#kung fu panda rhino

[comfortmie]

Those are lollipops!

[velvet-vox]

Why Po from Kung Fu Panda and N from Murder Drones are the exact same character: an analysis of Po's and N's low empathy.

Hi.

If there is one thing that unites the Murder Drones fanbase and the Kung Fu Panda fanbase is the misinterpretation of their male lead character traits.

More specifically, the two fandoms in their fan works tend to leave out or outright forget one of the most interesting aspects of their characterization:

Their low empathy

So, today, I'm going to explain to you the difference between being kind and being empathetic, why both N and Po are only the former and not the latter, what are their similarities and how said similarities makes the other more interesting, and why it's ok and totally fine for someone to have low empathy as it doesn't make you a monster by definition (well, that's the case at least for Po; sorry N, but you committed genocide).

Let's get right in.

1. Defining kindness and empathy

For starters, I'm going to define the difference between kindness and empathy, as the two terms are often used interchangeably when in reality they are nothing alike. So:

A kind person, is someone who goes out of their way to commit an act of good towards the other, usually said act gets expressed in a physical way (hugs, gifts, favours etc) or a psychological way (pep talks, encouragement, comfort words etc).

An empathetic person, is someone who understands the pain and struggles of the others on an emotional level without necessarily having experienced it before and can relate to them through said connection even if they don't necessarily act upon it.

I'm a kind person, but I'm not an empathetic one. I always go out of the way to not inconvenience the people around me, and I even go out of my way to buy expensive gifts and surprise the people I care about the most, but I don't necessarily feel anything intense when they are present in my life nor do I really relate to their struggles and losses.

I wouldn't define myself as a Po or an N since I'm more on the introverted side of the low empaths, but I can use my extensive knowledge on the matter to demonstrate these next two points:

2. Demonstrating that N has low empathy

I expect this to be easier than Po, since despite the Murder Drones fandom being younger than the KFP one, I assume that most people would believe you if you told them that N is rather unemphatic, because when you really start to think about it for more than one second, you'll realise that N doesn't really feel directly bad for the people he killed, he more so feels remorseful for his past actions and uncomfortable whenever he inconveniences the drones who are still alive through his murderous nature.

In the pilot episode, he kills an entire room full of people and almost kills Uzi as well, and when it's time to apologise? He says that he's sorry for ruining their card game and making Uzi have an awkward moment with her dad. You know... aside from this being a horror comedy show with a tinge of romance, Murder Drones doesn't really make N feel awful for the horrible atrocities he commits, instead makes N feel sorry for the down to earth annoyances he produces.

There are many other examples of his uncaring nature towards life: the death of Uzi's classmates, both by his, Doll's and V's hands, his increasing anger towards V caused more by the fact that she kept secrets rather than her attitude towards the murders, and the speed at which he reacted to Beau and Tessa.

Despite his happy go lucky attitude and gentle treatment of others, N doesn't feel the need to cope with his murders that V and Uzi have (at least on the surface). V couldn't cope with her murderous actions, so instead she created this killer psycho girl persona that enjoys the thrill of death, while Uzi had an entire mental breakdown after taking out half of his classroom and needed N to calm her down.

N's main motivation throughout the season is being useful to the company and his friends, and more often than not this goal involves him being a violent killer to everybody who threatens the wellbeing and happiness of his owners.

N's lack of empathy isn't a flaw that he can overcome like Uzi's ego and V's insecurities, but rather an innate character trait that he has to live with for the rest of his life, and that's ok; after all, the show doesn't punish him for being unable to relate to other people's deaths and traumas, but instead punishes him for being submissive and following orders unapologetically; a flaw that he shares with J.

3. Demonstrating that Po has low empathy

And now, it's time for the hardest sell. Many of you up until this point might have been thinking: "How the hell did he even think about comparing Po from Kung Fu Panda to N from Murder Drones, they are from two completely different franchises with a distinct difference in tone between the two" but trust me, once I came up with the comparison, I was unable to not see it, so I had to write this article.

Much like N, Po has a happy go lucky attitude towards his fights, and uses humour to his advantage and to the disadvantage of his enemies. But don't let his cuddly appearance fool you in the same way pandas fool people in real life and Kung Fu Panda 1 fooled audiences when it first released: behind Po's childlike wonder for martial arts (which is already a red flag, if you think about it, it's similar to Lizzie's passion for murderous women) there's a strong, unyielding warrior who was ready from day one to do the necessary things to keep the Valley of Peace safe.

Don't believe me? Then just look at the photo above; the execution of Tai Lung is definitely the first thing that comes to mind when everyone thinks of Po lacking compassion, for obvious reasons, but there are way more than that: at the beginning of the second movie when Shifu receives the letter informing him that Master Rhino was executed by Lord Shen's weapon, Po is super enthusiastic about Rhino's legendary status right up until Shifu drops the truth bomb on him and reveals that he was killed, and Po's reaction is to instinctively reiterate one of his previous statements, and then moves on from it immediately without any second thoughts. That's not normal, right?

A minor portion of KFP2's conflict is Po's inability to see how much his dad did for him, a struggle overcome only by the end of it. Po, despite loving his dad dearly, is unable to personally relate to all of the things that he did for him, so he puts him off until he can find the answers that he seeks.

Side note: this is what makes their reunion at the end of the movie so impactful for me, I also tend to emotionally neglect people by accident, and when I realise it I go out of my way to make it up to them, like Po who comes back with a lot of ingredients that his dad doesn't need just to let him know that he cares even if he doesn't show it in a normal manner.

