Lego Ninjago 2016

[Amazing Bricks]

$60 for this great set, I would definitely get it if I wasn't getting all the new marvel sets. This is one of the better summer sets.

[azog]

We get Lloyd and nya in there airjitzu gee that we have never gotten before! A new flyer color.. Baby blue!! Sadly not a green flyer for Lloyd but gold works too I guess. A cheek set to get sensei yang and his students. And a very nice backdrop! This is a fantastic set that could be better than the spinjitzu dojo from 2011

[PenPlays]

The Airjitzu Battle Ground set gives me a good 2011 throwback to the old Ninjago Battle Arena and Spinner Battle Arena sets.

I LOVE the minifigures as well! Yang, Airjitzu Lloyd, Airjitzu Nya, Chris, Martin - All of them are great! I also love how Chris and Martin, being statues of older ninja, don the classic ninja hood!

The new Ninjago Battle Pack set is also phenomenal. ONLY exclusive minifigures. It's great. Not too sure about that Tournament Zane (as it isn't entirely necessary) but that Samurai X though...

[Tobias_Jay]

Chris and Martin, eh? Someone on the design team is a Coldplay fan it seems ;). We've been waiting to see this set for so long and I, for one, am not disappointed. I never thought we'd see Lloyd and Nya in their Airjitzu forms, they look beautiful, Nya especially. The bird printing looks absolutely marvellous. I am very pleased to see that Airjitzu hasn't been forgotten and the arena is a beautiful hark back to the days of old Ninjago.

The battle pack looks Marvellous too. All exclusive figures. Tournament Zane is a very pleasant surprise and the Samurai X figure is gorgeous, possibly my favourite yet. I don't normally find them in Australia, but I may have to try and source it some other way. I'm a little disappointed that we aren't seeing that new Skylor figure yet, but there's still hope I suppose.

[phanstasm]

Question: has it been revealed which 2016 set will include Samukai? If you look at the lower left of a few Summer 2016 boxes, there is a shot of all of the villains, including Samukai. I thought he might be in the Airjitzu Battle Grounds (which look amazing!), but now we know that is not the case.

[Exetrius]

So, now that the heat of the moment has subsided, I will give more elaborate thoughts on the recent releases:

Airjitzu Battle Grounds is a great set! The buildings are pretty neat, could have been a little better, but that's hard to achieve with the same number of parts, I guess. Speaking of parts, the buildings consist of many non-specialized bricks in useful colours and also the technic builds perfectly match the coulour scheme, yay! Notable new parts are 1x1 round tile in black, modified 1x1 plate with rounded corners and bar end, 2x2 round tiles with signature symbol prints!

The play feature with the sliding stairs and the Airjitzu-spinner-battle-launcher-system both look like fun (can't figure out the use of the tires, though).

And then the real deal here: the figures! I am very glad Sensei Yang is included (despite not having the lantern), he's a great figure and the most appropriate baddie, since this is about Airjitzu. Getting two of his students was completely unexpected, and man... they're sooo great! I think they are stone statues which turn into ghosts, anyway: I'm really digging the look, light bley old school ninja hoods rock! And finally, Lloyd and Nya in NRG Airjitzu variants... Oddly, I hadn't expected TLG to produce those, but they did such a fantastic job. Just look at Nya; the Water phoenix motif is superb, plus the colour combo is awesome... so is that dark red hood.. and so is the face with the yellow eyes.. just WOW!! Lloyd is a bit less spectacular, but he's awesome too!

Then, the battle pack: they're really spoiling us, aren't they? Again, Nya is terrific!!! It's great to see that Zane gets a (yellow!) battle damaged face, which is presumably new, I missed out on that one from rebooted. I'm not really fond of his torso print, I would have preferred not to have his core exposed, but that's a minor issue. I'm really looking forward to adding those Skybound pirates to my collection, great exclusive torso prints and I really love the recoloured head gear!

