- But then if Po grew up with a trimmed physique like the Five instead of his hefty fat, he wouldn't have been able to defeat Tai Lung, who mastered Oogway and Shifu's pressure-point strikes.
- Not necessarily, Word of God says that Po in the original film was of a healthy weight for his species. Therefore, it doesn't overstretch the imagination that Oogway would have realized the same thing and tailored his training and diet to reflect that.
- And there's also the possibility that Po's training with Shifu and Oogway would have involved him being taught the paralysis technique and learning how to counter it in some way without the use of his fat.
- If Po had been brought to the monastery at a young age and become Dragon Warrior as a predictable outcome of his training, rather than getting singled out as a surprise recruit in a manner that got everything so stirred up, that messenger might never have been sent to the prison and Tai Lung wouldn't have gotten loose in the first place.
It explains why the sky turns blood red when he enters his palace, and why his canon fire as well as regular torch fire used by his wolves are blood red in colour as well.
- But in the end, Po's father realised his son was alive. He wouldn't think his son was dead the whole time when he's not in Panda heaven with him.
- Maybe he thought Po was reincarnated, or far away from Panda Heaven, which is likely a frickin huge place.
- The pandas in the fields look like they're working pretty hard. Wouldn't a Heaven for creatures that are anything like Po be one where food just appears in front of you whenever you want some, rather than having to grow crops?
- Pretty much Jossed now, since the third movie will involve Po's biological father finding him and taking Po to the new town.
- Cannons, even awesomely advanced ones built through Shen's genius, aren't really a gamebreaker in the world where kung fu gives you megapowers. Shen managed to use them successully through surprise (plus the most convenient opponent possible), mindscrewing his opponent into failing to react and because the nine masters have severely underestimated his ruthlessness. Still, it didn't take long to discover the way of neutralizing them through kung fu. Less advanced solution of "not standing and allowing them to shoot you" also worked. As long as no one develops anti-personnel cannon ammunition like grapeshot or canister, things will be fine.
- It's probable as the conflict was more that Shen wanted to destroy kung fu and conquer as opposed to working side by side.
- But somebody has to be in charge of ruling/protecting Gongmen City, right? With the Peacock family and Master Rhino out of the picture, Ox and Croc are next in line to take charge. They could probably still help out Po and the Five once in a while, but they wouldn't be moving into the Jade Palace any time soon.
Another issue is the Ship tease between Po and Tigress. If it goes anywhere Shifu could be a problem, since he's Tigress's adopted father. It may raise squicky overtones if Shifu's around, serving as a father figure to Po as well. Finally, you can only outrun the dreaded Mentor Occupational Hazard for so long. Given how Po's Hero's journey has progressed, Shifu's death looks more and more likely. If Kung Fu Panda 3's tone is as proportionally darker as Kung Fu Panda 2's was to the first film, they might as well call it, Kung Fu Panda 3: Shifu's Doomed.
- Also, this is the Wuxia genre. The Chosen One's master being killed at some point seems downright inevitable.
- Wha...What...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
- Komodo:' YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!
- This plot move is unlikely until later films. To have Shifu die would most likely lead to Tigress being raised to Head Nun of the Jade Palace. Not only is Tigress very young for this role, this would also disrupt the strongly suggested Shipping character arc with Po who is even more inexperienced to deal with this kind of development. In short, this is a story development that will likely being used for the end of the 6 film arc, if at all.
- Actually, they might use it for the fourth film, given that Four Is Death, and all. Then, the remaining two films will be a duology, with Po trying to figure out how to grieve his respected mentor and trying to fight the biggest battle of his life at the same time.
- It is possible Shifu could die, however, I doubt they'd do it for shipping reasons. We already see the romance between Po and Tigress developing, on top of that, Shifu isn't really a father figure to Po, really just a mentor.
- The man's VA is Jackie Chan. Dude's not known for just sitting around and doing nothing.
- Tai Lung was in prison for twenty years by the time of the first KFP movie, and Shen had been exiled for 30 by the time of the second movie. Tai Lung was presumably a young adult, if not outright a full adult, when he went on his rampage, so let's assume he was at least twenty. He was orphaned at least thirty years or so before Shen was stopped by his parents, and I'm not seeing them letting him go on a thirty-year spree of destruction like that. Plus, unlike Po, we've seen other leopards and snow leopards in various other supplimentary materials (the Secrets of the Masters/Furious Five videos, the character of Peng in Legends of Awesomeness, and others), which does not imply the sort of ethnic cleansing that the pandas suffered through. And finally, if Tai Lung was in prison for so long, and was such a public figure, why did Shen not take notice of the location of a fairly prominent, extremely competent, and very violent black-and-white Kung Fu warrior, and then slit his throat while he was in Chor-Ghom? TL;DR while it does make sense that he wouldn't single out the pandas, the evidence from Tai Lung's existence, the timeline, and supplimental materials do not support this conclusion.
