Kai has been my favorite character since DAY ONE! Was he kind of mid during the wildbrian era? Yea. But thanks to Dragons Rising he’s quickly becoming the GOAT again!
Pairing up Kai with Wyldfyre is probably one of the best decisions made by Ninjago, because it allows Kai to be with someone who’s on the same wavelength as him but also someone that he can teach how to control themselves.
I think it also allows Kai to teach someone who was kinda like his younger self. Cause whenever I see Wildfyre, it feels like having a younger Kai again.
Tbh I always thought of kai's jabs at jay were specifically because he and jay were close and more brotherly in nature (considering they're basically brother in laws)
ngl i think kai shouldn’t have been the green ninja, but still the main character if that makes sense. Also, i was expecting jay or kai to be the most affected after nyas seabound death, considering kai “raised” nya and they were all they had growing up, but he didn’t rlly grieve as much as i though he would be
I like how they portray kia to a degree after nya death because kia was never one to mope around he is the passion of fire. We see him hosting his own karate class, he let go of his ties to the past I would argue at season 7 and he is focused on the present and future not on what he cannot change.
From wanting to be the green ninja to protecting him, from being the angry one to a calm mentor, from very serious to trusting others Kai got the best character development ngl Kai The G.O.A.T!
Yeah, I don't tend to laugh out loud when I watch something but Kai got quite a few chuckles out of me in dragons rising. Him and Wyldfyre together are just such a joy to watch
What kind of funny is that both Lloyd and Skylor started out as characters who were fighting on the side of evil; Lloyd even attended the special school that teaches villainy. So I can see where he's coming from. 🤣
Great video, as always. To me, Kai's always been the "base" Ninja, the most "default" of the bunch, and so at some point, i guess the writers decided that made him the most malleable, which is why he changes so much from era to era. The Jay comedic relief bits specifically felt like they settled on the need for that dynamic FIRST and then wrote Kai to fit it. It honestly would have been better to give that role to Cole, since....he and Jay are supposed to be best friends. That type of teasing would have gone down a little better, because we know how close they are.
Apparently some of Kai being useless can be explained by Tommy Andreasen simply just not liking writing Kai I think. Kai really improved after Tommy left so it might be true
Tommy Andreason didn’t write for ninjago? In fact, his only writing credits in Ninjago were the pilots, which Kai is the undoubtedly main character of. What tf are you on rn bro
@@kastenedwards1217 “I heard a lots of things” lol, lmao. The things Ninjago/Kai stans make up are delusions. Tommy has gone *on record* saying Kai was his favorite. The improvement in writing is simply that. An improvement. Yall need to stop making and spreading rumors about these people, for the love of god.
@@IHATEFAVORITES you don’t even know if it’s a lie or not. Why would people lie about him not liking Kai ? It has nothing to do with them being “Kai Stan’s” lol. I heard a lot of people say he was his least on different videos
Kai was great from s1-7 era (except s4 where he contradicted his s1 growth in season 4), Oni Trilogy took a back seat but still in character and had a few good moments, 11 min era he got derailed into a unfunny comic relief, & then DR came in and made him so great again
I also noticed this change but I feel like Kai’s gotten a lot better thanks to Dragons Rising. I think the ninja that has easily changed for the worst has been Jay. Jay used to be my favorite but current Jay is a completely different character from original Jay. Jay used to be genuinely funny but now he’s just annoying and I hate how high pitched they’ve made his voice. Also I personally never thought Kai was that bad in Skybound. Like ya he is egotistical but he did still have some really good stuff in that season. I love the scene where he makes his 3 wishes with Nadakhan. I think Skybound is one of the most interesting seasons of the entire show. It definitely has flaws, but I also think it does a lot of things very well. Like Skybound finally fixed Jay and Nyas relationship. It wasn’t done perfectly, but I do think in the end it got where it needed to go and I thought it was pretty good. End of Skybound Jay is Jay at his peak. If Skybound was tweaked a bit I genuinely think it would be the best season of the show
the worst things Skybound did, some plot holes with the sword of souls, made Dareth borderline sexist, Nya being selfish in episode 1 (and I don't hate the ending but some do)
ok i need a good explanation for this what did Dragons rising do for kai that im not seeing? ever since P1 of DR S2 everyone told me kai had been fixed, this is peak kai or smth so i watch it and i just see the same good old kai weve had since S8. I dont see any character development that so drastic(not saying this bad at all, i already considered this kai weve had to be my favourite) so is it just the screen time y'all wanted?
@@XRaiden1 it’s more so they are giving him something to do. The Wyldbrain era treated Kai and Zane as the auxiliary characters of the team and focused more on everyone else. While in the case of Cole and Nya, this was a good decision, it still left Kai and Zane on the sidelines. In S2P1 of Dragons Rising, we saw Kai’s fully mature side and him stepping up to be a mentor for Wyldfyre. Kai also being the first to master Rising Dragon technique is also something unique to the season, as he was usually the last to unlock the gimmick power of the season.
3:22 I'm pretty sure Kai meant that he should've been the one to sacrifice himself, not Zane. And it looked like he was dealing with a bit of survivors guilt in this scene because like Zane, his main drive has always been protecting the people closest to him (ex: Nya)
Exactly! I was really surprised when he assumed it was Kai being selfish because even as a 6 year old I saw it as him wishing that he had died instead of Zane
great video, but one point i disagree with strongly! I've always interpreted Kai saying i should have been the one (in regards to Zane) to mean that he thinks he should have been the one to DIE not defeat the overlord. Idk, i just always considered that scene being survivor's guilt as opposed to selfishness.
