Line #20 Fridge/KungFupanda2


1	!!FridgeBrilliance
2	[[AC:Movie]]
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4	* Shifu still considers the day Po was chosen as the Dragon Warrior was the worst moment of his entire life, apparently even more so than when Tai Lung was corrupted and imprisoned. While it's PlayedForLaughs, and may initially seem petty and insigificant compared to the far more [[LastOfHisKind visceral]] [[ParentalAbandonment traumas]] that Po has to explore on his path to Inner Peace, it actually does make sense why this day would be so genuinely scarring for Shifu.
5	** Shifu had convinced himself for the longest time that the Dragon Warrior was someone he would train, someone he had essentially built from the ground up for the job, someone that he would control and mould into the perfect warrior. He first tried this with Tai Lung, which led to the latter's betrayal and imprisonment [[MyGreatestFailure (which was already a deeply traumastizing moment in Shifu's life)]], and then he spent many more years training each member of the Furious Five with the expectation that one of them would eventually be picked by Oogway, not only resulting in the ideal warrior, but four additional comrades that they've spent their whole careers training with. But in spite of all Shifu's years of careful planning and preparation, Oogway instead chooses a total outsider; worse, a fat panda with no fighting experience who seems hopelessly incompetent. As far as Shifu knew at the time, his decades of suffering and hard work - including alienating his own adopted son - had all been for nothing.
6	** Shifu also refers to this day as a ''mind-destroying'' moment, which RuleOfFunny aside is not only true, but also not necessarily a bad thing. In spite of his flaws, Po had nothing to do with Oogway's decision, and Shifu likely would have shown the same attitude to any other animal or random villager that Oogway chose. An inexperienced civilian being chosen as Dragon Warrior, instead of any of his trained, powerful students, was the first crucial step in chipping away at Shifu's arrogant and elitist view of Kung Fu, and he eventually had to adapt himself to fit Po's needs rather than the other way around. As he explains, the key to Shifu's enlightenment was accepting that his problem was not Po, but within himself.
7	* Po's vague memories of the panda genoicde are shown [[ArtShift in traditional animation]] - like his dream in the first film's opening - rather than the CGI used for the main setting. This stylistic choice is indirectly explained when Po is being healed by the Soothsayer, during which he tells her he keeps having "stupid nightmares" about it. Po still knows or remembers so little of what happened that day, he doubts it was even real.
8	** Which makes it even more powerful when at the end of the scene, the third and final time Po sees his mother putting him in the basket is finally shown in CGI. It's in this moment when Po fully realizes and accepts that this vision is not a dream, but a flashback.
9	* The yin-yang symbol in the prophecy doesn't just symbolize Po's coloring as a "warrior of black and white". Po and Shen are opposites in nearly every way, from fighting style to personality to social status. Add Po's constant depiction in darker, naturally lit watery environments in contrast to Shen almost always being lit from below by firelight to the mix.
10	* Both Shen and Oogway have had a zooming shot from their eye using a yin-yang symbol, and they are both inventors of powerful weapons. Oogway invented kung-fu while Shen invented the cannon, both utterly destructive if in the wrong hands, and both were said[=/=]used to be able to defeat the other.
11	* The symbolism change from the first movie to the second: The first movie utilized a lot of "Dragon" imagery, which commonly symbolizes the raw power and passions of a person. This can be seen with Po, his geeking out during his training, and his raw talent being able to lead him to victory against the experienced Tai Lung. The movie, too, deals with pain and pride, which are very raw and strong emotions. The second movie, meanwhile, deals with Yin-Yang, which symbolizes true and absolute peace with oneself and their lives. It also clashes with the Dragon imagery of the last movie in Shifu, who was previously tumultuous, emotional, but still powerful, mastering his emotions and attaining the same level of power and mastery as his more peaceful, mellow mentor (Oogway). This clash can also be seen with Po, the "Dragon" Warrior, having harnessed much of his raw talent and emotions by this point to become a formidable and skilled martial artist, on par with Tigress and Shifu despite being relatively inexperienced in comparison. However, in the moments where his peace and focus are disrupted, Po loses his ability to fight thanks to the tumult within his mind blocking his concentration. Furthermore, there's the cannons used by Shen, forged in the shape of a dragon, firing cannonballs that have dragons engraved upon their surface, and are, metaphorically, fueled by Shen's rage, ambition, and pride. He is ultimately defeated by Po attaining complete mastery of his emotions, seen in how he forms the Yin-Yang symbol while preparing to hurl the last cannonball right into Shen's ship. In this, the dragon who attained mastery of his emotions (Po) defeated the dragon who allowed his emotions to control him and drive him (Shen).
