Brickset bouts: The winner is...

Popular vote AND knockout-stage winner.

Says it all really.

Ninja-GO!

Well deserved. Building NINJAGO City felt like building the best modular twice.

Yay!

Gushed about NC before at an earlier stage and glad to see it go all the way!

I am laughing at the meme, because while I voted for the Old Fishing Store (I enjoyed when I went fishing woth my dad and I got both sets in latr 2017 while working as part of the recovery operations in Puerto Rico my home after hurricane Maria) I enjoy both and can't wait to assemble the monster that will undoubtedly be Ninjago City. Votes weren't even close but guess what, even if OFS lost I still won as I own both sets (cat in the meme should be saying "I own both sets"). Congragulations to all 16 sets, you are all the top 16 anyways.

Awesome! What a fun competition that was. Glad to be on the winning advocate team (=
And well done to the Old Fishing Store. If I didn't support NC, I would've gone with that, or the PR.

This was fun!

I do feel the seeding should have been based on the number of submissions received. It would have been marvelous to see Ninjago City and Saturn V go head to head.

Huge congratulations to Ninjago City - an ultimate UCS modular which transcended its Ninjago theme roots to be not only a stunning build but also a stunning work of Lego art (and play). Commiserations to the Old Fishing Store but getting to the final was a stunning win for it and the Lego Ideas theme. And along with the Saturn V in the semis demonstrates the passion and interest in unusual and different builds across our community.

Congratulations to Ninjago City!

@hew is NINJAGO City going to get a tag on it's brckset info page for this?

A great end result to a great competition. The persuasive advocacy from @Brainslugged got my vote. Pirates of Barracuda Bay got the same number of nominations as the UCS Falcon, interesting. A shame the PR didn't make it to the final, it could've won, but NC definitely deserved to win.

Thanks @Huw for hosting this!

Incredible ! No official brickset's review of the best millenium set ever ! ??

This was a fun friendly competition that I looked forward to reading each day. Well done Huw!

Is there going to be a 'Best Minifigure' voting?

Welp...

I'm bittersweet.

I voted for the Old Fishing Store because I don't particularly care for the post-movie Ninjago, although it's a great set, I felt that the Ideas set was more original and more LEGO fan based...

The meme is adequate consolation, however LOL

That was fun. Any chance we could also get a competition like this for best classic (before 2000) set?

This was fun. Thanks!

Interesting to see that the voting brought the same end result.

I have to wonder if PoBB will be one of those sets that gains a lot of traction over the years, as more people purchase/build it. It's still quite new and I think that really hurt its performance. With that said though, I was pretty certain NC was going to win, and I am quite happy that it did.

By Mölli in Germany, 03 Aug 2020 07:33
Is there going to be a 'Best Minifigure' voting?
------------------------
I cannot even begin to imagine how difficult THAT choice would be! :O

@Mölli said:
"Is there going to be a 'Best Minifigure' voting?"

I've said something about this in previous bouts, and I don't want to clog up the comments, but it's an idea I've had for a while. It's not easy because there are 31 commonly available series. I think the DFB and GB Olympics should be excluded, because as great as they are, they are only available to a small group of people. Anyway, I've come up with a way of having a group stage, followed by a knockout with 64 'teams'.

Great ‘competition’ Huw. The content over the last few months has been brilliant.

Totally agree with the final result. Ninjago city is a fair winner. Amazing parts, cool building techniques, 4 floors of endless adventures and stories, vibrant colors...

I don't own the set but I have to admit that some of my mocs have been influenced by Ninjago city.

Congratulations!

Well deserved...

The Saturn V had no business being that high.

Let's hope LEGO sees this and makes more sets in the same vein!

I'm glad - it was a fun exercise as all the nominees were amazing for one reason or another.
Interesting that a non-Ninjago Ninjago set took the crown from the movie!
I'm really happy for its designers as well, it's the best feedback beyond the sales figures!

@JayTheNinja19 said:
" @Mölli said:
"Is there going to be a 'Best Minifigure' voting?"

