#don't know how much of the original ''journey to the west'' is used in the new legends of monkey

[outofmymindbebacklater]

been watching the new legends of monkey and this story seems familiar ...

did I miss anything

#don't know how much of the original ''journey to the west'' is used in the new legends of monkey #but this makes me think that inuyasha was inspired by journey to the west #except obviously the og tripitaka was a dude not a girl in disguise #but still #inuyasha #kagome #inukag #the new legends of monkey #shippou #miroku #Sango #pigsy #sandy #tripkey #yelling into the void #also I forgot: fighting demons along the way

[novelcain]

When you did your version of wukong did you have a specific species of monkey in mind to base him of? Or was him a mix of some monkeys?

It got me curious when you said you know a lot of monkey facts and I wondered if you used this to concept him?

EEEEEEEEE! You have no idea how excited I got when I woke up and saw this ask! I literally don't even care that it's the newest one I'm answering rn!

And also! Before I get into how I made the design for ITTW Sun Wukong, something I wanted to throw out is that a few people have asked for me to give more monkey facts after I foolishly /j divulged that I am an encyclopedia of monkeys, so I've been thinking of doing like a Monkey Facts Monday cause alliteration where I post a bunch of monkey facts on mondays! So lemme know what you guys think of that idea cause I absolutely am willing to do it! :D

Now ONTO THE MONKIE MAN!

In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong is described to be that of demon Rhesus Macaque.

Rhesus Macaques can come in a variety of browns, greys, whites, and blondes, but for the most part are largely this stunning platinum gold color like in the picture above. I personally love this this color and wish we could see more golden furred Monkey Kings instead of just monkey=brown.

In addition to golden furs, a Rhesus Macaque's skin is largely a pinkish-peachy color with darker, nearly black, fingers and feet (You can see this in the first picture as well :)). And males tend to have more redish saturation around their eyes. (The saturation of this "mask" on males has been linked to levels of testosterone and therefore the dark/more red the mask the more potent the male, meaning it may be a sexual selective male trait as females have been observed preferring males with redder masks.... *looks at LMK Macaque simps*)

However, one thing about Rhesus Macaques is that they have very short tails. (As depicted below)

And that just wasn't quite the look a was going for. So while I was thinking "Eeeeh I could just say that he's a Rhesus Macaque with a long tail" but as I was sifting through my monkey knowledge I remembered another macaque species!

The Crab-Eating Macaque! Aka the Long Tailed Macaque!

These macaques very closely resemble Rhesus Macaques in facial features as well as fur as they also come in a variety of gingers, browns, greys, and blondes with their main color variation being this brownish-gold. (below) Tho their pelts tend to range darker than a Rhesus Macaque's.

And instead of having mainly peachy skin with a few black tones around the hand and feet, they largely have very dark skin with the brightest parts being around the eyes and the darkest being their pitch black ears, hands, and feet.

And come on, you can't tell me this isn't a Monkey King face:

Plus I might be just a liiiittle biased because my favorite monkey picture is a Long Tailed Macaque:

Just look at this dude! He's so done with life! 😂

But along with just physical characteristics, Rhesus Macaques and Long Tailed Macaques share many behavioral qualities as well.

They both display threats in similar ways, such as baring teeth paired with screaming to frighten predators and other monkeys. Though, Rhesus Macaques tend to be more aggressive and bold (accurate to Wukong) while Crab-Eating Macaques are very cautious and skittish. A Rhesus would much rather fight while a Long Tailed would much rather run.

Another thing they share is their open affection for each other. Both Rhesus and Crab-Eating Macaques have extremely tight knit bond within their troop and with even form best friends from a very young age. Just look at this family unit and how the younger two hold the elder monkey! So sweet. 🥹

All in all! In the end, I went with a mixture of these two species for my ITTW Wukong design, leaning slightly more toward his original species, the Rhesus Macaque, and gave him the proportions of a human since he's a monkey demon.

The traits that I took from the Rhesus Macaques were his blonde fur and peachy pale skin tone as well as his more saturated peach mask, which I blended with a darker blackish-red at the bottoms to pay homage to the Crab-Eating Macaque's darker faces.

The traits that I took from the Crab-Eating Macaques were their long tails and black tipped ears. (as well as the blended mask)

And the traits I took from both were the black tipped hands and feet as well as their long fangs.

While his eye come straight from the book.

And this was the result!

#skittle answers #my art #isekai'd to the west #ittw #ittw sun wukong #journey to the west #jttw #jttw sun wukong #jttw sun wukong fanart #jttw wukong #jttw monkey king #sun wukong #wukong #monkey king #original monkey king design #original sun wukong design

[fastcardotmp3]

watching too much of TLOU has me thinking of a stranger things au where the Upside Down wins the war before the Party ever has the chance to fight in it, right? so like. hear me out.

the UD makes it's go at invading topside when the older kids are young, like just old enough to remember what the world was like in the before, but the younger kids, the original party? They've never seen a version of this world that wasn't dark skies and crimson lightning and learning how to fight off monsters at the same time you're learning how to ride a bike.

It's not just Hawkins, Indiana that's been overcome by these forces that no one knows how to stop, although those of them trapped here at the point of origin by the military forces that started trying to shut it all down a decade-plus ago can't be positive just how far it reaches.

There are rumors of cities on the coasts still intact-- a California sunset in a clear sky, the water clean without having to go through intense filtration and people just going about living their lives without carrying three weapons on their person at all times, without preparing to run at the drop of a hat.

There are rumors of places that the twisting vines of a malicious consciousness can't reach, and there have been rumors like that for as long as Steve Harrington can remember.

But he doesn't believe them.

The Earth split open when he was nine years old and took his childhood with it, cracked the whole thing open and swallowed down the future of a boy who liked to play sports and sit on the counter while his mother cooked dinner to loud music on the radio.

The Earth split open and took her with it, leaving Steve a lonely kid made angry by his loss and made mean by his anger.

He comes of age in chaos, in military housing for kids with nowhere else to go, free soldiers to raise for killing, and they like him there. They like that he doesn't form attachments to the other kids, like that he's got a sharp tongue, like that he isn't afraid of a fight even when it's one everyone knows he'll lose.

They like that he's got a tough exterior, because they don't know what's hiding behind it. They don't see the him behind the bared teeth and snarling words until he falls in love with a girl in town.

Until they get wrapped up in a conspiracy because her best friend is missing and a kid named Byers is missing too and Steve's entire worldview gets dropped on its head because suddenly all the anger he has over his mother's death has a place to go other than fighting.

Nancy Wheeler slaps him and Jonathan Byers kicks his ass and they both break his heart a little bit and Steve realizes somewhere amidst heartbreak turning to friendship that they're angry too, but they're using it to help.

There aren't a lot of options for a kid without a family in a place like this, ravaged by monsters with too few resources to go around, but Steve isn't a boy that does things by halves, so leaving the training school is something of a no-brainer.

There are rumors about cities on the coasts that never had to face Hell crawling out of the ground, and Steve doesn't believe them when he stumbles his way into a cabin off the main drag of occupied Hawkins and into a half-decent living situation.

He doesn't believe them when he meets Robin Buckley while they're both trying to earn a few extra meal cards for their families doing shit grunt work that no one else wants, no one but the desperate among them.

He still doesn't believe them when a boy and his uncle, the girl named Chrissy they picked up along the way, come passing through town saying they're on a journey out West towards the rumored Free Zones.

For years he keeps not believing, keeps holding onto the understanding of the world in which this happened everywhere and no matter where they had been, his mother would still have died, that there was no saving her, that he couldn't have--

For years he believes, but Max starts having these nightmares...

And the cracks in the Earth begin to widen...

And everything goes to shit again again again again--

The Munson's have a mobile home and so does Hopper.

Joyce thinks with Eddie's help she can grab a third to be able to fit them all comfortably.

There are rumors about cities on the coasts, and maybe Steve can find a reason worth believing them now.

