Ninjago And Sexism
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- Опубліковано 2 лют 2025
- SEABOUND SPOILERS FROM 21:16-22:22
This video essay was written, edited, and recorded 100% by me.
While I absolutely adore LEGO: Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, that does not mean it doesn't have its fair share of issues in need of criticism. Today we are taking a deep dive into the female side of Ninjago to find out where the major issues lie, and what initially makes them a problem.
I am not using this video as a way to attack Ninjago, I just so happen to view the world through female eyes, so I am able to recognize casual and underlying sexism in media and call it out. Ninjago is one of my favorite shows, and I want to see it succeed. That is why I am making a video about this, I want the show to be the best that it can be and reach its full potential.
Also, sorry for poor mic quality, this is my first ever video.
All video clips and images used in this video fall under fair use, and cannot be copyright claimed for that reason.
If you want to follow me on my social media for whatever reason, my Instagram is @/alexadov323, and my (brand new) twitter is @/clanceestan123
Thank you all so much for watching.
#ninjago #lego #legoninjago
Dude great video I'm a boy and I never even considered the love interst thing. Now that you mention it it is really weird that that keeps happening
thank you!
@@alexadov218 Yeah, great video! I'm a girl and although I don't mind it, your video actually made a lot of sense!
When you have no real problems you complain about sexism in a show about plastic toys made 10 years ago
Tommy Andreasen actually confirmed that Vania and Cole are just good friends.
aaaAaAAUUUUGGGHHHH
ok so is cole gonna be single now-
@@ItzTurquoiseKat yeah he definitely should be
not every ninja needs a love interest
@@rocky_m27 hmm ok ig but it would be intresting to see a cole ship
Even as a boy I noticed the love interest thing,
and for Skylor I think the issue is more an issue of lack of screen time than being predominantly a love interest.
Never mind, I’m trans
@@Laptop_Eater happy for you!! lots of love❤️❤️❤️
@@zolasninja thanks!
@@Laptop_Eater you're welcome!!! :) hope you're doing well
I don’t think it’s very fair to call Harumi and Vania characters that only exist for romantic relationships as both do not end up in one (I’m pretty sure Vania and Cole are just friends, they would of made it more obvious if not and Harumi never loved Lloyd). Apart from that it’s a great video.
yeah, i worded that a bit poorly. i meant that they were even more examples on the list of female characters who have added romantic tension with a male character. even though harumi never liked lloyd and i prefer cole and vania as friends, you cannot argue that they were not written to add romantic tension- one sided or not. it also obviously wasn't their main purpose for existing, but it's important to note.
@@alexadov218 oh I see, my bad
Yeah I agree. A component of Harumi's character is to try and manipulate Lloyd but she is far, far more than just that. Also, Akita hardly counts as a love interest, she would not be one if it wasn't for that kiss in her last 5 seconds of screentime after like multiple episodes of having a revenge plot.
I think the show made it pretty clear that Vania didn't want to be with Cole, she wanted to BE Cole! She was practically glowing at her plans of going on an adventure and being a hero like her idol. ^^
Yeah, I personally head-canon Cole as aromantic and homosexual. Tommy did confirm that Cole never actually liked Nya, and he was just "confused from the attention she gave him"
And yeah I agree, if I know Ninjago, I know that they would've made it WAY more obvious if Cole had feelings for Vania. Someone once asked Tommy if Cole was gay, and his response was that we could view the ninja as any interpretation we liked, just like how their ages aren't confirmed, neither are their sexualities
Ok, so I am actually very impressed with this video. I think it's well made and touches on a lot of interest points with the depth and nuance a show like Ninjago deserves to be analyzed with because Ninjago at least tries to have a commentary on sexism, which is way more than most shows do.
I also agree with being critical with something that you enjoy. The only reason to be so harsh in your critique is because you love something so much. Now on to the actual comment, I agree with a lot of things you say here but I also disagree about a few things and get ready, this is an absurdly long comment that I feel is of adequately length since you made quite a long video!
First off, I 100% get being annoyed with Nya having to give up her identity as Samurai X when she got water powers. It really felt like they were taking away her choice and agency just to make her a Ninja. You are not the only one to feel this way and I have felt similar sentiments simmering in the minds of fans, but is a very nuanced criticisms so I think many fans have trouble articulating why it feels weird for Nya to just give up her Samurai X identity.
I also agree that it can get annoying when all you see of female characters is them being love interests, although I do think you may have exaggerated how much being a love interest defines them. Nya broke out of that mold way early on and she was introduced before Jay.
Pixel and Skylor I think fit your criticisms the best but even they have more importance outside of just being love interests (which you did mention). And straight up, I adore ToE, but Skylor is my least favorite character. I can't even name a single character trait she has, she's that boring. People just like her powers, her association with Kai, or they have a crush on her, those are only reason she's somehow a fan favorite.
Harumi I think utilizes the love interest angle perfectly for her role as antagonist in season 8 while Vania and Akita get so little love interest screentime it's kind of hard to even classify them as love interests. I mean Akita had a 5 second kiss after entire focus episodes about revenge. I don't think she's counts.
