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Merch of all the Ninja has been a thing for many years, pretty much ever since they had started as Ninja. Occasionally, Lloyd and Kai would head into New Ninjago City to see what new merch was being sold in stores. Sometimes, they would be genuinely surprised at the rare piece of good quality and not-cringe merch.
The Master of Fire owned far too much of their own merch. While it was true that they also owned some of the others’ merchandise, it was nearly nothing when compared to how much of their own they owned.
Lloyd didn’t own that much of anyone’s merch, save for a key ring of everyones’ Elemental symbol.
During that year that Wu was lost in time, Lloyd stayed in New Ninjago City while Kai went off with Zane so the pair stopped doing their ‘merch days’. That carried over into the following year with the rise of the Sons of Garmadon, Harumi, the Ninja being marooned in the First Realm, and the Oni Invasion. And the next with Aspheera being freed, Zane being sent to the Never Realm, and the Ice Emperor.
Before either of them have really noticed, four years have passed since their last ‘merch day’. Since they had last taken a day to go into the city together and laugh at how derpy the merch could be.
“Hey Kai,” the blond greeted as he stepped into the elder’s room.
“Hey Lloyd,” they responded in kind.
“Are you busy right now?” Lloyd asked. He’s more nervous than they has seen him in a while.
“Aside from putting away fresh laundry? Nope,” Kai said.
“Okay…do you want to come into New Ninjago City with me to judge some merch?” he asked.
“A ‘Merch Day’? We haven’t done one of those in years. Sure; We could get boba too,” they agreed. “Just give me a minute to change out of my Gi into civvies?” the brunet asked.
“Sure,”
Soon enough, the Green and Red Ninjas were in New Ninjago City. After having been able to find a decent parking spot that was pretty close to Lloyd’s favourite boba shop. The pair was now in a Target, looking through and judging the Ninja merchandise that was sold there.
“Look at how off the dimensions are,” Lloyd commented as he handed a plushie of his Oni form to them. The plushie had purple detailing instead of green, its face was slightly stretched, and the horns on its head were comically too long.
“Must’ve been made using references from earlier this year, given that it’s got purple details,” Kai commented, gesturing to the blond with their free hand.
“Yeah, I’m surprised that they’ve even made a toy of my Oni form — what I look like now — given all that the media’s been saying,” he agreed. That soured the mood considerably.
“Lloyd, I’ve said it before: who cares what a few journalists say, they’re paid to say things,” they told him. “You should get it — it means that Ninjago is finally accepting that Lloyd Garmadon is Oni,” Kai added.
“Fine but this was supposed to be a fun trip, stop making it heartfelt,” the blond scolded jokingly. That earnt a laugh from the Fire Master who had been reminded of a similar instance many years ago with a much younger Lloyd.
“Sorry, sorry.” The pair left Target soon after, although not before Lloyd had bought the plushie.
The rest of the day they spent tracking down stores that sold Ninja merchandise and judging (and laughing at) the quality of it. All in all, it was a day spent away from any ninja-related business where they both could just…relax.
Three months and a Final Battle later, Lloyd stood in the same Target that he had visited with Kai months ago. In the last week or so, it seemed that every shop had the same idea to sell an influx of Red Ninja-themed merchandise.
Personally, he thought it was a bit insensitive: stores were using Kai’s sacrifice as a way to boost profit intake. In his hands was a postcard whose image was an artist’s impression of the watershed moment of the Final Battle.
The blond could point out all the errors with the image in a heartbeat but, otherwise, it wasn’t that bad of a visual representation of the moment. Lloyd leaves the store with the postcard. It finds its spot on his dresser next to the photo of he and his dad.