AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH "I have to endure." "I have to continue." "So I can see them again." "I can't lose myself." pfp creds to Kindaasrikal :)
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Latest Posts by bie-tch - Page 6
Alright guys time for another theory post:
What did we really see in the Phantasm Cave?
We’ve generally accepted that the Ninja and Co. saw visions of their (arguably) greatest fears: Nya and Jay, Riyu and Wyldfyre, Sora and Arin. All pretty rudimentary.
Then we get to Lloyd. Main character that he is, his fear is much more layered. This got me thinking back on the visions we saw, and even those we didn’t, and what they might mean. I’m going to highlight the interesting bits that you may have missed upon a first-watch.
Arin:
- scene opens with Arin misidentifying his parents as Sora and Lloyd, then he approaches them
- not the last time he does this: shows up again in the season 2 finale after Arin fights Ras, but the opposite way. Arin thinks he sees his parents when it’s just Nya and Lloyd.
- after his parents are revealed, he suddenly can’t move anymore. He just runs at them without moving forward
- notably, his mother asks “Why haven’t you found us, Arin? Are the Ninja your new family now instead of us? Did you forget us?”
- Arin only responds to/denies forgetting his parents, but doesn’t address her other questions.
Arin fears that his attachment to the Ninja compromises his parents’ love for him. He’s able to make progress in his ninja training, albeit slowly, but hasn’t gotten anywhere closer to finding his parents. He blames himself for taking so long. He’s not worried that he won’t find them: he’s scared they’ll hate him when he does.
Sora:
- notably, her vision isn’t in or about Imperium itself. Beatrix and Ras represent the regime of Imperium that she ran from.
- these two appearing on a video screen ties in her elemental tech powers, as well as her “we are all dragons” speech from the season 1 finale, which was aired on a similar TV system
- she’s grabbed and pulled into the screen by a bolt of electricity: not a hand, not any involuntary movement, but the lifeblood of her element. We’ve known about elements having overlap since season 11, so this is likely another tie-in to her powers.
- a golden hand appears through the screen at the last moment to grab her. It’s unclear if this is Ras or Beatrix, though the electricity appears from Beatrix’s hand.
Sora has been exploited by Imperium before, and that was before she discovered her element. With a power that’s so utility-based, she’s afraid that her powers are going to bring her more pain. Choosing to activate the Photacs back in season 1 must have really stuck with her, especially since the Ninja nearly lost the battle because of her decision. She couldn’t stand to put others in danger again like that. And unlocking her true potential solidified the divide between her and her parents. In her own words: “I’m a dark cloud. Bad luck seems to follow me everywhere.”
Lloyd:
“Your team needed strong leadership and did not receive it.”
“But, I had these visions, and—“
- in an attempt to justify his actions, Lloyd tries explaining his visions; though he doesn’t know how much he can trust what he sees, it’s the only lead the team has. Lloyd continuously doubts his decisions based on his visions, so why would he be excusing them now? Perhaps as a way of justifying his inadequate leadership?
“I blame myself, nephew. I felt you were ready to take over for me. But I was wrong.”
- Lloyd puts Wu on this pedestal for being a “perfect” master. He’s able to call him that despite Wu’s mistakes and shortcomings, but Lloyd can’t give himself the same treatment. He doesn’t deserve it: he’s not worthy.
“You will never / be good enough.”
- Ras appearing here is really telling. He appears in his Imperium garb because this was the point when Lloyd’s mistakes in leadership came with tangible consequences: during the battle for the second monastery. His team was put in danger because of him. Not only is Lloyd not good enough to be a master, but he isn’t good enough to properly deal with this looming threat.
- Lloyd has also observed Ras’ leadership of both the Claws of Imperium and the wolf mask warriors and how effective he is. He’s much more organized and mentally sound than Lloyd, and he keeps winning. He consistently keeps coming back. By all of Lloyd’s metrics, Ras is a better leader than him.
Nya:
- this vision seems to be set up to imply that Nya regrets not loving Jay more before he disappeared. Because she didn’t care about him enough, he’s gone and forgotten their relationship altogether.
