There are two ways to enjoy the LEGO Ninjago theme. One is to collect and build their massive selection of sets and minifigures. The other is to watch their 3D-animated adventures on TV. For most territories “Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu” is part of the regular lineup on Cartoon Network; but for Denmark, LEGO’s home country, it is aired on Nickelodeon.
It is this connection with the other pillar of international children’s entertainment on TV that has led to a new campaign to have “LEGO Ninjago” sponsor a major Nickelodeon event. Said event is none other than the Kids’ Choice Awards.
Of course, Nickelodeon has such a big international presence that their KCA ceremony has several international versions that honor celebrities from their respective countries too. The LEGO Group however is making sure that their Ninjago line will be acknowledged as the global sponsor for the 32nd KCA later this March.
According to The Drum, there will also be an animated short that will serve as “custom branded programming” to show LEGO Ninjago’s Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards global sponsorship. Its short story will see evil Lord Garmadon steal the KCA’s iconic slime cannon, with the Ninjas having to foil his plot.
The animated spot will launch on Nickelodeon March 7, and will also be made available on the network’s YouTube channels. LEGO Group VP and marketing head for the Americas, Amy Pascal, says that their company is excited to be a global sponsor of the KCA, describing it as “a truly global celebration of kids and creativity across the entertainment industry.”
LEGO Ninjago will be acknowledged as sponsor for the 2019 Nickelodeon KCA in the US, and its international versions in the UK, Netherlands (and Flanders, Belgium), Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
There’s a lot of New York Toy fair reveals done by LEGO over the weekend, both of their own original theme lines and of the major licenses they have going. While Disney-Pixar just got some of their tie-ins for this year’s “Toy Story 4” shown, Universal wasn’t far behind either.
While plans for the next “Jurassic World” film are still beyond the horizon, Universal had inked a deal with LEGO last year to do a LEGO animated spinoff “prequel” called “LEGO Jurassic World: The Secret Exhibit.” Shown on NBC last November before going to DVD last month, it proved awesome enough to warrant a whole new LEGO miniseries: “LEGO Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar.”
This LEGO animation will take place in 2012, after “The Secret Exhibit” but before the events of the first “Jurassic World,” and will show more of Owen Grady’s early days as a raptor trainer with his still-young raptors, against the backdrop of day-to-day operations in the titular Jurassic World park.
And with the new miniseries announced, came reveals of the promised new sets in the LEGO Jurassic World line. This appears to tie in to the animated LEGO Jurassic World universe, which while taking plot points from the films, has its own stories to tell.
Dilophosaurus on the Loose (75934) – one of those nasty venom-spitting dinos has escaped to the park premises, and it’s up to Owen Grady to track it down before it munches on park guest Hudson Harper; set features dinosaur-head concession stand and quad-copter drone model with net launcher; includes Owen, Hudson and store attendant minifigures plus dilophosaurus figure; 168 pieces for age 6+ ($19.99)
Baryonyx Face-Off: The Treasure Hunt (75935) – original Jurassic Park saboteur Dennis Nedry’s nephew Danny Nedermeyer from “The Secret Exhibit” is back with his associate Sinjin Prescott to search for buried treasure on Isla Nublar from before the days of InGen presence; instead they run afoul of a cranky Baryonyx, needing Owen and Claire to save their bacon; set features model jeep with trailer and forest riverside terrain; includes minifigs of Owen, Claire, Nedermeyer and Sinjin, plus dog and baryonyx figures and lots of neat props; 434 pieces for age 7+ ($59.99)
Triceratops Rampage (75937) – Jurassic World boss Simon Masrani is checking out the new park attractions with lab tech Allison Miles and another tourist; but when a triceratops escapes its paddock, Owen must distract it with a carrot on his ATV; set features area gate, signpost, Egg Spinner ride and electrified fences plus model ATV; minifigures of Owen, Masrani, Allison and female tourist goes with triceratops figure; 447 pieces for age 7+ ($59.99)
T-Rex vs Dino-Mech Battle (75938) – Nedermeyer has pinpointed the Isla Nublar treasure to its volcano and is moving to secure it with his dino-mech; luckily the venerable old T-Rex takes offense at him; unluckily Claire, Vic Hoskins and Owen with his raptor babies are caught in the middle on a rubber raft; set features Isla Nublar volcano terrain, dino-mech and model inflatable raft; minifigs include Owen, Claire, Hoskins and Nedermeyer, plus T-Rex figure, prop figures of baby raptors and bats, plus tranquilizer guns; 716 pieces for age 8+ ($89.99)
All four LEGO Jurassic World sets featured here will become available in August. Meanwhile, the “LEGO Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar” miniseries will run 13 episodes and premiere later this year.
