How Dragons Rising SAVED Ninjago
Vložit
- čas přidán 28. 11. 2023
- Let's talk about the start of the NEW Ninjago Saga - Dragons Rising Season 1. This season has renewed my interest in Ninjago after the failures of Crystalized and I am SO excited for the future now. Let's discuss why. This is my review of Ninjago Dragons Rising Season 1.
Become a channel member: / @crusty783
#Ninjago #NinjagoDragonsRising #Ninjago2023
Ninjago, Ninjago 2023, Nadakhan, Ninjago United, The Quest for Lost Powers, Ninjago 2018, Ninjago Oni Trilogy, Ninjago Season 9, Lloyd, Garmadon, Hunted, Ninjago Season 9, Ninjago Season 9 episodes, Ninjago Season 1, Ninjago Season 11, Ninjago Golden Weapons, Crusty783, Ninjago 2024, Ninjago Dragons Rising, Ninjago Ras, Ninjago Ras Master, Ninjago Lloyd, Ninjago Arin, Ninjago Sora - Hry
Sometimes i imagine a timeline where crusty was so dissapointed by crystallied he never actually watched DR
The Doomed Timeline fr
Well good thing we don’t have to worry about that right now.
@@Crusty783i think us fans would break you at one point to watch season one.
@@Crusty783 thank God you liked it, I was on the edge of my chair when the series was anni, because I was hoping you would end up liking it, I'm so happy you did
@@Crusty783Are you going to do a subscriber race with DailyRoLord because you only need 5 thousand more subscribers until you have more subscribers then him
Giving Kai a character like Wyldfire to pair with and watch over and teach was one of the best things ever. Seeing Kai teach someone with his exact traits cranked to 500 the same stuff Wu taught him is such a refresher
Reminds me of when he was a mentor to Lloyd in season 5 I think it was the ghost season
It's like a callback to his character in S5 (or known as the season with Morro). We finally got the Kai "Kai" after seasons filled with disgrace of his character.
Honestly you knew it was bad when Kai started to seem less … Kai-like
WYLDFIRE IS LIKE MY FAVORITE CHARACTER JUST HER HOT TEMPER AND PERSONALITY!! 💗
The season was an absolute BANGER. From Lloyd's vision, the Ninja separated and slowly reuniting, the KAI AND ZANE FOCUS, and amazing new characters perfectly balanced with the legacies, Dragon's Rising has it all!
Absolutely! Genuinely the best Ninjago thing we've had in a LOOOOOONG time.
how was this 18 hours ago its been an hour💀💀
@@Embrace_the_monkie_inside because this video was a premiere release, so you know, and it was announced since yesterday, I was so excited I barely got any sleep (a negative thing because I have to get up early for work) but I'm so glad I was here for the premier, even though I said absolutely nothing lol
@@Crusty783 yes, it's a masterpiece, and it's wholesome to be watching this new series with my little brother who's a big fan of Ninjago nowadays, even though he likes Alvin and the Chipmunks more for some reason 🤷
@@Crusty783it’s so good they fix Lloyd character and Kai growing up he admits that he is not good of everything and he get smart Lloyd become arin and sora mentor he become a great master
Hands of time, then SOG
Crystalized, then dragons rising.
It happened twice.
This is so real
Decent analogy, but I’m not sure if Hands of Times is as bad as Crystallised.
@@theillustriouscosmowitch617 hand of times is a banger
@@techno_void7303fr
@@techno_void7303frl definitely top 5 for me
Honestly dragons rising is a fresh take on an idea that was getting dry for multiple seasons, and this is the breath of fresh air that Ninjago needed. I love that they have something for old and new fans with returning concepts and the new characters are really good also. However the dialogue can feel a bit weird at times, like it was written for an 11 minute episode (Episode 12 is the worst offender there are so many awkward pauses). Overall fantastic season.
It is, there is just so many great things about it, gotta say though, I don't feel that awkwardness in Episode 12, maybe it's just me being way too into it, that I didn't pay attention to how it sounded, I personally enjoyed all the interactions throughout the season 😊❤️
They really just handed Kai a child and it WORKED.
IKR
Kai being parent
What I especially love about DR is that it picks up story lines that had been put on hold for several years by now. Especially for Lloyd. His Master arc has been fridged since 2017. Kai becoming a mentor for Wyldfire was great.
I am really looking forward to what they'll do with Zane and especially Jay.
I'm really happy that you're happy about Jay's absence.
The moment I've seen him appear for only a few seconds, I knew the writers DO REAAAAALLY have big plans for the future of ninjago, just like they promised.
It make me exited about sdtill having that.
As someone who hasn’t watched the show since Season 5, I am SO happy Lloyd is finally making good on becoming a teacher. It’s a plot thread that’s been left dangling for far too long.
They always tease it when Wu is gone but the second he returns it's as if all master Lloyd stuff never happened, so Wu being gone for a longer while is a large reason for that
I love how Dragons Rising instead of having 1 villain it had 5 different ones under 1 faction. Each of them played a diff role, Beatrix: Leader, LaRow: Smart, Dorama: Magic, Rapton: Fighting, and Ras: Idk a mix of strength and smarts. It really makes Imperium like a whole community of villains rather than just a space for one like Merlopia with Kalmaar or Shintaro with Vangelis.
