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#legoninjago #ninjagodragonsrising
Okay now prepare for a VEERRYYY long winded rant about my thoughts on Dragons Rising and why I think they should bring Akita back. No one asked for this but I have to get this off my chest.

Dragons Rising was okay. I know a lot of people liked it, and I did too, I will be checking out Season 2 when it comes out. But to me there's a lot of problems:
1. Jay, Cole, and Pixal. Where the heck were they!? I understand they want to show off more of the new cast, and Jay and Cole did get their chance to do some pretty cool stuff in the series opening, but they didn't get a line of dialogue. I mean I'm not too worried, I definitely sure they're not dead and as long as they give the two something cool to do in Season 2 and a cute Jaya moment all will be forgiven. But Pixal... I've yet to see anyone else talk about this but did anyone else think it was weird that no one talked about her. I TOTALLY get the writers wanting to put their side characters like Garmadon, Harumi, and Dareth to rest. They did great in Crystalized but now it's time for something new. But I don't consider Pixal a side character anymore. She practically runs the monastery: Where was she during the merge? Where's her picture at the ninja tent? When Zane woke up why didn't ask where she was? Where is she!? They can reference Morro but they can't at least name drop where Samurai X is?
2. The lack of concern from the ninja about their missing family. This drove me crazy. For the most part I think the ninja are pretty in character. Kai is funny and witty, Lloyd is a great warrior but still a dork, I love the fact that Nya is leading a rebellion, and those new RGB sibling moments we got might be my favorite parts of the new series but they're still not nearly as concerned about being apart form each other as they should be. For instance when Lloyd meets up with Nya again and Nya asks if she's heard from Jay and he says he hasn't her response is, "Oh." Oh!? That's your kinda-sorta-husband who you haven't seen years, your brothers (who you also haven't seen in years) haven't either and you're just kinda miffed about that? During these moments all I could think about was past seasons like Possession, Hunted, and the first part of Crystalized. Being separated in those seasons practically destroyed them; they're a family who will do anything for each other. But they don't act like a family in these scenes, they act like work colleagues that went to a few barbecues together. Which is shown in their reunions. With the exception of Kai and Lloyd every ninja reunion is more of a, "Oh hey! It's been a while." When it should be this huge thing. Ninjago artist Gold07Arts (link here: www.deviantart.com/gold07arts ) talked about on her Dragons Rising stream on YouTube (link here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVpvFv… ) about how to fix these reunions on a more emotional level she even fixed episode 3 which was an episode I didn't even know needed to be fixed as it was actually my favorite episode-I thought is was cute and it reminded me of an episode from season 1. But Gold07 made it a million times better with an emotionally driven version, so thanks GiGi for ruining my favorite episode with your infinitely superior version. (Don't take that too seriously I love your work) But I have my own fix. Just have them separated but know where the others are. Remember in the beginning of Sons of Garmadon where they were all separated doing different quests before meeting up again in the city. Just have the team split over the new world trying to stop these merge quakes that should be happening all over the place. Yes it's less dramatic but the writers aren't taking advantage of the drama they've created so what's the point?
3. The show isn't holding Wu accountable for his actions. Now I can understand Lloyd wanting to emulate Master Wu when he's teaching Sora and Arin and still idolizing him. Out of all the guardians in his life: Garmadon, Misako, that boarding school, Wu is the only one who could give him a stable home and a real family. Wu was the one who raised Lloyd into the man he is today. So no unlike others I've come across I don't think it's weird that Lloyd isn't mad at Wu for not telling anyone about the merge. What I DO this is weird is NO ONE ELSE being mad about him for this. The whole thing reminded me of LEGO: Monkie Kid. In LMK our child protagonist is constantly confronted with crappy stuff his mentor, Sun Wukong, did in the past. Despite all that he has always stood by his mentor. Partly out of love, and partly because-as he admitted in the season 4 special-he still doesn't completely understand the gravity of Wukong's mistakes. (Although I'll give Wukong this nothing he's done is as bad as not telling ANYONE about the merge). I think us fans would be more accepting if there was someone else in the show calling out Wu and acknowledging he made a huge mistake.

Despite that I am enjoying Dragons Rising it has a potential and I'm looking forward to Season 2. I'm addicted to Ninjago and I'm not planning on quitting any time soon.

