The Panda Chronicles
is a Turning Red fanfiction written by NoonboryKedabory, first published on April 22nd, 2022.
It follows the lives of both Mei and her friend group, and 4*Town.
The Panda Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: "Gone Baby Gone" reveals that Tae-young's parents were overly perfectionist, and kicked him out at fifteen just for being trans.
- Adaptational Gender Identity: In this fic, Tae-young is transgender.
- Adaptation Name Change: Downplayed; the youngest 4*Town member's name is rendered as Tae-young, instead of the canon spelling Tae Young.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: The 4*Town boys (particularly Jesse) love to ruffle Tae-young's hair.
- Affectionate Nickname:
- In addition to "Mei Mei" and "Tae" from canon, Robaire is occasionally called Rob.
- Tae-young has various nicknames, but the most common ones are Tae-bear and Tae-baby.
- All for Nothing: The end of "The Toaster's Toast"; Jesse finds out about the toaster anyway, and isn't upset with the other boys about it being broken, only admonishing them for Playing Sick and worrying him.
- All Periods Are PMS: Zigzagged; Abby, and to a lesser extent, Mei, get irritable on their periods, but Miriam and Priya remain the same.
- Bedhead-itis: Jesse and T have messy hair while they are sick in "Hard to Stomach" and "Feeling Faint", respectively.
- Brick Joke: Early on in "Sick Day", Robaire opts to not rock Tae-young while holding him, thinking it will make him throw up. Later in the story, he accidentally makes Tae throw up by rocking him.
- Captain Obvious: In "Sick Day", when Robaire finds Tae-young throwing up, Tae feels the need to tell him he threw up.
- Cassandra Truth: Downplayed in "Feeling Faint"; only Jesse won't believe T is sick. Robaire, Tae-young, and Z do.
- Catch Your Death of Cold:
- In "Surface Pressure", Z catches a chill from sitting outside in the rain.
- Exploited in "The Toaster's Toast"; Z opens a window to make it seem like Tae-young had caught cold from leaving the window open overnight in January.
- Cheer Them Up with Laughter: In the chapter "Hard to Stomach", Tae-young mentions to Jesse that the other boys made him laugh at dinner to get him to eat (he was previously Too Unhappy to Be Hungry over Jesse being sick).
- Comforting Comforter: In "Gone Baby Gone", Robaire drapes Tae-young's blanket from home over him before falling asleep in his new home for the first time.
- Content Warnings: "Sick Day" contains one due to the story containing vomiting and discussions of parental abandonment.
- Cooldown Hug: In "Sick Day", both times after throwing up, Tae-young has to be held to calm down.
- Cuddle Bug: Most 4*Town-centric chapters have Tae-young display some sort of physical affection to the other members.
- Defrosting Ice King: Z took a while to warm up to Tae-young, but the two began getting along after about a week.
- Description Cut: In "Gone Baby Gone", Tae-young worries that 4*Town's fandom won't like him. Cut to Abby absolutely flipping out with joy upon learning that 4*Town now has a member who's Korean like she is.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: A more realistic example than some; when he meets Tae-young, T initially thinks that he is a girl due to his long hair, and they had mistaken him for a boy. However, Tae-young (who is a trans boy) sets it straight that he is indeed male.
- Easily Forgiven: T quickly forgives Jesse for not believing him about being sick, on the condition that he gets to tell everyone Jesse "cried like a little bitch" about it.
- Faking Another Person's Illness: In "The Toaster's Toast", the Aarons talk Tae-young into faking sick to keep Jesse distracted until Robaire comes back with the replacement toaster.
- First Period Panic: A variation; "Gone Baby Gone" shows Tae-young nervous about going through his first period while homeless as opposed to his first period overall.
- Foreshadowing: "Just The Way You Are" mentions that Tae-young was very thin (implied to be underweight) when he first joined 4*Town. The next 4*Town-focus chapter, "Gone Baby Gone", details the story of how Tae-young joined 4*Town, and reveals that he was homeless just before he joined, and struggled to feed himself.
- Friend to All Living Things: Just like in canon, Tae-young is an animal lover, best exemplified in the chapter "Animal Friends".
- Full-Name Ultimatum:Aaron Camilo Talavera, do not start this with me.