24:33 YES! it was smart how they scaled down the villains to make room for the future while still making the STAKES SO HIGH in the fact that they could have destroyed the entire world in that last episode
I love how they split the old characters allowing us to get acquainted with Arin and Sora without distractions and the way they introduced Wildfire. Perfect move. Also the mystery about where Wu and Garmadon are is very suspenseful which is good considering that in just the span of a very few episodes they messed up the old mistery of Wu in Sons of Garmadon. Also the fact that Arin taught himself spinzitzu and doesnt have elemental powers, showing that anyone can be a ninja, even a kid is beautiful. Glad to have a very good balance.
I also wonder what is going on with Jay and how he got where he is in that weird ticket world or whatever. I know there were old leaks where someone said he lost his memories and worked for a secret agency but I don't know how much of that is true
I also can't wait to figure out who Lord Ras's "true master" is
Seeing you so optimistic and happy about Ninjago again fills me with joy, you cant believe it!
After the last year it is such a breave of fresh air comparing what came before.
Look man, I love Crystalized. But it really did an...rather divided inpact on the show.
Dragons Rising Season 1 completey redeems this division and is a step up in almost every way and tops many previous Seasons its unbeliveble!
Im so happy with the current direction of Ninjago, I REALLY hope it stays this great 🤞
Your review was great, really worth the wait. 🎉
I’m with you on this. I may be more neutral on Crystalized, but that season is so divisive that I have given it the nickname “Controversialized”.
Dragons Rising is a nice clean slate to start over while still keeping the same canon/events from before
@@IsleofPigsStudios
"Controversialized" is a pretty good name
@@IsleofPigsStudios I enjoyed first part of crystalized (the best episode of the entire season was benefit of grief)
some episodes of p2 were okay ish otherwise bad
Seeing crusty being happy about Ninjago makes me happy for some reason
@@IsleofPigsStudios totally different topic here but i really hope that we see old side characters again (Harumi's my favourite) i think her and lloyd could be good friends if they tried she is no longer mad at lloyd and has no reason to be a villain anymore and lloyd forgave her.i know everyone is mad about this but forgiveness does not mean you are letting this person back in your life and that does not mean you trust them and they are in the same place as they were in before. it simply means letting go of the poison and all the toxic thoughts and no longer holding onto a grudge. that's why if she comes back in Dragons Rising i really hope they have scenes where Harumi tries to earn lloyds trust again or she helps them on missions or something where they can talk and come to a conclusion on where they stand and eventually become friends but what do u think do think do u think she is gonna come back?
One minor thing i love about dragons rising is that zane's head design finally looks good again. His head looked like shit for me since season 10
I found the 11minute era either made him look the best he's ever looked (S11. Love how shiny he is there) or absolutely terrible (S12. Why is bro matte?)
Imagine if in season 2, Lloyd and the others talk and somehow they get to the topic of harumi, and he just says "I dont wanna talk about that" with this "😒" tone in his voice. Just imagine.
They had a gag about Lloyd forgetting to bring up being the FSM’s grandson so I think it’d be funny if it was approached like that (considering the fact that Lloyd and Harumi ended on good terms, for the better or worse)
yeah it did seem like he forgave at the end of Crystalized, (harumi's also my favourite) i think her and lloyd could be good friends if they tried she is no longer mad at lloyd and has no reason to be a villain anymore and lloyd forgave her. i know everyone is mad about this but forgiveness does not mean you are letting this person back in your life and that does not mean you trust them and they are in the same place as they were in before. it simply means letting go of the poison and all the toxic thoughts and no longer holding onto a grudge. that's why if she comes back in Dragons Rising i really hope they have scenes where Harumi tries to earn lloyds trust again or she helps them on missions or something where they can talk and come to a conclusion on where they stand and eventually become friends but what do u think do think do u think she is gonna come back?
@@adenweiner5573 ain't nobody readin allat 😭🔥
@@D4N1LO honeslty i really hope Lloyd does not just say ""I dont wanna talk about that" with this "😒" tone in his voice. that would crush me. I mean i would kinda understand why he would give off that kind of energy when bringing up the topic of Harumi but he probably hasn't seen her in years i think knowing lloyd he probably deep down misses her or at least has conflicted mixed feelings about her. it did seem like he forgave at the end of Crystalized, (harumi's also my favourite) i think her and lloyd could be good friends if they tried she is no longer mad at lloyd and has no reason to be a villain anymore and lloyd forgave her. i know everyone is mad about this but forgiveness does not mean you are letting this person back in your life and that does not mean you trust them and they are in the same place as they were in before. it simply means letting go of the poison and all the toxic thoughts and no longer holding onto a grudge. that's why if she comes back in Dragons Rising i really hope they have scenes where Harumi tries to earn lloyds trust again or she helps them on missions or something where they can talk and come to a conclusion on where they stand and eventually become friends but what do u think do think do u think she is gonna come back?
@@adenweiner5573fox girl he met in ice chapter is better then harumi bro
I'm happy that I haven't seen anyone in the comments say that you need elemental powers to use spinjitzu.
You need elemental powers to use spinjitzu.
@@Ninja56-yw8hbYOU LITTLE......
@@Ninja56-yw8hb haha!
This is probably a hot take but: Dragons Rising season 1 is the BEST piece of Ninjago media so far. It was sooooo fresh and amazing. Once I finished all the episodes I genuinely wanted more! Can't wait for season 2! I hope my expectations will be exceeded once again.