Speaking of Harumi and Vania, I have honestly seen zero criticism regarding their characters. Harumi especially is one the most beloved characters in Ninjago. If I see Harumi hate it's because she was so sadistic to Lloyd but I have never once ever seen or heard anyone call her dramatic or annoying. She's awesome, to the point where some people get a bit too carried away with stanning her.
Harumi is a big factor in why many people adore season season 8, and is now the gold standard to which we compare all other villains. Aspheera and the Oni doesn't measure up to the high bar of villainy Harumi set and that's probably a big reason why those seasons generally fall in comparison to seasons 8 and 9.
And while Harumi and Vania have gotten little to no dislike for their femininity, I think people have traditionally disliked Nya for showing more non-feminine traits. Some people get ticked off when she shows a temper, insists on independency, or doesn't say I love you back to Jay. Granted I don't even think disliking for these reasons would be inherently sexist, as you can make a fair argument that Nya was acting pretty out of line in Skybound when she acts like this the most.
Finally, I'm going to conclude with representation. Ninjago is kind of in a weird position. You said it yourself, it's a show marketed to boys but was just so well made everyone started watching it. But because it is still primarily marketed to boys, I think you should always expect the gender ratio to skew in favor of males characters. I think adding in more female characters would be great, but it will always be expected that males will significantly outnumber the females.
And I often see the reverse being true in shows directed towards females. MLP, Lego Friends, Lego Elves, etc all have a primarily female cast became they are marketed to females and that's ok. Straight up as a dude, I enjoy seeing the few male characters in these shows so I 100% understand your request for more female characters in Ninjago. I think it makes sense and is doable, but expectation should still be set for less than a 50-50 split. I don't expect an equal number of male MLP characters, that's not really the point of the show.
I also think it's at least important to mention that you can feel represented or love characters of the opposite gender. My favorite character in MLP is AJ because I relate to her. Dutchess Satine is one of my favorite characters in Clone Wars because I relate to her too. I honestly don't relate to Hera from Star Wars Rebels or Sunset Shimmer from Equestria Girls, but these are still my favorite characters so I have to believe that some girls feel represented by male Ninjago characters or even if they don't, one of the males might be their favorite regardless.
I also think you're 100% right that Nya will come back. She is WAY too important and beloved for them to never bring back. Lego and the producers know they, they would never leave female fans of Nya out to dry by never bringing Nya back (pun entirely indented). For God's sake, I don't know if I could handle Nya not coming back, she just has to and I eagerly await the inevitable emotional return!
Well that concludes this absurdly long comment. Like I said, I'm ecstatic you made a video such as this and as your first project no less! Please keep up the good work and like I said in the beginning, I am glad you have analyzing Ninjago with the depth it is begging to be analyzing with. I am so happy I came across this seemingly hidden video, I hope the algorithm picks it up but you never know with that finicky thing!
Wow, that was a lot to take in Oni Wan, and I too agree with everything that is said here. I couldn’t have said it any better myself
Yeah i kinda agree to some degree.
Great comment. I appreciate the respect for Star Wars Rebels
"People just like her powers, her association with Kai, or they have a crush on her, those are only reason she's somehow a fan favorite."
I don't think that's the case actually.
"Some people get ticked off when she shows a temper, insists on independency, or doesn't say I love you back to Jay. Granted I don't even think disliking for these reasons would be inherently sexist, as you can make a fair argument that Nya was acting pretty out of line in Seabound when she acts like this the most"
I can get the independence thing, but the temper thing seems a bit stupid and the "I love you" thing is one massive load of shit. Not everyone expresses love like that.
And i wouldn't say "out of line" with the Seabound stuff, since her powers were acting up and Maya was being just a bit too smothering for it. And in the end Nya had to learn it was fine to get her mom's help and developed heavily.
I mean, considering the massive Nya respect you good sir got with Seabound, I'm sure you realize there was a bit of a reason behind her temper.
This Comment is more well made than the video, holy moly.
nya is probably the most exceeding one of the Ninja if we are talking fighting skill only
after seabound she might actually be the most powerful elemental master as well,excluding golden lloyd
i completely agree! she is basically the only ninja who would be completely fine without her powers.
@@alexadov218 and not rage on without whem
@@kenjianimates she kind of did
Nya has become my fav after starting to rewatch/catch up on the show. But Skylor is good as well, she showed us that we don't have to be defined by the people and places we come from. She also continued the noodle house and gave Ronan free food and other things because she cares about community.
and oni lloyd now
I ADORE this video! I grew up a girl and always disliked Nya because of my own internalized sexism. The later seasons and especially seabound made me look back on how I thought of Nya in earlier seasons.
I do disagree with Vania being categorized as a love interest, as I think in the first season, Lloyd's suspicion of Vania liking Cole is more of the writer team making a meta comment on how every woman they've introduced is a love interest. She never flirts with Cole and I think their friendship is more of Vania idolizing Cole, I think a part of that might come from Vania seeing a hero who has no mother figure, much like her.
"The later seasons and especially seabound made me look back on how I thought of Nya in earlier seasons"
In what ways?
I personally think vania does have crush on cole but it’s the type of crush that a someone would have on a celebrity.
