Pondering About How Kai Has Made His Power A Part Of His Identity So Much That It’s Become A Point

sibling shenanigans

[id: it is a comic of Nya, Kai and Lloyd from Ninjago. In the first image, Nya is walking towards a couch, looking exhausted. She then throws herself onto the couch, landing face first. As she lays there, Kai peeks in from the side before throwing himself over the couch and on top of Nya, falling on his back. Lloyd then peeks in from the other side, smiling, as Kai looks up at him from where he is laying on top of Nya. Lloyd then throws himself, grinning, belly first and with his arms extended over both Kai and Nya, Kai scoots backwards and looks at Lloyd with wide eyes while Nya’s face, also wide-eyed, is peeking out from between Kai’s feet. The last image is of Lloyd, mumbling a “sorry”, laying on top of Nya with his arms resting curled on her back, Nya is once again face down and she is clenching her fist in pain while Kai is laying on her legs, leaning back on the armrest with one arm on the back rest of the couch, amused./ end id ]

do you guys remember in the beginning /middle of ninjago we would rarely see cole but in the recent seasons he finally has the spotlight he deserves

we all know out of every ninja he had one of the BEST self centered season like master of the mountain (season 13) was absolutely AMAZING and cole SLAYED like the king he is and just <333333

our beloved our king how could anyone hate him

also I feel like people always underestimate cole and his power like kid is the master of EARTH you do realize he can split the earth open or crush your skull right but he would probably choose to hug you instead

So ninjago finally ended. Had to make a quick sketch to celebrate since I've been following the show for nearly a decade now. Congrats to it for being the first franchise I ever remember making fanart of.

Kai Version: Isn’t it so incredibly interesting how both smith siblings handled their trauma in drastically different ways?

Kai  has low self esteem/self worth (depends on people, powers, and statements to determine his value), constantly needs to prove himself, and is immensely dependent on external validation (his obsession social media is a prime example of this). He invalidates himself, dismissing his emotions/feelings, and needs regular reassurance (tendency to blame out-of-control situations on himself, likely derived from the mindset that his parents purposely left him because he wasn’t good enough, and i’ll bet my soul he stayed awake  nights wondering that if nya was firstborn, would his parents still leave?) .

His fear of being useless is also likely derived from that same mindset and as such he portrays himself through a cocky/prideful ‘persona’. This is false portrayal of himself, simply to appear stronger in the eyes of others, because if others think he’s of value they won’t leave him, because with or without this ‘mask’ not even he knows who is truly is.

He tends to dissociate during emotionally intense/overwhelming situations, or go into a state shock/confusion. He developed unhealthy coping mechanisms (violently self destructive) with situations regarding loss and grief. All of these things are results of and/or mechanisms he developed from his childhood trauma.

but. despite everything i’ve written above.  he loves nya. raised her. protects/supports her. took lloyd under his wing. he loves lloyd. throws heaps of physical affection towards cole. he loves cole. accepted jay as a brother in law, was so supportive of jaya and helped jay in proposing. he loves jay. makes things fun for zane, reassures him. he loves zane. showed master wu to believe in himself. he loves wu. he loves his entire team and expresses it in ways that value each of them individually. he makes friends with dragons. he loves dragons. he taught/worked with kids. he loves kids. despite what the disappearance of his parents did to him and nya, despite nya’s refusal to show her parents love (valid, btw) kai loved maya. he loved ray.  he loved his parents all over again, he loved his parents again so easily. he loved and loves and keeps loving.

trauma gave him self-destructive mechanisms. trauma instilled insecurity in him. trauma took away his sense of self worth. trauma emptied him of self-love. trauma stole his sense of identity. but kai held on to the ability to protect others, to care for others, to help others. he held them close to his chest. because like hell he’d let his trauma take that.

kai refused to let trauma strip his ability to love. his ability to love is unmatched.

Inspired by this post:

https://sugarglider-s.tumblr.com/post/692022087001473024/every-single-day-of-my-life-i-think-about-how-kai

Id like to think Kai and Wu are both the shortest members of the team and kinda have a dynamic similar to Edward and Pinako from FMA - that is, constantly mocking each other for being short despite being short themselves

STOP THIS IS EVERYTHINGGG

HEART EYES

Lloyd looking for his next victim >:) 

Sibling judgment

Cole: "you two are so short. what do you see down there?"

Kai: "your IQ"

Jay: "HA, good one"