Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu |
| Abbreviation(s): | Ninjago |
| Creator: | Michael Hegner, Tommy Andreasen[1] |
| Date(s): | 2011-Ongoing |
| Medium: | Animated TV Series |
| Country of Origin: | Denmark, Canada[1] |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
This article or section needs expansion. |
Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, also called Ninjago and Lego Ninjago is an animated TV series produced by Lego. The series follows a team of Ninjas who use the power of Spinjitzu to fight against villains and defend the land of Ninjago.
The Lego Ninjago franchise also includes an animated feature film, a Lego theme, and companion books, the most notable being the Dark Island Trilogy.
Canon
Throughout the 15 seasons, the main team of Ninjas fight numerous enemies. However, Lord Garmadon (Lloyd's father) is a consistent antagonist and occasional reluctant ally throughout. The team of six ninjas are all friends with each other, although some relationships stand out. Jay and Nya, two Ninjas, are in love and they unofficially married in Season 10. Lloyd and Sensei Wu have a close familial relationship.
Pilots
The pilot episodes deal with the re-awakening of primary villain, Lord Garmadon. Garmadon's second in command, a skeleton monster named Samukai, betrays him.
WilFilm Era
The WilFilm Era, named as such by the animation studio who was producing Ninjago from the pilots through season 10, is considered the "classic" ninjago era by many fans, since it's what many of them grew up on; most older fans have a preference for this era due to nostalgia. This era is characterized by 22-minute episodes and 13 or so episodes-long seasons. The animation in the earlier seasons is dated, but by season 8 it has very strong lighting and environmental design, though it lacks the complex fight choreography of the later Wildbrain era.
First Two Seasons
The first two seasons of Ninjago tell a complete, compelling story of the ninja facing increasingly dangerous enemies while learning and training to overcome their flaws. These seasons were obviously the only ones the writers planned for when the show was picked up, as the plot is wrapped up completely by the end of season 2.
The first season follows the ninja as they are introduced to Lloyd Garmadon, the son of Lord Garmadon. Lloyd becomes a threat when he releases the five Serpentine tribes from their tombs, and attemps to use them to defeat the ninja. However, Pythor, the last remaining Anacondrai, betrays Lloyd and takes him prisoner. In response to this, Sensei Wu goes to find Garmadon, in the hopes that he will ally with the ninja to save his son. While Wu is gone, the ninja are instructed to find their True Potential, and unlock stronger abilities from their Golden Weapons. The ninja each get an episode dedicated to finding their True Potential, and overcoming what holds them back. During this arc, they are also in a race against Pythor to find the four Fangblades, in order to prevent him from reviving the Great Devourer: a legendary snake which consumes all in its path, and won't stop until nothing remains. Once Wu returns with Garmadon, the ninja are able to successfully rescue Lloyd, and in the process discover that he is the Green Ninja: the one who is destined to defeat Lord Garmadon. They are unable to stop Pythor from finding the Fangblades and reviving the Great Devourer, and end up teaming up with Garmadon one final time in order to stop it. They succeed in stopping the snake, but Garmadon is able to steal the golden weapons in the process.
Seasons 3-7
Seasons 3-7 of Ninjago have mixed reactions from fans. For those who grew up on the series, this era is nostalgic and considered "classic" Ninjago, and often preferred over the later Wildbrain seasons. For newer fans of the series, these seasons feel dated and overly chaotic, lacking the more streamlined approach of the later seasons. Fans generally agree that Season 3: Rebooted is the most out-of-place, as it was clear that the writers hadn't planned on continuing the story after the first two seasons, and so threw together a plot that barely made any sense. Season 5: Possession is the fan favorite out of these seasons, as it introduced the popular character Morro as the primary antagonist, and saw Nya become an official member of the Ninja team.
The Oni Trilogy
The Oni trilogy is considered the peak of Ninjago by many fans, bringing a fresh, new plot arc to a show that was beginning to feel both chaotic and stale. Unlike the self-contained seasons that came previously, the Oni Trilogy's plotline stretches over all three seasons, creating a seamless story that is reminiscent of the first two seasons of Ninjago. It also brings back Lord Garmadon as its main villain, resurrected in a form that includes only his evil side, and nothing else.
Wildbrain Era
The Wildbrain Era is the second era of Ninjago, beginning with season 11 and continuing through season 15. It is characterized by 11-minute episodes and 26-episode seasons, giving its seasons the same total runtime as WilFilm era seasons, but with more episodic pacing. The animation is known for its incredible fight choreography, but lacks the lighting and environmental design of the WilFilm era, although the differences aren't very significant. Many older fans dislike the Wildbrain era for the change in format, and the general decline in writing as Ninjago seemed to run out of ideas for new storylines after ten seasons of content.
Season 11
Season 11 was highly experimental, as the first Wildbrain season, and had a mixed (mostly negative) reaction from fans. S11 was a double-length season, split into the Fire and Ice chapters. The Fire chapter was meant to focus on Kai as the main character, exploring how he reacts when his powers are stolen, but fell short of creating a satisfying character arc. Similarly, the Ice chapter was meant to focus on Zane, but ends up with him absent from the story for most of the chapter.
This season contained many experimental episodes, such as civilian-perspective episodes, and 2D-animated flashback episodes. These experimental episodes are clear growing pains from the transition to Wildbrain as an animation studio, and while they are out-of-place in this season, they do set the stage for more well-executed concepts down the line.
Seasons 12 & 13
Seasons 12 & 13 are able to execute what Season 11 was trying to do with much more success. Season 12: Prime Empire is Jay's focus season, and while it doesn't give him as much character development as fans were hoping for, it's still a fun season with a well-rounded story arc.
