❦ basics
name: Tai Lung
age: 40
Gender: Male
Movie/series: Kung Fu Panda
Position: Staff, Kung Fu teacher
Powers(if any):
Tai Lung is a skilled practitioner of Kung Fu, lacking the title of "master" only for the fact he has no pupils of his own. In combat, he has incredible strength, speed, reflexes, and cunning, making him a more than worthy adversary when faced hand to hand. He's able to attack from almost any position he might be in-even upside down or in midair-and he frequently sets up weird orientations on purpose to put his opponent at a disadvantage. Even when fought at range he can still be deadly, as he has the reflexes to simply knock arrows away, catch them, dodge them, or if he's feeling particularly harsh, throw them back at the people who shot at him. Ballistas or catapults will merely give him ammo to work with. His strength and speed translate into the ability to make huge single leaps, sometimes over twenty feet high (if not more), and he can easily dig his claws into a wall to push off it and leap again. This makes scaling walls or buildings very, very quick work for him, and they often present little more in the way of an obstacle to him than putting a few seconds between him and his opponent.
One of the strongest things he can do though is a nerve attack. It's a focused strike on the opponent's pressure points which renders them completely paralyzed, ending the fight almost immediately if Tai Lung is able to hit-and he almost always hits.
❦ In depth:
Personality:
Tai Lung is an incredibly focused individual, undeniably gifted. His formative years were spent doing nothing but learning Kung Fu, practicing daily and training as hard as he could to learn every last thing and make his master proud. He grew more and more self-confident and conceited, to the point where his ego began to eclipse his sense--and his master did nothing to help. Tai Lung was told that he would undoubtedly become the Dragon Warrior. That pride, and that promise, were the reasons he was so devastated when he was told he would not be allowed to look at the Dragon Scroll, and the reason he felt so mortally betrayed when his master would not speak up on his behalf.
Now, Tai Lung is cynical, impatient, smug, and volatile. Twenty years in prison did nothing to curb his rage, and if anything only intensified it. The anger seethes just beneath the surface in everything he does, even if it seems he’s just having a light-hearted conversation. His words will be short and to the point, self-centered and condescending. Talking to him would be difficult at best, as he will try to dominate the discussion just like he does with everything else, and you could be sure he’d point out any and all flaws in whoever he’s talking to (though at least he’ll keep that relevant). Since he holds (almost) no one in higher esteem than himself, it is very easy for him to find those flaws.
Now that he knows that the Dragon Scroll was blank, and worthless, Tai Lung is biding his time, which is helping him staying much calmer-even though it might be only temporary. He has yet to understand just what the meaning of the scroll was meant to be, and it still frustrates him. He still searches for opponents he might deem worthy of fighting him, in the vague hope that he might determine the meaning of the scroll through the only thing he really knows, thanks to his master’s failures-Kung Fu.
Canon Background:
Wiki page AU Background:
Most of Tai Lung’s AU history is essentially the same as his canon history. The Valley of Peace would be a small village in the Land of Dragons, I’d assume, to keep with the Chinese theme.
After being defeated so handily by the Dragon Warrior (and just narrowly surviving the fight), Tai Lung became determined to learn what made that panda so much stronger than he was. Some small part of his rage has lessened with this quest, though anyone observing him would say the changes are barely perceptible, save that he won’t fly off the handle and attack someone for no reason. In the time that followed the battle, he learned that in the area surrounding the Valley of Peace everyone was scared of him. While this, of course, amused him greatly, it became increasingly difficult for him to travel, and to seek out stronger fighters. The frustration made him decide to live in solitude for a time, until he received an invitation to the academy, which he readily accepted. If nothing else it would serve to relieve some of his boredom with a solitary lifestyle.
Appearance:
Tai Lung's a massive, bipedal snow leopard. He's broad shouldered and has huge arms, and a strong chest. These are all the easier to see because he doesn't wear a shirt. He wears a wide black belt around his waist, and his pants are purple.
Classes:
Tai Lung is the teacher of the Kung Fu classes.
Greatest Fear:
Tai Lung’s greatest fear is betrayal. Having already suffered the most grievous possible treachery at the hands of his own master, the person he cared about most, Tai Lung is scared that such a thing will happen again. Just the memory of that moment fills him with the most intense emotions he’s ever felt.
How long have they been at the school(remember this school is from kindergarten on):
Just joined on as a teacher.
Relationships with other characters:
None yet.
❦ Permissions
Kissing/hugging/etc: Not unless you want to get punched/kicked/maimed/thrown into a wall/nerve attacked/etc.
Injuries: If you manage to injure him…sure? He's hard to hurt in the first place.
Killing: Preferably no killing.
Mindreading/memory wiping/etc.: Mind reading is fine, playing with memories is not.