#Jun Wong

[misterrttegrimborn]

[f-angy77]

A chance to update my list of my favorite DreamWorks couples.

Original Reference by Soupery (Tumblr)

[itsangelic1411]

Just realized I never posted these hair explorations for my Jun redesign, kinda wanna try to finish the redesigns of the whole team tbh

[razangy]

I find the parallels of these scenes very funny, I think it is hereditary to be soft with your girl (and a dragon) 💞

Although there is an age difference, they both have known their girls for many years and know that it is a losing fight against them 😂😂

[audriegreywind]

To members of the HTTYD fandom who watch Dragons: The Nine Realms - I need your opinion

I'm currently working on my Season 6 review, and I'd like a few honest opinions on Jun as a character. Preferably from people who have seen the show itself, not just my biased reviews. If you've seen them, you DEFINITLEY know how I feel about her.

I am genuinely trying to see different perspectives of this character from people who have seen the way she's written in its unfiltered form.

What's your opinion on Jun Wong as a character in comparison to the other kids? Good, bad, or indifferent?

Yes I am biting my tongue in rage after drafting a part of my script where I tear her to shreds for how she acted in Season 6 but I'm committed to doing a fair assessment

[pufffinn]

some more nine realms redesigns!! ( theyre not completely done and jun and her dragon are old oops )

[nosuda-cringe]

Buzzsaw made his apparition on the zombie au!! He seems a little bit more unhinged than what I remember....

Chars- @rainbowaudi

[aevyk-ing]

More Nine Realms characters concept art

[howtodrawyourdragon]

Do you think the kids casually talk about Hiccup sometimes?

[demigod-of-the-agni]

I'm indulging you. Tell me about one character you hate and what you would do to change them into something better.

the flood gates have OPENED

the winner of worst character ever is Jun Wong

Most people on this round rock don't know her, or flat out refuse to get to know her, but that's okay. It gives me more reason to really tear into why Jun Wong as a character, as vehicle for a narrative's ideals, sucks.

Simplest terms: She's from the HTTYD spin-off show Dragons: The Nine Realms, is one of the main characters and is the main love interest of the protagonist. The thing is, she is terrible at everything she does. She infuriates me. It's like she is personally setting me on fire and throwing me into an abyss of hate. I just can't /stand/ this girl (read on to find out why).

It's not so much that I Hate her, it's just that she has so much potential but is casually written off as the "love interest" or the "quirky girl" with no defining traits aside from physical ones (like- okay, purple eyes? She's not even wearing contacts, it's clearly genetic because her brother also has purple eyes, and...East Asians don't typically have purple eyes?? it just looks unnatural on her, but I digress)

Back to the "casually written off" point - the studio themselves, Dreamworks, doesn't care for Jun or her character or her arcs. They don't care for her attributes or what she contributes to the entirety of Nine Realms series, aside from being a cheap Astrid Hofferson knock-off.

It's also ESPECIALLY clear that the show does not delve into her heritage very well, or when they do it's all very standard stuff (if not heavily based on racial stereotypes): "intergenerational trauma!" "tiger parenting!" "wanting to do her own thing!" I appreciate the idea, it's just that the execution of it is god-awful and terrible. The Jun-centric episodes that focus on these issues have little to no impact on her character. They're quite literally one-and-done episodes. They're not even filler episodes - if you take all her episodes out, nothing in the plot would have changed, nothing in her character progression would have changed. She still whines and complains and is still the same person she was when she was first introduced.

Fortunately for us, Jun is not a lost cause. Her character can be salvaged and be made so much better!

What I think should be done in order to improve Jun's character is to first change her character design. Let me tell you: seeing her final design in the show when the very first trailer came out made me feel weird (purple eyes bruv). But seeing her initial designs made me want to bawl my eyes out.

(IDs are in each image)

Literally look at her design. She looks so cool here. She honestly looks so much more nicer to look at than what we get in the show (doesn't help that the animation is so stilted). These designs have so much PERSONALITY in them whereas Jun's design in the show is... uh........

bruh i don't even know lol. it's just not a good look for her. I really wished they went with one of the other concept designs. Maybe not the ones with the dyed hair because it Will play into the Rebellion Asian Girl stereotype (since the show can't handle nuance if it was handed to them on a plate alongside a note with detailed instructions) but any of the other hairstyles and outfits would have 1000% translated better. The final design screams Basic Girl With A Purple Colour Palette and god I'm so bored of it. nothing about it is interesting. With the other characters there are other things that draw my eye to them, or make my attention last a little longer on them when they are the focus of a shot, but Jun? Jun's design is so plain. It's like slapping a slice of cheese on a really smooth ass and seeing it slide right off. No I am not ashamed to use that comparison because that is what I feel all the time when I look at Jun. Get a boring design, get bored reactions (and unhinged comparisons).