Yes, it definitely was not out of selfishness. He meant he should have been the one to sacrifice instead of Zane, because he was just missing his friend. He didn't mean it to come across like him stealing the glory, and I'm not sure why so many interpreted it that way. He gets told he doesn't think of anyone else but himself, (which, btw, is also totally false, he always thinks of everyone else, he devotes his whole existence to helping others!) but what about the rest of them? How come Jay, and Cole get to just waltz off like they did, and it's not considered 'selfish' like Kai? Did Kai not ultimately give up wanting to be the green ninja to be in service of protecting Lloyd being that instead? Not a selfish act.
I feel like the same is also apply to Zane. Zane went from a Nindroid who have the heart of a human but after season 5 Zane just feel like the smart/robot guy of the group
Yeah, he is my fav and I miss when he used also to have that poetic, curious, kind and sometimes even childlike side in him, like following a bird because it danced, petting a random fish that it swims by underwater ect. But in the newer seasons it has sometimes felt more like the ninjago movie, where literally his only personality was being a robot
I’ve tried to explain the fact that Kai hasn’t done anything since s7 but like you put it into words perfectly, it’s so weird to see him do nothing despite being the main character
@@theghostwiththemost789 I’m more neutral towards Crystalized. It’s definitely flawed for sure, like how Lloyd, Nya and Harumi were portrayed, and especially the Pacing. But I have found nice things from it, like how Jay likes trains.
@@IsleofPigsStudios there are some things I do like about crystallized but It just does so much wrong that I just can’t like it. I hate basically every episode of it
@@theghostwiththemost789 And that’s fine. You be you. Honestly there are some things that, while I can find positives from, I still hate to the core. The example I point to the most is The Angry Birds Movie 2.
Kai is unhappy with Jay, Jay is in a relationship with nya, nya is Kaj sibling. It's a more interesting dynamic than the common love triangle. ( 10:47 )
11:50 - Now that you mention it, I had a situation like that where I was in Jay's position... I never really saw it like that 'til just now, so that gives me a whole new perspective
I appreciate Kai a lot more because I'm friends with a Kai stan. I also think you can interpret Kai saying 'I should've been the one--" in season four to really bad survivor's guilt. Dragon's Rising also gave Kai his best personality traits back and my friend was really happy once she saw it
The moment I realized the writers had completely given up on Kai's characterization was when they did an entire season dedicated to "fire and ice" and Kai spent the first half of it conked out and the second half powerless. Like what. That was their GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY to make up for 5 seasons of sidelining him, but no. I'm glad Dragons Rising is doing something for him again though but man, that moment when Nya tells him Jay's gone really irked me. Okay, two of his Jay quips are literally in my top 10 funniest ninjago jokes (namely "it should be someone expendable", and "who would want jay!?" "uh, me?") but the rest of them mainly feel uncalled for :(
I actually might have an answer as to why Kai seems to pick on Jay constantly and other times is totally fine with him. I believe Kai has ICD and probably NPD as well, Impulse Control Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The first disorder can cause someone to randomly say mean or critical things about a particular person for no apparent reason. It can be someone who did LITERALLY NOTHING to that person, but they’ll still out of no where make a jab at you. Kai does this to Jay a lot, while other times gets along with him just fine. NPD can come from feeling insecure about yourself and your abilities, it can also come from personal issues. (Which if you think about it… Kai has a LOT of personal issues.) He had to become a mature older brother/parental figure to Nya at the age of FIVE years old when his parents just disappeared! (Assuming that he’s two years older than Nya) That can really mess someone up mentally! As we saw in older seasons, Kai has major anger issues and was obsessed with being the best at everything. These personality traits likely stemmed from being abandoned by his parents, making him feel utterly out of control of his life. Wanting power and to be the Green Ninja was probably, in Kai’s eyes, his way of taking control. But I’m getting off track, we’re talking about why Kai treats Jay the way he does. Well, we could say it might be because he doesn’t approve of Jay being with Nya, BUT if that were true, he would have never tried to help Jay with asking Nya to be his Yang. (Or even approved of the idea) We could also say that Kai just genuinely doesn’t like Jay, but once again-that isn’t true. We see scenes where Kai emotionally supports him and cares about him, (When Nya got captured by the Stone Army and Jay was freaking out, but Kai was the one to help calm him down, or when Jay makes a joke about Prime Empire and Kai high fives him, telling him “good one!”, or when he thought Jay got eaten by the fake Wojira in The Island, he practically freaked out.) Okay so, Kai approves of Jay and cares about him but still makes jabs at him constantly for no reason that at some points definitely go beyond that of “just teasing”. The only clear answer I can think of and said in the beginning is that Kai has ICD and NPD. And these disorders give him the impulse to just randomly pick on somebody unprompted or out of the blue, in this case, Jay. I’m no counselor, but I have an older brother who targets me the same way Kai does with Jay. And even though it gets hurtful at times, he’s been working on it, and I too, have learned to grow a thicker skin and means to just ignore when it happens. I doubt the creators intentionally gave Kai ICD or NPD, but that’s my head-canon as to why Kai and Jay’s relationship is the way it is.