I've said something about this in previous bouts, and I don't want to clog up the comments, but it's an idea I've had for a while. It's not easy because there are 31 commonly available series. I think the DFB and GB Olympics should be excluded, because as great as they are, they are only available to a small group of people. Anyway, I've come up with a way of having a group stage, followed by a knockout with 64 'teams'."

A minifigure league / tournament? Count me in.

I like the idea of a league. Perhaps one for sets could be ongoing, where x number of sets in the league are nominated to take part, and play a 'match' every so often so that people have time to vote. Once each set has played a match against everyone, the winner of the league is announced. It could be an annual thing maybe?

Essentially a premier league for Lego.

Bag End almost had eleventy one nominations! How fitting that would have been :)

This whole competition was a lot of fun

It was interesting to see what others see in the sets that aren’t my favorites. Considering paying the retirement premium for a few of them now.

At first Huw’s comment about a 25th anniversary version felt tongue in cheek to me. But then consider how many of the top 16 from this tournament came from the last 5 years...

And if there’s ever a best minifig tournament, dibs on advocating for Master Wu. Bring it on! :-)

What a great competition! The high point for me was this part of Master Wu's rap bigging-up Ninjago City in the semi-final and advocated by @northgeorgiamasonry:

"Y’all think I dread the cod house with a seagull?
That I’ll shrink from the jet endowed with the Eagle?
All these sets y’all espouse as my equal –
Recall, please, who gets the three-thousand-piece sequel."

While it's not my personal favourite, I feel that this is a well-deserved win.

Congratulations to the advocates, and thanks to @Huw for holding this fun competition!

Thanks @Huw for a fun contest!

*shakeshead*
I'm off to enjoy my collection of Clikits rather than ever agree with this.

I'd be interested in seeing another competition like this, but just for smaller sets... say, best set of < 1000 pieces? They kinda all got swept away by the much larger competition this time around!

In any case, congrats to Ninjago City! Surprised to see that was at the top of the original list, too, but that's pretty cool :D

Well, that was fun. When's the next one?

Nice to feel some vindication that the Death Star was indeed one of the top sets.

Always a vote for playability instead of displayability!

No problem with Ninjago City winning. I don't own it, but it's spectacular.

Thank you all reviewers!

Well deserved Ninjago City! I hope LEGO finds a way to come up with more sets as colorful and full of enjoyable details at a smaller scale so that they are affordable to everyone. I know it would be difficult to find such balance but one can only dream :)

Thank you Huw, this competition was so much fun. Looking forward to the minifigures competition!

Well, I'm glad that NC won after getting the popular vote in the nominations, so that's nice for all the great advocates we had for it! And remember, for everyone who was hoping for a different result, we're only 2% through the millennium so far, so you (and your subsequent generations) have 49 more chances to vote again!

I just can't understand the appeal of a set based on some kid's cartoon.

Anyway, enough of this frippery. My (18+) Mickey and Minnie Mouse isn't going to build itself!

Now please review the winner!

@Huw thanks for running this, it's been great to see what others think of sets, reconsider the Saturn V, and fun voting.

I'm loving the idea someone mentioned of an ongoing league of sets competing somehow. And it'd be good for sets under 1000 pieces to have a chance to shine.

And how about a vote for the greatest set of all time?...

Ninjago City has been my favourite modern LEGO set since it was released. Awesome build and well deserved winner.

I love the whole aesthetic of it so much that I have built NC-influenced MOCs to build up a whole Ninjago District which now covers almost 30 baseplates! It’s a fantastic set which keeps on inspiring me.

Congratulations to all those people who nominated and advocated for the Best Lego Set of the Millennium! Thank you, Huw, for hosting such an entertaining and interactive event and for actively including us all in Brickset's 20th anniversary celebrations. It was fun!

It makes me wonder why LEGO has retired both of these sets.

Well, looks like the AFOL community doesn't have taste. Eh.

I had no interest in Ninjago, never bought a set, but when I saw Ninjago City I said to myself... "self.... we've GOT to GET this set". Self agreed, and the rest is history. Truly an amazing build, and a beautiful riot of colors that makes an amazing display. Worthy of the win.

