71858 Four Weapons Blacksmith 15th Anniversary LEGO Review - Ninjago Legacy, 2026

A fitting tribute that builds on the sets of the past.

TL;DR:

• Original Price:  $109.99
• Pieces: 1259
• Minifigure(s): Wu Sensei, Nya, Kai blacksmith, Ray, Maya, Master of Earth
• Sticker Sheet: Yes
  
• Pros: Unusual building techniques, attention to detail
• Cons: Sometimes fragile build

Assembly: 

Bag #1 - Wu Sensei, Nya, left side base

Bag #2 - Start of left side walls

Bag #3 - Left side walls, finished

Bag #4 - Kai blacksmith, start of right-side base

Bag #5 - Right-side base, finished

Bag #6 - Right-side walls, continued

Bag #7 - Ray, right-side walls finished

Bag #8 - Start of right-side roof

Bag #9 - Right side roof, finished

Bag #10 - Maya, start of left-side roof

Bag #11 - Left-side roof, finished

Bag #12 - Master of Earth, podium, center roof

 Leftover Pieces

• Interesting Steps:
• 19: use of 1x1 corner panel to fill space below lantern brick without having a stud on the bottom

• 63-73: many SNOT techniques involved to allow the "jail door" grille (which is a new mold in tan) to be used horizontally as a window mullion

• 196: the use of reddish brown tile-with-bar-handle (horizontally) and plate with two sides as a weapon stand is particularly elegant

• 222: stair-stepping cheese wedges (30º) to approximate the angle of the 3x1 slope (33º), which is too steep to use the 2x1 slope pieces (18º, see Interesting Pieces below). The three degrees of difference can be seen with the little top corner of each cheese wedge poking above the brown slope, but raising the upper level by one plate keeps the overall angle in line with the slope piece. I'll have to remember this technique, as there's as yet no other way to have a 33º slope without the stud on the upper end of the 3x1 slope piece.

• Interesting Techniques:
• Layered and intricate SNOT stonework for the base, plus the use of 1x2 slopes to round the corners and make it feel more organic

• The use of window frames in brown and window "glass" in tan (also new mold for the 1x3x3 panel) to evoke tatami mats for the sleeping/sitting area.

• The stonework floor insert for blacksmith area: building it separate makes it easier to ensure that all the pieces are aligned properly before setting it in place, and the layering of plates, flowers, and tiles makes for a solid and attractive result.

• The use of hinge plate with 2 fingers & clip (horizontal grip) to secure the building's halves. Less solid than clip & bar pairs, but that can be beneficial where a less-sturdy grip is required, as in the slide-out attic parts.

• In the most interesting technique of the whole build, the porch beams are all built upside-down, either entirely (step 211) or partially (step 220) and inserted into the back of the lantern bricks set into the base.
  
  This is necessitated because there is no opposite version of the 1x1-1x2 brackets used for the arms, with the female parts on the outside and the male parts on the inside, as that would make the studs abut. This seems to be the only way to build this structure using this technique. It might be possible to approximate the look with brick-built beams instead, stacking 1x1s on either end of the 1x5 plates instead of using the brackets, but this would result in a thicker look, and also remove the ability to add the 1x2 ingot pieces to the underside of the beams (which softens the corners somewhat and makes them look weathered, as though rounded by the touch of many hands over many years).
  
  The whole build seems to have been built around accommodating this technique, but a good job is done to make sure the beams are securely seated and braced at top and bottom.

• The set's sole "play feature" is the map hidden behind the sign, just as in the show. Push the gold cone on the inside of the roof (installed in the steps for Bag 8) and the sign pops off allowing the map to fall down. Both map and sign rest firmly on the 4x4 black tile with studs on one edge that's sticking out of the eave.

• A look at the underside shows just how complex this build is, making use of off-color pieces where they won't show, and with frameworks of bracing instead of solid pieces to hold all of the various SNOT-built elements together

• Interesting Pieces:
• Dark brown 1x2 slope (18º): these pieces are twice as long and roughly half the angle of a standard 1x2 cheese wedge, and work well for the roof's upper level

• Red visor chinguard, which really ups the look of the samurai helmet and makes it clearly a reference to Nya's Samurai X alter ego—as does the card hidden behind it.

