LEGO NINJAGO 71861 The Old Town review

71861 The Old Town is the star of LEGO NINJAGO’s 15th anniversary, acting as a love letter to the theme and absolutely delivering on minifigures.

LEGO NINJAGO fans are in for a treat on January 1, 2026, as 71861 The Old Town is designed for fans, by fans. The model packs in as many Easter eggs as feasibly possible, stunning builds, and long-awaited minifigures in a dense NINJAGO package. It only gets better when you see the price, too.

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The first page of the instructions manual for 71861 The Old Town describes the nearly 5,000-piece set as a love letter to LEGO NINJAGO for its 15th anniversary. Upon seeing the box for the first time, I adored the build but wouldn’t have immediately described it in the same way. Instead of finally delivering on the UCS-style Monastery of Spinjitzu that we’ve been waiting for, the LEGO designers have made something entirely new for the theme, but that’s not to say that 71861 The Old Town is bereft of nostalgic factors.

The decision to depict something new rather than something familiar as the big anniversary NINJAGO set for 2026 is strange. Even after finishing the model and admiring it in its entirety, I can’t help but wonder why the LEGO NINJAGO team would go for this over the monastery. Evidently, the concept of an enclosed circular structure was on the table. Despite my desires for something familiar, the feeling of building something unknown, but recognisably NINJAGO, was exciting from the first bag to the last, and I haven’t felt this intrigued by a NINJAGO set since 70620 NINJAGO City. We all know what happened with that range and how successful it has been.

71861 The Old Town probably isn’t the start of a new town collection (and we only just had a new NINJAGO City entry in 2025). In hindsight, I can see why the designers felt strongly about steering the theme in an original but nostalgic direction for its big 15th-anniversary model. 71861 The Old Town is nothing short of astounding, no matter how you choose to connect the four modules. It feels intrinsically connected to every chapter of the theme at once, thanks in no small part to its minifigures.

We’ll save the highly-anticipated minifigure selection for later in this review, but first we’ll jump up, kick back, whip around and spin into the nearly-5,000-piece model itself. As a four-module structure, 71861 The Old Town is approachable to build and – most importantly – transport. No one would want to, or even be able to, lift this behemoth build if it were one connected town. These four modules are easy to connect in either a circular or straight assembly. The extra elements needed to switch it from one to the other are hidden within the core of the town, too.

This concept means that the middle of 71861 The Old Town can look empty, but a few side models ensure that this doesn’t have to be the case. As minifigures wander into the town from either entrance, they’ll spot Mystake’s tea cart, which uses some deceptively simple techniques to realise the best possible version of a decorated cart on wheels.

It’s not quite as well designed as Chuck the carpenter’s market stand, though. This market stall uses larger elements to create an excellent roof structure, and this roof sits loosely on the build thanks to inverted supports. That doesn’t mean that the build is fragile, though, instead allowing you to easily place minifigures inside the stall to request some new furnishings and vehicles from Chuck.

At the heart of 71861 The Old Town is another simple but well-crafted model. A statue of what is presumably the First Spinjitzu Master sits atop a shrine to the Four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu, decorated with each of the weapons, and admittedly reminding fans that the LEGO Group has yet to perfect the Scythe of Quakes. That aside, two of these stickered elements can be removed from the middle statue to attach to empty sections around the town when it switches from circular to straight.

With the side builds thoroughly explored, we can now get into the meat of 71861 The Old Town – the four modules that make up the majority of the piece count. The first of these modules you’ll be instructed to build is the main entrance gate, intricately decorated with trees growing within the walls and using techniques that reminded me strongly of 80106 Story of Nian. That’s a major compliment to the design, standing out immediately with its part-packed assembly, but one that makes the best use of every individual element. As you take your time building this gate, you’ll soon learn why this set has nearly 5,000 elements.

There’s absolutely no bad angle to view this gate module, which is impressive in itself. LEGO fans will love admiring the techniques that have gone into this structure, while NINJAGO fans will delight in the Easter eggs hidden throughout this section. From a missing poster to a certain video game motherboard, this is just a teaser for the many, many references to come.

To the left of the main gate, visitors to the town will come to a workshop area topped by a structure of familiar design, but borrowing an architectural style that hasn’t been seen for years and doesn’t originate in the realm of NINJAGO. Faith of the Dragon Hunters (an ex-enemy faction) is back following the Merge, now running a workshop that blends NINJAGO’s architecture with aspects of dieselpunk to create something that will remind you of the Dieselnaut. I can only hope that this is a teaser of something coming in the series (I’m a fan of Faith, if that wasn’t obvious).

