LEGO Ninjago 71818 Tournament Battle Arena – Is this arena studs or duds? [REVIEW]

The next wave of Ninjago sets is coming soon, which means another dojo/battle arena to add to our growing collection. The Tournament Battle Arena includes six minifigures and is compatible with the much larger LEGO Ninjago 71814 Tournament Temple City. There’s a fun moveable platform for fighting, a large statue, and a drum. There are also a few neat hidden traps to catch intruders by surprise. LEGO Ninjago 71818 Tournament Battle Arena comes with 659 pieces and will be available on June 1st globally and August 1st in the US for US $49.99 | CAN $64.99 | UK £44.99.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Unboxing the parts, instructions, and stickers

The set comes in a small box with the Dragons Rising branding. The arena is shown on the front of the box along with a line-up of the six included minifigures. The back of the box shows the arena from a different angle, along with a few insets that show some of the set’s play features.

Inside the box, there are six paper parts bags. An instruction booklet, and a small sticker sheet.

The build

The first section is the battle area itself, which is built with three pairs of Technic pins to connect to the other sections. The set is modular so sections can be attached in a variety of configurations. The battle play feature is achieved by attaching grooved round bricks to an axle on either side. This allows the two battle platforms to move independently.

Each battle platform is a simple disc with a stud in the center for a minifigure to be attached.

The next section is the base for the drum stage, which includes a hidden trigger that flings the large drum down the stairs using an assembly of Technic lift-arms.

Stairs are built on either side of the drum stand, and large padded mallets are added. The drum is a fairly simple construction with gold curved heads added to each side.

The two sections are connected by a small red bridge with gold details.

Another much smaller section with a small tree and another red bridge can hold an assortment of weapons for the battle arena combatants.

The last section is a large staircase leading to a statue that looks a lot like Sensei Wu. The base of the stairs includes a long sliding piece that triggers the trap, converting the staircase to a slide by pulling the section out.

The section is topped with gold tiles and ingots, while dark sand sloped cap the stairs, and creeping vines are added to each side.

A gray statue sits on top of the stairs in a seated position. The statue holds a small gold dragon in one hand while the other holds a scroll. A pair of long banners attach above each shoulder and a hat adorns its head.

The Minifigs

The set includes six minifigures, two ninjas, three villains, and one ambiguous character I was unable to find out anything about on Wikipedia. First, the heroes are Kai and Sora, who both feature torsos with front and back printing and front-printed legs. Kai carries his signature spear with swords on each end, in addition to his shoulder holder with two individual swords.

Then there are the villains; Cinder, a Wolf Mask Warrior, Evil Jay, and the mystery character named Tok. Cinder wields a dual-molded sword, Tok has a purple shuriken, Evil Jay swings a lightning sword on a chain and the Wolf Mask Warrior has claws, and those spooky phantom claws sprouting from his back.

The finished model

The finished model is okay as a playset, although there is not much to recommend it to adult fans aside from the minifigures. The play features are fun and simple, but the overall design is a bit too simplistic, with little attention paid to details like the bridges, and the modular nature of the set.

The back of the booklet indicates that the set can be added to the LEGO 71814 Tournament Temple City set where the dock and winch attach, but personally, I find this a bit odd, since many of the sections include stairs of some sort, adding them to the base of the other set feels out of place.

Conclusions and recommendations

Of all the sets I reviewed for this wave, this set is the weakest. The battle feature is fun, but limited compared with the arena in LEGO 71813 Wolf Mask Shadow Dojo, which had long transparent bars and allowed for a more dynamic battle. The overall design feels more like a 4+ set, which, to be fair, is pretty close to the 7+ age on the box. Considering the $50 price, I could not recommend this set, especially with so many other sets from this wave with many of the same minifigures. LEGO Ninjago 71818 Tournament Battle Arena comes with 659 pieces and will be available on June 1st globally and August 1st in the US for US $49.99 | CAN $64.99 | UK £44.99. Also available from 3rd party sellers like Amazon and eBay.