#monkie kid rant

[gamegirlx]

ah yes✨

to contribute to this fandom feels absolutel fulfilling

DUDE NGL IM SO PROUD OF THIS PIECE? man, monkie kid has given me undeserved happines, hype, and community like what how do u do that

if u havent watched the show PLS FRIGGIN DO its absolutely amazing (s1 is kinda sludge to go through but man i tell u it pays of tenfold omg)

[maplesugarcookie]

warning: spoilers for season four!

I agree with the mischaracterization but,- and please correct me if I'm wrong- in defense of the series, the storytelling is so crazy and complex because it's all about perspective. I mean, they basically make that clear right off the bat in the first movie, A Hero Is Born, by having Tang's version of the Monkey King appear while he relays his story, his version of the events. Monkey King was portrayed as this smug heroic hero who was completely in the right, silently doing his job of serving justice, when we see in the same movie that that's just not who he is! The king is playful and impulsive and somewhat of an antihero, who we later see is willing to kill a child for the greater good instead of being patient and finding another way.

In Season Four, Azure Lion talks to MK and villianizes Monkey King and the other pilgrims because, from his point of view, they were the villains trying to stop them. From the point of view of someone who's watching a strong spirit, his sworn brother who's had such an impact on his life, have such big character growth and a change in his moral compass makes it seems like the pilgrims were manipulative toward Monkey King. Not to mention hearing about the hoop tightening spell used to tame Monkey King must seem like an even bigger indication of manipulation.

However, in the same season, we get Macaque's take on it now that he has a clear head. Macaque tell MK about how corrupted Monkey King's morals were before he met Tripitaka. He even goes on the talk about how Tripitaka saved Monkey King from "becoming a villain" and redeemed him! From the point of view of the Six Eared Macaque, who is said to have full comprehension of the past, present, and future, who basically spent his life watching Monkey King grow up, I think his point of view is far more trustworthy than Azure Lion's perspective, who's judgement is clouded by vengeance. Macaque even throws in the MK should read the book, crediting it as a reliable source of what really went down in Monkey King's past and his relationship with Tripitaka in particular.

But I'm not completely disagreeing with you. Tripitaka is very different from the original but that's also ok, given this is inspired by Journey to the West and not directly from Journey to the West. Familiar tale, new adventures, my friends!

writer's note: i wrote this around 2am so i hope this holds up in the morning...

Great Tang Rant (LMK)

Alright I need to get this off of my chest

I love LMK so much but they way they mischaracterize Tripitaka is atrocious. Literally his reincarnation (Mr.Tang) acts more like him then their representation of the tang monk. 

Tripitaka has like three main character traits, being humble, reacting like a human being, and being to kind for his own good and LMK pulled a complete 180 on us and said “That’s Tripitaka for you, self righteous, eternally calm, and antisocial”

The only thing they got right about him is that he studied a lot, grew up in a monastery, and is a monk. 

They didn’t even get his clothes right. he doesn’t wear the fancy robes because he finds them to ostentatious and bhudists have that whole thing about vanity. That is until he goes to the Thunder cloud monastery to collect the scrolls, which was the exact occasion it was given to him for. The only exception to that is the time he was asked to put it on by the leader of a small monastery and that ended with monks trying to burn him to death to steal his clothes so obviously he never did it again. 

The worst part it that their representation of Tripitaka has lead to people genuinely believing that the character is abusive which is the farthest thing from the truth. Like yeah he used the tight hoop spell on Sun Wukong but only when he literally murdered someone. Also it wasn’t even his idea, Guanyin told him to do it and who was he to disregard the advice of a Bodhisattva. Seriously though, what punishment would you give a murder monkey who feels no remorse and would kill again? A slap on the wrist? Tripitaka is just doing his best to make sure that the journey ends with as little casualties as possible

Tangent aside, please if you like LMK then do your research on the actual pilgrims, they are all very cool and very different then they are depicted in the show 

[angelcake10023]

Curious MK 💛 and the Man In The Red Scarf 🧣

This au is everything to me… be ready for me to not shut up about it.

If you want a little explanation on the au look under the cut

The au pretty much follows the beats of the movie with some twists to fit the world of LMK a bit better

Tang works at his College’s museum, doing tours on a lot of historical exhibits which heavily align with his special interests (lots of JTTW like stuff)

Pigsy is the local school teacher that takes his class to the museum every week- to learn obviously. Not cause he has a big crush on this pathetic museum nerd.

Anyway the museum is loosing interest and funding you know the gist, Tang somehow agrees to go on an expedition to flower fruit mountain to maybe find something worth putting on display. Probably something related to Sun Wukong

Tang is out of his element, but also this is his hyperfixation and he can tooootally find something of note surely. However what he doesn’t know is that a few certain spider henchmen in disguise have made their way onto his expedition crew and are hoping to find something powerful to bring back to their queen.

Once they get there they do a lot of fruitless searching, set up camp for the day, and an exhausted Tang is quickly ambushed by a newly awakened baby Monkey MK. He’s very curious about the bright color of Tang’s scarf and steals it when Tang takes it off to eat.

Tang has never seen or heard of this type of monkey on the mountain before, thinking he resembles Sun Wukong but thinking it ridiculous to think more of it. They play for a bit, Tang playfully wagering for his scarf back.

Anyway the expedition continues and they’re still unable to find anything and have to leave empty handed, (except for two pieces of a little monkey shaped rock.)

