Mandate

We still don't have most of the details concerning the (second?) Serpentine war, and we have seen Cole's father before. Jay has me stumped, though. It has to be someone that very clearly has lightning abilities, or the capacity to. So, what you're saying is, is that if Kai wants to be in a relationship with Skylor (which he does) a magic genie falling out of the sky and offering him that wish would have no effect on him simply because he could drop by a noodle house and say hi? What? Edit: alright, I'm going to throw this out the window so no one else can. What if Jay's father is I regret nothing.

Giving singular orders, or taking command of a situation =/= permanent leader. If you want to argue about who gets the team together, it most certainly wasn't Cole in the first season - that was Wu. At the end of season 1 Kai took charge after the "death" of Sensei Wu, creating a plan to take on the Devourer. In season 2, Kai repeatedly had to reel in Cole's need to fight the Stone Army. There's numerous examples of Kai taking charge of the team. Cole being the leader is another relic of NINJAGO's "forgotten past", or the stuff they put in the plot briefly but then canned it to make way for other stuff.

So it was speculated earlier on Nadahkhan's genie-state allowing him to turn the ninja's greatest wishes against them. I can't remember exactly what the purpose of the Djinn blades is, some have said capturing elemental power, others say the ninja's souls. If the latter is true, what if Nadahkhan's method of capturing the ninja is by luring them into the Djinn blades with their heart's desires? For Jay, it might be Nya, for Cole it could be becoming human again (with a genie on the loose, he could very well), and maybe for Wu it would be Garmadon returning. Haven't thought too hard about it, but what do you guys think?

Was he ever really, though? He made plans every now and again, but Kai's arrogance ended that before the pilot episode was even half way through. Back on-topic, I can definitely see LEGO changing the main cast eventually, or giving the line a temporary break and then reintroducing the line with a fresh set of recruits led by Sensei Kai or something. It would be necessary at one point to reboot NINJAGO, there's no way it's going to last forever in its current form, and set-wise things are starting to get a little stale.

The Demon Trials from Arkham City say otherwise. I do agree with you though, I doubt that Skybound is getting a second wave. But it's still a possibility.

"Why would Batman need a Tumbler if he can fly?"

Don't think anyone's pointed it out yet, but Jay has his eyepatch in Misfortune's Keep. Can't see if he has it in his dragon set, though.

I didn't think LEGO could disappoint me any more than they did when images first came out. Mask of Control has an uncanny resemblance to Dobby, and LEGO has learned nothing of "subtlety" with their color schemes since last year. Tahu's practically the Skakdi Fusion with how much gold they put on him, and while I appreciate the efforts they've put into the Creatures but it's a big, fat no for most of them. The saddest part about this is that lds5621's "BIONICLE Episode 19" is going to be canon pretty soon

Pretty sure the admins aren't going to fall for that.

Took me way to long to realize the code you guys were using. The new images are definitely a clear improvement over the originals, but it's probably best to wait until the actual reviews than for the shiny CGI set renders LEGO uses. I will say this though, the Zeppelin is actually kind of adorable now.

Nya's character arc as Samurai X wrapped up when she chose to be content with her nature (!!!) as a samurai back in 2012. Her transition from samurai to ninja is ultimately pointless because it's a big fuss over naming conventions, and now she won't use any of her samurai gear without Sensei's permission. All it does really is drive an "equality" narrative that is counterproductive, it promotes equality in general but says that Samurai X, despite being a technical genius, combat expert and wiping the floor with the ninja on multiple occasions, still has to join in with the boy's club to actually mean anything to the plot. As for Ronin's side in this, it could be done well. If he's still somewhat conniving and not totally convinced to help the ninja unless it's absolutely necessary (a la Catwoman) then I'm on board with that. But if he becomes a boring, bland, goody-two-shoes character like Lloyd then they might as well have never introduced him if they want to create such a radical transformation so quickly. Set-wise, I don't think I could bear another wave of orange and green clad vehicles.

I don't like the idea of Ronin becoming the "new" Samurai X. Nya's transition was fairly pointless (it was as pointless as Lloyd's "green gi" meltdown) already, and there's not really any actual reason for why Ronin donning a samurai mech suit would make him the new Samurai X. It'd be really cool to see a new Samurai Mech, and it Ronin being Samurai X would make sense, but it's ultimately pointless.

CMF series for NINJAGO? Eh, I got tired of CMF years ago. Speaking of collectibles, I can't wait for Dimensions and its over-priced NINJAGO "collectibles" to make a return next year. If you really think WB and LEGO won't milk Dimensions, think again. They will.

Lloyd is boring, Pixal is Zane's waifu, Nya was forced into being a ninja based on "equality" for ironically stupid and arbitrary reasons, Garmadon dies whenever the plot wills it, plot holes go completely unexplained (unless we get a half-hearted nod in the NEXT season), plot threads are never touched on again, and characters react in bizarre ways that contradict their established personalities (see: Nya, but that one deserved its own point)... this show is a train wreck disaster when it comes to the story, I don't understand how you people can still put up with its shenanigans at this point. Seeing as everyone else is doing it, I may as well go into detail about my thoughts on the new sets. - Cole's Dragon Looks boring, has gappy wings, Cole is dull and boring while the other figure is a vibrant mess of colors. - Ninja Bike Chase Kai's bike is overexposed, Nya's bike would be decent if it weren't for that contraption out the front (don't these bikes have a function or something? If it's not flying bike version 1267 then that's pretty cool). I really don't like the flying trash can. Also: thank you very much LEGO for giving us a second motorbike for Kai and breaking the vehicle diversity in characters. /s - Sky Shark Neat design. Really, it's probably my favorite set out of the entire wave. Minor gripe is the junkyard aesthetic. C'mon, LEGO, you did it so well in TLM. Lloyd's jetpack is comically overpowered, but it's a tablescrap thing so I don't expect much. - Jay's Elemental Dragon Looks just like every other dragon we've gotten from this line. It's getting stale, LEGO, please do something to spice it up again. - Raid Zeppelin That is a very small zeppelin, and a very weird hoverboard. I don't think it's helping that I'll spend the next few months on this little beauty in Fallout 4. - Tiger Widow Island My worst fears were confirmed. Pirate jetpack is cool (if an overused design), Wu in aviator goggles is amazing. The base itself is very underwhelming, and the surrounding scenery isn't the greatest we've ever gotten (except for that arch... that is pretty cool). - Misfortune's Keep Would it have killed LEGO to make this thing tan, brown and dark orange? Would have done wonders for the aesthetic. It's not even a very cool base design, flying pirate airship would have been way nicer than a junkyard VTOL with a driftwood shack strapped to the bottom. Whatever that thing is Lloyd is flying... no, just no LEGO. Fortunately these are prelims, there should be a massive turn-around with the design of some of them. Unfortunately that orange and dark green colorscheme isn't going anywhere, eugh. I'm not trying to be a "negative nancy" or some anti-popular stuff guy but I really don't like these. EDIT: Whoops, thought I was in the 2015 thread for some reason.

Meh. Not dreadfully interested in these sets.

I seem to recall Zane battling (HA!) the Overlord at Borg tower, not the temple of fortitude. Anyway, not sure I like some of the artstyle changes. I want clearer pictures, but LEGO will not give them

The entire game is not canon. It was confirmed a while back by the Hageman brother's Twitter account.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but Nadakhan uses the same upper torso as Kozu did. I think he's... interesting, to say the least.

Just this year Ninjago became an evergreen theme, and with its impending reboot (albeit a cinematic reboot, so set release could be sporadic at best) it's not going to be ending for some time now. We don't know if the TV show version will run alongside the TLM version, but it's safe to say that Ninjago or themes of heavy similarity will be around for some time to come.

I take back everything I said about these. Biker gang pirate outfits for the ninja? Cyborg pirates? Yes please!

Always looked like a stormcloud with eyes to me. Never an octopus.

"PWR" suits (can we please stop calling them that) will likely never make a physical appearance. After the concept art was found in the LEGO Universe game files they've spread throughout 3rd party knock-off sets and collectibles. It's the same reason why LEGO doesn't like prelims getting leaked, it would be incredibly easy for counterfeits to be produced.

this

I don't like that Jay's storm symbol is an octopus now, and the new shoulder armor covering only shoulder looks out of place. Reusing the deepstone legs is... okay, I guess, but I would have liked to see something new. I hope that this is the last time we get black outfits for some time and save it for the outfits that are going to look regal and fancy, like the Kimono outfit.