mswolfette

[mswolfette]

So I had a doozie of an idea to redraw some frames from Overly Sarcastic Productions videos on The Journey to the West in the Lego Monkie Kid style!

[mswolfette]

I saw that comment, so decided to draw these two real quick xD

Also I would have made LBD and Mystic flour the same height, but I drew Wukong and Pure vanilla like this, so it stays haha! xD

[mswolfette]

Probably my most favorite thing about Sun Wukong is that he loves unconditionally.

In season 1, when MK actively goes behind his back to train with Macaque, he does get upset but forgives MK almost immediately.

He goes right back to loving MK, who, in all honesty, he probably wasn't too attached to at the time. He tells MK that the mistakes he made can be fixed and that they can work on that together.

Wukong somewhat does this with the Demon Bull Family as well, though most of that's background and off-screen stuff.

The first time he's in the same room as Demon Bull King since his imprisonment is naturally a little tense. Luckily, DBK got spooked by Lady Bone Demon so much that he dropped his conquering plans.

The next time he sees Wukong? Season 4 special's finale and becomes his fishing buddy! When Wukong arrives at the party with the popsicles, DBK smiles at him!

Those are the only times so far that the two interact, and Wukong isn't being actively malicious or holding a grudge or seemingly lost all affection he once had for his sworn brother.

I have personally run out of examples, but feel free to add on (hopefully involving more characters, too).

[mswolfette]

I don't want to be a magical girl! ⭐

Hello!! I did something

This is my second attempt at a walk cycle and the second time I actaully go through all the process of animation (Clean up, color, "compositing")

I'm so so proud of this!!

Halfway through I realized I should've picked an easier model (because Im a baby yet), so I kinda simplified her design in order to finish it. One day I hope to make something using the right outfit with all the details//

Character and story by @/kianamaiart <3

[mswolfette]

Macaque Episode Analysis ramble

So I was talking with a friend about the possible psychological and therapeutic take aways from each episode of Lego Monkie Kid, since I love Psychology as a whole, and came to a conclusion. Macaque's episode has a fuck ton of things to analyze. Such as - Not every role model you meet will be a good person Trust your teachers Don't push yourself too hard otherwise you'll get hurt, manipulated and possibly die (let's be real, Macaque would've killed MK if Wukong didn't step in) And, grooming They will all be covered as I explain the episode in depth. When MK first meets Macaque he thought he was Wukong but even after Macaque declines, MK still had stars in his eyes of pure admiration. He clearly looks up to Macaque since he was just as cool if not cooler than Monkey King. Within the very next second Macaque started the process of grooming, after a tiny test to see how strong MK's admiration was. "[...] I thought uh Monkey King was training you. [...] but you can never have too many teachers, I'm sure Monkey King would agree. [...]"

Then Macaque starts to train MK. This shows the duality of Wukong's more MK's current strength and capabilities training versus Macaque's more destructive and dehumanizing training. With Wukong's "Patience and focus, step into the strike", clashing with Macaque's far more brash "You don't use a weapon, you ARE the weapon." This is effective at isolating MK from Wukong and his teachings because MK feels like he is actually powerful now.

As Wukong says, MK's body isn't strong enough to handle the power. This applies to real life too. If someone tries to weight lift something too heavy for their skills, they could get seriously hurt. This is the just magical equivalent of weight lifting. But because of Macaque's influence, MK fights back and isolates himself from Wukong, his trust worthy mentor. This leads Macaque to his final part of his plan, lure MK into a trap with his full hearted trust in him.

Then Macaque finishes his plan by stealing MK's powers. Let's be honest, with how things were going and by our impression of Macaque in this episode, Macaque would have likely killed MK if it weren't for Wukong. OR left MK to die with the staff pressing him against the moutain. What can we gather from this? Well, first and foremost, MK's admiration made him an easy target for manipulation, and what resulted was MK nearly dying from the ordeal. Check for "not ever role model will be a good person", since Wukong is ALSO a role model, but a good one because he doesn't literally groom MK. (More on that in a minute.) Wukong was right and MK does what he taught him then admits his wrongs by the end and opens up on why, which Wukong responds with "Hey, your heart is in the right place, kid. We can work on the rest." MK learned to trust Wukong when he was teaching him something because ultimately that's what saved his life. I'm not saying trust EVERY authority figure, but one that is teaching you something that you trust and know will not hurt you. Get yourself a Wukong for your MK. Macaque's training has lasting impact on MK, making him feel like he needs to give himself up for others. Before this episode, MK never had the need to sacrifice himself or really seemingly blamed himself for anything. Macaque's dehumanizing training left MK with lasting damage to his mental health and also led to MK not being able to pick up the staff, granted that was after Macaque gut-punched the power out of him.

