#cuz like she was talking so much about how she hates lloyd

[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!

[felikatze]

 i have watched. four. episodes of crystalized by now and i Have To Talk About Nya

so crystalized ep3. or was it ep2. one of those (i watched both Today) nya laments how giving up her powers will let her return to normal, but losing powers will also make her normal, and she’s afraid of being normal

and what this means for like, the grander arc of her character

see, nya’s fear, nya’s greatest fear, as “being normal” was introduced back in s11. and back then i thought it was like, a joke. like, look! zane’s afraid of being inhuman! lloyd is afraid of becoming like his father! and then there’s nya. who’s afraid of being normal. it feels so silly.

besides, if she loses her powers, so what? she didn’t have powers for five seasons! what’s it matter if she loses them?

except, it’s not about the powers. it’s about being normal. and being normal means you’re out.

if nya had been content being “normal,” even without powers, she never would’ve become samurai x back in season 1. she would’ve stayed in the background as a support character. she wouldn’t make herself special. but she did.

there’s this conflict to nya. she wants to be part of the main characters, but she hates being “the girl.” she wants to be included, and she wants to be special.

i need to think abt structure here hold on.

samurai x is, initially, nya’s way of making herself a main character. she doesn’t have powers, she’s not included in the “Boys’ Club,” and since she’s so fiercely independant and a perfectionist to boot, she’s never gonna admit she wants to be part of the boys’ club. samurai x is an identity built on defiance; if i can’t be part of you, i’ll be better than you, all by myself.

but once her identity as samurai x is revealed, she’s included more. she’s an important part of plans, she’s the main backup, she’s the tech guy. she’s not a ninja, but she’s in.

and when she gets powers, it’s like. okay this is the main cinch. why did she oppose being a ninja so much when now she’s afraid of not being one anymore? change in circumstances. character development. but, also, i think, because if she went back to being samurai x, she wouldnt be the only samurai x.

so like. possession and skybound right. nya is frustrated her identity, built on defiance of her exclusion, as samurai x, is taken from her. and she only truly becomes a ninja in skybound, when she chooses to be one, agency and all that, important to her character, right. this is difficult to phrase but i KNOW i’m onto something here.

point is. samurai x is a way of being in. being a ninja is a way of being in. she’s included in the main group. she’s important. she’s special.

she truly becomes a ninja when she stops being “just another ninja” and is recognized for her individual importance. she’s not any old ninja! she’s the master of water, nya! (skybound lighthouse scene my beloved)

this is backed up by s7, which centers on nya and kai, and their legacy as elemental masters, immediatly after skybound. it’s SUPER important that she’s the master of water now, otherwise she and kai could never cast Spell of Steam Explosion and break into the sunken labyrinth of whatever its name was. without nya being master of water, they could never have gotten all the time blades, AND she and kai are the only ninja present for the final battle.

point is. again. nya gives up samurai x once she sees that being a ninja still makes her special, and important, and included.

that’s also why only in s7 can she give up samurai x to pixal. it could not have happened in possession, or in skybound. essentially, pixal’s comeback had to wait all those three seasons cuz nya’s character arc through them had to wrap up first. nya needed to be ready to give it up. in possession, and to a sliiightly lesser degree in skybound, samurai x is still a symbol of importance to nya. it’s still what makes her special. she cannot give it up, cuz if she isn’t ready to accept being a ninja, and she’s not samurai x anymore, then what is she?

nothing, right?

which is where we are with her fear now, in crystalized. season 1 nya hated being in the background, but her personality never let her admit it, and it manifests in the fear of normalcy.

if she loses her powers now, there’s no more being a ninja for her cuz she’ll feel she failed. see her problems in possession, how frustrated she was about how she was supposed to have powers, but couldnt use them. even if she’s seen her own brother still be a ninja without powers, she’s also seen how.. for lack of more delicate terms... much of a dead weight it made him. he was mopey. constantly upset and beating himself up for the failure of losing his fire. and, the two are. similar. being siblings and all.

they’re both very independant people, just that they both chilled out on that front over the many seasons they’ve had a team for now, and it’s not unreasonable that they would see a loss of their own powers similarly.

and if she loses her powers now, there’s no more samurai x for her either. that’s pixal already! nya didn’t need samurai x anymore, being happy as the water ninja and seeing pixal as a worthy successor. if she were to be a samurai again, she’d be another samurai, and not the samurai.

she wouldn’t be special. she wouldn’t be important. she would be out.

and by this, this in and out, i dont mean being hip. i mean like, being part of the main group, being part of the “boys’ club” she showed disdain for all that time ago, disdain earned through her exclusion from it.

there’s no safety net. if she loses her powers, she’ll be nothing. she’ll be a background character again.

so to summarize. nya wants to be included in the main characters and be on the frontline and in the spotlight, but her personality will never let her admit to this want for fear of compromising her independant persona, so instead she is terrified of losing what makes her special, to herself.

which makes this fear of being normal, from the wildbrain seasons, make sense with her arc abt agency in the older seasons. ya.

[asterfeathers]

cole ninjago headcanons!!

long bc i don’t know how a tumblr works and can’t. figure. how .to. put. under.cut,,

- black(ma)/vietnamese(dad)

- kind chocolate brown eyes with orange. very pretty. after dod his left eye (where the scar is) turned a bright green

- heavy sleeper,snores

- dad energy

- animals love him

- wherever he goes the nature around him brightens up, sometimes flowers bloom. the villagers, farmers especially love when he visits cuz he helps around and the earth is very fertile and alive when he’s there

- he retained some ghost abilities, but he needs to put a lot of effort into them and unlocking them. back to square one basically.

- he’s highly regarded amongst ghosts cuz when the preeminent was banished she was weakened and cole gained her powers and is basically king of ghosts (this is definitely not canon i just like the sound of op cole)

- whenever he’s around animals he gets all soft

- underrated and not as popular with fans

- deep down is envious of the others

- his fight with jay still stays with him. he never really got over some of the things jay said to him even if they were just in the heat of the moment.

- self esteem issues and believes he isn’t as important as others and is the least important out of his entire team

- views the others as his family and is very loving

- best hugs. warm,comforting and grounding

- gay. seriously gay

- when he and jay were fighting over nya it was mostly a misunderstanding cuz cole didn’t actually like nya but wanted to get back at jay and was definitely repressing his emotions (and gayness *cough*)

- trans. goes by he/they and ghost themed neopronouns

- everyone goes to him for support

- he has difficulty expressing his emotions sometimes

-he doesn’t talk about his feelings but gets mad at others when they bottle theirs up

- he can be really funny and witty when he opens up

- incredibly loyal

- writer and artist

- he can actually sing and dance really well but he’s insecure about it. he’s even written some songs.

- he needs to be forced to rest bc he’s a workaholic and he will work himself to the bone without intervention. especially when he’s sick

“cole you need to rest you’re sick”

“i’m fine”

“no you’re not rockhead go to bed and i’ll get zane to make you some soup”

- the team loves him bc how can you not

- supports lloyd with things kai can’t

- very trustworthy with everything but cooking

- loves driving and travelling

- he’s banned from the kitchen

- before wu found him he was travelling around everywhere. sailing, hiking, mountain climbing, everything. was homeless for a period of time.

- he loves watching the stars

- his mother sang to him and told him about her battle stories. he didn’t think they were real at the time of course but he likes to reminisce about them

- big strong man. almost a himbo but he’s actually really intelligent

- amazing at strategy and planning

- neat freak. likes things being organised, unlike kai. when kais room gets really messy he cleans it bc he gets so frustrated

- a lot of unresolved trauma. mans got mommy and daddy issues cmon.

- he loves sweet things (this is basically canon)

- he’s very close with the og 4. jay and him talk a lot. he and kai are very close and will comfort each other. he and zane give each other cuddles

- as a kid really liked geography and dinosaurs

- the ninja go to him when they have nightmares

- big sweetheart honestly

- wu once slipped up and called him dad

- he has somewhat long hair

- he has some grey hairs from being a ghost

- ptsd from falling, dying multiple times and being turned into a ghost. he fears heights. it takes him a while to get over it and go climbing again.

- if you were his partner you would not lack affection at all. but he’s not much a kisser and is very shy at first.

- plays with his hair sometimes

- really loves music. the sound grounds and calms him

- sticks his tongue out while concentrating. he’s planning out a mission and he’ll just have his tongue out. the others find it adorable

- has a very foul mouth when he gets really angry (he was basically homeless for a long while before wu found him. imagine what he would have picked up travelling)

- patient but has an explosive anger. he can get pretty scary. this big guy that could benchpress a mountain towering all over you with stone cold fury.

- actually pretty sensitive

- almost cries every time he hears sad stories about animals

- if you don’t wake him up he will sleep the entire day

- not a head canon but that one season 1/2 outfit where he had belt/chain things on the sides of his pants. the eboy blueprint

- very good fashion sense

- rich boy what with his father being a very prolific performer and probably with a wealthy family

- oblivious when it comes to flirting

- takes a lot of connection to form a crush/interest in someone

- he and kai sometimes go to volcanoes together

- would protect the ninja (especially lloyd and zane) with his life.

- can make very good beverages (this is actually pretty canon- when the ninja were celebrating getting the fang blades and cole made the punch in like season one)

- teases everyone. calls lloyd ‘squirt’ and other such nicknames still

- likes going to parks and climbing trees. the other ninja just watch as he scales the tree at inhuman speed. jay and kai try to beat him and fail every time.

- he can often be found passed out somewhere and snoring, often out of bed. he has some weird sleeping positions and the others take photos whenever they find him sleeping somewhere.

- he’s pretty much like a cat

- eats messily sometimes (his dad especially hates this)

- favourite cake is chocolate mud cake (unoriginal i know but i don’t care)

- smells like rain and the earth, if warmth /home was a smell

- he’s a child of hades. geokinisis, death themes, cmon

- loves reading

- a big old nerd

- put ungodly amounts of sugar in his tea and coffee while the ninja (mostly zane) stare at him concerned

- his eyes reflect light in the dark like a cat. he’s scared jay a few times in the hallways at midnight when he’s just standing there, eyes glowing

- zones out a bit

- resting bitch face

- bc earth is both life and death, this ties into his ghostly abilities and possibly him using his powers for healing

[tales-of-sweets]

Tales of Symphonia Thoughts Pt. 4

Not much has happened cuz I've mostly been grinding but its time for a Symphonia update. Also, from now on I will be tagging all of my posts with Jun Plays Symphonia so block that tag if you don't want my random playthrough thoughts/updates. Gonna put it under the cut from now on because it's long👇🏾

Anyway, the most important matter: I HATE THE SHIP SO MUCH, I HATE IT! THIS IS HORRIBLE, THE CONTROLS ARE SO BAD AAA! Secondly, I am on day 3 or so of wanting to waterboard Zelos. I really do not like him so far but I keep telling myself that he's probably going to turn into a favorite because the same thing happened with the two other flirty, self-praising characters I used to hate (Vespy Raven and Persona 2 Eikichi, the latter of which he reminds me of more). At least he is kinda funny, and he's not wrong, he IS pretty. He keeps saying some concerning stuff on occasion though, I think he needs a therapist and some warm milk or something.

I was informed by my friend that in Japanese it actually says "hunny" any time Zelos says bud. We love a bisexual king always but also sir you are very embarrassing and imma need to ask you to stop. Regal is a precious little blueberry muffin of a man, there is nothing I wouldn't do for him. When he made that pun to the secret notebook guy and then started blushing afterwards I wanted to punch a hole into my TV screen and yank him out of it and shake him around (affectionately). I guess I like the characters that are quiet and look sad because him and Kratos are my favorites atm. I wonder what his connection to Presea is. I'm torn between "That's his little sister" and "He wants to get close to her so he can betray us and try to hurt her". Keeping an eye on him... Also I don't exactly know how I feel about us taking him prisoner? Like, I know he is already a prison and he also tried to attack us but taking him prison, forcing him to fight for us, and blackmailing him with not being able to talk to Presea if he doesn't do what we say feels kinda messed up. Also I hate his stupid little bra shirt. What sort of weird prison was he in with a uniform like that?? I was left muttering "What the fuck" to myself over and over after finding out Presea has been living with the corpse of someone she doesn't even realize is dead. Like they've just laid there decaying for lord knows how long and she didn't even notice, that's so... I am at a loss for words. Yikes. I miss Kratos so much. I wish they showed a bit more how Lloyd was feeling about all of this, he seemed like he was getting close to Kratos. I want to know what him and his beautiful evil friend are up to. I get the sense that he whatever it is he doesn't really want as much of a part in it as he seems to have to play.

I'm a little worried that something is wrong with Colette again... she also tripped and fell and reacted strangely at one point. I think Kratos also mentioned something about wanting to remove her keycrest. I wonder if it's having some sort of weird effect on her or if it's not actually strong enough to keep things in check for long. Also the whole concept of exphere's in general is very disturbing. It isn't just a piece of technology, it's a parasitic infection that can completely take over your body/mind and turn you into a grotesque being. That and the fact that they're made from dead people aren't even enough to keep them from being produced and people don't even seem to have any clue at all about what they are attaching to their bodies. Freaky. I think that's all for today! More grinding before I go into the mines, I have been abusing the holy bottles a little too much 😅

[cdyssey]

Regret

Summary: When Fran doesn't come down to breakfast after spraining her ankle, the whole house is concerned for her—especially Niles and Mr. Sheffield. Set after "An Affair to Dismember."

A/N: Okay, so I've binge re-watched nearly four seasons of The Nanny in four days, and had to get at least one fic out of my system, lmao.

Fran Drescher's acting in "An Affair to Dismember" when she suddenly broke while talking to Maxwell made me sensitive. ;-;

AO3 Link

—

Breakfast is a remarkably boring affair without Miss Fine bursting through the door, raising her arms in a floral robe, and proclaiming, with signature adenoidal stylings, “Good moooorning, everyone!” 

The clink of silverware, the scraping of ceramic plates, the ruffling sound of Mr. Sheffield anxiously attacking the New York Times like a new Andrew Lloyd Webber play has just dropped—all of it is so terribly drab that Niles spends the first fifteen minutes of her pronounced absence coughing loudly in the hopes that his employer will pick up the hint to do something about it.

“Oh, do go get a bloody cough drop, old man,” he finally snaps, smacking his newspaper down on the table. “You’re driving me mad.”

“Sorry, sir,” Niles arches a brow as he refills Mr. Sheffield’s coffee mug. “I have asthma.”

He turns away to replace the coffee pot on the side table.

“And half a mind to kick your tetchy derrière,” he mutters under his breath.

“What was that, Niles?”

“Nothing, sir! Just saying thank you for your attentive care.”

“Dad,” Master Brighton thankfully interrupts, “where’s Fran, and what have you done to make her mad this time?”

Niles immediately turns around again in time to see his boss’s shoulders straighten in that way they often do when he’s indignant.

Or guilty.

Or some mixture of them both.

“I beg your pardon, Brighton,” he replies stiffly. “Why do you immediately assume I’m the problem here?”

“Process of elimination,” Brighton shrugs. “Fran’s not mad at me, Maggie, or Grace, and Niles is one of her closest friends.”

“You’re so astute, Master Brighton,” Niles smiles wryly as he moves to the left to get a better view of Mr. Sheffield’s face. The vein in his temple is beginning to throb, which is always a good time.

“She hasn’t dated anyone recently,” Miss Margaret pipes up.

“And she’s always fighting with her ma,” Miss Grace adds, “but that's never kept her from Belgian waffles before.”

“So, Dad,” Brighton grins, patting his father once on the back, “unless our math is wrong, that leaves you.”

“Goodness me,” Mr. Sheffield mutters, angrily stabbing a piece of link sausage with his fork. “I didn’t know I was in the presence of the lost Hardy Boy.”

“So you did do something!” Margaret exclaims. 

“No! I bloody well did not, Nancy Drew. For your information, Miss Fine accidentally hurt her ankle clubbing last night with Val. I don’t think it’s broken, but I’ve called a doctor to come by just to check.”

“Tsk, tsk. And you didn’t offer to pick her up Cinderella-style and swoop her downstairs so she wouldn’t miss breakfast?” Niles asks chidingly, only to be greeted with a nasty glare.

“Yes, I did offer to bring her down to breakfast as a matter of fact... but Miss Fine seemed strangely subdued when I spoke to her through the door... I didn’t know what to make of it to tell you the truth...”

Mr. Sheffield’s brow contracts as he searches Niles’s face for an answer, and Niles stares back just as studiously, observing the profound concern in his employer’s dark eyes.

The gentleness.

The romance.

The stunningly oblivious care.

