#they dont abandon you once the risk leaves a certain area.....

[quaranmine]

the texas storm chasers guys are some of my fave guys fr. they are serving such an important role in society. i hope good things happen to them always

[drabbles-of-writing]

Dont be shy go off About The society Au you got my attention :>

FUCK YEAH LETS GO tying this in w the other ask abt what Luz’s cyberpunk mask looks like-

Luz’s mask looks very similar to this one but with no horns and its more pointed and looks far more canine-like. to the point where if you slapped fur on it, it could make a pretty convincing dog animatronic. if Luz opens her jaw a certain way and sort of ‘locks’ it into place, the mask connects with her jaw and moves when she speaks. she can ‘lock’ her jaw again to close it. though she normally only opens it to shove random items she doesn’t want to risk being discovered/falling out of pockets. shes the “what do you have in your mouth” meme.

SO BASICALLY theres this mind controlling Thing Bug Whatever going on. if you know Inside or Blackout Club, yknow what im talking abt. the government (emperors coven) started doing Experiments to see if it would work and wants to make it so that when they are mind-controlled enough they truly just become Husks. just corpses they can manipulate bc if they aren’t ‘real people,’ that will be far more palpable for the rest of the world to get used to if they think its just corpses or the sick that simply can’t be saved, and that this is somehow a mercy for them. but they’re testing on like. actual people. the Boiling Isles, which was like a whole tri-state area or somethin big like that, was made up of multiple different towns. it was on the coast n marsh so they were kind of ‘islands’ here and there, especially a couple hundred years ago. the name stuck. out of all the towns, Bonesborough is the only one still standing. the others are full of abandoned buildings, overgrown plants, and the smell of burning flesh and decay everywhere. nobody in Bonesborough is aware of this. they are virtually stuck in the town since they have ‘everything they need’ there and are basically brainwashed (not in the mind control sense) to stay in the town, bc the government just Won’t Let Them Leave. the doubters are told its bc there are dangerous infections running about so the town needs to stay where it is until the threat is ‘neutralized.’  only the adults are used in mind-control experiments, as they kinda like. need the children to become adults and make more children. also since their minds are still developing they have NO IDEA what could happen if they try to mind-control them. plus like,,,,nobody would ever get used to the idea of corpse mind-controlled children. so Luz & the gang are safe, but at the cost that They Know.

there are a couple labs scattered here and there throughout the Boiling Isles, some are abandoned, most are wrecked as all hell (courtesy of shit fucking up & Luz’s gang fucking it up), and they’re the only real government in the area. Belos leads the thing, obv. scientists are all about and Lilith is part of them. she and Eda were part of one of the other towns in the Boiling Isles but once the scientists came Lilith became interested and doesn’t know the Full story. like how the mind control is going to be used to be labor and fucked up experiments beyond the mind stuff and also that like. they plan to virtually make them brain-dead. Lilith is still fucked up for wanting to mind-control people but she has no idea they basically want corpses. and, well, she joined so she wouldn’t get mind controlled and wants to take Eda into the government so they won’t hurt her. hard times. Eda stuck it out and lives just outside Bonesborough, surviving on her own and constantly flipping off the scientists. she can manage to only be somewhat mind controlled (basically the Curse) but it still causes Problems

Odalia & Alador work w/help fund the project so the Blight sibs are like. right in the thick of it. they also only have like half an idea of whats going on but they know its Bad but what the Hell can they do?? who knows maybe this’ll just be abandoned someday theres already a ton of problems. so when Luz and the Gang start purposefully wrecking shit, they grab the “useless Blights”, give them some weapons and sick outfits, and tell them to go take care of the problem. Luz has a LOT of fun teasing Amity you have no idea. the two are idiots and often Luz accidentally ends up as the distraction while Willow & Gus do the work they actually came there to do.

[kingofthewilderwest]

it kinda bugs me how they cant make httyd3 longer just so they can emphasize the story in a deeper meaning, like your post abt it being disproportionate. httyd3 had a LOT more plot than httyd2 and we can already see how it has to cramp so much and why that makes D2's pace felt pretty fast. the structure of the story is actually well planned.. perfect, to be exact! but the execution like putting pauses, necessary humor, longer dialogue, is whats needed to make it um, understandable? im not sure..

this isnt meant to judge the movie as bad though! but its a question ive been asking why they cant do it longer, for that sake. is it the budget? was Dean really certain the script is okay? or is it meant to be like this so people can interpret the movie their way? (oof that one is confusing).. i dont know, i want to ask about your thoughts on that >

From this.

