😳😳bro,, Are We About To Kiss Rn?😳😳

What if there was a fan fic where it was the entirety of ninjago but with no plot holes

EXACTLY like no one in 2021 actually cares about the green ninja drama; making lloyd the green ninja was a fantastic idea why are they still mad 😩

went on ninjago tiktok and like dam just... it’s been ten years and y’all still mad that kai wasn’t the green ninja

The ninja and their god forms (like Nya when she becomes the sea) based on this concept by @superstar-rockin-jay (pls click on it the quality is bad again)

Yeah so I reworked my previous designs, I’m not 100% satisfied bc they aren’t really coherent and I think I based it a little too much on the cultures I hc them as but hey speaking of:

- Kai is inspired bc mayan and aztec culture

- Jay (who has probably the weakest design) is inspired bc norse and celtic culture

- Cole is inspired by indian culture

- Zane is a tricky one bc I hc him as japanese but I didn’t really find any patterns that would match the rest of the ninjas designs so I also took inspo from inuit patterns (EDIT: I removed the inuit inspired tattoos since I’ve been told they’re scared and shouldn’t be used or drawn by non-indigenous people)

- Lloyd is inspired by polynesian and esp samoan culture (I hc him as korean/japanese but since Zane already has a japanese ‚look‘ I went for the idea that Lloyds grandma is polynesian and that’s why his design is like that) (I also gave him top surgery scars bc although he’s a god and could probably change gender whenever he likes I think it’s a nice reminder that my version of lloyd is trans)

- Nya is inspired by chinese culture

Reblogs are appreciated bc this took a long time (even without shading)

“Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today.”- Sensei Wu

in tears

Destress doodle of s6 jay for the soul

aww they’re so wholesome in seabound,, sure hope nothing bad happens tomorrow or friday

it did feel quite random when he brought it up, as you said, six seasons later in s12. there was nothing after that 'coversation' he had with unagami or before it, either. i feel as if it will come into the story again, or i would hope so (i am very desperate actually)

I have a strange feeling that the next season might center around Jay and people leaving him. Him mentioning that he has no idea why his parents abandoned him in season 12 kind of plants a seed to be discovered again in the future. I dunno, but I remember back whe we saw a glimpse of Kai's dad in Skybound, and his curiosity of what happened to his parents in season 4, then got season 7 centered around him and Nya finding out about them + Cole having a flashback that briefly mentions his mom's death in SOG and then us getting season 13, I feel like we might have a season centered around Jay's parents next. The emotions would definetely be there too because of what happened with Nya

sobbing

…………………..F

i think about this jay line alot

Why Skybound's Ending Works

And why it was actually, to contrary belief of some of the fandom, a good season.

So I read this book a while ago. It was a good book, an enjoyable read, but I remember being really disappointed in the ending. Today I was looking through my bookshelf and I found it again, which made me start thinking about why, exactly, I didn't like it.

While there were a few different gripes I had with it, the main point came down to the fact that at the end of the book, after the climax had been resolved, the main character still wasn't happy, and she found a way to reverse time so that the whole incident never happened.

Sounds familiar, right?

I've never been a big fan of stories that basically undo everything at the end. I feel like it's a cheap ending and gets the main character out of learning his or her lesson, and often leaves me as a reader (or viewer in the case of a show/movie) with a sense of unfulfillment. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, as this is the biggest complaint I've seen about Skybound in the fandom.

So, if this is true, why don't I feel the same kind of dissatisfaction with Skybound that I do with this book?

My first thoughts were maybe that because the book is a standalone part. Ninjago is a long show, now spanning 15 seasons (12 at the time I first was watching Skybound) and having one season that was a dud wouldn't upset me that much because there were so many. But if this were true, I would feel disappointment when I thought about Skybound in particular, not Ninjago as a whole, right? But I didn't. I still genuinely enjoyed the season, and I didn't feel scammed by the ending at all.

Upon further depth, I realized that it was the execution of this time-reverse.

The way the book I read worked, was that the main conflict had already been resolved, and peace had been declared, but the main character wasn't happy in her situation. She realized this wasn't what she wanted, and then time was reversed. Most media which undoes the plot goes something along this route, in my experience.

As a writer and reader, let me tell you that having another conflict after the main conflict just doesn't work. The main climax is supposed to build tension, put the consumers on the edge of their seats, and then have a short resolution period at the end to satisfy the consumers, but not stretch it out for any longer than necessary, because the climax was what we were all here for. Having another plot afterwards, even if it is internal, like this one was, takes away from the main climax, and suddenly it doesn't feel very engaging anymore. Everything throughout the book/show/movie is building up to the climax, and once that is over, it's time for the story to be done. Additional plots following the climax are what sequels are for.

Skybound doesn't do this. Instead of having more plot after the conclusion (which usually leads into the time reverse), it makes the time reverse INTO the climax.

The plot is building as Jay and the others prepare to kill Nadakhan. But when the plan goes awry, and now Nya is hit with the poison too, Jay's focus switches to her. This isn't a new climax, it's just a switch of focus as suddenly there are larger priorities to fix. A shift of focus, done right, can make things even more intense because now there are two threats- in this case, stopping Nadakhan, and saving Nya from death.

Jay's wish is all he has left. As soon as the venom wears off, Nadakhan will be all-powerful again. They are running out of resources, of ways to fight him. Jay has to end him now, or they lose against Nadakhan, possibly forever.

But he's not going to sacrifice Nya for this either. As we know, Nadakhan twists the wishes in anyway he can to benefit him, so Jay needs to make his wish as simple and straightforward as possible. He can't save Nya and stop Nadakhan.

That is, unless he prevents this whole mess from happening in the first place.

This is wonderfully executed, because Jay isn't actively seeking to do this out of his own selfish wants, or because he wants to fix something he did in the past. He does it out of necessity, because it's the only way he can think of where everyone on his side gets out alive. Like I said before, I feel like reversing time usually makes it so that a character is getting a cheap solution to their problem, one where they override all the lessons they learned throughout the story. But this is not the case with Jay. It's not a cheap ending, it's just an abrupt one, because Jay realized that this was a threat he wasn't strong enough to face. It takes humility, it takes courage- and it greatly improved him as a character.

One of the other main gripes about time-reversal plot is that there's no consequences. The characters spent all this time fighting to defeat some conflict, only for all of that to be undone and putting them right back at square one.

While this is somewhat true for Skybound, they handle it in a way so that the characters still get something out of it. Most people don't remember, but Jay and Nya still do. Those memories are still very much real for them. Skybound technically did happen, it was just reversed. It's not like it never existed. For Jay and Nya, who still remember, those experiences and traumas are still very much real.

I think the main prospect might be Nadakhan's teapot, though. Let's recount the exact wording of Jay's final wish:

"I wish you had taken my hand, and no one ever found that teapot in the first place."

Jay's wish is in past tense. "I wish you HAD," "no one ever FOUND" (instead of finds). Jay didn't wish that no one would find the teapot ever, just that they wouldn't have found it in the past. This means, while, it would fix the past, the future is still uncertain. Nadakhan could still potentially return, because Jay's wish wasn't specific enough.

While I am not super confident that he actually will, just the potential for it makes this a much better ending. Skybound, while erased, still is very much real, and so is Nadakhan. Jay's original plan was to kill him, but now he's just dormant in the teapot.

Skybound's ending wasn't cheap. It was a way for Jay to realize that he wasn't always going to win, and that no mistake could ever be completely erased.