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Thinking about this comment on my 'httyd3 is bad' video

#fav comment #text post #httyd #httyd3 #httyd3 criticism #how to train your dragon

I love how people are STILL mad about HTTYD3 because same I am too, I'll never not be angry about the decisions made and how they ended the story. Anyway can't wait to go to Isle of Berk in Florida.

#httyd #httyd 3 #httyd3 criticism #how to train your dragon #hiccup horrendous haddock iii #hiccup haddock #astrid hofferson

I've been on a dragons kick recently and actually rewatched THW (cause I hate myself apparently) and you know what's really annoying?

Multiple characters TELL us that Berk has been having problems with outside forces:

Astrid: "I wish there was some way we could get them to leave us alone."

Hiccup: "It does seem like the whole world knows about us now."

Grimmel: "They want to make distance between themselves and enemies in the East and South."

Hiccup also mentions it during the Mead Hall meeting but I can't remember the exact quote.

The point is that this is referred to multiple times.

I remember reading a post once from someone defending the ending by saying part of the reason Hiccup lets the dragons go is because there was an increase in violence towards Berk. All of these lines would imply that yes, that is the case HOWEVER

This information is completely contradictory to what we're literally SHOWN in the first like... 20 minutes of the movie.

Based on what we see in the film, Hiccup and by extension Berk are the ones picking fights with people who have seemingly done nothing to them. They are the ones being aggressive, they are on the offensive, again, for seemingly no reason. Gobber quite literally even says that Hiccup is picking fights and will regret it one day. Eret (and I'm assuming Valka as well) scout out ships for them to attack. He literally tells Hiccup he found more trapper ships and Hiccup immediately decides to go after them FOR NO REASON aside from the fact they're dragon trappers/hunters. They don't even know if they have any dragons on their ship, bro. It's not even implied the trappers are headed for Berk, Eret just tells them he spotted more trapper ships. I'd also like to point out that during the opening, they're attacking the ship at night but don't arrive to Berk until what appears to be midday implying that they flew HOURS just to attack a trapper ship...

If Berk is actually experiencing problems with outside forces, the movie shows us it is literally because Hiccup is creating those problems himself because he has basically deemed himself and Berk the protector of all dragons. We never once see Berk actually struggle with any of these outside forces (and no, I'm not counting Grimmel here) aside from the characters simply telling us that they are which completely contradicts their own actions in the beginning of the film. They're creating enemies and then complaining about it. They're having their cake but they don't want to eat it. They keep mentioning having enemies and I'm like... who though? No, genuinely, who? Who in their right mind would actually try to attack Berk with the amount of dragons they have now? No seriously, WHO? Nobody stands a goddamn chance.

This honestly could've been a really interesting character dilemma what with Hiccup potentially putting the dragons above his own people and unintentionally creating enemies because he's so hellbent on protecting these creatures that he's not thinking straight, perhaps a lot of that obsession stemming from the traumatic loss of his father and the pressures of his still recent Chiefdom. If Drago was still the main villain, it would've given them even more parallels to play off of. It also would have made Astrid's hesitation to marry him make way more sense as opposed to him simply having self-confidence issues - which he's ALWAYS had and suddenly it's a problem for her six years deep?? Hiccup makes some truly WILD choices in this movie that I'm honestly shocked he never gets mutinied. His people honestly would've had every right to. He seems like such an incompetent leader and again, that could have been a really interesting plot-point but it's never used in any sort of impactful way.

Not to mention, the film had such a ridiculously easy way of showing that Berk is struggling with outside enemies/forces if the opening sequence had been them actually rescuing dragons that were perhaps taken from them in a recent attack instead of simply going after a ship for seemingly no reason just to rescue a couple of dragons which, yes, is was it is. They are very explicitly new dragons, not Berk's dragons. All you had to do was imply they were captured dragons from Berk and boom, Berk has enemies and it's specifically shown.

I have way more to say about this shit show of a film because of my recent rewatch so I'll probably make more posts.

#httyd #anti thw #thw salt #thw criticism #httyd3 criticism #anti httyd3 #httyd3 salt #mine #i really hate this movie man

All of this.

#it really is hating on httyd3 hours #thank god #I will die mad because of this #honestly fuck this heteronormative mess of a movie #god #I will never justify this #it is just blatant heteronormativity and misoginy #fuck httyd3 honestly #i always hated the light fury #its concept #its design #what it did to the themes of this movie #everything #httyd3 #httyd3 criticism #httyd talk #httyd #bite me

I've decided. I don't like the HTTYD movie sequels' xenophobia era. I don't think the themes should have gone that way.

