Funny enough, this characterization of Ninjago as a long-running, story driven theme, except not much interesting has been done lately with the story and the sets are dull and repetitive, only makes me think of why I hate recent Lego Star Wars. At least Ninjago is more reasonably priced.
I guess I’d have to say that some of these ideas are the opposite of how I’ve perceived it. LegoDavid sees Ninjago as parasitically sucking up resources that could have gone to other original IPs. For some years now, I’ve seen Lego as increasingly unwilling or unable to market original story-driven IPs at all, with Ninjago being survivor, not the instigator. He suggests that if Ninjago were out of the picture, other lines could have their day in the sun, but I wonder, if Ninjago failed, if anything would take its place any time soon. Lego does a lot of licensed themes nowadays - they’re the real threat to original IPs.
I also don’t particularly agree with the idea that Ninjago has stretched out its thematic elastic too far. If anything, I think Ninjago embodies the raw, wild creative potential of Lego better than almost any other theme. The fact that it can do almost anything is one of its greatest strengths. Sure, it’s about Ninja, but can it also have pirates, robots, snake mummies that are also on fire? Yes, yes, and yes. It is true that sets tend to repeat the same ideas a lot, but I don’t hate it for that, because sometimes it actually hits something out of the park. I consider the Ninjago Legacy subline to be a consistently strong theme that proves it’s still possible to make a mech that’s a cut above the rest.
I will acknowledge that the story has stagnated somewhat. Most of the stars used up most of their allotted character development a while ago and watching the show is sometimes an exercise in hoping your favorite character will rotate into a focus role soon so they won’t be stuck as idiotic comic relief. But at the same time, I actually think show has matured in its own way. The early seasons were often sloppy. They introduced a timeline that doesn’t make a lick of sense and completely screwed up Garmadon’s villain arc. The newer seasons are more carefully plotted. On top of that, they’re a lot better animated. Seasons 11 and 12 made me realize how far the fight scenes have come. Like, the final battle in season 12 when Jay summons a cyber-dragon? Legitimately cool.
At the end of the day, I’ll admit, I’m the kind of guy who finds it comforting that the Simpsons is still on the air. I know it’s gotten bad (far worse than Ninjago, in my opinion) but I like to see the specks of good in something that I’ve loved for a long time. Your opinion is your own, but I just bought the Hydro Bounty, and I had a really good time putting it together.