Summer Ninjago images

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Battle for Ninjago City

Battle for Ninjago City

©2014 LEGO Group

Images of the two Ninjago sets to be released in the summer, 70727 X-1 Ninja Charger and 70728 Battle for Ninjago City have surfaced somewhere on Eurobricks.

I haven't bought any of this year's Ninjago sets. What are they like? Any worthwhile innovations, or just more of the same produced to quell perceived demand but well past their sell-by date?

Thanks Toby for the news.

19 comments on this article

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By in United Kingdom,

Amazon.co.UK is selling the Chima sets and they will be delivered in 3 to 6 six weeks, plus there is pictures of them.

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By in United States,

Loving the look of that temple. SPOILER: The Overlord in that set is the Golden Master mentioned in the newest episode of the TV series.

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By in United States,

Lifting the temple from the ground = Nice Move Lego! Great design work. A great parts set, too, from the looks of it :)

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By in United States,

That was a good idea to add some rockwork underneath of the temple. And it doesn't look too bad, although it looks perfectly symmetrical. I've never seen rockwork that symmetrical before...I guess it makes it easier for kids to put together??

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By in Canada,

I can't argue about NinjaGo's 2014 lineup, since I bought another dragon, and will later get to buy another great looking temple set. I too have wondered if NinjaGo has overstayed its welcome, but with Chima under-achieving (so it seems), the apparent demand for NinjaGo's return, and the latest TV season airing (don't ask me about that, I don't get Cartoon Network), I think NinjaGo will still merrit a few sets a year. I still don't think Lego can afford to let go of one of their most successful home-grown themes ever. Perhaps they could hire some new writers, adapt the NinjaGo storyboard, and expand the TV series so that they can hit that popularity surge of 2012 again... wait a minute, aren't they doing that now? Is a third season of NinjaGo really intended to market two summer sets, or is 2015 the year Lego pulls the plug on Chima and starts aggressively marketing NinjaGo again?

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By in United Kingdom,

Damn, that car looks cool!

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By in United Kingdom,

O yes, great looking car and the Ninjago city set looks wonderful.
I guess this will fill the demand for Far Eastern style buildings.
It looks like I must have at least 3 of the buildings, if the price is right.
The droid thing parts will have to be used for something else. :)

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By in United States,

Gotta say I am pleased LEGO went with a brick-built raised base for the building. The 'rockwork' is much better than a printed slope, or whatever. Nice job there LEGO.

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By in United States,

I agree with Venunder - in LEGO's mind, they are meeting the need for "Far Eastern style buildings" and I'm guessing this will assure the Japanese Old Style Architecture Cuusoo project will NOT pass the LEGO review. I like the Ninjago City set - I only have set 70720 of the 2014 wave, but I'll probably get this one.

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By in United States,

Wish we had a better picture of the new overlord. I think the temple looks ok I like it better than fire one.

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By in United States,

I actually like the fire temple more overall (the green roof is more Chinese than Japanese). Even though this is the 3rd temple in the Ninjago series, I'm still liking them all and many of the sets. I do not generally like ninjas with vehicles, so, like Venunder, all my robots will be re-placed (maybe with TMNT). The overlord and raised building base look very nice indeed.

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By in Canada,

Ninjago has definitely NOT outstayed its welcome in my book. I only have two of this year's sets so far: 70724 NinjaCopter and 70725 Nindroid MechDragon. But my wishlist is far longer and includes both of this year's summer sets.

Nindroid MechDragon is a phenomenal set. The buggy includes what might be the single most brilliant flick-fire mechanism I've ever encountered. Didn't work perfectly at first, but after a bit of wearing in I was amazed at both its range and its reliability. The buggy is also a really awesome shape.

As for the dragon itself, it's a work of art. Instead of using a prefab dragon head in order to achieve a naturalistic look, it has an elaborate brick-built head. As a robotic creature rather than a living one, the choice of geometric shaping and pieced-together details instead of lifelike shaping and decoration works to its advantage. Instead of using BIONICLE Piraka feet like previous dragons, the Nindroid MechDragon uses new Hero Factory foot pieces covered in useful connection points. The toes on the front legs are frankly quite brilliant. It functions as a Nindroid dropship, with plenty of space, weapons, and hang-gliders for the Nindroid passengers. There's a prison cell which will be quite useful for re-enacting the events of the most recent episodes. And the buzz-saw function on the wings is quite fun.

Ninjacopter is not quite so outstanding, but it has a neat function and a very original shape. It also has some great minifigures. Pixal is not only a much-needed new female character, but a great character design. And battle-damaged Zane is outstanding as well. This year's Ninja minifigures combine some of the best features from all the previous Ninja minifigures, resulting in some marvelously distinctive costumes. Overall, this year has done a great job integrating story elements from the TV show to a greater extent than any previous year. The Ninja have reasonably show-accurate hairstyles, Zane's nature as a Nindroid finally is apparent in his character design, and he even comes with the crow from the Lone Ranger sets as a facsimile of his trusty falcon sidekick!

Regarding the summer sets, 70727 looks like a brilliant set, and I love the way the driver's seat becomes the seat of a motorbike. It's got to be one of my favorite Ninja vehicles this year. Unlike the Kai Fighter, which has a hard time stepping out of the shadow of the brilliant 9442 Jay's Storm Fighter, this one feels unlike any previous Ninja vehicle, but every bit as stylish. 70728 is packed with delicious features, including the iconic Golden Master/Overlord, one of the series' central villains. I'm a bit surprised that the designers put four exclusive figs in 70728 (the Golden Master/Overlord and new costumes for Zane, Nya, and Lloyd) instead of putting at least one of those figs in 70726, though. For that matter, it's a bit peculiar that there are two different Lloyd minifigures and three different Zane minifigures in this year's sets, but each seems to have some considerable story significance.

Overall, I'm quite excited to get my hands on more of this year's Ninjago sets. And I'm thrilled with the prospect of what 2015 might bring. I'm glad that the series is back on its feet after a hiatus in summer 2013. It's one of the LEGO Group's best story-driven themes of all time, and it's great that the amazing stories, music, and sets were able to live on beyond their originally planned conclusion!

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By in United States,

That's a very cool temple. I don't own any Ninjago, but this looks like a keeper if the price isn't too steep.

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By in United States,

There is not enough Asian-inspired building in Lego line-up.
I bought all Ninjago temples from the past and will buy this one to build up an Asian-inspired collection. I hope Ninjago theme continue to release at least one building set next year. After that I don't know, perhaps it would've run its course.

Re. the TV show. I don't watch it regularly but I quite like the sarcastic humor.

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By in United Kingdom,

Whilst I'm not really a fan of Ninjago, I do like the look of that temple as it looks very well done and one of the few sets from the theme with intricate details.

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By in United Kingdom,

I'm a big fan of the Battle set, It really reminds me of the old adventurers set 7419, which as it happens I built 3-4 weeks ago.

The brick built rock base looks cool as opposed to the old style structured baseplates, but to get the stability behind it, I'm reckoning it must hike up the piece count. Hope that doesn't make it too expensive.

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By in Canada,

@luckyruss: The price in USD is $120, which is pretty expensive, but it's got 1223 parts so it's fairly reasonable as far as price per piece is concerned.

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By in Canada,

I might get this just because it actually looks like a sushi restaurant just out side of the city I live in. It has a stair case like that in the front and it has those shade windows and the tall green roof :P

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By in United States,

Reminds me a lot of the Orient Expedition Dragon Fortress. But it is a nice piece. May be the only Ninjago set I purchase

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