[Sheng Yuan/Sembo] NO.S8602 Ninja Thunder Swordsman - White Dragon

My first dragon build from the Ninja Theme, I got this white dragon which comes with a ninja mini figure with questionable identity.

(Such a bummer that I actually made a scheduled post for this review, to be released like 5 days ago.. but turns out, I wasn't connected to the internet when I finished the post so everything I wrote where completely gone, and blogspot didnt saved it on my drafts. have to rewrite everything since I didnt made back-ups. The photos was taken before I opened Kuto, so he won't be appearing on this review)

Brand: Sembo / Sheng Yuan
Series: Ninja Thunder Swordsman


I'm not sure if Sembo and Sheng Yuan (commonly known to the bootleg LEGO industry as SY) is a same company brand or if this series is a collab between them, given that I think this one didnt actually appeared in any original LEGO releases. If you have any idea, let me know.

BOX ART
I like the dragon shot at the front, it looks really modern and neat with white background, and the metallic teal green and gold elements on it just work perfectly fine.

It contains 142 pieces, as stated, and theres this chinese characyers beside the minifigure's pic, which I believe iswhat his name is, I wish I could read it. Back shows a really nice sunset scenery with the ninja jumping off the dragon, and shows some articulations that the main build can do.

Sides shows the same metallic teal green fonts, brand logo, and some pics of the finished build minifigure and dragon.

WHAT'S INSIDE
The parts pieces and instructions comes in a carton tray you can use to hold the parts while building it.

There are three sealed bags inside, and a sheet of back-to-back printed instruction manual for the mini figure and the dragon build.

And here's a closer look to the instruction manual..

MINI FIGURE
I'm having troubles identifying who this Ninja minifig is. From the looks of it, he has  the face print and ninja body color of Cole, and the white head piece of Zane.

The thing is, Cole is the earth ninja, and Zane is the ice ninja, but he is an android with robotic facial prints and wears all white. This set has what looks to b a lightning dragon, whil the lightning ninja is Jay, who wears blue.

The head piece of this minifig has a single weapon holder at the back..

And his weapon is a build from a brown telescope and a translucent blue flame piece, forming a sword, which I think represents the "thunder swordsman" tag. But to me, it more looks like a torch.

They could have included more weapons, for it o have more choices, like those old ninja minifigs which comes with tons of unnecessary ninja themed silver and gold weapons.

DRAGON CONSTRUCTION
nice printed parts included, which I like. I prefer printed parts instead of applying stickers. And it coms with an extra hand piece.

this dragon build is really promising, here's how its done..

Check out the cool blue lightning shape horns. And here's a little comparison to Master Wu's croissant head dragon..

Looks like mom-and-kid dragons. aint completely built yet, but this set is already making me want to collect more of these dragons from thw Ninja theme, or bootlegs of Ninjago dragon sets. Continuation..

Cool wings and amazing looking front legs. Now, for the last touch..

THE DRAGON
I. LOVE. IT. This is one of the few dragon builds I know that comes with 2 pairs of feet, bit only stands with a pair, and because of the stoff ball joints, it stands in perfect balance without the assistance of its 2 tails.

The lightning wings are pretty cool too, and the translucent blue and gold parts just go perfectly with its white body. And check out its front legs, a.k.a arms, with massive black claws. super awesome.

The jaws wont close up though, it can only move to sides, but the articulation for this baby is just alright: tails, limbs, wings, neck are all fine.

Here's the White Dragon with Master Wu's baby dragon for some Mother and Child shitness..

And the unidentified ninja taming and riding the dragon is everything. If he have enough space to sit on at the back of the dragon, it would probably look better.

OVER-ALL REVIEW
I find this set good. I'm almost 100% sure that LEGO didnt released a similar design of that dragon before, and I think this is an original mod from Sembo. if only they actually made a more popular Ninjago character instead of throwing in this random guy, Id say this would have been a greater one. And that weapon.. uhg. though it also has extra pieces you can keep or use on your own builds, which is nice.

I love that the dragon actually stands on its own with its 2 back legs, cause most dragon builds wont. And as for the colors, the black bottom, white top of the dragon perfectly matches the ninja, but they could have gone full white or made the black gray, and I bet it would have look cooler.

FINAL SCORE: 7/10
Not bad for a bootleg brand. I hope they would release more of these mods, instead of just copying LEGO's original designs of their sets.