#kfp theory

[nataszaluiz]

Theory Kung fu Panda : Why Po can't longer be a dragon warrior.

I've been thinking about this theory since Movie 4 came out, so let's get to it.

Let's ask ourselves a question. Why did Shifu make Po choose the next dragon warrior?

Shifu said in the movie 4, Oogwar chose Po as his deputy. Even Master Oogway said so himself.

Oogwar: You finally became the panda you were always meant to be.

Po: But, how'd you know I could?

Oogwar: On the first day we meet. I saw the future of Kung fu and the past. I saw the panda who could unite them both. That is why I choose you, Po. Both sides of a Yin and Yang. And my true successor.

And like all of us, we thought that Po was simply the successor to Oogway. But as it turns out in kfp 4, it was intended that Po would be the next Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace. Maybe we, the viewers and Po, misunderstood back then. But as I checked all the information. No one before kfp 4 called Oogwał by this title.

And that's why in kfp 4 Po was surprised that he had to go to the next stage. Only the question arises. Why right away. In the third part, Shifu didn't say anything to Po.

We don't know how much time has passed between kfp3 and kfp4, but we can guess that it must have been several weeks or months. I conclude this because Po's dad has reopened the shop and there are pandas living in the city. So they definitely had to build some house for the panda. So it certainly took some time.

So why did Shifu wait so long to tell Po that he would now be the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace? Why didn't he say it right away? Why did he wait so long to say that Po would be a spiritual sage from now on? Why Shifu did he tell Po to find another dragon warrior now?

Why should he find a successor so quickly? Because let's make an agreement. Choosing a successor is not an easy thing. Damn, Oogway must have spent years looking for his successor, so why did Po have to choose in one day?

And this is where theory comes in.

Po is a spirit warrior and that's why he can no longer be a dragon warrior.

In the third part of the movie, Po used the Wuxi Finger Hold on himself to take Kai with him to the spirit world. And we know that this technique kills instantly and does not work on people who are already dead. And in kfp 4 he tells us directly that this technique is deadly and dangerous. Because we see that Tai Lung is a spiritual warrior.

So the question is, if Po was also a spiritual warrior, why doesn't he shine the same as Tai Lung, Shen or Kai? Why doesn't Po shine like them? What makes him stand out from the rest?

This is where my Reply comes in. Po came out of the spirit world differently than they did. In the third part, we see Po using his staff to leave the Spirit World. So that might be the reason why he doesn't shine like the rest of the spirit warriors.

The second reason why his aura is not visible like the rest is because Po uses his Chi very often. In kfp 4 Po we see how he uses it during combat or how he opens the gate to the spirit world. There's a chance that Po used more off-screen than he did in the movie. So it's possible that this is why his aura is not as visible as the rest.

We see that Po has acquired several abilities, but he uses them unknowingly. So I'm guessing he has two visible abilities. The first with conversation with the afterlife and the ability to predict the future or something similar. The first one could be that Oogway spoke, but the second one is definitely some new ability of Po.

The question now is. When Shifu figured out that Po was a spirit warrior? Maybe he saw something strange with Po? Maybe shifu had guessed by Po's appearance or his behavior. Or perhaps he noticed how rarely he needed rest.

He must have noticed something in Po. If it were true. That Po is a spirit warrior. He is definitely unaware of it.

All right. At the end. Now let's move on to why Po chose Zhen.

Let's discuss Tai Lung first because it is the easiest.

He is dead. 💀

Okay now let's move on to Tigress. Tigress could be the next dragon warrior. But there are a few reasons why not.

#1- I suspect that Tigress no longer wants to be a dragon warrior even if she had a chance to become one.

#2 - She's a good fighter, but I think she'd have trouble shrugging off some of the Kung Fu stereotypes like Po did. A way of teaching or selecting someone to succeed you.

#3 - Po and Tigress are almost the same age.

#4- In the third part it is seen that Chi Tigress is not as strong as Po.

[cbs-scorpion-coffee-shop]

*Takes notes for fourth movie rewrite*

Puppetmaster Oogway Theory

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Take a young snow leopard from his family, perhaps?

