When should Ninjago end?

LEGO Ninjago
#84

I would like it to have a bit less of the technology. It just feels like Ninjago went from “The Skulkins have tanks and motorcycles!” to “And now we’ve all got Gundams and dropships and HUGE GOLDEN WEAPONS!” in just a few seasons without any explanation for how the advancements came about. It’s in the Serpentine sets that Ninjago City first appears, and it has no explanation for why everywhere else is stuck in semi-feudal Japan. Then the Nindroids appear, and it’s back to “We’re ninja wizards with tanks and mechs, because somehow all of the dragons are gone.” The ninja had significant power on their own in previous seasons, yet they suddenly become totally dependent upon technology for their powers. Spinjitzu seems to have gone from being the deadliest power a being can have to being just one of many technologies that can achieve the same amount of destruction. It just doesn’t feel as though the heroes are as powerful once they become so reliant on technology and vehicles. Their Spinjitzu abilities begin to seem redundant, given that they have vehicles that are much more powerful and have greater firepower than the ninjas or even Sensei Wu.

That’s my reasoning, but I do understand that having it mostly fantasy would make it more challenging to craft easily likeable characters and locations, and could potentially cause the story to be even harder to understand.

5 Likes
#85

The sentence you quoted referred to this this:

#86

Oh. In that case, yes, I do want a Sci-Fi theme that doesn’t resort to having some characters have magical powers as a way to avoid fights with normal weapons, like swords or guns. Ninjago avoided this by having weapons work as an extension of their user’s innate powers, and I feel like this prevented many of the fights from having a real ending, with one or more parties “removed”. Instead, they have numerous characters die, only to return shortly afterwards. They don’t seem to be seeking for the story to have any purpose or ending , and instead pursue a policy of one-upping the tech each year, like some sort of Cold War. Also, it makes little sense for the bad guys to have this much tech, as they are still fighting in basically Medieval Japan. At some point, the Oni and such should be capable of fighting on their own, yet they need machines to help them. The overwhelming use of sci-fi tech in a fantasy world just seems to defeat the implications that the villains are unbeatable. Instead, it makes them look like they could easily be killed once their technology is destroyed.

5 Likes
#87

Skales becoming the next master of water? Yessir!

but then would that mean that Kai and Nya are distantly Serpentine???

1 Like
#88

In my opinion, Ninjago should end as soon as possible. I was a huge fan until ~2016, then tapered off but tried to maintain some fondness for a while, and now I just mourn the fact that it’s still going. It started retconing its canon in Rebooted with the Golden Master and has only increased to ludicrous levels. Recent seasons have mostly been “make something up and call it the story,” and unsurprisingly have turned out vacuous and largely unimpactful. It’s gotten to the point where few elements can have an impact on the characters or story, because character arcs and stories are supposed to end eventually but Ninjago has to keep going because LEGO says so, so everything stagnated because change would preempt an eventual ending point.

Practically, I would’ve been fine with Ninjago ending after Possession. I felt that it more or less wrapped up its main story and all the extra loose ends (which could have been left hanging, but were taken up because it continued). Seasons after Possession feel like thinly veiled addendums to me. Although Ninjago had already far outstayed its welcome (to me) by March of the Oni, that was pretty much the next best place to end it. But they didn’t, and since Season 11 happened and Aspheera violently killed my soul, I’m more or less hoping Ninjago will abruptly bite the dust like Exo-Force (except Exo-Force was still good when it ended) and save itself the embarrassment. I think there’s very little potential left, and I’d really like to see other, fresher original themes. I dunno if Ninjago killed 'em, but I think it definitely plays a role in precluding new ones from starting. For that, at least, it seems good to end it.

A good way to end it would’ve been an arc that covered multiple seasons and led to some world-scale climax a la BIONICLE’s Ignition trilogy–I actually said this around 2017, when it felt like a status quo couldn’t be maintained much longer. And indeed they made the Oni Trilogy, which, while being a multiple season arc with world-scale ramifications, was in my opinion pretty abysmal (because bizarrely edgy tone and more retcons and lots of white space coughHuntedcough) and not a good note to end on. But at least it would’ve ended. I can only hope Crystallized has the guts to end the story for real, though as Ninjago is reportedly continuing afterwards I don’t retain much hope…

4 Likes
#89

I stated back in 2020 that it should join the ranks of Exo-Force and end on a cliffhanger.

2 Likes
#90

I’ve had this opinion for ages and I’m so glad to see someone else who agrees with me

I always hear people going on about how those seasons are some of the best because they’re “more serious” and “darker”. No they’re not. They’re just absurdly, almost comically edgy. It’s such an abrupt and out of nowhere change of tone for the show that made all those seasons fairly unbearable for me, and it was made even worse by the fact the the tone shifted back to normal by season 11.

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#91

But – but – baby Wu…

1 Like
#92

I think I’d rather it had a legitimate ending. I’d be unsatisfied by a cliffhanger, as I was with Exo-Force, but by now almost any ending would do.

Yeah, I’ve held that view since seeing those seasons too. I wouldn’t exactly say it went back to normal in Season 11, though. Even the cripplingly cheesy portions of Hands of Time are better than anything involving Aspheera to me. =P

I’ve never heard of him as a plus for SoG, but, uh… yeah, he was definitely there. =P

1 Like
#93

crystalized (season 15) was confirmed to be the end of the current show and story

next year the franchise is getting a complete reboot

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#94

The makers of the show said that whatever this new show is it’s no reboot.

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#95

Every year is the end of the current story. They have too many side plots and no end in sight for the rest of the show, so it’s back to endless reboots and Garmadon never being redeemed.

5 Likes