Line #16 Trivia/Ninjago


1	* ActingForTwo:
2	** Creator/BrianDrummond plays both Kruncha and Nuckal; the two skeletons who are never found without each other and are always arguing. This is especially entertaining in the short "The New Masters of Spinjitzu", as it focuses on them with only two lines spoken by others. Bet that was fun to record.
3	** There are two cases of ninjas having the same voice actors as their parents: Creator/KirbyMorrow voices both Cole and his father Lou, while Vincent Tong voices both Kai and his father Ray.
4	** Subverted in the case of Creator/ScottMcNeil, who does the voice of the Overlord as well as Clouse and Nadakhan the Djinn a few seasons later. Though the Overlord never meets the later characters, Clouse and Nadakahn do encounter each other at the start of Skybound.
5	* ActorExistenceLimbo: While many characters [[BackForTheFinale return]] in ''Crystallized'' in both the overarching story and the final two episodes to help the Ninja, many of them go completely unvoiced.
6	* ApprovalOfGod: Portraying Morro and Harumi as a couple in the Departed Realm got this: Tommy Andreason stated on Twitter that he ships them.
7	* ChannelHop:
8	** Creator/WildBrain (formerly DHX Media) took over from Wil Film starting with the eleventh season.
9	** This happened twice to the Japanese dub. Initially, it aired on Animax until Season 3 concluded, before the show was moved to TV Tokyo until Season 7's own conclusion. The show was then moved again, this time to Magazine/CoroCoroComic's [=YouTube=] channel as a free online show.
10	** For the Latin-American dub, the pilots up to season 7 aired on Disney XD in Mexico. Seasons 8-9 never aired on television and were first released on [=YouTube=], while season 10 premiered on streaming. After that, seasons 11-14 and The Island miniseries aired on the Mexican version of Cartoon Network, like in the US. Disney XD still aired reruns of the whole series up to season 7 from time to time until the channel closed in Mexico in March 2022.
11	* ContentLeak: Future waves of the toyline often leak during a season, which sometimes spoils significant plot points:
12	** ''Hunted'', Season 9, had images of its toyline leaked online during Season 8, many of which spoiled half of the Ninja being trapped in another dimension, as well as Harumi's [[spoiler:[[EvilAllAlong true allegiance]]]].
13	** Season 15, ''Crystallized'', due to the toyline having leaked before its intended Summer 2022 release, it spoiled the return of several prior major villains, namely the Skull Sorceror, Pythor, Aspheera, and [[spoiler:Harumi]]. It also featured the Crystal King, the BigBad of the arc, which gave away that [[spoiler:the Overlord was returning after an eight year absence.]]
14	** The names for episodes in the second half of ''Crystalized'' were shown on Sky Go TV well before they were actually intended to be released.
15	** In relation to ''Crystalized'', a week before the season's final part would be released on Netflix, Episodes 13 through 24 were suddenly released on LEGO's Youtube channel in Cantonese before they were region locked, and eventually taken down.
16	* CreatorBacklash:
17	** While Tournament of Elements is one of Tommy Andreasen’s favorite seasons, he stated that he does not like the finale as much.
18	** Tommy, when [[https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1527708490290053125 asked]] how he felt about LEGO releasing the first twelve episodes of Season 15 online on their own Youtube channel, said he wasn't informed about it and feels it wasn't "optimal", and later became frustrated when the second half ended up being leaked.
19	* CreatorsFavorite:
20	** In 2017, Tommy Andreasen’s favorite ninja were Jay, Nya, and Cole. In 2018, his favorites were Jay and Nya with a focus on them as a couple, and more recently, he has stated Cole is his favorite, with Nya "moving up the ranks." As of 2016, his favorite ninja friendship was Jay and Cole and, as of 2022, his favorite overall character was Wu.
21	** Pythor and Chen were Tommy’s favorite villains due to their humorous elements.
22	** Tournament of Elements is one of Tommy’s favorite seasons, though he [[CreatorBacklash does no not like the finale as much]]. His other favorites, as of 2017, included Rise of the Snakes and The Hands of Time. He later stated that he feels strongly about Seabound.
23	** Tommy’s favorite episode of the entire series is “Dead Man’s Squall”.
