i will never understand how or why the httyd movies did the books such an injustice.
the movies aren't even an adaptation - they stole the name of the series, the name of some of the characters and places, and the general idea that there are dragons. honestly, i would be fine with the movies and maybe even like them if they didn't capitalize off of cressida cowell's incredible books that never get any credit.
the books are an amazing story about the cycle of violence and how vengeance and revenge is dangerous. hiccup says that the past is a ghost story, one we need to learn from to better ourselves. the books are about how everyone deserves freedom, how every creature, every being on the earth deserves to be free. we see that in the slavemark, with the dragons.
and like... hiccup is so different. they did him a severe injustice. he's scrawny and intelligent and learned to talk to dragons simply by observing them! he chooses kindness first above all else; instead of yelling at toothless to train him, he is kind. and in the end, that kindness is why toothless chose to save him. bc even toothless himself says that dragons are inherently selfish creatures who care only for their survival. hiccup is brave - his beliefs differ drastically from both the vikings and the world.
hiccup is a child who chose to do the right thing even at the expense of himself. he agreed to free the slaves on nobert's ship, and in return, they gave him the slavemark which is easy to give but cannot be removed. he was like twelve. and having the slavemark means he cannot be with his tribe or his family, it means he isn't considered a human being anymore. and he keeps it a secret for awhile until it's revealed and when it is everyone turns their backs on hiccup. his family, his tribe, his mentor, people he TRUSTED. everyone except fishlegs, and, once she got over the shock, camicazi. he was thirteen. and even when he lost his memories and was really injured, he persisted. he was told to go to tomorrow and to save the dragons and he did bc in his heart he knew it was right even though he didn't know who he was or how he got there.
and fishlegs,,, oh my god FISHLEGS!!! the did him SO DIRTY!!! fishlegs is hiccup's best friend, one of the main motivators for hiccup. he steals norbert's potato for the sake of fishlegs, he gives fishlegs his dragon and goes to retrieve another, he takes the blame for fishlegs. and fishlegs does the same for him. he takes the slavemark with pride. he refuses to turn. he gives hiccup his lobster claw necklace which is his most prized possession. he is brave for hiccup, he believes hiccup is alive. he fights for hiccup harder than anyone else ever has. he does not turn. his is loyal, has allergies, has asthma, has a squint and a limp, has glasses bc he's blind without them... and he's still a hero despite being a runt, despite everyone even the adults telling him he's hopeless, telling hiccup to leave him behind.
and they cut camicazi! i'm sorry, but astr*d is nothing compared to camicazi. camicazi is a tiny, feral child who can easily best hiccup, fishlegs, and pretty much anyone in a sword fight. she can bring a grown man to tears with her rudery and smack talk. she is recklessly brave and craves adventure and follows hiccup blindly bc she trusts him that much. she isn't in love with hiccup - in fact she doesn't care about romance and love. she gives up everything to help hiccup bc she has a strong sense of justice. she is the motivator, the cheerleader, she finds a positive in everything. she never gives up. literally never gives up. and that's one of the most inspiring things about her: she always has hope.
and toothless! god!!! toothless is *thought to be* a common or garden dragon. he is horrifically tiny, he is literally toothless, and is the biggest brat in the world. he will cause problems on purpose. he has a stutter, he's the most selfless selfish dragon around. he and hiccup can talk to each other. he masks his fear with singing and being annoying. his growth is remarkable. he starts off refusing to obey hiccup, doing the opposite of what he says, making life harder for literally everyone around him, and he's still somewhat like that. but he's also braver, more caring, more willing to make sacrifices for the sake of others. he's clever, which he needs to be to make up for his size and aggression. he protects hiccup with everything he has, therefore, he protects what hiccup cares about just as hard. he was the only dragon that didn't abandon the vikings in the first book bc he cared about hiccup.
