Actually I modded the original Bounty for the kids and now it looks cooler then the final flight version. lolz Widening the "wing-engines" was 80% of the solution.

Personally I think, set wise, that the best sets have been in the Skeleton wave (Fire Temple, the four dragons (Lightning!!!), Skull Truck, Skull Crusher, Dojo etc), the serpetine wave had really good stuff (Bounty, That snake heli, Samuarai X, Cole's car, Jay's fighter).

The stone wave was small (son got all of them due a generous family member) had some nice designs but excelled with minifigs.

I found the nindroid wave a let down, the elemental tournament wave buggered on the whole. The Ghost wave was another step up with its great dragons and Ronin REX and excellent minifigures again. The latest line with the pirates was again a step down.

The sketches are only sketches. I will comment on real pictures.

The Medusa figure confuses me. The sets look cool so far but I want to see the dragon.

After taking closer looks, the vehicles are rather meh. There's no standouts, like the Raid Zeppelin in last year's drawings, but hopefully the yet-to-be-drawn dragon will cool...

I agree. Nothing here really looks that interesting besides the boat thing with Cole and Lloyd. The standouts will probably be this and the Dragon Blacksmith set.

Apparently Wu will no longer be called Sensei Wu due to it meaning something else. He will go as Master Wu from here on out, even in the show.

What? Meaning something else??

What? Meaning something else??

It apparently means something very specific. It's not what they had in mind I guess.

Edited September 21, 20168 yr by gamejutzu

Apparently Wu will no longer be called Sensei Wu due to it meaning something else. He will go as Master Wu from here on out, even in the show.

That's just going to sound stupid if they try to explain it. He's been Sensei Wu from the beginning .

Makes no sense.

Sensei mean 'Master' in Japanese, so why would it need to change.

Or do they think it's too hard of a word for kids to learn? Why not extend their vocabulary?

On another note, where does this info even come from, gamejutzu?

Edited September 21, 20168 yr by Penkid11

Makes no sense.

Sensei mean 'Master' in Japanese, so why would it need to change.

Or do they think it's too hard of a word for kids to learn? Why not extend their vocabulary?

On another note, where does this info even come from, gamejutzu?

It was from Tommy Andreasen's twitter. It has nothing to do with the word being too hard to learn or with people not knowing the meaning. Rather, he mentioned that "sensei" had other more specific meanings besides "master" or "teacher" that didn't correctly describe Wu. It's possible that it might have been the term's use in Buddhism that the LEGO Group wanted to steer clear of to avoid any unintentional religious connotations, like the sort that create controversy in the first year of Bionicle when they used the Maori word "Tohunga" (which can mean "expert" or "craftsman", but also "priest").

In any case, it doesn't really affect the story in any way, because the ninja have variously referred to him as "master" or "sensei" at many points throughout the story, so calling him "master" now isn't suddenly coming out of nowhere.

But Sensei = Master.

Also, why would they changed it to avoid religious connotations after 5 years?

x 2

Edited September 21, 20168 yr by Robert8

But Sensei = Master.

That's one meaning of Sensei. It also has other meanings besides that. At least one of those is a meaning that the LEGO Group has chosen to avoid.

Also, why would they changed it to avoid religious connotations after 5 years?

It's really just after four or four and a half years — all of last year's sets and some of last year's media was already calling him "Master Wu".

And why then? I guess that's just how long it took for LEGO to decide/realize that a change might be in their best interest. It may be that the realization came about during the movie-making process, since a lot of thought goes into what aspects of big-budget movies might be received or interpreted differently in different parts of the world.

That's just going to sound stupid if they try to explain it. He's been Sensei Wu from the beginning .

I doubt they'd explain something like that. The characters will probably just call him "Master Wu" like they've always been doing it.

I just wanted to take a moment to publicly thank The Artist for the drawings of the sets. I imagine that they take quite a bit of time to do and I appreciate the time and effort that you put into them and that you are doing this for our benefit. Thank you.

And now that I have seen the other sets, I figured I'd put in my 2 bits:

70621: Vermillion Trap:

A fairly typical Ninjago impulse set with a small landscape build. It almost looks like some kind of a garden/jungle wall. I originally thought that the "trap" was a catapult that launched the snake-pod, but it looks like there is some other kind of trigger mechanism in the set. Also of note is that 3 mini figs are included in the set, which I think is a first at this price point/piece count.

76023: Shadow of Destiny's Bounty

Ah, now I get the name! They used parts from the DB to make this smaller ship! This looks like it could have been from the Skybound wave! It looks to me like more of a plane than a ship. I can see the cockpit is in the back where Lloyd is sitting. Hard to tell what the front looks like though. Also, when I first heard the description, I figured the canoe's were, like, lifeboats on the ship, but now I see that they form part of the hull around the cockpit. Interesting technique and use of the pieces. I like the set overall, although the SDB looks maybe a bit on the small side for this price point...?

76024: Vermillion Infiltrator

Interesting choice of name as there isn't anything subtle about the design of that vehicle! I like the central tank tread and it looks like all of the Vermillion vehicles have a wedge-shape design to them, which is cool. Hard to tell what the play features are (much like 76023) other than the catapults on the back. But, I'm sure it has other features besides the catapult function. Also, the vehicle looks to be more squat/compact. I imagine a lot of pieces are used in the central guts of the vehicle and the tank tread. Another nice set.

