LEGO Ninjago 2020

[KaiNinjaOfFire]

9 hours ago, Fenghuang0296 said:

 

I am seriously wondering if they make the sets first and the show second now

The sets have always been made first, I don’t know how how the idea started that Ninjago is handled as if it’s a license similar to Star Wars or mcu sets. 

Edited July 13, 2020 by KaiNinjaOfFire

[Lyichir]

25 minutes ago, KaiNinjaOfFire said:

The sets have always been made first, I don’t know how how the idea started that Ninjago is handled as if it’s a license similar to Star Wars or mcu sets. 

I don't think it's quite that simple. AFAIK it's more a case where the sets and show are made side-by-side. That is to say, the rough story outline comes first (with input from both the set designers and brand team at Lego as well as the writing team for the show), then the sets get designed, then the show is written based on those. But the sets aren't necessarily always finalized by the time the show is written. This is one of the advantages of the not-quite-toy-accurate aesthetic for vehicles and settings in the show, since sometimes the writers and animators might be working from a slightly earlier prototype of the set designs than what ends up on shelves.

[bricksnator]

Keep in mind that I highly doubt the designers' first concern is show accuracy. It's marketability to kids. In this respect the Firestone Mech is visually more appealing than an all-rock Mech.

[mrfang2]

41 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

I don't think it's quite that simple. AFAIK it's more a case where the sets and show are made side-by-side. That is to say, the rough story outline comes first (with input from both the set designers and brand team at Lego as well as the writing team for the show), then the sets get designed, then the show is written based on those. But the sets aren't necessarily always finalized by the time the show is written. This is one of the advantages of the not-quite-toy-accurate aesthetic for vehicles and settings in the show, since sometimes the writers and animators might be working from a slightly earlier prototype of the set designs than what ends up on shelves.

Yeah I can definitely see the fire-stone mech being miscommunicated as “stone mech with one half covered by fire” or something similar to that, leading to the show crew seeing “all stone mech but with magma and fire covering one side” and the set team seeing “mech that is half themed to earth and half themed to fire”

Edited July 13, 2020 by mrfang2

[TeriXeri]

Finished the Skull Dungeon and Skull Dragon, both really nice sets.

Dragon has some minor points  with articulation (stability/ wings printed 1 side / leg joints / tail sweep being very loose), but they don't take anything away from the awesome look of the set, it's just not as stable.

Still, the set is not bad, and even more impressive as a display imo, looks certainly over function for this set, but hey, it's LEGO and can be modified 

Nothing wrong with the terrain or figures, the black skeletons look great.

For a kid's playset dragon I'd prefer Wu's Dragon, very swooshable and stable, and ball joints work better then hinges for a tail imo, even if it can't sweep.

Skull dungeon has a very nice look, build, parts use, and the door / cage functionality also works really good, imo, my favorite set of 2020, on par or better with sets like Jestro's Lair and Knighton Castle.

As for combining the board, works well for sure so far, the more dulled greys make the orange lava really stand out,even better on a dark surface, and the gems/flames and other transparent parts have nice color contrast as well.

Sets hardly rely on stickers, most stickers go to the skull/arrow/rotate signs on the boardgame board (2x2 tile with 2 studs).

My experience without the Mech or Mino Beast , or Burst sets,

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by TeriXeri

[THELEGOBATMAN]

Just finished watching Season 13, and it actually was really great! I'm not sure if I like it more than Season 12 (mainly because I didn't quite love the first few episodes), but it's definitely as great as that one, and it improves on a lot of aspects (secondary characters were so great this time).

Now for the sets, they don't represent this season too great. Even tho this wave was my favourite Ninjago wave ever, the sets are really inaccurate when compared to the show.

There should be more skeletons, Skull Sorcerer (mainly his helmet and wings) is inaccurate, biggest set doesn't represent SS's fortress well, Mino Creature and Mech don't "belong" to Zane and Kai (respectively) and Spinjitzu Bursts aren't even in the show.

[lego_guyon02]

48 minutes ago, THELEGOBATMAN said:

There should be more skeletons, Skull Sorcerer (mainly his helmet and wings) is inaccurate, biggest set doesn't represent SS's fortress well, Mino Creature and Mech don't "belong" to Zane and Kai (respectively) and Spinjitzu Bursts aren't even in the show.

Well technically the Spinjitzu Burst did appear but only for Cole, he didn't look anything like the physical Burst figure though if that's what you were referring to 

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

there has always been characters that would deserve a minifigure but dont get one. Or we get 1-2 minions representing a diverse "cast" of figures with interesting recolours of hair pieces.
Our only chance are bricktober-kind of packs.

So far I really like the season - without this chat I wouldnt have even thought it came out yet!

- season 11 had probably the worst writing so far but it had also strong points.
- s12 was better but the ending was super rushed as in s11.

