With the second half of Dragons Rising out now and no specific thread for the season here yet, I figured I’d make one. What do you guys think of the season? Like or don’t like? What are you looking forward to happening next?
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It’s been a while since I saw part one.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this season. It is massive, already the longest season of Ninjago as a whole, yet it’s pacing feels a bit inconsistent. You get long, very long battle segments in Imperium, and then you have all these small side quest stories, which seem all a bit unfocused. It’s already the season with the most giant monster battles. Too many in my opinion
The first half of part two didn’t really resonate with me. It was just too much, too random. The many new settings, the out of nowhere lore dump, the new creatures, the, at some points borderline painful humor, all that makes it my least favorite part of the show. The second half was better. I like Imperium as villains. They are surprisingly grounded, yet Ras and Rapton bring in the vibes of classic Ninjago villains. The wizard guy is too random for my personal taste, but oh well. Beatrix is a fun character thanks to her tantrums. Buuut she’s also the third royal kid that killed their royal parents in this show.
What really surprised me is how quickly they showed us around this world. I expected a slower approach, considering that Ninjago from a lore perspective should hardly be able too expand much further than this. I hope that the writers don’t try to drain this setting as much as possible in the next 2 years if they have to continue past that.
The characters are… alright… It’s strange to see the Ninja taking the mentor role for an entire season. It seems their arcs are more focused around the new characters. For Zane that was quite unfortunate, because he had barely time with the new elemental masters and thus had barely anything to do as a character. Sora is so far my favorite character, but I feel like she will have a hiatus in character growth after this season. She had her entire arc by now and maybe it will mean that the focus won’t be as much on her in the next season. I don’t really understand why they bothered to show us Jay if it isn’t his time yet. I know Wyldfire is currently not popular, she is occasionally very annoying, but I think she’s sometimes actually bearable.
The final battle is enjoyable. I don’t really understand why Beatrix needed the magic portal gun if a grenade launcher had done the job as well without cataclysmic consequences, but she’s insane, so just don’t question it. And Sora’s arc gives this finale the much needed emotional impact that was lacking in Crystalized.
I’m just wondering if we’ll see Beatrix again. It’s almost certain that Ras will return next season, but the former empress seems to be still out there. What makes me wonder is the introduction of another secret mastermind. We just had that plot over the last few seasons. I just hope it’s not the Overlord again, since Ras is wearing his color scheme. Another disappointment: Ras is not from Chima. There is some interesting stuff they are setting up with Wu though. I hope we get some answers next season.
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I haven’t even bothered watching it.
I’ll admit some of the sets are okay, but most of them are just bland, generic “ninja car” or “ninja mech” sets. There’s not even any “theme” to differentiate it from other waves. The reason why I liked MOTM and Seabound’s sets so much was because they introduced new, unique asthetics into Ninjago. The ninja’s knight-like armor in MOTM looked really cool to me, and the whole fantasy, D&D-esque tone just worked really well. The underwater setting for Seabound also felt really fresh, what with the ninja getting a bunch of underwater vehicles and scuba suits. Sure, those waves’ asthetics/concepts could’ve worked well for a new original Lego theme, but that’s a different argument. My point is, this year’s wave of Ninjago sets (and, arguably, last year’s as well) just don’t have anything to make them stand out.
And then there’s just the story part. Last year’s season was promoted as the grand finale for Ninjago, and it…wasn’t as epic as the marketing made it out to be. That said, it was still an ending. They defeated the Overlord again, hopefully for good, peace is restored in Ninjago, and all is well. It really should’ve ended like this, especially since Lego (again) was making this out to be the epic conclusion. But…nope. Ninjago has morphed into a cash cow franchise, so they’ve gotta keep milking it. Now we’ve got a whole nother season where a NEW villain is trying to destroy/take over/what do I even care the world.
Even setting that aside, from the bits and pieces I’m aware of, this new series doesn’t seem particularly interesting to me. There’s two new ninjas. Okay, that’s cool. I guess if you’re gonna do a sequel series, then it makes sense for the OG ninja to take on students of their own. But Sensei (yes, SENSEI, deal with it) Wu is still in the series, apparently serving as the ninja’s teacher. Huh? If the ninja are able to become teachers themselves, then why do they even need Wu? And then we’ve got some new Elements, those being Tech and…Heat? What? I can kind of wrap my mind around Tech, but HEAT? Doesn’t Fire already kind of cover that? And don’t tell me they’ve forgotten all about Skylor and given Kai a new love interest in the form of Wyldfyre or whatever her name is. 
