We used all of our ninja skills to track down a full set of the latest LEGO® Minifigures series, which is based on the upcoming new animated LEGO big screen adventure, The LEGO NINJAGO Movie. Packed with heroes, villains and citizens of NINJAGO City, this limited edition new gang of minifigures features 20 new collectable characters with a sprinkling of great new elements but how do they shape up? Grab yourself a cup of Wu’s tea and check out our full review of The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Minifigure series.
Shark Army Octopus
Nicknamed “Four-Eyes” by his boss Garmadon, this warrior loves to spread support for man in charge. He’s even known to add Garmadon to priceless artwork.
Review: The bad guys in The LEGO NINJAGO Movie are a fishy bunch, quite literally and the first of the fishy fiends is this octopus-clad chap. He use a brand new octopus-type head gear which sits nicely over the oxygen tank shoulder element. That Octopus head is made from a slightly softer material to the standard LEGO element, which can make it a little tricky to remove. The Shark Army Octopus includes a stud shooting gun and a fish, just to push the sea connection a little more! Although most of the print detail is hidden, the suits print goes well with the rest of the character. I quite like how, with just the eyes peeking through, you can tell this is a bad guy.
Zane
When he’s not fighting evil as the ice ninja, he focuses on his studies. He predicts that the ninja team has a 87.6666 (repeating) chance of beating Garmadon.
Review: Zane is quite simply an awesome minifigure, he may not have any fancy pieces beyond he flat top hair style, but he just looks so damn happy. Plus he’s sporting one funky jumper, which has a nice nod to a past LEGO theme. (Can you guess which?) Zane makes use of the backpack element which was introduced with the series 16 Hiker and as mentioned above Zane’s trademark hair. This is nicely complimented with print detail around the back of Zane’s head. I just love Zane’s smiley grin which makes him of the this series best characters.
Cole
He may seem too cool for school, but really he’s the super grounded ninja of earth who loves music so much even his subwoofers have woofers.
Review: Cole is not only the master of Earth, he’s also the master of a sick beat, which he can boom out to his fellow ninja, with his impressive boom box. This looks simple enough, but has cool moulded detail for the speakers. This civilian variant of Cole may not have any weapons, but he does have his guns out, thanks to his sleeveless vest, which includes some nice print detail on the front and back. Cole’s angst expression also goes nicely with his new messy hairstyle hairpiece.
Shark Army Angler
Is it a bird? A plane? No it’s a super sneaky Angler. Don’t underestimate the powers of misdirection this Shark Army member possesses.
Review: Another of the Shark Armies fishy foe is the Angler, which is based on the real life Anglerfish. Like the Shark Army Octopus, the Angler headpiece is made from a softer material and looks almost a gruesome as the fish which inspired it. I like the little air gauge detail on the from of the oxygen tank shoulder piece although the fish mace is a little odd looking, but it’s nice to see Garmadon has picked a theme for his army and he’s sticking to it. Again print detail is fairly hidden but matches that of the other Shark Army recruits without being exactly the same.
GPL Tech
At Garmadon Propulsion Laboratories (GPL) this brainiac is cooking up a wicked treat for the warlord himself.
Review: Garmadon may be the head of a evil organisation but behind every bad guy is a well funded R&D team. This GPL tech has a great torso print, which shows the her love of a certain dark and brooding superhero. Little odd considering she works for an evil ‘genius’. The legs make use of the fairly new dual-moulded combo, meaning the white of the lab coat is nice and vibrant instead of being printed on top of a colour. Accessories include a plain red mug and laptop piece.
Kai Kendo
His Kendo gear perfectly illustrates the ninja of fire’s most important rule of fire ninjaing: safety first.
Review: Kai is another of this series main ninja characters, here he is sporting his kendo gear, which includes a kendo armour plate, wooden training swords and a kendo mask. Kai can sport his impressive quiffed hair piece or the Kendo mask, which if I’m honest looks a little odd due to the lack of hair under the mask. Kai includes some nice print detail, especially on the legs.
Flashback Garmadon
While taking a break from his usual villainy, he loves to rock a classic dad ensemble. Cool shades included.