The greater LEGO franchise seems to be awash in teasers lately. This week we got a first peek at the LEGO Ideas Flintstones set (in shadow) ahead of a yet-unannounced official reveal. Now, we go to the TV media realm with a milestone celebration. The long-running “LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu” animated series based on the same-named LEGO line has already released its 10th season early for New Zealand viewers.
While spoilers are already available where they can be found, this has yet to arrive in North America, where promotion has gone overboard in hyping what feels like a grand end to a saga that began with the 2011 premiere.
When you look at the poster images for “LEGO Ninjago” Season 10 you’d think they were for the release of a feature-length film. That’s because the first four episodes of a promised 6-plus hours of seasonal content for 2019 form a continuous storyline, “March of the Oni.”
The subtitle alone really sells that some sort of conclusion in the adventures of the Ninjago ninjas is in store when it plays out. Individual character posters also grimly hint at what fates are in store for these persons whom we’ve followed over multiple seasons in past years.
So much has indeed changed in the cast and setting of “LEGO Ninjago” that despite accommodating new fans from the 2017 movie spinoff starting in Season 8, it can be hard to keep up with the multiple running plot threads. The idea of having a four-episode mini-arc to resolve the issue of the Oni like Lord Garmadon that hung over the most recent seasons is great.
This is arguably the last few bits of the “Ninjago” series that outgoing writers the Hageman brothers are involved in, though lead writing duties now belong to Bragi Schut, who penned Season 8’s “Sons of Garmadon” and 9’s “Hunted”.
And we can’t forget that, despite the trappings of a series finale in “March of the Oni”, there are still some more episodes of “Ninjago” Season 10 coming this year according to producer Tommy Andreasen.
It’s the year 2019 now, but it’s only at this point in time that the winners from the First 2018 Review Stage of LEGO Ideas will finally see the light of day as official products. Recall that the results of that review stage were announced only in early October of the year before.
The two product ideas that made the final cut from that 10-set review batch had been a Treehouse and a licensed franchise, Hanna-Barbera’s classic “Flintstones” animated series. Then, following over three months of silence, LEGO Ideas broke the lack of new updates with a cheeky nostalgic teaser.
On Monday, February 11, LEGO Ideas posted a short video clip on their official Twitter page. It should be familiar to longtime “Flintstones” fans, a shortened version of the last few seconds of the familiar colored second intro, with the Flintstones and Rubbles barreling into the prehistoric drive-in theater in the former’s boulder-mobile.
The differences are quickly spotted: the featured movie is titled “LEGO Ideas: The Flintstones.” Also, the Flintstones’ “car” is quite obviously a LEGO-brick stop-motion rendition, likely the official LEGO Ideas conversion of the original submission by Andrew Clark. Finally, the theater screen shows that Ideas will be showing the whole final LEGO Flintstones set soon, punctuated with the iconic series catchphrase “Yabba-dabba-doo!”
Seeing as this LEGO Ideas set is from a recognizable franchise, it makes sense that it gets a teaser ahead of the original-idea Treehouse. Then again the preview neglects to put an actual date on when the LEGO Flintstones set will actually be shown in full, so fans are left with the usual game of guessing “How soon is ‘Coming Soon.’”
Then again, as some comments on our fellow LEGO news site and helpful set guide Brickset indicate, not many fans approve the accompanying minifigures’ faces which have apparently been leaked earlier. Perhaps the promised upcoming official LEGO Ideas reveal might change some minds.
Contrary to speculations and rumors going around, it seems that LEGO is not yet ready to pull the plug on one of its long-running, non-licensed theme. LEGO unveiled its next collection of LEGO Ninjago sets due for a summer 2019 release, and it’s important to note that these are all original sets, and not re-released sets. This is what LEGO has unveiled at the ongoing Nuremberg Toy Fair in Germany, as reported by LEGO fan site Zusammengebaut. The most recent series of LEGO Ninjago Legacy sets were a collection of re-released sets based on the early seasons of Ninjago. This time, it looks like there will be more sets that are either dedicated to the series latest season entitled March of the Oni, or we can expect more from the TV series after this latest story arc. Whatever is the case, and fans will be happy yo agree, that we will not yet see the end of LEGO Ninjago. Here are the names of the next wave of LEGO Ninjago 2019 summer sets slated to be released sometime in August.
