#I WANT TO SEE BERK EXPANDING

[westwiiind]

dean deblois listen to me. listen to me dean deblois. we don’t want a live action. we want a new series that serves the same function as rtte except instead of taking place between the first and second movie, it takes place between the second and third. please dean deblois save us dean deblois

[itsybitsybatsyspider]

The Dragon Prince Au Masterpost

So since i got so many ideas and thoughts for this au, imma just make a masterpost for this since i plan on expanding and adding more to it in the future. Thought it’d make context a bit easier to understand. There's quite a bit so buckle in fellas

Berk is an outpost village that lies along the border of Katolis and Xadia. The people and battalion there are known for their duty to ward off dragons and drakes when they get too close to the border, and they are based right on the edge of the border where both lands meet at the Gulf of Tenebris. 

The events from the first movie still kind of play out. Hiccup shoots down Toothless and hides it from everyone, but after learning about dragons and seeing that they’re misunderstood and that Berk has been provoking them, he then creates a disguise to help the dragons.

Of course, now everyone thinks that there’s a Sunfire elf out there fighting against them and why do they think he’s a Sunfire elf?? Because he creates Inferno in an attempt to mimic a Sunforge blade and paints his helmet to look like elf markings and builds in horns.

Jack is a Skywing elf, and a mage-in-training. He’s doing his best and lives with his mother and sister, Emily. Their village is to the north of the Ruins of Elarion and resides in the mountains.

He's out flying one day when he hears a dragon's roar and when he flies down to investigate he sees a human trying to catch a dragon. Filled with anger he jumps down and pulls up a spell, aiming it at the human, who stares back with his eyes wide and hands raised.

Hiccup was only trying to wrangle Toothless to try and put on a new and improved tailfin when out of nowhere a Skywing elf leaps out and points lightning at him???

So they get off on the wrong foot. But after seeing that Hiccup wasn't harming Toothless and Toothless was friendly towards Hiccup, did Jack lower his staff. He truly thought the human was going to try to kill the dragon to take it apart to send to the dark mages of the Katolin court. He'd heard stories of human "mages'' and their brand of "magic". But no. All that was in front of him was a startled human who had only been wanting to help a creature of Xadia.

and from there, their friendship begins.

Jack tells Hiccup about Xadia and Hiccup tells Jack about his home. They sneak off to hang out and take Toothless out flying. Jack uses Sky magic to make them go faster and higher and blows snow flurries their way to mess with Hiccup.

Hiccup brings pastries and food for Jack to try from home and gets him to try brown morning potion. It ends with Hiccup laughing on the ground and a cup frozen to the ground as Jack sputters in distaste at the bitterness

Jack manages to find a real Sunforge blade and gifts it to Hiccup. "Now you can pass off as a real Sunfire elf. Or at least close enough."

Toothiana is a Skywing elf. One of Jack’s friends and a family friend to the Frost-Overlands. She’s helped teach Jack some Sky magic but it’s not much. She tries to help him by hunting down books, tomes, and scrolls in her free time when she’s not busy

Bunny is an Earthblood elf who doesn’t stay in one place too long. But he does have a place on the outskirts of their village and sometimes lingers for a few weeks at a time before going back to his travels. His real home is in the Uncharted Forest.

Sandy is a Sunfire elf who passes through occasionally and is Tooth's source for magic books for Jack. Sandy lives near Lux Aurea but his work keeps him traveling around. He's a Sun mage and is currently hunting for the source of whatever magic has been corrupting creatures in Xadia and turning them into monsters made of nothing but shade and decay.

North is a human dwelling in Berk. He and Gobber run the smithy and create the defenses for the outpost and take turns running the shop. But North is actually a friend to Xadia (*cough* Bunny *cough cough* Tooth *cough* Sandy). It was the time before he came to Berk and he keeps these opinions to himself until he discovers what Hiccup has been doing in his spare time.

Astrid is the top-cadet in the training program at the outpost. Best in her class and has the highest chance of joining the Outpost Guard right off the bat. She and Hiccup are friends and she has trouble understanding his sudden reluctance to want to fight dragons and keep enemy forces at bay. This is their home. Doesn’t he want to protect it? Surely he must understand what’s at stake if creatures from Xadia were to invade. 

the rest of the teenagers are in the training program a well. Snotlout has aspirations to join the Katolin army at the Breach, Fishlegs just wants to study the flora and fauna of Xadia without it trying to kill him, and the twins... well they're the twins. They want to learn primal magic for pranks and get chased by a drake and cause havoc in general.

Jamie Bennett and his family live in Berk and Jamie has a secret that he's never told anyone. His best friend's an elf.

Jamie and Emily become friends before the events of the story start. And have been friends for months at this point. They've been lying to everyone to keep their friendship. So when Jack starts acting suspicious at home, claiming to go see some friends (he doesn’t have friends aside from her and Tooth) she starts paying attention to what he’s trying to hide. She fills Jamie in on it as well during one of their hangouts and he’s like “Oh weird, you know I've been noticing the Commander’s son has been disappearing as well.”

At one point Jack manages to get his hands on an illusion necklace, and gives it to Hiccup so that he can be fully disguised as an Earthblood elf. He wants to show him the beauty of his home and Xadia without the worry that he’ll get captured or killed and they spend a whole day going through Jack’s village and showing him everything. Emily follows along and keeps a sharp eye on Hiccup. 

She brings it up in their following recap. "So my brother had a friend over the other day... it was an Earthblood elf i had never seen before... he acted really weird." "Huh that's weird... Hiccup was gone the other day... no one could find him..." ".... Hiccup?"

and Pitch is a dark mage :)

At some point i may add more, but for now this is the base context for the Au. it was hard not to get carried away with adding even more but i think that about sums it up for now! Below is the art that's been posted already. I'll edit it as i post more but for now that's it!

Jack, Hiccup, and Toothless designs

Sunfire Elf Hiccup disguise

Jack's Wing Maintenance

First Meeting (and misunderstandings)

Questions Ask

Ask #2

Jack and His Sister

Astrid, Jamie, and Tooth Designs

Earthblood Elf Hiccup Illusion

Some Plot

[revive-the-fandom]

Johann's villain arc was piss poor writing

tbh I don't come to RTTE for good writing, I go here for mediocre writing with flecks of greatness in it. But Johann's villain arc is a stinking pile of shit muddying the waters of the rest of the show and I'm tired of seeing people praising it.

If you're writing a twist villain the truth needs to make more sense than the lie. and Johann just has so many inconsistencies and plotholes and godawful dialogue. He feels more fake as the villain than he ever did as the Comic Relief Plot Mover.

What is his end game?

So he gets the King of Dragons, now what? Do what with it? Is he selling it to Drago through Krogan? If he does this then he loses the King of Dragons, his Allies, and the Dragon Flyers?? Then why does Krogan need Johann of all people?

What does he bring to the table that Krogan and the Grimborns haven't already provided?

Krogan brings the Flyers, an air force, and he's an accomplished fighter with an exotic style that the Archipelago is unfamiliar with. He's also bringing the Buyer and the Funds.

The Grimborns bring the Hunters, a naval force highly skilled at capturing Dragons alive (something Berk, the Outcasts, and the Berserkers couldn't manage after 300 years of experience) and selling their parts. They also bring the Dragon Eye - it's a decades (maybe even centuries) old artifact created by the Hunters for use by the Hunters.

Then why do Viggo and Krogan work for him?

No fucking clue! It doesn't make sense! He's been undercover for at least 15 - 20 years (the man recognises by sight the gift Valka made for Hiccup, which he threw into the ocean when he was a toddler). Any reputation he had in his homeland or even the archipelago is void.

Johann is also rarely ever shown fighting, and when he does fight he loses, so he's pretty shit. He loses to Hiccup twice, and he loses to Viggo. He's not inspiring confidence or fear so what the fuck is even his deal? How is he gaining loyalty?

He doesn't bring knowledge, or hell even an insider perspective of the Riders. Viggo has the information on the Dragon Eye and how to use it, Krogan has the information on what the King of Dragons looks like and acts like from Drago.

Johann throws out his one and only advantage, his alliance (and spy status) with Berk, the Outcasts, and the Berserkers, as soon as he starts to really need it (the Hunters are defeated and absorbed into the Flyers. Ryker, a highly competent general, is dead. Viggo is horrifically injured. The Shellfire is defeated. Krogan, his main general is combative, impulsive and desperate. The Flyers are loyal out of fear not camaraderie. Hiccup has a second Dragon Eye. etc).

