To continue the topic @Plural made last year.
What’s your favorite set from this year?
Out of what I have built, mine would have to the Green Ninja Mech Dragon! The build is quite interesting, and the result is very satisfying. Everything shapes so well. And the colors are the cherry on top. Such a nice looking beast.
EDIT: Now having the Ninjago City, I have to say, that’s definitely my pick for this year! It has so much, so much, everything.
Ninjago City. Best set I’ve ever built, hands down. The other Ninjago sets were great, but good grief, that City.
I really want the city, but it’s a big investment. I’d think its worth it, though.
Ninj-
Kapura’d
The Ninjago movie sets are some of the best system has given us in years, I haven’t wanted system like this since, 06-07, literally a decade?
The entire line takes my top spots for sets this year, I can’t think of a single thing Lego’s released in the line that I wouldn’t be happy to get at some point.
Destiny’s bounty is top of my to-get list at the moment though.
This has honestly been an insane year when it comes to LEGO and its catalog of sets. Although there’s been A LOT of great sets from a select number of themes, there’s also been a lot of stinkers along the way, so my list will have quite a few picks that come from around two themes.
My favorite set of the year, without a shadow of doubt in my mind, is 75192, Millennium Falcon.
I cannot even put into words how much I love this set. It’s an almost perfect model of the Falcon in LEGO and definitely the best the designers could have done considering their limitations. Instead of cloning what had been done before (A.K.A what’s been happening to most LEGO SW vehicles lately), the LEGO Star Wars team built onto the previous UCS. They basically perfected the ship. Sure, the set doesn’t include a thousand minifigures and sure, it’s not truly minifigure scale, but those are nothing more than mere nitpicks when you consider everything it does right.
I probably shouldn’t include two D2C sets, but 70620, NINJAGO City is too great of a set to not even mention it.
You could just tell the designers were having a ball with this guy. Everything about the city was just so wisely crafted together, from the small little gimmicks they have basically everywhere to the fun references to LEGO themes of old that an older fan could really appreciate. This isn’t even mentioning the beauty of the model itself. Each little building had so much care put into them and the way they went from the older city to the new and flashy modern half was done perfectly. Honestly, considering its price, weight, piece count, and minifigures, I might go as far as to say it’s the best deal anyone could ever get on a set that is still out. I cannot recommend this set enough. If you can spare a few hundred dollars to buy it, I would highly advise you to do so before it’s too late.
So, uh, this is a bit of a cheat, but since I’m too lazy to write three separate entries, I’m just going to combine them together. 70907, Killer Croc Tail-Gator, 70911, The Penguin Arctic Roller, and 70915, Two-Face Double Demolition are just fantastic vehicles and probably the best superhero villain sets LEGO has ever done.
Killer Croc Tail-Gator: It’s my favorite out of the bunch and for good reason. The truck itself fits the character as I know him pretty well and I absolutely adore all of the little LEGO crocodile signs everywhere. Add in my favorite “minifigure” of the year in Killer Croc and you’ve got an almost flawless set.
The Penguin Arctic Roller: Although the Penguin minifigure is the best version of the character in LEGO-form the company has ever done, the real show stealer is the limousine itself. Although it sucks as a limo due to its inability to hold more than a single minifigure, the shaping of it is just superb. The countless curves almost makes the vehicle seem sort of regal in a way, with the color scheme of black, white, and gold helping it hit that mark. My only major gripe has to deal with the fish sword things on either side of the limo. They just jack up the styling.
Two-Face Double Demolition: I honestly don’t have a whole lot to say here, if I’m going to be completely honest. It’s just a BA front loader with a slick paint job and excellent greebling. It appeals to my inner RADiCAL self.
I like big stuffs. The LEGO Ninjago Movie has a lot of big robit boys. I like the robit boys, but 70615, Fire Mech is the biggest robit boy, so I give all of my big robit boy love to this particular big robit boy.
This thing is massive, but unlike a lot of sets that try to sell you on size and size alone, the Fire Mech has a lot of substance to it. The mech has almost perfect arms for what it’s based off of, with its legs following close behind due to the amount of detail the designers had placed into them. I know that a lot of users both on the boards and on other sites are super sour on the fact that he lacks knees, but I honestly don’t think it’s an issue. You can still pose him in a few dynamic poses, all the while having greater peace of mind knowing that the likeliness that he will stay in the pose and continue to stand properly due to the more solid build for the legs. Am I just yelling nonsense to vouch for my favorite TLNM vehicle? Yes, yes I am, but I don’t care cuz I’m edgy like that.
Although nothing can surpass Ninjago City and its title as the best playset of the year, 70617, Temple of the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon definitely takes second place.
It’s just fun to mess around with. There’s like a thousand and one gimmicks in the set, each one adding yee’ much more to the insane ways you can torture your minifigures. You can:
Add in a really nice looking temple around these gimmicks and you’ve got a set that’s hard to forget.
Now I’m just going to list off a few other sets I really loved this year, but didn’t include onto the main list because I didn’t want to put the time into writing a description for all of them:
10257, Carousel: It’s not as grand as its 2009 counterpart, but the carousel still looks really nice next to the 2015 Ferris Wheel.
