#I'm loving it! I'm also remembering the s7 plotlines now

[nin-jay-go]

Sending this from my kinda not main but I was wondering how ningajo had changed from after the release of the movie. The last season I watched was skybound but I don't even remember if I finished that😭 but what I wanted to ask is does the story remain the same as it was b4 then? I've been trying to pick it back up for maybe 5+ years or so? The change in character design def threw me off and I felt kinda lost. (Sorry this is so long orz)

no you're good!! i love talking about my favorite show :D

you're correct in saying that the movie changed a lot of things. the character design, the world design, and the tone of the story changed a lot after the movie aired, and another change is lloyd's voice actor changing from jillian michaels to sam vincent (also the voice of double d from ed edd n eddy fun fact)

dw it took me a while to get used to the new designs (i remember being PISSED at the fact that they changed them djkghdkjfhg) keep in mind that there's also a canonical timeskip between s7 and s8

the story is.... well it's ninjago dfgjkhdkfjgh the core story remains the same, aka its a group of silly colorcoded ninja fighting crime and saving the world from being destroyed. again. but seasons 8, 9, and 10, usually referred to as the oni trilogy, have a much darker feel because the writers noticed their more mature audience and wrote to fit, while also still being a kids show.

the main change really happens after animation studios switch from wilfilm to wildbrain. wildbrain era (seasons 11-16) have a different animation ... vibe? like, the animation remains mostly the same, but there's different textures (hair gets textured, you can see every little wrinkle in leather, etc) and faces are animated differently, as well as using different animation techniques as is standard for a different animation studio, but the story also gets a big change

a bunch of things get tweaked post-wildbrain. for instance, the series is just ninjago now, not the masters of spinjitzu. elemental masters are just elementals. missions are called quests. sensei wu is now master wu (though i'm blanking on if this happens s8 or s11). they sometimes have anime segments (don't ask). and uh. most of the plotlines from the previous seasons are kinda... ignored? like, wildbrain heavily prioritizes its own seasons rather than the previous seasons, meaning a lot of that stuff becomes obsolete. tragic, but nothing we can do about it.

the main change in the wildbrain era is that the episodes are all 11 minutes long now instead of 22 minutes. this is remedied by having More episodes per season, but the shorter episodes are an interesting factor in how the seasons play out. many say that the seasons feel too rushed because of that, and i have to agree on some cases. but theyre decently handled for the longer seasons (s11 and s16)

so... the story. is it the same ninjago as s1-10 was? hard to say. post-movie was the start of an era for sure, and wildbrain had some thoughts about where it would go, but i can't say it's all bad. the oni trilogy is a masterpiece of writing (though its not wildbrain, its still wilfilms), s11 is pretty good if you ignore the bigger flaws, s12 is . ok i'm not the biggest fan but it's a very fun season its just clunky dkfghkdjhg but season 13 is amazing and i love it. seasons 14 and 15 are also good :) seabound esp

don't talk to me about the finale. i WILL rant about it. too much. this is a threat.

but despite it all, it's still ninjago. the same fun cast, the same stories of the ninja being dumbasses and saving the world, they just look slightly different. if the redesigns really bother you, there's not much i can say about that unfortunately. it took me a very long time to get used to it and i was in HEAVY denial for a while, but you warm up to them. after all, they gave us superstar <3 and that's all that matters

also you do not need to finish skybound it is . it's skybound! watch hands of time (s7) tho its very funny

tldr: i can't say whether the story stays the same post-wildbrain (s11-16), but i heavily recommend watching the oni trilogy. if the new designs squick you out, there's not a lot you can do but get used to it. if you want to give it another chance, go for it!! the movie either scared people off or invited people in, so it's up to you how you feel about the movie and its effect on the show. all i can say is you gotta make your own opinion about it, and if you wanna liveblog or stream any more thoughts about ninjago, feel free to message me again!! my askbox is open (and so are my dms if anything :D)

[ginmo]

How confident are you that J/B will actually happen? I have to say, I'm feeling a bit nervous right now, after more of the leaks get confirmed and Nikolaj talks so much about Jaime being monogamous and so openly about how he is pro-JB. It makes me fear he's being so open because he knows now it's not going to happen and there's no spoiling at saying that. :(

I understand how you can interpret the interviews that way, but I’m 100% confident that Jaime and Brienne are happening. Remember, Nikolaj and Gwen know the fates of Jaime and Brienne, and since season 3 they have been throwing “love,” “in love,” “confused,” “feelings” and amping it up every promo season. Nikolaj even use the term soulmates, bless.

If Nikolaj and Gwen know that they have to play this pairing as a slow burn romance between two stubborn as fuck characters, their comments in the interviews aren’t going to be disappointed and bitterness. Their comments are going to be setup so the audience knows how to interpret their scenes, and for Nikolaj, an inability to keep chill. Also, if you notice, during each promo season their comments are almost identical in every interview, indicating that this is something that has been rehearsed and possibly fed to them by the showrunners.

