Day of the Departed


 * Were you looking for the holiday or the song?

Day of the Departed is a LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu TV special. It is preceded by Season 6 and is followed by Season 7. Cole was the focus Ninja, Yang served as the main antagonist, and the ghost students and the past villains were the villainous faction of the TV special. A teaser featuring the opening scene was released on August 18, 2016, while the official trailer was released on September 30, 2016. Day of the Departed aired on October 29, 2016 in the United States. It follows the Ninja as they commemorate their ancestors and fallen friends on a sacred holiday. During this, Master Yang manipulates Cole into ushering in the return of the Ninjas' arch-enemies—forcing them into an unexpected and dangerous conflict.

An alternate version of the episode was released on January 31, 2017 for several other countries such as China. This version is not in English and was produced by a different company than the original TV series. While it mostly focuses on the same plot, there are some differences that set it apart from the English version.

Official Description
''When Cole returns to Yang's haunted temple to seek revenge on the former Airjitzu Master who turned him into a ghost, he accidentally uses a powerful Dark Magic blade that unleashes the spectral forms of Ninjago's greatest villains and traps himself in the temple! While Cole battles for his freedom, the Ninja must return their ghostly foes to the Departed Realm before they gain the power to remain in Ninjago forever!''

Plot
On the Day of the Departed, the Ninja hurriedly travel across the Sea of Sand, en-route to the Ninjago Museum of History. Upon their arrival, Wu reminds them of the holiday's significance: for remembering fallen ancestors and cherishing family. Dr. Saunders arrives, greeting Wu and the Ninja before presenting the museum's new exhibit, the Hall of Villainy, which houses life-sized mannequins of the major villains fought by the Ninja over the years, as well as a plaque describing the rare Yin-Yang Lunar Eclipse. Cole finds a painting of Master Yang, as well as the Yin Blade, which is on display. Cole calls out to Saunders and asks what the weapon is, but realizes nobody is paying attention to him. Cole hears Yang's voice imploring him to "close the circle." Realizing he's fading away as one of the departed, Cole takes the Yin Blade and sets off to face Yang.

The Ninja divide for their own personal memorials: Lloyd and Misako commemorate Garmadon at the Corridor of Elders; Kai and Nya remember their mother and father at their blacksmith shop; Zane remembers his father in Birchwood Forest; Jay spends time with his mom and dad at their junkyard; and Wu goes to the old monastery to remember his father. Realizing everyone is out celebrating, Ronin decides to steal from the deserted houses. Cole arrives at Yang's Temple, which is still floating in the sky. Cole confronts Yang, who he attempts to strike with the Yin Blade but misses, instead smashing it into an orb.

Consequently, the Departed Realm is opened, and the spirits of the Ninjas' old enemies escape while Cole is detained by Yang's students. The spirits possess five of the six mannequins in the Hall of Villainy, bringing them to life. Speaking through a painting, Yang tells the villains they can remain in Ninjago by slaying the Ninja that defeated them. Pythor then enters the museum and joins the villains as they discuss who to go after. Chen chooses to go after Kai and Nya, Pythor chooses Lloyd, Cryptor chooses Zane, Morro chooses Wu, and Kozu chooses Dareth, which leaves Samukai with facing Jay. Pythor proposes they gather reinforcements from the Hall of Sidekicks to better have the chance of defeating their enemies.

Cole is imprisoned in Yang's temple, where he learns of Yang's history. Yang taught his students to master Airjitzu, and around this time he found the Yin Blade, which contains enough dark magic to imbue immortality. Yang tested the blade on himself, but its powers backfired, turning him and his students into ghosts and defacing his temple. Yang then reveals to Cole that he plans to use the Yin Blade to tear open the Rift of Return to revive himself, while the revived villains distract the Ninja so they won't thwart his plans as Cole realizes his friends are in danger because of him.

