#dbk rewatch

[gabrielokun]

[mushiemadarame]

dark blue kiss opening theme stays ON during sex

[kehideni]

The time has come... the aroacest person ever will rant about how in LMK Wukong's feelings regarding Macaque were hinted at.

And by hinted at i mean that ultimatelly it can still be platonic but yeah i get why people ship it. I'm grumbling over here like

so you can think of me as a reluctant shipper. (ugh)

Jesus Christ... how do i even start...

I guess with readmore because i'm going to talk about the whole entire show so far. Which means Spoilers for Season 5 (and 4... but like that's been out for a year now)

Also before i start, i'm not gonna talk about Macaque's pov in this because he is even more obvious than Wukong and people talk about him all the time. I should know i'm one of them.

S1E9 "Macaque"

First and foremost it's not much, but SWK's reaction to seeing Macaque for the first time in who knows how long is legit suspicious, not because it's anything special but specifically because it's such a toned down reaction. Even if SWK doesn't know that Macaque is supposed to be dead, Mac has been suggested to be at least MIA since their mysterious fight. He wasn't goofing around, he wasn't taking it lightly, but also he didn't take Macaque's appearance with the weight you'd think he should.

Let's just do a little mental gymnastics: In your mind replace SWK with MK and Macaque with Mei. Imagine that Mei has Macaque's backstory and MK has SWK's. Two long time best friends, with a serious fallout, Mei goes MIA and then comes back. Do you think MK would react the same way SWK did in the episode? Obviously not.

Now i know Wukong is rather secretive, exspecially in S1-3(for plot reasons) but the thing is, that DBK was also SWK's friend, a very dear one at that. His reaction to DBK is goofy, light spirited, hardly interferes with the MK vs DBK fight. He wasn't really shush-shush about missing DBK's company. (S2E2 Revenge of the Spider Queen)

In contrast to that, when he finds out Macaque is back he doesn't take it lightly, no goofing off, but also doesn't seem to want to fight Macaque? In this episode all he does is make Mac back off from MK. I guess he wouldn't want to, of course, but yeah had Mac been anyone else, Wukong would be actively working on how to get rid of him. Ie.: Lady Bone Demon or even the Major("how about him? Is he part of your destiny?" bit)

And we do know SWK was holding back, as he wooped Macaque's behind when he was possessed by LBD no problem.

S2E1 "Happy New Year"

SWK: "It's called misdirection."

MK: "Seems like a shady lesson."

SWK: "Too soon, buddy."

It's not really saying much- again-, after all it's just a one liner joke. It's just that no comparable joke was made in any other character's expense. Also the annotation in SWK's voice wasn't really silly. A "can't decide if i'm supposed to smile at the pun or feel sorry for SWK" thing.

(Now while we are ignoring Mac's side of things, rewatching Shadowplay while having S5 knowledge, it's kind of haunting what kind of parallels the show is drawing between MK and Macaque of all things but moving ooooooon~)

In most of Season 3, Wukong is back to his monkey-ing around personality. S3E1 "On the run" he behaves the same way he'd with DBK.

The next of note episode is pretty far off in S3E9 "The king, the prince, and the shadow"

The importance of this scene

specifically Wukong's expression, is that funnily enough, he believed completely that Macaque was working for LBD, when in truth he was going behind her back the whole time, working towards his own agenda (ie.: freeing himself from her) and also thought he could fool Macaque.

Macaque on the other hand easily read Wukong's intention, something that Nezha fell for completely, that the rings were fake. (Macaque knows Wukong better than Wukong knows Macaque.)

That means, at this point Wukong was convinced that Macaque is a bad guy (something he will mention right at the beginning of Season 5) and still he did not hurt him. He later on almost did, yes, but did not need much convincing from Tang to leave him be.

"If you hurt that kid, i'll..."

"What? Make things worse for MK?"

*cuts to that scene

Obviously intentional poetic positioning, reflecting Macaque in a position that is suggested to be the "made things worse for him" thing that Mac is referring to. Yadda yadda, had Wukong not killed him the LBD would not have her claws in Macaque right now as she wouldn't have resurrected him. *is still a hella sketchy story with holes and i don't intend to make Wukong out to be the bad guy, i'm working with what the show is er... showing us/telling us* !Which is fine!!! The story is on going!!! They choose to tell it as teeth-pullingly slow as possible for plot convenience! Sit down, we all know the truth will be far more nuanced than it was presented in S3

But to get back to Wukong's pov, if you notice, after he hears that Macaque is not loyal to the LBD he tries to tell him that he has a plan, one- presumably (if Mac would have listened) -Wukong would have involved him in. Possibly even help him get free from LBD.

