I'm Honestly Worried

[thewimpykid]

So Crystallized was marketed as the big finale, the season to end it all, the culmination of everything that’s happened these past 12 years, but we weren’t fooled. We knew Ninjago could continue past this year. And lo and behold, we were right. There’s gonna be more sets in 2023.

Now that those sets have been officially revealed, I have to say, I’m pretty displeased with the wave as a whole. In all fairness, there are some things I like. The new villains seem to be a mashup of the Skulkin and the dragon hunters, which feels fresh for Ninjago. Rather than just making new snake bad guys, they’re actually doing something different. And, though most of the sets are lackluster (more on that in a bit), there is one that I actually really like-that being Zane’s Ice Dragon Creature.

Mata Nui, this thing’s a BEHEMOTH! It’s a huge, muscular dragon with massive wings, a fearsome-looking head, six powerful legs, and just such an all-around awesome design…this is the best dragon set we’ve had in a while! I don’t know if this set is available for preorder on the Lego website, but one way or another, I’ve already got my heart set on getting it.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for the rest of the sets in this wave. Most of them are just generic “ninja car” and “ninja mech” and “dragon” sets.

It could just be because we’ve had what feels like hundreds of oversized ninja vehicles dominating Ninjago over the years, but there’s nothing that stands out about these sets. They’re just…a race car, a dragon, and a jet. That’s it. Not much else to say. I know they’re toys that are meant to be played with and not just put on the shelf for display, but even then, is there really that much functionality to these sets?

Of course, these sets are a step up:

Cole’s dragon is…alright, I guess. I might get it just because, but we’ll see. As for the mech battle…I want to like it, because it’s actually giving the bad guys a vehicle of their own. That’s another big problem with modern Ninjago-there’s too many hero vehicles to count, but the bad guys barely get anything. So it’s good to see sets like this with a sort of “balance.” But even then, just like before, there’s not THAT much to set these mechs apart from the many mechs Lego has put out-not just in Ninjago, but in practically every other theme, too.

The weirdest set, however, is Kai’s Mech Rider:

Ninjago has done some ridiculous things before, but this one takes the cake. A mech suit that rides a giant motorcycle? Please. We’ve had WAY too many oversized motorcycles and mechs from Ninjago over the years, and trying to merge the two doesn’t make it get any less old.

And that’s kind of the problem with the CORE/EVO line in general: it’s just a bunch of generic ninja vehicles with not much to them. When Lego first launched it this year with the intent to hook in new, younger fans, I was like “Okay, now you’re not even trying to hide the fact that Ninjago is a cash cow!” I want to think Lego still cares about Ninjago and has some sort of passion behind it, but I’m starting to have doubts.

And it’s not just the CORE/EVO line that has me worried. It’s about the “main” Ninjago canon. It’s been confirmed that next year will see the start of a new storyline. Nobody is sure what that means-if it’s a “soft reboot” where the characters have aged up some and get called back into the action again, or if they’re gonna start all over again from scratch. However, from the way the wind is blowing, I won’t be surprised if it just picks up where Crystallized left off. I mean, how many “final battle” seasons have we had thus far? Season 2 was supposed to be the final battle, and then…well, it kind of depends on who you ask, when they could’ve ended after that. Some think they could’ve stopped at Rebooted, some think Possession would’ve been a decent end-I’ve even talked to some people who believe Skybound was a solid ending. But March Of The Oni might’ve had the biggest sense of finality of them all. And yet Ninjago still continued after that. So who’s to say Crystallized is really the end of the storyline? Though I kind of want to see sets with Lloyd and Harumi teaming up to fight bad guys together.

For quite some time, I’ve tried to defend Ninjago, but now my worries about it are increasing. Especially with the departure of Tommy Andreason, I fear it’ll lose the passion behind it and just turn into a soulless, money-grabbing franchise with no effort put into it. Heck, maybe they’ll just stop giving Ninjago any story to it at all and just release generic “Lloyd’s Jet” and “Kai’s Dragon” sets over and over and over. At least, until their sales decline-which probably won’t happen for a while longer.

I guess for now, all we can do is hope. Hope that Lego will continue to put effort into Ninjago beyond “cool ninja vehicles” and actually care about the products they put out.

[The_Blue_Panda]

@thewimpykid

Skybound was a solid ending.

My favorite season ending out of all 15

@thewimpykid

March Of The Oni might’ve had the biggest sense of finality of them all.

It should have stopped here, the ending was short but really sweet and I really liked it.

And yeah, I’m not inclined to buy Ninjago sets anymore because they’re all just the same dragons, mechs, jets, and cars rehashed over and over again, and this gets real stale real fast. Location builds are the only sets I’d maybe consider getting, but it’s a shame Ninjago doesn’t get enough of those. And the biggest problem is the lack of villain sets at all. From the pilots up until Skybound or Hands of Time there were plenty of villain vehicles. After that, S8 and S9 had a few villain sets, while from S11 onwards the villains were reduced to maybe one build and a location.

[Ghid]

@thewimpykid

A mech suit that rides a giant motorcycle? Please. We’ve had WAY too many oversized motorcycles and mechs from Ninjago over the years, and trying to merge the two doesn’t make it get any less old.

you are implying this is not the most wild thing ever

may you sell and sell well, o great Kai’s Mech Rider Evo

[Rhyla416]

honestly, i quite like the sets, but i can agree that i am very aprehensive over the future if this line
time will tell

[DuneToa]

I’m just apprehensive over the fact that the motorcycle riding mech made it to being released. What madman thought that that makes any sense at all? Just give the mech wheels, or make it turn into the motorcycle! Having a vehicle that requires another vehicle for transport makes no logistical sense!