Attack of the Ice Samurai (70671)
Koel’s Offroad Bike (70672)
Fire Snake (70674)
Lloyd’s Titan Mech (70676)
Desert Glider (70677)
The Ice Age Fortress (70678)
The LEGO Ninjago Dragon Pit (70655) released in 2018.
Based on their declared retail price in Euros, it seems that the Desert Glider (70677) could be the largest among these sets. Retailing for 129.99 Euros, this sizeable set could be within the same range as that of the LEGO Ninjago Dragon Pit (70655) from last year, in terms of piece count and set dimensions. We just have to wait and see until LEGO makes a full, official reveal.
The hit, brick-building, LEGO-inspired reality show that endeared the UK to love the LEGO brick, even more, is now coming to the US. Plans are now being inked on how the hit TV show LEGO Masters can be adopted for US viewers, which was largely successful not just in the UK, but also in Germany and Australia. The LEGO Masters is a reality-based TV show that pushes the limits of one’s creativity in using LEGO bricks, where amateur builders get to compete with each other with the hope being the recognized as the ultimate LEGO Master.
The LEGO Masters show in the US will be produced by Endemol Shine North America, UK production company Tuesday’s Child, and Plan B Entertainment, headed by award-winning actor Brad Pitt. As with its initial run in the US, the LEGO Group will be hands-on with the show’s more important details so you can expect the same ‘wonder, emotion, drama and loads of smashing bricks’. Read on for the LEGO Masters US official press release.
Endemol Shine North America and Tuesday’s Child Bringing U.K Smash Hit “LEGO® MASTERS” to U.S with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment
January 9, 2019—Endemol Shine North America and U.K.-based independent production company Tuesday’s Child are teaming with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment to jointly produce a U.S. version of the hit British series “LEGO® MASTERS.”
The production companies are set to start conversations with potential American-based platforms later this month.
Originally created by Tuesday’s Child, “LEGO MASTERS” first launched on Channel 4 in the U.K. in 2017, quickly becoming the network’s highest-rated new series, nearly doubling its primetime average with young adults. Since then, “LEGO MASTERS” was renewed by Channel 4 and local versions of the successful format have begun launching around the world.
Along with Plan B Entertainment, Sharon Levy, DJ Nurre and Michael Heyerman will serve as executive producers for Endemol Shine North America, Karen Smith and Steph Harris will serve as executive producers for Tuesday’s Child and Jill Wilfert and Robert May for The LEGO Group.
“This is a project that I am truly passionate about, as LEGO bricks have played an instrumental role in my family’s life,” stated Sharon Levy, President, Unscripted & Scripted Television, Endemol Shine North America. “We are thrilled to be bringing ‘LEGO MASTERS’ to the U.S. market with the original producers at Tuesday’s Child and the team at Plan B Entertainment.”
Tuesday’s Child Managing Director Karen Smith stated, “It’s awesome to team up with Plan B and Endemol Shine North America to bring ‘LEGO MASTERS’ to the States. It’s a format filled with wonder, emotion, drama and loads of smashing bricks. The competitors excel in story-telling, engineering artistry, ingenuity and genuinely thinking outside the box. It’s a new talent show, but no-one sings or dances, unless they’re barefoot and stand on a brick…’
Jill Wilfert, Vice President, Licensing & Entertainment, the LEGO Group says; “We are pleased viewers in the UK and Germany have enjoyed LEGO MASTERS, and believe it will delight people of all ages around the world. The series celebrates creativity and the endless possibilities of the LEGO brick, not to mention the fun families and friends have when they build together.”
“We are so thrilled to be a part of the team bringing ‘LEGO MASTERS’ and this exciting new format to the States,” said the production team at Plan B Entertainment.
“LEGO MASTERS” pits enthusiasts in a competition that starts with a single LEGO brick and infinite possibilities and concludes with mind-blowing builds that will surely both inspire legions of loyal LEGO followers and capture the imagination of new fans.
Endemol Shine Group is the exclusive distributor of the format across all platforms outside of the U.K. and has the rights to produce local versions of the show around the world. Endemol Shine International is the exclusive distributor of all finished tape of all versions produced, including the original British version.
