Why is Pixane So Queer?

Some thoughts on Asexual Romance.

[warning, long post below the cut]

The Ninjago fandom had a very potent reaction to The Quest for the Lost Powers repeatedly describing Pixal and Zane as being 'very close friends'. This seemed quite contradictory to many who assumed the confession of undying love at the end of the last season might have been a small hint at a romantic relationship of some kind. However, after closer examination, it turns out Pixal and Zane don’t ever actually refer to themselves as a couple, and the show has never once referred to them being in an active relationship.

But there’s something here, right? Sure, it’s not explicitly stated, but you are lying to yourself if you can watch them and tell me there is zero romantic subtext going on here. A lot of people got very defensive that the children’s book stated they were friends, especially when it also seemingly confirmed that the much straighter straight boy ship, Kailor, was apparently canon, despite being only implied as a possible future for ages now. But I find this backlash to be a bit strange. Sure, Zane and Pix aren’t exactly ‘just friends’ but, what do you want them to say? That they’re boyfriend and girlfriend? You want these two to say they’re ‘going out’ with each other? You think these two robots are ‘dating’ each other, like they’re just susin’ out the partner pool. Are those the words that fit this relationship to you?

I found myself feeling weirdly offended at everyone, and I think the reason was that these two love-droids haven’t chosen to define their relationship in traditional terms, and so everyone’s insistence that they should be boxed into some sort of traditional term seems inherently strange. It’s like when two elderly people are dating, it feels weird when they say “this is my girlfriend” because despite it being factually true, there’s so much baggage that comes with the word, part of that implication being youth, which is directly at odds with the immediate situation. It’s the correctness of the word paired with the incorrectness of the societal implications which forces you to assess if those societal implications should exist. And that- that is what makes this relationship feel queer. That’s why there’s this undeniably different kinda energy radiating off of it. It’s that rejection of the traditional labels, the refusal to be put into a box, which forces it to be a-typical. But, why? Why does Pixane have this rejection of labels radiating off of it? Their ages, while being literally whack, are presented as being your typical teenage to young adult age romance. Their genders present as a typical hetero pairing. And it’s not like they don’t follow your typical cliche love at first sight plot. I mean, Pixal was pretty explicitly created as a generic love interest character. So, what is it? Why is this queer? Spoiler alert: It’s because they’re asexual.

So, what is asexuality? Strictly defined, it is a community of people who experience little to no sexual attraction to anyone. This is distinct from aromanticism, which is a lack of romantic attraction, and sexual engagement or urges which are their own separate boat, but often have overlap with asexuality. However, for our purposes, we are focused on just the sexual attraction part. You can think of it as the difference between finding someone hot and finding someone cute. That’s the distinction that made it click for me anyway.

Now, as a disclaimer, I am not going to be considering other queer interpretations of this relationship. Not to invalidate them, because of course they’re valid, but specifically because I feel there isn’t precedent for them in the text, and I feel there is for asexuality. This deep dive is particularly about validating asexuality as being queer, and so to do that we have to eliminate any other outstanding factors. People are extremely quick to pin asexual queerness to something else, and that in itself can feel invalidating, even if it’s only attempting to validate other communities as well. Asexual romance is so easily read as straight romance, that any queer undertones have to have an alternate explanation, because asexuality doesn’t seem like enough to cross the barrier. Yes, enby interpretations of Pixane are great, and fantastic, and I would die for your right to follow those headcanons, but to pin the in text queer vibes on the fact that they technically don’t have biological gender, despite having very clear presenting and unwavering genders in text seems like a real easy way to dismiss the asexual coding which is staring me in the face. While things like non-binary or aromantic readings validate communities who have immense oppression and are continually called fake or confused, which is insanely important, asexuality, especially as it stands apart from aromanticism, is often confused as not being a difference at all. You’re just pure! You’re just wholesome! You’re just so sweet and innocent! And yes… yes, I am, but also, it’s more than that. It’s fundamentally something different about the way my brain is wired, and I feel a need to defend the fact that it, specifically, is queer. And in no way am I trying to say that the aces are the most oppressed actually, I don’t want to start the oppression Olympics here, and if we were to, I would probably argue quite the opposite, but I am saying that there is oppression, and it comes from outside and inside of the community, and it is a thing. It’s a different flavor of thing that’s maybe not as severe, but also sits differently. Maybe it’s not as much a pressing thing as other things, but… it’s my thing. It’s what I feel. It’s something I can speak on. So, I’m going to speak on it.

Perhaps one of the largest factors asexuality has to offer is the necessary separation of romance and sex. The packaging of sexual attraction and romantic attraction is so ubiquitous that the term ace is often assumed to be referring to aro/ace people, despite there being a term for that… aro/ace! Asexuality is not an easy queerness to explain, precisely because of this deeply held integration. It’s not a difference of experience necessarily, it’s a lack of a certain experience. I’m not saying this is something you can’t understand, because, unless you’re aromantic, I know you understand it! You are going to be able to like and relate to and feel seen by asexual romances, because the main component it requires is that you have romantic attraction- which is most people. And so many people get confused when you point to an asexual thing and go “I get that! This! This is me!” Because they just respond with “You’re not special, I get that too. Is this supposed to be different?” And, yes, it is, primarily because everything else includes this giant other thing as well, which is sexuality.

When vegans get excited about finding a meal which is especially delicious and also meets their food restrictions, they get particularly excited. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy that same vegan meal- no doubt it probably tastes incredibly delicious to you as well. But you likely won’t get that same feeling of excitement, because you don’t live under the same restrictions as vegans do. That’s the same thing I feel when I see an asexually coded romance. I can enjoy the full meal without having to pick things out or ignore vital parts. I have no doubt that others can thoroughly enjoy asexual romances, but you’re going to have to look at it in context of all the dominant romance stories in the world to understand why it’s so different and special to me.

Now, have I cracked the code on asexual romance in media? No. I only have my own experience with asexuality to lean on, and the very limited discourse on the topic I’ve come across while discovering my identity. All of this is simply a theory based on my own thoughts and observations, but these are some explanations as to what might possibly be included in a framework for an asexually coded romance, at least to me.

So, what makes romance asexual? It’s not simply a lack of sexual suggestiveness. Any number of romances aren’t sexually suggestive, but still glaringly heteronormative- especially in children’s television. And it’s also not a lack of initial attraction, as that would throw Pixane out of the running for sure. Well, I have a few things which I feel may contribute to asexual coding of a romantic relationship, and wouldn’t you know, Pixane is a great example of all of them.

Asexual romance may, as many have remarked, come off as more innocent. When you shove all of the focus of characters onto the romantic, emotional connection, rather than any underlying sexual tension, things end up feeling extremely innocent to the layperson. You get the sort of old married couple effect. Two people deeply in love, who just sort of stare at each other in awe, and that others can comment on how cute they are. Again, asexuals don’t necessarily find anything hot. Cuteness is the main operative factor motivating their attraction, so it follows that their interactions would radiate that factor back at observers. The characters might in fact be very touchy, have sex, enjoy that physical touch, but that’s not at the forefront of anyone’s mind in the story. This is an aspect of Pixane that can be read very clearly. Their romance is quite easily described as pure and wholesome by all who have the pleasure of observing them. The way they interact with each other is extremely gentle and supportive, and their level of old married couple vibes is by far the highest of any pairings in the show (aside from perhaps the actual old married couple of Ed and Edna).

Asexual romance, I find to often be less conflict driven. Take the classic enemies to lovers plotline- it’s built on a tension between an innate irrational attraction, and a perceived logical personality conflict. While romantic attraction is certainly not always rational, from my understanding, sexual attraction is often rooted in factors that aren’t at all related to logical compatibility or personality. This means the enemies to lovers plot is primed to work much better when sexually charged, because it presents a clear path to create the hate/love conflict. Not to say that asexual enemies to lovers is impossible, or that asexual partners don’t have conflict between them, but that it is less of an obvious threat to incorporate into asexual romance.  Because there are less factors and layers of attraction to get involved in, there’s less room for conflict and contradiction between them. It is much easier to get tangled up in a situation with more strings. Pixane is a relationship which certainly doesn’t hold much internal conflict. The one disagreement they did have is solved quite neatly with basic communication skills in the middle of season 8. Most of their conflict comes from external factors which separate them or cause misunderstanding, rather than conflict from within the characters themselves.

Asexual romance also has the obvious potential to challenge traditional dating norms. Because there is no impulse to escalate things physically, it makes sense that the progression of an asexual romance would differ from traditional relationships where that escalation is expected. Your asexual romance is bound to get emotionally intense with each other quicker, or at least have it be the focus of their story, because there is no other facet to deal with. Asexuals don’t commonly have sexual fantasies for themselves, but rather romantic fantasies. Not to say that most people don’t have romantic fantasies, but… that’s all we’ve got. And when your impulse is ‘let’s get married, and then maybe I guess we can kiss’, it might seem like things are progressing out of order to the average person. While asexuals don't all hate physical contact or even sexual connection, it isn't an attractive or motivating factor in the same way it is in most romances, so even on a base level, the level of physical contact is likely going to be less than average. Pixane progresses ridiculously out of order. Zane is willing to split his soul for her- it’s only at this point that they romantically hold hands for the first time. It’s the emotional connection between the two that comes first, and all classic tangible symbols of affection and romance that are secondary. The most pronounced physical contact we’ve seen is a cheek kiss, and their most common type of physical contact is enthusiastic hugging (which I’ll dive more into later).

Additionally, because physical affection is more of an afterthought, it would also make sense for labels to come slowly. If you have an incredibly close personal, soulful connection, but you haven’t kissed yet, it makes sense for people around you to assume you’re just really close friends, or perhaps just crushing on each other still. Terms like “girlfriend” and “boyfriend” invoke rather physical tactile images, and so to attempt to apply them to an asexual romance isn’t necessarily wrong but may feel a bit off putting because of this dissonance. Again, it’s this dissonance between the romantic meaning of the word, and the sexual undertones which forces discomfort onto the viewer. Pixal and Zane have yet to kiss each other after years of dancing around each other’s obvious romantic feelings. It remains unclear if they even are in an active romantic relationship at all, or are still mutually pinning, as no labels have been given to their relationship in show. I have no doubt part of this is the lack of planned dates or physical affection which are common outward signals of a traditional established relationship.

