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GreyCloudCat β How to Train Your Dragon, THE BOOK SERIES
Published: 2014-06-19 21:52:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 2919; Favourites: 29; Downloads: 3
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So the second movie for this series is coming out, and I was feeling so sad about that that I decided to do some fan art of the true main characters of this series.ΒI hear your questions. "What? Grey, that movie was awesome! Why don't you like it?" or "that movie's based off of a book?"
I'll tell you why I don't like it. In itself, it's a good movie, but it just butchered the original characters so much that it hurt to watch it. I could go on for a decent page-long rant about how much they screwed everything up, but honestly I'm too tired for that and it would be better for you to just read the series and judge for yourself.
Anyways, love this series, it's so intelligent and funny and unexpected. Seriously, these books have the most unexpected plot twists I've ever seen in a series, ever. I love Hiccup's exasperation with everyone less intelligent than him, Camicazi's badassery (she came out kinda looking like a pirate but oh well XD), and Fishleg's loyalty and general misery at his lot in life.
Ok. I'll allow myself to rant about one thing: Toothless.
What the FRICK, Dreamworks??!! In the original series he's green, terrier-sized, and actually has no teeth. How the HELL do you get a giant-ass black flying dragon with retractable fangs from that??!! The whole goddamn book series is about learning to deal with and accept your own weakness, not about having a fricking giant ass dragon that can easily rip people's goddamn heads off and carry you around!!! THAT DEFEATS THE ENTIRE MESSAGE OF THE SERIES!!! It's about being the hero the hard way, not hey look guyz I'm on my dragon lookit me imma hero y'all!!!!
Anyway. Sorry for being negative.
I could rant for so much longer, but I'll spare you. The movie's good, if you ignore the fact that it's based on a book. You should read the series though, it's awesome.
and if you're wondering what Fishleg's shadow is about, well that's a spoiler for book 10 XD
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Comments: 53
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I agree whit you. The book is more characteristic, artistic, and brilliant than movie. I really love the protagonists of the book. The movie not bad, but not my faveurite. I love the movie before I read the book. God damn that book! My faveurite!
The characters, the villians!Β
The original serie is a glorius work.
I wish the movie were like the book.
(sorry for the bad english)
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FINALLY SOMEONE WHO BRINGS THIS UP!
I am here to express my own opinion, and I have no real hate for the movie version soooo pls no judge meh
I absolutely agree with you. The movies overshadow the books, they really do, and everytime after I read the books and think about the movies, I get super angry. God-freaking ASTRID, the ridiculous badass, and rages too much, replaces the cheeky, hilarious, boastful little CAMICAZI! Then they make this whole new ship, Hiccstrid, and HicCami/HicCazi was left in the shadows. BOI DREAMWORKS YOU GOT ME TRIGGERED
And Toothless. Hey, don't get me wrong, I like movie Toothless. BUT Book Toothless was much more interesting in character and story, and he has a bond with Hiccup that has staged for so long, and it was hard for them to bond in the first few books. The movie literally only need like what, I don't know, only a WEEK for Hiccup to bond with Toothless, who is a giant deadly murderous dragon twice his size! AND THE BOOK TOOTHLESS WAS JUST A LITTLE TEENY WEENY DRAGON WHO CAN EVEN FIT IN HICCUP'S WAISTCOAT, AND HICCUP NEED MONTHS TO BOND WITH SUCH A SMALL DRAGON SUFFERING SCALLOPS
BOOK Fishlegs, from a sarcastic, hilarious, skinny little prawn that is closer with Hiccup than ANYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD, into MOVIE Fishlegs, which is completely giant-ass FAT, knows everything about dragons more than Hiccup, and is NOT CLOSE WITH HICCUP AT ALL, ONLY AFTER HICCUP CHANGED THE WORLD THERE HE WANTS TO BEFRIEND HIM
WHY DID THEY CHANGE THE ENTIRE STORY HOLY GOD DREAMWORKS AGAIN YOU GOT ME TRIGGERED AS HELL
I CAN IMAGINE THE ENTIRE BOOK SERIES ANIMATED
IT'S NOT EASY BUT IT'S GOD FREAKING POSSIBLE
(better try to do that myself ahaha >: D)
I have too much to rant about so I'm gonna stop here haha
So sorry to sound so hateful and negative towards the movies, and don't get me wrong, the movies were NEARLY as good as the books, and I am a Dragonmarker as well as a Dragonite
I respect the movie fandom as well. Just remember, I'm a Hiccazi/Hiccami shipper, and... just keep Hiccstrid away from my two precious babies >: )
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I don't mean to hate on the film, my opinion isn't supreme, but, to be completely honest, I think the books have better concepts for characters.
