LEGO Ninjago 2023 Discussion

[THELEGOBATMAN]

Ninja distribution in all 24 Core sets (2023 gimmicks not included, as we're not sure who they're for):

Nya, Jay, and Kai — 8

Lloyd — 7

Zane — 4

Cole — 3

Fun fact: Cole is the only ninja without a 'no shoulder pad' variant, and he's also the only ninja without a hairpiece included in any of the Core sets (even tho he was the first ninja to receive a dedicated bandana hairpiece).

[a guy from somewhere]

I'm gonna be honest, 2023 ninjago just feels really stale at the moment. I hope lego 'officially' reveals the sets soon, I don't know why they're taking their time. We have set pictures, ones that gives us good views of all of the sets, but lego is just delaying it now, and I'm not seeing the point. I want to see more pictures, I want to see the big youtubers talk about the sets, I want to know about the set features and their prices. I want to see some hype surrounding this theme after the drawn out (kinda) disappointing finale of crystallised. I'm excited for these sets and January 1st can't come fast enough. I'll check when the sets where added last year to the lego page, but I'm hoping we see them before December 1st at least, as the sets themselves look amazing, but the fact that we just aren't seeing these sets in their full glory leaves me underwhelmed. 

 

On another note, whats the chance that ninjago city gardens goes on sale for half of on Black Friday? I'm really hoping that it does, despite already owning the set I'd love to get another one as it will provide lots of parts and lots of civilian figures for my own city project I'm constantly adding to. 

[Meaf]

5 hours ago, a guy from somewhere said:

I'm gonna be honest, 2023 ninjago just feels really stale at the moment. I hope lego 'officially' reveals the sets soon, I don't know why they're taking their time. We have set pictures, ones that gives us good views of all of the sets, but lego is just delaying it now, and I'm not seeing the point. I want to see more pictures, I want to see the big youtubers talk about the sets, I want to know about the set features and their prices. I want to see some hype surrounding this theme after the drawn out (kinda) disappointing finale of crystallised. I'm excited for these sets and January 1st can't come fast enough. I'll check when the sets where added last year to the lego page, but I'm hoping we see them before December 1st at least, as the sets themselves look amazing, but the fact that we just aren't seeing these sets in their full glory leaves me underwhelmed. 

 

On another note, whats the chance that ninjago city gardens goes on sale for half of on Black Friday? I'm really hoping that it does, despite already owning the set I'd love to get another one as it will provide lots of parts and lots of civilian figures for my own city project I'm constantly adding to. 

I don't know if there's any precedent suggesting it'd go for half off, but it might be hitting it's EoL soon so I imagine there will be some kind of sale then if there isn't anything for Black Friday.

[a guy from somewhere]

3 minutes ago, Meadius said:

I don't know if there's any precedent suggesting it'd go for half off, but it might be hitting it's EoL soon so I imagine there will be some kind of sale then if there isn't anything for Black Friday.

I’ll keep my eye out, it’s a great set but as I already own one (plus the price hike, I thought £275 was already pushing it) I can’t justify getting a copy right now. As for sets last year, we saw jay and nyas race car on the 1st of December, followed by the rest of the wave on the second. So hopefully next week, we get to see them in full.

[a guy from somewhere]

Well, Black Friday UK is a massive disappointment. It’s just the sets that are either retiring soon, or just aren’t selling, like the eternals stuff for the remnants of vidyo, with a couple of Icons thrown in. 2 monkie kid sets (the ones that aren’t selling and have been on sale before) and 1 Ninjago set, the training ground. No gardens, no city of lanterns. Considering years past, this is a massive miss IMO.  

[THELEGOBATMAN]

Not Black Friday related, but I just bought Kai's Dargon EVO. Really nice set, although the wings are extremely unposable, which is really irritating, as their positioning is strange.

Also ordered Jay's Spinner, and planning on ordering either Lloyd's Car or Dragon (haven't decided yet).

I'm really into Core, didn't expect to enjoy collecting it this much.

The sets aren't fantastic or anything, but it's become my small LEGO corner of joy — it feels like I can just buy any random set, and it will fit well with the rest. Can't wait to expand with 2023 sets.

[a guy from somewhere]

1 minute ago, THELEGOBATMAN said:

Not Black Friday related, but I just bought Kai's Dargon EVO. Really nice set, although the wings are extremely unposable, which is really irritating, as their positioning is strange.

Also ordered Jay's Spinner, and planning on ordering either Lloyd's Car or Dragon (haven't decided yet).

I'm really into Core, didn't expect to enjoy collecting it this much.

The sets aren't fantastic or anything, but it's become my small LEGO corner of joy — it feels like I can just buy any random set, and it will fit well with the rest. Can't wait to expand with 2023 sets.

