Uhh a response to @ccbcrazy 's video on Conya except it got too long and I put too much effort into it to just make it a reblog. So uh. VERY LONG rambling about why my feelings on Conya are complicated that somehow managed to have way too much Jay in it. why does he keep sneaking in here goddamnit.

OKAY SO FIRST OF ALL YEAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!! THE SILLIES EVER!!!! I love the way you organized the bullet points! Made everything very easy to follow (other than all the times the audio cut out RIP 💀) but. yeah . yeah them. they are sooooo. SO! UAUAUUA.

I agree with most of your points (and relate very very much w/ that bit about being ace and the Love At First Sight trope, though I'm aro and not ace), and ESPECIALLY with how Skybound handled everything (I could say so much about how much I hate despise the way they resolved Jaya in Skybound it's so icky I hate it I hate it I hate it I HATE IT), but I don't really have much to add to them, so I'll here are my random disjointed thoughts that sometimes and sometimes do not align with yours:

at some points, the emphasis on how it's something guilty and forbidden and how she "wants him but she can't have him", to quote that one Cole fangirl. It.. sat weirdly with me? As well as the phrasing of "the narrative wants him to be self-sacrificing", when talking about Cole on one of the slides. It feels weird to phrase it like that, as if the narrative is pushing him into that role rather than it being part of who he is, y'know? And the reason that the "yearning for what you know you can't have" aspect felt strange to me was that Cole putting friendship over his romantic relationships is a VERY significant thing about him for me. He values his friendships and family over any kind of romance, and would rather forfeit a potential romance than lose a friend, even if that friend hurt him. Which felt weird when the rest of the slideshow made it clear that you, like me, enjoy Conya because above all else, Cole loves Nya as a comrade and an equal. As a friend, before and even IF he loves her as anything else, which as you point out, isn't something we can definitively say about the other relationships (especially Jaya. I like it, I really do, and I'd say I think I like it more than Conya? but it's. it's VERY complicated and messy and they aren't really stable like. At All. for a while.)

And that part of Cole resonated with me a lot; the part that's perfectly fine not pursuing Nya because he doesn't NEED that connection like Jay does, because he's satisfied and content with where he is in their relationship now, after they both calm down and he realizes it isn't worth it, because it isn't even something he wants all THAT much. (The larger issue is that Jay was against him spending time with her at ALL, even as friends, because he was being possessive and insecure which is a whole host of other things-)

And actually? Y'know what? I'm gonna talk about Jay for a bit bc I feel like, though you did have a few slides on it and touch on it, you didn't really talk about how Jay is a very fundamental aspect of Conya's dynamic in-canon, as Nya's Yang and Cole's best friend (A title which he bestowes upon himself, I might add.) Jay is... Not Very Secure In His Relationships for the first few seasons. It stems from feeling inferior and weak compared to everyone else, which grows into clinginess and possessiveness for the ones that DO choose him, because he's afraid they'll leave, which in turn pushes them away because he's being Weird About It. He has this habit of... sorting those closest to him into neat little boxes that reassure him (Nya as his girlfriend who loves him and finds him funny and won't leave him and Cole as his best friend who's loyal and supportive and also won't ever leave him, and, as you'll note, he's the one that starts both of these, with asking Nya out and proclaiming Cole as his bestie during Skybound.) And when those people step out of those boxes, the change unsettles him, and he panics and doubles down on his tactics, sometimes even resorting to violence (which makes things worse and pushes them away more and... you get it. it's a whole cycle.) So.. Nya and Cole and their interactions are very defined by What Jay Will Let Them Do, for the first few seasons. What won't set him off, what is Good and Innocent and won't make him insecure. S1-7 Jay would NOT have let the hand nuzzle happen. But I believe S8-15 Jay WOULD. Because he's actually secure in his relationship with Nya and they trust each other, and he trusts Cole, etc. etc.

And I feel like them having an undercurrent of romantic tension kind of spits in the face of that?? I dunno. It makes the intention a little wobbly. I like the idea that it comes from a place of camaraderie, where platonic love can also be deep and intimate and layered, and not just repressed romantic feelings. Because the thought that either of them are just pining and never having that resolved makes me sad for all three of them :(.

