These guys have their work cut out for them this season. Lloyd is reasonably good at defending himself, but teaching him Spinjitzu is a chore (and when he finally does figure it out, it’s… destructive, and tough to contain), and the Serpentine are still at large. But amidst all of Nya’s gear, they’re optimistic.
“Your father hurt someone I care about. And you seem to be the only thing in this world that he cares about. With you as my hostage, he’ll do whatever I ask.” When we first see Skales this season, he and the rest of the Serpentine are drifting about the Eastern Ocean, on rafts taken to escape the Great Devourer. They don’t know where else to go, all they know is that they can’t go back to Ninjago. When Garmadon arrives in a flying ship and claims to have destroyed the Devourer, it wins him a lot of popularity amongst the Serpentine. Skales doesn’t trust Garmadon, but he knows he can’t stand up to him. His wife, Selma, is fiercely protective of Skales’ reputation, and tries to stand up to Garmadon, who’s armed with an unstable fusion of all four Golden Weapons, so that goes about as well as one would expect. Skales tries to capture Lloyd in retaliation, but when that goes wrong, he’s forced to fall in line. Until he isn’t. Skales seizes an opportunity to be rid of Garmadon, and in doing so reassumes control of the Serpentine. His ensuing plan to topple human civilization goes pretty well. Until it doesn’t.
His fury and hubris get his entire people trapped underground. Again. Poetic justice, you might call it.
I didn’t see much harm in this b-plot, and yes, it very much is a b-plot, so I whipped them up for funsies. Double-Zane is a little… weird, because when Garmadon created the doubles, he used the ninja’s DNA as a source, and Zane, an android, has no DNA. But he’s otherwise fully functional.
Obviously not the entire student body, but these six are the ones with speaking roles. You probably recognize Gene, somewhat. They lured Lloyd back to his old stomping ground because Mr. Darkley left them, he hasn’t been in communication, and they blame Lloyd. They also think that if they capture Lloyd, Mr. Darkley will reward them. They don’t realize that Lloyd didn’t run away - he was expelled. But when Gene calls Mr. Darkley and tells them they have Lloyd, Darkley loses his mind, proclaiming they’ve created a massive breach in security and their location will have to be sanitized. Most of the students, like Brad, buy into Lloyd’s appeals to their consciences, but Gene’s tipping point is the realization that his headmaster doesn’t care about any of them.
-last edited on Aug 22, 2022 17:01:32 GMT by F.I.R.E.
Post by F.I.R.E. on Aug 22, 2022 17:00:49 GMT
Misako Montgomery
Misako’s backstory is different: now, instead of her entirely un-motherly decision to leave Lloyd at Darkley’s while she pursued a way to stop Garmadon, Lloyd was stolen from her. She’s been spending all these years looking for Lloyd, even long after Wu gave up. But Malcrul Darkley is an expert at hiding stolen kids from their parents. Every single one of the kids at his boarding school was an abductee. Who the parents are doesn’t matter to him. Misako’s reunion with her son has been a long time coming (albeit over a bottomless pit trapping a newly reanimated statue), and Misako turns out to be a wellspring of useful information. 500 years of traveling the world and researching will do that.
Dr. Julien’s alive! Samukai, General of the Underworld, needed an engineer of rare talent to build his war machines, and had no time to wait for him to join the Skeleton Army, assuming he even chose to. He had no choice but to bring him back to life, and even then, he had to offer him incentive in the form of his son. Zane was in fact long gone, but Julien wouldn’t know that until their reunion on his island-prison. Julien’s regrets are many, but fresh in his mind, now that Zane has found his memory switch, is flipping it in the first place, forcing him to forget. The act came from a place of love, a desperate attempt to spare his son heartbreak, but in the end it caused him more anguish than it was worth. Thus rounds out the trinity of questionably-mortal centenarians aboard the Destiny’s Bounty.
-last edited on Aug 22, 2022 17:12:50 GMT by F.I.R.E.