I’d honestly put it as like #4 or #5 on my ranking, it’s not top 3 because of a lot of nitpicks and some flaws, but it’s still pretty good
@@TheDiamondCoreyes
Not a hot take, I absolutely agree with you 💯🔥
Not quite top for me but very close. It’s beaten out by SoG and Hunted but DR is third
It’s not a hard take I like it too.
Funny, I actually remember seeing this video pop up in my recommended feed before I started watching season 1 of Dragons Rising a couple months ago! I thought to myself that I must be in for a treat given how much everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Flash-forward to now (I just finished watching it yesterday) and I must say: Dragons Rising season 1 is easily one of the best gifts I’ve seen out of Ninjago altogether!
- It has a well-written and engaging story with good continuity (back to the 22 minute episodes thankfully).
- I loved the newly introduced ninja (Sora, Arin and Wildfyre), many of the new villains (especially Rapton and LaRow) and other characters as well.
- I enjoyed the pacing with each returning ninja and the essential character development for them (especially Kai and Zane - but seeing Lloyd finally embrace being a teacher was also good to see).
- The visuals, animation and soundtrack also really improved and was lovely to see and hear throughout the season!
There may be a few things I’m missing but overall I really enjoyed it! One of my favorite things out of Ninjago since the Oni trilogy personally.
EDIT: I did write this before watching the video, so there may be certain other ideas you mention in here that I’ll also heavily agree with! Either way, such a breath of fresh air for the franchise!
Good god they were COOKING this season
My only nit pick with the season is that the spinjitzu movement doesn't look right. And Euphrasia's wind having a more cartoonish look than the realistic look we got in Possession
Absolutely love Lord Ras on all aspects. Also this would absolutely be a catalyst to revive another old Lego theme; Chima. Considering Chima is a canon realm to Ninjago, and seeing how Lord Ras is designed and animated, they could bring back that theme with a whole new design. Also theoretically, Ras might be from the realm of the Wyldness, which is theorized to he the whole of Chima.
It's been 3 months so you may know by now, but the Wyldness is the whole ream while Chima is a floating island above it. Butttt in one of the trailers for Dragons Rising season 2, Ras mentions a location in Chima, so he does know about it. I really like that besides Chima they still have the rest of the realm to do cool stuff with as well, I'm hyped
@AnonymousNinja I know by now, yeah but man it'd be so hype to revitalize chima
After looking at just how meh the 11-minute era was to me (apart from MotM and definitely Seabound, Seabound is an example of a perfect season) Dragons Rising really just went back to basics but didn't forget what Ninjago was in its core and I salute it.
Great review! This season was some good shit.
For an IP so rooted in selling product and being around for over 10 years, it’s *very* easy to fall into a cycle of mediocrity and routine. Tired tropes, redundant plot lines and flanderizations of the cast are all issues with long running television that have to be overcome - this goes double for shows who, at their heart, exist only if they can sell enough product.
Dragon’s Rising is the perfect balance. I think its biggest feat was the changes in the lore - expanding it and adding in the concept of the Merge. The Merge is probably the single best storytelling decision this theme has ever done, allowing the creatives to play around fully with the Ninjago world, use its realm concept to its fullest and bring about a new freshness. The visuals, the vibrant diverse species and merged elements are so good. Places like the Administration being a kind of corporate bureaucracy hell and the juxtaposition of such an ordered place having a meaningless purpose, resembling pure madness in the process is such a fun use of the show’s premise. DR just feels so *new* despite being damn near the 20th season or something lmao, which has to be commended. This wasn’t initiated off of a total reboot like the Oni Trilogy either, instead having a large mountain to scale following Crystalized.
My favorite aspect of DR is easily the maturation of the main ninja. This has been my gripe with the show since even the classic era, with myself growing up with this theme but having the ninja stay as perpetual teenagers despite nearly a decade of adventures. The decision to age them all up and have them train a new generation of ninja is the proper - and imo necessary narrative next step for the IP. Characters like Wyldfyre or Sora can *only* work with these more mature versions of the ninja, and does the job of not only making the newer characters feel more unpolished and new, but also makes the ninja finally feel their experience. Characters like Kai who’ve been on the cusp of being a total shell of his former self is out there scribbling dozens of letters and mapmaking, charting routes and applying his knowledge of the various lands to help out the new ninja students, it makes him feel way more learned.
The ejection of Wu from the story was bold as well, leaving Lloyd to fill that gap and have to balance that mantle from his uncle. This adds yet another dimension to him, and of course helps him mature. For the first time in years we are starting to see these countless adventures have an effect on the ninja, but this change feels so organic and natural that it feels like something that should just be expected. The new students are all great characters, with Sora being the highlight of the first season imo. Wyldfyre and Kai have gotta be my favorite pairing it’s just so FUN. Like I mentioned before that dynamic only functions with an older Kai, so it really feels like he’s raising a daughter or something that reflects his Season 1/pilot self. I’m expecting great stuff from that.
Overall, it’s gotta be my favorite Ninjago season of all time. The mix of narrative boldness, actually executing its premise well, the new fun characters and perfecting the herculanean feat of finally letting the ninja *grow up* is stuff that makes me respect it more as a season than even Hunted or Sons. It’s just doing too much right for me and it’s currently delivering everything I want out of a modern Ninjago. If the rest of Dragons Rising maintains this level of planning and quality, I would easily say we’re entering another golden age in terms of the program itself.