But honestly, the truly best way to really elevate her character is to, you know, do more research on her heritage and her background. East Asian cultures are RIPE with a variety of stories to tell - tying her connection to dragons via her love for stories (and consequently stories being her only connection to her distant father) is such an interesting facet of her already-established character to me!! Why not continue exploring that?? HTTYD has always been about family and friendships, so why not focus on what's Not present in her life: her father? He's still alive, mind you, but for reasons unknown has distanced himself from Jun, and Jun still desperately craves for him through her love for mythology - why???? what did they do together??? Why should I care about Jun's love of myths and the world beyond mortal comprehension??? Contrary to popular belief, this information MATTERS!!

(Also we need to do More Research in general. The Tarot Card Incident in S1 will never not get on my nerves because GOD you couldn't have picked a more easier thing to research!! You could become experts within days!! And yet you still got it wrong!!! And EYE am not even a Tarot card expert!!! The Tarot cards are literally never brought up again after the first five episodes of the show, so there goes another facet of Jun's character down the drain.)

Additionally Jun needs to be given authority over her own character progression. So far it's always been A Person Is Opposing Me And I Have To Overcome That. They Don't Like Me So I'm Gonna Make Them. She's constantly being taken advantage of in her own episodes (S6E3), and it becomes more of race to the viewers on whether or not she can actually pick up borderline manipulative behaviours. (That whole episode was. uh. red flag after red flag. I hated that episode.) It is a disservice to the character to constantly place them back at square one after every victory, and I become more frustrated for Jun than by her actions. Maybe it's because it is set in stone for her to be the Astrid to the protagonist's Hiccup; they damage her authority and independence to benefit the status of the hero (who is most absolutely a fuckwad, but we can talk about him another time).

There's also an annoying inconsistency in how Jun's quality as "mystic nerd/quirky girl/smart one" manifests in the show. Like, it's so obvious that she's capable of critical thinking and using her prefrontal cortex and making unique connections with the world around her she couldn't be anymore neurodivergent if she tried; I'm more inclined to believe that she can pick up a variety of skills in a matter of minutes just because she wants to. She is Actually Smart sometimes, but the show itself disregards this and dumbs her down and gets her into stupid situations (like the aforementioned Red Flag episode). And I honestly don't know why (racism. god forbid having a woman of colour make her own decisions). If you want to have her be the Quirky Girl, let her be Consistently Quirky. I want a Quirky Girl who knows what she's talking about and refuses to be bogged down by other people. Let her be Silly please.

So. yeah. I'm more annoyed with the fact that Jun Wong has a TONNE of potential as a character but literally with every chance she gets to shine said chance is flushed down the toilet and spat out into a tar pit.

We could have had a complex character who turned to stories and myths both as a way for her to escape the expectations of her overly-demanding mother, and to connect with her absent father.

We could have had a complex character who overcomes her beliefs about herself, challenges the beliefs of the world around her, and wants to make a name for herself

We could have had a complex character who has more recognisable traits that speak to her personality and compliment the interactions she has with the cast

Make her neurodivergent this is the only fuckin way

We could have had a complex character who beautifully represents the intricacies of East Asian cultures, as well as a character whom people of Asian descent can look up to

But alas, these are things considered by people who care about the characters they create. Jun Wong is another victim of studios who "tick the Diversity checkbox and refuse to develop her character further and let her be a multi-faceted vehicle of ideals for the narrative"

also obligatory announcement:

Alex Gonzales is best girl. the only good character in this dumpster fire of a show

[sleeplesscrescent]

Here's the first of my human redesigns for The Nine Realms. In the actual show, I absolutely hate this character, and I know I don't throw that word around lightly. Her character writing is just atrocious, she's supposed to be the secondary protagonist other than Tom, but she is consistently extremely selfish and unlikable, and rarely ever actually apologizes or learns from her mistakes. There are aspects of her writing that feel kind of racist, like they have her believe very strongly in spiritualism/mysticism, but she also believes in cryptids which makes it hard to take her real spiritual beliefs seriously.