“Grew up a girl” bro what💀
@@Name-lg2ryI kinda got confused yo I’m guessing there trans
"Nya is still the token girl of that group alone and that will likely NEVER change."
After the ending of Seaboard, I've never seen a quote age so poorly. And it's not even a case of them adding more females, it went in the opposite direction is they REMOVED the only female! I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh, but ironic turn of the situation we now find ourselves in is just pretty funny. XD
(Spoilers for season 16)
After what we’ve seen from Crystalized so far…I gotta say, this comment aged just as poorly, lol
@@gigikju9934
I wouldn't exactly say that, cause none of her development was undone.
she is back bro dont worry!
Nya is probably the strongest character on the team. She has canonically carried her entire team with only one arm. Also she is shown to be pretty artistic in Wu's Tea( although idk if that is cannon). I like how her character has been fleshed out in newer seasons and how Ninjago has made a point in seasons past to adress the sexism that has been directed towards her. And Nya isn't the only character to adress this. Harumi has too. She calls out Lloyd for assuming that just bc she was a princess she needed a hero to protect her. I personally really like Harumi as a villain and would prefer her to stay a villian, but that is unlikely to happen. Now that doesn't mean Ninjago is perfect, they have definitely had their mess ups. My biggest gripe is probably in earlier seasons when its established that Nya can take care of herself and then she becomes the damsel in distress like immediately afterwards. But Ninjago has grown a lot from that point imo. They do still have a lot of growing to do. My hope for the new show is that they bring back old female characters but give them their own story arcs that don't necessarily involve the ninja. I think Skylor and Vania are really cool characters they just need more screen time.
I haven’t read the comment but ima like this just because you spent that much time writing it.
Lloyd is the strongest...he is the chosen one.
Nya ain't the strongest, but she is good yes.
@@paslaruflorin-alexandru9088 Honestly, I feel like Lloyd has been kinda dissapointing. He has almost always been beaten and had the ninja do all the hardwork and then when the final battles come he wakes up and decides to steal the spotlight.
I just want to say it - Akita just kissed Lloyd on the cheek. That doesn't have to mean anything romantic or something. In other countries like France people are kissing friends on the cheek. The fact that they were in another realm supports this theory. Lloyd and Akita are a great team, but I see them as friends.
I only found harumi annoying in crystallised cause she'd literally try to kill Lloyd and 15 second's later she'd be all friendly and deciving but she used to be a great character and i don't have any problems with vania and think she's a great character
Same
Regarding Harumi, she uses the fact that viewers immediately think that if a female character is introduced, she is going to be a love internet, in this case with Lloyd but she used this to deceive the viewers and the ninja which tells viewers that not all female characters should be love interests.
SPOILERS FOR CRYSTALLISED
since she returned people are theorising that Lloyd and Harumi will get together again but I really hope that she doesn’t because I don’t want another female character to be made for a romantic relationship
Me too I hope she gets a proper redemption arc and at best either occasionally help or just leaves
.
Considering the fact this was your first video this was nuts the script was legitimately phenomenal had to slap the like on the video besides I think you do need to work thumbnails and editing
I don’t be commenting on videos like that but you’ve got so much potential please keep going
how sweet, thank you! this video is approaching its first birthday, and i’ve only uploaded three others 😬 but i have a lot of ideas and once i get more time i will make more!
@@alexadov218 I’m bout to go to Amazon or the nearest Walmart to buy you as many watches as possible how much time do you need?
I never want to hear people shit on the Hagmen Brothers for being sexist without taking Crystalized into consideration.
Thankfully since Dragons rising came out, Sora was added to the list of important females.
Sadly they got rid of Pixal but its alot more balanced between male female ratio now, 3 (Nya, Sora and Wild fire) and 3 main male characters (Kai, Lloyd and Arryn [I dont think Zane is important anymore sadly])
@@sirdragonmoon7092 I think he’ll have a more important role in later season but for now he’s kinda a comedic relief instead of Jay
@@sirdragonmoon7092 pixal will almost certainly come back
@@Crimsrn yes but she might never be one of the common characters/figures you see in the sets for ninjago and its makes her see less than the ninjas, I think this some times happens with Nya too were the sets she is included tend to be the more expensive ones. And usually wont be the only figure that comes there, its subtle but shows how certain characters are less important than others
This is really well done and covers basically everything! Good job!
The topic of sexism in shows is really really interesting and for what it’s worth, for what Ninjago is, I think it’s pretty well done despite some glaring holes. I (non-binary, born and passing as female) really wanna jump on this train too!
My biggest complaint would definitely be the female cast as well, because let’s face it, every season will introduce like six male characters and only one or two female characters, and a lot of female characters are just love interests or parents yknow? Like the first main female villain was literally the pre eminent. It does kinda just encourage the idea that women are intrinsically associated with romance or family roles, when we don’t see many girls outside of this context. This is more of a problem for the WilFilm era of Ninjago (pre s8), as we get more diverse female characters onwards, but it’s still there yknow. As well as the fact that evil love interest happens like 3 times and especially with Skylor and Harumi, it kinda perpetuates that female villainy only consists of manipulation bc their femininity is so attractive (commander Machia also fits this but specifically I think she’s an adult fun time joke)
At least Pixal has some sort of story arc where she learns that she wants to be more of a hero, and grows beyond Borg’s coding. It’s very cool to see her step out of her assisting role to pursue her own life. Although it’s uhh not the greatest that she literally becomes an add on to Zane for 3 whole seasons, that’s kinda messed up. However her as samurai x is such a good storyline for her.
