How Ninjago Has Impacted LEGO's Content and Why it Should End

LEGO Ninjago
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I don’t think Ninjago is really responsible for quashing originality in other themes like that. Rather, the explosion in the number of licensed themes running simultaneously in the past decade has left original themes much less space to play with. For a while now, LEGO has only had one original theme on the normal 3-year-cycle, and after Chima and Nexo Knights failed to be Ninjago 2 that shelf space has been devoted to exploring themes with smartphone integration gimmicks, first Hidden Side and then Vidiyo. (Monkie Kid exists outside of these limits as it doesn’t take up shelf space in western retailers.)

Ninjago ending would allow another theme to fill that space, but that new theme would probably similarly become a magnet for all the ideas LEGO no longer has space for. Bringing back the multitude of original themes we had in the past would require killing some of the licensed themes as well.

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Honestly, I think that Ninjago “swallowing up” original story themes is sort of a good thing. Think about this- for master of the mountain, Ninjago set the theme around a D&D-style fantasy world, with several substantial terrain and location builds (a nice change of pace, really), and a game you could play with each set, or by combining them together. It was by all accounts very successful.

Last time Lego tried a D&D-style fantasy theme, we got Heroica. That theme was good for its time, and was a great new use of the Lego Games format. It was even produced before Ninjago became the jugernaut it is today, budget-wise. However it by all accounts failed financially, receiving 1.5 waves and having no story conclusion.

Because Master of the Mountain was a Ninjago subtheme, it got both more budget, and more attention and success, than Heroica ever could, and Lego knows this. This is why, I think, Lego’s actually done more outside-of-the-box subtheme within Ninjago than they did in the years before it (most of the beloved story-themes from the early 2000s were just reskins of older, classic themes like Adventures or Space (except Bionicle, of course, which was sort of a fluke, and Exo-Force, one theme that I will admit Ninjago has basically killed any chance of a revival for)).

Lego now knows that they can do virtually any random theme concept, slap the Ninjago name on it, and have the confidence that it will do well enough to get a great design and marketing budget.

Also, about the 4+ sets in the Legacy waves- I think these sets, while in my opinion sub-par, are totally valid. With streaming, many kids these days watching Ninjago for the first time won’t necessarily start watching from the current season, but can very easily go back and start from the begining, creating demand for these classic characters, vehicles and locations among the younger demographic.

Sorry for the text-wall.

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Don’t have anything against people not liking ninjago. My issue stems from the fact that this feels like yet another new topic for a conversation that’s been beaten to death.

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I do agree with what you said. LEGO has been letting Ninjago drag on for far too long, sucking out the potential other original lines to get the spotlight. Although licensing themes do play a big role as well as LEGO’s overelance on them. Despite the theme already putting out as much effort as it can despite it reusing many of its concepts or resetting the Ninja’s arcs. I’m not saying it’s a bad show, but the more recent seasons actually show its burnout in terms of writing quality. I haven’t really been interested in Ninjago after Legends of Chima, Nexo Knights, and Bionicle(G2) ended. Strange that not many fans seem to notice this due to being blinded by Nostalgia and are very defensive of the line. It’s a similar case to Bionicle with the fans, though the latter at least ended on a more satisfying conclusion(despite the yesterday quest story being incomplete). Honestly though I wished that other lines would take Ninjago’s place if it wasn’t for their mediocre writing of their shows.

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I think this is the bigger issue here; yes, Ninjago is taking most, if not all, of Lego’s original IP effort, but there’s also not a whole lot of it to begin with.

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