24	* CrossDressingVoices: Lloyd was originally voiced by Creator/JillianMichaels, but was replaced by Creator/SamuelVincent from Season 8 onward. The same thing is done in many other dubs. Some avert it by having him voiced by a man since the beginning of the show, but uniquely, in the Japanese dub, Lloyd is still voiced by Creator/ErikoMatsui, a woman, even after Season 8. In the same dub, this trope also strangely applies to Cole, being voiced by Fuko Saito.
25	* CowboyBeBopAtHisComputer: Episode descriptions for Skybound episodes originally referred to Nadakhan as “Azad”, which was actually [[OrphanedReference his original name before being completely changed late into production]] due to sounding too similar to real-life Sirian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The descriptions in services later changed the name correctly to Nadakhan.
26	* DiedDuringProduction: Creator/KirbyMorrow tragically passed away in November 2020, only a month after the 13th season had finished airing. While it was revealed that [[https://twitter.com/LEGO_Group/status/1331590990596083713 Morrow had recorded all his dialogue for the following season]], it was later announced that Cole's new voice actor would be Creator/AndrewFrancis from Season 15 onward.
27	* EarlyDraftTieIn:
28	** Nelson appears in the Day of the Departed 70589 Rock Roader set, but he does not appear in the special itself in any capacity. According to Tommy Andreasen, Nelson’s part was taken out because “the idea was to isolate Cole.”
29	** The Crystalized 71774 Golden Ultra Dragon set pictures have Golden Oni Lloyd in a throne with the Golden Weapons attached, something that never happens in the season. Oni Lloyd sucumbing to his Oni side was originally meant to happen in the season’s slightly different DarkerAndEdgier ending, in which Lloyd destroyed the Crystal King and took his place, forcing the Ninja to revert him back to his good side.
30	* FoilerFootage: Tommy Andreason, on AprilFoolsDay 2022, revealed a [[https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1509866469982572547 picture]] regarding ''Crystallized'', which [[TeasingCreator hinted]] this trope in action, albeit with the caveat that two bits of information in the picture are true and one is a lie; the lyrics to the Weekend Whip will be important, an insignificant potted plant will help the heroes save the day, and that the writers and toy-designers collaborated to include characters and objects in the sets that will ''not'' appear in the season. [[spoiler:Turns out the first two were true, as Garmadon’s attachment to a plant he was raising to learn compassion and care helped him help the Ninja, and the lyrics to the Weekend Whip “Jump up, kick back, whip around and spin” were part of the instructions to unlocking the Ninja’s [[EleventhHourSuperpower Dragon Forms]]. It's very likely this was done to attempt to cast doubt on how accurate ''Crystallized'''s sets (which had been the victim of numerous leaks) would be.]]
31	* FlipFlopOfGod: To explain season 8's character design changes which resulted from the movie, the writers used the previous season's time travel plot to imply the ButterflyEffect is what changed the ninja's appearances, which meant the ninja themselves unaware of the change. The writers [[https://twitter.com/brothershageman/status/941004237885992960 confirmed on Twitter]] that this was the case, but Tommy Andreasen [[https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/1017109278128328705 has stated]] that there is no in-universe explanation. The show itself aligns more with Andreasen's interpretation, because the ninja have their original designs in flashbacks and old photos, which would not be the case if time travel had changed history so they had always had their new appearances. Additionally, the later mini-movie written by Andreasen entitled "Elemental Rider" had the characters stating that they used to look different.
32	* GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld:
33	** Tommy Andreasen stated that he did not have control over the show’s distribution.
34	** While Tommy Andreasen often [[WordOfGod explained]] certain aspects of the setting, he noted that it was likely to be overridden by other canon material. He also requested fans no longer ask questions to him about the show after ''Crystallized'' ended, due to having left to work on other projects, and thus has no say over the direction of later entries such as ''Dragons Rising''.
35	* InconsistentDub: The [=WildBrain=] era of the show really left scars in the Latin-American dub's dub consistency due to studio and direction changes.
36	** The Serpetine were originally referred to by their original English names. However in season 11, they were given translated names.
