Ninjago S8 E1

## Plot

The episode starts off in downtown Ninjago City, during a celebration at night, with people wearing masks and the like. Oh… *Masks…* You know, I only got that just now. Clever. It's your typical Japanese/Chinese/vaguely Asian celebration, with people pretending to be a paper mache dragon, paper lanterns, fireworks, etc. Also, the city looks like it was revamped into New Ninjago City again. Don't worry, all of this will be explained in my review portion. On a completely unrelated note, my review will be a bit longer than normal. During the parade, six people in color coded masks and outfits sneak around. Obviously, their colors match our ninja. They break into Borg Tower. They're looking for something specific, which they find behind a painting of Cyrus Borg. Right, because statues of the guy wasn't enough. And no, it's not really the ninja just testing his security again. Everybody knows that Lloyd doesn't carry two *red* katanas. Anyways, it's a red mask behind an invisible laser grid. The green figure uses his two red swords to deflect the lasers and take the mask. However, the alarm is activated when the white figure pulls the swords out of the wall. They escape the room before they're locked in, and are confronted by Lloyd… voiced by Sam Vincent for the first time, instead of Jillian Michaels in literally every previous season. This is because, for the story the Hageman brothers wanted to tell, they needed a more mature voice for Lloyd. Luckily, Jillian was very understanding and still on good terms with everyone, since she came back to voice Maya in season 14. Sam also went back and watched the first six seasons, and then the seventh as well once it finally came out. Still, it definitely takes awhile to get used to, at least for me personally, especially since he sounds *exactly* like Eli Shane, another character he voiced, from *Slugterra*, another show I watched as a a kid, albeit nowhere near as religiously as this one. At first, I found it annoying that Sam made no attempt to change his voice even a little. But then I realized that the voice fits Lloyd's character, and that he and Eli were a lot alike. Plus, hey, the first film I remember hearing Kirby Morrow's voice in is from 2001, which I didn't realize until many, *many* years and one Wikipedia search later. Anyways, Lloyd's eyes now glow when he does spinjitzu, so that's cool. He saves the one in white from falling to his death, and drops him off in an alley where he's arrested by the police. He continues chasing after the one in green with the red mask, who unmasks themselves… to reveal another red mask. This is Mr. E, someone who doesn't speak and whose identity is unknown, hence the punny name. They start escaping on their motorcycle. Pixal has been brought back online… somehow. Seriously, they never explain when or how they did that, or even bring up what happened to her in season 7. Anyways, she can now talk to all the ninja. She gives Lloyd his car so he can continue chasing the suspect. He requests backup, but all of the others are away on active missions throughout the continent. The light trails their vehicles create look so cool. It can be a little difficult and disorienting for me to tell what's going on though, because the chase scene has so many cuts and strange camera angles. Anyways, Mr. E jumps off a bridge and opens a parachute… revealing the face of Lord Garmadon on it. He lands on a boat. Lloyd unmasks himself, and I really hope you liked the movie design, because he looks identical to that. He tells Pixal that it's time to get the team back together. Sam Vincent reads the title now, which I don't entirely understand. Sure, Wu is still missing, but that doesn't mean that his actor can't at least read the title like he's done before for the pilot and the past 74 episodes. He could certainly use the extra work with his character still nowhere to be found. Anyways, we're still only six and a half minutes in. Nya, in disguise in the far countryside, rescues some people who are basically slaves to their abusive and uncaring overseers/owners. Well, that got dark fast. Jay and Cole arrive at a temple on a mountain. They're debating whether Wu was sent into the past or the future. They came because a man arrived at the temple who matched Wu's basic description, and had lost his memory. It's been a year since he was lost in time. However, it's not him. Jay is upset that they came all this way for nothing, and says that he quits. Cole says that he's tired of losing people in his life, and that Wu would never quit on them, so they shouldn't either. They get into a fight, but luckily, the results are of the comedic kind. Pixal contacts Zane, who is in Stiix. He and Kai are dealing with the Mechanic. It's revealed