The Merge: Part 1

The Merge: Part 1 is the first episode of the first season of Ninjago: Dragons Rising.
==Synopsis==
After a mysterious event known as "The Merge" shuffles the universe, an aspiring Ninja teams with a smart techie to navigate a new and unfamiliar world.
Cartoon Network Asia: One year after 'The Merge,' Ninja-fan Arin and his friend, Sora, risk everything to save the life of a hunted young dragon named Riyu.https://content.astro.com.my/details/Lego-Ninjago-Dragons-Rising-Ep101-1:10000391:49600298
Extended: It’s been one year since The Merge when all 16 realms united and the Ninja disappeared. Arin is a self-taught Spinjitzu amateur living in Crossroads, a blended community, with his inventor friend, Sora. They enter their mech in a race that’s interrupted by a young dragon named Riyu being pursued by dragon hunters from The Imperium. Sora bonds with Riyu and discovers latent elemental powers, Arin and Sora are rescued by Lloyd, the Green Ninja.https://nowplayer.now.com/
==Plot==
thumb|Arin witnesses The Merge |left
Arin, an ordinary young boy and fan of the ninja narrates how he always wanted to become one and help protect Ninjago. While practicing on his house gate with his parents watching, strange cracks in the sky suddenly appear and open portals with images of other realms before the portals' presence causes many objects and people to be pulled up, Arin included. As he was pulled along the debris, he was suddenly saved by Lloyd before seeing the other ninja helping others caught in the catastrophe. After they were brought to safety, Arin asks Lloyd to find his parents, and he complies before the Destiny's Bounty and Jay's mech head for the portal, only for it to immediately disappear and a shockwave to occur. thumb|Lloyd's mask lands on Arin's handsUpon the shockwave's fade, Arin finds himself in a field with little debris, and an unfamiliar city in the distance, which led to one thing: all the realms merging together. Concerned, Arin turned to try and find his parents, but gets no response, and Lloyd's ninja mask lands in his hands.
Several years after what was called The Merge, Arin became determined to carry on the Ninja's legacy, believing they were gone. Currently, he was in a junkyard, explaining the events to some dogs as well as wearing Lloyd's mask while his friend Sora was looking for parts, until she manages to find them, just as Security Bots catch them, but they manage to subdue them with Sora reprogramming them to dance, and they leave a pie as payment for the junkyard owners.
left|thumb|Arin and Sora overlooking Imperium 
Returning to Ninjago City's greatest neighborhood, the Crossroads, which had been built for all of the realm's creatures to live individually. Arin and Sora live in a penthouse, where it was revealed they were using the parts to participate in the Mech Master 5000, both of them hoping to use the prize money to fund their dreams. Meanwhile, in Imperium, Rapton reports to Ras about the Claws of Imperium's latest dragon capture, with the latter telling him his overconfidence is a weakness, which he disbelieves before looking at the cage containing their capture.
right|thumb|Mr. Frohicky accepts the pie 
The following morning, Arin and Sora arrive at the track, where Arin bribes the registrar, Alfonzo Frohicky, with a pie to participate in the race, unaware that rival racer Kreel has a Whack Rat remove a component from their racer. Back in Imperium, Rapton sees one of the dragon cages shaking before it opens, revealing a baby dragon, who makes his getaway. At the racetrack, Sora and Arin take out the competition to reach Kreel and intend to use their booster, only for a blast to occur, knocking Kreel's racer down, and Arin and Sora discover it was the dragon, who is being chased by the Claws of Imperium. Abandoning the race, Arin and Sora move to rescue the dragon before the early sabotage on their racer, knocks them off the bridge. As they fell, the dragon faces Sora before passing something onto her, which made her hands glow pink and touches the pieces of the racer. As the hunters ponder on their fate, the racer, now a mech, rises up, before taking them down. Before they could escape, however, Ras appears, knocks them out and orders Rapton to imprison them.
left|thumb|Lloyd to the rescueOn route aboard a train, Arin and Sora review their situation with Arin still skeptical about the Ninja's survival, until they hear noises and the hatch on the ceiling coming off, revealing their savior: Lloyd. 