12	** Furthermore, it stresses the contrast between Yin and Yang, with Po learning inner peace in water and darkness while Shen is constantly surrounded by fire and is bright white. In the end, Po ends up staring at Shen under the glow of the rising Sun while Shen is damp because his ship blew up, possibly symbolising inner peace (by elemental harmony) and devastation (by being overwhelmed by an opposing element).
13	** Take another look at the movements Po and Shifu use while practicing Inner Peace. As noted above, ''they're basically drawing the yin-yang symbol.'' All kinds of Fridge Brilliance there.
14	* The Soothsayer's prophecy states that Shen will be defeated by a "warrior of black-and-white". It takes some thinking to realise that the "warrior of black and white" in the prophecy might actually be [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Shen himself]]. His primary colours are also black and white. Note that the cannons and the gunpowder are black. There is a brief, stylized shot showing Shen with half his face black paralleling the ying-yang symbol, and it is the smoke figure of Shen that transforms into the yin-yang symbol when the Soothsayer tries to predict his fate. And in the final confrontation, some of Shen's white feathers are covered in black soot. Over the course of the movie, including the backstory, Shen loses his parents, his right to the throne of Gongmen city (and eventually destroys even its symbol, the throne itself, upon returning), his old home, his surrogate mother, and his oldest and only remaining friend, all through his own actions. Even the destruction of his remaining forces in the finale comes from deflected cannon shots he ordered to fire. Finally, in the last battle against Po, he directly contributed to the wreck of his cannon falling on him by accidentally cutting the ropes during the fight. Indeed, it can be argued that Shen defeated and destroyed himself quite thoroughly, and maybe he even realizes the irony, when he calmly allows the cannon to crush him.
15	** There's also the fact that Shen suffers from BlackAndWhiteInsanity: he believes that he is correct and anyone and anything who opposes him is wrong. He absolutely refuses to admit his mistakes, and doesn't hesitate to threaten violence as soon as something doesn't go his way. And this mindset his precisely why he ends up destroying himself.
16	** Also, look at the montage when Po and the Furious Five are traveling to reach Shen: in one shot, Shen is shown holding his weapon in front of himself, one side of his face being white, the other black. Wouldn't you call that a warrior of black and white?
17	* "One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it." Spoken by Master Oogway in the first movie, it holds true in the second movie as well. If Shen hadn't attacked the Panda Village, Po would have never been abandoned and found by Mr. Ping. And if Shen had not attacked Po in the film's climax, his cannon wouldn't have crushed him to death.
18	* This troper was slightly bothered that Po managed to find inner peace so young and so fast, whereas Shifu had to go through many years to achieve it. Then I realized it makes perfect sense: Shifu was only ''confronted'' with the source of his inner turmoil at an old age, long after he had become set in his ways and pursued unhealthy ways of coping with his past for decades, when he finally had to own up to the mistakes he committed with Tai Lung, and accept some of it was his fault and some of it ''wasn't''. Po found inner peace earlier because he had to face his inner turmoil earlier, dealing with his lost family. It is all a matter of facing your issues. Also, as seen in the first movie, Po always fought conflict within himself, while Shifu had to accept first that he was the problem, and not someone else.
19	** There's also a more straightforward reason as to why Po was able to overcome his inner turmoil so quickly despite the likes of Shifu, Shen, and to lesser extent Tai Lung taking years to do so or never letting it heal or fade away: he was arguably too young for the trauma to truly affect him in the way it affects the others, and it had more or less faded away by the time of ''Kung Fu Panda 2''. Babies don't exactly have the greatest memory, especially at the apparent age that Po was at when the panda genocide occurred. While he definitely still suffered some trauma that would affect him subconsciously (like with his eating habits and the symbol of Lord Shen causing him to lose focus), by the time he faces the problem head-on, he likely not only didn't have enough of an attachment to the memory of those horrible days, but had also already formed powerful bonds with other people that allowed him to more or less move on, despite the relapse caused by the return of Lord Shen.
20	*** By stark contrast, Shifu, Tai Lung, and Shen all had the traumatizing events in their life occur when they were old enough to remember it, and still impressionable enough to be heavily affected by it. All three however not only were affected by it, but arguably allowed the scars to fester like an open wound covered with band-aids, never truly allowing it to heal and thus causing them to be permanently stuck in place in bitterness, rage and despair, respectively. However, Shifu was eventually forced to confront it and thus would finally be able to come to terms with it, while the latter two never came out of their self-inflicted festering wounds and paid the price for it.