Niles sighs fondly.

Unlike Miss Babcock, he’s never had the heart to kick poor puppies when they’re down.

“I’ll bring her Advil and a fresh ice pack,” he promises. “Perhaps some pain relief will help her to regain her spirit.”

“I hope so,” Mr. Sheffield replies, self-consciously turning to his plate again, the tips of his ears rather pink. “I hate when Miss Fine isn’t feeling well.”

“Here, here,” the whole table concurs.

—

Twenty minutes later, Niles is at Miss Fine’s door with a silver tray laden with all the essentials: painkillers, an ice pack, a mug of coffee (milk instead of cream and extra sugar), and a copy of the new edition of Gloss. He lightly taps on her door with the side of his loafer.

“Miss Fine, can I come in?”

“No,” comes an immediate and sharp reply. “I’m not dressed!”

“How discouraging,” Niles sighs smilingly. “What ever shall I do?”

“Suff’a, and at least give me a minute to find a brassiere.” 

“Oh, we’ll be here all day then.”

He hears a strange thud, a collection of evaluations (“dirty, dirty, slutty, Maggie’s, dirty”), and an assortment of Yiddish curse words he now vaguely recognizes from being friends with Miss Fine for nearly four years now. And then finally— 

“Come in, Jeeves, but shut the door behind ya ‘cuz I haven’t applied a morning layer of lipstick yet.”

Niles elbows the knob and pushes with his shoulder until the door lights open to a peculiar sight. Far from being neat, Miss Fine’s room looks like Macy’s after its annual Black Friday sale with clothes strewn everywhere—from the dressers to the wardrobes to the floor. An empty suitcase is lying on the bed next to Miss Fine, who is sitting in bed wearing an oversized t-shirt, her injured ankle propped up on a pillow. Niles can tell, even from the doorway, that it’s red and swollen, but to his satisfaction and relief, it doesn’t appear to be broken.

“Welcome to the jungle,” Miss Fine mutters when she notices his incredulous gaze. “We got all the animals out t’day.”

“I can see that,” Niles replies, placing his tray on her bedside table and shutting the door. With his usual efficiency, he then walks back over, retrieves the ice pack, and gently places it on the affected area, frowning when she flinches.

“Mr. Sheffield said that the doctor was coming at ten,” he says as he gently lowers himself onto the bed, clasping his hands primly on top of his lap.

“Mm,” Fran grunts noncommittally, grabbing the two Advil pills and knocking them back with a swig of coffee.

“What? You’re not curious as to whether or not said doctor in question is single, Jewish, and living in a Manhattan penthouse? Miss Fine”—Niles reaches over and places the back of his hand on Fran’s head—“do you have a fever?”

“Oh, Niles,” she swats his hand away, “I’m not in the mood.”

“It’s been awhile since I’ve heard that one.”

“Niles!”

“Sorry, Miss Fine,” he withdraws his hand with a laugh. “You know I have to warm up before Miss Babcock arrives.”

“Glad to assist,” Fran quips, taking another sip of coffee, and it’s only as she closes her eyes to savor the taste, that he notices there are lines beneath her eyes from what seems to have been a sleepless night. 

The smile sinks from his face.

“You know,” he says quietly, “in all of our acquaintance, I’ve never known of you to injure yourself while dancing.”

Fran opens her eyes only to immediately glance away, tapping her long nails against her mug.

“Val tripped me up when she thought she saw Elton John,” she shrugs dully. “Turns out it was just a really lifelike poster of him behind the bar...”

“I see,” Niles returns, raising a brow. “It was nice of Miss Toriello to forgo her weekend trip with her parents to come back and… boogie woogie oogie with you.”

“Dammit,” she pouts, scrunching her nose. “I didn’t think I’d told you that.”

“You didn’t. I overheard you and Miss Toriello gabbing on the phone about it yesterday morning.”

Fran can’t seem to help herself; she smiles crookedly, even as she shakes her head.

“I dunno who’s more absorbent sometimes—you or the dish sponge.”

He smiles back at her, patting her uninjured leg gently.

“Me, naturally."

"I can believe it, Chatty Cathy," she sighs.

"Now tell me, Miss Fine"—he regains his solemnity quickly, unwilling to let her deflect with jokes—"why does your room look like a tornado went through Loehmann’s?”

Her dark eyes immediately glance around the messy room, as though looking for an excuse and failing to find one.

It’s only now that Niles is sitting down, taking everything in, that he notices that most of the articles strewn about are her favorite clothing items, from her holographic Versace dress to the black tube top that Mr. Sheffield can’t pry his eyes away from every time she wears it.

“I almost did a very stupid thing, Niles,” she half-whispers, looking down into her coffee cup, her fingers tensed and shivering around the handle. “And the thing is, maybe it wasn’t really all that stupid? Maybe it was the smartest thing I could of done in a lifetime of doin’ so many stupid things.”

She pauses briefly before sardonically adding, “People included.”

Though Niles doesn’t have enough dots to connect the full picture, he has what he needs in the way of evidence to get the basic gist: Nigel being in town, the two of them going out, Nigel leaving town, the suitcase, the swollen ankle, and Miss Fine's uncharacteristic melancholy, smeared across her face so sharply that it may as well be lipstick.

He swallows thickly, suddenly grasping how close that they had all been to losing Fran forever.

“Well,” he says, making an effort to hitch an oblivious smile on his face, “isn’t it your mother who says that everything happens for a reason? It seems as though you’re right where you belong.”

“Yeah,” she snorts indelicately. “Twenty-nine multiple times over, single, and livin’ in a mansion with a man who won’t even commit to his meal orders at restaurants, much less his very available and desperate nanny.”

“Beautiful, young, and living in a mansion with three children who love you, a butler who’d be lost without you, and a man who won’t commit to his tie choices either but still cares for you deeply all the same,” Niles corrects her softly. “He was very worried for you when you didn’t come down to breakfast this morning. He didn’t even do the crossword on the Times.”

“Gee,” she rolls her eyes playfully, “how romantic.”

“Very,” Niles grins, “a modern day Romeo—emotional hangups and all.” 

With that, he pats Fran again and stands up; he has no doubt that Mr. Sheffield will be calling for him soon to interrogate him as to Miss Fine’s wellbeing. 

Maybe he can even get C.C. on speaker phone to rub it in her face.

“Y’know, Niles,” Fran smiles at him fondly, “if this whole Mr. Sheffield thing doesn’t work out, we should elope in Vegas in ten yea's.”

“Only if you wear this little number,” he says, bending down and picking up a black cocktail dress from the floor, folding it neatly over his arm.

“You wish you could be so lucky.”

“If we’re going to be in Vegas, anything can happen, I suppose.”

After he retrieves the silver tray from the bedside table, he bends down and kisses Miss Fine lightly on the head, his heart hurting when he notices the way that she closes her eyes beneath the gentle touch—young and vulnerable and terribly hurt by something he can’t quite fix with a well-timed witticism.

“Get some rest, Miss Fine," her murmurs against her head. "I'll check on you a bit."

“Thanks, hubby."

—

Scarcely ten minutes later, he’s down in Mr. Sheffield’s office as per usual, offering the producer a fresh cup of tea even though he had already drunk his traditional two cups at breakfast. 

He insisted, though, on a third, for some excuse he couldn’t quite come up with.

And instead of coming up with an excuse, he immediately asked for all the particulars of Miss Fine’s health.

Predictable chump.

“Thanks, old boy,” Mr. Sheffield frowns, returning to his crossword, tapping the end of his pen arrhythmically against the paper. “Let me know when the doctor for Miss Fine arrives. I want to be there when he checks her over.”

“Ooh la-la-la,” Niles hums, dropping a sugar cube into the tea with a zesty plop.

Mr. Sheffield places his pen down on the desk angrily. 

“Not like that… I just want to ensure she’s going to be well… you know, for the children’s sake.”

“Yes,” he sighs theatrically. “How will the children ever be able to bear their nanny having a twisted ankle?”

“Oh, shut up,” Mr. Sheffield snaps. “I don’t pay you to be sarcastic.”

“No, sir, you pay me to help you with the crossword when you’re missing three-across,” Niles smirks knowingly when he glances down at the incomplete puzzle. “What’s the hint?”

Mr. Sheffield adjusts his wire-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose before looking down again.

“A word that means feeling bad for not doing something that you should have done all along. Disappointment. A sense of shame.”

Niles straightens up with a long-suffering shake of his head.

“Oh, sir, do I really have to spell it out for you?”

[parachutingkitten]

Season 5 Analysis

STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I am going to be applying the concept of criticism to a TV show you presumably love and adore as much as I do. If you do not want your idea that the show is immaculate to be challenged, I would not advise reading past this point.

Additional Disclaimer: This includes criticism of Nya’s arc, so if you’re the type of person to get catty about this subject, turn back now.

Mood for this season: It’s spoopy time.

You don’t need to, but if you are interested, and haven’t seen my analysis of past seasons, you can find those here:

Pilot - Season 1 - Season 2 - Season 3 - Season 4

You can also find all of these, and future installments, on my blog using the tag #analysis 

Hey everyone! I’m still doing these things! Let’s see, when was my last one? Over two years ago...? Yikes, I owe y’all an apology. I really didn’t mean to put these off that long. Anyway, get ready to hate me, cuz although (for the most part) this seems to be the fandom favorite season… I think it’s overhyped. I know, don’t kill me. I’ll explain myself. I don’t think it’s bad or anything, it’s very well structured, but I definitely wouldn’t rank it among my favorites. First, for a little context, I am making a one second of every ninjago episode video right now, so I’ve been binging the series and all it’s shorts back to back, so I think I’ll have a bit more to say about connective tissue between seasons, and hopefully you guys can look forward to more of these analyses between now and the new year when I’m releasing that video. I’m also officially a film major now so… sorry if I come of as extra pretentious or get too deep. Anyway, let’s jump into the thick of it, shall we? 

Plot

This is probably the area I have the fewest number of complaints about. This season has a breakneck pace and it keeps everyone busy. I think that’s why people like it. Everyone’s favorite has something to do. Which brings me to the question… which ninja’s season is this? Lloyd is on a lot of the promotional stuff, but he’s possessed and out of the picture for over half the season, so that can’t be right. Cole turns into a ghost, and the season is a ghost season, but that can’t be right cuz I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone claim it was his. Nya reaches her true potential, maybe it’s hers? Well, she does have a large b-plot, but she is consistently not a part of the a-plot. Kai has a whole thing with being protective of Lloyd, he has his fear of water, maybe it’s just another Kai season? Thing is, it’s no one’s. It is an ensemble season, and I think that’s a healthy thing for ninjago to keep doing. The more we label certain seasons for certain ninja, the more complaining we’ll get about who’s turn it is for screen time that we’ll miss out on telling a good story. Also, If the season is focused on a ninja you don’t like, you are less likely to like the season (see my next analysis for that can of worms). Again, this season tells it’s story really well. Morro directly ties into the ending of last season, and Nya’s getting water powers was foreshadowed the season before. That’s some cool connective tissue to start. The opening episode establishes the three different things the ninja will be looking for, and for once they’re actual tools instead of a series of weapons, blades, masks, whatever. I like that. Jay has some really good humor, Zane has his speech changes, Kai has his irrational fears and protective instincts, Cole has his ghost angst, Lloyd has to deal with his father’s passing, Nya is a new water ninja, Wu has a shop to run and a student to reconnect with, even Ronin has an arc about developing morals and gaining friends. There’s the mystery about how to deal with the ghosts, what the rules are, there’s the leader subplot, the ninja’s money situation, and lore of the different realms, they even worked in Skylor and Borg, there’s a lot of cool stuff going on. This is a tightly woven script that manages to include a lot of new concepts that you get pretty quick. I don’t feel like there’s even that much fat to cut. The opening is a little slow and strange, and the cloud kingdom episode feels a little unnecessary, but I do like the idea of visiting a different realm early in the season so the audience isn’t caught off guard in the climax. Again, the plot all works for me, it’s the other stuff I find myself pretty meh on.

Characters

Ronin

I’m pretty sure Ronin is the only new (non villain) character introduced. I like him a lot. Ninjago needed a true wildcard to shake things up and be unpredictable. I also think he’s pretty nicely woven into the action of the plot. I think his introduction is a bit strange. Like, the ninja already know him, but we’ve never seen him before? Just the way they talk about him sounds like they’re quickly recapping who this guy is for those who missed previous episodes. It’s fine if the ninja already know him but either 1) Introduce or foreshadow him a season earlier or 2) Introduce their dynamic to the audience before it becomes plot relevant. Maybe the ninja are grumbling about him being a nuisance while tea shenanigans are going on or something. Or maybe you have a scene of him stealing the scroll and making snarky remarks about the ninja while he does it. Idk. just something so his sudden plot relevance isn’t out of nowhere. Also, I don’t hate his and Nya’s dynamic, but I know a lot of people love it, and I’m just not totally here for it. Is he supposed to be a father figure for her? Mentor? Frienemy? Just plain friend? (love interest???) it’s not super clear and I could have used some clarification. I also like his use and tie to the next season, so overall, well integrated character.

Nya

I’m adding in Nya here cuz she goes through a major character change, and how she’s handled is one of the things that rubs me the wrong way about the season. A lot of people will probably disagree and/or hate me for this section of the analysis so… here we go! The thing she has to get past to reach her true potential is fear of failure (supposedly) and the solution to that is to just… not care as much? First of all, I know this isn’t supper important, but the fun thing about the ninjago elements is that every elemental master matched up personality wise with their element. Jay is the energetic master of lightning, Kai is the hothead master of fire, Zane is the calm and calculating master of ice, Cole is the strong and dependable master of earth, Lloyd is the literal child master of energy. This especially goes for all the new season 4 masters. So what qualities are often associated with water personalities? Well, serenity, control, flexibility, elegance, patience… calm. You know, like a Zane type character (the element directly adjacent to hers). These are things that Nya isn’t - or at the very least don’t define her. (there’s also something to be said about water and its ties to more feminine qualities, which Nya has been actively shown to reject, but I won’t go into that rant here.) She was designed as the fire master’s sister, and when you try to fit a fire personality into a water shaped character mold… it doesn’t exactly mesh well. It doesn’t make sense. But, like I said, whatever. Maybe that’s the point? Like she has to change her personality to be more in tune with water? Sure. But let’s talk about this fear of failure thing. Because that’s the stated thing that dialogue tells us she needs to overcome. But when has Nya ever been afraid of failure? Fear of failure means avoiding doing something because of fear. Nya is ridiculously persistent, always has been (you know, fire personality). She tries training when no one tells her to, she makes her own alter ego to try and be a hero and save the people who would constantly tell her she wasn’t ready. Wu says she only wants things that come easy, but that’s never been her character before now, she has carried the team with her tech, research, and covert ops that no one forced her to do, all things which are not easy. Fear of failure is usually characterized by what if questions. If Nya is so afraid of failure, why don’t we hear her saying stuff like “but what if I’m not strong enough, what if I can’t save them in time, or worse, what if I lose control of my power and end up hurting people?” Cole shows much more of a fear of failure this season surrounding his insecurity about being a ghost. He wants to sit out from missions because he’s not sure he’ll be able to do it - he’s afraid of failure. But whatever, the writing isn’t clear at expressing her true setbacks, but she does display a real problem that a lot of people have and I think could have been well done if set up correctly. She shows an undying persistence that gets her too close, and makes her increasingly incapable. She lets her frustration hinder her progress (again, fire personality trait), and I think that’s interesting because I don’t think ninjago has done this character arc yet. The supposed solution to this problem is that she just needs to… care less? And yes, I kind of see where they were going with this, we sometimes cloud our natural potential by thinking about it too much, but saying “you need to stop caring” is the absolute wrong way to word it. Caring is not her problem, the problem is her control over the emotions that come from her caring. Caring is a good thing, and teaching kids that if you’re ambivalent about your problems, they’ll go away is not a good message. What she needs to do is take a step back. She needs to take a break, stop to think, and look at the big picture instead of hyper focusing on the roadblock directly in front of her. The usual and much better wording of the moral I think they were going for is “stop overthinking things”. Teaching kids to look at a problem from a different angle and give themselves time to cool down is a great thing. And just think of it, in the climax she could have this ah-ha moment where she steps back and looks at the bigger picture - the whole town, surrounded by the ocean - and gets the idea to sink the preeminent into the water, you could even easily tie that back into the bucket exercise, and that’s what triggers her true potential rather than the current… I’m honestly not sure what. Random flashbacks and the end of the season approaching quickly. Alternatively, you could tie it more directly into samurai x, and make her struggle with letting go of the past and allowing yourself to give up something good in your life to progress to something better. Anyway, I don’t think this was a bad decision long term, she needed to be solidified on the team as a full fledged ninja, I just think this season doesn’t handle the transition that well. Anyway, whatever, I’ll be waiting for your hate comments in the notes.

Romance

Um… there’s none this season? Like there’s a few Wusako moments that are still as weird as they were in season 2, but they’re really not prevalent. There’s also the Jay seeing the future thing which has some weird implications next season (again, some interesting connective tissue between seasons), but that’s about it. Maybe that’s part of why I don’t love this season? Like where’s the pixane? Lol, I’m kidding. But maybe that’s why a lot of people do like it. If you don’t like the canon ships… this is a nice little safe haven for you. Rare for a majority of the series.

Villains

So Morro is a good idea… in theory. I know he’s the fandom’s favorite edgy boy, but idk I think the brand of angsty teen they ended up with was more of an angsty 13 year old than 17 year old. His voice is really grating and I always want to yell at him to just… go get some cough drops. Stop throat screaming, use your diaphragm man! Also, everyone goes on about his last minute redemption, but as far as season 5 goes, he has like half a second of a change of heart. Literally, when Wu comes over and he’s drowning, he’s still being a persistent little idiot like “you never cared about me nooooo!” and it’s only at the last possible second that gives him the crystal, and even that he does it kind of saltily. The preeminent is pretty cool, I like her concept, her design, all that. All the other ghosts are fine I guess. Nothing super memorable out of them, although their aesthetic, especially when there’s a bunch of them swarming around is pretty cool. One last thing was I never understood how Morro “becoming the green ninja” worked and what exactly it was that… did for him? Like he didn’t actually get the power of energy, right? I don’t remember him using it. Did just him defeating Lloyd make him the green ninja? How does that transfer work? And why did he need it to take over the world or realms or whatever? Like I get that it’s supposed to give him more power and what not but idk, it wasn’t super clear. That’s a minor thing though.

Climax

Pretty cool. I like the ATMOSPHERE. Green light is a hard thing to use and justify correctly, but it works really well here, especially with the dark kinda gray blue sky complimenting it. When the preeminent starts walking into the ocean, it’s genuinely terrifying, but you understand exactly how it works and why she’s strong enough to do it. Nya’s true potential is again a little out of left field and could have had some better motivation put behind it. Like what is it Nya learned in that instant? To not be afraid to protect people? She’s… been doing that. Idk. I’ve hit on that enough for now. Overall, there was good variety. I like the green ninja fake out, I like the realm hopping, I even like the little Garmadon visit and Lloyd getting the robe. I feel like we didn’t need a part one and two, you could have had different titles. I mean come on. But hey, now we know, if Pix had only been there, the whole climax would have been wrapped up in like 10 minutes apparently. Pix for the win.

Humor

Really good. Like I’m surprised how much I laughed. Jay wasn’t annoying humor, it was good stuff, there were some good running gags, there’s a solid fourth wall joke about who the lead ninja is at the beginning of the season. Overall, I am pretty impressed. My favorite joke was perhaps the bit where Jay is sarcastically positive, the voice acting is just really solid. Then again, there’s also the whole Borg scene where he roasts half the ninja, that’s solid stuff right there. There’s just some really solid character interaction this season and the humor feels a lot more natural and less forced.

Drama

Okay, we’ve got a lot this season. Y’all know how I feel about Nya’s arc by now. It does not work for me. Ronin’s relationship with her is alright, but kind of comes out of nowhere. Ronin’s solo plot about kinda working for the ghosts works. Cole’s ghost angst works for the most part, although I wish he would have actually skipped a mission and then gone in to help save his friends once they can’t do it without him. That was probably the most solid drama of the season. The other main thing we have this season is Kai’s whole… fear/protective streak. This also doesn’t really work for me. Like, I get that Lloyd and Kai are friends and stuff, like his whole true potential was centered around Lloyd. But like, why does it have to be framed so weirdly? Sometimes in trying to make it seem like Kai is protective of him, it seems like the other ninja just like… don’t care about him? Not all the time, but there are some weird vibes. Also, it doesn’t really go anywhere. No one learns anything about themselves from this subplot, nothing comes of it, there isn’t really a payoff. Also, Kai has yet another irrational fear, this time of water, which really comes right the hell out of nowhere. They try to explain it away like “Oh, Kai feels powerless and so water can get to him” but like… what? That’s the exact situation he was in at the end of season 2 and he seemed perfectly content to literally swim across the ocean (which um… what do you mean the sworn protector of ninjago can’t swim?). Where is this coming from?! Again, it doesn’t really go anywhere, there’s not a point where he has to learn to confront it or he grows because of it. It’s just pointless stuff added cuz the writers like giving Kai vague trails to try and develop him. The cloud kingdom is kinda cool. That last minute twist about them working with Morro is… stupid and unnecessary though. 

Spotlight Episode

I really like the Spinjitzu master tomb episode. Some cool riddles, I like the first two rooms a lot. I do think the third room is a bit strange. Like, the clue was “don’t look ahead” and the solution was to look beneath them, which is the exact same solution as the previous room. Like, you already have magic ice that shows the future, why not play into that? Don’t look ahead could maybe mean don’t look to the future, the opposite of that being the past. Maybe they have to draw on their past adventures to solve it somehow? Learning from the past is a good lesson, right? But overall, I really like it. Some real solid humor this episode. This episode has the sarcastic Jay optimism, Kai totally stalling for time, Zane dealing a pretty sick burn on Cole, just a lot of fun stuff. I like it. It just has great energy and nothing feels like it’s drawn out for too long.

Misc

The aesthetic this season… can be inconsistent, but the main ghost vibe displayed in the opening theme is really solid and I really like it

Speaking of the opening, Ghost wip is great and the opening in on par with last season’s (which is my fav) for sure

Ice age references… okay.

Chima references…. OKAY...

Okay, but like Deepstone can… kill ghosts? Or not? Is it just something ghosts can touch? It’s supposed to be like water in weapon form, right? Like that’s how I understood it when they first introduced it. Wouldn’t the deepstone bars kill Ghoultar then? And then like, Cole’s bike is made of deepstone. He uses it as a weapon. Wouldn’t it kill him? It kills other ghosts when they touch it. How… how does it work?! I need answers!!!

The captain of the steam boat says they’re going as fast as possible, but later Ronin comes in and cranks it up like twice as fast… that always bothered me like, why would he lie about that? Who is this captain and why is he so chill about everyone’s lives?! And then later Wu cranks it up yet again, like the ship had slowed down to it’s previous speed. What the hell is happening with the controls of this ship???

So pissed that the nasty CGI nightmare cloud monster that chases the ninja is named Nimbus. Totally forgot about that. I have an OC with a cat named Nimbus… I promise, there is not going to be a stupid twist bout the cat being the monster thing in Mists of Fate. That would be very stupid.

I was all excited that season 13 gave us minecart chases, but I totally forgot season 5 gave us one first. I really like the return to the caves of despair btw, good reuse of a known location.

How many times this season did we do the: 

Kai: Oh, I don’t like water, I can’t do it uwu  Cole: ...You serious?

Thanks for reading! And if you got this far… I don’t know. I would love to hear your thoughts if you have any! These are just my opinions, so don’t think too much of it if you disagree.

-Kitten

[rose-lord-of-simps]

I’ve decided I’m now comfortable to start posting my own ninjago content on here whenever I come up with some so for clarification...

The ninjago character ages have been kind of and kind of not confirmed in the cannon time line, however when I was doing my research I think Lloyd’s age in the series got messed up after the movie because new fans who came in after the movie were using the movie as reference. (this is not hate to them, if you came in after the movie, that’s great and welcome!) I have been watching this show since the first episode. 

If you ever see me reference these characters PLEASE know that from my perspective they are all adults by now. 

I remember Kai being portrayed as 15 at the beginning in 2011, it’s 2021 now so now he is 25. A year for every year the show has been running because to my knowledge there is no cannon calendar that has been strictly followed in the show, also the amount of times ninjago city has been rebuilt must have taken FOREVER and I think in the Harumi season there was still some damage from the great devourer season that hadn’t been fixed. 

Going off this, Lloyd was 10 when they first found him meaning now he is 20 mentally, physically I got no idea because really he should be ancient after the dinosaur incident. To combat how he still acts like a teenager- all 20 year olds do and Lloyd didn’t exactly get a teenage years so just let him act like a teenager as much as he wants thanks.

It was confirmed that Nya and Lloyd are around the same age so let’s say she is 22, making Kai 3 years older than her which is plausible.

Zane is like 60 I think cuz nindroid,

Jay is a year older than Kai by like a year because Kai has been seen as the youngest out of the main 4 for like ever, so Jay is 26.

And Cole is also 26 because I don’t want to think about these boys getting any older. 

Wu is old, Garm is old, Misako is old, Mystake is old, Skylor is 24, PIXAL is a robot we don’t need to concern ourselves with her age. (technically the youngest in the show but her mentality and stuff is probably as old as Zane) 

Harumi is 15 however I love her- BLAME THE COSPLAYERS- so any time I speak of her always know I am talking about a hypothetical aged up Harumi or even a different world Harumi, I’ll figure it out when I get there.

And, I’m talking about the Ninjago series, NOT THE MOVIE. In the movie they are all around 18 I think but the only time I’ll talk about the movie characters is if we are laughing about it (cuz it had funny parts) or talking baout the differences between characters AND HOW THEY NEVER SHOULD HAVE TOOK AWAY JAY’S BISEXUAL EYEBROW SLIT-

And if you want to share your head cannons about their ages, feel free! However I’m pretty firm on mine but I love to chat! And if you try to criticize me for ANY OF THIS, then I have one thing to say to you.

Technically they’re legos and don’t age the same way we do so they could literally be thousands of years old now in the show because they may have a different concept of time and plastic kinda lives forever which is why it’s terrible for the enviorment. Also they’re legos, don’t worry about it. 

In conclusion: Yes I’m also now happily taking requests for these characters now! 

[crystalgirl259]

The Flame and the Dragon Ch4

Chapter 4: The Duke

Kai sighed in relief as he dropped the bags at his feet and plopped down next to the equally exhausted Lloyd on the side of the town square fountain. The large, glistening fountain outside of city hall in the dead center of the entire city. Built only a handful of years ago, this fountain at the old town center was there to represent the importance of all generations, both young and old, and what they have to offer. Its position within the city was meant to represent the strong mind and balanced way of life the city strived for.

It was designed by Nya.

She had wonderfully captured the natural beauty of the region and used a personal style to convey her vision in this piece of art. Every element was crafted and created with deluxe materials from local suppliers, ensuring this monument will remain an important aspect of the community spirit for many more years.

"Think we got enough food?" He teased.

"Well, we got everything on Nya's list." Lloyd smiled. "You remembered the chocolate right?"

"Yes, I remembered the chocolate." Kai rolled his eyes playfully. Lloyd smiled and dug into his big brother's bag before pulling out a folder and opened. He thumbed through the pages until he found a small back of stapled pages and pulled out the top one, smiling before placing the pack in Kai's lap.

"Care to show your favorite little brother what you've been working on?" He flashed a bright smile and his infamous pleading look.

"Maybe later," Kai replied calmly, earning him a look of pure shock from the blond boy. Kai could never resist Lloyd's babyface when he wanted something. Kai just laughed and scooped his collection of papers in his hands before looking at the one Lloyd picked out. The poem was written in his hand above the image of a field of roses. At the heart was an ancient castle that dated back to the early 18th century. The only difference was this castle was pure white, each stone chiseled from stabs of pristine marble.

Lloyd leaned over his brother's shoulder, immediately engrossed in the detailed sketch of his big brother's.

"Jeez Kai, you could give Nya a run for her money."

"It's just a sketch."

"It's still awesome! Now, can I see the poem or not?" Lloyd pleaded with a whine in his voice.

"No!"

"But it's amazing!" He begged and giggled as Kai blushed.

"You think everything I write is amazing." He smiled, rolling his eyes.

"Because they are!" He insisted, kneeling over the side of the fountain to dig through Kai's folder. "Didn't you say that one goes with another poem or passage? Here it is!" He cheered in victory pulling out another passage Kai wrote and placed in his lap. "This one! I remember cuz when you were reading you had this really dreamy look on your face." His smile almost split in half at the dark blush suddenly covering Kai's face. He snatched both things away and stuffed them back in his folder.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, green bean." Kai insisted with a small smirk. It would have convinced anyone else despite the faint scarlet dusting Kai's cheeks, but not to Lloyd and Nya.

"Yes, you do! You wrote that about the Dragon Lord didn't you?" He smirked playfully. The brunette's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull at Lloyd's innocently smirking face.

"How do you know that?!" He spluttered, completely flabbergasted. The youngest Smith almost burst out laughing at his older brother's panic.

"I didn't, but it's written all over your face!" He gasped in between laughs. Growling in defeat, Kai ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

"Yes, they were inspired by the fairy tale, but no it's not about him, I wrote them after I had a dream." He explained as Lloyd blinked in bewilderment. "I know silly, right?"

"No! I wanna hear it!" He insisted widening his eyes. Rolling his eyes again, knowing Lloyd wouldn't let the subject drop, he continued.

"Alright, well, every night, I dream I'm in a field of flowers outside the castle and while I'm there, I hear a song playing and I follow it; then I see a man standing there holding the most beautiful music box I'd ever seen."

"Is he handsome?" Lloyd asked, teasingly, but Kai chose to ignore that question.

"The music was so lovely; it reminded me of the songs Mom and Dad used to sing to us, but in the most amazing voice I've ever heard." He sighed in awe. "The second I woke up, I just wrote the poem down and then I just couldn't get that man out of my head; I kept dreaming about him more and more." He explained unwittingly, letting his hidden passions seep into his voice; something that didn't go unnoticed by Lloyd. His smile only widened until it nearly split his face in half.

"You're in love~" He sang and Kai almost fell off the fountain. "You're in love with your dream prince!" He teased, with a smirk that put even his siblings to shame as he leaned over his older brother. "And don't try and deny it either, that might work on someone else, but not someone who's known you as long as I have!"

"The Dragon Lord is only a fairy tale, he's not real." Kai sighed, saddened, looking heavenward for assistance to his dilemma.

"Don't worry, bro; I'm sure you'll find your true love." Lloyd encouraged, leaning against the brunette's shoulder. Kai chuckled and ran his fingers through Lloyd's blond hair.

"You're a hopeless romantic, green bean."

"Hopeful." He corrected mischievously. Both boys broke into a fit of laughter until they were interrupted by the sound of a carriage and horses pulling to a stop. Just like that, everyone in town stopped to carry out the weekly ritual that was as practiced and routine as everything else in Ignacia. Everyone was more than happy to greet the two people that were exiting the carriage. The first to exit the expensive, flamboyant carriage was a middle-aged woman wearing a simple but expensive pale green dress.

Her long black hair was tied in a high ponytail by a pretty dark green ribbon, while her toxic green eyes glowed against her deathly-pale skin.

She was a noble maiden without a doubt, but she was not the reason everyone had stopped to stare. The man she turned and bowed her head to was. The brothers recognized his walk before he even stepped out of the carriage. He looked nobler than the woman. The man stepped out of the carriage adorned in a black suit that looked like the most expensive embroidery anyone had ever seen and a necklace of the finest craftsmanship. The outfit was only a simple outing suit but it was still the most expensive thing either brother had ever seen.

The pants alone probably cost more than their entre combined wardrobes.

His white gloves were molded the man's perfect hand and the suit hugged his muscles tightly. The newly polished shoes shined as he stepped down from the carriage. Men and women became lovestruck at his appearance and some people were instantly struck with jealousy or admiration. That combined with perfectly smooth, unblemished white skin, a perfect face, long jet black hair with a green streak in it, and ghostly green eyes, Duke Morro Vento was in every inch a fairy tale prince.

After all, Morro's family had founded the town and still owned it to this day.

Kai never realized how rehearsed Morro's walk was. It was coy and arrogant, just like his glances and his audacious smile. Morro must have returned from a successful trip because he seemed more arrogant today. Kai's gaze turned to Lloyd who nodded in understanding. Both boys picked up their books and the groceries, ready to leave. But a second too late, the duke's gaze found them and he smiled, a seductive smirk that Kai hated more than anything else.

Again he strolled over, cutting off their only exit before the two boys could sneak away.

"Hello, Kai." He smiled sweetly, but the teen saw right through it.