I'm overall glad that a set from an original LEGO theme won, and not a franchise - SEE HERE LEGO!!! And even better, that the 2nd place is a set from a fan submission! Kudos!

I don’t own NC but I think it deserves the title. Hey LEGO, how about a re-release? :)

Definitely well deserved, but very impressed with Fishing Store for making it as far as it did. Bravo!

@magykfyre said:
"Let's hope LEGO sees this and makes more sets in the same vein! "

I was thinking that this would make a great blueprint for a Coruscant build, detailing some of the lower levels.

I just noticed something: Though a short list, Medieval Market Village wins of the 00s sets! YAY!!! **fireworks** That counts as an achievement!

@John_Musketeer said:
" @JayTheNinja19 said:
" @Mölli said:
"Is there going to be a 'Best Minifigure' voting?"

I've said something about this in previous bouts, and I don't want to clog up the comments, but it's an idea I've had for a while. It's not easy because there are 31 commonly available series. I think the DFB and GB Olympics should be excluded, because as great as they are, they are only available to a small group of people. Anyway, I've come up with a way of having a group stage, followed by a knockout with 64 'teams'."

A minifigure league / tournament? Count me in.

I like the idea of a league. Perhaps one for sets could be ongoing, where x number of sets in the league are nominated to take part, and play a 'match' every so often so that people have time to vote. Once each set has played a match against everyone, the winner of the league is announced. It could be an annual thing maybe?

Essentially a premier league for Lego."

So, either we could do a league, or my initial idea of a group stage, followed by a knockout. It's complicated, but I tried to work it into a format where it wouldn't be too terribly long. Please bear with me...

So, if we had a poll to decide the best 8 Minifigs from each series, we'd be left with 248 Minifigs. Then, we could divide that into 31 groups of 8, with the groups decided by a draw, based on "qualifying" scores. 2 teams progress per group. We could just do a poll to decide each group's final score, or we could do a World-Cup style format, where each 'team' faces off, and the 2 Minifigs with the best scores progress. That will leave 62 Minifigs, and then, to round off on 64, either: The 2 best 3rd place teams go through, or, a play-off for all 3rd place teams, after which, -as mentioned previously- 2 teams will progress to the round of 64. From there, just a regular knockout tournament.

It's long, but I think it'll be engaging, and it can be shortened if necessary. If we do go through with it, maybe it'd be best to have kind of a season, like most Football seasons, only shorter.

If there's interest, I can develop this idea further, and have it ready soonish, if of course Brickset wants to host it.
This sounds like a stupid YouTube comment, but maybe drop a like if you agree, so that I can see if you'd be interested. Anyway, that was a marathon of a comment, so I'll leave now... (=

I don't even like Ninjago and I bought Ninjago City. I voted for it in every round except the semifinal versus Parisian Restaurant.

@Huw...a BIG thanks from me for putting this together and keeping this together. Had a great time voting and reading the comments at each level of votes. A MUCH needed distraction during these pandemic times.

The advocate statements were informative, insightful and provided a breadth of coverage to the variety of LEGO sets that gives me much to think about.

Love the idea of running something similar for sets under 1000 pieces.

And...I'm all in for a 25th anniversary competition!!

I wanted Ninjago City soo bad. Unfortunately the CFO said ‘No’, at the time. Well deserved win.
Good quest btw, so kudoos to the Brickset team.
No tears, I do own Parisian Restaurant and the Saturn Rokkit.

I cant believe someone actually said ‘I just can't understand the appeal of a set based on some kid's cartoon.’

It’s a toy for children that just happens to be enjoyed by adults too! Try replacing the word ‘set’ with the words ‘toy for children’ and see how that reads...

I just can't understand the appeal of a toy for children based on some kid's cartoon.

I haven't read through all the comments so I might not be the first to point this out. But looking at the table of nominations, it begs the question: was there a healthy dose of recency bias in the competition, or has LEGO just hit something of a golden age in the last few years?

