How Well Do You Like the Ninja Theme?

[WesternOutlaw]

In a recent Ninja thread, someone had mentioned that Ninja is not/or was not a very popular theme. I'm curious as to how well Eurobrick members truly like the Ninja theme. Please select on a scale of 1-5 how well you like the theme. 1 = not at all, 5 = strongly like, and share your thoughts.

[ghoulrealm]

I love this theme *wub*

It was one of the few themes that I thought were so well designed that they need little or no mocing (maybe fuller roofs, but thats all)

I also have all but 2 of the smaller sets, and they are all intact.

[Starwars4J]

I have ALL of the Ninja sets in-tact back home. I loved the sets, not only did they provide great figs, but great accessories too! The set designs were like the older ones, and to me this was the end of "classic castle". At least it went out with a bang ;-)

I just wish they made the Ninja the "bad guys" and the Samurai the good guys. Mixing them was a terrible idea :-X

[Athos]

Well, now this is a hard question... When compared to most of the stuff we are getting today, Ninja's were fantastic. Compared to the offerings back then, it was average. Compared to stuff from the golden-age, they were sub-par. Over all I'd say they were above average. I'm not all that into ninja stuff, so maybe some of the appeal is lost on me. At the same time they work great with the adventurers line, which really bumps them way up on the old appeal-o-meter for me. So I'll rate them as above average.

Steve

P.S. Plan to see a story about Johnny Thunder vs. ninjas someday...

[Sir Dillon]

I voted option 4. While maybe not the best theme ever, I do like it more then most, and wish I had bought more sets when they were out.

BTW, Brickster, I like your new avatar. ;-)

[Athos]

Ninja 4805

BTW, Brickster, I like your new avatar.

What ninja sets do you have ?

Poll: How Well Do You Like the Ninja Theme?

What is it, Ninja Month? ;-)

Steve

[Starwars4J]

Ninja 4805

BTW, Brickster, I like your new avatar.

What ninja sets do you have ?

Poll: How Well Do You Like the Ninja Theme?

What is it, Ninja Month? ;-)

Steve

Not a bad idea! :-P

[Brick Miner]

well, when brickster likes a theme, he gets the H&A forum going !!! :-D :-D :-D it is kinda interesting that i bumped the ninja thread, then brickster jumps back into EB with ninja stuff...

was the old thread inspiring, or were we just on the same page ??? ;-)

as for the topic, i voted 5. i feel the ninja theme is just as well designed as the WW cowboys line. i just happen to have more interest in the western culture. and just because of personal preference, i shouldn't let that stray my vote.

id say the ninja theme was conceptualized very well, and that is its strongest point.

- BrickMiner

[Lord Thrawn]

I rate this theme very highly. Not only, as others have said, did it have great figs and accesories, but it had some very exciting, large sets. I didn't own any, but from what I've seen the Ninja theme was some of the best Castle ever.

Thumbs up! *y*

[JoeMI6]

I concur with Thrawn. It was one hell of a good theme. It's a shame that it's not one that lego made to last.

[WesternOutlaw]

it is kinda interesting that i bumped the ninja thread, then brickster jumps back into EB with ninja stuff...

was the old thread inspiring, or were we just on the same page ??? ;-)

No, actually I had not read the message before building some of the sets. It was the first Lego moving box I had opened (ony one so far) and was looking at some of the box art. I had not put them together in many years so thought I'd give them a try. I've said this before, but I like to theme hop because I get bored rather easy. In addition, I never see much on the Ninja theme on Eurobricks.

Pictures/image reviews usually peek my interest. And also, when we were having the Favorite Knight Contest, someone had shared some images of really sharp Samurai knight MOCs. I was quite impressed, and wanted to look at some of the fig detail I'd since forgotten. Ninja was a great theme.

