ninjas-and-coffee

[ninjas-and-coffee]

[ninjas-and-coffee]

You know that feeling when you don't draw for like 2 months and forget how to do it, so your style changes randomly. This is that

[ninjas-and-coffee]

Hi can I hear more about your retelling of Ninjago?

Yeah absolutly though im not sure what about it you'd like to hear so I'll just start from the beginning lmao.

(1: Way of the Ninja)The Pilots follow Kai and Nya who have heard stories about the undead rising and stealing people away in the dead of night. Nya believes it to be myth, while Kai is nervous and stays up late at night to keep watch. They go to a market near their village to sell weapons and wind up staying out too late, and get attacked by the undead. Kai briefly holds his own by using fire, before a set of figures in black descend from the trees and fight off the skeletons. Nya is stolen and Kai is badly injured, he's taken to the monastery of spinjitzu for healing and meets the others. He stresses the need to go find his sister and Wu shows up dramatically in the doorway to say that the underworld cannot be easily accessed by mortals and then asks how he got his fire. Kai doesn't know, just that he was born with it.

The story from here is Kai recovering from his injuries and inadvertently becoming acquainted with the other ninja. Kai also knows there must be another way into the underworld and goes through Wu's scrolls and finds one that says dragons can pass through realms. So all he needs is a dragon. Kai recklessly tries to perform a ritual fire dance/art to summon the Dragon of Fire (Protector of Flames) and is stopped by one of the others. Wu says that was dangerous because if he summoned the fire dragon and was deemed unworthy he would be killed. Kai is dejected but Wu agrees to teach him the Way of the Ninja. (roll credits)

(2: The Weaons of Destiny)After that Wu figures they should all find the elemental dragons and travel to the underworld to stop the skeletons from stealing more people. BUT, the ninja are young and inexperienced, so they need weapons to channel their gifts and use them properly so they go to each respective temple (where the original dragons were found, minus the dragons themselves.) to get their weapons. Weapons of prophecy only to be wielded by the new Protectors of the Realm. Kai doesn't care about the prophecy only Nya so when they near the temple of fire and he hears a voice he runs to it without backup. Garmadon taunts him, Nya is in peril, Kai fights the shadow by creating light with his element until Wu shows. He doesn't get Nya back she is taken by Garmadon and told to come down to his realm and fight him properly by the next dawn or she dies.

(3: King of Shadows)Kai and the others focus up and perform the ritual to summon the dragons. They are told they're not ready to become the new protectors of the realm by the dragons, but they will still help. Travel to the underworld, Wu goes to fight Garmadon while the ninja free the captives and fight the skeletons. Wu asks why he kidnapped all these people, and Garmadon needed collective energy of their will (souls?) to create a portal out of the underworld. And with Wu and the ninja down here he finally has enough power to do it. They fight over the portal, Garmadon escapes to an unknown realm, Nya and the other prisoners are saved, and they go back home. Now knowing that they saved the day, but with Garmadon in one of the sixteen realms it's only a matter of time before he shows up again to takeover/end Ninjago.

[I'll probably make another post about Season 1 or upload my google doc for this. Or feel free to ask questions. Ive got most of it mapped out up to season 5. And separate storyline for s8-10. Skybound and Hands of Time were giving me a hard time so i haven't figured them out yet :P]

[ninjas-and-coffee]

For the people who dont understand, or think the people panicking about the casting are overreacting.

Maybe I remind tall that proper East Asian representation in the show is already a mess.

East Asian background art and music but next to no traditions and customs

Western style dragons

Dragons as pets instead of literal gods (referring to the original set. I havent seen DR)

Character names, especially Lloyd who contextually should be Asian but is extremely white-coded. (Literally Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon)

Misunderstanding the Art of the Samurai and just making them girls with

mechs

Master Chen is (to some) a racist caricature

Calling things Kimono's when they're literally not. (S2 final battle suits)

Overall just not understanding what a ninja is

A many more things that are just....off

Now we let all these things slide for the most part because that's just how the show was written, and many of us were like 12 when it came out, so cultural representation didn't matter. And we all love this goofy little show.

Now think about other live actions that get things so wrong it takes you out of the story. I haven't read the school for good and evil but my sister loves it and when the movie came out and her faves looked nothing like their book descriptions it broke her heart.

Think about the first Avatar: the last airbender movie that cast a white girl as Katara. When the culture is based on the inuit people.

Percy Jackson: I love Leah Jeffries she's so fun to watch on screen, but she should be blonde. It has contextual and symbolic meaning in the book. And removing it for the sake of casting is...a choice (when my girl could literally get blonde weave from her locak beuty shop)

Jake Gylenhall as Prince Dastan in "Prince of Persia"

Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily in "Pan"

Scarlett Johanson in "Ghost in the Shell"

Johnny Depp in "The Lone Ranger"

And so many more that yall can probably pull off the top of your head.

