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Ninjago: Masters Of Spinjitsu TV Show Thread

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So... all of Prime Empire has aired in English.

 

I liked it much better than the Fire Chapter for sure, and really enjoyed the fact that it didn’t waste any time with filler, like the Ice Chapter did. It gave us some of the best fights we’ve seen, like Lloyd vs Harumi, but I feel like there were maybe one too many side characters who were really focused on and then largely ignored past their focus episodes (see Racer Seven, Okino, and Scott in particular, who I didn’t even see exit the game in the finale and who we will likely never see again). As is the case with the Ice Chapter, the finale (the last two episodes) felt incredibly rushed to me. If they cut out the obstacle course and even the sushi stuff that took up most of the penultimate episode, we could have really gotten a much better look at how Unagami thinks and learn more about his character, especially as he was used so sparingly throughout the season. I liked the angle of him being like a confused child, just lashing out at his creator, but felt it wasn’t explored nearly as much as it should have been, and was neatly wrapped up way too fast. This seems to be a bit of a recurring issue with the Hagemans out of the picture - the concepts behind the characterization and motives of the villains are really interesting, but the final two episodes almost always do them dirty and cut their arcs short too fast. That being said, this was a massive step up over the previous season, and the format of 16 ten minute episodes per arc is starting to grow on me.

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Overall, I liked the whole season. It's visually cool and quite the step up from Season 11.

Spoiler

 

But still, the story wasn't as well written as it could have been. Plot threads didn't quite flow properly, a lot of time was wasted that could have been spent on more important stuff, and the dialogue feels off a lot of time. But these are just my nitpicks. It's still enjoyable nonetheless and I still look forward to the episodes every week. 

Although here's where I have to inject some very strong biased opinions; What the heck were they thinking turning Unagami into a pathetic little kid.  I liked where they were going with Unagami throughout the story, but he was heavily underused and such a wasted opportunity. He's got such a cool design and a cool voice, he could have easily been the most coolest, most entertaining villain in Ninjago, but he felt very passive in the whole season compared to many past villains of Ninjago. Unagami was around for decades and I don't have a clue how he spent all that time. I could forgive all that, it's not an easy job writing a villain, but they just had to ruin it all by turning Unagami into a cringy, boring looking little kid at the end. (Now I have nothing against kids but you just can't destroy Unagami's dignity like that.)

I really don't understand the creative decision behind that. Why a kid? It's been established in episode 14 that Unagami sounded just like he did, except a little younger and less aggressive, they could have made Unagami just reverted back to that state with a less intimidating look. Maybe you could say turning him into a kid was in service of the final scene where Milton Dyer and kidagami held hands and walked away into the sunset. Are they saying Unagami nearly destroyed half the city and now he gets to walk away freely? But that's besides the point. I guess all I'm trying to say is I simply don't like kidagami. It could have been a solid season finale, the fights were great, the story was at it's peak, and BAM, Unagami turned into a kid....It's so uncalled for and just flung the ending way out of orbit for me and now I can't watch the finale without dreading that part anymore. Not to mention the final line kidagami gave would have been so cool had it been said with his original voice, but instead it's just pure suffering to listen to. (Nothing against the VA. I think it's a fault on the creative side.) I don't know what some of you think about kidagami but I personally hate it so much. But that's just me. I'd like to find a reason to like it but for now I can't find a good reason to. 

Welp that's my long and unnecessary rant. Pretty solid season ruined by something stupid.

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, legozebra said:

So... all of Prime Empire has aired in English.

 

  Hide contents

I feel like there were maybe one too many side characters who were really focused on and then largely ignored past their focus episodes (see Racer Seven, Okino, and Scott in particular, who I didn’t even see exit the game in the finale and who we will likely never see again).

 

Spoiler

Yeah, that really bugged me too as right after the long 5 episode arc about the Ninja meeting an NPC whose constantly failing at what they've been programed to do to the point they're ready to give up before only for Lloyd to inspire them to help the ninja, winning them a Keytana, we get the exact same thing again with Racer 7.

 

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Spoiler

Scott did leave the game. I saw him and he was hugging one of the dancers.

And as for Kidagami. Yea I find that dumb as well but he did say he could take any form.

Overall this season was better than Ice. But I think this shorter format isn't going to work in the long run.

And we never got a short explaining why the Ninja even needed the Keytana or getting their new suits and weapons.

 

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I think this might be my new favourite season. 

