Line #9 YMMV/KungFuPandaLegendsofAwesomeness


1	* AccidentalAesop: ''Legends'' tends to be the one iteration of the franchise where Po tends to suffer TheWorfEffect and take the most losses. It also happens to be the series where Po is a bit more of a cocky AdaptationalJerkass than his portrayal in the films and other series. While the main reason Po has to lose is so Shifu or someone from the Furious Five can have their own ADayInTheLimelight episode and save the day, his cockiness also doesn't do him much favors in some of those fights. Vice versa also happens just as regularly due to Shifu and the Five retaining their imperious personalities from the first film. One important lesson the audience can take from this is that a martial artist should always remain humble and not act like an ArrogantKungFuGuy, no matter what rank he is... even if he's the Dragon Warrior. If you grow too arrogant and become too overconfident in your abilities, there will always be someone out there who can seriously humble you.
2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: In "The First Five" which was Fenghuang's final appearance, she undergoes a HazyFeelTurn when she's freed by Po who decided she acted honorably and grants her freedom, with Fenghuang then telling them all bets would be off the next time they met. Was Fenghuang sincerely grateful, wanted to turn over a new leaf, and decided that her feud with the Jade Palace was over while putting up a tough villainous act as a front? Or did she just consider herself and the Jade Palace to be even for that one adventure and still had plenty of malicious intentions to kick the can down the road and try to menace them again sometime in the future? And as the show was in its final stages by the time of this episode, how much Fenghuang truly changed remains a mystery, because the only evidence we could use to support the former interpretation of Fenghuang being genuinely reformed is that, assuming one considers all the animated spinoff shows to be in-continuity with each other despite some ContinuitySnarl issues, Fenghuang never confronted Po or the Jade Palace again in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaThePawsOfDestiny'' or ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaTheDragonKnight''.
3	* BadassDecay:
4	** Pretty much all the main cast undergo this, coming across as much less impressive than in the films, but Tigress may take the cake. Compared to her stoic, elegant but shrewdly playful characterisation in the films, the TV series plays her more as a persnickety, socially incompetent ButtMonkey. Also, while some episodes keep loyal to her physical prowess as the strongest of the team; others play her hard to TheWorfEffect, to the point her getting humiliated by Po at every turn became a driving point for one episode.
5	** The villains also get this, particularly Temutai. In his first appearance, he was [[KnightOfCerebus legitimately threatening and intimidating and was taken quite seriously]]. About every appearance after has him degrading into more of a joke villain, up to the point where not even the protagonists seem to take him all that seriously anymore, going so far as to [[GoKartingWithBowser invite him to a party]] in one episode.
6	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
7	** Po, thanks to his AdaptationalJerkass behavior. Some still find him a funny, lovable idiot as he was in the movies, while others find him an incompetent, self-centered jerk who [[NiceJobBreakingItHero causes most of the show's problems]]. The fact that he constantly suffers from AesopAmnesia doesn't help.
8	** Fung and the Crocodile Bandits. Either you think their GoldfishPoopGang antics are some of the funniest parts of the show or just annoying and want them off screen. Not helped by the fact that they appeared the most out of the show's RoguesGallery, causing some who originally thought they were humorous to grow tired of them.
9	** Peng, solely because of the fact that he's [[spoiler: Tai Lung's nephew.]] There's several fans who consider him an EnsembleDarkhorse, attributing some of the show's best writing to him, while others can't overlook the fact that it [[ContinuitySnarl makes no real sense]] for him to be [[spoiler: Tai Lung's nephew since the latter was an orphaned DoorstopBaby whose biological family was unknown]]. And then there's a few who think he's just [[{{Wangst}} too whiny]].
10	* BrokenBase:
11	** There are those who consider it a good addition to the films, those who consider it a good show but prefer to think of it as a [[FanonDiscontinuity separate canon]], those who are split between thinking some episodes truly live up to the spirit of the movies while other episodes are so awful that they're a total disgrace to the franchise, and those who disown it entirely.
