2011 NINJAGO sets

[Oky]

Sweet! Thanks, Lockon Stratos. I was wondering what the Turbo Shredder would be like, and it turns out it's pretty neat, maybe even the best out of these sets. Also, it looks like you will know exactly what you get in the minifig/top packs, which is great. The nunchuck handle piece seems to be indeed a new piece, a lightsaber hilt with sideways studs at one end, which could be very useful.

Perhaps this theme isn't so bad after all.

[Fugazi]

Interestingly there is a Ninjago set present in the Italian catalogue (2519 Skeleton bowling) but missing in this Dutch one.

[Masked Builder]

Most interesting.... I just getting the Evil Castle and maybe the Dragon set though.

[Scorpion]

Did anyone save the pics? I got there too late... :s

[Sajer]

Hey, thanks a bunch for that link. I saved every single image up to file 44 and spent an hour uploading them for you guys. Really hi-res, worth a look.

http://www.mediafire.com/?59dsi8idhmsx0qn

This shouldn't be illegal right, mods?

Thanks for looking, have fun guys. Really big file btw. 194 mb.

[LEGOMAN132]

The only set I will get for sure is the dragon but I might get one of the 2 forts for the big skeliton guys.

Edited September 28, 2010 by LEGOMAN132

[Mirandir]

Intresting. Set 2516 Ninja Training includes theese round 1x1 plates that previously has been unique for the board games. And not only in white as it seems to include two black ones as well.

Edited September 28, 2010 by Mirandir

[CMP]

I think the handles of the nunchuks are just golden lightsaber hilts, but I'm fine with that.

[Oky]

No, they're definitely new. Look at them in 2170 and 2172. One end of it is different and allows pieces such as fangs to be attached to it horizontally.

[not-in-use-anymore]

Ninja bowling. . The only things I know is that this proves the 3 arena sections and that it might have cool dummies(which Lego actually never really made, only blank peices).

[Scop]

Only Set I´m eventually going to buy (depending on the price) ist the Skeleton fortress. That will look fine in combination with the castle-era Dark Wizards Tower and the rest of the skeleton stuff.

I also like the Skeleton-Biker, most trashy Lego-Set I`ve ever seen.

[Jargo]

Hey, thanks a bunch for that link. I saved every single image up to file 44 and spent an hour uploading them for you guys. Really hi-res, worth a look.

http://www.mediafire.com/?59dsi8idhmsx0qn

This shouldn't be illegal right, mods?

Thanks for looking, have fun guys. Really big file btw. 194 mb.

Thank you so much Sajer. I don't know how much trouble you'll be in for doing that but thank you.

[squidman85]

I think,that Nya is Kai DX.I also actually like Nuckal.

[Ogre]

As an aside to this topic: I notice that Amazon is advertising a "Ninjago" book from DK Publishing in their 'upcoming releases'.

I presume that it's one of the 'Brickmaster' books, even though it's not listed in the book title, because it's the same price as the 'castle' and 'pirate' Brickmaster books, with the same number of pages, though it's listed as 'paperback', whereas the other two are listed as 'hardcover'.

Release date is listed as July 18, 2011

[Zarkan]

I'm finding it interesting that people are comparing NinjaGo to Exo-Force, when the two have very little in common other than taking insipration from manga and anime. Exo-Force was revolutionary at the time for being the first official lego mecha theme, and its sets are still some of the largest released under their price-points. Also, the theme had way better set designs, IMO, and the resuage of specialized parts and large number of recolors gave them a unique flair.

On the flip side, Ninja go offers almost nothing new besides a few new molds - the trading card game gimmick has already been used before, as have skeletions, ninjas, and giant vehicles and dragons. Honestly, it seems more like a mish-mash of previous lego themes than anything totally original, and the lackluster set designs hurt the overall outlook. I know I'm not feeling the same rush to invest in it as I was when I first saw the pictures of Exo-Force (which still ranks as one of my all-time favorite themes).

[JimBee]

Well I don't think I've said anything about this theme yet, and I don't want to draw any final conclusions without final pics, but I guess I'll share my opinions thus far.

