Before the review begins, I must give a SPOILER ALERT for Ninjago if you have not seen it.
The episode starts on a frosty river, where the Ninja are going to retrieve the Shurikens of Ice. While sailing there, Sensei Wu tells the four Ninja about the Tornado of Creation, the most powerful Spinjitzu move, which can lead to disastrous consequences.
The Ninja successfully retrieve the Shurikens of Ice and move on to the third weapon, the Nunchucks of Lightning, which they also successfully obtain. Later that night, Kai sees Nya running towards the Temple of Fire, where the Sword of Fire is, but soon finds out it is a trick: it is Lord Garmadon’s shadow, who has also trapped Nya in chains. Kai takes the sword to free his sister.
Then Garmadon’s shadow starts attacking them. Luckily, Sensei stops him but ends up going to the Underworld to stop Garmadon. Meanwhile, the other three have had their Golden Weapons stolen by Samukai, which leads to a vehicle chase, the outcome being that Jay loses his voice and the skeletons get away.
NOTE: THIS IS WHERE THE FOURTH EPISODE BEGINS IN THE US
Having lost the vehicle chase, Jay, Cole and Zane head back to the Fire Temple, where they see Kai and Nya on the Fire Dragon’s back and learn that they can use the other dragon guardians to cross over to the Underworld.
Once the Ninja have crossed over, they have another battle with the Skeleton army. This time, though, they use the Tornado of Creation to create a Ferris wheel with cages on it to keep the skeletons locked up. They then head into the fortress to see Wu and Samukai fighting; in the end, Wu loses.
Samukai then picks up the Sword of Fire, meaning he has all four Golden Weapons, but no one can hold all four at once, so Samukai dies and creates a vortex allowing Garmadon to escape the Underworld. The Ninja and Wu return to the village, where the villagers are celebrating their return.
Our thoughts:
We really like this episode, especially the Tornado of Creation part.
Before the review begins, we must give a SPOILER ALERT for Ninjago if you have not watched it before. Also, we will be doing the UK version of the pilots, which had 2 episodes instead of 4.
Overview:
The episode starts at the 4 Weapons blacksmith shop, where two teenagers, Kai and Nya, are working on weapons. Whilst they are working, a traveller known as Wu enters the shop asking whether there are any weapons for a Ninja, and Kai says no and sends him on his way.
Suddenly the skeleton army arrives, scaring the villagers. Kai tries to protect everyone but comes face to face with Samukai, who orders the other skeletons to kidnap Nya. Kai then nearly gets crushed by a water beaker, but Sensei Wu saves him using Spinjitzu and the skeletons leave.
After they have left, Kai thanks Wu for saving him, and Master Wu tells the story of the Golden Weapons: how they created Ninjago, how Wu’s brother Lord Garmadon tried to steal them and how he was banished to the Underworld.
After the story, Wu convinces Kai to become a Ninja. He reluctantly says yes, but only because he wants to save his sister. So they head to the Monastery of Spinjitzu to train, and Kai fails the course several times until he succeeds. Later that night, three other Ninja break in and Kai attacks them until he learns they’re his teammates, and they get their Ninja suits.
NOTE: THIS IS WHERE THE SECOND EPISODE BEGINS IN THE US
The three Ninja introduce themselves as Cole, Jay and Zane. Together they head off to retrieve the first Golden Weapon, the Scythe of Quakes, from the Caves of Despair. In the process, they also retrieve the map to the other Golden Weapons.
As they head into the cave, they move a giant boulder to retrieve the Scythe, but they are heard by the skeletons. The Ninja then quickly retrieve the Scythe, but the entire army is waiting, so a huge battle takes place. During the battle the Ninja learn Spinjitzu, forcing the skeletons to retreat.
After the skeletons retreat, the Earth Dragon who guards the Scythe starts attacking them, so they use the Scythe to escape, disobeying Wu’s orders. Later, though, Wu is not happy with them for using the Scythe.
Our thoughts:
For the first episode ever, we think it was very good, and it still holds up today.
