≡ Menu

May the Force be with you… ninja style?

(Written by Taryn)

So maybe you’re a Star Wars fan; you like to see guys jumping around using the Force and wielding sabers that glow, and are very-very dangerous. (Apparently if they actually made light-sabers they would be made of plasma and held with ceramic – I think I read that in the Owl Magazine). You like seeing droids and clones and colored laser-blasts flying around.

Or… maybe you like to see guys in colored uniforms turning into live tornadoes and also holding dangerous weapons. And seeing this evil guy with four arms on screen going “MWU HA HA HA!!!” So you’re a Ninjago fan.

But what happens when the two worlds collide? Which already have in the LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu episodes. I was watching Star Wars and noticed some similarities. Here are some examples:

➡ In the Ninjago mini-movie An Underworldly Takeover, When Samukai asks Garmadon, “But where is your pathetic brother Wu?” He responds “That name no longer holds any meaning for me.” – A quote from Star Wars when in the final episode Darth Vader says the name Anakin Skywalker no longer holds any meaning for him.

➡ In Ninjago Episode 13 – Day of the Great Devourer when the ninja, Lloyd and Nya are in Destiny’s Bounty, flying away from the Great Devourer, Nya says she will try to make it to Scatter Canyon. Zane says probability of making it that far is less than eight percent (Where did he get that number?!) Nya says “Never tell me the odds!” the same quote as in Start Wars, where Han Solo tells C-3P0 the same thing. Plus C-3P0 and Zane are both robots. 🙄

➡ At the end of Ninjago Episode 14 – Darkness Shall Rise Wu says, “I feel a great disturbance in the Force”. There is no Force in Ninjago. So what does he mean? He feels a disturbance in the balance between good and evil?

➡ In Ninjago Episode 18 – Child’s Play, Mother Doomsday says that his weapon of choice for stopping a Grundell would be an aluma-sword, which looks an awful lot like a light-saber. And the image of the comic-book with the Green Ninja could remind you of Star Wars; especially with Lloyd holding a light-saber. Why is he holding a light-saber?

➡ Plus, in Star Wars, Darth Vader’s son Luke has to face his evil father. In Ninjago, Garmadon’s son Lloyd also has to face his father. Both Luke and Lloyd don’t want to face their dads, but they have to do it. It’s their destiny. And Yoda is Sensei Wu, except Sensei Wu isn’t a little green creature. 😀

I contacted LEGO by email asking them about the similarities. This is the response I received by a representative of LEGO:

Dear LEGO Fan,

Thank you for your interest in LEGO brand toys. We are always delighted to hear from a loyal LEGO enthusiast.

I do see what you mean about some of the similarities between the two storylines! I’m sure that they are not trying to copy it but there are a lot of stories that feature the same kind of father-son competition. It seems to be a common theme since it creates a lot of drama and suspense, so I’m sure that the storyline was created to be as entertaining as possible.

We are also really big Star Wars fans here at LEGO, so if you notice some similarities in quotes I bet they were put in just for fun! Our designers like to have fun with certain references, on our Lord of the Rings Mines of Moria set, one of the designers actually wrote his name in Elven on one of the set pieces!

Huh? Did you know that? About The Mines of Moria? Just another cool little trivia on LEGO designers and the sneaky things they do! 😀

What do you think? Did you also notice the similarities between Star Wars and Ninjago? Any other references that I didn’t catch? Share your thoughts, comments and discoveries below! Also, I’m a KFOL (Kid-Fan-of-LEGO) and this is my second article at theBrickBlogger. You can read my first post here: How Much Do You Know About LEGO? Feedback and comments are appreciated! 🙂

You might also want to check out the previous posts below, or head over to the LEGO Ninjago section for more Ninjago discussions:

{ 89 comments }

2013 LEGO sets – see what’s coming!

LEGO websites and blogs are buzzing with 2013 LEGO news. According to Brickset, German toy-store Werst revealed a list of LEGO sets coming out next year. So let’s look at the list and see what we got.  😛

2013 LEGO Sets – LEGO Ninjago: 2013 is believed to be the last year for Ninjago, but there is going to be one more wave of sets. The Temple of Light, the Golden Dragon and Garmatron sounds particularly interesting. From the list it appears there is going to be no more spinners, but it may be too early to tell for sure. Here is the list of the 2013 LEGO Ninjago sets:

  • #70500 LEGO Ninjago Kai’s Fire Robot
  • #70501 LEGO Ninjago Samurai Bike
  • #70502 LEGO Ninjago Cole’s Power Drill
  • #70503 LEGO Ninjago Golden Dragon
  • #70504 LEGO Ninjago Garmatron
  • #70505 LEGO Ninjago Temple of Light

2013 LEGO Sets – LEGO Legend of Chima: this is the theme that is rumored to replace Ninjago next year. It has a lot of similar features as Ninjago; non-human characters, mythical vehicles, and a game with cards, weapons and new type of spinners. The characters all have half-man-half-animal forms including a wolf, lion, eagle, crocodile, etc. Please note that Speedorz, which was originally thought to be a separate theme, is included amongst the Legend of Chima sets. Below are the 2013 LEGO Legend of Chima sets revealed so far:

  • #70000 LEGO Legend of Chima Razcals Raven Glider
  • #70001 LEGO Legend of Chima Crawleys Reptile Grabber
  • #70012 LEGO Legend of Chima Razars Chi Raider
  • #70002 LEGO Legend of Chima Lennoxs Lion-Buggy
  • #70003 LEGO Legend of Chima Eris Eagle Jet
  • #70004 LEGO Legend of Chima Wakz Wolf tracker
  • #70005 LEGO Legend of Chima Lavals Lion-Quad
  • #70006 LEGO Legend of Chima Craggers Croc-Boat Center
  • #70013 LEGO Legend of Chima Equilas Ultra Striker
  • #70100 LEGO Legend of Chima Speedorz FireRing
  • #70101 LEGO Legend of Chima Speedorz Disc Shooting
  • #70102 LEGO Legend of Chima Chi-Waterfall
  • #70103 LEGO Legend of Chima Speedorz Boulder Bowling
  • #70113 LEGO Legend of Chima Starter Set Chi Tournament