Thank you to everyone who facilitated this exciting and interesting diversion. Yet another reason to LOVE Brickset. What a labor of love!

I don't understand how Ninjago City can be crowned best set of the century/millennium. As a Ninjago set it only appeals to a limited number of people whereas (almost) every Lego fan can enjoy LegoCity/Creator/ideas sets.
Too many Ninjago supporters on this site...

I’m not a Ninjago fan at all but I was still able to appreciate the set for what it is - an interesting build. I’m definitely a fan of modular buildings though, and this set felt like a modular to me.

I don’t get all the little references contained inside Ninjago City, but they’re not meant for me. Fans of the show/movie can enjoy it, but so can people who just like a fun build. That’s what this hobby is all about, isn’t it?

@Steve_J_OM: I definitely think LEGO has had a great track record for set design in recent years, but I wouldn't use the term "golden age", since it's a term that's hard to justify except in retrospect. After all, who's to say that the sets of the past five years won't end up being overshadowed by even more outstanding designs ten years from now?

Plus, seeing that a lot of outstanding sets came out fairly recently doesn't necessarily imply that recent sets have been outstanding on a more general level. Now, personally, I have found plenty of sets and themes that I've been delighted with in recent years, even beyond the show-stopping exclusives and flagship sets. But I suspect that if Brickset asked users which specific theme or year had the best sets, rather than about individual sets, the results might skew a lot less recent. Even people who recognize many recent sets as masterpieces aren't necessarily going to be just as impressed with recent sets or themes more generally.

For my part, I think it's awesome how so many fans of different interests and backgrounds have been able to come together to recognize Ninjago City as an outstanding set — from people like me who were Ninjago fans from day one, to people who even today are more or less indifferent to the theme on a broader level.

That said, it's a little bit obnoxious to see comments treating people's love of this set as something nonsensical/inexplicable/counterintuitive, even when there have been plenty of other comments to this article and the polls preceding it describing in detail why people like Ninjago City so much!

It goes without saying that not everybody is gonna like the same sets, but you'd think that the people who don't care for Ninjago City could at least make more of an effort to listen to and appreciate other people's perspectives, rather than treating this as some kind of unknowable mystery (or worse, as evidence that people who supported this set can be dismissed as tasteless rubes who aren't worth listening to).

@Commander_Wickstrom said:
I don't understand how Ninjago City can be crowned best set of the century/millennium. As a Ninjago set it only appeals to a limited number of people whereas (almost) every Lego fan can enjoy LegoCity/Creator/ideas sets.
Too many Ninjago supporters on this site...

Personally, I looked at how much fun the build for each set would be when I was voting. Saturn V and Hogwarts Castle are wonderful models and impressive sets with some great and creative building techniques but they also suffer from a lot of repetitive building, mostly in one color. Ninjago City was colorful, playful, audacious, and extremely fun to build with a lot of creative parts use. I think it is a deserving winner.

I still don't understand the appeal of Ninjago City. Maybe it's just because I don't have it or my preference for "realistic" designs, but it looks like a jumbled, overcrowded colorful mess. I've read the arguments for it, but I just cannot get into it.

I feel pretty bad for not nominating the Ghostbusters Firehouse though. I completely forgot I own it. It's a fantastic set filled with amazing references from my favorite movies.

I’m deeply honoured that so many people had as much fun building this set as I had designing it! Thank you to everyone that supported 70620 Ninjago City throughout these bouts; I have really enjoyed following along and reading all of the comments! I particularly love the breadth of preferences, opinions and discussions - all of the nominated sets are incredible in their own awesome ways.

As one of the designers that worked on this model, I would like to thank some important LEGO sets on behalf of 70620 Ninjago City.

I would like to thank all of the sets in this competition, particularly those that Ninjago City faced off against. 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay is an excellent playset and gift toy display set with a rebuilding feature that exudes and further invites creativity. 79003 An Unexpected Gathering expertly packs so much warmth, character, food bricks & revolutionary building techniques into a compact footprint. 10243 Parisian Restaurant ushered in a new age of Olive Green parts and served as a bastion of inspiration during the development of 70620 Ninjago City. And of course 21310 Old Fishing Store serves as a fellow connoisseur of rickety planks, fish themed utilities & harpoons. But as we know, frogs are simply better than seagulls (and all other animals except goats), so the final bout's fate was sealed from the start.

