#there's so much you can do with arin's character this season

[rainofthetwilight]

why tf are people on nintwt complaining about arin 'whining'????? tf was he whining about????????

like imagine having a character who's deep in self doubt and grief and no one around him is helping with that or taking him seriously, and calling that whining.......

[carlostck]

SPOILERS! (ninjago dragons rising season 2 part 2)

I'm crying why did she grab him??? And he doesn't even resist

Also, I LOVE how they go about Arin's "betrayal" Arin doesn't like him, he doesn't want to be on his side... He just wants what Ras can give him

Very confused about the "Wu caused the merge" thing because I feel like it's more of caused-it-due-to-not-stopping-it situation rather than directly causing it? Especially because Wu was actively trying to prevent it from happening, as shown on a few occasions

In addition to that, love how Cole is shown in the series so far, just wish we got a little more of him. I know they aren't the main characters anymore but he's the mom friend and they all need more of that lol Geo and him running to the museum together is so cute awgh

Liking how this is going, the Ras situation is curious in that it seems like he was attempting to avenge his people by "controlling" the forbidden five (moreso attempted to)

The only thing I didn't like about season 2 part 2 is how they went about the Jay situation? Something about it felt off or wrong, can't place a finger on it though... I may just be stupid and it may only be me, but felt funny; like it wasn't right??

Now, questions on my mind since this has raised some: If Lloyd hadn't been disqualified for being injured in a fight (lame rule by the way, he seemed fine <3), then would he have won? And if he did, he would have to fight Sora, but I'm more curious about what Nokt would have done about it Why did Lloyd's eyes stay green after losing his power? Is it not completely lost, just limited? 'Cause Cole was still able to control the rocks due to the assistance of the elemental energy in his mother's mech, meaning they still have the connection... Which would make sense, considering all the "got my powers back" instances Oh, also they called his power "life," which I find interesting because one would assume that the Tournament of Sources would have the correct name for his power! Curious what else Lloyd can do, since I don't think he's ever really reached his true potential? (I know people consider him becoming the Golden Spinjiztu master it but that doesn't make much sense to me) When Zeatrix attacked Lloyd with the sword, was that supposed to be her literally cutting through his side? They're legos so it kinda just looked like she whacked him with a long stick, lol

Euggh I cannot wait for more I love Sora and Lloyd's relationship. Also when she said "If he (Arin) even wants to be found" I lost it because I immediately thought of Morro oops Wyldfyre sleeping with Riyu, awjwaah... I was slightly sad when we didn't get much of her and Riyu at the beginning (since the relationship just makes sense), but those little things are great I also love Frak (however you spell it) and I hope he doesn't just disappear after that

Still want to see Lloyd go ape shit please elpase pleasesplease pelasep palesepelase pleaseee

[squib-2006]

So I’ve finally got some of my thoughts on the new season in order and letting my self sit on it for a while

Dragons rising season 2 spoilers!!!!!

So first off holy shit this season has managed to completely wipe out any fears I had for season two. I’m a generally anxious person and am pretty naturally pessimistic about most things and was pretty anxious about season 2 because from the stuff shown in trailers and promotional vids it looked like a “Lloyd chosen one” plot line and I have a history of hating that kinda thing because it’s been beaten to death in ninjago at this point. While a bit of that was there I found it was done quite tastefully and didn’t overwhelm everything else story wise.

I felt that the pacing of the first 6-7ish episodes was a bit all over the place. Having the training arc and the Cole-Zane plot lines happen in the same episode with the pov switching back in forth felt a little bit off to me.

Sora and arins character arcs are shaping up to be pretty good. Soras more confident in her self than season one and she’s trying to help Arin but I feel like the whole using her elemental power to help Arin will backfire into her face. Arin’s insecurity and the whole how can I be useful if I don’t have an element I fell is being handled way better than the dumb kai arc in season 11(dw I will get to that when I get to kai) and it’s about on par with the Lloyd powerless plot from hunted. I am really excited to see what they do next and if Arin will be really mad at sora or not cuz like he’s super nice and stuff and I fell like he would be sad instead of mad.

Nya didn’t really have a lot going on personally except the stuff with Jay which I’m iffy on because so much of Nyas character in older seasons revolved around Jay and I just hope they don’t go back to that and let her character breath a bit.

In the topic of Jay I really really REALLY hope he isn’t evil. That the idea because it’s really out of character and they are already pushing my buttons with the lost memory crap because that’s something that I’ve rarely seen done well at all and it makes me very nervous and I just don’t like it. I do like that Jay just seems to be a guy who hates his job tho that’s fun.

I think the writers are just having fun with Zane and I think that’s cool. I do wanna punch the administration guy who said Zane isn’t a person because he is and he’s a bean and I will not allow this nobody to slander him.

It was nice to see more of Cole this season. I swear him and geo are so cute. The hand holding and the fact that they basically adopted two kids together is amazing and I am fully on board for this ship.

The villans were really interesting. I hope they keep up the quality with them because the mystery of ras’ master and wtf happened with jordana is really exciting. Cinder was intresting and as someone who has no interest in men what so ever I am kinda baffled at why so many people want this man but hey you do you. I do wonder what happened to ash tho. The member of the forbidden five looks interesting too and part of me is hoping that the leaked “evil jay” minifig is actually this guy just powered up cuz the color palette is similar enough and I just don’t want an evil jay.

Wyldfyre is amazing her whole leg being broken then sneaking on the ship to the exasperation of kai (like he would totally have pulled something like this a few seasons ago the hypocrite <3) and the others was so good. I am curious about her talk with egalt she mentioned one of her family members getting the wasting sickness but it can’t be heat wave cuz he seems fine so maybe she had more than one dragon guardian??? I do hope that Kai’s portal abduction does affected going into part 2 and that she bonds with nya and the others over it.

Egalt and rontu were very interesting to me and I’m glad they didn’t go the route of them being the actual creators of spinjitzu and kept the lore consistent I was slightly worried about that. Hope they come back in part 2 too.

Bonzle was a big surprise for me. I likes her personality in season 1 but I didn’t expect her to be so important. She’s really sweet and the scene with wu was great too.

And finally last but definitely not least, the best character in this entire show and my favorite comfort character to beat the shit out of

KAI

IT WAS SO FREAKING GOOD. I LITERALLY HAVE NOT BEEN THIS HAPPY WITH AN EPISODE SINCE SEASON 4 EPISODE 7 THE FORGOTTEN ELEMENT (iykyk) I was literately kicking my feet like a little girl and crying and screaming my head off to the point I woke up other family members. Him unlocking the rising dragon technique by having his sister help and being in harmony with his family is so fucking sweet and I cried like a little bitch it was so good. I am also so happy that they used his old hair and didn’t just slap a smaller version of his current hair onto him (tho I kinda wish they had used the fucked up custom hair that was in the older episodes but I doubt that model is even in their hands so whatever(side side note I love the fucked up hair so much it’s so stupid I love it and will forever miss it)) him being such a dad to wyld fire was so sweet and then using the rising dragon technique after he saw his family in danger was just perfect. I do kinda wish there was more of a dramatic reaction to him getting yeeted by ras into the portal (kinda like any of the other ninja “deaths/major injuries”) but im fine with what we got. Except I kinda hate that only nya has an outward reaction in the aftermath. No lloyd reaction no Cole reaction and nothing from Zane and it makes me mad because every other time a ninja had their moment there was a whole team reaction. But I’m feeling like that’s to nitpicky and there’s still ten more episodes to fix that so fingers crossed. But kai also encouraging bonzle to close the portal even if he’s trapped inside is such a kai thing and hit me like a truck. Also him calling bonzle kid dispite her being much much older than him is funny and sweet cuz Kai’s big brother/father figure side is coming through and it’s so sweet. And the ninja never quit line is so great I was sobbing even more after that. (Tho I don’t know why he said he got it from Lloyd when it would have made more sense to have it be from master wu cuz that’s where he learned it but eh whatever).