- Nya’s previous fears in the series have been: failure (S5) and becoming ordinary (S11 + 15). This vision ends up combining these two: In Nya’s failure to find Jay after the merge, she’s become ordinary to him.
Nya is the first to realize her vision is fake. I believe this is because hers was the only purely external conflict among all the visions. She’s able to separate herself from the given situation because what she feels for Jay hasn’t changed. She hasn’t been absorbed by her self-criticism or mistakes because she’s not doing anything wrong: Jay forgot her. She has no fault or control of that.
Riyu and Wyldfyre:
- Riyu and Wyldfyre are implied to have had similar visions regarding Wasting Sickness. It’s revealed later with Egalt that Wyldfyre has experienced the effects of Wasting herself among her clan. And Riyu coming from the Mountain dragon tribe would have also likely seen the devastation of Wasting.
- Both of them would have encountered this disease when they were much younger.
- We also learn from Egalt and Wyldfyre that Wasting primarily impacts older dragons. Both Riyu and Wyldfyre have older dragon mentors/family members: Heatwave and the Matriarch. I bet they saw these two suffering from the disease and were unable to help.
Kai:
- we are shown next to nothing about what Kai saw (thanks, show 😤), but his reactions paired with this pattern of analysis can give us some idea.
- after coming to, Kai glances to Nya, huffing a sigh of (what seems to be) relief. He looks to Nya first, notably. Remember, these animation choices are deliberate.
- when Nya says “It couldn’t be real”, he makes this face:
- Her conversation with Lloyd seems to sour his mood. Nya seems to think that just because her vision seems impossible, everyone else’s must have been just as unrealistic. And Kai disagrees. What Kai saw was likely something that could feasibly happen, or something that already happened.
- In a more meta sense, we can also assume this is a more recent conflict, seeing how none of the OG Ninja’s visions touch on relevant plot beats from before Dragons Rising.
- taking into account this ask to Doc Wyatt from a few months back:
I believe Kai’s vision had something to do with wandering the merged lands alone. This would explain the attention drawn to his relief at seeing everybody ok. I imagine we’ll get more info from Kai about his travels, but I’d respect the writers’ decision to leave this ambiguous.
So where does that leave us?
What I believe we’re seeing in these visions are the Ninja’s regrets. These commonly stem from underlying fears of theirs, but there’s not as much terror involved with this sequence.
From a writing standpoint, this is a deeper exploration of character than simply living their greatest fears. Given the opportunity, what’s one thing you would go back and change? One mistake that you’d fix? These visions force these characters to confront these questions head-on as they struggle to rationalize their past behavior.
Feel free to share your thoughts and theories in the comments or reblogs! I’d love to know if I’m cooking or not on these longer theory-crafting posts.
GUSYYSYSYSS I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE IM ABOUT TO COMBUST JFZLL2PCJHGIEIJRBTNMSKSJFBNDJX
If I'm going insane over a trailer I might not watch the actual series because I'll actually die. I'm not even exaggerating it's a problem
This was him after going through the most traumatic event of his life btw
if monstrosity gets leaked i'll have to break both arms to keep myself from watching it i fear
Monstrosity trailer analysis part 1:
The Monsters are terrifying, and everything is huge
One of the very first shots of the trailer shows the fire knight mech (which I’ll call Ignis not because it’s canon, but because it sounds cool and is much shorter) standing right beside Kai. I remember seeing this for the first time and just marveling at the sheer size of the mech. It’s one of the biggest mechs in the Ninjago franchise, and having Kai right next to it, contrasted with the giant flag, makes everything feel so massive that it’s almost uncomfortable.
The next shots are definitely one of the most memorable. It's what the guardian dragon (who I'll call Ator (pronounced ey-tore) for the same reasons as ignis) calls: 'the beast who ravaged her homelands and destroyed her future.'
Im pretty sure we all had the same reaction when seeing this thing for the first time. Because Jesus christ, that thing is huge. Compare that to the trees, which we know are fairly big since we see Kai stand next to one later in the trailer, and they look like literal twigs compared to the giant... thing. Its toe can literally topple a mountain. Which psycho designed this. I wanna give my thanks.
And since I'm following a trend to naming these characters... I'll just call it 'The Beast.' Pretty on the nose but accurate nonetheless.