#or isolationism or defeatism or segregation or valuing heteroamatonormativity and something uncomfortably close-#-to the Divine Right of Kings (or at least 'might makes right') above and beyond everything else.#I think it really undercut the first movie.#although in some awful way I guess it makes sense that they concluded by framing Hiccup and Toothless' relationship as -#-something bad that fundamentally 'needed' to end #because that relationship was the microcosm of growing out of the Othering and 'us vs them' mentality #and growing into a new era of progress and support and cultural exchange and compassion beyond your in-group #and the sequels no longer believe in any of those things.#I was originally way too lenient to HTTYD2 because I cared about the characters and story and really wanted to like it.#but also because it was an unfinished story and I used to have faith in the third one. before. you know.#I didn't want to believe that the message of HTTYD2 could have actually been that Hiccup should just believe his authorities #when they say that an othered enemy they don't really understand or know much about is just extremely dangerous #and will always go for the kill and cannot be reasoned with and war is the only option.#the narrative punishes Hiccup for NOT taking this for granted MUCH more harshly than HTTYD1 'punished' Stoick for the opposite.#(which isn't a criticism of HTTYD1 which actually treated the characters as well-meaning ppl with their own POVs-#-and actually let them learn and grow and put focus on portraying THAT.)#in the sequels the only ideas that get challenged are Hiccup's progressive push which just gets killed in the third.#so they can return to traditionalism. and this idea that everyone outside of Berk's homogenous in-group is irredeemably evil #(except Eret who kinda just stopped mattering and being his own character)#and because of all these Evil Foreigners. their unchallenged unique in-group just can't have nice things #so they just apply segregation and the dragons should Go Back Where They Came From and the humans stay on their new big rock #that looks like the physical manifestation of isolationism.#what was even the POINT of ANYTHING from the first movie anymore?#httyd criticism #httyd2 criticism #httyd3 criticism #thw criticism #thw negativity #httyd3 negativity #I don't think this is a very thematically coherent trilogy. they did a full 180° against the first movie.

Also the whole concept of Area Zero is what i wished The Hidden World from HTTYD 3 was like

The Koraidon’s fight? THAT FELT LIKE A TOOTHLESS THING

Literally was mentally screaming “this is what i wish the whole way the dragons went way went throught”

#httyd 3 #httyd3 criticism #YES IM STILL SALTY ABOUT IT #pokemon scarlet

ok ok fine so- best moments of this new update:

(yes, this will be long, no I dont know how to put it under a read more on mobile. Sorry OTL)

- The Nightlights get actual unique personalities. In Homecoming, only Dart seemed to have one, while the boys were basically "cute boys who are always sparring". Here, Dart is inquisitive and forward, Ruff is a bit lazy but with a heart of gold, and Pouncer is playful and brave (he's biting at his tail like a dog would here lmao).

- Pouncer reminds me of his dad a lot. He follows you around because he wants to be near you, he sneaks after you as you go to a dangerous place, and even tho he is Baby, he still tries to use a blinding sort of light flash /shot to protect you from dragon hunters. He can get a little scared at times but he immediately calms down near you, and trusts you enough to follow you despite being afraid. The moment the fear disappears he just happily flies around like a dork <3 He's probably my favorite of the three but it's really hard to choose because they're all so unique.

- Dart is very much her mother's daughter. She's impulsive, wild, and does what she wants when she wants. She also apparently idolizes the Green Death, which is hilarious (for those that dont know, the Green Death is another female who moved and took over Dragon Island after the original Red Death was killed in SOD Universe, and yes, she is green). I'm not kidding, she killed a ship full of people lmao. Well, indirectly. She flew up to the Green Death and eventually led her to shoot fire at a whole ship of warlords. And eventually set fire to the whole fleet... in the open seas. Yea, those people are dead.

That said Dart is caring and protective and her special "power" is to rally and protect other dragons. She really feels like a mix of her mom's wild, more brutal side with her father's protectiveness. While she likes the Player character well enough I got the distinct feeling she bonds with dragons better, which I really love! She's just. Wild, but still open to work with people, just like her mom in this universe. Well, maybe a little more open than Mom. I also really like that both Pouncer and Ruffrunner had moments in which they were afraid and the Player had to comfort them, but Dart never did. She was always up and ready to go lmao.

- Ruffrunner is SO cute. Despite being a fighty boy, he's very attached to his parents and apparently wants to make them proud. He's also very lazy, he likes to nap around |D That said, he cares so deeply for others that he willingly puts himself in danger and draws enemy fire so others can attack properly. He's more tanky than the other two so he can take it. He's SO eager to help (and prove himself), be it you or his parents, which matches how his unique ability is to take hits to make sure everyone isnt attacked. He reminds me of the Toothless that was willing to die if it meant saving Hiccup.

- Bonus points for Toothless for being a fantastic dad to his kids and apparently not taking the Stoick route. He encourages Ruffrunner to be brave and look, this is just an excuse to show you how adorable they are.

