LOCK AND LOAD, EIJIRO!!! (I suspect I’ll be typing ‘lock and load’ quite a bit as the comic goes on, because I love that phrase and I’m quick to forget how often I use it when fictional guns are involved)
I saw Kungfu Panda 3 and thought it was GREAT! I don’t have much to nitpick, but I’m sure I can find something! Once again the Furious Five are relegated to almost tertiary characters, except for Tigress, who is more a bottom of the rung secondary character. Also, the very likable bad guy meets the same fate as the other villains in the series. I kind of wish Po had a better track record for reforming evil, since he seems to have the ‘let’s be buddies’ Naruto-style personality for it! I’m a sucker for redemption stories, and I’d also have liked to see previous bad guys return as protagonists, but this is more wishful thinking and less a criticism of the storytelling. There’s also a plot hole where Po’s dad establishes that the Panda Village is in a super secret location, but both Tigress and then the bad guy Kai are able to find it without any trouble. There’s also the matter of what ‘mastering Chi’ actually means, and why Po had never heard of Chi up until this point! But that’s semantics; since the movie didn’t actually define what constituted mastering Chi, it’s not hard to assume that the feats Po pulls off during his Spirit Realm battle aren’t a form of mastery. Granted, despite Sifu, and every panda in the village being able to channel their chi into Po, Sifu still feels he needs thirty years (and a cave) to master chi himself. I also couldn’t help but note how inconsistent all the characters are in terms of their fighting prowess. Sometimes they do things that are implausibly amazing, and other times they feel like push overs. Certainly we WOULD NEVER be responsible for such inconsistencies in our martial arts epic! >_>; And despite that I noted these things during the film, they did not detract from the sheer joy of the movie as a whole, it is certainly an excellent conclusion to the trilogy.
The Kungfu Panda films are easily my favorite Dreamworks animated franchise, followed closely by How to Train Your Dragon and Rise of the Guardians. It’s almost as great as the first film, which is really quite rare when it comes to movie trilogies! My question now is what’s next for Kungfu Panda? Are the movies done? The third film feels like a finale; it’d be difficult to progress Po’s character in any meaningful way. But, much like Puss in Boots or Penguins of Madagascar, I’d certainly like to see some spin off films! An obvious choice would be a prequel film about a Furious Five origin story, or about a young Oogway, either on his own or meeting and training Sifu. They could potentially time skip into the future and introduce the next Dragon Warrior, or focus on the students of Grand Master Po, whoever they might end up being. I feel like, since the franchise is essentially an homage/parody of Kungfu films, there are still a huge number of tropes to explore. HONESTLY I DON’T EVEN THINK THEY EVER HAD A BLIND WARRIOR?! That is a grave oversight! Plenty of naturally blind animals to turn into martial arts masters out there!
Published on by Alex Kolesar
Well if he doesn’t you shoot him I mean that’s what the guns for right?
First Japanese command at gunpoint…
That’s kinda dark side!
Jiro’s got a gun
His conquest’s just begun
The Senshin’s had better run
What did Nataku do?
What did he put you through? 😨
He said I’m sulking and I’m wet now
‘Cos Jiro found himself a spine
But man those Senshin got it comin’ now that Jiro’s got a gun
war ain’t never gonna be the same.
Ah, matchlocks. The original point and click interface.
Apple picked up right where they left off!
*Xerox (but they didn’t have a Rrrrricardo or a Jobs to market it)
They have a prequel film – it’s called Secrets of the Furious Five. great watch – about 30 minutes.
You know I think I did notice that on Netflix! If it’s still there I’ll give it a watch.
The real question: is he going to have any idea how to aim and fire that thing? And if not, how disappointed will he be?
Also what about his Ammo supply?
Recoil. Strong for a kid his size and age. Funny scene anticipated.
Oh yeah, let’s assume we’d planned this already (goes to edit the script). Although, I wonder how much kickback there really is with a flintlock rifle? It’s not exactly a shotgun or a .44 magnum.
They do still have ammo in the barrels that were not pushed into the river! Only the guns went into the dip, and they were recovered.
Everyone present saw Nataku fire and reload. They’ll have to piece it together!
Whatever happens, we have got The flintlock gun, and they have not.
It’s a matchlock, and they still have to learn how to use them effectively. 😯
So the thing we can take away from this arc is:
Eijiro has tactical sense. Which means he probably isn’t the whiny, sniveling brat we thought. Which means he might actually order the troops to do something other than what Nataku demands. Which means he might actually redeem himself at some point in the future. That’s cool. I’m hype.
