The Titanium Ninja

*“Everyone wondered what powered Zane. I don't know if we'll ever know, but I'd like to think it was brotherhood. Because he powered me. And he'll still power me as his memory lives on. Ninja never quit, and ninja will never be forgotten. Wherever you are, Zane, you'll always be one of us.”*

— Kai's speech at Zane's funeral

**The Titanium Ninja** is the eighth and final episode of the third season of *Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu* and the 34th episode overall. It first premiered on November 26, 2014, in the United States on Cartoon Network.

## Synopsis

*The ninja repair the broken Arcturus ship to return home. When they do, they find the Overlord has used the golden weapons to return to the physical world as the all powerful Golden Master.*

## Plot

General Cryptor and his Nindroids finally land back at Borg Industries, where they line up to honor their ruler—the Golden Master. The Overlord marches between the two lines of robots, and commands Cyrus to flee; since he has completed his mission, the Overlord no longer needs him. As the villain questions, if the Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu have been melted down for his weapon, Cryptor frees Cyrus from the OverBorg. Cyrus asks if there is anything he can do to stop the villains, but the Nindroid General declares that all he can do is to bow down to the Overlord.

Back in space, the ninja despair after repeated failed attempts to escape the comet. However, Lloyd refuses to give up, suggesting that they use their elemental powers, and everything around them to restart the ship. Reheartened by Lloyd's words, the ninja repair the ship and use Zane as a power source. Though Zane gets overheated by the strain, they manage to fly back to the planet—to land safely, Lloyd suggests a new technique: elemental shields.

The Overlord has begun an attack on New Ninjago City, but the citizens of Ninjago are filled with hope when they see the ninja returning. P.I.X.A.L. uses a motorcycle to catch up with her friends, using her power to land them on their vehicles. As the ninja reunite with their allies, Cyrus tells them that they should head for the Temple of Fortitude, a place where the Overlord and the First Spinjitzu Master battled long ago. He claims there's a shield at the place, so the Nindroids won't harm them, and there is something he wants to give them that may help them save the world.

The ninja head to the temple but pause when they see the Golden Master's path of destruction. Nya then crashes because she was hit by a car the Overlord threw. Lloyd reminds his friends that the only way to save Ninjago is to reach the Temple of Fortitude, but the Overlord sees them and uses a massive Spinjitzu tornado against them. The ninja swiftly run back, rendezvousing with Cyrus, Wu, and Garmadon. While the ninja jump past various items blocking their path, Nya defeats two Nindroids. Confronted by General Cryptor himself, Nya claims that Min-Droid is better than him just as the latter walks by—naturally, Cryptor denies this. The miniature Nindroid overhears Cryptor's boast of superiority, and the resulting attack on his general allows Nya to leave. The ninja finally arrive, and Wu and Garmadon close the doors, which activate their shields.

There Cyrus gives them the ultimate weapon—a pill. Jay is angry that all they had was a *pill*. Borg then explains that it was no ordinary pill; it could make anyone shrink. Garmadon realizes that when he and Wu were still young, they use to play a game that involves Wu hitting an object with their staff, and they would never lose. Using this thought he forms an idea: himself and Wu would hit the pill straight into the Overlord's mouth. The shield is starting to break; Nya comes and destroys a couple of Nindroids, and buys some time for the ninja. Borg gives the ninja armor which protects them from some attacks from the Overlord.

The ninja go into Ninjago City, where they manage to make it to the Golden Master, who has created a massive spider web around Borg Tower using the Golden Power. Wu hits the pill, which heads straight to the Overlord's mouth, but Pythor sacrifices himself and swallows the pill instead. As a result, Pythor shrinks down to the size of a worm before being immediately chased away by the Falcon, presumably to be eaten again. The Golden Master is outraged that the ninja tried to shrink him. He obtains the ninja with his Golden Power only to miss Zane. The Ninja of Ice tells his friends to support him one last time, and the ninja bounce him. Although, during the process, he lands and touches the Golden Master's gold and starts to overload from his power. He refuses to let go, because ninja never quit, which frees his friends. As he reaches maximum capacity, he gratefully remembers his past and freezes the Overlord at the expense of his life. The ninja are heartbroken that Zane has passed, and proceed to attend his funeral the following day.