A lot of the saucy flirting which accompanies many classic heteronormative romances can seem rather pointless to asexuals. I would venture to say that asexuals are likely more direct and up front with their emotional vulnerability and feelings, because that’s the connection which they are seeking to make. To dance around it with innuendo and mind games is rather unproductive in achieving the end goal. There is less of a pressure to “perform” romance, and instead just be honestly romantic, because the romance isn’t a prelude to sex, or physical affection, it’s the end goal in and of itself. To only pretend to do it is entirely pointless. All of this is likely going to result in a romance which puts less focus on the “game of dating”. I mean, can you imagine Pixane ending up in a Jaya style love triangle? It’s almost an absurd pitch to make, right? There is no performativity to the Pixane relationship, it is exactly as it appears at first glance. And when Zane attempts more traditional, cheesy flirting tactics like in Ninjago Confidential, Pixal is nothing but confused and annoyed by his attempts.

The most prominent example which I feel exemplifies the inherently asexual coding of Pixane applies to many robotic romances- and it’s the characters’ relationship with skin. A lot of sexual suggestion and tension is based on skin. The revealing nature of skin exposure, the feeling of skin on skin being a sexual touchpoint, skin is essential to the sexual experience in most instances. This is part of the reason I love writing romance but have yet to write a kiss between anyone. The sexuality of a kiss is inherently uncomfortable to write for me because you’re encouraged to lean into the physical feeling of the touch of skin. Robots bring to the forefront the idea of this physical contact because their skin is often not exactly skin, and that in itself gives a sort of de facto distance from sexuality. There’s a moment which happens repeatedly with Pixane, and shows up in other robotic romances, like Wall-E and Eve, which I feel highlights this essential separation from the skin of sexuality. Pixane and Wall-Eve both have the ‘clink’ moment, in which intimate physical contact is made, (in Pixane’s case, all of their many hugs) and accentuated by the sound of their metal skin meeting with a loud clink. This sound not only highlights their lack of skin but serves to suck any sexual energy out of the interaction immediately and leaves it purely with the romance intended by the action. It’s not uncommon for people to find the sound humorous, precisely because of how desexualizing it is. It highlights the couples’ incapability of indulging in sexual skin on skin contact, and instead the closeness and companionship the act of touching provides.

And this is why I feel robots are in fact a decent candidate for asexual characters if done properly. Robots being coded as asexual can be a very negative stereotype, particularly when their asexuality is explicitly linked to their lack of emotion and feeling- but media about robots has been trending more positively recently. In fact, robots, if used correctly, may actually validate asexuality explicitly. Robotic characters are often used to explore the idea of what makes humanity human. If we give these robots human-like enough traits, when do they become human? Are they perhaps the most human? And it seems like fictional consensus agrees that sexuality is not required to achieve human status. Stripping away the excess human emotions may be part of what makes robots asexual (or aromatic, if your robot is also incapable of romantic love). The medium of robot literalizes the disconnect that asexuals have with their physical bodies, most notably their skin, and serves to put additional distance between the character and sexual contact, at least in the traditional sense. I mean, think about it, if you want your robot to be sexual, you need to go out of your way to establish that it has sexual capability, because no one is going to simply assume that your fictional robot was designed with that capability in mind. Why would it be, unless that was its explicit purpose? In a way, robots are sort of de facto asexual.

Pixane is queer because it’s asexual, and it’s asexual because they distill down only the purely romantic parts of a romantic relationship. They’re able to do this, in part because of their individual characterization, but also because of their robotic bodies, which make the separation between romance and sexuality just that much easier. They highlight the necessity to separate romance from all of the convoluted sexual layers which often accompany it, and so come out feeling distinctly untraditional and subversive.

That's the theory, again, all hyper based on my own personal experience with asexuality, which is of course not all encompassing. I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

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Jay = High Intelligence, Low Wisdom

Kai = Low Intelligence, High Wisdom

Essay about this concept below the cut

Now these are all just my interpretations of the characters, I don't necessarily have hard evidence on hand to back all this up, but here we go:

I've been trying to put my finger on the Kai smart/dumb duality, and I think I can finally somewhat make out my thoughts. Kai is not smart. Book smarts don't come easily to him, he's not great at math, he's not great at overly complex stratagizing- but he's got a LOT of great knowledge in him.

Take the dragon healing in DR. He might not intuitively know how different medicines work or why, but he's got injured enough that he knows that type of information is important to know, and so he's forced it into his head. He couldn't tell you why the blue goop helpped the dragon, but he knew that it would, and that it would be important to remember that it would.

He's pretty good at navigating complex social situations, because he's good at reading people. Having had a history with extreme emotions, he knows how to take them into account, and knows how important it is to do so, even if it's not necessarily logical. I hate to say this, but he's very emotionally intelligent, which sounds kinda like an insult but is actually insanely valuable, because humans are inherently emotional creatures.

He's got a solid basis of common sense, and is constantly looking at the bigger picture. That's why he can come up with the best outline for a plan, because he can not think through the details. Now, if he tries to implement a plan of his without consulting others, he's probably going to miss some very important details, and screw himself over. But, he's most likely to have the best basic premise for an effective plan. This is why his intuition is usually correct. He's not logically thinking through the most likely scenario given all available factors, he's looking at every problem from the birds eye view, and is easily able to fill in the blanks, because he sees the whole picture. You can not tell me this kid knew Lloyd was the Green Ninja because he used logical deduction to eliminate all other possibilities, he had a gut feeling based on realizing the value of human life.

Now, sometimes you need details. And Kai is not good at those. He sucks at those. Big time. But he's self aware enough to know when those times are (most of the time, sometimes he wastes all his lives in a video game before talking to anyone else).

The thing all of these points have in common is that he's lived a very full life while making very many mistakes, and he's learned from all of them. He learns from his dumb mistakes, and is wise enough to know which lessons are worth holding on to.

Jay on the other hand... does not learn from his mistakes. He's got a real thick skull.

Inside that skull is a really smart guy who intuitively latches on to engineering and science concepts. He's got a whole heck of a lot of information that his brain is holding onto simply because it can. This man is all about the details. He gets hyperfixated on details to the point where it's a problem. He's the most likely to solve the intricate problem facing the team, forget that they need to stay hidden, and yell "I did it!". Good at details, bad at big picture. This is also why he usually gives up hope so easily compared to the rest of the team. He can not think long term, he can not see the bigger picture like Kai can, so road blocks in the current plan seem insurmountable.

Sure, he might have rigged an old sailing ship with rocket boosters, but he couldn't unscramble "darnagom" his logical problem solving skills are not what's carrying him.

My standby for the Jay dumb/smart duality is that he should have a significant amount of William Osman energy to him. He's very smart, and can work out how to solve intricate problems and make insane builds, but if making said things is a dangerous or dumb idea has never once crossed his mind, and if it has, he has actively chosen to ignore it. Jay's intelligence is much more creativity based than I think a lot of people like to think. Engineering is about slapping crazy ideas together which barely hold together at first- and that's Jay's brand of smarts.

If you compare this to Zane, that's the vital component that his intelligence is missing- the creativity. He is VERY good at assessing options, but not so great at coming up with new solutions himself. He's running on pure logic and tested successes. He's also missing that social intelligence that Kai has. I'd venture to say that Zane is, by far the most gullible member of the team. If there is not a solid logical reason to doubt something, he is absolutely going to take it at face value. Point being, all the ninja have different smarts, and stupidities, let's not try to conflate them too much.

I'm sorry, you can HC Lloyd as 40 if you want, but that's just not how things look to me.

Ninjago, at least the original show, was set up to be evergreen content. No matter how loosely they foreshadow the next season in the previous one, there is no one over arcing storyline building to a climax, it's meant to go on forever, that's why crystalized sucked, cuz it wanted to be an ending. The ninja are to have infinite adventures until the end of time, and most importantly, they are meant to be teenagers that whole time. There is not a palpable age difference that anyone can notice in any of our characters from the beginning of the show to the end, because part of the appeal is that they are stupid teenagers doing stupid teenager shenanigans. The only exception to this is Lloyd, who gets a magical time skip to get him from little kid to cool teenager. This is the only way aging can actually happen in these types of cartoons, by a manually inserted time skip. The only confirmed aging to me is about 2 years, because we get a one year time skip at the start of seasons 8 and 15. I would estimate they go from around 16 to 18. It doesn't matter how little sense it makes, it wouldn’t matter if the show had kept going and quadrupled it's run time, if there were no confirmed time skips at least a year in length in that time span, then they are still the same age. It's just cartoon aging.

Now, Dragons Rising has given us a multi-year time skip. This means that the ninja are 100% for sure adults now. That fits thematically with the tone their setting and the story their telling. But I would put the ninja in their early to mid twenties still. Working with kids as a solo mentor for the first time, trying and failing to grow serious facial hair, being shoved into the deep end of being responsible when you're suddenly separated from your support system, the sudden lack of your designated responsible adult. These are all young adult problems. Lloyd is stumbling through his first time as mentor. Kai now definitely radiates cool uncle energy instead of cool older cousin energy, but he's still the younger, unmarried, one of the kids, uncle.

The ninja are in their twenties. I cannot see them any other way.

Plastic Women: So, what is my point?

A note for those who somehow would like to hear more from me about the video

The mega video started out as a final essay assignment for a children's media college class. The prompt was ten pages on a topic related to children's media that tied into one of our weekly discussions. Being as obsessed with ninjago as I am, I was obviously going to write about it, and one of our weekly topics had to do with children's media's relationship to gender. I had a lot of thoughts on the female characters of the show, so I decided this essay would be a good opportunity to get those off my chest. Plastic Women: Female Representation in Lego Ninjago was the end result. It was a good essay- maybe I'll post it some time. The only problem was that my initial first draft was nearly a dozen pages long- and I had only just finished my thoughts on Nya. I decided that a paper analyzing the arc of the central female character would be perfectly adequate for the assignment, tightened things up a bit, and submitted it. I knew as soon as I did that the rest of my thoughts would have to come out- and that's what the four hours you've(presumably) watched is.

