#i also just miss the jay and cole friendship dynamic it feels like in the 11-min era and even the new shorts

[nyaskitten]

I'm ngl Lava isn't a fave ship of mine... It's not that I hate it, it's just all the jokes using the screenshots from "Safe Haven" FEELS wrong like that's a semi-unconcious man being dragged around the city bro it feels wrong seeing screenshots edits of them kissing in those clips with the knowledge that one of them is again, semi-unconcious...

[lloydskywalkers]

let me just start out by saying i love ever single one of your stories!!! i’m pretty new to the show and your works just add so much more feeling to everything and it’s sooo good!!! i don’t know if you ever do requests or not, so don’t bother with this if you’re busy!! but if you ever get a chance could you write smthg abt Jay and Kai? their friendship is so underrated but so good and i live for the moments in the show when Kai’s big brother instinct(tm) kicks in for him as well as Nya and Lloyd

aH thank you so much!! i’m so glad to hear that :D and this isn’t...exactly what you asked for, but Kai and Jay have this fun of dynamic that reminds me a lot of me and my brother, and i’ve been tossing around little bits of interaction between them for a while now, so i tried to make something coherent out of those :’D

Jay likes to think he’s pretty good at the whole compartmentalizing thing, for the most part. Mainly because he actually knows what it means, and it is not, for instance, locking your team up in a literal compartment while rushing off to fight the other compartment that is your resurrected homicidal father into submission.

“That was one time,” Lloyd will grumble, as if he’s only almost-died once. And then Jay will flinch, because that’s where his compartments come into play.

(Nadakhan gets one, Unagami gets another, the whole fun-times adoption reveal another, and everything else can get stuffed into the metaphorical attic since they won’t pay rent.)

Unfortunately, the attic is where the bad stuff lives.

Metaphorically.

If Jay had a nickel for every time he almost lost all of his friends, he’d have two nickels, plus another nickel for Cole falling into the fog, and another for Lloyd getting crushed by a roof, and another for Zane blowing up, and another for Nya in that awful dress with paling skin as her breathing stutters and the light in her eyes draining and —

And Jay is way, way too familiar with how it looks when his family dies, and all the nickels in the world won’t help that.

So while Jay likes to think he’s pretty good at compartmentalizing, he also thinks he’s got a valid excuse for the way he reacts when Lloyd goes down in the fight that afternoon. Sure, some vague part of his mind remembers that they’ve got a plan they’re running, and Lloyd should easily be able to handle a tiny little stumble — but Jay’s mind is stuck in glaring oranges and health bars, the unsteady gasping noise Lloyd had made before he went down, dissolving into digitized cubes just like everyone else, and Jay—

Jay can’t handle that, compartments or not, so he clears the space between them in a heartbeat just in time to take the bullet that comes hurtling Lloyd’s way.

It’d probably be a very noble and touching scene, if one) Jay didn’t make a hideous squeaking noise when it hit because bullets hurt, and two) the bullet would have missed Lloyd by a good two feet anyways.

Ah well, he thinks, as everything devolves into panicked yelling. It’s the thought that counts.

Except thoughts do not count when Kai is involved, apparently. Or any of the rest of the team, for that matter.

“What is wrong with you?” Kai hisses right in his face, eyes wild and sparking. “I was covering Lloyd, what were you doing?”

“Filling in for you, obviously,” Jay retorts. He has an excellent followup to that, real snappy and all, except that’s the moment Kai’s hand clamps down on the bullet wound in his arm to stop the bleeding, and Jay ends up stifling a shriek instead.

Great, he thinks, fighting back stinging tears of pain as he tries not to take Kai’s apparent wrath too personally. At least Cole looks worried, along the the rest of the team, who are dutifully concerned for his wellbeing like proper teammates should be.

“He’s going to need the hospital,” Zane informs them, his voice a lot steadier and calmer than his words make Jay feel. Zane’s eyebrows furrow as he studies his arm. “Stitches, probably.”

Jay swallows, trying not to curse. There’s a sharp scream as Nya finishes taking out another attacker just beyond them, and Jay figures that’s good enough.

“Okay,” Lloyd says, squeezing Jay’s wrist briefly. Either in comfort about the stitches or thanks for trying to cover him, Jay’s not sure. It’s a nice gesture, nonetheless. “Kai, Cole, can you get him there while we finish up? Sooner the better.”

