| Uncle | |
|---|---|
| |
| Biographical info | |
| Name | Unknown |
| Chinese name | 老爹 (Lǎo Diē) |
| Nickname | Uncle Chuckles (by Wing) Sensei (by Tohru) Billy Goat (by Tohru's Mother) Junk Monger (by Tohru's Mother) Old Fool (by Daolon Wong) Grampy (by Drago) |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Race | Human Kiang-Shi (briefly) |
| Gender | Male |
| Family | Jackie Chan (unknown kinship) Jade Chan (unknown kinship) Shen Chan (unknown kinship) Jade's Mother (unknown kinship) |
| Personal info | |
| Status | Alive |
| Profession | Theater actor (formerly) Antiquarian Good Chi Wizard |
| Residence | Chan Residence (Fengdu, China) (formerly) Uncle's Rare Finds (Chinatown, San Francisco, California, United States) |
| Affiliation | Seven Little Fortunes (formerly) Chi Master Fong Section 13 J-Team |
| Team | Chan Clan |
| Teammates | Jackie Chan Jade Chan Tohru |
| Allies | Wing Captain Black El Toro Fuerte Viper Paco Tohru's Mother Scruffy |
| Opponents | Dark Hand Enforcers (formerly) Shadowkhan Valmont Shendu Demon Sorcerers Daolon Wong Dark Chi Warriors Tarakudo Oni Generals Drago Ice Crew Bartholomew Chang J-Clones (formerly) Chang Gang |
| Fighting style | Kung fu |
| Magical ability | Good Chi Magic |
| Details | |
| First appearance | Season 1 Episode 1 |
| Last appearance | Season 5 Episode 13 |
| Voiced by | Sab Shimono |
"Never question Uncle!" |
Uncle is the tritagonist of the Jackie Chan Adventures series. He is an older, yet unspecified, relative of Jackie Chan. Uncle lives with his "nephew" in San Francisco, where he owns a small antique shop in Chinatown, which often serves as a stage for much of the events that take place in the show. As a skilled Chi Wizard, Uncle's unique field of expertise is often employed to aid the Chans in their fight against evil. Some of Uncle's most memorable quirks include his constant, two-fingered slapping of insolent subordinates and his many signature catchphrases, the most notable being "one more thing". He is referred to as "Uncle" by almost everyone in the series, including himself, regardless of their actual relation.
Overview[]
Appearance[]
Uncle is portrayed as an old man of average height and a skinny build. He has grey hair that appears to spike in many directions. His main outfit consists of white polo under a yellow polyester vest, blue jeans, and brown dress shoes. He also wears small, round, armless glasses on the bridge of his nose.
In his younger years, Uncle looked almost the same as his old-self in terms of body structure, facial features, and hairstyle. The difference was that he had black hair and wore a black long-sleeved, collared shirt under a white vest, white pants, and black dress shoes.
As a toddler, Uncle originally started with brown hair before he dyed it black.
Personality[]
Uncle as a young man
Uncle is known as "Sensei" (which is Japanese for teacher) by Tohru, and as "Uncle" by everyone else. He is related to Jackie and Jade, though no one seems to be certain in what way. As a very stereotypical Chinese man, Uncle often talks in third person about himself, draws out words in his speech and often uses Cantonese in many aspects of his speech. He is also portrayed as cranky and often complains about small things. Despite this, he is considered to be the wisest out of all the characters in the entire series.
His favorite drink is tea, but often complains that it’s too hot or cold, and always throws away the cup after a sip. Digestion is of much concern to him, and his favorite food is a mung bean sandwich.
Uncle is known for jumping to conclusions rather quickly. Most of the time however, Uncle is correct about these conclusions — but some of these conclusions may either be wrong or absolutely ridiculous. Some examples include accusing El Toro Fuerte of being a thief trying to rob his store and claiming that a hotel was terrible because they did not have the ingredients necessary to create Uncle's Chi Spells.
A running gag between Uncle and Jackie is when Jackie does something wrong, and Uncle hits him over the head with a two-fingered strike. He has hit other characters such as Valmont, Captain Black, Tohru, Daolon Wong, Hsi Wu the Sky Demon and (on one occasion) himself — as he had blamed himself for a kidnapping of Tohru. Several times, when Jackie is unconscious, he dreams that a ghost head of Uncle is floating above him, telling him what’s going on and why he should get up. It always ends with Uncle’s ghost using the two-fingered strike on him. The same dream also actually happens to Uncle in the Season 1 episode "The Dog and Piggy Show".