- Hiccup remarks that Ruffrunner reminds him a lot of himself and how he wanted to make his parents proud of ALL of him. Why, yes, he referenced the "all this" line in the year of our Lord 2022. Did I mention I love this game? I love this game.

- As an AMAZING bonus, Valka was there and heard it, and she was actually a little awkward and upset at the thought of Hiccup suffering because of that. God. I love their dynamic. Just the right amount of awkwardness and guilt despite how much they love and understand each other, which makes perfect sense considering she abandoned him for 20 years.

- Valka in general getting focus and development is great. I love how every time she visits the Hidden World (she gets to see the Hidden World y'all!!!) she's in awe of it.

- Backtracking to talk about the Green Death for a second bc I love what they did with her! While she's just as violent and brutal as the Red Death, she didn't immediately go for the Warlord ships. Only after we rescued some baby scuttleclaws from those ships was that the Green Death attacked them.

I just love love LOVE that a dragon of the same species as the "pure evil"-type one from the first movie is not ACTUALLY shown as pure evil and IS capable of protecting and caring... just like any other dragon. I did not expect this but it was SO good. Between this and you being able to rescue and train one of Grimmel's deathgrippers, I LOVE how this game tells us that there are no true evil dragons. 10/10 point goes to School of Dragons.

- Just, this line from Valka:

I'm gonna be a bit salty for a sec because this. THIS. You have to respect these creatures and sometimes only watch from a distance- not every dragon needs to be trained, which is the lesson Hiccup seemingly had to learn in httyd 3. But learning about them, seeing them, living with them, even from a distance, is what leads to love and respect and inspires you to take care of them.

Not, y'know, shoving them down a hole for a thousand years. Even if it IS a very cozy hole. THAT just leads to them being forgotten and for people to still wanna use them for their own gains, like the timeskip show whose name I'm forgetting tells you.

Here they actually move back and forth between the skies and their ancestral home. I love that they have the freedom to do so.

- The King of Dragons lives! Somehow!

I didn't expect this- would have been cool if Drago's Bewilderbeast had taken over the King's duties to protect the original nest- buuuut y'know what? I'm okay with this. He deserved better and he's a good boi and I love him so yea.

Stoick is still dead here, and it IS heavily implied to still have been Drago-Toothless who took him out, so my best guess is that Drago's Bewilderbeast took the King out of commission long enough for Toothless to challenge him and become an Alpha on his own, etc, but he's recovered since?

- Hiccup arrives in the Sacturary after a while and... I dunno, maybe seeing the King of Dragons reminded him of his father, because he quietly mutters that "I miss him so much."

The shock and pain kept me from screenshotting the first comment from him. Ugh, come for my heart won't you. I love that Hiccup still struggles with being Chief, and missing Stoick, but is trying his best. I love how this game doesn't forget about him- there's a whole video sequence dedicated to his memory in one of the previous storyline missions when we return to Dragon Island for the first time. I'm very lucky to have played this game VERY on and off for years, because I still remember everyone's httyd1 models, Stoick being there, and his missions about the importance of being responsible and being a chief. I treasure them fondly since he's not around anymore- not even in this game.

- Speaking of Hiccup, he's surprisingly absent for most of the storyline! He only shows up every now and then and doesn't even participate in the battle with the Warlords and Stormheart- you work mainly with the Nightlights and Valka through this story. At first I wasn't sure why, but eventually I realized that I really liked this. It sort of shows that Hiccup can delegate- that we don't NEED him to be there at all times to do the right thing and fight for the bond with dragons. It shows his ideas are spreading- that he's changing the world little by little :)

- I also really like how they pair each of the nightlights with a King Dragon that inspires them. Pouncer with the playful, curious and brave Luminous Krayfin, Dart with the fierce, wild yet protective Green Death, and Ruffrunner with the gentle, protective and loyal Bewilderbeast. Amazing way to showcase their personalities and make them unique! Also goes to show how all 3 have what it takes to, perhaps one day, become worthy Alphas of their own.

- As a last bit, I love that they make the Warlords threatening- Griselda gets a bit of a spotlight, and I loved the tension between the three Warlords and Stormheart since they kept intruding on her turf. I love how the Warlords got a whole storyline for themselves after Grimmel is dead, even if the star of the show is still Stormheart.

- Also also, it takes the whole gang (minus Hiccup and Toothless), PLUS Player and his dragon, PLUS Valka and Cloudjumper, PLUS THREE WHOLE NIGHTLIGHTS to defeat them, instead of 6 kids in flight suits. While the game focuses just on you and the nightlights, everyone else IS there and they didn't NEED to spend money and resources to add that. I thought it was very cool.