Cole gives a sharp nod, and offers to take Jay from where Kai’s got him in a death grip. Kai shakes his head, and Jay’s stomach sinks. Sure enough, as soon as they’re clear of the scene, Kai starts going off.

“What did you mean, ‘filling in for me’,” he grinds through his teeth, clearly not about to let this go.

Jay bristles in response at his tone. “I meant,” he bites out, through a hot flare of pain in his arm. Kai’s always merciless with the bandages, even when he’s not in a mood. “That you weren’t there. So I covered.”

He should leave it at that, but Jay’s in a foul enough mood to finish with a condescending, “You’re welcome.”

Kai’s expression grows thunderous. “You didn’t need to. I was right there, you shouldn’t have — you weren’t needed, you should’ve held back.”

Jay feels his chest go tight. His head is clouding with anger, and the pain in his arm isn’t helping, but — ‘you weren’t needed’? Kai really didn’t skimp on the jerk juice this morning, did he.

“Oh, like you could’ve done so much better,” Jay glares. “Lloyd would’ve been toast by the time you got to him.”

“I could’ve made it!”

“Yeah right—”

“I would have, and I wouldn’t have gotten hit!” Kai snarls back. Something in Jay snaps. Or maybe it’s just the steadily increasing blood loss, but of all the nerve—

“Well you didn’t, ‘cause you weren’t there!” he snaps back. “You were too slow, which is real funny since your brain is too!”

It’s not his best comeback, he’ll admit, but Kai looks as if he’s about to light him on fire, if he weren’t stuck carrying Jay like the cover of some awful romance novel, blood getting all over his uniform as they both scream at each other. Maybe Jay will get lucky, and Kai will combust, and they’ll both go up in flames before they can remember that Cole is right there watching them.

“Cut it out, now!”

Oops, too late. For all the incensed authority in Cole’s voice, there’s still a traitorous falter that lets them both know they’ve screwed up. They fall silent, the atmosphere heavy with the lingering tension and new sense of guilt.

And the disgusting sound of Jay’s blood leaking through the makeshift bandage and hitting the ground, truly revolting, he hates blood.

“Just…no more. Please, shut up until we’re at the hospital.” Cole marches forward, snatches Jay from Kai’s arms, and proceeds to beat the fastest route to the hospital at a militant pace.

Jay still looks like some helpless romance cover heroine, dangling from Cole’s arms like he is. It occurs to him that he doesn’t even need to be carried — it’s his arm that’s hurt, he can still walk—

But any protests die rapidly at the look on Cole’s face. And at least this way, Jay thinks sullenly, he can fixedly ignore Kai.

Then again, Kai’s got a killer glare, and Jay’s always been garbage at ignoring people when his feelings are hurt.

* * * * * * * *

Despite the fuss everyone makes, Jay’s arm really isn’t that bad. They hook him up with some pretty sweet meds so he remembers zero of the actual arm-fixing, and he wakes up just in time to complain about being held in the hospital for ‘observation’ or whatever.

“It’s to make sure there’s no infection, or that you don’t rip your stitches out,” Nya tells him pointedly. Jay cringes under the look she gives him at that last part. Geez. You get kicked in the stitches one time after sneaking out early and suddenly no one’s got any faith in you. Typical.

“Why couldn’t we have just gone to medbay,” Jay grumbles. “Pixal gives way better stitches than this, anyways.”

“Gun wounds get hospitals,” Nya reminds him. “And it’s not fair to put that kind of pressure on Pix when we can avoid it.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

Nya glares at him. “It most certainly was that bad.”

“Oh, so when you get your arm crushed by a car, it’s fine,” Jay glares back. “But when I get a tiny little bullet nick, it’s that bad.”

Nya rolls her eyes, ignoring him. “Just think of it this way,” she says. “Now you have a little more time before Lloyd starts weeping apologies all over you.”

“Aw, no,” Jay groans, leaning back in the hospital bed. “Tell me he’s not blaming himself, Nya.”

“I think we had a promise about not lying to each other, or something,” Nya says, sympathetically. She winces. “Pretty sure he made the connection, too.”

Jay frowns. “What connection?”

Nya shifts, her eyes darting from side to side. “The, uh, the whole…Prime Empire, thing.”