Borg makes a speech on how he thought technology was the best way to destroy problems but instead caused more. He now names Zane the Titanium Ninja and reveals a statue of Zane, the titanium statue. He later passed the microphone to Kai. The Red Ninja claims no one knew what powered Zane, and he thought it was brotherhood because that's how Zane powered him. When he finished the speech, snow began to fall.

P.I.X.A.L. leans on a window in Borg's office, grieving Zane. However, the place began to show memories of her and Zane, from the first day they met. She wonders if it could be a message from Zane. P.I.X.A.L. runs to another side of the building, realizing machines are following her. She also hears a familiar voice, Zane's, asking "Are we compatible now?", hinting that Zane might have survived. P.I.X.A.L. is shown smiling in response.

## Appearances

### Characters

* Cole
* Cryptor
* Cyrus Borg
* Dr. Julien
* Garmadon
* Jay
* Kai
* Lloyd Garmadon
* Nya
* P.I.X.A.L.
* Postman
* Pythor P. Chumsworth
* Skales
* Skales Jr.
* Slithraa
* The Overlord
* Wu
* Zane

### Events

* Nindroid crisis
	+ Zane's sacrifice
* The Final Battle (flashback)
* Stone Wars (mentioned)

### Items

* Bo staff
* Golden Weapons/Golden Armor (Golden Weapons; flashback)
* Elemental Blades (flashback)
* Titanium statue
* Hover-Copter

### Vehicles

* Earth Driller
* Golden Master's mech
* Lightning off-roader
* Kai Fighter
* NinjaCopter
* Proto Sam-X

### Locations

* Outer space
	+ Ninjago's planet
		- Ninjago
			* Mountains of Impossible Height (flashback)
				+ Monastery of Spinjitzu
			* Ninjago City
				+ Borg Tower
				+ Dark Fortress (flashback)
				+ Ninjago Park
					- Temple of Fortitude
			* Birchwood Forest (flashback)
				+ Hidden workshop
		- Lighthouse Island (flashback)
* Digiverse (mentioned)

### Species

* Humans
* Nindroids
* Oni/Dragon/Human hybrids
* Serpentine
	+ Anacondrai
	+ Constrictai
	+ Hypnobrai
* Treehorns (flashback)
* Stone Warriors (flashback)

## Trivia

* The first edit of this episode was 28 minutes long. A lot of Ninjago City destruction sequences were cut out to have the time to focus on Zane's funeral.
* This is the last episode to air in 2014.
* During Zane's funeral, a large picture of him sits next to his monument. The picture is a shot of him in his ZX suit from the intro used in "Tick Tock" up to "Rise of the Spinjitzu Master".
* The game Wu and Garmadon were talking about is very similar to baseball: Garmadon threw a mean curveball, and when the ninja were battling the Overlord, Wu could hit the shrinking pill accurately into the Overlord's mouth, and Wu and Garmadon said they could "thread the needle."
* Zane sacrificing himself as he is protecting his friends is similar to how the Bionicle character, Matoro, sacrificed himself to save his Toa Team in Bionicle: Ignition Issue #11.
	+ Both Zane and Matoro use the element of Ice.
* Zane's death music is used again in the intro of "Dead Man's Squall," during Zane's message in "The Message," and in "The Wrath of Kalmaar," when Jay tried to recharge the Hydro Bounty.
* The Hageman Brothers revealed that the episode was supposed to end with P.I.X.A.L. looking directly at the camera and the outline of Zane being reflected in her eyes when he said "Are we compatible now?", confirming he was rebuilt. However, there was some confusion in the production process, resulting in P.I.X.A.L. looking all around instead, and no reflection of Zane.

