#menace lmk posts

I said I was gonna do this and I'm keeping to my word! The only thing that may stop me is my procrastinating... and the fic I'm slowly writing but uhhhhh-

ANYWAY- We're here to talk about Mei, our favourite white horse dragon pepper girl!

Mei stands out as the most different from her inspiration, something the writers perfectly portray in the yellow-robed demon episode of s4, which is likely to do with how little they had to go off of. Despite being one of the pilgrims in jttw, Ao Lie dose very little in the novel. His most notable chapters being when he's introduced and when the group faces the yellow-robed demon, which is why we met him in that memory in the scroll. Combined with my belief that Mei isn't a reincarnation of Ao Lie -- just his descendent -- means that Mei is one of the most unique characters in the entire show.

There's just less source material for her to draw from, it let's the writers have more fun and do more things. It's not that they don't make the others characters unique -- they like to play very fast and loose with things over all -- but Mei feel like her own complete and original character. She's inspired by Ao Lie in the same way Mk is inspired by Monkie King basically and she all the better for it.

Being the female lead (isn't it interesting how most of the female characters in this show are villans?), Mei is a refreshingly strong, confident girl who begins the show as the most powerful cast member. Being a descendent of the great dragon gives her amazing powers that no other cast members have, a birth right that leads to her being the most protective of her friends and the first to help out in any fight.

What she has in power, however, she lacks in experience. Mei has no mentor -- other than her parents, but I believe its safe to assume they weren't very focused on teaching her combat -- which leads her to trust her gut more, rush into things and learn through observation, like when she mimics what her great x1000 uncle did in s3.

Overall Mei is an excitable, energetic and loving person with a "You only live once" kinda attitude, for lack of a better explanation. Even still, she has her own insecurities and flaws which make her all the more interesting. Due to the shows run time, Mei and many of the other main characters don't really get explored as much as Mk, however what we do see of these struggles and fears is incredibly interesting even on a surface level.

Her tendency to rush head first into danger without first examining the situation or creating a plan, truthfully, tends to work out for her, but it can't always. It's something shown perfectly in s4, when Mei is the only member of the group to not get a star from Master Subohdi, however what a lot of people seem to miss is how Mei actually did earn that star eventually.

When they leave the temple and head to the celestial realm to try and stop Azure, Mei leads them there with no plan at all. As such, they fail and need to be saved by Mk. Faced with proof of Subohdi's criticism, Mei makes the more important amendment to Mk's plan in the s4 special. I don't think we've even seen Mei make a serious plan until this point, which feeds back in to another one of her flaws: being unable to take things seriously.

This isn't something I see said about Mei often, but when watching her character I think it's externally obvious. Don't get me wrong, Mei can be serious, but usually only in moments of vulnerability or high stress. For example: when talking with her pearents, after she gained the Samahdi fire and whilst imprisoned by the Yellow-robed demon.

I think this flaw is Mei's own version of Mk playing dumb. They both behave this way to lessen the emotional impact of serious things, to protect themselves and help those around them deal with trauma or difficult topics. Mei and Mk really are two sides of the same coin and I'd love for them to do more with that in the show.

Going back to Mei's parents, one of her biggest struggles is reconciling who she is with who she's meant to be. She is a noble dragon, a descendent of the great dragon of the West Sea and practically the successor to Ao Lie. It's a lot to live up to and -- evident in episode 3 of season 1; Welcome home -- she doesn't believe she dose.

Mei is confident in her abilities, she's sure of her strength and quick to help those around her, but in the face of her legacy she stands uncertain. It's another thing her and Mk have in common, though in vastly different flavours, and it's interesting how this legacy colours Mei as a character.

She wields the dragon blade, proving herself as a worthy part of her family and gaining the approval of her parents, however the stark difference between her and the rest of her clan is more blatant than ever. We see this perfectly in season 3 when they visit the great Dragon of the East Sea, Mei being put into fancy clothes she instantly ruins in order to have a place to hold her sword. She fights against her uncle, fights against her family, because she knows they'll never understand her. But even still, she knows she's still one of them and she's so proud to be.

Becoming the vessel of the Samahdi fire is only more proof of Mei's legacy and connection to her family. It gives her a moment of pure vulnerability where she vents her frustrations and fears before rushing away, wanting nothing more than to protect the people she cares about.

When Red Son finds her she's still serious, but even with just a basic understanding of the fire within her Mei falls back to her normal nature; a silly excitable girl not taking things seriously. We see this after Red Son attacks her with the spears and when she's eating later on, but even if her attitude doesn't show it, she's still listening and taking the training seriously. She just needs to be silly so she won't freak out again.

Since we're on the topic of the Samahdi fire, I think most people can agree that the way it was handled post s3 was very poor. With only one mention of it in s4, by Master Subohdi no less, I assumed that the fire had been resealed, this time correctly. Something that dangerous should be locked up, even if a capable wielder is around. It would also prevent power creep and stop the show from having another Wukong predicament, by which I mean a character so powerful they need to find a way to prevent them from trivialising whatever threat they have to face in the plot. Wukong will get his own post soon don't you worry...

Instead, we learn in s5 that Mei still has the fire, she just kinda forgot? She learned to fully master it when breaking out of LBDs mech, so since the fire was no longer a raging uncontrollable inferno she just didn't realise it was still there... for an entire season. Yeah it feels lazy and honestly is probably the worse written choice the show has even made. Even still, it dose lead to a very interesting and in character moment for Mei.

When attempting to seal the willow wisp with Red Son, Mei loses her confidence, believing that she lost the Samahdi fire and thinking she's lacking. Mk getting Monkie Kings powers was one thing, but the rest of her friends now having cool weapons and magic? If their all so strong and only getting stronger, then what's the point in Mei? She was the strongest but now she might be the weakest, and that terrifies her cause if she's weak she can't protect people. How can she act when she's powerless to do so?

This dilemma is quickly resolved by Red Son telling her she's had the fire the whole time, amending it's use to Mei's lightning motif she's had since s1 -- I know fire benders in ATLA use lighting but come on -- and basically saying she's been using the fire the whole time. It takes away from Mei's whole struggle to be honest, but I do think there's potential for her to relearn this now tamed Samahdi fire so she can better use it. Just depends if the show wants to do that...

Moving on from my thinly veiled complaints about season 5 (I like it I swear but it is the weakest seasons to me so far), let's talk about Mei's role in the group a bit. Aside from being the token girl, she's also Mk's best friend and the only other character his age and acts around the same age as the shows target audience. Mk's the main character and leader, Tang is the lazy historian smart guy, Sandy the loveable giant, Pigsy the cynical brute and Mei's youthful and silly power house.

Their the same height

and what's better

they argue over who's taller

An AU where a new cycle is started after season 5, in which Mk doesn't exist. However, he did something at the end of the last cycle to preserve his friends memories, leading them remember everything one by one and eventually going on a mission to find Mk -- currently writting, am almost done with the first chapter and have 10 planned so far. God help me.

A rewrite of season 5 where I give it a special, basically a what if scenario of what could have been if the writers and animators were given more time, more of a restructure than anything if I'm honest -- not started but planned up to episode 5

A rewrite AU of season 5 where I fulfil what I thought the ink curse from season 4 was foreshadowing: ""you're friends will abandon you, seeing you for the monster you will become" -- not started or planned. Btw I promise I don't hate s5 it just gives me a lot of insperation

And finally

An AU inspired by @/renmist on twitter who made some wonderful art where Wukong was trapped within a lantern that Macaque owned -- not started or planned at all, I just really liked the art and wanna write something to fit the concept but I'm struggling to think of why Wukong is in the lantern in the first place

That's everything my brain has latched on to so far. I love writing but I've never published anything I've written before so the fact I'm inspired enough to want to is kinda a big deal for me, only problem is getting the motivation to do it... if I finish the first one (which is probably the most complex concept of them all, why have I done this to myself) then I'll definitely write the others, but if not I guess other people can take these ideas and run with them!

Mk is an art student who worked really hard to get a scholarship into the school. Yin and Jin are both in the same course as him, he corrected them about art theory once and they've never let it go so now they torment him in class, and everyone else for that matter. Wukong is there teacher and he is servery under qualified but he dose his best. Mk still works and lives at Pigsy's noodles, which in this is a hot spot for students cause of its close proximity to the uni. Balancing school and a job is a nightmare but he's trying his best.

Mei is in a business/marketing course, she wanted to do something more fun but her parents wanted her to do it, but she's actually really good at it especially whenever they do social media stuff. Princess Iron Fan is her teacher and the Demon accountant is her class mate. Mei and Red Son are roommates, they start off hating eachother but slowly become friends. When Mei finds out PIF is Red's mum she's begs her for baby photos, much to Red's embarrassment. Red Son is on an engineering course and Sandy is his teacher. Mei is a streamer with a pretty large following and she's currently saving for a new parts for her motorbike, which Red will likely end up replacing for her.

Tang is a history teacher at the school. He never shows up to class without a bowl of noodles. The scorpion demon is in his class and has a crush on him, but for obvious reason he's not at all interested! Tangs one love is noodles and noodle making Pigsy's.

Macaque is like a drama teacher or something like that, Mk likes to sit in on his seminars sometimes, and he's made a name for himself as the schools cryptid. He never seems to leave and always shows up in random places, a lot of people think he secretly lives in his classroom. He likes to scare and mess with Wukong a lot, they hate eachother but it's so over the top everyone either thinks there dating or wants them to kiss already.

Bai He is just a kid so she doesn't attend the collage, but she's seen around there a lot. Her pearents are probbaly teachers there, or maybe Macaque is her dad in this who knows, but for awhile some students thought she was a ghost haunting the school.

LBD and the Major either used to be teachers but got fired, or they both work at the school and are the most hated teachers there. LBD would teach law and the Major would do something similar, maybe criminology? Could throw a curve ball and have him teach psychology, that could be funny.

There's too many characters for me to be bothered to list rn so uhhhhh Nuwa is probably head of the school, any gods or celestial warriors are teachers, most demons are probbaly students unless they served a big part in the show (like syntax is probbaly the IT teacher) anddddd if it's not obvious I've never been to a university so I am very unqualified to do anything with this, I'm just having fun.