When it comes to the Chameleon’s backstory, people either love it or hate it. Some people make fun of it, saying that it makes no sense that she was not allowed to do Kung Fu while Mantis and Viper could. While people like me defend her backstory, because other Kung Fu masters may have prejudice against smaller students. But even though I defend her backstory, I do think we need to add some more lore to the Chameleon’s background.

It starts off like this: Centuries ago, the Chameleons were the most powerful sorcerers in the world. Using their magic to protect the innocent and heal the sick, they became the peaceful warriors of the land. But as time passed, the civilians began to rely more on Oogway and the Kung Fu masters for protection instead of the Chameleon sorcerers. Many years ago, after Oogway banished Kai to the Spirit Realm, he invented the art form of Kung Fu. Soon enough, people began to train in Kung Fu, and magic became less common. Magic derives from chi, and Oogway saw himself that chi could be manipulated through darkness. Some of the Chameleons started to turn evil, feeling betrayed by the common folk and being manipulated by the dark power. When the Chameleons eventually started to attack, Oogway and the masters had to put an end to their once peaceful reign. After a great battle between Kung Fu and magic, the masters ended up victorious and the Chameleons were defeated. Soon after, magic was banned from the land after people saw its devastating effects, and many of the Chameleons were either imprisoned or banished to the far lands. 

Many years later, a young chameleon named Bian Se Long (which literally translates to chameleon) grows up a small town, largely isolated from the rest of the land. Bian told of how the ancient chameleons wreaked havoc on the land, and how chameleons these days are forced into isolation. Bian is very optimistic and wants to bring honor back to the name of the Chameleons, thinking the only way to do this is by learning Kung Fu. She leaves home and sets out to find a master willing to teach her Kung Fu. She travels from dojo to dojo, but each time she is told no. Every master she asks tells her that she is too weak and lowly. Although disappointed, she does not give up. But one day, everything changes. She comes to a new dojo, eager to learn. But when the master opens the door, he is horrified. He screams out to the village “it’s a chameleon!”, and all the villagers come out of their houses holding torches and pitchforks. Some people have not forgotten about the chaos the Chameleons caused those years ago, and are very prejudiced towards any chameleon they find. The villagers chased Bian from the town, frightening her. Young Bian is scarred for life, finally accepting the hard truth that no one wants to teach her Kung Fu. Instead, Bian takes on the very power that her ancestors wielded, sorcery. Bian takes on the name of the Chameleon, embracing her dark ancestry. She travels to one of the places where she was rejected from learning Kung Fu, Juniper City, and defeats the masters. She then takes full control of the city, turning the whole place into a citadel for criminals and villains. She even bans all knowledge of Kung Fu from the city and burns all of the ancient scrolls, which is why no one knows about the Jade Palace or even the Dragon Warrior. The Chameleon has forgotten about her once humble past and has fully embraced her dark side.

So what do you think about my extended Chameleon backstory? Do you think it improves her motivation, tell me your opinions.

When it comes to the Chameleon’s backstory, people either love it or hate it. Some people make fun of it, saying that it makes no sense that she was not allowed to do Kung Fu while Mantis and Viper could. While people like me defend her backstory, because other Kung Fu masters may have prejudice against smaller students. But even though I defend her backstory, I do think we need to add some more lore to the Chameleon’s background.

It starts off like this: Centuries ago, the Chameleons were the most powerful sorcerers in the world. Using their magic to protect the innocent and heal the sick, they became the peaceful warriors of the land. But as time passed, the civilians began to rely more on Oogway and the Kung Fu masters for protection instead of the Chameleon sorcerers. Many years ago, after Oogway banished Kai to the Spirit Realm, he invented the art form of Kung Fu. Soon enough, people began to train in Kung Fu, and magic became less common. Magic derives from chi, and Oogway saw himself that chi could be manipulated through darkness. Some of the Chameleons started to turn evil, feeling betrayed by the common folk and being manipulated by the dark power. When the Chameleons eventually started to attack, Oogway and the masters had to put an end to their once peaceful reign. After a great battle between Kung Fu and magic, the masters ended up victorious and the Chameleons were defeated. Soon after, magic was banned from the land after people saw its devastating effects, and many of the Chameleons were either imprisoned or banished to the far lands. 

