Set Review ➟ 71747 Keepers’ Village
Released for the 14th season of the Ninjago television show, and falling on the tenth anniversary of the theme as a whole, set 71747 Keepers’ Village is a representation of the village first seen in the second episode of season 14, home to the mysterious keepers.
Contents
Within the box are five bags of parts, a loose plate, a sheet of stickers, and the instructions.
The first bag has two minifigures, Thunder Keeper and Island Kai, and an orange brick separator. The loose plate and the remaning parts build the island shore comprised of a large tree, a thin tree, four bushes, some rocks, two traps, a snare, a hidden stud shooter, a peg surrounded by leaf parts, and a crab!
The second bag contains pieces to build the prison and serpent head. There is a small lava flow on one side, utilizing a power blast piece.
The third bag contains pieces to build the Island Cole minifig and portions of the cave section of the set.
The fourth bag has pieces for the Chief Mammatus minifigure and completes the cave section of the set with a staircase, shield, spear, throne, and cooking pot.
The final bag has the last minifigure of the set, Island Jay, and contains the totem pole pieces.
Features and build
The set is separated into three sections: the shore, the cave, and the serpent’s head. The three sections connect with hinge points and can be positioned for different play options.
The shore is where most of the play features are located. One feature is a snare trap— a manual lever tree with a five-link chain connected to the peg surrounded by leaves.
snare armed position
snare active position
The other trap is a stud shooter hidden behind a bush. The bush is moved by placing a minifigure on the lever marked by the skull tile. The stud shooter must be manually fired after the bush is moved.
I wonder what gives away the trap more—the warning sign or the skull in front of it?
The cave section of the set is fairly empty, with the exception being the cooking pot and the oar hanging on the wall.
Oddly, there is a single clip on the back cave wall on one side. The instructions make no mention of its purpose.
In the serpent’s head is a prison. The actual cell itself is very tiny, barely able to accommodate a figure. It has some detail: a bone and a bucket. The prison has a function too. When the foliage inside the cell is pressed down, the jaw of the serpent moves up and forms a passage out of the prison.
At least they get a bucket.
On top of the cave is the chief’s throne and a place to connect the totem pole. When the totem pole is connected to the top, it can rock from side to side. It can be hard to place minifigures on the top of the cave because of the limited space.
A seat with a view.
Not much room up here!
The totem pole can separate into three golems, one with daggers, one with katanas, and one with curved blades. The three all have the same movement at the shoulders, but the golem with katanas can get the swords caught under the tusks of the golem with curved blades when stacked. The golems can be stacked in multiple combinations as long as the collectible Storm Amulet is removed from the golem wielding curved blades.
standard stack
upside down
another combination
Minifigures and extra parts
Looking at the ninja first, all have double sided heads with faces showing serious and laid-back expressions.
Kai has a new hair piece featuring a red headband. He is equipped with two machetes.
Jay has a similarly styled hair piece to Kai. He wields a machete on a chain and shares a similar robe design to Kai, but with more pouches and without metallic striping.
Cole, however, is exclusive to this set. His hair piece is from the Ninjago Movie sets, just with the headband recolored from brown to orange. He is armed with an axe.
Styling for the islanders has Thunder Keeper sharing the same wooden armor prints as other islanders from season 14 sets. His face has a wide grin showing some tusks and white lightning tattoos and has tattoo printing on the back of the head. He is armed with a war pick of some sort. The mask is a new part for this season’s sets, working as headgear instead of attaching around the neck like previous large masks.
Chief Mammatus has gold armor with many gems adorning it. His headdress is dual-molded in gold and teal with printing on the forehead and a pair of horns added to look like tusks. His face has darker purple around the eyes, and minimalistic gold tattoos. He has two expressions, unlike the other keepers, one angry, the other an opened-mouthed smile. He carries a staff with a lightning bolt on top.
Usual extra parts in this set are cheese-slopes, 1x1 rounds, and extra shots for the stud shooter. Standout extra parts are a gold machete, a tan tooth, a purple gem, and a oar.
Conclusions
Overall, this is a pretty sweet set, even if a bit cramped in some spots. The traps on the coast and the prison offer opportunity for rescue stories or just neat visual display. The build was not too hard but had some interesting techniques in the serpent’s head. The stone golems are great perched on the build and can add some atmosphere when placed behind the set’s bushes.
Keepers’ Village is also a more affordable option than 71748 Catamaran Sea Battle, if you want to collect the minifigures.
Thanks to LEGO for providing this set. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
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