LEGO Ninjago 2020

[bricksnator]

26 minutes ago, Killian said:

We are long overdue an official Cyrus Borg minifigure. I thought he would appear soon after the lego minifig wheelchair was introduced. But no. 

(The Overborg doesn't count  )

He's a guy in a blazer and wheelchair, which doesn't exactly scream kid appeal.

That said I'd like to think he's a lock for a future release. LEGO will find some way to get him into a Legacy set. 10th anniversary seems like a great place to slide in a character whom has influenced multiple seasons.

However, if next year goes by and he's still not out then hound the LEGO Ninjago team -- the toys, not animation -- on Twitter. Be heard.

[Lego David]

10 hours ago, GarmaFan said:

This is a long shot, but it'd be cool if there were new expressions for the classic Ninja faces.

Yeah, I would like that too. I am honestly super tired of the faces they are currently using, which haven’t changed since the Ninjago Movie. 

[Fenghuang0296]

2 hours ago, Lego David said:

Yeah, I would like that too. I am honestly super tired of the faces they are currently using, which haven’t changed since the Ninjago Movie. 

Y’now, I was really happy when they finally introduced new faces in the Prime Empire wave. 

Just a pity that they were all printed with those visors and apparently the print budget for Master of the Mountain was super low so they went right back . . I’d honestly prefer the Prime Empire visors. 

Actually, since there’s exactly three different villain designs and half the ninja reuse the same legs from Forbidden Spinjitzu . . come to think, nine new prints for the season’s ninja, six for Spinjitzu Burst, two for Legacy Kai, three for Vania, nine across the Sorcerer, orc and goblin, two for the green skull and the white skull brazier . . unless I missed something, there’s only thirty-one new print designs across this entire wave. That’s sorta sad. Compared to, uh . . four new prints per ninja, plus Scott, two for Okino, Ritchie and Hausner, three for Unagami, Harumi, Sushimi and Red Visor, three for Avatar Kai/Lloyd/Jay, Legacy Cole/Jay/Lloyd . . if I counted right, sixty new minifigure designs in Prime Empire, and that was with them recycling Jay, Kai, Lloyd and Ritchie across half the sets. 

I really hope they’re just funnelling budget towards next wave. 

[Pulp Detective]

6 minutes ago, Fenghuang0296 said:

I really hope they’re just funnelling budget towards next wave. 

They must be since next year is the big anniversary.

[lego_guyon02]

5 hours ago, Fenghuang0296 said:

I really hope they’re just funnelling budget towards next wave. 

That's not how this works

[Lego David]

9 hours ago, LOTR34 said:

They must be since next year is the big anniversary.

Don’t put your hopes too high. I personally don’t expect they’ll do much with the 10th anniversary. Most of the Legacy stuff they’ve done so far had been pretty disappointing, and I don’t think the 10th anniversary will be any different.

[Pulp Detective]

Well regarding the upcoming Legacy sets I only hope for a Possesion remake set,since I skipped those back in the day and I always wanted those ghost minifigures.

As for the theme in general I only care about the location sets and if I'm not mistaken @Ninja_whip said that there is an upcoming location set next year,so I'm rather curious about it.

Edited July 11, 2020 by LOTR34

[TeriXeri]

Just built Wu's Dragon.

Really is a great €20 set, not only because of the 321 parts, but also very useful small parts

And the end result being over 30 cm long with a straight tail,  and 33 cm wingspan is pretty impressive for such a set.

The vinyl wing parts also could be used for birds etc as it looks more feathery and not strict Dragon.

No stickers used in the set.

Edited July 11, 2020 by TeriXeri

[Ninja_whip]

19 minutes ago, Lego David said:

Don’t put your hopes too high. I personally don’t expect they’ll do much with the 10th anniversary. Most of the Legacy stuff they’ve done so far had been pretty disappointing, and I don’t think the 10th anniversary will be any different.

