The GENIUS of Lego Monkie Kid's Outfit Designs

[@boonAlina]

*This video was recorded only after the season 5 trailer had come out. But here's what I can say about season 5:* The whole cast are forced to wear the same track suits. Showing that they are being seen as prisoners inside the pagoda. Xiangliu's outfit is interesting because it's folded the 'wrong' way, and funnily enough, so is Macaque's! To further explain what I mean, I gotta give you a very brief Chinese culture lesson. The proper way to fold your hanfu is left over right. The only time that it's acceptable to wear it right over left, is for a dead body at a funeral. And would you look at that! Macaque is a character that has literally died once. So _of course_ he'd wear his outfit right over left. (And notice how in the flashbacks that take place before he died, his outfit was folded the correct way. Left over right. But it changed to right over left _after_ he died.) Xiangliu is also someone who was a king of the underworld for millenniums. The underworld being the land of the _dead._ So it makes sense why Xiangliu would wear his outfit right over left as well. Although, it could also be hinting that Xiangliu has also died once, just like Macaque. But that part is just a theory. A _LEGO_ THEORY! Anyway, so there wasn't really much to say on season 5 so I decided to just save it for this pinned comment.

[@Krobus2099]

I usually sum up macaques lack of change in his outfit from the past to the present by saying “he’s just poor” and his whole LBD fit being “the most expensive thing he’s worn”

[@claudius3359]

Me too lol.I kinda have an hc that he just shoplifts stuff that he needs.

[@boonAlina]

I mean yeah. If i'm completely honest... I think LBD's outfit she gave to him looks WAAAYY better than his classic fit. In fact his classic fit just looks so... ehh to me. Like, I'm sorry Mac, but her sense of style is miles better than yours hun

[@lusi05]

It may sound a little silly since I don't know what words to use but I think that one Wukong's outfit with animal pattern shows that he was still behaving a little like a wild monkey at that time and the sudden change to the journey outfit shows this moment was the start of him changing to be more... um civilised? or something along the lines

[@boonAlina]

That makes a lot of sense

[@onion6173]

Oh my goodness it’s done! Thanks a bunch for including my comment from Reddit in this (The brotherhood intermission) -Yours truly, Frogdumpling

[@boonAlina]

Yup! Thank you for contributing all those months ago

[@MagicWhiskers13]

I think the lack of green and prominence of gold on Mei's end of s3 outfit is probably supposed to show her accepting her family legacy quite literally by controlling and using the Samadhi Fire, which has been passed down in her family for centuries. I guess you could also call the blues of it kinda a muted green? Because the family power is at the forefront of her scenes wearing this outfit

[@SaithLeaf_AiraeaPrime]

"And if this wasn't a kids show Mk and Mei would probably be naked, but obviously they can't do that" That got me laughing like a heyena

[@mellinne]

I always thought that at the start of season 3 When Wukong came back to his JTTW outfit was him humbling himself again, both because of how beaten up and weak he was but also because he was accepting a little bit that he had to be more open to the group or things would go downhill again, thing that he failed to do since he was still not open about all the samadhi's fourth ring, and that's when he went back to his Hero outfit, because he was trying to close himself again to when he only needed himself, doing the CONTRARY as to being humble since that didn't work out and now mostly trying to use all those layers to try and get the confidence he used to have (mostly convincing himself even though clearly he wasn't at the right state of mind at that moment after carrying all the responsibility for the failure with the Samadhi Fire and consequently hurting everyone).

[@claudius3359]

Nice analysis!

[@lemonfrog21]

I'm just guessing but I think 19:40 is right in a way? Often times in very close friendships, both people change slightly. One example is me and my best friend. I used to be super shy and soft-spoken. I wouldn't even dare to THINK about talking to someone if they didn't talk to me first. I wouldn't want to annoy anyone. But after I got close to my best friend, I grew way more confident (and funny enough that's been showing in my outfits too-). Sun Wukong tends to be chaotic and impulsive. Maybe that nature has influenced his closest friends/allies/whatever you want to call them. The asymmetry may show how Wukong's personality and actions have affected them.

[@boomgirlbucko]

But Wukong is always symmetrical though. So how would their asymmetry show their closeness to _him_ ?

[@lemonfrog21]

@@boomgirlbucko Yeah you make a point. I was sorta thinking the asymmetry was representing how he affects the people closest to him, not exactly Wukong himself. I guess I may have worded it differently than what I was thinking exactly.

[@RVSketch]

Great analysis! I love this! And perhaps I'm thinking too hard about this, but MAYBE, in S1E9, the monkey king symbol on MK's jacket changing to Macaque's symbol could symbolise MK embracing Macaque's teachings? 🤯 Jk that one was very on the nose. Also, 13:14, the 1961 "Havoc in Heaven" movie is about Sun Wukong trying to overthrow Heaven. So, I'm guessing that that's why it was used in the LMK scene, as that is what he and the rest of the Brotherhood were planning on doing! And thanks for the shout-out! But my LMK channel is this one (RVSketch) - I've only ever posted cat videos on ARBlackshaw lol.

[@RVSketch]

Also, 15:53 check out Xiaodong Wen's concept art (they're darkbabtong on 🐦). They work on LMK, and have posted concept art of the show. Recently, they posted concept art of season 3, and in it Macaque is red in it. I'm guessing that that S2 red cloak was foreshadowing something in season 3 that got scrapped for time. Could be related to Macaque's powers turning red/orange at the end of season 5.

[@boonAlina]

Oh yikes sorry about that haha! I'll switch it. I guess I'm just so used to your reddit name 😅

[@RVSketch]

@boonAlina lol no worries! 😅

[@boonAlina]

@@RVSketch For some reason this reply only showed up when I went into youtube studio. Anyway, wow that's interesting. I guess he would've been known as the Red Masked Macaque instead of the Six-Eared Macaque

[@boomgirlbucko]

This analysis was so freaking good! And I loved the bloopers at the end lmaoo

[@creditz_]

OH MY GOD THIS VIDEO IS AMAZING ‼️ LMK fans are just peak I swear

[@boomgirlbucko]

Ikr

[@boonAlina]

Thank you 🥰

[@Notbakedboss]

OMG ITS HERE saving this for later congrats you were able to get it out!

[@boonAlina]

Haha thank you

[@namikaaa0]

Amazing video! Wanted to talk about something since it ties to macaque's character. Its been a while since I heard people talk about this. im not educated on chinese culture but ive heard someone say this before so apologies for any incorrections. While not directly comfirmed we know macaque has "died" and got resurrected by LBD. One of his outfits is a hanfu, hanfu's have their collars in a specific way left over right is symbols for the living. And right over left is symbolism for the dead because they would do this with corpses they used to bury. If you look at his outfit (im pretty sure it was the past one but again sorry its been awhile) you can see he has right over left. Legit symbolism for him going to die just wanted to point this out since its either a crazy coincidence or something else

[@namikaaa0]

Traditionally, at funerals the deceased would wear burial clothes called Shouyi/寿衣, which has its collars crossed right-over-left, as opposed to the left-over-right collars of the living. Here's what you get when you search for it. Again sorry for any incorrections

[@boonAlina]

Yeah, I talked about this in the pinned comment

[@Its_Katzz1]

CHAT IM ALL FOR THIS RAAAAAAA

[@blankedeye1451]

"all the characters who have asymmetrical outfits are down bad for wukong" HOT DAMN UR RIGHT

[@boomgirlbucko]

Even Xiangliu was a little down bad for him

[@therandomnoodle2942]

PPPPLLLEAAASEE MAKE MORE VIDEO TALKING ABT THE SYMBOLISM IN LMK IM BEGGING

[@boonAlina]

Not sure about symbolism but I am planning on making a Mei focused video in the future

[@thatonegirlwithtoomanyfandoms]

HOW DARE KZbin HIDE THIS FROM ME FOR A WHOLE DAY!(no idea if that’s grammatically correct lol) Jokes aside, I love the observations you made! They were very well thought out and just makes so much sense!

[@claudius3359]

16:50 I'm probably commenting on the wrong video cause this isn't the intention of the video,but a disc guard is a pretty common piece in some chinese armors.I haven't find out what it means tho :v but it's probably for extra chest protection?? 15:40 Those are tassets and it's pretty common in every armor set. Also,I'm pretty sure that Xiangliu/Jiutouchong's outfit is taken from that Li Yunzhong illustration.After some digging,I discovered that it's inspired off of Tang dynasty armor surcoat that exposes the right side (but the show version is a mishmash with other hanfu styles,probably).Which makes sense,just like how the fake Mei made by Yin & Jin's gourd wears a Tang dynasty hanfu.Also,I can't believe I actually didn't notice the way he wears his hanfu 'the wrong way' despite having an entire moodboard on him lol Also kinda unrelated,but as someone who wants to draw the characters' outfits,Liu'er's outfit is so hard to research.And it doesn't help that out of all the characters,this guy's show design & minifigure are always different.I'm not really that deep into actually knowing chinese armory,but I'm pretty sure that the show design & minifig design could be from completely different eras (could be wrong,would be kinda funny if true).Like the speculations I had is INSANE,ranging from monk outfit (because I watched the 80s series where I saw Wukong wear something similar),armor surcoat,to just chalking it up as something inspired off by warriors wearing hanfu on just one side (because of the minifig design)...for some reason that I don't know.But if I have to guess? arm mobility to use weapons. So there's this other guy that says 'I just chalked it up to Macaque being poor' right? Yeah,me too.Cause everytime I see an illustration of someone wearing something like that (hanfu with one side exposed or mismatched sides),it's either a monk or a disheveled warrior (or uh,consider my bias from seeing so many Black Myth Wukong content).Meanwhile Wukong who lives well off in his mountain,famous and is a deity,has a proper armor and a fancy heguan (it also helps that Wukong can just ask anybody for help & resources and he wasn't freshly resurrected from death in the middle of the desert). About MK's design tho...have you seen Cherrlyo's video about it? It's got a pretty interesting breakdown on MK's design. 7:23 This armor with a dragon's face in the chest reminds me of Ao Lie's outfit in 80s JTTW before his dad banished him.Compared to the lego redesign,it looks kinda goofy tho 😅 I bothered to add this cause LMK,like BMW,likes to reference that version of JTTW to basically rake in nostalgia factor lol (like,if you noticed,both LMK & BMW uses an altered version of the 80s intro at some point of the story). Anyways,disclaimer that this is outsider perspective,I'm not Chinese I just like seeing pretty pictures from other cultures...and uh,I dunno why I wrote all of this when this is a character analysis and not the medieval warfare section 😬

[@boonAlina]

"have you seen Cherrlyo's video about it? It's got a pretty interesting breakdown on MK's design." No I have not, I'll have to check it out sometime ;)

[@claudius3359]

​​​@@boonAlina Please do! I do think it might be the best theory video in the fandom so far! To clarify,it's in her video about MK's destiny.