#save me jay villain arc

[greenhoodiegremlin-blog]

i know im not the only one manifesting a cole and jay tournament battle parallel with season 4 but. also cole lets jay win again. think about it.

[kadextra]

LETS GO rambling and analysis time now that I finished part one

MAJOR MAJOR spoilers under the cut

KAI

NOOOOO how is he gonna get out??? I will say him as the first to use rising dragon felt extremely deserved, I clapped and cheered during that fight scene. but now he’s stuck in the netherworld with the remaining forbidden five and that’s scary.

I teared up seeing Nya activate her rising dragon style in her grief for him. in the next part she’s gonna find out Jay forgot who she is too… so much heartache for Nya 😞

Really enjoyed Bonzle in these episodes as well, learning about her origin of being a spell, her journey of discovering herself as a person and finding a found family :’) at least she’s with Kai now….

and I’ve felt terrible for Lloyd every episode. him getting slammed by those visions constantly, unexpectedly, even in the middle of a fight which sends him spiraling, that’s so rough :((

It’s obvious they’re a representation of panic attacks/he has developed a canon panic disorder- like Lloyd literally says it at one point. they happen suddenly, give anxious fear about present and future events, he gets scared about having another one so he tries to cope by not sleeping (unhealthy coping method) and is taught later on to try accepting the feelings and ride it out which is a way irl therapists teach. good to see some more exploration of mental health in this show!! I’m glad the other characters are taking notice and trying to help too in the ways they can

…speaking of mental health, Arin has been interesting to watch. he’s reading to me more as an autistic-coded character lately (like that line about not understanding social cues???) and we’ve been seeing lots more negative self-esteem issues and insecurity from him in these episodes. him making mistakes during the training sessions, getting scolded, then closing himself off was hard to watch

How Sora decided to hide the truth about Arin’s “object spinjitzu” that saved the day at the very end so he would feel proud of himself for achieving something hurt my heart. she is such a sweet friend who wants her bestie to be happy and feel proud of himself but like- keeping secrets is gonna have consequences down the line. especially when we all know this is a touchy subject for Arin right now. it’s just painful to see how deeply Arin’s self-worth is tied to what he’s capable of doing, what he can and cannot do for the ninja team. he can’t use elemental power he can’t do spinjitzu properly, he’s already insecure so how would he feel to find out ppl are lying to his face so he can feel happier? he’s a string that’s gonna snap one day and judging from that beatdown moment with Lord Ras it’s not going to be pretty. I sense some sort of villain arc approaching for our son

(someone send these people to therapy they’re so traumatized)

In another news: Cole and Geo gay love! homosexuals! maybe a QPR! I don’t care whatever it is, it’s clear they love each other

And it certainly wouldn’t be a ninjago season without the destiny’s bounty crashing and burning <333 was also nice seeing Jay for 10 seconds again <3333

Now my current question is what’s the source dragon tournament thing Lord Ras’ master is talking about??? tournament?? 👀 it’s basically implied that master is a source dragon or a being that rivals their power

can’t wait for the next part to release agugugsjkhkdbqjdpgsiduggjneosgktnalfhdiqkwkfjfialwkg

[ninjago-sideblog]

Skybound had so many good ideas and concepts that I really like the season for. On the other hand, it fumbled like 80% of those ideas soooo hard that makes me want to cry.

(suuuper long indulgent rant about Skybound underneath cut read at your own risk)

Nadakhan is my favorite villain in a bubble. He’s this disgraced djinn prince who runs away from his home realm to become one of the most feared pirate captains in Ninjago and when he tries to return home, it’s all crumbling. He then exacts revenge on those who destroyed his home by manipulating them and toying with them psychologically, eventually trapping their souls in a sword? Badass, right?

Except that all of this cool characterization is contradicted and bastardized left and right. The season dumbs down the ninja instead of making Nadakhan smarter so he can win. When he gains the ability to make his own wishes, he resorts to immediately killing everyone. His obsession with Nya is really weird considering that she was the one who CAUSED Djinnjago to get destroyed.

Jay and Nya’s character arcs are really interesting too. In a bubble. Jay has to step up as a leader after all his friends were taken by this guy, who he has to face after he kidnapped and tortured him. He fucked around and found out the hard way and has to make up for it. Nya continues to struggle with her identity and coming into her own as a ninja and not having Samurai X to latch onto. They both have to fight to keep each other safe and make sacrifices and fall back in love.

Once again though, this is all fumbled and explored in a way that makes me tear my hair out. Jay is a selfish obsessive whiny asshole who’s pining for Nya is super uncomfortable and annoying to watch instead of cute or relatable. Nya is an even bigger asshole than he is. She lets Clouse get away in the beginning to throw a tantrum on Jay, which causes Nadakhan to be freed in the first place. She causes Jay to nearly get killed by the Tiger Widow and then get kidnapped/tortured, all because she was mad at him.

So many other plot points and character choices make me so upset it really detracts from the season as a whole. To name some:

Kai’s ultra inflated ego/obsession with social media and girls

Dareth

Forcefully inserted misogyny

All of the prison arc. All of it.

Ronin betraying the ninja for the police. I get he likes money, but the ninja saved his ass and he is a known criminal. Just a weird place to take his character.

The ninja turning on Jay immediately and effectively sacrificing him to the ultra deadly giant spider

Cole and Lloyd being unceremoniously/anti-climatically removed from the season so Jay and Nya could be alone

Marriage plot (specifically Delara and the marriage plot only ever being used as an excuse for Nadakhan to fight with Jay over Nya which is really gross)

I wish Delara was explored more and was not a creepy Nya clone for Nadakhan to drool over, ew

Dareth

Cole, Lloyd, and Nya using up their wishes immediately in really stupid ways

Tonal whiplash from the goofy lighthearted first half of the season to the dark hopeless second half

Echo Zane (before the Echo fans come after me, I like his character, but he just introduces a lot of plot implications that are never resolved or addressed for a character who has like 10 minutes of screen time max and never gets to come back)

We never learn why Cliff and ‘Libber’ abandoned Jay with the Walkers. Cliff obviously cared about his son, he made a shrine for him in his dressing room, so why did he never contact him before his death? What happened to Jay’s mom? Did Wu know? It’s annoying to have this plot point, only for it to never be explored in the whole show besides a line about being adopted in Prime Empire. Maybe we’ll get some context in Dragons Rising, but I doubt it.

We were robbed from a rematch between Captain Soto and Nadakhan

I honestly wouldn’t mind the ending, if it wasn’t for the fact that the writers can’t decide wether everyone remembers the alternate timeline or not. That and it’s seems like the events of Skybound don’t effect Jay and Nya in later seasons like at all besides a wink and a nudge at the viewer. Once again, Jay was kidnapped and physically/psychologically abused and tortured, and Nya straight up died. They are the only people who (completely) remember and gained what should be a massive amount of trauma but nope! Lloyd has more on-screen/canon trauma over Harumi than Nya does about DYING or Jay does about TORTURE. Again, I don’t think that Dragons Rising will explore this to any extent either.

I also don’t mind the whole trapping the ninja in the Djinnblade thing, I just wish the ninja could have had more screen time. Either by keeping them around longer before trapping them, or showing what inside the sword was like idk

Nadakhan and Jay are kinda weird because I’m not sure why he singled him out out of all of the ninja. I know the Doylist answer is that Jay is the focus character for the season, but I find it weird that instead of getting the other ninja while he could, he wasted a lot of his time toying with Jay on Misfortunes Keep. Why didn’t he just kidnap all of the ninja on Tiger Widow Island instead of giving them a chance of escape. His obsession with Jay could have been easily explained or explored it it never is?

TL;DR, Skybound is a mess of really good and really bad ideas Frankensteined together in the messiest, laziest way they could. I still like it quite a bit, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t frustrate the hell out of me.