Spoiler

I liked ‘Kidagami’. He was cute. 
Scott did appear at the end, but his skin turned yellow again so he might have been hard to recognise. 
The dragon fight was awesome, the graphics were amazing, the finale did feel a bit rushed but honestly? I sort of get the feeling like the writers expected the season to be longer. In terms of actual runtime, this season has the same amount of runtime as Rebooted - the shortest season. I think the writers might have expected this to be a season of 20 ten-minute episodes, and were only informed comparatively late in the production process that they’d only be allowed sixteen. And so had to squeeze eight episodes’ worth of content into the final four. 
Also, detective Zane was possibly the worst thing about this season but it was so hilarious that I’ll forgive it.

Digital Harumi was confusing, though. If Unagami scanned Lloyd’s memories to select his worst opponent, then Digi-Harumi should remember everything Lloyd remembered. But if he didn’t scan Lloyd’s memories, how would he know about Harumi to begin with? The only way I can think of to explain this is that Unagami has been watching news broadcasts and saw enough of Lloyd and Harumi’s relationship to make educated guesses . . weird.

But the biggest plot hole? Airjitzu. That one power up that granted Nya Airjitzu - so the ninjas do remember what it was? Why have they not been using it in previous seasons? And that just brings to mind how they erased the elemental dragons - just, seriously that still bugs me so much . . 

Also, they could have let the Cyber Dragon stay at least. The ninja deserve a dragon.

 

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Just now, Lego David said:

How many episodes does Prime Empire have?

Sixteen ten-minute episodes, so in terms of ‘runtime’, it’s tied with Rebooted for ‘shortest season’.

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25 minutes ago, Fenghuang0296 said:

Sixteen ten-minute episodes, so in terms of ‘runtime’, it’s tied with Rebooted for ‘shortest season’.

I think technically March of the Oni is the shortest season, clocking in at four 20-minute episodes.

Agreed with your thoughts on Airjitzu - when I saw it in the trailers, I thought that we could finally get a throwaway line about why they can't use it anymore. Heck, I would have been satisfied with Jay saying something like "too bad we can't use it anymore" and leaving it at that. Instead, it gets featured but none of the ninja react to it or its absence other than "Hey I think this gives us Airjitzu." It's mind-boggling to me, especially given fans have been complaining about the show's lack of addressing this and it would have been the perfect moment to do so.

Edited by legozebra

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Just now, legozebra said:

I think technically March of the Oni is the shortest season, clocking in at four 20-minute episodes.

Agreed with your thoughts on Airjitzu - when I saw it in the trailers, I thought that we could finally get a throwaway line about why they can't use it anymore. Heck, I would have been satisfied with Jay saying something like "too bad we can't use it anymore" and leaving it at that. Instead, it gets featured but none of the ninja react to it or its absence other than "Hey I think this gives us Airjitzu." It's mind-boggling to me, especially given fans have been complaining about the show's lack of addressing this and it would have been the perfect moment to do so.

Oh yeah, I forgot March of the Oni. 

I wouldn't have been satisfied with that! Though honestly, I can live without Airjitzu - but I miss the dragons . . 

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3 hours ago, legozebra said:

Agreed with your thoughts on Airjitzu - when I saw it in the trailers, I thought that we could finally get a throwaway line about why they can't use it anymore. Heck, I would have been satisfied with Jay saying something like "too bad we can't use it anymore" and leaving it at that. Instead, it gets featured but none of the ninja react to it or its absence other than "Hey I think this gives us Airjitzu." It's mind-boggling to me, especially given fans have been complaining about the show's lack of addressing this and it would have been the perfect moment to do so.

To be fair, I think the only reason Airjitzu existed in the first place was just to tie into the 2015 Arijitzu gimmick sets. Otherwise, it would have been used a lot more, or at least we would have gotten an explanation for why it can't be used anymore.

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4 hours ago, Lego David said:

To be fair, I think the only reason Airjitzu existed in the first place was just to tie into the 2015 Arijitzu gimmick sets. Otherwise, it would have been used a lot more, or at least we would have gotten an explanation for why it can't be used anymore.

Isn't the only reason Spinjitzu exists to tie in with the gimmick sets?

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16 minutes ago, GarmaFan said:

Isn't the only reason Spinjitzu exists to tie in with the gimmick sets?

Well yes, but they expanded upon Spinjitzu and used it quite a lot (The Series is Called "Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu" after all), unlike the Airjitzu which was only made to advertise the gimmick sets and wasn't reused afterwards.

Edited by Lego David

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9 hours ago, Lego David said:

To be fair, I think the only reason Airjitzu existed in the first place was just to tie into the 2015 Arijitzu gimmick sets. Otherwise, it would have been used a lot more, or at least we would have gotten an explanation for why it can't be used anymore.

Yes, that is 100% the only reason why it exists, but it doesn't make sense from a story standpoint to have them introduce this exceptionally useful concept that they can apparently do anytime they want with no warm-up or level of concentration, have them use it fairly regularly throughout S6-7, and then just have them not use it with no explanation post S8. Don't get me wrong, it was ridiculously OP and I prefer it to no longer exist, but literally a single line in the show would have explained it. I get that Tommy is making his canon-adjacent story on this, but I'd appreciate a small explanation in show.

