Aanchir

Nope, they didn't come like that. It looks like somebody tried painting them.

None of the suits have used those kinds of two-letter initials since 2012, so if they have a name it'll probably be a descriptive word like "Techno" or "Jungle" or "Elemental". For now, I'm calling them "throwback suits". I'm sure that won't be the official name.

Story-wise, they're books of magic that the Book of Monsters can devour so Jestro can summon more kinds of monsters. The more books he devours, the more powerful monsters Jestro can summon. Set-wise, they have different colors and printed patterns for their front covers and different monster-patterned tiles for their "pages". Besides the Book of Monsters, there are four out in the first wave (Book of Chaos in 70313, Book of Deception in 70314, Book of Evil in 70317, and Book of Revenge in 70324), and at least two coming in the second (one with an orange cover in 70321 and one with a blue cover in 70322). The Book of Monsters itself comes in two sets: 70316 in the first wave and 70323 in the second. Yes — 70326 The Black Knight Mech. We haven't seen any pics of the actual set, so we don't know what exactly it will include, but it's probably safe to assume it includes Whiparella, since she's the only character on the Characters page of the Nexo Knights website who hasn't been confirmed to appear in a set. It's not clear if it will include any books of magic. Nor is it confirmed what store it will be exclusive to.

Are any of those sources you can link to? Every source I've seen that mentions the Ninjago movie or the Hageman brothers credits them as the screenwriters for the Ninjago movie. Even sources from just this past week! I'm aware that the artists for the Papercutz graphic novels changed a few times. Paolo Henrique illustrated the first two, Paul Lee the third, and Jolyon Yates all the rest. Frankly I greatly prefer the styles of the later artists. If I flip to a random page of the first two graphic novels it's much easier for me to find panels that look "off" than in the later graphic novels. And Yates does perhaps the best inking of all three artists. The shadows in the wrinkles of the ninja hoods, for example, are impeccably shaded in his work, instead of just having thin, imprecise lines to define their contours. The uncolored pages on his DeviantArt gallery have an intensity to them that I really love. I've spoken with both Paul Lee and Jolyon Yates (the former of whom is a good friend of mine online), and the minifigures being more "rigid"/less expressive in their work is not an accident or a sign that they aren't capable of drawing the minifigures with the same flexibility as in the TV series. Jolyon Yates mentions in this interview that LEGO doesn't want/allow him to make the figures quite as "bendy" as they are in the animated series. Presumably LEGO either fine-tuned their minifigure style guide between 2011 and 2012 or just started enforcing those standards more strictly. The storytelling style also changed numerous times, but I don't think it can be neatly divided into "pre-change" and "post-change" groups. The difference in narrative style between one and two (the former of which is a series of interconnected short stories, the latter of which is a single, linear story) is as great or greater than the difference in narrative style between those two and many of the others. I've seen that! It's quite surreal.

Regarding the cookie box, it's odd that it's not designed so that you can move the box itself. A 2x2 plate and 2x2 jumper plate would be an easy fix for that. Maybe that would've been over budget, though.

Yeah, I hadn't seen that one before today either. Interesting that it's yet another summer set that's Skybound themed. Especially since there was already another sky pirate flyer polybag for the first half of the year. It's a pretty nifty design, though!

I didn't even realize the first two Papercutz graphic novels were considered any more canon than the others. I just figured they were all non-canon. Learn something new every day... I don't tend to get too hung up on whether something's canon or not, though. As long as it's enjoyable in its own right and enriches people's enjoyment of the franchise as a whole, I'm happy to partake in it. I've bought all the Ninjago graphic novels so far, and all the chapter books that are original stories rather than TV episode adaptations. It isn't a really big deal to me whether or not they're canon, because either way they give me a new story with the characters and world I enjoy so much. In the same respect, if I came across a Ninjago fanfic I really liked, then I would do my best not to get hung up on how closely it jibes with the official story. Sometimes it's fun to enjoy somebody else's spin on things (no pun intended). And as NinjaJayNuva says, unless something's changed, the new movie's screenplay IS being written by the Hageman brothers! (source 1 | source 2) This is part of why I'm confident that canon or not, it should be able to stay true to the characters and storytelling tone that they've set up in the TV show. It might not be entirely the same, because they're versatile writers, and for all I know they might WANT to create a separate "movie-verse" where they can do things differently. But in the very least it shouldn't run against what they, the writers, believe is best for the series.

Oh yeah, that Dark Stone Grey looks even nicer than I expected. And I agree, it'd be GREAT to have those stairs in Medium Nougat, especially since they have a similar "brick" texture on the center column!

