i-dont-live-in-reality

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Here’s the thing that gets me about Kai, right? He’s the fire ninja, and throughout the show we are led to believe he is impulsive, and chaotic, and unpredictable. He’s passionate and fiery and occasionally immature.

But really? Is that Kai? Because, if you try to look at the heart of him, at the start of the story in the pilots or the unlocking of his true potential, there’s something else. There’s a boy who had to grow into a man when he was still very young. A boy who had to take on the role of a father when he was very young.

He raised Nya, being her brother and her caretaker at the same time. He was still a child, and he did as best a job as he could anyway. He became a blacksmith, all on his own, before he was ever a ninja or an elemental master. And then Lloyd, the annoyance, walks into his life and when the moment arrives that he must actively choose for Lloyd’s safety, he does, and it is the very moment that unlocks his true potential. We see Kai treat Lloyd like a little brother throughout the seasons, but I bet the idea of ‘brother’ has taken a shape more like ‘father’ for Kai, and he can’t necessarily differentiate between those ideas.

Wyldfire and Kai just show how this is really a Kai thing: it’s in his nature to be something of an older brother, something of a father, something of a caretaker under all that fire. It gives his character so much depth, and the association of a hearth as well as a flame. Kai is a father at his very heart, has been from a dizzyingly early age, despite what his character looks like on the outside, and I love him for it.

#ninjago #kai #I love Kai’s duology of impulsive asshole and loving brother

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Duude imagine any of the ninja ever have children and Zane and Pixal are the sweetest uncle and aunt and dote on these kids from their earliest years and like.., these kids come to associate glowing eyes with being cared for, being heard, being safe and cradled? Something often shown in stereotypical monsters: eyes that omit light, is to these children instead a sign of safety and love.

#I hc Zane and Pixal as the childfree uncle and aunt who loove kids #wouldn’t that be cute? #Ninjago

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That bit in Dragons Rising when Nya and Cole see each other again and Cole leans into Nya’s hand??? Platonic affection is my drug actually ohmygod

#all the hugging in Ninjago is amazing #but that gesture specifically is generally very romance-coded #however! Nya and Cole are friends in canon! #and it just hit me very hard that their friendship is portrayed as so deep including physical affection #kind of means a lot to my little aro heart #Ninjago Dragons Rising

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Currently obsessed with the idea of an aro Lloyd struggling between being the protector of Ninjago and the leader of the ninja, which gives him very little space to ever have a partner, and just plain being aromantic, and wondering which of his experiences are due to either fact. Has he gone months without even acknowledging romance exists because he was busy on highly important missions? Or is he just that far on the aromantic spectrum that he forgets romance is a thing until Jay and Nya smooch in front of him? Fuck if he knows.

#am I projecting? #yes. yes i am #parents kissing in the kitchen is bittersweet because they love each other and that’s wonderful #but also?? #oh yeah romance exists I completely forgot about it for a while there #and now Lloyd must experience this feeling too #Ninjago Dragons Rising #aro Lloyd

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To this day ‘Garmadon is evil because some magic snake bit him and he can now no longer choose to do good, the venom forces him to do evil’ is the most ridiculous plot point in Ninjago ever

#ninjago #or at least it’s completely ridiculous to me #this man?? is evil because of some magic goop? #idkkk I like ‘the underworld is a creature’ better in terms of wacky ninjago plot

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Jay’s immediate worry for his parents when they crash in the NinjaBall Run?? And them rooting for him when the ninja continue the race??? They’re the C U T E S T

#something about Jay being the only ninja with a happy and safe upbringing #man I love Ed and Edna #ninjago #Jay Walker

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What if Cole and Vania’s friendship (as well as Lilly’s fight for the Geckles and Munce) blooms into a generations-long coalition between the Masters of Earth who come after him and the Shintaro throne?

Shintaro keeps a special suite for the Master of Earth. They will always have a home at the palace and a seat at the ruler’s table. The people of Shintaro, the Geckles and the Munce hold a feast for the new Master of Earth when they reach their true potential. They read of their element’s past triumphs, especially over the terrible Griefbringer. They speak of history, of mutual trust and devotion.

In the halls of the Shintaro palace, each new Master learns of honour.

Masters of Earth go to Shintaro to train their elemental skills surrounded by their own element to enhance it; They hear stories told about a Milly or Gilly, get inspired and train their spinjitzu burst; They visit the Heart of the Mountain, the temple in the dungeons of Shintaro and find answers there for their training.

