#kfp4 theories

[infini-tree]

welp, ok trailer dropped and processed in my brain time for me to look at The Frames/talk about how i think the plot will go.

PO: Being the Dragon Warrior-- it's who I am! What do I know about being a spiritual leader? SHIFU: What is it you're hoping? [...] You were chosen to be something more than you already are.

the main throughline for the movie, anyone? i don't know, it kind of feels like a retread of the conflict of po learning to be a teacher and how to achieve that.

assuming the hope slant, it's most likely going to relate to how he'll somehow rally an ensemble of criminals to fight against the Chameleon and actually stick with doing that as opposed to leaving when it gets tough.

i'm only making that guess on account of the pangolin making a remark along the lines of "why should we help you?"

the Darkest Hour is probably all the criminals making up po's side fleeing (including zhen), which leads to his capture and the Chameleon acquiring po's qi(? unclear, more on that later). then zhen makes a big speech inspired by what po taught her and all the criminals fights again.

(also as a sidenote, man the Violence Bunnies give me kfp3-era baby panda marketing or is that just me?)

ok, now for Chameleon talk. i think she's neat! i wish they leaned even more into unique chameleon features like the eyes or exaggerated the crest even more, but that's just me.

that being said: once again, the powerset still feels really similar to kai's except instead of doing some sort of Form, she just... eats the qi(?)! i do like how they utilized the chameleon tongue at least.

(as much as i lowkey hate the "we're not so different" line as a trope and its most likely not that deep. imagine if the points of commonality she saw in po was their shared gluttony or how some feeling of inadequacy that she decided to just steal masters' abilities? idk i am spitballing.)

the Chameleon's shapeshifting is close, but not exact. you can see here that when she's tai lung, the pants are still the reds from her robes as opposed to tai lung's purples.

there's also the additional uncanny fact that the surface texture is still scales approximating the look of fur. hell, even the spikier fly-away cheek fluffs are spiky scales! GOD it looks unsettling to look at.

as for tai lung himself... i have mixed feelings on his cameo here. i don't know, i think he should have stayed dead! and if you are going to bring him back, have shifu and/or tigress actually react to him?

[lovelytayforce]

Dragons Among Us Theory!!

Alright, KFP4 trailer is out and I have a couple of theories that all point to one similarity and that is; DRAGONS! Now, we all know this is the Year of the Dragon and all that jazz but this trailer takes it to another level from beginning to end so let's start how we always do here and press play; at the very start! We start with this Gate called a Paifang which is commonly used as an entrance for shrines, it can also be used for common structures and architecture but ssshh! Now, we all know this is the Year of the Dragon and all that jazz but this trailer takes it to another level from beginning to end so let's start how we always do here and press play; at the very start! We start with this Gate called a Paifang which is commonly used as an entrance for shrines, it can also be used for common structures and architecture but ssshh!

This gate is obviously made from natural materials such as burnt paper which is common practice in said shrines during the new year to make wishes along with Wood which is a Chinese element! So, we might have hints of chi manifesting into the elements of the mortal realm into something far more mystical than we have ever seen within the series! Now, this is closely connected to Dragons, dw I didn't forget! Our first hint is Tai Lung here, aka "The Great Dragon", he's only here for this one sole reason. (People aren't gonna like hearing this but he's gonna be the last bit of energy for what is to come!) The Chameleon cannot truly transform into others perfectly, there is always an imperfection such as when she transforms into the elephant which has designs upon her head on its trunk, Tai Lung has red pants instead of purple, and Po as we've all seen is rather spiky! This all leads to ONE THING, she is a shapeshifting Dragon! And one that fits this description is Shen/Chen in Chinese mythology and makes sense of those weird aquatic like Lizards in her army that match no know species we know of. Aka they are Dragons in disguise acting as normal lizards.

The second thing is her tail here. It grows rather than switches and flips and sheds scales of different colors as she did with Tai and Po, this I believe along with the shadow that follows is her true form.

There could be a number of reasons why she wants Po's staff much less chi that aligns with the power much less essence of a Dragon because she is either a fallen dragon, an old god whose Shrine was left in the past by locals, or merely a Dragon wishing to ascend above what she is. It explains why the Director calls her more mystical than Kai, The Maker of Widows! She's an ancient being whose already tapped into chi and the nature around here along with knowing Dragon style already! And shoutout to my boy @thegreatying for telling me about Tibetan Temples cause I was confusing them with another type of Chinese temple so peep that info here!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Buddhist_architecture Honestly, this is going to be one of the best villains of this series with this concept alone, we are finally getting hints at Dragons and the door between the mortal realm and Heaven (aka the spirit realm) into the plot that continues on from what kfp3 left behind. The fact that chi is now normal and accessible makes beings like her look less special and less powerful. But gives her an opening for something even bigger than we could all expect!! So, that is my theory, that The Chameleon is just a code name for her taken form and that in reality, she is a shape-shifting Dragon and her army is also Dragons in disguise! With the themes of temples, shrines and maybe some commentary on Tourism in our future and how they affect old shrines and gods when we find it too inconvenient to visit them... Or maybe just maybe we'll get a hint at a true god-or maybe a Demi GOD YOU KNOW WHO IM TALKING ABOUT WUKONG! Anyways, that's all for now~!

