eheh, i adore that you adore the series so much :D

Yeah, it's hilarious. Anyone who goes and reads them after my raving is going to be like... whut.

Muahaha Thumbs up for inept villains XD

On an unrelated note, do you suppose the author of the books was interested in Vore as well?

Oh yes. I love them so, and Cowell definitely can write a mean one. XD

I wouldn't be surprised at all. Like I said, Hiccup gets taken into the mouth of a giant monster at least three times, and is almost eaten pretty much constantly (one of these times was an occasion where he TOLD THE MONSTER TO SWALLOW HIS BOAT). The villain here has been swallowed alive at least twice, and has hidden inside the bodies of animals to survive as well. There are a ton of cannibals roaming the archipelago, the Romans are known to eat live nanodragons, and Toothless takes complete pleasure in not only stuffing himself with creatures smaller than himself (including nearly swallowing a key character), but also various objects; the contents of his stomach have been key in getting Hiccup out of situations.

Not to mention at least three pseudo-philosophical rantings about our place on the food chain.

So no, I wouldn't be surprised at all. She appears to have some kind of fascination with it, at least.

Damn it I have GOT to get those books, you taunt me with every picture and comment you horrible horrible person!

You do. GET THEMMMMM

Yah, Hiccup's rather a feisty little guy in the book series. I wish he was more like that in the movie.

Yeah, he's pretty cynical and such in the movie, but ultimately he comes off a little more like the book's Fishlegs, to me (not entirely a bad thing, though XD). Unfortunately Movie Hiccup, at least how we know him now, doesn't have to rely solely on wit to get him by, now, as he has a massive-ass obedient dragon.

Yeah, but in the end that's cheating. I mean, if Alvin shows up, Toothless could just eat him. Lil' Toothless couldn't do that. XD

Well, I mean, they have weaknesses- for example, Hiccup was always pretty physically weak as an individual, and now he's even moreso, and Toothless can't fly without someone to fly him. If they're separated (Toothless could be kidnapped, even at this size), the effects could be devastating. Or if the equipment fails or something. Given, Hiccup also has a pack of kids on his side, too, provided they don't go all "how to be a pirate" and forget how awesome he is.

But Movie Hiccup has generally got it pretty easy. If he's deprived of all that, though, perhaps more of the book's snark will shine back through.

Oh, he's still a deadpan snakrer at heart. It's just that Toothless is an even bigger deadpan snarler, in spite of being mute in this incarnation. I suspect it's why they get along so well.

This one came out pretty good. Poor Hiccup, getting nerfed for the Dreamworks movie. He deserves to retain his witty, sarcastic glory.

Oh, so I was talking with some friends the other day about the HTTYD movie since one of them brought it up. Apparently, he didn't know that it was based on a book series. Finding out naturally influenced him to ask me about the possibility of future movies. I said no, as the movie Hiccup was substantially different and more of a stand-alone in that sense.

But what do you think? How good is the possibility that we will be seeing another animated movie based on Cowell's book series?

Yeah, movie Hiccup is actually a lot more like book's Fishlegs. I mean, he does have some similar qualities and I still love him, but they have slightly different dynamics.

They have actually confirmed a sequel which is in progress and set to be released in 2013 (They're planning on a trilogy... which for Dreamworks, means like five movies). There's also an arena show and a TV series, both set to begin next year.

I believe all of it is born from the fact that HTTYD did well in theaters, rather than the fact that they genuinely want to tell a great story.

But yes, there will be sequels. I'm not sure how good they'll be though. It's hard for me to wrap my head around a continuation with Hiccup in the state he's in, as most of the situations he lands in in the book are highly incompatible with the movie Hiccup/Toothless dynamic.

Which, to someone like you who has read all of the books, is probably a bit of a disappointment.

A trilogy? Well I know they care about the Benjamins...I just hope they let it die before they ruin it and wipe the floor with its remains. I'm kinda with you. Given what little I know about Hiccup and how the movie ended, I'm skeptical about there being a sequel that can live up to the first movie's reputation.