At that moment, the villains begin their attack on the Ninja all around Ninjago. With help from Eyezor and Zugu, Chen uses his dinosaur mech to attack Kai and Nya, who flee on the Raider Bikes. Cryptor and three Nindroids confront Zane in the snowy forest. Meanwhile, Samukai fights Jay as Krazi and Frakjaw apprehend his parents, and Pythor fights Lloyd and holds the latter's mother captive. Kozu and several Stone Warriors confront Dareth, who was responsible for taking control of the Stone Army.

Wu gets a bad feeling as Morro confronts him, though Wu is pained at having to fight his former student again, he states that he won't hesitate to do it again. However, Morro reveals he really has no intention of revenge; instead he tells Wu of Yang's plan and they set off to reunite the Ninja.

Back at the Temple of Airjitzu, Cole breaks free and makes his way up through the temple after escaping his captors, fighting Yang's students along the way as Yang opens the Rift of Return. One by one, the Ninja defeat all the revived villains, except Pythor, who flees after realizing he can't win his fight. In the meantime, Yang does Airjitzu to reach the Rift, but Cole stops him, and a fight breaks out between them.

The Ninja reunite at the museum, telling each other what happened before Wu arrives with Morro, who the Ninja prepare to attack but Wu stops them and Morro proves his innocence by unveiling Yang's plan and how the Ninja forgot Cole. The Ninja journey to Yang's temple while Morro's spirit peacefully returns to the Departed Realm. Cole battles Yang as the Ninja fly over on the Bounty. Yang soon overpowers Cole and mocks him as being another forgotten ghost. However, with his friends approaching and calling out to him, Cole's heightened vigor makes his arms rock-solid, and with them he shatters the Yin Blade. This act frees Yang's students, who Cole tells to cross through the Rift and after they do they become human again. Yang admits he failed his students and wanted to live forever so no one would forget him, to which Cole says he'll be remembered as the creator of Airjitzu.

Together, they ascend towards the Rift, but Yang tells Cole that someone has to remain in the temple as a ghost to be the "master of the house" due to the curse. Yang then decides to settle his own "debts" and launches Cole through the Rift just as it starts to close. The shockwave of the Rift closing causes Destiny Bounty to have a hard landing at the Airjitzu temple. The Ninja soon begin to worry if Cole didn't make it in time as Jay states he'd give anything to have his friend back. At that moment, Cole emerges from behind a rock a human again.

The Ninja celebrate the return of their friend before looking at the restored Temple of Airjitzu which Cole suggest they make into their new base. Not long after, the Ninja and their allies gather around a fire outside of Yang's temple after Cole told the story. Jay asks him if he was going to tell the story every time the holiday comes to which Cole replies only if Jay admits he was scared the temple was still haunted to which the latter states that was the case but says he was wrong as there are no more ghost. Cole confirms this while looking back to the temple and winks at Yang, who stands inside and winks back in return. Those surrounding the fire let their lanterns float into the night sky, concluding their celebration.

Main Cast

 * Cole - Kirby Morrow
 * Jay - Michael Adamthwaite
 * Kai - Vincent Tong
 * Lloyd Garmadon - Jillian Michaels
 * Nya - Kelly Metzger
 * Wu - Paul Dobson
 * Yang - Michael Donovan
 * Zane - Brent Miller

Guest Cast

 * Chen - Ian James Corlett
 * Cryptor - Richard Newman
 * Dareth - Alan Marriott
 * Dr. Saunders - Michael Daingerfield
 * Ed Walker - Colin Murdock
 * Edna Walker - Jillian Michaels
 * Kozu - Paul Dobson
 * Misako - Kathleen Barr
 * Morro - Andrew Francis
 * P.I.X.A.L. - Jennifer Hayward
 * Pythor P. Chumsworth - Michael Dobson
 * Ronin - Brian Dobson (Credited as "Ronan")
 * Samukai - Michael Kopsa
 * The Royal Blacksmiths singing voice - Jeppe Riddervold

Several characters appear in the episode, but do not have voice actors. Three Nindroids, two Stone Scouts, and two Stone Swordsmen all appear in the episode. Eyezor, Zugu, Krazi, and Frakjaw also appear, yet do not have speaking roles, as well as Yang's Students. Statues of Dr. Julien and Garmadon are also seen. Gayle Gossip makes a cameo in the crowd of people at the concert.

