Unleashing the JMBricklayer 70007 Fantastic Idea Cloud Surfing Dragon Building Block Set

JMBricklayer 70007 Fantastic Idea Cloud Surfing Dragon Review

Hey brick fans!

Today I will be unboxing, building and reviewing the JMBricklayer 70007 Fantastic Idea Cloud Surfing Dragon set.   JMBricklayer was kind enough to provide the set for today's review.   All opinions are my own.

Lego-compatible sets just got a whole lot more legendary with this vibrant green and yellow dragon that captures both the imagination and the skies! This set features an intricate dragon, arms extended, with claws reaching towards a luminous moon-shaped globe.  It sits perched on a mountain top surrounded by wispy clouds.  Both the dragon's eyes and the moonlight up, adding an extra layer of magic. The eyes glow with an intense light, giving the dragon a fierce, almost lifelike look, while the soft glow of the moon creates a peaceful, ambient effect.

Set Description

Brand: JMBricklayer

Set Name and Number: Fantastic Idea Cloud Surfing Dragon 70007

Piece count: 1364 pieces

Stickers: No

Printed parts: No

Minifigures: No

Numbered bags: Yes  ✅ 

Lighting kit included: Yes ✅ 

Price:  $69.99 USD

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Fantastic Idea Cloud Surfing Dragon

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Limited time only:  Exclusively at JMBricklayer.com, orders actually paid $69.99 or more will receive a free gift (includes US, UK, DE, and CA warehouses).

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15% discount code: VIPBAT15 (valid for one month)

Unboxing

All JMBricklayer building block sets come in a sturdy box. This one which features The Cloud Surfing Dragon set giving off s a nice turquoise glow.

Goodies we get inside the box include a colourful manual, several numbered bags of parts, a box with a picture of the moon on it, some metal rods and a black pouch containing the lighting kit.

This bags has no numbering, but I think it will be used for the base.

All of the remaining bags are numbered and correspond to the steps in the manual.  Step 1 uses 5 bags of parts (plus the un-numbered bag).

There are three bags for step 2.

Four bags for step 3.

and 5 bags for step 4.

There are two long rods which are flexible metal with a black plastic coating. And a medium length gray tube.

Here's the moon globe, I can't tell if it's made of hard plastic or a glass composite material.

Lighting Kit

This set also includes a lighting kit.

The lighting components include a battery box which uses 3 AA batteries (not included).  A 6 port board to connect the lights, a USB plug, two red lights and one cylinder light.

It's a good idea to test all the lighting before you incorporate it into the building block set.

Don't worry, if you are new to using light kits.  The JMBricklayer manual provides detailed instructions on how to connect the wires and lighting.

Building the Cloud Surfing Dragon set

As per the manual, the Cloud Surfing Dragon is broken down into 4 steps.  Use the bags of parts that correspond to each step.

Step 1 builds the base and the mountain top and some supporting rods.

I gathered all the parts for step 1.

Here's the base and the technic structure that will be embedded inside the mountain top.  The battery pack just sits off to the side.  I would have liked it if the base was raised so that the battery pack could be hidden inside instead of it just sitting there.

You assemble 4 sides of the mountain but only attach 3 for now.  All the white bricks are supposed to represent clouds methinks.

Moving on to step 2, we will build the dragon tail and lower body.

These are the parts for step 2 including the metal rod which is bendable.

The dragon body is segmented and building each segment gets kind of repetitive.  Brick clutch is so-so as every time I handled the body parts would fall off.  And the arms will fall off  just by looking at them.  

More of the same for step 3, this time we build the upper torso.

Pretty much the same as step 2 in terms of parts.  I forgot to show the second rod used to join all the segments together.

Here we have completed step 3.  More segments and loose parts and another pair of loose arms to deal with.

So far the build has been tedious but quick.  Step 4 proved to be a lot more challenging.

Here's all the parts needed for step 4.  We will build the dragon head and twist the body around the structure that is the mountain top.

The assembled head looks pretty fierce with those glowing red eyes.

Here's the (not so) fun part of the build.  You have to twist the body so that it wraps around and connects to the technic structure in just the right way.  Even the manual tells you this part is going to be tricky.  Trying to manhandle the body to contort it properly resulted in so many pieces falling off.  I wonder if it might have been easier to change the instructions to attach the core bricks to the rod first,  twist as required, and then finally, add all of the surface parts to it.

I couldn't get the bone parts  and grey rods to connect as per the manual, so I gave up.

These are the parts that I ended up not using, because they don't fit like the manual shows.

The connection board is hidden inside the mountain structure.  Try not to pinch the wires when you place the cover over it.

Another challenge I encountered was that the dragon head was too heavy for the connection point.  Because the clutch was weak, the head would fall off whenever I tried to attach it.  Very frustrating.

I'm not sure if maybe I didn't follow the instructions correctly, but after several attempts, I changed the neck design and used my own parts so that the head would stay up.  I ended up using some technic bricks and various 2x2, 2x3 plates to fasten the loose neck. Then I re-applied the surface parts as best as possible.

Here is the result of my neck fixes.   I think me and dragon head building blocks don't get along, because I had similar issues with the JMBricklayer Legendary Dragon Head 70105 set.   Again the weight of the head exceeded the clutch capabilities of the design.  At least in this set I was able to rectify the issues.

Despite all of the challenges, the Cloud Surfing Dragon set looks pretty good.

Here's a few more views.

I probably could have done a better job hiding the light wires.

The Dragon and the full Moon.

You have to turn down the room lights to really appreciate the display.

Final Thoughts

This 1364 piece set started out easy and mundane, and then it turned into a real challenge. Issues I encountered during the twisting of the body included parts of the body falling off and the arms and legs falling off.  The weight of the dragon head also needs to be addressed.  In hindsight, this is another one of the those sets where the design needs more thought and needs to be more durable for occasional or inexperienced brick builders and enthusiasts.  

I built the Cloud Surfing Dragon over the course of a few days with steps 1 and 2 on the first day, step 3 on the second day, and step 4 and subsesquent fixes on the third day.

If you don't mind a challenging building block set, you should enjoy the JMBricklayer Cloud Surfing Dragon set, which looks great as a display piece.  The main feature of this set is the lighting of the dragon eyes and the glowing moon orb.   If you are a fan of mystical dragons, you're going to love this building block set.

Hope you have found this review helpful!  Bye for now!