YMMV / Monkie Kid

• Adorkable:
  • MK definitely shows this with how much of a nerdy fanboy he is about Monkey King. It helps that he has Sokka's VA.
  • Red Son is most notable for being painfully cute when he tries to impress his father by defeating MK's team.
  • The Gold & Silver Demons, Yin and Jin mostly when they try to act imposing.
• Awesome Art:
  • The series' animation is done by Flying Bark Productions, who also do the animation for series such as Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Glitch Techs. As expected by the pedigree, the series has dynamic and fluid animation in every scene, with better fight scene choreography than most other animated shows on the market.
  • The tie-in sets are nothing to scoff at either, standing out as some of the most ambitious, intricate, and visually striking LEGO sets released. This mega-review by Nick Anderson goes into detail.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The headquarters Mei set up for the team in the first episode Bad Weather. While there is some brief focus on it in said episode... Aside from a very brief cameo in Noodles or Death (wherein it's even Lampshaded how little it gets used), as of the Season 4 finale, we haven't seen it since.
• Creepy Awesome: Lady Bone Demon, who quickly became one of the most popular antagonists in the show due to her threatening presence and tendency to completely darken the mood of all the scenes she appears in.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Chang'e became very popular for the modern interpretation of the moon goddess as she has her cooking show and adorable security bunny robots.
  • The spiders are hugely popular in the fandom, partly due to their past being shrouded in mystery and partly simply because of how entertaining Spider Queen is. Many spider fans are especially fond of Huntsman for having glimmers of a possible redemption arc, and Syntax for being a former human which left much of his own past up for speculation.
• Fan Nickname:
  • The girl who became the Lady Bone Demon's unwitting host is often called Bai He in fanworks, "Bai" meaning white or pure, "He" meaning Lotus or Harmony.
  • Strong Spider is commonly called “Goliath” in fanworks, both in reference to his size and after the Goliath Bird-Eater spider.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: The idea that demons participate in "courtnapping", where one demon will kidnap the object of their affection during courtship in an effort to prove their devotion and strength. The severity of the act is generally treated as a ceremonial, consensual affair carried over from a more serious, dangerous tradition, and is often the vehicle for an Accidental Proposal.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • Fans of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles migrated here after the show ended due to Flying Back Productions also helming the animation.
  • Fans of Ninjago tend to get along, and overlap, with fans of Monkie Kid due to both being LEGO shows along with the fact that they perceive Monkie Kid as neither trying to replace Ninjago nor trying to mimic its success, something that had fueled Ninjago fans' dislike of previous LEGO shows like Legends of Chima.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In Season 3, Macaque is given ice abilities, which results in ice slowly spreading all over his body, which the Lady Bone Demon says will eventually kill him if he doesn't get the Samadhi Fire. Macaque's voice actor, Billy Kametz, would pass away in June 2022 due to colon cancer.
  • MK's fear of loneliness, abandonment, and seeing Pigsy as a father figure becomes a lot harder to look at when season 4 reveals MK has no biological parents as he came from a stone like Sun Wukong.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: MK and Pigsy have a father-son relationship, with MK secretly seeing Pigsy as his father and even calling him Dadsy while he was asleep. This becomes a lot sweeter when season 4 reveals Pigsy took MK in when he was a child and had no memories of his past.
• Ho Yay: The show, even though there is little to no romance in it, has managed to build up quite the shipping fandom - and with most of the characters presenting as male, this is a given. There's enough for its own page.
• Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Plenty.
  • Spicynoodles for MK and Red Son.
  • Dragonfruit for Mei and Red Son.
  • Chimerashipping for MK, Red Son, and Mei.
  • Shadowpeach for Sun Wukong and Macaque.
  • Freenoodles for Pigsy and Tang.
  • Lionpeach for Azure Lion and Sun Wukong.
  • Silktea for Huntsman and Sandy.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: Plenty of fans who love the show are a bit disappointed the show's seasons only have a format of a 44-minute mini-movie, and ten quarter-hour episodes. However, as the show went on, particularly in the final two episodes of Season 2, this became a more outspoken opinion, with people calling out the show's rough pacing due to the episodes' short timeframes. Though thankfully, Seasons 3 and 4 would manage to fix the pacing, allowing for in-depth developments despite the 11-minute timeframe for episodes.
• Magnificent Bastard: Six-Eared Macaque is Monkey King’s former friend turned enemy. Macaque joined his friends in the attempt to overthrow the Jade Emperor, only to be killed by Monkey King after the latter is pressed into serving the Heavens. Brought back to life by Lady Bone Demon, Macaque makes a shadow monster and uses it to present himself as the good guy, offering to help Monkey King’s successor MK with his training in a bid to steal his powers. Defeated, Macaque retreats and later returns, traps MK‘s friends in the shadows and uses them to defeat and demoralize him, only to release them after realizing MK genuinely cares about them. Bound by Lady Bone Demon and sent to hunt the heroes after she takes over the city, Macaque uses both his powers and cunning in an attempt to bring them down. Realizing that they seek the Samadhi Fire, Macaque is tasked with retrieving it for Lady Bone Demon. Macaque ultimately helps the heroes defeat Lady Bone Demon and saves the world before peacefully departing and eventually returning to help when MK needs guidance.
• Memetic Mutation: The series' constantly changing where it's available (with Amazon Kids+ hosting the first two seasons, Kabillion hosting the third, and the LEGO Channel and HappyKids hosting the fourth) has led to jokes about how difficult it is to legally watch the series, and asking around for a pirating website or Google Drive.
• Signature Scene:
  • The battle between Monkey King and Macaque in the latter's titular debut episode is one of the most well-known moments in the series due to its over-the-top nature, impressive animation, and featuring the Ensemble Dark Horse villain Macaque.
  • Monkey King's encounter with Lady Bone Demon has become rather iconic in the community, showing both how much of a Knight of Cerebus Lady Bone Demon is, and how the show was willing to take a far step in horror to demonstrate just how dangerous of a threat she is.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Upon its debut, Monkie Kid was argued to be one of the best animated LEGO shows yet, taking advantage of its unique 2D animation to make much more dynamic, fluid, and expressive animations compared to its 3D animated peers. That's not even getting into the fight scenes which are fast-paced, sharp, and intense with the show's animation style. Helps that the animation studio has experience in Rise of the TMNT and ''Glitch Techs’'.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite the major role of importance it played in season 3, and the extremely cool power upgrade and Character Development it gave to Mei, the Samadhi Fire is entirely gone by season 4, with no explanation given to what happened to it aside from Shifu Subodhi referring to Mei having once wielded it. This is despite Mei not just “wielding” it, but becoming one with the Samadhi Fire.

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