Zane (Ninjago)

Zane Julien I am a Nindroid! And a ninja never quit! Go ninja, go! Type: Ice Nindroid Age: 100+ Species: Robot (Referred to as Nindroid) Portrayed by: Brent Miller Yuri Lowenthwal (Ninjago: Nindroids) Status: Destroyed (Original Model) Active (currently) Media of origin: LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu

Zane is the white ninja (occasionally The Titanium Ninja) and the elemental master of Ice. He is also a robot but is more commonly referred to as Nindroid. He was created by Dr. Julien at least 40 years before the beginning of the events of LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu. After a while, Dr. Julien was near his death. For Zane not to feel the pain, he turned off his memory switch, making him forget everything, even that he was a Nindroid. Little did he know, Samukai, leader of the Skulkin, revived Dr. Julien with Resurrectea, and tried to force him to build war machines to take over Ninjago. He refused, so he locked him in a Lighthouse and chained a Levithan to stand guard. Samukai would only let him go if he changed his mind.

One day, Zane was meditating underwater when Wu found him. He was the third ninja to join his team. He met Cole, Jay, and eventually Kai. Together, they beat the Skullkin, and found the Golden Weapons. When the Serpentine was released, the ninja fought them as well. One day, he found a falcon, which lead him to his old home. There, he found that he was a robot. He turned on his memory switch and remembered, leading him to unlock his true potential. He then recruited Lloyd, fought Samurai warriors, and met P.I.X.A.L. He sacrificed himself to save his friends.

After his sacrifice, he had himself rebuilt by P.I.X.A.L., but was captured by Ronin and sold to Chen. When the others learned that Zane was alive, they entered a tournament, which was a trap. They managed to find Zane. Zane was faced with a dragon, which was his elemental dragon.

As the seasons progressed, they faced challenges, such as having to fight ghosts powerless, recruiting Nya, losing P.I.X.A.L in an alternate timeline, and even getting damaged. He also lost Wu. Between Season 7 and 8, he got a cloak feature. He got marooned in another realm, where he must find the dragon armor to get home.

In Season 11, he had a dream about Aspheera. He got the scroll of forbidden Spinjitzu, where he was banished to the Never Realm. He got manipulated by Vex and became the Ice Emperor. Luckily, Lloyd saved him.

Why He Rocks

1. Zane is very intelligent, and very skilled, the most mature member in the team, and has ice manipulation.
2. Great character development: He was an emotionless teenager who sometimes make corny ice puns, but after realizing that he's a robot, he uses his emotions even more, becomes more human than machine, and learning to love.
   • After being rebuilt as the Titanium Ninja, but had no memory of what he once was, Zane has become even more accepting of his own robotic traits, and had conquered his fear of the Titanium Dragon from his nightmares.
3. He is caring for a robot, especially in his Post-Season 3 version.
4. Like Cole with his RX powers that he unlocked in "Day of the Departed," he has a new cloak feature that allows him to change himself into his initial appearance from Seasons 1-3, as well as to be in disguise as Snake Jaguar in "The Oni and the Dragon" and Clutch Powers in "The Explorer's Club."
5. His relationship with P.I.X.A.L is excellent, especially from Season 4-7 with his interaction with her in his head.
6. Zane is the most sacrificial ninja in the group:
   • He absorbed the Overlord's power from his golden mech, and used his remaining power (and his own life) to destroy the Overlord's physical form and saved Ninjago City. (Like how Makoto Yūki , the protagonist from Persona 3 sacrificed himself by becoming a seal to prevent Nyx from ending all life.)
     • It also makes even more sense is that Zane had the same VA as Makoto in Ninjago: Nindroids video game.
   • He had saved Sensei Wu from being banished to another realm, even though it kind of brought him back in time and became the Ice Emperor.

Bad Qualties

1. Before the episode Tick Tock, he seemed a tad bit bland.
2. While it's good to have Zane back from the dead, him returning in season 4 as a titanium robot somewhat ruined his death back in the end of Season 3.
3. Like the rest of the Ninja as of Season 8, he lost his abilities of using Airjitzu and summoning his Elemental Dragon, so he won't look overpowered.

