#ninjago maaray

[crying-over-cartoons]

INTRODUCING:

The Elemental Serpentine AU!

In this AU, each Serpentine species is getting reworked! They're all getting new, more varied designs, and I'll be making a lot of new species to align with each elemental power in the show!

I'm also reworking much of the lore surrounding Serpentine, since what we are given is inconsistent, and quite vague.

As of now, I have new designs for each of the Serpentine species that appear in the show! Designs for new species to go with the missing elements will come later.

Please note that this AU is a work in progress; the designs I have here are subject to change!

Details about each species are included under the cut~~~

GENERAL AU STUFF

I decided that I want all of my Serpentine to have tails, instead of just the generals. If they have legs, they end up looking more like anthro lizards than anthro snakes. I'll let them keep the arms, though.

In the show, the Serpentine are covered in intricate details. As nice as these details are, they make it difficult to draw Serpentine in 2D. So, more for my own sanity than anything else, the patterns are getting toned down.

CONSTRICTAI - EARTH

I genuinely hate a lot of aspects of the canon design for the Constrictai. Their non-existent necks and random spikes make them look more like horrible little dinosaur gnomes than snakes. For my design, I let them keep the spikes, but moved them so they weren't sticking straight up out of their head. Most important of all, I gave them necks.

Inspiration: Boa constrictor

HYPNOBRAI - MIND

In spite of how it may seem, I did not remove this species' hood! Real snakes with hoods only 'hood up' as a threat display. I decided to incorporate this into my AU. It's not visible here, but my design has false eyes on the back of the hood. I noticed that the original design has snakes in the patterns, so I've incorporated that in a few places. I think I may have gone too far with simplifying their design, so we'll see how it changes as I continue to iterate.

Inspiration: Spectacled cobra

VENOMARI - POISON

This one has received some of the biggest changes in the AU. I felt the Venomari's extra eyes looked quite out of place in my new lineup, since it would be the only one out of a now larger number of species to have four eyes, so I lowered the number to two. I don't like the original colour scheme all that much, so I decided to take a page out of the poison dart frog book and make them bright and varied in colour. They can have a variety of colours and patterns. Like the Hypnobrai, the Venomari have a hood that can't be seen in this image.

Inspiration: African bush viper

FANGPYRE - FORM

I changed the shape of the head pretty drastically, but the colours are the same, even if the pattern is different.

Inspiration: Coral snake

ANACONDRAI - LIGHT

The colour-changing ability of the Anacondrai is so underutilized that I literally forgot about it until I started rewatching the show with my brother, so I've decided to make it more prominent. In this AU, Anacondrai change colour as a method of communication and expression. They can also change their colour to disappear, just like in the show.

Inspiration: Green anaconda, RainWings from the book series Wings of Fire

VERMILLION - FUSION

Each of the Serpentine are born or hatched without visible limbs, appearing as ordinary snakes to the untrained eye. While most species undergo a metamorphosis at a young age, emerging with two limbs, Vermillion do not, and remain in a larval state for their entire lives.

Inspiration: Garter snake, axolotl

MAARAY - WATER

According to the fan wiki for Ninjago, these guys are supposed to be eels, but I thought they were Serpentine when watching the show, and they have the same head model as some of Aspheera's lackeys, so I've made the executive decision to make them Serpentine in this AU.

Inspiration: Yellow-lipped sea krait

#ninjago #ninjago serpentine #ninjago constrictai #ninjago hypnobrai #ninjago venomari #ninjago fangpyre #ninjago anacondrai #ninjago vermillion #ninjago maaray #ninjago elemental serpentine au #crying over art #btw PLEASE google some of the snakes i used as inspo they are so beautiful #especially the african bush viper and yellow-lipped sea krait

[nyaskitten]

Why have I barely seen anyone talk about how similar the Maaray Guards and Wojira look? That, alongside the fact we don't see any of the Maaray Guards in the Wojira Lore Dump scene from Master of the Sea ... it's like... hmmmmggghh there's Something there.

