#villains in ninjago were a major part of the topic

[kiynania]

So here's something I thought abt Friday

What if their was an another and WAY more disturbing way to merge with your element

What if when an elemental master starts to lose their mind and drive into insanity there's like stages of what's going to happen to their element. At first, their element starts to act out, but slowly like once every 5 days, then if the elemental master's mental health has done nothing but deteriorate, then I'm the element just starts lashing out and complete going after the stuff and ppl around the elemental master as a way to WARN the elemental master to stop and get the help they need. But if nothing happens then the element slowly starts to merge with the elemental master and they won't realize it until the transformation is more than halfway done and by then, there's nothing they can do abt it besides let it happen unwillingly. And once the merging part is completely finished, the elemental master starts to slowly lose their memories bc it's the only thing the element can do to put the elemental master out of their misery. Once their memories are completely erased, they're officially one with their element and don't question it at all. Unlike Nya, who did manage to separate herself from her element, the elemental master that went insane CANNOT separate from their element or remember anything from their past, no matter what happens, they're just stuck there for the rest of eternity.

#yeah.... #dont ask me why i thought this #it was like 4am and ive been awake sicne 2am at that point #elemental masters #disturbing thoughts 101 #idk #ninjago #morro #ice emperor #villains in ninjago were a major part of the topic #i really thought this all through😭 #i thougth abt thos with villains like the ice emperor and morro and realized they werent insane #with morro he was just thirsty to become the green ninja thats pretty much it. #and with the ice emperor he was kinda just a child listening to his parents #pay attention to s11 we never rlly see him make a decision for himself #heck the quest for the lost powers book even says something abt it #rlly the only time we actually see the ice emperor make a decision for himself was in ep 28 when he put lloyd in the dungeon #thats pretty much it. #ok im gonna write that fic now

[breathlessmorro]

The problem with the Sad Boi™ Archetype in fan fiction.

Take all of this with a grain of salt, I'm just ranting here and my only credentials are the science, psychology and sociology classes I have under my belt. Trigger warning for dark or disturbing content.

Essentially the idea of the Sad Boi™ trope is taking a character who has canonical trauma and amplifying it in fan works. While this alone isn't exactly a bad thing as it can focus on the potential trauma and help identify what could be done for the character to recover in a healthy way, many people take it to the extreme and instead decide to baby or romanticize the trauma of the character.

For example : Lloyd.

There's no denying that Lloyd absolutely has his fair share of trauma and PTSD. Whether it's from his father, his mother, Harumi, whoever, I'm of the opinion that it's safe to say he's got some shit going on. When he sees his mother again for the first time in years, his reaction is to be angry at her for leaving him and then running away. Ultimately he forgave her in that same episode after hearing her out and very quickly becomes close with her.

Then there's the trauma of his father - who he had to grow up without because of the venom running through his veins. Lloyd in his father's absence sought to be just like him on what can be assumed to be an effort to get his attention and love. Of course this later changes when Lloyd joins the ninja and is discovered to be the one destined to fight his father, which also changes their dynamic dramatically, as well as his trauma.

Lloyd expressed many times how he didn't want to fight his father and would try at any costs to get him back, freezing during their first confrontation when he could have taken him out, trying to get through to him while he was possessed, etc. He couldn't ignore that what his father was doing was wrong, but he still felt conflicted about him. Of course he was able to save his father, until he lost him again, got him back, lost him yet again, got him back once more but now he was evil again and then, finally, Garmadon disappears once more, still very evil. Daddy issues central up in here, but it's not discussed in the show.

Then there's the topic of Morro and Harumi, two major villains who directly had an impact on Lloyd. Morro completely stripped him of his autonomy, forced him to fight his friends, used him as blackmail, manipulated him with his father, and of course, y'know, tried to curse NinjaGo. Of course the show doesn't dive into the aspects of how that can royally mess up a person, but it's implied in later seasons that it still has an impact on the team. One can only imagine the pain he went through and how he coped with it, but when told to trust Morro by Master Wu, he puts his weapon away and listens to him. He doesn't point fingers and get angry, he calms down.

Now, lets talk about Harumi. Lloyd's first love and kind of sister... Yeah, best not to think about that part, the writers were clearly on drugs. Anyways, it was clear that Lloyd deeply cared about and trusted her, only fer her to take advantage of him and hurt him in the worst ways possible. Yet even after all of that, he still wanted to see the good in her, and still thinks of her often. You can even argue the whole relationship gave him PTSD as he later on doesn't trust Vania because of her relationship with Cole, but he quickly gets over that. Then she's used against him once more by Unagami, where he truly believes she can change and come back to him, but ultimately knows it's impossible as she isn't the real Harumi.

