#honestly i need to read jttw

[mx-paint]

.

[antidotefortheawkward-art]

Thinking about that Zhihu AU where Tang Seng's disciples were Erlang Shen, Sun Wukong, and Bull Demon King instead.....

[ID: 1. An illustration of Erlang Shen, Sun Wukong, and Bull Demon King from the waist-up. Erlang Shen is wearing a weimao and a purple yuanlingpao archer-style with the left lapel flipped out. His two inner robe layers are checkered blue and purple-ish off-white. He has a snow leopard pelt at his waist. Sun Wukong is in his typical pilgrimage outfit, chewing on a piece of willow with his arms crossed. Bull Demon King has his arm around SWK's shoulder, leaning against him. He has a leopard pelt across his chest and a dark red scarf around his shoulders, with a red banbi and off-white inner robe. His other hand is on his mixed-iron rod, which is placed on his shoulder. 2. A translated screenshot from the aforementioned Zhihu thread. It reads "西天路走的太顺利畅，我反而无聊 This path to the Western Heaven is too smooth. I'm actually bored." End ID]

[acoraxia]

gela do you like character design? Cause you're constantly popping off over here. I feel like only someone who likes character design can cook like you do

(and maybe you could teach your ways? A little bit? I would love to learn o7)

HAHAHAHA—no. I like watching it and studying it! I love analyzing character design but drawing it? I’m being held at gunpoint

When it comes to OCs I have to design them otherwise it’s hard to get the point across as to who I’m talking about, how their design translates via text, etc. when it comes to, say, Erlang and Sun Wukong it means a lot of character analysis and figuring out whether or not their outfits work… and then realizing the limits of my skills (I hate armor but armor is VERY MUCH in character for these two designs)

I tend to do SOME form of research into my character designs — this ranges from looking at the original sources (FSYY, JTTW) and then modern depictions of them (Nezha Reborn/New Gods, Dyslite (?), Lego Monkie Kid, etc) and studying how their designs work.

I love New Gods rendition of Erlang but that reads more to me like a.. teenager? Young adult? Version of Erlang rather than the aged post-fsyy soldier we see often depicted in JTTW content

I also have a lot of story telling done with color for their outfits:

You can see hints of green for Wukong (Nuwa) and how there’s bits of red in his hanfu — but it’s not overpowering. You can still see gold and even in his makeup there’s teal. You can tell this is SWK in an outfit that was coordinated to suit him for a specific area/god/etc.

But then with Erlang we see him engulfed in red. The same type of red that resembles wine or drying blood because this is an outfit that (ahem) Su Daji picks out for him. The only bit of gold is the belt/sash holding it all together. This, along with the jade skin and dark blue hair, makes it seem like he’s not human. That’s the point! He’s a demigod and he’s often depicted with unnatural skin color (at least in animated versions):

And then of course there’s accessories! We have Sun Wukong’s iconic cudgel and honestly LMK’s design of it is already very well done that I don’t feel the need to adjust it for my au.. so instead I designed him a mask:

This allows for some of his personality to shine through more! And it is far more intimidating than canon!lmk!swk!!

To put it simply: I don’t like character designing because it is VERY hard for me to translate my thoughts onto a canvas but I enjoy the finished results (most of the time) too much to not try and do it. That and when it comes to my favorite characters I will ALWAYS have fun designing outfits for them 🧡

[quitealotofsodapop]

Not to mention if he had shown Tang, a scholar who lived and breathed JTTW, his memories... I'm pretty sure Tabg would have straight up attacked him for trying to describe what happened to Wukong while he was held captive by Heaven had been anything less than what it was: Torture. For example, at this point, Sun Wukong is more than a fairytale or storybook character. He's more than just some demon who lived thousands of years ago as a footnote in a history book. He's a person, not only that, but he's someone who has since become part of Tang's family! He's a flawed but still wise master who is impulsively self sacrificial to the point of unintentionally hurting the people who care about him, he's temperamental and tends to be forgetful about the limits of normal mortals because he's never had a baseline, he's petty, but ultimately... Sun Wukong is someone who cares deeply and honestly about the people who manage to get past the ironclad walls he has erected around his heart, someone who is selfless at heart even when his actions seem selfish, someone who has had a very difficult life and is still learning to let other in and trust them. Tanghas read Wukong's story a hundred times over, analyzed his written actions a thousand times, out of everyone he is probably the one who knows the ksot about Wukong's past besides the Demon Bull King and Macaque, the person who pribavly raised Wukong the most besides the Sentinels and his mate respectively. He recognizes how much Wukong has changed for the better, how he's still learning after all these centuries, and how he's trying so very hard to be a good mentor for MK and teach him the lessons he never had so he doesn't suffer the same way he did even while his own past comes back to bite him.

So no... Tang would absolutely be offended by Azure's narrative

YUP. referencing.

