LEGO Ninjago 2022

[Lyichir]

4 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

I might be wrong. But I think Skybound was based more on the show than the sets. As neither Zane or Lloyd's vehicles appeared.

Skybound (the show) was based on Skybound (the sets) as well. Just because not all side builds from the sets make it into the show doesn't mean the show wasn't still based on those sets.

I will add that it's not 100% "sets first, show later". The early concepts for the overall story for a given year (sets and basic story structure alike) are worked on first, and while the set concepts are nailed down ahead of when the show's production gets going in earnest, the finalized set designs aren't necessarily complete before the writing and animation get started. As a result, sometimes late additions to the sets (like some side builds or slight changes in functionality) don't make it into the show, even though the show is basically written to incorporate and show off the accompanying product collection in general.

Regarding some recent PIXAL episodes and not getting sets, I feel like that's partly a case of the shorter episode format for the past couple seasons freeing up more episodes to focus on characters and stories that weren't in the plans for the sets themselves. That's a benefit for a show that's accumulated as many characters as Ninjago has—just because a wave of sets didn't have anything planned for a particular secondary character doesn't mean that they have to be written out of the show altogether, and sometimes taking a break from the main cast to focus on some of those other characters not only relieves some of the narrative tension that builds up for the main cast over the course of the season, but also allows for some really creative and interesting story concepts.

I am glad that this year the sets have offered more of a focus for PIXAL than she's gotten in the past few years either way, though! She's a favorite secondary character of mine and she has really gotten a chance to grow into a character beyond her (admittedly sweet) relationship with Zane, now that she's Samurai X.

[GeneralNumberOne]

I saw someone on Instagram (I think 1414FalconFan) list the Samurai X mech set as being Nya's mech. Idk kf that's accurate, though

[a guy from somewhere]

so a Twitter post from Tommy Andreasen has stated that " we hope to welcome a bunch of new  kids to ninjago with some fun, light hearted and kind of crazy stories, and then later conclude the year with the most epic and ambitious love letter to the fans and ninjagos long history we could dream up!"

I feel like this further cements my theory of a final battle type wave, but not a "final" final battle. I think this is gonna be the end to something big, and coupled with the "golden dragon" idea of the sets, I cant help but feel desperately excited for the summer. Im sure ninjago will continue, and im looking forward to where the crew are taking it!

[Mr No]

18 minutes ago, a guy from somewhere said:

so a Twitter post from Tommy Andreasen has stated that " we hope to welcome a bunch of new  kids to ninjago with some fun, light hearted and kind of crazy stories, and then later conclude the year with the most epic and ambitious love letter to the fans and ninjagos long history we could dream up!"

I feel like this further cements my theory of a final battle type wave, but not a "final" final battle. I think this is gonna be the end to something big, and coupled with the "golden dragon" idea of the sets, I cant help but feel desperately excited for the summer. Im sure ninjago will continue, and im looking forward to where the crew are taking it!

Probably ends the Vengestone "saga". What's next is something new. 

[Mr No]

From promobricks:

• 71759 4+ Ninja Dragon Temple for $39.99, 161 pieces
• 71768 Jay's Golden Dragon Motor Bike for $19.99, 137 pieces
• 71769 Cole's Golden Dragon Cruiser for $39.99, 384 pieces
• 71770 Zane's Golden Dragon Jet for $29.99, 258 pieces
• 71771 Temple of the Crystal King for $79.99, 703 pieces
• 71772 The Crystal King for $69.99, 723 pieces
• 71773 Kai's Golden Dragon Raider for $89.99, 624 pieces
• 71774 Lloyd's Golden Dragon for $139.99, 989 pieces, about 9 figures
• 71775 Nya's Samurai X Mech for $119.99, 1003 pieces, about 7 figures

[lego_guyon02]

Damn Lloyd's dragon must come with a ton of huge pieces, that PPR is atrocious.

[Lyichir]

38 minutes ago, lego_guyon02 said:

Damn Lloyd's dragon must come with a ton of huge pieces, that PPR is atrocious.

If it actually has nine minifigures that probably plays a pretty substantial role in that price too.

[Maple]

58 minutes ago, lego_guyon02 said:

Damn Lloyd's dragon must come with a ton of huge pieces, that PPR is atrocious.