It’s an interesting conversation for sure! I believe that THW doesn’t have to be longer to be extremely successful in the ideas it needs to convey! The core ideas being:

Toothless cannot be a wild dragon and strong alpha leader with humans. Other dragons probably deserve the respect of needing wild dragon needs, too.

Humans like Grimmel are extremely dangerous to dragons and will continue to arise, so dragons need to go to an area separate from humans to live in optimal peace.

Hiccup and Toothless’ powerful friendship will separate (insofar as physical location) due to the first two points

I know you’re not the only person I’ve talked to who wanted a longer time because you feel like certain elements were cramped, needed more breathing room, or that dangerous plot points didn’t get enough sense of weight. More time would presumably give that flow and sense of scale and danger. Now, it’s true that more time would give us more content to develop these things. That said, I believe solutions aren’t always “add more.��� Creating good art isn’t about adding new things; it’s about knowing when to take away or alter, and how to make every second of your creation count optimally.

I remember when I was doing my music composition degree, my instructors hammered into me what would make a good final piece: the editing process of deleting measures - even measures that were really good! - because they didn’t fit what the final product needed. It’s painful to delete, but ultimately, it’s freeing; instead of making a music piece more cluttered to put all possible good ideas in, I can make it less cluttered, more manageable, more beautiful, more meaningful, and more effective to audiences. A better overall piece isn’t putting in every good idea I have; it’s leaving the piece with the beautiful ideas it needs.

I suggest The Hidden World doesn’t need added materials so much as it needs refining what’s already there.

Budget, production green lighting, and carefulness to the script all seem to have been done. HTTYD 3 was given a longer production time than originally planned. They pushed back the date exactly so they could make their best product. Interviews with people like DeBlois and Spielberg (who read several definitions of the script) talk about how much the script was transformed and bettered through its drafts. They did enough tweaking and care to rework the script. As for budget, the movie was 129 million USD, which sure was the cheapest of the HTTYD trilogy to create, but it’s about on par with what DreamWorks has spent on other movies like Home and Trolls - it’s not like there was skimping - and it’s all about making your money count, which I think this glorious, top notch animation quality film effectively did. So from what I’ve heard, I think production ran fine and we can’t question THW there.

I think most of THW’s problems can be solved simply by tweaking how scenes go down, taking a few small elements out, and adding a few small elements in. It doesn’t need time changes; it needs internal modifications to what’s already there. What I propose wouldn’t change much of the movie’s length - though maybe I we could add 5-8 minutes for things like a longer climax.

1. To Feel Less “Cluttered” or “Rushed”

The movie didn’t feel rushed to me or too cluttered, but it’s cluttered. You’re right. In addition to creating less clutter, my suggested tweaks will clear up time THW can spend elsewhere, streamline THW into fewer palatable essential ideas, and give a slight tone makeover that will add more sense of danger and conflict that THW needs.

Fewer humor side gags with minor characters (and less time spent on them). The gang’s antics are fun additions, yes, but that doesn’t mean they’re central to what the plot needs. Spending too much time with them adds clutter and takes away from plot-central, tone-central material. There’s a huge gaggle of gags in THW, more than any movie needs in a less-than-two-hour-long run time. Do we need all these to give THW its comic relief? Don’t get me wrong - I loved the humor - but time needs to be prioritized, and the movie will be improved once “less is more.”

Less time with Tuffnut’s pep talks. This goes with my first point. This comedic gag was lengthy in particular. It’s in part because it connects to the idea of Hiccstrid marrying, which THW does make more central in its themes. However, I also propose:

Spend less time (or delete) the will-they won’t-they marry Hiccstrid plot. THW intends to parallel Hiccup and Toothless maturing into adulthood, including their romantic connections. However, a will-they won’t-they marry subplot in Hiccstrid isn’t needed to create that parallel. Not to mention: it can be uncomfortable to have this undertone of romance as “required” adulthood maturation, and the fact that Hiccstrid are so close and intimate makes it feel “off” that they’re so uncomfortable talking about marriage. Spend less time here, simply make fans aware they’re going to marry in the future but not today, and return to the main relationships THW needs to pay attention to: that of Hicctooth and Nightlight. 

