2026 marks 15 years of LEGO Ninjago, arguably the most successful home-grown theme in the company’s history. In Ninjago, LEGO has a theme that can contain martial arts adventure, dragons, mecha, tranquil gardens, and cyberpunk cities. Ninjago has led to some of the all-time great sets for AFOLs and kids alike. And in the year to come, the Brothers Brick will spend more time unwinding with the Masters of Spinjitzu and rising with dragons to look at both official sets and the inspiring fan creations that wouldn’t be possible without the evocative parts that Ninjago brings to the mix. We’ve already shared our thoughts on LEGO’s two big Legacy sets for January, the excellent Four Weapons Blacksmith and impressively massive Old Town. Today, we’re joined by guest reviewer Capt. DarkShark for a look at the remaining sets from the Dragons Rising arc.
Howdy y’all – Capt. DarkShark here, and it is now December, meaning it’s once again that most wonderful time of the year – when LEGO reveals the new wave of Ninjago sets and reminding us how it’s their favorite star child. I have had the entirely undeserved privilege of going over some of the upcoming January 2026 sets for a minifig-centric review and brief breakdowns of a handful of the new Ninjago sets. Some fantastic new molds and a bunch of new figs are coming with the continuation of the Dragons Rising series, and we get a peek at the 15 year anniversary character display. So let’s get things started with the biggest and baddest of the bunch.
LEGO Ninjago 71859 The Dragon of Life | 1050 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026 |US $109.99 | CAN $139.99 | UK £89.99
What a massive lad, and I welcome him with awkwardly fully extended wings into my already far-too-large of a dragon collection. I’ll start with this – each dragon I build seems to be built better than the last, and there’s no exception here.
Hidden beyond his striking key features, this nature-themed Dragon of Life has an impressively sturdy body, though the front ball and socket wrist joints are a bit weak and tend to fold a touch too easily under the dragon’s weight. The sticker and print details are excellent, and the vinyl wings are obviously super cool. That said, and I hate to admit it to myself, but the wings functionality is probably my least favorite in recent memory. Extending them feels awkward, and I can never quite get them to pose the way I want. An extra socket or joint would have made a world of difference. Still, despite the little things, the wings look fantastic whether fully folded or fully extended.
The set also includes a smaller build featuring the Dragon Sword, aka Sword of Fire, encased in trans–bright green flames (leaves?) – a neat new piece that appears throughout the wave. The tree incorporates a gear mechanism that spins the sword’s platform and flames. We also get a small Earth Monster mech that adds a nice balance to the set, but not a whole lot more.
Minifigure-wise we get an Earth Monster, an Acid Monster, and a Loyalist Leader – bringing in three of the four villain groups from this release, and a few of the coolest new parts.
Zane, Arin, and Sora arrive in their new ninja outfits that stay true to their characters, and we get our first look at the ninja’s new Dragon Form with both Lloyd and Cole. These forms come with new helmets, tails, shoulder armor, and the tattered wings. There are a handful of other exciting molds and recolors across the rest of the figures, so I’ll get more in depth once we’ve had a chance to see them all.
Now let’s jump to three of the smaller sets in the release – and you won’t want to overlook them.
LEGO Ninjago 71851 Kai’s Dragon Mech Battle Pack | 85 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026 |US $9.99 | CAN $12.99 | UK £8.99
A small mech with the 8¼x5 dragon wings in what I believe to be new colors of red and bright orange and the new flame piece in trans-orange. This set includes the same sora that’s found in the Dragon of life set, an Earth Monster with the new pincer headpiece and a new color of the crystal armor in trans-orange. Kai is wearing his new clothing and Dragon Form helmet.
LEGO Ninjago 71850 Lloyd vs Earth Monster Spinner | 52 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026 |US $9.99 | CAN $12.99 | UK £8.99
This set features Lloyd with the ninja’s new shoulder armor and a different version of the Earth Monster – this one donning a sword, the new trans-orange armor, the new pincer piece, and an awesome new color variant of the cracked rock headgear in dark tan. Also we find a new color variant of the “power burst” effect in trans-bright green. A lot of new stuff offered in a small very small set.
