Ninjago

Nya's Samurai X MECH

A gorgeous dark-azure mech with eight minifigs, held back by a chunky price.

Brick Rated Score

3.9/5

Set 71775 · 2022

Pieces1,014

Minifigs8

Year2022

Set number71775

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The verdict

The color scheme is what got me here, that mix of dark azure, red, black and gold reads like a comic panel come to life.

You get one of the most poseable big Ninjago mechs going, plus a genuinely loaded eight-figure lineup. The catch is the price, because a cheaper sibling set does more with the robot, so this one leans on looks and figures rather than clever function.

Best for: Ninjago fans and mech collectors who value display looks and a big minifig haul

The full review

What it is

Some LEGO® sets sell you on function and some sell you on a look, and Nya's Samurai X MECH is firmly in the second camp. The color scheme is the whole personality here. That blend of dark azure, deep red, black and gold nods to Nya's water elemental roots and gives the robot a comic-book quality that a lot of grey-and-silver mechs never reach. It stands about 32cm tall, which is proper display height, and the heavy shoulder armor and the samurai faulds around the waist keep it from looking like a generic action robot. If you build for the shelf and you want a figure that reads instantly across a room, this one delivers.

The catch

Now for the honest bits, because there are a few. The biggest one is value. At 119.99 dollars it sits right next to the Ninja Ultra Combo Mech, which cost less and gave you more moving parts and play features, so a lot of reviewers felt this set played it safe. The action here comes down to two swords, two spring-loaded shooters and a cockpit for Nya, which is fine but not inventive. The limbs are also on the slim side, and if you line it up against a chunkier mech like Zane's, the proportions look a little underfed. None of this ruins the set, but it does mean you are paying a premium partly for the eight figures and partly for that pretty finish.

Who it's for

So where does that leave you. If you love Ninjago, or you just want a big, colorful, poseable mech that looks fantastic on a shelf and comes with a small army of characters, you'll be happy with this. The minifig lineup alone (Samurai X Nya, Golden Jay, Master Wu, Oni Garmadon, Lil' Nelson, General Pythor, The Mechanic and a Vengestone Warrior) is a lot of Crystalized cast in one box, and most of them are exclusive here. If you care more about engineering and play function than looks, the cheaper combo mech is the smarter buy and I won't pretend otherwise. Since the set retired in late 2023 and prices have climbed well past retail, grab it for the figures and the display value rather than as a bargain, and you'll get exactly what you came for.

The parts story

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

The build breaks into the parts you'd expect from a big mech, and it moves along at a good clip across the 144-page manual. You start with the crystal rock monster as a warm-up, then work up through the legs and hips, the torso and cockpit, and finally the armored shoulders and arms. The joints are the fun part, because the hips, knees, arms and legs all articulate, so a lot of the assembly is about clicking together ball joints and hinges rather than laying flat plates. It never gets fiddly enough to frustrate a younger builder, and the progress bar in the instructions keeps the pace feeling brisk.

On pieces, the story is really about color rather than exotic new molds. The dark azure appears across armor panels and slopes in ways that make those elements handy for anyone parting out for custom builds, and the gold and red trim pieces are useful accents. The swords, spring shooters and various angled plates are all solid, reusable parts. The genuine value, though, is the figure count. Eight minifigures inside a roughly 1,000-piece set is generous, and with most of them exclusive to this box, the per-figure math is a big reason people still hunt this one down on the secondary market.

Fun facts

01Samurai X was originally Nya's own secret identity in early Ninjago, before she passed the mantle to the Nindroid P.I.X.A.L., so this mech ties back to one of the show's oldest disguises.
02The set launched in 2022 as part of Ninjago: Crystalized, the sprawling arc that wrapped up the show's original decade-plus continuity.
03Its dark azure color scheme is a deliberate nod to Nya being the ninja team's Master of Water, setting it apart from the usual metallic mech palette.
04It retired in December 2023 after about 18 months on shelves, and sealed copies have since climbed well over double the original 119.99 dollar price.