"That's Mr. Smith, your grace." He retorted with a hard gaze. At one point he may have been allowed Morro to call him by his first name, but he had lost that right years ago. Morro's predatory gaze immediately hardened when the brunette used his title instead of his name, though he'd told him time and time again he was allowed to. Kai simply refused to. It was so hard to believe that this arrogant and pompous man obsessed with luxury and social position was the same sweet and free-spirited kid the Smiths knew as children.

Morro's grandfather and their father Ray had been close friends for years.

It was solely because of Morro's grandfather the family moved to this town in the first place. Morro's grandfather had been Duke of the city and the peasants for almost sixty years. He had made it perfectly clear he was just as much a citizen of the town as the rest of the valley. He never cared for social status or reform and only for the well-being of the town and the citizens. As a result, the two families had been quite close. Morro was only two or three years older than Kai.

Sometimes their parents joked about the two of them getting married one day.

This was something Morro's parents took to heart for the future, especially as the children entered adulthood. Ray never considered the idea, especially since he knew none of the children seemed to like Morro in that manner. But once Morro's grandfather died and Ray fell ill, everything changed. Once Morro and his family took the role of Duke and Duchess, and delighted in the royal lifestyle, the Smiths saw less and less of Morro. He'd become too comfortable in the position of his family.

"How many times must I ask you to call me Morro, Kai?" The Duke smiled sweetly, hoping for a romantic response. The brunette just rolled his eyes and gathered his papers together before tying his folder closed. He lifted it to put it away but Morro suddenly snatched it.

"What are these, beautiful?" He asked with mock curiosity, flipping through the papers.

"Your grace, please return my property." He said and it took every ounce of Kai's willpower to remain civil. It was for the sake of his family's good name that he didn't snatch it from his hands and scold him like a child.

"Did you write all these, darling? You must have way too much time on your hands if you waste it scribbling away and reading books." He laughed and Kai growled at the mockery in Morro's voice.

"That's not true!" Lloyd exclaimed and was on his feet faster than anyone expected of the young boy. "Kai's an amazing writer, if you even bothered to read them instead of spending all your time in that stupid shack you call a palace, you'd recognize some good writing." He growled at the duke. A few eyes widened and jaws dropped at Lloyd's comment, but Morro paid the boy no mind and snapped the folder closed, holding it as if it were a discarded garment.

"Oh darling, you have so much promise; don't you think it is about time you got your head out of those silly stories and started paying attention to more important things?" He asked and his voice held a seductive purr that made Kai shiver in aggravation. "I mean, the whole town is talking about it! You spend all your time working at that little shop or reading, it is such a shame." He spoke in such a dreary tone as if Kai's life was that of an unfortunate pauper.

Kai closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair.

He let the duke rant, knowing full well he wouldn't care if he was paying attention to him or not. It had been this way since Morro became the Duke. He accepted the position with a smile and had since turned his ambitions to accustoming Kai to the royal life. The trio lost touch with him as a result, especially Kai, who rejected the idea of the rich and nobility; preferring a life of freedom away from petty, materialistic things. After all, he was perfectly happy living with his siblings where the three could carry out their dreams.

Of course, Morro didn't notice or even care.

"Of course, if you were married to a more... privileged person you wouldn't have to work a day in your life." Morro grinned as his emerald eyes fixed in a cruel seductive glint and met Kai's amber orbs.

"Marriage?" Kai repeated as his eyes widened. "I don't think so Morro, I like working and besides, I don't want to marry just anyone; now, please return my folder." He ordered, attempting to mask the hostility in his voice, holding out his hand.

"Oh, but it wouldn't be just anyone." Morro continued, ignoring the brunette, and held the folder out of his reach so Kai's gaze was fixed on him. "You of all people deserve far more than just anyone; you deserve someone beautiful, wealthy, well-respected-"

"Those are all material things, Morro, not what you should be looking for in marriage." Lloyd cut him off, his hands balled into fists at his sides.

"Give me my folder back, Duke Vento."

"You need someone who's known you since you arrived in this town, who's courted you for years." He smirked as he leaned closer to the brunette, irritation marring the seductive charm.

"I won't ask you again Morro, now stop acting childish and give me my stuff back!" Kai thundered in a harsh tone. Taken aback by the scolding and the looks of the townsmen, he regained his composure and with as much dignity as he could muster returned the folder to Kai.

"Very well, we'll talk later than; come along, Bansha, let us return home." He smiled as he gestured to the raven-haired girl, who followed obediently. Kai's amber eyes were almost red with rage until Lloyd pulled on his arm a bit. Kai's gaze turned to his little brother's curious stare.

"Is he really so naïve that he can't tell you're ignoring his flirting on purpose, or is he just acting?" He asked as he cocked his head cutely, making Morro suddenly freeze in his tracks and Kai burst into laughter, his anger forgotten. Morro turned around with a mortified look on his face. Did Kai's brother just insult him? Without even trying?

"How dare you!" He snapped, pointing accusingly, his composure shattered.

"Now, now, my lord." Kai chuckled. "He's only joking, come on Lloyd, let's get home before Nya wonders where we've been." He smirked and Lloyd smiled as the two scooped up the groceries and books and strolled past the duke and the noblewoman and down the street towards home. Once they were out of earshot of town and Morro, Kai turned to his smiling little brother.

"Thank you for that, green bean; I swear I would have beat the crap outta him if he called me 'darling' one more time."

"I don't know why you put up with him!" Lloyd asked with a snort. "You'd think it would finally penetrate that thick skull of his that you're not interested!"

"I doubt that." Kai sighed, annoyed. "Morro never was one to give up." He added and he knew that was true from experience. Morro had waited and tried for years to coax him to his side. "Hopefully when Nya wins this year, we'll finally have enough money to leave this miserable place." He smiled, confidently.

"I hope so!" Lloyd cheered. "Even I'm getting sick of this town, but I'd miss Dr. Saunders and Brad." He admitted. Kai hummed in understanding as he looked at the large clock tower and his eyes widened.

"Oh shit! Look what time it is!"

"We didn't even make dinner yet and you know what happened last time we got home late?" The youngest Smith groaned as he turned to his middle sibling with concern.

"Don't worry, Nya's a smart girl; she's not dumb enough to repeat her mistakes," Kai assured him. No sooner had Kai said those words, however, an explosion erupted from the Smith home, and thick black smoke pooled from the chimney and kitchen windows...

[peak-dumbass]

Thoughts on rewatch of seasons 2-5 cuz reasons :/

I’ve never really liked Darreth and I thought rewatching the seasons might change that.

I was wrong.

I don’t see him as a “bad character” really, I was never really interested in him and never really found him funny.

Now Misako on the other hand...I’m not gonna talk about much she bothers me cuz people have already made entire posts about that topic...

But I am just gonna say that even evil Lord Garmadad was a far better parent than what she was and ever will be for the rest of the series.

And it doesn’t help that she starts falling for/flirting with Wu right in front of Lloyd.

And she said that the only reason she even fell for Garmadon in the first place was a letter. A single letter. No back and forth, no bonding, no talking out their feelings, no. She says that the only thing that made her fall for him in the first place was that singular letter.

Sorry for that rant, I guess I did talk about why she bothers me, and I didn’t even mention the pointless-abandonment-of-Lloyd thing, but like I said there’s entire posts about that so let’s just move on.

Garmadon is as great as ever but at the end of season 5 when Lloyd leaves the cursed realm and Wu says that’s he’s wearing Garmadon’s clothes, does that mean that Lloyd took off his father’s clothes and thus has seen Garmadon in only his underwear also where did Lloyd’s original clothes go and how did he get Garmadon’s shirt off cuz I don’t think you could get the sleeves over the chains on his wrists?

Zane’s head could be used as a light bulb and that’s great

Bizarro bois were great and were gone too soon :’<

Cole x Cake is the best ship fight me

Zane season 2: nindroids can’t dream

Zane season 3: I can dream

Make up your mind Zane, can you dream or not we need to know!

Zane: no ones deserves to held captive, not even monsters.

Me: remembers echo Zane

Me: Dr.Julien wtf?!

Overlord is a good villain

is what I WOULD HAVE SAID IF ZANE DIDN’T SACRIFICE HIMSELF TO KILL YOU MONSTER!

I also liked the idea of the liquid evil/whatever the purple stuff was that made people be come evil/dark matter ninja and Nya but then I came to the sad reality that no one else cared about them like I did :’<

The end of season 2 Garmadad and seasons 3-5 Garmadad have completely different faces

Ed and Edna are great parents and characters in general unlike a certain mother

I love Pixal💜

I love Skylor🧡 orange is Cole’s color but ok

Kai f—king hates technology and it seems like everyone ignores that fact but I think it’s a nice fact

Cole nearly floats off into space and f—king dies and literally no one talks about it

Zane just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA:(

I LOVE YOU BUT F—K PYTHOR YOU LITTLE SH-T THIS IS YOUR FALT >:(

Karlof is a nice character and I like him

Cole👏and👏Zane👏hold👏hands👏through👏the👏barred👏doors👏

I👏LOVE👏THEM👏👏👏👏👏

Kai sucks at skating and I love him

Jay is good at skating and I love him

I never really liked Cole and Jay’s fighting over Nya cuz it’s annoying and stupid and Cole is clearly gay

Kai when he finds out he might be related to Skylor: Alabama 100

Evil Kai Evil Kai Evil Kai Evil Kai Evil Kai Evil Kai Evil Kai Evil Kai Evil Kai Evil Kai-

Lloyd: who are you?

Morro: I’m you but I can say f—k

Kai overworks himself to save Lloyd from Morro and passes out after Lloyd comes back from the other realms and is later comforted by his polyninja bois aka polyninja Kai angst? Yes please If you don’t know what I’m talking about check out @rinas-ninjas tumblr, they make some great stuff.

Lloyd misses Morro a bit due to him possessing Lloyd for so long aka malachite relationship from SU but ninjago edition? Also yes please.

Cole my poor boi :’(

I love him :’’(

He didn’t deserve what Yang did to him :’’’(

Jay changing Zane’s voice is great

Zane: ‘tis good to see ye smile

Me: I LOVE MY BOIS🤍🧡

Nya being so tired of Jay and Cole’s bullish-t is honestly a mood👌

Also Nya comforting Ghost Cole 👌👌

Also just Nya in general 👌👌👌

Sensei Wu you should probably tell the ninja the ghost’s weakness BEFORE YOU SEND THEM TO FIGHT THE GHOSTS!

Ronin is great, I don’t have a lot to say on him I just think he’s a good character

Chen and Clouse are also good villains, don’t have a lot to say on them I just like them

Edit:

I remember this line and that’s one of the things that annoys me about her

Misako: I should have chosen you Wu, I regret my time with Garmadon.

Lloyd being child of the her and Garmadon: WTF Mom?!

>:(

I know she doesn’t actually say she regrets her time with Garmadon but that’s basically what she means

[extreme-technicality]

does talking to an anon help about ninjago help? cuz I'm down

DHDKCKGSC YES IT DOES THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR OFFERING YOUR SERVICES

Okay now that I know I won’t be clogging people’s dashes buckle the fuck in my dude and I should stress that I literally would not be talking about this as much as I will be if I didn’t genuinely enjoy the show. I’m gonna go season by season and just Rant

S1 has the serpentine as the bbeg and like, as far as villains go they’re p lit. They’re early enough that they haven’t been done to hell, things are fresh, the characters and dynamics are being fleshed out, and all in all s1 is a pretty solid season. There’s some fuckery that gets brought up re: how the FUCK aging works and what the actual timeline of Ninjago is and how Wu and Garmadon fit into that timeline, fuckery that LITERALLY NEVER GETS RESOLVED IN A SATISFYING WAY BC ITS REVEALED IN A LATER SEASON (s8, dw we’ll get there lmao) THAT THE ONLY REASON THE FIRST SPINJITSU MASTER, WU, AND GARMADON LIVED AS LONG AS THEY DID IS CUZ THEYRE BASICALLY DEMIGODS AND ITS IMPLIED THAT LLOYD WILL ALSO LIVE FOR A LONG ASS TIME WHICH MEANS ONE DAY HES GONNA OUTLIVE ALL HIS FRIENDS AND EVERYONE HE EVER LOVED WHICH IS A FUN THING TO THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT But anyway I digress, s1 also coincidentally introduces Lloyd (he wasn’t in the pilot episodes that set up the rest of the series) and the existence of Evil Dad Garmadon.

S2 is where Garmadon starts acting a lot more Evil and a lot less Dad. He’s the main antagonist for that season, and I actually read somewhere that the show was originally slated to end after s2 which high key explains the fuckery of literally every single season after this lmaooooo. Much like s1, I really can’t find much to complain about, the first two seasons are pretty decent as far as I can remember

Season. Fucking. Three. Where the fuck do I start??? I hate season three for entirely personal reasons revolving around the STUPID GODDAMN ROMANCE WRITING. okay lemme back up and explain a thing first so, Jay is dating Nya and they’re fine, they’re going steady, aND THEN????? THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON INTRODUCES BULLSHIT LOVE TRIANGLE FUCKERY FOR ZERO GODDAMN REASON, BITCH I HATE LOVE TRIANGLES AND I HATE THEM EVEN MORE WHEN THEYRE DONE FOR NO GODDAMN REASON!!! AND THEN. AS IF THAT WERENT ENOUGH. THEY SHOEHORNED A ROBOT ROMANCE BETWEEN ZANE AND PIXAL AND I KNOW I RANTED ABOUT THIS A LITTLE BIT WHEN I WAS ACTUALLY WATCHING BUT I DIDNT GO INTO ENOUGH DETAIL!!!! THEY MADE THE OTHER NINJA OOC IN ORDER TO PROP UP THEIR SHIP!!!!!! AND AT ONE POINT ZANE GOES “its like we were…made for each other” AND I HAD TO FUCUCJDHVE I HAD TO SCREAM INTO A PILLOW BRO, IM SO TIRED!!!! NO THE FUCK YOU WERENT!!!!!! YOU WERE MADE FOR YOU AND PIXAL WAS MADE FOR PIXAL AND IF YALLS WANNA BANG BOLTS THATS FINE BUT DONT IMPLY THAT EITHER OF YOU WERE MADE INCOMPLETE!!!! THATS AN INSULT TO YOUR MAKERS AND YOURSELVES, MOVE ON, PLEASE AND THANK YOU. anyway that season also killed Zane (for the first time, but not the last) (spoiler alert lmao) and like, not to be an emotional little shit but I did cry a bit at his funeral.

S4 is honestly one of my favorites, even though the romance crimes continue (the love triangle bullshit is continuing and honestly I maintain that Cole, Nya, and Jay should all have gotten together and in my personal canon they DID, and also Kai has a forced romance) the VILLAIN makes up for it imo. He’s campy!! He’s funny!! He’s a clown!! He’s serious enough that if he says “I’m gonna kill you” HE MEANS IT and that’s so fucking refreshing!!!! S4 is honestly 8/10 just for the villain alone, don’t like that it retconned the SHIT out of the elemental masters and how many different elements there are TO master but eh, it’s ninjago, shit is stupid.

