Ninjago or Ninjano - Investors Discussion

[brickz]

I never thought Ninjago would be this popular. All of the 2011 sets with the ninjas and dragons are selling well. Only the skeleton ones are poor.

[Brickmythic]

Awesome thread man, I've been thinking about the same stuff too lately

great points and Im glad to see others curious about this too (theres a few various threads on forums about it)

Ninjago is a global phenomenon.

Ninjago is also a blessing for the Lego Group. We tend to forget that TLG was in trouble and almost went under not so long ago.

I'm happy that TLG has a such a strong theme in Ninjago. We all should be really, if we like the line or not. Ninjago is breathing life into the themes we do enjoy, because strong sales allow TLG to expand, take on more liscenes, develop new exciting products.



Since this is a investors topic here's what i think might happen.

All Ninjago is a good investment both long and short term.

Retired sets that have low quantities of stock on Amazon/ebay during the holidays will create a huge bubble for the product. This includes spinner packs,polybags, boxed sets in all ranges from the 2010 Ninjago products.

The phenomena we are seeing is a once in a lifetime thing. Very rare, indeed
It happened with Pokemon 1st edition sealed booster product in 1999. And I will explain.
Speculators and Investors, retail mega corporations, Moms and Dads, did not expect Ninjago to be as successfully globally as it has become.

All Ninjago product released in 2010/2011 (retired by 2012) was opened and built by the children.

The only set speculators and investors managed to put healthy stock behind was Ice Dragon and the new year clearances. Clearance sales generally included Nuckals ATV, spinners, Dojo, Big Truck, Garmadons fort, and smaller sets were flooding Five Below. With the exception of Nuckals ATV, most of the available inventory globally was low.

But even sets like Nuckal's ATV will play a factor in the holiday season of 2012/13.

Ice Dragon was the obvious choice once it dropped to $15 at Target for most Investors. But demand is far exceeding a seemingly abundant supply.

In 2010/2011 if you horded/speculated:

Lightning Dragon Battle
Earth Dragon
Ice Dragon


In 2012/2013 expect to get rich and retire early.( please donate to charity and church, dont be scrooge!)

2012 Christmas we are going to see a Ninjago Dragon Bid War craze
Whats going to happen, you see, unaware parents will promise little Jimmy a Lightning dragon. come late december we will see bid wars for Lighting Dragons reach absurd levels.
Im not kidding.
Earth Dragon and Lightning dragon were produced in extremely limited quantities. They are 2 of the rarest Ninjago sets in the line. as well as being 2 of the coolest.

With newer sets coming out, there will be a huge demand for the retired sets, not just the Lightning Dragon or Ice Dragon.

Kids will now want Chopovs Chopper to battle Kai's Blade Cycle
People making MOC's will want Nuckal's ATV wheels for a monster 4wd hot rod.
The bad guys in Ninjago like the big headed skeletons will fit in nicely with Monster theme upcoming.
The Snake Minifigures are outstanding and blend with countless themes and can spark your imagination. Skales and Lasha FTW!
The printed bricks with japanese dragons and writing "Peace Dragons" is most welcome for oriental feudal Japanese era MOC's.
So Ninjago isnt just limited to Ninjago.


Flagship Ninjago Sets such as Fire Temple, the Dragon sets, and Destiny's Bounty will always generate a demand for everything else in the Ninjago line.

Destiny's Bounty is one heckuva set. most underrated set out there right now. AFOL's I promise if you build this you will have a blast. and be swooshing it in your living room in no time.
curtains open.. doesnt matter!!!

So with depleted stock, several timeless flagship sets to support the rest of the Ninjago line long term, AFOL and Children, Global appeal, reaching Pokemon like craze status. We cant say Ninjago is a passing Fad. We all said pokemon was a passing fad and its still going super strong. over a decade later.

This isnt Exo Force or Knights Kingdoms, it blew up way beyond that after the first few episodes of the NInjago CGI cartoon.

how could folks not think that's instant gold?

For long term there is no telling, but Lightning Dragon Battle is quite possibly the best investment of 2011.(besides Diagon Alley)

Ninjago has killer unique pieces for MOC's.

Ninjago has universal appeal.

Ninjago Dragons are some of the best non liscensed sets TLG has made in recent memory.

