#for the record I've always like ninjas more than pirates

[vedj-f-bekuesu]

Arr, me mateys! I may have work to do in the day, but I consider myself a wee fast crewman! They even ran out of work to give me so I finished the day with long hours to spare. And since I got the time, ye bet I decided to use it to explore new depths of Ninjago with Skybound!

Okay, I won’t do that for the whole post. But honestly, I thought Skybound was...decent, but does have some drawbacks from how ambitious it was. Let’s just go through it.

-Jay...hmm. Two minds about him. His arc at the start of the season (lasting about halfway) was clearly intentional and setup for his later redemption, and his character after that point is the best kind of Jay. And the reason for said start of season funk does make sense (unlike Home). On the other hand, yeah, the first half is pretty much Jay at his worst with bits sprinkled in to remind you that they still remember his good side. It’s not like giving him that sort of flaw is bad, but it pretty much dominated his entire character for that duration so at some point you just want to punch the little git. Also his parent arc is a bit undercooked, but he’s got plenty elsewhere so that doesn’t really bother me, especially when Ed and Edna ultimately get to have the crucial pep talk.  -Nya has a similar problem to be honest, although part of hers was also fabricated by Dareth being an absolute dick at the start (despite his moment in season 4). After that, it was fine for her up until she starts the whole fucking thing by being stubborn in such a perilous situation. And then halfway through they calm it down and make her realise she’s taken it somewhat overboard. Once that halfway point crosses it’s a lot easier to get behind the both of them, but mileage may vary on how much you can stand before then. I did like the lunchtime scene though.  -Zane doesn’t get much this season, but I did like his sass, it was a good check. Otherwise, not much happening with him aside from one scene that people immortalise due to how out of character it was for him, but since that has zero consequences I just brush that off as a one time gag. Pixal had like two scenes but they were both great scenes for her.  -Lloyd had more going for him this seasons than prior ones at least (even Possession), but he was still on the more bland side. I think every character got an attitude increase in this season though. Seriously, even the one-scene characters. But let me tell you; Lloyd Garmadon is no Rex Fury, that’s for sure.  -Cole and Kai...I think were on some substance or other during this arc, at least at the start. -Kai has Project Arcturus’ issue of playing his vain side up to the point where it’s actively jeopardising the mission (and actually could be considered as much responsible for starting the whole thing as Nya), but at least this time they reign it in to turn it into something of a clever tactic. And of course this is all absent when he’s freed from the Sword of Souls because Kai typically gets characterised into two modes at this point in the show. -Cole has a similar thing. I mean, eating tools...what? It’s mostly comedic and not that detrimental to begin with (aside from him straight up ditching Jay at the theme park. Not out of spite or anything, just because the plot wanted an extra minute I guess). Then Kai gets trapped and suddenly his character is all about being Jay’s best friend, which in of itself is fine until it again gets way heavy-handed about it. I’m assuming that the writers just wanted any potential remnants of Cole and Nya as a pair to just die (hence why he has no reaction to Jay revealing things about the caves despite Jay’s worry over it, and why this is the season he starts really taking potshots at Nya), but surely Versus was enough on its own combined with Jay and Nya’s arc in this season? Plus the ghost thing is almost entirely wasted this season, only serving a point where his invisibility comes into play (oh, and I guess a threat when he walks the plank).  -Despite the much bigger cast of characters, they don’t really get to do that much. The standouts are easily Soto (who’s just funny throughout), Dareth (who despite having a really bad start with being a misogynist for no reason, gets much better when he comes in second time) and Ronin (who I guess was still a writer darling at this point). Anyone else? You might get a moment for some of them (mainly Misako and Echo Zane), but eh. It’s a shame because Jay set up the ninja replacements like it would be this shining moment for them, but not really, and they just end up as fight fodder. And being a gag for hating Jay for being annoying despite him not doing anything to at least a couple of them. Also because of my other LEGO interests, every time I see Ronin whistle for the R.E.X, I expect the Rexcelsior to just come down and crush everything. That would have been a bad time for Kai and Nya.  -One thing I didn't mention in Possession is how the villain and lackey dynamics are developing into something actually worth investing in (beyond the tension between Pythor and Skales), and Skybound takes it even further. This is the first season where the villains are just as investing as the heroes, and I like how its a slow burn from Nadakhan and his crew having comradery, to Flintlocke slowly realising that Jay was telling the truth, to him and Dogshanks playing key roles in the final confrontation. -Speaking of which, Nadakhan was an interesting villain. I don’t like him as much as Morro, but he’s still got plenty to him. What I find most interesting is how the Jay seasons like to play parallels with the villains, what with Nadakhan being a reflection of Jay’s romance thing and Jay using his abandonment to find a way to connect to Unagami. Also the fact that he doesn’t even seem to care that much about doing evil in Ninjago at first. He does evil stuff, and they’d certainly need to find a way to fix Wu and Misako’s situation, but it’s just as a means to get home. Once he finds out that home is just about to die? He loses the plot entirely, and that’s fun to see.  -Ironically, the interactions I liked best this season were the more understated ones. For example Jay and Zane’s conversation early on (which doubles as foreshadowing to Zane’s demise) was really nice for characters who don’t usually get time to speak to each other one on one, and I wish more of the interaction in the season felt as natural as that in the first half. As a bonus, it wasn’t even wiped out at the end so that conversation still happened! -Yeah, plot. The story was interesting once we got to the Sky Pirates, not quite as engaging as Possession but it was clearly aiming at more individual dynamics than looking at the whole group and it definitely managed to balance that with the actual story and giving the villain perspective. The framing arc was less interesting, if only because even for this show everyone suddenly turning on the ninja without giving them more chance to defend themselves is laughable at this point. And as for the ending...eh, I’m ambivalent on it. Jay and Nya’s arcs remain no matter what so at least that stuff stuck around (by design). But you do lose the existence of the other Sky Pirates who made a good chunk of the good stuff. I guess the other biggest thing you lose is all the scenes where Cole reaffirms that he is Jay’s best friend, but he can do that in future seasons and not just drop it because they’ve settled the score on the love triangle...right? -Once again, it felt like a pretty dry season in terms of tone. I think this is a running theme. -At least the annoying slow-mo seems to finally giving way. It was used twice. One was random, the other was thematically appropriate. 

Overall, this season can be described as “heavy-handed”, moreso than any other story-heavy season so far. When it’s in this mode, it’s pretty annoying even if not terrible. But it still has elements to keep it going, and ends up in a pretty good place. Definitely comes down to individual taste on how much of said elements you can stomach, so I’m not surprised it has a marmite reputation. Out of the non-Possession story-heavy seasons I’ve seen so far this is the better one, but it’s still below S1 and S2 for me. 

Next time, I will not be doing a season. The writers seems to want to end Cole’s ghost arc and that’s exactly what they’ll do in Day of the Departed.