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YMMV / Ninjago

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    A-D 
  • Abandon Shipping: After The Reveal that Harumi is the Quiet One and was just using Lloyd for his Oni power, Lloyd x Harumi sank faster than the Titanic. Though with Harumi's Heel–Face Turn at the end of Season 15, this is no longer the case, albeit with a bit of Broken Base to whether the ship should be a thing or not.
  • Accidental Innuendo: The Council of the Crystal King has the rather unfortunate acronym of C.O.C.K. For obvious reasons, the acronym isn't used in any official material.
  • Adorkable:
  • Angst? What Angst?:
    • No one (excluding Lloyd) seems very torn up over Garmadon's banishment, and later, death. Wu and Misako, his brother and wife respectively, seem completely unaffected by it, and even the Ninja who had gotten close to Garmadon during the Tournament, and... nope, no real emotion there. Could be Justified in that Lloyd was the only one out of the Ninja who forged a deep connection with him, while the other Ninja saw him as a casual ally at best. As for Wu and Misako, both of them were forced to watch Garmadon actually go to the dark side as it happened, so it may be a subtle subversion of Easily Forgiven - just because they welcomed Garmadon back into the fold after he was purified of The Corruption, doesn't mean they still don't harbor some bitterness over losing him to the darkness in the first place.
    • You'd think Kai and Nya might mention their parents went missing when they were kids, forcing them to grow up on their own, a little more than they actually do. Heck, even after they find their parents, it takes several seasons for them to interact again.
    • You would expect someone who travelled 4 decades into the future, where (or when) society became much more advanced than what they're used to, was stripped of their ability to travel through time, and their only relative currently alive is 40 years older, to be filled with confusion and angst. Not Acronix. He quickly accepted he is in the future, adapted to modern life to the point of developing an absolute love and appreciation for technology, doesn't seem to care his powers are in Time Blades since he still has access to his go-to power (Forward Time Travel), and isn't bothered by the fact Krux, his older twin brother by 3 minutes, is 40 years older than he was. It's heavily implied he wants to stay in the future to rule Ninjago as it is instead of returning Ninjago back before technology despite Krux wanting to do so. He even suggested going further into the future.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • In Volume 9 of the comic, was it always Zane's plan to stay loyal to the ninja? Or was Nya bursting in at the last second just a backup plan he made in case the Overlord could not deliver what he promised, giving him the opportunity to both remain loyal and betray the ninja to potentially become human with no consequences?
    • Should Garmadon really be blamed for his evil deeds when he was cursed by evil venom which influenced his every decision after and later brought back wrong?
    • Is Kai a person with flaws and personality powers or a hot headed, impulsive jerk with anger and jealousy issues?
      • He gets better with Character Development, but his jealousy is referenced again in season 4 and his anger issues show up again in season 7.
    • Is Misako a mother who tries to do what's best for her child. Which might mean unconventional parenting given his big destiny. Or is she a neglecting mother who abandoned her child. She abandoned Lloyd to try to find a way to save both him and his father. Though, why not stay with Lloyd and chose to save him over Garmadon. It's what her husband would've wanted. Not to mention the fact that Lloyd had an abusive childhood at his boarding school and already lost his dad. Plus, Misako keeps leaving Lloyd after some of his missions. Which may be giving him independence to grow up since he needs to be strong to survive as the savior. Plus, he travels a lot and the other Ninja's parents aren't present. Though, it seems like she doesn't consider his feelings in her decisions, especially since Lloyd has abandonment issues from two parents, which is selfish.
      • Also, her relationship with Wu contradicts her good mother status. While you could understand her wanting to leave Garmadon since he keeps coming back evil. Seeing his mom leave his dad for HIS UNCLE must be traumatizing for Lloyd. Especially since they had a moment right after Garmadon died seemingly having no grief for the event. Also, in season 2 Misako said she should've picked Wu over Garmadon which seems insensitive considering Lloyd wouldn't have been born. Not to mention while Misako usually doesn't go after Lloyd unless he's in danger. She manages to always go after Wu and spend more time with him than her son. Most of Lloyd's scenes with her even have Wu in it.
    • Was Nadakhan really planning to betray his crew after gaining infinite wishes for himself? Or was he losing his mind after facing so many personal tragedies in succession?
    • Was Garmadon's rampage after Harumi's death really because he wanted to avenge her out of grief? or was it because he realized he had no way of pretending that he couldn't bring himself to kill Lloyd anymore (like he did when he "adopted" Harumi), therefore hoping that Lloyd would die in the ensuing chaos and not live with the guilt of doing the deed with his hands? The fact that *he actually saves Lloyd's life a couple of times when he could've easily just let him die during their final battle seems to point towards the latter.
    • Was Garmadon in March of the Oni really dismissive and condescending towards Lloyd due to believing him to be too weak to be of help in his quest against the Oni, or did he subtly try and discourage Lloyd from joining him so he wouldn't get hurt or killed by the Oni? The latter interpretation is supported by Garmadon repeatedly saving Lloyd's life during the raid on Borg Industries while masking his savings as simple pragmatism even in scenarios where he didn't really need Lloyd alive.
    • Was Glutinous's defection a genuine Heel–Face Turn or an attempt to save himself, having become useless to Kalmaar? There's evidence pointing to both versions: he never showed any sign of disloyalty to Kalmaar or even morality while working under him to wake Wojira, but immediately grows terrified when she does awaken. Then again, Kalmaar's vendetta was only against the land creatures (even if he treats sea creatures no better), the sea life was presumably safe from his wrath for the time being, so it's possible that Glutinous simply didn't realize the true extent of his evil before.