I really agree with the whole 'Toothless' not being 'toothless'. In the films, they may as well call them 'Hiccup the Useful and His Dragon Toothfull'. (Also, they very rarely use the 'retractable fangs' thing anyway, so he is technically 'Toothfull' for the majority of the two films.)
I believe that someone brought this up before, but Alvin isn't as 'main' as he is in the book, nor is he as interesting. (Spoiler Alert: he loses eyes, limbs, grows warts and steadily loses humanity.)
Fishlegs is supposed to be (Spoiler Alert) scrawnier and worse at everything than Hiccup, but in the films Fishlegs is bulky, his riding dragon doesn't buck him off every second (Chickenpoxer) and HE'S the one who gives everyone rundowns on dragons.
I don't like the clichΓ© approach they took to the story. I'm not saying this makes the movie bad. It's probably the best animated love story ever made. But I kinda wish they made it a bit like the Harry Potter film series. (Use the original story and change it up SLIGHTLY so that it keeps people who have read the books interested) I can imagine a live action movie with Hiccup and the SMALL Toothless. The last few books would make really intense movie adaptions. (There's still the possibility of this type of film. I mean, there ARE two Charlie and the Chocolate Factory films.)
Finally, (Another spoiler alert) WHERE DID DRAGONESE GO? That was, like, the mainest main thing about the entire book series! Being a Dragon-Whisperer is a part of Hiccup's King personality, and it's what gave the DRAGONS so much personality in the first place. They weren't just reptilian cats with wings, they were a species to rival humans.
Again, I'm not hating on the film. Like I said before, the films are the best animated love stories ever, and the idea of a flame sword is as, or potentially more, interesting than (Spoiler alert again) the concept of the Endeavour. (Did I spell that right?) I just wanted to bring up my problems with the films.
(By the way, I just got the four books I needed to get the full HTTYD series, books 3, 8, 9 and 10 and only having the audiobook of book 1, books 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11 and 12 until just recently caused me to read them in a really fucked up order, so I get your metaphor with Fishlegs' shadow and I haven't even started on book 10 yet. Β )
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Agree to disagree , the books are good and funny but I like the movies better He, HeΒ
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YES, ANOTHER 'BOOKS ARE BETTER' SQUAD MEMBER.
The books don't have nearly enough fan-art
They're awesome, I have all of them.Β
The ending though.Β
;-;
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I read the books, and I thought they sucked 
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Lol
In my opinion the books were for young adults above 12, not for children xD
The plot caught me off-guard in book 9 when I was about 9 or 10
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dude I made that comment like 3 years ago lmao
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Ahaha idc xD
Everything is relevant to me
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I did like the movie....but then I found out about the book.... I can never watch that movie the same way
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I know, man. The struggle is real.
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I know, right?
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I just recently started reading the books. I've heard the audio stories of the first few books and read the last 3 of them. I must say that I did not expect to like the books, but I did! Storywise it's actually more original and darker than the movies. I especially like the villain Alvin in the book series. Way more terrifying and slightly hilarious than Drago, which was a rather one-dimensional villain.
What I wonder is if Cressida is not disappointed with the movies. I read that she loves them. But I don't know, if I were in her shoes I would be disappointed with all the changes they made. The only thing they kept were the names of some characters and the theme of Vikings riding on the backs of dragons..
But I do know for a fact that they tried to translate the book stories on the big screen, but they had trouble with it. That's why they changed so much of it.