As part of the Ninjago 10th anniversary special, Lego did 4 special episodes, also known as Season 14, as well as four sets, this one being the catamarans used by the Ninja and the Keepers. The set consists of 780 pieces and 6 minifigures, and once you have built the set you will have two boats.
The Kai catamaran is the smaller of the two, but it still fits a lot of detail in, with the side of the boat being able to open up, which we think works very well. The only thing we don’t like is that it is tricky to place a minifigure in the seat.
The Keepers’ catamaran is split into three pieces: two small boats and a big boat. The first smaller boat has some crates with gems in and an area to put a minifigure. The second gives you an area to trap one of the Ninja, which is seen in the show, and the third, the largest boat, has a giant sail and spring-loaded shooters. However, our favourite bit is the play feature that goes throughout the set, which is very impressive.
Minifigure selection and ranking
The Island wave of sets only had 10 different minifigures and this set had 6 of them, but it would have done better if it had an exclusive minifigure, since the other three sets do. Here is our rating of the figures:
Name
Ranking
Kai
5 out of 5
Zane
4.8 out of 5
Jay
4.7 out of 5
Chief Mammatus
4.8 out of 5
Thunder Keeper
4.4 out of 5
Rumble Keeper
4 out of 5
Overall rating: 27.7 out of 30
Overall thoughts
It really depends on whether you need these two boats, since all the minifigures come in cheaper sets, but if you just want a good boat build, I would highly recommend this, although I would also recommend saving up and buying a Destiny’s Bounty instead.
New for winter 2024, we have the first ever Ninjago Battle Pack, which is a really good one.
The set contains 78 pieces and 4 minifigures, and once you have finished building, you will have a small mech for Jay.
The mech itself uses the NEXO KNIGHTS cockpit, which only just about fits Jay in. It uses Mixels joints on the arms and legs. One thing we liked about the mech is that you can put Jay’s katanas on the back.
Minifigures
The mech is not the reason you should buy the set; the minifigures are, and they are outstanding. The first minifigure you get is Jay in his mech pilot suit. This is a really nice suit that we hope appears in Dragons Rising Season 2.
The next minifigure is one of our favourites: Master Lloyd, following in the footsteps of Master Wu. Firstly, Lloyd has a recolour of his Island hairpiece in light green, which we think is a good choice. We also like the design on his torso and legs. The only downside, though, is Lloyd’s head piece, which is the same as in the movie.
On the villains’ side, we have a wolf mask claw warrior, who has a brand new mask piece which we hope comes in lots of other sets. The other villain is a wolf mask warrior, who is identical to the first villain except for a hood in dark blue.
Here is our ranking:
Name
Ranking
Jay
5 stars
Master Lloyd
4.9 stars
Wolf mask claw warrior
4.7 stars
Wolf mask Guard
4.4 stars
Overall rating 19 out of 20
Price and overall thoughts
For £8.99, this is the set we would recommend the most out of the January wave. The price per piece is £0.11, meaning it isn’t the best piece count for the price, but when you take into consideration that a minifigure typically costs £4, it is a fantastic price.
New for winter 2024, we have another series of Collectable Minifigures, once again in boxes.
Inside the box, you will find 1 random minifigure and an instruction sheet. There are 12 different minifigures you might receive. Here is how we would rank them from best to worst, with their own ratings.
Name
Ranking
Position
Vampire Knight
4.9 stars out of 5
1st
Train Kid
4.7 stars out of 5
2nd
Fierce Barbarian
4.4 stars out of 5
3rd
Goatherd
4.3 stars out of 5
4th
Fitness Instructor
4 stars out of 5
5th
Sprinter
3.9 stars out of 5
6th
Film Noir Detective
3.8 stars out of 5
7th
Triceratops Costume Fan
3.6 stars out of 5
8th
E-Sports Gamer
3.4 stars out of 5
9th
Pet Groomer
3.3 stars out of 5
10th
Mushroom Sprite
3.2 stars out of 5
11th
Harpy
3 stars out of 5
12th
Overall rating of Series 25: 46.3 out of 60
Overall rating
I would highly recommend this series, although you might want to consider buying second-hand to guarantee you get the ones you want. Also, the list is just our opinion.
One random pack costs £3.49, and the number of pieces varies.
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