#ninjago #raine's rambles #wojira ninjago #ninjago wojira #maybe she laid eggs and those eggs became the maaray guards centuries down the line?

[yuriichumsworth]

🍇

#ninjago #fanart #art #ниндзяго #ninjago fanart #ninjago gripe #gripe #maaray guard #serpentine #🍇 #🐍 #ninjago season 14 #headcanon look #i got too carried away with the details #sorry #🥹

[toastingpencils37]

I know that pretty much all of us Ninjago fans hate it when there are animation errors, especially with armor (like with PIXAL in the majority of the Wildbrain seasons, or the ninja in Prime Empire).

But with the Maaray Guards, the lack of armor pieces doesn't actually bother me.

In fact, it actually adds more variety to them, which I like a lot.

#ninjago #maaray guards ninjago #wildbrain #ninjago seabound #animation errors #don't mind the translucent bar at the bottom of the image #I literally just got it from the Ninjago wiki

[cboffshore]

You might have made some poor career choices, but for a uniform like this? Worth it. This is "Hired Trident".

As always: notes and bonus content under the cut. (MUCH shorter this time, I promise.)

Okay, you know how the Kalmaar Power Suit had a whole dissertation behind it? This one doesn't. The origin story is pretty simple - I asked myself, what if the KPS had a Secret Service-flavored security detail inspired by the Maaray Guards? And then I designed it.

This a pretty straightforward adaptation of the guard design (and this is the first time I had the skill to actually pull it off, so there's no version from 2021 for comparison!); here are the bullet point notes on what I did.

I used the same Art Deco print as the KPS, but in more obvious spots to reflect a more sincere, outward loyalty to their kingdom. However, they're surprisingly fun for a mob of nearly identical sidekick characters, so I picked fun spots: necktie and long socks.

Because the Maaray Guards are mostly depicted as Kalmaar's lackeys and not as individuals (keyword: MOSTLY, we love Glutinous in this house), certain design elements are based on the KPS - namely, the heel supports and dangly chains.

Loafer heels. That is all. They get their own bullet point because I didn't think they'd work, and then they did. Thing is, every look I design has to have, at minimum, one thing that makes it utterly impractical for the character it's based on. This look could've been okay for a security detail, so naturally I had to make it... not be like that.

Anyway! That's kind of all there is to this one. Here's the blank backdrop for you, use it as a wallpaper or a blog background or whatever. Look, as long as you're here looking at my stuff (and hopefully liking it so far), we're good!

#ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago seabound #ninjago s14 #ninjago maaray guards #fashion design #ninjago fanart #ninjago couture #Seabound Style: The Official Remaster

[sepublic]

At this rate, Pythor is the ninjas' true arch-nemesis, more than Garmadon OR the Overlord. Because sure Garmadon is the iconic one, the face, but he's much more repentant, and his time being rehabilitated or helping the ninja often lasts longer than his actual screentime as a villain. The Overlord is also a big deal, a final endgame villain, but his appearances are more minimal, and he's less personal.

If the Overlord is Darkseid, then Pythor is Lex Luthor. And Pythor's the first Garmadon-independent villain we've gotten, this dude just keeps coming back. He came back in Day of the Departed, and then even in Crystalized, which were otherwise separate villain get-togethers because of how long the show was going. And he's not some jobber like the Mechanic, who exists mostly to pad out time between seasons; He was genuinely a main antagonist and kept playing major roles in his appearances! Plus Pythor has the pizzaz, the love of the fandom, and the backstory/potential for depth. He's got specific dynamics and more dramatic scenes.

It's kinda fitting how when designing the Ninjago Core line, which is meant to encapsulate the core concepts of Ninjago (hence the name), the designers first went with snakes as the villains. Snakes have always been an iconic part of Ninjago and intertwined with it, and have been more popular than even the skeletons, who also appeared in Core later on. We've got the Serpentine, but then there's also the Anacondrai Cultists, the Vermillion, the Pyro Vipers, and Maaray Guards.

