#ive been drawing and busy today and wasn't able to respond right away but im enjoying them sooo much so don't stop if you don't want to

[un-pearable]

okay season 5 lets GOOOO: gonna take a minute to talk plot here. a few minutes actually my apologies i have come into your askbox swinging.

i feel like the season definitely couldve been streamlined in some aspects and i do wish they had done some things differently so bear with me for a second while i try to put things into words. so the way the season kicks off, it seems like they're going to be trying to explore kai & lloyd's relationship given kai's "ill watch over you" and how he tries to slot back into the de facto leader position after lloyd is gone, but they kind of lose that as the season progresses, which is annoying because the pieces are there!

like. morro is simultaneously foils for both lloyd and kai. last season, kai's "im gonna be the green ninja !!!!!!" gets brought up again by both chen and lloyd and also further brought up by lloyd that kai still… hasnt really gotten over himself, but it doesnt really get properly followed up either then or now. he's still subconsciously prioritizing gaining glory for himself as opposed to prioritizing what needs to get done, even if it means that he's not the one to do it.

this carries further again back into the beginning of the arc after lloyd is gone and kai keeps trying to be the leader, even if he repeatedly has no idea what he's doing. its about his glory, not about who would make the best leader (zane its zane the only reason zane leading didnt work out was because the writers knew it would be too powerful), and again is relevant to the arc because kai does this to try and fill the void in the team that lloyd left. its about the two of them.

given morro's existence as somebody who started off as "im gonna be the green ninja !!!!!!!!" and then never got over it, you'd think that we wouldve gotten a fight between him and kai where we circle back to the things brought up last season by lloyd (which works out really nicely as morro is connected to both of them by nature of being narrative foils) and we get a nice tidy wrap up in a battle of ideologies.

ok consider, for a moment: kai wants to be the one to take the glory and beat the snot out of the giant hairy eyeball, and then at some point realizes that lloyd is the one who has to beat it. unfortunately for him, lloyd is in the middle of a deathmatch with morro, so kai steps in to take morro on, making good on his promise to look out for lloyd, so that lloyd can go fulfill his destiny or whatever and save ninjago. as a result, kai steps away from his ego and the moment of glory he's always wanted bc he's realized that there are more important things to deal with, and then we get a fight dialogue abt how kai also thought he was going to be the green ninja and morro is like "why dont you resent lloyd too?!" and kai responds that he got over himself and his massive ego because !! character development !!!!! and the reason this fight is happening at all being because kai has finally let go of his need for glory & because morro never did and AUGH IT COULDVE WORKED OUT SO WELL

going back to lloyd i really dont understand why he wasnt the one to kill the preeminent - esp given his conversation with garmadon about how lloyd needs to grow up one day & how lloyd has his robe now symbolizing him taking on his dad's mantle, it wouldve made wayyyy more sense to have him be the one to finish the job and put his father to rest. yknow. like do i want to subject lloyd to round three of killing his dad? no ofc not but also. thematically yes absolutely

so then, the question becomes, if lloyd is the one to nuke the preeminent… where does that leave nya? and my answer to that is: she shouldve gotten a separate arc, frankly. this arc shouldve been about lloyd & kai's relationship, but in the canon arc nya is kind of just shoehorned in there to the detriment of pretty much everybody, including herself. she's got no narrative or thematic connection to the preeminent, shes not really relevant to the arc outside of the final battle, and she honestly deserved better.

OKAY PLOT STUFF ASIDE my brain has finally started turning on and the thought gears are cranking and i am beginning to form Opinions, which is great for me because i love having opinions. umm okay this is the other arc i am very familiar with and i had a ton of fun. it was very enjoyable. i got my terrible alt outfits and i am THRIVING

maybe one day the ninjago writers will have a season that doesnt nerf lloyd for the entire thing except the last three episodes. probably not but a girl can dream. whoever concepted the giant hairy eyeball and got it approved on a show whose target demographic is children is deranged and i love it. absolute madlad. godspeed for making something so horrifying.

i also find it VERY funny that morro's whole thing is "i am going to become the GREEN NINJA" like it even matters anymore. like bestie idk how to tell you this but that ship has sailed. the prophecy has been completed. functionally the green ninja title has no more meaning than the brown ninja.

also i cant believe cole is just . a ghost now. hes just like that i guess. i know we'll have to sort it out eventually but this is honestly a very funny status quo change.

ok i think thats aboutt it but yes i did really enjoy this season despite what my long diatribe above would have you believe. it was fun it was cool and i am very ready to head into the rest that this show has to offer.

also . btw if you dont want me to send u these things just tell me and i will stop w/ no hard feelings. personally i love people liveblogging things i like to me but i only belatedly realized this may not be universal so i am very sorry if its not 😔

yeahhhh season 5, while it has some banger concepts and The visually traumatic villain all good children's media has in their back pocket, is definitely where you can see the trend of incredibly good ideas with lackluster execution peaking... its still a really good and enjoyable show!!! but

anyway this is canon to me now i will be rolling it around in my head like a marble covered in paint. like those projects you do in elementary school art class or whatever. ooooh character parallels characters who are mirrors characters who are you but ___ but in EVERY possible direction between kai lloyd and morro.... fuck love triangles i need the threeway mirror. you are also Extremely correct that nya deserved her own thing + being more centered. water is fuckin cool as hell can't believe they flopped.

terrible alt outfits are requisite alongside overly grotesque villain design and im so glad you feel they delivered akdsjfds. the only scene i actually remember of this part is where jay, ever the out of touch accidental asshole, yells out "lloyd!! what's wrong with you!??" when morro shows up in his body but damn do i love it. this and cole on the bus when they're teachers,,, they're so stupid. they're canonically like 16. stop giving them jobs. keep doing it its perfect.

the prophecy nonsense getting dragged on for so long is so so frustrating but incredibly funny... what it means to be the green ninja changes every five seconds and honestly lloyd deserves it. just fuckin lie about what your powers are man. manipulate your friend group that being protectors means they gotta do x y and z. lloyd deserves his childhood shittiness back and all the others forgetting he was a petty little punk need to be reminded askdjfkfdsf

the fact!!! that cole just stays a ghost!!! fuckin wild. I never actually saw that get resolved when I was watching as a kid so for a solid decade he was just a ghost in my head. obsessed with the implications of him becoming human again but infinitely funny that unlike reasonable shows. dude just stayed dead after the finale. hi this is ninjago our stakes are REAL and our consequences LASTING. we promise. we made the earth guy incorporeal. he's chill about it now he thinks its cool.

edit: okay hey wait. does morro even know pixal exists. this is completely unimportant but i can’t stop thinking about it. shes still in zane’s head so i’d assume no but??? he does have lloyd’s memories??? does he even acknowledge her??? hm.