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#and that’s not even counting my docs

basicallyjaywalker · 5 months

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Wanna ramble about a moment/character in ninjago you think people need to talk about more?

I don't know who you are anon, but I'm glad you asked!

I am desperate for people to character-analyze Wu. I'm desperate for a lot of character analysis including Nya but since I got a lot of my Nya feelings out with some lovely folks the other night (edit: the other night was a month ago dw about it. this took a minute) I'm going with Wu this time

Master Wu to me is such an interesting case of a character who it is so easy to ignore the bits of the show that hint at his wider issues and traumas. He is a man defined heavily by his family and by his past. A lot of criticism he gets, I think, is due in part to that.

I've mentioned before that I've been rewatching S1 with a friend of mine and intermittently pausing to infodump on them about interesting character things I notice from that season. A lot of that has been Wu-focused because despite having seen RotS dozens of times throughout my life (watching it on CN, watching it on Netflix when only it and Legacy were around, rewatching it with friends) I have only just started noticing the seeds of character written in.

I might also just be reading too much into things, but hear me out

In S1 (and by extension, the pilots), Wu is characterized as your typical old wise teacher. In the first few minutes of EP1: Rise of the Snakes, he is chewing out the Ninja for playing video games instead of training. The line he uses? "Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today."

It's a line that gets repeated throughout the series. In fact, it gets repeated that very episode when the ninja go (pun not intended) to fight the Hypnobrai and a literal pre-teen. At first, it seems to just be a piece of wisdom. Some old proverb Wu's picked up over the years, possibly one he even coined himself. However, in EP7: Tick Tock, Wu tells the story of who, possibly, first told him this.

(Source: Tick Tock/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom, highlight added.)

It was Garmadon. Now, I'm not gonna dwell too long on Garmadon, if you spend five minutes talking to me you'll learn he was the first character whose story I obsessed over and I want this essay to be about Wu, but I think he plays a role in Wu's overall story, as does Wu's family as a whole.

Prior to this, Wu and Garmadon's relationship has been more of a sibling rivalry taken to a good vs. evil extreme. We didn't know why Garmadon was evil and we didn't know about Wu and his relationship as kids. However, this scene establishes the backstory. They were, as Wu puts it, "the best of friends." That is, until Garmadon gets bit by the Devourer going to get the katana Wu lost.

Now, I know the Devourer bite was destined to happen because of the Overlord or some shit, but Wu doesn't. As far as he's concerned, Garmadon getting bit was a direct consequence of both his mistake and his cowardice. He lost the katana. He was too scared to get it. Garmadon went over instead. Garmadon got bit.

The scene goes on to show the FSM tending to Garmadon in the aftermath. Wu is watching from behind the door, likely told to stay back, but concerned. And in his POV, we get this intense moment, where Garmadon turns, looks directly at him (his eyes turning bright red for the first time), and says "It's all Wu's fault!"

(This clip should begin at the start of Wu eavesdropping. If it doesn't, skip to 0:58. I highly recommend also paying attention to Wu's body language during this scene.)

The camerawork does a great job of showing how this probably felt for Wu. It zooms in, Garmadon's voice echoes, and the background blurs. We see in the flashback that this is a moment Wu has etched into his memory. Not to mention, he was likely a very young child when this happened. LEGO characters' ages are weird, but Wu in this scene has the Big Eyes, which always seem to be used for characters under 12. We don't know exactly how much older Garmadon is to my knowledge, but he doesn't have the Big Eyes, so he's probably closer to 12 and a few years older than Wu for sure.

Imagine that. Being in elementary school and your older siblings gets hurt. They're acting strange. They're lashing out at your father. Then, they blame it all on you. They're hurt because of you. Wouldn't you internalize that?

I could go on about Wu's relationship with Garmadon, but again, I think I've spent enough time on it and I don't want to only focus on that. It's an important part, but there are others.

Let's talk about Wu's relationship with his dad.

Now, I have not yet read the Spinjitzu Brothers series. I cannot speak to any development of Wu and the FSM's relationship in there. I have, however, read The Book of Spinjitzu and blogged some of my thoughts on it here, including some of what it says about Wu.

