#Ninjago phantasm cave

[kriti-the-creator]

It's hard to get over your past doesn't it,😔?

Ninjago OC question!

Hard Hitting question this time;

If they were in Phantasm cave, what would they see?

[rainofthetwilight]

something something, arin is desperately trying to run back to his past, even if it meant to give up the present..while sora is trying so hard to run away from her past, trying to hold on to the present, but her past still catches up to her no matter what..something something...

arin would give up the present, as he denied that the ninja are his family when his mother asked him so, if it meant for him to run back to her and his father.

this whole season alludes to motion. everyone, everything is moving. but here in arin's fear, he's trying so hard to do that, to move and run back to his parents, to his past, but he couldn't, stuck in the same place as he was. which also fits in his whole arc of not progressing in his spinjitzu, still being in the same place as he was before. he didn't improve, he couldn't move, he's still, and stuck at where he started, he has no motion, and is constantly being reminded of that whether intentionally or unintentionally (unintentionally: lloyd and sora, intentionally: ras)

meanwhile with sora, in her fear, she was able to move. she was able to run back to her past,  despite trying so hard to move on from it, to turn away from it, to stay still and never come back to it. but it still pulls her back, no matter how hard she tries

and of course, this also goes to how she's currently progressing with her powers. she's improving, she's moving forward, she isn't still, she's much more powerful than she was before, she's learning, and most importantly, she has motion, and is reminded of it everytime, whether by herself or someone else, while also being praised for it

and the way these two arcs just very clearly contrast from eachother is so interesting. arin had always wanted to be a ninja, he wants to make his parents proud, but when he got the chance, he fails time and time again. meanwhile sora did not even think she'd be involved in any ninja adventures, yet here we are. she didn't even think she'd have powers, no less improve at controlling them, she didn't think she'd have all of this but still got it

one friend had neverending hope, had a dream so big, that his imagination became reality. yet, it looked like destiny didn't agree with it, making his hope falter and his dream shatter, his self esteem dangerously lowering as he started to doubt if he was ever good enough, and he started to doubt if everyone else believed in him too

the other was never focused on hope, or a dream, she accepted the life she lived as long as it meant she won't return to her past. destiny didn't disappoint her, but it contrasted with her opinions in ways that she didn't really agree with. but in the end, she managed to resolve her past and move on from it, as she started focusing more on the present and being happier than she's ever been, even if her past pulled her back at times. they're both best friends despite all these differences, but after what happened in the s2p1 finale, will they be for long?

[icy-watch]

I feel like we're going to get a parallel scene to this in the future.

[user-without-a-cool-acronym]

new dr season 2 track

[toastingpencils37]

Possible timing of the Phantasm cave visions (unless they actually took longer than we thought, since they occurred in the mind, and that could be possible that they were in the cave a lot longer than we see):

Start of Darkness-Kai running (counting this as the start of everyone's vision, as it is quite reasonable to assume that each of the ninja had a moment prior to us being actually shown their vision where they were just wandering around): 16:41-17:06. Takes 25 seconds.

Arin's: 17:07-17:37. Takes 30 seconds.

Sora's: 17:37-18:05. Takes 28 seconds.

Lloyd's: 18:05-18:44. Takes 39 seconds.

Nya's: 18:45-19:11. Takes 26 seconds.

After Nya's vision (only she's awake): 19:12-19:38. Takes 26 seconds before the connection between the creature and the other ninja is terminated.

So the shortest vision is Nya's, which is at least 51 seconds, counting the beginning of all visions plus the time of her's, but not any possible time spent between with her wandering.

The other 3 we know about take at least 53-64 seconds counting the beginning and what we see of their visions itself. With this, after taking Nya's time out of the other's vision times, there are 2-13 seconds of vision remaining, which can be accounted for by the 26 seconds after Nya's vision is done before the other's are as well.

On the one hand, the major difference from the actual IRL time between Nya's finished vision and total connection termination could be evidence that what we are seeing in the visions is wasting more time in reality, but on the other hand, in each of the visions we see (except Nya's) the way it ends for the viewer is in such a way that there could be more of the vision we can't see, but it's just a continuation of the current torment our sight of it finishes off in.

[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!