Overall: Bravo, Ninjago Design Team!!! I'll be spending €200+ this summer!

Question: has it been revealed which 2016 set will include Samukai? If you look at the lower left of a few Summer 2016 boxes, there is a shot of all of the villains, including Samukai. I thought he might be in the Airjitzu Battle Grounds (which look amazing!), but now we know that is not the case.

Not in any of the summer sets. If there is another wave for RotV in winter, then I expect Samukai, Morro and the Overlord to return, as well as the throwback ninja in cheaper sets.

[HoganPrime]

I was a little disappointed at first with the images for the battlegrounds, then I realised it was because I had been hyped by this thread about the potential of getting skylor morro and samukai.

Buuuuut now I've downloaded the hi res images I am actually enjoying the figs and the design. It makes me want to pick up the flyers from possession now. I am going to be broke

Edited May 21, 2016 by HoganPrime

[Aanchir]

Question: has it been revealed which 2016 set will include Samukai? If you look at the lower left of a few Summer 2016 boxes, there is a shot of all of the villains, including Samukai. I thought he might be in the Airjitzu Battle Grounds (which look amazing!), but now we know that is not the case.

I'm not actually sure any of the 2016 sets will include Samukai. However, that's not to say there's no chance of him showing up. Bear in mind that sets for the Skybound story arc are continuing into the second half of 2016, so it's possible that sets for… whatever you call this new story arc will continue into the first half of 2017. And so then we might get a chance of seeing additional villains.

The bigger question for me is how seeing Samukai and Morro again would be justified in the story, since both characters seemed to be unmistakably destroyed. And for that matter, what weapon Morro is carrying in that back-of-box image since all the Tr. Flu. green weapons from the "checklist" on the back of the boxes are otherwise accounted for in that group shot. The lack of that weapon on the checklist could be further evidence that if Morro and Samukai show up it will be in a separate wave.

[Thelegomaster]

Am I the only one who thinks the Airjitzu Battle Grounds could've been atleast $40? This set doesn't look worth $60 in my opinion. Maybe I am just bitter that this isn't a temple....

[Aanchir]

Am I the only one who thinks the Airjitzu Battle Grounds could've been atleast $40? This set doesn't look worth $60 in my opinion. Maybe I am just bitter that this isn't a temple....

It's 666 pieces — getting that many bricks for $40 would have been extremely unusual in any theme besides Classic. For comparison's sake, $40 in LEGO Creator would get you the Corner Deli (467 pieces) or Toy and Grocery Shop (466 pieces). $60 would get you the Lighthouse Point (528 pieces).

Besides that, Airjitzu Flyer sets on their own are $10 for less than 50 bricks each, so chances are the fliers themselves add a lot to the cost of a set. With this set you're effectively getting the value of two $10 sets plus 576 other bricks. For that, $60 is a downright steal.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Aanchir

[Thelegomaster]

It's 666 pieces — getting that many bricks for $40 would have been extremely unusual in any theme besides Classic. For comparison's sake, $40 in LEGO Creator would get you the Corner Deli (467 pieces) or Toy and Grocery Shop (466 pieces). $60 would get you the Lighthouse Point (528 pieces).

Besides that, Airjitzu Flyer sets on their own are $10 for less than 50 bricks each, so chances are the fliers themselves add a lot to the cost of a set. With this set you're effectively getting the value of two $10 sets plus 576 other bricks. For that, $60 is a downright steal.

That is true, however the Master Wu Dragon from last year was 575 pieces for $40, I dunno though, like you said, those spinners could be like bigfigs and raise the price up.

[makoy]

I'm late to the party but let me share my reactions. The Airjitzu Battle Grounds is not what I expected but it is my fault for thinking that it would be complementing Temple of Airjitzu. In fact, the anomaly here is the ToA because it's the only 'Airjitzu' product without the Airjitzu flyer and when people thought of the Airjitzu Battle Grounds they immediately associate it with ToA, not the flyers.