[shannonallaround]

After pondering on it for several days, I have officially decided I did not like the direction of KFP4 and have banished it from my brain. It is no longer canon. KFP4? What's that? Don't know what you're talking about.

[crescentbea02]

KFP silly idea- Tigress villain arc and her being Po's greatest challenge

So, my theory is that in the next trilogy of KFP we will see Tigress having a villain arc. And tho at the same time it wouldn't make any sense due to her character development I think it would be pretty fucking cool.

So my headcanon is that Tigress's family was a cult that controlled and used the power of the Chi to do evil that were eventually banned, and its through them that Kai learns how to use Chi the way he does in the third movie (Im not going to go with the Tigress royal family trope because I think that would be too clishe). There are no Tigers in China, there could still be tigers and them not be necessairly from Tigress family. Its also kinda foreshadowed when in the orphanage everyone was terrified of Tigress.

We know that why the Pandas were haunted and led into their hiding, but I dont think they will just recycle that storyline. I think that Tigress's family was actually evil and Oogway was sent to stop them and banish/kill them. Which would actually be a pretty cool constract to the symbolism of the tigers in China.

Now, how did Tigress end up in that orpanage. Well, just like Po's mother left him in a box, maybe Tigress's parents also left her in a box somewhere. Just it wasn't to save her, but to get rid of her, and instead of being taken in by a sweet goose, she was found and then taken to the orphanage. Years later, Oogway hears rumors about a tiger in an orphanage, whom everyone was afraid. He could sense her power, so he sent Shifu to teach her and then to adopt her. Oogway thought that she would end the cycle, just like he thought Po would bring the cycle back.

When Tigress finds this, she doesn't know how to process it. Not only Po took away her destiny to become the Dragon Warrior, the power of the Chi and kung fu had also taken away from her only family and he had everything she had ever dreamed of. Unlike Po, who had been adopted by a loving father, who became the dragon warrior despite not knowing a thing of kung fu, who had become a legend by fate. She was always the one left behind.

That leads Tigress into having a villain arc, on her way to fulfil her parents' legacy and to get her own destiny, her outfit including dark and dull colors, in opposite to Po's golden robe and aura. It would also come in hand with Tai Lung redemption arc.

Po has a challenge physically (Tigress was the only one who never got defeated by Po), spiritualyl (Tigress knows how to manipulate Chi in ways that he doesn't know about) and mentally (because of their bond and friendship). It will be his greatest challenge of all the trilogies, because Tigress might not be necessairly the most powerful of them all, but she is an equal to Po and Po genuinly cannot fight her because he cares so much for her.

And lastly them both would actually represent the yin and yang. With Tigress symbolizing the darkness of the chi and Po symbolizing the light.

Well thats it its just a silly idea for a possible plot the next trilogy will have lol. That wouldn't happen in KFP4 right ahead, it would most likely happen in the last two movies.

[sweetmoonbeam17]

,

[nataszaluiz]

Theory Kung fu Panda : Why Po can't longer be a dragon warrior.

I've been thinking about this theory since Movie 4 came out, so let's get to it.

Let's ask ourselves a question. Why did Shifu make Po choose the next dragon warrior?

Shifu said in the movie 4, Oogwar chose Po as his deputy. Even Master Oogway said so himself.

Oogwar: You finally became the panda you were always meant to be.

Po: But, how'd you know I could?

Oogwar: On the first day we meet. I saw the future of Kung fu and the past. I saw the panda who could unite them both. That is why I choose you, Po. Both sides of a Yin and Yang. And my true successor.

And like all of us, we thought that Po was simply the successor to Oogway. But as it turns out in kfp 4, it was intended that Po would be the next Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace. Maybe we, the viewers and Po, misunderstood back then. But as I checked all the information. No one before kfp 4 called Oogwał by this title.

And that's why in kfp 4 Po was surprised that he had to go to the next stage. Only the question arises. Why right away. In the third part, Shifu didn't say anything to Po.

We don't know how much time has passed between kfp3 and kfp4, but we can guess that it must have been several weeks or months. I conclude this because Po's dad has reopened the shop and there are pandas living in the city. So they definitely had to build some house for the panda. So it certainly took some time.

So why did Shifu wait so long to tell Po that he would now be the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace? Why didn't he say it right away? Why did he wait so long to say that Po would be a spiritual sage from now on? Why Shifu did he tell Po to find another dragon warrior now?

Why should he find a successor so quickly? Because let's make an agreement. Choosing a successor is not an easy thing. Damn, Oogway must have spent years looking for his successor, so why did Po have to choose in one day?

And this is where theory comes in.

Po is a spirit warrior and that's why he can no longer be a dragon warrior.

In the third part of the movie, Po used the Wuxi Finger Hold on himself to take Kai with him to the spirit world. And we know that this technique kills instantly and does not work on people who are already dead. And in kfp 4 he tells us directly that this technique is deadly and dangerous. Because we see that Tai Lung is a spiritual warrior.

So the question is, if Po was also a spiritual warrior, why doesn't he shine the same as Tai Lung, Shen or Kai? Why doesn't Po shine like them? What makes him stand out from the rest?

This is where my Reply comes in. Po came out of the spirit world differently than they did. In the third part, we see Po using his staff to leave the Spirit World. So that might be the reason why he doesn't shine like the rest of the spirit warriors.