and snotlout,,, god,,, i will never forgive the movies for butchering snotlout. hiccup's cousin, the bully character, the one who is horrifically jealous that hiccup's dad was born before his. the one who desperately wants to prove himself, to be worthy, to make people proud. and you hate him, you despise him. he betrays everyone many times bc of the nothing promised to him by alvin and his mom. he loses himself, turns his back on himself, all bc he wants to prove himself. all bc he wants to be better than hiccup. and hiccup still forgives him and gives him chances, sometimes out of pity, but also bc snotlout is his cousin. he can't just turn his back on him no matter how miserable snotlout made his life. and in the end, snotlout sacrifices himself for hiccup. he gives up his life for hiccup in one last attempt to set things right. his death and the events preceding it are one of my absolute favorite moments in the book. gives me chills. makes me cry.
that's the thing with the books - they're so realistic. there is no inherently happy ending where everything works out. the first book begins with "there were dragons when i was a boy", implying that they're gone now. the books show there are consequences to our actions. they enslaved the dragons, they fought against them during the dragon rebellion all bc alvin and his mom said to, and now they're gone bc a simple apology doesn't fix hundreds of years of enslavement. and the only way for the world to move forward was for the dragons to leave and heal on their own. and now they have to learn to live without them. and yeah i've heard the third movie ends like that but. it doesn't have the build up. it doesn't have "there were dragons when i was a boy". it doesn't have eleven books of development to back it up, to make it feel meaningful.
i know that the movies are really special to a lot of people. i know that, on their own, they're genuinely good movies. i can acknowledge that the soundtrack is amazing and the animation is beautiful. i just can't see past the way they butchered the world that i love, the world that i grew up with. i can't see past the way people yelled at me for saying i liked the books better, the way that people gave me weird looks when i showed them a picture of the original toothless, when i tell them that nightfuries aren't even a type of dragon. cressida cowell created hundreds of different dragons, and the movies couldn't even pick from that. i can't forgive the way that barely anyone knows there are books bc the movie barely gives credit to them. i cannot forgive the way they capitalized off the books and then shoved them aside. i know cressida thinks they're good movies and i know a lot of httyd book fans also like them. but i just... i cannot get over how much they changed and how they missed so much and ignored the books. also they got rid of camicazi so hiccup could have a love interest and that is unforgivable to me.
if you disagree, that is a-okay. we're all entitled to our own opinions. i just ask that you, perhaps, try the books out. give them a chance. bc they're amazing works of art and also just like. don't yell at people who don't like the movies? whether it's bc they prefer the books or just aren't into that kind of movie. and just remember that dreamworks didn't come up with the story; cressida cowell did.
60 notes
·
View notes
I’ve already left a comment on AO3 but MY GOD CHOCCY it is rare that I shed REAL ACTUAL TEARS at a fic but here I am sniffling at my work desk trying to pretend I’m not thinking about how precious Seb and Clora’s love is 🥺😭💜
Honestly fantastic work, I hope you keep writing after this story is completed because I will read whatever you write at this point 💜
AWW BAHAHA i am both sorry and happy that the chap made u sniffle at ur desk at work🥺💖AND ILL DEFS KEEP WRITING!! im so happy ppl like my story and clora and seb and my writing in general😭💖THANK U💖💖
AYO WHAT??? HUH!!!!!!?!!!!!! I WOULD BE HONOURED???? ANON IF YOU DO THIS (OR SORRY, I MEAN IF YOUR *FRIEND* DOES THIS) YOU BETTER SHOW PICS!!! U ARE LEGALLY OBLIGATED!!!! now im just curious what drawing ur considering👀👀
live footage of me rn
ME TOO I HAVE SUCH OLDER SEB AND CLORA BRAINROT RN, i actually have another short comic of them in the works based off of a oneshot someone is writing of older seb/clora that ive read the WIP of and i 100000% consider it canon and IM SO EXCITED FOR IT😭😭😭LOL i dont really have any headcanons tho, i need to give older seb/clora some thought 🤔feel free to send some tbh🤔🤔 (ALSO THANK YOU💖💖)
in the meantime heres some wip panels from the current oneshot comic to tie u over on older seb/clora content. LOVE ME SOME ANGRY OVERPROTECTIVE SEB
98 notes
·
View notes
Was Celia drunk as fuck or is this something supernatural?? 👀
Who the fuck is Jack?? 👀
Alice is such a delight, I love her!