For those who haven't read it, first, there is a Google Drive folder floating around with all of the canon spinoff books/graphic novels in it. Here's the link if you wanna read them!

The FSM is an... intriguing figure. I mean, in the series he's basically god? He made the entire world. That's already a very high bar to live up to. Then, in Book of Spinjitzu, there's a few specific parts that, when I read them, signaled that Wu internalized a specific message when he was young.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, Page 3).

Wu does not want to disappoint his father. It is up to him (and Garmadon until he turns evil) to "uphold the legacy of Spinjitzu" and, by extension, his family. He says he was "very young" when this was explained to him. Considering he seems to already be training at an elementary age, "very young" means VERY young.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, Page 16).

Here, we again see Wu being very aware that he has some large burden to carry. Something else interesting here is that the thought of the Green Ninja Prophecy is already weighing on him too. His considering if he might be the Green Ninja is of extra interest because of how the Green Ninja Prophecy and the--I wouldn't call it obsession, possibly fixation?--with who it is factors into his later actions, but we'll get to that later.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, Page 19).

This one in particular gets me because it comes after Wu mentions Garmadon becoming more evil. It is a statement of power. Wu knows that the legacy of Spinjitzu now rests in his hands alone. He cannot let himself fall the way Garmadon did. He cannot disappoint his father. Whether or not the FSM intended it, Wu always knew the fate of the world rested, at least in part, upon his shoulder. He knew this from the time he was a young boy and it remains in his mind to this day.

Now, these quotes are indirect, but they all point to one clear idea: As a child, Wu internalized the idea that he alone is responsible for keeping Ninjago safe. He will play a pivotal role in its history.

There's not evidence in this book that the FSM's was a bad father, per se. However, just because one doesn't set out to harm their children, doesn't mean they won't. I often say Wu has an "Atlas complex," which I have no idea if it is an actual concept but use it to refer to this idea. Wu feels as though he is responsible for holding up the world, much like Atlas. He must keep the balance, he must solve the Green Ninja prophecy, he must make his father proud.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, page 61).

I'm going to get further into what this means for Wu as a teacher to the current Ninja Team, but for now let's look at Wu's first foray into teaching.

Morro. Wu's Biggest Mistake.

That might seem like an overstatement, but it's not.

(Source: Ghost Story/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom)

Okay he says regret, not mistake, but I was paraphrasing.

Let's turn back to his quote about his destiny. Wu writes, "Is my life's mission to be the Green Ninja? Or maybe it will be to find the Green Ninja and protect him (or her)??"

From a very young age, Wu was not only aware of the Green Ninja but prophecy but also thinking about his place in it. We see this again when he takes Morro in and trains him.

(Source: Ghost Story/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom, highlight added)

A big thing Wu is criticized for here is making Morro believe he is meant to be more. That he is the Chosen One. And Morro, being a young homeless orphan just now given some semblance of power and protection, latches onto that. And I can see it, but when you take into account the above that he was trained from (likely) a younger age than Morro and given a similar level of responsibility, it becomes more understandable. Wu is just doing what he was taught. He doesn't believe that he is harming Morro until it is too late.

youtube

This is the entire story, but I'm specifically going to be discussing 1:36 onwards here. I also wanted to add that rewatching this scene made me lay down on the floor! What the fuck! But I digress.

There's a lot going on in this scene. For one, Wu washing his hands of Morro in some ways, but not others. He turns his back on Morro when he tells him that destiny has decided, but looks at him again when Morro storms out. He goes to save Morro from the Grundal, but decides that he cannot "teach those who would not listen." Most importantly, when Morro leaves to go find the Tomb of the FSM, Wu leaves the door open. He waits for Morro to return, but never goes after him. And Morro never comes back.

Wu gives Morro's fate a dismissive response at the end of his ghost story ("I am saddened he was banished to the Cursed Realm") but it's clear he still cares deeply about him in the finale of the season.

youtube

Wu's VA in this is phenomenal btw. That "Please Morro!" and "MORRO!" make my heart ache.