#is this anything because i might try to make this something #dot post #dot fic #stranger things fic #stranger things au #steve harrington #eddie munson #nancy wheeler #robin buckley #in my heart this is a roadtrip fic too like very tlou meets fury road in the search of Promised Lands ya feel

[battle-of-mid]

iwould like to hear your rant about lmk wukong's character assassination. In detail. if possible. please

(takes long drag of cigarette) it really did all start with the show itself coming out. see, after ROTTMNT came out, i don't think we could really expect flying bark to be "faithful" to its IPs and while whether that was a good thing for the TMNT franchise is absolutely something that can be discussed by people that aren't me, it's a whole lot more sensitive when you're handling a show based on a cultural treasure -

LEGO's line of toys dedicated to a sort of journey of the west spinoff is, in my opinion, an objectively good idea. other than boosting sales it feels kind of inevitable considering just how much LNY stuff they'd put out already, you know? to put it simply i don't have any problems with the lego monkie kid IP in concept, just with the way FB decided to run with its execution -- which ended up landing it squarely in "hot mess" territory.

basically - and i promise that this is relevant to wukong specifically, bear with me - i think that the first red flags were the fixation on their rendition of the six-eared macaque: a character that they've changed from being a single-use "evil twin" character that served the original Journey to the West's allegory for enlightenment (ie. that he was a manifestation of SWK's worst impulses) and then immediately fucking died when the situation called for it. he didn't show up for more than one storyline. they retcon a looooot of SWK's actual backstory as detailed by the book itself in order to make room for sadboy LEMH content so the writers could get their shipfix for him and SWK (which is annoying on more than one point, if you remember what I said about the evil twin thing. if you catch my drift. average flying bark moment)

but to put it simply i genuinely think they just made him... way too much of a lazy fucking self absorbed asshole? the beginning of the show has this which feels like a one-off gag but they double down on it later which makes they didn't write sun wukong -- this is after he's supposed to have ascended to victorious-in-strife buddha, mind you, and it ends up feeling less like sun wukong at any point in the storyline and more like... well, goku. from dragon ball super. which is its own, mostly unrelated can of worms in and of itself.

the thing is this is a character that's been used historically as an allegory, as representative of the people, objectively a cultural icon no matter where in china-influenced asia you find yourself (fantastic analysis of the problem with the way LMK pays homage to that allegory here), and also used in reference to, like, diaspora kids. this is a character that baaasically any chinese person with any kind of connection to the culture is going to see themselves in - especially in his reckless identity and subsequent ascension, you know?

and the main problem here is essentially that when you do this with a character that exsits as part of a media franchise... it's fine? it's whatever. people can just skip that. but when you are doing this as an attempt to adapt a piece of historically and culturally important literature - one that is made for children, one that is infinitely more accessible to diaspora children of that culture than any other adaptation that would be directed towards their age demographic, it feels like a punch in the gut. it's a level of disrespect that just really really hurts, all because the people in charge of it feel like they have to flanderize their characters for their fandom or they'll, like, die.

this isn't exactly organized nor is it every thought i have on the matter but basically tldr they forgot they were writing sun wukong and not their oc

[tobiasdrake]

While you’re on the subject of underexplored Dragon Ball trivia, could you tell us something on the Dragon Balls themselves?

Hmm... not sure how much underexplored trivia I know on the subject. I think most of the details about what the Balls are and how they work are pretty well known. But I can go into a run-down.

Originally based on Journey to the West, the core purpose of the Dragon Balls is to provide a sort of miraculous quest of worthiness to their seeker. On Namek, the planet they come from, each one of six Balls, stars 2-7, is carried by the Choro or "Elder" of the village. To make your wish to Porunga, you must visit each village in turn and pass some great test of virtue that the Choro demands of you.

With the final Dragon Ball, the One-Star Ball, resting in the hands of Saichoro or "Grand Elder". He is the final arbiter of worthiness for your desire to receive a miracle from Porunga.

Krillin, incidentally, is the only person during the campaign on Namek to successfully pass a Namekian elder's measurement of virtue rather than taking a Ball by force. For escorting Dende to the safety of Saichoro's home and for having genuinely good intentions for his desired miracle, Krillin is judged worthy and given the One-Star Ball.

300 years ago, after the Nameless Namekian ascended to the lofty position of God, he was able to make Dragon Balls of his own. Though he didn't have the same organized structure that Saichoro put into his Dragon Ball system, the idea was similar: the Dragon Balls would provide a means for people to produce great deeds when in need.

It didn't pan out. The Dragon Bal ls were a mistake and brought nothing but horror to the Earth, and he regretted ever making the stupid fucking things. After Piccolo killed Shenron, God was more than ready to wash his hands of it.

By the time we meet God, it's hard to disagree. Oolong thwarted a maniac's wish for world domination by spending Shenron's world-shaping miracle on a set of women's undergarments before he could make his wish. A jackbooted warlord shot up multiple regions of the world to claim the Dragon Balls because he wanted to be taller. Bulma shot a child in the face with a gun so she could have infinite strawberries. Or a boyfriend. Either/or.

Honestly, infinite strawberries sounds pretty valid for a wish, NGL. Still wouldn't impress God, though.

There's also a piece of obscure Dragon Ball trivia says that the Dragon Balls were once used to successfully make a wish for world domination. This is why the entire Earth is a one-world nation under the dominion of King Furry. I think it comes from a Toriyama interview? But I don't recall the source so take that with a grain of salt.

In any case, God feels that the Dragon Balls were a horrible mistake and it's hard to disagree. The only thing that convinces him they're worth remaking is Goku's nobility. He sees in Goku the great virtue that has thus far been missing from anyone else who would seek the Dragon Balls, and that makes it all worthwhile.

The process of assembling the Dragon Balls is meant to be difficult. However, Bulma's invention of the Dragon Radar more or less trivialized it.

Notably, as a sign of her genius, the handheld radar that Bulma carries around outstrips the competition every time. She's far from the only person ever to make a Dragon Radar; She's just the only person ever to make a portable one.

That huge wall console is the best that the world's most powerful rogue paramilitary organization could manage. And it's still a hell of a lot better than anything Vegeta or Frieza had. They had to track people and hope a Dragon Ball was nearby.

Though I would be remiss to bring up Bulma's invention of the portable radar and not mention that, fun fact, the Radar that we often see passed around throughout the series wasn't built by her. Bulma's Radar was stolen by General Blue.

It's never seen again after this scene. I guess it was probably still in HQ when Goku stormed the place?

No, the Radar Goku finished the RRA arc with and then continues passing along from character to character is actually this one, created by - I shit you not - a cameo guest star from Toriyama's gag manga Dr. Slump.

Having seen the inner workings of the Radar while it was being repaired, Turbo the flying genius baby is able to reproduce a second copy. This copy would become the main Dragon Radar going forward after Bulma's original Radar was lost and forgotten.

Yeah, Dr. Slump canonically exists within the world of Dragon Ball and has directly impacted the story of one of its most iconic elements. However, this Radar still remains Bulma's genius design. She completely obliterated the entire test of virtue concept. I need you to understand that Bulma is the greatest heretic in the history of the universe, and that she and Vegeta deserve each other.

And now she uses Shenron for plastic surgery.

God was right. Earth isn't worthy of power like this. It was a mistake to bring Shenron back.

With some limitations, the great dragon summoned by the Dragon Balls can grant any miracle that is within Shenron's power. The main restriction this places is simple: Shenron or Porunga may not grant a wish affecting a person more powerful than Shenron unless that person consents.

This limitation serves the narrative purpose of explaining why we can't have Shenron pop any enemy that shows up into oblivion, which had been the Muten-Roshi's plan for dealing with Piccolo originally.

Though I occasionally like to joke about an AU where Bulma uses Shenron to solve the Saiyans. Can't teleport them into the sun or something? That's fine. I wish for you to teleport their spaceships into the sun.

No, I know you still can't teleport them even if you teleport their vehicles. That's fine. I'm asking you to teleport only the ships.

And then everyone lives happily ever after. Until about six or seven years later when the Androids kill us all.

But Shenron's and Porunga's power limitations also mean the story can have fun moments like this.

Goku is able to resist Porunga's attempt to warp him back to Earth because he's too powerful for the dragon to move involuntarily. He must consent to the teleport.

Of note: This particular piece of context doesn't come up in the DBS: Broly film directly, but it provides a fun bit of context to its finale.

When Cheelai used Shenron to save Broly, he had to consent to that. He could have told Shenron to go fuck himself and kept fighting instead.

But he doesn't want to. You can feel it just from looking at his face. Gogeta broke Broly's legendary berserker rage. In this instant, staring down Blue Gogeta's Kamehameha, Shenron asked him, "You want out of this, my dude?" And he said yes please. I'm done. I'm ready to go home.

The power restriction is also the reason why Shenron couldn't revert the Twins to normal humans.

But he can pop those self-destruct devices right out of their bodies, no sweat.

The other key limitation that Shenron has is an inability to resurrect the same person twice - Something Goku just sort of throws in as a new rule at the start of the Saiyan arc.

It's interesting to note that it's not specifically a prohibition against repeated rezzes, but against "granting the same wish twice". This never comes up in any other context, but it's interesting to think about.