He is definitely not a narcissist. Narcs are incapable of caring about other people, and certainly do not live their life in service of helping others. I should know, I'm a victim of an NPD, and had to become an expert on it. People need to stop using diagnoses of personality disorders so lightly, and forgetting that such people are basically evil. They are not otherwise good people like Kai's character is. Personality disorders don't work like that. They literally cannot feel empathy, and they are empty inside, and only pretend to mask caring emotions. Chen would be an example of a character who is like an NPD. He doesn't even care about his own daughter, just himself. Kai is VERY big hearted, and a fundamentally good person. He's simply confident, he's not even arrogant. He likes to tease Jay, because Jay is his sister's bf, and from day one, Jay started to make Kai uncomfortable with his remarks about Nya. Remember pilots, when Jay said 'Is she hot?' ? And he's just teasing him, he still thinks of Jay as a brother. The teasing is also mostly just for comic relief, and people read too much into it. Jay, and Cole have also done this a lot, not just Kai. They have said some really mean spirited things to each other, and to others.
In terms of the Oni Trilogy, I think Kai just chilled out a bit after he and Nya found their parents and Lloyd took command of the group. Everyone else (besides Lloyd) still feels the same as they did before 2018, which is why we see Kai as being differently written. But he still feels the same in the ways that matter (like when he talks to Wu about confidence in "Hunted"), he's just not as much of a hothead anymore because everything is peaceful for him now. He gets to be a ninja without feeling as responsible for Lloyd or Nya as much as he did in the earlier seasons. Writing wise, it was also clearly a decision to show Lloyd's growth as a leader in SoG. In terms of who he is in Wildbrain, I've kind of blocked it out of my head at this point. My headcannon is that the show we know and love ended with March of the Oni, and it got soft rebooted as Dragons Rising, because he's actually great there and reminds me a lot of who he was in S1.
To me the truth is that Kai has struggled to have any purpose ever since Lloyd fully got into his role of the green ninja which was a long time ago at this point. There are just too many characters and Kai serves no purpose when Lloyd does everything that Kai did beforehand.
There’s a chance that after Jay and Nya get engaged in March of the Oni Kai maybe got jealous that the person who was always there for him and vise versa and now hes been replaced by Jay as her most important person
I actually think Kai has changed the least. Zane has no personality (other than being a robot), Cole, well I'm not even sure why he's my favorite cause he's a completely different character now, and my poor boy Jay is just dumb af
Kai is my favorite Ninja and i thought he was the main character from Pilots-S7 then he fell off after the movie. But luckily Dragons Rising fixed his character and now KAI is Back😁.
One other thing I feel like they did with Kai was that he never got his own season where he never seemed to get the McGuffin of a given season and even when he did he had to share it with someone else. Be it the Weapons in the first season, the weird dragon made with Nya in the time brothers arc, or just him losing his powers, it’s like even in the old days they just decided “he got to be first, he doesn’t need anymore focus” and I personally really hated that because he was my favorite character!
I personally prefer the old Kai, who in my oppinion, has a cooler personallity but I guess they did change him to be more calm in order to give him a good character development. Kai could not just be a hothead all his life and since they grew up this had to be done somehow. I still hate, as you said, that they made him dumb and like so random when he was the main character in the Pilot season, of course that was released a long time ago and then Lloyd came in and everything changed for him...
Man I haven't watched this show in years but I had so much respect for Kai when he was willing to 1v1 Morro out of his unending love for his brother Lloyd.
Kai was never really my favorite character but after dragons rising he became one of my favorite character in dragons rising kai is much more mature than before he’s become a great mentor for wildfire I love how we get more of him with Nya that’s great and in season 2 part 1 one of my favorite scene of Kai is when he gets trap and he willing to be trap in there, possibly forever just so he keep his sister and his friends safe that scene is so good and when he learn rising dragon to I just love Kai in dragons rising he’s so good
I did notice the difference in Kai because I rewatch the original series several times and then when I watched the new Ninjago series including Dragon rises. I noticed that his behavior has changed from being just a general hothead to an a-hole
Im with you on Kai being unnecessarily mean to Jay and it being infuriating. However, that line in DR S2 over the phone didn't bother me as much. I think it has a lot to do with other character's reactions. This sounds like a reach but hear me out. Pre-DR, the Jay jabs are either 1) ignored by everyone except Nya who gets mad (really gives the vibe of *that* one annoying guy who has a weird one-sided vendetta against one person); 2) other ppl add unto the insults (mostly cole) and it feels like needless bullying. During that scene with Nya though, after Kai jabbed at Jay, she rolled her eyes and smiled. It gave more "big brother teasing to lighten the mood" vibe. I feel like if they want to keep up the teasing big brother vibes from Kai, they've got to show that it doesn't bother Jay that much or maybe Jay can even fight back playfully so it signals to us viewers that it's all fun and good.
Kai is Jay good friends. But Jay is also with Nya Kai little sister. Si maybe he some times try to be that over protecting brother. But cant do that becaus Jay is his bro so he bullied him little bit.
i think kais sudden change was just him groaing older, there were many time jumps in between. and kai and jays relationship is kinda too far bc of kai insulting him, but i think they both know it's usually a joke
At first Kai was my favorite character, but later in the seasons of the original cartoon it went worse for him. yes, a lot of things were still in character, but it was like he went back in time and everything he learned in the previous seasons, he just forgot to return back to his old self. I havent seen all of dragons rising, but I think with wildfyre he can have great moments, he can learn a lot, can help a lot and he can grow.