S5 was…interesting? OH WAIT I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT S3 INTRODUCED A GARMADON WHO WAS A LOT LESS EVIL AND A LOT MORE DAD, HONESTLY I THOUGHT IT TOOK A LOT OF THE FLAVOR OUT BUT THATS JUST ME LMAOOO. anyway s5 killed Garmadon, and I was a little sad cuz I like him okay??? I just think he’s NEAT, he’s got big dad energy, he was teaching Lloyd some shit that just got DROPPED and literally was never brought up again which is honestly a theme in Ninjago. Ninjago drinking game: take a shot every time they introduce a plot point or ability and drop it at or before the end of the season. WHICH THEY ALSO DID IN S5 WITH A DIFFERENT POWER ACTUALLY, so all the ninja are masters of Spinjitsu right, well s5 introduced the concept of Airjitsu which only Spinjitsu masters can learn and it lets them FLY and they used that for seasons 5 and 6 and then they nEVER BROUGHT IT UP AGAIN EVEN THOUGH IT WOULDVE COME IN HANDY FOR S E V E R A L DIFFERENT SITUATIONS ACROSS THE SEASONS, ONE OF THEM WOULD BE FALLING TO THEIR DOOM AND MY ASS WOULD BE YELLING “YOU CAN FLY, DUMBASS” - anyway, they do that again later lmao it’s fine. But what’s low key NOT fine is they made Nya the WATER NINJA!!! Like I’m not mad she has powers, except I kinda am, she was doing just fine as Samurai X and honestly the only reason she has super special ninja powers is for plot reasons. Also Cole got turned into a ghost, but by s7 he’s????? No longer a ghost????????? And that’s NEVER addressed or reasoned away, so like. Cool lmao

S6 didn’t happen. Like, canonically, s6 ends with wish fuckery that undoes the entire season and none of the characters remember anything that happened except Jay and Nya because S6 is the season where they get back together so they remember all those events for???? Feelings reasons?????? Unclear, moving on. The actual bbeg for S6 was a djinn with a vaguely Spanish accent, and to this DAY I don’t know why they made him have a SPANISH accent. Djinn are Arabic, not Spanish!! They’re not central or South American, either!!!! Your villain design makes no sense, do better

S7 had MORE time fuckery, and retconned what happened to Kai and Nya’s parents and hmmmhmhmhmhmhm that makes me Upsetti Spaghetti :3 not just the retconning, but the fact that they LITERALLY brought them back oNLY TO NEVER MENTION THEM AGAIN!!!!!! LITERALLY!!!!!!!! Okay so at the VERY very beginning, like pilot episodes beginning, Kai talks about their dad like he died/left fairly recently, BUT s7 contradicts that and claims that both of their parents were essentially abducted when Kai and Nya were little kids, which makes me question what in the fresh fuck two little kids were doing for all those years alone. SETTING THAT ASIDE FOR A HOT SECOND, their parents were also apparently good friends of Wu’s and old war buddies (from the Serpentine wars, which is YET ANOTHER bit of the timeline that doesn’t quite add up but honestly I could make a whole other post about that shit). But if they were such good fucking friends, why didn’t Wu check in every now and again??? What the fuck was Wu doing that was so fucking important that he couldn’t have been assed to visit his friends ONCE in like TEN MOTHERFUCKING YEARS and realize “oh shit, they’re not here and there are two tiny children running around unsupervised…My Kids Now : )” LIKE????? WU YOU LOW KEY SHOULDA LOOKED OUT FOR YOUR FRIENDS’ KIDS BETTER, THEY COULDA DIED BRO!!! Uhhhh the time fuckery also results in Wu getting yeeted ahead in time a bit and the ninja gotta find him

Season. Eight. I have…mixed feelings about this one. The beginning absolutely SLAUGHTERED me, and not in a “this is so fucking funny” way. No, the beginning made me feel like I was being flayed alive with just about every episode because Ninjago was back on its forced romance bullshit and this time it was Lloyd’s turn on the chopping block. That hurt my soul cuz like, look at that mans color scheme, he’s CLEARLY alloaro, why are you forcing romance on my aro man, why would you hurt me like that, BUT ALSO BECAUSE HE AND THE GIRL HE WAS BEING SET UP WITH HAD A LITTLE HEART TO HEART REALLY EARLY ON AND IT WAS THE MOST QUEER CODED SHIT!!!! IT DEADASS READ AS A CONVERSATION BETWEEN AN OUT AND PROUD QUEER AND A CLOSETED QUEER AND THEY MADE!!! IT!!!!! STRAIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing that kept me watching at first was wanting to find Wu, and then I started enjoying myself once Cole found a plot-relevant baby and had fatherhood thrust upon him. Everything went from “ehhhhh” to “holy shit this FUCKS” once it was revealed that Rumi (Lloyd’s love interest) wAS PLAYING HIM THE WHOLE TIME AND WAS EVIL AND HAD AN EVIL GIRLFRIEND!!!!!! LITERALLY IMPROVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SEASON FOR ME, I COULD EVEN FORGIVE THE WHOLE “let’s resurrect Garmadon, but as evil as possible” BULLSHIT!!!!!!

S9 is a continuation of s8, Garmadon is back and 1000% Evil, 10% Dad, but none of the Dad energies is directed at Lloyd - it’s all directed at Rumi, and honestly I could write a whole ass post on just RUMI cuz that’s honestly my DAUGHTER and I LOVE HER and I’m MAD SHE DIES AT THE END OF THIS SEASON!!!! SHE DESERVED THERAPY AND TO LIVE WITH HER GF AND MAYBE SOME CRIME. AS A TREAT. RUMI DESERVED BETTER AND LOW KEY IM GONNA WRITE A FIC ABOUT IT, BUT ANYWAY WHERE WAS I

Ah right, so s9 has the four major Ninja stuck in the original dimension with no way home, while Lloyd has no powers (cuz he almost died last season) and has to somehow lead a resistance against Garmadon (who has taken control of Ninjago City and is working on the rest of Ninjago). Actually, s9 is pretty cool. Like, the end of s8 and into s9 are low key my favorite episodes, and I kinda wanna rewatch them now -

S10 is a FUN one. Garmadon got got last season, but he didn’t DIE, so he’s in cold storage and now there’s Another Threat and he’s the only one who knows wtf they’re up against so they let him out and he works with them. The funny part is, he is still Very Much Evil and doesn’t quite Get emotions like he did when he was, uh, human lmao, sO HE WOKE UP EVERY DAY DURING THAT SEASON AND DECIDED TO CAUSE PROBLEMS ON PURPOSE. IT WAS THE FUNNIEST FUCKING SHIT. 1000000/10 MY FAVORITE GARMADON, he ended that season by literally fucking off into Ninjago and they never decided to track him down 😭😭😭😭😭and I’m so SAD about it dude

S11 has another Serpentine as the bbeg, though in the setup to that they retconned how the fucking Serpentine tribes and history work??? I think???? Also Wu was a good 150% angrier and generally Done with the ninja’s shit, which was honestly refreshing tho I’m not quite sure I liked what the refreshed view was, but whatever lmao. S11 also had the ninja get yeeted to the dimension farthest from Ninjago, and honestly - okay, so they didn’t all go at the same TIME, Zane left about a week or two before the others did but there was time dilation fuckery afoot which I’m not too mad about cuz low key it makes sense. What I AM mad about is that they didn’t play the angst up to its full POTENTIAL!!!!!! Zane was EVIL in the other dimension!!!! Okay so I’m Ninjago he was only gone for maybe a week or two, but DECADES had passed in the other one, and all that time Zane was alone and disconnected from everyone he knew and loved, with a staff that boosted his power while slowly corrupting him and Turning Him Evil to help him, and like???? The thought of Zane trying to find a way home, trying to get SOME sort of message back, while he has to use the staff more and more to help him survive the long, lonely decades, so that by the time his family DOES show up its too late??? BRO. B R O. THAT JUST HITS DIFFERENT, BUT NINJAGO DIDNT DO THAT!!! THEY MADE HIM EVIL DUE TO MEMORY WIPE!!!!!! MEMORY WIPE IS BABY SHIT COMPARED TO A LONG, SLOW CORRUPTION!!!!!!

S12 was alright. It went into Cole’s mom, touched on some of the adventures she had had, threatened another forced romance (this time on poor Cole, just leave my mans ALONE) but thankfully didn’t follow through this time, introduced cool new powers that honestly hasn’t been elaborated on since that’s the most recent season I think lmao

Anyway thanks for reading and letting me rant!!!! I have,,So Much More I could talk about, PLEASE ask me about Rumi, some of my headcanons re: Garmadon and Wu’s dynamic, the Serpentine, my top five times they butchered Kai’s character for Plot Reasons, or anything else I brought up here that you want me to elaborate on!!!

[anastasiaskarsgard]

Meeting Roman Godfrey

Chapter 2

Warning: cursing.

Author notes: establishing these two dynamic. The calm before the storm if you will. Lol.

“I can honestly say that I’m jealous.” Roman mumbled as he stared in wonder at myr Uncles’ home. Walking around touching the original furnishings, and admiring the extensive art collection that was everywhere you looked, in some form or another.

My uncles home had been designed by famous architect frank lloyd wright and was dramatically built on top of a waterfall, giving it the suitable name of “Falling Water”. It was as famous for its genius design, as it was for being owned by a reclusive antisocial billionaire that didn’t allow journalists, photographers, architects or anyone for that matter near the home, let alone photograph it.

I think, the waterfall is annoying,the kitchen impractical,pretty much had no storage space, was constantly in need of some major renovation or repair, and was as close to living in a fish bowl you could get. I’d never admit any of those things out loud, because it truly was beautiful, but deep down I hated living in the famous home.

“I’m just shocked you drove all the way out here. I figured for sure you’d see how far it was and be like pass.” I said trying to draw some attention from the home.

“He recognized the address.” I spun around to find my Uncle standing by one of the homes many staircases.”hello Godfrey. I bet you’re beside yourself to finally have a look inside.”

“Absolutely, sir. It’s an absolute honor to be in your home.” Roman said politely.

I looked at him incredulously. He was known for being a pain in the ass and a brat, but maybe he was just smart and chose his battles. My uncle was as famous for being an asshole as he was for being a genius, but it seemed as though they knew eachother. “So I guess you two know eachother?” i asked. 

“Since i can remember. your Uncle loves to tell me to go fuck myself on the regular. Well not since I tried to buy this house right before....” Romn trailed off as he seemed to get lost in some distant memory...

“What happened to your cousin Letha?” My uncle asked. Strange for him to even ask personal questions, let alone remember names (even if it was my name too)

“Uncle! It might be polite to ask him how he is first...” I huffed.

“I dont care about his emotional state. I care about how a perfectly strong healthy girl died so suddenly and then it just went away.” he analyzed Romans reaction, but there was none. my Uncle liked to test people.

“brain or blood vessel burst in child labor. I was there. So much blood... then she was gone.

“Uncle!!! Are you seriously...”

“No need to defend me Letha.” Roman interjected with a pleasant smile, “your Uncle is one of my favorite people.”

“Did I ever tell you how not just one, but two women ended up with your terrible name?” he asked me with one of his mischevious smiles. “in Greek it translates to forgetful, and considering you’re not forgetful in the least its ironic. Marie and your mother both hated Olivia, and bonded over that mutual hate. Marie was so taken by your others charms, she named Letha after you the following day.”

I looked over to Roman and he was staring into me. i glanced away to my Uncle, who was watching Roman wth a strange smile on his face. He was acting kind of strange, even for him. I’d better get Roman out of here before he hates me. 

“. Come on out here with me and we can chat you two. Letha grab me a ginger ale and get Roman a water since he’s driving.” my Uncle ordered.

I agreed and hurried to the kitchen and watched in curiosity as the two notoriously difficult business tycoons seemed to be enjoying one another  out on the terrace.

I hadn’t planned on inviting Roman in, but he had been so obviously enamored by the famous home, that i couldn’t refuse when he’d politely asked to see it. Normally a guy asking to see inside was a question with shady intentions, but the pure wonder on his face had proven otherwise.

Now i didn’t even know what to think about my Uncle being his version of kind to Roman. Uncle hated visitors. I wasn’t totally sure how much he liked me even. I felt like I was in some alternate reality 

I grabbed the drinks, put them on this fancy tray and carried them out to the terrace. It was just nearly dusk and this was one of the prettiest times to see the house, when it was all lit up like a lone lantern in the thick forest with the dramatic waterfalls, and otherworldly feel. 

It was kind of silly that the house was the view, instead of the house having a view. And ironically, the house was so hidden away on 1700 acres up a long winding road, behind a massive gate, with full time security, that nobody really ever got to view it.. Uncle has grown tired of people just showing up or seeing flashes in the woods, so he hired this crazy security company to keep everyone out and monitor all the borders. Hardly anyone ever made it thru now. It was private, but extremely isolated and lonely.

“I’m surprised you’d take interest in Letha.” My uncle said, eyes narrowing obviously oblivious I was right behind them. I held my breath and didn’t move a muscle. I wanted to hear this.

“Why? She’s a beautiful girl.” Roman chuckled.

My heart warmed and stomach fluttered a bit. OH HELL NO Letha. Keep that shit in check.Hes gorgeous, and tall, and sexy, and charmng, and smelled nice, and could hold his own with your uncle, but hes also famous for bedding every woman in his path.... 

“Frankly her breasts are too big for my taste, they seem like a handicap more than an asset, but that’s trivial and shallow. She’s too smart and she doesn’t listen for shit.”

“I had noticed that actually...” Roman said thoughtfully.

“Which part?”

“All of it.”

I cleared my throat, so I didnt hear anything else wrong with me. “Drinks guys.”

Roman hopped up to help me but I signaled him to sit, as I served them their beverages. I could feel his eyes on me, but was careful not to look at him and notice.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” My uncle said. I was gonna punch him in the face, hes such an ass! god I love him.

I burst out laughing and looked at Roman who was 3 shades redder and forcing an uncomfortable smile.He isnt that cool, he does get embarrassed, thats better.

My Uncle started to laugh but winced. “Ouch. Shit. Fucking neck.” He cursed as he was reminded laughing wasn’t allowed yet. He hardly ever did laugh so it wasn’t really an issue normally.

“You’re my favorite person in the world Uncle.” I meant it too. He’s always been there for me, and when I heard he’d hurt himself and may need my help, I dropped everything, hopped in my car and drove the nearly 3000 miles to his house.

It’d taken nearly a whole day to get permission to pass the guards. They were new and usually my uncle came to see me. I’d only been to this house one time when I had graduated high school more than a few years ago. With me going to University, my uncle no longer had to live in the city, so he came here.. Something about the house and town was unsettling to me.

“Well considering the competition, it’s not much of a compliment.” My uncle said dryly. “One day you two should compare notes and see which one of your mothers is the more despicable creature.”

“Is it ok if I take Roman on a little nature walk so he can see the house in all its glory?”

“Go ahead. I’m gonna go to sleep shortly but no hanky panky you two.” He said with a mischievous grin.

Now it was my turn to be red. I turned to Roman and he was already up by my side. I took his hand and walked to the floating stairs that led to the ground floor. I was sure to walk slowly so he could take in all the house had to offer.

“Beautiful.” Roman said under his breath.

“Oh my gosh I know! Can you believe they built this out in the middle of nowhere in 1935? Can you imagine? And it hasn’t been cheap or easy keeping it perfect like this. A few years ago they had to rip half the house apart and reinforce it because the terraces were sagging. Uncle spent like 11 million dollars that time on engineers and architects and materials. He was not letting it go, and I don’t even think the whole house is worth that, but when he likes something, not hell nor high water can change his mind.”

“I wasn’t talking about the house, although good to know.” He smiled at me almost shyly.

“Are you trying to be adorable? You aren’t shy, and yet you’re acting almost sweet.”

“You’re so weird. You just spit out whatever you’re thinking don’t you?” Roman challenged me. Super cocky confident Roman returning.

“Omg you’re a peacock. Look at you preening about, puffing up your chest.”

“A peacock? Really? What does that make you?”

I had to think about that for a moment.”I’d have to go with a honey badger I think.” I said.

Roman choked on his water. I pat him on the back, giving him a moment to catch his breath. “Why is that such a shock?”

“No reason.” He tried to look innocent but I could see thru his shit. “Why did you choose it?”

“Well I’m resourceful, fearless, I don’t listen, I prefer my own company, no one can keep me contained, and snakes don’t intimidate me.”

“Ya?” Roman got very close to me and wrapped his arms around me looking down through long lashes. He oozed sex appeal and I could see how all the girls fell all over him.

I reached up and booped his nose. “Boop.” I giggled hysterically at his facial expression.

“What was that?” He asked confusedly.

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up. No one has ever booped you in the nose? That’s crazy! You have the best looking nose I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve never gotten that one.”

“Well that’s cuz most women are probably trying to be sexy and mysterious with you. theyre not being themselves. Boop. Ok last one. Sorry. I barely know you, I can’t go booping you all over the place on our first date, you’re a nice Christian boy...” I said sarcastically. I grabbed him by the hand and pulled him along the way. “We are almost there and it’s getting dark. We don’t wanna get eaten out here or have to kill something.”

i looked back and Roman was genuinely smiling. I felt warm all over, I looked t our hands intertwined and was puzzled with the feeeling i felt. i looked back at Roman and he was looking at our hands too...

We walked along in happy silence until we reached the rocks across the lake and waterfalls from the house. I was wearing Converse, but his dress shoes were proving to be less than nature friendly. We finally got up the slick stairs cut into the stone to reach the sitting area, after a lot of effort and laughs. They were the worst shoes for this environment ever.

Upon seeing the house, Roman audibly gasped. He took a few steps ahead and I just admired his profile and form. He really was beautiful. I knew he was going to kiss me before the night was thru. I knew better than to trust this boy, and I knew this was really stupid and I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I was completely enthralled and was going to see it through. I didnt half ass anything, and i wasnt going to start with him.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” Roman said playfully.

My eyes flashed at him trying to tell me what to do. I lowered my head and looked up at him thru my lashes with a sneer.

 “Hey hold on, that’s my trick! We can’t BOTH have intense sexy stares.” he walked over and casually grabbed me around the waist.

“Good thing mine is just evil then.” I said in my best creepy witch voice.