  • Ass Pull:
    • Lloyd losing his powers but the four original ninja keep their powers, despite the powers being bonded. Prior to this, Mystake stated that if the four original ninja used their powers to heal Lloyd, they would lose their powers. But after doing so, they still have their powers but Lloyd doesn’t. While it is convenient that the ninja no longer need Lloyd's power to keep their powers, it still doesn't make a lot of sense nor was it expected for Lloyd to lose his power, despite being healed with elemental energy. It just feels forced into to make the stakes higher.
    • The ending of Skybound. After planning to use his last wish to make Nadakhan not a djinn anymore, Jay instead wishes Nya took his hand back during "Infamous," and that Nadakhan's pot was never found. Problem is, it feels like cheating since it's clearly 2 wishes stitched together by an "and." The moment consequently raises the question of why other characters hadn't tried using this loophole before. (Noteworthy, though, Word of God is that Nadakhan only counted the "nobody found the pot in the first place" as the wish, and that Nya taking Jay's hand was a conscious decision on her part.)
  • Audience-Alienating Ending: Crystalized as the final season of the original series has proven very divisive if not disliked by a majority of the fanbase in the time since its release, with fans noting it was disappointing due to aspects such as Lloyd's characterization (Especially in relation to his struggles with his Oni side and its resolution), Harumi's return along with her Heel–Face Turn, the awkward handling of several plot threads (Such as Nya's return), and various wasted potential plot points.
  • Audience-Alienating Era: 2016-2017 could be considered this, as it had Skybound, Day of the Departed, and Hands of Time, all controversial periods in the context of the series' writing.
  • Awesome Music: Naturally "Weekend Whip" which is the main theme song for seven seasons. But further seasons have their variations:
    • Season 4 takes it in a more tribal chanting tone to emphasize the tournament the ninjas are getting into.
    • Season 5 has a great electronic beat to it while likewise giving a spooky vibe as well as this season deals with ghosts.
    • Season 6 has it sung as a pirate shanty since, well, yeah deal with sky pirates this season. Very bombastic with trumpets in the full song, even including a "What shall we do with the pirates, ninja" verse into it.
    • Season 7 has a much more darker feel to it, including using the sound of a clock to showcase the theme of time in this one.
  • Badass Decay: Lloyd after his final battle with the Overlord. He goes from being the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master and an immensely powerful force for the heroes... only to be kidnapped and depowered the very next season.
    • Kai in season 7 and prior was capable of fighting on par with the hands of Time who are shown to be at equal skill level as Wu and Garmadon, capable of leadership and cited to be one of the most powerful members of the team. Season 8 and onwards he’s not capable of fighting simple but very dangerous street thug Ultra Violet, seems incapable of strategy, and his powers seem weaker as his teammates as everyone else’s power seems to grow more and more.
    • This technically applies to all the ninja when Season 15 hits. Especially the four original ninja, who were able to mop the floor with an army of skullkin, AKA killer skeletons, even before they got their powers. But in Season 15, even with Lloyd's help, they get their butts handed to them by Miss Demeanor and her human goons when they temporarily lose their powers and even when they have their powers, fail to stop the Mechanic, even though Zane alone has been able to defeat him solo before. While it is true that the ninja have gotten out of shape, not only has this happened back in Season 11, but also the fact that they haven't seemed to learn their lesson combined with their incompetence in this season makes them look very weak and stupid in comparison to their past performances.
    • Nya isn't immune to this either as she first started off as a Badass Normal who could curb-stomp skullkin, serpentine, and nindroids and Took a Level in Badass with her water powers. But in Season 15, when she loses her powers, she is treated as a punching bag who has to be saved almost every time.
  • Base-Breaking Character:
  • Broken Base: Season 11 is widely considered one of the worst seasons in the show, but particular division goes to the Ice Chapter. While most agree that it's better than the Fire Chapter, some believe that the Ice Chapter was good enough to have possibly redeemed the season if it weren't dragged down by the Fire Chapter; others consider the Ice Chapter only marginally better than its predecessor.
    • Skybound is a very contentious season, particularly the ending, where the entire season is erased from existence. Some see it as a satisfying ending that makes sense while others see it as a complete and unsatisfying cop-out.
    • The redesigning of the ninja following The LEGO Ninjago Movie from Sons of Garmadon onwards. Some fans consider the redesigns improved from the originals, while others see them as a downgrade.
    • While Sons of Garmadon helped Win Back the Crowd due to the darker tone and cinematic nature, there is still some division among fans about some of the decisions made during the season. While not a hated season, it still caused a fair amount of controversy in its day. This was mostly because of the redesigns of the ninja, and the ressurrection of Lord Garmadon.
    • Crystalized is arguably one of the more divisive seasons in the show. Some fans believed it was a good way to end the show as it brought back old characters before the end. Others see it as a disappointment due to the weak pacing and rushed plot points that felt unresolved.
  • Captain Obvious Reveal: The true identity of The Crystal King, the Arc Villain of Crystallized, being the Overlord was figured out as soon as fans got to see the Crystal King, simply because the design had too much overlap with the Overlord to be a coincidence. The trailer for the second half openly referred to them by their true identity, and the second half itself wasted no time in revealing it.
  • Cliché Storm: Albeit one done right. Less so as the series went on as the plots got more complicated.