Dragons Rising was the perfect mix of nostalgia and rebooting. Like you said, Dragon Rising didn't depend on "oh look its fan favourite character ___!" but instead used the pacing of OG Ninjago as their nostalgia jump off start. The 22 minute long episode, and the introduction of the new characters were all very pumped with nostalgia so that any old fan could watch the show as if it were their first time again without feeling disillusioned by all the new areas and lore pieces or bored by the constant need to point out stuff from old seasons. Its the perfect amount of subtle nostalgia that reminded me why I have sticked with this show for so long.
As someone who enjoyed Crystalized when it came out, it’s definitely hard to think of what could’ve been. I was really unsure about Ninjago as whole going into 2023 and with other things going on it was just a really awkward time, so when I watched the first 10 episodes of Dragons Rising, I was absolutely blown away. Dragons Rising made me realize what we were missing from Ninjago, well paced episodes, amazing character arcs, and incredible world building. And can I just say that even though Jay is my favorite ninja, I’m gonna be real, I didn’t miss him that much 😂 even without him, characters like Cole, Kai, Sora, and Geo just make up for it in every way possible. Master piece…
After Controversialized (Crystalized), DR was a nice change of pace
Absolutely!
This season is really refreshing but I really hope we get some returning characters in the next season like Misako and Pixel. Also all of the last 5 seasons have teased Nadakhans return. I’m really glad he didn’t return in this season because there was already a lot going on in the entirety of Crystallized was just old stuff but I do hope he returns eventually because there is a lot of potential with his return (assuming the writers don’t ruin his character like they did with Harumi). Also if he doesn’t return despite five seasons in a row teasing him returning, I’m going to throw someone out my window
I hope it's not me
I think we’d have to have him and Arrokor meet, I want to see a Nadakhan’s reaction to knowing he’s not the last djinn…and vise versa for Arrakor
I know seeing Zane wanting Pixel back was so sad
@@ClassicStudStudios that's a really interesting concept honestly
@@owlbert2020 I don't know why but I feel Zane is gonna encounter Pixal in one place and one place only... Borg Tower, we haven't seen how Ninjago city ia doing, as Aryn's home was right outside the city, we have seen from afar Borg's Tower, but the Ninja never went in the city so yeah...
Still I'm sure she's there, whether Cyrus is alive or not is another thing to consider once we do know for certain where Pixal is.
some people only hate this season because some certain main characters didn't show up, like were those people actually expecting everything to fit into only 1 season? not even crystalized (controversialized) could do that.
Dragons Rising solved the problem of Ninjago not having too many original villains, and allowing more world building, power scaling and character development. The only problem I have with it is that unless there's some magical spell that brings all the 16, no sorry, 14 and a half realms back to their original states, the producers might forget significant events that happened because of the insane amount of stuff that happens when the realms merged together. Coalescence really went out for blood.
How do you know the creators forget those significant events? That's not really a problem with DR.
@@Ninja56-yw8hb keyword "might". Please read? Also I meant it in the long term. It is possible for large franchises to forget specific stuff
*After Crystalized*
Fans: Did you die?
Ninjago: Unfortunatly yes
Fans: 😰😰😰😰
*After Dragons Rising S1*
Ninjago: But I lived
I understood that reference 😂
Crystalized: people die when they are killed.
Lego: No.
Dragons Rising: You really thought if you killed me i'd die?
as a Kai fan I can't express how much joy I had with the Wyldfyre and Kai's scenes
I have yet to watch the whole season, but the concept of Dragon Rising really made me appreciate the show, as a reboot, or a continuation, done right.
During the Secrets of Forbidden Spinjitzu - Crystalized, the sole reason that kept me in touch with Ninjago was LEGO delivering good looking sets, not the story itself.
That's sad, especially to a fan since the very beginning (the Pilot season) like me.
I started Dragon Rising thinking it was an another attempt to milk the franchise, but then it was truly refreshing & did not solely rely on old plot threads & nostalgia to impress me.
I hope the show can keep this quality later down the line.
I wanna know what happened with the dark island. People in ninjago have been avoiding it for years because of the dark matter and stuff. But the other realms don’t know about that! What if its infested by gloomy people who accidentally made contact with anti matter
Such a great summary of such a great season. Everything you shared within this video is the same exact way I feel about Dragons Rising, including the misses of Crystalized. The depth you went into really shows appreciation to Dragons Rising and everyone who watches this video. Well done, and great work.
DRAGONS RISING IS SO OVERHATED IM SURPRISED TO SEE SOMEONE WHO LOVES IT AS MUCH AS I DO!!
The majority of People call it one of the best Ninjago seasons, how is it overhated?
@@Ninja56-yw8hbit was the people who were blinded by nostalgia
Jay has a lot of potential for dragon rising, not only does he have memory loss. but Nadakhan has never really been defeated and because of that one character in season 1 part 2 he might come back someday
Season 6 Jay needs come back, he was a dog
Well he joined raz
dragons risng is the best peace of ninjago media since the oni trilogy
i agree
Fantastic video! You summarised my thoughts on this season fantastically. I really can't express how exciting it is as a long-time Ninjago fan who's been here from the start to see just how FUN, colourful and imaginative Dragons Rising is. It's a breath of fresh air that the series needed to survive long term.
