LEGO Ninjago 2023 Discussion

[Harren Tonderen]

Now that i think, maybe Raz is not a general but one of warriors name in sets (usually lego either names army-building guys or naming them like "faction warrior/guard")
So like there'll be 2 types of warriors, complete gold ones (Raz) and gold/black ones (Team Mechs set)

ALSO, someone pointed out that the new dragon hunter guy shares similar face features with both time twins rather than just Krux, so i'm starting to doubt that such design choice wasn't on purpose, maybe so people will tune in for discussions while show won't give actual answer? Like with Mr.E

[Classic_Spaceman]

Some plot speculation: 

Spoiler

 - The Merge occurs and the Ninja disappear (prologue narrated by Lloyd). 
- The Show jumps forward in time and follows Arin and Sora. 
 - The Ninja reappear when A&S are captured (Lloyd vs. Raz) and take A&S to the Bounty to catch them (and the audience) up on what has happened (Kai and Nya superhero landing). 
 - Wu has died during the Merge (Lloyd uses his staff), and Jay, Cole, and Zane have become separated from the others (which may be part of the reason that the Bounty is seen travelling around Ninjago). 
 - In light of the others' absence, Lloyd trains Arin and Sora to join the Ninja in whatever their mission is. 
 - The Ninja want to undo the Merge, but they (through A&S) come to realise that they need to accept that the world has changed, so they fight to liberate Ninjago City from the Imperium. 

 

3 minutes ago, Harren Tonderen said:

Now that i think, maybe Raz is not a general but one of warriors name in sets (usually lego either names army-building guys or naming them like "faction warrior/guard")

True. Perhaps the gold warriors will all have names, but still use identical designs (like the Monkie Kid Bull Clones). 

4 minutes ago, Harren Tonderen said:

So like there'll be 2 types of warriors, complete gold ones (Raz) and gold/black ones (Team Mechs set)

Not-Krux has PDG armour, so maybe the grey warriors are an elite guard (the gold ones seem to be standard footsoldiers). 
 

[Killian]

I wonder what the pink and blue creatures watching the race at 0.42 in the trailer are (the ones to the left of the Orc and Goblin looking creatures that are probably those things from under Shintaro). They remind me of the Hammerhead Shark looking minifigures from that old underwater theme.

Wonder if we'll get the Power Miners Monster looking creatures and the yellow robots in sets?

Hope we get new hairpieces for Arin and Sora's casual looks.

[Classic_Spaceman]

5 minutes ago, Harren Tonderen said:

ALSO, someone pointed out that the new dragon hunter guy shares similar face features with both time twins rather than just Krux, so i'm starting to doubt that such design choice wasn't on purpose, maybe so people will tune in for discussions while show won't give actual answer? Like with Mr.E

Mr. E was originally going to be Echo Zane (there is even pre-vis of this reveal), but the plot point was dropped due to its complexity and need for explanation; the writers did not intend to create an empty mystery box (as you are suggesting). 
 

3 minutes ago, Killian said:

I wonder what the pink and blue creatures watching the race at 0.42 in the trailer are (the ones to the left of the Orc and Goblin looking creatures that are probably those things from under Shintaro). 

Probably creatures from another Realm; both use the same headpiece, so I can see us getting them at some point. 

5 minutes ago, Killian said:

Wonder if we'll get the Power Miners Monster looking creatures

I would like to, but there is nothing to indicate that we will in the leaked Minifig lists. 😕

6 minutes ago, Killian said:

Hope we get new hairpieces for Arin and Sora's casual looks.

Arin's hair is an existing part that can be found in City. 
 

[Agent Kallus]

2 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

I am not sure that a cyberpunk catgirl with a robot arm necessarily counts as disability representation. 

 

A character having a prosthetic regardless of how advanced is good inclusion imo. Her being a 'catgirl'(? I mean she's just wearing car ears it's not like she's a cat human hybrid?) is irrelevant. 

[Fire-Ninja]

the villain who looks like Krux is not Krux it has been confirmed by Niek Van Slagmaat one of the NINJAGO  set designers also last year didn't JB Spielwaren give a countdown to the new pictures of the sets

Edited April 26, 2023 by Fire-Ninja

[Classic_Spaceman]

2 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

A character having a prosthetic regardless of how advanced is good inclusion imo. Her being a 'catgirl'(? I mean she's just wearing car ears it's not like she's a cat human hybrid?) is irrelevant. 

I was pointing out that her character is very unrealistic and stylised, so it is not the best representation of real disabilities. Having a robot arm is objectively cool and has none of the drawbacks of real-world prosthetics. 
 