What I heard often and also believe myself, is that Kai makes fun of Jay, exactly because he's with Nya. On one had, Jay is Kai's buddy, that he makes fun of. On the other hand, it's a guy, that's screwing his little sister, so I kinda get, why he goes out of his way to make fun of him, or just insult him
I Honestly didn’t notice a change, and when I have, I didn’t see it as drastic 🤷 And I was bummed about Kai a little MIA, in dragons rising, but this show is really focusing on Arin and Sora Great Video though! 🔥🔥🔥
Kai was flanderized when Lloyd became older, in seasons 1-2 he was the wise one, though the worst of it came season 6 onwards. Love how he’s handled in DR
Anyone who says that Kai dislike Jay bcs he's dating his sister it's just SO wrong and do not make sense considering that he's already supportive of their relationship now. FFS KAI DO NOT OWN NYA CMON GUYS.
7:19 "Because now.. Kai is just boring !" I'M CRYING 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Kai's isn't boring, he's funny, and courageous, and beautiful, and important, and lovable, and great, and good looking, and cute, and sweet, and hotheaded, and loyal, and trustful, and red, and fiyah, and a great brother, and an awesome man, and a great friend, most importantly, he got my heart 🙏😍🥰
What do you think of Kai?
He's evolved from being a hot head (pun intended) to a mature young adult
He's my favorite character
his development in dr is cool
@@NinjaColeYT He’s a stupid little guy, but he’s MY stupid little guy.
Kai has been my favorite character since DAY ONE! Was he kind of mid during the wildbrian era? Yea. But thanks to Dragons Rising he’s quickly becoming the GOAT again!
From Angry boi to Peacefull teacher boi who gotten control of his anger.....now thats called character devlopment
Like Zuko from last airbender?
@@TheDetective-s8u zukos was good tho, kais was just all of a sudden
@@ssuperman123 I think they had almost identical character development characteristics.
And he's kinda silly too
Yeah but I miss when he was a angry boy
Pairing up Kai with Wyldfyre is probably one of the best decisions made by Ninjago, because it allows Kai to be with someone who’s on the same wavelength as him but also someone that he can teach how to control themselves.
I think it also allows Kai to teach someone who was kinda like his younger self. Cause whenever I see Wildfyre, it feels like having a younger Kai again.
real
Kai didn’t get a dedicated arc❎
The entire show pre-Dragons Rising was Kai’s arc✅
Exactly!
Tournament of Elements is Kai's season, after all he won the tournament
😂😂 Kai only had 3 seasons about him after that he was pretty irrelevant
?
Nobody won the Tournament except for Chen technically.
@@SLYNE-kx8dbwhat Seasons did he get the most focused in??
“Jay is guilty of war crimes”
Literally the next sentence: “These examples aren’t negative.”
Thought no one was gonna mention it 😂😂
Yeah because it’s awesome
Heheheh
War crimes aren’t negative
Tbh I always thought of kai's jabs at jay were specifically because he and jay were close and more brotherly in nature (considering they're basically brother in laws)
well yea, but it's a bit much sometimes. I have several younger brothers but I still recognise when I might say something that would hurt them.
"You're both too valuable to risk. It should be someone expendable, like Jay."
I honestly think that it’s a little bit of jealousy. Nya spends all of her time with Jay. Maybe Kai feels left out?
@@thegameguy429 nah
@@amazingboi9388 there’s nothing here to respond to. Care to explain your opinion more
ngl i think kai shouldn’t have been the green ninja, but still the main character if that makes sense. Also, i was expecting jay or kai to be the most affected after nyas seabound death, considering kai “raised” nya and they were all they had growing up, but he didn’t rlly grieve as much as i though he would be
I like how they portray kia to a degree after nya death because kia was never one to mope around he is the passion of fire. We see him hosting his own karate class, he let go of his ties to the past I would argue at season 7 and he is focused on the present and future not on what he cannot change.
It is true they didn't really show his grief, but he did mention to Wildfire, that he got Wu to help him with it.
Kinda like a gojo and yuji thing that could have worked and probably would have been best for the show
"Of course I'm at the hospital. My hair is sick" - Kai in Skybound
Jay beat Kai in Uno offscreen trust.
Sounds legit
Seems believable
The most probable theory
Most likely
As a kai fan I can see this happening and it would be kinda funny to watch
3:37 Kai’s arm clips into his body, never noticed that till now
Wtf it did
I wont be able to unsee it now
From wanting to be the green ninja to protecting him, from being the angry one to a calm mentor, from very serious to trusting others Kai got the best character development ngl Kai The G.O.A.T!
Couldn't say it better myself
Just my Zuko MY GOATS
Kai is one of the best things about dragon's rising
You can say that again Kai is awesome and dragons rising
Agreed
Yeah, I don't tend to laugh out loud when I watch something but Kai got quite a few chuckles out of me in dragons rising. Him and Wyldfyre together are just such a joy to watch
@@deella.3339 yeah kai and wyldfyre are amazing duo
5:50 His logic of “my dad is evil therefore I must be evil” is hilarious
And the fact that he says that i front of Skylor, you know the girl with the evil dad
The fact he says that as someone friends with the son of garmeddon
What kind of funny is that both Lloyd and Skylor started out as characters who were fighting on the side of evil; Lloyd even attended the special school that teaches villainy. So I can see where he's coming from. 🤣
Great video, as always. To me, Kai's always been the "base" Ninja, the most "default" of the bunch, and so at some point, i guess the writers decided that made him the most malleable, which is why he changes so much from era to era. The Jay comedic relief bits specifically felt like they settled on the need for that dynamic FIRST and then wrote Kai to fit it. It honestly would have been better to give that role to Cole, since....he and Jay are supposed to be best friends. That type of teasing would have gone down a little better, because we know how close they are.
