The previously released LEGO Ninjago sets, 70620 Ninjago City, 70657 Ninjago City Docks, and 71741 Ninjago City Gardens, all feature a large number of stickers. The designers have hidden numerous details and Easter eggs within them. Some of these stickers reference storylines and characters from the LEGO Ninjago animated series, while others pay homage to previous theme series and sets released by the LEGO Group. Of course, the upcoming set, 71799 Ninjago City Markets, continues this practice.

In the previous two articles, we reviewed the LEGO set 71799 Ninjago City Markets, exploring the building process and various details inside and outside this massive market building. In another article, we introduced the 21 unique minifigures included in the set.

In today's "Easter Eggs" edition, we will explore the hidden surprises within the scenes and stickers of 71799 Ninjago City Markets, uncovering the additional fun and value they bring to the set, as well as the details we may have overlooked.

 

Sticker Easter Eggs

Let's start with the three stickers from the LEGO set 71799 Ninjago City Markets. To save space, these stickers feature both graphical images and pure Ninjago text. The layout design is compact, and the arrangement of the serial numbers may appear random and irregular during the assembly process.

Starting from the left, the first and second stickers are regular stickers attached to a white background. The design on the third sticker is specifically meant for transparent parts to create a translucent effect.

Next, let's use the ninja character reference table provided in the instruction manual of the set 71741 Ninjago City Gardens to decode the Ninjago characters featured in the stickers and provide explanations in both English and Chinese.

Bakery on the Ground Floor

The bakery utilizes two stickers. One sticker is applied to the door panel on the left side of the shop, depicting a picture of Master Wu riding a dragon. The English translation of the text underneath reads "ART," which corresponds to "艺术" in Chinese.

The other sticker is used on the front display of the bakery. The upper part reads "SNOW BERRY," which translates to "雪果派" in Chinese. The lower part of the sticker features the word "PIE," referring to a type of pie that appears in the animation.

Apartment on the Second-Floor

Three stickers are used here as well. One sticker is applied to the wall, featuring a carp painting, with the text translated into English as "ART." Another sticker on the bed reads "RELAX." Additionally, there is a sticker of Nya's portrait on the opposite wall of the carp painting.

Blacksmith Shop on the Ground Floor

Three stickers are used in this area as well. One sticker is on the signboard at the top of the aisle, which reads "NCG," representing the English abbreviation for the set 71741 Ninjago City Gardens. When the market and garden are connected, this aisle leads to the garden.

The stickers on the chimney translate into English as "NJTV" and "MC BRAG." It is a poster featuring the character MC BRAG from the Ninjago News, and it marks his minifigure debut in the set. Another sticker is on the entrance of the blacksmith shop, reading "OPEN."

The Second-Floor Apartment above the Blacksmith Shop

Three stickers are used here as well. One sticker is a Ninja Kai battle card from 2011, placed on the table. Another sticker is integrated into the room as a clock, where the hour and minute hands, along with two black wings in the background, form the shape of a dragon. The third sticker is a signboard in the public area of the balcony facing the market center, with "BLACK SMITH" written on it, indicating the meaning of "铁匠" in Chinese.

Cable Car Station on the Third-Floor

This area utilizes 10 stickers, with most of them placed on the railings as billboards. One white billboard reads "ICE PLANET," paying homage to the LEGO Group's Ice Planet 2002 series introduced in 1993, while also serving as an advertisement for the ice cream shop in set 71741 Ninjago City Gardens.

The yellow billboard reads "STEEPER WISDOM," referring to a tea house called "Steep Wisdom" that appeared in the fifth season of Ninjago. One of the billboards features the text "RCX 2.0," which is not an advertisement for a gaming console but actually refers to the controller from LEGO's MINDSTORMS sets released from 2001 to 2004. Lastly, the red dog-themed billboard reads "PET SOAP," advertising pet soap.

