Apologies if this is out of turn, but I figured there should be a thread to discuss the (as of this writing) upcoming Monkie Kid TV Show. Thoughts so far? Personally, I love the new style; the CGI used for everything since Ninjago is getting kind of old.

does anyone else hear jack desena in this

  On 5/15/2020 at 10:11 PM, Pirean_Grammaticul said:

does anyone else hear jack desena in this

Definitely.

Also... it looks SO GOOD. I've wanted a Lego show to have this level of hand-drawn animation for so long, and this STILL managed to exceed my expectations.

Do we know yet the episode count for this show? Or where/how it'll be distributed in the U.S.? I imagine it'll likely be some streaming platform since it seems like a more expensive project than Lego's various YouTube series but I'm not sure a major channel would be airing it considering the fact that the sets themselves seem like they'll be a somewhat limited distribution.

That.... barely looks like LEGO...

Interesting choice to say the least

 

  On 5/16/2020 at 3:07 AM, Robert8 said:

That.... barely looks like LEGO...

Interesting choice to say the least

 

It doesn't really look any less like Lego than other CGI Lego cartoons like Ninjago or Chima, and honestly looks a lot more like Lego than more stylized ones like Friends. The characters are still visibly minifigure-like and the sets resemble their toy versions. As somebody who has long enjoyed the energy and expressiveness of things like hand-drawn Lego magazine comics, it's honestly a dream to see Lego finally taking a similar approach in an animated medium.

The show looks great, apparently the animation is done by the team behind Rise of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

  On 5/16/2020 at 7:44 PM, Harkonen said:

The show looks great, apparently the animation is done by the team behind Rise of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

Eh... Rise of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had good animation, but it was a pretty bad TV Show otherwise. I really hope that doesn't also happen with the Monkie Kid TV Show.

 

First two episodes are out. But they are only in chinese. I think this show can beat Ninjago easy. 

  On 6/2/2020 at 11:11 AM, Harkonen said:

First two episodes are out. But they are only in chinese. I think this show can beat Ninjago easy. 

Wow, that intro is really slick. Loving the animation style and the flow of everything. This type of action and seamless movement is something Ninjago has only just begun to embrace, and the first two episodes nail it.

Episodes are live here, but will almost certainly be taken down so download it quick if interested:

 

Edited June 2, 20204 yr by legozebra

Someone said the music from the intro is inspired by a chinese monkey king tv series intro. No idea which one. 

  On 5/16/2020 at 12:26 AM, Lyichir said:

Definitely.

Also... it looks SO GOOD. I've wanted a Lego show to have this level of hand-drawn animation for so long, and this STILL managed to exceed my expectations.

Do we know yet the episode count for this show? Or where/how it'll be distributed in the U.S.? I imagine it'll likely be some streaming platform since it seems like a more expensive project than Lego's various YouTube series but I'm not sure a major channel would be airing it considering the fact that the sets themselves seem like they'll be a somewhat limited distribution.

I could see Cartoon Network at least giving it a shot. They already have a good relationship with LEGO & all the other shows they've had. Plus, they do play some niche like shows. I certainly hope they pick it up, I don’t do much of the streaming services. 

  On 6/9/2020 at 5:46 AM, Vindicare said:

I could see Cartoon Network at least giving it a shot. They already have a good relationship with LEGO & all the other shows they've had. Plus, they do play some niche like shows. I certainly hope they pick it up, I don’t do much of the streaming services. 

God I hope not Cartoon Network, they still haven’t even started advertising prime empire, let alone airing it, while the season 13 ninjago sets are starting to hit shelves. Not to mention how they treated nexo, and chima, and every third party show they get that isnt titans go (mega man, sonic boom, transformers cyberverse, etc. all get 6-7am slots with no advertising, random release schedules, and will drop random, frequently out of order episodes on their app.)

Nickelodeon isn’t much better, shafting all their shows to Nicktoons after less than 1 season when they don’t do spongebob/loud house viewership, including LEGO city adventures, lego Jurassic world, and rise of the tmnt (which shares a lot in tone and style to monkie kid)

 

really the only good option there is for the show is a streaming service at this point, since networks right now are throwing everything they have to them anyway and not actually doing anything with their on air programming. I could see MK doing really well on Netflix given their huge emphasis on animated content recently.

 

also on the subject of the show itself, I’m absolutely loving it so far. The pacing on the pilot was a bit off, but it’s just the pilot, I’m sure it’ll improve in the rest of the series. The characterization was really enjoyable, the action was great and, as a cartoonist, the design of the locations and vehicles was absolutely beyond expectations

Edited June 9, 20204 yr by mrfang2

One thing I feel is a little off about the pilot is the fact that seemingly the entirety of wave 1 was introduced and wrapped up in 45 minutes. Early Ninjago had this issue with the pilot season, but at least that was paced a lot better and had some breathing room. Of course I'd have to wait till the english version comes out to fully pass judgement, but as an introduction to the characters, plot, and setting, it felt really rushed. Hopefully this makes an impression on kids and we will get a full-fledged season next year.

Edited June 16, 20204 yr by legozebra

While we still don't have many details on a broader worldwide release, it's good to know that in at least one country the English version will be premiering soon!

English version of the intro!

There are uploads of the full episode in English as well. I really love it—the story is decent, the humor is great, and the animation is simply stellar. Gonna have to go through it and screencap a bunch because there's so many amazing faces, poses and lines that'd make amazing reaction images.

Just watched the first two episodes in English, and I gotta say, I've got mixed feelings on it. First off, it's got some serious pacing issues. The whole thing was moving with such a insanely fast pace that it was kinda hard to keep up with. The animation, while well done, felt a bit too over the top and cartoony, to the point where it was kinda distracting from the story. The whole wave 1 story seemed to have been wrapped up in 45 minutes, and it felt kinda rushed, and the characters had barely any time to develop. 

