>Show up >Body several major celestials >”Parable of the Cave. Parable of the Cave” >Imply everything >Explain nothing >*Leaves* Our antagonist everyone (I love him)
You know, for a villain who was barely in the show, he was really interesting. I also like how he said “anti climactic reveal”. Can’t wait to see more of him in the next season.
He fills the nice void for me that was left when Macaque stopped being a villain. I adore Macaque as a good guy, but was waiting for a new favorite villain. And this guy definitely has a wonderful design, tricky personality and layers to him it seems.
@@AmberStallion I wouldn't be too suspicious if Macaque and Nine Heads' powers are the only ones that are similar,but both of them weirdly has the same way in presenting themselves...? Something's up here.
@@AmberStallion Ok jokes aside but I kinda find it suspicious that this guy's mannerism is similar to Macaque's villain persona.Couldn't be a coincidence that they have similar power sets.
Ikr? Villains actually really are lookers, just why they doing them so well?! Little me from the past guestioning me: "Why you have a crush on villains? They're gross, heroes a better choice!" Oh, not in this century, just look at them! And they voiced really well
I love how complex the villains and antagonists are for this show. At first, I was confused on his motivation, but then I realized; he's tired of living in a world of choice, because no matter what happens, it will always find a way to turn against you. To really be happy, he believes in living a life of randomized chaos, as that's more fun and knowing the world lives in a "Great Cycle", he thinks it's worth it. He genuinely feels bad for MK, but knows it's for the best, as death comes to us all.
That is probably the best explanation I've heard for his motivations. I didn't really see him as an interesting villain, since we knew barely anything about him or what he was explaining.
Not really a world of "choice". Everything we have seen so far is just Nuwa controlling things, which Xiangliu hates. "Fixing" the pillar is nothing more then restarting the cycle again where the same actions will take place again. If every action and event is dictated by Nuwa, then it isn't an issue of choice, but control, as choice never existed. Xiangliu knew this, and instead of continuing to stick around in this world again for the next cycle, he's decided to take the opportunity to return to the chaos. When Xiangliu began everything he tried to give MK another option besides mindlessly repairing the pillar and sacrificing himself. It seems if the cycle wasn't interfered with, MK would never have had a choice and would have to repair the pillar and sacrifice himself. But Xiangliu managed to give MK somewhat of a choice.
@@TheDerek14 Be better if it was always randomized on who gets the better chances next. Everyone gets at least one turn like MK is monkey kid now but in another life someone else is the monkey kid and the MK we know is now a normal kid, same game but different players. Xiangliu did not give him a choice but something better, he gave him the full disclosure of his existence and why, which made MK make his own decision. Good or bad this is now MK's choice.
@@mariusconstantin6057I think it's XiangLiu way to manipulate MK. With MK being apart of pillar, he was able to be transported to Nuwa's realm and actually wreck havock there (as we saw after he took the stones from Nuwa)
For a villain who was barely in this season, he stole the show. He has an awesome design, an amazing voice actor, a really complex and interesting backstory, and a fire personality. If there's one thing LMK can do, it's make good villains.
I love the way his voices is layers from multiples heads as well as the hissing. And there's something supremely satisfying when a manipulator is honestly laying it all on the table. _"I will not let you take this from him!"_
What is interesting is that despite being a Manipulator he is… very honest and truthful. He’s not trying to deceive them or harm them. Sure he manipulated Azure but really all he did was release him and let him do as he was trying before. His only real deception was against the Nine Kings of the Underworld. Despite it all he truly believes this is the best choice, even MK going against his plans and finding a new one isn’t him failing, he still succeeds, the only reason he never tried it is because he never imaged it at possible. He’s… very emotionally driven. He seems to be causal but there is an edge and want to him that makes him desperate cause for him this is his last chance and choice.
I think Xiangliu might be from a past Cycle(or he remembers it somehow) where he knew Wukong and the others and they knew him but he got out of their Universe and ventured out into the Outer Chaos before his Original Cycle ended. Though going back for the others, they knew something was wrong about what he offered and rejected him. I don’t know how many times(Cycles) he’s tried to change their minds or find another way, but it was too late for him to get back out so he had to scheme for a long time to bring the next/current Cycle to an early end, forsaking his place in history to do so.
How I looked at it is due to having seen the chaos upon re entering the cycle he’s aware of every cycle. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been through countless cycles hence why he said he’s tired and wants to get out
Based on the way he spoke of his past and how he says MK did what he couldn't, I think he might be a harbinger of chaos from a previous cycle. He might even be the first harbinger of chaos.
@@G.1.U given how Wukong tried to sacrifice Himself in place of MK it could be he chose to try be the sacrifice for the pillar atleast once as given from the first episode of this season macaque does point out all of wukongs allies from journey to the west were just back id assume MK is always the harbinger in the cycle just this time he was awoken early by Xiang Liu
He was very interesting. The first thing I noticed about his powers is how similar it is to Macaque's powerset but seemingly more malevolent in nature. Also I like how Macaque basically became the Vegeta figure of the show lmao the apprehensive antagonist-turned-protagonist. I hope the floodgates being opened doesn't mean he goes back to being an antagonist again. MK needs both Sun and Macaque's guidance.
For a “evil plot” it was surprising more lawful neutral then evil because he speed up a preexisting desolation. Edit:how did I forget to mention that he even gave them real explanations and all options he could think up, and when he got angry and really fought them it was more out fear that they would do something to trap in world he seemingly what’s nothing to do with.
@@cartoonishidealism582 _Please,_ people been simping for Legos from this show since the start. Red Son, Demon Bull King, Princess Iron Fang, Macaque, Azure Lion... even Lady Bone Demon and Golden Wing Peng of all people! Top it off with Xiangliu having an enchanting voice and a charming, complex personality and it was an inevitability to go "hear me out" on him.
For anyone wondering, Xiangliu is a chinese mythological character, but was never in any version of Journey to the West that I can find. He is basically chinese version of Orochi, but with a extra head.
Actually, I think he might have been. In Journey to the West, there's a character called the Nine-Headed Prince Consort (九頭駙馬), who was married to the All Saints Dragon King's daughter. One of his heads was bitten off by Erlang Shen's Celestial dog. Although, in the Mandarin dub states that the Nine-Headed Demon is the descendant of Xiangliu, instead of Xiangliu being one of his aliases.
Xiangliu dropped a Plato’s Cave allegory onto the audience. Which makes sense, his attachments to his seclusive family created a false sense of abandon and manifested itself as guilt. He couldn’t live with them nor without them. The harder he tried to convince his family to join him, the more they refused, fueling his inner guilt. “I’m done trying to be a hero.” Sums it up.
@@deadphones5041 Well, Hundun is one, yes. Pangu is the primordial being that created the Heavens and Earth. Admittedly, the latter is less plausible than the former.
'Monster' seems to be the trigger word for many yaoguai.Remember that "We're not the most inconspicuous bunch" scene with Tang? It's not explicitly said,but yeah...
@@samueljrhlorgbe6091I think it will be like the Journey to the West novel, he married to a princess who was supposed to be married to the white horse dragon
Great villain for his short run but let’s hope the new studio actually gets the time they requested for next season cause the main issue isn’t the studio change it’s the fact that this season was on a time crunch so the animators had to cut corners to meet the deadline here. It’s why the characters aren’t moving as smoothly as they used to despite the cheaper style, if they had the time there still would’ve been the noticeable down grade but at least the characters would’ve had the exact same energy they did before.
I thought that the animation looked stiff, but I didn’t know what was the reason. Honestly, I’m surprised that it stayed consistent despite that; it fooled me. Do you know why they changed it, original team had other commitments, production costs, or so?
@@Amanwithbones I think Flying Bark Studio had too much on their plate and Lego wasn't willing to wait on them. They also rush the animators too much which is why when Flying Bark was animating, there would be reused animations. Wildbrain Studio just got the season last minute and had a short deadline, so they had to rush :(
@@PocketBroccoliright on the Money. Flying Bark had to pitch in on a major project so they couldn’t be involved this season and such. So they went to a new studio who did similar animations but not nearly as much budget and as said earlier they had the shortest amount of time out of all the seasons to complete this season so that gave them a difficult challenge considering how detailed and sporadic this show is with comedy and fight scenes.
@@azureheart2846 It might just be a coincidence. But its probably just a retelling. It is missing a few elements but its probably told that way to save time and dum it down for the kids watching the show.
But it is pretty cool to see it being used in a show I watch. Now i get to yell in class. Hey! That story was in Lego Monkie Kid!!! Making thr teacher utterly confused.
@@blitzi.m.p5927According to Google,it's Hundun. You ever watched Shang Chi & the Legend of Ten Rings? The weird ahh,roasted-chicken looking thing with no face and wings that likes to play with Trevor Slattery? THAT'S ITTT 😭💀🤚 Also an important to note if you're learning Chinese creation myth,other than Nüwa,Fuxi and Pangu is the world egg.Wikipedia says Hundun is strongly related to it.And Wiki also thinks that it's related to dumplings for some reason.
I'll be honest, I legitimately did not understand what he was on about the first time, but after watching his episodes a 2nd time, I finally realized what he meant. For anyone who might have been as confused as I was: 1) This universe has undergone resets many times. 2) Xiangliu actually escaped the cycle and actually entered the realms beyond the universe, where chaos reigns. 3) Xianglie came back to his universe, but no one believed him and shunned him. 4) He also no longer had the ability to leave the universe and was stuck in a repeating cycle, where he underwent many different identities, and was either friends with Wukong or enemies with him. 5) This cycle, he broke the mold and awakened MK early, causing a disaster that resulted in the vision being different from how it was. As well as freeing Azure Lion to usurp the Jade Emperor. 6) The vision that MK has been getting is nothing more than what used to happen in prior cycles. If properly awakened and going through the motions, MK was going to fulfill his destiny as normal like in the vision.
@@claudius3359 Kinda, but wouldn't explain everything. For example, Wukong became enlightened and achieved Nirvana by the end of his story, hence his final title being "Fighting Buddha." He should have transcended the cycle and not be part of the resets.
@@0axis771 Considering how often death,Diyu and reincarnation (NHD taking the place of Zhuanlun Wang) pops up lately,I hope the writers can give a solid answer or else it'd be a large plothole.
It takes some SERIOUS writing skillz to create an interesting antagonist that only had about ten minutes of screen time in the whole show. A man who wanted to help everybody yet failed, believed in the end there was no way out of his predicament except through sacrifice, and then was shown by another that the impossible third choice was discovered... definitely an interesting character.
I absolutely loved how in the end not only did he insure he’d win, he was *happy* when MK found a different solution. Even giving him a word of warning for things to come.
@@white0thunderwhite0thunder71 Another thing that I like about the complexity of the show's writing is how many of the villains can be seen as 'good'-intentioned or basically a hero of their own story,while the protagonist and his mentor is often thought by many as unpredictable & dangerous (and for a kid's show,it has a whole lot of unreliable narrators).Some characters aren't simply good or evil (or simply judged from that point of view).Li Jing has his history of wrongdoings too but Nezha is right about him not being the villain,despite not doing 'best-friend behavior'.As a matter of fact,I think this season even showed how this show is not black & white the most,because Nüwa has good intentions but it clashed with the protagonists and Nine-Headed Insect opposes it by manipulation & messing up a predetermined and agreed grand plan.It's literally two different,opposing paths (Nüwa's order and Nine-Headed Insect's chaos) like in Nüwa's temple,so MK takes on Wukong & Macaque's advice to strike his own path.
so it seems like his backstory is a metaphor, It seems like he must've found a way to reach to the other side of the universe where he calls "paradise" and wants to share it with the others, but when they found out about nine headed demon's journey to the other side they called him crazy and I think it's what they called him instead of "monster" and when he wants to go back to the other side, He couldn't because I'm pretty sure this all happened when Nuwa is repairing the sky and all the rifts to the universe are sealed. And I think he became the tenth underworld king because the creators might've adapted him from the journey to the west tv series where he gets killed because his book version of himself ran away like peng did
OK I think I might've solved his metaphoric puzzle of a backstory and learning more about the name xiangliu, so he's basically the servant of gonggong the demonic god of chaos and responsible for the sky falling that bring out nuwa to do her work et cetera, While he was hanging out with his friends at the sea of primordial chaos, he saw the sun and the mortal realm he went there to check it out and was amazed by all the sheer beauty and the people he saw so when he went back to his home and told all the others about it they called him a monster for deserting them and prefer to stay at the chaos over this new thing he just discovered and when he went back to see the beauty again it was around the time when gonggong was fighting an another god and shattered the skies after he was defeated and exiled, Xiangliu was left behind and couldn't see his home or his friends or his master ever again! He became the tenth underworld king when monkey king killed him in the tv series from the 80s because in the book he ran away in fear after one of his heads get ripped off by erlang shen's dog and we can see that his heads have remained not injured, When he got to the underworld he discovered about the scroll of memory and the harbringer of chaos so he might've killed the 10th underworld king and stole his life and started doing everything that has happened in the last 2 seasons. And now that he's back home in the chaos, I think he's gonna bring his master to the mortal realm and start doing what he should've done in the first place.
Ok but either NHD is so cunning he can usurp through the underworld's ranks or the kings badly needs a new uniform. Like I get that one of the kings was a ghost of a scholar that haunted a mountain,but how do you screw up so bad a creature from primordial chaos gets in? Screw it,how do you let a ghostly demon like LBD go around like that?
It’s interesting to see how up until he was backed into a corner and Macaque cut him off from the Chaos he didn’t really fight them at all. He restrained everyone but MK so he could talk to him, and was 100% upfront and honest with what he wanted. One way or another he just wanted to go back to the place he felt he belonged, and was done trying to convince everyone to see it like he did. After he got what he wanted he even sent MK back without a fuss.