The second reason why his aura is not visible like the rest is because Po uses his Chi very often. In kfp 4 Po we see how he uses it during combat or how he opens the gate to the spirit world. There's a chance that Po used more off-screen than he did in the movie. So it's possible that this is why his aura is not as visible as the rest.

We see that Po has acquired several abilities, but he uses them unknowingly. So I'm guessing he has two visible abilities. The first with conversation with the afterlife and the ability to predict the future or something similar. The first one could be that Oogway spoke, but the second one is definitely some new ability of Po.

The question now is. When Shifu figured out that Po was a spirit warrior? Maybe he saw something strange with Po? Maybe shifu had guessed by Po's appearance or his behavior. Or perhaps he noticed how rarely he needed rest.

He must have noticed something in Po. If it were true. That Po is a spirit warrior. He is definitely unaware of it.

All right. At the end. Now let's move on to why Po chose Zhen.

Let's discuss Tai Lung first because it is the easiest.

He is dead. 💀

Okay now let's move on to Tigress. Tigress could be the next dragon warrior. But there are a few reasons why not.

#1- I suspect that Tigress no longer wants to be a dragon warrior even if she had a chance to become one.

#2 - She's a good fighter, but I think she'd have trouble shrugging off some of the Kung Fu stereotypes like Po did. A way of teaching or selecting someone to succeed you.

#3 - Po and Tigress are almost the same age.

#4- In the third part it is seen that Chi Tigress is not as strong as Po.

[artsywriter25]

Let’s talk about the Kung Fu Panda 4 Trailer 

Okay, we finally got the trailer after waiting for so many months! 

First things first, my reaction to the trailer. I thought it was decent, I didn’t react too much but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. I couldn’t stop smiling seeing Po again, I was expecting to see more but this is just a tease. There probably is more that they can’t show us just yet. I watched this trailer multiple times. I’m gonna go on and talk about the things I like and things that I didn’t like. 

=

The Pros: 

- The animation looks great as always. I was hoping they add in the hybrid animation but the one they’re using is still amazing. 

- Po is now using his jade staff to make combo moves which is awesome and I can't wait to see the creative battles. 

- I like Zhen so far and Aquafina’s voice fits her. I know people are saying her design looks weird but I think it looks fine, and I have liked Aquafina since seeing The Farewell. 

- The Chameleon looks beautiful! If you pause during her transformations she actually looks scary. DreamWorks made a frecking chameleon scary, how do they do that?!

- I like how they kept the animals at their accurate heights like it took me the fifth watch to realize how small Chameleon was compared to Tai Lung yet she took him down easily. 

-Speaking of Tai Lung, he is so back! The fact that he is on the poster could be hinting at a possible redemption arc so for those die-hard Tai Lung fans out there, I’m happy for you. 

-I’m also happy they even got Ke Huy Quan to join the cast. I grew up watching The Goonies and after seeing him in Everything Everywhere all at once, I said that he should be in a KFP film and I’m glad he is.

The Cons:

- The jokes are okay, the only one that made me laugh was Po choking on the flower petals. I hate fart jokes, I know that’s what made DreamWorks famous like Sherk but it doesn’t fit well with KFP. Hopefully that’s the only one and there are not too many gross jokes. 

- I like we’re getting new characters but I’m afraid they won’t be complex characters with arcs of their own but just there as comic relief. 

- I’m already annoyed by those crazy rabbits. 

- Tai Lung cannot catch a break. First, his chi was taken from Kai and now the Chameleon took his chi, I hope he doesn’t end up as a punching bag for the rest of the film. 

-I noticed there is a lack of a color theme, I had always theorized it would be purple but I keep seeing gold, green, and white. That’s not a good sign.

- Okay this is just my nick-pick but I was shocked to find out they got Viola Davis voicing the villain. I like her in some movies but she gives me this impression of those actresses with big egos. Honestly, her voice is nice but I need a full clip of her to get a full impression. 

- Lastly, there is no Furious Five. I saw how the fandom is freaking out about this, but I think they are in the movie, just not for long. While I’m sad we don’t see them, the reality is there really is no other purpose for them but to help Po. I still think they may show up at the end for the final battle. I don’t know what the actors are doing right now, but Seth Rogan came out with his movie this year, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, so he’s probably busy writing the sequel. As for Tigress, I won’t be surprised if she doesn’t have speaking lines because Angelia Jolie is too busy dealing with her personal issues and her divorce right now. 

=

Okay I got the pros and cons out of the way, now I want to talk about what I think may happen in KFP4. There are some things I’ve noticed in the trailer and I have too many theories and so many questions running in my head and I need to write it out. 

So Po’s Jade staff is definitely going play an important role in the story, it seem to have a connection to both the living world and the spiritual world. My guess is the Chameleon wants the staff for a higher purpose of her plan or she needs it to travel to the spirit world herself. We can see her summoning spirits over to the living world, capturing them, and literally eating their chi away. Chi is what helps the spirits stay in living world but Tai Lung’s chi was taken and we don’t know how this will affect him. He may be stuck there until he can get his chi back. 

I noticed in one shot of the trailer there are these strange boxes in the room where Tai Lung was fighting and I realized those are cages. The Chameleon is probably planning on keeping the villains as prisoners to take more chi from them. Knowing Po, he’s going to see this as wrong and wants to save the villains. I know it’s a stretch but I think it could happen. It would be so cool seeing Po, Tai Lung, Shen and Kai working together to take down the Chameleon.