[vesivoro]

Yeah no shit its a shopping list

[agenericplaceholdername]

Dragons Rising S2 E1-5 Thoughts

Here’s some thoughts on the first episodes of Dragons Rising, Season 2:

The Blood Moon:

RAS AT SHADOW DOJO. Part of what makes the running joke about the scene so good is that the scene itself is really cool

Ras’ night vision is a cool detail but imagine a fight scene in the dark lit only by elemental powers where Ras fights the Ninja

New intro!

Intelligent George definitely uses clickbait thumbnails

Are Borg’s Sufficient Nutrient Wafers just using the Borg brand? Or actually made by Cyrus Borg

Goodbye cute baby Riyu, hello Teen Riyu

Poor Lloyd. Also a lot to analyze in that vision (but not here)

The way Arin talks about seeing his parents and Sora talks about unlocking her True Potential implies only a few weeks, maybe a month or two have passed since the end of S1. And outside of the reference to the Mech Master 5000 being an annual race in the Mech Shorts, it honestly could be that long (instead of over a year)

Kreel and I are the same: we both have “organization systems” only understood by ourselves

Kreel’s hat does look jaunty, and at least Arin smiled

So when did Cinder start searching for the mallet? Clearly before the season started, but the season also opened with Ras and Jordana finding the Shadow Dojo, and Jordana hadn’t met Cinder yet. Maybe Ras just gave him a call while walking in the Forest of Spirits to start looking

The Arin and Sora friendship is so sweet

“Maybe percussion is my thing”

Love the fight against Cinder

Cinder outmatches Arin and Sora and then immediately is forced on the defensive and flees when Lloyd arrives

“Our dark journey can begin” thank you for beating the villain allegations Ras

Shattered Dreams:

I would also like bagels

“We want you to work the same amount, just be funner about it.”

First the Cloud Kingdom, now Percival—we’re just revisiting S1 places

You can still see the bridge that was damaged in S1 connecting the Crossroads to Ninjago City

Where’s Mystake when you need her

Arin did you even do Spinjitzu to fight Cinder?

Would love to see Kreel’s robot dance

Sounds believable Fedulian, I’m with Arin here

“MAGIC ATTACK” “KILLER BUTTERFLY SWARM” “PSYCHIC ORB BLAST” I want a Hantro-Clutch Powers spin off

As weird as “shattering goodness” is, the music and atmosphere of the scene sells Hantro’s exposition

Love this flashback, and its location in the episode helps contribute to a constantly rising tension

I would like to learn an evil language

“You cursed the worms?” but when? And did he have this in mind when he did?

I love how the Five’s teachings and language have been banned but also the Cloud Kingdom is allowed to learn Theroxian (to translate it) and keep scrolls about the Five

Jordana is so mad lol. Tbf for Sora, she re-met Jordana for what, 10 minutes half a season ago?

Ras believes in strength above all else but also refuses to fight the Ninja on equal ground (he’s way above them and then sends out the Wolf Masks and Cinder to do what he can’t)

The Wolf Masks seem powerful once the Gong is struck (beating Arin, immune to fire, knocking Kai and Sora down) but then are easily dealt with in E10 so what gives?

Kai is so cool

Not gonna analyze the Cinder fight in detail. All I’ll say is that it’s well choreographed and directed, the music is great, and it’s kinda nuts that we get a fight this good in E2. Ofc Ras and the Ninja don’t interact until much later in S2P1, but this shows just how outmatched the Ninja are and demonstrates the need to learn a way to fight Shatterspin

Ouch Wyldfyre

Excellent episode

Beyond the Phantasm Cave:

Jordana demeaning Euphrasia to appease her own bruised ego

Sora and Arin - why is your dialogue to each other just saying what you feel? What happened to show don’t tell

Cool shot with Lloyd

We got names for the Source Dragons through the Netflix captions and credits lol

Kai and Wyldfyre why are you so well characterized? imagine if Wyldfyre had stayed at the Monastary and then everything else happened the same way — as in Kai was still sacrificed.

Yes, Wu would take you on a mission based on spirit smoke or actual dreams (see Hunted)

Cloud Kingdom sky base is so cool

Watching these episodes, even months later, after having seen the marketing clips so many times is funny. The clips were all great too — I love “Ninja Mission” 

Are flying ships commonplace in the 16 realms? Because how else would there be a bunch of destroyed ships 

I love the grappling scene for Arin’s character

Sora has the elemental power of LEGO sets

What is this random tentacle thing

Stop with the cute Arin Sora scenes they’re gonna be friends forever

“Are the Ninja your family now instead of us?” ouch

Sora how would that be Kai

“You will never be good enough” Lloyd you’ve saved the world countless times please seek therapy

What are the chances Jay has lost his memory and wouldn’t remember Nya, cmon not a very realistic fear

“What even are you” very good question Nya

I’m sure we’ll learn what Kai saw later, right?

