LEGO Ninjago 2022

[Mr No]

Old villains return, summer set descriptions:

https://www.promobricks.de/lego-ninjago-2022-sommer-neuheiten/137233/

[lego_guyon02]

The sets themselves sound pretty standard, just more of what we're used to getting from Ninjago. The figures sound very intriguing, particularly the returning villains.

[a guy from somewhere]

The countdown to the final battle has begun! Where are those horns of destruction? 
 

In all seriousness this is a mixed bag. I like the crystal concepts, and the returning villains sound amazing, plus the golden winged ninja! The sets also sound pretty good, the only one I’m not looking forward to is the golden ultra dragon, it’s using blades for wings. Best sets from what I can figure out are the crystal temple and the Cole speedster. Plus the large mech for Nya, that’s gonna be interesting. 

My only question is the villains, how will they return? The skull of hazzardur was destroyed by Cole, unagami should be good now, and I suppose garmadon could come back. Oh well, I can’t wait for pics! 

[JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)]

This format of villains returning is what I've always been wanting as Day of the Departed and Legacy didn't manage to deliver for me - New and very different versions of them under a new powerfully-themed big bad. The way Sensei Yang was executed in DotD set-wise was too weak and there wasn't a big difference/upgrade of aesthetics for the returning villains. The Legacy versions of villains is mostly in similar format to DotD but with some having really good upgrade designs and some that just isn't that great. And both series do not have their own villains focused sets to carry them either. (With the exception of the Overlord Dragon. 70590 and 71735 feels more like a one-off thing)

This wave seems to be rectifying most of those issues I was having! The more I hear about this, the more I'm looking forward about this wave!

Based on what's revealed, it seems that the returning villains are only the surviving ones. That probably would be granted new powers by the Crystal King. I suspect the "Skull Magician" would be the return of Vangelis in another form with new powers. As for Harumi, her fate is pretty much left ambiguous despite her implied death so it's not that much of a stretch with her return. Four-armed villain could be Garmadon and there's, of course, Pythor and Aspheera. The rest of Ninjago villains seems to have either died, completely lost somewhere else or turned good to return.

Edited January 24, 2022 by JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)

[lego_guyon02]

Aspheera's description honestly kinda reminds me of Kai's Jombies from Kung Fu Panda 3, that could be very interesting. Honestly the only of these returning villains I'm not really feeling is Harumi, it'll be cool to see her in sets again but I'm a bit worried the writers might screw up one of Ninjago's best villains 

Also, considering the Core sets just reused the Pyro Viper heads it wouldn't surprise me at all if these new Crystal Samurai reuse the armor and helmet pieces created for the Ice Samurai.

[Meaf]

It's hard to say a lot based on the descriptions alone but I like how they're bringing back some old villains. One somewhat minor complaint I have is that I don't like how some of the ninjas are harder to get in this wave. Assuming the person who saw the sets didn't miss any of the ninjas, then Lloyd and Nya both only come in much more expensive sets, with Nya being exclusive to the mech. The last few waves had been good about making it easy to get any of the ninjas for cheap, so that I a bit disappointing. Obviously it's not really an issue for anyone who has their own income, but I remember it being annoying to get the ninjas when I was younger and didn't know about Bricklink. 

[Flixter]

6 minutes ago, lego_guyon02 said:

Aspheera's description honestly kinda reminds me of Kai's Jombies from Kung Fu Panda 3, that could be very interesting. Honestly the only of these returning villains I'm not really feeling is Harumi, it'll be cool to see her in sets again but I'm a bit worried the writers might screw up one of Ninjago's best villains 

Also, considering the Core sets just reused the Pyro Viper heads it wouldn't surprise me at all if these new Crystal Samurai reuse the armor and helmet pieces created for the Ice Samurai.

Ninjawhip on his Discord sever said that Tommy said new sets don't align with the storyline, but Idk, he could be talking about 1HY. 

It'll be great if they reuse them, those pieces were just pefrect.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Flixter

[lego_guyon02]

10 minutes ago, Flixter said:

Ninjawhip on his Discord sever said that Tommy said new sets don't align with the storyline, but Idk, he could be talking about 1HY. 

That's the new Core sets that came out in January, this upcoming wave aligns with the show again.

[JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)]

29 minutes ago, lego_guyon02 said:

Aspheera's description honestly kinda reminds me of Kai's Jombies from Kung Fu Panda 3, that could be very interesting. Honestly the only of these returning villains I'm not really feeling is Harumi, it'll be cool to see her in sets again but I'm a bit worried the writers might screw up one of Ninjago's best villains 

Also, considering the Core sets just reused the Pyro Viper heads it wouldn't surprise me at all if these new Crystal Samurai reuse the armor and helmet pieces created for the Ice Samurai.

I just looked the Jombies up (as I haven't seen Kung Fu Panda 3 yet, unfortunately) and yeah, that's what my imagination was leaning more towards when it comes to the crystal faction instead of being Power Miners-themed.