Mk ends up with Tang’s scarf as he’s leaving, deciding to secretly follow them back. Wholesome shenanigans ensue just like in the movie. Tang struggles being a dad to this monkey who’s attached himself to him, while also learning he might not really be normal monkey. Add in some Monkey power shenanigans hehe. Also some spider henchmen repeatedly trying and failing to capture Mk (comedically managing to also go unnoticed every time)

Of course in the climax, Tang is pretty worn down. He’s homeless, jobless, and a disappointment. He doesn’t think he can handle taking care of MK, and that’s when Sun Wukong shows up. He’s been keeping an eye on them and knows MK has mystic powers that are probably too much for a human to handle- so he’s willing to take him off Tang’s hands.

Tang reluctantly agrees, much to MK’s confusion and sadness. Trying to reach and grab onto him repeatedly as Tang holds back tears and begs Wukong to take him. Wukong does and Mk, who’s been struggling with any speech up to this point finally manages a soft and scratchy “no” just as Wukong’s cloud zips away with them both.

Tang immediately regrets it, his regret fueled after he talks with Pigsy. He made a mistake and he needs his kid back.

Unfortunately, The Spider Queen and co managed to ambush Wukong similar to the show and capture baby MK. Cue Tang, Pigsy, and Sandy teaming up to rescue the monkeys

Rescue ensues, Tang and Mk reunite wholesomely, Wukong is impressed by Tangs determination to save the kid despite his mortality. Wukong gives him some cool treasure junk that they can take back to the museum

The day is saved, Tang and MK are a family, and Tang finally got Pigsy’s flirting through his dense head lmaooooo

Dad Tang and Baby MK are so special to me… thank you for reading haha. Itll probably be fleshed out more in the future as well

[zerohirrotries]

LMK s5 spoilers!!

These are so cute, look at how Wukong tries to comfort Mk even when he is the one in pain here!!

One thing about this scene I love is that it shows Wukong crying in pain and that makes Mk panic. Once he starts to panic, suddenly his body tries to push his monkey form out.

Monkey King even in pain, only cares to make sure Mk is okay. Once his hand grabs onto Mk, the turning to and from his monkey form suddenly ends. The touch of his mentor makes Mk calm down!!

[lumidotexe]

personal rant warning

trying to process the recent news of LMK no longer being animated by Flying Bark.

i still have faith in the production team that s5 will bang but I cant lie this disappoints me a bit. Flying Bark had such a unique and distinct style that i adored. this might sound selfish but it was my dream to work on LMK with the Flying Bark team either thru internship or actual job, but ig that dreams gone. thats not to say i aint interested in seeing what s5 will turn out like with a new studio tho :D

anyways hats off to all the people who worked on LMK seasons 1-4, ill always keep it close in my heart

im still gonna do my best to not let this impact my drive to make my comic, i deffo know ill be able to adapt this is just a brief moment of "huh? whats happening"

[lmk-aus-galore]

Needed to make this post because I keep seeing this-

I keep seeing people mistake this scene where Macaque smiles at Wukong during the Specials as a sign that he forgives him.

No, he does not, he’s still trying to trust Wukong again. You can see it in the beach scene. They still bicker slighty after this scene, and during the beach scene, Macaque looks at Wukong briefly believing his words before doubting him again. Or at least still getting a bad feeling.

Macaque and Wukong are far from forgiving each other, they’re still trying to trust each other again. However Season 4 is pretty much a start.

Even though Wukong seems to like forgive Macaque, I’m pretty sure it’s because he just survived a series of self-loathing and guilt, he’s probably not fully recovered.

That being said again.

This doesn’t prove Macaque forgave Wukong yet.

People who see this completely forget the conversation MK was having with Wukong.

Prior to Macaque smiling at him, MK tries to lift Wukong’s spirits up, give him hope like Wukong did for him. Encourage him even. He makes a whole speech about getting Wukong back on his feet and becoming the Monkey King again.

However, Wukong doubts it, so he looks to Macaque.

Again some people forget the whole context of this entire scene and just miss out on crucial details BECAUSE WUKONG ISN’T EVEN ASKING FOR FORGIVENESS HERE.

IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE WITH THE WHOLE ASS CONVERSATION-

Wukong knows that MK is his biggest fan, that MK looks to him with rose-tinted glasses, that to a fault, the kid sees too much good in Wukong, he WANTS to believe Wukong is good, Wukong knows that’s his one flaw about his view of him.

So he doesn’t take the staff immediately after MK encourages him, instead he looks to Macaque.

Why? Because he’s asking him, Macaque KNOWS Wukong. He knows Wukong far too much than probably Wukong himself. Macaque can see his faults, his mistakes, he knows Macaque HATES him. HATES the Monkey King, he’s honest about his doubts, his views on Wukong. Despite Azure’s praise, Macaque sees him for what he is.

Prior to this scene, Wukong was suffering with the curse of the scroll, reliving his mistakes and we know one of his mistakes that is most definitely going to play in his head is the scene where he broke off with Macaque. The scene where he yells at Macaque and seemingly destroys his friendship with him forever.

‘No that’s you! You’re the one always running off! Looking for more power! More sources of immortality! You’re the one who wouldn’t quit while we were ahead! Not the Great Sage! He’s always trying to drag everyone into his mess!’ Macaque was right. It was him that lost his sights on power, on why he was even gaining power in the first place, it was him who tried bigger and bigger until he couldn’t carry the load anymore. He’s the one who was reckless, not Macaque.

