#Ninjago Unfulfilled

[splinnters]

I LITERALLY DREW A TWO PAGE SPREAD OF NINJAGO DOODLES BUT ITS GONNA SPOIL SHIT FOR MY NEXT FIC AND THAT SCARES ME

[vikvyr]

@alastair-1205's ninjago inktober // day 1 // legacy

sons of wu. sons of the storm.

fr how great can your legacy be when both of your first sons became villains

(you mean to tell me that they specifically made the amulet of water and storm just to never draw further on screen paralells between morro and jay??? the first children of wu??? and how both of them became villains after following wu for years?? their unfulfilled potential is killing me and i could talk about them for ages istg)

[boo-shigi]

Something I’ve noticed about the writing team of Ninjago is that they always kind of seem to act like Nexo Knights bullied them in high school and took their lunch money. And now that they’re graduated they’re on some sort of weird power-driven revenge consisting of sniping it at every possible turn for no reason other than spite

Like what do you mean in this LEGO-Universe where imagination can run wild and anything can happen that the world of NK cannot even be considered for simply existing? What do you mean that in a pre-established canon of 16 individual realms, where not all of them are named and given lore, that NK can’t be one of them and co-exist just for the sake of fans who want it?

I don’t personally care if Nexo Knights isn’t something the writers or Tommy ever want to look at or use ever again; it’s just that this consistent denial of even the possibility of it existing is getting odd and honestly a little hurtful. Not to be dramatic

The new Ninjago series can have a whole place based off futuristic medieval times with a tech-driven story, who’s warlord is in an armor piece similar to ones used in NK, but we can’t just be told “sure NK is one of the 16 realms whatever” just for the sake of it? They can change whatever the hell they want and alter the canon of Ninjago’s lore but say they have to “stick to Tommy’s vision” when it comes to NK?

They can pull characters with obvious ties to Chima and its universe but I couldn’t think to hope for a squirebot in the background shot of a single scene? They can name two characters after Ava and Robin but simultaneously push NK so far off the beaten path they’re walking for seemingly no reason?

My opinion on the new Ninjago series as a long-time fan is that it’s a clustered mess of lost plots, forgotten ideas, wasted potential, and full of what feels like personal jabs at requests driven by the fandom and dialogue that is so far from Ninjago’s classic personable and realistic glory that it now feels AI-generated. That aside I have no qualms for those who like it. But if there’s anything I think the current writers of Ninjago are, it’s uncreative and entirely unwilling of serving any sort of fan with anything, ever. They’re afraid to step out of Tommy’s boxes but consistently deliver anticlimactic and unfulfilling storylines when they do, and have no concept of thinking beyond the chalk lines they’ve drawn

So in summary what I’m getting at is that there’s no viable reason that the world of Nexo Knights cannot just be one of the 16 realms simply **because**, and that the current writers of Ninjago are either just weirdly dejected by NK and constantly put down fans for no reason other than their personal wants (when it could have 0 effect on the canon. zero. That’s none), or are under some kind of obligation via LEGO to brush Nexo Knights under the rug. Whatever is it, don’t let their lack of creativity and fun hinder yours. Don’t let LEGO take your whimsy

:'(

[darknessinaninja]

Ninjago on the Nintendo DS(iXL)

So. Not sure if I said this on here or not, but I hate Crystalized. The whole season as a whole, sucks. There was so much missed opportunities.

IT ESPECIALLY SUCKS SINCES ITS THE FINALE OF THE MAIN STORYLINE!

Ugh I hate. Whatever.

This animatic is dedicated to my rewrite of the season, Ninjago: Unfulfilled.

This is practically a spoiler to the ending of that rewrite.

