RealmsAway (From Here…)

Quick warning, expect the unexpected around here. From incoherent meme thoughts fresh out of the 3:17 AM oven to deep discussions on the ethics of Bulgarian Pop-Tarts, you’ll find something remotely interesting in these endless catacombs.

Some things I’m interested in (in no particular order)

Curling

Sports that aren’t curling

Writing (even though I suck… for now)

Architecture (especially Art Nouveau)

Art, both the fine and applied (especially late 19th and 20th century)

Gaming to some extent

Film to another vague degree

Vehicles and transport (especially boats… boats are special to me for some reason)

LEGO

Weapons and warfare, both modern and antiquated

Coming up with characters and power systems

Geography

Espionage

Strategy games (I dabble in Advance Wars By Web and Tak on occasion… still not great at either!)

Water maps in games (I heard your eyeballs widen)

More stuff I forgot I cared about (or don’t know I care about it yet)

Curling is an amazing sport, by the way. You should definitely ask me about it sometime.

I’m also trying to get around to writing RealmsAway, my own personal extended Multiverse! I hope you like science fiction and fantasy stories with characters using cool weapons and power systems that aren’t TOO broken… We like keeping planets intact around here!

If that’s not your jam there’s plenty of characters out there who have fewer gimmicks than my 2007 Mercury Milan you might find more relatable!

Garmadon has no toilet:

Yes, we’re starting off strong with the cultured thoughts today. Is Garmadon’s toilet under his bed or something? Cuz I don’t see one anywhere in his fishbowl looking cell. Maybe his darkness just consumes all of his bodily waste before it leaves or something.

Jay wants to propose to Nya:

Cute, but we already know this is going to be a TERRIBLE time to get married. Better hold off on that until they get this latest mess cleaned up.

The Sacred Wall of Recap:

I find it really funny that there’s a whole part of the mural dedicated to S6 and Kai has no idea what that’s even about. In my head he was like, “Anyone going to tell me who that sus orange boi is?”

The Bounty gets rebuilt… again:

I wonder how long it will take before the Quicker Fixer Upper gets destroyed again. It’s only a matter of time.

Cole gets stuck in traffic:

Cole and Kai seem like they would just fall apart if they got stuck in traffic. Especially when driving a cool ninja vehicle that could easily crush all of the normie cars on the road.

Sensei Wu’s voice gave me immense nostalgia:

Hearing him talk about the Oni in the monastery gave me chills honestly. Combine that with Jay interrupting and this felt like classic Ninjago for a while there.

Black cloud is spoopy:

A dark cloud that turns people into stone? Yeah, that’s pretty terrifying. What’s more scary is the fact that we need GARMADON to fix this of all people. This is clearly going to be fine and not cause problems.

The ninja return:

And just in time to save Lloyd and Nya from impending doom at the hands of the thugs. I thought it was funny how Nya made a remark about how big the ninjas’ dragons were. She’s like, “I used to only dream about dragons this big,” lol. The unhinged side of my wants to make an edit where Master Wu flies in on Clifford the Big Red Dog who proceeds to flying kick the Colossus thingy in the face.

Stuff must be impossible to insure in this universe:

Even just the Destiny’s Bounty has been destroyed so many times it must be impossible to find an insurance company stoopid enough to cover it lol. Ninjago City gets wrecked so often I’m guessing the premiums are insane.

Dareth hits on the news lady:

Idk if Gayle Gossip is truly ready to comprehend the immensity that truly is the Brown Ninja. I’m imagining how problematic it would be if she went to his apartment and saw how creepy he is about her lol.

Poop ninja jokes:

Poop jokes activate my juvenile brain hehe.

Summon the Family Feud music:

Lloyd and Wu finally get to throw down with the Big Bad G. This feels like a fight they’ve been building up to for a LONG time. Honestly not the most impressive scene… I would’ve loved to see what they could’ve done with the animation nowadays in the Dragons Rising era (now that I’ve had some sneaky peakies at DR S1)

Garmadon’s Colossus gets bodied:

As soon as I realized that the ninja brought the chain guns back from their little excursion I knew the rock monster guy was going to get Empire Strikes Back’d. Is it the most original way of defeating it? No. But watching Kai run around on a rock monster is still cool I suppose.

They could always just out of prison…?

Umm, okay? Something something cartoon logic… It’s like they never considered the idea that they could just decide to not be in prison 😂

A happy ending (or a new beginning?)