- Gone Horribly Right: In "The Toaster's Toast", Z exploits Hot Drink Cure to create a false reading on a thermometer. He ends up creating a reading way higher than what they needed, thus creating the risk that Jesse may contact a doctor.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Mrs. Talavera's lines are sprinkled with a few Spanish words.
- Growling Gut: Tae-young gets one twice in "Gone Baby Gone", to establish that he hasn't been eating properly since leaving home.
- Hot Drink Cure: Exploited; see Gone Horribly Right. After realizing the risk of having to see a doctor, the tea is instead used as Calming Tea to ease Tae-young's anxieties about being caught.
- Illness Blanket:
- In "Sick Day", the boys are all wrapped in blankets when hanging out on the couch together.
- In "Hard to Stomach", Robaire bundles Jesse into a blanket while he's couch-ridden.
- Exploited in "The Toaster's Toast": the Aarons bundle Tae-young into a blanket to keep up the ruse, as well as to keep his skin covered so Jesse won't feel it and realize he doesn't actually have a fever.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: In "Sick Day", Jesse quips that he hopes T is feeling okay. Cue T coming in, drenched in sweat and questioning the presence of imaginary monkeys.
- Invisible Parents: None of the squad or 4*Town's parents are shown, aside from Ming, Jin, and a brief mention of T's mother.
- Jerkass Ball: A mixture of sleep deprivation, mosquito bites, and unbearable heat turn Jesse into a grouchy jackass in "Feeling Faint". Played very seriously, as this is what fuels his refusal to believe T.
- Lost Voice Plot: Downplayed; Z has no dialogue in "Sick Day" due to losing his voice.
- Mama's Boy: The title of the chapter introducing T's mother. The two do indeed have a tight relationship.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Jesse is immediately remorseful about not believing T about being sick when he finds out he was hospitalized. Later dialogue suggests he cried a lot of Tears of Remorse.
- Named by the Adaptation:
- Tae-young's surname is given as Moon.
- T's full name is Aaron Camilo Talavera.
- Z is given the middle name Kuo.
- The Nicknamer: T loves to use nicknames for the other 4*Town boys, particularly Tae-young and Jesse.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*: T, hallucinating from his fever, laughs that the other boys have (imaginary) flowers on their heads, and then promptly collapses on the floor.
- Product Placement: "Cooking with Aaron" namedrops Kraft Dinner (Canadian branding for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese), albeit by its common nickname KD.
- Queer Establishing Moment: "Cooking with Aaron" confirms Tae-young to be trans via having him suffer menstrual cramps.
- Shout-Out:
- The 4*Town boys own a Nintendo Gamecube, and have Super Smash Bros. Melee, Luigi's Mansion, and Super Mario Sunshine for it.
- In "Synced Cycles", Ming mentions wanting to check out an old American sitcom called "Kate and someone".
- "Sick Day":
- When the boys watch Teletoon, T questions if they are really animal crackers in disguise.
- Similar to the author's other Turning Red fic, Tae-young enjoys The Golden Girls.
- One chapter about Z having an identity crisis is titled "Surface Pressure".
- In "The Toaster's Toast", it's mentioned the Aarons enjoy watching America's Funniest Home Videos.
- Sick Episode:
- "Sick Day", for all of 4*Town sans Robaire.
- "Hard to Stomach", where Jesse becomes sick after accidentally consuming pineapple, which he has an intolerance to.
- Soup Is Medicine:
- In "Sick Day", Robaire offers chicken soup to the sick boys, which all but Tae-young (who is very nauseated) accept.
- In "Feeling Faint", Tae-young offers T chicken soup, but he declines, citing his nausea as to why.
- Talking in Your Sleep: In "Hard to Stomach", Tae-young coos Jesse's name in his sleep.
- Team Dad: Jesse, to the rest of 4*Town. In "Animal Friends", it's suggested he has instincts that tell him when the younger guys are hurt.
- Waxing Lyrical: In "The Toaster's Toast", T briefly quotes a line from "U Know What's Up" while convincing Tae-young to agree to the plan.
- Weight Woe: In "Just The Way You Are", Tae-young has a body image crisis over having gained weight.
- Working Through the Cold: In the later half of "Sick Day", despite still having a cold, Jesse still insists on looking after the other boys.
