The LEGO Group has revealed plans for seven LEGO NINJAGO 15th anniversary minifigures, raising the question of what they will be.
The first of the NINJAGO 15th anniversary celebrations has been confirmed as a new collection of minifigures at Fan Media Days. These will be released in LEGO NINJAGO Legacy sets coming out in 2026, just as similar anniversary minifigures have been handled in NINJAGO, Star Wars and Harry Potter.
One of the many details that has yet to be confirmed is what these anniversary minifigures will be, since they're not going to be monochrome when they're released next year. We know that there are seven of them on display stands that can connect. However, the minifigures on show at Fan Media Days were left intentionally unprinted and without accessories, aside from the minifigure in the middle.
This leaves us with a few clear paths, based on what the LEGO Group has done before and another suitable method of celebrating 15 years of NINJAGO. This is only speculation, while we wait for official details on these seven minifigures.
Familiar faces in gold
LEGO anniversary minifigures for themes have most commonly been featured in gold. LEGO Harry Potter's 20th anniversary minifigures were coloured entirely gold, whereas NINJAGO's 10th anniversary minifigures depicted the seven core characters in golden outfits based on previous seasons of the show.
It seems unlikely that NINJAGO would return to this precise concept just five years later, especially when golden minifigures have already been done for an anniversary. It does at least make sense of the seven minifigures, matching Kai, Jay, Nya, Wu, Zane, Lloyd and Cole as the core ninja team before Dragons Rising. It's plausible that these seven minifigures will be new versions of these iconic characters.
Retro remakes
Another option for the 15th-anniversary NINJAGO minifigures is to remake or pay tribute to the 2011 suits. By revisiting the style of the original outfits from 2011, the theme would properly honour its origins, and it's something that LEGO Star Wars has done for its 20th-anniversary minifigures.
The only problem with this direction is that it's been done before. Wu, Kai, Zane, Cole and Jay have their original outfits from 2011 and in the years since, Nya and Lloyd have seen matching costumes paying tribute to this classic style. While it would offer newer fans a chance to represent these appearances in their collection, it wouldn't be new for everyone.
All-new characters
The most recent LEGO anniversary minifigures come from LEGO Star Wars last year for the 25th anniversary of the theme. The strategy was to depict characters that wouldn't appear in official sets in any other way, either due to their obscurity or the required level of detail. This even includes one new and currently exclusive element to properly depict Darth Malak.
That same modus operandi can be easily applied to NINJAGO and its extremely extensive selection of characters that have not yet received minifigures. From Seliel to Dr Julien, LEGO NINJAGO is home to hundreds of characters which fans have been requesting minifigures of for years, many of which would not require a new piece.
Seven example characters that would fit the level of obscurity on show in LEGO Star Wars' anniversary selection can be found in the gallery above, but that's only speculation (and a personal wishlist). Geo and Kataru are two characters that would require a new piece, but Darth Malak has proved that this is possible for such minifigures. The First Spinjitzu Master, as the minifigure in the middle of the teaser image, would fit the displayed hat and accessory.
One of the potential issues with this path is the connectable display stands confirmed for the NINJAGO anniversary minifigures, which hints at the characters on the stand being connected and cohesive in turn. That wasn't the case for LEGO Star Wars' 25th anniversary, though. The likes of QT-KT and Darth Malak don't exactly go together beyond them both being part of Star Wars history.
There's currently no way to tell which direction the 15th-anniversary NINJAGO minifigures will go in, but we'll let you know as soon as we find out more while we wait for 2026 to start. In the meantime, click here to read our original report on these minifigures.
Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by buying your LEGO sets using our affiliate links. Thank you!
Comments
Be the first to comment!