The only time in the trilogy where Po's lack of empathy becomes a noticeable problem for him, is in Kung Fu Panda 3, where, after his biological dad tells him that he lied to him in order to make him come to the village, Po, who clearly can't relate to his struggle and barely knew him for a day, immediately rejects him, going as far as to say that he lost him.

Other minor examples are his treatment of the Furious Five, especially the scene in KFP1 where he enters Crane's room and doesn't immediately realise the problem.

4. And now, with that out of the way, it's time to confront the two and explain why their similarities make the other more interesting

When comparing the two, the thing that comes to mind immediately is that Po has a lot less emotional baggage than N, and while that doesn't mean that Po doesn't have trauma (insert Po finds the truth from John Powell and Hans Zimmer), it means that Po compared to N has lived a pretty stable life; while N instead has never been fully safe from harm since he is a robot.

Po feels like a version of N that was not as scarred from tragedy and backstabbed as the other; Po, at least in the movies, doesn't have someone who takes advantage of his kind nature to trick him into committing something bad, while N instead suffers consistently from other people abusing his kindness and trusting nature and more often than not ends up almost dead.

While Po throughout the trilogy struggles to find who he is, who he was, and who he's meant to be, N throughout the show struggles with a worse version of that same concept by lacking self worth, which culminates in his blind thrust.

Po, thanks to his dad, has an internalised moral compass that helps him decide on his own what is right and what is wrong despite lacking empathy, while N never had anybody to explain morality to him, aside from his programming and maybe Tessa, so instead he just goes along with what anybody tells him to do, since he can't directly relate to the pain of others.

That's why comparing the two is so fascinating to me: in many ways, Po and N are each other's foil, because they are so similar in terms of personality and fandom portrayal; they are both genuinely kind individuals, but while one of them had the care and support he needed to become his best self, the other still struggles to find an healthy support system aside from Uzi.

5. Low empathy doesn't make you a monster

A lot of fans tend to dumb down their characters to just kind, sweet and innocent, despite the fact that in the actual canon works they have willingly and intentionally killed people; the general terror, it seems, is the idea that just because they have committed crimes before and they lack the societal traits that make a person traditionally good, then suddenly they are horrible people and you are glorifying violence.

But that's not the case; a lot of the mental conditions stigmatized by society, like sadism, sociopathy, BPD, are just that: conditions. They don't indicate that a person is inherently more good than the other, nor do they indicate that someone is more at risk of becoming evil than the other.

It's who you choose to be.

I hope this post gave both fandoms the insight they needed to write about these two characters properly.

You don't need to be afraid of not having the same personality type as most other individuals, we are all different people yet we all deserve to live in this world equally.

Don't you ever forget.

[shadowjinx626]

I'll be honest, when I first saw Shen in this shot as a kid from the trailer, I thought he was a lady assassin henchwoman or something and that the rhino character he landed in front of was the main villain.

This was before I knew (or remembered) that only male peacocks get color/fancy feathers.

[loudn0isesart]

Sorry not Rhino taking me 8 billion hours anyway

MY SON AND HIS DAD and HIS homie tweaking over it

(I have like an 8 thousand word lore doc about this stupid franchise I cant)

[pinkprincessert]

INKTOBER 2024 // RHINOCEROS

Flying Rhino from Kung Fu Panda, shout out to one of the most brutal deaths in the Kung Fu Panda trilogy

AAAHHHFF I MESSED UP ON HIS SNOUT AND ROBES I'M SO SAD

[mermazing-art]

The real name of the Furious Five 

After the Kung Fu Panda 4 movie I started thinking about what Zhen's first conversations with the Furious Five would be like. I imagined her nervous about making a good impression but fitting quite well with her group dynamic given her mischievous attitude and enjoying their adventures with her, establishing a relationship of trust. Which led me to a thought "Would she, wanting to know them more, ask them what their real names are?"

This theory has been circulating in the fandom for years since it is said that their names actually refer to their fighting styles or their species (as well as Master Ox, Crocodile or Rhino) since those who retain their own name within this discipline are those who have a superior role such as Oogway, Shifu or Po and those who do not have a title such as Zhen or Tai Lung.

Well, I decided to look for a suitable name for each one, one that fit their physique or personality, that was easy to remember and that would distinguish one another, let's go!

Mantis: Xun Yu ( fast jade )

With Mantis I was clear that I didn't want to look for anything that had to do with his size but I did want to highlight his most powerful abilities such as his speed.  That's where his first name, Xun, comes from.  His middle name, Yu (Jade), is because of his green color although this can also mean ''insect'' depending on the kanji with which it is written.  My idea is that Mantis calls himself ''the green lightning'' referring to his real name.

Crane: Zimo ( refined ink )

At first I wanted his name to be related to the sky or the air due to his avian species or his techniques, but it made me think that one of the things that catches my attention about this character is his interest in Chinese calligraphy.  Therefore, I decided to name him Zimo (ink or writing) to reflect his beloved hobby in his name.

Monkey: Wong Sang ( yellow mulberry )

For Monkey, I researched his voice actor, the one and only Jackie Chan, born Chan Kong-Sang. I wanted to take it as a reference by changing the name Kong since it is the name of the Monkey's brother to Wong (yellow), relating it to the color of his fur. I wanted to make a reference to his comic side but I couldn't find a suitable name for the guidelines I had assigned to it.

Viper: Jia Ling ( beautiful tinkle )

As with Monkey, I researched on her voice actress, Lucy Liu, whose full name is Lucy Alexis Liu Yu Ling. I wanted to reflect her charming and sweet personality, so I took the name Ling (tinkerbell) as a reference of the hiss' snake she produces, as well as her happy attitude.  But her first name would be Jia to emphasize the beauty of this character.