LEGO Ninjago 71849 Nya vs Mutation Monster Spinner | 49 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026 |US $9.99 | CAN $12.99 | UK £8.99
A fraternal twin of the prior spinner set, this one includes new trans-purple power bursts and Nya with one of my all time favorite hair pieces. Now we meet the fourth enemy group – the creepy, big headed Mutation Monster, and it’s wearing the newest (and my personal favorite) form of the straw hat in reddish brown.
LEGO Ninjago 71854 Coles Mission Mech | 354 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026 |US $34.99 | CAN $44.99 | UK £24.99
An earth-element themed mech featuring Cole, Dragon Form Zane and the new Acid Monster. It’s a mid-sized set with a solid mech, though I’ve never been a huge fan of the unbending elbow/knee pieces (that is the 2x6x⅔ bent plate) that lego has so often been using as of late. Even so, it’s a good looking mech with 3 interchangeable weapons. A bit more articulation in the limbs and neck would’ve done this set some justice.
LEGO Ninjago 71855 Nya vs Mutation Monster Spinner | 347 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026 |US $44.99 | CAN $59.99 | UK £39.99
Riyu, everyone’s favorite mountain dragon ninja, continues growing up, and now he’s mouth-wielding a giant sword? Yes please and thank you. This is a surprisingly posable and likeable medium-sized dragon with some of the new flame pieces in trans-clear with a blue/pink glitter color. The set also features Arin, a spear-wielding Loyalist, Nya in dragon form, and my favorite bad guy from the release – the Mutation Monster with tentacles.
Riyu’s large weapons are meant to be swappable with Cole’s Mission Mech set, and vice-versa.
LEGO Ninjago 71856 Jay’s Transforming Car | 387 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026 |US $54.99 | CAN $69.99 | UK £44.99
Jay continues his blue vehicle legacy with one of the coolest cars in my collection – and hands down my favorite set of the bunch. It comes with Nya and Jay in their new clothes, the Loyalist Leader, an Earth Monster with 3 of the new pincers/claws, and full Dragon Form Kai.
The vehicle’s front end turns over, transforming the blue hood into an ornamental gold and trans yellow dragon likeness, while also lowering the front of the vehicle just enough to engage the side spinning blades. The blades use a small rubber wheel that drags along the ground as the vehicle moves, adding a simple but extremely satisfying play feature that I’m probably far too excited about. The set also includes a very small tree build with a box and a shooter that can both be attached to the vehicle.
LEGO Ninjago 71857 Ninja Vehicle Tree House Battle | 643 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026 |US $79.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £69.99
If you take this set for what it is – a playset – then it’s pretty solid. It offers a fair amount of playability, but it’s all pretty standard Ninjago. The Kai themed motorcycle and Zane themed helicopter are both well built for their size. They each have some satisfying angles and were genuinely fun to put together. The treehouse has several play features including a falling stump trap and a spinning bridge – and it’s overall a nice touch of scenery.
The minifigure lineup feels a little underwhelming to me, with Dragon Form Jay and Euphrasia being the only set-exclusive characters. Kai, Zane, a Loyalist, and an Acid Monster are also included – all of which appear in other sets. Overall, it’s a decent playset that I think kids will enjoy.
And with that, we get out of the Dragon Rising line and into the Legacy series with one of the new 15-year anniversary sets to give us our fix of nostalgia and remind us of how old we’re getting. This set includes the full ninja team plus one of seven exclusive minifigures from the wave – Jay’s mother in her lightning embellished outfit.
LEGO Ninjago 71857 15th Anniversary Ninja Character Display | 447 Pieces | Available January 1, 2026 |US $44.99 | CAN $59.99 | UK £34.99
The centerpiece of the set is the entrance to the ninja’s home – the Monastery of Spinjitzu’s main gate, and it’s designed to display the whole crew. The gate has two hinged doors and a small interior room in its base, with some nice lore-driven details.