Yeah, they have plenty of book material to work off of. The movie and the Legend of the BoneKnapper (the extra short produced) actually did really well on that front (though Boneknapper was kind of dorky in general). Unfortunately, I don't know how much of it they'll be able or willing to apply with the dynamic of Toothless being a flying dragon and the both of them physically inhibited (though in BoneKnapper, Hiccup's new leg and gait is animated such that he walks/stumbles/etc. completely normally without so much as a limp.

I don't have much faith in the future of the franchise. Hopefully my low expectations will be shot down with some splendid work. But the next movie won't have Chris Sanders (the guy who created and pitched new-Toothless) as a director, so I don't think anyone else is going to be able to make it work as gracefully.

And I think in the future (such as in the arena show), they'll be aiming specifically for the under-10 set, which will emphasize the cheesiness of the series rather than the wittiness and more mature aspects that I enjoy it for.

It's weird to think that he wouldn't walk with a limp. Even as good as our prosthetic limbs are these days, I think you would notice if you were looking for it. In Viking times, you can forget about getting a high-functioning fake leg.

Well, it's better in the long run if you have poor expectations. Can't be disappointed. >.>

I hate when a series does that. My favorite of all time, Ratchet and Clank, went through the same transformation. In the early days, there was subtle humor and adult situations that would appeal to an older crowd. Now (granted it IS seven installments later) it's more about silliness and trying to stir the childish parts of the imagination.

Yeah. Given BoneKnapper was a bit inferior in quality (perhaps more like the TV show will be). Perhaps in the movies it'll be more realistically rendered.

I'm counting on it. XP

Yeah, unfortunately art is a business and franchises are a safe thing to put money into. It's rare these days that creators have the grace to let their series end before it gets driven into the dirt. XP

I'll take your word for it. I have never seen the TV show..

It is rare, but only because of the way most people think. The people who create these series, they have the option to say, "No, I don't want your dirty money." They could walk away and let the series end on a good note. But they're still talented. So maybe, once that series ends on a good note, they should get contracted to produce a different great series.

There is a problem out there, but it's not caused by just one person/group that's for sure. Everyone involved is to blame for one reason or another.

Yeah, the TV show isn't out yet; just the Legend of the BoneKnapper short.

And ending a series obviously doesn't make fans happy, either. But I think it's better they end it early than have it nosedive. Art is a tough business these days. In a perfect world, our priorities would be more about bettering the craft, but that's pretty hard to do these days.

True, fans won't be happy. Like with me, if they keep making Ratchet games then I will keep buying them. Doesn't matter if they're even any good really. I just love the characters and whatnot. I can imagine something similar would apply to you and HTTYD.

Well it's hard to improve on anything. Especially when the motivation for improvement is money...you can always tell if an artist's heart is in it or not.

Exactly. In fact, just recently, I blew a bit of cash on HORRIBLY CRAPPY HTTYD merch in the clearance aisle, just because the fan in me made me. XD Hiccup's wearing the wrong costume, the fire effects on my "fire breathing Night Fury" are hilariously bad, the Mangler is renamed the "dragon striker" for some reason, and apparently in the movie they saw, Hiccup shot down the Night Fury with a flaming arrow. And Terrible Terrors are yellow. And "graphic design" consists of repeatedly slapping the same graphic onto each side of the unnecessarily large box. BUT I HAVE A NIGHT FURY WITH A TWO FOOT WINGSPAN and "DIVE BOMB ACTION" NOW... AND I CAN SHOOT FLAMING ARROWS AT HIM I GUESS.

Fan loyalty can keep you going as long as you want to go, to be sure. XD

I think it's hard for the artistic process to really exist under the pressures of business. It requires time, thought, and love, which the business world doesn't have much of. It's like, almost two opposing forces trying to coexist. It's a miracle if it can (and sometimes the only reason it can, is because the artists creating it have the guts to screw with the system; for example, most of Pixar's movies (most famously, Toy Story) were delayed and revamped, as was HTTYD).

