#ziggerastica

[common-or-garden-blog]

For these purposes The Deadly Shadow is one character. It would be really hilarious if I spent three poll slots on Arrogance, Innocence, and Patience, though. I almost did put Horrorcow on there twice...

[dragon-wolfie]

Doomsday day 9 - song

In which a little king sings about murdering a man violently

[howtodrawyourdragon]

So the nanodragon's name is Ziggerastice and he:

Is a living god apparently (or so he says)

proceeded to insult Hiccup's entire existence ("Thank you," murmured Hiccup.)

Told Hiccup he was honor-bound to save his life in return (but only once)

didn't tell Hiccup exactly how he could call for help

flew off

[captaindibbzy]

I think it's very rude of the Tate modern to not have a ticket specifically for me at the exhibit I want to go to, because I'm obviously the most important person and the world should revolve around me.

[applesandpavenders]

Hiccup: no fear, I’ve met the centre of the universe, the living god himself *pulls out the smallest dragon imaginable out of his pocket. He’s literally the size of a bee* Ziggerastica the mighty!

So, in book 3 Hiccup has a tiny dragon in his pocket for like, the whole book, and it ends up saving Hiccup’s life.

It’s so perfectly comical

I wish they would have done something like that in the franchise, maybe in RoB/DoB or Rtte, in which the gang is separated from their dragons and they are in deep ship and Hiccup just goes “don’t worry everyone, I thought something like this might happen” and he just pulls a single tiny dragon out of his pocket like “behold, our savior” while the gang exchanges looks, all agreeing that Hiccup has finally lost it

[readtilyoudie]

I remember my child-self looking down over the rim of the basket and seeing my entire world laid out beneath me like a map in a made-up story. For the first time I saw that the place where I lived and struggled and worried was part of an Archipelago of staggering beauty: hundreds of tiny green islands set in a shimmering blue sea.

And suddenly I realised with such clearness what pinpricks we were on this ocean universe. What swaggering insects! What posturing amoebas!

But size isn’t everything, as I am always telling Snotlout. However small we are, we should always fight for what we believe to be right. And I don’t mean fight with the power of our fists or the power of our swords. That has always been the problem with us Vikings. I mean the power of our brains and our thoughts and our dreams.

And as small and quiet and unimportant as our fighting may look, perhaps we might all work together like the numberless armies of Ziggerastica, and break out of the prisons of our own making. Perhaps we might be able to keep this fierce and beautiful world of ours as free for all of us as it seemed to be on that blue afternoon of my childhood.

How to Speak Dragonese (How to Train Your Dragon, #3) by Cressida Cowell

[ashleybenlove]

Ziggerastica describes Hiccup to his face as a boy with a face like stinky haddock.

To be fair, Haddock is his last name.

[trainsdragons]

“I remember the quiet stillness of that moment, floating free of all care and worry, suspended magically in the endless nothingness of the air below and above us. I remember my child-self looking down over the rim of the basket and seeing my entire world laid out beneath me like a map in a made-up story. For the first time I saw that the place where I lived and struggled and worried was part of an Archipelago of staggering beauty: hundreds of tiny green islands set in a shimmering blue sea. And suddenly I realized with such clearness what pinpricks we were on this ocean universe. What swaggering insects! What posturing amoebas! But size isn't everything, as I am always telling Snotlout. However small we are, we should always fight for what we believe to be right. And I don't mean fight with the power of our fists or the power of our swords. That has always been the problem with us Vikings. I mean the power of our brains and our thoughts and our dreams. And as small and quiet and unimportant as our fighting may look, perhaps we might all work together like the numberless armies of Ziggerastica, and break out of the prisons of our own making. Perhaps we might be able to keep this fierce and beautiful world of ours as free for all of us as it seemed to be on that blue afternoon of my childhood.”

— Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, “How To Train Your Dragon: How To Speak Dragonese” Book 3 (by Cressida Cowell)

[httydfirefly]

Hey thought I'd drop a list of everyone (on and off tumblr) who's currently working on our parody project Epic: The Dragon!

Toblarone (@brainrot-crossword) - playing Valhallarama and The Vampire Spydragon, and working on animatics and lyric adaptation

Octopdes (@octopdes) - playing the Hairy Scary Librarian, the Grimler, and Luna, as well as working on animatics and some lyric adaptation

Teapot (@mymotherwasateapot) - working on art and some lyric adaptation

Aphrodite (@randomness7012) - playing Grimbeard the Ghastly, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock The Third, and Chucklehead

Cat (@catannepicfanatic) - playing Hiccup Horrendous Haddock The Second and Fishlegs

Firefly (me!) - playing the dragon Furious and working on animatics, lyric adaptation, and audio engineering

Tam - playing Ziggerastica and the Naming Dame, as well as working on animatics

Finlay - playing Merciless and Wodensfang

Vesuvius - playing Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the First and Alvin the Treacherous

Bog - playing Camicazi

Also, if anyone would be interested in getting involved with making animatics, please feel free to DM me! It's quite a mammoth undertaking so we'll accept any help we can get lol

[lyraxoxo]

Epic: The Dragon Theory ❤️

For those who are not aware, a massive crossover project between the HTTYD books and Epic the Musical was recently announced officially. This announcement came with a wide variety of teasers, which has provided a lot of information about this project.

