Return Home News Reference Discussion Forums
Welcome,
BZPower Guest
.

Login | Register | Retrieve Password



Site Links
    - Forums Reference
    - Become a Member
    - Premier Membership
    - Timeline
    - Set Database
    - Parent's Guide
    - Collectibles
    - Good Guys
    - Bad Guys
    - Mythology
    - Story Sources
    - Official Greg Discussion
    - Product Reviews
    - Tool Kit
    - Wild Kraata Colors
    - BZPowercast
    - Mata Nui Translater
    - History of Bionicle
    - Accessories
    - Games
  • About BZPower
  •     - Staff
        - Site History
        - Contact Us

    Discuss This Story Hot Bionicle NewsSaturday, January 16th, 2021 at 9:21pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager

    Today we're continuing our look back through the years at Ninjago, turning our focus to 2011 and 2012. We have some prototype sets, sculpts of new-at-the-time elements, some of the best selling Ninjago sets, and more. Read on to check it all out!

    2011

    History of Ninjago 2011 01 History of Ninjago 2011 02 History of Ninjago 2011 03

    We're starting off with one of the top ten products in 2011: 2260 Ice Dragon Attack. While it may just seem like some stock photos, if you look closely they're actually some of the unedited pictures taken for the box art and other promotions. I'm not sure I've ever seen this sort of look behind the scenes like this.

    History of Ninjago 2011 06 History of Ninjago 2011 05 History of Ninjago 2011 07

    2507 Fire Temple was another of the top ten sets in 2011 and we get the same sort of behind-the-scenes look at the product photography. It's not quite as exciting as the dragon, but still cool.

    History of Ninjago 2011 04

    The was no information detailing if 2505 Garmadon's Dark Fortress was another best-seller or not, but we're sharing this raw set photo here anyway.

    History of Ninjago 2011 08 History of Ninjago 2011 10

    Next up, we have two sets of prototype pieces - the very first dragon head and the Skulkin head sculpts. I love the brick-built skull that gives an idea of what they were going for, although they did get a little less creepy by the time they were done.

    History of Ninjago 2011 09

    Finally I guess LEGO wanted to remind us of the Nintendo DS game LEGO Battles - Ninjago, which was a thing ten years ago.

    2012

    History of Ninjago 2012 01 History of Ninjago 2012 02 History of Ninjago 2012 03 History of Ninjago 2012 04 History of Ninjago 2012 05 History of Ninjago 2012 06 History of Ninjago 2012 07 History of Ninjago 2012 08

    We're starting off 2012 with some prototypes and what would become the final set 9444 Cole's Tread Assault, which went through some very varied color schemes.

    History of Ninjago 2012 09 History of Ninjago 2012 10 History of Ninjago 2012 11 History of Ninjago 2012 12 History of Ninjago 2012 13

    It's interesting seeing the product photos for 9445 Fangpyre Truck Ambush and the use of transparent bricks to manipulate the set's suspension. We also get to see some prototypes of Zane's little ice-ski vehicle.

    History of Ninjago 2012 15 History of Ninjago 2012 16 History of Ninjago 2012 17

    The 9449 Ultra Sonic Raider was a top ten product in 2012 as well as a, 'historic topseller,' although LEGO doesn't really clarify as to what that means.

    History of Ninjago 2012 18 History of Ninjago 2012 19 History of Ninjago 2012 20 History of Ninjago 2012 21 History of Ninjago 2012 22 History of Ninjago 2012 24

    Not only was 9450 Epic Dragon Battle one of the biggest sets in 2012, according to LEGO it is one of the top 5 products ever and a historic topseller. Make sure you take a good look at the prototype iterations of the Great Devourer!

    History of Ninjago 2012 25 History of Ninjago 2012 26

    Here we have two of the first sketches of what would become the five snake tribes in Rise of the Snakes.

    History of Ninjago 2012 27 History of Ninjago 2012 28

    LEGO shared some great artwork from this era of Ninjago; the first is titled, "Inner Peace," and the second is, "Opposition."

    History of Ninjago 2012 29 History of Ninjago 2012 30

    Finally, we have some prototypes of the snake minifigures - it's neat to see the progression of designs as they honed in on the final product.

    That wraps up our second installment of Ninjago history, and there's still a lot more to go! We'll churn these out as quickly as we can, with at least one per day hopefully. So keep checking back right here on BZPower!

    Discuss This Story

    « Return to News

    LEGO® and BIONICLE are trademarks of the LEGO Group. BZPower is not authorized or endorsed by TLG. All non-LEGO images & contents are copyright BZPower.com and are not authorized or approved by the LEGO Group. BZPower.com logo & graphic design are copyrights of the owners of this site. ©2001-2024