I am an AFOL that recently rediscovered Lego when the pandemic first hit. I began occupying my time assembling set after set. When I got to Ninjago City Gardens I was apprehensive. I had never tackled a set of this size before. I had no need to be concerned. It was an absolute joy to build from start to finish. It has a few difficult alignments as you transition to the platforms that house the next level of modulars, but they feel satisfying and rewarding when you finally get everything lined up and it snaps into place with ease. Some of the techniques used throughout the building process were very clever and inventive. Specifically the roofing techniques were very impressive. Every step was vibrant and unique. There was very little repetition throughout and each subassembly felt fresh and new. The only real downside I encountered was the immense amount of stickers. There were 3 full sheets of stickers. I don't mind doing the occasional sticker but when you have to do them in large groups it really kills the flow of building. That was such a small detraction from the overall greatness and joy that building this set provided. I have now built most of the large sets that Lego has released in the last 2 years and this was by far the most fun, the one that I like to look at the most, and utilized the most creative building techniques throughout the process. I would call this a perfect set. I would highly recommend it, and I hope that Lego can recapture this lightning in a bottle again one day with another set.

I have built so many LEGO sets in my time as a collector and this is the first time writing a review. This set was absolutely magnificent. I had not previously explored the Ninjago theme but was greatly intrigued by the unique part usage and building techniques used in the large-scale sets. Going into the build my expectations were extremely high and I was excited to try something new. It is safe to say my expectations were blown out the water. The colors really pop and the use of such a variety of pieces in unexpected ways was so refreshing. From start to finish, I was pleasantly surprised with all of the surprises and quirks with this set. I look forward to collecting the other sets in this series.

I am very much late to the Ninjago Lego series of builds and the City Gardens set fell under my radar when I started to move my interest over the last couple of years into modular builds - and man this is the mother of all modular builds.

Putting it simply - I loved every minute of the build process and loved how the set with small scale stackable buildings came together. I have a lot of lego and this easily sits in my top 5 of all time builds and fights for top spot between this and Rivendell (epic!).

Very Neo-Tokyo, futuristic cyberpunk styling ... is a really colourful and really fun set. The amount of detail that is crammed into each building is mind blowing.

Was safe to say that following City Gardens I invested in the City Markets and now have both displayed together. Having been late to the Ninjago lego buildings party - I am not gutted for having missed out on older sets i.e., the Docks.

If there is a downside to this - which is NOT REALLY a downside for me at all - then it is the space needed to display it. Once built this thing is huge! so make sure you have plenty of space available.

Loved it, would buy and build again and now can't wait to see what follows the City Markets.

First off, I just want to say that this set has amazing detail and great playability. It is so cool that I, a person who has barely watched NINJAGO (and especially the new one), can look at this set and recognize at least some of the references to the show. I rated this set so high is because I'm sure missing pieces is a rare phenomenon, but it happened to me. Very, very soon into the build I realized I could not finish the build due to a piece I did not have. I am so messy and bad at spotting things (particularly when someone is trying to point something out to me) that I am willing to think that maybe I didn't see the piece, left it in the bag, or lost it. Either way I didn't have the piece. The piece wasn't a rare one so I assumed I could just find one amongst the numerous bricks I have at home, but for some reason I couldn't. Because of this I left the build alone for a while and tried to find the piece, but that was a HUGE mistake. Pieces that I had already put on the build fell off, I lost track of the page I was on in the instructions, the instructions got damaged, etc. This and more made the build too difficult and frustrating to continue, so I haven't finished it. I'm going to end this review by giving you some tips people new to LEGO can use to make sure their builds are completed. 1. If you come across a missing piece or multiple, reach out to LEGO service to request replacements unless you know FOR SURE that you can find one on your own. 2. Leave the bags you are not using in the box in number order with the ones you are going to use first at the top and the ones you are going to use last at the bottom, this will make it more convenient to just pull out bags when you need to. 3. ( my most important and final tip) NEVER BUILD LEGOS ON YHE GROUND, I have made this mistake one too many times, always make sure you have a flat, raised surface with maximum space and minimal stuff on it, this worked out AMAZING for my Hogwarts Icons: Collector's Edition set (see that review). Sorry for the long review, if you think you can build this set definitely buy it, and if any of these tips helped you out write a review on the set it helped you with and tell me (chances are I'll see it. SuoerEntrancingTruck OUT!