I like how Crystalized used the dragon forms, but they didn’t use it to its whole potential and the ‘price’ they had to pay to use it, gave us no stakes (losing powers???? Like they haven’t gained them back before |NYA GETTING THEM BACK IN THE SAME SEASON >:(((( || )

The Weekend Whip being the key was adorable (The Fold being the folded paper 😭❤️ ) and I’m wondering if the Ninja remember singing that during Karaoke at Laughy’s???? 👀

[blursed-ninjago-ideas]

Misako if anything is a teratophiliac. Teratophilia refers to the sexual attraction to either monsters or to deformed people. The word comes from the Greek τέρας, meaning monster, and φιλία, meaning love.

Anon is a teratophiliac, send tweet.

-Ivy

[destinysbounty]

If you told me Crystalized was just another series installment, id be content with how it ended. It felt a bit rushed in the back half, but was open-ended enough with a lot of loose plot threads that could tie into interesting narratives for future seasons. Their elemental powers fading, Nya getting hers back but not all the way, the fact that they are still technically wanted criminals, Garmadon and Harumi's respective redemption arcs, Lloyd's internalized self-loathing of his oni form....

See what i mean? If you told me ninjago as we know it would continue like normal after this, i wouldnt be quite so upset. Because this feels like the setup to a really interesting followup season. Like how season 8 led into season 9. The SoG finale left a lot hanging in the air, but it was okay because you knew Hunted would tie things up. Thats what Crystalized feels like to me. It feels like a segway into another story arc. But an all-out finale? Not so much.

Now, im not one of those people who thinks every loose end needs to be tied up into a neat little bow at the end. In fact, a lot of times it feels more organic if you do leave a few things open-ended. But so many MAJOR character arcs went unfulfilled. Nya just kinda faded back into being a supporting character again, without her powers fully coming back or even just learning to accept their relative absence. Lloyd never really embraced his Oni side, and is still very afraid of it. Harumi just kinda exists as a good guy now? I mean hell yeah i was so proud of her when she wrecked the Overlord's shit, but STILL. And the ninja are still technically wanted criminals????? I cannot stress that enough. They never got pardoned or anything, so they still have jail sentences to serve. Those were all major, central aspects of Crystalized's plot, so it feels really unsatisfying for those to get no resolution.

But if Crystalized was just a stepping stone to some kind of follow up, if Ninjago United was gonna develop those concepts and arcs better, then idk i think i could get behind the Crystalized finale a bit more. But with all the mixed messages weve been getting about United, i wont hold my breath.

Dont get me wrong, i do think ninjago should end eventually. I dont want it to become one of those shows that goes on for 20 years without any satisfying conclusion. But i just dont feel like this, here, is where it should end. And while the crystalized finale was interesting and brought a lot to the table, it felt...lacking, i guess, in a lot of ways that make it hard to believe that this is a real ending. It feels like they resolved one plot thread but then cracked open five new ones at the last second.

Tldr, i think the crystalized finale is a decent season finale. I just dont think its a very good series finale.

[rosiehunterwolf]

Why Skybound's Ending Works

And why it was actually, to contrary belief of some of the fandom, a good season.

So I read this book a while ago. It was a good book, an enjoyable read, but I remember being really disappointed in the ending. Today I was looking through my bookshelf and I found it again, which made me start thinking about why, exactly, I didn't like it.

While there were a few different gripes I had with it, the main point came down to the fact that at the end of the book, after the climax had been resolved, the main character still wasn't happy, and she found a way to reverse time so that the whole incident never happened.

Sounds familiar, right?

I've never been a big fan of stories that basically undo everything at the end. I feel like it's a cheap ending and gets the main character out of learning his or her lesson, and often leaves me as a reader (or viewer in the case of a show/movie) with a sense of unfulfillment. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, as this is the biggest complaint I've seen about Skybound in the fandom.

So, if this is true, why don't I feel the same kind of dissatisfaction with Skybound that I do with this book?

