Review: 40704 Micro NINJAGO Docks
Posted by CapnRex101,It sometimes seems as though 70657 NINJAGO City Docks is the forgotten section of the larger NINJAGO City series, doubtless due partly to its modest size, compared with other sets. Various building heights are essential to any city though, including at microscale!
40704 Micro NINJAGO Docks offers that variety and should be a suitable companion for 40703 Micro NINJAGO City, as both are available from the Insiders Rewards Centre currently.
Summary
40704 Micro NINJAGO Docks, 275 pieces.
As a continuation of the Micro NINJAGO City series, this is an excellent model
- Accurate building layout
- Includes many small details
- Perfect companion for 40703 Micro NINJAGO City
- Underwhelming when displayed alone
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The Completed Model
As expected, this set is stylistically identical to 40703 Micro NINJAGO City, capturing fantastic detail from 70657 NINJAGO City Docks and reflecting its colour scheme exactly. This model is accurately wider than the previous corner module of the city and captures the unique silhouette of the original set, featuring an elevated walkway separated by a shorter building in the centre.
The columns supporting these walkways show superb attention to detail, as white ingots form traditional stone pillars on one side, while black elements comprise a triangular brace beneath the other walkway. The foliage behind this brace looks wonderful and a yellow 1x1 tile is visible along a passageway between buildings, depicting an Alien Conquest-inspired poster from the original set.
Following this passageway, we reach the dock area. 1x1 round plates are laid sideways for the wooden dock, with a couple of light bluish grey plates forming a stone bollard at the end. Again, these details correspond with the 2018 model, even including a little boat! The crane is another welcome feature and I like the 1x2 double corner panels representing market stalls.
In addition, the buildings above are beautifully detailed. Beginning towards the left, a 1x2 grille tile serves as a ladder to reach Mystake's tea shop, with its distinctive dark blue doors on both sides. The green tea shop advertisement is also readily identifiable from 70657 NINJAGO City Docks, as is the pig-shaped balloon floating over the arcade. I think the wall decoration outside the arcade could be better though, as it really needs a splash of black.
Technic pins provide an easy connection with 40703 Micro NINJAGO City and these sets pair perfectly together. As with their minifigure-scale counterparts, NINJAGO City is certainly more eye-catching, while NINJAGO City Docks adds variety to the skyline. The billboards positioned along the walkways line up perfectly and their colours match the original sets too.
Another pattern is starting to emerge between these sets, as a printed sushi tile is found inside the crab restaurant in 40703 Micro NINJAGO City and 40704 Micro NINJAGO Docks houses a similar Easter egg. Removing the arcade's roof reveals a printed ring-pull tile, making reference to the lime green vending machine located outside.
These sets match when viewed from the other side as well, preserving an issue with the larger sets. Whereas the docks look excellent from either side, detail is focused on the front of 70620 NINJAGO City and therefore, its smaller version. However, the difference is less obvious at this scale, where the colours of the buildings alone provide ample detail.
Overall
I love the approach taken to microscale construction in these sets and 40704 Micro NINJAGO Docks looks splendid. Notable features of the original set are scaled down appropriately, while certain details are reduced in size to a lesser degree, so they remain visible even at microscale, such as the yellow Alien Conquest poster. Had everything been scaled down equally, far more details would be lost.
Although this set contains fewer pieces than 40703 Micro NINJAGO City, I had feared all four models in the series would cost 2700 points. Thankfully though, this one is slightly cheaper at 2300 points. That is equivalent to about £15, $20 or €15 in discount vouchers from the Rewards Centre, which feels quite reasonable to me.
Thanks to Huw for the photos in this review.
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23 comments on this article
Cute. Still sad I missed these though! This could fill that hole a bit.
It would be cool if it came with a tiny brick separator.
Man, my OCD cant not see that askew pearl gold 1x1 tile.
I wondered why there was a ring pull tile in the middle when I built it. Now I know!
They released this one too close to the othe one. I havent even received the other one let alone have points for this
@GusG said:
"They released this one too close to the othe one. I havent even received the other one let alone have points for this"
They're trying to force you to buy more large sets.
It's their job.
Thanks for the detailed review.
When I saw a photo of the box before I also felt this one looked underwhelming.
Perhaps they should have gone for a shot at a slight angle, because the set looks more interesting in some of the photos here.
Combined with the first set it already looks like an awesome display. Thanks for including those photos.
I'd happily buy these for $20-$25 each, but don't have the required points saved up to get all of them.
Like the first one, impressive for those familiar with the full size sets - just a pile of random bricks otherwise.
I have all four of the D2C City sets, and these tempt me to sell them to clear up some space in my bedroom. These four would be a perfect desktop decoration, and I could probably buy them off of Bricklink for a fraction of the price...
@Huw most of photos are taken from wrong side... The front of set in your photos is just back of the building!
@MZ_1 said:
" @Huw most of photos are taken from wrong side... The front of set in your photos is just back of the building!"
It's the more interesting side :)
Looks like someones getting pink cake.
At this scale the mold marks are even more jarring. I really wish they would somehow (magically?) get rid of them.
I like this. Undoubtedly, it is linked to my possession of the larger sets.
The technic connectors look like sewer outflows when it's by itself. That's funny.
I also appreciate buying Lego with my points, however that occurs. I'm largely done with hats, coins, and prints.
I wonder how many people are interested in these who don't own the big sets?
@SINTAX said:
"At this scale the mold marks are even more jarring. I really wish they would somehow (magically?) get rid of them."
It's not magic. The injection mold marks have become more prominent because they're cutting costs. They could make them less prominent but that would cut into their precious profits.
@illennium said:
" @SINTAX said:
"At this scale the mold marks are even more jarring. I really wish they would somehow (magically?) get rid of them."
It's not magic. The injection mold marks have become more prominent because they're cutting costs. They could make them less prominent but that would cut into their precious profits."
Perhaps it's meant to represent Ninjago City after an especially viscous Garmadon attack? The mold marks being the bullet holes.
'Only the Best for Our Insanely Huge Profit Margin is What You Will Have to Accept.'
I still haven’t even seen this show up on the Australian store yet
I bought the pieces I needed once again, unfortunately this time it was more tricky and to make it cheap I had to buy from 4 separate bricklink sellers.. two of them went fine but one sent me used (and abused) pieces (luckily I got a refund) and another appears to have been lost in transit and.... at only 19 pieces away from building it, I give up
I won't be spending points to get the last one of them (as I knew I wouldn't have the points for even 2) nor submitting the parts list of 40705 and 40706 to rebrickable (I did for 40703 and 40704), but I'm sure someone else will.
@StyleCounselor said:
"I like this. Undoubtedly, it is linked to my possession of the larger sets.
The technic connectors look like sewer outflows when it's by itself. That's funny.
I also appreciate buying Lego with my points, however that occurs. I'm largely done with hats, coins, and prints.
I wonder how many people are interested in these who don't own the big sets?"
I am! I think they're neat.
If I haven't seen the original full-size set, I wouldn't have any idea what this is supposed to represent.
These sets reminds me of the The Emperor's New Clothes story. It looks like a pile of random bricks.
@Reventon said:
"I still haven’t even seen this show up on the Australian store yet "
ditto NZ