#JTTW : DC

[phantamic-moriori]

This DC version of sun wukong got me acting a certain way...

[timeturner-jay]

Drabble Requests: Open

Hey guys! I just wanted to give another head’s up that my drabble requests are still open, for anyone who wants to send in a prompt or two (or five or more, go wild)!

Just send me an ask with the name of a character and a one-word prompt, and I’ll write a short drabble for them. (If you have multiple requests, please send one ask per prompt, for simplicity’s sake!)

Example of a request prompt:

Aigis + "winter"

You can pick any character from the following fandoms:

Persona 3

Persona 5

Journey to the West

Lego Monkie Kid

Sousou no Frieren

Outer Wilds

Kirby

Hollow Knight

Fire Emblem

Legend of Zelda/Linked Universe

Critical Role

DC Comics (but mostly the Batfam, I know them best)

The Moomins

Rise of the Guardians/Guardians of Childhood

Lord of the Rings

[frostedclock]

Went to a coffee shop and found these gems.

I had to get them.

But just ... How did I not know about this?

A Dc version of Wukong....

[sonicasura]

Also, while I have yer attention: What is *yer* beef with DC’s Monkey Prince?

It's an absolute middle finger to Journey to the West as a whole and character assassination for Batman too. Without going into a rant, Sun Wukong greatly upholds the value of family that he sees his own as subjects like his children/grand children. He wouldn't knock up some woman than leave her alone to raise his child.

The Golden Filet used on Monkey Prince was a torture device. It's purpose being to punish Sun Wukong's misbehavior by squeezing his head, one way to harm the spiritual monkey of the mind. Pigsy is also a terrible pick for teacher as he often lied or got the Monkey King into trouble in the first place. He didn't become a Buddha post journey either.

Batman isn't the Punisher in a bat costume running around traumatizing children either. His original concept never made him a killer since it would make him as bad as the Joker who killed his parents. Batman always gives them a chance to get professional help if you look at the old cartoon 'Batman the Animated Series'.

I hope this helps.

[jttw-m0nkehs1mp]

Aww I totally get it, just know that I will always appreciate your art, wether it be sexy monkey or badass heros/villians or other cool things

Thank you for the loves and reblogs for the artworks I've did for the Wukongverse!

However, in the next recent posts I'll be moving on to another fandom such as DC, so please don't be alarmed that I'm not posting about the Wukongverse currently (I lost my fixation because I haven't consumed any materials regarding Wukongverse recently and I'm losing steam)

I'll will answer the current asks to clear them out and make a revamps for the blog within the next fews days

Thank you and hopefully, we'll met again in the vast Wukongverse again! See you next time!

[nicolekart]

Let me just leave it here... 🧡

Original scene: Steven Universe s01e45 I haven't done animatics for ages. I forgot how much joy it gave me!

It's my little headcanon that Wukong sometimes thinks about that.

[fanficmaniatic]

Top three charactsrs from any media ?

EASY PEASY

Cole (Ninjago), Jazz (Transformers) and Sun Wukong (Jttw and other media)

My loves. Sun Wukong is a bit iffy. might be actually Dick Grayson from DC... but idk... Sun Wukong has infected brain, hard to say if Grayson is on equal standing or lesser. Sun Wukong just came in like a fungus, you know?

[angstandhappiness]

LMAO

I FORGOT TO ADD THE BONUS LIST OF MACAQUE'S FJDKLFDJ

Liu Er Mihou/Macaque/Six-eared Macaque

Hot Topic - (Emo Monkey. Hot Topic Store. Yeah)

The EX - (Because Shadowpeach go brrr. Not that the class knows that but someone made the joke )

Moon Moon - (Due to Macaque being related back to the Moon but also the Moon Moon Wolf post.)

Trash Panda - (Because I think I remember racoons sometimes being called that as a joke.)

The "Cooler" Monkey - (From the fact he impersonated Wukong and is ‘evil’ therefore obviously cooler (not))

Dobby - (It started with them saying how Macaque was the evil doppelgänger to Wukong only for someone to say Dobby after failing to say doppelganger correctly. Which then spawned the joke of him taking the scriptures from Tripitaka as "Buddah has given Macaque scriptures! Macaque is FREEEEE!!!!" even though none of that happened) Although nothing beats you saying Nezha called him "Dark Lord" I also could have totally made those names into an actually bullet points list but shhh....I was too amazed I could send all those in one ask

OH HELP ME IT GOT BETTER NDJKCNKSKCDS

The way that Moon Moon would be used by Sun Wukong at some point though while Nezha and M&M chirp out "trash panda's here!" when Macaque walks into the room bc theyre petty

See, now Dobby is one of the cuter ones and it's so silly and I love it NJCHCSHJACS

But, you're right. Nothing beats Nezha staring at Macaque dead in the eyes and saying, "Sup Dark Lord?"