He burst out laughing, eyes shining. It was a genuine laugh. I could tell by the way he instantly tried to control it, that it didn’t happen often.He tried to be so intimidating and serious, but there was a warmth to him, just under the surface.

“You’re a nerd.” He said quietly. 

Oh boy here we go. He’s gonna try this again. My mind was running 1000 miles a minute as I tried to decide whether I was going to let this happen, when all of a sudden it was too late. His lips were on me as he pulled me into a deep embrace. If I was the type to get caught up in a moment, this would be that moment. He smelled amazing, and tasted so sweet. I felt gum in his mouth with my tongue and I snatched it. I pulled away victorious and mock screamed like a roaring crowd, jogging in a circle arms raised.

“You did not just steal my gum.” He beamed at me, chasing me and catching me in his arms before slipping and pulling me down on top of him, wincing at the impact. 

i hovered over him laughing hysterically. “grace and beauty,” i teased. “ No gum is safe when I’m around.” I grabbed his hand and dragged him to his feet and then back to the stairs. “Time to go on the date I have planned for us.”

His eyebrows shot up and he looked genuinely shocked. “You planned out a date?”

“I did. And I have a feeling, you’re going to love it giiiirrrlll!” We both were giggling like school kids as we made our way back to the house.

I looked up to see my Uncle watching us from his terrace, a worried look on his face. That was kind of odd, but this was Roman Godfrey for chrissake.

I obnoxiously kissed my hand with a big “muah!” And threw it at my uncle who ducked like he was really avoiding getting hit.

“You nearly got me that time.” He yelled down to me.

I laughed and waved goodbye as we walked around the house to Romans Mercedes G wagon.

“Do you know why this suv is so expensive?” I asked him.

“It’s a Mercedes.” He said rolling his eyes.

“Although that’s part of it, these are built by hand and take over 40 hours buy two master craftsman to build. They have all the top-of-the-line materials used as well as three locking differentials. It’s the only one in its class with that so it’s superior for off-road Ing especially with the all wheel drive. Add that with superior safety and brand reliability and you have a very expensive, amazing machine. And since you of course have the AMG, you have to add two more craftsman to its build to hand build its engine that’s a mechanical marvel in itself.”

“You know more about my car than me. “ he laughed.

“It’s no big deal, I just never forget something once I’ve read it.”

“Never? I understand your ironic name now”

“Nope. It’s a blessing and a curse. I get it from my Uncle I guess.”

“That’s impressive.” He said sincerely. “I better never lie to you.”

I looked at him and our eyes locked. We stood there eyes locked on one another, neither of us wanting to be the first to look away. A smile crept across his face and i did an exaggerated silly wink.

“You are full of surprises Ms. Letha... what is your last name? Same as your Uncle?

“Nope. My last name is Dahl although I’d love to change it. Not a fan of my father. 

“Oh? Family drama Letha Dahl?’

“You have no idea.” I winked and got in the passenger side before he could reach the door and open it for me. I watched him walk around to the drivers seat and stop to read a message and reply. He scanned thru his phone and slipped it in his pocket. He climbed in and pushed the button to start the car. I went to the navigation and entered the address of our destination and pressed start.

I looked out the window analyzing my thoughts and emotions with scientific precision, first identifying the particular emotions and then assessing where there root was, before filing them away as solved. This was how I regulated thoughts and feelings, so they never got the best of me but this time there were emotions, I had no name for and there was nothing logical about them. I’d dated and even had boyfriends, but I’d never been this absolutely enamored by a man. i felt .... God, what was it?

Roman Godfrey was way cooler than me, but I was smarter, but for the first time in my life, I wasn’t sure if that was an advantage. I had never let emotion take the wheel, but i almost wanted to. I wanted to be lost in this tragic gorgeous boy.

[squib-2006]

Squib can you give me... Kai hcs that you have 🤲🤲🤲

I have a whole post already going over most of my Kai hcs but fug it here’s some more.

Baby boi has some serious repressed trauma. Like you think Lloyd has bad trauma, at least the green bean talks about it. Like Kai never talks to anyone about his bad experiences ever. This is a bad habit built up on always having to put on a happy face for nya when that were younger.

On that same note kai is an excellent actor. As long as he isn’t put on the spot he can act how ever he wants to. In a situation where he needs to get away from the media? Well even if Kai is annoyed he can act all swave and talk his way out of having to actually say anything.

On his relationships with the other ninja I think it goes like this.

Lloyd: big brother/parental figure. He and Lloyd have a very strong bond. If Lloyd is ever frustrated or sad or mad or stressed he goes to Kai who will listen to him and give him good advice. To Lloyd’s dismay kai won’t ever vent to him about anything and deflects when Lloyd pushes him.

Nya: older brother/parental figure. He practically reased nya so there pretty close. Nya isn’t a afraid to call Kai out on his bullcrap though. The support eachother and respect eachother too. Kai is about over protective of her in earlier seasons but cools down a bit after she shows him she can take care of her self.

Jay: brotherly figure. There chaotic demon brothers your honor. They don’t hate eachother but get into a lot of petty squabbles and tease eachother. If push came to shove Kai would have jays back and vise versa. Kai’s cool about jay and nya dating on the inside but likes to tease jay about not approving. Up until the whole Yang thing jay had no idea if Kai actually approved of him and nya.

Zane: brotherly/parental figure. In Zane’s case he is more like a brother and adult figure in Kai’s life. The brotherly part because they joke and have fun together. But the parental part comes in when Kai can’t sleep, who reminds him to sleep, it’s zane, when Kai only takes the bare minimum to eat who puts more food on his plate, zane does, when Kai slips up and drinks a bit too much who takes care of him more often than not and keeps the slip ups to him self, zane does. Zane looks after all his brothers like a parent would look after wild uncontrollable children. Kai is no exception. Zane does feel a little guilt  towards Kai’s drinking problem due to him only gaining the problem after his “death.” Kai says it’s nobody’s fault but his own, but Zane still feels guilty about it.

Cole: brotherly. They act like two normal brothers would. They goof around and have fun.

That’s all I have for now cuz it’s like 2:30ish in the morning and I really need to sleep but I can’t cuz stupid brain sooooo. I hoped you liked it.

Thanks for asking me for some more hcs.

[eyeofthewolfe]

Ninjago & TLNM: To Be Green

Chapter Eleven: Trust

With tears in his eyes, Lloyd raced across the giant warehouse. He couldn’t believe it...Master Wu is alive!!

The older man was clearly shocked at Lloyd’s reaction to seeing him. However he barely budged as Lloyd lunged on him and wrapped his arms around his master. “Master...you’re okay!”

Even Jay and Nya had stopped their work to watch Lloyd crush Wu. After a few seconds of being in a tight embrace, Master Wu spoke. “I didn’t expect this much of a reaction from returning from my nap.”

Lloyd’s blood went cold. He knew Master Wu’s voice more than he knew his own father’s or mother’s. The voice that Lloyd heard was one of a complete stranger.

The green leader reluctantly pulled away and stared wide-eyed at his not-Master. Besides more wrinkles, this man was a spitting image of Master Wu, but his voice... it had more of an accent than Kai and Jay combined. It was actually miraculous Lloyd had made out the words he had said...

“Master...?” Lloyd forced the words out of his mouth. “Not you too....”

The master sensei took in a breath and then looked Lloyd from top to bottom. After a few seconds of silence, Wu regained a straight composure. “Are you a Lloyd from a different world?”

The green ninja didn’t have to look behind him to know that the other five ninja had lost their jaw to the ground. With a sigh of relief, Lloyd smiled and nodded. “One second I was in my Ninjago and the next-“

“How interesting.” Wu nodded. “I imagined Ninjago to only have one world....I do not know what this means.” There was a long uncomfortable pause as the whole warehouse reflected on Master Wu’s words.

Suddenly Wu slapped his staff on the floor, a sound so unexpectedly sharp that Lloyd flinched in surprise. “Whatever, I guess.” Master Wu shrugged and walked past Lloyd to the table with the map, leaving Lloyd and the orange-haired warrior.

Lloyd stared at Wu as he talked with Cole, Zane and Kai about the battle plan. He shook his head a little in disbelief.

“Is he different too?”

The green ninja turned with wide eyes filled with shock. He didn’t recognize it before but the familiar voice struck him like a staff to the stomach.

The lady in armor was none other than his mom. Or-well, you get it right?

Her eyes flashed wide in response to Lloyd’s shock. “What? Is there something wrong with my hair?”

“Your a warrior??” Lloyd gasped in shock. To that, Koko chuckled. “Oh, this. Yes, I am a warrior. My fighting alias is-“

“WE ARE GOING OUT ON A MISSION WITH LADY IRON DRAGON???”

Koko grinned as Nya, in full sprint, launched a hug onto the warrior. “My dreams are coming true!!”

Her dreamy eyes turned to Lloyd. “Can we be paired up?? Pleaaaaase please please please?”

Lloyd was about to say, “Sure,” when he realized what he originally needed two more people for. After realizing this, he shook his head sadly. “Sorry Nya, I need Mo-uh, Lady Iron Dragon and Wu as a strike team to get Garmadon as fast as possible.”

Both Koko and Nya’s grins slowly faded. With a scowl, Nya dejectedly turned away and walked back to the dragon mech with a comment of disgust. Lloyd tried not to listen to it but it still hurt his heart.

“How grown up of you.” Koko nudged Lloyd. The ninja shrugged his shoulders. “I have to put the plan first. We have to get Garmadon back. You and Wu will be the ones in charge of retrieving Garmadon from...wherever they are keeping him.”

Koko crossed her arms. “Have you made a lot of battle plans in your life?”

Lloyd was confused by the question. “Uuuuuh, kinda...?”

His not-mom leaned in close. “Here’s a little advice, warrior to warrior. Always trust your team more than the plan.”

Chuckling, Lloyd put his hands on his hips. “Oh, I know that.”

Koko raised an eyebrow. “Do you?” Leaving that question hanging in the air, she walked towards Wu humming an unfamiliar song.

Always trust your team more than the plan. Lloyd knew that, right? Of course he did. He’s the green ninja, leader of the best team of ninja in the-

Mid-inspirational thought, he watched as Jay accidentally slipped on a piece for the dragon and elegantly fall to the ground, hitting about ten pieces on the way down. “Ow,” the pain-filled echo from Jay topped with the laughter from his whole team shrouded Koko’s advice just a little in his head. He could trust his old team with his life but these.... imposters were a little harder to trust.

“I’ve got to get home ASAP,” Lloyd grumbled as he jogged over to make sure not-Jay was alright.

________________________________________________

“....and now Meowthra has a spot to live a little west of Ninjago. It’s been peaceful for a few weeks but yesterday the Shark Army launched an attack on the city and captured my dad. My efforts to save him were....” Lloyd searched for the right word while spinning his chopstick in his bowl of noodles. “...worthless.”

He slowly raised his eyes to see how the others were responding to the events from his ‘realm’ in the past month. All he saw from everyone (including the new girl, Skylar? Skyler?) were wide eyes, dropped jaws, and untouched food.

It took a few seconds but finally the host of the restaurant Kai picked found the first words to respond to Lloyd. “There is a little something wrong with your world,” Skyl?r chuckled as she continued to wipe down a counter with a rag. “A giant cat? C’mon, that’s just a little ridiculous.”

“I mean,” Kai shrugged and lifted his hands in defense. “We did have a giant snake attack the city a few years back.”

“A giant snake?!” Lloyd repeated in shock.

“Oh yeah, it was huge!” Cole dangled a long noodle off of his chopstick. “It was as long as like, fifty blocks. If we hadn’t of stopped him-“

“I thought Garmadon stopped him,” Skyl?r interrupted with a side grin.

Jay slapped his hand in the table and Zane almost lost his drink. “What is up with everyone thinking Garmadon saved the day?! I mean he turned it into a huge wave of green goo but we did all the hard work!”

The fire ninja shook his head. “So under appreciated.”

“Talk about being under appreciated,” Lloyd mumbled. “Try having the whole world hate you.”

“Seriously?” Zane picked up Lloyd’s words as if he had said them clearly. “Why did everyone hate you?”

Lloyd sipped his water. “Cuz my dad attacked Ninjago City almost three times a week for like, half a decade. Everyone hated Garmadon, and therefore everyone hated me. Simple, really.”

Nya crossed her arms on the table. “But, they knew you were the Green Ninja right?” Lloyd shook his head. “They didn’t?!” Nya was taken back. “Why?”

The Green Ninja shrugged. “Secret identities. It was to protect us. Didn’t y’all have secret identities?”

A chorus of no’s and nope’s met Lloyd. One “yes” spoke up, but it was from the red head.

“Oh, hush- you were a spy!” Kai laughed at Skyl?r as the group of Ninja laughed at her joke. Lloyd, who didn’t get it, chuckled but caught eye of a flashing blue and red blur as it flew by the window behind all the ninja. He glanced at the team; in the moment of joy, no one had seen the cop car.

They are having fun, Lloyd decided in his head. I’ll let the cops handle this one.

“Nya had a secret identity!” Jay inserted into the conversation.

“Oh yeah?” Cole smirked. “Being my girlfriend?”

The empty restaurant erupted in hysterical laughter with Lloyd nervously chiming in. Jay, meanwhile, scooted away from Cole with a look of betrayal. “That’s...that’s not funny!! I’m serious!! Y’all...”

[lockwoodlitherland]

LITE

“Okay what is happening, you are never late.” Her sister's voice came crackly through the dashboard speakers. 

“I’m driving, I fucking hate driving in this city.” 

“Oh, we’re swearing too? Late and swearing-“

“Anni I don’t know where I’m going, I’ve just come out of Little Portugal, where can I park in Downtown?” Lil whined, charcoal blue eyes wide with mild panic as she looked left and right and left again, making a calculated last minute turn in the traffic. 

“You know the only time I think I’ve ever seen you properly angry was in traffic. It was horrifyingly violent, I loved it. I think you called a really old man in a Merc a ‘wank sock’.”

Annika’s laugh rang through the speakers, warmly familiar. It calmed her slightly in the midst of her burgeoning road rage. No matter the situation, it always came as a relief to Lil, hearing that sound now; there had truly been a moment last year when she worried she’d never hear it genuinely again. 

“I stand by what I said, he was a wank sock and a danger to society. Annika, I don’t know where I’m going and it’s icy and it shakes me to my core that people are still speeding. Also, I shouldn’t be talking to you while I’m driving.”

Anni laughed at her again and Lil couldn’t help but join in despite herself; she was serious about the Highway Code. 

“Okay, just park opposite mine between the churches, I’m pretty sure it’s free, I’ll meet you there.”

“Anni, it’s not gunna be free, it’s like a block away from City Hall.” 

“You’re telling me that these God honouring folk don’t provide free parking? Shocking. Anyway, I don’t fucking drive here, how am I supposed to know? I’ll see you in a minute.”

A few stressful minutes later Lil turned into the car park off Bond Street, carefully reversing into a space directly opposite St. Michael’s. She clocked Annika immediately, who stood outside her apartment building on the other side of Church Street. Anni was leaning against the sandstone, heel of her right boot braced against the wall behind her. She held a cigarette in one hand and her phone in the other; the screen lit up her graceful features in the dwindling daylight of the late winter afternoon. It always amazed Lil, the juxtaposition between Annika’s nature as a force of chaos and the very precise and pristine way that she presented herself to the world; never a hair out of place, all clean white lines. 

Anni looked up from her phone and spotted Lil’s silver Toyota 4Runner. It was still splashed up the sides with dirt and snow sludge from the two hour drive she’d embarked on this morning, from just outside The Park in Peterborough and into Toronto. Anni took a quick glance up and down the road before jogging across the traffic towards Lil. She took a last drag from her cigarette when she reached the safety of the pavement, flicking what was left of it into a metal trash can and quickly blowing the smoke out the side of her mouth before reaching Lil, who climbed out of the 4x4. 

“Lite!” With a huge grin Anni put her arms out and hugged Lil tightly, kissing the side of her face with glossed lips. The familiar scent of Annika’s signature perfume filled Lil’s nostrils as she returned the hug and leaned into the kiss, scrunching up her features. 

“It’s good to see you Anni, even if you have just made my cheek sticky.”

“Just rub it in, it’s moisturising. You’ve changed your hair!” Anni replied, pulling back a little from the hug to brush her gloved hand across the shaved side of Lil’s head. She had a short back and sides now, the length on top pushed up from her forehead and to the side in a lazy quiff. This wasn’t particularly new for Lil. 

“Yeah, but I change my hair all the time, you on the other hand.” Lil raised her eyebrows at Anni and nodded towards the others scalp, her hands held Anni’s upper arms proudly as she took her in. 