While im really happy about kai finally getting some well deserved angst im also very anxious about it too. This could be the perfect opportunity for the writers to just conveniently forget about him for a while and idk if i could sit through that. Kai is a huge part of why I watch ninjago and he’s always been handed the shortest stick character development wise and technically he never got his own focus season either (and no i dont count the pilots because that focused mainly on all the ninja and was only two episodes, i also don’t count season four because it was more a group season, and season 11 doesn’t count because he got a half baked b plot that sucked) I’m very worried that I will loose enjoyment in the show because I dropped the show out of disappointment after season 11 because A LOT of premonitional material made it seem like a kai season and I got my hopes up and was let down so much. I’m very cautious when getting excited about things involving kai in particular because of that and I’m just hoping the writers don’t fuck it up.

Ok that’s enough negativity for once. I’m so excited for more and am foaming at the mouth for more!

[creatingblackcharacters]

One of my favorite new little guys is Arin from Ninjago Dragons Rising!! The show is a sequel series to the previous Ninjago shows, where an event merges all the realms into one and many people end up missing or separated from loved ones. Arin was a little boy when the Merge happened and has no idea if his parents are safe or still around and his biggest motivator is to try and find them.

He loves the ninja and with them initially missing after the Merge he was inspired by them to be heroic and kind like them. He learned Spinjitzu (the main form of martial arts the ninja use lol) all by himself, which the ninja were all impressed by when they re-emerge because it’s a hard skill to learn.

He’s so kind and silly!! Arin always tries to see the best in people :) but he will try to kick ass if he has to. His favorite thing to do is bake pies, it’s so cute. He specifically got his hair cut as the Zane (after one of the original ninja).

Arin’s season 2 arc involves him feeling frustrated over his stagnant growth as a ninja since he has no powers, his Spinjitzu isn’t getting any better even with guidance, and he’s no closer to finding his parents and feels he’s letting them down by not getting better quickly 😢 which is just like nooo it’s okay you’ll get there it takes time 😢

I will say a lot of the (straight, white) male demographic who watch Ninjago suck. They’re so homophobic (one of the original ninjas seems to be getting a male love interest in DR) and racist. They deny that Arin is Black, when his design seems to indicate he is AND he has a Black VA (Christian Heywood).

Anyways, I really love Arin he’s just so adorable and sweet and fun :) he’s a representation of Ninjago fans with his love of the ninja and I can’t wait to see where his character goes when part 2 of season 2 is released!! Wait omg also his little ninja suit has horns!!! It’s the best!!

Spinjutzu

Fandom is always gone fandom, unfortunately. I do think they could have had skin colored blocks to alleviate this issue, but yeah the coding would be kind of obvious between his hair and his voice. His hair is definitely afro textured (if the Lego blocks can do it, you all can do it too!) That's so cute though!

Hot Chocolate: I LOVED Ninjago when it first came out! It had ninjas, that was all I needed honestly. I fell off because I stopped watching TV as much but I'm happy to hear about our little Black boy Arin! He's my son now. So anyone who's got something to say can meet me outside, and that's on chawls.

[destinygoldenstar]

Ninjago Dragons Rising Season 2 - Is It Good Or Nah?

So, I'm late to the party, aren't I?

Well I've had so much work that I think I'm having an existential crisis. So I had to wait till I had a free day to watch this season because I wanted to watch it with my GF.

We got to Episode 6, and then what did my boss do?

Slap me in the face with long work hours several days of the week.

I feel like I'm in a spiral of work after work after work with no purpose to life besides failure cause I can't trust myself to be capable at anything-

ANYWAY. We finished it now.

You know what the insane part about the season is? That it got the show trending on Tumblr.

That's an INSANE level of hype right there.

So I seriously had to ask myself "What the actual f**k happened in the show that caused THIS much hype?!"

So... here are my thoughts on the season.

SPOILER WARNING

Okay, so this may be a factor of my judgement, but due to my schedule, I was forced to watch only 6 Episodes one day, and then the last 4 Episodes today. Keep that in mind.

When it came to the first half of the season, was it good?

Yes. Obviously.

Was it living up to the insane level of hype?

Uh... not really for me??

Now, don't take that as a negative. This season is still REALLY good.

After the first season took awhile to get started as it needed to set up its characters and this new world, it makes sense for this season to throw the punches immediately.

The season gets started with its main plot right away with Ras immediately putting his plan into action, and by Episode 2, it's very clear the threat level he opposes and it's believable that we should be intimidated by what he wants.

Even though in Episode 2's fight, while AMAZINGLY choreographed, I was just screaming at the screen "HIT THE PERSON HOLDING THE GONG."

Like seriously, more than one of the characters in this fight can use projectiles with their powers AND they have a blaster in the Bounty, and the show never says that Ras has some sort of armor defense preventing him from getting blasted. He's literally standing out in the open. And the gong is clearly what's giving Cinder power. So HIT THE PERSON WITH THE GONG.

GOSH.

Anyway, that's not important. What's important is that this season's fight choreo is genuinely AMAZING. I am obsessed with the way the camera moves with the characters in these fights you have no idea. I was genuinely blown away by the last episode's fight in particular. But more on the ending later.

What also shocked me was how BRUTAL some of the stuff that happens here is, which caught me off guard.

I mean, Episode 2 has Euphrasia getting ambushed and crashed off the Cloud Kingdom with clear injuries, and Wyldfyre getting her leg SHATTERED. Like, WHAT?! HOW OFTEN DOES THAT HAPPEN?!! (Even though the latter's healing was unrealistic. Like, it would realistically take months for an injury like that to heal. Not a critique, just saying.)

Ras body slams Jordanna at one point. He puts Arin in a CHOKEHOLD. And also beats him up so brutally... like OMG this guy does not mess around.

The Fear Cave Trial also REALLY got me tripping. Not only was it such a visually appealing moment, but it also, as the same suggests, showed several character psyches that were insane.

Except Kai for some reason. That's gonna drive me NUTS until I get an answer. WHAT DID HE SEE-?!

Then we get to the dragon mentors, and...

Yeah the season kinda loses me in the middle.

Don't get me wrong, I love the character bits here as much as anyone. But with how dyer they made the threat of Ras before, Ras and his forces take a backseat in the middle portion of the season and we're mostly just sitting at these training grounds talking. And for four episodes of it? It's a little grating, even if it is important.

The middle is mostly where most of my issues with the season stand. And here's where I get all my negatives out of the way:

Like I said, because this season is so long, there's an awkward pause in the conflict on the dragons plotline to learn this Rising Dragon Technique. Which I wouldn't mind if it wasn't FOUR EPISODES of it.

With the exception of the attack at the Land of Lost Things ONCE, Ras's army doesn't go after the ninja at all. I can kinda get the dragons group since they didn't have Bonzle, but he has to know that they ARE a threat, right? They're obviously trying to figure out how to stop you.

And even with the group that has Bonzle, what they NEED, the forces that go after that group is the Administration and the one off magician man villain, the former really didn't need to be in this season even if it was for a compelling Jay cameo, and the latter has overstayed his welcome at this point and I just rolled my eyes when he showed up on screen.

I'm all for Cole being a badass as much as the next guy, but WHY this magician man, who at this point, is so disconnected with the main antagonistic forces that he serves no purpose?

Why not, I don't know, use this screen time instead to explain what in the world happened with Cole when he left?

Seriously, the first season had this huge cliffhanger with Cole's character and him going after Wu's ghost. I wonder what's gonna happen to him and what he's gonna find out-

Oh. He's just back.

That to me is a huge disappointment. What was the point of him leaving the Lost Family in the first place if this journey was basically nothing? He doesn't even talk about it! COME ON NOW.

Also I think Zane should get slay pass on the Administration guy that called him equipment. What do y'all think?

I don't like Egot. Or whatever his name was. He's very condescending and cryptic and talks down to his only hope of the world being saved. But I think I'm supposed to dislike him for it, and there's gonna be more of his characterization revealed later, so don't take this one as a critique. The female one is great though.

The sorceress lady was... a choice in the narrative. My one critique for the ending was the potion shenanigans. Not because they were bad, but because they just felt so out of place among everything else. Like, "Oh, this finale is too dark and intense! We need to occasionally cut to wacky shenanigans with this sorceress's magic to prevent kids from feeling too much dread!"

I don't know, for me, I would've placed this stuff with the Administration instead, and instead have the group fight Jordanna, lose, and have her get away and flow that to Arin getting to her. Especially since the Administration posed such little threat to them and they even say such.

(I also have a theory that this sorceress is Wyldfyre's birth mom. I have no evidence to back this up besides "They both have red hair and similar facial structure")

With Cloud Kingdom getting taken over and Euphrasia captured, I thought she would have more of a role to play in this since this is, you know, her HOME and she's their guardian.