It’s a relatively simple build compared to the gate, but there’s still a lot to love in this area. The techniques on show are nothing mind-blowing, but they work well together, and I particularly love how the LEGO NINJAGO team have integrated a collapsing wall feature without either the gaps in the wall or the mechanism to activate it being overtly visible. In fact, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell this feature was here if you didn’t build 71861 The Old Town.

It’s a testament to just how 71861 The Old Town integrates its functionality, which continues in the section of the post office’s wall that you can simply turn to gain access to an interior that non-minifigures would have no way to explore otherwise. The interior of the post office is sparsely decorated, save for the back wall. Within the main space are the basic furnishings, but at the back, you’ll find stacks of letters, a phone and more Easter eggs. There’s even another reference inside the post office.

This proves to be just another tease for how accessible the interior spaces in 71861 The Old Town will be. As great as it is to see Faith back in the theme, her workshop is all bark and little bite. The small rooftop area has a working crane and a structure decorated with a dieselpunk-style design, but there’s practically nothing to see inside, and no way to properly see into the workshop without disassembly. Thankfully, there’s nothing to see in there, and this is the only interior that you’ll have difficulty accessing. Everywhere else has removable roofs and walls to let you get inside.

The details continue on the outside of this build on a wall, with a few more references to admire and ninjargon to translate. Most of these Easter eggs become hidden when you assemble the modules in their circular form, unfortunately. Next up is the smallest of the modules, consisting of a natural area topped with a lookout post. There’s not a lot to see in this particular area. Rather than being something truly individual like the other three modules, this instead serves as a section to naturally flow between the gate and the giant tower at the back.

For this purpose, the lookout is well-designed, flowing seamlessly between these two areas, though it lacks an individual identity. Thankfully, it works well as part of the larger 71861 The Old Town experience and has its own hidden references to note. While the other three modules could be their own LEGO sets, the lookout is not suited for this, and that’s precisely why it works as part of this bigger build.

The largest of the four modules is the multi-storey tower, cave and smaller gate at the back of the 71861 The Old Town, brimming with interior details, secrets and spots to pose minifigures. As the tallest section of 71861 The Old Town, it’s the part that immediately draws your eye upon first glance. It’s an important aspect of the set that helps to complete the overall build without distracting from any other part too intensely.

At the base of the towering structure is a small room with nothing but a spider’s web inside, the Ninjargon of which doesn’t make immediate sense when translated, reading ‘sleen’ twice. Unless it’s referencing a town in the Netherlands for someone on the design team, I’m not sure what this could be an Easter egg for. Update 11/12/2025: It would appear that the LEGO designer has mixed up the Ninjargon character for L and P since they look similar, and this is intended to read ‘Sleep, sleep’, referencing Harumi’s nursery rhyme from Sons of Garmadon.

While we could argue that this room is a waste of space, there’s so little space to work with in this room that there’s not much else you can put in it. The small nature of this room is only thanks to the secondary gate to its left, which serves an important purpose in making 71861 The Old Town feel much more open and welcoming.

There’s also a secret lair for the Loyalists to the right, featuring plenty of details and equipment in the middle of the room and on the walls that make this space feel worthwhile. That lair can be accessed by a secret door hidden by a rolling boulder, or you can fold back the entire wall. The pool of water above the room can also be removed to make it easy to fully explore the space. It’s another demonstration that this set is made with bigger hands in mind.

The spider web room is ultimately disappointing, but everything next to and above it makes up for what it lacks. Also next to this room, but on the outside of the tower, is a natural, rocky area that will strongly remind you of 71819 Dragon Stone Shrine. It’s beautiful and hides another reference, the corpse of Morro, under its foundations. This, unfortunately, becomes inaccessible when the model is done. The tree’s model is well-designed and intricate without being fragile, borrowing techniques from 10281 Bonsai Tree.

Walk past this natural space with its flowing water and rocky perches, and you’ll be able to enter the three-storey tower consisting of a museum and office space. It’s much less of a museum than we saw in 71741 NINJAGO City Gardens, but it does the job and gives Dr. Saunders a place to work. It’s also odd, yet appropriate, that both of NINJAGO’s big anniversary builds have featured a museum of some kind. As you would expect, this room is packed with lots of specific Easter eggs. Topping it off, there’s another removable wall as well as a roof to fully access the interior.