The Serpentine are the most detailed, fleshed-out, and comprehensive of all the antagonist factions, and have had the most screentime, taking up all thirteen episodes of S1, and the first half of S2! While continuing to have cameos and backstory relevance later on, with their conflict with humanity being a backdrop for other seasons. Other antagonist factions have come and gone or faded into the background, but the Serpentine have become a constant in Ninjago's populace, to the point where we've been getting additional Serpentine civilians like Selma or Spitz.

And as a snake lover... 100% W for me. Given Ninjago's big thing with dragons, especially with Dragons Rising now, I can't help but feel there's an easy symbolic connection to make between snakes and dragons; Eastern dragons are very snake-like, and they're both reptiles. What if some snakes are just dragons whose wings haven't grown out yet?

#ninjago #pythor #pythor p chumsworth #serpentine

[jinxed-ninjago]

Random Ninjago trivia quiz because it be like that:

#ninjago poll #ninjago #lego ninjago

[leafdragon16]

Sketchbook Friday #8

Alternate Title: Apparently when I’m bored and don’t know what to do, I do drawing challenges. There are a lot of drawing challenges in this sketchbook

Gonna start off with my first attempts at Red Son! I only started watching Monkie Kid recently, but I would highly recommend it. And Red Son is,,, my Son, he’s precious

I tried to draw the Maaray guards from S15 and this is the only one I’m willing to post because the rest are trash

Not sure what inspired this other than the idea behind it was some kind of AU where Kalmaar is forced to help the ninja for mutual benefit. Either way, I’m pretty sure this is my first time drawing Nya, and probably the best Kalmaar I’ll ever draw

Okay, the next five images are from another drawing challenge!

Garmadad. Need I say more

Fish family being chaotic

Mystaké and Garmadon! Someone had an AU, not sure who, where Mystaké didn’t die and hung around the SOG literally just to reform/annoy the hell out of Garmadon and. I loved that

Mystaké and Omega!

This drawing challenge belongs to linnushidraucus on Deviantart

Annnd I was going to post what it looked like but the image limit wouldn’t let me so I guess not (either way all of the pairings in this PARTICULARLY THE FAMILIAL ONES are all platonic.)

See you all next week!

#ninjago kalmaar #ninjago nya #ninjago trimaar #ninjago benthomaar #ninjago gripe #ninjago maaray #ninjago maaray guards #mk red son #monkie kid red son #ninjago mystaké #ninjago mistaké #ninjago garmadon #ninjago emperor garmadon #ninjago lloyd #ninjago omega #ninjago oni #ninjago season 15 #ns15 #monkie kid #ninjago #ninjago merlopians #my art #sketchbook friday #please don’t tag as ship #btw the last one could be important to the oni warlords AU ;)

[tsarbomba567]

I have an idea for another Serpentine tribe: The Hydrophiline.

They're an aquatic Serpentine tribe that can swim and live both underwater and on land. They are a maritime people, whom excel at the art of shipbuilding, navigation, and trade. The Hydrophiline also partake in scavenging shipwrecks, where they retrieve and reverse engineer the technologies that the defunct ship used. They contain some of the best admirals the Serpentine have at their disposal. They're also the best when it comes to naval combat, whether it be boarding or getting boarded by enemy combatants, or ship-to-ship fighting. Their venom is unique compared to the other Serpentine, since those bitten by a Hydrophiline become paralyzed, with the only known cures to be either a blend of sea and land herbs or the antivenom from the Hydrophiline Staff.

In terms of height, they can range from anywhere to 6'6" to 8'2". As for colouration, they can range from having a yellow belly and brown back, cream to black, or uniform dark grey with white sides; their colouration widely varies.