I doubt we've seen the end of the best of what this show has to offer. Arin might not have had a major development yet, but if they continue to push his best traits forwards, and hammer home that powers aren't needed to make a ninja, he could end up being one of my absolute favourite characters in the show.
Sora was the dark horse here, I never expected to like her as much as I did. She was so charming and I adore her arc and how she solved the conflict with her parents. It was such a knife twist realising they still believed in Beatrix after everything the team did to expose her cruelty.
I'm glad you brought up what the show should keep doing in order to maintain this quality. If I have the time I want to make a short video about it, just so I can have my thoughts on how the show can improve out in the wild.
Awesome work Crusty!
Crystallized and Harumi really did just give everyone PTSD
What would be cool is if whoever wrote this show redid Crystalized. Just to make that season better.
What kinda stood out to me about Crystalized was that the Overlord had the will to surpass death to the point of holding on to dear life because of his hatred for creation.
I was really worried about Dragons Rising, but now after watching it looks like the Ninjago season we having been waiting for.
Still praying for more oni lore… you’ve connected all the realms, please… I wanna see my destructive lil demon bois
The Ratatouille gag was an accurate representation.
Also, that "but" joke, was just so good 😂
No matter how much of my videos change, I will NEVER drop the but gag.
I think personally the only problem i have with dragons risings Is the fact jay is in the show for about 2 minutes and other then the occasional of comment of him being gone hes completely forgotten.
I feel like next season he will reappear and have an arc of getting memories back
You're actually my age! Glad to see a peer enjoying Dragons rising as me, plus, I can gladly say that the source dragon scene made me feel like when I was little playing in the yard with wooden swords pretending I was Kai XD, I respect the work you do on the channel too bro, keep doing it!
Biggest flex is that season 2 comes out on my birthday🙏🙏
YOOO NICE
The dark Vader + the other guy transition was smoothhhhhhhhh❤😂
Its so interesting seeing ninjago from a different age group, as someone who was 9 when the piolet aired, and kept lightly around after season 7, but Dragons Rising is such a genuinely fun time to get back into, especially as an Adult, so nostalgic
I like how they now have wildfire arin sora and ryu on their team now I love it
Oh this is gonna be good I'm hyped fr bro
20:31 meanwhile in crystallised lloyd attacks 2 infected serpentine just to make himself feel good
Really good review and dragon rising for me me was very fun to watch and is really good
Words can never describe how peak this feedback of dragons rising is. Shit is the most informative review ever and goes into every detail of flaws which dragons rising fixed with ninjago. I agree with many, if not every, point you made about the season.
The part I think makes DR great is how they wrote the og cast. They near perfectly balanced the childish nature of the characters with all the development they technically got throughout the show, but would forget to display (sometimes for numerous seasons).
Kai still feels like he’s the hot head ninja we know, but does his best at trying to be mature when needed.
Lloyd is similar, but I also like how impatient he is with training the new cast. Lloyd mentally is around their age and while has had more experience (more mentally mature), he is still technically a kid. And it shows. He initially lacked not just the patience, but also effort and commitment required to actually train people (especially those that don’t want to).
We're back indeed Ninjagos back and also new people are also coming in like since ds started almost 8 of my friends got back into Ninjago
Honestly, I had lost the love I had for Ninjago years ago. Well, not really lost, more so buried it, I think I stopped watching after some of the oni triology(Mainly because I didn't know there were more seasons lol). And I had originally planned to watch Dragons Rising when I saw it advertised, but seeing the new characters alone, I thought they were completely replacing the old ninja and didn't give it a watch. It wasn't until I saw it on a twitter post I decided to check it out.
I kinda hate myself for watching it because now Im obsessed with the show again. My tiktok is filled with Ninjago and I LOVE IT. Im so glad they came out with this season. Because I watched Crystalized, and as much as I liked it(I didn't love it, but I did like it), I'm so glad we got this so I wasn't left with a bitter taste in my mouth.
I love how the source dragon was most likely inspired from the elemental turtles from Avatar TLA
Since all the 16 realms are merged now, I wonder if we'll see some old Chima characters later on down the line.
Please don’t get my hopes up I love Chima
I agree with a ton of the points in this vid, but I still love crystalized. Great video!
Coming from someone who enjoyed Crystalized a lot, I think this is one of the best seasons of Ninjago. Definitely better than the Oni trilogy, which I consider overated anyway. And I view the season as better than the whole wildbrain era by far. I think the 22 minute runtime really does wonders for Ninjago episodes, and I'm also excited because the current showrunner said that Dragons Rising will do what Ninjago hasn't done ever, and have the whole series be more serialized throughout. Yes, Ninjago will never have the same charm as it did before s8 (which I think did more bad than good for the story, even though it was decent by itself). However, it has a new kind of charm, something different from the feeling of the past seasons. And I think Dragons Rising is closer to what i grew up with for Ninjago than the entire Oni trilogy and the wildbrain era. And for that, I am grateful that Dragons Rising put rhe show to a place it hasn't been since season 6.