Being that the original point of the essay was to fulfill an assignment requirement, pinpointing the end goal of the video was a weirdly difficult struggle in the production process. I knew I had a lot of thoughts about the women, I knew it felt important that they get out into the world, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. Why is this so important? What's my point in making this? Why do I have this drive behind things? I offer up a couple explanations in my video. Part of it was to help improve consciousness of these issues, to stress that female representation is actually important in male targeted media. To help encourage better practices for the show's future, to get people think analytically about the media they consume. These explanations seemed to satisfy me, and I still think they're all very important and valid, but even as I sat down to record the outro, there was this nagging feeling that I hadn't quite gotten to the core of why I was making this. What was driving me to put in a year and a half of effort, scripting, refilms, and endless, endless editing in order to get this out? Because while I do care about all of those things, it doesn't ignite that same passion source of where this video is coming from.

Unfortunately, the realization only really hit me after posting the video- after reading the comments. Unfortunately, the negative ones. I don't want to overstate how much hate the video has gotten, it has been widely well received, but I have my fair share of suspected (or self described) children and pre teens calling me an idiot for overthinking things in the comments. Some of these are obviously only responding to the title and thumbnail, and it's quite fun to scroll through the comment section and point them out. But of the people who have the most plausible deniability for actually watching at least part of the video, the most common criticism was by far the run time. Why am I dedicating this much time to a show which is obviously not a raging hate letter towards women? I'm labeling this thing as sexist when there's a whole season of the lead female fighting sexism. There are so many worse things that might deserve this run time, but ninjago can not be that bad. This is obviously ridiculous.

Now there are a couple of responses I have to this sentiment. First of all, the series is insanely long. I have to not only analyze, but explain all 15 seasons for those who (understandably) haven't watched it all or aren't as obsessive as I am. That's gonna take some time regardless of what angle you're doing a deep dive on. Have you seen the length of some of the show recap videos alone? Second, the video as a whole is a retrospective, not purely a criticism. I spend quite a bit of the run time praising the things which I do like and shrugging at things I think are passable. Third, I state up front that I am purposely looking for all interpretations of the text, because they are all interpretations that a young audience could potentially take away. Even if it's not surface level, if it's one or two layers down, I'm still interested. That means it's not logical to blanketly call the show sexist, because it's not openly promoting these ideas, and that was never my goal, I think I made that clear. In many ways I believe that if this were a "Ninjago is sexist" video it would be a lot shorter. Part of why the runtime is so long is because there is a great deal of nuance to how this show treats its female characters, and nuance takes time. If it were as simple as "Ninjago is obviously misogynistic" I would point to the problem spots and we wouldn't need a discussion. I wouldn't have to analyze. It would just be a statement of fact. But that's why the video's title is much less specific and accusatory. "More misogynistic than you remember" is a lot more open ended. It has some misogyny in there, and it's more than your child brain likely noticed. That doesn't mean it's necessarily overwhelming or defining for the series, it just means that it's there- and that amount is going to differ depending on the viewer and their personal interpretations of the text. I for one thought that the Racer 7 plot line was an obvious dismissal of female struggle, but apparently it's not as clear a universal a reading as I thought. Maybe it's my life experience as a women in a male dominated field that put that front and center under a undeniable spotlight for me, but that doesn't mean that's the universal experience of the show, nor should it count against the show so strongly as I feel it.

But this criticism is finally what made it click for me. I'm not criticizing the show because it's obviously sexist. Quite the opposite. I'm criticizing it because it is trying to not be sexist. I'm criticizing the show because it wants to be progressive, it's trying to include female characters, it is including messages and plotlines specifically to try and uplift women- and it's failing.

I am past the point of feeling the need to point out that andrew tate is wrong for seeing women as lesser. That's not an interesting take, that's not a new idea, and if you need that told to you, you are likely beyond help from a youtube video. I am not here to dabate if female representation is valuable, I am taking that fact as a given because it is a conclusion which I feel is inherently correct. If you have not yet come to this same conclusion, the purpose of this video is not to convince you that it is. That can be someone else's job. This is not a 101 class, it's got some prerequisites, because without them, you aren't going to appreciate my points. I am interested in giving ideas to people who already know their basics. It's not my fault if you're a few decades behind in your ideas on film theory. The efficacy of what constitutes positive female representation has already been debated and outlined for decades by people much smarter than me. I am not here to make their points, I am here to make my own.

I'm not here to point out the problems of blatant sexism, because that has been litigated to death; I'm interested in the problems of sexism today- because yes, even when sexism isn't blatant, it's still a problem. I am interested in breaking down subtle sexism. Accidental sexism. Systemic sexism. Sexism from people who are trying to be inclusive, because they are the ones who will actually take feedback. The sexism that is baked into our media culture, so deeply ingrained that it seems rather acceptable to show sexual assault on a kid's show. I am interested in why a show which so obviously repeatedly tries to incorporate feminist ideas into its plot can so easily rid its female characters of agency. It's not that I made the video to say something about ninjago, it's that I made the video to say something about sexism in media, and used ninjago as my example. It. Is. Everywhere. And perhaps even worse, it is ridiculously easy to accidentally end up in your work.

I do hint at these ideas throughout the run of my video, but I really wish I had known this was where my drive was coming from at the outset, because if I had, this idea would be pressed constantly. Tropes older than the film medium seep into the most basic of plots and position females in passive roles by default, and if you don't know that, you are going to ingrain these ideas into your work. It might not be blatant, it might be quite subtle, but it may also snowball into something egregious, like happens in skybound. It was supposed to be a season (partially)about fighting sexism, but ends up framing our lead female as an object, removing all her agency, and turning our leading man into an extremely objectifying character who never grows out of his possessive behaviors. Like I say at the beginning, this is a cautionary tale. It's active proof that doing the bare minimum in not being offensive in female representation requires an amount of effort that many people don't realize is necessary. It is almost never that the show outright says something sexist, it's that the plot structure and character progression do not think to include its female characters. It is not the text, it's the subtext. And you might not think that subtext is influential, but the very fact that you think it's not is the most terrifying thing about it. Our brains absorb so much more than we know, and the fact that these patterns and stereotypes are seeping in subconsciously without our recognizing it, is perhaps even more dangerous than outwardly sexist media in some cases. Consistency in these patterns is bound to rewire your brain- and you won't even notice.

That's the point I think I failed to emphasize throughout the run. How easy it is. How ridiculously easy it is to fall into these problems. "it's like you see sexism everywhere!" well, yes. It is everywhere. That's the point. It's baked into our culture. It's a corner stone in our media. It's systemic. That's the problem- that it's near impossible to find something that doesn't have it because it's a founding principle of most of human culture. That's why reverse sexism is not nearly as big a deal btw. Sure, shows aimed at little girls have a lot of underdeveloped male love interests, but they also haven't been stuck in that position for centuries upon centuries of human storytelling.

I don't feel the need to prove that the label of misogynist or sexist is befitting of the whole series, because for one, it's not, and for two, that wouldn't do anything. Ninjago is a symptom of the problem. It is not the problem in and of itself. Blacklisting it for being bad doesn't help anything, and I think I made it abundantly clear that was never my intention or desire. My intention was to show you just how prevalent this casual sexism can be. How this subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) undercurrent can be found in something as unexpected as a children's show which actively brags about the strength of its female characters. The goal was to open your eyes to how consistent it is, even if it's not potent. It was to lay out how the patterns tend to present themselves, so that maybe you'll be able to better identify them elsewhere. Because they are elsewhere. They're everywhere. It may not be in as high a dosage as it used to, but collectively it is still a staggering, saturating amount. And if you are an artist looking to make something that doesn't have this subtext, I'm here to warn you that it is likely a steeper up hill battle than you initially presume.

Misogyny is everywhere. I just happen to know a lot about ninjago, so that's where I chose to go in depth in breaking it down. It's a case study- and I think a quite interesting one with a lot of nuance at that. It's what I felt I could contribute, and I have to believe that's enough to justify its existence.

Forgive me for like yapping at you for a while this is gonna be a long one, and I totally get if you don't respond to this at all and just delete it from your inbox it's just something that has been bothering me sooo much

And before I start I want to clarify this is not hate! I'm just intending to like. Discuss yk?

So in your video analysis of female characters in ninjago I was quite excited to get to the bit about Harumi because she's a really interesting character and absolutely one of my favorites. But when I did it was like you missed every major aspect of her character and motivations and it was especially disappointing because like. The video was worded to accomodate new/non-fans who don't know about these characters! And it's disheartening when a character is completely misunderstood especially in a video where the point is to explain these characters and how they are often misunderstood or poorly represented by the writers

I think you were really hung up on the idea that Harumi had any good motivations for what she was doing which is just. Not true. Harumi never wanted to help people who had similar situations to her. The whole point of her character is that she's held onto her anger and hatred to the point it's all that drives her, which is what makes her death so impactful- It's the moment she sees the error of her ways and the fact that she's only perpetrated the same cycle that hurt her.

You brought up the fact that it didn't make sense for her feeding the poor to be an act. But it does if you think about the rest of the context of the scene. I know it's easy to miss things when you're trying to get all the information together for a video like that so I totally don't blame you for this one, but Lloyd brings up the fact that her room seemed ransacked and her window was blown open. The intent there on Harumi's part was to get him to follow her so he'd see her doing something "good" that'd throw him off her trail. This is something she does OFTEN. Like when the ninja are discussing who the quiet one could be or when Lloyd is shocked by her ability to throw the machete.

Harumi, in the oni trilogy at least is consistent with her motives. They screwed her up real bad in crystalized, but in the Oni trilogy the point of her character was that her worldview was fucked up and she didn't care who she hurt until she realized that she was being no better than the people who hurt her.

I think since there is such a drastic tonal shift when we get to the Oni trilogy, you were probably unintentionally looking at it through the same lense as the rest of the series where the themes and such are very surface-level and spelled out easily so again I don't like hate you for not understanding her motives or hell even falling for the manipulation tactics she employed that the viewer was supposed to look a little more into but I needed to like ramble about it SORRY this ended up much longer than I intended ^^; don't feel pressured to respond or anything

OoOOOooo! I usually answer my asks in order, but this one is real tempting right now, so I absolutely will respond. And before we get into everything, I want to extend you the same exact courtesy you did me. I'm just here to discuss. Absolutely zero hard feelings or hate.

First off, I think that is a great, and perfectly valid interpretation. Have fun with it. It's certainly a little more cohesive than what I got out of the season. I do, however, think you underestimate how much thought went into my video. As a bit of behind the scenes, Harumi was absolutely the piece of the script I was most paranoid about missing something for, because I don't have the same love for the character as most of the fandom, so I was thinking about her characterization a lot. Unfortunately, I have in fact considered all the pieces you have presented here. I just don't think those pieces actually fit together so neatly as presented in the show.