12	** Its place in the ''Franchise/{{Nicktoons}}'' canoncity is also debated. Since Nickelodeon co-produced the series in-house with [=DreamWorks=] along with ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' and later the ''[[WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens2013 Monsters Vs. Aliens]]'' series, one can consider it to technically be a "Nicktoon," but since [=DreamWorks=] owns all of the characters and elements in the series (and eventually [=DreamWorks=] was sold to [=NBCUniversal=] [[ScrewedByTheLawyers who forbade Nickelodeon from airing the show]]), many seem to disavow it as a Nicktoon due to Nick having no complete control over it.
13	** The show's characterisations, especially Tigress due to the aforementioned BadassDecay. Some think it works due to the show's more comical nature and even offers extra development here and there, other fans complain it dilutes the development of the films or sometimes makes the main cast too idiotic or unsympathetic (particularly Po).
14	* CompleteMonster:
15	** "Enter the Dragon": [[TheDreaded Ke-Pa]] is an ancient [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]] who terrorized the Valley of Peace with his army of demons, driving out or killing the citizens. After his army was sealed away by Oogway, Ke-Pa spent decades waiting for the peach tree that his powers are bound by dies, then, with his power returned, transformed into a [[DragonsAreDemonic dragon]] and lay siege to the Valley of Peace, threatening to eat the citizens one by one. Capturing and torturing Shifu under the belief that he has the Hero's Chi, Ke-Pa tries to crush the Hero's Chi out of him to free his demon army, before doing the same to Po and [[HeroKiller succeeding]]. Once his demons are unleashed, Ke-Pa orders them to kill everything in the Valley of Peace, bragging that he will destroy all mortals on the planet and reign supreme.
16	** "A Tigress Tale": [[KillerRabbit Mugan]] is a [[VillainWithGoodPublicity skilled kung fu master]] whose twisted ideals of seeking "[[ThePerfectionist perfection]]" in her students instead hide an utter sadist. Mugan takes in kung fu masters and leads them on that she'll teach them her art, but instead she is lying and [[SadistTeacher subjects them]] to [[TrainingFromHell horrific training]] in an attempt to break them. Mugan slowly breaks her students both physically and mentally, like Wu Yong, and then leaves them broken slaves who are added as her servants. When Tigress joins her training, Mugan tries to enslave her to the academy and promises that she will be broken.
17	* CrossesTheLineTwice:
18	** In "Fluttering Finger Mindslip", there's a MacGuffin that can undo the amnesia caused by the titular technique, except it's at the end of the "Corridor of Unbelievable Agony" (which is exactly what it sounds like.) Po nonetheless traverses said corridor except the MacGuffin is locked, with the key at the entrance to the corridor. Po goes back to the start (suffering the same pain) and returns receiving the pain for a third time. Fortunately there is a key to disable the mechanism that launches the torture. Less fortunately, this key was also left at the start of the corridor...
19	** During Monkey's {{Flashback}} to explain why he is defending his thieving brother, the dramatic pathos of the moment when seeing the two of them fighting "broke his mother's heart" is illustrated by her...[[BlackComedy abruptly falling over on the floor with a thud]]. This is then subverted by it turning out [[DisneyDeath she wasn't actually dead]], just truly heartbroken, thus enabling her to extract ThePromise from Monkey...until it's revealed [[TearJerker she really did die after that, with Monkey shown placing a flower on her grave]].
20	* DesignatedMonkey: Po. Even in episodes he ''isn't'' holding the JerkassBall he routinely suffers in some way.
21	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
22	** Peng is by far the most popular character introduced in the series on account of being [[spoiler: Tai Lung's nephew, as well as [[LikeFatherUnlikeSon proving to be a different person than him.]]]]
23	** Master Yao has a bit of a following as well thanks to being a CrazyIsCool {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who can do kung-fu with his ''mind''.
24	** Song is quite popular among fans despite being a OneShotCharacter, thanks to her heartwarming and hilarious ShipTease with Po and her HeelFaceTurn after BecomingTheMask. Many fans are disappointed she didn't appear in any other episodes.