[wyrmswears]

hey, this is warriors anon. sorry this is a bit late, but snowtuft is one of the dark forest cats that didnt remember why he was in cat hell. like he had no memory of his crimes but was just constantly pushed sround by the others and stuff, ended up helping the protags in the seventh arc. (i assume jay, even if he does have a villain arc, will eventually be redeemed)

AS FOR FIREHEART = LLOYD—

bold of you to assume fireheart didnt fail his apprentices?? like bluestar was obviously less tgan perfect, and both she and yellowfang (who wasnt his mentor but fulfilled a similar role in the story) messed him up quite a bit. but her flaws were mostly about her being haunted by past mistakes and questioning her faith in her ancestors, which id argue is more in line with wu.

but fireheart?? he has a total of three apprentices, all in the first arc. and. he fails them. he doesnt mean to, oh no, he means so well. and he truly does care about them. but he constantly overcompensates. he idolizes bluestar and works so hard to embody what she was to him before her madness took over, and goes about it all in the wrong way bc he cant accept the fact that blue was less than perfect before, no no she was good, not like tigerclaw who is B A D. he sees them through a very b&w lens and when he starts off w/ cinder his method is the complete opposite of tigerclaws w/ raven (which isn’t necessarily bad, he sucked)

but speaking of, hes very encouraging with cinderpaw but not very attentive and doesnt do much to curb her reckless behavior, constantly urging her to try harder snd push beyond her limits (sound familiar?) and later when she has her accident he blames himself. she can never be a warrior and its his fault and hes too sshamed to even go talk to her in the med. den.

hes stricter with cloudpaw, but doesnt really sympathize with him. he distances himself emotionally and later blames himself when cloud runs away. and with bramble he obviously has that initial mistrust that we KNOW causes a lot of self esteem issues w/ bramble bc we get his pov in the next arc.

and its not just his own apprentices, part of it is about failing all the young cats in his clan, despite being extremely young himself. swiftpaws death, brightpaw being mauled by dogs, tawnypaw running away, s n o w k i t

and hes also dealing with prophetic dreams/visions/nightmares while all this goes down?? like bros so tortured???

so we have:

enemy is an evil tiger

idolizes absent mentor (who was less than perfect

prophetic dreams/nightmares abt future

struggling as a mentor

i could probably find more but im honestly tired rn. thoughts????

snowtuft: i didn't realise he had amnesia!! that's so funny you're right he can be jay

firestar: ogh you have made a VERY good point. the part about him idolising bluestar is huge. i didn't remember the details of cinderpaw's apprenticeship before her accident but you're right in drawing the parallels there. i do picture lloyd as a somewhat ignorant character which is inline with firestar's perception of bramblepaw, and bringing it back round to just the general failing of thunderclan's youth has made me really want to reread the books... damn.. maybe after exams...

you've made a really good argument! fine, i am swayed. lloyd gets his main character syndrome after all. (and as another point, i'd say his presence was to fulfill a prophecy; for fire this is 'fire alone can save our clan', and for lloyd it's the green ninja prophecy.)

[yvtro]

Jason was Red Robin in countdown right? I keep hearing about weird but okay development through that event. What do you think about his countdown progression?

 i moved to @boyfridged. i still post countdown meta there sometimes:)

the thing about countdown is that at first glance, it’s not great characterisation. it comes from the same era as atrocities such as brothers in blood or the battle for the cowl, and it is often dismissed by association. and i have to admit, there are some aspects to how jay's personality is written there that unnerve me. it has ups and downs, which for the most part reflect jay’s own inner conflicts. but overall? this is one of the greatest progressions we’ve got in jay’s storyline, ever. there's only one arc that i genuinely despise, and even then there's plenty of potential. let me get into it. -> full analysis under the cut. (i don't provide with a full summary, but rather go through notable storylines and moments)

countdown #51

let's start from the very beginning, when duela poses the question (as seen above): "who exactly are you? how does jason todd fit into the grand comics scheme of things?" i think it's salient, since it implies that the writers actually had to ask this question themselves. they care about jason's place in-universe, as much as they care about it in the wider narrative. and you know what, that's a low bar, but most dc writers don't seem to consider these things *at all* when they approach writing a new character. 

following from there, it should not be surprising that the whole progression even in this first issue is utterly fascinating and very well thought through.

here we see jason saying that he is "not too tolerant of gun-wielding crazies [himself]". this is notable because at the time jason is mostly established as... a gun-wielding crazy himself. as much as i hate it, this is the same timeline in which jason is briefly portrayed as a psychotic villain. other characters, not in an overly sensitive way, call him epithets such as deranged. but here we see, obviously, that jason doesn't perceive himself as such. 

we also get a glimpse at the discordance between his beliefs, actions and emotional response; duela wants to kill someone; jay in reply emphasises that an "innocent life" cannot be sacrificed just to make a point about someone's identity. he follows her to fight her, but instead ends up trying to save her in an encounter with a monitor, and seems at least shocked (and at most shaken, hard to tell with the hood) when he does not manage to.

I just want to once again stress that it’s so delightful how evident it is that his "moral code" is all hazy and a bit hypocritical. the progression of all things he says and does is so irrational that it’s thrilling.

enter monitor saying that "anomalies should be purged" – a parallel to jason's own philosophy about criminals. in a way, this is the first time when he is confronted with his own agenda about “purging” the world from evil to minimise harm. and  he intuitively disagrees with it! what really shines through here is that on some level, jason still believes in rehabilitation and the right to live. i will say it again and again and again, this is a boy who died trying to save someone who sold him out for torture. here's his great internal conflict, the tension between the intuitive belief in kindness vs trauma that made him want to detach himself from it and focus on retribution. 

teen titans (2003) #47

in an encounter with dick and tim jay is accused on killing duela. he tells them that he tried to save her, and donna stands in his defence, saying that she saw him at duela’s funeral. this is a really significant set-up.

countdown #50

the issue contains a narrative about jason that brings in some of his worst appearances from the timeline and based on that calls him “unpredictable” – a characterisation that i’m not a fan of, but then again, it’s 2007; the editorial board cared a bit more about the integrity of characterisation, thus i can’t exactly be mad that they mention it.

but what this issue does is acknowledging that jason is not just some unstable villain. “jason todd… to say he’s complicated is an understatement.” <- containing multitudes etc. "i’ve been around plenty of metahumans, aliens, new gods and vigilantes over the years… i’ve met batman loads of times and believe me, he’s plenty scary. but jason… he’s a lot like batman, but he’s willing to do what batman never would. he’s willing to kill.” <- one of the first of many comparisons of jay and bruce in the series. i do eat them up.

countdown #48 ��� duela's funeral.

“all right… after she died, it got me thinking about what that alien said… about how duels wasn’t even supposed to be in this reality in the first place, you know? and neither am i… […] and then there’s you, donna… […] i guess I just wanted to be around someone else who might know how it feels… to be living on borrowed time” 

jason says what he probably has been thinking all that time out loud (regarding the fact that he does not belong in this reality; he’s supposed to be dead), and it makes sense that he says it now, with the impending feeling of doom. 

he seeks out someone. he recognises that there are other people in this world that have experiences that are of semblance to his own ones, and that he does not have to be completely isolated. this is character development, and I’m not saying it to be funny; i’m saying it to highlight the fact that in lord’s year 2007, dc editors and writers decided that jason was allowed to seek emotional closure in a healthy manner. it might be slightly underwritten (for it to be truly interesting we would need a longer progression) but the circumstances make it plausible enough.

countdown #46

i just want to highlight this panel. i wrote more about it here.

countdown #33

“i’ve got no problem with kyle. he’s great. he’s dreamy” (a honorary mention)

countdown #43

 - here, jason suggests that they should get help of other heroes in trying to tackle the crisis. this is an intriguing progression, which might seem random for jason, but it really shows that the writers did their homework and read at least the new teen titans, wherein robin jason was responsible and reasonable enough not to overestimate his own abilities in the field.  

countdown #30

the challengers travels to earth-15, one where donna is a wonder woman and jason is batman. this is one of my favourite issues, for several reasons: 

–> a striking similarity between bruce and jason, that really shines through when jay is wearing a cowl. i briefly talk about earth-15 jay here.

–> jason fighting himself. literally. internal conflict externalised! it is clear that earth-15 jay views earth prime jay as immature, but he’s also not an adult enough to refrain from fighting back. 

-> this is the first earth were jason is confronted with a world that could be. i believe that before that, jason perceived his trauma and becoming red hood as fate. seeing a version of himself that is batman? this shows that his identity is not set in stone. he's forced to face the fact that he can become someone else.

the all new atom #14

a mild and frustrating setback in characterisation, whereas jason hits before he asks questions. i am more frustrated by how stupid it was rather than the violence itself.

more importantly (although not impactful nor related to anything at all!) we get to see an echo of jay’s soul that was left in heaven. 

countdown #27 – #26 

jason pretends to betray the team which prompts further in-fighting. i like how donna in anger almost calls him “red hood” but switches to “todd.” it’s a reference to the fact that jason is not using the rh identity anymore, even if it’s not a fully realised decision yet.

countdown #16 - #13

perhaps my favourite storyline. setting: earth 51.

-> “isn’t that your super-power, stupid boy? too stupid to ever give up?” “maybe it is.” <- an element of characterisation that i thoroughly appreciate. more on it here.