70607, NINJAGO City Chase: If I had to recommend a single set to someone on a budget that perfectly represents what Ninjago City is, I would pick this little guy.
70612, Green Ninja Mech Dragon: I really wanna put this onto the main list because it’s a gorgeous dragon, but I didn’t want to clutter it too much with another TLNM set. All I’ll say here is that its the best dragon set LEGO has ever made.
70616, Ice Tank: Although I would consider it to be the weakest of the three bigger hero vehicles, I still really love how it turned out. I’ve just got a soft spot for oddly-shaped tanks and vehicles.
70906, The Joker Notorious Lowrider: The lowrider is another set that I love enough for it to end up on the main list, but didn’t include it so we don’t drown in TLBM stuff. It’s another vehicle that perfectly fits the character and is filled with style and class.
75183, Darth Vader Transformation: I’m gonna be honest; This set really doesn’t belong here and really shouldn’t even be mentioned as one of the best sets of the year. This is more or less here for nostalgia and nostalgia alone since the original transformation was my first LEGO set. Don’t get me wrong, the 2017 set is still an alright playset and is perfectly okay. It’s just not anything to write home about.
The best sets IMO are the Destiny’s Bounty, Apollo Saturn V, Millenium Falcon, BB-8, Cole’s Mech (even though it’s not out yet
), and probably the Endor Speeder and Scout set. Unfortunately, I don’t own all of those, but the ones that I do have were really enjoyable.
I haven’t gotten any sets this year. (Sad I know) But I’d have to echo the sentiment that the Ninjago Movie stuff is divine.
Bionicle, obviously.
Thought I’d spice things up away from the Movie lines and say a favorite set has to be Kylo Ren’s TIE fighter:
The design of the ship is just an appealing combination of new and old, having to combine the cockpit and wings of such ships like the TIE Advanced and the TIE Interceptor, meanwhile adding in a stellar cockpit on it with that bloody-red Sith color. All of this is than put nicely into Lego form with its proportions and detailing, while adding such regal, and well printed, figures like the Elite First Order TIE fighter pilot and Kylo Ren.
My favorite set from this year that I have built has to be the Saturn V. It has a brilliant, innovative, and really enjoyable build, while also having a really impressive value compare to a lot of LEGO’s other large 2017 sets.
I’d say the Saturn V… IF I WAS ABLE TO BUY ONE.
And money is not the problem.
Thankfully I was able to get one. If you want one once they’re back in, call your closest LEGO store and ask what day they get their shipments. That day, ask them to put the set on hold, and pick it up before they close. That’s how I got it, and I agree. It is a fantastic set. I hope you can get your hands on one. I know you will enjoy it.
My country doesn’t even have a LEGO store. I’m dependand on shop@home.
After finishing the set yesterday, I wholeheartedly agree. The set was filled with interesting little techniques here and there that kept the build interesting, and the little details and action features are great. The only problem I have with the set is that the sushi boat isn’t the smoothest, and it doesn’t include every ninja, but that’s a minor nitpick.
And really, any of the ninjago movie sets are great from what I’ve seen. Impressive sets that are under the golden ratio by 2-3 cents each (golden ratio is 10 cents per piece for those that don’t know).
Of what I have, I agree with you @Cocoa on the Mech Dragon. Also the Spider-man Venom SDCC brick headz and Batman movie CSF series are really cool to have from this year.
It’s a tie between these two. I like them both equally.
The tracked racer has a nice speed and is able to handle some good terrain. It’s nice both for driving indoors and outdoors. Outside, the IR might have trouble in direct sunlight, but I’ve modded mine with a Mould King 2.4Ghz battery box, which fixes that issue.
The Boost set is just lovely. Fun models and a ton of MOCing potential.
once again bioman, thank you for inexplicably reviving long-dead topics
Ashwing, no competition whatsoever
She’s beautiful
I miss Elves 
Wasn’t he from 2016, or am I misremembering things?
Hmm… Not sure about that. I’ve never experienced Everstorm irl before, but he seems much more advanced than Vernie. Vernie can only drive around on his tracks and move his head left and right, the arms are poseable and have grabbing hands, but not motorized. You can attach a shoulder blaster that can fire automatically, but that’s it when it comes to action features.
Everstorm doesn’t even have a moving head or arms (correct me if I’m wrong), but I find it really cool how his legs move back and forth with the tracks. The Zamor launcher is more fun than the competition blaster imo.
Fortrex is rad, a friend had that set and I found it really awesome back then (despite not knowing or caring about Nexo Knights at the time).
The tracked racer is great, and I often see it for cheap on the secondary market! I’d recommend you to pick it up if you can find it around 40 bucks or below, it’s worth it.
I actually have two copies of the set, one I got for my birthday in 2017 and the other one I found for 6.90 at a thrift store last year (missing the remote and caked in dust, but otherwise complete). I’ve dismantled the second one for parts, but it’s a really neat set.
Apparently I posted in the wrong thing… I saw 2016 and 2017 and thought this was 2016… time to act like this never happened!
Yes and no. Ev3rstorm is an intricate and impressive display model and I can recognize why they made him the poster boy, but his stability is a concern, made even worse by the fact that the brick (the big white thing with a screen, I think they call it the hub or the intelligent brick officially) weighs only a little bit less than the rest of the model.
