Rolyat24

Personally I think there’s a good chance we do get a new mold for the tiger. The last one using the generic big cat mold didn’t end up looking all that much like a tiger. A designated piece like that for the male lion would be very cool. If there are reports of a new piece, I’m inclined to believe them (over just assuming the poster didn’t realize the piece already exists)

I haven’t been keeping up with the plot as much recently. Is there any chance “Evil Jay” is one of the forbidden five?

I’ll put in another plug for Pick a Brick - I just ordered a lot of minifigs from DR Season 1 last week. It’s probably comparable to buying the magazines cost-wise and is available in the United States. Of course, it’s a bit of a pain to enter all the parts numbers and keep track of what you’re ordering. After seeing some reviews of the Dragon Shrine, I’m a bit more tempted to get it. Yes, it’s small, but it is a beauty of a set. The included minifigures do look a little odd alongside the more traditional architecture, with the exception of Wu and Euphrasia. I guess I’ll wait and see how the summer wave looks before making the call. Hopefully Euphrasia will be available from Pick a Brick regardless. The only set from the March wave that I’m definitely looking forward to is Riyu. Combined with the mech-heavy January wave, I may not be buying very many Ninjago sets from this year.

In Brickset’s review published today they say Friday the 16th. Interestingly, the space babies aren’t babies at all but have the traditional smiley face. I’m not sure if this makes them more or less desirable.

I’m curious why you say this with such certainty. Why can’t leaked figure be Euphrasia?

Is there any reason the student-looking minifigure couldn’t be Euphrasia? The leaked outfit isn’t exactly the same as in the show, but it also isn’t that different either. The main change is the hairstyle instead of the hood, but unless I’m mistaken we don’t know what Euphrasia’s hair looks like. Since the pictures could be preliminary, it’s possible that there will be a different hair element used, though again the hair itself doesn’t indicate that the character is not her. Similarly, it’s possible that Kai and Nya get updated suits in the final set. We have to wait and see official pictures.

It’s a beautiful set, but as others have said, I can’t see where the price is coming from. Is it confirmed $120? I could justify $60-80 for this, no more. I guess we’ll see when official images drop if anything has changed, but I expect it to be very similar to this. Ninjago gets so many beautiful temples that are easily double the size of this set. It’ll be hard to justify spending so much on something so small, when the Temple of the Dragon Energy Cores is still on shelves and $30 cheaper!

With a few March sets being revealed today, we can’t be very far out from seeing the rest of this wave! I kinda like the brick-built Riyu. I hope he continues to grow and we see a large version of him soon!

Have both Dumbledores ever appeared in the same wave before? It’s possible he shows up in the Twiwizard Tournament Arrival set. Wasn’t he in that scene?

I think you’re right that it’s the s11 armor, which is a shame. That piece has been so overused, even more so than the previously overused ZX armor. It would be nice to see more variety.

Is Nya’s Samurai X mech from 2022 considered a “Titan” mech? It’s the right size but the wrong color scheme (and features Nya’s only non-ninja suit in years). I’d be content with it acting as her Titan mech, but I’d also be interested to see a more official one for her.

I’m surprised we still haven’t seen the March sets, considering we’re just over a month out. Hopefully that means any day now! I’m really looking forward to seeing that Dragonstone Temple!

Villain builds and minifigures are always my favorites. How many fire dragons can exist before they aren’t exciting anymore? How many green ninja suits can be designed before they all start to look the same? Yet here we are 13 years later with new villains that are different from everything else that’s come before! I do wish the set designers spent more of the budget on villain vehicles specifically, but I guess ninja cars sell better amongst the kids. Speaking of what sells, has anyone else noticed a lack of Ninjago sets on shelves recently? In my part of the US, Targets only ever carry a handful of Ninjago sets if any, and Walmart isn’t much better. The Lego Stores usually have the most recent wave. Am I reading into this too much? Are stores not moving as much Ninjago as they once were?

Can’t say that I’m overly excited for any of the summer sets until we see pictures. A lot of these have a potential to be hit or miss. I’m most looking forward to seeing Cole’s mech and how it stacks up against the previous titan mechs. I wouldn’t mind if the masked wolf warriors continued into 2HY considering I’m not planning on buying many 1HY sets. But I’m guessing we’ll see a slightly different or updated faction. As for the D2C, I’m hoping for a temple that will appeal to adult collectors, something like the Temple of Airjitzu from many years ago. Now that was a perfect set!

Not sure how I feel about a Hogwarts reboot so soon. I just finished collecting the 2021 castle and it’ll take something really impressive to get me to start over again. As much as I’d love a subterranean level with the PS challenges, my prediction is that we’ll see a small kitchen and Hufflepuff common room instead. It would be a fun location for fans to get without distracting from the main build of the great hall. My guess is the set will come with the hall and courtyard and the staircase tower will follow next year, although I’d be pleased to be proven wrong. The other sets really don’t sound all that interesting to me. The only one I’m really excited to see is the ship and carriage, and only because I don’t have either of the previous versions. Bring on the set descriptions!