Review: Garmadon hasn’t always been a bad guy, many moons ago he was this fun looking fellow who loved to take photo’s and wear 70s inspired leisure wear. Garmadon is quite a unique minifigure, not because of that impressive head of hair but because of his double torso. The bottom torso is a standard one but the top one is a unique piece which is every so slightly smaller than the bottom piece. Unlike one of the other Garmadon variants in this series, the top torso piece has an expanded piece on the its rears instead of the front. It’s a totally crazy minifigure on so many levels but I love it even more because of that. The fact he appears to also live in a hollowed out Volcano, as shown on the 2×2 printed tile makes it even more nuts.
Garmadon
Four arms, red eyes, rides a giant robot shark. Clearly he’s the coolest evil warlord ever.
Review: Of all the minifigures included in the series this is could be considered the most generic, when compared to those included with The LEGO NINJAGO Movie playsets. However this form of Garmadon is almost of mash-up of those found elsewhere. Although he’s sporting his black armour in place oc casual wear, he’s wearing a black straw hat in place of his helmet. The same two torso set-up is also used but this time the extended plate piece is on the front of the torso, which allows for it to become part of the armour, thanks to print detail. The weapon is made up of a staff piece and a unique bladed mace type element atop it. He’s a nice addition to the line-up but the wacky variants of Garmadon are far more fun.
Lloyd
The Green Ninja (aka The Chosen One) is honor bound to protect NINJAGO. Even from his own father, Garmadon.
Review: The poster boy of The LEGO NINJAGO Movie is Lloyd, the green ninja and so it’s only fitting he appears in his ninja form here. As the ninja outfits are much different to their previous incarnations the ninja mask is now made up of two pieces, the face cover, which fits between the torso and head and the head piece. These fit perfectly together and look like a single piece. The lower section has a slight gap to allow for the tied section of the bandanna to sit nice and flush. Lloyd also include has new hair element should you wish to unmask him and is completed by a 2 x 3 printed tile and his ninja dao sword complete with golden tassel. Whichever way you choose to dress Lloyd, it’s a great little minifigure and the master of Spinjitzu robes are extremely detailed.
N-POP Girl
The NINJAGO Pop music revolution has just begun. Meet your colorful dance leader.
Review: Inspired by the J-pop loving girls of Japan, the NINJAGO City version is certainly one colourful lady. The N-POP girl stands out for a number of reason, mainly because of her crazy colouring, but also because of her Unikitty print top, it’s a nice little nod to The LEGO Movie and the character fits nicely with that of the N-POP girl. She also makes use of a number of fairly new elements all recoloured, including Harley Quinn’s hair piece, the ballerina skirt piece and the teddy bear element. Thanks to these pieces I can see the N-POP girl being a fairly popular character.
Gong & Guitar Rocker
Even ninjas need a sweet anthem courtesy of a totally rad rocker: “We built this city, we built this city on rock and GONG!”
Review: His bio would suggest that Gong provides the ninja with some sort of anthem. Judging by his appearance that’s going to be one rocking tune. Like Cole, Gong has his arms on show and they are sporting some rocking tattoos (rub on ones of course), he also make use of a couple of previously seen elements including series 7s Hippie hair piece and the rock guitar last seen with Glam Metal Batman. Gong also has two different expressions the first of which shown below is my favourite. I also quite like Gong’s trousers, the dual mould allows for much better and cleaner detail.
Shark Army General #1
This general is facing some real pressure. Seriously, if she doesn’t secure NINJAGO for Garmadon he’s going to fire her from a volcano.
Review: It would seem the higher up you are in the Shark Army, the less fishy looking you need to be but with it comes extra stress of not getting on the wrong side of Garmadon. Something which is clearly shown on the Shark Army General’s pained looking face. Although she may not be sporting any fish-related head gear, the Shark Army General does have a great fish fin type cape, which is made up of two separate plastic pieces. I really like the print detail on both the torso and legs, part military, part fish.
Shark Army Great White
After failing to take control of NINJAGO for Garmdon he was literally shot from a volcano. Not even scorching magma will get in his way.