21	** This also ties into the above quote, as Shifu, Tai Lung and Shen were all faced with their inner turmoil because they ran from their destinies; Shifu refused to confront his issues with Tai Lung and instead locked him away, Tai Lung refused to see the inner darkness within himself and listen to authorities that tried to warn him of it, and Shen believing he could wipe out that which will kill him. Meanwhile, Po is confronted by painful memories of losing his parents but instead of running away from them, he actively seeks out those memories to find closure.
22	* Shen telling Po his parents abandoned him and never loved him may have been partly Shen [[PsychologicalProjection projecting his own issues regarding his parents]].
23	* As mentioned in the ''Immovable Object'' entry on the main page, the cannon killed Master Rhino but spared Po. One specializes in a defense technique that requires him to stand his ground (taking on the full force of the blast), while the other has a style (and was learning a new technique) that works on redirecting any force applied against him.
24	** When force is applied on a hard subject, the subject can crack or break. When the same force is applied on a soft subject, the subject usually doesn't even get a scratch since the energy is being absorbed. Rhino's defense was grounded on his strong build, but Po's style isn't "''hard''core".
25	** Po's way of defense has been used since the first movie. Look his fight with Tai Lung: many of Tai Lung's attacks ended up hurting himself precisely because Po simply rolls with them and redirects their force in such a way to sock the poor, cocky leopard, including the very first and the one right before the Wuxi Finger Hold.
26	* Watching the movie, I noticed that Po seemed to be a little less... able to take hits. A few times it makes sense (punches to the face, and such) but a few times it didn't (am I supposed to believe that the Wolf Boss hits as hard as Tai Lung when he gut-punches Po and winds him?). But then I remembered an earlier scene, where Po's dad notes that he's 'lost some weight'. It's a throwaway line, but when you think about it, reducing his {{kevlard}} really would make Po more susceptible to damage from direct hits.
27	** Ping's also clearly worried about it, showing how well he knows his son and his fighting style. No wonder he's so concerned about their quest...
28	** Good point, although with the Wolf Boss vs Tai Lung thing, then Tai Lung wasn't trying to punch Po, he was striking for his nerve points while the Wolf Boss just went for a gut punch. It might be why Po felt one and not the other.
29	* Tigress understands Po's identity crisis more than she lets on. In ''Secrets of the Furious Five,'' it was revealed that as a cub, she lived in an orphanage until she was adopted by Shifu. There is currently no information about the status of her real parents, so it's quite possible that she knows little to nothing about them and went through an identity crisis similar to Po's at some point in her life. However, Po doesn't seem to realize any of this in ''Kung Fu Panda 2'', even though he was the teller of Tigress' story in ''Secrets of the Furious Five''. Either he assumed Tigress was too "hardcore" to let something like not knowing who she really was or where she came from bother her, or he was too caught up in his own crisis at the time to consider the possibility that even the "hardcore" might have feelings, too. It's not until she gives him the CooldownHug that this realization seems to dawn on him.
30	* Tigress in the sequel is shown to be very adept at exploiting her opponent's movements, redirecting them to begin a throw and other "soft" moves that weren't part of her fighting style before. It is not very probable that she polished these because she anticipated the need to fight Po, particularly without harming him (too much). But it is entirely understandable that she wanted to expand her arsenal, after a direct application of her strength proved to be not enough to beat Tai Lung. Also, considering how much closer they are after the first movie, it might be the consequence of her spending a lot of time training with Po.
31	* "I eat when I'm upset." becomes [[FridgeBrilliance Fridge]] TearJerker when you really give it some thought. If Po's extremely fat, and he eats when he's upset...
32	** Dips into Fridge Horror when you realize Po was found eating a whole crate of radishes when he was a child, right after the slaughter of the pandas and seeing his mother lure away the attackers. Small wonder how he associated eating with despair.
33	* The movie and the background material seem to give accounts of Shen's parents that don't add up. The movie presents them as loving parents who ultimately died of grief at having been forced to outlaw their son for committing genocide (banishment for such a crime seems like mercy, truthfully) while the background material classifies them as being ashamed of their sickly albino son. But look at how Shen took his banishment -- he saw it as a sign his parents hated him [[NeverMyFault in spite of the fact he'd just committed one of the most horrible acts one could possibly commit]]. The one person who knew his parents when they gave him to her to raise was the Soothsayer, who outright tells Shen his parents ''did'' love him. On top of this, the Soothsayer is shown to be skilled in medicine when she heals Po after he's shot with Shen's cannon. Who's to say Shen wasn't given to the Soothsayer to be cared for because he was sickly and it's merely his own thinking that makes him believe his parents were ashamed of him? If he could blame them for banishing him for genocide, it's perfectly in character for him.
