Ninjago Crystallised - Blog Posts

people ask me why I’m so distraught over ninjago ending and when you tell them it’s because your emotionally attached since it’s been there since your childhood and you’ve grown up with it and even though it does injustice to your favorite character it still has your favorite character and you sound like a crazy person when in reality you just can’t let go of something that brings you comfort so easily even though it’s just some stupid tv show

We all know Kai’s coping mechanisms for grief are extremely destructive. He became an alcoholic to deal with Zane’s death, and openly said he wished he would be dead instead of him.

BUT During Nya’s death (at least nearly after the year, who knows what he was doing the months before he opened a dojo, probably definitely crying himself to sleep every night and other sad sad things. another quick reminder kai felt the same amount of pain jay did.) he surrounded himself with kids. On the outside, doesn’t seem so bad. He’s a teacher. At least he’s not an alcoholic! Yay?

No. Not yay.

He surrounded himself with Children. Little girls (and boys) who undoubtedly reminded him every single day of his baby sister. Kai was basically torturing himself, forcing himself to remember that he was unable to protect his nya. Seeing all these eager kids wanting to learn how to fight, seeing these parents send in their Tom’s and their Jennifer’s, through desperation he tried to help protect them so the guilt of failing to protect Nya was less suffocating. So that neither Tom or Jessica’s parents go through what he went, and so that when the guilt is just a little less suffocating , because it probably won’t ever not be suffocating, he can try and just maybe scrape the courage and try living and breathing in the honor of the life she, his baby sister, nya, lived, telling her story and fulfilling her dreams (likely what nya would have wanted) instead of drowning in the grief of the life she couldn’t live.

What if Crystalized ends like MotO but this time Lloyd goes with the FSM to another realm (under the impression his golden oni-dragon powers are too powerful or something) and the new series in 2023 just is the rest of the ninja training to fist fight God to get their lil bro back?

well my dearest anon how I wish and pray you will be correct. I love this idea so so so much. maybe garmadon ends up staying behind too, training the ninja alongside his own brother to get his son back. angst. fighting. goddd. there is so much leftover potential for ninjago but the writers keep messing up certain things (ex plot holes, nonexistent kai development arcs) and it just makes me wish the fandom could seize the writers and just become them ourselves

lets all start a revolution so we get more kai and nya and lloyd let us all rise and conquer 

may our goals awaken from beneath the everlasting darkness and reign for eternity 

we want rgb grief. we want our dynamic. im so sick of romance focused troupes. IM SO SICK OF ALL THIS ROMANCE GARBAGE. I WANT SIBLINGS. GIVE US SIBLINGS. I WANTED TO SEE MORE OF THEM. I WANT TO SEE MORE OF THEM. ONLY POTRAYING JAY AS THE MAJOR PERSON AFFECTED BY NYA’S DEATH IS NOT OKAY. HOW MANY TIMES AM I SUPPOSED TO SCREAM OUT,” KAI RAISED HER!! LLOYD AND KAI LOVED HER TOO!”

If somebody says one more time that Kai deserved to not only get kicked but also beaten up by jay in that one fight scene in crystallized I will THROW HANDS. No, I DO NOT hate jay. But I DO HATE tommy anderson

we know why jay acts the way he does. we have information about his past. we have an entire season about him and how he perceives himself (sky bound). Nadakhan literally pointed out that jay uses jokes to cover up insecurity. His true potential showed that he was insecure about being himself (until nya talked to him etc). We got like three seasons of him being the hero and saving entirety of Ninjago.

We were given Information about Cole’s past. We saw his childhood with his gorgeous mom. We saw in his true potential how he desperately wanted to be accepted by his dad. We saw Zane’s past. We saw how he sacrificed himself for the Ninja, understanding and acting upon the same words Kai had told him, “it’s about family, not numbers”. The writers could dive into Zane more, but we got something. And we also got some Nya, why she’s a perfectionist, why she isn’t that verbal, why she’s Independent; Kai said so himself, after all. Even though I wish we saw her talk with Nyad more, we still got her. And the entire series is about our boy Lloyd. And even though every one of them could be explored so much more, we got something. And for a few ninja, we got a lot of something’s. But not Kai. Rarely Kai.

