#Wu and Wei

[otiksimr]

I hate The Nine Realms.

[zoomzooml]

Concept doodles of The Nine Realms dragons because I fell into spiral with those lmao. I have no idea what to do with Feather so I'm ruling her out for now lmao.

I feel that one of the main problems with D:TNR is that this original dragons are done in one style, dragons from previous series are done in another style and dragons from yet another (Bubblehorn is from some series for really young kids from what I know) are done in yet another style and the creators lump it all together.

And the fact that I'm not fond of The Nine Realms artstyle at all is a private opinion. Mine doesn't rally fit HTTYD universe either but I think it's not hard to translate these design so I hope it works anyway lol

Most important text from pics under the cut:

WU 'N' WEI

I feel like two heads don't work for that dragon but I tried to roll with that.

I give them spinosaurous-like snouts bcuz I wanted to keep it round but non-deformed lookin' (lmao).

Catfish-like whiskers on both jaws and in front of eyes.

Knee bends forwards now (why do they bend backwards in canon design??? I don't understand)

More Zippleback-like legs and body.

I hate their colors and tried to improve it but my brain can't do colors either ಥ_ಥ I feel like it all crashes together...

Personal note: I don't like designs of animals who have colors 50/50 at all but I want them to be recognizable. Color pattern like this feel super unnatural unless it's mutation. Like those birds or butterflies who are half male, half female. It's also my personal headcanon for these two lol

I don't like pattern of their wings bit idk what to give them. I just don't want wings to be solid but different than body color, it just looks kinda awkward??

PLOWHORN

In my opinion, because only her wings are covered in armor they look out of place. Rumblehorns' armor looked more conected to it, because head also looked hard/armored. So I tried to connect her armor to her body a bit more

Horn is no longer made of crystal.

She doesn't grow crystals. Crystals grow on her because of her natural habitat

I give her a bit smaller head

Details of her unique wings. They are still made of skin and bones but folds in more bug-like style

BUBBLEHORN

Bodytype similiar to Terrible Terrors, maybe a bit shorter.

Horns like those of Deadly Nadder.

Eyes like parrots'. Idk why lol

Spikes and scales on legs and tail similiar to those of Night Fury

[beebooca]

I completely forgot to share this screenshot redraw I did of TNR! featuring my redesigns for them <3

The original screencap is under the cut!

[f-angy77]

💙💜

I don't like this show but I admit that I had a certain affection for these characters, they are so little and now they are so in love.

Sometimes I feel like the only fan of this ship 😂

Httyd still has a place in my heart, and I don't really feel like these characters are another Hiccstrid, I feel like they are very different... They have their own energy, they are also somewhat toxic but they are still cute 💞

[pufffinn]

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

[l-egionaire]

Why was this concept art NOT chosen as Wu and Wei's design? Like, I don't violently hate Wu and Wei's canon design like most people (my main issue is just the Asian dragon heads on a generic green Zippleback body) and even I feel like this is way better. Their heads are more snakelike, their body is more Asian dragon looking, even the heads, while still having those exaggerated Asian beards and eyebrows, are at least distinct from one another. Why did they not go with this isntead?

[sleeplesscrescent]

So I've had mixed feelings about the nine realms since it was announced, there are a few things that I genuinely like, but a lot more that I dislike. So I've decided to do my own redesigns of the characters and their dragons, starting with the dragon that I had the most issue with in regards to it's design. While I liked the idea of the original mist twister, a two headed dragon that breathes hot and cold mist, it was poorly executed.

The colors were off, with the main body being yellow with the heads being red and blue, the colors clashed.

Every example of two headed dragons in the series have involved them having one rider for each head. Because when it's just one rider it feels very unbalanced, and they can only control one head at a time. So with Jun not sharing a dragon with her brother, it needed an overhaul.

Despite trying to do represent Chinese culture, the original design feels very stereotypical and doesn't fit with design style of the dragons seen in the series.

A little more info about my version of the species:

They primarily live in underwater cave systems in the hidden world. Their long thin bodies, coupled with a very flexible spine and joints, allow them to squeeze through narrow passages and access new areas that other dragons can't reach. Because of this, they have spread to several realms across the hidden world.

They are capable of breathing a freezing mist, but will run out if they do not drink to recover, they don't usually spend a lot of time out of the water because of this.

