Nelson

Nelson, also referred to as Lil' Nelson, is a paperboy that lives in the village in the valley. He broke both of his legs while rigorously training to be a ninja,https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/786598612981669888 but eventually, they healed. After getting a job as a paperboy, he became friends with Antonia in the process. He fought alongside the ninja in a battle against the crystal army. He calls himself the Purple Ninja.
==History==
===Skybound===
====Infamous====
Dareth arranged for the ninja to visit Lil' Nelson and make him an honorary ninja for a day. The ninja stopped by on their way to stop Clouse, remembering their lesson to "not put off what can be done today." However, due to Kai's addiction to his fans, he alerted them about their location and ended up being surrounded.
A fellow fan himself, Lil' Nelson dons a hand-made gi, becomes the Purple Ninja, and helps the ninja by blocking the fans so they can escape to the roof. Lloyd expresses his gratefulness in his assistance, but Lil' Nelson says that he is grateful his wish was granted, thanks to Lloyd and the ninja.
===Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu===
====The News Never Sleeps!====
On his first day of delivering newspapers, Nelson wakes up early and gets ready quickly, even before his mother woke up herself. Just as he was about to leave on his bike, his mother gives him his helmet. Putting it on, he leaves for Ninjago City.
When he arrives at the warehouse, Antonia is instructed to lead him. While they deliver newspapers, the Elemental Cobras invade the city. Antonia decides to continue delivering the news.
When they finished delivering the newspapers, Antonia and Nelson went to the Monastery of Spinjitzu and told Wu about what happened to the ninja.
====The Message====
Nelson delivers a newspaper with Antonia.
===Prime Empire & Prime Empire Original Shorts===
====Let's Dance====
Nelson is Antonia's dance partner in dance class. He and the rest of the class watched in amazement as Jay showed off his moves.
====Would You Like to Enter Prime Empire?====
Nelson is seen helping Antonia with delivering newspapers in Ninjago City.
====Gayle Gossip: A Closer Look====
Gayle Gossip interviews Nelson on his opinions of Prime Empire. He called it "the greatest game ever" and talked about his mom playing it and not returning since.
When Nelson gets a chance to play, he reaches level 13 and enters Prime Empire.
====Racer Seven====
Nelson is seen among the crowd of spectators for the Speedway Five-Billion.
====The Speedway Five-Billion====
Nelson stands right next to Avatar Pink Zane at the Speedway Five-Billion.
====Game Over====
Nelson is freed from Prime Empire.
===Seabound===
==== Papergirl ====
Nelson and the other paperboys were getting ready for their rounds, and he was shocked when he heard of Antonia's decision to leave. He then attempted to persuade her to stay while the two delivered their newspapers, to no avail. He then became upset, but the two quickly reconciled.
Nelson later assisted Antonia in keeping the Storm Amulet out of the hands of Kalmaar, who chased them. The two avoided Kalmaar using their bikes, but eventually he managed to catch up and take the amulet. 
Nelson watched Antonia as she dived into the river and saved Kai, and he helped push the water out of his lungs. He and Antonia are later thanked by Wu, Ray and Cole for their actions.
Antonia then informed Nelson that she changed her mind and decided to stay, much to his surprise.
====The Calm Before the Storm====
Nelson was seen walking around the arcade, and later cheering for Jaya. 
====The Turn of the Tide====
Nelson was one of the many people who attended Nya's memorial.
===The Virtues of Spinjitzu===
====Wisdom====
A digital copy of Nelson is seen in the crowd.
===Crystalized===
====Ninjago City vs. Ninja====
Nelson was at the ninja's trial, sitting next to Antonia.
====Crystastrophe====
When Wu and Lloyd showed up to ask about some newspaper clippings the former had been getting, which came with a code '833-A', Nelson, called by Antonia, says it is an address that is on his paper run and that the apartment belongs to Vinny Folson.
====Quittin' Time!====
Nelson and Antonia rescue Wu from the canal before bringing him to the warehouse, where he learns the paperboys had formed a resistance and plan to fight back, but Wu protests, and insists they evacuate. But, after proving themselves to Wu by saving two people, Wu changes his mind, takes leadership and uses their radio to make an inspirational speech, proclaiming the listeners as honorary ninja.
====Return of the Ice Emperor====
Nelson opens the door for Antonia, who found some more people, including Misako.
====Compatible====
Nelson is tinkering with the radio with Cole.
====An Issue of Trust====
Nelson informs Wu of the Ninja arriving, including Garmadon, which made the former edgy. He later watched the Ninja attempt Dragon Form, only to fail. After a while, Nelson discovers the scroll had something on the back and told Wu before Cole folded the edges to reveal the true obtainment of Dragon Form.
