You make a really good point there honestly, I never really thought about that. It's so amazing to see honestly! Like you said, it's astounding! The show is truly something special.
I actually did a paper over Monkie kid for one of my business classes. What I feel help made it appealing to so many people is how many people from around the world were involved. They had the main designers of the Lego in Denmark, the team in China making sure it would appeal to the them, and a writer from the US who came to China to learn more about the culture. Monkie kid was a mix of different people coming together to make a something kids would love. I think that part of the reason Monkie kid has reached such a big audience.
That is SUCH a cool perspective, I hadn't thought about it in that way before. I see what you're saying though. Love that you wrote a paper on it for school. How'd it do? :D
The animation does reach a wider audience and deservingly so, the animation and art style is so strikingly different from other lego shows, but still has that Lego charm too it. But i think the biggest reason why monkie kid succeeds where Chima and nexo knights failed, is that Monkie kid isn't trying to copy ninjago like nexo knights did or straight up try to replace ninjago like Chima did. Monkie kid is doing its own thing, and with dreamzzz coming out i think the success of monkie kid outside of Asia to Lego's surprise has shown you can have more than one story based series going at a time. Now here's hoping dreamzzz is a success, too
I’m 56 and I love Monkie kid! The show is great and the sets are really wonderful. I live in San Francisco and as a kid we got to see a stage version of the Journey to the West in school. It’s actually become my second favorite theme next to Star Wars.
Duuuude that s AWESOME to hear! I'm glad to see that Monkie Kid can appeal to all age demographics! That's so cool that you got to see a stage version of journey to the west.
I'm so glad I saw that one Lego Monkie Kid edit and checked out the show, my obsession literally taught me how to draw properly, how to edit, and thanks to a Macaque cosplay how to make a yarn tail and sew with a broken sewing machine
@@pacoliebling That’s incredible! The impact Monkie Kid has had on so many of our lives is truly incredible to me. For me, it reinforced my passion for animation and it made me aware of the Western Sakuga style even more, and got me to look even more into the nuance of animation and influenced my style and what I enjoy in animation and storytelling a lot more! It’s now one of my biggest artilugio influences and I’m so glad to hear how much it’s influenced you as well, and that it taught you to draw! That’s incredible 🫶🏽🙌🏽✨
As someone whos grown up watching The Lego movie, playing Lego games with my big brother, and having a lot of sets and a box of legos I am gueninly glad I watched Lego Monkie Kid. I tried watching Ninjago before that and got to season 3 but then got busy. The characters relatable, the difference in style was good choice since it catches peoples eye,and I love Mythology. Ive been wanting to get into more then Greek and Norse and like Percy Jackson this helped me submerge. But know I watch the show all the time and even getting my freinds into it who loves anime and also likes good and unique styles of animation and art. This is also coming from someone who loved that one Nezha movie. The one from 2019 that was 3d animated and had a pretty design for Ao Bing. I remeber I saw a short of Nezha being in the show and in a special and like I said I wanted to get into different mythology I was like "Oh yeah I'll watch this! This has a familiar character!" And I was glad I did. But yeah I love this show and despite season 5 animation I'll still watch it.
Funny how I got pulled in by a random lmk animatic and a shadowpeach tiktok edit,Faith is weird but hey!At least it gave me a chance to find out what lmk is and I'm hooked! hoping for a season 6 soon!
I remember the only reason I didn’t watch ninjago when I was younger was I didn’t like the style. But a few months ago I saw monkey kid for the first time, and needed to learn more
Unikitty also had a 2D art style but, for some reason, that show didn't get as much attention. Now I'm not saying that LMK and Unikitty deserve the same level of praise but it was still a good show in its own right. It was a silly little chaos of the week series where just about anything could happen but the draw was the characters. They were cute and silly and you come to love how silly they were.
