Raya and the Last Dragon

[D82]

I think it's too late in the game for the Druun to be cut. They don't have the time to scrap this idea and go down a different route. If the change happened a while ago, they would have been prepared and wouldn't have released outdated info to the press, right? I think some details about the Druun may have changed, like their name, for example, but not their role in the film.

The Druun were first mentioned in the EW article released around two months ago, so I suppose by then they were still part of the story. I guess you're right that it's too late in production for them to have been cut. It hadn't occurred to me their name could've been changed. That would explain their exclusion from the latest synopsis, as people would only be confused if suddenly they had a new name there. We'll see, but I like your idea too, farerb. I think some elements of it could still be correct even if the Druun are still in the movie.

By the way, the other day while I was reading some old posts from this thread, I came across this list of Funko Pops posted by farerb back in April:

There was a list of Funko Pops of Raya with the names of the characters:
Raya
Sisu
Sisu as Dragon
Tuk Tuk
Namari
Druun
Bajong with Little Jong

Now we know who Tuk Tuk and the Druun are, and I guess Bajong and Little Jong are probably two of the members of the band of misfits, most likely the big bulky man and the little one next to him in the picture below taken by robster16 from the Frozen 2 documentary series. The only other name left is Namari, which sounds female, so I think it might be the name of the leader of the white clan. If those guesses were right, the only characters from that picture whose names we still wouldn't know would be the name of the boy who plays the flute (second from the left) and the monkeys or whatever they are. There are also probably two members of the band of misfits missing from that line-up, as they said the band is comprised of one member from each of the five clans.

The names of three LEGO sets about the movie have also been discovered recently:

43181 Raya’s Palace – £75
43184 Raya’s Dragon – £28
43185 Raya’s Boat – £45

Source: https://brickhubs.com/2020/09/lego-raya ... g-in-2021/


So, it seems Raya will have a boat in the movie, which makes sense since Sisu is a water dragon and there'll probably be scenes at sea or at a lake, but it's also yet another similarity to Moana.

[Disney's Divinity]

Yeah… I really hope the Druun are not gone. They were one of the most interesting things about this story so far for me. And I liked their name, and having a name period would be better than having some vague word like “darkness” or whatever to describe them.

Now we know who Tuk Tuk and the Druun are, and I guess Bajong and Little Jong are probably two of the members of the band of misfits, most likely the big bulky man and the little one next to him in the picture below taken by robster16 from the Frozen 2 documentary from Disney Plus. The only other name left is Namari which sounds female, so I think it's safe to say it could be the name of the leader of the white clan. If those guesses were right, the only characters from that picture whose names we still don't know would be the name of the boy who plays the flute (second from the left) and the monkeys or whatever they are. There are also probably two members of the band of misfits missing from that line-up, as they said the band is comprised of one member of each of the five clans.

Well, if we follow the trend of Funko (or, rather, Disney, since they ultimately decide what characters are made by Funko): the majority of the Revival villains have not been made. I think Facilier and King Candy have been the only ones they’ve made so far. I think Disney deliberately doesn’t merchandise their newer twist villains that much… But maybe it’s just me? I could see Namari being the little boy's name--who is perhaps part of the group of misfits?

[D82]

Yeah… I really hope the Druun are not gone. They were one of the most interesting things about this story so far for me. And I liked their name, and having a name period would be better than having some vague word like “darkness” or whatever to describe them.

I actually liked too that they seemed to be living creatures and not just some intangible darkness because that would be too reminiscent of Moana.

Well, if we follow the trend of Funko (or, rather, Disney, since they ultimately decide what characters are made by Funko): the majority of the Revival villains have not been made. I think Facilier and King Candy have been the only ones they’ve made so far. I think Disney deliberately doesn’t merchandise their newer twist villains that much… But maybe it’s just me? I could see Namari being the little boy's name--who is perhaps part of the group of misfits?

