Ninjago

Kai Fighter

A big, brash red jet that leans harder into play than into looks.

Brick Rated Score

3.7/5

Set 71704 · 2020

Pieces513

Minifigs4

Year2020

Set number71704

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The verdict

The Kai Fighter is one of those sets that lands better on the shelf of an eight-year-old than in a display case.

It is a Legacy remake of the little 2014 jet, and LEGO more than doubled the piece count to build something you can genuinely swoosh around a living room. I love the folding wings and the two spring shooters, but I will be straight with you: the fuselage gets busy and the sticker sheet is heavy, and a fair few longtime fans quietly prefer the smaller original. If you or the kid in your life care more about play than about clean lines, this one earns its keep.

Best for: Ninjago-mad kids who want a big red jet to actually play with

The full review

What it is

The Kai Fighter is Kai's red jet from the Nindroid season, rebuilt for the Legacy line in 2020. What got me first is just the scale of it. The original 2014 set was a slight 196-piece thing, and this one jumps to 513 pieces and stretches to 43cm wide and 34cm long, so you end up with a proper big model that begs to be flown around the room. It comes with four minifigures too: sleeveless Legacy Kai, Legacy Lloyd, and two identical Nindroid Warriors to shoot down. Both ninjas have dual-expression heads, angry on one side and grinning on the other, which is a small touch I always appreciate on a play-focused set.

The catch

Now for the honest caveats, because there are a few. The wings are the headline feature, and they clip onto bars on either side of the body so you can angle them however you like, but the whole jet reads as busy. There is a lot going on across the hull, and next to the tidy lines of the 2014 original it can look overdone. The sticker sheet does not help. Stickers land on the tail fins, engine intakes, front fins, the forks and the tiles around the twin shooters, and lining all of those up is fiddly work. At an RRP of 39.99 dollars (34.99 pounds) it was fairly priced for the part count, though it has crept up to around 45 dollars since it retired at the end of 2021.

Who it's for

So who is this for? Honestly, kids. An eight-year-old who loves Ninjago will get hours out of the folding wings, the two spring shooters and the little Nindroid turret, and they will not care one bit that the hull is fussy. Parents chasing a solid value play set will be happy here too. The people I would gently steer away are the display-focused collectors and the Ninjago purists who want the season-three silhouette. If clean lines matter to you more than swoosh factor, the smaller original is the one to hunt down instead.

The parts story

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

Building the Kai Fighter feels like exactly what it is: a sturdy, medium-length jet build aimed at younger hands. The core is a solid fuselage that comes together quickly, then the two wings clip on via bars so they stay poseable, and you finish with the twin spring-loaded shooters and the small Nindroid turret. It is not a technical or clever build, and grown-up builders may find the middle stretch a touch repetitive, but it is satisfying to watch a jet this size take shape, and the sticker application is really the only part that demands patience.

For parts, the standout is the wing element, which was new for 2020 and new in red here, so recolor hunters get something worth pulling. There are a couple of genuinely rare pieces tucked in too, including the pointed and curved 2x2 bow plate in red and some white ingot elements, plus the two transparent red missiles for the shooters. At roughly 8 cents per piece the box is a decent source of everyday red plates and bricks, so even if the jet itself is not your thing, the parts do real work.

Fun facts

01This Legacy version more than doubled the original 2014 Kai Fighter, jumping from 196 pieces to 513.
02The red wing element was brand new for 2020 and appeared in red for the first time in this set.
03It retired in December 2021 after about a year and a half on shelves and has since climbed roughly 12.5 percent in value to around 45 dollars.