93 Fun Facts About Ninjago

The ninja of Ninjago fight using a spinning martial art called what?

The word mashes together 'spin' and 'ninjitsu', and it was designed to look great as tornadoes of lightning on TV.

Which ninja is the Elemental Master of Fire and wears red?

Kai is the red Ninja of Fire; his Golden Weapon is the Sword of Fire, and his younger sister Nya later becomes the Water Ninja.

Jay, the Blue Ninja, is the Elemental Master of what?

His weapon is the Nunchucks of Lightning, and he was adopted and raised by Ed and Edna Walker.

Cole, the Black Ninja and Elemental Master of Earth, has a well-known weakness for what food?

Cole's weakness is cake: the Black Ninja's sweet tooth is a running joke across the series, and his Golden Weapon is the Scythe of Quakes.

What secret about Zane, the White Ninja, was hidden even from Zane himself?

Zane is a nindroid: in the Season 1 episode 'Tick Tock' he finds his own memory switch and learns his creator Dr. Julien built him; he later returns as the Titanium Ninja.

Before becoming the Water Ninja, Nya secretly fought alongside the team under what identity?

She is Kai's younger sister and a mechanic who builds the ninja's vehicles; P.I.X.A.L. later takes over the Samurai X armour.

Lloyd Garmadon is the legendary Green Ninja and Elemental Master of what?

Lloyd is the Elemental Master of Energy, which he fires as green blasts; as the Golden Ninja in Season 2 he briefly wielded the full Golden Power of the First Spinjitzu Master.

When Lloyd first appears in Season 1, what does he want to be?

His childish schemes are foiled by the four original ninja before he is reformed and discovers his destiny.

Lord Garmadon is which of these to Master Wu?

He is cleansed of evil after the Overlord's defeat and even becomes a sensei to the ninja for a while.

The skeleton army from the Underworld that the ninja fight in the pilot episodes is called what?

The Skulkin are the skeleton army of the Underworld; Garmadon sends their four-armed king Samukai to seize the four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu in the pilot episodes.

The Serpentine, villains of Season 1, are made up of how many snake tribes?

Five tribes: the Hypnobrai, Fangpyre, Constrictai, Venomari and Anacondrai; Lloyd unseals their tombs, and Pythor, last of the Anacondrai, later unites them.

What is the title of the first full season of Ninjago, which aired in 2012?

Season 1 is Rise of the Snakes (2012): Lloyd unleashes the Serpentine, and each of the original four ninja unlocks their 'true potential'.

In Season 3, Rebooted, the Overlord returns as a computer virus and builds an army of what?

Nindroids: the Digital Overlord has Cyrus Borg's factories mass-produce Nindroid soldiers led by General Cryptor, and the season centres on Zane.

Ghost villain Morro, who possesses Lloyd in Season 5, was the first student of which teacher?

Wu: Morro was Master Wu's first student, a boy who hoped to be the Green Ninja; rejected by the Golden Weapons, he died seeking the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master and returned as a ghost.

Nadakhan, the villain of Season 6, Skybound, is what kind of creature?

Nadakhan is a djinn: the Sky Pirate captain of Misfortune's Keep grants three wishes to anyone who asks, twisting each one, after escaping the Teapot of Tyrahn where he was imprisoned.

The Sons of Garmadon, a biker gang in Seasons 8 and 9, want to resurrect Garmadon using three of what?

Three Oni Masks, of Vengeance, Deception and Hatred, which the gang, led by the Quiet One (Princess Harumi), unites to resurrect Lord Garmadon.

Which beings, holders of the power of creation, did the Oni fight in Season 10?

The Dragons had the power of creation and the Oni the power of destruction; both Wu and Garmadon have Oni heritage.

In Season 12, Prime Empire, the ninja enter what to face the villain Unagami?

A video game: Prime Empire is an arcade game whose AI, Unagami, pulls players inside; the season centres on Jay, and Unagami is revealed as creator Milton Dyer's abandoned project.

The Time Twins Acronix and Krux, villains of Season 7, command an army called what?

The Vermillion: snake warriors hatched from the Great Devourer's eggs who assemble into suits of armour; Acronix and Krux use them to build a time machine and rewrite history.