Or maybe something worse?

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

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

[6blackfilin9]

more Shifu

[dakooftacos]

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[velvet-vox]

The complete and utter alienation of Tai Lung: Part 1

First thing first: I am not a Tai Lung defender so consider this an unbiased post.

So, Kung Fu Panda color theory is pretty much well known across all of the fandom, and it's obvious even from an outside perspective.

Po and the heroes are yellow/gold

Then Lord Shen's red

Kai's and Oogway's green

And finally Tai Lung colour is blue

(Also Chameleon is also yellow but this ain't about her).

And this is the one I want to touch upon in this post.

You see this graphic?

These are the three primary colours /yellow, cyan and magenta/ that come together to form the main secondary colours /blue, red, green/.

If you are in the fandom, or you just simply pay attention, you'll also know that:

Tai Lung's backstory has ties with Shifu.

Lord Shen's backstory has ties with Po.

General Kai's backstory has ties with Oogway.

But Kai backstory doesn't just simply have ties to Oogway like we were simply led to believe at large, but it also has ties with Po, because of his ties with the panda village and its effect on Oogway's reformation.

And with that, as you might have noticed, both Kai and Shen have, according to the chart, the colour yellow as a part of their secondary colour scheme.

With Shen in particular it goes a step further in that Po has red as a complimentary colour to yellow in some scenes.

Shen is also the least isolated of the villains (mental state doesn't count); always surrounded by his goons who he's going to use to conquer China and the Soothsayer, Shen is only truly alone at the end of the movie on the boat scene where he's just been defeated.

And Kai, despite the fact that he doesn't have goons that can bounce off his dialogue, is also never truly alone whenever we see him; he was a warlord leader of a huge army, he now has a jade zombie army and he often speaks to the Oogway amulet and narrates him whatever is happening, and, like Shen, he only becomes alone during his death scene.

They do tend to isolate themselves from others of their own volition...... but Tai Lung?

He has absolutely nothing. Nobody. Never had.

Returning to the colour wheel, his main colour is blue and he has ties with Shifu's backstory who, after the first movie, loses relevance for the rest of the movies. And blue itself is a pretty alien colour in the entire series (extended material included), it doesn't have any ties with yellow, much like Tai Lung doesn't have any personal ties with Po despite being in opposition, and Tai Lung itself doesn't interact much with the setting besides being a looming threat.

And it all ties back to his isolation and how it probably tied back to his turn to the dark side.

From the glimpses that we see of his childhood, Tai Lung doesn't interact with anyone else aside from Shifu and possibly Oogway, and I'm pretty confident in saying that he probably lived a sheltered life in the Jade palace. A childhood like that can inflict serious damage on a person's mental health in the long run as you don't have anyone who you can confront your experiences with, and it clearly carried on into adulthood, better explaining his fit of rage after being denied the dragon scroll.

Sadly, his loneliness carried on for the 20 years that he spent in jail. And after he escapes, he tries to claim back the dragon scroll by himself since he doesn't have an army or ways to gain allies, so he just carries on with nobody to support him and then he dies of a lonely, gruesome death that reflects on the way he lived.

The franchise itself then continues to portray Tai Lung less as a character and more as a figure of power in Po's journey, completely and utterly dehumanising him in every possible and conceivable way.

Ok, I must admit, maybe I gained a brand new appreciation for Tai Lung while writing this.

Next Part>>>>

[badpanduhmemes]

[shootbangdang]

Lord Shen forged his own spear

A theory...

ok there's a chance some of you eagle-eyed Shen studyers already know this. But a few months ago I was checking out models from the game Showdown of Legendary Legends, and I noticed this:

"Huh, that's weird, the blade is all messed up." I wondered why the game devs decided to make his spear so assymetrical and imperfect. Until I compared it to his spear in the movie:

Clear as day, the thing has a very pronounced curve along its axis. Now I wondered if this was just a technical gaffe, so I looked further back into Shen's development:

Still there. But just to be sure, I went back to the clay model:

And all the way back to the drawing board:

Yep! Fully intentional.

