#you get accustomed to the wildbrain gray palette for too long

[parachutingkitten]

yeah, i really am stuck on the side character thing. At first I thought the screentime explanation made sense, but then you mention our dragon mentors and... I really don't care about them at all. So yeah, idk what the hang up is.

As far as side villains, the only one who is at all interesting to me is Jordana, and even then I don't feel the need to have her stick around after her current stuff gets resolved. I get what they were doing, but if you're going to do the comically left behind villain you've gotta like... go for it? Have the right tone in the reveal? Like, it still works, it's just a little clunky. Dorama feels like a side quest. Rapton is trying to be a silly villain, but he isn't silly enough, and then they give him a half redemption twist. Just too much that they're trying and none of it is landing for me. I also think there's a bit of a character design disconnect? Idk. And Cinder is there... I guess.

The main hang up I have with Sora's arc is that it feels like it all gets resolved in flashbacks, so when the resolution happens at the end of the season, it's kind of empty. It has two parts, and I think they're both kind of supposed to be about confidence. She needs confidence that she can use her powers, and she needs the confidence to reject the abusive system she grew up in. Fine. But like... She's always been confidently creating tech stuff on her own, even if it wasn't with her powers, and additionally, she already rejected the system. She told off doctor larow, and her parents, and she ran away the first chance she got. She's already separated from that support system, so it doesn't really feel impactful to me when she doubles down on rejecting her parent's offer of a support system at the end of the arc. I can 100% see how hard that would hit if you've had manipulative family members like that before but, I can't relate on that basic level, so this doesn't do it for me. She's been doing fine without them, for years now. This scene proves nothing. It would have meant at least a little more if it were with Dr. LaRow, because that's at least a person she really looked up to at one point, and might arguably have something to offer her still. And maybe you want to argue that it's more of her learning she needs to actively tear down the system that abused her, because she has the power to, you know, great power, great responsibility and all that. But in that case... it's no longer really a confidence arc anymore, it's about being a part of a bigger movement. So the two halves of this character arc have character struggles that don't really support each other. And, just as a baseline, historically hyper competent woman learns to be confident enough to do something arcs are just not my jam. We got it once with Nya way too late in the game, and we really didn't need it again.

As for Lloyd, I'd agree that the concept could work, but idk. You've got to be real careful, because even stepping near "my panic attacks guide me to my destiny and give me superpowers" is iffy stuff. You've got to be REAL clear on your messaging, and I think they kind of swept it under the rug when things hit the fan. Also, I just don't tend to like Lloyd angst. Seen a lot of it. I like him better when he's happy. Makes for more watchable content IMO.

Arin is by far my favorite character. I do think his flip at the end of s2 still came a bit too far out of the blue even though it did have some build up. I can see how the Sora lie could act as an effective straw that broke the camel's back, but as is it reads to me more as a genuine betrayal that puts real weight on the scales and... that doesn't exactly feel right. Otherwise though, I do like where he's been, and where they seem to be taking him. We shall see if they bungle it or not.

I think we're just gonna endlessly disagree on the importance of the merge. I will never not feel that it's something our characters should address more. Be looking into more. Sure, maybe it's the big mystery to be revealed at the end of the novel, but if that's the case... there sure isn't much murder mystery solving happening in this murder mystery story. And it would be one thing if the merge were like... a cold open? And then we get the time jump to completely different circumstances. We're drip fed information through average conversations of characters who already know everything. No exposition dump, we're just left to observe and pick up the pieces we can. You're purposefully put of balance, and then introduced to the first step on this other journey, which is whatever is up with this cat girl. But it's not. The merge is a two part opener, and a running threat that most of our characters have active reason to investigate.

And I don't compare Imperium to the Hunger Games to dismiss it, quite the opposite. I think it's honestly a great idea for a ninjago season, and not one we had done yet. I think a lot of the content we got out of it was good, certainly nothing below standard ninjago adventure quality. It just deserved a proper set up, and full focus, and me in the right mind set going into it, you know? It is kind of the exact opposite of what I was prepared for.

That's the thing. I think most everyone can agree on what's generally good and bad about the series, and even the baseline quality level, but in the end it's about if what is left to personal preferences lines up enough to get you to focus on the good. Because it's hard to point to something that Dragons Rising is doing so wrong that I have the urge to abandon ship on the fandom, but that urge is there... so it's gotta be something.

Maybe it's the oversaturated colors. Maybe that's the breaking point for me. Idk.

Okay, everyone get in the comments and let me know why you love dragons rising so that maybe I can reverse engineer why I don't-