#I love you thematically banger lego show. I love you

[imminent-danger-came]

What the Legos Want

MK: "I just- I don't want to let my friends down, you know? It's like, I want to help out in the store, do arts and crafts with Sandy, and party with M-m-m-Mei! Mei! But it's to hard, I'm just one guy!"

(1x02 Duplicatnation)

-

MK: "Okay! I did bad, I just- I really wanted that peach, and I guess I got carried away."

(1x06 The Great Wall Race)

-

Sun Wukong: "Take in everything! Choose what you want to do, and then do it! That is focus."

(1x07 Impossible Delivery)

-

MK: "I just wanted to be good enough—like you."

(1x09 Macaque)

-

MK: "It's like- I want to be strong, and I'm trying to be! But it- it's like Monkey King isn't giving me a chance! *sigh* What if- what if he knows he made a mistake—chose wrong, chose the wrong successor?"

(2x07 Shadow Play)

-

Sandy: "Hurting others isn't a measure of one's strength—took me a really long time to realize that. As long as I'm doing something to help out a friend, I don't mind what it is! I just want to be there for 'em when they need me."

(2x08 To Catch a Leaf)

-

Sun Wukong: "You want me to leave it, and I want me to take it! Eh, it's toughy." Ne Zha: "What!? Don't do this! Sun Wukong: "I'm sorry—it's the only way!"

(3x01 On The Run)

-

MK: “Why are you helping her—Lady Bone Demon—like, look, I get that you’re a bad guy, but you know that she wants to destroy everything, right?”

-

Sandy: "I don't want to fight, but I can't let you hurt my friends!"

(3x04 The Winning Side)

-

Sun Wukong: "What? You got what you wanted didn't you? Not gonna gloat? Monologue a little before scurrying off to your master? Go on! The Lady Bone Demon is waiting." Macaque: "I couldn't care less about what the Lady Bone Demon wants!"

(3x09 The King, the Prince, and the Shadow)

-

Mei: "I can't! I don't want to hurt you—any of you! I'm sorry."

-

Mei: "No! Stay back! I- I don't want to hurt you!"

(3x10 The Samadhi Fire)

-

The Mayor: "All my lady ever desired was a world no longer plagued by pain—until the Monkey King and his companions got in the way. Fate however has gifted her a second chance!"

(3x13 Time to be Warriors) (Desired, wanted, same thing.)

-

Lady Bone Demon: "Save your hero speech child—I've existed long enough to know when it's over. MK: "You still think that the universe really wants anything, from any of us?" Lady Bone Demon: "Don't you?"

(3x14 Destiny Fulfilled)

-

Macaque: "Still the same Wukong, doing whatever he wants with no regard for others!"

(3x14 Destiny Fulfilled)

-

Sun Wukong: "It's actually amazing how quickly you're mastering your powers—when I was your age-"

MK: "-You were fighting the celestial armies and generally swinging your big ol' tail around to get what you wanted?" Sun Wukong: "Well I was going to say making regrettable life choices but yeah, thanks for laying out. I'm embarrassed to admit it but—you might have actually already done more for this world that I ever have!"

(4x01 Familiar Tales)

-

Mei: “What’s the point of having power if you won’t use it? Don’t you have people you want to protect?”

(4x05 Court of the Yellow Robed Demon)

-

Sandy: “But you were too WEAK to be who you truly are! I am a monster! That’s what the world wants me to be, so that’s what I’m gonna give ‘em!”

(4x06 Show Me the Monster)

-

Curse MK: "Hey no no no- I get it man. You want to get back to our monster of the week adventures, get back to our simple missions with Mei, mastering all of Monkey King's powers and delivering noodles for pigsy. Right?" MK: "Yeah...yeah actually that's exactly what I wanna-" Curse MK: "But we can't! Not after all we've seen! All we know and all we don't? *sigh* Right friend?"

(4x07 Pitiful Creatures)

-

Azure Lion: "No no—this isn't what I wanted! All you had to do was wait, after this was all over I was going to release Sun Wukong, help him see reason! That is now impossible—not after what you've done!"

-

MK: “No matter what I do, it’s going to lead to pain. It’s like the Lady Bone Demon said—it doesn’t matter if I want to help people or not! Everything I do just- it just makes things worse!”

(4x08 The Brotherhood)

-

Macaque: "Point is, it’s time to start making your own choices—something I wish I would have learned a lot sooner than I did. You don’t want to fight Azure because people might get hurt, you don’t want to not fight him because people might get hurt–so do something else! Only you get to decide who you are kiddo.”

(4x10 The Jade Emperor)

-

Sun Wukong: "Ah, don't be like that! Eat some fruit, soak up the sun—that's why I've been training so hard!" Macaque: "What, so you can be the strongest?" Sun Wukong: "Nooo! Well, maybe a little bit—but that's not the point! It's so we don't have to worry about anything or anyone ever again! Just living a lazy life, sitting in the sun, eatin' fruit, and doing whatever we want!"

