Good evening ROTBTD'ers! As per the poll, I am proud to present the results and our first interview!
And so, I would like to present for our first Post:
A short interview with Olive from @trixicwriter94 , current director* of the project B4: Guardians, a Rise of the Brave tangled Dragons fan film.
I know customary wording is Q/A but here we’ll be working with the A/O format.
A = Andy, providing questions and O= Olive, our first creator.
A- So for starters, let's do some basic introductions! Could you state your preferred online name /user and your pronouns?
(For your reference I'm Andy and I use he/him)
O- Olive is my name, and my pronouns are they/them!
A- Nice to meet you formally Olive!
O- Nice to meet you, too, Andy! Thank you for conducting this interview!
A- It's a pleasure to service my community (fandom), we can pinpoint the birth of the fandom to 2012-2013, when and how did you initially discover the [rotbtd] fandom?
O- Oooh, that’s a good question. I’d have to say that I first saw the fandom here on Tumblr, but I can’t exactly pinpoint when that was. I was still new to Tumblr back then, so I was still new to the idea of “fandom”.
A- That's valid, in that same branch, how long have you been active in the fandom?
O- I think I’ve been active pretty much since it was started in 2013.
A- Nice, we love an OG! Since you've been here a while, what would you say has most changed in ~10 years of the fandom?
O- hank you! I think the the things that’s most changed is the fact that people in the fandom have added a lot more characters/movies (that, in my opinion, are unnecessary) to the Big Four.
A- Yeah, I feel the same honestly, but I can appreciate an odd bunch from time to time! In matters of characters, do you have a fave out of the four or one from their distinct casts?
O- Hmmm…I know that we’re using pre-HTTYD2 Hiccup and Toothless in B4: Guardians, but my favorite character among the cast of characters from the How To Train Your Dragon franchise is Eret, Son Of Eret. Anyone who knows me well would not be very surprised by that fact. My favorite among the four has got to be Rapunzel. She’s just feisty and has a fighting spirit. She fights for what she believes in, and I really admire that about her.
A- That's a very nice portrait of Rapunzel! If you had to say which character is most like you/that you identify with the most, who would you pick?
O- It’s a cross between Hiccup and Rapunzel. Hiccup because I’m an outcast in my family. I’m the youngest, unmarried and with no kids… and I’m okay with that. Rapunzel because I feel like I’m just dreaming about writing full time, and painting is very important to Rapunzel, so I relate to her being interested in the visual arts. I’m currently in culinary school, but it’s physically and mentally draining each week. Anyway, yeah. Hiccup and Rapunzel are the ones I relate to most!
A- Interesting! I had no idea you studied culinary, cool vocation! And in matters of vocation, what would say your role within the fandom is?
O- I like to think that I’m a content creator within the fandom, despite the fanfilm not being that well-known!
A- Speaking of creation, now would be a great time for you to tell us about that fan vfilm! In a few lines can you tell us about the fan film itself?
O- Okay! The fan film is about Jack, Merida, Rapunzel and Hiccup being chosen to discover their centers, defeat a great evil, and help rekindle a broken father/daughter relationship. I think the lesson of the movie is that family isn’t just blood, but it’s also your chosen family, the family that you meet along the journey of your life.
O- Like, I know a LOT of people ship Merricup and Jackunzel and all the other ones…but I just see those four being good friends, with a family dynamic. Their chosen family may be small, but they grow as characters, and I like to believe we see that growth in B4: Guardians, and not just in each of the characters’ source material.
A- That's a fair point, platonic relationships are just as important as romantic ones and should not be undervalued; I know that you currently hold multiple positions in the making of this fan film, now I've seen the most updated version up on youtube and I'm wondering who came up with this?