But nope. She does next to nothing up until the very end and plays prisoner and waits for the ninja to save her.

For gosh sake girl, you're the master of wind. FLY.

And finally, my last critique, Cinder.

Yeah I'm sorry, I'm not buying this character so far. Not that I don't think he'll have anything to do in the second part, but for how threatening he was in Episode 2, that threat level kinda vanishes in the middle and only comes back at the end. He does next to nothing and we learn nothing about him other than "He likes power". Jordanna is probably more unlikeable, but at least she has conflict going on with Ras and her magic, and she still serves more of a role in the plan besides being a foot soldier.

And... yep. That's all my critiques for this season. Which all seem pretty minor.

You know what this season is real good at? Characters.

As though that wasn't obvious already.

I did NOT expect Bonzle to play any major role at all, I thought she was just gonna be the dry and cynical side character. But no. She has a history. She has a life. She has emotions. All of which REALLY shine through at the end when you hear her voice have more range in it. The VA killed it. I ended up feeling so bad for her.

Especially considering what happens to her.

They're also not even hiding it anymore with Geo x Cole. They're just NOT. I love them and I hope we see more of their relationship in the future.

I genuinely don't understand the critique of "Geo is so selfish referring to him as Cole's family when it's obvious Cole has other people in his life."

Well no shit, you ever heard of a character flaw?

But it's also a completely understandable flaw. You guys aren't forgetting the part where Geo was abandoned for being a mixed race, right? Of course he's gonna cling to someone as compassionate and encouraging as Cole.

The Jay cameo was nice. I expect him to play no role in this season, but it's really compelling what they showed and I was satisfied with it.

Lloyd's conflict was handled very well in my opinion.

What's it called when it's PTSD, but it's about future events rather than past events? Foresight Traumatic Stress Disorder? FTSD? Yeah let's go with that.

For a kids show that glosses over trauma, (That's not a Ninjago problem, that's a kids show problem), it was really refreshing for them to not do that for once. It's actually explored and talked about and Lloyd is given advice on how to cope with it, and he freezes up in panic attacks when these visions happen and-THANK YOU. THANK YOU FOR NOT IGNORING HOW HARD SOMETHING LIKE THIS IS.

Seriously, as someone who is going through stuff like this, minus the magic element, it spoke to me a lot. It really shows that this show grew up with me, and I both love and hate that.

I do think this sort of arc is going to hit hard for adults much more than kids.

Are kids constantly terrified of the future and getting paralyzed with these fears and finding it difficult to cope with the traumas that is time and human life?

No?

Kai is also a standout in this, especially towards the end. This is by far the best Kai has been in a long time in terms of quality. I love how one of his most significant flaws gets addressed here, that being his overreliance on himself and his own abilities over the others, who he feels responsible to protect.

And the way he grasps with that and learns to let loose like he did as a child back in the old days through what he loves the most, that being his family. And the flashbacks with him and his sister. And the whole sequence of him learning Rising Dragon - AUGH ITS SO GOOD.

How poetic is it that the character most devoted to family since childhood is only cocky and angry because of his own desire to be the one with power to keep them safe, gets power by letting that go, being a kid again, and joining the same roots as his own family?

AND THEN HE GIVES UP HIS LIFE FOR THEM-

And finally, Arin.

Oh you poor sweet, sweet child.

First of all, yes, I am completely subscribed to the theory that the show is building up Arin turning on the ninja and becoming a villain. It's all there. It all fits. The amount of times they say how sweet he is as though that's gonna get lost. The dragons, the creators of the world, the gods basically, telling him he's not good enough. Ras confronting him. Sora's stunt even after she's been the most encouraging of him, like the BETRAYAL there. It's all there. And I will be posting my theory scenario on this don't you worry.

BUT, I don't think that's the route they're gonna go. Kids show and all of that. They wouldn't do that to one of their main characters. Unless you're Star Wars. At most I think Arin will be tempted by Ras's master's power in an episode and even do it, but then with the power of love and friendship, it'll get fixed.

So instead I'd rather say that Arin, by far, has the BEST power crisis arc of the entire show so far.

I LOVE that he doesn't get powers. That's something the original show would've done. I LOVE that he doesn't figure anything out in the end and his inner doubts get proven correct. That's something the original show would not have the guts to do.

I liked Arin in the first season, but he didn't interest me too much. Mostly because Sora had the lion share of focus in the first season. Here though? He might just take the crown for THE most relatable character. And I both love and hate it so much.

Like, seeing everyone else succeed in mastery while you can't even figure out your own thing. You get told you have a natural talent and a lot of potential and that you're good at a lot of things, only for that to be put to the test in the real world and you end up letting everyone down. Even when your loved ones encourage you that you are good enough and you're special in your own way, you can't get those voices out of your head and you mess up again and again and again to try and meet the world's expectations. Then those in charge tell you you're not good enough and wasted potential. Then you try everything out in the real world anyway and you FAIL, and those that doubt you and your own insecurities get proven correct as you're left a broken mess of a young child who doesn't know what the hell they're doing-

I'M IN THIS SHOW AND I DON'T LIKE IT.

I probably love Sora more as a character, but I will admit I grasp towards Arin more right now. Sora's a great trans allegory in a world that hates trans people. But I'm not trans so I relate to it a bit less. Arin's a great autistic allegory in a world that doesn't know how to help autistic people. And I am autistic so I relate to it more. That's just a me situation.

I am so invested in where Arin's story goes from here. Evil or not.

So yeah, the season was good, but didn't completely live up to the insane hype, which, to be fair, is a high bar.

UNTIL THE LAST FOUR EPISODES.

And then all of a sudden, I AM SHOCKED AND SHAKEN TO MY CORE.

These last four episodes are an absolute emotional roller coaster that left me shaking and screaming the whole time.

I actually SCREAMED at multiple occasions.

I actually screamed so many times watching this that I am now HOARSE.

THAT'S how hard it hit me.

The story goes from 0 to 100 the moment the Blood Moon shows up. Which was what the whole season was building up to. And it did NOT disappoint.

The race to try and protect Bonzle. The intense visions and paralysis Lloyd suffers from. Ras and the army coming back to the plot to be absolute powerhouses. The last episode of DREAD the entire time to desperately try to stop this ritual.

HUMAN SACRIFICES?! AM I WATCHING A KIDS SHOW RIGHT NOW?!?!

I was begging for Arin to succeed at getting Bonzle to safety, even though I knew he stood no chance against Ras. "Come on Arin! You got this!! YOU GOT THIS, SWEETIE!!"

And then Ras just goes to TOWN on the poor boy and taunts his utter failure, which HURTS SO BAD MAN.

The entire fight with the army, Cinder, and Ras. The destruction of the mechs which knocks them unconscious for a bit. Kai figuring out Rising Dragon again when his family gets put in danger. The way Nya avenges her brother afterwards.

When Bonzle was getting morphed back into spell form, BEGGING, I was begging too.

But they still do it!

And KAI?!?!

I couldn't even process what happened other than me screaming. From the moment Ras alluded to sacrificing Kai against his consent, I was screaming "NO. DON'T DO IT."

AND THEN THEY SACRIFICE HIM.

LIKE HOLY GOSH THIS FINALE DID NOT MESS AROUND.

I predicted a while back, in the first season actually, that Kai was gonna get sacrificed at some point. Who's laughing now? I DID NOT WANT TO BE RIGHT.

Like, usually in Ninjago the character would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the others. But here? This is without Kai's consent at all. Ras might as well have killed him right here.

It definitely felt that way with the way the others react and BEG for his safety. The way Nya avenges him.

And Kai giving up his shot at escape for the sake of his family? BRO. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

It hurts even more when you realize that when the Merge happened, Lloyd was ALONE thinking only he survived. He only gained hope again because of his reunion with Kai. His beloved surrogate brother!

AND NOW HE'S GONE.

NYA AND LLOYD LOST THEIR BROTHER.

WYLDFYRE LOST HER SURROGATE FATHER.

THEY THINK HE'S BASICALLY DEAD.

BRO. THAT'S SOUL CRUSHING.

And then Sora?! Why you gotta betray Arin like that?!