Trivia

• According to show creator Tommy Andreasen, Zane's surname may be "Julien" like his father, but it is unconfirmed.
• He was the first Ninja to reach his True Potential.
• Zane has a sixth sense, which has manifested in clairvoyance and an uncanny ability to sense what others cannot. He also was able to communicate with the Falcon and detect its presence, though this may be related to their similar origins.
  • His sixth sense could be attributed to his robotic nature.
• He is the only NRG Ninja released in a set at a later date than the rest of the Ninja.
• Zane appears to have a fear of living food, as shown in the episode "All of Nothing.”
• His greatest fear is him losing his humanity, as shown in "The Explorers Club."
• After his supposed death, Zane came back as the Titanium Ninja. This is how Cyrus Borg referred to him as at his funeral, and how he was represented in the memorial statue made by the inventor.
• Zane is the only one out of the original four Ninja who unlocked his True Potential not while obtaining a Fangblade.
• At Zane's funeral, Cyrus had said that he was a perfect balance between humans and technology.
• Season 8 gave an explanation of how Zane got his powers. It is told through a flashback in "Snake Jaguar" that the previous Master of Ice stayed at Dr. Julien's for a while, and took a great interest in Zane. When the Master of Ice left, Zane acted "stranger than usual," implying that the Master of Ice gave his powers to Zane.
• Dan and Kevin Hageman have revealed that this explanation is borrowed from a fan's idea.
• This may be the reason why Zane has such a cool, calm, and collected personality. This also indicates that Zane may have had a somewhat different personality before the event occurred.
• However, it's currently unknown what kind of personality Zane had before he met the previous Master of Ice.
• There is another version of him called Echo Zane. He was created by Dr. Julien to replace Zane after he was left in the Lighthouse Prison. Echo Zane aided Nya and Jay in defending Dr. Julien's former home tower from Nadakhan. He is rusty and falls apart easily.
• He is the first Ninja to use Spinjitzu after he learned Airjitzu (in "Grave Danger").
• Since Jay's wish in "The Way Back" brought the Ninja back in time to before Zane met Echo Zane, he has presumably no memory of meeting him or knowledge of his existence.
  • It is possible Zane may have residual memories like Lloyd, Jay, and Nya.
  • In Ninjago: Decoded, Nya downloaded the events of Skybound onto Zane's memory drive, so it is possible that he remembers the events of Skybound.
  • He could have also been the one to have the mural of the Sky Pirates and Nadakhan painted in the Monastery of Spinjitzu.
• Zane and the other Ninja (except Nya) can only harness their elemental powers by being dependent on Lloyd. This is due to Lloyd splitting his Golden Power between them to restore their powers. However, as of Season 8, this connection has most likely faded away, as confirmed by Tommy Andreasen in an interview with Zane's voice actor Brent Miller.
• The name of Zane's actor in the non-canon blooper reel is "Zane Roberts."
• After becoming the Titanium Ninja, Zane is shown to have a few strengths; however, he also has many weaknesses. These include problems with his voice if getting hit too hard on the head, getting hacked, getting knocked unconscious easily, and being able to be shocked due to titanium being a metal, which is a conductor of electricity.
• Zane is somehow capable of keeping his shurikens hidden in him.
• Zane went undercover as "Snake Jaguar" in season 8 to infiltrate the Sons of Garmadon.
• P.I.X.A.L. officially left his head in season 7 after being rebooted, and she has rejoined the team as Samurai X.
• Zane's name changed in early concepts of the series. Some of these names were was Ren, Boon,citation needed and Whitman. **Additionally, in preliminary concepts of Zane, he was supposed to be a "rad snowboarder" type of character, and voice actor Brent Miller was told to do a chill and laid back voice for him. His performance, in the end, inspired the Hageman Brothers to then change his character to a droid to fit his monotonous voice and straight-cut military hair.
• Zane started to use a cloak feature to make himself look like a human again in Sons of Garmadon. However, he stopped using it after March of the Oni. The reason for this is unknown. On the other hand, he did use his cloak feature in season 11, but only in disguise as Clutch Powers instead of his human-like appearance.
• In the Season 7 set 70624 Vermillion Invader, Zane has a scratch on his head despite the scratch not appearing in the show until Season 8. Strangely, his minifigure in season 8 and onward does not use this head print and instead uses a new, less accurate print to represent his titanium face design.
• This new head print appeared in Tales from the Monastery of Spinjitzu and March of the Oni, with his face being redesigned to be more accurate to the minifigure, though still he did not have his minifigure's zigzagged eyebrow edges, but it was changed again in Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu. His original eyebrows returned and the lines through his jawline and cheeks changed a bit. See the Appearance section for more details.
• He gained new abilities between seasons 7 and 8.
• He is the second Ninja to be an antagonist, the first is Lloyd in season 1: Rise of the Snakes, prior to being a Ninja, and Season 5: Possession, through Morro's possession.
  • This, therefore, made him the second student of Wu to be an antagonist, the first being Morro.
  • He was also the first Ninja to be manipulated into becoming an antagonist.
• Zane is very similar to Eugeo from Sword Art Online: Alicization:
  • Both have blond hair and ice manipulation powers, one is having the Shurikens of Ice/Ice Elemental Blade or having them come out of his hands, while the latter is having an ice sword called the Blue Rose.
  • Both are non-humans. Although Eugeo is just an Artificial Intelligence, not a robot.
  • Both have non-human allies who are in love with them respectively (P.I.X.A.L. and Tiese Schtolienen).
  • Both have black and blonde haired allies, with Zane having Cole, Nya and Lloyd while Eugeo had both Kirito and Alice.
    • Speaking of Cole and Kirito, they share similar physical appearance and the same signature color (black), and they are able to wield two swords in combat (Cole with the Blades of Deliverance, and Kirito with the Elucidator and the Dark Repulser).
  • Both have lost their memories and were manipulated by the main antagonists of their respective seasons into becoming their servants. The only main differences being Zane was tricked into believing that he is an emperor by Vex, while Eugeo became Quinella's 32nd knight.

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