Season 13, on the other hand, executes it's mission perfectly: Master of the Mountain is Cole's focus season, and successfully gives Cole real focus and character development while still having an interesting plot, and without sidelining the other characters. For this reason, Master of the Mountain is a fan favorite of the Wildbrain era, and faces the least criticism among the later seasons.
The Island
The Island has had some controversy among fans over whether or not to consider it its own season. It consists of four episodes, making it technically the same length as Season 10: March of the Oni, but the episodes are half the length. Some fans consider it a miniseries, while others consider it its own season, leading to conflicting information regarding the total number of seasons in Ninjago.
Season 14: Seabound
While Seabound is, on the surface, a character focus season much like Prime Empire and Master of the Mountain, it had a much greater impact on fans due to its ending. (Spoilers Ahead) At the end of the season, Nya sacrifices her humanity and becomes one with the sea in order to save the other ninja and all of Ninjago. While Ninjago had ended seasons on a loss before, it had never executed that loss so well, nor did it make fans truly feel like there was no coming back. By this point, Zane especially had been brought back from the dead so many times that death seemed meaningless and temporary. However, by having Nya merge with the sea, the show managed to create a real loss that couldn't easily be recovered from; at least, it didn't feel like it could. Fans were able to experience the heartbreak of seeing Nya lose her sense of self and abandon the other ninja, leading to widespread praise of the season and a plethora of fanworks dedicated to it.
Season 15: Crystalized
Season 15: Crystalized serves as the final season of the original Ninjago series, but it isn't a well-made ending. Fans almost universally hated this season when its second half dropped, due to its blatant mischaracterization of Lloyd and the rest of the main cast, as well as its lazy nostalgia-bait pandering and many plotholes.
Sequel Series
Ninjago: Dragons Rising is the direct sequel to the original Ninjago series, featuring a soft reboot that introduces two new main protagonists, Arin and Sora. The series is defined by its inciting event, the Merge, a catastrophe which merged all 16 realms with Ninjago, creating a new land with all of the realms combined. With the status quo completely redefined, Dragons Rising goes on to tell a compelling overarching story through its (currently) 1 and a half seasons, focusing mainly on the new ninja while still incorporating the old ninja and their past adventures.
This series returned to the 22-minute episode format, and its seasons are 20 episodes long. It is animated by Wildbrain, and has a softer, more painterly animation style than the first series. Fans have noted that the fight choreography isn't as incredible as it was previously, but the lighting and environment design has improved dramatically, bringing together the best of both eras in the animation.
Despite having low expectations following Crystalized, fans were immediately enthralled by this new series. Many consider it to be Ninjago's best work since the Oni Trilogy; some consider it to be even better. There has been very little criticism of this series, a surprising fact given that it has to walk a very thin line between satisfying fans of the original show and making the series accessible to new viewers. However, they have pulled off this balance perfectly, and even the most diehard OG Ninjago fans agree that the series is spectacular.
Main Characters
The Ninja
Allies/Mentors
- Master/Sensei Wu
- Sensei Garmadon
- P.I.X.A.L
- Misako
- Cyrus Borg
- Skylor Chen
Villains
- Lord Garmadon
- Pythor
- Skales
- The Overlord
- Chen
- Morro
- Nadakhan
- Acronix
- Crux
- Harumi
- Aspheera
- Vex
- The Ice Emperor
- Unagami
- Vangelis/The Skull Sorcerer
- Kalmaar
- Wojira
Fandom
Notable Events
April 2024 "Make Cole straight/gay" petitions
Following the release of Dragons Rising Season 2: Part 1, a small subset of Ninjago fans took issue with the depiction of Cole's relationship with Geo, which is easily interpreted as romantic, though not confirmed. In response to this, they started a petition on change.org titled "Make Cole from Ninjago straight again," which was swiftly ridiculed by other fans on tumblr. In response to this petition, tumblr user diceqi made their own petition titled "Make Cole from Ninjago gayer." It currently has 205 signatures, with a goal of 500. There was also a petition started to genuinely support making Cole canonically gay, in an attempt to push the writers towards having more inclusive and diverse characters in the show. [1]
Shipping
The Ninjago Fandom has multiple popular ships. Oddly enough, Lord Garmadon features fairly often in shipping, but mostly with original characters.
Het:
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Notable Crossovers
- The Lego Ninjago Movie: While the movie is not canon to the Ninjago series, fanworks often depict the two different versions of the ninja traveling to each other's worlds and meeting each other. They usually team up to face a greater threat to both of their versions of Ninjago.
Common Tropes In Fanworks
- Families of Choice: The ninja explicitly consider each other family, and fanworks often lean into this dynamic.
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Stop-Motion Series
From the start of the show until approximately 2020, stop-motion fanmade seasons or series were a prevalent form of fanworks for Ninjago.[2] Though they have died out recently, stop-motion fan series were an integral part of the early Ninjago fandom. Notable examples include:
- AL123 Productions Stop-Motion Series on YouTube
Fanfiction
- Same People, But Not Really by KittyDemon9000 on Ao3
- The Grass is Always Greener by Sunnylighter on Ao3
- Meet Again by northpen on Ao3
- The Ninja Legacy Whip by weekend-whip on Ao3
Archives and Communities
- Lego Ninjago works on AO3
- Ninjago on fanfiction.net
- /r/Ninjago on Reddit
- Ninjago tag on tumblr
Resources
- LEGO Ninjago Wiki on fandom.com
- The Ninjago Media Project