Anni’s delicately curled hair lay over the left shoulder of her long white woolen coat. Lil took note of the red roots and strawberry blonde fade into Anni’s customary pale blonde at the ends of her hair; for as long as the two had known each other, Annika had never let her natural roots grow in. In fact, she remembered Anni actively panicking about how much they showed and getting so desperate as to ask a pre-teen Silvie to help her bleach them- chemical burn city. 

Anni moved a hand to her hair consciously “Out with the old and in with the older, ey?” 

“You look great Anni.”

The two women linked arms as they walked the wintry streets of Church and Wellesley, rainbow flags decorated red brick, glistening with frost or frozen solid and unmoving in the breeze. They made their way to Second Cup, chatting about everything and nothing; the minutiae of their week. They got to the coffee shop and sat with their drinks in the gentle yellow light of the lamps above the counter. 

“I still can’t believe you drink black coffee, and without sugar too, you psycho.” Anni said, smiling as she took off her lilac scarf and set it over the dark wooden back of her chair, “It’s like how Lloyd used to-“ 

Annika sucked in a sharp breath, stopping herself before going any further, the light of her smile dying in her eyes after she realised what she was saying. She was looking at Lil with frightened doe eyes, like a child that had just accidentally told a secret. Lil was about to take a sip of her plain black ‘psycho’ coffee but she didn’t. Instead, she put the cup down and reached across to hold Annika’s hand, which had balled into a fist at the table.

“It’s okay.”

Lil felt Anni relax with her touch, the woman slumped her shoulders a little- they had tightened after she spoke the name aloud. 

“It’s okay.” 

Anni pursed her lips and closed her eyes, taking the hand that Lil had offered, locking their fingers. Lil could see that although time had passed and Annika had really taken steps forward, away from the trauma of her past, of that night, the toll still weighed heavily on her. 

“It’s about getting to the point where the edges of the pain aren’t as sharp Anni. It will start to hurt less, you’ll catch yourself doing that a lot, it’s normal.” 

Anni opened her eyes, the pale green glistening with tears that had welled up. She didn’t cry though, Lil knew that Anni never let herself cry in front of people. Anni sniffed and squeezed Lil’s hand before pulling hers away and gathering herself. 

“Last night I couldn’t sleep,” Anni said, ripping a brown sugar sachet “so obviously, I thought why not give an orgasm a try?” She poured the contents into her cup and began to swirl the liquid with the wooden stirrer. “But the guy in the video I was watching reminded me of Lloyd, so, I just cried myself to sleep instead, and that’s not even a joke.”

Lil sucked in her cheeks as she tried to swallow a laugh. 

“You can laugh, it’s funny, I’m pathetic.” 

“I’m really sorry.” Lil stifled her laugh through her fingers. 

Anni gave a painful, sarcastic smile and shrugged, taking a sip of her drink.  

“It will get better, I promise you. After Matthew died, I would just forget he wasn’t here anymore, all the time. Even years later. I still sign cards from both of us and I feel him behind me sometimes. It’s like he’s just sitting in the next room but I can’t go in... It gets easier with time, but sometimes something will push the button and it’s just as painful as it used to be, that just happens less and less.” 

Lil thumbed at the wedding ring she still wore on her finger, twisting it round and round by the stone it bore proudly. This was a nervous habit she got into after Matt had first proposed. 

“Matthew and Lily Teller… my Lily Teller. Lite of my life, ha! Li-Te. Do you get it? Cuz you’re sugar-free?” Matt’s voice rang in her ears, it was like a warm hug. Lil smiled, remembering his big, proud, dumb grin. The sadness was still there, it would never leave her, but neither would the light he brought to her. 

“Lite…” 

“It’s fine.”

“Thank you. But, you really lost Matthew. Lloyd’s still around and what happened was my fault. I deserve to feel like this, you don’t.”

“Stop it Anni. You don’t deserve it and just because he’s not dead doesn’t make your grief any less valid.” 

Annika shifted uncomfortably in her chair and moved her cup up to her lips again, “I did sign your birthday card from both of us and then had to bin it.”

“Just give it time. Are you going to your therapy?” Lil asked, already knowing the answer. 

Anni rolled her eyes as she swallowed, “No. I’m not, I can’t cope with that yet. Maritza rides my arse enough.”

Maritza Ramirez- Annika’s narcotics sponsor. The woman worked loosely in the same circles as Lil professionally; she’d referred a few of her kids to Maritza’s service. She did great work, the progress Lil could see Anni making in recent months was a testament to that. Lil could see the fog that hung thickly around Anni when she was using, and it had been absent for nearly a year now. 

“Anyway, how was your day? How’s Silvie, is she excited about ESA? God, what grade is she in now?” Anni asked, shooting out the questions, unsubtly changing the subject. 

Lil visited the city periodically for work, to see her Umbra kids. Today she’d been busy. One of her kids was undergoing their first Theriomorphic Metamorphosis and she had only just found them a placement at High Park zoo, where the Veil facilities were sketchy at best. Luckily, it turned out to be a peacock -just like Mitchell’s first time- as she had predicted, hoped to all hope, so it worked out. Lil spent time with him this afternoon after dropping Silvie off for this weeks block of classes at Etobicoke school of Arts; after what felt like months of auditions she got onto the dance programme she wanted most. Lil had already talked to Anni about most of this on the walk over here of course. 

“You’re worse at deflecting than you used to be.” 

“I just don’t have the effort in me today. Please talk to me about anything other than my shitty life or I’ll just stab myself in the eye with this.” She waved around the wooden stirrer. 

“Are you done with that? I’m gunna recycle it.” Lite reached across and took the stick from her. 

Anni groaned, “Look, see, you’ve just got your shit together. You’ve got a fucking travel cup, you recycle, you’re literally a social worker and every day you’re out here all saintlike helping our lost, sad, disadvantaged shifter kids have a better life. Most people are roaming the world with a cause, I don’t have a cause, my only cause is me.” 

Lil burst into a laugh, that was perhaps the most Annika thing she’d said all night. There’s my girl. 

“You’re one of those rare people Lite, that does something once and doesn’t like it, or makes a mistake and learns from it, and simply doesn’t do that thing again. How the fuck do you do that? I think you were just born into this world knowing that it was bullshit, but you somehow push through it all with your compassion.”

“And I think that you don’t give yourself enough credit. I think that you were born into this world knowing that it was bullshit too, but you had a tougher time of it than me, Anni. Plus, I’ve had a lot more years of doing some intense spiritual growth and it’s not all roses. As you and your porn are discovering.”

“Don’t!” Anni put a hand to her forehead. 

“Anyway, did you really just ask me what grade Silvie is in? Eleven, she’s seventeen, you know this.” 

“I don’t have a clue, it was all just ‘Years’ in England and Russia.”

“Anni,” Lil laughed and stared at her sister across from her who had a blank, dismissive look on her face “you went to school here from grade eleven.” 

“Oh, so what, she’s in lower sixth? Jesus…” Anni looked reflective, staring past Lil for a second at something else. Lil waited for the question to come. 

“...How’s Cass? I mean, officially.” Anni’s perfectly gelled plum nails rapped on the dark wood of the table nervously as she took another sip. 

Lil ground her teeth “I’m sorry Anni I-“ 

“I know, I know. Confidentiality, Department of Integrations and all that. I thought I’d just as and see.” 

“You should ask her yourself.”

“Mmm, I’m building up to it, there’s a lot of people I wanna ask about.”

“Jay’s here too you know.” Said Lil, testing those waters. 

“Oh, I know.”

Lil let out a frustrated breath. Those two had been poison for each other continuously in the past. Encouraging each other’s bad behaviour, always forcing shifts together. There was nothing inherently wrong with the practice, it was a tradition in some of their communities. But the way that those two did it, to get away from themselves, to lose themselves more and more, their humanity, for the sake of unresolved issues and words left unsaid. It was unhealthy. And now Anni was in a place where Lite felt she could tell her that, and Anni might take it in, instead of telling her to fuck off. “Anni, I say this as your sister and your friend, please do not start sleeping with him again. For both your sakes.” 

“Ugh! Ye of little faith. You know I’ve not been with Jay like that since…”

Since before Lloyd. Lil finished the sentence in her head. It would keep coming back around to this subject until-

“Do you know anything about how he is? It’s just that I know that Jay was tailing him for a while after the wipe and-“ 

“Anni you know I can’t, you shouldn’t even know that much. Plus, I don’t even know,” A lie, Lil hated to lie, “and if I did I wouldn’t tell you anyway.”

“I just want to know if he’s okay... if it’s holding. I did so much damage to it after the wall was put up.”

Lil sighed, “I don’t suppose you’ve spoken to Jamie at all?” She already knew the answer to this too. 

Annika scoffed, “Ha, actually I have.” 

Lil looked at Annika, stunned. Lil brought strays home regularly, but when she brought Jamie into the household it caused more trouble than ever before. Annika and her had severely butted heads. 

Okay, maybe I'm not as omniscient as I thought I was. 

“I left her a voicemail.”

“And exactly how inebriated were you at this point?” 

“I was actually relatively lucid when I had the initial idea, part of the programme an all that, but I was really drunk during its execution.” Anni raised her eyebrows at Lil over her cup as she took another deep swig of her coffee. 

“Did she reply?”

“Nope.”

“Probably for the best.” 

“Uh-huh.” Anni unzipped her boots and placed them neatly next to her chair so that she could comfortably sit cross-legged, tucking her feet between herself and the seat. “Can we talk about something else again please? I just don’t have the stomach for an impromptu counselling session from my, no offence, know-it-all older sister with all her shit together. I know that I’m messy.”

Lil would usually fight Anni on this and get her to talk about what was bothering her, what had happened, but she could see that today wasn’t the day. 

“Are you working tonight?” Lil inquired politely, back to basics.

“Yes, at the hotel, I’m accompanying a singer. I actually haven’t read the music sheets yet.”

“Oh! Is it Hollie from the band? How did your date go with her? I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Oh GOD!” Anni threw her hands up in the air before resting her head in them, elbows on the table, she was groaning. 

“Not great then I’m guessing…” 

[extreme-technicality]

OH YEAH ITS ALL COMING TOGETHER NOW

I’m kinda thinking their Heartless would be the manifestations of their respective traumas? Like, everything they’ve kept locked away, the shit they’ve never talked about or gotten over, that kinda thing. So it’s like, bonding road trip plus Free Therapy (for the vored ones, that is - Lloyd and Nya are probably gonna get fucked up in all of this). OOH WAIT, OR I COULD PARALLEL THEIR HEARTLESS WITH HOW THEY UNLOCKED THEIR ENERGY DRAGONS, IE. THEIR HEARTLESS ARE THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THEIR GREATEST FEARS

It’ll actually be pretty fun for most of them, cuz canon only gave us Zane’s, so I get to project and headcanon with all of this >:3 Zane’s Heartless is gonna be a mechanical one, maybe with a pet dragon like Ansem SoD’s Guardian (not me just re imagining the ice emperor, shhhhh). Kai’s would probably be…hm. A drowned one, maybe? Oooh yes, chained and drowned, weighted by responsibility and surrounded by water~ I really really like that, ngl. Cole…hm. The two main fears we’ve seen for Cole (especially in the earlier seasons) are dragons and singing, both of which are sorta hard to make Heartless (especially since he’s definitely faced the dragon thing down already, so like that’s kinda off the table). Later on it was, like, being forgotten and abandoned? So like, oOOOOH WHAT IF HE WAS A BANSHEE??? AN INTANGIBLE GHOST WHO WAILS AND SCREAMS (read: sings real shittily)??? GIVE IT A SCYTHE AND BAM, COLE HEARTLESS!!! Anyway Jay is also really really hard, mostly cuz he’s scared of Everything, so it’s difficult to figure out which one is his Biggest Fear. Snakes? Maybe, but then again that was mostly cuz of the Devourer and the Serpentine, and EVERYBODY was scared of those. Maybe inadequacy? Closer, I think, but how to get that across in a design? Hmmmm, I’m gonna have to think about his a bit longer.

Their Nobodies, however, are gonna be FUN >:3c I don’t actually think I’ll use the straight-up bizarro ninja, as fun as that might be, because of the sheer angst potential of having sentient entities with their beloved ninja’s faces, memories, and skills. Specifically I’m thinking Nya facing down Kai’s Nobody, and facing the long-buried and (initially nominal) deep-seated resentment at how he had to take care of Nya when he needed to be taken care of, too. Kai doesn’t hate NYA - she was just a baby, and someone had to make sure she was eating and had shelter and was warm enough, that all her physical and emotional needs were met. But I think he Does resent that it had to be HIM, that he had to be the one to step up because there was nobody else. I think in the absence of his heart, of all the affection and perspective that he’s had all those years, the loneliness and resentment and hurt would grow WILDLY. Oh gOD, now I’m actually thinking about how that fight would go down, the cut scenes surrounding it, and I’m fucking crying. Two LEGO siblings relationship is something that can actually be so personal—

*clears throat* anyway, on to the other three!

Cole might have beef with Lloyd, honestly. Before Lloyd showed up in all his Chosen One glory, Cole was sorta the de facto leader - he had a system and he knew he could rely on the other three to stick with him. Then this absolute CHILD rolls up, son of the bbeg no fucking less, and it’s all “yeah Cole you’re fired, let’s all listen to pint size over here”. It’s not that he HATES Lloyd or that he WANTS to be the leader, he just doesn’t really trust Lloyd to lead. So like, his fight would be more “prove to me that you DESERVE the duties you stole from me!” and less “fuck you I hate you I hate you so goddamn much”. I’m not gonna lie, I like the idea of Jay fighting Nya because of the whole “oh they’re dating :3 Jay has a fat fucking crush on Nya :333”. Like, take the romance out of it, take all the positive attachment out of it, and leave Jay with his natural gremlin-ness - what kind of verbal potshots could he take? Taking all of Nya’s worst qualities and putting them on display, because her greatest flaw has always been and will always be her perfectionism. Fighting a Jay who doesn’t love her, who constantly reminds her of all her flaws, and BEATING him? The fucking character growth,,,,,the Symbolism,,,,,,,,,,*chefs kiss*

And that leaves Zane fighting Lloyd, and honestly I don’t know how that would go? Like, I just don’t have an immediate mental image for what the themes of that fight would be - why Zane would fight Lloyd specifically. Hmmmmm…actually, that might just be it? A Zane with no agency, who actually tries to connect with Lloyd on that front? “Neither of us want to be here, neither of us CHOSE to be here, so why keep fighting? Just go home already” kinda thing, yknow? Connecting via the parallels between a Nindroid who was programmed to protect and a child who got bitch-slapped by destiny to protect, tempting Lloyd to just give Destiny the fucking finger and go off and do his own thing instead, and using Overwhelming Power and Pain to make his point. Now for the physical appearances, and I’m gonna make some of y’all Big Mad about this next bit but like, fuck y’all this is MY au and I get to choose which designs are the shitty ones!!! Anyway Cole’s Nobody has his original design, the other three have their redesigned versions. Kai specifically is in his Prime Empire skin because I genuinely despise that look and you can quote me on that.

As for the final boss fight against Garmadon, well. I’m thinking the Nobodies would drop a talisman or item that Lloyd could use to summon the ninja in that final battle. Maybe not actually yoink the four of them out of Garmadon, but DEFINITELY help them all fight him from within. It’d technically be a summon, but it would work as a debuff spell to make the fight a tad easier. I’m thinking one to lock certain moves for a period of time, one to make him move slower, one to decrease his magical abilities, and one to decrease his physical abilities (can you guess which one dropped from which nobody based on what each ninja’s respective specialties is?). Probably after stage 2 is when the ninja get regurgitated, and THATS when their summons become Actual Summons instead of the debuffs they were when they were vored.

Getting a mix of recommendations based on both mine and my mutuals' interests is funny sometimes bc itll be like ah yes i love the destiny trio! Riku, Kairi, and uh (squints)

Oh yeah the one chosen by the keyblade! Jay Walker

[parachutingkitten]

Season 4 Analysis

STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I am going to be applying the concept of criticism to a TV show you presumably love and adore as much as I do. If you do not want your idea that the show is immaculate to be challenged, I would not advise reading past this point.

Mood for the season: It's a SuPeR fUn HaPpY pLaCe!!!!!

You don’t need to, but if you are interested, and haven’t seen my analysis of past seasons, you can find those here:

Pilot

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Hey guys! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Season 4! We are here! I am SO biased with this season. It has problems man. It has ALL the problems! ALL the plot holes! ALL the stupid, stupid stuff, but I LOVE ALL OF IT! okay, let's back up. I'm about to drop some context on you. 

