LEGO Monkie Kid 2022

[Takanuinuva]

I am curious why after Zane's Titan Mech and Nya's Samurai X Mech. That they went back to no knees on this. (Maybe the jet attachment made it too top heavy?)

But shouldn't be too hard to give it the same knee build as Zane's Titan Mech.

[a guy from somewhere]

New listings from promobricks, looks like we’re getting a team hideout, so a static base was a good call, I’m desperately hoping for the containers now, and apparently we are having a brick built mech for the elephant, maybe something like the demon bull king from wave 1? Sounds interesting, but I’m concerned with the prices of 140 usd and 80 usd respectively. Seems like a very expensive wave, I’m hoping we get smaller sets as we did with the hover bike back in 2021.

[Lyichir]

4 hours ago, a guy from somewhere said:

New listings from promobricks, looks like we’re getting a team hideout, so a static base was a good call, I’m desperately hoping for the containers now, and apparently we are having a brick built mech for the elephant, maybe something like the demon bull king from wave 1? Sounds interesting, but I’m concerned with the prices of 140 usd and 80 usd respectively. Seems like a very expensive wave, I’m hoping we get smaller sets as we did with the hover bike back in 2021.

Hm... the Yellow Tusk Elephant getting their own set in addition to appearing here does suggest that those three demons might be the primary antagonists of this year's sets. Which is fine, though I do still hope for other enemy and ally characters to show up here and there.

I wouldn't necessarily assume that all of the sets will be this big since the three Promobricks has info on are at the "end" of the numbered order for this wave—presumably 80040 and 80041 will be cheaper, since sets released at the same time often tend to be numbered from cheaper to more expensive.

That said, the fact that there's only five sets listed seems to imply you might have to get all five to collect all of the heroes' weapons (or possibly wait until the summer wave, where some of them might reappear). That'd be a little more challenging than this year's fire rings, which were distributed rather generously between the different sets. Then again, these new weapons are also a good deal more complex/elaborate than the fire rings that varied only in their color.

[a guy from somewhere]

50 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

Hm... the Yellow Tusk Elephant getting their own set in addition to appearing here does suggest that those three demons might be the primary antagonists of this year's sets. Which is fine, though I do still hope for other enemy and ally characters to show up here and there.

I wouldn't necessarily assume that all of the sets will be this big since the three Promobricks has info on are at the "end" of the numbered order for this wave—presumably 80040 and 80041 will be cheaper, since sets released at the same time often tend to be numbered from cheaper to more expensive.

That said, the fact that there's only five sets listed seems to imply you might have to get all five to collect all of the heroes' weapons (or possibly wait until the summer wave, where some of them might reappear). That'd be a little more challenging than this year's fire rings, which were distributed rather generously between the different sets. Then again, these new weapons are also a good deal more complex/elaborate than the fire rings that varied only in their color.

Agreed, judging of the box art (both the show and the “gotta catch them all” gimmick), the parts all utilise existing molds, such as the dragon bone blade hilt and the original monkey king staff, and obviously we can see in the mech that the candle part is used, but also use a variety of brand new molds, quite possibly a new one for each weapon. Another side note I’ve noticed, the background for the “crew shot” from the show on the box has the weird stone tablet with the carved runes we saw at the end of season 3, so obviously it’s playing a bigger part, and I think it’s safe to say going of tangs expression that these are our regular guys just with new outfits. Very excited though, and I’m hoping we get more leaks soon! 

[Lyichir]

Having mostly built this on Stud.io, a couple thoughts about this new version:

