Tobias_Jay

The 20 S2 Bandmates I ordered arrived today and, incredibly, by box 14 I had a full set. So I was very lucky. Tragically, I will leave Vidiyo missing just two beatbits, but I’m sure the aftermarket can help me if that becomes an issue. I’m just glad to have all these gorgeous minifigures. To give it context, the head is Medium Blue: (This colour). The official pictures do make the blue look much darker than it actually is.

My fear, though, is that if, say, the theme is struggling, the Series 2 Bandmates won’t get a global release and will only be released in limited quantities in the bigger markets. I still remember that Australia didn’t get the last wave of LEGO Movie 2 sets while the previous sets were in the throws of a six month clearance campaign to get them off the shelves. They were available on LEGO.com, but not for very long before they were out of stock indefinitely. While I’m not seeing clear similarities yet, I’m still wisened by the reality that we’re not guaranteed a product release here, especially if the theme isn’t doing so well across the board. I’d get over it, for sure, but I’d be pretty disappointed to miss out on those minifigs.

Nowhere has it been said that these ‘Reimagined’ videos are to become the standard for the animation for the show. It’s five different short films from five different animation studios based around Ninjago. They’re one offs. While there may be the occasional ‘anime’ style in episodes to come, the LEGO visual style they’ve been using for ten years isn’t going anywhere.

Thank you very much for the info, fingers crossed! If you’re willing to wait until May, an independent LEGO shop near me (that does nationwide shipping) called I’m Rick James Bricks is set to have the Gardens for $400, which is a reasonable saving. I’m far too impatient to wait until then, but maybe that info can help those in Australia wanting to find it a bit cheaper than what LEGO themselves is offering.

Is anyone else in Australia still seeing ‘Coming Soon’ on the Gardens? The first time I’m financially available and eager to purchase a D2C the midnight of release day and it doesn’t turn up! It was a late night for me last night holding onto hope, to no avail. All fools to me, I guess.

Then there is surely another Legacy set coming out later in the year, unless the Ultra Sonic Raider has both golden Nya and Zane. They surely wouldn’t put them in a 4+ set. I was hoping the Fire Dragon would be a Legacy Elemental Fire Dragon under the Possession banner, putting right the Fire Dragon set we were deprived of back in 2015. Personally also still holding onto that fickle hope for a Great Devourer set for the tenth anniversary year. I love the idea of a 4+ Bounty, could be a really fun looking set.

Oh, of course. I probably should have worded myself better. I said many unanswered questions because, as you say, there are so many things set up in the show that either haven’t been addressed or left for later. I was meaning there would be no unanswered questions that would make the show feel incomplete (ala Nexo Knights). Assuming the Skull Sorcerer’s Vengestone buyer will be revealed in the next season or the one after, there aren’t many major plot threads that need addressing. It happens so often with cartoons, being axed before every character thread is tied up neatly, that I have this fear/cynical expectation it’ll happen to Ninjago... Absolutely, I’d say it’s less of a ‘stretch the show out’ scenario and more of a ‘keeping some eggs in the basket’ method. I imagine with the early days of Ninjago being so stop start, they must have forced themselves into a habit of keeping some things unrevealed for the time so they have something to draw from when developing future storylines.

This is a very good point. The Ninjago seasons have been very insular. The events of the season don’t impact the world of Ninjago Or the characters like the Masters of Spinjitzu seasons did. They really feel like ‘slice of life’ events that keep the ninja busy and us entertained after they’ve reached the dizzying heights of defeating the Oni. They really could just chop the theme now and we wouldn’t be left with many unanswered questions, just a significant hole in many hearts, my own included. Again, I know LEGO can be brutal with cutting themes, but from the sounds of the tweets from developers and designers on the theme, it doesn’t sound like they are slowing Ninjago down at the moment. I believe Andreasen said that he’s practically ‘breathing Ninjago at the moment,’ which doesn’t sound like they’re wrapping them up just yet. But I was young and out of the loop when Bionicle was axed, so I don’t know about the internal politics that went on before its demise and if there are any parallels to Ninjago now. On the topic of the movie, it’ll be interesting to see, assuming Ninjago will be around for a few more years, if we’ll get Legacy sets based on the movie or if they’ll focus solely on the sets based on the show

