YMMV / The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

• Angst? What Angst?: Rex Dangervest (who is revealed to be Emmet from an alternate future) wants to get revenge on the Apocalypseburg citizens and the Systar System inhabitants for seemingly abandoning him on Undar of the Dryar System. He is also angry at them for saying that he's not tough and used those insults to give him strength. However, when talking to present-day Emmet about his true motives, Rex never mentions the citizens' insults. Thus implying that although he is mad at them, he's more upset that they abandoned him at all instead of also insulting him.
• Actor Shipping: This movie is the reason why people started shipping Will Arnett with Tiffany Haddish. Bonus points: They also like shipping their characters together, especially Haddish, with her even joking about Batman and Queen Watevra expecting.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • When Sweet Mayhem captures Lucy and the gang, the Apocalypseburg citizens blame Emmet. Did they decide to blame Emmet out of a Misplaced Retribution? Were they just being Hypocrites on not saving them and decide to put the blame on him? Or were they mad at Emmet because he opened the shelter gate at all and accidentally let Sweet Mayhem in, thus inadvertently causing the crew’s capture?
  • In the final fight against Sweet Mayhem, Lucy manages to knock her down a pit with her clinging onto dear life. Wait a minute... she has wings, can't she just fly out? Did her wings malfunction at that moment (maybe because they are emotionally connected) or did she just pretend to fall, just to see if Lucy would bother to save her?
  • Rex Dangervest invites a lot of different interpretations:
    • Did he genuinely care about Emmet as he claimed or was he lying to get him on his side?
    • How much is Rex his own being? He describes events that would be impossible for Finn to know, yet Finn was working on a narrative about time travel.
    • Tying into the above one, Emmet suspects that Rex is more or less just a figment of his imagination. What if it's true? Emmet was capable of foreseeing real events in the first movie, perhaps Rex is little more than a manifestation of his reluctance to grow up. That may also explain why other characters get to see him. Then again, the only other character seen interacting with him was Lucy, and she had an experience just like Emmet in the first movie not long before the final confrontation.
  • Batman being in Apocalypseburg; Did something bad happen to make him alone all again, or did he leave Gotham in the hands of Robin and Batgirl in order to help everyone here? Or is The LEGO Batman Movie not necessarily in the same timeline as The LEGO Movie?
  • While Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi is undeniably completely sincere with everything she says in "Not Evil", there is one line, heard only on the soundtrack, that caused some people to question her sincerity: "I never cry when I'm alone at night". Could that be the only time where she's actually lying? Maybe she had other reasons to marry Batman besides uniting the two worlds... By extension, a believer of this interpretation would also have to question the queen's assurance (also heard only on the soundtrack) that she never lies, not even when she has to assure people that she never lies.^note "Gotham City Guys" already casts doubt on this assurance.
• Alternate Self Shipping: People started shipping Emmett with Rex Dangervest, despite the fact that he's not only Emmett's future self, but the Big Bad as well.
• Anvilicious: The movie really hammers hard its message near the end: even though the world isn't always sunshine and roses, that doesn't mean the world is also 100% cynical, and people shouldn't be cynical all the time either.
• Applicability: The anti-bullying, pro-kindness moral is often seen as a take on toxic masculinity, even though that's not what the writers meant.
• Award Snub: Wasn't even nominated for any major awards in 2019. And, like the previous film, the Oscars largely ignored it for the 2020 animated feature category.
• Awesome Ego: Rex Dangervest. He is so cocky and overly confident about how cool he is that he could give Batman (who is himself an example) run for his money, but considering that he is a badass galaxy-defending archaelogist, cowboy and raptor trainer who pulls of a Magnificent Bastard-level plan to cause Armamageddon that almost succeeds can anyone really blame him?
• Base-Breaking Character: Rex Dangervest. On the one hand, you'll find fans who legitimately enjoy his hammy personality and his heartwarming interactions with Emmet. On the other, there are those who consider him to be obnoxiously self-righteous, an excuse for Chris Pratt to make self-indulgent Actor Allusions, and a bad influence for Emmet. Turns out the latter were right on the last part. Once Rex reveals himself as the Big Bad, his base split again. Some like this development, thinking that Emmet's future self being the movie's villain is an interesting idea. Others refuse to believe that someone as sweet as Emmet could actually turn into such a monster, and like to pretend that he never existed at all. Another area of discourse stems from his backstory and whether or not it makes him sympathetic enough. Some fans think that the fact that he was practically paralysed, all alone, forgotten and forced to watch his friends have fun without him as he kept reminding himself how he wasn't tough enough for years makes him a bit of a Tragic Villain while others point out that his friends had no way of finding him and that kick-starting the Armamageddon affects even those who didn't do anything to him, which makes his actions fall into Disproportionate Retribution.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The intermission scene. It only lasts a few seconds and takes place in the middle of another scene.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: The very name of "Armamageddon," coupled with the twist from the last movie, clued in audiences that the threat to the LEGO world would be Finn and Bianca's mother ending their game. Her actress was more of a surprise than her role.