• It seems a LOT sturdier than the previous Monkey Mech. The old one had a sturdy core, but depending on how you held it it was easy to accidentally knock off the gold spoiler pieces (some of which were secured by a single clip), the foil flags (also attached by one clip each), the fingers (again, attached by a single clip each), or the arches on the cockpit hatch (which could become detached if you gripped the torso wrong). The new version replaces the thin flagpoles with robust Technic frames for the foil cloud "wings", its cockpit hatch is more robust, its fingers are broader and more secure, and its angled armor plating is secured much more reliably.
• It's a little thing but I appreciate that the spring-loaded missiles (which can be attached on either side of the jet or over the shoulders of the mech) have a closing latch in front of them to prevent accidental misfires when not in use. I love a good shooting function, but those spring-loaded missiles are easy to accidentally launch with a gentle nudge.
• I'm a bigger fan of the use of foil in the new version. As mentioned before, the flags on the earlier version were easy to knock off or just align in a weird way, and the foil "skirt" and fabric cape, while cool, felt like a bit of a cheat with how much of the back and legs they covered. The new version trades the foil skirt for brick-built flaps that add some great geometric detail, and the back is nicely finished as well even when the jet is detached.
• The new staff is longer and more elaborate than the previous one (58 studs long instead of just 52), and the way it can be attached to the hands is both less obtrusive and a little more flexible.
• A lot of the shaping for the torso, arms, legs, and feet is much less blocky, with more angles and curves and fewer exposed studs.
• The head shaping is also much more streamlined, though a little more bulky in the forehead area. The light brick is a really cool feature. I really like the foil ribbons, which seem to curve a little more naturally than the dinosaur tails used for the old version.
• The jet that can be mounted to the back as a backpack is a cool feature, and reminds me of my mod to the original that attached the Cloud Jet as a backpack. This jet, of course, is much smaller/lighter, so probably won't compromise stability as much. Speaking of which, the new blade pieces on the jet once again tickle my fancy as a Bionicle fan.
• Color-wise, the set makes interesting use of both "pearl gold" and drum-lacquered gold. The arms, shoulder-pads, knees, feet, and cockpit use pearl gold, while the head, armor plating for the torso, "skirt", and ankles use lacquered gold. I know some people aren't fans of using both golds, and I'm not always, but it seems quite well-organized here.
• The figs in the new set look great. The three demons are interesting and varied but also have a fairly harmonious color scheme between the three of them. Monkey King has his circlet for the first time in the theme, Tang wears Tang Sanzang's outfit including an awesome-looking new crown piece, and both Monkey King and Tang have really detailed leg printing on both the front and sides of the legs. And MK's new armor looks great and feels like it could work for fantasy/historical settings as well as the more sci-fi use here as a mech jumpsuit.

[a guy from somewhere]

8 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

Having mostly built this on Stud.io, a couple thoughts about this new version:

• It seems a LOT sturdier than the previous Monkey Mech. The old one had a sturdy core, but depending on how you held it it was easy to accidentally knock off the gold spoiler pieces (some of which were secured by a single clip), the foil flags (also attached by one clip each), the fingers (again, attached by a single clip each), or the arches on the cockpit hatch (which could become detached if you gripped the torso wrong). The new version replaces the thin flagpoles with robust Technic frames for the foil cloud "wings", its cockpit hatch is more robust, its fingers are broader and more secure, and its angled armor plating is secured much more reliably.
• It's a little thing but I appreciate that the spring-loaded missiles (which can be attached on either side of the jet or over the shoulders of the mech) have a closing latch in front of them to prevent accidental misfires when not in use. I love a good shooting function, but those spring-loaded missiles are easy to accidentally launch with a gentle nudge.
• I'm a bigger fan of the use of foil in the new version. As mentioned before, the flags on the earlier version were easy to knock off or just align in a weird way, and the foil "skirt" and fabric cape, while cool, felt like a bit of a cheat with how much of the back and legs they covered. The new version trades the foil skirt for brick-built flaps that add some great geometric detail, and the back is nicely finished as well even when the jet is detached.
• The new staff is longer and more elaborate than the previous one (58 studs long instead of just 52), and the way it can be attached to the hands is both less obtrusive and a little more flexible.
• A lot of the shaping for the torso, arms, legs, and feet is much less blocky, with more angles and curves and fewer exposed studs.
• The head shaping is also much more streamlined, though a little more bulky in the forehead area. The light brick is a really cool feature. I really like the foil ribbons, which seem to curve a little more naturally than the dinosaur tails used for the old version.
• The jet that can be mounted to the back as a backpack is a cool feature, and reminds me of my mod to the original that attached the Cloud Jet as a backpack. This jet, of course, is much smaller/lighter, so probably won't compromise stability as much. Speaking of which, the new blade pieces on the jet once again tickle my fancy as a Bionicle fan.
• Color-wise, the set makes interesting use of both "pearl gold" and drum-lacquered gold. The arms, shoulder-pads, knees, feet, and cockpit use pearl gold, while the head, armor plating for the torso, "skirt", and ankles use lacquered gold. I know some people aren't fans of using both golds, and I'm not always, but it seems quite well-organized here.
• The figs in the new set look great. The three demons are interesting and varied but also have a fairly harmonious color scheme between the three of them. Monkey King has his circlet for the first time in the theme, Tang wears Tang Sanzang's outfit including an awesome-looking new crown piece, and both Monkey King and Tang have really detailed leg printing on both the front and sides of the legs. And MK's new armor looks great and feels like it could work for fantasy/historical settings as well as the more sci-fi use here as a mech jumpsuit.