Now for why I think they should bring Akita back:
I'll admit it, I'm a bit biased. Akita is one of my favorite Ninjago characters and I want to see more of her. But removing my rose colored glasses I feel there's still great potential with her and she has a lot of stuff she can bring to the new series. First thing first, I think it is possible for her to come back. I've heard people say she can't come back because the whole Never Realm time thing and if decades go by in a day then she probably died by the time the events of the merge came. But I'm not sure, I don't really think the formlings age like normal humans. I think they age slowly like Wu and Garmadon. I mean Zane supposedly ruled for decades as the ice emperor and Akita was there for the beginning and end of that rein not looking that much different in age. For all intents and purposes by the time of the merge happened she was probably not that much older than Lloyd is now. And I really want to see Akita and Lloyd together again I loved their relationship in the ice chapter. Akita is the perfect compliment and opposite to Lloyd. Like Lloyd she also didn't get the chance to grow up. But while Lloyd was forced to physically grow up Akita was forced to mentally grow up after the ice emperor raided her village. Of course it doesn't really work that way as we can see when they fight, she tries to act mature but in all actuality she's really not still resorting to petty insults and demanding Lloyd take back an insult. Despite that she found strength in her isolation becoming a stronger person while Lloyd doesn't have a self when he doesn't have his family. I can imagine a situation where after all these years Lloyd and Akita finally meet up. Lloyd sees that Akita and her brother are now the leaders of the formlings and she's not only in charge of her family but is teaching the younger generation how to be warriors. While she does love the job it's hard for her. She spent so long alone it's hard to be apart of a team. Lloyd can teach her how to be a good teacher and how to be apart of a team and in return Akita can teach Lloyd how to be more independent. See, I personally love Lloyd's character development throughout the series but one thing that has always bothered me is that he's never had a choice in the outcome of his life. He had to be the green ninja, he had to grow up, and now he has to be a teacher. This new series has made it pretty clear that they're building the new generation up and putting the old generation to rest. Eventually that's gonna come to Lloyd too, but I want it to be on his terms. I want his crowning moment to be a decision he makes for himself, not because it's the best thing for everyone, or because someone told him to, but because he wanted to. And I think Akita is his only friend that convince him to do this: She's his only friend who didn't know what the green ninja was when she met him and therefore doesn't have any attachment to the image and the legend, she's the only friend who has truly strived on her own, and she's his only friend that he has ever truly confided him. Lloyd was going through a lot of crap in the last series despite that he never told any of his family about this, he told Akita. And granted he only told her that because he thought she was just a wolf, but my point still stands. Everyone else sees Lloyd as this great hero, the leader of the ninja who always has a plan and comes out of every situation on top. That's image he wants to portray. Akita sees him as a hero also, but she met him first as the hero who didn't have anything under control, and I could totally buy Lloyd confiding in Akita again over his family and students.

In all honesty I don't think Akita will ever come back-as sad as it is. And I don't think Lloyd will ever have the chance to get make a choice for himself considering how the show doesn't even seem to recognize this as a problem. But a girl can dream.

If you read this all you're a trooper

Description
#legoninjago #ninjagodragonsrising
Okay now prepare for a VEERRYYY long winded rant about my thoughts on Dragons Rising and why I think they should bring Akita back. No one asked for this but I have to get this off my chest.

Dragons Rising was okay. I know a lot of people liked it, and I did too, I will be checking out Season 2 when it comes out. But to me there's a lot of problems:
1. Jay, Cole, and Pixal. Where the heck were they!? I understand they want to show off more of the new cast, and Jay and Cole did get their chance to do some pretty cool stuff in the series opening, but they didn't get a line of dialogue. I mean I'm not too worried, I definitely sure they're not dead and as long as they give the two something cool to do in Season 2 and a cute Jaya moment all will be forgiven. But Pixal... I've yet to see anyone else talk about this but did anyone else think it was weird that no one talked about her. I TOTALLY get the writers wanting to put their side characters like Garmadon, Harumi, and Dareth to rest. They did great in Crystalized but now it's time for something new. But I don't consider Pixal a side character anymore. She practically runs the monastery: Where was she during the merge? Where's her picture at the ninja tent? When Zane woke up why didn't ask where she was? Where is she!? They can reference Morro but they can't at least name drop where Samurai X is?
2. The lack of concern from the ninja about their missing family. This drove me crazy. For the most part I think the ninja are pretty in character. Kai is funny and witty, Lloyd is a great warrior but still a dork, I love the fact that Nya is leading a rebellion, and those new RGB sibling moments we got might be my favorite parts of the new series but they're still not nearly as concerned about being apart form each other as they should be. For instance when Lloyd meets up with Nya again and Nya asks if she's heard from Jay and he says he hasn't her response is, "Oh." Oh!? That's your kinda-sorta-husband who you haven't seen years, your brothers (who you also haven't seen in years) haven't either and you're just kinda miffed about that? During these moments all I could think about was past seasons like Possession, Hunted, and the first part of Crystalized. Being separated in those seasons practically destroyed them; they're a family who will do anything for each other. But they don't act like a family in these scenes, they act like work colleagues that went to a few barbecues together. Which is shown in their reunions. With the exception of Kai and Lloyd every ninja reunion is more of a, "Oh hey! It's been a while." When it should be this huge thing. Ninjago artist Gold07Arts (link here: www.deviantart.com/gold07arts ) talked about on her Dragons Rising stream on YouTube (link here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVpvFv… ) about how to fix these reunions on a more emotional level she even fixed episode 3 which was an episode I didn't even know needed to be fixed as it was actually my favorite episode-I thought is was cute and it reminded me of an episode from season 1. But Gold07 made it a million times better with an emotionally driven version, so thanks GiGi for ruining my favorite episode with your infinitely superior version. (Don't take that too seriously I love your work) But I have my own fix. Just have them separated but know where the others are. Remember in the beginning of Sons of Garmadon where they were all separated doing different quests before meeting up again in the city. Just have the team split over the new world trying to stop these merge quakes that should be happening all over the place. Yes it's less dramatic but the writers aren't taking advantage of the drama they've created so what's the point?
3. The show isn't holding Wu accountable for his actions. Now I can understand Lloyd wanting to emulate Master Wu when he's teaching Sora and Arin and still idolizing him. Out of all the guardians in his life: Garmadon, Misako, that boarding school, Wu is the only one who could give him a stable home and a real family. Wu was the one who raised Lloyd into the man he is today. So no unlike others I've come across I don't think it's weird that Lloyd isn't mad at Wu for not telling anyone about the merge. What I DO this is weird is NO ONE ELSE being mad about him for this. The whole thing reminded me of LEGO: Monkie Kid. In LMK our child protagonist is constantly confronted with crappy stuff his mentor, Sun Wukong, did in the past. Despite all that he has always stood by his mentor. Partly out of love, and partly because-as he admitted in the season 4 special-he still doesn't completely understand the gravity of Wukong's mistakes. (Although I'll give Wukong this nothing he's done is as bad as not telling ANYONE about the merge). I think us fans would be more accepting if there was someone else in the show calling out Wu and acknowledging he made a huge mistake.

