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Ns11 - Blog Posts
Top ten anime tragedies
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Me: I'm gonna wait until the 22nd until the ns11 is released in English and block all tags to do with Ninjago season 11
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OH MY GOD!!!! OMG THANK YOU @blindpawdoo
You are the best! :)
@pixane-lover look!
Time and again, Pixal is placed in a position of watching Zane suffer/die, and trying to save him, even as early as season 3. Their first real bonding moment happens while she's repairing him. And not long after that, she rescues him from being dropped into a metal shredder. Then in season 4 she helps him get his memory back, and in season 6 she defends him from the Mechanic trying to scrap him for spare parts. And that's all before she became Samurai X - a role she only took on because Zane had been shut down and was out of commission.
Since becoming Samurai X, she's had to deal with the aftermath of Zane being presumed dead aboard the destroyed Bounty, his banishment at the hands of Aspheera, and then later the Mechanic abducting him and electrocuting him to near-death.
The long and short of it is, Zane has been through a lot, and whenever something bad happens, Pixal gets front-row tickets to watch it all unfold.
Naturally, this has left an impact on her emotional state. And I think the nightmare she experienced in season 11 (shortly after Zane was banished to the Never Realm) showcases this best:
The nightmare depicts Zane holding onto Pixal for dear life, desperation and fear on his face as she's the only thing keeping him from falling into the white abyss below. But then, something causes Zane to slip from her grasp, and he falls beyond her reach, with her flailing helplessly, unable to save him.
Again and again Pixal has watched him die. Again and again she has lost him. In her mind, no matter what she does, no matter how hard she tries to protect him or how tightly she holds on, something will happen that will tear Zane away from her again, and she will be powerless to stop it.
It's not unreasonable to assume that Pixal considers Zane's safety her own personal responsibility, and blames herself whenever something happens to him. Note in particular the way Zane is characterized in her dream - desperate, afraid, with her as the only thing keeping him from falling into the abyss. And when she fails to hold onto him, she is - quite literally - letting him down.
Now that on its own is enough material to keep my poor Pixal Stan heart beating for months. But there are a few more details I think are worth mentioning.
First - the abyss dream!Zane falls into seems vaguely reminiscent of the ice torrent he falls into at the end of season 3. Here's a side-by-side comparison for reference:
I know it's a bit of a stretch, but you gotta admit the similarities are at least a little bit uncanny. If we're following this train of thought, then this may suggest that Pixal not only feels responsible for her inability to save Zane from Aspheera, but also blames herself for Zane's death in his battle against the Overlord. Or at the very least, she's noticed enough similarities between both instances of losing Zane that her mind is subconsciously projecting them.
Either way, it's safe to say Pixal is almost definitely traumatized from past experiences of watching Zane die. I mean, let's not forget that Zane's fight against the Overlord was, as far as we know, her first real experience with death, and Zane didn't exactly die peacefully.
Another thing to note is that the version of Aspheera in her dreams wasn't trapped in ice, but rather standing freely and unharmed. On the left is how she appeared in Pixal's dream, and on the right is what her actual condition was when she banished Zane.
It could just be an inconsequential dream thing, but idk since we're overanalyzing things here I want to make the comment that it almost erases Zane's conflict with her - how Zane had fought her (and her entire army) and won, and was only banished due to her breaking her arm out of the ice when he had his back turned. But in Pixal's dream, that context is removed, with only Aspheera standing there as powerful as can be, blasting Zane seemingly without prompt.
The reason why this is noteable is that the abyss scene and that singular shot of Aspheera are the only two moments in her dream that aren't exact recordings of the events that transpired. Everything else in her dream is just an exact, near-flawless memory of what happened - except for the abyss scene and the moment when Aspheera blasts Zane. For some reason, Pixal's dream ignored all of Zane's involvement in that fight, and disregarded the fact that Zane had already defeated her.
