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Tales from the Monastery of Spinjitzu episodes

There is some great news for LEGO Ninjago fans! LEGO releases a series of brand new mini-movies to promote the upcoming LEGO Ninjago Legacy sets. Tales From the Monastery of Spinjitzu consist of six episodes, preceded by Season 9 and succeeded by Season 10. A team of painters is creating a mural of the ninjas’ past victories, while the team train in the newly rebuilt Monastery of Spinjitzu and reminisce about the past. 🙂

Here is the official description of the series: The ninja of LEGO Ninjago are rebuilding the Monastery of Spinjitzu after it was burned down by the Hypnobrai tribe. To preserve the Legacy of Spinjitzu for generations to come, Master Wu is overseeing the making of a mural that depicts some of the most defining and epic moments in the history of Spinjitzu. The episodes are not available on YouTube, so I can’t embed them here, however you can watch all six shorts at the official LEGO Ninjago website. I have also included below the synopsis of the episodes for your convenience, and so that we can discuss them.

  1. Master Class – In this episode, Master Wu gives the Ninja a review in Spinjitzu, teaching balance, conquering fear, focus, and teamwork, and due to some mishap, they all end up getting covered in gold paint.
  2. Green and Gold – In this episode, Lloyd dreams about what happened to the Ultra Dragon, and finds that he returned to the First Realm.
  3. The Weekend Drill – In this episode, Cole, driving his newly rebuilt Earth Driller, gets called to fight the Giant Stone Warrior in Kryptarium Prison.
  4. Elemental Rider – In this episode, Zane and Kai recall a time when they fought off some Venomari using their Golden Weapons in vehicle form.
  5. Blue Lightning – In this episode, Jay remembers beating Pythor off some noodle trucks using his jet.
  6. Samurai X-Treme – In this episode, Nya talks about how she would upgrade her Samurai Mech if she had made it today.

As you will notice, there are inconsistencies between the Legacy stories and how the events actually happened in the previous seasons. Tommy Andreasen, writer of the stories, explains that Tales From the Monastery of Spinjitzu is considered canon, and the first two episodes are set in the present day. The other four episodes start and end in the present day, however the stories are memories, fantasies, dreams, and visual augmentations, which means they are saturated by the ninja’s current state of mind and self-image. In other words, the ninja are remembering the past in an exaggerated way, or having selective memory.

Great episodes, aren’t they? And they perfectly set the scene for the upcoming LEGO Ninjago Legacy sets coming soon! While we are waiting for the new sets, you can take a look at the currently available LEGO Ninjago sets at the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Ninjago Legacy mini-movies? And are you looking forward to the new sets? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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LEGO FORMA more updates & some changes

As you may remember from our previous discussions (see links at the end of this post), LEGO is currently running its first Indiegogo campaign to test out a new product concept called LEGO FORMA. The campaign is not just about trying a new product idea, but also about testing new marketing and engagement techniques. The LEGO FORMA team has been very active on the campaign page, answering questions, responding to feedback, and updating backers about the progress of the project from concept to production to distribution. There have been a number of updates since the last time we talked about LEGO FORMA, so it’s time for another roundup of LEGO FORMA news. 🙂

In the last update, we mentioned that the LEGO FORMA team shared printable versions of the Koi and Shark skins, so fans can download them and color them any way they like (see: LEGO FORMA Downloadable Skins & More!). Since then, the LEGO FORMA team prepared a couple of visuals to show where the different parts of the skins belong, as it was not entirely clear from the templates. Hopefully, these will make it easier for LEGO fans to start customizing even before they receive their kits.

The LEGO FORMA Splash Koi Skin has been updated with an extra splash of pink, yellow, and purple colors, making it even more vibrant and playful. In the image below, you can see both the original skin from the campaign (on the left) and the updated skin that backers will receive (on the right). The LEGO FORMA team also shared that for the Splash Koi Skin they played around with different effects and painting styles and were highly inspired by water colors. Being the most colorful of the three koi skins, the Splash Koi also proved to be the most challenging one. The color vibrancy and details not only had to work on screen, but also on print, to ensure it would live up to LEGO’s high quality standards. It took the team several trials to get it right. On the second image below, you can see the journey of the Splash Koi Skin from the very first iteration to the final result.

The LEGO FORMA Ink Koi Skin is left blank, so LEGO fans can color them in on their own. For this skin, the LEGO FORMA team drew on inspiration from adult coloring books and ink art. Even though the blank skin makes a beautiful display piece as is, coloring it in is a lot of fun. In the image below, you can see some coloring examples from members of the LEGO FORMA design team. The LEGO FORMA team hopes that these images will inspire LEGO fans to play around with the printable blank foil skins and come up with their own design.

Besides the color of the Splash Koi Skin, another minor change is that the total piece-count for the Koi has changed from 294 elements to 293 elements. The building instructions were previously included in the total element count of 294. As the building instructions are not an element, it has been excluded from the final piece-count overview on the packaging.

An important aspect of the LEGO FORMA experience is customization and rebuilding. Therefore, the LEGO FORMA team wanted to ensure that the holes for attaching the connector element to the skins are designed in a way that prevents the material from being damaged when you change the skins. The holes are shaped like a triangle, so the material can easily stretch when the connector element is attached. Also, the triangle is just the right size, so the connector element stays centered.

To those backers who are gifting their loved ones with a LEGO FORMA set, the LEGO FORMA team prepared a Christmas card suitable for gift-giving. You can print your card from the LEGO FORMA campaign page and sign the names of the gift giver and receiver after print. For those, who prefer a version without text, you can find it on the same LEGO FORMA campaign page. Remember to set the print settings to print on both sides of paper, so you can easily fold the A4 in half when printed.

The LEGO FORMA project remains right on time, with all four products ready to ship by the beginning of the New Year. The LEGO FORMA team is already on vacation for the Christmas holidays, so we are not expecting any other updates for this year, but they will be back at the beginning of January and they will keep backers of the campaign informed as soon as the boxes leave the warehouse.

What do you think? How do you like LEGO FORMA? Are you a backer in the Indiegogo campaign? And are you excited for the product coming in January? Are you planning to make your own designs for the skins? Do you see a future for these type of LEGO sets? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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