Specifically, I think it's very clear that we are supposed to have some amount of agreement with/sympathy for Harumi. Her backstory in flashback is supposed to be very heart wrenching. We see her child self go numb at the end, not angry, it's not trying to show us the start to a hardening progression, it's showing us harumi, currently angry at what happened to the little girl she used to be. If she were supposed to be a pure evil villain like Aspheera who's just evil because she is, whose justifications don't really line up, they would not have tried so hard to make us cry about her past. The backstory is structured so that it seems to give her a proper motive. She outright states her motive in her villain reveal monologue. If the point was to highlight how far from those original motivations she has strayed, it should have, I don't know, been highlighted in narrative? Have people bring it up? Have people try and appeal to her supposed motivation, have it not work, and then realize how far she's gone?

Harumi going to feed the poor was a move to throw Lloyd off the scent? What kind of 4d chess is she playing? She's got to assume lloyd will come look for her after happening to see a trashed room in a very narrow timeframe, follow her, and then talk with her while feeding children, all so that he... trusts her? After he already very clearly trusts her? All the other examples you bring up are harumi misdirecting attention after they start to catch on to her with minimal logistical effort. This is not that. Feeding the poor would be an insane preventative measure to take with a ton of extra complicated steps, that ultimately doesn't even gain her any new advantages. At that point, it's just bad writing. And if this was supposed to be an example of how she's betraying the motives she claims to be fighting for, again, it should have been highlighted in the narrative. As we have it, it's only brought up as an example of how manipulable the ninja are, not how far she's strayed from her purpose.

Now, is what your trying to say here what they intended to portray? Very likely. That's what the best written version of this character looks like. It's the only way her arc in the oni trilogy makes sense. Which, I do praise once I get to my season 9 bit. I talk about the cycle of hurt, and how good her death is, on multiple levels, and I end with an overall positive outlook on the character as flawed but ultimately impactful until we get to crystalized. But again, that is not what actually got portrayed to us in season 8. Do not give the writers credit for dots that you were able to shuffle around into making sense. I think I make it pretty clear that I understand Harumi isn't supposed to have a reasonable motive in the review. My confusion is at the narrative dissonance this reveal has when we get to it, because of the hints that tell the audience to relate to Harumi as a villain. The backstory, the attempt at a logical motive, and the girl boss feminism twist all point us in the direction of there being something she's actually fighting for. I think they did a bad job at portraying the ideas they wanted to get across, and my goal in the review is to highlight where those dissonances are, because the writing on her character to portray these ideas wasn't done correctly.

That, on top of the basic factual timeline errors in her backstory and logistics around her plan just push my perspective over the edge for me. I wasn't blind to the points your making here, I was intentionally de-emphasizing them to bring attention to the poor writing that tried to show us those elements. My thesis is that harumi was underthought, and I stand by that thesis. I have yet to come across an argument that has convinced me otherwise, though I don't discount that there may yet be one out there.

But even if you do read my analysis as a shallow first time viewer's perspective on things(which again, I assure you it isn't), if the point the writers were trying to get across doesn't translate to a first time viewer, isn't that a problem?

If it makes you feel any better though, one of the top comments under the video is a thread of people trying to explain their interpretations of how harumi's character makes sense, so there is discussion being had about this stuff.

Pixal deserves better, because Pixal didn't have to do any of this...

She has no responsibility to be doing what she's doing, and yet does it despite her entire life being a traumatizing nightmare, and that's insanely commendable. When you break down just her basic story beats you can see just how resilient she is.

Pixal is a droid created to be an assistant- a glorified receptionist who just so happened to get caught up in an insane series of events. She was wrapped up in the plans of the Overlord, essentially acting as a spy in order to obtain information, not even necessarily against her will. She had no will to begin with. Her new purpose was to aid in bringing darkness, and she was fine with this. It's not until she gets hacked by the technoblade and later upgraded with Zane's heart that she began to gain consciousness and free will. While actively trying to figure out how being even remotely human works, she's put through a series of tramatic events surrounding the people she's just learned to care about- her father and Zane- and despite this, comes through on multiple occasions to save them and the team. She's barely figured out how choosing to do something and having the ability to be happy works, and suddenly she has to save the ninja from dying in the digiverse, and is forced to watch one of the two people she's had time to build a meaningful connection with, die. Not to mention the point of failure was his heart- the hardware he intentionally compromised specifically in order to keep her alive.

It's not unlikely that she blames herself for his death. This effects her so much, she can't even bring herself to attend the funeral. She could exit the story here, but no. After Zane rebuilds himself, she presumably stands by him as he gets kidnapped, and is literally torn apart, ripped from any connection she has to the physical realm, likely conscious for all of this, only to wake up and learn that Zane has lost his memory. And remember, she has just barely started to understand what it's like being human, and she is immediately ripped away from an essential piece of being human- the physical realm. She coaches Zane through not only regaining his memory, but the escape process, all while knowing all hope is lost for her at this point. Zane does manage to save her, but she is now stuck in another person's system with no way to effect the world around her, and no way to make her voice heard to anyone but Zane. She is trapped in a purgatory in which she makes no impact on anything. All she can do is talk to Zane, a person actively going through an intense identity crisis, hallucinating, and ignoring what she tells him a not insignificant portion of the time. She somehow manages to get him through this emotional rollercoaster, only to be stuck in this strange limbo for YEARS. And she DOESN'T EVER COMPLAIN. She doesn't know she has the right to a body. She doesn't think to question these circumstances. She hasn't lived long enough to understand her body as a fundamental piece of herself.

This situation may be more barable because she cares about Zane and is used to the digital space, but it's still gotta be brutal. She is continually helping and learning about this team of people that Zane lives with, being subject to all their discussions together, getting to know them on an extremely intimate level, and yet they constantly forget that she even exists. She is not allowed to join the group, she is only able to observe. And so she does this, she goes on being ignored by the only people she really knows for the majority of her life, and when does she decide to exit the situation? Only when it's clear the team needs additional help.

That's right. Instead of exiting this insane scenario in order to go back home to her father, who actually knows and cares about her, she decides to stay WITH the team, actively obscuring her identity in the process, further reinforcing this weird twisted dynamic in which her contributions are not realized by those around her. The world has taught her that being an isolated member is required of her, and so she continues this pattern of her own volition. She loves Zane, and she loves her dad, and she gives up both of these in order to try and help save the world, even when she has nearly zero experience with doing this type of stuff first hand. She was not built with any kind of fighting in mind. Her original design sucks at fighting. That's canon. She has little experience controlling her own body, let alone a giant armored mech. But she does it anyway, because she sees that the team needs back up.

She eventually reveals her identity to the team she's been assisting for ages now. Again, she's lived with these people for the majority of her short life on this earth, and yet they do not know her. They recognize her and congratulate her, but don't proceed to form any kind of meaningful relationship with her. Zane is her only lifeline. She second guesses her decision to assert her physical presence. She thinks that perhaps her reentry into this world was a mistake. Her life has taught her that she is able to be most effective when unseen by the world around her. She has to be reassured that her decision to EXIST is okay with those around her.

Again, she could stop at any point. She could hang up the helmet and go home. Live a normal life. Try and get in touch with the human piece of herself again. Her dad would certainly welcome her back, and Zane wouldn't have a problem getting to Borg Tower to visit. She has no elemental power beckoning her to participate. No debt of gratitude to these people, no rich familial history keeping her here. She barely even has friends. At any point in this story she could very rightfully choose to exit out of this life that she was not built for and bares no responsibility towards. She doesn't have to do any of this. But she stays. Because she knows she's doing good. Even when she has to watch her boyfriend die every other season. Even when she's left alone to deal with some of the most insane issues. Even with all she's going through, she's not only active, but proactive, building the team equiptment that they potentially might require without ever being asked. She's building safeguards and back up the ninja don't even realize they'll need.

But even when she builds these amazing mechs and vehicles, when she single handedly runs the monestary and repeatedly recorrects the many misteps of the team, they barely even notice her. Only when she's actively saving them does she manage to squeeze some respect out of them. She remains a strange misunderstood other in the group, doing 50% of the work and yet remaining a side character in this story she repeatedly determines the direction of. Zane is the only one who begins to understand her struggle, and he too repeatedly distances himself from her. She doesn't have to be there. Infact she deserves a lot better than to be there. She deserves to sit it out and process some of what she's been through. But she stays anyway. Because she knows what she's doing is making a difference. Because even if they don't read the instruction manuals she writes for them, even if they leave her behind on adventures, even if there's nothing for her to gain, she sticks around to assist them.

Because she was built to assist.

I'm still on this, I'm sorry

It's not the minipix I hate- It's what they represent.

The minipix, minipix 7 in particular, is fine. They're doing their job and they're wholesome enough. Their design still sucks. The creepy floating head with arms combo is still innately hideous to me no matter how many little uwu facial expressions you give them, but the way they're characterized, they're fine.

What I don't like about them is that they completely negate a lot of Pixal’s character. For a while now, pixal has been ignored by the writers. Her role as a side character has been more and more confirmed despite her being on the team full time. Her main contribution is that she creates vehicles and mechs and the such. She repairs technology. Cool. But with the introduction of the minipix, that too is essentially taken away from her. Her whole thing was that she was always busy building something new. And now it turns out she wasn't even doing that. It's the minipix doing it. Pixal used to dominate bad guys as samurai x, but in episode 15, she can't do that anymore. The minipix, apparently not even designed to fight, fight for her. Sure, pixal made the mini pix, but outside of that, she is completely inactive. Pixal has already been reduced to robotic side kick, and they've now given her her own robotic side kick that actively outshines her. She's being replaced by her own invention narratively, with the only role of hers that hasn't been taken over being 'love interest'. And we all know how empowering that is for female characters. I mean, Nya has essentially taken away her samurai x role for crystalized, coming in on narrative beats where Pixal would have traditionally in her new giant mech, so literally, love interest is all pixal has left.

The one pixal side plot in crystalized? It's centered around Zane. The big moment everyone talks about? Literally season 3 rehash. That's what she gets. And don't get me wrong, I loved it all, but it would be nice if she had something to do that wasn't Zane related.

