#i shove astrid into some other worldbuild

[chicinlicin]

astrid needed a mask

[vefanyar]

Writing Meme

Tagged by @haraldskaer and @edgeoflight. ♥!

1) How many works in progress do you currently have? Ahahaha, uhm. There are three that I’m working on with some regularity at the moment, but a host of other stories that are currently hanging around in semi-abandonment until I get ready to revive them. I am not going to count them, but guessing around 25 or so in total?

2) Do you/would you write fanfiction? *shoves links to various fic archives under the bed* Who, me? *whistles*

3) Do you prefer paper books or ebooks? Both! Paper for reading for pleasure, ebooks for research thanks to the search function. Although I suppose reading fanfic counts as e-reading. 

4) When did you start writing? Semi-regularly, in my teens, but I’ve always loved story assignments at school. The earliest I remember being told about was in Elementary School, about a circus that we either went to for a school trip or that I dreamt about - my mother allegedly still has that squirrelled away somewhere.  

5) Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with? It depends on the story, but when I feel ready to share it, @worldsentwined, @minutia-r and @idleleaves get to see them most often. ♥

6) Where is your favourite place to write? Bed. :D

7) Favorite childhood book? Soooooo many, so here’s some faves of faves. I loved Cornelia Funke’s (of Inkheart fame) the Die Wilden Hühner series about a friend group of girls getting into tame adventures, Malu’s Wolf by Ruth Craig, and both Michel Emil of Lönneberga (he’s called Michel here because there already was a famous kidlit character called Emil in Germany when these were translated) and Ronja the Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren. ♥

(You probably expected LotR, but that was later. I did read the Hobbit early on, and considering it’s one of the first books I read and learned to read with, it’s really odd that I don’t recall it as a particular fave.)

8) Writing for fun or publication? I’d love to be published at some point, but I’m being realistic enough to know that my writing doesn’t stand a chance. 

9) Pen and paper or computer? Computer, preferably, though I also tend to carry a paper notebook with me to jot down ideas or keep busy. 

10) Have you ever taken any writing classes? One, in university, that I dropped out of after a few sessions when the oranges in one of my original stories suddenly became symbolic of the main character’s state of mind, rather than her food preference (or something like that).  

11) What inspires you to write? Often, prompts and ideas by other people. I love writing for people, because that way I get a sense of purpose to a story - otherwise, character interactions, worldbuilding, getting overwhelmed by feelings about this pairing/development/thought or other... there needs to be an impetus, I’m not good at pantsing when there’s no spark.

Tagging (if you feel like it): @worldsentwined, @minutia-r, @rukkilill, @foliefolio, @starspray, @laufeyknits, @heliaofbuda, @avolitorial, @idleleaves, @littlefrizzyhead and anybody who feels like it! 

[analyticaldragons]

Some Aimless Rambling about HTTYD 2, Featuring a 2-Year-Old First Impressions Review of it, and the Unqualified Thoughts of an Undergrad in Science

Alright, keep in mind that I haven’t seen the TV series, and that this is 2 years old and my first impressions of HTTYD 2 after I walked out of the movie…and that I haven’t seen it at all since then. Still, I’d like to think that it still has some value to it =/