Samurai x in general is pretty interesting. First of all, it does follow that trend of “the super strong guy in the identity concealing suit is secretly A GIRL??? Who would’ve guessed that A GIRL OF ALL PEOPLE could ever be that strong”, a trope relying on the sexist assumption of a girl’s strength to convey shock value and whilst the trope is well meant and is trying to raise awareness about equality and stuff, it’s not something you’d even think about unless you already have the pre conceived sexist mindset. Ninjago uses this trope arguably four times but in my opinion I do think it’s done well 3/4. More so in Faith’s case because in her case it directly criticises and acknowledges the trope in its entirety and it’s pretty cool! Nya as secretly samurai x definitely adds to her character and I’ve kinda interpreted as her hiding it so no one had the chance to tell her to stop, or change how she did it, and to prove she could do it on her own, which is not only a really good commentary of sexism and a woman’s control on their life, but also just for Nya’s character. Pixal as Samurai x is also a really good answer to Pixal literally being stuck in Zane’s head, now she’s the coolest solo hero who can stand on her own. It’s a nice add on to her own initiative based arc.
But the last person on that list is Harumi and I’ll be honest. I don’t like how’s she’s written. She’s the first main female villain but I feel like half of her appeal rides on that fact. And I don’t mean femininity bad, personally I didn’t see Harumi as particularly feminine (although I agree she’s more than a lot of the other characters), I mean that part of her main things involve a god awful romance plot and “how could that sweet innocent princess be so unhinged”. Although ig that last part has some interest due to the secrecy of the royal family, but its hard to watch Lloyd treat her as the most fearsome villain because she broke his heart, even though they knew each other for like two days, when he has literally dealt with cannibals and being possessed (Ik that reviving Garmadon is actually quite terrifying on her end but s11, s12, and s13 all have Lloyd talk about her like she’s an ex and it’s hard to get the image of her out of mind). Also, this isn’t a commentary on sexism, but I also think she’s just under developed. Her orphan backstory is incredibly generic, her hate for the green ninja that was only 8 when the devourer happened is unreasonable, we never explore what the royal family did to make her so freaking insane, and how she became leader of the biker gang is never touched on either. I think she receives a lot of unfair criticism due to her bringing back a btec Garmadon but I think the actual sin there is that this Garmadon was supposed to be an unfeeling weapon, so why on earth did he agree to fulfill her parental fantasy? I feel as if it would’ve more impactful if he didn’t care at all when she died. Also her death felt very cheap.
Okay I’m gonna stop ripping into Harumi’s character I hope her writing will improve.
Generally though, Ninjago has proven it can write in depth about women and misogyny and I think Nya is probably the most detailed and well written ninja on the team tbh. S6, and Seabound and Hunted are all amazing seasons that really explore how misogyny works (as well as dictatorships and arguably general racial supremacy in the latter two). I would also argue that Vania, whilst fitting some of the criteria, isn’t actually a love interest since they don’t ever write her to show romantic love to anyone, only admiration to Cole since he’s a ninja, and it’s a nice break. She’s also just really well written, we don’t see enough chipper and energetic paragon girls in Ninjago, she’s great. Anyways I ran out of things to say goodbye!
I don't think so, she's back unfortunately
And Akita is the good character, unfortunately she's just love interest of Lloyd
@@mikaelajackson9808 mentally I’m ignoring the kiss with akita bc if that was supposed to be romance it wasn’t really set up very well. If you ignore that then I think Akita is still an interesting and potent character. Also I’m kinda glad Harumi is back so the writers get a chance to improve her character. We’ll have to see though.
@@meloncaaat2050 In my opinion Harumi became love interest for Lloyd, and i dont like that.
When your series is written by the Hageman brothers, you’ll get an awesome plot and INCREDIBLE villains, but some very cringe female characters 😆
A bit late but great video. Theres only 1 thing I need to point out in the love interest section about Harumi, Akita and Vania and thats that A, Vania isnt a love interest and B, while Harumi and Akita are for Lloyd, I don't think thats the sole reason for their implementation due to both of their big roles in the season that do not involve their romantic connection with him. Still, great video
Nya is probably the strongest ninja anyway, she is the only one to fully tap into and embrace her elemental power.
The only reason why I never talked about ninjago to my friends, was because I was scared of getting called childish. Because none of my girl friends watched animated shows. Then I brought it up last year, during high school, and one of my friends literally lit up and yelled "I watched ninjago too!" and we talked about it.
