Were Ninja Good Guys? or Bad Guys?

Ambassador Passes

I visited LEGOLAND, CA for the annual Master Model Builder session, one of the benefits of being a LEGOLAND Ambassador level pass holder. As of this past January, the lifetime pass is no longer for sale, but thankfully, I'd made the right decision and purchased the pass when it was still available.

We built mosaics for display at Christmas somewhere in the park. I suspect it may be up at the Factory, where mosaic faces were displayed one year.

A couple of years ago, we made Minilanders. They were supposed to be displayed in the New Orleans section of Miniland, but I heard they didn't stand up too well. We're not all Master Builders. I use what I learned quite frequently in Makersville sessions that include LEGO(r) bricks, as well as at events supported by the LEGO(r) User Group.

My best Master Builder session ever was the one where I learned about SLIM.

Any chance to go to LEGOLAND is great, and I'd missed several invitations to check out new shows, rides and displays at LEGOLAND. One of these was the opening of the Ninjago area. Another was the World Trade Center launch in Miniland, CA. I finally got to check them both out.

Ninjago

At the heart of the Ninjago land is the Ninjago ride. It was an easy 10 minute wait (Love that about LEGOLAND) and as we walked we were given bits of information about the various Ninjago characters. Good guys, they are, fighting evil creatures. Those riding get to assume the role of one of the good guys, and through a variety of hand movements and gestures, throw fireballs towards the evil bad guys and creatures.

You definitely get your workout! I figured that if I lived at the LEGOLAND hotel, and the LEGOLAND theme park was my personal playground, I could go through the ride a few times before breakfast, and wouldn't have to worry about arm exercises for the rest of the day. Now if there could be a kicking ride....

Outside of the ride are some awesome models. I'm including a few photos. Especially impressive is the mountaintop temple (or is it a castle?) that greets you as you enter through the torii gate.

Being in the Ninjago area made me think about the Ninja. So I looked up to see what random facts, observations and tidbits I could find about Ninja.

Ninja

Ninja are exotic. They hail from a foreign land (Japan), well known for its contribution to popular culture. America has its' own cartoon versions of ninja, including some in turtle form. They are good guys too.

In this review, I'm interpreting from the Wikipedia entry. With Wikipedia, there is always a need for a disclaimer, but there is a lot of reference material for the Ninja entry.

The ninja, first known as the shinobi, were the spies of feudal Japan. There is not much literature on the shinobi (hey, they must have been pretty good spies - no one even knew they existed) until the 15th century. During this time, the Warring States period, the shinobi began to appear in documentation. They were specially trained mercenaries for hire. Iga Province had a large representation of shinobi... ninja... who trained in clans with clan-specific techniques. If you visit Japan, you can visit the Ninja Museum there if you wish. Iga's plains surrounded by high mountains made it a great location for secret training of ninja warriors.

Some schools of modern day Japanese Martial Arts teach the art of the shinobi without specifically referring to the ninja.

The few references to shinobi in the literature of old Japan and their mysterious nature leaves a lot of room for the imagination to fill in the details. We dress them in black, and give them weapons like shuriken when there is little evidence to support this. It's fun to have a framework of a story to build out.

It seems that Ninja, being mercenaries, could be working in support of both "good" and "bad" causes. So. to my own question... "Were ninja good guys or bad guys?" I would say "Yes". It depended on the mission.

Today's ninja (the TMNT and Ninjago kind) are good guys. We focus on the skills that the Ninja worked to acquire.

The Ninjago Movie

If there's a land, you know there'll be a movie... The LEGO(tm) Ninjago Movie is slated to open in September 2017. From the Yahoo! Finance article on the subject of the movie:

"Jackie Chan (“Kung Fu Panda,” “The Karate Kid”) stars as Master Wu; Justin Theroux (“Magamind 2,” “The Leftovers”) is Garmadon; Dave Franco (“Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising”) plays Lloyd; and Olivia Munn (“X-Men: Apocalypse”) is Lloyd’s mom, Koko. Making up the secret ninja crew, Fred Armisen (“The Jim Gaffigan Show,” “SNL”) voices Cole; Abbi Jacobson (“Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising”) plays Nya; Kumail Nanjiani (“Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates”) is Jay; Michael Peña (“Ant-Man,” “The Martian”) is Kai; and Zach Woods (“Silicon Valley”) voices Zane."

About the Author:

Trish Tsoi-A-Sue is a creative facilitator, Maker and Geek Mom in the Long Beach area. Certified in LEGO® Serious Play and Creative Problem Solving Institute's Springboard training, she is the CEO of ETES Inc, and creator of Makersville, a community of makers. Trish is the Ambassador for the Long Beach LEGO® User Group, a group of AFOLs and Teen Fans of LEGO® (TFOLs). Join our facebook group! Some of her random experiences are recorded on her You Tube channel, Squigglemom! Please subscribe! Trish is grateful for the opportunities provided by the Long Beach Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, without which support Makersville would not exist. Trish is a recognized blogger by LEGOLAND, CA.