Next in line would be the parallel drawn between Mei and Macaque

Wukong was impulsive way back then and now, hurting "those that care about you the most" But yeah... Macaque's line is also incriminating "She's completely out of control, if there's a time to go it is now."

MK countering it that- paraphrasing now but -"bruh that's not really a punk rock thing to do." Possible reason for ^ that cut to Wukong's reaction is that Macaque's line opened up some scars. Hearing that he'd abandon you when things go wrong is very much the first wound that SWK and Macaque suffered in their friendship (from Wukong's side, again imma just ignore Macaque's side in this post but so help me if anyone goes on a comment rampage about how Macaque is truely a piece of shit i will just tell you to go watch the whole series again because whole ass plotlines and characterDEVELOPMENTS fly right by you)

Nezha: "She controlled the fire? This is impossible."

^ Wukong getting a front row seat view of what could have been had they not given up on each other with Macaque.

"Mei was right, i need to stop dragging you into my fights."

ehm... you guys hear it too i'm sure, but we will get to that later

(On a slight tangent... actually i do recommend a rewatch of the show because LBD's lines get so much more meaning. Macaque specifically gets added to the destiny speech all the time, which is funny considering he should know all about destiny and he is the most againts the idea of a destiny existing, Macaque refuses his own powers???And i do believe Macaque has his future-knowing powers because he has reaction time to things that didn't even start happening yet such as LBD throwing the girl away, hiding from Azure and co. when he shouldn't have known they are free, etc.)

On another cute little side note, Nezha said Wukong is not a loner, no matter how much he seems to be.

Lookit that happy smile, fighting along side all his fwiends awww, go you funky little monkey man

This ending scene for it's few seconds is packed with things to point out. "I hate that guy so much, always acting like he's so cool." Literally no one ever said that or thought that Wukong. That was your take on Macaque's behavior. When i first saw that scene my thought was that "Yeah if i were Macaque i'd have left too."

Or even this gag bit can suggest Wukong being out of balance once Macaque leaves.

Stress eating...

Season 4 goes a bit more into detail concerning Wukong's issues

"Forever is a long time bud, trust me." Shows two monkeys hanging around, eating fruit, doing whatever they want.

So the scroll gets opened, and in no practicular order characters are shown that Wukong feels guilty about, looks properly sad when they show. The stress lines around his eyes start showing after Macaque is shown

Flashback scene, kinda is a thing in season 4 that Wukong is much more physically affectionate than Macaque

not gonna do more screenshots because i could literally just post the clip but the thing that we can take away from these is that Wukong insisted on including Macaque

"You're really going through with this?"

"Correction, WE are going through with this." i'm choosing to take it as a tie back to Nezha's line of Wukong not liking being alone.

Much of the brotherhood doesn't seem to actually care for Macaque and Macaque seems to not care for the brotherhood either. And Peng isn't even our first clue for this, since DBK and Macaque have been around since Season 1 and they have yet to interact with each other, eventhough they are sworn brothers too. Azure Lion and Yellow Tusk if name drop Macaque once the whole season, and Peng is the most vocal about their dislike/hatered of Macaque. (Also when the scroll wants to traumatise Azure it only uses Peng and Yellow Tusk)

You can headcanon that Macaque joined the brotherhood only because Wukong is there, but also it's not really a stretch to think that it was actually Wukong that wanted Macaque in the brotherhood and Macaque just agreed to join because Wukong insisted. Either and both can be true.

I just posted this screenshot because Wukong's face made me laugh.

Wukong being the only one paying attention to Macaque's thoughts and feelings, even if ultimately he brushes them under the rug. (Which says more about the brotherhood than Wukong actually...because the brotherhood just about ignored Macaque completely. Wukong paid attention but ya know... big plans and big dreams require big actions)

His speech is a nice promise, but the annotation is on "like we always wanted". The whole quote going: "Relax bud, when this is over we'll be back here basking in the Sun, getting fat on fruit for the rest of ... well forever!! Like we always wanted."

Since it's a conversation with only Wukong and Macaque in the shot, we as the audience are clued in that it was specifically the dream of those two, not the whole brotherhood.

Btw rewatching the episode, Azure says Wukong had the habit of keeping people at arm's lenght, like bruh that's a straight on lie.

(lmao that Tang joke with the water :'D not thirsty, Tang?)

Now Azure when talking with MK, showing him select few scenes to make himself look the victim says one thing. That Wukong imprisoned them. Did not kill, imprison.

I said this before, i will say it here too. Why would Wukong, who is closest to Macaque from the brotherhood, imprison everyone else, but specifically kill Macaque? Nah ah, i'm pretty sure that was not how it went down. But that's a to be cleared thing for season 6 hopefully.

As.... hilarious as this picture is, it's kinda proof of Wukong's sentimentality.