But the question is what is her motive in all this? Why does she say to Po ‘we are not so different you and I’? If she is a powerful sorcerer then why does she need his staff? They better not say that she was never taken seriously enough, there’s gotta be more to it.

And there is Zhen, who I want to know the most. I’m sure they would show some flashbacks to her story and show why she became a criminal. For some reason, I keep thinking she maybe leading Po to a trap, which I hope that’s not the case, but she seems to know more than she lets on. Po didn’t know who the Chameleon was until Zhen explained to him and she knows where she lives. I hope she doesn’t end up being a backstabber because this character is supposed to be the next Dragon Warrior, it would be hard to forgive her if they went that route. 

But these are just my theories and questions that I have. There’s really nothing else to say other than despite my cons, I’m still hyped to see this film and praying to god this will be still good. They may put up another trailer later on, if it’s good enough I’ll write my reaction to it too.

But tell me what you guys think? 

[ballerinagwen]

Kung Fu Panda Series Observation/Theories: Peach Tree symbolism🍑

Hi all! I feel like the majority of the fandom-pandom for kfp is losing their s$&ts from the trailer released for the fourth film; respectively, I also agree and am currently obsessing over ANY details from the clips released! (I know what the wiki page says about the Furious 5 only having a BRIEF MOMENT but please dreamworks, just bring those beautiful babes back and don’t forgot about them!👏)

Anyway, here’s some observation points I’m noticing and then drawing possible theories, just to help ease my brain from any hurt that may be to come from the movie released next year😭

*Basically, it’s all about the Peach Tree*

FYI: I will predominantly be referencing my notes from the FILMS and not the short films/separate series since I don’t know much about those films. The ONLY one I will be referencing is from “Secrets of the Scroll” since the Peach Tree is heavily symbolized (and I live for Tigress content🐯).

……………

1st pic] Coming from the kfp4 trailer, this beautiful ass Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom is prospering for who knows how long this franchise (and turtle man’s death) occurred. Big thing to note is not only the tree itself, but the tiny tree located to the left of Po. I believe that’s the same tree from the first movie, where Shifu and Oogway would plant a new sapling during their conversation about angry boi and sh$&ting on how useless Po is to them🥲

*sidenote: from the trailer, there is a scene where Po is watching the blossoms move in the wind. This did remind me of Oogway’s passing from the first film so whether a ‘change/transition’ could occur is something to consider. Also, I don’t know if that scene takes place at the beginning, middle or end of the forth movie so hopefully more content will be released soon😊👏

2nd pic] The second picture below references this idea— furthermore, from the wiki page, Oogway replanted the peach sapling (the one where Master Master took his feelings out on the tree and a seed fell down), in order to represent how using effective teaching methods towards Po will not only help the panda learn Kung-Fu but also be able to defeat Tai Lung. Congrats then to Shifu for taking the turtle’s advice because now we are getting a fourth film (and all the separate shorts too).

Also from the 1st movie, when Oogway is meditating (before Shifu f$&n interrupts his yoga session) the Peach Tree is actively losing its petals, and then WE ARE TREATED TO THE BEAUTY AND HEARTACHE OF OOGWAY’S DEATH IN ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC CINEMATIC MASTERPIECES OF ALL TIME!!!🪦 So, tree loses petals= loss, death of something? Towards the end of kfp1, the tree starts getting its petals back= rebirth, growth, gain???

3rd pic] - From Secrets of the Scroll, before events of kfp1

Ok, so our beautiful tiger girl is given some much needed spotlight in this short; followed by some emotional damage and teenage issues (like having to fight a boar, prove your worth to your adoptive red panda father, etc…) And, there is the one scene that basically mimics Oogway’s talk with Po (except its grandpa and granddaughter.)

Tigress, as a teenager just got s$&t on by Shifu for getting the wrong group of people to fight pig man (thus Furious Five was born.) She takes some therapeutic, albeit depressive-episode moment time by Peach Tree till Oogway joins her and gives some loving advice: screw dad and prove your worth to yourself👍👍

We then get treated to a beautiful, strong independent woman and her comrades for future films! My note from this pic is that the blossoms are not gone (unlike Oogway’s deathbed scene), so this could also symbolize growth, aspiration, understanding your self-worth (like Po’s from first movie- 4th pic)

……………….

Notes about Peach and Peach Blossom symbolism in China🍑

. “Also known as “Fairy Fruit”, all of its parts are used in Chinese traditional medicine as a cure for several diseases…” ( located under PEACHES category, website, 12/29/2023, https://www.nonsolobacchette.com/post/the-hidden-meaning-of-peaches-in-chinese-art )

. Also from same article, the peach has been associated with immortality and longevity (could explain why Oogway’s lived for such a long ass time too, apart from the fact he’s also a turtle.)

. Good fortune is another symbol for the peach (considering the luck Po has got, maybe those peaches were watching after him!)

Peach blossom trees also represent longevity: they bloom in March and represents spring.

And, DA DA DA….. peach blossoms also symbolizes love!❤️ From the article, since the trees bloom in March, that’s a prime time for weddings to occur (hm, wonder what that could mean .. cough cough 🐼🐯)!!!! Could also be just general love for friends, family too.

………………..

