#don't know how much of the original ''journey to the west'' is used in the new legends of monkey

[outofmymindbebacklater]

been watching the new legends of monkey and this story seems familiar ...

did I miss anything

[phoenixeclipse-lmkau]

Anger

Not an update for Cursed Warlords Main Story. More of a ramble with some spoilers for future chapters. Be warned!

Takes place during Lady Bone Demon Arc (sort of) Not offical to the Au... yet.

You stood behind Tripitaka absolutely flabbergasted as both Sun Wukong and Macaque just left. You couldn't believe it. They actually left. In all the time that you'd known them, they had never just... left.

Turning to look at the Monk you noticed he held a deep glare on his face. No... no... no! How were they supposed to get forgiveness for their crimes? Damnit! You couldn't believe this! The Lady Bone Demon... she was still out there and Tripitaka idiotically listened to Zu Bajie!!

"Good riddance. We don't need those monkey-"

*SLAP!!*

"YOU IDIOT!" you yelled in anger, your heart was pounding in your chest as you yelled at the pig demon. "Do you know what you just did!?"

"Rose-" Sandy was the first to speak only to step back when you shot him a heated glare.

Even through the glamour mask that adorned your face he could still feel the rage you sent his way. This wasn't The Journey To The West and this wasn't Lego Monkie Kid. This was real to you, and everything was different and was much much more dangerous.

"Sun Wukong didn't hurt a mere woman! He has eyes of truth you moron, he has proven time and time again that he is able to figure out who are demons and who are humans! He isn't just a reckless idiot, he is not stupid! After everything that has happened, after all the time that we have spent together YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT! He has done everything to keep from getting the circlet to crush his damned head! You think he'd kill a woman in front of Tripitaka for no reason!?" You screamed, furious at the pig who just sent both of your husband's away.

"That's not to mention that he wasn't the only one who knew that the woman was a demon! Macaque doesn't have six ears for nothing! He tried to warn you and you just wouldn't shut your mouth! HE TOLD US THAT WE WERE APPROACHING A DEMON!" You continued to yell, backing the startled pig away from the group.

You didn't look away from him. Your usual calm or scared demeanor filled with pure anger at the pig. This was one of the few first times that Wukong had kept his head on, he even told Tripitaka that she was a demon. He had shown his proof and yet no one listened!

You had been sure that the Monk wouldn't be stupid about this, with Macaque already warning them, with Wukong showing his proof. But then this idiotic pig just had to ruin EVERYTHING! Hot tears filled your eyes at the thought of watching both Wukong and Macaque experience the circlet again.

No the monk didn't listen, instead he thought they were plotting together!? The two were still fighting damnit! They had been at each other's throats since the beginning of the journey for a reason you didn't even know! Why would they plot over something like this!?

"Rose- They were probably-" Tripitaka spoke but froze when you whirled around.

"I thought you were smarter than this. He was trying to protect you," you seethed as you noticed the Monk stumble back at your furious tone.

You never showed your anger, you always kept a cool head. You had tried to make sure that some things would stay the same and you tried to change others. You were trying to get Wukong and Macaque forgiven for their crimes before going back to your world.

Yes, you were stuck here until the Monk got the scriptures but you wanted to see your husbands forgiven and changed before returning home. In the original book you knew that Zu Bajie would go to Flower Fruit Mountain to get The Monkey King to come back.

But that would leave another opening for The Lady Bone Demon to attack. Not only did she want to conquer the world in this reality but she also wanted to eat the Monk. Macaque had explained her plan, he had told them everything and no one listened! No one but you and Wukong.

Wukong while he was angry at his mate for whatever reason he still listened to him. At least about upcoming battles. Now if only the stupid pig would actually think logically and without his damned dick!

"So... that was actually a demon? No it couldn't have been-" Tripitaka began his eyes going wide with shock. He looked up to where the two monkeys had vanished as fear overtook his expression.

"Yes, and you just sent away the only two who realized it without thinking with your head," you seethed as you clenched your fists.

"If he could tell the woman was a demon then how does he not know who you are? You've said before that you two knew each other and yet he has shown no recollection of you," Pigsu piped up, seemingly trying to prove he did nothing wrong.

"Because Tripitaka’s soul is The Golden Cicada which is a lot brighter than mine. Something we have already discussed and I'm always behind him not in front so if Sun Wukong is looking at us he'll only see Tripitaka’s soul and not mine," you explained the same thing that Guan Yin explained to you when she inlisted you for this journey.

The only reason that the two hadn't recognized you is because you were careful, because you has stayed behind Tripitaka so Wukong couldn't see your soul. The only reason Macaque hadn't recognized you was because the mask you wore made an ever so low sound to make him believe he could hear you normally.

"... Oh please as if-" Pigsy shut up as you tilted your head up to look at him.

"You need to get your head out of your ass," you explained with complete and utter calmness.

You watched as Pigsy's eyes widened in shock before you stalked forward. There was another demon coming up, you just hoped that you could avoid this one while avoiding the Lady Bone Demon. Or if you were lucky maybe he didn't exist here, but you doubted your luck would be with you today.

"Sp why don't you just call them back? You were so close with them before weren't you?" Pigsy snipped back harshly, but he didn't know the full extent of the story.

He didn't know what you three were to each other. He didn't know about the curse, he didn't know of the 'marriage' between you three. He didn't know anything about you, he only knew you were the healer of the group. He didn't even know your real name.

What would happen if you called them? What would happen if they knew who you were? Were they over you? Would they care at this point? It had been over 500 years since the fight in heaven which you wore the glamour mask, before Wukong had gained his eyes of truth. And it had been over 100 years before then that you had last seen them. Over 600 years had passed for them, but with you... it had been a mere 3 years.

It still felt so fresh, everything that happened between you.

"I can't," you respond simply, without going into detail.

You didn't want to think about it. You had run away from them, you didn't deserve to miss them. You didn't want to return to them but at the same time all you wanted was some sort of comfort. For all that they took away from you... they had tried to give you so much. But you valued your freedom more than gold and treasures. You valued your freedom... more than them? At this point you didn't know, you weren't sure what to think right now.

"Let's just go. You'd better pray that your stupid stunt doesn't get us all killed," you spoke, your voice going dead calm and dead serious.

The group stood there for a solid minute staring at your back as you stalked forward. Your body was tense and your hand remained on your bow, awaiting any sort of attack.

Tripitaka was the first to move following after you from atop Ao Lie who remained in horse form. He held a face of worry and he too was now tense after your outburst. He had seen you scared before, he had seen you happy and cheerful. But angry? In all the time that he'd know you, he had never seen you actually angry. It actually sent a wave of fear crashing through him, had he really made a big mistake?

Sandy followed next thinking everything over. He wasn't the one who made the mistake and hadn't gotten yelled at. Yet even he started to worry about what lay ahead after what you said. You so rarely gave this type of input, it was startling to see you speak about the future so confidently.

As for Zu Bajie he stared at the group for a moment. He fucked up, he fucked up big time didn't he? Now they were without their strongest people within the group. Shit! Not to mention the sheer rage from the youngest person within the group was actually terrifying. He had never felt fear from a human before not like that.

Thoughts? Opinions? Send them my way! Did I get distracted from the main story to write this? ... maybe. But eh oh well.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Xiao-Shíhóu is the name Wukong introduces himself as when meeting MK's friends for the first time, at MK's own insistence that he introduces himself as anything but Sun Wukong or the Monkey King. They call him Shíhóu for short at his insistence. Wukong understands immediately why when, upon asking Tang about his occupation when he was waiting for their food, the man goes into a full on rant about the Journey to the West, much to Wukong's amusement. Luckily for Wukong, most historians are not aware of what his original name was or misinterpret the name as a descriptor rather than his actual childhood name.

hehehe! You know Tang would ignore all social professionalism the second "Xiao-Shíhóu" cheekily asks him his area of expertise.

And Wukong is just standing there, loving it. Tang isn't some hobbyist or just researching the Journey for a degree, this man has done some deep digging. Even pulling out some information that could have only been found through exploration into demonic circles

Tang: "And you know the funny coincidence? Xiao-Shihóu is believed to be the original name of the Monkey King!" Wukong, very interested: "Oh really? I thought he was nameless until Subodhi." Tang: "Most think that. But since many historical demons are named with characters typically seen as descriptors, scholars often misinterpret the words as descriptions rather than names. "Little Stone Monkey" was likely the name given to Sun Wukong by his troop when he was an infant - most likely since they knew he came from a stone egg." Wukong, honestly impressed: "You really did your research Tang!" Tang, preening under the attention: "I know." Pigsy & MK: (*share annoyed glances for different reasons*)

Wukong def pretends to be someone with base level knowledge of Jttw just to see how observant Tang is.

