Missing MOCs: What Hasn’t Been Built from LEGO Ninjago?

Building scenes from movies and TV series has always been a thing with LEGO builders, but there is one very popular and long-running TV show that has a very special relation with LEGO, and yet it seems like—maybe for that very reason—it has been astonishingly underrepresented in the MOCing community. But here’s hoping that that’s about to change!

There’s certainly no reason that Ninjago-inspired scenes shouldn’t be widespread in the building community, considering the huge amount of gorgeous landscapes, vehicles, animals, and scenes available—and tacking on the fact that the show is already half LEGO to begin with! But there are a few significant missing MOCs.

I’m here today to share a bit of my inspiration with you and hopefully give you what you need to tackle building some Ninjago scenes —to get you inspired to dive in deeper and find the hundred other scenes that just need to be reproduced in the brick—because, be ye warned, this is just the tip of the iceberg! Once you’ve jumped in I can promise you that you’re unlikely to ever run out of things on your “to-build” list.

For the sake of organization I’ve split up the different inspirations into a few categories and today, I’ll just be giving you a couple of examples of each (with photos primarily from the Ninjago Wiki). I’ll also be avoiding those that were either already reproduced almost perfectly in official LEGO sets or the few things that have already been pretty much MOCed to perfection (that I’ve come across!). I’ll be trying to dive into the scenes that I don’t think I’ve ever really seen done justice—and we’ll start with the most iconic. So without further ado, Ninja- GO!

Iconic

Nothing encapsulates the essence of Ninjago quite like the Monastery of Spinjitzu. That massive mountain against the morning sky with Sensei Wu’s monastery nestled snuggly on top has got to be one of the most epic and classic scenes from Ninjago ever, and definitely weighs more than the nine pounds my feeble attempt at it made!

The amount of damage that thing has gone through has been insane (beat in that regard only by the Destiny’s Bounty probably, haha), but it’s still (or rather, once again) standing in all its former glory as of Season 14! And the inspiration doesn’t stop with the outside—the courtyard is pretty gorgeous too (and getting those training blades and bags and poles to pop up when you press the dragon’s mouth would definitely be epic), but if you’re looking to dive deeper, the underground tech base keeps getting bigger and more futuristic all the time! LEGO did make a version, but the whole mountain and complete monastery deserve to be MOCced to perfection!

And next up, at least as far as buildings go, would be Borg Tower. Ever since Season 3, it has been the centerpiece and landmark of Ninjago city and—you know what—I’ll take back that about the monastery being destroyed more often! The Overlord, resurrected Garmadon, the Oni, Unagami—it’d be easier to go through the list of villains who haven’t taken over or beat up Borg Tower! But it keeps turning up too, like a bad penny—oh well. LEGO's Ninjago City Gardens has a hint of it at the top, but that doesn’t scratch the itch fully!

Vehicles

As you all know, this category has got to be about infinite! But for now I’ll just be taking one or two specimens, and one of those is obligatorily Ed and Edna’s Jalopy. Not only is it one of the best looking vehicles from Ninjago that LEGO has never made a set out of, but it also pops spikes and balls out of its wheels and does all sorts of other awesome things that you’ll have to watch Ninjaball Run (Season 2, Ep. 4) to find out! Plus Jay’s parents are awful fun!

Next up I’ve picked Chen’s Ferry boat from Season 4, the Tournament of Elements. This is probably the season with the most beautiful colors of all (in my humble opinion, at least), and the opening scenes including the ferry boat are no exception. Why this has not been made into a set or MOC yet, I’ll never know.

Locations

The run-down city of Stiix is another of the ninjas’ favorite locations to find and battle villains—as well as the home of Ronin’s pawn shop. From personal experience, I can say that the sloppy woodwork style of Stiix is just incredibly fun to build! LEGO’s City of Stiix didn’t even begin to do the location justice and it could benefit from getting the full organic AFOL treatment.

Another one of Ninjago’s stunning locations is the Island (creatively so named), the home of the Keepers of the Amulet from the last couple of seasons. The landscapes and jungle running rampant over the island (along with the village of the keepers and the lovely colors there) would undoubtedly make for some amazing MOCs, and I’ll be sure to tackle it someday if you don’t beat me to it! (You could even use LEGO Monkie Kid’s Flower Fruit Mountain as a starting point.)

Obscure

And lastly, to wrap up for now, I’ve got a couple of obscure scenes and places from the show that have barely made an appearance—and yet that would make for some fantastic building inspiration and hopefully show just how broad the world of Ninjago really is.

This scene of Sensei Wu in the Library of Domu (right before being met by Nadakhan the Djinn) has been on my dream-build list forever! The colors and lighting (and just that entire moment) are so great that it screams for its own all-LEGO-scene!

And on a totally different end of the spectrum, Twitchy Tim’s house is the kind of thing you’d expect somewhere out west (speaking of which, does anyone else want to bet when Ninja vs. Cowboys is going to happen? They’ve got to run into that someday—or maybe they already have in part). If you want to build something that die-hard fans will recognize at once (and that nobody else will know has anything to do with Ninjago), Twitchy Tim’s is the place to be!

So what are your thoughts on Ninjago and Ninjago MOCs in particular? Have you just never really dived into the theme, or was there something just holding you back from taking those scenes and turning them into a reality on your building desk? Or have you been building Ninjago scenes all along and should I really be following you???

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little excursion into a builders head, or rather, inspiration book (because we all keep one of those… or should)! And yes, before you mention it, there is a category I have most definitely not managed to get in here (mostly because, this is my inspiration book—I get to pick, and I’ve got very little experience with that unmentioned category, haha!). If you know what it is and/or want more ideas for Missing MOCs, I promise you, just shout and there’s more to be had where this inspiration comes from!

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published July 26, 2021.

Did you find this article helpful to find Ninjago scenes to build? What are your own favorite locations, vehicles, or creatures from the Ninjago theme that have MOCs that are missing? Let us know in the comments below!

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