Types of Ninja

In LEGO's Ninjago theme, the Ninja wear a variety of outfits or gi, denoting various forms and ranks they take over the course of the story. These types mean various things to the consumer, although these changes in appearance are not particularly important, save in the actual spinner game, where they have different levels of Spinjitzu Power.

Original
In the first pilot episode, Cole, Jay, and Zane were also seen wearing pure black versions of the basic outfit, presumably for stealth training under Sensei Wu, and unknowingly for Kai's final test to becoming a ninja.

The standard Ninja outfit features a simple gi, with the color of the gi corresponding with the wearer's element. There are three ropes being used as a belt, with the fastener bearing the symbol of the wearer's element as well. The outfit also includes a mask that covers the entire head, with a small slit for the eyes.

In the cartoon, the masks appear to be attached to the gi like hoods, as the Ninja are seen pulling them up from behind when going on a mission.

Several other color variations on the basic ninja uniform appeared in the show, including a variant of the Green Ninja suit (essentially the ZX suit without the shoulder armor and different headpiece), Zane's pink gi from "Can of Worms," and the "Brown Ninja" outfit (and occasional hood) periodically worn by Dareth. In "Infamous," Lil' Nelson wore his own Purple Ninja hood which he made himself.

In the Ninjago: Spinjitzu Spinners game, the basic ninja have 1000 SP: 400 SP in their dominant element, and 300 SP in two other elements.

Dragon eXtreme
The DX Ninja (Dragon eXtreme Ninja), were ninja suits with the image of their respective Dragons on it. The dragons are positioned on the right side of the suits - their heads and front claws visible on the shirts and their tails coiling around the front of the pants - and each is breathing their elemental breath (Cole's Earth Dragon breathes Earth; Zane's Ice Dragon breathes Ice; Jay's Lightning Dragon breathes Lightning; and Kai's Fire Dragon breathes Fire). Their elemental symbols are now present on the backs of their suits, along with their individual name. Their Spinners are gold, with smaller details in the color of their element. In order to achieve this rank they must completely tame and understand their Elemental Dragons.

In the cartoon, the Ninja gain these uniforms when they ally with the Elemental Dragons in order to retrieve the Golden Weapons from the Underworld. After their adventures there, they mainly wore their normal outfits until they received their new ZX suits.

Lloyd's DX suit was not seen in the cartoon, and only available in minifigure form with a promotional product. Unlike the other Ninja, his suit has shoulder pads, and a head mask similar to his ZX variant (without the silver three-pronged piece).

In the Spinjitzu Spinners game, DX Ninja have 1100 SP: 500 SP in their dominant element, 300 SP in a secondary element, 200 SP in a tertiary element, and 100 SP in the final element.

Kendo
The Kendo Ninja wear their regular color-coded gis under gray armor similar to that of Samurai X. Instead of cloth masks, they wear helmets similar to those used in fencing, with a grate-like mask that protects their faces.

In the series, Kendo gear is used during the Ninja's training exercises. The Ninja also wear color-coded bandanas under their helmets, and their armor is slightly more detailed and darker in color.

In the Spinjitzu Spinners game, Kendo Ninja have 1000 SP: 300 SP in two elements, and 200 SP in the other two elements.

Zen eXtreme
The ZX (Zen eXtreme) Ninja wear gis and cloth masks similar to their normal outfits, but with the addition of armor on various parts of their body. The armor design varies between Ninja, but all have a three-pronged piece on the "foreheads" of their masks and rugged armor plates on their shoulders. The back of the suit features a holder for katanas, but the Ninja keep their Golden Weapons there in the show. The dominant color of the armor varies between Ninja; Kai and Zane have golden armor, while Cole and Jay have silver armor. Lloyd has an identical headpiece to Cole and Jay's ZX suits, but his shoulder pads are dark gray.

Some sets feature ZX Ninja without the shoulder armor, usually so they can fit in a vehicle or due to being in a smaller set (such as a polybag).

In the cartoon, the ninja gain their ZX armor in a package from the mailman, delivered in "The Snake King," while Lloyd's ZX suit appears in stages throughout the series. It is first seen as a regular ninja outfit (lacking the armor on the mask and shoulders) when Kai wore it in "The Green Ninja." By the time Lloyd donned it in "All of Nothing," the headpiece was present, while the shoulder armor appeared after Lloyd was aged into a teenager in "Child's Play." Lloyd's ZX minifigure has darker shoulder pads than in the show.

In the Spinjitzu Spinners game, ZX Ninja have 1100 SP. Their SP distribution is similar to their Kendo forms, but with an extra 100 SP in their dominant element. The only exception is Lloyd ZX, who has an even 300 SP in all four elements (for a total of 1200 SP).

NRG
The NRG Ninja is when the Ninja unlock their True Potential and convert their dominant element into energy. The main suit consists of a mask similar to the ZX Ninja but the triangular piece on the top is transparent. The suit is dominated by an elaborate design resembling an explosion of the character's primary element, with their elemental symbol at the center of the explosion, on the left side of the chest.

In the cartoon, NRG Ninja appear as their ZX forms (including shoulderpads and suit details), but glowing with light and made of or surrounded by their respective element (Kai becomes surrounded by a sphere of fire, Jay becomes an electrical being, Zane becomes enveloped by a pillar of light, and Cole becomes surrounded by orbiting rocks).

In the Spinjitzu Spinners game, they have 900 SP; 500 SP in their dominant element and 400 SP in a secondary element.

