Pictures and written words by: Akira
Thanks to The LEGO Group for sending us the full wave of NINJAGO “The Island” sets.
Brace yourself for the review of set 71748 Catamaran Sea Battle.
This is the largest set in NINJAGO The Island series at 780 pieces.
At the front and the top side of the box, the 6 minifigures that come in the set are featured prominently.
The backside shows the features of the catamarans.
Onto what’s inside the box, there are 6 numbered plastic bags, 1 instruction booklet, 1 sticker sheet, and a set of cloth sails with a minifigure cape.
It is a great surprise that these sails are made of fabric, just like in 71745 (Lloyd’s Jungle Chopper Bike)
Bag 1 consists of parts for the core of Kai’s catamaran, Island Kai and Island Jay while bag 2 has the remaining parts needed to complete the model.
When you flip up the black horizontal stabiliser, the starboard and port hulls are pushed further out thanks to the Technic beams connected to the catamaran deck which creates more distance between these hulls.
The Ninjargon written on the stickers and sail is nothing but “71748” and the asterisk looking symbol is just “K” for Kai.
It looks like a discount Batboat, and if you remove the sail it looks like a discount Batwing with turbines, too.
Bags 3 to 6 contains all the parts necessary for The Keepers’ catamaran.
Bag 3 contains a Rumble Keeper, bag 4 has Island Zane, bag 5 has Chief Mammatus and bag 6 has a Thunder Keeper.
In bag 5, be ready to apply 3 stickers on the curved surfaces of the large tan windshield piece.
While it adds more oomph to the graphical design, having to apply humongous stickers on curved surfaces should be called illegal technique as well because it creates a lot of frustration not only to kids, but to some adults alike, who can’t apply stickers decently on a flat surface let alone curved elements.
The last bag contains parts for the satellite hulls which serve as outriggers too.
The completed model looks bigger than what is used in the marketing materials because for whatever reason, the photography used in the front of the box appears to be compressed which makes it appear shorter, while the one used at the back side of the box appears to be smaller than Kai’s catamaran due to perspective distortion.
The overall shape of this catamaran reminds me of 70601 (Sky Shark) especially if you remove the outriggers.
And when you remove the left and right hulls that function more like outriggers, they work like a stand alone boat with jet/lightning propulsion.
The first one has stud shooters and barrels, while the other one has a mini prison for captives.
There are 2 spring-loaded shooters on each side of the main deck and a pair of serrated blade weapons that could be extended for attack mode.
Overall, the 2 catamarans are very well built. I would just remove the sails and convert them into aircrafts to make the swooshable factor even higher but that is just my personal taste. They look good as boats, but they look terrific as aircrafts.
To me, the most surprising aspect of this set is the lack of exclusive minifigure. In fact this is the only set without an exclusive minifigure in the line up. Maybe a little disappointing but it is not shocking as The Island is a very small wave having only 4 regular sets.
This is not a deja vu…
We will be seeing Island Jay, Island Kai, Island Zane, Rumble Keeper, Thunder Keeper and Chief Mammatus in other sets as well so do check out the other reviews which will be posted in the coming days.
In conclusion, I think that the box art does not do justice in marketing 71748 Catamaran Sea Battle. These catamarans actually look better in real life. At £64.99 / $69.99 / 69.99€, with 780 pieces, the value is just about average but that is more than okay considering that there are huge pieces included in this set. The unique cloth sails won’t be compelling enough to make other people buy this so its appeal would be slightly higher if there is something special about the minifigures or other parts. Despite these shortcomings, this is a great set that you build to play and the more you play it, the more value and enjoyment you get out of this set. Because of that, this set receives a compelling 4 out of 5 score.
Comment below and share what you think about this set review. Take your time. This is Akira signing off.
The set used for the review was sent to us by The LEGO Group for the purpose of a review. Provision of sets do not in any way influence or guarantee a positive review.