Thanks to the LEGO Ninjago Movie, show, theme, comic, trading card and video game for providing an incredible world in which 70620 Ninjago City could be free to grow into a crazy and colourful metropolis where anything makes sense and footpath safety is generally overlooked.

Thank you to 70751 Temple of Airjitzu for proving that a Ninjago model can appeal to all ages and also perform as amazing display piece whilst still being filled with amazing play features and surprises. I would like to specially mention 1187 Glider for graciously appearing in 70751 Temple of Airjitzu, demonstrating the joy of looking back through the long lineage of LEGO sets that came before.

Thank you to Brickmaster Jamie Berard and the modular building collection for providing the standard that Ninjago City doesn’t properly follow. Particular thanks to 10251 Brick Bank for an ATM loaded with more cash than the main branch, and 10232 Palace Cinema for many great feature films.

Furthermore, I would like to thank the Realm Crystal for linking so many LEGO worlds together, the LEGO Movie for reminding us to Believe, and Rock Raiders for drills. Thank you to 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V for being so tall.

Special thanks to the Alien Conquest, Galaxy Squad, Island Xtreme, Racers, Technic Competition play themes among others for their fantastic iconography.

Thank you to BIONICLE for laying the foundation of Big Bangs, world building and storytelling, and thank you to Galidor for being an underdog with amazing stories and a true LEGO spirit that dreamed to be different.

Thank you to the recycling enthusiast known as “Junkbot”. A deep love for trash, recycling and compacting is shared by 70620 Ninjago City.

And finally, thank you in particular to BroLUG’s Cyberpunk City collaboration and the wider LEGO community for being a constant source of creativity, support and companionship that inspires and develops the buildings of tomorrow. 70620 Ninjago City was a labour of love that we hoped could appeal to LEGO fans of all ages, so it warms my heart to know that some people sort of agree.

I must come clean and apologize; I'm sorry there wasn't a goat in this set. I really tried, but it just wasn't in the cards.

@Huw - is there a certificate or something that I can print for Ninjago City? : )

I think what makes Ninjago City truly deserve to be nominated as the best set of the millennia is simply because it brings all the best aspects of Lego together, the engineering, styling, creativity and themes in the set are simply all brilliant and despite the wackiness and absurdness the end result is spectacular and harmonious. Ever since I built Ninjago City it's been on the side of my desk (alongside the Old Fishing Store) and even though I've had it since late 2017 I still don't get tired looking at it and it's tiny lovely details everyday.

Wow that's pretty crazy that there isn't an official Brickset review. This set is amazing, no qualms at all!

@PrinceGalidor said:
"I’m deeply honoured that so many people had as much fun building this set as I had designing it! Thank you to everyone that supported 70620 Ninjago City throughout these bouts; I have really enjoyed following along and reading all of the comments! I particularly love the breadth of preferences, opinions and discussions - all of the nominated sets are incredible in their own awesome ways.

As one of the designers that worked on this model, I would like to thank some important LEGO sets on behalf of 70620 Ninjago City.

I would like to thank all of the sets in this competition, particularly those that Ninjago City faced off against. 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay is an excellent playset and gift toy display set with a rebuilding feature that exudes and further invites creativity. 79003 An Unexpected Gathering expertly packs so much warmth, character, food bricks & revolutionary building techniques into a compact footprint. 10243 Parisian Restaurant ushered in a new age of Olive Green parts and served as a bastion of inspiration during the development of 70620 Ninjago City. And of course 21310 Old Fishing Store serves as a fellow connoisseur of rickety planks, fish themed utilities & harpoons. But as we know, frogs are simply better than seagulls (and all other animals except goats), so the final bout's fate was sealed from the start.