  • The Oni trilogy. Despite being one of the most liked eras of Ninjago, even some fans of it admit it to be such
  • Complete Monster: See here.
  • Continuity Lockout: While the viewer could probably get away with viewing Seasons 11 to 14 without seeing the prior ones due to being more standalone, Season 15 not only brings back elements from those seasons (such as Aspheera, the Skull Sorceror, and the Mechanic being members of the Council of the Crystal King), but ones from the WilFilm era, either through returning characters prominent to Seasons 1-10 (such as Pythor, Skylor, and Harumi and the Overlord), or bringing back elements that played no part in Seasons 11-14 (the Golden Weapons), all of which will likely be more rewarding to long-time viewers.
  • Diagnosed by the Audience: There's a contingent of fans who read Zane as being autistic, due to his knowledge of a variety of topics he's happy to go on length about, strange sense of humor, difficulties reading other people, tendency to be overly literal, and having strong empathy. The fact that the few other robotic characters in the series, such as P.I.X.A.L., don't behave like Zane does (with P.I.X.A.L. even occasionally having a hard time reading him, such as his use of detective Noir tropes in "Ninjago Confidential") strengthens this mindset.
  • Discredited Meme: Cole never getting a season was a common joke, with some fans joking that he would never get one. Once Season 13 aired, which was a Cole-focused season, the meme died out.
  • Draco in Leather Pants:
    • The Serpentine, especially Skales and Pythor, receive extensive treatment of this by the fandom. Somehow, these bloodthirsty and treacherous villains are interpreted as innocent Woobies who only want a hug. Season 3 makes this canon (Pythor excluded).
    • Lord Garmadon suffers from this to a degree as well, though it's more justified given how he is depicted as a Tragic Villain from Season 2 onward.
    • Morro gets this a lot from the fanbase. This was bound to happen given his easily Woobie-fiable backstory, his sexy voice, and the fact that he's one of the show's younger villains despite being a ghost. Since Morro actually gets a legitimate Heel–Face Turn at the end of Season 5 and becomes a good guy in the Day of the Departed special, this is actually more justified than most examples.
    • Acronix also gets this to a lesser extent; with his Adorkable obsession with technology being played up in some fanworks.
    • Princess Harumi gets this most of all, mostly thanks to Lloyd x Harumi shippers who didn't want to let go. To be fair, Harumi is very manipulative, so some of that probably spread into the audience. There is also a significant portion of the fanbase that doesn't want her to be redeemed because of how effective of a villain she is, so in a way, this is averted more often than most of these kinds of characters.

    E-O 
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Flintlocke got the most votes in "Who is the best Sky Pirate" poll on the Ninjago's Wikia front page.
    • Despite only appearing in one of the comics, Seliel is loved by the fandom, and many want her to have an appearance in the show.
    • Clouse, Chen's right hand in Season 4, is one of the more popular secondary antagonist due to his interesting relationship with Garmadon and unique Evil Sorcerer skillset. It's sometimes lamented that he never headlined a later season as a main villain (the closest he gets being in The Dark Island books).
    • Echo Zane. His adorable mannerisms immediately won over many fans.
    • The Serpentine — especially Skales.
    • Jole, who doubles as a One-Scene Wonder, has become quite popular.
    • Among the Elemental Masters, Griffin Turner and Neuro are among the most-liked.
    • Mr. E. His reveal as a Nindroid likely boosted his popularity.
    • Fugi-dove is surprisingly popular for a character without a minifigure.
  • Evil Is Cool: Oh, so much. Many of the villains are extremely popular with the fanbase, but the takers are Lord Garmadon, Pythor, The Overlord, Master Chen, Clouse, Morro, Ronin, Nadakhan, Krux and Acronix, The Skull Scorceror, and Harumi.
  • Fandom Rivalry: Fans of the show are generally not fond of the movie and likewise tend not to get along with fans of the movie, usually as a result of the differing opinions of which one would prefer.
    • Ninjago fans were generally not fond of Legends of Chima due to the latter having been intended as a replacement for the former after its second season ended, though over time this did die down as the two series began to co-air later in their lifespan, with Legends of Chima eventually ending while Ninjago continued on.
  • Fan Fic Fuel: The revaltion that Chima is one of the 16 Realms gives plenty of rooms for crossovers between Ninjago and Legends of Chima.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • The white security Nindroid general that appears in Skybound was given the name “Sentry” by a member of the Tumblr fandom, and it’s since caught on to the rest of the Ninjago fans on the platform.
      • Similarly, another member of the Tumblr community gave the coffeshop-owning robot from the non-canon "Wu's Teas" shorts the name LATT 3, and it has caught on as well, albeit to a lesser degree.
  • Fanon
    • Since only Lloyd and Jay have confirmed last names, and Word of God is that Wu and Garmadon have Only One Name, the fans like giving Kai, Cole, Zane, Nya, and P.I.X.A.L. last names with more or less implied canonicity.
      • Kai and Nya are often given the last name of Smith, mostly thanks to a non-canon Blooper Reel.
      • Cole is often given the last name of Brookstone.
      • It's all but confirmed that Zane's last name is Julien.
      • Although Word of God is that Cyrus Borg doesn't see P.I.X.A.L. as a daughter, P.I.X.A.L. and the ninja did refer in "Enter the Darkness" to Cyrus as P.I.X.A.L.'s father, which implies that P.I.X.A.L.'s last name is Borg.