And he was right, he dragged Macaque into this. And only hurt him, the brotherhood and MK by dragging them into the mess he created. By letting MK fight his battles, by letting Macaque get injured over and over again just because he wanted him to help regardless of Macaque’s opinion on the matter. He dragged the Brotherhood into this false sense of justice and power that they ended up getting killed or sealed away.

He hurt them. He hurt them as the Monkey King. All he ever did as the Monkey King was hurt people. That’s why he looks to the one guy that can tell him, tell him honestly.

He asks the one guy that hates his guts, that has every right to hate his guts.

If it was alright for him to BE that guy again.

The reckless, egotistical, self-centered Monkey King again. He asks Macaque, who so negatively views Monkey King’s role as a hero if he should BE that hero again.

He asks Macaque if MK is right. This time, This time he’ll listen. Just tell him if it’s okay for him to BE that guy, if he needs to take a step back, he will no questions asked.

Instead.

Macaque smiles at him.

He assures Wukong that he’s okay with it. Yes he can be that guy, flaws and all. He’s willing to give him that chance.

Macaque was giving Wukong not only permission but assurance that Wukong is allowed to be that hero again. The one that everyone adores and loves and the one that people NEED right now.

Only then does Wukong stand and take the staff once more.

Macaque and Wukong still need to trust each other again sure.

But this whole scene is just Wukong at his DEEPEST and LOWEST he’s ever been. The usually loud, cheery and expressive Monkey King was reduced to the unusually quiet, sad and barely even audible Wukong who had been beaten down by his guilt and shame. He can barely look at MK…he can barely raise his voice. And judging by how quiet he was he might’ve been crying until his voice gave out. Paired with Macaque holding grudges yet still reminiscing their good times together. Seeing THAT must’ve been so disturbing for him.

Again, Macaque has this view of Wukong. The same way he notices MK’s despair and loss of light, he notices Wukong’s change in personality. However, unlike MK, there’s a chance Macaque has never SEEN this side of Wukong. He’s always seen Wukong so confident and unbreakable. So much so he doesn’t hold back against him at all. But seeing THIS must’ve done something to him- like scared him, disturbed him.

And now he’s looking at him like that? He’s so low on self-esteem that he looks to the one guy that hates his guts more than anyone else for permission to be that guy again? It probably frightened him more than anyone ever realized.

[imminent-danger-came]

Can you believe MK learned he was a Monkey Demon and his first instinct was to assume he was going to destroy everyone/hurt the people he loved. And then the moment he thought his destiny was to die for them, he was a little too down for it. And then after he realized his destiny was inevitably to destroy the ones he loves as he knows them and reset the cycle, he was back to being like "ah okay fuck destiny", BUT FOR A LITTLE BIT THERE. HE WAS SO READY. Something is so wrong with him

[zaacoy]

Your art? Immaculate Your adorable fluffy writings? Heart-warming Being unhinged? Fat mood Istg you make me so tempted to post the Freenoodles Fatherhood HC's I have ;A;

Thank you thank you !! and yoU SHOULD!!! I'm late to answering this ask by uh. months. but if you see this you so totally should!!! world needs more noodle family in it

Speaking of which~! Little noodle family! just 4 u! happy day heeheehoo! :D

[ryin-silverfish]

I really like Azure Lion as a character. Yeah, you can stop following me now. /j

But no, seriously, I like how LMK has adapted this particular character, given him way more potential complexity than his novel counterpart——not that it's a high bar, the LCR trio of JTTW are just demon warlords living in a literal human slaughterhouse.

Which is why I deeply dislike the take that "Oh, Azure manipulated SWK into fighting the JE! He's just using him like a pawn!" Like, wow, way to completely butcher two characters' personality and agency in one go.

Such takes reduce SWK to some innocent kid, when he is at most an impulsive, daring teenager who haven't met a single real obstacle so far——he robbed the dragon kings blind, and they couldn't do a thing! He struck his name and all his monkeys' names off the Book of Life and Death! What couldn't he do?

And Azure's failing isn't him telling a toddler: "You know what? Driving your tricycle into oncoming traffic will be real fun, trust me kiddo." It's letting his friend go way over the speed limit and not telling him that he should maybe, y'know, slow down, bc he'd seen his epic driving skills, SWK's the bestest driver he ever met, surely nothing would happen!

(And also, no one in that car is sober, except Macaque.)

What I'm getting at here is, even without Azure, SWK is not gonna be content with sitting on his mountain, eating peaches forever. Hell, he sure doesn't in the novel, where his demon king brothers are little more than namedropped NPCs.

He is always gonna want more, chase after greater destinies, drown out that existential ennui and fear of death at the back of his mind with bigger and bigger power-ups and the laughters of his companions.

He told himself he would be content after getting this one thing he wanted. That he could stop at any time. But alas, like any ADHDer, he will not stop at this one exciting thing, and sooner or later, the boredom sets in, and he gets ideas and impulsively leaps into making them reality.

That is the Mind Monkey at his worst: being a whirlwind of chaos, while unknowingly enslaved to his own chaotic mind.

(In the book, this is Wu Cheng'en's reminder to the reader that, even though you shouldn't keep your heart constantly under lock and keys, Neo-Confucian style, the other extreme——letting it go completely wild, disregarding all external rules and consequences, can be equally disastrous.)