==Appearances==
===Characters===
====Cast====
*Alfonzo Frohicky - Andrew McNee
*Arin - Deven Mack
*Arin's mother - Kelly Sheridan (flashback)
*Claw Hunter - Deven Mack
*Kreel - Kelly Sheridan
*Lloyd Garmadon - Sam Vincent
*Lobbo - Brian Drummond
*Rapton - Giles Panton
*Ras - Brian Drummond
*Riyu - Brian Drummond
*Security Bot - Sam Vincent
*Sora - Sabrina Pitre
====Non-speaking====
*Arin's father (flashback)
*Bone Guards
*Sentry General
*Cole (flashback)
*Jay (flashback)
*Kai (flashback)
*Maaray Guards
*Mezmo
*Nya (flashback)
*Whack Rats
**Richie
*Zane (flashback)
===Creatures===
*Dragon Matriarch (flashback)
===Items===
*Arin's grappling hook
*Imperium Swords
*Lloyd's golden sword
*Ras' golden hammer
*Snowberry Pies
===Vehicles===
*Destiny's Bounty (flashback)
*Golden Dragon Jet (wingless)
*Hover chariots
*Kreel's mech
*Lobbo's mech
*Prison trains
*SA Mark 01
*Titan Mech (flashback)
*Underworld Mech
===Events===
*The Merge (flashback)
**MergeQuakes
*Mech Master 5000
===Locations===
*Imperium
**Kingdom of Imperium
***Imperium Palace
***Imperium Prison (mentioned)
*Kingdom of Madness (pictured; flashback)
*Land of the Three Mountains (flashback)
*Never-Realm (mentioned)
*Ninjago (realm)
**Ninjago
***Arin's neighborhood (flashback)
***Crossroads
****Arin and Sora's penthouse
****Junkyard
***Ninjago City
****Borg Tower
***Monastery of Spinjitzu (mentioned)
**Dark Island (pictured; flashback)
*Underworld
===Species===
*Dogs
*Dragons
**Mountain Dragons
*Frogs
*Geckles
*Humans
*Merlopians
*Mucoids (mentioned)
*Munce
*Nindroids
*Oni/Dragon/Human hybrids
*Raccoons (mentioned)
*Rats
*Seagulls
==Transcript==
For the transcript of the episode, click here.
==Trivia==
*Arin shows himself to have skills in cooking, being a pastry chef who can bake Snowberry Pies which he often uses as payment.
**The fact that one of the scenes shows Arin using a pie as payment to Mr. Frohicky confirms the first of Kevin Burke's April Fools spoilers.https://twitter.com/KevinBurke20/status/1642179411888984064
**It's likely that this aspect of Arin's character is based on his voice actor, Deven Mack, who is also known for baking pies.https://twitter.com/DevenOClock/status/1199532072819478528https://twitter.com/DevenOClock/status/1664812664160153600https://twitter.com/KevinBurke20/status/1684359467104899073https://twitter.com/DevenOClock/status/1684376727072690176
***Mack previously voiced the character Super Dinosaur in the show of the same name, who is also known for his love of pies.
**Mack ad-libbed Arin's line about raccoons getting to eat the pie.
*The Destiny's Bounty was remotely controlled by P.I.X.A.L..https://twitter.com/otherland71/status/1677009245102034945
===Cultural references===
*Ras' line, "Your overconfidence is a weakness, Rapton" is similar to what Luke said to Palpatine in Return of the Jedi, in which Luke says "Your overconfidence is your weakness."
===Continuity===
*This is the first season premiere in the franchise where Kai, Jay, Zane, Cole, and Nya do not have speaking roles. It's also the first premiere where Wu does not appear since "The Mask of Deception".
*This episode, along with "The Merge: Part 2," marks two episodes as a two-part episode for the first time since "Curseworld, Part I" and "Curseworld, Part II" of Possession.
*This is the first episode to have a 22-minute runtime since "Endings."
**By extension, this is the first episode animated by WildBrain to have a 22-minute runtime.
*Kreel's sabotage of Sora's SA Mark 01 is similar to the Darkley's students' sabotage of the ninja's Ultra Sonic Raider in "Ninjaball Run."
*This is the first time an Elemental Spark is used.
*This episode marks the first time since "Return to Primeval's Eye" where Lloyd wears a Green Ninja suit.
===Errors===
*In the shot of his face after grabbing Lloyd's mask at the beginning of the episode, Arin has his teenage design rather than his child design, as he has scars on his face. stubbled sideburns, and his eyes are smaller.
*The extended description of the episode and Cartoon Network Asia says the time skip after the Merge was one year. But it was said by the characters that it was years ago.
*Nya's mole is missing during Arin's narration of the Merge.
*Jay appears to be missing his freckles during Arin's narration of the Merge.
*When LEGO released the episode in Korean on their YouTube channel, it did not have finished animation, as Lloyd wore the Core/Dojo suit at the end of the episode, instead of the regular suit.
==Videos==
File:LEGO NINJAGO Dragons Rising - The Merge- Pt 1 - S1 E1
NINJAGO Dragons Rising - It all started with The Merge...
NINJAGO Dragons Rising - Meet Arin!
NINJAGO Dragons Rising - Introducing Sora
NINJAGO Dragons Rising - New Show...New Villains!
File:Catch That Dragon! - Ninjago- Dragons Rising - @BoomerangUK
File:Ninjago- Dragons Rising - After The Merge - Cartoon Network Africa
==Gallery==
For the gallery of the episode, click here.
==Translations==
==References==
Category:2023
Category:Episodes
de:Die Verschmelzung: Teil 1
es:The Merge, Part 1
pl:Fuzja: Część 1
ru:Слияние: Часть 1
Category:Episodes of Season 1 (Dragons Rising)