So, when you're a military brat you tend to make friends with whoever you can, and when I lived in Germany I had a friend who was fandom OBSESSED. She, at the time, was super into Homestuck, something I managed to avoid being sucked into, though I do know more about it than I would like. Anyway, this was the point at which I started getting sucked into Ninjago. So, I figured that if I could trust anyone with a strange obsession, it was her. I showed her the last episode of season 3, and she decided she was just going to dive head first into it with me. We watched season 4 together as it came out, we talked about it, had a bunch of inside jokes about it, I wrote some very short fanfiction about it, she made some OCs, one in particular that I remember was Stormy, a ditzy cloud master who wore pink, we shipped him with... one of my OCs, I don't remember. She hadn't watched the first two seasons, so I had to fill her in on a lot, but she was the first person I ever fandomed with, and it was over season 4. So I guess you could say season 3 was the grand beginning of my love for this show, and season 4 was the peak of my fangirl experience (at least for that phase of my life).

Plot

This season is a real mixed bag. Coming off the heels of the first season, nothing makes sense. Suddenly there are more elements, completely discrediting Lloyd's supposed power of four powers. And now it's genetic, which brings up the problem of Jay, who... if either Ed or Edna were masters, they would have slipped by now (but also like, how cool would it be if Edna just busted out with lightning powers) and then Zane who... doesn't have genes. It makes the world bigger, yes, but it also discredits the lore of the last two seasons, and brings up the question "Where the hell were the rest of the EMs when the Great Devour attacked? Or the stone warriors? Or the final battle?!" Anyway, it's a bit jarring and sudden to say the least. It definitely was not planned beforehand. There aren't even any hints in season 3. Like wouldn't it be cool if in season 3 we saw them go to the noodle shop, or Wu was really vague about elemental questions. It would make a lot more sense then. Idk. It opens the universe up to the plotlines of most of the future seasons, but it does sort of discredit the first two. This season is also kinda choppy feeling wise. You go from the mood the past season have had in the first episode to this sort of native tribal feel on the island, and then the factory and then back to Ninjago. It's kinda a mess. Overall it was just an excuse to put these characters in cool situations (which I have done before, I understand). Which I get, and it makes for some cool stuff, but I don't think any of it ends up meshing together super well in the end. When I think of this season I think of the tournament. I forget about the whole snake stuff at the end most of the time. I forget about the while Garmadon conflict. The fact that I forget that's there has to be a bad sign, right?

Characters

Character work this season is really pretty good for the most part! There are a lot of new characters. And they all are very distinct and fun, and even when two people you don't know especially well battle, you're still really invested. All of the Cole and Jay stuff is pretty good this season! Major upgrade from season 3. The whole fight scene is absolutely fantastic. Garmadon is freaking awesome this season. He keeps on trying to kill himself, and it's stupid, and the show sort of acknowledges that it's stupid, cuz Lloyd is just like 'dude, what the heck'. Kai's arch this season is pretty good, exploring his darker side and putting that intense conflict in front of him was good. I can tell you one thing, I like it a heck of a lot better than season 7, but we'll get to that when we get to that. So, yeah. Overall improvement in character! It doesn't dive super deep or anything, but it all works and is all interesting.

Skylor

So... she is one of the reasons I call this season the fanfiction season. We have a whole bunch of other elemental masters we've never heard of, and one of them their power is... all the powers. I can not tell you how much this ticked me off! And she hardly ever uses them! She has pretty much infinite power, and she doesn't think to use it, pretty much ever! There are no restrictions on her! This is what I hate Skylor for. And I do mean hate. BUT aside from that, strictly character wise she is done pretty well. She feels pretty fake and overly sassy at the beginning of the season, but there's a reason for that. It's an act. But it's not like she changed her personality to fool him, she intensified her personality to cover her intentions. Her arch feels pretty natural. That one scene where she does the evil laugh... that was weird. But aside from that, it feels okay. She was raised to think that lying and cheating is the norm, so when someone presents her with another option she begins to change. It makes sense. I love the scene where Kai and her look at each other through the prison bars and (even though their freaking legos) you can feel her realization that she's ashamed of what she's doing now. And after she makes the transition, she's just really chill. Like, I would like to hang out with her. I guess it is kinda sweet that even though she had all of the powers of... ever, at the end she's happy to just run her noodle shop. It's kinda poetic. Anyway, she may be a bit overpowered, and she feels like a bit of a Mary Sue, but overall her personality and interactions are enjoyable enough for me to mostly ignore that. I do agree that she is best used in moderation. She doesn't need to be part of the team. I wish we had a quick cameo each season, but whatever. What we have now in season 9 is nice, but she definitely needs to step back out of the spotlight in future seasons (knock on wood) in order to remain as likable as she's been.

Karlof

Love him. Freaking love him. Honestly, I probably relate to him the most. He's the first loser of the tournament, he avoids trouble, he sticks to what he knows, and he says it like it is. I love his interactions with everyone down in the noodle factory. He's like this perfect blend of optimism and pessimism. His interactions with Cole are beautiful. Their chemistry is really great. One of, I think everyone's favorite masters, and there's a reason why.

Shade

So... typical darkness character. Obviously selfish. But once the climax hits, I actually like him a lot. He kinda serves as an antagonist at first and then flips. It's kinda cool seeing a character with moral boundaries that far out. He's purposely suspicious to take attention away from Skylor, which I get. I think he has a lot of missed potential, but nonetheless, a decent character.

Neuro

I absolutely love his power! I love his manor, I love his voice. He may well be my favorite EM. I don't even know what else to say about this guy. If Karlof is who I am, Neuro is who I'd like to think I am. Calculated, calm, reasonable, and much like Karlof again, not too risky. I like him a lot. Cool guy. I like seeing how far he's willing to go for the ninja, and where certain lines are for him. It's kinda cool to watch. He could use a friend though. I HC he and Paleman hang out. Both quiet. Both reserved. Neuro could probably locate him in a room even if he's not visible. Idk. Anyway, I like him a lot! Great character.

Griffin Turner

Classic speedster. Good enough. Not much to say. He's fun. He's cool. He's what you'd expect. Decent screen time. None of it particularly character developing. For what he is, he's good at it.

Jacob

So, let's ignore the part where they made us think he was dead. He's a lot of fun. Good for them getting a blind character in there. Still confused on what his powers can... do? But I like his spunk. I think we all have a little soft spot for him.

Chamille

One of the only girls and she's pretty much evil. Why do girls have to be evil at one point to be interesting? Idk. Don't really care for her, don't really think much about her. Whatever. She's there. She serves her purpose. Fine. Okay. Moving on.

Paleman

Friggin love him. For the master of light to be invisible is a great move, and pretty creative. His voice is kinda obvious, but very distinct. It's a creative background character to have. I like him a lot. Again, I feel he could use some more love. See above Neuro HC. Like him a lot and... yay.

Bolobo

Kinda missed the "mother nature" pun... could have had at least one more female master... that's okay. He's cool enough. Kinda disappointing though. I mean, vines? Is that it?

Gravis

Gravity is a dang cool power. Idk what else to say. He doesn't get a ton of screen time, so it's hard to praise him too much, but yeah. I really like that. Actually had an FC (she was a villain but you know whateves) with the power, so seeing that be a real element they used is really cool.

Ash

I don't like him. He's very strange. He's just got that one laugh. He seems comically over the top a jerk. I like the way his mouth looks though. Unique and kinda cool. I was looking on his Wiki page, and it said he and Chamille kissed in the background at one point? Is that true? I am way curious now

Tox

Okay. She's nonexistent here, no personality. I guess she's kinda tough. Yeah, this gets confirmed later in season 9, when she speaks. But even there she's pretty nonexistent. Here's my idea. Instead of having all your females being 'tough' why not flip expectation on its head? I think it would be way funny and clever if the master of poison was super friendly, and bubbly, and genuinely a nice person. I'm thinking almost like Jay's (lightning... or I guess adopted) mom, levels of talkative and nice. Wouldn't that be kinda fun? Idk. Whatever. It is what it is.

Kapau and Chope

Best villains ever 10/10. 'Nuff said.

Romance

KAILOR

Okay, I freaking love them! They're not my favorite couple or anything, but they work really, really well… under certain conditions. There are a few bumps I can't ignore. Can we have a protagonist in the show who doesn't send googly eyes at their future love interest the first moment they see her? And remember when they made us think Kai and Skylor were related... yeah... why did we need to do that? That was... kinda uncomfortable. BUT other than that, Skylor is exactly what Kai needed. First, he needed a redhead. Duh. Second, he needed someone who would see right through his Kai shmoltz and be real with him. Third, she had to be fun. And finally, she needed to wear the pants in the relationship. And Skylor fills ALL of those requirements! I like that Kai falls for her right away, and I love that she doesn't think she likes him until... she totally does and it's like 'Oh SNAP!'. I love that weird scene where Chen walks around with Kai like he's already his son in law, that cracks me up! I guess I like them more in theory than in practice. It feels a touch forced, and it needed a bit more time. Point being, the beginnings of the relationship are extremely awkward and strange, but towards the end of the season, it gets good! I just wish we could see more :)

The... love... triangle

Alright, by now, you guys should know how I feel about these things. They suck. They're stupid. I hate them. They're pointless. And this season is... quite possibly the stupidest. So... the whole Garma-Wu-Sako... thing this season is that Wu wrote a letter to Misako a long time ago, and Garmadon stole it, and then... Misako *groan* used it to determine which of them she was going to marry... okay. Yeah, Garmadon, that was a crap thing to do. But you know what, he was evil. Wu should have just signed the thing when he wrote it. But also, Misako... WHAT ARE YOU DOIN' GIRL?! Why... would you let a letter... be the final deciding point? I don't get that. And my main problem is that she basically chose her husband based on his writing ability. The thoughts Wu had in the letter obviously directly express what Garmadon wanted to say. In the end, his feelings for her were still the same. The only thing different is that he didn't write it. He's not good with words the way Wu is. But the show treats it like he lied about his feelings, and didn't even like her. Like he was using her for personal gain or manipulation or something. Idk. The whole thing makes no sense. Now, maybe if he did something to make Wu directly look bad or disingenuous THAT would be understandable. But... idk. I don't get it. Misako sucks. Let's move on.

Villians

Chen

Chen is my favorite villain. Hands down. No competition. Any way you slice it. I friggin love the heck out of this dude. And here's why. First off, he's a very comedic villain that still remains extremely threatening, which is an extremely thin line to walk. I mean, think about it. With all the other villains, they were intimidating, and the henchmen provided the humor. Here, I guess you could say they flipped it cuz Clouse is pretty intimidating, but Chen is still crazy scary on his own. And here's how they do it: He's insane. Straight up, he has lost his mind. Nothing he does makes sense, but that's fine, cuz it probably makes total sense to him. You can laugh at the quirky things he does, but also live in fear knowing that he has trap doors installed EVERYWHERE. Why? Cuz he likes them! Is there a better reason than that when you're crazy! That was my problem with people with Pythor. He is so smart, why didn't he ever think that the devourer might eat him too?! There is no explanation. But with Chen, that doesn't matter! He wants to be a snake! Why? Why not?! No flaws in that thinking, right? This is also why I like Ultra Violet so much. She's the only one to rival his position, but because she's more of a side villain, I don't feel that's enough to dethrone him. With insane villains, you never have any idea what they're playing at, if it's smart, or how to counteract, cuz they're just insane. I mean, seriously,

"Chen, the ninja have figured out our plan, what should we do?"

"COOL! Let's tell EVERYONE our plan!"

And it works! I love his voice. Just the way he says things makes me so happy! He's having so much fun, and I have fun with him! 10/10 villain. Great work.

Clouse

I can't get past the voice. It sounds so over the top evil and... it's kinda annoying for me? He has a decent backstory and such, but whenever he's on screen I always find myself wishing it was Chen. He just sucks the fun out of everything and leaves nothing there, so most of his interactions aren't particularly interesting. I don't know. Never really thought much of him.

Humor

Needless to say everything with Chen works! Everything with the EMs works. Jay's whole Positive Thinking streak is amazing! There's not a lot that falls flat on its face. It's really pretty fantastic.

Favorite joke: too many to count. If I had to pick one...

Chen's: the reds, the purples, the super dark purples!

Drama

This season has some damn good drama. It has my personal most sad moment in all of Ninjago. I'm of course talking about Garmadon's death...  JK! XD I WAS LAUGHING ALL THE WAY THROUGH THAT SEQUENCE! But we’ll get to that later. Okay. But for real, my personal most heartbreaking moment is when we find out Pixal is scrapped (of course it's Pixal related) but seriously, watching this for the first time, it broke my heart hardcore. I audibly gasped. They have these conversations, and she realizes he doesn't remember her, and it hurts her because they were comPATABLE GOSH DANG IT! And then he starts remembering, and she knows she can't go with him, so she lies to him to give him the motivation to make it out, and then the reveal, and Zane's heart breaks, and your heart breaks. This whole scenario reminds me of my own writing, it has all these things I enjoy using. Distinctions between fantasy and reality, characters lying to each other to protect them, and an ending realization of total and complete emptiness. Of course, Pixal is added into his head, and all is fine and dandy. It works for this season but serves her worse in future seasons. Regardless, that moment when Pixal says 'scrapped' is the most depressing thing I've ever seen. All of the Zane drama this season works really well. Zane having an identity crisis is something I didn't think the show would handle. When Zane says he's just a clone if himself I was like 'oh, dang! They went there!'. It's almost like he's comparing himself to Cryptor, and it's some heavy stuff. Everything this season is shrouded in mystery. I love that. For the first half of the season or so, I really like the tournament stuff. But as we get Cole, and especially Jay in the noodle factory, that plotline gets much more interesting. I don't get into the Nya and Lloyd and Garmadon stuff that much. The stuff with Kai is okay. But overall, there's some good stuff.

Climax

Okay, so... I... I mean I like the build up. The thing with all the trucks is really good. Most of it was really pretty good with all the EMs doing stuff the ninja would usually do. But the whole ending thing, with getting mini Pythor involved, and you know. The whole Garmadon death thing. He died an honorable death and all that, but... idk, I can't get past Lloyd's voice. As he reads him off I just couldn't stop giggling! It's so overdramatic, they feel like they need to make Lloyd mad at his dad for whatever reason so he can come back at the last second, and it all feels so forced. And then the ending is super overly cheesy for how serious the show wants to take itself at that moment. Idk. I don't like it. One of my least favorite finales.

Spotlight episode

There are some good ones to choose from this season. Some real good ones. But the one I find myself watching the most is Ninja Roll. This episode doesn't have too high stakes, it doesn't make much sense, it's kind of pointless, but it perfectly encapsulates the reason I watch Ninjago. I don't know exactly why I watch Ninjago. I'm not into the action most of the time. The romance is cute, but not potent enough to warrant watching the show. The humor isn't revolutionary, the characters aren't especially deep. No, the reason I watch Ninjago is cuz it's fun. Ninjago is just a good time. It has just enough of all of those aspects to make for something I love. It makes me smile. With seasons 8, and especially 9, Ninjago has shifted into this darker action based, lore-driven thing, which I thought I would like, and I do, but I think it's lost a bit of that fun factor. In my opinion, Ninjago is it's best when it's self-aware, and doesn't take itself overly seriously. When you don't have to end the season on an ominous dark cliffhanger. I mean really. What is this? Chima? No. I just want to go hang out with the ninja and the gang, whatever it is their doing. This episode takes advantage of every situation a roller derby with the ninja provides. Of course Jay roller skates with his mom. Of course, Kai is incompetent at it. Of course, Chen cheats, of course, it all comes down to Lloyd. Of course, there's freaking buggies that Chen releases! This whole episode makes me smile and laugh and it has a good message. This is what I miss about Ninjago, and that's why it's my spotlight.

Misc

I know everyone always teases Jay about his TV show, but what about Kai and his wrestling career? I just feel like that would come up more often

I completely subscribe to the theory that Pixal was scrapped to fix Zane cuz they beat him up so badly when capturing. I'd kinda like to think Pixal even volunteered herself for it... ONE SHOT IDEA

I have to scratch... my face.

I need a number on the trap door to button ratio on the island

This season has my favorite intro of any season. Mainly cuz the remix is FIRE and I hate the fact that they don't have an extended version that sounds more like the opening itself. 

So all together, the word to sum up season 4 is fun. Definitely not technically the best, or the smartest, or the most well done, but it's my favorite because of nostalgia, my inner child, and because it makes me smile. I love this season.

- Maya (Parachutingkitten)