O- That would be TheRedBoots, on deviantArt. They’ve since left the group (mentally and emotionally, although their username is still physically listed as the founder, as far as I’m aware). Back in 2013, I was just watching random Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons YouTube videos (like fantrailers), and I saw this comment asking for people to help with a project that would soon after be known as The Big Four: Rise Of the Brave Tangled Dragons. It wasn’t until several years later that a Twitter user came up with the new title, since, technically, Rise Of the Brave Tangled Dragons was a copyrighted title (shout out to FILMSTHESEDAYS…I honestly have no clue if they’re still on Twitter since I’ve deleted my account). And, thus, B4: Guardians was the new name, and it’s been that way ever since.
The year was, I think, 2018 when the title was changed, since that’s the year that I made the post on the deviantArt page.
A- Dang what a story! And while we’re here, what ads are currently up for the project?
O- Let’s see, I’ve posted several on my TikTok and Instagram, and the lead animator has posted an ad on their channel. I have also posted some here on Tumblr. Most of the posts I’ve made on social media are just progress reports, but there’s one ad I made looking for volunteer animators and composers for this fanfilm.
A- Cool beans, I'll link the aads somewhere in here [place ads here]
Now here’s a couple rapid fire questions
A- 1. Fave media format in the fandom ? (story, animation, art, cosplay, etc)
O- Probably art. I love seeing all the different art styles people have.
And, sadly, I rarely read other people’s fanfics, as I don’t want to think that “oh, that would make a good fanfilm”.
I’ve also scoured YouTube for animators for this thing…and I can’t really find that many, unfortunately.
A- Yeah that’s fair, tis' the ages for this,
2. Your favourite song for the main cast?
O- Hmmm…like from the original source materials’ scores or fanmade songs?
A- Whichever you like best :)
O - I think my favorite fanmade song for this crossover is a tie between No Way Out by 808mossmallow, and Free (Special Edition) by Ellie Amaya. The three others I love are Someday Things Will Change by Lily Sevin, Something Different by Lily Sevin, and Take Pity On Me by Walker Smith.
Fun fact: You may or may not hear those songs in the end credits of B4: Guardians!😉
A- Ooooooo very nice line up,
O- Thank you! I knew we needed something for the end credits, and I love all of those songs, so, after I got permission from each of the artists to use their respective songs in the end credits, I’ve spliced each of the songs up to make a mashup!
As for favorite AU…I’d have to say any Modern AU.
A- Very valid! I love modern AUs as well haha
O- Because, before 2020, I was really hoping to make this fan film live-action, even going as far as making wishlists for props, casting actors, trying to raise the money, and looking at locations.
A- Ooooo I’ve always dreamed of a live action Movie, I wanted my story to be one initially haha
Now, our final question, what is your wish for the fandom?
O- That’s really cool! My wish for the fandom is that this fan film (and the fandom in general) thrives for years to come. It’s one of the reasons I write fiction: to get my stories out there, and for them to become people’s favorite books. The same goes for the fanfilm: I want people to be able to enjoy it now and in the future.
A- That is a beautiful wish, I hope it comes true! ☺️
And so this concludes our brief interview, thank you so much Olive for your time! I hope our fandom thrives again!
O- Thank you so much for your well wishes, and for interviewing me! It was a pleasure! And you’re welcome!
As mentioned above, here are linked the volunteer ads that are up if you're a creative with some time and a current wish to participate in a fandom-led project!
See here to volunteer as a composer! 🎶
And around here to volunteer in the animation process! ✏
You can of course find B4: Guardians, in its latest stage
up on Youtube! 📺
Again, a big thank you to Olive for participating in my fandom antics!
Alright folks! This concludes our first interview! I will be following this post with an ask box for you to pitch in names or users or projects you'd love to see interviews about (be writers, artists, composer,etc) or if you wish to volunteer as 'tribute' do so within the ask box as well!
With this, I bid thee good day and to the morrow of soon,
Godspeed rotbtd'ers, big4 4evaaa
dailybridgerton
turnnoffyourmind
tangentwithtanner
discoholicmusic
origamiaround