    • Despite there being no evidence for this in the show (and it sounding rather awkward when you try to say it out loud), fans tend to assume that the First Spinjitzu Master, usually shortened to FSM, is often used in place of God.
  • Franchise Original Sin:
    • One criticism of Crystalized is that Skylor, a fan favorite character, is reduced to just a plot device instead of a character. This, however, was already seen in Hunted, where her only major role involved having her powers conveniently used to take control of the Colossus
    • Season 11 of the show depicts the ninja becoming too lazy, throwing aside their ninja responsibilities to play videogames and eat junk food. This received much criticism, but this had already been seen before, right at the start of the show, in fact. The difference, however, was that the Ninja quickly got back in action when the Serpentine turned out to be real, whereas in Season 11, due to the Denser and Wackier nature of the first half of Season 11 and its awkward pacing, combined with the Ninja having been fighting threats very frequently in prior seasons, it makes their irresponsibility much harder to swallow.
  • Growing the Beard: The first 13-episode season marks an improvement over the Pilot Movie, which some reviewers found generic and un-engaging. For a more specific moment, "Tick Tock" is always praised to be the moment when the show started showing signs of truly emotional writing.
    • As for the WildBrain era, after an iffy start with Season 11, Season 12 started to mark a point where the soft reboot's reception had increased positively, with more unique characters, stories, and locales, along with better writing. And Season 13 showed that the show can still hit those high character beats with Cole finally getting a season focusing on him, and the writing doing just as well in supporting him as the DHX Media era did for the other ninja.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Cole spending the better part of two seasons as a ghost, along with season 13 being dedicated to him discovering the legacy of his deceased mother, comes off as morbid now that Cole’s voice actor, Kirby Morrow, passed away at age 47 on November 18th, 2020.
  • Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Interestingly, only same-sex pairings tend to use this:
    • Kai and Lloyd: Greenflame (Kai's elemental power is fire, while Lloyd's associated color is green)
    • Zane and Cole: Glaciershipping (ice + earth = glacier)
    • Kai and Cole: Lavashipping (fire + earth = lava)
    • Zane and Jay: Technoshipping (both characters are associated with technology; Jay is a tech whiz and Zane is a robot)
    • Kai and Zane: Steamshipping or Oppositeshipping (the former: fire + ice = steam; the latter is due to Kai being impulsive and hotheaded in contrast with Zane being calm and collected)
    • Cole and Jay: Bruiseshipping (black and blue are colors used to describe bruises; alternatively both seem to get into fights with each other more than with other ninja)
  • I Knew It!:
    • Kai being a Decoy Protagonist with Lloyd becoming The Hero was the first ever thing predicted on our own WMG page.
    • Most of the fanbase didn't need the toyline to spell out that the second Samurai X was P.I.X.A.L.
    • Practically everyone was able to predict that The Crystal King was actually the Overlord long before it was actually revealed.
  • Informed Wrongness: In season 14, Nya is treated as being in the wrong for getting frustrated at Maya's behaviour. But Maya is being super condescending and smothering, while Kai gets a free pass to laze about with their dad.
  • Iron Woobie: Kai is this. Although the least respected and most humiliated ninja, he almost never loses his confidence and keeps on fighting.
  • It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Season 11's already divisive status gets even worse when one considers that it's basically just a rehash of Seasons 3 and 4. The first villain in the duology is an ancient evilnote  seeking revenge on a descendant of the First Spinjitzu Masternote , steal one of the Ninja's powers for their own usenote , and their arc ends with Zane supposedly sacrificing himself to save his friends. The second half of the duology deals with a new villainnote  as they use an amnesiac Zane's powers for their own evil plansnote , and follows the remaining Ninja as they search for Zane in a new, uncharted locationnote  under the guidance of an older characternote . The story also primarily follows the same three Ninja—Kai, Zane, and Lloydnote . The fact that Seasons 3 and 4 were also fairly well-liked doesn't help Season 11's case, as that makes the similarities even more clear. In general, season 11 reuses a lot of common Ninjago tropes at the time that have gotten old by that point, that being Zane sacrificing himself, Wu telling the Ninja a [[Retcon]] secret, and villains being snakes yet again.
  • It Was His Sled:
    • Zane being a Nindroid. This is much more apparent in Season 3, where he is almost constantly seen with a piece of his face missing and especially after he gets a permanent new titanium body in Season 4.
    • Lloyd being the Green Ninja thanks to marketing and the Lego Ninjago Movie.
    • Nya being the Water Ninja due to a similar situation with Lloyd, but to less of an extent.
  • Jerkass Woobie:
    • Lord Garmadon while he's still an antagonist, and is a textbook example of Being Evil Sucks.
    • Nadakhan is a selfish Jackass Genie. However, on the other hand, in the course of the story, he lost his loved one, his father and his whole kingdom.
  • Magnificent Bastard: See here.
  • Memetic Badass: Dareth and Fugi-Dove, both being portrayed as The Ditz and incompetent losers with planet-sized egos in-universe were just begging for this status, and they got it.
  • Memetic Loser:
    • Zane gets destroyed and damaged a lot, resulting in fans constantly making jokes about it (dubbing it "Zane Abuse"), and how it's not a proper Ninjago season if something bad doesn't happen to Zane. This has gotten to the point where even LEGO themselves have made jokes about it.
    • Cole was infamous among the protagonists for being the only member of the heroes to not be the main hero of a season, resulting in some fans joking that he would probably never get one. These died down after Season 13, which after nearly ten years, finally gave him his own arc.