I have a feeling that this could go either way, and so far it seems that either you love it or hate it. I would definitely agree that the theme is completely random; ninja beyblades fighting Nazi skeletons on motorcycles? I wonder what the designers had in mind for this during its conception. I'm not really interested in the craziness, but it does look like a good source of new parts, especially minifigure parts, like the military helmet in the motorcycle set.

[squidman85]

Anyway Turbo Shredder and chopper look nice.But there too many technic pieces.And some purple pieces.

I don't no why,but skeleton's marks(buildable skulls) and their vehicles remind me Exo-Force.

The only set I will get for sure is the dragon but I might get one of the 2 forts for the big skeliton guys.

There only one fort.

[lightningtiger]

On looking at some of the small sets, well they are not that bad.....though the Ninja with his archery practice sounds/looks very much something that was inspired by the Kingdom's Co-Promo pack recently.

I'm still trying to work out the spinning arrangement, that arena type set does appear to have a lauching ramp or something ?

More details are needed I guess, I'm a conformist! everyone !

[The Green Brick Giant]

The smaller sets are great, if they are only $6-$8 I will buy them. I wish there were more big sets like the small sets.

What I find interesting is in the Nazi bike set the chucks are star wars light saber blades while in the castle set it's a new piece. Almost like a skellie leg with a stud on the side and bottom.

Edited September 30, 2010 by The Green Brick Giant

[Aanchir]

I was looking at Knights' Kingdom II sets on Brickset recently, and was reminded of people's complaints about the "jellybean knights" and how the Ninjago sets would be similar. Thankfully, the color variety of the ninjas in this is nowhere near what people were anticipating, with ninjas basically in the same colors as in the older theme, minus green and plus blue.

But on a slightly more humorous note, I was reminded how much more "radical" KKII could have been. Early concepts of it weren't quite as odd a juxtaposition as Ninjas vs. High-Tech Skeletons, but I imagine many of the historic themes fans might have objected to an earlier concept of the theme as a medieval/futuristic hybrid theme with animal-shaped castles, including the main one which transforms (scroll down for an awesome animation of the transformation process). Compared to these ideas (which would no doubt spawn severe hatred from lovers of "proper" historic themes), the Jellybean Knights and now Ninjago seem almost tame.

Granted, transforming castles would have made the Knights Kingdom sets a lot more exciting. Myself, I was a huge fan at the start, but gradually my interest in the non-action-figure playsets dwindled as the years went on (which is a pity, because the sets actually got a lot more interesting in 2005). Haven't found a historic theme that really grabs my interest since then.

And now I'm stuck reminiscing. Perhaps I'll consider buying a few Ninjago sets if they have a strong, character-driven story like the good ol' Jellybean Knights. But in the meantime, I'll remain a collector of Atlantis sets, and hopefully once those are done a new theme will arise to fill the void.

[Jargo]

I just noticed on the Ninjago game (non-minifig one) that there are three gold daggers with handles plugged into gold 1x1 cones. I'm not into board game type sets but they do bring up the odd nifty pieces. And gold minifig daggers is very nifty.

[Delta 38]

I was looking at Knights' Kingdom II sets on Brickset recently, and was reminded of people's complaints about the "jellybean knights" and how the Ninjago sets would be similar. Thankfully, the color variety of the ninjas in this is nowhere near what people were anticipating, with ninjas basically in the same colors as in the older theme, minus green and plus blue.

Thankfully?

Maybe no-one else shares this idea, but personally I would have loved to see a team of ninjas in many different (even if unrealistic) colours. I'm fine with getting any at all, as I don't own any ninjas. I would have liked it a lot better to have many varieties, but...

Anyway, looking at the catalog now (thanks for that, whoever uploaded the file), I noticed that there were new individual figures. What might the "DX" in some of their names mean? They might have different torsos, round things and weapons, but otherwise they seem the same. I'm also happy to see another skeleton added, too.

Set-wise, the Turbo Shredder actually looks nice to me, sort of Space Police-like. Overall, though, if I can find the individual figures I'll buy them and skip most of the sets, only getting a few small ones here and there.