34	** Shen (besides raging at his parents for decrying his weaponization of fireworks in general) probably thinks that exterminating his enemies is his right as a Lord. The idea that lives of some peasants can be seen as valuable compared to his ambition might just never have occurred to him.
35	* After doing some research, I am really starting to think Po and Tigress will get together because of a famous concept in Chinese philosophy: Yin and yang. Just in case you're not completely familiar with it, it essentially describes how two opposites need each other to create balance and harmony. Yin is feminine, dark, passive, quiet, introverted, and associated with night. Yang is masculine, light, active, loud, outgoing, and associated with the day. But what '''REALLY''' caught my eye were the animals that symbolize yin and yang. The '''TIGER''' represents '''YIN'''. The '''DRAGON''' represents '''YANG'''. Obviously, of course, this brings to mind Tigress and Po -- the Dragon Warrior. Dating back to the first movie, we've seen a lot of scenes focusing on Tigress at night -- when she tells Po "you don't belong here", the scene explaining Shifu and Tai Lung's history, Tigress and the four others running off to fight Tai Lung. In the second movie, there was the scene of Po and Tigress on the boat, the escape from the collapsing palace, the hug in the prison, and when the Five are being carried by boat to their "execution" after Po is believed to be dead. Whether you've seen the second movie or not, I'm sure you'd at least agree that a lot of Po-centric scenes occur in the first movie, and there are several of them in the second as well. Although, going back to the comment about Tigress hugging Po at night, it's worth noting that he hugs her during the day. Night and Day… Tiger and Dragon… Yin and Yang. ;) Even in the Chinese Zodiac, there is a Year of the Tiger and a Year of the Dragon. When describing the personalities, of the zodiac, this was what I found. I highlighted stuff particularly worth noting. Female Tiger: She has got an allure to cut your breath, she is captivating, funny and sexy. She is also '''filled with an unsociable independence''' and the relationships based on possessiveness make her escape for sure. The Tigress makes men camp in front of her door so much '''her charm is powerful but only one of the most patient men can hope to capture'''. (I thought of the scene where Po watched Tigress shatter the tiles in midair in KFP, and then grabbed "The Love Chunk") XD Male Dragon: '''What motivates the life of a Dragon is difficulty, he needs to prove to himself that he is capable to surpass himself and that his destiny is not like those of the ordinary mortals'''. In love like in business he wants to dominate, he will never accept the supremacy of a woman for anything else than the education of his children. If you know how to preserve his interest alive, he will cover you with diamonds. KFP -- "Yeah, I stayed. I stayed because [...] it could never hurt more than everyday of my life just being me. I stayed because I thought if anyone can change me, can make me not me, it was you!" (Po, to Shifu) Not everything about the Dragon really describes Po, but not everything about the Tiger describes Tigress, either. Whether or not they put a lot of research into it, Dreamworks did seem to have some knowledge of yin and yang, so they included the concepts in both movies. In the first movie, I remember it appears when Shifu describes how Oogway founded kung fu using "harmony and focus". In the second film, it shows up during a musical montage showing the journey of Po and the Five traveling to Gongmen City as Lord Shen prepares his weaponry. Po even appears in the "yang", the light part; Lord Shen appears in the "yin", the dark part. in this case, representing the balance of good and evil. ... To conclude, I would just like to add that in terms of astrology, I'm a Virgo -- and therefore I tend to analyze, sometimes excessively. So this might be looking at it TOO much. But I like Po x Tigress, and I certainly hope they hook up in the next movie or two.
36	** There's also the scene when they're fighting in the prison -- there's a shot from above when she tosses Po, and the floor's designed like a Yin-Yang symbol-- and they're both standing where the dot's should be. Well... Po's flat on the ground, but the point's still there...
37	** There's a very small 'hint' from Tigress during the boat scene that might slip by most people. When Po comments on her training having given her rock-hard arms as being "severely cool!", Tigress smiles and slowly blinks at him. If one were to read up on tigers, one would find that they do not purr; to show happiness, ''tigers squint and slowly blink.'' Tigress must have really liked that compliment from him.