The ninja's flying ship headquarters is called what?

The ninja's headquarters is the Destiny's Bounty, a sailing junk that flies on rocket boosters; it has been wrecked and rebuilt several times over the series.

The Ninjago theme launched in which year?

Ninjago launched in 2011: the first sets and the first two pilot episodes arrived that January, and the full series followed in 2012.

LEGO originally planned to end Ninjago after how many years?

Three years: LEGO planned to retire Ninjago after 2013's 'Final Battle' season, but strong sales brought it back with Rebooted in 2014.

The original Ninjago series ended in 2022 after how many episodes?

210 episodes: the original run covered fifteen seasons from 2011 to 2022, excluding the four pilot episodes and the Day of the Departed special; Dragons Rising followed in June 2023.

The 2023 Ninjago sequel series begins after what event combining Ninjago with the other realms?

The Merge: Dragons Rising opens after the Merge fuses Ninjago with the other realms; its aftershocks, the MergeQuakes, keep tearing the new world apart.

In the 2023 sequel series, which young dragon bonds with Sora?

Riyu is the young dragon Sora and Arin free from Imperium; Sora first believed her Technology power came from Riyu, until she learned it was her own.

Sora, the Elemental Master of Technology in the 2023 sequel series, originally comes from which place?

Imperium: Sora, born Ana, grew up in the dragon-draining kingdom of Imperium under Empress Beatrix and fled after seeing how it treated dragons.

What does the name P.I.X.A.L. stand for?

P.I.X.A.L. stands for Primary Interactive X-ternal Assistant Life-form; Cyrus Borg built her as his assistant, and she later took up the Samurai X mantle.

Who voiced Lloyd for the first seven seasons of the TV series?

Jillian Michaels voiced Lloyd from the pilot through Season 7; Sam Vincent took over from Season 8, when the character was redesigned after the movie.

In which year was The LEGO Ninjago Movie released in cinemas?

2017: The LEGO Ninjago Movie opened in September 2017, seven months after The LEGO Batman Movie, as the third film in the LEGO Movie franchise.

Which martial arts star appears in live action in The LEGO Ninjago Movie and voices the ninjas' master?

Jackie Chan plays the shopkeeper Mr. Liu in the film's live-action bookends and voices Master Wu; the rest of the cast is voice only.

In The LEGO Ninjago Movie, the 'Ultimate Weapon' turns out to be a laser pointer that summons what?

A real cat: the laser pointer summons Meowthra, a live-action house cat that rampages through the brick-built city of Ninjago.

Who voices Lloyd in The LEGO Ninjago Movie?

Dave Franco voices Lloyd; Olivia Munn voices his mother Koko, and Michael Peña and Zach Woods voice his teammates Kai and Zane.

Who succeeded the Hageman brothers as Ninjago's head writer from Season 9?

Bragi Schut took over as head writer from Season 9, Hunted, after Dan and Kevin Hageman's run, and led the writing through the end of the original series and into the 2023 sequel.

Which run of the show introduced the 11-minute episode format and a new, more stylised animation look?

Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu (Season 11, 2019) moved to 11-minute episodes and a new animation style, pitting the ninja against the sorceress Aspheera and then the Ice Emperor of the Never-Realm.

The final season of the original series, released in 2022, was called what?

Crystalized (2022) closed the original series: the Overlord returns as the Crystal King, the ninja are jailed in Kryptarium Prison, and Nya returns from the sea.

The two 22-minute pilot specials that launched the TV series aired on which US channel?

Cartoon Network premiered the pilot in the US in January 2011; the two 22-minute specials were later split into four 11-minute episodes.

Production of the original series moved to WildBrain Studios in which country for its last five seasons?

Canada: from Season 11 the series was animated by WildBrain Studios in Vancouver, replacing the Danish studio that had made the first ten seasons.

In October 2024, which studio was announced as developing a live-action Ninjago film?

Universal Pictures: the live-action Ninjago film was announced in October 2024, with Dan and Kevin Hageman, the TV series' original writers, attached to write the script.

What is the name of Ninjago's fictional written language, seen on in-universe signs?