That's it, feed the fangirl in you, lol. Also, FLAMING ARROWS WTF RAEG

Yes, artists whose work has the potential to reach millions through traditional media are unfortunately restricted by the media they work for. And Toy Story is magical, no arguments here. : D

SRSLY ACCURACY IS SRS BUZNUS

ALSO HICCUP IS GOING TO FALL OFF HIS DRAGON IN THE OUTFIT THEY HAVE HIM WEARING

WHY NO FLIGHT OUTFIT IT'S SO CONFUSING TO ME

It's very true. Although I guess a world without restrictions and deadlines might have less finished art around anyway. XP

I usually abbreviate bsns when I'm doing it for the raeg or the lulz, but I like yours better. XD

The Hiccup toy still effectively wears a flight outfit. It's called your hand.

Less stuff at higher quality. Maybe. The funding might have something to do with the quality but I'm not sure.

Nah, he still falls off the dragon.

Plus the dragon surpasses him in cool by 600% They didn't get the hair or face right at all, and his feet are nowhere near the stirrups. XD

Sometimes time equals higher quality. But you often have to pay for time. Such a conundrum.

Heh, well I was trying to be optimistic but you're right. This is a failed Hiccup and he belongs in a waste receptacle of some kind. XD

-nods-

To be fair, the humor in that series kept getting darker and darker all the way up to the last boss in Tools of Destruction. There was just less and less of it, but mostly it also got subtler. More of it was about the situations than the references.

The characterization also got better. The cutscenes in Tools of Destruction had really phenomenal facial acting, and it made Ratchet a much more relatable character.

And tangentally, how the FUCK did they forget they introduced a second lombax character back in Going Commando?

Would you describe what you mean by "darker"? Because personally, I thought Deadlocked was the pinnacle of darkness in the Ratchet games, with the original and Secret Agent Clank being the most 'adult' out of the series. I still enjoyed Tools of Destruction though and have played it through seven or eight times. The Cragmite Homeworld, for example, had the burn on Microsoft's development progress of the XBox and the reunion of our heroes with a *pound*. Another favorite of mine (not humor related) was how Insomniac made Stratus City into a police state with the military presence, the outlaw of knowledge, and the (slave) migrant Kerchu workers. I don't think that I'm overlooking the details in this game. Humor is only a small part of my opinion that the series has gone downhill. It just happened to be the part that was relevant to my discussion with Crownflame iirc.

The facial acting made the characters look a hell of a lot more realistic, but I think what contributed most to characterization was the conversational menus (Smuggler, Aphelion, IRIS off the top of my head). Having played through every game from the first in '02 up through the recent A4O ((and read the Comic Books!!)), I honestly felt like the Ratchet in Tools was a different Ratchet from the one they had built up to that point. This was a disappointment to me. They did bring Clank back in terms of making him act more like a robot than a human (something he didn't do in GC, UYA or Deadlocked)... But back to what you said about relating to his character. In Ratchet 1, he was a little oblivious, had his priorities in the wrong order, loved to have fun, and was "selfish" by his own confession. These are faults which we can all admit to at one time or another. ToD Ratchet still enjoys adventure and tinkering, which is good, but his focus through the entire game is to discover where he came from. I'm not saying this isn't a noble cause, but it is an experience that is uncommon in, excuse the term, "developed" nations. If you want to get into characterization more then I would like that. But as it stands, I relate far more to the original Ratchet.

Haha. Well Fixman must have encountered that problem as well, because they mention "Lombax rebel Angela Cross" in a radio broadcast in Crack in Time. But you're right, that is a monstrous oversight. I count on the writers to have played previous titles in the series. ; )

Augh, they did what in Crack in Time?

I still haven't finished that one.

Having said that, our source for the "Last Lombax in the Universe" or "Last Lombax in the Galaxy" depending on where in the game he's shooting off his mouth is a certain Cragmite, who may be an unreliable narrator.

On second thought, I recall that Ratchet said "Last Lombax in the Galaxy" and Tachyon says "Last Lombax in the Universe"; and as I recall Ratchet moves to a new galaxy at the beginning of Tools of Destruction. So in spite of what I said before, this could be all talked up to Tachyon not being omniscient.

Clicky for said radio broadcast. Though it is technically a spoiler, it doesn't ruin the plot for Crack in Time.

You know, I never tried to dissect that bit before. I'll have to watch the cutscenes again and see if there is something I had missed.