He doesn't even have any good reason to hate dragons for christs sake!

Stoick lost his wife.

Gobber lost his limbs.

Drago also lost his limb.

So did Hiccup.

Astrid lost her uncle.

Fishlegs' ancestry is built on dragon hunting.

Mildew is a bitter old man clinging to his culture and influence (power).

Alvin wanted power through the Dragons, but didnt really hate them in the first place, just assigned them: enemy.

Johann just hates people allied with Dragons for the sake of it. It's never expanded on. It's his whole motivation for betraying Berk and it's not. explained. He's evil for the sake of evil. Johann the Trader at least could use the tribes of the archipelago for protection and profit, but Johann the Criminal Mastermind sacrifices this relationship for Viggo's Dragon Eye Lenses at the drop of pin. Why? Plot convenience and piss poor writing.

Johann's foreshadowing is another pile of shit to pick through.

His first appearance he sells poisonous flowers to Mildew.

This should be his first attempt to kill off Berk's Dragons, but he lists Breakneck Bog as his first attempt. His role in this plot is almost nonexistant - he delivers a custom order to Mildew and just, fucks off.

You could even argue that Johann, should he know what the flowers do to Dragons (which it's implied he doesn't) put the answer right into the Berkian's hands. The botany book he sells Fishlegs identifies the Blue Oleander, and because of it they're able to make a cure. Arguably this could be Johann's attempt to covertly save the Dragons.

And if he wasn't trying to covertly help, or he was in on it with Mildew from the beginning, then why on gods green earth did he even allow that book to be sold?? He sabotaged himself! If anything this is points against him as a "mastermind" bc it's a really fucking stupid move.

Johann kicks that one dragon

This is for all those people citing Johann kicking a Dragon away from his food/merchandise as proof that "there was evidence all along".

RoB spends half its screen time showing Dragons as pests, stealing food, burning shit down etc. That's the entire reason Mildew is able to succeed as much as he does.

Half of Berk is still violent to Dragons at this point. Johann is acting accordingly as Vikings are violent and angry culturally, and they get pissy at the Dragons for steal their already limited food and housing.

Breakneck Bog is apparently his first attempt to off the Riders.

So you're telling me that the grand, overarching, final villain, mastermind's plan to kill off a bunch of kids, at least two of whom are pretty crap fighters, and all of which trust him entirely, and all of which are fucking children! was to sail directly into Breakneck Bog, watch the Smokebreaths haul his big ass ship into a tree (all of which seemingly abandoned all of its metal wares ?), then swim into the ocean and HOPE that Berk would send specifically the Riders who again, are CHILDREN, to search for him so he can send them into a hoard of metal eating (not flesh, metal) dragons????

Does no one on the writing team remember that it was STOICK and GOBBER along with Hiccup who initially went searching for Johann? Hiccup went against Stoick's wishes to take the Riders out searching for Johann, it was PURE DUMB LUCK that Johann encountered the Riders at all!

Johann then proceeds to help berk and Stoick and Hiccup by smuggling them into Outcast Island on his own ship

If he wants Hiccup dead why even do this? If he wants the Dragons gone why even do this?

The only reason I can come up with is that he wants to remove the competition: Alvin. Which again, backfires horribly when he allies with Stoick. Great track record this mastermind has for felling his enemies. Really fearsome, round of applause.

Johann is saved by Hiccup during a freeze

He does very little in this ep aside from being fucking hilarious, but he is yet again rescued by Hiccup. Great motivator for hating him.

Johann then (accidentally) delivers Smokebreath metal to Berk

If he's doing this on purpose to help Dagur, rather than just getting tricked because he's the gullible Comic Relief Plot Mover, then why does he stick around to confirm Hiccup's theory? Just leave or lie, he's supposed to be an expert in deceit right?

All of Johann's RoB/DoB appearances consist of him doing something vaguely dodgy or stupid and then getting bailed out, or should he be a villain, hindered by Hiccup. If he's just a Trader, that's fine, he's here to be stupid. but if he's secretly The Villain of the series, then he's a really, really stupid one with no motivation and a habit of self-sabotage. Which I guess could be an interesting route if they played into his stupidity, but no, he's the ultra mega smartypants villain.

Dagur stealing his ship

Johann is a Trader of course he visits Outcast island. He's also Mr Comic Relief Plot Mover. He is the ideal choice for this type of Shenanigans.

But if Johann is the mastermind, then I guess he supposedly paid off that one Outcast guard? The same Outcast guard who then didn't direct Dagur to the ship or anything? So that he could sit and again HOPE that Dagur picked his ship instead of any of the armed and armoured Outcast ships docked nearby, which like, Dagur just defeated an entire prisons worth of guards singlehandedly after stewing in a tiny cell for what 3 years? and then he let Dagur throw him overboard so that said mastermind could once again mysteriously survive being lost at sea? What kind of supernatural powers does Johann have that allows him to swim in an arctic sea for days on end??

and on top of that Johann just decides, hey, lets warn the Berkians instead of maybe like, playing ill for a bit? so that Dagur doesn't get more than a few days headstart to raise an entire Armarda, bc ... fuck him I guess?

So, release the guy who you want to have kill Hiccup and the Riders, then set said Riders on this guy at your earliest convenience so they can swoop in and reduce his chances of doing the thing you want him to do??

Giving false information to Heather

Johann straight up tells Heather he can't confirm Dagur's whereabouts after his last tip, and that Dagur is on his way to get arms. It's not a big stretch to think Heather had good info, but bad timing.

otherwise this is one of the only solid points the Johann twist has going for it: send a single rider so that Dagur can get some practice killing them.

Johann distracting the Riders while the Hunters invade

Like the above point, not really a red flag, but also does hold up okay after the twist. As Johann did manage to fend off the Dragons proving he has some competence. but i say again, Comic Relief Plot Mover is much more likely given his track record.

Smuggling the Riders into the Auction

Why on God does Johann not warn Viggo or Ryker, who he is apparently in charge of, that the Auction is about to be sabotaged? Krogan is in the Auction too. If Johann is vying to sell the King of Dragons then impressing that guy should be priority numero uno or else his whole plan withers away. Instead he just licks Viggo's boots and stays quiet?

the whole Submarriper debacle

Johann, by your own admission you are currently in charge of Viggo and Ryker. Why are you sailing straight into Viggo's Submarriper Trap?

Also, why is he being nice to people he knows are about to die? He knows the Submarriper, so even if he's just like, idk scoping out the trap to check all's good then no need to a) be that close, or b) be fake friendly to your sacrifices?

The end of Season 4 is probably also the original end point, as they only had 4 seasons planned and they got given an extra 2. My theory is that Johann wasn't planned to be a villain until season 5 because they'd wrapped up 90% of the plot in Shell Shocked and needed a new threat.

Sandbuster

Ok, again, this is ok. He's just leading them into danger again. which I will still say could be Comic Relief Plot Mover shenanigans, but doesn't get in the way of his twist villain plot either.

Krogan invades the Edge

Again, this is ok. Lead Hiccup and Astrid away from the Edge so Krogan can now invade. But if Johann knows about Hiccup's secret project (Dragon Eye) why didn't he go to further measures to destroy it? Without it the race for the Lenses can never happen.

Getting the Lens from Heather

this one is ok. I guess. Makes the most sense out of all of them but it's also the ep where Johann is revealed to the audience (not the riders. I think this is called dramatic irony but don't quote me on that) so its gotta fit within the laws of the episode at the very least.

The Reveal

Just, why Johann? Hiccup has The Most Loyal Dragon who also happens to be The Most Intelligent Dragon. Hiccup is also the Dragon Master who can train/deal with any dragon and you choose to confront him in a Dragons lair that he already knows about and has escaped from before?

And I haven't even touched on the bullshit "evil smile in the background but only AFTER the audience has been handed the twist so it's impossible to deduce the truth before this moment"

Season 5:

Season 6:

This is the most dumbed down, babyish shit I've ever seen. I expect this from Cbeebies not Netflix. How many kids' shows these days are doing better than this!? (Adventure Time, Steven Universe, Over the Garden Wall, to name a few).