Now I can only guess as to why it's forged so crudely, and my only conclusion can be that he made the "guandao" himself. Perhaps he took it as a sign of pride for him to need to forge his own weapon with zero outside help.

This could be supported by the fact that the weapon he used in the panda massacre is completely distinct from this one:

And no, it's not just a stylized version for the flashback. It's a real weapon that actually exists, and is seen in Kung Fu Panda 3:

So, Lord Shen lost or discarded this weapon after the panda massacre. Thereafter, he forged himself a new one with a lobed blade, one less connected to his old home's "flame" theme and more with his own "eye" design. There is only one small issue with this theory, however...

The durn thing shows up in the 3D portion of Po's flashback. So, it's a wash? Not quite. There's still the possibility Shen forged it himself before he was banished, or that the filmmakers forgot to switch his spears out for this sequence.

If he did make the weapon himself, that also means it was his decision to add this cute goth collar to the crossguard:

That's the end of the theory. Hope I gave you some cold hard steel to chew on.

[elegantjellyfishwerewolf]

Theory

What if the Chameleon hired Zhen to steal Po's staff and use it to summon the villains from the previous parts?

That would explain why Zhen knows so much about the new villainess.

And, obviously, the theft of the staff was unsuccessful, since during the conversation with Po, Zhen is in prison.

[knine-nights]

I have a Problem

Ok I was rewatching Kung Fu Panda because reasons and it just came up again and somebody help me.

So Tai Lung right? Scary cat guy villain of KFP1. Love his voice acting, his backstory is great, his baby version is one of the cutest things ever but hold on a fuckin second. WHAT IS WITH HIS TEETH?

WHAT? There are parts here and there where it’s clearer but we never have an explanation.

Have you ever seen Snow Leopard teeth? And just to clarify, yes Tai Lung is confirmed a Snow Leopard.

It’s really hard to see in most pictures but if you see the skull it’s clearer.

So yeah that’s shockingly accurate right?

But hold on a fuckin second.

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY OF THE FLAT TEETH ON THE TOP AND BOTTOM??

On this skull there are six on the bottom row.

In both of these pictures there are FOURTEEN.

THATS MORE THAN TWICE AS MUCH.

And it’s in both pictures exactly 14 so this isn’t an oppsie daisy moment.

And don’t just say that the way they drew the head meant they needed to have more bottom teeth. They could have made them wider or drawn any aspect differently. They chose this.

Why?!

[neofelis----nebulosa]

I’m just going to come out and say it I think tai lung is getting a redemption in kfp 4

[burst-of-iridescent]

Writing a Final Battle: Kung Fu Panda vs ATLA

every day i think about how the po & shen battle at the end of kung fu panda 2 is everything the aang & ozai battle at the end of atla should have been and get frustrated at the wasted potential all over again.

i’ll cut the show some slack in that the personal nature of po & shen’s relationship was never going to be possible in atla given the 100 year time jump, and that ozai himself wasn’t personally responsible for the air nomad genocide, which naturally undercuts their individual connection. but given that the final agni kai fulfilled the character-based conflict of the finale anyway, it fell to the aang-ozai battle to represent the thematic one, and it fell incredibly short where kfp 2 absolutely delivered.

it’s threaded throughout the narrative of the movie that po and shen are two sides of the same coin: black and white, yin and yang, goodness and madness. they both see themselves (po in kfp 2, at least) as orphans, plagued by fears that they were abandoned and unloved. both flee from a past they’re too afraid to face, tormented by wounds they believe won’t heal, shackled to a destiny they refuse to give up. the existence of one threatens the survival of the other; shen is foretold to be defeated by a warrior of black & white, while po cannot be the dragon warrior, the title that gave him a home and identity and belonging, in a world without kung fu — the world that shen is trying to create.

even without po’s personal connection to shen as the one responsible for his mother’s death and the loss of his community, thematically the two mirror each other perfectly. and it is this mirroring that makes the moment of their divergence so impactful and essential to the narrative: that while po stops running from his past, shen is never able to do so. it’s in making the choice to accept what happened to him & find peace in who he is that po triumphs over shen, and so illustrates the themes of the movie perfectly: that your past need not determine your future. that you cannot avoid your destiny, but you can shape the road you take to meet it, and that choice is yours and yours alone.