Considering how Nik and Gwen were paired together now, of all times, for video interviews and pretty much every single promo for this season, and Nik completely unleashing his shipper soul, I’d bet money that the showrunners realized how the Brienne and You Know Who thing got out of hand. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got a little concerned that the Jaime and Brienne story wouldn’t land with the viewers, so up the promos! Remind people that this story is still a thing because they’re probably coming back to that relationship again this season.  

Now for what’s seen in the show…

Nobody really knows why they are dragging out twincest and keeping Jaime around in KL, but imo the only reason why Jaime is still with Cersei is because the writers think it will increase the shock factor when he ends up with Brienne.

Jaime is definitely headed North by the end of the season, and that’s just always been my guess for his arc. Tywin had three conversations about him needing to leave the KG, be his heir and lead his House, then he was actually removed from the KG, and then Littlefinger in S6 made a comment “the Lannister’s have never brought their army this far North” and Jon said the same thing to Sansa in the first episode of season 7. Without a doubt, Jaime Lannister is going North, which means he’s away from Cersei. Unless Brienne fucks off to Tarth and doesn’t fight in the war (which I highly doubt), he will be in the same place as Brienne, and they will go through another life or death situation and… well, you can fill in the rest ;)

Some would argue that the writers setup plotlines and then drop them, but Jaime and Brienne are different because they are an endgame plot. How Jaime’s character development is handled is a whole other topic that people can debate about, but it in no way affects whether or not Jaime and Brienne will end up together. In other words, Point A and point B are determined, but how the writers get to point B is entirely up to them, and if you see it as messy and inconsistent or totally logical and consistent then that’s your opinion. In the end, Jaime and Brienne will end up together, regardless of the journeys that led them there.

If Jaime and Brienne were meant to remain friends, or end up as an dropped story, they wouldn’t have continued building it up in season 5 and season 6. I’m not even going to bring up the setup for season 2-4 because it would take an eternity.

S5

- The Memory

They finally introduced some sort of adaptation of Brienne’s horrible childhood. What was the topic of this memory? Romantic love. This isn’t some memory of why she admired Renly, it was why she fell in love with him. Why? Because prior to mentioning Renly, she talks all dreamily about how the boys said they wanted to marry her and take her to their castles. By including this scene, they are establishing three things:

Yes, Brienne is interested in men.

Yes, Brienne was in love with Renly (why people doubt this I just…..??? I mean it’s been stated many times she was in love with him butmovingon)

Yes, Brienne has a romantic side and therefore is a legit candidate for a love plotline. It wouldn’t be broughten up in the narrative if it wasn’t essential to her arc.

Brienne was introduced to us on a romantic storyline (Renly). The first couple of conversations with Jaime and Brienne were about honor/loyalty and her love life. Oh look, what theme has been playing out and getting resolved for Brienne in S4, S5, S6, and S7 when she was off finding the Stark girls and the moments she spoke with Jaime? Honor and loyalty. What other factor was there in the background, popping up randomly, like her childhood story to Pod in season 5? Love life. And what happened in S6 that the showrunners allowed through the edits? The Ship That Shall Not Be Named. In other words, Love life.  

People think Brienne’s story is to be this great warrior whose purpose is to just help “the good guys” out with a sword and that’s the only lens they see her through. They don’t see that being a strong fighter is just an aspect of who she is and has a small role in her overall arc. It complements her narrative, but it’s not the focus of it. The focus is questioning honor and blind loyalty, and finding reciprocated love for the physical “Beast.” The two go hand in hand (this applies to Jaime as well…slowly and eventually. Their arcs match.) 

- Tarth

They wouldn’t have gone out of their way to film Jaime drooling over Tarth. If you think about it, they had to spend money creating the set, doing the effects, and hiring a bunch of extras to stand around, all so that Jaime could stare and smile at this freakin island that is the residence of some woman he just respects…

Yeah.

S6

-The tent scene. 

I assume they were directed to act that scene as suppressed and confused romantic desire since a) Nikolaj called the sword his heart and b) the writers and the director said their relationship was “complicated” and that Jaime has “undercurrents that he’s uncomfortable feeling.”

Nevermind that they felt it important enough to speak about this specific scene and their feelings in an Inside the Episode segment, when there were dozens of other scenes to choose from. Jaime and Brienne are friends guys gaaaawd.

- The wave goodbye.

Yeah. Again. Same point as in the Tarth scene, but minus the extras.

If they had no intentions to get Jaime and Brienne together by the end of this series, they could have omitted the tent scene, or at least altered the tent scene so that there was not round three of extra long eye fucking…. for just friends.

So no worries anon. They will get together, whether it’s brief or for the long term. If there is one thing I am obnoxiously confident about it is that by the end of this series it will be known by even the delusional fans that these two fools are in love.

[luckyofthelawnvariety]

speaking of etho s7! I will be including "speaking of llamas!" in my everyday vernacular now.

also the noteblock background music is my favorite thing ever, I love it so much, and etho's humor is very much mine as well