Sets
The sets have the normal logo in white and red around it, and Cole on the top right-hand corner.

Sets There was another set released, 70751 Temple of Airjitzu, along with the Possession sets, over a year before the special itself came out. Due to being released early, the Ninja had their Deepstone robes, and there was no Ninja in the corner.
 * 70588 Titanium Ninja Tumbler
 * 70589 Rock Roader
 * 70590 Airjitzu Battle Grounds
 * 70592 Salvage M.E.C.
 * 70595 Ultra Stealth Raider
 * 70596 Samurai X Cave Chaos

Focus Character

 * Cole was the focus Ninja throughout the special.
 * The other five Ninja (Kai, Jay, Zane, Lloyd, and Nya) had very minor roles in the special.
 * Wu also had a minor role in the special.
 * Master Garmadon was memorialized in the special.
 * P.I.X.A.L. had a cameo in the beginning of the special, before the introductory sequence. Misako and Ronin also made appearances in the special.

Antagonists

 * Master Yang served as the main antagonist of the special. Numerous antagonists returned in this special. Morro was an antagonist in Season 5 but he helped Master Wu in the special. Pythor helped the Ninja in Season 4 but he became an antagonist in the special.
 * The ghost students and the past villain were the villainous faction of the special.

Errors

 * When Jay says "Jay to save the day" in the introduction, the road in the background mysteriously appears to float up in the air.
 * The Fangpyre symbol is visible on the replica of Pythor's Anacondrai Staff.
 * Cole has a lantern with him while viewing the Hall of Villainy, but when he goes off to Yang's portrait, his lantern disappears for the rest of the scene.
 * When Cole phases through the group as they walk through him in the museum, Misako's arm can be seen clipping through Lloyd's back.
 * In the shot before Jay connects the Ultra Stealth Raider Jet to the rest of the vehicle, his eyebrows are absent.
 * In the shot where Chen comes back to life, he no longer has his Departed Jadeblade and black gloves, despite having both when he was a statue. As Yang said, the Departed Blades are needed for the villains to be resurrected, so in actuality Chen's lack of a blade meant he never had a chance of being revived.
 * When Samukai is first seen at the junkyard carrying Edna, he's wielding two bone daggers. Yet afterwards, the daggers are nowhere to be seen, having been replaced by his Departed Bone Axe.
 * After being brought back to life, Cryptor's mannequin no longer has shoulder armor. The armor is absent all throughout the scene up until the last shot when Pythor proposed they go to the Hall of Sidekicks. This shot, as well as all the scenes after it, featured Cryptor with the armor on.
 * During the credits, Paul Dobson is listed as having voiced Kozu and Pythor, but he only voiced Kozu. His brother, Michael Dobson, voices Pythor. In fact, both Michael and Paul were credited for voicing Pythor with their names sitting next to each other.
 * The revived Nindroids, Stone Warriors and Fake Anacondrai were meant to have a green/ghostly appearance to them, but due to an animation mishap they do not.
 * When the Chenosaurus' boxing gloves are replaced by buzzsaws, the gloves disappear in thin air.
 * As Samukai does rock-paper-scissors with Kozu, Morro's statue can be seen on in the background, despite Morro being in possession of it at the time.
 * In the same shot, the Pythor statue can be seen holding the Departed Anacondrai Staff, despite the real Pythor taking it earlier.
 * Cole's Spinjitzu appears normal when the Ninja arrive at the museum, yet later, when he fights Yang's students in the temple, his Spinjitzu has a ghostly appearance. This could be because he was fading away.
 * When the Ninja arrive on the Bounty and Kai says "We have to help him," he and Lloyd were wearing their Jungle Robes.
 * When Kozu jumps onto the stage, there is a Stone Swordsman instead of Stone Scout.
 * When Lloyd was about to be attacked by Pythor, he had a Golden Katana strapped to his back, despite not having it on his back during the first half of the special.
 * When Cole was going into the rift, he could be seen human.