- Snow leopards are black, gray and white, not black and white. If anyone else might've been lost a parent by Shen besides Po, it's Crane: he was raised by his mother alone, and she was obsessively overprotective of her child, much like a widowed refugee from genocide would be.
- Considering Dreamworks Animation's recent tendency to go all Darker and Edgier, I could kind of see them doing this. Since we know nothing of the father, he could be like anything. Not only that, so far each villain of the films have had their own "color scheme" that would be especially prevelant during an intense scene. (Tai Lung had blue, Shen had red) It's possible green could be the next color, and guess whose father was seen wearing green?
- Why is it that I can see this happening? Because the next source of drama would be between Po's father figures that's why. Love it when I anwser my own questions.
- Possibly Jossed. Green is the color of wisdom in the KFP universe and what he wore looks like Grand Master robes.
- It's also the color of envy. If the villains of the KFP movies are all dark reflections/opposites of Po (Tai Lung as the "dragon warrior", Shen as the "warrior of black and white") it stands to reason that Po's father could easily fit the bill as a panda martial artist, especially with the ongoing themes of filial piety. What's Po going to do when he has Shifu as his kung fu teacher and Mr. Ping as his father, and then meets his actual biological father (and presumably his entire lost culture) who did nothing wrong in losing him and is also a martial artist?
- It could turn out to be a case of Light Is Not Good, especailly if the series continues to get darker.
- Also, wisdom =/= goodness. Maybe this means Po's father has to be an Anti-Villain, but he'd still be an antagonist.
- Also, the guy did witness the massacre of many of his friends and thought that he had lost his wife and infant son as well. It's not hard to believe that he might have seriously lost it over the years.
- It's possible that what Shen did to his family and village has turned into a Well-Intentioned Extremist. Maybe he'll try to seize power, so that he can make sure things like the massacre in his village will never happen again, but gaining power and trying to control everything will eventually turn him into a villain.
- Jossed, he's perfectly well meaning.
Also there's going to be a female panda in the mix to make things complicated. It's not a proper trilogy if there isn't romance. Besides, the "simple village girl/kung fu hero" wuxia trope is one that hasn't been explored yet in the movies.
- Well, there is already Ship Tease with Tigress, so it is more likely to go to a Love Triangle direction.
- Except po's arc in the second movie is how Mr. Ping IS his real family.
- The TV series Legends of Awesomeness seems to imply that her parents left her at the Bao Gu Orphanage...
- Not entirely implausible, given the series' habit of bringing back cut characters from previous films (like the Wu Sisters, and Shen for that matter). Also, there is confirmed to be a supernatural threat in the film, making a demonic dragon a good candidate.
- Shen's white plumage supports this WMG.
- Could someone flesh this out why white/albino plumage would support this?
- The "White Plumage" thing would apparently represent "White" people or Europeans. However, this holds no weight when Chinese symbolism places white as the color of death, which is far more fitting for someone who created a weapon designed to conquer, destroy, and "kill" kung fu. Yes, white people made gunpowder weapons as well, but thus far in the series, all the heroes, villians, and references have originated in China. Not in any other place in the world (aside from a few animals.)
- Could someone flesh this out why white/albino plumage would support this?
- The Chinese had their own canons. Hell, they even had their own landmines in the BC era. No need to bring unnecessary national identities into this. Its just an age old tale told for thousands of years. Ending of an old age of warfare due to new technology.
- I seem to recall the Chinese were the ones to invent gunpowder to begin with, in the 9th century AD/CE.
Po's discomfort will gradually grow as Mr. Panda keeps using words like "real father" and "true home". This will ratchet up until Mr. Panda and Mr. Ping come into conflict (voices are raised, punches might be thrown), at which point Po will snap and politely but firmly tell Mr. Panda to leave his home.
- Confirmed. Although he accepts him at first, they get conflict after.
- Maybe not an actual dragon but fitting nonetheless as the first film's villain, Tai Lung, can be seen as a representation of the white tiger of the west, while Lord Shen can be seen as representative of the vermillion bird of the south while neither are truly the matching species. Additionally, each enemy seems to count one of the furious five as well so far. And for the record, Po being the dragon warrior can be seen as the Yellow Dragon at the Center.
- Jossed He's a horned animal.
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