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28 October 2025

Parts review & MOCs: 71832 Thunderfang Dragon of Chaos from LEGO® NINJAGO®

Posted by Caz Mockett

Set 71832 Thunderfang Dragon of Chaos is a March 2025 release from the LEGO® NINJAGO® theme, featuring a large creature build, a small side build and six minifigures. The colourful dragon is certainly eye-catching, but most of all I wanted to explore the potential of this set for MOC building. I decided to challenge myself further by creating only alternate builds of the set.


Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.

71832 Thunderfang Dragon of Chaos

  • Release date: 1 March 2025
  • Pieces: 668

Price: 

Other countries click here

Lego Ninjago 71832 Thunderfang Dragon of Chaos

 



Parts of interest

The characteristic dragon's wings are printed on a soft transparent plastic sheet, along with a banner.

  • 1x Wing, Left, Dragon, Red Swirl, Dark Purple and Magenta Membranes Print (111984b)
  • 1x Wing, Right, Dragon, Red Swirl, Dark Purple and Magenta Membranes Print (111984a)
  • 1x Banner, Red and Dark Purple Energy, Dark Purple Dragon, Red Eyes with Magenta Background Print (111984c)

There are 10 bricks of note in this set; let's take a closer look at them.


New mould


Recolours

There are three elements which were recoloured for this set:
  • 2x Launcher 4x2x1 with Bottom Axle in Bright Red/Red (6530025 | 41812)
  • 1x Creature Body Part, Dragon Head with Trans-Dark Pink Horns Pattern and Magenta Eyes, Dark Purple Scales, Black Markings print in Red (6519423 | 110269)
  • 1x Creature Body Part, Dragon Head Lower Jaw with Pointy Chin in Medium Lilac/Dark Purple (6521188 | 80017)

Rare elements

These have been seen in just one or two other sets:
  • 4x Technic Beam 1x2 with Ball Joint Angled in Red (6464980 | 50923)
  • 1x Flame, Axle, with Marbled Dark Purple Pattern in Transparent Medium Reddish Violet/Trans-Dark Pink (6551012 | 5982)
  • 1x Brick Special 1x2 Rounded with Center Bars in Bright Yellowish Green/Lime (6533506 | 77808)
  • 1x Wedge Curved Inverted 6x4 in Dark Purple (6521859 | 43713)
These have featured in three other sets:
  • 2x Technic Axle Connector 2x3 with Ball Socket, Closed Sides in Red (6464974 | 67695)
  • 2x Slope Curved 4x1 No Studs [Stud Holder with Symmetric Ridges] in Dark Purple (6513769 | 11153)

Minifigures


The set features four of the popular LEGO Ninjago characters: Lloyd, Nya, Arin and Sora. Nothing here remains exclusive, but the rare parts for these figures are as follows.

Nya

  • 1x Helmet, Ninja with Wraps Pearl Titanium Pattern in Dark Azure (6528524 | 5990) - in 2 other sets
  • 1x Torso, Ninja Robes, Black Sash with Gold Symbol, Medium Azure Strap, Gold Chest print, Pearl Titanium Arms, Dark Azure Hands in Titanium Metallic/Pearl Titanium (6529483 | 76382) - in 3 other 2025 sets
  • 1x Hips and Pearl Titanium Legs with Medium Azure Belt, Gold Belt Buckle, Toes, Medium Azure Robe Ends, Knee Caps print in Pearl Titanium (6518777 | 110227) - in 3 other 2025 releases

Arin

  • 1x Hood with Pearl Gold Horns Pattern in Black (6537950 | 3448) - as mentioned earlier; unique to this set until the release of 71843 Rogue's Mech Dragon Rider in June 2025

The "baddies" also have a few elements of note:

Nokt

These have all been in 3 other sets:
  • 1x Minifig Head Nokt, Blue Markings, Silver Eyes, Scar, Silver Sharp Teeth, Fangs in Earth Blue/Dark Blue (6519419 | 110265) - appears in 3 other sets
  • 1x Torso, Ninja Robes, Dark Bluish Grey Signs, Sash, Dark brown Shirt print, Black Arms, Sand Blue Hands in Black (6531971 | 76382) - in two other sets - appears in 3 other sets
  • 1x Hips and Black Legs with Dark Brown Belt, Dark Bluish Grey Knee Wraps, Metal Blue Claws, Beads print in Black (6519420 | 110266) - in 3 other sets

Tyr

All of these elements are fairly common.