And when that car was driven through the Celestial Palace's front door, off a bridge, and straight into a ditch, it was him in the driver's seat, steering the wheels the whole time.

Everyone else in that car failed terribly as friends when they didn't voice any objections, or try to get him off the driver's seat, or realize that cheering and egging him on is an awful idea, however genuine their blind trust was.

Like, they are certainly not helping, and made the situation much, much worse. If you let your buddy drive while under influence and hand him more beers in the car, even if you are also drunk out of your mind and aren't actively trying to get him into a traffic accident, you are a shitty, irresponsible friend.

But the thing is? SWK is still responsible for the consequences of his decisions. He could have stopped, by his own volition, and no one was holding a gun to his head and forcing him to drive. He, too, wanted this.

That, to me, makes a much more interesting narrative than "Poor innocent baby SWK was puppeted into becoming the Great Sage in Heaven by shady blue cat, how awful!"

Oh, and since I'm feeling particularly salty today, I'll also ask some last questions: is SWK so weak-willed and devoid of self-agency to you that he couldn't even OWE his most famous title, the Great Sage in Heaven, 100%, without being manipulated into it?

Is SWK so immature and unintelligent to you that he is incapable of being a genuine idealist or rebel, that he cannot agree, out of the depth of his heart, that the Celestial Realm sucks balls and needs better management?

TL;DR: Havoc! Era Azure Lion isn't some cult leader brainwashing this kid into becoming his figurehead. He's the dumbass who's too busy staring at his teenage crush to care about the blaring police sirens.

Also, I had a bit of an epiphany after writing this: why am I so annoyed by people reading Azure's idealization of SWK as him intentionally manipulating and love-bombing him? Because it is a very western and modern reading.

For someone with traditional Confucian beliefs, it is perfectly normal——it is what you are supposed to feel, as a liege who has found your just and virtuous lord.

If Romance of the Three Kingdoms existed back then, he would probably describe himself as the Guan Yu to SWK's Liu Bei, however wonky the analogy was.

(Gosh, now I want a "Four Classics read each other" crossover.)

I'm not saying it is healthy or wise. But under this context, putting your lord on a pedestral was normalized, and even encouraged, as the virtue of a righteous gentleman. It was the sort of ideals romanticized culture-wide. NOT having such beliefs would probably make you look weird.

And since the Celestial Realm in the novel is a parody of Confucian hierarchy in a Daoist trenchcoat, it was really no surprise that an idealistic ex-celestial soldier would hold the same beliefs.

To torture the analogy further, the problem is that he was trying to be the Guan Yu to SWK's Liu Bei, when the Brotherhood had more in common with the Bandits of the Marsh, down to their giant downer ending.

[peachburger]

Gonna be so fr rn

I’m upset by how horrible half of the fandom reacted to the new animation studio for the next season, like I get it..the animation won’t be that good but be glad it’s not cancelled, it’s not the end of the world.

And especially the fact that SOMEONE literally direct messaged the LEGO company itself by how upset they were about it all, even some people began smack talking and hating on the show itself all of a sudden. Genuinely never knew most of these people I follow would become toxic that quickly about this show and I’m very disappointed.

[gamegirlx]

okay so hear me out

so this isnt even a grounbreaking theory or anything like this was just a thought-

SO THESE GUYS LOOKED VERY SIMILAR.

i am indeed stating that the monk from the left could be mayor, and here's why.

OKAY SO MK GOES TO THE PAST, RIGHT, so i can assume that mayor not being an LBD follower or soldier YET could be reasonable, so that's one.

THING IS THO, why would mayor be in a monk palace or smthn

well for one, these monks in this temple are pressumaby, training to become immortals, yes? (this temple btw is where wukong learns how to be immortal)

now WE HAVE MAYOR. whom we know has existed since the ancient China era all the way to the modern times

SO ASSUMABLY mayor is immortal

and the only way mayor could be immortal is by doing all that immortal monk training schmack

HERE'S ANOTHER THING

the monk also seems to have an almost "awkward squeeky" voice, very similar to mayor's goofy voice (except in this case the monk's voice hasn't developed to the distinct mayor voice we all know and love :>)

IN CONCLUSION

the aliens are real and i really need lmk s5. :DDDD

[azureandcrimson]

Clones.

I really like the whole. 'Mk is actually related to Wukong AND Macaque' theory. So here's another thing to back that theory up. The trio's clones. Wukongs clones don't act much different then Wukong himself. (Or that's what we see) But with Macaques and Mk's clones. That's not the case. With Macaques shadow clones we see they have different personalities.

So does Mk's clones with Porty Mk and Artist Mk and Evil Mk's.

Mk's clones are kind of a mix of Wukong and Macaques if you think about it. Wukongs clones do and look exactly like Wukong. Macaques clones do what Macaque says but have their own personalities and look somewhat different because there shadows. Mk has both. He has the ones with different personalities and their own styles and the ones that look exactly like him and act exactly like him.

[chroniccomplainerlol]

Really unpopular opinion that arose after rewatching season 3 and 4 of LMK, but it annoys me to no end that Macaque barely did anything to improve (hasn't even apologized to MK lol) and basically got no consequences for his actions and yet he still got his redemption served to him on a silver platter.