Overall I feel like Ninjago contains its amazing spirit but they have a smaller writing team so some things are rushed, dialouges and character developements as well.
It's a shame since I think s8-9 were incredible but I still enjoy the show. Just having watched half of s13 - Star Trek, HE-Man, Lord of the Rings references - its just sooo good and yet marketable for children. This theme is really a hidden gem. The few friends I could convince to give it a try love it ever since - some with no connection to Lego.

[Pisces no Aphrodite]

9 hours ago, THELEGOBATMAN said:

 

There should be more skeletons, Skull Sorcerer (mainly his helmet and wings) is inaccurate, biggest set doesn't represent SS's fortress well, Mino Creature and Mech don't "belong" to Zane and Kai (respectively) and Spinjitzu Bursts aren't even in the show. 

Skeletons in sets should be more than "orcs" and " goblins"

[THELEGOBATMAN]

9 hours ago, Guyon2002 said:

Well technically the Spinjitzu Burst did appear but only for Cole, he didn't look anything like the physical Burst figure though if that's what you were referring to 

Yeah, I meant that it looks nothing like the one in the show.

[Pisces no Aphrodite]

11 hours ago, Guyon2002 said:

Well technically the Spinjitzu Burst did appear but only for Cole, he didn't look anything like the physical Burst figure though if that's what you were referring to 

And why for other ninjas( at least for Lloyd and Kai) did not do ?

[THELEGOBATMAN]

1 hour ago, Ragana9289 said:

And why for other ninjas( at least for Lloyd and Kai) did not do ?

Cole was the only ninja that used Spinjitzu Burst in Season 13, if that's what you're asking.

[lego_guyon02]

I wanted to take a proper look at the S13 wave and compare them to the show itself to look at all the inaccurate bits. So here's everything that's wrong with the sets based off the show. Take in mind that there are some spoilers below, albeit mostly very small and obvious stuff. I don't count the small Dungeon builds as they're very much filler. 

Spinjitzu Burst - all of these are 100% inaccurate as Cole was the only one to use the Burst, yet Cole didn't look anything like the physical Burst figure.

Journey to the Skull Dungeons - the figures in this set are accurate (Murt wears that armor at the end of the season). The build doesn't appear anywhere in the show but given it's mostly just a filler location and it fits the Dungeon aesthetic I'd give this a pass. The biggest inaccuracy in this set would be the Munce being an antagnonistic force, which they aren't. 

Wu's Battle Dragon - Chompy and the figures are all very accurate. Just like Journey the only inaccuracy here is having Wu fight a Geckle, as they also aren't an antagonistic force. 

Zane's Mino Creature - the minifigures in this set are pretty accurate, although Kai should've been here instead of Cole. Even though the Geckles aren't the badguys in the story I feel like this time their inclusion is necessary. The Mino itself is inaccurate, it doesn't really belong to Zane and it's incredibly oversized. 

Fire Stone Mech - excluding Cole none of the figures included in this set should be here. The Fire Stone Mech is just a Stone Mech partially covered in lava for a few shots so the build is inaccurate as well. I'd say this is the least accurate set of the wave. 

Skull Sorcerer's Dragon - Griefbringer himself looks very accurate. The minifigure selection makes sense but the Skull Sorcerer's mask is disappointingly inaccurate. 

Skull Sorcerer's Dungeon - the fortress itself is reasonably accurate, though it's not really much more than a giant skull on a cave in the show. The interiors are definetely made up by the designers but they didn't really show that off in the show anyway. The minifigures are fairly accurate, though the Munce and Geckles are once again shown as antagonists and the SS's mask is once again inaccurate. 

Overall both the sets and the show are really good, the accuracy to one another however isn't really there. 

[Pulp Detective]

Meh if the only bad guys on the sets were the skeletons that would be boring,accurate or not the orcs and the goblins provide much needed variety.

[lego_guyon02]

7 minutes ago, LOTR34 said:

Meh if the only bad guys on the sets were the skeletons that would be boring,accurate or not the orcs and the goblins provide much needed variety.

I'm not saying we need more skeletons just for accuracy at the expense of Munce and Geckles, if anything this shows we need more sets 

[Pulp Detective]

1 hour ago, Guyon2002 said:

I'm not saying we need more skeletons just for accuracy at the expense of Munce and Geckles, if anything this shows we need more sets 

The way things are we'll probably get more sets in Legacy form in 2030 

[Pisces no Aphrodite]

1 minute ago, LOTR34 said:

The way things are we'll probably get more sets in Legacy form in 2030 

If the series doesn't close sooner.

[DuckBricks]

Season 13 was a great season, one of the best since 8/9, but with really weird set choices. People are saying printing and new elements seemed super restrictive this time around, and I was curious how accurate that is compared to previous waves. I wonder if some of that budget was taken up by Monkie Kid (we know that it's possible for themes to steal each other's budgets as confirmed in the past with Harry Potter eating up Jurassic World). Summer season sets often follow very similar trends: Sensei Wu is featured prominently in the summer and likely didn't appear at all in the winter, typically there are a lot more new molds than winter, and it's a larger wave on average.

