Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness/WMG

This series is set between Kung Fu Panda 1 and Kung Fu Panda 2.

Given this series was originally scheduled for airing in 2010, this is rather obvious, but it bears stating. It would account for things like Po being so foolish at times and how Tigress is warming up to the Panda to begin the Ship Tease.

• Not so sure. In KP 2, Mantis mentioned never having a girlfriend. In the show, Mantis is currently dating a butterfly.
  • Well, a butterfly is not likely to eat his head, maybe he partially reverted to a primal state of mind considering the stress of that moment, being chained by Lord Shen.
  • Did he actually say "I never had a girlfriend" or did he say something to the effect of "I never settled down and got my head eaten"? There is quite a difference between the two.
• It was revealed in Hometown Hero that Mantis had a fiancee when he was younger. Discontinuity?
• Quote from the movie: "Honestly, guys, I never thought I'd die like this. I always thought I'd meet a nice girl and settle down, and then she'd eat my head. So sad..." Having a fiancee in his youth or currently dating a butterfly doesn't rule out him being single again by the time the second movie takes place.
• Confirmed. Challenge Day reveals that Po has only been Dragon Warrior for 100 days as of that episode. If the Fan Wank is to be believed, there is more than a decade between KFP 1 and KFP 2.

Tigress is not the most powerful member of the team.

An upcoming episode has the description saying that there have been many Furious Fives in the past, and the most powerful member always becomes evil.

Mantis will perform a Face Heel Turn.

In relation to the above WMG, Mantis is (proportionally) the strongest of the Furious Five, and will submit to the Dark Side. Especially considering his Jerkass behavior in allowing Po to get his ass kicked while Mantis goes on a date with a girl who doesn't even like him.

• That is actually quite possible, considering the original concept for Mantis, before he was redesigned to be less creepy, was that he was an ally of Tai Lung's who was The Mole among the Five...

The Furious Five member who traditionally Face Heel Turns...

...Is not just the most powerful member, but the member who feels that their strength is overlooked or taken for granted. Po's entrance into the team as a Sixth Ranger and the Dragon Warrior seems like a good impetus for one of the others to start feeling this way... However, Po's hero worshipping ways and obvious awe in which he holds everyone helps curtail the formation of such resentment, keeping the team together.

Fung's father will appear.

And this will spark a Not So Different moment when Fung rants to Po about feeling like he was being forced into the family business. However, Mr. Ping was supportive of Po's dreams of becoming a kung fu master, while Fung's father obviously didn't want to see his son become a bandit. Realizing this will help Po develop an even greater appreciation for his dad, prompting a heartwarming scene between them.

Fung will try to entice Tao Tai's son into joining his bandits.

After all, he seems completely bored with his Mad Scientist father and being roped into all his crazy plans, so Fung will see an opportunity to add somebody smarter to his team. (This will most likely fail, perhaps with it turning out Tao Tai's son gets easily bored with everything... or simply isn't interested in commiting crimes PERIOD.)

There will be a Bad Future episode

In it Po sees what his life and everyone else's lives would be like if he wasn't the Dragon Warrior:

• • Po: Miserable at the noodle shop
  • Shifu: Teaching a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits to take on the worlds newest most invulnerable super villain, Tigress. Still bitter inside, he pushes them as a Drill Sergant Nasty, though his techniques still work.
  • Tigress: Most likely to be considered the Dragon Warrior by Shifu (regardless if Oogway picked her). Her inability to open the scroll will cause her to go insane like Tai Lung and will be imprisoned in Tai Lung's prison, further cementing Shifu's sorrow and mental decline.
  • Crane: Wings broken trying to fight off Tai Lung, lives a sad life cleaning as a janitor, reminiscing about the good old days.
  • Viper:
  • Mantis:
  • Monkey:

Fenghuang was so eager to recruit Po because of how he reacted to her.

He'd heard of her from Shifu, and accepted that she was evil, yet rather than simply acting afraid of her, he was... well, PO. After living in isolation for so long, meeting someone who reacted positively upon recognizing her must have been a welcome change. And once she learned he was afraid of becoming like her, she tried to make it as inviting as possible.

Fenghuang trolled Po with her over-the-top Card-Carrying Villain act.

It's quite strange that the first reaction of someone who claims to worship strength upon seeing a complete stranger falling to his doom was to save him. A Social Darwinist who actually means it probably would let Po die. Also note, that Fenghuang does not go into evil ranting mode unless Po labels her as eeeevil and admits that he expects himself to turn evil like her. Maybe Fenghuang tried to play in tune with the panda's delusions to obtain help in her grudge against Shifu, or just screwed with his head for lulz.

Fenghuang will tell HER side of the story in a later episode.

Her version will paint Oogway, Shifu and the rest of her iteration of the Furious Five in a VERY different light. Both sides will be From a Certain Point of View, and she'll attempt to invoke and exploit Not So Different by emphasizing jerkish behavior by Past!Shifu that fits nicely with the... less than pleasant demeanor he initially had in the first movie. (Of course, there'll be more than a little bit of Unreliable Narrator on her part...)

Fenghuang will steal the mirror and use it...

...To bring Evil!Po back. Given this show's love of Ship Teasing, this will include him either continuing his flirting with Tigress, or shocking her by having him seemingly switch his affections to Fenghuang.

• Alternately, her Evil Plan use the mirror on Shifu and/or any of the Furious Five to either tempt Po into an actual Face Heel Turn or simply to see him destroyed by the very friends he chose over her.

Peng will be instrumental in redeeming his uncle.

Assuming Tai Lung isn't dead, and that Peng doesn't turn on Po or the Jade Palace when he finds out what happened to his uncle, Peng will either be able to get through to Tai Lung, get Shifu to give him another chance, or be the one for whose sake Tai Lung will consider making peace. He will be assisted in this by Po who seemed to find Tai Lung's past exploits cool and doesn't hold a grudge against anybody. Perhaps Peng could even help by giving his uncle something else to live for by having Tai Lung train him in kung fu. This leads into...

Tai Lung will end up being a recurring ally who will help take out various enemies when needed.

Specifically, all the enemies which have been showing up will eventually band together as a Legion of Doom to take out the Valley of Peace. (Assuming they can ever agree on anything and don't come to blows over who gets to be in charge.) This could come about in one of several ways.

1) Hypocritical Heartwarming: "Nobody gets to attack Shifu and the Valley of Peace except me!"

2) Joining their band at first, only to become a Defector From Decadence because Even Evil Has Standards.

3) Joining them as a Reverse Mole (which could at first be played as a Heel Face Revolving Door until the truth comes out). "Whose side are you on?" "My own. Which at the moment happens to coincide with yours."

Tai Lung isn't Peng's uncle, he's his father.

Think about it. Tai Lung was a Door Step Baby. How can he have had a sibling that would even know who he was? There's the possibility that Peng is Tai Lung's illegitimate child, and that his mother told him he was his uncle instead, presumably to hide the truth, along with other details of who Tai Lung was, out of shame.

• How Peng could know his name is a puzzle, one we'll need to see explained on the show. But chronologically this theory just can't work. The show takes places between the movies. The fact that Po is still learning and mostly incompetent suggests it can't take place close to Kung Fu Panda 2, so even if it takes place ten years or so after the first one, the show must be no more a year or two after Kung Fu Panda. Even if the show did take place close to Kung Fu Panda 2, Peng cannot be more than 10 or 12, and is probably younger. Which would put him to being born right after the first movie, if not ten years before it. I highly doubt Tai Lung stopped to bed a woman on the way to the Valley of Peace, and before that he was in Chorh-Gom for twenty years with no access to women. Now, if Tai Lung had been with a woman not long before his rampage, that would allow for her child to grow up and have Peng at some point during Tai Lung's time in Chorh-Gom. So Peng might be his grandson.
  • Uh, I was mostly thinking this would have happened before Tai Lung's rampage and his incarceration. But then, I guess it's a bit much to think Peng is twenty years old, so point taken.

Po is developing an Inferiority Superiority Complex because he's become the Dragon Warrior.

For years, he's built up this idealized image in his head of being the perfect warrior made of Pure Awesomeness... yet he also believed he wasn't really good enough to ever come close to that. Now, he's obtained that lofty title, and has been learning he's got the potential to live up to it... yet he's also finding it takes MUCH more hard work than he ever expected. His personality's in flux because he feels he SHOULD be insanely confident and proud of who and what he is, and that he SHOULD have completely conquered all his self-doubts and insecurities by now... but he hasn't.

He's also learning the cost of being the Dragon Warrior. That the training and vigilance doesn't end just because he's discovered the secret of the Scroll and defeated the Big Bad. Rather, it's just beginning... and he's not sure if he can keep up with the demands. But admitting that -- and potentially losing everything he's gained so far because he's not capable of fulfilling those expectations -- is something he's incredibly afraid of. He didn't just ask Tigress if she thought Oogway made a mistake because he was afraid she felt that way...

This is why he leaps on any shortcuts and wants to learn 'the good stuff' -- so he can feel more secure and suited to his title and station.

• • In short, this is part of his journey of how he grows into the unambiguously confident and relatively mature warrior in Kung Fu Panda 2.
    • That makes a lot of sense. If so, this should mean that the jerkish superiority we've been seeing from Po is a cover, a defense mechanism he adopts as he tries to convince himself he is worthy of the scroll and will eventually master everything he's supposed to. And it also means that, hopefully, as he learns said skills but also the responsibility that goes with them, he will stop bragging (and making foolish mistakes) and become the mostly confident warrior he is in Kung Fu Panda 2.

Mantis will get a Cute but Psycho admirer.

Given the series' love of Mythology Gags and references to What Could Have Been, a female mantis who's obsessed with him could serve as a nod to the discarded subplot in Kung Fu Panda 2 where he was going to get eaten. Given his behavior in "Hometown Hero", it could also be seen as a bit of karmic payback...

Peng doesn't know the Awful Truth...

...Because his family has kept it from him. It's a shameful family secret, something they don't want being spread around.

Years ago, the sibling of one of his parents decided they couldn't care for an infant, and so left him on the steps to the Jade Palace. As time went on and Tai Lung became more reknowned, the guilt of what they'd done haunted them, until they confessed to their sibling. Before they could decide whether or not to tell Tai Lung himself, events unfolded that made that even more undesirable. Thus, they kept it to themselves, discussing it only in absolute privacy.

Peng has only overheard bits and pieces, and thus is blissfully unaware of the nastier details. He wants to find Tai Lung in hopes of a happy reunion, fixing his family. This likely won't end well.

There will most likely be another 'Po and Tigress' episode

Shippers delight! Nickelodeon is making habit of putting the main male and female in a sticky situation, there is a slight chance that they will do it again.

There will most likey be a stud who tries to 'Woo' Tigress as a gag in an episode

...and he will fail miserably.

Peng is destined to become an even more skilled and powerful warrior than Tai Lung.

When you take the movie and then the episode into account, you notice the similarities throughout. Highly skilled at a young age, pretty much a natural, a prodigy. Shows great promise and develops dreams of becoming great one day. Then, when denied what they so yearned (or in Peng's case, thought he was denied) they both displayed great anger and an obsessive desire to obtain what they wanted and prove themselves. But when confronted to the truth, Tai Lung broke down and continued attacking despite it now being moot.

Peng, however, saw and realized what was wrong with his actions, he came to his senses, repented and apologized. As we see, Peng has all of Tai Lung's traits, both good and bad, but showed humility, self-control, and the ability to make the right decision when confronted with the truth. Also, while Tai Lung showed a great aptitude for kung fu at a young age, he lived at the palace and thus had Shifu to teach him everything he needed in regards to kung fu, whereas Peng is already very skilled and yet he has never had any type of training. Combine those, and the potential for being even greater than Tai Lung is right there.

• This can also play right into the above WMG of Peng possibly redeeming his uncle, should Tai Lung be alive and make a comeback. Think about it. Tai Lung held on to his desire for so long, only for it, and thus pretty much his whole world and reason for living, to come crumbling down on him. Other than revenge on Po, what other reason could he have to live for? That's where Peng comes in. Not only would Peng be instrumental for Tai Lung to have the opportunity to meet his long lost family, but also, he could see the enormous potential for greatness Peng has. Why would we get that short line about Peng having no training? Because Tai Lung would then recognize that Peng has all the potential in the world to become even greater than he ever was, so much that he could possibly even become Dragon Warrior someday, he would just need a master to teach him in the ways of kung fu. This could also lead to...

Just so the movies won't have to, Legends of Awesomeness will give closure to Tai Lung.

Considering the end of the episode "The Kung Fu Kid" is the first hint we've ever gotten as to Tai Lung possibly being alive, if he does make a comeback, the show will take care of giving closure to his entire storyline. Namely because that way they can give something to the fans of the character and continue an unfinished storyline, and they can get away with not having to do it in the movies, where they have limited time to set up a whole story and character development. Considering the way the second movie ended, it's highly likely that the third movie will focus on Po meeting his real father and other pandas, so it makes sense that they'd want to keep Tai Lung from showing up to take up screentime and attention away from that focus.

• I don't know. At the beginning of the second movie (Or maybe it was the winter special), Po had a nightmare about Tai Lung and said 'But you're supposed to be dead!'. If anyone should know whether or not Tai Lung survived, wouldn't it be Po?
  • It was the holiday special. And it wasn't Po's dream, it was Mr. Ping's, so the dream gives us no solid evidence.
  • Also, even if it had been Po's dream, 1) he got cut off, saying "But I thought you were de--" which could have ended "defeated" and 2) he didn't say "But you're dead!" or "I saw you die!" he said "I thought you were..." Also keep in mind that Dream Works has made it a point to keep reiterating Po defeated him (that's the word his fan club used in "Po Fans Out" when they asked to hear the story), and this is the company which did not avoid death or mentions of it ("But Master Shifu, he'll kill you!", Wo Hop's constant suicide attempts, Master Thundering Rhino's violent murder, the onscreen deaths of the Wolf Boss and Shen). This choice of words has to be deliberate, and therefore telling.

The series really is a collection of legends.

...And they're being retold in the far future, well after the events of all the movies and beyond. Part of the enduring legend attached to Po is the idea that he started out as somebody completely unsuited to kung-fu; this aspect of his character has been greatly exaggerated over time in order to impart the proper Aesops to the audience.

The first season will be a massive brawl

• Hundun, Taotie, Scorpion, Fung, Jong Sung Jai Kai Chow, Tong Fo, Fenghuang, Junjie, Su, and the twins team up to take down the Jade Palace. Po, Shifu, the Five, Master Chao, Peng, Temutai, and Song join forces to stop them (Temutai only because the villain group trashed his village trying to recruit him). The group launches an attack on the Jade Palace, but Taotie's son overtly convinces Fung to defect. The attack soon turns into one on one battles:Temutai vs. Hundun, Monkey vs. Scorpion, Fung (and gang) vs. Taotie, Peng and Tigress vs. Fenghuang (which turns into Peng vs. Tigress when Fenghuang reveals Tai Lung's fate), Song vs. Su, Viper vs. the twins, Shifu vs. Junjie, Mantis and Crane vs. Tong Fo, Chao vs. Jong Sung Jai Kai Chow, Po vs. Fenghuang.

Peng found out who his uncle was...

...From a soothsayer. That epic goat in the 2nd movie couldn't have been the only on in China, and maybe the one he asked left out a few details on purpose in an attempt to spare Peng from the truth, probably thinking "he's like twelve--he'll settle somewhere WAY before he gets to the Valley of Peace"

• Also, he's traveling because the rest of his family is dead. Because why else who a kid be wandering China on his own? He just asked a random soothsayer if they knew of any relatives.
  • Who knows how long he's been traveling? Tai Lung might not even have been dead when he asked! The guy was free for a month or so, going by Po's montage in the movie.
    • There's also the fact we still don't have confirmation he actually is dead.

Peng will come back in a ghost episode...

...and will help Shifu and the Furious Five put the spirit of Tai Lung to rest after Junjie summons it for another dig at Shifu. It will be an episode made of Awesome and Heartwarming and Peng will stay at the palace at the end.

If Peng ever stays at the Jade Palace he will be Tigress' first student

A true test of a master is how they handle a student (like when Shifu sent Po to the bunny school), and Peng is a Super Strong Child, like Tigress was. She'll probably have some good tips and exercises.

Peng is the Reincarnation of Tai Lung

Literally!!! In a world where magic has been proven, such as the fluttering mind slip, and other moves of its caliber, it's not wholly impossible for the religion's belief in Reincarnation to be literal.

This is evidenced by the fact that he shares his same mind set, and deeply rooted hatred of Shifu, that is quick to be set off. He looks like him, I say, completely by accident, as if the wheel of what you will be reincarnated as is similar to the wheel of fortune, chance.

Tai Lung, was brought back as a child, Peng, so that he could have a restart, a chance to be innocent once again. His pilgrimage all across china, is his journey to enlightenment, in other words, it's his literal 8 fold path. When he is fully complete with his journey, he will be gifted with his past memories restored and a new way to approach Shifu, with kindness, respect, and most likely an apology.

Being that he already looks like Tai Lung, he will be greeted with harshness, and fear, aiding in his journey to be restored to innocence. He will have to prove, not only to himself, and his God, that he has changed but to the people he has wronged in his past life.

When his life ends, naturally this time, he will be faced before his God in heaven, who will ask him a question resembling, "Do you belong here?" He will have to look deep into himself for the answer, but maybe he will find a good one this time around.

• I considered this as a possibility when the first images of Peng were released. There's only one problem with this theory...while we are not sure how much time has passed between the two movies, or where exactly in the timeline the series (or this particular episode) takes place, it is likely at most only a year or two since the first movie. Which means there isn't enough time for Tai Lung to have been reborn and grow up. Peng is probably around ten or twelve years old; at the youngest I'd say six or seven, but he seems too well-spoken and talented to be that young.

To add to my previous WMG I say he has lived other lives before.

This would account for his skills when he was Tai Lung.

Tigress has no sense of the Fourth Wall

In 'Chain Reaction' Tigress makes a few comments that would support this theory.

1.) Po says sorry before he jumps off of the cliff. Tigress didn't look at him as she said "For what, oh. great." (paraphrased) as if she knew he was jumping off of the cliff. Also with all of her reaction training, the idea of her knowing something was wrong and doing nothing about it is farfetched, as if she knew she was going to be yanked and could not stop it because the author wouldn't let her.

2.) After they fall off of the cliff they reach a ledge a little while down. Po lands safely on the ledge while Tigress misses it. The chain binding them prevents her from falling to her doom allowing Po to pull her up. Just as he begins the ledge begins to crack and she says "Oh great". She's being sarcastic of course, but not of falling, but of the fact that the authors moved her from one bad situation to another.

3.) Somewhat also proving this is the way she so casually uses sarcasm knowing she's never really in danger.

Tai Lung will force an Enemy Mine.

As a counter to the above, if a villain legion of doom is created, Tai Lung's appearence will make the villains join forces with Po.

Lord Shen will come Back from the Dead and return as the Big Bad in season 3

• Jossed already. This show takes place between the two movies, if not in a seperate timeline.