Jay stares at her for a beat, trying to reconcile his blatant shock with the roiling nausea at the mention in his stomach. Nya looking at him all kind and sympathetically isn’t helping, either, because she might have made it down to the final two, but she was never all alone, and the reminder that she’d have been fine if Jay hadn’t gotten her killed twice is—

Bad. Real bad, not good, zero out of ten stars. Maybe he can take a bullet for Nya, next, and that’ll — that’ll help things, maybe. Equivalent exchange? Restitution? Some kind of fancy word that means Jay swears he’s gonna make it up.

In the meantime, he smothers the rising sickness in his throat and sinks lower into the bed, sulking. “It’s too easy to recognize trauma in this team.”

“I hear you,” Nya sighs, wearily. She nudges his shoulder, rising from her seat near the bed. “Speaking of. Someone’s got something they want to say to you.”

It takes Jay a second, but his eyes widen as Nya heads for the door. “Wait, wait wait wait, don’t you dare—”

“Love you,” Nya says cheekily, before taking her merry leave of the room. There’s a brief scuffle from outside, and the sound of Kai yelping, before Nya shoves him through the door, slamming it shut behind him with a damning click.

For a second, Jay’s tempted to hit the ‘call nurse’ button as hard as he can, in some desperate attempt to escape. Then he gets a good look at Kai, who’s turned a pale, queasy color that frankly looks awful on him, which is saying a lot ‘cause there isn’t much that doesn’t look good on Kai, but the expression he has on now—

Aw, man, now Jay’s feeling guilty and it isn’t even his fault. Stupid moral conscience center, he curses himself.

“So, uh…” he begins, because far be it from him to let this kind of awkward silence stretch on any longer. “Nice, ah, weather we’re having?”

Kai doesn’t respond, staring fixedly at the floor, and Jay sizes up the ‘call nurse’ button again. Just for the both of their sakes, of course.

But then Kai takes a deep breath, blows it out, and rocks back on his heels, fiddling with his hands. “I, um. I’m sorry.”

Jay’s jaw drops open. Which is probably an overdramatic move, all things considered, but unless he’s suddenly lost the ability to understand words, Kai just apologized to him.

Kai apologized. To him.

It’s not that Kai apologizing is some great big deal — Kai might have his pride, but he’s also an intuitive and good-hearted person who knows when he’s messed up. But to him?

Jay knows how he and Kai work. Kai knows how he and Jay work, and he’s breaking the rules. Because Kai and Jay don’t apologize to each other. Unless it’s some awkward expression of sympathy, they’ve never needed to. They fight dirty, aim for each other’s kneecaps, swear eternal vengeance and hatred at each other before storming off, then an hour later Jay’s bounding into Kai’s room to show him dumb meme videos and neither of them even remember what they were fighting about.

Acknowledging said fight with something as gushy as apologizing is not only useless since they both forget what they’re apologizing for anyways, but also useless because it’ll take too much time, and counterproductive on top, because it’ll most likely end in another fight about who apologized better. So for Kai to walk in and say sorry—

“Oh no, who did you kill?” Jay says, paling.

Kai spears him with a look, but it’s so pathetically watered-down and miserable that Jay forgets to glare back.

“Sorry, sorry,” Jay mutters. “I just—”

“No, no, I’m the one who’s sorry,” Kai interrupts. He hesitates, then sighs. “But that’s fair. I — I was unfair. To you, back there. Like, really unfair, in a bad way, ‘cause you were shot and I know you meant well, but you—”

Kai gestures wildly with his hands, his stream of words cutting off. Jay is left to stare open-mouthed at him again. Babbling like this is Jay’s thing. Kai is breaking all the rules today, huh.

“I just…” Kai trails off, ducking his head. “I don’t like watching you guys get hurt. I don’t — I don’t like watching you get hurt. And I get scared, but it comes out angry, and then I make a mess of things so I’m — sorry. Really sorry, for biting your head off.”

He exhales, a little shaky, fingers balled up in tight fists as his head hangs low, refusing to meet Jay’s eyes. Something softens in Jay’s chest, like gooey melting butter or something else equally pathetic. But it’s rare that Kai vocalizes this stuff, despite the fact that Jay knows he cares, and it’s nice to hear it, so he figures he’s entitled to all the butter he wants.

Jay’s own gaze falters, and the something starts to twist. He bites his lip, tugging half-heartedly at the bandages around his arm.