Kai’s true potential was protecting someone. And I loved that, I did. But that’s it. If anything, it literally points out that no, he is not selfish. We never got a season truly revolving around Kai’s childhood struggles/trauma. Why is he reckless? Why is he protective? Why does he never cry? While the other ninja have their spotlights, Kai never had his. He is such a complex character (that ninjago refuses to dive into) and that’s why I love him so much.

I know. I know Kai can be rude to Jay sometimes, and bully him, but if it came down to it, Kai would die for him. Because this is the man that makes his sister happy, because jay does mean a lot to kai. Kai doesn’t show it - frankly, he doesn’t show a lot of things. And I know this doesn’t entirely excuse the way he acted toward jay before, but why. I want to know why he acts like that. But the writers never dwelled on it. Jay is allowed to confront and express his feelings about how Kai for ‘bullying’ him, but not like this ( by the way, idk if I guys noticed but lately Kai has been complimenting/hyping jay up a lot now.)

And when jay, who is grief stricken, leads him self to believe only he loved nya in the entire world, kai is allowed to get angry. Kai is allowed to feel anger towards someone acting like no one else loved nya when Kai raised her. Protected her. Did everything for her. Just because we did not see as much of Kai grieving as we did of Jay, does not mean Jay was more upset. For all we know, Kai was dying on the inside. She was his sister for gods sake.

Kai did not “deserve” that kick. And if you genuinely think that, i honestly do not know what to tell you.

is anyone else like super scared and excited for part two of crystallized like I wanna watch it the moment it comes out but at the same time I never wanna watch it but I’m excited about Lloyd and garmadon and the oni but

I’m terrified that someone might die or that lloyd might get even more traumatized (the poor kid) or that we won’t get the kai and nya scenes we have been begging and pleading for or the development arcs

like tommy anderson has done so good and so horribly bad at the same time

man idk how to feel about this.

“In the series, Kai is the only ninja and protagonist who has never defeated a main antagonist alone.”

yeah because the writers are scared to give him that power

also because he always either sacrifices himself (ex. prime empire) or something else happens and he can’t be there

give him the power. don’t be scared. the only thing to be afraid of here is kai stans/kai development havers

Hey! What do you think are the ninja's love languages?

I’d love to share my thoughts on this! For those of you that do not know the five love languages, they are five ways people might show how they love (obvi not limited to romantic) someone, and speak the way they would like to feel cared for. People tend to love all five, but certain types are special to them. The five are:  quality time, words of affirmation, gift giving, acts of service, and physical touch. I determined each character’s through how they interact with the others. So grab a snack, and get cozy because this is a lot.....

Cole

Cole's love language is definitely physical touch (both giving and receiving). Imagine being hugged by cole like it would be such a  nice hug guys.  Throughout the show, you can see him hugging, touching, or a simply arm on a shoulder as he smiles at them. For example, 

+ when cole hugged zane when he found him in s4, when cole grabbed kai and danced with him, and there are too many to all list here 

and, below are examples of how Cole not only gives affection like this, but also likes to be shown affection through physical touch

LOOK AT HOW HAPPY COLE LOOKS

anyways I also do believe Cole has a secondary  love language (again, both receiving and giving) , it being words of affirmation. We see Cole as a comforting character throughout Ninjago, like when he tried to uplift kai when kai was upset abt his powers, or when he reassures Zane when he told them he was a robot, by calling him special and saying “you're still the same zane” and remember how happy he gets when someone verbally comforts him as well. 

For example, when Kai and Nya comforted him when he was a ghost. When Cole lost the travelers tea in s11, he clearly needed someone to tell him it was alright and they would get it back. And when his father accepted him, he was so happy yk... like I always wanna see Cole happy pls

Kai

ok so Kai is.. complicated. I feel like we see him do all five of these but I'm pretty confident I've picked out the two most supported ones, in both giving and receiving ends Acts of Service, and Words of Affirmation (with a side of physical touch and quality time. ik. its basically all of them but bare with me).