Oh, OK. I don't know anything about Funko Pops, so I didn't know that. Yeah, I guess Namari could be the little boy then, for example. Though, we still don't know for sure if the female character in white is the villain or not.

By the way, I said there were probably two misfits missing from that line-up, but Raya most likely is the one from the group to represent her clan, so then there'd be just one missing (unless the monkeys represent a clan too?).

[Farerb]

My question is why would an external threat cause a discord between the clans? Shouldn't they be united in order to defeat it?

Namari could be her father's name.

[D82]

My question is why would an external threat cause a discord between the clans? Shouldn't they be united in order to defeat it?

You're right, that's what they should do. But, I don't know, maybe the enemy is impossible to defeat by normal means and they think that coming together wouldn't make much of a difference.

Namari could be her father's name.

That's also a possibility.

[estefan]

I just want to take a moment to say how excited I am for "Raya and the Last Dragon." The visuals, designs and action are very appealing to me. Tuk Tuk looks adorable, I really like what we've seen of Raya herself so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what the dragon is like. Before the pandemic happened, this and "Connected" were the animated movies I was most looking forward to seeing in 2020. What has been revealed so far has not disappointed me.

[Sotiris]

Now we know who Tuk Tuk and the Druun are, and I guess Bajong and Little Jong are probably two of the members of the band of misfits, most likely the big bulky man and the little one next to him in the picture below taken by robster16 from the Frozen 2 documentary series. The only other name left is Namari, which sounds female, so I think it might be the name of the leader of the white clan. If those guesses were right, the only characters from that picture whose names we still wouldn't know would be the name of the boy who plays the flute (second from the left) and the monkeys or whatever they are.

Namari strikes me as a female name too. It sounds similar to names of other Disney female characters like Nakoma, Malina, Tanana, Tamora, Nani, Nita, etc. Looking up the name didn't yield much results. It's the name of a Japanese location as well as a skin care line. There's also a female character in a manga with that name. It being the name of the daughter of the white clan's leader we saw in the trailer is the safest bet.

So, it seems Raya will have a boat in the movie, which makes sense since Sisu is a water dragon and there'll probably be scenes at sea or at a lake, but it's also yet another similarity to Moana.

Disney should market together their boat princesses! Ariel, Pocahontas, Tiana, Rapunzel, and Moana are all seen on a boat at one point or another.

Though, we still don't know for sure if the female character in white is the villain or not.

True, she may not be a villain at all. We used to believe Yesss would be a villain too, but ended up not being one. Perhaps Disney will want to make a point about female solidarity and have this character be an ally to Raya instead of an antagonist.

My question is why would an external threat cause a discord between the clans? Shouldn't they be united in order to defeat it?

If there's anything we've learned from history is that at a time of war and conflict there's always strife and disagreements over the best course of action as well as plenty of opportunism and politics at play.

[Disney's Divinity]

I just want to take a moment to say how excited I am for "Raya and the Last Dragon." The visuals, designs and action are very appealing to me. Tuk Tuk looks adorable, I really like what we've seen of Raya herself so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what the dragon is like. Before the pandemic happened, this and "Connected" were the animated movies I was most looking forward to seeing in 2020. What has been revealed so far has not disappointed me.

Right there with you on the hype train! I only wish the film was getting released later this month rather than next year, but at least the film is done.

Well, if we follow the trend of Funko (or, rather, Disney, since they ultimately decide what characters are made by Funko): the majority of the Revival villains have not been made. I think Facilier and King Candy have been the only ones they’ve made so far. I think Disney deliberately doesn’t merchandise their newer twist villains that much… But maybe it’s just me? I could see Namari being the little boy's name--who is perhaps part of the group of misfits?

Oh, OK. I don't know anything about Funko Pops, so I didn't know that. Yeah, I guess Namari could be the little boy then, for example. Though, we still don't know for sure if the female character in white is the villain or not.