Ouch...

So, I hear you ask, "Ok, you made your point about various things, here but what about grooming? That's a bold word." Yes, it IS a bold word, especially considering the fandom space being primarily for children. However, I will clarify that grooming does not only apply to sexual circumstances.

This is from the official Canada public safety about child grooming. Notice the none sexual tactics.

"Make promises of a better life" - Promises to make MK stronger/a better fighter/hero

"Cause divsion saying "your parents are too strict" or "your parents don't understand you"." - Macaque says "Other people are going to tell you to be patient. They are slowing you down." to directly conflict with Wukong's training, further dividing MK and Wukong.

"May threaten or pressure your child to do what they ask, which could lead to sextortion." - Might not be explicit but it is implied MK had some minor doubts by the end of the training and was literally pushed into battle. Also he threw MK into the weapons rack on their first session, showing that MK was "weak" and prompted him to take up his implicit challenge, his trick. It's unclear if Macaque ever threatened MK while training, but I doubt it and he just pressured him and manipulated his drive and determination.

One that people might argue is "Approach your child online by pretending to be someone they're not - may falsely identify themselves as a person from school, or someone their age, to build a connection." but I believe it applies. - Macaque comes in creating a show with his own kaiju form, either to make himself popular or to attract MK or Wukong. Regardless, he seemed uncomfortable at first but once he prompts up "But you can never have too many teachers", that's when he starts creating a false identity, a trustworthy teacher who knows better than Wukong. That's also neglecting the fact Macaque pretended to not be that smoke demon.

If that's not "pretending to be someone they're not", then I'm not sure what is. Also for specifically adult grooming,

More signs I feel apply are;

"The person becomes withdrawn, or they may seem troubled by something but unwilling to talk about it. Alternatively their emotions might become volatile." - When Wukong points out MK has been running around other mentors, MK sounds calm and cold, like he was withdrawn. Then when Wukong presses on, MK yells at him and doesn't talk about exactly what was bothering him other than "You just don't like that there's someone who actually teaching me what I need to know."

"You notice them using or wearing something new, that you didn't buy [or teach] for them." - I added teach because Wukong points out he never taught MK how to break a wall like that, and was concerned and upset that MK learned that too quickly. Within that same scene, after MK yells at him, that's when Wukong notices the new symbol on MK's jacket and frowns. That's when he knows MK is being groomed, and by who.

"Groomers often aim to isolate their targets from their family or friends." - Well, we never see Mei, Pigsy, Tang, or Sandy in this episode, after the first meeting and they act like MK was gone for a month or more (could easily be a week lol). On top of that, Macaque was causing a divide between MK and Wukong. MK was very clearly pretty isolated already, and so Macaque just had to remove MK for MK's full reliance.

"The person might be spending more time on the phone, or online, than usual. But they won’t say what sites they’re visiting, or who they’re talking to." - This speaks for itself, but it's likely MK was training more and more with Macaque than being around his own friends, especially considering by previous point.

This video goes into great detail on how it happens, why the victim is manipulated easily, and what it does to someone. Granted this video is about a long-time grooming, but I believe the point and the awareness stands. If Macaque had been grooming MK for about a year or more, I feel MK would be closer to these signs than he is in the cannon LMK. Anyways! I hope you had fun with my analysis, and let me know if you'd like more! I love to just ramble about the psychology of certain characters or the takeaways of LMK episodes! I'd love to do Wukong, Macaque as a whole (not just the episode), MK, Xiangliu/Nine mayhaps?? Or even the Focus episode or something else- I have a minor analysis on the focus episode already in my head lol

[mswolfette]

The guardians~

Another idea I had after watching season 5, that I finally got around to drawing! I wondered how would the guardians look if they were not creatures? So I decided to give them more anthromorphic looks, and the dragon a human design!

Enjoy!