5:03 "to make the legend of Zelda tears of the kingdom Lego edition-" OMG I'm dying. 😂😂😂
As a huge Zelda fan I appreciated it 😂
@@BillyBobJoe14 same
Apparently some of Kai being useless can be explained by Tommy Andreasen simply just not liking writing Kai I think. Kai really improved after Tommy left so it might be true
Kinda f up if you think about it
Tommy Andreason didn’t write for ninjago? In fact, his only writing credits in Ninjago were the pilots, which Kai is the undoubtedly main character of. What tf are you on rn bro
@@IHATEFAVORITES I heard a lot of things about tommy and that his least favorite character was Kai, so idk honestly
@@kastenedwards1217 “I heard a lots of things” lol, lmao. The things Ninjago/Kai stans make up are delusions. Tommy has gone *on record* saying Kai was his favorite. The improvement in writing is simply that. An improvement. Yall need to stop making and spreading rumors about these people, for the love of god.
@@IHATEFAVORITES you don’t even know if it’s a lie or not. Why would people lie about him not liking Kai ? It has nothing to do with them being “Kai Stan’s” lol. I heard a lot of people say he was his least on different videos
I feel like dragons rising really help his character growth specifically with his relationship with Wyldfyre
I really like how kai is handled in dragons rising as he's clearly matured and become a better person and is still really cool
Finally someone talking about how much better Kai was in crystalised.
Dragons rising has given Kai great character development 👏
I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY HOPE JAY AND KAI WILL HAVE A MOMENT IN SEASON 3 INSTEAD OF NYA AND JAY, CAUSE THEY NEED A STRONGGER BOUND🛐
totally agreed!😊
on my knees praying its kai or cole who do something to get his memories back instead of just like, him and nya kiss and wow he remebers
The RGB Siblings got the best character development.
So true
Kai was great from s1-7 era (except s4 where he contradicted his s1 growth in season 4), Oni Trilogy took a back seat but still in character and had a few good moments, 11 min era he got derailed into a unfunny comic relief, & then DR came in and made him so great again
I also noticed this change but I feel like Kai’s gotten a lot better thanks to Dragons Rising. I think the ninja that has easily changed for the worst has been Jay. Jay used to be my favorite but current Jay is a completely different character from original Jay. Jay used to be genuinely funny but now he’s just annoying and I hate how high pitched they’ve made his voice. Also I personally never thought Kai was that bad in Skybound. Like ya he is egotistical but he did still have some really good stuff in that season. I love the scene where he makes his 3 wishes with Nadakhan. I think Skybound is one of the most interesting seasons of the entire show. It definitely has flaws, but I also think it does a lot of things very well. Like Skybound finally fixed Jay and Nyas relationship. It wasn’t done perfectly, but I do think in the end it got where it needed to go and I thought it was pretty good. End of Skybound Jay is Jay at his peak. If Skybound was tweaked a bit I genuinely think it would be the best season of the show
the worst things Skybound did, some plot holes with the sword of souls, made Dareth borderline sexist, Nya being selfish in episode 1 (and I don't hate the ending but some do)
Yea skybound could of been a better season but it definitely wouldn’t be the best or close at all
ok i need a good explanation for this what did Dragons rising do for kai that im not seeing? ever since P1 of DR S2 everyone told me kai had been fixed, this is peak kai or smth so i watch it and i just see the same good old kai weve had since S8. I dont see any character development that so drastic(not saying this bad at all, i already considered this kai weve had to be my favourite) so is it just the screen time y'all wanted?
@@XRaiden1 it’s more so they are giving him something to do. The Wyldbrain era treated Kai and Zane as the auxiliary characters of the team and focused more on everyone else. While in the case of Cole and Nya, this was a good decision, it still left Kai and Zane on the sidelines. In S2P1 of Dragons Rising, we saw Kai’s fully mature side and him stepping up to be a mentor for Wyldfyre. Kai also being the first to master Rising Dragon technique is also something unique to the season, as he was usually the last to unlock the gimmick power of the season.
I don't remember Kai, at all in skybound, he was missing practically the whole season
3:22 I'm pretty sure Kai meant that he should've been the one to sacrifice himself, not Zane. And it looked like he was dealing with a bit of survivors guilt in this scene because like Zane, his main drive has always been protecting the people closest to him (ex: Nya)
yess for real! i dont think he was being selfish here, he had survivors guilt. He literally said he wanted to be the one dying instead of zane.
Exactly! I was really surprised when he assumed it was Kai being selfish because even as a 6 year old I saw it as him wishing that he had died instead of Zane
0:23 you forgot Cole is Alive. but *Gay*
Nah hes not gay
EXCELLENT WORK. NINJACOLE KAI CHARACTER
No he's not
🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
@@EugeneMaryniuk don't worry he's not gay
great video, but one point i disagree with strongly! I've always interpreted Kai saying i should have been the one (in regards to Zane) to mean that he thinks he should have been the one to DIE not defeat the overlord. Idk, i just always considered that scene being survivor's guilt as opposed to selfishness.