76025: Samurai Turbomobile:

Looks like a cross between the Ninja X-1 Charger from 2014 and Zane's Tumbler from this year. It's okay I guess, but I like the Tumbler better. Medusa build looks cool. But overall, the set content seems a bit light for a $40 set. Not too much there....

I really like both of the $30 sets though (SDB and Infiltrator) and I always like to see good sets at lower price points! I am very curious to see the Dragon Forge and I wonder if we will get a retailer exclusive in this wave in addition to what has already been revealed?

Edited September 21, 20168 yr by TPLSTER21

A bit of weird choice for Sensei Wu.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensei

 

So Sensei Garmaddon will become Master Garmaddon as well then? Heck, just make them Lord Wu & Lord Garmaddon.... oh wait....

Seems odd that they wouldn't have realized this before. I wonder if they decided to change it because somebody complained.

All set drawings are out there. 

44 minutes ago, CM4Sci said:

All set drawings are out there. 

i cant find the dragon forge drawing anywhere

 

2 hours ago, CM4Sci said:

All set drawings are out there. 

As always, thanks @CM4Sci for the drawing.

That Fusion Dragon is like slapping 2 heads in Titanium Dragon, switch the dragon head design to resemble more of Sensei Wu's Dragon and then recolouring half of it blue, and the other half red? I hope it looks better in the actual set.

What draws my attention is the blacksmith's workshop... looks like an interesting build.

The two parents are for sure in the set - that's good!

 

The dragon is unimpressive, but I hope more innovations are yet to be seen. The forge, however, looks great! Wonder if it is a full building or just a facade...

Finally found pictures of Dragon Forge set, looks nice! Although at first dragon with 2 heads and 2 color schemes looks odd, it looks awesome after a while. Hard to say anything about blacksmith shop as only outside is visible, but the inside is probably pretty detailed. As for minifigures it's great that Lego included the whole Smith family in this set, but Vermillion lacks their leader( earlier leaks of the box showed different Vermillion) , and snake-like mech looks intriguing. Overall looks like we have another great year for Ninjago coming our way!

7 hours ago, benderisgreat said:

Finally found pictures of Dragon Forge set, looks nice! Although at first dragon with 2 heads and 2 color schemes looks odd, it looks awesome after a while. Hard to say anything about blacksmith shop as only outside is visible, but the inside is probably pretty detailed. As for minifigures it's great that Lego included the whole Smith family in this set, but Vermillion lacks their leader( earlier leaks of the box showed different Vermillion) , and snake-like mech looks intriguing. Overall looks like we have another great year for Ninjago coming our way!

It should be said that "Smith" was never the last name of Kai and Nya's family. An apparition from the fanbase that I will never find fitting...

Are we talking about Sci's drawing of the forge, or have you stumbled across leaks from the retailer catalog?

4 minutes ago, Penkid11 said:

It should be said that "Smith" was never the last name of Kai and Nya's family. An apparition from the fanbase that I will never find fitting...

Are we talking about Sci's drawing of the forge, or have you stumbled across leaks from the retailer catalog?

"Smith" originated from the blooper reel short, so it wasn't a fan invention. Though neither the writers nor Tommy Andreasen consider it his last name in canon.

1 hour ago, Penkid11 said:

It should be said that "Smith" was never the last name of Kai and Nya's family. An apparition from the fanbase that I will never find fitting...

Are we talking about Sci's drawing of the forge, or have you stumbled across leaks from the retailer catalog?

Drawing, haven't seen leaks from retailer catalog yet.

Am I allowed to share the Reddit subforum name with the drawings? I originally found them elsewhere, but it's all contained in the subforum for easy access.

I found them all, except the Forge. Best of luck to me, i'm heading out once more.
____

I've found it, actually didn't take long. Apologies for being dramatic 
The dragon will probably look better as time goes on, but the actual forge is innacurate to the show, and the set designers should know about 4 Weapons by now. 
As long as it's supposed to represent another forge, that's fine. I hope it will look good.

Also, the mech uses big fig arms. Which I hope don't look muscle-y, but more robotic.

Edited September 24, 20168 yr by gamejutzu

1 hour ago, gamejutzu said:

Am I allowed to share the Reddit subforum name with the drawings? I originally found them elsewhere, but it's all contained in the subforum for easy access.

I found them all, except the Forge. Best of luck to me, i'm heading out once more.
____

I've found it, actually didn't take long. Apologies for being dramatic 
The dragon will probably look better as time goes on, but the actual forge is innacurate to the show, and the set designers should know about 4 Weapons by now. 
As long as it's supposed to represent another forge, that's fine. I hope it will look good.

Also, the mech uses big fig arms. Which I hope don't look muscle-y, but more robotic.

Given the fact that this forge looks like its in a swamp, imma go head and suggest that there are two blacksmith shops.

WE'll see LEGO ninjago movie in2017. And the theme is very interesting.I hope to see Temples of Water, Earth and Lightning in the movie. And they may become sets. And there will probably be the1st jeday temple as a promotionai set of Star wars episode VII. What's your opinion?