Tigress: Xia ( sunrise )

For her, I thought I would delve deeper into her story and her development as a character in order to give her the appropriate name.  This is her story:

When Tigress lived in the orphanage, she received the name Xian ("who lives in seclusion") from the other children perpetuating their contempt and fear of her. When Shifu finally decided to adopt her, after He heard that name many times, almost always accompanied by the word "monster", he asked her what new name she would like. She simply accepted Tigress because she didn't believe she could deserve a name. Shifu pondered and decided to call him Xia. Tigress at first didn't like this idea because it sounded similar to the previous one, but Shifu explained his choice to her. Both names, although similar, did not have the same meaning because now she would no longer be in the darkness, secluded and alone, but rather she had the opportunity for a new life, a path marked by the light that emanated from her, a new sunrise.

So yes, Zhen would ask the furious five their names, giving the situation that Po would find out right then and there about this. Everyone except Tigress would answer this question since for her it is still a very personal matter related to her past and Shifu and she still doesn't feel comfortable sharing it with everyone. Could Tigress talk to a certain panda about this?

[starredforlife]

ok top five scenes from the kung fu panda universe (any of the movies, shorts, shows, etc). could be fight scenes, character moments, etc etc so on and so forth

FERN THIS IS SO HARD. FOR ME. UHM !!!!

ESCAPE FROM GONGMEN TOWER please watch it right now please please it's such an underrated scene musically and visually. this is the scene where tigress catches a flaming arrow and that's the exact moment i became a homosexual. vic history. it's also the scene where we see her chops as a leader of the five and the way she's fit into this role to balance out Po so well. and also all her potential as who she could've been, if she'd been chosen to be the dragon warrior herself. but she's not.

MUSICIAN'S VILLAGE I LOVE this scene the way it introduces, to the audience, that the score is going to play a part in the fight scenes of this movie is absolutely magnificent. and the way we get reintroduced to the furious five's + po's fighting style, and it reminds us immediately that they are formidable--and then sets up the inciting incident of the plot with so much mystery (and we see the 2d animation style again too, which has always represented po's inner subconscious. WHY DIDN'T THEY DO THAT FOR THE FOURTH MOVIE. whatever)

i would say the bridge fight (kfp1) and i adore that scene but i have to say, i really love the performances, the ambience, the color boards, the sound effects, and the emotional impact of shifu and tai lung's fight in the 3rd act more. i love when kfp actually invested time in its non-main protag characters. tai lung was an absolutely fascinating villain and this scene just rounds out his character so well

The entirety of the secrets of the scroll short film oh my god i love that one so much. teenage tigress. my baby girl.

FUCK okay and then the fireworks factory (2nd movie) where Po confronts Shen about his past. And he gets shot with a cannon and Tigress doesn't get to him in time. breaks my heart every time. i'm going to include the scene where Tigress and Po fight right before that in the jail too bc the musical score called "Fireworks Factory" starts with THEIR HUG. AND IT ENDS WITH HER RUNNING TO CATCH HIM. AND FAILING. MY BAKA LIFE !!!!! i don't even ship them anymore like i did when i was 14 i mostly just love tigress but their platonic relationship is v important to me. i have to include their hug bc that did irreparable damage to me as a tween. sorry the quality of the first vid is so ass. their relationship in the entire 2nd movie is so good i could write a whole analysis on it probably. it's paining me physically to not include their earlier boat scene talk.

this is also the scene where tigress snarls at the gorilla and that changed my brain chemistry forever.

i love the entire second movie this is so hard for me AUGHHHGHGH okay quick honorary mention: i also love the scene where we see shen fight the three masters (rhino, croc, ox). that quick fight scene is SO well executed. the dialogue and the performances are incredible. i used to have every line of dialogue of this movie memorized and especially loved reciting this scene (skip to 1:10)

and then if i had to pick a moment from the third one it's the one where oogway's statue gets wrecked at the jade palace. it lands emotionally very well for a scene that could have easily been mishandled too comedically or too quickly. like it still gives me chills. and i'm not even gonna touch on the character animation/acting of tigress and shifu here bc GOD. kai's theme does rock also!!! AND i LOVE the colors in this movie SO MUCH holy fuck

and then a minor detail from the first one is i love how the characters act with each other, namely the five and shifu. they clearly have a history and/or comradery with each other. shifu undoing the nerve damage tai lung did in a way specific to each of his students stands out to me in particular.

1 and 2 are masterpieces to me and i have my Things about the 3rd one but overall, a beautiful trilogy. i wish the 4th one didn't exist im killing it with my bare hands. vic hate movie? vic murder it. 5th rule of the streets.

[cbs-scorpion-coffee-shop]

The most interesting thing is that Tai Lung was really..... not evil.

Not in the sense that his actions were justified or not, but he didn't do things that were that bad.

Tigress said he laid waste to the valley but we see no evidence.

Only his marital arts prowess is shown but when he fights the rhinos he's never brutal and is just trying to get out.

Kung Fu Panda is all about utilizing your natural abilities but Tai Lung doesn't use his claws. He doesn't want to hurt anyone.

The five try to kill him by dropping him off a bridge and he sends them back basically unharmed. Shifu says it's to plant fear in their hearts but I think he was just being merciful.

All we see is just Shifu hyping Tai Lung up as this monster and saying he'll destroy everyone and everything but we really never see him do such a thing.

He comes to the Jade palace and says "I've come home, master." and Shifu says no and says it's gonna be a fight.