[soleminisanction]

You know JTTW??? :00

(I assume you do bc of your cat being name sha wujing)

Yup! I've yet to read the original (English translation) in full because it's long but I'm slowly working my way through it. I've also read Arthur Waley's Monkey adaptation and I'm a big fan of Overly Sarcastic Production's still-ongoing epic summary. Plus I've seen a few of the various Asian movie and anime adaptations, and I got a kick out of DC's Monkey Prince.

I was reading Monkey when I adopted my boy-cat and thought he looked like he'd grow into the name, plus Sha Wujing is my favorite character in the book. So it stuck. I call him Sandy most of the time. It confuses people.

[peerless-cucumber]

Monkey Prince #1 (2022) Cover C Zao Dao Variant

[journeytothewestresearch]

My Changes to Marvel and DC's Monkey Kings

Sun Wukong has appeared in the published works of two major US comic book companies. The Marvel version is a queue braid-wearing crime lord from modern Beijing, China who is endowed with the powers and memories of the original Monkey King. He is a boastful, greedy, and thoroughly unlikable background character throughout his entire arc (2011-219), and his story ends with a rushed, pointless self-sacrifice during a battle. The writers involved were so painfully unfamiliar with the literary hero, that the abilities of his comic book counterpart are wildly inconsistent, even within the same issue of a single comic, and especially throughout his appearances in other storylines. Marvel's Sun Wukong is a prime example of people trying and failing badly to adapt a work from a culture that they clearly know nothing about.

The most recent DC incarnation of the Monkey King (2021-present) [1] has the benefit of Chinese-American creators, but it's still not a great adaptation. Sun Wukong is depicted as a staff-wielding, armor-wearing jokester even centuries after the journey's end, unlike the literary character which becomes an enlightened Buddha. And the main focus of the series, his son the Monkey Prince (here and here), is just a boring, inferior copy of the original, with the same exact abilities and weaknesses. His human mother is never mentioned (only adoptive parents), nor the reason why Sun would abandon his family. DC's Monkey King has largely been absent from the overall story as he was banished to the Phantom Zone by the New God Darkseid after a battle in heaven.

Here, I'd like to present the changes I suggested in my respective reviews of these comics. I feel they are far more faithful to the original narrative.

I. Marvel's Sun Wukong

(See here for background)

I would completely do away with the queue-wearing crime lord and replace him with a modern spirit-medium (Chinese: Jitong, 乩童; Hokkien: Tangki, 童乩; literally: “divining child”) from Chinese folk religion. Such individuals are believed to channel the spirit of the “Great Sage Equaling Heaven” (Qitian Dasheng, 齊天大聖), the celestial title of Sun Wukong. While inhabited by the monkey god, the spirit of the human host is believed to reside in heaven or some temple-based holy object (Chan, 2006, pp. 59-60; Graham, 2013, p. 330). Therefore, the person would be for all intents and purposes the Monkey King for the duration of the story. As a medium, the character wouldn’t wear a superhero costume. Instead, he would be bare-chested apart from a ritual stomacher (dudou, 肚兜) and a tri-panel dragon-tiger apron (longhu qun, 龍虎裙) over everyday pants and shoes (or no shoes). Such ritual attire is usually decorated with auspicious symbols and, sometimes, the Chinese name of the deity, in this case the Great Sage (fig. 1).