38	* Ping's secret ingredient becomes something of this with his statement in the second film. "I took you inside, fed you, gave you a bath, and fed you again... and again, and tried to put some pants on you. And then I made a decision that would change my life forever. To make my soup without radishes, and to raise you as my own son. Xiao Po, my little panda." Since baby Po had eaten all the radishes, there was nothing left except Po. And nothing/love/devotion to one's true self is what makes the soup -- and the Dragon Warrior -- so special.
39	* It seems only appropriate that the radish crate Po was in ended up at the house of a noodle-maker. Had any other family in the village decided to take him in, Po would have eaten them out of house and home. But Mr. Ping's house/shop is a restaurant -- a thriving one, with a good cook to boot, (see point below about the radishes) -- and has extra food supplies that are more than enough to feed a hungry baby panda.
40	* This is a bit of a VisualPun: Everyone comments on Po's soft build, which has remained intact despite heavy training. Shifu also comments on how easy it was for Po to find inner peace. In Shaolin martial arts, "hard" kung fu means developing strength and rapid strikes in order to actively neutralize threats as well as discipline the mind, which is Tigress' forte. "Soft" styles such as taichichuan are based on smooth movements, and redirecting attacks rather than blocking them or returning. Though practitioners can be quite fast and strong, it doesn't require as much active energy and they are characterized by waiting for opponents to move first. Po excelled in soft style even in the first movie, mostly redirecting Tai Lung's attacks. Because of this, he failed the first time he tried to attain inner peace in the sequel because he was still using hard-style -- punching the ship-mast and sparring with Tigress, which went against his nature. Once he used the style best suited to him, of course it was easier for him to attain inner peace.
41	* Much like the previous film, it is Po's softness and ability to redirect attacks that allowed him to win. Master Thundering Rhino's signature attack was his Horn ''Defense''; it's implied that when Shen shot the cannon at him, he stood his ground and tried to absorb the blow. The large crater it left in the tower's courtyard shows the result of that. Po, on the other hand, used the water-drop technique not to stop or even slow down the cannon ball, but to redirect its force at something else.
42	* The villains of both movies, Tai Lung and Shen, both have white as a dominating color in their coats, where Po is a pretty even mix of black and white. Most likely, this is because they are supposed to represent the aggressive and overbearing nature of Yang; Po, as the balance between Yin and Yang, represents the transition between their lives and the cold, dark Yin-based embrace of Death.
43	* While probably not intentional, Lord Shen's [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience color motif]] marks well his status as a villain in an East Asian setting, as well as firmly a LightIsNotGood character. White is the color of death, which fits closely with his health issues, while red is associated with both blood (obviously), but also with the [[TheFourGods Vermillion Bird]], who associated with fire and positive emotions (all he wants is the attention he never got from his neglectful family, hence love). On a much darker level, Shen's red and white colors and particularly his eye symbol also resemble the war flag of [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan one of the most terrifying regimes]] in Chinese history.
44	** On that note, perhaps Tai Lung could be associated with the White Tiger, which is associated with autumn and metal. Tai Lung certainly has some [[ElementalPowers personality traits]] associated with metal; he's ridiculously strong in both offense and defense, his major concern is perfecting his craftsmanship of Kung Fu by learning all of it, and his mindset is rigid and inflexible, to the point that he's not truly able to understand the Dragon Scroll. Tai Lung's return is viewed as "steadily impending doom/death," like autumn is sometimes seen (when not admiring the [[HollywoodNewEngland pretty colors]]). And, of course, he's a snow leopard, which like the white tiger is a PantheraAwesome with pale coloration. Hopefully, this is a deliberate pattern on the part of the writers which will be continued in future movies... because that would be ''cool.''
45	*** [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3 Kai]] also fits with the color motif, being largely [[SicklyGreenGlow green jade]]. Jade, in China, is associated with wealth, aristocracy, longevity, and burial. As fitting his [[TheUndead defiance of the natural order]], Kai perverts all four meanings ([[{{Greed}} he steals the wealth of chi from other people]], [[AristocratsAreEvil is arrogant and egotistical]], [[AncientEvil is over 500 years old]], and [[{{Necromancer}} animates the forms of people he's destroyed to fight for him]]). Even more fitting, he shows an incredible ''dis''respect of jade in one way; it's supposed to be a sacred material, not suited for combat. Even beyond his jombies, Kai uses jade ''for knives''.
46	* At the Tower of the Sacred Flame, Po shows a mastery of the BatmanGambit, not only does he use his geeking out to hide himself replacing Mantis with his action figure, but Po got one Shen's gorilla mooks to carry him up the stairs. Why? Because just as Po said, stairs were still his greatest enemy and he would probably be very winded if not downright unconscious if he did it himself and would need to be in his best condition to fight Shen when it came to it.
47	* Po is the Dragon Warrior, and his character evolution parallels the ''actual'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Dragon_Kung_Fu Southern Dragon Kung Fu]]. Just as in the Dragon style, he starts with hard kung fu and then switches to soft. And then there is the style motto:
48	-->"Control yourself, let others do what they will.\
49	This does not mean you are weak.\
50	Control your heart, obey the principles of life.\
51	This does not mean others are stronger."
52	* Seems awfully convenient that Shen had an armada of cannons aimed at his own tower and had them fire on Po and the Five when they made him flee, doesn't it? But, remember when Shen took the city, he had all the old banners torn down and chucked his family throne out the window, and is ready to move out and go on the warpath within a day's time. All things considered, he probably had those cannons set up because he was planning to have the tower destroyed anyway.
53	* Viper being the most sympathetic out of the Furious Five towards Po regarding his "Daddy Issues" makes sense when you consider the tension between her and her father in her backstory.
54	** The second person most concerned for Po and his adoptive father is Tigress -- the person that was adopted herself as a cub.
55	* Speaking of the film's "fatherhood / daddy issues" motif, the Boss Wolf's protectiveness towards his soldiers makes perfect sense, despite his villainous role: if wolf society in this Verse parallels RealLife wolf social structure, quite a few of his underlings are probably his own children.
56	* When Shen wonders about how Po recovered from his traumatic experience, he says "I scarred you for life." Po's response is "Scars heal" but when Shen points out they don't, he clarifies that "scars fade." This is actually a better analogy. A scar never heals, but fades until it is a reminder, but not something actively hurting anymore. What Shen did to Po will always be a part of him, but it has faded and he's moving on. Of course, this is completely lost on Shen.
57	* Ping says there was no note with baby Po, but he might have eaten it. If the note was written on rice paper, that would certainly be true.
58	** Alternatively, it could be that his parents didn't have time to write a note.
59	* Po has a hard time going into stealth mode like the Furious Five can because as the only panda in the area, he's easily recognizable, so instead he chooses a paper lion dragon costume to help blend in. Both pandas and lion dragons are associated with street festivals and positive parts of Chinese culture, so Po, who would stick out like a sore thumb, was able to hide himself by wearing an outlandish costume, which ironically makes the wolves stick out.
60	* Why would Mr. Ping decide to not cook with radishes anymore after adopting Po, when he could just cook without them until his next order of vegetables arrived? Well, adopting a son is a big decision that will not only affect you emotionally but also economically. Not using radishes anymore was his way of saving money that would help him raise his new son.
61	** You can even guess that Mr. Ping spends quite a lot of money in good quality vegetables and ingredients. Think about it, they are shipped almost from Gongmen City to the Valley of Peace, when he could easily get them from nearby villages and farms. Mr. Ping cooks with the best ingredients, something good chefs usually do.
62	** Another explanation is that if Mr. Ping got his radishes exclusively from the panda village, his supply might have been limited after the village was raided by Shen's wolves.
63	* In the final fight scene, you might wonder how the cannon was held ''up'' by ropes attached to the ship's deck -- the ropes actually held up the pieces of debris supporting the cannon's base. When they broke, the wood shifted enough for it to overbalance and fall.
64	* How was the Soothsayer able to perform acupuncture on Po when Mantis failed in the first movie? It's possible that she's just better than Mantis (who had to have a panda anatomy chart for reference), but since she knows where the former Panda Village is, it's entirely possible that she had treated pandas before, to the point of knowing where to find their pressure points beneath all the fur... ahem, fat... by memory. By contrast, Po is the only panda in the Valley of Peace, so Mantis wouldn't have any chance to practice on panda anatomy and no reason to research it prior to Po's surprise elevation to the Dragon Warrior position.
65	* When the cannonballs are fired out of Shen's cannons, they glow red. But whenever Po catches and redirects one, its glow shifts from red to ''gold'', the same gold as the chi effects in the next film. Po was unconsciously using chi to catch and redirect cannonballs that should have been far too hot and too heavy to handle in such a fashion.