• Catharsis Factor: A villainous example. While filled to the brim with tragedy, it's kind of satisfying seeing the Apocalypseburg citizens and the Systar System inhabitants get sucked into a black hole after being such big jerks towards Emmet. Despite the latter being the one who saved Bricksburg in the first place and inadvertently created Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi. In other words, Emmet accidentally falling into Rex's evil plan almost seems Worth It.
• Common Knowledge: Some people call Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi the "Queen of Duplos" or even imply that she herself is made from DUPLO, despite the fact that the DUPLO Aliens are long gone when she's introduced and that she's made from regular LEGO pieces since she's the heart that Emmet built as a peace offering.
• Contested Sequel: People can't decide whether or not the film is a worthy successor to the original, or just a cheap cash grab on the franchise. Most agree, however, that it pales to the original. Out of all the LEGO movies, TLM2 has had the second-lowest turnout for ticket sales; only The LEGO Ninjago Movie has smaller worldwide and domestic grosses. However, some TLM2 fans lay blame not just on its weaker critical reception compared to TLM, but also on such factors as the release occurring in the midst of a rough winter, and the spin-offs making the LEGO Movie franchise feel oversaturated.
• Crack Pairing: There are people out there who ship Emmet/Rex. That is all.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • Gandalf being one of the first falling into the abyss during Emmet's dream of (and then later the actual) Armamageddon is undoubtedly framed to look like his Heroic Sacrifice from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Though this ends up being less funny once it actually happens, but this also brings the reference full circle.
  • When Abraham Lincoln falls, his dialogue comically references his assassination.
    "I had theater tickets tonight!"
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Benny's Space Squad got love since its pre-movie set reveal for bringing more 80-something Spacemen into the franchise.
  • Balthazar, for being a rare Affectionate Parody of Edward Cullen. His chemistry with Unikitty also helps.
  • Wonder Woman and Duplo!Wonder Woman and Minidoll!Wonder Woman. They only appear in a few scenes, but it's always hilarious.
  • Susan, since her appearance caused a lot of Epileptic Trees to pop up. She retained her popularity, due to her cuteness.
  • An almost literal example is Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi's horse form, which she only appears as three times and yet gets more fan-art than her other forms.
  • Rex's raptors are adorable and provide good comedy.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • Another reason why Sweet Mayhem got so much attention. Though it turns out that she's not actually evil.
  • Rex Dangervest being a galaxy-defending archaeologist, cowboy that trains raptors and time travels, who pulls off an elaborate plan to initiate "Armamageddon" that comes close to succeeding.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • How would Finn's time travel story have gone if General Mayhem didn't kidnap Emmet's friends that day?
  • The movie confirms, through Aquaman and Wonder Woman, that different incarnations of the same character can exist at the same time. This practically invites fanfic writers to go nuts, due to LEGO having made or revised numerous incarnations of the same characters.
• Fan Nickname: "General Harley Quinn" for Sweet Mayhem, due to jarring similarities in terms of design.
• Foe Yay Shipping:
  • Sweet Mayhem prefers Lucy over Emmet, praising her as the supreme leader. This hasn't gone unnoticed, with shippy fanart of the two being made before the movie came out.
  • There are also a lot of people who ship Rex and Emmet despite being alternate reality versions of each other.
  • The creators of the film were already savvy of this beforehand. During the credits, the figures representing Emmet and Rex join hands, and then the figures of Lucy and Mayhem do the same.
• Genius Bonus:
  • What happens right after Larry says 'Purgatory'? All the babies get sucked into the portal.
  • A particularly layered one comes from Rex after Emmet causes Armamageddon and the others are put away in storage. Rex justifies his actions by quoting C. S. Lewis, who himself was referencing a scripture from The Bible, telling Emmet that "It's time to put away childish things", but completely misses the true meaning of Lewis' statement. In its proper context, the "childish" thing Lewis refers to putting away is actually the rejection of traditionally childish things, and the desire to appear "grown up". A truly mature adult would still be able to appreciate the things they enjoyed as children without reservation, whereas Rex's desperate attempts to appear grown up and edgy is actually a sign of immaturity.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The gang managing to prevent Armamageddon when in real life, Warner Bros. did their own Armamageddon and dropped the LEGO license after this film underperformed at the box office.