I would also like to make some changes that might seem weird for an adaptation of Sun Wukong. But I’m torn between pandering to the wants of comic book fans and my desire to portray an authentic East and Southeast Asian spirit-medium. The former would involve the character wielding the magic staff, but in the case of the latter, I’ve noticed that few mediums involve the polearm in their public performances. Those who do only use it to enhance the theater of their portrayal of the Great Sage. The weapon serves no ritual function. The latter would involve the character wielding the “Five Treasures of the Spirit-Medium” (Jitong wubao, 乩童五寶), a set of ritual weapons consisting of a spiked ball on a rope, a spiked club, a sawfish nose sword, a crescent moon ax, and a double-edged sword engraved with seven stars (fig. 2) (Chan, 2006, p. 73). Mediums use these weapons during a ritual dance in which they inflict wounds on their body. This self-mortification is believed to serve two purposes. One, holy energy from the weapons help the medium prepare “for a particularly difficult battle” by “supercharg[ing] him with spirit power” (Chan, 2006, pp. 108-109). And two, the resulting holy blood—for it is considered the blood of the god, not the host—is believed to have demonifugic properties. It can be used to write paper sigils commanding heavenly forces to attack demonic spirits (Chan, 2006, p. 108). Now, I’ll admit that this would no doubt be off-putting to the average comic book reader. So herein lies the dilemma. The only compromise that I can think of would be to use them both but more so in one case and sparingly in the other. An enchanted brass pole, like those used by Great Sage mediums during performances (fig. 3 & 4), would be the character’s main weapon. But when he runs into trouble, he could summon the aforementioned treasures to “supercharge” himself, and, if needed, he could draw blood in order to call on heavenly forces. This leads me to my next change.

Fig. 1 – An entranced spirit-medium wearing the stomacher and apron (larger version). Picture taken by me in Tainan, Taiwan. Fig. 2 – The “Five Treasures of the Spirit-Medium” (larger version). Found on Facebook and slightly modified. Here, the original biological sawfish nose sword (photo by me) has been replaced by two modern, metal, single and double-edged versions. Fig. 3 – An example of a brass pole used by Great Sage mediums (larger version). Fig. 4 – A detail of joss paper and joss sticks attached to the pole (larger version). Pictures taken by me in Jiayi, Taiwan.

Despite the Monkey King’s immeasurable strength in Journey to the West, I wouldn’t want to make the character an unstoppable powerhouse like, say, the Sentry. I would instead make him moderately powerful for a few reasons. First, there’s no fun in an invincible hero who one-shots all his foes; there has to be some struggle in order to make the character more interesting and relatable. Second, spirit-mediums only protect their local community and, therefore, not an entire country or planet like more powerful characters. And third, there are many Great Sage spirit-mediums across East and Southeast Asia. What’s interesting about this concept is that each medium is believed by their respective communities to be the Great Sage. For example, one very small temple I visited in Taiwan has an astounding seven Great Sage mediums. This means that, if a particularly nasty evil befalls the earth, an entire army of Great Sages, who in turn command their own heavenly forces, can be called on to deal with the villain! This would not only be authentic, but also reference Sun Wukong’s magic power of creating endless doubles of himself. [2] And the best part? The story could follow a series of different spirit-mediums in different countries. So the “character” wouldn’t be limited to a single person. The medium could be Chinese, Taiwanese, Malaysian, Singaporean, basically any person of Chinese descent who practices spirit-mediumship. And they can be young, old, and even women, too. That’s right, there are female Great Sage mediums! (video 1).

Video 1 – A female Great Sage medium in Chinese opera-inspired attire.

II. DC's Monkey King and Monkey Prince - Part I

(See here for background)

I would do away with the Monkey King taking a Chinese wife centuries after he became a Buddha. Instead, the son could be born during the Tang Dynasty to Princess Iron Fan, the rakshasi wife of the Bull Demon King. Though seemingly impossible, there is precedent for this idea. An early 15th-century zaju play predating the novel describes Sun Wukong’s delight upon learning that the Princess is unmarried (Ning, 1986, pp. 139-140). He then resorts to seduction in an attempt to gain the iron fan needed to extinguish Flaming Mountain. For example, he recites a poem to her chocked full of sexual innuendo: “The disciple’s not too shallow. / the woman’s not too deep. / You and I, let’s each put forth an item, / and make a little demon” (Ning, 1986, p. 141). In addition, a 17th-century sequel to Journey to the West even describes the Monkey King having a number of sons with Princess Iron Fan. He faces one of his offspring, King Pāramitā (Boluomi wang, 波羅蜜王), during a final battle between all the armies of the world (Dong, Lin, & Schulz, 2000, pp. 123-124). In our story, the son could have been conceived during ch. 60 of the original novel when Monkey shares a tender moment with the Princess while disguised as the Bull Demon King (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 144).

Being a half-monkey spirit-half-rakshasa demigod, I’d like to think the Prince’s base form would be more monkey-like. This would mean any lapse in concentration would cause him to revert to this state instead of a human form like in the original comic story.