“Well,” he pauses, thinking of the way his brain had shifted to autopilot when he’d watched Lloyd falter, the razor-sharp shard of terror that always splinters through him when any of their teammates come too close to the awful images of death left in his head. He swallows. “I guess I don’t really have any room to talk,” he murmurs. “Be pretty dumb if I blamed you for that.”

He’s preparing to sink back into his own well of self-pity and loathing, resigned to spending the next few hours until they check him out of the hospital replaying bad memories in his head, when Kai’s next to him all of the sudden, shoving him over on the hospital bed.

“Hey, hey, what’s the big idea—”

“Move, c’mon. You don’t need that much room, you’re a stick,” Kai grumbles, before grinning brightly in success as Jay makes him space. The contrast in expression is enough to startle Jay into silence, and Kai takes advantage. “I know that look. But you already got shot, so you gotta cheer up now.”

“So you’re forcing me into cheerfulness by stealing my hospital bed,” Jay scowls, but the sting is lost in the sudden surge of affection as Kai elbows his way on the bed with him, a steady warmth by his side.

“I’m gifting you my presence, you should be celebrating,” Kai huffs, as he pulls his phone out. “Now stop looking so sad and watch this video I got of a bunch’a geese chasing Zane at the park the other day.”

“You’re such a jerk,” Jay says, but he’s already snickering as he leans his head against Kai’s shoulder to get a better look.

He’s forgotten to tell Kai he forgives him, but like most things between them — Jay doesn’t really need to say it out loud.

[zebra-all-the-time]

I am really, really curious (no yelling I promise :P) why don't you think Kai gets a lot of focus?

Gasp👏 okay

Note: I am about to start season 9

Maybe I used the wrong word back there because what I mean is that he doesn’t get ENOUGH focus in my book. At least not now where I am in Ninjago. I feel like he’s such a great character and they could do so much more with him than they do. This could TOTALLY be just because Ninjago night possibly fall victim to having too many main characters (I love them all and no none of them are allowed to leave or I will cry, but having as many as we do is going to force some characters to not get enough focus). He just has such a strong personality and it’s sad to see him taking the sidelines.

Another thing that we don’t exactly see enough of which I would love to see: Their friendships between each other. Allow me to explain 😅. You know how we have the bond between brothers and it’s all a family and we’d do anything for each other? Yeah? That’s great. But hey you also know the friendship between Jay and Cole? Or the sibling dynamic between Kai and Nya? (Actually I feel like we need more of that one too...) Stuff like that! I don’t know there is just SOMETHING that is missing and I don’t know what it is...

What are your thoughts @rainbowninjagianloser ?

[dorizardthewizard]

TLNM musings, part 2

Okay, here I ramble about problems with the movie. Ended up adding more stuff since I first wrote this :’P

Screentime and characterisation of the other ninja:

One of the biggest complaints from fans... they're all introduced individually with very different personalities, they’re told they each have a special element they control, making you feel like they should each get some moment to shine and affect the plot of the movie, but then none of that happens. Ultimately you could take out all the ninja and the story would be the same, you don't even necessarily need them for Lloyd's character since his journey of reconnecting with his father and bringing his family together can still work without them. It's so sad because if you read and watch extra material, you can tell thought went into their personalities, but we never get to see this as they're all just lumped together, mostly there to support Lloyd's development.

For someone who hasn't seen the show, it must feel a bit off seeing characters with distinguished personalities and no payoff for it; take Zane for example. Imagine not knowing anything about the characters and seeing one of them is a robot, for some reason? You wonder why he's a robot, what significance that has for the plot and why it's important for his character (I mean they missed a big opportunity to develop Zane from always trying to fit in and seem like a “normal teenager” to accepting that he's different but that that doesn't mean he's less valid), but then this really specific characteristic is never expanded on except for comedy purposes. People probably thought “oh, guess it makes more sense in the show”, but this just detaches viewers and makes them feel like they're missing something if they haven't seen the show beforehand.