1 minute ago, Fire-Ninja said:

the villain who looks like Krux is not Krux it has been confirmed by Niek Van Slagmaat one of the NINJAGO  set designers

Source? 
 

[Fire-Ninja]

1 minute ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

I was pointing out that her character is very unrealistic and stylised, so it is not the best representation of real disabilities. Having a robot arm is objectively cool and has none of the drawbacks of real-world prosthetics. 
 

Source? 
 

check his status on twitter

[Classic_Spaceman]

5 minutes ago, Fire-Ninja said:

the villain who looks like Krux is not Krux it has been confirmed by Niek Van Slagmaat one of the NINJAGO  set designers 

Doc Wyatt has also confirmed this. 
 

5 minutes ago, Fire-Ninja said:

check his status on twitter

Found it. 👍
 

[Killian]

1 hour ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

 

Arin's hair is an existing part that can be found in City. 
 

I mean when he has the hood of his hoodie up at 0.55 in the trailer

[Classic_Spaceman]

6 minutes ago, Killian said:

I mean when he has the hood of his hoodie up at 0.55 in the trailer

Ah - Agreed! 👍
 

[a guy from somewhere]

Some things ive found whilst watching the trailers in slow mo - 

2nd trailer -

hydro whippers and core bone warriors can be found throughout the shots

The new bountys front section is somewhat hollow. Theres a shot at 12 seconds in where the walls of the bounty hull extend down far bellow where the deck level is. The deck level is only as thick as the thin middle section. Not sure how to describe it. Its as if the bounty is made up of 2 separate parts that are joined in the middle by the mast. I'm convinced it splits in half now. 

Theres some sort of hexagonal ball artefact that seems important. 

The dragon with the gold crest that is captured by the gold triceratops villains is the same one that saves the bounty, as it has a large flared out tail end. 

1st trailer - 

Arin has a green ninja mask, possibly Lloyd gives it to him during the merge quake and then Arin has kept it the whole time. 

Lloyd has Wu's staff, and a mural or picture of him can be seen in the second trailer in the bottom left of the monastery. Maybe Wu really is dead? If so, they should have done it in crystallised. then have the excuse of the merge quake coming out of nowhere be "Wu couldn't tell the ninja because he is dead" as apposed to "Wu didn't tell the ninja because he decided not to". 

Hexagons/geometric shapes are the main villain motif.

Lloyd does Airjitzu(?) at the end of the trailer. 

Its not much, but its clear some scenes from both trailers overlap in order. Very hyped for this season though, I really hope we get official pictures soon. 

 

3 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

Some plot speculation: 

  Hide contents

 - The Merge occurs and the Ninja disappear (prologue narrated by Lloyd). 
- The Show jumps forward in time and follows Arin and Sora. 
 - The Ninja reappear when A&S are captured (Lloyd vs. Raz) and take A&S to the Bounty to catch them (and the audience) up on what has happened (Kai and Nya superhero landing). 
 - Wu has died during the Merge (Lloyd uses his staff), and Jay, Cole, and Zane have become separated from the others (which may be part of the reason that the Bounty is seen travelling around Ninjago). 
 - In light of the others' absence, Lloyd trains Arin and Sora to join the Ninja in whatever their mission is. 
 - The Ninja want to undo the Merge, but they (through A&S) come to realise that they need to accept that the world has changed, so they fight to liberate Ninjago City from the Imperium. 

 

True. Perhaps the gold warriors will all have names, but still use identical designs (like the Monkie Kid Bull Clones). 

Not-Krux has PDG armour, so maybe the grey warriors are an elite guard (the gold ones seem to be standard footsoldiers). 
 

I feel like you have hit the nail dead on with this plot assumption by the way. 

[Classic_Spaceman]

1 hour ago, a guy from somewhere said:

hydro whippers and core bone warriors can be found throughout the shots

Timestamp(s)? I wonder if this is just an Easter egg, or if the Bone Warriors canonically attacked Ninjago sometime either prior to the Merge or in the Ninjas' absence. 

1 hour ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Theres some sort of hexagonal ball artefact that seems important. 

Probably the dragon Power Core that leaked. 

1 hour ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Lloyd has Wu's staff, and a mural or picture of him can be seen in the second trailer in the bottom left of the monastery. Maybe Wu really is dead? If so, they should have done it in crystallised. then have the excuse of the merge quake coming out of nowhere be "Wu couldn't tell the ninja because he is dead" as apposed to "Wu didn't tell the ninja because he decided not to". 

Maybe Wu dies during the Merge? 
 

BTW, I noticed that the Empress is talking to Ras on her floating holo-screen, so he is on the villains' side at some point. 
 