They are doing so much. With LEGACY

Edited July 11, 2020 by Ninja_whip

[bricksnator]

1 hour ago, Ninja_whip said:

They are doing so much. With LEGACY

Good. I wouldn't say the new Legacy Bounty is a disappointment. It's a great ship. The figures are where Legacy has been coming up short and where I cross my fingers we get some new faces for the 10th.

Edited July 11, 2020 by bricksnator

[TeriXeri]

10 minutes ago, bricksnator said:

 The figures are where Legacy has been coming up short and where I cross my fingers we get some new faces for the 10th.

As someone just new to Ninjago, I think the new 2019 skulkin were great figures , there just weren't a lot of them, so I hope we'll see more, and with Legacy there's hopefully a chance, for another 2011 villain inspired set, preferably Garmadon's Fortress (I prefer location sets)

But I agree, new faces for the Ninjas would be very nice as well.

Would be nice to see more Ghost figures (Possession 2015) , or Pirates (Skybound 2016) , and even then, there's still 2017-2018 , which probably might have some chance in a 10th anniversary wave, otherwise, are still pretty recent.

Edited July 11, 2020 by TeriXeri

[bricksnator]

Just now, TeriXeri said:

But I agree, new faces for the Ninjas would be very nice as well.

I meant new faces as in never-before-made characters like human Cyrus Borg and Bolobo, but yes, new "faces" work as well :)

[TeriXeri]

8 minutes ago, bricksnator said:

I meant new faces as in never-before-made characters like human Cyrus Borg and Bolobo, but yes, new "faces" work as well :)

Ah ok, I never really watched the series/movie , but I can certainly understand demand for new minifig characters for longer time fans.

[lego_guyon02]

Just finished watching Season 13 (it's all on YT, english dub) and I've got to say I'm both really happy and impressed. After the abysmal 11th Season / Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu and the mediocrity of Season 12 / Prime Empire I must admit my expectations weren't that high, even with the sets showing off a very interesting setting and cast of characters. 

Well, I'm glad to say Season 13 is the first truly great season of the 'new' Ninjago. The environment is very interesting, the new characters work and play off each other well and the story itself was mostly well written. I definetely hope we get to see more of the new characters like Vania, the Geckles, the Munce and the Lowly! 

I must also say this season offers a perfect example of why it's disappointing how each season gets just one wave. I really feel like both the Geckles and Munce are underused in the sets, there's a ton of them and we have only 4 of each. But the additional set I'd like to see most would contain 

Spoiler

most of the Lowly/Uply group (Cole, Plundar, Fungus and Korgran), a brickbuilt Adam (congratulations to the writing team for making me care about a spider character, never thought that was possible) and the lavamonster we saw in a couple of episodes and had a much larger role than ''Zane's'' Mino Creature. 

It's just a well made season and I'm looking forward to what the writers come up with for Season 14 (something with the buyer Vangelis mentioned maybe?).

[bricksnator]

8 minutes ago, Guyon2002 said:

 

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most of the Lowly/Uply group (Cole, Plundar, Fungus and Korgran), a brickbuilt Adam (congratulations to the writing team for making me care about a spider character, never thought that was possible) and the lavamonster we saw in a couple of episodes and had a much larger role than ''Zane's'' Mino Creature. 

It's just a well made season and I'm looking forward to what the writers come up with for Season 14 (something with the buyer Vangelis mentioned maybe?).

The Season 13 sets definitely have some big holes regarding figures.

 

Spoiler

The Upply in both dirty and cleaned up versions, King Vangelis, Halimar and the Shintaro Guards, Murtessa, brick-built Adam and brick-built small Chompy are all glaring omissions.

I do wonder if/when we'll get a LEGO Store 3 or 4-pack of figures, and if so what that will entail. Season 11's was for that season, but the Season 12 one represented Season 3. So who knows. I'm sure we all wish the 3-pack will be the Upply.

Regarding "Zane's" Mino Creature, I believe that's the case of LEGO wanting another "hero" ninja vehicle for the kids despite how it's represented in the show. A hero vehicle is more marketable than a lava monster, as much as we'd love the latter.

