In addition, Garmadon's next appearance to affect the future of the timeline would be as a villain. The Mask of Deception · 76. The Jade Princess · 77. The Oni and the Dragon · 78. Snake Jaguar · 79. Dead Man's Squall · 80. The Quiet One · 81. Game of Masks · 82. Dread on Arrival · 83. True Potential · 84. Big Trouble, Little Ninjago

Golden Legend · 2. Gold Rush · 3. A Day in the Life of a Golden Ninja · 4. Sweatin' to the Goldies · 5. Golden Hour The revived Nindroid Warriors, Stone Swordsmen, and Anacondrai Cultists were meant to have a green/ ghostly appearance to them, but due to an animation mishap, they do not. [28] Samukai claims to be a "fearsome master of the axe" even though he was never shown wielding an axe before this special.At one point, Kai asks Nya if she thinks that they'll ever find out what actually happened to their parents. This hints to the next season, The Hands of Time, where the siblings do find out what actually happened to their parents. 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 golden statue of a Hypnobrai general, which was previously seen in " Winds of Change" shortly before Morro possessed Lloyd, can be seen at the entrance of the Hall of Villainy. Before the special was released, Tommy Andreasen responded that "Yang only invites bad guys to the party" when asked if Garmadon could return on the Day of the Departed. [27] However, this statement proved to be false when Morro revealed himself as an ally to Wu and the ninja. In the shot before Jay connects the Sonic Raider Jet to the rest of the vehicle, his eyebrows are absent. Cole was the mascot ninja, and the promotional and box art was approprietly focused on the Crashcourse Canyon. The collectible items were the Departed Blades, except the Sword of Sanctuary. The sets mostly consisted of ninja vehicles. 70751 Temple of Airjitzu was released as part of the Possession wave over a year before "Day Departed" aired. However, it ties into the story of the special, as the set depicts the ninja using the Temple of Airjitzu as a base which happened at the end of the special after the temple returned to its original state.

This is the first episode not written by Dan and Kevin Hageman due to scheduling conflicts with them writing Trollhunters. [3] It was instead written by David Shayne. In the same shot, the Pythor statue can be seen holding the Departed Anacondrai Staff, despite the real Pythor taking it earlier. General Kozu presumably pursued Dareth for stealing control of the Stone Army, indirectly leading to his destruction by enabling Lloyd to reach and defeat the Overlord. Samukai went after Jay due to process of elimination, as the other villains all claimed a target before he could. However, it's worth noting that Jay was the first ninja to use Spinjitzu against the Skulkin (in " The Golden Weapon"), inspiring the others to follow suit. Tommy Andreasen was not very involved in the production of the special, so when he watched the intended final product, he was "horrified" to see that Nya's Spinjitzu was red and called Peter Hausner to insist it be changed to blue. [11]

However, both Chen and Cryptor's original deaths were indirectly caused by their targets destroying a more powerful villain; Nya drowned the Preeminent, and Zane froze the Golden Master. 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. https://web.archive.org/web/20220531215509/https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/LEGO_Ninjago_Day_of_the_Departed?id=6trKqgs5xTI&gl=US Similarly, Morro is the only revived villain to not seek vengeance, but instead redemption and forgiveness. This is likely due to the concluding events in "Curseworld, Part II" when he realizes the true meaning of being the Green Ninja. His claim of having "unfinished business" with Wu in front of the other villains was a ruse to hide his true intentions of helping the ninja. Andreasen confirmed various other aspects of the special, including that Pythor would appear in the flesh [9] and the special would feature several locations from early seasons. [10]Kozu had an off-screen but implied death (Lloyd defeating the Overlord destroyed him, then Dareth turned his troops against him). The episode marks the first time that the term Skulkin is used in the show instead of the Skeleton Army, with Samukai calling himself the "Skulkin general." In " Curseworld, Part II," Nya destroyed the Cursed Realm which consequently resulted in Chen's death. In "Day of the Departed," Nya destroys the mannequin Chen is possessing using one of his own missiles—defeating him a second time. Zane also defeats Cryptor a second time, having indirectly frozen then shattered him apart at the end of "The Titanium Ninja." Firstbourne · 86. Iron & Stone · 87. Radio Free Ninjago · 88. How to Build a Dragon · 89. The Gilded Path · 90. Two Lies, One Truth · 91. The Weakest Link · 92. Saving Faith · 93. Lessons for a Master · 94. Green Destiny The Helmet of Shadows makes its return in this episode, having last appeared in " Rise of the Spinjitzu Master." In its last appearance, it served the same purpose—for Dareth to control the Stone Army.

This is the first time characters have been shown without studs on their heads (as opposed to the studs present on the Skulkin's heads before Skybound), when the Stone Scouts appear without their hats toward the end of the special. [26] Samukai was almost victorious but got overwhelmed (first the Golden Weapons, then Ronin supported Jay). Similarly one could argue that Day of The Departed seems to borrow most of the idea as part of their premise by the looks of it. That being The statues of the villains coming to life during nightfall, and Yang possibly serving as the equivalent of The Tablet Of Ahkmenrah since he is responsible for setting off the events in some way. When battling Yang's students, Cole says, "This isn't a fair fight. I'm handcuffed. [...] So you might want a few more guys." This is nearly identical to his quip in " Enkrypted": when Soto pointed out that the other Kryptarium inmates had weapons while the ninja were handcuffed, Cole said, "Yeah. Sounds like it's almost a fair fight." In-universe, it makes sense that Cole would reuse this line, considering the events of "Enkrypted" took place in an alternate timeline that Cole does not remember. This is the first episode to feature several villains at once, including Samukai (last seen in " Wrong Place, Wrong Time"), Kozu (last seen in " Rise of the Spinjitzu Master"), Cryptor (last seen in " The Titanium Ninja"), Pythor, Zugu and Eyezor (last seen in " The Corridor of Elders"), and Chen and Morro (last seen in " Curseworld, Part II"). Some of these villains have appeared within the last ten episodes of the previous season, while others, such as Samukai and Kozu, had not appeared in over forty episodes, which aired four years prior.Tommy Andreasen stated, "I like DoD a lot. The action got cut up more than it was in script, and some (in my mind) important scenes were left out. But it's good." [20] In actuality, Yang doesn't ally with the revived villains. He uses them to distract the ninja so they won't interfere with him opening the Rift of Return. This special focuses on Yang's conflict with Cole, while the return of the villains acts as a subplot.