37	** Prime Empire was first referred to translated in season 12. However in the season 15 episode "Compatible", the game was inexplicably referred to by its original English name. What makes the inconsistency worse is the fact that it was named translated in an earlier episode ''of the same season'', "The Fifth Villain".
38	* InMemoriam: The 2021 episodes were dedicated to Kirby Morrow, the dedication being seen in the France-exclusive TV special edit of ''The Island'' episodes, and in the ''Seabound'' finale, "The Turn of the Tide".
39	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The movie edit of season 10, which compiles all 4 episodes and re-arranges a few scenes differently, only aired in the US version of Cartoon Network and was never re-aired or re-released in other formats. The only way to watch this edit is through re-recordings of the original airing. However, the episode edits of the season ''are'' formally available.
40	* TheOtherDarrin:
41	** Creator/MackenzieGray portrayed Mystake in Seasons 1 and 2, with Creator/MarkOliver taking on the role in a flashback in Season 4, and Creator/TabithaStGermain took over the role in Seasons 8 and 9.
42	** Creator/SamuelVincent replaces Creator/JillianMichaels from Season 8 onward. When asked about it, Tommy Andreason said they were going a different direction with Lloyd that necessitated a less "boyish" voice.
43	** Clutch Powers is played by Creator/IanJamesCorlett rather than Creator/RyanMcPartlin, his actor in ''WesternAnimation/LegoTheAdventuresOfClutchPowers'', due to Ryan not likely having Canadian citizenship.
44	** Due to his death in 2020, Creator/AndrewFrancis replaces Creator/KirbyMorrow from Season 15 onward.
45	** Aspheera was played by Pauline Newstone in Season 11, but is portrayed by Creator/KathleenBarr in ''Crystallized''.
46	* PostScriptSeason: Season 2, called "The Final Battle", more or less wraps up the story, redeeming Garmadon, defeating The Overlord, and Lloyd having fulfilled his destiny. Due to the success of the toyline, however, the series was renewed for a third season, ''Ninjago: Rebooted'', with the show having a fifteen season run until 2022.
47	* RealitySubtext: The ''Seabound'' season ends with a funeral for one of the ninja, specifically [[spoiler:Nya after her HeroicSacrifice]]. The season also happened to be the final one Cole's voice actor, Creator/KirbyMorrow, recorded prior to passing away, with the end featuring a [[InMemoriam dedication]] to him.
48	* RecastAsARegular: Creator/AndrewFrancis, who played Shade and Morro, [[TheOtherDarrin replaced]] Kirby Morrow as Cole in Season 15 and later ''WesternAnimation/NinjagoDragonsRising'' after Kirby passed away.
49	* RereleasedForFree: Seasons 1-7 of ''Masters of Spinjitzu'' are viewable for free on {{Creator/Tubi}}.
50	* ScrewedByTheNetwork: In the US, Cartoon Network used to treat the show warmly, airing the new episodes and seasons well and advertising them. However it all went downhill in 2014, where season 3 had its 8 episodes take '''a year''' to finish airing, airing 2 episodes every 3 months. While for 2015 the show had a good airing schedule in the network, 2016 went bad again with season 6, which had its first episode air in January, but the rest of the season wouldn't go on until June. This treatment during that time could be attributed to a [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo certain other CN show]] which was the [[AdoredByTheNetwork complete opposite]] to ''Ninjago'' in terms of promotion and scheduling. Ever since, every time there was a new season, Cartoon Network barely attempted to promote it. Once the season would be over, the show went back to the grave. And every time CN would start airing a new season, most of the fandom has already seen it at that point, recorded off other channels from other countries and uploaded on [=YouTube=], though you'd be lucky if your upload of an episode wouldn't get taken down by LEGO. Due to terrible promotion for the show, ratings went to a huge gradial decline. The end of CN's run of the show was in 2020 with season 13, which was aired surprisingly earlier than previous seasons in the network in the US, something which was seen as a hurray for Ninjago fans after having to support the show in the network with the hashtag #[=AirNinjago=] when season 12 wasn't airing at all. However, ''The Island'' mini-series and seasons 14 and 15 never aired at all on the network in the US, not even months after most of the world have already seen them. With the ''Dragons Rising'' SequelSeries having actual clear distribution through streaming on Netflix, season 13 was most definitely the last time fans would ever see the show again in the network.
