This set is great for showing how much playability Ninjago sets can have, and it includes some great stuff.

Box/Instructions

The box has a nice design on the front and back. It is the oddly shaped long box size typically used for $30 USD sets.

Parts

The parts featured in this set are great. The blue and black pieces make this set a winner on BL when parting out, and can be very useful in a variety of MOCs.

Minifigures

The minifigures are good for this set. The Nindroid may be better with a helper, but we did not get that here. Cole and Jay look cool, and Cole includes his moderately rare hair piece. Jay's hair piece is common. The only setback is that the minifigures have great torso's, but the heads are the same as they always have been and there is no leg printing on either...

The build

The TR has the nice feature of an adjusting cockpit, awesome treads and flip out missles--not flick fire missiles, thankfully--and the awesome feature of attaching the Earth Mech to the Raider. The mech has great pose-ability and is quite durable. The same goes for the TR.

The completed model

Altogether the set looks great, and with a lot more Nindroids you can really have an all out ninja battle!

Overall opinion

I think this is a great set for coming from the Ninjago line, and it is really good for people who want to build up their Ninja vehicle collection or ninja army.

Travis

70723 Thunder Raider is a very cool set; merely reading about its features and looking at it may give many people, myself included, that impression. This set lived up to my expectations, and surprised me with several entertaining features, especially the build.

The minifigures in this set are great: Cole, who was already in the Hover Hunter set, and Jay, whom I believe is unique to this set. The Nindroid soldier is a nice generic foot-soldier for the two ninjas to attack, as it is completely overwhelmed by the combination of the Thunder Raider and the Earth Mech, with only a small turret to defend himself.

As for the build, I really enjoyed building both vehicles (except for their stickers and the treads on the Thunder Raider, but they're very minor things that I feel shouldn't really make the experience too unenjoyable). The design of the Thunder Raider is pretty brilliant: the way the cockpit attaches to the back of the vehicle is quite interesting, as well as the way the mech fits on, and the gears the treads are attached to. The Thunder Raider looks good both with the mech on and off, and, as a little bonus, Jay has a place to store his katanas that also adds decoration to the vehicle!

The fact that two vehicles are included makes this set very playable, and is made even more so with other enemy vehicles (LEGO trying to give you incentive to buy more sets!), such as the Mech Dragon, Destructoid (another tank-like vehicle)... or even an army of Hover Hunters!

Pros

• Minifigures: my two favorite ninjas, Jay and Cole, and a Nindroid soldier.
• The tank and mech didn't combine exactly how I had imagined, but it was a fun feature nonetheless!
• Thunder Raider rolls along very well, even with the mech on the back.
• Mech is very poseable for its size.

Cons

• Stickers once more, although they're very minor on the Thunder Raider.
• Panels on the Thunder Raider often flop around, even when the mech is on.

Sets like these are the bread and butter of the Ninjago theme (and some occasional location-based sets that stand out, but I digress), and serve as great examples of why I feel this theme should be continued (for at least one more year, or long enough to outlive Chima!), and although the lack of spinners (a very fun part of the theme, but once more, I digress) is a bit discouraging as to Ninjago's future, I think sets like this make up for that loss.

Overall, I recommend this set to all Ninjago fans, young and old, who are looking for an interesting and fun set for a fair price.