#none of this is to diss it btw i just like rambling and ive thought abt this a lot bc again

[basicallyjaywalker]

NO FR it feels like it had to be a relatively large jump right?? Bc other than the shenanigans of S3 it feels like that's also when the ninja started getting into realer shit?? Like IDK s4 there was literally a cult and body horror and just. I always felt that the jump between s2 and s3 was at least a year, if not like. 3-4. Because it feels like a disconnect too between the types of stories and behaviors. Not enough to be fully formed adults but definitely beyond immature teenagers

IDK I feel like a prime example is compare all of the premiere episodes of seasons 1-4. 1 opens with them gaming instead of training. I forget 2 but I remember the plot is them wanting a nicer house and getting a bunch of entry level jobs/gigs. S3 is them as teachers and they remind me a lot of the other first year/newbie teachers my mom worked with. S4 is just the ramifications of grief and coping with each of them doing things it feels like people in their 20s with a crisis would do. Kai is fighting underground and coded alcoholic. Cole is a lumberjack. Jay hosts a tv show. Im terrified if these are things people below age 20 do often in Ninjago.

Basically what I'm trying to get at is that it feels like the writers meant for the ninjas to be early 20s in S3 and eventually beyond and the writing in other seasons up to a certain point reflects that. I always felt like being commissioned to make more of the show and it eventually becoming so popular we continued to have more and more seasons coming into dragons rising now... That's why they reverted back to teenagers. IDK I could probably write an essay about my opinions as a writer on what was intended vs what happened and I'm sure there's interviews out there as well to back me up

Just realized:

The age you think the ninjas have directly correlates to how much time you think that happened between S2 "Legacy of the Green Ninja" and S3 "Rebooted"

It is the only time gap (excluding the merge) where they don't tell you how much time has passed. You are either "I am suspending my belief, it was only a year/ a few months" or a "Skales jr exists... so 6 years minimum right?"