LEGO Ninjago Ultra Sonic Raider (9449)

Detailed Ultra Sonic Raider Review

Let's start with everything the set contains:

Ultra Sonic Raider chassis
Detachable Ninja Drone Fighter
Minifigures with accessories
Brick separator

Minifigures:

Z...Read complete review

Let's start with everything the set contains:

Ultra Sonic Raider chassis
Detachable Ninja Drone Fighter
Minifigures with accessories
Brick separator

Minifigures:

Zane ZX is the Ninja of Ice. He wears a white outfit.
Hat/Hair: His mask is white with gold on the forehead. It covers his entire head except for the eyes.
Head/Face: Underneath that hood is a face with an expression that looks ready for action. The face has a straight, horizontal mouth. The head itself is yellow and has mostly black printing.
Shoulderguards: The shoulder armor on Zane is gold. A circle is connected to the shoulderguards. This circle goes on the minifigure's back and can hold 2 katanas.
Torso: Zane's torso is white. The front of his torso shows his Ninja robes with brown leather sashes holding them in place. There is a pocket on his left hip which holds throwing stars. The back has a continuation of that pocket and sash. It also shows Zane's Ice symbol.
Arms/Hands: The arms are white and the hands are black. Neither has printing.
Hip/Legs: The hip and leg printing is a continuation of the torso printing. Both are white.

Kai ZX is the Ninja of Fire. He wears a red outfit.
Hat/Hair: His mask is red with gold on the forehead. It covers his entire head except for the eyes.
Head/Face: Underneath that hood is a scarred face with an expression that looks angered. The face has mostly black printing.
Shoulderguards: The shoulder armor on Kai is gold. A circle is connected to the shoulderguards. This circle goes on the minifigure's back and can hold 2 katanas.
Torso: Kai's torso is red. The front of his torso shows his Ninja robes with dark red belts holding them in place. There are throwing stars tucked into his belt. Dark red armor is printed on the chest. The back has a continuation of the belts and armor. It also shows Kai's Fire symbol.
Arms/Hands: Kai has dark red arms and black hands. Neither has printing.
Hip/Legs: The hip and leg printing is a continuation of the torso printing. Both are red.

Jay ZX is the Ninja of Lightning. He wears a blue outfit.
Hat/Hair: His mask is blue with silver on the forehead. It covers his entire head except for the eyes.
Head/Face: Underneath that hood is a face with an expression that looks serious, or maybe even bored. The head itself is yellow and has mostly black printing.
Shoulderguards: The shoulder armor on Jay is silver. A circle is connected to the shoulderguards. This circle goes on the minifigure's back and can hold 2 katanas.
Torso: Jay's torso is blue. The front of his torso shows his Ninja robes. There is gray armor on his right side. The back has a continuation of that pocket and sash. It also shows Jay's Lightning symbol.
Arms/Hands: The right arm is light gray while the left arm is blue. Both hands are black. Neither the hands nor arms have printing.
Hip/Legs: The hip and leg printing show gray cloth sash. Both are blue.

Cole ZX is the Ninja of Earth. He wears a black outfit.
Hat/Hair: His mask is black with silver on the forehead. It covers his entire head except for the eyes.
Head/Face: Underneath that hood is a face with an expression that looks determined and has bushy eyebrows. The head itself is yellow and has mostly black printing.
Shoulderguards: The shoulder armor on Cole is silver. A circle is connected to the shoulderguards. This circle goes on the minifigure's back and can hold 2 katanas.
Torso: Cole's torso is black. The front of his torso shows his Ninja robes. There is brown and gray padding printed on his shoulder area held on with a belt. The back has a continuation of that padding and belts. It also shows Cole's Earth symbol.
Arms/Hands: The arms and hands are black. Neither the hands nor arms have printing.
Hip/Legs: The hip and leg printing shows gray cloth sash and a continuation of the belts that secure the shoulder pads. Both are black.

Pythor P. Chumsworth is the Anacondrai tribe general and leader of the Serpentine. He is a primary antagonist in Ninjago. This is the only set he comes in.
Head/Neck: Pythor's purple head piece is unique to him. He has a long neck, but it is not flexible. If you could stretch it out, it would be about an inch and a half long. It has black and gold printing. There is a light blue octagon on top of his head. His mouth is not hinged, so it is always open. He has printed red eyes and white teeth.
Torso: The torso is purple. It has a pattern similar to his head. There is a larger blue octagon on it. The back printing has a scaly, diamondback pattern, with less gold than the front.
Arms/Hands: The arms and hands are black with no printing.
Tail: Like all other snake tribe generals, Pythor has a tail instead of legs. The tail is all one piece. Part of it is plastic, part of it is rubber, but they cannot be separated. The part that connects to the torso is plastic. Its printing is a continuation of the torso printing. The tail is rubber. If you could stretch the tail out, it would be about 5 inches long.

Spitta is the Venomari tribe soldier.
Head: His head is dark green with black and lime green printing on top. He has two yellow eyes on each side of his head- four eyes total. He has big white teeth.
Torso: Spitta's torso is lime green and printed with scales. He has two large scars on his stomach. He has 2 bandoliers with red venom pouches strapped on them. The back has a continuation of the bandoliers, as well as two more large scars. He also has some dark green printing that seems to be a continuation of his head.
Arms/Hands: Spitta's arms are dark green and his hands are black. Neither has printing.
Hip/Legs: His hip and legs are lime green. The printing is a continuation of the torso printing. There are 2 scars on his right leg.