Thanks to the LEGO Ninjago Movie, show, theme, comic, trading card and video game for providing an incredible world in which 70620 Ninjago City could be free to grow into a crazy and colourful metropolis where anything makes sense and footpath safety is generally overlooked.

Thank you to 70751 Temple of Airjitzu for proving that a Ninjago model can appeal to all ages and also perform as amazing display piece whilst still being filled with amazing play features and surprises. I would like to specially mention 1187 Glider for graciously appearing in 70751 Temple of Airjitzu, demonstrating the joy of looking back through the long lineage of LEGO sets that came before.

Thank you to Brickmaster Jamie Berard and the modular building collection for providing the standard that Ninjago City doesn’t properly follow. Particular thanks to 10251 Brick Bank for an ATM loaded with more cash than the main branch, and 10232 Palace Cinema for many great feature films.

Furthermore, I would like to thank the Realm Crystal for linking so many LEGO worlds together, the LEGO Movie for reminding us to Believe, and Rock Raiders for drills. Thank you to 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V for being so tall.

Special thanks to the Alien Conquest, Galaxy Squad, Island Xtreme, Racers, Technic Competition play themes among others for their fantastic iconography.

Thank you to BIONICLE for laying the foundation of Big Bangs, world building and storytelling, and thank you to Galidor for being an underdog with amazing stories and a true LEGO spirit that dreamed to be different.

Thank you to the recycling enthusiast known as “Junkbot”. A deep love for trash, recycling and compacting is shared by 70620 Ninjago City.

And finally, thank you in particular to BroLUG’s Cyberpunk City collaboration and the wider LEGO community for being a constant source of creativity, support and companionship that inspires and develops the buildings of tomorrow. 70620 Ninjago City was a labour of love that we hoped could appeal to LEGO fans of all ages, so it warms my heart to know that some people sort of agree.

I must come clean and apologize; I'm sorry there wasn't a goat in this set. I really tried, but it just wasn't in the cards.

@Huw - is there a certificate or something that I can print for Ninjago City? : )"

Excellent acceptance speech!

@Commander_Wickstrom said:
"I don't understand how Ninjago City can be crowned best set of the century/millennium. As a Ninjago set it only appeals to a limited number of people whereas (almost) every Lego fan can enjoy LegoCity/Creator/ideas sets.
Too many Ninjago supporters on this site..."

Ninjago City won because it appealed to non Ninjago fans like me. I voted for it in 3 of 4 rounds (just below Parisian Restaurant). It's my 3rd favorite set it of the 16 with Saturn V 1 and Parisian Restaurant 2.

I know almost nothing about Ninjago. I can tell you none of the characters or the plot. For years I didn't even pronounce it correctly (I didn't realize the accent was on the JA). I don't like Ninjago.

I still bought Ninjago City because it's a great set. It exudes Leg Godt (play well) whether you build the set it use it for parts as its price to part ratio was fantastic.

It also fits well with other sets so it's not stand alone.

> Thank you to Brickmaster Jamie Berard and the modular building collection for providing the standard that Ninjago City doesn’t properly follow.

Pure gold

@PrinceGalidor Thanks for bringing us such a fantastic set - the best of the millennium, in fact, and an honor with which I heartily agree! I echo everything everyone has said praising it - the creativity, scale, colors, techniques, playability, and references! Your acceptance speech made me aware of even more references and lineages than I'd picked up on!

I was looking over the Bricklist of sets you've worked on and I saw that we also have you to thank for Welcome to Apocalypseburg and Emmett's Dream House/Rescue Rocket... I can see the fingerprints behind Ninjago City all over the former, which is another wonderful "futuristic" (of a sort) cityscape and a truly incredible set that would've been worthy of this competition, too! Emmett's Dream House occurred to me a few days ago as another set that I felt deserved to be in this showdown - it's so perfectly indicative of LEGO to be a 2-in-`1 set that's a house that can be rebuilt into a rocket, and it's so wonderful at being each! If there's a future competition for smaller sets, I hope that gets extremely far in it!

Can't wait to see what you work on next!

Thank YOU, @PrinceGalidor!