Each ninja is wearing new torso and leg prints that may look familiar, as they’re updated versions of their classic ZX suits from 2011–12, each with super clean and well designed details. LEGO did a great job giving these classic designs new life.
As an AFOL who’s always trying to conserve shelf space, this smaller display is *chef’s kiss*. With the wonderful size, a really neat and detailed build, the whole crew, and a fancy exclusive fig, there’s just too much to like about this set and almost nothing bad to say.
Since we’ve now had a glimpse of what the sets had to offer, let’s finally get into the minifigs – starting with the heart of the new releases – the super crazy cool Dragon Forms.
What are two of the coolest things ever? Well, LEGO combined them for us. There are 6 dragon ninja in total, and they’re spread across 5 different sets. They all wear a new dragon inspired helmet, the new dragon tail, new shoulder armor with a double-peg back bracket, and tattered wings (most in new colors)
It’s been a while since I’ve built a fig straight from the instructions and felt that I had something this solid. The shoulder armor is some of the best the Ninjago line has produced with pointed and layered plates molded to sit deep down around the torso’s top ridge and above the arms. I only wish the ninja who tend to wear silver armor still did so, but the group sure does look fantastic all clad in pearl gold.
Each figure’s printed torso scales are unique, and each has a golden dragon head with the character’s own symbol incorporated. Their printed visors reflect each ninja’s elemental theme, to varying degrees, and all the heads are double-sided with their regular likeness found on the reverse.
Now let’s give the bad guys their time in the spotlight, they deserve it. There are 4 types, or groups, found in the January ’26 release – and all united under the same golden pendant.
Starting at the image’s top left and moving clockwise, we first get the Earth Monsters. Creatures formed of molten magma, rock, and metal, with some fantastic printing to show it, including some metallic silver detailing. There are three variations that we see, all built around the same base figure. The new pincer accessory looks like a fusion of rock and metal, and the shoulder armor is a new trans-orange color of the “crystal shards” armor that we’ve been seeing in the more recent Ninjago sets – and, as mentioned earlier, the cracked rock headgear also appears in a new dark tan color.
The second group of bad guys are the Mutation Monsters, which come in two different forms. They also share the same base figure, with the monster from the Riyu’s Battle set having brick-built tentacles that really bumps the figure up a few notches and makes it one of my favorite figs in the series. All Mutation Monsters have the oversized minifigure head, green claws, a trans-green left arm and the newest straw hat mold in reddish brown.
Next we’ve got the Loyalists with technically three different figures, thanks to double sided head printing. The Cultist Leader wears a black hood, a golden mask with green eyes, and the head reverses to a female with facial markings and green glasses. The dark red hooded Loyalist wears, oddly enough (sarcasm), the same robes as the leader, and their head is also double printed, but this time with a similar-yet-different white mask, adding a very welcomed bit of visual variety amongst the Loyalist’s ranks.
Myself being a giant cloth parts advocate, I feel that a fabric cape or robe piece would’ve elevated these Loyalists to match the level of the other factions, but instead, they end up feeling like the weakest group of the series.
Lastly – the Acid Monsters, and with them is the return of the snake bodies. They appear in multiple sets with only one variation. The printing and details are top-notch and the dual-molded purple and trans-bright green snake heads are very eye-catching. It’s a good thing these guys look so visually striking, because they don’t have much more to offer, with super stylized pieces that will undoubtedly be hard to mix and match elsewhere.
Here’s a closer look at some of my favorite minifig pieces from this release.
And now I suppose it’s finally time for a conclusion, and I conclude that this January wave is awesome – all of it. While other themes come and go, LEGO stays dedicated to Ninjago, and with each release they continue to deliver to us some of their greatest content. So why would this release be any different?! More dragons, more vehicles, more creative new play features, instant-classic ninja forms, top-tier molds and pieces that us collectors can’t pass up. What a strong start to Ninjago’s 15th Anniversary.