Thats not my opinion, thats based on sales and secondary market demand, and the current depleted stock of dragons on Amazon/ebay.

yeah there is only a handful of sealed Lightning dragons,Ice Dragons and Earth Dragons left in existence. crazy huh?
all the kids actually opened them to build them.

mind=blown

[Kodiak10]

As of today, Lego 9561 Kai ZX is in the Top 10 in Amazons Hot 100 toys. It's Only Feb. This is the benchmark going forward. Lego really has something going here. This is all profit for Lego, unlike the licensed themes. Although, they need more unique pieces like the dragons and less trucks and stuff. The snakes line is a huge improvement over the skeletons. Is Lego going to take over the Spinner world? Look out if they do.

[Brickmythic]

I also wanted to add the structure sets such as Spinjitsu Dojo, Blacksmith, Skeleton Bowling, and Fire Temple are brilliant!

The Serpent vehicles are really fun to build. Hats off to whoever designed the heads. putting them together with the kids was a blast. how they link up.

Ninjago is going down as one of the better themes in TLG history.

The difference between specialized themes of the past such as Exo Force and Kingdoms Knights is many Ninjago sets are timeless and universal while fitting a historical archetype that many find fascinating today. Careful attention to detail has been the deciding factor here.

Lego has designed a product that appeals to a wide global audience. While being able to maintain consumer interest in the product without diminishing the historic integrity of ancient Oriental mythology. (obviously fuedal Japan circa 17th century)

All the while blending this history with pulp style science fiction.

brilliant.

When the House Kurita Mech comes out, thats going to bring in a whole new crop of Ninjago fans. (Steampunks, Mechwarrior fans etc..)

[UnknownUser]

I noticed that many of the spinner sets that were listed as "sold out" are being delisted from S@H. Why is it that LEGO doesn't want to make more of these ? I wanted to buy Kendo Cole for the minifig and cards but it just hit "sold out"!

[Kodiak10]

I assume that they make more money with the sets? The good thing is you are still able to get the Minifigs in other sets. The bad thing, is the spinner and cards are limited, and assume they will increase the value of sold out spinners. I've never understood why certain sets are more valuable than others. (Generally speaking, It's the Lego Phenomon I guess.

[zak001]

Is anyone else seeing any consistent outages across the whole product line? Two local Targets and my local TRU are essentially wiped out except for an odd Rattlecopter or two and some straggling Skull Trucks. Walmart still seems decently stocked (probably because they rarely have sales) but I'm wondering if a lot of retailers have actually sold through their allotment and are just holding shelf space for the summer sets.

[medib]

I think for furture investments here is what I would suggest:

Lego Modulars (except perhaps the Fire Brigade)
Lego Train Exclusives (Sante Fe Superchief, Emerald Night and Maersk)
Starwars
Marvel Superheroes (Batman in particular)
Pirates of the Caribbean
Lord of the Rings

The last 4 for minifigs!!

Also might remind everyone that things can get cyclical. What's hot now might not be hot in 10 years.
Lego as a whole has done very well in the last 5 or 6 years. Who is to say that we''ll see the same continued
performance.

They could decide to let go their designers or make other really bad business decisions and have a downward
spiral of the late 90's and early 00's (Galidor and Knights Kingdom 2 just to name a couple)

[Kodiak10]

I think Lego has learned from their mistakes in the past, just like history itself. Trust me when I say this, they are just getting started, and they have been in business for 60 years. MIght they have a few bumps in the road, sure what long term company doesn't. IMO.

[brickarmor]

mind=blown

That is so persuasive and informative that I could very well suspect you of being an agent provocateur hired by Lego to beguile the undecided! I joke, of course. I still can't quite make the leap, not least because of my laughably limited funds, but it is ample food for thought. I saw Skull Truck for 20% off but left it alone, hoping I'll get it cheaper eventually (famous last words for many collectors, am I right?).

[Ice]

mind=blown

That is so persuasive and informative that I could very well suspect you of being an agent provocateur hired by Lego to beguile the undecided! I joke, of course. I still can't quite make the leap, not least because of my laughably limited funds, but it is ample food for thought. I saw Skull Truck for 20% off but left it alone, hoping I'll get it cheaper eventually (famous last words for many collectors, am I right?).

The skeletons ones aren't as popular (I believe skull truck was clearanced for $24 during december). Even at 20% off, its still higher than the market price that they're currently going for. If you can still find the dragons, I would go for those. I managed to find a lightning dragon battle a few weeks ago at Toys R Us. :)

[brickarmor]

^Thanks for that. One question: where does the certainty come from that this summer's release of spinners is going to be extremely limited, whether in sheer numerical availability or production time? Or am I misreading something...?

[Luciant]

The 2nd wave of Ninjago is going to be very popular for a long time I think. The spinners were under-produced and created some rarity, especially for Lloyd. The snakes are much more popular than the skeletons, deservedly so. The success of the cartoon has definitely helped out, not like it needed it.

I think there is some potential for their 1st wave sets to be a little more popular due to the success of wave 2, only if they are looking to enhance their Ninjago line. I know I'm a big fan of ninja's, so I wasn't sold on Wave 1 until I started building some and really liked a few. Hopefully it will be popular even with the Legends of China or whatever coming out soon.

[mshiels]

You want to grab what you can now, since there have been no confirmations of any spinners for Ninjago in 2013 so far. Only sets, so maybe allowed to die and replaced with Chima??

[skeet318]

Buy the dragons...Ninjago dragons=$$$!

[kevinp]

Any opinions on the Fangpyre Mech 9455? I have a few but found some at my local Walmart for $12.00 I know they are going for about double that on Ebay now but what about long term too?

[Brickmythic]

Kevinp,

welcome to TnB!

Absolutely,pick up those Fangpyre Mechs!

the entire line of fangpyre vehicles and green boxed Ninjago sets should do really well both short and long term.


The Fangpyre Truck,Fangpyre mech and rattlecopter were the 3 best bad guy builds the children seemed to enjoy and 'swoosh' the most. AFOL's also appreciated the fangpyre build and design for the most part as well.

Also investors/resellers don't have a lot of it! most of us thought Ninjago was getting retired and only sets like Fire Temple and Destiny's Bounty were heavily invested in. Most investing budgets went to Imperial Shuttles,MMV's,Diagon Alley's,Black Pearl's and other Harry Potter this holiday season leaving little room for green box Ninjago. In fact, most of us were selling Green box ninjago we had this holiday season to buy Imperial Shuttles or whatever!

This translates into gold for collecting or reselling purposes. This is especially true for a theme such as Ninjago which is returning in 2014.

Much like the Ice Dragon,Earth dragon Defense,Lightning Dragon, Garmadon's Dark Fortress, when they went EOL, most investors simply didn't have a lot of stock of green box fangpyre vehicles.
Investors weren't prepared for the demand of Fangpyre vehicles we'll see in the coming few years.

The snake minifigures are brilliant and will help drive the price up pretty high regardless of theme or popularity or whatever, which makes the recent EOL'ed sets with snakes pretty unique.

Snake figures like Skales and Fangtom are some of the best minifigures lego has ever made! And Lego has been pumping out some pretty creative designs lately.

nice pick on the mechs!

[kevinp]

Thanks much. just got back from WM and picked up 12 of these and A couple of Luke's Landspeeders also for $12. lucking onto deals like this is one of the few good reasons to live in rural Arkansas (cue banjo and/or "my momma is my sister too jokes lol) Now to find a good storage place and figure out what to tell my wife :) I have loved Legos as long as I can remember (I'm 45) but had no idea they could be an investment until a few weeks ago when I stumbled upon some on clearance in WM. They were 50% off and I looked on Ebay for some reason and was astonished to see they were selling for full retail!! I bought several sets and cleared about $800 in a week. Then I found this site and a few others and have been really researching them. I thought quick turnarounds would be my only goal but I am looking for more long-term opportunities now, as well. Frankly, i can't think of many more rewarding (in multiple ways) things to do than Lego investing. I have a chance to play with some of them with my kids and make a little money too. I even enjoy simply looking at the box art :)

[kevinp]

Just got back from KMart and scored big! Went looking for Ninjago but found much more! they are having a special for the rewards club members Thru the 19th- 50% off all clearance toys. Someone had already beat me to it but there was still a lot of it left.

3 Tie Fighters for 24.50 ea
3 Triceratops Trappers for 22.50 ea
2 Tower Takedown @ 9.00 ea
Stormer XL @ 11.00
Bytar Booster Pack @ 1.99
Lizaru Booster pack @ 1.99
1 ea of the planet series @ 3.99
Kendo Booster Pack @ 1.99
Friends Andrea's Stage @ 1.99 (not my style but couldn't pass it up that cheap)
Samurai Mech @ 18.00
Fangpyre truck Ambush @22.50

All in all a pretty good run!