What is the draw to Ninjago?

[fuzzy_bricks]

I wish the theme would have more buildings, as they seem to be the most interesting elements and has the most potential to be more timeless than something like an Earth Driller.

 

I would like to see more of those too, but that's adult thinking vs. kid thinking.

There was this project on Ideas that wasn't approved.  I would rather have something like this than the recently approved birds.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/53

[Dkc]

be careful about putting too much hope into the Ninjago minifigs.  While they are very cool, the chinese knockoffs on Ebay is probably hurting their value.

[naf]

My kids love Ninjago.  We got into the game late and we were able to binge watch the entire series on Netflix.  The kids have probably seen them all 10+ times already, they really get into the show.  Last Christmas it was Ninjago everything at our house.  The kids got EDB, Samurai Mech, and a couple of the Ninjago hoodies that they wore every day for a while.

 

The problem I see is that the new series is just not as engaging to them as the previous ones were.  They aren't getting that into the cyber-theme of it, plus the shows are spread way too far apart.  I think the final two episodes are airing next week sometime but my kids don't care anymore.  That doesn't mean they don't like Ninjago, they still play with their older sets but they have 0 interest in the new line.

[jivejong]

be careful about putting too much hope into the Ninjago minifigs.  While they are very cool, the chinese knockoffs on Ebay is probably hurting their value.

 

I agree. There doesn't seem to be much value in the minifigs other than the serpentine, and a couple of the Skullkin like Samukai.

 

I had some Chinese knockoffs for my son and his friends to play with, and they are certainly inferior in terms of quality. But even without those, the old Jay, Cole, Kai, and Zane are so commonplace that they wouldn't be of much value.

[naf]

The dragons are really fun builds and look nice, if any set is going to do well I think those would.  However, I have this gut feeling that EDB is going to live forever at TRU after retirement.  My local store has a ton of them for inflated prices that will probably just sit there.  So we could be waiting a while for that set to appreciate.

[grackleflint]

The problem I see is that the new series is just not as engaging to them as the previous ones were.  They aren't getting that into the cyber-theme of it, plus the shows are spread way too far apart.  I think the final two episodes are airing next week sometime but my kids don't care anymore.  That doesn't mean they don't like Ninjago, they still play with their older sets but they have 0 interest in the new line.

 

Frankly, this whole Droid/Mech season (and the corresponding sets except for Battle for Ninjago City) sucked. My son who loved Ninjago last year couldn't care less about this season because the Droids are not interesting and dark and scary.

 

And LEGO knows it too. They are already trying to dump the Mech Dragon and the preview pics of the 2015 sets show they are going back to basics with Serpents/Snakes as villains.

Edited November 18, 2014 by grackleflint

[jivejong]

Frankly, this whole Droid/Mech season (and the corresponding sets except for Battle for Ninjago City) sucked. My son who loved Ninjago last year couldn't care less about this season because the Droids are not interesting and dark and scary.

 

And LEGO knows it too. They are already trying to dump the Mech Dragon and the preview pics of the 2015 sets show they are going back to basics with Serpents/Snakes as villains.

 

I agree on the Ninjago reboot. The theme song sucks compared to the old one. Sometimes I perform for the local farmer's market singing and playing guitar, and when I play the Weekend Whip, you will see a bunch of little boys kicking and spinning. I don't think I'd get the same with the new remix.

 

The villains after the Skullkin and Serpentine were pretty blah, which I think hurt the theme and story. The Skullkin and Serpentine had different personalities, which helps with the collectibility of their minifigures. The last 2 seasons, you had the Stone Army and Nindroids that were pretty generic in terms of characters. The only villains that stood out were Garmadon, General Kozu, the Overlord, and General Cryptor as either cartoon characters and minifigs. And then when you took out Garmadon as a villain, they eliminated the one with the most personality. The first 2 seasons had more richness in characters in that there were numerous villians who each had something unique. A bunch of Nindroids and Stone Armys don't hold a candle to Pythor, Slithraa, Skales, Skalidor, Fangdam, Fangtom, Bytar, Nuckal, Krazi, Samukai, Snike, Spitta, etc..

[Darth_Raichu]

They should have not gone to the reboot route OR should have rebooted in late 2015 instead. This season felt and looked rushed. And I agree evil Garmaddon was 100% more interesting than Sensei Garmaddon. Plus, kid / whiny Lloyd was much more entertaining than teen/responsible Lloyd

[Britsnap]

Ninjas...my son loves them all and they are fun tv shows. I've paid inflated prices for early releases, happily because they make my kid happy and they are really cool builds.

I just won a MISB Lord Garmadons fortress for $125, retail was $69.99 and they easily fetch high 100's normally.

The new snakes next year will be good but the vehicle sets are similar to the originals...however different coloured ninja suits.

[TheOrcKing]

The 'current' Ninjago Rebooted show is fine when it was actually on. How utterly exhausting trying to keep up with all these weird schedules of "maybe there will be an episode soon or perhaps not, who knows?". Anyway, I think the Nindroid minifigures are awesome as heck.

[jivejong]

I'm hoping the 2015 sets will be better than the 2014, since they are planning on keeping it going for at least another season. My guess is that Lego was planning on killing off Ninjago and replacing it with Chima before the reboot, but due to popular demand they kept it going without much of a plan. The sets that came out later in the reboot are nicer builds (Ninja Charger, Ninjago City), but the ones before seemed a little more haphazzard. Although, I think the Destructoid is a fun play set.

 

The dragons seem to have the most value as a group. They are nice for display, but as far as play sets, they are an OCD nightmare with lots of little pieces that fall off them.

Edited November 19, 2014 by jivejong