meanwhile ninjago has been going for 12 years and is still going for another 6 years and people in the fandom of lego monkie kid says that season 5 of lmk may be the last 🔥
i don't watch alot of lego shows because when you animate lego irl or cgi it's looks like a world that's aware it's lego(limited movement and choppy looking)which in itself isn't bad but if the story has nothing to do with lego then it'll risk fumbling. with Lego Monkie Kid though the only thing lego is the artstyle. like it's so good that one could animated it in a whole different style and it wouldn't affect the story and characters at all and i love it! you can tell how much they valued the story
I will come out a say that lmk had a BIG impact on my life it made me happy when I was going through some hard times and I'm so happy to have found this show it means at lot to me and I'm sad that I seem to be coming to and end with us getting a S4 special I will aways love this show and a big part it played in my life
Bro called me a simp....and he is correct 😭 The show was animated by the same animators who made rottmnt or rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles! They really wanted this show to be very eye catching and it is! It flooded my fyp 💀
I’ll be honest I only recently started watching the show and almost finished it all in one day (I can’t binge shows normally the only other show I binged without getting brain rot is Avatar the last air bender so that already shows how good the show is) at first I heard a lot of good things about it but me being me I was skeptical and found it hard to even watch the show but after watching the first episode I was hooked line and sinker it tells such a great story has beautiful animation and even better I don’t think I cringed once except for (spoilers) the episode where yin and gin trapped MK in that bottle thing. And even then the episode was great. I will say though at first I wasn’t a fan of the theme song but idk it grew on me.
It's a shame that Monkie Kid isn't available for purchase in Europe, or at least not in the Netherlands. As for other themes that got very popular because of the story, I believe Bionicle should be mentioned. What seemed on the surface to just be "rock-em, sock-em robots" turned into a story that spanned eight years, included movies, videogames, comics, novels and web animations. It gained such a huge fanbase that, even today, there's still a thriving Bionicle community years after it got canceled _twice._ Yes, Monkie Kid is amazing, but it has a long way to go before it can catch up to what Bionicle accomplished, and I believe the main step LEGO has to take for that is to make the sets more available.
@@chheinrich8486 Where I live specifically, there are no dedicated LEGO stores. There's a toy store with a dedicated LEGO floor, which includes many themes except for Monkie Kid.
You can check out LMK news on instagram to find out all the different countries it's airing in, as well as join the LEGO Monkie Kid discord server where other's can tell you EXACTLY where to watch it and will often post links to where it can be watched. Here's the discord link: discord.gg/WAVb6wyz Plus, you can also watch ALL the seasons and specials for free on the HappyKids app! The latest special just released on there. Hope that helps! :D
Would say ninjago and monkie kid are well the holy grails of lego shows. Tho i prefer ninjago, ninjago is just so good, and monke kid is a really epic show. To make a good show is good characters a good story and good animation. I wonder how ninjago would look like if it had monkie kid animation
Yes to all of this, but may I just add that the music is also amazing? I was lucky to have stumbled across Monkie Kid right after my musicology course had concluded its unit on China. The score does a fabulous job of combining western and eastern instrumentation while also making sure to not appropriate Chinese music. Seriously, the soundtrack is a large part of why I continued to watch the show past its first couple of episodes. Now if only we could get an official OST release. . . 🥲
2D animation > 3D animation, always. For the past few decades, big cooperations that own animation studios have been trying to push 3D animation. But let's be real, it never has been as good as 2D animation and will probably never surpass it. Again, it's been decades. I love a lot of 3D animated shows, but they would have been so much better if they were in 2D.
I’d definitely say that the 2D animation appeals to a wider variety of audiences and communities as well. The designs, fights, stories, and expressions are way more compelling and dynamic to anyone outside of the LEGO community than any other piece of digital content that the LEGO group has produced.
Absolutely! I’m glad you agree. It gives the show such a unique identity and makes it feel a bit less… kid-ish I guess? It makes it more than “just a LEGO show”.
@@sashawaybright2698 True, but I did find it overrated now because I was feeling burnt out from Ninjago after when Sons of Garmadon happened even when I was usually the only LEGO fan that enjoyed the Ninjago movie unlike the Ninjago fandom lol.
Monkie Kid in many ways feels like the spiritual successor to Ninjago, taking what works and improving on what didnt. Amazing theme, and great video too 👍
Another reason I can think of for Monkey Kid having such a good success is the fan base from Overly Sarcastic Productions playlist of Journey to the West, which the animators of Monkey Kid cited as an inspiration!
In what feels like an era of lazily-written sequels, re-makes, and cash-grabs, it's amazing to see a well-written, original show like Monkie Kid explode in popularity. It makes me happier than I can say to see shows like this earning such high praise and recognition, and it gives me hope for the future of both animated shows and just storytelling in general!
