hyperfixations-and-hecticness

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

Hey so I watched the new How to Train Your Dragon and here are my thoughts as a seasoned HTTYD fan (seen/read every piece of media in the HTTYD universe)

Spoilers under the cut! Overall I’d give the movie a 7/10.

The Good

- There are a fair few callbacks to the shows present: Skrills mentioned! Spitelout and Snotlout’s awful relationship! Ruffnut’s frustration with being a woman in a man’s world! Snotlout/Fishlegs! Astrid’s family’s messed up reputation!

- On the Astrid note, I love that they gave her more backstory/motivation than in the original! In the original movie Astrid’s purpose seems largely to be a soldier because that’s what she was taught: you only get a more nuanced understanding of her pre-HTTYD in the series. In the live action she has very clear goals and an understandable (but misplaced) resentment of Hiccup. We also got a greater focus on her growth as a defensive fighter - originally she causes diversions to help herself but over the course of the movie she starts doing it to protect others! It also reminds me of the Fearless Finn approach which I loved.

- The natural settings were beautiful - they really conveyed the kind of wild feeling Berk has as a fairly large island with only a small village. The other settings were also beautiful though I have my criticisms of them.

- Book of Dragons my beloved - I shall miss Bork but I really liked the idea of it as a compendium of all known/understood dragons.

- The kids were generally well cast, I didn’t love the casting of the twins but other than that? Awesome. It did feel a bit like Stoick and Gobber’s characters were in a totally different movie though. Most of the kids also got a bit more character development than in the original.

- On that note, I loved the random side characters like Spitelout and Phlegma. Many are from the original but they had a much greater presence in the live action which made Berk feel so much more real. Spitelout isn’t even named in the original movie, only later on and I loved that they brought him in sooner.

- The helmets of Valka’s breastplate actually matched! Which I liked but given the size of them Valka must have had a MASSIVE chest.

- Mason Thames’ version of Hiccup was interesting, especially about 20 minutes in where it felt like he really started doing his own thing with it - his Hiccup felt a lot angrier but I liked it!

- Mentioning the Vikings flying back to Berk!!!

- I’m glad they brought Hiccup’s mum’s fate into the movie much more!

The Bad

- The dragons weren’t amazing I thought - a couple did look much better in motion than promotional stills (Nadders, Zippleback and the Nightmare which I thought was the best live action version) #meatlugdeservedbetter

- As an addition to that I didn’t love that all the dragons of the same species had the same colouring - it’s the same as the original but given that we later see a lot of variations in these particular dragons I would’ve loved to see more varieties.

- I thought Toothless’ pupils were too dilated for the majority of the beginning, it made it lose its impact.

- I thought the backstory of Berk being a place where the best of the best had been sent didn’t make a whole lot of sense? We know alphas only control a small area of dragons so killing the Red Death wouldn’t actually help those fighting dragons in China for example. Maybe it’s a Hidden World thing that won’t pay off till the third movie I don’t know. They probably have totally different alpha dragons there! On that note, if you’re saying these are the best of the best (or at least their descendants) from different continents I really would’ve enjoyed seeing different traditional weapons from those places. I think it really would’ve conveyed that Berk was a cultural hodgepodge.

- WHAT DO YOU MEAN A COUPLE SKRILLS?! They’re supposed to be fairly rare, not so much as Night Furies but Strike Class dragons on the whole largely seem to have smaller populations.

- I didn’t love the buildings, for a bunch of new houses they had insane detail.

- I do sort of wish they’d cast someone yet to hit their growth spurt for Hiccup just to really convey his lived experience as the ‘runt’ of his generation.

- GIVE GOTHI HER STAFF OF VIOLENCE BACK!!

- What they did to Test Drive? I didn’t enjoy it. That scene is possibly the most iconic of the movie but we lost that powerful shift from one melody to the next.

- I hate that they cut the Terrors scene, it was amazing foreshadowing for the ending.

- They cut a lot of the mentions of Vikings which I found really sad! In the animated there are several lines about being a Viking: when Hiccup attempts to kill Toothless he declares ‘I am a Viking’ twice, Stoick then tells him he’s not a Viking, the ‘We’re Vikings, it’s an occupational hazard’. I thought this was a real lost opportunity! Especially in the scene where Stoick checks Hiccup’s heartbeat: in the original he literally throws his helmet away in order to do so and it’s a really powerful moment.

- The costumes FELT like costumes which I didn’t love. On some characters more than others but overall I thought it certainly wasn’t a high point in the movie.

- It was less funny than the animated, especially without a bunch of whispered background jokes.

Overall I really liked it - also any hate for Nico’s casting in the comments I will straight up remove. Astrid has never been played by a white woman and if you’re mad about it I am down to fight.

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

I love Sirens. I love sisters that lived in two different unhappy houses and can never see eye to eye but are still sisters. I love female cult leaders who talk to you in the bathtub and tell you about your self worth while reminding you not to let your identity be consumed by a man. I love men chasing after women they do not understand. I love Milly Alcock and Juliane Moore in fun outfits.

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The thing I love about El is she is both so incredibly astute and so incredibly thick. She clocks that Orion is linked to the Hands of Death wipeout on page 12 yet she takes the whole book to realize he’s trying to date her.

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

Okay so I just finished Sunrise on the Reaping and have had time to process. Here are my thoughts (spoilers, duh):

- I’ve seen arguments it was bad fan-service but I really liked the inclusion of Beetee, Wiress, Mags and Plutarch. Effie I was a little confused about just cause I always thought she was younger than Haymitch for some reason however having gone back she had been presented as District 12’s usual escort by Katniss so it’s totally possible she’d been working within the Games for a few years and got promoted to a camera-facing escort role even if it was the worst one.