Yeah, I’ve really come to like Eijiro in the current arc. Standing up to Genchu and Nataku so far, that’s pretty cool and not whiny, sniffeling and bratty at all.
I do love a good redemption story!
But there’s so many other gun-related phrases you can use over and over again!
FIRE AT WILL! is great.
… poor Will…
Nothing quite says ‘we’re ready to kick ass using guns’ more than ‘LOCK AND LOAD!’
But nothing is more cliché than FIRAH IN DA HOLE!
Especially if there are no holes. Yet.
I just saw Kung Fu Panda yesterday! While I agree that it was a great movie (I loved all three), I felt like the formula was getting a little stale by the third. They all feature the same basic formula of Po being told he has to learn something new, confronting the bad guy and losing, confronting him a second time and ALMOST losing, but then suddenly learning the lesson just in time to completely lay the smackdown on them. I liked the idea of Kai turning Po’s friends against him, but was there any particular reason why he never used Oogway’s statue? I mean, that dude’s basically Turtle Yoda. Let him out and you win. I also thought that Po’s dad’s putting aside their differences was a little rushed. And the conclusion, where everybody suddenly learned how to use chi, seemed even more like a Deus Ex Machina than the others. Po’s the dragon warrior, so I could believe it when he was suddenly able to learn incredible kung fu techniques in a matter of seconds. But these were stupid, lazy, gluttonous (maybe inbred? am I the only one who thought that?) pandas. Not to mention that tigress learned how to do it too, thereby completely negating Shifus’ “you need thirty years and a cave!” thing. I’m complaining a lot about it, but I really did like the movie. The second is still my favorite, because I think Po had more of an emotional connection with Shen, plus Shen’s genocide of the panda race was surprisingly dark for a kid’s movie. Also, Gary Oldman is like Oogway: use him and you automatically win.
I think they should do a spinoff, take a page from “Legend of Korra” and set it, like 50 years from the end of “KFP3”. Have the next Dragon Warrior be a blind guy who (shocker) stinks at Kung-Fu but still pulls off an incredibly steep learning curve. That’s box office gold, right there. 😎
I’m SOLD! I’ll be there opening night!
That’s pretty much today’s way of thinking: Everybody can do anything, regardless of their circumstances. You don’t even have to undergo hard training in order to use advanced techniques. Skills don’t have to be learned, you get them because reasons. To be honest, you don’t even need skills.
It’s proven in real life: Everybody gets to write movie scripts nowadays. Being able to write a good one is not necessary. It doesn’t even have to be consistent. No matter if instant mind trick use or secretly overpowered villagers ripping off Dragonball’s Genkidama, everything goes as long as the audience pays in advance. What the heck is this character development stuff, anyway?
If I had to pick between seeing a Episode VII again or re-reading this comic, NN4B would win. Every time. Kung-Fu Panda… well… Disappointment only visits those with high expectations.
/rant mode off
I totally get the criticism. All too often a protagonist will pull out some deus ex machina skill that they apparently just learned without much trouble, and it stinks of lazy writing. Even though Kung Fu Hustle is a comedy film, I always felt I would’ve enjoyed it significantly more if the main character had actually had a training montage with the old couple instead of just emerging from his body cast as a god-like warrior for no real reason. BASICALLY I JUST LOVE TRAINING MONTAGES!!! Also, I’m sort of flattered NN4B is above Force Awakens on your ‘good things’ list.
He kinda had all of the abilities he needed at that point- he just needed time to put them together, and that was what the body cast was for.
heh, well, I mean, normally that’d be what training is for!
OH! Well, I agree with all your points, but they movie’s just having such a good time they don’t really bother me! I always say that I’ll forgive a movie many of its faults if it can make me laugh and smile. I AM surprised that your fav is KP2! I really like it, but I definitely think parts 1 and 3 are the stronger entries. This is mostly because KP2’s conclusion feels a little weak, and Po’s arc is somewhat ill defined. Loved the peacock badguy, though. He was robbed a great final fight scene.
More often than not, the villain will make or break a movie for me. They say that conflict is the meat of a story, which means the antagonist is the chef who prepares it. So it doesn’t matter how strong, cool, or funny your hero is if you don’t have an equally threatening villain to challenge him. Out of all three, I felt like Shen was the coolest villain. Tai Lung was good as an introductory villain, but he was kind of one dimensional. Kai was okay too, but I felt like he wasn’t fleshed out much. Shen had a history beyond “I’m evil so Imma kill people.”
