The 2021 LEGO Employee Gift has been unveiled by Tommy Andreasen, one of the co-creators of LEGO Ninjago himself.
This year’s employee set is 4002021 Ninjago The Temple of Celebrations, a very fitting set, as this is LEGO Ninjago’s 10th anniversary, and its widely considered one of LEGO’s most successful homegrown IP (intellectual property), along with Friends.
These are one of the most limited edition LEGO sets released, as they are only given out to LEGO employees, business partners, and tend to go for hundreds of dollars on the secondary market.
The front of the box has a stamp design, with an illustration of the Temple of Celebrations, a Santa Garmadon, and Ninjago characters making snow angels.
On the back is the set photo – a large snow-covered Ninjago temple, and some additions such as a Christmas Tree with a golden ninja star, a mech, as well as a sleigh for Santa Garmadon.
The text on the back reads “what better way to celebrate the first 10 years of LEGO Ninjago than with a unique Temple of Celebrations set that brings the themes’ well-known characters together in a fun festive LEGO build or you and your family. Enjoy”.
Tommy also showed off the top of the box, where you can see the 11 minifigures included in the set.
As part of the 10th Anniversary, LEGO released special golden Ninjago minifigures in sets across the year. The set comes with 6 Golden Ninjas (Kai, Cole, Jay, Lloyd, Zane, and Nya), Golden Wu, Santa Garmadon, and what I think are Skales and Mezmo.
It’s insane that the employee gift contains all the Golden Ninjas!
As if that wasn’t enough Ninjago goodness, the set also includes 6 Christmas poems in postcard form, written by Tommy Andreasen himself, translated into a variety of languages.
This is a truly special LEGO Employee Gift set, on par with 4002019 Christmas X-Wing as one of the most thoughtful gifts that capture the themes they’re based on.
I do feel for Ninjago fans and collectors, as this set will absolutely be hard and expensive to acquire, and it will instantly become out of reach for so many Ninjago fans, many of whom are quite young.
If you’re thinking of picking one up, the best time is right around December and Christmas, when LEGO employees start receiving their employee gifts, and many will put theirs up on eBay to get some extra cash in their pocket.
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Does LEGO publish the instructions online? I’d love to build that tree!!!
HOW TO CAN I GET IT BUT I AM A NOT A LEGO EMPLOYEE
Is it for all Lego employees including seasonal brick specialists?
You missed Misako when listing out the included minifigs.
Fortunately none of the minifigs are exclusive to this set, or at least they can be built using pieces that are readily available. I never thought I’d say this, but thank goodness for 2-armed Garmadon, so I can just reuse my Santa minifig!
I’d happily work for Lego for free just for the employee gift each year. These are awesome. Would love to get 2016’s 50 Years of Trains one.
Same!
Is this set going to be for purchase? That probably sounds like a stupid question.
They will not be. LEGO gives them to their employees for free. A different set each year.
Wow, it’s a beautiful set and a very special gift. Do the instructions for these sets ever become available?
Is that a mech or a dragon? Looks like a dragon to me. Also, based on the head markings, it’s Rattla not Skales – taken from the Ultra Sonic Raider legacy set.