ABSOLUTELY agree! It's refreshing to get more shows with soul and passion put into them, and I think we're on the verge of a new boom in amazing animation!
This show is so good, sad how they quickly gave up selling the sets in america, it wouldn’t have happened if they ACTUALLY advertised it here. I just know the show would’ve been booming with success here :/
I mean, at least it’s airing in America now… on Cartoon Network… where they censored almost half of the episodes… I still think it should’ve aired on Disney channel-
@@_dreadbowshunter_6662 Idk. Maybe it’s because it has a lot of violent scenes or the company that made it wanted some scenes censored. It’s really a mystery.
Honestly, I think it's better in the long run for them to focus selling the sets only in stores in china! Though it's annoying, it allows them to focus on their core market and not waste any money marketing to an audience it wasn't designed for. while MK definitely has it's global fans, It makes more sense to focus as much of that budget as possible towards china. At least we can still get the sets online!
When I first saw Monkey Kid, I would just admire every frame of animation. I talked about it for weeks and everyone was tired of it. I thought it sucked that no one I knew had seen or had heard of the show before. But I absolutely adore the talented fan base make awesome art for this show :))
Wow, Ninjago and monkie kid are the only two original Lego shows that actually still are ongoing in, succeeded at attracting an audience both old and young, which is really impressive because that’s actually pretty hard to do when you have a TV show and I like your analysis, great editing also outstanding commentary, explaining on how the show and what aspects help that help the show succeeded 10 out of 10. Also, before I wanna leave you with this. D.B You let your soul guide you to the very thing you love doing turning it into a passion that lead you to the path of happiness don’t let anybody stop you have a nice day stay safe and enjoy life
@@JoseReyCapistrano No, it just means that season 5 is being done by another studio with the staff retuning. You can’t just assume that FBP is shutting down in its prime.
I found out about Monkie Kid when an edit came up on my fyp. Once I saw the pretty character designs, animation I would marry, and engaged fan base I watched it immediately. I was a big Ninjago fan back in the day and I can definitely feel its elements in the show, yet it’s all unique and creative. It is honestly the best show I’ve seen, from the art, characters, plot, all of it. It really is something extraordinary.
Haha yeahh! Monkie kid manages to seep it's way into all corners of the internet, lol. Love the fact that you see elements of ninjago in it too. May I ask what those elements are? I have't noticed any yet from what I can think of, but i'm really intrigued!
@@DoodleBricks Well both shows can come off as marketing to some because of them centering around character designs with legos (similar to monster high and ever after high) but all these shows all come together with an interesting plot. An Asian inspired world with a fun loving cast doing what seem to be one shot missions that come together for the plot. They both have many side characters and fun villains, as well as having a similar style of humor. Despite all these similarities I love seeing both shows being able to stand on their own. It just makes me so happy to see a great 2D animated show now a days!
Another factor I can think of is some of the left over fans from rise of the tmnt. The two are made by the same company, and the show has two references in the form of a Raphael miniature. With the fact that rise got cut short because of backlash most likely had many fans clinging to it in hopes it wouldn’t die out like their turtles did. I myself am one of them, so. The general reach of journey to the west anyway also helped. Sun Wukong himself is an inspiration for FREAKING GOKU, so it also brought the absurd number of dragon ball z fans in as well, and any other medias that referenced him. Overly sarcastic productions also assisted, as their series of recounting the story skyrocketed its popularity and is arguably one of the most popular series on their channel. Hell! They even got a reference in season two of monkie kid!
Oh yeah, the ROTTMNT fandom bleeding into the MK fandom makes sense honestly. And I gotta agree, journey to the west was such a smart thing to pull from considering how huge it is and how woven into pop culture it is. I love overly sarcastic productions journey to the west recaps. I didn’t know they referenced it in the show though! When??
