Evil Cole joins Ninjago's final Dragons' Fury run as a spinner

Four fan sites agree: two Ninjago spinner sets arrive on 1 January 2027

The first Ninjago sets of 2027 are out in the open. Brickset, Jay's Brick Blog, The Brick Fan and the German site Stonewars all published the news on 2 October, and they agree on the essentials. There are two sets, both are spinners, and both are scheduled for release on 1 January next year.

The headline set is Cole vs. Evil Cole Spinner. Its partner is a duel between Lloyd and Ras. That is the whole official picture for now. No part count has been published in the material we reviewed, and no minifigure list either. We will not guess at either, because a guess presented as a number is worse than no number.

What we can do is read the news properly, compare it with what the database holds for recent Ninjago, and tell you what we think a spinner set at the start of the year is likely to be. We will mark clearly where we are speculating.

Evil Cole is the real story, because it hints at where the ninja are headed

Spinner sets are small, fast and aimed at younger builders, so the box itself rarely makes headlines. The concept does. Brickset reads the pairing as a sign that the ninja will face evil versions of themselves in the next season. Jay's Brick Blog says much the same thing: the set gives a first look at what 2027 may hold for the theme.

We think that reading is sensible, with one caveat. A single set with a dark double of a hero is a hint, not a plot summary. Ninjago has used mirrored, corrupted and alternate versions of its heroes before, so the trope is hardly new. What is new is that it appears in the very first wave, which suggests the idea is central to the story and not a side gag.

The second set tells a quieter story. Ras stays on the roster of troublemakers, and Lloyd is the hero facing him. According to Brickset, Ras remains a thorn in the ninjas' side. In other words, familiar enemies and a new twist, a balance the theme has followed for years.

One source mislabels the second set, and our database shows the mix-up

Here is the part we like best, because it is where a database earns its keep. Brickset's text gives the Lloyd and Ras set a number that does not match the other sources. Jay's Brick Blog and Stonewars both give a different number for it, and the two of them agree with each other.

We checked the number printed by Brickset. In our database it belongs to Jay's Titan Mech, a 2023 Ninjago set with 798 parts and six minifigures. That is a completely different product. The most likely explanation is a simple typo, two digits swapped, and not a second Lloyd set hiding in the catalogue. We treat it as an error, but we flag it because collectors who search by number could land on the wrong box.

Our advice is practical. When you pre-order or bookmark one of these sets, check the name and the number together. Do not trust a single listing. Early reveals are the moment when typos spread fastest, because every site copies the one before it.

Dragons' Fury is the final run of the current Ninjago series

The Brick Fan adds the most useful context of the four. These spinners are based on Dragons' Fury, which it describes as the final run of the current Ninjago series. It also reminds readers that this spinner line was first seen at San Diego Comic Con 2026, so the sets are a return, not a surprise.

If that framing holds, 2027 is a closing chapter for this series. That matters for collectors. Final runs tend to be where a theme tries out its boldest ideas, since there is no need to protect a long future. An evil Cole is exactly the sort of idea you try when you are wrapping something up.

The same source is careful to say that these two sets are far from the full 2027 Ninjago lineup. More will follow as the new year gets closer. We agree, and we would hold back any judgement on the wave as a whole until we see the larger sets.

We have no part count yet, so here is what Ninjago looked like in 2023

With no official piece count, the honest move is to look at the nearest reference in our database. The 2023 Ninjago year gives us a clean ladder. At the bottom sit tiny polybag-style builds: Kai and Rapton's Temple Battle has 47 parts, Ice Dragon Creature has 70. The Dragon Power Spinjitzu trio sits in the same low range, with 72, 57 and 56 parts for Kai, Nya and Lloyd.

Move up a step and you find Kai's Ninja Race Car EVO with 94 parts, then Lloyd's Mech Battle EVO with 234 and Cole's Earth Dragon EVO with 297. The top of that year is Jay's Titan Mech with 798 parts. That is about 500 more than the Earth Dragon, which tells you how wide the range of one theme can be in a single year.

Where will the new spinners land? We do not know, and the sources do not say. Spinner sets in this style have usually been compact, so the low end of that ladder is the reasonable expectation. But that is our expectation, not a fact, and we will update the moment a number appears.

The Titan Mech shows how far a Ninjago set can go, and why spinners are different

Jay's Titan Mech is worth a closer look because it frames what a big Ninjago box looks like. It carries six minifigures: Jay and Nya in their EVO versions, the Bone King, a Bone Knight, a Bone Hunter and a Pixal Bot. In our database it ranks 66th by part count among 396 Ninjago sets. Even a set that large is not at the very top of the theme, which says something about how many ambitious boxes the line has produced.

A spinner is the opposite philosophy. The appeal is not the parts count or the display size. It is the action: two figures, a spinning base and a duel you can run on a table in seconds. That makes the build short and the play immediate, and it explains why the format keeps coming back at the start of the year, when the theme wants a cheap way to introduce new characters.

So when you read that Cole faces Evil Cole, do not expect a shelf piece. Expect a toy built to be played with, and judge it on that.

Who this is for, and who can safely wait

If you collect Ninjago minifigures, this is a set to watch. A dark version of a main hero is the kind of figure that tends to be sought after, and the first wave of any year is when you can still find everything on the shelf. We cannot tell you what the figures look like yet, so we would wait for official images and the minifigure list before deciding.

If you build for display, the picture is less exciting. Nothing in the reveal suggests a large or detailed model. Our database has no 3D model for the reference set we used, and none has been published for the new ones. You are better off saving your attention for the bigger sets that will arrive later in the year.

If you buy for children, the spinner format is a safe bet. It is quick to build, easy to understand and designed for head-to-head play. That is a perfectly good reason to buy a set, and we say so without irony.

What remains unconfirmed, and what we will check next

Let us separate what is solid from what is not. Solid: two spinner sets, one named Cole vs. Evil Cole Spinner and one pairing Lloyd with Ras, due on 1 January next year. Also solid: they belong to Dragons' Fury, and the spinner concept was shown at San Diego Comic Con 2026.

Reported but thin: Stonewars says the two sets have already appeared in a retailer's shop, and that official images for Cole vs. Evil Cole followed later on 2 October. We have not verified the listing ourselves, and a shop page is not a launch confirmation. Interpretive: the idea that evil ninja doubles will drive the coming season. That is a reasonable reading by Brickset and Jay's Brick Blog, not an official statement.

Missing entirely: part counts, minifigure lists, and any sign of a retiring or new status on the official store. When those arrive, we will add the numbers and compare them with the ladder above.

• Ninjago
• LEGO Ninjago 2027
• Spinner sets
• Cole vs. Evil Cole Spinner
• Dragons' Fury
• LEGO news