Ninjargon is the made-up script on signs and scrolls across Ninjago; each Ninjargon glyph stands in for a Latin letter, so fans can decode the signage.

In the movie, Lloyd's mother Koko was once a legendary warrior known as what?

Lady Iron Dragon: in the movie Koko, voiced by Olivia Munn, was once the warrior Lady Iron Dragon, who fought beside Garmadon before leaving him to raise Lloyd.

The Lego Ninjago Movie grossed roughly how much worldwide against a $70M budget?

It was the franchise's first box-office disappointment, taking $59.3 million domestically and $63.8 million elsewhere.

Which Copenhagen studio animated the first ten seasons of the series?

Wil Film, the Copenhagen studio founded by Erik Wilstrup, animated Ninjago from the 2011 pilot through Season 10, after which production moved to WildBrain.

Ninjago was a 'Big Bang' project built to double the sales of which earlier underwater theme?

Atlantis: LEGO's 2010 underwater 'Big Bang' theme was the benchmark Ninjago was built to double in 2011; Hydronauts was only a small 1998 Aquazone subtheme.

A Time-Blade has turned Master Wu into what when the ninja find him in Ninjago's Sons of Garmadon?

A baby is how the ancient master first turns up, and the ninja mind him for several episodes before realising who he is, by which point he has grown into a toddler.

The Great Devourer, whose venom turned a young Garmadon evil in Ninjago, is what kind of creature?

A giant snake that grows by swallowing everything in its path, the Great Devourer bit Garmadon when he was a child; years later he destroys it himself with the realm's four legendary weapons.

Master Chen, host of Ninjago's Tournament of Elements, runs a factory and restaurant selling what?

Noodles are the Chen business: one of his generals runs the factory, staffed by prisoners forced to make them, while another delivers the goods to the restaurant.

In Lloyd's first Ninjago appearance, the mischievous boy tries to rob villagers of what?

Candy was the height of his ambition: Lloyd began as a prank-pulling nuisance whose childish schemes kept failing, long before he grew into the team's calm and confident leader.

Day of the Departed, the Ninjago special that revived past villains, was made for which holiday?

Halloween 2016 brought the special instead of a second season that year, because The Lego Ninjago Movie was in development; in the story, the day honours lost loved ones.

Morro's cursed spirits in Ninjago shrug off most physical attacks but are vulnerable to what?

Water is their one great weakness, which is why Nya matters so much that season: she learns she has inherited her mother's elemental power over it.

In The Lego Ninjago Movie, Garmadon attacks the city with henchmen known collectively as what?

The Shark Army kits out its troops as sea life, right up to generals styled on a fish and a jellyfish; the ones Garmadon has fired come back to attack him.

Although its heroes are LEGO minifigures, the Ninjago TV series is animated using which technique?

Computer animation won out after the Copenhagen studio pitched several styles to LEGO; the work was then spread worldwide, with designers in Berlin and animators in China.

In the finale of Ninjago's second season, Lloyd defeats the Overlord after transforming into what?

The Golden Ninja was meant to be the end of the whole story; the toys then sold so well that the creative team got six weeks to work out how to bring the show back.

When Master Wu first finds Kai and Nya in the Ninjago pilot, what are the pair working as?

Blacksmiths by trade, the two are pulled into the story when Nya is abducted, and Kai joins Wu's three other students in the hope of rescuing her.

Master Wu of Ninjago usually goes into battle carrying which weapon, inherited from his father?

A staff handed down by the creator of Ninjago is what he carries, and in the fifth season its engravings prove to be clues to a tomb the enemy is hunting for.

Which streaming service launched the sequel series Ninjago: Dragons Rising in June 2023?

Netflix had already been the original show's home for its last two years, and the sequel was unveiled through a fan hunt for scattered fragments of its poster.

In the finale of Ninjago's fourteenth season, Nya saves Jay and the city by becoming one with what?

The ocean absorbs her completely, a step that can never be undone; it mirrors the legend of Nyad, the first master of her element, who beat the same monster the same way.

Cole fails to escape Master Yang's cursed temple before sunrise in Ninjago and is turned into what?