This kind of video worked really well! Definitely reached a broader audience like you were hoping!:) and you deserve it!, the editing was great, pace was perfect, even the music kept me engaged!, humour got me to chuckle too!. LMK definitely succeeded because it had a “unique” show’s animation! It stands out, helps that us has fantastic characters, heartfelt moments, and of course…*ANGST*. That little part about Elves made me happy, because I’m one of the people who knew about it! And I really really like it!, would love a video on it some day:) The sets ( despite being expensive ) really are great! Especially the locations!, overall this video was fantastic!. My thoughts on original themes: love friends, love LMK, loving dreamzzz!, but we need MORE!>:) haha have a great day my friend!
What a lovely comment! Thank you so much for the kind words and support man, It really does mean a lot! Glad I got you to chuckle as well ;) I totally agree with what you said, and I DEFINITELY think that the angst helps a lot, as it gives the show a more mature tone to even everything out. I'm glad you enjoyed the part about Elves! Looking back, the theme is really underrated and I wish I hadn't missed out on the sets when they were still around. I'd love to see a more colorful fantasy theme similar to it, just with minifigures 😅 I have a lot of videos planned at the moment, but I very well might do one on elves at some point as I love talking about original themes! I must agree that MK sets for the most part are on another level of build quality! Cheesey studios pointed that out in his recent video here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UjW1Oo-WBeo.html I agree, the original themes we have are awesome but WE NEED MOOORREEE >:D
As a chinese kid who grew up watching JTTW, was (still I am) a big fan of Ninjago and an animator, LMK was just an instant favourite of mine, like, omg animation
4:58 I feel so called out 😂 as a person who was initially drawn to this show because of the animation lol. And, I noticed that a lot of the fan content is like really high quality animatics and it confused me because the fandom is so small and niche. But that’s when I realized, it was because the show attracted the artists and animators. The same thing happened with ROTTMNT
Monkie kid has definitely grown popularity and i do not regret joining the community, and as a teenage artist, the animation is breathtaking to me and it just gets better every season, and now with season 5 confirmed, im hyped to see how it goes❤
The sets were what got me into Monkie Kid. They are absolutely gorgeous with the striking teal and red colours and traditional style decal. I don’t even watch the show but I absolutely love the theme. The Heavenly Palace and giant Monkey King mech are my faves. They are so well put together, both for play and display
The quality of animation being so much better than most other Lego shows really does just instantly boost popularity I feel like, as I just started rewatching ninjago for the first time I was a kid, and it’s reminded me how most Lego shows use a kind of stiff 3D animation, which 3D animation CAN be great, it’s just obvious that most of the time Lego uses it is because the show is kinda cheap, so to have monkie kid with high quality animation, 2d at that, is just so amazing
I gotta agree for the most part. While I don’t think ninjago’s animation is cheap, I think a lot of the other 3D lego animated series can feel quote cheap at times.
I feel like if monkie kid was animated in 3D it wouldn't have been as successful because we wouldn't have gotten the dynamic movement that comes with 2D animation
I always liked Lego, but I never OWNED actual lego. Besides one lego bat and like...3 lego figures I bought when visiting lego land xD Let me tell you: Monkey Kid the show was actually what got me to buy my first lego set, YEARS after I bought the bat lego set with my dads money! It's just a tiny monkey mech (I love it :3), but that's not all! I'm extremly exited to get my hands on the new Mei dragon set when it releases next month! And for the first time in my live, I'm planing to build lego scenerys! First a tiny mountain for my tiny monkey mech. And than someday, when I'm more confident, I'd like to attempt to recreat the mountain top where Mk's rock was, specifically in the way it looks when the curse took the form of "ink MK"! I was never so exited to build lego before! And I'm 25! XD
We definitely need stuff with just as much effort and heart as monkie kid, this video alone shows how the show can reach people and have them express their passions for it! I even made stickers based off the show, I love it that much!
Thank you so much! And I agree that we need to see more LEGO themes with as much heart as effort and heart as MK. That's so cool that you made stickers for it! Do you sell them? I've ben planning on making some MK products too hehe >:3
5:21 I'm Portuguese! And the most likely reason why you saw a girl with a PIN from the series is because the series airs on the Portuguese Cartoon network! When I discovered this, I was so happy that the series was getting more recognition! Lego Monkie Kid truly deserves its popularity!