Firstly, Ruthlessness will be the first animatic/cover released as a part of this project (this comes from an encoded message posted by @octopdes ). Due to this, I believe the covers/animatics will be released in timeline order for the books, as we know that Ruthlessness will be about Merciless due to a storyboard preview from @brainrot-crossword.

Secondly, I have been theorising about which songs they are rewriting and for which characters. Below I have listed some of the songs from Epic the Musical and some of characters I think could be in them. The primary information source I used for these speculations was the cast list posted by @httydfirefly (I also used the questions and answers for the quiz posted by @catannepicfanatic as speculation material). The cast list including all the characters each person voices. This gave me a guideline on which characters we know are included, and also a rough estimate on how prevalent the characters are going to be. The characters I have not been able to place from the cast list are Grimbeard, the Naming Dame, the Hairy Scary Librarian and Chucklehead. So if you have any ideas on where these character could go, or any ideas for the other songs in Epic, let me know. ❤️

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My song list (anything confirmed will be specified)

Just a Man – Hiccup III or Furious

Warrior of the Mind – Valhallarama and Hiccup III

My Goodbye - Valhallarama and Hiccup III

Ruthlessness – Merciless and Hiccup I (Confirmed from a preview from @brainrot-crossword)

Wouldn’t You Like – Ziggerastica and Hiccup III (Confirmed from preview posted by @httydfirefly)

Done For – Alvin and Hiccup III

The Underworld – Furious, Hiccup II and The Grimler

Monster - Furious

Suffering – Furious and Hiccup II (Confirmed by @httydfirefly in a comment under the Suffering clip)

Different Beast - Furious

Scylla – Vampire Spydragon, Hiccup III and Wodensfang (I think Furious could also fit here but this is the best place for the Vampire Spydragon)

Thunder Bringer – Furious, Hiccup III and Hiccup II

Legendary – Camicazi or Fishlegs

Little Wolf – Fishlegs and Alvin

(Links to posts referenced will be in the comments ❤️)

[midnightcoffes]

speedran this art? maybe. but IM LATE TO DOOMSDAY AND I HAD TO DO SOMETHING!

The prompt was How to Speak Dragonese, so I made a little redraw from the book! I love these silly kids sm (+ bonus Ziggerastica)

[howtodrawyourdragon]

I was ready to find out how Ziggerastica helped Hiccup fly, tear through the netting, and break the dam, but I never could've thought that he would actually call in an entire army of nanodragons to grab Hiccup by the tunic to make him fly, eat through the netting, and through the dam! Ziggerastica really is a king and god of his people!

[readtilyoudie]

‘This terrible, terrible plan,’ announced Ziggerastica joyfully, ‘has worked beautifully. I, Ziggerastica the Mighty, have made it do this! How wonderful I am! How Glorious is my Empire! How numerous and powerful are my peoples!’

‘We were lucky, too,’ grinned Hiccup.

‘I am almost sorry to leave you, O-Boy-With-No- Muscles-At-All,’ said Ziggerastica sorrowfully. ‘But we are quits now, I have saved your life in exchange for you saving mine and you are still a stinking HUMAN after all…’

‘Thanks,’ said Hiccup.

‘But this has been a great day for the little creatures of the world …’

How to Speak Dragonese (How to Train Your Dragon, #3) by Cressida Cowell

[ashleybenlove]

Hiccup calls for the little dragon Ziggerastica and Toothless decides to stalk that little dragon like a cat.

[companion-of-the-dragonmark]

Personally, I don't have a problem with the armor, since as a King, he needs armor to protect him. That being said, you are correct that it shouldn't be HTTYD-film-inspired and should instead be chainmail made of dragon teeth, along with a dragonskin fire suit, along with his Roman shield, sword, etc. Maybe a nicer helmet. Like what @yv-sketches has made.

In all honesty, while Windwalker probably inspired film Toothless, in part, I agree that she shouldn't add film elements to her books, since what she had in her books was what gave them charm.

In fact, I'm even an advocate that the films should've been more loyal to the books instead of what we got. Don't get me wrong, the films were good (at least HTTYD 1), but they would've been better if they stuck to the Books, plot-wise and even added book characters like Camicazi, Thuggory, Old Wrinkly, Valhallarama instead of Valka, book Alvin instead of the Alvin that we got in the TV show, etc.

<><><>

Honestly, if Cressida Cowell is going to write new HTTYD books, it would be nice if she would dive into the stories of lesser-known characters. I mean, she's got a lot of characters that, in my opinion, should have their own spin-off series. Or at least a short story.

Here are just some possibilities:

How Stoick and Valhallarama met and his Quest for the Fire Stone (egg)

Old Wrinkly's past

Wodensfang's story on how he met Hiccup the First in more detail

A story on Hiccup the First and his journey as First King of the Wilderwest.