The moment at the end of episode 15 where minipix 7 saves most of the team is kinda cute and sweet. But wouldn't it have been more impactful if an actual established character got to do that? If pixal got to prove her value to the team, and get a moment of actual regret and conflict when she can't find nya? Give skylor a chance to contribute and show her value even when she doesn't have powers? Let wu show his devotion to his team? Have nya save the others in a self sacrificial move to make the hastey fake out death more meaningful? Anything? The minipix are actively distracting from any actual character development our already established characters could be getting.

To me (again, to me, this part particularly is very debatable), it reads like they didn't know what to do with pix's character, they were getting bored with her, and so they decided to make her a fun likeable sidekick. And it seems like kinda a slap in the face, because there's so much else you could do with this character, but they just can't see it, or they don't want to, or they see all that potential as disposable. Like really? Is this the best you could come up with? You refuse to give her any more depth than you already have, you refuse to look at her in any sort of meaningful light, and so instead you slap this stupid side plot onto the side of her character where she gets to be even more of an indirect help than she was before. Great. Thanks. This is just what I wanted for this character.

The thing that characterizes minipix 7 is that they aren't built to fight, but they go out of their way to save and help the team. They don't talk, and are made to be ignored, but they have a sweet heart and are trying to do their best, and in doing so rise above everyone's expectations. That's fine characterization, but that's also... pixal! We already have that character! It's pixal! Pixal wasn't built to fight! Pixal's trying her best to help the team! Pixal’s often ignored and not especially talkative! Pixal needs this character development! The minipix are just redundant! At most, all they are at this point is a cute little side kick character, but despite already having that in the form of the chicken which would presumably also have a close bond with pixal the minipix, as previously covered, aren't even cute. So what's the point? Really, what is the point here?

Yeah, minipix 7 is likable enough in show, but that's because she's literally a copy of pixal. And they can't even get one pixal right, so I'm really not eager to see this fun size clone.

The minipix themselves aren't bad, but their emblematic of the writing problems that have plauged the women of the show, pixal in particular, for years now. Now, luckily they didn't saturate the second half of the season- thank goodness minipix 7 wasn't shoved in the middle of the pixane angst. But they didn't really do anything to make me feel any different about them. Maybe minipix 7 will get a redesign and its own unique personality one day and I'll love them. Who knows? But right now, I'm stuck feeling irrationally angry at these ugly little robots, even though it isn't even personally their fault.

It's not the minipix I'm mad at, it's the writers.

what else is new

Thoughts on the love square because I need to figure out why the flip isn't working for me:

So... we flipped. Which is cool and fun and all, but also I think that it happened in a way that misses the point, or at the very least some interesting potential.

The premise of this show is so good- and it has a clear resolution state. Each character thinks their in love with this idealized perfect version of their classmate, all while unknowingly rejecting that person's other identity. In order for these characters to get together, they first need to learn to love their other halves. And seemingly, that's what the square flip has done, but... idk. It's not playing for me. And maybe I know why? Idk.

My first assumption was that Chat and Mari were the more sincere versions of both these characters, where they have all their flaws and impulses on display, and so flipping the square would essentially prove that they'd fallen in love with all of each other. And while that might have been true at the beginning of the show, the relationships between these characters have deepened and complicated a lot, there’s not such a harsh split between the two personalities, and that statement just doesn't hold true anymore. So, no, it's not marrichat that'll solve the love square. As we've seen, it didn't really work out well, and I for one was very surprised at the dynamic it took on.

Idk, for me elation wasn't marichat, it was just a quick role reversal episode. It missed the whole appeal of marichat, at least for me. And I guess that's because the relationship I've always imagined marichat as, is like... healthy? Accidental? Real? The whole appeal was that they didn't have a crush on each other, so them falling in love that way was like, ironic. It requires that Mari and chat have a relationship that is established first and then developed into a romantic thing, not that they happen to have a crush on each other at the same time. And with that not being what we ended up with, it has recontextualized the problem for me.

The problem isn't that these different identities are getting in the way of their love like i previously assumed, it's that they don't actually love each other. Marinette likes Adrien in a celebrity high school crush capacity. Chat likes Ladybug in a hot girl at work capacity. These are not a solid basis for actual long term relationships. That's why marichat is appealing, because it's the only relationship between the two that's a blank slate, untouched by these obsessive crushes. But that's kinda a bust now. So... I'm not sure which side of the square I'm on. And the stragest part about this move is that it doesn't even really change much.

Marrinette is not only stupidly love struck around Chat now, but still clumsy around Adrien, and Adrien is a stupid soft boi around Mari still, he just blushes more. This isn't change or progression in their dynamic, it's just a shift of setting. The way these two develop crushes so quickly on new people is not healthy or nuanced. There's this deep sense of obsession that comes with them, and it's just not good. Not to mention it doesn't really makes sense. Adrien getting his mind out of 'she's just a friend' mode should take a little while. Marrinette's crush on chat should've been swamped with hesitancy for a long while before she comes to terms with it. These hyperfixating crushes are cute and all, but they're keeping our characters stuck at this surface level that prevents any real progression from happening.

It baffles me that Marinette rejecting her crush on Adrien doesn’t finally get us past her nervous train wreck energy when she's around him. Like maybe Adrien liking her would actually make sense if she was finally free of her crush, and so starting acting more natural and confident around him. Maybe it's now Adrien who is a scatter brained mess around her! That would actually be a fun dynamic reversal! It would be change! Progression! Reaction! How about have Adrien react to Mari having a crush on him for years? How about have ladybug react to chat finally having let go of his? How about have these characters feel like they actually know each other- because they do!

And hey, maybe that's the point the writers are going to make. These characters can't get together if they don't know each other's identities, because any way you slice it, they'd be dating half a person. Fine. But that doesn't mean them learning to like the different sides of this person separately shouldn't be framed as progress of some kind or another. The love should become more real the more sides of this person they learn to love, even in descreat parts, right?

This set up, by design, is a friends to lovers story. They think they're just friends, but it turns out they love each other. So why wouldn't you make it so that when they do fall in love, it progresses from friends to lovers- not that they happen to align their crushes with each other at the right moment, or maybe that their identities get revealed to each other, forcing them into it. Cuz really, those are the only options left at this point. Every set of romantic attractions has been explored, so we can't have their love evolve out of something that isn't an obsessive crush.

I just... I guess I was waiting for the relationship between these two to get more intimate in a platonic sense in order to allow for the actual romance to blossom. And I guess I'm still waiting...

Y'all suck at dissecting Kai's character, so I guess I have to do it.

And I'm not even a Kai stan. He's a bottom tier ninja for me, which I guess means you can trust me, cuz I'm not biased, but also why am I the one doing this? I don't know about y'all, but recently on my dash, the method by which Kai fans try to make him sound good is... saying the writers hate him, ignore him, and that he isn't written well? Which... I mean there is a little bit of truth to, but like yikes guys, is this the best you got? Kai is a wonderful character with plenty of attention from the writers, a meaningful piece of the cast when put in secondary rolls, fairly consistent character writing with actual progression and valuable qualities that help the team without having to be the smart one- despite what some posts might tell you.

Let's get one thing cleared up: Ninjago isn't the best written show. By high level Hollywood standards, most the character arcs are kinda weak or too heavy handed, character consistency can be iffy, and most things serve the plot rather than the characters. There is no character you can point to and say "wow, this character is written so well! No complaints!" Nya and Jay were butchered by their weird love plot, Cole's one season doesn't actually give him an arc, Zane's been nothing but the robot numbers guy for like 10 seasons now, and Lloyd seems to be incapable of doing anything but relive the same one piece of dad angst for depth. Sorry, it's true. All the characters suck when you look at it from a large scale writing perspective. So when I say Kai is well written, I mean by ninjago kids show standards- cuz that's the scale we're working on. No, you couldn't drop Kai into a well written drama, but as far as ninjago goes... he's got a lot going for him, and by no means is he the biggest victim of poor writing.

(fair warning, wall of text below)

The title is a bit disingenuous. There are plenty of good Kai character break downs. What I am presenting here is a more positive perspective. On the whole, I will tend to give the writers the benefit of the doubt, and credit for what they do right writing is hard guys. That's what I'm doing here. I don't see much sense in getting mad the writers on behalf of Kai, or any other character. Ninjago is a simplistic ensemble show that works because of the identifiable simplicity of its main characters with some deeper layers hidden underneath if you keep watching. They've given us a damn good show with some damn enjoyable characters, so here are some criticisms I feel are a little flawed:

First, let's get the 'focus' thing out of the way. Apparently there are people saying Kai doesn't have a season yet? Which... what? I mean, I get that the pilots aren't a full season, the first two seasons, though he is the central protagonist, aren't "Kai seasons" as we've come to define ninja focus seasons, season 7, though he gets majority focus, he shares with his sister. But like... did y'all just forget about season 4? You know, the season where he had the title card, was on the box sets, got the love interest, and the majority of the A-plot? not to mention it's the best season don't @ me Like... if season 4 isn't a Kai season, I can make a damn good argument that season 3 isn't a Zane season, and I doubt anyone wants to go down that rabbit hole. I really can't wrap my head around this one. And I get that the fandom hates season 11 for some reason, but like you can't just pretend it doesn't exist. Kai has a consistent arc across 30 episodes in which he takes his powers for granted, loses them, and learns that, not only does he have value within the team without them, but that his element is intrinsically a part of him that he reclaims, bringing them back more powerful than ever, and with new respect for them. That's one of the most solid arcs in the whole series- the location is even thematically connected to his element. That's some good stuff right there! (Quick plug for season 11 if you haven't watched it in a while. Give it a rewatch, you might be pleasantly surprised)

Not to mention the writers give him fun side stuff all the time. Lots of fears of tech and water to overcome, a deep protective streak with Lloyd, becoming a chancellor, having a true potential actually relevant to the plot as a whole, blacksmith responsibilities, befriending dragons, hanging out with his dad. Not to mention actual focus stuff we haven't talked about yet, like his whole "my dad is evil" phase, and his "I might be evil" phase with him and Skylor. And on top of that, even when he doesn't have an explicit side plot, he's always just a fun and dynamic side character to make jokes or give exposition.