“You should trust you, too” thank you Nya

Cliffhanger for the next episode

Force from the East:

This is a super cute scene, with a cool detail: Geo slightly misremembers things in favor of his and Cole’s relationship

Cole told Geo the cloud monks were nice? Only one was, while the Master Writer tried to get him and the other ninja eaten by whatever Nimbus is

Kai’s animation is very briefly messed up here

Dragon basketball is a key part of S2 and needed to be included

“I’ve always got you, Arin”

Hat-less, bald Egalt is so strange

Lloyd come on the ancient talking dragons are obviously the teachers

Lord Ras’ army meets its most dangerous foe yet: two orphan children

I know Geo can’t fuse living things, but couldn’t he fuse the clothes someone is wearing together and then to the ground?

COLE!

“Dragons can be Ninja?” the First Spinjitzu Master is crying in the grassland rn

Given that the Ninja have fought the embodiment of evil three times, I think they probably can imagine the evil of the Five

No fill us in on your mission now

Cole’s powers seem more… powerful, I guess

The name “Rising Dragon” is similar to if Sensei Yang called Airjitzu “Rising Human”

What are the consequences of using the gong too much?

“Oh [Ras is] evil. 100%. Even his breath smells evil.” Arin has very strong moral convictions

What is “last time”? Why did Egalt swear off training non-dragons?

The Forbidden Five exploit overconfidence, you say…

Even if the boundary spell was still in place, how would the fog prevent the Finders from using the portal gate?

“It doesn’t matter where they go. We will follow.” Ras then proceeded to do the opposite and wait for Bonzle to enter the Forest of Spirits

Another setup for the next episode

The Spell at the Waterfall:

I want a Frohicky plush

At least Fritz and Spitz like Mr. Frohicky’s cooking

Of all the things Bonzle could say… that was not something I would have predicted

I think Egalt would be more impressed with the Ninja if they mentioned they defeated the entire Oni invasion

How does Rontu know what Wyldfyre’s element is? Was it not an element created only after the Merge?

What does Wyldfyre’s element being Heat explain? Besides explaining how she and Kai seemingly have the same elements

Bonzle’s backstory is delivered beautifully

Rontu, I don’t think it’s possible to jump 3 times your height

“He’s just a dragon” Sora you’re talking to a dragon. “Dragons can’t do Spinjitzu” Sora seriously read the room

Love Egalt’s lesson and the surrounding scene. As the Ninja are going through the motions, Arin is consistently a half-second or so behind

The Wu and Bonzle scene is also really really good. I wonder where in the timeline it takes place — given that Wu and Garmadon are “no longer on the same side” but the Ninja are Wu’s family, it’s probably post-Pilots but before the end of S2 or between Hunted and March of the Oni. I don’t think the sideburns matter that much in determining time, since Wu could just shave them. (All this matters far less than the great conversation in the scene itself)

Nah Sora, that’s clearly a Mucoid

Okay yet another fun scene with great music

Lloyd and Egalt’s training styles are very different

Arin nooo :(

Bonzle of course they’d accept you for you are

“Strength is all that matters” hmm okay 

RAS WHAT who are you talking to AHHH

Sacrifices!?

Next up, the most recent episodes of Dragons Rising Season 2 to release (at the time they were supposed to) – the finale of Season 2 Part 1!

[icy-watch]

Of course Nya would be the first to realize

[icy-watch]

Even when he's not here, Wu is keeping information from y'all.

[icy-watch]

That doesn't sound good

[icy-watch]

You know, I'm wondering what kind of a toll it takes on the body once the wolf mask has been removed. Like, how exhausted are Cinder and the others? It can't be easy on them to handle so much power.

[icy-watch]

I know I'm supposed to be feeling all kinds of angst and sadness, but this is just too funny of a screenshot.

[icy-watch]

Someone please validate him. I'm begging.

[icy-watch]

...you know what would be really funny? If someone new joined their ground and became the new second-in-command over them

[icy-watch]

Oh, sweetie

She's gotta be in so much pain <- has experience in broken and dislocated bones.