While it's definitely cool to see Harumi in sets again, I'm somewhat excited to see her in the show again but yeah, I'm worried too. I really hope the writers can pull this off in a good way. My confidence in them has been constantly fluctuating. Seabound has significantly brought it down. While "Curiosity" managed to give me a great dose of optimism, "Balance" brought that down again with a conflicting factor that I'd like to dub the "Seabound Syndrome" which is trying to mix in lighthearted fun with overtly emotional moments right next to each other.

Edited January 24, 2022 by JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)

[BrickBob Studpants]

They’ve had me at “crystal”, as I’m a sucker for transparent pieces  Can’t wait to see the builds and especially the minifigs

[lego_guyon02]

8 minutes ago, JJ Tong (zfogshooterz) said:

My confidence in them has been constantly fluctuating. Seabound has significantly brought it down. While "Curiosity" managed to give me a great dose of optimism, "Balance" brought that down again with a conflicting factor that I'd like to dub the "Seabound Syndrome" which is trying to mix in lighthearted fun with overtly emotional moments right next to each other.

Sadly have to agree here. Storywise Ninjago peaked with Sons of Garmadon and Hunted (at least imo) but ever since March of the Oni the quality of the story has been all over the place. Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu and Prime Empire are seasons I'd rather forget, Master of the Mountain was very enjoyable and Seabound was decent but with a lot of missed potential. Hard to see what category the next season will fall in but I'm cautiously optimistic 

Edited January 24, 2022 by lego_guyon02

[TeriXeri]

I was a big fan of Nexo Lava and Stone monster and such, this season sounds very cool, and crystal samurai, crystal swords etc, sound like they'll fit in fine , including Season 13 Ninjago.

Returning villains I don't mind getting a chance to get them as I didn't collect Ninjago until 2019.

Crystal King and Temple descriptions sound great for sure, but the others as well.

Most sets being (some 7+) 8+ , 9+ , 10+ gives me confidence in the builds.

Edited January 24, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Meaf]

2 hours ago, Flixter said:

It'll be great if they reuse [the ice samurai pieces], those pieces were just pefrect.

I hadn't even thought of that, but I completely agree. I can kind of see why people dislike when molds are reused, but if it makes sense then I don't have a problem with it, and the ice samurai armor is one of my favorite villain molds in all of Ninjago. Getting those with new translucent colors would be very exciting. 

[GeneralNumberOne]

The golden wings are almost certainly the element that was leaked a few weeks back with the Technic connectors. 

[Darth Shadowthrone]

2 hours ago, Meadius said:

I hadn't even thought of that, but I completely agree. I can kind of see why people dislike when molds are reused, but if it makes sense then I don't have a problem with it, and the ice samurai armor is one of my favorite villain molds in all of Ninjago. Getting those with new translucent colors would be very exciting. 

I really hope each crystal samurai is a different colour- it might mirror the main ninjas too much but a load of different semi-transparent armour pieces could look really cool

[TeriXeri]

I wonder if the crystal pieces from Spinjitzu Burst will be re-used in some form, the pieces don't really position themselves well as the hinge is a loose type (which is logical as it's meant to flip open, and only held together by the rubber band), but still could work as armor plating on top of something.

A new crystal piece that's more useful with a similar look might be better though, but at least it shows how a dual-moulded crystal could look.

Edited January 24, 2022 by TeriXeri

[The Stud]

I was planning on sitting it out from Ninjago this year but these descriptions sound very interesting. DOTD-done-right is something that I’ve been wanting for years and it seems like that might be what’s happening here. I only really skimmed the descriptions of the sets themselves but the figures (and what they mean for the overarching Ninjago storyline) sound intriguing.

Hopefully we get some Star Wars and Marvel news soon!

Edited January 25, 2022 by The Stud

[Rolyat24]

I wonder if having the winged ninja suits means there will be two distinct variations for the winged ninja (I think everyone except Nya?) or if they will just be their regular suits with wings attached. I think I’d prefer the latter, otherwise it’ll be a lot to collect all of them. 
 

I’m very curious how they’ll handle Harumi’s return, especially after Lloyd’s brief thing with Akita.

[Meaf]

10 hours ago, Rolyat24 said:

I wonder if having the winged ninja suits means there will be two distinct variations for the winged ninja (I think everyone except Nya?) or if they will just be their regular suits with wings attached. I think I’d prefer the latter, otherwise it’ll be a lot to collect all of them.

My guess is the latter, since they haven't included multiple variations of all the ninja in many recent waves. The only time they've done it recently is for Legacy and Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu, but in both cases it was pretty easy to get them all; the original legacy designs had been available for a while before the Tournament designs released, and the alternative versions in SotFS were the same other than the head-wraps. 

[ZEROANON00]

Long time lurker, and even though I haven't really been into the hobby for a while the new Core sets look like a fun re-entry into the theme, though I only see myself picking up a couple. However the summer sets definitely sound more up my alley, and I'm very interested in seeing what they look like once the images drop. I'm especially intrigued by the Samurai X mech this time around as they've been getting a lot better at designing mecha for this theme. And while I don't really keep up with the show anymore (fell off around when Skybound or whatever the pirate one was), this definitely comes off to me as some kind of "final battle" wave. I don't see the theme ending anytime soon though, so I'm very curious to see where they take it from here. 