The most encouraging friend towards Arin, the person who held onto hope and praises for him the most, betrays that hope and doesn't trust him enough to get the winning blow himself. Then LIES about it.

GIRL. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

That's going to be SO compelling once that gets outed. Like, morally, that was messed up and she was definitely in the wrong, BUT it led to the best possible outcome for them at the moment. They WON because she did NOT believe in Arin's abilities. Which only proves that the doubts about Arin's said abilities are correct.

And I have a gut feeling she's gonna learn Spinjitsu on top of that. And once that happens... double ouch.

Again, Evil Arin Theory.

I really hate to say it, but this reminds way too much of Arcane. If you know what I'm talking about.

I am totally imagining a situation similar to that in my head, that being a rescue mission for Kai, they decide to leave Arin out of it because of the lack of faith in him, he tags along anyway and he ruins their plan and Kai stays trapped there, Lloyd and Sora lash out on him for it, and before they can apologize they get thrusted back by something and Ras and Ras's master find Arin and take him in-

Again, I'll make a post about that.

The finale was by far the best part of this season. It has been a long time since Ninjago has made me HOARSE from being too invested.

That has not happened to me since Sons of Garmadon.

Because, yeah, I actually have NO IDEA where any of this is headed. How are they gonna save Kai and Bonzle? Why did some of Lloyd's visions not come true? What in the world is going on with Ras? Will the Administration help with that? Will the source dragons help with that?

What I probably do know is that Part 2 of this season is going to turn this into the best Ninjago Product since Tournament of Elements. Maybe even top it depending on my rewatches if my problems are still problems.

So... yeah. Good or Nah? Good. Obviously.

The hype is a little overblown to me, but it still deserves the hype.

[llannasvsp]

Dragons Rising Season 2, Episode 4: Force From the East

I have nothing to say before we start. Let's gooo!

Soooo Geo x Cole is totally canon.

Did anyone else notice that Geo remembers the moments slightly different than they were?

Cole? Chef? Interesting.

I love how excited Geo is for new stuff.

I also love how Geo glows when he uses his powers.

GRHH GEO MISSES COLE SO MUCH. HE BRINGS HIM UP IN EVERY SENTENCE.

Wyldfyre speaking dragon is giving Dory speaking whale.

Lloyd grabbing Arin away from danger is soooo (I'm not crying).

The ninja would be so good at basketball.

I love the usage of Spinjitzu in Dragons Rising. It doesn't make me cringe like it usually would. Like, it actually feels like a cool and powerful fighting technique and not just... a thing they do.

"I was going a secret third way." Arin, I love you.

Arin laughing at Egalt's insult to Lloyd is just sooo adorable.

The finders are so silly. "Sure. What do you want?"

"Oh no, you seem to be stuck!" I love him so much.

I would be reacting more to them taking Bonzle but of course I already know what's going on with her.

COLEEEE COMING BACK FOR HIS FAMILY GAHHHH.

Okay the thing I hate the most about this whole dragon discussion between the ninja, Rontu, and Egalt, is the debate on whether or not dragons can be ninja and whatever is that they don't bring up Lloyd's dragon heritage. He has dragon blood. WHY AREN'T THEY TALKING ABOUT THIS.

"This might sound wild." Lloyd talks like me. He is me.

I hate Egalt lowkey.

COLE AND GEO MAKE ME MELLLT.

THE LITTLE STOMP THAT COLE DOES TO MAKE A SEAT FOR GEO IS SO COOL. It's a creative way to use his powers.

Cole is always finding a way to touch Geo, have yall noticed?

Okay I'm still lost as to why Ras wants the Forbidden Five. Was that ever explained or did I just forget.

"Not funny, Wyldfyre." "Not joking, Sora." I love that interaction.

Rontu looks like a Zelda character. This season is NOT beating the Zelda allegations.

"They are not dragons." LLOYD IS LITERALLY PART DRAGON.

Hate Egalt, love Rontu.

How are the wolf masks breaking through when only Geo can un fuse something? Is it because of their shattered souls? I don't get it.

Zaneeee with the plush is soooo cute.

WOLF MASK JUMPSCARE.

Also, haven't mentioned this before, but the credits music is always so good.

ANOTHER EPISODE COMPLETE! I think what Iove most about this episode is that it literally just confirms how much Geo misses Cole and also that he is so down bad. Literally. Who stares at a picture of "just a friend" that much. He's in love.

This episode has the moment that I hate most because they ignore that Lloyd has dragon blood. I know he's not full dragon, but it's worth mentioning, right? Especially since Arin has very obvious Oni symbolism. Lloyd already had his Oni moment, but his dragon side has pretty much never been addressed. I need part 2 of this season to bring it up. Because the fact that it's being forgotten is annoying me, especially since the show has brought up past seasons before. (Morro, Tournament of Elements).

[saline-coelacanth]

Ok, actual thoughts on the new episodes. Spoilers under the cut

JAAAAAAY AAAAAAA!!! NOOOOO COME BACK!!!!!

In all seriousness though, LOVED seeing Jay being evil. That line delivery on "And I will always hate you" sent chills holy crap it was so good

And HOLY CRAP ARIN???? BUDDY??? AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Arin's whole arc this season was so good, I was doubting actual Arin villain arc but here we are. He's literally siding with Ras now

Which reminds me: What the hell did Wu do??? Apparently he caused the merge but we don't know how or why, so I'm interested in seeing how that plays out

I freaking love Roby so much he's so silly. I also think him and Wyldfyre are adorable, which I was very cautious about their relationship so I'm glad it was enjoyable

Also was not expecting Kai and Bonzle to escape so soon. I genuinely thought they'd be in there until season 3, but that's ok because Kai's return was SO BADASS OMG

KAI I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Speaking of characters I love FRACK YOU WERE GREAT I LOVE YOU! I was really worried he was gonna be actually evil but no, he's such a good kid just on the wrong side of the fight. I'm glad he didn't go through with the shatterspin

Cinder was really fun, I love that guy. I hope we get to see more of him he was silly

Ras became such a more interesting character to me I NEED to know more about him. And the way he manipulated Arin was just AAAAAA it was so good

And Arin figuring out how to use Spinjitzu, not because of Lloyd's teachings but because of Ras' was just GKGHJK

I forget the exact line, but Lloyd being all happy that Arin figured out spinjitzu only for Arin to coldly reply "Not because of you" or something like that was just OOMF it was so good

Nokt was cool, so was his sister who's name I'm forgetting. I remember it was similar to Nokt's but I can't remember it. I'm upset we never learned what Nokt's elemental power is though, that was upsetting.

A lot of the new elemental powers were... kinda weird ngl, but I guess there's only so much you can come up with so I'm not gonna complain too much

ALSO almost forgot to mention Zeatrix. I like the twist with her, I'm just annoyed that she looks EXACLTY like Beatrix, like come on. She literally had different hair in the flashback, they changed it just to throw us off and it annoys me

Geo is great, he's always a plus even if he didn't do much. I like that he went on a little date with Cole and they found Lily's mech, that was cute

Uhhhh I wish Zane did more. My guy literally did like... nothing at all. Hopefully he gets more stuff to do in season 3 because he has just had NOTHING so far

Those are kind of my main thoughts right now. This is a little more frazzled than my thought related posts tend to be, but I was also not prepared to be watching the second half of the season today so I blame that. Really excited for season 3 because Jay is FINALLY gonna stay here for more than an episode, right? He has to, right? As a Jay fan, I cannot handle any more of this, please I need him to come home

[parachutingkitten]

Okay, this has been bothering me, and I'm gonna go into it, cuz I feel like being mad that the fandom didn't get better is friggin valid, so imma get negative here at some serious missed potential, if that's not your jam, 100% get it, please scroll past.

We have a season with 20 episodes, each of which are 20 minutes long. That is an unprecedented amount of time for a ninjago season- I would argue maybe too much time, but that's not what we're getting into here. Even just the first half is the length of your standard ninjago season back in the day. There is no excuse for not taking your time with ideas that deserve time. You've got time. You've got too much time.

If you're gonna do a mystical mind prison that traps you in your worst fears, you gotta do it! You can't do this wimpy half commit thing you're doing here. What is this cop out that's like three minutes long? This is a top tier trope! Loads of stories do this- for a good reason, it's a great way to get lots of new insight into your characters, not to mention have fun with environments, hypotheticals, bend logic, and do some creative filmmaking. And here you are, inventing a whole weird fictional animal to facilitate your nightmare state, and it legitimately takes up so little screen time that it hurts! What? Did you not have enough to say about your characters to fill out a full subplot? You thinking that surface level about things? Or was the basketball tournament fake out with the dragons so important to the story that you couldn't cut it out for some character introspection?