  • Lucy refusing to close the movie with "a downer cliffhanger ending" became ironic after another animated sequel written and produced by Phil Lord & Chris Miller dropped one after its own male lead lost his way home, then met his evil alternate-timeline counterpart; in the opposite order as Emmet.
• He Really Can Act:
  • The performance of Tiffany Haddish as Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi was widely praised, but who knew she could sing an awesome Villain Song like "Not Evil" so well?
  • Chris Pratt as Rex Dangervest, especially when he talks about his backstory. He's mostly known for playing heroic characters, and yet he does a pretty darn good job at playing the evil Rex; further evidenced when he tries to break Emmet.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Balthazar happily dancing to "Gotham City Guys", a song referencing every live-action, big-screen Batman from Adam West to Ben Affleck, provides a sweet early welcome to Balthazar's inspiration joining them.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • This doesn't mark the last time in 2019 that Chris Pratt and Cobie Smulders would appear in a sequel/crossover predominantly taking place after a five-year time skip from the previous film, involving a group of superheroes traveling to another planet to stop an alien menace; a character with an enraged form; a villain from another timeline arriving to destroy the universe; two major characters fighting over which one of them should perform a heroic sacrifice; and a character played by Pratt being knocked down by his girlfriend from a different timeline.
  • Batman meeting an Edward Cullen pastiche three months before WB announced that The Batman (2022) would star Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader. And this became doubly hilarious in 2024 when LEGO announced they were making an actual Twilight set.
  • The quick cameo with Doc Brown and the DeLorean Time Machine near the end of the movie was unexpected, along with the news of Universal (owners of the BTTF franchise) given the rights to the LEGO Movie franchise 10 months later.
  • Rex Dangervest is a reference to a lot of his actor Chris Pratt's previous characters. One of Rex's dinosaurs complains that he hates Mondays. In 2021, Pratt was cast in a Garfield movie with the titular cat being famous for hating Mondays.
• Idiosyncratic Ship Naming:
  • "Spaceshipping" has caught on for Benny/Sweet Mayhem.
  • "Prattfall" for Emmet/Rex, since they're both voiced by Chris Pratt and Rex started his existence by falling. It's also a good description for Rex's personality
• I Knew It!: Many fans guessed correctly that Sweet Mayhem and the inhabitants of Systar were not villains, with many also correctly guessing that Rex Dangervest was.
• Les Yay: Sweet Mayhem's admiration for Lucy can come off as this in-universe. The fact that she was the one to get through Lucy's cold facade only adds to it.
• Like You Would Really Do It: The Fake-Out Fade-Out is this for some, considering how a potential third movie wouldn't have much to work with. It's especially noticeable watching the movie as a video, since there are still a good 20 minutes left before the credits roll.
• Magnificent Bastard: Rex Dangervest is the evil, time-traveling Emmet Brickowski from the future who seeks to break the LEGO world. Desiring revenge upon his former friends for not saving him from under the dryer, Rex constructs a Time Machine spaceship to travel back in time, pick up a crew of raptors, and rescue his past self from the accident that got him stuck there in the first place. Presenting himself as the cool brotherly mentor and exploiting the poor communication on everyone's part, Rex successfully manipulates Emmet to ignore his kind heart and use his anger to break the wedding of Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi and Batman, thus bringing forth Armamageddon upon the LEGO world. When Emmet realizes the truth and rejects Rex's teachings, Rex throws him under the dryer and tries to break his child-like spirit to ensure that he'll become just like Rex himself. After being thwarted by Lucy, who saves Emmet and destroys Rex's time machine, Rex calmly admits defeat and wishes Emmet to be a better man than him as he fades from existence.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • It's become a Running Gag to comment on videos of the music that "Catchy Song" isn't really the catchiest song in the movie.
  • "Don't touch me while I'm Spaceshipping!"
  • "I'm Not Brainwashed!" "Exactly what a brainwashed person would say..."
  • #RestoreTheLEGOVerse^Explanation The underwhelming box office sales of this movie led to Warner Bros. cancelling two planned movies in the franchise, one of them being a sequel to The LEGO Batman Movie, and selling the rights to future movies to Universal. Those who think Warner Bros. gave up on the franchise too soon, and especially those who want a sequel to LEGO Batman, use this hashtag to demand for them to revive the franchise, similarly to the "Restore the Snyder Verse" hashtag.
• Memetic Psychopath: Rex Dangervest naturally became this, due to his destructive nature. Somewhat helped by the fact that he plans on locking both the Apocalypseburgers and the Systarians into the Bin of Storaj for all eternity (honestly, the former deserved this). However, many exaggerate his ability to walk around freely, turning him into a Creepy Doll who could and would murder Finn and Bianca if he wanted to.