First of all, let me explain Acts Of Service. This one is pretty self-explanatory ; when Nya was young, Kai undoubtably took care of her and supported them in ways Nya probably doesn’t even remember anymore since she was so young. This was surely his way of showing her he loved her, and showing that he wouldn’t leave her like their parents did. 

  Remember, Kai was attacked by skeletons, he attempted to fight them off for Nya’s sake, despite how scared he must’ve been. When he couldn’t , he become so desperate he joined a random stranger and followed him to an unknown place when this place, this house, was all he had ever known. Protection is definitely an act of service. 

This brings me to my next point: Words of Affirmation. Kai is very vocal about how he loves Nya and the others. Whether it him be saying I love you directly, or complimenting/reassuring others. For example, 

Over here, he reassures Lloyd by telling him how he himself felt, and then telling him he would look after him no matter what. 

An example of how Kai is verbal with Nya is when she gives Kai a bike bc they needed to run away from Ronin. With this, Kai says,” I love my little sister,’’

Another example is when Kai reassures Nya in s10 when nya makes a ‘fatal’ mistake and cole falls off the bounty. He tells her shes the brains, and that she’s always building all the plans. This moment also stood out to me a lot because Kai knows exactly what Nya needed to hear. ( also when he entirely supported her when she told him she was samurai x, and more) + Kai reassured cole that he was still a part of their team even after being a ghost (words of affirmation) and helped Jay propose to Nya and entirely supported/cheered him on through the process (acts of service)

I said quality time bc remember how when his parents came back he was playing video games with his dad, etc - he was clearly having sm fun. Also, Kai does tend to hug/ lean against others quite a lot , as shown in images below Cole’s analysis (physical touch)

Nya

Nya isn’t as verbal or touchy as her brother, and so she’s definitely Acts of Service and Gift Giving. We see this throughout the seasons as Nya constantly helps the Ninja in the beginning by monitoring missions and aiding them through technology, making their missions smoother and easier. And in the later seasons, she could finally help them in person, since she became the water ninja

Now Nya always gifted the Ninja mechs, bikes, gadgets, you name it. I think this habit of hers could be considered both gift giving and acts of service. She tends to do it throughout the entire show, from giving them mechs to climb that mountain to get to the blinds man eye, to all sorts of other stuff the team required.

I do strongly believe the reason why both the smith siblings have acts of service as a love language is because when growing up they didn’t really have anyone else to do it for them. Nya most likely as a child probably made small gadgets for kai as to show him that she loves him, and that gradually continued to the other ninja as well.

However, when nya is on the receiving end, I think she loves physical touch and words of affirmation. This is proven since whenever kai and jay are verbal with her, she always has a positive reaction. Same when Kai and jay respond to her with physical touch- she doesn’t mind it, and happily responds to it as well.

Jay

Jay definitely has three love languages: words of affirmation, quality time, and physical touch (mostly revolving around nya)

Jay is extremely verbal when it comes to Nya, saying he loves her multiple times throughout Ninjago, similar to Kai. However, unlike Kai, who tends to do this to all the ninja, Jay usually focuses on Nya when it comes to verbal expression and words of affirmation. Telling her how they were meant for each other, regularly complimenting her, etc. 

As shown above and below, Jay is also very physical with mainly Nya, kissing her on the cheek quite frequently and dancing with her on various occasions. He loves spending time with her, preferring to go on missions with her than anyone else (as shown in the show, and that's why his analysis is mainly jaya lol)

Jay, when on the receiving end, also loves the same things. He gets extremally happy when Nya responds back to with the same actions. The biggest proof of this is how jay unlocked his true potential: Nya states that she doesn’t need Jay to wear any clothes or pretend to be anything he’s not, because she liked him for being him then proceeded to kiss him on the cheek, which led to Jay turning back human. Afterwards, Nya tells him, “You are the best You,” and with this, Jay unlocks his true potential. 

This tells us a lot about how heavily Jay takes Nya’s words, and how much words of affirmation can inspire/motivate him, so much to the point where he unlocked his true potential!

Zane

Zane’s love languages are probably: quality time and acts of service, with a side of words of affirmation. This applies to both when he shows affection, and how he likes when he receives affection.