It's so short and pointless, it doesn't functionally do anything except tell us very directly "Here's what this character fears, and will have to get past this season!" No looking into why or making some progress/losing progress on the issue in the dream state. We don't even get to see everyone's visions, let alone see any interconnectivity between them. It's just such a waste of a classically exciting set up. And why on earth would you place this concept at the beginning of the season? Put it at the turning point man! That's what this scenario is made for! Literalizing characters overcoming mental challenges so that it's interesting to watch! Using the nightmare dream sphere for exposition in the most boring possible version of the trope is just dumbfounding.

I mean seriously? The black void? That's all you've got? You gonna go the Cars 2 route and set our supposedly deep nightmare sequence in a black void? No symbolism to the void even? No distorting of visuals within the void? Nothing? Can you get any more basic? Did you really put that little creativity into this? Like, the whole point of the nightmare dreamscape is to get creative! So much symbolism and messaging that you can easily tie into things! the possibilities are literally endless! But yeah, I guess Arin running in place is pretty meaningful too, I'm sure it took you a while to come up with something so profound.

There's a reason this story beat usually makes up at least half the plot of any given episode it's in! There's so much room to explore. The potential for crosscutting between nightmares is so high, drawing parallels between characters. Maybe they're all interconnected, and the mentally strongest of the team breaks free to help the others in their nightmares. Maybe it's a revelation point for the rest of the team as they see a dark past of another character they didn't know about. Or maybe it's just the audience who gets new insight into a sheltered corner of a character's mind, or a way to reveal to them a dark secret someone is hiding. You can also have fun subverting expectations, maybe one of the nightmares is just objectively pretty funny. And, the best thing about any dream environment you're creating, you can have the characters get involved in insanely creative fights and action scenes where they literally beat up their mental roadblocks with cool looking and symbolically important powers or tools.

Like, I know the fandom is losing their mind over this scene because 'omg Nya's gonna be so sad cuz of the memory loss(that hasn't even been revealed in narrative yet, so the irony doesn't even really work)' but I just need you to understand that the full fledged angst, character growth, and introspection y'all are speculating could have theoretically happened in Kai's plot is what we could have had for everyone. For a full episode. Like it deserved to be. And it would have been really cool, and really satisfying, and beautifully and symbolically stunning, because countless other people have done it, it's honestly not too difficult. Stop freaking out like they did a good job with this- they didn't do a good job with this. They couldn't even bother to give everyone a vision, they just gave up on the concept halfway through.

Not to mention how accessible and valuable this type of storytelling is to kids! Literalizing some of the big abstract issues these characters are supposedly battling this season would be a great way to get kids to grasp these ideas, but instead it's literally like two and a half minutes of slightly ominous stuff to bate us before we move on.

Stop teasing us with interesting stuff and then not actually following through! This is not how you do storytelling!

[grimreaperofroleplay]

I think a lot of people forget Jay could just zap someone to death if he felt like it.

Cuz I keep seeing the finger being pointed at Jay about being the weakest in the team, I mean I can see why people think that but honestly I really don't think he's the weakest I don't think any of the ninja is, there is no weakest but there is a strongest, but the point is the first 4 ninja's power level are most likely the same while Lloyd is the most powerful

Whilst their (the first 4) power level are the same, it depends on how they use it, like cole for example uses his power in significant ways and doesn't over do it so he doesn't cause significant damage to the surrounding.

while Zane uses his powers when needed, to not cause places to have ice everywhere, and uses logic when his power isn't needed.

while Kai uses his power in what way he feels like but is great at controlling the fire within so he doesn't cause too much destruction or a fire

And Jay uses his power in a way he's comfortable with, and in small portions enough to take out enemies but not cause further or permanent harm

And pointing this out, Jay is the one pulling his punches the most as everyone on of the ninja's are pulling their punches, to make it enough to not cause too much harm and since they are pulling their punches the one that would have to pull their punches most it Jay

Since Jay takes on control of lighting, it's a significant power source and can easily electrocute people if not careful, he is needed to pull his punches most cuz if he doesn't he might just accidentally kill someone if he uses just a bit too much lighting

Why I am talking about this is about the thing coming up in dragon's rising season 2 do be warned spoilers ahead

So it's stated that Jay will be a villain in this new season and that's exciting for a lot of us since Jay only had like 30 seconds of screen time last season, but I've seen a lot of people debating if he'd even be able to take on the ninjas or solo then at all

And honestly I think he could, because think about. If Jay is always pulling his punches as a ninja what would he be like as the villain?

Since he doesn't know who the ninja's are his objective is to follow orders and those orders could be anything, and nothing is holding him back because he doesn't remember the ninjas but they remember him

And if you had watched Dr S1 you'd know from the ending the monastery had a South wing but Arin said "but the monastery doesn't have a South wing?" And Lloyd replied with "Not after my friend Jay trained there"

So if Jay could destroy a fucking wing of the monastery because he hypothetically didn't pull his punches, what could he do? What is he capable of? Cuz it takes a lot of power to do something like that, power I'm sure all of them have, but that just comes to show how much Jay is actually holding back just so he doesn't accidentally kill someone

And like this is not gonna go well at all, and honestly? I'm excited to see how any of this will go cuz honestly seeing Jay finally get some character development is going to be great after whatever trauma he was shoved with last

This season is gonna be a really interesting one, especially for the Jay fans

[rainofthetwilight]

LEVI I WANNA GIVE YOU TRAMUA ABOUT ARIN

So, we all know that Arin is struggling to improve his spinjitzu and he feels useless and just wants his parents back.

…He feels jealous. And we know that he doesn’t have an elemental power according to Doc Wyatt.

And he will *probably* fight Sora if he finds out that Sora “helped” his Object Spinjitzu.

What I see from Arin is that he is slowly getting traumatized..

And I have multiple questions from where Arin’s arc is going.

My biggest question is, is the ninja holding Arin him back or his parents holding him back? I think it both.

Not to mention that there is so much foreshadowing to Arin’s arc.

And why do I imagine Arin is just trapped in like, a cage full of insecurities, or trauma? And I can imagine that he can’t get out of that cage.

Ras said that Arin is not improving since the first time they met, Egalt said that Arin is useless, Sora is improving and might be able to learn spinjitzu, and most importantly, Lloyd’s and Arin’s relationship is slowly falling apart like Wu and Morro.

My poor Arin is just having one HECK of a trauma here. And I swear to the Fsm if the writers gives Arin has even more trauma in season 2 part 2 than part 1 I will throw a chair.

But who knows…? Someone said that it was a cannon event that every sunshine character has an angst arc.

Sorry for making you insane, Levi I just wanted to share this idea with you just for fun.

And also, do you think that Arin is going through 5 stages of grief or..? Idk, I wanted to ask you and tell me what’s your thoughts on this.

AHDHAJDBJAJDJAJSNANA YEAH I'M. I'M NOT OKAY RN 👍👍👍

also absolutely do NOT apologize for making me insane I am literally loving these asks so much bro SHDJAJDJW 😭 I love analysing silly lil lego characters w/ you all <333

the thing about the foreshadowing is that it actually feels very intentional, like obv I know foreshadowing is pretty much always intentional but like..you get what I mean?

they are constantly reminding us how much of a great person arin is, in s1 especially. he's a good friend, he's kind, he trusts people quickly, always has that hope in him and so much more. something is definitely going to happen, even if the whole sora helping him thing didn't happen, he is going to be put through the wringer whether if he actually gets an evil arc or not

plus, he already is traumatized. loosing your parents and neighborhood all in one day while navigating an entire new world with so many new places and people on your own (at first) , while only being atleast 10 years old, is pretty traumatizing all in itself. but even after all of these years, he still had hope, he still had hope that his parents and heros could come back. and guess what? his heros did come back, and what did he exactly say again?

''if I loose hope the ninja could come back, then I loose hope that my parents could come back."

even after the ninja came back, his parents didn't. all these years he relied on his hope for the ninja to come back to bring his parents back aswell, but their whereabouts are still unknown. add that to the extreme pressure of saving the world from ending and the amount of self doubt he has, that's when the shell of his hope finally began to crack

in s1, the return of the ninja gave him even more hope than he had before. he was still excited and animated, and finally got his dreams to come true (becoming a ninja). the thought of his parents holding him back didn't plague him as much as now, because that hope in him was still there and it only grew stronger each adventure. but now, even after a long while since the ninja had came back, his parents were nowhere to be found. and that just hurts

dude the insecurities part AGHDJS...the weight of being a ninja was finally becoming heavy on his shoulder and that only added to his frustration and anger of not being good enough. he sees his friends around him improve, and be useful in a way, unlike how he had failed time and time again without achieving results. and with egalt calling him useless and ras constantly reminding him how he still hadn't improved, and he feels jealous even tho he doesn't want to, and it just made everything worse.

I'm also thinking abt how sora accidently reminded him of how he didn't imporve aswell, by saying "your spinjitzu is just as good as when I met you!". and even though she meant it in absolute good faith, that's just it to arin. that's it, he was still in the same level he was the first time, he didn't improve. and with how he got angry at her when she was only trying to cheer him up after what happened, I can't even imagine what would happen if the news of that spinjitzu throw help thing comes out

ALSO. ARIN GOING THROUGH THE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF. DUDE NOW THAT I THINK ABT IT..

anon had also sent an ask abt this too!!!

so like, now that I actually think abt it, what if that hope was actually just a cover of his denial? the five stages as we all know are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance in that order. so like...what if that hope wasn't really hope, but instead a disguise for denial?

whenever the topic of his parents came up, especially in s1, he kept denying the fact they wouldn't come back. same with the ninja, he still believed they were out there

and now in s2, we see his self doubt and his trauma catch onto him. we saw how angry he was at himself, even to the point of shoving lloyd away when trying to comfort him and almost snapping at sora when she was trying to do the same. we don't see much of that 'hope' like in s1 anymore. it's much more..sadder, more angrier even

and with all this, he's most definitely going through them, now on the second stage. first in denial of his parents and the ninja not returning, and now anger at himself and the world for hating him like this

when I tell you I am so so excited to see what they do with arin's arc w/ all of this going on for his character I am not lying bro, I'm so insane AHDJSKDJJW 😭👍

[jamisafan]

Okay, it's time for my thoughts on Dragons Rising part 2. (This is super long by the way.)

(Spoilers below the cut.)

I'll get into my Cole rant in a bit because, oh boy, do I have things to say. But Soras story feels too important to leave for last.

Sora's story can reach out to so many different people that have issues with their parents and that kids really don't owe their parents anything. Sora is one of THE BEST role models I've ever seen in a cartoon. The fact that all her problems still weren't solved when she cut contact with her parents is realistic. The fact that they didn't give her parents a redemption was satisfying. And her just actually coming to the conclusion that she doesn't need to have her biological family in her life was beautiful. You are able to choose your family, and Sora showed that perfectly. Her character is amazing, and I don't even have the words to describe how absolutely beautiful her character is. She is perfect, and it makes me all emotional and stuff. I love her 😢

Arin has so much potential, and I think his whole spinjitzu thing is super important and cool. I think he'll get the MK treatment, maybe get thrown into an identity crisis, the works. Maybe he has a whole chosen one thing like Lloyd, who knows. All I know is that I love him and his little fan boy heart.

Kai and WyldFyres relationship is so great. I love seeing how far Kai has come and him referencing Nya becoming the ocean and how Master Wu helped him work through his emotions. This was exactly what the show needed. And having Kai be WyldFyres mentor was a fantastic choice because they are seriously alike in many way. Their struggle with not being patient and their hot headedness just gives me life. Kai has a freaking kid, and there little reunion hug was so freaking cute oh my god!!!!

I felt like Nya should have had a worse reaction to seeing a Djinn again. She was definitely traumatized from that, but maybe this was also some good closure for her, seeing that not all Djinn are evil creepy monsters. Nya and Soras' relationship is cool, too

Zane needs some more done with him. I need them to address the weird egg thing he hatched out of, but hopefully, it will be resolved soon. I think Zane got pushed to the side a bit, and it felt like he was jumping everywhere (like, he was just, at the administration? I know he got in trouble for portal stuff, but..... yeah). I'm sure he will get something eventually.

Lloyd is someone I never know how to talk about because he's just such a main character that it makes him less interesting to me. Don't get me wrong I love him, and him working on becoming the master of the monetary is cool and stuff. But he still needs a form of closure from past seasons, especially with garmadon. Unless they never bring him back then that's chill. I love garmadon but he always causes so much problems. Lloyd is learning how to be a good teacher though and that's really sweet.

Jay is a sassy shit Manger, and I love it. Can't wait to see more with him.

And Cole........ Cole is perfect in everything single way, and no one can deny that. Like actually, if someone doesn't like Cole from Ninjago, that's a red flag. He ended up in the place of lost things. THATS PERFECT FOR HIM! Cole Who almost got forgotten by everyone he loves, who literally ran away from home. It's perfect! He's perfect! He's the best! I love him! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! And now he's going on his own mission to follow Master Wus voice and figure out why the earth is screaming?!?!? God I love him. He's the best 😢

Also, I've had thoughts and ideas about Cole hearing the earth screaming, and I'm SUPER curious to see what that means.

Okay, now that I've ranted about how perfect Cole is...... I need to say it.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Them.

I already made a post about this but I'll never get over how perfect they are. It felt borderline canon.

People are talking about how Cole just straight up left him to chase master Wu, but I'm positive that Cole either talked to the others beforehand or right after leaving Nya about it. About how he would totally come back for them and figure out some way for them to leave the land of lost things and get in all those good tearful see you laters.

If Geo doesn't come back I will fucking riot. And I'm not one to swear super often. Mostly for dramatic effect. So you know I'm serious. Geo and Cole left me feeling high for days. I need them in my life. They can't just introduce new characters and then LEAVE THEM!!?!?!!?!!!?

Anyways, my full ale thought on Dragons Rising.

It was good. It felt risky at first to add all these new characters, especially main ones but they did it perfectly. I love me a well paced story that doesn't feel like it's going to fast or slow. Beatrix's story is very interesting but I'm still super excited to see what happens with my boy Lord Ras. He's just so cool and evil and stuff :D I wonder who his boss is?

The show felt somewhat nostalgic but also super fresh and the writing was good.

Also

Does anyone know what this symbol is? I can't tell if this is new or if I'm just stupid and it's been there before. Sorry if it's a dumb question.

[mislamicpearl]

Thoughts about Ninjago DR S2 eps 18-20 (finale):

I'll put the summary here so the spoilers can stay hidden. Overall, I think this might be my favorite part of Dragons Rising so far. So many things have been improved upon by leagues from season 1, with the villains being more likable, the setting and plot way more interesting, the new characters growing into their own, no more filler side plots, even the humor is better. While of course it wasn't flawless it is finally making me excited and eager to see the next season, rather than cautious and apprehensive, and not even just because I want to see the OG characters, but because I'm genuinely invested in the new gen ones.

And now for the spoilers:

Lmao Zeatrix went all uwu suddenly with that apology. But it is nice to see she's not an all the way bad person like her sister (maybe). Wonder what she'll do now?

Wyldfyre schooling her on how to apologize was so cute haha. And her suggestion of punishment hilarious. (Also when are we going to get more about how she grew up??)

It's fun seeing Wyldfyre and Arin as a duo together (despite how sad it is that Arin is still rebuffing Sora).

"Normal people lock doors. I was raised by dragons and even I know that." So many good Wyldfyre moments in this episode.

Okay Lloyd is unconscious but Zane and Cole are RIGHT THERE to help you instead Sora, you know they're spinjitzu masters too right? Heck they LITERALLY used to be teachers at one point!

Aw, Frak is a good boy actually, I like him.

The way Sora balanced on her tiptoes at the edge like that was cool haha

When Jordana handed Sora the note with the math equation on it my sister said "Sora, help me with my homework", and for some reason that made me and my other sister crack up so much we had to pause the video.😆

Yeah knew it, Roby was a red herring, of course the old guy who likes tradition is the bad one.🙄

Ahahaha Arin jumping on the exercise ball and it launching away was too real. XD

I'm not a fan of shows making young characters not know what older technology is, so I was glad that Arin called it a rotary phone, BUT it was also funny when Wyldfyre said she still doesn't know what they are because in HER case it actually makes sense.

Also my sisters reminded me that Lloyd, who's likely close to a decade older than Arin, didn't know what a VHS tape is, which makes it even funnier.

Woah woah woah what the heck that evil lair was DISTURBING, bro wants to murder his own nephew!

Love we're still continuing the joke that no one can remember Jordana's name.

Yooooo Lloyd saw Arin betraying him in a vision!😭 This boy is going to get traumatized worse than Wu with Morro.

Oh okay, Cole temporarily got his powers back through the Chekhov's gun mech, sure. I mean it's not the first time characters have gotten their powers back after losing them just through sheer will, and you know what, this isn't even the worst way it's been done, so whatever. Also guess the mech really did belong to Lilly.

Lloyd used wind!!! That feels SO satisfying somehow. Just imagine Morro's reaction if he'd seen. XD

Yikes, freaky mask...

Wyldfyre is a smart cookie with that switcheroo.

Oh my gosh, Cole's reaction to seeing Wu was so sweet, he missed him so much.😭

He really asked if he died omg

Sora's apology to Jordana was so sweet, I hope she heard it all.

Zur is revealed to actually be a very nice guy haha. (Had to search up his name though, seriously why are all the names of the new characters so unintelligible?)

I like that Arin feeling even more betrayed that Lloyd didn't immediately leave Sora's fight to deal with his revelation that Wu caused the merge, felt believable; he's young and already not in a good mental space right now, and mixed with his anger at Sora and not having learned proper spinjitzu from Lloyd, it's no wonder he'd feel especially bitter towards Lloyd not giving him more credence in favor of helping Sora, the new golden child, even if that's not what Lloyd was doing. Like really, Arin's whole "turning to the dark side" arc is written crazy good!

Lmao why was Geo cheering Nokt's win??

Nothing like making sure the audience knows your new protagonist is better than the old ones by having the previous protagonist tell her so. Hey I know that's just Lloyd trying to be a good teacher by encouraging her after her loss but still, that line felt kinda self-indulgent on the writers' part.

What do you know, someone evil took all the powers and stopped you from taking them back with the cup, Roby. Actually, what's the point in giving all the powers to the winner in the end when they're gonna return to their original owners anyway? It's not like they'd need them to fight.

So uhhh was it PLANNED by Nokt and Rox for Sora the tech master to be their final opponent? Cause there's no way they could've known that (especially considering her first match was rigged to sway in her opponent's favor), much less that she would've used her powers to remove the shock collar thingy.

DANG Ras not holding back with that warhammer, that looked painful! XD

Nya came back! Without Jay but I'm glad she's not missing the finale.

Again, Frak is a good boy. He deserved to say that "ninja go"

"I sincerely detest rising dragon" lmao at that line delivery XD

Oh my God Roby, how long does it really take to activate that cup thing?? Stop talking and just do it!

THAT 360 FIGHT AGAINST NOKT WAS SO COOL!

"How did you learn perfect spinjitzu?" "Not from you." BRO I KNOW I WANTED ARIN TO THROW IT IN HIS FACE BUT THAT WAS SO COOOOLD!!😩

Okayyy see Wyldfyre roaring in Roby's face instead of going for the kiss? That's more in character for her and really funny. And Roby just going with it? Very sweet.Still, glad this is going to stay a long distance relationship.

KAAAAIIII! Kai coming to save their butts! Kai soloing Nokt! Kai saying "don't you dare touch her"!!!

Nokt really said he would end Kai with his own daughter's powers, I can't

Love Euphrasia taking out Cinder immediately after they got their powers back. XD Good girl!

I really felt Lloyd and Sora's heartbreaking cries for Arin, it's just like seeing a father and daughter losing their son/brother.😭

Awwww the group hug tackle on Kai!

But... I'm a little disappointed Kai and Cole couldn't get their own moment together, since they're reuniting for the first time after the merge.

Aww but the Cole and Bonzle hug was cute.

Look, I don't dislike Sora as a character or anything, but calling her the "greatest elemental master of the merged realms" isn't sitting right with me. She only won by default against Nokt, without even knowing rising dragon technique, and probably would've lost to Frak too if he hadn't had a change of heart. The entire tournament was purposefully written so that she'd be the winner; Nya would've beaten Nokt if Blekt hadn't cheated, and Lloyd was disqualified for being injured, not even to speak again of how Zane was taken out like garbage for no reason in the first round, without it even having been rigged like Cole's game was. Maybe this wouldn't bother me so much if Sora wasn't designed to look so obviously appealing to the "new gen" crowd with her pink-haired catgirl thing going on, I mean she looks just like an overly designed fan OC, but the fact that she's a child genius, and always being told by others how amazing she is - except of course by the people who were completely wrong about her and were getting in the way of her potential - and now being celebrated as "the best" mostly by circumstance... is kinda making her dangerously close to becoming a special snowflake in my book.

Oh hey it's Frohicky lol. Can't say I really felt his absence.🤷‍♀️

Love that Kai promised Nya they'd find Jay together, best big brother for real.

Lloyd already putting Arin's picture up like he departed, what is it with these ninja overreacting 🤣

*chants* ev-il Ar-in ev-il Ar-in!

[paragox]

I've been thinking about this since 2025 leaks were out and since rn I'm waiting for a client's response and my phone to charge I figured I would just go ahead to share it.

So I think some of the faults one could have with Dragons Rising can be because of the fact is working as both a sequel and a soft reboot so it's trying to keep old fans and bring in new fans.

Overall I think it's been doing an amazing work at that, but it kinda affects the writing at times.

For example a new fan won't know anything about the Ninja or anything that happen prior, this isn't much of a problem, old fans get a bonus of getting the references and getting hyped for old folks or themes and stuff.

But it can bring problems when writing a character or scene, or even managing the amount of characters, this is up to P1 S2 btw and I won't be including leaks info so no spoilers there.

One instance we can see this is Zane, on one hand I truly believe they're playing the long game with him and we will see more evolution of him as next season rolls round, Doc said it himself "we will be rolling in and out characters according to the plot", but as of right now he's not... Zane, at least not the Nindroid we know, he's been in the sidelines as has been incredibly robotic, yay.

Cole is another one in a lower instance, he's there w the finders but... that's it, he doesn't do much tbh and I won't blame any kid whose watching Ninjago for the first time and says he's not his favourite, because they haven't seen him shine.

And then there's Jay, which is in a kind of limbo, one one hand the new watchers might get interested in him because everything surrounding him is suspicious on the other hand there's not much to care since he's been on screen like 2min over two seasons, but I've seen characters been the same amount of time on screen and still loved so.

But here's the thing, we gotta slowly show his character, the old one, the ninja side of him, but he's amnesic and not the focus rn so how? Enter Nya, this, I believe, is the reason why the fear section was used to bring in Jaya, sure in part is because is for the emotional punch but on the other hand serves well enough as a first time exposition for new watchers on Jaya and how these two characters are correlated.

We can argue about Nya writing all we want all day, but all in all I don't think it's that bad in DR, instead you could argue she's being used as a tool for exposition and such why we got that scene. Some of the writers here worked on Seabound, I really don't think she's being that misunderstood as some people might make her be.

Because of the two when one is not there the non-functional one is Jya, not Nya as she tends to resort to Anger when something happens, and she's been working just fine these years, especially because she grew up having to be self-sufficient at an early age, she misses him but it's not really crippling her.

I could argue they're just not showing their worst deepest fears because on a character analysis there are usually something related to stuff like self-doubt, isolation, etc.

The fears we see in DR are used as plot points and honestly with that in mind it doesn't bother me as much as it could've if I stick with the "oh this is my worst deepest fear ever", "of course is Jay, of course is Zeatrix, of course is Arin's parents", they're valid fears, but they're not the deepest, they're however points to have in mind for next seasons.

I also see they're going on a very long run story, it reminds of a book or a visual novel, plot points open, some close, other more are open and some won't come back to closure until you're 20hrs+ into the story and you're reminded of it.

I don't think that's bad, basically is a long waiting game, sure DR does have a pacing problem at times, especially in parts 1 (I hate you ep 6 of s2) but for what I've watched it's not the worst thing, it might work better or worse but at my eyes is just another narrative structure than the self-conclusive one we're mostly used to and honestly? I think they're doing a decent job at it.

We're gonna see plot points be shoved aside until they're relevant again, we're gonna see characters sidelined during half a season or a season until they bring them back, we're gonna slowly get answers as the parts go on and some mysteries might not even get answers and I think that's okay.

[cboffshore]

Both Djinn and Oni are seen as evil in the show but they don’t necessarily have to be. I wonder if there’s a Dragon-adjacent species in the Realms? If I squint, you can put Arin who’s Oni-coded with Lloyd’s old helmet or whatever with Nya and Sora with…whoever. But she’s Dragon-coded, AND Creation coded to Arin’s hypothetical Destruction. If I squint really hard I swear you can give Arin a character arc with Nya there’s gotta be more than just them not having any real powers at the start of the show.

I feel like my certified big brain bestie @nyaskitten would also enjoy this ask (and probably with WAY more coherence than me) so I'm inviting them to the party as well.

Before Raine shows up, here's my handful of assorted thoughts about this ask (under the cut for DRS1 spoilers:)

Regarding the Oni-Djinn-Dragon spectrum you imply and that I am about to run away with: what if the djinn are actually the MIDPOINT of that hypothetical range? I'm suggesting this because our sample size for djinn is so small right now (in order of appearance we ONLY have Jackass Supreme, Mr. Expo-Dump-And-Die, and Arrakore (who I do not yet have a funny summarizing nickname for because he's got like ten minutes of screentime under his belt), which isn't enough for me to extrapolate from) and we really don't have a TON of information to suggest that they lean one way or another as a collective. (Obviously if we get a montage of a bunch of resurrected djinn proving that Arrakore is the outlier by, I dunno, committing grand tax fraud or something, THEN we can make an overall assumption.) They do, however, display visual indicators of both Oni and Dragon - Nadakhan's finale evil magic ball things are destruction purple and Arrakore's magic manifests as bright creation gold - and generally otherworldly powers, although we don't know how universal they are. Nadakhan is the only one we ever see using most of the non wish-granting abilities like shapeshifting and teleportation (that reminds me, I still need to get that magic gatekeeping theory out!), but I'd assume that that early Skybound line where all Kai knows of djinn is that they're "sneaky and have great power" probably means this isn't a one-off thing. Anyway, back on track - I do agree that the djinn lean towards the Oni side given what little we've seen so far, but that evidence field is so small that any hint of Dragon coding in there could tip it. And Arrakore might not have done much yet, but I do think he's contributing to the Dragon side and dragging their alignment closer to the middle of the scale.

Regarding the Arin thing: I fully agree that Arin could have a killer connection with Nya right now, but I actually like that his arc is a bit disconnected from the rest of the team at the moment! Ninjago has always had a funky problem of shoving protagonists into relationships straight off the bat, whether that be romantic or not, so it's interesting that Arin's a bit emotionally isolated. He's very much trying to sort himself out, which isn't something I really remember getting in the first fifteen seasons. I feel like that's going to be a huge part of season 2 and I'm really curious to see how it's handled! Too curious to speculate, really, but that might change later, and I do love what you're going for here.

That was kind of a mess, but I hope it made some sense! Thanks for the ask!

[imminent-danger-came]

what did dragons rising specifically do to get such vitriol

I hate it's dialogue specifically me thinks (the humor and the ''we are stating everything that is happening out loud over and over and over again"). It's also like...a lot of the og ninja's dialogue are written in a way so that their characters all feel the same, entire episodes achieve pretty much nothing but inching the plot along, arcs are fairly stagnant, we have boring characters with bits I don't care much for—but it's very much a kids show and there's not much more too it. We're going to have a 5 minute schlapstick action scene to fill out the runtime. We're going to have multiple episodes dedicated to learning how to be a good friend and that you shouldn't treat others badly. And that's fine, it can be that, it's not trying to be anything more for the most part, I just have a deep-seated spite for n*njago in relation to Monkie Kid (I know they're both lego shows, but LMK is just not comparable).

I went into Dreamzzz expecting the same issues, but it was surprisingly a lot more watchable for me! Maybe n*njago has just been going on for so long we no longer have any ideas on what to do with these characters, but Dreamzzz has a distinct dynamic with it's main cast between Mateo, Logan, and Cooper that I appreciated. Watching the first ep and learning that Cooper and Mateo were estranged friends because Cooper became close with Mateo's bully Logan...like something is actually happening here. And it happens across multiple episodes. Arin hasn't learned how to use object spinjitsu in 1 and a half seasons—which would be okay if we did anything else with his character. But he can only be self-conscious for so long until I'm like. Please do something with him. And I know, it's a silly kids show I shouldn't spend energy criticizing it, but it's the proximity to Monkie Kid that makes me feel crazy. Sea Nya also exists, and that arc resolution was so good, but it's like. for what reason. Nothing else in n*njago (that I've seen) is like that. Nya sacrificed herself to become one with the ocean, losing her love for the people she cares about. It's played straight, AND we even have an episode dissecting her feelings on becoming the sea—even if the ocean has no morality or understanding of right or wrong, the drop of the sea that is Nya will still save a sailor falling overboard. The only reason she lost her humanity and breath in the first place was so she could give breath back to Jay. Idk. Surprise Sea Nya rant. Dragon rising is sooooo fucking empty brother.

[destinygoldenstar]

Okay I’m going to make this quick because I’m stuck with a ton of work shifts this week, and my GF is currently sick, so I want to rewatch it with her. Now that she’s a fan. So it’ll take me some time to gather full thoughts in details. Sorry, but life is like that.

So if you want my thoughts nicely:

(Dragons Rising Spoilers)

HOLY GOSH THAT WAS A LOT. Like, there is A LOT of details to impact in just this one season. But I gotta say. I had SO MUCH FUN.

Like, OMG, this is the most hyped I’ve ever been about Ninjago since the Oni Trilogy.

I think the thing I love the most about the sequel show is that it’s GREAT for a new generation of kids to get into the show. Just as the original show did for us.

Not only does the merge make the story fairly disconnected to the original show but it’s also a great change of pace of PURE UNAPOLOGETIC CHAOS.

Seriously, they throw SO MUCH at you at once that I can’t process any of it.

It’s great for new kids not familiar with the original show to get into Ninjago. You don’t have to know anything to enjoy it. You can still get invested in these new characters taking center stage, and just treat the old ones like assistant side characters that are also very likeable.

If you don’t know anything and are just getting into the show, it’s a chaotic fun watch with head rushes in a good way, and characters easy to digest and like.

If you DO know the original show, your reactions likely range from breath snatched to FANGIRLING.

And that’s basically me.

Like, NO OTHER SHOW have I EVER been THIS fan girly over the tiniest details.

To give a quick rundown of my fangirl moments:

LLOYD’S FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE SHOW

LLOYD AND KAI’S REUNION HUG

THE WIND GIRL

LLOYD SMOTHERING KAI THAT ONE TIME

THAT ONE MOMENT WHERE KAI IMITATES WU

ZANE SHOWING UP

THE FLASHBACK WITH LLOYD AND WU AND WHEN WU’S GHOST APPEARS TO CALM LLOYD

LLOYDS DRAGON VISION

THIS HIGH FIVE BETWEEN KAI AND WILDFYRE

ARIN GETTING HIS MASK

ZANE MENTIONING PIXAL

LLOYD'S REACTION TO NEVER TELLING THEM ABOUT HIS INHERITAGE

KAI BRINGING UP HOW HE DEALT WITH HIS GRIEF OVER NYA

COLE. JUST COLE. COLE HAS A GOLEM FORM. COLE HAS KIDS. COLE HAS A… IMPLIED BOYFRIEND. EVERY TIME HE AND GEO INTERACT. (Tears were in my eyes when he showed up)

THE GOODBYE BETWEEN NYA AND COLE

JAYS CAMEO

SORA STANDING UP AGAINST HER PARENTS

ARIN GOT THE LAST HIT ON BEATRIX

SO. MANY. HUGS.

I… I just… I’m sorry. It’s too much. Too much awesomeness. That’s why I wanted to do separate posts and wait till I was in a good position in life. Because… holy gosh this season is PACKED. And CHAOS. But I want you to know that I DID heavily enjoy all of it.