Oof so one or both of them have trauma involving grandparents then.
I love Samama & Alice so much. 💜 They have a great dynamic!
Oh shit, right, Gwen is probably still getting over Mr. Bonzo too. 👀
"I just… I dunno. When I left the coffee shop, it felt like someone was following me."
Please don't take away Alice, she's one of my faves! I hope this post doesn't age poorly. Watch me have to quote this post very soon.
OH NO, is it that [ERROR] following her??? 😰
"Don’t joke about that, mate. I was dreaming about it all day." Okay, yeah, that's a creature.
Sam & Alice are both about to run into a creature... 👀
"Classifying unspeakable horrors all night for no discernible reason?" @/entities-of-posts & @/which-entity-this-post-serves is that you? :]
Hmm, now why is this episode called "marked?" I assumed Mr. Bonzo was gonna find his mark, but maybe Alice is marked by an entity/creature that was locked in the Magnus Institute?
"giving up the ghost" okay so someone saw an apparition? Honestly not sure what entity this episode is about so far.
It's giving The Corruption ✨🧟♀️⚰️ (maybe The Buried)
"It’s just that one of the graves had a body in that was too well-preserved for the age it should have been." 👀👀👀
This thing is about to jump out of the grave & run off, isn't it? 🏃♂️
"The back was completely covered in this complicated tattoo of a ship sailing across an open sea towards an open horizon." Peter Lukas?!?!?
Oh 100% The Buried, without a shadow of a doubt.
Lots of tattoo & carvings in walls imagery in this sequel prequel sidequel, isn't there? 👀
Hey wait, that's Ink5oul from episode 2, isn't it? 👀 Ink5oul definitely feels like a conduit or vessel for The Flesh or some other kind of entity.
Okay, there's something weird going on with this place, the salt water & waves near this cemetery are kind of seemingly enticing them to come drown in it's waters. In the very least it's messing with these guys' mental states! Pretty freakkyyyy! 👀🌊
Also the repeated emphasis on dreams is interesting this episode, wonder if that'll play a part in something later on. 👀👀
"If it’s any consolation, he’s with the sea now. The deep will care for his bones." I literally called it!!
I think Gordon Alan Johnson also wants to be with David. 👀🌊🌊
I think Gordon Alan Johnson also wants to be with David. 👀🌊🌊
I don't know, Gordie, I think you did it! Unless Ink5oul is collecting tattoos like an alternate universe version of the Leitner books. Wait yeah, what if the tattoos are like conduits for the entities of this world or even the original one? 🖌
Another way to look at this is asking... Is The Deep a new entity/fear or is it a servant of a fear like The Vast? I stg there was a colossal water monster at some point in The Magnus Archives!
Okay so yeah, there's already a precedent for this. Also feels like The Lonely, The Buried, The Corruption, The Vast, & maybe even The Flesh are all involved in this one though I don't know if Flesh (Ink5oul) is working with or against the other fears at this time.
Gwen, you can tell your coworkers what's wrong, oh my fucking god. Please. Celia, you have me so invested in whatever is going on with you.
Weird unexplained noise at 17:44 too as Celia enters the office. Wonder what that's all about, maybe it'll come up later on.
"He is one of our Externals." Okay; so, there's more of them & they have their own secret hitman title too!
Mr. Bonzo when he was on TV
"And they usually like it." I bet fear creatures do like it when you scream. That makes a lot of sense actually.
Also what's that weird "boowomp" noise as they're talking or is it just the OST? 👀
Is Gwen going to be turned into something not quite human at some point? Just throwing darts at a board with that speculation, but wouldn't that be wild?
Okay; so, these little digitized noises are absolutely important!
I wonder how many times & when people have lied so far throughout this season. 👁️👁️
38 notes
·
View notes