->  #15 jason meets this earth’s batman and learns that he killed the joker after his [or rather, robin jason’s of this universe] death. bruce’s actions mirror that of red hood jason – bruce went on to eradicate the whole gotham rogues. this is an issue in which jay perhaps comes to a realisation that he should be careful what he wishes for; he is utterly disappointed in this version of bruce. a more detailed post on it here.

-> #14: red robin intro. red robin is an id that bruce of earth 51 devised with thought of his jay growing up and moving on to another title. (it doesn’t really make sense, does it) bruce sees himself in jason and tells him to “gear up” as he will help in the field.

 -> now, i don’t like the concept of jason keeping the red robin title past countdown, but as a brief episode in his development? this is excellent. jason gets to experience working with bruce as a (sort of) sidekick one more time. maybe this is what he needs to move on. to briefly feel comfortable in the role that he grew to despise, the past self that he tried to bury. to hear batman call him “chum” one more time and nudge “you used to crack jokes at moments like this!” before he can leave this life behind. to come to accept it as a formative experience.

-> #13 earth-51 batman dies. genuinely one of the most harrowing moments in the series. i must say that i wonder if jason is agonizing more over the fact that it was a fnale to such a short-lived partnership that mirrored his past, or if maybe he feels responsible for what happened to this bruce (as bruce went out to fight inspired by him.) or maybe both?

countdown #11 - #4

jason decides that he is done with the whole affair and leaves the team in hopes of going back to the home earth on his own (they follow him). in the process, he tries to help some people in fight, but quickly decides he doesn't actually care (allowing them to die), and in #4, when they are getting ready for the final confrontation with the enemy, he tells the challengers from beyond to fuck off, and leaves saying something as cheesy as "see you suckers!"

i will be honest with you, i really don't know what to think about the progression in these issues. on the one hand, i am a fan of the idea that bruce's death would send jason into a frenzy. he was the one who gave earth-51 bruce sudden faith into vigilantism, and batman ended up dead. this might, for jay, be a final straw, where he decides that his (murderous) optimism and stubborness is a mistake. on the other hand, i believe even with that happening, with the way his development is set up, you would think he should go out from this internal conflict victorious.

countdown #1

some more elucidated thoughts on the ending here.

jason has an internal monologue about how the capes are "crazy," and how he is not "crazy" etc etc. again, this could be interesting in the sense that seeing batman murdered was a traumatic experience for him. in a way, he is trying to isolate himself from the concept of heroism, because it does reflect his own values (strong will and hope), but these values are the very same ones that got him (and earth-51 bruce) killed.

on the other hand, we see him without a mask and interrogating (torturing?) someone. which brings in some questions regarding what his idea of starting a new life is. because it doesn't seem promising. either for himself or anyone else.

so, the conclusion seems like negative character development rather positive one, yet, there's still plenty potential. the most notable element of it is that now jason appears to consider vigilantism as a whole as victimising (although this is not what he would call it, probably), and he takes off the mask. nonetheless, it also seems that he proceeds to do... the very same thing he has done before? (there is some space for interpretation regarding what the interrogation is about. is he working a case? he's seeking information, so it does seem so). this all, in a way, shows that jason doesn't understand the dichotomy of the civilian vs vigilante identity. he's still not able to abandon the field. and maybe this set up is just perfect for him to realise that the problem is not about whether he's wearing a domino or not, or if he isolates himself from the community – because either way, he's still trying to do the same thing as they do. either way, he's still trying to save the world. either way, he still is similar to bruce, who, as he says is "one step from craziness."

the potential of the ending is such that jason ends up in an interesting grey zone wherein he doesn't have any identity whatsoever (he's still legally dead!), and seems to want to keep it this way, which is honestly a fascinating concept. this is even more mind-boggling when you consider that the got all of these multiverse encounters that arrange for development in the opposite direction. and in my mind, if at that point his character were to be taken over by a talented writer, they could still capitalise on all of these elements. in that moment, jason still hasn't truly processed what happened in the past months, and is blinded by grief and repressing it alike. but in the course of trying to work as a... non-entity without either civilian nor vigilante identity, he could realise that it doesn't fix anything, because what all of it is about is himself and how he copes with loss.

countdown presents: the search of ray palmer

for the sake of brevity: mostly truly excellent material, brilliant team interactions. chronogically, it is set somewhere around issue 30-20 probably, but can be read independently.

what i want to highlight is how it emphasises jason's love for gotham, but also how in gotham by gaslight jay wonders if he could find his way back to this earth afterwards. i think more than anything else, it shows how much jason feels detached from the world, and how he craves a new start somewhere that is both familiar (gotham) but also different enough that he would not have to be confronted with his past there. it also makes me wonder if jay would want to stay on earth 51 if not for bruce's death there.

and that's the end of the analysis. to summarise: what makes countdown so exceptional is how earnestly it shows jason's internal conflicts and his process of perpetual repression and self-isolation. however, unlike the later books (up to today, really) it also pushes him in a new direction and establishes a ground for great character development.

edit: i have another long countdown meta post here.

[smilesrobotlover]

HELP I’M STILL CONFLICTED ABOUT ODY’S CHARACTER ARC

So I’ve come to burden you with my ranting lol

On one hand I feel like the whole becoming the monster thing works really well for the story Jay is trying to tell. It shows how far Ody has been pushed so far by everything that has happened to him, everything he’s had to do. And he keeps getting these impossible situations forced upon him. So he has to become someone he never wanted to be (and can never truly be).

On the other it’s kinda weird for the musical to be darker than the source material?? XD And Odyssey!Ody had so much care for his crew (not that EPIC!Ody didn’t of course) and so much heart. He had to do unimaginable things, deal with his men’s stupidity, and he STILL didn’t give up on his men. He was willing to fight freaking SCYLLA for them. To sleep with Circe for them!

So I guess I’ve fallen in love to Odyssey!Ody so much I’m having trouble with EPIC!Ody’s differences 😅

Also on a completely different subject I’m so sorry you’re feeling miserable and I hope you feel better very soon 🫂🫂🫂🫂

That’s how I feel! I understand the direction Jay is going for, and so putting Ody in hard situations where he has to be a monster makes sense. However, I don’t think I super like the ending of the thunder saga. The music was incredible no doubt, the acting and singing was incredible. But I feel like Ody in epic is a little too dark for my taste? It makes sense that 6 men would die with Scylla cuz that’s what happened in the Odyssey. however, while Odysseus didn’t tell his crew about Scylla in the Odyssey, he didn’t say anything in order to keep them from retreating, and he put his armor and sword on to at least TRY to save his men (only to his horror that there was nothing that could’ve been done so he had to tell everyone to row for their lives.)

However in Epic, it seems Ody had specific men light up torches to be sacrificed and I don’t think I like that? It makes Ody almost seem villainous to me? Or an anti-hero? Which doesn’t fit for me. Like at least have him care you know? And I don’t blame him for choosing his wife over his crew who betrayed him, but that’s a strange thing to add. I like how in the odyssey, Odysseus just happened to be the last survivor. Instead of having to choose between himself and his crew, he was trying to get back to Ithaca as soon as possible despite the crew eating the cattle. And so despite everything, he still tried to put his crew before him.

Idk, it’s an adaptation but how loosely can you adapt it till it becomes a bad adaptation, you know? I certainly don’t hate it! I don’t hate it at all! But I’ve grown to love Odysseus as a character and seeing him act in such a way in the musical is strange for me.

And thank you it’s been a rough night and day 😭 I hope I get better soon this is miserable

[namelysane]

Wouldn't it be funny if when hellspawn... well spawned garm/misako called wu and the ninja to try and tell them to come over (and bring baby stuff while their at it) but the situation was so chaotic that the ninja only understood a small part of it and, with the little info they had; concluded that lloyd was turned into a baby?

Takes place sometime before s3.

Don't get him wrong. Cole had always been someone who liked kids.

Just...just not these kids.

"Being a teacher is hard work," Kai complained, plopping down a nearby chair as soon as he could step into the break room. His usually well-gelled hair was beginning to droop miserably. "If my work of art gets another spitball when my back is turned again I swear I'll—"

"Work of art? FSM, who told you that lie?" Nya snorted, only to receive a very nasty glare from her brother at that comment. "That's a mess."

"Those kids are the mess," Kai grumbled, hands reaching up to comb through his hair to find any remaining atrocities. "They're even worse than the baby gremlin version of Lloyd. Can you believe that?"

"You're telling me," Cole rubbed his eyes. "I come in ten minutes late and someone lets Ninjago's most poisonous scorpion walk around the classroom."

"How did they even bring one in, again?" Nya sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose wearily. "Enough said. We need stricter rules."

"As if that'll stop them," Kai huffed, chucking his file across the room. "Keep dreaming."