Finally i arrive at S4E11 A lifetime of mistakes

Nothing much to say about this scene, it speaks for itself.

"Everything i did was for us!" This sentence alone means Wukong's fear of death extended to Macaque. Macaque said that Wukong feared death more than anything which is true, but whenever Wukong talked about his goals the emphasis was on them together spending forever with whatever they wanted.

Third time reminding you of Nezha's statement, that Wukong is not a loner. Something that Azure flat out lied about, telling MK that Wukong kept them at arm's lenght.

It's 2+2 guys... spending eternity alone is boring as fk, of course you need a buddy. And a buddy just as immortal as you, since we know the heartbreak that comes with an immortal - mortal friendship. To the mortal that friendship is for lifetime, to that immortal it's just a small chapter of their lives. Wukong really DID do everything for Macaque, but well... he went overboard, like MK said. He could have stopped right here, he already had his wish:

They already were sitting in the sun, eating fruit and doing whatever they wanted.

But now look at thoooose stress lines

While the show doesn't even suggest what Wukong's full punishment was -because let's keep it PG it is still a kids show- Wukong also just lost his best friend.

In Season 4 peaches were the symbol of their friendship, something that Wukong -probably just out of sheer anger- rejected from Macaque in this scene, only for Macaque to crush said peach in answer and throw it away. My guys, this was an ugly UGLY divorce. Thing is that had cooler heads prevailed, they probably wouldn't have had this fight here. It's dressed up as a gag line, but Wukong says he really wanted that peach.

In the scroll MK and Macaque follow the memories that Wukong punched himself through, trying to find some good ones AKA memories with MK. Wukong saw this memory too, which was the last memory before MK and Mac found Wukong.

After seeing this memory and deciding to escape it he stopped in the next one. Meaning this memory is the freshest Wukong is thinking about.

"I just wanted to protect the people i care about." *camera angles to Macaque.

MK then quotes Wukong saying that maybe they can't fix everything, but they just have to leave it better than they found it. That's just another way to say "fix" btw... and he looks to Macaque, because that's what he wants to fix most.

Well he has an eternity to do it.

He was legit asking permission from Macaque here, idk what for if you are the Monkey King you don't need permission, right?

Next episode "The Plan man" starts with something i already said:

Wukong is looking for Macaque when he notices he is not in the heroic pose with the rest of them. Showing once again, where Wukong's priority laid. He needs to make sure he still has his buddy by him. Kinda going into Sun Mumkong mode, embarassing Macaque:

Do note, Wukong verbally said he wanted all of them to have the "happily ever after" but before that talk with Azure, Macaque was emphasized.

And the thing is, at first i thought, surely i'm reading far too much into this, but this weird Macaque-prioritising will appear in Season 5 too. We will get to that.

This was Wukong's wish, to not be alone.

Anyways, show uppy "tsundere" way of expressing, that he is happy Mac is there.

Like i said, peaches in season 4 were a metaphor for their friendship. Handing Mac a peach ice cream is kinda his way of saying "friends?" but maybe in a different way. The "try again" button in the game if you will.

Season 5 however hooo boi...

I ran out of pictures/post so i'll have to make a part 2, which will be season 5.

[icyandthefrostbites]

So I'm rewatching episodes of LMK to better organize my Something's Strange with MK list, and it didn't occur to me until just now.

When MK first shows up to DBK's mountain, he was delivering noodles. None of the Bull Clones ordered noodles. And I highly doubt Red Son or PIF ordered any.

It's entirely possible that someone just typed in the wrong wrong address.

But there was someone else there:

A bird I was very suspicious of.

Wukong purposefully ordered the noodles to get MK there to get the staff.

[rinsilverstar223]

SPICYNOODLES

Been rewatching Lego Monkie Kid. I'm sure it's been done before, but I couldn't miss out on the comedic potential that comes with Season 3. I mean, what if the DBK and Iron Fan didn't find out about MK, Mei, and Sandy staying the night until the morning.

MK just had a big fight with Macaque, so he's bound to have a few bruises. It would look SO incriminating.

[i-am-a-fan]

Thoughts? 👉👈

OH MY GOD OKAY. LET ME MOVE TO MY LAPTOP FOR THIS.

ONCE AGAIN SPOILERS!!!!! FOR SEASON 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I am not a writer on the show nor have actually watched seasons 1-4 in a while, so this is all from my memory and past writings. I rewatched some a lot of episodes for screenshots and evidence.

Long ago in the pilot movie and season 1, I described Redson as awkward, prideful, and quick-tempered. This makes sense as their only real company was their neglectful mother and the bull clones. They wouldn't have had any outside influence as to how to talk to other people or how to form good connections with others. So them stuttering out of control and calling Mk and Mei names, makes sense. They basically have never interacted with anyone their age and MK and Mei are far from your average person.