Anyway, about the sexism part (note, I haven't watched the whole video yet). I think it was a good touch, and possibly intentional, for Nya to be looked down on in the beginning, but respected later on. It kinda reminds me of Mulan, in that sense. The boys opened their eyes and were like "hey, girls can do stuff too" and they had some character growth. And it kinda showed how girls can be strong too, and fight against the gender norms. Tho I do admit, they sometimes fail and occasionally look down on other girl characters. But later on, in the more recent seasons, they put strong female characters in the lead (For example Harumi, Ultra Violet and Fate)
This casual Misako hate satisfoes my Misako hating heart
i especially noticed this when things like this happen multiple times
"this is embarassing we got beat by a girl"
"you're just a girl"
dareth excluding nya in skybound
Sora being literally the same character a early Ninjago nya
I kept laughing my ass off when you kept putting Clancee on the screen😂😂
I suppose it was because that’s how it was in the past, mostly boys in lead roles. Since Ninjago was made back then that’s how it was in the past. It is hard to make new characters as good as the old ones so it’s hard to make them as impactful. That’s why Nya has gained an outrageous amount of character development in the later seasons. Dragons Rising also helps adding a whopping 3 new female LEAD characters and only adding a single new male character. So balancing is coming to Ninjago now. As for the polls, like I mentioned before the original ninja were a what people grew up with Nya merely being a side character, so it makes sense why people do not like her as a character, also for powers, it makes sense Nya comes lower as Lloyd obviously takes everyone.
I remember really looking forward to seeing more of Skylor as she had so much potential, and lets be honest, any romantic relationship with Kai has the potential to be hilarious, yet they wasted her, can't wait to see her and Kai be more in later seasons.
I as a 15 year old Trans Girl I totally agree with you!
Women should have the same chance as men to be main characters
well, as a boat i personally feel underrepresented in ninjago due to there only being one main boat in ninjago, and i cant really relate to being able to fly, drive on land or underwater. so i really wish there was just a normal big boat as a main character that i could relate too.. :(
I’m a guy and I’ve noticed this too, although Nya is not my favorite I think she’s cool, but the way that she was introduced and still is (that being romantic interest) sorta ruins it for me, I liked the days when she didn’t have a partner, she was more independent and strong, but her role is sadly now back to romantic interest. I like Harumi as a villain but not that much as a main or side character, she just feels really unnatural, not to mention putting on that whole act. Vania, now she is bit more tricky, I knew from the get-go that she was gonna be put to be a potential love interest for Cole, which bothered me a bit, near the first part of master of the mountain I get a feeling that she’s fangirling which immediately turned me off for her, I do look forward to seeing Queen Vania more.
As a girl myselfe i loved ninjago the time i was little and Nya was my favorite at thad time before pixal came and they boht are my favorites i onestli like all the characters in the show males and females
"in a perfect world Misako does not exist"
SO REAL.
this is also kinda like saying the spider-man movies are sexist because there arent a female superhero in it for women to relate to, no! its a spider-man movie?
Harumi never loved Lloyd, Skylar and Kai are just friends cus they never show them as a couple but Kai did like her for a bit (season 4), and Vania and Cole are just friends and we're never shown as a couple.
Love the video 🖤
Congrats on 10k views. Awesome start on your youtube career
thank you!
Fun fact (actually not fun but it is fact) NINJAGO has been argued for years of not letting NYA being the main character in a poster. They think they should not put a girl in the poster as main character. But eventually, NYA finally got the attention in Seabound.
Thank God you brought attention to this, legitimately thought I was the only one who could see the sexism, there is definitely a huge ass problem of sexism in Ninjago, the Hageman bros to me definitely were SOOO terrible at writing women, from my view Bragi is better at it, they still have a lot of room to do better, but it definitely seems like they care more at crafting “good characters” that happen to be women rather than like “hey look at this, the woman is so great because she is… a girl :)” which sucks. Great video :)
P.S. I’m a dude so if I said something wrong, or have an off view, please tell me as I am always improving
best things the hagemans ever did was leave the show
The Hagemans might have had some problems in the earlier seasons but they also wrote Harumi, one of the best written characters in the *entire* show. So make a blanket statement that they are terrible at writing women at all is just untrue.
@@Obi-Wan_Kenobi that’s kinda like saying a person who drank a beer once is an alcoholic
@@alexadov218 Quite the opposite, The show went downhill as soon as they left with a few exceptions such as MOTM and Seabound
Not even close. Bragi wrote arguably the most sexist season ever, that being Crystalized
As a woman myself, I don't see much of a problem with that. but I understand your uncomfortable and thank you for not being the type to openly call the writers sexist! These kind of people annoy me a lot! but your video has a point, even so, to this day i watch this show and i never bothered with it🤷🏻♀️
I agree nya isn't really my favorite character and in season 16 she really not I can see why she feels this way ( maybe it's because I see the darker meaning behind thing) I don't really see it like that
The writes do not choose to ignore problems of sexism in society, instead they openly show it and the show how the girls keep on keeping on throughout it and often, they end up succeeding. Gale Gossip in S11 is a perfect example of that.
I agree with a lot of this video but I think it it sort of unfair to expect a show predominantly marketed to a male audience to have the same amount of male and female characters and for most female characters to not be love interests. Nobody complains about how Barbie or My Little Pony treats male characters and how there are barely any boys, because those shows are marketed towards girls. You also don’t have to relate to characters that are only your gender. And the pole thing doesn’t make any sense, it’s not the show’s fault who the audiences favorite Ninja is. Or who the audience thinks would win in a fight. While it’s true some of the female characters aren’t written or treated the best, I can guarantee the worst written female character in Ninjago, will still be written better than the male characters in Barbie or My Little Pony. And those shows are probably way more sexist than Ninjago is because there are way more girls who watch Ninjago than boys who watch Barbie. Anyway, this was a pretty good video. 👍
ninjago fandom is also weird considering the fact that alot of people hate harumi but love morro.