The precursor to the Hydrophiline are the Maarays. These Serpentine-looking eels were Wojira's attempt to create her own Serpentine species due to jealousy. After the Devourer found out about Wojira's Maarays, she helped Wojira create her own Serpentine species, and thus the Hydrophiline were born. The majority of the Maaray population used to live with the Merlopains, with the rest either living in isolated communities or living with the Hydrophiline, but after the Wojira Incident, some of the Merlopain Maarays decided to leave to either leave for the isolated Maaray villages or join the Hydrophiline.

More under the cut.

During the First Serpentine War, the Hydrophiline commandeered Elemental Alliance boats and blockaded human ports; luckily the human prisoners they took were treated very well (and were eventually released) compared to their mainland brethren. The clashes that followed favored the Hydrophiline, and the humans - seeing that they couldn't tackle the seafaring tribe head on - decided that the best course of action would be to avoid the Hydrophiline, not fighting them since the Alliance was guaranteed to lose any engagement with them. So when the mainland Serpentine surrendered to the Elemental Alliance, the Hydrophiline staged several landings on the Ninjago mainland, aiming to set their surface-dwelling brothers free. The results of this operation were mixed. Some landings were a success, others stalled, and a few naval invasions were Gallipoli-like disasters. Eventually the Hydrophiline had to withdraw, and they begrudgingly settled for a white peace, where the sea Serpentine weren't allowed onto the Ninjago mainland. They could only watch as the land-dwelling Serpentine were locked away in their respective tombs.

After the war's end, the Hydrophiline went on to explore undiscovered lands, as well as scrounging up anything from ships sunk during the war. The years that followed saw them get hands on new technologies from fresh shipwrecks; from one of these they got a radio working, and they used it to get details on events occuring on mainland Ninjago. With each shipwreck, the tribe got more on par technologically with the humans. It wouldn't be long until they get wind of the Serpentine's release, as well as Devourer being unleashed and killed, and so on. Sometime later, they heard radio chatter between two humans about the Tournament of Elements.

It was this radio chatter that led them to discover Chen's insidious plot to use the Tournament as a means of becoming fake Anacondrai and take over all of Ninjago. The Hydrophiline - whom had bugged the Cultists' lines of communication - decided to plan for ways to subvert Chen's plans via clandestine sabotage. They would jam communications between Chen and his forces, as well as damage some of their vehicles and ships to malfunction, poison some of their rations with Hydrophiline venom, and so on. These subtle acts of sabotage slowed down the Cultists long enough for the Elemental Alliance to muster their forces. This of course frustrated Chen, who wanted a quick war; this was on top of reports of some of their ships mysteriously sinking on their way to Ninjago from his island. Chen's plans were fruitless, since in the end he and the Cultists were banished to the Cursed Realm by the Anacondrai Generals.

Through all of this, the Hydrophiline managed to keep a low profile. No one suspected them as the reason for the Cultists' slow advance, nor were they implicated in the sinking of some of Chen's ships (which the Hydrophiline then scavenged the hell out of).

After the end of the Second Serpentine War, the sea Serpentine went back to their normal routine of surveying the mainland, while scavenging shipwrecks and going on expeditions to unexplored lands. Recently though, they have started to trade with the Merlopains, but after the Wojira Incident, ties between the two were temporarily cut. As the two sides began to slowly reestablish diplomatic and economic ties, they get an unexpected visit from a merchant ship called the SS Anton. After the sailors of the vessel - a mixture of humans, Serpentine, and Turned - greet the Hydrophiline, the admiral of the ship delivers a message to the sea Serpentine's leader, informing them about the existence of the Republic of Mu, and how they're offering diplomatic and economic ties in exchange for the Hydrophiline sharing their naval tech with the Mulians, who would use them for defensive and civilian use. After some debate, the leader of the tribe agrees to the terms, so long as they can overlook the construction of any warships.