Elemental
The Ninja gained new suits when they arrived at the Temple of Light and received their enhanced powers. Upon gaining these suits, the Ninja obtained new elemental weapons with similar powers to their Golden Weapons. The suits retain their ninja hoods and shoulder pads from their ZX suits, but new gi that are mostly black with their corresponding colors used for details. Additionally, Lloyd's new suit changes his headpiece and shoulder pads from silver and grey to gold. Later, during the final battle against The Overlord in "Rise of the Spinjitzu Master," Lloyd's entire suit becomes golden-colored after he unlocks his full power as the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master.

In LEGO sets, only Lloyd has shoulder pads in his Elemental form. His golden form is also slightly different from the cartoon's interpretation; the gold is darker and more metallic-looking, a few details (such as the characters on the kimono and the sash on his waist) remain green, and Lloyd's face becomes the same shade of gold as his outfit (making it appear somewhat similar to an NRG Ninja).

Techno
The Ninja received these advanced outfits from Borg Industries, along with their Techno Blades. The outfits appear as kimono-like robes in their respective ninja's color, with brown and gold highlights and a small medallion near the waist. Unlike previous outfits, the Techno Robes lack a hood, instead having color-coded bandanas that cover the lower half of the face. As such, these are the first Ninja minifigures to have hairpieces - which, naturally, are based on the characters' hairstyles in the cartoon.

As with the Kimono robes, Lloyd is the only Techno Ninja whose outfit includes shoulderpads.

Armored Techno
This suit resembles Techno, with more details that make them look more like armor. They are the first suits in the show since the Ninjas' DX suits to be based off of only two colors (grey/silver and the color respective to each Ninja), except for Zane's. The suits have each Ninja's respective dragon symbol as a medallion in the middle center of their torsos, but are otherwise identical to one another. The Techno Silver that Zane wears has light blue, jagged lines on it, as well as some gold highlights. Zane's variant also has his elemental symbol, instead of his standard dragon one, as a medallion on his lower torso.

The Armored Techno gis are from the Stone Warriors when they served The Overlord in the fight against the First Spinjitzu Master. The armor makes the wearer immune to Golden Power

Tournament Robes
These color-coded gis have padded chestplates and a black strap running from the left shoulder to the right hip. On the strap is all four of the tournament ninjas' symbols, with only that ninja's symbol appearing on a gold badge on the right shoulder. They appear lighter than previous uniforms, exposing the arms and collars of the wearers. The hairpieces and bandanas are identical to the Techno Robe versions of the Ninja.

They got these gis from Chen when they attended the Tournament of Elements.

This version of the uniform is only worn by Kai, Jay, Cole, and Lloyd, and therefore is the first suit to not be worn by all of the four (and 5) original Ninja. Zane's suit is not in the series because he never received it. His suit is only shown in the sets.

Jungle
These outfits are a step back to the older Ninja uniforms, being full-body gis with a number of belts and pouches over the chest. They are the first uniforms since the Kimonos to have hoods, which each bear a Japanese character on the forehead. They are also the first uniforms where the only ninja with shoulder pads isn't Lloyd.

It is presumed that Kai, Jay and Lloyd obtained them from Chen sometime before "Spellbound," as this was their first appearance, but no background was given. (Zane had his outfit since "The Invitation" while Cole received his in "The Forgotten Element" upon getting his powers back).

This uniform is worn by Kai, Cole, Jay, and Lloyd. Zane wears a modified version in his Titanium form, with metallic elements and shoulderpads resembling his ZX form's outfit. Skylor also wears this outfit, despite not being an official member of the team.

Deepstone
These outfits are a similar type of robe to the Elemental Robes with each Ninja wearing a mostly black gi color, shoulder pads, and highlights in tone with their elemental color.

This uniform was once again purchased by Wu some time between "The Corridor of Elders" and "Winds of Change." Lloyd wore his up until and after his possession by Morro, while the other Ninja wore theirs throughout the whole Ghost Warrior crisis. Cole, however, never wore the Deepstone shoulder pads due to being turned into a ghost.

Nya wears a modified version of the Deepstone robe with details that include gold shoulder pads, mostly a maroon red colored gi, and some light blue details.

Airjitzu
The Airjitzu Ninja is very similar to the NRG varient, though it represents when the Ninja unlock Airjitzu. The main suit consists of a mask similar to the ZX Ninja but lacking decoration. Nya's Airjitzu suit is the only one to not be mainly black, with maroon as the main color instead.

Zane, Cole, Jay, Kai, Lloyd, and Nya have Airjitzu variants. This is the only suit that is not shown in the TV series.

Airjitzu, Version 2
These new Ninja outfits are similar to the previous Deepstone outfits, as they reuse the leg pieces and masks, but add an Airjitzu symbol on the torso and introduce a new armor piece. In the show, the outfits are called Airjitzu suits, since the previous Airjitzu variants were not used in the show. Unlike other suits, these were "earned" by each Ninja, by mastering Airjitzu (which only excluded Nya temporarily).

They also introduce new styles of the Ninjas' elemental symbols (along with the traditional symbols on the backs of each torso), incorporated into the Airjitzu tornado and individual animal depictions on the torso. The animal images have never been used before, and similarly to the dragon symbols, are not explained in the TV series. They also share similar colors with each Ninja's previous dragon symbol, and details pertaining to their elements. This version is also the first time Nya is wearing the same style of Ninja outfit (including color scheme) as the rest of the Ninja.

Rise of the Villains
These new Ninja outfits are slightly similar to the previous Airjitzu Ver. 2 outfits, as they re-use the armor piece. However, this suit is an amalgamation of the Ninjas' ZX, Original, and Deepstone outfits.

They also bring back the old styles of the Ninjas' elemental symbols and add a secondary color instead of the solid black on the Ninjas' hoods.