Good thing Porunga doesn't have that limitation. Like. At all.

Hey, look at that. He was able to bring back Piccolo, Krillin, and Yamcha even though he'd already revived those two before.

Before the Buu arc, it could be assumed that he could raise people twice because those people had previously been raised by Shenron. Different dragon, different wish history. But no. Porunga's just better.

Our bootleg wish-dragon is a pale imitation of the real thing. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you that. But ours can do multi-rez so suck on that Poru--

Oh, never mind. Muri found out about multi-rez and gave him a tweak. Porunga remains the superior dragon. Of course, he's not the only person to upgrade their dragon. We have Dende to thank for Shenron's upgrades too.

This is a point that I've seen people get confused on. Dende's Shenron grants three wishes like Porunga. However, a multi-rez is so costly that it expends two of those wishes. So you can have three individual wishes or a multi-rez and one other wish.

The language here is super ambiguous, admittedly. It's easy to interpret Dende as saying "If I activate multi-rez then I have to set the limit to two." Like. We can configure Shenron for three wishes OR configure him for two wishes but make it possible to do multi-rez.

But subsequent chapters and authorial statements have clarified the matter. As long as you aren't multi-rezzing, you get three wishes.

It's just. Nobody ever uses Shenron for anything but multi-rez so it rarely comes up. This is not helped by general inconsistency, which Toei is particularly bad about but Toriyama's guilty of too. In the DBS: Broly movie, Shenron inexplicably is back to granting only one!

My dude. What happened to your upgrade? You were upgraded, you defective knock-off! DX

I think he just wanted to get the fuck out of there before Frieza realized he can still make his wish for improved tallness. He grants enough of that shit for Bulma as it is. He doesn't want another person muscling in on it.

This is what his life has come to.

It's also interesting to note that with multi-wish dragons, you can bank a wish if you don't have anything else in particular that you want.

Speaking of inconsistency, they made a multi-rez wish so shouldn't Shenron be down for eight months, not four? Either way, point is that you can cut down Shenron's recharge time by not using some of your wishes. Which makes sense if you think about it, but is more user-friendly than a lot of magical reality-warping macguffins typically are.

Shenron's great about that in general, concerning himself with making sure that the miracle he grants is in line with the intent of the wish, not just the letter. Unlike that bastard Porunga. He knows what he did.

In fairness, that's as much Dende's fault as Porunga's.

That about covers it for the Dragon Balls and their Wish Dragons, I think.

#dragon ball #dragon ball z #shenron #porunga

[violetvirus]

How does the six ears macaque play apart in the journey to the west cyberpunk story

i don't have his reference ready yet but i couldn't help but jump at the chance to talk about him

stone monkey 2.0, or the six-eared macaque prototype, is by all means a better version of the first stone monkey prototype. his hearing especially was enhanced, which is why he was given the name six ears despite not having any. almost identical to the first, macaque is much more obedient and harder to rewire than wukong was. because unfortunately due to tripitaka's own tampering with wukong, it was discovered that robots with a set personality are much harder to rewire. so they implemented this same idea in macaque, alongside a circlet kill switch so he could be easily rid of if he goes off mission. because he and wukong look so similar, many people turned on wukong, assuming he had betrayed the slums and returned to the jade city government.

macaque is intensely jealous of wukong. when he first came online, wukong and tripitaka were separated due to wukong's continuous use of violence. tripitaka was firm that if that's the personality wukong chooses to develop, it's fine, but he was no longer allowed to live alongside tripitaka. macaque sees wukong as abandoning a great home, a great life. his hatred bleeds over onto tripitaka as well, partly due to his own programming to kill/arrest him. macaque somewhat knows that it is much less likely he would be given another chance at a new personality like wukong did, because tripitaka would struggle with wiping his old code and rewiring him properly, and it angers him.

macaque is a reminder to wukong of all the things he hates about himself. his original coding, his violence, his origins as a robot created for destruction. macaque is all of wukong's most negative traits amplified, which he despises. so the animosity goes both ways.

macaque has given up on the idea that he may live freely like wukong was able to. but maybe it's not quite as out of reach as he thinks. who knows...

#sorry if anyone wanted a more unique macaque design... #but how could i not do the whole evil counterpart version?? #jttw #cyberpunk jttw #journey to the west #tang sanzang #six eared macaque #sun wukong #cyberpunk #futurism #au #alternative universe #yall catch that serial experiments lain ref? #blood tw #macaque is what would happen if tripitaka never reprogrammed wukong basically #could tripitaka potentially do the same as he did for wukong to macaque? #hmmm! #sorry for the late responses #slowly catching up on asks #will hopefully have more references and lore posts soon #my art #tripitaka #forgor his tag

[lucidboba]

This is a vent post on the Lego Monkie Kid fandom and the show. I am in no way an expert on the Journey To The West book so take this with a grain of salt.

I am honestly so sick of the Lego Monkie Kid fandom spreading misinformation around and claiming they know everything about JTTW Sun Wukong as a character when half of them don't even read the book and just get their information from OSP JTTW and LMK.

OSP on their podcast already said they left out a lot of stuff from the book for their videos as it's a summary and might have made Sun Wukong seem more impulsive then he actually are and they encouraged more people to read the book instead so I don't blame them.

What I blame is the part of the fandom that keeps on acting like they know everything when they just watch a short summary of a very long and complex book.

I get it, LMK is different from JTTW and change the original story a lot as it's a kids show. You shouldn't have to read the book just to enjoy the show. But you shouldn't spread misinformation around about the actual book just because you heard it from somewhere and did little to nothing research and just read a couple of short analysis.

This happens mostly to Sun Wukong as there are people saying he was unjustly punished and he didn't do anything wrong or people saying he was a moster demon spawn that deserve his punishment even when Guan Yin had to step in to intervene or people saying he was dumb, entire personality is being impulsive.

He is the Intelligent Stone monkey, the Monkey of the Mind, the monkey that have knowledge of ancient medicine and cured a king, the monkey that almost managed to sued the Devarāja Li if not for the Gold Star Of Venus's intervene, ment to represent the mind in all it's clever chaotic glory. he was one of the top students under Patriarch Puti for goodness sake and was the one who solves most of their problems on the journey. He has his moments of being impulsive and dumb but not nearly as much as people might think.

Not to mention their favoritism of the Six Eared Macaque, they baby him as if he wasn't the representation of what Sun Wukong would be like if he actually didn't have any control and just did whatever he wanted. Now LMK Macaque actually is trying to help MK in season 4 which I am very happy about, but JTTW and LMK are very different. So please, if you want to say JTTW Macaque did nothing wrong, don't use LMK as source.

Now the show have some flaws that I feel need to be adress. The show deviates from the actual book a lot which I have no problems with as it's a kids show but how much deviations are you allowed to have to the point of being an bad representation of the actual book. They said they consulted Chinese experts on the book which sometimes you can tell but other times, it just doesn't feel like it.

But there are also some fans that spread nonsense around and because they have a lot of followers everyone just believes them without more research. It made the show just feel like another bad adaptation in a sea of plastics that just so happens to float above the rest of the bad adaptations the book have gone through.

Which is a shame, you can tell a lot of thought and hard work have been put in the show with it's stellar animation, amazing voice acting, beautiful soundtracks and some actual moments that can put you to tears. But I wish the fandom would stop taking information from the show and stop saying it's exactly like the book. It made just enjoying the show and interacting with the good part of the fandom with it's beautiful fanart and great discussions harder to enjoy when all you can think about are the inaccuracies people are spewing around about the actual book.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my long rant. I really needed to get this of my chest.😮‍💨

I might rephrase this at a later date if I'm unhappy with it.

#journey to the west #jttw #lego monkie kid #lmk #sun wukong #lmk sun wukong #monkey king #six eared macaque #osp journey to the west

[looney-mooney]

Lego Monkie Kid MK theory

Spoilers for season 4 and the season 4 special under the cut!

So we can all agree that MK is a Celestial Primate, right? We're all on the same page about that? Okay, good. Now that we've established that, let's get into the interesting question there.

Which one is he?

From what I've seen, most people in the fandom seem to agree that he's a new celestial primate, someone who's sort of a class of his own. But this is Lego Monkie Kid, and we all know how much this show absolutely ADORES reusing characters and concepts from the original Journey to the West at pretty much every opportunity.