As mentioned in previous comments by myself and others, some of the other sets in this friendly competition appeal to deep-rooted loves (I'm looking at you, Star Wars and Middle Earth) and are awesome builds in their own right.

But Ninjago City transcends. Out of the hundreds (thousands?) of sets that I've built over the past four decades, it's the one that I would most want to build again for the first time.

@Commander_Wickstrom said:
"I don't understand how Ninjago City can be crowned best set of the century/millennium. As a Ninjago set it only appeals to a limited number of people whereas (almost) every Lego fan can enjoy LegoCity/Creator/ideas sets.
Too many Ninjago supporters on this site..."

Feel free to set up your own site where you can dictate what is Pure LEGO and then organise only those sets to be in a competition to see which is superior. A "master race" is you will.

I've never watched a complete episode of Ninjago, and I felt the movie was rather lacking. But that doesn't stop me from continuing to appreciate the sets and buying the occasional one, including Ninjago City. To me it matches up with the source material rather well, and evokes the feel of some modern-day Asian cities, where the hustle and bustle of the present is built upon a much more serene past (all be it literally in Ninjago City).

Plenty of people - much more eloquent than me - have given plenty of reasons why this is their favourite set - to dismiss them out of hand due to misguided elitism is a little sad.

@jondenial said:
"Eww, that's disgusting. Too many "weren't even born yet's" casting votes I suspect. I can't imagine any self-respecting adult voting for a Ninjago set as "best of" for the last twenty years. I think this result just represents the majority age of Brickset users. So, in that context, makes perfect sense. "

I'm in my 50's. And I've built (played) with LEGO since the 1970's. Your analysis is inaccurate. NC is the most amazing set I've ever built.

@jondenial said:
"Eww, that's disgusting. Too many "weren't even born yet's" casting votes I suspect. I can't imagine any self-respecting adult voting for a Ninjago set as "best of" for the last twenty years. I think this result just represents the majority age of Brickset users. So, in that context, makes perfect sense. "

35 years old here. Never bought a Ninjago set, watched the cartoon, or read any of the comics. Can only name two characters - La-loyd, and Master Wu, from the movie which I quite enjoyed.

Ninjago City is an incredible set and one of my favorites of all time. Hell, I even wrote about it for this contest I love it so much.

You're just plain wrong. :)

@GeordiePaul said:
"I cant believe someone actually said ‘I just can't understand the appeal of a set based on some kid's cartoon."
Wooooosh!

So it's true... America genuinely doesn't get sarcasm! Not to worry.

@PrinceGalidor

Which of my children do you want in return for creating an addition to Ninjago City and Ninjago City Docks?

Aside from just being whiny it is confusing how many people are griping that the winner is a travesty because it has the Ninjago title. There are lots of people, myself included, that don't particularly care for Ninjago as a whole and even less so for the mediocre at best Ninjago Movie the set is from. As a testament to the set (and Lego) it brought so many people into a set that had no interest in the license it came from. I'd also urge folks that haven't built it to zip it. Surely you see the irony in, "I can't believe my set didn't win, I've never built this set and never will because its not the best!"

I figured this would be the final one. I've heard so many great things about this set. Never owned it and wish I had. So I looked for it yesterday on ebay and got it.

To address some of the other comments here: I'm 48, a self-respecting adult, had grown fatigued with the Ninjago theme by the time the Ninjago City set came out (and my kids had outgrown it,) not fond of the movie at all. I've built all of the sets in the contest, and currently have 11 of them on display. I'd have to say, hands-down, my absolute favorite set of the last 20 years (and probably ever) is Ninjago City. Yes, the Millenium Falcon is an amazing set; it had better be, with that many pieces. Yes, the Saturn V is a cool set that rekindles my love of space and science, and inspired my 12-year-old son (who built about a third of it, before I took over.) The Roller Coaster is a great piece of engineering, moving all around that track and finishing right as it needs to be picked up for the uphill journey again. And so on, so many wonderful sets.