Yes, it definitely was not out of selfishness. He meant he should have been the one to sacrifice instead of Zane, because he was just missing his friend. He didn't mean it to come across like him stealing the glory, and I'm not sure why so many interpreted it that way. He gets told he doesn't think of anyone else but himself, (which, btw, is also totally false, he always thinks of everyone else, he devotes his whole existence to helping others!) but what about the rest of them? How come Jay, and Cole get to just waltz off like they did, and it's not considered 'selfish' like Kai? Did Kai not ultimately give up wanting to be the green ninja to be in service of protecting Lloyd being that instead? Not a selfish act.
I feel like the same is also apply to Zane. Zane went from a Nindroid who have the heart of a human but after season 5 Zane just feel like the smart/robot guy of the group
Yeah, he is my fav and I miss when he used also to have that poetic, curious, kind and sometimes even childlike side in him, like following a bird because it danced, petting a random fish that it swims by underwater ect. But in the newer seasons it has sometimes felt more like the ninjago movie, where literally his only personality was being a robot
I’ve tried to explain the fact that Kai hasn’t done anything since s7 but like you put it into words perfectly, it’s so weird to see him do nothing despite being the main character
14:45 THAT WAS INSANE😭
FR
12:31 - 12:34 He’s got a point. I don’t call Crystalized “Controversialized” for nothing.
Ya crystallized is by far the most hated season of the show and I would say for pretty good reason. I despise crystallized💀
@@theghostwiththemost789 I’m more neutral towards Crystalized. It’s definitely flawed for sure, like how Lloyd, Nya and Harumi were portrayed, and especially the Pacing. But I have found nice things from it, like how Jay likes trains.
@@IsleofPigsStudios there are some things I do like about crystallized but It just does so much wrong that I just can’t like it. I hate basically every episode of it
@@theghostwiththemost789 And that’s fine. You be you. Honestly there are some things that, while I can find positives from, I still hate to the core. The example I point to the most is The Angry Birds Movie 2.
@@IsleofPigsStudios huh, that’s a new one. Why that movie?
9:51 kai probably saw jay slamdunk on his sister
Kia found out that Jay has NSFW materiel of his sister so after being scared by those images decided to make jays life hell on earth.
Kai is unhappy with Jay, Jay is in a relationship with nya, nya is Kaj sibling. It's a more interesting dynamic than the common love triangle. ( 10:47 )
"Jay is gonna be guilty of war crimes" caught me off guard 😂😂😂
Fr
From jealous of the green ninja to being protector and guardian of the green ninja has to be my favorite part of kai’s character
11:50 - Now that you mention it, I had a situation like that where I was in Jay's position... I never really saw it like that 'til just now, so that gives me a whole new perspective
Kai's line about inheriting evil is WILD coming from someone who knows Lloyd personally.
Well that intro was well explained from teenage boy to war crimes
“Lloyd is no longer a kid in a teenager’s body”
Yes he’s a teen in an adult’s body now
Fortunately Kai seems to be on the right track in Dragons Rising. Unlike Zane and Jay.
Bruh don't you get it jay is getting a characther arc
@@Ruben99677 tru
I think they are trying to fix Zane's character development?
@@IsleofPigsStudios🤓🙃
@@Ruben99677 Yes but Evil Jay was like Oni Lloyd - completely wasted
6:29 Kai just slides into frame is funny and I can’t unsee it 😂
I appreciate Kai a lot more because I'm friends with a Kai stan. I also think you can interpret Kai saying 'I should've been the one--" in season four to really bad survivor's guilt. Dragon's Rising also gave Kai his best personality traits back and my friend was really happy once she saw it
“Jay is gonna be guilty of war crimes got me laughing” 😂😂😂
The moment I realized the writers had completely given up on Kai's characterization was when they did an entire season dedicated to "fire and ice" and Kai spent the first half of it conked out and the second half powerless. Like what. That was their GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY to make up for 5 seasons of sidelining him, but no.
I'm glad Dragons Rising is doing something for him again though but man, that moment when Nya tells him Jay's gone really irked me. Okay, two of his Jay quips are literally in my top 10 funniest ninjago jokes (namely "it should be someone expendable", and "who would want jay!?" "uh, me?") but the rest of them mainly feel uncalled for :(
I actually might have an answer as to why Kai seems to pick on Jay constantly and other times is totally fine with him.
I believe Kai has ICD and probably NPD as well, Impulse Control Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The first disorder can cause someone to randomly say mean or critical things about a particular person for no apparent reason. It can be someone who did LITERALLY NOTHING to that person, but they’ll still out of no where make a jab at you. Kai does this to Jay a lot, while other times gets along with him just fine. NPD can come from feeling insecure about yourself and your abilities, it can also come from personal issues. (Which if you think about it…
Kai has a LOT of personal issues.) He had to become a mature older brother/parental figure to Nya at the age of FIVE years old when his parents just disappeared! (Assuming that he’s two years older than Nya) That can really mess someone up mentally!
As we saw in older seasons, Kai has major anger issues and was obsessed with being the best at everything. These personality traits likely stemmed from being abandoned by his parents, making him feel utterly out of control of his life. Wanting power and to be the Green Ninja was probably, in Kai’s eyes, his way of taking control.
But I’m getting off track, we’re talking about why Kai treats Jay the way he does.
Well, we could say it might be because he doesn’t approve of Jay being with Nya, BUT if that were true, he would have never tried to help Jay with asking Nya to be his Yang. (Or even approved of the idea)
We could also say that Kai just genuinely doesn’t like Jay, but once again-that isn’t true.