Excluding gimmick sets:

Looking at the past few years we've had Sons of Garmadon vs Hunted: In S8 we had four new molds (Oni Masks, Killow, black shoulder armor, large scale sword). S9 gave us six (technically ten) new molds (armor, top half of Dragon Hunter masks, dragon armor, dragon sword upper and lower, and a new weapon pack, which was really more like five new molds in one). Taking a look at new prints: I count 45 excluding spinner gimmicks in S8, and 28 in S9. Total: 73.

Legacy's first wave had seven new molds (new hood, skull heads, skull armor, top and bottom golden dragon heads, and the two Spinjitzu handle parts). SotFS gave us a whopping twelve new molds: Akita wolf, Akita's headdress, FS headgear, large shuriken, large wheel cover, two different snake heads, snake armor, FS staff, ice armor, and ice helmet). For prints I count 22 for Legacy, 25 for SotFS. Total: 47.

Now looking at this year, we had Prime Empire give us eight new molds (Unagami hair, keytana, rat pack head, techno armor, techno visor, healthbar, game controller, large sword) whereas we only got four in MotM (helmet, sword of deliverance, ninja armor, and skull sorcerer face). PE had 42, while we only got 20 for MotM. Total: 62

Based on this analysis, I don't think that prints budget was cut - if anything, the new printing went all to Prime Empire, which I guess makes sense given the vibrant video game world. Molds, on the other hand, do seem to have been cut a bit short this time around. As compared to the 14 in 2018 and 19 in 2019, only 11 in 2020 is a little less than usual - and only four new molds for a summer lineup is particularly strange, given it usually has the majority of new molds for a Ninjago wave.

So tl;dr it seems that for whatever reason, we got far less new molds than usual this time around, but about the same/fair number of prints given the sheer volume of new prints in the first half of the year.

Edited July 14, 2020 by legozebra

[Lyichir]

Personally, I don't care (and never have cared) that figs like the NRG/Airjitzu/Spinjitzu Burst Ninja variants didn't look like their on-screen appearance, apart from if anything wishing the on-screen versions closer resembled the set ones. Those spinner-exclusive fig variants have just generally been such good designs that I don't care whether or not they technically appeared as such in the show. After all, often the visual representations of those sorts of powers in the show rely on translucency or dynamic energy effects that would not be well-suited to a plastic minifigure design, so the latter often opts instead for more dynamic color schemes (including metallic prints) to achieve a similar level of visual flair.

[lego_guyon02]

8 minutes ago, legozebra said:

Now looking at this year, we had Prime Empire give us eight new molds (Unagami hair, keytana, rat pack head, techno armor, techno visor, healthbar, game controller, large sword) whereas we only got three in MotM (helmet, sword of deliverance, and skull sorcerer face). PE had 42, while we only got 20 for MotM. Total: 62

Don't forget the actual armor piece for the ninja

Edited July 14, 2020 by Guyon2002

[DuckBricks]

6 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

Personally, I don't care (and never have cared) that figs like the NRG/Airjitzu/Spinjitzu Burst Ninja variants didn't look like their on-screen appearance, apart from if anything wishing the on-screen versions closer resembled the set ones. Those spinner-exclusive fig variants have just generally been such good designs that I don't care whether or not they technically appeared as such in the show. After all, often the visual representations of those sorts of powers in the show rely on translucency or dynamic energy effects that would not be well-suited to a plastic minifigure design, so the latter often opts instead for more dynamic color schemes (including metallic prints) to achieve a similar level of visual flair.

Agreed - for the most part, the spinner sets have had uniquely detailed figures (the 2012 NRG ones are still the best IMO) that don't really need to look like the show. What does bother me is when we only get them for half the ninja like in recent years, or it's literally not canon that certain ninja actually do it (for instance, I don't think Kai or Nya used Forbidden Spinjitzu once, and of course this time around, only Cole can do the Burst)

Just now, Guyon2002 said:

Don't forget the actual armor piece for the ninja

Good point - completely forgot that and I'll add it on. Still, that makes for only four new molds in the summer, which is strange (and even odder that they reused a recolor of the S9 armor mold for the villains)

[Pisces no Aphrodite]

19 hours ago, Guyon2002 said:

Don't forget the actual armor piece for the ninja

What is the armor ?

[lego_guyon02]

1 minute ago, Ragana9289 said:

What is the armor ?

The thing they wear around their necks

[TeriXeri]

While not a new part by mold, the printed shields are by far my favorite print of this season.

[Dr.Cogg]

After watching season 13, I hope Lego makes a Lowly Party Accessory set with Adam being the build, also its to bad Lego didn't make the spiders and the Lava monster.