Toy Fair 2014: Ninjago

[Hapori Tohu]

Ninjago - the line that keeps on going, just like our Toy Fair 2014 coverage! They've gone in a new direction this year, as the ninjas face off against a cyborg army. There's a good variety among the nine sets, and definitely some things to go on your wish list. Read on to see more!

 

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[Aanchir]

The X1 Ninja Charger has definitely displaced the Kai Fighter on my wanted list. Kai Fighter is cool, but I'm not sure if it'll ever live up to Jay's Storm Fighter in the category of "cool swing-wing ninja plane". The X1 Ninja Charger, in contrast, is the first and only "cool ninja muscle car with pop-out bike", and it depicts that subject with elegance and a feeling of raw power. It includes two Nindroids with cool vehicles as well, though one of them is a bit of a mis-match and doesn't totally line up with any of the established Nindroid classes (it seems to be a Nindroid Drone, but most of those don't have any headgear).

 

Battle for Ninjago City is also high on my wanted list. It has new, unique versions of Zane, Lloyd, and Samurai X, plus our first ever minifigure of the Overlord. Not sure we really needed another version of Zane (he already has two unique figs in the two other sets he comes in this year), and I'd rather have gotten the one from Destructoid, but it's still cool. The whole building is classy, including the brick-built dragon head. That's even a pretty awesome and unique LEGO tree! I wonder what kind of details and play features the inside of the building might be hiding.

 

I don't really get the comment that "I'm not sure I would call this a city"... how often do you expect a set with a title that mentions the site of a battle to include the entire location where the battle took place? You don't expect a Star Wars set called "The Battle of Hoth", "The Battle of Naboo", "The Battle of Endor", or "Battle for Geonosis" to include the entire planet in the title. Even BIONICLE had "The Battle of Metru Nui", which didn't include the whole city of Metru Nui or even the whole Coliseum!

 

Of the sets already out, I already own Nindroid MechDragon and NinjaCopter. Both of them are fantastic sets with fantastic minifigures. Also on my wanted list will be Hover Hunter (mainly for Cole's Techno-Blade, which is exclusive to that set, though the vehicle looks fun as well).

 

I'm not sure about the other three. Thunder Raider was one of my favorite ninja vehicle designs in the first wave, but I don't really need any of the minifigures in it or the Techno-Blade, since I'll be getting those from Hover Hunter and Battle for Ninjago City. I could save a lot of money cutting it out of my budget, but I don't know for sure whether I will. OverBorg Attack was one I was fully prepared to skip, and I still could skip it, but I'd miss out on the exclusive Cyrus Borg minifigure. Destructoid has an exclusive Zane minifigure I don't want to be without, and I really want to try out the disk-spitting feature it offers, though I was prepared to skip it if that Zane minifigure was the same as the one in Battle for Ninjago City. Frustratingly, that wasn't the case.

 

I shouldn't feel bad about getting as many of these sets as I probably will. After all, I probably got just as many in some previous years. The difference is that in previous years, for every set I got, there were multiple sets I was skipping. This year there are fewer sets overall, so if I want all 15 minifigures I will end up with a near-complete collection. Which might be a point of pride for some people, but it doesn't make me as proud of my budget-conscious LEGO spending as I had been previously.

 

EDIT: Oh, one last thing that bothered me a bit — the idea that Ninjago was "going back to its roots" with a dragon set. While I will admit that dragons are a staple of the series, it's not like Ninjago ever left its roots in this regard: there has been at least one dragon set every year (the four elemental dragons in 2011, Epic Dragon Battle in 2012, and the Golden Dragon in 2013).

Edited February 19, 2014 by Aanchir: Rachira of Time

[Black Six]

I don't really get the comment that "I'm not sure I would call this a city"... how often do you expect a set with a title that mentions the site of a battle to include the entire location where the battle took place? You don't expect a Star Wars set called "The Battle of Hoth", "The Battle of Naboo", "The Battle of Endor", or "Battle for Geonosis" to include the entire planet in the title. Even BIONICLE had "The Battle of Metru Nui", which didn't include the whole city of Metru Nui or even the whole Coliseum!

It's called a tongue-in-cheek joke.

[fishers64]

I'm starting to notice a trend here - the sets with the best stuff are the higher price-point ones. Anyway, I like the muscle-car concept - that speaks Kai more than an airplane did. That sort of majestic is more Jay.

[Click]

Once again, Destructoid escapes our notice. I knew about pretty much every one of the Winter sets except for that one in September, and I didn't even know it was a set until I got my Lego Catalog! It seems like a decent set too, although it adds yet another Zane I must add to my collection. I may just have to live with the Ninjacopter version.

 

I almost missed the Ninja Charger in the midst of all those Winter sets. It definitely seems worthwhile and has a great car aesthetic. Not many Lego cars can look that good. I'll definitely have to get it for my brother's birthday so I can sneak into his room in the middle of the night and drive it around. The Nindroid vehicles also seem interesting, though nothing special.

 

The Battle for Ninjago City also looks pretty good. A great set to get those carriage wheels from the Princess sets without getting weird looks at the checkout counter. The Overborg also looks pretty cool with some great pieces, but are the helmet and the shoulder pads from LotR? Looks very much like it. The set overall has some great details from the dragons head and the tree to the railings on the front. It all looks very Oriental. I wonder what the doors in the rocks hide though?

[LQ1998]

The battle for Ninjago City is a very cool set. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to resist getting it . Or would, since I doubt I really have the budget for it.