Dragons rising is a massive breath of fresh air after Crystallized. It’s not perfect but it is a massive improvement. However, I have one big a problem with it. My biggest problem with dragons rising is the entirety of the last djinn. The entire thing just feels like one massive blue balling for Skybound fans and the entire episode is just a massive missed opportunity. Nya literally having no reaction to seeing another djinn is super weird and makes no sense for her character. She doesn’t even mention Skybound at all. The events of Skybound have a literally never been mentioned in the show since season 6. This was the perfect time to finally talk about it but for whatever reason the writers just decided not to even though this was the perfect opportunity. The episode also makes wish magic even more confusing. This episode is one of the most disappointing things I have ever watched. As a episode its ok I guess but it could’ve been so much more.
I’ve heard people say the writers must have not wanted the characters to talk about Skybound because they didn’t wanna alienate new viewers but that makes literally no sense. Who starts a show on season 16 (yes I know it’s a new series, but it still continues the story of the previous series and anybody that starts with dragons rising before watching the previous series will be very confused). Dragons rising doesn’t even explain who jay is. New viewers are going to be confused no matter what. Things like Nya having literally no reaction to seeing another djinn despite literally dying because of one is just a bad writing and it’s one of the most disappointing things I’ve ever seen in the show
I mean you said it yourself. Dragons Rising is the start of a new show, not season 16
@@Crusty783 yes but it still follows the same characters and everything that happened in the previous series happened in this series as well. They mention multiple previous seasons, so I just think it’s really weird that Skybound is the exception despite the fact it had the most perfect set up. If anything dragons rising is a sequel series to the original show, which would just make Nyas lack of acknowledgment of skybound even weirder. If dragons rising was a new thing entirely, which completely reset the timeline, and had its own Continuity then that would be one thing and I would be fine with that but that’s not what it is. Dragons rising may not be season 16 but it continues the story of the original show so that’s how I’m gonna look at it
@@theghostwiththemost789 It’s a soft reboot. Same canon, clean slate.
An example from something else I enjoy is Season 8 of Thomas, that keeps some past events and characters from Seasons 1-7, but it changes up the formula ALOT.
That’s basically Dragons Rising, same canon from the Pilots-Crystalized, but with a MASSIVE shakeup.
@@IsleofPigsStudios ya that’s definitely what it is but if it is the same canon then I expect the characters and story to be consistent. Ninjago has never been perfect at this, but it’s always been at least decent but Nya having literally no reaction to seeing another djinn makes absolutely no sense for her character which is my problem with it. Dragons rising has no problem mentioning events from multiple other seasons so it’s super weird that Skybound is the exception, despite it having the most perfect set up out of all of them
@@IsleofPigsStudios I agree and this may sound weird but another interesting example is that I've watched the series in many languages and in all of them when Lloyd references Morro he refers to the Master of Wind as a girl, I find it funny how just because of the translation some people could get confused, still it's pretty fair the comparison you use as the example, now I actually want to see the Thomas series again I didn't notice that, probably because I'm an idiot lol.
Cole and lloyd wear amazing in dragons rising season 1
I am so excited for the next part of Dragon’s Rising. This season has definitely brought hope in me. I love how Lloyd finally stepped into the role of mentorship and took on Sora, and Arin on as students. While accepting Ryu and even Wildfyre as a part of the family. I love how Wildfyre is basically Kai but female version. Dragon’s Rising definitely shows promise and potential to be something way better than Crystalize. Great, now I’m geeking over Ninjago again when it was first introduced. Man, I feel old 😅
I'm glad you like Dragons rising Crusty :3
That’s what I love about Ninjago. It’s been going on for so long, there are periods where it isn’t really good. But you can always trust the show to bounce back somehow
i started watching since the beggining. i feel for him
I already watched all the first few episodes of it and now I’m waiting for more
i love rapton character bro finally somebody that agrees with me love your content bro❤❤
Ninjago Dragons Rising Season 1 Was Super Awesome, Amazing and Fantastic I Loved It So Much The Ninja Were Awesome The Villains were Amazing and The Next Generation Of Elemental Ninja Master were Awesome and Epic I Give Season 1 of Ninjago Dragons Rising Sequel Series A 10/10 I’m Very Excited For Season 2 of Ninjago Dragons Rising Coming Out Next Year 2024🔥😎 “We Are All Dragons”
Why do you comment on literally every Ninjago Dragons Rising video?
Not Every Dragons Rising Video
susguy187 Yes Most/Some Dragons Rising Videos
For me, Dragons Rising S1 is the second-best season. Amazing character focus, arcs, development. Intriguing concept and atmosphere. Complex plots, entertaining dynamics and cool villains.
Only surpassed by Crystalized.
Lmfao
@@audistant4011???
@@legofanaditya you saying crystalizied is good is funny af
@@audistant4011 why so
I personally disagree with your opinion on crystalized. It had major flaws and fucked over characters like Lloyd and Harumi.
Yes! I have just felt like the show went boring after the oni trilogy, which was the peak in my opinion, but dragons rising really fit my expectations!
Hello Crusty, since this is a video about Dragons Rising even though this a positive video obviously, can I add something?
Am I the only one who thought Lloyd was dumb in episode 15 trying to save Rapton? He’s lucky that somehow only his duo protected their dragon core while nya and Sora, and Kai and wyldfire failed.
I guess it worked out in the end since Rapton actually helped give access to the station in the end.
Also I do like how life finally made it easy for Lloyd a little bit in how getting the actual dragon core when they arrived by just asking, unlike nya where they had to try find a replacement for it and Kai dealing with annoying rock creatures.