I can already hear someone ask: “How can the Monkey Prince still be a teenager by the start of the story if he was born hundreds of years ago?” Well, this leads me to my next change. Instead of Zhu Bajie, it would make much more sense for his teacher to be the Bodhisattva Guanyin. After all, she tutors the children of several characters from the novel, including Muzha (木吒), 2nd son of Heavenly King Li Jing, and Red Boy (Hong hai’er, 紅孩兒; a.k.a. the “Child Sudhana”, Shancai tongzi, 善財童子), son of the Princess Iron Fan and Bull Demon King. [3] Already having a son under the goddess’ tutelage would make it easier for the Princess to send another child to learn from her. Also, Guanyin helped subdue both Monkey and Red Boy with golden fillets (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 316-320; vol. 2, pp. 251-252). Perhaps the Monkey Prince has a temper like his father and half-brother, so the goddess would make him wear Wukong’s fillet as it’s no longer needed once the latter attains Buddhahood (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 4, p. 383). Most importantly, the bodhisattva lives on the earthly paradise of Potalaka Mountain. The novel explains one day in heaven equals one year on earth (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 150 and 167). A similar constricting of time would no doubt happen in Guanyin’s holy land. Therefore, the Monkey Prince would still be a teenager even after hundreds of years have passed on earth.

Next, I would completely do away with the tacky superhero costume. As a disciple of Guanyin, he would just wear a monk’s robe, the golden fillet, and possibly even sport a tiger skin skirt (like his father) since he would technically be a heavenly guardian. There’d be no unnecessary logos, recycled costumes, or cursed sneakers. And the best part, this attire wouldn’t contradict the Monkey Prince’s hatred for superheroes, provided that was still a necessary plot element. Perhaps this hatred could be born from the fact that heroes like Shazam are given their powers (or happen upon them by accident), while the Prince’s abilities are the hard-won product of long years of spiritual cultivation.

My changes are less confident, however, when it comes to naturally fitting the Monkey Prince into existing canon. The first thing that comes to mind would involve the Shazam villain Sabbac, a hellish demon, causing havoc in Philidephlia’s Chinatown. Perhaps his assault could be related to the deplorable reports of Covid-related violence against Asians. A devotee of the goddess could pray to her in their time of need, and then the Monkey Prince is sent in her stead to exorcize the evil. But Shazam arrives while the Prince is battling the demon, and not knowing one from the other, he attacks them both. This might add fuel to the Monkey Prince’s dislike for Shazam.

I personally think the secret teen identity is a bit much. But if it is a necessary plot element, Guanyin could assign the Monkey Prince to watch over her flock in Philadelphia (and the rest of America?), and at the same time allow him to experience a slice of modern teen life. And, again, if necessary, we can borrow from the original story and have the Prince attend high school, where he feels drawn to Billy Batson because of his godly aura. A local earth god (tudi gong, 土地公) and his wife (tudi po, 土地婆) (fig. 5) could be tasked by heaven to act like his grandparents to keep up the appearance of a normal human family.

Fig. 5 – Religious statues of the earth god (right) and his wife (left) in my personal collection (larger version).

III. DC's Monkey King and Monkey Prince - Part 2

(See here for background)

I would do away with the Bull Demon King, Princess Iron Fan, and Zhu Bajie. Instead, the original heavenly army would meet the brunt of Darkseid’s forces upon their arrival. Playing off of the comic story, and acknowledging my own changes, Guanyin would send her disciples Muzha and Sudhana to take part in the battle. And taking more inspiration from the comic story, I would also have Erlang arrive but instead go toe-to-toe with Darkseid. The “Small Sage” (Xiaosheng, 小聖) is after all the only god to truly defeat the Monkey King, so he would be a worthy opponent. But lets say the invader somehow gets the upper hand, and so I would pay homage to the original novel by having the Jade Emperor call on Gautama Buddha to intervene. But he instead sends the Buddha Victorious in Strife, who obviously has experience with causing havoc in heaven. The Monkey Buddha shows off his power by easily nullifying the attacks of Darkseid’s army and even negating the omega beams by turning them into a shower of flowers, reminiscent of ancient biographies of Gautama Buddha:

The host of Mara hastening, as arranged, each one exerting his utmost force, taking each other’s place in turns, threatening every moment to destroy [the Buddha, but] … Their flying spears, lances, and javelins, stuck fast in space, refusing to descend; the angry thunderdrops and mighty hail, with these, were changed into five-colour’d lotus flowers…” (Beal, 1883, pp. 152 and 153).

I could borrow still more from the novel and have the Buddha Victorious in Strife make Darkseid a wager, recalling Gautama Buddha’s bet with Sun Wukong involving his cloud somersault. But instead of betting that he can’t leap from his palm, the Monkey Buddha makes a wager involving the boom tube.