(i love both harumi and morro just pointing out)
Well made video 💯
yup ninjago does have a problem .
Well now sora happened so we have 2 female ninja
"thats why i love the show im in!" -Mechanic
Very interesting video! Ninjago is my favorite show and should be fair to all genders. I am a male, but Harumi is my favorite character in the show, and your argument about fans hating her is very valid!
This video went hard. That is all
Harumi was not introduced to be a love interest though, we all just perceived her that way. She’s the main villain of season 8 and was manipulating the situation. We as audience were led to believe she was a princess who lost her family and is basically helpless but that’s not the case.
I'm glad this topic is being discussed, thank you so much
While I love pixal and think she is a great character, I would say she is the most mistreated female character in the whole show.
Pixal gave her life for zane inbetween seasons 3 and 4, and zane saved her by placing her inside his head. But zane never gave her the choice to leave. Zane kept Pixal prisoner in his mind for 3 whole seasons +dotd leaving her unable to talk to anyone and the only way she can add anything to the show is by doing zanes dirty work by analyzing everything for him.
After pixal leaves, zane has a mild breakdown because pixal wasn't responding to his request to scan the area for cyrus borg, something which he should be able to do himself. To me the fact that he is reminded that she is gone when he asks for analasys (instead of conversation or flirting) just highights how much zane took advantage of pixal.
Im not saying zane is malicious or awful, but it does feel wrong and not giving her a body immediately is a massive oversight by the writers imo.
Yes i agree very much about female representation they have very big sexism issue
I get the point but I mean Nya isn’t a bad character and not everyone one of us thinks that way we just like other characters more but u are right the writers could improve female characters. If it comes to strength Nya definitely isn’t weak or IQ and many know that I think characters like Harumi aren’t getting that much hate but I get your opinion it’s not a hate comment by any means it’s my personal opinion
Oof, yeah, the Hageman era (prior to the Oni Trilogy where new writers were brought in alongside them at first) especially was rough on female rep. I mean the Wildbrain era is far from perfect (like the last minute kiss from Akita you mentioned) but so far it's been less awkward. Like, remember Cole's random misogyny in Skybound, likely as a means to sink the love triangle?
Also I am right with you on Tournament of Elements. The Invitation is (mostly) great, up until Spellbound is fine, then it just becomes glacial pace.
NB: Vania shouldn't count under the love interests as one of the writers has stated that her and Cole were written as friends only. So that's like one tiny little correction but with the past writing it's an easy assumption to make lol (also that came in March 2022 so it's not like you had that info to hand).
I know this video was made a year ago and this was before the released on Seabound, and the whole point of the video was about how female characters in Ninjago were written in Ninjago. It's fine to acknowledge the writers' past mistakes.
I really wish Ninjago doesn't keep on adding female characters and start/end their female characters just to serve as a romantic love interest or being a one-sided crush or have subtle romantic tension with the male characters in the show. They also need to stop doing the whole "love at first sight" trope, because it's cliche and overused. I really want a female character that doesn't serve as a love interest (Nya, Skylor, Pixal) or is evil without love interest (Harumi for example) - mainly, I want a female character who can still have a platonic relationship with the Ninja, who looks up to them as big older brothers and sisters and etc. Two opposite genders can still be friends without having any romantic connections.
Harumi in s8/9 was definitely one of the strongest characters writing wise, I loved her arc. I havent seen Crystalized but I think its weird that she randomly likes Lloyd after admitting to never liking him, shes rly inconsistent that season from what ive heard
I’m going to honest they shouldn’t had brought Nya back in crystallized at less not at the beginning because after she came back she was nothing but a tool that was kicked around by the villains and needed to be saved by a mail they even gave Nya her powers back because you’re not a ninja with out powers even doe there is a group of ninja without powers who fight just as well as the main ninja do
Yess! I've been thinking about this for the longest time.
I know I'm super late but yeah
Specially with Sky, if you go and see the original design of her that Tommy shared... jeez, it feels heavy sexualized (I'm not sure how that's even possible with them being legos)
I'm glad that now, in Dragons Rising we're getting more female characters
whose sky
@@Crimsrn Skylor! I just call her sky sometimes haha
Okay so basically, this is a "I hate minions so much" video, but it lasts 21 more minutes.
This is a lost cause. People complaining about it make the whole thing even more funny
Would you ever do a video called “how to fix Skylar?”
Vonia wasn’t introduced to be a love interest
Great vid. The only thing I disagree with was the take about Nya being better as Samurai X. Personally I prefer Nya as the Water Ninja, I never cared too much about her as Samurai X. She was unique, but imo not that interesting. But since S5 they went a lot more in depth with her character, and because of that I prefer her in that role.