Sigh, still gotta give the crew credit for fitting in a load of little subtle details about the ninja, I had to rewatch it a couple of times because there were things I didn’t notice at first, like Kai sliding down a bannister in the Temple of Fragile Foundations and falling off :’D

Group dynamic:

Another thing that bothered me is that the movie isn't that good at making you care about them as a team. They're already established as friends but I wish there were more material showing us how much they care about each other. The Kai hug scene was 10/10 but then when Chen and the other cheerleaders started picking on Lloyd, nobody said or did anything? In merchandise it said Kai is a hothead who isn't afraid to speak up or stand up to people, then show it in the movie! Him and Nya should have been on the verge of tackling that guy to the floor! Ok, I can see Lloyd asking them not to get into fights as it makes people hate him even more and he probably feels guilty if one of the ninja gets into trouble because of him. This would still have given more emotional connection between the characters but we're never shown it, except in the novelisation where Cole tries to block Lloyd from his locker so he doesn't see the insult written on it, I think. But again, we shouldn't have to read/ watch extra material for that.

Instead of moments showcasing the ninja’s friendship and close bonds, we got the opposite- everyone turned on Lloyd incredibly quickly for one mistake. Sure, it was a pretty big one and resulted in Garmadon taking over the city and their mechs being wrecked, but Lloyd was the only one doing anything about Garmadon at the time and he didn't exactly know what the consequences of using the ultimate weapon were; it's not like he knew it could potentially hurt his friends. In fact, how did the ninja know he used it anyway? That would mean they already knew about it and what it could do, yet Lloyd was not told? In which case, how can they blame him?? Damn it Wu, why couldn't you just tell Lloyd that using the weapon would unleash a cat that could destroy the city, instead of vaguely saying the weapon can be dangerous in the wrong hands. That's taking too many pages from TV Wu's book!

Honestly, it's like the ninja were just one character either shunning Lloyd or supporting him, depending on what the plot needed :/ That scene where they're talking with Garmadon while carrying him through the jungle really rubbed me the wrong way because first, no one seemed to care that Lloyd is so snippy because he's been forced to work with the man who made his life hell, and second they joke about Lloyd with that very same person and imply they don't respect Lloyd as leader, as Jay says he doesn't usually want to listen to him when he's talking? What??

 Lloyd and Garmadon’s relationship:

I mentioned this in part 1, but they really didn’t execute this well- I feel like they had so much fun playing up Garmadon being the worst dad in the world that they forgot to give him redeemable qualities. It took me a second viewing to realise his relationship with Lloyd was actually pretty messed up, because they played off his despicableness as comedic and glossed over it by suddenly giving him a flashback to make it seem like he’s sorry. They wanted to go for the father-and-son-have-issues-but-reconnect story, and had Lloyd say “I wish we didn’t have to fight all the time” in his emotional ending, but that’s a line usually present in a daddy-issue story where both have a part to blame and there's issues with communication. In this, though? Lloyd did nothing wrong! It was just Garmadon being trash, and there wasn't even a particular scene of him recognising and apologising for his actions- not the bit about driving Misako away, but how he treated Lloyd after.

The message is all mucked up - hoping to find some good in neglectful parents is just gonna get you hurt, and in a story like this it would make more sense for the protagonist to realise they don't need validation from this guy, shouldn't feel like they have to keep connected with toxic relatives just because they're family, and that they should focus on the friends and family who actually love them (although, whether Lloyd's friends were even portrayed as liking him is a different story). I mean, Koko could just teach him to throw and catch! Does he have to have two parents just for that?

 Tone and humour:

I think another main reason this movie didn't do as well was its more childish tone and dialogue; unlike the previous two movies, it was marketed at younger children. One of the main reasons TLM and LB were so successful is because of the self-aware jokes that could actually be enjoyed by adults too, while in this movie I may have properly laughed only a couple of times. Plus, in its effort to connect with kid's humour it just got cringy in some parts, like the Ultimate Weapon compilation. It would have been funny if it was ironic, like Amazing World of Gumball style, but it just didn't come across like that, so I can see why many jokes fell flat for older audiences.

People probably had different expectations for the overall tone as well- everyone loved the previous LEGO movies because of their constant barrage of action, witty jokes and a ton of references. This was never the selling point of Ninjago, but TLNM didn’t manage to capture the show’s dramatic style and deep lore-driven plot either.

The writers:

Okay last thing. This movie had three directors, six producers, six screenwriters and seven people working on the story. Compared to most animated movies, that's a lot, and its shows. It feels like they had a few different ideas and themes and couldn't quite patch them together, with vague messages like “looking at things from a different point of view” being thrown in as well to try and link it up. I guess at the end of the day, this is a father-son story, and that makes it very difficult to fit in a power-of-friendship plot at the same time, but still. Also, the shifting plot and ideas is really clear in the trailers, I mean half the stuff there wasn't even in the movie, it's as if the entire story was changed!