Wow, well done! Definitely putting that one HD pic of the back to good use! I take it there are no new parts to the actual mech? And the knees are static? Rather interesting. Is there any new techniques? Are the ankles the same old single ball joint that will inevitably make this a bit of a pain to get right? I'm continuously amazed at the dedication and lengths the Lego community will go to to get stuff like this done. Again, well done!

[Lyichir]

53 minutes ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Wow, well done! Definitely putting that one HD pic of the back to good use! I take it there are no new parts to the actual mech? And the knees are static? Rather interesting. Is there any new techniques? Are the ankles the same old single ball joint that will inevitably make this a bit of a pain to get right? I'm continuously amazed at the dedication and lengths the Lego community will go to to get stuff like this done. Again, well done!

Yeah, knees are fixed, with hinge plates in the front and Mixel joints in the back to lock in the angle. Ankles are a single ball joint. Hard to judge how stable the ankles will be without having it in hand, but they've made it work before with similar techniques to brace the ankles against the feet.

As for new techniques, I didn't notice anything too dramatic—mostly just standard hinges, SNOT, and other techniques used for multidirectional shaping. But it works—it doesn't seem to have a bad angle to view it from.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Lyichir

[Killian]

Monkey King's Tiger loincloth and gold headband, the animal demons and Tang's monk garb make me wonder if this wave of sets involve MK and Mei going back in time to witness the events of the original JTTW? It'd be pretty funny to see the original pilgrims reaction to a mech! Or to see MK meet the Demon Bull family before DBK and LBD's imprisonments and Spider Queen's original defeat. Sun Wukong time travelling was a theme in Xiyoubu, the sequel to JTTW. 

I passed on the original Monkey Mech. But I bought the stickers on BL and made a bigger version of Pigsy's Noodles/MK's Apartment. I'll get the new Mech though for the Minifigures.

I find it weird that set 80045 doesn't have Tang Sanzang's iconic staff, since the character is represented in the set (can't wait to see the new Lego piece for it though). Maybe each set will only include 1 collectable weapon? Shame it's not like Ninjago Crystalized where we got all the Golden Weapons in almost every set.

I'm surprised The Rhino Demon King isn't in the new set, since he's kind of been in the show; though I made my own with the minifig parts in set 10782.

I hope we get some of the various Buddhas in the other sets since they were important sources of Deus Ex Machina in the novel. Lego likes making Chinese deity minifigs, we've had Caishen, Erlang, Laojun and Nezha so far, I'd love to get Guanyin, Gautama and The Jade Emporer minifigs.

Looking at the box art, it looks like Pigsy's rake is missing 3 prongs, it had 9 in the book. Still, the red 3 pronged Lego pitchfork we've had previously didn't cut it lol.

I wonder if the new design of the gold parts on MK's staff will replace the gold sections on the staff that we've had for the last couple of years? Glad I have plenty of that gold piece from various MK sets and my many 30562 polybags I picked up during that promo.

I predict that Red Son will appear in this wave, since he's such a fan favourite character. It'd be cool if we got a Ninjago style white dragon build for Bai Long Ma/Ao Lie, The Original White Dragon Horse. Or even a minifig representing his human guise from the old Journey To The West TV show, or even a new minifig scale white horse animal. Maybe we'll get minifigs of Sandy and Pigsy in their traditional outfits from the novel.

I hope a trailer for season 4 drops soon.

 

[a guy from somewhere]

1 minute ago, Killian said:

Monkey King's Tiger loincloth and gold headband, the animal demons and Tang's monk garb make me wonder if this wave of sets involve MK and Mei going back in time to witness the events of the original JTTW? It'd be pretty funny to see the original pilgrims reaction to a mech! Or to see MK meet the Demon Bull family before DBK and LBD's imprisonments and Spider Queen's original defeat. Sun Wukong time travelling was a theme in Xiyoubu, the sequel to JTTW. 

