My Thoughts on Ninjago: Crystalized | SPOILER Review & Discussion

Ninjago Crystalized Part 2 released yesterday, concluding the season. I have a lot of thought about it, so I wanted to discuss it in this video. Let me know in the comments your thoughts on the season, and if you have any questions you'd like to see me answer in a follow-up video!
#review #lego #ninjago
0:00 - Inidividual Episode Thoughts
21:18 - Final Thoughts on the Season

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[Henfrig]

Hmm… I think I liked Avatar better… more blue people and cgi hmm

[maxuni]

I honestly just love how way to unlock dragon form was:
1. Have friends around you
2. Do weekend whip

[Sax_Banana]

One of my biggest problems was how harumi turned on the overlord as soon as he revealed that he created the devourer (or was, or sent, or whatever) but she was completely fine with working with pythor. Hell, she was monologuing to lloyd about how she hates the ninjas because the devourer killed her family, WHILE THE GUY THAT UNLEASHED THE DEVOURER WAS STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO HER

[Chokun-Gaming]

Weird how they completely forgot about the villainous volleyball team

[lssproductions]

Looking back, I think my main issue was how much the season jumped around from the different plots in an inconsistent manner. It does kill the flow, but I still call it a very good season

[GS-oqff]

I think that the main issue is that writers put a lot of stuff for the sake of putting it, they just don't follow up on a lot of things, like crystal council was barelly doing anything after ep 18, oni lloyd was barelly futured as well as the overlord who is supposed to be at his top level of power but it doesnt feel like. Also they said it was a big conclusion to the series but it wasnt and I feel like a lot of dialogues were off, for example the mechanic as you mentioned

[VirusXtra]

My overall issue with crystallized as a season was what hurt the finale for me. As a DAY ONE ninjago fan. I've seen the good, the bad, the messy, the odd. But crystallized felt like a mixed bag of most. Leaning mostly towards the good. But one problem presented with making it the "ending" of the current saga, is the runtime. Even with 30 episodes, the season was... a lovable mess. The concept of the season was fantastic, most episodes were fantastic 9/10's and sometimes 10/10's but it wasn't without problems. Most concepts felt rushed through, squandered by an 11 minute runtime per episode. Clearly this is a problem that has existed since this change back when we were introduced to the wildbrain era with season 11, but not truly until this season did it feel like a problem. So many emotional moments, so many fun concepts, so many interesting executions of those concepts, but they all feel rushed. That's my overall problem. I felt as though not enough time was given to this storyline, this arc, these moments for our beloved characters. While we got amazing episodes and moments. When I take more than 5 minutes to think about the execution, I realize the time we were given (remember 30 episodes) was wasted with unnecessary moments of "comedy", odd new characters (yes that includes sally) who amount to almost nothing by the end. These problems were especially prevalent in part 2. I never really felt the emotions I was meant to be feeling after the moment was gone. Moments like the overlords resurrection was in an episode mostly about the ninja escaping a situation we all knew they would survive, just to have the resurrection of THE GREATEST VILLAIN IN THE HISTORY OF THE SHOW be a 2 minute scene with little to no iconic-ness apart from one line of fanservice with the overlord referencing the "final battle" (to compare, the resurrection of Garmadon in the oni and dragon trilogy was most of that episode's runtime, and they used it to the fullest, that is one of the most iconic moments of the series, a fantastic fight, tons of iconic dialouge and smaller moments for Lloyd and the other ninja, and made me feel so much.) Another scene i point to is the ninjas final "goodbye" felt rushed and didn't fully resonate with me like I felt it should. The final fight with the overlord felt short as hell. Harumis resurrection felt conflicting, Nya's character was a mess, the council (another cool concept) were underused in my opinion, the final scene felt like a minute long music video with no real lasting impact. I wished we had gotten to see the conversations between all the characters at the end instead of seeing them talking over under Sally's good (but admittedly cheesy) song. Maybe if the final goodbye scene with the original four was going to be less than 2 minutes long, we couldve at least had a final goodbye with the entire cast, an emotional ensemble sequence with all of the side characters and main characters who were there.. instead of them just showing up to say, "hey we exist." Speaking of which, old characters were brought back but had no major character interactions, no cool or iconic moments, because the plot had to move along due to the poor runtime and overall structure of the season as a whole. So in conclusion, in an odd way crystallized showed me something. It showed me the best and worst of ninjago. Anyone whose anyone knows it isn't a perfect show. Never has been. Messy writing, hit or miss humor on occasion, plot holes, underused characters or concepts, or concepts, powers, characters and stories that are completely forgotten. Death also never has any real meaning with our main cast EVER, plots began to get repetitive, and just so many other issues.. but we never stopped caring or watching, i never did.. Crystallized (mainly part 2 unfortunately) still persisted with ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS. As much as I love this series. The diehard fan in me and my love for the show has me wanting to remind everyone that their favorite show isn't perfect. I'm not sure what the fanbase's opinion of this season will be as time passes. Maybe as the years go by we'll grow fond of it. Maybe I'll change my perspective, maybe others will share mine. But overall, crystallized wasn't a perfect finale, hell it wasn't a perfect season. Obviously I've not been able to mention all my problems with the writing, ramble about individual moments and my problems with them.. i simply touched on minor examples or personal ones for me. But, dropping all nostalgia, dropping all fan-service and truly analyzing the season. I think some will come to find these things as I did. But trust me when I say, this season wasn't completely terrible. Its still definitely in my top 10. But, it also showed me both the best, the worst, and the oddest of one of my favorite shows of all TIME! I will forever love ninjago, love these characters. Love this story and world. And still be here til the end when time no longer truly has a name. Ninja never quit, and neither will I. See you all for 2023. Love you guys, stay civil and safe on Twitter, and always remember to jump up, kick back, whip around.... and spin. 💙🤍❤🖤💚💛

[spookystone]

Honestly what I was thinking would happen was WAY more emotionally gripping than what we got for the last two episodes.

