LEGO Ninjago 2020

[Lego David]

2 hours ago, Bilis said:

but realistically, I don't see it ending anytime soon.

Realistically, you have to accept the fact that sooner or later, it's going to end regardless of it's current status. The only LEGO themes that are truly evergreen are the generic ones like Duplo, City, Creator, Technic etc. Original story-driven themes have always been temporary, and Ninjago is no exception to that rule.

[Tobias_Jay]

5 hours ago, Fenghuang0296 said:

Uh . . I don’t disagree with considering the Ninjago seasons to be insular - if anything, the current state of the show does remind me of the period between Rebooted and Hands of Time when the show runners were worried that any given season might be the last - there’s actually quite a lot of unanswered questions in the show at present.

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...

4 hours ago, GarmaFan said:

There's plenty of unanswered questions left, but either they aren't considered high enough priority to be answered or they're leaving them open for as long as possible to stretch the show out. Probably both.

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. 

[Agent Kallus]

I mean everything ends but this discussion seems to happen all the time and it's kind of pointless.

[lego_guyon02]

New info from Promobricks: 

Small battle sets: 

- Kai vs a Skulkin, Zane vs a Nindroid, Jay vs a snake and Cole vs a ghost warrior

- Build for each set is some kind of shrine

Legacy: 

- Cole's Boulder Blaster is almost identical to it's 2015 counterpart

- Kai's X-1 car also doesn't look much different from the original set

- Jay's Electromech is a 4+ set, the Anacondrai cultists also get a small vehicle

- Zane's Titan Mech is much larger and more detailed than the original set, ghost warriors are included as villains

- The Tournament of Elements set is a small temple and includes Kai, Jay, Gravis, Bolobo and Jacob Pevsner (with guitar)

New season: 

- Lloyd's jungle bike is green

- The Jungle Dragon's main color is turquoise

- The Guardian Village resembles a stone temple

- Duel of the Catamarans features 2 catamarans, one belongs to Kai and the other to the Guardians 

- The Guardians have lavender-colored skin, spears, shields and some of them have 2 heads stacked on top of each other. Some of them wear a mask and can remind people of the original islanders from the Pirate theme

- New hairpiece for the ninja wich features a headband

 

 

Though I'm not really interested in buying any of these the stuff for the new season does sound pretty interesting. But why LEGO?! Why do you keep giving water-based vehicles to everyone except the actual water ninja?!

[TeriXeri]

Almost sounds like LEGO is weaving in elements of Classic themes into Ninjago seasons now.

With 2020 Starting with sci-fi / Space (like insectoids/neon parts) / Nexo Knights, then Fantasy/Castle, and now Islanders? 

Of course with a twist, but sounds interesting.

Edited September 20, 2020 by TeriXeri

[azog]

I think what gets me really excited for this wave is that we are gonna be getting a golden version of each ninja spread out through the legacy sets! (Hopefully this rumor is actually true). Also I wonder why we haven't heard anything about the overlord dragon?

[GarmaFan]

Isn't it about time 2021 stuff goes into the 2021 thread?

 

[lego_guyon02]

2 minutes ago, GarmaFan said:

Isn't it about time 2021 stuff goes into the 2021 thread?

2021 threads don't get created untill January 1st, before then all discussion of 2021 sets will occur in the 2020 threads. Afaik the only theme this rule doesn't apply to is Star Wars 

[GarmaFan]

9 minutes ago, Guyon2002 said:

2021 threads don't get created untill January 1st, before then all discussion of 2021 sets will occur in the 2020 threads. Afaik the only theme this rule doesn't apply to is Star Wars 

It's there though.

 

2 hours ago, Guyon2002 said:

New hairpiece for the ninja wich features a headband

Considering there's only four sets, I'm guessing that all the Ninja won't be in the wave  and getting that hairpiece, so that's kinda disappointing.

[lego_guyon02]

15 minutes ago, GarmaFan said:

It's there though.

Do what you want, I'll do what the rules tell us to do 

[Dardanel]

4 hours ago, Guyon2002 said:

- The Tournament of Elements set is a small temple and includes Kai, Jay, Gravis, Bolobo and Jacob Pevsner (with guitar)

Nice! Now only Chamille is missing, so I hope she'll appear in some pack or something similar.

1 hour ago, azog said:

I think what gets me really excited for this wave is that we are gonna be getting a golden version of each ninja spread out through the legacy sets! (Hopefully this rumor is actually true). Also I wonder why we haven't heard anything about the overlord dragon?

Where is the info that each ninja is getting a golden suit coming from?

[Lyichir]

8 hours ago, Lego David said:

Realistically, you have to accept the fact that sooner or later, it's going to end regardless of it's current status. The only LEGO themes that are truly evergreen are the generic ones like Duplo, City, Creator, Technic etc. Original story-driven themes have always been temporary, and Ninjago is no exception to that rule.

You seem to be using a definition of evergreen that is different from Lego's own. Ninjago is evergreen. Friends (which is in fact a story-driven theme) is evergreen. A theme possibly no longer being evergreen in the future does not invalidate it being considered such until its fortunes change—after all, within my lifetime themes like Castle and Space were themselves considered evergreen, whereas now they tend to be far more scarce.

Also, you seem to be operating on the assumption that Ninjago's fortunes declining and it ending as a result is a foregone conclusion, which, based on the wider toy industry, is not really all that guaranteed? Look at how long non-Lego brands like Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Transformers have been around. That hasn't always been because of having one, steady media presence and continuity, but rather is a result of periodic refreshes, reboots, and reimaginings that keep the brands fresh, relevant, and enjoyable by new generations of kids. Ninjago, notably, has only really done that once (when the movie debuted), so there are definitely a lot of avenues the brand could potentially take in the future if it became evident that a new approach was necessary.

