LEGO Ninjago 2022

[CodFather1]

17 minutes ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Well sets are now up on legos shop, oh my flipping god some of these prices are ropey. The temple of the crystal king sets price is downright disgusting, I was convinced there wasn't 80 dollars with of value there, let alone 80 pounds. At least we get full view images now. iIm really not liking this waves pricing, its really bringing it down. Coles cruiser for 40 pounds is also on the high side. 

Lloyd's Golden Dragon is $230AUD dollars, the temple is $130AUD and the Crystal King is $100AUD. Those prices in particular are horrendous, but the rest are fairly reasonable... for Lego in Australia.

[a guy from somewhere]

2 minutes ago, CodFather1 said:

Lloyd's Golden Dragon is $230AUD dollars, the temple is $130AUD and the Crystal King is $100AUD. Those prices in particular are horrendous, but the rest are fairly reasonable... for Lego in Australia.

Temple equates to about 75 pounds currently, give it 80 as its lego and exchange rates aren't fixed (and legos prices aren't matched for google) and the dragon is about 135 pounds. Yeah, I feel like lego thinks they can get away with high pricing on this wave. Particularly with the temple as its the only way to get the 4 main ninja with the main season suits. Thats rough. These prices are criminal.

[TeriXeri]

I will mainly get the 2 crystal sets €140 before discount,  as those other 6 sets would be yet another €430 before discount at current estimated germany RRP and I have less interest in vehicles right now, and with a €350-€380 90th year Castle coming I rather wait to see that.

But I'm not a huge ninjago follower, mainly been getting into it after 2018 after Nexo Knight ended (a theme which also had a lot of big vehicles and mechs).

I do like the 2022 Dojo+Training center combo, and the Crystal Temple looks great too.

Skull Sorcerer Dungeon is still my favorite location set of recent times.

My first ninjago sets were the 2019 Monastery + Samurai mech, I did like the skulkin and the way you could get a full team of ninja + wu easily, 2022 Dojo+training center was a similar situation where you get 1 of each ninja + wu + pixal, and the Crystal King sets will get all the regular ninja as well (obviously no Wu or Nya as they are in the big mech set)

Edited May 5, 2022 by TeriXeri

[a guy from somewhere]

Ok, so I've taken a look at the sets, mainly the raider as its the one im most interested in, and its main feature is the conversion from "road mode" to "walker mode", where its back arches up. Theres a knob on the back that is linked to a geared system to make the giant blades turn as well. Im not a fan of the open cockpit either, and price wise, its pretty expensive. Compared to the other sets, it seems great, and with a length of 35 cm its certainly big, but on its own its still quite a high price. Its £75 here in the uk for 624 pieces, whilst the temple of the crystal king is 703 pieces for 70 quid. That temple is about £20 to much and the raider is £10 too much IMO. That hurts.

[Lyichir]

I've been looking closely at the pictures of the Ultra Dragon set and I think it uses a new style of joint for its hips? It's using the Knights Kingdom joint/AT-AT joint adapter piece (used in the Ultra Combo Mech and Lloyd's Legendary Dragon) for both the shoulders and hips, but on the hips it uses it reversed—and it seems to connect to an AT-AT joint "socket" that isn't sticking off in any direction like the standard piece would be. It leads me to think that there's a new piece there that adapts the AT-AT-style joint directly to a System connection. This has been a banner year for new joint pieces, but if this is indeed a new piece, the rear hips of a dragon this size isn't much of a showcase for it—I would guess it was designed for another set, possibly the rumored Optimus Prime set.

In general I'm very impressed with the dragon... it's huge and the shaping is top-notch.

[a guy from somewhere]

2 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

I've been looking closely at the pictures of the Ultra Dragon set and I think it uses a new style of joint for its hips? It's using the Knights Kingdom joint/AT-AT joint adapter piece (used in the Ultra Combo Mech and Lloyd's Legendary Dragon) for both the shoulders and hips, but on the hips it uses it reversed—and it seems to connect to an AT-AT joint "socket" that isn't sticking off in any direction like the standard piece would be. It leads me to think that there's a new piece there that adapts the AT-AT-style joint directly to a System connection. This has been a banner year for new joint pieces, but if this is indeed a new piece, the rear hips of a dragon this size isn't much of a showcase for it—I would guess it was designed for another set, possibly the rumored Optimus Prime set.

