Ninjago

Destiny's Bounty

The ninja's flying ship, done as a big honest sail-and-hull build.

Brick Rated Score

4.2/5

Set 71705 · 2020

Pieces1,783

Minifigs7

Year2020

Set number71705

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This one won me over the moment the sails actually swung on their gears.

It's the Ninjago flagship as a proper ship you can pose and play with, not a shelf ornament, and at roughly seven cents a piece it's genuinely fair value for its size. The catch is that seven minifigs feels a little thin for 1,783 pieces, and if you owned the bigger 2017 version you'll notice this one trades some detail for a smaller footprint. If you love the show or you just want a swooshable red airship, you'll be very happy here.

Best for: Ninjago fans who want a playable flying ship, not a static display piece

The full review

What it is

There's something about a flying pirate ship that the ninja stole back from destiny itself, and this LEGO® set leans all the way into it. The 71705 Destiny's Bounty is the Legacy take on the team's iconic red airship, the mobile headquarters they've sailed since the very first season of the show, and it lands as a big, chunky, thoroughly playable model. You get 1,783 pieces, seven minifigures, and a finished ship that stands about 12 inches tall and 17 inches long with a double dragon-head figurehead up front and those tall sails towering over the deck. It's the kind of build that looks like a proper ship when it's done, the sort you can grab and swoosh around the living room without worrying it'll shatter, and that matters for a set that's really about a base you play with rather than one you admire from a safe distance.

The catch

Now for the honest bits, and there are a few. Seven minifigures is a perfectly nice roster, but for a 1,783-piece set it can feel a touch stingy, especially when you remember Ninjago sets are usually where the character love lives. If you built the larger 2017 movie version, the 70618, you'll clock straight away that this Legacy one is smaller and a little plainer, trading some of that older ship's fine detailing for a tidier footprint and a lower price. And I'll be straight with you about the hull: a decent chunk of the early build is long, repetitive plate work down the sides before you reach the fun structural stuff, so if you like constant variety you'll hit a patient stretch in the middle. At its 129.99 US launch price it was fair rather than a steal, and now that it's retired you'll want to keep an eye on what people are asking for it secondhand.

Who it's for

So here's who I'd point at it. If you love Ninjago, or you have a kid who does, this is close to the perfect version of the ship: iconic, sturdy, full of play features, and stuffed with the whole core team of Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane, plus Sensei Wu, Samurai X Nya, and Lloyd. If you want a swooshable centerpiece that earns its shelf space and still gets picked up and played with, grab it. The people I'd gently steer away are detail obsessives who already own the bigger movie ship, and anyone who measures a set purely by minifig count. For everyone else, this is a very good, warm-hearted build that gives you a real ship at the end, and that counts for a lot.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build breaks into clear chapters, and the pacing rewards patience. You start low with the hull, and there's a stretch of long, repetitive side plating that tests you a little before the ship's shape appears. Once the deck goes on it picks up fast: you assemble the cabin and dojo area, then the masts, and then the part everyone remembers, the geared sail mechanism. Turning a control at minifig height raises and lowers the sails, and it's cleverly done, with the sails-down position tucking neatly over the deck so the gearing feels like part of the actual ship rather than a bolted-on gimmick. It's around a five to six hour build for most people, which is a proper afternoon well spent.

On pieces, the headline is value rather than a parade of brand-new molds. At roughly 7.3 cents per part it's a strong ratio for a licensed set this size, and you're getting a big haul of dark red plates, tan and brown deck elements, and the large sail cloth pieces printed with the ship's markings. The double dragon-head figurehead and the golden trim give you some genuinely display-worthy printed and shaped parts, and the seven minifigures are the real collectible draw, with the Legacy versions of the ninja and a nicely turned out Sensei Wu. If you part sets for your own builds, the red hull plates and the sail rigging alone make this a useful box to raid.

Fun facts

01The Destiny's Bounty has been the ninja's headquarters since season one of the show, originally the ship of the feared pirate Captain Soto before the team salvaged it and made it fly.
02This 2020 Legacy version is noticeably more compact than the 2017 movie edition (70618), which stood over 17 inches tall and 21 inches long across three full levels.
03The sails work on a real gear mechanism operated at minifigure height, so the crew can raise and lower them as if they were actually crewing the ship.
04It packs seven minifigures including Sensei Wu and a Samurai X version of Nya, giving you the entire core team in one box.