crimsondeity

I’d love to see a fortress style pyramid for the pyro snake faction; but I’d be surprised of we got one in this wave. Although if I’m not mistaken, the S.O.G. and Hunted sets were spread out over two waves? So maybe we’ll see something like that for early 2020. I recently picked up the monastery set, and really enjoyed the build. The easter eggs were great! I also really enjoyed all of the little details and traps. In the future, I’d like to see either updated, more detailed versions of previous builds along with never released sets from previous series; maybe they could continue the Ninjago City series while moving away from the movie tie-ins.

It’s definitely a unique way to utilize the spinner; I just tend to be more of a “display” person, so its not a function I’ll end up using after the first set-up. But again, I’m not the target audience!

Yeah, I’m not a fan of those being included, especially in the Castle set. I wish they had gone with something more like the Dragon Pit, with the towers incorporating prisons, workshops, etc. It makes for a more interesting build and display, and in my opinion, has longer play value. I’m assuming that the spinner gimmick is still popular with kids, since they continue to release them individually and in sets; but it seems like an odd choice to turn one of the bigger, more expensive sets into a glorified launchpad.

Wow, these all look so good! The Fire Snake, Ice Fortress and Lloyds Mech are all must-gets for me, along with a few of the little set with the wolf. I may get the Land Bounty, but I feel like I want to see a detailed review or at least look at it on display in the Lego store before I commit. The other vehicles seem well-designed, and I may pick them up at some point; but I’ll probably wait until they go on sale at some point.

The Chima designs and the Ninjago Serpentine designs are pretty different from each other; but we’ve already had one scene showing that Chima exists in one of the Realms connected to the Realm Crystal. And apparently we’re getting some sort of nod/scene with Chima again this year. So there’s definitely potential. I wonder if that snake sarcophagus that shows up in museum scenes will have anything to do with the Pyro Snakes.

I think what you’re calling lashes, I was seeing as thicker brows? In any case, I was looking at the print as a whole, as well as the non-traditional (in Lego terms) hair style under the headdress. The mouth is much wider and “rakish” which are usually reserved for the boys, while characters like Nya or Skylor have slightly more heart-shaped lips. I do agree that the torso print suggests that the character is meant to be a girl. And it’s also very possible that the overall design was meant to show a more “living in the wilds” vibe. Either way, I’m sure Lego intends for Akita to be a girl; I feel that some people think I was initially saying that the character would/should be gender-fluid, when it was merely a “it would be interesting...” thought. In the real world, someone with bright yellow skin would be considered deathly ill; in Lego parlance, it just means the character represents a human. I personally never said anything about lipstick, but Lego figures meant to represent women usually either have lipstick or more demure, heart-shaped lips; they also tend to have slightly thinner, more arched brows and either lashes or what appears to be eyeliner.

I haven’t seen it brought up frequently here around this particular character; but I doubt people bring it up as a sort of “trait”. That would be more like Cole being a big eater. Akita is a mystery character at this point. What we’ve seen of the mini-fig doesn’t have the traditional faceprint cues, and the cool wolf hat means no hairstyle clues. Even the name is nebulous, because it probably alludes to the dog breed Akita. As I’ve already stated, the character is probably meant to be female, but posing as a boy for some reason; Mulan is probably the most commonly known tale using this trope, but a lot of East Asian story-telling incorporates it. Conversely, Akita could also just be a teen boy with with mystical wolf/dog powers, like Naruto. But until more info comes out, people will play around with theories.

I was born before the anime boom, but I was in my late teens/early 20s when it hit. And even outside of anime and video games like Pokemon, I had a general knowledge of some East Asian mythology (primarily Japanese) such as kitsune, kappa, etc. For kids and young teens outside of East Asia, I’d assume that regardless of awareness of the mythology they’ll see Akita and go “oh a cool fox/wolf with three tails!!”. The majority of them will probably compare him/her to Naruto, Ninetails or some other kitsune based character. Back on topic of the mini-fig; I’m almost as excited for their human form as I am for their molded beast form. I suspect that the character is probably female, but has some sort of “Mulan” thing going on. As interesting as an actual gender-fluid character could be, I doubt they’ll try to unwrap all of that in a 30 minute animated toy commercial

I agree. And while I’m assuming that the prices are not confirmed yet, I’ve seen both $10 and $15 prices quoted.

