For a franchise that's been going on 90 years strong under the model of endless creativity, they sure do like fusing damn numerous brands on the market. That's not to say there haven't been a couple of projects that have popped off; Lego Bionicle, Friends, and arguably the most iconic brand, Ninjago, have all been running for their most popular "theme" since their inception.
However, for every Lego City, there's a Nexnoknight, Chima, or Mixels, an unknown stock toy line that gets forgotten within a year or two. This is why today, I'm more than grateful that one of Lego's most ambitious ventures to appeal to a long-forgotten market has taken its own unique Journey to the West and beyond in popularity. If you somehow missed the title,
I'm, of course, about Lego's latest and greatest animated hit: Lego Monkie Kid.
After finally catching up with the series and feeling empty, I returned to the Drako Files for another glowing analysis and excused myself from gushing about my favorite media. But even more than that, I want to dig in deep and explain how Lego Monkie Kid manages to redefine a legend.
Notes
As always, I want to preface this blog by saying everything I'm about to say comes from my own opinion after consuming all four seasons of Monkie Kid, so there is subject to change. Also, since Lego Monkie Kid is primarily a Chinese show with a whole host of different dubs, I will be talking from the perspective of the English dub. I'll try to keep this spoiler free as possible. With that out of the way, though, let's begin.
Production
Much like every Lego Brand, Monkie Kid's creation is based on Lego seeking to create an entire toy line based entirely on Chinese culture. The video "A LEGO Journey to the East (Link will be provided) goes the most into detail throughout the production. It was revealed quickly after some pitches focusing on Journey to the West, the classic 16th-century novel by Wu Cheng'en, which would be for the best.
However, as stated by Simon Lucas, they didn't wish to tell the same story over again but reinterpret the story in a new way. After that, an international team of workers from Denmark, China, and the United States worked to generate designs for the toy line over the next six months.
On the show's end, though, Jeremy Adams was brought in as a series writer, as he traveled between East and West to get the show culturally accurate. Xiaodong Wen, one of the concept designers, would later direct the project, with Flying Bark Studios providing the animation. The rest is, as they say, history.
Summary
Five hundred years after Sun Wukong, Monkey King, The Sage Equal to Heaven, the Hero of China, sealed away the villainous Demon Bull King, the world had ushered in a new age of peace and prosperity. Over time, the city of Megapolis is built over DBK's defeat, where our resident noodle boy and Main character MK resides.
Upon one of his usual routes, Mk stumbles upon a treasured sight: the staff of Sun Wukong. And a couple of bad guys wish to remove it to release the Demon Bull King and rule the world. Oops. Being the potent boy failure he is, MK fails to go unnoticed by the villains, resulting in a wild chase that results in him not only being able to lift the fabled staff but accidentally using its power to release DBK on the world.
Now with Wukong's sworn enemy out on the streets again, Mk realizes that he can't rely on the Monkey King to save him now. He'll have to answer destiny's call alongside his friends and become a new hero: the Monkie Kid!
Characters
Starting with the series' real inspiration, we've got the Monkey King, serving primarily as Mk's mentor, idol, and main shitstarter. After centuries of high-flying adventures by himself, Sun Wukong isn't exactly a conventional mentor. He's often lazy, secretive, and arrogant when teaching MK. However, when the chips are down and his friends get threatened, there's a reason why he gave Heaven itself a run for its money.
Shifting towards the Monkie Kid, we've got a whole new bag of bananas. Growing up as an avid fan of Sun Wukong for years, MK has a warped and unbelievable view of heroism, leaving him an easily excitable, adventurous, and friendly guy. As the series continues, we see cracks in MK's composure reveal that the guy can be reckless, gullible, and insecure, copying many of Monkey King's worst traits when fully stressed.
Good thing MK has his group of buddies to back him up, all of whom mysteriously have some
forgone connection to Sun Wukong's old travel buddies. First, we have the White Horse Dragon girl Mei, an energetic spitfire who holds her family legacy and friends in great regard. Whether he needs an ally in combat or another video game enthusiast, Mei is always there to back MK as one of his best friends.
Serving as both Mk's boss and father figure, we have Pigsy, a passionate and temperamental cook who takes no shit from anyone, including his noodle shop's most annoying customer, Mister Tang, a cowardly scholar of the Monkey King who is always willing to cheat his way to the end. Finally, there's Sandy, a kind-hearted pacifist, and engineer who can let his kindness
go to his head.
Rounding the scale back to our villains for a second, though, we have the Demon Bull King family. Lead by the titular character, dbk is an ambitious, aggressive, and stubborn conqueror with standards. As his partner in life and crime, Princess Iron Fan is DBK's stoic tempestuous temptress who keeps a cool head.
Leaving them to the polar opposite of their son, Red ... Son (didn't think this through), a fiery and prideful warrior in his own right who does most of the family's dirty work. Filling out their works a little more, we've got the villainous Spider Queen, devilish tricksters Yin and Jin, plus the mysteriously rival to the Sun Wukong: Macaqaue (OMG HE'S SO FUCKING COOL I LOVE HIM, BEST CHARACTER EVARRRR DFDFHIDHFIDHFIDHFIHF!!)