I bet if the villagers didn't evacuate, they still wouldn't have gotten hurt.

He also didn't use his claws against Po, even when he found out the scroll is empty and was in shock, he only went for the pressure points.

In the movie, Tai Lung learns and uses a move that neutralises an opponent without hurting them but Po just learns and uses the animation equivalent of a fucking nuke.

It's not even the first time he unnecessarily kills an opponent. Kai was beaten as soon as he got the dragon chi form but he still gave him all the chi knowing it would kill him.

Wait, where am I going with this?

[deathisararemercy]

Hey so i was wondering if you could do a p2 to the kung fu panda au? Maybe with the second movie as the main recolved arc? If not thats fine i just really liked it lol ^^

Puss in Boots x Kung Fu Panda AU Part 2

Death x Reader

A/N: Howdy anon! I had to brush up on KFP2 for this one, but I'm glad to continue this little AU! Though I did explore Death's relationship with the reader in the original post, I mainly did that with anticipating a part two. So for the sake of having a nice narrative, at the start of this little post, the reader and Death are just acquaintances. Thank you for sending in this request!

You are living your best life as the Dragon Warrior. You're defending the valley, have five awesome new best friends, have one very cool kung fu master as your teacher (who was going to teach you all about inner peace!), and also your parent is still running the best noodle shop in the valley.

Also there's that one wolf guy: Death.

Sometimes he shows up when you're defending the valley, sometimes he doesn't. But whenever you see him, you're both glad to see each other. At least, you think he's glad to see you. Kind of hard to tell since you usually see him wearing his hood.

When you and the Five are sent to stop a gang of bandits, you're reminded that not all wolves are nice.

And you have a flashback of another panda, just like you.

Death appears (again). Normally, you'd be startled by his presence, but you're still reeling from the memory. He's Death, but he can't read minds, so you brush him off and gather the gang to head back home.

Sidenote: Yes, Death was there when your biological parent died. Yes, he could (and would) tell you more about them if you asked. But he hasn't put together the dots that you're remembering your past.

You ask your parent about your past, and now you're a bit shaken, having learned you're adopted and still having questions your parent can't give you answers to, but WHOOPSIES time for a quest.

(*Shrek the Musical Fiona voice*: Skip ahead, skip ahead, skip ahead-)

When you're out sitting on the boat to Gongmen City, you hear familiar whistling. It's Death. Initially, you freak out because now you're wondering if someone is going to die. But he clarifies that no one is dying. Yet. He confesses that he's been breaking a few rules recently, but he wants to check on you because you seem...troubled.

You talk about your nightmare.

For a minute, you're worried you've wasted his time. He's frowning and looking ahead on the river, thoughtful. "Sorry, that was a lot. I should let you get back to work doing your whole Death thing. I just...I don't really know where I belong. And it's not a great feeling. What did I do...for my parents to leave me?"

And the wolf stands up and shakes his head, quietly swearing under his breath. The things he does for love. "Mind if I tell you something?" You nod, curious. "I was there. When your parent left you in that crate." "Oh. Wait...does that mean..." "That doesn't matter right now." "Of course it matters! They could be-"' He grabs your shoulder. "Listen. They loved you very much. Both of your parents. They did what they needed to out of their love for you." "But why? And what happened to them?"

He is conveniently interrupted by the sight of Gongmen City and the Five waking up from sleep. He vanishes into the night.

You and the Five sneak into the city and see all the wolves. You're getting really sick of these guys. You try to get Rhino and Croc out, they can't leave because of the weapon, you run into the wolf boss again and you're all caught.

(Why can't these guys be more like Death? you think to yourself as you're climbing the many....many stairs in Shen's palace.)

And speak of the devil, you spot him in the shadows when you meet Shen for the first time. He looks more that displeased, paws firmly gripping his sickle handles. But he can't interfere in anything can he? Not after doing so much for you recently. You can't help but wonder if you're going to die right then and there in front of the canon. But Mantis saves you all and there goes the canon. Boom!

You try to get to Shen but you have another flashback. Shen escapes, and Death interferes again to get you and the Five out of the tower. You guys were having too many near death experiences for his taste. You all regroup together.

Once again, you are having an identity crisis, and Tigris tells you to stay behind, telling Death to keep an eye on you to make sure you don't do anything that'll get you killed.

Luckily for you, that's not in his job description.

"I don't take orders from anyone. Especially mortals." he sighs. The wolf nudges you with a wink. "Alright then, Dragon Warrior. Go. I won't tell."

Honestly, I think if I were going to give Death an arc this 'x reader' ver of KFP2, it would be the conflict between his duty to let the everything pan out and not interfere before he needs to take souls to the spirit world, and his own desire to engage in mortal life (ie. protect you) and talk to them and learn more about them (ie. you). He's already interfered so many times, and he can tell the cosmic balance was getting a little bit out of sorts. But...

Death decides to stay back during the fight, lurking in the shadows and doing his job properly. But he is shocked when Shen tells you that your parents didn't love you. And he loses it when you nearly die again to Shen.

He carries you out of the river and looks around desperately for help. He's Death. Death can't be afraid of anything or of anyone. Death shouldn't feel fear. But right now...he's terrified. He knows everyone dies at some point. It was inevitable. But was uncertain was whether or not him being there could actually lead to your death. If you died, would it have been because he interfered and got too close?

He follows the river away from Shen and the Five, and he makes it to the Soothsayer. The Soothsayer is vaguely aware that Death is someone from beyond the mortal world, but he rests you at her feet and tells her to help you.

