Gracephailin - ▪︎*GracePhailin*▪︎

Happy Valentine's Day 💖💕 (A bit late)

Actually, I have another idea to post. But it's a video that takes time to make. So I tried this idea that I came up with for fun;) (And I love survivalshipping♡)

♡¡°•☆•°☆°•☆•°¡♡

you guys know how in episode one lloyd had that can of snakes and tried scare the villagers of jamanakai with them??? yeah garmadon is absolutely terrified of those

lloyd's like cleaning up some of the wreckage of the monastery post crystallized, and finds the can of fake snakes, and accidentally activates it in garmadon's general direction and just witnesses this hulking, extremely menacing oni jump a good six feet in the air, start doing some weird mix of hissing and growling hysterically, and then haul ass to the other side of the monastery and hide under a pile of rubble because of some plastic snakes

garmadon proceeded to stay beneath the rubble for a good 19 hours, and all anyone could see were a pair of glowing red eyes coming out of the darkness. wu had to drag him out by his tail

'Get well soon, my son.' – 💜

Annoys me to no end when people act like Sensei Garm was somehow the truest form of Garmadon that he'll inevitably return to if he wants to be a good person. For starters, as far as we know, he's not even part human, so why would his truest form be his human one? He's clearly comfortable with his oni/part oni self, and there's nothing wrong with that.

When I say I don't want Sensei Garm back, I don't mean I think he should never try to be more active in Lloyd's life or that he should never try teaching again or hell, that he should never try being in a relationship with Misako again. I mean that the obsession with his human form, the version of him that was so clearly trying to be someone he wasn't, trying to fit himself into a mold of "goodness" that just didn't suit him, is weird and uncomfortable to me. Sensei Garm hated himself, it's so blatantly obvious, and while that certainly makes him interesting, it doesn't make for a good ending to a character arc.

Garmadon is not inherently incapable of being a father, a husband, or a sensei, but he was trying to take on those roles when he wasn't ready. He'd spent a lifetime fighting the evil in his veins and the second it was gone he was just expected to know how to be good. So naturally it didn't go very well. People criticize Lloyd's description of his father to Harumi in season 8, ask why he talked only about the time he was evil instead of the brief period where he was good. But it makes sense for Lloyd to have complicated feelings about his father, even before his resurrection when things went to shit, does it not? Yeah the love was there, but so was the strain, the distance, the abandonment, the multiple attempts on his and his friends' lives. A couple years of being on the same team doesn't necessarily make up for that.

Crystalized Garmadon wasn't ready for those things either, but the difference is he knew that, and he was working towards being ready someday. He was doing a parenthood practice round with Christofern, in hopes he could gain the skills to try and be Lloyd's father again. He wasn't in a relationship, but he was learning to better interact and connect with other people through Vinny. He was improving, however slowly.

If we ever do see some version of Sensei Garmadon again, I want it to be a natural progression of where Garm was at last we saw him. I want him to be ready for that role, and to take it on in a way that feels authentic to who he's become. He can't force himself to shy away from his destructive nature, we've seen more than once that his vows of peace don't last long. But he can probably learn to channel it in more helpful ways. The times Sensei Garmadon was at his best were the times he wasn't trying as hard to be serious, the times he teased Lloyd or let himself have a little violence and destruction, as a treat. I think it's entirely possible for him to achieve a functional balance of chaos and order, and I think a lot of that is precisely because of who he became after his resurrection. He's not ashamed of any side of himself, and that lets him harness that power in ways Lloyd can't because he's too scared of who he is.

Idk exactly where I was going with this, I just think I've maybe been a little harsh on the "I want Sensei Garmadon back" people. But a couple stances I'm still firm on: 1) there is no "good half" or "dragon half" or even just "other half" of Garmadon trapped in the Departed Realm or wandering the merged lands, and 2) if Garmadon comes back, it would be a disservice to his character to have him assume a human form, and if he does, they better have a damn good reason for it.

I exploted

Guys i did it!!!

