I came up on Ninjago. And one of the characters particularly shaped me without me knowing until later in life: Cole. To me, Cole represented strength, loyalty, confidence, and stability. He was more than another face on a TV screen — he was someone I could look up to during some of the toughest moments in my childhood.

Cole showed me that it is okay to be strong even when life is bearing down on me. He was the one who stood firm when the team crumbled. He was the one who led from the heart and not the fists. I could relate to him because he was genuine — not perfect, not flashy, but sound and steady. Thanks to Cole, I learned to stand up for myself, how to arrive for others, and how to stay present in self.

So when there is controversy or deliberation about changing Cole's established sexuality after more than a decade of history, it resonates beyond merely a "character choice" to me and to many others. It changes the groundwork of who he has always been written to be. This has nothing to do with disrespecting LGBTQ character and representation — representation is important and should be considered. It's about just keeping character history intact and not stepping on the emotional investment that has been built over years.

Introducing such a radical change, retrospectively and all at once, does not only affect the plot but also the audience who have grown up with Cole. Many viewers assign personal meaning to his character, his relationships, and his personality. Tinkering with those core elements after all these years might indeed make fans feel as if the character they have grown attached to is being replaced, not developed.

Representation is important — but so is continuity and emotional investment that occurs with years of shared storytelling. If new representation is required, it's more effective and impactful to bring in new characters created from the beginning with that identity, as opposed to retconning somebody whom fans have already gotten to know and loved for more than a decade.

This petition is not intended to be against LGBTQ people or characters. This is about retaining the integrity and authenticity of Cole's character, and the impact that he already had on readers like myself.

We are simply asking the creators to be respectful of the history that they developed, and maintain Cole's characterization in line with the background that created so many of us.