Not to mention how much the fandom sugarcoats what he did, but I can't really blame them because the show is kinda doing it by itself considering the other characters' reactions. Like, you mean to tell me that Mei, of all people, would gladly fight side by side with Macaque?

Actually, why is the entire group so… casual around him as if they didn't watch the mf beat the shit out of MK right in front of them?

Highlight to Mei and Pigsy cause they are the first ones to call out Wukong about his mistakes, and them doing that while also giving Macaque a pass after everything he did to them makes no sense.

And it annoys me even more because there were villains/antagonists who could have easily had a redemption arc but got killed off instead.

Also the same thing happened with the Demon Bull Family: They hurt and tried to kill MK and many lives were at risk because of them, but guess what? No consequences lmao they're all besties now.

[menaceoffandoms]

LMK analysis rant: Mei

I said I was gonna do this and I'm keeping to my word! The only thing that may stop me is my procrastinating... and the fic I'm slowly writing but uhhhhh-

ANYWAY- We're here to talk about Mei, our favourite white horse dragon pepper girl!

Mei stands out as the most different from her inspiration, something the writers perfectly portray in the yellow-robed demon episode of s4, which is likely to do with how little they had to go off of. Despite being one of the pilgrims in jttw, Ao Lie dose very little in the novel. His most notable chapters being when he's introduced and when the group faces the yellow-robed demon, which is why we met him in that memory in the scroll. Combined with my belief that Mei isn't a reincarnation of Ao Lie -- just his descendent -- means that Mei is one of the most unique characters in the entire show.

There's just less source material for her to draw from, it let's the writers have more fun and do more things. It's not that they don't make the others characters unique -- they like to play very fast and loose with things over all -- but Mei feel like her own complete and original character. She's inspired by Ao Lie in the same way Mk is inspired by Monkie King basically and she all the better for it.

Being the female lead (isn't it interesting how most of the female characters in this show are villans?), Mei is a refreshingly strong, confident girl who begins the show as the most powerful cast member. Being a descendent of the great dragon gives her amazing powers that no other cast members have, a birth right that leads to her being the most protective of her friends and the first to help out in any fight.

What she has in power, however, she lacks in experience. Mei has no mentor -- other than her parents, but I believe its safe to assume they weren't very focused on teaching her combat -- which leads her to trust her gut more, rush into things and learn through observation, like when she mimics what her great x1000 uncle did in s3.

Overall Mei is an excitable, energetic and loving person with a "You only live once" kinda attitude, for lack of a better explanation. Even still, she has her own insecurities and flaws which make her all the more interesting. Due to the shows run time, Mei and many of the other main characters don't really get explored as much as Mk, however what we do see of these struggles and fears is incredibly interesting even on a surface level.

Her tendency to rush head first into danger without first examining the situation or creating a plan, truthfully, tends to work out for her, but it can't always. It's something shown perfectly in s4, when Mei is the only member of the group to not get a star from Master Subohdi, however what a lot of people seem to miss is how Mei actually did earn that star eventually.

When they leave the temple and head to the celestial realm to try and stop Azure, Mei leads them there with no plan at all. As such, they fail and need to be saved by Mk. Faced with proof of Subohdi's criticism, Mei makes the more important amendment to Mk's plan in the s4 special. I don't think we've even seen Mei make a serious plan until this point, which feeds back in to another one of her flaws: being unable to take things seriously.

This isn't something I see said about Mei often, but when watching her character I think it's externally obvious. Don't get me wrong, Mei can be serious, but usually only in moments of vulnerability or high stress. For example: when talking with her pearents, after she gained the Samahdi fire and whilst imprisoned by the Yellow-robed demon.

I think this flaw is Mei's own version of Mk playing dumb. They both behave this way to lessen the emotional impact of serious things, to protect themselves and help those around them deal with trauma or difficult topics. Mei and Mk really are two sides of the same coin and I'd love for them to do more with that in the show.

Going back to Mei's parents, one of her biggest struggles is reconciling who she is with who she's meant to be. She is a noble dragon, a descendent of the great dragon of the West Sea and practically the successor to Ao Lie. It's a lot to live up to and -- evident in episode 3 of season 1; Welcome home -- she doesn't believe she dose.

Mei is confident in her abilities, she's sure of her strength and quick to help those around her, but in the face of her legacy she stands uncertain. It's another thing her and Mk have in common, though in vastly different flavours, and it's interesting how this legacy colours Mei as a character.

She wields the dragon blade, proving herself as a worthy part of her family and gaining the approval of her parents, however the stark difference between her and the rest of her clan is more blatant than ever. We see this perfectly in season 3 when they visit the great Dragon of the East Sea, Mei being put into fancy clothes she instantly ruins in order to have a place to hold her sword. She fights against her uncle, fights against her family, because she knows they'll never understand her. But even still, she knows she's still one of them and she's so proud to be.

Becoming the vessel of the Samahdi fire is only more proof of Mei's legacy and connection to her family. It gives her a moment of pure vulnerability where she vents her frustrations and fears before rushing away, wanting nothing more than to protect the people she cares about.

When Red Son finds her she's still serious, but even with just a basic understanding of the fire within her Mei falls back to her normal nature; a silly excitable girl not taking things seriously. We see this after Red Son attacks her with the spears and when she's eating later on, but even if her attitude doesn't show it, she's still listening and taking the training seriously. She just needs to be silly so she won't freak out again.

