How LEGO Monkie Kid Created the Perfect Protagonist

Love how this monkie kid didn’t have problems or trauma but eventually gained them

MK arc is that he's a hero who wants to live a normal life while helping people as a superhero but he slowly realizes he can't do that he has to save the world.

MK is a very compelling and interesting protagonist, being a longtime fan of this show since it released three years ago, it is great to see it get some recognition from a writing standpoint.

I'm so glad you're telling people about the show. We really need more folks watching it.

One of my favorite MK moments is at the end of season 3 when he casually says "sometimes I play dumb to lighten the mood", which recontextualizes a lot about his character. It's great to see a proper analysis on this show, there's so much potential but hardly anyone talks about it. I'd love to see something on Wukong, as he's a very flawed and complex person (especially if you take JTTW into account)

In short: he's a very anxious, very silly protagonist, and I love and cherish him with my entire well-being

This show is so damn good. What’s funny is that on a first time watching,season 1 is kinda a slog. But as you get more attached to the characters and feel for them more, you learn to appreciate the first season because it’s when they were the happiest in the show. Season 2 expands and introduces the trauma, season 3 hammers that trauma in, and season 4 makes sure the audience knows these characters need therapy and that a hug might be in order.

I love the use of Giratina's theme at 13:12, makes the ink monsters just that much creepier.

"His beliefs push him despite his wants" THAT. YES. THIS IS WHY I FIND HIM SO COMPELLING. THANK YOU FOR PUTTING IT INTO WORDS.

13:15 Seriously, Giratina’s battle theme fits almost too well for that sequence, like the music was made specifically for it.😮

you do an AMAZING job talking about MK oh my gosh. one thing i want to add on though is that regarding MK and his relationship with Sun Wukong is that nearly every single bad thing MK has heard regarding him (betraying the brotherhood, leaving behind Macaque, etc.) had been from people that AREN'T Wukong. Both MK and the viewer perspective of Wukong regarding his past has always been something we have desperately lacked Wukongs input regarding. While yes, Wukong has shared some details of his past to MK and the group it has always been small or vaguely discussing it, and now in S4, that is especially prominent regarding the brotherhood and the scroll and Wukongs current status. Yet taking into account the original inspiration for LEGO Monkie Kid, Journey to the West, along with several scenes throughout the show, mainly in later seasons, it could be possible to infer that when Wukong was doing these "morally questionable" acts it was outside of his own choice, Wukong being used as a weapon for other peoples bidding. I also think that in part is why Wukong is so adamant on helping MK harness his powers rather than let MK figure shit out on his own, that was what caused Wukong to be used as a weapon and Wukong doesn't want that to be what MK experiences (I also don't know how to add it in, but I want to point out that through the whole show everyone else tends to refer to MKs powers as "The Monkey King's powers" yet Wukong is the only one to directly say that they are MKs powers, not powers he handed down to MK) Basically what I'm wanting to get at is not only is MK a complex and interesting protagonist, yet so is Sun Wukong, not quite a protagonist yet he is interesting and complex with many layers and a moral complexity outside of black and white, just like his successor. I don't think Wukong is a bad guy, and I surely hope the show doesn't try and paint him as such, I just think he's got interesting and complicated morals and past that you don't typically tend to see outside of a kids show.

I've never watched Monkie Kid, but the sets are absolutely amazing tho.

ah love to see more monkie kid deep-dives - would love to see one on macaque and wukongs relationship or LBD - great content as usual, keep it up!

The lady bone demon is absolutely terrifying. If it wasn't a Lego kid show, there would be a lot more on screen deaths O·O

A big reason why wukong and mk seem more like people instead of just characters despite how powerful they are is because the book wukong is from is an allegory, and Wukong represents the mind he is meant to act realistically, not like some perfect main character that has perfect morals and stuff he, this fact definitely helped with mk because like you said a lot of wukongs traits rubbed off on mk

I do like how Macaque did comfort MK and try to help him through his trauma before the s4 special

15:53 I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE MK GRABBING HIS ARM JUST LIKE WUKONG DID BEFORE LEAVING HIS FRIENDS THAT SUCH A COOL DETAIL Edit: ITS EVEN THE SAME ANGLE AHHHH i love this show, can you tell?

4:33 I also like how the his clones also aren't "good guys", and are causing trouble. Gives a bit to the 'Harbinger of Chaos' thing the ink version of him was going on about. >.> Plus, with the season 4 special, I am so hype for season 5!

i thought he was just gonna be another boring "overly enthusiastic, kinda stupid protag with a hero complex with zero real depth" that i just had to endure for the plot, but this show rly smacked me over the head for that 💀mk is genuinely intriguing and SO much more than the stereotype you might put him in at first. even in season 1 you can see he has more depth than that, it's not as visible but definitely there. i love this littl monke boy <3

This is what I got from season three when I watched it: season three is spent breaking down WuKong and building up MK. which takes a while due to the amount of constant traumatic experiences he's having added with the major confidence hits he has to relearn that yes your not immediately going to succeed at everything, but that doesn't mean you should give up on yourself as a person. WuKong while taking just as much if not harder confidence hits that didn't exist in the first place. WuKong gets back up as though it didn't affect him. That's the difference MK acts and feels like real person on their own path learning to be better to themselves. Wu Kong doesn't want that he used to royally screwing up dealing the consequences and just getting up again no matter what happens, the only thing that truly got through to him was Mei screaming at him that's he's hurting MK by being like that way. And WuKong just crumbled right there, causing him to break down. Mk crumbled because of traumatic events that built up and he couldn't take it. Monkey King? He assumed MK wouldn't be able to hold his own and that he would just be better off if MK wasn't on the battle field to distract him.