#Jack Spicer being a competent manipulative bastard mastermind and giving people what they deserve? yes please but also NO | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hugthepanda12 · 2 years

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Hi, so I saw an amv about Chase and at one point they briefly show the moment where he’s being “tortured” by having water drip on his head and his abs painted mustard yellow. I presume that the water dripping is a reference to Chinese water torture but I’m absolutely confused about what the stomach painting could mean. Thoughts? I like your blog ☺️

Ah, yes. TAT arc. Oh boy, there are many things to unpack in the ‘heylins’ prison cell’ scene. Let's dwell into this.

It is evident that Wuya, Bean and Chase are put in chains or other types of constraint. They used to be powerful beings, so no wonder tat!jack took into consideration the possibility that they might at least try to escape at some point. However, Chase seems to be trapped in a machine which stranded him completely.

Hannibal is put in the cage, while Wuya is hanged by the handcuffs on the wall. Yes, they indeed are in a bad situation, but Chase is the only one being actively tortured.

You are right, Chase is the victim of the Chinese Water Torture. But there is more! Bloodstains on the floor? His limbs being stretched??? (simply torture rack -modern version but this one is only my assumption) Ouch, everything about this image is worrisome. And look at his hair! Undoubtedly, it is shorter. Jack frickin Spicer has cut mighty Chase Young’s hair. And as we know, in China cutting hair is regarded as a punishment or humiliation.

What is more, I think, getting rid of his armor was a way to make Chase uncomfortable. Who knows? Maybe it is a personal vendetta for that one time a tiger interrupted boy’s bath session and dragged almost-naked Jack in front of Chase and (ghost!)Wuya (dangerous minds ep)?

And finally, the last element of the elaborate humiliating puzzle set up by the new Prince of Darkness Jack Spicer – the brush that helps spread a yellowish liquid on Chase’s torso.

My first guess – that’s Lao Mang Long Soup. Jack holds a grudge towards his ex-partners in crime so big, he wouldn’t care to visit them tbh. Jackbots handle feeding the prisoners, although the immortality soup is a separate case.

I reconsidered the following thing: is drinking the soup the only way for the body to take advantage of its miraculous effects? Can it be absorbed through the skin? What if Jack found out the answer to the latter question? And that answer is: yes, it can be absorbed through the skin but it would take a veeery long time for it to enter the digestive (and then the circulatory) system. As a consequence, the bearer of the soup curse would be weakened due to drinking less than it is needed but they would NOT die because the body receives small doses of Lao Mang Long.

Therefore, Chase has his stomach painted only to keep him alive for a while, that is, until The Prince of Darkness gets bored. But it is unlikely to happen mostly because the Heylins are like trophies to Jack.

So, this was my take on that mustard yellow substance. It could make sense because the show didn’t give us any specifics on how Lao Mang Long works except for the following factors: changes you into a monster, increases strength and thinking immortality deal.

However, I refuted this little theory of mine when I read the Tumblr post about the TAT timeline. Someone suggested that in the USA yellow stands for cowardice and in such a way Jack keeps reminding Chase that he is a coward. (in such moments I really want to know what the hell happened in those 80 something years bc WOW JACK that is a pretty thought-through scheme right there). Additionally, as I recall, the soup was more greenish rather than yellow, so it can’t be Lao Mang Long (unless Jack added a yellow pigment or sth)

Coming back to the symbolism of the yellow color, in the western culture the phrase “yellow-bellied”—a term for those who are cowardly—may have originated from chickens (“Don’t be a chicken”) and the rich yellow of their egg yolk, as this site reports. And well, it makes sense because it is so Jack to do the chicken dance to make his enemies angry.

On the other hand, some may argue that XS show has many references taken from the Chinese culture, that is why the Chinese meaning of the color yellow should be taken into consideration.

In China Yellow is a royal color. It symbolizes imperiality, the power of the throne, and prosperity. As a result, yellow is associated with Emperor or Buddhism (temples having yellow elements, etc)

What if Chase is an Emperor of the Heylin side? He used to be the big bad and even Jack’s evil hero. Maybe Jack by that belly painting meant something like:

‘Hey, you were on the top, now I am! You should’ve taken me as an apprentice but NO! You were always looking down on me and look where it got you! Your empire is mine. But, y’know that little part of me still respects you, so here, have some yellow paint! Oh, and sorry about the hair I was angry at you xoxo'

So, in short, Jack honored Chase’s past accomplishments as the former Heylin King but implemented it as a kind of torture as well. Because, I guess, due to its repetitive nature (this brush goes on and on without stopping) I bet it has similar effects as the water torture.

Still, how I see it, the ambiguity about the meaning of the color yellow is something Jack would love. As we know, the boy genius pays attention to details. For me, Jack at this point of his life as an old man considers Chase as both hero and a coward, so he simply mixed the meanings of Chinese and western culture to show how smart he is.

Mind you, that the other Heylins are being mocked by Jack too. Hannibal Roy Bean has been renamed the Musical Fruit and Wuya wears an outfit of one of Jack’s cheerleaderbot. I wonder if it’s because she made fun of those girl-robots or the fact Wuya kept cheering and motivating Jack to hunt more and more wus for her, treating him like trash afterward. Oh, and Jack has cut her hair, too. ;u;

All things considered, the appearance of the Heylins is the proof that Jack punished them in the most sadistic way possible and Chase got an extra set of humiliating tortures because Jack’s resentment towards the warlord was so big, the genius had to design something „special” to show who is in charge now. And he wanted it to be personal.

#ask #xiaolin showdown #chase young #time after time part 1 #jack spicer #roseangel19 #Jack Spicer being a competent manipulative bastard mastermind and giving people what they deserve? yes please but also NO #coz this is scary i don't want him to be a monster :(

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