sonknuckles

[sonknuckles]

yeah, my buddy and i always watch the show together so when we finished s4 it was just utter disappointment for the both of us. smth really did shift, like now i don't even like thinking about the show bc i'm still so disappointed how it turned out 😭😭😭

i agree the animation was gorgeous and a big part of the appeal for me. it's such a shame to me that flying bark no longer works on the show :( ik they're working on other stuff, but i would have been fine with season 5 getting delayed for an even longer time if it meant they would keep animating it tbh, but what can we do at this point. at least it's not abysmal dogshit lol

yea, i thought as much! it makes me sad that they lowkey set up wildbrain with this show. their work on sonic prime was good... but that's a 3D show. they should have picked another studio that does hand-drawn digital animation and not one that does tweening. it's really hard to live up to a studio like flying bark especially when you're not even using the same animation method as them lol. i'm not surprised to hear that the fight scenes are not all that compared to previous seasons.

as for the writing stuff u mentioned... yiiiikes man. i dunno if i'm delusional here but i feel like the character writing being too fanservicey or fanficy stems from the fact that the crews pretty involved in the fandom and probably keeps tabs on the popular fandom tropes. like monkey mk being a thing from the early days of the fandom became canon in s4. shadowpeach reconciliation arc was also one of the things ppl wanted the most and it's happened now. i wish they just stuck to their own ideas instead of appealing to fans. characters being way more emotional just feels like a way to generate Omg Character Angst Moments even if it feels wildly ooc for some characters to do it.

we're getting more focus on how wukong feels about the rivalry him and macaque have going on

they're finally doing what i wanted them to do which was give us wukong's perspective on his relationship w/ macaque ... and it sounds like they're not even doing it well :| glad it's getting addressed but if it's just completely unnatural i'm not even sure i want it LOL. wukong being completely avoidant when it comes to stuff like this made it more believable that he'd just never give his perspective Ever so if it's really just abrupt n just more fanservice... i'm gonna be a lil mad watching it. (also what you said about him being nerfed... Not again bro. please let him kick some ass for once.)

is it weird to say i think the show is definitely getting canned? lego doesn't seem to care for it all that much and at this point it doesn't even seem like s6 is viable. no season special is kind of a sign to me, but at the same time, i'm glad wildbrain doesn't have to go through trying to animate a special for lego monkie kid. it would never live up to revenge of the spider queen.. lol

so. lego monkie kid season 5

[sonknuckles]

well as long as its not terrible i'll still watch it! i think i'm still gonna miss the flying bark animation since it was like half of the appeal of the show for me. it was one of the redeeming qualities for s4 aside from azure lol

i figured it would be hard to judge the writing at this stage since its not in english yet, but yea... it really is not too promising just from what ive seen. i wonder if all of the issues you mentioned are bc of the internal chaos that switching studios probably caused... or its just because the writing has been going down in quality for a while now lol, idk!!! i'm starting to feel sad about it too. season 1 and 2 were amazing and s3 was pretty good, idk what happened.

"there was a good amount of fanservice (for me LOL) for shadowpeach moments and goldendragon"

is it bad that this is what i was dreading the most XD

since i saw the trailer i just knew they were gonna push shadowpeach so hard, and my friend sent me a screenshot that confirmed that. i'm gonna eat it up anyway, but i'm not gonna be happy about it tbh. personally i liked when it was more one-sided and less fanservicey.

ill take the goldendragon fanservice though Life is beautiful <3

so. lego monkie kid season 5

[sonknuckles]

i wish i had more of a handle on knuckles i wanna do serious character analysis on knuckles.

easily embarrassed. easily angered. full of love. trusted too easily and now doesn't trust anyone (except for like 6 people). poor guy's first friend was eggman and like it or not it informs a lot of who he is today and how he interacts with people. super awkward from being isolated for so long (knuckles and silver solidarity). obviously cares deeply about his land and culture, loves it and mourns for it in equal measure every day. protects his true friends and is always there if you truly need him, despite his insincere grumblings. scared of company, grateful for company, longs for company.