What can we tell from all of this? That Lloyd isn't an idiot - he knows when someone has done something wrong and will react to it accordingly, but he's ultimately a very loving and trusting person who can see past the flaws in someone and find something good. Despite this, I see too many depictions of him being babied for his trauma and treated as though his possible depression is severe and life threatening. I myself may be guilty of analyzing his trauma and exploring the more dark sides of it, but I refuse to be guilty of amplifying it to such a degree that he needs someone to "take care of" him or protect him. As a character, Lloyd is very mature and handles his problems well, if only when they're brought up that is. In fanon, he's a depressed angsty teenager who hides in his room all the time lamenting over everything that's ever hurt him. Not to say that's not a realistic response because it is, but it's very out of character for him, and yet seems to be accepted as fanon.

In short, instead of highlighting the potential of his PTSD, many fans exaggerate it to the point where someone needs to "take care" of this character, and it seems to be targeting mostly the male characters. Often times when I see this trope in action, I also see the female characters being highlighted as monster who either helped to cause the trauma, or actively make it worse. It really upsets me to see the misogyny of fandoms being weaponized in a way that can really negatively showcase depression and even romanticize it.

At the end of the day, this is fan fiction and I don't really care about it enough to go on a rampage because I do have a life outside of the internet, but just a thought.

#long post #breathless speaks #lloyd garmadon #ninjago lloyd #tw #mentions of #ptsd #depression

[marinbel]

Rating Ninjagos

Tagged by @fropeshjay (can always count on you to tag me thank :3)

Rules: Rate each of these categories from 1-5 and tag others.

Characters: 4; I love all of them but a few could use some better development.

Humor: 4.5; Not lying, on many occasions I have actually burst out laughing from Ninjago. :33

Villains: 4; A lot of them are really solid villains with solid motives. Anything from Pythor to Nadakhan have all done real good with their goals, but sometimes they just lose sight of their powers (looking at you Nadakhan) and seemingly just give up??

Morro: 4; Heh, he's great. His character is one of the strongest I've seen development-wise. he can work great as both a villain and a supporter.

Echo Zane: 3.5; Okayy just like everyone else for the most part I fell in love with him the second I saw him peak out. And I knew he'd become popular but I'd just want him to be more in the show than just a filler for season 6...

Darkness: 5; I LOVE the progression of darkness over the seasons in Ninjago. I've always been an angst queen and so covering topics that are a little more heavy for the older audiences are a bold move for the writers, producers, etc. I really appreciate what they've done as it's really given the show a sense of realism and not just some perfect world.

Hotness: 3; This is tricky since I really just think they are all so cute so I won't say hot exactly...buuuttt let me tell you young Garmadon was pretty fiiinee (and not gonna lie Skylor and Seliel both are pretty hot to me :33).

Triggers: 2; Ninjago has still been a kids show, and personally I haven't really been bothered as much by some things but I'm sure it could be sensitive to others. I mean, Morro for one pretty much commited suicide and so you can clearly see how this could bother some viewers... Other than than nope nothing really that bad.

Ships: LET ME TELL YOU...I'm putting it at a 2.5; Ninjago really hasn't been strong in this department with shoving relationships down our throats and not actually stepping back to see if it works for the show. I'm not picking sides and I'm not hating but for ships such as Kailor and Jaya they really could have been done differently to make it more natural and nicer. To me Kailor is more platonic and I really appreciate their relationship especially in season 7 even if I don't ship it myself. NOW JAYA. I don't even want to get started on this because I used to ship this die-hard, but ever since episode 58 I can't bring myself to enjoy it nearly as much. Yes they have their cute moments but I don't see how they could have good chemistry now (just my opinion pls ignore if you disagree sorry I ranted). Also for ships like Pixane they can be done right but still I find it raw that they were solely in love because they are both robots aww!! But it was done well with development so I believe it is one of the best ships of Ninjago (canon wise at least :3).

Your Love For It: There is no number that could express my love for it. :33 Ninjago has been in my life for sooo long it really has become a major part of me. I'll always love it :)).

Fandom: 4; You guys are really amazing! Even when lots of us clash heads we always are there for each other. We fight and do have discourse and sometimes we can be pretty toxic but I've met sooo many amazing people out of it all it really is overlookable of all the issue we have. No fandom is perfect and I'm proud to be part of this one. <333

Tumblrs: 4.5; This is really my only fandom area besides DA or FanFiction. Lots of people here are mature (most of the time :3) and we can really post amazing work ranging from fanfics to fan art, to even shitposts. There are so many things people do here that make me smile yo! :D

Wow that got mushy at the end! I tag: @lovestarr5, @ookamihanta, and anyone else! (man I don't know anyone or at least no one else comes to mind ahhh) You don't have to do it if you don't want to. :))

#tagged!! #yay!! #ninjago tags #man I got lengthy with some of these... #boyyyy #mushy gushy ew