Sorry if I came off a bit brusque there. I actually thought the name sounded feminine at first, too, and that it could be the name of the girl who's likely a villain. I guess I sat and thought about it too long as I was looking at the list and started to think about how we've never got pops for Bellwether, Hans, or Callaghan even though those films were released after Funko was thriving and they were putting out a wide number of pops for every new Disney release. If it was just Gothel they hadn't done at this point, I would dismiss that as an outlier since Tangled and TP&TF were kind of before the time Funko was really pumping out Disney pops. (Unfortunately. I wish both those films had received extensive lines the way Moana and Frozen have. )

[D82]

I just want to take a moment to say how excited I am for "Raya and the Last Dragon." The visuals, designs and action are very appealing to me. Tuk Tuk looks adorable, I really like what we've seen of Raya herself so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what the dragon is like. Before the pandemic happened, this and "Connected" were the animated movies I was most looking forward to seeing in 2020. What has been revealed so far has not disappointed me.

I'm really excited for the film too and I've also liked all that has been revealed from it so far. And though personally I'm not that excited for Connected, I think it looks interesting and will probably be good too.

Namari strikes me as a female name too. It sounds similar to names of other Disney female characters like Nakoma, Malina, Tanana, Tamora, Nani, Nita, etc. Looking up the name didn't yield much results. It's the name of a Japanese location as well as a skin care line. There's also a female character in a manga with that name. It being the name of the daughter of the white clan's leader we saw in the trailer is the safest bet.

Yes, it sounds similar to those names. And the fact that there's a female character in a manga with that name also makes it seem more likely that it'll be a female character. Though, what sounds female in one culture can sound male in another, so we'll see.

Disney should market together their boat princesses! Ariel, Pocahontas, Tiana, Rapunzel, and Moana are all seen on a boat at one point or another.

I hadn't realized there were so many princesses who are seen on a boat in their movies! Yes, they should make a boat princess collection!

True, she may not be a villain at all. We used to believe Yesss would be a villain too, but ended up not being one. Perhaps Disney will want to make a point about female solidarity and have this character be an ally to Raya instead of an antagonist.

It's true, we were wrong about Yesss, for example. What makes me think she might not be a villain after all is what they said in that article; that the film has three female protagonists, and villains aren't usually referred to as protagonists. Although, didn't the DisInsiner or a similar website say that Raya would have a female villain?

Sorry if I came off a bit brusque there.

You didn't come off as that at all. Sorry if my response gave you the impression I was offended in some way.

[Sotiris]

What makes me think she might not be a villain after all is what they said in that article; that the film has three female protagonists, and villains aren't usually referred to as protagonists. Although, didn't the DisInsider or a similar website say that Raya would have a female villain?

Skyler Shuler said there will be a villain, but he might have been referring to the Druun. What makes me believe there's a chance she's not the villain is her design and her pose in the leaked concept art as well as the recent trend of not having a real villain in WDAS films (Moana, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen 2). Disney must have taken notice audiences growing weary of twist villains and pivoted to misunderstood villains or no villains at all.

[D82]

Skyler Shuler said there will be a villain, but he might have been referring to the Druun.

Oh, OK. I don't know why I thought it had been revealed the villain would be a woman.

What makes me believe there's a chance she's not the villain is her design and her pose in the leaked concept art as well as the recent trend of not having a real villain in WDAS films (Moana, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen 2). Disney must have taken notice audiences growing weary of twist villains and pivoted to misunderstood villains or no villains at all.

It's true that she doesn't look villainous there and there's definitely a trend right now of not having a villain or having one that is misunderstood, so you may be right that she's not a villain or at least not a traditional one. Personally, I don't really know what I would prefer. I guess what works best for this particular story.

[DisneyFan09]

Alot of its look gave me Moana vibes, really wish Disney would experiment a little more with art and design, would it really be such a big risk for them to do so at this point? it all looks like the same world as Moana's just with a Southeast Asian dressing.

Agreed. That was what I kept thinking, too! But since everything Disney does gets compared to what they`ve priorly done, I guess it`s inescapable

I actually hope the Druun have been indeed cut, even though I don't believe that's the case. I never liked having group of monsters as the threat or the antagonist in the film.