I'm going to be using this article I found for most of this, but it's pretty much all from the book: https://journeytothewestresearch.com/2022/02/20/a-quick-study-of-the-four-celestial-monkeys-from-journey-to-the-west/

In Journey to the West, there are four celestial primates, two of whom are prominent characters in the narrative and two of whom are presumed dead before we get the chance to meet them.

Sun Wukong is the "Stone Monkey of Numinous Wisdom" (or Numinous Luminosity, depending on which translator you ask), who "knows transformations, Recognizes the seasons, Discerns the advantages of earth, And is able to alter the course of planets and stars." Macaque is... well... "The Six-Eared Macaque," who "has a sensitive ear, Discernment of fundamental principles, Knowledge of past and future, And comprehension of all things." We already know who these two are, so I'm not gonna get more into them.

The other two Celestial Primates are characters we've never met before, in the book OR the show. The Connected Arms Gibbon, who can "Seize the sun and the moon, Shorten a thousand mountains, Distinguish the auspicious from the inauspicious, And manipulate planets and stars," and the Red-Buttocked Horse Monkey, who has "knowledge of yin and yang, Understands human affairs, Is adept in its daily life And able to avoid death and lengthen its life." MK is probably a reincarnation of one of these two (if not some sort of bizarre combination of both?)

There's a case to be made for either of these roles. I don't think he's the Gibbon though, since MK's monkey form clearly has a tail (three of them, even, in his war form!) and Gibbons, as great apes, don't tend to have those. It'd be cool to meet the Connected Arms Gibbon, though!

Instead, I would like to make the case for MK being the Red-Buttocked Horse Monkey. There's a lot of debate over what species of monkey that's even meant to represent, so MK would be free to be a sort of... amalgamation monkey. The IDEA of a monkey, instead of any specific species, like Sun Wukong himself seems to be. (Plus, he usually wears red pants, so that covers the "red-buttocked" part of the character description lol)

Not to mention, that "understands human affairs" bit REALLY fits, since he's spent his whole entire LIFE living as a human! Not to mention, one of the very FIRST powers MK struggled with was invulnerability, something that was so powerful it had to be taken away from him (and something even Sun Wukong himself doesn't appear to fully have - he's immortal times a kajillion, but that doesn't mean he can't get beat up!) In a genre that has a lot of "invulnerable protagonist" as a basic element of the storytelling, that's a pretty clever way to hammer home that "avoids death" is an actual POWER of his pretty immediately

Plus, who's MK's BFF FOREVER? That's right, Mei the Dragon Horse girl. Who better to be the Horse Monkey's bestie?

But I wanna know what you guys think! Do you think MK is the Red-Buttocked Horse Monkey? The Connected Arms Gibbon? Or some completely new Celestial Monkey the showrunners made up specifically for the protagonist of their show? LMK!

#lego monkie kid #lego monkie kid spoilers #lego monkie kid season 4 spoilers #lego monkie kid season 4 #lego monkie kid season 4 special #lego monkie kid season 4 special spoilers #celestial primates #lmk mk #long post #fan theory #meta #looney mooney rants

[sytokun]

there's so many cool but missed opportunities in rwby for their characters, like sun! yk how he's based of "sun wukong" from journey to the west? IK its FOUR characters to a team but i think it would have really been cool if they took more inspo from journey to the west and made HIS team journey to the west characters

Honestly I think that'd be really cool to base the rest of SSSN on the other Journey to the West characters, especially when the basis for a four-man team is already there. And knowing that SSSN was modeled after K-pop boy band Big Bang, imagining the Journey characters as modern hot boys already sounds like an otome-game level move that would fit RWBY pretty well.

That said, if you're making your own interpretation of SSSN, such as by rewrite or AU, you're free to do so. It depends on whether you put more stock into a more cohesive theme for the team, or their original canon inspirations.

...Which is a good opportunity for me to talk about the sketches I did for Sun's team in RWBY: Remnants some time ago. They won't be appearing for a super long time, but I might as well talk about them now.

Here, I renamed them as Team SNSD (pronounced "Sunset"), with Sun Wukong, Neptune Vasilias, Sage Ayana and Scarlet David. (yes, I am aware there is a K-pop group with the same name, the synchronicity is not lost on me) They're still based on their original allusions as I wanted to work within the constraints of canon here, but the full Journey team may be too good to pass up, so I'll consider coming back in the future to tackle it.

People have always been divided on Team SSSN's name, with many preferring to rename them as SSNS ("Seasons"). I do get it - Team SSSN ("Sun") has that kind of dumb, corny "how do you spell?" vibe that matches a team of himbos. But I think having three S's for one word is just going a step too far into... just plain dumb.

Sun is pretty much the same here, but I decided to dial back towards his Asian features and grey eyes - though they're black here cause I like black eyes too. I also added the Monkey's King's famous golden headband, the jǐn gū zhòu, around his neck.

Neptune is pretty much the same here - honestly I really like his original design and think it's one of those "if it ain't broke don't fix it" situations - but I do want to redesign him more in the future to better reflect his allusion as Poseidon.

For Scarlet, I wanted to lean more into their "pirate king" vibe and androgynous appearance, so of course the coat-cape slung over the shoulders is a must. I also wanted to change their Semblance into something similar to their canon one but... not boring.

Instead of just gliding, Scarlet can either control air currents (and I do mean that in a very loose, fantasy way) or affect the trajectory of any moving object their Aura recently comes into contact with. This Semblance is called Pixie Dust, and instead of a gun and cutlass, Scarlet wields two guns, either named Hook and Darling like in canon... or Faith and Trust (geddit). They can use this Semblance to fly, and infuse their bullets with their Semblance when loading them to cause them to curve in midair when fired. Yes, basically like that one movie, Wanted.

People who don't like physics breaking in live action movies hated the bullet curving mechanic, but I think it'd be a perfect fit in RWBY's universe. It adds a much-needed cool factor, and picturing Scarlet engraving smug comments and poetic farewells onto their bullets like lethal fortune cookies injects an element of charisma and playfulness to what I think is a really underutilised character, and one based on Peter Pan no less.

Now for Sage, he had a very ambiguous allusion. Some say he was based on an Aesop fable, and others on Hindu mythology.

Glad to know Miles Luna doesn't know the allusion to one of his own characters, especially knowing that SSSN is one of the earliest teams designed for RWBY, predating JNPR. But sure, let's give him the benefit of the doubt like we always do for CRWBY. /s

Given that this was so ambiguous and he also had no Semblance, I decided to take some liberties with Sage, and given his surname and appearance, I decided to look to Hindu mythology for Sage's allusion - a really cool but unexplored source of inspiration in RWBY. I was looking at some famous warriors and gods of myth like Arjuna, but I eventually settled on Kartikeya.

Kartikeya is the Hindu god of war. Known for riding a peacock and sometimes depicted having six heads, he also wields a spear with a leaf-shaped blade called a vel. In other countries he is named Murugan, and has a famous statue of him in Malaysia's Batu Caves.

I've redesigned Sage's clothes to more reflect Indian fashion (albeit a fantasy version of such) and with peacock feather motifs on his collar and chest. Sage here also fights with this spear instead of a greatsword, which you can see him holding in the sketch. His Semblance, Sanmukha ("Six-faced"), allows him to see in six different directions at once, having total 360° vision around himself. This vision can also pierce solid objects within a certain range.

While not immensely powerful by itself, Sage uses this to gain an almost unparalleled martial prowess, spatial awareness and foresight in combat, reflecting the god of war's own wisdom and skill. While I do really like the Roman numeral tattoos on his neck, I was also considering using Sanskrit or Tamil script - I should try that next time I go back to his design.

So yeah, that's Team SNSD from me! I'm pretty attached to Indian Sage, but next time I come back to them I want to take a shot at basing them after Tripitaka, Zhu Bajie (Pigsy) and Sha Wujing (Sandy) from Journey. I also need to be sure actual Hindu people are fine with him, since Kartikeya is still a widely-worshipped god in current times unlike Thor or Poseidon, so I hoped this portrayal of Sage as alluding to him is respectful enough.

#syto asks #rwby #remnants #rwby au #rwby rewrite #team sssn #sun wukong #scarlet david #sage ayana #neptune vasilias #character design

[the-monkey-ruler]

Hope this isn’t too odd of a question but is there like, a minor theme of the villains being like evil versions of certain gods/allies? Like, the most obvious is the Six Eared Macaque, who impersonated Sun Wukong, but there’s also Red Boy, who’s compared to Nezha in appearance and also uses a spear and fire, Lady Earth Flow, who called herself the Half Guanyin, and I heard that Princess Iron Fan had an origin of being a goddess before becoming a demon, and I heard that the Queen Mother of (1)

Well like I said before when it comes to the antagonists in Xiyouji... there can be many different types of interpretations that can be drawn from. But I don't think that there is a real 'evil versions' of deities going on from there.

