Monstrosity // Art + Thoughts

Instructions

!! Wait a few seconds for art to show, press space/right key to see close up, click and hold to zoom in !! Better quality: https://www.pixilart.com/photo/monstrosity-eedda131e770af1 ---------------------------------- !!MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!! ---------------------------------- So. Ninjago Legends: Monstrosity. It was AWESOME. The animation and art was BEAUTIFUL. When I watched it, it genuinely left me speechless. Albeit it being pretty short and simple, it still conveyed a wonderful story and plot through that short time. But I mean, that might just be bias from me bc Kai's my favorite lol. Speaking of Kai, I love how Monstrosity and the recent sequel show to Ninjago, Dragons Rising, have fixed Kai's character. While his character had a bunch of development in the beginning of the franchise, he wasn't really focused on at ALL from seasons 8-15, with only a small arc in season 11 where he loses his powers and struggles with feeling powerless and useless, until he has probably one of the coolest scenes in Ninjago history where he regains them. Despite this being a good character arc for him, it was very short and was barely focused on at all during that season. And later in Seabound and the following season Crystalized, when Nya becomes one with the ocean and leaves for a full year, Kai is barely shown to have been affected by this. However, in Dragons Rising, the writers had a full scene where Kai teaches one of the new ninja he's met how he learned how to control his emotions during the year where his sister became the sea and left. Kai is shown throughout Dragons Rising to have matured and grown selfless. Especially at the end of part 1 of season 2, where he gets trapped in the Nether-Space (eternal limbo/imprisonment basically) as a sacrifice for one of the main villains to be brought back to the real world. When told he can escape if the portal is held open longer, he refuses and tells his friends to close the portal the moment they get the chance, to prevent more of the villains to be brought back. While being brought back later in probably another one of the coolest scenes in Ninjago, he still had no clue if he was going to leave the Nether-Space ever again after the portal closed. Him sacrificing himself to keep the people he cares about from being harmed shows how much he has grown as a person. This is something the writers did to kind of make up for not focusing on that within the past few seasons that I greatly appreciate. In Monstrosity, similar things are reflected upon. Kai is so upset to be separated from the people he cares about most, and is genuinely worried for them, as he ended up in a dangerous and deadly place. When Kai had witnessed the Guardian Dragon, Daidan, trying to kill the offspring of the monster that had killed her own, Kai tells her to not become what she hated. Telling her to not let the rage consume her. This was such an amazing parallel to Kai in the earlier seasons, as he was hot-headed and focused on getting revenge and justice for those he believed had wronged him. Later, when he meets the Fire Mech who feels he has lost all purpose since he failed to protect the last fire master, Kai says that his broken blade (a metaphor for his lost purpose) can either be left to rust, or be reforged. He helps him find his purpose, protecting Kai and sacrificing his life so that he will not fail another fire master. These interactions are a reflection of Kai in the earlier seasons. Him feeling upset and without a purpose when he realized he wasn't the green ninja, and putting aside his wanting to become the green ninja to sacrifice his own life to save Lloyd. Also, I really loved how they showed how Kai is also vulnerable. He cries, and he does let his emotions consume him sometimes during this, as he has lost all of his family and is lost in an unfamiliar and dangerous place. However, it also shows how strong he is, as he has to keep going to find his family and people he cares about. Oh also, I loved how they showed him reforging the broken blade. I felt like the writers of the main show kept forgetting he was literally a blacksmith and I love how they incorporated that. Overall, despite it being short, Monstrosity was beautiful, both visually and writing-wise. The art was beautiful, and the whole show being black and white, except for the small usage of color representing Kai's hope in finding his loved ones was amazing. And most of all, the writing, showing how much Kai has improved as a character, but also showing that he isn't immune to trauma. It shows how strong he is as a character, and that's something I'm deeply grateful to the writers for, as it had felt that Kai had been discarded for a long time. Anyways, sorry for the yap session (I reached the word limit while typing this--yikes) I was just really hyped for this mini-series, and I was not disappointed. I also really like Kai :) (also I chose the song in the project bc I think it really fits Monstrosity lol)