Zane has shown multiple times to enjoy spending time with the team. Three examples of this are when he was escaping Chen with Cole (that was fun), when Zane had fun throwing rocks at Kai when Kai become chancellor (guys that was hilarious.) , and WHEN HE AND PIXAL BECAME ‘DETECTIVES’ GUYS THAT SCENE WAS THE BEST

(Also, Zane is sometimes shown to be physical too, as shown here. However the other love languages I stated seem to be more primary outlets of how he expresses affection, this scene still was too cute not to share)

Zane also cooks for the team on multiple occasions, and its stated/implied that everyone loves his cooking. He also bravely sacrificed himself for the Ninja , and as I stated before, protection is an act of service. He also is willing to do any favors the ninja ask him too, and never really turns them down, and that's very sweet. Zane has literally never been ‘rude’ to anyone.

Zane also tends to reassure others, however unlike Cole/Kai he does so in a more logical way. He states facts  about his reassuring statements, and I think that’s an important part of who he is. His interactions with Pixal are also very cute, and I love their dynamic sm. 

Lloyd

Lloyd montgomery garmadon. I strongly believe that our boy loves all sorts of affection, since he was deprived of any as a child ): However, throughout the show I believe his ‘giving’ love language is: words of affirmation, and acts of service. 

We see Lloyd frequently uplifting the Ninja (he is the leader after all),  when they ‘lost’ zane, he reunited the ninja that left, he tried to reassure kai that even without his powers he was important, and he warned cole abt vania (this is an act of service I think? Lloyd wanted to protect cole from being betrayed from a princess like he was and he had good intentions. I think what he did was sweet)+ and various more examples that im sure you are all aware of.

His words of affirmation is not limited to the ninja, for example: when they ‘lost’ zane, he reunited the ninja that left, he led  the Elemental Masters + Serpentine against Chen in the Second Serpentine War and encouraged them all, led the resistance, etc etc. These actions  can also be counted as acts of service too. After all, he leads them and creates plans for them too.

When receiving, I think Lloyd reacts positively to physical affection (like above) and also words of affirmation. He is definitely touch-starved and doesn't mind hugs at all (he loves them in fact). And, words of affirmation are great to Lloyd too, a prime example of this is Kai comforting Lloyd on multiple occasions and Nya doing the same. Kai and Nya both promised to protect Lloyd, and always be there for him, and said so verbally. You could see how it impacted Lloyd, reassuring him and helped him regain confidence. 

I also think he loves quality time as well, since he loved spending time with his dad, talking with him, and training with him. I love their interactions and it really shows how much Lloyd values his dad, despite everything.

phew that was long.. thanks for sticking with me

ok so after the part two trailer it’s clear Lloyd isn’t gonna turn mindlessly evil but I still want all of the sibling content mentioned above pls 🥺 also can’t wait for the garmadon and Lloyd content!!

warning spoilers ahead ( kinda)

we love ninjago. and I’m posting bc this needs to be brought to attention: NINJAGO, WE NEED MORE SIBLING CONTENT. romance? it’s good, I SWEAR I don’t have ANYTHING against jaya. but sibling relationships? Kai and nya? we need more.

hear me out: so many people are saying our poor traumatized green ninja that we all know and love is going to turn evil and lose it. valid theory, and quite understandable, and would make the remaining of season 16 quite interesting.I would LOVE another morro- like season, with Kai doing anything and everything he possibly can to bring back his little brother. If that happens, I want a scene. A scene where Kai is upset and nya comforts him, asks him what’s wrong. kai being kai blames himself for Lloyd turning evil, and suffocating himself in self hatred. Telling her it’s happening all over again ( like how he lost nya before, etc) I want kai to get UPSET and tell her he is sick of losing people, not being able to protect them. I want nya to comfort him like he always comforted her.

And if the whole lloyd-turns-evil thing never happens, then I STILL just want an episode ( another time twin-like season would be awesome tbh) just dedicated to them, for Kai to tell her how he felt when losing her to the ocean, how bad of a brother he felt and that he failed to keep his promise of protecting her.I want to see scenes of kai dealing with grief and why he even started teaching martial arts.

