Now that all of Seabound has aired, I think I can say this is one of the best seasons in a while. It had a solid storyline, and a really good villain, and the ending felt like a big game-changer for Ninjago. It had Nya merge with the ocean and become a water spirit, and then she left the ninja team. This ending hit me harder than almost any other ending to a Ninjago season. Sure, Zane died at the end of Season 3, and we saw how that turned out, but this is different. Nya is not dead, she’s just left the team. Even though she likely isn’t gone for good, it makes me wonder what will happen to her in the future. Will she somehow become human again and rejoin the team? Will she remain a water spirit and serve as a “side-ally,” like Dareth and Skylor and Princess Vania? Or will someone replace her as part of the ninjas’ team?
Another thing I really liked was that at Nya’s funeral, there were characters from previous seasons. It was already a pleasant surprise to see Vania appear a couple episodes before, since the side characters from Season 11 onward (Akita, Scott, Okino) seem to just be one-shot characters. But to see Vania, and Twitchy Tim, and the Upply, and even characters like Skylor who we haven’t seen in forever…it just felt so good to see them again! And the inclusion of Dareth and Skales helped, too.
(It kinda felt like the funeral scene in Endgame, in that there were characters from all throughout the series’ history. The characters may not have all necessarily known each other, but they were there for the same purpose of honoring a friend).
And, of course, the Seabound sets were revealed yesterday. It’s not the strongest Ninjago wave ever, but for what it is, I still like it. The ninja sub speeder is pretty standard, as is the water dragon. But the Hydro Bounty and the Temple Of The Infinite Sea look really cool, and Lloyd’s Hydro Mech is a pretty decent build. I know I want the Hydro Bounty and the Temple Of The Infinite Sea, but the others…eh, we’ll see.