When you recover, it takes both of them talking to you in order for you to recover your memories and achieve inner peace. When the Soothsayer tells you that your present actions define who you are, something resonates with Death.

He joins you, the Five, and the Masters in the final fight in Gongmen. Cosmic law be damned, Death says no to weapons of mass destruction. He's going to let his actions define him and how he approaches his relationships.

Yeah, no. Seeing you make the water droplet technique your own made him fall even harder for you.

And once again, I have a link to swanpit's art because 1. This art is hilarious and beautiful and 2. I think seeing Shen and Death interact like this would be lovely and fits this fic.

But yes. Our Dragon Warrior achieves inner peace and Death is becoming more and more of his own person aside from literally being Death.

Also: on the trip back to the valley, Death tags along. And he may or may not try to indirectly ask you out to dinner. You say "Sure! Let's head to my parent's place!" and his tail is thumping on the boat's deck, causing it to tip a little. Needless to say, he's excited.

Changing timeline things from the first post so that they now occur after KFP2:

At this point, he starts showing up more frequently, during and outside of battles, and he seems more relaxed around you. And you come to learn that his presence doesn't always mean someone's going to die. He just wants to visit. (And after so long observing how people live and die, he has a chance to try living for himself.)

He starts dragging you away from training to get a meal together in town or to go on a nice walk in the mountains.

When Shifu complains, Death shrugs. "Alright then." He draws his weapons, snapping the sickles together and forming his staff. "Let's continue the Dragon Warrior's training then."

Plenty of sparring practice and playful banter between the two of you. It's so much fun for the both of you, and you start tag-teaming during battles. He joins you and the Five in your fights, always sure to use just a fraction of his strength as to not kill everyone in his path. But he reaps souls if need be.

And after all of this, in a shocking turn of events, you are the one to confess your love to Death.

And after all of this, he can confidently reciprocate that love.

[daphnethebanjolover]

Thoughts on Kung Fu Panda 4 (spoilers ahead)

TAI LUNG IS BACK!

JK no he's not.

I can't believe Kung Fu Panda stole a villain idea from TUFF Puppy.

Po should have totally picked that cosplayer at the beginning.

The animation in these movies is so good. They've really come a long way since the first movie. The 2D bit during Po's vision is giving Bad Guys vibes.

I have not seen the third movie, so I don't entirely know what Li's deal is, but I was hoping there'd be more gay subtext considering the fact that the main character has two dads now.

I also wanna know more about this Kai dude. He looks cool. Maybe I should see the third movie.

That was definitely a Chinese remix of Crazy Train playing during the chase scene.

The thieves misinterpreting the good guys' proverbs as excuses to commit more crime but still help them out=top-tier writing.

Get those bunny kids some therapy.

DOUBLE JK TAI LUNG REALLY IS BACK!

I find it hilarious that Dreamworks brought Tai Lung back from the dead just to sass Po.

And other delicious callbacks such as Lord Shen, General Kai, and TEMUTAI, KING OF THE QIDON!

I don't think they'd ever explicitly refer to the Nickelodeon TV series, but I definitely saw a rhino in that crowd who looked like Temutai.

Kung Fu Panda 5 is gonna be real different if we're going to have a new Dragon Warrior now.

Kinda lame that the Furious Five don't appear until the credits. They're supposed to be the icons.

Not Jack Black doing better than Britney Spears at her own song.

Overall, a solid 8/10. Whatever your faves have done, TUFF Puppy has done it better.

[blueballsraccoon]

Puppetmaster Oogway Theory

Ok so, I've been hyperfixating on Kung Fu Panda some more. Let's talk about Oogway.

Oogway is not necessarily a good person. He was a famous warlord alongside Kai, and warlords don't exactly sit around drinking tea all day.

The Oogway we see in the movies has some sort of destiny power, an ability to see the future to some degree, and uses this to achieve his goals. However, he's also very anti-intervention. He's the most powerful martial artist in the world but he sits in his palace when Tai Lung is fucking up the village five minutes away, and he did nothing to help the pandas when they were being exterminated even though they saved his life.

What IS Oogway willing to use his abilities for? Maybe to fix the biggest mistake of his life. His brother-in-arms Kai, who clearly loved him (you don't carry someone alone across mountains to save their life if you don't love them to some degree). Oogway was unable to redeem Kai, and eventually had to kill him.

Oogway is clearly sensitive to powerful warriors and major events. What if Oogway KNOWS that Kai is coming back, and that he won't be able to stop him? He feels responsible for this and he wants to set up a hero who can defeat Kai and fix Oogway's mistakes.

And he is willing to sacrifice any number of lives to get it.

Poor Tai Lung. He literally didn't know any other life but the dojo. He's been trained from birth for nothing except being the dragon warrior. He has no friends, nothing outside of Shifu and martial arts, he's breaking his bones and suffering for his dad's approval. He's living in the same building as Oogway, who knows what the dragon scroll really is, and can see this kid through his literal entire life.

Then Oogway does literally nothing until he denies this kid the scroll and sets him off to go insane and become evil. After which Oogway effortlessly knocks him out and locks him in a monstrously heinous prison for 20 years to be abused by rhinos. Why? He could have intervened WAY before this!

The answer is that Oogway needed Tai Lung to become this, to set up Po. Tai Lung can't beat Kai, we know that for a fact because Tai Lung loses to Kai in the spirit realm off screen.

ONLY Po can beat Kai, and Po reaching his true heights requires Tai Lung as a sacrifice. Oogway let this innocent little orphan kid suffer his entire life with no happiness to set up Po, to fix Oogway's mistake.

So, if Oogway is willing to do that, what else exactly would he be willing to do for his long-term goals?

