Curate, connect, and discover
Ok, so according to the Tommy, the main reason why Jay isn’t an inventor anymore is because (and this is the exact quote), “Between Jay, Nya and Pixal there were too many characters with that profile.” Aka, there were now too many techies on the main cast to warrant a need for them all, so that part of Jay’s character ultimately got the ax.
Now while I can understand why three techies could be frustrating to work with from a writing perspective, I would like to offer a compromise to this conundrum, as I still firmly believe it was a bad decision to get rid of what’s arguably Jay’s most redeeming and defining qualities.
So, here is my proposal…
Why not have Jay be the “wacky” inventor of the team, while Nya and Pixal remain more refined and practical?
Jay wasn’t just an tinkerer. The guy grew up in a junkyard, meaning he’s used to making almost anything out of what’s basically scrap metal. In the earlier seasons, Jay would build about anything that simply popped into his head, just because he could. He and his entire family even had weird inventions and made up terms for pretty much everything there, no matter how absurd. This is unlike Nya and Pixal, who both have much sleeker styles. Jay is creative and an out-of-the-box thinker, which was one of his greatest strengths.
Have Nya and Pixal tag team and build the main vehicles for the team back at the monastery while Jay is able to spruce something up with limited supplies when they’re out on a mission. His methods aren’t always conventional or practical, or even the prettiest, but they almost always do their job and get the team out of a sticky situation. That way they can all still have that “mechanical” side, but just now suited for different roles, balancing everything out.