Just drew this cuz idk i was bored duhh

Wu’s character development is especially interesting (as far as Ninjago characters go) since the early seasons see him as a somewhat static character: the old, wise, morally righteous, serious mentor figure who occasionally helps deliver a punchline. In the early seasons, he sees some change to both his character and the way the audience perceives his character, but he doesn’t have outstanding, main character level development. In season 5, the audience gets introduced to a different side of Wu as the villain of Morro’s story, but the way it’s told still frames Wu as this wise mentor in order to show why Morro went down the path he did. It (explicitly) emphasises Morro’s pride and pursuit of glory rather than Wu’s recklessness, but I would guess that at this time, it’s because Wu was still meant to be a relatively static character and the writers wanted to maintain his authority.

Even though this revelation isn’t delivered to demonstrate that Wu isn’t as infallible as the audience might have assumed, it does present the idea that Wu has hurt people in the past and that Wu could be considered a villain in a certain point of view. The explanation of how Garmadon came to be infected by the Devourer’s venom is another example along the same lines: at that point in the show, I don’t believe the writers were trying to set up a complex web of perspectives without a true villain, so the venom flashback primarily explains Garmadon’s villainy rather than Wu’s questionable character. Wu does take some accountability for his mistake, but that’s how it’s framed: a mistake, not a sense of wickedness. Also, the idea of Wu’s personal imperfections isn’t immediately elaborated any further, so it isn’t made very important.

In “Never Trust a Human”, the audience is finally introduced to a much more irresponsible version of Wu: the episode, not just a flashback, is dedicated to Aspheera’s transformation into a villain and the fact that Wu was to blame for it. Aspheera’s desire for revenge, her primary motivation, frequently reminds the audience that she had been wronged, which means that somebody had wronged her.

In this way, Wu’s character development is witnessed in reverse, forcing the audience to challenge their assumptions about him (and often Garmadon, by the closeness of their character arcs). The Ninjago writing really leaves something to be desired, and tonight I wish that the Ninjago writers had been able to anticipate how long the show would run so that they could really weave an intricate reverse character arc for Wu (and Garmadon). For all the ninja talk about “full potential”, the show itself really misses out on a lot of good storytelling (but that’s another post. Perhaps 2.).

Since Wu’s development is witnessed in reverse, the statement that Wu is a bad person or a villain is not necessarily true: his wrongs and failings are established after his goodness and mentorship, but they happened first in the show’s timeline. Since his mistakes, he has grown and changed and matured to become a good guy and a good person. It’s easy to perceive Wu as evil and twist his actions into villainy and joke that Wu is the true Ninjago villain, but the fact is that he did make mistakes, but he grew and became a better person because of them:

He refused to take action and retrieve his katana, resulting in Garmadon being bitten by the Devourer. Afterwards, he began to take initiative and act in favor of what he believed was right. Most importantly, he formed the ninja team.

He was irresponsible when he taught Aspheera Spinjitzu, resulting in her turning into a villain. Afterwards, he began to be more careful and take his role more seriously. He led the Elemental Alliance and trained students (one can assume successfully).

He took his role too seriously and overlooked Morro as a person, instead pushing him to become the Green Ninja, where he unintentionally led Morro to believe that he was a liar. In his interactions with the ninja, he acknowledges their personal goals and motives, and most importantly, he conceals the scroll with the prophecy of the Green Ninja to prevent them from going down the same path as Morro.

And of course Wu seems to conceal his wrongdoings (‘ninja, there is something I have not yet told you…’), but one has to keep in mind that he is very old. His past actions are things that he has learned and grown from and the ones from his childhood happened a very long time ago at the time of Ninjago’s main canon. He doesn’t consider them important to mention, because they aren’t, and would only reduce his credibility with the ninja and threaten the team if he just told them all his past faults without good reason.

Tl;dr

Wu isn’t the villain that I see some of the fandom making him out to be.

He has strong dragon teeth🐲☆. And you can't change my mind.

That's was a crazy idea, I guess?

Don't mess with his brother...

(I love when Garmadon be a protective brother so much♡. )

♡¡°•☆•°☆°•☆•°¡♡

Hey, umm... Can you?

I feel like

Redrawing garmadon fanarts by my followers

Give me your garmadon art