Anyway these were just some notes and observations I saw from the trailer. Truthfully, Dreamworks may be watching the fandom from afar or completely ignoring us but I do hope that the forth film won’t destroy all the beauty and intelligence that the franchise had carried before (especially with the first two films.)

[escarlatafox]

Other miscellaneous thoughts (kfp4 spoilers)

- I enjoyed Han. He didn't get much screentime though but I loved his unhinged laughter and the way he rolled about. Wish we got to see some more of him (idk quite how it would be fit in though chchfhvj)

- I was a huge fan of kfp3 breaking the urn of whispering warriors again (hope I got the name of it correct cause I'm just trying to go by memory with that one). And. Hmm. On a pure fan service level I do love that they actually went for it AGAIN. because I'm honestly just personally a sucker for it as a Bit. Just. I'm a liiiittle bit on the fence about it, undecided about whether it's a "joke's overstayed it's welcome"/too repetitive, or whether to love that they leaned into it/brought it back again as a gag. Because on the one hand, over reliance on something like that can be lazy, BUT simultaneously it can take guts to just go for it wherein the amount of repetition becomes part of the humour of it, and you just take the risk of it being seen as lazy for the purposes of the Bit. Personally I never really expected it to get reused again but in theory i love the idea. Like, I'm SURE I've actually made a post in the past about just thinking it would be great to lean into it as a repeating gag - and then they DID bring it back again in this movie! So while I'm somewhat wary, tbh I did enjoy that. Po's whole "oh no! The urn of whispering warriors! Which I've already broken! TWICE!" was hilarious imo. The slight delay and then it actually getting broken. And then a very defeated looking Po SLIDING among the shards while there's the iconic sound effect(s) of those poor lost souls crying out???? Yes please that was so damn funny. I loved that. Like again I had this certain wariness about it but nah, that was fun. I love fun. Ultimately I appreciated that gag fhgdghggk. And the SOUND EFFECT gets me every damn time it's just sooo iconic and priceless

- it's interesting because like. Kfp3 felt somewhat less "legitimate" than the first two movies in terms of like... How "authentic" it felt to the world of Kung Fu panda as established in the first two movies. For example, the first two movies have mystical elements and whatnot, divination visions etc, but it kind of seems to operate at the periphery of an otherwise mostly grounded world, relatively speaking, meanwhile the third movie essentially brings the equivalent of magic front and centre and such and at the time it kind of felt out of place, but like, I was able to accept it, and many years have passed since then, etc. and when I talk about legitimacy I mean how effective suspension of disbelief is + whether the movie feels "canon" etc. movie 3 still felt very canon to me even though in some parts it felt slightly less so. Movie 4 is definitely reeeeeally challenging on that front, much more so than 3, but overall.... I mean it does still mostly feel canon to me which was why I mostly accepted and had fun with the movie. But some parts definitely feel uncanon and break my suspension of disbelief, so like, I'm just gonna be retconning it in my mind for my own sake. I can't accept kai still existing as canon or he and Shen bowing or Tai lung's role in this movie etc. so this movie just kind of dips in and out of canon to me. I pick and choose. I curate my own experience LOL. Also other fans have already covered this extensively and I've voiced my grievances on this before (in private though I'm P sure) but sincerely, the way the Dragon Warrior title is treated in this movie as something that can/should be and needs to be passed on to someone else is REALLY annoying and goes against the first film. So I def have beef with that. And it could have been fixed easily enough I think... If it wasn't the title itself with all its attached connotations/lore but rather just a more generalised choosing of a successor that was needed, or if at least the LORE of the first film when it comes to the title was more properly acknowledged and addressed to explain why it needs to be passed on, idk. So basically I will just be ignoring that in my opinion of canonicity because the plot still works the same without needing to bring the Dragon warrior title specifically into it, you know? There's a bunch of little things I'm just gonna be soft retconning like that tbh.

Anyway part of what made 3 jarring/feel less Legit is it didn't follow the established "tradition" of opening the movie with a more 2d/stylised sequence not taking place in direct reality (e.g. a dream) before transitioning to "irl". And of course this movie also didn't do that at all lol. So it's more easy to write off as not 1:1 to the rules of the world XD

BUT the third movie still had excellent colour theming!!!! And this fourth movie dropped the ball there and just didn't bother with any of that. Which is disappointing but points to the trend of 3 and 4 veering more and more to seemingly "noncanon" territory where it breaks the "rules", etc.

And like, I will put my hand up and say that I was never the most observant fan when it came to this franchise's dedication to colour symbolism - I'm sure I only know about it + know how important it is/has been to these films because of my participation in the fandom. It's not an aspect I'm super invested in beyond the aesthetic/coherence of it. I'm moreso invested on a meta level due to my awareness of it having been a rule of production + other fans calling attention to/caring about it. So while it doesn't make a huge difference to me on a surface level, it really sucks and goes to show that the people working on this one didn't Get these films or have the same level of care that the others had if they couldn't even be bothered to have some colour symbolism consistency like the others did. Just another reason 4 fits in way less with the other 3.