" 'Educating the future of Ninjago' my butt. Wu definitely hates us."

"Bad day too huh, zaptrap?" Cole winched sympathetically, watching Jay's head dip in a depressed nod as he made a beeline for the freezer.

"We went from saving Ninjago to needing to be saved," Jay stressed, eyes scanning through the contents of the refrigerator before then widening. "Hey. Who took my pudding cup?"

"You had a pudding cup?" Cole blinked, his gaze briefly falling on the empty plastic container in front of him on the table. At that, Jay's eyes locked on it as well. "Um...sorry?" He tried, grimacing at once.

"Bullied by my students, and now bullied by my friends," Jay said miserably, slamming the fridge door shut at once. "This is just great."

"Perfect for a villain arc," Kai said helpfully, only to receive incredulous looks from everyone else in the room. "What? Literature is finally growing on me."

"I can't believe I got stuck with history," Jay groaned, sounding as though he was tempted to bang his head against the table. "Zane's the walking textbook. He should be teaching history."

"Unfortunately, that would leave a vacancy for the science teacher position," Zane replied, walking into the room — weirdly percent timing, Cole thought suspiciously. "I believe Wu does not wish to look elsewhere for a replacement."

"Yeah," Kai rolled his eyes. "So he can continue to pay us like—"

"But Nya could teach science," Jay suggested, looking at her pleadingly. "Right, Nya?"

Nya seemed to contemplate that thought. "I guess I could—"

"See?"

"But you're gonna have to take over math," Nya told him, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "You have to spend the rest of your life hearing those kids talk about how much they hate you and—"

Jay blinked. "Wait, what—"

"Yeah," Nya shrugged. "And then, they start debates with you asking why the heck do we have to learn this—"

"Well that's normal for me," Jay said, and then frowned. "Anyway, why are we forced to learn math, again?"

"I often wonder that myself," Sensei coughed.

All of them nearly jumped at that, not having seen him enter. The old man merely shook his head.

"You five have become less vigilant," he stated exasperatedly, the bottom of his bamboo staff colliding with the floor as he continued to step forward. "Such carelessness could be your downfall."

Kai just stared at him in disbelief. "So is that why those brats keep scheming against me?"

"Probably," Jay suggested, only to earn a scowl in response. "And by the way Sensei, I kinda have a teeny, tiny little request as a teacher—"

"Oh, I've already heard that," Sensei replied, giving him a brief knowing look. "As long as Nya and Zane are alright with this new arrangement, I don't see any reason to refuse you."

"I have no issue with this," Zane chimed in, and Nya nodded in agreement.

"Oh, those kids don't know what's coming, alright," she grinned mischievously. "I can't wait for the experiments—"

It was then when the sound of ringing cut the air.

Cole's eyes immediately fell on the telephone.

"I will get it," Sensei told them, before any of them could bother getting up. Cole felt his eyebrows knit into a frown. Hang on, hadn't the last time that phone had gotten a call been when—

Jay's face was suddenly as pale as a sheet. "Please tell me they aren't going to enroll in another—"

"Hello. This is Darkley's Boarding School For Great Children how may I — brother?" Sensei blinked, sounding genuinely surprised at the fact the former dark lord was calling him at this point of the day. "Is everything alright?"

Cole watched questioningly as the old man's expression suddenly tightened, before then proceeding to take the deepest dive into confusion in the history of Ninjago.

"What do you mean?" Sensei asked incredulously, both of his eyebrows rising high enough to be concealed by the shadow of his straw hat. "Brother, of all the methods you could use to antagonize me—"

"What the heck is going on?" Jay whispered.

"No idea," Cole mouthed, continuing to listen intently with a deeper frown. Had Garmadon sprouted another pair of arms again or something?

Then, suddenly, the old master stilled, his golden eyes far wider than they had ever seen them. The knuckles of the hand holding the phone were visibly white with how tightly he was gripping it.

It was a while until he managed to bring himself to speak once again.

"A baby, Garmadon — what was he thinking—"

"What?" Nya gasped, and Kai's jaw dropped open at once, the hothead looking as though he was about to faint. Even Zane was no different.

What. On Earth. Was Going On.

"He is more like Father than I thought," Sensei lamented miserably, as though he very much regretted that fact.

He, Cole realized, taking note of that detail immediately. That could only mean Sensei was referring to—

"Alright, alright," Sensei sighed, his grip on the phone faltering slightly. "We'll be there, brother."

Then, he placed the telephone back on its holder, pushing it away immediately.

"What was that about, Sensei?" Nya asked.

The old master met her gaze tiredly, appearing as though he regretted hearing the sound of ringing in the first place.

He heaved out a sigh. "Garmadon has called."

Kai shot him a deadpan stare. "Yeah. We could tell—"

"I'm afraid we will need to leave the academy in the care of Dareth until we return," Sensei said, running a hand over his face wearily. "Garmadon requires our presence. As soon as possible."

"Well care to tell us why?" Jay crossed his arms. "And what was that about a baby?"

"You also used the third person pronoun 'he' at the three minute and thirty one second mark of your conversation," Zane pointed out, sounding genuinely curious. "That would most likely mean—"

"—that this is something related to Lloyd," Cole finished, unsurprised that the others had pieced it together too. "Master," he then asked hesitantly. "is Lloyd okay?"

"What the hell is happening?" Kai yelped.

Sensei closed his eyes, raising his head as though to stare at the ceiling in despair. "Dear First Spinjitzu Master."

"I think we broke him," Jay whispered mournfully. For the first time in his life, Cole was forced to agree.

"I believe this will be easier to explain once you have seen it for yourselves," Wu finally admitted, his voice painfully strained. Cole held back a grimace. "In the meantime, gather as many items that can be used to care for an infant as possible—I'm sure Garmadon will greatly appreciate it," he told them, giving them all a weak smile. "Now excuse me, I must go find Dareth."

Jay looked at them all in bewilderment after the old man had turned around and left. "But we don't even have baby stuff—"

"Exactly, so screw it," Kai hissed, something in his eyes now ablaze. "I'm going to head there now and storm the place until I find out what's going on. Who's with me?"

"Me," chorused four other voices without hesitation. After that, Nya suddenly furrowed her brow in concentration.

"I just really don't understand the baby part," she muttered, her forehead creasing as she continued to ponder on that thought. "You know, at first I was convinced that Sensei G and Misako had welcomed a baby — but then, that thing about Lloyd came along."

"Or maybe Lloyd's the baby?" Jay offered.

Cole's mind went blank.

"What?"

"You're kidding me," Kai said, his tone edged in disbelief. "No. There's no way."

"But what if there is?" Jay begged. "I mean, didn't Sensei mention something about Lloyd and the FSM?"

"He is correct," Zane confirmed with a nod. "There was a moment where Sensei expressed regret at their similarities — thus hinting that the current matter at hand is something the First Spinjitzu Master experienced himself."

"And what does Lloyd have that the FSM did, again? Power," Jay said, flailing his arms for emphasis. "We're not talking about just any power here — the golden shit."

"So you're saying Lloyd turned himself into a baby," Nya actually sounded more amused than scandalized at the suggestion. "Actually now that I think about it, that makes sense."

Cole stared at her like she'd just conjured a dragon. "Sense?"

"Yup," she hummed, and then gestured to Kai as though she was showing all of them an artistic masterpiece. "Just look at who's his mentor."

Kai let out a pained groan as all eyes fell on him. "Why is it always me—"

"I had hoped you would have an explanation for that," Zane said dryly. Kai buried his face into his hands.

"My baby brother, here I come," he mumbled, shaking his head.

Wu to Lloyd later : There is something I haven't told you—

Thanks for the ask!

