This year marks the 10th anniversary of the LEGO® NINJAGO theme, a theme which should have only lasted 2 years. There is only one reason why it’s still going strong – the fans. NINJAGO has an incredibly passionate fanbase, their love of NINJAGO brought it back from the brink of retiring and continues to inspire every episode of the long TV series and various LEGO sets. I’m certainly not a hardcore fan, but I have a fond admiration for the theme and have built many sets from it. In fact, I still remember my first experience of the LEGO NINJAGO – inside Tesco, I would do my weekly sweep of the important sections such as DVDs, Magazines and of course toys. There was FSDU sitting on the end of the toy aisle filled with these odd-looking LEGO sets. They were the NINJAGO Spintzu sets, “um LEGO ninja” I thought “that’s a cool idea”. This was way before I returned to the world of LEGO fandom.
So with fans being so integral to the world of LEGO NINJAGO and the theme celebrating its 10th anniversary, I thought it would be a great time for fans to share the memories of NINJAGO. If you’d like to be involved then pop your thoughts on this handy form below and they could be featured right here on BricksFanz. Please submit your NINJAGO memories by Sunday, January 17th, 2021.
13th January 2021
Summer 2011. The Lego Ninjago Masters of Spinjitzu tour was touring across USA giving many people the opportunity to try out Ninjago spinners for the first time, and it happened to be in Michigan. I was 11 years old at the time, and my father took my best friend and I to attend. I remember it being set up like a dojo, with multiple entrances signifying each of the (at the time) four elements. I chose Ice because I thought Zane was cool. I remember rummaging through the bins of lego looking for pieces to build my spinner, and I was shocked to find the pieces to build a Garmadon mini figure. I remember being shocked at the brilliance of the Ninjago spinners in action. They had a miniature lego shop set up in a tent, and while they did not have a Zane spinner, my dad bought me and my friend a Cole DX spinner for each of us. Let’s just say later that evening it was difficult remembering who was who when we played with them. I remember watching the Ninjago pilot when it premiered earlier that year, but this event in the summer was my true first experience with Ninjago, and it set me up as a fan for the rest of my life. As I’ve gotten older my Lego collection has become a lot smaller, focusing on more iconic Star Wars ships, but I am still happy to have my original Cole DX figure standing proudly atop my Ninjago City set. While I missed out on the Ninjago City Docks I am stoked to add the Ninjago City Gardens set to my collection later this year! For the longest time I had only focused on licensed Lego themes, but the impact of an original theme like Ninjago has surpassed that even of Bionicle. I don’t see Ninjago ending anytime soon, and I hope that it will be around long enough that I can share it with my future children someday.
19th January 2021
Hi Jack, thanks for sharing your story, it’s a great read and the perfect way of seeing the impact of NINJAGO.