The thing about Ninjago compared to most other Lego brands is it's really their first major IP (besides maybe Bionicle) to really have that kind of persistent presence. Back in the '80s and '90s when other toy companies were hitting it big with those sorts of media tie-ins, Lego was a long way away from having any brands that extended so far beyond the toys themselves. This has been their first experience building a brand with that kind of cultural cachet. Now, I'm not saying it's a guarantee that Ninjago will be around in 10 to 20 years. But I am saying that it's far too early to insist that it won't, when the theme has already broken so many other precedents for Lego over the years and shows no obvious signs of stopping.

[Fenghuang0296]

I think the main thing that excites me about those leaks is the Elemental Masters (after they were in LEGO Dimensions, why did it take so long for us to get Gravis and Jacob?) and the teal dragon. Another fire-themed boat, though . . seriously . . here’s hoping the temple looks good. 

Also, is this supposed to be a Nya wave? Was that ever confirmed? Because this doesn’t sound like a Nya wave. 

[lego_guyon02]

2 minutes ago, Fenghuang0296 said:

Also, is this supposed to be a Nya wave? Was that ever confirmed? Because this doesn’t sound like a Nya wave. 

Maybe someone heard about the catamaran set early on and assumed it would be a Nya-centric season. But as we all know water related vehicles aren't allowed to be owned by the water ninja 

[Fenghuang0296]

1 hour ago, Guyon2002 said:

Maybe someone heard about the catamaran set early on and assumed it would be a Nya-centric season. But as we all know water related vehicles aren't allowed to be owned by the water ninja 

Hahahaha that’s sorta depressing . . really, the Destiny’s Shadow belonged to Lloyd (though the Shadow, which is one of my all-time favourite Ninja vehicles, managed to avoid the colour scheme of any one specific Ninja. Somehow.), the Katana VII was Kai’s and so is this new catamaran, and it’s frankly anyone’s guess who the various Bounties belonged to - though Nya did build the second one (the one that appeared at the end of Tournament of Elements and was used until its destruction in Hands of Time) so you could sorta argue that one belonged to her. 

[azog]

6 hours ago, Dardanel said:

Where is the info that each ninja is getting a golden suit coming from?

From stonewarsde on Instagram, hopefully it's true but I have no idea

[Robert8]

9 hours ago, Guyon2002 said:

Do what you want, I'll do what the rules tell us to do 

That's only in the licensed forum

 

-----------

The stone temple and the islander sound very interesting!

 

Next year.... Ninjago goes to the old west

Edited September 21, 2020 by Robert8

[Rolyat24]

Nya really has gotten the short end of the stick for a long time. She almost never gets spinner/gimmick sets, she still has never had her own dragon, and her vehicles are some of the smallest and least exciting. It’s interesting that whatever focus groups they ran showed that fans responded well to Nya as a ninja but not enough to be the main ninja in a set. I’m hoping that before the theme ends, whenever that is, that Nya gets her time to shine. 

[JintaiZ]

On ‎9‎/‎20‎/‎2020 at 5:29 PM, Fenghuang0296 said:

Hahahaha that’s sorta depressing . . really, the Destiny’s Shadow belonged to Lloyd (though the Shadow, which is one of my all-time favourite Ninja vehicles, managed to avoid the colour scheme of any one specific Ninja. Somehow.), the Katana VII was Kai’s and so is this new catamaran, and it’s frankly anyone’s guess who the various Bounties belonged to - though Nya did build the second one (the one that appeared at the end of Tournament of Elements and was used until its destruction in Hands of Time) so you could sorta argue that one belonged to her. 

Things could change ?

Edited September 22, 2020 by JintaiZ

[JintaiZ]

On ‎9‎/‎20‎/‎2020 at 2:25 AM, Lego David said:

But then again, that was five years ago, and things have probably changed since then. 2015-2016 was the peak of Ninjago's popularity, and calling it an "evergreen theme" during that period wouldn't surprise me. However, as I pointed out earlier, it's pretty clear that the Ninjago sales have declined in the past few years, since it's no longer featured on any of the TLG financial reports. 

This year's Destiny's Bounty was nowhere as popular as 2017's... I guess it's a similar case with all the other sets. Except 71717 and 71721 is very well made. Hopefully we get something good in 2021, fingers crossed

Edited September 23, 2020 by JintaiZ

[bluedog1111]

Any news on ninjago city gardens?

[JintaiZ]

Alright... let's be fair... Ninjago will be over one day. Even if we don't want to believe it, every theme will die one day. Even the popular Castle theme that lasted 38 years, but now it's over. We have to move on forward

 

[bluedog1111]

51 minutes ago, JintaiZ said:

Alright... let's be fair... Ninjago will be over one day. Even if we don't want to believe it, every theme will die one day. Even the popular Castle theme that lasted 38 years, but now it's over. We have to move on forward

 

Castle will probably be back soon I kind of thought Nexo Knights continued the theme.

[JintaiZ]

2 hours ago, bluedog1111 said:

Castle will probably be back soon I kind of thought Nexo Knights continued the theme.

That is... if you consider the 71043 to be a proper castle. That and 71040 might have caused the Castle theme to end...

[Rolyat24]

8 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

This year's Destiny's Bounty was nowhere as popular as last year's... I guess it's a similar case with all the other sets. Except 71717 and 71721 is very well made. Hopefully we get something good in 2021, fingers crossed

Where have you heard that this year’s DB is less popular? From the fanbase, I’ve seen mostly praise for the set. Personally I love it much more than the Land Bounty.

Edited September 23, 2020 by Rolyat24