Throne Room Showdown is a Ninjago set released in August of 2018. As I am writing this, the LEGO® Store is advertising that the kit is out of stock, while various other retailers have it on liquidation. This is generally a good indication that the set is close to retirement. Therefore, I figured the time is right to put out my review, while you can still get a good deal on the set.
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THRONE ROOM SHOWDOWN SUMMARY
- NAME: Throne Room Showdown
- SET #: 70651
- THEME: Ninjago
- COST: $24.99 CAD
- BRICK COUNT: 221
- MINIFIGURES: 5
- RELEASE DATE: August 1, 2019
THRONE ROOM SHOWDOWN QUICK REVIEW
- VALUE: 92% (Great cost-per-brick and build time value.)
- BUILD: 90% (Nice set for the price, but it is not overly detailed.)
- MINIFIGURES: 100% (Excellent designs, accessories, and brick:fig.)
- ENTERTAINMENT: 85% (This set caters to specific fans.)
- OVERALL SCORE: 92%
THRONE ROOM SHOWDOWN REVIEW
VALUE: 92%
At full retail price, Throne Room Showdown costs $24.99 in Canada. With a piece count of 221, the cost-per-brick of this kit is $0.11. Therefore, even at full price you are getting an excellent value. I rate this cost-per-brick at 90%. With this in mind, currently many stores are liquidating Throne Room Showdown. I bought this set at 20% off in August 2019. You can find it for at least that same price as I am writing this. That brings the cost-per-brick down to $0.09, boosting the score to 97%.
Throne Room Showdown took me 45 minutes to build from start to finish. At full price, that translates to a cost-per-minute of $0.56. Again, that is great and earns a score of 94%. With the discount that I received, the cost-per-minute decreases to $0.44, while the score increases to 100%. Averaging the scores for this set at full price gives an overall value rating of 92%. Even a modest sale of 20% off gets a value of 99%.
BUILD: 90%
You assemble the throne room in three small pieces. There are two Asian-style archways, one of which serves as a jail. The centerpiece is the throne. As far as the price point is concerned, this is a typical style of vignette from the Ninjago series. There is not much substance to it, but it does not look bad either. You could easily build a larger scene around it.
The two archways are nearly identical in design. This gives the throne room a nice symmetrical look. However, as previously mentioned, one of the arches is meant to look like a jail cell. It has bars made of katanas that lower in front of it. Sadly, this is my least favorite part of the set. The lack of substance in this set is a big issue here because the jail cell has no walls.
The throne looks nice and has a backdrop of various swords. Additionally, it has the play feature of a hidden drawer underneath it. Inside there is a sai and key. Given that the jail cell has a printed tile lock, this key likely unlocks the door. Overall, this is a nice set for the price. However, it does lose a point for jail cell’s lack of detail. I rate the build of this kit at 9/10 (90%).
MINIFIGURES: 100%
Throne Room Showdown comes with five Minifigures, which is a lot for a set of this size. The characters included are Lloyd, Nya, Harumi, Samurai X, and Skylor. I have not gotten far enough in the Ninjago series to know who all of these characters are, but they do look great. Each one comes with all of the standard Minifigure parts. Additionally, they all have double-sided faces and torso printing. All but Skylor have leg printing too. Skylor makes up for it with a red version of the utility belt we got a lot of with the LEGO® Batman Movie Minifigures. She comes with shoulder protectors that also hold two katanas on her back. Meanwhile, Samurai X has an ornate helmet in addition to golden shoulder protectors.
In addition to great designs, this set also comes with many accessories. There are 16 swords of various types (mostly katanas). On top of that, you get two sai pieces, handcuffs, two keys, a printed lock tile, two shuriken, and two of the fun Ninjago tassel pieces. These accessories and Minifigure designs earn a score of 100%.
Five Minifigures in a 221-piece kit equates to a brick-to-fig ratio of 44:1. That earns an easy 100% as well. Averaging the ratio and design scores gives an overall Minifigure rating of 100%.
ENTERTAINMENT: 85%
This set is not worth keeping built for adult collectors. I like the Minifigure selection and the brick assortment (especially the red column pieces). The set even looks good. I can see elements of it being part of a future custom build. However, since it does not stand alone as a display piece in my city, I rate it at 4/5 (80%).
I have not gotten far enough in the Ninjago series to know if this set stays true to the show. For now, I will give it the benefit of the doubt. If it actually resembles a scene from the series, I think this set will appeal to kids who enjoy the show. It allows them to play out show-related scenarios. There is play value in building a larger fortress or temple around it. I doubt it will appeal to non-Ninjago fans though. For that reason, I give it a KFOL score of 4.5/5 (90%). Averaging this with the AFOL grade gives an overall entertainment rating of 85%.
OVERALL SCORE: 92%
The only downsides to Throne Room Showdown are its lack of brick-built substance and that it really only caters to fans of the show. Otherwise, it looks great, comes with awesome Minifigures, and is a good value even at full price. The set is nearing retirement at this time, so there are deals to be had on it a various retailers. Even a modest 20% discount makes Throne Room Showdown a great buy. What do you think? Feel free to sound off in the comment below or on social media.
Until next time,
-Tom
What do others think?
Brick Insights is an awesome site that aggregates LEGO® set review scores from around the web. Based on their statistics, you can see what other reviewers think of Throne Room Showdown below.
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