On the left side of the pillars at the third-floor cable car station, there is a white sticker labeled "25" with a departure schedule. It indicates "OPEN" and "CLOSE" as the start and closing times, with the horizontal lines representing the departure times. On the other side, it says "WORLD TOUR," referencing LEGO's Troll Concert series, but with minifigures of Skeleton Warriors in the image and their emblem on the drum. The black circular sticker with Ninjago text translates to "TURN" and controls the elevator's movement.

There are two additional billboards on the openable railing at the entrance of the third-floor cable car station. One white billboard reads "SEE SHINTARO," paying homage to the Shintaro Kingdom that appeared in the Underground World season of the animated series.

The other billboard, featuring cloud patterns, reads "SO CLEAN" and is an advertisement for a cleaning company in the Crystal season of the Ninjago animated series. This is because Nya fused with the ocean in the Ocean season, causing the Ninja team to disband, and Lloyd became a glass cleaner during this season.

Grocery Store

Despite the limited space, the grocery store uses four stickers. Two of them depict art paintings labeled "ART." One sticker with the word "POST" is applied to the mailbox next to the grocery store's main entrance. On the back, there is a sticker featuring a missing goat notice. The goat figure (95341pb01) only appeared in the 2011 set 7189 Mill Village Raid. This discontinued animal part has become quite valuable over the years, and the LEGO Group has stated that they will not produce it again. Therefore, this missing notice sticker has a bit of a playful tone to it.

Cable Car Station on the Ground Floor

Three stickers are used here. The largest poster inside the porch features an image of a temple, with the word "PLAY" at the top and "TEMPLE CELEBRATIONS" at the bottom. This pays homage to the LEGO employee exclusive set from 2021, 4002021 Temple of Celebrations.

The banner behind the tea stall also has a sticker with a dragon design and the words "STEEPER WISDOM," indicating that the tea stall in the market is also associated with Steep Wisdom tea house. The circular sign on the back of the porch also features a sticker with the words "NINJAGO CITY MARKETS," suggesting a possible connection to the fifth building in the Ninjago City series in the future.

Apartment on the Second-Floor

Four stickers are used here. Two transparent stickers are applied to the upper and lower bunks, with the word "STORE" on the circular photo. The dragon design on the poster in the room pays homage to the set 71766 Lloyd's Legendary Dragon from 2022.

Markets

A significant number of stickers are used in the public space of the markets. Three stickers are applied to the only small shop in the market, two of which are labels and eco-friendly symbols on boxes. The sign above the shop reads "PET C,B&B FOOD." Two promotional posters on the bridge pillar feature stickers. One of them pays homage to LEGO's Monster Fighters theme from 2012, with the words "MONSTER FIGHTERS" and a house in the background representing set 10228 Haunted House from that series.

The other poster reads "THE TALE OF BRICK BEARD," and at first, I thought it was related to the classic Pirates theme's initial version of Brickbeard minifigure. However, upon seeing the background and the homage to set 6253 Shipwreck Island, I realized it pays homage to the updated version of the Pirates theme from 2008, featuring the character of Captain Brickbeard.

Cable Car

The sign on the main entrance of the cable car translates to "CABLE CAR." The minifigures of Jay from Ninjago, placed on both sides of the cable car, serve as advertisements for the store on the first floor. These Jay minifigures are wearing outfits from the Core Season.

Borg Tower

Not many stickers are used for the Borg Tower on the third and fourth levels of the market. Including the stickers related to the building and its surroundings, there are a total of seven stickers. Therefore, there aren't many Easter eggs here. One of the stickers placed on the outer side of the cellphone store on the third level is a map, with the words "MAP" in Ninjago script translated into English. The blue mini-map in the middle is actually an overhead view of Ninjago City Market.

The logo on the glass door of the cellphone store is the logo of Borg Industries from the Ninjago animation. There is a button sticker on the back elevator of Borg Tower, which pays homage to the controller from the classic LEGO Space theme. Corresponding prints can be found in the recent set 10497 Galaxy Explorer. Additionally, there is a sticker on a transparent part next to the third-floor cable car station, also featuring the Borg Industries logo and the words "NOW OPEN."