I actually asked a designer at BrickFair New Jersey last year if blended parts like the hourglass were more expensive to make. It turns out, no, the costs are not much different than any other part. The only major difference is that LEGO can't melt down and reuse the leftover plastic sprues from blended parts like these like they can with single-color parts. I imagine the lack of an extra here has more to do with its size than anything. Generally extra parts only include those that are light enough that the weight check won't catch them. When you get extras of large parts like fire poles or dragon wings, I believe that's because they're bagged with other large parts like baseplates that don't go through as precise a weight check, so those bags include an extra so that they can be sure you won't be missing one. Anyway, I like the landscaping and architecture in this set. I'm not totally sure if I'll be getting it, though, because I already have Miku the baby dragon from last year's Pegasus Sleigh and will be getting Tidus in the Dragon Sanctuary set in the summer. But I might get this set anyway just because I like the design and it's not very expensive.

It's true, the Ninjago TV series doesn't show everything made out of bricks the way the LEGO movie does. But does that really matter? I think not. Even though things are depicted as plastic bricks in The LEGO Movie, they don't tend to behave as plastic bricks. Water acts like water, fire acts like fire, etc. For the most part, that's just the visual language. For comparison's sake, Star Wars: Rebels and the live-action Star Wars movies have different visual languages, but that doesn't mean the events of those series don't occur in the same universe. I have no idea if they'll make the movie a part of the same continuity and universe as the TV series. To be honest, I can see it being a good movie either way, as long as they stay true to the story's tone and characters. I wouldn't mind watching an "alternate universe" adaptation of Ninjago as long as it ticked both those boxes. The bigger question in my mind is what the future of Ninjago will be like after the movie.

That shouldn't be reason for worry. Canada makes a whole bunch of high-quality cartoons.

That map is interesting, though it makes the part of Elvendale we saw last year look really small! Maybe it's not drawn to scale though. There's not as much on this new map that the Elves don't actually visit on their journey. On the old map there were some really inspiring location names like the Desertlands and Highlands of Helyan. Those character illustrations look fantastic! I love that you can tell how different the physiques of the dragons are even when they're not made of bricks. Ragana's cat looks cute, but evil! I wonder when we'll learn its name. I don't know who does these illustrations. I'd love to find out though!

They do, on Rebrick. They're even in the process of redesigning the site to be all about these sorts of contests. I don't think it's fair at all to say the winners of this contest weren't actually good. I think they look quite nice, way better than a lot of the entries I remember from many of the LEGO Magazine contests during my childhood.

The Sand Yellow (Dark Tan) staircase is interesting, but I actually think it blends in too much with the dragon banner. I sort of think that Medium Stone Grey (Light Bluish Grey) might be a better fit. Dark Stone Grey might also work, though it might look too dark. It'd match the front steps of the library, at any rate.

I like the earth dragon in this set. It's similar in size to the Water Dragon but stockier instead of being so thin. Its wings aren't as articulated as the Water Dragon's, but that makes them a bit sturdier so I guess I'm OK with that. It's interesting how much less articulated its tail is than any of the other dragons, but it still looks great and I love the crystal on the tip! The picture next to the crate of pumpkins is actually not a picture of the smithy — it's a flyer for the Starlight Inn! Even though the smithy is not attached to the post office and library, I think it's nice that they included some stairs on top of the smithy and an overhang on the post office so you can join them together as one building. It's especially nice since otherwise there'd be no way to get up to the post office. I've loved the build for the library sign since I first saw it. So clever! The library in general looks really cozy. The new book is very neat. It also appears in the Queen Dragon Rescue and Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle sets with the same cover, but I wonder if the page inside is the same in all three sets. It'd be cool if you got a different page in each one. The parcels in the post office are very neat. Thanks for the pictures as this is my first time getting a good look at them. I like the planter on the windowsill as well. Aira doesn't appear to have an open grin in any of this year's sets, but she did have an open grin in all of last year's. So just as with the other elves, this year's sets give us a different expression than she's had before. Both the elves' outfits look nice, staying true to the style of their outfits from last year while still being unique in their own right. The sword and shield are nice accessories and you're right, they do stand out from the sorts of accessories we've gotten in previous sets! I really love the bright colors of Elvendale. They help the theme stand out from other themes in a good way, I think, making the world feel bright and magical. But I guess if I were a woman and had been inundated with pink and purple all my life I might feel differently. Thanks so much for this review!

It makes it easier to identify the pieces you need and where to put them in the building instructions, as well as to find those pieces when they're all in a pile. In some cases there are also other factors — a certain part might not currently be in production in a set's main color but it might be in production in a brighter color. But the main reason is to streamline the building process.