#ninjago #ninjago serpentine #hydrophiline #maaray

[serpentfever]

what if char is a maaray guard instead of a pyro viper? He is different from the pyro viper tribe, also has a bit of similarities with the Maaray guards

I'm fairly certain that's just because the Maaray guards and the pyro vipers use the same models, just with different patterns/textures. Which was very annoying for them to do if they wanted us to view the Maaray as something totally separate from the serpentine, not to mention lazy. It just confuses things.

But from a non technical standpoint, Char being maaray would be kind of funny, given fire and water don't typically mix. Plus the pyro vipers used to live out in the desert, a place most fish do not spend their time.

That being said, although the merlopians looking like pyrovipers is probably just the studio being lazy with their designs, I do like the possible canonical explanation that ancient Merlopians were the ancestors of modern serpentine. It would explain why the serpentine believe the FSM created them, since in a way, him creating the land that would become Ninjago, he sort of did. You could speculate a few Maaray/Merlopians followed the FSM to live on this new continent he created, and gradually divulged from there. But that's just a funky lil idea I had.

And I've also seen the fact they share models completely ignored, with some people hc'ing them with more eel-like appearances rather than sea snake ones, which is also very epic, cuz eels are quite epic.

#ninjago #pyro vipers #maaray guards #Speaking of which #what the heck are Bentho and Nyad #because they aren't like anything else we see in Merlopia #all of the other Merlopians in the story Bentho tells appear to be squid type #While all the guards we see in the modern day are serpentine like #none of the story merlopians looked serpentine like either #I only remember squids + Nyad in that flashback #so again it's possible the serpentine types hadn't come into being until after the FSM had fought Wojira #Or maybe that's just the Ninjago writers being incapable of conceiving snakes as anything but evil and filling antagonistic roles

[crying-over-cartoons]

ok so according to the ninjago wiki, the maaray are eels despite having the exact same head shape as aspheera's lackeys. in my serpentine-centric AU, i made them serpentine, because i make all the rules and also i thought they were serpentine the first time i watched.

but then fedulian (the green maaray) is out here tongue-flicking and hissing like a serpentine?? did they backtrack the maaray being eels or am i just losing my mind

#ninjago #ninjago fedulian #ninjago dragons rising spoilers #talking tag

[nyaskitten]

I know the reason we only have three Merlopian types in Ninjago (Bentho, Maaray Guards, and Octofolk) is because Seabound was produced during Covid... but it's still so sad, especially because I feel like we could get some Banger designs for Merlopians based on other undersea creatures...

#ninjago #raine's rambles

[toastingpencils37]

I'm assuming the Maaray guard is going to be important in at least on the episodes during Part 2. I mean, he has a sword & is obviously either trying to escape from somewhere or get into somewhere.

#ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #maaray guards ninjago #ninjago dragons rising part 2

[nyaskitten]

OKAY OKAY I know how I can make sense of all the Serpentine vs. Maaray Guards shit... Lemme think...

Okay, the Serpentine come from the Wyldness, and were brought to Ninjago by the FSM a few centuries after the realm was created, he didn't Create the Serpentine, he simple brought large groups of Serpentine to his world.

Wojira was a powerful Storm Spirit from the Never-Realm, birthplace to all spirits. One day, the realm became too cold for her liking, possibly as a result of a great ice spirit, so she left to a space in the Ethereal Divide that was ocean and ocean alone. She created two races, Merlopian and uhm. Keeper (they need a new name now lol.)

The Maaray Merlopians were more of her direct hatchling spawn, while things like the octopus people or sharks were a side effect of her powers in the sea once only inhabited by small sea animals.

The Keepers were made of an odd magical crystal that could be found in the depths of the ocean, Wojira found it and breathed storm into it, thus, the Keepers were born.

Serpentine and Maaray Merlopians have no direct ties, one came from the Wyldness, the other from the Endless Sea, with a mother from the Never-Realm.

#does this idea make sense? #i hope so #ninjago #raine's rambles #raine's lore

[toastingpencils37]

So I will be starting a Ninjago rewatch tonight, mainly to list boats and dragons.