So why Ninjago City? The sheer variety, for one thing, both visually and in the build. All of the little details, the little touches. The air conditioner units, the cross-level ladders and fire-escape-like pieces, the sushi counter, the variety of roofs. One stand even has a roof made of wrenches! No fatigue from building the same giant thing in mirror image, or 3 or 4x. Want something different to build? The next bag will have it.

Then there's what this set is. Not a realistic copy (Saturn V, all of the other ones from movies,) not excellently-conceived and detailed slices of the minifigure Earth (modulars, Old Fishing Store.) It's a great set that is inspired by, but not a copy of, the environment of the film. The designers took the three-tiered look of the cityscape from the film, and built a highly-detailed "what if" set, packing so much variety in such a little space with some license to run a little wild.

One final fun bit. Several of the items on this list, and in fact many of the "adult-themed" sets in general (no way a kid is building this thing,) are based off of licenses or real-life items. That seems to be driving a little bit of the opinion. Hey, I understand it; I came out of my dark ages due to the king license (SW!) and love things like the Saturn V and the Architecture sets for their similarity to life. I think it's great to see that the winning set isn't inspired by something outside of LEGO, but from within.

@Commander_Wickstrom said:
"I don't understand how Ninjago City can be crowned best set of the century/millennium. As a Ninjago set it only appeals to a limited number of people whereas (almost) every Lego fan can enjoy LegoCity/Creator/ideas sets.
Too many Ninjago supporters on this site..."

I think there are a lot of LEGO fans who just have a different idea of what they want out of a LEGO building or play experience. Personally, I've always had a certain admiration for themes like Town and City. After all, as fairly straightforward translations of "our world" into minifigure-scale, they provide a sort of "baseline" from which other "play themes" with more historical, fantasy, or sci-fi influenced settings diverge. And I suspect for a lot of people, that relatable sense of familiarity and realism elevates themes like these to all-time favorites!

But when ranking which themes I actually get the most enjoyment from, those sorts of realistic, modern-day themes often fall near the bottom of the list. I've always been drawn to much more fantastical sorts of themes like Space, Aquazone, Bionicle, Exo-Force, Atlantis, Elves, Monkie Kid, and of course, Ninjago!

I suppose what makes these themes enticing to me is that mix of escapism, character-driven storytelling, and familiar concepts blended together in ways that feel new and unfamiliar. Every little bit of fantasy offers a little bit more surprise, wonder, and whimsy than I'd get out of a more conventional theme where the subject matter is closer to what I'm used to from real life or from other sorts of toys and media.

@jondenial said:
"Eww, that's disgusting. Too many "weren't even born yet's" casting votes I suspect. I can't imagine any self-respecting adult voting for a Ninjago set as "best of" for the last twenty years. I think this result just represents the majority age of Brickset users. So, in that context, makes perfect sense. "

I mean, for my part, I'm 29 years old as of writing this. So I've been an AFOL for more than a decade, but not nearly as long as some of the other folks here who grew up with themes of the 70s or 80s.

That said, I don't know how realistic to assume that builders' interests can be predicted largely based on their age. After all, many kids of the 80s enjoyed toys, cartoons, and video games that were just as wacky and anachronistic as LEGO themes like Ninjago, Nexo Knights, or Monkie Kid. Plus, a lot of the adult Ninjago fans I see comments from on social media are parents who became interested after watching it with their kids!

And in general, there is a lot less stigma against adults enjoying stuff like cartoons, video games, toys, and comic books today than there was 30 or 40 years ago. So it's a bit weird to expect adults who are already dyed-in-the-wool fans of a particular toyline to draw the line at enjoying stuff that's in any way childish, colorful, or cartoonish!

Plus, if the poll really WERE skewed by a huge number of voters in their teens and twenties… wouldn't you expect that to result in a nostalgic bias towards stuff of the EARLY 2000s, given that that it's the sort of stuff they likely would have enjoyed in the peak of their KFOL years? After all, I feel like the majority of AFOLs I've met who grew up in the 90s or 2000s still have a hard time seeing themes like Ninjago and Nexo Knights as anything but pale imitations of Bionicle, which remains an all-time favorite toyline for much of that generation.