Many years later, a young chameleon named Bian Se Long (which literally translates to chameleon) grows up a small town, largely isolated from the rest of the land. Bian told of how the ancient chameleons wreaked havoc on the land, and how chameleons these days are forced into isolation. Bian is very optimistic and wants to bring honor back to the name of the Chameleons, thinking the only way to do this is by learning Kung Fu. She leaves home and sets out to find a master willing to teach her Kung Fu. She travels from dojo to dojo, but each time she is told no. Every master she asks tells her that she is too weak and lowly. Although disappointed, she does not give up. But one day, everything changes. She comes to a new dojo, eager to learn. But when the master opens the door, he is horrified. He screams out to the village “it’s a chameleon!”, and all the villagers come out of their houses holding torches and pitchforks. Some people have not forgotten about the chaos the Chameleons caused those years ago, and are very prejudiced towards any chameleon they find. The villagers chased Bian from the town, frightening her. Young Bian is scarred for life, finally accepting the hard truth that no one wants to teach her Kung Fu. Instead, Bian takes on the very power that her ancestors wielded, sorcery. Bian takes on the name of the Chameleon, embracing her dark ancestry. She travels to one of the places where she was rejected from learning Kung Fu, Juniper City, and defeats the masters. She then takes full control of the city, turning the whole place into a citadel for criminals and villains. She even bans all knowledge of Kung Fu from the city and burns all of the ancient scrolls, which is why no one knows about the Jade Palace or even the Dragon Warrior. The Chameleon has forgotten about her once humble past and has fully embraced her dark side.

So what do you think about my extended Chameleon backstory? Do you think it improves her motivation, tell me your opinions.

John DiMaggio

Voice of Fung from Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.

Fung: Darn it!

I saw someone refer to him as "a former shut-in" on a comment online.

Is it true? Was Po a shut-in previous to becoming the Dragon Warrior? Because I never thought of him like that before.

I designed Master Rat's identity. because his identity is unknown.

The spin-off shows do not get that much attention so I decided to make a post on them. Here are my top 10 favorite spin-off villains: -

10) The Croc Bandits 🐊

I have said several times that I love reptiles to death. I am an animal nerd aspiring to be a herpteologist (maybe a minor in animation but that is off-topic 😁). Anyway, the croc bandits do have some annoying moments at times with their voices and them being stupid and weak for comic relief does not work all the time. However, I love Fung's chemistry with Po. If only I had a dumpling every time Po and Fung teamed up. I just love their frenemy relationship. "Good Croc, Bad Croc" and "Po the Croc" are one of my favorite episodes. "Po the Croc" adds depth to Fung's character as he eventually redeems himself. It is canonically the last episode despite airing earlier. Gahri is also a fun character. The rest are not that memorable.

9) Taotie🐗

He is played by legendary voice actor - Wallice Shawn. In case you don't know him, he is the VA of comedic Pixar characters like Mr. Huph from Incredibles and Rex from Toy Story. I love his iconic laughter. I also like Taotie's habit of naming stuff. His backstory with Shifu and Oogway was also very interesting. His father son dynamics and conflicts with Bian Zao were also engaging. His machines are very creative and he is against the core element of the franchise - Kung Fu !! So overall Taotie is not just an entertaining villain but also had depth with his backstory, dynamic with his son and being an intimidating villain.

8) Veruca deMont

Can you come up with a villain that was annoying and cringe in its debut and later became an actually threatening villain ? Well for me Veruca is one of them. I just could not stand her in Season 1 of Dragon Knight. Her laugh was annoying, her voice acting was bad, her dialogues were cringe and because of all of this her tragic backstory was easily overshadowed. However, seasons 2 and 3 do a complete 180 on her character. In Season 2, her dialogues improve greatly, she becomes threatening and her character also feels more engaging. Her death scene was very brutal and I liked Po showing humility by covering her corpse. Also her after death redemption arc was well done. All the action sequences with her were really good.

7) Shi Long 🦎

I think Shi Long and Veruca are kind of interchangeable. Shi Long maybe kind of an ineffective villain but she is definitely a well written and compelling CHARACTER in my opinion. Her backstory of being adopted by the royal family only to be neglected by them when they give birth to a biological child and be manipulated by an iron demon was very compelling. She is also the only villain of the franchise to commit regicide and it's not just regicide it's a cold blooded murder of her adoptive father. Sumalee Montano is a great voice actress, her design is super cool, her theme score is ominous and I am glad she was alive till the end. However, she is not without cons. I get it she is meant to be a dramatic irony villain and a brains over brawn type but she did not come off as a strategic villain. Her plans are so obvious to the main characters like Nu Hai that she herself admits it. She also does not have much interaction with the main protagonists - Po and the constellations. Most of her interactions are with Xiao. She also hires porcupine and frog assassins to kill them like really ? But still her backstory, character and voice acting compensate for this.

