Ninjago

Dragon Pit

A big, gnarly wasteland arena with a rocky dragon and nine figures.

Brick Rated Score

4.2/5

Set 70655 · 2018

Pieces1,669

Minifigs9

Year2018

Set number70655

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The verdict

This one snuck up on me.

It looks like a chunky wall of grey and sand green at first, but the little wasteland touches (the fake petrol engine, the dragon bones scattered around, the skull throne) are what won me over. It's a proper playset for kids who act out the Hunted story, and the Earth Dragon plus nine figures make it feel loaded. If you want tight interiors and clever mechanisms, temper your hopes a bit.

Best for: Ninjago fans and kids who want a big villain lair to stage battles in

The full review

What it is

The Dragon Pit is one of the biggest Ninjago location LEGO® sets ever made, and it comes from the Hunted arc where Iron Baron and his Dragon Hunters run a grim little arena out in the wasteland. You get three detachable sections that clip together into one long structure: a central pit with a gated arena, a jail on one side, and a watchtower with a blacksmith forge on the other. At 1,669 pieces it's a substantial afternoon, and the thing that makes it sing is the theme. This is a bad-guy hideout through and through, all rusted grey and sand green, with dragon bones littered around like trophies and a throne built from a dragon skull. It feels lived in and a bit menacing, which is exactly what the story needs.

The catch

Here's the honest part. For something this large, the set is oddly hollow. Reviewers kept noting the same thing I did: the footprint is huge but the actual enclosed interior space is small, and there aren't many play functions for the money. What you get is a gate mechanism where one dial opens both arena doors at once (that's the clever bit, and it's genuinely fun the first time you realize it works), a jail trapdoor that drops a figure into the pit, a rooftop dual missile shooter, and a buildable telescope. All fine, none of them jaw-dropping. And while the villains are excellent, the four ninja (Kai, Jay, Zane and Cole) look pretty plain in their battle-worn outfits next to Iron Baron and the gang. At its original 129.99, that's a fair chunk of change for a set that leans more on presence than on gimmicks.

Who it's for

So who should grab it? If your household loves Ninjago and wants a big, dramatic villain base to stage fights in, this delivers on scale and atmosphere better than almost anything else in the wave. Kids get nine figures, a dragon, and a sprawling playset that photographs like a scene from the show. If you're a display collector who lives for engineering wizardry and packed interiors, you might find it a touch empty for its size. It retired back in December 2019, so you're buying secondhand now, and prices have climbed a long way past retail. Go in for the theme and the figure lineup and you'll be happy. Go in expecting a mechanical marvel and you'll want to adjust.

The parts story

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

The build moves in three chunks, and that keeps it from ever feeling like a slog. You tackle the central pit and its gate system first, then the jail with its collapsing floor, then the watchtower and forge. The gate mechanism is the standout technique: a single exposed dial drives both arena doors together, and it's blended into the structure so naturally that it doesn't look like a mechanism at all. The Earth Dragon (Slab from the show) is its own satisfying sub-build, with a head made from a stack of brackets, curved slopes and rocky elements, a lower jaw mounted on two droid arms so it opens and closes, and ball joints in the legs and neck that make it genuinely posable for display.

Piece-wise this leans texture over exotic new molds. The palette is heavy on sand green and grey, with dark tan swords standing in as the dragon's horns and golden goblin blades used as tusks, plus printed yellow eyes on either side of its head. The real value sits in the nine minifigures: Dragon Master (wearing the collectible Dragon Armor with a printed shoulder piece and fabric flag), Iron Baron with his peg-leg and cyborg arm, Arkade with slot-machine chest printing, Heavy Metal, the little Chew Toy, and the four ninja. Four of the figures are exclusive to this set, and on the secondary market those figures alone account for close to a third of the total value, which tells you where the collector interest really is.

Fun facts

01The Earth Dragon in this set is Slab from the Hunted season, and he's the smallest of the wave's dragons, dwarfed by Firstbourne in set 70653.
02The Dragon Master here wears one of four collectible Dragon Armor elements, with the other three scattered across sets 70650, 70652 and 70654 so collectors have to chase the whole set.
03It's among the largest Ninjago location models LEGO has ever released, yet reviewers repeatedly pointed out how little enclosed interior space all that bulk actually contains.
04The set retired in December 2019 and has since climbed well past its 129.99 retail price on the secondary market, a nearly 100 percent jump over its original cost.