Tang about to bust out his Bachelors in ancient Chinese history and literature to poke a million holes in Azure Lion's whiteashed narrative:

(In the Scroll of Memory as Azure is showing his memories of the Rebellion): Tang, suddenly appearing in the memory: "Where is Erlang Shen?" Azure, startled: "How did you get in here?" Tang: "As someone who lives for this era in history - I can poke so many holes in your story. Sun Wukong was strong enough for the Jade Emperor, but fell to his nephew Erlang Shen, his Plum Hill Lads, and Lao Tzu's binding ring. From there he was tossed into the Trigram Furnace and was forced to endure 49 days of the Samadhi Fire to extract his immortalities." Azure, pleasantly impressed: "You know your stories well monk-" Tang, interupting: "AND-! I am not finished. The great Tang Monk, aka Tripitaka, did not yield to the Taoist gods! Only to the Buddha and his diciples! To call him an Agent of the Oppressors greatly overlooks how many times he helped his fellow mortals, even at the threat of being executed for his faith!" Azure: "You're becoming overwhelmed-" Tang, angry tears: "And I know Wukong! He wouldn't have targeted you guys at Camel Ridge unless you did something warranting his anger! How can you call him a traitor when YOU left him to burn!?" (*Azure's memories dispate, instead showing Wukong when he was with the Pilgrims - from the perspective of Tripitaka. Wukong is laughing along with his brothers Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and Ao Lie*) Tang, volume increasing: "Wukong didn't stay with the Pilgrims to hurt people. He stayed because he knew that his mind and emotions needed healing after such a tremendous amount of pain. They cared enough for him to address this pain and help him towards being a true sage. Something your *Brotherhood* obviously never bothered to do! HE DIDN'T BETRAY YOU AS MUCH AS YOU BETRAYED HIM!!" (the memory scroll completely disapates back to reality. the entire MKrew + the Brotherhood are staring shocked at Tang's show of power*) Tang: *breathing heavily and angry crying* MK, wide-eyed and impressed: "...whoa" Pigsy, proud: "Yup. Don't try to twist what happened back then Azure. My Tangy knows his history." Peng, whispers to the others: "The Golden Cicada lives on. I knew I wasn't mistaken." Yellow Tusk: "I suggest we retreat for now. Once the Celestial Realm senses our escape, they are sure to have increased their defences." Azure, eyes narrowing: "No. We go forward with our plan. No matter what this monk-" Tang: "I'M NOT A MONK!" Tang: *casts Magic Missile*

Because at the end of the day, Azure understimated the receipts that Wukong's new dad-friend would have on their political movement.

[smilesatdawnmain]

so MK read journey to the west. Was he ever like "Wait a minute, is the Nezha I know and who took care of me ever since I was a child the same Nezha from the book ? Nah, he is just some random angel that trains me and has shown me 20 different ways to defeat my enemies. No biggie"

Wait, now I have gotten off topic. Ok ok, let’s start over:

Does MK know Nezha is the same form journey to the west ?

What exactly did this powerful celestial warrior teach the child of the monkey kid ?! Does MK know how to kill or take someone out, like make them unconscious? (Smal MK: „Daddy, Daddy Look. I know how to perfectly trow a knife and all the pressure points to make someone go to sleep" *Innocent smile*)

I only wanted to ask the first thing but I somehow started questioning MK‘s training 😂🙈

MK has honestly no clue Angel and “Nezha from JTTW” are the same XD

Monkey King is his favorite and unless Monkey King was involved or the main focus, he did kind of space or skim the book. He had a feeling Nezha is a celestial or godly like being- but doesn’t think much beyond that because he’s just content to be with his Angel as is :)

As for training, Nezha’s biggest goal was to teach MK self defense. He really tried to avoid teaching MK how to hurt others and just keep them at a distance.

When he got older they did do more combat offensive training with a staff and his new knife.

Never to kill though, just to disengage or knock out :) (pressure points too! But MK’s biggest strength is defense and basically dodging as that is what Nezha focused on. He would need a lot more training in offense and fighting though

…which a certain monkey prince can teach him~

next

previous

[ryin-silverfish]

Hello ryin! I saw in a recent post of yours that you dislike the "class warfare" reading of the Havoc in Heaven arc in JTTW and would honestly love to hear more about your thoughts on that! Your takes have been really interesting.

Thank you!

My biggest problem with the "class warfare" reading is, first and foremost, what it has been historically used for.

Like, after the Havoc in Heaven opera and movie came out, the propagandists absolutely ate it up; SWK was associated with Mao Zedong and used to promote Mao's personality cult, and soon after, the White Bone Spirit story would be interpreted as this fable for the Sino-Soviet split.

Whereas Havoc in Heaven was intended and viewed as a metaphor and love letter to the victory of Chinese revolution, the White Bone Spirit story was interpreted in the context of the horrific fuck-up that is the Great Leap Forward, where the party were starting to doubt its leadership, and the path to the future seemed an uncertain and arduous one——much like the pilgrimage.

