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Ninjago: Masters Of Spinjitsu TV Show Thread

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The first two episodes of The Island have been released in English and yeah, I can see the problems mentioned on the other thread. Pretty much all of it stems from the plot and pacing feeling quite rushed due to being crammed into four episodes. As a result any interesting side plots or development ended up being skimmed really fast. This is why I was apprehensive and slightly disappointed when it's revealed that it's just going to be 40-ish minutes long. Had there been an extra few more episodes to even out the pacing, this could've been pretty good.

On a positive note, I'd say that the animation didn't disappoint! I can see that Wildbrain really shines in (most) exotic places. And if you look pass the rushed pacing, overall it's still a very fun two episodes. I definitely did enjoyed them despite the rushed-ness.

Spoiler

One thing did really bothered me though - The way that Twitchy Tim agreed to become the guide. What deal? Of course we can chalk it up to him being mentally frazzled but still, it doesn't make any sense. This is one of the huge parts where I felt the limited runtime impacted negatively as a proper persuasion scene couldn't be used.

On the topic of animation, I can definitely say that Wildbrain have improved. The way the stone totem moved with a very sharp and ferocious rigidness is just awesome. And that slo-mo action of Zane throwing the shurikens, boy I love it! So far Wildbrain's best Slo-mo yet.

 

Edited by JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)

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Hi everyone. After lurking in this tread since the actual first season, I finally remembered to use my relatively new-ish account and post something XD

The first two episodes were nicely action packed and adventurous. But It should have been spaced out longer.

Spoiler

My favourite part was the dragon. I've heard the set described as doglike, and the animation sure does deliver on this!

It seems we will get another Lloyd-focussed season again, as he is on his own once more (Twitchy Tim doesn't seem like he will be of much help). Also, I was glad to see a relatively beneign portrayal of the Storm Keepers as a guardian tribe instead of full-on evil. That would have given some unfortunate implications.

And it was bittersweet to hear what will be the last time Cole is voiced by Kirby Morrow. I will miss him so much. Rest in Peace.

Edited by Vaiman

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I've been trying to catch up with the show and finished Season 11 last night. Fire Chapter was mediocre but inoffensive, but I rather enjoyed the Ice Chapter despite some flaws. If this is indeed the low point of the new seasons I'm not terribly worried about what's to come, I've heard Prime Empire is okay and good things about Master of the Mountain. 

Edited by Willsy

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After watching the second half of The Island I must say I think it ranks amongst the lowest IMHO, simply for being the equivalent of only 2 episodes (4 half episodes) long!

Spoiler

Dissapointingly, the islanders resorted to the most cliché thing they could do: trying to sacrifice Jay to the resident kaiju. But the momentum this generated was immediately halted when it occurs. Even with the mist it's incredibly obvious it's a man-made thing due to the lack of animation or properly mysterious framing (you straight up see its entire silhouette). The subsequent reveal that it's just a bunch of criminals led by Ronin made no sense. How did they get to the unmapped and dangerously stormy island? Why would he turn them in to the police if he leads them? Why did Ronin revert back to his pre-Possession characterization? I understand that he is supposed to be a rogueish character, but tricking islanders into sacrificing all their valuables and even food to you? Really?

The whole story was incredibly basic even for ninjago standards.

 

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While constructing the Ninjago City Gardens, I made some progress on my Ninjago rewatch. I got through Seasons 5 and 6, watched Day of the Departed, and got through the first two episodes of Season 7.

Rewatching Season 5 was very nostalgic for me. I first got into Ninjago in 2015, so Seasons 4 and 5 hold a special place for me. I haven’t seen this season in years so it was nice to go back and rewatch it. I don’t have much to say about it, but it’s definitely one of my favorite seasons.

Season Six gets a lot of flak, but I found myself really enjoying it when I watched it this weekend. I only saw these episodes as they were posted on Youtube in early 2016, so my memory of this season was very foggy. I guess it’s not too surprising that I found myself enjoying this one, since Jay and Nya are my two favorite characters and the season revolves around them and their relationship. I think Nadakhan is one of the best Ninjago villains and I hope he returns in a future season. I want a Legacy Misfortune’s Keep even more now!

Day of the Departed was as underwhelming as I remembered it to be. Again, I only saw this special when it aired and that was it. It has great character development for Cole and it’s cool to see certain villains return, especially getting a bit of a redemption for Morro, but the rest of the special feels pretty half baked. I suppose that’s understandable since they had to rush it out when The Lego Ninjago Movie got delayed a year. It gave me one of my favorite Ninjago waves ever though, as well as some of my favorite Ninja outfits, so no complaints here!