6) Lord Fu-xi 🐍

A snake who descended from the Dragon Gods and defended China from external threats. However, people fear his power and turn against him and all snakes, turning him into a vengeful beast. Overall, he is a great villain who is both layered and threatening. His snake kung fu is very cool to watch, his plan to poison the aqueduct with a combo of his own venom and mutong root was evil genius. I also like how his venom was not life threatening but hallucinogenic and temporary. He has an eerie theme score and he is an excellent manipulator. As for cons, his defeat was a bit underwhelming. Also what happened to him eventually ? Did they just lock him up in Chor Gom ? Can't he escape. He also deserved more episodes.

5) Tong Fo

The fearsome crime lord of Valley of Peace. Overall he is a great villain with a dark sense of comedy. I like the running gag with Tong Fo's eyes. He is both brains and brawn as he comes up with evil plans and is a skilled warrior. His voice actor, Jeff Bennet is also really good. "Goosefather" is one of my favorite episodes like it was funny to see him becoming vulnerable to Ping's soup and I love how the two interact. I found it weird how he has no episode in Season 2.

4) Pang-Bing 🐈‍⬛️

The final antagonist of LOA (Airing wise) !! Overall, she is a great antagonist to conclude the series. She was a good twist villain I will make a post about that. Her backstory was similar to Fu-Xi. She wanted to bring harmony and enlightment but people feared her power and the emperor imprisoned her. For centuries she perfected her power to exact revenge. She is also a good strategist and sorceress. I think she might even be slightly better than Chameleon as she has more depth in the backstory department and has a better defeat.

3) Jindiao 🐉

The first Dragon Master and teacher of Four Constellations became corrupted with power and turned against them. He took shelter in a vulture and after a 1000 years begins to exact his plan. Jindiao is another great villain. He has cool powers, cool voice acting by Steve Blum and a rich backstory. He is a better dramatic irony villain than Shi Long. Like the reveal to the main characters is SO GOOD !! "Poison in the Pit of Plum" is one of the best POD episodes. As for cons, I think some of his vulture monologuing got a bit boring. I also kind of feel bad for his defeat of being trapped in an urn and being tormented by Yaogai and Chum.

2) Sir Alfred of Landreth 🐻

Sir Alfred is one of the best twist villains I have ever seen. He beats all the Disney twist villains and maybe on the same level as Pixar twist villains. He is also a Thanos like villain. He has a layered motivation of using the weapons and his dark army as a strict police force killing people for even the smallest conflict. He also becomes hatebale at times with how cruel he is. I was grief stricken when he killed Chuntao 😭 !! His action scenes are great. As for cons, I wish he had more interactions with Po, who is essentially the main protagonist of the show.

1) Ke-Pa 🐲

So our Gold Medal goes to Ke-Pa. He is voiced by legendary Dr. Octopus actor, Alfred Molina. Despite being pure evil, he is an engaging villain and not boring or lame. His ascend from a demonic spirit trapped in a mortal pig to a deadly dragon was compelling. He is very threatening as he even goes as far as to kill Po which not even the movie villains have done (I don't count the KFP3 skadoosh). I like his occasional charismatic jokes. I also liked the plotline of him trying to bring back the underworld demons and they were super cool. I think Ke-Pa is probably like still alive in the underworld like he is dead. The only con I find is his protagonist is not that good. Like literally, the LOA Po feels out of character several times. He is egotistical and lazy and this is one of those episodes. It's just a shame that such a great villain did not have an equally good hero.

So what do you guys think ? Now there a lot of popular villains from the show and you may wonder why they are not on the list so let's discuss them. Fenghuang had cool Kung fu moves but she was basically a rehash of Tai Lung. Hundun had a great backstory but I am bit mixed over his behavior of repeating stuff. Sometimes it's annoying but then it's comedic at times. Jungle is a great villain but I prefer the others more. Sung Jung Jai Kai Chow ... sorry... Jong Sung Jai Kai Chow was very comedic but does not have the depth of the others. Pai Mei was very cool but deserved more episodes. Temutai was kind of annoying.

https://www.tumblr.com/coolchevistianofficialsite/760111833209323520/look-at-the-little-creature-go

I don't remember this being in the movie. I need answers.

Po: Skadoosh!

No one: "Name a better villain than Chameleon... YOU CAN'T!"

Me (not even thinking twice) asf: