Hei Xiong,[2] more commonly known by his nickname Junior, is the owner, or at least manager, of a club in Vale and is in charge of the Xiong Family following the death of his father at the hands of Lil' Miss Malachite, with Melanie and Miltia Malachite being among them.
He was introduced in the "Yellow" Trailer, as its main antagonist. He makes his first proper appearance in the series in "Painting the Town...", giving what information he knows about Roman Torchwick to Yang Xiao Long and Neptune Vasilias.
His weapon of choice was a missile launcher that fired homing missiles which doubled as a large club. It was later destroyed by Yang in their fight.
With the destruction of Vale in the "Volume 9 Bonus Ending Animatic", his current status is unknown.
Appearance[]
Junior wears a black vest over a white dress shirt, a red tie, black gloves and black dress pants. He has gray eyes, short black hair, along with a matching beard and mustache. Junior is also exceptionally tall, standing a full head over Yang and the twins.
Junior can sometime be seen wearing red-tinted glasses identical to the ones worn by his henchmen.
Personality[]
Junior has a somewhat brutish personality, not liking to be pushed around and bullying others. However, he tends to hide behind his henchmen unless forced into a fight himself. He is also somewhat dull or gullible, as he easily fell for Yang's offer to "kiss and make up" before being punched in the face.
Junior also appears to be easily intimidated or at the very least aware of his limits, as seen with Yang following her return to the club in "Painting the Town..." due to a previous encounter, quickly taking her to the side to prevent her from doing more damage to his club. Junior even has a resentment for his own men, as he is seemingly regularly disappointed by their failures.
Back when his father was still alive in "RWBY: Roman Holiday", he constantly thought that Junior was too incompetent to take over the Xiong Family after him. After Hei Xiong was killed and Junior took over, his worries were later proven to be correct due to the Xiong Family becoming less powerful than the rising criminal Roman Torchwick and being easily defeated in battle by Yang Xiao Long.
Powers and Abilities[]
Junior is a decently skilled fighter and displays a great deal of strength while fighting Yang. Even while she defends with Ember Celica, he has the capacity to overpower her with his weapon, which none of his henchmen could. His durability is also fairly high, withstanding numerous punches that incapacitated his henchmen in a single hit.
In terms of ability, Junior is also noteworthy out of combat. He appears to be a form of information broker, and according to Yang, he supposedly knows everything that happens in Vale.
Weapon[]
- Main article: Junior's Bazooka
Junior's weapon of choice was his Bazooka, which appeared to be a rocket launcher-club hybrid. He was first seen wielding the weapon in the "Yellow" Trailer. During his fight with Yang, the weapon was destroyed in the process.
Trivia[]
Allusion[]
- Junior alludes to the Baby Bear from Goldilocks and the Three Bears. For more information on this allusion, as well as other choices the creators made for this character, see Junior Xiong/Behind the Scenes.
Color Naming Rule[]
- Hei (黑) is Chinese for "black".
Character&Design[]
- Junior was originally meant to be voiced by Gavin Free, but Monty Oum felt that Gavin's voice was too important and the role was then given to Jack Pattillo; Gavin subsequently joined the voice cast as Team SSSN member, Scarlet David.
Miscellaneous[]
- Junior's nickname for Yang, "Blondie", is a reference to Barbara Dunkelman's old Rooster Teeth username, Twitter handle and current Xbox Gamertag, "BlawnD".
- In the first draft of RWBY: Before the Dawn, Junior Xiong had opened up The Mirage, and the Malachite Twins were the surprise antagonists who take on Yatsu in the cage fight.[3]