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i love the idea that viggo's issue is that he's always overestimating the dragon riders and that's why he loses. other antagonists always underestimate them, they don't put in all the necessary precautions, which allows the riders to slip through, always throwing parties and gloating before the dragon is in the cage. but viggo?

my man takes so many precautions, his entire island is a war base, and yet, and YET the dragon riders got in by dyeing snotlout's hair blonde, giving him gucci boots and naming him sir ulgertorpe, SIR ULGERTORPE. viggo got catfished by snotlout with blonde hair. he's overestimating them so bad that the IDEA of them "just walking in" doesn't even come to mind. he's ready for fire and death to fall from the sky but a one-legged boy pulling a fast one on him breaks his fancy little english brain.

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Worst Dragon Bracket - FINAL

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Love the maps! I am curious as to why you've put the northern markets where you did though. The show isn't always great with its cartography but at one point Snotlout did say the northern markets were in the opposite direction to Berk (from Dragon's Edge)

I would love to talk about the maps!!

but chief, i gotta say... you make a good point on this one.

I think there's so many inaccuracies within the shows geography (within how they describe directions, esp things like Outcast Island) that I dismissed Snotlout's tidbit as just, one of those things.

but actually, I don't really see any reason why I couldn't move it more North, so it's just South of Caldera Cay?? It wouldn't make it "the opposite direction" so much as like.. west instead of south. but still, it would put the point across that there's a visible difference in direction

- and it would also make sense as to how the Defenders of the Wing would be able to get there and trade with people

- and it would explain the heightened Hunter prescene since it'd be deeper into Hunter territory.

- and it would explain why it's the Northern markets to people outside of Berk...

I may have to do some fiddling, hmm.

but mostly I was concerned that the official map seems to put the Northern Markets further away from the Edge than Berk? Like if Berk is easier to get to, then go to Berk?? Not the Hunter infested, expensive, probably illegal trade centre?

but I would be against putting it any further west, since it's supposed to be close to the Edge than Berk. putting it further east would push it out of Hunter territory, which doesn't work for the vibes (and Hunter presence). it's already as South as I dare put it. too far North and it interrupts the Eruptodon's migration to Vanaheim, which, a market is gonna attract ships from all directions so Caldera -> Vanaheim has to stay pretty clear. plus too close to Caldera Cay and the Riders would have found it before Viggo pointed it out.

so.. I'd probably nudge it to just above Gustav's Treasure Island, but not much more than that? idk, thoughts?

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I hope you don't mind me chiming in again, not debating but agreeing mostly?

I think sparkles being foreshadowing is a pretty good read, and one I had kinda forgotten about tbh. I'm mostly just sore that my preferred interpretation is skimped over in favor of foreshadowing.

also love love love the idea that the reason Jack doesn't have much fighting know-how is because he was too busy playing! Like, not every person is going to get magic and immediately learn to fight with it? There are other applications, like art!!

that feels like a more developed, tricker ability than most others he uses. Which is super interesting considering that he did have 300 years to develop his powers, and this is his most complex move? He's a little artist!!

but, yeah, while I'm on this tangent - why is fighting considered the only route that a person with magic can go down? What about the creatives, entertainers, bakers, builders, lawmen, conservationists, carers, healers, etc. etc. ?? Not everyone who has magic is necessarily a fighter.

So Jack not knowing how to fight, even after 300 years to learn, doesn't seem that weird to me. He was doing other things, perhaps learning how to read, or speak different languages, or make art - probably all self taught too, which is infinitely harder.

I think Jack's one of those people who is super intelligent, but never really shows it. Partly bc it means they get given more work, and partly bc it's not necessarily a relevant skill. For all we know, Jack's learned 7 different languages, but we don't ge the opportunity to see that.

also, Jack didn't necessarily have anyone to fight with, so it may have been an irrelevant skill for those 300 years. Learning to read or fly were probably better uses of his time.

and I do very much agree that his staff is merely a channel for him, considering they included an entire subplot about it lmao.

Jack's sparkle powers & rotg's continuity issues

commenting on some replies from a previous post

I understand that Jack's sparkle move is not actually sparkles.

It's never really explained what it is, though tbf. It could be a bolt of ice or frost, but I prefer the idea that he's performing a sort of superfreeze move that's turning all the water in the air around him/in a direction into ice crystals,

which is why the sand explodes almost from the inside out, and curving along the arc, it's got more water in it (presumably bc the nightmares are living, breathing, creatures) than the surrounding air.

hence.. sparkle powers.

I don't think it's a "basic" or "simple" move that just everyone can do.

A big part of why I love the idea that he's a civilian is because it pulls back from the prodigy archetype.