In general I'm very impressed with the dragon... it's huge and the shaping is top-notch.

Agreed, looks new. it may be the one from the tall neck, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was from the new transformers set. good spot though!

[Meaf]

Having looked at the US prices on Lego.com, I am inclined to agree that some of them seem overpriced. Cole and Kai's vehicles in particular, as well as the dragon all seem small relative to the price. The Temple I am less sure on, it looks fairly big but it's also pretty open. Overall though it's not the end of the world; all of these will go on discount eventually, and for 20% off I think all of them are at least a decent value.

[Agent Kallus]

Do we have the UK prices then?

[TeriXeri]

13 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

Do we have the UK prices then?

• 71768: Jay's Golden Dragon Motorbike £18 / €20 / $20  
• 71770: Zane's Gold Dragon Jet £25 / €30 / $30
• 71769: Cole's Dragon Cruiser £40 / €45 / $45
• 71772: The Crystal King £55 / €60 / $70
• 71771: The Crystal King Temple £70 / €80 / $80
• 71773: Kai's Gold Dragon Raider £75 / €85 / $90
• 71775: Nya's Samurai X Mech £100 / €110 / $120
• 71774: Lloyd's Golden Ultra Dragon £125 / €140 / $140

 

Disclaimer , this is all from pictures/descriptions before seeing reviews: 

As a whole wave , things might look very expensive on paper but individually it's actually not that much more crazy compared to like 5-6 years ago with nexo knights, comparing the kai raider vs Axl tower carrier, at least in Euro that set was €80-90.

Previous larger Ninjago vehicles like Ninja DB X , or the 2 Raiders (Ultra Stealth and Ultra Sonic) were a similar price but had more seperate vehicles , this raider does not seem to have a split up function, but comes with 4 crystal colored figs, a winged fig and 2 regular figs.

The Dragon seems to be the highest priced overall, no sidebuilds beside a small throne, the bladed wings just don't appeal to me , Lloyds dragon from this year was a bit smaller but not tiny either, but less then half the price, the large amount of figures, multiple moulded dragon heads, basicly a full team of golden ninja + special Lloyd might still be a selling point. However I'd like to see how the actual gold turns out in a review instead of render pictures.

The 2019 Ultra Dragon was €95 in comparison, this is basicly pretty much 50% higher somehow, and it's not the piece count, but even 10 year ago, 2012 Ultra Dragon was €120 but had 2 sidebuilds despite similar piece count again, must be something to do with the special head moulds etc.

I also compared previous years of ninjago which had quite a number of €40-€50ish buggies/cars, however, this Cole's vehicle doesn't look to have that many features compared to some of those.

Crystal Temple is the same price as the Empire Temple of madness, and a bit higher compared to Temple of ressurection, just might look small due to being 2 seperate towers, but does come with a lot of those larger and smaller crystal pieces.

The Mech seems a little high compared to Ultra Combo mech but has a whole lot of named characters, a monster build , a snake mould figure, and what looks like impressive articulation.

 

Overall at a total price of €570 for a season is very high this time around but main reason are the large amount of larger sets or large amount of special figures.

 

The price of the theme is usually softened a bit due to usual discounts and this time around a large amount of newer pieces, very detailed/special figures+moulds, and prints, but I don't see a massive "2022 inflation" either.

Price per piece hasn't been accurate in a LONG time and it also becomes more obvious that LEGO seems to price sets with discounts in mind as well. (Creator Castle is €100 here, but exclusive, while the Pirate Ship/Viking Ship are €120 now but will be sold by more retailers with discounts)

 

I'm still likely only collecting the 2 Crystal sets as I think those 2 stand out the most to me.

 

I look forward for the future of the theme with those teasers basicly showing very different things compared to the actual sets. and those supposedly new ninja in different colors.

 

Edited May 6, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Agent Kallus]

31 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

Things might look very expensive on paper but it's actually not that much more

Ah thank you. 

 

The crystal king is less than I'd feared but the dragon is more than I'd hoped. I'll probably give the ninja vehicles a pass but I might get some or all of the others depending on various factors such as discounts and budgeting.