- Stormheart in general is just such a good character. I love that we have a female villain in the first place, I love how after threatening you for so long she finally decides she's done and Player's gonna die... I love that SHE's the final boss of the storyline because SHE is the main antagonist of this story and has always been.

- Also, I love that we finally get to blow up her fancy ship that used enslaved dragons to create steam for it to move. It felt so satisfying after all these years.

- Also, it's cute that the Player character gets to pick a nightlight to bond with and train for free at the end of the story, with Toothless and the Light Fury watching on. The fact that they approve and that Hiccup trusts you with this is such a fun way to end this story and to show how far Player has come.

Overall, I both feel and fear this game is gearing up for a final storyline... Stormheart escaped, but her ship and most of her power is no more. Even her ally, Harald, has (perhaps surprisingly) betrayed her and gave us the info to destroy her ship. It feels like it's leading up to one final confrontation with her. If so, it will make the whole thing one hell of a ride, and I couldn't be happier to be able to experience it myself. This story and world is so rich, and it really sticks to the franchise's core, while being fun, educative, not afraid to craft their own unique stories, and so, so full of heart. As I said earlier, it really reminds me of why I love httyd as much as I do.

#httyd #httyd3 criticism #for that small moment of salt lmao #school of dragons #sod #inke speaks #update: i think its funny how I forgot to mention the babies age up into teenagers in this story lmao

As "bad" as THW ended up being *glares in the lazed traitor De Blois' direction* just be thankful that it was made by DreamWorks and not Disney. There's no knowing how much worse the female character designs(both human and dragon), the sugarcoating of serious topics, and pretty much everything else would've been if Disney had made it.

So I’m of two minds about this one. On one side, you know how I feel about Disney and its current direction, with way too much power given to the financial and monopolizing aspects and too little heart coming through anymore. Also, as you said, Disney tends to be less gritty, etc. etc. etc.

One of the things I always loved about DreamWorks was that it was willing to be quirky and take chances. You could get some wonderfully artistic, heart-felt movies like The Prince of Egypt, How to Train Your Dragon, How to Train Your Dragon 2, the Kung Fu Panda trilogy, or Rise of the Guardians. You could get stuff that made you go, “What the fuck?” like Bee Movie. You could get stuff that intentionally turned expected animated movie paradigms on their head like Shrek and Megamind. You could get stuff that felt like standard but good family fare. And yeah, sure, you’d get your Shark Tales in there, too, but there was nevertheless a willingness to go places in their movies that made DreamWorks fun. Even with the movies that were mediocre, you could tell DreamWorks was willing to experiment, willing to have grit or wonkiness, but also trying to keep good heart in the story, too.

I think that DreamWorks in the last half decade isn’t quite that level anymore. DreamWorks is starting to settle into the role of an established company... which I mean, now it is. But with that settling has come creative complacency, too. The Boss Baby, The Boss Baby sequel, Trolls, Trolls sequel, that’s starting to feel increasingly like the norm for what they’re outputting. It feels like DreamWorks is playing it increasingly safe, increasingly standard. Its edge isn’t so edgy anymore.

Mind. They’ve had elements of this way longer than the last five years (Turbo in 2013 was no showstopper), but these traits are feeling increasingly pronounced to me. Whereas DreamWorks used to be a delightful mixed bag, now it feels increasingly... bland.

I would never call DeBlois a “traitor” or “lazy.” I think that’s misdirecting the thunder. I don’t like seeing him called something like that, myself. He worked with a lot of heart on beautiful movies like Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon, How to Train Your Dragon 2... that’s someone who’s helped put good soul in our stories. Whether or not he would have made something in THW all fans would’ve liked, I don’t know, especially given as no one creator will make EVERYTHING into a powerhouse... we all have our “okay” projects and our “awesome” ones. But we’ve seen hints of what the original drafts of HTTYD 3 looked like, and they’re more on par with the flavor of storytelling I’d expect from him. Major movies are created with too much corporate power and higher-ups molding them, and if the movies we get are bland, watered-down, sugarcoated, lacklusterly mainstream, etc. then it’s not necessarily the creative team (though good creative teams are more likely to leave in such environments)... it’s likely the business blokes stifling them.

So I am like, “Yeah, DreamWorks ain’t Disney.” But... they’re infringing on some of the same crimes, aren’t they? Isn’t DreamWorks already making projects feel more palatable and sweet, isn’t DreamWorks already showing money-first idea-second for some of its latest projects? I’m not as much in the DreamWorks camp as I was even five years back, and this is why. I’m a little jaded wondering where they’re headed.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that shift I’m seeing is just my perspective of the company changing, not the company actually changing. And who knows, maybe they’ll surprise me. They better do The Wizards of Once right. XD That’s something I hope they can make as beautiful as they did the first HTTYD.