So, in the new twist on the "class warfare" narrative, Tripitaka and Pigsy became the poster-boy for "party members who were easily captivated by revisionist ideas" and needed to see how wrong they were, the WBS became the personification of Khruschev, imperialism, capitalism, revisionism...you name it, and SWK the Mao expy who could do no wrong yet was unfairly blamed by everyone.

Came the Cultural Revolution era, SWK would then become a sort of hero and role model for the Red Guards, smashing down all that was considered archaic and backwards, tearing down older authority figures and perceived "class enemies" alike, all the while emboldened by Mao's saying that "To rebel is justified" (造反有理).

Yeah, no, fuck that shit.

Terrible historical baggages aside, it is also a reading that reeks of presentism, and Lin Geng, a renowned professor of literature, had done a thorough takedown of the "SWK as peasant rebel" idea in his 西游记漫话.

Namely, it neither fits the circumstances of Havoc in Heaven, nor SWK's backstory and motivation. He's not rebelling because his monkeys are oppressed by the Celestial Realm, he's doing it because he feels personally slighted.

His mindset is also not that of a traditional peasant; compare and contrast that with Zhu Bajie, whom the author argues is very much peasant-coded in terms of his obsession with going back to Gao Laozhuang, his rake, and his comedic ignorance that stems from urban stereotypes of rural farmers.

To paraphrase Lin Geng, "Not all rebellions and rebel narratives in Chinese history are peasant ones, and we shouldn't just cry 'peasant rebellion metaphor!' the moment we saw a rebellion in fiction."

Lastly and more personally? This reading also tends to remove SWK's depth as a character. The representation of the Mind can be both heroic and flawed, capable of great feats and fuck-ups alike, but the representation of The Revolution has to be heroic and his opponents, whether celestial or demonic, must be evil oppressors and political boogeymen.

Like, the demons in the novel are representations of the mental obstacles a person will face on the path to Enlightenment, but they are also capable of being funny and very human characters, and not all of them wanted to eat Tripitaka.

The Celestial Realm is a satire of the imperial bureaucracy, sure, but the novel is also a product of its time and cannot magically promote 20th century ideas of revolutions and political reforms 500 years before they were a thing. Besides, SWK can still get help from them on the Journey and their relationship is more complicated than "oppressed rebel and oppressors".

And that's exactly why I dislike the "class warfare" reading: it creates a simplistic opposition of good and evil, and tries to squeeze the work into a narrow political framework that is neither nuanced nor accurate.

[novelcain]

Please read 🙏

So. I mentioned in the tags of one of my first posts back that I had to announce a few things that'd probably lose me some followers, but like I don't blame anyone if you do skedaddle because I know most of you are here for the monkie (totally understandable tho)

That being said I am no longer hyperfixated on jttw/Sun Wukong and that likely won't happen again for a while cause main the thing that caused me to clock out for so long kinda left a bad taste in my brain. However I will eventually come back to it. I can guarantee that. It just won't be for a hot minute (maybe who knows I can't control my brain lol)

As for the 10 billion asks I have in my inbox rn I'll be taking screen shots of the ones that have to do with monkie and such and putting them in a folder so that when I DO get back into jttw I'll just immediately start with those. So yeah if you sent me a really long ask FEAR NOT!😃 for I refuse to get rid of any of them 🥰

With that information tho, I never really intended for this to be just a monkie blog that's just what my hyperfixation had been on since I started. But I also tried to force that hyperfixation to stay way longer than I should have so that I could keep making content that my followers would like which is a part of the reason why I needed a break for so long. I wore myself out, and I needed to convince myself that it was okay for me to make content that makes me happy too. 😌

Tho unfortunately that does mean all my current projects will be on hold and I'll be updating the titles on ao3 soon to On Hiatus. 😔

I ofc will still gladly interact with/absorb any art or writings inspired by or dedicated to my works even if they aren't something I'm currently fixated on because effort deserves recognition and I love seeing ya'lls stuff more than anything. 🥰 Same goes for any submissions with art or edits/videos.

Also I did finish my Triad AU Sun Wukong character sheet like... forever go and just forgot to post it. 😬 (I KNOW I'M SORRY! 😭) SO I'll be posting that soon once I'm done moving everything around and making things more manageable and ✨️aesthetic✨️ on the blog.