Third-Floor Terrace

The railing of the third-floor terrace uses seven stickers, including several Easter eggs. One of them features a chameleon pattern with the word "ZOO." Another red sticker reads "NG NEWS," which is the logo of the major television network in Ninjago City and its surrounding areas, also known as NGTV. The network's employee, journalist Gayle Gossip and photographer Vinny, also appear as minifigures in the sets. Furthermore, the four stickers on the corner railing pay homage to the Museum of History from set 71741 Ninjago City Gardens.

There is also a sticker on the railing that incorporates a colorful 1x1 plate and a circular star sticker. This is actually a tribute to the "Friends Popstar line" from the old LEGO Friends series, which appeared in various Friends sets such as 41106 Pop Star Tour Bus.

Karaoke Club

The third-floor Karaoke Club uses seven stickers, with a giant poster on the back that says "MECH MASTER." One of the mechs featured in the poster is from set 71792 Sora's Transforming Mech Racing, while another one appeared in the Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu Season of the Dragon. On the side, there are two posters. The left one is for the music prodigy Jacob's "New Album: Out Now," and the other one is for "Laughy's Karaoke Club," which is a bar and club owned by Dareth in the series.

Inside the club, there are three stickers on the walls. The largest one is used as the backdrop for the stage, with the word "KARAOKE" on it, matching the stage backdrop from the show. There is also a dartboard sticker with signatures and score statistics of Tom and Dareth. The last sticker is a photo of Dareth.

Roof-Top Food Court

The roof-top food court on the right side of the market uses nine stickers. Three of them are for the menu at Sushimi's Sushi Shop, the antenna on the roof, and the restroom sign. On the back of the restroom, there is a poster that says "STARFARER," which is a fictional sci-fi comic and movie series about space knights in the Ninjago world. These comics and tapes also appear in set 70620 Ninjago City's Music Store. The poster features the fictional space hero Fritz Donnegan, portrayed by Cliff Gordon, who is also Jay's biological father in the Ninjago storyline.

Another poster hanging on the side of the restroom says "REBUILD" with "SOON" below it, featuring a mech image from the new set 71785 Jay's Titan Mech, released in January 2023. On the other side of the restroom, there is a red logo sticker with a circular trident, paying homage to the LEGO Atlantis theme released between 2009 and 2011. This logo also appeared in sets 7984 and 7985. The white circular "DR" logo on the antenna is a tribute to LEGO's Drome Racers game released in 2002.

The most prominent sign on the top of the food court uses four stickers, with the eight Ninjago script characters translated into English as "SUSHIMI'S." This pays tribute to Sushimi, a sushi master who appeared in Season 12 of the animated series. He is known as the Crazy Sushi Chef and is a member of the Unagami army and the sushi chef for Terra Domina.

This Easter egg is best observed together with the minifigure of the sushi master inside Sushimi's Sushi Shop. The print on the minifigure perfectly matches Sushimi's face, and the Ninjago script below translates to "Sushi." The Sushimi minifigure only appears in set 71712 Empire Temple of Madness.

Scene Easter Eggs

The two minifigures are Jay and Cole from the Core series, and the small altar on the back of the Karaoke Club recreates a scene of mourning Jay from the animated series.

The dead-end road next to the bakery on the ground floor leads to Ninjago City Gardens, and the print on the tile that Sora is holding shows noodles and the word "ENJOY." The tree on top of the cable car station pays homage to the pink version of the LEGO Bonsai Tree from set 10281.

Closing Thoughts

Although using stickers to represent patterns on parts has advantages in terms of color and detail, especially for players who are against stickers, including too many stickers in a set can often discourage their desire to purchase.

In the 71799 Ninjago City Markets set, there are a whopping 70 stickers. However, it seems that this does not diminish our love for this set.

The 71799 Ninjago City Markets includes 6,163 pieces and 21 minifigures. It has an official price of 2,999 yuan. From May 15th to May 31st, by pre-ordering through the LEGO app, you can receive a LEGO@Ninjago Character Commemorative Collectible Card. The collectible card is made of metal and has a great weight to it. However, there are only 5,000 limited edition cards available on a first-come, first-served basis.

We were fortunate enough to get one, so let's share some pictures with everyone~