25	** The [[ChineseVampire Jiang-Shi]], thanks to being [[NightmareFuel legitimately terrifying]], with the episode they appeared in considered to be the scariest episode of the series.
26	** Kozu Kira tends to be fairly well-remembered amongst the show's RoguesGallery despite only appearing in one episode. It helps that the episode surrounding him was a homage to classic Japanese samurai cinema, as well as the fact that he manages to be a threat despite being a ''[[PintsizedPowerHouse clam]]''.
27	** Kim the Invincible is also remembered for being a legitimately threatening and strong villain capable of breaking the Great Wall of China apart, [[TheDreaded intimidating even Shifu]] along with having an [[AffablyEvil affable attitude]] to contrast his brutish exterior.
28	* EvilIsCool: The show's RoguesGallery has its fans, due to either being funny or threatening or, like the films' villains, a fair balance of both. Some fans consider them better written throughout the show than the franchise's good guys.
29	* FanonDiscontinuity: If there's one thing the entire KFP fanbase has disowned it is the idea [[NoYay that Tigress had a crush on Shifu]] given the rest of the franchise (including other episodes of this series) had portrayed Shifu as Tigress's ParentalSubstitute.
30	* FanPreferredCouple: Though some one-shot interests like Song have fans, Po and Tigress, as per usual, are the most popular ship and the most regularly teased throughout the show.
31	* FirstInstallmentWins: For better or worse, it remains the most popular of the three ''Franchise/KungFuPanda'' shows. It probably helps that is the only of the three shows where Master Shifu and the Furious Five play a role of relevance, which is one of the main criticisms of latter ''Kung Fu Panda'' material.
32	* FranchiseOriginalSin: The CharacterExaggeration of the film cast (especially Tigress) is hardly a rarity to the franchise, since a lot of side media such as the ''Secrets of the Furious Five/Scrolls'' specials and even the third film play them as more cartoonish and flawed than usual. This however was more for the sake of CharacterDevelopment and demonstrating their character foibles, not to mention it is often done with subtlety and kept within the range of their original personalities. The TV series however, while ''sometimes'' attempting this, will just as frequently make the cast uncharacteristically incompetent or unlikeable for the sake of gags or a quick plot device.
33	* HilariousInHindsight:
34	** Back in the TheNewTens when ''Legends of Awesomeness'' was airing, Creator/WendieMalick voiced Fenghuang, an owl kung fu master who temporarily become an EvilMentor to Po and taught him her ForbiddenDangerousTechnique. Fast forward to TheNewTwenties and Wendie is now the voice of Eda Clawthorne from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''... another female owl lady outlaw who acts as a mentor to the AllLovingHero Luz but is more of a main character this time than Fenghuang.
35	** In "Kung Fu Daycare", Tigress is left exasperated from taking care of a very overeager toddler. [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3 This trait seeped its way into the films.]]
36	** In the second season, we're introduced to Ke-Pa who's one of the major villains of the series, an AncientEvil with mystical powers, has a backstory involving Oogway, and who's voiced by Creator/AlfredMolina who starred as Doctor Octopus in the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy''. Just a few years later, the third film, ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'' is released and the main villain of the film is Kai, a mystical villain who lived centuries prior, has a backstory with Oogway, and is voiced by Creator/JKSimmons, who starred as J. Jonah Jameson in the Raimi Spider-Man series. So in retrospect, Ke-Pa could be considered not just a blueprint for later animated spinoff ArcVillain characters like Jindiao, Baigujing, Zuma, or Sir Alfred... but also an early prototype for a major movie villain like Kai, with the added bonus of being voiced by a cinematic ComicBook/SpiderMan actor just like Kai.
37	** In "Po Picks A Pocket" we're introduced to a pangolin named Sanzu who's the leader of a band of child thieves. Over a decade later, ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda4'' is announced and one of the characters in that movie will be ''another'' pangolin named Han who's the leader of the Den of Thieves.