There's not a lot of reason for Jack to be a prodigy either. He's the audience surrogate, the guy who needs things explained because the audience doesn't know either. His background is meant to show his isolation, set up his motivation, and having him be a prodigy would raise questions that the movie doesn't have time to answer - why is he a prodigy, who trained him, why couldn't he just hang out with this trainer who could see him?

(the idea that there's this host of other spirits available to talk to is also complete fanon, and no the Rufftoon Comics don't count, neither do the GoC books. There is canonically 2 known spirits outside of the Guardians and Jack - the Leprechaun, and the Groundhog.)

It also just makes him more sympathetic, and builds Pitch up as dangerous. A civilian vs. the Joker is more frightening than Batman vs. the Joker.

Jack's a bad fighter. He lowers his guard too readily, he rushes in without a plan, he freezes up, his moves are predictable and limited.

And while that might be my opinion, I think it is backed up by the juxtaposition of the Guardians to Jack in just about every fight. He's shit scared, frozen up, caught in a bad position and needing a rescue - while they're moving perfectly in synch, reading each others minds, picking up each others slack (including Jack's most of the time). If nothing else then I think the sheer confidence and ease they show in every fight proves that Jack is subpar.

The final fight still has Jack make multiple mistakes that he needs rescuing from - mistakes that build tension, that wouldn't exist if he was already a good fighter.

(bonus point) Jack doesn't freeze because someone else helped him, he freezes because he's shocked and scared.

This one I'm not actually willing to put up for debate, lmao sorry. He sees an attack coming that he doesn't expect/can't dodge, he freezes and then he is saved by Tooth and Sandy.

I am willing to change my statement from "this is a continuity error" to "I wish this was a continuity error" because, if it's not a simple continuity error, it's lack luster writing.

I feel it worked better as a new power discovery, because there was more theming to suggest that course of action. There was a significant amount of screen time dedicated to showing Jack's powers as proximity based (prior to the reveal). The opening scene in particular was quite poignant,

and as I said in the previous post, theres a lot of moments where Jack is shown to touch his staff, or his hand or even use his breath to cast his powers onto a surface,

it just felt very intentional to me. It would be a shame if it wasn't, all for the sake of two blink and you'll miss it scenes?

Jack's powers being limited to proximity based created an interesting weakness, an opportunity to power crawl, and a visual comment on his desire to touch all in one. Yet in two throw away scenes - that are never mentioned again, nor have any attention dedicated to them - that is all lost?

plus I think it weakens the reveal scene iteself. If it's a simple power up, instead of a new development, then... Jack's not gaining a new perspective in battle (ranged attacks), and he's not confronting his relationship with touch (by withdrawing from it, taking the focus off of it, being able to survive without it).

All Jack gains from a power up is confidence. Which he gets with a new development anyway.

So, maybe it wasn't a continuity issue, but I sure hope it was.

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a collection of httyd maps I've made over the years

berk village, made with the DotDR map and many hours of staring at DoB episodes (now with added well).

archipelago map, made with spite.

archipelago map extended, made with Valka's Httyd 2 snow map.

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Jack's sparkle powers & rotg's continuity issues

commenting on some replies from a previous post

I understand that Jack's sparkle move is not actually sparkles.

It's never really explained what it is, though tbf. It could be a bolt of ice or frost, but I prefer the idea that he's performing a sort of superfreeze move that's turning all the water in the air around him/in a direction into ice crystals,

which is why the sand explodes almost from the inside out, and curving along the arc, it's got more water in it (presumably bc the nightmares are living, breathing, creatures) than the surrounding air.

hence.. sparkle powers.

I don't think it's a "basic" or "simple" move that just everyone can do.

A big part of why I love the idea that he's a civilian is because it pulls back from the prodigy archetype.

There's not a lot of reason for Jack to be a prodigy either. He's the audience surrogate, the guy who needs things explained because the audience doesn't know either. His background is meant to show his isolation, set up his motivation, and having him be a prodigy would raise questions that the movie doesn't have time to answer - why is he a prodigy, who trained him, why couldn't he just hang out with this trainer who could see him?

(the idea that there's this host of other spirits available to talk to is also complete fanon, and no the Rufftoon Comics don't count, neither do the GoC books. There is canonically 2 known spirits outside of the Guardians and Jack - the Leprechaun, and the Groundhog.)

It also just makes him more sympathetic, and builds Pitch up as dangerous. A civilian vs. the Joker is more frightening than Batman vs. the Joker.

Jack's a bad fighter. He lowers his guard too readily, he rushes in without a plan, he freezes up, his moves are predictable and limited.