My first thoughts were maybe that because the book is a standalone part. Ninjago is a long show, now spanning 15 seasons (12 at the time I first was watching Skybound) and having one season that was a dud wouldn't upset me that much because there were so many. But if this were true, I would feel disappointment when I thought about Skybound in particular, not Ninjago as a whole, right? But I didn't. I still genuinely enjoyed the season, and I didn't feel scammed by the ending at all.

Upon further depth, I realized that it was the execution of this time-reverse.

The way the book I read worked, was that the main conflict had already been resolved, and peace had been declared, but the main character wasn't happy in her situation. She realized this wasn't what she wanted, and then time was reversed. Most media which undoes the plot goes something along this route, in my experience.

As a writer and reader, let me tell you that having another conflict after the main conflict just doesn't work. The main climax is supposed to build tension, put the consumers on the edge of their seats, and then have a short resolution period at the end to satisfy the consumers, but not stretch it out for any longer than necessary, because the climax was what we were all here for. Having another plot afterwards, even if it is internal, like this one was, takes away from the main climax, and suddenly it doesn't feel very engaging anymore. Everything throughout the book/show/movie is building up to the climax, and once that is over, it's time for the story to be done. Additional plots following the climax are what sequels are for.

Skybound doesn't do this. Instead of having more plot after the conclusion (which usually leads into the time reverse), it makes the time reverse INTO the climax.

The plot is building as Jay and the others prepare to kill Nadakhan. But when the plan goes awry, and now Nya is hit with the poison too, Jay's focus switches to her. This isn't a new climax, it's just a switch of focus as suddenly there are larger priorities to fix. A shift of focus, done right, can make things even more intense because now there are two threats- in this case, stopping Nadakhan, and saving Nya from death.

Jay's wish is all he has left. As soon as the venom wears off, Nadakhan will be all-powerful again. They are running out of resources, of ways to fight him. Jay has to end him now, or they lose against Nadakhan, possibly forever.

But he's not going to sacrifice Nya for this either. As we know, Nadakhan twists the wishes in anyway he can to benefit him, so Jay needs to make his wish as simple and straightforward as possible. He can't save Nya and stop Nadakhan.

That is, unless he prevents this whole mess from happening in the first place.

This is wonderfully executed, because Jay isn't actively seeking to do this out of his own selfish wants, or because he wants to fix something he did in the past. He does it out of necessity, because it's the only way he can think of where everyone on his side gets out alive. Like I said before, I feel like reversing time usually makes it so that a character is getting a cheap solution to their problem, one where they override all the lessons they learned throughout the story. But this is not the case with Jay. It's not a cheap ending, it's just an abrupt one, because Jay realized that this was a threat he wasn't strong enough to face. It takes humility, it takes courage- and it greatly improved him as a character.

One of the other main gripes about time-reversal plot is that there's no consequences. The characters spent all this time fighting to defeat some conflict, only for all of that to be undone and putting them right back at square one.

While this is somewhat true for Skybound, they handle it in a way so that the characters still get something out of it. Most people don't remember, but Jay and Nya still do. Those memories are still very much real for them. Skybound technically did happen, it was just reversed. It's not like it never existed. For Jay and Nya, who still remember, those experiences and traumas are still very much real.

I think the main prospect might be Nadakhan's teapot, though. Let's recount the exact wording of Jay's final wish:

"I wish you had taken my hand, and no one ever found that teapot in the first place."

Jay's wish is in past tense. "I wish you HAD," "no one ever FOUND" (instead of finds). Jay didn't wish that no one would find the teapot ever, just that they wouldn't have found it in the past. This means, while, it would fix the past, the future is still uncertain. Nadakhan could still potentially return, because Jay's wish wasn't specific enough.

While I am not super confident that he actually will, just the potential for it makes this a much better ending. Skybound, while erased, still is very much real, and so is Nadakhan. Jay's original plan was to kill him, but now he's just dormant in the teapot.

Skybound's ending wasn't cheap. It was a way for Jay to realize that he wasn't always going to win, and that no mistake could ever be completely erased.