First of all,
I think it's fine if a female character in a tv show has a love interest,
With JAYA and PIXANE, we got to know pixal and nya and watch them grow - although minimally-
in separate seasons. There interactions are cute with there respective partners, and I think its fine---
Well- it WOULD be- if that wasn't all we ever got...
Like what you said with Skylar- apart from season 5- a small portion of season 6, and season 9- we don't see her
AT ALL - but this is more of a problem with the show itself- as it cant seem to take itself off from the focus of the main ninja like- at all-
Skylor and other characters- even male ones (morro for ex) become set pieces-
utilized once or twice- then put away in a box. Its very much a shame that the writers have such a big cast of characters that they have no use for.
I wish they did something like MLP- mlp had a big cast, and yet it took episodes to visit other places and focus on other characters, with Ninjago- every episode seems lasar focus on either the ninja, or the villains. Ninja Confidential is a fan-fave ep from season 12-
not because of the unique look and zane's funny voice- BUT IT LETS US ACTUALLY SEE SOMETHING ELSE THAT IS GOING ON IN THE WORL DOF NINJAGO. And its sssssuuuuucccccckkkkkkkssss because I LOVE skylar! I love her personality, her power, I love her relationship to the other ninja, I like her charecter, but we don't see her enough! I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed, but yeah-
good video! Can you cover more ninjago topis???
Minimally?
@@dylansharp8471
Yes- What I mean it was pretty rare to see love interest moments- not that they don't happen- but they don't happen often.
To me anyways, like through seasons 5-7 how many times did we get PIXANE or KAILOR moments?
i’m working on a big video right now that is not related to ninjago, but another show that i’m very passionate about. i’m going to be covering varying pieces of media i. my videos, but will definitely also be going over a lot of ninjago!
@@alexadov218 Cool!
Th only reason why is because not a lot of people give this show much of a chance since LEGO- but idk I'm starting to see more reviewers pop up as of late so who knows?
I do like your vids tho so keep it up!
(Also watch Monkie Kid if you have not already cuz it's FIRE!)
I actually agree with you
pixal was just a love interest and im so glad they made her a min character from S11 somewhat
what happened with skylor is completely flawed
Im glad what they did with dogshank and faith was a rlly cool side character
luckily Sally came in crystalized as the first female side chracter in the wildbrain era
people either love or hate skybound im like be neutral atleast
and in my opinion Nya is the second hand to hand fighter in the group without powers
maya was great
antonia and nelson are great characters and is just wholesome to watch
and also im 16 too andyou might not tell people about watching Ninjago since your a girl but I literally get bullied
telling I watch Ninjago by my age
great video btw!
Im glad antanio and sally are characters other than anyone"s love interest
what happened to that snake and the news reporter was messed up
I mean the female roles are getting better and better like I absolutely love Antonia and Sally as they don’t know the ninja personally and I think vania is more of a super fan (Like me)
And I loved how Harumi was the villain becuase she was the first girl to be a villain
Cool video! Where are this video fragments from? 15:02 - 16:11
7:28 oh cmon NINJAGO fans she sacrificed herself in seabound bruh
Girls get pushed down all the time, we literally can't do anything with our having a man overpower us. And yes I think Nya is stronger than Zane, I'm a girl myself and I always beat the boys I even outrun them 😊, I think girls deserve better. I'm also a tomboy and I dislike dresses, skirts, and shorts and jeans 😢😅
you're clearly a kid, so i think i should tell you this now. if by having a man "overpower us" you mean physical strength, then that's just our biology. if you mean in general activities where you get overshadowed, then it is your job to step up and make sure you're listened to. in the adult world, women are generally treated equal if not better than men.
@@Crimsrn I mean there's always a man to tell us what we're doing wrong or what we can't do. And usually women are treated differently compared to men
@@Keekee1253 "I mean there's always a man to tell us what we're doing wrong or what we can't do." maybe in your school, not in the real world.
@@Crimsrn well I mean in general especially online, not so much school usually there surprised that I put do them in everything 😂
@@Keekee1253 what do you mean especially online.. if you're facing sexism in youtube comment sections you're just in a sexist community of youtube. there are pro-woman anti-man sexist communities on youtube too
i hated seeing the anime episode portray nya to be built like a stick and the boys to be bodybuilders. especially bcuz kai, jay and cole were canonically 'old teen' which means 16-18 and then nya and lloyd are two years younger than kai and jay so thats 14-15. so despite being canonically 14-18 during their times fighting with ultra violet in s8 which she recalled in that episode, they were looking like they were never seeing out of the gym
I really appreciate the lack of profanity in this video. Thank you so much.
AYO I missed the 1 year anniversary of Alexa's grand entrance?
HAHA hi ember i can’t believe it’s been a year already
Btw so I also like Skibidi toilet and in the series the creator did well they made strong and special female characters
I agree with you but Vania doesn't count as a love interest because Cole said himself that he doesn't like Vania like that but overall,everything you said is correct.
MAN SAME HERE I WAS scared too bc "boys show" tho I've got over this.
I've loved it since I was 11.
Uh..i think nya is unpopular because shes annoying sometimes...