The magazines aren’t available in the US unfortunately. You can order them from overseas but with shipping it’s really not a good deal. See here if you’re interested though.

Yes, they reuse prints from the rest of the wave. The only exclusive parts to those minifigures seem to be the masks for Kai and Nya and the specific armor usage (even though the armor itself is nothing new). Compare this to nearly every previous gimmick set which contain exclusive prints.

I wasn’t particularly excited for this wave before pictures were released, and that hasn’t changed at all since. While I do like a good mech, we’ve been spoiled with large-scale titan mechs recently, and I’ve been skipping most of the smaller ones. Some of these look good, like Cole’s, but most of them are more of the same. Egalt is the clear standout set of the wave, and even it isn’t all that impressive. I like that it looks distinct from previous dragons, but something about the color scheme feels a bit off. Maybe if the dark tan or red were removed the model would feel more cohesive. I’m looking forward to seeing some reviews to get a better sense of if this works or not. The gimmick sets (“Rising Dragon Strike”) are perhaps the most disappointing. What do they do? It looks like maybe they just jump or lunge a little bit, which is far less exciting than the typical spinner or flyer. Additionally, they don’t even really include exclusive figures. Nya and Kai have different masks but their torsos and legs are identical to their other appearances. Arin is identical. On one hand, it’s nice to not have to track down entirely new minifigures for this year’s randomly selected three characters. On the other, it’s frustrating that new designs weren’t developed for these sets. And what do minifigure collectors do about these mask variations? I think I’ll personally ignore them, Like others, I’m looking forward to the March sets. Other sets that release in March have been revealed, so maybe we’ll see these pretty soon (if they are indeed March releases). It would be great to see “climber” versions of the rest of the ninja, but I’m not sure there are enough slots to do that without spilling into the summer sets.

Looks like I was way off with the transparent minifigure heads. They are a lot older than I thought, appearing as far back as the 70s, albeit as decorations. I wonder when the first usage of a transparent head in an actual minifigure was? Looks like Spyrius and Fright Knights never actually used them as heads. Anyway, this is getting off topic. But transparent minifigure heads are certainly nothing new to LEGO or Ninjago.

Transparent minifigure parts have been around for quite some time. I believe heads first appeared in the 2000s (not sure on the exact date) and have been used extensively in recent years, both for minifigures and as lanterns, fish bowls, and other items. Transparent arms and legs began in the 2010s and have appeared less frequently, but are still fairly common. As of now, hips, torsos, and hands have never appeared in any transparent color. I believe this is due in part to the differences in plastics used for these colors, which don’t allow as much mobility for pieces that come pre-assembled.

Where are the rumors about a Cole Titan mech and Ultra Sonic Raider coming from? Did they list potential names for the other sets? I like the idea of every ninja eventually getting a Titan mech. If the rumor is true, then that means we’re only missing Kai and Nya (and the new characters) and that’s if you don’t count last year’s Samurai X mech for Nya. I hope they keep the white color scheme for Cole’s mech, but I could easily see them sticking with darker colors. I’m much less excited by a new Ultra Sonic/Stealth Raider. We’ve already had 3 of those and they’ve all left something to be desired. I think the DotD one might be my favorite, although it’s been awhile since I’ve built it.

You can subscribe to get them shipped internationally but it’s almost never worth it for the price. Better to just buy the figure on Bricklink, unfortunately. I would love to get these in the US!

Some stuff back in stock in the U.S. too, including orcas and purple oxygen tanks

I’m not seeing any of the Ninjago minifigure parts on the US PaB. How are you finding them?

I doubt Dr. Julien would ever appear in a theoretical Ninjago CMF, not because he’s been dead for 10 years and irrelevant to the current story, but because he wouldn’t be a very interesting minifigure worth putting in a CMF series. The minifigure would basically look like a very typical doctor, with a common hair piece and an unremarkable faceprint. Actually, this is the reason why in general I’m not sure we’ll ever get a Ninjago CMF for the show. Most characters that haven’t been made (or variants of existing characters) are fairly unremarkable minifigure-design-wise. Even looking at fan dream designs of a series, they include such remarkable figures as “Zane with an apron” and “Cole in a prison jumpsuit” which are pretty bland even for fans of the show. I’ll admit that there are a few characters that I’d be interested in (the Upply, silver Karloff, etc) but I don’t think those opportunities are enough to warrant a full cmf series, especially as some of those desired characters haven’t been around the show for a long time. I think the best chance of getting semi-interesting ninja variants or named background/side characters is in sets like Ninjago City Markets.