I think attributing the appeal of Monkie Kid's animation to it being 2D is simplifying it a bit. Monkie Kid's animation isn't good because its 2D - its good because its stylised, dynamic, and well-directed and choreographed. All of these things can still be accomplished with 3D animation; the Spiderverse movies would be a good example, but Lego just hasn't really attempted this in any of their 3D shows. Otherwise, nice video! Monkie Kid is one of my favourite themes, but I've never watched the show, only bought the sets, but this video may have convinced me to give the show a try.
The main kicker for me on the story/success on Monkie Kid is *why* the shows good. Like, its not just the animation, if you've actually seen all four seasons and the special its incredibly clear that every single character is dynamic and worth knowing about. There aren't really any one off villains, if they get focus they'll come up again, even if some are just gags. AND LIKE?? MK goes through serious character growth, and gets absolutely traumatized. Its not just a oh we saved the day show, next episode, oh we did it again. Everything feels important and builds off of the previous bits, with things sticking with the characters. If MK makes a mistake in one episode, such as overextending himself and not being able to set boundaries, he gets *better* at it in the future episodes. Skills that he learns, and character growth among EVERY character remains, which isn't something that I feel like a lot of popular episodic monster of the week shows have. Having the main villains of season one become lovable antiheros to friends is just god tier. Macaque and Red Son will always hold a special place in my heart, ngl.
Epic video! I recently found out that Monkie Kid existed and I was like whoa what is this? I was not expecting LEGO is have a 2D animated show, but I’ve gotta say the animation and story look awesome!🤘
Off topic but I LOVE what you said about Jay because I literally leaned on his character through high school. I'm autistic and I related to him on such a deep level that it became a part of me. I've never kinned a character more.
absolutely outstanding editing. like seriously, as a content creator myself (this is an alt) the amount of style, cinematography, atmosphere etc I can not understate how impressive this is. this is a great video and I hope you are VERY proud of it.
Awww thank you SOOOOO MUCCCHHH!!! That seriously means more than you know! I worked very hard on all aspects of the video, ESPECIALLY the vibe, so I'm glad you noticed! Really appreciate the kind words 🌟 (Also, what's your alt account if I may ask? I'd love to check it out!)
Dude I don't even think the fandom is small anymore. A year ago there were like seven people and we made fun of it all the time, now it's so widespread I run into it on accident. It's crazy that it's so often spread by word of mouth and yet it's so popular.
Also Lego Monkie Kid can appeal to many other audiences, like anime and cartoon fans due to it being 2D animation, and those who are interested in Chinese mythology, as it's based on Journey to the West.
Hey there! I've been watching the lego monkie kid show since 2022. At this point, its been part of my growing years out of school... for some reason it's relatable. Since it's also popularizing the journey to the west novel. I have been astonished by the first four seasons in the past years for its visual appeal and storylines. But I am very disappointed that they changed the studios... just like they did for Ninjago to WildBrain Studio a while back(Off topic: I got over that and finished the show last year.). The animation for LMK's previous seasons are much more fluid and action packed with Flying Bark studios animators. Yes, the animation can be very fast, but there was cool easter eggs that can be found and even cool anime references... They knew what they were doing. And it resonated with me and I know others might feel this way too. Also, I seen a lot of fan art that finds Flying Bark's artstyle is fun to use and replicate, which allows for growth in creativity. This by the way, inspired me into researching different artistic approaches like digital art along learning perspective and 3d drawing. I just hope they don't rush the animation with WildBrian, who is apparently going to take over animating the future seasons as their animation methods with 2d are much slower. Flying Bark has left a large impact for them to fill. Just realizing while typing, they did an UNO reverse, from good quality to downgrade quality, in my opinion. No hate to WildBrain.
I’m not that big fan of LEGO (that’s more my brother’s territory xd) and know next to nothing about China (latinoamerican here) but I discover LMK like two moths ago, and BOY it’s amazing! And you are right! The animation is really eye caching and what drive me to the series on the first place (found a short in yt, like the drawing style, click it and fell in love with the animation) but it was the story and the plot that make me stay!
I was a fan of the Hidden Side sets, I know that they didn't do well because of the box art (among other things) but I really wish they would come back, along with Nexo Knights. I liked the show, personally at least.
I grew up with Ninjago it was and is literally my favorite show but Monkey Kid reminded me of Ninjago but also had its own story and art that they focused on and I just loved it
You don’t see a lot of 2d animation anymore, which definitely helps set it apart! And it keeps getting better with the animation and plot of the show. With season 4 I was literally shaking watching it, which never happens to me when watching shows. I definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it!