There are two possible meanings of this:
She views Aspheera as an intimidating individual, and the version of Aspheera in her memory reflects Pixal's feelings about her. She views Aspheera as a strong, formidable, and terrifying opponent. A bogeyman of sorts. Aspheera is Pixal's bogeyman
Pixal is subconsciously victimizing Zane. And yes, he is a victim in this situation - but just moments before his banishment he had successfully incapacitated not just Aspheera but all of her soldiers as well. Her dream not only largely neglects to acknowledge his involvement in the fight itself, but his contributions to Aspheera's defeat - effectively cementing Zane's victim status further into Pixal's mind
With all this in mind, I think it's not unreasonable to say that Pixal, on some unconscious level, views Zane as a victim whose safety she is responsible for. I don't think she has this viewpoint intentionally, and I think Pixal is aware of Zane's competence and respects his merits as a teammate, a hero, and a partner. I'm not making the case that Pixal thinks so little of Zane that he can't stand up for himself.
But I do think that, after years of watching Zane suffer and having to look after him, her experiences have begun to affect her view on not just Zane, but herself as well - with her subconscious hinting to her in subtle ways that Zane is someone she needs to protect, and that his protection is her responsibility.
In a way, I think Pixal views her responsibility for Zane's wellbeing in a similar way that Kai views his responsibility for Nya and Lloyd - you know they're skilled fighters in their own right, and that they can look after themselves, but you will still blame yourself first and foremost if any harm comes to them because you feel like it's your job to protect them.
Anyway, the long and short of it is that Pixal has a savior complex targeted primarily at Zane, deriving from years of trauma involving his repeated deaths and her repeated inability to save him, and in this essay I will -
OMG that is so adorable, I liked the end of season 11 of Ninjago.
“You’re alive!”
Me, and the whole ninjago fandom
Me, ignoring season 11 entirely:
Yeah, I don't want to say that, but WE WERE RIGHT, AHEM
me after zane’s recording, knowing full well zane is alive and the ice emperor probably:
so i've been wondering, has zane been the ice emperor longer than he's been, well... zane? on a side note: rendering ice is difficult >:/
jeez every time i think i'm starting to get over ns11 someone points out some detail like this and it leaves me paralyzed
You ever think about how in "booby traps and how to survive them" clutch says that the last one over the bridge usually doesn't make it? Zane was the last one over the bridge in the pyramid and even though he physically made it over, we all recall what happened to him at the end of the fire chapter
Thinking about post S11 Zane frosting over everything he touches on accident, and eventually learning that his experiences in the never realm have messed with his power to the point where ice forms without his permission. He is always exerting a small amount of effort to keep himself from lowering the temperature of a room, or accidentally freeze himself to his chair
Having Lloyd face off with Ice Emperor Zane instead of Kai-
What are Lloyd and Hellspawn's ages throughout the seasons?
So Lloyd had her about six months before s3, so I headcannon he'd just turned physically 15 then (mentally 11 but in the end, he makes it work)
Rebooted
Lloyd: 15 Hellspawn: 6 months of chaos (& Lloyd almost in tears from stress)
Tournament of Elements
Lloyd: 16 Hellspawn: 13 months (can walk & say two other words than sugar now)
Possession
Lloyd: 16 Hellspawn: 15 months and wondering where the heck her dad went.
Skybound
Lloyd: 17 Hellspawn: A 2 year old menance
Hands of Time
Lloyd: 18 Hellspawn: 3 year old begging to be taught spinjitzu but being told she's too young
Sons of Garmadon, Hunted, MoTo
Lloyd: 19 Hellspawn: 4 year old who wants her dad to stop feeling sad
The Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu & Prime Empire
Lloyd: 20 Hellspawn: 5 (kindergarten is getting fun)
Master of the Mountain
Lloyd: 21 Hellspawn: 6 year old who never expected to end up in an underground whirlpool with a princess, uncle cole & her granduncle. Papa u lie. U said it was a vacation.
The Island & Seabound
Lloyd: 22 Hellspawn: 7 (what happened to aunt nya?)
Crystalized
Lloyd: 23 Hellspawn: 8 year old who wants harumi sent realms away from her dad & left to die
Dragons Rising
Lloyd: 28 (he's somehow very old in her eyes) Hellspawn: 13 year old who won't stop asking her dad how he burned tea after finding out from sora