I passed on the original Monkey Mech. But I bought the stickers on BL and made a bigger version of Pigsy's Noodles/MK's Apartment. I'll get the new Mech though for the Minifigures.

I find it weird that set 80045 doesn't have Tang Sanzang's iconic staff, since the character is represented in the set (can't wait to see the new Lego piece for it though). Maybe each set will only include 1 collectable weapon? Shame it's not like Ninjago Crystalized where we got all the Golden Weapons in almost every set.

I'm surprised The Rhino Demon King isn't in the new set, since he's kind of been in the show; though I made my own with the minifig parts in set 10782.

I hope we get some of the various Buddhas in the other sets since they were important sources of Deus Ex Machina in the novel. Lego likes making Chinese deity minifigs, we've had Caishen, Erlang, Laojun and Nezha so far, I'd love to get Guanyin, Gautama and The Jade Emporer minifigs.

Looking at the box art, it looks like Pigsy's rake is missing 3 prongs, it had 9 in the book. Still, the red 3 pronged Lego pitchfork we've had previously didn't cut it lol.

I wonder if the new design of the gold parts on MK's staff will replace the gold sections on the staff that we've had for the last couple of years? Glad I have plenty of that gold piece from various MK sets and my many 30562 polybags I picked up during that promo.

I predict that Red Son will appear in this wave, since he's such a fan favourite character. It'd be cool if we got a Ninjago style white dragon build for Bai Long Ma/Ao Lie, The Original White Dragon Horse. Or even a minifig representing his human guise from the old Journey To The West TV show, or even a new minifig scale white horse animal. Maybe we'll get minifigs of Sandy and Pigsy in their traditional outfits from the novel.

I hope a trailer for season 4 drops soon.

 

Very insightful! I do agree, it's weird that tang appears in traditional garb but without his staff, I'm holding out hope that this means we get his staff in another set with him in normal outfit, as I probably won't be picking up the dronecopter. I'm not sure how far lego will stray into making Buddhas, considering they don't like making gods and deites, although they made a massive set for heaven so I'd say its not out of the realm of possibility, and it would certainly be interesting. I'm going back and forth on time travel, mainly as it is very hard to do a good time travel plot, although id be excited to see how it goes. Are you able to identify the stone tablet/scroll looking thing that the gang are all standing behind on the box art? As in does it come from the books? It also appeared in the final few seconds of last seasons finale, behind Wukong and MK (do we actually know what his original name is?). Also, if anyone has pics of monkie kid Mocs, please do share! Theres barley any online and I'm currently building my own street of the small shops that occupy the 8x8 footprint, I'd love to know how your extended noodle shop turned out!

[Killian]

4 hours ago, a guy from somewhere said:

 Are you able to identify the stone tablet/scroll looking thing that the gang are all standing behind on the box art? As in does it come from the books? It also appeared in the final few seconds of last seasons finale, behind Wukong and MK (do we actually know what his original name is?). Also, if anyone has pics of monkie kid Mocs, please do share! Theres barley any online and I'm currently building my own street of the small shops that occupy the 8x8 footprint, I'd love to know how your extended noodle shop turned out!

I don't recognise the scroll from the novel, unless it's one of the Scripture Scrolls the pilgrims were fetching. Some of the symbols could represent different animal demons maybe? I heard one theory that it's to do with the Chinese Zodiac, but I don't know.

All we know about MK's real name is from the Sleep Bug episode where we find out that it's long and hard to say. 

I've taken some pics of my expanded Pigsy's Noodles;

 

[Killian]

Hope you like my Noodle Shop?

 

Just found this video online that delves into Time Travel in Monkie Kid, Oracle Bone Script, The 4 Pillars of Destiny and the Zodiac symbols on the scroll. 

 

[a guy from somewhere]

Alright @Killian, you’ve swayed me! Im gonna be hopping on the time travel train now. Pretty interesting, I have to say. And beautiful work on the noodle shop, I love the clean white look of the white walls and simple tree behind the arcade machine, and the interior looks really nice, MKs gaming area looks about right with what we know about him. The brick built sign is pretty good work as well. As for the video, thank you for sharing! I think this could definitely be an option now, especially with the box art on the ultra mech being in the celestial realm, or something similar. 