[garmaballs]

Do the rant!! Rant bout your favorites!!

going to keep this short cuz im in the middle of something BUTTTTTT how do i even begin. cringe rant down below 🙏

lloyd. he’s been my favorite ninja ever since i started watching when i was little!!!!!! and that has never changed… when me and my cousins used to roleplay i would rather DIE than be any other ninja. sure, i liked them but not as near as this guy. idk if it was cuz he was the main character which attracted stupid 5 year old me?? or that i could relate to him?? or my favorite color was green? but as i’ve grown older ive come to appreciate him more and more and more. HES BEEN PUT THROUGJ SO MUCH yet he just keeps getting better and better

i’ve heard soooo many people say he steals screen time bla bla like ITS NOT HIS FAULT!!!!! HES A SILLY LEGO. just a little guy. he deserves every minute he gets (lying right here i wish the others got more attention but who cares I AM A LLOYD DEFENDER TILL I DIE)

he’s so amazing?????? and for so many reasons. he’s so caring and trusting. and smart. and blonde. just his backstory and little lloyd???/?:$:)&;$; i remember the concept of the villain becoming a hero being such a shocker ndhdksjdkdjd

idk if i want him or want to be him sometimes.

on to jay

i never liked him for some reason don’t come for me i was 6… until skybound came out. before it, he was just sorta a comic relief? kinda irritating but funny at times, still not my favorite. BUT THAT SEASON CHANGED EVERYTHING. they turned him from a bland comic relief into such an interesting protagonist and i know that season was shit bla bla but jay being the focus really made me love him ??:$;$/$$: just the hopelessness and him having to save everyone and the jaya arc and the character development

HES SILLY AND CARING ANDjdhdksjdjej 6 year old me wished i was nya

since that season, i think i started to notice him more? idk how to explain it but this guy is just amazing. a silly guy.

another favorite of mine was jay in crystallized/seabound, seeing him depressed using humor and locking himself away from the others AND DRAWING to cope??????:!3$:$;$; he’s just so fucking relatable i love him

[saline-coelacanth]

I'm gonna try my best to formulate my thoughts but this post is probably just gonna be a bunch of rambling

Spoilers for DR season 2 part 1

I LOVE BONZLE SO MUCH HOLY CRAP! I already liked her a lot, she was probably my favorite of the finders besides Cole and Geo, but wow I was not ready for her backstory. I just... my heart can't handle it man, the finders are her family!!!!!

And speaking of Bonzle, HER AND KAI BETTER BE OK! They better find a way out of that prison place or I'm gonna lose my mind!!! I am so emotionally destroyed over Kai right now, I can't. And when Nya was talking to Wyldfyre about how Kai was always her hero, that stabbed me in the feels so hard.

Kai was also just great, I love his relationship with Wyldfyre so much. He's such a dad and I love him for that

I will say that I didn't really enjoy how long the training went on for. Idk it just felt kinda repetitive and I sort of stopped caring after a while. But luckily, we had the plot with Cole, Zane and Bonzle which was probably my favorite part of the season. At the very least, it had my favorite moments. I think it mainly just stems from the fact that I love Cole a lot. And also the magical shenanigans that they got up to with the sorcerer lady (who I don't remember the name of I am so sorry) were really fun.

Also, holy crap Lloyd having full on panic attacks! I was not expecting that, the poor boy. Also poor Arin, I felt so bad for him! And I am not ready for the potential conflict that's gonna come from Sora using her powers and making Arin think he used his object spinjitzu, that is gonna destroy me. I feel like it may be a little too soon to tell, but I will say the pieces are there for Arin to have a villain arc. And even if the show doesn't go there, I'm sure someone will make an au about it.

I like Cinder a lot, I thought he was cool, I just wish we got to see more of him. It's honestly kinda crazy how little of the wolf warriors we saw in general, but we'll probably see more of them in part 2.

So last major thing I wanna scream about, and I saved the best for last, JAY! OMG AAAAAAAAAAAAA WHAT IS GOING ON WITH HIM???????

So we've learned now that he doesn't really care too much about the Administration. I mean, we could have picked that up before, but now it's confirmed. It's also been 100% confirmed that he has lost his memories, so all the people trying to deny it can calm down now. But the thing with Jay that interested me the most was when the sprite thingy was showing him his reflection and revealing his lightning powers, Jay seemed genuinely terrified at the thought of anyone finding out he can control lightning. I feel like it has something to do with the Administration, like they would do something terrible if they found out, but we'll just have to wait and see I guess. Honestly I could scream about Jay for so long with the very little amount of screen time we got of him, but I'll just end things here.

But yeah, that was pretty great. Not sure if I enjoyed it more than season 1, I'm probably gonna have to rewatch it to fully solidify my feelings, but yeah.

[moreespressoformydepresso]

What infuriates you most about descendants? From books and movies?

Mal.

More specifically her botched character from descendants 2 onwards and the way it affects the outcome of the story. She started out as a really good character and then the writing ruined her.

Okay so how to explain this in a reasonable word count? My biggest issue with Mal is that she seems to backslide on character development constantly. It’s not a one off, and Dove Cameron’s acting and singing cannot save Mal from the fact that two whole movie plots were caused by her doing something that makes no sense from any angle. To be clear: I like Mal… in D1. The first movie, while suffering from the same general weirdness as all Disney channel movies, is pretty good and Mal has a well-written arc. Its only problem is time constraint, but I can live with it being a little rushed and surface level because it’s Disney and it’s just one movie. It will forever grind my gears that Mal makes the emotional “we be good now” speech when she was literally the only one actively still trying to follow the plan, but again it’s Disney and she’s the main character. My only real critique is that Jay, Evie, and Carlos should have been the one giving the “we don’t want to be evil” speech rather than have Mal list out why her friends don’t want to be evil when they clearly already know (as shown in the montage during If Only’s reprise). But whatever, girl who’s never known anything other than how to be evil learns how to be good and find herself thanks to the love of her life. Compelling nature vs nurture story.

Then Descendants 2 rolls around, and the issues start popping up. Audrey doesn’t exist in the movie, which sucks because I feel like this movie should have at least acknowledged the consequences of Mal’s previous evil behavior (and also I like Audrey), but I can live with that. What I cannot live with is Mal being a horrible (girl)friend and making boneheaded decisions despite supposedly being a better person than she was before. I like the concept of someone breaking under the stress of adapting to an environment that is the complete opposite of what she’d known before, especially with the added pressure of being on the road of becoming the queen of Auradon, but as you may have guessed I find the execution severely lacking. My main gripe is that Mal’s reaction is stupid and goes against what the first movie told us. When you break, you cannot be expected to make great decisions, but Mal went through the trouble of enchanting her scooter to get through the barrier (which makes me ask all kinds of questions about the questionable security of the barrier, but whatever) and then actually went there, and chose to stay there even when her friends came to get her, practicality abandoning all of them even after she had time to calm down and think things through. That’s no longer just the stress. Mal was a better friend when they were all villains who don’t do love than she was when she’d supposedly turned good.

Supposedly, she’s learning to be a good person. But she lies about using magic and then abandons everyone without a word after a freakout where Ben’s clearly not even mad about the magic. She could have left a damn note, said goodbye, explained herself, but no. And that’s me going along with the whole leaving thing at all, but honestly even that’s a massive overreaction. Her issue is the pressure that comes with being the king’s girlfriend, that’s got nothing to do with being good, so why didn’t she just break up with Ben? It would’ve honestly been nicer than not breaking up with him and leaving for the isle forever without telling him where she’s going. This, of course, gets Ben kidnapped by pirates. Mal wants to help save him after making a dumbass bet (which was all kinds of stupid) that forced her to give the pirates Fairy Godmother’s want (idk how it would work inside the barrier that blocks magic but sure) but she still plans on staying on the isle. Okay fine, if that’s where she’s happy, but could she maybe talk to her friends and boyfriend about this at least once?!?! Then of course she goes back to Auradon anyways.

In case you haven’t noticed, everything Mal does in D2 is selfish. Not once does she consider anybody else’s feelings. Only a glimpse in Space Between but that’s a single song and all it comes down to is “we’ll still be together” which, to me, hangs a lampshade on the fact that Mal can leave with her scooter whenever she wants and all the kids stuck on the isle can’t. Nobody considers them, except for the antagonists of the movie. Not once does Mal, who is supposed to have grown from being evil, consider anybody else’s feelings in her decision making. Even accepting she’s going back to her evil upbringing, which could be interpreted as a way to show how abuse victims will often chose what’s familiar over what’s actually good for them, there should be something there to show us she isn’t actually the rotten being she pretends to be. You know, since the whole point of the first movie is that she’s not a bad person but pretending to be because that’s what she’s been taught is who she must be? It invalidates the whole first movie. But it gets even worse, because now we finally get to Descendants 3.

