What? Lego has entered the same genre as Bakugon? Ninja against super vehicle evil skeletons? What is this theme about?

Ninjago is in a very wierd spot. On one side you have the ancient ninja warriors with awesome outfits and steep in Japanese culture. On the other you have heavily armed evil skeletons with weird off road vehicles that threaten the ninjas. As a theme as a whole the ninja part is awesome, but the skeleton part is..... how do I describe it...weird. On top of this is a 'spinning' game where each player will try to knock their opponents minifigure off. Sounds promising, but as an AFOL, I'm more inclined on the minifigures and the sets that come with it.

This review is for the 'Nya' blister pack. Nya is the sole female ninja in the entire line.

Set name: Nya
Theme: Ninjago
Number of pieces: ~12 pieces exluding minifig
Year Released : Early 2011
Price : RM 34.90


The packaging

The horror! Lego coming in blister packs similar to those action figure minipacks! The front shows the contents and character is represents. The colors are bright and exciting.


At the back is a picture of similar blister packs but with different characters. A picture of 2 kids enjoying a game of Ninjago are also featured. 



The contents

Opening up the pack you get a plastic bag containing the minifig, some bricks and weapons. You also get cards in shrink wraps, the spinner, rules of the game and a packaging insert. One thing I noticed about the plastic bag containing all the bricks; the plastic bag is not the usual quality type plastic bag which usually holds the bricks in all Lego sets. Somehow I felt that a cheaper plastic bag is used to hold the bricks. 



The rule sheet

The rule sheet contains all the info needed to play the Ninjago game. From what is shown, it is as simple as choosing your character, mount her/him onto the spinner, mount some weapons and spin at your opponents. It also appears this is the Nya version of the rulesheet, as Nya is shown throughout the rulesheet. Can't confirm if the other rulesheets from different characters are different.


The opposite side shows how to use the cards and special abilities. Also shown are other sets in the Ninjago line.



Special ability cards

You get 5 cards in this blister pack;1 of them is a character card while the other 4 are ability cards. The quality of the cards are on par with the cards from the Magic the Gathering card game. My only complain is that Nya's card tell nothing about her 



Pieces provided

Since this is a blister pack, there is practically nothing inside except some bricks and weapon parts. Not a very good part pack.


The 2x2 rounded plate is attached to the bottom of the spinner to allow it to spin like a top. You can replace the rounded plate should the time ever come when the rounded plate becomes flat after play.



Nya

Now for the highlight of the set, the sole female Ninja in the entire line, Nya. The front is an elaborate printing of her ninja outfit. There is no rear printing unfortunately. She has 2 faces; a standard grin and one with a red Ninja cloth over her mouth.


Her primary weapons are 2 gold daggers. The gold pieces are made with soft plastic for safety and are placed into the light saber hilt.


She can also have a oversized spear/staff that is made using some available pieces.



Others

Not sure what the extra bricks are for, I think it serves as a big staff holder. I later found out it is for modifying the spinner to add more weapons and abilities.


The completed set


The Series 1 Ninja never stood a chance against the Nya on her spinner.



Conclusion

I felt this is a very expensive minifigure pack. Minifigure collection blister pack costs only RM 9.90 compared to the premium price of RM 34.90 for Nya. Content wise it is excellent for those wishing to start or add to their Ninjago game collection. However from an AFOL set collector standpoint who will not play the game, the price is extremely on the high side.

Nya also appears Garmadon's Dark Fortress as a damsel in distress. Garmodon's Fortress  is a large RM 300++ set which acts as a fortress for the evil skeleton samurai Garmodon. The set looks terrible in my opinion, although castle fans will love how evil and sinister it looks. So this blister pack is still a cheaper method to acquire Nya compared to buying the set that features her.

I heard the minifig quality is slightly lower. True ar?

I also heard it is of low quality, but comparing it side by side with those figures that come from sets it is very hard to tell if there is any drop in quality. To me it is still ok.

Nolah, just itching to buy some 2011 Lego. Bought 2 Ninjago sets actually, 1 is this Nya minifigure, another one is the Ice Dragon set.