It's one of the most playable set in the up coming wave and whether it should command that price tag, I agree with Aanchir... the flyers tend to be expensive... but is it really that expensive?

I personally think that price per piece ratio is flawed and I think that net weight per price ratio is something more useful. In fact if I look at some Ninjago sets released in the past, the most offending ones comes in polybags and blister packs. The Airjitzu flyers are just somewhere in the middle.

name of the set - grams per Euro

Ninja Glider (polybag) - 5.19

Ninja Army Building Set (blister pack) - 5.39

The Cowler Dragon (polybag) - 6.01

NRG Jay spinner (blister pack) - 10.51

Cole's Dragon - 10.81

Hover Hunter - 11.21

Kai Flyer - 12.51

The Golden Dragon - 14.10

Master Wu Dragon - 14.14

Temple of Airjitzu - 14.76

Temple of Light - 15.62

Ultra Sonic Raider - 15.65

Final Flight of Destiny's Bounty - 16.79

Spinjitzu Dojo - 16.13

City of Stiix - 18.38

So... until I get to see how heavy the Airjitzu Battle Grounds is, I will reserve my judgement if it is expensive or not.

[Aanchir]

That is true, however the Master Wu Dragon from last year was 575 pieces for $40, I dunno though, like you said, those spinners could be like bigfigs and raise the price up.

Master Wu Dragon's piece count was itself pretty extraordinary for its price, one of the many reasons I can't stop singing the praises of that set. Mind you, a lot of its parts were fairly small detail elements, but on the other hand, many of those were fairly rare or useful ones, so I think it's still an amazing set in terms of overall value. Even if you held Airjitzu Battle Grounds to the same standard, though, I think it would have to cost at least $50.

It's one of the most playable set in the up coming wave and whether it should command that price tag, I agree with Aanchir... the flyers tend to be expensive... but is it really that expensive?

I personally think that price per piece ratio is flawed and I think that net weight per price ratio is something more useful. In fact if I look at some Ninjago sets released in the past, the most offending ones comes in polybags and blister packs. The Airjitzu flyers are just somewhere in the middle.

So... until I get to see how heavy the Airjitzu Battle Grounds is, I will reserve my judgement if it is expensive or not.

Great point about price per gram being a more useful metric than price per piece in some cases. Of course, even that can be something of a distortion since things like unique prints, recolors, and new molds can add a lot to a set's cost without adding any more to its weight than more generic pieces would. So while price per piece and price per gram can both be great metrics for comparing how much you're getting for your money, neither is a foolproof way of assessing how much you SHOULD be getting. That can be a lot more ambiguous.

(Cute Ninjago/Classic Space mashup in your sig, btw!)

[makoy]

Great point about price per gram being a more useful metric than price per piece in some cases. Of course, even that can be something of a distortion since things like unique prints, recolors, and new molds can add a lot to a set's cost without adding any more to its weight than more generic pieces would. So while price per piece and price per gram can both be great metrics for comparing how much you're getting for your money, neither is a foolproof way of assessing how much you SHOULD be getting. That can be a lot more ambiguous.

(Cute Ninjago/Classic Space mashup in your sig, btw!)

I agree. It's not foolproof and I read the same argument used in the Technic forums when 42056 Porsche 911 GTS RS was announced.

But here is my argument -- we do not know how TLG recover the cost added by investing in new moulds, recolour and even adding new prints. I do not believe they do the recovery per set because it makes more business sense if they do the recovery of the cost onto the whole line to even out the pricing. For example, when TLG decided to create new moulds for Nexo Knights, they did not jack up the price of the smaller sets simply because they have new parts in them. It is still fairly cheap. Same here with Ninjago. In fact, I suspect that the cost of new moulds are evenly distributed in the whole line. Even City has fair amount of new parts and unique prints lately and people are starting to see the price hike across the line.