This is where I run into trouble, though. I don’t know enough about the cosmic hierarchy of the DC universe to go past this point. I say this because Darkseid is considered a “conceptual being” that lives outside of time and is capable of creating avatars of himself (Darkseid (New Earth), n.d.). I’m not sure how this stacks up against DC’s concept of an enlightened being. But from a Buddhist cosmological perspective, I believe the Buddha would be more powerful because he has achieved “nirvāṇa” (Ch: niepan, 涅槃) and broken free of the wheel of rebirth (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, pp. 589-590). However, the New God, even as a deva capable of creating avatars, would still be subject to the “Desire realm” (Sk: kāmadhātu; Ch: yujie, 欲界) of Saṃsāra (Ch: lunhui, 輪迴; shengsi lunhui, 生死輪迴) (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, pp. 230-233 and 411). Therefore, I imagine the Buddha Victorious in Strife plays a trick on Darkseid and is able to trap or even destroy his avatar. As mentioned above, this would make the real villain (in his home dimension) think twice before tangling with Monkey again. 

I’m now obligated to insert my concept of the Monkey Prince into the story. Since he’s born during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE), he would be alive during the attack on heaven. But as a young, inexperienced disciple, he wouldn’t take part in the battle, just hear news of it from Guanyin during the event and stories of what happened from his half-brother Sudhana after the fact. This way, the Monkey Prince would remember the invasion and yearn to do his part when Darkseid reappears in the present.

Lastly, I feel it’s necessary to give the character a name. The comic calls him the “Monkey Prince” in his hero form and “Marcus” in his human form. I think Sun Taizi (孫太子), or “Prince Sun”, is a great name as it plays off of San Taizi (三太子), the “Third Prince” (fig. 6), one of Nezha’s titles in Chinese folk religion. (Fun fact: This deity serves as a heavenly vanguard in Sun Wukong’s own religion.) Borrowing from existing religious beliefs sparks the titillating idea that Sun Taizi’s heroic deeds would earn him devotees. Beyond his own continuing spiritual cultivation, he would grow in strength as more and more believers pray to and leave him offerings! This wouldn’t be the first time a monkey god is worshiped in America.

Fig. 6 – A religious statue of San Taizi, the “Third Prince”, from the Nine Dragons Prince Temple (Jiulong taizi gong, 九龍太子宮) in Tainan, Taiwan (larger version). Photo taken by me. 

Notes:

His wager with the Buddha is briefly shown in Lucifer #75 (2006).

For example, chapter two reads:

Plucking a handful of hairs from his [the Monkey King’s] own body and throwing them into his mouth, he chewed them to tiny pieces and then spat them into the air. “Change!” he cried, and they changed at once into two or three hundred little monkeys encircling the combatants on all sides. For you see, when someone acquires the body of an immortal, he can project his spirit, change his form, and perform all kinds of wonders. Since the Monkey King had become accomplished in the Way, every one of the eighty-four thousand hairs on his body could change into whatever shape or substance he desired (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 128).

3. Muzha (a.k.a. Hui’an, 惠岸) is already Guanyin’s disciple by the start of Monkey’s rebellion. In ch. 6, the goddess sends him to help in case his skills are needed (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 175). Red Boy is taken in by her at the end of ch. 42 and beginning of ch. 43 (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 251-252).

Sources:

Beal, S. (Trans.). (1883). The Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King: A Life of Buddha by Asvaghosha Bodhisattva. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/foshohingtsankin00asva/mode/2up.

Buswell, R. E., & Lopez, D. S. (2014). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press.

Chan, M. (2006). Ritual is Theatre, Theatre is Ritual: Tang-ki, Chinese Spirit Medium Worship. Singapore: Wee Kim Wee Centre, Singapore Management University.

Dong, Y., Lin, S., & Schulz, L. J. (2000). The Tower of Myriad Mirrors: A Supplement to Journey to the West. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan.

Graham. F. (2013). Vessels for the Gods: Tang-ki Spirit Mediumship in Singapore and Taiwan. In J. Hunter & D. Luke (Eds.), Talking With Spirits: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Spirit Mediumship (pp. 327-348). Brisbane: Daily Grail Press.

Ning, C. Y. (1986). Comic Elements in the Xiyouji Zaju. (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 8612591)

Wu, C., & Yu, A. C. (2012). The Journey to the West (Vols. 1-4). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.

[celestial-jade-plum]

Considering how many sequels (and supplementary material) of the JTTW novel gave him kids…

I’d say it’s a time honored tradition. There’s King Pāramitā in one that’s supposed to take place between two later chapters of the novel. A son he accidentally has with Princess Iron Fan through magical means.

