Toy Time Builds LEGO Nexo Knights’ Volcano Lair

LEGO Nexo Knights, the most kid-friendly battle between techno knights and dark magic possible, returns to Cartoon Network in the US this weekend for a second season. Seems like as good a reason as any to assemble the 1186 piece Jestro’s Volcano Lair set.

In a world where LEGO can’t seem to keep kids interested in Bionicle any more (children are so cruel), it’s nice to see an original property from the world’s most popular building toy company that persists despite not being Ninjago. A clash of futuristic technology and the occult, the LEGO Nexo Knights line had me from the first robot horse.

When the first wave of Nexo Knights building sets hit, I bought all of them, save one. I couldn’t bring myself to grab Jestro’s Evil Mobile.

It’s not that I didn’t find the evil battle chariot appealing. I suppose I had to draw the spending line somewhere, and perhaps I knew that the evil court Jester controlled by what is essentially the LEGO Necronomicon (AKA the Book of Monsters) was destined for greater things. Things like this:

Now that’s the sort of place I expect the main villain to hang out. It has a spinning volcano death pit, complete with trap door, rotating blades, a turret section and a fully-stocked larder. Toss in a pair of nameless lackeys, a blood elf rogue (not really), a pair of imps and a bookeeper, and you’ve got a fortress that even three of the toughest Nexo Knights are going to have trouble with, even with their robot horses.

I was worried I’d bit off more than I could chew when I began a $189.99 1186-piece set at around 1:00AM. I figured I’d be up all night long. Thankfully the numbered bags and overall ease of the build had me done by 4:00AM, even with fiddling with the camera and completely ignoring my audio levels (sorry about the sound in the video up top).

I will say this: Jestro is a much more menacing figure in toy form than he is in the animated series. If you weren’t familiar with the show, this guy would probably freak you the heck out.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s still pretty creepy on television, but it’s a kinder, gentler kind of creepy. The Legonomicron is much more frightening.

Perhaps Jestro’s overall lack of menace is why he’s compensating so much in with his Volcano Lair. Lava alone is a pretty big deterrent, and the set is full of its translucent orange LEGO counterpart. Building what looks to be a spinning lava Sarlaac pit on top of that is just overkill.

At least he leaves himself time and room for the finer things in life.

And while I’m generally on the side of the good guys (GI Joe, Autobots, Gnomes),I must admit that after putting together all of the pieces I’m feeling a little less this…

… and a lot more this.

Jestro’s Volcano Lair was incredibly fun to assemble, and the end result trumps my previous favourite piece from the line, the tank-treading moving castle that is The Fortrex. The colour scheme is gorgeous, the evil is palpable and the bathtub conveniently located for easy access. What more could a dark jester want? OK, other than a LEGO Harley Quinn cameo?

The LEGO Nexo Knights Jestro’s Volcano Lair should be in stores now, along with a bunch of other things I shouldn’t spend my money on but will anyway.