- I enjoyed having more names to analyse in terms of District traditions! Ampert was a particular favourite.

- I also very much enjoyed having more arena analysis material - Wiress’ games seem to me to be another reflection (see what I did there) of how propaganda can literally distort one’s view though I may be reading too much into it. I also find it very interesting to learn about a victor who never killed anyone? I’ve always loved her character and it’s so interesting to learn more about her.

- It’s also super neat seeing things Katniss describes that we haven’t before seen directly - the children of victors being reaped for example

- I find it interesting how the reapings are confirmed to be (at least in some cases) rigged completely. Katniss says that children of victors are likely to be rigged but this book made clear that reapings can be rigged for any number of reasons. While I still don’t believe the theory that Prim’s reaping was rigged, it’s interesting to note the way the Games is used as a direct punishment.

- I loved Louella and Lou-Lou, I noted the parallels between Rue and Lou-Lou as well. By extension this creates a further Katniss/Haymitch parallel which I think we see a lot throughout the book.

- Snow’s narcissism is always fun to see - assuming all relationships will end bad like his (never accepting accountability king right there)

- My guess beforehand was that Haymitch’s games were fairly different to what we saw but I was astonished just how much was different while key story elements remained! I really enjoyed it.

- I really loved the Effie content as always.

- Everdeen parent names!!

- A big fan of the graveyard: I wonder if it let Haymitch figure out the name of Snow’s Covey sweetheart. It’s also nice to see how the Covey mourned Lucy Gray though I also imagine her making her own gravestone while chilling out in the woods.

- Wyatt and Maysilee were such favourites of mine! I’ve seen people saying they find Maysilee’s character stereotypical and I totally disagree! She’s a surface level bitch, sure, but she’s got a core of steel and a clearly hidden soft side even if she can be blunt. Wyatt was bright and brilliant and I think there’s something so heartbreaking about losing such a kind and good character so quickly that really drove home the brutality of the Games.

-I found the ending a bit abrupt but that may be because Catching Fire had follow up to the Games that wasn’t as present in this. It was a very fast paced book but the way that continued in the ending gave me a little whiplash I won’t lie.

- Canon Covey Katniss! I do like that she’s not super closely related to Lucy Gray or Lenore Dove but it’s nice to have a theory proven right.

- Beetee and Ampert broke my heart but I think it makes Beetee’s decision in Mockingjay even more powerful- he does not respond to a cruelty done to him with the same cruelty, instead choosing to try end the cycle of violence.

- I found the book to be a hopeful message in the current political climate - Collins said even if all you can do is lay the groundwork it is worth doing!!

- SUZANNE COLLINS SLAMMING AI IN A HUNGER GAMES BOOK WE LOVE TO SEE IT!

- Overall, I really enjoyed the book! I’ll have to give it a little while to settle but I definitely think it’s one of my favourite of the series!

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

Thought this was a necessary measure because we all know that surge of clueless thirsty tiktok fans is gonna happen.

[woah this post blew up how,,,,, psa that i have indepth analysis + theories on my feed if you crave more sotr content]

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oh my god. og my god. the symbolism of it all

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ah yum yum my final jacebaela crumbs to sustain me for the long winter (two years wait before The Tragedies that inevitably await within hours of television)

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House of the Dragon Season 2 Finale otherwise known as Tyland Lannister’s No Good Very Bad Day that ended in an orgy.

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Me, trying to describe the Scholomance setting from the point of view of an enclave leader for my game setting document:

Take two once-in-a-generation talents, put them through hell together, and sometimes they’ll fall in love, blow up multiple major pieces of infrastructure, and upend every plan anyone had for the next ten years. This probably shouldn’t be a surprise, but…

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

Guys I feel like some of us are forgetting that while yeah Ricky September was clearly taking some steps towards selflessness and helping others he showed absolutely no real signs of being less racist than the other Finetimers? He was literally followed by everyone in that society but we have no evidence he used his significant social influence until people started getting eaten. Like to everyone saying he’d make a good companion I agree! But he’d be a good companion like Adam Mitchell was a good companion. Interesting but not morally good.

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Ok the other stuff I didn’t mind them cutting but no Ares curse? That Percy’s blade will fail when he needs it most? That’s such a good Easter egg!

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

I don’t usually reblog things but I am first and foremost a bisexual disaster

RENEE RAPP

Saturday Night Live — 49x09 (January 20, 2024)

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

Feeling downright teased by the Ares fight promo ONLY TO HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER WEEK! Ricky, when I catch you Ricky. Ricky, when I catch you Ricky. Would say I’m downright peeved.

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

The nuance that the show is adding to Poseidon and Sally’s relationship is insane. Her creating a makeshift offering? The way you can SEE the tension in Sally release when the rain starts? Their talk about Percy? Rick you’re brilliant for this.

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Didn’t think I’d hear the Lord of Death use the phrase “I seldom “cahoot”” it was not on my 2024 bingo card but I love it.

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Percy honking the horn at another driver when he is a 12 year old who’s already crashed his car twice in twenty seconds is so New Yorker of him I love one (1) incompetent driver

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

Was watching the new ep peacefully in my room until I heard ‘wise girl’ and woke the whole house at 2am screeching like a velociraptor who’s just watched her children die in a fire