We see scenes where Kai emotionally supports him and cares about him, (When Nya got captured by the Stone Army and Jay was freaking out, but Kai was the one to help calm him down, or when Jay makes a joke about Prime Empire and Kai high fives him, telling him “good one!”, or when he thought Jay got eaten by the fake Wojira in The Island, he practically freaked out.)
Okay so, Kai approves of Jay and cares about him but still makes jabs at him constantly for no reason that at some points definitely go beyond that of “just teasing”.
The only clear answer I can think of and said in the beginning is that Kai has ICD and NPD.
And these disorders give him the impulse to just randomly pick on somebody unprompted or out of the blue, in this case, Jay.
I’m no counselor, but I have an older brother who targets me the same way Kai does with Jay.
And even though it gets hurtful at times, he’s been working on it, and I too, have learned to grow a thicker skin and means to just ignore when it happens. I doubt the creators intentionally gave Kai ICD or NPD, but that’s my head-canon as to why Kai and Jay’s relationship is the way it is.
He is definitely not a narcissist. Narcs are incapable of caring about other people, and certainly do not live their life in service of helping others. I should know, I'm a victim of an NPD, and had to become an expert on it. People need to stop using diagnoses of personality disorders so lightly, and forgetting that such people are basically evil. They are not otherwise good people like Kai's character is. Personality disorders don't work like that. They literally cannot feel empathy, and they are empty inside, and only pretend to mask caring emotions. Chen would be an example of a character who is like an NPD. He doesn't even care about his own daughter, just himself. Kai is VERY big hearted, and a fundamentally good person. He's simply confident, he's not even arrogant. He likes to tease Jay, because Jay is his sister's bf, and from day one, Jay started to make Kai uncomfortable with his remarks about Nya. Remember pilots, when Jay said 'Is she hot?' ? And he's just teasing him, he still thinks of Jay as a brother. The teasing is also mostly just for comic relief, and people read too much into it. Jay, and Cole have also done this a lot, not just Kai. They have said some really mean spirited things to each other, and to others.
In terms of the Oni Trilogy, I think Kai just chilled out a bit after he and Nya found their parents and Lloyd took command of the group. Everyone else (besides Lloyd) still feels the same as they did before 2018, which is why we see Kai as being differently written. But he still feels the same in the ways that matter (like when he talks to Wu about confidence in "Hunted"), he's just not as much of a hothead anymore because everything is peaceful for him now. He gets to be a ninja without feeling as responsible for Lloyd or Nya as much as he did in the earlier seasons. Writing wise, it was also clearly a decision to show Lloyd's growth as a leader in SoG.
In terms of who he is in Wildbrain, I've kind of blocked it out of my head at this point. My headcannon is that the show we know and love ended with March of the Oni, and it got soft rebooted as Dragons Rising, because he's actually great there and reminds me a lot of who he was in S1.
The reason I love dragons rising so much is that my childhood favorite has been the MVP of the show
To me the truth is that Kai has struggled to have any purpose ever since Lloyd fully got into his role of the green ninja which was a long time ago at this point. There are just too many characters and Kai serves no purpose when Lloyd does everything that Kai did beforehand.
This is an excellent analysis of how Kai changed throughout the franchise up to now! Also, I appreciated your clean sense of humor.
We all knew kai was the strongest out of all the ninjas coming in second
ngl kai is getting the gojo treatement 😭🙏
hope they don't off himself tho..
Kai is alive
Gojo is died
Doc Wyatt it's Kai no died, ninjago legacy is Kai
@@LoubnaHindi Ik but gojo got put inside a box js like Kai 😭🙏
Huh? I dont understand what you mean
“Jays gonna be guilty of war crimes” LMAO
There’s a chance that after Jay and Nya get engaged in March of the Oni Kai maybe got jealous that the person who was always there for him and vise versa and now hes been replaced by Jay as her most important person
I actually think Kai has changed the least. Zane has no personality (other than being a robot), Cole, well I'm not even sure why he's my favorite cause he's a completely different character now, and my poor boy Jay is just dumb af
Yeah they’ve all gotten more watered down
imo dragons rising has started to remedy this with season 2 part 1 which is awesome
That is where they really started to focus on him, but they did start to remedy it a little in season one part two when he was with Wildfire
Kai is my favorite Ninja and i thought he was the main character from Pilots-S7 then he fell off after the movie. But luckily Dragons Rising fixed his character and now KAI is Back😁.
Heck yeah!
as and elder brother, Kais behaviour around Nia has been very consistent with that role, especially in the clip you showed at the end.
One other thing I feel like they did with Kai was that he never got his own season where he never seemed to get the McGuffin of a given season and even when he did he had to share it with someone else. Be it the Weapons in the first season, the weird dragon made with Nya in the time brothers arc, or just him losing his powers, it’s like even in the old days they just decided “he got to be first, he doesn’t need anymore focus” and I personally really hated that because he was my favorite character!
"jay is going to be guilty of war crimes" IDK why but that got me
I personally prefer the old Kai, who in my oppinion, has a cooler personallity but I guess they did change him to be more calm in order to give him a good character development. Kai could not just be a hothead all his life and since they grew up this had to be done somehow. I still hate, as you said, that they made him dumb and like so random when he was the main character in the Pilot season, of course that was released a long time ago and then Lloyd came in and everything changed for him...