38	** Even more so we have Po's characterisation in the show, which got criticism from fans of the movies due to moments of being cocky, rude or underhanded, vices closer to those of [[spoiler: [[LovableRogue Zhen]], the next Dragon Warrior]].
39	* HoYay: Shifu is...a little ''too'' much of a {{Fanboy}} toward Yao, particularly during his "beautiful, brilliant brain" speech.
40	** Po's commenting on Shao's "defined muscles" in "Bride of Po" was...interesting.
41	** Po and Monkey in "Secret Admirer".
42	** Tong Fo captures Shifu and intends to "keep him as a pet. Oh, the fun we'll have. Walks, training, punishments. Look at me, I'm giddy."
43	* JerkassWoobie: It's not hard to feel bad for Taotie, what with his backstory of being kicked out of the Jade Palace for trying to compensate for his poor kung fu with his passion for mechanisms, having a son who doesn't respect him, being constantly humiliated by the Furious Five, and outright sobbing pathetically at his failures ... however, as seen in is episodes any time he does come out ahead, he immediately becomes a major jerkass, wanting to painfully humiliate Shifu and the Furious Five, up to torturing them to death.
44	** Tigress and Shifu still has some of their vitriolic tempers from the first film, but given they're most often collateral damage to Po's buffoonery and misbehaviour to the point of playing IronButtMonkey, their frustrations seem much more founded in many instances. Most of Tigress' moments in the limelight in particular lampshade that she was Shifu's most promising student before Po came along and started upstaging her and turning the Jade Palace into a circus, making her rather sympathetic despite her nasty streak.
45	* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: Po's [[spoiler: death]] in "Enter the Dragon" surely wasn't going to last, as he's literally the main character of the whole franchise.
46	* {{Moe}}: [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Little Shifu training with Oogway]].
47	* MoralEventHorizon:
48	** Temutai, the king of the Quidahn, enslaves children and they always die in a few years. The only thing redeeming about him is the fact that he's a [[IGaveMyWord man of his word.]] Also the fact he has a nephew, is similar to Po, and has a PetTheDog moment or two. A rather bizarre example of LighterAndSofter.
49	** Hundun crosses this by threatening to kill Po's father just to force him to fight him. This also makes [[ItsPersonal things personal for Po]].
50	** Tong Fo counts too, wanting to destroy the Valley of Peace for no apparent reason.
51	** Ke-Pa crosses it [[spoiler: when he temporarily killed Po.]]
52	** Fenghuang crosses it in "A Stitch in Time" [[spoiler: when she uses the seeds of the Shuyong Tree to erase Shifu and the Furious Five from existence. Then attempts to eat the tree's fruit to become master of all time and erase Po as well.]]
53	* NightmareFuel: The [[ChineseVampire jumping Jiang-Shi]] of "The Po who Cried Ghost". Their jerky, unnatural movements easily put them into the uncanny valley, and the fact they can raise from their tombs at any time, knock you out with a mere breath and ''pass through the walls'' to get you is [[ParanoiaFuel not comforting at all]].
54	** Ke-pa. ''Everything'' about Ke-pa. There's ''good reason'' he's considered TheDreaded in universe.
55	** Po The Croc has this in the form of the [[AxCrazy amnesiac Po]] who, with all of the normal Po's physical prowess but no concept of empathy or humility, proves to be surprisingly ruthless and menacing.
56	* OlderThanTheyThink:
57	** "Po The Croc" wasn't the first time a CGI mammalian fictional hero lost his memories from hitting his head and got taken in by villainous crocodiles who convinced him that he was a croc. ''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry'' was where it happened first, with Captain Skurvy taking in the eponymous Donkey Kong and convincing him that he was really a crocodilian first mate.
58	** The show in general has this relation to the main film canon. Given its mixture of the first film's storytelling and fighting concepts with a kitchen sink of Saturday morning cartoon archetypes, it became increasingly common for ideas used in the show to be reattempted in later films, to the point that some show-exclusive plot-lines and characters almost feel like early prototypes for those in the movies. This is particularly evident in the fourth film due to its DenserAndWackier tone, as listed in its own page entry,
59	* RetroactiveRecognition: Crane's voice actor here, Amir Talai, would gain much greater fame over a decade after ''Legends of Awesomeness'''s premiere as Alastor from ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel''.