51	** In the 2020s era of Ninjago, CN was no longer seen as a reliable way to watch new seasons and the fanbase stuck to just watching the episodes screen-recorded from other channels from maybe countries on [=YouTube=]. Airing schedules for Ninjago were becoming huge messes due to battling channel source options, and episodes would become very difficult to watch for fans, with them either being uploaded in poor quality, other languages, or, in the case of season 13, even ''out of order!''. All of this would go on through the entire Creator/WildBrain era of the show. Two of the most guilty examples would be in the cases of seasons 14 and 15.
52	*** Season 14 aired in April 2021 by Teletoon and [=CiTV=], which was unusually close to ''The Island'', which aired the month before. By the time the season finished airing, LEGO ''hasn't even released official pictures of the sets for the season''. This implies that the season simply aired much earlier by the two networks than LEGO intended, especially since the sets wouldn't release until summer (June and August, to be exact, depending on where you live). Another problem came from LEGO's fault. Not an official trailer or teaser came from the company for the season until September of 2021, ''five months'' after the season finished airing and ''1-3 months'' after the sets were released. Also thanks to the season airing far too early, Ninjago fans had no new content of the show to watch for the rest of 2021, which was meant to be Ninjago's ultimate MilestoneCelebration year for its 10th anniversary. The "Ninjago Drought of 2021" ended in May of 2022, lasting a whole year, when season 15 finally premiered.
53	*** Season 15's release schedule in 2022 was the most doomed out of all of them. At the very least, trailers and sets started getting revealed ahead of time before the season premiered, unlike the previous season. But even before the season started airing, Teletoon, which already in 2019 aired an advertisement for season 11 with unfinished animation that left a terrible impression of the season for many fans, leaked several clips for the first 12 episodes of season 15, which featured major spoilers, including [[spoiler:Nya becoming human again]]. The season's first 12 episodes were formally uploaded by LEGO themselves onto [=YouTube=] all on May 20, 2022, which was seen as strange for so many episodes to be rushly uploaded in a day, but at the very least fans had a good and accesible way to watch the episodes easily. Three days after uploading, LEGO inexplicably took the episodes down, though reuploaded them a few weeks later. On June, the trailer for the second part of season 15 was released on LEGO Con 2022, but no release date for those final 18 episodes were stated, though on San-Diego Comic-Con of that year, Part 2 was given an official release date on Netflix on October 1, though the episodes began airing in TV networks commencing August. A week before the October release date, episodes 17-24 of the season were uploaded in Cantanese on LEGO's [=YouTube=] channel, something which caught all fans off-guard, before being taken down that same day. The entirety of Part 2 was eventually released as promised on October 1 (or september 30, in other countries), including episodes 25-30, on Netflix. With the final season of the show finally over, the show's turbulent airing schedule over the years finally ended, and thankfully, ''Dragons Rising'' is a Netflix exclusive and has been airing on consistent dates in accessible formats on the streaming service.
54	* ShortRunInPeru: The entirety of season 7 aired everywhere else in the world in early 2017 (with Finland being the first to do so in January) ''except'' English-speaking countries. The [=USA=] ended up being the last country to air the episodes in May. This instance is particularly notable since even the show creators expressed frustration about having to wait for Cartoon Network to broadcast them (mainly due to the American network [[AdoredByTheNetwork/TeenTitansGo being obsessed with a certain show]]), not to mention the fact that the episodes are usually dubbed in English before being translated into other languages.
55	* ShowAccuracyToyAccuracy:
56	** Kai's hairpiece in the ''Rebooted'' sets slightly differs from the show, being less "sharp" and covering the head a bit more. This was presumably done due to the difficulty in replicating the show's hairstyle (which covers the head less and sticks up a bit differently.). Everybody else's hairpieces in the toyline, however, are accurate to the series, due to all of the pieces having been used before. After ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGONinjagoMovie'' came out, and elements of the film designs [[{{Retcanon}} started being used in the main toyline]], Kai's hair now matches his toy version.
57	** The Ice Emperor has a facemask in the series similar to Samurai X, but in the toyline the facemask is printed on, with the Ice Emperor using a [[PaletteSwap recolored]] Blizzard Samurai helmet.