where po exemplifies the choice for peace, for healing, for acceptance, shen represents the choice to perpetuate violence, pain, self-loathing — and the brutal, inevitable self-destruction waiting at the end of that path. a classic writing technique for a thematic conflict, executed brilliantly: to have the hero and villain rise or fall by the virtues they stand for.

now compare this to aang and ozai.

i’ve talked before about how this battle fails from a character perspective for aang, but it also fails thematically as a result. following the constructed narrative up to the southern raiders, what should have happened in this battle was aang winning because he drew wisdom from different places, using bending techniques and knowledge from all four nations, and ozai losing as a consequence of his own destructive pride and reliance on firebending alone. instead, the unity vs individualism, balance vs domination theme set up from the start with the idea of the avatar falls completely by the wayside as the battle focuses on air nomad pacifism vs fire nation violence instead — an unsubstantiated, last minute ass pull of a conflict chucked in for no good reason.

but fine, we’ll bite. it’s not a bad conflict, in theory, just poorly set up. the execution might still have worked, if not for the fact that a) the means of this pacifism is entirely unearned and b) the choice to save ozai’s life is not about ozai at all, but about aang.

po’s victory feels earned because not only did the movie set the means of this victory up well in advance — introducing the chekhov’s gun of the dew drop and inner peace in the first ten minutes — it also perfectly aligned his external conflict (defeating shen) with his internal conflict (coming to terms with the pain of his past). in other terms, it’s the classic Want vs Need: po’s want (saving kung fu) is only achieved through first meeting his need (accepting who he is and where he came from, in its entirety).

aang, on the other hand, is given the solution to his external conflict through lion turtle ex machina, and Rock of Mega Convenience, neither of which was found as a result of his own choices or autonomy. it’s like if po showed up at the final battle with shen having skipped the entirety of the scene at the soothsayer’s, and yet is able to redirect the metal balls anyway because… well who the fuck knows, just go with it.

and that’s bad enough, except then it’s compounded by the fact that aang gets his Want (maintaining his people’s values & his moral purity) by doing… uh… *checks notes* Fucking Nothing. there is no Want vs Need here at all; aang didn’t have to sacrifice anything, or undergo any internal struggle, to receive the power of energybending. (and no, being “pure of heart” in order to energybend doesn’t count — a potential moral decline or losing air nomad values through assimilation to a changed world was never an arc set up for aang, and so cannot be counted as a feasible Need.)

and as the cherry on top of this clusterfuck of terrible writing comes the moment where aang chooses to spare ozai, a scene intended to convey the triumph of the air nomads’ compassion and pacifism over the fire nation’s brutality, a scene meant to have incredible pathos and meaning… and which accomplishes neither of the above.

po trying to spare shen is genuinely moving because the scene is framed around shen. it’s about the fact that despite every terrible thing shen has done — in that moment po sees in him only someone as lost and confused and pained as he was, someone clinging to a grand destiny to cure, in vain, the wounds of the past. someone po himself might have been in another life, another time. po’s compassion is for shen and shen alone, with no ulterior benefit to himself, and you get the sense that deep down — at least for a moment — shen wants to believe in the kindness and hope po is offering. that’s what makes it genuine and gives the scene such gravitas.

by contrast, the scene between aang and ozai is framed around aang, not ozai. aang is the one who wants to spare ozai. aang is the one who benefits from leaving ozai alive, because he doesn’t need to sacrifice his morals or beliefs. aang is the one getting his wish, not ozai — who would likely choose death over defeat and losing his bending anyway. this isn’t helped by the fact that the fire lord is inherently a far less tragic & compelling figure than shen because a) he exists largely as an antagonistic force than a character in his own right for most of the series, and b) aang and ozai don’t have an existing relationship to add depth to this moment, the way zuko and azula do.