I want ninjago to stop just showing nya and jays bond. I want ninjago to show that the importance of kai and nyas bond is just as important, or even more so. I want nya to realize how much kai did and still does for her, and that the only reason kai even joined the ninja was to save HER. ( we really need to talk abt this more ). I want nya to realize what boundaries kai crossed to keep her safe. I want more scenes of their childhood that show Kai’s sacrifices and nyas upbringing. I want nya to realize all of this and thank kai and hug him and tell him she loves him.

I want her to tell him that he is the best older brother anyone could ever ask for. i mean seriously; nya seemed only worried about jay when the ninja were in court. WE DIDNT EVEN GET A SIBLING HUG WHEN NYA CAME BACK. IN CONCLUSION: WE WANT MORE KAI AND NYA.

guys this is it. THIS is IT. we got a second chance I repeat a second chance

nya falls alongside a burning part of the bounty (crystallized trailer two)

how will Kai react what is he gonna do?? this is where the writers CANNOT mess up like they did in seabound (we didn’t get to see the real extent to how Kai grieved and we didn’t get a SIBLING HUG/MOMENTS) this is where we smith sibling gangs will rise up and SHINE i am manifesting our epic sibling hug and epic sibling moments I want to see angst and bonding and finally everything will be perfect this will solve all my problems that have nothing to do with ninjago but can definitely be fixed by ninjago

just watched trailer two of crystallized and don’t get me wrong it seemed AWESOME but we barely saw Kai in it (basically no shots of him at all we got like one GLIMPSE) so who’s gonna read kai centered fics and cry with me

:( praying for some good kai content + nya and kai sibling moments to magically appear because I have been DEPRIVED of BOTH (mainly sibling content bc we all know sibling dynamic is the best period)

warning spoilers ahead ( kinda)

we love ninjago. and I’m posting bc this needs to be brought to attention: NINJAGO, WE NEED MORE SIBLING CONTENT. romance? it’s good, I SWEAR I don’t have ANYTHING against jaya. but sibling relationships? Kai and nya? we need more.

hear me out: so many people are saying our poor traumatized green ninja that we all know and love is going to turn evil and lose it. valid theory, and quite understandable, and would make the remaining of season 16 quite interesting.I would LOVE another morro- like season, with Kai doing anything and everything he possibly can to bring back his little brother. If that happens, I want a scene. A scene where Kai is upset and nya comforts him, asks him what’s wrong. kai being kai blames himself for Lloyd turning evil, and suffocating himself in self hatred. Telling her it’s happening all over again ( like how he lost nya before, etc) I want kai to get UPSET and tell her he is sick of losing people, not being able to protect them. I want nya to comfort him like he always comforted her.

And if the whole lloyd-turns-evil thing never happens, then I STILL just want an episode ( another time twin-like season would be awesome tbh) just dedicated to them, for Kai to tell her how he felt when losing her to the ocean, how bad of a brother he felt and that he failed to keep his promise of protecting her.I want to see scenes of kai dealing with grief and why he even started teaching martial arts.

I want ninjago to stop just showing nya and jays bond. I want ninjago to show that the importance of kai and nyas bond is just as important, or even more so. I want nya to realize how much kai did and still does for her, and that the only reason kai even joined the ninja was to save HER. ( we really need to talk abt this more ). I want nya to realize what boundaries kai crossed to keep her safe. I want more scenes of their childhood that show Kai’s sacrifices and nyas upbringing. I want nya to realize all of this and thank kai and hug him and tell him she loves him.

I want her to tell him that he is the best older brother anyone could ever ask for. i mean seriously; nya seemed only worried about jay when the ninja were in court. WE DIDNT EVEN GET A SIBLING HUG WHEN NYA CAME BACK. IN CONCLUSION: WE WANT MORE KAI AND NYA.

This post contains mild Crystallized spoilers!

Like Father, Like Son

I have mixed feelings about the Crystallized finale, but Lloyd and Garmadon’s Oni forms were cool!

Background because I think it’s neat: