The Devolution Of Ninjago characters. (But mainly Kai)

LEGO Ninjago
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Alright, I have been a big Ninjago fan since 2011, I have gotten super hyped time and time again for Ninjago. As each season and waves of sets comes out I keep a close eye out and am always exited to see the new episodes when it comes out. However I am not a big fan of the direction they took my favorite Ninja since day one.

Kai.

In the pilot episodes he was shown as a brave, Selfish, impatient, Heroic fighter trying to live up to his Father’s legacy and save his only living family member, Nya.

Now much of this was brought into the first season and second seasons. But also playing up on his more selfish side, which payed off when he realized his purpose was not to be the Green ninja, but to protect him. (+1 for character development) Then in Rebooted he kinda took a backseat to pretty much everyone else. However they did once again play on his selfish side, to the point where they literally turn his head into a balloon. Now this is fun and all, however things get a bit more interesting when we delve into the Tournament of Elements season.

We see Kai getting into some sort of a relationship, which is neat and interesting to the plot and characters. It was nice to see Kai in more of a leading role, and him and Skylor had interesting chemistry. (Might just be me) They built it up across the entire season and I was really looking forward to seeing where it went. They also built up his parents, as well as his desire to be the Green ninja and have all of that power.

But then it went nowhere.

Possession came along, showing again that that Kai is taking responsibility for Lloyd, as was his whole “destinylifepurposeofdestiny” It also messed with the leadership roles in the NInja, implying Lloyd was the leader, when it was said to be Cole from the get-go, and Kai as some sort of second in command or something of the like. He also is said to be scared of water…which…uhm…was never mentioned once in the entire show, and then it is gone again. so RIP.

Then Skybound was a thing, showing Kai as a self-obsessed, Egotistical moron with no idea about what he is doing.

REALLY.

He has been with the ninja for years, and all of a sudden he is acting like some kind of instagram star rather then a seasoned warrior. He also has some weird thing with flirting with all of his fangirls…

What happened to him and Skylor? they were a thing, But even though both of them are in Possession and Skybound, there is not a word said about the current state of their relationship. obviously because they were focusing on the contrived and repeating relationship between Jay and Nya, but it still was really glossed over.

Anyway, those are my ramblings, discuss what you think were poorly handled characters in Ninjago and the like.

RT~

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I agree with your rambling.
It feels like they decided to make him worse as they developed every other character.

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Yeah, I question where they’re trying to go with Kai. Up until Skybound he seemed to be undergoing the whole hothead cooling down trope, and contrary to popular opinion, I found that to actually have continued in possession. Kai was trying his hardest to be that sort of mentor-figure that Lloyd didn’t have in his father’s many absences, and it really broke his persona to see Lloyd just stolen out from under his wing like that.

So I suppose that maybe he’s just giving it a rest, now that Lloyd has proven to hold up even in circumstances where Kai couldn’t.

At the same time, I do think that they’re leaning too far out with him. He can be more lax on the mentor thing without acting that much less mature.

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All the Ninja have become idiots in some form or fashion. The only characters who seem to remain unaffected are Zane and Sensei Wu.

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Even those two have had their share of idiot moments.

Wu never mentioned Morro…cuz…reasons…

and Zane being defeated by Nadakahn was dumb. He is the smartest Ninja, to the point of being a computer, yet he just threw his hands in the air and gave up.

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True, true. But would you mention a past event that could lead to one of Ninjago’s worst seasons?

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Well, considering the whole green ninja thing and the tournament of elements, you would think someone would mention it.

And then the whole spell thing needing all the elements…is it ALL elements, or just all of the active elements (so all of them minus Water and Air)

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I think maybe what happened was that he always thought he and his little band were special snowflakes or something, then after the Tournament of Elements, he realizes he’s really not and this kind of made him regress.

(I still don’t like what they’re dong with the character, I’m not justifying it.)

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I wasn’t really bothered by Kai in Skybound.

The circumstances of the status quo between the seasons prior, and then Skybound, were radically different

Before, fighting evil aside, he was just an average dude, living the life of an average dude.

But in Skybound, suddenly there’s this massive influx of positive attention, and I have to imagine that it’d go to a lot of peoples’ heads.

It just seems natural that Kai’d take the route he did.

And on that same token, the negative consequences of his wish could be seen as a learning experience

putting things into perspective for him

That is, until the events of the Skybound finale

which ruin all that idea.

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Yeah, I really, really hope the Ninja remember skybound, but it seems like that entire season was wasted for Jay and Nya, which is a issue they could have resolved in a few episodes.

Also, Kai did have attention before, not as drastic, but he had the positive and negative attention. He should be well equipped to this, and not become such a idiot because of it.