-

Sun Wukong: "I just wanted to protect the people I cared about—to be strong enough. I lost sight of why I was doing any of it."

-

Macaque: "You did it for yourself! You've become this like, obsessive demon! I told you going against the Jade Emperor was a bad idea, but no, Wukong doesn't listen to anyone, he just does whatever he wants!"

(4x11 A Lifetime of Mistakes)

-

MK: "That's what you were pretending to be right? To be my friend? To care about me? When really you were just using me to get what you wanted! To turn me against my own mentor! Put your hand in the monkey cage, and expect to get bit son!"

(4x13 Rip and Tear)

-

Sun Wukong: "Azure just stop, okay? You've won—you're going to destroy us just like you wanted! Us an the entire universe." Azure Lion: "Huh? No. This is not what I wanted! I can still fix this, it's- it's the whole reason I'm here at all!" Sun Wukong: "Wait, how are you here!?" Azure Lion: "What? What kind of a question is that you know exactly how I'm-" Sun Wukong: "-No! Here and now! I put you in the underworld myself. How'd you get out, how'd you get the scroll? I know for sure you didn't steal it—you couldn't have! Azure, who gave you that scroll? Because whoever it was they must have known this would happen, wanted this to happen! And they used you to do it."

Azure Lion: "I just wanted to make the world a better place!" MK: "You still can—you're the only one who can."

(4x14 Better Than We Found It)

-

Welcome viewers, to a shadow play the likes of which have never been seen! It follows the tragic tale of a legendary warrior, and how those who bring light into this world inevitably bring darkness to those they hold dear whether they want to or not.

[imminent-danger-came]

Hello friend. At first, I thought it was a joke that there's a Lego show that people love. I've seen you post about it a lot so I figure it's just one of those things that maybe a couple people really really love otherwise, whatever. But I just sat that clip of that characters death and it made me realize I know nothing about anything ever lol. What is the Lego show about? What do you love about it? I'm just super curious

Well. Okay. My embarrassment aside, I totally get it—it is a lego show, but it's my lego show and I'll gladly tell you about it!

(my apologies this got a little long)

*inhales cigarette* I remember starting to watch lmk (Lego Monkie Kid) and not expecting anything except some very pretty animation—it's just legos, right? And then it completely blindsided me. Then I did some digging and realized it's a modern retelling of Journey to the West (jttw—one of the great classic chinese novels), and that half of the whole reason this show exists is to retell a familiar tale to the modern age. That's how the show opens, and that's how s3 ends.

And, at the risk of sounding a little deranged, I'm going to say that the show being legos is thematically relevant. It legitimately adds to part of the story they're trying to tell—and the story Lego Monkie Kid is trying to tell is legitimately very solid. It's super good. They completely blew me out of the water with season 4.

So. The first special and s1 isn't anything too unique on a first watch through. The characters are charming and the show is very pretty, but it's nothing I'd write home about (though, 1x09 is very good—in my opinion—and 1x10, the season finale, builds plenty of intrigue).

But here's the thing: legitimately so much is set up in s1 and you don't even realize it, and it's STILL being re-contextualized well into s4.

So, then the s2 special happens right after s1, and it's like, alright! The plot seems to be going somewhere! We get introduced to a few more antagonists and the status quo from s1 is already somewhat disrupted. But then the last half of s2 comes around. And they're all bangers. 2x05 Minor Scale is GREAT. 2x06 is pure game motif. 2x07 gives us backstory and continues the main protags negative character arc. 2x08 is one of my favorites in the whole show. By this point you realize how consistent the character writing is if you've been paying attention. 2x09 is the beginning of the end. 2x10 ends the season on quite the cliff hanger, and it's like. HOLY SHIT. WHAT IS THIS ABSOLUTE GEM OF A SHOW.

s3 is lovely, and the end of the s3 special has one of my favorite scenes in anything. s4 is so ridiculously good. Lmk honestly has what I would consider to be god tier pacing. They have 10 minutes to achieve their goal, and by GOD are they going to do exactly that.

But like, what do I love about the show specifically?

The animation. The characters. The themes. I kid you not a major theme in s4 of the show is the fact that every single thing you do leads to pain. Being the hero or the villain, it doesn't matter—you cause suffering and destruction with every step you take. You hurt the people you care about. No, seriously. I'm not kidding. THAT'S one of the main focuses of s4, and oh boy is it a wild ride. You get used to legos crying. I am unironically expecting s5 of this show to be a tragedy.

I can not recommend it enough!

(If it's your thing that is! I TOTALLY get not being able to look past the legos, and the fast pacing isn't for everyone.)

Anyways, here's a bonus gif of Mei to end off!