Random prompt based on a thing I saw but what if after Wukong was caught by heaven, Azure projected a little of his crush onto Macaque since they look alike?
"I'm worried about you, brother."
"Why?" Macaque chose not to look at his visitor. He was much more focused on checking the ripeness of the peaches up in the trees, a few monkeys doing the same in other trees. "Because I'm by myself? I'm with the monkeys."
Even if he was still bitter and angry over his fight with their king, Macaque couldn't leave the little guys.
"That is part of my concern." Footsteps signaled Azure walking around the tree. Macaque caught a glimpse of gold but continued to look up. "As intelligent as they are, I don't think the monkeys make good conversation."
"Because you never bothered to learn, brother." Macaque huffed, offense welling up. The monkeys were plenty intelligent, thank you very much.
Besides, he knew what Azure really wanted.
And it wasn't him.
"I'm satisfied here, for now, Azure." Macaque finally looked down. Azure stared up at him, although his eyes were a little hazy. Imagining someone else in Macaque's place. He grabbed a peach and winced at the hardness. Not ripe yet.
On second thought...
"I'll let you know when your stand-in for Wukong is interested." Macaque plucked the peach off and threw it down. Azure caught it. "For now, however, I'm good."
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!
Anyone want another Tang screenshot redraw? No? Too bad, you’re getting one anyway.
(Minor S4 Special Spoilers under the cut)
Now that the season 4 special has officially released in English I finally get to share this. I’ve had this in my back pocket since I was spoiled from the China release and I’m happy to finally share it. I just love our resident nerd boy so much. I’m obsessed with his new fluffy hair and, I swear to god, if they don’t let him keep it I’m going to riot.
Equally a question and a reminder for myself to check: what outfit does Macaque have in the argument? I believe Wukong has his past gear still but I'm curious. For - for no - for no reason. :)
Just something I wrote based on an anon's writings to @purble-turble involving yandere Shadowlion being obsessive over Sun Wukong.
Contians spoilers for the S4 special.
The room was wonderful.
Plants lined large windows that provided an excellent view of the fields outside. There was even a balcony with carefully tended plants nodding in the wind. Bookshelves were lined with hundreds of books spanning multiple subjects, from dramas to political treatises. There was even a TV with a large stack of games. The centerpiece was the large, elaborate bed. Completely covered in gorgeous purple and blue sheets and blankets and pillows, it was the perfect nesting ground.
Anyone would be lucky to rest here.
Unless you were Wukong.
By now, he had seen all the ugly signs that the room hid beneath its luxury. The windows were locked. The balcony door was sealed shut. A thick chain, diamond-laced, stretched from his ankle to the center of the floor, with the pillows hiding more cuffs at the headboard in case he tried to lash out in the night. Seven locks clamped the door tightly shut and refused to break, no matter how hard Wukong banged and thrashed and screamed to be let out.
He was trapped.
How had things ended up like this?
Wukong could barely remember. He remembered diving in the way of ink Peng's attack, warning Qi Xiaotian (oh he must be so scared) to seal the scroll, and waking up here. Much to his horror, he hadn't been alone.
Macaque had been there. Wukong had honestly been expecting that. He had seen the signs of the shadow master lurking around Flower Fruit Mountain. The only reason he hadn't driven off the guy was because Xiaotian was fond of him. The other guy had been a surprise.
Azure Lion. Free of the Diyu.
For once, Wukong had felt no remorse for sending him down to the kings of hell, unlike sealing DBK under the mountain or batting Macaque away or, hell, even sealing the others in the scroll. The lion demon had not taken their mercy during the journey. Instead, he had gotten the brilliant idea to wait until the journey was over and try and kidnap him.
They were working together to "fix" him, apparently. Reverse all the progress the journey, Tripitaka, hell even Xiaotian had made. Azure had termed it a "sickness" with a doting smile.
He had tried to escape. Of course he did.
When not even using their secret rivalry (of course Wukong knew about it, he just wasn't sure how to handle it) worked, Wukong was faced with the facts. He had to wait. Either to be rescued (which he hated) or for an opening.
Wukong groaned, leaning back in the nest. He hated everything about this. Even the fucking clothes were awful! I mean, hello, how were you supposed to react when one of your stalkers admitted to stealing clothes so he could fucking whiff your scent every minute! He had outgrown the hat years ago, but every time Azure saw him with it off he would stuff it back on his head.
Okay I’m watching a poorly translated version of the special and can someone PLEASE explain what this actually says because just the idea of Azure secretly wanting to marry Wukong is driving me bananas even though I am so sure the show would never do that
Again, there’s no way they would make that cannon just the idea the person trying to translate this seems (?) to have thought that is just making me so curious to what this actually says. Technically the characters’ faces match what their reactions would be if Azure suddenly declared his love-hate for Wukong, so it’s kinda funny but I’m guessing he’s saying he always dreamed of celebrating when he became Jade Emperor and whatever translator this person is using interpreted party as specifically a wedding party for some reason