71858 - Four weapons blacksmith
This is where it all began... In the Four Weapons blacksmith shop, where Master Wu will recruit Kai, the blacksmith, and Nya. Here is the set that commemorates 15 years of Ninjago. Fifteen years already! A series that began with the expectation of having a short lifespan, yet it remains fresh today with a swarm of fans supporting it so long after. This set will go on sale on January 1, 2026, with 1,259 pieces, a cost of €99.99, as well as 6 minifigures, one of which is very special: the Master of Earth.
You already know that this is a set that allows joint building with some family members or friends, with up to 4 builders. Twelve bags of fun, some stickers, and the manual.
The characters are very well designed; I invite you to take a look at the first episode of this series and make an interesting visual comparison.
After seeing the first pair of minifigures, we dive into the construction of the blacksmith shop. A floor with rocky, grassy edges, where we already see a glimpse of the typical oriental cabin. The base is designed so the building can open in half and be played with as it should. As for the beginning of the building, you will see that it is very nicely segmented; personally, it inspires a sense of simplicity while at the same time being spot-on in its shapes. The double wall to achieve that bamboo-curtain effect seems exquisite to me, as well as its assembly... and what do you say about the resting and meditation area? The tatami is wonderful!
Aha! Here we have the great Kai as the blacksmith artist!
Next, we continue expanding the cabin floor. Pay attention to the mosaic with this new 2x2 tile reference — what an interesting piece!
We add a wall and a furnace to heat the metals, some weapons, and once this is done the forge is already looking quite good. Another great minifigure, in this case Ray.
We continue with a few more details like the anvil, a barrel of water to cool the weapons after the fire, a telephone, etc... From here on comes the most interesting part of the set for me: the construction of those wooden columns that support the roof overhang. If you’ve looked at the floor, you may have noticed some upside-down headlight bricks, leaving the back opening in such a way that a stud can be inserted upside down. Well, this technique is a beautiful and very well-refined technique in this set. Wonderful!
Detail of the forge corner as well as the headlights ready to place the cabin’s exterior columns. You can see the plate round with hole under the roof to place the upper part of each column. The placement of the roof is perfect.
From here, we begin the upper part of the roof — I’ll tell you right now that this will be very, very fine work. To connect the central beam in this way, classic jumpers and double-stud jumpers are used. With this, they shorten the width of the beam by one stud to achieve odd numbers and thus center it on the roof’s central ridge. Very clever and robust. The roof sides, as in many other cases, use hinges as anchors. The blacksmith shop sign is great, though in my opinion it has the flaw that when the map is hidden, it can be perfectly seen underneath the sign. So it’s not very well hidden! Nevertheless, the mechanism to eject the sign and release the map is infallible.
Maya, what a beautiful outfit she’s wearing :O
Also in this section, the upper gaps in the roof are used to place the ninja and samurai outfits.
Finally arrives the big figure of the set, the Master of Earth. These figures commemorate the 15th anniversary of Ninjago and there will be 7 limited-edition figures. The outfit is fantastic, although I would have preferred the helmet in gray rather than gold; still, it is a beautiful minifigure. It will have a small display stand that can connect with the rest of the collectible figures.
We finish the roof with a very similar technique on the sides, but the base is not the same; it has a “bow tie” shape so that this block can be removed and inserted into the cabin without dismantling the details of the previously inserted outfits.
This is certainly a small set in size but not in fun, and definitely not in building techniques. The exterior columns as well as the wooden details seemed exquisite at the very least. The use of space is millimetric, as always, accommodating all the important details of this beginning of the Ninjago story. Without a doubt, a must-have set for every fan of this story, but also for all those who love these rural constructions of the Far East. The characters are very well captured; in short, this is a beautiful set full of charming details that will delight both young and old. We thank LEGO for sending this set for this article, although LEGO neither endorses nor supports in any way the opinions expressed in it, as they are solely ours.
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