With every wave, or at least the last few waves, Ninjago mechs are getting better and bigger! And this latest set of summer sets is no exception. Cole’s new mech, the Titan Dragon Mech, stands over 17 inches tall and has some serious anime-inspired design and construction. Unique extra joint elements in the arms and legs allow for a surprising amount of pose-ability in a mech this large. Adult LEGO fans who have become LEGO set designers are bringing much creativity into recent sets in many LEGO themes.
LEGO Ninjago 71821 Cole’s Titan Dragon Mech comes with 1,055 pieces for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99. It’ll be available in the UK starting June 1, while those in the US and Canada will need to wait until the start of August to get their hands on this set.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Unboxing the parts, instructions, and stickers
The set comes in a large square box with the Dragons Rising branding. On the front of the box, the mech is featured in an action pose against an illustrated background of a battle arena, or a town square. The mech includes a backpack with 6 sword elements arranged like wings that extend past the edge of the box. The single minifigure of Cole in a mech pilot suit is included in the lower right corner.
The back of the box shows the mech seen from a lower angle in a resting pose, with the large sword resting on its shoulder. The sword is made from the new blade element first introduced in LEGO 10327 Atreides Royal Ornithopter, in gold for the first time. Cole leans against the foot of the mech, which gives you a sense of just how big this mech is. A small inset image shows the mech’s dimensions.
Inside the box, there are 11 paper parts bags as well as a small envelope with the 4 instruction booklets and a small sticker sheet.
The build
Booklet 1 covers the torso and hips, including the top of the legs. The torso starts with a pretty standard mech core with a pilot compartment which has brackets of outward-facing studs front and back. There is a power unit that attaches directly in front of the pilot compartment.
The lower half of the torso where the hips attach is connected at an angle with one of the double-pronged mech joints. There is a small opening in the back of the torso to attach the winged pack at the end.
Each leg starts with a double-pronged mech joint attached to a small joint brick. This allows the upper leg to be rotated mid-thigh to allow for more options to pose the completed mech.
The hip section is detailed with four angled and tiled elements attached with clips and small ball joints.
Booklet 2 covers both legs starting with the feet. These are large, as they have a lot of weight to support. Several small orange rubber elements are added to cushion the foot bottom.
An angled top foot section with gold trim is added, along with two large ball sockets behind the main ankle joint which will attach pistons to the back of the lower leg. This will allow the legs and feet to be very pose-able while still supporting the weight of this substantial mech. Each foot is identical.
The lower legs, again identical, are built with large angled sides, and a brick-built track in front to allow a sliding section attached to the knee to move up and down. The two pistons are attached with small ball joints.
The top of the leg attaches to a knee assembly with clip hinges and this slides into the lower leg section.
Now both of the legs attach to the torso section and the mech can stand on its own with very little wobble.
Booklet 3 covers the arms of the mech in three sections: the shoulder, the forearm, and the hand. The shoulders, which are mirror builds of each other, start with an interesting use of Technic bricks with a single pin to point studs up and down. One side is then shaped with black angled slopes with orange plates sandwiched trim. The angled side is repeated on the back, and rocket launchers are added via stickers on black 5-sided shield tiles. A double-pronged mech joint is added.
The shoulders attach to the torso just above the pilot compartment and give the mech an imposing look. The shoulders end in a small joint brick to which we will attach the elbow joint.
Next is a small extension of the upper arm, that ends in an elbow made from two click-hinge bricks which, similar to the legs, allows a wider range of motion for each arm.
The forearm is built using similar angled slopes as the leg, in white and orange with gold details. Simple hands attach to large ball joints.
The last part of booklet 3 is a small head with gold details including 2 swords first used in Lord of the Rings sets.
Booklet 4 covers the winged backpack and the large sword. The wing pack is built using angled plates and attaches to the back of the mech via two Technic pins, and each sword attaches with a click-hinged element.
The Minifigs
The set comes with a single minifigure pilot, Cole, who has a printed torso with details front and back, and front-printed legs. He has shoulder armor and also comes with an alternate facial expression.
The finished model
The finished mech is impressive, and can be arranged in several dynamic action poses, although the weight of the mech does limit the ways the legs can be set while keeping the mech balanced.
Compared to the last mech I reviewed from the theme LEGO Ninjago 71812 Kai’s Ninja Climber Mech the Titan Dragon mech stands nearly twice as tall.
As you can see from my experiments there are so many fun ways this mech can be posed.
Conclusions and recommendations
Ninjago fans and mech fans can all find something to appreciate about this mech, and while the wing pack does make the mech a bit challenging to display it can easily be removed. The multi-joint construction of both the legs and the arms makes this one of the most articulated mechs, with a whopping 17 points of articulation in the mech alone. The construction techniques and the overall look of this mech give fan-built mechs some serious competition. LEGO Ninjago 71821 Cole’s Titan Dragon Mech comes with 1,055 pieces and will be available on August 1st for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99. Also available from 3rd party sellers like Amazon and eBay.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