However, my biggest gripe is Harumi’s presence (or lack thereof). Despite the poor execution, I was fine with the idea of her turning good in Crystallized and acting on her feelings for Lloyd. Back in 2014/2015, I thought it was kind of interesting that Garmadon, the main villain of the first three years of Ninjago, was now appearing as a friend to the ninja in the sets. Perhaps we could see that again with Harumi?
[sigh] Nope. Harumi apparently doesn’t exist anymore. Because I guess Lloyd isn’t allowed to have a girlfriend.
So yeah. At this point, Ninjago has next to no appeal for me. They just keep going in circles with the story, and the sets are becoming more and more generic. I could go on a rant about how Lego just doesn’t care anymore, but there’s too many of those on the boards, so I’m not gonna do it.
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I was sceptical about it being a completely new show, but after seeing the first half I quickly shifted gears and got into it. Second half was awesome and I can’t wait for the next season.
I’ll admit that some characters feel unnecessary or just annoying tho
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That may or may not have 1 of two reasons.
- I believe when core was introduced it was said that retailers expect a basic lineup that guarantees customer interest. So there is genuine interest for repetitiveness.
- It’s the first season and they want to go back to basics before going wild.
The season at all times was compared to Avengers Endgame. That was also not the end of the MCU. They made it early on quite clear that this is the end of a chapter and not the IP.
That’s not how I would describe his role in the show at this point. Wu is still missing. The ninja are the teachers in this season. Wu is until now just some ghostly apparition that leads characters too important locations without elaborating. But I agree, it might be returning to status quo at some point.
I see this as an absolute win. Nothing could have saved this butchered pseudo redemption. Getting rid of her is the best thing they could have done. She was supposed to be the worst villain of all when she was introduced, finding only redemption in death. But now? A trace of guilt in her eyes and Lloyd is like “this is fine”. They completely broke her beyond saving. It’s better to ignore that ever happened.
Yes, yes it has. Years ago.
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[scoffs] Isn’t that what Garmadon was made out to be when he was first introduced? I mean, look at this promotional image from 2011:
Just from looking at this guy, you wouldn’t expect him to turn good, but that’s exactly what happened.
It wasn’t just a “trace of guilt.” Lloyd got to know Harumi before she showed her true colors, and he saw that she had a nicer, sweeter side to her personality. In other words, she wasn’t completely evil like the Overlord, or Omega, or even Kalmaar. There was good in her still. This was proven when Harumi realized that her reasons for hating the ninja were somewhat predicated on a misconception; she was mad at Lloyd for not defeating the Great Devourer, when really she should’ve been mad at the Overlord for creating the Devourer in the first place.
Even when it did get pushed beyond its initial 3-year run, Lego did still put effort into it. They tried to create unique asthetics for each wave, and they came up with some good stories, too. But by this point, there’s barely any of that left. It’s just…cool ninja car. Cool ninja jet. Yay. But at least there’s not ANOTHER batch of snake villains.
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His army wasn’t introduced by killing 20+ people in a palace with bombs.
The one thing does not have to exclude the other.
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i personally quite liked this season
a few bits got on my nerves with the imperium civilians feeling kinda immature in the finale, like they just boo their evil dictator, honestly i think the bit with sora’s parents made much more sense and was much more interesting, and i would have liked beatrix to be a bit more serious in her insanity, like just show her go mental have it played more seriously…idk i never felt that much tension in the finale
sora is one of my favourite characters, this was very much her season and she is just a really fun character
i like kai and wildfyre, sure there are bits that annoy me, but i think the last few episodes kinda saved their dynamic, i love the scene of kai teaching her some of the things wu taught him, great scene
sora and nya’s episodes in the second half were the best, no question, the jin episode is super fun and i love the cole episode
also the frog guy…mr frohicky is it? is my new favourite character
i love him
good season, flawed but still very good!
they seem to be setting up a lot of plot threads for future seasons and i look forward to season 2!
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Funny she wasn’t mad at pythor for actually unleashing the devourer.
a lot of that was just manipulation on her part tho.
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