Cute to see the ninja meeting each other after they win. The little clank as Zane and Pixal hug was adorable. Jay and Nya have their moment and Kai and Skylor continue to fail at beating the Kailor allegations. Honestly when Cole was smiling at the one lady I thought they were trying to set him up with a random citizen at first before I saw the tray of cakes. It was like he was bummed he didn’t have a girlfriend and decided to make his move on the cake girl lol.

Harumi is nowhere to be found:

This never seems to get brought up at all. None of the ninja are like, “Hey, where’d that crapcake go?”

Season was okay but not my personal favorite:

I’d give it maybe a 6/10. Quality wise it’s probably higher than that, but to my personal taste I will admit this season didn’t quite grab my attention the way S8 did. I think that’s probably the main reason why it took me so long to finish this season. There wasn’t really anything single thing that I didn’t like about it, more so the packaging if you will. Having to follow two different angles for nine episodes was a little distracting and the whole Resistance angle felt more like Lloyd and Nya were just waiting for the others to come back more than anything. Even in the last episode Lloyd basically admits his wait is finally over. The slow pace at which I watched this probably didn’t help, but I’m not totally convinced I’m the only source of blame for this. There was a fair bit of cool stuff they tried to incorporate to keep things interesting but ultimately I had trouble following along with the different storylines.

S10 looks substantially shorter than the previous seasons so maybe I’ll be able to swallow it a little quicker and keep things fresher than with S9. Not sure when I’ll begin that watch as the World Cup currently has my entire attention in its grasp right now.

As previously mentioned, I’ve started watching the first season of Dragons Rising with @cultured-spaghetti. Obviously this isn’t the first watch for her lol, but after maybe 6ish episodes I have to say I’ve enjoyed it a lot despite not having seen Ninjago S10-15. I may need to make a few posts to get caught up with that in the meantime while I attempt to finish the original series.

Lloyd can lift:

Look I’m assuming Skylor is in great shape and all that but Lloyd must do some serious lifting in order to carry her during the skyscraper scene. Also respect to him for knowing his limits and not trying to make that jump with her on his back 😆

Dareth medals in the long jump:

Another LEGO physics moment is when Dareth yeets himself onto the other skyscraper. Like I’m genuinely impressed he was able to do that. I guess adrenaline does that for ya.

Leg wiggles:

Idk why but the scene where the ninja are wiggling their legs trying to rock the towers over was amusing. Something about LEGO people wiggling their legs in midair is inherently funny to me.

Nya gets a fight scene:

The fights this season haven’t exactly been plentiful so a little 1v1 between Nya and UV is a nice way to fill in some screen time. Also I’m a little confused as to how the elemental powers work. Do they need their element to be physically present in the environment to work? Because lately it seems like Nya only uses her powers when there’s water nearby like with the fire hydrant. This seems kind of inconsistent with other parts of the show where the ninja just use their powers without hesitation. I respect the show for trying to balance things out like that but it’s a little confusing at times.

UV gets bodied:

She got hit by a tank through a wall… can we be done with her now? Sure the fight was nice but can we please leave her there lol?? UV is sort of like the Harley Quinn of this arc. Except I don’t find her funny. Mr. E died for this 😭 (Side note, I play Delta Force and I’ve seen what kind of ragdoll physics come into play when you get bodied by a tank. It’s absolutely hilarious and UV should be too ashamed of letting that happen to ever appear in this show ever again)

The Dragon Hunter crew kind of doesn’t do anything lol:

I was really disappointed with how little the Iron Baron’s old gang got involved in this episode. Like they set Faith and the ninja free and drive to find Wuski and… “We’re too late,” Well, yeah?! They just sat there and argued with each other for how long? Really disappointed they weren’t used better. I’m glad they’re good guys now and should be well on their way towards improving their lives with Faith and Jet Jack. Also I realized that the whole desert scavenger aesthetic the Dragon Hunters have going on really mirrors that of the Metal Ocean storyline I’ve been working on in the back of my mind. Looking at some of the LEGO sets from this season could be some good inspiration for that.

Iron Baron gets slagged:

Well that was… gruesome. But also cool. I’m definitely okay with watching a version of this show where characters just get blasted with lava looking stuff.

Dragon armor scene reminds me of Veggietales…?

Okay hear me out… We’re in a big cave looking for some sort of magic object that gives the user power over something really important, right? This reminds me a ton of Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah’s Umbrella for some reason 😂. It sounds absolutely ridiculous now that I’ve said it but Wu and the Iron Baron are basically Minnesota Cuke and Wicker looking for the umbrella in the mountain.

