undeadunhingedchaos

[undeadunhingedchaos]

got mad thinking about HTTYD3 again and decided to funnel it into design practice and a little retelling exercise. ohh what a Night Fury hunter character could've been...

(not supposed to be a redesign of Grimmel, but a separate character to replace him as an antagonist. he's also quite similar in design to Drago -- who i think is a wonderful villain, for the record -- so i wouldn't expect to see him in any canon HTTYD media.)

when characters like Dagur and Ryker go on about wearing a Night Fury's skull as a hat i've always been curious to.. actually see a villain who delivers on that and proves themselves as a threat prior to meeting the heroes. a character who doesn't kill dragons because he has a vendetta against them like Grimmel or seeks to control them like Drago, but just wants the social status given to people capable of killing the most dangerous.

and then being around the riders' age; someone like Astrid or Dagur who are young but already so good and so accomplished at what they do, brutal and efficient. someone to both reflect Hiccup, and be his opposite. a rival. the kind of person who would have bullied him if they knew each other as kids, but also carried through on his initial goal right at the start of the first movie: killing dragons for status.

anyway, i don't think it's a perfect design yet, but it sure was fun to develop :) Set has a wonderful face, btw

[undeadunhingedchaos]

I'm glad they didn't adapt the How to Train Your Dragon books. Nothing would live up to my standards, no matter how faithful they would try to be.

[undeadunhingedchaos]

"syntax error: unclosed if at line 56": perfect error message, tells me exactly what I need to fix and exactly where to look for it.

"memory write failure at address 0xeb008a": good error message. describes the problem well enough to enable troubleshooting by an experienced user.

"something went wrong, please try again": bad error message. does not tell me anything useful.

"oops! something blooped! 🙁": I will kill you with my bare teeth

[undeadunhingedchaos]

[undeadunhingedchaos]

book 10 illustrations def cooked here

man i cant help but feel astonished while im reading

[undeadunhingedchaos]

My housemate's cat came into my room while my dictation was on...

[undeadunhingedchaos]

Size Isn't Everything

A whumper is smaller than whumpee, but they're still in control.

Whumper keeps whumpee in chains with a shackle around an ankle, around their wrists, and a collar around their neck. From just outside of the chains reach they taunt whumpee, listing off everything they're going to do to whumpee and if they can reach whumper then nothing will happen. Whumpee tries but they're always just out of reach.

Leering over whumpee who lays collapsed on the ground.

Despite being smaller whumper is just as strong as whumpee if not stronger. They use their size to dart around whumpee, hitting them before they can block, targeting sensitive spots.

Forcing whumpee to kneel so whumper still towers over them. Using degrading, humiliating tactics to feel better about themselves.

Tying whumpee's knees so they're forced to crawl everywhere.

Whumper always keeps a weapon on hand just in case. Something personal, like a knife or a cane, that they can turn on whumpee if they decide to get brave.

Sitting on a throne with whumpee chained to it, or with whumpee looming over their shoulder, their once defiant face now meek and submissive. Whumper coos and grabs their chin, turning it back and forth just because they can.

[undeadunhingedchaos]

TELL THAT TO OUR GOVERNMENT!!!

[undeadunhingedchaos]

hate it when pets learn words, my dog flips out when he hears "greenie" so we had to start saying "G word" but now he knows G word so we have to say shit like "are we out of emerald indulgences"

[undeadunhingedchaos]

Sighs. Okay yeah i have thoughts about cgi toothless.

First of all, why does he look so... slimy? He feels too smooth. Like they just stretched some scaly skin over a skeleton and let it walk around. Immediately offputting.

His body language is. Fine? Am i being nitpicky or does it seem just the tiniest bit less expressive? I'm guessing this is either the scene right after hiccup cuts him free, in which case he should be way more intimidating, or the fish-sharing scene, in which case he should feel a little friendlier and more curious around hiccup. It's a quick shot so i won't put a ton of expectations onto it, but i think it's worth noting.

Okay this is a legitimately cool detail though. He has a secondary eyelid!! You can see it slipping away when he opens his eyes. That's a detail exclusive to the books so i like that they included something as small as that.

Sighs again. And this is the shot that prompted me to make this post.