I’m only two episodes into Season Seven and find it to be decent so far. I don’t remember being too fond of this one when I watched it (again, I’ve only seen it once) so it’s at least better than I was expecting. If I’m being honest though, I’m ready to get past it and onto what I consider the peak of Ninjago: Seasons 8 and 9.

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god, talk about a finale

Spoiler

not a huge fan of this season: i loved the first few eps though the middle or most everything past season 6 felt lacking overall, but by the time the finale rolled around and the ninja set up for wojira things really rebounded i suppose. loved ep 11 specifically with how light it was and nearly every bit in that ep landed; and even having predicted nya's ascension in ep 4 i was really struck by her complete change and ultimate fate as a water deity. overall a phenomenal season which unfortunately falls short in places but is still good, though if anything it's second to master of the mountain and probably goes right between sons of garmadon and tournament on my list

anyways next season's gonna be a hell of a follow up, huh? much as i don't want to confront it, nya's death is very likely rooted in her being a character that doesn't sell well being both a girl and the second blue character on the team, which evidently made tlg reason against keeping her around and i'd expect skylor to take her place with some bright yellow cars for the western market (i.e. not encroaching on monkie kid by being in stores outside of the official LEGO ones). all signs point to next season being a kai one, though i'd like it if lloyd was a bigger part of his grieving experience than skylor as much as i like the latter; dream reintroduction to his character is him doing laps in a pool and getting a call to action or something but we'll have to see what's in store

this is definitely the year of nya despite her low presence in sets; cannot wait to see what comes next

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Spoiler

I think people are overreacting to this season. I have seen way too many fake out deaths in this show to fall for this again. I am willing to bet the next season will be about getting her back somehow. I do not believe LEGO would be too happy about straight up getting rid of one of their main characters, even though it is probably accurate to say that she isn't one of the most popular ninja. Also, I find it weird that they decided to dedicate this season to Kirby Morrow... if that was the case, wasn't Cole the one who was supposed to sacrifice himself? How are they going to keep Cole around when his voice actor is dead, while Nya's voice actor doesn't seem to have any problem (as far as I am aware)? 

Besides maybe the finale, this season was pretty meh for me overall. People are calling it the new best season... really? I am gonna be honest, I didn't really care for most of this season. They try to set up a mother-daughter relationship between Nya and Maya, but that ends up going nowhere. Maya just randomly shows up in their adventure, and ends up doing next to nothing. 

Prince Kalmaar was a lame villain to be honest. He was no real motivation for he is doing, he just wants to destroy the surface world for no reason. Besides his unique character design, he felt very underwhelming and forgettable. 

Wojira felt like just a Great Devourer re-trend, but worse. After being set up in the previous season as something we're supposed to be afraid about, this monster come out pretty underwhelming and forgettable, yet again. 

Episodes 11 and 12  were easily the worst, being just pointless filler, and quite frankly sitting through them was kind of tedious for me. 

But by far, the biggest problem is that there is no proper build-up and no proper pay-off. The Nya sacrifice seems to have struck to emotional core with many people, but I am sorry to say it, I was not one of them. To me, the idea of Nya sacrificing herself felt more like an afterthought rather than something that was planned in advance, so I barely felt anything while watching it. 

Overall, a fairly mediocre season in my opinion. I find it hard to understand why everyone else loved it so much. 

My full thoughts on Season 15. ^^^

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2 hours ago, Lego David said:
  Hide contents

I think people are overreacting to this season. I have seen way too many fake out deaths in this show to fall for this again. I am willing to bet the next season will be about getting her back somehow. I do not believe LEGO would be too happy about straight up getting rid of one of their main characters, even though it is probably accurate to say that she isn't one of the most popular ninja. Also, I find it weird that they decided to dedicate this season to Kirby Morrow... if that was the case, wasn't Cole the one who was supposed to sacrifice himself? How are they going to keep Cole around when his voice actor is dead, while Nya's voice actor doesn't seem to have any problem (as far as I am aware)? 

 

I dont watch the show or know anything about it, but I'm pretty sure these episodes were already produced by the time Cole's VA died (just going by the dates). And for obvious reason they can't change the finale because of time/budget restrictions and also because they would need to record new lines for all of them, including Cole

 

Considering what happened with Nya in the show and with Cole in real life.... I'd guess they'll just find a new VA for Cole. They just can't remove 2 main characters at once. 

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Just finished season 15.

