- Not so sure. In Kung Fu Panda 2, Mantis mentioned never having a girlfriend. In the show, Mantis is currently dating a butterfly.
- Well, a butterfly is not likely to eat his head, maybe he partially reverted to a primal state of mind considering the stress of that moment, being chained by Lord Shen.
- Did he actually say "I never had a girlfriend" or did he say something to the effect of "I never settled down and got my head eaten"? There is quite a difference between the two.
- It was revealed in Hometown Hero that Mantis had a fiancee when he was younger. Discontinuity?
- Quote from the movie: "Honestly, guys, I never thought I'd die like this. I always thought I'd meet a nice girl and settle down, and then she'd eat my head. So sad..." Having a fiancee in his youth or currently dating a butterfly doesn't rule out him being single again by the time the second movie takes place.
- Confirmed. Challenge Day reveals that Po has only been Dragon Warrior for 100 days as of that episode. If the Fan Wank is to be believed, there is more than a decade between KFP 1 and KFP 2.
- Who's wanking this?? No way is there a decade between the two movies.
- It's finally been jossed. A citizen references the defeat of Lord Shen in Enter the Dragon.
- It could be overlapped, because I find it hard to believe Tigress would go from "I despise your existence" for most of the first film to being Po's best friend in the second without at least some of the series episodes occurring between the films.
- How about we Take a Third Option? Some of the episodes could occur in between the first movie and the second, with others being set after the second movie.
- That is actually quite possible, considering the original concept for Mantis, before he was redesigned to be less creepy, was that he was an ally of Tai Lung's who was The Mole among the Five...
- Well he appeared, and while it didn't lead to any "Not So Different" Remark for Po and Fung, nor did Po get a greater appreciation for his dad, we did find out that Fung's dad didn't approve of him—not because he disapproved of his son becoming a bandit, but because he wasn't evil enough in helping him take over China.
- Po: Miserable at the noodle shop
- Shifu: Teaching a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits to take on the worlds newest most invulnerable super villain, Tigress. Still bitter inside, he pushes them as a Drill Sergant Nasty, though his techniques still work.
- Tigress: Most likely to be considered the Dragon Warrior by Shifu (regardless if Oogway picked her). Her inability to open the scroll will cause her to go insane like Tai Lung and will be imprisoned in Tai Lung's prison, further cementing Shifu's sorrow and mental decline.
- Crane: Wings broken trying to fight off Tai Lung, lives a sad life cleaning as a janitor, reminiscing about the good old days.
- Viper: Killed trying to stop Tigress.
- Mantis: Killed fighting Tai Lung.
- Monkey: Killed after fighting Tai Lung.
- Alternately, her Evil Plan use the mirror on Shifu and/or any of the Furious Five to either tempt Po into an actual Face–Heel Turn or simply to see him destroyed by the very friends he chose over her.
1) Hypocritical Heartwarming: "Nobody gets to attack Shifu and the Valley of Peace except me!"
2) Joining their band at first, only to become a Defector from Decadence because Even Evil Has Standards.
3) Joining them as The Mole (which could at first be played as a Heel–Face Revolving Door until the truth comes out). "Whose side are you on?" "My own. Which at the moment happens to coincide with yours."
- How Peng could know his name is a puzzle, one we'll need to see explained on the show. But chronologically this theory just can't work. The show takes places between the movies. The fact that Po is still learning and mostly incompetent suggests it can't take place close to Kung Fu Panda 2, so even if it takes place ten years or so after the first one, the show must be no more a year or two after Kung Fu Panda. Even if the show did take place close to Kung Fu Panda 2, Peng cannot be more than 10 or 12, and is probably younger. Which would put him to being born right after the first movie, if not ten years before it. I highly doubt Tai Lung stopped to bed a woman on the way to the Valley of Peace, and before that he was in Chorh-Gom for twenty years with no access to women. Now, if Tai Lung had been with a woman not long before his rampage, that would allow for her child to grow up and have Peng at some point during Tai Lung's time in Chorh-Gom. So Peng might be his grandson.
- Uh, I was mostly thinking this would have happened before Tai Lung's rampage and his incarceration. But then, I guess it's a bit much to think Peng is twenty years old, so point taken.
He's also learning the cost of being the Dragon Warrior. That the training and vigilance doesn't end just because he's discovered the secret of the Scroll and defeated the Big Bad. Rather, it's just beginning... and he's not sure if he can keep up with the demands. But admitting that — and potentially losing everything he's gained so far because he's not capable of fulfilling those expectations — is something he's incredibly afraid of. He didn't just ask Tigress if she thought Oogway made a mistake because he was afraid she felt that way...