But they find more: artifacts and writings of past Masters of Earth, going back to Cole, who couldn’t bear to just leave dry instructions. Cole left pictures of Jay and Nya dancing like his parents once had. He left sketches of Lloyd meditating. He left two old metal parts, one no more than a scrap that Zane once shed in a fight, the other a lock of Pixal’s artificial hair. There’s a rock scarred by one of Kai and Wu’s sparring sessions which ended up outside the Monastery, on the mountain. Cole writes of them with a different kind of devotion than the Shintaro ruler speaks of.

In the Temple of the Masters of Earth, each new Master learns of love.

#felt like being a little bit dramatic #as a treat #and because this idea makes me feel things #ninjago #Cole’s legacy #Shintaro

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Kai and Skylor in an established relationship but both are a little bit aro and along the way discovered they both just wanted a comfortable person to have fun with, raise a family and grow old without the need for any romantic feelings.

Yes, their relationship on the outside looks like a wonky romantic partnership: why would those two be together? There’s no romantic chemistry. But you’d be right! There’s no romance there and they both love how uncomplicated it makes their relationship.

#Kai and Skylor’s inability to develop genuine chemistry doesn’t necessarily read as aro to me #more so bad writing probably #but somehow they have my heart anyway and what sort of relationship would have no romantic chemistry? #a queerplatonic one obvs #ninjago #Kai x Skylor #but like #aro Kai x Skylor

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The episode where Cole finds his true potential, and especially his dad realizing he’s a ninja, not a performer, hits so much harder after Master of the Mountain like? Cole takes after his mother, not his father, he will continue her legacy, not his, the legacy of the woman he loved. The mix of grief and joy that could come with seeing Lilly in Cole I’m going crazy

#ninjago #Cole and his dad make me feel things idk

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Just… Kai and Skylor have had such an on-off relationship over the years, and Crystallized in my mind just shows that it’s Kai with the commitment issues, not Skylor, but I love the idea of an aro-spec Kai so much.

Like this man does not even know the term ‘aromantic’ there’s just no way, but his experiences might fit ‘aroflux’, ‘greyromantic’ or even ‘frayromantic’ if he ever went to dig, and it would solve so many problems if he just had the words and he could just talk to Skylor about this instead of being weird and not committing to her.

#yes this is me taking apart the concept of romance with a scalpel and tweezers and leaving only my favourite parts in my headcanons #listen an aromantic shipper’s got to do something to make sense of their ships #Ninjago #Kai x Skylor

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What if Vania actually did develop a little crush on Cole, but Cole is in the process of figuring out his aroace identity and they end up with a friendship where they actually seriously discussed the boundary between platonic and romantic and together firmly decided to stay platonic? And when Vania finds a partner Cole is the most happy, most supportive friend she has?

#THE goals actually #Vania seems like someone you can discuss the boundaries of friendship with #and aroace Cole makes me squeal #and and this is kind of my way to deal with the fact that Vania was clearly written as *potential love interest* #even though platonic VaniaxCole is perfect to me #chef’s kiss on that dynamic #ninjago

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Constantly torn between hc’ing Lloyd as aromantic and Cole as aroace, because two aro-spec people on that team is a statistical anomaly.

Also, Lloyd has had a thing for both Harumi & Akita and homoromantic asexual Cole has my heart too. Which one do I project on now?

#ninjago #aroace Cole who somehow makes family everywhere he goes #like anyone remember the Upply? #and the Finders of course #but aromantic Lloyd who can’t make sense of his feelings for Harumi though #and he’s GREEN like c’mon #at least one of ‘em gotta be aro

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Thinking about the motto from The Middle, ‘you do for family’, and how cute it would be if the ninja ever said that to each other

#ninjago #ain’t nothing like found family

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Back on my Ninjago bullshit, and I completely forgot that the first time the ninja find the bounty, Zane has cooked a whole meal for them there?? That’s like so sweet he totally still cooks for them later on in the series, esp when the world is falling apart and everyone just needs some normalcy

#ninjago

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Oooh this is awesome!!

From now on I’ll be posting art every thursday!!

Also, I drew myself a profile picture :D

#qool art #qool

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#Inazuma #I’m sorry

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Best joke in Orion, hands down

#inazuma #the episode with Kogure was a strange one #but I appreciated it nevertheless #and this was priceless