Another thing to note is that Redson by this point has already been shown to be incredibly intelligent and powerful. Something that gets reinforced in later seasons as well. They are well-versed in magic, magical items, and mechanics. They have the ability to teleport between realms and on the mortal plane, fire concurring, and have the fighting skills to match it. The problem is that Mei is a literal dragon and Mk (that we now know) is a powerful reality-altering monkey demon.

Then we see the behind Redson usual demeanor at the end of season 1. Redson starts to grow weary of his dad and the bones. It's right before the fight between possessed DBK and Mk that we see another trait of Redson: their total lack of self-confidence. The want to prove themselves and their worth is what I assume most of their driving force has been and still is. They just stand there as DBK berates him and is about to KO them. They think of themselves so little, that they weren't going to protect themselves from getting hit by their own father. His mother saving him provides him with evidence that their mother does care for them, and doesn't want them to get hurt giving them the confidence boost to help Mk in the fight.

We then see a shift in their character development in "Revenge of the Spider Queen". Redson at this point is still awkward and prideful, but we see that they value their family so much more. They're willing to do anything for their parents, even after being treated so poorly. During the movie they're held against their will to work alongside Mk's team, saying that he'll go on ahead implying that they still feel that they're above the team. That being said, once their father is released, they still help the team by freeing Mei of his own accord. This is the first time Redson willingly helps the team. (Side note, in the movie we also see that Redson is at least semi-comfortable with Mei's physical affection. It's in season 4 that we see that Redson is uncomfortable with Mk hugging him/being called a hero.)

In season 3, we start to see less of him, but we do see something important-- Redson is working in the food service industry. No, I'm not kidding. Recall that in the second paragraph, I stated that Redson has little interaction with the outside world, well, guess what food service provides him with? Yip. This allows them to not only get closer to their dad but to interact with other people. More so, the stand lets them learn social cues and food service skills which may explain why they start to get less awkward as the series progresses. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, please tip your waiters extra.)

Now, this is where I start to have beef with the show and Redson's development. From here on out, all of Redson's actual character development happens offscreen. There isn't an episode where we see Redson get better at communication with other people, or one where Redson and their family reconcile, we only get snippets (which makes sense because Redson isn't supposed to be a main character.) The previous paragraph is simply speculation.

Later on, we see that they willingly save Mk, Mei, and Sandy. They obviously care about them in some fashion by rescuing them and providing them with food, water, and shelter. They go out of their way (albeit begrudgingly) to bring Mk a warm glass of milk and an extra blanket and save Mei's dragon plushie to give back to her later. However, the best part of that episode is how Redson reacts to hearing about the samadhi fire.

The face that Redson makes when hearing about the fire is that of horror and fear. It's not fully clear in the episode what exactly causes the fear, but it's most likely due to the nature of the flame and Redson's inability to wield it. The telling of the story feeds into their fear of not being good enough-- of not being strong enough-- and the thought of that scares them. They already lost their father twice and doesn't want that to happen again.

At the end of season 3, we get more information on how Redson feels about the Samadhi fire. First, we see that Redson knows a lot about the flame, going on to explain what it is and their theory as to why Mei can contain it. They seem to have trained for the opportunity to wield the fire again by mediation and creating/finding a guide to how to train those who wield the flame. Mei makes a quip about how Redson's hypocritical in their teachings about being short-tempered, to which Redson seems to respond genuinely, knowing that they're still trying to work on this part of themselves. Providing another shift in how they're starting to trust Mei more. Redson's flashback to having the Samadhi fire shows they understand what it was like to have no control over themselves, to feel overrun with power and destruction and they comfort Mei in that moment. Redson acts like they want to destroy everything in their path, but they want to do so out of their own strength and free will.

At the end of the training he fully believes in Mei, but still keeps her at a distance. In the speech they give to Mei, Redson seems to give up the flame stating that the samadhi fire is Mei's power and to not give up on him. In my head, I feel like these are words that Redson wanted to hear themselves when they were under the flame's control. If Redson actually felt okay with giving up the flame is another story.

In season 4, we again see how Redson is unable to protect their family from Azure and the scroll, which feeds into their fear of not being good enough. The ending of that season shows that the families seem to be on good terms and Redson seems to be more relaxed with Mei and Mk.

Now... season 5. Back to the off-development, Redson seems way more comfortable around Mei than before. Mei seems to have found Redson's number, but Redson isn't aware of this. (I'm assuming it's kinda like how Mei put surveillance cameras on everyone without them knowing.) If Redson had been communicating with Mei outside of this, I think I would feel a bit better about how Redson and Mei were interacting with each other.