4:07 I ain’t gonna lie, my boy was tarnished this season. ( He had his moments, but this was this was a dark time)
Kai did good development in dragon rising s1 to 2
“We need someone expendable, like jay”
Watched this while building Ninjago city gardens
Man I haven't watched this show in years but I had so much respect for Kai when he was willing to 1v1 Morro out of his unending love for his brother Lloyd.
10:08 it's even worse cause Jay is engaged to Nya. My question is: when does someone (likely Nya) put Kai in his place?
Kai was never really my favorite character but after dragons rising he became one of my favorite character in dragons rising kai is much more mature than before he’s become a great mentor for wildfire I love how we get more of him with Nya that’s great and in season 2 part 1 one of my favorite scene of Kai is when he gets trap and he willing to be trap in there, possibly forever just so he keep his sister and his friends safe that scene is so good and when he learn rising dragon to I just love Kai in dragons rising he’s so good
It makes sense that kai is a different person than he was when he was a teenager
I think that Kai had his moments of just not being himself in the wild seasons, but now he’s more hotheaded in Ninjago Dragons Rising.
"Jay is going to commit war crimes" lolll
Can we talk about how Kai was sidelined from having a season ment for him, like everyone from the old cast had a season focused on them except for kai
He shares his seasons with Nya and Zane
I think Dragons Rising Kai is the best version of the character
Gotta hold off this video until I finish Season 2 Part 2
the brother in law beef is real
Hehe
I did notice the difference in Kai because I rewatch the original series several times and then when I watched the new Ninjago series including Dragon rises. I noticed that his behavior has changed from being just a general hothead to an a-hole
Lloyd is now a teenager in an adults body!!!!
Im with you on Kai being unnecessarily mean to Jay and it being infuriating. However, that line in DR S2 over the phone didn't bother me as much. I think it has a lot to do with other character's reactions. This sounds like a reach but hear me out.
Pre-DR, the Jay jabs are either 1) ignored by everyone except Nya who gets mad (really gives the vibe of *that* one annoying guy who has a weird one-sided vendetta against one person); 2) other ppl add unto the insults (mostly cole) and it feels like needless bullying.
During that scene with Nya though, after Kai jabbed at Jay, she rolled her eyes and smiled. It gave more "big brother teasing to lighten the mood" vibe. I feel like if they want to keep up the teasing big brother vibes from Kai, they've got to show that it doesn't bother Jay that much or maybe Jay can even fight back playfully so it signals to us viewers that it's all fun and good.
How was kai being "unnecessarily" mean to jay when in truth, I dint think he was at all
He help jay with nya so it’s just playing around
9:50 the Reason why Kai hates Jay COULD BE because he married his sister😅
Kai is mad at jay for dating his sister 😂😂😊
Honestly, I thought of them as teenagers so that didn't really seem weird to me. That kai was over the place with his emotions.
In like 12:36 when jay said “Like how good I’m gonna look in green” I thought it was you that said it
Kai is Jay good friends. But Jay is also with Nya Kai little sister. Si maybe he some times try to be that over protecting brother. But cant do that becaus Jay is his bro so he bullied him little bit.
He became the geckle leader, is that significant?
i think kais sudden change was just him groaing older, there were many time jumps in between. and kai and jays relationship is kinda too far bc of kai insulting him, but i think they both know it's usually a joke
9:17 lol so true actually 💀
And Kai is just one of the few characters who had a good character development in dragons rising
Jay fr going to be guilty for war crimes
This was so beyond excellent. Really well thought out and explained.
At first Kai was my favorite character, but later in the seasons of the original cartoon it went worse for him. yes, a lot of things were still in character, but it was like he went back in time and everything he learned in the previous seasons, he just forgot to return back to his old self. I havent seen all of dragons rising, but I think with wildfyre he can have great moments, he can learn a lot, can help a lot and he can grow.
What I heard often and also believe myself, is that Kai makes fun of Jay, exactly because he's with Nya. On one had, Jay is Kai's buddy, that he makes fun of. On the other hand, it's a guy, that's screwing his little sister, so I kinda get, why he goes out of his way to make fun of him, or just insult him
11:12 is that my boi tear of grace?
Probably one of my favourite of your videos if more amazing ones aren’t already planned 😭
11:50
Wakko from animaniacs: No! I'm Wakko!!!!
Everyone confused
Wakko starts singing the US song.
Anyone else noticed that most of the time his hairstyles corresponds with his personality
I Honestly didn’t notice a change, and when I have, I didn’t see it as drastic 🤷
And I was bummed about Kai a little MIA, in dragons rising, but this show is really focusing on Arin and Sora
Great Video though! 🔥🔥🔥
Kai was flanderized when Lloyd became older, in seasons 1-2 he was the wise one, though the worst of it came season 6 onwards. Love how he’s handled in DR
0:30 I’m sorry but jay is what
Anyone who says that Kai dislike Jay bcs he's dating his sister it's just SO wrong and do not make sense considering that he's already supportive of their relationship now. FFS KAI DO NOT OWN NYA CMON GUYS.
Kai tryed to kill Ray that one time
7:19 "Because now.. Kai is just boring !" I'M CRYING 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Kai's isn't boring, he's funny, and courageous, and beautiful, and important, and lovable, and great, and good looking, and cute, and sweet, and hotheaded, and loyal, and trustful, and red, and fiyah, and a great brother, and an awesome man, and a great friend, most importantly, he got my heart 🙏😍🥰
9:59 Jays with his sister LOL