Look at the original, and then look at the cgi version. I could write an essay about how inferior the cgi version is in comparison.

First off, they flattened his face. I swear every iteration of night furies after the first movie has just been compressing their snouts until they're sufficiently 'cute' enough for the audience to forget they're supposed to be sleek and aerodynamic.

Second, his eyes. Absolutely radioactive. I understand using a brighter colour for his eyes, especially in a relatively darker environment to make him stand out and seem more fantastical. But. They're just so bright. It's mildly unsettling how saturated they are compared to everything else.

Third, his eyes. Again.

Toothless is supposed to be terrified but still threatening in this scene, and the original shot conveys that perfectly. If it's a threat, then by all means hiccup should kill it or at least run, but instead he draws a connection between both of them being scared of the other and decides to cut him loose instead. And that's the core of their relationship. Toothless is staring him down with a slitted pupil that could just as easily be interpreted as "fuck around and find out" but hiccup just acknowledges that there's a frightened, injured animal in front of him that needs help, and he helps.

Is any of that conveyed in the cgi version? No!! It's trying so hard to be cute that it's gone full circle back to just being scary. The wide-eyed stare, the dilated pupil, he's basically just saying "🥺🥺 uwu pwease i'm so cute and innocent don't kill me aha 👉👈". Which is a lot less of a compelling reason for hiccup to free him!! Plus the fact that toothless turns up to look at him instead of lying and accepting his fate like in the original, which only makes it seem even more like he's trying to show off how apparently adorable he is.

Idk. Just the difference between the in-your-face sanitised cuteness of "teehe you wouldn't kill little old me would you? 🥺" and the expert subtlety of his "please don't hurt me" of the original doesn't give me high hopes for a toothless that stays true to his character from the first movie. Even from something as small as this. He's gonna get woobified. I can feel it.

[undeadunhingedchaos]

[undeadunhingedchaos]

one of the cult scholars i listen to said "most children are not being raised to die" months ago and i still think "being raised to die" sums up growing up in fundamentalist christianity so well.

my friends and i didn't know if we would grow up to be adults. we would have conversations about wanting the chance to be an adult and knew we were """selfish""" for wanting to live if it wasn't in god's plan. we were raised to believe that we would either be killed for being a christian (in the us no less) or that jesus was coming soon (rapture/end times theology). we knew it was "sinful" to want something outside of god's plan but we couldn't help ourselves.

we were members of the lord's army. we were to obey orders and lay down our life if necessary. "this life is just a test" they'd say. "our real life is our eternal life with the lord." none of this is real, it's just a test. if you pass, you get into heaven. if you fail, you're sent to eternal damnation and hellfire. this is an open book test, we've been given all the answers already. if you fail, it's your own fault.

being raised to die means that your future doesn't matter. jesus is coming soon. jesus is what matters. "set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. for you died, and your life is hidden with christ in god."

i've been out for years. i'm in my late 20's. i still don't know how to set my mind on earthly things. i still struggle to believe i have a future.

[undeadunhingedchaos]

Look, I get it, disability support is not as trendy as being an LGBTQ+ supporter or against racism, we might not have all that cool music and colourful parade floats, our flag has a lot of black. It’s not fashionable. No business puts the disabled flag in their logos on July.

Some of us make non-disabled people uncomfortable (to their own admission) because of how we exist in this world. Some of us slouch and drool, some of us have tics and spasms, some of us are missing limbs or parts of our faces. We might have bulky mobility aids and big and noisy equipment, some of us can’t avoid to attract attention, some of us are shaped in a “weird” way. We might walk and move too slowly or take a lot of time to express ourselves, to form thoughts and words. Some of us don’t speak. Many of us can’t fit in, can’t hide our disabilities and the way we look.

No, it’s not trendy or fashionable. I get it.

But the problem is that society has decided that there is only one standard to exist, to look, to be. The rest is abnormal, wrong, sick, broken…

It’s the mindset that needs to change. We should open up to all the different possibilities we could encounter, to the idea that what we are used to see is not necessarily the only right thing. Because there is no a “right” way to exist, to go through this World, to live, to look, to be. The more we open up to all of this, the more liberating it will feel. And it will be easier to accept the possibility of a future disability that might happen, to us and the people we love.

It’s not enough to just say “yes, disabled people deserve rights”. There should be an active step forward. Be uncomfortable. Get used to the idea of being around people who are not the “standard”. Be uncomfortable with the idea of a body and a mind that don’t work like you are used to.

[undeadunhingedchaos]

Cold weather prompts

It’s so cold here right now so this is very personal

Sick Whumpee working in freezing weather, only making them sicker.

Caretaker rubbing Whumpee’s hands together and blowing on them to warm them up. Huddling together because it’s the only warmth either of them has.

Whumpee being found half-buried in the snow. (By Caretaker or Whumper?)

Whumpee who refused to dress for the weather arrives home numb and shivering. Queue Caretaker having to scold them but also make sure they get warmed up as soon as possible.

Injured Whumpee running and hiding from Whumper, but leaving a trail of blood in the snow.

A frozen lake breaking beneath Whumpee’s feet while ice skating — a perfectly innocent moment gone wrong.

Whumpee who was never allowed to play in the snow now jumps at the opportunity to do so.

Alternatively: Whumpee who has always loved playing in the snow now isn’t allowed to (or otherwise can’t).

Whumpee being too afraid to mention how cold they are until Caretaker finally notices their shivering and wraps their own scarf around Whumpee’s neck.

Whumpee losing a precious item in the snow/a storm and not having the chance to retrieve it.

[undeadunhingedchaos]

I'm cold so whumpee gets to be cold too, let's go <3

-Breathing frozen air on blue fingertips, rubbing icy hands together in an effort to generate some warmth.

-Shaky breaths, chattering teeth, stuttering when they talk.

-They can't stop shivering. Their muscles are aching from being tense for so long, but they can't relax.

-They have to keep moving. If they're able, jogging on the spot, star jumps, any quick and easy cardio to keep their blood pumping.

-Clinging onto whoever is around to share their warmth.

-A fellow whumpee, maybe a team, huddled together in an attempt to share body heat. But they're all freezing, and the temperatures only dropping further.

-A caretaker, worried because whumpee won't warm. They're sheltered, with a heater or a fire, bundled up in blankets and thick jumpers, gloves and scarves and they just won't. get. warm. The chill seeps to their bones and caretaker wonders, as they boil more water for broth or tea, what more can they do?

-A whumper, delighted at this show of weakness. A whumpee who wouldn't be caught dead showing any affection to whumper, now desperate for their embrace like a moth craves the flame. No matter how strong-minded, how defiant, whumpee must sacrifice their pride lest they succumb to the ice.

[undeadunhingedchaos]

Plot twist for all the "I'd kill myself if I was as disabled as you" crowd:

If you were in my position, you wouldn't BE spending all day in bed. You'd be abusing your body by forcing yourself to work a job and just "tough it out" when you make yourself sicker. If you had to put up with the level of medical abuse that I do, you'd just swear off the medical field entirely and claim "big pharma" is good for nothing and only wants your money and to keep people sick.

No one actually tells you to stay in bed and rest when you're disabled. Overcoming internalized ableism comes in many phases, one of which is making the radical decision to stay in bed and rest if you're disabled.

You wouldn't kill yourself if you were me, because with your attitude, you could never BE me, and that's really fucking pathetic.

[undeadunhingedchaos]

Caretaker held A’s hand back at they were about to shake whumpee awake.

“Let them rest,” Caretaker whispered, not even looking up at A. They just continued to softly gaze at whumpee’s sleeping form, swaddled up in blankets.

A furrowed their eyebrows and shook their head, “but we need whumpee right now—”

“And whumpee needs rest right now. You can wake whumpee up later. But for now? Let them sleep,” Caretaker cut A off, their voice slightly firmer. They then looked up at A with an unreadable expression on their face, “I’m sure you guys can handle a day or two without whumpee.”

A didn’t respond to Caretaker, they just stared down at them with an annoyed expression before letting out a scoff and walking out of the room. Caretaker sighed and looked back down at whumpee’s sleeping form, carefully brushed some hair out of their face.

“Some days I really do wonder how you manage all this…” Caretaker murmured, their expression growing concerned.

One day or another, caretaker is most certainly going to have a…talk with the others about how reliant they are on Whumpee.