great forager and gardener. bad with technology, overstimulated by bright lights and a lot of noise, is generally a guy who Wants To Go Home (his autism....). uncomfortable in positions of authority (The War) but still likes to Have A Say. does not tolerate nonsense unless he's in on the nonsense (sonic and him shoot each other out of cannons for fun i think). skilled weaver, skilled at making jewelry, skilled with survival, awkward around chao but is still very very good with them because he's lived with them his whole life.

adventurous, though not great at adapting to new situations (the autism). likes exploring / learning about other ancient cultures, languages, and peoples. curious about the nature of the world (where the master emerald came from, general existential stuff). likes a challenge. shows affection via mutual snark and/or deep talk about the universe. doesn't know much about planes but likes listening to tails talk about them.

is so hard on himself that he seriously contemplates ending his own life if he feels like he has failed his duties. feels like he exists for one purpose, despite his value to the world being much more than that. fears leaving his post because of multiple terrible experiences around leaving the master emerald unguarded, making him paranoid and wary, but his initially justified fear ends up isolating him and stunting him further. good thing his friends are so insistent on visiting and getting him out to see the world - he needs that.

again, is always there when you really need him. isn't good at emotional stuff but is a great shoulder to cry on nonetheless. heart achingly honest and genuine. will say what he thinks. doesn't pick up on social cues very well (autism). doesn't like admitting when HE needs a shoulder to cry on, but his loving friends are there for him even if he doesn't say anything - they know him well.

pushes people away to make himself feel safe and protect his squishy center - some of his best friends annoy the shit out of him because they insisted on being best friends with him anyway. great company once you get to know him. makes people laugh - time spent with sonic has honed his sense of humor.

precise, steady hands. great spatial awareness and reasoning. knowledgable about traditional medicine. is very clean and smells good. punches real good. good at conserving ancient artifacts and ruins - cleaning them, protecting them, maybe even retouching them or making some of his own.

he's so scared of being wronged. he longs for company. he's lonely. he's hard on himself. he's so full of love. he looks amazing in hats. and his song lied he DEFINITELY chuckles

[sonknuckles]

Begging people to not mix up Japanese and Chinese wedding traditions/clothing.  I just saw an LMK fic mention a character wearing “a traditional wedding dress, a red shiromuku.”

Which first of all isn’t even red, it’s white, it’s right there in the name, and second of all holy hell no, that’s Japanese.

Not to mention the actual wedding was a Western Christian one.

[sonknuckles]

It's a unique type of frustration when you agree that a character is deeply flawed but other people keep missing what's actually wrong with them and assigning them new flaws that they don't even have it's like free my man he did none of that. He did a bunch of other shit tho.

[sonknuckles]

i thought tripitaka villainization in the LMK fandom was just a myth holy shit you guys are actually stupid!

[sonknuckles]

compiling some of my favourite responses to my art

[sonknuckles]

sorry in advance this response is gonna be thorough as hell because i wanna say so many things on this topic

"people are so invested into him they want to deny his bad attributes and force wukong into this role of a "awful, toxic abuser"

this is so real. i can't believe the amount of people who hate or just shit on wukong solely because of what macaque says about him. it's even crazier to me because macaque is the one that constantly tormented MK, just for the sole reason that he's wukong's successor. if either of them was "an abuser" i think just watching the show with Your Eyes Open should tell you who that is.

but lmk fans, and i guess a lot of fandom people in general can't comprehend that le tragic backstory doesn't excuse the persons actions. in fact i think less of macaque for not fucking getting over it and dragging people who are only related by knowing wukong into it. wanna get revenge on wukong? then attack wukong.. what in the world does MK have to do with your mess

when in reality macaque is just very delusional and always paints himself as the person in "the right". he says wukong abandoned him, he left wukong when he needed macaque

i was literally talking about this to my friend. when i first had the realization that macaque was lying during shadowplay after s4's finale, and that he is technically the one who left first, i mentioned it to him and he told me "i think macaque is extremely mentally ill, not even in a joking way". like YEAH. and i think a character like that, who's literally deluded themselves into believing one thing and holding a grudge for so long, is actually super clever. especially since he did a good job of not only convincing himself, but also the entirety of the fandom that he was in the right.