as such, the one-sided nature of the conflict only strengthens the impression that saving ozai’s life is all about what aang wants, not ozai — which makes the message of the scene seem a lot more “if you’re the hero, you’ll get everything you want with absolutely no cost or consequences” and a lot less “compassion always triumphs over cruelty” (which was probably the intention).

ultimately, the po vs shen battle works where aang vs ozai fails because:

1. the themes embodied by the characters manifest beautifully in their individual arcs, and in their eventual victory and defeat, respectively

2. they contrast each other thematically and narratively, and their individual endings are earned through their own agency from start to finish, with their external conflicts being linked to and resolved through their internal character struggles

3. the set up of the conflict is carefully planned and thoughtfully executed, and the payoff follows through perfectly every step of the way

tldr: kung fu panda will always be the superior asian-inspired fantasy about a chosen one confronting his destiny as the saviour of the world & the day we can acknowledge as a society that po’s character arc is a thousand times better and more well-written than aang’s is the day i will finally know peace.

[tranquilskies2]

KFP Characters as the five celestial guardians Intro

(NOTE: Designs shown are NOT final)

If you're a longtime Kung fu Panda fan, you may know about the existence of Paws of Destiny. It's a Netflix animated show that only lasted for one season. To summarize the show, it centers on Po being a mentor to four panda cubs who gained chi of the four celestial guardians.

For those unfamiliar with the four heavenly beasts (Also known as "Four Gods", "Four Guardians" "Four Heavenly Creatures" & "Four Auspicious Beasts), the five celestial guardians are five mythical animals who serve as guardians & protectors of the world and four directions. These five creatures also represent constellations, seasons & elements. For thousands of years, they remained an integral piece to Chinese culture & mythology.

A few months ago I came across a blog post (unfortunately, I can't find the blog post). This blog post proposes a theory that Po & the four movie villains we have so far represent the five heavenly beasts. Although OP did not invent the theory (nor could I find out who originally invented the theory), I still remained intrigued by it.

The four heavenly beasts consists of: Azure Dragon of the East, Black Tortoise (sometimes known as Black Warrior) of the North, Vermilion Bird of the South & finally, White Tiger of the West. You may be wondering:Five heavenly beasts? Weren't there four? Believe it or not, there is indeed a fifth (and often forgotten but yet most important) heavenly beast. The fifth heavenly beast is the Yellow Dragon of the Center.

According to (insert username of person who made the og post here), the representatives of the five celestial guardians is as followed:

Po- Yellow Dragon of the Center

Chameleon- Azure Dragon of the East

Kai: Black Tortoise of the North

Lord Shen: Vermilion Bird of the South

Tai Lung: White Tiger of the West

In the next following weeks, I'll be posting fan-made designs of each along with text explaining why I have them assigned to those roles.

Chameleon as the Azure Dragon of the East>>

Sources:

https://www.localiiz.com/post/culture-local-stories-chinese-mythology-101-four-symbols

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-asia/four-mythological-symbols-china-001792

https://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/ssu-ling.shtml

https://www.bigstrawmagazine.com/home/four-symbols-of-eastern-mythology

https://www.cits.net/china-travel-guide/four-mythological-creatures-in-china.html

[velvet-vox]

The complete and utter alienation of Tai Lung: Part 2

Very recently I've done a marathon of all the Kung Fu Panda movies after not seeing them for a couple of years, watching one after the other in a single day, and aside from the emotional whiplash of seeing Kung Fu Panda 3 right after 2, it really got me to rethink about the colour theory present in the Kung Fu Panda movies, and more specifically about Tai Lung's.

Now, it's no secret that my first Tai Lung analysis blew up (unexpectedly), and it's still getting new hearts to this very day, and thus it only felt natural to make a sequel that could touch upon things that I didn't talk about originally.

So... let's bring up the colour table again, shall we?

As we have already established, Po is yellow, Shen red, Kai and Oogway green, and Tai Lung blu....... right?

The thing is, this simple association of the colour's meaning doesn't leave much room for an interesting, in depth discussion, that's why I wanted to go a little bit deeper into what I've head cannoned as the individual meaning of each primary colour, so that we can expand upon our current colour dynamics.