[Aanchir]

Thankfully?

Maybe no-one else shares this idea, but personally I would have loved to see a team of ninjas in many different (even if unrealistic) colours. I'm fine with getting any at all, as I don't own any ninjas. I would have liked it a lot better to have many varieties, but...

Anyway, looking at the catalog now (thanks for that, whoever uploaded the file), I noticed that there were new individual figures. What might the "DX" in some of their names mean? They might have different torsos, round things and weapons, but otherwise they seem the same. I'm also happy to see another skeleton added, too.

Set-wise, the Turbo Shredder actually looks nice to me, sort of Space Police-like. Overall, though, if I can find the individual figures I'll buy them and skip most of the sets, only getting a few small ones here and there.

I'm just saying that I'm grateful for the more modest colors because if the colors were indeed as diverse as was expected, then there'd be no end to the complaints by the historic themes fans. In truth, it doesn't make a difference to me whether the colors are especially diverse or not, as like you I don't have many ninja figs (only those from wave one of the Ninja theme, where the only colors were black and dark gray), and I'm not really planning on collecting this theme anyway. If I were, the colors of the ninjas probably wouldn't make a difference to me, as I'm not really a historic themes builder to begin with.

I'm pretty sure the "DX" stands for "deluxe". Although it's hard to see any significant way the "deluxe" figs are different than the others (and I would imagine their price point to be the same), I would guess LEGO has evidence of that being a viable marketing technique, marketing certain figs as "deluxe" versions of others. They did a similar thing with the Galidor action figures back in the day-- while the figures had some different pieces (Nick Deluxe had wings rather than a spring-loaded boxing glove, and Gorm Deluxe had gold printing and a missile launcher rather than purple printing and a grasping claw), there was no real difference in the price point or parts value between the sets.

I like the fact that despite not being a "traditional" historic theme, the ninja-focused sets devote many of their pieces to establishing a traditional Japanese aesthetic. The Spinjitsu Dojo, Ninja Training, and Ninja Ambush sets are outstanding examples of this, and I wonder if similarly appealing set designs might appear in a second wave of Ninjago sets. Meanwhile, the Icedragon (translating from Dutch here, so final set name might be different in English-speaking countries) has a very attractive, mangalike aesthetic, with its robotic-looking angles and glorious orange beard. I also see what seems to be the Crystal King's crystal wedge-slope piece in transparent blue. The banner with Japanese text on it is also attractive.

I don't mind the skeleton sets, either. The vehicles are utterly ridiculous, and the heavily-stylized castle doesn't at all feel traditional. But these things are beautiful nonetheless. The specificity of their outrageous designs would make some people expect this to be a licensed theme, based on some popular anime cartoon. And yet the theme is completely original, creating a never-before-seen sci-fi aesthetic for the undead faction. In my opinion, it's brilliant. Together with the styles of the Ninja buildings, it establishes a powerful theme about traditions-vs-technology.

As for the tops themselves, it's still not clear how they work. Do they use a "rip cord", like Beyblades or the BIONICLE Rhotuka spinners? Are they some sort of wind-up feature? Or is there a new, completely original method behind their functionality?

Overall, I'm not really attracted to buying many sets from this theme. It doesn't have the same sort of building-intensive design as other action themes I've collected in recent years, such as Atlantis, Power Miners, Agents, and to a certain extent Space Police III. But it strikes me as a brilliant move by LEGO to draw in kids who may never have been LEGO fans before, acting as a "gateway" to more complex themes (much as Power Miners seemed to me to be a crash course in Technic functions for people who'd never stepped outside the comforts of System sets). I just hope sales of this theme will do justice to the brilliance of its designers.

[The Green Brick Giant]

I rather have only one black ninja, than the several we are getting. Ninja's are wearing cloth so it makes more sense for them to be rainbow colors than metal of knights in KK2.

Also KK2 tried to be somewhat realistic, this theme is so over the top why not have an orange or lime green ninja?

[The Crazy One]

I think this theme is actually kind of cool. I am going back on my old opinion, but I do now think it has some weird potential to it. Though, the spinning tops don't appeal.