I know it’s been a hot second but I promise I haven’t forgotten about my beloved bug man
Made a Golden Cicada design concept for an AU I got in the works!
If you like Tang, Tripitaka and/or the Golden Cicada you may enjoy this when I got it out :))) Also touches of InkyPages cause a lot of my art is Freenoodles but I also enjoy InkyPages so ( ´∀` )b
Has the Golden Cicada you've been drawing close to canon in JTTW terms? Or do you improve a lot of it? I get curious cause I love listening to your stuff about him!
All my cicada stuff is off the cuff bc there isn’t a whole lot of concrete stuff about him. Journey To The West Research has an article on it but a lot of what we know is. Metaphorical and poetic. I like my little guy lol and I have fun with character design so I’m glad other ppl like him as well!!
I’m trying to make cicada Easier To Draw so I’ve updated his design!
Random sketch dump! Sorry no drawings lately lol
how did Tripataka end up becoming kid Tang’s imaginary friend? Was it intentional because he thought Tang needed a good role model for whatever reason? Or did he talk with Tang on accident and just role with it?
I’d imagine that having a giant talking cicada suddenly appear to you would be pretty scary. So, for the first few years, Tang only spoke to Tripitaka.
Sees post about young Golden Cicada and reads the line about Wukong hearing cicadas when the filet spell was used on him: Are you implying that the spell used to keep him at bay was the same one used for Golden Cicada?
I assume you’re referencing this ^^
Here I was trying to imply that the circlet spell is in fact one of Golden Cicadas own creation. He would apply the tightening spell to the rope of his meteor hammer!
Tang: Violence isn’t answer but… yes it is
Cicada certainly thinks so
Did this for an oc meme redraw on twitter and it got a little out of hand lol
Would you say there has been a moment where Tang's abilities has gone wrong and Tripitaka and Golden Cicada have little idea how to fix it?
There uh… was an incident or two, yes.
Evil Cicada? What do you mean?
He wasn’t really the best Buddhist disciple…
Kind of morally questionable.
CW: blood under the cut
i Really like your Art! i got a question though? how would the great golden cidca (sorry about the misspelling) react toward nezha? i really would like to know! -Anon
Thanks!! But yeah, he thinks he’s pretty cool.
Someone even had the bad idea of letting him babysit back in the day
How much of a menace do you think Golden Cicada was in the Western Paradise, also do you think that his powers should be more music/sound based
He was a HUGE menace. His powers were loud and destructive (even when he wasn’t swinging his meteor hammer around). He was impatient and quick to anger, even more so than his later self. He even later developed a spell that played a certain noise so loud that it felt like your head was being squeezed :)
Tang's 'desire for violence' is sending me. Tripitaka is just so goddam tired of this and tries to steer Tang in the 'non-violence monk' direction only for Cicada to fly in and just encourage Tang's thirst for chaos like a soccer mom in the back.
*Tripitaka to Tang*: "Please understand that violence is not the way to solve your problems. Perhaps simply talking to these demons can help them understand that eating you would not be favorable for either of you?"
*Cicada in the background*: "Oh?! And did talking help you when you kept getting kidnapped by said demons wanting to eat you? Did you have a nice conversation about peace and empathy and tell them a nice salad would be a healthier option?!"
*Cicada turns to Tang*: Find that sword-gun again and make them wish they were dead boy!"
Um… the line was “take no shit”, Cicada…
While the two have a somewhat amenable relationship they definitely bicker over whats right. Tang tends to take the middle road (with a slight leaning to cicadas side).
At this point it's obvious that Golden Cicada and Tripitaka don't get along (or at least Cicada can't stand Tripitaka), not to mention that they both have their own ideals of how Tang should be completed.
How much do they fight about it and how long does Tang put up with their fights? Have they ever attempted a truce for Tang's sake?
Like, a random demon ends up chasing Tang to eat him and Golden Cicada and Tripitaka have to deal with each other to prevent the scholar from dying.
For some reason I can't stop imagining a scene in which Tang is being chased by a demon and Cicada along with Tripi have to advise him on what to do. But suddenly they both start an argument (perhaps because Cicada said something about killing or seriously injuring the attacker, and Tripitaka obviously disagrees and better advises to hide and wait for help), the fight develops from there.
Leaving Tang to his fate, and when Tang manages (in some miraculous way) to get rid of the demon that was chasing him, he returns only to watch as the Golden Cicada and Tripitaka continue to fight without even noticing his presence. So Tang just walks away from them not willing to put up with this and goes straight to Pigsy's shop, while he lets the other two verbally tear each other apart.
Sorry if it doesn't make much sense I'm not going to sleep yet.
I’m sure a situation like you’ve described could happen, especially in high stress scenarios. However, most of the time, the two of them don’t really argue. They have differing opinions, but Cicada is kinda easy going, just chaotic. Sharing the same headspace, they can have polite conversation, at least. Cicada just thinks that trip’s kinda a weenie.
However, Tang doesn’t really deal with being eaten (most of the time) which puts most of his life outside of tripitakas expertise.
Transcript in case my handwriting is indecipherable:
So, there's this fic where Tang finds and burns the migraine spell bc he was worried someone would try to use the fillet on MK. I'm just imagining Cicada cheering him on while Tripitaka might be having a minor crisis about this.
Bold of you to assume that Cicada wouldn’t treat Tang other tricks to induce migraines on people.