Ninja (LEGO Theme)
Parent themeLego Castle
SubjectNinja
Availability1998–2000
Total sets29

Lego Ninja (stylized as LEGO Ninja) was a theme and product range of the construction toy Lego. Launched in 1998, the collection was its own theme. It had many elements of the ninja warriors from feudal Japan.[1] The majority of the sets were released in 1998 and 1999; however, three small sets of minifigures were released in 2000 as part of the "Mini Heroes Collection". After this, the theme was discontinued, and was effectively replaced by the "Knights Castle" theme in 2000.

Background

The Ninja theme was released as a sub-theme of the Lego Castle theme, which from 1984 had started to develop into specific factions. Lego Ninja immediately followed the Fright Knights theme, which had been in production from 1997 to 1998. In contrast to Fright Knights, Lego Ninja took its influence from a more realistic starting point and was set in mountainous Japan with medieval buildings.[2]

Construction sets

A total of 29 toy sets were released as part of the Ninja theme, which centred on three distinctive groups; the ninja, the samurai and the robbers.[3] The toy sets featured a variety of buildings and vehicles, including fortresses and boats. The ninja crest was yellow with a black wingless dragon. The Samurai had blue banners bearing a golden fan. The robber's crest was a red, black and silver bull's head. The ninja minifigures were designed in a variety of colours, including black, red, grey, green and white and featured grey shoulder plates. In contrast, the samurai were dressed in black, blue and silver, and the robbers were dressed in red and green.[2]

Number Name Year Pieces Minifigs
1099 Ninja Blaster 1999 24 1
1184 Cart 1999 24 1
1185 Raft 1999 25 1
1186 Cart 1999 25 1
1187 Glider 1999 23 1
1269 White Ninja 1999 23 1
3016 Master and Heavy Gun 1998 24 1
3017 Ninpo Water Spider 1998 25 1
3018 LEGO Shogun Go! 1998 25 1
3019 Ninpo Big Bat 1998 23 1
3050 Shanghai Surprise 1999 104 3
3051 Blaze Attack 1999 145 2
3052 Ninja Fire Fortress 1999 169 3
3053 Emperor's Stronghold 1999 331 4
3074 Red Ninja's Dragon Glider 1999 20 1
3075 Ninja Master's Boat 1999 21 1
3076 White Ninja's Tank 1999 23 1
3077 Ninja Shogun's Mini Base 1999 22 1
3344 One Minifig Pack - Ninja #1 2000 9 1
3345 Three Minifig Pack - Ninja #2 2000 21 3
3346 Three Minifig Pack - Ninja #3 2000 22 3
4805 Ninja Knights 1999 31 5
6013 Samurai Swordsman 1998 13 1
6033 Treasure Transport 1998 54 3
6045 Ninja Surprise 1998 112 3
6083 Samurai Stronghold 1998 198 3
6088 Robber's Retreat 1998 277 4
6089 Stone Tower Bridge 1998 409 5
6093 Flying Ninja Fortress[4] 1998 694 9

Legacy

In 2010, Series 1 of the Lego Collectable Minifigures Series contained a ninja minifigure clearly based on the theme.[5] A year later, in early 2011, Lego released the Lego Ninjago theme and associated television series Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, which took heavy inspiration from the Ninja theme.[6]

References

  1. ^ Lipkowitz, Daniel (2009), The Lego Book, Dorling Kindersley, p. 64, ISBN 978-1-4053-4169-1.
  2. ^ a b Herman, Sarah (2012-07-09). Building a History: The Lego Group. Grub Street Publishers. p. 159. ISBN 978-1-78340-804-7.
  3. ^ "BrickLink Reference Catalog - Sets - Category Ninja". www.bricklink.com. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  4. ^ Farshtey, Gregory; Lipkowitz, Daniel; Hugo, Simon (2020-10-01). LEGO® Minifigure A Visual History New Edition. Dorling Kindersley Limited. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-241-50202-0.
  5. ^ "Lego Collectible Minifigures Series 1 Poster". www.bricklink.com. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  6. ^ Estrella, Ernie (2017-09-20). "LEGO Ninjago has a long and storied history you definitely didn't know about". SYFY WIRE. Archived from the original on 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2021-06-12.


Categories