One thing that I wished they kept throughout the franchise was Hiccup being the smallest Viking. I wish they kept him scrawny and stringy and shorter than Astrid and the rest of the gang.

Hiccup was ostracised by his entire community for many reasons, one being his weak build and small stature.

Snotlout may be shorter than Hiccup in the movies, but he's got bigger muscles and puffs himself up. He makes up for it by acting like a proper Viking, being loud and obnoxious and always ready to start a fight - that and he can actually lift a weapon.

The name Hiccup is meant to mean small and frail - the runt of a litter or the black sheep. I want Hiccup to be the absolute epitome yet antithesis of his name. I want Hiccup to be small and unassuming and shorter than the rest. But I also want him to be Great. I want him to be brave and stubborn and hard to kill. Awkward and sarcastic at the worst of times but still kind and friendly and always dependable.

I want him to be everything a Viking is and isn't. I want him to be a peacekeeper and a warrior, an adventurer and an inventor, the son of the chief and the hiccup of his tribe. Someone who can't wield the same weapons as his tribesmen so he makes his own. Someone who wants to uphold the traditions and culture of his people yet always thinks outside of the box. The representation of this new age that's fast approaching, the line in the middle where old and new clash.

I want Hiccup to dress like a Viking, talk like a Viking, eat, sleep and walk like a Viking yet be the very last thing anyone ever thinks of when they think of a Viking. And most of all I want there to be absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I wish they hadn't made him tall and appealing in the end. I wish they'd kept him the way he was. A Viking born too early and too weak in the middle of one of the harshest winters ever experienced by the barbaric archipelago. A Viking who beat the odds and survived. He's braved every terrible winter since his birth and lives in a place where it snows nine months of the year and hails the other three. He can endure bone-freezing chills and frozen oceans but never fails to catch the common cold. He's always been a bit sickly, ever since he was a child, but he always bounces back. He's got scars and a missing leg and his hands are filled with callouses, cuts and burns, but he's soft-spoken and loves to read and never skips a meal yet can never seem to get any bigger.

I wish they could have kept Hiccup the way he was. I wish they didn't have to change him in order to have him become a worthy hero.

I wish the entire village could look at their little runt of a chief and still crack jokes about his long-overdue growth spurt. I want them to look at him and be filled with pride, cause despite the fact that he hasn't grown an inch since he was sixteen, there isn't a single person on Berk who can look at him without seeing just how far he's come.

On a road trip so here's a wobbly doodle of Hiccup beaming over his first child.

In httyd, Vikings are presented as illiterate people, many of whom disdain reading and think in narrow terms. Because of this, most fans (and Hooligans) do not realize that in order to be a chief, it is not enough to be loud and muscular. You need to have certain knowledge that is necessary for the management of the tribe – diplomacy, foreign languages, reading, counting, geography… 

Hiccup did not want to become a chief not only because he was not confident in his abilities and did not want to lose his freedom. Hiccup had been trained for this role since childhood and was one of the few who knew what responsibility would fall on his shoulders. Astrid didn't know. 

She's a good commander. She knows what the tribe needs. But Astrid did not receive proper training. Astrid sees only honor in this position, she has no idea what it really means to be a chief. Astrid does not know that it is necessary not only to give orders, but also to listen. Not only to observe traditions, but also to find innovative solutions. To see the problem where everyone else sees something ordinary. These are Hiccup's strengths and Astrid's weaknesses. 

No one is saying that it will be easy for Hiccup, that he will make only the right decisions. The fact is that Hiccup knew exactly what he was going for when he spoke: “A chief protects his own”. For him, this is not a game of reputation and authority, unlike Astrid or Snotlout, for him it is a responsibility that is too easy to not handle.

Astrid was not mistaken when she saw a good chief in Hiccup. He brought prosperity to his village. The problem is that until Hiccup became the chief Astrid never thought about what it meant to him.

What Dreamworks Should Have Done With HTTYD

I think that instead of making spin offs, Dreamworks should fully animate deleted scenes and sell a collection of them. Like the scene “An Axe to Grind” in HTTYD, I mean, who doesn’t love a whole pre-HTTYD Hiccstrid, am I right? And what about that cute cuddle bit at Itchy Armpit we missed? And those six months between the end of RttE Season four and the second episode of Season five? They could do a collection of one shots almost, just cute canon fluff. What if we got to see Toothless’ eggs hatch? Maybe a sweet short about Toothless and Hiccup ruling their world’s without the other, their struggles, and how they overcome them? A sweet Uncle Gobber taking care of Hiccstrid’s babies? Some Rufflegs content? How about Heather and Dagur? Were they notified when Berk moved? It would be harder to keep in touch with no Terrible terrors, but surely they would visit often? Maybe some scenes we missed at Hiccstrid’s wedding? And everyone loves Babycup/Stoick bonding time. Maybe even some young Astrid or the rest of the gang? Fans would most certainly buy that content I am sure, and it would have been a better option than insulting the entire fandom with The Nine Realms (the show itself certainly isn’t the worse in history, but after it’s predecessors, it’s a total letdown). Hello, Dreamworks, if you ever go on Tumblr to read fan opinions, maybe you could consider it?