Uncle is not what one would call technology-savvy, since he does not understand devices such as faxes (he gets all his facts from books), laptops (calling Jade's a "magic waffle iron" in the Season 4 episode "Half a Mask of Kung-Fu"), and the World Wide Web. He can, however, understand sending a spell through the phone, but not a piece of paper (as Jackie put it in the Season 2 episode "The Chan Who Knew Too Much"). In the Season 4 episode "The Shadow Eaters", he is revealed to have a passion for oil painting.
His true name is never mentioned, and, in "Demon World (Part 1)", even Jade's parents are shown to call him "Uncle".
History[]
Uncle, ca.1976
Born in the year of the Dog (probably 1922), Uncle owns an antique store (which was originally an 8-track tape store), and became a Chi wizard by learning his skills from Master Fong. As a child, he was part of the Seven Little Fortunes opera troupe (which Jackie Chan was part of in real life), and thus received opera school training. He soon left the troupe in his teens in favor of chi magic. In addition, he is an accomplished martial artist in his own right, and according to Jackie (in "The Dog and Piggy Show"), Uncle himself was just like Jackie at the same age. Apparently, after he became too old for martial arts, he then studied an unknown fighting style that allowed him to knock out opponents with small jabs to the chest or neck, allowing him to knock out tough opponents like Captain Black (utilized in "Day of the Dragon"), often accompanied by his trademark line "You want a piece of Uncle?". He has also stated to have won a Mahjong tournament in Hong Kong around 1955.
Powers and Abilities[]
Uncle's most notable ability is his extensive knowledge and mastery of chi magic. He is best known for chanting "Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao", an incantation in Cantonese which means "Evil demons and malevolent spirits, be gone!" His most common magical items are a dried salamander and dried puffer fish; they both have backgrounds in Asian remedies. Uncle is often seen using his trademark incantation in conjunction with either magical tool for a variety of purposes, both in and out of combat.
Uncle's magic often manifests in the form of green energy. During fights, Uncle is capable of firing energy blasts out of his salamander/puffer fish that can stun or vanish evil beings (which he sometimes does in a manner similar to firing a pistol). Even though these attacks happen automatically in a fight, it’s likely that he prepares the spell for them beforehand, as evidenced by his dialogue with Daolon Wong while the two wizards were fighting. As a good chi wizard, he also has a sense for dark chi magic that manifests as “the Willies.”
A highly skilled martial artist in his own right, Uncle had incredible prowess when he was younger, being able to move like Jackie. However, as he got older, he started using styles that required little movement, relying on nerve strikes to paralyze or knock out his opponent.
When Uncle temporarily wore the Dog Talisman, he proved to be an almost unbeatable opponent with skill dwarfing that of Jackie’s because his health and vigor were restored. Even much larger opponents — like Tohru and Hak Foo — were easily overwhelmed by him.
Uncle has some skills in engineering, in few episodes he has invented some devices like Chi-O-Matic and special glasses to see astral projections.
Weaknesses[]
Due to Uncle's old age, he isn't as agile as he used to be in his younger days and he is unable perform much with physical combat like Jackie. Most of this is shown in Season 1's episode of The Dog and Piggy Show, where he laments about how fragile he's grown after accidentally dropping one of his antiques. Tohru sometimes serves as Uncle's transportation by using the Rabbit Talisman and carrying him to get to places. However, Uncle is not all that frail as he's been capable of performing many impossibilities such as hopping on Tohru to help fend off Finn and Chow when they attacked his shop, as well as taking several hits from any of the main antagonists of the season. Uncle is very oblivious when it comes to technology and significantly struggles to interact with most technological advancements made since the 20th century. This unawareness is so extreme that he believes any sudden changes in a machine's behavior such as a fax machine receiving a fax or a computer screen going black are the work of dark magic. This usually sends him into a paranoid fit where he attempts to destroy the machine (often successfully). Uncle is also allergic to cats.
Uncle In the Card Game
Appearances[]
Quotes[]
- "One more thing!"
- "Magic must defeat magic!" (variations of this phrase includes changing "defeat" into a different verb such as "find" and "break")
- "Hot-cha!"