 

Also, if anyone has any recommendations for the 1HY wave I'd appreciate it. I'm definitely going to cop the Ice Mech and Fire Dragon to start off.

[Rolyat24]

6 hours ago, ZEROANON00 said:

Also, if anyone has any recommendations for the 1HY wave I'd appreciate it. I'm definitely going to cop the Ice Mech and Fire Dragon to start off.

I haven’t gotten any of the 1HY wave yet, but I’ll echo your question and add, has anyone built any of the EVO sets yet? And do you find the builds/models worth it for adult Ninjago collectors?

[The_Fiery_Rooster]

23 hours ago, Rolyat24 said:

I wonder if having the winged ninja suits means there will be two distinct variations for the winged ninja (I think everyone except Nya?) or if they will just be their regular suits with wings attached. I think I’d prefer the latter, otherwise it’ll be a lot to collect all of them. 

Honestly, part of me is expecting the non-golden suits to be repeats of the Core suits. It just seems a bit much to get that many new ninja minifigs in one wave, and since they are specifically described as 'golden', I wouldn't expect them to be 'the other suits but with wings'. That's a complete guess on my part though.

23 hours ago, Rolyat24 said:

I’m very curious how they’ll handle Harumi’s return, especially after Lloyd’s brief thing with Akita.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the unknown figures ends up being Akita, especially if they are including Scott in Nya's mech. She was a much more important character in the Fire Chapter than Scott was in Prime Empire. From the descriptions we have, I could see her being in either the temple (in the prison cell) or in the Crystal King (Promobricks says there may be another figure in that one).

Beyond that, I'm excited for this wave! It seems fun to bring back all these villains in a more cohesive way that DotD managed to do. I'm hoping there's a few more, I could see one of the four-armed minifigs being Garmadon, and maybe one of the samurai is General Vex from the Ice Chapter (He's still alive, right?). Even if that's not the case, I loved the ice samurai, and I hope these crystal ones capture some of the same energy as those. Hopefully the crystal sword and armor piece look fantastic.

The golden ninja have the potential to look great as well. As much as I liked the anniversary figs from last year, the different headgear from figure to figure didn't make for a cohesive team look, so these will probably be better in that regard. The wings will make these stand out too, and if the pieces look like the EVO wings, then they'll look pretty good.

For the sets themselves, I like some of these ideas. The crystal king centaur mech sounds cool, but I'm worried that with all the extra bulk and parts needed for the lower body that it may end up being pretty short compared to the other large Ninjago mechs. The crystal temple, with all the floating platforms, is a great concept to finally see in a lego set! I know they've done some floating platforms in the elves sets, but this seems to be a larger scale attempt at the concept. All the vehicles sound meh to me, just more of the same, it's really the figures that make those stand out. I would be more excited for Lloyd's dragon if it didn't have the super low parts count, and the non-cloth wings don't help either.Maybe it looks better than it sounds? Same with the Samurai X mech, nothing about the description makes it stand out to me, at least not the way the combo mech did when we got a description of that one. I'm excited to see pictures now, but who knows when that could be. Summer sets do tend to leak more often, but nothing is a guarantee.

[Takanuinuva]

13 minutes ago, The_Fiery_Rooster said:

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the unknown figures ends up being Akita, especially if they are including Scott in Nya's mech. She was a much more important character in the Fire Chapter than Scott was in Prime Empire. From the descriptions we have, I could see her being in either the temple (in the prison cell) or in the Crystal King (Promobricks says there may be another figure in that one).

If Akita is in the sets. She'll have to look a lot older. Considering the fact that several decades will have probably taken place in that realm between Ice chapter and Seabound. 

Like iirc It was only a few days in ninjago time from when Zane was sent to the never realm to when the rest of the ninja show up. But decades in Never realm time

[The_Fiery_Rooster]

8 minutes ago, Takanuinuva said:

If Akita is in the sets. She'll have to look a lot older. Considering the fact that several decades will have probably taken place in that realm between Ice chapter and Seabound. 

Like iirc It was only a few days in ninjago time from when Zane was sent to the never realm to when the rest of the ninja show up. But decades in Never realm time

That's true... that whole time thing really makes doing anything else with those characters hard, if not impossible. It doesn't really help that they did barely anything with the idea, other than to use it as an excuse to make the Ice Emperor seem like an ancient threat to throw out the suspicion that it was Zane (which didn't work anyways).

[zoth33]

2 hours ago, Rolyat24 said:

I haven’t gotten any of the 1HY wave yet, but I’ll echo your question and add, has anyone built any of the EVO sets yet? And do you find the builds/models worth it for adult Ninjago collectors?

I have kai's dragon.  I like the dragon itself, the kai fig is very nice.  The villains are a good recolor of the recent fire snakes.  The one thing I am not really fond of is the wing but I tend to modify my Ninjago dragons.