Tang is very observant it seems. Something he only fully brings up once MK is forced to retreat with his siblings because of his phobia of spiders.

Tang, awkwardly holding Yuebei: "...you know you have the same name as the Monkey King's daughter from the book Journey to the South?" Yuebei: (*confused fluttering sound?*) MK: "Wait! Mom named her after some guy's OC!?" Tang: "Probably not on purpose. Luzhen is also the name of the protagonist in "Later Journey to the West". Your older twin siblings don't have such names though." Savage: "That's cus bama named us!" Rumble: "Waigong named Luzhen!" Tang: "Oh ho! Now all we need is Jidu and Luohou, or maybe even Paramita to complete the set!" MK: "Please don't give them any ideas. They'll tell mom and not tell him where them where the names came from." Tang & the Eclipse Twins: (*share mischievous looks*) >:3

[the-monkey-ruler]

Hello!!! Stumbled upon this blog on a casual scroll-through and am super impressed at how thorough and passionate it is!! Kudos!!

I had a question, if it’s not too much of a bother:

Is there any sort of artifact mentioned in JTTW (or Chinese mythology at large) that’s been used to contain a yaoguai’s power/take it away from them? Maybe in the vein of Guanyin’s vase? Sorry if this doesn’t make sense.

So what you are asking for is something that can take away cultivation so to speak? There are some tv/movies that do show other yaoguai that are able to eat the life force of yaoguai and forcing them back into their original state therefore taking away their power and their humanoid form.

However that is more popular in modern media, as for any canon items they are more focused on subduing and capturing rather than depowering.

Gaunyin's vase sadly hasn't been able to show any depowering abilities either if you were asking about that. It has been show to whole an entire ocean and that it can hold healing water. But there are movies where she is able to capture demons (such as Wukong) in her vase and keep them in a state of status. But I don't know how in canon that is as she does have a lot of history outside of journey to the west.

But on to magical items in journey to the west! I shall rank them from most subduing to least subduing

Subduing Buff Attacking

Golden Jade Ring (金剛琢) - it can change size, is invulnerable to water and fire, can strike all things, collect various magic weapons and weapons, and has infinite uses. Laojun used this treasure to knock down Sun Wukong and help Erlang Shen capture him. The One Horned King used this treasure to take away Sun Wukong's golden hoop, Nezha's six weapons, and the magic weapons of hundreds of gods and generals. It can even dissolve water, fire, thunder and lightning. Later, Taishang Laojun, who came down to the world himself, defeated it with a fire-type banana fan. This was the thing that put Wukong stop in his tracks, doesn't take away power but def the most powerful.

Flask of Yin and Yang Essence (陰陽二氣瓶) - it contains the Seven Treasures and Eight Diagrams, twenty-four Qi, and requires thirty-six people, according to the number of Tiangang, to lift it. This treasure can hold a person and if a person does not speak, the bottle will be very cool. But once they speak, fire will burn them into pulp water in a moment. Wukonghad to use his Golden Hair he was given by Guanyin to escape. While not invincible it took another magical item to counteract it and thus very powerful.

Golden Cymbals (金鐃) - the magic weapon used by the Yellow-Browed Monster who trapped Sun Wukong inside and would have turned to puss inside it if he didn't escape. Sun Wukong escaped from the golden cymbal with the help of Kang Jinlong and immediately broke it. Took nearly an army to escape it, very powerful.

Purple Gold Red Gourd (紫金紅葫蘆) - as long as you call out your opponent's name if they respond, the elixir will pull them inside. Then a note with the words "The Supreme Lord Laozi, please obey my command as soon as possible" will be posted on it, and the elixir will turn into pus in a few hours. Hard to say how powerful this is since Wukong escaped it twice turning into a bug so... take that as user error or not.

Human Sack (人種袋) - Sun Wukong invited the twenty-eight constellations, the two generals of the tortoise and the snake, the five great dragons, Prince Xiao Zhang and the four great generals, but they were all put into the monster's bag. Later, Maitreya Buddha took back the human seed bag and put the demon king into the bag. Very powerful but does not kill, so less of a threat.

Golden Cloth Rope (幌金繩) it was originally a belt used by Taishang Laojun to tie his robe. It has a tightening rope spell but also a loosening rope spell and if a user knows both they most likely will not be affected. Powerful but if you know the loosening spell it is useless.

Suet Jade Flask (羊脂玉淨瓶) this was used by Taishang Laojun to make elixirs and hold water. It has space inside to hold water from all over the world.

Seven Stars Sword (七星劍) - the real sword from the Ming and Qing dynasties that has survived in modern times was used by Tan Sitong. The seven stars are mainly symbolic, but from the perspective of material mechanics, they should have the function of buffering stress concentration and preventing the sword from breaking.

Palm Leaf Fan (芭蕉扇) - The two banana fans, yin and yang, are held by Taishang Laojun and Princess Iron Fan respectively: the banana fan used by Taishang Laojun is yang, and the six Ding divine fire it fanned is the power source of the alchemy furnace; the banana fan used by Princess Iron Fan is yin, and its water vapor can extinguish the fire in Huoyan Mountain. The two fans are mutually reinforcing and mutually restraining. There are prototypes that can be traced in reality.

Banana Leaf Fan (芭蕉扇) - The extremely yin treasure fan can fan out water vapor, and water can extinguish fire, so it can extinguish the 800-li Flame Mountain. "Journey to the West" Chapter 59 "Tang Sanzang's Road Blocks the Flame Mountain, Sun Xingzhe Uses the Banana Fan" "...Her banana fan was originally a magical treasure created by heaven and earth since the beginning of chaos behind Kunlun Mountain. It is the essence of the Taiyin, so it can extinguish fire." The yin wind fanned out can make people drift 84,000 miles before it can stop.

Purple-Gold Bells (紫金鈴) - This Purple Gold Bell was forged by Taishang Laojun in the Eight Diagrams Furnace, and it is very powerful. Shake it once, and fire will come out. Shake it twice, and smoke will come out. Shake it three times, and sand and rocks will fly. Sun Wukong stole the golden bell and then subdued "Sai Taisui".

If you are looking for more magic items that can take away cultivation I actually think that there is something in FSYY that took away some daoists' cultivation... but I think that was more of a formation than an item... I'm sorry I didn't take notes on but that novel DEF has a lot of magical items!!

[tj-dragonblade]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. spread the self-love ❤

Thank you! This is such a hard question! I love most everything I've written, picking favorites is hard, I swear it would be easier to name the ones I'm least thrilled with lol. And just because most of these are Sandman doesn't mean I don't care about my older fandoms either, just that almost always what I'm happiest with writing is going to be the most recent years. Maybe one day I'll go through fandom by fandom to pick a top three from each, or something. But for now! In no particular order, and after much thought, here we go.

When the Chips Are Down from the tail end of my Saiyuki days, published 14 years ago this month. It's comical crack-treated-seriously based on an obscure canon-adjacent factoid and that sort of thing has never been my forte, but I succeeded admirably here if I may say so. It was a joy to write, Jiipu is my favorite and forever under-utilized in fic so centering this around him, around a ridiculous tidbit of info about his counterpart in the original Journey to the West and telling it in his pov was absolutely delightful. I had so much fun writing this one and I'm still so proud of the character voice work I managed in here.

The Thessaly breakup fic from fluffbruary 2023, which I like for having a semblance of plot and because I see lots of talk about what Hob would think of Thessaly but I don't know if I've run into any other actual fics dealing with it. Not that this is the Hob-gives-Thessaly-a-piece-of-his-mind fic that I think we all need, but I'm still very pleased with it. And I just really like the scene of Dream crying on Hob.

Of Cutoff Shorts and Classic Cars. I'm just. So happy with how quickly this one happened, how much it kept growing in the writing and how it turned out in the end. I also laugh at myself for nitpicking over the right British terms for back yard and driveway and such but then I completely spaced using bonnet instead of hood. 😂 Also fun fact this was my first time ever writing oral with a vulva and I'm very pleased with how well it's been received.