 Final verdict? I think an overall theme with this movie is that the writers wanted to overhaul Ninjago to introduce it to new viewers, but also wanted to keep the fans happy so shoehorned in lots of elements from the show without giving them enough development. This just disappoints fans and alienates general audiences, which is a problem since Ninjago doesn’t have a huge following already backing it up like LEGO Batman did, and could have been the pilot for more original LEGO lines making it to the big screen. It was a technically amazing movie, with beautiful animation and visuals, an epic soundtrack and stunning voice acting, but it was also such a waste of potential.

 The only other thing we can do is think about how it could have gone differently, so here's some of my ideas :'D

NOT using the deleted time travel plot. I know that after being disappointed in a movie you welcome any alternative, but giant mechs were already a big deviation from the ninja theme; flinging in time travel as well would be too much for non-show watchers. Plus, I thought we were all complaining about how time travel in Ninjago always just messes things up :'P

Also not following the show closer. We have over 10 seasons of the show, the whole point of a movie is giving a fresh take; using a giant snake or the Overlord possessing Garmadon again would just be boring.

Delete the first act? One of the best parts of the secret high school heroes trope is seeing how they juggle both lives, if you're gonna drop it after half an hour there's not much point of it being there.

Could instead just have Garmadon attacking again, the last invasion attempt being ages ago. Maybe the ninja rediscover a rich history of elemental masters protecting Ninjago when Wu decides to get a new team together to fight the new threat?

Make it about learning master building instead so they build their mechs at the end, and then gain elements in a sequel?

Or don't mention anything about elements and have every ninja individually go through an obstacle to obtain an elemental weapon, then they all lose them but don't know they're not necessary, so it's actually a surprise that the power is inside them? Everyone gets a sort of true potential moment?

Ninja having to warm up to Garmadon's son, so we have a plot of Lloyd slowly gaining their respect and becoming leader?

Higher stakes at the end, make the Shark Army more threatening and have them turn on Garmadon using Meowthra, so there's still an intense climax of the ninja fighting the army before Lloyd reaches Meowthra and gets his emotional ending?

Get rid of the live action sequence, or make it fit the message of the story more?

Feel free to add any ideas/ thoughts!

[marinbel]

I'd love to hear you go on about bruiseshipping ( ･ิω･ิ)