• Moe:
  • Sweet Mayhem is really adorable when Lucy removes her helmet. The fact that she was only wearing it to not feel ignored only contributes to it.
  • And then there is her creator, Bianca. Whether or not you think she acted like a Spoiled Brat, it's hard to not find her party-loving attitude adorable.
• Moral Event Horizon: Rex crosses it when he tries to trap Emmet under the dryer for years, to prove that his friends won't come to his rescue. Luckily, he's proven wrong.
• Older Than They Think: "Catchy Song" is not the first song with the lyrics of "It's so catchy!"; Honest Trailers titled their "Under the Sea" parody after the phrase.
• One True Threesome: Since people enjoy Emmet/Lucy but still don't want to bury Lucy's chemistry with Sweet Mayhem, the fanbase just resorted to shipping Emmet/Lucy/Mayhem, instead of creating a Ship-to-Ship Combat.
• Paranoia Fuel: Rex Dangervest is capable of moving on his own and going against the wishes of his masters. Think about that for a few seconds...
• Portmanteau Couple Name:
  • "Batevra" for Batman/Queen Watevra
  • "Sweetstyle" for Sweet Mayhem/Lucy^note This could also count as Idiosyncratic Ship Naming, but it's still a combination of their names
• The Problem with Licensed Games: While the first game is an inversion of this trope, the sequel's video game isn't. Many of its issues are due to being built off of LEGO Worlds, which includes all the flaws from that game (such as the camera system clipping through the terrain in several parts, for example). The real kicker here though, is that the game does a half-assed job at adapting the story. None of the cutscenes are voiced (or recreations of the scenes from the movie!), with only Lucy narrating everything, and the ending is blatantly unfinished. Many of the side quests drag on for too long, the worlds are uninspired, none of the characters have their own unique abilities, and the Nintendo Switch version of the game has a plethora of performance problems. The result is an Obvious Beta that many fans consider to be the worst LEGO game ever released.
• Presumed Flop: The film has often been described as a bomb by movie journalists. Its $199.6 million gross was a severe disappointment, no doubt about it, but it still ended up just barely earning back its $99 million budget in theaters (and toy sales put it firmly in the black). This still wasn't enough for Warner Bros. though, and they let their rights to the franchise lapse.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: The LEGO Friends "Minidolls" are generally disliked due to their much less complex designs compared to the Minifigures. Sweet Mayhem, however, managed to garner significant interest due to being surprisingly cool in spite of being a Minidoll, along with being an interesting character.
• Self-Fanservice:
  • Humanized fan-art of Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi usually portrays her as very pretty and dainty, with a head full of hair. This clashes with Tiffany Haddish's deep voice for the character and the implications that Watevra is quite full-wrecked.
    • Later, some people became more fond of drawing her as a muscular woman, which, while still a lot more attractive than she really is, is also a lot more accurate to her character.
  • While Sweet Mayhem is actually pretty cute under her helmet some portray her as outright sexy, with some fanart even having her do a Boobs-and-Butt Pose... which is something that she's unable to do in canon, since her legs are one piece.
  • Expect any humanized fanart of Rex Dangervest to depict him as a buff, messy haired Mr. Fanservice.
• Ship Mates: Besides the obvious Emmett/Lucy, there is the also-canon Batman/Queen Watevra, Benny/Sweet Mayhem and Unikitty/Balthazar to consider.
• Spiritual Adaptation: Stop me if you've heard this one. A cynical future version of the idealistic main character travels back in time to break his past self's ideals. Said past self learns skills from said future self, under the advice that he needs to visualize his success, and ends up finding a solution to his inner conflict by adopting a more nuanced version of his previously-held ideals. In this sense, this film is startlingly similar to Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works].
• Strangled by the Red String: Batman and Queen Watevra could be seen as this. The only reason Watevra wanted to marry him is to unite their kingdoms and make peace. Meanwhile, Batman wasn't interested in her until she said she really wanted Superman. They fall for each other when they both recognize that they're lonely and only had their servants for company most of their lives. Afterwards, they become smitten with each other-much to Ice Cream Cone's annoyance. Possibly justified, as this relationship is being acted out by a young girl who most likely doesn't know how to develop romantic relationships properly yet.
• Strawman Has a Point:
  • While Finn is portrayed as a Big Brother Bully for destroying Bianca's Lego set, the fact remains that she took several of his figures and pieces without asking and modified some of them with glitter and other craft supplies. While he could've responded in a more mature manner, who wouldn't be upset about their property being stolen and defaced? This is also coming after five years of having to deal with Bianca constantly destroying his Lego creations without any interference from his parent.
