Ninjago: Masters Of Spinjitsu TV Show Thread

[gamejutzu]

1 hour ago, Mesonak said:

Day of the Departed was underwhelming compared to Ninjago's usual quality standards, but considering the circumstances... it was probably as good as it could have been. I really wish we had received a full season for this wave to flesh out motivations and actually have the villains scheme and plan to take down the Ninja instead of rushing in blindly. Pythor in particular just seemed like a total incompetent.

Well, Ninjago doesn't have the best budget, which is why a few things here and there don't go the way fans want them to.

Hopefully after the movie, once the high-guys realize how much fans like the show, they'll somehow increase their budget. We could even have 13+ episodes again.

[Mandate]

Definitely going to go down as perhaps the worst of NINJAGO's canon plotlines, but that's not to say it was bad. Too much was going on and too little was at stake really. The ending in particular is... well, there was no investment and no payoff. Cole becoming human again was pretty cheap, and so was the resolution to the conflict with Yang. Morro and Pythor show up for no reason other than to advance the plot. It's a real shame, there was a lot of potential here if they had even an extra twenty minutes, but there's not much that can be done now. Here's hoping the series hasn't jumped the shark and Hands of Time will make up for it.

[DuckBricks]

1 hour ago, gamejutzu said:

Well, Ninjago doesn't have the best budget, which is why a few things here and there don't go the way fans want them to.

Hopefully after the movie, once the high-guys realize how much fans like the show, they'll somehow increase their budget. We could even have 13+ episodes again.

This didn't seem like a budget issue to me - it felt more of a timing issue. For one, the Hagenman brothers were busy writing TrollHunters, so they didn't even write it. Two, since the movie was planned for this time period, Tommy A mentioned this was kind of a rush job - they started it way too late as they weren't planning on making it in lieu of the movie. 

 

1 hour ago, Mandate said:

Definitely going to go down as perhaps the worst of NINJAGO's canon plotlines, but that's not to say it was bad. Too much was going on and too little was at stake really. The ending in particular is... well, there was no investment and no payoff. Cole becoming human again was pretty cheap, and so was the resolution to the conflict with Yang. Morro and Pythor show up for no reason other than to advance the plot. It's a real shame, there was a lot of potential here if they had even an extra twenty minutes, but there's not much that can be done now. Here's hoping the series hasn't jumped the shark and Hands of Time will make up for it.

Agree with your points. This could have been an entire season, and I would have loved to see just an extra few minutes for a ninja team vs villain team battle, but alas, it is what is is. I'm not worried about Hands of Time though - Tommy A says they have full time to work on it and it will be the most emotionally complex season ever - something I'm really hyped for. 

 

One thing that was good though - the Royal Blacksmith songs! I so wish they could be released online as mp3s!

[makoy]

16 hours ago, gamejutzu said:

I thought it already made sense... Are you talking about the two separate buildings or something inside the main temple?

I am referring to the rooms allocated for the Ninjas as if they owned the place... It didn't make sense until the end of DoD. 

[LegoLeroy]

5 hours ago, makoy said:

I am referring to the rooms allocated for the Ninjas as if they owned the place... It didn't make sense until the end of DoD. 

This is a good point.  I hope this is a sign that the Claire and Jesper characters tie into the main story line in HoT.  I've thought it kind of strange that they have not been in the show even though the temple was part of both possession and skybound seasons.

[GarmaFan]

5 hours ago, LegoLeroy said:

This is a good point.  I hope this is a sign that the Claire and Jesper characters tie into the main story line in HoT.  I've thought it kind of strange that they have not been in the show even though the temple was part of both possession and skybound seasons.

Apparently, no.

 

[Exetrius]

I quite enjoyed the DotD special, mostly in the way I usually enjoy OVA's: happy to dive back into the show again after a long absence, feeling slightly nostalgic. I have to say, battle sequences were alright, for as long as they lasted... Overall, the plot wasn't bad, but it was obvious that there was (or, should be) a lot more to it than what we saw. They've done what they could to polish the rough edges of scene-cutting, I think. I still recommend watching it. 

Oh, one more thing: Pythor's voice is so delightful! 

[gamejutzu]

So where did you all see the special? On TV?

[GarmaFan]

1 hour ago, gamejutzu said:

So where did you all see the special? On TV?

I saw a cam rip on Youtube first. Then I watched it in HD when it aired on TV.

[gamejutzu]

Are websites usually this slow pulling up Ninjago episodes? It's been at least 4 days and nothing except the 360p upload on Youtube. I heard it was the same for last season (the uploads).

Edited November 3, 2016 by gamejutzu

[PenPlays]

4 hours ago, gamejutzu said:

Are websites usually this slow pulling up Ninjago episodes? It's been at least 4 days and nothing except the 360p upload on Youtube. I heard it was the same for last season (the uploads).

That's as best as you're going to get until the DVD (inevitably) releases. All the websites will most likely be taking said 360p video when they eventually upload it to their website. (which, all-together, very few websites do).

Edited November 3, 2016 by Penkid11

[gamejutzu]

8 hours ago, Penkid11 said:

That's as best as you're going to get until the DVD (inevitably) releases. All the websites will most likely be taking said 360p video when they eventually upload it to their website. (which, all-together, very few websites do).

So I guess I have no choice but to check it out... And here I was trying to be cool and wait for HD...

[Aanchir]

If anybody's interested, LEGO has launched a new site for the Ninjago Dark Island Trilogy!

[CM4Sci]

DotD was not that great - lot of 'humor' that was dragged on for too long, just the same thing for about a half hour. Yang wasn't really threatening.. overall a pretty negative "meh" 

[sousmarineuse]

3 hours ago, Aanchir said:

If anybody's interested, LEGO has launched a new site for the Ninjago Dark Island Trilogy!

Thanks! A very complete site!

only the first book, in english, in France, but it's a good beginning!

Three more books on my Christmas list...

[gamejutzu]

So I gave in and watched the 360p upload on Youtube... And it was really good. Can't wait to watch it in HD. I feel like people didn't like the special as much because there was already so much stuff spoiled by Saunders that nothing really came as a shock.

Here is where I will actually give my opinion about the actual story, so spoilers will be here: 

 

Good:

- Yang was a really good villain, and his lines weren't all that cliched or stereotypical, as he gave actual insight into the story. I think it's cool that he's gonna appear more in the series.

- All scenes with Cole and/or Yang in general were great segments. I especially loved how Cole progressed through the Airjitzu Temple. Not only were his fights great, the weapons showed signs of battle damage throughout his adventure, and I just loved how he kept switching weapons as he went on. I am kind of sad he didn't use his signature weapon and Jay and Zane got to, but it's okay. And about Cole, the sudden RX transformation is gonna be further explained in HoT, and that makes sense, since it was a frantic night and there wasn't much time for explanation with the rift and all.

- The soundtrack was on point, as always.

- Although I don't get why the ninja moved into the temple to train when they still have the Bounty, it is kind of cool they made the show match up to the set (which have the ninja chilling there and the temple's in pristine condition).

- The villains were really well represented (besides Cryptor) and I think Samukai's personality here is even better than is was in the first episodes. I especially liked how they all talked to each other, and Pythor comes in and has a connection with most of them. Morro's little story was nice too, I hope we see more of him.

Bad:

- I'm not gonna lie, besides the Chen (and mayybeee Cryptor), a lot of the fights were pretty unfair or bland. And if you rewatch, you'll find that despite the constant cuts, the whole fight put together is kind of short and sometimes not really as clever. Like how all Dareth did was get chased by Stone Warriors and talked about how he'd find the shadow helmet, then found it and won. I was also salty at how some villains could have won, but some unfair or rushed thing came out and defeated the villain. Like how Samukai beat Jay fair one on one, but Ronin comes out of nowhere with his unexplained mech and takes down all three basically. And the conclusion to the Cryptor fight was lame too, and it only ended like that because Zane beat the minions (which was fair). Cryptor isn't stupid enough to hit himself with his own weapon, and he wasn't even mad or aggravated. The guy who took the ninja down twice loses to this?

- Pythor's reasoning was really bad. How does he just go and fight Lloyd? I guess he chose a strategic location, but it's an extremely risky move, and I thought he'd honestly have a better plan that that.

- The vehicles could have served a greater purpose than just transportation, maybe one could have been used in a fight. I feel like the Chen fight used the vehicles well though, so this is more of a nitpick.

- Another nitpick, why is Ronin even wearing a broken down scrap suit? For set consistency? It made no sense.

Overall, i'd give DoD a solid 8/10. I enjoyed it and can't wait to rewatch it.

Edited November 7, 2016 by gamejutzu

[MasterofElements]

Here's DotD in HD if anyone wants it: 

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by MasterofElements

[Exetrius]

8 hours ago, MasterofElements said:

Here's DotD in HD if anyone wants it: 

 

Nice! Thank you!

[Umbra-Manis]

Finished watching my recording of DotD on sunday.

It was definitely rushed, and some elements were forced in there, but i enjoyed it.

Cole's bemoaning about being tired was pretty annoying, but they did get a few matrix style moves in there. Most of the vehicles also only appeared in the intro, but we got some good set out of those so I don't mind. Bring on a full season, though!

Edited November 8, 2016 by Umbra-Manis

[GarmaFan]

Now that I think about it, Cryptor suddenly calling himself Zane's brother when he'd never done that before makes a lot more sense considering it was written by a different person than usual. At least someone noticed that would've been an interesting plot thread.. too bad it was too little, too late.

[Mandate]

Cryptor IS Zane's brother though. Cryptor was based off of a modified version of Zane created by Pixal. So really he's more close to a son, but as far as robots go Cryptor is very closely related at the least.

[GarmaFan]

17 hours ago, Mandate said:

Cryptor IS Zane's brother though. Cryptor was based off of a modified version of Zane created by Pixal. So really he's more close to a son, but as far as robots go Cryptor is very closely related at the least.

I know, but he never brought it up in Rebooted.

[gamejutzu]

No one also mentions that the guardian is also Zane's brother, so he basically killed his remaining family...

On 11/8/2016 at 10:51 AM, Umbra-Manis said:eveal hidden contents

Cole's bemoaning about being tired was pretty annoying, but they did get a few matrix style moves in there. Most of the vehicles also only appeared in the intro, but we got some good set out of those so I don't mind. Bring on a full season, though!

Most of the vehicles also only appeared in the intro, but we got some good set out of those so I don't mind. Bring on a full season, though!

They'll show up in Hands of Time too.

[DuckBricks]

5 hours ago, gamejutzu said:

No one also mentions that the guardian is also Zane's brother, so he basically killed his remaining family...

They'll show up in Hands of Time too.

By that logic, he still has the Falcon and Echo Zane though... ;)

[gamejutzu]

17 hours ago, legozebra said:

By that logic, he still has the Falcon and Echo Zane though... ;)

Oh yeah, hah, not like I wanted Zane to be all alone... 

The leviathan came to mind as well when I thought about things related to Zane. I'd like to see it appear again sometime.