In terms of Ronin, I LOVE Skybound, but after I watched Possession and heard Ronin say "I'm not going to give up my friends" after he refused to do (something I can't remember off the top of my head) after getting the Sword of Sanctuary, AND after fighting with the ninja in the finale, the choice he made to hunt down the ninja in the following season feels so out of the show's ass. I wish there was more context there.
The island is the meaning of underrated it’s not up there with seasons 4,5, and 8 because it’s not even a season but it’s a fun special that really deserves more love it’s also unique because of the villain being Ronin instead of the keepers
I love how you’re always fair with your praises and criticisms. I agree that Jay was not handled very well in this special. Although the joke about who would want Jay is actual gold so it’s all worth it :)
6:37 That's actually true, a lot of people hated on Ronin because of his role in The Island. He was never really a good guy to begin with, he just did whatever benefited him the most. Like the ninja don't even hate Ronin, they sort of just toyed around with him. 😅
Oh my goodness someone finally gets why Ronin isn't out of character in the Island. It's so frustrating debating his character because people make it seem like he HATES the ninja. There's no point in the special where he even shows any sign of hostility towards them. Furthermore, a lot of people forget that Ronin literally was on his way back to prison towards the end of Skybound (granted, he was saved by Jay). Just because he hangs with the ninja doesn't mean he's inherently a good person. He just has his own set of rules now. Not to mention he never handpicked these criminals to help him. They just fell in arms and he used that to his advantage. Overall, while I do think his reveal wasn't necessarily perfect, it was not out of character in the slightest.
Also, the Island is easily the most rewatchable Ninjago installment. It and March of the Oni are the shortest, but MotO is much more directly connected to its previous installments in the trilogy, whereas the Island sets up Seabound, but can easily be viewed as an independent story.
I agree with you partially here Crusty, I can appreciate the Island for what it is, but it's not one of those pieces of Ninjago media that really feels like it goes above and beyond. I can enjoy it for what it is but the pacing of the last twenty minutes has always struck me as weird.
I cant help but say that Island and Seabound Animation is peak ninjago animation. Really wish they kept this style with Dragons Rising's beautiful cinematography
My Favorite part of the Island: Lloyd and Twitchy Tim, and the Keepers's designs. Least Favorite Part: Jay's Characterization If I had to improve Jay's character, I would do this: After being brought to Chief Mammatus for the first time, the chief explains he and his people promised the First Spinjitzu Master they would do anything to protect the Amulet. Realizing this, The Ninja reveal they are Elemental Masters, and thus, have a connection to him. Mammatus decides to put this use. He brings Jay and Nya to the dock in an attempt to deal with 'Wojira', but Jay gets captured. I think if done right, this could be a set up for Nya and Jay's arcs in Seabound.
Fun Fact: Tommy Andreasan, in an interview, called the 11 minute era of ninjago, "The Elemental Saga" due to S11 is the Fire/Ice Chapter, focusing on Kai and Zane power respectevly S12 is the Lightning Chapter, focusing on Jay's power S13 is the Earth Chapter, focusing on Cole's power S14 is the Water Chapter focusing on Nya's power S15 is the Golden Power Chapter, focusing on Lloyd's power and convinently enough, The Island, the only thing of this era that isn't an Elemental Chapter, is my favourite
I totally disagree with Tommy on that. I'm pretty dure golden power is not mentioned once within the actual Crystalized season, and Prime Empire barely sees Jay's powers expanded upon or even being used at all.
It's nice to finally see some appreciation for this special. The Island is honestly really good for what it is. The animation is great, it sets up Seabound well, and there's good comedy. Keep up the work Crusty, I appreciate hearing your takes on Ninjago things.
I'm new to Ninjago and the island was the time when I became a full fan. I remember going to a shop with my granddad and seeing the jungle dragon and knew it's for me Cause of this, Mamotas is one of my favourite villain and now you pointed out that his name isn't used, I'm disappointed
I personally loved this special, it’s really good, visuals, lighting, and Story was good imo. I loved how pretty cinematic it is. And might just be me, but I just get a warm adventurous feeling it gives. And the suits are some of the best!
Ok this is probably because I was obsessed with Lego shows at the time, but I watched clutch powers when I was little before Ninjago, and this was after Ninjago was released too
Despite being seen by most people as overrated/unwatchable, I honestly like this special. The color palette was beautiful and the characters, despite some being forgettable, are still quite awesome. 😅 I also noticed that with DotD and The Island, specials seem to have quite a dampened reputation in the community. But at least they still have their moments. 😅
I still think Captain Soto should've been the twist villain. It would've made at least a little more sense as to how he would know about this island that's never been seen before. The bit where the pirate theme is played the first time we get a good look at the fake Wojira really blue-balled me.
