LEGO Ninjago 2023 Discussion

[THELEGOBATMAN]

So the spinners release in June after all. Makes sense tho, no reason to release them three months early.

[Fire-Ninja]

Lots of theories are floating about in the ninjago community about the time twins returning personally a comeback from them would be amazing because they are very underated villains

wouldn't that result in a Kai and Nya season?

Edited January 8, 2023 by Fire-Ninja

[BrickBob Studpants]

35 minutes ago, Fire-Ninja said:

 • 71790 [Imperium Dragon Slayer Hound] ($19.99 , 198 pcs)

Not sure if there's a mistranslation involved somewhere, but that is one of the most METAL set names of all time

[Fire-Ninja]

Just now, BrickBob Studpants said:

Not sure if there's a mistranslation involved somewhere, but that is one of the most METAL set names of all time

[a guy from somewhere]

23 minutes ago, Fire-Ninja said:

Wow cannot wait! it also seems he mistook 71793 for a heatwave transforming racing bike not the Heatwave Transforming Lava Dragon ast electricbricks and jedijacpenguin lists it as .

here is also a link to electricbricks' listing of all the summer 2023 sets:

 • 71777 [Kai Dragon Power: Tornado Spinjitzu] (10€, 72 pcs): https://www.electricbricks.com/lego-ninjago--p-153934.html

 • 71778 [Nya Dragon Power: Drifting Spinjitzu] (10€, 57 pcs): https://www.electricbricks.com/lego-ninjago--p-153935.html

 • 71779 [Lloyd Dragon Power: Spinjitzu Cyclone] (10€, 56 pcs): https://www.electricbricks.com/lego-ninjago--p-153936.html

 • 71789 [Kai and Ras Car and Motorcycle Battle] 4+ (20€, 103 pcs): https://www.electricbricks.com/lego-ninjago--p-153937.html

 • 71790 [Imperium Dragon Slayer Hound] (20€, 198 pcs): https://www.electricbricks.com/lego-ninjago--p-153938.html

 • 71791 [Zane Dragon Power: Spinjitzu Competition Sport Car] (35€, 307 pcs): https://www.electricbricks.com/lego-ninjago--p-153939.html

 • 71792 [Sora's Mecca Transformable Racing Bike] (45€, 384 pcs): https://www.electricbricks.com/lego-ninjago--p-153940.html

 • 71793 [Heatwave Transforming Lava Dragon] (50€, 479 pcs): https://www.electricbricks.com/lego-ninjago--p-153941.html

 • 71794 [Lloyd and Arin's Ninja Team Mechs] (80€, 764 pcs): https://www.electricbricks.com/lego-ninjago--p-153942.html

 • 71796 [Elemental Dragon vs. Empress Mecca] (100€, 1038 pcs): https://www.electricbricks.com/lego-ninjago--p-153943.html

 • 71797 [Ninja Assault Ship: Race Against Time] (140€, 1739 pcs): https://www.electricbricks.com/lego-ninjago--p-153944.html

 

Cannot wait for the transforming bike, as long as it is big enough, hot take but I love most of the ninjago bikes and I'm pretty excited for a transforming motorbike mech, albeit a little to similar to core with that price as well. I'm working on a project at the moment utilising the old technic 6x6 off road tow truck wheels, its basically what i'd love to see from ninjago as a flagship set of a wave, maybe if they did SOG part 2. Basically an enormous motorbike mobile base, and with how wide the wheels are it gives it pretty good stability. Obviously it doesn't have a rider so think of it as a rounded box shape with a wheel in the front and a wheel at the back, with some heavy weaponry on the side. The new bounty I'm hoping has some interesting features, and please give us a hull as well! Thats one thing lego cant perfect yet, how to give the bounty a hull and a sleekp shape. Hopefully some interesting engine mechanisms too. I'm interested in how this dragon power stuff is gonna carry over as well. Seen some people on insta say this theme is toast now, I hope not, hopefully with this wave we get a fresh new take on most things, although set wise its looking to be hit or miss. What has Ninjago not done yet, apart from the obvious (space)? Maybe a volcano theme? Or a dream theme? What about a dimension hopping theme? Obviously I've been inspired from the recent "dreamzzz" leak, I was part of the thread asking questions when it happened. What would you guys like to see for a new sub theme?

[Meaf]

I like the sounds of all the sets other than the Bounty, but I suppose that at this point it's become Ninjago's Millennium Falcon: there's always gotta be at least one on shelves. To be fair though I still don't own a Bounty, so if this one is good maybe I'll pick it up.