[ajtazt]

Looks at all the aircraft carrying other aircraft both in real history and in fiction, locomotives carrying cars, cars carrying other cars, etc. And then all the anime or other cartoons that also have vehicles using other vehicles.

Boy do I have a wake up call for you.

---

I’ve seen a lot of people deem this set too silly or just too far for Ninjago…I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t even bat an eye. This was normal for Ninjago to me.

Granted, I’m also someone who sees Ninjago lacking any sort of real core identity or purpose in its storytelling after the pilots. It exists in the same realm of nonsense fiction as Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, etc., but without any of the quality those might have. So for me, this is normal and makes sense for Ninjago. There is no such thing as too silly or wild for Ninjago, because it’s beyond silly already.

Though as for a why have a mech ride a bike, we call that min-maxing. You could make the mech have wheels and potentially faster travel, but then you’re compromising on other elements like its flexibility in movement, diverting power and parts for motorized wheels, you’d use so much fuel up in traveling that the mech might not have enough for the fight, and making it more complicated and thus more things to break down and go wrong. Or you can make the mech really good at walking, melee combat, and then a bike that’s really good at traveling high speeds and get the mech to the battlefield faster than a mech with wheels.

Or just give the bike some robot arms pretend it’s not Speeda Demon, and call it a day.

[Ghid]

@ajtazt

And then all the anime

[ajtazt]

No one tell Ghid that most of the Ninjago sets, and any mechs or sets with robot motifs, for the past several years have been replicas and references to anime.

[Ghid]

there’s a reason I stopped buying them

[DuneToa]

Ok, I did not expect that good of an explanation. But if you want to know why I was saying in my post:

@DuneToa

make it turn into the motorcycle!

I was thinking of how you could actually make the mech into a sort of Transformers-styled mech, with a transformation that turns it into the motorcycle while appearing to be “riding” on the vehicle.

[Rukah]

not another “Ninjago is lame and repetitive” thread

[DuneToa]

Actually, I do like how the newer large mechs are getting more articulation, especially when it comes to knees. I just don’t like that Ninjago just goes on and on and on and on… It’s like Star Wars, if for the past 40 years they had made a new movie every year. One good thing about a series having most media as books and games is that those can much more easily be ignored, while Ninjago’s story is always up front in the TV show on Cartoon Network. The longer it continues, the more it’s content becomes a contest of “How can we one-up the previous year?” That gets old quickly, and leads to very repetitive storylines and plots that don’t justify more new additions. At least Star Wars has some good new storyline (if you ignore the Sequel Trilogy).

Ninjago hasn’t had that in a while: Instead, it relies on the revenue from sets to create more sets and story, much of which is now derived from remaking sets to add to the lines of “Legacy” sets, which don’t always have any improvement over the originals (like the Legacy Kai’s Fire Dragon set, which makes the original look so much better). These are the sets I dislike, the ones that purport to be making something new or improved or “collectible”, and instead are a cheap mess that’s barely even good for parts.

[ajtazt]

@DuneToa

Ok, I did not expect that good of an explanation.

This is what happens when you have a good logician.

As for the Transformers-mech thing, maybe they could have but looks like they really wanted a mech riding a motorcycle. And looking at the Marvel Mechs with the Ghost Rider set, maybe that was done on purpose for comparison/variety. But who knows, maybe they’ll do that sort of bike in future.

[thewimpykid]

@ajtazt

You could make the mech have wheels and potentially faster travel,

So…rollerblades?

@DuneToa

much of which is now derived from remaking sets to add to the lines of “Legacy” sets, which don’t always have any improvement over the originals

Actually, I quite liked the “Legacy” line. It allowed us a chance to see older sets getting redone with more modern styles and elements, and gave me a second chance to get sets I’d missed out on in years prior. I just wish they hadn’t dropped it in favor of CORE/EVO.

[TheTDChronicler]

@thewimpykid

So…rollerblades?

I’m getting Umbra flashbacks

[ajtazt]

@thewimpykid

So…rollerblades?

I was thinking something more like this:

But Umbra is one of my beloveds. I really like the rollerblade option, even if it’s not all that practical.

[LegoDavid]

According to Tommy Anderson himself, the reason he left Ninjago is because he is currently working on another “big original LEGO project” that has already been in development for a few years. He gave no details as to what is at all, but I think we can safely assume that another Ninjago/China/Nexo Knights-type theme is on the horizon.
For me personally, I couldn’t care less what Ninjago does as long as it doesn’t cannibalize other potential themes. However, given its track record, that could very easily happen again.

I’m very excited to see what non-Ninjago stuff Tommy has in store for us…

[Willess12]

@LegoDavid

another “big original LEGO project”

We all know it’s Bionicle g3

I love that new blade piece. It is comically huge. I need it for bionicles

@ajtazt

You could make the mech have wheels and potentially faster travel, but then you’re compromising on other elements like

Using Umbra as an example, have you ever tried to actually roll him? Unless you have his feet aligned PERFECTLY, he only goes a few feet before he’s either crosslegged or doin the splits. Also, he needs a flat surface to stand.

I think the mech with bike is amazing and perfectly fitting for Ninjago. It also works as a great way to test the waters for a different kind of brickbuilt figure to ride a bike, like some sort of biomechanical… guy.

[The_Blue_Panda]

@LegoDavid

For me personally, I couldn’t care less what Ninjago does as long as it doesn’t cannibalize other potential themes.

It’s not cannibalizing, it just remains the lone survivor in a sea of licensed themes. It’s the only story based theme that actively exists today because Lego is moving towards licensed properties.