Last year, Endemol Shine announced “LEGO MASTERS” landed its first international deals, as Endemol Shine Australia is producing a local version of the format for Nine and Endemol Shine Germany successfully produced the series for RTL. Channel 4’s second season in the U.K. launched in November to strong ratings.
About Endemol Shine North America
Endemol Shine North America delivers world-class content and compelling storytelling to multiple platforms in the U.S. and across the globe. Endemol Shine North America is part of Endemol Shine Group, the global content creator, producer and distributor with a diverse portfolio of companies that are behind some of the most prominent hit television formats and series in the world.
Its Endemol Shine Latino division oversees all Spanish and Portuguese-language operations across Latin America, including newly launched studio Endemol Shine Boomdog, which produces original content for both the U.S. Hispanic and Mexican markets. Subsidiary production companies include Authentic Entertainment, Truly Original, and 51 Minds Entertainment.
About Tuesday’s Child
Tuesday’s Child Television is a UK-based independent production company specialising in entertainment and popular factual. It was launched in September 2012 by Karen Smith who was former Shine TV joint MD (The Magicians, Gladiators, Got to Dance, The Biggest Loser, Strictly Come Dancing).
Tuesday’s Child are the format creators of LEGO MASTERS and currently in production with a new peak BBC One music quiz, The Hit List and Channel 4 rig format, The Drugs Cafe both due to air in peak in early 2019. They have also created and produced the primetime BBC One Entertainment series, Pitch Battle with Kelis and the music director of the Pitch Perfect franchise , the award winning You’re Back in the Room for ITV1 ( the format has also been made in numerous other international territories) For What It’s Worth, hosted by Fern Britton for BBC One, Britain’s Biggest Superyachts: Chasing Perfection for BBC Two and RTS-nominated Superstar Dogs, hosted by John Barrowman for Channel 4
About Plan B Entertainment
Founded in 2002 and headed by Brad Pitt and co-presidents Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Plan B Entertainment is a film and television production company that has been established with many acclaimed titles. What sets them apart is their commitment to protecting narrative and giving filmmakers the freedom to take creative risks. The result has been a memorable run of characters and stories that are emotionally and socially compelling. Their titles include: THE TREE OF LIFE, WORLD WAR Z, 12 YEARS A SLAVE, THE NORMAL HEART, SELMA, THE BIG SHORT, and MOONLIGHT. Most recently, the company released the Golden Globe-nominated BEAUTIFUL BOY, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, and VICE.
Looking ahead, Plan B will continue working with auteurs such as Andrew Dominik, James Gray, David Michôd, Barry Jenkins, and Ryan Murphy, and they plan to deliver characteristically unique and uplifting work not only through theatrical screens, but also through collaborations with outlets such as Netflix, Amazon, STARZ, FX, and HBO.
About The LEGO Group
The LEGO Group is a privately held, family-owned company with headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and main offices in Enfield, USA, London, UK. Shanghai, China, and Singapore. Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, and based on the iconic LEGO brick, it is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of play materials. Guided by the company spirit: “Only the best is good enough”, the company is committed to the development of children and aims to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through creative play and learning. LEGO products are sold worldwide and can be virtually explored at http://www.LEGO.com.
Even as LEGO continued to bring out one new set after another on its Ninjago line the story of the relevant characters and their adventures have been told in the 3D-animated series Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu (and retold in The LEGO Ninjago Movie). The popularity of the show and its big screen counterpart was thanks to the efforts of the writing team, including brothers Dan and Kevin Hageman. But that status quo is about to change. The Hageman Brothers have shocked the LEGO-media-watching audience that they will be bowing out of the Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu writing team. This was elaborated on in a series of Twitter posts all throughout Tuesday, December 11.
Goodbyes are fraught with so many emotions. Though it saddens us to tell our Ninjago fans we've written our last episode, we are encouraged to know it won't be the last Ninjago adventure. We've known for a while that after 8 great years, S9 would be our final curtain call… 1/7
Dan and Kevin have been part of the LEGO Ninjago animated adaptation since its beginning in 2011, and while they’re officially leaving the team after the recently-concluded Season 9, their writing contributions are said to be included in the continuing Spinjitzu storyline all the way to its milestone 100th episode.
With the Hagemans going, only David Shayne and Bragi Schut remain on writer credits for Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. Schut will be stepping up as head writer for the future.
Sad as it may seem, the only possible consolation that we have is the assurance that LEGO’s longest running TV show will still continue to run its course even after the Hageman Brothers are no longer at the helm of its story development. Simply said, LEGO Ninjago will not really be the same without the original, creative minds behind the series.