You make a lot of good points but personally I think the island is the most boring Ninjago content to ever be produced. I just find it so uninteresting
Another thing good about Ronin in The Island is how he was redesigned. I think he looks way better in The Island and Crystalized than in the Wilfilm seasons.
think Clutch would have worked better if they said that he is named after his ancestor (boom different character but the same name) think you forget that Ronin fealt regret after imprissining the ninja falls, he later helped Jay to make it up for it and in Day of Departend he saw that the doesn´t has to steal everything and later helps the ninja unpacking in season 7 would have worked if he had a better explanation to fraud the money And I don´t like that Lloyd was hating on him
7:09 ninjago fans not knowing what an anti-hero is year 8 (I do appreciate ur opinions though and overall agree 😊 i just think all ronin appearances are good. He thought only money was necessary but then he realises he wants to protect the city (i agree for money is a bit stupid) like the ninja. Fast forward to this and its still money but more of just banter and stuff like you said , with the ninja)
the Pilots are the best piece of 44 minute Ninjago media. For the Island, the villain being Ronin was pretty awful and just because the Clutch powers movie isn't canon in Ninjago doesn't mean they had to make him basically a phony explorer,. Overall not that impressed with the Island at all, I mean Ronin was literally running a scam on an ancient village in the storm belt wtf is this
@@Crusty783 well we’ve seen ronin give up his money in the past for the greater good, so why is he terrorizing a village for who knows who long for petty sacrifices. I just think it’s a weird way for his character to com back
Would it be weird if i said i never liked ronin? just because he kissed nya? So yeah, even if skybound portrayed him badly(Imo i liked skybound despite its flaws but not top 5), he's still one of my least favorite characters because of that one moment where he tried to escape in possession and kissing nya in the process.
Thats totally valid. Ronin has a great arc in Posession but that one scene sticks out as one of the most unbearably terrible moments in all of Ninjago.
Being honest the island should have been the first 2 episodes of Seabound and in the island remove the ronin plot and all action scenes and in Seabound get rid of Riddle of sphinx and Papergirl and have a big merlopia vs Keeper battle in the storm amulet episode
The name not being said is so oddly specific but very important I’m confused how that was never brought up and why the credits put him with such a generic title
For me,Day of the Departed was the best . The character arc that Cole went through, how all of the ninjas faced their worst respective villans and the main villan of the special itself were much better put into place than the island. The island’s villans’ motives felt pretty cheap for me,and what Ronin did felt way out of character considering he became a good guy in Skybound . For me, DotD >>The Island
Going into the video I just gotta say my fair share. This special doesn't feel exactly like a 44-minute ninjago episode. See the problem is so much happens in these 44 minutes, if you put two regular 22-minute ninjago episodes together this would not be the result, it would be a much slower pace and the story would not move so quickly. They have no time to set up any meaningful character conflicts or anything really, they put the ninja in cool costumes and sent them on a cool island only to proceed with some random shenanigans before they find the islanders who are your generic evil tribe from every secluded island ever. Essentially what I am getting at is that its too obvious that they put pressure on the writers to make something in between seasons to get us excited obviously and in the process wasted the potential of what could have been a greater story if told on a greater scale, which is exactly what happened to DotD. Now as an interlude to Seabound it's actually kinda great. Looking at it like that it sets up the next season pretty well and that's what it was made for, but as a fan of this show I just know they could have cooked up something better than this. I guess it's still better than Day of the Departed lol.
@@Noname-qn9ue yes, everyone has opinions, if an installment is a season or a special is not a matter of opinions, just because you know many people who X, doesn't mean they're not all wrong, which they are, the majority calls it a special too.
I made a video about the topic of whether the Island is S14 or a special if that interests you: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vMXqt755yts.htmlsi=qVU87D0bWwORQaC-
Yeah, it's a special, always been called that by official sources, majority of the fandom knows it's the correct answer, and just like the Pilot, it has a varying amount of episodes (4 or 1), but always a 44 minutes length.
@@Nacil_54 dude, there is very much disagreements over the season numbers. Personly I agree with the creators that has stated the old season system stop matering. Therefor I either call the stories by their name or the number that you will actually get from both tv and streaming
The ninja take advantage of a disabled man by tricking him into thinking he consented into returning to the place that caused his trauma. And this is played off as a joke. That's just unforgivable for me. I try to pretend like this special doesn't exist.