Oh wow can you believe I've put off waaaaay longer than I should have??? I am the single worst as being on time and I apologize. Buut I'm in a huge Bruiseshipping Mood™ so here yee are!! (Sorry in advance, this is terribly long and I can't do read more on mobile answers)So yeah, Cole and Jay just have this very visible chemistry in the show. Like??? They were the first two ninja, they've spent the most time together out of everyone on the team (besides Kai and Nya probably ahah) but I'm a SUCKER for best friend to lover dynamic, I can't believe it took me to season 4/5 to really get into Bruiseshipping. Anyways, I really feel the love triangle in season 3 was a terrible idea. Ninjago is bad with romance, the last thing they needed to do was make a major plot point about it. And I know they probably meant it to strengthen Jaya, but I personally feel like that backfired. Because of it, Cole and Jay saw each other's ugly sides. And when they made up in season 4 ("I was upset about losing Nya, but I take blame for that. I was more upset about losing you.") it just really solidified Cole and Jay's relationship. They made up. They decided it was stupid to put their friendship on the line over a girl (which is a terrible reason in itself, she's a person too ya'know not an object to be won) and put it behind them. And they are so strong to be able to work back to a teasing, fun friendship!! In the beginning of season 5 we see them teasing each other in the first episode. I can't remember the exact lines, but they were catching that giant fish monster and Jay was all like "it's as hungry as you, Cole!" And Cole just laughs and throws back "and almost as ugly as you, Jay!"Yes Ninjago has it's fun banter between the ninja, but this is just!! They were so tense just a season before, to show these two tease and joke around shows how close they have gotten!!!In season 1/2 of Ninjago, you couldn't really tell who was best friends with who because they were all new to each other and such. But by season 5, you can clearly see Cole and Jay are the best of friends and that just says a lot. Season 6. Oh boy. I love season 6 (for my own headcanoned reasons more so than the canon material) but it was... Interesting. First of all, that scene in the beginning of episode 59, On a Wish and a Prayer??? Everything to me. Cole KNOWS when Jay is lying. He calls him out the second they get alone in that house. And Jay doesn't try to fight it because, as Cole says, "I know you too well." So he tells Cole the truth, confides in him! He even tells him he's adopted! And then he says the like that melts my heart. "Please, as my best friend..." I just... Die at that line, because the way Jay says it so desperately. And Cole knows not to keep secrets from the team and (granted he does spill later on in the episode) he decides to go along with it in secret because! He! Cares! About! Jay!And then the earthquake hits, and Jay's first instinct is to leap onto Cole's lap. Just adorable, tbh. And Cole does have a "what the heck?" face, but he doesn't shove Jay off, or even look all that disgusted or annoyed. Just sort of... Confused. I also headcanon Jay as a touchy feely friend. We all know how he sleeps from those mini movies back in the beginning of Ninjago. He likes to cuddle as well as kiss his pillow. He probably is a friend who likes to hold onto their arms, or is comfortable with snuggling together. So Cole probably knows this, and is used to this. Thus he isn't bothered by it. Day of the Departed, while a big question mark on where I enjoyed it, it did have the cutest scenes. Even in the beginning when Cole is being ignored by the ninja and heard Yang's painting talking to him, he first goes to Jay and touches his shoulder ("A-are you seeing this?"). Later on too, when they notice they are missing Cole, Jay is one of the first to realize. And he seems pretty upset that he forgot, going off about how he's disappearing a lot these days. (also that opening!! Amiright??? When Cole lost control of his vehicle, Jay was SO quick to say "let me go get him"). Anyways the ending where Jay is crying over the thought of losing Cole (granted, of course they'd all be sad over losing their dear friend) but just the way they focus on Jay's anguish... And Jay's wording. "I'd give up anything to have him back." This really stuck out to me when I was watching it. Because, even if it doesn't directly say the word wish, "I'd give up ANYTHING" is a similar thing. And we've just come out of a season where Jay was tortured, abused, and enslaved on Nadakhan's ship and yet he never gave in, he never wished it all away. But no, the second his best friend could be gone forever, he is completely ready to "give up anything" for his return. Also again with their cute teasing at the end of the special with the whole "there are no ghosts here" thing. It was just really cute :3So now season 7... Although a real odd season (probably due to a different writer) I REALLY loved it. Off topic for a moment, the twins were a pleasure to watch bicker, the banter was funny, and I enjoyed the arc overall. Back on topic, when I say banter, I mean Jay and Cole's was through the roof!What I really liked also was the sibling moments of Kai and Nya. Now that Jay and Nya had gotten back together in canon, it wouldakr you think romantic moments. But since she's distracted with her brother and the return of her parents, it really fave Cole and Jay a nice time to themselves (and Zane too on occasion). All their witty moments we're a Blessing ™ from their sparring time with conspiracy theories to the goofing around with the time blade to the welding room breakout, they were great all the way through. And when they're fighting Vermillion warriors, near the beginning when Cole is trying to use his hand powers, he accidentally throws Jay into a dumpster. And instead of finishing off the fight before going for Jay, or just glancing to make sure he's okay... He flipping runs away to go after Jay. Cole was also unable to stop his glowing hands, but the second he thinks he's hurt Jay, it just goes away INSTANTLY. Also later on when Cole successfully manages his punches, Jay is CHEERING him on so much. He even high fives him! Again