 

Edited July 12, 2020 by bricksnator

[lego_guyon02]

2 minutes ago, bricksnator said:

The Season 13 sets definitely have some big holes regarding figures.

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The Upply in both dirty and cleaned up versions, King Vangelis, Halimar and the Shintaro Guards, Murtessa, brick-built Adam and brick-built small Chompy are all glaring omissions.

I do wonder if/when we'll get a LEGO Store 3 or 4-pack of figures, and if so what that will entail. Season 11's was for that season, but the Season 12 one represented Season 3. So who knows. I'm sure we all wish the 3-pack will be the Upply.

Regarding "Zane's" Mino Creature, I believe that's the case of LEGO wanting another "hero" ninja vehicle for the kids despite how it's represented in the show. A hero vehicle is more marketable than a lava monster, as much as we'd love the latter.

 

If we do end up getting a character/accessory pack for Season 13 I definetely hope it's either

Spoiler

1. The Lowly/Uply (albeit slightly different as those packs can't introduce new molds) with a downscaled version of Adam as a build. I would be okay with only having 3 figures if the brickbuilt Adam gets a little more budget than the builds for these packs usually do.

2. A mix of various characters - mainly Queen Murtessa, Chancellor Gulch, Vangelis and Hailmar - to fill up the big holes. Build could be a small addition to the dungeon. 

 

[Pulp Detective]

I know this is slighty off topic but I'm rather curious as to why Season 11 is so disliked.

[lego_guyon02]

1 hour ago, LOTR34 said:

I know this is slighty off topic but I'm rather curious as to why Season 11 is so disliked.

It was very poorly written, the story didn't really feel coherent, the new characters weren't that likeable, the pacing was atrocious, the jokes weren't that funny and there were a lot of useless filler episodes. Some people also dislike it because they really cheaped out on Zane being the Ice Emperor at the end, which basically had no consequences whatsoever. 

And Clutch Powers was an absolute joke.

Edited July 12, 2020 by Guyon2002

[Pulp Detective]

22 minutes ago, Guyon2002 said:

And Clutch Powers was an absolute joke.

Yea I agree about Clutch Powers,he is the poor man's Indiana Jones.It would have been better if it was Johnny Thunder instead.

[bricksnator]

37 minutes ago, Guyon2002 said:

It was very poorly written, the story didn't really feel coherent, the new characters weren't that likeable, the pacing was atrocious, the jokes weren't that funny and there were a lot of useless filler episodes. Some people also dislike it because they really cheaped out on Zane being the Ice Emperor at the end, which basically had no consequences whatsoever. 

And Clutch Powers was an absolute joke.

I dunno. While I had my issues with Season 11, there is stuff to like as well.

I dug Aspheera's "Treacherous Deceiver" line and the way all her lines were read. I wouldn't mind if she were freed from captivity at some point in the future.

While purely filler, it was a nice fan nod to bring back Nelson and immortalize a sick Ninjago fan with Antonia.

The idea of Forbidden Spinjitzu or a dark form of Spinjitzu is neat, but needed more room to breathe and be fleshed out... and Sorla's elemental knowledge for that matter.

The Explorers Club.

To make this toy related, Sorla deserves a figure.

Edited July 12, 2020 by bricksnator

[Renny The Spaceman]

Spoiler

Kinda funny how poorly the sets represent the season, the Geckles and Munce aren't even antagonists, the Skull sorcerer's mask has a face on it, the fire stone mech is just a stone mech, the structure from the journey set is nowhere to be found, the Lowly (characters with more play time than most the Ninja) don't get figures, etc, etc

 

[bricksnator]

19 minutes ago, Renny The Spaceman said:

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Kinda funny how poorly the sets represent the season, the Geckles and Munce aren't even antagonists, the Skull sorcerer's mask has a face on it, the fire stone mech is just a stone mech, the structure from the journey set is nowhere to be found, the Lowly (characters with more play time than most the Ninja) don't get figures, etc, etc

 

And yet this season turned out to be a winner. There's potential here for additional sets and echoing a comment above, this season deserves more than a single small wave.