Frankly I was pretty impressed with the winners of this contest, especially considering the age of the builders. I'm sorry your entry didn't win, but let's not start tearing into the MOCs of kids who probably don't have as much experience as any of us aren't even here to defend their creations. That wouldn't be very sporting.

I should mention that besides the first wave of Ninjago sets this year being a part of the sky pirate themed "Skybound" story arc, three other sets this summer continue that theme: Kryptarium Prison Breakout, The Green NRG Dragon, and The Lighthouse Siege. Kryptarium Prison Breakout doesn't really have any sky pirate minifigures or vessels, but one of the prisoners, Captain Soto, has a face and hat that will be great for Pirates creations (sadly, his modern prison garb means his torso won't really be useful). The Green NRG Dragon and The Lighthouse Siege have sky pirate minifigures, including some who are rare in the sets for the first half of the year. However, the ones with neck accessories use this shoulder armor in Earth Green instead of epaulettes in the same color. The Lighthouse Siege set is probably the one that could most easily be transplanted to a nautical display without much modification, and it offers some great parts for fort-building and landscaping. However, the sky pirate flyer that comes with it has fewer nautical motifs than those from the first half of the year. In terms of new parts, there's a new chain part used on the lanterns in The Green NRG Dragon and The Lighthouse Siege. Not sure if it might have any nautical uses, but I feel like it'd be good to point that out. Overall, I know the Ninjago sets are a mixed bag for builders of more traditional displays, but I'll be interested to see if you guys find some good uses for their parts anyway!

That playlist is for Singapore (hence the "SG"), and the videos being viewable worldwide was probably not intentional. I guarantee you Cartoon Network has not given up on Ninjago. If these don't get taken down or region-locked they'll provide a good avenue for people around the world to watch the new episodes, but this isn't the first time full episodes have been officially posted online for all the world to see, so it wouldn't surprise me if LEGO closes up this loophole at some point as they've done with others in the past.

I'm genuinely surprised that the purple ninja wears the old style ninja hood. I guess looking at BrickLink it was in a Ninja Turtles set in 2013, but other than that it hasn't been used since 2011. I'm kinda surprised it's even still in production. Honestly, I kinda wish it were the current style of ninja hood or even the 2012 style that's still being used in LEGO Juniors, since it'd make his back printing more visible and let him turn his head more.

As far as I know, nobody's seen it. But it was in the Toy Fair press guide BZPower got, so it's more than just speculation. Its name, number, US/Canadian price, and piece count are all confirmed.

The store I went to seemed to have no problem with adults participating, and from what I've heard from people in some of the Facebook groups I'm in, that's the case with a lot of stores. Some stores apparently do ensure that kids all got a chance to build a set before letting adults through but don't stop adults from participating after there are no more kids in line. My local store just let me through the line with everybody else.

Well, he is dark and he is a hunter!

What's wrong with that? Clay/Jestro and Clay/Lance are the two popular ships I've seen on Tumblr so far.

I'm not denying that the TV show is probably responsible for a lot of that data. The TV show is unquestionably a big part of why Ninjago is as popular as it is. That doesn't mean searches related to the TV show somehow don't count, aren't valid, or aren't a factor in overall IP strength. I don't remember this quote. I guess you mean from this page? Google Translate tells me it translates to "LEGO Bionicle is the most requested and popular IP of all time". Can't argue with that. However, "of all time" sounds like it means cumulatively. Whereas my post was about which is the strongest currently. Bionicle hadn't been as strong as Ninjago in many, many years. It's also tough to tell whether that blurb applies to worldwide popularity or regional popularity. That's why I stated very clearly "in the past twelve years". Google Trends can tell us nothing about Bionicle at its peak. However, it does tell us that Ninjago has generated much more search interest since 2004. Bionicle was the LEGO Group's strongest IP of all time, but that doesn't mean it still is their strongest IP. And that means investing in the Bionicle reboot as if the theme's popularity had been stable since 2002 would not be a sound business decision. Ninjago didn't really have to prove itself as much as Bionicle did because hit its peak popularity in December 2012, pretty much right when the decision to continue it was announced. But Bionicle had fallen pretty far since its peak, and really had to work to prove that it could still do better than Hero Factory did. Being unmatched in its success many years before didn't mean the viability of the reboot was a sure thing. Also, if it's sales data that concerns you, I don't have all-time sales data for either theme or specific numbers for either theme. But according to Brick by Brick, page 265, "The LEGO Group reported a 20 percent increase in sales in the first quarter of 2011, largely due to the overwhelming popularity of the Ninjago line, which went on to rack up the highest single-year sales of any LEGO-invented theme in the company's history". That was before the first full season of the TV show even launched. I think that says a lot.