Though this is for US & Canada only at the moment, nearly all of the first quarter 2011 LEGO sets are now available from the LEGO Shop online. As if that’s not enough of a temptation, you can still order in time for Christmas.
We here at The Brothers Brick are irrationally excited about what looks to be the silliest — and most awesome — of the 2011 themes. Fraukinder and mannkinder, I give you NinjaGo!
The premise appears to be that several brightly colored ninjas take on an army of undead in single combat using a technique called “spinjutsu”.
Seriously, how awesome is that? And don’t miss the ear-worm that is the NinjaGo theme song.
The 2011 LEGO City police sets feature a new dog, backpack, and crowbar.
And of course, the 2011 LEGO Star Wars sets are also now available — not least of which the ever-popular battle packs.
Though I have yet to see a single episode of The Clone Wars, I’m intrigued by this non-gray Bounty Hunter Assault Gunship:
Finally, 10217 Diagon Alley will be shipping on January 1st, and is currently available for pre-order:
Ninjago sets have terrible design and some awful pieces like the new skull torso, skull legs and that giant head (wich appears on the second set above). The bamboo hat is also very strange – why not to use the old round dishes? Well, I’d get that blue dragon and white ninja, the whole line seems a waste of money…
Mandalorian battle packs ftw :)
$10US for a fig accessories? Wow…
I am fond of the style of a lot of the Ninja-go sets. They are very obviously aimed at the young end of the Lego Fan Pool. However I agree that the pricing is kind of out of whack. Not just the $10 very generic minifigure battle sets but the price-per-piece seems insanely out of whack without much of a clear explanation. Skeleton Bowling and the Spinjitsu Dojo are $20 appart in price for a difference of two pieces, neither seems to have any more terribly exotic colors or pieces than the other.
Every year I wait for when Lego will do a Steampunk theme.
And as usual Australia gets ripped off… Diagon Alley is USD$150 and AUD$270. Current exchange rate is USD$1 = AUD$0.99. Lego prevents retailers in the US from shipping to Australia to stop us buying at US prices. The way around this is HopShopGo. The retails stores here in Sydney are fully stocked with Lego and it’s 2 days before Christmas and they are wondering why no one is buying? Maybe it’s because of these ripoff tactics, it’s certainly why I’m not buying as much Lego as in the past.
Lego: good toy, bad company
My son’s totally excited about NinjaGo, which I guess is the point. The wife and I like the designs, but I haven’t delved into the price points yet. Looks like they’re starting to compare the sets to things like Bakugan where you get one small toy for $6-$10. I’m sure a lot of parents will blindly buy that kind of thing in Lego as they do in Bakugan.
Saw the Bounty Hunter ship at Fred Meyer’s tonight, and our local Lego store has the battle packs and bank heist in at the latest reports too.
@sselkirk, I don’t work for Lego, but I do intimately know a company that gets the same kind of pricing complaints, even just US to Canada, and I can say that you can’t go by exchange rates alone. That said, no matter what the cause, I certainly agree that nearly twice the price is sad.
Alas Lego is not the only company that has much higher prices in Australia. DVD’s and console games have a similar “markup”/tariff hit. At least Lego can’t be region coded.
My son is in the same super excited boat on the Ninjago. I’m wondering if there is actually a decent game there or if it just a gimmick. Nice to see purple making it into some of the models. In preparation for a full Universe line I hope.
Ok, the ninjas are nice, but did I miss the episode with the orange clones? And what is with all the jango fetts? I am 12, so naturally I am a Harry potter fan, and diagon alley is very comparable to the movie. The problem I have with the dropship is that it came out to late after the clone wars episode. The dog and police are so-and-so, but I wouldn’t buy them.