Tho that kinda brings me to the next announcement I'll be merging my art blog and my spam blog onto this blog (so many blogs😫) cause honestly 4 blogs is just too much and I just wanna vibe 😅🤚 lol

The last announcement is that once I'm done rearranging everything I'll be going through all my mentions that I've missed and checking out what you guys made while I was gone cause I heard from a few people that there's quite a bit 😊 *much excitement* (on god I need an emoji that looks like it's vibrating because I need visual representation of how I feel like imma explode sometimes)

[phoenixeclipse-lmkau]

when reading this keep in mind that A) i dont know much about your oc Phoenix or the other fics and B) i strongly believe that stories cant exist without confict of some sort. love triangle, war, homework is due tomorrow and u havent started, if there isnt an issue there isnt a story

about the Phoenix reader situation, i dont know about your oc Phoenix but i worry if you don't write it carefully it might feel like an op oc situation. every time she runs into an issue its gonna be why didn't reader use this artefact? why didn't reader use that artefact? i don't know how strong the artefacts are but i do know that unchecked overpowered-ness can ruin a story. if sun wukong wasn't limited by tripitaka and his rules, he would have dealt with every demon in their way without much issue and jttw would have been much shorter and suckier for it.

i find stories shine when characters have to work around their limitations and what they have instead of giving them powers/tools that solve issues for them. its kinda hard to write a conflict when somebody has a maguffin that completely bypasses the issue.

reader is from the modern world, use that! we have access to a breadth of knowledge that people didnt back then, even if reader is no expert in the field, she should have picked something up by social osmosis at the very least!

everyone knows something about cpr, and if reader had classes regarding health and the body, she might have learned basic first aid! imagine the tension of reader having to use barebones first aid knowledge, being unsure if she's patched up to recover in time and having to navigate the threat of infection instead of an artefact bypassing all that juicy juicy plot.

and the glamor artefact, have reader struggle to get a disguise instead. have reader having to bargain or barter or hell, even steal to get different outfits to change her is a good way to explore her personality! how much of her apperence would she be willing to change to be in disguise? would she cut her hair? wear a mask and hood? give up things she had on her from her homeworld to barter for a better disguise? cover herself in mud or walk through a creek/river to throw off her scent?

and thats just two artifacts that i covered here! every time you give a character a tool that solves problems you strip yourself of multiple potential plot points you could have explored and written a story about!

to end this all off:

sun wukong and the six eared macaque[jttw ver at the very least] are the spiders georg when it comes to power scaling. they are extreme outliers, both of them. when it comes to a fight, they exist to be op. so dont give them fights, give them issues that they cant punch their way out of. they cant fight their way into readers affections, use that.

When reading this know that I love a good debate. I can definitely see where your coming from don't worry.

I like the idea of using fantasy and fiction in my writing. I like reading about character that have it too.

Just because a character has a tool doesn't mean they always know how to use it. And each tool would have a weakness.

Reader doesn't know how to fly, just because she gets wings doesn't mean that she'll know how to use them immediately.

Fire burns, Reader isn't immune to fire being human so she'd only be able to use it for specific things. Such as lighting a camp fire, but again just because she can light it doesn't mean it would stay lit. Such as if the wood she is lighting is too wet or so forth. Since fire needs fuel she'd have to learn how to keep a fire going and all.

Growing plants would be slow and can't garrenttee that they will be healthy or say the food it grows safe to eat.

When healing it would require energy and honestly the healing would be closer to just a slightly sped form of healing. So the person healed would still need time to rest because it would also use there energy as well. It also can't be used all of the time (I would be deciding an actual logic system for it later if this is the route I would like to go.) *Basically pain relief and minor healing*

- Adding onto the healing, it wouldn't be able to work on herself, and since she is the only one who can use it, that doesn't help too much. Since Shadowpeach are fucking immortal! Well only like 2x immortal at the beginning since it starts between the time after Subodi and before the heaven attack.

- As for CPR that would be really fun to play around with. But again I'd she was to heal someone it would be another human or Spirit. Due to the op power of the monkeys (and no they can't use their fists to gain her affection 😂 though they Wukong might try to impress her that way)

The sheild is almost impenetrable, not completely, and honestly, it was more of a tool to be used against Wukong and Macaque for plot reasons. So that they have a harder time getting to Reader rather than being able to just capture her immediately.

The glamour mask was also more so for a plot point that comes up later, a specific idea that came about in my head a while ago. Which ends with --- (Said mask can only have one other transformation besides the user's real form).

Also the first two are unable to be used in the cold because plants sleep in the winter and cold is the opposite of heat.

So there are downsides to all of these. Ways to get around them and ways to damage them. I'm not trying to make the Reader OP at all, I was just having an idea and seeing where it was going. These artifacts wouldn't be able to all be used at once, all would require concentration (she's getting attacked she needs to concentrate to make a sheild but her fear gets in the way) or (having a panic attack over someone being injured and can't concentrate to heal them)

These artifacts existing also wouldn't mean that they are with her at all times. In the beginning of the story, she only has a switchblade, and that's it. She might find one and lose it, or she might get a different one and break it. Who knows being as they would be physical objects she wouldn't be able to have them at all times.

I loved answering this, and I will be hoping you respond, anon. I wonder if you've got some other tidbits of ideas for me.

