Introduction

First, I'd like to say, I'm a new member to Brickset, so please excuse me if I'm not "professional" (I've been reading stuff from the database since a long time ago, but I really wanted to start writing reviews and stuff recently). I'm from Australia so most prices I refer to will be in AUD.

Alright, now let's get into the review. This set is the smallest set of the Ninjago Seabound wave, and I got the set because it was small. Nonetheless, compared to many other sets of this size, I feel that this set definitely rivals them.

Packaging

The box is the standard 32 AUD packaging size. It's becoming increasingly common in recent Ninjago waves that the smallest set cost 32 AUD, not 15. In other words, the sizes of smaller sets of waves are becoming bigger, more expensive.

The box art is pretty cool, with an image of Wojira the Sea Serpent on the front bottom left corner. The corners of the box are red, with some red and blue shell designs and some "ripped paper" designs. On the front top right corner is an image of NRG Nya with her water powers, below it is some information on the specifics of this set, like name, piece count, age "limit", etc. On the bottom right are images of the two minifigures included - Scuba Lloyd and a generic Maaray Guard. In the middle is an action image of the Hydro Mech fighting off a Maaray Guard armed with one of this wave's collectible items, the Wave Amulet, in front of an undersea background with sand and corals. On the back is another shot of the Hydro Mech, above a little comic strip presenting different functions featured in the Mech.

Contents and build

The contents of the box are two numbered bags of bricks (1 & 2) for this set, one instruction booklet, and one sticker sheet of four stickers.

I built the set in a little more than 45 minutes because I was feeling rather lazy.

Minifigures

The minifigure selection, as mentioned, is Scuba Lloyd and a Maaray Guard.

Scuba Lloyd is a variant of the Green Ninja himself, equipped with accessories common across all the Ninja figures of this wave, who dive into the depths of the ocean in the newest season. The Ninja mask for Lloyd is new and dual molded, with transparent blue goggles around a traditional Ninja wrap, albeit without the mouth cover to accommodate the rebreather. The lower mask piece, which is rubber, has three sections all stuck together. I have a few complaints with this piece. The first part which is the rebreather itself, doesn't go all the way over the mouth of the minifgure wearer, in this case Lloyd. This is understandable since the goggles on the mask have a certain thickness around the rims, and to match the middle part with the minifigure's eyes, some parts have to be downsized. The next part, the oxygen tank, is attached to a standard minifigure torso with a neck bracket, and there is a sword holder that goes right through it. I don't appreciate this because for one, this doesn't make any sense - how can sword go through an oxygen tank? Also, the sword accessory doesn't make any sense, as Lloyd is never seen using one throughout the season. Why not include a blaster piece instead, which the Ninja actually used? There is also a belt piece with two pouches, which is inaccurate to the show - the Ninja never used them - but is understandable since the rubber belt has to be secured. The torso printing is very cool though, and there is a nice colour scheme of a light green base, Lloyd's trademark color, with dark green armor, and a Lloyd's logo in yellow, plus a few gold and silver highlights here and there for belts and buckles. The printing continues on to the legs, with a green belt tied around the waist piece and one buckle on the right leg. There is also a pair of black flipper feet attachments for Lloyd.

The Maaray Guard has a very nice colour scheme of mostly black, but balanced out with quite a lot of gold highlights, as well as a gold Sons of Garmadon armor piece, previously used the Monkey King, and the Legacy remake of the Overlord. The Guard's head is a recolor of the Pyro Whipper's from Ninjago's SotFS wave, earning the Guard its nickname "Hydro Whipper" from the Ninjago fandom. The head piece is black with blue sticking out. The torso itself has golden armor printing similar to Jay's Armor variant printing, with some teal highlights. The arms are black and the hands are teal. The waist is printed with a gold chain, and the legs have some gold armor and blue highlights on black. The Maaray Guard is armed with a small 2-piece trident build, consisting of a black dragon hilt - an element which is not new, but first appeared in black in this wave of Ninjago sets - and a gun metal gray sai (Japanese three-pronged dagger) piece.

The completed model

The asymmetry stands out on this unusual but cool underwater exploration submersible mech. The color scheme is very attractive in my opinion, featuring yellow highlights over sand green and dark green. One of the most noticeable parts is the giant left hand of the mech, with an inverted hull piece as a pauldron. Another part is the cockpit, which first appeared in 71736 Boulder Blaster, and appears here with the transparent parts light blue instead of plain transparent.

Each side of the asymmetrical mech serves a different purpose; the left has a claw hand build - which incorporates two new blade pieces! - and the right has a hand with fingers to hold a giant golden sword. The build is good, with excellent building techniques to secure the arms to the back, and I like how there is a skirt design for the Mech, using previously uncommon armor pieces in black.

Playability

Children will have fun putting Lloyd in the beautifully designed cockpit and posing the mech in different battle stances, but the Maaray Guard looks hopelessly outmanoeuvred by the towering mech. Perhaps a small chariot build would be appropriate for the Maaray Guard to boost play value.

Overall thoughts

The piece count is pretty good in my opinion taking into account the price. The figures are a good selection, although the accessories could definitely be improved - a blaster piece could've replaced the sword, and the Maaray Guard's spear weapon could've been a more show accurate trident piece. I'm also really happy that they included the Wave Amulet in this set, because despite not playing a huge role in Seabound, I'd want to complete my collection of collectibles from every season. I rated this set an overall 4, because I think it's near perfect.

Thanks for reading, hope you found this review helpful.