58	** The Skull Sorcerer's mask in the show does not resemble his toyline counterpart, with the mask just having two eyeholes, compared to the show having complex skull indentations and glowing eyes.
59	* SpiritualSuccessor: Could be considered this to ''Toys/LEGOExoForce'', LEGO's previous line of {{animesque}} building sets.
60	** Is also this to Bionicle, seeing as it's about beings with elemental powers defending a world that becomes more technologically advanced as the story continues, with a strong focus on working together, doing what must be done for the betterment of all, and, ultimately, finding one's destiny. Both of them were also lines only intended to run for a couple of years, but ended up becoming evergreen franchises for Lego.
61	* SpoiledByTheMerchandise:
62	** More than a few times over the course of the series, but particularly in the case of Samurai X, with both the identity of the original and [[LegacyCharacter their successor]], with the ''Sons of Garmadon'' sets coming out about a month before the season starting revealing the second Samurai X was [[spoiler:P.I.X.A.L.]] [[IKnewIt Although most of the fanbase had already guessed that.]]
63	** LEGO mostly did a good job with [[spoiler: Harumi in regards to her identity as the Quiet One, with her princess attire being the only minifigure of hers released in the "Sons of Garmadon" sets, keeping her true identity hidden, while her "Quiet One" attire was exclusive to the later "Hunted" sets (AKA Season 9).]] However, one mistake strongly implied [[spoiler:her actual villany, with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey44uhPP0dY this set animation for the Temple of Ressurection set]] showing Harumi (alongside Hutchins, who didn't even survive that long in the season's events) trying to prevent the Ninja from stopping Garmadon's ressurection.]]
64	** The toyline for Season 15, ''Crystallized'', freely showcases the LegionOfDoom of prior villains, which includes Pythor, Aspheera, the Mechanic, the Skull Sorceror, and [[spoiler:Harumi]], the last of whom is a major plot twist. The series also features the villain, the Crystal King, whose entire design gave away his identity as [[spoiler:the Overlord.]]
65	* ShrugOfGod: When asked if the Overlord was an Oni in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlaEKkl0cPA&t=147s an interview]] with Brent Miller, Tommy Andreason said that it's "open for interpretation".
66	* StaffCreatedFanWork: Tommy Andreason, one of the co-creators, works on fanfiction for the show that tie up loose ends, though are noted to be "could-be" canon, and he's stated that some of the content of them would likely never be allowed in the series proper by LEGO.
67	* StudioHop: Following ''March of the Oni'', the show switched production from [=WILFilm ApS=] to ''Creator/WildBrain''. With their tenure from ''Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu'' onward, the show dropped the "Masters of Spinjitzu" subtitle and switched from 22 minute episodes to 11 minute ones.
68	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/{{Ninjago}} Has its own page.]]
69	* WordOfGod: The show's creators, specifically Tommy Andreasen, often answer questions about the show on Twitter and sometimes other platforms. Some examples:
70	** The Overlord can [[CompleteImmortality never truly die]], due to being part of Ninjago's BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil. [[spoiler:This factoid was later explicitly confirmed in the show itself, with the Overlord returning in ''Crystallized''.]]
71	** Jay using the Wind element during [[Recap/NinjagoS1E10TheGreenNinja The Green Ninja]] was a mistake that wasn't meant to be there. [[https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/877917442042806272]]
72	** The Ninja don't use Airjitzu and their Energy Dragons from Season 8 onward so as not to make them too overpowered. [[https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/965843818204540928]]
73	** [[spoiler:Zane was at least 40 years old when his original body was destroyed. [[https://twitter.com/TommyAndreasen/status/779339605929779200]]]]
74	** [[spoiler:Time does not [[YearInsideHourOutside pass slower]] in the Never-Realm, rather, Zane was also sent around 60 years into the past when he was banished. [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/ninjago/images/d/da/TommyAndreasenZaneTimeline.png]]]]
75	* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: The main show writers, the Hageman brothers, admitted in a interview with Creator/BrentMiller to doing this in seasons 1-3 due to the show's fast-paced production schedule at the time.

Context Trivia / Ninjago