A series of short stories on Grimbeard's childhood and reign as the Last King of the Wilderwest.

A short story or a spin-off short series on Hiccup the Second.

A short story on the Succession Crisis and Grimbeard's Last Quest after the fall of the Wilderwest.

A short story on Chucklehead and how he ruled Berk

A short story on the Outcasts

A short story on Thuggory, or about the Meatheads in general

A short story on Camicazi and the Bog-Burglars after Book 3.

A short story on Termagant and Alvin

A short story on Alvin's Quest for the Lost Things and his reign as Chief of the Outcasts.

A story on Humungous Hotshot and his Quest to Woo Valhallarama and how he came to be a Slave on Lava-Lout Island

Short story on how Hiccup the Third was imprisoned in Danger-Brute Dungeon and how he escaped

Short story on Humungous Hotshot and Tantrum adventuring.

Short story on how Humungously Hotshot and Tantrum met.

Short story on what happened to UG the Uglithug after the events of Book 9.

Short story on Snotlout and how he came to have a rivalry with Hiccup.

Short story on how Fishlegs came to Berk and became friends with Hiccup.

Heck, do a short story about the Two Swords, Dragonsword and Stormblade and their history.

Do a short story about each of the Kings of the Wilderwest and a summary of their reigns, and just on the history of the Wilderwest Kingdom, in general.

Story about Valhallarama's Quest for the Lost Things

Short Story on how Gobber stole "How to Train Your Dragon" from the Meathead Library.

A short story on how Windwalker ended up captured by the Visithugs and found later by Hooligans.

A short story on how the Romans came into the Archipelago and built Fort Sinister.

A collection of short stories about various Heroes of the Archipelago, such as Hairy Longbottom, and other explorers and heroes who explored and conquered the Barbaric Archipelago.

A short story on Humungously Hotshot's exploits and Quests.

A short story that explains how Norbert the Nutjob survived the Doomfang and came back disguised like a Wanderer.

A short story on Bigjob, Norbert's father, and how he found the Land-That-Does-Not-Exist.

A short story on Flashburn and his men.

A short story on Madguts and Gumboil

A short story on Merciless/Green Death and his journey before hibernation.

A short story on Ziggerastica and his swarms before and after Book 3.

A short story on One Eye from Book 4.

But definitely, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, there needs to be a sequel or at least a series of short stories that narrate Hiccup the Third's reign as the 13th King of the Wilderwest!!!

Quite honestly, if Cressida Cowell isn't planning on writing any of these stories anytime soon, then I suppose I'll have to write fanfics for them myself and expand the HTTYD Books universe for her on my own time. 💪🏻😤

I might get hated for saying this, but to be 100% honest, I am not excited about the new series at all.

I am almost dreading it, for I fear that Cressida may be inserting movie features into the following books… which is really, really not good.

But I saw that illustration at the end of the new story… and I am afraid that is what is happening. ​(The book has not arrived yet, but I have seen photos of it many times)

Seeing book Hiccup wearing movie Hiccup’s armor and prosthetic was like a nightmare come to life to me.

I fear for my dear Hiccup, whom I deeply respect for his personality, and who has taught me almost everything I believe in in this world. I truly hope that Cressida will not go as far as to change him into someone like movie!Hiccup—whom he is not

And I believe— no, I have done analyses and I know— that old Hiccup intended for his memoirs to end there, at How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury, when he became King and ended the war. He circled it back to the beginning (“In my beginning is my end… There were dragons when I was a boy.”), and said that it was complete,that his own life and his role as narrator was complete, and he could rest now (in the sense that he would soon die: “When Toothless flies to me next time, it will be for the last time.”)

An entire sequel series (not just short stories) would, break a considerable amount of symbolism here, even possibly rendering some of the messages and themes in the books as no longer true— especially if it starts to take after the movies. The books and movies are so vastly different that, to me, it seems disrespectful to mix them together.

A sequel might damage the books. An attempt to mix httyd movie elements into it will almost definitely destroy it.

I can’t bear to see it happen.

These books, written by Cressida, and by Hiccup the Third, have shaped me so greatly and made me who I am today, and have been one of the brightest and steadiest lights in my life. If this, my haven, my mental home, becomes ruined, it will be like tearing my vital heart out of my chest.

I cannot and will not leave. But if the worst does happen, especially if Hiccup becomes out of character, then I will be ready to disregard any sequel as canon.

I did not say this earlier, partly because I secretly hoped that it wouldn’t be true, and partly because I did not want to upset those in the fandom who are being so joyful about all of it.

Unfortunately I really cannot share that attitude.

And I also glimpsed a few others, who might have been thinking along similar lines as I did.

Eventually I decided that someone had to speak up and address the issue floating huge in front of us. That is why I wrote this.

I do not want to upset or anger anyone. I just wanted more people in this fandom to realize and know this.

[berk-is-my-lobster]

more of golden trio on Twitter (and dragons):

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