Climb the nearby ladder, and you’ll find a smaller intermediary space. Since this is just a place to pass through, there’s not a lot to see here, but thankfully, the designers have managed to cram in four references and another removable wall. You can admire the Easter eggs on the floor by simply removing that whole segment and taking it out of the tower. It goes to show just how much the design team wants fans to admire the stellar graphics created for this set.

At the top of this tower is a balcony to pose some of the set’s many minifigures, as well as a standalone office for anyone to use. No specific details are tying this to any one character (though there are more references to explore), but the builds for the various furnishings are good and feature clever part usage. You’re probably expecting this by now, but you can once again remove a wall and the roof to get inside easily.

This floor also serves as a way for minifigures to access a zipline that will take them down to the lookout. The zipline doesn’t affect the model’s overall appearance and provides a fun play feature to slide minifigures down. This function is also easily removable by taking off the string build, which will be useful when transforming the entirety of 71861 The Old Town.

Despite being circular on the front of the box, 71861 The Old Town’s four modules can be rearranged into a straight wall-like structure for easier display, depending on your available space. It’s a nice option to have, and the transformation process is easy, using parts of the central statue to fill in some gaps. Choosing to display the model in this way showcases a few of the more hidden references.

I’m not sure which option I prefer for displaying 71861 The Old Town, but I love being able to choose. The ability to split the model up into these sections also makes it much simpler to move and sturdier overall.

These four modules take the modularity of NINJAGO City, the natural aspects of 71819 Dragon Stone Shrine and the interior details of 70751 Temple of Airjitzu, refining and combining them into one of NINJAGO’s most visually-stunning builds to date. Admittedly, the final model is inevitably busy – something that could initially harm the appeal of 71861 The Old Town when fans admire it on store shelves. That’s only because there’s a huge number of things to see, overflowing with details using smaller elements. Does it need all of these parts to be successful? No, but this is an anniversary model, and if it’s not going to depict something familiar, I would expect it to include several Easter eggs and deep cuts.

With the four modules out of the way, we can finally discuss the minifigures of 71861 The Old Town, which as a selection are nothing short of legendary for NINJAGO. Not only do you get the seven main characters of the original series, but there are also the second-ever minifigures for the mailman, Acronix and Krux, a more accurate take on Mystake, Harumi as she appears in Crystalized and Dr. Saunders. There are also first-ever minifigures for Dr. Julien and Faith, along with an anniversary minifigure trio of young Wu, young Garmadon and none other than the First Spinjitzu Master.

Without the context of 15 years of LEGO NINJAGO, that last paragraph almost certainly reads like the writings of a madman, but it’s going to be a colossal deal for NINJAGO enthusiasts. This is practically every long-awaited NINJAGO minifigure in a single set, topped off with the First Spinjitzu Master of all characters, who would have been incredibly unlikely to appear in any other set, at any other time.

Starting with the anniversary trio, young Wu, young Garmadon and the First Spinjitzu Master join the other Elemental Masters minifigures from the 15th-anniversary models, and they are as accurate as you would hope. The minifigures come with a satisfactory level of detail and don’t need any more compared to their on-screen appearance. The First Spinjitzu Master is the star of the show, and his debut has been a long time coming. A physical minifigure of this character means that fans can finally see his face, but don’t expect anything mind-blowing: he’s old, he’s wise, he’s the creator of NINJAGO. What more do you need?

The other long-awaited minifigures include Dr. Julien, Faith, a proper Mystake and Dr. Saunders, and each one is just as satisfactory as the last. Additional elements for Mystake’s hair and Dr. Saunders’ facial hair would have been welcome, but they’re not necessary in such a stacked minifigure selection. The mailman, Acronix and Krux aren’t new, and their last minifigures were great, but they have each only appeared in a singular build years ago and have become exceedingly rare.

There’s also some filler minifigures such as the Administration Agent and Chuck, but their inclusion doesn’t harm the appeal of this build, nor do they particularly boost it.

71861 The Old Town has proven to be an opportunity for the NINJAGO team to tick several desirable minifigures off fans’ most-wanted lists at long last. It’s not the level of detail that’s important here, but the character choices and in that respect, 71861 The Old Town exceeds expectations. It’s good to get both of the new Loyalist minifigures, even though they can be found in several other NINJAGO 2026 sets.