Nah I loved it. Lloyd values all life, enemies or not. Its such a breath of fresh air in comparison to "YOU WILL NEVER CHANGE ONI CANT CARE" imo
I have watched all seasons of Ninjago and now I'm showing one of my friends the whole show. This originally started as a way to not be stuck on the fact that Ninjago has ended but now I'm super excited to watch Ninjago Dragons Rising season 2!
IM SO HYPED FOR SEASON 2
ME TOO :D
Im late to the party, but can i just say- i haven't laughed the way i did watching this in a VERY long time. The comedy is so so so good
Hearing you being happy makes me happy lol
Bro this season is so peak.
absolutely man. god tier ninjago
Incredible video.
I like how Lloyd in Dragons Rising basically became like Tommy Oliver in Dino Thunder
People who say Dragons rising suck are just drowned by nostolgia that old ninjago had like bro this season is not even bad it was a banger
you sound happy
I'm happy
YES
Dragons Rising animation is so good!! I love it so much
Hi Crusty! A fantastic video! I loved Dragons Rising and I’m happy you did too! I just had an unrelated question. if you don’t mind me asking, what happened to the Discord server/ is it still up?
Thank you! As for the discord server I handed it over to my friend Cube who I believe turned it into a private server.
The last season of ninjago is when zyane fell in love with pixle. That was cute! I couldn't get into the next so many seasons.
I like how Dragons Rising somehow listens to you
Like, tbf i wasn't big fan of Imperium after all. It's not that bad, but just goofy soldiers that literally sleep on their watch is not something i dig, though i kinda see it can be result of Beatrix' rule where everything exists in a bubble (that's the part i like, it gives you a lot to think about). So yeah, despite everything, Imperium in my eyes was "ok", maybe good starting point.
And then next season they drop a bomb on me in a face of very villain theme i wanted to see in ninjago *for a very long time*. The evil ninja-ish clan. And it's led by the best s1 villain. We are so rising
Honestly, while I do enjoy the season, I can’t really give it anything above an 8/10 for one simple reason; The characterization.
Yes, Kai is done well, Lloyd is finally getting a good arc, Sora and Arin are good too, but one thing that has been notably lacking in this season (and also every wildbrain season, honestly) is defined personalities.
Every single character feels like they’re in a competition for who can make the most quirky and/or meta jokes per scene, and it lowers the enjoyment quality quite a decent amount for me. Back in S1-S10, the serious moments were allowed to be mostly serious, and the jokes made were made by characters who were fit to make them at the right time.
Now, take DR, you got serious moments that should be only serious, but aren’t, and jokes being thrown around by literally everyone in the main cast at any time.
Take for example, the Kai scene where he is discussing to Wyldfire how Wu taught him some excercizes to cope with the death of his sister (who may I remind you, is the person he spent his childhood and early teenage years protecting because his parents were kidnapped by a guy with a sword). It should be quite serious, but he just says this stuff so casually, and it feels so out of place.
Don’t get me wrong, the scene is good in some ways, but I just can’t really appreciate it as much as I could’ve with its tone.
Then, on top of that, in general, instead of the Ninja acting like a found family who all have distinct personalities like mentioned above, they now feel like a wacky group of childish friends, and that just does not work
Kai is an ex-hothead
Lloyd is …Lloyd I guess
Zane is the smart one who also happens to be a robot
Jay is also a smart one who is also the comedy relief
Cole is the one who has the perfect leader mentality
Nya is a female who made a name for herself within the group, who has a distinct personality of being semi-hotheaded at times but also carries traits from the other ninja
Arin is …underdeveloped so I can’t say much on him
Sora is a girl who is empathic towards other living things and doesn’t want to harm anyone
Wyldifre is the annoying person of the group
These people are not able to be clumped into the stereotypical basic wacky group of children trope, the personalities literally aren’t compatible for that, yet the writers try to make it fit.
This is the thing I want fixed the most out of anything in the series right now (can you tell? I wrote a TED talk basically lmao), so hopefully in Season 2 it’s done better.
I love how impactful they make Wu feel in it
to be honest its hard to mess up a new start
Are you gonna make a video on the particular Lloyd minifigure variant from the dragons rising season 2 sets?
I honestly think that if Dragons Rising can cover up the plot holes that crystalized made
it may able to actually make crystalized less problematic and better
@Green_Ninja-fm7hs
yeah i would like to see some of those plot holes being filled, one of them being where Harumi is in the new series, (Please no hate she's my favourite) her ending in Crystalized seemed so opened ended and we are suppose to make an interpretation of how Harumi ended up here's what i believe happened to Haurmi
speaking of whom ( harumi ) do u think she'll return in later seasons? i don't see the harm like season 3 or 4 cause since Crystalized it would have been 2 years i think controversy would have died down by then what do u think? but do u think Harumi is gonna come back in the series? tannerfishes said they might have 7 seasons so they might bring back old characters? Garmadon might coming back in season 2 (based on a 2024 set leak that tannerfishes did an analysis on) and possibly Pixal I mean zane had her picture on a broom and was talking to it if that isn't saying he misses his soulmate i don't know what is but yeah I really hope Harumi comes back it would be nice to see her and Lloyd interact after such a long time who knows maybe lloyd had already forgiven harumi for all she has done cause there are bigger things happening and cause in another Tannerfishes video he says that it had been 5 years or as the ninjago characters put it years since the merge so but lloyd and Harumi has had some alone time perhaps they can start fresh i mean its been years so i don't see why they couldn't start over?
i think her and lloyd could be good friends if they tried she is no longer mad at lloyd and has no reason to be a villain anymore and lloyd forgave her. i know everyone is mad about this but forgiveness does not mean you are letting this person back in your life and that does not mean you trust them and they are in the same place as they were in before. it simply means letting go of the poison and all the toxic thoughts and no longer holding onto a grudge. that's why if she comes back in Dragons Rising i really hope they have scenes where Harumi tries to earn lloyds trust again or she helps them on missions or something where they can talk and come to a conclusion on where they stand and eventually become friends but what do u think do think do u think she is gonna come back?