Take a young snow leopard from his family, perhaps?

Or maybe something worse?

How exactly did Lord Shen know where the hidden village of the pandas was, to try and kill Po's family and set Po off on the life path that would lead him to Oogway? Who do we know in canon who knows the location of the hidden village, perhaps because his life was saved there once?

Someone maybe who has been working on a plan for hundreds of years to finish what he started.

[comfortmie]

Rhino and a mild snow

[velvet-vox]

The horrifying humanity of Lord Shen

One of the less talked about things that help Lord Shen to be the fascinating and complex antagonist that he is are his facial expressions:

Anytime throughout the movie that Shen shows his face, we are met with an extremely detailed and eye-catching emotion, accentuated by the movie actively refusing to let us see the rest of Shen's design clearly; when you think about it, Shen is very overly designed, with the iron talons, the robe adornments, and his massive tail, yet the one thing that we are constantly paying attention to is his face.

His face is also fairly detailed, mind you, but is not the only part of his body to be like this, yet most of the time, the camera focuses only on that aspect of his appearance, and when Shen is covered in shadow, which happens a lot, the only thing that we can pay attention to is his red eyes, engulfing the rest of his body.

Shen's facial expressions do a really great job at communicating to the audience so much extra depth about his character: they give us a glimpse of his psychology and make us understand the fundamental flaws that define Shen as a person.

His expressiveness is especially noticeable when compared to the other three main villains;

Tai Lung barely emotes, except to show his anger; as a matter of fact, what I've just said is a lie, he actually has a lot of different facial expressions, especially after his escape from jail, but the thing is that we are never meant to focus on them: Tai Lung's martial prowess is the main focus of his character, so every scene he's in capitalises on it, his emotional state comes second, which helps those moments when he's actually super emotive (the fight with Tigress, Shifu's apology, his mental breakdown at the end of the movie) to hit that much harder.

The Chameleon makes a lot of different facial expressions but they don't communicate any more depth about her character; it's hard to say at this point, since I've only seen Kung Fu Panda 4 once, but if I were to take a guess, the intro sequence of the movie were The Chameleon pretends to be Tai Lung is the most depth her character ever gets in the story: she is a massive fangirl.

I'll probably have to rewatch her sequences a couple more times to make sure I'm not getting anything wrong, but as of right now, I am going to take a wild assumption and say that The Chameleon prefers her trasformations over her real self because she doesn't like herself for who she is. This is mostly unrelated to our current discussion, but since an analysis of The Chameleon is extremely far away, I might as well mention this observation now.

Kai's facial expressions give us a lot of insight into his mind, but not as much into his psychology like Shen's face does: in a way, Kai is the most emotive of the Kung Fu Panda villains, since, as we're going to see very soon, Shen keeps a lot of his emotional turmoil for himself, he doesn't want other people to understand what is going on in his mind and how actually scared of everything he is; Tai Lung also practices self-restraint but for different reasons, and The Chameleon is still yet to be fully understood by myself, but Kai is always sincere about his emotional state, he's angry when he's angry, flattered when he's flattered, and he's scared when he's scared. This doesn't mean that Kai doesn't have anymore depth that can be extrapolated from a contradiction between what he says/does and what his face says/does, it just means that Kai is someone who's very clear about his emotions, probably because he lacks the childhood trauma that defies Shen and Tai, and also because he's already dead.

Kai's inner thought process is that of a raging bull: clear as day. He doesn't have any emotional vulnerability to hide because he doesn't feel like anything can hurt him anymore, so he doesn't bother with keeping a facade since he's not afraid of anything.

Speaking of emotional state, it's time we take a look at this schizophrenic turkey's mental health and how the expressions that he makes leak out the true reason behind his seemingly unending hatred of Po.

You may now be thinking "But isn't Lord Shen's hatred of Po kinda obvious? He hates him, because he perceives him as a threat to his plans, and because he's evil and all that jazz" and while you are partially correct for that, I want to expand upon that obvious notion, and reveal why every time Shen interacts with Po he seemingly treats him like his life long arch nemesis:

You see, Lord Shen isn't just simply afraid of Po....

He's fricking paranoid of him.

Do you remember the whole training montage where Po and the Furious Five are travelling through the country to reach Gongmin City while Shen is getting ready to start the invasion?

It's a pretty cool sequence and all, especially from the perspective of the six..... but why is Lord Shen acting like that?

In KFP3, where we get a similar scene with Kai, it makes perfect sense from both the hero and the villain point of view: Kai, at this point, has been established as a massive threat to Po, so Po is keenly aware of the danger that he poses and is training like hell in order to defeat him; while Kai, who has now almost managed to destroy everything that Oogway has created, is impatient of taking out the last remaining pieces of Oogway's legacy, showcased by the angry way in which he punches the obstacles in his path to the village.

But here, while Po is simply preparing himself to fight the next big threat, Shen is going the extra mile of refining his combat prowess for an invasion that is going to be executed through the usage of gunpowder.

... A bit excessive, don't you think? This doesn't really mean much right now, but let's keep this in mind for later.

After defeating the Council of the Masters and dethroning the throne, Shen immediately asks the Soothsayer to tell him his future, but not before ensuring that his weapon is in the right position for him to continue his monologue.

Keep in mind: these two probably haven't met in 30 years, and while the true extent of their relationship is up to the fans head canons, it's pretty easy to assume that these two were probably closer at a certain point in their lives; therefore, if Shen was so eager to know his destiny to the point of not even wanting to gloat at the old goat, he must have been motivated by either one of these reasons:

A; He wanted to get this over quickly so that he could focus on something else, learning about his future and then finally getting rid of the Soothsayer;

B; Shen's brain is entirely concerned with his plans of world dominance, plans that would greatly benefit from the Soothsayer's ability of predicting the future to be completely foolproof.