Me neither. I`ve never liked to see monsters as antagonists on feature films. Mostly due to the sheer superfluidity of it. It was one of the things that worked in the Aladdin series, but what I disliked about Hercules initially.

Namari strikes me as a female name too. It sounds similar to names of other Disney female characters like Nakoma, Malina, Tanana, Tamora, Nani, Nita, etc. Looking up the name didn't yield much results. It's the name of a Japanese location as well as a skin care line. There's also a female character in a manga with that name. It being the name of the daughter of the white clan's leader we saw in the trailer is the safest bet.

Perhaps Namari is the name of Raya`s mother? If the mother is still a part of the story, though.

[Farerb]

I personally was hoping the Druun will be "unseen" lovecraftian monsters like "Men" in Bambi.

[Sotiris]

Interesting tidbit about Tuk Tuk.

There was a point in this production where we realized we should probably name Raya's little creature. Directors who took a trip to Bangkok, as part of a few research trips we did, suggested "tuk tuk" which is an open air vehicle there. I was like "Yes, let's do it!"

Source: https://i.imgur.com/V2ky0mb.jpg

[rodrigo_ca]

Disney+ Slovakia included Raya and the Last Dragon in their 2021 video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeC_BwY ... e=youtu.be

[Sotiris]

I don't think that means it's going to be a Disney+ exclusive, but that it will just come to Disney+ by the end of the year since it's being released theatrically in March. Though who knows at this point. Disney foolishly believes that next year things will go back to normal and they'll be able to release all of their 2021 slate in theaters.

[D82]

Interesting tidbit about Tuk Tuk.

There was a point in this production where we realized we should probably name Raya's little creature. Directors who took a trip to Bangkok, as part of a few research trips we did, suggested "tuk tuk" which is an open air vehicle there. I was like "Yes, let's do it!"

Source: https://i.imgur.com/V2ky0mb.jpg

I've watched some trailer reaction videos from people of Southeast Asian descent who have mentioned that, but it's nice to have confirmation from Disney. I think it's a cool and fitting name for the character since he or she is used as a vehicle by Raya.

[D82]

New book cover:


Source: https://www.amazon.co.jp/Raya-Dragon-De ... 0736441107

I bet the following drawing is also from a book cover since it was posted on the same Instagram account that first posted the other cover:


Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHawgVMHH3K/

And better look at the "monkey" characters in toy form:


Source: https://www.facebook.com/26465899030962 ... 439757846/

[Sotiris]

I bet the following drawing is also from a book cover since it was posted on the same Instagram account that first posted the other cover.

It is. You can find the entire cover below. The illustration didn't turn out that well. They tried to draw her based on the doll packaging clip-art and usually when you paint over a CG model, it doesn't look as good.


Source: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/ ... 0794446437

And better look at the "monkey" characters in toy form.

Raya's hair here is much longer than it is in the trailer or any of the promo materials. I wonder why is that. Probably just for the purposes of this particular doll. I'd like to know what those creatures are too. Probably more fantastical animals like Tuk Tuk. The one at the top looks like a monkey, the second one like a bison, and the one at the bottom like a cat. The second one reminds me a bit of Appa, Aang's flying bison in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Also, I'm not sure if this is new, but the synopsis provided for the book listings mentions the misfits.

Walt Disney Animation Studios' fantasy-action-adventure, Raya and the Last Dragon, introduces Raya, a lone warrior from the fantasy kingdom of Kumandra who teams up with a crew of misfits in her quest to find the last dragon and bring light and unity back to their world.

Source: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/book ... rh-disney/

[DisneyFan09]

And better look at the "monkey" characters in toy form:


Source: https://www.facebook.com/26465899030962 ... 439757846/

Thanks for posting. It reminds me of the Braided Beauty Pocahontas doll. Where Meeko braids her hair (which it`s animation test was made for commercial purposes).