LEGO Ninjago Ongoing Rumours and Discussion

[Meaf]

3 hours ago, mantax said:

 No, this is should be everything for the summer wave, and I personally think it has everything it needs, also the flagship set should be the landbounty.

It's definitely not bad as one, I was just kind of expecting something bigger based on the last few years. I think shifting the largest price point sets to be purely legends makes a lot more sense though, cause like how many kids were getting the Temple Bounty or the Tournament Temple City anyway?

[Takanuinuva]

59 minutes ago, FinlayTheFaithful said:

I would have swapped out Nya for Lloyd in the Grimtak set and have a second loyalist in the Lloyd dragon battle pack instead of Jay since you can get both of their normal looks in that new land bounty set

Only if the claw piece stayed in the Lloyd set. As otherwise there's not a cheap option to get that part for your Dragon Ninja

[FinlayTheFaithful]

1 minute ago, Takanuinuva said:

Only if the claw piece stayed in the Lloyd set. As otherwise there's not a cheap option to get that part for your Dragon Ninja

Yeah, could have those stored on the mechs waist without an issue

[Mandalorianknight]

Ninjago continues to have by far the best older-demo targeting subline, and continues to tempt me. The Dragon blade is an incredible set and I'm very tempted to get and display it with a Golden Lloyd figure (and removing the mech), and the Ultra Dragon Battle is something that probably will be my first ninjago purchase over $10 since I was a kid- unless I crack and buy the Fire Knight Mech first.

I assume the more humanoid design for the Ultra Dragon will turn some people off the set, but it looks so imposing and cool to me. It also lends to the feeling that this is a legend/myth, hence the different interpretation of the battle.

[Lion King]

Are there any new molds introduced in Ninjago’s summer wave?

[FinlayTheFaithful]

18 minutes ago, Lion King said:

Are there any new molds introduced in Ninjago’s summer wave?

Aside from new heads for the fire/ice monsters, we also have new claw pieces and waist holster for swords

[Lion King]

9 minutes ago, FinlayTheFaithful said:

Aside from new heads for the fire/ice monsters, we also have new claw pieces and waist holster for swords

Not bad, a nice amount of new parts!

Also, is that Dragon claw a new piece?

[FinlayTheFaithful]

1 minute ago, Lion King said:

Not bad, a nice amount of new parts!

Also, is that Dragon claw a new piece?

Yeah, I assume they didn't have the budget for it in this years first wave

[Kaijumeister]

Interesting that this is the first year that I don’t have any interest in the summer Dragons Rising sets, but Legends and Legacy fill my interest now. I was hoping to like the Land Bounty but the small size and lack of proper interior negates its appeal for me. Nonetheless I appreciate those are sacrificed in favour of play value with the multiple vehicles it can be split into.

The Legends sets are quite strong IMO, although I wish they had more unique minifigures between them. Battle at the Dragon Blade is SUCH a unique concept, unfortunately the mech and dragon builds aren’t the best but you can clearly tell that’s  a result of the parts budget being mostly used up by the fantastic dragon skull and sword builds. I probably would have sacrificed the mech and dragon builds and used the parts to populate some foliage around the skull to give it more of an aged look.

In any case, another incredible year for Ninjago. I am so hyped for that new waist sword holster too.

[Mandalorianknight]

13 hours ago, Kaijumeister said:

Legends and Legacy fill my interest now

It's impressive how well Ninjago's managed to do with the sets it makes for older audiences. I've been extremely tempted on pretty much every Legends set.

Given that it's a lego-original IP, I've really enjoyed that they aren't Legacy-style attempts to recreate specific older sets. The Ultra Dragon battle set being this sort of upright dragon gives it an almost mythological feel, as if this is the Roman version of a Greek story. Kai and Nya become Jin and Mira. Master Wu becomes Master Ivo. The timeline gets a bit conflated with Oni and the Devourer at the same time.

I loved Kai's Legends story from last year- pretty much a Black, White and Red story in terms of both the visual look and increased maturity level compared to the show- and I hope that this new Legends story can continue that tone.

[Rolyat24]

This year’s budget has definitely been stretched thin, but even so I think it’s a testament to the designers how many great sets they’ve released anyway. Dragons Rising may have suffered the most, but there are still a few enticing sets and some very cool minifigures spread across the two waves.

The battle pack is very similar to the others, but I agree that the minifigure selection has gotten pretty bad in these. I assume kids testing these sets want more named characters than “army builders” (although as a kid I totally would have preferred a more traditional battle pack). At the very least it should come with at least one “complete” dragon ninja. As it is now, there’s very little incentive to buy one, let alone multiple.