The absolute lowest of lows Mal’s character sees in the trilogy of movies, D3 made me hate her to the core of my very being. Not only does she have the same issue as she did in D2 where all her decisions are driven by selfishness with a callous lack of care for literally anybody else, she now lacks even the paperthin excuse of pressure getting to her. Stress and being overwhelmed can make people do stupid things, which is why I gave Mal leeway and didn’t hate her necessarily. I just didn’t really like her anymore. D3 took that leeway together with any and all character development Mal had over the previous two movies, rolled it up into a ball, and threw it out of a skyscraper’s highest window to splatter it onto the pavement below. One villain (who is her dad) almost gets through the barrier and her immediate reaction is to screw over every single innocent child on the isle and lock the barrier forever?!?! What the fuck is wrong with this chick?! I meant what I said in my post about the descendants boys, Ben should’ve told her that if she thinks the risk of one villain getting out is more important than the lives of thousands of abused children, then by her logic they should throw the kids they’ve already brought over back on there too. After all, there’s a risk they may still want to be villains given Mal’s little freakout in D2, tHe RiSk’S jUsT tOo HiGh! Those villains were dealt with by like- three heroes each. You mean to tell me all of them combined cannot handle that? Bring some guards with you next trip and don’t drag your feet when you close the barrier behind you next time, problem fucking solved! Or don’t tell anyone when you’re gonna go get the kids??? No one followed the core four out, and despite this oh so massive risk Mal’s so worried about she sure as fuck wasn’t worried about opening the barrier to go get Hades’ amber! Then Gil and Harry came out and guess what? They helped the main crew because all they wanted was to get off the isle. Mal didn’t just not oppose this cruel, extreme idea… she came up with it. Supposedly she’s a better person now, but her first reaction to her perfect life being slightly threatened with the possibility of issues (not even ruin, just issues), was to disregard every single child who’s just like her (if not better, because their parents weren’t the literal mistress of evil) and damn them to a life in hell on earth, an existence of nothing but crime and poverty and starvation and abuse! How can she be anything but selfish and mean and cruel with a thought process like that?! Her literal reason is that she wanted to protect her and her friends’s new life! So apparently in her mind, now that she has everyone she cares about off the isle, it’s not worth caring about the isle anymore. She has who she wants off, and fuck everybody else. Then she lies to everybody about it being her idea because she needs Uma and her crew to defeat Audrey, meaning she knows full well that what she’s doing is horribly shitty.

That’s what truly gets me, actually. If she genuinely believed this was the right thing to do, if she truly, 100% believed that there was no better solution and this is what had to be done… why did she lie? Why didn’t she explain herself with good arguments? Well… because there aren’t any. This was the worst possible solution, and she knows that, but it’s the best way to ensure her happily ever after isn’t threatened so who gives a shit? (Everybody else, but clearly Mal doesn’t care about that). She lies so she can use Uma, Harry, and Gil. She lies so her friends won’t get mad at her for her horrible behavior. She lies, because it suits her. Because it gives her the happy ending she wants, and that’s all she cares about. Then when this fails, she decides to go the other extreme route of breaking the fucking barrier so she can be queen of both Auradon and the Isle. That’s her literal reason. She says it herself. Even when she makes a “good” decision, it’s just to serve her. To give her more power. I know the message it’s supposed to send is that bullshit about evil not being inherent but fuck that. I don’t believe it, and I really wish we got to see the moment right after the credits where the villains do what they promised they would: take over Auradon and destroy everything, because some of them were on there for a very good reason. The whole point of the two previous movies was that we shouldn’t judge or condemn people based on what their parents did, but on what they do themselves. I have no idea how that means not judging the parents for their own actions either, and frankly it’s so stupid and shortsighted I’ll leave it there. There’s a reason I completely ignore the ending of descendants 3.

Anyways, what I’m saying is that after the first movie Mal’s character just kept getting worse and worse and I cannot stand her anymore. She’s selfish and mean and doesn’t give a shit about anyone but herself, and the narrative tries desperately to convince us she’s a good person deep down but with everything she’s done I just can’t buy it anymore even though I want to. They began well, with a good story about recovering from trauma, and somehow it ended up with them making trauma survivors look even worse than popular media usually does and I hate it. They tried to write a complex villain protagonist who learned to become a better person and escaped from the family cycle that’s implied to exist in Evil Like Me, which is good, but then they fucked it up. Badly. And I cannot stand Mal’s character with how she’s written, nor can I stomach the massive gap between who Mal is and who the narrative incessantly insists she is.

As you can tell I have many feelings on this, and I have a lot more to say but I’ve tried to not make this too long. I hope you enjoyed reading my rant because it was very cathartic to write :).

[boyfridged]

Y'know I really wish Jason's team ups don't involve heroes, super or not, all the time (or ever), but instead just normal people whose experiences may mirror his/whose background creates a common ground through which he can insert himself. I just prefer him being grounded by the hellish reality that civilians are the ones suffering the most, who are stuck in this continuous and endless battle between capes and villains. I just think that Jason could have been the perfect pov character to bring focus the opinions of the common people regarding this whole fiasco.

It's part of why I wish we had more insight to Jason's thoughts in Batman: The Cult. The bit wherein multiple people were being interviewed and how a lot of them were in support of what Blackfire's cult is doing (not to say that the intentions behind it are all for righteousness or whatever cause we all know it's not), and how people in the first place were debating whether the killings were justified or not shows that the general public has so much distrust with the police and the law which to me was a perfect opportunity to show Jason's ever growing distrust of the system. He may not support Blackfire but he definitely can see & understand the sentiment of the public. And I think this should have had more impact to Jason going forward.

i really wanted to take my time to answer this ask properly because while i agree in the most general terms, i think there's some very specific nuance to it.

the civilian cast – yes! i am always in favour of a civilian life, as i am in favour of jason finding his way back into living in general, which necessities a civilian arc for him too. and it is true that jay is a perfect character to explore it, because i believe that in a way he is a victim of vigilantism. he's collateral damage turned martyr; and as the red hood he's stuck in self-affirming this status. it's all interconnected... and it all always leads back to the crime alley. except i think there's another part to it, and it's the class conflict.

here is where the cult comes in, and oh, i very much see what you're trying to do! except i would not go about it this way... simply because i have a huge issue with the cult itself, as in my opinion it's very ill-fitting into the narrative of batman at the time and as it, in total, is built on a reactionary and conspiracy theory-esque plotline... an ostensibly racist one on top of that. which makes me wonder if there is a way to fix it at all.

it could be an opportunity for some sort of development for jay, absolutely – but ironically, i think the part i liked best in it was when jason wanted to get to blackfire to save him from the raging crowd while bruce was standing back because of his personal victimisation and even stopped jay from intervening. i think i enjoyed this part because it shows how isolated from the people jason became in his robin days, and also brings to the light some hypocrisy on bruce's side. there's such dissonance there that just works perfectly into moulding jason into the confusion of the justice, revenge and the no kill rule in total...

but i digress. for jay to be taken seriously in this story he would have to be at the centre of it. perhaps it should have even been him who went undercover, since he used to be homeless himself and would know how to talk to people. perhaps he should have been the one to pay attention to it and notice it altogether. but i think the issue i have with the idea that this is what would make him distrust the system is a bit contrary to my reading of him in general. i think jay only ever trusts the system when he has bruce urging him to do it at his back and when he internalises these teachings, and even then there remains a deeply buried skepticism in him. because at the end of the day jay has a tendency to trust, but to trust people, not the authority. this is something that would be very difficult to properly portray in the cult, where the general politics (? if it can be called politics) is: people at the bottom are actually the ones in charge via secret organisations. and even when they are manipulated they are ugly and evil at their core. their violence is always random and they barely punch back, only recreating the power structures. and at the end, we get back to the status quo.

i guess the cult is too confused and bigoted in its plotline to offer much. hence there's no lesson for jay there at all. mayhaps because i don't think jay needs to learn to question the authority; on the contrary, a somewhat hidden stream of narrative that exists (or that i read into it) in his robin run is that he knows all about it but represses it because of his implicit trust in bruce and his judgement.

[cookii-moon]

Guys focus on the important questions

OK OK so new trailer. No Cole, Jay, or Zane this time, people are freaking out about the Krux and Lilly lookin guys, but I'm here to ask.

WHO ARE THESE GUYS

I mean the obvious answer is that they're just the generic villain faction with little to no importance or depth BUT they look cool and I wanna know what they are OK like where did they come from the little skrunklies.

ALSO while all the mechs are doing their race thing there's just this guy cruising along at the back

Just some random neon futuristic cyclops chilling and just for that frame I love them already like look at them they're so silly

I feel like this guy is just some oni or dragon or smthn. Like... the purple markings... that or some newly introduced species. Or they'll pull a Benthomaar and just never explain it. Also I find it hilarious how we already have Cole using hammers and stuff and then this random guy comes in and not only flexes on him by actually appearing in the trailer but then one ups him by whipping out a massive warhammer with more gold abd over the top accents like dang bro he's not even HERE. (I'm sorry)

Honestly I just saved this for personal use if I end up drawing Sora. Also give them cat claws for weapons. I don't really have any particular reason except for it'd make for awesome action scenes and be thematically fiting.

Okay everyone is focusing on "Oh it looks like Lilly" but are we gonna talk about the puzzle dice thing the magician dude is holding. That looks like something plot relevant.