Aaaaaaa I love him! I have my own interpretations of his origins however. His telling of the “Parable of the cave” definitely is telling of his beginning. I think the cave itself is a representation of the world that MK and all the mortals and Celestials live in. He ventures into the chaos outside and when he comes back, his colleagues brand him a monster. His appearance in his minifigure form with the scales, fangs, and his snake-hair combined with Nuwas appearance with her legs being replaced by a long snake tail, makes me think that she is his sister/relative, maybe she’s his mom, we don’t know what relationship they have exactly yet. And then the sad end of his appearance in the show where he says”He’s winning” and “you’ve opened the cage” are some pretty ominous statements. “He’s winning” probably refers to whoever his boss is or something, maybe not his boss but maybe an entity that has greater power than he does. “You’ve opened the cage” probably means that more creatures like himself will begin arriving onto the mortal plane and cause chaos, who knows. Guess we just have to wait until the next season. Not an edit: *Screams in snake man fanboying*
@@chaseward7627 Honestly I'm gonna agree with OSP's Red questioning why there's so many snakes in mythology.Cause Nine-Heads and Nüwa is not the end of it.The other name he mentioned,Xiangliu,is a great serpent dragon that broke the pillar and caused a disaster and a period of warring states.And there's Fuxi,Nüwa's brother & husband that also has a snake as lower body.And you're right,Xiangliu is just a minister of another entity.
I think Wukong has had too many enemies he starts forgetting them- Edit: For anyone curious,Levchen Kodarya's reply is right,he was in the book.He is in chapter 62 and his name is Jiu (Nine) Tou (Head) Chong (Insect),he also appears in the 80s JTTW adaptation.As for what I wrote above the edit before I deleted it,I got it mixed up with another story.
@@claudius3359 Seems to be a fusion of that character and Xiang Liu, which is a completely different nine headed monster in Chinese myth that doesn't appear in Journey To The West. I think the reason Wukong doesn't remember him is because he knew Wukong in a previous "cycle".
for a new studio to make the LMK series, Xiangliu is undoubtedly a character i didn't expect i'd be on my knees for 😭 edit: let alone his voice aaaaaaaaaaaack-
3:46 the story that nine tells here reminds me a lot about Plato cave allegory, the story is basically the same as nine tells here, but with slight differences, in the story the people in the cave were prisoners force to look at a wall with nothing more but the projections of the shadows, just like nine says "one of them got out and saw the SUN" or another world that wasn't the cave, the prisoner came back to share the new knowledge but unlike nine's story the other prisoners apposed towards the idea of a new world outside of the cave, but the runaway prisoners didn't gave up he tried to show them the outside world but the other prisoners treated to kill him if wouldn't stop, the myth has been interpret by thousands of people but one of the interpretation says that it migth be an allegory and critic towards people who are so stuck and comfortable with their own ignorance that they even opposed to a new ideas in a violent way: my theory is that nine tried to save the people in the world but their ignorance kept them from a new salvation.( IDK it's just a theory 😅)
As interesting as Nine Head is, I was hoping that his evil agenda was a little different. In the novel he was married into an evil Dragon family, stole Li Jing’s Pagoda and somehow cause a kingdom to rain blood and passed the blame onto Buddhist monks and had them executed for it. The Dragons were slayed by Wukong and his companions and Nine Head was wounded by Erlang Shen and his dog but ran away. I feel like if LMK crew continued that subplot, and made him seek revenge for his family instead by going after not just Wukong’s loved ones but Erlang’s loved ones as well. Then Erlang Shen could have finally had his debut on this show.
@@duocult I can only assume they couldn't think of a name other than nine headed demon so they took xiangliu, the name of a centipede like demon with nine human heads and just slapped it onto our snake bird guy
I think he’s a fusion of his Chinese origins and the western Hydra, many eastern writers nowadays portray the Hydra as powerful being when it comes to calamities. I think he might be linked to it cause many eastern versions say that the hydras poison is potent enough to kill gods like the Jade emperor.
No, not really, there's a Chinese 'hydra', if you can call it. A nine headed snake with human faces, capable of spitting powerful acid that basically can melt anything. Jade Emperor's actually kinda weak as well, they basically don't have the ability to do anything.
@@nightowl548 well yeah because in the JTTW books the ultimate be all end all is Buddha. also the "breaking the pillar of heaven" mean you're breaking one of Buddha's fingers?
@@Geheimnis-c2eNah I don't think it's the same thing.The myth of the great flood that breaks the pillar (as far as I know) is mostly separate from all the Buddhism related stuff.It's more of a chinese local religion stuff.
@@jeremytung1632 Basically snake prince guy won.I feel like LMK universe at this point isn't even supposed to exist with how messed up it is.No Jade Emperor,no kings of hell,Harbinger of Chaos born before his time & outlived his purpose.I feel like the only people that could possibly in charge is between Xi Wangmu or Erlang Shen.
First time seeing this video and haven't watched new season yet. Not gonna lie I am VERY SURPRISE to see Xiang Liu to appear in this Lego Adpetation animated series of Journey to the West. Xiang Liu a chinese variation of a Hydra that rarely appear in any media when it comes to mythology in pop culture except that one time in Night at the Museum sequel
Interestingly enough they also used a lot of Greek reference's this season, so maybe they decided to use him specifically as a reference to the hydra as well? But yeah, he has a shockingly small roll.
The new studio did an amazing job with xiangliu, I hope they get more confident animating the main cast like wukong, mk, macaque. Everyone else looks Real good. So they are more than capable
its weird for a character with three whole episodes with xiangliu and with the amount of lines he gets, I could've never hear matt " shiver and queef " mercer, just goes to show what good voice acting can do!
Of course after Lady Bone demon, find a better villain was difficult. Knowing the story of him in Journey to the west, it was kind of weird that they choose hime for something this big 🧐🧐🧐
I do hope they eventually reveal the other Monkey Demons that exist as a result of MK releasing chaos. How wild would it be if the chaos that is unleashed is two evil versions of the Monkey Demons that surpass all the others. True Creatures of Chaos.
Let’s consider the cave as the stage Stage - the world - the current many story’s large and small Only a few ever leave the stage and come back only to realise they been semi written out. That’s a horrific and sad thought. The world is really big place and complicated. I wonder who’s keeping charge
Okay but like, I’m not the only one who thinks Xiangliu and Wukong were like, SOMETHING in a previous cycle, right? Cause…there was no reason why my guy had said “We are old enemies…old friends too”. THEN gets all sad cause he realizes Wukong doesn’t know/remembers him! Like, I CANT BE THE ONLY ONE!!!
This season left us with more questions than any other season, especially when nine headed demon(nhd) came. Like he knew monkey king from where? And nhd was really interested in macaque's power, a connection l suppose ? 🤨and most importantly wo is this he.
There's a kind of recurring theme in cultivation and sword fantasy novels. Call it the "World In A Bottle", where the "world" the protagonists know is actually just a sealed dimension keeping out a wider universe. Inside the "Bottle", things are less dangerous, but without the dangers of the wider universe, everyone inside can't reach their full potential. The protagonist is often someone who was from the "outside", but was rnow trapped in the "Bottle" and wants to return. Sound familiar?
@@FirstLast-cg2nk I mean,don't ancient Chinese people see their world as like a dome? A cosmos? Though idk since in JTTW there's a whole universe with mount Sumeru supporting it,idk which one LMK Will follow. Also I'm happy somebody else is familiar with the cultivation genre lol.That's a pretty rare sight here,it's unfortunate since that's how Wukong and most other demons gain power,and that's how you explain MK losing his 'power' in S2.