- when Tai Lung goes "well, I saw THAT coming" it was just so bad. Just very "well, that happened" and "he's right behind me isn't he" tier dialogue 😭

AND LIKE. I'm not entirely opposed to him having lines like that - it CAN work, but only if you actually give him other more substantial stuff to do first. The character needs to have serious moments to balance more comedic lines out, to "earn" them. Like I said in a previous post he needed more presence and to actually do something. God it's like. The fourth continued 3's trend of tending to more lighthearted stuff it's like it's AFRAID to be tense and serious ! But you NEED intensity and serious moments. A character like Tai Lung needs serious stuff before you can jump to more lighthearted stuff with him and idk what the movie gave us on that front just wasn't enough for me. Like I don't wanna be too harsh, I guess I like it in theory, it is fun. But it needed to be more earned and better executed than it was

[mastrrt]

Me just trying to predict things Kung Fu Panda 4

Predicting the villain:

This is just some common sense stuff but I’ll say it anyways.

For species it’ll most likely be another animal native to China. Most likely not a feline, bird or bull since it would draw parallels to prior villains.

The main enemy will probably be female, as to break the series of male villains. They’ve done it to Shrek, with fairy godmother.

Dreamworks said, during the creation of Kai, “He cant go brawler, since Tai Lung was brawler. He cant go smarter, since Shen was smarter. Where can we go? You have to go supernatural, bigger, and even more intimidating.” Just like the Averngers franchise, there’s a constant law placed where the villains must get progressively stronger the more the series progresses. Without the villain getting stronger, there’s no conflict —or at least not enough conflict to top the lmovie before it. The villain in Kung Fu Panda 4 must be at least different from the other three villains, or attains two out of the three assets that make up for prior villains. For example, the villain can be both smart and supernatural. Or be a brawler and a smarty. I think particularly for this one, the villain would need to have supreme authority and immanent or supernatural powers. While Kai worked in solidarity in terms of mind, it might be possible that the next villain might actually be villains with one superior guiding over them (the main enemy Po will fight). A regime-styled cooperation, with a leader. Each person in the group is bound to have a one on one against one of the Furious Five. This way, the group can actually do something without compromising the relevance of Po since he’s still the one who’ll defeat the main villain.

In this light, what might be the conflict?

The problem is that Po is nearly a perfect character. Oogway said it himself: he is both sides of the ying and yang. To reach such equilibrium, the soul must be stable, and Po would have been ridden of all evil (check my mirror of yin and yang theory out if you havent already pls). This means that Po would have to break pretty darn bad on the next movie. Every story has a scene where it shows a character’s breaking point. But to break a character who’s both sides of the yin and yang... well, that character would have to put through a lot of hell. That’s why I believe someone’s gonna die in the fourth movie [insert Mr. Ping], or someone’s gonna be temporarily taken away from Po [insert Tigress]. And here’s another thing: the first movie is about body, the second is about mind, and the third is about spirit. What’s left? The heart.

So... these are the core factors that make a human. Flesh is where the soul lives. Mind and heart is what makes a person. You know what heart means? Love. You what love mean? Either romance or family. Now the third movie was already a little bit about family, so does that means theres a little, you know, romance? You know. A certain Tigress that can make Po master the concept of heart. 😏 but in reality, I don’t think drreamworks will make Tigress hostage. It’s not enough catalyst for Po to break, unless they make it seem like Tigress died. And I just cant see it either... too cliche for a story so anticipated. It’ll make sense of Mr Ping would die.

It doesn’t necessarily mean someone’s gonna die though. But the internal conflict must have magnitude near beyond repair, and will damage his heart more than anything else.

What’s the settings?

They always try to change the settings. Valley of Peace. Then to Gongmen. Then to Panda Village. The valley was more a traditional chinese suburb of sorts. Gongmen was an industrial, probaby tech-savvy city. And the panda village was a playground. This one is unpredictable. They might start the movie of at the panda village instead of the valley (which is sad); they took the thousand mile bridge to Mongolia, so the panda village may border Mongolia. And that may mean they’ll travel upwards to the bordering country.

Will the movie fail?

The movie has been delayed till 2020. All three movies have above 80% in Rotten Tomatoes, which is extremely high for the website.

Shrek 3 was rated 48%, which is nearly half of the rating it earned in shrek 2 (89% —ok, not really nearly half but it’s a major dip!) Kung Fu Panda 3 was actually rated higher than KFP 2, which bodes well on the series’ consistency. Luckily (and unfortunately for dreamworks) this high rating perpetuates the pressure of making better kfp movies, to keep all the KFP movies clean And untarnished, to finish strong and not to taper at the end in quality like Shrek. They had four years to work on it. So we’re just sitting here pretty. Financially, the series is doing phenomenal.

But something else worries me. KFP 3 was waaaay to kid friendly for the series. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a childrens show. But a dark underlying plot lay deep in both 1 and 2. Heck. Kfp 1, Shifu lost a child. In kfp 2, implications of genocide. It seems kfp 3s light heartedness was a reimbursement for the darkness they placed in kfp 2. Hopefully, this big bane of appealing to the younger audience won’t negatively affect the deepness and the plot of the fourth movie. But with panda kids, with dim and sum, with mei mei, and with ling or whatever panda father Po has, I think that won’t be the case. If you compare kfp 1 and kfp 3, you could really see a huge difference in tone.

What will happen to the Furious Five:

Them failing after trying to fight the main villain without Po is to repetitive. It seems dreamworks likes it so that Po is the only one who defeats the villain, while the furious five just stands there and lets him skadoosh his way to da top. It’ll be nice, like I said, if they fought a group instead of just one villain. So that everyone has a share if villains, and Po can still take the main villain.