Also, does anyone else have suggestions? Send them my way. I love to debate~ I think I'm using that word right at least 😅

[turbo515]

Just thoughts

Ok so, I don't know how to begin this post actually. I just said to myself *you now have to post your thoughts because yes, no matter what*

Anyways I need to spread my thoughts, because I'm listening somewhere on Twitter and Discord that

(Disclaimer: This is what I'm reading online but not a real official announcement from the team)

the season 5 is almost completed or already done, finished, READY TO GO. They are setting everything fo the release or adjusting the last stuff, anyways... the new season is really REALLY CLOSE.

And, honestly, I'm not ready, I'm excited but at the same time worried about what can happen... all this connection with the number 5 (which is also my favorite number and I'm also so hyped for this)

I really don't know what to think, I'm worried for MK, I hope he won't get any ore trauma but at the same time I think he's gonna get them :')

I'm probably going to do other posts soon or later about some theories or stuff, just little thoughts because I began to read JTTW but I'm at the very beginning and I know parts of the legend just through summaries.

So yeah... I'm shocked, hyped, happy, traumatized, worried

AAAAAAAAAAA

[sketching-shark]

Laios Dungeonmeshi- i mean, Laios Touden for the ask game, cuz i think you've already been asked of all of the JTTW crew alot

Thanks for the ask @seasonalsummers! And apologies to you and everyone else who's sent me asks only for me to take 5 billion years to reply (X_X)

But Laiooooosss...seems like everyone and their mother is talking about him these days, and for good reason lol. I guess for the most part I'd go with the majority of saying that he's a neat character for a number of reasons, from being a genuine freak but not a pervert to his strong desire for friendship & the way that gets messed up and repaired to the way his love of monsters is significantly defined by how alienated he feels from much of humanity. I can't remember who said it, but he kind of reminds me of this quote I stumbled across where the speaker was noting how a reason many prefer the company of animals to that of humans is the way that animals are often very direct with their intentions and desires, whereas humans have a habit of hiding who they are and what they truly want. So especially for a manga that's all about the nature of desire, the potentially cataclysmic consequences of misreading intent, but also the absolute necessity of forming bonds with living things of all kinds to survive, Laios does make for a great protagonist.

I honestly didn't really ship him with anyone on my first read-through of the manga, but after seeing some posts on how well the compliment each other Kabru x Laios is growing on me. I think it really helps that both Kabru and Laios have goals, interests, and friend groups that lie outside of each other, but that they can complement each other so well thanks to each one possessing skills that the other one lacks and both sincerely wanting to help their loved ones. I do think it helps as well that Ryōko Kui didn't feel the need to demonize or dumb either Laios or Kabru down to make their friendship work. Hell, while Laios does become king Kabru becomes his advisor, and the manga itself stands testament to why that's a partnership that's likely for the best.

AUGH it's really hard to pin down but one non-romantic OTP for Laois given how much he loves each member of his party, but I guess ultimately I'd have to say Senshi. Besides being a fun character it was thanks to this dwarf's culinary skills with monster bits that Laios and his party were able to make the attempt to get Falin back in the first place, after all! More importantly for me however is the way Senshi has a deep understanding of the cycles that need to be maintained in order for a world of eating and being eaten to continue, and his explanation of them is something that I do think helped inform Laios's decisions which ultimately resulted in him saving the world from being consumed.

I don't think that it's a deeply unpopular opinion, but I do agree with others who've said that Laios's bouts of insensitivity and even outright bigotry shouldn't be dismissed as just him being autistic. Ryōko Kui made it pretty clear that biases of all kinds have an important hand in shaping what the world of Dungeon Meshi is like, and it definitely decreases the richness of the story to pretend that the main characters, Laios included, don't have any.

I do think that Dungeon Meshi ending where it did makes a lot of sense, but tbh I wish that we had seen more about what Laios is like as a king dealing with the more mundane day-to-day tasks of ruling. I do like that he apparently spends a lot of time and energy on the production and distribution of food, but I'd be keen to see what that would actually look like in practice, especially given the state of the island and the way a lot of the fantasy races which have long histories of being hostile towards each other are living alongside each other there. Dungeon Meshi is quite clear about Laios having a lot of difficulty reading people, and it would be interesting to see how that would play out with him in a position that's largely all about telling what people want and why and responding accordingly. Of course keep in mind this is coming from someone who's list of favorite books includes Moby-Dick (which contains lengthy descriptions of what's actually involved in boiling down whales for their oil) and the obscure sci-fi Grasp the Stars (who's hero is a middle-aged woman dealing with diplomatic emergencies at a space port), so my desire for this kind of expansion of Laios lore is probably not what most people want lmao.

[nikofortuna]

JTTW Chapter 25 Thoughts

Chapter 25 for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group! CW for food under the cut!

Sun Wukong is having a different kind of resting face.

What did the tree do though? The tree’s innocent! If there’s something Sun Wukong needs to dial down it’s the vandalizing of nature.

Oooh, side dishes! Let’s see if I can find some pictures of them, while also checking up on the Original Chinese for this.

Here we have the pickles or pickled cucumbers! Looking quite tasty!

The pickled eggplant. Also quite nice looking! I wonder how they were pickled exactly.

The radishes in wine sauce or pickled radishes with a lovely red-pink colour!

The string beans in vinegar. They look alright, but I personally can’t stand that kind of bean, so yeah.

Salted/pickled lotus roots, now guess who showed up when I looked for a picture of these! That’s right Zhu Bajie.

And lastly blanched mustard plants, looking good!

Our monkey doing monkey things will always be an adorable sight to imagine.

The Great Immortal Equal to Earth is such a Dad to those two. Really putting the Fu in Shifu.

In the J. F. Jenner translation the last line of the first poem about him reads “He sang The Moon Is High.”, which sounds so much like he’s saying ‘It’s high noon.’ but make it moon, which is so funny to me.

Yeees, the vacuum sleeve, wohoo! It’s so silly yet effective, I love these kind of tricks.

Bailong Ma just getting to chill with some hay. Oh to be the horse in this situation, neigh whole story.

So from Anthony C. Yu’s Notes monk’s robes could technically go spinny? Lovely!

Let the monk curse, he very much deserves it at this point. It’s honestly understandable that he’s gradually getting tired of his monkey’s nonsense, especially after such an ordeal that was in no way his fault and wholly avoidable.

[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.

[cloud-somersault]

This is in reference to your most recent post, but I honestly get so confused when people who watch LMK haven't read or at least done research on the source material(JTTW) because I feel like it dampens their experience of appreciating the characters. 

JTTW, which is what LMK is referenced from, is rich with tradition, meaning, and culture. Not understanding JTTW gives you a very one dimensional approach to all the characters but especially Wukong since he is currently one of the only original JTTW figures from the main cast. And in misunderstanding Wukong’s source material means that people really don’t understand shadowpeach like they should. 

Even if we were to only go from the context of the show, shadowpeach started out super toxic. LMAO! These guys were at each other’s throat constantly and were not amicable at all. The appeal is the fact that it is alluded to/shown that these two used to have a very close relationship but something happened to separate them. That’s where the intrigue begins, that’s what gets the gears turning in the viewer’s head. Something happened to make them this way and we want to know! In JTTW canon, Wukong did kill Macaque and it was actively against Buddha’s requests not to. Bro did not care, lol.  I think it is also important to realize that LMK and JTTW are still different BUT it’s honestly quite foolish, in my opinion, to completely disregard the book it is based on. And there’s nothing wrong with fans taking canon things from JTTW and applying it to LMK. Especially if it’s their own fanfiction or interpretation(like your fic). It has been a common theory that Wukong killed Macaque(pretty much since the show started), especially given a lot of the evidence we have been presented with. Disregarding one of the writer’s statements, it’s completely reasonable to make the connection between JTTW and LMK that Wukong did kill Macaque. Especially considering we are shown in the third season a flashback that they did have a violent brawl before his supposed death and subsequent resurrection. 

Shadowpeach IS inherently toxic, especially before there’s any character growth between them, and I personally feel like it’s okay to acknowledge that and embrace it. I understand people tend to gravitate away from any forms of toxicity because, yeah, it feels weird saying you like a ship of two people who hate each other. But that’s the fun thing about enemies to lovers! And shadowpeach has so much more depth to it because it can be interpreted in so many different ways. I wholeheartedly believe that their versatility and depth as a ship is largely the reason why they are one of the biggest ships in the fandom. And their depth comes from the fact that they are inherently flawed characters.  

This need to uphold Sun Wukong on a pedestal he does not deserve ultimately ruins the thing that makes them special. And that's how undeniably human he is. Someone wouldn’t know that just from watching LMK, especially since the show either glosses over the darker parts of JTTW or alters them entirely. Stripping Wukong specifically of the overflowing amount of wonderful source material he has completely dumbs down the beauty of his character. I think playing around with the idea that he did kill Macaque(in regards to LMK canon) doesn’t really change where they come from very much. Idk if anyone else has noticed, but the season 4 special is obviously still not the full picture. That little fight in the mountain is 100% not what makes them hate each other so much. That much animosity for an altercation like that?? It doesn’t make any sense. We still don’t have the full picture, and people are basing their attitude towards each in seasons 1-3 on insufficient evidence. 

Anyway, sorry lol. Seeing people not appreciate shadowpeach for the mess it is makes me so unbelievably disappointed and frustrated(especially if they know nothing about JTTW) and the internet is a great place to bounce off opinions. I promise this isn’t directed towards anyone in particular and it doesn’t come out of anger, I just think there is a common misunderstanding of shadowpeach’s complex foundation and I refuse to stand for it. /lh /nm

Okay, my weird rant is over, haha. I completely understand your irritation with comments like that, though, and I am so sorry you have to deal with them. 

