Ninjago

Zane's Mino Creature

A rhino-shaped brawler with a head-butt that genuinely works, wrapped inside a spin-the-dice board game.

Brick Rated Score

3.6/5

Set 71719 · 2020

Pieces617

Minifigs4

Year2020

Set number71719

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The verdict

The Mino itself is the reason to want this one.

It is a chunky, rocky beast inspired by a rhinoceros, and the battering-ram head-butt is built into the body so cleanly that a kid can play with it for hours. What holds me back from raving is the rest of the package: the creature is smaller than the box art suggests, and the four minifigures are a fairly quiet lineup for a NINJAGO set this size. If your child is deep in the Master of the Mountain season and loves the board-game gimmick, it lands well. If you are shopping purely on display value, there are punchier NINJAGO sets for the money.

Best for: Master of the Mountain fans aged 8-plus who want a poseable creature plus a real board game to play

The full review

What it is

Zane's Mino Creature is a 617-piece NINJAGO set from the 2020 Master of the Mountain wave, and the star is the Mino: a stone-skinned beast modelled on a rhinoceros that carries a working head-butt function inside its chest. The first time I flicked that battering ram forward I actually laughed, because the mechanism is tucked into the body so neatly that you forget it is there until you set it off. It measures around 25cm nose to tail, it poses nicely, and it has real presence on a shelf for a set in this price bracket. There is a warmth to how NINJAGO builds these creatures that I keep coming back to, and the Mino has it.

The catch

I will be straight with you about the caveats, because there are a few. The creature looks bigger on the box than it feels in your hands, and if a child is expecting a dragon-scale monster they may do a small double-take when it is finished. The minifigure lineup is the other soft spot. You get Hero Zane, Hero Cole, Gleck, and Ginkle, which is a perfectly serviceable four, but none of them are exclusive and the roster feels quiet next to the flashier ninja teams in other sets. The palette does not help the wow factor either. Master of the Mountain leans into muted blacks and whites, so this is not the riot of colour some NINJAGO fans expect.

Who it's for

So who is this actually for? A child who is following the Master of the Mountain story and wants to act out the fight for the Ivory Blade of Deliverance will get real mileage here, especially because the set is also a proper board game with a dice spinner, a health counter, and a fort trap. It even connects to the other Skull Dungeons sets to build one large playfield, which is a lovely reason to collect more than one. If you are buying mainly for display, or you want a set packed with rare minifigures, I would point you toward a stronger NINJAGO release. But as a play piece with a satisfying action function, the Mino earns its keep.

The parts story

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

Building the Mino is the good kind of straightforward. You spend most of the session on the creature itself, layering the rocky body panels and assembling the head-butt mechanism, and there is a satisfying moment when the ram slots into place and the function comes alive. The rest of the box goes into the fort section of the Dungeons of Shintaro plus the board-game bits, which build fast. It is not a demanding engineering puzzle, but the creature has enough shaping and angled panel work to keep an eight-year-old (and the adult helping) genuinely engaged.

For parts hunters there are a couple of quiet treats. The Wedge 4x3 No Studs Stepped piece made its debut in this NINJAGO wave, and Zane's Mino Creature carries eight of them in black, a colour that was exclusive to this run before it later turned up in a City set. Beyond that, the muted Master of the Mountain palette means most of the recolours here are black or white, so this is a strong donor box if you build in monochrome. At an RRP of $49.99 for 617 pieces the value is fair rather than exciting, though with the set now retired the secondary price has climbed above original retail.

Fun facts

01The Mino was inspired by a rhinoceros, and the whole model is built around a working head-butt battering-ram function tucked into its body.
02The set doubles as a LEGO board game with a dice spinner and health counter, and it links with Journey to the Skull Dungeons, Skull Sorcerer's Dragon, and Skull Sorcerer's Dungeons to form one giant playfield.
03The Wedge 4x3 No Studs Stepped piece debuted in this wave, and its black version was exclusive to Zane's Mino Creature before later appearing in a City set.
04Released in mid 2020, the set retired in November 2021 and now sells new-and-sealed for well above its original $49.99 price.