LEGO has been brutal with cutting themes in the past, but given they’ve already begun work on 2022 content, I’d say we will have Ninjago at least until then. As a general rule, if someone says “LEGO Announces ‘such and such’” don’t take it as fact unless there’s evidence of LEGO actually saying it.

As much as I’d LOVE for that to happen, I don’t think we’re going to get all of that for $9.99 (I’m assuming the prices are in USD). Maybe we’ll get one spinner for the ninja and then the villain gets a small vehicle or some big weapon. I envision the sets will have some kind of gimmicky function, unless they’re more in the style of the Arcade Pods from earlier this year. I will also echo that I hope character cards like we got in 2011/12 will be included though.

If the villain included isn’t Fugi-Dove, I say we riot.

I’ll put my money on them being super fake. Those comparisons you’ve drawn are spot on, especially on the ElectroMech, which looks near identical to the original. Legacy remakes have, so far, been incredibly distinctive from the originals. I honestly can’t remember, but it does feel way too early to be seeing pictures of the next wave.

That is something many forget, that a CMF line needs to appeal to significant portion of the LEGO market. It’s exactly why the Ninjago Movie CMF contained very few in the way of minifigures that hardcore fans would actually enjoy. Notice there was only ONE actual ninja minifigure in that line and it was a repackaged figure from the set line. (I guess three if you want to count Kendo Kai and Spinjitzu Training Nya, but even they weren’t anything to write home about.) I’m not saying I wouldn’t like a Ninjago CMF, I would love to see it happen. I just can’t see it happening and if it does, I can’t imagine it will give the fans everything they’re hoping for. Now another Ninjago People Pack, that I can really get behind. I would love to see a Legacy Tournament of Elements People Pack with the four Elemental Masters we’re missing. I predict that next year’s Legacy line will include more fan service-y stuff, seeing as it’s the tenth anniversary of the line. Legacy, so far, hasn’t really given us anything in the way of minifigures we’ve missed out on, bar the Digiverse Zane I suppose, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do with the line next year.

Usually, it’s people inside the factories that leak pictures of pieces and sets to these knockoff brands (and to us). I believe it’s one of the main reasons LEGO don't showcase future sets at the public Toy Fairs anymore. The myriad pictures that were taken there and posted online were used by knockoff brands to replicate sets. It’s interesting that we didn’t see many leaks for Monkie Kid before the official unveiling, but obviously the people who shouldn’t see them did. A shame really.

Maybe we’ll see a Legacy wave similar to the Day of the Departed line of sets; reimagined vehicles and minifigure designs reappropriated for a new storyline. They’d have to do something a bit more for the tenth anniversary, seeing as we’ve had Legacy sets for the last couple of years. Just another Legacy wave wouldn’t feel all that remarkable.

Hi, i’m happy to give these a crack. I’m on a bit of a decal designing blitz, so I might have them done by the end of the weekend. Was it just those torsos you wanted?

I don’t think the warehouses are bare as such, I just think that the process of getting stock from warehouse to store shelves has been slowed due to intense sanitation measures and rules around the staff permitted on the premises. And I do apologise if I came off as insensitive earlier. I don’t mean to diminish the importance LEGO has on us AFOLs just because there’s a pandemic going on, but I read back what I wrote and it definitely comes off that way. What I meant to say is please don’t let your disappointment at LEGO not meeting a release date turn into resentment for LEGO as a business. It’s not like they want to limit the amount of sets they release, it’s just a product of circumstance. It’s perfectly healthy to be upset about it though, don’t let angry people on the internet like me tell you different!

