I Just Finished The Ninjago Finale.

Grief: Kai and Jay

I chose to focus on those two because of one sole reason: the IMMENSE contrast between the ways Jay and Kai handle grief. Complete opposites.

before i Start i wanna say I don’t have anything against jay, I love him too guys

Jay, time and time again, shows self centeredness in times of grief (again, not saying it’s his fault that’s just how he copes) He leads himself to believe that only he ever loved this person, and that no on else feels the same way. jay is also very expressive- he cries, he mourns, he is verbal throughout his grief. for example, he talks to water in order to feel some grasp of nya close to him- it shows how expressive he his with his longing for her. furthermore, two more examples:

the widely known one: Kai and Jays fight. JAY is the one who suggested they shouldn’t be a team anymore, he is the one who started the fight, and he’s the one who said no one loved/missed nya BUT him.

now, one might say

“But Kai was inconsiderate! He knocked down Jay’s water glass!”

lemme tell you buddy. jay shouldn’t be talking to water glasses in the FIRST place. secondly, this was kai’s way of showing concern, and allow me to remind you that kai still bothered to show concern for jay, when even before the fight jay was saying things like “only I miss nya” “I love her” “we are nothing without her”

secondly, did u guys notice the immense regret and sadness when kai knocked his glass over?

LOOK AT KAI’S EXPRESSION. he is DEVASTATED. he didn’t MEAN to. and on top of that, he is closing his eyes. if you’re a total kai observer, like I am, you’ve noticed that he looks away or dissociates if situations are too emotionally overbearing for him (nyas death, both times, when chen tells him about the fact that his parents might be evil and left them on purpose, etc etc). kai even said sorry, in a heartbreaking tone. he UNDOUBTEDLY would have apologized more profusely if jay didn’t attack immediately.

the other example is Season four, episode two. The ninja were in chens place discussing Zane’s death. jay says “I moved on. I feel guilt. These are not good feelings!” again, kai feels like he is being indirectly attacked, due to jay subtly suggesting that only he feels guilt. kai then says, “You think you feel bad? Imagine how I feel!”

and you might think oh but Kai is being self centered now. no. He’s not. Because remember what Lloyd told him before? Lloyd said Kai was selfish, for wanting to die instead of Zane. Kai felt suppressed and used jays words as a chance in desperation to vocalize some of his pain because he had no other chance to. And every time kai stated ANYTHING related to Grief, it’s automatically considered selfish whereas when jay does it it’s totally fine. kai’s feelings are ALWAYS being dismissed.

Kai handles grief destructively. He drinks, blames himself, mentally tortures himself. He literally has never cried in front of the others and silences his grief because he is criticized for it, especially by jay. It’s not that he isn’t vocal, it’s the fact that he CANT be. He’s SCARED to be.

both were in immense pain, but, and I literally don’t even know how many times I’ve said this, but the show needs to properly address this problem. kai being portrayed as selfish during grief is UNFAIR, and does not make sense AT ALL, when everything he says or does contrasts ‘selfishness’.

people ask me why I’m so distraught over ninjago ending and when you tell them it’s because your emotionally attached since it’s been there since your childhood and you’ve grown up with it and even though it does injustice to your favorite character it still has your favorite character and you sound like a crazy person when in reality you just can’t let go of something that brings you comfort so easily even though it’s just some stupid tv show

I needed to do this, that's all. (I also wanted to do one about Kai's hair but could find the picture of him in anime style 😔)

Let my baby shine in next season please 😔

(If he looses again his power again, I am going to commit arson 👁️👄👁️🕯️)

Listen… Yes, Kai is irritable, snarky, and altruistic to the point of being reckless. But he’s… Not really a hothead. 

Like yeah, Kai get’s angry, understandable, he’s the embodiment of his element, but for the most part, Kai is a mild-mannered, soft spoken kid who at least tries to talk his way out of things.

I can’t speak for later seasons, since I haven’t seen past s10, (but that doesn’t really matter since he’s gotten little to no development since then) looking at older ones? Like s4? Kai for the most part is agreeable and does his best to work with the elementals, even being the inciting incident which causes the ninja to even consider teaming up with them.

Generally Kai is more uh… Clever than hotheaded.

I guess some might argue that his recklessness is his hotheadedness, but I don’t think i would agree with that? One of Kai’s biggest character flaws is that he rushes into things, but 90% of the time it’s driven by Kai’s protective instinct, not anger.

I mean. I’ll still label him as a hothead, just because it’s funny and it’s not entirely an insult. Just an observation that it’s… not entirely accurate.

Lloyd: I wrote down all the plans we shouldn’t try again

Wu: “Jay improvises breakdancing”

Wu: “Nya pretends to be a guidance counsellor”

Wu: “Zane jumps off a cliff, again” underlined

Wu: This one says “throw Kai at enemies like a cat”?

Lloyd: Oh, that one works every time. Put it in the to-do pile

Wu: You’re violent.

Kai: Yeah but I’m short, so it’s adorable.

Lloyd, Nya, and Zane vs Cole, Kai and Jay in an escape room:

Team #1:

Lloyd (the leader + idea maker ): nya you search that area and be on the lookout for map coordinates and zane can you please help me with these pots I think these designs are hinting something

also lloyd: *oni growls* at everything…

Nya (the theorizer + hint refuser): ok guys so according to my theory these coordinates should be the password to unlock the safe because the ID card numbers are proportional to the- NO LLOYD WE DONT NEED HINTS WE ARE BETTER THAN THAT.

also nya: smash smash frustration BASH

Zane (the analyzer + clue organizer): according to my database this is a long, forgotten language used by an ancient civilization decades ago. no one has ever deciphered it before. i shall translate it in a few seconds. apologies for the delay. allow me to organize the clues, I’ll section them in different categories and label them individually.

also zane : [grabs a detective hat and wears it, declares his newfound ownership over it] oh? what do you mean it’s the property of the escape room?

Team #2

Cole (the muncher+ the holy observer): guys look I found a trail of crumbs maybe if we follow it we can find something! [is staring at his own crumbs]

also cole: hmmm that painting MOVED. let’s check it out. yes it’s totally a color wheel it’s certainly hinting towards a certain art type we should investigate all the painting in that art type let’s go woo!! guys is that a THREAD of string on the floor? that’s the same fabric on the coat!!

Jay (the toucher of everything + the creative one ): what’s this what’s that hey guys check this out ew this is sticky don’t come here everyone I’m gonna touch everything

also jay: ok guys I made this mini electronical gps by myself with the limited materials we found! slay!

Kai ( secret passageway finder, the riddle solver): ooo is this a lever how about this maybe this is the lever oh man THIS IS DEFINITELY a SECRET passageway oh wait no it’s not oops sorry

also kai: so I solved all fifty riddles and found 68 secret passageways do u guys think that’s good enough?

guess which team always wins.

i’ve always noticed kai is the team’s ragdoll but this gif confirmed he actually likes it… this is everything to me

lloyd is the epitome of that one quote

“he didn’t need to be stronger, he needed to be safe,”

literally all the ninja are

just slap them on a poster with that quote and boom therapists come rushing