Red Boy being a good example as he has a history in Buddhism before Xiyouji was made.

I think something that people forget or don't know is that Wu Cheng'en's version of Journey to the West, wasn't really the 'first' or rather is wasn't something that he created all from his own imagination. The story of Xuanzang's pilgrimage has been told many times at this point and there were many stray stories with different demons or challenges that were either for pure entertainment value or did have great allegorical meanings.

What gave Wu Cheng'en that edge that made 'his' version of the story was not only did he drawn from many of the most popular stories, interpretations, and took the most charming (or humane) aspects of the characters and was able to make a large, long decently cohesive story that people in either lower class or higher class can draw enjoyment from.

So that being said... taking EVERY allegorical possibility of each antagonist, with each demon having a tie to either Buddism, Daoism, or Chinese folklore, or even a mix of two or all three... is RESEARCH PAPER level kind of study and I am not qualified to answer in a tumble post ;_;

But that being I said I don't think Red Boy is just evil Nezha (who has his own lore and history) as when he turns into the Child of Wealth he becomes Shancai which has a rich history all on its own.

Red Boy takes greater inspiration from the Buddhist history of this disciple than of Li Nezha.

Lady Earth Flow another example only calls herself 'Half Gaunyin' because she stole precious Candles from vulture peak. There are a lot of demons in Xiyouji that show their power or clout rather by having a connection to Buddisht lore, like the Scorpion Queen claiming she was able to injure Tathāgata and that the Golden Wing Peng is his uncle because his mother the Peacock ate him and he escaped giving 'birth' to him and was promoted to his godmother hence the connection.

These connections are more about giving credibility to the antagonists' power and even giving more insight into perhaps where these stories or such are connected.

Princes Iron Fan being a Taoist Goddess is a thing but that happens moreso in the Yaun Dynasty in which is before Xiyouji was written and in zaju she is presented as a sister of Lishan Laomu (who funny is enough is ALSO the sister of Sun Xingzhe in Zaju Xiyou ji so that is interesting) but left heaven due to a dispute with the Queen Mother at a banquet. However, it looks like in Wu Cheng'en's Xiyouji I have seen her being described as a Rakshasa which is connected to Hindu lore. I do now know if the intended meaning was to erase the Taoist backstory she has but perhaps making this a lot like Red Boy in giving the character a new background for the sake of the narrative. Or perhaps it is to show how multiple different inspirations can be used to create a single character and that while it is not really a 'canon' it would have been realizing known who the character is at that point and would not cause much confusion.

As for the Queen Mother being a demon, I personally do not think that the version seen in Wu Cheng'en would have that connection due to the fact that the image of the Queen Mother was greatly changed by that point. Her interpretation in the Zhou dynasty where they give her the title of a goddess of death and later she is influenced by Taoism and is given further elements such as immorality and longevity. But even in that interpretation, she is an immortal, not a demon, and perhaps the re-writings of her lore make it so that when he was more integrated with Taoism she was given a different backstory as well. I cannot say for certain as this is more of a case of a change of legends that she had ties showing of being connected to being a feline/tiger demon that was later changed within her own legend.

However when it comes to a lot of antagonists in Xiyouji having heavenly backgrounds I think there is more discussion there, than trying to compare them to any other existing deities as the doppelganger trope isn't played that much.

There are about 4 fallen Celetials if we are not including Princess Iron Fan being Yellow Robed Demon, Golden Horned King, Silver Horned King, and Yellow Brows King and about 12 heavenly animals (I will not name them all) that have escaped heaven and each one gives their own varies of reasons from being personal gain or that they were ordered to just to be trails specifically for the pilgrims to overcome. Some wanted revenge, love, glory, or just for their own sake.

Personally, I think that having so many heavenly creatures fall from heaven to be demons was to show that both heaven and earth are not perfect and that even in the highest authority there are still cracks in the system that must be held accounted for. Bajie and Wujing being two big examples as they themselves were fallen celestial soldiers on earth as a punishment while other celestials saw it as a way of freedom and escaping their responsibilities. It makes an interesting argument of how the heaven's view of Yaoguai and their origin influence their judgment, Wukong being the only Yaogaui without a background tied to the heaven beyond being made of Yin and Yang but his fellow disciples once had stood there.

I think there is a lot to be said on how the treatment of Yaoguai changes when the antagonist is from a heavenly origin as they are rarely if never killed, rather being subdued and sent back to heaven for trial or just punishment. As much as Wukong does kill a lot of demons, he also sends a lot of them to court for their crimes which I do find to be an interesting take, especially with yaoguai that Wukong wishes to personally punish.

The relationship between heaven and yaoguai is something I think could really be delved into with how there almost seems to be double standards when it comes to how yaoguai are to be treated when they cultivate on their own verse if they eat humans to cultivate verse if 'cheat' by skipping their reincarnation cycle and going straight from animal to humanoid using heavenly objects. From there that almost distracts whether they are able to go back to their original forms to cultivate for their next life to be a human or if they are to be killed and try again in the next life.

But no matter what the case is, yaoguai is seen as both a punishment by the heavens but also seen as a chance for individuals to escape their current status and strive for their own goals, as selfish as they are.

Long story short.

It is that deep.

https://so03.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jletters/article/download/251848/171700/942171

#sun wukong #queen mother #red boy #journey to the west #jttw #xiyouji #more allegories #anonymous #anon #anon ask #just a lot to unpack #lady earth flow #albino rat demon #princess iron fan #shancai #ask

[invested-in-your-future]

Which is your favourite Kingdom in your AU, including Menagerie if you wish? Favourite for any reason you like.

Honestly I don't think there's a specific favourite. I'll always be partial to Vale because it's where the story started and all but I feel like there's a charm that can be found in each of them:

There's a certain pull to Vale and I think it's fascinating to have a kingdom that's so enamored with the status quo, they are willing to ignore ALL the red flags. There's a ton of history(and guilt) on why they ended up this way which is fun to consider. It's a place where the sense of stability and peace is something people desperately long for. So what happens when that's taken away and half its main city is lost to the Grimm?

Mistral on the other hand is fun for the opposite reason for me - in that they didn't really seem to have learned much from the Great War. It's a maelstrom of pettiness, classism, racism and pride. There's a thousand years of customs, traditions and superstition. Lots of people at the top seem to value the country over its people too. There's also a bit of two-facedness to the place and the experience there can differ a lot depending on whether one is a human or a faunus. It's a nation that stands on the precipice of change - for better or for worse.

Atlas on the other hand is an interesting contrast in that the consequences of the Great War have shaped every aspect of their society. Rules, bureaucracy, order intermingle with scientific progress skirting boundaries of morality. It's the place that touts itself as a meritocracy yet the rich are more than willing to use their money to bend the restrictions and shape the Kingdom to their liking. The Kingdom's impressive facade is also built off exploitation of the working class, slavery and leaving Mantle in the cold, while more than willing to use its resources and population. More integrated military as well as scientific progress also mean significantly different social life, hobbies and activities people would engage in when compared to other kingdoms too. I think it's fascinating to think about the place so tangled in its own rules that any sort of change is a severe struggle that's near impossible to overcome without breaking the said laws. It's also fun to think of how a place like that could probably break under more stressful circumstances and power plays.

Vacuo on the other hand is littered with landmarks of past tragedies and conflicts. Ancient temples and monuments litter the desert. The scars from the Great War also run deep both in the landscape and the people. It's a chaotic place with a shifting power structure where myth and reality intermingles and where a lot of Journey to the West influences take place.

Menagerie is fun because it's an enigma. Not only sea travel is dangerous but the place also doesn't have its own tower so even before the fall of beacon it was cut off from the rest of the world. It's also a place shaped by multiple interests of other Kingdoms where the line between foreign and local interests blur - it was originally Mistral's mining colony with multiple noble families having interest in it. And then suddenly with the end of the Great War it was decided that it should be given away to the Faunus. How does that work? How does the place function? Also none of the main cast have ever been there and very few characters know how life is there beyond hearsay. There's allure to a whole country being a mystery box which works well with the ideas like Mistral wanting to forcibly relocate all Faunus to there and stuff.

I also think it's fun to imagine how many Kingdoms didn't make it to the present day and why and how that impacts those that did.

Overall I guess I usually alternate between them when working on lore depending on the mood.