Morro believed Wu stopped caring, but he didn't. Even after all he's done, even after trying to destroy all of Ninjago--destroying what Wu had spent his life trying to protect--Wu tries to save him. He begs for Morro to come with him. Morro refuses, Wu watches him perish.

Someone else Wu is close to is gone. Wu again considers himself responsible. Everything is his fault.

And finally, we reach Wu today. A cautious, secretive man. He loves his students, this much is clear. Even as early as the pilots, he drops his wise teacher persona to joke around with them.

youtube

As with Morro, he trains them like his father did him. He even uses the same methods his father used when he trains them.

(Source: The Book of Spinjitzu, page 32)

youtube

While he is hard on the Ninja, wanting them to succeed and training them to help defend the Realm, he lets his guard down more than it seems he did with Morro. He also learned a valuable message from his experience with Morro when he hides the Green Ninja Prophecy from the Ninja, getting angry when they start to push themselves in the same way Morro did upon learning about it. It's clear he doesn't want a repeat.

Now, I can't speak for later seasons (I will eventually) but this fear of repeats, his students going down a dark path because they're tempted by power or greatness, losing someone else, likely drives Wu not telling them other important information. That is just a passing thought though.

Final notes:

I'm currently in the process of rewatching S7: Hands of Time. I actually got this ask right after finishing EP68: Scavengers, which opens with Wu having a nightmare. In it, he and Misako are walking outside of Yang's temple. While walking, Misako delivers this line in response to Wu reminiscing about the time they've spent together:

(Source: Scavengers/Transcript | Ninjago Wiki | Fandom)

This line, to me, is Wu's subconscious trying to tell him something he needs to hear. It's hinting at what might be his greatest flaw. Wu is haunted by his past, by his mistakes. He finds it difficult to tell others because of both his guilt and his desire to not put that worry upon them. In this very season, he makes the mistake of trying to face his past on his own, and he nearly dies for it.

In the same episode, you see Wu trying to make sure Lloyd doesn't make the same mistakes.

(Source: Prev)

Wu stresses the important of the team. It's as if he sees Lloyd blaming himself for what happened to Wu, sees him doing the same thing Wu has, and is trying to prevent him from doing the same thing. This is further emphasized when, after Wu falls asleep (well, fakes falling asleep), Lloyd says "Wu's mistake was going in alone. So was mine."

Master Wu is, like many characters in this show, someone who is more complex than meets the eye. He is not just a wise, old teacher. He is a man who, throughout his life, has made mistakes and carries the weight of each of them on his shoulders. He is a man who tasks himself with making up for those every day. He is a man who wants better for his students, his family.

Until the day he dies, he will guide and protect his students. And possibly? Even after death too.

#ninjago #lego ninjago #master wu #long post #anon tag #this made my day i looooooooooooooove character analysis #i know a lot of what i post about it may not encompass the full series but i just think that makes it more fun tbh #i'm working with what i have and later i may come back to this and add even more things #i'm also very passionate about wu analysis as a former wu hater because i think the fact that his character stuff is so buried #leads to a lot of the hate #Why didn't he tell the ninja things? well he told morro things and look how that turned out #he grew up believing the weight of the world was on his shoulders #in one way or another #i won't lie and say the man does not make mistakes #but like i mention in s7 when he does he is fucking haunted by them #he is not breaking the generational trauma but he is damn well making an attempt for someone who probably doesn't realize he has it #p.s i tried to add image desc to each ss to make it more accessible but if i messed it up please let me know!#i spent way too much time on this #somebody do a word count i'm curious but too tired to copy this all into docs #falls over #part 2 of this is just the dark island trilogy but i think i'm gonna wait to do that #this took so long and the words are now refusing to words #thank you for reading #i need to take a nap after writing this I feel physically spent #please enjoy another rook branded ramble disguised as a comprehensive essay #other essayists bring you professionalism and academic vibes #i scream into the void and put way too many links o7 #happy birthday ninjago!!!! i finished this in honor of you hopefully it is worthy

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seawing-vibes · 8 months

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Hiii welcome to The Thing I’ve Been Working On For Far Too Long !!!! This is an edited map of my WoF Headworld!! This map fallows my personal lore / story for what happens post-books! There are far more ideas I have regarding new structures, how the land changes, etc. , but this was just generally for labeling major locations within each territory! My hope was to wrap this up before the Felid Guide drops so I can compare my map to the canon reveal of locations but I didn’t quite get there and there are still a lot of loose ends. Unfortunately I don’t have much time to work on this anymore and will probably chip away at it privately in pieces , but for now I wanted to share this bit publicly!

The info for the labels on the map are all written out below, but I have primarily complied information in a Google Doc for easier viewing and navigation!

Link to the Google Doc !

Under construction !! Im so sorry I’m stuck on mobile and Tumblrs post editor on mobile is actual shit. the formatting is terrible I’m going bonkers in here. Also it’s stuck sideways for some reason like girl pleaseee turn the other way!!! I will rb this again once I’m able to format it properly.

#for full clarity this shit aint close to finished + I decided to make a map while I was tired as fuck so this map makes so little sense #why did I do a separate number list for every territory . whats up with that . also that ain’t what a key looks like. But its okay!!!!#we vibin!!!#admittedly I just really wanted to get this out before the Guidebook drops w/ updated maps #I wanna compare my names & loctains to theirs #I decided to give all the palaces their own names because I thought it would be cool #every name has a meaning behind it so feel free to uh . ask me if ya want <3 #all the lore here is v well developed so please ask any questions you may have!!! i spent a very long time naming everything and this isnt e #even a comprehensive list of all my location names nor what I think the modern map would really look like #anyway . yeah :) !#map #tideart #theres art at the bottom of the doc so it counts I guess

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um-weird-flex-but-ok · 5 months

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It's just me and my 54 likely never to be posted rhaenicent WIPs against the world

#i got curious and counted them #my google docs is chaos #but my brain doesn't like to focus #so really it isn't even my fault #rhaenicent

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star4daisy · 3 months

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going back to my marydorlene one shot like I didn't leave it after writing 5k because I forgot it existed lmao

#in my defence the amount of half finished fics on my docs r like I can't even count it and I'm a math girlie lmao #marydorlene #fanfic #marauders girls #marylene #dorlene #dormary #mary macdonald #dorcas meadowes #marlene mckinnon

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brainrotdotorg · 11 months

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okay i wanted to share with you guys. all of my WIPs (as quick blurbs) because i want you to know how many ideas i have that i am juggling all at once. some of these are my own ideas some are commissions. anyway

hjk threesome with phasmid!harry

puppy play pornstar jean

fic about lolita harry

jules pidieu phonesex with harry and jean

harrykim phonesex

inventory installment about kim's boots

authority/physical instrument

future chapters for skill intimacy

t4t pissfuck

kimneema

future chapters for the ASOUE crossover

future chapters for the casefic

#all of these tabs are open in my browser rn lmao.#this isnt even counting my bighuge ideas doc

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mishy-mashy · 10 days

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Hi! I noticed you bring up fanfiction every once in a while, so do you have an ao3?

I DO

But the stuff I post here isn't actually written out and posted anywhere else, and my ao3 (posted stories) is pretty bare. Like, I only touch it to read other people's stuff at this point

Everything I do write is OC stuff though, and that's not everyone's jam

The stuff I do post here all comes from my notes for said fic ideas. They're all fleshed out enough that I can write them into proper stories. Like, the whole plot is figured out, I know where to end, character perspectives, all that jazz. I just don't write them out, since I don't have that motivation, and the stories would end up huge

I don't like posting the actual stories either. People have asked for updates on the new chapters I just put down, and I've run into a lot of copy-pasters. Even the few things I have on ao3 is having a mimic somewhere. So I otherwise keep everything to myself, or post little things here

I've been going through my past stuff lately to reorganize. It's fun. Even if they're old (some are over 5 years old), I find little gems that surprise me like these

(Unordinary; Re:Zero; BNHA)

Like- they aren't that bad. That's surprising. How old are these things???

#/THE FIRST ASK ABOUT MY FIC STUFF?!/#anon take this crown and commemorative sash this is monumental #ask #fic #my drafts are HUGE so writing them into actual proper fanfics would be. very big #the average is 150k words the low-end is 40k and a lot of them have too many words that google docs glitches #and ive had to make multiple drafts to hold everything #i tried writing one out once and ended up stopping because the glitching from all the words was making it impossible to continue #capped out at *checks notes* 103k words #the word count mentioned in the previous tags are talking about the word count for NOTES. i think an actual story would become abysmal #i like planning stuff. a lot #the biggest one is for a bnha resistance fic at *checks calculator* 260k words #but its really unmotivating to know people just want content and to take my words for their own #REPEATEDLY. even the small stuff is being yoinked #im serious. Actually everything ive posted as an actual story has been copied by someone else and advertised as their own. im tired of that #but i like writing so i do it in private. mainly away from the eyes of the internet #excerpt from an old unordinary fic #and a rezero fic where groovy gets hugged and is screaming like hes watching his firstborn be slaughtered before his eyes #my drafts surprise me sometimes because huh. this is not that bad for 6 years ago #an unordinary (webtoon) excerpt cuz i was organizing my stuff and ran into an old draft of it. now its trying to weedle its way to the ligh #thank u for the ask anon #if someone asked for more about the small things i /do/ show id probably panic cuz. no one ever asks. what do i say??? oh no im CRINGE #/lh #a lot of nonrom actually. most of it is. including that 3rd excerpt #all the excerpts actually #oc #out of context excerpts

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swordsmans · 1 year

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dunno what i was channeling at four in the morning but i'd like to do it again please

[text under cut]

theyre a representation of what haunts them the most—luffy is haunted by loneliness, ASL (he will never feel the absolute certainty of someone always being there again, perfectly encapsulated by childhood ASL); zoro is haunted by duty, kuina (motivations for being the best + self/kuina vs. other/captain [see speech] also worth of self as self); nami is haunted by the inability to overcome her own trauma, herself (distrust, fear, insecurity)

THESE VOIDS ARE FILLED BY THE OTHER TWO

parallel between zoro and nami as the first two companions vs. luffy growing up with two brothers (zoro in his right hand, nami in his left); theyre all an essential piece missing for the other(s)

zoro needed purpose (luffy) and someone to love/care for him as himself (nami); nami needed trust (luffy) and strength (zoro); luffy needed someone to ground him (zoro) and someone to guide him (nami)

THEY ARE THE SUN MOON AND STARS

on the sunny (after everything) zoro/luffy rush for nami

nami grasps for them, hands outstretched, but they’re already reaching back for her—and they fall there together, the three of them each with their hearts tucked between them, sobbing and clinging to each other, too

#apparently i was beautiful mind-ing in the outline doc last night #bury your albatross is actually romance dawn propaganda #not zoluna in a romantic sense just like. THEM. you know #maybe ill actually make some progress tonight #im counting this as my wip wednesday because i posted two fics this week #even though its tuesday (how is it only tuesday jesus god)#it's not perfect obvs because this is literally just NOTES #not even a draft just word salad straight ripped from the outline #but i like the direction it's going and there are good images here #sorry literally all i do is talk about my fics lmao Time Is Fleeting And Art Keeps Us Alive #gyro.odt

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irregularcollapse · 9 months

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haven't done a word count update in a while lol

soooooo this is with everything edited/proofread up to Chapter XXX, and the epilogue (32, technically) still not quite finished. i'm estimating another few thousand words on the end there.

and... that's not even counting the other thing... the secret thing... the "after the epilogue" thing...

good god what have i done

#my writing #even in another time fic #and not even counting all the footnotes #my typesetting doc is currently sitting at 721 pages lol #idk how i'm going to bind it #but i don't want it to be multiple volumes #maybe i'll have to print it on bible paper lmfao

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