About Shifu and Tigress’s relationship. It’ll Also makes sense if Shifu would pass away, giving Po no choice but to accept full responsibility as the head of the Jade Palace and the teacher of the Furious Five. Or, it’ll also make kind of sense if Tigress is gone temporarily, making Shifu want to spend time with her. If kfp 4 is the last movie then their relationship would be mended. If kfp will really go up to the sixth, then theyll have to prolong the conflict because then there’s really no thread that keeps all the stories connected and make all the stories a one whole story. If they wanted the movies to essentially be a obe whole story, it would make sense if there’s a similar conflict transcending all films and wrapping at the end. With the rise of new characters, the furious will definitely have less screen time. ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️😠😠😡😞🙃

Anyways, these are just my predictions. What do you guys think would happen?

[thesoftandhardcore]

Hi @thesoftandhardcore! I got a question for you. What do you suppose KFP4's plot is? I believe that DreamWorks will take it in either of these three ways:

(1) During the movie, there'll be a lot of romance between Po and Tigress, with TiPo eventually becoming an official thing while they are off on some awesome adventure;

(2) One of the villains from the previous movies (or all of them???) will come back more powerful than before-- and that'll be Po's challenge (because I really don't think they'll be able to fit in another previously unknown villain again, honestly);

OR

(3) There'll be a SERIOUS plot twist and Oogway would be revealed as the REAL bad guy (I have a theory that Oogway trained and brainwashed Shifu and everyone else to believe he was this enlightened, noble Tortoise Master and actually is secretly the real villain of the whole franchise, much like Darth Sidious in Star Wars)

That do you think? I'd love to hear your ideas! (Oof sorry this ask is so long LOL I just was curious what you thought about it) Hope you are having a great day! 😊

Hello! I am very very sorry for responding so late. I’ve been so busy with school lately that I couldn’t find the time to post or reply to your questions, so I’m really sorry!

Anyway, to answer your question, yes, I do have a few ideas and theories about what the fourth movie might be all about.

(1) During the movie, there'll be a lot of romance between Po and Tigress, with TiPo eventually becoming an official thing while they are off on some awesome adventure;

As much as I would love to see that on the big screen (believe me, I would absolutely love that), I doubt that DreamWorks would put "a lot" or focus more on romance between Po and Tigress’ relationship. I believe this for the following reasons: 1.) The film may focus on romance rather than the actual element or concept, which belongs to the action/comedy genre. and 2.) We are all aware that not all people in the Pandom are fans or shippers of TiPo. Some may be against it, while some are neutral about it. With that being said, if the movie does focus on romance between the two, I’m afraid non-TiPo or fans of the franchise in general, might not like or enjoy the idea of the movie focusing more on romance (I apologize for overusing some of the words).

(2) One of the villains from the previous movies (or all of them???) will come back more powerful than before-- and that'll be Po's challenge (because I really don't think they'll be able to fit in another previously unknown villain again, honestly);

Before I start with this topic, I apologize in advance to the people who want the KFP villains, especially with Tai Lung, to come back or have their own "redemption arc" for the upcoming movies.

As I was saying, I’ve seen a lot of people wanting the old villains to return in the future films, especially Tai Lung. The idea of him returning is that he will have his own "redemption arc," join Po and the Five, and together they will defeat the bad guys. In my opinion, it is not a bad idea. In fact, I actually find it interesting. Although I’m afraid that the idea or possibility of them coming back is a little impossible. And as always, it’s for these reasons. 1). Tai Lung had already been sent to the Spirit Realm and had stayed/trapped there for a long time, so I think it is safe to say that he had already turned into a spirit. As for Lord Shen, um, he’s already dead? So, he is also a spirit. And as for Kai, well, he’s basically gone. and 2.) I recall Jennifer Yuh saying in one of their interviews with Allesandro that they don't want to or try to avoid reusing characters or villains from previous films. In other words, I don’t think they'd give us the same or previous villain/s we already had in the previous films because it’ll take a lot of time and effort for the writers and producers to come up with another challenge for Po, considering that he has already defeated them.

(3) There'll be a SERIOUS plot twist and Oogway would be revealed as the REAL bad guy (I have a theory that Oogway trained and brainwashed Shifu and everyone else to believe he was this enlightened, noble Tortoise Master and actually is secretly the real villain of the whole franchise, much like Darth Sidious in Star Wars)

Oh 👀

To be completely honest with you, I’ve never actually thought of that before. I’ve always seen Master Oogway as someone who is wise and would never do such things... or maybe I could be wrong lol I don’t know, I guess we’ll just have to find out when the fourth movie comes out!

I hope I answered your questions correctly or at least satisfied you with my answers 😊 I’ll probably make a separate post about my ideas or theories that I have about the fourth movie because it’s going to take a while and it’ll be too long to include in this post, so yeah.