Like yes we get it! Johann is your twist villain. Except he wasn't even a good twist because it wasn't a twist, it was a flat out surprise attack with no clues and no warnings. It's not fun if you can't go back and connect the dots! which I've just spent maybe 1000 words proving you can't!

I just hate it! He has no clear motive, he has multiple actions that contradict his eventual reveal, most of his plots fail miserably, most his plots rely on complete and total luck, he brings nothing of value to the villain roster and yet he's our Leading Villain??

If Mildew is more convincing than your main villain, then something's gone horribly wrong with your writing, and maybe you should rethink this choice?

[shantyofme]

This is my own little family of Furies, I kind of want to dive deeper into their characters later but for now I can just talk about them surface level!

So baisically, because I hate the fact that the only way for nightlights to make more nightlights is inbreeding, I like to pretend that were more Nightfuries out there, and they came to the Hidden World when Toothless had them leave the humans (temporarily, i refuse to accept that they left permanently). And once Toothless and the Light Fury, Pearl, (I hc that as her name because it's my dogs name and I think it suits her too!) got together, it made the other night and light furies see that as a possibility. So Visionary, being apart of the small Nightfury pack the came to the HW, met Clouddancer.

Visionary is a fairly large male Nightfury, slightly older than Toothless but not by much. He is super shy at first, but very energetic once you open up that side of him. But he is also an insanely quick thinker because of how hard it is/was for Night furies to survive because they were constantly avoiding humans. Also I like to think that yes he has a pack, but nighfuries we’re probably independent hunters, but because of Grimmel mass hunting them, they formed a pack of however many nightfuries were left, because remember these dragons are super smart, and could definitely pull something like that off. I will definitely expand on his character another time.

Clouddancer is a female Lightfury and has more grayish blue eyes. Her scales aren’t as shiny and sparkly since she hasn't left the HW as much as Pearl has and hasn't needed to use her invisibility power as much. (I like to think that the reason Lightfuries are so sparkly is because of how often they coat themselves in fire hot enough to make themselves reflective). Anyways she’s super curious and kind of nosy, she’s very loyal though and gets snappy with the dragons that don’t agree with Toothless being king. I will expand on her character another time.

Now when they met it was strictly a misunderstanding, Visionary didn’t know there were any other nightfuries other than his pack, so he obviously went to see if the rumors of a nightfury alpha were true, and he did this cautiously. Clouddancer thought it could be an attempt to harm Toothless or something so she tackled him. After desperately explaining himself, she backed off, and they didn’t get along to well. Later down the line though, they bonded over Visionary wanting to be less apart of his pack and have more freedom, while Clouddancer wanted to go on more adventures, and just explore and see more. So obviously while sneaking out of the HW to do all that, they ran into eachother when Visionary is captured by some low life dragon hunters. Yes there are still dragon hunters, it hasn’t been that long since dragons left at this point. Anyways Clouddancer spots this and ends up saving him and he returns the favor by exploring with her to keep her safe. They visit Berk, secretly of course, and Clouddancer loves all the little people there. Anyways in this adventure they fall in love yada yada, it’s super cute and yah. There’s a whole lot more to this that I’ll develop later but that’s the gist of it ig.

They end up having two boys, Mighty and Hammer the twins. Mighty being more outgoing, playful and adventurous, while Hammer is more introverted but extremely brave and easily pissed off.

By the way, these names are given to them by the gang, because Hiccup ends up going to the HW way earlier than in the movie cus he misses Toothless too much, and the rest of the gang come too (they actually convinced him to go with them to find their dragons) he found out about all the nighfuries and he just had to meet them and name every single one, even though they all tried to kill him at first.

Lemme know if I should do more about these characters though!

(I know the Nighlights look similar to Ruffrunner but I originally made these characters with a Minecraft mod called Isle of Berk, and when Clouddancer and Visionary’s eggs hatched they both were the Ruffrunner modle, so I changed them a bit, but kept them pretty similar as to how they are in my mc world 💀👍)

(Also why is some of the text closer together than other parts????)

[evilwriter37]

I still don't know how I managed to have the first HTTYD movie as a major special interest in my childhood without ever realizing Riders of Berk and the later shows were a thing. I found your blog initially through general posts about whump, and I stayed because A) I didn't know there was actually a genre for whump so I could never find the type of content I was looking for and your writing is an absolute treasure trove and B) it reawakened my love of HTTYD. I'm finally watching the first season of Dreamworks Dragons because I am very curious to see Viggo in canon, and I just really love getting to see the show expand on all of the Riders and their dragons more. Not really a question here, it's more of a ramble

And I adored this ramble! Thank you!

I found the shows when I was in high school. I wanted to watch the first movie, so started searching up How to Train Your Dragon on Netflix, and it offered me Race to the Edge. I watched it, kind of confused at first, because I didn’t realize that Riders and Defenders of Berk existed.

Found those on some shady pirating site and watched all of it. Defenders of Berk is a big favorite of mine. I just love Dagur so much. (And the Screaming Death.)

Now I own all the shows on dvd and am quite happy about it. (I can still get my screenshots and don’t have to worry about losing access to them.)

And omg, I didn’t realize I was the one who introduced whump as a genre to you! That’s really cool! And thank you for the compliment to my writing!

I hope you enjoy the ride! Please feel free to drop a ramble about the shows in my inbox at any time!

[dragonmasterhiccup]

Honest question Hiccup. If you had a chance to drop the mantle of Chief, have someone else replace you with no consequence to the tribe's well-being and fly off to explore the world beyond the Archipelago you've grown to know, would you? I'm talking visit the mainland, explore different cultures, expand your horizons beyond the Nordic territories.

The catch would be, said people who are heading up the village are your team. Your mother, Eret, the Gang, because I'd imagine those would be the people who would best look after your kin. They are all of the opinion "You have given enough, Hiccup. Go see the world."

It be you and Toothless alone, similarly to how you would have wanted it at 15.

Would you?

"That's quite the question, greyface..." He scratched the back of his head, thinking of what to say. "On the one hand...that sounds amazing. I'd love to travel, to see more of the world with Toothless...but, on the other hand, my father entrusted me with taking care of our tribe...I can't just abandon it, can I? When the other riders and I were on the Edge, exploring everything the Dragon Eye had to show us, it was incredible, but we got into our fair share of trouble. I may be older, and hopefully wiser, but... knowing I had friends to look out for me helped me know it would all be fine, that we'd make it out alright. So....as appealing as that sounds, my place is here, on Berk, protecting my own."

[pinksilvace]

Did you see How to Train your Dragon is getting a live action remake???

Alas... yes.

Iirc some of the folks that worked on the animated films (writer, director, and composer???) are returning for this project. It would be really neat if they did a more direct adaptation of the books, but I sincerely doubt that, all things considered, which raises the question: WHY???

Granted, there are aspects of the second and third films I don't like; the villains, especially, could stand to be fleshed out. Maybe going live action will encourage the creative team to push for a PG-13 rating or a more serious tone overall. Going live action will allow the dragons to have more consistent designs/textures (I'm partial to the grittiness of them in the first film) and the precedent of the animated films will allow more opportunities for foreshadowing. It would be fun to see some of the characters from the various television shows, especially Heather and Dagur. There are so many directions in which this world can be expanded.

THAT SAID, there are a few immediate problems I can imagine:

A lesser suspension of disbelief. This one is pretty self-explanatory; fantastical stuff just works better in animated form with the technology used in the film industry today. If the actors and dragons can really sell the performance, that would be fantastic, but it still won't feel as seamless as it does in animation.

Eternal comparison. Again, self-explanatory; it would take a miracle for the live action films to exist within their own bubble. Maybe the director doesn't want them to. Adding onto that,

Nostalgia. There's a decent chance that this project is just a way to continue profiting off of the franchise. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but if that's all it does, it'll be immensely disappointing. The presence of some of the creative team hopefully hints toward this being a product of passion, but only time will tell.

Bland design. This is probably the thing I'm most worried about. The world of Berk and the Barbaric Archipelago have been established as colorful places bursting with life. Each dragon design is distinct - enough that they stretch the definition of what a single species can evolve into. It seems to be a trend in live action to make things toned down for the sake of "realism," and in this case, I'm especially concerned about the dragons losing the strong shape language of their animated counterparts. Actually, you know what? Everything in this franchise is dripping with shape language - even the main characters. Oh, gosh, the characters will all lose their shape languages unless the costume department is allowed to go wild (as they SHOULD). Color is a different matter entirely. I'm almost certain that the live action films will be less saturated than the animated ones, and there's definitely a reasonable degree to this, but knowing that the premise of this story is a low fantasy set at least 600 years ago, there's a non-zero chance that everything will be gray, brown, and maroon.