Okay so this kinda looks like the realm of madness what with the grundle (they're called smthn I CAN'T REMEMBER IT craglings??? ) looking guys, the purple mist, the atmosphere... which If so is awesome because that place kind of just vanished after season 1. That, or it could be the spirit cove, what with.. yknow.. the dragons... or it's some random other realm that will never be seen again. That too.

Also, I will say, seems like a pretty odd choice to have two random ice dragons in Cloud Kingdom.

Honestly I'm going to point out that these ice dragons and the big dragon at the end of the trailer have the exact same color scheme - especially on the wings - as Zane and Cole's dragon forms, respectfully. (But I will also point out that both ice dragons have this color scheme so I'm like 99% sure that's just a coincidence and they just wanted to give them cool gold accents.)

I WILL say, this is probably the most excited I've been for a Ninjago season ever since Master of the Mountain 👀 and to those worrying about Cole, Jay and Zane - Cole and Jay are in the first trailer, don't worry about it. It'll make more sense when the season comes out, I'm willing to bet that the new characters are going to take the lead and the Ninja are gonna have side plots.

Also personally I don't think that's Lilly - or at the very least, not the Lilly we know - primarily because I don't really see why they'd bring her back over literally anybody else, since out of all our dead characters she never really was intended to have any sort of story or arc, she had her story a long time ago when she was a ninja. She already did her thing. Her role is entirely in the marks she left on the world. If they were gonna do something with a Ninja's parent I don't think she'd be the go to pick. But that's just me.

It'd be interesting if she WAS, because that'd mean another Cole arc which YES PLEASE, but I don't think it's likely.

I'm not gonna touch up on the krux guy because it'd make a lot of sense but like why hide his face with nothing more than a tiny visor if you're gonna make some sort of reveal. I mean if it is Krux then this is the guy who disguised himself as Dr. Saunders but now he can't even fathom changing his hair style. I feel like if it is krux then the whole thing is a red herring to get the community talking when really we'll just be told "Oh yeah that's krux" when the episodes come out, or it'll turn out to be a completely different guy.

Okay Byeee

[hanasnx]

i’ve been recently replaying through arkham knight’s batgirl dlc and i’m so disappointed devs choose tim over jason just to cut corners. like that dlc would’ve set up his arc in the main game so perfectly, his hatred of joker, targeting babs at the captured batbrat (because he knows just how much of an asset she is to bruce’s whole operation), coming full-circle with the audio logs reunion. (and we wouldn’t have had to sit through that awful timxbabs flirting).

tim made sense for harley quinn’s revenge but jay defo should’ve been robin in babs’ dlc.

i don’t share your sentiments funnily enough. i think we got enough of jason as the antagonist in the main story as well as his background being the joker’s side project

anything else can simply be explained via proximity and the player’s prior knowledge because chances are people have heard the story before and don’t wanna hear it again. like bruce’s parents dying

i did love the audio logs tbh and i think they sat perfectly without the need to replace tim in family matters.

the tim x babs flirting was very hard to get through i will admit, but i think it’s what made it realistic. when a man flirts it is pretty much insufferable, and romance is not rocksteady’s speciality (see catwoman x batman’s chemistry in the riddler’s revenge mission). my biggest quarrel with tim’s interactions with barbara in the dlc was how often tim kept inserting himself as if he’s bab’s guardian. it felt less like a character choice and more so an annoying byproduct of a male’s videogame company being centered around men for decades but that could be my personal bias getting in the way. i also had a hard time with batgirl being in heels (wedges?) which was part of my evidence as to why i felt tim’s insertion was more so on rocksteady’s part of unable to debunk their internalized misogyny. in the wonderland dlc, it’s the first time batman saves a woman. she’s a cop stuck in a trunk of a car, and the first thing she does? touch batman’s chest. no man in the entire series touched batman’s chest when they were grateful to be saved. but she was blubbery and flushed, and leant on him like a damsel. it was confusing at best.

overall i’m not crazy with how rocksteady handles fem characters to begin with. both as villains, thugs, or side characters. but tbh they don’t really give much depth to anyone besides bruce, and joker. most introspection is done through the protagonist anyway.

i didn’t mind tim’s inclusion in family matters, if anything it gave me context as to how tim and barbara interact as a couple because i don’t think we got any interaction between them at all through the main story if i’m not mistaken. i don’t like how barbara is constantly paired with some batboy, but this post wasn’t supposed to be about what i like and dislike.

[s0lar-ch3ri]

ep 51-52 spoilers but i gotta get the thoughts out man (also some for ep 2 of the black rose pirates oneshot)

ok so im going to do it all at once but like the amount of times i panicked with gill and shit over things like the moment the arm was mentioned i KNEW it was jon and how gillion risked so much to save him

(imagine a world where gillion didnt make it and slowly froze to death and was comforted by the ideas of jay and chip making it yet felt ashamed and disappointed as he couldn't save jon or pretzel and on the other side it could be either jay or chip wanting to stay longer and trying to get them back or them both just sobbing at the door because gills fucking dead and- i should stop hurting me emotionally huh)

back to what actually happened im so happy they all ended up fine and shit and id help gill with a villain arc if they did both die (both being jon and pretzel)

more about gillion its just something with how his "insult" wasnt really an insult but rather something he believed that he knew would hurt chip. something how grizzly also used the word sin for dark secret and then gillion talks how he got banished and he probably was very nervous about it going south yet they thought his punching of the navy was kickass.

the fact that gillion hugged jay thinking she was his sister is so sweet yet i could tell from the beginning that edyn wasnt real. i just got the sense for pain man

take gill giving chip a ring and him getting flustered about it whatever way ya want, im just thinking how fucked hed be if jay and chip did indeed fight each other (also you cant tell me that he wasnt taught it by his sister and his test was pretzel who knew how dangerous it could have been yet he could tell she wanted to bond it and so gill has a ring on him somewhere and they pretend that the magic is still in effect and it makes them even closer then before)

chip was a fucking bastard with the whole secret pressuring thing, and grizzly knew. and he used it to fuck up their friendship harder. making the people chip cares for the most (which btw thats so fucking cute writing bout that next) attack him and having someone jay cares about attack someone she also cares about maybe even more while giving gill such a tame one is grizz's plan. worst part is gillion would be used to them teasing each other so he may brush the growing hatred off as just something human friends do. GOD GRIZZLY WHY ARE YOU SO GOOD AT THIS

theres something sweet about bizly telling grizz the people chip cared for the most was jay and gillion because it sounds like he didn't mention arlin, implying chip cares for gillion and jay more then arlin and thats beautiful.

my heart hurts seeing the idea of chip having such bad trust issues and wondering if these guys actually care for him yet he pulls up the wall with insults manned and ready just so that he doesn't need to accept that people he cares about exist and doesn't need to worry about them going away and i made myself pain again AHHHHHHHH

i remember seeing a post about jay being an easy crier and how it doesnt make her any less a girlboss and i fully heartedly agree because aprt of her girlbossness she can acknowledge her barriers and when shit crosses the line and she doesnt hide it up and maybe that inspires chip and gill to be more open about their boundaries and emotions and ill stop before i make more pain but yeah def proven by the flesh room

i dont know if anyone else made the comparison but yall know when finn arlin and dray were going down the hallway and each got flashbacks and shit? the mirages were probs a reference and it was the same order too (charlie, bizly, then condi) and i freaked when i realized!

of course jon is what got gillion pumped up and bsck to his gill self because theyre gay af guys

that ring thing between gill and chip was so fucking gay omfg i hope they keep them happy pride month

the fact that gill just had to be in the middle of chip and jay fighting and idk why i do this to me but maybe he felt bad cause of the shit he said cause while jay and chip said a ton of things and they did feel bad a bit what if gillion felt like he had fucking sinned with this insult because of how bad chip seemed to feel and he just cant help but feel like he helped and all that and god how let me be a fan fic writer

okay comfort for me now (its poly pirates i love them ok) but since gill believed jay enjoyed the clown outfit (plus she mentiondd that she gave up on her dreams) he ends up trying to make one and hes a lil nervous but he asks chip for help and jay just finds them in the room with gill practicing sowing as chip helps him make a clown outfit and jay just is mesmerized by how hard gillion is trying and how chip is just so calm with him and they seem as though this is one of the most important tasks of their lives (for chip its more of making gill happy by helping him learn to sow) and after a bit jay goes back up and what do you know 1 or 2 hours later jay is given a wrapped box by gill who seems very excited and ahe opens it and finds the clown outfit chip helped make and she glances up to see chip give gill a thumbs up and wink and she smiles and tears up at how much effort they spent into making this

more poly pirates comfort coming next post but its really just gonna be writing fanfic ideas that i WILL make after i write a couple moee chapters of my scu fic

[dove00]

CW Flash Rewrite

Hi! I wanted to try and do a cw The Flash rewrite. I acknowledge I am not a writer. This is just for fun!

