Ninjago

Water Dragon

A ray-winged sea dragon that lives or dies on those fabric wings.

Brick Rated Score

4.0/5

Set 71754 · 2021

Pieces737

Minifigs5

Year2021

Set number71754

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The verdict

The Water Dragon is Nya's own transformed dragon form, and the fabric wings are the whole gamble of this set.

When they work for you, the creature glides like a manta ray and it is honestly lovely. When they don't, you notice the flap is a small up-and-down wobble and not much else. I still think it earns its keep, mostly because the minifigure lineup here is unusually strong for a mid-size Ninjago box.

Best for: Ninjago fans who want NRG Nya and Prince Kalmaar without buying up

The full review

What it is

This is the third Ninjago set where a character transforms into the dragon in the box, and this time it is Nya, so the Water Dragon is not a mount she rides, it is her. That framing got me more than I expected. The build is a long, sinuous sea creature, 61cm from nose to tail when you straighten it out, and the headline trick is a pair of moving fabric wings that flap when you push a lever on its back. The whole thing is colorful, sturdy, and well articulated, and when the wings catch a bit of movement it reads exactly like a manta ray drifting through water. That is the moment the set is selling, and for a lot of people it lands.

The catch

I will be honest about where it wobbles, though, and it is the same wings. The lever only moves the central spine, so the flap is a gentle up-and-down nudge rather than a full wingbeat, and the outer fabric just follows along for the ride. Reviewers kept using the word underwhelming, and I understand why, because the box art makes you expect more drama than the mechanism delivers. The price is the other quiet catch. The part count is good value on paper, but the retail sat toward the top of the range for a set this size, and the extras (a small submarine cockpit for Zane and a little pedestal for the Wave Amulet) feel like filler bolted on beside the star.

Who it's for

Here is who should hunt one down. If you love Ninjago and you want NRG Nya, Prince Kalmaar, and Scuba Zane in one go, this is the cheapest door to all three, and Nya alone almost justifies the box. If you are a display builder who wants a big, striking creature for a shelf and you are charmed by the ray-glide idea, you will be happy. If you are chasing clever engineering or a wing mechanism that genuinely wows, I would temper expectations, because this one is prettier than it is mechanically ambitious. It has retired, so the sealed price has climbed, which makes the minifigure math the real deciding factor now.

The parts story

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

Building it is a pleasant, flowing session rather than a technical workout. You work the segmented body outward in repeating vertebrae, which keeps a nice rhythm going, and then the wing frame and the fabric go on near the end so the payoff arrives late, which is smart pacing. It is comfortably in reach for the 9-plus age rating, and an adult builder will breeze through it in an evening, but the articulated tail and neck give you enough posing afterward that it does not feel like it evaporates the moment it is done.

The standout piece is easily NRG Nya, whose water design runs from torso down through the legs and pairs with translucent arm elements that first turned up in Hidden Side, so she genuinely glows on the shelf. The fabric wing pieces are the other talking point, printed and cut to sit like a ray's fins, and they are the reason the model has personality at all. Prince Kalmaar and the two Maaray Guards bring some sharp villain molds to the table, and for a set at this count the printed and translucent parts punch above what you usually get in a mid-tier Ninjago box.

Fun facts

01The Water Dragon is Nya's own transformed form, making this the third Ninjago set where the dragon in the box is a character who is also a minifigure inside it.
02NRG Nya's translucent arm elements first debuted in the Hidden Side theme before being reused here.
03This set was the single cheapest way to collect NRG Nya, Prince Kalmaar, and Scuba Zane together, since two of those figures appeared in only a pair of Seabound sets.
04Released in mid-2021 and retired around mid-2022, sealed copies have since climbed well above the original retail price.