I found Tyr's head and neck wear particularly interesting. These four images show the mini-dragon clinging to his back and his two-part dragon headgear from all directions.

The completed Thunderfang


The eponymous dragon is of course the main build of the set, with just a modest side build (seen in the image at the start of the article). The articulation of the limbs isn't bad, but I did find the dragon tended to topple forward quite easily, despite the wings and tail behind. The bulk of the weight is in the legs and body and I don't think the lightweight wings are enough to counterbalance the head and arms unless you stand the beast quite upright, which doesn't look very good from a posing point of view.

I'm not much of a dragon person, so I was keen to use some of Thunderfang's signature parts to build something new, notably the wings and tail. I also decided to challenge myself to use only the pieces in the set for my MOCs.

MOC: Sora's Firebird


The wings very much reminded me of something that Leonardo da Vinci might have sketched for a flying machine. I repurposed the dragon wings wholesale, as the attachment points to the LEGO® Technic frame are fixed, so why re-invent the wheel?

I envisage this as being some sort of glider rather than an aircraft with its own motive power, but who knows, perhaps those lovely swirly patterns on the wings are actually cleverly collecting solar energy for the craft's propulsion?

The end of the body and start of the tail were also repurposed, with a few modifications, for the back end of the fuselage. I also used that colourful tail piece to finish off the rear, and then started building my way forwards.



One of the dragon's shoulder pouldrons, the 4x3 curved wedge (64225) formed the top of the fuselage nose, while the dark purple inverted curved wedge (43713) formed the lower half, and the base of a seat for the pilot.

I managed to angle the wing assembly so that each of the LEGO Technic beams with angled ball joint (50923) could have a pearl gold bar and clip inserted downwards in the cross axle hole furthest from the ball. These in turn clip onto a modified plate with side handle (2450) which attached to the fuselage above Sora's head.



There was also a pair of  black 3L bars with 3 clips (3628) which I used to attach some more greebles to the sides of the cockpit. I was able to angle them to mimic the shape of the triangular sides. The single clip attaches to the bar end of the same modified plate as the wings, while the double end holds a pearl gold ring and satin trans-clear katana. 

I liked the way that the curve of the katana blade followed the gentle curve of the upper wedge, and seemed to provide some side bars so that Sora won't fall out when manoeuvring a tightly banked turn.

MOC: Red Dragon Shrine


As mentioned previously, the dark red dragon riding on Tyr's back caught my attention and formed the seed idea for this little shrine. Tyr stands guardian while the dragon sits in pride of place in the centre of an ornate black circle with gold accents. 

The ring was adapted from Thunderfang's necklace, while many of the parts framing it were taken from the original side build. The red and black colour scheme provided the flavour of Japanese architecture that I was looking for.

Conclusion

At US$69.99/ £64.99/ 74.99€/ AU$119.99, the set feels pricey for the bricks included, which is reinforced by the price per part metric which is quite high for a non-IP release (9.7c US, 10.5p UK and 11.2c Euro). North America, Australia and New Zealand seem to get a better deal than Europe with this set, but hopefully you can find it at discount.

The dragon is quite sturdy for play, although the overall balance seems a bit front-heavy, so careful posing in required for it to stand unaided. The combatants have some well printed minifigure parts, with Nya and Nokt only appearing in a small number of other sets wearing these outfits.

As a parts pack, I found it had some interesting elements, but they were quite theme-specific, so perhaps it is not a set to buy as a general top-up for your parts inventory, unless these elements suit your building style. 

 

READ MORE: Review of LEGO® Ideas set 21363 The Goonies 


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