Were there any bits I could have missed? What between the scenes content would you loved to have seen?

Hiccup: When I am rich.

Hiccup pointing at Dagur: You’re getting therapy.

Hiccup pointing at Snotlout: You’re getting therapy.

Hiccup pointing at Heather: You’re getting DOUBLE therapy.

Hiccup: Everyone is healing.

Tuffnut: Remember kids! Be yourself, stay healthy, commit arson, steal from the government, and eat the rich-

Hiccup: Okay, that's enough

Whenever I see a post about Chief Hiccup (or watch Httyd 2, for that matter) I'm always reminded of how Stoick did not want his son to become chief the way he did.

Maybe it's because Stoick saw his reluctance to succeed him, maybe it's something Stoick went through himself when he became chief and he wanted to spare his son the pain, but he had a plan. He was going to retire. Step down and let Hiccup take over in his stead. That way, his father could ease him into this insanely big responsibility, could be there to guide him, help him with the tough stuff he knows Hiccup might have trouble with.

Except, then he dies at Drago's hands. And Hiccup ends up thrusted into a position a feared to be in. And yeah, he does it mostly alone, just as his father did before him, which is exactly what Stoick was hoping to avoid.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this incorrect quote from @httydberserker-incorrect for a week now so I had to get it out of my system 

The only way to survive the "pointless rich people party your parents insist you go to" is by getting high with your best friend 💙💚💅

They would hate the "Old Money" and "Quiet Luxury" aesthetics and trends that have been going around so much 💀

Oh, and sorry I haven't been active or anything, my migraines have been getting ROUGH lately, maybe it's because of the weather, or I'm dying or something else 🤷‍♀️

Gustav: How would you guys deal with a toxic friend?

Fishlegs: Tell them how you really feel.

Hiccup: Slowly distance yourself from them.

Astrid: Engage in a 1v1 sword battle and if they lose they have to stop being toxic or pay the price.

Gustuv, being handed a sword: … well heck.

A cape's a heavy burden.

I wonder if he gets overwhelmed? Father gone, dragons gone. A lot of what he used to tap into for either wisdom or extra strength and help, and the dragons were kinda an outlet/escape too.

There is a lot of discussion in the fandom about Hiccup's life after httyd 2. There are a lot of fanfictions in the fandom about how difficult it is to survive the loss of a father while being a tribal chief. And that's fine! But why do we talk so little about what path Astrid went through after the second part? 

Stoick and Valka's dream came true – they found a daughter in the person of their son's fiancee. But Astrid Hofferson was not born into a Chieftain's family and was not raised as the heir to the throne. Despite the status of the leader of the gang, which she shares with Hiccup, Astrid does not understand all the difficulties of managing the village. 

Yes, Astrid was devoted to Stoick as a chief and admired him endlessly, but she did not see how Stoick collapsed into his armchair by the fireplace. She did not see how Stoick applied pieces of ice to his inflamed head and, hunched over, looked wearily into the fire. Astrid didn't see the tears in his eyes. Hiccup saw it. Stoic never gave up in front of his people, so Astrid, like other Vikings of Berk, saw only one (1), rather superficial side of the coin. 

“TO MAKE YOU CHIEF! Oh, my gods! Hiccup, that's amazing!”

“Well, it's a lot of responsibility”

“I mean, chief. What an honor”

But Hiccup becomes the chief, and Astrid begins to realize that something is going wrong. She is still puffed up with pride when her fiance leads the tribe forward. She sees how Hiccup finds and applies innovative solutions that his father would never have thought of, and becomes increasingly convinced that Hiccup is ideal for this position. But… 

The encouraging smile he gives the Vikings does not touch his eyes. His gaze is clouded by a tart tension. Hiccup never found himself. Hiccup misses his father. Hiccup does not have time to cope with all his duties. Hiccup tolerates the distrust of Vikings from other tribes. Hiccup gets tired of the moral pressure and daily work. Hiccup closes in on himself. And, as one of the closest, Astrid sees it.

She used to be unhappy when Hiccup and Toothless ran away together, preferring flights and research to duty to the tribe. Now Astrid watches Hiccup write scroll after scroll, and finds herself almost wishing he would run away. He needs rest. 

Astrid no longer glows with pride when Hiccup gives her part of his duties - she herself asks him about it because she wants to lighten his burden. Astrid was one of the strongest Vikings of Berk and was very proud of it, but she is beginning to realize that the weight that Hiccup carries on his shoulders, only he can bear. 

Astrid looks up at the monument of Stoick the Vast. He ran the tribe alone, coped with the loss of his wife alone, and raised his son alone. Astrid is amazed by Stoick's steadfastness, but she understands that she does not want the same fate for Hiccup.

(Astrid is trying to force Hiccup to rest. Another small point demonstrating the development of her character).

dean deblois listen to me. listen to me dean deblois. we don’t want a live action. we want a new series that serves the same function as rtte except instead of taking place between the first and second movie, it takes place between the second and third. please dean deblois save us dean deblois

"Stoick was just as bad as Spitelout" just say you didnt watch Riders of Berk

I am once again thinking about the reluctant ruler whose arc justly and correctly includes assuming the throne and taking responsibility for the people set before them