I own nothing DC owns. Warning for child abuse mention (Wally’s past). Please let me know if more warnings are needed. Stay safe and enjoy!

This is going up to a season 1 mid season finale. I really did like how they cut the main villain into arcs A and B with A being stopped in some way in mid season finale. The B villain is Thawne and the A villains are the rogues.

Rogues of Season 1A: Captain Cold, Heatwave, Golden Glider, Pied Piper (who’s a bit younger, maybe 16-17, recently kicked out by parents)

Okay. Barry still goes to Starling but comes back to his fiancé Iris West. As awesome as WestAllen is and their journey, I’d think it’d be better to start here because reasons you’ll see.

Barry and Iris are planning stuff for the wedding and Iris is nervous because her brothers haven’t RVSP yet. Her brothers, Rudy and Daniel, don’t have a close bond but Joe isn’t abusive. They just don’t see each other enough. Barry is aware Iris has nephews (Wally and Wallace) but has never met them.

Barry gets struck by lightning and is in a coma for 9 months. He wakes up in a hospital and they tel him what happen but to him, they talk very slowly. He shakes it off. Iris is called and picks him up. She waited for him but she has news. Her nephews have been placed in her custody.

Barry freaks out and then realized everything stops. Barry sees Iris still and the world the same. Good thing, too, because a driver is going to hit them. Barry grabs Iris and pulls her out of the car and he gets a look at the driver and bam! Normal time starts again. Iris stares at him and he stares back. “Oh, fu—“

The driver keeps going but Barry recognizes him. Leonard Snart.

Iris is confused and Barry said, “I think I’m like Jay Garrick.” Iris nods. She knows about his favorite comic book character (the one who got him through his parents’ tragedy).

She has to go to work so Barry runs her to work and promises to pick up Wally and Wallace from high school and elementary school.

Iris is a reporter already at Central City Picture News (not the Citizen yet) so she does some investigating (even sometimes using one of the intern’s comic books) when news of a bank robbery is happening. A bank robbery where the guy has an ice gun.

Barry…isn’t doing so good. He shows up in his car, that he ran home to grab and then rushed to Wally’s school—meaning he was late. Wally stared and then got in the front seat. Barry tries to make small talk but Wally isn’t really responding. They’re even later picking up Wallace. He apologized but Wallace doesn’t talk to him either. Wally is 16 and Wallace is 7. They make it to Barry and Iris’ house and that’s when he sees the news.

Barry is so used to going to crime scenes after—maybe he can stop one before anyone gets hurt. He runs upstairs and grabs what his teen self created as cosplay of the flash and changes.

He hears a “woah.” And turns to see Wally.

“No time to explain. Watch your cousin. Back in a flash.”

Barry and Cold have a cool (ha!) fight and Barry wins.

Episode ends with Iris and Barry kissing.

The rest of arc 1A is finding the other rogues and Barry and Iris taking care of Wally and Wallace. Wally is hesitant to trust Barry but eventually he wins Wally over. At one point, Rudy West and the Manhunters kidnap Wally two episodes before mid season finale (two episode arc) and Barry is trying to save him and come to terms with the fact that he sees Wally as his son.

They save him but he was hit by lightning too. He doesn’t end up in a coma for very long (a week) and finds out he has powers. They train but Barry is hesitant to let Wally into the field.

Mid season finale has Barry almost losing to the fully formed Rogues when Wally comes in and helps him out. They save the day and Wally recognizes Piper from school. They don’t talk much as the season will show with Wally in school sometimes but Hartley’s story is pretty popular at school—especially for bullies. Wally tries to shut it down when he can but it’s not like they’re friends. He tries to stop the cops from arresting them (he has nobody to bail him out) but Barry pulls him back, whispering “we’ll help him but we have to protect our identities first.”

Wally looks hesitant and then nervous as we see Iris come into the scene but before she can speak a voice calls out, “Flash…um…Younger Flash!” Iris turns and it’s the intern who had comics. “Linda Park, CCPN…intern. Can I have a statement on tonight’s events?” Again, Wally remembers her from school. Linda Park writes for the school newspaper. She’s in four of Wally’s classes—not that he’s aware of that. Nope. She continued, “Why is Hartley Rathaway working with…um…rogues? Oh, yeah! That’s a good name.”

Wally frowns. “It’s complicated. Not that you’d understand.” Then he rushes away.

“Is…is that your statement?” She asked Barry, who shrugs then runs too.

“Do you need a ride home, Linda?”

“Yes, please.”

Look, I wanna see WallyLinda but I also wanna see them grow!

Mid season ends with a blonde man coming through a portal. Running through a portal.

That’s all I’ve got. Hope you liked it. Let me know if you’d like more!

[kitkatt0430]

I know you're planning the main Finale Westhallen Fix-It AU (which I'm very much looking forward to) but I also want to know - how would you have done the Cobalt Blue storyline? Like if you'd been writing it, in what season would you have had it and how would it have played out?

I have a few different ideas on that. :D

1.) Armageddon would have been the changing of the guard. Eobard starts as the main villain with hints of someone else at play, slowly revealing Malcolm Thawne - Barry's long lost evil twin like in the comics - who steals Eobard's speed using his Blue Flame, introducing it's power-theft abilities from the start. It's other powers would get revealed over the course of the rest on Season 8 - the ability to create temporary objects and healing powers. It would have given Grant a second change to be both the hero and the villain in the same season - S3 might not have been great, but Savitar had a lot of promise to him and a significant part of that wasn't how he was written but how Grant played him and played Savitar and Barry off each other.

I like keeping the Thawne connection, but it does raise the question as to why Eddie never mentioned having a cousin who looked exactly like Barry. Though the show's had worse plot-holes. And, honestly, I couldn't identify my cousins on sight anymore, so I'd give Eddie not recognizing the similarities a pass.

2.) E2 Eddie in S2 would have made for an interesting Cobalt Blue. Forcing Barry to confront his feelings of guilt about Eddie's death in S1 and opening the possibility of Zoom being after Cobalt Blue for his healing powers as a potential fix for the Velocity induced power incontinence and health problems he's suffering from. If E2 Eddie is morally gray that adds another wrinkle to the whole protecting him thing, as Barry would have to confront and overcome his own tendencies to be kind of a hypocrite about certain aspects of his (and Oliver's) vigilantism.

This opens up the option of E2 Eddie sticking around for S3, assuming the show runners could resist the urge to kill him off too. (And makes me consider E2 Eddie/Barry/Iris... Westhallen of a slightly different flavor?)

3.) Post multiverse reboot, Eddie never came to Central City and is in Keystone instead, alive and well. Maybe a scientist here instead of a police officer. A lab accident triggers his previously dormant powers and he saves his lab-mate's life. Which leads him to seek out the Flash - Keystone's Flash, Jay. This could play out different ways, with this Eddie having led a different life. And maybe Eobard's out to make sure his ancestor doesn't bite it this time, blaming Barry for his own mistake of driving his ancestor to suicide in the pre-reboot timelines. This idea is a lot more nebulous to me, but still an interesting one.

4.) Malcolm, Eddie's younger brother, shows in S3 instead of the Savitar arc. He wants to know the truth about his brother's death and Alchemy - a legitimate threat here - turns Malcolm into Cobalt Blue. Malcolm winds up a dragon ascendant type here, going from lackey to leader and taking out Alchemy in the process because he blames the Flash for Eddie's death. Learning the truth, that Eddie killed himself to stop Eobard, just cements the blame in Malcolm's mind - especially if he's made aware Eobard is still alive. Perhaps driving him to blame Iris too, now that she and Barry are dating. (Not engaged, let them actually date first.)

This would probably also toss out Flashpoint and the needless drama of Dante's death. Or at least push Dante's death to further down in the season so that it's not an off screen event that causes much viewer confusion.

5.) Alternatively S3's version of Malcolm Thawne is just Eddie by another name from Earth-19. HR and Cynthia show up on E1 because she's looking to track down the dangerous breacher and HR was able to get permission from on high to shadow her for a novel. Which she's very unhappy about. This could allow for the re-imagining of the Collectors as a somewhat more ethical and less hypocritical organization, making it less of a protagonist centered moral quagmire that Cisco nearly gets sucked into while dating her.

Malcolm initially tries to pull what Black Siren did over on Arrow - convince everyone he's Eddie back from the dead. Team Flash is suspicious, of course. And that's before they team up with Cynthia and HR to expose and capture the fraud. It could also have Cobalt Blue teaming up with Central City's Rogues would also make it a Rogue season, which the show needed and deserved.