they are so buddy buddy.Plus the way they worked so well off each other in the breakout. Like??? Cole comes up with the idea, Jay comes up with the plan. Jay's plan is crazy and high tech, and Cole (true to his element) helps bring Jay back down to Earth. ("how about a ladder?" "Oh right... yeah...that can work too"). They work so fluidly together, I have to say it again but... Their chemistry is OFF THR CHARTS. They are so comfortable together and all, also later on, the teasing about what temporal means??? So cute!!!And now we reach season 8. Ah yes... Season 8. I remember when we just got small info of it, and we saw the poster with the mysterious baby on Cole's back and it was teased they all split up to look for Wu... I 110% thought they were gonna put Jay and Nya together as a team. They set up their Jaya and whatever else, so I was pretty sure they were gonna do that. And I was disappointed and worried about that so much. So you can imagine the joyous revelation I experienced when we got the first half of episode 65 and it was revealed that actually Jay and COLE had spent a whole YEAR ALONE TOGETHER. A l o n e. Now I don't know about you, but a whole year with basically no one else to talk to besides one other person??? You better hope you like that person a lot because you're STUCK with them. And that means a) Lloyd paired them up because HE knows they work well together and/or b) Jay and Cole decided to go together themselves. And we see them bicker and argue in that episode, because it's been a year and everyone would be picking a fight by then. But even in this, they tease each other how they usually do, and just really send off some strong "old married couple" vibes. And all those cute moments sprinkled throughout season 8 were just to die for. The whole "party poopers" thing, the teasing Cole about "my body is a temple" the way when they visit Mystaké Jay grabs onto Cole's arm (expressing that physical contact again) for comfort and then when Cole is leaving him with this crazy old lady, he holds out his arm and follows Cole out with a saddened expression... Lloyd is ready to hear the story, but Jay just doesn't want his safety blanket to leave. Again, he's been alone with Cole a whole year, he definitely needs to start realizing they don't have to be around each other 24/7 anymore. And it probably bothers him. Not to mention how cute Jay is with Cole and the baby like a couple and their child. He hands the baby off to Cole while he fights, and he protects Cole when the Sons of Garmadon come to attack them. And when Wu gets older too, he easily refers to him as Cole Jr. Also another favorite moment of mine, I actually giffed it and everything. But when they get out of those ropes and take down the Sons of Garmadon guarding them, they don't even look to each other or nod to agree on what they're gonna do. The second the rope is cut free, Cole and Jay jump up with their swords and help take down the guard together. They are so incredibly in sync it's crazy. And now... Season 9. I'm kinda glad I procrastinated so much on this, because I'd LOVE to include this season with the rant. :3Season 9 was great because again, it gave Cole and Jay time together (albeit with Kai and Zane too. Btw, off topic again for a moment, the OG 4 and Wu is a Blessing ™ and I want to thank anyone and everyone for that). But there were a billion more cute moments with them!! How Cole can decipher Jay's blue print sketches, the "I KNOW YOUR MEASUREMENTS, COLE" thing happened... Like??? The way Jay was like "Cole....did you gain weight?????" just sounds so much like a doting wife and I just????? Yes??????And also other parts, like one of my favorites (I made a post about it) where they are all camping out when Heavy Metal arrives. Jay was sitting closer to where she came and when they all jump up to see the attacker, Jay is originally in front of Cole. The second they see it as the deadly hunter Heavy Metal, Jay steps back and Cold instantly steps in front of him. He even puts his arm out in front of Jay to shield him from harm. And this can be argued they were all being protective, huddling closer to be stronger as a group since Kai and Zane also close in to get in front of young teen Wu. But that makes sense! Wu had JUST grown bigger, he was just the night before a child. And they know he doesn't remember everything just yet about his lessons and teachings, so they gotta protect him because he's also the First Spinjitzu Master's son in the first realm again where dragons go after you because they smell the oni blood!! Wu makes sense to shield because there is a direct harm to him in this situation. But Jay? Cole - while looking out for Wu too - puts his arm out in front of JAY. It really just says something about how fluid they worked, how Jay knew exactly to go behind Cole. He knew Cole was going to get in front of him. Again, it's almost like they can read each other's minds. They can probably finish each other's sentences too, realistically. Anyways, we've reached the end of canon material and my finger hurts from propping up my phone. I haven't been able to get to a computer much this summer (thus why I've also had to put off my one-shot, that and my internet was down for a few weeks so I could only use my phone's data) but I really felt bad for never answering ask. So ask and you'll (eventually) receive!!! Me going on about Bruiseshipping. I'll make some headcanons, as well as other general headcanons I have for the ninja sooner than later (let's hope ahah). If I'm being honest, I've put that off for so long because I know how heated some people can get in the fandom about that stuff. But ya'know, I started a list and I've begun to feel more comfortable in Tumblr sorta. So probably in the near future, expect some of those surfacing. Anyways, tl;dr version: Cole and Jay weren't meant to be a thing because Ninjago isn't revolutionary enough to introduce LGBTQA+ characters into their show sadly, but throughout a jumbled history together, they have been given some of the strongest chemistry amongst the team dynamics. Thanks for being patient with me, I hope you enjoy this. I've been in a bruise mood, and I think you deserve this. ✌️@itsjustperi95