- "Aiya!" (哎呀 aai1aa1, expression of shock or surprise)
- "We must do research!" (often exaggerating the vowels in "research")
- "You want a piece of Uncle?" (typical threat)
- "Who else wants a piece of Uncle?"
- "Uncle has the willies!" (when he senses Dark Chi)
- "You will pay for that!"
- "You break it, you buy it!" (after someone accidentally breaks one of his antiques in the shop)
- "You want Uncle to (do something)? Yes (No)? Then (do whatever Uncle says)!"
- "Do not rush the chi!"
- "You are a terrible salesman!" (often berating Tohru or Jackie)
- "(Someone) give (someone else) a hug."
- "The (object) NOT important!"
- "Someone must watch the shop."
- "How can Uncle fix (something) without (thing needed to fix it)?"
- "Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao."
- "Do not rush Uncle!"
- "Ah! Now things are getting interesting."
- "No such thing, 'too much garlic.' Uncle knew you were vampire!" (when arguing with Tohru's mother on what remedy is best for curing Jackie from his snake bite)
- "(Must) use garlic!"
- "Don't look in the mirror!"
- "I told you not to look in the mirror!"
- (Food or drink), good for digestion."
- "You are blocking my light!" (after kicking Hak-Foo while attempting to read the inscriptions located in the temple holding the Pan'ku Box)
Gallery[]
- Main article: Uncle/Gallery
Trivia[]
- "Lost City of the Muntabs", "The Lotus Temple", and "The King and Jade" are the only episodes in which Uncle is absent.
- At 92 episodes, he has the second most appearances in the series, after Jackie and Jade.
- According to the real Jackie Chan, the character of Uncle was based on both Charles Chan and Willie Chan, his father and manager, respectively.[1]
- Uncle shares many similarities to Fredrick from the 2000 PlayStation 1 beat 'em up game Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, Fredrick, like Uncle, serves as Jackie Chan's mentor, father figure, adviser and both are wise and old Chinese men who work with ancient Chinese artifacts.
- According to Jackie in the Season 1 episode "The Dog and Piggy Show", Uncle's sign is the dog.
- Uncle, who does not understand Japanese, is ironically voiced by Japanese-American actor Sab Shimono.
- In the Season 2 episode "Jade Times Jade", he revealed that his master’s name was "Chi Master Fong" and that he had studied under him for 15 years. In the same episode, Uncle finally decided to take on an apprentice, and immediately picked Tohru seconds after announcing it. At first neither Tohru nor Jade were satisfied with Uncle’s decision.
- Uncle's Chi weapons of choice are a dried lizard and a dried blowfish, which he switches between regularly.
- Uncle wasn't always into Chi Magic and research; back when Jackie was Jade’s age Uncle was a disco dancer and hadn’t learned about Chi magic. He also had a secret (perhaps lifelong) passion for oil-painting, which he didn’t consider following until the Season 4 episode "The Shadow Eaters", when getting help from a fortune teller, who claimed he needed to spend time with himself.
- According to Jade, Uncle is "everyone's Uncle"; even if you aren’t related to him, you can still call him Uncle. This is based on the Chinese custom that one must always address their male elders as Uncle.
- It is revealed in the episode "Ninja Twilight" that Uncle is allergic to cats.
- Uncle's specific relationship to any member of his family is always kept vague. Even Jade's parents are unsure which of them he is actually related to.
- Uncle is capable of reading ancient Chinese inscriptions, but cannot read Japanese, requiring Tohru's help to decipher information related to the Oni Masks.
- It is revealed in the episode "Weight and See" that Uncle is not above hitting something to make it work.
- Uncle is an avid Mahjong player. In the Season 2 episode "Pleasure Cruise", he says that he was "Hong Kong Community Center Champion, 1955" in Mahjong.
- When he was younger, he was in the Peking Opera and was known as "Chuckles".
- Uncle claimed in Season 1 that he requires coffee each morning to keep himself going. However, he is not picky about variations in coffee and feels special coffee orders are frivolous because "coffee is coffee".
- Uncle apparently believes in the existence of The Loch Ness Monster.
- Uncle loves mung bean sandwiches and garlic, which he consumes avidly.
- Uncle is the only main character in the series to never wear an Oni Mask or absorb any Demon Chi.
- Uncle's background theme involves the use of a Chinese stringed instrument.