66	* Upon watching the movie again and absorbing all the brilliant symbolism, one subtle moment (though of course I could be way off base) stood out in particular that this troper believes relates to Shen's entire character; notice that the fireworks that explode into a dazzling display at the end of the movie don't come from the people of Gongmen City, it comes from Shen's cannon, the one that collapsed on him. Normally, the fireworks from his cannons are dark, destructive and fearsome, but this time, the fireworks are colourful and joyful (not to mention the brief flash of fireworks that clearly resemble Shen himself). Now think back to Lord Shen's story; peafowls are highly celebrated in culture and nature for their beauty and dazzling colour pallet, so of course as a sickly albino, his parents were ashamed of his lack of colour and weak physique, something which clearly caused him deep insecurity and no doubt fed into his personal issues and self esteem. Yet, despite his cannon being a terrifying and destructive weapon designed for conquest, it was still able to create colour and beauty in the end, something Shen no doubt yearned to show the world in his youth, as terrible as his actions became. In that moment, when the people, including Po, the Five and even Shifu, cheered and watched the fireworks, he became that which he'd always wished to be; colourful, bright and celebrated, and perhaps unknowingly, they saw it too. In a way, Shen did finally get what he'd always truly desired and found true peace in death, which appears to be backed up by the Soothsayer's knowing and joyful smile as she admires the fireworks.
67	* Shen pulled a CreateYourOwnHero when he slaughtered the panda village and caused Po to end up in a place where he would eventually become the Dragon Warrior. Additionally, in the first film, what helped Po propel himself into the arena and get chosen to be the Dragon Warrior? Fireworks, which were invented by Shen's parents!
68	* Tying in with the SelfFulfillingProphecy aspect of the movie, there's also a very emotional and actually pretty ingenious side to how things play out in Po's favour that is tied back to Shen's last good deed (though this troper isn't exactly sure how intentional it was on the creator's part); ''setting the Soothsayer free.'' Throughout the movie, Shen is ruthless, cold and violent towards anyone who isn't her and comes ''dangerously'' close to killing Po. In fact, for all intents and purposes his victory was all but assured. He had the Five at his mercy, his army, cannons and fleet were ready to set sail (despite the setbacks) and Shen was clearly in the frame of mind for conquest and it's easy to see him secure the victory. But he ''still'' lost. Why? The Soothsayer, now free, found a fatally injured Po and not only nursed him back to health, but aided him in achieving inner peace (something she was tragically unable to help Shen do). [[{{Irony}} How ironic]] that Shen's only visible selfless deed, the only part of the movie where he displays what little humanity remained in him, is the catalyst that caused his downfall, that for all his terrible deeds, it was his only ''selfless'' deed that led to his end (and depending on how you interpret his death, his true path to the peace he always sought). He truly did die by his own hand, but he actually secured his own destruction long before his VillainousBSOD. Befitting such a TragicVillain, Lord Shen once again displays his true motivation for all the suffering he has caused; '''love.''' For his parents, for the Soothsayer (and [[{{Narcissist}} himself]] of course). When you think about it, not only did he ruin his life because of love, but his inevitable defeat came because of it.
69
70	[[AC:Secrets of the Scroll]]
71	* Tigress' story in this short is very similar to Po's story in the first ''Kung Fu Panda''. Namely, she struggles with attempting a fighting style that doesn't fit her, Shifu treats her badly, she has a talk with Oogway under the peach tree that motivates her, and in the end, she realizes that she fights the best when she uses her own technique.
72	* Shifu denying Tigress to use her tiger instincts may very well be a result of his ordeal with Tai Lung, if he believes giving into raw, feline instinct is what created the darkness in the latter.
73	** Throughout the short, Shifu tries to force Tigress into doing "his" style of kung fu, which is very rigid and impractical and rather ironically unlike how Shifu actually fights; he is swift and nimble in battle. This could potentially also be him trying to 'limit' Tigress's abilities in case she still does become another Tai Lung (another example of this is when Shifu refuses to teach the nerve-blocking technique to her or any of the other Five).
74	** Or alternatively, Shifu's "style" at the time of the short was actually very rigid in itself, just like his personality (which he actually passed down to Tigress). It was not only after Tigress showed him the prowess of her own style that he began to loosen up (even just a bit) and accept/adopt new styles.
75	* It feels a bit contradictory that while in ''Secrets of the Scroll'', Shifu telling Tigress to control her strength/ferocity is seen as a bad thing, but in ''Secrets of the Furious Five'', it's seen as a good thing. But that's exactly what it is about: balance. That Tigress should use her strengths for good.