As far as I can tell, 3D animation is good for showing off something beautiful, but it moves at a slow pace so that it can show off the greater details, where as 2D animation has to simplify designs so that it's not as highly detailed, but it is capable of moving at a faster pace, which is good for more epic, intense, extreme, action packed sequences like a fight scene where the characters can move so fast that it's hard to keep up with them, and Monkie Kid is full of that, which is one of the reasons why it's such a treat for both the eyes & the mind.
The previous studio that worked on the first 4 seasons is Flying Barks, their style is awesome and smooth. Though after some research, it was said that Wild Brain studio will be animating future seasons. And they were rushed to animate season 5. Hopefully they aren't rushed on the next season.
Lmk was just more interesting in my opinion, like 2d animated Lego’s but reincarnated versions of journey to the west protagonists like THATS SO COOL??????
God I get jumpscared every time my country is mentioned. 😅 But amazing video, lmk was such a bright light in the current animation industry as someone who studied it and wants to guet into it. It made me fall. In love with animation all again and it did help that I was already obsessed with journey to the west to begin with xD. But hey mentioning Portugal if you are here for iber porto I might be there selling my lmk stickers and Keychains ( self promo but I like to share my love for the Fandom with other fans)
*Inhales deeply* IT WAS NOT ONLY AMAZING BUT IT'S FANDOM ARE LOVELY GREMILS. Did anyone know that Maqacue's voice actor died due to stage 4 cancer cause I just learned that....
i think what really works to draw people in is that it's also not just a retelling of journey to the west, but rather an extension (which fits in with the themes of reincarnation) AND an analysis of the preexisting jttw characters which i (an adult with an english literature degree) find absolutely fascinating to compare against the novel (which i also adore). also the animation is totally sick and the characters are fun and silly, but also pretty well-rounded, especially mk himself
Honestly I love the show I can’t find one flaw it’s hilarious, charming, intriguing, inspiring and you can just feel the care, effort and love the creators put in the show when others shows feel like a cash grab Personally I love art and animation let alone anime so it kinda felt like a crime not to watch it also the goose chase to find the whole show up to date was pretty difficult
If other shows had Flying Bark as the animators... Dear Lord it would be epic! Ninjago's action would be heavily impacted (in a good way). (And only because it can make many characters hot, look at: Monkey King, Red Son, Azure Lion)
Yeah for me it’s mainly 2D animation since has more expressive expressions and fluid movements. Especially the effects and the powers, and instead of having everything ‘legofied’ they actually animate the grass, machines, animals, even some characters like DBK and Sandy normally like in other 2D animation and in my opinion that is some good shit right there.
monkie kid is literally my fav thing rn but i feel like they need to advertise it more and make it more accessible on streaming services to watch, so i can actually support the creators and NOT pirate. btw there was another 2d lego animation it was unikitty in 2014-2020 it was a spin-off of the lego movie.
I’m guessing the cultural detailed sets and the show’s animation and how deep it can get with the characters bonds has a huge hand in it because with Chima and Nexo Knights I think they were good series but I think they mostly didn’t have room to grow based on how short the runtime of the seasons were with Nexo Knights it took 2 seasons just to tell a story and left a lot of questions unanswered even if the season was over Chima handled itself better with bonds but thing with Chima is they kept trying to go bigger and better and made the theme more complicated and overwhelming than it needed to be about a humanoid animals the first season of Chima handled that well but S2 went all over the place and tried to go to big too fast with its story and sets and because of that it didn’t really click well Ninjago and Monkie Kid have strong engagements with the characters and tackle real world struggles the sets were fun and detail and they don’t make you feel like you wasted your time Chima and Nexo Knight I think was lacking in terms of relatability with the real world now Dreamzzz I think will definitely be a step up from Nexo Knights and Chima because it has soul it has relatability and that’s what was missing with Nexo Knights it felt more fiction than realistic fiction
As an artist and also not being a big fan of Lego I can say this show is really good With it's interesting story, animation, and great Style The show is really I would watch more but I don't know where to watch it so I have to rely on RU-vid TwT