——————–

One thing I noticed was that Astrid, Ruff/Tuff, Snotlout, etc. didn’t have much of a role in the plot. Everything that they did just seems like a sideshow with no conclusion or even aim. Astrid even seemed like she got an intelligence downgrade, with her haring off to find and confront Drago. I get that she has a gung-ho attitude, but she always struck me as a more practical and down-to-earth person than Hiccup - and since it’s been 5 years since the original, I felt that she should have had more of a grasp on that aspect of herself. Venturing into the lair of and then essentially giving away information that Berk was filled with dragons to Drago, who had an armada and was a verified and experienced dragon tamer/hunter was …. not a good idea. I expected better from her. I expected her to be intelligent, capable, and knowing that running unprepared to a leader whose forces are experience dragon capturers was not a very good idea. Eret seemed to be thrown in to be the obligatory “not everyone is as horrible and dedicated as Drago” person in Drago’s armada, but I liked his character arc. The romance gags were, in my opinion, unnecessary. And then there’s the fact that Hiccup basically did everything while the rest of the cast stood by and yelled “Go Hiccup!” or was less than helpful in the case of Astrid and co. The pacing was also off. There was enough information in HTTYD 2 that it could have been a 2 hour, maybe 2hr. 15 minute movie. Instead they pared it down to 1:45, and the pacing suffered as a result. The movie’s plot sped up a lot from the relatively slow beginning and middle. We go from Stoick and Val’s reunion straight to the battle, 10 minutes at most for Stoick’s death and funeral, then rushing to Berk, Berk being destroyed, then Drago’s alpha gets Macross Missile Massacred in the face. There were so many WHAM moments at the ending it took away from the individual impacts of all of them. Stoick’s funeral and death in particular I felt should have been given more time. Hiccup had just lost his father, one of the constants in his life, a person that no matter what kind of disagreements they had, they still had their familial love. It’s a major moment for Hiccup, dealing with the fact that his father died, his best friend was the one to do it, and his dragon-taming abilities were seemingly not all they cracked up to be. Seeing Hiccup just shrug it off and not display any other thought about Stoick’s death for the rest of the movie left me wanting, especially since they took the time to do it in the original. If the scriptwriters had Hiccup’s reaction to Stoick’s death and dealing with his grief and working through the realization that even if his world was shattered, everyone else’s was and he needed to be there to prop them up (maybe catalyzed with Val reminding about “an alpha/chief protects his own”) in between Drago’s assaults on the nest and Berk, it would have given the audience a breather from the action, time to process what the fuck just happened (mind control) and some emotional weight to the story. It’s like Dreamworks didn’t want to be sucked into GRIMDARKDERP ANGST that “darker” sequels often fall prey to that they just passed over it. And the constant preaching about peace with dragons got on my nerves a bit. We all know that Hiccup wants peace and companionship, Dreamworks. Stop trying to shove it down our throats. It’s like DW7 Shu with its BENEVOLENCE.  That’s about all the complaints I have, actually. So onto the compliments. I really liked how the movie made the HTTYD world darker, still had that spot of hope at the same time. Dragon trapping, Drago’s entire “dragon slave army” thing, Stoick fucking dying. But it still had Hiccup and Toothless prevail with the power of their friendship, with the very nice caveat at the end of “The vikings of Berk are peaceful industrious folk, but if you fuck with us and our dragons, we will end you,” which just goes to show that Hiccup and Toothless learned from their lesson and knows that while peace is all well and good, sometimes you have to carry a big, big stick. The contrast between Drago and Hiccup was really nice as well. Drago represented the older generation, with hatred against dragons because of the loss of his arm and what was basically a scourge on the Vikings. He pounded and intimidated them into submission because, to him, they were animals that needed to be destroyed, and when faced with evidence to the contrary, he refused to readjust because he was that buried in his hatred. Hiccup, on the other hand, even though he lost his leg and his mom to dragons and his entire life was dedicated to earning recognition through killing dragons, has the capability and flexibility to forgive and build a new world. It’s kind of like Gundam Unicorn - the old guard is not willing to forget the sins of the past, and was just stuck in the mindset of “Zeon/Feds are EEEVIIILLL,” while the kids are willing to set aside those same sins and having the possibility of making the world a better and more peaceful place. Just replace “Zeon/Feds” with “Dragons/humans” and you’re set. Stoick’s death was the big whammy for me. I was surprised that Dreamworks had the balls to do it, especially in the manner that Stoick died. I knew that at the end, to fulfill Hiccup’s character arc in this movie he would have to realize that he has the potential/has to become the chief, but I expected that Stoick would act as a mentor. Worst case, he gets crippled and Hiccup has to take the reins. But becoming chief like that? Ouch. The only complaint that I have about that, again, is that the director should have paid more attention to it. It also reminds us just why dragons were feared, after pretty much a movie and a half of cuddly pet dragons. Mind-controlled Toothless bent on killing you was scary, in more than one way. The scenery and visuals were great - the island archipelago in the first 20 minutes of the movie was absolutely breathtaking and reminded me a lot of some of the stuff in Kung Fu Panda. The flight scenes were miles better than in the original. Even though I was watching it in 2D (Age of Extinction took up the 3D theater >=T

), every single aerial scene was, simply put, amazing. I just wish I saw it in 3D, personally.