Presentation
The thing that instantly caught most people with Monkie Kid was its amazing visual presentation. However, if you're more into the animation sphere, you'll realize this is very much in the wheelhouse of Flying Bark Productions. Glitch Techs, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Moon Girl, and Devil Dinosaur have been solidified as my favorite Western animation studio.
Every product they've made has been super creative, high energy, humorous, and action-packed. While somehow still being able to cut corners in the budget cleverly. If you said Monkie Kid was the best-looking out of these 4, though, I wouldn't blame you. The simple art style of the Legos, combined with the short episodes and celestial scale of the characters, gives each battle in Monkie Kid a unique flare.
No two characters fight the same, and not every conflict requires it to be blown up, so disputes are allowed to be creative. Sometimes MK has to destroy some Demon Bull King clones with his staff. Other times he must rely on his shapeshifting skills to avoid a tough jam. It's all relative. If you're not here for the jaw-dropping, split-second, and beautifully composed action, stay for the comedy.
Monkie Kid is often moving a mile per minute, constantly hitting you with jokes with no concern for the 4th wall. Though I honestly think most of the jokes wouldn't work without the amazing English Voice Cast, we have on this. Look back on the lists of some of these actors, and you'll see just how experienced these voice-acting veterans are.
For me, standouts include Sean Schemmel, the voice of Goku doing Sun Wukong, and Billy Kametz (RIP), the voice of Macaque and Josuke in JJBA. The screaming throat goat Patrick Seitz playing Sandy and, of course, Sokka himself, Jack Desena boomeranging it back as MK.
There's not a bone in my body that doesn't wish desperately to see outtakes or Bloopers from this show. The voice delivery is just that good. I also wouldn't mind a full soundtrack either. Outside of a couple of sampled tracks, we don't get enough coverage on some of the epic character themes blessed with.
Still, no matter which way you analyze Monkie Kid's insane visuals. There's always going to be something to pick out and enjoy. After all, it's the crazy animation that drew people into the show, but if we're talking about what made people stick around for this show, it would have to be the-.
Overview
Lego Monkie Kid follows an exciting structure, especially when you compare the first two seasons to the last. The former relies heavily on a simplistic and episodic format, following MK slowly building up his abilities, maturity, and rogues gallery. For those who don't know the Journey to the West myth, these seasons manage to sprinkle in background elements to set up future plot elements while providing references to JTTW that are digestible for new fans.
The small-scale format also helps massively to explore MK's relationships with his friends, like winning a race or completing a delivery on time between demon fighting. However, as the series goes on, everything gets bigger. Off-kilter jokes reveal horrid character flaws, our heroes' mystical abilities become more pronounced, Journey to the West starts holding far more relevance, and threats keep escalating. What began as the standard villain of the week now evolved into season-long arcs threatening the universe.
All add to the one-running theme of Monkie Kid: Destiny and the cycle it perpetuates. When Wukong is described in the legend, he's seen as an all-inspiring hero, but with the oncoming season, we see just how many enemies and mistakes he's made over the years. After numerous battles, MK and, by extension, his friends can't help but wonder anxiously if
they're "destined to repeat the cycles of their ancestors."
Or somehow leave the world even worse than what their ancestors left it. Regardless, fate is at their doorstep, and they can't ignore it. Running away or trying to set things back will make everything worse. So the best they can do, the best anyone can do, is try their best to make their own story without others' tales.
Putting aside the deep philosophical questions which set a mirror on generational trauma aside. I do have to throw some gripes at Simian child. For better or worse, this show is incredibly binge-able, only boasting ten 10-minute episode-long seasons alongside a 40-minute special. Certain conflicts, plot elements, and character bits introduced in the series can fly so fast that they become pointless.
I get the format is easy to hold the target demographic's attention span, though I wish seasons were slightly longer (Ex: longer runtimes or more eps) to help build up the climatic finales better. Another issue for all of my non-Chinese readers (which should be all of you cause why the hell are you even here) is this show is hard as flippin' fuck to find.
The only major streaming site I know who has this show is Amazon, but those only cover the first two seasons. Finding the other two required me to jump through some Google Drive files and Youtube. Combined with how the Specials either start or end a season, and the show can be difficult to jump into, I will provide a watch order below.
A Hero is Born
Season 1
Return of the Spider Queen
Season 2
Season 3
Embrace Your Destiny
Season 4
The Emperor's Wrath
Finally, this is a bit of a nitpick. I realized rather quickly as an easy way to raise the stakes artificially. This show will try to bring Wukong out of play immediately. This makes sense as a way to build up stakes, but I do hope that in the future seasons, with more consistent threats, we can either have him weakened, do something else, or interact more with the gang since their interactions are so good.
Epilogue
Despite my gripes, Lego Monkie Kid is a modern animation marvel that deserves every bit of praise it gets. I'm so glad I finally got to be a part of this passionate fanbase, and I can't wait to see what new stories the team is cooking up. I believe if Season 5 (whenever that's coming out) delivers the same quality as before, we could see the series that could finally dethrone Ninjago. Either way, something tells me I will be enjoying this journey to the end. I hope one day to write my legend in stone. Though I guess I'll have to keep going and keep writing to see it.