The Keeper and the Traveler currently sits pretty high because I've always loved and wanted to write that fairy-tale narrative style and this got pretty close. I don't know if it will still be in my top five by the end of the year but for now, it is.

And lastly will cheat a smidge and say Cruise Ship Boys, because I love both pieces of the 'series' and can't decide which I like better. The porn piece again happened quickly and wrote easily and I'm delighted with how it turned out. The sequel was meant to be one cute-ish little scene to revisit them but snowballed into a whole depressing backstory for Dream and an illuminating look into his everyday life and again, it wrote easily which seems to be a theme with these faves, lol. But yeah. I would love to come back to this AU one day.

[novelcain]

When you did your version of wukong did you have a specific species of monkey in mind to base him of? Or was him a mix of some monkeys?

It got me curious when you said you know a lot of monkey facts and I wondered if you used this to concept him?

EEEEEEEEE! You have no idea how excited I got when I woke up and saw this ask! I literally don't even care that it's the newest one I'm answering rn!

And also! Before I get into how I made the design for ITTW Sun Wukong, something I wanted to throw out is that a few people have asked for me to give more monkey facts after I foolishly /j divulged that I am an encyclopedia of monkeys, so I've been thinking of doing like a Monkey Facts Monday cause alliteration where I post a bunch of monkey facts on mondays! So lemme know what you guys think of that idea cause I absolutely am willing to do it! :D

Now ONTO THE MONKIE MAN!

In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong is described to be that of demon Rhesus Macaque.

Rhesus Macaques can come in a variety of browns, greys, whites, and blondes, but for the most part are largely this stunning platinum gold color like in the picture above. I personally love this this color and wish we could see more golden furred Monkey Kings instead of just monkey=brown.

In addition to golden furs, a Rhesus Macaque's skin is largely a pinkish-peachy color with darker, nearly black, fingers and feet (You can see this in the first picture as well :)). And males tend to have more redish saturation around their eyes. (The saturation of this "mask" on males has been linked to levels of testosterone and therefore the dark/more red the mask the more potent the male, meaning it may be a sexual selective male trait as females have been observed preferring males with redder masks.... *looks at LMK Macaque simps*)

However, one thing about Rhesus Macaques is that they have very short tails. (As depicted below)

And that just wasn't quite the look a was going for. So while I was thinking "Eeeeh I could just say that he's a Rhesus Macaque with a long tail" but as I was sifting through my monkey knowledge I remembered another macaque species!

The Crab-Eating Macaque! Aka the Long Tailed Macaque!

These macaques very closely resemble Rhesus Macaques in facial features as well as fur as they also come in a variety of gingers, browns, greys, and blondes with their main color variation being this brownish-gold. (below) Tho their pelts tend to range darker than a Rhesus Macaque's.

And instead of having mainly peachy skin with a few black tones around the hand and feet, they largely have very dark skin with the brightest parts being around the eyes and the darkest being their pitch black ears, hands, and feet.

And come on, you can't tell me this isn't a Monkey King face:

Plus I might be just a liiiittle biased because my favorite monkey picture is a Long Tailed Macaque:

Just look at this dude! He's so done with life! 😂

But along with just physical characteristics, Rhesus Macaques and Long Tailed Macaques share many behavioral qualities as well.

They both display threats in similar ways, such as baring teeth paired with screaming to frighten predators and other monkeys. Though, Rhesus Macaques tend to be more aggressive and bold (accurate to Wukong) while Crab-Eating Macaques are very cautious and skittish. A Rhesus would much rather fight while a Long Tailed would much rather run.

Another thing they share is their open affection for each other. Both Rhesus and Crab-Eating Macaques have extremely tight knit bond within their troop and with even form best friends from a very young age. Just look at this family unit and how the younger two hold the elder monkey! So sweet. 🥹

All in all! In the end, I went with a mixture of these two species for my ITTW Wukong design, leaning slightly more toward his original species, the Rhesus Macaque, and gave him the proportions of a human since he's a monkey demon.

The traits that I took from the Rhesus Macaques were his blonde fur and peachy pale skin tone as well as his more saturated peach mask, which I blended with a darker blackish-red at the bottoms to pay homage to the Crab-Eating Macaque's darker faces.

The traits that I took from the Crab-Eating Macaques were their long tails and black tipped ears. (as well as the blended mask)

And the traits I took from both were the black tipped hands and feet as well as their long fangs.

While his eye come straight from the book.

And this was the result!

[tobiasdrake]

While you’re on the subject of underexplored Dragon Ball trivia, could you tell us something on the Dragon Balls themselves?

Hmm... not sure how much underexplored trivia I know on the subject. I think most of the details about what the Balls are and how they work are pretty well known. But I can go into a run-down.

Originally based on Journey to the West, the core purpose of the Dragon Balls is to provide a sort of miraculous quest of worthiness to their seeker. On Namek, the planet they come from, each one of six Balls, stars 2-7, is carried by the Choro or "Elder" of the village. To make your wish to Porunga, you must visit each village in turn and pass some great test of virtue that the Choro demands of you.

With the final Dragon Ball, the One-Star Ball, resting in the hands of Saichoro or "Grand Elder". He is the final arbiter of worthiness for your desire to receive a miracle from Porunga.

Krillin, incidentally, is the only person during the campaign on Namek to successfully pass a Namekian elder's measurement of virtue rather than taking a Ball by force. For escorting Dende to the safety of Saichoro's home and for having genuinely good intentions for his desired miracle, Krillin is judged worthy and given the One-Star Ball.

300 years ago, after the Nameless Namekian ascended to the lofty position of God, he was able to make Dragon Balls of his own. Though he didn't have the same organized structure that Saichoro put into his Dragon Ball system, the idea was similar: the Dragon Balls would provide a means for people to produce great deeds when in need.

It didn't pan out. The Dragon Bal ls were a mistake and brought nothing but horror to the Earth, and he regretted ever making the stupid fucking things. After Piccolo killed Shenron, God was more than ready to wash his hands of it.

By the time we meet God, it's hard to disagree. Oolong thwarted a maniac's wish for world domination by spending Shenron's world-shaping miracle on a set of women's undergarments before he could make his wish. A jackbooted warlord shot up multiple regions of the world to claim the Dragon Balls because he wanted to be taller. Bulma shot a child in the face with a gun so she could have infinite strawberries. Or a boyfriend. Either/or.

Honestly, infinite strawberries sounds pretty valid for a wish, NGL. Still wouldn't impress God, though.

There's also a piece of obscure Dragon Ball trivia says that the Dragon Balls were once used to successfully make a wish for world domination. This is why the entire Earth is a one-world nation under the dominion of King Furry. I think it comes from a Toriyama interview? But I don't recall the source so take that with a grain of salt.

In any case, God feels that the Dragon Balls were a horrible mistake and it's hard to disagree. The only thing that convinces him they're worth remaking is Goku's nobility. He sees in Goku the great virtue that has thus far been missing from anyone else who would seek the Dragon Balls, and that makes it all worthwhile.

The process of assembling the Dragon Balls is meant to be difficult. However, Bulma's invention of the Dragon Radar more or less trivialized it.

Notably, as a sign of her genius, the handheld radar that Bulma carries around outstrips the competition every time. She's far from the only person ever to make a Dragon Radar; She's just the only person ever to make a portable one.

That huge wall console is the best that the world's most powerful rogue paramilitary organization could manage. And it's still a hell of a lot better than anything Vegeta or Frieza had. They had to track people and hope a Dragon Ball was nearby.

Though I would be remiss to bring up Bulma's invention of the portable radar and not mention that, fun fact, the Radar that we often see passed around throughout the series wasn't built by her. Bulma's Radar was stolen by General Blue.

It's never seen again after this scene. I guess it was probably still in HQ when Goku stormed the place?

No, the Radar Goku finished the RRA arc with and then continues passing along from character to character is actually this one, created by - I shit you not - a cameo guest star from Toriyama's gag manga Dr. Slump.

Having seen the inner workings of the Radar while it was being repaired, Turbo the flying genius baby is able to reproduce a second copy. This copy would become the main Dragon Radar going forward after Bulma's original Radar was lost and forgotten.

