banshatheblademaster

[banshatheblademaster]

Nya's alternative account. Og pic under cut

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OK im catching up + a mandatory ronin

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Commission for @ataraxixx ! Thanks for working with me, this was so fun!

Force me back, the deathly days

I'm rising, serving, resentful gaze

Nothing's here

And nothing's clear

And I miss you, I miss you

[banshatheblademaster]

Some of you really give OG Ninjago all the flack for racism and iffy messaging as if they weren't doing that shit in RECENT YEARS!!! They continue the messaging of "it's okay to hate and mistreat the Serpentine because one of them did something evil in the past," they have the magical natives who ultimately need the ninja to save them, they have two enslaved races (one of which is treated as lesser because they're stupid orc people, and also a majority of them have 4C-styled hair pieces) that the ninja rescue which resolves all animosity between the enslaved and the people who lived above them, and they gave us islanders who sacrifice outsiders to appease their ancient angry gods.

Maybe I'm just crazy (I'm not) but is this shit like almost more offensive than what OG Ninjago did? I know there was a lot of bullshit from OG Ninjago (Wu voice in the Pilots, Chen's faux Chinese accent, Nadakhan and Djinnjago, and overall misrepresentation of Asian cultures) and it had plenty of seasons to do it, but surely the messaging was never as muddy and racist as the 11-minute era. It feels like the writers and Lego wanted SO badly to do some anti-racist and political messaging, but the full extent of all of their race-related activist knowledge comes from like the 80s and the 90s or something.

It feels like overall this series is in this deep, murky water of wanting to do stuff like "Racism is bad, fascism is bad, misogyny is bad" etc, etc, but it seems to fall flat most of the time... Not to endlessly glaze Dragons Rising, but truly I think if it's done anything infinitely better than its predecessor, it's the way they handled their fascist empire regarding their political beliefs and the ways they treat non-Imperians. Imperium didn't start being evil when Beatrix took over, it's been like this for years, most likely LONG before Levo was emperor, too! It's not just one evil ruler like with seasons 13 or 14, it's a long-running issue, with the solution being to tear the monarchy down completely and give all inhabitants a choice in remaining or not.

The electro-barrier, which has kept the people in and the outsiders out for who-knows-how-long has been seemingly permanently dismantled, giving anyone the choice to come or go as they please. We also see a sense of individuality restored, with people getting to wear more than just black-and-gold, empress-mandated clothes. (Their clothes have the same patterns and were seen in a flashback, but the point does remain.)

Alongside all this, we see the dragons are gone. Imperium has completely switched energy sources, after like 30~ years of subjugating dragons, and stealing their energy to run their kingdom. Not only do the people have a choice, but the dragons do too! We saw dragons in the kingdom before Beatrix's reign, and while the ninja did free all of her dragons, it is telling that no dragons have dared venture there despite Imperium's change of heart.

Also they show a lot more bigotry from the inhabitants of the city themselves, like the IPTF (pre-reformation) referring to Arin with disgust as an outlander, or Levo's disdain for Ras labeling him as an outlander, and thus as someone lesser than an Imperian.

I think it's good that Ninjago had TRIED to portray positive anti-racism and anti-fascism messages, but the issue is they are VERY bad at doing it, and accidentally end up sending the wrong messages, like you need someone else to swoop in and save you from your oppressors, or you can live freely and in peace with your oppressors.

[banshatheblademaster]

omg hold on i never posted my akita design here hold up

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exams are finally over so I can draw now

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Kotori reference :]

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when the divorce of your parents was so bad you had to create a whole new realm to cope

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I know ppl joke about Cole being Wu's favorite student (since he was the first one of the four to be trained and such), but do you think

umm

this also contributed?

[banshatheblademaster]

biggest gossips on the team Btw . do NOT confide in them unless u want it discussed at lunch and reenacted at dinner

[banshatheblademaster]

She's not losing him anytime soon

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GIRLS NIGHT GIRLS NIGHT GIRLS NIGHT

og pic vv

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He's never taking those noodles for granted ever again

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Hes got potential !

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2000's tech aesthetic pixal

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Happy Pride Month Ninjago Fandom

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He believed it