Post by F.I.R.E. on Aug 22, 2022 17:07:06 GMT
General Kozu
You seldom see a stone warrior without a helmet. But rest assured, they’re meticulously carved down to the hair to be humanlike, a human warrior’s equal on the battlefield. Nevermind the bit that they’re nearly invulnerable. They were created to fight the Overlord’s battles thousands of years ago, and most of them only speak ancient Jagan, which is a far cry from what even Sensei Wu writes his scrolls in. Garmadon communicates with them through Kozu, who is mostly up to snuff on modern languages. He still struggles with the slang.
-last edited on Aug 22, 2022 17:13:02 GMT by F.I.R.E.
Post by F.I.R.E. on Aug 22, 2022 17:12:12 GMT
Lord Garmadon
I was absolutely willing to play up the potential character drama of a dark lord who, deep down, cares more about his kid than about his evil plans. Garmadon intends to rule Ninjago, and maybe one day the world, but he's only even "evil" in the sense that his brother suspects that his rule would be bad for the world's health. And if it came down to his plans for domination and his son's life, he'd save Lloyd ten times out of ten, regardless of all his posturing otherwise. In reality, Garmadon is just… tired, and he has the opportunity to admit as much when he’s alone with Misako. He doesn’t want to fight her, or Lloyd, or Wu. He wants all the madness of his conquest to end, and he especially wants the blasted venom out of his system. He hates the impulses the venom brings, he despises how much his wrist hurts, he abhors the havoc the stuff has wreaked on his complexion.
But there’s no way to get rid of it, so the only other option he sees is to fight Lloyd - and lose. Unfortunately for him, the Overlord wants to win.
Hey, ninjagofanmam, fantasius1111, I know it's been a hot minute, but I figured I should let you know that I'm thinking of scrapping Volumes 8 and 9 (and maybe even 7) of Ninjago Edition Grande and starting fresh. I consider you two the most critical fans of this... sporadic project of mine, so I thought it proper to let you know as it evolved.
Also, Season 3's characters are all finished, and while I don't blame you for not following along with that after however many months it's been, I thought you might want to know that too.
Hey, ninjagofanmam, fantasius1111, I know it's been a hot minute, but I figured I should let you know that I'm thinking of scrapping Volumes 8 and 9 (and maybe even 7) of Ninjago Edition Grande and starting fresh. I consider you two the most critical fans of this... sporadic project of mine, so I thought it proper to let you know as it evolved.
Also, Season 3's characters are all finished, and while I don't blame you for not following along with that after however many months it's been, I thought you might want to know that too.
Cheers!
Thanks for letting us know! Apologies I haven't seen this till now. Life and school have been really busy.
Hey, ninjagofanmam, fantasius1111, I know it's been a hot minute, but I figured I should let you know that I'm thinking of scrapping Volumes 8 and 9 (and maybe even 7) of Ninjago Edition Grande and starting fresh. I consider you two the most critical fans of this... sporadic project of mine, so I thought it proper to let you know as it evolved.
Also, Season 3's characters are all finished, and while I don't blame you for not following along with that after however many months it's been, I thought you might want to know that too.
Cheers!
Thanks for letting us know! Apologies I haven't seen this till now. Life and school have been really busy.
Same here. No hard feelings, really. Life be crazy.
-last edited on Aug 28, 2023 9:32:46 GMT by F.I.R.E.
Post by F.I.R.E. on Aug 28, 2023 9:30:28 GMT
Hopefully this softens the blow of the hiatus.
I've done a lot of updating privately (and I may even start a new topic for it, since one of the things I updated the name of the project). I have plot summaries of Parts 1-3 (up to and including the Final Battle) more or less fleshed out, and a general plan for parts 4-6 (Nindroids to Morro). And the free version of Inkarnate helped me keep everything straight.
This will probably not be the final version of this map. But I thought you all deserved to know I've not been idle.