The weakest of the minifigures here are the six ninjas. It’s great to get the full team in this set, but these minifigures don’t hit the mark compared to a much more affordable model launching on the same day. The ninjas in 71861 The Old Town are incomplete. Jay has no armour, and Cole as well as Kai have no hoods. These elements all appear in 71866 Ninja Character Display for £34.99 / $44.99 / €39.99. For the sake of three pieces, I can’t fathom why these parts weren’t included in an already massive model when they are clearly in production.

It’s a glaring issue in 71861 The Old Town, but at least one that can be rectified by picking up 71866 Ninja Character Display. Many NINJAGO fans reading this are already likely to have the model on their wishlist, but it feels to wrong to need to purchase an extra model after such a big build. Nya rounds out the team’s minifigures, using the same design from 71858 Four Weapons Blacksmith.

Another issue worth noting in the minifigure selection is that Zane’s falcon oddly uses a black parrot piece. It has been a while since the more appropriate falcon element was seen, now likely to be retired, but this isn’t a satisfactory replacement. Despite these shortcomings, 71861 The Old Town still has an overall amazing minifigure roster.

As if the minifigures and models weren’t tempting enough, this 4,861-piece set is definitely reasonably priced at £269.99 / $299.99 / €299.99. While building it, and before receiving the press release, I was considering the other huge NINJAGO models to estimate the price. I eventually landed on £329.99 / $359.99 / €359.99, but the LEGO Group has gone well below my generous estimations.

For £269.99 / $299.99 / €299.99, it’s hard not to look at 71861 The Old Town with a different point of view. The LEGO Group has not been afraid of more expensive models relative to the piece count, even with original concepts. The recent 10366 Tropical Aquarium is a good example, costing £399.99 / $479.99 / €449.99 for 4,154 elements and featuring a mix of larger and smaller pieces with a fairly open-concept model. 71861 The Old Town is of a similar size, but with 700 more pieces and another open-concept interior when enclosed. The difference is that the NINJAGO set is only two-thirds of the price. That’s before you consider the 24 minifigures, too.

71861 The Old Town even compares favourably next to other NINJAGO sets, successfully standing on its own compared to any of the other NINJAGO City builds, which are designed to be paired with at least one other model. There’s nothing to connect 71861 The Old Town to, providing a complete NINJAGO experience for £269.99 / $299.99 / €299.99.

When you look at the price point compared to sets from licensed themes (for example, 76300 Arkham Asylum at the same cost with just under 3,000 pieces), it’s a release which is going to be hard to resist for LEGO enthusiasts, and nigh-on-impossible for NINJAGO fans. Save up for 71861 The Old Town, you genuinely don’t want to miss it even at the RRP. This is the heart of LEGO NINJAGO’s 15th anniversary for a reason, and – as described in the manual – it’s a love letter to the theme.

Our honest opinion: LEGO NINJAGO 71861 The Old Town is described as a love letter to NINJAGO, and while it’s not quite the perfect 15th-anniversary build, it’s very close. A lot of care has clearly gone into this stunning and jam-packed model. Its considerable size hasn’t resulted in an unreasonable price, either.

This LEGO set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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How many minifigures are exclusive to LEGO NINJAGO 71861 The Old Town?

It’s no secret that LEGO NINJAGO 71861 The Old Town has a great minifigure selection, and 14 of its 24 minifigures are exclusive. Of those 14 minifigures, there are five characters that have only appeared in this set. These are the First Spinjitzu Master, Dr. Julien, the Administration Agent, Chuck and Faith.

How long does it take to build LEGO NINJAGO 71861 The Old Town?

Set aside between eight and nine hours to build all of 71861 The Old Town, but since the model is split into four sections, you can easily split those into smaller slots over multiple days. You’ll have enough time to comfortably watch two and a half seasons of NINJAGO in that time, or three if you want to take some breaks (please do). The only problem you’ll have is deciding which seasons to watch, as almost all of them are referenced here.

How big is LEGO NINJAGO 71861 The Old Town?

When enclosed as one circular town structure, 71861 The Old Town is approximately 59cm wide and 36cm deep. When displayed as one long wall, you’ll need 100cm worth of space, but depth won’t be an issue. In either form, 71861 The Old Town is a maximum of 34cm tall.

How much does LEGO NINJAGO 71861 The Old Town cost?

LEGO NINJAGO 71861 The Old Town launches on January 1, 2026 and retails for £269.99 / $299.99 / €299.99, featuring over 4,800 pieces.