For the meantime, we can revisit some of the greatest LEGO Ninjago moments with 2019’s LEGO Ninjago Legacy sets slated to be released next year. There’s also a feature-length animated film to be released later next year as announced during the San Diego ComicCon 2018 last July.
After last week’s reveal of the 2019 LEGO Ninjago Legacy subtheme, we now have additional images of yet another redesigned Ninjago set based from Season 1’s Rise of the Snake. This time around, the fearsome four-headed Ultra Dragon is now included in the roster of Ninjago Legacy sets as revealed by DeToyz Shop. The LEGO Ninjago Legacy The Ultra Dragon (70679) comes in at 951 pieces and is based on a redesigned version of the first Ultra Dragon set as included in 2012’s Epic Dragon Battle (9450). Check out its following box art.
LEGO Ninjago Legacy The Ultra Dragon (70679)
$79.99; 951 pieces
As you may have noticed, this set is not entirely a re-release, but an improvement in terms of design and play features. Most noticeable is the new dragon heads which are completely brick-built equipped with stud shooters mounted on its jaws. Its wings are now also made of thin, membrane-like vinyl which LEGO included as wing accessories in Ninjago sets beginning with Attack of the Morro Dragon (70736)released in 2015. The Ultra Dragon (70679) also comes with six minifigures: Lloyd, Master Wu, Lord Garmadon, Pythor, and a couple of Serpentine Warriors.
Other than the Ultra Dragon, the Malaysian LEGO fan blogsite also shared box art images of the new Ninjago Legacy Spinjitzu series. We mentioned them before in our previous post, but we now have official images of these spinners as you can see below.
LEGO Ninjago Legacy Spinjitzu Kai (70659)
LEGO Ninjago Legacy Spinjitzu Jay (70660)
LEGO Ninjago Legacy Spinjitzu Zane (70661)
LEGO Ninjago Legacy Spinjitzu Cole (70662)
LEGO Ninjago Legacy Spinjitzu Nya and Wu (70663)
LEGO Ninjago Legacy Spinjitzu Lloyd vs Garmadon (70664)
LEGO Ninjago Legacy Monastery Training (70680)
The new LEGO Ninjago Legacy series is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2019. Which will be your Day 1 purchase among these, brick fans? Let us know in the comments below.
Here’s another batch of crisp, clear official images this time coming from the 2019 LEGO Ninjago Legacy subtheme. If you recall last July at SDCC 2018, we reportedhow the showrunners discussed their most memorable LEGO Ninjago scenes and sets since its launch in 2011. There was no new season of LEGO Ninjago that were announced during the fan convention, and since then, there were talks that hinted on the possibility of a revival of some of the earlier Ninjago sets that were introduced during the show’s pilot season. Now thanks to Promobricks, this rumor is finally set in stone with the announcement of the 2019 LEGO Ninjago Legacy sets. This selection of revived LEGO Ninjago sets, plus a couple of new ones, is now expected to be a part of LEGO’s 2019 offerings in the first half of 2019. They’re also expected to be tie-in sets for the Ninjago: Legacy feature-length animated film.
Check out these images, and let us know what you think about these sets in the comments below.
Despite a very limited range of interpretation on official LEGO products, said brand is still quite the favorite by many for building constructs inspired by the greatest sci-fi show ever to come out of the UK: Doctor Who. We’ve covered a brick-built statue of Jodie Whitaker as the 13th Doctor at SDCC 2018 before; now we look at the TARDIS. True, LEGO did release a TARDIS set via LEGO Ideas Doctor Who (21304) in the past, and this MOC’s smaller, without an interior. But YouTube LEGO builder Josh DaVid gave the set a twist by designing a custom LEGO spinning TARDIS with the use of LEGO Technic pieces.
DaVid’s TARIDS build is supported in the air by an ingenious LEGO Technic rig, which goes into a base with a hand crank on one side. As you can see from his video below, cranking the handle causes the custom LEGO spinning TARDIS to rotate, creating the trademark Doctor Who special effect of the time-travelling machine whirling about through the vastness of infinite space-time.
Josh DaVid’s Technic TARDIS MOC is available to interested LEGO builders in two options: building instructions on Etsy, or a custom set with all needed parts on Mochub. You can also optionally install a Power Functions motor, though it’s not included in the basic build.
