I'm a huge LEGO collector and as such have obtained a lot of sets over time. Though I tend to sell them on, I made this page to document my thoughts on the sets, rate them, and just generally discuss them.
Sets are sorted in order of theme, then set number. This usually means they're in release order, but is not always the case, such as with polybags.
Nothing says badass motorbike like a long fork and a tiny wheel, am I right? One of the multiple Skulkin vehicles we see in the Pilot Season, the Skull Motorbike is a must-have for a Skulkin army. Design wise, the set is okay. I don't like the bulky, flat body of the bike. It's too flat to evoke muscley biker vibes and too big to evoke slim speedy bike vibes. The skull on the front looks a little off as well. Elsewise, it's standard 2010s bike affairs.
The minifigure selection is nothing special, and I wasn't expecting that considering this is a budget set. We get Jay in his TGW robes, which we see in many sets (including all the other Skulkin vehicles, sans Nuckal's ATV), and we get Chopov. Chopov is a bit less common. He came in his own spinner set, and in Garmadon's Dark Fortress, but in this set he has a helmet. Whether you consider a hat enough to make it an exclusive or not is up to you. I will say, it's nice seeing the Earth Skulkin, I feel like they got utilized less in the grand scheme of the Pilot Season. I do find myself a bit confused why they don't pair the ninja up with their respective Skulkin all the time. When I looked back over the sets, the only time we see a pairing is the Skull Truck with Whyplash and Zane. It's strange, the books really pushed the idea of the same element users being enemies, but the sets forgot about this.
The Big Bad play feature of this is the swinging Skull Hammer on the front of the bike. It looks cool in advertisements, but the reality isn't as cool. It's pulled by the chain under it, which is attached to a lever. You have to pull it with some force to get it to swing forward, and it feels pretty limp and disappointing. I really wish they used rubber bands to create a firmer, snappier attack, though that might have then caused pieces to break. Either way, it doesn't feel particularly aggressive, and it is pitiful in comparison to literally every other Skulkin vehicle's play feature.
Retail price is exactly what you'd want to be paying for this set. A tier above the very budget mini sets we saw this season.
Garmadon's Dark Fortress was my white whale for a time. It was that one set I wanted so, so badly but could never find for an affordable price. The set was one of two larger playsets from the Pilot Season of Ninjago, alongside the Fire Temple. Both these sets were doomed to be expensive by including Samukai, the four armed skeleton who is worth a third of the price alone. The Dark Fortress is the cheaper of the two sets, and if I had to bet, I'd say that's because of the lack of a huge kickass dragon.
The minifigure selection is not bad, especially in comparison to the big brother Fire Temple. Most of these figures were available in other means if you didn't want to buy a full set, namely the spinner sets. However, Samukai was exclusive to 2505 and 2507. If you wanted him, this was the cheaper set to go for, and would give you some skulkin to boost your skeleton army. Garmadon was a vital component in the set, as he's meant to be sat on his skeletal throne. I found myself to be disappointed with the lack of leg printing on him, but this is an issue later Garmadon figures would rectify. It also isn't too noticable if you keep him sat in his throne. Nya was interesting as she was the first Ninjago figure to have dual printing on her face. Kai stands out as the most generic figure to be included, but I feel the set wouldn't be complete without him. The choice to have him in his old robes is strange to me though. This would have been after taming the Fire Dragon, so he should be in his DX robes. TGW Kai had four other releases, more than DX robes. I think they should have swapped TGW Kai from this set with DX Kai from the mountain shrine.
There's a couple play features on this set. The big one is the huge Spykor on the front of the castle. One might assume it's decoration, but push a button on the back of the castle and it jumps off, ready to attack the ninja! This feature makes displaying the castle a bit difficult, as it can easily fall off. A spring mechanism would have been cool for it. There's a cage inside the castle for you to put Nya in, so Kai can rescue her, which is a fun storytelling feature. On the roof, there are two rotating turrets with the iconic LEGO Flick Missiles on them. Finally, included is a coffin sidebuild where you can press down on the lid to summon a sleeping Skulkin to join the battle. It can be a bit finicky but it fits very nicely into the set's theme.
The retail price I feel was spot on. The set makes use of larger, moulded pieces for the walls which reduces the brick count greatly. The set retailed for nearly half the cost of the Fire Temple, so it was a nice budget playset. That being said, nowadays it sits at around £90 complete. I was lucky and got the set for cheaper via auction and replacing missing bricks, but I don't know if £90 is a fair price nowadays. It's also a bit frustrating knowing a third of that is from one minifigure. If you don't care for Samukai, it can be annoying having to pay a premium just because he's included.
The Skull Truck is a fan favourite from the Pilot Season and easily the best .
This is the content of Review 2.