I really loved that they finally gave Nya a spotlight. She hasn't been a focal character since Season 5!
I was quite surprised by the quick appearance of the next season right after (before? idk) the set images emerged. In fact, I accidentally discovered it by reading this very thread again and accidentally opening a spoiler section, thinking it was of The Island. Silly me. So now I already knew the ending...

Wow, that was one heck of an ending!

Spoiler

So I knew Nya would full-on ascend irreversably. But when the story of 'Nyad' was told I started to worry. By the time the last few episodes rolled around I genuinely started to feel anxious. Having watched Ninjago for 10 full years now I was really hoping there would be a standard happy perk to the ending. Like when Cole became a ghost but at least stayed with the team. In fact, a cynical part of me thinks that is exactly what's happening here. They give Nya incredible power in return for something that will eventually be reversed. Status Quo later, drama now. Right?

But as I was watching it, it didn't feel that way. And that's precisely because Nya has been given so little love by the set creators and writers (to a lesser extent). The call-backs to her growing relationship with Jay landed properly. And the sacrifice feels like something the writers would think is a romantic if bittersweet gesture. It reminds me of the original version of The Little Mermaid, in which the titular character fails and turns into sea foam, becoming one with the sea. And the second version, where she becomes some sort of sky goddess. Both sound like likely inspirations for the direction they took the character.

I have difficulty seeing how they would reverse this, considering the direction of the story so far. It would be far more dramatic to have the next season focus on Kai and his grief for his sister (despite Jay being equally deserving of having this explored) instead of actually fixing her fate in the near-future. Saving someone who's somewhere in the ocean (and technically is the ocean) sounds like it might be a goal of the characters, if not one that sounds like it would at least take an entire season to focus on. Also, the vengestone collecting villain overarching plot seems like it will take precedence sooner rather than later. So, will they even feature Nya herself next season?

And that's the thing. Within the toyline, Nya has been getting the short end of the stick since the beginning. Arguably because she either does not sell very well, or because they think the character does not sell very well. Either way, she has been in far fewer sets than the other ninja, and she rarely even gets her own vehicle. It doesn't help that at first she was specifically not a ninja, and was featured in only the largest sets in the first year (pilot), and in one regular set in the second year (season 1).

Combined with the complete lack of any indication in the last scene that things are going to change for the better (which did happen with Zane's 'death'), I really wonder if this indicates a lack of willingness to keep the character around. To me it felt like an 'it's sad because everyone is sad, but at least she's happy being inseperable from the sea now and isn't really noticing she's being missed' sort of ending. Combined with the story clearly stressing it's not reversible, it's hard to see how this would in any way allow for the character to be kept around.

Even if this is just to stir up interest in the theme again, it just feels wrong to see them give Nya her first complete focus season only to seemingly kick the character to a higher plane of existence. It's just such a weird thing to do on the 10th anniversary of the theme.

Overall, I just really hate cliffhangers, even from a show like this. And to me this one is tense precisely because there is a chance they're actually thinking of just retiring the character or something. It probably depends on the response to this season and how well the toyline sells. Which again isn't a great thing to do when it's the 10th anniversary of the show (and the character in question).

A thing about the ending...

Spoiler

Where was Nyad during all this? She too became in the same state as Nya did, so wouldn't she still be around? Especially after the creature she sacrificed herself to defeat returned. Do demigods age?

On a different note, I enjoyed the many references to past seasons. It really felt like there was more continuity with past seasons than usual this season, which is fitting for the 10th anniversary (although it was probably coincidental).

Spoiler

The funeral procession (memorial?) at the end included the Serpentine again, finally! Also Ed and Edna, Skylor, Okino, Unagami etc. Some of those haven't been seen in a while. It's a bit of a shame they didn't seem to have included more characters like the elemental masters, Akita, Kruncha and Nuckal (a bit of a stretch) etc. Was Cyrus Borg even there?
The newspaper episode also showed many things from previous seasons returning, which was fun. They even referenced the vermillion again!

Maya and Ray returning was also a treat. It was interesting to see them in a more casual situation than season 7 and to see their relationship with their children explored finally.

Finally, there's the setting, villains and token 'local' character...