Yeah, it looks like a great little army building set. Although I’m not sure what I’ll do with the handful of Lloyds I’ll end up with

I’d imagine the “FS” stands for Forbidden Spinjitsu.

Ouch; I’m not terribly impressed by these so far. Of course, they are leaked images, so who knows. The Land Destiny looks interesting, and I’m curious to see more of the snake build. I’m slightly disappointed in the Ice Fortress/Castle, but maybe better, more up-close photos will change my mind. I wonder if this is all we’re getting for this arc, or if they’ll continue with it beyond the summer releases.

I love the new Cole. The bandana may be limiting, but it looks so cool. I really can’t wait to see pictures of the builds; especially the castle.

I’ve considered that; I know it happens with leaks sometimes. But after 3-4 “ICE EMPEROR REVEALED” leaks, I prefer to remain sceptical until I either get official (or reliably leaked) info. I feel like IE would have a distictive set of armor; maybe I’m putting too much thought into it, but seeing three sets of armor (removable, not counting torso prints or legs) that are identical aside from color makes me feel like we havn’t seen him completely yet. I’m also interested to see if all of the pyro serpents have been revealed. We’ve gotten traditional minifig legs, ghost/flame/whisp “legs” and the more traditional Serpentine torso/tail.

I just meant that at this point there isn’t anything “special” about any of those figures that would immediately suggest one is the Emperor. Unless I’ve missed a set list that specifically lists the white armored samurai as being exclusive to the Castle set?

I agree. Apart from color, the armor all seems to be the same. The red one has a translucent face, while the other two have a “zombie” face; but that face looks different from the other zombies.

Interesting. I’m guessing the red armored ice zombie is his second in command, with the other three going down the ranks. I wonder if the snakes will have something similar.

I’m really happy to see that at least some of the snake characters will have the serpentine lower body part. I think that was part of what I didn’t like about the first two leaks.

There are a few different ice zombies that were leaked; maybe @Lego David only saw one of the other two? Anyway, all three of them look great! I really like the armour and helmet. I also saw a Lloyd with a red arm; I wonder what that’s all about.

I love the ice zombie’s design! And I’m happy to see more of the rice hats/coolies. Zane’s ice flare hood is interesting as well, although I’m sort of hoping its not exclusive to him.

I never paid attention to the similarities Ninjago shares with the sentai genre! I’m a fan of the theme, and the mix of aesthetics never bothered me. I’ve always been a Castle fan (my first set was Black Falcon’s Fortress); although I was always more drawn to the fantasy side of the theme. Before the Dragon Masters came out, I would pretend that the dragon/griffin plumes from some of the Black Knight sets were dragon totems that helped their wearers fight better. So the fantasy aspect of Ninjago appealed to me as an adult. But now I can see how much it takes from stuff like Power Rangers (color coded outfits, the original animal totems, new upgraded uniforms that don’t really change all that much, etc).

Yeah, Ninjago is pretty much a kitchen sink fantasy theme at this point. But I feel it’s what helps keep it an evergreen theme; they can squeeze in all sorts of interesting builds and characters.

Maybe “prototype” isn’t the word I’m looking for; they just seem unfinished? Like they’re missing some printing and polishing.

I realize that these are rough prototypes; but so far I’m not a fan. Probably because I spent too much time imagining what they’d look like . I do like the idea of them being mummies. Hopefully one of the sets will be a temple/pyramid style build for them.

I saw something about a snake soceress the other night, but wasn’t sure if they were talking about an MOC. I hope she looks properly snake-like.