2. To Make Grimmel a Greater Sense of Threat

One of the central points is that Grimmel is extremely dangerous and represents one of many humans that’ll continue to be a threat to dragons. While Grimmel can be overcome, Hiccup will need to interact with Grimmel in such a way he can understand that dragons and humans cannot coexist in today’s civilization without continuing to risk danger, and that it’s best for everyone to live happily in two separate civilizations. It’s not being defeated by the enemy’s oppression, but taking a brilliant countermeasure to give humans and dragons both a better existence.

Making Grimmel feel like a greater sense of threat, and helping audience members understand what Grimmel represents overarchingly of humanity’s current antagonistic state, will help us and Hiccup process why a separation is best. This can be done by:

Show Grimmel’s impact on human society. All we’d have to do is change what his base looks like: it could be located in an area taken over from another human civilization, showing his army’s power and place in this world over humans.

Greater weight placed on Berk’s exodus. The Hooligans lost their home, but it’s played too lightly. It’s not written optimally as an emotionally impacting or destabilizing moment, which decreases the sense of threat Grimmel has. Instead of having the Hooligans excited to find New Berk, show them grieving. They can butt against Hiccup’s ideas of finding the Hidden World, but instead in a way where they’re frustrated at his naive solution and hurt at what they left behind. This isn’t adding time to THW; this is tweaking phraseology and presenting an event differently.

Change how Berk is abandoned. To make the attack feel more dire, threatening, either: 1. Have the Hooligans more reluctant and grumpy to leave in the town meeting, and not play the leaving scene so lightly, or 2. Have Grimmel chase them out of Berk so they have to flee then and there. This might even reduce time! 

Show Grimmel’s power over dragons. We could have a few-second-long flashback of him standing over a field of dead Night Fury bodies, or have his place cloaked in dragon skins or skulls. 

Show Grimmel’s power as a warlord. Grimmel acts in almost a solo fashion, despite cooperating with warlords and having an army. It doesn’t give us a good sense of scale. Show his interactions better with the whole of his forces to make him feel more dangerous, and for humanity as a whole to feel more like a threat against dragons. For example, in the scenes where he’s trying to trap the dragon riders, show him commanding more people.

Show Grimmel’s impact on the dragon (and/or human worlds) through landscape. What if, as the Hairy Hooligans try to find a new place to stay, they fly over several islands that have been destroyed by Grimmel’s forces? Either human civilizations, or homes once havens to dragons, with characters making comment they “hope” people got away. And what if, when Grimmel takes their dragons near the end of THW, it’s again through more violence and a raid and fire and destruction? 

Conversations more clearly talk about Grimmel’s dangers over dragons and humans, and how he’s one of many people that’ll arise. This idea is embedded in THW dialogue, but not clearly enough to fully grasp its weight, especially not in the sense we see characters grasp this. Have Hiccup and Astrid and Valka or something talk about how widely destructive Grimmel is, how even once he’s gone another man like him will take his place, and that while they may continue to fight and win for human and dragonkind, it’s ultimately not the right move to make for everyone to live safest and alive. A conversation laying this out makes a world of difference in our understanding of what dangers are going down and why we need to come to the solution THW concludes with. Again, this isn’t adding time; it’s changing phraseology. 

Add a few minutes to the climax. Make the final fight with Grimmel obviously the final fight, the threat bigger, the action more intense.

Perhaps show that Berk’s done good work changing the world by their choices. Even though Berk ultimately decides to let the dragons go, they are meant to be the voice of peace that changes their world. The good guys can’t resign to letting themselves live under the thumb of bad guys’ choices. Show that they’ve made a difference - Grimmel and his armies are gone and the world is regrowing (no more torched landscape, if we add that element in) - but that it’s still going to help their world by letting dragons go, too… for this generation, at least.

3. To Make Hiccup and Toothless’ Parting Jive Better

Hiccup and Toothless separate out of need - they can’t live in the same place for the better of both their kinds. However, since the movie spends so much time on Toothless chasing after the Light Fury, we don’t get that full sense of need. I propose:

Open THW with a clear Hicctooth sappy bonding moment. We need things like “Forbidden Friendship” and “Where No One Goes” to feel the power of Hicctooth’s love. Give us that starting sense in THW of how close they are before adding in the complications. It can even be done by tweaking how the opening fight scene goes down.

Show dragons profiting by living with humans, but it also being Complicated with their wild side. We need to acknowledge that the relationship between humans and dragons has done the dragons good, too! Otherwise it might feel incongruous with the rest of the franchise.

Show dragons being unfit in the urban area through their own restlessness. The movie tries to show this with Moosie Boi being too big for Berk, and Berk being so crowded with dragons Gobber finds the soup unsanitary. But if we see Stormfly restless and want to leave for the Hidden World, too, wouldn’t this say something more about where dragons are pulled to and belong?

Less time spent on Toothless investigating the Night Fury. You can’t cut this down too much or we’ll feel like rushing, but since THW focuses so much on just Toothless and the Light Fury’s connection rather than an overarching problem for dragons, it’s hard to feel the full-scale issues of the problem. Making it just him and her feels more like a hook up love story than “dragons and humans are incompatible for their needs.”

Change Toothless’ body language. Show more emotional division in Toothless about his conflicting options. Show him hesitant to leave Hiccup and the two interact over that. Show him lonely away from his kind when with Hooligans. Show him feeling that loneliness met - that deep emotional need of being with his own species - when he’d thought was lost to him (rather than focusing on it being a romantic hookup interest). This doesn’t take more time; it tweaks what was already given on screen.

Change Toothless’ emotions with the Light Fury to feel more like loneliness being met than horny boi practicing kissing with a rock. This does a better job of showing that Toothless has a deep need that needs to be met as a wild animal and as a social draconic species.

Change conversations Hiccup has with humans about Toothless’ struggle. Maybe have Hiccup processing less with people and more by himself or with Toothless. Don’t write the conversations with people be about “Toothless has a girlfriend” and “of course he left.” Discuss instead how Night Furies are social creatures and Toothless hasn’t been with his kind in six years - that’s a huge hole in his heart being filled. Validate the deep connection Hiccup and Toothless have, while simultaneously acknowledging the struggle of this moment now. The movie shows that the Light Fury can never be domesticated, so I think that’s fine, but maybe one line from Astrid saying, “I don’t think she’ll come to live with us,” would be enough to help other audience members pick that up too.

More time spent on all dragons being in danger, and Toothless as an alpha unable to protect them with Hairy Hooligans. The story doesn’t show Toothless being much of an alpha - intentional - until he reaches the Hidden World and it clicks. But I suggest it’d be more effective to pull this out more than having an issue with Moose Boi taking up too much space in Berk, and Berk being so crowded Gobber has a dragon in his soup.

Put more of a deal on Toothless being an alpha. You can say that Toothless didn’t understand or use his role as alpha when with humans, but I think showing more sense of conflict, and of an alpha needing to be wild to protect his own, would be useful. Make this an issue for all dragons. The alpha status being used as a blackmail device against Toothless to keep the Light Fury alive could be replaced with us seeing the full species of dragonkind being unable to be protected by an alpha apart from his own people. More needs to be done than dragons bowing to him in one scene to understand what the alpha does for his society.

Show Toothless with more Light Furies. The Light Fury being his singular focus is great. But what about, in the Hidden World, Hiccup and Astrid watch Toothless interacting with a whole group of Night Furies, and he’s clearly in a situation that was Made For Him?

THW already has great content in there - Toothless and the Light Fury interacting, Hiccup crying when he realizes Toothless is fit in the Hidden World, Hiccup freaking out and Astrid comforting him when he feels a low, and Hiccup and Toothless parting ways touchingly at the end.

With these proposed tweaks, we get Toothless and Hiccup’s relationship being addressed deeply from the angle of both friends. We understand what both Toothless and Hiccup emotionally feel, and palatably sense how both love the other. We get a sense that Toothless is attracted to the Light Fury and might want to mate, but that she’s also calling him into a wild life and reminding him that he’s been alone, separated from his kind. We get a sense that it’s not just Toothless, but all dragons who might be called back to the Hidden World. We get a sense that it’s not just Toothless, but his whole role as alpha affecting the entirety of dragonkind.

And once we add in a greater sense of Grimmel being dangerous, and that more humans like him will continue to rise up, we can understand why Berk would release all their dragons. It’s not that dragons hate living with humans - THW can make that clear - and it’s not that dragons haven’t been profited by living with humans. But in the current call, the current situation, it’s best to go to the Hidden World.

I’m mostly tweaking how scenes go down, changing lines and reactions rather than adding material. Feel free to propose a longer movie! For me, THW already has enough space to share its message. Maybe it needed to be a few minutes longer, but I suppose my own sense is that they had enough time to budget in this material, make a smooth-flowing movie with all the material they needed to present, and come away with an astounding storyline.