Just for reminder:

Cyan+Magenta=Blue

Magenta+Yellow=Red

Yellow+Cyan=Green

Just like we said, Yellow is the colour of Po, our heroes, the good side, (the Chameleon) and justice; whenever Yellow is present on the scene, you know that you can put yourself to ease, as nothing bad is probably going to happen;

I believe this to be the most straightforward primary colour, for obvious reasons, but especially because all the other colours gain their meaning when compared to Yellow (Po, our protagonist), therefore it also has to be the one we understand the most.

Indeed,

Po = Yellow

Now, this is where it starts to get interesting:

....I believe cyan to be Oogway's true colour. I think about it. When we first met Oogway, the only lighting present in the room was the cyan light of the Dragon scroll's pond, there was actually very little green accentuated in that scene, it was all mostly mellowed out by the cyan.

It also makes sense when you consider that Tai Lung and Kai had a relationship with Oogway, while Shen didn't because red isn't made out of cyan.

There's also the whole popular belief that "cyan represents patience" which also fits Oogway, but it's not really important to this discussion, so you can think what you want about it.

So,

Oogway = Cyan

Magenta... is particular.

Particular in the sense that it's extremely rare in both the movies and outside material.

Of magenta/purple things that come to mind we have Crane and Tai Lung's clothing, Shen's mother, Feng Huang related things, that weird sexual panda from the third movie... and probably some more.

As you can see, magenta is incredibly hard to pinpoint its meaning due to how infrequently it's used, which makes sense: Magenta and purple have ties to royalty in both China and other countries around the world; it's a sacred colour, so it has to be used sparingly, and I don't think it was ever intended by the writers for a meaning to be extrapolated from it.

....

Yet I tried to anyway.

Now, let it be known that I'm planning to make a post talking about Po's weird relationship birds, as it feels like whenever a bird is on screen the conflict is already more personal for Po.

For now... you could argue that magenta means danger, since it's the closest colour to purple aka yellow's opposite, and both Shen and Tai Lung are a direct threat to Po while Kai is treated as a joke for the entirety of the final movie, but I doubt bad writing has any deeper meaning.

I actually wanted to attribute magenta the meaning of closeness. For me, it was the easiest way to justify his rarity: it can't be Shifu's colour because he lost relevance after the first movie, and no other character is closely associated with it, so it makes sense for it to just be a colour that's taken for granted by Po since his adopted dad shares those tones.

However, I think I came up with a much more interesting idea: it's the colour of pride and approval, as Tai Lung and Shen both sought the approval of their parents to satisfy their ego, while Kai wasn't seeking anybody's approval for his evil actions.

Ultimately, magenta, much like in the movies, is irrelevant to the narrative, so I'm going to ignore it, but for now,

Approval = Magenta

Finally, (a worthy opponent) with all that out of the way, let's talk about everybody's favourite snow leopard!

And the first thing to mention, is the gold.

The Gold.

The GOLD.

It's everywhere. Whenever you look at him, Tai Lung is always chasing the gold, he was welcomed by the gold when he had no one by his side, and said gold was always what he dreamt about when he was in jail, he basked in the gold his entire life, and when that gold rejected him, he had nothing left in his life to cling onto because his entire life was dependent by that gold.

While Shen and Kai have Yellow as part of their secondary colour by nature, Tai Lung doesn't, yet he wants to. But that yellow keeps rejecting him and putting an end to his actions;

When Tai Lung's first rampage is interrupted, the (chi) body block technique that Oogway uses to stop him is yellow; when Po kills him at the end of the movie, the after wave of the Wuxi finger is, again, yellow; TAI LUNG'S EYES ARE YELLOW. BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT'S ALWAYS ON HIS MIND.

... And that makes all the similarities that he shares with Tigress kind of sad (For both).

Like, I already knew that Tigress and Tai Lung were similar and meant to be foil, but it's only after my most recent rewatch the underlying pain and tragedy present in their rivalry really hit me.

If Tigre's pupils weren't red, she would have easily turned out as the next Tai Lung.

And Tai Lung upon seeing how similar he is to Tigress, probably thinks "This is what Shifu replaced me with. A cheap knock-off copy of the real deal".

It hurts him deeply, because it reminds him of how little Shifu really cared for him, despite not being true, and it scares Tigress, who's nervous for their entire interaction, due to now finally seeing Tai Lung in the flesh and not as just some story she overheard.

Tragically, once Tai Lung finally manages to get his paws on the Dragon scroll (yellow), it doesn't fix anything for him, instead, it sends him spiralling one last time before Po can finally put him out of his misery.

And with that, Tai Lung goes out of his miserable existence, only finding peace in the afterlife, and not in death.

<<<<Previous part

The horrifying humanity of Lord Shen

[yaklixy]

Well, we had to make KFP theories.

first thing's first

where are the furious 5

Or are they saving them for an epic appearance?

Or they're just not going to be in the movie

Let's hope that's not the case and that they have their big appearance in this movie.

although there is also the possibility that they do not appear because po it would be far from the valley of peace.

well let's continue

maybe most of the trailer we saw is just the beginning of the movie

why do I say this?

because we were supposed to see a lot of the movie, Po, in this suit (according to the information I saw it could be wrong)

Also in this scene he has his hat

and I say this because even in his balloon they put him in that suit

•The chameleon

(In my personal humble opinion I love it)

As we saw in the trailer she transforms into all kinds of animals

using them at will and creating panic in the cities

using Tai lung for example she wanted his power

Maybe because they always looked at her as someone weak because of her size.

its power

In the trailer we can see how powerful she is, taking away Tai lung's knowledge of Kung fu.

(although if it were hand-to-hand combat Tai lung wins :>)

In these scenes we can see that Tai lung is robbed of both his appearance and his strength

and perhaps he erased all knowledge of Kung fu from his memory since when he launched his tongue it hit Tai Lung, it did so directly in the head.

making Tai lung, so to speak, more stupid when fighting, he could put up a small fight but he would be someone clumsy without having any knowledge of Kung fu

although there is also the possibility that I just copied the abilities of each villain

although if this were the case she would send the villains back to the spirit realm or lock them up because if she let them loose there they would be a danger to she

An example Kai, if she only copied his power he could easily take away her chi at a moment when she was unprepared.

Another thing that could happen (speaking of the villains) is that he only imitates their appearance because if he specifically has to manage to touch the villains with his tongue, that means that Kai is alive in one way or another.

how we can see it in the trailer you don't need to touch po he just imitated it but it had some differences

Or it could also be that he only cares about stealing the power of the villains and doesn't care at all about stealing the power of the masters including Po.

This scene is perhaps where Po loses his staff.

The return of the villains from the previous films

For me it is something incredible to be able to see the old villains again in this movie

Also, with the evolution of animation, Tai Lung looks amazing, imagine Lord Shen and Kai.

well maybe and we won't have a big appearance from Kai and Lord Shen maybe and they won't be on screen as much as some would like, Tai lung is going to be on much longer than the two of them

They are going to appear, they are going to appear in the leaked trailer, they are mentioned but I don't think they have a great meaning, the only one would be Tai lung

Plus that means Kai survived and Lord Shen was in the spirit realm.

I will continue later because it no longer lets me post images 🙃

[merpdaberp]

I disagree with people defending the Chameleon's Backstory

So when Kung Fu Panda 4 came out there was a lot of mixed reception from fans. Some hated it, some liked it or loved it, and others found it fine.

Personally, I think it's fine, I don't hate it, but I don't like it either. It could've been worse and could've been better.

One thing that always bugs me about fans defending the chameleon's backstory is that keep mentioning the shorts and one animator saying not all dojos were as excepting. Which I have several issues.

1. We don't know if the shorts are canon or not. The shorts are character backstories. Especially in the secrets of the Furious Five and secrets of the scrolls. Fans would mention how some of the dojos didn't accept or respect certain species. They bring up Crane not being accepted because he is skinny and looks weak. That sure is fair enough. But the thing is in the same short we have Mantis kicking ass! Now we don't know much about how Mantis learned Kung Fu. This is another thing I'm skeptical of in the shorts especially Secrets of the Furious Five, as it was Po telling the stories as lessons to kids. So we don't know how accurate they are.