But I DO like to think that Cole is a little bit madly in love with all of his friends in different ways (just like me fr..) and Nya's the one he latched onto back in S3 because she's a girl and heteronormativity. Cole has a lot of love in his heart ok and he cares about them very very much 🥹. And he loves and supports them and maybe he wants to kiss some or all of them but he can't do that so he's fine where he is. really he is. he's fine. HES FINE!!! he's okay when she puts a hand on his shoulder and he doesn't know how to express that he loves her so so so much and he missed her but not in the way that Jay loves her, in a different way, but he feels like it's just as important but Jay obviously didn't see it that way and he doesn't know if he does now, and how he loves them all different but so so strongly and how can she and Jay even make it so simple it's so EASY for them to wear the Yin/Yang relationship label it just FITS even though none of those relationships are alike how can the same label work when the love is obviously so different and he doesn't know if Nya even could understand that, understand how much his heart bursts with affection and fondness for her and the others, but she DOES she DOES get how you can love someone so much that there maybe aren't correct words for it, that's why Jay was the one to propose because she was just happy the way they were, and she's happy the way they are now and she's happy the way she and Cole are now except she can't be because they keep getting TORN APART and they can't ever really be happy because they're all always in danger ALL THE TIMe- sorry got carried away aha.

but yeah. And then Jay is there. and i can't let myself think Abt Conya too long because I get really sad about him. bc he's not LIKE THAT. He doesn't Get It like they (and I haha was it clear I am maybe projecting) do. The labels are comforting to him, rather than unneeded or even restricting in the way they could never encompass the full force of the feelings. They're like signifiers that the love is real, is there, is Official, which isn't something the others need because they already take the loving as a fact and a given, and Jay doesn't! He doubts his relationships and needs the reassurance of the labels, to be able to say, definitively, "This is my Yang, which means we love eachother romantically and complete eachother and are missing a piece without eachother and" (do you see where the problem is. The proposal scene was so cute but I think about his little rambly speech a little too much BUDDY WITH ANY OTHER PERSON ITD BE CUTE BUT WITH YOU AND YOUR TRACK RECORD ITS CONCERNING) But that also means that when the "rules" are broken he thinks it means the love is also broken because now the label has been dismantled and that's! NOT TRUE!!! AHH!!!!!!!! I truly think he would be cured if he made out with someone other than Nya (w/ her permission obv) for like ten seconds but he would literally never do that. but it would fix him I know this in my heart if Nya told him to go out and get some bitches he would be cured of All of His Complexes he would experience Enlightenment through the knowledge that he could do that and his relationship with Nya would still be valid and their feelings wouldn't change just because he did it and he would ALSO get to kiss someone about it. Literally win-win. Maybe it could even be Cole. this is how mudshock shippers stay winning.

And THATS always been my biggest issue with Conya. They never know what to do with Jay. Because if he found out Nya doesn't love him and is IN LOVE WITH HIS BEST FRIEND he would literally never recover all of his self worth issues that he overcame down the fucking drain bitch!! because everything bad he thought about himself has been proven true! AND THE REASON HE ACTS LIKE THAT IN THE FIRST FEW SEASONS IS BC THATS EXACTLY WHAT HES TERRIFIED OF HAPPENING!! And because he's so insecure and also has so much amatonormativity entrenched within him because the rules and restrictions reassure him, he's diametrically opposed to Conya! so I can't let myself have a Conya AU without Jay unpacking all of that and being Okay with people experiencing love differently, and then maybe realizing he doesn't have to love so restrictively anymore either, and THEN Conya can be whatever the fuck is going on with them in peace. Or he finds out Nya is in love with Cole and almost loses his shit before they both tell him they are also still in love with him. And he's like "oh thank God wait Cole ur in love with me" and that would fix him. Imagine thinking you're literally the worst and then you pull both Nya AND Cole while actively being kind of a jerk to them. how do you have the self worth issues after that shdbsjdb.

anyway go watch the video 👍

Ninjago Be More Chill AU

This is really long whoops guys I have so many Ninjago BMC headcanons y’all have no idea. This won’t leave my head especially since I’ve been seeing some great BMC / Ninjago stuff recently mmm

Who would be who?

Jay as Jeremy:

Okay so like that not original but, Jay gives off such Jeremy vibes! Jay is really self-conscious, as we see in s1 ep8, aka his true potential episode, as we see in season three with the love triangle, and as we can see in season six with the fact that he knowingly makes wishes to “better himself” from Nadakhan. Jeremy also does some things he regrets, some things that come off kind of creepy and not okay, like what he did to get with Christine, luckily, he realizes that, and it’s one reason why most people don’t think they end up staying together. Jay had a few not necessarily okay and kind of creepy actions towards Nya, again specifically in season six, also a little in season three. But, Jeremy is an all around good person, he didn’t intend to hurt anyone and neither did Jay. Jeremy took the SQUIP, which gave some pretty bad advice much like how and why Jay made wishes from Nadakhan. Jeremy is also awkward and fidgety, again, Jay traits. He ditches his best friend for a girl (kind of season three?) but ends up apologizing and trying to make up for it (kind of season four). Not to mention, Loser Geek Whatever is such a Jay song.