that Zane now has a holographic projector that allows him to appear more human, and switch between being the White ninja and being the Titanium ninja. Out of everyone, his design looks the closest to his previous one. I still dislike the hair and the eyes though, especially when he's in human form. As for Kai, I don't have much of an opinion. I don't love it, but I don't hate it either. Same with Nya, but her design already brings to mind Wyldstyle/Lucy from *The LEGO Movie*. Everyone meets up at Borg Tower. The others lampshade that Lloyd's voice is lower. Nya asks him if he's heard from his mom. It's revealed that Misako left the group awhile back to go look for Wu herself. Lloyd hasn't heard from her, and doesn't know where she is. The way Nya asks the question though, she sounds almost motherly or sisterly to Lloyd. Sure, the two are friends, but they've never been that close. I think it's because Misako left Lloyd… *again*. Misako, the second worst mom of the year, after Raven from RWBY. Cole says that she'll come back, and Wu will too, but Lloyd says that not everyone comes back. I swear, he's thinking about his dad when he says that, especially given the reason why he called them all here. He shows them the logo that Mr. E had on their parachute. It's the symbol for the Sons of Garmadon, a mysterious criminal syndicate growing in power in the city. Mr. E stole the mask three days ago. An older man tells them that it's not just any mask, but an Oni mask. There are only three in existence. Oni are all powerful demons that predate Ninjago. Each mask embodies a trait of one of the three Oni warlords. If all three masks are united, whoever has them would wield tremendous power. Lloyd introduces the man as Mr. Hutchins, a master at arms and counsel to the royal family of Ninjago. Also, it took this long to establish the federal government of this world, and this is the first time a royal family is being mentioned anywhere, at all. If season 6 and the special can foreshadow future events, then the previous season could've too. Sure, the royal family is said to be super private, but still. They have an Oni mask too. The emperor will be delivering a public speech the next day, and the ninja are tasked with providing extra security. Nya is in the crowd dressed as a civvie, the original guys are on the roof, and Lloyd is not too far from the royal family. They're basically the equivalent of the British monarchy, i.e., they have no real power and are only figureheads. Everyone immediately notices Lloyd staring at the princess. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Lloyd gets a love interest this season, which is why he has a new voice. The emperor finishes his speech, and the crowd cheers. Zane spots a balloon with the SoG logo on it. Suddenly, what sounds like *gunfire* erupts from somewhere in the crowd. Hutchins protects the emperor while Lloyd does the same for the empress and the princess. The crowd scatters. It turns out that it was just firecrackers. Hutchins says that the royal family is grateful for what the ninja did, and they're invited into the palace. Later that night, for some reason. Anyways, Hutchins introduces them to the royal family. The emperor and empress's daughter, the Jade Princess, is called Princess Harumi. She's read all about the ninja and their deeds. Obviously, the exposition she gives is just for any new viewers, but it's unique enough I guess. She says that like Lloyd, she also lost her parents, but they're both not without family. The emperor and empress explain that they adopted Harumi and raised her after her biological parents passed away. She's the one who invited the ninja into the palace. She wants them to stay there until the SoG are dealt with, because as long as they have an Oni mask, they fear their lives are in danger. The ninja agree to help. Hutchins takes them on a tour of the palace. It's called the palace of secrets because of all the secret passageways. At the buffet, Cole reveals that he gave up sweets because his body is a temple, and Jay says that he's been acting this way since Wu disappeared. This will be important later, trust me. Everyone agrees that Hutchins is holding something back. He shows them the Oni Mask of Deception. Lloyd breaks away from the group and sees Harumi in her bedroom, taking off her makeup. He backs away when she notices him. Later that night, Kai and Nya are patrolling when they see Hutchins outside, and wonder who's watching who. At the buffet with Jay and Zane, Cole says that with Wu gone, someone has to be the responsible one and keep them in check. While guarding the mask, Lloyd hears something crash from Harumi's room. He enters and sees that the room is a mess, and the window is open, with Harumi nowhere in sight.

## Review

This was an okay premiere. First of all, Borg, if you really wanted to hide that mask well, then you should've just hidden it in the Hiroshi Labyrinth place with the Realm Crystal. So, let's talk about the new designs. I started out hating them, but they grew on me surprisingly quickly. No, I don't accept the time travel "explanation," because that would just break my brain even further. It's been a whole year since the end of season 7, so I can buy their hair growing out. It doesn't explain why Cole no longer has his scar though, or why Lloyd suddenly has green eyes, or why Nya has a cheek mole, or why Jay has freckles, or why Zane felt the need to rebuild his body, or how he got or built a holographic projector, or why Kai has a meaningless bandage on his head that makes him look stupid. These new designs were basically transplanted into the show in order to help new fans brought in from the 2017 movie transition. The 2017 *alternate universe* movie that has different people voicing the characters. No, I have not seen it and I don't plan to, ever. The sheer abundance of problems with this though makes my head hurt just thinking about them, especially since there's this thing it could be easily solved with called common sense. But that's neither here nor there. This is also where their new weapons came from, and the new look for the city, and the new look for a certain iconic vehicle of theirs. The bit with the weapons is especially weird, because apparently, the ninja in the movie didn't even touch theirs, and only used their stupid mechs and elemental powers to fight. Ironically, I felt like the opposite happened here. They use their powers significantly less so than they did before, and they don't seem as impressive. I don't buy Lloyd being tired after taking down just five guys, or being unable to shut down a simple robbery committed by a petty biker gang of thieves. Also, airjitzu and elemental dragons don't appear this season, which makes me a little sad, like they're trying to get rid of everything from previous seasons, all to accommodate some stupid movie that isn't even in the same continuity. Plus, there are many times where levitation and manifesting dragons would come in handy. It changes up the status quo a lot. Then again, I guess they don't want the heroes to be overpowered. And about the new designs, it turns out that Brent Miller, the voice actor for Zane, actually preferred the human design of his character more than the robot one, which is probably the meta reason for the change. Personally, I get why, since it took me awhile to get used to Zane's new design when season 4 first came out. Plus, I'd probably be a little miffed if most of my voice work was artificially changed in post production to sound more robotic. The season appears to be going for a much darker and edgier approach, which appears to be working so far, at least for me, with a darker color scheme in the title cards, consisting of red, black, and purple. Sadly though, this means no more Weekend Whip remixes for the theme song. Sure, there were times when I felt like season 6's took me out of the experience because such a lighthearted tune played over the recap of serious and emotional moments, but still! So, my opinion of the villains for this season wasn't very high in the first half of the episode. Big deal, they're a criminal gang, our heroes have dealt with way worse before. But then they launched a psychological attack at the speech, by releasing the balloon and then setting off firecrackers. It was like a warning of things to come. It also actually scared me a little the first time I watched it. Not because it sounded like a real gun (I think), but because the show doesn't even show minor amounts of blood, and people rarely die, so I never expected a realistic firearm to be seen or heard, ever. So, let's talk about someone I've decided to call new Nya. This is because she looks and even occasionally acts completely different from the old Nya of previous seasons. She took every opportunity to disrespect, insult, and put down the royal family, before she had even met them yet. That's completely out of character for her. I can assure you, Nya is not normally this mean, rude, or offensive. Her comments only stopped when Harumi complimented her and said that she had always wanted to be her. That sounds a little hypocritical of new Nya. Then again, maybe like with Cole, the out of character moments will actually have an explanation in future episodes? I doubt it, but maybe. For the moment though, she's basically Wyldstyle/Lucy 2.0 for me, whereas the old her had a much more distinct personality and appearance, at least to me. She made the red clothes and bob work. Ugh. It's like those AU movies only know how to write one type of woman. With all of that said, I will give this season a chance, and I hope I don't regret it.