The fear of not being good enough seems to still be within them, grumbling about not gaining back the samadhi fire. Super shout out to @salemontrial who wrote about a possibility as to why Redson isn't as enthusiastic about Mei, supposedly, losing the fire. "The power came from the might of both of his parents and he wasn't strong enough to wield it... he finds out that this girl who's been ruining his plans is strong enough so he helps her, but how he knows that [it's] possible to wield. He [truly] just wasn't strong enough. So... he does his best... trying to make a version he can control." In all, the grumbling comes from their pride and the fact that one of their biggest fears has evidence.

I think why Redson doesn't immediately yell at Mei is because they know they goofed up. They might be prideful, but when alone, Redson owns up to their mistakes: the hypocrisy about being short-tempered, releasing the LBD, and now owning up to making a fire sprite.

My quam? When Redson saves Mei with the line "I can't do this alone." THIS MAN HAS YET TO LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT ASKING FOR HELP. Most other things in that episode kinda line up, but Redson has yet to have any reason to have the confidence to outright ask for help. They seem to be getting along with their family more, but the fact that they're still looking for such a devastating weapon, instead of working on their own powers, brings me to believe that Redson has not learned how to believe in themselves. I know we had about 3 episodes in season 3 to see Redson grow more comfortable with Mei and in this season we had 1, but that doesn't mean that Redson's full trust in Mei didn't feel rushed or out of character. He’s inconsistent in this season and it bothers me.

I will say, the fact that Mei invited Redson to help save the world and Redson told Mei how to communicate with him, probably means that Redson is going to become more of a main character in the upcoming season, especially since we saw them training together at the end. Maybe that will help explain why they seem so close.

[ninjasmudge]

For the longest time, I couldn't tell why DBK gave off such different vibes whenever he was in the present vs a flashback, and today I finally realized: it's the fur! He lost all his fur after being under the mountain! And it never grew back!

When he said "flesh...bone...I have returned to the realm of the living" he wasn't kidding, man really is just flesh and bone

(And upon rewatching the pilot, there are some spots on his chest that look like exposed flesh. Yikes)

Man's bald ☠

HE LOST ALL HIS FUR AND EYEBROWS AND HORN! AND I JUST NOTICED THIS PART BUT CONSIDERING WHAT HE WEARS NOW

I THINK HE MISSES IT

[almayver]

When Wandee ends im going to have to rewatch like DBK just so I can get out of the habit of hissing every time Pod is on screen

[its-malarkey]

I’m continuing my LMK rewatch as I draw and naturally it’s A Lifetime Of Mistakes so I’m not getting anything done but as I reached the point where they found Wukong, I finally took the time to stop and see what the other flashes of gold memories were. (I feel a little stupid for not finding this sooner)

There are two which are really obvious just looking at them— the one with the Jade Emperor and the one where a younger Wukong offers Macaque a peach (this one breaks me every time I see it my god). I was hoping that looking harder would give us a glimpse of what happened with Macaque because boy, wouldn’t that be something.

What I found:

The first quick flash is, upon further inspection, Wukong fighting DBK. I wasn’t entirely sure who it was at first, but you can see the horns and once you realize who it is, you can’t unsee it. I’ve always assumed along with the fandom that he felt regret for burying his sworn brother, but seeing it confirmed… makes me sad.

The second one also took me a bit to figure out, but it’s Wukong under the mountain, I assume after his argument with Macaque. Obviously he felt something after this, but man, to know that it’s haunted him?

The third one is only abs and the smallest hints of what looks like hair, but I’ve concluded from the hair that it’s Azure. After seeing that Wukong regrets even putting away his friends that did things to ‘earn’ their imprisonment, you can’t tell me that monkey isn’t completely different from who he used to be. He’s haunted by mistakes he made— his argument with Macaque, crossing the Jade Emperor— but he’s also haunted by the fact that for someone who was so fixated on protecting those he cared about, he ended up putting most of them away.

Peng and Yellow Tusk went to the Scroll of Memory, Azure went to the Underworld, and DBK was trapped under a mountain (and maybe also imprisoned in the Underworld). Hell, he even only imprisoned the Lady Bone Demon (although I wonder if he would even have been able to kill her). Macaque, his best friend, was the only one that wasn’t spared. You’re telling me that Wukong’s biggest life regrets are imprisoning all of his former friends, going against the Jade Emperor, and arguing with his best friend, even if it ended their relationship? Compared to killing him? No. There’s something else.

And the show writers still won’t tell us what happened. We KNOW what happened with the other four and can justify their imprisonment, but they’re hiding what happened between Macaque and Wukong for a reason.

Every textpost I make eventually turns into a theory about what happened between Wukong and Macaque and how Wukong may or may not have been in control of his body when he killed Macaque (or left him for dead), so I’ll end it here before it goes too far, but I’m still thinking. Hopefully season five will give us a much-wanted (much-deserved) flashback or at least show us what happened.

[nerves-nebula]

About to say something brave (inane) (about a children’s cartoon)

The shouldn’t have retconned red sons parents to be nicer to him. At the very least they should’ve shown some of the development or something. like there was a little bit of it I guess but dbk & pif treated red son soooo bad in the first season and then later on were just fine and I would genuinely rather have seen dbk slam that boys head into the ground or something. Break his glasses. Call him a weak failure again. I just feel like they went really hard at first and then the entire dynamic of the family changed in like 3 scenes and 2 glances. Like dbk just decided “ok ill stop being cruel now I guess” and it all vanished

And I can fill in the gaps of what might have happened to cause that change with dbk failing and the team up and all that shit but like. If they wanted to change the dynamic so bad they coulda had like… one b plot in an episode or something where they pushed the development a bit. Maybe put it in the video game episode cuz that ep was very weak and boring, sorry to say.

Maybe they hinted at stuff changing and I just don’t remember. idk I haven’t rewatched it in a while but from what I recall it was kind of jarring cuz they went so hard on dbk being a bad dad and pif sorta just letting it happen and not caring. And then later they’re like “no he always loving and caring” like maybe I wanna see him abuse his son and then try to change.

This literally doesn’t matter to anyone or anything 🫡🫡🫡🫡 the fandom has moved on. The show has moved on. I just miss the season 1 dbk family dynamic it was so bad

[soapcan18]

Nah but can we appreciate Revenge of the Spider Queen more? That special is AMAZING, I completely forgot how good it was until I rewatched it. The training scene? MK and Wukong watching the fireworks? LBD’s debut? Spider Queen’s takeover? The introduction of the spider crew? Wukong and DBK getting captured? Red Son joining the team? The hilarious jokes throughout the special? All of them going to the Celestial Realm? The kickass final battle with MK, Wukong, and DBK working together? IT’S JUST SO DAMN GOOD!! Perfect introduction to season 2 and a FRICKIN AWESOME SPECIAL!

[starsfic]

So I was rewatching the S4 specials and with the little monkeys' reactions to seeing Macaque, how much do you wanna bet that they were happy seeing DBK again?

Sure, it wouldn't be a big deal like Macaque, but DBK was nice to them whenever he came to visit (that was a Rule the Brotherhood had because otherwise, Wukong could and would punt you over the volcano ring. Also bc I HC DBK as being mildly baby-crazy so he spoiled them.). So I'm imagining the Demon Bull family arriving on Flower Fruit Mountain, kinda awkward because they didn't expect to be invited.

DBK is just taking everything in because he's honestly missed this place and a monkey hops out, probably to bring them to the beach. Suddenly a few more monkeys are hopping out, dancing around DBK, chattering at him.

Welcoming him back.

[mytchthemyth]

Some things I noticed after rewatching the Monkie Kid pilot special:

1. When MK initially grabs the staff and when his gold vision first activates on Flower Fruit Mountain, a lady whispering can be heard. She whispers "Monkey King's staff" and "Monkey King" respectively. The voice sounds very similar to Lady Bone Demon's whispers.

2. When MK dives into DBK's furnace and takes back the golden staff, he initially reappears as Wukong's birth stone before transforming back into himself in the sky, surrounded by a golden glow. A circlet appears around his headband, MK lets out a laugh as he summons the golden staff, which he can now control pretty well. His big finishing move lets out a giant gold explosion that can be seen from space.

In the season 4 special, once MK finally goes Monkey Mode, he's surrounded by a golden glow, is smiling the entire time, and is seemingly in control as he wales on Azure, with his big finishing move creating a giant gold explosion that can be seen from space (and is even larger than the pilot explosion).

I dunno if this is anything, but it seemed interesting to note given what's happened so far.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Wukong: you neglect your child and belittle him every time he tries to please you. And when you're not doing that you try to wage a war on a child not because he's a threat but because of your screaming ego. I mean, he's the closest to 'me' you've ever got but we both know that you aren't satisfied no matter what. So take your massive superiority complex the f*ck out of here and maybe I'll fight you again when you and your wife stop being massive c*nts

DBK&PIF: *loss of words*

Red Son: *doesn't know wether to feel happy someone stuck up for him or not*

((DBZA has a lot of quotable lines and I feel pissed off Wukong would say this.))

Oh man i really need to rewatch DBZA cus it has some gems.

Samadhi Fire training arc really be like;

Mei: "You tell me to use the pain of loss, but I've never really lost anyone. Red Son: For me, it's my greatest source of anger. I just think about losing MK, You, Nezha, Uncle Six [Macaque], or Mr. Tang, Sandy, and Pigsy-- Mei: "And your parents?" Red Son: "Huh? Oh, yeah sure."

[thesilliestsys]

YELLOWTUSK ANALYSIS CAUSE I LOVE HER

which is mainly me rewatching the special and analyzing scenes in order + explaining why it feels like share cares about azure more than macaque ever cared about wukong.

i know it’s bad to compare present yte to past macaque, but yte openly set aside her worries in trade for loyalty towards her brother, something macaque didn’t seem like he could do. she KNEW what would happen if azure failed, but stood with him anyway cause he’s her brother.

like macaque sort of took it whenever people would cut him off whenever he’d try to express worries and give advice but yellowtusk willingly set hers aside.

and i’ll elaborate more on her caring for azure (on it’s own, not in comparison.) from here down.. scene by scene, so major special spoilers

in the first scene we see yellowtusk sitting on a lower elevated platform near azure. she’s visibly crafting a new world order, one where — once further inspected — the underworld and heaven and the mortal realm are at their equals. she’s kept near azure because she knows that she can reign him in, and i feel like this relates sort of how right hand men used to be used in old war efforts.

i feel like this easily displays their sort of relationship, especially whenever she looks up to see azure struggling and lets out a hum, not moving to take a stand and help not moving to take a stand and help i him unless he asks for it — acknowledging that he may interpret the fact that she thinks he needs her help as “she thinks i’m weak and can’t handle this,” especially with the stress putting a strain on how he communicates and registers situations (which is seen in the scene with peng at the celestial’s dining hall.)

the next scene we see her in is in azure’s tainted flashback, and i like to take notice of how azure remembered the way that she was standing near him!!! there’s not much to analyze here besides the fact that he keenly remembers her resting her weapon over her shoulder and wukong putting his little hat on. it’s obvious why he remembered wukong in specific, but why yellowtusk and not peng or dbk?

when azure starts to lose control of his power, she was already standing in front of him — as though she was watching him through his power-addled flashback and waiting for a time to step in. she seals the power in an instant, voicing her worries in a carefully crafted way. she says that perhaps their ambitions were premature — she takes extra care not to hint that azure can’t handle this, or that he shouldn’t have done it, and i think that means a lot.

she addressed him by his name with such sincerity it scares me. she tells him about how the realm is damaged, again, carefully not mentioning azures own capacity or whether or not he was the right person to take on such responsibility.

the next scene we see her in is with peng, and the way that she’s trying to communicate her worries towards someone who can handle confrontation better than she can.

“this is not the change we dreamt of” to me, at least, is hinting further at “i did not dream of a future where my brother was struggling (to hold the universe together).”

she communicates to peng that azure cannot control the power in the way he intended, and that he’s tearing the world into pieces. this sort of approach greatly contrasts the way she addresses azure gently and with constructive advice, and i think that means a lot to depict their relationship. she says that she’s done all she can to aid in containing it, given all she has, but when he loses his hold there won’t be any more hope for this world. she knows enough about azure to depict his next move (losing control unwillingly), even when the move will be made without his input.

she then proceeds to put in her input in a more forceful manner, desperation for her brother to listen to her helping wipe away the usual gentle demeanor she keeps with him. she says “azure, you cannot contain this power.” and that is what sets him off, completely putting her previous dancing around the topic into a different context. she was trying to avoid setting him off with that specific wording, and it’s shown why here.

azure quickly reigns himself in, and, characteristically, blames his problems and his struggles on wukong.

azure tries to go off and finish off wukong and mk, and yellowtusk advises that there are more important issues than settling grudges. she’s trying to make sure he’s putting all he has into keeping the realms steady and in-tact, the way she’s given all she’s had into trying to steer him in the right direction.

when azure teleports them to the fight, she doesn’t complain — through it’s obvious she’s not as eager as peng is.

the next scene we see her in is attacking ‘B-TEAM’, and this is where the infamous dialogue comes from! tang informs her that “if we don’t stop them —“ and she cuts him off with “i know full well what will happen should azure fail. but he is my brother, i owe him my life.”

sandy explains that he understands where yellowtusk is coming from, and relates to him, but he doesn’t understand that yellowtusk would stand by azure at the cost of the world, and i feel like this highlights the difference between friends and sworn brothers.

the way she stutters when saying “but — but he is my brother.” shows that this is somewhat of a sensitive topic for her, and that this devotion doesn’t come easy — but she’ll do it for someone she cares about so deeply.

pigsy says “i’m sorry, pal, but nothing is worth that price.” and this further highlights the relationship difference mentioned earlier.

tang explains in the next scene that yellowtusk is shown that if nobody stops azure, there’s no winner — they all lose. yellowtusk falls into pessimism when she says that it’s too late, and that the damage that has been done is irreversible, and that there is no hope — and she’s known this for a while, i believe, especially with the way that she mentioned similar worries to peng earlier in the special.