C; He has been thinking of nothing else for the past 30 years.

While A is quickly disproved by a later scene where Shen let's go of the goat, B is most likely also not the answer, as despite it being the most logical course of action for the young Lord, the same scene that disproves A also denies B: why would Shen let go of his greatest source of intel? Just because he needed a way to make peace with the past? It's still possible that the thought of using the Soothsayer's magical abilities may have crossed Shen's mind, but I doubt it ever was his main concern.

No, Shen immediately started going after the answers that he sought for one and one reason only: it's been tormenting him for decades.

The way Lord Shen rehashes his monologue with his sword before meeting Po is not that of a cold, calculating mastermind making sure everything goes according to plans; it's the way a schizophrenic freak would try his hardest to keep everything under control.

Shen is in constant need of wanting everything to be how he has envisioned it, like that cannon from earlier, because otherwise he starts to crack down under the pressure.

His nervousness becomes even more apparent in the first segment of his developmental footage; even if all of these are cut scenes that were never intended to be in the movie, they reinforce the idea that the writers always intended to portray Shen as anxious in this scene.

And once Lord Shen is finally about to meet Po, he indeed starts to crack down under the pressure; Shen has feared that this day might arrive his entire life, fought so hard for this moment to not come true, and now that it's finally here, he's absolutely terrified.

Notice how Lord Shen immediately reaches for his feather-knife once he hears the big bad fat panda coming closer: even if the whole scene is played for comedic effect, you can't deny the fact that Shen is truly panicking here, the very next shot of his face right before the meeting makes you assume that Shen thinks that he's going to die.

And I believe this exact fear of death, more than anything else, is what drove Shen to commit genocide towards the Pandas, it's the true reason behind any of his actions, made worse by all of the other issues Shen has:

Lord Shen suffers from Thanatophobia.

Thanatophobia is an intense fear of death or the dying process. Another name for this condition is “death anxiety.” Those suffering from this mental health disorder might be anxious about their own death or the death of someone they care about. Psychotherapy can help most people overcome this disorder, but as you can very well imagine, there weren't many therapists in ancient China, so I doubt Shen had any concrete way of overcoming this struggle, especially in his current household, who most likely put high societal pressure on his dilapidated mind.

Here's a link to a site that better talks about this stuff. Of course, if you want to truly verify the validity of my source, I encourage you to seek out a professional, and please don't use what I tell you as proof for any real life debate.

I personally believe that diagnosing Lord Shen with Thanatophobia is the best way to put the actions of his character into perspective; the visceral way in which Shen talks to Po doesn't make a lot of sense if Shen only sees Po as a threat; no, Po is a constant nightmare looming inside his mind, and has been driving him insane for years, so now Shen wants to even the favour with the panda by slowly breaking his mind apart before he finally manages to kill him.

For Po, his conflict with Shen wasn't personal until he learned of his past, but for Shen, it was personal right from the moment he overheard the prophecy.

The complete and utter alienation of Tai Lung

[shadowjinx626]

A messy list of Oogway's past headcannons: Part 3

Part 1, Part 2

Secret of the Masters to present:

Kung fu has been taught for a good while, to a point where almost everyone practice kung fu. Some people started to used kung fu for their own personal gain. Oogway at this time and age start to travel across China letting the universe guide to where ever he needs to go.

Villains like the Wu Sisters start to create a name for themselves and causing trouble in China. Oogway got involve with taking the sisters down. The sisters were then separated into three prisons.

A few years later he met young Master Rhino, Ox, and Croc in Secret of the Masters.

Oogway met a young red panda named Shifu as a student from a kung fu training academy. Took Shifu in as his student in the Jade Palace. Due to a vision of seeing Shifu training the Dragon Warrior.

When Master Shifu was ready to take care of the palace by himself, Oogway went back to traveling across China.

I don't think Tai Lung ever had that much interaction with Oogway. Since his only issues with Oogway was that he didn't choose Tai Lung to be the Dragon Scroll. So I'm going to assume that their relationship is very distant. Like you see a family member once a year distant.

While Oogway was traveling, Shifu adopted a snow leopard cub. Oogway would see this only when he returns to the Jade Palace, and was told that Shifu was training him to be the Dragon Warrior.

At first glance Oogway didn't see the Chi of the Dragon Warrior, but Shifu suggested that it might be because the boy just wasn't ready yet. Oogway was convince that this might be the case and went back to his travels.

When Oogway returned while Tai Lung was at his prime, he sees that the boy grown up very different than when he was a cub, but there was no Dragon Warrior Chi there. Instead he saw that a darkness had grown inside of him.

Oogway must tell Shifu that Tai Lung wasn't the Dragon Warrior, even though the aftermath might be unpleasant. Believing it was better to tell them soon than let the darkness grow further in Tai Lung.

Oogway was telling Shifu why Tai Lung wasn't the Dragon Warrior when a messenger told the masters that Tai Lung was rampaging in the valley and was heading for the Jade Palace moments before Tai Lung came in to take the Dragon Scroll by force.

Oogway used a move that would help immobilize Tai Lung for a good while. He took Tai Lung to Chorh-Gom Prison while Shifu handle the mess in the Valley of Peace.

Oogway tried to talking to Tai Lung into sense in order to give the man one last chance of redemption before being locked up in prison. Tai Lung refuse to see what he had done was wrong and claim that it was his destiny to be the Dragon Warrior and have the Dragon Scroll.

After with what happen to Tai Lung, Oogway started to travel less and be more involve in the Jade Palace both out of guilt and age.

He tried to help guide both Shifu and Tigress while being there in the Jade Palace. Though he'll pull some mean tricks on Shifu whenever he is too harsh on Tigress.

In one of his travels, he heard stories about a monkey pulling pranks on a village. Oogway decide to get involve and help the village out with this prankster. This will be last trip away from the Jade Palace.

When Oogway stopped traveling and rested in the Jade Palace for good, he notice how Tigress became more reserved. He thought to give her advice and advise Shifu to not be so strict with training.

After the Furious Five defeated Boar, Oogway let Shifu to train the Five on his own. Trusting that his friend can handle thing on his own from now on.

Years later Oogway had a vision that Tai Lung will return. Even though it may pain Shifu, Oogway needed to tell him very soon because he knows that he would not be there to stop Tai Lung. They needed the Dragon Warrior to stop him.

While the Five was showing their skills in the tournament, Oogway was actively trying to sense the Dragon Warrior's Chi. So when Po was almost to gate's, Oogway sensed his Chi but didn't really see him.

Oogway had his eyes closed the entire time when choosing the Dragon Warrior, letting Po's Chi guide Oogway to where he will be.

Oogway was just as surprise as everyone that it was a panda who was the Dragon Warrior, but soon found it fitting since it was the pandas who healed him.

I do believe at this point, Oogway's age had finally got to him. We constantly see Oogway shaking and licking his lips, it comes off as him barely holding onto life. Especially when you compare his animation in the third film (yet again he was also dead so...).

Despite having a vision of Tai Lung's return, he was still surprise to hear of his escape.

Oogway had no control over when he will die. The petals were already moving on their own before Oogway had said "my time has come."

Oogway sensed that he will die soon, but was content with his fate and gives Shifu his last advice before passing.

Well that's all I have for now. Granted though the only thing I'm stuck on is wether Oogway had the visions of Tai Lung's return as well as Kai, or just saw the vision of Kai's defeat once he met Po.

[loudn0isesart]

MY SON!!!!

Updated reference for my son!!! I was kinda trying to imitate the kung fu panda character concept art BUT HDHDHDHF it's more in my style I think lol. Anyway look at my son!!!!

[thehyperrequiem]

Kung-Fu Psychic Tetralogy (Kung Fu Panda Parody) Cast

Kung-Fu Psychic 1: "To everyone's surprise, including his own, Helmut Fullbear, an overweight, clumsy psychic, is chosen as protector of the Valley of Peace. His suitability will soon be tested as the valley's archenemy is on his way."

Kung-Fu Psychic 2: "Helmut and his friends fight to stop an affogato villain from conquering China with a deadly new weapon, but first the Dragon Warrior must come to terms with his past."

Kung-Fu Psychic 3: "When Helmut's long-lost magical mother suddenly reappears, the reunited duo travels to a secret magic user paradise to meet scores of hilarious new psychic characters. But when the supernatural villain Dio begins to sweep across China defeating all the kung fu masters, Helmut must do the impossible-learn to train a village full of his fun-loving, clumsy brethren to become the ultimate band of Kung Fu Magic Users."

Kung-Fu Psychic 4: “Helmut must train a new warrior when he's chosen to become the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace. However, when a powerful shape-shifting stand user sets his eyes on his Staff of Wisdom, he suddenly realizes he's going to need some help. Teaming up with a quick-witted acrobat, Helmut soon discovers that heroes can be found in the most unexpected places.”

Helmut Fullbear (Psychonauts) as Po (Voice Actor Reference)

Otto, Ford, Compton, Lucy, and Cassie (Psychonauts) as Themselves/Po’s Friends

Sauna Egg Cookie (Cookie Run) as Mr. Ping

Tatiana (No Straight Roads) as Master Shifu

Ginseng Cookie (Cookie Run) as Master Oogway

Red Velvet Cookie (Cookie Run) as Tai Lung

Coach Oleander (Psychonauts) as Commander Vachr

Caramel Arrow Cookie (Cookie Run) as Tigress

DJSS (No Straight Roads) as Mantis

Sayu (No Straight Roads) as Monkey

Eve (No Straight Roads) as Viper

Neon J. (No Straight Roads) as Crane

Bob Zanotto (Psychonauts) as Himself/Po’s Lover

Affogato Cookie as (Cookie Run) Lord Shen

Licorice Cookie (Cookie Run) as Wolf Boss

Capsaicin Cookie (Cookie Run) as Thundering Rhino

Tea Knight Cookie (Cookie Run) as Storming Ox

Peperoncino Cookie (Cookie Run) as Croc

Hollyberry Cookie (Cookie Run) as Li Shan

ElderBerry Cookie (@sundove88) as Po’s Mom

Matcha Cookie (Cookie Run) as The Soothsayer

DIO (Jjba) as Kai

Foo Fighters (Jjba) as Mei Mei

Cream Puff Cookie (Cookie Run) as Bao

Fireman and Iceman (Megaman) as Dim and Sun

Snapdragon Cookie (Cookie Run) as Lei Lei

Pancake Cookie (Cookie Run) as Nu Hai

Oyster Cookie (Cookie Run) as Grandma Panda

Butter Roll Cookie (Cookie Run) as Master Bear

Avdol (Jjba) as Master Rooster

Rubber Soul (Jjba) as The Chameleon

Cerabella (Skullgirls) as Zhen

Various Characters as The Citizens of China