These things can be fixed like the Netflix ATLA. But let's be honest, it's hard to trust that proper representation of the culture they'll be trying to adapt won't be railroaded by casting that doesn't fit or make any sense. Simply because Hollywood prioritizes casting star/popular actors instead of paying attention to what they are adapting. The cast may not be entirely white because is 2024 and an all white cast is extremely rare. But the fear of how badly it could fail or fall alaprt due to lazy casting choices is valid.

I'm gonna try and trust the Hagemans to do right by the characters. But like the first list above, they don't seem to understand the culture either.

[ninjas-and-coffee]

What I love rn about the Ninjago Live action panic is that it has almost nothing about the plot. It's about the collective and primal fear of Chris Pratt and whitewashing.

I have seen a couple plot posts, but like there was nothing to prepare us for the crackfic high-school au of the other movie. So I don't think there's any need to try and guess the plot.

Maybe we should make our own movie. Like guys, we could make the anime everyone lowkey wants from the creators. Almost everyone I know has some version of a plot fixing rewrite or retelling thats almost beat for beat with the source material. But like better with longer character arcs and more cultural accuracy.

Like besides humanity's allergy to group projects, why don't we just do it???.

Like I'll start with the basis of my retelling: S1 but with an already teenage Lloyd releasing the serpentine as a misguided attempt to gain his father's attention and being a shadow villain to the serpentine problem. Followed by a zuko style redemption arc when it is accidentally revealed that he's the green ninja in a combat situation.

The first half of the season is about the teams backstories and picking up the lore crumbs on the serpentine and why Garmadon and Wu separated while trying to figure out who has motive, and opportunity to release the serpentine. And since the Golden weapons are conduits for their power. Their true potential is learning to control their power separately from their weapons by becoming "whole" and reaching their full potential. The second half of the season reveals Lloyd's story and his shift from causing harm to gain attention to just asking for it and learning to be loved. (Yes, and sorry its Lloyd centric but he's the villain of the story untill...) Then the serpentine realize they're better together than apart and relase the Great Devourer and you essentially know the rest.

It would have a rather grim/serious tone and probably have some mixture of the demonslayer or attack on titan style. Leaning into the Japanese lore and possibly leaving hints about the nature of Oni and Dragons as more myth and legend than fact. Until a *minor god (the devourer) is released and this leaves the door open for other things to slowly become real. Personally I think the dragons could have been more sentient and revered than was shown, and I'd probably change Lloyd's name to be something Japanese with "Lloyd Garmadon" as a title he gave himself to be more like his father and it just sticks in the others minds so they keep calling him that until he's ready to shed that skin. I'd probably change the others names too or at least make them region specific. I hate hate hate childs play so I'd delete it. And Nya would take up her samurai training after being kidnapped so she doesn't feel like a burden on her brother. And uh Cole will be gay but due to the time period he feels unsafe telling others and learns to trust them. Also I'd probably kick the time period back to late Edo era Japan because the way of the ninja was still studied but becoming harder to come by. And gives a reason why there are no other Ninjutstu masters or students running around. So they're be reviving a somewhat dying art and be praised for it by commoners.

So now I ask. If YOU could retell Ninjago in a episodic anime how would you do it? What does it follow? What would you remove and why?

[ninjas-and-coffee]

We might be thinking about this live-action thing the wrong way.. what if it's one of those CGI hybrid movies where characters get transported into the real world and have to team up with a normal guy

[ninjas-and-coffee]

Live action ninjago movie bingo!

[ninjas-and-coffee]

This is a joke because Hollywood is predictable and stupid (i swear to the lego gods this is not an my actual fancast or wishes)

My other post

I legit don't know a stereotypical cast for Kai or Zane or Pixal off the top of my head. Feel free to fill in

[ninjas-and-coffee]

Lets be honest Sensei Wu would be played by Jackie Chan and also be the only Asian tm*

I can't wait for the Ninjago live-action to be played by a bunch of white not-teenagers

[ninjas-and-coffee]

I can't wait for the Ninjago live-action to be played by a bunch of white not-teenagers

[ninjas-and-coffee]

This has awoken something I buried a long time ago.

[ninjas-and-coffee]

Trying to figure out how to draw him and like...idk

[ninjas-and-coffee]

That old secret (pt 2)

(pt 1)

[ninjas-and-coffee]

your adopted sons are about to rat you out

[ninjas-and-coffee]

I am 100% sure some has done this already, but i haven't

I keep imagining Narinder kicking The Lamb's head like a football when he loses and argument. (Gif Process ↡)

[ninjas-and-coffee]

Aaaah, your art is always so gorgeous!!! I love how you drew the Lamb! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Awww, you flatter me 🫶

[ninjas-and-coffee]

The way this game has taken over my life is unreal