Since we're on the topic of the Samahdi fire, I think most people can agree that the way it was handled post s3 was very poor. With only one mention of it in s4, by Master Subohdi no less, I assumed that the fire had been resealed, this time correctly. Something that dangerous should be locked up, even if a capable wielder is around. It would also prevent power creep and stop the show from having another Wukong predicament, by which I mean a character so powerful they need to find a way to prevent them from trivialising whatever threat they have to face in the plot. Wukong will get his own post soon don't you worry...

Instead, we learn in s5 that Mei still has the fire, she just kinda forgot? She learned to fully master it when breaking out of LBDs mech, so since the fire was no longer a raging uncontrollable inferno she just didn't realise it was still there... for an entire season. Yeah it feels lazy and honestly is probably the worse written choice the show has even made. Even still, it dose lead to a very interesting and in character moment for Mei.

When attempting to seal the willow wisp with Red Son, Mei loses her confidence, believing that she lost the Samahdi fire and thinking she's lacking. Mk getting Monkie Kings powers was one thing, but the rest of her friends now having cool weapons and magic? If their all so strong and only getting stronger, then what's the point in Mei? She was the strongest but now she might be the weakest, and that terrifies her cause if she's weak she can't protect people. How can she act when she's powerless to do so?

This dilemma is quickly resolved by Red Son telling her she's had the fire the whole time, amending it's use to Mei's lightning motif she's had since s1 -- I know fire benders in ATLA use lighting but come on -- and basically saying she's been using the fire the whole time. It takes away from Mei's whole struggle to be honest, but I do think there's potential for her to relearn this now tamed Samahdi fire so she can better use it. Just depends if the show wants to do that...

Moving on from my thinly veiled complaints about season 5 (I like it I swear but it is the weakest seasons to me so far), let's talk about Mei's role in the group a bit. Aside from being the token girl, she's also Mk's best friend and the only other character his age and acts around the same age as the shows target audience. Mk's the main character and leader, Tang is the lazy historian smart guy, Sandy the loveable giant, Pigsy the cynical brute and Mei's youthful and silly power house.

I would love to go into some narrative tropes, specifically the 5 man band since jttw is one of the primary bases of the trope, but I've realised I have far too many thoughts about that to fit here. This is the 21sh paragraph and I'm sure at least some of this is a mess, but I hope I'm getting my point across! Overall, Mei is an extremely compelling character how often gets side-lined due to run time and other stuff, but is honestly one of my favourite characters in the show.

[yznerpoo]

Hey Everyone.

I'm gonna talk about something serious and political and I don't want to trigger anyone in this, I just want to speak up about it. this is the only platform that i could use to express it, since TikTok is having a heated fight about this.. for sure I wouldn't be attacked here.. for now

So... Most of y'all don't know, there's been issues going on between China and the Philippines (aka my country), and it's about China trying to take the West Philippines sea (WPS). I have a feeling that China might take some drastic measures on us such as War after finding out that we got a spy in our country (not sure but it said in fb)

As a filipino and an Lmk fan, I am Conflicted and worried. As someone who lives in luzon, we might get dragged into this war.

As for my fellow lmk fans that are Chinese, please don't hate or go against us. We're only trying to protect our sea, it's where we essentially get our natural source. We already have problems with the economy, we don't want to lose our natural supplies. I'm sorry.

I tried to talk to one in tiktok and they called us monkeys. (That's straight up racism if you ask me)

For the others, I need your support to Spread awareness such as Reblog this or make a post about this put tags like "no to war" "West Philippines sea" rather. Whatever you can do.

I'm not ready to witness or face a war. I still have dreams to achieve. I never want this to happen.

So please guys. I need your help.

(gif for attention)

[lotusarchon]

As I have the app around, I may as well just dive into this before disappearing again. To the people in my post a few days prior and in my dms, I promise I'm not ignoring any of you, but I genuinely can't muster the energy to speak to anyone else currently. I'm only here currently because someone found my unmentioned hetalia account, which I left unmentioned for a reason...you know who you are...you scared me...😭

Ah, okay well. If you're not aware of who I am, hi. I'm a dude that wrote fanfiction for this fandom I got pulled into. A year ago I had a few different accounts but I had to delete every single one just because I kept getting harassed, from one thing to another. I'm hoping I don't have to do it again this time around.

I haven't gone offline as anyone thought. I did attempt to take my life (twice, 2024 is something else) but in the end it didn't work out, so I've been hiding in my secret account to relax in hetalia for a bit. In between that I've also been stalking the account myself since it showed up just to see what it was up to, and...oh wow that's a lot.

This specific account has been on my ass like a tick since..two days ago. Two days of my 'supposed' death.

I've also recently found out that someone else who was pretending to be a friend of my friend's and a concerned citizen happened to be friends with them;

And hence why I chose not to reemerge my head back then yet. It turns out there's a few people who may have been following me who are acquainted with these people and...yeah, I didn't want to take the risk. I'm hoping no one is going to inform them I'm not actually dead―I blocked both accounts to avoid being noticed.

There's a lot of yapping I'm gonna be doing so expect a lot of that, BUT piece of advice to anyone that actually cares: do not engage with either blog. Don't send them hate mail, don't go gloating that I'm not actually dead, and don't fucking yap about anything. These blogs went as far as to harass my friends who have no part in this, and they also wrote nsfw of my adult oc and my friend who is a fucking minor. Do. Not. Engage. With. Them. Please!! Block, block, block. Just block them! They're actively going out of their way to harass and stalk MINORS.