Spoiler

Kalmaar's facial animation felt better than usual (which is off course because he doesn't use a minifig head) and combined with his voice I found the character enjoyable to watch, if not a bit super cliché.
It was a shame that the whole subplot of the merfolk looking in doubt sometimes at his callous actions seemed to have only resulted in one (the scientist guy) defecting. The rest just never seem to realize he is obviously evil as he's using his great devourer lookalike to terrorize cities for no reason.
Speaking of which... Kalmaar's motivation wasn't very developed. I guess he just always was destined to do what he did, and was always a bad apple.
Kalmaar's seeming rivalry with Nya felt a bit forced. Sure, she was the master of water. But it didn't feel very personal until the very end when she had to ascend to save everyone.
Kalmaar's death felt like they were going for a karmic one. But it was his adoptive brother who really broke his control over Gojira, endangering everyone even more. His death felt weak.
Gojira too. We have two seasons of build-up and we just see Gojira kind-of-but-not-really menace a boat, fully awake all of a sudden. Because the final battle was dragged out with also saving (some?) citizens, the sea serpent is on screen long enough to leave less and less of an impression. By the time she breaks free, she feels like less of a biblical leviathan and more like a regular giant enemy empowered by two power mcGuffins. It doesn't help that at this point we have seen many more giant snakes already, such as the Great Devourer, the Iron Doom with vermillion fused into it, the ones Aspheera brought with her... Out of those, the power of conjuring storms, commanding water and shooting lighting felt a bit standard.

That said, the scene of the emergency warnings appearing everywhere and the sea levels rising until the entire city was flooded felt brilliant. Giant snakes are a bit out there. But natural disasters are very real, adding weight to that scene.

The adoptive brother felt a bit wasted as a character. He had his use in the middle of the story and as a way to provide some exposition. But beyond that, I really miss a resolution to his arc. We don't see him clearing his name or being accepted by his people afterwards. He's just there, like the writers forgot about him.

Finally, a small nitpick. At the end of season 14 we see Wojira sleeping on the ocean floor... but in season 15 she's in the temple at the deepest point in the ocean. That was surprising to see.

So yeah... a very long rant.
Overall I enjoyed most of the season, although the middle was weaker than the rest. But that ending leaves me either wanting more, or a bittersweet aftertaste. Overall a much stronger contender than season 14 anyway, although that's not saying much. Either way, it's going to be strange to look at the sets again after that ending. And they're not even out yet!

I kind of hope they are planning to pull a 2015 and release a third season in the fall (in that year Skybound already started appearing before the year had ended, if memory serves). Especially after we only had a short season 14, and because season 15 has this cliff-hanger. I mean, it's just May!
 

Edited by Vaiman

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By the way, the first two Legacy shorts are out, and they're both gorgeous pieces of animation. Golden Legend was very atmospheric and had a nice twist that still felt in keeping with Ninjago. Gold Rush had incredibly nice action and showed a very different but nonetheless core part of Ninjago: the city of Ninjago in all its neon glory!

Both had great voice acting too! The casting choice for Golden Legend was spot-on, and it was always great to see the voice actors return for shorts like Gold Rush.

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15 hours ago, Vaiman said:

Wow, that was one heck of an ending!

  Reveal hidden contents

So I knew Nya would full-on ascend irreversably. But when the story of 'Nyad' was told I started to worry. By the time the last few episodes rolled around I genuinely started to feel anxious. Having watched Ninjago for 10 full years now I was really hoping there would be a standard happy perk to the ending. Like when Cole became a ghost but at least stayed with the team. In fact, a cynical part of me thinks that is exactly what's happening here. They give Nya incredible power in return for something that will eventually be reversed. Status Quo later, drama now. Right?

But as I was watching it, it didn't feel that way. And that's precisely because Nya has been given so little love by the set creators and writers (to a lesser extent). The call-backs to her growing relationship with Jay landed properly. And the sacrifice feels like something the writers would think is a romantic if bittersweet gesture. It reminds me of the original version of The Little Mermaid, in which the titular character fails and turns into sea foam, becoming one with the sea. And the second version, where she becomes some sort of sky goddess. Both sound like likely inspirations for the direction they took the character.

I have difficulty seeing how they would reverse this, considering the direction of the story so far. It would be far more dramatic to have the next season focus on Kai and his grief for his sister (despite Jay being equally deserving of having this explored) instead of actually fixing her fate in the near-future. Saving someone who's somewhere in the ocean (and technically is the ocean) sounds like it might be a goal of the characters, if not one that sounds like it would at least take an entire season to focus on. Also, the vengestone collecting villain overarching plot seems like it will take precedence sooner rather than later. So, will they even feature Nya herself next season?

And that's the thing. Within the toyline, Nya has been getting the short end of the stick since the beginning. Arguably because she either does not sell very well, or because they think the character does not sell very well. Either way, she has been in far fewer sets than the other ninja, and she rarely even gets her own vehicle. It doesn't help that at first she was specifically not a ninja, and was featured in only the largest sets in the first year (pilot), and in one regular set in the second year (season 1).

