Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Wow... this is cool! What a privilege!


So... I go to my wiki talk page. I do that a lot, often it's just sorting out a debate on what a class a dragon is or whether we should split pages between book and movie versions. Then at other times I get awesome personal messages or notes from friends. But, today I got something special! One of the head wiki staff members contacted ME wanting to ask questions about HTTYD that would be featured in an article about specific films and fandoms, and this article will be posted on the main wikia site! It's a huge honor, it really is, and I'm super excited to be able to represent the fandom and tell the world why our film is so amazing!

Haha, when I said DreamWorks was throwing a ton at me, I had no clue just how many posts I'd be making! This is my third today. Click the "read more" to see my conversation with the guy and my answers to his questions.

Hey there, Toothless. Wikia is putting together a Wacky and Wild guide highlighting upcoming media that's popular but perhaps a bit offbeat, and we think HTTYD fits that description. We'd really appreciate it if you took the time to answer a few questions for us -- we'll use the responses in the write up, which will be launching next week. If you could get me answers by this Thursday, that would be great! Thanks in advance!
1.) Who are you and what do you do for the HTTYD community?
2.) What drew you to the HTTYD community?
3.) What about HTTYD makes it wacky, weird, and/or wild?
4.) Where would you recommend someone start with the franchise? Any particular episode, movie, book, etc.?
5.) What's the wackiest/wildest thing you've seen in the HTTYD community?
6.) What can we expect from HTTYD in the near future?
Thanks!
Mhadick (talk) 19:12, April 9, 2014 (UTC)



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Wow, right! This is a real honor. Thanks very, very much. Let me begin answering...

1.) Who are you and what do you do for the HTTYD community?
1.A) I am a young adult, a student of Biology, a Christian and a citizen of the United States of America. But what you are probably interested in is the HTTYD side. I am a massive fanboy, the biggest I know personally (But, I will say, there certainly are bigger fans than me out there on the internet, and Kudos to them!). As for what I do for the HTTYD community, I run the wiki as one of the more active Admins. It’s great fun, though at times it requires a lot of thought and diplomacy to get us all focused on doing a great job to make a wiki worthy of such an amazing franchise. Outside of running the wiki, I run a person blog that is my little nook for posting my fan fictions, art pieces, and analyses. I’m known there and on other HTTYD sites as Usertoothless, and I’ve made quite a lot of friends in this fandom and do my best to keep in touch. It’s been awesome, pretty much life changing, and I try to do my bit to make everyone enjoy loving this movie as much as I do!
2.) What drew you to the HTTYD community?
2.A) Wow, well, first I watched the film in theaters in 2010. The powerful friendship dynamic between Hiccup and Toothless was probably the major draw for me in that film, as well as the fact that I found Hiccup (the main protagonist) to be strikingly relatable. Funny enough, at that time I had a scale of 1-10 that I would rate movies on, and when I saw HTTYD it became my first and only 11! After that I discovered the wiki, and I did my best to start improving it. After a few years, I was extremely grateful to be given the rank of Admin. But, what drew me to the community was really the film itself, that was where it started. However, after that I soon discovered that the HTTYD community is chock full of amazing people. We may not be as big as other fandoms, but I can assure you there is a lot of talent out there, and there are so amazing and wonderful people who are just ecstatic to get to talk to you about the movie!
3.) What about HTTYD makes it wacky, weird, and/or wild?
3.A) Well, for one thing, most people see it as a kids movie when it’s NOT! There’s actually a pretty nice chunk of a fandom who are my age and older. Most people don’t expect to get a lot of depth, action, drama, and excitement from an animated film, but HTTYD so offers it! Another thing that’s wild about HTTYD is its main dragon, Toothless! He’s most certainly not your archetypical dragon, but he’s stolen all out hearts! Practically everyone in the fandom wishes he was real! He’s incredibly expressive, and his anatomical design is extremely fresh... considered by some critics to be one of the most unique animals to have popped out of theater screens in quite a while! It’s no wonder so many of us want him to exist! So, it’s weird and wacky that a so called “kids” film would be deep enough for adults to really engage with, and also kinda fun and wild to see such a unique dragon taking center screen and really standing out even amongst a plethora of other big scaly creatures who come storming out of Hollywood!
4.) Where would you recommend someone start with the franchise? Any particular episode, movie, book, etc.?
4.A) This is coming from me personally (because I know others think differently, even in this fandom), but watch the first movie FIRST. Then after that, give the books a try! They’re not really much like the film, but if you keep at them some of the later ones get dark, and then all the books have an interesting array of humor to them (some rather unsophisticated things, but if you keep your eye out their’s a good deal of witty tongue and cheek). But, definitely start with the film. It’s amazing, and for some of us in the fandom, it’s life changing! After that, make sure to watch Gift of the Night Fury. Its a holiday short that is shockingly heartwarming. Then, if you want to go all out, there’s even a tv series! I have some personal favorites in that (Alvin and the Outcasts, What Flies Beneath, We are Family, The Night and the Fury, and View to a Skrill). For a weekly series, it’s pretty decent!
5.) What's the wackiest/wildest thing you've seen in the HTTYD community?
5.A) Wow, well, as usual there are some wacky things which are wacky in an unpleasant way, but let’s not dwell on that! In general, the HTTYD community has proven to be pretty good natured! I’d say one wild thing is Inhonored Glory’s web novel. It’s called How To Train Your Dragon II: The Dragon Whisperer, and it’s phenomenal. Why is it wild? Well, it’s almost complete (chapters are posted monthly), and it has already exceeded the length of the longest Harry Potter book! It’s a brilliant project, and mind-blowingly wild! Ive also seen some amazing Cosplays... even of Toothless! Talk about incredible! Some people would think that a young adult getting into a really realistic dragon costume as a bit wacky, but the HTTYD fandom loves it! Another awesomely wild thing is that there are and were some amazing competitions out there! I participated in one t-shirt designing contest, and (though I didn’t win) the winner got to actually go to DreamWorks and meet the people working on the second film! I also think it’s great how many of DreamWorks’ staff actually get out there and get into the fandom! I’ve gotten to speak with actors, seen fans have discussions with directors or animators, it’s all really exciting!
6.) What can we expect from HTTYD in the near future?
6.A) A LOT. DreamWorks knows that the first movie was something special, and they are going all out on the second one. The director is taking bold moves, moves that I’ve never seen any other animated film even come close to doing. How to Train your Dragon 2 will soar into theaters this June, and there’s even the possibility of the tv series continuing in 2015. But, maybe most exciting of all, we are getting a trilogy! Yes, that’s right, there will be three HTTYD films, all focusing around Hiccup and Toothless and the many dangers, tests, and adventures they come across. The director has already planned out a full story arch, and by the hints and rumors he’s given away, I can assure you that we are in for one massively exciting ride! He knows that it’s not just kids who love the film, so though he will keep it clean and friendly enough to remain PG, he’s promised to go pretty intense with this trilogy, intense enough to where he aspires to make it stand up alongside movies like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. That’s a pretty high goal for an animated film, but all the advertising for the second movie certainly looks like HTTYD might become just that, a legend and one of the greatest stories animation has ever told. I’m certainly hopeful!
Thanks so much, and I hope these answers are helpful! See you in theaters this June!

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