#i loveeee annihilation SO much

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

OHG ASK GAME!! to me u r goldenrod, mahogany, ruby and green!! also pink. rainbow of colours <3 LOWKEY rust as well tbh. giving u a fist bunp ur so cool

LMAO CALLINF ME OUT W RUST yeah... maybe so... ur so correct....

BUT ALSO. YES ABSOLUTELY we SHOULD watch a sunset and touch grass and listen to playlists and . WAUGH. exchanging notes with our trigun playlists. big minds. ALSO BITING YOU. >:]

[dutchlines]

Macaque character analysis

I haven’t come across any long ones yet (in general) so here we go. I feel like there is not enough talk about Macaque in how much depth he has as a character, especially in the final episodes. And I specifically want to talk about the scene where he fights Sun Wukong in the specials.

Let me be clear first. Sun Wukong is an absolute powerhouse, he’s never overpowered that quickly – not in the novels and not in the Lego series. But his sworn brother, Macaque, is also a force to be reckoned with – at least in the novels. They fight on earth and continue to fight in the celestial realm, the underworld all the way to the monastery where the Buddha resides. In the novels he’s like the complete other half of Sun Wukong (He is the Macaque king, but allegorically speaking he is Wukong’s darker half), but in a way no one recognises the difference between the two monkeys. Except for the Buddha. Macaque got beaten by Sun Wukong in the novels as he tried to flee.

I read somewhere that Macaque is weak compared to Sun Wukong. That he got annihilated by the king in under a minute. And while I know that is shown and told, I have a different few on the “weak/strong” statement. Hear me out. Beware of the long loooong read. Buckle up!

We’ve seen in the first season that Macaque has much more in store in terms of power and wit. But even there he didn’t show his full potential. He uses that energy to quip and taunt Monkey King, because he knows Monkey King isn’t giving his full power and attention in this fight (because of MK’s presence). And he immediately knows. So instead of using full force, he provokes the king. Macaque didn’t have to use his full power because he had Wukong already pinned down and MK was in no shape to fight him as well. And that was not even the point of this whole battle. Macaque had no intention to fight Wukong to death (also for the fact that he got a second chance at living, like you don't throw that away, but we learn that later on). He’s smart and cunning. He would be less quippy and more focussed in a high stakes battle. But he actually enjoys himself in that fight. He just loveeees getting on Sun Wukong's nerves. He's not scared of the Monkey king at all.

Until, of course, it bites him in the butt when he gets beaten by MK. Now I know that in this fight he has taken MK’s/Monkey King’s powers, but I think it was just a mild bonus (taken from the fact that he already has all of the same abilities as Sun Wukong [at least in the novels]). Because he had an opponent who was pissed off. And you know emotions distract you from battle, it weakens you. Sun Wukong was basically fighting two fronts, his anger and Macaque. Now I don’t think Macaque could have won that fight – as it was almost to a standstill when Wukong caught the shadow monster’s fist (although he was struggling there), but Macaque could have struck a blow or two.

Cut to the specials. He helps the gang by getting the not-mayor. Instead of being a cold bastard who only looks after himself, not getting dragged into another fight with the LBD, he returns with a hostage. You would think at first that he couldn’t give a damn. What could he possibly gain from fighting LBD again after just being freed from her grasp? His whole motivation for the chase and confrontation with the gang: his freedom. He could lose that again if he were to confront her again. In a way it would make more sense for him to just leave and let everything play out (he couldn’t give a sh*t about it before as he said when he shattered the fake rings). That’s also why he didn’t help when Monkey king fought the LBD and not-mayor and just watched from a distance in his hawk form (but also because he’s scared). There wasn’t anything to gain for him. He wouldn’t get a thank you from Monkey king. Bonds would not be melted and restored. He still wouldn’t be accepted, still wouldn’t totally be trusted (well maybe by MK, but that’s a different analysis for another time). And he doesn’t expect that. He sees himself as unredeemable. He believes him to be the villain in the story. So why help?