[Bloquerto]

2 hours ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Cannot wait for the transforming bike, as long as it is big enough, hot take but I love most of the ninjago bikes and I'm pretty excited for a transforming motorbike mech, albeit a little to similar to core with that price as well. I'm working on a project at the moment utilising the old technic 6x6 off road tow truck wheels, its basically what i'd love to see from ninjago as a flagship set of a wave, maybe if they did SOG part 2. Basically an enormous motorbike mobile base, and with how wide the wheels are it gives it pretty good stability. Obviously it doesn't have a rider so think of it as a rounded box shape with a wheel in the front and a wheel at the back, with some heavy weaponry on the side. The new bounty I'm hoping has some interesting features, and please give us a hull as well! Thats one thing lego cant perfect yet, how to give the bounty a hull and a sleekp shape. Hopefully some interesting engine mechanisms too. I'm interested in how this dragon power stuff is gonna carry over as well. Seen some people on insta say this theme is toast now, I hope not, hopefully with this wave we get a fresh new take on most things, although set wise its looking to be hit or miss. What has Ninjago not done yet, apart from the obvious (space)? Maybe a volcano theme? Or a dream theme? What about a dimension hopping theme? Obviously I've been inspired from the recent "dreamzzz" leak, I was part of the thread asking questions when it happened. What would you guys like to see for a new sub theme?

I have so many ideas I would love to see in Ninjago theme:

• Ninjas vs Monsters (whether they face classic monsters or yokai).
• A dino themed season. For example, that the Ninjas go to the Never Realm for second time and battle against a group of renegade formlings that transform in dinosaurs.
• A floating islands themed season where the Ninjas become involved in a battle between red tengus and dark tengus (the main villain would be Karasu Tengu).
• Ninjas vs Artificial Elemental Masters. 
• A prison breakout season. The bad guys would be a lot of new minor villains at the same tier of Ultra Violet, Reflectra or Miss Demeanor.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Bloquerto

[Rolyat24]

It seems wrong to think Ninjago is “toast” now considering it just had the hugely popular Crystalized wave followed by two fairly substantial waves. If the summer wave only had like 4 sets then maybe you could draw some conclusions about waning popularity, but it looks like we’re still going strong. 
 

I also don’t think that the designers have any real risk of running out of ideas for future subthemes. There are plenty of existing genres/tropes that have never been covered in Ninjago and nearly infinite other possibilities that the team could just make up themselves. 
 

Personally I really like it when the villains are themed around existing elemental powers, so I’d like to eventually get some lightning-related villains. They’ve kind of skirted around the idea with the Island and Prime Empire, but maybe something more traditional in the same vain as the ice samurai etc. 

[a guy from somewhere]

1 hour ago, Rolyat24 said:

It seems wrong to think Ninjago is “toast” now considering it just had the hugely popular Crystalized wave followed by two fairly substantial waves. If the summer wave only had like 4 sets then maybe you could draw some conclusions about waning popularity, but it looks like we’re still going strong. 
 

I also don’t think that the designers have any real risk of running out of ideas for future subthemes. There are plenty of existing genres/tropes that have never been covered in Ninjago and nearly infinite other possibilities that the team could just make up themselves. 
 

Personally I really like it when the villains are themed around existing elemental powers, so I’d like to eventually get some lightning-related villains. They’ve kind of skirted around the idea with the Island and Prime Empire, but maybe something more traditional in the same vain as the ice samurai etc. 

Would love to see maybe a sky themed story with cloud demons that are held together by lightning, normal warriors could be white/grey, generals could be dark grey and the big bad could be a black storm cloud colour. 

[Killian]

5 hours ago, a guy from somewhere said:

 What has Ninjago not done yet, apart from the obvious (space)? Maybe a volcano theme? Or a dream theme? What about a dimension hopping theme?  What would you guys like to see for a new sub theme?

The Ninja went into space in the TV show. Surprised Ninjago Legacy hasn't covered that to throw a bone to the Space fans, though I suppose City has that covered.

Ninjago Master of the Mountain had several volcanic region sets.

Dimension hopping would be fun again, it's been a while since the Chima and Ninjago crossovers in the TV show and the Ninja involvement in Lego Dimensions. A Lego TV show multiverse would be fun with the Ninja going to Monkie Kid and Dreamzzz worlds.

I'd like a season with the Ninja transported to a proper Sword and Sorcery world (Shintaro doesn't count) with Unicorns, Trolls, Knights, Witches etc. Or a Greek/Norse Myths season. 

Magic Schools are still popular, something based around that could be interesting. Classic movie monsters too like Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein's Monster etc. Or a full on Zombie Apocalypse or Space Alien invasion could be fun if handled well.