Like you, this isn’t meant to judge the movie as bad! It isn’t bad! It’s downright wonderful in many aspects. I’m so happy I’ve seen it and can scream over it! Simply, if I were in charge of tweaking the script, these are the first alterations I’d make, and I think it would make THW even better.

[chainslaughter]

STREAM of consciousness/notes on my wasteland OCs

I feel like Vax would mainly deal in procuring drugs compared to say, scrapped parts or whatever. That'd be one of his big interests. Also im not sure if i should insert him into say, Dahlias gang because that's someone else's ideas, and while its a collaborative project, i dont really wanna force anything into it without talking about it more with the original creator. BUT we've also said that it doesnt matter who does up with what because we can do what we want, its sort of just throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks anyway.

so he can be a part of the gang or something more akin to where Bhixl stands with Dahlia (Vax and Dahlia dont have to be as close as she and Bhixl are though, if at all. They could hate each other) Basically that hes more an affiliate or something through the services he provides (whether its drug trade or whatever, i haven't fleshed him out that much) I feel like he'd also get around a lot and have a lot of info on other people/places too. (he'd be invaluable for getting info on plots against Dahlias reign and other rival activity)  Otherwise He's just a stinky obnoxious greasy goblin man.

But basically we've said that Dahlia and Bhixl have been friends since childhood basically, i like to think their really close and both respect each other help each other out. Obv Bhixl has his bootleg business( alcohol but other things too-he probably has a sort of general wasteland goods sort thing going on) and Dahlia brings him a lot of business as well as helping make sure he stays in a good position(ex she can take out any rival businesses). Of course, they work together to get supplies. Beyond their business relationship, as i said they're both close friends who respect each other, they like to hang out a lot, so its not strictly business.

And then there's Sam, im really not sure what i wanna do with her yet despite that she's basically one of my older OCs. I said i might just make her a loner for the most part. She probably likes robots and vehicles more than people. She likes tinkering. But she's also somewhat of a one woman army, she doesnt belong to a wasteland gang at the moment. She does build robots which i assume are her main protection, but she's also super strong herself with hand to hand and spiked bats/sledgehammers/ whatever modified junk weapons she can find/build. So she traverses the wasteland mainly for parts to recylce for her own projects. Shes honestly kind of angsty, but shed never admit that on her stone cold stoic exterior.

She tends to wander a lot, mainly likes to reside in the outskirts of the city slums that have mostly been abandoned(besides other homeless and wanderers, but most of these people dont last long here because they are ill equipped to do so) The livable areas of the city have been shrinking over time due to them being closer to the borders of the wasteland- which means all sorts of nasty things form the wastes can get in(monsters, unbearable weather conditions, pollution/polluted air, etc). Basically the habitable areas have been shrinking over time and the wasteland has been "swallowing the city areas" so theres basically a number of livable city spots dotted throughout the wastes. Of course any rich and priviliged people make sure they still manage to live in luxury in their own bubbles and just abandon places once their no longer livable because they have the  means and resources, leaving the poor to die in the squalor they've left behind.

Basically theres these old abandoned city hubs that havent been touched in who knows long. Inside you could find untold riches, or maybe nothing but a few incriminating notes on businesses long gone, or maybe you won't come out at all. (who knows whats taken over these places?) Most people and other gangs figure the risk is not worth the reward. But Dahlia and her gang have the resources, power and confidence. Shes not called Queen of the Eastern Slums for no reason after all. At one point they discover some old government facilities, including a government lab. They figure that no one else is going to do it, despite the dangers Dahlias certain they can do it, and that they will find great loot inside. However, one of the gang tries to pull a fast one and ends up killed by a monster.(Jones the hacker)

The monster (ill call him Toby for now) was the son of a scientist who was used in experiments. He has been abandoned and locked in the facility for about 15ish years. Jones breaks into his cell while the rest of the gang moves ahead looking for loot he can keep to himself(that he doesnt have to split with the rest of the gang) He freaks out and loses his cool at seeing the mutilated human -but- not- quite- human -frankenstein- monster- esque thing and starts attacking, which is what gets him killed. Toby is obviously traumatized from his experiences but he doesnt really have an innate urge for violence or to kill, mostly acting in fear and self defense.