Gimtak, on the other hand, is very charming. A unique looking creature build plus an exclusive villain and dragon Kai. Very Chima-esque, in a good way. 

Interesting that the 4+ set comes with “exclusive” acid monsters. I guess the serpentine tail piece isn’t suitable for that age group? But then why not use a different monster figure that is? I wonder if 4+ sets get a separately designated budget for new prints. 

Wyldfyre’s mech is the standout of the DR wave for me. It looks great in both forms and the transformation function is quite smooth. To me this is a big improvement on Lloyd’s mech jet from last year, but I may be biased since I love dragons.

Agree with others that the land bounty is a bit dull for a flagship set of the whole season. I bought the last one at 50% off and don’t need a new one. Sad that the lava monster is only available here. I don’t see why they went all-in on the acid monsters this wave. If Pick a Brick were what it used to be, this would be fine. Heck, even if they throw this in a magazine it still won’t be available in the North American market.

This year definitely took a new approach to Ninjago villain factions by having several different monster figs plus the loyalists. It makes the overall year feel a little extra disjointed, even if the figs themselves are rather cool. I don’t mind them breaking the pattern of “same minifigures with different color scheme” that they’ve used the last two years. That also felt disjointed in its own way. Curious to see what next year and Season 5 bring!

The Legends sets really steal the show this summer though. That Ultra Dragon is beautiful, and I like how they were able to show the Devourer’s massive scale without somehow including the whole snake. We’re not likely to ever get a “full” Great Devourer that does the creature any justice, so this is the next best thing. The Dragon Blade set isn’t as appealing to me. The dragon and mech look like something out of a $30 playset. Meanwhile the base is super intricate, but not something I’d want on its own. Maybe once we get a sense of its scale, we could see what it looks like with other models displayed on it. But for now I think I’ll be skipping that one.

[Meaf]

Been looking at the sets some more and I think the Wyldfire dragon mech is definitely my favorite DR set, might end up getting that one depending on what my Lego budget for the year looks like. I think both forms look great and the minifigure selection is pretty great too (interesting that it doesn't include any og ninja considering the minifigure count but idr if this is the first time that's happened for a set with three heroes).

Also has anyone seen higher quality images of the Ultra Dragon? That's the one I'm most interested in but it didn't have HD pictures on the usual place I go for leaks.

[Lyichir]

5 hours ago, Meaf said:

Been looking at the sets some more and I think the Wyldfire dragon mech is definitely my favorite DR set, might end up getting that one depending on what my Lego budget for the year looks like. I think both forms look great and the minifigure selection is pretty great too (interesting that it doesn't include any og ninja considering the minifigure count but idr if this is the first time that's happened for a set with three heroes).

Also has anyone seen higher quality images of the Ultra Dragon? That's the one I'm most interested in but it didn't have HD pictures on the usual place I go for leaks.

The Ultra Dragon, Twin Titan Mechs, and Land Bounty were not added to the site that accidentally leaked the latest batch of set listings early, so sadly it seems like we'll have to wait longer to get a good look at those in high quality.

[Meaf]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

The Ultra Dragon, Twin Titan Mechs, and Land Bounty were not added to the site that accidentally leaked the latest batch of set listings early, so sadly it seems like we'll have to wait longer to get a good look at those in high quality.

Ah gotcha, well at least we won't have to wait too long regardless since they're out fairly soon (except in the US, from what I hear).

[Rolyat24]

The new exclusive book minifigure has been revealed to be a… pretty lackluster remake of Titanium Zane. On the one hand it’s nice to see Zane in that color again. On the other, this can’t be a minifigure that very many people were asking for, and it’s made all the more perplexing by the lack of any mask for Zane. The new Legacy hoods were right there and would have elevated the fig to the next level. 
 

I guess you could treat this as the official Legacy 2 Zane if you’re trying to fit it in somewhere in the existing lineup! 

[Meaf]

New official images for the Legends sets are out, my thoughts haven't changed much from my initial appraisal but I do think it's neat that you can remove the Ultra Dragon from the stand. 

[hikouki]

It seems we are getting mostly mechs of late.

Are we likely to see another modular in the next year or two? What could it be?

[Meaf]

If the trends of the last few years hold then we should be due for another Ninjago City set next year (they've doing one every other year for a while). Even if they end that line, I imagine they'd keep doing sets in the same vein since they seem to be pretty popular.

[Lion King]

Isn’t the Old Town set a modular?

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, Lion King said:

Isn’t the Old Town set a modular?

It is modular (sections that can be rearranged) but it is not A modular in the sense AFOLs typically mean (i.e. not compatible with the modular buildings series).

[Lemerbrix]

Definitely getting the twin titan mechs and zilvar and grimtak day 1!