The most baffling thing, however, is the fact that the HTTYD films are being remade in the first place. The third one came out in 2019. The first film, dated as the graphics are compared to those of the other two, is an absolute masterpiece. While I have more (hopefully not misplaced) hope for these films than any of The Mouse's live action remakes, they just don't feel necessary. Not yet, anyway, and as much as I would love animated remakes instead, I can't imagine such a thing ever happening. Hopefully, the creative team uses this as an opportunity to fix the prior films' problems (or make new plots in this world entirely!) and not just as another leap for money.

[inksansfangirl]

I really liked your in-depth analysis of a hypothetical httyd x kirby crossover! It definitely reminded me of Forgotten Land’s plot. I do agree that it can be kinda tricky to see how a crossover would play out when magic is pretty much absent in the httyd universe as opposed to Kirby’s universe being filled with dreams, magic, and ancient technology beyond our wildest imaginations. The closest we’ve ever seen “magic” in the franchise was in one of the Riders of Berk comics where a “witch” casted an eternal night on Berk when all she did was predict when the next solar eclipse would happen, but that wasn’t even magic at all until the gang realized it was all scientific. I do think it’s fun to discuss how magic would interact in the httyd world! Let me know of what other ideas you may have!

Thank you so much! Its been ever so long to speak out my mind about ideas and crossovers like this. It allows me to expand upon my creativity and I humbly thank you for enlightening me on such an interesting concept, my head has been throughly wrapped all around this after the day you introduced the idea!

And I very much agree, with a world that Toothless hailed from where magic is absent it’s no surprise that he’ll also view it as some sort of threat which creates an ever larger wedge between him and the residents of Dreamland. In truth he just doesn’t understand, his fear and confusion is what makes him irrationally stubborn that he cannot begin to fathom or gather the hell hole that he’s in and without Hiccup he feels useless.

As days go by, Toothless becomes weaker and weaker, his hopes on finding Hiccup was waning thin and he was becoming more and more exhausted as days go on. His claws were becoming dull and cracked from his constant searches, muscles tightening till they cramped because he wouldn’t stop from dusk till dawn. No matter how much his stomach pained him from starvation he heaved himself through the thickets of the planet until he finally crashed within a cave, as if his weight was the last thing he’d need to let him know that he couldn’t go on. That he has given up.

It was then as he spent hours laying on the cold floor that Toothless begins to realize of how co-dependent and how incapable he was of making decisions himself without Hiccup’s command to initiate them. Toothless knew from the get-go that he is incapable to fly without hiccup and the many times they have been separated were brief but never has it been longer than this.

He never thought he’d be like this, so helpless, so useless, and it wasn’t like his Alpha status would mean anything in this world that he was in with no dragons to his will.

Toothless felt the same way as he did when he was shot down and lost his fin except he lost something greater and far more painful than loosing flight.

It’s…very depressing I know- at first I’d imagined that’s how it would be for him, but Toothless would soon learn that he wouldn’t get anywhere on this desolate planet without engaging contact with those who lived there. However it left him with fewer options as all the other animals and by-standing enemies fear him of his intimidating stature and raw power. He was a Night Fury after all. It is something that cannot be helped.

For the first time, he makes a decision for himself without having hiccup by his side. He picked himself up from the ground with little strength he had and traveled yet again on a journey to find the four he had encountered previously:

One of roundness and pink hue of a thistle.

One of darkness with wings that resembled his.

One of peaches that wore blue to distinguish himself from the rest of his people.

And the big blue bird who bore red and has such an obnoxious tune…

Despite Toothless’s previous hostility towards them, he wants to make it right. He still doesn’t trust them of course, but they know more than he does and he’ll die if he doesn’t do something about it even if doing so will be difficult on how he dealt with them before.

[rogue-vigilante]

WIP Tag Game

Rules: Share a snippet from whatever you’re currently working on, and then tag 5 people.

tagged by @carrotsofthepirabbean

I also genuinely don't know 5 people I can tag so here's one and if anyone else wants to, go for it!

From a slowly expanding AU I've been planning for far longer than I should where Hiccup successfully runs away from Berk during HTTYD 1

Staying means that he’ll have to kill a dragon.

It's a sobering thought, and Hiccup is steeped in melancholy by the time he reaches the little glade. Back in his home, the idea of leaving seemed so different, the concept of running away both too big and an insignificant choice. He would have thought that alone in the woods, the thought would have solidified into a more optimistic reality. Instead, it just leaves him sadder and confused, plagued by everything he’s leaving behind. Running away isn’t a small decision, it means leaving everything he knows behind, venturing out into the archipelago with no future and a blank hole that he’s leaving behind.

Perhaps he should just stay, find another way out of the final exam tomorrow. There were some berries around here that made someone violently ill and he could just pretend that he'd eaten a bad piece of fish last night. Surely his father wouldn't make him fight in that condition.

But even that would only delay the inevitable.

“Toothless,” Hiccup calls out to his friend, heart not in his words. “We’re so leaving. We’re leaving. Let’s pack up. Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation, forever.”

He drops his basket and checks the straps on his riding harness, sighing as he does so. The closer he gets to leaving, the less he actually wants to go. He wants to find another solution, find another way to get out of the mess he’s in.

“Oh man.”

At this moment, Toothless bounds towards him and Hiccup remembers that he’s not leaving everything behind. Toothless had this strange ability to cheer him up when things seemed hopeless and lost. Maybe it was the hints of a toothless smile, maybe it the way he bounced towards him, so full of possibilities and the chance of an evening flight. He does seem to catch some of Hiccups melancholy though, stopping with the question loaded in his head tilt.

Then he buries his head into Hiccup’s chest, knocking him to the ground. Taking advantage of the window of opportunity he’s just created, Toothless continues to press his advantage and nuzzle into Hiccup, still asking that same question.

Why?

He’s not asking why he’s leaving, but why he’s sad about it. Toothless had seen himself in Hiccup the same way the Hiccup had seen himself in Toothless. He’d always known that Hiccup is different compared to the rest of Berk. Perhaps his leaving was inevitable. Besides, he’s not going alone, he’ll have his best friend by his side. Together, they could achieve anything.

“You’re right bud,” Hiccup says, wrapping his arms around Toothless’s neck and burying his face into the cool scales.

He’s still sad about leaving all this behind, but the future is starting to look a little brighter. He’s not alone, and while it would be hard in the beginning, they’d find a way. Together. Besides, once he’s away from Berk, maybe he could start finding out all the little truths about dragons that he never would have seen otherwise. Maybe this is who he was always supposed to be.

Vikings would always hate dragons; it's a fact of life. The same way the sun rises in the morning and eel leaves a nasty taste in your mouth. Vikings and dragons would never get along. They would never listen to the truth that they weren’t so different from each other. That they could get along, could teach each other so much more if they weren't constantly fighting. If they weren't bound by old traditions and the fearmongering of their ancestors, if they just took a chance then maybe they'd see. But no, vikings are a stubborn lot, and Hiccup knows that they'll never change.

Leaving might hurt, but maybe in the skies he’d finally be free from the chains he’d never realised he is wearing until now. His denial at how different he was from them holding him back and down for so long now. And taking the first step away from them and everything he'd knows was always going to be painful, along with the realisation that he’ll probably never see any of these people again. But maybe this step was inevitable. If not today, then sometime in the future. The first step would always be this hard, only he’d be plagued with regrets about all the things that he did in the meantime.

He needs to say goodbye and leave.

Only he would never really get to say goodbye. Not really. To the rest of Berk, Hiccup would just vanish in the forests the night before his big moment. What would his father think? He’ll wake up tomorrow and find that his son has disappeared. Just a neat bed and a space in his home. How long would he take to fill it? Would it even be filled, or would it be like his mother, gaps in the home and a presence that was never quite there?

The guilt from that realisation winds its way through Hiccups stomach and he gives Toothless another pat. It hurts to leave, but his father doesn’t deserve that. Doesn’t deserve to not know what happened to his only son. Besides, he’d probably authorise some sort of search party, which would mean that he’d have to fly further away to avoid getting found. But Hiccup couldn’t just fly by the Main Hall on his way out, not without getting shot at and maybe risking Berk to the wrath of the Chieftain Alliance. Not without risking Toothless, which he isn’t willing to do.

He's not going to tell Stoick to his face either, that would be an unmitigated disaster and Hiccup doesn’t want to be anywhere near him when he finds out. Having Gobber pass on the message would probably have a similar result. Which leaves him with the only option of writing a letter and leaving it for his father to find. It would delay his departure, but it would give him the chance to say goodbye.

Unfortunately, writing such a letter is harder than it seems, and many pages found themselves thrown in the water for Toothless to excitedly chase. He didn’t know if it should just be a simple goodbye or if he should tell his father about Toothless. And if he does tell him about Toothless, then how much does he want to reveal? Eventually, he decides on the whole truth. His father needs to know that they’re wrong about dragons, needs to know that whatever happens Hiccup will be alright. Needs to know that, one day, maybe, he might return.

It's late by the time he finishes a letter that he’s happy with.

[empressofthesunwriter]

Second Chance

Hiccup has many regrets that are catching up with him. His marriage is a joke, his kids hate him, and Berk suffers under his leadership. Life was better when Toothless and Leandra were with him, and they flew together under the sky—just enjoyed being together. Yet even his dragon left him. And the girl he realized too late, he loved had moved on a long time ago. But sometimes life gives you a second chance. Unofficial Sequel from To Belong

Okay, I really have a problem, but when my plotbunnies plot I have to write it down and publish it to see if somebody likes it. Again if you liked To Belong, don't read it, but if you want Leandra and Hiccup together, that's the fic for you :D

Chapter 1: Regrete and Betrayel

Hiccup made a face as Astrid stormed out of the house with their kids.

They had (again) a fight over how they could expand the Trade Routes for New Berk.

Astrid wanted to do it the old Viking way and just pillage weaker tribes, but Hiccup wanted a more diplomatic approach.

It had worked for them in past.

This had made his wife's famous anger appear.

Why couldn't he do once something the Viking way?

No wonder the other chiefs took him not seriously.

Which in turn made Astrid as chieftess look bad and when something the proud Hofferson (in this moment she called herself not even Haddock anymore) hated was appearing weak.

Equally angry Hiccup shot back he never did things the Viking way, that's why they had made peace with the dragons and had lived good years with them.

And she...she really dared to say he should let go of this!

The dragons (Toothless, oh buddy) wouldn't return, Hiccup needed to become a real Viking now.

He had shouted back, that she knew he was never the perfect Viking, why did she then marry him?!

Why was she even together with him, if she hated so much his un-vikingness?

Astrid had been for a second still.

A second which was an eternity for Hiccup.

Till she answered...she didn't know anymore.

Punching him in the face would have been mercifully than her words.

Once, she said, he had been this cool boy who showed her another way of living, but he needed to grow up finally and lead the tribe like a real Viking.

Striking him down with her axt (the axt he so loving took care of for her) would have been merciful.

It was then that Hiccup realized...had he never taken Astrid on her first dragon flight with Toothless, she would never have taken an interest in him.

He was still the weak, dumb, useless fishbone in her eyes.

The young chief told her this and he saw for a moment the truth in her eyes, before she lied, saying how wrong he was.

She wanted to help him nothing more.

He just told her to get out.

Get out of the house.

The house he had built for them.

Astrid had been furious, they shouted and screamed at each other very unkind things, before she took the kids and slammed the door shut behind her.

Zephyr and Nuffink hadn't even looked at him or told their mother they wanted to stay with him.

Hiccup had noted how his kids came more after Astrid.

Of course, no love was lost on their side too.

Defeat Hiccup sit down on a chair and let the tears flow.

He hated all this.

He hated his life.

How he wished he could tell his younger self that the few years he had with Toothless would have been the best in his life and he should have never let his bud go.

What was he thinking?

They fought so long to live with dragons in peace and then just let them go to the Hidden World?

It sounded like a bad book!

The brunette man wiped his tears and signed.

He shouldn't think about this.

No one could change their past.

You could only move forward.

What a load of crap!

The gods really hated him.

Giving him a hellish life, a few wonderful years and then back at the hellish part.

What did he do to deserve this?

Oh you know why!, hissed a voice inside him. You chose Astrid over Leandra who truly loved you. Don't be surprised that is how it ended.

He had to agree with his inner thoughts.

He had realized way too late and did nothing when he admitted his feelings for the Spanish girl to himself.

Her Goodbye Letter was still his most precious possession, along with scales from Toothless.

Tired emotionally from the day, Hiccup decides to go to bed.

You couldn't change the past.

(*)

On the other side of the globe, Leandra was facing a storm with Starchaser, but the storm in her heart was worse.

How could Xia do this?

How could have she been so stupid?

Her wife had betrayed her.

Xia's family had never liked how Leandra had "seduced" Xia to a life of sin. That was what same-sex relationships were for them.

But...but Xia had chosen her.

They had married and adopted children.

Six girls and four boys!

They had lived years with Starchaser happily in a little village near the Silk Road where they were accepted.

Then as all the kids were grown she thought, she and Xia would continue to be happy.

Yet, after Ulf, Leandra's brother, visited them, the next days her wife had been weird.

Asking her about Hiccup, if she still had feelings for him...Leandra was speechless.

And maybe that moment in which she stared in disbelief at her wife, had made Xia lose trust in her.

Other than that she couldn't explain why she found her wife, with the owner of the noodle shop in their bed!

Leandra had screamed, nearly returned to her old ways as an assassin, but Starchaser stopped her.

They grabbed their things and left China.

Her wedding ring she had thrown into the ocean.

Shall Xia be happy with her noodle guy!

Leandra was done.

She should have never left the brotherhood and lived a normal life. In her veins flowed the blood of the First Civilization, making her a perfect assasin.

And how she had loved the Levithan Brotherhood and Syria.

Her mentor, her brothers and sisters in arms.

She had been born for this life...but for her Xia, she had given it up.

Because she loved her.

What a foul she had been.

Now she and Starchaser were homeless.

Flying from one place to another.

Leandra was unsure if she could join the Assassin Ranks again.

She may still train, but wasn't she too old now?

Or didn't want her to face her once family after she left them?

Signing Leandra told Starchaser to dive down.

She had seen a cave where they could rest.

After they made themselves comfortable, the last dragon rider and her dragon fell asleep.

While Leandra was thrifting off she remembered Ulf's words: "Come visit me and father and Sigrùn. They miss you, Leandra."

Back then she had laughed, why should she return to the Barbaric Archipelago?

Why should she step foot in New Berk?

She was happy, so she sent Ulf with words of love back there.

However...maybe seeing family would be good again.

Leandra decides to talk with Starchaser in the morning about this.

For now, she dreams of a time were she was still young, for the first time experience flying on Starchaser...with Hiccup and Toothless by their side.

[neonbitemarks]

"Honestly, not sure what I even want to do yet, but just havin' options now feels nice. Like, I could go to school or maybe look at things I enjoy doin' in my spare time and expanding on that into somethin' bigger, y'know?"

Most of all, right now, Luke wanted to continue seeing where his relationship with Berk was heading because he felt like his boyfriend had been a big part of the reason why Luke had managed to stick with therapy and staying clean as an extension of that.

Sure, Berk wasn't the only reason, but the mutual support they had in each other made things easier in terms of keeping Luke motivated.

"Normally, I'd say hardest so far, but sobriety might actually be one of the hardest things to achieve and you should be proud of yourself for getting there. I know I'm proud of you."

Hearing that Luke wanted a future, a real life, now that he was clean was enough to make Devin's heart swell. He had been so afraid for so long that his nephew was beyond help that hearing this, seeing how far the boy had come? It was a lot to take in.

"You have the whole world ahead of you and all of the support you need to make what you want a reality, kid."

