r/Ninjago

It was a close match, but the votes mostly fell into two categories. “‘It’s okay, she’s with us’”, and “Lloyd releasing the Serpentine”. In the end, Lloyd releasing the Serpentine wins out as the most questionable thing Lloyd has done, for good reason. Had he not released the Serpentine, the entire timeline as we know it would be completely different. Would be a fun “what if?” story to explore someday…

Now, onto a new category, but with the same old master of “FIYYYAAAA” (for best effect, read it in Kai’s voice):

Day 25: What is Kai’s most badass moment?

The name of the game is “Aura Farming”, as the kids say. What moment from Kai’s history just had the sauce? The impact? The FIRE? Kai loves being cool, so I’m sure there are many to pick from.

Some moments I included in the collage: 

• His tournament match with Ash for the Jade Blade
• Dealing the final blow to the Gimon-Ogu
• Reunlocking his powers and destroying Boreal
• Being released from the Nether-Space and battling an elemental powered-Nokt solo

But as always, you do NOT have to pick from the collage only. Any moment from any Ninjago media counts. Maybe you consider his fight with Karlof, him saving Lloyd and unlocking his true potential, or him taking on the Hands of Time and Iron Doom with the Fusion Dragon as his most badass moment. Kai has a plethora of cool moments to pick from. As long as it’s badass, it’s valid.

What do you think was Kai’s most badass moment in the series?

How come Nokt was allowed to participate in the Tournament Of Sources? Wasn't it known that he's part of the Forbidden Five, who are a genocidal and murderous group of elemental masters?

”We shrunk!”

My theory is that Emperor Levo wasn't a very good emperor either, and that Sora's parents had to deal with him and held a higher level of disdain for him than most Imperians did, which would make Beatrix already more favorable than not, making Sora's parents' trust easy to gain. Then, Beatrix, with her lies, propaganda, brainwashing, and manipulation cemented it in their minds. Living like this for so long would only fuel their love for Beatrix's seemingly better rule, while a reasonably acquired "this is so much better than before" mindset would fuel their disdain for Levo's previous rule, which in turn, fuels their love and loyalty towards Beatrix's rule, something they didn't realize was a lie this whole time. Beatrix's framing of Zeatrix falsely showed that even though Levo wasn't good, Beatrix would still serve justice to anyone, even family. Telling them that Beatrix was evil with proof that honestly could have been faked with the level of technology of their world, and especially Imperium, is asking them to reframe their entire mindset in a matter of moments. The reason they are unable to do this would tie into whatever their specific problems with Emperor Levo were, because if Levo had wronged them, Beatrix's rule had to be nothing but justice in their minds, which isn't entirely logical, but it makes sense given that every other Imperian also believed Beatrix's lies, albeit not as deeply as they did. Then coming to accept that they were wrongdoers after being deceived by a higher power and after being wronged and justice never being served to them? Practically impossible.

My evidence for this theory is how Levo acted and what his problems truly were, and also what traits he had. We didn't see him on screen for long, but it's surprising how easy it is to put the pieces together. Levo was anti-outsider and xenophobic because he believed Imperium was the greatest civilization due to its technological advancements. This kind of nationalism creeped into every part of his life, turning into straight-up arrogance, which would naturally make him feel he was better than all Imperians simply because he ruled over them, a position he didn't earn, but was born into as a the head of a monarchy. We can see he clearly rejected Ras not only because the dragons willingly shared energy with Imperium, but because he couldn't bear the prospect of being instructed, advised, or seen as equal with someone he considered to be an inherently lesser being than himself. He neglected his own daughter, Beatrix, and fueled her rage until the point where she had the idea to kill him. (not justifying Beatrix's actions, just explaining) This kind of arrogance could not have possibly been restricted in any manner, as Levo was the sole, supreme leader of Imperium, able to enforce his will upon anyone in Imperium. If his own daughters weren't free of his arrogance, how could Sora's parents have been?

Levo's arrogant nature would almost certainly result in actions done for personal gain and not the for the well-being of the people of Imperium. If anyone spoke out against him or criticized him in any way, Levo's arrogance would only make him use his power as Emperor to suppress them, criminalizing any form of political dissent. This, by nature of the concept of political dissent, would mean the rights of free speech and freedom of the press (in basic terms, free speech in the form of news media) are also stripped away. People would obviously have been jailed due to any form of criticism. While Levo did not banish people nor torture dragons like Beatrix, he was still a propagator of totalitarianism and dictatorial at heart, though it was not as loud. He obviously didn't need to hurt or jail many people because most of his problems were simply bad traits like arrogance or things like xenophobia, which I feel most Imperians would agree with. Also, his power was legitimate, and he never had to stage a coup to get it or frame anyone, so there would be no one to force in order to validate his authority. His dictatorial nature would be practically silent to most of Imperium.