This is why he leaps on any shortcuts and wants to learn 'the good stuff' — so he can feel more secure and suited to his title and station.
- In short, this is part of his journey of how he grows into the unambiguously confident and relatively mature warrior in Kung Fu Panda 2.
- That makes a lot of sense. If so, this should mean that the jerkish superiority we've been seeing from Po is a cover, a defense mechanism he adopts as he tries to convince himself he is worthy of the scroll and will eventually master everything he's supposed to. And it also means that, hopefully, as he learns said skills but also the responsibility that goes with them, he will stop bragging (and making foolish mistakes) and become the mostly confident warrior he is in Kung Fu Panda 2.
- In short, this is part of his journey of how he grows into the unambiguously confident and relatively mature warrior in Kung Fu Panda 2.
Years ago, the sibling of one of his parents decided they couldn't care for an infant, and so left him on the steps to the Jade Palace. As time went on and Tai Lung became more renowned, the guilt of what they'd done haunted them, until they confessed to their sibling. Before they could decide whether or not to tell Tai Lung himself, events unfolded that made that even more undesirable. Thus, they kept it to themselves, discussing it only in absolute privacy.
Peng has only overheard bits and pieces, and thus is blissfully unaware of the nastier details. He wants to find Tai Lung in hopes of a happy reunion, fixing his family. This likely won't end well.
...and he will fail miserably.
Peng, however, saw and realized what was wrong with his actions, he came to his senses, repented and apologized. As we see, Peng has all of Tai Lung's traits, both good and bad, but showed humility, self-control, and the ability to make the right decision when confronted with the truth. Also, while Tai Lung showed a great aptitude for kung fu at a young age, he lived at the palace and thus had Shifu to teach him everything he needed in regards to kung fu, whereas Peng is already very skilled and yet he has never had any type of training. Combine those, and the potential for being even greater than Tai Lung is right there.
- This can also play right into the above WMG of Peng possibly redeeming his uncle, should Tai Lung be alive and make a comeback. Think about it. Tai Lung held on to his desire for so long, only for it, and thus pretty much his whole world and reason for living, to come crumbling down on him. Other than revenge on Po, what other reason could he have to live for? That's where Peng comes in. Not only would Peng be instrumental for Tai Lung to have the opportunity to meet his long lost family, but also, he could see the enormous potential for greatness Peng has. Why would we get that short line about Peng having no training? Because Tai Lung would then recognize that Peng has all the potential in the world to become even greater than he ever was, so much that he could possibly even become Dragon Warrior someday, he would just need a master to teach him in the ways of kung fu. This could also lead to...
- Sadly it looks like this won't come to pass, since Peng's fears of Tai Lung's darkness and thirst for power being inherited have caused him to abandon kung fu.
- I don't know. At the beginning of the second movie (Or maybe it was the winter special), Po had a nightmare about Tai Lung and said 'But you're supposed to be dead!'. If anyone should know whether or not Tai Lung survived, wouldn't it be Po?
- It was the holiday special. And it wasn't Po's dream, it was Mr. Ping's, so the dream gives us no solid evidence.
- Also, even if it had been Po's dream, 1) he got cut off, saying "But I thought you were de—" which could have ended "defeated" and 2) he didn't say "But you're dead!" or "I saw you die!" he said "I thought you were..." Also keep in mind that Dream Works has made it a point to keep reiterating Po defeated him (that's the word his fan club used in "Po Fans Out" when they asked to hear the story), and this is the company which did not avoid death or mentions of it ("But Master Shifu, he'll kill you!", Wo Hop's constant suicide attempts, Master Thundering Rhino's violent murder, the onscreen deaths of the Wolf Boss and Shen). This choice of words has to be deliberate, and therefore telling.
- Sadly this seems to have been Jossed. In "Enter the Dragon" Po defeats the Big Bad with a huge explosion of chi that, while it isn't caused by a finger hold, otherwise looks identical to the effect when he Wuxi-ed Tai Lung. He used the same word too, "Skadoosh"...and the dragon was utterly dissolved by the blast and said to be dead. Then in "The Master and the Panda" Peng says he has learned Tai Lung is dead, and when Po recapitulates the tale he continually refers to Tai Lung in the past tense and says that he destroyed him. This may not be the same as killed, and he could also be wrong, but based on the above evidence and the fact Dream Works has said Tai Lung had his Last-Second Chance already and blew it, it seems he is dead and never coming back, except perhaps as a ghost.