[rosiethedragongeek]

Snotlout has the most development throughout all the franchise and im so so so grateful. Dreamworks gave us this little prick of a kid and said "actuallywe are going to make him so likeable". Httyd has always been on some kevel about defying expectation and exploration and Thawfest (although apparently people dont like it) is sooo interesting to me. I rant abt it so much literally they DID that. Snotlout could so easily have been the annoying, sarcy comedic relief but hes NOT!!! Thawfest comes around and you realise, this kids not even insecure, hes just scared. Hes scared of the dad who he clearly admires so much. and thats so interesting?????? And they reiderate time and time again that Spitelout is not going to get better. Everytime we see him its a back and forth, maybe this time we'll see him redeemed! it is a kids franchise, after all! and Although apparently in the end it isnt handled very well, for the most part, he doesnt get better. Snotlout learns the lesson that he can be whatever HE wants to be, and NOT what his dad wants him to be - and he forgets it. and thats so important to me. Its not cut and dry. its NEVER been cut and dry. Yes spitelout's a bad person, but Snotlout still loves him, he still admires him, he still pines for his attention. Theres never ONE moment where he cuts him off (although I would of liked to see a final moment where he does), its constant. Stoick apologised to Hiccup, they made ammends. But Spitelout is not Stoick, and they do not have to make up. Its so importsnt to me that httyd (for the most part) never made a statement that forgiveness is neccessary because theyre family. You can tell Snotlout does not like his dads company, but wants it when he doesnt have it. Hes a character that has so much more depth than you would expect for a dreamworks kids show and it all links back together. Hes a cocky bastard -> because his dad doesnt let him show weakness. He is neglective to hookfang -> because thats all he knows. He prioritises masculinity over health and safety -> because his dad says he has to. And he never fully grows out of it, either. He still glances to see if anyone catches him crying when hes 20. He still has a big mouth and flirts with anything that moves and freezes up when they flirt back. He still pines for the approval of people he considers to be above him, but he continues to be everything that his dad isnt.

And we're given this, a treat, by the people up at dreamworks. People who clearly care about the character they are presenting here. People that werent even necessarily at the time getting positive feedback from this character. And they said, "Now that hes likeable, lets make him relateable." And they gave us the Thor Bonecrusher episode. I will never get over mlm Snotlout Jorgenson. I have to take a step back and look at these characters Ive known for all my life to the point they feel as tangible as I am myself, and I get to say, "Hes just like me." Hes queer and its wonderful. like thats canon. And theres never a MOMENT where he gets made fun of for it in universe. they make fun of him for being a simp, sure, but never for liking men? It has its flaws of course, but I can never NOT gush about how lovely httyd is. they put so much care into all of their characters (except heather 420 blaze it no one cares anyway). Idk i just. they really did everything with Snotlout huh. <3

(TLDR its 1am and I watched Not Lout yesterday)

YESSSSS YOU SAID IT EXACTLY

He has such significant character development across so much time, like he starts out as this very insecure, cocky bully, and we get to see him change into a mature, caring leader and a good friend and it’s????? Totally believable?? We watch him go on this incredible journey and grow up so much. Even the episodes he doesn’t change in (like big man on berk) expand on the different sides of his character that we don’t always get to see. They have so much time to expand on him and let him grow and they do and I literally love him so much, he was handled so well in the shows.

(noooo bc I feel that)

[empressofdiamonds]

Do you have any tips on being consistent with a weight loss journey ? I have to loose weight but whenever I start eating healthy I always go back to my old ways.

Honestly what helped me the most is to accept that new mentality:

I'm a person that leads a healthy lifestyle.

I love doing excercises, esp walking, running, and yoga which are my favourite ever activities.

I enjoy being in line with my body.

The old lifestyle is what led you to the weight gain, so it is irrealistic to think the weight loss lifestyle is gonna be a temporary one. You gotta gain a healthy lifestyle that both enables you to lose weight, AND to keep it off.

If you haven't found a sport or a excercise that makes you happy, continue seeking. Pointless to run if you freaking hate running.

For the food, only keep what enables you into that healthy lifestyle. You know keeping 6 bags of chips at home won't help you much, you know a bit of chips at parties or at movies wont hurt much, but you know eating a whole bag a day ain't gonna help you on the long term.

I never keep candies or less great snacks at home. I just keep what I need for my meal-prepping.

Find some recipes that both align with what you WANT and what you LIKE. Per example I freaking love ice cream, it's like my sin. I wish I could eat the super super rich gelato every day so much I love it. What I do instead is keep the gelato treat for when I am with my friends, or family, enjoying my gelato with them. I'm not holed up in my bedroom eating a whole tub of shitty 2$ ice crap watching the 4th season of whatever show. So if I find myself craving intensely ice cream, I make myself some frozen banana ice cream with my mixer, or I throw some frozen blueberries and a bit of yogurt in the mixer.

If I crave a snack, I get myself some popcorn, there's low salt low fat versions of bagged popcorn that help satisfy that craving. I sometimes even make my very own popcorn, by using about 1/4 to 1/8 cup of corn seeds, in a small pot, a little bit of butter at the bottom, I put a lid on top, while it pops I shake the pot until I don't hear anymore popping.

For my main meals, I bulk up my meals with vegetables and good quality proteins, the carbs are like not the majority of my meal. And if I have carbs, I try to get as much whole grains ans fibers as possible. Think multigrain boosted in fiber versus the shitty wonderbread.

Making your own meals is much more efficient both for nutrition and self-control, meaning, I'll make myself just enough for one portion, or maybe two if I'm prepping for another meal, then if I'm "fake hungry" (what this means: I'm hungry for more but I don't wanna eat an apple or some healthy snack), if I wanna eat more I have to go through the effort of making it again. Generally it just turns me off.

Another solution is to prep a huge meal then immediately freeze the remnants in individual dishes. I have to go through the effort of defreezing then microwaving. Berk. I'd rather just eat an apple. Or nothing, because I'm "fake hungry".

See how I constantly outsmart my lazy self 😂

Also! I drink shittons of water!! It helps me being satisfied with my meals. Like think if you soak cereal in milk, it expands. Think the same in the stomach, the water is helping my meal expand and stretch my stomach. The stomach tells the brain "ok we're done, stop eating!".

I let treats be treats. I have fun while excercising. I drink water. This didn't use to be my normal.

[heliianth]

hi Helii i dunno if you already made a post about this, but I'm curious if u thought of a different plot and ending for httyd 3 cause recently i've been thinking about that a lot and i like to hear people's opinions about the movie!

hi nonnie !! ive made 2 posts abt my opinion of httyd3 (ein) (zwei) but since then ive read things like directors commentaries and excerpts from the art book so theyre not Very complete (but still representative—i just give some of the people who worked on it too much leeway LMAO)

honestly i havent thought of a different plot or ending that much, mainly because there are a Lot of things that bug me about the movie and changing all of them would kinda make the fixed version™ almost unrecognizable, but i can give u some quickfire easy decisions i think wouldve made the movie better

replace the Light Fury with a pack of Night Furies that escaped to THW. i dont understand the fascination with making Toothless the last NF because the "propogation of the species" genetically cant happen if he is, despite what Dreamworks REALLY wants u to believe by having Nightlights be a thing 1300 years later. every single NL u see after the 3rd movie is horrifically inbred !!

scrap New Berk. the "Old Berk" location was so important to its people that they defended it from dragons for 400 years, they wouldn't just pick up and move. also, the overcrowding problem is a non-issue because there's so much room on that island to expand onto and Hiccup is not that much of a dumbass*

show Toothless struggling with leaving Hiccup to chase the LF (or NFs)—maybe he tries to drag him along and theres something that forces them to separate for Hiccup's safety

in that vein ^ there are like 3 total scenes where Hiccup and Toothless are together and that really cheapens the emotional followthrough so... have them be friends again. the 2nd movie, the first time we see them goofing off and chatting alone with each other, showing the audience how strong their bond is and what their dynamic is like. i dont remember if the 3rd movie has Anything like that

speaking of which LOSE THE "dragons are wild animals" POINT. this is a major inspiration for the movie so its one of the things that would change the Whole Story but Dean needs to make up his fucking mind over whether the dragons are gentle, intelligent, sapient creatures who know how to perfectly understand human speech and body language or wild, dangerous animals who need to be "free" from humans (the former is how dragons have been treated by every piece of httyd media until the third movie and the latter contradicts everything, is less interesting, and destroys the previous themes entirely so guess which i prefer)

adding on, stop treating Hiccup like garbage. he didn't find Toothless when he was a baby dragon and nursed him back to health before keeping him and thats all Toothless has ever known. Toothless had spent 15 years prior to befriending Hiccup being a dangerous. wild dragon and blowing up Berk. He's been "free" almost twice as long as he's been friends with Hiccup. LAY OFF, his concerns about Toothless are valid.