The LEGO situation in Australia is a product of the global pandemic forcing stringent measures at the LEGO warehouse in Australia that has been sowing releases right down, it’s evident everywhere you go. Shelves are looking pretty bare. I don’t want to sound bitter, but I would strongly encourage those upset by not being to be able to purchase every LEGO Harry Potter Set from day one to exercise a little patience. I know this may sound like blasphemy on a LEGO forum, but there are more important things than LEGO sets not coming out when they’re supposed to. I know for a fact that LEGO are doing their best at the moment.

To any Australians wondering, the sets appear to be releasing on S@H and most general retailers on June 1st. I forget that that’s only a few days away because time doesn’t seem to mean anything at the moment...

You mean the little robot that looks like the screen on legs? It does very much resemble Tee Vee from Alpha Team, a theme that ran from the early to mid 2000s. Wether or not it’s actually him remains to be seen, but it is definitely a welcome and adorable inclusion regardless.

I’m loving the Fire Truck, though I’m agreeing with the sentiment that the mech takes up a lot more of the back of the vehicle than I thought. However, I’m pretty sure fire trucks don’t actually have much interior on the back any way, it’s all water tanks and hoses, so I guess a mech is much more interesting. Im not seeing enough buzz about the apparent return of Alpha Team's Tee-Vee in this set. I love the little legs and the interchangeable faces. A beautiful boy. On a completely seperate note, is anyone else so used to Ninjago's rules around ghosts that when they see the box art for the water based sets with ghosts, with things like Vaughn deep sea diving and wonder why the water isn’t destroying them? Or is everyone else better at separating the two totally seperate universes than I am? For some reason I can’t seperate the two in my mind!

Yes, looking back on what I wrote, it sounded like I had some actual evidence that retailer exclusives were a thing of the past. It was purely observational, seeing as themes like Ninjago, City, etc. haven’t had really world-wide retailer exclusive sets since Toys R Us went down. I’m not as attuned to the release schedules for many themes, so my research was indeed flawed! If that’s the case, then the Fire Truck could indeed be a retailer exclusive. It wouldn’t be strange to have a wave of four sets plus one exclusive, I’m sure it’s happened before. However, we did have this same issue with the Ultra Dragon set from Ninjago a year and a half ago, where the pictures came in late, leading to a belief of exclusivity, but it turns out the pictures were just released later than the others. I guess we just have to play the ol’ waiting game.

Definitely agree with most everything said here. Sometimes I’m unsure wether my opinion would be different if I was new to Ninjago and didn’t have any of the original suit designs, but I definitely prefer new hybrid suit designs to gussied up versions of old ones. I would quietly argue that they should have faces and hair that closer resemble their pre-season 8 looks, maybe that’s something they can implement for future waves. I was a little disappointed that Young Lloyd in the Destiny’s Bounty set has green eyes as opposed to the black ones, that shows a deliberate desire to retain uniformity with the current line rather than reference the old designs. I do understand that reintroducing old hair moulds and face prints costs money that LEGO clearly don’t want to spend though. Before we had pictures of the new Legacy sets, I was really hoping that we’d get a Titanium Zane in the Legacy 2 suits so we could get his new hairpiece in silver, so I don’t have to keep re applying silver sharpie to one of my spare hairpieces.

I believe, more specifically, retailer exclusive for in-house themes are a thing of the past. Licensed themes must still be keeping them afloat.

Ho boy, they certainly did beef up the Kai Fighter! Maybe a little too much? I don’t know. Once I see more pictures of it in hand I think Ill be able to make a better judgement. I am adoring this new wave. Perfect balance of location and vehicle/creature sets. What I’m loving more is the balancing out of ninja figures, much better than the Prime Empire wave. We have Cole and Nya in three sets and Jay, Zane, Lloyd and Kai appear twice each (not counting the Spinjitzu Blast sets). Very excited for these to come out. Also, am I right in saying these new ninja suits are called ”Hero” suits? Just from what I can make out from the top of the box.