[Killian]

1 hour ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Alright @Killian, you’ve swayed me! Im gonna be hopping on the time travel train now. Pretty interesting, I have to say. And beautiful work on the noodle shop,  As for the video, thank you for sharing! I think this could definitely be an option now, especially with the box art on the ultra mech being in the celestial realm, or something similar. 

Thanks      

The author of that video has some really well researched and presented videos on how the symbolism in JTTW affects the Monkie Kid toys and the show.

She's convinced me pretty well that Macaque is a Sun Wukong hair clone gone bad similarly to how MK's Party Clone went bad and made his own clones.

In the context of the original novel, Macaque is a part of SW, representing his dark thoughts that need to be overcome. The 6 ears thing is more symbolic, so it makes sense that he has 2 ears in the show. He looks like SW, seems to have the same powers as SW and MK (SW references SEM has a trashy version of his own powers in season 3).. Can lift the staff (even when MK is pushing down on it) but he doesn't have the same power level as SW; hence needing to get a power boost from MK. Not sure why SW can't poof him away if that's the case though, it'd be cool if we get an origin story for Macaque someday.

I think there may be some weight to her theory that MK is descended from one of SW's children from the sequel novels. We never see SW bestow his powers on MK, MK is able to lift the staff before he ever meets SW, so it's likely he was born with Sun Wukong's abilities. The original concept art even shows MK with a tail, suggesting that Lego were considering having him be at least part Monkey at the character development stage. Maybe MK's eventual power creep will allow him to access a simian "final form" eventually? Some of his minifigures have a similar face marking to SEM and SW.

I love how deep the lore goes, and Lego are aware of it all too. There's so much potential.

[Bloquerto]

On 11/9/2022 at 1:39 PM, Killian said:

I'm surprised The Rhino Demon King isn't in the new set, since he's kind of been in the show; though I made my own with the minifig parts in set 10782.

Hey, that's awesome!!! Could you share pictures of him please? 

[Killian]

17 hours ago, Bloquerto said:

Hey, that's awesome!!! Could you share pictures of him please? 

Here he is. I'll probably improve him at some point, but he's my placeholder until Lego makes one that matches how he looks in the show.

 

 

[Killian]

2 more set names have leaked.

There's going to be a Monkie Kid Team Hideout and a Yellow Tusk Elephant, which will probably be a large creature like The Demon Bull King, so the Elephant could be the main antagonist of season 4? Or at least the biggest.

[Lyichir]

6 hours ago, Killian said:

2 more set names have leaked.

There's going to be a Monkie Kid Team Hideout and a Yellow Tusk Elephant, which will probably be a large creature like The Demon Bull King, so the Elephant could be the main antagonist of season 4? Or at least the biggest.

The Yellow Tusk Elephant also shows up as a minifigure in the new Monkey Mech, so presumably the set with their name is either a mech for them or a giant version of them. If it's a mech, I'm curious whether it'll be a typical two-legged mech or something more like the mammoth mech from Chima (though presumably much more advanced, given how far Lego mechs have come since then).

[Killian]

OMG! Look at Sandy, Tang and DBK! I kinda want some of these minifigs!

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004945851704.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.140e101bpTGMs5&ad_pvid=202211170658574766160457901480000783595_3&s=p

[Killian]

On 11/10/2022 at 7:23 AM, a guy from somewhere said:

Alright @Killian, you’ve swayed me! Im gonna be hopping on the time travel train now. As for the video, thank you for sharing! I think this could definitely be an option now, especially with the box art on the ultra mech being in the celestial realm, or something similar. 

Just been thinking... in season 1 the Gold and Silver Demons seek out MK and have a rivalry with him even though he's never met them before. We all assumed it was just because he's Sun Wukong's heir... But what if it's because MK does travel back in time in season 4 so they have actually met him before, just the season 4 future  version of MK?

[a guy from somewhere]

18 hours ago, Killian said:

Just been thinking... in season 1 the Gold and Silver Demons seek out MK and have a rivalry with him even though he's never met them before. We all assumed it was just because he's Sun Wukong's heir... But what if it's because MK does travel back in time in season 4 so they have actually met him before, just the season 4 future  version of MK?