Combined with the complete lack of any indication in the last scene that things are going to change for the better (which did happen with Zane's 'death'), I really wonder if this indicates a lack of willingness to keep the character around. To me it felt like an 'it's sad because everyone is sad, but at least she's happy being inseperable from the sea now and isn't really noticing she's being missed' sort of ending. Combined with the story clearly stressing it's not reversible, it's hard to see how this would in any way allow for the character to be kept around.

Even if this is just to stir up interest in the theme again, it just feels wrong to see them give Nya her first complete focus season only to seemingly kick the character to a higher plane of existence. It's just such a weird thing to do on the 10th anniversary of the theme.

Overall, I just really hate cliffhangers, even from a show like this. And to me this one is tense precisely because there is a chance they're actually thinking of just retiring the character or something. It probably depends on the response to this season and how well the toyline sells. Which again isn't a great thing to do when it's the 10th anniversary of the show (and the character in question).

A thing about the ending...

  Reveal hidden contents

Where was Nyad during all this? She too became in the same state as Nya did, so wouldn't she still be around? Especially after the creature she sacrificed herself to defeat returned. Do demigods age?

 

Spoiler

Yeah, it was one hell of an ending.

Adding on to it i'm pretty sure part of the decision was motivated by simply having 2 blue ninja on a team: it's not really viable and would probably confuse parents going to the store to buy "the blue ninja's mech" or something. To that end, i'm pretty sure this was a higher up decision given that Tommy's gone repeatedly on record stating his love for the character. Genuinely hope this is goodbye for Nya though; i love the character to death but i can understand lego deciding against keeping her and to be honest this would be a wonderful place for further character arcs from Kai specifically, especially since his relationship with his sister is far more nuanced and they've known each other for longer.

And neat observation with Nyad? It's likely her spirit's dissipated into the sea having existed for thousands of years: going to speculate Nya might follow suit given those 17 years as a person will eventually be overshadowed by centuries as the ocean and her godhood will probably result in a future where she absorbs (no pun intended) more and more knowledge while ascending from her perspective as a person to becoming the whole ocean. 

I really hope next season dives deep (also no pun intended) into kai's psyche; the guy hasn't had a proper examination in honestly 9 or 10 years, and i can imagine it would really hit home if they played the tie in right. what i'd personally love is if 2022 starts off with seabound part 2 to do more atlantis sets and then resolve the throne issue, since both kalmaar and trimaar dying in such rapid succession should be a red flag for most merlopians and a political intrigue plotline involving gripe or another by-blood descendant would be nice. bouncing off of kai, i'd hope he's "reintroduced" (his first scene that season) where like lloyd calls in and it cuts to a phone on a table while in the background an unidentified person is swimming, and eventually you realize it's kai before he gets out of the pool and you realize all the subtext behind it. beyond that i think something involving him killing gripe out of rage and/or venturing to the unknown depths to see nya for some closure would be neat, but i do have to concede that this is just a figment of an idea and very likely not our next season.

 

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So something just occurred to me; could there be a connection between Wohira and the Great Devourer? Perhaps even that Wohira is the Devourer’s mother?

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4 hours ago, Fenghuang0296 said:

So something just occurred to me; could there be a connection between Wohira and the Great Devourer? Perhaps even that Wohira is the Devourer’s mother?

Would all serpentine be decedents of Merlopians?

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I started rewatching Sons of Garmadon tonight and god, this was such an amazing season. Every episode flows into the next so perfectly that it was hard to get myself to stop for the night, and I ended up watching six of the ten episodes from this season. I just have so many good things to say about it. The animation is undoubtedly the best it’s been for the show’s entire run, the action is a huge improvement over previous seasons, the soundtrack is fantastic, the jokes land better than they did before and honestly, I do prefer the character redesigns over the old ones (for the most part). The storyline for this season was so fresh, interesting and remains very unique compared to other seasons. The Sons of Garmadon are arguably the most grounded Ninjago faction yet and I feel like that worked in their favor. Also, Harumi is one of my favorite Ninjago characters and depending on the way it’s used, her theme can be very beautiful or very creepy. I honestly did not see the twist with her coming when I first saw these episodes.

Watching through this season again brings back so many memories for me. 2018 was such a different time in my life and I remember keeping up with each episode as it made its way to Youtube. I’m very excited for the Legacy line to reach this season as I’m curious to see what they end up doing.

Edited by The Stud

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I was watching Monkie Kid on ITV Hub, when I noticed that the first 10 episodes of crystallized are on there. I've already seen the first 12 from when they were on YouTube but I thought this might be useful for other UK folks to know.

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