Monkie Kid

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Fandom
Name: Lego Monkie Kid
Abbreviation(s): Monkie Kid, LMK
Creator: Simon Lucas
Date(s): 29 May 2020 - Present
Medium: TV Animation
Country of Origin: China
External Links:
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Monkie Kid, also known as Lego Monkie Kid or LMK, is an animated TV series produced by Lego. It is one of two series done in 2D animation that Lego has produced, and the first to garner widespread attention for its animation. It is also Lego's only successful attempt at creating a theme that appeals to a Chinese market.

Canon

Monkie Kid follows MK, the titular Monkie Kid, and his friends as he follows in the footsteps of his idol: Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. The series is based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, which features Monkey King as one of the main characters. Throughout the series, MK and his friends undergo similar trials as what Monkey King went through, just with a modern twist.

The series consists of four seasons currently, with Season 5 expected to release soon. The seasons consist of 10 episodes each, along with a special equivalent to four episodes of runtime for each season, which are usually used for the finale of the season. The episodes are 11 minutes long.

Plot Summary

The pilot special of Monkie Kid, titled Monkie Kid: A Hero is Born, tells the tale of MK accidentally stumbling upon the Monkey King's staff, which was being used to seal the Demon Bull King underground. He finds out that he's unexpectedly able to lift it after DBK's family has already freed him, and rushes off to try and find Monkey King to give back the staff. Unfortunately, DBK's wife, Princess Iron Fan, catches up to MK and takes teh staff back. He finds Monkey King, who turns out to be rather lazy and aloof, and tells MK to get the staff back and have the confidence to take on DBK himself. MK does so, using the staff to magically create his own Monkey Mech to fight DBK with, and is able to defeat him. However, DBK gets away before MK can seal him again.

Season 1 covers MK's journey in learning to use his newfound powers that he gained after lifting the staff. He quickly finds that he isn't able to control them well, and Monkey King puts a seal on him to weaken his powers while he learns to control them. Going forward, each of the 10 episodes of Season 1 features MK either learning a new power, or learning some other kind of lesson. In episode 8, MK obtains a magic key that can lock or unlock anything, from a suspicious character claiming to be the mayor. However, the key is later stolen by Red Son, and used to open a mysterious vault that the DBK family has been excavating. This season also introduces one of the key antagonists, Macaque, who acts as a twisted reflection of Monkey King, taking over his mentor role in order to steal MK's powers. He doesn't succeed, but it leaves MK less confident in his abilities than he was before. The season finale has the Monkie Kids going up against a possessed DBK, who has been overtaken by the spirit of the demon his family unwittingly released. Red Son and PIF join forces with MK to free him, and vanish together when the fight is over.

The season 2 special, Revenge of the Spider Queen, is where the series begins shifting away from pure setup. Spider Queen, a spider demon who lost her throne long ago and has a grudge against the Monkey King, attempts to make a venom that will turn ordinary people into spiders demons that she can command. However, her first attempt to make it using hair stolen from MK fails; then, a mysterious girl appears, with the ingredient she needs to finish it. Spider Queen succeeds in taking over the city, using both the venom and a giant spider mech. Monkey King rushes in to stop her, mostly because she interrupted the New Year's fireworks, but is caught off guard and captured, used to power her mech along with other demons. The rest of the team is then left on their own to try and stop her, and they end up teaming up with Red Son to create an antidote to the venom. They journey to the Celestial Realm, steal the necessary ingredients, and head back to save the day. Red Son and DBK fully team up with the Monkie Kids to fight Spider Queen, putting a stop to her attempted takeover. It seems like a solid ending, but there's one crucial detail that MK doesn't yet know: Monkey King recognized the mysterious girl who was helping Spider Queen as a powerful demon he once defeated, but doesn't have the power to do so again. That girl is the main antagonist of the first three seasons of Monkie Kid: the Lady Bone Demon.

Journey to the West

The Journey to the West is one of the four great Chinese novels, and its influence can be seen far and wide, even outside of Chinese media. The Monkey King's story has inspired many characters and stories based on him throughout the years, including in Dragonball, where the main character Sun Goku was blatantly based off of Sun Wukong. Monkie Kid was written with the expectation that Chinese viewers, at least, would already be somewhat familiar with Sun Wukong and his story, and references to Journey to the West are plentiful in every episode of Monkie Kid.

Characters

Monkie Kids

The Pilgrims

  • Tang Sanzang
  • Zhu Bajie
  • Sha Wujing
  • Ao Lie

Former Enemies (Allies)

  • Macaque (the Six-Eared Macaque)
  • Demon Bull King (DBK)
  • Princess Iron Fan
  • Red Son

Current or Defeated Enemies

  • Lady Bone Demon
  • The Mayor
  • Spider Queen
  • Spider Queen's Henchmen
    • Syntax
    • Huntsman
    • Strong Spider
  • Jin and Yin (Gold and Silver Demons)
  • The Goldfish Demon
  • Scorpion Queen
  • Azure Lion
  • Peng (the Golden-Winged Peng)
  • Yellow Tusk
  • Kui Mulang

Other Side Characters

  • Nezha
  • Chang'e
  • Ao Guang
  • Master Subodhi (Shirfu Subodhi)
  • Jade Emperor
  • Lao Tzu
  • Tudi
  • Li Jing
  • Kings of the Underworld

Fandom

Fandom History/Notable Events

Season 5 Trailer Drop & Fan Reactions

In mid-May of 2024, the Monkie Kid Season 5 trailer was leaked in Mandarin. It was uploaded to Youtube, and swiftly spread across the internet; however, the original upload was later deleted. Although it took a few days for fan translations of the trailer to start circulating, non-mandarin speaking fans already had a lot to say about it, namely concerning the animation. The animation of the trailer was significantly more stiff and choppy compared to what fans were used to, and appeared to use puppet animation rather than hand-drawn animation. Fans were understandably upset at the lack in quality, and rumors began circulating that the animation studio behind Monkie Kid seasons 1-4, Flying Bark, had left the project. This was later confirmed by Lego and Flying Bark, who stated that the studio was too busy with other upcoming projects to work on Monkie Kid. The show has since been taken over by WildBrain Studios, who have also animated Lego Ninjago and Carmen Sandiego. Despite the initial dismay at the drop in animation quality, fans began pushing back against the defeatist attitude over the next few weeks, especially when the trailer was translated into English and fans could begin making theories as to the content of the season. Fans became more skeptical of their initial reactions, and deliberately left further judgement of the animation to when the season actually came out, instead focusing on the potential plot.

Common Pairings

Het

  • Dragonfruit (Mei/Red Son)
  • Demon Bull King/Princess Iron Fan

Slash

  • SpicyNoodles (MK/Red Son)
  • FreeNoodles (Pigsy/Tang)
  • ShadowPeach (Macaque/Wukong)

Poly

  • TrafficLightShipping (Mei/MK/Red Son)

Notable Tropes & Fanon

  • Families of Choice: This is a canon trope. MK refers to Pigsy as his dad multiple times in the series, despite obviously not being biologically related, nor does Pigsy seem to have any official guardianship role. In season 4, Pigsy refers to MK as his son, and explicitly refers to the Monkie Kids as MK's family. The rest of the team refer to each other in a familial manner as well, without defined roles. Fanon and fanworks tend to lean into this dynamic, often placing either Pigsy and Tang or Monkey King in the role of MK's father figure.

Fanworks

Archives & Communities

Resources

References

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