Cole as Michael:

Okay so, this is kind of a popular one but? So Michael Mell is the free spirited, I’ll do what I want and if you don’t like it well leave me alone kind of guy. He’s more closed off towards others, but he’s one of the best best friends a guy could have. Cole isn’t as free spirited as Michael, per say, especially with his father, but in the end he can be. Cole doesn’t necessarily care what others think of him all the time (though he does in season 5 after turning into a ghost and kind of in season 3 because of the love triangle and my take on it). Most people in the fandom associate Cole and Jay as best friends, yet another reason why Cole is a good Michael. In the Jay / Jeremy description, I put some blame on Jay / Jeremy for hurting Cole / Michael, but they messed up too. Michael, while being the best friend, knew that Jeremy was unhappy and knew he wanted more, he chose to ignore that. When Michael approached Jeremy at the Halloween party, yeah he had good intentions but he didn’t do it the best way, and heck yeah, not helping Jeremy who was clearly under the control of the SQUIP at the play until he got an apology was a trashy move. Cole’s messed up too. He shouldn’t have tried anything with Nya, and in the way I view the love triangle, it makes more sense as to why, but he knew how much Jay cared about Nya and he knew that “pursuing” her was bad, but he did it anyway. He ignored what he knew about Jay for his own good (Michael ignoring Jeremy wanting more to keep him as his best friend). Cole also did some crappy things in response to what Jay did in Skybound. Sure Skybound is a little ooc and not always the best, but, hey, I’m proving a point haha. Cole and Jay shared unfair words with each other as well, but they made up for it. Michael went to the play and brought the Mountain Dew Red, Cole gave up the jade blade in Tournament and went back for him in Skybound even though he felt hurt. Not to mention, I mean, their love for music (because even though not necessarily show canon, most people believe Cole has a deep love for music). Not to mention, I headcanon both of them as gay also. I also almost made Cole Christine just for Bruise but like... Michael Mell... also most people think it’s canon that Michael has feelings for Jeremy and I think that Michael like tries to kiss Jeremy in the revival during Two-Player Game sooo...

Kai as Rich:

Okay so, another obviousish one. Kai is one of the most self conscious people in the show, but one with more of a self destructive mode that can effect others. Rich, much like Jeremy, was unhappy and ambitious. He wanted more from himself and he genuinely cared about the way people viewed him (much like Jay and Jeremy). Even in the first season with Kai wanting to be the green ninja, we saw Kai trying to prove himself and prove himself but failing sometimes (aka his intense want to be the green ninja). Kai was also the first ninja to wish himself away in Skybound (again, not always the most credible but, still). Rich and Kai share a lot of similarities on that part. They also have a fierce protectiveness for what they care about. Kai is loyal. He is so insanely loyal and one of the best friends anyone could ask for, he is incredibly dependable. Rich is a good friend too. While he didn’t always have control over his actions, he truly cared for Jake and for his other friends. Heck, Rich set a fire to prevent the SQUIPs from spreading because he didn’t want his friends to go through this. Kai would also definitely set a fire to protect Lloyd and his friends. Kai and Rich are / were both insecure, but the both grow and I love them both. So much. Also sometimes they’re both angry boys and I headcanon Kai as bi and Rich is bi in canon just those lovely little things!

Lloyd as Jake:

This is where it began getting harder, but I will FIGHT FOR THIS ONE!! Let’s start with Jake. He’s the most popular boy in school, he does pretty much every activity and runs or plays an integral part in those activities. The school has standards for him that they in a sense expect him, popular boy Jake, to live up to. He mentions to Christine that he feels the need to be perfect to please everyone all the time and it’s so much pressure and it’s clear that he dislikes that. Not only that, but he says in Upgrade that: “my parents wont be home so it’s alright, they laundered money now their on the run. Which means the house is empty so that’s fun”. Jake has absent parents, he lives alone. He most likely absorbs himself in what he does to distract himself from his home life. Okay now, let’s talk about Lloyd. Lloyd is the green ninja. He did not choose this, he did not choose to have all of this happen to him. The world looks up to Lloyd. They depend on Lloyd. Lloyd’s teammates depend on him. The pressure this boy faces is incredible. He’s popular, yeah a lot of people like him, but the pressure and the expectations everyone has for him... well we’ve seen him snap a few times. Not to mention, LLOYD GREW UP WITH NO PARENTS! His dad was evil and his mom left him to try and make his dad not evil, he was alone. So, Lloyd distracted himself by trying to be evil and trying to get revenge on the tribes and people that wronged him and stealing and just he distracted himself with so many things so he wouldn’t have to focus on “my parents left me”. Jake and Lloyd both face absentee parents, both of which aren’t necessarily good (I mean... Jake’s parents are criminals and Lloyd’s dad is Lord Garmadon...), they both have so much pressure to be the best and be amazing and be popular and happy. They both have to be happy because you can’t be popular in school if you’re sad and you can’t save the world if you focus on your problems. You can’t lead after school activities or lead a team of ninja if you get too much in your head. These boys face a lot, a lot is expected of them, and sometimes, the things their parents do do effect them in ways they don’t see. Jake isn’t always the nicest. He knows Rich is a bully, he lets it happen. He called Jeremy a freak at the mall, he’s probably (I headcanon) a sweet guy, but his upbringing causes some problems, much like Lloyd’s (I mean... the first half of season one). Plus, they both have a best friend who would burn their house down to protect them (because let’s be real here, Rich burned it down to protect others by killing himself and Kai would burn the world for Lloyd) pLUS Jake broke his legs saving Rich and they got worse after the SQUIP made him walk on them and Lloyd broke his foot fighting his father and faced the Overlord with a broken foot. *mic drop* I rest my case.