I thought that the golden dragon WAS the ninja and that would have to be their sacrifice similar to how nya was in sea bound. I also thought that nya would have to re merge with the sea making that her ultimate sacrifice.

Also where were the rest of the elemental masters? I mean not even Karloff could show up? Where were the dragon hunters? Where was akita, her brother and the rest of the people from the never realm? What about the skulkin?

Why did they keep talking about Lloyds oni form for a third of the season if he was only going to use it for ten seconds?

Harumi making the choice to help is fine but she gets off Scott free for everything she caused in seasons 8-9, which at the very least, she’s killed three people in the emperor, empress and Hutchins.

Idk, this season was good overall, just the last two episodes felt underwhelming, especially considering hagmen said that they “made some difficult choices” which really made it out like there was gonna be permanent change for the characters.

The way it ended just makes it feel like they played it safe which is odd because they have made hard character decisions in past seasons (I.e. nya in sea bound, the timeline changes post season 7, and garmadon being sent to the cursed realm in season 4)

I’m not just hating to hate, I’ve been following ninjago since practically day one in 2011, my room is stocked full of ninjago sets, this was one of the top shows and toy lines from my childhood, I’ve literally grown up alongside this series. I just feel kinda let down with the ending.

[therandomnarwhal]

The next series is going to kinda be a soft reset I think, the overlord saga is over, and it seems like the next series will be focused on the core 4 ninja regaining the powers, exploring where the powers “once came from”, and the core cast is now even larger with Garmadeon, Harumi, and Nya back in play.

[johanboersma]

I cried at the end.

I was all happy with the ending and then just broke down.
11 years man.
11 years.

[BrickShorts]

While I will say I wish there was more of an impact in the end, but it was at least a happy end for the series and I’m ok with the route that they took.

[officialtpbaayan]

You should totally make the mechs that Fugi dove And Killow had, They are technically Kais Evo mech from the dojo

[calvinfujii]

The biggest missed opportunity was to make Mayor Trustable the final main villain.

[ComicBoy]

19:35 Yeah, that’s my one complaint with this season. They spend so much time building up Oni Lloyd to be this big thing & then it turns out to last for 10 seconds. I thought at least they would have Oni Lloyd riding the Golden Ultra Dragon in the scene where he defeats the Overlord. Overall I really liked the rest of the season though. I loved the parts with Racer 7 driving Vinny’s news van, the fact that Cyrus Borg was oblivious to the whole invasion until Pixal opened his window & showed him, & the part where Zane was malfunctioning & how talkative the Ice Emperor was here where he was on the bus with Pixal & the prisoners & Zane says, Vex throw them in the dungeon! I really liked the the funny moments like these included throughout the episodes this season.

[jesiahdray]

I really enjoyed the finale, and the season as a whole. although i enjoyed the finale and thought it was really good, my biggest problems with the finale are lloyd using his oni power for like 4 seconds, the many death fakeouts, the overlord being defeated pretty easily and fast, and them using some random song made by some random new character instead of using the shows main theme or overture in the ending scene of the "SERIES FINALE", the ending of an 11 year build up.

[Man_of_deen]

Garmadon faking his death is such a movie garmadon thing XD

[craftmastr]

I enjoyed this season as Series Finale number 3 of the show. I expect to see many more good finales to Ninjago!

[chase]

Idk how to feel about the ending with the overlord though. On one hand I REALLY don’t want him to come back because him being there for a fourth time would just be ridiculous. HOWEVER, like you said the green ninja prophecy still hasn’t been fulfilled, since the Golden Ultra Dragon destroyed the Overlord, not the Green Ninja. Also, wu said that their powers would eventually return to them, but by that logic the overlord has to return as well so like what has the point😅

In my opinion this would have been a WAY BETTER finale if:
Lloyd turned into his golden oni form and stayed in it. He fights the crystal king for a few minutes, and just when it looks like the overlord is gonna win Kai, Cole, Zane, and Jay actually fuse into the golden ultra dragon (so instead of the powers being the dragon, THEY ARE THE DRAGON). Then Lloyd STILL IN THE ONI FORM rides on top of the golden ultra dragon and they finally beat the overlord for good, FULFILLING THE GREEN NINJA PROPHECY. Then, it ends with Lloyd and the golden ultra dragon flying to the first realm (realm of the oni and dragon), and the rest of ninjago rebuild and never forget their sacrifice.

This just seems like a way better finale since there’s actually consequences, instead of literally everyone being perfectly fine. It also sets ups for a completely new story in 2023, since the green ninja prophecy and overlord is FINALLY put to an end

[PurpleBrickfilms]

I have so much to say, so I’m just gonna beat around the bush and share my final thoughts.

Pythor was amazing

[kylezaragoza]

Sorry for spoilers! I was very interested yet disappointed in the fact that Pix built the Ultra Combo Mech and that Kai, Jay, Cole & Zane didn’t get to pilot it