The rumour is it will have several heads. So part of the cost will go there. To me NinjaGo dragons are usually really well priced or terribly priced, there is no middle. 

So did the Dark Temple turn into the Crystal Temple?  The Crystal King is going to be huge, hopefully similar to the big rock guy from Nexo Knights. 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Maple

[Takanuinuva]

It being Nya's Samurai X mech has me intrigued. I wonder at that price range if it will be a 2 pilot mech with both Nya and Pixal. Since Pixal is currently Samurai X.

[Mr No]

I wonder if these crystal villains are similar to the Nexo Knights stone monsters or power miners crystal monsters. 

[Meaf]

I ended up picking up the Ninja Ultra Combo Mech, and I have to say that I rather like it. There are certainly some compromises that were necessitated by the fact that it is made up of four separate vehicles, such as the exposed technic pinholes on the arms, as well as the fact that the pilot of Jay's vehicle ends up in a weird position, but overall I don't think those are huge issues. It does also suffer from some of the more common Lego mech problems like not having a ton of articulation, but aside from the unfortunate lack of bendable knees, I think the articulation is passable. What I really like about the mech (aside from the obvious references to Gurren Lagann) is that even though the mech is made from four separate parts, it feels fairly cohesive. The colors don't clash like I thought they might, and the mech just looks plain cool. One other thing I wasn't expecting was that the individual parts actually look quite good. While I prefer the combined mech, I think the vehicles look a bit more complete, since they don't have as many obvious areas where it's apparent that they are intended to be part of a larger whole. The only other comment I have is that the snake vehicle or mech or whatever feels a bit tacked on. I'd have preferred if they'd just cut that completely and lowered the price a little, but it's also not offensively bad, so I can't say I'm too bothered by it. If you enjoy Lego mechs then I absolutely recommend this set; there really isn't anything else like it other than perhaps Voltron, which while fantastic in its own right, is a different beast entirely. 

[Aanchir]

On 1/12/2022 at 8:31 PM, Lyichir said:

I will add that it's not 100% "sets first, show later". The early concepts for the overall story for a given year (sets and basic story structure alike) are worked on first, and while the set concepts are nailed down ahead of when the show's production gets going in earnest, the finalized set designs aren't necessarily complete before the writing and animation get started. As a result, sometimes late additions to the sets (like some side builds or slight changes in functionality) don't make it into the show, even though the show is basically written to incorporate and show off the accompanying product collection in general.

Yeah, one good example from the show's first season is that the Serpentine camouflage function of Cole's Tread Assault never made an appearance. This is because it was a feature introduced relatively late in the set's development. This video of the designer showing off the development of the set goes into more detail. In fact, if you look closely at the Tread Assault in the show, you can see that the animators based its appearance on the final prototype he shows off (in which he first introduced the camouflage feature) rather than on the finished model. But naturally, at that point in the show's development. it would've been too late to work that feature into the episode scripts.

Side builds are also often not finalized even when the designers have a general idea of what each set's main concept is going to be. That's the main reason that Master Wu's dog from the 2015 Master Wu Dragon set isn't in the show — it was a late addition that was thrown in before a playtest session with kids, and it was only because of the kids' enthusiastic response that it ended up in the final set.

[Rolyat24]

Does anyone have a list of 2021 sets that have gone EOL already? There’s so much out of stock on S@H and Amazon that it’s hard to tell what’s caused by supply chain issues and what is gone for good. There are a few Seabound and Legacy sets I still would like to purchase if possible. 

[NoOneOfImportance]

24 minutes ago, Rolyat24 said:

Does anyone have a list of 2021 sets that have gone EOL already? There’s so much out of stock on S@H and Amazon that it’s hard to tell what’s caused by supply chain issues and what is gone for good. There are a few Seabound and Legacy sets I still would like to purchase if possible. 

I would advise looking at the LEGO instructions app. It gives a list of what all is retired and not

[TeriXeri]

2 hours ago, Rolyat24 said:

Does anyone have a list of 2021 sets that have gone EOL already? There’s so much out of stock on S@H and Amazon that it’s hard to tell what’s caused by supply chain issues and what is gone for good. There are a few Seabound and Legacy sets I still would like to purchase if possible. 

The Epic Battle sets are the only 2021 sets that are EOL. 

