The confusing connection between the LEGO Ninjago TV show and The LEGO Ninjago Movie continues. While the characters have the same names as in the TV show, their looks, personalities, back-stories, and even voice actors were changed for the film. This didn’t sit well with dedicated fans of the TV show, but they still accepted the film as something that could be enjoyed separately. 🙂
Some Ninjago fans enjoyed the film more than others, but in general, most agreed that it was not nearly as good as the TV show with its long-established storyline and character development. It was a relief to hear that the TV show was going to continue in 2018, and we can all go back to enjoying what is considered the true Ninjago saga, without all the controversial changes that were done for the film.
However, when the 2018 LEGO sets were first revealed, Ninjago fans were surprised to learn that elements from The Ninjago Movie did seep into the TV show, even though producers repeatedly insisted during the development of the film that they are unrelated stories.
Season 8 of LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu is subtitled “Sons of Garmadon”. Lloyd is the main focus during this season, while Mr. E is the main antagonist, and the Sons of Garmadon are the badguys. In the related LEGO sets that were just released, you can see that instead of bringing back the well-loved characters from previous seasons of the TV show, they were replaced by the redesigned versions from The LEGO Ninjago Movie. Some of the most obvious changes are Loyd having glowing green eyes, both Jay and Cole loosing their facial scars, and they all have their movie-version hairstyles and ninja suits. So much for hoping that the film won’t contaminate the TV show. In addition, Jillian Michaels gets replaced by Sam Vincent as Lloyd’s voice actor – another shock, as Jillian has been Lloyd’s voice from the very beginning. Also, the Ninjago alphabet that was used in The LEGO Ninjago Movie, will now be used in the TV show as well.
As far as the story of Season 8: Sons of Garmadon, all we know at this point that it takes place a year after the loss of Master Wu, and that the ninja must prevent a badguy group known as the Sons of Garmadon from successfully reviving Lord Garmadon at the Temple of Resurrection (watch the newly released trailer above).
There are thirteen sets related to Season 8 of the LEGO Ninjago TV show; six are regular sets, six are new versions of the Spinjitzu spinners, and one set is under the LEGO Juniors line for younger kids. Below are some details about each of the sets, as well as video-reviews from JANGBRiCKS, so you can check them out in more detail.
➡ #70638 LEGO NINJAGO KATANA V11: Play out a high-speed chase on water and land with this action-packed LEGO Ninjago set, featuring Kai’s Katana V11 boat, with speed and attack modes, foldout boosters and spring-loaded shooters. This cool toy for kids also includes Luke Cunningham’s street bike, plus 2 minifigures with weapons to boost the role-play battle action.Includes 2 minifigures: Kai and Luke Cunningham. 257 pieces. Price: $19.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #70639 LEGO NINJAGO STREET RACE OF SNAKE JAGUAR: Match Zane’s bike against Mr. E’s Oni Bike and battle for the Oni Mask of Vengeance, with this exciting LEGO Ninjago Street Race of Snake Jaguar set. Zane’s bike features 2 foldout gold-colored blades, 2 hidden stud shooters on a foldout detachable drone for ground-level or aerial attacks, while the Oni Bike is armed with chopping blades and 2 stud shooters. This cool toy for kids also includes a podium with Oni Mask of Vengeance and Demon Torso elements for the Mr. E minifigure to wear, plus 2 minifigures with weapons to intensify the role-play conflict. Includes 2 minifigures: Zane and Mr. E. 308 pieces. Price: $29.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #70640 LEGO NINJAGO S.O.G. HEADQUARTERS: Crash into the S.O.G. Headquarters with the Lloyd Spinjitzu spinner and claim the Oni Mask of Hatred, with this action-packed LEGO Ninjago set. The dojo features spinning weapons, movable sides and an Oni Bike to attack the spinner. Unleash the spinner to knock over rivals or the ATM and to smash through the dojo entrance to release the Oni Mask of Hatred element. This building toy also has 5 minifigures, including Zane as his undercover persona, Snake Jaguar. Includes 5 minifigures: Lloyd, Snake Jaguar, Ultra Violet, Nails and Skip Vicious. 530 pieces. Price: $39.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #70641 LEGO NINJAGO NINJA NIGHTCRAWLER: Chase down Ultra Violet’s Stone Booster Bike in Lloyd’s Ninja Nightcrawler and battle for the Oni Mask of Hatred, with this all-action LEGO Ninjago set. The Ninja Nightcrawler features an opening minifigure cockpit, speed and attack modes and 2 foldout, shoot-on-the-go, 6-stud rapid shooters. This fun toy also includes 3 minifigures with weapons to intensify the role-play conflict. Includes 3 minifigures: Lloyd, Nya and Ultra Violet. 552 pieces. Price: $39.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #70642 LEGO NINJAGO KILLOW VS. SAMURAI X: Match Killow’s Oni Chopper against the Samurai X Mech in a battle for the Oni Mask of Deception, with this action-packed LEGO Ninjag set. The Oni Chopper features a spinning front saw blade, flip-out blades and detachable skateboards for Killow, while the posable Samurai X Mech has a dual stud shooter, spinning blade and a detachable Samurai X blade. This cool toy for kids also includes 2 minifigures and a big figure with weapons to bolster the role-play battles. Includes Samurai X and Jay minifigures, plus a Killow big figure. 556 pieces. Price: $49.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #70643 LEGO NINJAGO TEMPLE OF RESURRECTION: Help the ninja protect the Temple of Resurrection and prevent Lord Garmadon’s rebirth with this highly detailed LEGO Ninjago set. The temple features an entrance gangway, opening walls, spider prison, revolving walls with hidden Oni masks and 2 trapdoor functions. Activate the roof’s good-to-evil transformation function to reveal Lord Garmadon’s resurrection chamber. This construction toy also includes 7 minifigures—and a ‘mysterious baby’ element—to role-play battle scenes between the ninja and the Sons of Garmadon. Includes 7 minifigures: Cole, Lloyd, Harumi, Hutchins, Mr. E, Chopper Maroon and Lord Garmadon, plus a ‘mysterious baby’ element. 765 pieces. Price: $69.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #10755 LEGO JUNIORS ZANE’S NINJA BOAT PURSUIT: Get your ninja on and help Zane recover the map! This thrilling set features easy to build pieces including a floating boat with turning steering wheel and a chain with hook, a motorbike, plus a temple with spinning obstacles, secret weapons and a map. This fun children’s toy also includes a simple guide to build and play, with bigger starter pieces to help build confidence in younger children. Includes Zane and Chopper Maroon minifigures. 131 pieces. Price: $19.99 – BUY HERE
➡ LEGO NINJAGO SPINJITZU MASTER SPINNERS: There are six new spinners in the collection for Lloyd, Kai, Nya, Jay, Zane, and Cole. They each feature a Spinjitzu spinner with buildable LEGO brick handle, spinner element with minifigure capsule and rip cord, and a weapon rack with various weapons. You can use the spinners for various movements like spinning, rolling and jumping, and even challenge your friends for a friendly Spinjitzu battle. The price for each spinner is $9.99 – BUY HERE
Personally, I’m not happy with the changes LEGO has done to the characters, but the story sounds interesting. And I really like those masks! What do you think? How do you like the 2018 LEGO Ninjago sets so far? Are you planning to get any of them? Which one is your favorite? And what do you think about the changes that were done to the characters? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
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The new trailer is awesome!!!! Too bad they changed the faces, but if the stories are good i will keep watching!!!!
Ohhh! new trailer! I haven’t seen this yet! Did it just come out? I like the temple, the rest of the sets are a little small and too similar to previous ones.
Yeah, the trailer was just released today. 🙂
Good to see ninjago back! When is the release date? I like the masks, and that they reused young Misako’s helmet.
Not sure about the release date. It wasn’t announced yet. I have a feeling it might be early February?
The new season definitely looks interesting. I wonder how they’re going to explain trying to bring Garmadon back since he was technically lost when the Preeminent was destroyed. Yang did bring back Morro’s spirit though, so maybe this is along the same lines.
In terms of characters/minifigs, as I’ve said before, I really detest that they’ve ported the Movie versions over to the show. Their reason of “the characters got older; they changed” doesn’t work. Only 1 year has passed since Hands of Time, so they haven’t aged that much, and I don’t see all those changes happening in that timespan. Then they say they’re shaping the show for new fans, yet wouldn’t new fans be mostly younger children? Why then tailor the show for an older audience (the old show’s fans) as they said they did? Thankfully, the trailer does restore some confidence in me that the show will remain as good as before.
For the sets themselves, I initially wasn’t much interested in them, but having watched Jang’s reviews, they aren’t that bad. The Nightcrawler and the Temple of Resurrection look the best to me. Kai, as usual, gets the small vehicle, and it’s not as good as previous ones. The bikes look ok, but nothing very special, while the Samurai X mech just looks weird. And the SOG HQ is just a spinner arena. The spinners themselves can actually be fired on their sides (rolling) or upside down (according to the set boxes) instead of just like a top. I just don’t like the Ninja minifigs…. 😕
Those are my thoughts, in brief. It’s been quite a while since I last commented, I note….
Always nice to hear from you. Yeah, the biggest complain has been the faces being changed. And some of the hairstyles, but that’s relatively minor compared to having the whole face change. The ninja suits change with every season, so that’s not such big of a deal. Lloyd’s new voice is actually not that bad. All in all, the whole relationship between the movie and the TV show is so convoluted, I don’t think even the directors know what’s going on. 🙄
As far as Garmadon getting lost, I knew they are going to bring him back somehow. Nobody is truly lost in Ninjago, or any other LEGO show. Sometimes supporting characters fade out, but Garmadon and Sensei Wu are such a major players.
I’m not a huge fan of the hairstyle changes, as personally I don’t like any of the hairstyles from the Movie except for Lloyd’s and Nya’s. The other four got their hairstyles so exaggerated, and Kai, Zane, and Cole just look ridiculous now. However I do agree that the big issue is the faces. The Ninja just don’t seem like the same characters with these new faces, even if they sound the same. I’m ok with Lloyd’s new voice, as I don’t think Lloyd’s old voice would fit with his new look. While their suits do change by the season, I don’t really like this season’s, especially Zane’s: like the Movie, his outfit is too robot-ish. This is partly why I want Dragon’s Forge (70627) so much; it comes with the last “normal” Kai and “normal” Nya. We’ll probably never see the old designs of the Ninja again in future sets…. 😕
I wouldn’t mind Garmadon’s return, assuming he is good and not his comical evil version ported over from the Movie (as he appears in the Temple of Resurrection set). As you said, no one is ever fully lost (although there are all those characters who appeared in one season and never again). Zane’s dad may be the one exception to that.
I don’t like the new hair pieces either, except for Nya and Lloyd – like you. What I was referring to is that changing hairstyles is normal and natural in the real world. We sometimes don’t agree with the hairstyle choices our friends make, but that’s just part of life. Changing facial features won’t happen without something drastic, like plastic surgery, so the ninja having new faces comes across as unnatural and jarring. But they just did the exact same thing in the Friends sets too. I think the issue is that LEGO never had such long running stories and well-loved characters, so they don’t really know how to handle it. 🙄
I’m a Spider-Man fan… I’m used to it…
LOL! 😀
Yeah, I agree about the hairstyle changes. I’d be okay with them, but some of them just look silly, Kai’s especially. I don’t like Zane’s new hair at all, but as you say, I’ll have to live with it. I think, however, that Zane’s case again illustrates LEGO’s motives clearly: the hairstyle between the two was similar enough, but they deliberately altered the show Zane to match the Movie Zane, and this is true for all the Ninja. Aging was just an excuse for merging the show and the film, and it was a poor one.
Primarily, then, I guess the show won’t feel right: it will have familiar voices coming from unfamiliar people. As you noted, it’s rather unnatural, but I suppose we’ll have to get used to it. The changes to Friends were even more drastic, it seems, and LEGO’s reasons for them were equally poor. I may have to agree with you on this: LEGO doesn’t know how to deal with long-lived characters. 😕
As an aside, I wonder if they changed Sensei Wu’s appearance in the show. It didn’t look like it in the trailer, but then again we didn’t see much of him.
I’m not sure about Sensei Wu, as you said, we didn’t see much of him in the trailer. I’m fairly certain though that he is not going to be voiced by Jackie Chan. I very much like Jackie, but he was not the right person for Sensei Wu. His original voice is perfect. 🙂
I did finally see the movie( got the DVD for Christmas). I can under stand the conflict between the movie and T.V. series. I liked it , but, I look at it as different a perspective ( just like in the Star Wars sagas). In the movie it focuses on Lloyd and Lord Garmadon it’s relationships between a father and a son . Kinda like most teenagers deal with in a family ( even a broken family). However, in the series it talks about that now Master Wu is gone and probably there will be struggles in dealing with that. It gives it different layers in the story line. As for the sets , I’m half and half on them at this point . I just looked over my NINJAGO collection and I think I’m good for now . Will see.
LUCKY!!! I haven’t seen the movie yet
I agree that the movie is an okay standalone item. People who want to see it can see it, and people who want to ignore it and just stick with the TV show can do that too. The issue is how the movie “contaminated” the TV show with changing the characters. If they would just have left them alone, there wouldn’t be so much complaining.
I would say that the sets are not that outstanding this year. Lots of similar ones have been releasing in the past. So, if you already have a good collection, there is really no reason to get the new ones.
Where is my ninja?😮 I’m excited for the new season though!!😊
Yeah, can’t wait for the new season! It’s bin a long time we got our last Ninjago fix. 😀
If concern of ” contaminating characters” is an issue , than it will be interesting to see the reaction when the Han Solo movie comes out because of the difficulties to except change . Than the movie is already doomed. As most fans, we learned to know Han Solo being played by Harrison Ford. The question is will it be accepted. A curious thought. I’m open minded to change. That’s why the NINJAGO movie didn’t bother me . I saw it as a different perspective. I do under stand the issue though . It’s like a child hood character you grew up with and suddenly they change the voice and maybe other things that was key to the character you learned to love a certain way. I been there .
And besides, Han shot first!…
I was thinking about this just the other day. Harrison Ford has such recognizable features and unique smile. Those features are very much part of the Han Solo character, so it’s hard to imagine someone else playing the character. If the new actor tries to imitate Ford they will surely fail because Ford is basically just being himself in the films. And no one else has that smile. And if the new actor is too different, that’s a fail too, because… well… it’s not believable that it’s Ford. I mean, some female Star Wars fans have been in love with the Han Solo character for decades! (My mom was like that.) It’s like completely changing out someone’s boyfriend or husband they have been together with for 40 years! Here, take this guy instead…
“Better them than me” ( Han Solo).