Then there is the Journey to the South sequel novel. He has three children in that one, 2 sons (Jidu and Luohou) and a daughter (Yuebei Xing).

Then there is his spiritual successor Sun Luzhen. Who goes through similar trials and challenges throughout his life as Sun Wukong did.

Outside of animation, though, I’d like to point you in the direction of the DC comicbook series Monkey Prince, that kind of does the same as LmK? The titular character is a regular human boy until he finds out he has the powers of the Monkey king. He does eventually get to meet Sun Wukong but he’s raised by regular human parents and thought by a disguised Piggy and Sandy.

Just seems like everyone looks at any Sun Wukong and says “hmm, dad shaped.”

If I had a nickel for everytime a monkey king show made him an accidental father figure to a mysterious kid with supernatural powers I'd have two nickels whicb isn't a lot but it's so funny that every writer looks at Sun Wukong and said "The cure to anger management is giving this unstable monkey a child"

Lol they both also leave said super powered child behind cause they don't want it to get hurt and die. RIP

They really said give this monkey familial trauma and make it personal

EDIT 5 WHOLE TIMES THIS TROPE EXISTS IN 5 WHOLE ITERATIONS???? Well tbf Monkey King (Netflix) and Hero is Back, the kid doesn't have supernatural powers but it still WORKS. And New Gods the kid is full grown BUT STILL

[sonicasura]

Okay. I keep seeing this confusion constantly pop up on my recommended. For anyone in the Trollhunters fandom or plan to introduce someone to the series...

Trollhunters and Rise of the Titans aren't made by the same writers.

The one responsible for the trainwreck movie is Marc Guggenheim. He's responsible for: Arrow Season 4, 2nd Percy Jackson movie and Green Lantern movie. It is a scenario where someone who doesn't understand the material drags it down to hell: the death touch.

This has happened to two other media I indulge in: Venom and Journey To The West. Donny Cates who destroyed the Lethal Protector's entire character. Two major examples being the destruction of the mutual love between Eddie and Venom alongside a random Anne/Venom love child whose very unsavory conception is from something the symbiote would NEVER do.

Next is Monkey Prince, a middle finger to anyone who enjoys Journey To The West and is most likely banned in China where the "inspiration" originates. This insult was clearly made with no proper knowledge on JTTW, a four textbook sized long story.

It's most popular character is Sun Wukong, the Monkey King and Great Sage Equal To Heaven. A stone monkey who cares greatly when it comes to the principle of family whether it be his monkey subjects or sworn brothers. He WILL kill anyone that harms them.

Sun Wukong ain't someone who would knock up a random woman and leave knowing he has a son. To leave his kid in danger as the Monkey King made himself many enemies whether it be demons/yaoguai to immortals. Nor let an incompetent trainer use a device that was meant to torture Sun Wukong into compliance and punish him FOR TRAINING.

I'm pretty sure Mindy Kaling's self insert "Velma" is a good example too. To summarize, no one treats Rise of the Titans as canon unless its a bad ending universe or Blinky's crackfic. People who don't understand the characters and material should never be allowed to write it.

You be opening the Gates of Hell known as angry fans.

Edit: Apparently Marc was a bit more involved in the series than I thought as I did some research thanks to a heads up from @bluheaven-adw . And oh boy do I see huge errors in his line of thinking. First off, you don't end three different series such as these with an Avengers style movie.

Those style of movies aren't the type you want to use for a vague series such as 3Below/Trollhunters/Wizards. It is a Netflix exclusive series and we all know the flaws with streaming service exclusives. Each show should have it's own conclusion in their respective series but you can have some characters from the other pop up to help with proper context and introduction.

Another idiotic decision is that they were doing this while Wizards was in production. Bad move as you are stretching both budget, management and resources. It became clear that no care was brought into either production. Wizards is shaky at best but escaped the devastation that Rise of the Titans wrought to the fandom.

Love and care is just as important to manage a series than just familiarity.

[chaoticfandomcat]

Round and Round they Go

@wolfcamellias @wolfloupen I tagged both but I did say I was gonna end up writing something with Valley AU and Teacher!Wukong. Once I started writing it ended up. So much longer than I expected.  (1.7k words, I did not make enough circle puns in this. Minor warning about allusions to the pain Wukong felt from the circlet. Nothing graphic but there is some description. Also added some bonus stuff at the bottom I found while researching the circlet a bit when writing this.) 