The specifics are hard to guess, and I can only speculate what the events at any level of detail higher than what I have already spoken of really were.

In simpler words, my theory is that Sora's parents had some deeper problem with Levo, whether it be a form of criticism they participated in that got them punished, or something they did that was a "crime" by Imperian standards but completely fine morally, or something of that nature, something punishable in Imperium that they shouldn't have been punished for, and was petty and stupid. This would make Beatrix more favorable, and the lies would cement it in their minds. Now, after Beatrix is exposed as a dictator, Sora's parents are being told to accept that they did wrong after being wronged, that they were supporting someone evil after that person had technically alleviated the harm of an evil from them. This logic is obviously just the clear idea at a first glance, and it may seem slightly arrogant and self-serving, but it is logical nonetheless. Besides, brainwashing has proved to significantly lower someone's ability to understand the reasons behind their own actions, leading to the fact that after all this, Sora's parents don't have the ability to fully understand what they did wrong, and they don't even have the ability to fully understand the problems that led them to do those wrong things. They don't understand their actions nor their trauma. Just because Beatrix is gone doesn't mean that Sora's parents automatically lose all their brainwashing effects.

Senator Percival should probably look into getting rehabilitation for people like these instead of just punishment, because dear Lord some of these Imperians are brainwashed so bad. Just living under his just rule wouldn't solve those problems, because removing the thing that's brainwashing someone won't undo the brainwashing that has been done. Percival is a teenager, and he is absolutely capable of leading, something beyond anyone's wildest expectations, but he needs to stop thinking about the Loyalists as just criminals and also victims in their own sense. None of those who are culpable in this entire ordeal have to entirely be an aggressor. Sora is entirely a victim, but Sora's parents could have had problems of their own, Dr. LaRow seems to feel lost without serving Beatrix, The Loyalists could all just be really mentally instable people who need help, and Beatrix herself was still a victim to her father neglection and favoritism of Zeatrix. No one who is more than 0% in the wrong has to be 100% in the wrong.

Even Dr. LaRow with her smarts wasn't safe. Though I feel she won't side with Beatrix much anymore, she seems to know when Beatrix should back down. LaRow seems to really only serve Beatrix because it gives her power as well.

Now this doesn't mean Sora's parents are intending to reconnect automatically, maybe the time they take away from Beatrix's rule and the Loyalists will open their eyes while they're still serving Beatrix. Who knows? This is mostly "wishful thinking and plausibility with evidence" so let me know what you think about it, and give me your theories too.

EDIT: LOL i just noticed i'm being downvoted, i wanna know how many people actually read this entire thing and how many people read like 2 sentences and just said "this guy thinks emotional abuse is okay"

My reasons:

Ok firstly, Season 7 is NOT a bad season. It marked the transition into SOG and also brought one of the strongest villains we've met, based off of raw power and experience and not some bs like Nadakhan just teleporting and the Overlord having magical powers because he represents destruction.

"Acronix was a skilled warrior, one of the best I've ever seen."

Acronix was literally stuck in a time loop for 40 years and was still one of the best fighters Wu had seen as he stated and was still on par with him. I'd also be annoyed if I was stuck in a time loop for 40 years so that's probably why he wasn't refurbished on his skills. We don't know what happened in that time Vortex.

In the last Episode, (74) Acronix and Krux, mind you Krux is OLD and Acronix and Krux don't have elemental powers , both beat Kai, Nya and Wu with literally 2 swords each in combat.

I think there's more credit to give to Krux but I'm a Acronix fan soooo...I'll do a post on Krux soon.

Not to mention, their biggest creation the Iron Doom, which can literally travel through the fabric of time, which was completed by BOTH of them in less than 3 days. They got all Time Blades in literally 3 days. The rest was done by Krux but then again thats Krux glaze.

There's more I could talk about like almost being on par with all the ninja with getting the Slow-Mo Time Blade I believe but again,I guess this is enough.

I think people also bandwagon hating on Hands Of Time too much. I've never seen a good reason to be honest

Both of them fought for the fate and preservation of Ninjago, so it’s possible.

"Nah ima just use my dad's sword and armor that should do the trick."

This dumb animal who’s main plan that seems to change every 2 episodes is probably the most overrated villain in ninjago. Saying “strength is important” isn’t character writing. He isn’t the most well written villain, all he does is just say that strength is everything. The deepest he’s gotten is when it’s heavily hinted his tribe/family were killed in some way and he resents “heroes” as there weren’t any to save him but the always was a hero to save someone else. That is character writing and I like that, but besides like one or two interactions with Arin, it hasn’t been touched upon at all.