They aren't particularly aggressive or territorial, getting along well with dragons both of their own kind and other species. This doesn't mean they can't put up a fight if backed into a corner, being surprisingly quick in the water.

Main inspirations were Olms (cave dwelling relatives of Axolotls) and Cuban Crocodiles.

Info specific to Jun's dragon:

She names him Jiaolong (after a famous water dragon from Chinese legend)

His nicknames are Jiao, and long boi.

The most relaxed of all the main dragons, he almost always remains calm and collected in tough situations. And is the peacemaker of the other dragons when they get into trouble.

[yakutarts]

Wu and Wei

Yes, this is a redesign of the dragon "Wu and Wei", from the series How to Train Your Dragon: Nine Realms (very shitty series, don't watch, they ruined EVERYTHING).

I can't look right at the dragon designs from that series without calling them hideous or ugly, I needed to redo those aberrations.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure the producer(?) of the series has confirmed that Thunder is inbreed.

I almost forgot to mention that in this redesign, instead of one of the heads being an ice breather, this head now breathes water.

[howtodrawyourdragon]

I think Hiccup needed to put a smiley face or a happy dragon/Viking next to that Titan Wing Mist Twister, because there's no way the Dragon Riders didn't know that chucking Mist Twisters down into that lake was a way to rejuvinate them.

[thetombedspirit]

Dragons: The Nine Realms AU - Character and Dragon - Development and Designs

As most of may be aware from my previous Nine Realms post, most of the designs on the characters and the dragons just rub me the wrong way.

So here’s how I would have preferred them to look like, starting with: Jun Wong.

1. Jun Wong

In complete honesty, I really relate to Jun. I to am a mythology and history nerd and do have a tendency to make it my entire personality trait much to the annoyance of others (sorry sis). So yes, while I find her annoying and cringy, I don’t completely hate her. But why? Why are her eyes purple? She just looks so weird and it just doesn’t help her case with her whimsical aesthetic.

So I would have preferred for her to look like her concept art. 

She just looks so cool here and I can’t for the life of me understand why they went for what we’ve got. But in full honesty, she’s not even the craziest design we got here.

Ooo boy.

2. Wu Wei the Mist Twister

While I can sorta understand what they are going for here in terms of diversity, I think what we’ve got was just trying far too hard and doesn’t look like it fits in the franchise at all. Like, I wouldn’t hate the design this much if this was a show specifically about Asian dragons and Chinese culture, but as it stands this is a show about Norse dragons and Viking culture and the fact alone that the only Asian looking dragon is being rode on by the only Asian character still rubs me the wrong way. So, again, I would prefer they kept the concept idea for the Mist Twister.

Like, LOOK AT THIS! It’s PERFECT! Not only does it actually look like it belongs in the franchise as a HTTYD dragon, but it fits the diversity. You have the Yin and Yang aesthetic and they almost but not completely resemble a Zippleback. And we don’t have that weird of a color blend here (like why did blue and red blend into gold and not purple, you know, like Jun’s MAIN COLOR PALLETE!)

Anyway, that’s just how I feel. Now onto “Thunder”.

3. Thunder the Night Light

This dragon designs presents even more problems because it just doesn’t make sense. For all the die hard fans, we all know that Toothless is supposedly (I’m still calling bullshit on that, Grimmel!!!) the last Night Fury in the world and we also know that Fury dragons mate for life like doves. So for Thunder to be considered a Night Light makes zero sense. Genetics don’t work that way. So either Toothless ran into other Night Furies that mated with his kids or his kids decided to bump uglies with each other in order for Thunder to look the way he does. And since that’s clearly not the route the creators are implying, then Thunder should canonically be a Light Fury with very few or no Night genes at all. And while I like the name Thunder, the powers also make no sense for me too. Toothless only ever used lightening to turn invisible and as a Light Fury he wouldn’t need lightening. And what was wrong with Plasma Blast?! But anyway, here’s what I’d like for Thunder to look like.

Personally, I like what I’ve done here. Full white body with grey spots all over his body, his spinal spikes with the webbing, and the green and blue eye as well as green fire, contrasting Toothless who was black with green eyes and blue fire. And this version of Thunder is a lot more feral since he grew up in Asgard with no human reaction until the earthquake. But Tom eventually wins him over. Anyways, no Night Light bull because the way I see it, they died out several hundred years ago.