2013 LEGO Sets – The Hobbit: the first wave of LEGO The Hobbit sets are actually scheduled to be released in December of this year to coincide with the release of the The Hobbit film, but I thought to add them here, as their release is quite close to the new year. Here is a list of the 2013 LEGO The Hobbit sets:

  • #79000 LEGO The Hobbit Mystery of the Ring
  • #79001 LEGO The Hobbit Fleeing from the Mirkwood Spiders
  • #79002 LEGO The Hobbit Attack of the Wargs
  • #79003 LEGO The Hobbit An Unexpected Gathering
  • #79010 LEGO The Hobbit The Orc King

2013 LEGO Sets – LEGO Super Heroes: there are a few sets revealed in this theme and there is likely more to come. Here is the list:

  • LEGO Super Heroes Camouflage Tumbler
  • LEGO Super Heroes The Bat Boat
  • LEGO Super Heroes Daily Bugle
  • LEGO Super Heroes Spider-Man Chase

2013 LEGO Sets – LEGO Friends: the LEGO theme for girls is doing extremely well, and is continuing to expand. There are no really big sets scheduled for 2013 (as of yet), but there are several small and medium sets with Friends branching out to different hobbies and interests. There is also going to be some kind of Collectible Friends Series with bags containing an animal and their home. Here is the list of 2013 LEGO Friends sets:

  • #41000 LEGO Friends Andrea’s Jet-Ski
  • #41001 LEGO Friends Mia’s Magic Show
  • #41002 LEGO Friends Emma’s Karate Course
  • #41003 LEGO Friends Olivia’s Foal
  • #41004 LEGO Friends Stephanie’s Grand Entrance
  • #41007 LEGO Friends Heartlake Pet Salon
  • #41008 LEGO Friends Large Swimming Pool
  • #41011 LEGO Friends Soccer Training with Stephanie

2013 LEGO Sets – LEGO City: as usual LEGO city will be more fire and police. I honestly don’t know why LEGO can’t get beyond these. It almost sounds like LEGO is running a police-state; with tons of uniformed guys running around “saving” the few and far between citizens. Although the Museum Robbery sounds interesting. Below are the 2013 LEGO City sets:

  • #60000 LEGO City Fire Motorcycle
  • #60001 LEGO City Fire Department
  • #60002 LEGO City Fire Truck
  • #60003 LEGO City Firefighters
  • #60004 LEGO City Fire Headquarters
  • #60005 LEGO City Fire Boat
  • #60006 LEGO City Police Quad
  • #60007 LEGO City Police Chase
  • #60009 LEGO City Museum Robbery
  • #60010 LEGO City Fire Helicopter

2013 LEGO Sets – LEGO Star Wars: of course Star Wars is a staple for LEGO, and there is a ton of new sets to satisfy all aspiring Jedi. Here is the list of the 2013 LEGO Star Wars sets:

  • #75000 LEGO Star Wars Republic vs. Sith Troopers Battle Pack
  • #75001 LEGO Star Wars Clone Troopers vs. Droidekas Battle Pack
  • #75002 LEGO Star Wars AT-RT
  • #75003 LEGO Star Wars A-Wing Starfighter
  • #75004 LEGO Star Wars Z-95 Headhunter
  • #75005 LEGO Star Wars Rancor Pit
  • #75012 LEGO Star Wars BARC Speeder
  • #75013 LEGO Star Wars Umbaran MHC (Mobile Heavy Cannon)
  • #75006 LEGO SW Planets Series 3 Kamino & Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfigher
  • #75007 LEGO SW Planets Series 3 Coruscant & Republic Assault Striker
  • #75008 LEGO SW Planets Series 3 Asteroid Field & TIE Bomber
  • #75009 LEGO SW Planets Series 4 Hoth & Snowspeeder
  • #75010 LEGO SW Planets Series 4 Endor & B-Wing Starfighter
  • #75011 LEGO SW Planets Series 4 Aldeeran & Tantive IV

2013 LEGO Sets – Hero Factory: this theme appears to be going strong, and will have several new sets next year. Here is the list of the 2013 LEGO Hero Factory sets revealed so far:

  • #44000 LEGO Hero Factory Furno XL
  • #44001 LEGO Hero Factory Pyrox
  • #44002 LEGO Hero Factory Rocka
  • #44003 LEGO Hero Factory Scarox
  • #44004 LEGO Hero Factory Bulk
  • #44005 LEGO Hero Factory Bruizer
  • #44006 LEGO Hero Factory Breez
  • #44007 LEGO Hero Factory Ogrum

So that’s about all we know about the 2013 LEGO sets so far. Quite a list, isn’t it? There is also going to be Series 9 of the Collectible Minifigures, and of course new DUPLO sets for the little kiddies and regular LEGO brick-boxes. In addition, there are persistent rumors of LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coming in January, and also LEGO sets to tie in with the Disney Lone Ranger movie, which should be very interesting for Western fans. And there are rumors of LEGO Polar X-Plorer and LEGO Space Galaxy themes, but the information is quite sketchy at the moment, but stay tuned!

So what do you think of the 2013 LEGO sets? Do you think it is going to be a good year? Which of the 2013 LEGO sets are you looking forward the most? Share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!  😉

You may also like to check out the following post about 2013 LEGO news:

{ 75 comments }