• Similarly, the new "type 11" head wrap is nicely detailed, and new for the Ninjago: Legacy sets. You'll also notice that Kai and Nya's little pullout also come with a 1x2 version of the Ninjago Spinners character cards. I never played the game (to be fair, I didn't really get into Ninjago until watching the series—at least, what was currently available—this past year), but it's a nice nod to the history, and appropriate for these 15th anniversary sets.

• Pain Points:
• Pressing one tan hinge plate into one reddish brown hinge brick for the roof's upper panels was difficult enough, but doing it with two for the roof's center portion required so much force I was afraid of breaking something. However, I did try with just one hinge combination and the width of the middle portion's panel meant that it wiggled a lot more without two hinges holding it in place—especially crucial given that the middle part is meant to be taken out and handled.

• While they pack a lot of detail in, the size of the build means that the working and living spaces are rather cramped. The focus on detailing with either stonework or tatami mat floors also removes any studs for figures to be mounted on.

Overall:

In many instances (e.g. the interior spaces, the lack of floor studs), it's clear that this build is intended more for display than play, which is fine! The initial target audience was kids 7-9, maybe as old as 15, and they're fifteen years older now too. At 25-30 I could see them more likely to want an elaborate display piece that looks (and is) impressive than something they could have imaginative play battles with. 

The set is designed to look exactly like the blacksmith shop from the pilot episode, as are the first three minifigs (Wu, Nya, Kai). A few slight exceptions are the lack of stairs leading to the attic space (behind where Nya is standing in the above picture) and the addition of the picture of their parents.

Speaking of which, Ray and Maya are presented in the more elaborate costumes of their first actual appearance in the series (vs being mentioned or pictured in flashbacks), in Episode 72 "Pause and Effect" from Season 7 "The Hands of Time." It's worth noting that, of all the minifigs, only Maya and Wu have no second face; Wu makes sense, given that his beard piece and hat don't cover the back of his head, but Maya's generic front face and long hair combine to make her less interesting than she might have been.

Given the long history of Ninjago, it's interesting to see just how far the show and the sets have come. In reading through the 2012 Dorling Kindersley season 1 and 2 Character Encyclopedia, I came across this spread, showing a set that at first glance had very little in common with this current one:

2011's Set 2508, "Blacksmith Shop," feels more like an amateur dramatics set design rather than the basically-the-real-thing design of 71858, and is clearly intended more for play than for display. The baseplate allows minifigures to be stood anywhere, and there are no complicated building techniques. There really isn't much effort put into making it look like the building in the show, but that's not its focus or aim. It's a suggestion of the location, and a minimal stage on which kids can act out the characters' various stories.

I should also mention that—as with Monkie Kid—the difficulty in finding and viewing the Ninjago show makes it nigh impossible for new fans to get into the lore, and for old fans to revisit it. It's a shame that not only are the different parts of the show's 15 year history scattered among a few different platforms, several crucial pieces (for example, the pilot episodes) aren't available anywhere. It you're reading this, LEGO Group, it would be awesome for you to make the entirety of these fantastic series—Ninjago and Monkie Kid—available on a single platform, start to finish, without any gaps; that way everyone can enjoy the complex and fascinating stories that underlie some really fabulous sets.

Getting back to the review at hand, however, the build process was quite enjoyable and had some surprising twists and turns along the way. Overall, this modern set reflects the grown-up sensibilities and skills of its now-older target audience, and while the complicated building techniques to accomplish that are sometimes a little fragile, the end result is worth the difficulty. The price feels somewhat high, but that might reflect the intricate design work that was required to plan it out, as much as the four exclusive minifigs.

Score (out of 5 🧱):

• Price: 🧱🧱🧱🧱
• Process: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
• Presentation: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
• Play: 🧱🧱🧱
• Pieces: 🧱🧱🧱🧱

• Total: 🧱🧱🧱🧱

Lego Instructions: here