So all I am saying is that almost all themes have new colour, prints and moulds to deal with, across the entire theme, so it even outs the comparison.

The only theme I can think of that enjoys the benefit of classic parts and consequently without the "new mould tax" is Creator that's why no other theme beat its net weight to price ratio.

*PS. Thanks for compliments on my sig

Edited May 22, 2016 by makoy

[TPLSTER21]

Having now finally seen Airjitzu Battle Grounds, I have to say that I'm underwhelmed by the whole thing. It's basically a glorified "Beyblade Arena" but for airjitzu flyers. I too was expecting something connected to the Temple of Airjitzu, perhaps a smaller building piece that could connect to it with an enemy vehicle, so this is disappointing for me. Airjitzu is a gimmick whose time had come is already old news. I'm kind of puzzled as to why they would devote an entire set to it at this point in time when releasing it last year would have made much more sense.

Having said that though, that is an awful lot of pieces for the price and the minifig selection is good (for those who focus on the minifigs). I'm sure that MOC'ers will get lot's of useful parts out of this. Just my 2 cents. There are plenty of other great sets in this wave and hey, they can't all be gems right?

Edited May 22, 2016 by TPLSTER21

[Aanchir]

Having now finally seen Airjitzu Battle Grounds, I have to say that I'm underwhelmed by the whole thing. It's basically a glorified "Beyblade Arena" but for airjitzu flyers. I too was expecting something connected to the Temple of Airjitzu, perhaps a smaller building piece that could connect to it with an enemy vehicle, so this is disappointing for me. Airjitzu is a gimmick whose time had come is already old news. I'm kind of puzzled as to why they would devote an entire set to it at this point in time when releasing it last year would have made much more sense.

If they had released it last year it might have oversaturated the market and stolen sales from the individual fliers. It's also possible that the LEGO Group's production line for the fliers themselves was already running full speed just to produce all six of the individual fliers, and so LEGO couldn't produce this until after production on those had halted. Or that LEGO might've wanted to wait to see last year's sales figures before giving the OK to put another Airjitzu set into production. Those are just a few possibilities I can think of for why LEGO might've wanted to spread their Airjitzu releases out a bit more.

Also, while the Airjitzu fliers may no longer be as novel as they were last year, the launcher mechanism this set uses for ground-based Airjitzu battles is entirely new. That could potentially help generate new interest in this set even for people who already bought last year's fliers. Not to mention that this gives people a chance to get Airjitzu minifigures and fliers for the two ninja who didn't get them last year.

I understand your disappointment, though, since it's not what you were hoping for it to be. It's interesting to me that LEGO went ahead and designed it in the same colors as the Temple of Airjitzu, with some fairly understated weapons and no real sci-fi elements. Maybe they're hoping that some people who loved the Temple of Airjitzu might be interested in this set, even though it's more of a "playset" than the temple was. Actually, I almost wonder if there might be a way of connecting the buildings in this set to 70751, considering that the pins used to attach the launchers to each side are so similar to the pins used to attach the three building foundations in 70751 together.

[gamejutzu]

It's a tall order asking for a huge set to be compatible with another, especially since the temple always stands on its own, even in the new poster.

Not gonna lie though, kinda let down by how the central build isn't a taller temple, and that there is no "floor". However, for an abandoned "ghost town", it does a good job of portraying worn down buildings and bland paint jobs.

I'm a little curious a to how the minions are statues... They have a fabric going on as well as a belt, plus they can't really move their heads very well... Unless they're possessed statues, which would be more reasonable. Also liking the aeroblade return.

And hold on! Is that what I think it is on the minions? Is that... Red I see on them? Very interesting, combined with their non transparent green faces.

And those figs. Lloyd lacks detail from the angle I'm looking at, but Nya's looks amazing. She's the only airjitzu figure to be wearing a gi and not just one color with element effects everywhere. But then again, this could be because if she was only red or only blue, she'd be a bit of a rip off of Kai or Jay.

