From the Toysit archive
LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtle Lair Attack (79103)
Explore LEGO Turtle Lair Attack 79103 through its workshop, training area and pizza oven, then give the rooms voices in a lair radio show.
The play at a glance
News from beneath the street
Above the lair is a little patch of city street. Below it, gray pillars, pipes and a spiral stair frame places to work, practice and share a pizza. LEGO Turtle Lair Attack makes the Turtles’ home a miniature set of neighboring scenes. A narrator can move between them as though reporting on a very busy household.
Several stories under one roof
The model combines a tall section beneath the street with a lower training area beside it. A tree rises in the smaller section; a spiral staircase climbs at the other end. The laboratory equipment, screen, skateboard and pizza oven give a storyteller things to notice during a room-by-room tour.
A workshop scene can begin with a curious question. The training space might have a teacher explaining a new imaginary exercise. Near the pizza oven, someone could be trying to describe a topping that nobody has heard of. Each location suggests a different pace and voice, even when every character stays comfortably in place.
Try it: Lair radio hour
Make a pretend broadcast with three short programs. Use the assembled lair as scenery, or draw three connected rooms on a sheet of paper and do the whole show there.
- Write the program cards. Label three paper rectangles “Workshop news,” “Training report” and “Tonight’s pizza.” Put each beside its part of the model or on the drawn floor plan.
- Choose a presenter. Give your narrator a greeting and a sign-off. A simple “Hello from below!” can introduce every stop. Draw the presenter if you are playing entirely on paper.
- Interview the workshop. Invent a useful contraption, such as a machine that finds missing socks. Ask what it does and what surprising sound it makes. Supply the sound with your voice.
- Report from training. Have a character explain an imaginary lesson for the figures: remembering a route, listening for a clue or greeting a visitor. Give this speaker a different rhythm from the inventor.
- Announce supper. Describe one invented pizza and ask for a listener’s suggestion. Finish with tomorrow’s program title, leaving a small mystery for the next broadcast.
Swap presenter and interviewee for a second show. The same room may sound different when another character tells its story. Save the cards as an episode list, adding one sentence about the funniest announcement.
Keep the broadcast simple
The cards, voices and floor plan provide the complete activity without launching pieces or operating release features. For the model itself, follow both 79103 booklets, including their face-directed projectile warnings. Place paper props beside moving parts rather than inside them.
The historical record
Original Toysit coverage
The complete earlier product account and commentary are preserved below as historical coverage.
Lair attack
It's an intense day of training in the Turtles' Lair. Instruct Leonardo in the ninja arts with Master Splinter and the rotating training dummy. Then experiment in Donnie's lab. When the explosion function is triggered by the Dark Ninja and his Foot Soldier minion, it's time for a turtle-powered ninja battle. Fight in all 3 stories of the Turtles' Lair with 10 weapons and a pizza shooting oven. Make those villains pay for trespassing into Turtle territory. When the battle's over, fire up the pizza oven and hang in the video game station with its flat screen TV. Or climb up to the street with a skateboard and shred the mini ramp.
The lair headquarters of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is a hidden sanctuary located in the sewers beneath New York City. This subterranean hideout serves as the home and training ground for the four turtle brothers - Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael - and their sensei, Splinter. The lair is equipped with various rooms and sections tailored to the turtles' needs, including a training area for martial arts practice, a living space with sleeping quarters, and a workshop where Donatello often tinkers with gadgets and tech. The walls are adorned with a mix of street signs, posters, and other urban artifacts. Given its location, the lair has a gritty and industrial feel, with dim lighting and the constant sound of dripping water. It's a safe haven for the turtles, providing them with shelter from their enemies and the outside world while also reflecting their unique blend of traditional ninja values and contemporary urban culture.
Sources and editorial notes
The original box and both LEGO 79103 booklets identify this 488-piece set, listed by LEGO for ages 6–12 with set year 2013. Its five minifigures are Leonardo, Donatello, Splinter, a Dark Ninja and a Foot Soldier. General lair lore in the preserved essay is broader than this set’s contents. The radio show is an original pretend activity; no functioning radio or physical testing is implied.
- Original Toysit image — Existing same-site image reviewed and retained unchanged.
- LEGO 79103, booklet 1 — Official props, laboratory equipment, training pieces and mechanism diagrams.
- LEGO 79103, booklet 2 — Official figures, lair sections, spiral stair, oven and street assembly. Both complete booklets visually reviewed.
- Original Toysit coverage — Complete historical account retained, including its original claims and wording.
Images and descriptions are retained as historical material. How Toysit covers toys.
Created for Toysit by Tabbloza — the artwork in our header.