Wukong toyed with the small monkey figure under his desk as he passively listened to the debate going on beside him. As much as he tried to steer the topics away from it, they always seemed to circle back around to, well, the circlet.

Pressed, squeezing, burning, digging into his skull making it impossible to—

It wasn’t hard to guess why, it was one of those topics that sparked a lot of thought and branching topics that would link back to it. He was glad they had gotten better at keeping it civilized, but there was only so many times he could hear them talk…

Pain. Pain. Pian. Pain. He just wanted to claw it off and and –

“What would the alternative have been?”

Wukong carefully unclenched his hand and stored the little figure back in his desk. Maybe fully listening would keep his mind within the moment.

“Wouldn’t the threat of a punishment, like being tapped under the mountain have sufficed?”

“It wouldn’t have been an immediate threat! Plus, only the Buddha could do that.”

“So do you have an idea for an alternative since you brought it up?”

Names and faces were blurring to him as he just tried to listen to what they spoke of. He was sure he knew them all, but his mind did not want to let him put names and faces together.

“The band wasn’t the issue. The issue was how it was used.”

“So are you blaming the Monk?”

The words were on the tip of his tongue before the other student spoke up again.

“No. Well, not exactly no. He’s human. Plus, the Monkey King had a history of killing people to remove the threat. It was what cause their first argument.”

“That means he was open to help, there had to be other ways”

“Open to help, but not yet open to all the teachings. The goal was to provide a lesson, albeit a painful one, but a lesson none the less.”

“Why do you think they picked Monkey King at all?” Another student interrupted, pressing on when the others turned to them, “There had to be lots of other possible demons, or if they had really seen him as too dangerous, he didn’t have to be let go”

“Maybe they saw potential in him? He had undergone teaching before!”

“Yeah, and most of what he did was just in retaliation to being treated badly!”

“Exactly!” The first student, who had brought up the alternative question, joined in again, “Retaliation! He acted out! Plus think about what he knew!”

“What do you mean?”

“He grew up around monkeys, demon monkeys but monkeys none the less, it’s not as if he’d have known any human customs and rules or laws.”

That was…a new direction. They were getting very off the generalized topic, but it was different from what usual came up Wukong was interested to see where it went.

Anything to keep his mind off the pain. Off that. Off his brain wanting to.

“What about when he went for teaching? He had human peers then.”

“And was there any talk about him doing anything bad.”

“He got kicked out.”

“For showing off, not for say, injuring another student.”

“We have had a habit of assuming the Monkey King would fight first, ask questions later.” A different student spoke up. They were usually a quieter one. Names were still escaping him, but he was starting to remember the smaller habits of each.

“Most of the time he had to fight though didn’t he? The demons weren’t exactly open to talking or set in eating the Monk.”

“What about all the havoc he caused in heaven? They would have been open to talk.”

“Retaliation remember? That and the heavens originally wanted to be rid of the Monkey King, but he was too powerful and they were scared.”

“Fear does cause things to be done irrationally.”

“Also we…” The student trailed off, some of their gumption wilting before they spoke again, “Can we split into new groups? I. I want to know something.”

They all turned and looked at Wukong who blinked remembering he was the teacher here. They may all be adults, at least in human terms, but he was the authoritative figure here.

“Go ahead, just keep track of the time. And no fighting.” He pointed his pencil at all of them and specifically locked eyes with a few of the students he remembered, now if only the names would come back to him, would get a little heated at times.

“Left for yes, right for no, is the Monkey King, or at least was he, evil?”

Ah, another debate that would come up frequently with the circlet. Afterall, to deserve the circlet the wearer must be evil.

The divide was more even than it usually was, he wasn’t sure how to feel about that, but his emotions settled on quietly disagreeing. He already knew the answer, for unlike some of the other topics this one had an answer, and the answer was—

“Does it count if he was ignorant?”

“What do you mean ignorant?”

His thoughts tuned back into the debate, he himself leaning forward on his desk wondering where the topic of the question was going.

“It’s not like he knew it was bad. And for everything he knew it wasn’t…. evil, maybe not correct but no one ever told him it was wrong otherwise!”

“He is known for being a trickster. Plus all the ones he fought before were immortal beings! Anyone else he killed was worse than him.”

“Didn’t have any reason to hold back. That and you wouldn’t call a hunter evil for providing food for his family right?”

“I guess not…”

“That and he was usually right! They just didn’t believe him!”