[Killian]

18 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

 if the Bone Warriors canonically attacked Ninjago sometime either prior to the Merge or in the Ninjas' absence. 

 

The Bone King must have been released between Crystalized and Dragons Rising?

 

 

[Classic_Spaceman]

1 minute ago, Killian said:

The Bone King must have been released between Crystalized and Dragons Rising?

Or during Dragons Rising - Maybe the bone army attacked Ninjago while the Ninja were away (since time has obviously passed between the start of the Merge and where we pick up with A&S), and the Imperium defeated them and took control. 
 

I just thought of something: 

Spoiler

What if Cole and Jay have aged since the other Ninja last saw them? We know that there is some kind of time weirdness going on with the Merge (Arin grows up while Lloyd, Kai, and Nya stay the same age), so maybe once all of the Ninja reunite, Jay and Cole will be old. Zane would be fine, as he is a Nindroid, which would explain why he has a vehicle despite not appearing in the trailers. 

 

[Killian]

I wonder if The Imperium Dragon Slayer Hound will reuse the wolf head from set 41195? It looks pretty similar.

Also, does the giant eye monster in Dragons Rising remind anyone of the eye motif on these guys? It's skin colour matches the purple on their outfits reasonably well.

 

[Classic_Spaceman]

2 minutes ago, Killian said:

I wonder if The Imperium Dragon Slayer Hound will reuse the wolf head from set 41195? It looks pretty similar.

More likely a new part or a brickbuilt construction (or a bit of both). 

3 minutes ago, Killian said:

Also, does the giant eye monster in Dragons Rising remind anyone of the eye motif on these guys? It's skin colour matches the purple on their outfits reasonably well.

The Preeminent also had a giant single eye, so it is not something unique to the Dreamzzz villains. Additionally, their colour-scheme (black, white, purple) is fairly common among LEGO villains (Garmadon from the Pilot season, Lady Bone Demon). 
Just as an aside, the Dreamzzz characters look absolutely amazing! 

[Killian]

I wonder if the Empress is connected to Harumi?

Harumi was the adopted daughter of The Emperor and Empress of Ninjago before she got all murdery

[Classic_Spaceman]

4 minutes ago, Killian said:

I wonder if the Empress is connected to Harumi?

Harumi was the adopted daughter of The Emperor and Empress of Ninjago before she got all murdery

I doubt it; Harumi's adoptive mother already had grey hair back in SoG, while the Empress in Dragons Rising is significantly younger-looking. 

Also, the Ninjago royal family had no real power, so I am not sure how they would gather an army of high-tech warriors/hunters. More likely whoever is the Raz army's leader has declared herself Empress after conquering Ninjago. 
 

Edited April 26, 2023 by Classic_Spaceman

[a guy from somewhere]

1 hour ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

Timestamp(s)? I wonder if this is just an Easter egg, or if the Bone Warriors canonically attacked Ninjago sometime either prior to the Merge or in the Ninjas' absence. 

Probably the dragon Power Core that leaked. 

Maybe Wu dies during the Merge? 
 

BTW, I noticed that the Empress is talking to Ras on her floating holo-screen, so he is on the villains' side at some point. 
 

In the official lego trailer, the second one we got today - 

0.03 in the bottom left corner is the shrine for Wu. I do think hes dead. 

0.06 hydro whipper in main square just right of the central sign

0.09 Bone warrior can be seen standing next to a green trashcan far in the background. Kinda hard to make out

0.12 hollow bounty (comparing the set and the show, they are vastly different, to the degree where I much prefer the show variant to the set, although that may change when I see official pictures. The show bounty just feels more different and unique, whilst also making the unique features look good. The set one doesn't really. This is why we need pictures. 

0.27 weird top hat guy holding geometric artefact (dragon core?)

 

I think its Important to recognise one of the biggest things about this season, and the reason why it feels so different and defined. I dont want to jinx it by maybe having a sky bound finale situation on our hands, but from what we now know, this season opens with an opposition to to season 16s (and prior seasons) biggest problem. The status quo. We know that there will be a massive time skip. Theres a real possibility of Wu dying. New characters introduced. The realm and world of ninjago changed as a whole. This is something completely new, right of the bat it is already breaking away from the status quo and changing the world. Its giving ninjago dragons rising its own identity and name, pushing it away from older ninjago. Its trying new things, and I think after an extremely stale ending to Crystallized (fake out deaths, underused overhyped concepts, drawn out release, status quo etc.....) its going to be a shock to the system, but a good shock. Im cautiously (very) optimistic, and I cant wait to see what Doc and Kevin can bring to the show. Ive seen a couple people online saying how ninjago has been milked to death and this doesn't even look like ninjago any more at the slightest change. They are the same people complaining about how everything is a rehash and how its all the same. Nothing will satisfy them. Its fine to have your own opinion, but if your going to preach 2 opposing ideas about the series, then really your just hating on it for the sake of hating. Hopefully this is a fresh start to a new treasure trove of brand new topics and interesting developments. 

