the library (of fun): Kung Fu Panda Challenge, Day One: Favorite Character
This’ll be fun! LET’S GO!
In terms of pure genuine character I really love Po. Besides being the main protagonist and hilarious he is probably the best animal (?) in the KFP world besides maybe Oogway or Soothsayer. He is caring, forgiving, humble and especially after KFP2…
OH MY GOSH THAT PIC. Who drew that?!
I’m pretty sure it was beesinmypants who drew it.
Yup, it’s my derpy doodle. XDDD
To answer your comments (since they don’t reblog when I try to reblog them and I don’t know why D:)
PARALLELSSS! And they were different from the Tai Lung parallels! It was about dealing with emotions and parents and the past and people who were as much or more as parents but weren’t blood parents and being derpy and socially awkward cause they’re not sure who they are! PLUS THE WHOLE WHAT DO YOU DO TO SOMEONE WHO RUINED YOUR LIFE. And yes, that is what she’s saying. Glad you caught it! XDDDDDD
They were great to watch, loved all their scenes. Hrmmmmmmm, words are failing me now… but I feel like some part of Shen never grew up. Like he still acts like a spoiled brat and gets all flustered over things that if Shifu had bothered Tai Lung with, Tai Lung would have punched him. This isn’t making much sense lol I’ll make a more coherent post another time? With derpy doodles? PROMISE! XDDDDD
Are you reblogging as a ‘link’ or ‘text?’ At the top of the reblogging page you’re given that option, and I find that when you reblog ‘text’ you reblog everything, while reblogging a ‘link’ is only partial. And sometimes it’s automatically reblog as a ‘link’ for some reason.
Anyway—I love parallels! And I again agree with everything you said! I find Po and Shen to be so much more delightfully personal, and it reminded me that Tai is really more of Shifu’s ‘villain’ (but I do like that they needed an outside force like Po to relatively resolve that issue). I mean, Tai never gets under Po’s skin like Shen does, and I massively <3 that. Po and Shen have officially hit my Epic Rivalry/Archenemies kink.
I do get the sense that part of Shen was still juvenile and a spoiled brat, though I’m weirdly having a hard time giving examples, specifying…I just get the sense of that, still a part of him as a royal brat, LOL.
And Tai Lung did punch Shifu—and more. I just find it immensely interesting, this point—Tai Lung does physically strike back at his surrogate parent, Shen never physically lays a hand on her. Of course there are more logical (and interesting) reasons regarding roles for that, with Shifu also training Tai Lung in Kung Fu in addition to raising him, they must’ve sparred together; and as TVTropes.org says, the Soothsayer is a NonAction girl, it’s unlikely Shen learned his mad skills from her.
My bet’s on Master Thundering Rhino, to up the tragedy and I thought I saw an interesting tension and familiarity between the twoSo I really like that narratively (don’t want to repeat themselves blatantly) and characteristically those two differ in that regard. And Shen needed that Pet the Dog moment, that nuance to his character; a large part of why I love him so much is his awesome relationship to the Soothsayer, and why I like her too. (It was the same with Tai Lung and Shifu, I loved them both so much and how they related to each other.)I look forward to more meta on Shen and Soothsayer and their doodles! XD
Ah yes! This is working now, thanks so much!
Yesss. Tai Lung was very much Shifu’s issue to come to terms with although he still very much echoed Po. Tai Lung grew up with all and too much encouragement for kung fu while Po had Shifu almost beating it out of him. They both very much wanted to be the hero but came at it from very different backgrounds. I love that Tai Lung on the bridge boasts how “Their battle will be legendary” after watching Po’s dream about the “legendary warrior whose legend, etc”. I read somewhere (prolly TV Tropes haha) that Tai Lung is what Po could have been.
Kink you say? That can be a dangerous word. XDDD Bratty Shen.. He still whines about his clothes even though he’s been exiled and working with flammable explosives for 30+ years. You’d think he would have gained some perspective. Or accepted that something was gonna ruin the silk. Oh KFP and your parent/ children relationships. I actually kinda see Soothsayer as a parallel to Mr. Ping.
Ooh, I just enjoy all these Po-Tai Lung parallels.
Ohman, I know right? I’m struggling to find the right word for it—er, maybe just ‘interest?’ XD
Rule of Funny? I dunno, I think about that too: for the past 30 years in his exile he’s been working on his explosives and cannons, and I know when it came to mass producing he probably delegated more and more to his wolves, they had like a whole factory system in place, but I think he’d still be pretty hands—er, wings-on, probably especially with prototypes of new versions/etc. And I’m pretty sure their factory was like over a VOLCANO (and I think it was snowy until the actual volcano part? I need to rewatch the movie for a 5th time XD). What, does he change into less fine robes for cannon work—actually, that would make sense. Except we see him in what looks like the same robes of the finest silk in the province
and I stand by my guess that province is Gongmen Province, that it’s not just Gongmen City his parents ruled over—that Gongmen City was the capitol of the whole province they ruled. So then why does he—well, we only ever see him complain with the Soothsayer, when she eats his clothes. Maybe that’s the last straw? Maybe it’s one thing to get his clothes dirty but to, y’know, eat them? Maybe her eating his clothes is equivalent to her treating him like a kid (‘cause I think it’s not the first time she went for his clothes) and that ticks him off—of course, he only ends up reacting like a kid.…Yeah, I just did a meta on an awesome running gag in relation to the rest of the movie. In my defense, I’m writing Lord Shen-centric fanfiction (and even considering writing a retelling of the film exclusively from Shen’s POV). And it was fun. X)
I remember thinking that was another parallel between Po and Shen, how they both have these not-blood-related parental figures. I can see the Soothsayer as a parallel to Mr. Ping.
Though I think Shen’s situation was more complicated and awkward since his parents were still around, and given the offscreen backstory—I wonder if things might’ve been simpler and turned out differently if Shen had been outright orphaned and completely taken in by the Soothsayer like how Po was taken in by Mr. PingAnd on that note, with the parallels—for all those similarities, it all ends differently for them both based on how they reacted/etc. Po’s ends triumphant, while Shen’s ends in tragedy.Maybe, and yup! Pet peeve or a throw back to past palace times, he still sounds like a embarrassed kid haha. I think it’d be hilarious if she’s always done that since from when he was little. Like nip at his clothes when he gets all gloomy
she could eat even more robes because he was so tiny.I love your Lord Shen fic! I’ve been following it and flipped out when you posted about it. HOW SMALL IS THE INTERNET
I think part (well a lot) of what was Shen was that he couldn’t shake off his relationship with his parents even with the Soothsayer. Even after they died he wasn’t just mad at them and hating their memory but still hurt by it. If only he could have let it go….. I think at the very end he did in his own way.
Ah, that’s sounds so sweet in addition to the LOL factor.
Thanks! Are you one of the reviewers on ff.net, but under a different name? (It’ll go on hiatus for about 2-3 weeks while I travel, but afterward I should hopefully have a new update up soon.)
He was haunted by it still, yeah. ;_; Yeah, I think at the very end, with his Suicde by Cop, he did. I dunno, even though I loved him, and wouldn’t mind his return, I really did love his conclusion. (Found it more satisfying than Tai Lung’s, and I still expect him to return at some point—I mean, all of it was just ambiguous.)