the whole point is that wukong and macaque have a lot of baggage and macaque reacts by trying to make it everyones problem. and thats totally fine!! thats how he is as a character thats one of his flaws!!! its good writing!!!!!

RIIIGHTTTT??? it's actually interesting to watch how both of them deal with their problems. it looks like wukong pretty internalizes it and clearly has a lot of self loathing, while macaque externalizes it by taking it out on everyone around him. something i also noticed while watching season 3 was how despite the fact macaque was forced to work with the lady bone demon, he was... very clearly enjoying it.

watch the first couple episodes he appears in, and count how many times hes fucking giggling and belittling everyone. he very clearly doesn't regret his actions either, it actually feels like him hurting other people makes him feel better in some way?? with wukong it makes sense, but he says in season 2 that MK is a good person and that he sees potential in him, so the way he keeps switching up is actually so fascinating to me. he's so fucked up and petty it's actually interesting.

i get so frustrated when people try so hard to turn macaque into this spotless hero that was always shunned by his peers when he is objectively a villain, especially towards wukong and mk. like, bro manipulates and and ruins mk's psyche just so he can get back at wukong.

macaque himself says he isn't a hero, so to watch people go against that and potray him like he's perfect and misunderstood is... Interesting... i feel like he's actually quite easy to understand if you just stop projecting onto him. lmao. and like i said before his behaviour towards MK who quite literally had nothing to do with him and his problems with wukong is just so. horrifying??? and even more horrifying that everybody IGNORES it??? he literally trapped MK's friends in the lantern to teach him a lesson about "not abandoning his friends" like MK wasn't trying to spare them from the trauma he's faced. like, i guess macaque thought he was repeating wukong's mistakes, but what in the WORLD does that have to do with you my guy. it didn't even teach MK anything. showing him a gay ass play about your ex then traumatizing him for the Second time because what... he's so twisted it's actually really fucking funny. why does nobody characterize him like this.

its okay to like the villains </3

PREACH IT!!!! i love pretty much all the villains and i love how differently they're written. all of them have such vastly different motivations to do what they do (although azure and lbd were kinda similar in concept just different in execution). makes me feel kinda bad that all of them are either fucking DEAD or pretty much irrelevant side characters used for fanservice. *cough* demon bull family *cough*

i think people should embrace criticizing the characters they like 👍 did you know macaque is one of my favourites despite how much i just shat on him. i rotate him in my brain all the time. i used to hate lbd too before i opened my eyes and realized shes actually just like me. and i mourn azure and his massive tits every night. even wukong despite how unbelievably bad his communication skills are i still think of him every day and night.

i think i wrung out all of the thoughts i have in my jumbled up brain... thank you for being correct. its rare to meet somebody in a fandom who actually understands what the hell they're talking about .

#Yeah literally lmk fandom with macaque#its always shocked me since the fandom really blew up in 2022 how much people sympathize with macaque and demonize wukong#when it shouldve been obvious from the very beginning that macaque is extremely biased and untrustworthy#and even when the s4 finale dropped i see people on twitter going “no guys shadowplay is still important!!!” its. its okay to admit he lied#whether he did that subconsciously or intentionally is a different story but#i guess it doesnt help wukong never actually says his own side of the story#but lmk fans u know what unreliable narrators are right? right????

from @hangcastles abt this post

u put it how im thinking its like. see. the problem is people really relate to and like macaque and because of that no one wants to see him "be a villain", because that means they relate to someone thats "evil". it's like..... guys he's just a cartoon character. it's okay to relate to a villain