  • Memetic Mutation: Has its own page here.
  • Moe: A significant amount of the characters are very adorable to look at.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • Pythor by manipulating the young Lloyd into freeing the Serpentine before abandoning him and mocking him for trusting him. If that wasn't enough, then throwing Garmadon into the sea and making his son watch definitely was.
    • The Overlord possessing Garmadon and having him wound Lloyd enough by breaking his leg and gloating about Lloyd failing to get through his father proves that the Dark Lord is far beyond any concept of redemption.
    • Master Chen kickstarting the Serpentine/Human war in a bid to rule the land without caring how many lives could be lost proves how vile he is.
    • Vex manipulating and corrupting the innocent Zane into becoming the heartless Ice Emperor was already vile enough, but urging him to exterminate nearly all of Formlings and yetis (while the attack on Formlings was an act of revenge from Vex's point of view, killing off yetis was seemingly For the Evulz) is where he really crosses the line.
    • If the Skull Sorcerer's enslavement of the Geckles and Munce tribes didn't count as his moment for you then King Vangelis' manipulation of his daughter for his own ends will do the trick.
    • The moment Kalmaar kills his genuinely kind father, Trimaar, to provoke a war with "surface-dwellers" by framing the Ninja for his crimes, you know he has no way back.
  • Narm:
    • In "Weapons of Destiny", Sensei Wu attempts to discourage Lord Garmadon from leaving the Underworld by telling him that their father wouldn't have wanted him to do so. However, Wu's accent drastically changes for the line, resulting in him saying "Fada would not want you to do dis, brudda!" in a very tense scene. The origin of the goofy-sounding line was eventually revealed by Wu's voice actor Paul Dobson: it's a holdover from his rejected first take at the Sensei's voice that somehow made it into the final episode.
    • The scene where Skales tries to capture Lloyd... by slowly descending down on a window-washing lift... outside. His knock on the window during the same scene only adds to the Narm factor.
    • Whenever they use Overcrank:
      Garmadon: "And this time I will recreate Ninjago...[slows down] IN MOY OOWWN IMMAAGGEE..."
    • The build-up to Lloyd's battle with the Overlord in season 2 is pretty intense. The fight itself...not as much. First you have Lloyd Chewing the Scenery when he tells the Overlord that he's come to fight him, and when he declares himself "THE ULTIMATE SPINJITZU MASTER", and then the Dark Lord himself losing to the ninja because of... trying to eat him, which lets Lloyd destroy him from the inside.
    • While Aspheera constantly using the words "revenge" and "treacherous deceiver" is meant to represent her vengeful character, their overuse quickly becomes laughable instead.
    • The entire "GIVE ME THE TEA!" scene in "A Cold Goodbye". While it's supposed to be an intense scene since the ninja are fighting for the right to go into another realm unprepared and find their friend, it may seem, especially out of context, that they're simply keeping the poor old man from having a drink.
    • The Council of the Crystal King sounds like a name for a threatening organization, especially one that's comprised on the Ninjas' greatest enemies. Unfortunately, when you realize that the acronym spells out C.O.C.K., it becomes a lot harder to take the group seriously.
  • Narm Charm: It's a little hard to take the plot twists seriously when the characters are still cute-as-a-button minifigures. This doesn't take away from awesome moments however, and the characters behave normally instead of acting like they live in some toy chest. It's possible that if you've watched Ninjago from the beginning, you're no longer quite seeing them as mini-figures.
  • Never Live It Down: Even though Morro had an understandable reason for becoming evil and eventually turning good in Curse World Part 2 and especially in Day of the Departed, a lot of fans will still hate Morro for possessing Lloyd in Season 5: Possession.
  • Older Than They Think: This isn't the first show to associate Michael Adamthwaite with a character named Jay.

    P-S 
  • Periphery Demographic: Not just older, but a surprising amount of the fandom is female as well.
  • Portmanteau Couple Name: Frequently used for the heterosexual couples:
    • Jay and Nya = Jaya (later referenced in one of the Prime Empire shorts).
    • Cole and Nya = Nycole or Colenya
    • Zane and Pixal = Pixane
    • Kai and Skylor = Kailor
    • Lloyd and Harumi = Llorumi
    • Lloyd and Akita = Llokita
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Sacred Cow:
    • Seasons 1-3 are generally considered to be the best among fans, especially those who have grown disenchanted with the show's later seasons. The first two seasons especially get this treatment, with even detractors of Season 3 refusing to talk down about Seasons 1-2.
    • Despite Seasons 8 and 9 drawing away some fans by redesigning the characters to fit in with their movie counterparts, they are widely beloved for having a more serious plot, increased Character Development, intimidating villains and expanding on the show's lore.
  • Salvaged Story:
    • After the Season 2 finale had the Serpentine seal themselves away, cutting off any sort closure for them due to being the final season at the time, Season 3 brought them back, and revealed that they've since decided to do good, integrating themselves into Ninjago.
    • The storyboard writing behind Season 8 and onward employing a more realistic tone and the Ninja being given more focus in regards to their backstories, with long standing plot holes being filled, won back a considerable number of fans.
    • Another complaint addressed was the excessive amount of female characters that ended up as love interests (Skylor, PIXAL, Misako), in Seasons 8 and 9 we get Harumi, who PRETENDED to be one, Ultra Violet, Jet Jack and Faith, who all end up without a love interest of any kind, plus ended up giving Mystake, a non-love interest female character, a bigger role.
    • Season 13 is primarily focused on Cole, which seemed intended to finally alleviate the fact that he was the only member of the main cast to not get his own season (with his major parts in prior seasons either being a subplot or to advance the character arc of another character, such as Wu).
    • While ambiguous as to whether or not they're the same character, Mr. F, a character introduced in Season 15, seems to be an apology for the abrupt death of the original Mr. E.
  • The Scrappy:
    • A fair amount of the fandom dislikes Misako for repeatedly abandoning her son and inconsistent behavior towards Garmadon and Wu. She is also never held accountable in the show for anything she does and is a fairly one-dimensional character.
    • Aspheera is disliked due to her Flat Character traits, questionable motivation, and constantly shouting about "REVENGE!" Her reputation is likely why when she returns in Crystallized, most of the cast are annoyed by her and don't take her seriously, and her characterization became much more comedic. Ironically, this shift helped fans enjoy her more.
    • The Legacy series ElectroMech set is the subject of much derision in the community, as it's an overly- simplistic remake◊ of the set it's based on◊. Although it's one of the 4+ sets, which have simplified designs to make them easier for younger kids to build, 4+ remakes of other sets like Jay's Storm Fighter or Kai's Fire Dragon usually look acceptable at worst despite having a lower piece count than this set. There's also the question of why the ElectroMech received a 4+ remake at all, as the original set only has about 50 more pieces than the remake and is roughly the same size as one of the larger 4+ sets. People have attempted modifying the design to look better, but it's generally agreed that there's no saving it and that it's not worth buying. Even as the seasons have gotten more divisive, the sets have always been highly received, so the sudden drop in quality for the Legacy ElectroMech is jarring at best.
  • Seasonal Rot:
    • Seasons 4-7 get flak for having more plot holes, characterization being noticeably less in-depth and consistent, having more outlandish elements and rehashing some story elements like time travel. That said, they're still considered good, just not as good as the earlier seasons.
    • Season 7, Hands of Time, is generally considered the weakest of the WILfilm APS era, due to its awkward pacing, cheesy dialogue, poorly explaining how the MacGuffins work, the heroes frequently making easily avoidable mistakes, and the villains either being unmemorable (the Vermillion) or divisive (Krux and Acronix).
    • After the Oni saganote  was highly received, Season 11, the first season after the Hageman brothers left with production moving over to DHX Media and WildBrain, the filler, overuse of comedy, jarring 2D "anime" scenes, and a poorly-received villain in Aspheera have led to the season (especially the Fire Chapter) being considered the worst in the show. Even people who didn't mind the earlier instances of Seasonal Rot in the show generally agree Season 11 is a noticeable drop in quality from before.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: You'll find a lot of Lloydkita (Lloyd X Akita) shippers and Lloyrumi (Lloyd X Harumi) shippers at each others' throats in the fandom.
  • Signature Scene:
  • Special Effects Failure: Nya's water form in "Crystalized" looks really nice when she's swimming around in the ocean... not so much on land where she begins to lose her form. It's supposed to look like she's dissolving into water but it looks more like she's turning into blue goo. This especially stands out the first time this happens to her as she's right next to several examples of better done water effects.
  • Spiritual Successor: Masters of Spinjitzu might be the closest thing to have a BIONICLE TV Series with the Ninjas substituting as Toa and the seasons more or less the entire Sagas.
  • Spiritual Licensee: It's certainly a better continuation to BIONICLE than its reboot. It stars six elemental heroes, with the only female one being water elemental, and the story gets considerably darker. Wu and Garmadon call Mata Nui and Makuta to mind, especially after BIONICLE G2 featured Ekimu and Makuta. The Overlord being the Greater-Scope Villain defeated by the power of light can also seem similar to Makuta. The Sons of Garmadon arc even featured masks that empowered the wearers used to revive one of the brothers.

    T-W 
  • Take That, Scrappy!: When Aspheera is made a member of the Council of the Crystal King, Pythor doesn't seem to like her very much, and even outright states that her constant talk of revenge is irritating. And throughout the rest of the season, she even gets on other characters' nerves with them pointing out how frequently she keeps bringing it up.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
    • Season 13 is set in a dungeon inhabited by undead skeletons led by an evil sorcerer. Sounds like a perfect opportunity to bring Clouse back and reveal his fate after ''The Dark Island'' trilogy. But Clouse never appears in person or even gets mentioned. Not that it makes the season bad, of course.
    • Seabound, a season which focuses on Nya and her connection to her powers and family, tends to be lacking in her brother Kai. While it is Nya's focus season, we never get to see how her relationship with Kai has changed over the years. Kai also barely reacts to her departure, despite having practically raised Nya and being very protective of her; Skybound, another Nya-centric season where Kai barely appears, has him show more emotion for his sister’s condition.
    • The Oni are a scarynote  and powerful immortal army, able to cover the entirety of Ninjago City in a paralyzing black fog and almost defeating the Ninja. Sounds like a pretty cool concept for a set of bad guys, right? Unfortunately, they have almost no personality to speak of nor any real personal connection to any of the characters (the closest they get is Garmadon and even then it's an indirect connection) to make them actually interesting.