But I'll separate it into two separate titles, even though it is the same rewatch.

So we'll have The Boat Rewatch and The Dragon Rewatch.

I think I will be doing a post each for both at the end of every season, with links to the next and previous seasons.

I will also definitely post stuff about random things I have noticed during these rewatches, because that's what happens. Though some seasons will have more posts than others, some of which may be long or short.

But anyways, here are basically the rules I have made for what will be considered and not considered on the list (mainly because a certain boat called the fucking Destiny's Bounty exists):

If a boat/dragon pops up multiple times in a season without modifications, it is only being counted the first time it pops up.

If a boat/dragon gets modified, or get partially destroyed and rebuilt, it will count.

If a boat/dragon pops up in one season and pops up in the next with no changes whatsoever, it will not be counted in the next season's list.

Motherfucking Skybound. This season has a shit ton of strange boats, so their may be some that technically shouldn't be counted that do count, because the concept of them is weird. So chances are a miscellaneous villain vehicle that is more of a jet may be put on the list. This does not mean any other jets will be put on the list though.

In the case of boats/dragons for background villains, there may be miscounts due to the fact that (especially in a case like the Maaray guards) I cannot tell the villains apart from each other, hence I have no clue if a certain boat/dragon has popped up before and it is the same person riding it.

There may be boats/dragons (more likely boats) that I miss. Just a heads up Especially in the dreaded Oni (Boat) Trilogy.

I am only watching canon stuff. So shorts will count. But shorts such as the Skybound ones will not count because they have been said to be non-canon. But shorts like the Mini-Movies, Legacy, Prime Empire Shorts, and Core shorts will be counted, as long as they actually have new boats/dragons.

If a form of a boat/dragon is included in a story, I will count them separately from their actual physical form.

If a minor change occurs for a dragon/boat one episodic change occurs that is resolved within that same episode, that note will be italicized, signaling that though the change has been noted, it will not be included in the actual total.

If a dragon/boat is pictured in a scroll or banner, it will not be counted in either italicized or total, as there are too many instances of this occurring in many seasons, especially with the same dragon/boat on multiple different things.

Tags will include:

the boat rewatch

the boat rewatch list

the dragon rewatch

the dragon rewatch list

the boat rewatch notes

The last tag is going to be more for my posts just noting random things, but they will be under the Boat Rewatch rather than the Dragon Rewatch because the Boat Rewatch was the original idea, and is personally more important to me than the Dragon Rewatch.

Anyways, I will probably get the Pilots done tonight, and will probably post their lists tomorrow.

The Boat Rewatch

Pilots/ NS1/ NS2/ NS3/ NS4/ NS5/ NS6/ DotD/ NS7/ NS8/ NS9/ Legacy Shorts/ NS10/ NS11/ Prime Empire Shorts/ NS12/ NS13/ The Island/ NS14/ Core Shorts/ NS15/ DR

The Dragon Rewatch

Pilots/ NS1/ NS2/ NS3/ NS4/ NS5/ NS6/ DotD/ NS7/ NS8/ NS9/ Legacy Shorts/ NS10/ NS11/ Prime Empire Shorts/ NS12/ NS13/ The Island/ NS14/ Core Shorts/ NS15/ DR

I will probably remove some of the places for links listed above, since I'm sure some of the stuff will have no new boats or dragons whatsoever, meaning that having a link or place for a link to that season/group of shorts will be useless.

#ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #the boat rewatch #the dragon rewatch #ninjago the boat rewatch #ninjago the dragon rewatch #ninjago boats #ninjago dragons #ninjago masters of spinjitzu

[nyaskitten]

I honestly kinda feel like Long Live the King is the DARKEST episode of Ninjago, seeing as Kalmaar murdered his father and 2 Maaray Guards, ON SCREEN. We see all their bodies hit the floor, no subtlety, no deniability!

#raine's rambles #ninjago