[Doom2099]

Incredible that we're getting so many unique suits for the Ninja in one wave.

Each one looks great to me, but I have to say with the higher res images of the Samurai X mech and the trailer, that it's by far the least interesting.

Oh well, Oni Lloyd more than makes up for it!

[Rolyat24]

Is anyone else a little surprised/disappointed that this is the second time TLG has made a weapons pack for the golden weapons and they still aren’t very accurate? I understand that these are meant to interface with the “corrupted” element but I don’t think they accomplish that effect very successfully. I’m alright with the Sword of Fire looking so wrong considering we’ve had an accurate mold for it since 2011. The Scythe looks pretty good too, albeit a bit too short. I wonder if the shurikens simply can’t be molded with enough detail at this scale. As for the nunchucks, to do them justice would require a pre-assembled piece with a chain or similar in trans blue, which can’t be done in these weapons packs. Each change is perhaps justified, but still frustratingly inaccurate. 

[Meaf]

1 hour ago, Rolyat24 said:

Is anyone else a little surprised/disappointed that this is the second time TLG has made a weapons pack for the golden weapons and they still aren’t very accurate? I understand that these are meant to interface with the “corrupted” element but I don’t think they accomplish that effect very successfully. I’m alright with the Sword of Fire looking so wrong considering we’ve had an accurate mold for it since 2011. The Scythe looks pretty good too, albeit a bit too short. I wonder if the shurikens simply can’t be molded with enough detail at this scale. As for the nunchucks, to do them justice would require a pre-assembled piece with a chain or similar in trans blue, which can’t be done in these weapons packs. Each change is perhaps justified, but still frustratingly inaccurate. 

I've always wondered about the Shurikens myself, and seeing them here leads me to believe that it probably is just what you said. By their nature they just aren't very big, so it's hard to make them as detailed as they are in the TV and official art. 

[Lyichir]

3 hours ago, Rolyat24 said:

Is anyone else a little surprised/disappointed that this is the second time TLG has made a weapons pack for the golden weapons and they still aren’t very accurate? I understand that these are meant to interface with the “corrupted” element but I don’t think they accomplish that effect very successfully. I’m alright with the Sword of Fire looking so wrong considering we’ve had an accurate mold for it since 2011. The Scythe looks pretty good too, albeit a bit too short. I wonder if the shurikens simply can’t be molded with enough detail at this scale. As for the nunchucks, to do them justice would require a pre-assembled piece with a chain or similar in trans blue, which can’t be done in these weapons packs. Each change is perhaps justified, but still frustratingly inaccurate. 

Not really. I've never been much to worry about those being accurate to the show, though I appreciate them getting closer over time with the introduction of more dragon motifs. In terms of the shurikens, yeah, I reckon that introducing dragon head motifs at that scale would be simply infeasible, especially assuming you still wanted minifigures to be able to grip them effectively. And I've never been too fond of the show's nunchucks having an electrical chain like that, to be honest—since the other weapons' elemental effects aren't a part of their actual physical structure.

The design of these versions of the weapons seems informed partly by their role in being "crystalized" and wielded by the ninja's foes in combination with a crystal hilt piece. Hence the sword having a long straight edge, the scythe being slightly shorter (so that it doesn't become comically long with a hilt attached), and the nunchucks having the chain attach to the side instead of the end. I do like the look of that crystal hilt and once I have one in hand I'd like to experiment to see which past weapons it does or doesn't work with.

[TeriXeri]

Seeing actual photos of the 2 Crystal King sets in actual daylight, makes those crystal pieces look a lot different for sure compared to renders , especially with the newer transparent ABS being a bit cloudy at times, which itself seems to vary a lot between pieces and colors.

[Killian]

If Legends of Chima failed so badly, why have they basically made most of the Ninjago minifigures look like characters from Chima's final season?

The vehicles and Crystal King are straight out of Monkie Kid though.

[Lyichir]

15 hours ago, Killian said:

If Legends of Chima failed so badly, why have they basically made most of the Ninjago minifigures look like characters from Chima's final season?

The vehicles and Crystal King are straight out of Monkie Kid though.