This is perfect, I really hope we see this in the show. I know the writers are pretty good at hinting for future things, and not forgetting important details. I was 100% convinced that the girl LBD possesses would be completely forgotten at the end of season 3 but no, she did come back. Maybe a new friend of the team as well, that could be interesting. anyways if time travel is where we are going, I cant wait! Really hoping we see the new sets soon, that MK base sounds really exciting. Please for the love of god let it be a shipping yard or something container based!

[Steinar]

On 11/8/2022 at 3:09 AM, Takanuinuva said:

I am curious why after Zane's Titan Mech and Nya's Samurai X Mech. That they went back to no knees on this. (Maybe the jet attachment made it too top heavy?)

But shouldn't be too hard to give it the same knee build as Zane's Titan Mech.

Zane's mech is around 800 pieces, and I'd say the bottom half is sturdier than the top half. This new MK mech is 1700 pieces? I don't think the knee joint from Zane's can handle that weight. I tried a heavier torso on my own, and it became floppy. 

Nya's knee design could be better, but that too would get floppy with a heavier torso. 

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, Steinar said:

Zane's mech is around 800 pieces, and I'd say the bottom half is sturdier than the top half. This new MK mech is 1700 pieces? I don't think the knee joint from Zane's can handle that weight. I tried a heavier torso on my own, and it became floppy. 

Nya's knee design could be better, but that too would get floppy with a heavier torso. 

I think one issue with the knees from Nya's mech that might have to do with why they opted against it here is how they aren't the prettiest—three ball joints worth of friction requires a lot of bulky Technic. Nya's mech got away with it in part due to the large windscreen pieces to cover the knees, but that's honestly a bit of a cheat and would spoil the really nice shaping this mech has going on in the legs.

And yeah, weight is probably a factor—this mech looks quite bulky even WITHOUT the added weight of the jet attachment and staff, let alone with all that additional weight added to it. So it's possible that even those knees wouldn't be able to bear that weight in the long term.

[Killian]

There's never very much frequent discussion about adventure themes such as Monkie Kid on this site, maybe one or two replies to a thread every few days or so on average. Same with some other threads about different themes. Does anybody know of any other, more popular and active, online Lego forums where the discussion is a bit livelier? Or is the lack of ongoing, regular chat about in-house action themes just indicative of their lack of popularity compared to licensed themes?

[a guy from somewhere]

2 minutes ago, Killian said:

There's never very much frequent discussion about adventure themes such as Monkie Kid on this site, maybe one or two replies to a thread every few days or so on average. Same with some other threads about different themes. Does anybody know of any other, more popular and active, online Lego forums where the discussion is a bit livelier? Or is the lack of ongoing, regular chat about in-house action themes just indicative of their lack of popularity compared to licensed themes?

Not me replying to this as fast as possible to disprove the point (fighting a losing battle anyways I think) 

Maybe some discord servers, although they can be a bit hit or miss, I dont really use them, although I'd like to know if there are any other forums, but eurobricks has always been the the big one, in terms of forums anyways. It also doesn't help that monkie kid in particular isn't very popular in the west ( I take it most of us here are from the americas and Europe) and there also is only 5 people following this 2022 forum. Speaking of which, maybe a 2023 page is in order. its also unlikely that the stars align and a frequent eurobricks user is also a monkie kid fan, and such we are few and far between. We get the occasional guest like 1414falconfan, who gives us leaks or corrects info, but thats about it. would love to see some more activity though, maybe a push for this is in order.

[Bloquerto]

2 hours ago, Killian said:

There's never very much frequent discussion about adventure themes such as Monkie Kid on this site, maybe one or two replies to a thread every few days or so on average. Same with some other threads about different themes. Does anybody know of any other, more popular and active, online Lego forums where the discussion is a bit livelier? Or is the lack of ongoing, regular chat about in-house action themes just indicative of their lack of popularity compared to licensed themes?

It's because of the lack of Monkie Kid news. When we get pictures and descriptions of the four 2023 sets that are left to reveal, this thread will have a lot of activity. Talking about, I hope LEGO reveals the entire wave soon. I'm so excited to get minifigs of the original characters of JTTW.