## Continuity

* Misako, Dareth, Ed, Edna, Gayle Gossip, Bytar, Snike, Chokun, Lasha, Skales Jr. and a few of Wu's Academy students make cameos at the end of the episode, attending Zane's funeral.
* This is the last episode before "Kingdom Come," sixteen episodes later, where the ninja all wear shoulder pads (except for Lloyd, who was being possessed by Morro at the time, and Cole who has been turned into a ghost and wears his suit without the pads). In this episode, the ninja all gain shoulder pads when they put on the Stone Warrior armor.
	+ Lloyd has shoulder pads early on in "The Invitation."
	+ Zane wears silver shoulder pads at certain times throughout the next season.
* This is the first and only appearance of the Overlord as the Golden Master. Throughout the episode, he is never shown without his helmet on, which features a more sinister and demonic appearance in 70728 Battle for Ninjago City.
* The only time the ninja use their elemental shields.
* Slithraa's first speaking appearance since "Double Trouble," but he is voiced by Ian James Corlett instead of John Novak, his original voice actor.
* The final physical appearance of the Overlord so far.
* Zane's final appearance in his "human" form until Sons of Garmadon, when he can switch from titanium to "human" (though he also briefly reverts to his "human" form in the The Hands of Time finale, "Lost in Time," due to time travel effects).
* P.I.X.A.L.'s final physical appearance until she returned as Samurai X in "The Attack." She would reveal herself as P.I.X.A.L. in "Dead Man's Squall."
* Clips from the episodes "Home," "The Snake King," "Tick Tock," "The Last Voyage," and "Rise of the Spinjitzu Master" are all in Zane's flashbacks.
* The Overlord is defeated for the second time at this site.
* This is the first and so far only time the Overlord uses Spinjitzu against the ninja.
* Zane's "Are we compatible now?" line is a reference to P.I.X.A.L.'s similar line to him at the end of "The Art of the Silent Fist," which was itself a callback to their first interaction in "The Surge."
* Before Cole bursts through a building wall in his Earth Mech to get into Ninjago City, a civilian in his car is listening to the same peaceful elevator music that makes Jay sleepy in "Never Trust a Snake."

## Errors

* At the beginning of the episode, the Overlord wears the Golden Armor, although it has not yet been made at the time.
* Zane's power source seems to be located in the right side of his chest rather than the left side when powering the spacecraft.
* When the ninja re-enter Ninjago's atmosphere, the model of the planet used is the real-life Earth. The land is just Canada flipped upside down, which would place Ninjago City in St. Johns, Newfoundland.
* When Jay lands in the Lightning Offroader, he has Kai's Fire elemental shield.
* Before Pythor swallowed the pill, a bottle was nowhere to be found. As he shrunk, it mysteriously appeared, to be used for comparison.
* In the final scene when P.I.X.A.L. is on the conveyor belt, neither her legs nor the conveyor belt are moving. This means the belt isn't moving her forward, but she is not walking forward either.
* When Slithraa comes out of the sewers to tell the people to hide, he speaks with Skales' voice.
	+ For this reason, it is not clear whether the character was originally supposed to be Skales or Slithraa, as it could simply be an animation error and Skales was supposed to be in the scene or Slithraa was just recasted due to the inaccessibility of John Novak.
* At the beginning of the episode, Jay refers to Delta V as a planet, which is incorrect as it is a comet.
* In one scene where Garmadon and Wu close the door in the Temple of Fortitude, Garmadon's trousers are light grey.
* In one scene where the ninja watch Zane sacrifice himself to the Golden Master, Lloyd's hair is mirrored.
* When the Overlord appears in front of the ninja after blasting their vehicles, his mech is floating in mid air, especially the back leg.
* When Slithraa comes to help the humans, the camera cuts to another view panning down to the manhole, however Slithraa is nowhere to be seen, and is instead replaced by Chokun and Snike.
	+ When the camera cuts to the ninja then back to the manhole, for some reason there are three Bytar's.
		- It's possible that the shots could have been three different manholes, however it's currently unclear.
* In the Temple of Fortitude, Lloyd wear's the Stone Army's armor, despite not yet receiving it.
* When Garmadon says "Activate the shield!" his mouth does not move.