Themes
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Back in 2011, LEGO NINJAGO arrived as a new short-term theme that ended up becoming an annual evergreen range.
In the beginning, there were four ninjas trained by Sensei Wu in the arts of Spinjitzu. The martial arts were depicted by spinners – while there were traditional sets in the range, there were also spinner sets so that collectors could battle their minifigures against one another. Their enemies were undead skeletons, led by Lord Garmadon.
As for the sets, they combined a mixture of things that do not sound like they would work together – but somehow did. Dragons, motorcycles, temples, trucks and helicopters come together in a ninja based theme. Each of the ninjas has a different coloured outfit,
The boxes in 2013 were labelled as ‘The Finale Battle’, with the theme’s storyline due to end with Lloyd Garmadon becoming the Gold Ninja and helping the gang to defeat his father Lord Garmadon.
Thanks to a compelling animated television series that children couldn’t get enough of and the theme only growing in popularity, the LEGO Group elected to continue NINJAGO in 2014, and it hasn’t stopped since. With the Great Devourer’s snake followers, the Overlord’s Stone Army and the Sky Pirates being just a selection of the villains who would arrive to face off against Kai, Jay, Cole and Zane.
The twisty, turny storyline has been running for almost a decade, which has led to the LEGO design team going back to some of the classic locations, vehicles and creatures in NINJAGO Legacy while also going forward with new adventures. It has also spawned a theme park ride and a theatrical movie.
It is quite unprecedented for a LEGO theme to be as story-based as NINJAGO has been, but something about has captured children in a way the LEGO Group has never managed to quite the same extent since.