LEGO NINJAGO's new mech has gone from ninja to ninja

LEGO NINJAGO's new 71845 Lloyd’s Jet Mech didn't start out as a Lloyd model, as it's gone from ninja to ninja throughout the design process.

71845 Lloyd’s Jet Mech is one of many new LEGO NINJAGO sets that landed on shelves earlier this month in most regions, and its transformation feature has impressed fans throughout the community. This innovative mech set once looked vastly different, though, and it wasn't even a vehicle for Lloyd at first.

NINJAGO designer Lee Chi Wing has shared a deep dive into the new LEGO NINJAGO mech on Instagram, revealing that it was originally envisioned as a jet mech for Zane.

"The original jet mech concept was built as a Zane model," shared the NINJAGO designer. "And in the early stage, we were not sure if we could pull off a full-on jet mech, so an alternative direction was explored to just have a big, impressive jet for Lloyd. We ultimately parked the idea of making any jet at all for summer 2024, and decided to move them as potential concepts for 2025, which entered the combiner mech."

"I was asked to make sketch models for Zane's combiner mech, and one of the briefs suggested that we should have Lloyd as part of that, so that the model can have some green on it and distinguish itself from the also white jet mech. I wasn't convinced by the idea of mixing in green to what's meant to be a giant Zane mech, and the discussion led to us ultimately giving the entire jet mech to Lloyd instead."

Senior Concept Designer for LEGO Ninjago, Niek van Slagmaat, has also chimed in on X following Lee's deep dive to share the very first concept build for the set.

Now that Lee, (Citysoncreation on IG) has posted his process of the #Ninjago Lloyd’s Jet Mech, I will share the very first concept, I built back in 2022, originally meant for 2024.
Go check out his posts. He did a fantastic job with this set. https://t.co/y32F0ewAAe pic.twitter.com/aAhdjGZqlH

— Toothdominoes (Niek) (@Toothdominoes) June 8, 2025

The colour scheme strongly suggests that this transforming mech was also envisioned as a vehicle for Kai before the team decided it would be for Lloyd. The model has gone from ninja to ninja, changing colour schemes accordingly throughout the development process.

Even in this concept model, we can see that it was intended to transform in the same way that 71845 Lloyd’s Jet Mech does.

LEGO NINJAGO 2025 sets

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