Then we have the secrets of the scrolls. People also brought up but it doesn't make sense as an argument. Like Shifu is a master and he's also small. We even see other Red Panda masters. People say when he gets mad at seeing the five as an example. But people missed the point. He was not mad because they were different species; he's mad because they weren't the people he asked for.

My rule is if it ain't in the actual movie then it ain't canon or brought up at all. Unless DreamWorks actually says they are canon but they haven't. Btw I like the shorts but I wouldn't take them too seriously.

2. People keep bringing up one animator on Twitter who says that not all dojos are as accepting as the Jade Palace. That would've been fine but like, the issue is that it's one animator.

We haven't heard from the others and not even the writers. Also, they said that Secrets of the Scrolls is canon. But my criticism is that she only worked on the fourth movie and not the previous ones. Unless it's her personal opinion or headcanon. But like I said if it ain't in the movie, it does not count. I wouldn't mind it if we saw a flashback to see it happen, but we never did.

Edit: I should also mention that there might be biases, as it is an actual animator, so of course they would defend their work but there also a Kung Fu Panda fan. I do not hate Abbey, btw, I just think we shouldn't take their word for it. The context was someone asking who would defeat Death from The Last Wish and the Chameleon. Abbey tried to explain it and gave a backstory that was never in the film. As a KFP fan, she used the shorts to explain it.

Now, as I said, there's nothing wrong with that; I just have an issue with certain fans using it to explain the chameleons' backstory. Especially since it's only one person saying it.

3. Even if the dojos rejected Chameleon because of her size. It still doesn't make sense because we already have canonically small masters. Like, we literally have a Master Rat that leads an army. We knew this because we saw the army's battle helmet at the Jade Palace in the third movie.

Heck, even in 4 Po mentions a Master Chipmunk. So how unlucky does the Chameleon to find the right dojo? There are probably dojos out there who specifically train small animals. Heck we even saw them in Secrets of the Scrolls of red panda masters (I know I just repeated myself)

So that's why I disagree with some fans. I feel like they're trying to make it sense in their heads, which is fine, but they acted as if this stuff was in the movie? Like in the film, Chameleons just said she was rejected because how small and lowly. Nothing else to flesh it out.

Edit 2: It's a big thing fandoms using fan theories and headcanons to fill in missing information, but using it to try to explain to another fan why their criticism is wrong. But that's not a good way to do it? Especially is you have much evidence to back it up and it seems more like they're just making it up, or just coping. I just hate when fans do that.

So that was my rant and stuff. I gotta go to bed. Sorry for any grammar mistakes.

[swan2swan]

Confirmed Cast and Crew for Jurassic World: Chaos Theory

-Emily Beaver (Storyboard, first major project)

-Heidi Neunhoffer (Storyboard, Camp Cretaceous and Spirit: Riding Free)

-Bethany Armstrong Johnson (Head Writer, Camp Cretaceous, KFP: Paws of Destiny)

-Scott Kreamer (Showrunner, Camp Cretaceous)

-Nick Rodriguez (Writer)

-Travis Gunn (Writer, Santiago of the Seas, Dino Daycare)

-Sarah Karimipour (Writer, Tiny Chef Show)

-Annie Arjarasumpun (Script coordinator, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans)

Will update with more, but it looks like we're in for a mix of writers with a lot of experience in kids' shows. Not sure who the paleontology expert is going to be without Josie, or if the writing is going to be as strong as the first three seasons of Camp Cretaceous.

Paul-Mikel Williams is almost guaranteed to return as Darius, and I heard rumors of Ryan Potter being attached (Kenji may just be a cameo, though, anchored to the show by his fraternal bond to our current possible-MC, probably-mentor).

I don't believe Zack Stentz has any attachment, but Spielberg and Treverrow ARE executive producers, which obviously could mean Nothing or could mean that they will surprise us.

Feel free to add things!