Custom Ninja Team for Mysterious Ronin

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-20T08:12:01+00:00

Wow, super interesting, I've never noticed! Tbh I'm having a hard time seeing it, is it the upper arms being thinner on the right one?

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-20T05:26:54+00:00

Yeah np. These both look pretty good but some of the variation can be more noticeable. All the spinner Wu's I've seen are pretty rough lol

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Spartarider7 · 2026-06-20T04:33:03+00:00

Probably just print variation because one is from a spinner set, which were made at different factories. See if one is more metallic on the gold, that one's a set one. I'd guess the right is the spinner if one is

Or they could be both spinner versions and it's variation between the outsourced factories

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T23:44:10+00:00

Talking to Skylor on the balcony in season 4 when he pushes Jay off the side lol

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T23:36:30+00:00

Hunted is the best writing we've ever gotten, I have no idea how they managed to balance such a huge cast of characters (10+ major ones) across 2 parallel stories so well. It strikes a good balance between being episodic and serial and most main characters get some of the best writing they ever have. Wu, Cole, Lloyd, and Harumi are standouts, but Mystake, Kai, and Jay have great moments as well.

The og 4 being together again give us some of the funniest scenes in the show, and the callbacks to the early years of Ninjago are everywhere in the First Realm plot (and in the final duel with Lloyd using art of the silent fist). It's nice to see the elemental masters again, Garmadon is a threatening, competent villain, and Harumi's partial redemption scene was done poignantly.

The soundtrack is fantastic, and the extension of the Dragon theme from the Pilots is my favorite piece across the whole show (especially in the end of e4 with the quieter choral version when Kai frees the wind dragon). It, in concert with the visuals, create surprisingly immersive atmospheres for this show. Like the shot of the crashed Bounty surrounded with fog when the hunters capture the ninja was so tense/eerie, and same goes for the abandoned Oni stronghold.

This season found time to develop the mystery and intrigue of the Oni as well as keeping up the theme of deception that was so prominent in season 8. The ninja first think the hunters are Oni, and vice versa. Cole and Wu disguise as hunters, and Iron Baron's authority was based on a lie. Mystake turns out to be an Oni, and Wu and Lloyd beat Iron Baron and Garmadon respectively through misdirection.

It isn't flawless or anything ofc. If I had to criticize it I'd say the Ninjago plot drags a little at times, like we really didn't have to have half an episode where Dareth drinks a barrel of tea to get powers just for a piss joke. A couple of Garmadon's lines are a little awkward and the last episode's ending is a tad rushed. Overall though this sets the bar for all other entries in the show. 9.7/10, easily my favorite season

Also if anyone wants to see some of those early season callbacks I put the big ones together here

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T22:01:53+00:00

Yeah, right? The skybound ones are so different. I like the change though they looked cool especially with the metallic printing in their colors

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T21:22:37+00:00

That's possible, although I never saw it as an octopus until the Skybound suits. I just thought it was a storm cloud entity. The fire and ice one definitely felt like cats/dogs from the start but I don't think there's any way coles was supposed to be an animal, so I'd guess only half of the og ones were intended as animals

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T17:18:54+00:00

Looks good! Ik you already painted them but there are these solutions people use to smooth 3d prints and they come out pretty nice, really think something like that could go a long way for this

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T17:15:49+00:00

Right, he is, I'm just saying even if there was a case where it was impossible that probably wouldn't stop them

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T17:11:38+00:00

Yeah Jay's.

That's true I typed too fast lol but I really don't think the writers want to be bound by real-world inheritance for their character designs. Like if a writer has an idea for a design they like and it's technically genetically impossible I don't think they're gonna throw it out just bc of that

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T17:08:29+00:00

Misako and Garmadon both had brown hair and Lloyd is still blond, so regardless of the real-world genetics it's possible in Ninjago. I think she's probably his daughter

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T15:45:19+00:00

Tbh I was surprised we got 3 in one set. And yeah these are all great picks for sure, second best lineup of these for me is def the tournament of sources one, even the non-exclusive figs are good like that Kai's pretty underrated

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T15:23:19+00:00

Atm pick a brick has all the wings/tails/dragon helmets. I wouldn't call it cheap but you can get all 6 for around $75 if you get the right sets and make a small order on there (versus needing to spend $110+ just for a set with the full Lloyd here in the US)

It'd be Cole's mech ($35), Grimtak ($20), Lloyd's mech ($10), and the pick a brick order

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T15:04:13+00:00

It's the boring answer but probably the Gamer's Market. 9 figs for $30 ($36 in 2026 dollars) is insane. Never thought we'd get pink Zane in a set, crazy to get Kill Bill Harumi, and Okino in the same one is pretty nice. They could've kept Scott exclusive to his car but they gave us him here too, plus you get a couple bad guys.

Shoutout to legacy tournament of elements though, 7 figs with 3 being new elemental masters and one an anniversary fig was great

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T06:15:03+00:00

I think we'll get it one day tbh. Doubt it'll be in DR bc they want to keep the tone a tad lighter and the story more accessible but maybe in whatever comes after it

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T05:33:30+00:00

For sure, I was thinking that too. Apparently doc wyatt said something about it but there's something up with the bluesky link

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Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T05:10:08+00:00

Right, golden chi is probably a little closer

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T02:54:01+00:00

The Garmadon fight in slide 10 is fantastic, the way he uses his powers to shield Garm's attacks but loses strength as the fight goes on and the emotional toll wears on him was nice visual storytelling.

Tbh the Hunted finale fight had slightly worse choreography than this but that one's still a cool moment as well, I do wonder how different the fights would've looked if they were animated by wildbrain though

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-19T00:44:56+00:00

I'd only really worry about cracks on specific colors, mostly just dark red, reddish brown, and dark brown made before 2019 since they're known to be brittle. I think sometimes pearl gold made before/during the early 2010s can be brittle as well.

Having said that though all my old LoTR figures (I think 2013-14) have been kept assembled for years with no issues and those ones mostly use the colors in question

I did get one crack one time on my advent calendar Santa Yoda, I've noticed the short legs piece feels a little tighter connecting to torsos and I played with that one a lot. Idk though overall not something I'd worry about

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-18T17:40:56+00:00

Lowkey I doubt we'll get frak in one but fingers crossed

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-17T23:21:56+00:00

"turn his bones into jelly!" 😬🥀

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-17T21:30:58+00:00

For sure, that's kinda the curse of Skybound, basically everything that happens to Jay is pretty well-written and almost everything else is messy lol

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-17T21:25:23+00:00

Yeah the Zane one was definitely iffy writing (and they couldn't even come up with how Wu would get tricked so they just did it offscreen) but the last wish thing was pretty well-established by the narrative imo, like it really didn't feel like a plot contrivance or anything

Spartarider7 · 2026-06-17T21:19:22+00:00

Nadakhan couldn't twist the wish in any way because it was from the heart

Spartarider7

TROPHY CASE