Nya as Brooke:

okay so I feel like this is kind of a weird one, but like, hear me out. So, Nya as Brooke. My first thought when trying to figure out who Nya would be was, obviously, Christine. But when I think about it, I do see some Nya in Christine, I do, but I kind of see her a little more in Brooke. Let’s start with Brooke. Brooke is popular Chloe Valentine’s best friend, she’s, in a sense, a tool, but more than anything she just wants to belong. She wants to be popular, she wants to not only have her status, but to earn her status. She doesn’t just want it because she’s Chloe Valentine’s best friend, she doesn’t just want it because she’s dated a few popular guys, she wants that status because of who she is, which is one thing that makes her different than Jenna (I can say a lot more about that but I won’t get into it because I LOVE JENNA ROLAN). Brooke is sweet, she’s kind, but bruh she is fierce and she could probably destroy you if she wanted, maybe not in the same aggressive way as Chloe, which she grows into in the show. We see Brooke as the second best all of the time, always in Chloe’s shadow and she’s pretty insecure about it, and herself in general. She wishes to be more, she wishes for someone to love her as her and to have the right to speak her mind and to just be herself, which she gets near the end of the show as she begins sticking up for herself, and most people in the fandom believe that she becomes the right amount of assertive after the show. Now onto Nya. Nya is always second best, she’s always in the ninja’s shadow. She literally gave herself a false identity so she could be enough and more than “the girl”, “Kai’s sister”, “Jay’s girlfriend”, and “the smart girl”. Much like Brooke, she wants more. So she does it herself, which isn’t something Brooke has the courage to do until later, but then again Nya hid for awhile too. Nya can be sweet, she can be gentle, and yo this girl is fierce too. She often feels second best as well, second best to Kai, to the team… not to mention how she feels in season five, trying to get an understanding of her identity and her place in the team (as opposed to her place in school). Brooke gets mad too. She gets mad at Chloe when she wrongs her. She gets mad at Jeremy. Nya gets mad as well. She gets mad at Jay, she gets mad at Cole and Kai and honestly Nya’s probably gotten mad at all of the ninja at some point. But she can still defend herself, and it may have taken Nya some time for people to realize that and to be assertive enough to tell everyone that and freaking mean it, but she does it. Brooke gets the nerves to do that too in act two. Plus Brooke dates Jeremy at one point but then they break up and if I had made this Bruise wouldn’t it have fit perfectly?? I know this one is weird and maybe isn’t the best, but Nya and Brooke are both sweet, kind, and freaking fierce girls and I love. Also it just makes complete sense in my head. (Also I know Christine has this thing about discovering herself but... just read the last part...)

Some other ones I’m thinking for right now but won’t type because this is long enough as it is are: Pixal as Jenna Rolan, Skylor (or Harumi but mostly Skylor) as Chloe Valentine, and Nadakhan as SQUIP (though the Overlord was my original idea and does work… I’m liking this Nadakhan as SQUIP thing a whole heck of a lot as I started writing all of these descriptions…) and for the life of me, guys, I just can’t figure out Zane! Like maybe Zane as Christine, especially since Christine has this whole discovering who she is bit and it takes her and Zane awhile to figure out who they are and be comfortable with it, but I didn’t really want to go the Techno route here (nothing against Techno, it just doesn’t seem like a very BMC ship I don’t know… don’t get me wrong though, I LOVE TECHNO!) I mean I suppose Zane would be a rad Christine if we went the Boyf Riends shipping route with this… Anyways that’s all! Do you agree with any of these? If you have different opinions please tell me because I love headcanons so much and I would genuinely love to read them! If anyone wants to hear anymore BMC / Ninjago AU headcanons please lemme know because I honestly might post some more anyways for the heck of it because I want to because I love this okay love y’all bye!