Minifig Accessories

Katanas: The set contains 4 katanas that can fit on the Ninja's backs. 2 are black and 2 are silver.
Mace: Spitta has a silver mace. It is rubber.
Kai's Dragon Sword of Fire: Kai's Golden Weapon is the Dragon Sword of Fire. It resembles the katanas, but it is longer and has very detailed dragon molding. This is probably the most elaborately sculpted piece in the set.
Zane's Shurikens of Ice: Zane wields two Golden shurikens (also known as throwing stars). They are about a half inch wide and can be held in a minifigure's hand. They have holes in the middle.
Jay's Nunchucks of Lightning: Jay's Golden Weapon is made of three pieces: a chain that is about 2 inches long and 2 handles. The handles fit in minifig hands.
Cole's Scythe of Quakes: Cole's Golden Weapon is made up of a 1.25 inch long stick, the same piece used for the Nunchuck handles, and a blade that resembles a tooth. Cole can hold the stick.
Tri-Blades: 14 golden tri-blades come with this set. These dagger-like weapons can be held by minifigs.
Fangpyre Fang Blade: Pythor is now one step closer to unleashing the Great Devourer with the second Fang Blade. It has a light gray hilt similar to the Nunchuck handles. On one end is a blade like the one on the Scythe of quakes, only this one is silver. On the other end is a translucent red 1x1 round plate with the symbol of the Fangpyre printed on it. This is an antivenom capsule.

Now- the Raider itself!

The chassis (not counting the flying Ninja Drone Fighter) has 1 cockpit with headlights (they do not light up). At the front, there is a place to put all 4 Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu. The Ice and Earth symbols on Zane and Cole's outfits are stickered on the cockpit. Detailed stickers decorate the cockpits and body of the Raider. Inside the cockpit, there are 2 levers. Each cockpit houses one person. The body is mostly white. The treads are dark brown. (Before I unboxed the set, I had thought that they were black.) Each tread is made of 23 pieces. There are flick fire missiles on the end of poles protruding from the sides of the Raider. The huge back wheels are almost 4 inches in diameter. Strings of 7 tri-blades connect the treads and the cockpit.

The Ninja Drone Fighter is the detachable, flying vehicle that fits on the back of the Ultra Sonic Raider chassis. It has one cockpit with headlights (They don't light up though.) and is about 11.5 inches long. The windshield and surrounding area has stickers depicting the Fire and Lightning symbols on Kai and Jay's outfits. Inside the cockpit, there is a printed control panel on the pilot's right side. On his left, there is a 1x2 tile printed with a cassette tape with the Sacred Flute's tone recorded on it. On the sides of the cockpit you'll find the sonic cannons and spinner crowns. Exhaust flames shoot from the spinner crowns. The release button at the very back allows the golden blade wings to fan out and contract. On the sides are doors to the mobile prison cell, which Pythor is too big to fit in. All the other minifigs fit though.

The set also comes with one of the new orange brick separators. It works for plates, bricks, and cross axles.

Play experience:
The set has several cool, rare, and useful bricks. It is EPIC looking.

Assembly
The assembly is somewhat difficult, but I don't see that as a bad thing. A 7 year old could probably do it with the help of an adult. The most difficult part of the assembly is the mechanism that allows the wings to fan out. The designers used some strange and uncommon building techniques.

The Chassis
The treads
The treads won't roll on hardwood or tile, which is a bummer because the majority of my house has hardwood flooring. This is probably because the tread pieces are plastic instead of rubber, so they don't have good traction like the rubber back wheels. But it works perfectly on carpet, the bed, the couch, a blanket, the rug, stuff like that.
The cockpit
The cockpit can hold one minifig. It has 2 movable control levers. The tri-blades can be removed and used as weapons.
Flick-fire missiles
You have to hold the launcher while you flick or it will be harder to fire. The missiles themselves are designed well. They look really cool.

The Ninja Drone Fighter
On the box, the detachable flying vehicle is referred to as the Ninja Drone Fighter. This is where you find the second cockpit, sonic cannons, bladed wings, exhaust flames, and snake prison.
The cockpit holds one minifig and has a printed control panel and flute recording. You can take the spinner crowns off the side and use them on your spinners. The snake prison can probably hold 2 minifigs, maximum. The golden bladed wings are really cool. Once you get the mechanism built it is really easy to operate. It is also really easy to attach/detach from the chassis.

Minifigures
Pythor is cool, and he is exclusive to the set. He can stand up on a flat surface or be attached to a baseplate. The bottom of the plastic part of his tail is like the bottom of a LEGO brick, so it can be attached to studs. The rest is raised slightly, to make room for studs underneath. My only complaint is his head. It is right next to his arms, so it gets in the way if he tries to hold stuff.

The Ninja are all pretty much the same except for color and printing. The Golden Weapons don't fit on their backs (only katanas), and they can't fit in the cockpit with katanas on their backs. But these can be overlooked because all FOUR Ninja are included (not counting Lloyd).

There isn't really much special about Spitta, but he's a neat minifig anyway.

THE SET IS AWESOME. GET IT.