[mswolfette]

Joker and Catwoman when Batman isn’t around:

[mswolfette]

Self-Destruction - A Sun Wukong AMV

Song by Stop the Movement

(This was all fueled by that one theory and its one of the fastest things I've created in a while sooo-)

Might make more of these lol.

[mswolfette]

My favourite thing about wukong as a character is that unlike alot of characters he doesn't let his pain define him

Despite how much pain he go through he always stay optimistic he doesn't let pain consume him focusing on what he loves rather then what he fear

[mswolfette]

Reanimated a part of s4 special :33

[mswolfette]

It's crazy how Wukong canonically regrets ever coming into contact with humans, since the memory scroll torments those trapped in it and among the memories that Macaque and MK go through is him introducing himself to humans. I wonder if he sometimes finds himself regretting leaving the island that first time, since we know he meditates about the fact that he's immortal and will never be able to die, it wouldn't be surprising if he also starts thinking about points at which he could have stopped his quest for immortality (like when he decided to leave FFM the first time to seek a way to acquire immortality).

Or maybe I'm just talking nonsense, since it's been a while since I watched season 4 and maybe the scroll doesn't necessarily make those trapped in it only relive the memories they regret but maybe just traps them in different memories in general.

[mswolfette]

... RIGHT

Arts from animation

[mswolfette]

LMK Sun Wukong's Passive Suicidal Ideation Theory Part 3: Is he really Suicidal?

TW: Suicide and Suicidal Ideation

This is my final part of the analysis, addressing the symptoms according to CharlieHealth, the counterarguments and reaching my conclusion.

First, let's review the definition again for what Passive Suicidal Ideation is:

According to Charlie Health Primary Therapist Meghan Jensen, LPC, “passive suicidal ideation can occur when an individual no longer has the motivation to live, but does not have a clear plan to take their life.” 

And as we have spoken about this fits Wukong 50/50. Wukong does not seem to have a motivation to really live. Wukong almost completely stopped really being active in his life (at least in the public eye) after his battle with the Demon Bull King, and only came back because of MK (and this might not even be a big enough motivation to stay), as we know he has plenty of times where he's attempted to sacrifice himself while putting down that MK is better than him. Besides MK, Wukong doesn't really have a goal or plan for his life. As mentioned in S3e14, he never expected to be a mentor. He lived his life, with the only thing in mind being retirement and self-isolation.

But does Wukong fit with the symptoms of passive suicidal ideation?

According to CharlieHealth, these are the warning signs:

Let's go through the ones that fit Wukong:

Engaging in Reckless/Risky Behavior: Already addressed in Part 1, but this is the most strongest symptom that Wukong has with many of his self-sacrifices.

Extreme Sadness, Hopelessness, Isolation, Rejection, or Apathy: Throughout the series, Wukong can come off as extremely apathetic and dismissive to almost everyone. Wukong has a messy habit of constantly devaluating MK's concerns, especially in the first 3 seasons from how he just pushes off MK's worries with simple remarks, leaves MK with tasks and doesn't really elaborate on them, and especially meditates out of situations. This happens so much to the point where this really begins to bite him in the ass concerning the Samadhi Fire Incident. Even when we first meet him he's generally a bit more apathetic to the Demon Bull King showing up. He even shows apathy for the rest of the group in regards to not really helping them when they need it most, or dismissing their concerns. Even in as late as Season 5, he still reverts to an apathetic state, not really taking others into consideration at times.

Withdrawing or Self-Isolating: Wukong in the earlier seasons has done this a lot. Even the inciting incident is Wukong self-isolating from the world (and by extension MK) for an indefinite amount of time. Wukong in the first 3 seasons, tended to act as a loner, particularly never really being around anyone but MK, and never exactly leaving Flower Fruit Mountain unless he really had to. Granted there could be the reason of: "he's a hero, villains could target him easier." But Wukong is an extremely powerful individual. You could argue this especially with S3 when he was meditating, always making the opportunity to self-isolate by mentally isolating himself from the group. Even in the S3 finale, he had particularly separated himself from the group on purpose alongside MK. HOWEVER, he has seemed to slowly group out of that sentiment. Wukong has begun to try and spend time with the Monkie Kids, actively going out of his way to hang out with them through spending a Beach Day with them and finally, allowing for them to celebrate fireworks with them in the finale. So while this definitely is and symptom, it's important to mention its a symptom he's slowly growing out of.