60	* SacredCow: While pretty much any aspect or episode of the show has received some criticisms, most detractors would at least admit that "Enter the Dragon" is a pretty good special and by far the best episode of the show.
61	* TheScrappy: Prawn samurai Yijiro has a considerable hatedom for his ShipTease with Tigress, and it's not surprising at all given the sheer bizarreness of the premise. For many, it ruined an otherwise awesome or/and interesting episode with Japanese elements.
62	* SoOkayItsAverage: Most would agree that the show isn't great and has its fair share of flaws, especially concerning the characterizations of the main characters, but most would agree that it's not outright bad and has a few genuinely funny moments and interesting ideas up its sleeve. It just can't be compared to the quality of the movies.
63	* SpecialEffectsFailure: In ''Royal Pain'', there is a scene where an arrow is shot at Meng Tao, who manages to duck and make it hit the rock behind him. When he stands up straight, the arrow clips through his skull.
64	* {{Squick}}: Tigress had a crush on Shifu when she was a teenager. He may be her father through adoption, but still...
65	* StopHavingFunGuys: Both Shifu and Tigress.
66	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
67	** The show could have served as a perfect opportunity to give the Furious Five more development and stories as central characters. Sadly, besides Tigress, they only get a couple individual [[ADayInTheLimelight Days In The Limelight]] each, otherwise stuck as a collective StraightMan to Po's antics as in the films.
68	** Song from ''Lades of the Shade'' is introduced in an interesting DatingCatwoman scenario with Po, with her eventually redeeming herself and turning away from crime. She could have gone on to become a recurring love interest to Po in the series, possibly even being a potential romantic rival to Tigress. But after her first and only appearance, she disappears from the series and never shows up again.
69	** Peng could've had potential to be the NaiveNewcomer to the Jade Palace crew and HyperCompetentSidekick to Po. Heck the show could've delved into who his family, like his parents, their relation to Tai Lung, where they were while he was raised by Shifu and why Peng was searching for him in the first place. He doesn't even get much characterization beyond being a kung fu prodigy and Tai Lung's estranged nephew.
70	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Peng's introduction revealed that Tai Lung, who was left abandoned on Shifu's door, still has other family members. For being his nephew, one of Peng's parents must be a sibling to Tai Lung, though it's not clear if/when they were born prior to/after Tai Lung's abandonment. If not for the episodic nature of this series, this could've made a decent MythArc.
71	* UglyCute: The Mongolian Fire Fist Demon.
72	* UnintentionallySympathetic: Taotie. How exactly is focusing on machines rather than practicing the art of Kung Fu a bad thing? It really comes across as Oogway and Shifu being overly traditionalist and afraid of progress than Taotie being disrespectful, especially since the latter was genuinely trying to ''help himself''.
73	* VindicatedByHistory: The series was fairly polarizing amongst fans when it first premiered, mainly due to the {{Flanderization}} of the main cast (especially Po), emphasis on comedy over everything else, and occasionally [[ClicheStorm cliched plots]]. However, the show's detractors have started to warm up to it over the years. Its successor shows ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaThePawsOfDestiny'' and ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaTheDragonKnight'' both ended up being somewhat divisive, with a particular sore point being that Shifu and the Furious Five were completely absent. As a result of this, detractors began to see ''Legends of Awesomeness'' in a better light, with a few even admitting that some of the series' jokes [[ActuallyPrettyFunny can actually be rather humorous]] and some of its ideas for stories and characters worked nicely with the films' universe and lore (further supported when later films actually used some concepts very similar to those of the show).
74	* TheWoobie: Po puts up with a ''lot'' of crap in this series...
75	** Also Bian Zao qualifies as one.

Context YMMV / KungFuPandaLegendsofAwesomeness