Nya is a good character, it's just that her "i'm the girl-ninja and that annoys me!"-meta-schtick is sometimes a bit too much on-the-nose and preachy.
like, we get it dear writers, you think you're clever!
Skybound is still one of my favorite seasons and Nadakhan is one of the best villains of Ninjago. recently re-watched it with my sister and even Dareth wasn't as much of a douche as we remembered. like just one cringy scene and he went back to his normal-self.
I love and hate Harumi because 1 She's such a good Villan! but She's sooooo manupulative.
as far as the strength(both elemental and not) goes, the show is quite inconsistent so it’s probably not fair to rank them accurately outside of Lloyd
“Harumi is just for romantic relationship” she revived evil garmadon pulled out a totem of undying after getting a fnaf 3 style ending revives the overlord the cause of seasons 13 vengestone mine and the vengestone smuggles to make infinite vengestone warriors makes a big base with highly advance technology made many spiders with stuff like cameras bombs and based on what we see looks like they behave like a normal breathing spider brings back a few villains that did great things after hearing the overlord was responsible with the devourer she sliced the overlords hand off who is evil incarnate and you said she’s for a romantic relationship? I don’t think a girl with infinite power in rise of kingdoms and 1,689 totems of undying is made just for a romantic relationship
Why change perfection?
Vanya and Akita are barely romantic interests and Nyas gotten more development that I think anyone in the show
Especially with her power
Its comfirmed that sailor isn't kai's girlfriend for now
i hate it so much since im a guy and nya is my favorite character
the part with gossip falling in love with dareth isnt a big deal, and me myself can honestly relate. the first few seconds of seeing dareth on screen i was already deep in love. i mean its dareth!
and the thing about the pull makes sense, like more guys watch ninjago and thats just a fact so why you complaining about that. if more people like cole or jay because thats who they relate more too then ofc theyre not gonna vote nya?? but in tearms of strenght i do agree she is higher than most ninja, lloyd is defo stronger, i also think cole is stronger but if its each of their strongest forms then i think nrg water nya is atleast 3rd strongest of them. now we are also getting a brand new female main character with sora, they might have just been trying to focus on the worldbuilding instead of focusing on this kinda stuff. but now i think they are trying to introduce more characters so i wouldnt worry tbh
also, i never thought vanya was a bad character imo no hate to her. but harumi yes, she is annoying, she acts so though but has to use another villain to get her wishes? like her goal or strenght isnt hers, she just uses others to fight for her basically. i liked her manipulation of lloyd tho, using brains was cool. and also asphera is a female villain who is cool tbh but she is really annoying "REVENGE REVENGE" yuh thats why!
7:15 it is an issue but it's not the fans' fault, it's the writers fault. also when people say she's annoying and stuff, i'd say that's the writers fault too for making her like that
it's a good thing she comes back
Well i understand the dislike for the fire chapter as aspheera wasn't a very well written villain in my opinion as she didn't have very good motivation for being evil as well as being another villain with ties to Wu she literally only wanted revenge which a lot of other villains wanted along with some other power
You forgot lil Nelson the purple ninja in noticeable male characters
bro i think they listened
i dont think its fair to call the great devourer anything except a snake
Harumi spent like half her time on screen screaming
7:07 so true
4:53 I think the gale gossip thing is a payoff for darete having a shrine to her in an earlier season
I don’t see the problem with characters having romantic interests. I don’t see the big deal. I like characters being shipped. The only other alternative is the characters being and staying single. So I’d rather them have someone.
Hold up what about misako 😭😭😭
Akita is my favourite character 😍
why does everyone think they need representation. i don't cry when men are underrepresented in the fuckin power puff girls.
I'm going to try not to be too mean in this comment. I know you were young when you made this you said you were 16, so I don't know where you stand on this subject now. But honestly I got to tell you it really ain't that deep. I haven't finished the video I don't know if I can finish it, the points that you've brought up I feel are honestly a little bit bad faith. I mean useless romantic subplots is a Trope that happens in almost every show ever. So I can't really chalk that up to sexism and one of the instances you brought up was played as a literal joke, so I honestly just think you're taking this way too seriously.
It seems a bit unfair that the uneven split of male to female characters argument isn't applied to other shows targeted at girls such as My Little Pony, Powerpuff girls, Monster High Etc. Are they sexist? Sexism is when one is discriminated against on the basis of their sex. Being put in a dumb romantic subplot is not discrimination or misogyny. It's just cliche writing, and it happened in a majority of 2010s shows like this.
I alwasy thought Ninjago had the best female characters for a male dominates tv show, i mean obviously they're not perfect but compared to other male dominated TV shows 😭 also Nya is my second favourite, and she would be my favorite if Zane didn't exist lol!
Tommy Andreason sad that Kai and Skylor arrent together.
they don't have to end up together for skylor to be a love interest
WHERES RAY!!!
I still like harumi even if she was bad
It fells bad for her betrayal
But still I liked her so much at the begining
And at the end I still like her but as a good writen villan
But I dont like her at one reason
She broke lloyds heart
And I know how it hurts
A good video but when you mention about people I saw that the one who is the strongest and it's obviously it's going to be Lloyd because of his golden power
Nya and heumri are my second favorite characters
It dont really matter that much u thinkin too much into it