#rwby #rwby au #rwby rewrite #rwbyr asks #rwbyr stuff mine

[j-ellyfish]

on the topic of hetalia outside of the actual show/manga, can you attest to feeling ostracized for liking it? i’ve liked it for well over a decade, and any attempts to bring it up with friends and i just get laughed at or told it’s problematic. i have actually never known anyone who has liked it either, and i really wish i did because i feel like it’d be so much more fun with others. but now it’s just this super cringe/shameful/problematic thing. well, it’s kind of always been thought of that way, and i’m not forgetting how some of the very early content was a bit tasteless, but the vast majority of hetalia is pretty tame.

i’m so glad for the fandom but i feel like i never hear about it outside of that. sorry this turned into a bit of a vent, but i feel so weird that i have to hide my interest in it so i’m not ridiculed for a lighthearted comic. i think a lot of other early 2010s fandoms get the same treatment ofc, it reminds people of their embarassing teen years. but i am too old to want to give a shit anymore lol.

are we just hiding in plain sight everywhere? kinda funny to think about

Yes, definitely. As a premise, I think I am in a bit of a weird position where I don't feel super at ease in manga/anime communities in the first place because it's actually very, very rare for me to like one. So I feel kinda like an imposter, haha. As a kid, I loved the anime they would air on TV and I especially loved the art styles, which is why I started to try and imitate them when I drew (I have drawings I made at 5-6 where some rudimental anime features were already visible, most notably inspired by the Pokémon anime). I am very easy to drop any anime or manga I try, so it really requires for all the stars and planets to align for me to actually stick to one and obsess over it :'D

For this reason, I don't really have any friend irl who shares this interest with me, and my 'nerd online presence' only rarely breaks out of the 'fandom enclosures' I live in. Though, especially in the past, I did venture more often out of my circles and had confrontations with, well, the average anime/manga fan.

I remember back when I first got into Hetalia, I saw this video some jerk took at a Con where he'd go around asking cosplayers/fans questions related to the anime/manga they liked to see if they were 'good fans' or not. I felt like the Hetalia cosplayers they found were treated the worst. First of all, they were asked history questions which is a bit tricky and unfair in the first place, because it's like going up to a Dragonball fan and ask him about Wu Cheng'en's Journey To The West rather than about Dragonball's actual content. The interviewers also had this lowkey sexist aura to them like those girls, being girls, had to prove themselves smart enough despite being basically 'hopeless fujoshis' (you know, in the original offensive and sexist meaning of 'rotten girls'). Even in the comments, those poor girls were definitely made fun of and criticized more than anyone else in the video, and it was clear as the sun that the reason was the underlying sexism that permeates the mind of many cishet male anime/manga fans when it comes to shows that have an important chunk of female audience, treating us as shallow and stupid for shipping characters or thirsting over a male character (yet they do at least twice as bad with the average big tittied dere). This was, I think 2011 or 2012, and sure those Hetalia cosplayers not answering correctly a very easy history question didn't make them look good but fuck, they were there to have a good time with their friends, they weren't at school and I can only imagine the anxiety they felt at being questioned about their history knowledge simply for deciding to go around at a con with a fake curl on their wig and wearing a cheap mockup military uniform.

The saddest thing, though, is that way too many girls also used to (probably still do) shit on it based on the fact that it has a predominantly male cast and homoerotic undertones (this kind of girl also tends to shit on BL as a genre and stuff a-la-Free! simply for being aimed at a female audience, and on the other hand they seem to only engage in series full of objectified girls. I don't understand them, it feels like internalized mysogyny or pick-me-girl mentality to me). I will show here (translated) some lines from a couple Italian negative reviews Hetalia got. These are all likely from 2009~2012 because I have looked at that page a lot since the beginning and those reviews were already there:

[Male User] [...] What's the point of making yaoi-worthy protagonists if the audience of this show will clearly be male? It's about world wars metaphors and nationalism, come on! I highly doubt the female audience for this thing is wide. [Female User] [...] You'll wonder: how come such a thing got so many fans? The answer is easy: fanservice! The sole goal of Hetalia is to create thousands of cheapish bishounen ready to be piled up and bred in the perverted fantasies of yaoi-thirsty fangirlies! That's the point. It's 50-something male characters with endless fanfiction-worthy distasteful ships, created merely to make money. [...] Do you get it, the reason behind this success is the minds of thousands mentally ill little girls who love YAOI and fantasize about it. [...]

When I initially switched fandom from Pokémon to Hetalia, I remember trying to talk about it to some online friends I had but some of them started treating me with a bit of a raised eyebrow and prejudice because I liked it. I think I also had some stranger invalidate my opinion a couple times because they recognized my Hetalia pfp and treated me like a shallow stupid fangirl whose opinon is garbage. Aaand I also remember there being some ant*-Hetalia circles where they made fun of or even actively harassed Hetalia fans online. And the reason was almost always linked to 'rotten girl' mentality, not for stuff anywhere close to what purity police and "new-gen ant*s" do today.

I absolutely get your feelings, I feel the same, I too wish I didn't feel so anxious and scared at the idea of saying that I like Hetalia, but even when I cross path irl with an anime/manga fan, I am too scared of them turning out to be one of those people to feel safe saying that Hetalia is basically the only anime/manga I love. If I ever found a Hetalia fan out in the wild I would surely reach out to them first though, haha :') (no I'm joking I still have social anxiety but I would definitely try).

Truth is, the world is still full of Hetalia fans but as you said, we tend to hide in plain sight because we're worried of crossing path with some jerk who will shame us for it for whether the classic mysogynistic reasons or the new reasons ant*s came up with.

#ask

[lee-hakhyun]

no prob :D (regarding sharing the star writer factoid) i can’t read korean and i’m not in a position where i can just pay to read willy-nilly, so i’m enjoying seeing you and others talk about it in the meantime

it does leave me to wonder though; using minor villain cheon inho, giving focus to a character that originally had a smaller role, reusing a character from a previous, discontinued work, on top of the world after the fall revisions bringing in another one of singsong’s older babies (jaehwan) into the forefront… it’s making me think of the whole situation with the outer gods being forgotten stories, and how kim dokja had sincerely wanted to see even them come to the forefront back in the n’gai and journey to the west chapters

the thing about that is that he tried to help them by first making the yogoes follow along in their revised ‘journey to the west’ followed by trying to become an outer god himself, but kim dokja by that point was too beloved - and despite what his past taught him to believe, his story has long since turned unforgettable. transformation halted by shin yoosung whose story is told through her survival which kim dokja ensured, and then by sun wukong who had witnessed kim dokja’s story from the very beginning and didn’t want it to fade away

but what about now? the curtain has fallen upon the saga of kim dokja and friends, beloved by readers all around the world and hailed as a masterpiece, but the tales that came before them still lay ‘forgotten’. but i imagine singnsong loves them still, wouldn’t they? past works that lay as the building blocks for their future successes… the same way kim dokja wanted to ‘repay his debt’ to the story that kept them alive, perhaps the authors want to pay it forward to the stories that helped them get this far.

perhaps the side story may be a story ABOUT the Reader, but it’s FOR the Authors singnsong and the Protagonists and other Characters they had loved but couldn’t bring to the forefront before; a side story because it’s not the main tale of ORV itself, but written upon its premise and loved all the same

and the Reader who loyally followed through 1863-1865 separate tales (worldlines) based on the same premise where no one else would, who mourned the stories that laid forgotten; perhaps he’s loyally reading this too? lovingly reading through its pages, no matter how flawed the words can be. and just like how the yogoe followed along in han sooyoung’s journey to the west, the premise of orv now acts as a stage to bring the characters of old into the fray in the side story. perhaps it won’t get as much attention as the original, but that’s okay; this story is for the authors and the protagonist whose story they couldn’t finish before.

and regardless of popularity, it ensures it receives love all the same. your lee hakhyun brainrot proves it, after all!

i got an inkling when you mentioned a character that didn’t get much screentime being fleshed out more in a previous post, but finding out about where lee hakhyun came from helps bring into perspective what singnsong might be doing right now

ok. ok wow. first of all, i haven't actually read TWAFT yet, so i can't really speak on jaehwan, though i do plan on reading it this is about to be all over the place, but i do agree with you!! you're right!! your comparison with the JTTW arc is lovely

with another disclaimer that i don't know korean and all my thoughts stem from my own edited mtl, adding on my thoughts ^^

i do believe at least some part of the side story is made for exploring other sides of orv, from scenarios, to characters, and forgotten stories as singshong said in the author's note for the prologue, it's a story for kim dokja, but not just that one kim dokja and even if this isn't solely kdj's story anymore, he's still everywhere in the side story, even if he's not physically there. in the thoughts of the readers, in lhh's dreams, literal kdj kkomas watching lhh. there are a lot of stories that can still be told, and new ones that never had a chance to blossom

but the tales that came before them still lay ‘forgotten’.