Also like how she has her own Fusakan symbol now for a total of 3 symbols for one character.

And as for the battle pack, I have no qualms about Nya's suit. As for zane though? I see what they did, by giving him a battle damaged tournament gi to make him unique, but really dont know why he has the 2012 mask... It just doesn't look right. Would have preferred the bandana or the 2011 mask.

Also would have preferred the full, intact tournament outfit, as this kinda feels similar to the Rebooted variant.

And I've also recognized those pirates from the show... A first for LEGO, putting minions in a set after they appeared in a show... Bravo LEGO.

Edited May 22, 2016 by gamejutzu

[DuckBricks]

It's a tall order asking for a huge set to be compatible with another, especially since the temple always stands on its own, even in the new poster.

Not gonna lie though, kinda let down by how the central build isn't a taller temple, and that there is no "floor". However, for an abandoned "ghost town", it does a good job of portraying worn down buildings and bland paint jobs.

I'm a little curious a to how the minions are statues... They have a fabric going on as well as a belt, plus they can't really move their heads very well... Unless they're possessed statues, which would be more reasonable. Also liking the aeroblade return.

And hold on! Is that what I think it is on the minions? Is that... Red I see on them? Very interesting, combined with their non transparent green faces.

And those figs. Lloyd lacks detail from the angle I'm looking at, but Nya's looks amazing. She's the only airjitzu figure to be wearing a gi and not just one color with element effects everywhere. But then again, this could be because if she was only red or only blue, she'd be a bit of a rip off of Kai or Jay.

Also like how she has her own Fusakan symbol now for a total of 3 symbols for one character.

And as for the battle pack, I have no qualms about Nya's suit. As for zane though? I see what they did, by giving him a battle damaged tournament gi to make him unique, but really dont know why he has the 2012 mask... It just doesn't look right. Would have preferred the bandana or the 2011 mask.

Also would have preferred the full, intact tournament outfit, as this kinda feels similar to the Rebooted variant.

And I've also recognized those pirates from the show... A first for LEGO, putting minions in a set after they appeared in a show... Bravo LEGO.

Nice observations! I believe the "stone" minions are the ghosts of Sensei Yang's pupils from Possession...

Just curious, where did "Fusakan" come from? I'm seen you use it before and I'm a bit confused as to what it is exactly. I know what symbol you're referring to but was just wondering where the name came from. Google has yielded nothing... Thanks!

[CM4Sci]

I Googled it and it's a font with some of the same symbols on the outfits.

[DuckBricks]

I Googled it and it's a font with some of the same symbols on the outfits.

-snip-

Nice sleuthing! I gave up after searching "Fusakan," "Fusakan symbol," and "Fusakan text." That's crazy how they used those symbols! I never knew that! Thanks for the info!

[LegendsOfNinjago]

I Googled it and it's a font with some of the same symbols on the outfits.

*snip*

Oh wow, people have been looking for this for years.

[CM4Sci]

Oh wow, people have been looking for this for years.

Seriously? I literally just googled Fusaka font

[azog]

The aeroblades are always nice to see! I am still loving the fact that Lego threw sensei yang into a cheaper set! And the fact that they surprised us with sensei yangs pupils! The set looks like a ton of fun to have. Even if it doesn't go with the temple of airjitzu. It has definitely full filed my hype for iy

[LegendsOfNinjago]

Seriously? I literally just googled Fusaka font

Not the font, just where the symbols are from/mean. Maybe I just missed something.

[makoy]

Not the font, just where the symbols are from/mean. Maybe I just missed something.

Last time it was discussed as an actual chinese character or japanese kanji but when translated it didn't make sense. When someone looked up this particular font it actually didn't have any meaning just random letters assigned to each ninja. It wasn't very deep or profound... Just clever use of pseudo-chinese symbols.