[infini-tree]

ok, i’ll throw my guesstimate on when the first teaser for kfp4 out with a bit of an anecdote. long story short, i think it’ll come out spring, early summer at the latest. i’d say april - june, but i’m erring towards june (i’d like to be proven wrong, though)

like the third movie, its also announcing a march release for next year. one has to remember that the reason why the third movie was moved up to a january 2016 release at the time was to take advantage of chinese new years. 

it seems they’re not doing that this time. one has to wonder whether their promotional cycle was moved up as a result of that date shift or not-- this is mostly why i decided to set it as april - june

[lovelytayforce]

Send me asks about Kung Fu Panda! No need to be shy!! （ﾉ｡≧◇≦）ﾉ

Yo! I'm sure you've all seen my posts on KFP4 and my Dragon theory but guess what? I do a lot of other stuff in the fandom besides researching and talking about dragons! Ask me my opinion on chi in the medium, I got a whole interesting chi system I'm working on for a fic, doesn't that pique your interest a lil? aka I am begging to be interacted with, Hello~! (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ

[shannonallaround]

Spoilers for KFP4 but you wanna hear one of my theories back from before I got a really good look at the fox character? I wanted her to be a relative or friend of Shifu’s, or maybe even an old flame.

[infini-tree]

ok. assorted kfp4 thoughts.

i still don't think there's any reason why po can't be both oogway's successor and the dragon warrior even after watching the movie.

and here's the big fish to fry: the pacing. i know i've previously said that kfp3's pacing was rushed but kfp4 felt like it was speedrunning its own plot. by the time they got to the juniper palace i was baffled because the duo barely had a moment in the city and they were suddenly going to face the main villain?

a lot of it was left up to exposition about the characters' deal at you to try and make up for it. which made the big character twist suffer. and i do like the character twist! in theory,

so: basically zhen was initially founded/raised by thieves and criminals (and considered han her "old mentor"), and then was later raised by the chameleon after zhen showed a similar ruthlessness in her after trying to steal from her.

the underground criminals were mostly sidelined as a joke but the additional pacing issues doesn't really give you time to dwell on zhen and han's whole deal. and then suddenly you get an expository flashback later on, but there's not a lot of an emotional gutpunch to any of these reveals due to said pacing issues and han is relegated to being part of the crime comedy squad. he can do devastated dad figure! let him lean into waymond eeaao!

now for the rest of my thoughts on other minor stuff:

insert obligatory annoyance about the five being relegated to being non-speaking cameos in the credits. frankly i'm neutral about it in the grand scheme of the movie (there's bigger fish to fry as seen above), but they made me pay attention to that fact by doing that little lampshading joke in the beginning so i got a little irrationally ticked off by that line. you know i'm kind of glad they were off doing something else for this one.

li and ping were fun in this movie, don't get me wrong. but also they contributed to the weird pacing in this movie because instead of dealing with the main plot, we have to watch their sideplot of catching up to the main plot?

the staff mechanics of 'you can only use its powers if someone willingly gives you the staff'. also strange, but not in a way i can articulate. like, i guess it ties back to kfp3 and how oogway describes qi manipulation as 'giving/taking'?

chameleon's motivations re: being rejected to train in kung fu in every training hall because she was so small and feeble is... strange to me, seeing as mantis exists. who is an objectively smaller creature. maybe there's a level of her being an unreliable narrator (like how shen views that his parents never loved him), but that's not how they play that out so it just feels like a weird plot hole if you think about it too much.

surprisingly not as annoyed about po not being recognized. listen, china is a big place and news does not travel fast, i figure. i already had similar headcanons, but applied to oogway so this isn't as large of a leap of logic for me.

this is a nothingburger thought to add but: once again baffled by the concept of predation in this world. from the bunny sitting in a broth he has to stir(???) in the bar scene, to the fish living in his adopted pelican mom's mouth. its weird! i don't like thinking about how meat eaters work in this world!

[infini-tree]

with the announcement of the new kung fu panda 4 movie, i need to reclaim my title as the kfp theorymaster make theories about the villain + kfp color theory. so, as a quick refresher to the color meanings in general:

red: power

orange: while not concrete, orange is associated with shifu (according to the art of kung fu panda, "The colors Shifu wears (white, orange, and brown) are symbolic honor, energy, and dedication—a mirror of Shifu's traits.”); could be any of the aforementioned

yellow/gold: heroism

green: peace, wisdom

blue: “negative” emotion

violet: unknown, but i guess you can make a connection to the peach blossoms in the oogway ascends scene. its a pretty weak connection, imo

and now, the colors in regard to the villains:

tai lung: blue, the negative color with a bit of red. represents his emotional turmoil re: not being chosen as the dragon warrior and power

shen: heavily saturated red to represent the amount of power/violence in his actions towards the pandas. of course there is the white symbolizing death, but that’s neither here or there

kai: represents his misuse of the pandas’ wisdom as he used their lessons on qi to collect the qi of masters

now here are theories on how the other colors could go, based on what’s mentioned

orange: dark foil to shifu (could extend to five)? assuming orange is energy, based on the order of the color and traits based on the quote, its just the drive without any of the virtues associated with masters? honestly the most likely color for 4, imo

gold: dark foil to po. a hero only in it for the glory. honestly could dip into orange/tarnished rusty looking colors too. i could only see it as the final villain color if dreamworks are going to do a full 6 movie series i doubt they’d make the evil emperor trope (as gold is also associated with the emperor), but they did do that with the netflix series...

violet: an outlier, but i wanted to put this here to be consistent. maybe the mystery is the point. it’s typically associated with immortality and divinity, and even love (according to a cursory google search) but frankly this is the one i don’t know what they’d do for