Lego Ninjago is a line of sets produced by Lego. It uses elements from the previous Ninja series, but with many changes, including a brand new plot, characters, a TV show, and a movie. Also, the inclusion of advanced vehicles and technology is notable, as it implies a more modern setting than the feudal Japan setting of the previous incarnation.
Ninjago was introduced in late 2010/early 2011 with a wave of Lego sets and two pilot episodes (later split into four). The plot of the original episodes centered on four ninjas: Kai, Master of Fire; Jay, Master of Lightning; Cole, Master of Earth; and Zane, Master of Ice. They are brought together by Sensei Wu to form a team, in an attempt to stop the evil Lord Garmadon from collecting all four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu.
After the pilot episodes' success, a sequel season to the TV series was ordered in 2012 continuing with the first official season titled "Rise of the Snakes", introducing a prophecy foreseeing that a ninja would rise, more powerful than the others: the Green Ninja. The Green Ninja was destined to defeat the Dark Lord who was Lord Garmadon. Lloyd Garmadon, Lord Garmadon's son turned out to be the destined green ninja. The new series also introduced another wave of sets and a more modern twist; featuring cities, mechs, and vehicles. Season 2: "Rise of the Spinjitzu Master" was released later that year, and more sets were made featuring the final battle between Lloyd and the Overlord. Although season 2 was intended to be the final season and the end of the product line, it continued in 2014 with a third season titled "Rebooted" as well as new sets featuring a futuristic plot with advanced technology and centering on the Ninjas' battle with the Digital Overlord and his robotic Nindroid Army. Season 4: "Tournament of Elements" aired in early 2015 and featured Master Chen who invited the ninja and all the other "Elemental Masters" to compete in his "Tournament of Elements". Later, a new season titled "Possession" was released, focusing on an escaped spirit from the Cursed Realm, Morro. Morro took over Lloyd's body, and, with his army of ghosts, tried to curse all the realms and unlock the Preeminent using the Realm Crystal, hidden away with the body of the First Spinjitzu Master. Season 6, "Skybound" was released a year later, featuring a Djinn named Nadakhan who escapes from the Teapot of Tyran and tries to restore his realm of Djinnjago using Ninjago. He trapped all the ninjas except Jay and Nya in his Djinn blade by making them wish themselves away, leaving Jay to free them and save the world. A TV special aired around halloween in October of 2016, titled "Day of the Departed", featuring six resurrected villains and Sensei Yang. Season 7, Hands of Time features the Time Twins, Krux and Acronix seeking the Time Blades, weapons that have the power to control time.They are in search of the time blades which could destroy the past and alter the future. Sensei Wu was lost in time during a battle between the twins and only time will tell if he would still return. Season 8, Sons of Garmadon features a Gang led by the princess Harumi attempt to ressurect Lord Garmadon with the 3 Oni masks. The ninja try to stop them but fail and Lord Garmadon is resurrected and later takes over Ninjago. In 2013, Ninjago was announced to have a movie in 2016. However, The Lego Ninjago Movie was delayed until September 22, 2017.
Video Lego Ninjago
Premise
Pilot Episodes (2011)
The theme centers on the world of Ninjago, home to both modern cities and ancient villages. Ninjago was created by the First Master of Spinjitzu using the Four Golden Weapons: the Sword of Fire, the Nunchucks of Lightning, the Scythe of Quakes, and the Shurikens of Ice. The four weapons had so much power that no one could wield all four except for the master himself. He had two sons, Garmadon and Wu, who guarded the weapons and banished enemies into the Underworld, including the four-armed skeleton general Samukai. After the First Spinjitzu Master died, his son Garmadon was corrupted by the venom of the Great Devourer and wanted to use the Golden Weapons to recreate Ninjago in his own evil image. However, younger brother Wu fought Garmadon, and Garmadon was banished to the Underworld, vowing to return one day. Wu then hid the weapons in different parts of Ninjago and gave the map to his friend, Kai's father (Former Elemental Master of Fire), to hide. However, peace didn't last for long, as Lord Garmadon defeated Samukai, the former general, and took control over the Skulkin Army. Wu brings together four young ninja, Kai, Master of Fire, Jay, Master of Lightning, Cole, Master of Earth, and Zane, Master of Ice to combat the evil Lord Garmadon and his skeleton army and prevent the Four Golden Weapons from falling into evil hands.
Maps Lego Ninjago
Adaptations
Lego Games
On the same day as the release of the original 17 sets, a board game from the Lego Games theme was released in the United Kingdom using elements from the Ninjago theme.
Spinners (Spinjitzu)
In 2011 and 2012, Ninjago featured a two player spinner game, where you give your character a spinner, and one of its three weapons. You spin your characters at each other while saying "NINJAGO!". The first character to fall, be knocked of its spinner and/or lose its weapon loses. If you lose, you have to give up your weapon to your opponent. Cards, spinners, and golden weapons give you advantages. The first to obtain all of his/her opponents weapons wins.