A ghost for the rest of the season, he had only gone back to grab a scroll he dropped; the upside is that his new form later gets the team out of an avalanche.

Which Anacondrai general tricks young Lloyd and crowns himself ruler of the Serpentine in Ninjago?

Pythor is the last survivor of his tribe, and he keeps coming back: shrunk by a pill meant for the Overlord in the third season, he ends up helping the ninja a season later.

Which Chicago rock band recorded The Weekend Whip, the theme song of the Ninjago TV series?

The Fold wrote it to work away from the show too, pitching it as the dance the ninja do on the weekend when they are off duty; a demo ran in the pilot before a studio take.

Who is unmasked as the Quiet One, secret leader of the Sons of Garmadon biker gang in Ninjago?

Harumi blames the ninja for her parents' deaths during the Great Devourer's rampage, so the adopted princess idolises Garmadon and plots to bring him back.

On the Ninjago TV series, what is the name of Lloyd's archaeologist mother, introduced in Season 2?

Misako is her name on television, while the big-screen version of the story calls Lloyd's mother Koko and makes her a former warrior queen.

In which Ninjago season does Nya first train to become a ninja in her own right?

Possession, the fifth season, centres on her training while the rest of the team battles a vengeful spirit who has taken over Lloyd's body.

Which tech genius built the android P.I.X.A.L. in the Ninjago season Rebooted?

Cyrus Borg rebuilt the ruined capital as a high-tech metropolis, which backfires when the Overlord returns as a virus and seizes control of everything he has made.

Once cleansed of evil at the end of Ninjago's second season, Garmadon returns in Rebooted as what?

A sensei to the ninja is his new calling, but the peace is brief: a season later he is sacrificed to the Cursed Realm, and he eventually comes back as a pure-evil emperor.

Who voices Cole, the laid-back, music-loving member of the team, in The Lego Ninjago Movie?

Fred Armisen was announced in June 2016 with the rest of the team: Kumail Nanjiani as Jay, Zach Woods as Zane and Abbi Jacobson as Nya.

Mystake, a grouchy old woman later unmasked as an Oni, makes her living in Ninjago selling what?

Rare teas with magical properties are her stock in trade, and she proves useful in a fight too: as a shapeshifter she once disguises herself as a captured enemy.

Which self-proclaimed Brown Ninja, owner of a Mojo Dojo, keeps turning up to help the Ninjago team?

Dareth plays a vital part in the Overlord's defeat in the second season despite the bluster, and by the final season he has reinvented himself as the ninja's lawyer.

In Ninjago lore, where was the Overlord trapped after his ancient battle with the realm's creator?

The Dark Island held him until the second season, when he takes over Garmadon's body as the first step in a plan to conquer the whole of Ninjago.

Which martial art, created by Master Yang, do Ninjago's heroes set out to learn in Season 5?

Airjitzu lets its users lift off the ground, and the ninja must learn it to reach a kingdom in the clouds by leaping into a cyclone from Ninjago's tallest mountain.

Which legendary weapon do the ninja recover first, from the Caves of Despair, in the Ninjago pilot?

Scythe of Quakes comes first, though the enemy has beaten them to the caves; the creator of Ninjago had used all four weapons to make the realm itself.

Akita, Lloyd's companion in Ninjago's Never-Realm, is a Formling who can turn into which animal?

A wolf is her animal form, while her twin brother Kataru becomes a bear; she travels with Lloyd to take revenge on the emperor who froze the rest of their people.

Master of the Mountain, Ninjago's thirteenth season, sends the ninja beneath which mountain kingdom?

Shintaro hides an ugly secret: its own king is the Skull Sorcerer, who forces two enslaved tribes to mine vengestone beneath the mountain.

Aspheera, the Serpentine sorceress of Ninjago's eleventh season, is accidentally freed from what?

A pyramid in the Desert of Doom was her tomb: she had been magically sealed inside for overthrowing the Serpentine king, and it is the ninja who let her out.

Krux, one of the villainous Time Twins in Ninjago, hid in plain sight under which disguise?

A museum curator named Dr. Sander Saunders was his cover until the seventh season, and it was Krux who bred the twins' army from the eggs of the Great Devourer.