on characters that gain a new focus, i want to talk about bang cheolsoo again

bang cheolsoo, in every regression, was nothing more than a very minor villain, defeated in the early scenarios and always ending up as nothing more than a minor villain but lee hakhyun meets him early, and he's in a position where he can easily deal with bang cheolsoo and his group. but he doesn't, and with '☐☐' he gives bang cheolsoo a chance to change

and he does! he jumps at the opportunity, and follows lee hakhyun. instead of monopolizing geumho station, he protects the people there, distributes food, and gains the trust of everyone in geumho station and when yjh barges into the station and subdues cheolsoo assuming he'd be the previous regressions, and subsequently getting harassed by the people in geumho station defending him, peacefully leaving (41st yjh being different than what kdj described is a whole different topic) there are stories to be told for these characters who didn't originally have a chance, what would happen if they had gotten support early on? could more of them have survived? even yoo joonghyuk was surprised at the amount of survivors in geumho station when he arrived there.

lee hakhyun clearly has different views than kim dokja, with him trying to save everyone in the first scenario and giving out food instead of selling it to those in geumho station even after acknowledging that he could get more coins through it. neither way is better than the other, orv is in kdj's pov and you can understand why he did what he did.

and even the major characters of orv, they're changing too. with lee hakhyun writing a backstory for jung heewon, and her new attribute, it's obvious that things are going to be very different than kim dokja's round. with different characters, perhaps we can see other sides of these characters that wasn't shown in the main story kim namwoon is likely still alive in this round, i would especially love to see him.. poor guy died so early on

and on reusing previous works, i do remember the star writer novel being mentioned in chapter 549

he wrote his own story! and now he's starring in another one i do love how singshong are connecting all of their stories together as well, jaehwan meeting kdj in orv, yjh showing up in TWAFT's revision, and lee hakhyun getting his own side story in ORV,,

and regardless of popularity, it ensures it receives love all the same.

just like the main story, the side story is so full of love and even if it is less popular the characters will still get the love they deserve <3

#orv side story #orv #orv spoilers #I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE. I JUMPED AROUND A *LOT* #ask

[talesofsonicasura]

DSB Sun Wukong with a Duelist s/o

Originally the duelist s/o was for MKR Sun Wukong but it didn't feel right in my opinion. This however does. This particular Sun Wukong is much closer to what he is originally described in the original Journey To The West and his temperament before the journey, a fierce Demon Warlord.

Well, Yaoguai is the correct term to refer to them in JTTW/JTTW related media. Yaoguai being monster like entities or demoted gods. Also the usage of demons in Chinese Mythology is more set on pure evil in terms. I'll be updating my headcanons and fics with the correct terminology.

Anywho, let's get this started. This is a slow burn and can be read gender neutral or preferred gender. You don't need to know about Yu-Gi-Oh as I'll be filling in the gaps. Also this is going to be slightly different from my usual ones.

You can never understand how you end up in the strangest of places much less what had to be Ancient China.

One second you were driving your Duel Runner on a forest dirt path and the next you end up getting chased by monstrous wolves with said motorcycle. Normal wolves don't have spikes on their body nor multiple eyes.

Any normal person would drive away as fast as they can. You weren't exactly that kind of person cause one, these things were bloody fast and catching up. And two, you were a psychic duelist with the power to bring your Duel Monster cards to life.

Something you did as you summoned one of your favorite monsters to deal with the ugly mutts, Junk Warrior.

Now in Duel Monster game terms, you couldn't summon a monster like this without the correct setup. Your bike was designed to circumvent this rule involving your power with enough speed instead of the usual price being a nasty migraine.

Which is why you lost some speed so your blue armored warrior could keep the beasts from munching on your body as you focused on navigating through the trees.

Apparently you weren't the only one here, much less being attacked. Why? Cause upon using a fallen log as a makeshift ramp, you practically leapt into a camp swamped with these beasties.

The defenders being a man wearing traditional face paint makeup, a monk, a blue fish man... and... Sun Wukong. Holy shit. You were in the Journey To The West cause there was no mistaking that golden headband on the brunette with a rat nest for hair.

Oh and apparently you were about to crash into him because of your gawking moment. You quickly went for a u-turn as a stone monkey would definitely wreck your ride.

Thankfully the monkey noticed the incoming duel runner and jumped. Unthankfully, he hitched a ride on your shoulders.

Sun Wukong's form shifted to become more monkey like as he now had golden fur plus a monkey tail. Still kept the human face though.

"Interesting contraption."/"Less talking, you nutter! Better hold on cause I'm taking this into overdrive!"

Meant that too upon hitting the gas to go even faster. The extra speed was needed cause you were about to break the rule once again by summoning the red and white humanoid machine, Accel Synchron.

It was time to send these unnatural mutts to the infernal pound as you had enough with the insanity today. This time with style as your monsters dissolved into 10 stars within a row of green rings. Then you chant.

"Accel Synchron! Give Junk Warrior a tune up! As hope fades in the jaws of darkness, an otherworldly machine grants power to the fighter of discarded treasure! Let the stars bless this noble warrior with power beyond measure! Take to the skies and break the hopeless barrier! I Synchro Summon Stardust Warrior!"

Everything around the Monkey King and you froze in absolute shock as a draconic warrior in white dragon like armor emerged from the rings, Stardust Warrior.

Your monster had the power to eliminate all opponents in a meteor storm of stardust by sacrificing itself. 'Shimmering Stardust Buster Sanctuary' you called upon triggering the effect.

Tripitaka, Sha Wujing and must be Zhu Bajie quickly scattered as the meteors fell, rightfully pulverizing the monster hounds. Your monster dissipating into stardust with the job done.

The Monkey King definitely had the balance of his species cause even when you harshly skidded to a stop, he hadn't moved an inch. In fact, he was laughing. Uh oh.

"Quite a spectacular show with some intriguing word play! You're the most interesting mortal I ever met!" Oh no no no.

Before ya knew it, you were in the arms of Sun Wukong. The glamour now gone as a four foot monkey with glowing amber eyes looked gleefully at his master. Oh hell no.

"Can we *I* take them with us *me*?" Shit. You got the complete curiosity of the Monkey King. And from the way he phrased his words, this had to be him at the beginning of his journey.

Only your luck would land you in the hands of a Yaoguai Warlord at the start of his quest towards redemption. Might as well reside yourself to your fate.

You had enough of being chased for a day. Getting chased by the Great Sage Equal To Heaven isn't something that needs to be added to the list.

This is a Sun Wukong that will chase anyone that can peak his interest as much as the MKR iteration. Since there isn't a White Dragon Horse in this rendition of JTTW, you'll be filling the role with the Stardust deck! Basically a deck heavily associated with a particular dragon that'll be popping up soon. I wanted to try a more action feel for this one.

Synchro Summon requires a unique monster called a Tuner to gain access to the monsters that appeared in this headcanon, Synchro Monsters. Accel Synchron is a unique Synchro Monster since it also counts as a Tuner.

The Stephen Chow movies done an interesting take to the novel and its characters, despite the awkward pacing and plot of Demons Strike Back. I recommend checking it out. Conquer the Demons can be watched free on YouTube if they haven't taken it off yet.

Until next time folks, I'll see you on the road westward. Here's Junk Warrior, Accel Synchron and Stardust Warrior!

#self insert #sonicasura #tales of sonicasura #jttw #jttw imagines #journey to the west imagines #journey to the west #sun wukong #journey to the west demons strike back #dsb sun wukong #stephen chow journey to the west #sun wukong x y/n #sun wukong x reader #journey to the west conquer the demons #duelist reader #yugioh #yu gi oh

[kenobihater]

len my dear friend do u have a like list in ur mind of like wild west media that u think showcase what u love abt the genre(westerns?? cowboy stuff??)

ps. willing to trade jidaigeki recs gehehe

i'd LOVE your jidaigeki recs, and i have lots of western recs, tysm for asking! i was raised on westerns, and though i have PLENTY of issues with the genre overall and how it was used to enforce an ahistorical ideal of white heteronormative patriarchy on an era that was actually pretty queer in compairison to the rest of the western world at the time and had a significant number of people of color and strong women in it, i still love the genre despite all of its faults.

the first western that comes to mind is true grit, the original true grit. i hate john wayne personally, but even i have to admit he does a good job in this film, though the real show-stealer is the actress who plays mattie ross. the new true grit is also really really good and more accurate to the book, which is okay and i only read for school.

the next of the classics that i wanna mention is the dollars trilogy (a fistful of dollars, for a few dollars more, and the good the bad and the ugly), of which i've only seen the good the bad and the ugly in full and remember liking as a child. the first in the trilogy, fistful, is a remake (or a ripoff, depending on how you look at it) of yojimbo! so, if you liked the basic plot of that, you'll probably like fistful as well if you don't mind clint eastwood. also, even if you don't like the films, do yourself a favor and listen to the soundtrack of at LEAST the good the bad and the ugly. i love it so much i have it on vinyl lol!

another classic western that is a remake/ripoff of a samurai film is the magnificent seven, which is inspired by seven samurai. i've honestly only seen the shitty chris pratt remake, so i can't speak to the quality of the original, though i've heard it's good.

onto modern westerns! tombstone is the first one to come to mind bc of how popular it is. it isn't my favorite bc of how it mythologizes a kind of shitty person, wyatt earp, into this larger than life figure. same goes for doc holliday (though i admit i'm only human and i ADORE val kilmer's performance in this film). if you're at all interested in unraveling the wyatt earp myth, i highly, HIGHLY recommend picking up the wonderful biography wyatt earp: a vigilante life by andrew c isenberg! it really cuts through the bullshit and the many lies the man told about his life and got early hollywood to buy into.

another modern western i like is django: unchained. it's been a few years since i last watched it, but i really want to stress to y'all that this is both a tarantino movie, so expect gore, and a movie about slavery, so expect blatant racism. if either of these things are a trigger or exhaust you, steer clear.

idk if this is classified as a western bc it's set during the era of fur trapping and mountain men, so a little earlier than most westerns, but the revenant was a good and gritty revenge story. though it was also pretty gory, so avoid it if that bothers you

one i really enjoyed was the harder they fall, though warning for gore again, though not to the extent of tarantino or anything. it was wonderfully told and it was SO cool to see a black-led western. i know there was some controversy around colorism and the handling of a queer character which i don't feel is my place to comment on, but i do think the film was good despite its flaws.

this isn't a movie, but i cannot stress enough how much red dead redemption 2 is a good example of western storytelling. arthur morgan's journey in the waning years of the wild west is SO compelling to me, and though it isn't flawless it's imho the closest thing on this list to my perfect western story. 10/10 recommend playing this one!

that's everything that's currently out that i can think of, but a western show i'm looking forwards to is the new bass reeves show that the yellowstone creators are making. yellowstone bored me to tears and i heard 1883 was bad, but i have high hopes for this bc bass reeves was a certified badass, likely inspired the lone ranger, and honestly deserved all the hype wyatt earp got for being a good lawman. so hopefully that will be good!

oh, and i'm sure you're aware, but there's a lot of bad westerns out there bc they pumped them out like crazy back in the day. modern day less so, so i can point to specific ones that suck major ass, like the ballad of buster scruggs, hostiles, and dances with wolves, but just as a rule of thumb if you aren't vibing with what's happening onscreen just turn it off lmao cause there's so much bad shit out there you could waste years watching it.

those are all of my recommendations (and a few to avoid for good measure), i hope you enjoy some of them and thank you for letting me ramble about westerns!!

#len answers #long post tw #kicking myself for nearly forgetting rdr2 lmao. it's my favorite western idc that it's a game!!

[redolentgrove]

Cascade observed Hope's arrival with her own respectful curiosity, making note of the Blaziken's anatomy and her statements. She wondered if maybe Hope had been from Kanto, given that the Dragonair line ssentially made up the only dragon Pokemon in that region. But she didn't make the assumption, instead nodding at the fire-type's statement.

"Yeah, I can't disagree with you there," she trilled, stretching her arms out and shifting her serpentine coils with a yawn. "Excuse me. Anyway… yeah, I'm basically living amongst centuries of history and creation, and it's hard to feel anything short of pure admiration for what's been built here in White Forest. I'm glad I get to be part of it."

Cascade regarded the arriving Meowscarada with a warm smile, her eyes perking slightly at the mention of Loki. Ah, I know who this is, she thought, the back half of her tail craning upward, coils shifting while she continued to get comfortable.

"You know about Loki? the Dragonair asked, offering her right hand for the feline to shake. "Then that must mean you're Charade. I'm telling you, there are days that girl won't stop talking about how pretty you are and how much she looks forward to seeing you again." She let out a little chuckle. "If I didn't know better, I'd say she's crushing on you harder than a Snorlax using a Body Slam, eh?"

Cascade shook her head, her face straightening back from the playfulness of her previous statement toward Charade. "Anyway… uh… yeah, you know, it's funny that both of you ask about what brought me here. I didn't exactly mean to make White Forest my home. It was a case of 'right region, wrong place,' so to speak."

"I actually wanted to live by Dragonspiral Tower and Icirrus City. As a dragon Pokemon, I was hoping to study it and learn more about the Tao trio of Unova, as well as Kyurem's origin formes. I got directions at a forest just outside of Castelia City, telling me to go west from Nimbasa City. Funnily enough, that place called itself Redolent Forest, just like this grove is named. Anyway… I got turned around in Nimbasa and somehow ended up taking the east exit by accident, and instead of ending up in Driftveil after the bridge, I arrived here. I asked some of the locals how much further I needed to go before I reached Driftveil, and they laughed at me saying I was clear on the other side of the region from that."

"I got a little embarrassed from that, but as I kept going around the forest, I kept liking what was here. The lake water was clear and beautiful, there were trees as far as I could see, and just when I didn't think I needed any more convincing… boom, here I was, in this giant grove of flowers." She gently plucked a blue iris from one of the outer beds near the lakeside, sure to be careful with its petals. "And then I met Loki."

"She and I immediately hit it off well enough, so I figured that I would go to Dragonspiral Tower and try to remember this place once I was finished. Then I started doubting my sense of direction because, well, if I couldn't remember east from west, how was I supposed to make it back here from Dragonspiral, let alone make it to that tower in the first place? Not to mention, I was getting kind of tired and frustrated from the journey up to that point, and I asked Loki if she had a place I could stay for a night and get my bearings."

"She did me one better and noted that one of the caves by the lakeside was vacant, and said she wanted me to stay for as long as I needed. I thanked her, unpacked some of my supplies, and got comfortable in there before I knew it. Then… I don't know. It started feeling right in there. Loki checked on me the next morning and offered me some tea and breakfast. She had made it all herself, and I couldn't just say no. It was wonderful… she was one of those neighbours you dream about having but never meet."

She looked over toward Hope, with a shrug of her shoulders. "Then before you know it, I'm sitting there, talking with Loki, listening to stories about her flowers, the local dogwood tree, and without any intentions, now I'm invested in this grove of White Forest. I start helping with some of the flower beds, making friends in the lake, feeling really cosy in that cave she offered… and then weeks start passing. Stupidly, I find myself asking Loki if I can make that cave my home, and shockingly, she said yes. And I've called this place home ever since."

She looked at Charade with a smile. "So, yeah, Loki's a neighbour, a friend… and unfortunately for her, she was also interested in me romantically. I felt bad letting her down and telling her that I'm straight. I was scared she might get mad and not let me stay here anymore, but she was incredibly accepting of that, and I could almost sense some sort of relief in her face. I haven't dared ask her why she seemed glad about it. Maybe she had someone else in mind; I don't know."

"It doesn't matter; she's become quite close with me regardless. I guess in a sense, we're like sisters. I help her, she helps me, and we tease each other at times and share secrets and history. She always seemed so trusting of me… it feels like the least I can do, is to trust her with some of my own more difficult-to-share things. I really admire her; she's the living embodiment of kindness and caring. It's an absolute enigma as to why and how she's single… I'm almost sensing some self-sabotage on that front. Like there's some reason she thinks she doesn't deserve to stay happy, despite how much she does to earn the kindness she's been shown."

Cascade blushed once she realised what she'd said at that point. "…but you didn't hear it from me." She looked at Charade's eyes. "I wonder…"

You get the sense that her staring at the Meowscarada's purple eyes has given her an idea about Loki. Perhaps by combining Loki's love of the colour purple and the Dragonair's subtle statements…

((Ask hints have been updated!))

(( @ask-the-royal-absol / @ask-meowscarada ))

#cascade dragonair #hope blaziken #charade meowscarada #cascade's opening up a lot of wurmple cans