And while that might be my opinion, I think it is backed up by the juxtaposition of the Guardians to Jack in just about every fight. He's shit scared, frozen up, caught in a bad position and needing a rescue - while they're moving perfectly in synch, reading each others minds, picking up each others slack (including Jack's most of the time). If nothing else then I think the sheer confidence and ease they show in every fight proves that Jack is subpar.

The final fight still has Jack make multiple mistakes that he needs rescuing from - mistakes that build tension, that wouldn't exist if he was already a good fighter.

(bonus point) Jack doesn't freeze because someone else helped him, he freezes because he's shocked and scared.

This one I'm not actually willing to put up for debate, lmao sorry. He sees an attack coming that he doesn't expect/can't dodge, he freezes and then he is saved by Tooth and Sandy.

I am willing to change my statement from "this is a continuity error" to "I wish this was a continuity error" because, if it's not a simple continuity error, it's lack luster writing.

I feel it worked better as a new power discovery, because there was more theming to suggest that course of action. There was a significant amount of screen time dedicated to showing Jack's powers as proximity based (prior to the reveal). The opening scene in particular was quite poignant,

and as I said in the previous post, theres a lot of moments where Jack is shown to touch his staff, or his hand or even use his breath to cast his powers onto a surface,

it just felt very intentional to me. It would be a shame if it wasn't, all for the sake of two blink and you'll miss it scenes?

Jack's powers being limited to proximity based created an interesting weakness, an opportunity to power crawl, and a visual comment on his desire to touch all in one. Yet in two throw away scenes - that are never mentioned again, nor have any attention dedicated to them - that is all lost?

plus I think it weakens the reveal scene iteself. If it's a simple power up, instead of a new development, then... Jack's not gaining a new perspective in battle (ranged attacks), and he's not confronting his relationship with touch (by withdrawing from it, taking the focus off of it, being able to survive without it).

All Jack gains from a power up is confidence. Which he gets with a new development anyway.

So, maybe it wasn't a continuity issue, but I sure hope it was.

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You didn't have to go that hard in the tags of the jack post

this one ?

I will stand by my belief that Jack is a civilian, not a fighter. I mean, aside from the fact that he looks shit scared and completely out of his element whenever theres a threat,

(some exceptions notwithstanding) there's also his total lack of fighting technique.

He has maybe 3 moves, total:

standing in defence (staff raised in front of him, usually tight to his body with both hands gripping it)

2. using momentum or distraction to carry a hit (see how he's gripping the staff towards the base so he can give it a wider swing - generating more momentum which makes the hit harder)

3. sparkles attack

and sparkles attack is a very new thing for him, it's the only reason he has any confidence in a fight, because he thinks he's discovered the atom bomb of attacks.

but it's not actually that effective, it caught Pitch off-guard sure, it revealed Jack's potential, sure, but once Pitch knew what he was up against he countered it easy-peasy.

what the sparkles attack actually does is give Jack a ranged attack, which is where he's most comfortable.

(side note: rotg does have a continuity issue with the sparkles attack. It's supposed to be a new thing, as previously he was limited to using touch to summon frost/ice onto a surface,

even in the sled scene, he's still using touch by dragging his staff on the ground, summoning the ice and then directing it after the fact.

but there's two instances prior to the sparkles being discovered where he uses that ranged ability,

he shouldn't have that ability yet, hence, continuity issue).

so having that ranged attack allowed him a foothold in a fight, but he's still inexperienced, so you end up with those moments in the final fight where he's caught off guard,

and while I'm arguing here that it's because he's a civilian and is not trained to deal with these situations, there's also his overarching development coming into play here.

He's spent the rest of the movie relying on others, dodging responsibility, and the antartica/memory scene really signals a change for him where he accepts that he needs to hold his own weight a little more. Him charging into this fight solo?

to me, that's the warning signs that Jack's taken that lesson too far. He's aware that he needs to hold his own in a fight, but he lacks the experience to understand that he needs to do so in moderation.

but that's a problem for future Jack (and fics) to deal with.

I want to circle back for one last point,

the comfort staff. Jack is constantly holding his staff up like this - close to his body, both hands gripping it. But this isn't a good defensive stance, he's not ready for an attack here.

Jack's attacks have him holding the staff in one hand,

there are some exceptions, but in general, he's attacking one handed. Again, using the momentum of the swing to carry his shots.

A much better defensive stance for Jack would probably be, funnily enough, a more open one. But that's where confidence is needed, and confidence comes with experience, which Jack doesn't have.

Jack behaves like a scared civilian, because he is one as far as I'm concerned lmao.

anyway, I apologise for the tangent, I'll take any excuse to yap about my boy.

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Worst Dragon Bracket - Semi Finals

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Worst Dragon Bracket - Semi Final

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The Avengers | Rise of the Guardians parallels

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you wanna know the fun thing that I noticed about Jack when I was rewatching rotg?

On both instances that Pitch was about to attack him, he froze up.

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I WANT TO MAKE ART BUT INSTEAD OF MAKING ART I JUST SIT AROUND AND FEEL BAD ABOUT NOT MAKING ART AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUGHHGHHG

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opinion on Tooth as a character?

ooooh ok

I'm honestly not that fond of her, which sucks when she's the only major female role in the movie (sorry but jack's sister, sophie, pippa and cupcake did not have big roles).

this is not to say that no one else should enjoy her character, I hope others do. I just can't connect to her personally.

putting this under a cut so tooth enthusiasts don't have to see my negativity.

but while this is a personal opinion, i also think that Dreamworks really dropped the ball on her character. There's a bit of a trope for "largely male action group with token girl" and Tooth falls into several subcategories:

only one interested in romance

gratuitous lack of clothing/skin tight clothing

more focussed on lead male's emotions/story than her own

paired up with the lead male regardless of chemistry

which ik has all been said before but it still really colours her character and dulls her down to something that's really quite boring to me.

I think if she'd had more conflict or like any personal journey I could have been more on board, but she doesn't change at all throughout the movie. She started off perfect, and she ended up perfect.

i mean, in comparison to her having the most mild journey of

"learning how to reconnect with the Heart of her job"

which ALL of her male costars got that as just a base storyline to build their own personal journeys off of -

Jack got to learn how to accept responsiblility

Bunny got to learn how to relax/enjoy the little things

North got to become a father figure

(Sandy fuckin died but he still got a very minor arc about being listened to & finding joy in things)

Even Pitch got the standard villain lessons - vengeance achieves nothing, compassion wins against hatred, joy wins against fear.

what about Tooth? what was her personal journey outside of the collective? having a crush on Jack?

not only that but she was the first to be attacked, her forces dessimated before we got a chance to see them in action.

She's the damsel in distress that everyone rushes to rescue.

it's all just such a let down - and tbh I don't think I've seen any fans characterise her as anything other than a passive, motherly or romantic person with bonus action scenes (and occaisionally swords).

which is not meant to hate on anyone, just an observation because that's exactly what the movie gave us and almost nothing else.

which is just such a shame because she has so much more potential.

and ofc i'm bringing in book!tooth here because she is much more interesting to me - not a perfect character! not by any means, but a more interesting one that movie!tooth imo.

not only is she wearing clothes (albeit feathery ones), but she has weapons that look and behave like weapons (not the "wings are swords" approach that RotG took), and her makeup has more to do with war paint and culture than.. built in pink eye shadow.

but that's only the physical side of her. her book personality has her more serious, grim and skittish.

and she has a personal quest (killing the monkey king to avenge her parents) and a personal journey (learning to trust others) that don't hinge on a love interest.

what sucks even worse though is that we were very close to seeing a tooth that's a halfway point between the books and the final movie

we almost had a tooth that was explicitly a warrior, who was distrustful of others and who didn't immediately see Jack as a romance.

the one movie design thing i wish they had more time to show off with her was her physicality. because the behind the scenes stuff has so much to say about how they made her move and why and it's so animalistic

like between the calm and cool, regal book!tooth and the rageful animal movie!tooth???? i'm choosing the feral beast on the left.

the only visual additions i'd make to her in that moment would be to fluff up the rest of her feathers & give her swords (swords are cool). like this scene really shows off her head feathers looking like a crown but also making her look bigger, dangerous, sharper and scarier.

like god we were so close!

idk i remain kinda disappointed in the tooth we got because she just reads as "mother" or "love interest" and has very little agency in a movie that makes her repeatedly the damsel in distress and gives her character very little time to shine and grow.

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Sometimes it’s hard to read fanfic when you’re studying herbalism.. when they have the character preparing a tincture to use that same DAY!!?

Baby those dried herbs need to sit in that jar with high proof alcohol for at LEAST a month!

That’s why before the use of calendars ppl use to prepare their tinctures either on the new moon or full moon. A a full moon cycle is usually 28 days or so. And they would give the moon names so it’s easier to remember when/what month said tincture was bottled.

This is also why herbal medicine is prepare in small batches. You have to take your time preparing your bottles. Making sure everything is clean so you don’t end up with mold. Diluting your grain alcohol. Heckkk knowing when to pick your herbs for max potency! Drying your herbs! That takes a lot of time too!

I didn’t mean to rant lol