[Rolyat24]

20 hours ago, NoOneOfImportance said:

I would advise looking at the LEGO instructions app. It gives a list of what all is retired and not

This is a great resource I didn’t know about, thank you! 

 

17 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

The Epic Battle sets are the only 2021 sets that are EOL. 

Good thing I grabbed these early. Thank you!

[GeneralNumberOne]

With the new Garmadon comic featuring new designs for Garmadon, I wonder if we might gets sets based on it (or at the very least some Minifigures showing up in other sets). 

[Gangikhan448]

Does he have red sons hair from monkie kid or hanzos from overwatch

anyways

I love Garmadon he's my favorite Ninjago character!

Edited January 21, 2022 by Gangikhan448

[Killian]

Has anyone heard the rumours that Lego are planning a soft reboot of Ninjago. Basically ending the current story with a "final battle" this year, then continuing Ninjago with a new team of Ninja? People are speculating that the current Ninja may appear as older, mentor characters.

I just saw a video called Ninjago RETIRES the Current Ninja in 2023? discussing this possible (but not officially verified) change by TannerFishies on YT

[The_Fiery_Rooster]

6 hours ago, Killian said:

Has anyone heard the rumours that Lego are planning a soft reboot of Ninjago. Basically ending the current story with a "final battle" this year, then continuing Ninjago with a new team of Ninja? People are speculating that the current Ninja may appear as older, mentor characters.

I just saw a video called Ninjago RETIRES the Current Ninja in 2023? discussing this possible (but not officially verified) change by TannerFishies on YT

Those videos are mostly discussing theories and possibilities, I don't think there's really any proof of that happening. I'm sure something big will happen after this year's summer wave, given that it does seem to be 'final-battle'-ish, but I don't see any good reason to do another soft reboot, since the last one wasn't too long ago, and the show itself seems to be trying to be less complicated story-wise than it was prior. As for that particular theory, I've definitely heard it before, so it isn't even a new idea, just the resurgence of an older one, which makes it seem less likely to be true.

[Takanuinuva]

Been a while since I've heard Morro's voice. But his actor does a good job for Cole.

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

4 hours ago, The_Fiery_Rooster said:

Those videos are mostly discussing theories and possibilities, I don't think there's really any proof of that happening. I'm sure something big will happen after this year's summer wave, given that it does seem to be 'final-battle'-ish, but I don't see any good reason to do another soft reboot, since the last one wasn't too long ago, and the show itself seems to be trying to be less complicated story-wise than it was prior. As for that particular theory, I've definitely heard it before, so it isn't even a new idea, just the resurgence of an older one, which makes it seem less likely to be true.

this

I also doubt a soft reboot would/could give enough boost to intrigue new people but possibly push away the old fan base. Making the old ninja train other ninja or put new characters in the team would be a more sensitive move

[Takanuinuva]

Wasn't Secrets of Forbidden Spinjitzu supposed to start off a soft reboot?

[GeneralNumberOne]

1 hour ago, Takanuinuva said:

Wasn't Secrets of Forbidden Spinjitzu supposed to start off a soft reboot?

Yeah, same with Sons of Garmadon and Rebooted. 

 

For Ninjago, soft reboot just means the show resets to the basic ninja team with standard designs and on the rare occasion lore/plot points from seasons prior to the soft reboot are brought up, it explains them (like the Tornado of Creation thing in MOTO and the Harumi thing in Prime Empire) rather than expecting viewers to have seen early seasons/remember. 

14 hours ago, Killian said:

Has anyone heard the rumours that Lego are planning a soft reboot of Ninjago. Basically ending the current story with a "final battle" this year, then continuing Ninjago with a new team of Ninja? People are speculating that the current Ninja may appear as older, mentor characters.

I just saw a video called Ninjago RETIRES the Current Ninja in 2023? discussing this possible (but not officially verified) change by TannerFishies on YT

Tanner's channel is the Ninjago equivalent of the Kathleen Kennedy laser eyes Lucasfilm civil war channels that plague the Star Wars fandom. 

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

11 hours ago, GeneralNumberOne said:

Tanner's channel is the Ninjago equivalent of the Kathleen Kennedy laser eyes Lucasfilm civil war channels that plague the Star Wars fandom. 

this is like the best way those channels have ever been described. When I was studying I almost was writing an analysis of this (horrible) phenomenon.