In 2018, Lego brought back the spinners, but are now known as Spinjitzu Masters. They include the appearances of movie Lloyd Garmadon and the rest of the ninja were released for show's eighth season.
Flyers (Airjitzu)
In 2015, a new line of battle games was introduced. There are six sets total that have been released. These include Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane, Morro, and Wrayth. The sets include many weapons, a character, a ripcord, a buildable handle, and a flying disc to put the character into. The "Flyers" are used to launch in the air, advertised to do tricks. The Airjitzu ninjas all have their Japanese Symbol at the front and their "face" logo on the back. Morro has his Japanese symbol at the back and Wrayth has none. Additionally, an Airjitzu battle arena has been released including flyers and minifigures for Airjitzu Lloyd and Airjitzu Nya.
Dragons
Dragons have always been a significant part of Ninjago. A dragon was introduced for each of the four original ninja (Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane) in the original 2011 wave of sets. Later, LEGO released several more dragon sets such as the Golden Dragon, an ancient fighting animal given to Lloyd in the show, the MechDragon, a cybernetic creature built by the Digital Overlord to capture the Golden Ninja, the Titanium Dragon, an elemental dragon belonging to the Titanium Ninja Zane, the Morro Dragon, a dragon belonging to Morro, Master of Wind; Jay's Elemental Dragon, a model of the dragon belonging to Jay, Master of Lightning; and the Green Ninja Mech Dragon, Lloyd's mechanical dragon from The Lego Ninjago Movie, released with the movie wave of sets. Every Dragon's head (except for the MechDragon, the Titanium Dragon, the Master Wu Dragon, the Morro Dragon and the Green Ninja Mech Dragon) launches a sphere shaped projectile.
Video games
A video game, entitled Lego Battles: Ninjago, was released on April 12, 2011, on the Nintendo DS. It is the sequel to the 2009 game Lego Battles and was developed by Hellbent Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games Publishing. A Ninjago themed world was added to the now shut-down massively multiplayer online game Lego Universe. 3 iPad and iPhone apps have also been released. In summer 2014, the game Lego Ninjago: Nindroids was released for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. The Ninjago game Lego Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin was released in March 2015. The 2015 video game Lego Dimensions includes Ninjago characters. A video game titled The Lego Ninjago Movie Videogame, for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One was released September 22, 2017.
Graphic novels
Ninjago also features graphic novels written by Greg Farshtey. Jolyon Yates illustrates the last 8 books of the series. There are currently a total of 12 graphic novels.
Readers
Ninjago Readers are short novels of Ninjago that mainly follow the plot of the TV series.
Activity books
Ninjago Activity Books are books that feature activities, comics, and stories as well as a minifigure.
Brickmaster
Ninjago Brickmaster books feature a story as well as bricks to build different adventures for the Ninja.
TV series
Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, an animated television series based on the line, premiered on January 14, 2011, in the U.S. The toy lines are the same characters as the series and hold the same plot accordingly, though several characters in the series do not appear in set form.
The series features a theme song by The Fold called "The Weekend Whip". An entire album of ninja-themed music from The Fold was released in March 2013, in the form of an official Lego Ninjago USB Bracelet, featuring original videos, music and printable content for Spinners. The third season aired as four one-hour specials, aired at selected times throughout 2014. The fourth and fifth seasons (Tournament of Elements and Possession respectively) aired in 2015. In 2016, the sixth season (Skybound) aired, as well as a 44-minute special called Day of the Departed. In 2017, season 7 (Hands of time) aired as well as a ten-mini episode called Wu's tea shop on LEGO official Youtube Channel.
Film
The Hageman brothers, Dan and Kevin Hageman, who wrote Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu and co-wrote the story of The Lego Movie, penned the film adaptation, which features a new take that diverges from the TV series. Charlie Bean, who produced Disney's Tron: Uprising, directed the film, produced by The Lego Movie team of Dan Lin, Roy Lee, and both Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The spin-off movie was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on September 22, 2017. The film stars Jackie Chan as Master Wu, Dave Franco as Lloyd, Justin Theroux as Lord Garmadon, Michael Peña as Kai, Abbi Jacobson as Nya, Kumail Nanjiani as Jay, Zach Woods as Zane and Fred Armisen as Cole.
Products
Awards
In 2012, the Lego Ninjago Fire Temple (2507) was awarded "Activity Toy of the Year" title at the 12th Annual Toy of the Year Awards, which is held at the American International Toy Fair in New York City.
References
External links
- Website Ninjago Games
- Ninjago at Lego.com
- Ninjago list on Brickset.com
- Ninjago Online Games
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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