This is a review of the LEGO Ninjago 9448 Samurai Mech.  I got it a couple of weeks back during the GSS at Metro.  Actually, I didn’t want to open it up yet but seems that it’s all fated for me to do this review of this new Ninjago set.  I’ll share more later in this review blog.

This new release of the Ninjago sets are following the “Rise of the Snakes” season of the TV series.  With the introduction of the new Green Ninja in the story line, the focus also change from the red boxes range to these new one where by the Green Ninja took the centre stage.  At the start of this season, Nya, Kai’s sister, disguised herself as Samurai X who also has a giant armoured robot suite (just like Ironman), whereby she can fight the larger enemies in the show, saving the Ninjas along the way.  The LEGO Ninjago 9448 Samurai Mech is the set that replicates this giant armoured robot suite.

The box of the set is not very big compared to the other bigger sets like the LEGO Ninjago 9446 Destiny’s Bounty released couple of months back.  Something interesting about the box is the inclusion of detailed explanations of the Samurai Mech suit’s features at the back of the box.  This is not usually done for other sets.  LEGO has also updated the picture at the top right hand of this batch of new release to that of the Green Ninja.  Like what I said previously, I didnt intend to open this set till later date. However, during the packing of my LEGO sets in the store room, I accidentally leaned again this box and resulted in a crushed at one of the corners of the box.  Really heartache when I saw it. 🙁

Inside the box, it comes with 2 instruction booklets, 3 package of bricks and a small piece of sticker for the small details of the Samurai X.  Actually I still prefer if LEGO could print the required designs on the bricks rather than using stickers.

See the detailed explananation on the different features of the Samurai Mech shown at the back of the set.  This is something I’ve not seen on other sets as usually LEGO will just include very self explanatory pictures only without the wordings.

The assembly took must faster than I’ve expected, around 30 mins or so.  Maybe because the packs are already labelled so there are less parts to seperate out prior to the assembly.  In this set, the Snakes have their own simple thrower weapon to pit again the Samurai Mech.  It’s just made of a basin with a wood level to activate for throwing things at the enemy.

For the 2 Snakes included in this set, they are Bytar and Snike.  Frankly, I never really take note of the names of the Snakes in the cartoon as I dont really fancy the Snakes compared with the Ninjas.  But I would say the details of the Mini Figures snakes are really quite detailed with their printed torso and facial expressions.  For these 2, they even come with their own unique head pieces which will really interest AFOLs who are collects of MFs and Ninjago Snakes.

Also include is Nya in her Samurai X suite.  In this case, this exactly the same as the Samurai X that is part of a spinner part.  The design is quite elaborate but i find the head gear pieces of the Samurai X is still pretty filmsy so it may still come off when playing with the MFs.  Anyway, this MF is almost similar to the one in the Samurai X spinner set.

Let’s take a closer look at the Samurai Mech itself.  It comes with weapons on both side of its shoulder.  The left is a cannon and on the right is a blue tip weapon, can’t really recall if it is a laser or a gun. :-p  At the chest of the Samurai Mech, it’s a crest made from the top of a Ninjago spinner.  At the back is two nice rockets that allow the Samurai Mech to fly.

Here, you can see Nya sitting nicely inside the Samurai Mech’s cockpit controlling it 🙂

Something interesting is the left and right hand of the Samurai Mech.  The left has long claws but the right doesn’t.  It’s only till the end of the assembly then I realise why this is so.  The reason being that the right hand has to hold the nice long sword of the Samurai Mech. 🙂

I would say the designer really put in quite a bit of efforts to do up the details on the Samurai Mech.  There is a nice white flag it’s carrying on it’s back with the words “Ming Yu” which means Honor.  The Samurai Mech’s helmet also comes with details of top similar to the head dress Nya has on her Samurai X suit.

Zooming into the sword of the Samurai Mech, it’s actually all pre-fab.  But it’s still very nicely done with much details.

Looking at the body armour of the Samurai Mech, quite a number of places are detailed with stickers including the bottom torso and the side skirts.  At the pants area, small trianglar 1 by 1 pieces to form a nice design in the armour.

Overall, a Ninjago fan (or follower) would certainly want to get this set as part of the collection.  Just like how we are looking forward to the Green Ninja Mini Figure to be released. 🙂