Giving Away Meaningful Personal Possessions (AKA the Staff): At first, while this could seem arbitrary, there is an argument about passing on his staff to MK. We all know that Wukong is an absolute hoarder, and will preciously hold on to all of the stuff he's collected from over the years. And we know things like his staff are literally some of his most prized possessions. Wukong also could've easily defeated DBK, right? He's immortal after all, and then easily go back to his self-imposed isolation. But instead, he guided MK to his staff and let him take the role as the Monkie Kid. Wukong purposefully gave away his most prized possession to allow another person to continue the fight. This could fuel his self-imposed idea that the world doesn't need him anymore and that he's better off not around.

Seeking Out Objects to Assist in Suicide: This one is a tricky one, because this specifically and only applies to Samadhi Fire Incident. There is an argument to be made on either side of this argument. Possibly the main argument for this is in regards to Wukong despite his power, made the choice to rather take the risk to use the Samadhi Fire over all else (despite seeing he had an extremely good chance of taking down Lady Bone Demon without it). And Wukong was originally planning on doing that alone, especially giving the case that the rest of the gang is purely mortal and could not handle it. Now, if we argue that the Samadhi Fire was intended to be a suicide mission, he could've been actively seeking that out to make a final sacrifice for himself for the world. But you can also argue he wanted to seek it out to ensure that he could defeat the LBD without resorting to actively up and killing the host perhaps.

So, does this mean Wukong was intentionally written to be passively suicidal?

Maybe? Maybe not.

Some of these points prove to be a lot more common than others. As while Sun Wukong can be easily shown to be extremely reckless, self-isolating, and apathetic, its harder to even show some of the other side effects and we have to base our guesses on speculation behind the intent.

And even then we have counterarguments:

a. Wukong Having a Fear of Death: The main argument against this is quite valid actually. Wukong was scared of dying; scared of not being strong enough to live and protect his allies, literally scraping any sense of immortality he can from the peaches, the wine, pills, and even fighting skills to gain a sense of immortality. And even then Wukong can practically be seen not wanting to resort to death, seemingly avoiding that route at all times in S5, and only realizing that someone has to go, that he took the mantel and decided that it would be him. And...yeah that's a completely valid argument. Wukong could be scared of death instead, not wanting to completely face it until it's too late.

However, I would like to rebuttal the idea that: Wukong is a very contradictory character (he's a fairly consistent one though). As much as he is lazy, he can be extremely powerful, as much as he lives for isolation, he's starved for companionship with MK, and as much for he is wise, for as arrogant and stubborn he can be, he could be self-loathing and hopeless. And this could be a similar case. He could have symptoms of being passively suicidal, yet too scared to actively take that final leap until he's forced to.

b. Wukong Being Confident of Living: That could make sense. Wukong is so confident in his immortality status that nothing can touch him that even when push comes to shove, he endures anyway. That could honestly work with the Lotus Scroll attempt, but there have been several other times where he was never confident that he would actively come back in good shape, much less alive, specifically in S3E10. But those are just my thoughts.

But here is my conclusion:

This is just a singular interpretative theory on Wukong's character as a whole; not definitive proof that Wukong has this certain form of suicidal ideation.

In fact these traits might not fall under a typical spectrum of exclusively suicidal.

I think Schnee from YouTube put it best in regards to detailing Mental Illness in Fiction in regards to figuring out if a character has a certain disorder:

Credit: Schnee on YT (How does TRAUMA affect IMMORTAL characters? (Heimerdinger Analysis) | Youtube)

Tl;dr this piece of media is rather informing us about this version of Wukong, about how much all the traumas and issues in his life, shaped and morphed him into this messy, flawed entity. And I personally find that a lot more interesting, don't you.

Thank you for reading.

[mswolfette]

Hey, I'm gonna probably take long than usual on this third and final part of the Wukong Ideation Theory because I shockingly have a lot more to say than I intended. Anyways, what topics would you like to hear about next? I have an idea about possible discussing why I love Wukong a lot, particularly with Wukong and Consequences but who knows.

[mswolfette]

I jumped on that one outfit trend with MK that's been popping off on Twitter!

[mswolfette]

His face after MK sacrificed himself I'm-

How did I not notice

Good lord they want me dead

[mswolfette]

Screenshot redraws from LMK S5, episode "Sacrifice", with Xiangliu! The second one was challenging but very fun xD enjoy!