76
77	!!FridgeHorror
78
79	[[AC:Movie]]
80	* At the beginning of the film, Shen is entirely convinced that he's wiped out the panda species, which seems a bit odd considering we only saw him destroy one village. Surely they didn't ''all'' live there, right? But then you realize that yes, we only saw him kill ''those'' pandas, but there could have easily been others, given that he had a good thirty years of exile to work with. Overlaps with FridgeBrilliance.
81	* Assuming that the films are mostly following actual Chinese history, it's a ForegoneConclusion that the cannon will eventually be a part of the Imperial Army's arsenal. Meaning that Shen was ultimately successful in getting China to fear and respect his new weapon.
82	** Yet Po invented a martial arts countermeasure to it that he can teach others to emulate. No competent general would neglect having whole units of such grenadiers as part of his army with cannons.
83	** Yes, but said martial arts countermeasure is implied to only be possible by attaining inner peace, which itself is implied to be extremely difficult for most people. So even if Po did teach others the technique, it's unlikely that more then a handful would be able to actually pull it off.
84	** Even if the cannon exists and takes some of martial arts' spotlight away, it can still exist alongside it as it does today. Shen wanted to completely ''wipe kung fu out'' by imprisoning/killing off people capable of the art. It's not the same.
85	** And on a more mundane note, some of the down sides of cannon became evident in the movie along the way, like how it's not always easy to get them into position, e.g. if somebody jams up the river you need to ship them down with boats and debris. Or how having your own powder-stockpiles set alight is A Bad Thing.
86	** It's also worth noting his weapon was invented in real life, it's called a gun, and the last time I checked Kung-Fu is still a thing.
87	* Something I've noticed after Po took some hits that knocked the wind out of him. Earlier Mr. Ping had commented that Po had lost weight and Po is somewhat thinner than what he was in the first. But it was his large frame and blubber that prevented Tai Lung's nerve strike attacks from affecting him in the climax of the first movie. If someone else learns the Nerve Attack and uses it on him, Po will be affected by it this time around.
88	** Only if the remaining fat isn't still enough.
89	** On the other hand, the Soothsayer was able to perform acupuncture on him when Mantis couldn't in the first film, showing that his resistance towards nerve attacks might have lessened. Or perhaps the Soothsayer is simply better than Mantis.
90	*** Well, she didn't accidentally stop his heart. So yeah, she's probably better at her art.
91	* Shen is trying to kill a warrior of "Black and White." Yes, he goes for the pandas, but there are other races out there that have black and white coloration. We only see him going after pandas, but were there others? Snow Leopards can be black and white... and Tai Lung was an orphan... where did Tai Lung's parents go?
92	** What about zebras? Do they even show up in the franchise? Poor things must've been wiped out completely.
93	*** Luckily, zebras are not native to Asia. Heck, Shen might not even know that they exist, if there were no reasons for a zebra to immigrate.
94	** Snow leopards are ''gray'' with black and white highlights, not black and white. In a story set centuries before photography, "black and white" means those two colors only, not grayscale.
95	** It's worth pointing out that prophecies are very open to interpretation and loopholes. Even then, gray is a mix of black and white and Shen might have been paranoid enough to try wiping out grey animals too.
96	** Crane is black and white too and we don't see any other of his kind besides his mom from the TV series. She's also overwhelmingly overprotective of him too. One has to wonder if her fears weren't unfounded...
97	*** A line from "Mama Told Me Not To Kung Fu" suggests that Crane's father is ''dead''. Did he go down fighting to buy time for Crane and his mom to escape and wasn't as fortunate as Po's father?
98	* Shen's [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/a/a7/Lord_shen_sun_symbol_by_kullervonsota-d7arux5.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/310?cb=20170519162419 sigil]] is a dead ringer for the [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/War_flag_of_the_Imperial_Japanese_Army.svg/1280px-War_flag_of_the_Imperial_Japanese_Army.svg.png Imperial Japanese war flag.]] Suddenly, the pogrom against the panda village becomes even more horrifying than it already was, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Alls_Policy especially when considering]] [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar Chinese history]], and pandas being considered China's national animals.
99
100	!!FridgeSadness
101
102	* Po's mother comforting him before leaving. Not only does she realize these are probably going to be her last (and first) moments with her son, her attempting to calm him down is most likely out of fear of the wolves hearing his cries and coming closer. She's trying as hard as she can to keep him alive, and if she had left him immediately, she may not have been killed quite as quickly.

Context Fridge / KungFupanda2