Under the cut, I am rambling more on personal feelings rather than doing this professionally. I'm still pretty moody actually and well yeah...

Trigger Warning for some topics below!

Okay uh. I've never done this before so excuse me while I put this in question format lmfao..

"Why aren't you dead!?"

Joke answer; god doesn't want me.

Long answer: I'm not the type of person who says something like that ...like that. I really was intending to go through with it, but evidently I was too tired from crying and fell asleep. I figured that I couldn't handle people fucking around with me and hid in my secret blog. Hetalia fandom is so nice for a fandom about countries. Point blank sorry to burst many of your bubbles, but I'm not dead yet. Put the birthday canon away, slut. I'll die next season.

"What the fuck did you even do?"

Exist.

No okay, realistically it's a lot. I'm not going to play the victim here's and I'm not going to lie to people and say "oh hey my mental illness/trauma made me do that" because that's bullshit. I'm also not diving too deep into any explanations just because my hands hurt..but also I don't want to remember anything less I have another panic attack.

A year ago I met this girl who became my friend over a fandom. We chatted, but I fucked our friendship up when I lashed out at her and another friend wrongfully because of my own stress. While I did beg one of them to stay, the chick that runs kokomichanstuff, Mariin, I ended the friendship with her just because I knew what I did was bad. There really aren't any excuses for that. I don't think anyone should have to deal with anyone else's bad attitude regardless of mental health or not. I didn't bother to keep Mariin around because I did bad, and no amount of apologies would fix it. She already said she wouldn't forgive me, so I knew it made no sense to keep up a facade. I genuinely had no idea she would've been mad that I begged one person to stay but not her, even though she expressed not wanting to be my friend. I also don't remember truly if what I did was enough to earn THIS type of harassement, but I'll take it as divine punishment. But basically, over and over again Mariin has stalked me and found a way to harass me. According to the posts she made, she's made a new friend I (sadly) hurt who wants..revenge. Hooray.

Mariin's already namedropped them so um, yeah, I hope it's okay to mention them?? . Neveah was someone I also hurt really badly by bullying and lashing out at her out of jealousy over something ridiculously dumb in my old server and account. I confronted her later on apologizing but specifically also adding that she didn't need to forgive me because I messed up. Long story short, she claimed she had forgiven me.... but then went to her friends (Mariin mentioned) Geno, Toga etc to badmouth me, including sharing sensitive information I sent to her. Neveah's friend Geno made a post mocking me which I found and responded poorly too, and then more drama escalated from there because literally every single one of Neveah and Geno's friends came to bombard me, sent me hate mail and surprise, Mariin took the chance to come back. I don't know how the fuck those two (Mariin and Neveah) managed to speak, but sometime later a few accounts appeared that went after people who were once associated with me or used to be associated with me. A few days ago the account made supposedly by Neveah made a post accusing me of being a r*pist, groomer and pedophile and yeah. That went badly.

Uh. Wow this is a mouthful. But. Yeah, I'm...not really a good person, and these things are just embarrassing and..ick. I hate myself for the shit I pull. But, I will say, while I can accept Mariin harassing me like this, the other parties just...genuinely could've handled this better than what they did to me. It really wouldn't have been so hard to ask me instead of listening to one side, but maybe that's me. Regardless, I admit I was wrong. I just..I'm not happy other people are getting involved.

"Why didn't you just say something sooner instead of all that nonsense? Wasn't that too dramatic?"

Sadly it was, but I don't think any of you understand when I say that I CAN'T. I can't say anything because it's just me, me, me. It's just me, and people aren't going to believe me. They never do. When that shitshow happened with Neveah, everyone was blaming me. Even up till recently, someone in my current server told me I was the one who overreacted over getting bullied and harassed. I'm not mentioning them here but holy fuck, that shit hurt. The anons coming in my inboxes telling me "people are offering you advice and you don't want it", it fucking hurts. It genuinely hurts because every single time I try to speak up against anything, or stand up for myself, I'm the one who's in the wrong.

Geno, Neveah, Mariin, fucking Toga and Deja and the entire fucking crew. They're never the ones who get wronged, and they haven't lost anything. Even when Mariin's account gets deleted, she's fine. She has people that actually fucking listens to her, all of them do.

I don't. There's no one aside from the few friends I have who would actually listen to me and not just immediately jump at me, and I'd rather just not have them involved in anymore drama that revolves around me.

Yeah, holy shit, maybe attempting to kill myself from the stress was overbearing but you guys have no fucking idea what it's like. Every time, every time I make a report or say something, I'm the one who's told I'm at fault. It's either, "You're don't look like a child, it's not their fault they want to touch you," or, "You overreacted," or, "Maybe you shouldn't have said anything," or even, "You're so ungrateful, I'm trying to help you."

It. fucking. Sucks. It. SUCKS. Its terrifying that regardless if it's my real life or on the internet, no one listens, no one cares and the one who's left hurting is Ali because who fucking cares. Who gives a shit right?

"....did you try to kill yourself over Nezha?"

Everything started with Nezha, and I'm not even fucking kidding. I don't remember how I met Mariin but I knew for a fact it was something about him. And when we broke our friendship off, I got attacked a LOT about his age. I want to pretend that maybe it was all Mariin, but with how things are, I don't doubt for a second this fucking fandom were jumping me for a character who already has a confirmed age.

I could tell you that I was just stressed about Mariin, but that'd be a lie. Everywhere I go with this fandom, I'm always getting hassled about Nezha's age. From the beginning I was already stressed, because I continuously kept getting anon after anon calling me names and accusations for a fictional fucking character.

I don't deny that Mariin didn't have a part to play. She most definitely made things worst for me with using Nezha to slander me further. It's just my luck that the people in this fandom are idiots that'll listen to anything anyone says.

Think of it this way; the pot was near burning on the stove, it just needed some more fuel.

"Why didn't you just listen to the anons?"

Sighs

Mind you, this was supposedly when I was DEAD. Trust me, I've had far worst flooding my inboxes. Before it was about Nezha's age. Recently, it was to kill myself and the accusations.

I'm not saying the advice was ever bad. But the anons were strangers for all I care who had no idea what the fuck was happening. I've tried blocking anons before, I also went to far lengths to ignore them, but there's only so much I can take. Every day, day in day out on any blog I've made, ever since I started writing for Nezha, I've been receiving dozens and dozens of hate I've had to delete constantly. Not even counting the ones that just randomly told me to die!!

"just ignore them" I'm not a child. I. know. I know, I know, I've been trying, but when people don't respect my boundaries and don't even bother to listen when I say I've done it, how do you think I'm going to feel?

"oh but you should put that as your trigger then it's not their fault" oh yeah, "hey everyone 🥺 when people don't listen to me I cry". How do you think it'll sound? Plus, why should I need to add that when I wasn't expecting anyone to actually act like this on the internet to begin with?!

"Why don't you just move to a different platform then if the hate is that bad?"

Ignoring Mariin for a bit, even if I were to go into another platform to write fanfiction (and I highly doubt there's many I'll feel comfortable in), why should I, and what makes you think the hate will stop there?

AO3 is a place where THE worst people write porn. And you wouldn't believe that I've had to delete quite a number of assholes on there for Nezha's age. Don't mention Twitter where the nonsense started about his age, and don't bring in bluesky because there's a word limit and I'm not limiting myself to that. Even Wattpad has them yelling about Nezha's age. WATTPAD!! Genuinely what makes you think I'll be safe anywhere I go?

I hate Tumblr but this account is my safe space from reality at this point. It used to be the place that made me not want to die. Just because you guys are jerks, why should I need to go?

This also goes back to Mariin and the harassers. Even in my fake death I can't know peace. If I were to move out, wouldn't she get to live her life peacefully while I'm miserable trying to understand a place I don't want to be in?

"Then just leave the LMK fandom!"

Again, why should I? LMK is my comfort show. I genuinely enjoy writing for silly legos, and I also love learning about things I didn't know about before. Why should I have to leave just because the fandom is filled with jerks? Why don't you guys just leave instead if you're butthurt about anyone daring to speak an opinion?

"The accusations-!"

Are lies.

I was r*ped before. Why would I find any pleasure r*ping anyone else? How does one even do that through online?

I was groomed online and assaulted in real life. Why would I think of hurting another human being, most less a child, like that when I still can't even read anything that correlates to it? Why would I find any of those things pleasing?

I turned 18 in 2024. It's not an excuse and I've been doing my best to not interact with minors, or at the very least avoid speaking about topics that are inappropriate for them. Even though I still forget I'm an adult on occasion, I know better than to pull up on my younger friends and start talking about nsfw. I've only ever spoken weirdly to my adult friends.

I recently saw someone comment on the account that I'm Islamphobic/don't support Palestine, so that makes me problematic. I grew up in an Islamic family, I have trauma with that specific religion (inclu. Hinduism and Christianity, long story). I don't interact with anything regarding religion if I can and I also don't judge someone based on their religion. I judge you based on how you speak to me. If you have a weird icon, I don't like you, if you speak weirdly, I don't like you. Additionally, I'm the type of person who feels guilty for making someone upset. I can't support myself, most less for others. No, I don't agree with genocide but it's genuinely too much for me to keep up with.

And finally, how the fuck is liking a character who's an adult make me a proshipper? Jesus Christ again with Nezha. I hate this.

"You have no proof!"

Of course I don't. I don't keep bad memories around. I wouldn't have remembered my own childhood if I didn't get triggered about it. I block bad memories out. Many interactions I've had that are bad, I delete. I don't think about saving, I delete.

Even interactions with friends I usually delete because it's just weird not seeing a blank space. I don't hate them but leaving a spot full feels weird.

I don't have any proof I'm none of the accusations but neither does Mariin, to be frank. So if you chose to believe her because you just genuinely don't like me, good for you, but you look like sheep being led by a drunk shepherd. Either you'll end up in a slaughterhouse and starve, your pick.

I'm not going to say, "Oh ask my minor friends!" Because...they're kids. I feel horrible my friend got roped into this to begin with, the last thing I want is for anyone else be involved when they barely know shit.

Yeah, rambled a bit. I didn't want too but I got carried away, whoops.

This is the only post I want to make about this issue. Don't bring it up, don't uhh, don't mention me to the account, and please just allow me to rest in peace. I just want to write and feel free, not deal with this shit, okay?

Also. Please stop involving my friends into beef you have with me. It's really not their fault they have to deal with someone like me.

Goodbye. I'm deleting the app again until I return. Adios