So for mine, I ditched that aspect and leaned fully into her being a nerd for ancient history and mythology, mainly because she idolizes her estranged father who is a famous archaeologist. Her admiration for her father leads to her having a lot of issues with her mother, whom she mainly lives with. (Eugene lives mainly with their dad and his situation is pretty much the reverse of hers.) When Tom lets her in on the secret about the existence of dragons, she is enthusiastic. In her eyes, it opens up the possibility that the myths and legends she's read about are based in reality, and it gives her an outlet to escape from being stuck at Project Icarus with her mom.

(Also she's not having a romance with Tom because I hate the childhood friends trope in romance. So they're just friends. Sorry guys, I just prefer Tomalex.)

Also, I really hated her original design, it felt like someone just threw up purple all over her outfit, like every piece of clothing she wears is purple?! And her eyes were purple too?! No other human character in the entire franchise had an unnatural eye color like that. So for my redesign, I mainly took inspiration from her concept designs, which were a million times better than what we actually got. I also wanted to use some tiny inspiration from the dark academia fashion aesthetic, since I think it fits well with my version of her.

[peronica]

Things I don't like in Dragons: 9 Realms season 7.

Massive spoilers, go watch the show first, this is your warning.

WHAT THE WHAT WAS THAT?

Everything was going fine until Episode 4: In the Cards, and even that started like a normal episode; Eugene not caring about Alex’s sensors, Jun and Tom reading the book, D’angalo being late, these are not uncommon occurrences in the show. But then Jun makes them read the tarot cards and everything goes downhill from there. She thinks the teams’ gonna break up, but Tom thinks they're gonna break up. This leads to several misunderstandings and things that would be normal for them are suddenly the worst things ever; Like the dragons and Eugene eating the purple plants, (which I think is a Blue Oleander reference). In the end, after 1 (one) failed mission, they decide to break up the team? 

And I feel really bad for Eugene this season, I really do. All this kid wants is to be friends with the others, and once they break up, he has no one. He tries to make his own team, and fails miserably, he then goes off on his own and gets captured  by Buzzsaw. Meanwhile, D'angelo's at his dragon hospital, Jun and Tom go on a date and Alex just taunts him the whole time he’s trying to teach his other team. If this had been season 6, nothing would have happened, but now it’s “your leaving us to go on a date? HOW DARE YOU?” and “YOU WENT ON A RESCUE MISSION WITHOUT US? ARE YOU CRAZY?” It’s just pointless accusations we really don’t need.

And Alex in “Alex Not Found?” I feel for her so much, she spent her whole life making friends online because if you don’t really know someone, they can’t really hurt you. (She doesn't say that I made it up). But now, she has real friends; Tom, Jun, D’Angelo, Eugene, and then they break up? She deals with it by making Wendy, an AI she can talk and play with, and every time she’s about to do that, one of these “friends” shows up needing a favor. And I know some of you might look at the scene in the cave when they try to make a plan and she says “no, I’m not helping you right now! Leave me alone.” as her being a jerk, but as someone who knows what that’s like, I can tell you her head wasn’t in the right place. She had one singular mission: Finish the game of chess with Wendy, and they kept stopping her from doing that. That can get so annoying that you feel like your heads gonna explode if you don’t finish the task at hand, not to mention all of them had taken advantage of her earlier that day. 

I don’t blame the others, they didn’t know, and while Tom shouldn’t have called Wendy a “fake friend,” he was also in a tough spot; For all he knew, this might have been his only chance to get the Dragon Riders back together. Breaking the tablet was an accident on Thunder and Feather’s part, but at least the others got it fixed.

That's all I’m gonna say here, I’ll make another post for all the good stuff I found and liked. (There is a lot of it). 

If you don’t agree with anything I said here, that’s ok. We all look at the show with different views, and I hope to see some of your thoughts on this season.

Have a great day!

[f-angy77]

Wongsen content compilation because I like it 💜💙

Credits to the original drawings, these are simply memes, I do not own the original art.

[itsangelic1411]

Playing around with her design cuz I don’t like her at all

[razangy]

Astrid joined Hiccup in his explorations and helped him complete the map.

Tom helps Jun with the research of the Nine Realms and the translation of the book of dragons.

Astrid and Tom had no love for reading or drawing, but spending time with "certain" people and their love of dragons and discoveries made them both enjoy doing that.