====Dragon Form====
Nelson high-fives Antonia.
====Roots====
Nelson celebrates the Overlord's defeat with the rest of The Resistance.
== Relationships ==
===Family===
*Roise (mother)
===Allies===
*Ninja
*Paperboys
*Wu
*Ray
===Enemies===
*Elemental Cobras (formerly; destroyed)
*Merlopians (formerly)
*Crystal army
==Appearance==
Nelson is a boy with light brown hair combed to the side. He has a generic child's face from LEGO City, although he doesn't have the freckles he has in sets.
In Season 6, Nelson wears a self-made purple gi and has leg casts, due to his injuries.
Since Season 11, Nelson is shown to be a little taller, wearing a purple sweatshirt with white Ninjago letters "PN" for "Purple Ninja," and light blue pants. While working, Nelson wears a green backpack.
From "Quittin' Time!" to "Roots," Nelson wore a purple cap, black gloves, purple puffer vest, dark purple bandanna, light blue sweatshirt and dark blue pants. He later added armour made of newspaper and duct tape as well as some face paint from "Compatible" to "Roots."
==Official descriptions==
===Visual Dictionary New Edition===
Nelson was a young boy who was visited by the ninja in hospital. He helped them leave the hospital by holding off their fans. In gratitude, Lloyd named Nelson “Ninja for a Day”.
==Appearances==
==Behind the scenes==
*Nelson is named after Nelson LaMonica, the Ninjago Brand Director.https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/768883940568535040
*His original torso design resembles Kai's suit.
**His minifigure has a somewhat different torso design than his show appearance.
*He uses the hairpiece of Larry the Barista from The LEGO Movie, which is later used on Tony.
*Though he appeared in the Rock Roader set for "Day of the Departed," Nelson did not appear in the special. According to Tommy Andreasen, his part was taken out because "The idea was to isolate Cole".https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/834164358720663553
*Despite the fact that Nelson does not have freckles in the show, his minifigure has them. This is because his minifigure reuses a generic LEGO City child face print.
**He later gains a unique face print in 71775 Nya's Samurai X MECH, though his minifigure uses short legs even though in the show he has grown up and has medium-size legs.
==Trivia==
*Despite being restrained to a wheelchair due to his injury, he developed impressive ninja-like techniques in moving around that impressed even the ninja.
**It is also shown that aside from his legs, he also once broke his entire body, arm, skull, and once lost a tooth. This strongly indicates he is incredibly accident-prone, although this may be due to his training to develop his ninja-like skills that were shown in "Infamous".
*In 2016, Tommy Andreasen said that Nelson was 7 years old during Season 6. Nelson's voice actor, David Raynolds, considers him to be a teenager as of Season 11.https://twitter.com/david_raynolds/status/1250485688631361537
**As Nelson sounds and acts a few years older than he would be if he was 7 at the time of Season 6, it's possible this is a case of the show contradicting creator statements from the past, similar to the Departed Realm being accessible by Traveler's Tea.https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1186745157137453056
**When asked about Nelson's age once more, Tommy Andreasen more said "Whatever age you personally think. We don't define ages. He does have a job though."https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1195646542390185985
*In the Rock Roader set, he had a Ninjago Spinners game card. The card was Kendo Cole.
*He has grown and is the first character to have mid-legs (posable short legs introduced by LEGO in 2018) in the show.
**However, this is not represented by a physical minifigure from 71775 Nya's Samurai X MECH.
*He lives in the same village the Sons of Garmadon attacked in "Big Trouble, Little Ninjago" and most likely the same one Harumi and her birth parents lived in before moving to Ninjago City as suggested by "Samurai X-Treme."
*According to Bragi Schut, Nelson learned CPR at swim class.https://twitter.com/bragischutjr/status/1521517130583187458
*His favorite ice cream in Dairy Dragon is Bananakhan."Papergirl"
==Gallery==
==References==
ru:Нельсон
de: Lil' Nelson
Category:2016
Category:2016 characters
Category:Skybound
Category:Ninja
Category:Heroes
Category:Humans
Category:2019
Category:2019 characters
Category:Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu
Category:Characters
Category:2020
Category:2020 characters
Category:Prime Empire
Category:Prime Empire Original Shorts
Category:2018
Category:2018 characters
Category:Children
Category:Delayed minifigures
Category:Characters with theme songs
Category:Seabound
Category:2021
Category:2021 characters
Category:2022
Category:2022 characters
Category:Crystalized
Category:2023
Category:2023 characters