- Hundun, Taotie, Scorpion, Fung, Jong Sung Jai Kai Chow, Tong Fo, Fenghuang, Junjie, Su, and the twins team up to take down the Jade Palace. Po, Shifu, the Five, Master Chao, Peng, Temutai, and Song join forces to stop them (Temutai only because the villain group trashed his village trying to recruit him). The group launches an attack on the Jade Palace, but Taotie's son overtly convinces Fung to defect. The attack soon turns into one on one battles: Temutai vs. Hundun, Monkey vs. Scorpion, Fung (and gang) vs. Taotie, Peng and Tigress vs. Fenghuang (which turns into Peng vs. Tigress when Fenghuang reveals Tai Lung's fate), Song vs. Su, Viper vs. the twins, Shifu vs. Junjie, Mantis and Crane vs. Tong Fo, Chao vs. Jong Sung Jai Kai Chow, Po vs. Fenghuang.
- Also, he's traveling because the rest of his family is dead. Because why else who a kid be wandering China on his own? He just asked a random soothsayer if they knew of any relatives.
- Who knows how long he's been traveling? Tai Lung might not even have been dead when he asked! The guy was free for a month or so, going by Po's montage in the movie.
- There's also the fact we still don't have confirmation he actually is dead.
- Who knows how long he's been traveling? Tai Lung might not even have been dead when he asked! The guy was free for a month or so, going by Po's montage in the movie.
This is evidenced by the fact that he shares his same mind set, and deeply rooted hatred of Shifu, that is quick to be set off. He looks like him, I say, completely by accident, as if the wheel of what you will be reincarnated as is similar to the wheel of fortune, chance.
Tai Lung, was brought back as a child, Peng, so that he could have a restart, a chance to be innocent once again. His pilgrimage all across china, is his journey to enlightenment, in other words, it's his literal 8 fold path. When he is fully complete with his journey, he will be gifted with his past memories restored and a new way to approach Shifu, with kindness, respect, and most likely an apology.
Being that he already looks like Tai Lung, he will be greeted with harshness, and fear, aiding in his journey to be restored to innocence. He will have to prove, not only to himself, and his God, that he has changed but to the people he has wronged in his past life.
When his life ends, naturally this time, he will be faced before his God in heaven, who will ask him a question resembling, "Do you belong here?" He will have to look deep into himself for the answer, but maybe he will find a good one this time around.
- I considered this as a possibility when the first images of Peng were released. There's only one problem with this theory...while we are not sure how much time has passed between the two movies, or where exactly in the timeline the series (or this particular episode) takes place, it is likely at most only a year or two since the first movie. Which means there isn't enough time for Tai Lung to have been reborn and grow up. Peng is probably around ten or twelve years old; at the youngest I'd say six or seven, but he seems too well-spoken and talented to be that young.
- One way this theory could still be true (and explain what happened to Tai Lung's body) is if instead of being a reincarnation, it's a case of Raise Him Right This Time, where Tai Lung was given amnesia and youthened back to cubhood. This would explain why he is such a natural at kung fu despite having no training, and could be a chance to either prove Po wrong about Tai Lung being irredeemably evil or allow said evil to be undone by Po showing him the truth of what he'd become so he could grow up to be good this time. Whether he would ever remember and apologize to Shifu, and whether he'd ever take up kung fu again, remains to be seen.
1.) Po says sorry before he jumps off of the cliff. Tigress didn't look at him as she said "For what, oh. great." (paraphrased) as if she knew he was jumping off of the cliff. Also with all of her reaction training, the idea of her knowing something was wrong and doing nothing about it is far-fetched, as if she knew she was going to be yanked and could not stop it because the author wouldn't let her.
2.) After they fall off of the cliff they reach a ledge a little while down. Po lands safely on the ledge while Tigress misses it. The chain binding them prevents her from falling to her doom allowing Po to pull her up. Just as he begins the ledge begins to crack and she says "Oh great". She's being sarcastic of course, but not of falling, but of the fact that the authors moved her from one bad situation to another.
3.) Somewhat also proving this is the way she so casually uses sarcasm knowing she's never really in danger.
- Jossed already. This show takes place between the two movies, if not in a separate timeline.
- Actually "Enter the Dragon" takes place after KFP 2 so assuming the other episode after it do as well, this isn't really joshed. It could be some episodes are in between the movies like the pervious seasons and some are after the movies. Remember, the series is aired in Anachronic Order.
- From the brief, shadowy image we get in Legends of Po, this seems to be confirmed.
- In a later episode "The First Five" Fenghuang re-appears in a rather uneventful way (and no this isn't just a case of being Out of Order, this episode has a later production code too). However Po reversed time, so Fenghuang never stole the seeds and never pissed off the Shuyong Tree to earn her fate in the realm of oblivion. Po may have anticipated her ambush from before however, explaining how Shifu survived this timeline and how she ended up in prison before the next episode.