, this aircraft needs a display stand, and perhaps also the willingness of to modify the bottom a bit if needed. You need a stand, as there is no undercarriage provided (just as in the TV series (AFAIK)). The look of the whole aircraft and the general size make it big enough to be an effective display piece.

The verdict

Overall, I think this is a good set. It also fits the mould of a non-dragon-flying-thingy-for-a-reasonable-price (under say 50 euros) that seems to be part of every Ninjago wave of sets. The current design IMHO is a clear overall improvement over the original, with my only somewhat serious issue being the selection of minifigures. The PPP is good (and better than that of the original, even without inflation since 2011 being included). This set is definitely worthy of consideration by any Ninjago or Lego aircraft fan.