Looking up the origins of this character they don't seem to actually be Xiangjing. Xiangjing is an eel or snake. Which makes a bit of sense given his whole speech about how many names he has had, and that he's referencing Plato's cave. It's possible he's much, much older than he seems.
@@Nebula_006 I was finally diagnosed with normal in my autism classes why did they make him so hot why did they make him my type this wasn’t supposed to happen I’m normal I’m normal I’m normal I’m normal
I'm actually surprised they don't show his wife in the show since in the source material one of his titles is the nine headed groom and he tries to usurp the dragon king through marriage.
I've actually been reading the Journey to the West book and yes the nine-headed demon and Wukong have met before and survived against wukong, Zhu and Erlang Shen of all people but he did lose one of his head thanks to erlanggs dog
It feel’s like The Nine-Headed Demon is something that’s from an entierly different mythology at times…. The Gorgon/Medusa vibes, the Primordial Chaos he aspires to return to, even his monstrous form here at 9:14 looks like it came right out of a Pre-Norse God of War game (Although looking at 9:15 makes me think a little about the Aztec feathered serpent got too). I wonder if this means that other mythological pantheons will begin to get involved?
I’m losing my mind over a translation error. HIS NAME IS NOT XIANGLIU 😭😭😭 He calls himself Zhuanlun in the mandarin dub, even the credits of the mandarin dub name him as shí diàn Zhuǎnlún Wáng (“King Zhuanlun of the tenth palace”). In the Mandarin dub he says he’s _descended_ of the Xiangliu, because we’ve already SEEN the Xiangliu in season 4 (one of the demons waiting in line in pig-napped). They just so happen to both be nine-headed snakes, but they’re different beings! I really hope people spread this around. I also know it is not the western audience’s fault. This really disappointed me as a Chinese viewer 😭
@@davidchris2309 if it was mistranslation from English then man do they have some continuation issues.It'd be a hassle to explain Xiangliu that has appeared in season 4 and why they didn't just change his true form instead of following Nine-Headed Pest's book appearance.
>Show up
>Body several major celestials
>”Parable of the Cave. Parable of the Cave”
>Imply everything
>Explain nothing
>*Leaves*
Our antagonist everyone (I love him)
he's really embracing the chaos with that "show up, imply everything, refuse to elaborate, leave" technique
Gigachad Jiu Tou Chong
Bro is the definition of "My goals are beyond your understanding"
Good enough welcome back season 1 and 2 Macaque 🥳🥳🥳
You know, for a villain who was barely in the show, he was really interesting. I also like how he said “anti climactic reveal”. Can’t wait to see more of him in the next season.
If we see him next season.
He’s so self aware. I love him. 😭
Everyone didn't even know he was when he showed himself
Like general kai no one even knew @@goldenspartan9999
I mean he is voiced by Matt Mercer
He fills the nice void for me that was left when Macaque stopped being a villain.
I adore Macaque as a good guy, but was waiting for a new favorite villain. And this guy definitely has a wonderful design, tricky personality and layers to him it seems.
And it is kind of interesting that Macaque powers counters his and he knows more about them Macaque himself.
@@AmberStallion I wouldn't be too suspicious if Macaque and Nine Heads' powers are the only ones that are similar,but both of them weirdly has the same way in presenting themselves...? Something's up here.
@@AmberStallion Ok jokes aside but I kinda find it suspicious that this guy's mannerism is similar to Macaque's villain persona.Couldn't be a coincidence that they have similar power sets.
Ikr? Villains actually really are lookers, just why they doing them so well?! Little me from the past guestioning me: "Why you have a crush on villains? They're gross, heroes a better choice!"
Oh, not in this century, just look at them! And they voiced really well
@@claudius3359Could be as well or.. Maybe this guy did something possession like thing to Macaque
I love how complex the villains and antagonists are for this show. At first, I was confused on his motivation, but then I realized; he's tired of living in a world of choice, because no matter what happens, it will always find a way to turn against you. To really be happy, he believes in living a life of randomized chaos, as that's more fun and knowing the world lives in a "Great Cycle", he thinks it's worth it. He genuinely feels bad for MK, but knows it's for the best, as death comes to us all.
That is probably the best explanation I've heard for his motivations. I didn't really see him as an interesting villain, since we knew barely anything about him or what he was explaining.
Not really a world of "choice". Everything we have seen so far is just Nuwa controlling things, which Xiangliu hates. "Fixing" the pillar is nothing more then restarting the cycle again where the same actions will take place again. If every action and event is dictated by Nuwa, then it isn't an issue of choice, but control, as choice never existed. Xiangliu knew this, and instead of continuing to stick around in this world again for the next cycle, he's decided to take the opportunity to return to the chaos. When Xiangliu began everything he tried to give MK another option besides mindlessly repairing the pillar and sacrificing himself. It seems if the cycle wasn't interfered with, MK would never have had a choice and would have to repair the pillar and sacrifice himself. But Xiangliu managed to give MK somewhat of a choice.
@@TheDerek14 Be better if it was always randomized on who gets the better chances next. Everyone gets at least one turn like MK is monkey kid now but in another life someone else is the monkey kid and the MK we know is now a normal kid, same game but different players. Xiangliu did not give him a choice but something better, he gave him the full disclosure of his existence and why, which made MK make his own decision. Good or bad this is now MK's choice.
@@TheDerek14didnt he say fix the pillar dont fix it I'm going back to chaos either way
@@mariusconstantin6057I think it's XiangLiu way to manipulate MK. With MK being apart of pillar, he was able to be transported to Nuwa's realm and actually wreck havock there (as we saw after he took the stones from Nuwa)
For a villain who was barely in this season, he stole the show. He has an awesome design, an amazing voice actor, a really complex and interesting backstory, and a fire personality. If there's one thing LMK can do, it's make good villains.
he seems exactly like Lucifer
I love the way his voices is layers from multiples heads as well as the hissing.
And there's something supremely satisfying when a manipulator is honestly laying it all on the table.
_"I will not let you take this from him!"_
What is interesting is that despite being a Manipulator he is… very honest and truthful. He’s not trying to deceive them or harm them. Sure he manipulated Azure but really all he did was release him and let him do as he was trying before. His only real deception was against the Nine Kings of the Underworld.
Despite it all he truly believes this is the best choice, even MK going against his plans and finding a new one isn’t him failing, he still succeeds, the only reason he never tried it is because he never imaged it at possible. He’s… very emotionally driven. He seems to be causal but there is an edge and want to him that makes him desperate cause for him this is his last chance and choice.
I think Xiangliu might be from a past Cycle(or he remembers it somehow) where he knew Wukong and the others and they knew him but he got out of their Universe and ventured out into the Outer Chaos before his Original Cycle ended. Though going back for the others, they knew something was wrong about what he offered and rejected him. I don’t know how many times(Cycles) he’s tried to change their minds or find another way, but it was too late for him to get back out so he had to scheme for a long time to bring the next/current Cycle to an early end, forsaking his place in history to do so.
It would definitely explain his nonchalant response and comment about Wukong not remembering him, and his comment about "being gone too long".
That would make a lot of sense!!
How I looked at it is due to having seen the chaos upon re entering the cycle he’s aware of every cycle. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been through countless cycles hence why he said he’s tired and wants to get out
Based on the way he spoke of his past and how he says MK did what he couldn't, I think he might be a harbinger of chaos from a previous cycle. He might even be the first harbinger of chaos.
@@G.1.U given how Wukong tried to sacrifice Himself in place of MK it could be he chose to try be the sacrifice for the pillar atleast once as given from the first episode of this season macaque does point out all of wukongs allies from journey to the west were just back id assume MK is always the harbinger in the cycle just this time he was awoken early by Xiang Liu
The fact that this demon is voiced bu Matthew Mercer is still crazy to me
Yeah, he is the current voice of Espio, the chameleon in sonic
@@joshuasebsebe1047and Vincent Valentine in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth!
👀 no way that’s why he sounds familiar?!
Bringing back Goku vs Hit
And Chrom and Ryoma from Fire Emblem.
And Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda.
Dude’s self-awareness is on a level of its own and the way he plays it out too.
He was very interesting. The first thing I noticed about his powers is how similar it is to Macaque's powerset but seemingly more malevolent in nature.
Also I like how Macaque basically became the Vegeta figure of the show lmao the apprehensive antagonist-turned-protagonist. I hope the floodgates being opened doesn't mean he goes back to being an antagonist again. MK needs both Sun and Macaque's guidance.
Funny that you mentioned 'floodgates',with how related the new characters are with a certain great flood..
For a “evil plot” it was surprising more lawful neutral then evil because he speed up a preexisting desolation.
Edit:how did I forget to mention that he even gave them real explanations and all options he could think up, and when he got angry and really fought them it was more out fear that they would do something to trap in world he seemingly what’s nothing to do with.
Did not expect a snake man to be my craziest hear me out this year yet here we are
I love that you emphasised _snake_ man as if the craziest part is that he has reptilian features and not that he’s LEGO
@@cartoonishidealism582 LMAO
@@cartoonishidealism582 SIMPING FOR LEGOS REAL (lego or nah hes a man 😿💕)
🐍😈🧞🧞♂️🧞♀️
@@cartoonishidealism582 _Please,_ people been simping for Legos from this show since the start.
Red Son, Demon Bull King, Princess Iron Fang, Macaque, Azure Lion... even Lady Bone Demon and Golden Wing Peng of all people!
Top it off with Xiangliu having an enchanting voice and a charming, complex personality and it was an inevitability to go "hear me out" on him.
For anyone wondering, Xiangliu is a chinese mythological character, but was never in any version of Journey to the West that I can find. He is basically chinese version of Orochi, but with a extra head.
Actually, I think he might have been. In Journey to the West, there's a character called the Nine-Headed Prince Consort (九頭駙馬), who was married to the All Saints Dragon King's daughter. One of his heads was bitten off by Erlang Shen's Celestial dog. Although, in the Mandarin dub states that the Nine-Headed Demon is the descendant of Xiangliu, instead of Xiangliu being one of his aliases.
My thoughts exactly.
@@DinoCam1795 Yeah, he's and all around bad guy.
Offenses include stealing sacred artifacts for personal gain, and literally making it rain blood!
I didn’t know that, thank you for the explanation. Maybe that’s the joke for why no one recognized him.
Xiangliu dropped a Plato’s Cave allegory onto the audience. Which makes sense, his attachments to his seclusive family created a false sense of abandon and manifested itself as guilt. He couldn’t live with them nor without them. The harder he tried to convince his family to join him, the more they refused, fueling his inner guilt. “I’m done trying to be a hero.” Sums it up.
He definitely felt like the calm before the storm and that ending reinforces that nicely
To think, they made his backstory the origin of Plato’s Allegory.
That's what I thought too. I was just like "Plato? Why are we having this lesson in my Chinese Lego show?"
That’s what I was thinking, this is literally the allegory of the cave.
@@theheroneededwillette6964 Okay, calling it now, next bad guy's either Hundun or Pangu.
@@888fevertime You mean the 4 Perils of Chinese Mythology?
@@deadphones5041 Well, Hundun is one, yes. Pangu is the primordial being that created the Heavens and Earth. Admittedly, the latter is less plausible than the former.
Okay, Monster is his trigger word.
'Monster' seems to be the trigger word for many yaoguai.Remember that "We're not the most inconspicuous bunch" scene with Tang? It's not explicitly said,but yeah...
For real I like to see his origin
@@samueljrhlorgbe6091 same, love the explanation, need to see it animated
@@samueljrhlorgbe6091I think it will be like the Journey to the West novel, he married to a princess who was supposed to be married to the white horse dragon
Great villain for his short run but let’s hope the new studio actually gets the time they requested for next season cause the main issue isn’t the studio change it’s the fact that this season was on a time crunch so the animators had to cut corners to meet the deadline here. It’s why the characters aren’t moving as smoothly as they used to despite the cheaper style, if they had the time there still would’ve been the noticeable down grade but at least the characters would’ve had the exact same energy they did before.
I thought that the animation looked stiff, but I didn’t know what was the reason. Honestly, I’m surprised that it stayed consistent despite that; it fooled me. Do you know why they changed it, original team had other commitments, production costs, or so?
@@Amanwithbones I think Flying Bark Studio had too much on their plate and Lego wasn't willing to wait on them. They also rush the animators too much which is why when Flying Bark was animating, there would be reused animations. Wildbrain Studio just got the season last minute and had a short deadline, so they had to rush :(
@@PocketBroccoliright on the Money. Flying Bark had to pitch in on a major project so they couldn’t be involved this season and such. So they went to a new studio who did similar animations but not nearly as much budget and as said earlier they had the shortest amount of time out of all the seasons to complete this season so that gave them a difficult challenge considering how detailed and sporadic this show is with comedy and fight scenes.
Is that also why we didn't get a 40 minute movie this season? That definitely felt a bit jarring.
Yeah, but they CERTAINLY improved after episode 1, it was sorta jarring to see the quality change once they got to work with the characters
I can’t believe that’s Matt Mercer!!?? I know this guy is a talented VA but man, he’s good !
the dudes a legend.
There’s a reason why some people see him as THE dungeon master, dudes got voices for days
I was like: NO FUCKING WAY!
3:52 Yea... I heard this story like over 20 times because of school.
Its called Allegory of the Cave.
Weird. I never heard this story in school. Granted they still taught us cursive back then before suddenly dropping it.
@@azureheart2846 It might just be a coincidence. But its probably just a retelling. It is missing a few elements but its probably told that way to save time and dum it down for the kids watching the show.
But it is pretty cool to see it being used in a show I watch. Now i get to yell in class. Hey! That story was in Lego Monkie Kid!!! Making thr teacher utterly confused.
It a western story
Quite surprising how they put a greek philosophy concept in a Chinese-centric show
When he said “he’s winning” that made me question what is coming next season
@@cupsonplushproductions5959 what character is a chaos god in china?
I know this is Japanese mythology, but amatsu-mikaboshi fit the bill
@@blitzi.m.p5927Hundun. Also know as Primordial Shish-kebab.
@@blitzi.m.p5927According to Google,it's Hundun.
You ever watched Shang Chi & the Legend of Ten Rings? The weird ahh,roasted-chicken looking thing with no face and wings that likes to play with Trevor Slattery?
THAT'S ITTT 😭💀🤚
Also an important to note if you're learning Chinese creation myth,other than Nüwa,Fuxi and Pangu is the world egg.Wikipedia says Hundun is strongly related to it.And Wiki also thinks that it's related to dumplings for some reason.
My money's on Gong Gong, Xiang Liu's master in Chinese mythology who is infamous for breaking the Pillars of Heaven in rage, forcing Nüwa to fix them.
I'll be honest, I legitimately did not understand what he was on about the first time, but after watching his episodes a 2nd time, I finally realized what he meant.
For anyone who might have been as confused as I was:
1) This universe has undergone resets many times.
2) Xiangliu actually escaped the cycle and actually entered the realms beyond the universe, where chaos reigns.
3) Xianglie came back to his universe, but no one believed him and shunned him.
4) He also no longer had the ability to leave the universe and was stuck in a repeating cycle, where he underwent many different identities, and was either friends with Wukong or enemies with him.
5) This cycle, he broke the mold and awakened MK early, causing a disaster that resulted in the vision being different from how it was. As well as freeing Azure Lion to usurp the Jade Emperor.
6) The vision that MK has been getting is nothing more than what used to happen in prior cycles. If properly awakened and going through the motions, MK was going to fulfill his destiny as normal like in the vision.
I might be wrong,but this cycle can be a good excuse for the changes they did in the show that differs from the book 🤔
@@claudius3359 Kinda, but wouldn't explain everything. For example, Wukong became enlightened and achieved Nirvana by the end of his story, hence his final title being "Fighting Buddha." He should have transcended the cycle and not be part of the resets.
@@0axis771 Considering how often death,Diyu and reincarnation (NHD taking the place of Zhuanlun Wang) pops up lately,I hope the writers can give a solid answer or else it'd be a large plothole.
@@claudius3359 Ehh, I'm not too fret up on it. It's a fun fictional story meant to sell Lego.
@@0axis771 Hehe that's my usual sentiment too.But ehh,who knows?
I'm convinced that he's a theatre kid
He's not a theatre kid, he's the one who casts the play. He's the director.
@@EmptyMan000so that's why feels so mean
The first time I heard his voice I shouted “IS THAT MATTHEW MERCER?!?!?”
The gang: Here comes Monkie Kid!
1:44 This guy: Here comes the big reveal~
Ah finally, something that cracks me up for a second😂😂😂
It takes some SERIOUS writing skillz to create an interesting antagonist that only had about ten minutes of screen time in the whole show.
A man who wanted to help everybody yet failed, believed in the end there was no way out of his predicament except through sacrifice, and then was shown by another that the impossible third choice was discovered... definitely an interesting character.
I absolutely loved how in the end not only did he insure he’d win, he was *happy* when MK found a different solution. Even giving him a word of warning for things to come.
@@white0thunderwhite0thunder71 Another thing that I like about the complexity of the show's writing is how many of the villains can be seen as 'good'-intentioned or basically a hero of their own story,while the protagonist and his mentor is often thought by many as unpredictable & dangerous (and for a kid's show,it has a whole lot of unreliable narrators).Some characters aren't simply good or evil (or simply judged from that point of view).Li Jing has his history of wrongdoings too but Nezha is right about him not being the villain,despite not doing 'best-friend behavior'.As a matter of fact,I think this season even showed how this show is not black & white the most,because Nüwa has good intentions but it clashed with the protagonists and Nine-Headed Insect opposes it by manipulation & messing up a predetermined and agreed grand plan.It's literally two different,opposing paths (Nüwa's order and Nine-Headed Insect's chaos) like in Nüwa's temple,so MK takes on Wukong & Macaque's advice to strike his own path.
so it seems like his backstory is a metaphor, It seems like he must've found a way to reach to the other side of the universe where he calls "paradise" and wants to share it with the others, but when they found out about nine headed demon's journey to the other side they called him crazy and I think it's what they called him instead of "monster" and when he wants to go back to the other side, He couldn't because I'm pretty sure this all happened when Nuwa is repairing the sky and all the rifts to the universe are sealed. And I think he became the tenth underworld king because the creators might've adapted him from the journey to the west tv series where he gets killed because his book version of himself ran away like peng did
OK I think I might've solved his metaphoric puzzle of a backstory and learning more about the name xiangliu, so he's basically the servant of gonggong the demonic god of chaos and responsible for the sky falling that bring out nuwa to do her work et cetera, While he was hanging out with his friends at the sea of primordial chaos, he saw the sun and the mortal realm he went there to check it out and was amazed by all the sheer beauty and the people he saw so when he went back to his home and told all the others about it they called him a monster for deserting them and prefer to stay at the chaos over this new thing he just discovered and when he went back to see the beauty again it was around the time when gonggong was fighting an another god and shattered the skies after he was defeated and exiled, Xiangliu was left behind and couldn't see his home or his friends or his master ever again! He became the tenth underworld king when monkey king killed him in the tv series from the 80s because in the book he ran away in fear after one of his heads get ripped off by erlang shen's dog and we can see that his heads have remained not injured, When he got to the underworld he discovered about the scroll of memory and the harbringer of chaos so he might've killed the 10th underworld king and stole his life and started doing everything that has happened in the last 2 seasons. And now that he's back home in the chaos, I think he's gonna bring his master to the mortal realm and start doing what he should've done in the first place.
Ok but either NHD is so cunning he can usurp through the underworld's ranks or the kings badly needs a new uniform.
Like I get that one of the kings was a ghost of a scholar that haunted a mountain,but how do you screw up so bad a creature from primordial chaos gets in? Screw it,how do you let a ghostly demon like LBD go around like that?
It’s interesting to see how up until he was backed into a corner and Macaque cut him off from the Chaos he didn’t really fight them at all. He restrained everyone but MK so he could talk to him, and was 100% upfront and honest with what he wanted. One way or another he just wanted to go back to the place he felt he belonged, and was done trying to convince everyone to see it like he did. After he got what he wanted he even sent MK back without a fuss.
Monkie kid has some fantastic voice actors in the show and Mathew Mercer is a welcome addition
Aaaaaaa I love him! I have my own interpretations of his origins however.
His telling of the “Parable of the cave” definitely is telling of his beginning. I think the cave itself is a representation of the world that MK and all the mortals and Celestials live in. He ventures into the chaos outside and when he comes back, his colleagues brand him a monster.
His appearance in his minifigure form with the scales, fangs, and his snake-hair combined with Nuwas appearance with her legs being replaced by a long snake tail, makes me think that she is his sister/relative, maybe she’s his mom, we don’t know what relationship they have exactly yet.
And then the sad end of his appearance in the show where he says”He’s winning” and “you’ve opened the cage” are some pretty ominous statements. “He’s winning” probably refers to whoever his boss is or something, maybe not his boss but maybe an entity that has greater power than he does. “You’ve opened the cage” probably means that more creatures like himself will begin arriving onto the mortal plane and cause chaos, who knows. Guess we just have to wait until the next season.
Not an edit: *Screams in snake man fanboying*
@@chaseward7627 Honestly I'm gonna agree with OSP's Red questioning why there's so many snakes in mythology.Cause Nine-Heads and Nüwa is not the end of it.The other name he mentioned,Xiangliu,is a great serpent dragon that broke the pillar and caused a disaster and a period of warring states.And there's Fuxi,Nüwa's brother & husband that also has a snake as lower body.And you're right,Xiangliu is just a minister of another entity.
I think Wukong has had too many enemies he starts forgetting them-
Edit: For anyone curious,Levchen Kodarya's reply is right,he was in the book.He is in chapter 62 and his name is Jiu (Nine) Tou (Head) Chong (Insect),he also appears in the 80s JTTW adaptation.As for what I wrote above the edit before I deleted it,I got it mixed up with another story.
From a bit of research, this guy doesn't show up in journey to the west - hence why Wukong doesn't know him.
@@lozm4835he pretty much was, Wukong and Erlang had a nice hunt with him and his wife's family
You wouldn't remember, if it was your average Tuesday
@@claudius3359 Seems to be a fusion of that character and Xiang Liu, which is a completely different nine headed monster in Chinese myth that doesn't appear in Journey To The West.
I think the reason Wukong doesn't remember him is because he knew Wukong in a previous "cycle".
@@levchenkodarya lol you right.And in the novel itself Wukong also already kinda forgot about what Gold Star of Venus did for him.
He’s so fabulous I love him.
Matthew of the Mercer’s, what a nice addition to an amazing cast.
Nine headed demon: you opened the cage, too bad now you'll have to face what's outside
*outside
for a new studio to make the LMK series, Xiangliu is undoubtedly a character i didn't expect i'd be on my knees for 😭
edit: let alone his voice aaaaaaaaaaaack-
Xiangliu looks really nice
same man yet here we are
I like how his voice showed his vulnerable side.
I keep forgetting this show gets new seasons because of how hard it is to find a place I can watch it in
3:46 the story that nine tells here reminds me a lot about Plato cave allegory, the story is basically the same as nine tells here, but with slight differences, in the story the people in the cave were prisoners force to look at a wall with nothing more but the projections of the shadows, just like nine says "one of them got out and saw the SUN" or another world that wasn't the cave, the prisoner came back to share the new knowledge but unlike nine's story the other prisoners apposed towards the idea of a new world outside of the cave, but the runaway prisoners didn't gave up he tried to show them the outside world but the other prisoners treated to kill him if wouldn't stop, the myth has been interpret by thousands of people but one of the interpretation says that it migth be an allegory and critic towards people who are so stuck and comfortable with their own ignorance that they even opposed to a new ideas in a violent way: my theory is that nine tried to save the people in the world but their ignorance kept them from a new salvation.( IDK it's just a theory 😅)
As interesting as Nine Head is, I was hoping that his evil agenda was a little different. In the novel he was married into an evil Dragon family, stole Li Jing’s Pagoda and somehow cause a kingdom to rain blood and passed the blame onto Buddhist monks and had them executed for it. The Dragons were slayed by Wukong and his companions and Nine Head was wounded by Erlang Shen and his dog but ran away. I feel like if LMK crew continued that subplot, and made him seek revenge for his family instead by going after not just Wukong’s loved ones but Erlang’s loved ones as well. Then Erlang Shen could have finally had his debut on this show.
Don't forget Guan Yin, sure she was shown and mentioned in S2 episode 2, but I really wanted to see her make an appearance
Xiangliu = MK’s dad.
Wukong = MK’s dad.
Macaque = MK’s dad.
Pigsy = MK's dad
Tang = MK's dad
Mk really is collecting father figures like pokemon
@@VampireFish827 Yes he is! We need a new father in the next season!
He's got many dads
Sadly no Mom
@@Dem0n2c we also need to bring back Uncy Lion
The fact I can recognize Dark Cacao Cookie’s va in the beginning clips is sending me 😂😂
SAY WHAT NOW?
damn, wukong and macaque were not kidding, we really should read the book!
He isn’t in journey to the west
@@duocult thats the weird part! his name isn't related at all to JTTW, but a different text called the shanghai Jing or the classic of earth and sea
@@duocult I can only assume they couldn't think of a name other than nine headed demon so they took xiangliu, the name of a centipede like demon with nine human heads and just slapped it onto our snake bird guy
I think he’s a fusion of his Chinese origins and the western Hydra, many eastern writers nowadays portray the Hydra as powerful being when it comes to calamities. I think he might be linked to it cause many eastern versions say that the hydras poison is potent enough to kill gods like the Jade emperor.
No, not really, there's a Chinese 'hydra', if you can call it.
A nine headed snake with human faces, capable of spitting powerful acid that basically can melt anything.
Jade Emperor's actually kinda weak as well, they basically don't have the ability to do anything.
@@nightowl548 well yeah because in the JTTW books the ultimate be all end all is Buddha.
also the "breaking the pillar of heaven" mean you're breaking one of Buddha's fingers?
@@Geheimnis-c2eNah I don't think it's the same thing.The myth of the great flood that breaks the pillar (as far as I know) is mostly separate from all the Buddhism related stuff.It's more of a chinese local religion stuff.
He is great and every thing but when he says"it doesn't matter"he totally friezes my heart there 🥶🥶❤❤❤
First the jade emperor now the 10 kings, the whole celestial bureaucracy is one stiff breeze away from tumbling dow.
@@jeremytung1632 Basically snake prince guy won.I feel like LMK universe at this point isn't even supposed to exist with how messed up it is.No Jade Emperor,no kings of hell,Harbinger of Chaos born before his time & outlived his purpose.I feel like the only people that could possibly in charge is between Xi Wangmu or Erlang Shen.
First time seeing this video and haven't watched new season yet. Not gonna lie I am VERY SURPRISE to see Xiang Liu to appear in this Lego Adpetation animated series of Journey to the West. Xiang Liu a chinese variation of a Hydra that rarely appear in any media when it comes to mythology in pop culture except that one time in Night at the Museum sequel
Interestingly enough they also used a lot of Greek reference's this season, so maybe they decided to use him specifically as a reference to the hydra as well? But yeah, he has a shockingly small roll.
@@aimandfire5147 yeah
The new studio did an amazing job with xiangliu, I hope they get more confident animating the main cast like wukong, mk, macaque. Everyone else looks Real good. So they are more than capable
6:22 no wait, I can also hear it in the screams of pain, guess when you D.M a lot you have to get good at making sounds of ouchie
its weird for a character with three whole episodes with xiangliu and with the amount of lines he gets, I could've never hear matt " shiver and queef " mercer, just goes to show what good voice acting can do!
Dang so he's the one who woke him up he was plotting this from the very beginning watching and waiting dang
Of course after Lady Bone demon, find a better villain was difficult. Knowing the story of him in Journey to the west, it was kind of weird that they choose hime for something this big 🧐🧐🧐
I do hope he returns because he seems like he’s can be even a bigger threat than the lady bone demon
Bro be like : Ayo bro … your basically monkey king’s little bro and you’re the final piece of a thing that rebuilds the world
1:35, that voice sound like master of masters himself because behavior like enjoyfull
Man that’s what I thought as well
@@zekiertheripper6299 nope that's Ganondorf!
@@blitzi.m.p5927 well, it hooded outfit, it was fit
@@zekiertheripper6299 true
@@blitzi.m.p5927 he is joyful and mysterious person like master of masters
OMG thank you for this i immediately fell in love with character the moment he was revealed
GODDAMNIT, HE'S HOT
7:37 I did the pog face
HURRAYYY I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO THOUGHT HE IS HOT
Ikr?!!
me too ME TOO
He looks like a skinned avocado 😭🙏
I do hope they eventually reveal the other Monkey Demons that exist as a result of MK releasing chaos. How wild would it be if the chaos that is unleashed is two evil versions of the Monkey Demons that surpass all the others. True Creatures of Chaos.
Me before seeing Xiangliu: “Don’t be intimidated, just imagine him without the cloak.”
After me seeing Xiangliu: “Oh no, he’s hot! 🥵”
When I first started monkie king it was just a fun show now it's still a fun show but it makes you think about things while still making you laugh.
If I'm honest, he looks like Medusa(snake hair lady)
I've learned of Xiangliu from Night of the Museum. He's basically a Chinese Orochi but with an extra head.
Xiangliu is just another one of Wukong's long list of exes. He is just that one ex you forgot you dated.
He looks like really cool villan😊❤
Let’s consider the cave as the stage
Stage - the world - the current many story’s large and small
Only a few ever leave the stage and come back only to realise they been semi written out. That’s a horrific and sad thought.
The world is really big place and complicated. I wonder who’s keeping charge
Okay but like, I’m not the only one who thinks Xiangliu and Wukong were like, SOMETHING in a previous cycle, right? Cause…there was no reason why my guy had said “We are old enemies…old friends too”. THEN gets all sad cause he realizes Wukong doesn’t know/remembers him! Like, I CANT BE THE ONLY ONE!!!
Well written AND well voiceacted?!
I need to rewatch the last episode. I keep forgetting what was his motivation 😂
MATHEW MERCER
@@sonicdean658 GANONDORF
4:26 I think the snake around the cabe might be nuwa and the cave might be a representation of the pillar. The sum probably also represents the chaos
I didn't even notice the snake! It even wears something like a dress.
This season left us with more questions than any other season, especially when nine headed demon(nhd) came. Like he knew monkey king from where? And nhd was really interested in macaque's power, a connection l suppose ? 🤨and most importantly wo is this he.
There's a kind of recurring theme in cultivation and sword fantasy novels. Call it the "World In A Bottle", where the "world" the protagonists know is actually just a sealed dimension keeping out a wider universe. Inside the "Bottle", things are less dangerous, but without the dangers of the wider universe, everyone inside can't reach their full potential. The protagonist is often someone who was from the "outside", but was rnow trapped in the "Bottle" and wants to return. Sound familiar?
@@FirstLast-cg2nk I mean,don't ancient Chinese people see their world as like a dome? A cosmos?
Though idk since in JTTW there's a whole universe with mount Sumeru supporting it,idk which one LMK Will follow.
Also I'm happy somebody else is familiar with the cultivation genre lol.That's a pretty rare sight here,it's unfortunate since that's how Wukong and most other demons gain power,and that's how you explain MK losing his 'power' in S2.
The guy sounds so much like macaque from the original
So he's neither good or bad? Just wanted to get out of the Cycle like Evil Morty?
Dayum, this show is kinda lit
The thumbnail tricked me, I thought it was a hot Lego snake girl.
I wish this guy got more screen time. This season could have used a 40 minute movie.
Looking up the origins of this character they don't seem to actually be Xiangjing. Xiangjing is an eel or snake. Which makes a bit of sense given his whole speech about how many names he has had, and that he's referencing Plato's cave. It's possible he's much, much older than he seems.
The minifigure really doesn't do him justice
Did anybody noticed Peng wasn’t shown in any of the episodes- Cause they escaped and usually would lead to them coming back or something 😭😭
Maybe their the next big bad, or made a deal with them
I wonder where Peng would escape.Last time this happened,Buddha just picked him up and he goes back to duty.
I fell in love with the Scylla in middle school
Maybe it was all leading up to you 🐍💚baby girl💚🐍
This is one of the most wild things I’ve ever read 😭
@@Nebula_006 I was finally diagnosed with normal in my autism classes why did they make him so hot why did they make him my type this wasn’t supposed to happen I’m normal I’m normal I’m normal I’m normal
why is it that a villain that is in a kid's show (a dark kids' show) for 12 minutes has better character development than most movie villains?
At first I really thought it was peng
Honestly hoping Peng shows up again at some point
MATTHEW MERCER?!
But yeah Nine is pretty fun.
I'm actually surprised they don't show his wife in the show since in the source material one of his titles is the nine headed groom and he tries to usurp the dragon king through marriage.
Well they do infer it with him saying "Prince consort of Jisai" which means the same thing
3:34 ok, I can kinda hear matt mercer now, its the resonance in his voice, though that could just be the filter they put over it
2:01 “Old friends too”
Meanwhile: Macaque, Azure
Its the voice guys ITS THE VOICE I SWEAR
Same voice as sexy Ganondorf from Tears of the Kingdom
"OH NO HES HOTT😭😭"
“It means he’s winning.” Ooh ominous.
ok this guy is awesome! whoever voiced him did a amazing job my lord
I've actually been reading the Journey to the West book and yes the nine-headed demon and Wukong have met before and survived against wukong, Zhu and Erlang Shen of all people but he did lose one of his head thanks to erlanggs dog
Bro turned into won the Gorgon sisters in 3:33
He's a snake
Matt Mercer is great
MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD
I really want to know why my boy Macaque was able to injure him
It feel’s like The Nine-Headed Demon is something that’s from an entierly different mythology at times…. The Gorgon/Medusa vibes, the Primordial Chaos he aspires to return to, even his monstrous form here at 9:14 looks like it came right out of a Pre-Norse God of War game (Although looking at 9:15 makes me think a little about the Aztec feathered serpent got too).
I wonder if this means that other mythological pantheons will begin to get involved?
7:50 me when the doctor cuts me off from my meds
I’m losing my mind over a translation error. HIS NAME IS NOT XIANGLIU 😭😭😭
He calls himself Zhuanlun in the mandarin dub, even the credits of the mandarin dub name him as shí diàn Zhuǎnlún Wáng (“King Zhuanlun of the tenth palace”).
In the Mandarin dub he says he’s _descended_ of the Xiangliu, because we’ve already SEEN the Xiangliu in season 4 (one of the demons waiting in line in pig-napped). They just so happen to both be nine-headed snakes, but they’re different beings!
I really hope people spread this around. I also know it is not the western audience’s fault. This really disappointed me as a Chinese viewer 😭
Hmm yes,I agree,this comment should get more likes.It kinda makes sense for him to be a descendant of Xiangliu,since we've seen him in S4.
The English is the original version, not the mandarin, so not a translation error. The mandarin dub must have changed it/ mistranslated
@@davidchris2309 if it was mistranslation from English then man do they have some continuation issues.It'd be a hassle to explain Xiangliu that has appeared in season 4 and why they didn't just change his true form instead of following Nine-Headed Pest's book appearance.
Can we adress the monkey in the room, WHO is HE!? WHO is he talking about!?
probably some primordial chaos god. either hundun or gong gong.
It makes me a little sad he has all nine "heads"
I read that in the original tale one of Xiangliu's heads was bitten off by Sun Wukong
Why do they keep on Cliff Hangers😭😭😭😭😭😭😭