Damn, I don't really have anything to add to this. I think you said it all. I can pack it up and go home LMFAO Can this be my new pinned post

Oh, I will say one thing. The fandom is def afraid or in denial that shadowpeach, in any iteration, is toxic. In order for it not to be, they'd have to be grossly out of character, and then guess what friends? That's not shadowpeach!

But a lot of people do that and are content with that. Which, okay, but stay off my porch LMFAO

[acoraxia]

My knowledge of fyss!Kui Mulang is not the best because since the fyss version is in English and the book is extra dense with many characters with different names, it has not been easy for me. I know more about Jttw!Kui Mulang. Jttw is easier for me because there is a version in my native language. But about Kui Mulang and his wife, Kui Mulang kidnapped his wife against her will. He also does not hesitate to hurt her If she does something agaisnt him. Furthermore, the moment Kui Mulang is caught, he betrays his wife and tries to put all the blame on her, saying that she was the one who seduced him.

Many fsyy characters have different names. So I think that's why not many recognize Azure Lion. He was part of the Jie Sect but is later turned into a mount when he loses. I think lmk is not taking fsyy as a prequel to Jttw like New gods. However, I feel like it gives more depth to his character? You know, imagine fighting on the side that accepts you because the other side doesn't really like your kind (from what I understand, there may be good reasons as well as discrimination against the Yaoguai) and then you're humiliated into being the mount of an immortal. And many centuries pass, and you gain respect and connections, but they still don't see you anymore than that. He also becomes very angry when he is not invited to Xiwangmu's peach banquet. I'm not saying this to defend him, but the topic of the Yaoguai and how they are perceived is interesting.

this person is answering questions about fsyy. It's the only blog I've found, so they might be able to give you the info you want to know about fsyy!Kui Mulang. I hope it helps you a lot if you ever need it! :)

https://www.tumblr.com/ryin-silverfish

I'm sorry if I send a lot of asks to reply. I tried to send a response to my ask but apparently my reply is too long??? I'm still not very familiar with Tumblr

Checked my inbox after me and my sib discussed media and honestly it made my mood go from “aw” to “OOOH” so quickly haha

Fyss!Kui Mulang will remain a mystery for a while… we gotta accept this fate my friends. At least until I do a little digging and end up launching him on top of my faves like I did with Erlang and Red Son— AHEM anyways!

I did not know he tried to victim blame his wife.. what the HECK dude… what is wrong with you… my guy.. my dude! What the heck!

Also Yaoguai were always very interesting imo… like at some point it makes you wonder if the hate and judgement they get is justified or not. Yes there are yao that eat people or kill them and do things that aren’t great but what of the ones that are just living? The ones who fight on the side of “good”? Makes you wonder about it. (I did learn that yaoguai stands for creatures that stand outside the natural order/cannot be explained. Which is fun!) Kind of interesting how he was turned into a mount… hm. That’s.. certainly something! Especially for a sentient being capable of thought and speech as eloquent as any other immortal he comes across!

I kind of wish they’d taken fyss as an inspiration ngl.. they did show the Nezha and Ao Bing fight scene but it was obviously shown as more aggressive (in the book, Nezha just smacked him while Ao Bing was the one who launched the first attack—meant to he comedic but also horrifying moment for the Ao family) and it’s funny how they introduced Nü Wa.. because they’ll have to address which version of her it is (in some myths she is the Jade Emperor’s daughter (fyss iirc), in other’s she marries her brother—options!) —but! Anyways, this was a fun read

Definitely makes me think about Azure Lion and Kui Mulang’s characterizations… hm hm hm

[mythological-mayhem]

NEW INTRO!

Hi, my name is Shiloh, and this is my mythology blog!

Important things about me:

-First. I am a minor. I am not disclosing my age here (and please don't ask me to), but I will say that I am a teenager. I add this because this will contribute to several of my rules on this blog, but because I am also mutuals with 18+ people and I want to give them a choice if they want to follow me after learning I am under 18 or not. I'm sorry for not mentioning this before, mutuals who are reading, but I am in fact a minor. (I also ask that mutuals who do know my age to not mention it here).

-I am a demiromantic asexual, and supportive of the LGBTQIA+ community. DNI if homophobic or transphobic.

-I write. A lot. I might never mention it on my blog otherwise, so you get a fun fact about me either way :)

-I'm also an artist. True, not a very accomplished one, but I'm an artist nevertheless and yes, I will occasionally post my art on here or share it with my mutuals.

This is my blog for reblogging things, chatting with moots, and shitposts: @rainbow-mayhem

This is my blog for writing stuff: @writers-mayhem

Rules on this blog:

-No NSFW. As stated before, I am a minor and asexual. Just don't send me NSFW stuff and NSFW blogs please do not follow me, the topic of NSFW is just an uncomfortable topic for me.

