I remember this was one of the first wave Ninjago sets I got. While the dojo was little more than a facade, what was cool was that the set came with a holographic Sensei Wu card for the Ninjago spinner game. Still have it; I still think it looks cool.

I never got any sets with the spinners in them, but I always thought the spinners looked fun when I was a kid.

The Pilot Seaon wasn't the best, but I adore the sets. I got quite a number of them, but not this one though unfortunately. Ninjago sets peaked at the start.

The Pilot Seaon wasn't the best, but I adore the sets. I got quite a number of them, but not this one though unfortunately. Ninjago sets peaked at the start.

I have this one. It's three walls, but they're really good walls! :D
Both sides have moving obstacles and small terrain bits like tge water with spikes and lava pools. The axes and swinging swords are great, the flick-fire missles aren't the most useful, but I appreciate their inclusion. The platform in the middle however is perfect. Whether the doors are open or closed, the middle can pop out when you press the shuriken display. It's satisfying and works great!
The set is just all-around interactive, but it looks great too! And when you remove two parts you can remove the side walls and rearrange it into a continuous hallway with the doors at the end. And it's also compatible with more of the spinjitsu-focussed modules from that year so you can make a larger battle arena.

Oh, and the minifigs. Back in 2011 you could get the full ninja team from four of the smallest sets: 2516 Ninja Training for Cole, 2258 Ninja Ambush for Kai, 2259 Skull Motorcycle for Jay and this set for Zane and Wu. Or you could get 2263, Turbo Shredder for Jay and Cole instead. Or you could get the spinners...
Point is, these sets had a nice low bar to get into the theme with some nice stuff and surprisingly good access to the main characters (Nya, Samukai and Lord Garmadon weren't, but outside of Samukai they came in spinners at least).

Btw, Wu and nuckal were nice inclusions too. Wu wasn't common at all, less so in this outfit. In fact this is the only mainline set it appears in (the other two are s plastic spinner arena and a limited release spinner pack of the figure). Nuckal appears elsewhere but he's more special than the footsoldier Skullkin.

With only the palest of minifigures!

@TuxDoesLegoStuff: Alright...you asked for it...so, NOW YER GONNA GET IT (:D):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFwWcFpywyI (all w/their voice actors too:))

@PistolLink said:
"I never got any sets with the spinners in them, but I always thought the spinners looked fun when I was a kid."

They seemed like a huge waste of money, but ultimately they set a low ceiling on resale value for any minifig that came in a spinner pack, which was most of them in the fist wave.

@PurpleDave said:
" @PistolLink said:
"I never got any sets with the spinners in them, but I always thought the spinners looked fun when I was a kid."

They seemed like a huge waste of money, but ultimately they set a low ceiling on resale value for any minifig that came in a spinner pack, which was most of them in the fist wave."

I think eventually figuring out that even though the spinners were "cheap" sets and had a minifigure I wanted, they weren't a good value for money for someone like me with no use for the spinners themselves was genuinely instrumental in teaching me the value of money as a kid. That didn't stop me from buying Chima speeders too, but at least those usually had some other interesting pieces.

This is one of the few Ninjago sets I own. I randomly found it on sale, so bought it way back when. Now looking at new prices, maybe I should have kept it sealed and sold it later (not my cup of tea), but considering all I did was part it out, seems silly to buy any LEGO these days.

@Sethro3 said:
"This is one of the few Ninjago sets I own. I randomly found it on sale, so bought it way back when. Now looking at new prices, maybe I should have kept it sealed and sold it later (not my cup of tea), but considering all I did was part it out, seems silly to buy any LEGO these days."

If you go in with that attitude, nobody should ever open sets, and MOCs should be limited to what can be obtained through OPAB.

Hard to believe 2011 was 15 years ago. That feels like several lifetimes ago - a simpler, better time when the world wasn't as crazy and most LEGO sets had four digit sets numbers. Man, if I had a time machine, I'd buy all the LEGO sets I could get my hands on that I couldn't afford at the time like the Maersk train, Horizon Express x2, and MANY more 2013 Lone Ranger sets, among other things - like get some more LEGO Universe gameplay done. (RIP)

@Murdoch17 said:
"Hard to believe 2011 was 15 years ago. That feels like several lifetimes ago - a simpler, better time when the world wasn't as crazy and most LEGO sets had four digit sets numbers. Man, if I had a time machine, I'd buy all the LEGO sets I could get my hands on that I couldn't afford at the time like the Maersk train, Horizon Express x2, and MANY more 2013 Lone Ranger sets, among other things - like get some more LEGO Universe gameplay done. (RIP)"

The only Lone Ranger sets I got were the two polybags and the battle pack. And I picked up a bunch of of extra Union soldiers because I want to finish making a full Civil War era cannon crew. I think I determined that you need eight minifigs to cover all the assignments.