“It’s true. And it makes sense with what was said earlier, about change and all. Just because the Monkey King was told he shouldn’t doesn’t mean he would change his thinking right away.”

“Killing people, any people in this case, was considered wrong! Even if they posed a threat, like the bandits!”

“That was mentioned as the first incident, wasn’t it? I mean I would also be a little suspicious towards someone if I knew they saw that as an okay method for removing a problem.”

“Another debate maybe, but it wasn’t always explained to him either.”

“Explained?”

“I mean uhm…” The student glanced at Wukong who offered a comforting smile in return, they nodded before turning back and marching on, “Every time the circlet was used was usually due to the Monk being convinced the Monkey King was wrong…right?”

“More or less yeah I think so.”

“So, how would you react if you got punished for being right?”

“Angry probably. I was right and I’m still being punished for it? No wonder he had to be convinced to come back each time.”

“Yeah but, if we think about it in terms of how the Monk would have seen it…. take the incident with the Bone Demon. It’s not impossible for the Monkey King to have been able to set up a scene like that right?”

“He was extremely powerful, I guess he could have.”

“Right and we established earlier killing any human was bad, even if said human had evil intentions themselves.”

“Oh I think I see where you’re going! Can I finish it off?” Another student chimed in, leaning their seat back and forth in excitement. At the nod from the previous one they took over, “At minimum with the Bone Demon incident the Monkey King killed a human! Which is a no no. But since we all know for a fact it is a demon, it seemed like the punishment was given unfairly!”

That was…another new perspective. Wukong hadn’t thought back to the more particular incidents where the spell was cast.

Pain pain pain pain.

“I would bet any one of us here would also react similarly,” Wukong couldn’t drown in memories now. Maybe he should put a stop to this debate? Time had to be running short, “Knowing for a fact we’re right but getting punished? I wouldn’t have even bothered to think about what lesson it was really trying to teach.”

“To circle back around, yes I did the pun on purpose, on if the Monkey King deserved it… I also want to ask again but in a different way, what else could have worked?”

“They…have a point. Nothing else could hold down or stop the Monkey King. He was an immortal and indestructible demon. Maybe it still wasn’t the best method but…”

“It was the quickest way. If not for the misinformation being told to the Monk, the Monkey King picked up on the new wrong and right really quickly.”

“And it’s not like any of the others had experienced it either…sure they could have been told but it’s different from experiencing it isn’t it?”

“And they also viewed him as a powerful and terrifying demon! Just because they saw it caused him pain doesn’t mean they could judge how much it was to th—”

“And that’s time everyone,” Wukong brought their attention to him as he stacked some of the books on his desk to take home, “You all did good this time around, next time though each side should try and stick to the side they’re on even if you start thinking otherwise.”

“Are you sure we can’t stay a little longer?”

“Not this time. I have something I need to do, but if you all meet elsewhere I can’t stop you,” He joked at them even as he flexed his hands to keep them from clenching. “Really, next time though it is good practice to still defend the side you first joined. Never can be sure if all the information given is correct.”

The students looked at him a little puzzled and a few were starting to ask what he meant before he cut them off, “I’ll explain to you all next time. For now, all of you go home. I wasn’t kidding about having something to do.”

“That’s a first.” The comment sent a wave of laughter through the class as they packed up and headed out, saying their goodbyes to Wukong as they went.

In the quiet of the classroom, after all had left, with only the ticking of the clock. Wukong took out the small wooden figure once more.

Bitter. Cold. Frustrating. It wasn’t a wonder why the circlet happened.

So why did that seem harder to understand? =========================================================== Fun facts! While writing this I found this site which talked about how in a version of JTTW that predates the one we know The Monkey King sought out the Monk on his own to help him in the journey.  The circlet being more of just a crown he had and not the tightening band we all know it as now. It’s an interesting read :Oc  All their sources for the article are listed at the bottom, but if nothing else the most popular interpretation had turned into what we know today  That and I had other ~*thoughts*~ on why something that would cause pain would be used for teaching, related to the time period and all, but I never actually did enough research to know if it would fit with my thoughts That and as the story is actually history in the world Wukong is in those thoughts do not work xD. 

[unseelie-robynx]

Tagged by @laughingpinecone

Challenge: Make a poll of your five fave characters of all time, then tag five people to do the same

Tagging @lizwuzthere @skeleslime-phantom @torreynope @peach-dryad @modmad

[nicolekart]

There's nothing for me...

An unfortunate question during watch time

Original audio: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Music: Need 2 by Pinegrove

Music editing ( TikTok sound): tuffnutisthebest