The next monster shown is painfully unrecognized by the fandom which is sad because, to me, it's definitely one of my favorites. In the first photo, Kai takes a few steps forward, but when the light hits him, he just ceases movement altogether. It's definitely a red light green light situation. This is made even more horrifying due to the fact that there are SO MUCH (I'll call them eyeblights) EYEBLIGHTS BEHIND HIM. It seems like they have a specific area of the realm of monsters that they inhabitate, and that just makes the trailer 10000000000x better because now there a tangible ecosystem the watcher can actually see and hold on to.
Ooooh, this is hard to spot if you don't know what you're looking for. In this shot, Kai runs on a bridge while some monster that definitely looks made of roots and other organic material (I'll call it a rot-root) shoots out behind him in an action that's adjacent to a hand reaching out into the sky. You can see what looks like fingernails on the edges of the rot-root, and the overall shape looks kinda like an arm.
Another kaiju. Poor Kai. His name is Repnok.
Just for clarity, but the size of one of its whiskers is enough to reach half of the castle. Its head is the size of the castle, which can house more than a hundred people. This thing is atleast 100feet and above. Not as big as the beast, but still fucking giant.
Another thing that the fandom didn't notice for some reason is that the place Kai is in is a kingdom. If you look closely, the Repnoks leg is resting on a wall, and Kai is running on the same wall. Look just below, and you can see actual houses just barely out of sight. This means many things, though. This means there are actual confirmed on-screen deaths in ninjago because no one is surviving that shit, and that the realm if monsters is definitely the biggest realm so far and that many other smaller realms are inside of it. Sadly, all their occupants are probably dead, which will probably affect Kai for the rest of his life. (More in-depth analysis on this later in part 2)
I have no words. I don't think I need to explain this, really.
It's huge.
Like, ungodly huge. It's definitely a squid of some sort, it having barbed tentacles, but it's fucking huge. What the hell, Lego. Look how– Kai looks like a speck of dirt compared to it! Her name is Celybyss.
Another thing is that it's underwater. What kind of giant 'fuck you' is this to Kai.
That's all the monsters shown so far, and Lego did not disappoint. I wouldn't be surprised if they hired actual horror artists to work on this. Poor Kai, he's gonna have so much fun.
Good
It's crazy how one trailer got more attention than 8 leaked episodes.
GUSYYSYSYSS I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE IM ABOUT TO COMBUST JFZLL2PCJHGIEIJRBTNMSKSJFBNDJX
If I'm going insane over a trailer I might not watch the actual series because I'll actually die. I'm not even exaggerating it's a problem
ALL CREDITS GO TO @aceeditss_ ON TIKTOK!!! I DID NOT MAKE THIS!!!
TIKTOK IS FUCKING COOKING WIHT THE MONSTROSITY EDITS IM FUCKING DYING KVER HERE
Gonna honk shu mimimi now bvus it's 3am and I have school tomorrow. Aaahhh im stupid. Night Ninblr!!!
i think they should let kai say fuck in ninjago monstrosity
Do you think Kai took liberties when heading to the Monastery? Do you think he stood infront of a mirror making sure he looked and acted the same before the merge happened? Do you think he cracked more jokes and laughed too hard when he was with Lloyd? Do you think he quietly mumbles the names of the people who helped him leave the realm of monsters in fear of forgetting them? Do you think the reason he talks to himself more is because its become a habit for him? Do you think he was relieved when Nya broke them out of the fear vision, and that he really was back home? Do you think he got deja vu seeing rontu and egalt? Do you think he found the nether space comforting? Do you think the reason he was so calm during everything is because he was desensitized? Do you think he's okay?
Because I don't.
Something that hasn't really sunk in yet is the fact that monstrosity is canon. Like wdym it's not something my Kai-deprived brain made up in order to fill the neverending void in my heart???? Really??? Are you sure?? The thing I've been begging for actual years and then some really happened?? No joke??? Actual Kai material?? Character development?? Lore importance?? ANGST, SICK MONSTER DESIGN, AND BODY HORROR??? 2D FUCKING ANIMATION!?!?!?!? AND ITS ALLL KAI??????????? JUST HIM?????????????????