-You can submit or send me an ask about any myth or mythology! I might not know all of them, but I promise you I will look into all of them, and who knows? Maybe you're the one who'll inspire me to (finally) start learning about another mythology!

-If it's not NSFW, feel free to send me asks! I love respectful asks about mythology and 100% of the time I WILL absolutely geek out over them. Have no guilt in interacting via asks, I really appreciate them!

-That being said. If you're not my mutual or someone I know personally, please don't DM me. If you're a mythology/other blog that I have interacted with/had a civilized conversation with before, you can go ahead and dm me! :D I promise it's not me trying to be cold, I'm just not very comfortable with random people sliding into my DMs.

-DNI if: Racist, homophobic, transphobic, pedophile, zoophile, ableist or if you support/condone any of these behaviors. I don't want you on my blog, please leave.

Anyway, a little about this blog: Primarily Aztec mythology. If you want a blog that posts a lot about Aztec mythology, feel free to explore mine! I have a three-year long obsession with Aztec mythology and I honestly love it and to talk about it, it's so cool.

I do also do Greek mythology, JTTW, and a little bit of Norse and Egyptian!

My primary posting type is head canons or incorrect quotes.

Stuff to expect:

-I do in fact reblog things that I believe are funny, need to be heard, or align with my own personal beliefs.

-I have amazing mutuals, so you'll certainly see a lot of reblog-chain conversations with them! They're great people and if you like my blog, go check out some of theirs.

-I will mention some role-play stuff because I am in a Tumblr rp (concerning mythology, in fact).

-I do not post consistently, and do not have a queue! That being said, I love posting on here and will try to do it frequently (but please don't pressure me to do so. I have a life outside of Tumblr and if I ever take breaks, it's because stuff is happening there).

If you want to be mutuals, just ask! 9 times out of 10, I will follow you back, unless you are a racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc (basically DNI list) or an NSFW blog. I don't mind adults following me, but unless we're mutuals, generally try to stay out of my DMs, thanks!

Wow, this was long haha. Congrats if you made it all the way, here's a cookie 🍪

Anyway back to the mythology brainrot! 😁 It's nice having you here and I hope to see you around!!

[the-monkey-ruler]

Okay so i have been trying to get info on who longnv is and what her role is jttw because i always see tags and i saw a particular post on tumblr where i was scrolling through the jttw tag and i saw her but when i went to search on the jttw character list she wasnt there so now im like "wait...what?"

So pls if its not much of a hassle can you just pls tell who she is and what her role is in the story cause i have been trying to find stuff about her but end up fruitless

I’m surprised you haven’t found much information about her… She has a Wikipedia page so if you were looking in English, she would’ve come up.

But honestly, she isn’t really referenced in Xiyouji because she doesn’t really have a role in the story besides being an assistant. She’s Guanyin's other disciple besides Muzha but since Muzha is doing all the work, and has all the lines as the go-between got GuanYin and other characters Longvu is only really mentioned in passing standing next to GuanYin in certain scenes.

As you can see she IS mentioned but she doesn't SAY anything really.

As for history, she has a whole background of lore in Buddhist mythos as she has a long history. I talked a bit about her here and here when talking about Gaunyin and who she is a bit. So simply to say she’s not really a “character” within the story as she doesn’t have any dialogue or actions, but rather she has a lot of lore surrounding her that just isn’t referenced in Xiyouji as it’s not needed for the narrative. She is still mentioned within the novel just never interacted with! So it’s kind of like the novel references her more so!

Put it simply the most common lore I see about it is that she is the granddaughter of The Dragon King and the daughter of Ao Guang, the same dragon king of the East that Wukong took his staff and armor from and the same dragon king that has his son’s, Ao Bing, spine ruled out by Nezha in his legend. Needless to say, the east dragons have a lot of people messing with them. There are more legends of her that I haven't really gone into but she def has been around for a long time in Buddhist lore.

And Longvu works under Gaunyin and works with Muzha. And I don’t know if you are aware, but Muzha is the older brother of Nezha… so she is working with the sibling of the guy that ripped out her older brother’s spine.

Which I think is hilarious personally.

Also, that would make her Bailong's cousin too!

Small Heavens.

But yeah! We don’t get to see her lot in media. I think I’ve only ever seen a depiction of her when she gets actual lines in the 1999 series where she and Muzha interact with Red Boy when Gaunyin comes to recruit him. Also in Fei Ren Zai Non Human! I haven’t read all or watch that series yet but I know she is depicted quite often there as well with Gaunyin and Muzha and Red Boy (now Shancai). Also possible in the Nezha tv series from the early 2000s? Haven’t seen that one, but I do know there is a Dragon Girl that he befriends in the series!

If anytime knows more media she is in please chime in!!

So it’s no trouble at all!! She has more lore outside Xiyouji so I would suggest looking beyond that scope!

Here are some links to help you read about her! I hope this helps!