I’d definitely recommend the dragon. The car is great but I prefer its “stage 2” design over its “stage 3” EVO mode, which if you’re going to have it like that means extra parts. The dragon is a beautiful chunky build that best compares to first born, and even then the dragon is different enough. The wings are the worst part, with them having the weird mechanism, however it doesn’t detract from display. The head is a work of art, truly an incredible build, and you get a cool snake turret. 

[THELEGOBATMAN]

2 hours ago, a guy from somewhere said:

I’d definitely recommend the dragon. The car is great but I prefer its “stage 2” design over its “stage 3” EVO mode, which if you’re going to have it like that means extra parts. The dragon is a beautiful chunky build that best compares to first born, and even then the dragon is different enough. The wings are the worst part, with them having the weird mechanism, however it doesn’t detract from display. The head is a work of art, truly an incredible build, and you get a cool snake turret. 

Yeah, I'm leaning towards that one, but there are so many sets coming next year that I'm trying to cut corners everywhere I can.

[a guy from somewhere]

3 minutes ago, THELEGOBATMAN said:

Yeah, I'm leaning towards that one, but there are so many sets coming next year that I'm trying to cut corners everywhere I can.

Yeah I hope the prices are a little better than crystalized, especially as the core ninja are being reused. I’m still worried that they will put the brick box to £55, i damn well hope not as it looks to be a good source of parts for temples, which I love building, however that and the mech rider (please don’t be £40, please!) are definitely getting me scared. I’m also hoping the earth dragon isn’t £35 as well as that’s a price I’ve seen thrown around, it really should be at that weird £27 price tag. 

[THELEGOBATMAN]

I think they've cheapen out on Core ninja this wave.

From what I'm seeing, we're getting no hairpieces, no coloured katanas, and less shoulder pads.

The katanas part is especially disappointing (I think they're all using golden ones), because I think they looked amazing, and the 2023 and 2022 will look less seamless while connected.

[a guy from somewhere]

Just now, THELEGOBATMAN said:

I think they've cheapen out on Core ninja this wave.

From what I'm seeing, we're getting no hairpieces, no coloured katanas, and less shoulder pads.

The katanas part is especially disappointing (I think they're all using golden ones), because I think they looked amazing, and the 2023 and 2022 will look less seamless while connected.

At least we get spares in the current core sets, but I agree, it’s definitely a shame if we are getting stock katanas now. 

[THELEGOBATMAN]

Exactly, and I like to keep my sets without making any changes, so it's really disappointing. 

[a guy from somewhere]

Hope they get revealed soon so we can confirm. Let me go check promobricks’ review.

Yeah they’re gold

damn it! They’d better pull something wild out of their hat for summer. 

I’m expecting crystalized scale figure detailing. 

[Lyichir]

3 hours ago, THELEGOBATMAN said:

Yeah, I'm leaning towards that one, but there are so many sets coming next year that I'm trying to cut corners everywhere I can.

For sets from this year and before, it's worth keeping in mind that they might start going on sale as newer sets become available. So if you're trying to keep to a budget it might not hurt to wait and see if the prices on those go down.

[Meaf]

7 hours ago, a guy from somewhere said:

damn it! They’d better pull something wild out of their hat for summer. 

I’m expecting crystalized scale figure detailing. 

I was actually thinking this might be why they did Core again. While it's by no means cheap-looking, Core does generally feel a little simplified compared to the standard Ninjago wave, whereas Crystalized felt like a big step up. Perhaps the new strategy is to do a wave that uses less of the budget in the first half of the year, so then more can be put towards the summer sets.

[Exetrius]

I look forward to high-res pics (or Promobricks reviews ) of all the sets! I set my expectations low for more Core, but the new villains look cool, as do some of the sets. Jay's mech looks very striking!

Edited November 27, 2022 by Exetrius

[Killian]

On 11/25/2022 at 9:54 PM, a guy from somewhere said:

damn it! They’d better pull something wild out of their hat for summer. 

I’m expecting crystalized scale figure detailing. 

I wouldn't hold your breath. The Crystalized sets may not have sold well with being so overpriced, so I can imagine Lego may cut corners in future and Crystalized will go down in history as Ninjago's peak point in terms of design and innovation, the likes of which we may never see again. 

That's just my opinion/expectation though.

[a guy from somewhere]

Sets are revealed! Beautiful!

[a guy from somewhere]

Nyas dragon is goofy as hell, and the 2 £9 sets are very good. I love kais car. The mech rider is a really nice build but the price drags it down, I just think the £40 price point doesn't fit at all for ninjago. The ice dragon is a great looking dragon, and the £90 price seems fair enough, training grounds is alright but unless theres more parts off to the side that aren't shown in official pics, it looks way to expensive for what you get. Coles dragon looks horrible now IMO, the front legs are way to low for it to work, gonna need some modding. Mech battle looks alright, Lloyd fig is really good. jays mech is amazing, I love its gangly appearance and the possibility looks impressive. Cant wait for these sets now

[Killian]

Having seen the before version of Cole's Balrog now, I think I'll get 3 and have 1 Evo'd version and 2 pre-Evo minion creatures to inconvenience my Nexo Knights since Cole's beastie has a similar colour scheme to some of Jestro's monsters from wave 1.