Also as a villain heavily based on the term “strength is everything” he manages to lose almost every fight in the show. Unless it’s a 1v1 against my goat Arin where he dislocate’s Arin’s spine, he just consistently loses again and again. He was nothing but fodder in dragons rising season 3 because chucked around by everyone antagonistic. I know drix was shown to be very strong, but Ras couldn’t even last 2 hits from him. At least the ninja didn’t go down immediately, they weren’t unconscious or anything. If he had a genuine 1v1 against any of the original ninja, hell with the way she was moving against Zarkt even Pixal, he’s cooked. My dude would have to be bailed out by his master again like his limited 1v1 against Lloyd in DRS2. It’s genuinely comical that Alphonzo frohicky is one of very few characters this apparent “best villain” has actually beat

But also and my main point that I feel like a lot of people just let slide. Dragons rising has only managed to span 70 episodes because of this stupid tiger’s own incompetence. His plan is honestly pretty simple and he has every single sign pointing him towards success and he consistently fails. Across the 1840 minute runtime of all of dragons rising, all he has accomplished so far is getting a whole 2 more source dragon icons. Hell getting 1 was all he accomplished in a whole season, twice in a row, well besides whatever he needed Wu’s study for.

Genuinely this guy is just a bum. He can’t win a fight for shit, he’s incredibly incompetent and can’t complete his plan for shit, I really don’t get the hype even as a dragons rising mega fan

Mine is probably deepstone, but they’re all cool.

I think Kai vs. Morro is the most interesting rivalry in the series, even over Morro and Lloyd itself in Possession.

Plus this is the season where Kai finally sets through with what he said about protecting Lloyd in season 1. You'd wish at some point Kai just mentions someone going crazy over the Green ninja is so annoying in itself and everyone blankly staring at him like he wasn't incredibly annoying about it for 2/3 of season 1.

But back to Morro vs Kai. Obviously there's the fact that they're foils and Morro is what Kai would likely become if he never stopped to realize he just wasn't the Green Ninja, if not worse.

The entire season could've driven deeper about how obsession drives you to do things you'd never imagine or even more scenes where Morro is incredibly manipulative.

And knowing Kai has good intuition, but bad at bargaining, Morro could single him out and even manipulate him to sabotage the team. "Want to protect your friend? Sure. Just make sure to stop your friends from following us." Or even Kai could just feel so guilty about losing Lloyd his judgement of wanting to do the right thing could make him do the opposite entirely. Hell if you wanted, he could still feel some guilt about Zane.

This could've pushed Kai to his limits and instead of his old obsession with wanting to be the green ninja, he could become so obsessed with protecting Lloyd, that he'd actually accepts Morro's conditions. Like could you imagine if to some degree Cole becoming a ghost was Kai's fault or Kai "missed" his aeroblade and made one of the ninja unable to reach the moving ship piece during the chase down the mountain? Better yet if he made himself a ghost on accident to fully cement the foil between Kai and Morro, but showing the difference is Kai became a ghost through sheer selflessness and even if he did sabotage the team, he would never put them in that level of danger. In contrast to Morro actively putting himself and even Wu in danger before becoming a ghost.

This also gives Kai a call back about his dislike of water earlier this season and now he has all the reason more to be afraid of it. This is also a good callback about Kai also becoming a green ninja(ghostly hugh) like a pattern of when he wore the suit during his secret training.

the rest of the team recognizes he's just reverting back to his old self trying to ride solo forgetting Lloyd has other protectors and friends too and what Kai has done up to this point has been incredibly reckless.

Plus there's just the fact that Kai doing what he does could be what sets Morro on his own internal struggle to understand why someone would go out of their way to sacrifice everything to save their friend, leading to his own eventual descent into betraying the primordial and still being dragged and giving his speech about how you can only save those who want to be saved, it could even have the same power if he said it to Kai, but Wu is good too.

Idk feel like that has incredible au potential and probably just way too dark for what Ninjago would later become, but the first 5 seasons kinda had great horror elements. I think season 5 going all in would be interesting.

I think there was just more to dig at with Kai and Morro that shows 2 sides of the same coin, but Kai having to understand he isn't the main character of every scenario and knowing when to stop. This could also mirror Zane's sacrifice, but presented as far less noble and almost gross in a way since Zane did his sacrifice out of love, while Kai has always struggled with main character syndrome.

Damn, that's a lot to read. Sorry about that.