I love the facets that these couples acquire after knowing each other years ago and starting to date.

Tom and Jun are still young but I think they can easily pick up skills from each other 💞

[lilmissbacon]

Rewriting&Redesigning Dragons: the Nine Realms — Part 4/4

D’Angelo Baker

There’s not much to say about the choices I made with his redesign other than how I wanted him to look like more than just a basic army brat. I did take reference from Snotlout in terms of his body’s physique.

Plowhorn

I actually really liked the original design of the Gembreakers. I’m just thinking that, realistically, it just doesn’t make much sense for them to have giant crystal looking spikes/horns unless their skeletons looked like that as well. Which it wouldn’t because we see dragon bones all the time and they look like the bones of any other creature on Earth, not like crystals. So I made the horn look like actual bone and made the rest of the design lean more towards a beetle.

I also wanted to make it’s wings more insect-like but I didn’t want to just straight up give her insect wings since all dragon wings look like bat wings in the httyd world, no exceptions. So instead I made it so that Gembreakers have multiple small wings, so they flap very fast and give off the impression of insect wings.

Alex Gonzalez

I just feel like this outfit gives off a more gamer/hacker vibe as well as it being cute. The detailing on her jeans and crop top is her own stitching. I did make her chunky, because realistically, she’s been inside all day everyday for years and with how often her moms seem to make her cookies, I would expect her to have some extra weight.

I should point out that I do understand that curly hair can be hard to model for animation this low budget but I think she just looks really good with curly bangs and I think I know a cheat code. Just copy and paste Gratuity Tucci’s bangs from Home. It’s a Dreamworks movie, so they have access to her model. I even straight up traced her bangs in this drawing just to prove my point.

Feathers / Pluma

I figured her design could be one where she looks scary but is actually very innocent. And keeping the Quetzalcoatl design aspect in mind, my brain immediately thought of the Slitherwing. Like maybe Feathers/Pluma could be a breed of dragon that’s a cousin to the Slitherwing, similer to Night Furies and Woolly Howls. Now I know these species’ haven’t been confirmed to be cousins but still.

Main differences between the Slitherwing and Featherhide here is that Pluma has feathers in place of poison and can mimic/sound-blast in place of venom-spit.

Also having a scarier design would help make Alex’s instant fear more understandable at first glance, since canon Feathers is just cute. And because my redesign now looks so much like a Slitherwing, on first viewing the audience would be worried about the poison Slitherwings have, until it’s revealed to have feathers instead of poison. A little bit of a subversion.

Eugene / August

I really wanted to give him this feel that he was like an Instagram or Tiktok fashion designer. That could even be a part of his character, maybe he and Jun bond over art and he helps her design the dragon armor later on.

Now I know I said that having loose clothing will look really bad in cheap 3D animation but listen; his clothes are not that loose and I made sure to frame his loose sleeves so they’d at least look okay within this show. And you can model wrinkles into the clothes even if they don’t move. Therefore giving the illusion of realistic cloth even though you’re not actually animating it like that. I also made it so that his pants would give some of that big boot silhouette without being bellbottoms and I didn’t make his shoes big as well —like I did with Olivia— as to kind of throw off the audience who'd notice, on whether or not he’d join dragon club.

You may notice that there are some similarities between his and Jun’s designs. They both wear thin sweaters (under August’s silk shirt), have circle necklaces and circle belt buckles. But with the clips of their buckles are on opposite sides from each other, as to kinda showcase the fact that they’re biological siblings but have animosities.

(Also note; I know the way his silk shirt shines is not how it would look in the final animation. That’s just the one creative liberty I took to make sure you would be able to tell it’s shiny in this art.)

Monstrous Nightmare

In regards to August's dragon, I think he'd name it Scorch. Original, I know but you know what? These names for the dragons on on the same level of Toothless being named Toothless simply because his teeth can retract.

I'd also color Scorch to be similar to the titan wing from rtte. Not exactly but very similar.

Other adults

I was originally going to redesign them as well since their designs wouldn’t have that many changes aside from better body proportions and maybe different hair. Along with Johann having modern clothes and Dr. Sledkin having a black or silver Rakke uniform. But it’s taken me two weeks just to make the pics that I finished and I have no more energy to make more. Maybe later on in life I’ll find the energy to do so and I’ll reblog this with those designs but for now I’m done.

Links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3