Thoughts on LEGO Monkie Kid Season 5

Possible spoilers ahead

It's official - LMK season 5 is coming soon, and the trailer is dropping. As of writing this I have my hands on the Mandarin version of the trailer, however even without understanding a single word, I'm able to pick up on a few things and get my theory crafting hat on. I'll be going through just about every bit of the trailer, as well as the (yet to be released) sets.

LEGO Monkie Kid Season 5 Trailer (MANDARIN)

Starting off, I gotta point out the fact that we're seeing a lot of Macaque, MK, and Wukong together. Hopefully we finally go through MK's 'celestial primate ark,' like it was set up at the end of season 4. We need more monkey MK (I crave it in my soul.) 

So we see the Council™, and I can't help but wonder if one of the trio (Wukong,) or all three of them are 'on trial' for the Azure incident. As stated in season 4, Azure doesn't even know how he got the Scroll of Memory, so I can't help but wonder if Wukong is being blamed for it, all three of them are, or they're being tasked with finding out who actually gave it to Azure.

We get some cool flashbacks to the end of season 4, and the shot of Chang'e is honestly so simple yet so gorgeous. The background art of LMK is always so nice. Then it cuts to our new Jade Emperor, Ne Zha's father, Li Jing. I do have to point out that they have the same / very similar hair highlight, and god it's so cute. 

LMK Season 5 Poster

Li Jing can be seen holding / wielding a veeery tiny pagoda. I'm unsure if it's a weapon or some sort of tool, my guess however is that it's some form of entrapment / bag of holding in pagoda form, seeing as (how the trailer has it set up,) the gang get's sucked into it. Unless it's just framed to look like that, when in fact it's something completely different. Also, return of the migraine tiara, version two! Poor Wukong is just getting bullied now lmao. Also hearing MK say "Ne Zha's daddy" was not on my bingo card but here we are.

Cut back to the Council™, building exploding(?), universe being torn apart again like it was when Azure took over. A dragon and tiger cuddling(?) as they die(?(I will come back to them later)) mountain bursting with light... And Wukong. Looking back at Macaque. Both of their faces seemingly worried and terrified. I can't even take a guess as to what's happening, but I do know my blorbos are gonna hurt and I'm ready. 

I honestly wish there was an English version of the trailer already, because I'm dying to know what MK is saying to Ne Zha. (And I mean to know what's actually going on in the trailer as a whole but I mean that's just a given.) Cool shot of Sandy, looking like he's about to murder someone for calling MK a mean name lmao. Also him hugging MK is just SO SWEET GOD SANDY WE LOVE YOU. 

The stones! THE STONES! I have no clue what they're officially called other than "the stones," but I like to think of them as "The Stones of Creation," because I mean cOME ON IT'S NÜWA WE'RE TALKING ABOUT. MONKEY MOM RIGHT HERE. Anyways I'll cap my unhinged rambling about mom for now and move on. 

Next we see a phoenix, the 100-Eyed Demon, the Nine-Headed Demon transformed into the beast we see on screen (as well as in the lego set) and Ne Zha's mech! We can't see a whole lot of it because of the fight, but seeing where the lego set is coming from is always cool. Wukong says something to MK (again, English trailer I am BEGGING for you to be released,) and then cut to monkey MK flying towards the stones.... All of them. Not the two we've been seeing.

More monkey MK has been confirmed, and it looks like we're going to see him to continue to struggle with this a lot. I wonder if there's going to be a plotline of him confronting Nüwa about his creation. All depends on if we see plenty of her or not (which I assume we will, I mean come on, the stones?) Also looks like we'll get another training with Wukong montage, or something similar. Sandy and Pigsy are fighting someone and from the looks of it, it's not good. Also another shot of Ne Zha's mech in action. It screams Gundam / Transformers. Macaque having an explosion of power... You know that's not good. Tang doing his Tang thing, we love him. Also Mei's mech! While the shape of it is 'quite feminine" for a mech, it still looks great, especially with the dragon details. I've seen some people say it should've been horse details instead, but I feel like we forget that it's "dragon-horse girl," not "horse girl." Ao Lie is very much still a dragon, even if he was a horse for the entirety of Journey to the West lol.

The crew has more tiny vehicles and honestly, love that for them. More monkey MK, always good. "Oh yeah" he yells, going into what looks like the end of the world lmao. Never change MK, never change. And finally, a shot of Red Son and Mei together, talking about I don't know what, but Mei is being charmingly annoying as ever. Her little gremlin walk and face are just so fucking funny and cute lmao.

Moving on to the (unreleased) LEGO sets

Right now there are four sets, and most likely that's going to be it, although I am wishing for some smaller builds / solo figures. While I would love to get my hands on these, I am a poor bitch, so I'd rather the blorbos alone than nothing at all lol. First I'm going to start with the Celestial Pagoda.

The Celestial Pagoda

Now this baby looks fuckin TALL. And I mean yeah, it's kinda supposed to be, but I mean for a lego set it looks tall as hell. The colors are gorgeous, and the entire Monkie Kid gang is here! Fun fact: this is the second set to have the squad together. While I personally would like to include others we have collected on the way (Macaque, Red Son,) I'm honestly not gonna pee my pants because they're not there lmao. 