Yeah, Dr. Slump canonically exists within the world of Dragon Ball and has directly impacted the story of one of its most iconic elements. However, this Radar still remains Bulma's genius design. She completely obliterated the entire test of virtue concept. I need you to understand that Bulma is the greatest heretic in the history of the universe, and that she and Vegeta deserve each other.

And now she uses Shenron for plastic surgery.

God was right. Earth isn't worthy of power like this. It was a mistake to bring Shenron back.

With some limitations, the great dragon summoned by the Dragon Balls can grant any miracle that is within Shenron's power. The main restriction this places is simple: Shenron or Porunga may not grant a wish affecting a person more powerful than Shenron unless that person consents.

This limitation serves the narrative purpose of explaining why we can't have Shenron pop any enemy that shows up into oblivion, which had been the Muten-Roshi's plan for dealing with Piccolo originally.

Though I occasionally like to joke about an AU where Bulma uses Shenron to solve the Saiyans. Can't teleport them into the sun or something? That's fine. I wish for you to teleport their spaceships into the sun.

No, I know you still can't teleport them even if you teleport their vehicles. That's fine. I'm asking you to teleport only the ships.

And then everyone lives happily ever after. Until about six or seven years later when the Androids kill us all.

But Shenron's and Porunga's power limitations also mean the story can have fun moments like this.

Goku is able to resist Porunga's attempt to warp him back to Earth because he's too powerful for the dragon to move involuntarily. He must consent to the teleport.

Of note: This particular piece of context doesn't come up in the DBS: Broly film directly, but it provides a fun bit of context to its finale.

When Cheelai used Shenron to save Broly, he had to consent to that. He could have told Shenron to go fuck himself and kept fighting instead.

But he doesn't want to. You can feel it just from looking at his face. Gogeta broke Broly's legendary berserker rage. In this instant, staring down Blue Gogeta's Kamehameha, Shenron asked him, "You want out of this, my dude?" And he said yes please. I'm done. I'm ready to go home.

The power restriction is also the reason why Shenron couldn't revert the Twins to normal humans.

But he can pop those self-destruct devices right out of their bodies, no sweat.

The other key limitation that Shenron has is an inability to resurrect the same person twice - Something Goku just sort of throws in as a new rule at the start of the Saiyan arc.

It's interesting to note that it's not specifically a prohibition against repeated rezzes, but against "granting the same wish twice". This never comes up in any other context, but it's interesting to think about.

Good thing Porunga doesn't have that limitation. Like. At all.

Hey, look at that. He was able to bring back Piccolo, Krillin, and Yamcha even though he'd already revived those two before.

Before the Buu arc, it could be assumed that he could raise people twice because those people had previously been raised by Shenron. Different dragon, different wish history. But no. Porunga's just better.

Our bootleg wish-dragon is a pale imitation of the real thing. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you that. But ours can do multi-rez so suck on that Poru--

Oh, never mind. Muri found out about multi-rez and gave him a tweak. Porunga remains the superior dragon. Of course, he's not the only person to upgrade their dragon. We have Dende to thank for Shenron's upgrades too.

This is a point that I've seen people get confused on. Dende's Shenron grants three wishes like Porunga. However, a multi-rez is so costly that it expends two of those wishes. So you can have three individual wishes or a multi-rez and one other wish.

The language here is super ambiguous, admittedly. It's easy to interpret Dende as saying "If I activate multi-rez then I have to set the limit to two." Like. We can configure Shenron for three wishes OR configure him for two wishes but make it possible to do multi-rez.

But subsequent chapters and authorial statements have clarified the matter. As long as you aren't multi-rezzing, you get three wishes.

It's just. Nobody ever uses Shenron for anything but multi-rez so it rarely comes up. This is not helped by general inconsistency, which Toei is particularly bad about but Toriyama's guilty of too. In the DBS: Broly movie, Shenron inexplicably is back to granting only one!

My dude. What happened to your upgrade? You were upgraded, you defective knock-off! DX

I think he just wanted to get the fuck out of there before Frieza realized he can still make his wish for improved tallness. He grants enough of that shit for Bulma as it is. He doesn't want another person muscling in on it.

This is what his life has come to.

It's also interesting to note that with multi-wish dragons, you can bank a wish if you don't have anything else in particular that you want.

Speaking of inconsistency, they made a multi-rez wish so shouldn't Shenron be down for eight months, not four? Either way, point is that you can cut down Shenron's recharge time by not using some of your wishes. Which makes sense if you think about it, but is more user-friendly than a lot of magical reality-warping macguffins typically are.

Shenron's great about that in general, concerning himself with making sure that the miracle he grants is in line with the intent of the wish, not just the letter. Unlike that bastard Porunga. He knows what he did.

In fairness, that's as much Dende's fault as Porunga's.

That about covers it for the Dragon Balls and their Wish Dragons, I think.

[lotusbl0ck]

Imaginary Love

(Requested?: no) (my first work!) I just finished watching the "IF" movie and it was lowkey amazing and cried. ____________________________________________________________

The hum of New York City life filled the air as taxis honked and people bustled through the streets. Amidst the chaos, you found a rare sanctuary in your small, cozy apartment on the Upper West Side. Your niece, Bea, had recently been through a remarkable journey, one that led her to reconnect with a group of imaginary friends she had once relied on. After helping them reunite with the children they once belonged to, she had introduced you to Calvin, her imaginary friend. Despite the strangeness of his origin, Calvin had a certain charm and an undeniable warmth that drew you in.

Tonight, the city seemed particularly restless. You were in the kitchen, preparing dinner, when the doorbell rang. Wiping your hands on a towel, you hurried to answer it. Standing on the other side was Calvin, his usually bright demeanor overshadowed by a look of uncertainty and sadness.

"Calvin, come in," you said, stepping aside to let him enter.

"Thanks, Y/N," he replied, his voice tinged with weariness. He moved past you and into the living room, glancing around as if seeking comfort in the familiar space.

"Are you alright?" you asked, following him and taking a seat on the couch.

He sat down next to you, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know, Y/N. It's just… everything's changed so much. All of us are trying to find our place in a world that doesn't quite understand us."

You reached out, placing a reassuring hand on his arm. "It's a lot to process, I know. But you're not alone in this. Bea and I are here for you."

Calvin looked at you, his eyes softening. "I appreciate that more than you know. But sometimes, I feel like I’m a relic of a past that everyone else has moved on from. Like I don’t belong anywhere."

Your heart ached at his words. Despite his vibrant personality, it was clear that he was struggling with his sense of identity and purpose. You shifted closer, wrapping your arms around him in a comforting embrace. "You belong, Calvin. You have a place here, with us."

He hugged you back, holding on a little tighter than usual. "Thanks, Y/N. You always know how to make me feel better."

As you pulled back, you noticed the hint of a smile returning to his face. "How about we finish dinner together? Cooking always seems to help clear the mind."

Calvin nodded, a flicker of his usual enthusiasm returning. "Sounds like a plan."

The two of you moved to the kitchen, working side by side to prepare the meal. The rhythmic chopping of vegetables and the sizzling of the pan provided a soothing backdrop to your conversation. You talked about lighter topics, sharing stories and laughter, gradually lifting the heavy mood that had settled earlier.

By the time dinner was ready, Calvin seemed more at ease. You both sat down at the table, the delicious aroma of your cooking filling the room. As you ate, you couldn't help but admire the resilience and strength that Calvin possessed. Despite his uncertainties, he continued to push forward, finding joy in the simple moments.

"Y/N, I never got to thank you properly for everything you've done," Calvin said suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence.

You looked up, meeting his sincere gaze. "You don't have to thank me, Calvin. We're friends, and friends look out for each other."

He reached across the table, taking your hand in his. "Still, it means a lot. More than I can put into words."

His touch was warm, his grip gentle yet reassuring. You squeezed his hand in return, feeling a surge of affection for the man who had become such an integral part of your life. "You're important to me, Calvin. Never doubt that."

The rest of the evening passed in a blur of warmth and contentment. After dinner, you and Calvin curled up on the couch, watching an old movie and talking about everything and nothing. It was in these quiet, shared moments that the bond between you grew stronger, a testament to the connection that transcended the ordinary.

As the night drew to a close, Calvin stood up to leave. You walked him to the door, the cool night air rushing in as you opened it.

"Thanks for tonight, Y/N. I really needed it," he said, his voice soft and filled with gratitude.

"Anytime, Calvin. You know where to find me," you replied, smiling warmly.

He hesitated for a moment, then leaned in to press a gentle kiss to your forehead. "Goodnight, Y/N."

"Goodnight, Calvin," you whispered, watching as he walked down the hall and disappeared into the elevator.

Closing the door, you felt a sense of peace settle over you. Life in New York was hectic, unpredictable, and sometimes overwhelming, but with Calvin by your side, you knew you could face whatever challenges lay ahead. As you prepared for bed, you couldn't help but look forward to the days to come, filled with the promise of new memories and the unwavering support of a friend who had become so much more. (You can see imaginary friends just like Bea :D ) lotusbl0ck, signing off!

[tildeathiwillwrite]

Get Electrocuted, Idiots

Whumptober Day 7 ONLY FOR EMERGENCIES | Unconventional Weapon | Magic with a Cost | "It's us or them."

Whumptober Prompts List | Masterpost

Fandom: Original Work

Words: 800

Tag List: @fourwingedsnake @whumperofworlds @pigeonwhumps @mr-orion @scaewolf

@the-ellia-west

CW: cornered, threats, swearing, fantasy whump, struck by lightning, death, hyperventilation

A/N: the Mages in my WIP Trials of the Six are prime victims for the Magic With A Cost trope. The human body isn't equipped for the amount of magic that travels through it when a Mage uses their abilities and so has an adverse reaction. The exact reaction varies depending on which element the Mage controls. Examples are given in the character picrews linked in the WIP masterpost.

Enough about the magic system. On with the whump! >:3

----------

"Look, we don't want any trouble."

The words came casually enough to Korfel's lips. But Jarsali didn't miss how the fingers of his right hand twitched, desperate to grab the hilt of his scimitar. She didn't blame him. She was as on edge as he was, and she would feel much safer with her staff in her hands rather than strapped to her back.

Unfortunately, she had no time to draw it. The squadron had come out of nowhere, fanning out in a semicircle, pressing her and Korfel up against the cliff face. They hadn't meant to stray so near the Claystone Cliffs, but the road they had taken from a small mining town wound along the layered mountains, making for a treacherous journey.

Today, however, falling was but one of many of Jarsali's concerns, not the priority. She wasn't sure how the squadron they'd encountered over a week ago had tracked them down, but here they were, curved swords drawn.

"I don't care what you want," the squad leader---evident from the coat of arms painted upon the breastplate of his armor---snapped. "Korfel Domin and Jarsali Fortus, you under arrest on the charges of conspiracy and treason against the Conclave. You will surrender and be brought to Alynthi for a trial."

Korfel scoffed. "Pile of bullshit. You just want the bounty on our combined heads."

The other squadron members chuckled, but the leader's jaw tightened. "You can go to Alynthi alive, or dead. We have you outnumbered and cornered."

"I hadn't noticed," Jarsali quipped. She eyed the group critically before continuing. "Look, as lovely as I've heard Alynthi is at this time of year, we have no interest in attending a rigged trial ending in public execution."

"As I said," the squad leader said, growing even more annoyed, "I don't care what you want. There is no outcome where you make it out of here alive or free. So I highly suggest you throw down your weapons now."

Jarsali tapped her Mage energy, allowing its cracking power to fill her. A gust of wind blew over them, almost forcing the soldiers back a step. She cocked her head as her hair whipped wildly around her face. "Do you know exactly how we got those bounties?" She asked, smiling at the look on the squad leader's face.

"'Sali...." Korfel hissed warningly.

"It's us or them, Kor," she replied. "This constitutes as an emergency, doesn't it? Look," she said quietly, glancing upward, "a storm's coming."

Korfel swore vehemently and dove to the ground.

"Mage!" The squad leader shouted, reaching for his sword. But before he could do anything that mattered, the sky opened and rained lightning over the Tyan squadron. The metal armor they wore was the perfect conductor.

The scent of ozone and burning flesh filled the air, and only Jarsali and Korfel were left untouched. The body of the nearest soldier twitched in his death throes, and while some could have survived, it was unlikely they would be in any fit state to attack them. Jarsali stopped tapping her Mage energy.

And the air immediately left her lungs.

She staggered and fell to her knees, hands immediately going to her throat as she struggled to draw breath. The world spun around her, and her heart raced, beating heavily in her ears and drowning out almost all sounds.

But one noise broke through the relentless tha-thump-tha-thump-tha-thump.

"You're okay. You're doing great. You're not dying today."

Korfel.

Slowly, painstakingly, Jarsali gained control over her breathing, using the exercises she'd learned all those years ago, using her abdominal muscles and diaphragm to take deep, controlled breaths. With that under control, everything else calmed. Her heartbeat slowed, the world steadied, and she noticed the tingling in her arms and face.

She exhaled shakily and looked at Korfel, who was seated beside her, watching her carefully and not without concern. "How do you feel?" He asked gently.

She nodded. "Better. Ugh, I think I used too much Mage energy. Drew too close to my limits."

"No shit," Korfel remarked, glancing at the bodies on the other side of the road. He looked up and down the road. "We need to get moving. By the time the bodies are discovered, I want to be long gone. Are you up for walking?"

"Are you jealous that I didn't let you have any of the fun?"

Korfel rose and offered her a hand. "Next squad that catches us off-guard is getting buried in a sinkhole. Or a landslide. I'll decide on the way."

Jarsali grinned and allowed him to haul her upright. "Personally I'd love to see you do those massive spikes again." She glanced at the fallen soldiers, and her smile faded. "D'you think any of them were there, that day?"

"Doubtful. Most of them are too young. And it's not like the entire standing Tyan army was on those cliffs that day." He eyed her for a long moment. "Were you expecting some sort of catharsis?"

"I don't know."

"Come on. We'll sort through your feelings on the road."

"All right."

[sketching-shark]

I dont remember if i ever asked this but what translation of JTTW have you mainly read? or usually use as a source to go towards

I use the Anthony C. Yu translation! It's still widely considered the most complete translation of JTTW out there, and it's chock-full of notes about everything from political backgrounds to Buddhist ceremonies to explaining jokes in the text that don't particularly work without the cultural and linguistic context in the original lol.

@journeytothewestresearch has kindly compiled an ever-growing collection of pdfs of Xiyouji in a multitude of different languages, including the full 4 volumes of the Yu translation. Definitely give it a look here!:

I should also note that Yu published the first version of his translation in the 1950s and then came out with a revised edition in the early 21st century, so if you're looking to buy a physical copy you might want to keep that in mind. My own physical copies of the 4 volumes that make up his translation are a mix and match between the two editions based on what I could find at local used bookstores, but the breakdown of the journey didn't change between editions so they still flow together well. From what I saw you can get a volume of the Yu translation for as little as $11 to as much as $45 depending on various factors. Yu also published an abbreviated version of his translation in "The Monkey and the Monk," which you might find useful to save some cash and still get the gist of how he presents JTTW.

One final note is that I have seen a number of people say that they found other translations more interesting and even more fitting with the spirit of the story than the Yu. And yeah, it should be kept in mind that especially as this is a translation from an academic press that Yu's intention seems to have been more about completion and explaining the various nuances of details that would be lost on a lay audience then on entertainment value. That said, JTTW does seem to be one of those stories that leaves a lot of people hungry to get all the details, so I'd say it's definitely understandable if you want to get your hands on the Yu pdfs to get said details while just skimming through the chapters because you don't have the time or energy to read through 4 volumes of monkey shenanigans but still want to know what's going on haha.

Hope you find this helpful @seasonalsummers! I'd also say that if you want more information about the other English translations in existence you might want to chat with @journeytothewestresearch, as he's proven himself time and time again to be very knowledgeable about them.

[fastcardotmp3]

watching too much of TLOU has me thinking of a stranger things au where the Upside Down wins the war before the Party ever has the chance to fight in it, right? so like. hear me out.

the UD makes it's go at invading topside when the older kids are young, like just old enough to remember what the world was like in the before, but the younger kids, the original party? They've never seen a version of this world that wasn't dark skies and crimson lightning and learning how to fight off monsters at the same time you're learning how to ride a bike.

It's not just Hawkins, Indiana that's been overcome by these forces that no one knows how to stop, although those of them trapped here at the point of origin by the military forces that started trying to shut it all down a decade-plus ago can't be positive just how far it reaches.

There are rumors of cities on the coasts still intact-- a California sunset in a clear sky, the water clean without having to go through intense filtration and people just going about living their lives without carrying three weapons on their person at all times, without preparing to run at the drop of a hat.

There are rumors of places that the twisting vines of a malicious consciousness can't reach, and there have been rumors like that for as long as Steve Harrington can remember.

But he doesn't believe them.

The Earth split open when he was nine years old and took his childhood with it, cracked the whole thing open and swallowed down the future of a boy who liked to play sports and sit on the counter while his mother cooked dinner to loud music on the radio.

The Earth split open and took her with it, leaving Steve a lonely kid made angry by his loss and made mean by his anger.

He comes of age in chaos, in military housing for kids with nowhere else to go, free soldiers to raise for killing, and they like him there. They like that he doesn't form attachments to the other kids, like that he's got a sharp tongue, like that he isn't afraid of a fight even when it's one everyone knows he'll lose.

They like that he's got a tough exterior, because they don't know what's hiding behind it. They don't see the him behind the bared teeth and snarling words until he falls in love with a girl in town.

Until they get wrapped up in a conspiracy because her best friend is missing and a kid named Byers is missing too and Steve's entire worldview gets dropped on its head because suddenly all the anger he has over his mother's death has a place to go other than fighting.

Nancy Wheeler slaps him and Jonathan Byers kicks his ass and they both break his heart a little bit and Steve realizes somewhere amidst heartbreak turning to friendship that they're angry too, but they're using it to help.

There aren't a lot of options for a kid without a family in a place like this, ravaged by monsters with too few resources to go around, but Steve isn't a boy that does things by halves, so leaving the training school is something of a no-brainer.

There are rumors about cities on the coasts that never had to face Hell crawling out of the ground, and Steve doesn't believe them when he stumbles his way into a cabin off the main drag of occupied Hawkins and into a half-decent living situation.

He doesn't believe them when he meets Robin Buckley while they're both trying to earn a few extra meal cards for their families doing shit grunt work that no one else wants, no one but the desperate among them.

He still doesn't believe them when a boy and his uncle, the girl named Chrissy they picked up along the way, come passing through town saying they're on a journey out West towards the rumored Free Zones.

For years he keeps not believing, keeps holding onto the understanding of the world in which this happened everywhere and no matter where they had been, his mother would still have died, that there was no saving her, that he couldn't have--

For years he believes, but Max starts having these nightmares...

And the cracks in the Earth begin to widen...

And everything goes to shit again again again again--

The Munson's have a mobile home and so does Hopper.

Joyce thinks with Eddie's help she can grab a third to be able to fit them all comfortably.

There are rumors about cities on the coasts, and maybe Steve can find a reason worth believing them now.

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West Chapter 49

In this chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest we solve the mystery on just who this river demon is. So let's get into it shall we?

So the three disciples arrive back at the river while they try and decide how they want to go about this. Monkey confesses that he can't really fight in the water, to go down there he would either have to transform into some kind of sea creature, or use his hands to create a water repelling charm. Neither of which is very conducive towards kicking demon ass. Sandy however persuades him that he should come along with them into the water anyways, since he can at least transform and scout the area while they are there and at least find out if Tripitaka is still alive.

When it comes time to decide who should carry Monkey with them in into the water, Pigsy volunteers with the intent to mess with Monkey a little. Monkey of course see's right through him, but agrees anyways. And sure enough, just as Pigsy is about to pull his prank, Monkey strikes first. He uses one of his hairs to duplicate and replace the 'him' on Pigsy's back, while he transforms into a hog louse and crawls into Pigsy's ears. So when Pigsy pretends to 'trip' in order to send Monkey flying, 'Monkey' disappears. Sandy of course scolds him for his carelessness, since now they have to go and try and find him, while Pigsy tries to argue that they don't need him anyways!

Monkey takes this opportunity to whisper in Pigsy's ear that he's right here, which Sandy finds hilarious, Pigsy not so much. He starts kneeling and begging for forgiveness or at least to delay his punishment until they rescue Tripitaka. Mainly because a Monkey he can't even see, is far more terrifying then the Monkey he can see. Anyways since Pigsy agree's to carry Monkey with no more tricks, the trio heads off once again. It's nice to see these three getting into fun little shenanigans even when Tripitaka is kidnapped.

They finally arrive at the demon's residence, and Sandy suggests they just bang on the door to provoke the demon into battle, but Monkey suggests they do a little recon first. So Monkey transforms himself into a shrimp, and is able to ask for directions to the Tang Monk by another shrimp. And sure enough Monkey finds Tripitaka trapped in a stone box, and unsurprisingly Tripitaka has decided to spend this time crying about his shitty luck when it comes to rivers. Monkey takes this time to chime in that water isn't all bad, it's the element of growth after all! Tripitaka is super relieved to hear that Monkey is here with him, and begs him to get him out of this box, preferably before he runs out of air. Monkey tells him to hang in there just a little longer and let them deal with the monster first.

So Monkey returns to Pigsy and Sandy and tells them the situation. They talk it over and decide to go with the usual river plan that has never once worked, aka, trying to lure the river spirit out of the water so Monkey can properly smack it. But who knows, maybe the third try is the charm. So Pigsy bangs on the demon's door and demands they give them back Tripitaka. So the demon gets dressed into his fancy armor and goes out to meet them with his minion army. Pigsy yells that they kicked his ass earlier so he should just give it up. The Demon however says this isn't going to be anything like last time, since this time he is armed and ready.

So the Demon and Pigsy begin to fight, with Sandy jumping in soon enough to help. They compare weapons for a while, before Pigsy and Sandy decide that they can't close out this fight themselves, so they decide to continue with the original plan. So Sandy and Pigsy pretend to flee in order to lure the demon to the surface, and sure enough as soon as the demon breaks through the surface of the water, Monkey smacks him with his staff. Which of course causes the demon to freak out and flee, just like what's happened literally every single time they've tried this plan. Regardless, they decide to try the plan again so Pigsy and Sandy return to the water while Monkey waits on the surface.

Meanwhile the Demon has returned and is telling his new sworn sister about what happened. Once she hears Monkey's description, she tells him he was lucky to escape with his life. Since who he was up against was none other then Sun Wukong who caused havoc in heaven five hundred years ago. This warning comes just in time, because Pigsy and Sandy are back to harass him, however he decides to take his sisters advice and not fight them again.

Seeing that the demon isn't coming out, Pigsy and Sandy return to Monkey in order to discuss a plan B. After hearing that the demon won't come out, Monkey decides it's time to visit Guanyin, to find out more about this demon, so he can kidnap all his friends and family to use as hostages. Pigsy thinks that sounds like a lot of work, but Monkey assures that he won't be gone long, and with that he's off.

So Monkey arrives at the South Sea and is greeted by Guanyin's entourage, they tell him that Guanyin left the cave this morning and forbid anyone to follow her. She also told them that Sun Wukong would arrive today, and to just have him wait for her there. So Monkey decides to wait for a while, and even has a chat with Red Boy while he's there, who's doing rather well for himself now a days. However after a while Monkey gets bored of waiting, and dashes into the bamboo grove in order to find Guanyin himself.

When he spots Guanyin, unmade up, still in her pajamas and glumly weaving a basket, he recognizes that he may have made an error in intruding on her like this. However he still asks for her help in rescuing Tripitaka, when Guanyin orders him to wait outside he has no choice but to obey, and ask her servants what's up with her today. They say they don't know anything either, and soon enough Guanyin comes out and tells him she'll come with him to save Tripitaka. Monkey tries to say that if she wants to take five minutes to get ready he'll wait, but it seems like Guanyin is in a bit of a hurry and says it's not a problem, she'll just go like this.

So Monkey arrives back at the river with Guanyin and Sandy and Pigsy of course ask what he did to cause Guanyin to come here like this. Guanyin however just ignores and them and does a little fishing. She lowers her basket into the water, and recites a spell, before pulling the basket back up, along with a single goldfish. With that done Guanyin tells Monkey to go fetch Tripitaka. Monkey says he would if he could, but they still have the demon to deal with. In response Guanyin just says the demon has been dealt with and shows them the fish.

Turns out this demon's identity is that of Guanyin's pet goldfish that cultivated it's powers by listening in on her lectures. However one day it got swept away and ended up here to cause problems and eat children. See, this is exactly why it's a bad idea to have outside pets. You never know when your outdoor cat is going to kill a bunch of birds, or if your pet goldfish is going to eat a bunch of children. It's bad for the environment.

Anyways to thank Guanyin for her help, Monkey offers to alert the villagers so they can gaze upon her glory and become her worshipers. Guanyin agrees, so the villages come out to praise her glory and make some cool art of her. After they are done with that and Gaunyin goes home, Pigsy and Sandy go into the river to retrieve Tripitaka, only to find that all the other demon's in this place are now dead, yeesh Guanyin sure can be scary sometimes. Anyways Pigsy and Sandy find Tripitaka no problem and bring him back to the surface to be scolded by the Chen's for not listening to them.

Monkey says all's well that ends well, and at least they won't need to make sacrifices anymore. Now they just need a boat. Luckily everyone here is more then willing to help them out with that, and even more fortunately there is no need for that. Because just then a giant turtle comes up from the water and offers to take the four of them across. Monkey is of course suspicious of this offer, but the turtle says he just wants to repay their kindness. Turns out that the demon's lair was actually his house, so he's grateful that they drove that pest from his home. After Monkey makes the Turtle swear to the heaven's that he's telling the truth in really plans on just taking them across the river Monkey accepts his help.

So the pilgrimage says their goodbyes once and for all to the villagers and piles onto the turtles back. Once they arrive on the shore from across the river, Tripitaka says his thanks to the turtle and offers to get him a gift when they head back this way with the scriptures in hand. The Turtle doesn't need any gift but instead requests that they ask the Bhudda when he'll be able to cast off his shell and acquire a human form. Tripitaka promises that he'll ask, and with that the Turtle sinks back into the water while the pilgrimage continues on their Journey to the West.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, object transformation, distance reduction, vanishing in a flash of light, super healing and transforming others. Demon Kill Count: 9+ Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1009 God's Defeated: 22 + Unknown number Defeats: 5 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law, looting corpses, trading counterfeit goods, criminal threat, animal abuse, Assisting or Instigating Escape, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption and Identity Fraud. Cry Count: 7 + 3 fake cries Mountains Trapped Under: 4

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka and the Tang Monk Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization, Heart Sutra and Meditation. Cry Count: 25 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 31 Paralyzed by fear: 5 Bandit Problems: 2 Kidnapped by demons: 7 Falling Off Horses: 8

Current Bai Long Ma Stats: Names/Titles: Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse), Prince of the Western Ocean, and third prince jade dragon of the dragon king Aorun Abilities: Transforming into a human, a water snake, and a horse, eating a horse in one bite, flight, Magic of Water Restriction, Singing, and Sword Dancing. Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Arson, and Grave Disobedience. Contributions to the plot: 2

Current Zhu Wuneng Stats: Names/Titles: The Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, Zhu Wuneng (Pig who is aware of ability), Zhu Ganglie, Pigsy, Idiot and Eight Rules. Weapon: Rake Abilities: 36 Transformations, parting water, fighting underwater, cloud soaring, size enhancement and CPR Demon Kill Count/Kill steals: 2 Kidnapped by Demons: 3 Human Kill Count: 1 Failed Flirtation/romances Attempts: 3 Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Sexual Harassment, Murder, Kidnapping, arson, defamation, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption and Identity Fraud

Current Sha Wujing Stats: Names/Titles: The Curtain-Raising General, Sha Wujing (Sand Aware of Purity), Sandy and Sha Monk Weapon: Monster Taming Staff Abilities: Fighting underwater and Cloud soaring. Demon Kill Count: Unknown number of minions. Kidnapped by Demons: 2 Human Kill Count: 1 Crime List: Breaking a Crystal Cup, murder, desecration of a human corpse, Damage to Religious Property and contaminating a substance for human consumption

[violetvirus]

How does the six ears macaque play apart in the journey to the west cyberpunk story

i don't have his reference ready yet but i couldn't help but jump at the chance to talk about him

stone monkey 2.0, or the six-eared macaque prototype, is by all means a better version of the first stone monkey prototype. his hearing especially was enhanced, which is why he was given the name six ears despite not having any. almost identical to the first, macaque is much more obedient and harder to rewire than wukong was. because unfortunately due to tripitaka's own tampering with wukong, it was discovered that robots with a set personality are much harder to rewire. so they implemented this same idea in macaque, alongside a circlet kill switch so he could be easily rid of if he goes off mission. because he and wukong look so similar, many people turned on wukong, assuming he had betrayed the slums and returned to the jade city government.

macaque is intensely jealous of wukong. when he first came online, wukong and tripitaka were separated due to wukong's continuous use of violence. tripitaka was firm that if that's the personality wukong chooses to develop, it's fine, but he was no longer allowed to live alongside tripitaka. macaque sees wukong as abandoning a great home, a great life. his hatred bleeds over onto tripitaka as well, partly due to his own programming to kill/arrest him. macaque somewhat knows that it is much less likely he would be given another chance at a new personality like wukong did, because tripitaka would struggle with wiping his old code and rewiring him properly, and it angers him.

macaque is a reminder to wukong of all the things he hates about himself. his original coding, his violence, his origins as a robot created for destruction. macaque is all of wukong's most negative traits amplified, which he despises. so the animosity goes both ways.

macaque has given up on the idea that he may live freely like wukong was able to. but maybe it's not quite as out of reach as he thinks. who knows...

[lucidboba]

This is a vent post on the Lego Monkie Kid fandom and the show. I am in no way an expert on the Journey To The West book so take this with a grain of salt.

I am honestly so sick of the Lego Monkie Kid fandom spreading misinformation around and claiming they know everything about JTTW Sun Wukong as a character when half of them don't even read the book and just get their information from OSP JTTW and LMK.

OSP on their podcast already said they left out a lot of stuff from the book for their videos as it's a summary and might have made Sun Wukong seem more impulsive then he actually are and they encouraged more people to read the book instead so I don't blame them.

What I blame is the part of the fandom that keeps on acting like they know everything when they just watch a short summary of a very long and complex book.

I get it, LMK is different from JTTW and change the original story a lot as it's a kids show. You shouldn't have to read the book just to enjoy the show. But you shouldn't spread misinformation around about the actual book just because you heard it from somewhere and did little to nothing research and just read a couple of short analysis.

This happens mostly to Sun Wukong as there are people saying he was unjustly punished and he didn't do anything wrong or people saying he was a moster demon spawn that deserve his punishment even when Guan Yin had to step in to intervene or people saying he was dumb, entire personality is being impulsive.

He is the Intelligent Stone monkey, the Monkey of the Mind, the monkey that have knowledge of ancient medicine and cured a king, the monkey that almost managed to sued the Devarāja Li if not for the Gold Star Of Venus's intervene, ment to represent the mind in all it's clever chaotic glory. he was one of the top students under Patriarch Puti for goodness sake and was the one who solves most of their problems on the journey. He has his moments of being impulsive and dumb but not nearly as much as people might think.

Not to mention their favoritism of the Six Eared Macaque, they baby him as if he wasn't the representation of what Sun Wukong would be like if he actually didn't have any control and just did whatever he wanted. Now LMK Macaque actually is trying to help MK in season 4 which I am very happy about, but JTTW and LMK are very different. So please, if you want to say JTTW Macaque did nothing wrong, don't use LMK as source.

Now the show have some flaws that I feel need to be adress. The show deviates from the actual book a lot which I have no problems with as it's a kids show but how much deviations are you allowed to have to the point of being an bad representation of the actual book. They said they consulted Chinese experts on the book which sometimes you can tell but other times, it just doesn't feel like it.

But there are also some fans that spread nonsense around and because they have a lot of followers everyone just believes them without more research. It made the show just feel like another bad adaptation in a sea of plastics that just so happens to float above the rest of the bad adaptations the book have gone through.

Which is a shame, you can tell a lot of thought and hard work have been put in the show with it's stellar animation, amazing voice acting, beautiful soundtracks and some actual moments that can put you to tears. But I wish the fandom would stop taking information from the show and stop saying it's exactly like the book. It made just enjoying the show and interacting with the good part of the fandom with it's beautiful fanart and great discussions harder to enjoy when all you can think about are the inaccuracies people are spewing around about the actual book.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my long rant. I really needed to get this of my chest.😮‍💨

I might rephrase this at a later date if I'm unhappy with it.

[looney-mooney]

Lego Monkie Kid MK theory

Spoilers for season 4 and the season 4 special under the cut!

So we can all agree that MK is a Celestial Primate, right? We're all on the same page about that? Okay, good. Now that we've established that, let's get into the interesting question there.

Which one is he?

From what I've seen, most people in the fandom seem to agree that he's a new celestial primate, someone who's sort of a class of his own. But this is Lego Monkie Kid, and we all know how much this show absolutely ADORES reusing characters and concepts from the original Journey to the West at pretty much every opportunity.

I'm going to be using this article I found for most of this, but it's pretty much all from the book: https://journeytothewestresearch.com/2022/02/20/a-quick-study-of-the-four-celestial-monkeys-from-journey-to-the-west/

In Journey to the West, there are four celestial primates, two of whom are prominent characters in the narrative and two of whom are presumed dead before we get the chance to meet them.

Sun Wukong is the "Stone Monkey of Numinous Wisdom" (or Numinous Luminosity, depending on which translator you ask), who "knows transformations, Recognizes the seasons, Discerns the advantages of earth, And is able to alter the course of planets and stars." Macaque is... well... "The Six-Eared Macaque," who "has a sensitive ear, Discernment of fundamental principles, Knowledge of past and future, And comprehension of all things." We already know who these two are, so I'm not gonna get more into them.

The other two Celestial Primates are characters we've never met before, in the book OR the show. The Connected Arms Gibbon, who can "Seize the sun and the moon, Shorten a thousand mountains, Distinguish the auspicious from the inauspicious, And manipulate planets and stars," and the Red-Buttocked Horse Monkey, who has "knowledge of yin and yang, Understands human affairs, Is adept in its daily life And able to avoid death and lengthen its life." MK is probably a reincarnation of one of these two (if not some sort of bizarre combination of both?)

There's a case to be made for either of these roles. I don't think he's the Gibbon though, since MK's monkey form clearly has a tail (three of them, even, in his war form!) and Gibbons, as great apes, don't tend to have those. It'd be cool to meet the Connected Arms Gibbon, though!

Instead, I would like to make the case for MK being the Red-Buttocked Horse Monkey. There's a lot of debate over what species of monkey that's even meant to represent, so MK would be free to be a sort of... amalgamation monkey. The IDEA of a monkey, instead of any specific species, like Sun Wukong himself seems to be. (Plus, he usually wears red pants, so that covers the "red-buttocked" part of the character description lol)

Not to mention, that "understands human affairs" bit REALLY fits, since he's spent his whole entire LIFE living as a human! Not to mention, one of the very FIRST powers MK struggled with was invulnerability, something that was so powerful it had to be taken away from him (and something even Sun Wukong himself doesn't appear to fully have - he's immortal times a kajillion, but that doesn't mean he can't get beat up!) In a genre that has a lot of "invulnerable protagonist" as a basic element of the storytelling, that's a pretty clever way to hammer home that "avoids death" is an actual POWER of his pretty immediately

Plus, who's MK's BFF FOREVER? That's right, Mei the Dragon Horse girl. Who better to be the Horse Monkey's bestie?

But I wanna know what you guys think! Do you think MK is the Red-Buttocked Horse Monkey? The Connected Arms Gibbon? Or some completely new Celestial Monkey the showrunners made up specifically for the protagonist of their show? LMK!

[sytokun]

there's so many cool but missed opportunities in rwby for their characters, like sun! yk how he's based of "sun wukong" from journey to the west? IK its FOUR characters to a team but i think it would have really been cool if they took more inspo from journey to the west and made HIS team journey to the west characters

Honestly I think that'd be really cool to base the rest of SSSN on the other Journey to the West characters, especially when the basis for a four-man team is already there. And knowing that SSSN was modeled after K-pop boy band Big Bang, imagining the Journey characters as modern hot boys already sounds like an otome-game level move that would fit RWBY pretty well.

That said, if you're making your own interpretation of SSSN, such as by rewrite or AU, you're free to do so. It depends on whether you put more stock into a more cohesive theme for the team, or their original canon inspirations.

...Which is a good opportunity for me to talk about the sketches I did for Sun's team in RWBY: Remnants some time ago. They won't be appearing for a super long time, but I might as well talk about them now.

Here, I renamed them as Team SNSD (pronounced "Sunset"), with Sun Wukong, Neptune Vasilias, Sage Ayana and Scarlet David. (yes, I am aware there is a K-pop group with the same name, the synchronicity is not lost on me) They're still based on their original allusions as I wanted to work within the constraints of canon here, but the full Journey team may be too good to pass up, so I'll consider coming back in the future to tackle it.

People have always been divided on Team SSSN's name, with many preferring to rename them as SSNS ("Seasons"). I do get it - Team SSSN ("Sun") has that kind of dumb, corny "how do you spell?" vibe that matches a team of himbos. But I think having three S's for one word is just going a step too far into... just plain dumb.

Sun is pretty much the same here, but I decided to dial back towards his Asian features and grey eyes - though they're black here cause I like black eyes too. I also added the Monkey's King's famous golden headband, the jǐn gū zhòu, around his neck.

Neptune is pretty much the same here - honestly I really like his original design and think it's one of those "if it ain't broke don't fix it" situations - but I do want to redesign him more in the future to better reflect his allusion as Poseidon.

For Scarlet, I wanted to lean more into their "pirate king" vibe and androgynous appearance, so of course the coat-cape slung over the shoulders is a must. I also wanted to change their Semblance into something similar to their canon one but... not boring.

Instead of just gliding, Scarlet can either control air currents (and I do mean that in a very loose, fantasy way) or affect the trajectory of any moving object their Aura recently comes into contact with. This Semblance is called Pixie Dust, and instead of a gun and cutlass, Scarlet wields two guns, either named Hook and Darling like in canon... or Faith and Trust (geddit). They can use this Semblance to fly, and infuse their bullets with their Semblance when loading them to cause them to curve in midair when fired. Yes, basically like that one movie, Wanted.

People who don't like physics breaking in live action movies hated the bullet curving mechanic, but I think it'd be a perfect fit in RWBY's universe. It adds a much-needed cool factor, and picturing Scarlet engraving smug comments and poetic farewells onto their bullets like lethal fortune cookies injects an element of charisma and playfulness to what I think is a really underutilised character, and one based on Peter Pan no less.

Now for Sage, he had a very ambiguous allusion. Some say he was based on an Aesop fable, and others on Hindu mythology.

Glad to know Miles Luna doesn't know the allusion to one of his own characters, especially knowing that SSSN is one of the earliest teams designed for RWBY, predating JNPR. But sure, let's give him the benefit of the doubt like we always do for CRWBY. /s

Given that this was so ambiguous and he also had no Semblance, I decided to take some liberties with Sage, and given his surname and appearance, I decided to look to Hindu mythology for Sage's allusion - a really cool but unexplored source of inspiration in RWBY. I was looking at some famous warriors and gods of myth like Arjuna, but I eventually settled on Kartikeya.

Kartikeya is the Hindu god of war. Known for riding a peacock and sometimes depicted having six heads, he also wields a spear with a leaf-shaped blade called a vel. In other countries he is named Murugan, and has a famous statue of him in Malaysia's Batu Caves.

I've redesigned Sage's clothes to more reflect Indian fashion (albeit a fantasy version of such) and with peacock feather motifs on his collar and chest. Sage here also fights with this spear instead of a greatsword, which you can see him holding in the sketch. His Semblance, Sanmukha ("Six-faced"), allows him to see in six different directions at once, having total 360° vision around himself. This vision can also pierce solid objects within a certain range.

While not immensely powerful by itself, Sage uses this to gain an almost unparalleled martial prowess, spatial awareness and foresight in combat, reflecting the god of war's own wisdom and skill. While I do really like the Roman numeral tattoos on his neck, I was also considering using Sanskrit or Tamil script - I should try that next time I go back to his design.

So yeah, that's Team SNSD from me! I'm pretty attached to Indian Sage, but next time I come back to them I want to take a shot at basing them after Tripitaka, Zhu Bajie (Pigsy) and Sha Wujing (Sandy) from Journey. I also need to be sure actual Hindu people are fine with him, since Kartikeya is still a widely-worshipped god in current times unlike Thor or Poseidon, so I hoped this portrayal of Sage as alluding to him is respectful enough.