[Classic_Spaceman]

4 minutes ago, a guy from somewhere said:

I think its Important to recognise one of the biggest things about this season, and the reason why it feels so different and defined. I dont want to jinx it by maybe having a sky bound finale situation on our hands, but from what we now know, this season opens with an opposition to to season 16s (and prior seasons) biggest problem. The status quo. We know that there will be a massive time skip. Theres a real possibility of Wu dying. New characters introduced. The realm and world of ninjago changed as a whole. This is something completely new, right of the bat it is already breaking away from the status quo and changing the world. Its giving ninjago dragons rising its own identity and name, pushing it away from older ninjago. Its trying new things, and I think after an extremely stale ending to Crystallized (fake out deaths, underused overhyped concepts, drawn out release, status quo etc.....) its going to be a shock to the system, but a good shock. Im cautiously (very) optimistic, and I cant wait to see what Doc and Kevin can bring to the show. Ive seen a couple people online saying how ninjago has been milked to death and this doesn't even look like ninjago any more at the slightest change. They are the same people complaining about how everything is a rehash and how its all the same. Nothing will satisfy them. Its fine to have your own opinion, but if your going to preach 2 opposing ideas about the series, then really your just hating on it for the sake of hating. Hopefully this is a fresh start to a new treasure trove of brand new topics and interesting developments. 

I suspect that the changes will stick; the writers have made it very clear that this is not a new season but a new show, so I doubt that they would create a world of massive potential just to throw it away. Additionally, with Tommy Andreasen no longer working on the series, the new writers can take the show in whatever direction they want. 
 

[a guy from somewhere]

Been thinking about Wu a bit, im going to be honest Im doubting hes actually going to die now. Lets review the facts: 

Wu is coming in the bounty set (pretty much confirmed by the tea tray on the forward deck of the bounty)

Whilst its a new show, its still lego property. And we know lego doesnt want the main cast changed much. I dont think they would remove Wu from the show unless he either comes back at a later date, or he comes back in Wubot form as an AI based on him? Thats a little far fetched. Maybe his sets weren't selling as well? I wonder if its a SotFS type story where this season will focus on Kai, Nya, Lloyd, Arin and Sora, and then the next season in 2024 will be more focused on Zane, Wu, Jay and Cole. I can imagine the last shot of this season being the other guys riding about in Zane's race car looking for a way back to ninjago. Think @Classic_Spacemans plot speculation of the ninja being separated and then Lloyd, Kai and Nya search for the others is most likely what will happen, and then we could get a hunted storyline where the main stuff focuses on L,K and N, then theres a side plot of C, W and J. 

Sidenote, I hope the temple of the dragon energy cores is a villain base now, I love the grey and orange tron look for them and would love to get a giant geometric building for them. As for more plot speculation, I think the triceratops guys are hunting dragons for their energy cores, and they need them for something, and im guessing this big green dragon is leading the counter offensive. Weird that its not showing up in any sets (unless its in the temple, but its massive). 

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by a guy from somewhere

[THELEGOBATMAN]

I mean, Wu literally appears in a set. 

Unless it's some kind of diversion, they wouldn't have included him.

[living_off_lego]

can someone catch me up on whats merging? is it a realm or lands? i havent caught up with the leaks but im trying lol

[a guy from somewhere]

Just now, living_off_lego said:

can someone catch me up on whats merging? is it a realm or lands? i havent caught up with the leaks but im trying lol

So what we know so far is Wu pulled the good old “ninja there’s something I haven’t told you” card, and this was the “coalescence” which means merging of mass. It looks like the realms will all merge together. I have been meaning to make a post about it but I think this is set up for a big villain down the line. There’s no way this just happens. Also Wu said that it was meant to happen a long way off, so it’s prematurely happened. I thought The realm merging event thing would be a massive part of the season but it seems like this season focuses on the aftermath of it. Like I said, I won’t be surprised if we find out some big bad did this in 4 years time. 
 

After the “merge quake” the realms crashed into one, this may have been brought about by the destabilisation of the entire realm system due to djinjago and the cursed realm being destroyed, and what we are left with is a single large realm with qualities of both. A large time skip seems to have happened as well.