The LEGO Ninjago City (70620): From Sketch to Set

Thursday, June 22nd, 2017 by Brickfinder

LEGO revealed the largest LEGO Ninjago set to date early this morning and Yahoo! Movies had a nice companion feature with insights from the two designers of this massive set, Nicolaas Vás and Christopher Leslie Stamp.

It gives a cool behind the scenes look at how the designers’ process is like when they transform their concept into reality which is a real treat for me as this is fast becoming one of my favourite Ninjago sets.

The LEGO Ninjago City (70620) will consist of 4,867 pcs and will retail at SGD$449.90 /USD $299.99 and will hit the shelves on September 1st just in time for The LEGO Ninjago Movie on September 22nd.

Here are some snippets of the designers thoughts from their design process:

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LEGO Ninjago City Modular system

“To capture the scope of Ninjago City, we split the model into three sections, each representing a different chapter of the city’s evolution. However, this led to the challenge of blending the levels together into a complete model. For example, we positioned the tower further back on the model, to give the impression of it rising from behind the buildings.”

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Building a Cinematic LEGO Ninjago City

“In the movie, Ninjago City is unlike anything we’ve seen before in a Lego set. One of the main challenges with a model like this is the difference in size between the vast on-screen location and the smaller model version,”

“As both [the movie’s set and the toy model] are built from Lego bricks, our approach was to choose key silhouettes and details which could be rebuilt at a smaller scale and still match the overall look [of the film]”

 

“I found the most fun aspect of this model was how easy the size allowed me to visualize the characters’ movements and interactions around the city”

 

“My favorite part of designing this model was the opportunity to include things which we wouldn’t normally have in a Ninjago set, such as the pufferfish or the pink bonsai tree”

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The LEGO Ninjago Movie Concept Art

“We shared a lot of the same inspiration that the moviemakers used, but we also drew inspiration from real-life places we have visited, amazing cyberpunk creations in the fan community, and of course the Ninjago TV show,”