4. Feathers the Featherhide

I don’t really mind the Featherhide design all that much, but I don’t like the name. Like, “Feathers”? Really? So here’s my proposal.

Lyrebird. Because of her impeccable mimicry abilities and beautiful plumage. And I would like to make the Featherhide dragons a Amphithere dragon, kinda like the Slitherwing dragons but, you know, nicer. And they have a lot more feathers then the show, on their crown, tail and they have feathery wings as well.

I don’t have the artistic lisence

(ART DONE BY Khrests ON DeviantArt) Just a general idea and I like the name Lyre better then Feathers. And I just like to imagine an  Amphithere curling up around Alex like a makeshift nest.

5. Plowhorn the Gembreaker

This is the only dragon that I’m not gonna redesign. Really, the only thing I’m changing is that most Gembreakers are much bigger so that Plowhorn is the runt and that’s why she was being picked on by the bully Gembreakers.

One major thing I’m changing is her name. Let me explain; the whole episode Dragon Club, D’Angelo was referencing his Ranger badge and talking about Rangers and so, NATURALLY, I thought she was going to be named “Ranger”. but then we got... Plowhorn.

Like, it’s not a bad name, but it’s the kind of name I would expect Hiccup, Snotlout, Fishlegs and Tuffnut to name a dragon, not a modern kid who is described by the writer’s as an “army brat”.

As such, I’m renaming ‘Plowhorn’ to ‘Ranger’. Other then that, she’s pretty much perfect the way she is.

That’s all I got for now. Later I might talk about how my versions of the characters meet and bond. Let me know what you think of my redesigns.

[rosiethedragongeek]

PLEASE give me ur thoughts on Wu and Wei I'm begging (also thunder if you want)

Okay okay okay, I’m gonna make a longer post on this breaking down some different 9 realms stuff (particularly dragon designs), so this might not be as in depth as it could be (or at least won’t cover other dragon designs from 9 realms)

The design for Wu and Wei bothers me so much dude. I do like the fire and ice thing, it’s pretty cool, and honestly I feel like that alone makes them one of if not the strongest dragon in the group.

I feel like the character designers (or whoever is behind their design) put more emphasis on designing a dragon based on Chinese mythology (solely because Jun is Chinese) than designing a dragon that fits within the design language of the HTTYD universe. I think that lends to them looking out of place within the rest of the series.

I feel like it could have felt cooler and more natural if they had worked those aspects in in subtler ways. I feel like it was kinda lazy just taking a preexisting concept and essentially copy pasting it onto one of the main dragons. There was so much room to do something more creative with the concept, and I just feel like they did it because it was easy and not because it looked the best or most natural or anything like that

[urfavlikesmysingingmonsters]

Wu and Wei from Dragons: The Nine Realms likes My Singing Monsters! Their favorites are Water Island, Toe Jammer, Maggpi and Rooba!

Wu and Wei from Dragons: The Nine Realms like My Singing Monsters and their favourites are Water Island, Toe Jammer, Maggpi, and Rooba!

[chameshida]

Random Nine Realms complaint: the Mist Twister, despite being Tidal Class, is hardly ever seen in water and hardly looks like a swimmer.

I risk reading this ask but it appears there's no spoilers in this so I will answer (noted that I haven't watch season 3 yet)

I think it's just hard for the main dragon to shown in the water. I know Rescue riders of all thing pull this off well with Summer but if I bring up example it'd be Thornado.

Thunderdrum is a water dragon, no one question that. They look the part. They're shown to be aquatic dragon. But Thornado in the series is only ever show in the water in his debut episode. The rest of his stay he's just shown chilling on land and in the sky all the time

I think Mist twister is similar to that in that it's hard to find the situation to put the dragon in the water when with the group. Their main hub are on land, when riden it can't be in the water because rider--

As for the second part of the ask I think it looks fine in water and has enough element to support its aquatic nature (like shape of wing, fin and scale). Plus they're based of eastern dragon, which usually are water dragon that don't look that much aquatic anyway. It looks more aquatic than some of the tidal class dragon *cough*sand wraith*cough* if I say so myself.

[eileenwdj]

based on this

[f-angy77]

a little bit of The Nine Realms stuff now that it's over 🥲

[wilcze-kudly]

I sorta ran out of characters in the end but i had fun lol