Which four-armed ruler of the Underworld loses his command to Garmadon in single combat in Ninjago?

Samukai later tries to keep the four legendary weapons for himself, and their combined power destroys him, opening the portal through which Garmadon escapes.

In the handheld game Lego Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin, what does the thief Ronin steal from the ninja?

Their memories are the prize, and the ninja must smash and build their way back to them; the 2015 game is set between the show's fourth and fifth seasons.

Lego Ninjago: The Ride at Legoland parks has no blaster or joystick; riders control it with what?

Hand gestures are all it takes: the ride's maker, Triotech, built it around a tracking system called Maestro in place of a hand-held device.

Which hero of Ninjago: Dragons Rising idolised the ninja and taught himself their fighting art?

Arin managed what was thought impossible without a teacher, and by accident he also invented a new technique that passes that power into ordinary objects.

Which actor took over as the voice of Lloyd from the eighth season of the Ninjago TV series?

Sam Vincent took over when the eighth season redesigned the characters after the film, giving a visibly older Lloyd a deeper voice.

Which leader of Ninjago's Dragon Hunters is killed by Firstbourne after putting on the Dragon Armor?

Iron Baron is an authoritarian who wants revenge on Firstbourne; once he is gone his deputy Faith, the first hunter to side with the ninja, takes over.

Which Ninjago sub-theme, launched in 2019, remakes sets from earlier years with updated designs?

Legacy began with rebuilt versions of early vehicles such as Jay's Storm Fighter, and its designers argued that newer bricks and building methods made the old models better.

In Ninjago, Prince Kalmaar of Merlopia kills his own father in order to awaken which creature?

Wojira is worshipped as a myth by a tribe called the Keepers until Kalmaar proves otherwise; in the end his control snaps along with his trident and the beast swallows him whole.

Before a ship was chosen, Ninjago's writers pictured the ninja's flying base as which building?

A windmill that turned into a helicopter was the Hageman brothers' first idea; the junk that replaced it has been redesigned several times, in the show and as a toy.

In Ninjago's tenth season, the invading Oni spread across Ninjago City and smother it in what?

Darkness is their weapon because their goal is to destroy the power of creation for good; the ninja answer by combining their powers into a single great tornado.

Which sportswear brand teamed up with Ninjago on clothing during the theme's tenth-anniversary year?

Adidas made one of that year's clothing collaborations with the theme, alongside another with the brand Hype.

For Ninjago: Dragons Rising, WildBrain's animators switched to which software, known from gaming?

Unreal Engine 5 was adopted to improve on the look of the original show, which the same studio had animated in its final seasons.

Which explorer from an earlier LEGO adventure film first helps the Ninjago team in season eleven?

Clutch Powers is a suspended member of the Explorers Club when the ninja recruit him, and he comes from the film Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers.

Which composer of The Lego Movie's score returned to write the music for The Lego Ninjago Movie?

Mark Mothersbaugh's score came out through WaterTower Music a week before the film opened in American cinemas, alongside new songs by several other artists.

Which Ninjago set, once tipped as a Christmas dream toy, went on to win Activity Toy of the Year?

Fire Temple took the prize at the Toy of the Year Awards in New York for inspiring creative play, a year after toy retailers tipped it as a festive bestseller.

Which monstrous being, the living embodiment of the Cursed Realm, does Morro serve in Ninjago?

The Preeminent looks like a vast eyeball with tentacles; years after her defeat she bursts out of a portal again and is sent back by P.I.X.A.L.

The Lego Ninjago Movie opens in live action, with a boy fleeing bullies into a shop that sells what?

Relics line the shelves of Mr. Liu, the mysterious owner, who tells the boy the whole story of Ninjago and ends by promising to start his training at dawn.

Both trailers for The Lego Ninjago Movie were cut to which Taylor Swift hit?

Bad Blood ran under both trailers; the first was shown in cinemas ahead of The Lego Batman Movie, and the second added songs by Roxette and Macklemore.

The Ninjago heroes teamed up in a twenty-minute crossover short with which other LEGO series?

Dreamzzz supplied the other half of the cast for the short, which is titled Dream Team and counts among the mini-movies made alongside the main show.