sandy reassures her, and calls her friend!! not necessary to her relationship with azure, but a cute detail.

yellowtusk expresses that their unconditional hope is naïve, but that he’ll humor it nonetheless. it’s not like he has many other options.

the next scene we see him in is trying to help the others seal away the jade emperors power!!! not much to comment on here, besides the fact that macaque joins in after she sees yellowtusk join in. worry-warts working together 🩷🩷

the last scene we see her in is expressing that while she admits that what she and her brothers did collectively was wrong, she outright refuses to speak bad on azure’s memory — saying “i will not condemn the noble intentions of my brotherhood. we hoped to create a better world, to protect it with all our might — but it took me far too long to realize what real heroes looked like.” i feel like this show of loyalty and acceptance simultaneously is a beautiful way to conclude her current relationship with azure.

the way that she recognizes that their intentions were noble, but their execution resulted in nothing but hardship. she knows that her brother meant good, and will not lie for the sake of pleasing the main cast.

she’s such a gorgeously written character and i honestly need to see her again in season 5, alongside peng. i want to see her mourn the loss of her brother in her own special way — not necessarily crying and weeping.

this is probably trailing further into headcanon territory but i like to think about yellowtusk seeing azure in mk’s body language, in mei’s way of handling situations, in redson’s word choice. seeing him in every oceanic imagery. seeing him in the way peng softens when it’s just the two of them. she visibly cares so much about him and it means so much to me.

SHE means so much to me. i love her with all my heart

[milks-thoughts]

SOMETHING I NOTICED ON REWATCH OF LMK S3 (this is a semi-long ass rant and I’m very sleep deprived you can stop reading after Redson lmao):

BABY REDSON HAS A CIRCLET. ON HIS FUCKING NECK. The circlet is a torture device created by Tang Sanzang, it tightens when a spell is chanted out (Tang Sanzang freed Monkey King from Five Phases Mountain and put a circlet on his head. When Monkey King was disobedient, the circlet would tighten around his head. - The LMK Wiki) so.. Tang Sanzang put the circlet on this INFANTS neck (assuming he can control where it appears, I know next to nothing about The Journey To The West and I’m strictly speaking about LMK) While I understand why Tang Sanzang put a circlet on Redson in the first place, it’s still horrifying to think about the placement. And it leaves me wondering if DBK and Princess Iron Fan ever used the spell. (Probably not tho- DBK and Princess Iron Fan are good parents I dont really care what anyone else says)

What I do find strange though, on MKs Lego figure his headband has a circlet design on it. WHAT are they implying??? Is he gonna get circleted-? is that the right way to tense that?? IS MY MONKEY MAN GOING TO GET TORTURED or is it just another comparison to Wukong?

AND EVEN WEIRDER. The ONLY figure that doesn’t have the circlet on his headband is when he’s working!

WHAT ARE THEY IMPLYING?? WAS THIS ACCIDENTAL and am I looking WAY too deep into this because I’m running on 2 hours of sleep and festering with autistic hyperfixation on this show? We may never know. ALSO ALSO Y’know how young Sun Wukong has the circlet on his head?

Do the different locations of the circlet do different things? It’s very strange why Wukong would have it on his head while an ACTUAL BABY has it on his neck BUT AT THE SAME TIME NE ZHA ALSO HAS IT ON HIS NECK

SO DOES THAT MEAN THAT THE CIRCLET BEING LOCATED ON THE HEAD HURTS WORSE THEN IT BEING LOCATED ON THE NECK?? MK also gets a circlet in the show, although it’s very brief,

In the S1 Pilot “ A Hero Is Born “ he gets one when he first unlocks his powers and attacks DBK. So is the circlet connected to Monkey Kings powers? since that’d be the ONLY way MK could even get a circlet at the time (and still now, I seriously doubt Tang would stick a circlet on MK)

CIRCLING BACK TO NE ZHA REALY QUICK: why does he have a circlet? WHAT did he do to deserve it? (I think I remember reading somewhere that he fought/killed Ao Bing, Ao Gaungs son) From what we know he was always doing what he was told, he fought against the Brotherhood when they first invaded, along side Princess Iron Fan and Erlang. So..like..why? Why does he have a circlet? And we can see that its not a necessity for all celestial beings. So does he obey out of fear and not loyalty? And is that why he was so hell bent on not letting Monkey King get the map and the rings in S3? Was he absolutely terrified to fail because of the circlet? But that doesn’t make sense, maybe he was only terrified of the Samadhi Fire. Even when he was young he had the circlet, what did this man do.

HE EVEN HAS IT WHEN HES BANDAGED UP IN S4

WHAT DID HE DO??? WHY DOES HE HAVE A CIRCLET???