ANYWAYS, starting at the bottom of the pagoda, we see Pigsy and Tang in a dungeon that doubles as a weapons hold. I can almost 100% guarantee Tang got into some sort of shenanigans that got him locked up and needing his husband to save him (i.e. being Tripitaka Junior.) On the next level we have Mei in what looks like a dining room? It's honestly hard for me to tell, the image is pixelated just enough that I can't make out everything for sure. Up next is Sandy and what's been specified as baby Mo. Why is Mo a baby? Does this cat have some sort of secret power that it can use with age, or is LEGO just being asinine with cats? The world may never know...

On the fourth level of the pagoda we have Nüwa! I can't see much of what's going on, but I can see that one of her stones is missing! Otherwise, not a whole lot to talk about here. Above her we have Li Jing, holding his tiny pagoda, sitting in his big boy chair. Again, not much going on. And on top of it all, we have the missing stone, being held away from anyone and everyone. And for those who have dug into the lore of JTTW / Chinese mythology in general, you'll know that Nüwa created humans using yellow clay. Or, in the LMK universe, a yellow stone. So why is Li Jing keeping it away from her? Were the celestial primates made also using the yellow stone? Or did she give it up willingly, using it to help mend the heavens after Azure's reign? God I can't wait to find out.

Also of course on the very tippy top we have monkey MK hanging out, being a little shit. On his way to steal the stone, mayhaps?

Nezha's Ring of Fire Mech

Up next is Ne Zha's mech. Again, very much giving Gundam / Transformers and I love it. If you look closely in the chest, you can see Ne Zha piloting the mech and looking like and absolute gremlin. We also have Mei and MK in a new fit, Wukong stuck with a stick, Ne Zha with a cool circle (lol), and the new demons. Also I have to point out that Mei is wearing rollerblades. 

Nine-Headed Beast

Now we have one of the new demons. We have Mei, MK, Wukong, and Tang. This is the set that has Wukong with the stupid banana on a chain, as well as Tang with a chicken leg. I'm guessing they're luring the demon with food, but in general these two are so fucking funny. This set also includes a tiny MK mech of some sort, as well as a tiny temple. Upon closer inspection of the temple, we see that it holds the red stone, as well as a painting of Nüwa. And if you look at the beast close enough, you'll see the blue stone on it's forehead. It seems that everyone is after these stones. 

Monkie Kid's Team Power Truck

Finally, we have the sick new ride(s) of the squad. Of course there's the big truck, but we also get Mei's itto bitto jet, MK's bike, and Pigsy's skid steer loader (is this man forklift certified?), and a pinball machine! No that last one isn't a vehicle but I do find it cute that they just had to have that in there. Also it would be cruel of me not to mention the pink fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror.

This set also includes the eye demon and his extra leggies to the best of their physical-lego ability. Also, we have the green stone! Something I noticed is that, on the boxes, there's a little piece of art in the bottom left corner that show's what stone(s) come in the box. While it is right there on the front of the box, it's something that I easily missed.

A few final things

So we have a few pics of the Nüwa lego figure: one of her holding a tiny human / stone monkey (all we can do is speculate right now, but I couldn't honestly tell you which way it should be. Either way, cool!) The other pic (that I have) is MK stealing the green, black, and blue stones. She doesn't have a different face from the first pic, so I can't help but wonder if MK is actually stealing them, or if it was just something LEGO decided not to do. Either way, more fuel for the season 5 fire.

Speaking of the stones, remember the dragon and tiger I pointed out earlier? They also have stones on their foreheads. I can't help but wonder if those stones help create those respective creatures, or if they're the embodiments of the stones, or what. But there is SO MUCH going on with these dang rocks that it's driving me insane, and honestly, I'm excited!

A few things on the 100-Eyed Demon: his eyes are all over the Celestial Pagoda. I wonder if he has some sort of control over the Jade Emperor, or what. Also, his general body shape reminds me of the LBD's mech. It's kind of a stretch, I know, but it's just something that connected for me. Probably nothing /shrug.

WildBrain Studios. The new animation studio for season 5. Honestly, I'm not sure how to feel about the change. There are many things in the trailer that one can point out that are drastically different from Flying Bark Productions, I still want to stress just how faithful they are to the LMK style. Things do seem a bit janky, poorly made, and whatnot, but I'll admit to you upon first viewing, I honestly couldn't tell that it was a different studio doing it. Whether you like the new direction or not, we can all at least agree that we're tired of waiting for season five lmao. 

As I was writing this I actually found a twitter post from someone on Flying Bark staff!

While it's sad to see that Flying Bark isn't going to be working on LMK anymore, but the message gives me hope that season 5 will be up to the standard of past seasons, if not better. 

If you made it through my god awful monkey rambling, congrats! I don't have a prize for you, but I will say thank you! I've been so hyperfixated on LMK that's it's driving me insane not talking about it lmao. Thanks again!