Edited by legozebra

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Season 13’s description is out! What’s most exciting is Cole uncovering the truth behind the sudden and tragic loss of a loved one. I think this is where we finally discover the story behind his parents!

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1 hour ago, legozebra said:

Season 13’s description is out! What’s most exciting is Cole uncovering the truth behind the sudden and tragic loss of a loved one. I think this is where we finally discover the story behind his parents!

Source?

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On 4/30/2020 at 8:29 PM, Fenghuang0296 said:

Source?

The instruction/game manuals confirm this, as well as a ton of other spoiler points - it's an interesting read! The season seems to deal a lot with the Ninja handling conflicts between different tribes underground, and uniting them against the Skull Sorceror - an interesting take.

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We have a trailer! 

I'm excited. There's also a lot of character designs that didn't make it into the sets, it seems - Vania's royal guards are gorgeous, and there are a couple of 'adventurer'-looking people with lovely designs that I wish we'd gotten. 

Also, we have a confirmed name for the Skeleton Dragon - "Griefbringer". 

Can't wait to see the show!

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Since next year's the anniversary, I wonder how they'd incorporate that into the show, if at all. For the fifth anniversary back in 2016, there was the Skybound opening where they "fought" fake-Skulkin and Day of the Departed, where they fought dead villains.

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So the first 4 episodes are up.

Spoiler

Lloyd referenced the teapot of Tyrann. And with the rumor of the next legacy wave having a ship. Could Nadakhan finally return?

 

As for the episodes themselves. Not a bad start. Cole hopefully will get some more character development.

 

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My overall thoughts on Season 13...

Spoiler

All the episodes of Master of the Mountain are finally out and holy! Let me just say I'm blown away. Came in with quite a low expectation and came out pleasantly and utterly satisfied. The first few episodes were pretty much what I expected from this fourth era of Ninjago but as the episodes progressed, it gets better and much better, something that results in me slowly getting pleasantly surprised.

The storyline overall is really fun and yeah, finally well written. Being slightly simple and self-contained is actually a refresher for me. From Wu and Cole's character arcs to the dynamics between the Munce and Geckles, nothing felt out of place, just smooth and flowing. Vangelis being the Skull Sorcerer is still a nice twist despite the classic Ninjago misdirection and hints. And of course, Lloyd's mistrust of Vania and the Real Fall is also additional fun sprinkled. Humor is definitely on point for me and wowzers, the choreography for the last three episodes is just awesome! Wildbrain actually delivered this time! From the Stone Mech getting burned to final battle in the last two episodes between all the characters. It really feels on par with Season 8.

Also, there are no pointless fillers! Whatever that's in the season are more than just for the sake of being there. Because of this, I'm actually starting warmed up with the non-Lego style for flashbacks which is something I really hated back in Season 11. While I am up now for this style, it still would nice to have both styles of flashback being used. And boy am I glad that the simplified style for recounting legends is back too!

The seasons of the fourth era had just been disappointing and mediocre. Secret of the Forbidden Spinjitzu suck eggs and while Prime Empire is definitely an improvement but still left a lot to be desired with its out of place dialogue, plot flow and being rushed. Until now. Surprisingly, Master of the Mountain felt like the return to the standards of Season 4 to 7 (Especially the finale's ending!) - and for the first time in a while, that had me looking forward to the next season in next year.

 

Edited by JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)

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Season 13 is a great return to form after a mediocre 11 and alright 12. I still miss the days of 8/9 (2018 was one of the best years show-wise in my opinion with Sons of Garmadon and Hunted), but this is a great step in the right direction and actually feels like "classic" Ninjago (seasons 4-6 are closest in tone and quality, which is great). In terms of next season - since the sets next year will mostly be Legacy with the 10 year anniversary, I'm really hoping this doesn't mean another very truncated and rushed season like March of the Oni. That being said, there are actually a few sets confirmed for this season, so here's hoping it'll be a bit more substantial (after all, MoTo only got a minifig pack).

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Spoiler

honestly "the ninja unite the proletariat" was the last premise i would've from the show, but it's good; does better than the other two "new gen" seasons. loved the worldbuilding on shintaro despite the budget limiting it to maybe 5 distinct locations on/in the mountain (but expected), vania's cute i guess, and cole getting more character development is always nice. would probably put this somewhere between 4 & 6 as one of the more interesting and refreshing recent seasons 

 

Edited by Pirean_Grammaticul

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OMG There's an Honest Trailer for Ninjago and nobody has mentioned it yet!

It's pretty great by the way. Wonder how they got that guy to do it... 

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