Hey lego what the fuck
Monstrosity is a tragedy in disguise because Kai didn’t even know what the merge was. All he knew was that he went into a weird, glowing storm and landed in a little nightmares game. He didn’t even know if the others were alive because he didn’t know where they were even after weeks of nonstop searching. He didnt know there were more places to look. He didn’t know the realms had merged. He didn't know there was more than that. He didn't know. He was just trying to survive.
And if he wasn't busy scrambling to survive, he was probably thinking. Thinking how they were gonna win this. Thinking how they were gonna come out on top this time. He probably spent nights just wide awake strategizing like crazy. Wondering who was behind turning ninjago into a realm of monsters.
And it's just... sad. He fought everyday while clinging to the small hope that they were alive, somewhere. Somehow. And when he found the Bounty, found places outside of the hell he lived in for years, found Lloyd, found out about the merge, can you imagine his relief? Or horror? Or both?
Kai you fucking LIARR AAAAAAA
The fact that he probably said that with a straight face, literally lying through his teeth. All for Lloyd. Always for Lloyd.
Kai. Get some fucking therapy. Now.
Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst Angst can't stop thinking about the Angst
Oh.
Oh no.
I just had an epiphany.
Yknow how Lloyd woke up just outside the monastery, then remarked how it looked different? What if, that's not actually the original monastery? Just another realm version like the others? What if the original,
Was where Kai ended up in?
Was in that realm?
And then maybe there's a huge plot thing where they have to activate all the different monasteries, and they're just missing one, so they have to go to the realm of the monsters themselves to activate it.
Oh my god that's the plot of s4 isn't it.
If I'm right I'm never living this down.
Is that…
IS THAT FUCKING BORG TOWER???? DID NINJAGO CITY GET PUT IN THE MONSTER LANDS????
This is what happened I was the mergequake
Monstrosity is really recontextualizing that Kai and Lloyd reunion in everyone's minds, huh?
Like now I can't help but imagine that the two of them just stood hugging each other like that for a really long time, neither of them saying a word, because Lloyd was so incredibly lonely and of course was overjoyed to have his big brother back, but then he notices that Kai is holding him just a tiny bit tighter than normal and maybe even trembling a bit, and from Kai's pov he's not giving anything away about how close he is to breaking down as the reality washes over him that he finally has one of his loved ones back, because it's Lloyd and he always has to be strong for him, he can't have him worry about him, but Lloyd notices anyway that something is wrong and let's him hold him a bit longer, knowing Kai won't tell him anything about what he's gone through to make him seek comfort like this but wanting to give it to him anyway because it's the least he can do for the one who always protected him.
Types of people after the Merge
Man Cole really got lucky huh?
I look into your eyes and I think back to the son of mine
You're as old as he was when I left for war
Will these actions haunt my days? Every man I've slain?
Is the price I pay endless pain?
Close your eyes and spare yourself the view
How could I hurt you?
I'm just a man who's trying to go home
Even after all the years away from what I've known
I'm just a man who's fighting for his life
Deep down, I would trade the world to see my son and wife
I'm just a man
But when does the comet become a meteor?
When does a candle become a blaze?
When does a man become a monster?
When does a ripple become a tidal wave?
When does the reason become the blame?
When does a man become a monster?
Forgive me
(When does a man become a monster?) Forgive me
(When does a man become a monster?) Forgive me
I'm just a man
I am actually so sorry everyone but genuinely I think I’m gonna be exclusively talking about that trailer for a WHILE.
Finally the only character that matters is getting the spotlight once again
HUH.
I swear to god if monstrosity leaks
I SWEAR TO GOD
I will kill someones in real life
Theory time yap yap yap Theory yap time Theory time theory–
Ooooh don't even start. I have to physically stop myself from stimming whenever I think about this.
At the end, when Kai gets the bounty working, the final shot is him sailing away from the realm of monsters, taking off his cloak and hat and putting on his og Gi, then the animation just shifts to the 3d style while he silently cries his heart out. Because he's home. It's over. Even though he'll never forget what he's seen, what he's experienced, he'll sure as hell never let it tie him down.
Ooooh my boy. I didn't know you were jacked full of trauma. Dr s3 is gonna HIT my lord.