Now, into character stuff. Let's start with Kai's hot headed-ness. Some people say he's been loosing this quality, and I will admit, that's true! But those that claim this makes him inconsistent... I strongly disagree. In early seasons, Kai's temper would lead him to snap at his friends or make stupid decisions that set the team back (see episode 2 Zane freak out)- these are bad things. These are character flaws, yes? Now, in newer seasons, people say that he's inconsistent, cuz sometimes he'll be hot headed, and sometimes he won't. I'd say, this is exactly how being hot headed... works? It flares up without warning, and as an individual gets control of it, it'll pop up less and less often because they're channeling it into productive things - like say directing the anger towards an enemy (see season 11 end freak out). Kai has gained control of a character flaw, and though it still pops up on occasion, the fact that it's a once in a while kind of thing speaks to his growth. I have a little brother who has this exact personality, and watching him grow up, I can tell you, this is how it is. He used to snap all the time, and he still does sometimes, but much less frequently, because he's a more mature person with better control of his emotions. This is a good thing. This is overcoming personal flaws. This is progression we're seeing.

And while you're hyper focused on this one aspect of him, things like his cocky confidence haven't changed a bit. I mean, that season 3 bit between him and Pixal, and his season 11 "fire maker" streak have the exact same energy. You can not convince me otherwise.

Another adjacent quality that hasn't been dampened is Kai's impulsiveness. This can be a good quality of his, he'll get into a fight without thinking, getting the jump on the enemy. Good stuff. But, this has become such a well defined trait of Kai's that it has been used in a comedic capacity. This is what happens when a character is extremely consistent to the extent that both the audience and the characters in universe would be able to predict their actions. Kai's impulsivity used to be a more serious quality that put himself and others at risk, and was a big power move whenever he did something rash, but it's become such a staple of the show that it's now being used for comedy. That isn't Kai's impulsivity going away, that's Kai's impulsivity being recontextualized for the sake of the show. The season 9 "Who's stupid enough to jump on that thing" isn't a joke at the expense of Kai just for being dumb, it's a joke at Kai's being so predictably impulsive that everyone already knows he'll be the one to put himself in an insane amount of danger without thinking twice (you know, something stupid that might get him killed). But because in this instance, the danger is warranted, this is bravery. It's a complement to his character- it's what ends up defeating the colossus. Why are some people so bothered by this joke?

Oh right, cuz for some reason people want to peg Kai as the smart one? Look, Kai isn't stupid, none of the ninja are. All of them have smart moments (all of them have dumb ones too) and Kai can certainly handle himself, but "smart" is definitely not one of his defining characteristics- I think some people are confusing smart for his actual strength. Connected to his impulsivity, Kai has very good simplistic instincts. He sees the big picture and looks at the most surface level solution- which when the situation calls for it, that does indeed make him smart. But the same logic that led him to think "This snake has a glowing target on its head, lets hit it" also led him to think "I'm in a video game, therefore I am immortal." Are you really going to look at me and say he figured out Lloyd was the green ninja through logical deduction and a careful consideration of the facts? No. He had a gut feeling, and he trusted it. Instincts- instincts paired with his impulsive following of said instincts is what leads him to solve problems- and sometimes, that can be extremely effective. This goes for other ninja too. Jay isn't the smartest ninja- I would really only classify Zane and Nya as having intelligence define them (hence their ship name). But Jay is extremely creative and crafty. He also knows his was around mechanics, and as such, this will lead him to come up with creative tech based solutions which are smart. But, idk about you, if I had to point to another ninja as being 'dumb' it would 100% be Jay. Kai is a lot of things. He's passionate and determined and confident and persistent. He's a good improvisor, he's powerful and he's charming! These are all wonderful qualities, he doesn't also have to be the smart one. I am the worlds biggest Pixal stan, and she's a smart, sassy, powerful character, but I'm not gonna sit here and tell you she's also hilarious and adaptable and strong willed. She's a straight man to all the ninja's antics, extremely tied to her samurai x suit, and lets people push her around all the time. That doesn't mean she can't be funny, or self interested, but when she does act these ways, it stems from her other more prominent qualities. That make sense?

And while we're clearing up what Kai isn't, please stop characterizing Kai as an overly protective brother - especially romantically. The only two times he's been romantically protective to Nya are in Wu's Teas which I mean, come on and in the pilots when Jay is literally a stranger. For crying out loud, by the end of the pilot, he's smiling when Jay and Nya hug. That's not overly protective, that's just normal, any reasonable person would react this way, protective. And it's such a great stereotype break for a kids show like ninjago, having an older brother who actually trusts his younger sister to be her own independent person who can make her own decisions. I mean, I guess it's fine if you HC differently but like... idk, I don't buy it.

Now, is there still room to criticize the writers? Yes. Hell yes. But not to an extent greater than any other character. Could he have had more of a defined reaction to events of the most recent season that I won't name for the sake of spoilers? Yes. But could Zane have reacted for more than .5 seconds at being an evil war lord for apparently 60 years? Yeah. Has Kai taken a back seat in the past 4 seasons? Yeah. But so has Lloyd- and he's literally the main character of the show. Not to mention two of those seasons have gone to people who had to wait over ten seasons to get one to themselves, and one of them is a 40 minute special. Kai's doing just fine.

Anyway. Kai is great. He's a fun, stereotype breaking, impulsively driven, ball of energy and confidence who gets a good amount of screen time and some fun side plots.

One last thing to clear up: no hate to anyone. This isn't targeted at anyone specific, this post has been a long time coming, I've just seen some weird overblown claims on various platforms over the past few months and I finally sat down to write about it.

I like the Kai content we have. After all, if the writers were really that bad at writing him, then no one would like him.

Wow this was so much longer than I thought it would be. Um... if you have other long winded rants you'd like to see from me... let me know I guess?

“Pixane is a lazy ship cuz they’re both robots”

This argument has crossed my path multiple times over the course of this week, and I think it’s interesting. Certainly, it’s not completely invalid, it does seem pretty basic and cliched to have them like each other just because their robots. That’s kind of surface level isn’t it? And there’s certainly an argument to be made for Robot/Human ships being more compelling and impactful (I would also add messy and inherently more difficult for a kids show to tackle) and who knows? Maybe it would have been really interesting if they did it that way. But, Pixane being my OTP, I feel a need to defend not just the ship, but suggest that maybe them liking each other ‘just because they’re robots’ is a lot deeper than you think, and a pretty damn compelling dynamic, especially in the ninjago universe. 

Something we often forget is that, for a while, Zane was the only nindroid. Period. He was it. He has a whole support group reinforcing that he’s still human and still loved, and just as valid a person as anyone else, but he has no one to even try to talk to about the struggle of being a machine. And at the time that he goes to New Ninjago City, Pixal is the only other droid even in existence (unless you technically want to count Echo, but he’s not really relevant to this discussion). Zane has been literally the only person like him his entire life, so when he sees Pixal - which let me remind you, he was not prepared for in the slightest - it absolutely makes sense that he would be as star struck as he is. He thinks he’s the only one, and yet here is this droid, very clearly being a droid, with at least similar level of sentience as him. Of course he’s going to want to talk to her, and understand her, and protect her, and help her grow. Her mere existence must seem like a semi-miracle to him. 

This is why he goes to such great lengths to try and save her, that first moment of shock in seeing her probably left a deep impact. Zane sees a lot of himself in her, and those similarities are strong enough that he feels the need to fight for her humanity when the rest of the team dismisses her. Even if he has to give up half his heart, having another person even remotely like himself, is worth it. Pixal, even after getting the heart, doesn’t feel fully comfortable being human, she doesn’t feel like she fits in- Zane’s exact struggle leading to his true potential, and the reason why he’s the perfect one to coach her through these feelings as she discovers them. This is something that carries even into season 8 when she doubts her decision to leave the computer, which Zane once again talks her through. 

On the flip side, Pixal is what gives Zane confidence in his being a robot. Especially since his dad died, he has no technological connections in his life. He has no one to share that aspect of himself with until Pixal (and Borg) come along. Zane is a lot more in tune with his human half because he thought he was one a good chunk of his life. Zane is much more comfortable pretending to be human, so much so that in season 4 he has a whole existential crisis about his being a machine with replaceable parts. And wouldn’t you know, Pixal is the one who gets him through it. We also see hints of this idea in season 8 with his hologram cloak so he can switch appearances- coincidentally the season immediately following Pixal no longer being a permanent fixture of his systems. He’s lost Pixal as that anchor of confidence, so he turns back to his human appearance to try and make up for it.

They’re not just two robots shipped together because they’re two robots. Zane is a human who happens to be made of metal, and Pixal is a robot who happens to have emotion. They complement each other, they strengthen each other, and they reflect each other’s weaknesses. 

...plus they’re just so damn adorable.

Imma go on a rant here, and like... this isn't something I care about... at all, but screw it, I'm tired, and this irritates me, it's rant time.

Anyway, it's a Tommy tweet. And like, Tommy tweets are great and they can be cute and fun but when they go into establishing important lore, I feel like they should be taken with a massive grain of salt or just completely ignored as a suggested theory because most of them are just... so weird on so many levels, and are very clearly just his personal opinion or HC, and yet people treat them as fact and... this one just got under my skin something different.

It's surrounding the whole "What is Lloyd's element" debate, and in season 4, Chen calls him the "Master of Power" which would imply that a good or at least acceptable name for his element would be power. But Tommy... doesn't like that name, so his retcon is that Chen is a villain, so you can't trust him about... what elements are called?

Like, why would he lie about this?! What possible motive would he have?! Does this imply that he's lying about other element names? And what would it profit him to call elements incorrectly? What name could Lloyd’s power possibly have that would be so earthshattering that he needed to call it something entirely different?! He's studied the elements, his whole plan revolves around getting all of them, that takes research, it's not like you can argue he's uninformed on the topic or something- he's spent his life obsessing over it! If anyone could give us an answer, he might very well be a good option! How does this line of logic make any sense?! I don't get it. Because he's a bad guy you can't trust that he's truthful about basic names of stuff?

Like it's possible that there is a storyline you could write where he misleads Lloyd about what his element really is and later reveals the true nature of it once he's obtained the power or something, but if you were gonna make some sorta revelation about Lloyd's element... time has long passed for it to happen.

No no no. This is a case of the writers needing a name for the element for the tournament, picking one, and then Tommy trying to backtrack afterwards cuz he doesn't like it or has some, much more convoluted thoughts about how it all works.

Why are we gatekeeping basic lore about the show's main character? Why?! Maybe you can say that because Lloyd's power hasn't had a master before, it doesn't have a name, that's why it's referred to as so many different things! That even keeps it open for a reveal later down the road if you really wanted (although, at this point idk of anything you could do that would really be that much of a twist). There's this whole thing about "essense" in some of his tweets where creation and destruction come from, and supposedly whatever Lloyd's power is is an "essense" too, but like, Lloyd's power functions as an element, it's treated as an element. What makes essenses any different than elements? And why does it necessitate that he can't be called the "Master of [whatever]" that title doesn't even necessitate the power be an element! Why have this distinction? Why make it so complicated?

And why isn't any of this worldbuilding, that's pretty damn vital if it's supposed to be canon, estabLISHED IN THE SHOW?!?!?

The writers gave lloyd this vague green energy in season 2, and instead of just addressing it by giving it an explanation, or keeping it as a funny running joke like the show's tried to do, Tommy comes in here like "Oh, the main character's power is ~undisclosed~" implying that there is an answer, but they're just not telling us. Not only does it withhold information, but by refusing to give the fandom an acceptable name to use to even reference this power, it renders basic discussions about the show massively confusing and contentious. He dances around the information like the fandom needs to wait another ten seasons before we can figure out basic facts about the main character that aren't even set up to be a mystery.

THE HELL IS THIS?!?!?!?

I'm sorry. I need to stop. I have gone on a little too long here. See, this is why I'm not a ninjago lore person. It would break me... so quickly.

Anyway. Goodnight everyone.

Side note: Please don't try and argue with me about what Lloyd's power is, like I said at the top of the post, I honestly don't care. I just wanna watch the color ninjas go spin.

I know y'all like your Nya and Lloyd friendship or your Kai and Pixal friendship, but nah.

Pixal and Lloyd are probably like best friends, here's why:

So we know that the ninja sort of drifted apart in the 1 year gap between seasons 7-8. We also know that Lloyd has been working with Pixal all durring that period. They've been working one on one for like a year, and are clearly comfortable making jokes with one another. Then at the end of season 8, they morn their friends and go into hiding together. If that isn't some sort of bonding, idk what is.

Additionally, Pixal is the only member of the team who didn't know Lloyd as a child. I imagine the rest of the team still kinda sees him as and treats him like a kid. Pixal on the other hand would have no reason to see him as anything other than her peer, and arguably a living legend. Neither of them were a part of the pilot crew, and both had to kinda force their way into the team dynamic, so they probably better understand each other's struggles on that front. On Lloyd's side, he has been shown to have an abundance of respect for samurai x, especially Pixal's update identity- she has personally saved his life multiple times when no one else was there to save him. So needless to say, there's probably a lot of mutual respect going both ways in this friendship.

Plus, there are some fun parallels. Pixal is in the healthiest relationship on the team by far, and Lloyd has so many girl problems it's kinda funny. Lloyd likes comics and video games, and Pixal is a living digital superhero. Lloyd is the most prominent and powerful member of the team, and Pixal doesn't even have powers.

Anyway, I like them. I think they're neat...

Season 5 Analysis

STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I am going to be applying the concept of criticism to a TV show you presumably love and adore as much as I do. If you do not want your idea that the show is immaculate to be challenged, I would not advise reading past this point.

Additional Disclaimer: This includes criticism of Nya’s arc, so if you’re the type of person to get catty about this subject, turn back now.

Mood for this season: It’s spoopy time.

You don’t need to, but if you are interested, and haven’t seen my analysis of past seasons, you can find those here:

Pilot - Season 1 - Season 2 - Season 3 - Season 4

You can also find all of these, and future installments, on my blog using the tag #analysis 

Hey everyone! I’m still doing these things! Let’s see, when was my last one? Over two years ago...? Yikes, I owe y’all an apology. I really didn’t mean to put these off that long. Anyway, get ready to hate me, cuz although (for the most part) this seems to be the fandom favorite season… I think it’s overhyped. I know, don’t kill me. I’ll explain myself. I don’t think it’s bad or anything, it’s very well structured, but I definitely wouldn’t rank it among my favorites. First, for a little context, I am making a one second of every ninjago episode video right now, so I’ve been binging the series and all it’s shorts back to back, so I think I’ll have a bit more to say about connective tissue between seasons, and hopefully you guys can look forward to more of these analyses between now and the new year when I’m releasing that video. I’m also officially a film major now so… sorry if I come of as extra pretentious or get too deep. Anyway, let’s jump into the thick of it, shall we? 

Plot

This is probably the area I have the fewest number of complaints about. This season has a breakneck pace and it keeps everyone busy. I think that’s why people like it. Everyone’s favorite has something to do. Which brings me to the question… which ninja’s season is this? Lloyd is on a lot of the promotional stuff, but he’s possessed and out of the picture for over half the season, so that can’t be right. Cole turns into a ghost, and the season is a ghost season, but that can’t be right cuz I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone claim it was his. Nya reaches her true potential, maybe it’s hers? Well, she does have a large b-plot, but she is consistently not a part of the a-plot. Kai has a whole thing with being protective of Lloyd, he has his fear of water, maybe it’s just another Kai season? Thing is, it’s no one’s. It is an ensemble season, and I think that’s a healthy thing for ninjago to keep doing. The more we label certain seasons for certain ninja, the more complaining we’ll get about who’s turn it is for screen time that we’ll miss out on telling a good story. Also, If the season is focused on a ninja you don’t like, you are less likely to like the season (see my next analysis for that can of worms). Again, this season tells it’s story really well. Morro directly ties into the ending of last season, and Nya’s getting water powers was foreshadowed the season before. That’s some cool connective tissue to start. The opening episode establishes the three different things the ninja will be looking for, and for once they’re actual tools instead of a series of weapons, blades, masks, whatever. I like that. Jay has some really good humor, Zane has his speech changes, Kai has his irrational fears and protective instincts, Cole has his ghost angst, Lloyd has to deal with his father’s passing, Nya is a new water ninja, Wu has a shop to run and a student to reconnect with, even Ronin has an arc about developing morals and gaining friends. There’s the mystery about how to deal with the ghosts, what the rules are, there’s the leader subplot, the ninja’s money situation, and lore of the different realms, they even worked in Skylor and Borg, there’s a lot of cool stuff going on. This is a tightly woven script that manages to include a lot of new concepts that you get pretty quick. I don’t feel like there’s even that much fat to cut. The opening is a little slow and strange, and the cloud kingdom episode feels a little unnecessary, but I do like the idea of visiting a different realm early in the season so the audience isn’t caught off guard in the climax. Again, the plot all works for me, it’s the other stuff I find myself pretty meh on.

Characters

Ronin

I’m pretty sure Ronin is the only new (non villain) character introduced. I like him a lot. Ninjago needed a true wildcard to shake things up and be unpredictable. I also think he’s pretty nicely woven into the action of the plot. I think his introduction is a bit strange. Like, the ninja already know him, but we’ve never seen him before? Just the way they talk about him sounds like they’re quickly recapping who this guy is for those who missed previous episodes. It’s fine if the ninja already know him but either 1) Introduce or foreshadow him a season earlier or 2) Introduce their dynamic to the audience before it becomes plot relevant. Maybe the ninja are grumbling about him being a nuisance while tea shenanigans are going on or something. Or maybe you have a scene of him stealing the scroll and making snarky remarks about the ninja while he does it. Idk. just something so his sudden plot relevance isn’t out of nowhere. Also, I don’t hate his and Nya’s dynamic, but I know a lot of people love it, and I’m just not totally here for it. Is he supposed to be a father figure for her? Mentor? Frienemy? Just plain friend? (love interest???) it’s not super clear and I could have used some clarification. I also like his use and tie to the next season, so overall, well integrated character.

Nya

I’m adding in Nya here cuz she goes through a major character change, and how she’s handled is one of the things that rubs me the wrong way about the season. A lot of people will probably disagree and/or hate me for this section of the analysis so… here we go! The thing she has to get past to reach her true potential is fear of failure (supposedly) and the solution to that is to just… not care as much? First of all, I know this isn’t supper important, but the fun thing about the ninjago elements is that every elemental master matched up personality wise with their element. Jay is the energetic master of lightning, Kai is the hothead master of fire, Zane is the calm and calculating master of ice, Cole is the strong and dependable master of earth, Lloyd is the literal child master of energy. This especially goes for all the new season 4 masters. So what qualities are often associated with water personalities? Well, serenity, control, flexibility, elegance, patience… calm. You know, like a Zane type character (the element directly adjacent to hers). These are things that Nya isn’t - or at the very least don’t define her. (there’s also something to be said about water and its ties to more feminine qualities, which Nya has been actively shown to reject, but I won’t go into that rant here.) She was designed as the fire master’s sister, and when you try to fit a fire personality into a water shaped character mold… it doesn’t exactly mesh well. It doesn’t make sense. But, like I said, whatever. Maybe that’s the point? Like she has to change her personality to be more in tune with water? Sure. But let’s talk about this fear of failure thing. Because that’s the stated thing that dialogue tells us she needs to overcome. But when has Nya ever been afraid of failure? Fear of failure means avoiding doing something because of fear. Nya is ridiculously persistent, always has been (you know, fire personality). She tries training when no one tells her to, she makes her own alter ego to try and be a hero and save the people who would constantly tell her she wasn’t ready. Wu says she only wants things that come easy, but that’s never been her character before now, she has carried the team with her tech, research, and covert ops that no one forced her to do, all things which are not easy. Fear of failure is usually characterized by what if questions. If Nya is so afraid of failure, why don’t we hear her saying stuff like “but what if I’m not strong enough, what if I can’t save them in time, or worse, what if I lose control of my power and end up hurting people?” Cole shows much more of a fear of failure this season surrounding his insecurity about being a ghost. He wants to sit out from missions because he’s not sure he’ll be able to do it - he’s afraid of failure. But whatever, the writing isn’t clear at expressing her true setbacks, but she does display a real problem that a lot of people have and I think could have been well done if set up correctly. She shows an undying persistence that gets her too close, and makes her increasingly incapable. She lets her frustration hinder her progress (again, fire personality trait), and I think that’s interesting because I don’t think ninjago has done this character arc yet. The supposed solution to this problem is that she just needs to… care less? And yes, I kind of see where they were going with this, we sometimes cloud our natural potential by thinking about it too much, but saying “you need to stop caring” is the absolute wrong way to word it. Caring is not her problem, the problem is her control over the emotions that come from her caring. Caring is a good thing, and teaching kids that if you’re ambivalent about your problems, they’ll go away is not a good message. What she needs to do is take a step back. She needs to take a break, stop to think, and look at the big picture instead of hyper focusing on the roadblock directly in front of her. The usual and much better wording of the moral I think they were going for is “stop overthinking things”. Teaching kids to look at a problem from a different angle and give themselves time to cool down is a great thing. And just think of it, in the climax she could have this ah-ha moment where she steps back and looks at the bigger picture - the whole town, surrounded by the ocean - and gets the idea to sink the preeminent into the water, you could even easily tie that back into the bucket exercise, and that’s what triggers her true potential rather than the current… I’m honestly not sure what. Random flashbacks and the end of the season approaching quickly. Alternatively, you could tie it more directly into samurai x, and make her struggle with letting go of the past and allowing yourself to give up something good in your life to progress to something better. Anyway, I don’t think this was a bad decision long term, she needed to be solidified on the team as a full fledged ninja, I just think this season doesn’t handle the transition that well. Anyway, whatever, I’ll be waiting for your hate comments in the notes.

Romance

Um… there’s none this season? Like there’s a few Wusako moments that are still as weird as they were in season 2, but they’re really not prevalent. There’s also the Jay seeing the future thing which has some weird implications next season (again, some interesting connective tissue between seasons), but that’s about it. Maybe that’s part of why I don’t love this season? Like where’s the pixane? Lol, I’m kidding. But maybe that’s why a lot of people do like it. If you don’t like the canon ships… this is a nice little safe haven for you. Rare for a majority of the series.

Villains

So Morro is a good idea… in theory. I know he’s the fandom’s favorite edgy boy, but idk I think the brand of angsty teen they ended up with was more of an angsty 13 year old than 17 year old. His voice is really grating and I always want to yell at him to just… go get some cough drops. Stop throat screaming, use your diaphragm man! Also, everyone goes on about his last minute redemption, but as far as season 5 goes, he has like half a second of a change of heart. Literally, when Wu comes over and he’s drowning, he’s still being a persistent little idiot like “you never cared about me nooooo!” and it’s only at the last possible second that gives him the crystal, and even that he does it kind of saltily. The preeminent is pretty cool, I like her concept, her design, all that. All the other ghosts are fine I guess. Nothing super memorable out of them, although their aesthetic, especially when there’s a bunch of them swarming around is pretty cool. One last thing was I never understood how Morro “becoming the green ninja” worked and what exactly it was that… did for him? Like he didn’t actually get the power of energy, right? I don’t remember him using it. Did just him defeating Lloyd make him the green ninja? How does that transfer work? And why did he need it to take over the world or realms or whatever? Like I get that it’s supposed to give him more power and what not but idk, it wasn’t super clear. That’s a minor thing though.

Climax

Pretty cool. I like the ATMOSPHERE. Green light is a hard thing to use and justify correctly, but it works really well here, especially with the dark kinda gray blue sky complimenting it. When the preeminent starts walking into the ocean, it’s genuinely terrifying, but you understand exactly how it works and why she’s strong enough to do it. Nya’s true potential is again a little out of left field and could have had some better motivation put behind it. Like what is it Nya learned in that instant? To not be afraid to protect people? She’s… been doing that. Idk. I’ve hit on that enough for now. Overall, there was good variety. I like the green ninja fake out, I like the realm hopping, I even like the little Garmadon visit and Lloyd getting the robe. I feel like we didn’t need a part one and two, you could have had different titles. I mean come on. But hey, now we know, if Pix had only been there, the whole climax would have been wrapped up in like 10 minutes apparently. Pix for the win.

Humor

Really good. Like I’m surprised how much I laughed. Jay wasn’t annoying humor, it was good stuff, there were some good running gags, there’s a solid fourth wall joke about who the lead ninja is at the beginning of the season. Overall, I am pretty impressed. My favorite joke was perhaps the bit where Jay is sarcastically positive, the voice acting is just really solid. Then again, there’s also the whole Borg scene where he roasts half the ninja, that’s solid stuff right there. There’s just some really solid character interaction this season and the humor feels a lot more natural and less forced.

Drama

Okay, we’ve got a lot this season. Y’all know how I feel about Nya’s arc by now. It does not work for me. Ronin’s relationship with her is alright, but kind of comes out of nowhere. Ronin’s solo plot about kinda working for the ghosts works. Cole’s ghost angst works for the most part, although I wish he would have actually skipped a mission and then gone in to help save his friends once they can’t do it without him. That was probably the most solid drama of the season. The other main thing we have this season is Kai’s whole… fear/protective streak. This also doesn’t really work for me. Like, I get that Lloyd and Kai are friends and stuff, like his whole true potential was centered around Lloyd. But like, why does it have to be framed so weirdly? Sometimes in trying to make it seem like Kai is protective of him, it seems like the other ninja just like… don’t care about him? Not all the time, but there are some weird vibes. Also, it doesn’t really go anywhere. No one learns anything about themselves from this subplot, nothing comes of it, there isn’t really a payoff. Also, Kai has yet another irrational fear, this time of water, which really comes right the hell out of nowhere. They try to explain it away like “Oh, Kai feels powerless and so water can get to him” but like… what? That’s the exact situation he was in at the end of season 2 and he seemed perfectly content to literally swim across the ocean (which um… what do you mean the sworn protector of ninjago can’t swim?). Where is this coming from?! Again, it doesn’t really go anywhere, there’s not a point where he has to learn to confront it or he grows because of it. It’s just pointless stuff added cuz the writers like giving Kai vague trails to try and develop him. The cloud kingdom is kinda cool. That last minute twist about them working with Morro is… stupid and unnecessary though. 

Spotlight Episode

I really like the Spinjitzu master tomb episode. Some cool riddles, I like the first two rooms a lot. I do think the third room is a bit strange. Like, the clue was “don’t look ahead” and the solution was to look beneath them, which is the exact same solution as the previous room. Like, you already have magic ice that shows the future, why not play into that? Don’t look ahead could maybe mean don’t look to the future, the opposite of that being the past. Maybe they have to draw on their past adventures to solve it somehow? Learning from the past is a good lesson, right? But overall, I really like it. Some real solid humor this episode. This episode has the sarcastic Jay optimism, Kai totally stalling for time, Zane dealing a pretty sick burn on Cole, just a lot of fun stuff. I like it. It just has great energy and nothing feels like it’s drawn out for too long.

Misc

The aesthetic this season… can be inconsistent, but the main ghost vibe displayed in the opening theme is really solid and I really like it

Speaking of the opening, Ghost wip is great and the opening in on par with last season’s (which is my fav) for sure

Ice age references… okay.

Chima references…. OKAY...

Okay, but like Deepstone can… kill ghosts? Or not? Is it just something ghosts can touch? It’s supposed to be like water in weapon form, right? Like that’s how I understood it when they first introduced it. Wouldn’t the deepstone bars kill Ghoultar then? And then like, Cole’s bike is made of deepstone. He uses it as a weapon. Wouldn’t it kill him? It kills other ghosts when they touch it. How… how does it work?! I need answers!!!

The captain of the steam boat says they’re going as fast as possible, but later Ronin comes in and cranks it up like twice as fast… that always bothered me like, why would he lie about that? Who is this captain and why is he so chill about everyone’s lives?! And then later Wu cranks it up yet again, like the ship had slowed down to it’s previous speed. What the hell is happening with the controls of this ship???

So pissed that the nasty CGI nightmare cloud monster that chases the ninja is named Nimbus. Totally forgot about that. I have an OC with a cat named Nimbus… I promise, there is not going to be a stupid twist bout the cat being the monster thing in Mists of Fate. That would be very stupid.

I was all excited that season 13 gave us minecart chases, but I totally forgot season 5 gave us one first. I really like the return to the caves of despair btw, good reuse of a known location.

How many times this season did we do the: 

Kai: Oh, I don’t like water, I can’t do it uwu  Cole: ...You serious?

Thanks for reading! And if you got this far… I don’t know. I would love to hear your thoughts if you have any! These are just my opinions, so don’t think too much of it if you disagree.

-Kitten

Why this first episode is so important for the rest of season 3:

This episode sees Huey overcoming his fear of failure, and need to be perfect. This has been a point the past 2 seasons have hit on quite a bit, and to be honest, it's kinda been a bit of a crutch for his character. I was so worried this would become his arc this season, which would have been SUCH a waste, cuz there's SO MUCH to explore with this character! Why does he have this need to be perfect? He's an oldest sibling, does he feel he has a responsibility to know? Maybe it all stems from a need to control what he can about the world? But here it is, all the surface level stuff is mostly all resolved within the opening episode! Meaning the season long arc will likely be about him overcoming some deeper issues. Which I am all for!

And this episode handled these initial fears so well! The key really was Violet. The fact that she's not a super know it all, has some humble good sportsmanship, made mistakes in the past, and genuinely wants the best for Huey really helps make Huey's failure feel earned and exciting. And they're just an adorable duo. I don't ship them, but I am all down for a Dewey/Webby style friendship between these two.

I genuinely don't know what his greater arc will be. We all know it'll include him going absolutely insane, but idk why. I've got theories and all, but I honestly don't want to think about it. I'm just ready to see what the writers have in store, knowing that it's not going to be this surface level stuff I was worried it would be.

Bring on the emotional Huey moments! I wanna see some REAL drama up in here!

Up front, let me just say, I am WAY down for lesbian Penny. Good for her, and any representation we can get, especially in a Disney show, is a step in the right direction- even if we don’t get much of her for the rest of the season (Although, like, why the hell wouldn’t you want more Penny?)

But... just a bit of storytelling criticism, nothing serious, but like... if the goal here was to show a relationship where even the nicest of guys doesn’t get the girl he wanted... maybe the “turns out, the person they like is gay” cliché isn’t the best way to send that message? Like, it’s still a way to get the point across, but wouldn’t it be more powerful if her reasoning was, “I’m just not interested in you” instead of “I’m just not interested in guys”? Especially with the “That’s way easier” line LP says after, it sort of implies that if she had been straight he wouldn’t have been able to get over it, and that’s... not healthy. 

But hey, the rep of having a canon lesbian definitely outweighs the small theme inconsistency. I still love this episode. I just thought I’d point it out, cuz this is definitely a stereotype that needs serious breaking.