I think you’re doing Tai Lung a disservice. He’s probably the most fleshed-out and 3-dimensional villain in the series so far. There’s a very complex web of motive and relationship between him, Shifu, and Po. The thing is, a lot of it is left unsaid and has to be taken from the characters’ actions, or even the movie’s dramatic imagery.
Not only that, KFP1 was as much about Shifu’s journey as Po’s. Just as Po was striving to become the Dragon Warrior, Shifu was striving to become worthy as Oogway’s successor. The extra layer of Shifu’s struggle is missing from both 2 and 3, which makes them quite a bit shallower.
So we have Tai Lung, the hero of his own private story seeking to avenge being denied what was “rightfully” his. By contrast, Shen has a believable motive for what he does, but there’s no real reason behind it. And Kai doesn’t even have a real motive; he’s just after power because why not?
You’ve sold me, I totally agree with you! I haven’t watched the first film in a while, but I’ve probably watched it a dozen times in the past, at least. It’s like s near perfectly plotted kung fu action film, along the lines of The Matrix, it’s just so darn good. Tai Lung had a presence and a motivation that was way more grounded and believable than Kai, who’s just some super powerful warrior who was and still is a jerk. Kai was fun to watch on screen but he was very simple in terms of his motivations and back story. And you’re also right about Sifu, he’s relegated to the same level of secondary character as the furious five in the second and third films, while he’d had a major arc in the first film.
I disagree. Everything Tai Lung does equates to a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum because he didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted to be the dragon warrior, Oogway said no, so he got mad and wrecked the village. He’s interesting in his own way (he’s basically a superpowered crybaby), but I don’t think that equals 3-dimensional.
Yes, Tai Lung is basically a brat throwing a tantrum. Nonetheless, he has a fully fleshed-out history and a clearly explained motive. A *contemptible* motive that makes him the bad guy, but even so. We know pretty much everything about who he is and what drives him. And he also has a deeply personal connection to Po, Shifu, Oogway, and even Tigress. By any fair and reasonable measure, Tai Lung is a fully developed three-dimensional character.
So, what about Shen’s motive? “I think blowing shit up with gun powder is really cool! Let’s conquer the world!” Again, understandable and even believable, but there’s no reason behind it. Where did this obsession come from? How did he get so warped that he thought genocide against the Pandas would make his parents happy? There is a lot about his history and motive that isn’t explained at all. On top of that, the only character he has any personal connection with is Po. Shen is a decent villain, but his character is much thinner than Tai Lung’s.
Kai? Well, his incredibly thin history and lack of any real motive practically speak for themselves. According to Oogway’s writings, he was a general of old who saw the pandas’ chi powers and just decided to steal them because…well, just because. And that’s pretty much everything.
So yeah, Tai Lung is definitely the most fleshed-out three-dimensional villain of the series so far.
On a side note, I just played a game called Asura’s Wrath, and one of the bosses reminds me a lot of Nataku.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih8EM1RNmP8
That is an amusing observation! Geez, I really REALLY love the designs in Asura’s Wrath. Never played it, though, even though I really wanted to! I figure some day I’ll just watch a no commentary playthrough on youtube while I work so I can get the story. It’s kind of a spectacle, game, though, so I suspect I won’t be terrible productive while it’s running.
I played through the main story, and it was decently fun. However, if I wanted to play the five “true ending” episodes I either had to beat five levels with a perfect ranking or play fifty normal levels. I didn’t find the game THAT fun, so I decided to just watch the rest on YouTube. 😛
Somebody is walking down the dark side.
Eijiro? Because guns? I do admit, they are often used to kill people…
Too bad they didn’t have pump action rifles back then. Would have made the exchange in the last two panels perfectly badass.
“And if he doesn’t?”
*ch-chk*
“He will.”
Maybe Eijiro will modify his rifle with a pump action reload slider specifically for that purpose.
Fun historical fact: by the end of the senjoku jidai there were more guns in Japan than in all of Europe. This was prior to contact with the west. The weapons were first imported from China via the independent kingdom of Ryukyu (Modern day Okinawa). Later they were mass produced within the country itself.
THAT’S A LOTTA GUNS!
So they’re going to have a bunch of poor untrained schlubs try to use the rifles? You’re going to shoot your eye out kid.
Did they even retrieve the gunpowder for it?
Did they even retrieve the gunpowder for it?
I was really hoping for a story arc where a cult gatherer’s every single spec of the first villain and puts him back together.
All those Senshin guys with their cool coloured dyes
Better run, better run
Outrun my gun
All those Senshin guys with their cool coloured dyes
Better run, better run
Faster than my bullets