Review: The final member of the Shark Army is Great White, unfortunately he seems to have angered Garmadon in some way and has ended up in the wrong side of a volcano. This is portrayed by a burned shark inspired helmet and melted detail on the torso and legs. The shark helmet has the oxygen tank partly built into it, although the actual tank is a classic space one in place of the single tank piece other Shark Army members are wearing.
Jay Walker
He never dreamed he’d leave the outskirts of NINJAGO to become the awesome, but very questionably dressed, blue ninja.
Review: Jay has one of the best new elements introduced in The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Minifigure Collection, the humble scarf! A simple yet effective little element will be no doubt be seen in many other LEGO sets in the future. Just like Zane, Jay has a nice little expression going on, in which he is trying to do his best cheesy grin for his selfie. Of course if you want to take a selfie you need a selfie stick, which is created from a few simple elements along with a 1×2 printed tile featuring Jay’s snap. The torso and legs are quite plain, but this is more than outweighed by the cool scarf element.
Misako
Lloyd’s protective mom is all about hardwork. She’ll work three jobs, battle an evil warlord, and still cook a mean waffle.
Review: Lloyd’s mum may seem like a plain minifigure, but she does have a great new hair piece. This is a has a pair of chopsticks holding up a bun, in fact it’s one of my favourite hair pieces of the entire series. Along with the new hair piece is a nice little handbag element as well. Fans of the NINJAGO TV series will notice that this version Misako looks very different to TV one. Here the character is much younger looking. Although this could be a flash back version of the character.
Sushi Chef
He’s the best in the business. His sushi is as fresh as his crazy knife skills.
Review: The Shark Army better watch out as the best sushi chef in NINJAGO City has arrived. He uses the newly introduced bald head piece seen on the series 16 Scallywag Pirate. The sushi is created by a couple 1×1 round tiles and a 1×1 tube, which work extremely well. The new cleaver element finishes off the look.
Lloyd Garmadon
The son of the warlord Garmadon and secretly the Green Ninja? And you thought your teen years were difficult.
Review: When Lloyd isn’t saving NINJAGO City from the forces of evil, he enjoys nothing more than a delicious bowl of cereal. The best feature of this version of Lloyd is the new hood element. This combined with the torso print makes for an interesting looking version of Lloyd.
Spinjitzu Training Nya
She’s always training to get her fancy foot work just right to unleash her true water ninja potential.
Review: The final member of the ninja crew is Nya, who is sporting the Spinjitzu training outfit. This simple judo-type clothing will be found on a number of different members of the ninja team, which will be included in other sets and a couple of books. Although a fairly simple looking minifigure, the print detail on the Spinjitzu training gear is very cool especially the Wu Cru logo on the back.
Master Wu
He believes everything is about balance. Consider this piece of his powerful wisdom: “You can win the battle on the outside but lose the battle on the inside.”
Review: Master Wu is the wise old mentor of the ninja and is the most unchanged of the characters from the TV series. Here he is wearing a material piece around the waist to extend his white robes. It does look a little odd as it doesn’t sit very well on the left-hand side where the ends of the material meet. Wu comes with a box Corn Flakes cereal made from 2x3x1 brick with printed detail and a 2×1 tile for the lid. It would of been nice to have a more unusual version of Wu, like some of the other characters.
Volcano Garmadon
What do you get the villain that has everything? Volcano pajamas, of course.
Review: The third version of Garmadon to be including in The LEGO NINJAGO Movie is this happy looking Saturday morning cartoon loving version of Garmadon. Although he’s wearing his battle helmet, he’s more prepared for a lazy day in front of the TV with a bowl of his favourite cereal. The bowl elements are great and it’s nice to see them used with different designs and colours.
Overall: This is another great series of LEGO Minifigures and although it’s a licensed series, it’s more like the stand series especially when you compare it to The LEGO Batman Movie series from earlier in the year. The new parts are great and there are a few useful pieces MOC builders will enjoy. The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Minifigure Collection will be available from August 1st from shop.LEGO.com and all good LEGO retailers. Priced at £2.99 each.
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