    • Miss Demeanor seems like a badass character. Not only because she helped smuggle vengestone to the Crystal King, but also, managed to give the ninja a hard time, twice. It would've paid to see her and the ninja have a third rematch and have her join the Council of the Crystal King. Especially since seems like a good rival against Kai (with her flamethrowers), Nya (due to water and fire being opposites), and Skylor (with the latter being Kai's Love Interest). Unfortunately, not only does she have very little screen time, gets defeated by the New Ninja during her third appearance in Season 15, Crystalized, but also, that same season decides to do nothing else with her. She's not even shown confronting the ninja when they're put in Kryptarium Prison.
    • The New Ninja who debuted in Crystalized. Nothing much is known about them other than them being hammy advocates for justice, and after serving as rivals to the Ninja in the early episodes before the latter are arrested, they're quickly out of the picture, especially when they're turned into crystal zombies in the second half of the season without getting to do anything else.
    • A posthumorous case, as in Crystalized, while Lloyd's going on about the idea of Oni being inherently evil and fearing the idea of embracing his Oni side, as well as berating Garmadon's attempts to go good as an impossibility due to being an Oni, there's zero mention of Mystake being an Oni that fought for good, letalone her sacrifice in the battles to help Lloyd stop the resurrected Lord Garmadon back in Hunted.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
    • The entire Possession story arc can be considered this, due to the overall interactions between the Ninja and Morro. Each individual ninja had, at one point, possessed the same ambition Morro had (wanting to be the Green Ninja), at times taking extreme lengths (especially Kai), before accepting their true roles as defenders of the Green Ninja. At best, it would have paid to see a scene where the ninja (particularly Kai) attempt to reach out to Morro over how they also wanted to be the Green Ninja, before finding satisfaction in being a part of something bigger. Yet there is no such scene, with the Ninja constantly regarding Morro as an enemy throughout.
    • Harumi's confrontation with Lloyd in Game of Masks could have made a lot more sense; since Lloyd was the one who actually freed the snakes that resurrected the Great Devourer, giving Harumi a more reasonable motivation for hating him. Instead, her motivation seems to be as simple as "you couldn't stop the giant snake, only Garmadon could", which, while somewhat sensible as her motivation for bringing Lord Garmadon back, makes very little sense as a reason for hating Lloyd specifically out of all the Ninja.
    • Season 9 also got hit with this pretty hard. Wu was de-aged and Lloyd lost his powers, which seemed to be setting up the ninja to train him to defeat Garmadon in a role-reversal of what happened in earlier seasons. This happened to an extent in the show proper, but ultimately he doesn’t do much upon acquiring the Dragon Armor and it’s ultimately up to Lloyd to save the day once again. In addition to this, several ideas were apparently cut from production, such as a girl-team up after Lloyd is captured note  and the reveal that Mr. E would have been Echo Zane upgraded by the Quiet One, confirmed by the Hageman Brothers but ultimately removed from the show. As the icing on the cake, going to the realm of Oni and Dragons could have provided a perfectly good opportunity to help explain how the ninja’s powers work, the subject of Continuity Snarl for most of the show.
    • The shorter run-time of episodes from season 11 onward mean plot points sometimes get passed by with little focus or time to breath, especially at the end of a season.
    • Merlopia, home of Ninjago's merfolk, from Season 14, Seabound, is horribly under used, with the ninja barely spending half a season there.
      • Even worse is the reveal in Season 14 (through it may've been foreshadowed back in the times of the Oni trilogy) that the First Spinjitzu Master didn't actually create the Ninjago realm, as established before, but rather created the mainland of an ocean dimension that used to belong to the Island Keepers and Merlopians. Despite its importance to the plot, this little detail is quickly brushed aside, and several characters pretend it's always been this way.
    • One of the major plot points of Season 15 was Lloyd having to learn to tap into his Oni Form like Garmadon and Mystake had in order to defeat the newly resurrected Overlord/Crystal King. However, when he finally taps into the Oni Form in the final battle, he maintains it for barely half a minute before backing out. A common consensus is that there is disappointment that the form was barely used despite all the buildup to it, with some fans arguing that Lloyd rejecting his Oni side to defeat the Overlord is a betrayal to the themes of balance the series preached a few times in the past, and suggest that it could have been used in tandem with the Golden Ultra Dragon to reinforce said theme of balance between creation and destruction instead.
      • Also in relation to Season 15, considering how the Great Devourer was responsible for the death of Harumi's parents, one would think that Harumi would have heavier interactions with Pythor since he awakened the Great Devourer. Instead, Pythor is merely just one member of the Legion of Doom with not much else to him, not even a shred of a mention that he played a critical role in the Great Devourer's revival. Instead, Harumi is told that it was the Overlord/Crystal King that was responsible for the Great Devourer before going through a Heel–Face Turn, while she never learns about Pythor's involvement with the incident.
  • Tough Act to Follow:
    • Just like BIONICLE before it, fans of Ninjago have compared any new story-driven Lego line to it, often with disparaging commentary. Monkie Kid has seen the worst of it, being derided as a rip-off despite being primarily based on Journey to the West.
    • In the show itself, the Oni Saga (Seasons 8 through 10) are seen as the show's highest point, having incredible story telling, writing, and characterization overall. As a result, the WildBrain era had a good amount of competition to follow up on, and as explained in Seasonal Rot, Season 11 didn't exactly live up to the hype. And in terms of being a Series Fauxnale, the final season Crystalized would also be compared unfavorably to the Oni Saga due to several aspects causing it to become an Audience-Alienating Ending.
  • Ugly Cute: Some of the Serpentine fall under this on certain occasions, when they're serving as a comic relief rather than serious villains.