 

 

1 hour ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Would love to see maybe a sky themed story with cloud demons that are held together by lightning, normal warriors could be white/grey, generals could be dark grey and the big bad could be a black storm cloud colour. 

You are going to love seasons 3 and 4 of Lego Nexo Knights

[TeriXeri]

At least those spinner sets have 2-3x the piece count compared to the drasticly simple 2022 spinners, 2019 really had some great builds with cool pieces.

2019 did have the standard legacy figures as the biggest difference to other spinner sets, and 2022 spinners uses bigger/unique enclosed molds and figures, so it all depends where priority goes I suppose.

Of course piece count alone doesn't say much, but 56-72 is more promising then a meager 25 pieces.

Edited January 9, 2023 by TeriXeri

[GarmadonFan]

Looks like I'll have to keep waiting for another Ninjago City expansion. 

[Meaf]

3 hours ago, GarmadonFan said:

Looks like I'll have to keep waiting for another Ninjago City expansion. 

Yeah, 2023 isn't looking too likely anymore. I'm surprised they'd wait that long since the Gardens seemed to sell pretty well. Lego has been putting out tons of D2C stuff lately, so it feels strange that we appear to be going at least three years without a Ninjago D2C.

[Rolyat24]

On 1/12/2023 at 10:42 PM, Meadius said:

Yeah, 2023 isn't looking too likely anymore. I'm surprised they'd wait that long since the Gardens seemed to sell pretty well. Lego has been putting out tons of D2C stuff lately, so it feels strange that we appear to be going at least three years without a Ninjago D2C.

I wonder if TLG’s market research has shown that Ninjago can’t sustain a D2C all that often. It would make sense - the theme’s audience must skew much younger than those of Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel, etc. and therefore be less able or willing to spend $300 every year. And sure, there are plenty of afols who buy the Ninjago City modules who aren’t otherwise fans of the theme, but even afols are being spread thin these days between all of the super expensive sets. And unlike a Collector’s Edition Hogwarts Express or Millennium Falcon, there aren’t any non-LEGO or non-Ninjago fans to draw sales from. Idk, just some speculation. 

[Meaf]

10 hours ago, Rolyat24 said:

I wonder if TLG’s market research has shown that Ninjago can’t sustain a D2C all that often. It would make sense - the theme’s audience must skew much younger than those of Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel, etc. and therefore be less able or willing to spend $300 every year. And sure, there are plenty of afols who buy the Ninjago City modules who aren’t otherwise fans of the theme, but even afols are being spread thin these days between all of the super expensive sets. And unlike a Collector’s Edition Hogwarts Express or Millennium Falcon, there aren’t any non-LEGO or non-Ninjago fans to draw sales from. Idk, just some speculation. 

It probably is something like that, otherwise we'd at least have heard some rumblings by now. I think one other thing a lot of fans forget (not referring to you) is that it isn't a black and white dichotomy of "will this set sell." Another Ninjago City would most likely make a profit for Lego, but Lego may prefer to devote the resources necessary to make another one to other projects that they expect to be more profitable or that might help them attract new fans.

[Lemerbrix]

7 hours ago, Meadius said:

It probably is something like that, otherwise we'd at least have heard some rumblings by now. I think one other thing a lot of fans forget (not referring to you) is that it isn't a black and white dichotomy of "will this set sell." Another Ninjago City would most likely make a profit for Lego, but Lego may prefer to devote the resources necessary to make another one to other projects that they expect to be more profitable or that might help them attract new fans.

One thing is for sure, I am going to be broke when the next Ninjago city releases

btw, I’m noticing that a lot of the Ninjago sets this year are a bit harder to find, like my target has exactly 2, the earth dragon and mech bike, Barnes and noble has NONE, and Walmart has 0 (to be fair my Walmart sucks, and never has new stuff), is ninjago just not selling, or what

edit: forgot a sentence

Edited January 15, 2023 by Lemerbrix

[Classic_Spaceman]

On 1/12/2023 at 9:37 PM, GarmadonFan said:

Looks like I'll have to keep waiting for another Ninjago City expansion. 

I am fine with this, since it gives TLG more time to sort out the issues with Trans-Neon Orange (which was conspicuously absent from the Gardens). 
 

[TeriXeri]

20 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

I am fine with this, since it gives TLG more time to sort out the issues with Trans-Neon Orange (which was conspicuously absent from the Gardens). 
 

LEGO does currently sell 1 product with trans-neon orange dish parts (which are also on pick-a-brick)

Serious Play Identity and Landscape Kit {2022 Version}

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/identity-and-landscape-kit-2000430

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=2000430-2

But that currently looks to be the only neon orange piece known that's possibly produced/sold, and could very well be old acrylic parts.