i've talked about this before but Hiccup is a terrible chief in this movie and the role shouldve gone to someone better qualified, like Astrid. unlike what some of the directors would have u believe, it IS mature to recognize ur bad at something and hand it off to someone who is more competent (especially if its a job like leadership) bc usually sticking to it gets u Fired. *he makes dumbass decisions so the villain can look smart and this is literally the only reason why he makes them i promise u

same point: Toothless is also a bad alpha in this movie. the premise of a single dragon ruling over all other dragons in the world is Really Bad in of itself, but we don't see Toothless do anything like what Valka's Bewilderbeast did in httyd2—sure he's smaller, but give us a few scenes of him being kind and patient with his people. don't have him order everyone into cages because his girlfriend might get hurt

REDEEM THE DEATHGRIPPERS none of them did anything wrong

treat the side characters with some modicum of respect. this movie does absolutely jackshit with Valka other than make Snotlout have a creepy crush on her and everyone has caught brainworms to make Hiccup and Astrid look competent in comparison.

do not. focus on Hiccup and Astrid's relationship as much as u did. u already failed to deliver a "call to the wild" story in Toothless and the LF, the audience does not need more ammo to get "romance is more important than friendship" out of your movie. having Astrid's role completely reduced to "supportive girlfriend" and "Hiccup's True support", along with how Valka was treated (god that goodbye scene with her and Cloudjumper makes me so sad and angry and NOT for the reasons the writers want) and the LF's design being Like That on PURPOSE (also every single model being airbrushed for Prettyness reasons) kind of shows what Some People making the movie think of women

even discounting ALL of these ^ gripes, of which i have More, trust me (i didnt even get into my problems with Grimmel because honestly i do not remember enough of that twat to properly articulate my issues w him), i would be happy if the end went 1 of 2 ways:

Berk moves inside or near THW in order to keep being the defenders of the dragons, and the LF growing closer to Hiccup is representative of the hidden world dragons growing closer to Berk, illustrating that yes, coexistence is possible and good and benefits them both

the dragons gradually leave on a case-by-case basis, but Toothless never leaves Hiccup, and Hiccup grows old always waiting for him to visit. Hiccup writes a memoir of his experiences with dragons to hopefully educate the younger generation when they decide to come back. this mirrors the books' ending far better and gives the dragons the agency they deserve

i do not think there is a world where every dragon on earth leaves to THW and is simultaneously a good ending which portrays the right themes. Dean's fascination with "there were dragons when i was a boy" kneecapped the entire plot. you do not write stories starting from how you want them to end, especially if they're stories based off a beloved franchise with already established dynamics and themes. the Reason why so many plot elements are so contrived, why so much character development is lost, why httyd's theme of tolerance, cooperation, and the power of love is hamstrung, is because they Really Wanted an end where there are no dragons and they were Completely willing to do anything to get there (also Dreamworks is shit to its artists but whats new)

anyway. NONNIE. if u ever end up thinking More about an alternative version of httyd3 tell me!!!! i'd love to hear YOUR ideas and if u cannot tell talking abt this is so fun and engaging for me so i will listen !!!!! i love u for talking to me have a good day <3 <3 <3 <3

[afriend410]

Depends on what age you are aiming for...

Httyd1/ ROB/DOB: the reason for their break up would be the fact they are young. What they are feeling is in fact a crush and just like the feeling of romantic new things with each other. This isn't a bad thing and a lot of people do tend to go through this stage especially their age because well we are experimenting with what we want in a serious relationship as we reach adulthood.

Rtte/Httyd2/ Httyd3: here is where a lot of people can say they find someone else and like them better or whatever, but I think the better approach is that they have different ways of seeing their future or achieving their personal goals in life. I mean clearly they do have different goals. Hiccup wanting to expand the relationship with dragons and humans throughout the archipelago and Astrid wanting to focus more on Berk and what's good for their tribe. A lot of people will tell you that can destroy a good romantic relationship. Doesn't mean it destroys their friendship but it can lead them to not want to be a couple anymore.

But in the end it's up to you on what feels best for you to break them up. Be it entering a new love interest or a fight that never gets resolved or one of them disappearing and returning years later to see the other had moved on.

What you guys think would be a good, plausible reason for Astrid and Hiccup to break up?

[post-academic]

Academic Job Market: Teaching Philosophy/Teaching Statement

If you’re applying for an academic job and will be required to teach at least some of the time, institutions will often ask for your teaching philosophy/teaching statement. In my experience, these terms are interchangeable, but they accomplish one main thing: they outline your pedagogy.

Here are some tips I used to create my own teaching statement:

General Guidelines

Keep your statement to 1-2 pages, single-spaced. Sometimes, an ad will request a 1 page statement, so be prepared for that, too.

DO NOT shrink your text or margins to fit more info on the page. 12pt font is the minimum, 1″ margins all around.

You job is not to just list off all the courses you’ve taught/would like to teach; your job is to show the reader what your approach to teaching is (or will be)

DO NOT neglect intro courses - these are often a department’s bread and butter

If you haven’t taught before or have taught very few courses, you still want to talk about your pedagogy as if you have it all figured out. Don’t use hypotheticals; it’s not “I would like to do X,” it’s “I will do X” or “X will do Y in my classroom.”

Top of the Page

Include your name, school, and “Teaching Statement” or “Teaching Philosophy” somewhere. Center align these things.

Example: Teaching Statement (bold font) Hiccup Haddock III Berk University.

Intro Paragraph

Talk about your overall pedagogy. This might be hard to figure out if you haven’t taught a lot before or haven’t thought much about it. Think about what you want your students to take away from your courses and how you accomplish those goals. Don’t just say “I give out essays.” Even if you use essays because that’s just what everyone does, think about why you use essays or how you write prompts. It’ll be hard, but hiring committees want to see that you craft every part of your course with a purpose.

Open your statement with a strong sentence about your teaching goal.

An example from my statement:

“My goal as a teacher is to be an ambassador to the Middle Ages and show students how the seemingly archaic past is relevant to the present. I use my expertise as a medievalist as a starting point for teaching literature from ancient to modern.”

Talk about what sets you apart from traditional approaches or how your research interests influence your pedagogy. You don’t want to go so far off the rails that a committee won’t be able to see the value in your methods, but you do want to make sure you explain how you’re making the classroom yours, so to speak.

An example from my statement:

“Contemporary medieval scholarship emphasizes England as part of larger geographic, temporal, and cultural networks, and I am committed to bringing this perspective to my classroom. My courses encourage students to see themselves as part of a diverse and interconnected community, not just while they are on campus, but beyond.”

Transition to talk about how you accomplish your pedagogy or the goals you have for your classroom. Stay somewhat general at this point.

Example:

“Each assignment contributes to student development in this regard, and my hope is for students to leave my classroom with an expanded view of not only what the “medieval” means, but what they can accomplish by viewing themselves as part of a network.”

End your paragraph with a statement about how you accomplish your pedagogic goals (i.e. a statement about what kinds of assignments you use). In this sentence, you should list 2-3 things that you will elaborate on in your body paragraphs. These things can vary, but I suggest breaking it down in to 1.) types of major assignments, 2.) types of readings, and 3.) types of minor assignments/in-class activities

Put the most important first. Remember that the first body paragraph will stick in your reader’s mind more than your second or third body paragraphs. If the ad is really looking for someone who does digital assignments and most of your digital assignments are major assignments, put that first. If the ad really wants someone who can give lectures twice per week for a survey class, put minor assignments/daily activities first.

Example:

“These goals shape my teaching in three ways: by engaging students in digital and independent research projects to connect their classroom skills to the world beyond the university, by assigning primary sources with global angles, and by using collaborative class activities.”

Body Paragraph 1: Major Assignments

The goal of this paragraph should be to justify why you assign the types of major assignments you do. Whether that be essays, creative projects, group projects, or something else, you should be prepared to talk about why you think these assignments are effective.

Open your paragraph with a topic sentence about what your assignments are meant to do. What do you hope to accomplish? What skills do you want to cultivate in your students? You can elaborate on what inspired this goal, if you have the space.