  • Unexpected Character:
    • Clutch Powers was the last person people expected to appear in season 11. He was mentioned in an earlier episode, but LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers is rather obscure among the LEGO fanbase.
    • While it was spoiled due to leaks, Harumi being a member of the Council of the Crystal King at all was surprising to many fans, due to being assumed to be dead for good, and the show itself quickly establishes her to truly be the original Harumi brought Back from the Dead, unlike the simulacrum in Prime Empire.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
    • Harumi suffered a huge Trauma Conga Line after losing her parents in the Great Devourer's attack on Ninjago, and the Ninja's failure to stop such a tragedy, as well as Lord Garmadon being the one to kill the Devourer directly, all inspire her to become evil as well. The story tries to paint her as a Tragic Villain who becomes conflicted and isn't beyond redemption, as shown when she goes out of her way to prevent the same tragedy she suffered from happening to another family at the cost of her life, as well as hint that she had genuinely fallen in love with Lloyd after all. The problem is that Harumi still remorselessly committed so many atrocities and her relationship with Lloyd also comes off as toxic considering how she strung him along and subjected him to Kick the Dog time and again, especially when she gloats about how Garmadon now cares for her over him. When Lloyd points out that Garmadon's tyrannical rule would likely rob children of their families and make them suffer the same loss she went through, Harumi didn't care, making her Redemption Equals Death moment above come off as forced. And even that's negated when she's resurrected as the Overlord's herald and she continues to be evil, only turning on him when the Overlord reveals he corrupted the Great Devourer and indirectly caused her parents' deaths. All of this makes Harumi comes off as less than a sympathetic figure, and more of a bratty child who idolizes evil.
    • In Crystalized, one of the conflicts is Lloyd struggling with the idea of Oni being anything but pure evil and destruction in relation to both his father and having to embrace his Oni side, believing the idea of an Oni being good is ridiculous until later on. Considering that Mystake was an Oni who helped Lloyd out a lot during Hunted and even died in the process of giving Skylor time to escape from Garmadon, as well as Garmadon's genuine attempts to try to go good despite only having his Oni side left, it's rather hard to sympathize with Lloyd's beliefs and rejection of his Oni side in the final battle, especially when his actions temporarily dooms Ninjago and all his allies when him backing out of the form nearly allows the Crystal King to corrupt all of creation with the other Ninja sacrificing their elements and summoning the Golden Ultra Dragon being the only reason the finale didn't end in defeat.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome:
    • The rise of the dark half of Ninjago is an awesome blend of style and 3D animation.
    • The entire final battle between Overlord-possessed Garmadon and the ninja is made of this. Lloyd's Golden Dragon is particularly impressive.
    • The animation in season's 8-10 is phenomenal, especially the lighting and water.
    • The new animation studio change to WildBrain Studios for Season 11 and onward gave us much more detailed scenery and effects, and more dynamic action and animation in comparison to past seasons.
  • Win Back the Crowd:
    • Season 8 began winning back fans who thought the show was undergoing Seasonal Rot, due to the new designs for the ninja being more realistic, villains being more compelling and more serious as threats, expansion into the Ninjas' backstories, answering questions that had been long left unanswered (such as Cole's missing mother being mentioned, and how Zane gained the elemental ability of Ice despite not being biologically related to the previous Elemental Master of Ice), and the return of genuinely shocking plot twists (Harumi being the leader of the Sons of Garmadon).
    • After Season 11 became the least liked season for it's use of filler, 2D animation, flawed comedy, reused villain designs and motivations (Aspheera in particular) and weak storylines for certain members of the Ninja, seasons 12 and 13 were able to right many of these wrongs. Every episode from here on out has little to no filler or 2D animation (Or at least makes better use of it in one episode for Season 13 in the latter's case). The new settings allowed for more unique villains, with Unagami and the Skull Sorcerer praised for their intimidating performances. And finally, the character beats were emotionally hard-hitting, especially for Cole, who until this point had been the most short-changed of the original four Ninja (with only a short special compared to Jay and Zane's two seasons and Kai's two seasons plus the pilot).
  • The Woobie:
    • Zane's No Social Skills and his frustration that he can't be like other people because of him being a robot can make him this at times. Not to mention that he's practically the show's Designated Victim, getting kidnapped and sacrificing himself on a nearly seasonal basis.
    • Lloyd. He was tricked and kidnapped by Pythor as a misguided kid, and then thrown into his prophecy of defeating his father and devoting most of his life to training. His entire childhood was then literally taken away from him in a single night. He also had to watch his father banish himself into the Cursed Realm, and was unable to save him when they met for the last time. And thanks to Morro, was a victim of Demonic Possession. Seriously, the universe seems to have it out for him. And then Season 8 happens and throws him straight past the Despair Event Horizon, utterly breaking him in every way imaginable - he's betrayed by the girl he loved, and then has to listen to his father (whom he had already been through the ringer to redeem) disown him after being revived as a hollow shell of himself. You bet the guy needed some serious freaking therapy, especially after having had to watch all his friends save for Nya die (although, thankfully, they turned out to have survived and reunited with him).
    • Iron Woobie: While it may have started as early as Season 2, Garmadon falls firmly into this trope in the second half of season 4. From being painfully transformed against his will (once again!) into an Anacondrai to Chen taunting him about his past deception in front of Wu and Misako to having to make a Heroic Sacrifice, the last three episodes are basically a Trauma Conga Line for him.

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