The LEGO Ninjago Movie

After the comical the LEGO Movie and the fantastic LEGO Batman movie, it was time to sit down and watch the third theatrical release of the LEGO franchise.

Based on the popular Ninjago line of, well, Ninja's, this movie is aimed at the younger members of the community, who play the adventures of Ninjago city and the evil Lord Garmadon on their bedroom floors.

When Garmadon does once again an attack on Ninjago city, our heroes are called forth to battle him.  They stave off the enemy, but the hesitation by Lloyd, the Green Ninja (or L-loyd as Garmadon calls him) allows the evil overlord to escape.

During the next attack a few weeks later, this is about to cost them dearly, as Garmadon is now prepared and defeats the ninja in their mechs.  Lloyd however reveals his identity to Garmadon in an effort to finally have a dad in his life, and they are forced on an adventure to defeat the ultimate weapon that Lloyd summoned, Miauwthra.  This monster is beating up the city, and now both sides must bundle their powers to save their world.

What follows is an adventure where the unwilling dad / son relationship is central, and to be honest, this was by far the weakest movie of the franchise so far.  I only sniggered a few times instead of the often laughing out loud moments of the previous two films.
Another thing that was irritating is that a dozen series have been made for television about Ninjago, but yet they totally changed the personalities.  For example, instead of being a smart and logical android, Zane has been reduced to a blabbing computerbrain from the early 90s...
Another problem is that the movie really focusses on Lloyd to hard, with the others barely even being costars instead of gloryfied cameo's.

No, this movie was weak along the whole line, a pity considering both his predecessors...

Build Report: 70599 Cole`s Dragon

Even though the Ninjago movie isn`t doing as great as the previous two outings of Lego to the cinema's, I liked this Sky Pirate subtheme of the series.

Giving a sort of sky-fi feel with the pirate vehicles, and the heroes riding dragons, this had some lovely elements and figures in the range.

A small box with about 90 parts, Cole`s Dragon is one such example, as the pirate figure included (Buko) quickly found life in my pirate builds.  Opening the box as such, you get two bags of parts, an instruction booklet and a sticker sheet.

The first thing as such is using some of the stickers to prepare Cole`s back banner, in old asian style of warriors.

Cole himself carries his trusty scythe, while Zane in a way is included in the form of a spirit crystal that is trapped in the sword, and it's up to the black Ninja to free his partner.

But the sky pirates are around to try and prevent this.  I for one LOVED the sword on this figure...

The underside of the dragon is then assembled, as this is where all the parts like the legs, neck, tail and wings will be connected to.

A riding spot is prepared on the back of the beast.

The tail is the first of the appendages that is being put together, using connecting parts and dressing it up with jumpers and slopes.

Next, the neck is also put together and connected to the central body mass.

We assemble the head itself then next, using stickers for additional decoration.  A nice touch is that the mouth can open and close on the little beast.

"Shoulderpads" are then added to the body, once again using stickers for decoration.

Two simple but sturdy legs are then put together, mirrored to go one on each side.

The final thing we need to build are the two wings, a symmetrical build and the use of the golden blades adds a nice touch to represent the spiky ends of them.

The full set as such then stands completed:

And of course, we had some left over extra parts included:

This is a really nice little set to be honest, as it has a cute little dragon, and some excellent figures and parts.  Combined with not being franchise sets, this is really cheap and at Kruidvat for example overhere, you would have one of them for about 6 euro if you waited for the right store actions...

The Haul Report # 69

Hello all, and welcome to another week of stuffsies added to my collection.

But let's start this episode with a necessary haul... as my old faithfull warrior has met his limits.

You see, last week I switched mobile providers, and unfortunatly the current day generation of SIM cards proved to much for the 8 year old HTC (yes, I am carefull with my cellphones) as he just didn`t want to work decently with the new card.  Luckily, I had a current model still lying around "just in case" with a Huawei Y5II.  Also excuse my pictures the coming weeks, I still am getting the hang of it's camera and various settings...

The added benefit is that I can play Pokemon GO on it (at last), which helps far better in my knee exercises then a regular step counter.

Okay, that also meant I better prepare and got myself a power bank to go with it as well...

This week it was also Valentine, and the GF found me some lovely LEGO sets to build, with a DC Micro Fighters set and the gorgeous Sensei Wu dragon!

In between, I went to see the LEGO Batman movie with the BeLUG boys, and we got a lovely keychain from the movie to go with it.  I also received the The Mini Batmobile from a fellow LUGger as a gift at the movie (see the build report from past wednesday).

BrickLink wise, it was a calm week, as I only got a single minifigure for my Harley Quinn display.

Another great thing I received was my price I`d won at the Geeky Bricks 15000 subscribers raffle, it arrived safe and sound this week.

Now, the final thing I hauled where three novels by Bernard Cornwell.  I found them at the local Kringloop winkel at a mighty 50 cents a piece.

So it has been a very varied week for sure, and some great items added to my collection!

See you all again next week!

Ninjago Character Encyclopedia - Updated and Expanded

The latest edition of the Ninjago Character Encyclopedia, published as usual by DK Publishing.

Like with all the Character books, these detail all the personae`s that appeared in this case in the Ninjago range, by the way of how they appeared in the cartoon series.

The book follows the usual pattern and lay-out, containing a large picture of the character in question, a listing of which sets he appears in in that minifigure form and the occassional trivia.  These are either "in character' with who their friends and foes are for example, or unique pieces that are used in the models.

It also features the latest ranges, which is obviously the Morro ghost range of last year, but also the Sky Pirate theme from the first half of this year (the new july releases are obviously not included), all the way up to the awesome Temple of Airjitzu.

The unique minifigure with the book this time is Jay in his Stone armour, and he comes with a lovely printed tile of his favorite comic, Starfarer.

Another pretty book for my Legobrary, and a cool figure to boot that fills a hole from an older range, as jay never was released in this costume before, contrary to some other of the Ninja.

Build Report: 30293 Kai's Drifter

Today`s build report takes us to Ninjago, with a promotional polybag that came with orders at S@H somewhere at the beginning of the year.

The set is basically a mini jetski for fire element ninja Kai, and ties in with the current theme in that he can jetski to the pirate themed island that came out this year.

Opening the bag, we get the small pile of elements and the instruction leaflet.

Kai is the included minifigure of course, and he comes with a pretty printed torso.  I also love his hairpiece everytime, great for use outside the theme.

The drifter itself is based around a plate onto which handy 1x4s with 4 studs on the side are placed.

Side panes, which hold the engine grills, are placed on these.

The little set has a nice amount of the new style, golden clip holders.

On the bottom, trans orange horseshoes are placed.

Studshooters and sai`s form the armament of the little vessel.

And the full set completed:

As usual, some additional parts get included as well, but I forgot to picture them.  It was basically a few additional ammo pieces, nothing to fancy tbh.

I remain a fan of the Ninjago, and now discontinued Chima, sets.  Not because of the theme itself, as they are aimed at a far younger audience, but as they are "non license" themes, they come with great parts at a better price per part ratio then other ranges out there, AND often find their way easily into clearance bins.