Ninjago: Prime Empire

Plot

The reappearance of the classic video game Prime Empire caused players to vanish into it, including the avid gamer Jay. The ninja learned that its creator, Milton Dyer, had also been missing for years. Suspecting Dyer was the villain Unagami, Lloyd, Cole, Kai, and Nya entered the digital world to stop his avatar, while Zane and P.I.X.A.L. stayed in the real world to locate Dyer. They encountered a fan group called The League of Jay, who directed them to a player named Scott.

Scott explained that each player had only four lives; losing the last one turned them into a digital cube. In one game zone, a Samurai NPC named Okino had lost all hope after repeatedly failing to guide Masters to victory—until the ninja arrived. To stop Unagami, they needed three Key-tanas. The first was hidden in Terra Karana, a dangerous zone.

While fleeing Unagami’s Red Visors and climbing the Cliffs of Hysteria, the ninja discovered Unagami was converting players into energy cubes to build a portal to the real world. After reuniting with Jay, they traveled through three zones to collect the Key-tanas, which would unlock the final challenge at the Temple of Madness. In Terra Karana, Okino helped them survive deadly trials.

They defeated the Red Dragon in a boss battle to claim the purple Key-tana. For the second Key-tana, they had to win a race in Terra Technica, finding racing cars in unusual ways. The yellow Key-tana came from winning the Speedway Five-Billion race. Lloyd recruited another NPC, Racer Seven, but the Red Visors followed her.

Scott sacrificed himself to help the ninja escape and was cubed. The ninja won the race, but Kai and Cole were also cubed during it. Lloyd, Jay, and Nya continued to the third zone, Terra Domina. There, Lloyd fought an avatar of Harumi, defeated her, and obtained the orange Key-tana, but was cubed himself in the process.

Did You Know?

• A 30-second teaser trailer was released on February 5, 2020 on the Lego YouTube channel.
• In 2021, Prime Empire received three nominations in the Animation Series category of the Leo Awards for Best Art Direction, Sound, and Voice Performance.
• The season was preceded by six short films titled Prime Empire Original Shorts, released on the Lego YouTube channel.