Love Nya's Water Dragon Evo, I don't need to get the Seabound Nya's Final Form Dragon now.  The Evo dragons aren't as good as the Lego Elves dragons, but they're close enough to keep me happy.

I hope the Bone warriors get a bone dragon Evo eventually.

I like the way there's a generic male and female apprentice in the Brick Box, they'll be easy to modify for kids wanting to make their own self-insert ninja sigfigs

Edited November 30, 2022 by Killian
there was an evil apostrophe that needed to be destroyed

[Exetrius]

I love how @toothdominoes (presumably) has again successfully infused a Ninjago mech with anime mech references, this time EVA 00! The head in the torso, very nice! Also, it even reads "00" on one of the stickers with a bit of imagination. But despite references a remarkable and original design!

I think the other sets are pretty good. Nya's dragon and Kai's racer are genuinely charming. Now seeing Cole's dragon's base form, the set feels overpriced, but at a discount I'm interested. Cool new pieces!

Edited November 30, 2022 by Exetrius

[Rolyat24]

I’ll give my full thoughts now that the wave has been revealed:

71780: Nice little car, it does look pretty bulky despite the low piece count. Pass.

71781: I like the new Lloyd figure, and it is nice to see a substantial build for the skeletons. I do wish Core did more with the villains. I might buy it. 
 

71782: I agree that the “out of the box” image makes Cole’s dragon look very awkward. Still, I love the head and horns. I’m looking forward to seeing some reviews to get a better idea of just how awkward the low front legs are. Definite purchase.

71783: I like the concept of the mech bike. It is a little pricey and not something I’d usually purchase, but I may pick it up after reading some reviews. 

71784: Not much to say here, other than this is yet another lightning jet. It’s a good price but because it’s so small I feel like the previous two lightning jets did a much better job. Pass.

71785: Beautiful mech. I don’t buy every Ninjago mech, but I think this one is a definite purchase. I love the unique shaping, color scheme, and the full on artillery of weapons it’s armed with. It’s also nice to get a large mech for Jay, who has only had small ones in the past. I like the minipix robot!

71786: As a collector of Ninjago dragons, this one is a definite purchase. Very similar to Lloyd’s dragon from 2022, in that it’s unique and massive. I’m not super convinced by the lower jaw and wings, but overall I think it looks great!

71787: The brick box is a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I’m interested to know if the two “trainees” are going to have any sort of background or if they’re just meant as insert characters for young builders. Maybe at a discount I’d pick it up.

71800: Nya’s dragon, while small and blocky, does a better job IMO than either of the two EVO dragons from 2022. The front legs are definitely too simple but beyond that the shaping is surprisingly decent. I think the worst part about all of the EVO dragons have been their wings, and that trend continues this year. Still, I’ll pick it up, especially as this is only Nya’s 2nd-and-a-half dragon.

Overall, I’m a fan of this Core wave and think it’s better than 2022’s. I like the villains and the variety of those minifigures. It’s perhaps a bit disappointing that the ninja don’t have updated suits, but I can overlook that. At least they aren’t still using the Legacy 1 suits that lasted forever. I’m hoping the spinners/gimmick sets get revealed soon, as those will almost definitely feature some new minifigure designs (fingers crossed for Zane, Cole, and Nya)

[THELEGOBATMAN]

This wave is absolutely glorious, definitely one of my favourite Ninjago waves ever 

The knly general criticism I have is... why did they stop using coloured katanas? They looked so cool.

[TeriXeri]

Cole dragon would be a decent part pack for a Deathwing WoW Moc, at least at a somewhat cartoony scale, other then that, weird proportions, especially tiny wings on thick legs.

 

Brick box buildings and training area looks nice, especially with the style of 2022 Dojo's roofs and training ground's expansion, vehicles are certainly simple , it's a 5+ set after all, but thankfully not using a big 4+ chassis.

Mech looks great, very slender and very humanoid looking, also looks like a new shooter system, or a different sized spring loaded brick + new bolt design.

Edited November 30, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Doom2099]

For people who want a Titan Mech for each ninja, does this complete the set? I mean if you want to count the movie mechs for Kai and Cole? And Samurai X for Nya.

Also with more big solo dragons coming with Zane's, following up Lloyd's Golden Dragon and the Water Dragon, maybe fans could have 6 huge dragons over the next few years?

My favorite set of the line is the small Kai car. Perfect impulse buy!