Example:

“My end-of-semester assignments are designed to bridge the gap between class experience and the world beyond the university using digital media and independent research. These projects are a natural outgrowth of my interest in public scholarship: my ultimate goal is to forge networks between students and the world in order to emphasize the transferability of skills such as critical thinking and close reading.“

Notice that I don’t just focus on medieval stuff; though I’m a medievalist, this pedagogy can be applied to multiple types of classes, not just medieval literature ones.

Talk about a major assignment that illustrates your pedagogy. Be specific in how you discuss it: don’t just say “I assign a paper at the end of the semester.” Talk about what the end-of-semester paper is supposed to do.

Example:

“I assign a paper in my literature courses in which students analyze a text, film, or television show not covered in class. Students frequently choose to engage with popular culture, such as Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and comics from Marvel and DC. Using frameworks from class, students then create their own parameters for their projects to explore how a piece of literature or media influences culture. This project ensures that they can write and analyze literature and culture independent of instructor guidance.”

Talk about another major assignment that helps you achieve your teaching goals, but don’t be repetitive. Two papers with minor differences won’t impress a hiring committee.

Example:

“My digital media assignments have the same goals: in my History of English course, students write blog posts summarizing independent research of English in non-Western countries. Students think about diversity within English and confront colonial pasts to produce a final product that is designed to reach a public audience. The blog post positions students as co-curators of an archive that is greater than what can be covered in the classroom by the instructor alone, thereby building on my emphasis on collaborative learning in my daily activities.“

Notice that both of my assignments are meant to help students apply skills from class to an independent project; that was something I wanted to emphasize because my pedagogy is all about networks (in this case, I’m trying to illustrate an in-class/outside-of-class network).

If you have any student evaluations that say nice or helpful things about these assignments, include 1 or 2. Make sure they’re illustrative an not just “I liked this assignment.”

Example:

“One student wrote that the groundwork for this assignment as something they would like to see more of in my future classes, noting that sharing collaborative research was ‘more interesting and prompted more discussion.’“

Make sure you always talk about what these assignments help your student achieve, focusing on transferrable skills. Academic success in an of itself is great, but most of your students will be taking you lessons out into the non-academic world, and schools are always looking for teachers who can have an impact on the world outside of the classroom.

Example:

“By using expertise from class to inform their blog posts, students learn to translate their academic knowledge for a non-specialist audience and form connections between the university and the public.”

End your paragraph with a statement about how you plan to use or expand these assignments for courses you will teach at your new job. Feel free to look up what kinds of courses are currently offered at the school you’re applying to, or see if the job ad lists any required classes.

Example:

“I am eager to expand and adapt this project for future History of the English Language courses.“

Body Paragraph 2: Types of Readings

No matter your field, pretty much every course will require a textbook. Even if you don’t assign a textbook, you might assign articles, blog posts, websites, videos, or something that students will engage with outside the classroom.

This sentence should build on the goals from your first two paragraphs. The goal here is to keep your pedagogy consistent-looking, not veer off in a number of different directions.

Start your paragraph similar to how you start Body Paragraph 1: your topic sentence should be about what your daily readings are meant to do. You can elaborate on what inspired this goal, if you have the space. DO NOT repeat anything from Body Paragraph 1; part of the art of writing a teaching statement is to say the same thing in 5 different ways.

Example:

“The assigned readings for my courses foreground diversity with the goal of preparing students to discuss complex cultural relationships across time and space. In creating each syllabus, I combat the assumption that premodern and early modern authors wrote independently from the local and global contexts around them while ensuring minority students are represented in the curriculum.”

Notice here that I repeat the theme that runs throughout my entire statement: students as part of a larger, global network (just as medieval writers were part of a larger, global network).

Give examples of your readings while remembering that not everyone on the hiring committee will be a specialist. You may have to explain what the readings are and why they are relevant/significant.

Example:

“For example, my Introduction to Poetry course assigns the anonymous medieval African epic Sunjata, the poetry of Langston Hughes, and contemporary slam poetry and spoken word to showcase orality in African and African-American cultures. This course also traces the transmission of literary form: students compare the sonnets of modern Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, to Renaissance sonnets by Sir Philip Sidney, Lady Mary Wroth, and William Shakespeare to consider female subjectivity, love objects, and the sonnet beyond English-language literature.”

Notice here that I gave an example from Introduction to Poetry. At my school, that was a general education course. This shows my reader that my pedagogy is consistent no matter what level course I’m teaching.

Talk about what you hope your students get out of your reading assignments.

Example:

“These assignments not only show that the past continues to inform contemporary literature and culture, but that writers are constantly influenced by transnational contexts.“

End with a similar statement to how you ended Body Paragraph 1: talk about how you plan to use or expand these assignments for courses you will teach at your new job.

Example:

“My experiences teaching a wide range of global texts from ancient to modern has prepared me to approach courses such as [COURSE FROM AD] with similar frameworks, as well as assign readings in Old English and Beowulf courses that reflect early medieval people’s embeddedness in larger cultural networks.”

Body Paragraph 3: Minor Assignments/Daily Activities

In this body paragraph, you’re going to be showing your reader what your day-to-day classroom might look like. Minor assignments may be things like take-home worksheets that you go over in class the next day, daily journals, etc while daily activities might be various kinds of in class activities such as games, class exercises, demos, and so on.

Start your paragraph similar to how you start Body Paragraphs 1 and 2: your topic sentence should be about what your minor assignments/daily activities are meant to do.  DO NOT repeat anything from Body Paragraphs 1 and 2.

Example:

“When encouraging students to engage critically with the above-mentioned texts, I create networks between students by using collaborative daily activities and assignments. My literature courses position students as active participants in their learning process, and I achieve my goal primarily through assigning a reading journal.”

Continue by talking about the types of assignments/activities and what you hope students will take away from the experience. Also focus on what skills these activities are meant to cultivate. You don’t want to appear as if you’re assigning busy work for the sake of having material to grade.

Example:

“Journals record impressions, questions, and connections to previous assignments, and are submitted weekly, prior to covering the reading in class. I use these journals to create lesson plans, thereby giving students – including minority students – a voice in the topics we cover.”

If you have quotes from students evaluations that would be helpful, include them

Example:

“This approach makes the atmosphere in my classes more welcoming and productive; a student from my British Literature Before 1800 survey course wrote that class felt “very open to different interpretations and respectful towards them,” and I believe the reading journals helped facilitate this kind of openness.”

Elaborate on your assignments/activities, either by focusing on the various skills you’re hoping to cultivate or different activities that go hand-in-hand with the one you just talked about.

Example:

“Journals also encourage students to generate knowledge before coming to class so that discussion acts as a framework for refining their ideas into specific research questions or close readings. A student in the same survey course wrote that they “liked that [they] could review material with others and have a guide for discussion.””

Notice that these journals were used (or could be used) in a number of different courses. While it’s ok to focus on one specific course, you ultimately want to demonstrate that you’re capable of teaching more than one class.

If you have the space, talk about another assignment/activity for another class.

Example:

“In composition courses, I make similar use of collaboration between students through peer review. Students provide feedback on each other’s work during every step of the writing process. Each assignment is divided into four parts with due dates spread across a two week time period: students first produce a working thesis, then an outline of their paper, followed by rough and final drafts. By submitting each part to their classmates for review, students see writing as a group effort, while also learning to give and receive critique.”

Notice that this part of my paragraph is about a composition course (a low-level English course at my school). I also talk about peer review - something that is relatively common in English classes, but I connect the activity to my overall pedagogy of creating networks between students.

End your paragraph with a statement about what your assignments/activities do or how you plan to use or expand these assignments for courses you will teach at your new job.

Example:

“Combined, these activities show knowledge to be collaboratively-generated.” (I was running out of steam but also out of space at this point and just ended it).

Conclusion

End your statement with either a strong overview of your pedagogic goals or by highlighting the success you’ve had implementing these goals so far.

It’s ok if this paragraph is short, but you don’t want to make it look like an afterthought.

I ended my statement by inserting an especially flattering quote from a student evaluation. It was a cheesy ending, but it got the job done. Notice that I still connect it back to my pedagogy; the quote is about making class assignments feel meaningful outside the classroom (again with networks here).

Example:

“One student from my Introduction to Fiction course kindly wrote, “she always made people’s comments in class feel validated and she made the reading choices meaningful to my life.” What caught my attention was not their enjoyment of the class – which was admittedly nice to see. It was rather the comfort they felt sharing their ideas with others and that they believed reading and analyzing literature from various time periods had a place in their lives.“