Firstly, Chima didn't "fail badly"—it lasted three years, a respectable lifespan for a theme that many other themes would be lucky to have. In Lego's book, that's what you would consider a modest success, even if not quite living up to the ambitious expectations set for it before the decision to continue Ninjago was made.

Secondly, Ninjago has already dabbled in Chima-esque aesthetics with the earlier Fire/Ice villain wave, to little detriment. I doubt you could confidently say that "animal heads" or "elemental aesthetics" or "characters with wings" are exclusive concepts to Chima, let alone that they were what led to that theme ending.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Lyichir

[Gangikhan448]

New clip!

 

[Killian]

My thoughts/predictions after watching the teaser trailer...

 

Spoiler

I think the new Ninja team are probably replacements to defend Ninjago City while the regular Ninja are in jail, maybe funded by Cyrus Borg. The yellow one has marks on her face like Skylor has in the new sets, so maybe it's her? The pink haired girl in the van could be the pink ninja. If next year is a soft reboot, I wonder if this new ninja team will be the new main characters? I wonder if the creepy masked guy is Nya returning in secret? The mechanical tentacle thing seems to be part of the noodle truck? Vangelis is obviously getting his Crystalized power up from whoever is communicating with him via the hologram. Kai and Jay are probably fighting over something to do with Nya, maybe there's a way to bring her back but one of them doesn't want to do it and the other one does? Maybe it would be dangerous in some way, or one of them doesn't want to ruin her happiness by forcing her back? Looks like they're allied with Aspheera at some point before she gets her Crystalized power up. Maybe Aspheera steals the Golden Weapons to give to the Crystal King?

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by Killian
Added a word

[Gangikhan448]

Another new one

 

[a guy from somewhere]

Love this one, I get that its whole point is to promote the sets and whatnot, but I still love them jays bike looks fine, Lloyds in his EVO car, Zane got his jet, Coles got his cruiser and Kai got his raider. All the vehicles apart from Kai's I love the look of in the show, it just I feel that Kai's raider sits way too high of the ground and is way to small compared to the set. Coles car looks incredible, I wish the set had stuck with that look. Now onto the dialogue: The artefacts are being transported because the ninja asked the mayor about Aspheeras staff, I think we can guess that for some reason they need it and so are going after it, and the mayor is just paranoid and moving them around. Interesting to note that they dont actually know how they where built that fast, it may be a case of these vehicles where just side projects and it will never be mentioned again or Pixal is doing something shady. I find it really ironic that they're going full stealth mode as well. No names, no powers and nothing to identify them. Like who else is gonna be riding round ninjago city with massive vehicles, jets and motorbikes? Could be anyone right?

[Killian]

I've never been excited about a new Ninjago season before, but I'm excited for this one 

[CodFather1]

Spoiler

According to the French clips that leaked, it looks like Nya is turning human again, which means that the Samurai X Mech has the correct pilot, which is a relief to me. In any case, this likely means that the 3rd part of the 2 truths, 1 lie was the lie, which means that Harumi will also be returning. I am not sure how I feel about them continuing the On The Run Storyline until at least the 12th episode though. It feels too long.

 

[a guy from somewhere]

2 hours ago, CodFather1 said:

  Hide contents

According to the French clips that leaked, it looks like Nya is turning human again, which means that the Samurai X Mech has the correct pilot, which is a relief to me. In any case, this likely means that the 3rd part of the 2 truths, 1 lie was the lie, which means that Harumi will also be returning. I am not sure how I feel about them continuing the On The Run Storyline until at least the 12th episode though. It feels too long.

 

Agreed on the last parts. I’m just really upset and disappointed that these clips have leaked. Like yeah, “yay new content!” But I really want to experience this season in full. Not through some random French clips. Really disappointed that all this stuff has been spoiled, if you want to experience the season in full, don’t watch them. It will be well worth it I think in the meantime, I’m gonna try and move away from seeking this stuff out till the seasons out. Sorry for this mini rant, just wanted to give my opinion. This should not have happened. 

[Lyichir]

Brickset has their review of the Crystal King up! https://brickset.com/article/74644/review-71772-the-crystal-king

Honestly really impressed with the shaping of that set. The review also gives us our first look at the crystal king under the mask...