  • General Mayhem questions why Emmett, the "hapless male", is the leader when Wyldstyle was the one who did all the work. The previous movie points out that a leader isn't determined by who's the best fighter, but rather who's the best at coming up with plans and keeping the team together - which, apparently, doesn't count as 'work' according to Mayhem. However, this is rather justified given that Sweet Mayhem is the in-universe Author Avatar of Bianca, who, being only 8 or 9 years old, is likely unaware of the finer points of leadership. Also, in a place like Apocalypseburg, it would be expected that the toughest and most skilled fighter would be the leader; the fact that that wasn't true probably caught Sweet Mayhem off guard.
  • Since the inhabitants of Apocalypseburg have spent years dealing with Duplo invasions that have left Bricksburg in a permanent state of post-apocalyptic disrepair, is it any wonder why they're distrustful of anything from the Systar System?
• Theme Pairing:
  • Sweet Mayhem and "Wyldstyle" Lucy are shipped on the basis of being an action-oriented, Light Feminine Dark Feminine couple. The former is a Dark Action Girl with a swapped color palette (Mayhem's hues are pale pink and sparkly sky blue) while the Wyldstyle is a heroic Action Girl who wears black and fluorescent shades of pink and sky blue. Additionally, they find themselves in equivalent roles despite being at opposite ends of the conflict. One is The Dragon and the other is The Lancer. Not counting Mayhem's bad case of hero worship over Wyldstyle, which would turn their dynamic into something akin to Hero/Hero-Worshipper.
  • Sweet Mayhem is also paired with Benny because both of them wear spacesuits and have a cheery disposition.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • It's a bit disappointing that, for a movie that focuses on figures that are usually ignored by LEGO's Periphery Demographic, there is only one non-minifigure or brick-built character in the main cast: Sweet Mayhem. All the other Minidolls get pushed to the side, no Duplo characters are named (except for Duplo Wonder Woman) and the Fabuland figures get a 5-second cameo, despite having a decent-sized role in the plot. “Constraction” lines don’t feature in the film at all.
  • Lord Business immediately leaving once the Duplo Aliens show up, prevented an interesting plot about him dealing with his city being wrecked and him adjusting to the apocalypse. There is also the fact that, if he had also been kidnapped, it's likely that he would've been married off to Queen Watevra instead of Batman, since he is the leader of Octan corporation and the world. To be fair, in the movie, Lord Business staying out of the plot mirrors Finn and Bianca's father being absent save for a flashback and an occasional line of dialogue off-camera.
  • While all of the new introduced characters get some sort of recognition, Susan is by far the character whom many would call wasted, since the movie actively subverts Princesses Rule. However, she doesn't have much dialogue and her relationship with the Queen or other Systarians isn't explored at all.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Puppycorn and Unikitty’s castle from the spinoff animated series has a cameo.
  • Lord Business's inclusion in the minifigure series was a surprise since many thought he died off-screen. He doesn’t have much screen time though, bailing at the Duplos’ first sign of aggression to golf.
    • Likewise, Bad Cop's return was even more unexpected, since he didn't appear in any promotional material.
  • Harley Quinn's appearance isn't too surprising. However, the Suicide Squad version of Harley being in the movie instead of her The LEGO Batman Movie counterpart is.
  • Similarly, Aquaman shows up, voiced by Jason Momoa, who plays him in the DCEU.
  • Pretty much nobody expected the four main characters of The Wizard of Oz^note Toto, too! to make an appearance let alone be made into official minifigures, since Lego only used that license for one world in LEGO Dimensions and a cameo of the Wicked Witch in The LEGO Batman Movie.
  • It's safe to say that no one on the planet (aside from the creators of the movie) expected United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to be making a cameo, albeit not voiced by herself.
  • Who else was expecting Adam from Hot Tub Time Machine to cameo?
  • And finally, Bruce Willis makes a surprise cameo as himself! Twice! ^note  Thrice, if you count an offscreen grunt by him.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: While The Reveal asserts that the Systar System inhabitants never meant the Apocalypseburgers any harm and only wanted them to change for the better and live in harmony, the fact still remains that they kidnapped their leaders, forced them through a personality-altering therapy none of them agreed to, with Wyldstyle especially obviously not enjoying any of it and then just assumed everything would be hunky-dory without any repercussions. Yes, part of this can be chalked up to them not knowing how to communicate, but that still makes no excuse for basically trying to brainwash someone into seeing things your way.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Queen. Watevra. Wa'Nabi. The sheer creativity her shapeshifting involves and her smooth animation are eye candy in its purest form.

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