Wu being wholesome:

Wu’s smile when he sees the ninja was really cute. Bro just wants his boys to be safe. I also kind of interpreted this as him being happy that the Dragon Hunters changed their minds about following their now deep fried leader.

The ninja get new rides:

Really nice of Firstborn to get the ninja hooked up with some custom whips (their dragons). Love seeing their LEGO legs awkwardly straddling the dragons realistic necks 😂. Also I definitely wasn’t making the Backyard Baseball screwball sound effect when they were spinning around.

What an obvious trap lol:

Honestly the ninja getting trapped like that was a little embarrassing. Sure they were expecting to run into trouble but that was just sad lol. Also I didn’t realize that Faith was buried in the sand until I heard her mumbling as they approached. I just thought they were looking at her hat for whatever reason.

The bad guys might be turning?

Iron Baron may seem like he has a solid grip on the situation what with his plan to lure Wu to the dragon armor, but his actions would suggest that he only thinks he’s totally in control. He’s all like, “After I get the armor you guys are completely useless lol,”. Like, okay? Didn’t Faith literally just warn your goons about that? You’re playing right into her hand, nutjob. This seems like an obvious path to defeat for the bad guy.

Mystake throws down:

Look, the whole touch garmy and win the fight plan may have been… not very thought out lol, but it at least set up a cool brawl with Garmadon with Mystake in her Oni form.

Stone golem tug of war:

I was trying not to laugh when Garmadon was trying to regain control of his monster thingy as it was climbing his tower. In my mind I was making noises like an engine not wanting to start as he was failing lol. Overall, huge props to Skylor for actually taking over that thing and putting up a fight against Garmadon’s control. The fact that in a matter of minutes she’s able to use his power against him and actually beat him for a moment is actually insane. Like Garmadon is obviously crazy strong and he has who knows how much experience (assuming the previous version of Garmadon’s power carries over to this current zombie Garmadon). This honestly feels like one of the biggest showcases of power in the entire show up to this point that I can remember.

Skylor absolutely yeets UV 😂:

I think Skylor spoke for everyone when she said she’d been waiting to do that for a long time. Absolutely peak yeetage.

Skylor gets harmadonned:

I kind of saw this coming. Even with the brief bit where Skylor owned Garmadon it was pretty obvious that she couldn’t handle his… garminess. I was sort of expecting her to be overtaken by it and turn evil, especially with Lloyd in her ear like, “cOntOl, sKYlor, COntRol,”. Maybe that comes later (her eyes are still purple and she definitely enjoyed that attempted murder bit), but whatever happens to her I’m going to add this to the Skylor trauma record.

Wu’s facial hair had me laughing ngl:

Okay but that scene where Wu’s amnesia gets cured basically by getting tickled was hysterical. He just yeets himself in the air, lands, and as he’s turning around, I’m like, “Oh, shoot, he’s about to get his facial hair,” and as soon as he turned around I just couldn’t stop laughing. My immature brain instinctively made a vine boom as they showed his mustache. There’s so many funny edits you could do with that. Imagine he turns his face and there’s a huge vine boom and he’s Rex Dangervest 😂.

Harumi ptsd:

Now there’s some good crap, right there. Garmy doesn’t seem so based now, huh? Look at the crap you’ve caused, illegitimate child! Wrecking lives that could’ve been yours in the past! Hmm. Lloyd just looks at her across the city like he knows what’s going on, too. Which I both love and hate because on one hand it’s cool that he’s able to recognize that while on the other I don’t want him to feel attached to that scumball 😭

Anyway, that’s all for now, I guess. Currently working on a character interview which kept me up into the wee hours of the morning last night. Hoping that comes out soon for you guys.

Black- Very shippable, though usually with a catch that could derail the run. Often has the deepest lore to grind through

Blond- Highly shippable, but they usually end up in the same pairing each playthrough

Brown- NPC. Basic human character either beloved and shipped by a huge part of the fanbase or forgotten by everyone

Red- They’re the ones shipping you, not the other way around

White- Comes with a big “fragile” label on the shipping box

Purple- They killed the person you shipped them with

Green- Too focused on work to care about being shipped

Blue- Literally lives on a ship

Silver- Too awkward to not be shipped

Grey- Not shippable; either married or widowed

And here’s the rest of the Century of Progress Architectural District Lineup, from top to bottom:

The House of Tomorrow (undergoing restoration)

The Wieboldt-Rostone House

The Armco-Ferro House

The Cyprus Log Cabin

I attempted to recreate the image of the Florida Tropical House I posted a while back! The lighting and angles aren’t perfect but I got pretty close! The brighter pink is the original picture and the paler one is the one I took.