With that said though, it was still quite enjoyable, and I think the series has potential going forward if the issues I stated above get fixed. 

  On 6/15/2020 at 5:31 AM, Lego David said:

Just watched the first two episodes in English, and I gotta say, I've got mixed feelings on it. First off, it's got some serious pacing issues. The whole thing was moving with such a insanely fast pace that it was kinda hard to keep up with. The animation, while well done, felt a bit too over the top and cartoony, to the point where it was kinda distracting from the story. The whole wave 1 story seemed to have been wrapped up in 45 minutes, and it felt kinda rushed, and the characters had barely any time to develop. 

With that said though, it was still quite enjoyable, and I think the series has potential going forward if the issues I stated above get fixed. 

This is pretty much a 40 minute commercial.It feels like the animation team looked at the sets and decided to make the movie around them.That's more evident when you look at the bare bones plot and the shallow characterization,I mean the character descriptions on the official Lego site gives more of an insight to the characters rather the show itself.

Edited June 27, 20204 yr by LOTR34

  On 6/27/2020 at 8:07 PM, LOTR34 said:

This is pretty much a 40 minute commercial.It feels like the animation team looked at the sets and decided to make the movie around them.That's more evident when you look at the bare bones plot and the shallow characterization,I mean the character descriptions on the official Lego site gives more of an insight to the characters rather the show itself.

It's... a pilot. Establishing the basic structure of the story in as little time as possible is basically what it had to do. Same for showcasing all of the sets, which is something that the pilot episodes of Ninjago, Elves, and Atlantis were also guilty of (and I'd arguably say this special did better at that than Ninjago by integrating the sets directly into the action and narrative in a major way instead of introducing them in a montage with little fanfare like the Ninjago pilot did with the dragons).

I also don't get where you think the characterization was "shallow"... I thought the characters were highly evocative, arguably moreso than the barebones bios available for them on Lego.com. Like, on the website, Mei is described as "smart, kind-hearted, cool, and brave" (some of the most generic ways you could describe a Strong Female Character™), but her characterization in the episode gets across that she's also peppy, a little mischievous, and devoted to her friends to the point where you would NOT want to cross them if you care about your own safety. Similarly, Pigsy's bio doesn't quite get across how competitive and results-driven Pigsy is the way the episode itself did. The bio for Princess Iron Fan barely describes her personality at all, focusing entirely on her powers—whereas the episode shows her to be quite patronizing toward her son, fueling his desire to impress his father on his own terms even more. Arguably the only character who doesn't get the characterization from their bio expanded upon is Sandy, largely because he's the last one to join the team and doesn't get a lot of time with them before MK (the main character and focus of the special) is separated from them.

I'm hoping that the villains' escape at the end of the episode means that this isn't the last of the story we'll be getting for this year. Ninjago and Elves, which similarly debuted with only a single TV pilot rather than a full series in their first year, both got webisodes in addition to that which helped to expand upon the characterization and backstory for various characters. So with any luck we might be getting something similar for this theme.

A trailer for season one has dropped online, no English version yet. It doesn’t show too much plot-wise but definitely does still have stuff held over from wave 1 along with the new wave 2 stuff, and seems like it will be expanding on the iron bull plot a good bit as well as introducing the new villains that were hinted at in the pilot and intro. Given they know they’ll have atleast 2 seasons to work with now, I would expect the pacing to be far better than the pilot which HAD TO showcase everything in some way or another. 

Since nobody's been posting about it, FYI new episodes have been airing for two weeks now. So far at least six episodes (not including the pilot) have aired in China and four have aired in Malaysia (in English).

Reveal hidden contents

There's definitely some things in the new episodes I wouldn't mind seeing in sets—Mei's family mansion with her mother and father could be super cool as a set, as would a horse mech for Mei based on the one she uses in the Monkey Mech game. There's also teasers for the white bone spirit who will presumably be a major antagonist later on.

 

  On 9/19/2020 at 8:35 PM, Lyichir said:

Since nobody's been posting about it, FYI new episodes have been airing for two weeks now. So far at least six episodes (not including the pilot) have aired in China and four have aired in Malaysia (in English).

Reveal hidden contents

Reveal hidden contents

There's definitely some things in the new episodes I wouldn't mind seeing in sets—Mei's family mansion with her mother and father could be super cool as a set, as would a horse mech for Mei based on the one she uses in the Monkey Mech game. There's also teasers for the white bone spirit who will presumably be a major antagonist later on.

 

Oh wow, I didn’t even realize these were out! I’ve seen episode 3 on YouTube in English, but where are you finding the rest?

  On 9/27/2020 at 8:49 AM, DuckBricks said:

Oh wow, I didn’t even realize these were out! I’ve seen episode 3 on YouTube in English, but where are you finding the rest?

Somebody on Twitter linked a Google Drive folder that's been uploading the episodes in both English and Chinese. Here's the link: https://t.co/WIUC6sOt16?amp=1

  On 9/27/2020 at 10:02 PM, Lyichir said:

Somebody on Twitter linked a Google Drive folder that's been uploading the episodes in both English and Chinese. Here's the link: https://t.co/WIUC6sOt16?amp=1

That's awesome, thank you!

Finally got around to watching the show (concurrently with my finally having bought one of the sets, the Food Truck), and it is hilarious. The product placement is obvious, but if nothing else it’s a lot of fun!

Best line of the show, though, was MK breaking the fourth wall and describing the Cloud Jet as ‘being easy to fly because it’s for ages 8 and up’. That . . that made me smile. ^^