@@adenweiner5573 Hopefully and mabye her character arc would reveal that she is trying to improve on how she acts because that would be a good way to cover up the plot hole
@@Green_Ninja-fm7hs do u think harumi could come back in future seasons cause the writers have tons of planned writing ahead and the show will be running for a long time so it might be a possibility that she could come back what do u think?
@@adenweiner5573 hopefully, but her character arc has to be good but I think she will eventually make a comeback
@@Green_Ninja-fm7hs Honestly, I hope the writers just make it canon that Harumi just died in the Merge, because I really hate her character, especially after crystalized.
Honestly the change to having characters move a bit slower reminds me of the earlier seasons of Ninjago and I feel like they do it in a way that not only doesn’t remove from the quality but actually makes it feel like a “Lego” show again.
I have a theory that Arin is the reincarnation of the first spinjitsu master seeing as how he knows how to do a form of spinjitsu without training and that he can project it onto objects. Also his suit has oni horns that are golden which could symbolize the fsm having oni and dragon blood. (golden color of horns)
Weird question: do you think I could jump into Dragons Rising or would it be worth it to catch up first?
Context: I used to be the biggest Ninjago fan in late elementary/middle school (must’ve watched the penultimate episode of S2 dozens of times in the week leading up to the finale, pivotal moment of my childhood), but fell off halfway into Skybound. I’m a recent college graduate now but I’ve been thinking of checking it out again.
Do you think it would be worth it to watch from Skybound up to DR, or is DR somewhat of a reboot you could start at? I’ve heard good things about the Oni Trilogy, so I might check that out too.
You can absolutely jump onto DR without having seen anything. The only essential information you need to know is that at one point there was six ninja and a master living in a Monastery.
It's very beginner friendly. Would reccomend at the least you watch the Oni Trilogy though as it's Ninjago's absolute peak as a franchise.
@@Crusty783 cool thanks, I’ll do that then!!
Who else here is hoping that the Merge had reached all the way to the Never-Realm
It did! In episode 1 Arin mentions his pie is made with berries from the Never-Realm. I'm incredibly excited to see it in Dragons Rising!
@@Crusty783 and the LloydxAkita shippers will rejoice... Or riot if she doesn't appear
@@dakotadoyle7573 They basically confirmed that time passes differently on the never-realm, So Akita is an old woman by now if not dead. And as you said the shippers weren't really happy by this LOL
@@reddead__ no Zane was sent back in time when he was sent their
@@reddead__Zane was sent back in time which alternate their course of events
What was the music you used around 30:25? I know I've heard it before, but I can't remember the name. I DO remember that it's from the Halo franchise, though.
Thats the credits theme from Halo 2! czcams.com/video/tbtfPx834Cc/video.htmlsi=paZQ1vnal7Q6shLJ
I love that track so much.
I just love the post-apocalyptic wasteland aesthetic that the merge brought about.
Long before time had a name, the First Spinjitzu Master created Ninjago using four elemental weapons. But when he passed, a dark presence sought out to collect them all: Lord Garmadon. So I, Sensei Wu, his brother, sought out to find four ninja to collect them first.
I loved the season too! But from what I am seeing, people are a little divisive on it, not as much as some other seasons but still. I would like to know the reason someday.
I'm just hoping we see more of the original serpentine! I wonder what happened to characters like Skales, Pythor (although he was already in Crystalized), Fangtom, Acidicus and Skalidor.. It'd be a shame if they killed them off.
Man, I really miss the old Lego Ninjago. It’s just amazing.
true, and thanks to Dragons Rising, we are finally getting the vibes we got from the first 10 seasons back
@@ChickenTablet yeah
If Crystalized was gonna be the last season all together, then more of the original plans would’ve been put into place.
Let me just say, we’ve had 11 minute episodes for the past 4 years and we completely forgot what 22 minutes was like. Especially because they made 20 22 minute episodes for this season, which is incredible.
The oni trilogy had amazing visuals and such. Wild brain brought the fights to a whole new level. Wild brain for DR is like, combining both. Which is insane..
The merge was a great concept and I’m glad they’re sticking with it. Sora & Arin are fantastic new characters, Lloyd is actually… Wow, the complete opposite of Crystalized.
I know source dragons exist, but I wonder if the merge has to do with the destruction of the oni temple. If we look at everything with the balance, you start to wonder. Plus, every other realm merged with the realm of Ninjago..
The show is, extremely well written for targeting younger audience. I will say tho, a certain audience gets forgotten about when you have writing, visuals etc, this good
Wild brain is crazy
I think if they added harmi it would be a hit and a big twist