But he goes out of his way to help. Because he knows what’s it like to have LBD crawl under your skin, to be controlled in a way. Yet she didn’t possess him completely – there was no need for that, his oath to her was already enough to take control over him. And then she controls him even more when she mingles her spirit/energy in his body close to the end of episode 8 (s3), giving him her powers. So, he knows what’s it like. And seeing Wukong in this state… I’d like to think that he still has a soft spot for Wukong. Remember season 2? He lingers in the past. So he helps the gang. But he’s never seen himself as a hero, always the warrior. And MK knows how to play Macaque his heart strings. He had listened to Macaque’s story in “Shadowplay” and remembered. MK is not stupid either (though it might seem so from time to time). So MK pulls Macaque over the edge by asking him to be the warrior (I bet you can get Macaque to do everything if you keep calling him a warrior. It’s adorable). And Macaque, not even reluctantly but full heartly accepts.

Macaque knew the stakes. He knew what roll he had to play in the specials. A distraction. To keep Monkey King busy. Then why use all of your powers to keep him at bay? Again, Macaque is smart. Taking the defensive position asks a lot of energy. And being the distraction and keeping someone busy (who’s being possessed) requires to be on the defensive the whole time. So no quips, no taunts. Full focus but also not using up all your energy in the fight. Because Macaque doesn’t know how long it’s going to take for MK to retrieve his staff. Or how long he needs to distract Wukong. And Macaque needs all the energy he’s got. So he just uses the bare minimum. And if you want to be a distraction you don’t need full power to be a distraction. You just need to be in the way. But quips won’t work this time with Wukong. Talking doesn't overcome the possession. And Macaque knows that. But he also doesn’t use his shadow clones to pin him down, he doesn’t use his staff (even if it might have worked for a few seconds). It’s just himself fighting. Only when he realises Wukong is about to obliterate him with his laser eyes, he uses his giant shadow mech.

But I also like to think that he doesn’t want to hurt Wukong, as Wukong was not himself. Again, as I said earlier, Macaque feels empathy for the ones who got taken over by the LBD. That’s also why he’s the first and the only one to leap forward to catch the little girl as LBD got rid of her body. How he cradles her and brings her to safety.

Macaque doesn't want MK to go though the same stuff as he had with the Monkey King. He warns MK in the previous seasons about Wukong and how Wukong treats other (he also warns Tang). And his warnings feel sincere, because we've seen him act when he want to get under Wukong's skin. He approaches things differently; with humor sarcasm and sly smirks. But his warning to MK (and Tang) are full of emotion. He might be a theater kid, but hurtfull emotions and trauma's are hard to act as if they were fake.

It turns out he was right in a way. I believe he cares for MK, because he sees himself in him (sort of). He sees some one who looks up to Wukong and wants to be around him. He was that guy too in the past. But he knows from experience how Wukong can be. And it turns out he was right, in a matter of speaking. Wukong continued pushing MK away, not listening/paying attention to him all the way through season 2 and right before the season 3 specials (even though it might have been the right course of action) and sometimes even dismisses him. Mei even calls him out for it.

We know that Macaque is able to be empathic. So it isn’t strange to me that he might feel the same way for Wukong who is possessed. He knows what’s it like. How horrible and frightening. He doesn’t want to fight Wukong, especially when he’s not himself. At that moment Wukong was a mirror to Macaque. Someone who’s freedom got stolen and was forced to do things he didn’t want to.

Counting this all together it makes sense for Macaque to be beaten by Wukong so quickly. He knew his role: distraction. But his feelings also may have gotten in the way. And Wukong was really going all out, with no control over his own body, no boundaries. His power was almost limitless. But that doesn’t undermine the strength Macaque has, he only uses his power differently, from what we’ve seen so far.

--

The season finale ended with Macaque smiling as Tang spoke of redemption. Now Macaque isn’t quite there yet, but his redemption is in the works. And I, for one, can’t wait to see how his redemption is going to unfold.

Dang, this made me feel things. Maybe I’m looking into this wayyyy too much. And maybe this took way to long to make. I just love him okay!

God I love these series. I can't wait for season 4.