#and there isn't enough whump in the ninjago fandom

[spinjitsuburst]

my coping method for my super bad anxiety being “create angst and torture my favorite characters” has not been boding well for jay walker huh

[fishoutofcamelot]

Ur ninjango posts...bruh I thought that show was for kids. Anyway for no particular reason, how is the whump?? U mentioned smt abt torture would that be like onscreen or implied or??? 😳

hdkjafdsfkaljdsfkljadskljl I mean sure, Ninjago is technically a kids show but HOO BOY the writers sure don't let that stop them. For example, the aforementioned torture? Jay ends up captive to a bunch of pirates who are tormenting him with the specific intention of breaking his spirit. At first it starts out innocuous enough - swabbing the decks, your traditional ball and chain bound to his ankle, endless labor to the point of severe physical exhaustion...but then comes the Scrap n' Tap. A game where each pirate takes turns beating him up ruthlessly and relentlessly. His injuries are so extensive that he actually has to wear an eyepatch for a bit, and when his friends come to rescue him he can't even walk on his own without support. It's not, like, graphic full-on torture, but it DOES happen on-screen and it is lowkey messed up. And for a kid's show...yeah.

Like, is the show primarily lighthearted and fun? Yeah. Definitely. But that just makes it so much worse when the show decides to punch you in the gut. And goddammit it sure loves to punch you in the gut. All the time. It certainly isn't afraid to throw its angst around. Not always whump, necessarily (unless Zane is involved, the poor whumping bag), but definitely angst. This show HAS made me cry quite a few times and I'm not ashamed to admit that.

Now, I couldn't find any clips on YouTube of the Scrap n' Tap, nor of Jay's torment at the hands of the sky pirates, but I DID end up going down a rabbit hole of angsty scenes from throughout the series. A few examples, for anyone who's curious:

Harumi's flashback to her parent's death

Zane dies (for the first time)

Cole's flashback to his bedridden mother

Nya tries to comfort a newly ghost-ified Cole (the video quality on this one sucks but this scene also means a lot to me, so naturally I had to include it here)

Cole falls off the Bounty

Morro's death

Kai tries to help Lloyd resist the ghost possessing him

BONUS: a compilation of Zane getting hurt/shut down (not all the times, but a few of the more memorable ones)

I actually didn't even put the angstiest stuff on this list! Didn't wanna give away the best tearjerkers on of the off chance that any of my fandom-baiting actually ends up working on somebody one of these days (pspsps please check out Ninjago it's a fun show and also will cause you lots of pain, and I need someone to cry over the season 15 finale with me because holy shit that ending changed me as a person and I'm still in denial)

I'm not saying that Ninjago was some super mature, dark show. It is, fundamentally, a kid's show about gay Legos getting up to wacky found family shenanigans. But I AM saying that you can't go through all 15-seasons-and-counting without at least getting the tiniest bit messed up by it.

Like! Recently the series producer released a Tweet saying that season 16 is gonna be another tearjerker and I am NOT ready, I am SO NOT READY for it. I haven't even finished recovering from the last season, give me some time to cope will ya!

So to answer your question. The show tends to be pretty mild by traditional 'whump' standards, but it DOES go pretty hard on the angst. And the Scrap n' Tap thing IS on-screen. Do with that information what you will.

Thanks for the ask! And sorry to rant on about Ninjago for so long, I'm just extremely passionate about this series and I tend to get ramble-y whenever it gets brought up! <3