Tear Jerker / The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

Everything's not awesome!

• Batman's first appearance in the movie, when Emmet stops for a quick chat with him. It's not clear what happened to the rest of Batman's friends between this movie and The LEGO Batman Movie (if that was even canon) but it's hinted to be something bad.
  • This adds a serious dose of Fridge Horror to the series as a whole, since that likely means that his fears of losing the people he loves from the aforementioned movie ended up being justified.
• When Sweet Mayhem kidnaps his friends, Emmet tries to convince the rest of Apocalypseburg to go with him on a rescue mission and gives a pretty good Rousing Speech. They slam the door in his face in response.
• Rex’s backstory: He’s Emmet from the future, having been lost under Finn’s family’s dryer and was left there for years. Feeling abandoned and forgotten, he made himself into a tougher, seemingly more mature self and decided to go it alone since he felt he could no longer count on his friends.
  • His reaction when he sees Lucy come to Emmet's rescue. It's the only time his voice momentarily sounds like Emmet's voice.
  Rex: You came back for him?
  • How resigned Rex is to his fate when he begins to fade from existence. He even makes light of it, sounding almost relieved that he's dying.
    • Possibly justified, as Rex isn't actually dying. He's becoming an alternate timeline version of himself and, given the context, that's a Good Thing.
• After Lucy realizes that the Systarians were Good All Along, she tries to stop Emmet from destroying the wedding. Rex had already put the idea into his head that Lucy was brainwashed, so he's reluctant to believe her sudden change of heart. To twist the knife in further, Lucy tries to get Emmet's trust by apologizing for trying to make him harden his heart, and opens her own to him. This only makes Emmet more certain that she's been brainwashed because she put up this act for so long that being "dark and brooding" is all he knows her for.
  Lucy: Stop! Emmet, you don't know what you're doing!
  Emmet: This isn't the real you!
  Lucy: This is the real me! The truth is... this [my blue and purple hair] is my real hair. I used to sing and dance, and have colorful hair and I even loved "Everything is Awesome!"
  Emmet: [still reluctant] No, no! You would've told me! You hate that music! It isn't you!
  Lucy: Yes, I darkened my hair with a marker because I wanted people to think I was cool and grown-up! And then I tried to change you into someone tough too, and I was wrong! I like you the way you were! Sweet, innocent, kind!
  Emmet: [beat before his face hardens] The real Lucy would never say that.
  • The look on Lucy's face right after Emmet says this. The idea that Emmet genuinely believes Lucy would never like him the way he was just devastates her.
    • What’s worse, Lucy had started the movie keeping up her cool girl act and trying to get Emmet to mature, all the while hiding the fact she liked his sweet, kind nature. Here, she’s finally forced to face the consequences of her actions, as Emmet is becoming more dark, aggressive and broody simply because of him wanting to impress her and he ends up essentially rejecting her for not being her ‘usual’ self.
  • If you really stop and think about it, a lot of the catastrophic happenings in the film were caused by seemingly mundane decisions and twists of fate. The Systarians' poor communication led to the people of Bricksburg thinking that they can't be negotiated with, resulting in their animosity, and the latter's repetitive jumping to conclusions only replaying the vicious cycle. On a smaller note, Lucy not being more honest about her true self with Emmet during the five years of their relationship, as well as her wish to see Emmet mature, results in our protagonist not only taking the advice of the seemingly supportive Rex (who's actually a future him who wants to destroy most of the universe out of vengeance) but refusing to believe Lucy when she insists that the Systarians were Good All Along. Not to mention, the fact that Rex existed in the first place was because he was left to die underneath a dryer for several years while his friends partied with everyone, presumably under the belief that Emmet was still safe in Apocalypseburg. The reality that the smallest decisions can result in such immense consequences is a prevalent theme in this movie, which is a surprisingly realistic and symbolical lesson in a franchise like The LEGO Movie.
  • If you read this conversation as a parallel for the real-world argument between Finn and Bianca, then you have a young girl who looks up to her older brother having to see him suddenly act like someone she doesn't even recognize. Despite her best efforts to reach out to him and assure him that everything will be okay between them if he just listens, he's too stubborn and angry to hear her out. Poor Bianca...
  • Alternately, it can be read as a conflict between two sides of Finn's personality: The one feeling pressured to be "tough" and "grown-up" (probably by his teenage peers) and the one that realizes that the way he's acting isn't right. The "tough, grown-up" side wins.
• Finn breaking Bianca’s sets when she just wanted them to play together again.
  Finn: You ruined everything.
  Bianca: I just wanted you to play with me.
  • When Emmet destroys the wedding altar in the LEGO world, on the other hand, it causes the Systarians, including Unikitty, Benny, and Metalbeard, to cry, which if you may realize is actually symbolizing Bianca's shock and sadness. Emmet immediately realizes he did something wrong.
• The Master Builders and the Systarians being thrown into storage, and then all singing about how everything is NOT awesome.
  • Even worse? It says "THE END", and Lucy says it shouldn't be this way. Luckily, it was a fakeout. But still, had the film ended like that, Rex would've won.
• Lucy's reaction when Emmet tells her he grew up, just like he wanted, she smiles at him but feels disappointed when she liked him the way he was.
  • If you think about it for a moment, it makes sense. Lucy saw her friends immediately affected by the Systarians' music, and when she reunites with Emmet, she smiles at him knowing he's still the same guy she lived with for five years, until realizing he made her wish of becoming tough true. The moment is brief, but still sad for her.
• Queen Watevra & Batman during Armamageddon. When Emmet shatters their wedding cake altar, Queen Watevra is shattered as well. We then see Batman show more despair than he ever has in the franchise while he tries to hold on to the last piece of her face. She's sucked into the Bin of Storage, and Batman desperately gathers up her pieces while calling for her not to leave him until he's eventually sucked in too.
  Batman: My queen! No, no, no! Please, Don't Leave Me! MY QUEEN!!
  • Later in the sad song, Everything's Not Awesome, he sings that love isn't real and he just wants to eat carbs and ice cream in despair.
  • More heartbreaking considering his other romances in the LEGO films. The LEGO Movie? Ends his relationship with Lucy so she can be with Emmet. The LEGO Batman Movie? His crush on Barbara Gordon ends up unrequited, something that even he eventually realizes. And given how Batman is fully aware of his past incarnations who have either dumped or betrayed him, Lucy and Barbara were extra salt thrown into the wounds. In this movie? The first time he has ever felt genuine love for someone who loved him back and she's broken apart in Armamageddon, leaving him widowed at his wedding. Just... damn.
• On the real-world side of things, there are some hints that Finn and Bianca's father isn't doing his part in raising the kids: President Business, his stand-in in the Lego Universe, runs off to go play golf during the opening of the film, despite the obvious crisis surrounding him, which likely parallels some real-life incidents in the household. Later, he refuses to even get involved in the conflict between Finn and Bianca, leaving it up to their mother. His lack of interest is clearly having an effect on Finn, too.
• Rex brutally beating Emmet in Undar the Dryar to the point of incapacitating him, all while taunting him about how his friends had failed to save him. The look on Emmet's face, just before Lucy (thankfully) arrives, is heartbreaking as though he really believes in that moment that his friends never truly cared about him.