Season 8 was like 6 years ago(I feel old) and I know ppl have differing opinions on the Mr Echo thing (but it was intended, made it to storyboard and blocked animation and then dropped, soooo) but. I can see his recruitment p easily tbh. Bc the whole reason Dr J was in that lighthouse was because he was resurrected, forced there, and ordered to build Skulkin vehicles by Samukai. But Samukai in the flashback we see has already been deposed as leader of the Skulkin/Underworld. Which means the orders to do so most likely came from Garmadon.
And since Mr. E is one of the head honchos, he's likely an early arrival to the team, so I don't think Harumi has a whole lot figured out at this point, she's just got her Trauma and some Bad Influence Friends and an obsession with Lord Garmadon. So. Like. Plausible deniability road trip that she's just visiting important markers of Ninjago's recent past, all of which involve Lord Garmadon in some meaningful way; its sightseeing, its cathartic, and it gives her time to develop her dream Motorcycle Gang/Resurrection Cult. She's not looking for anyone at the Lighthouse, but she is looking for vehicle blueprints so she can be the Koolest leader on the block. But oops she looks in the basement and there's an Echo.
And she's flipping out bc??? A Ninja???? In the Lighthouse basement??? I mean it makes sense that it would be this one but???
Except this rusty old robot has no idea what she's talking about with this Ninja stuff, he's just waiting for his dad to come back.
And Harumi pauses.
Because how long has he been waiting? He's not sure, he had no proper way to measure time in the basement, and he doesn't have the best view of his clockwork heartpiece. But it was after his father saw a strange ship docking; Echo was worried it was the People who had locked up his father in the first place, but instead his dad sounded happy when he saw whoever was out there. It could have been a front, though, as clearly it was never safe to let Echo back out. Then Dr J popped down briefly, while everyone above was resting, to tell Echo he was desperately needed elsewhere, that it wasn't safe to bring Echo, but that he'd be back in no time.
And the pieces are fitting together for Harumi. And she's like. Your dad's dead, bro.
And he's like. What? Did he die doing what was needed of him?
And she's like. Oh, no. He died a few years later.
And he's like. Why didn't he come back for me????
And she's like. Probably because they kept him away.
And he's like. Who's they?
And she's like. The Ninja I was talking about earlier.
And it surely can't be hard in universe to find pictures of Zane and Dr J post s2-pre s3, so she pulls one up and shows Echo who is freaking out bc why is that one kind of like him and Harumi explains that that was the droid his father created first, that he became a Ninja, and that hes probably the one who took their father away and kept echo waiting for years.
But Echo has doubts, shocked as he is abt a new older brother, he wants to believe the good in the situation so he's unsure. But Harumi mentions that the Ninja's failures to uphold more than their self preservation/interests has led to uncountable losses and devastation in Ninjago time and time again, before delving into her own story. And she seems so kind, and so hurt, and I do think there's a genuine connection btwn these two that forms from this shared emotional torment that they decide came from the Ninja, and now Echo is more receptive.
And then Harumi gets to start her Garmadon pitch because wait! If Echo was made here, then that could only have happened because of Lord Garmadon. And she reiterates that he's the reason she and her city could have even survived The Great Devourer. And maybe Echo's family-by-creation left, maybe they were untrustworthy and lacking, but that's OK bc if you look at it all a certain way, Garmadon is more of a father to Echo than Dr J was. And Echo is a vulnerable, overwhelmed mess who just found out his dad fucked off for years without him and also died, and also he has a brother??? Who their dad clearly seems to have favored??? Did they even know about Echo??? Did they delight in their life free of him???
Basically. Kinda Spinel-core but getting abandoned and left completely alone does that to you. Especially when the first person to find you after being abandoned is a deeply hurt and misguided teen who is probably kinda desperate for someone, anyone else to see the Ninja the way she sees them.
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for anyone curious-- kryptos, esp. post dimension burning, defines his gender as Square and Shape but not really Male or Guy, like that part's whatever to him, that's not the important part of his identity to him. getting to freely call himself a Square and Shape with no pushback is exciting to him because, as his status as a square-born-to-a-square, he was consistently ignored, told he should have been something else-- namely a pentagon, very rarely an equilateral because as tragic as a descent in caste would have been, it would have been more Normal Than This-- and forced into weird arbitrary roles and rotating schools and castes in early childhood before it was finally decided that fine, he was a square, they guessed... but also barely and because he was Barely A Square by the stupid laws of configuration and because the circumstances of his birth were so Strange and his Abnormality was so Apparent, he had to go to school with equilaterals so that only the lower middle class kids were put at risk by his Weirdness, and not the other Much More Valuable Real Squares. so getting to the point where he was one of the only members of his species left and he gets to just go "yeah, i am a square, i'm the only square left, and i get to decide whatever the hell that means now" was meaningful to him, and the guy part is like. whatever. but he is a square
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Random Kyoya Tatagami Headcanons
- He is deathly allergic to peaches and avoids almost all stone fruits because of this.
- He learned French in school as a kid along with English for the challenge of it.
- He is autistic and will typically stim by chewing on things or cracking his knuckles.
- He is always reading every scientific study he can find on lions and secretly kinda wants to be a park ranger.
- He read Warrior Cats as a young kid.
- He has a ton of cat like mannerisms (ie. sleeping in empty boxes, ending up sitting in weird spots, napping 24/7) .
- He picked out Kakeru’s name himself.
- He wears contacts throughout the series after inheriting his dad’s poor vision, but carries backup glasses just in case.
- He adopted a street cat after the World Championships and named her Simba.
- He loves strawberry flavored things.
- He is in a gossip groupchat with Sophie and Tsubasa because they are the only ones out of everyone who speak French.
- He keeps a surprisingly large collection of highlighters due to Kakeru always stealing his.
- He still will bite on Leone like he did as a kid when he’s nervous or stressed and Nile got him a chew necklace upon noticing this.
- He is amazing with most kids because of practice with his brother (this does go out the widow where Yu is involved).
- He goes to all of Kakeru’s BMX competitions and facetimes him at least once a week.
- He always has people’s names listed in his phone as nicknames because it helps him remember them (ie. Kenta is Gingka’s Brother).
- He has special interests not just in lions but in weather phenomenon like tornadoes.
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