I would love to see LEGO do a Fan's Choice for Ninjago. The brand is a decade old and going strong; if anything strengthened by COVID-19 and the quarantines with streaming going crazy. If advertised via official LEGO channels they'll get plenty of Fan Choice votes.

Throw up digital concept models for three or four fan-requested sets with a debut character or two based on social media research. Let fans choose which one gets made, then use the votes as market research for future sets.

It kills me as someone who works in marketing that LEGO isn't taking advantage of an increasingly growing AFOL segment of Ninjago collectors as the series continues to age and thrive.

Anyway, at the very least Ninjago is due a nice big D2C set again. 10th anniversary maybe?

[Takanuinuva]

I do wish the skull sorcerer's face print was more like this. https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/ninjago/images/3/3f/Ninjago–(MotM)–0’17”.png/revision/latest?cb=20200622142053

[TeriXeri]

3 hours ago, bricksnator said:

And yet this season turned out to be a winner. There's potential here for additional sets and echoing a comment above, this season deserves more than a single small wave.

Certainly agree here, even wouldn't mind some more Spinjitzu Burst sets, maybe 2 x 2 packs to get the other 3 ninjas and a Spinjitzu Burst Wu.

Of course more actual sets would be even better.

Edited July 13, 2020 by TeriXeri

[Fenghuang0296]

This was a great season, hands down. Just finished watching it. Some of the earlier episode’s jokes felt a bit juvenile though. 

Spoiler

I am seriously wondering if they make the sets first and the show second now because the Spinjitzu Burst sets are totally made up and the Fire Stone Mech and Journey to the Dungeon just, well, didn’t happen. I suppose we could interpret the Munce in the Journey set as Murtessa and that set being representative of Nya, Lloyd and Jay’s time with the Munce, but Kai and Nya and the Munce never even saw the mech, and apparently the ‘fire half’ of it was just because its left side got burnt and destroyed by lava? I really wish that that set had just been a proper Stone Mech for Cole . . 

On a similar note, I’m confused by Cole being part of the set that was obviously themed around Kai and Zane’s ‘Trial by Mino’ encounter, and Kai being absent from it, but I guess it works with Cole having been affectionate towards the Minos in the labour camp.

I’m also super curious about where the ‘face print’ under the mask for the Skull Sorcerer/Vangious even came from? The black skin with green eyes and lines? What is that? I know it would have been a bit of a spoiler but I wish we’d gotten a white head with Vangious’ face under the mask. What’s even the point of the mask if the face is fake too?

Oh, and I definitely agree that Ninjago should go back to having two waves of products per season. There’s more material to cover here, damnit. I’d love to see a proper minifigure of Chancellor Gulch, he was my favourite new character of the season. (Also the running joke of Zane throwing rocks at Kai was gold.) Maybe they could do a thing where they devote two or theee slots each wave to following up the previous wave? Like we could have gotten Racer 7’s car and Scott’s garage this wave from Prime Empire, and next winter we could get the lava monster with the Lowlies and maybe Vangious’ throne room alongside whatever goes down next year?

Once again, though, I’m bothered by the fact that the ninja spent most of the season in their Forbidden Spinjitzu outfits. Also, I get that they’re doing a bit of cross-promotion with the Legacy sets where possible, but the Ninjago Movie-accurate Bounty, which we haven’t seen since March of the Oni (where it’s an exact duplicate of the one that was destroyed at the end of S.O.G.) apparently magically transformed into a replica of the original Bounty? Whaaaat?

Lastly, there’s definitely foreshadowing for a future season in Vangious having a ‘customer’ for the shipments of Vengestone. It could be Lord Garmadon, it could be Pythor (even though we haven’t seen him since 2016 he was mentioned early this season so we know the showrunners haven’t just forgotten about him) or it could be a new villain for either next wave or the wave after.