At least no solid evidence that LEGO has made new trans neon orange ABS parts yet. (until some LEGO scientist buys a $789.99 landscape kit) 

Edited January 15, 2023 by TeriXeri

[a guy from somewhere]

Trans neon orange was confirmed to be retired in early 2021. This was because the red son inferno jet was meant to include a trans neon orange head for the bull clone and instead had a trans orange head. 

I’m also pretty sure some designers have talked about it being gone now in a couple of official and non official vids.

[Rolyat24]

In addition to MLK Day in the US, today was apparently Appreciate a Dragon Day. So in some of my time off I built (and appreciated) Lloyd’s Legendary Dragon. And wow, what a great build! Definitely up there with the best Ninjago dragons, amongst the likes of Firstbourne and the Morro Dragon. It also got me thinking again about how we really have never gotten a large scale dragon for Cole. With the number of loose ends tied up with the most recent wave, I worry that we may not get a Core III, but if we do, my priority would be for a large earth dragon (and also a Titan mech for Kai or Cole). I assume Cole isn’t a popular choice for large sets due to the more neutral colors, but a large orange or green dragon could work well alongside brown and black undertones. 
 

Anyway, I’m looking forward to building Zane’s creature from this year and hoping for more Core in the future. Don’t forget to appreciate those dragons! 

[a guy from somewhere]

30 minutes ago, Atrius Kain said:

Anyway, is it just me or there is a lack of bad guy vehicles in most themes nowdays or HQ?

Hero’s sell better than villains. I’m more of a hero guy, I love crazy over the top mechanisms and vehicles, and unfortunately the villain side of things doesn’t often have both. I’m not too dazed by it but I’d like to see a bit more representation in the future.

[Lyichir]

There are definitely fewer villain vehicle sets these days, but I don't totally mind that much... looking back, some earlier years with multiple villain vehicles per wave could get to feel slightly redundant. Like in the Rise of the Snakes wave, many of the Serpentine vehicles had a lot of similar builds and identical color schemes, compared to the Ninja vehicles which are generally much more diverse in techniques, subject matter, and color schemes. The same applied to a slightly lesser extent with later arcs—there might be one or two "standouts" among villain vehicles/creatures (like Misfortune's Keep or the Morro Dragon), but often the smaller villain sets weren't that much to write home about.

The other reason I don't mind fewer villain-focused sets is that generally, the ones we have gotten in recent years have been pretty good! Last year's Crystal King was a fantastic mech/creature build, and the previous year had some amazing villain-focused sets as well with Wojira and the awesome Keepers' catamaran. As long as the villain vehicles/creatures we do get continue to be strong designs, I don't mind too much that there aren't more of them that I have to collect.

[Killian]

On 1/17/2023 at 4:21 PM, Atrius Kain said:

Anyway, is it just me or there is a lack of bad guy vehicles in most themes nowdays or HQ?

I tend to flesh out my Villainous builds by getting old Chima/Ultra Agents/Nexo Knights villain vehicles from Bricklink

[Rolyat24]

Part of me does really miss the earlier days of Ninjago that saw many more villain vehicles. After 12 years of the theme, many of the hero vehicles start to meld together, while villain-focused sets remain very distinct. Some personal favorites have been the Skull Truck, Garmatron, Nindroid Mech Dragon, Misfortune’s Keep, and Iron Doom. That said, we still do get a handful of villain sets that have been top-notch recently, they just tend to focus on locations rather than vehicles. But long-gone are the days of 5 different Serpentine vehicles sharing design elements, and that is a little disappointing. 

[Meaf]

51 minutes ago, Rolyat24 said:

Part of me does really miss the earlier days of Ninjago that saw many more villain vehicles. After 12 years of the theme, many of the hero vehicles start to meld together, while villain-focused sets remain very distinct. Some personal favorites have been the Skull Truck, Garmatron, Nindroid Mech Dragon, Misfortune’s Keep, and Iron Doom. That said, we still do get a handful of villain sets that have been top-notch recently, they just tend to focus on locations rather than vehicles. But long-gone are the days of 5 different Serpentine vehicles sharing design elements, and that is a little disappointing. 

I certainly wouldn't mind more villain vehicles, but I think @Lyichir raised a very good point in mentioning the repetitiveness of the Serpentine vehicles (something which I'd argue also applies to the Skulkin stuff). That's not something that can't be fixed, but I think that if we ever start getting more villain vehicles again, the designers will need to differentiate them more. In hindsight, it's pretty weird that the Serpentine stuff wasn't designed based on the tribes. Going for that, or designs based on specific antagonists, seems like a good way to avoid that pitfall.