Despite that I am enjoying Dragons Rising it has a potential and I'm looking forward to Season 2. I'm addicted to Ninjago and I'm not planning on quitting any time soon.

Now for why I think they should bring Akita back:
I'll admit it, I'm a bit biased. Akita is one of my favorite Ninjago characters and I want to see more of her. But removing my rose colored glasses I feel there's still great potential with her and she has a lot of stuff she can bring to the new series. First thing first, I think it is possible for her to come back. I've heard people say she can't come back because the whole Never Realm time thing and if decades go by in a day then she probably died by the time the events of the merge came. But I'm not sure, I don't really think the formlings age like normal humans. I think they age slowly like Wu and Garmadon. I mean Zane supposedly ruled for decades as the ice emperor and Akita was there for the beginning and end of that rein not looking that much different in age. For all intents and purposes by the time of the merge happened she was probably not that much older than Lloyd is now. And I really want to see Akita and Lloyd together again I loved their relationship in the ice chapter. Akita is the perfect compliment and opposite to Lloyd. Like Lloyd she also didn't get the chance to grow up. But while Lloyd was forced to physically grow up Akita was forced to mentally grow up after the ice emperor raided her village. Of course it doesn't really work that way as we can see when they fight, she tries to act mature but in all actuality she's really not still resorting to petty insults and demanding Lloyd take back an insult. Despite that she found strength in her isolation becoming a stronger person while Lloyd doesn't have a self when he doesn't have his family. I can imagine a situation where after all these years Lloyd and Akita finally meet up. Lloyd sees that Akita and her brother are now the leaders of the formlings and she's not only in charge of her family but is teaching the younger generation how to be warriors. While she does love the job it's hard for her. She spent so long alone it's hard to be apart of a team. Lloyd can teach her how to be a good teacher and how to be apart of a team and in return Akita can teach Lloyd how to be more independent. See, I personally love Lloyd's character development throughout the series but one thing that has always bothered me is that he's never had a choice in the outcome of his life. He had to be the green ninja, he had to grow up, and now he has to be a teacher. This new series has made it pretty clear that they're building the new generation up and putting the old generation to rest. Eventually that's gonna come to Lloyd too, but I want it to be on his terms. I want his crowning moment to be a decision he makes for himself, not because it's the best thing for everyone, or because someone told him to, but because he wanted to. And I think Akita is his only friend that convince him to do this: She's his only friend who didn't know what the green ninja was when she met him and therefore doesn't have any attachment to the image and the legend, she's the only friend who has truly strived on her own, and she's his only friend that he has ever truly confided him. Lloyd was going through a lot of crap in the last series despite that he never told any of his family about this, he told Akita. And granted he only told her that because he thought she was just a wolf, but my point still stands. Everyone else sees Lloyd as this great hero, the leader of the ninja who always has a plan and comes out of every situation on top. That's image he wants to portray. Akita sees him as a hero also, but she met him first as the hero who didn't have anything under control, and I could totally buy Lloyd confiding in Akita again over his family and students.

In all honesty I don't think Akita will ever come back-as sad as it is. And I don't think Lloyd will ever have the chance to get make a choice for himself considering how the show doesn't even seem to recognize this as a problem. But a girl can dream.

If you read this all you're a trooper