[xwingyoda]

I did not hesitate a sec and voted for 5 !! I love that theme *wub*

Blame those bloody dark ages I say !! Those made me miss this entire line >:-(

Since I love asian and japanese culture, its a definite must line in my book (like the chinese sets in the last adventurers line ;-) )

This theme/sub theme (oh boy I am not entering that debate) had fantastic and beautifull Mfs + great castle elements and fantastic accessories 8-

[captaintau]

I just wish they made the Ninja the "bad guys" and the Samurai the good guys. Mixing them was a terrible idea

Well, in reality, the Samurai were the bad guys. They were an oppressive class-orientated war-loving government. The Ninja were neither good nor bad guys. They would occassioanally defend a village against a Daimyo (Samurai retainer) for the sake of the freedom of that village, but generally were hired by the Samurai to act as hidden bodyguards, spies or assassins.

[Starwars4J]

I just wish they made the Ninja the "bad guys" and the Samurai the good guys. Mixing them was a terrible idea

Well, in reality, the Samurai were the bad guys. They were an oppressive class-orientated war-loving government. The Ninja were neither good nor bad guys. They would occassioanally defend a village against a Daimyo (Samurai retainer) for the sake of the freedom of that village, but generally were hired by the Samurai to act as hidden bodyguards, spies or assassins.

True, but we're talking about TLG here, not Historians. And typicalls Ninja are seen as the bad guys trying to assassinate someone, and the "noble" Samurai defends honor and justice, at least in the public's eye ;-)

[snefroe]

In a recent Ninja thread, someone had mentioned that Ninja is not/or was not a very popular theme. I'm curious as to how well Eurobrick members truly like the Ninja theme. Please select on a scale of 1-5 how well you like the theme. 1 = not at all, 5 = strongly like, and share your thoughts.

hang on! i said: 'Ninja was never popular around here', meaning, it didn't do all that well in Belgium. 1998 was the moment when Lego lost popularity thru out the lines and suffered from a shrinking toy market in favor of PC games; In fact, until not so long ago, you could still buy ninja sets in certain shops. nobody wanted them... I find that current popularity of Lego lines does not mean people are willing to buy the old sets as well.

i don't find these sets to be very spectacular. the printing is very cool, the parts are nice but the (larger) sets themselves are not fantastic. the actual story behind it isn't very clear to me either. to my knoledge, Ninjas were the guys you could hire for what we'd call 'black ops-situations'. the others were supposed to be the good guys and that's basically it? a bit thin, i'd say...

[Kahgarak]

I liked it above average.

[Brick Miner]

In a recent Ninja thread, someone had mentioned that Ninja is not/or was not a very popular theme. I'm curious as to how well Eurobrick members truly like the Ninja theme. Please select on a scale of 1-5 how well you like the theme. 1 = not at all, 5 = strongly like, and share your thoughts.

hang on! i said: 'Ninja was never popular around here', meaning, it didn't do all that well in Belgium. 1998 was the moment when Lego lost popularity thru out the lines and suffered from a shrinking toy market in favor of PC games; In fact, until not so long ago, you could still buy ninja sets in certain shops. nobody wanted them... I find that current popularity of Lego lines does not mean people are willing to buy the old sets as well.

if i recall right, you said the same thing about the WW line. it doesn't mean the theme wasn't popular or liked else where. and doesn't say anything about the quailty of the theme in general. ;-)

it seems you are suggesting that LEGO's sales started to decline around the time of these two themes, 1996-1999. is this a fact for the whole company or just your area ??? im curious.

i don't find these sets to be very spectacular. the printing is very cool, the parts are nice but the (larger) sets themselves are not fantastic. the actual story behind it isn't very clear to me either. to my knoledge, Ninjas were the guys you could hire for what we'd call 'black ops-situations'. the others were supposed to be the good guys and that's basically it? a bit thin, i'd say...

as i view the theme that is a bit generalized. you could sum up any theme in a few words like that. pirates, definitely castle (even less story), and even star wars !!!

i acutally think this in one of the highest conceptualized themes out there, next to adventurers.

- BrickMiner

[snefroe]

In a recent Ninja thread, someone had mentioned that Ninja is not/or was not a very popular theme. I'm curious as to how well Eurobrick members truly like the Ninja theme. Please select on a scale of 1-5 how well you like the theme. 1 = not at all, 5 = strongly like, and share your thoughts.

hang on! i said: 'Ninja was never popular around here', meaning, it didn't do all that well in Belgium. 1998 was the moment when Lego lost popularity thru out the lines and suffered from a shrinking toy market in favor of PC games; In fact, until not so long ago, you could still buy ninja sets in certain shops. nobody wanted them... I find that current popularity of Lego lines does not mean people are willing to buy the old sets as well.

if i recall right, you said the same thing about the WW line. it doesn't mean the theme wasn't popular or liked else where. and doesn't say anything about the quailty of the theme in general. ;-)

it seems you are suggesting that LEGO's sales started to decline around the time of these two themes, 1996-1999. is this a fact for the whole company or just your area ??? im curious.

i don't find these sets to be very spectacular. the printing is very cool, the parts are nice but the (larger) sets themselves are not fantastic. the actual story behind it isn't very clear to me either. to my knoledge, Ninjas were the guys you could hire for what we'd call 'black ops-situations'. the others were supposed to be the good guys and that's basically it? a bit thin, i'd say...

as i view the theme that is a bit generalized. you could sum up any theme in a few words like that. pirates, definitely castle (even less story), and even star wars !!!

i acutally think this in one of the highest conceptualized themes out there, next to adventurers.

- BrickMiner

yep, i did say the same about the WW theme! Lego did not do well between 1996-1999. i'm not making this up, you know, i've talked about these things with my local shopkeepers and the Lego rep in Belgium confirmed it in interviews: they all clearly stated Lego was not doing very well at all in those days. In fact, the reason why they went into informatics was because they had lost all faith in the brick-concept, it just didn't sell anymore... it's that simple.

you're wrong if you think that Lego got into trouble in 2003 or so , found that out in 2004 and started reforms in 2005. That's simply not the case, it's been an ongoing evolution for quite some time before 2004. Lego lost 30% of her costumers globally in the late 90's-2003 to playmobil, so don't tell me these short-lived lines were highly successful. they were not. City wasn't doing great either, Space (ufo, roboforce, insectoids, mars) was a shadow of the past. However, the situation in belgium was much worse than any place else, because of bad management in the 90's, before we got this new guy. Since 2005 sales have improved with 400 000 sets, totaling 2.000 000 sets for 2005.

i never said there's a link between high quality and popularity. WW is one of the best lines I've ever seen, young boys were just not interested. they all wanted pc games instead, in a toymarket that is still dimishing! There was hardly anything that Lego could have done...

Pirates had a backstory with even actual names for the major roles and both castle and pirates had a lot more sets to make up a decent story yourself. if you check Lugnet, you'll see this theme hardly had anything more than individual minifig packs and two medium-large castles.

[WesternOutlaw]

yep, i did say the same about the WW theme! Lego did not do well between 1996-1999. i'm not making this up, you know, i've talked about these things with my local shopkeepers and the Lego rep in Belgium confirmed it in interviews: they all clearly stated Lego was not doing very well at all in those days. In fact, the reason why they went into informatics was because they had lost all faith in the brick-concept, it just didn't sell anymore... it's that simple.

In my opinion, I think that Lego introduced some of their best themes during this time span. Some include:

- The introduction of Lego SW. They weren't the best sets, but Lego finally jumped on the SW band wagon. Up until then, us 70s children were building our own SW MOCs with standard bricks.

- Adventurers / Jungle.

- Adventurers / Egypt. My favorite of the Adventurer sub-themes.

- Ninja!

Regardless of what shop owners say, as an AFOL collector, I think this era was very good with the number of sets to the above themes that Lego offered. Ninja was another great theme in the overall history of Lego, and unfortunately, short lived.

[Brick Miner]

yep, i did say the same about the WW theme! Lego did not do well between 1996-1999. i'm not making this up, you know, i've talked about these things with my local shopkeepers and the Lego rep in Belgium confirmed it in interviews: they all clearly stated Lego was not doing very well at all in those days. In fact, the reason why they went into informatics was because they had lost all faith in the brick-concept, it just didn't sell anymore... it's that simple.

cool facts snefroe, thanks for clearing that up. interesting information.

hmmm...

in any case, that is too bad really, cause i agree with brickster that in this time-fame, LEGO produced its best themes ever. WW, ninja, adventurers... the only thing that is missing from the equation is the islanders :-D ;-)

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you're wrong if you think that Lego got into trouble in 2003 or so , found that out in 2004 and started reforms in 2005. That's simply not the case, it's been an ongoing evolution for quite some time before 2004. Lego lost 30% of her costumers globally in the late 90's-2003 to playmobil, so don't tell me these short-lived lines were highly successful. they were not. City wasn't doing great either, Space (ufo, roboforce, insectoids, mars) was a shadow of the past. However, the situation in belgium was much worse than any place else, because of bad management in the 90's, before we got this new guy. Since 2005 sales have improved with 400 000 sets, totaling 2.000 000 sets for 2005.

is there a theory or popular belief that LEGO got into trouble in 2003 ??? or are you saying im wrong cause i believe that ??? cause i dont' think i ever implied that. |-/

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i never said there's a link between high quality and popularity. WW is one of the best lines I've ever seen, young boys were just not interested. they all wanted pc games instead, in a toymarket that is still dimishing! There was hardly anything that Lego could have done...

yes, but when you say the theme didn't sell well in a thread that is discussing the quality of the theme, it makes it sound like you think there is a link ;-)

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Pirates had a backstory with even actual names for the major roles and both castle and pirates had a lot more sets to make up a decent story yourself. if you check Lugnet, you'll see this theme hardly had anything more than individual minifig packs and two medium-large castles.

hmmm... i see way more that just "two medium large castles". there is 3050, 3051, 3052, 3053, 3045, 3083, 3088, 3089, and 3093 (which has more pieces than most "large castles") and that is not including small sets or minifig packs.. that is only medium-to-large sets, which you summed up into two sets. there is more material there than a lot of themes ;-) and the content is very thought-through.

- BrickMiner

[WesternOutlaw]

What irritates me in some of the comments above re. theme unpopularity is that they sound like comments from a financial analyst or accountant. We're Lego enthusiasts/collectors, not employees of Lego's financial board. That's what most impresses me with the old Lego phylosophy is that they weren't concerned with sales as much as product quality and the imagination of children.

This is exactly what happened wrong with many old toy companies. Cheaper Chinese-made toys flooded the market. Instant gratification took over, and now children would rather play video games then spend time constructing great MOCs. Why spend a lot on a toy that Timmy will only play with a few times, then toss it aside? I think this is why quality is diminishing.

This thread was about the popularity of the Lego Ninja Theme. Not from the perspective of a sales analyst, but rather to us as collectors of great Lego themes. Snefroe, what are your opinions of the theme? This is what I was asking.

I can see by the votes, that the Ninja theme is in fact well-liked, at least by the fans of the History and Adventure forum.

[Brick Miner]

i never said there's a link between high quality and popularity. WW is one of the best lines I've ever seen, young boys were just not interested. they all wanted pc games instead, in a toymarket that is still dimishing! There was hardly anything that Lego could have done...

yes, but when you say the theme didn't sell well in a thread that is discussing the quality of the theme, it makes it sound like you think there is a link ;-)

that is what i was trying to say here... i hope if came out right :-$

- BrickMiner

[WesternOutlaw]

You said it right. I agree with your comments.

[Hobbes]

Ninja came out during my dark ages. As I mentioned in my City story I did buy a Ninja guy in 1999 or so, but it wasn't enough to get me out of my sleep. I always like the stories of Samurais and Ninjas, but I didn't do any research on the subject or anything. If I saw something (i.e. movies mostly) I watched it. That was it, though.

That LEGO had Ninjas surprised me, then again, back then everything LEGO was new to me. It looked interesting. Unfortunately I didn't find any other sets complementing this one. Guess it was a remaining stock item or something. I ended up giving it to my brother who has a few Classic Castle sets to use it with. He still has it, I think.

So I voted average cos I don't know nothing about it but it looks like a good theme.

Do another poll in a few months and let's see if you could change my mind ;-)

[WesternOutlaw]

*wacko* Ninja Story Flashback *wacko*

Around Christmas one year (1999 -2001?), I was in my local Target store browsing the Lego toy aisle, and saw 3052 Ninja's Fire Fortress on clearance.

I had not bought a ninja set and was thinking, "oh, I don't need to start another theme". But, I went ahead and bought it at a clearance price (don't remember how much$) and took the set home.

That Sunday even, I put the set together and was amaized 8-