The worldbuilding was spectacular as well. All the new dragon species, the giant map that Hiccup and Toothless was making (how does Hiccup know how far the particular islands are from Berk? Does he have a scale? A sextant?), dragon society (alphas), and the way that Berk had adapted to life among dragons - the races, stables, a complex hangar-like system for doors, etc. It made the entire movie seem like it really was branching out into different and new places that the original one didn’t explore.

Overall I thought this was a worthy sequel of the original. It kept the “fight smarter, not harder” and the “make peace, not war” theme of HTTYD, but hoo boy it got a lot darker than the original. Toothless was still the adorable ball of scaly awesome that he was in the original, and Hiccup and the others all grew up nicely. The movie was dark, but not in a GRIMDERP way. However, there were some things that were off about it, like the pacing and the occasional “it’s a kids movie” thing, but overall it was a good movie. Not on the level of its predecessor or Toy Story ½/3, but I would definitely rewatch it.

9/10

Headcanon is being more and more cemented that Tony Stark is Hiccup’s reincarnation.

Also, Toothless confirmed for the unholy cross between the Avatar and Godzilla. 

——————

Looking back on what I wrote, I’d have to elaborate and add onto some things:

On the subject of Hiccup’s insistence for a peaceful resolution, I’m much more approving of it now. It’s part of his character development over the course of the movie. In the beginning, he’s shirking his responsibilities as the chief’s heir: all he does is wander and explore the Archipelago with Toothless, doing what he wants to do instead of what he has to do. Thing is, his blind idealism is part of that shirking of responsibility. Viking society isn’t soft. There are people who take advantage of their power and cannot be taken away from it, and those who has just as much conviction to their beliefs that Hiccup does towards peace…just that they and Hiccup have mutually exclusive views.

Thing is, Hiccup has encountered enemies like this in the past, and he’s managed to convince them to his side. By the time of HTTYD 2, he’s had nothing but proof that enemies can be turned into friends. For Hiccup, it’s just a matter of talking. It may take a long while, but it’ll do the trick. And without bloodshed, too.

Enter Drago.

Drago is a megalomaniac. Drago believes with all his heart that dragons are an existential threat to Vikings, and if the other chiefs don’t listen to him, well, they’ll be made to. He’s gathered his forces for more than a decade, and hasn’t had a whit of his conviction drained from him.

What does Hiccup do with an enemy who has as much conviction and force of will as he does, just with “dragons are evil and should be exterminated,” and “I want power at all costs”? You can’t reason with an enemy like that. By this point, it’s become a basic ideological conflict, and reason won’t work. Hiccup will have to fight them.

Drago represents the challenge, the realization, the responsibility that sometimes, there is no redemption. There is no second chance. When someone is threatening those you take care of, be it Viking clan or dragon nest, you fight him. Because it is your responsibility to do so. 

This was why Stoick had to die. Hiccup needed to be shocked out of his idealistic mindset of “everyone can kumbaya.” He needed to accept the responsibilities of a leader. Most of all, he needed to acknowledge that he would sometimes need to fight to protect.

Hiccup goes from insisting that every situation has a peaceful resolution, an impossible situation for a leader, to accepting his responsibility, an acknowledging that some people can’t be reasoned with if you don’t want undue harm coming to those you lead.

Also, I’d like to point out that Drago serves as a rather nice dark mirror to Hiccup. He’s literally Dark Hiccup:

The cunning, strategic planning, and exploits weaknesses in his enemies… much like Hiccup exploited the fact that the Red Death wasn’t fireproof on the inside to defeat it.

Drago’s a very successful dragon tamer - by force. Contrast to Hiccup, who gets dragons to follow him by befriending them.

Drago is a very charismatic leader. We’re shown that Hiccup is as well.

They both are connected to Night Furies. Hiccup has one as his partner. Drago killed his and wears its skin as a cape.

They both lost a limb to dragons. Hiccup his left leg, and Drago his right arm. Coincidentally, they’re on opposite sides of the body.

Drago is Hiccup if he was born 20 years earlier and didn’t have his open-mindedness. 

(submitted by bingsu)