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Aw, glad you like the series! I agree, the books start cheery enough but get progressively darker. And the VILLAINS. Don't get me started, they're awesome XD
I think being an author who wrote books that were poorly adapted into movies is a bit of a two sided thing. On one hand, you get to see your characters in a whole new way, not to mention you get people interested in your writing and earn a ton 'o money. On the other hand, it can HURT to see your characters and story warped beyond recognition. So, i dunno. It can be good or bad or both. I understand why she likes the movies though. I honestly like the movies, too, but it just makes me angry that they changed so much.
Wish movie companies were a bit better at making books movies...
my favorite series is being made into a movie, and I've got to say I'm preparing for the worst :/
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I didn't know the book series before I saw the movie. When I first heard about them I was disappointed the books were nothing like the movie, now it's the other way around. XD. It's such a shame that they made Alvin such a generic villain in the tv series. I think what's so brilliant about the books is that he either loses a limb or gets more warts. Pretty original if you ask me!
Having said that I do wonder what HTTYD 3 will be about.
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I've read the series since third grade, and the movie really stabbed me where it hurt- right in the nostalgia XD. And Alvin really is a great villain in the series. My favorite villain has to be Snotlout, though, just because of how much his character grows XD.
Me, too. I hope they don't bring in Camicazi because I don't want to see what they'll do to her :/
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I bet that Hiccup and Sstrid will have a daughter called Camicazi. Dunno, seems like the thing Dreamworks would do.
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Meh. Don't like it :c
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The main problem with movies based on books is that everyone judges them based on the book. The movie is never the book. The book is solely the inspiration, the idea starter. They're going to take artistic liberties with it, because if they don't, why make it at all? The book already told that story. The movies are a chance for reinterpretation and reinvention, in the same way that fan art is.
I'm sure the books are great. I'm actually very interested in reading them. But they are completely separate from the movies and both series should be viewed as individual stories.
I'll allow myself to rant about one other thing: Toothless.
Toothless from the movie is the best thing that has ever happened to anyone. He is the most perfect design/idea/cartoon character ever created, ESPECIALLY in terms of dragons, and I will destroy the souls of everyone who ever hates on him. (Lol, this is the fangirl spewage portion of the rant, I'll be more rational now 
I understand the concept of overcoming weaknesses. That's really cool and I'm sure the book Toothless pulls it off really well and much more directly than the movie does. However, I don't think you're giving movie Toothless enough credit. He still portrays that concept, just in a different way. If you watch his development, he's incredibly vulnerable. For starters, he can't even FLY (something that every other dragon can do) unless Hiccup helps him. He's very sensitive emotionally and takes things to heart. We see that especially when SPOILER ALERT DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SECOND MOVIE Hiccup yells at him after what he did and tells him to leave. He gets emotionally invested and it can be a weakness when he screws up. And he does indeed screw up. SPOILER ALERT AGAIN He gets taken over by the Alpha, just like every other dragon. Even he can't resist it. Hiccup has to help him come back. Otherwise, he would've been brainwashed for who knows how long. He's not invincible or all-powerful. He's just a dragon. There are even things as simple as him ignoring Hiccup at first when he visited and studied him. He tried to shut him out at first, but he needed help and someone to rely on, so he was forced to have humility and befriend him.
Underdogs are fine. Everyone loves an underdog story, me especially, so having a little, weak dragon overcome its weaknesses is great. I'm really, truly excited to see how the book portrays him. But it can be even more effective to have someone who, at first, appears strong and invincible, and is later revealed to have fears, doubts, and vulnerabilities. Their imperfections are revealed through the events of the story. And when they are, it's powerful. It's a reminder that not a single soul is perfect, not even fictional characters.
You have valid points here, but I strongly believe the movie (at least the first one) is incredibly well-done. It's one of my favorites of all time. And it's a completely different story from the book.
Also.....Don't hate Toothless. Movie Toothless is wonderful. You can't deny it.
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What you say is true, you have valid points. Keep in mind that I never said I hated the movies. In fact, I really like the movies, I think they're well made and really brilliant. However, I think your compareson to fan art is spot on. Those movies just borrow off of the original, and I honestly believe that makes them lacking creativity. Dreamworks simply took an existing story and adapted it to fit dreamwork's purposes (all Dreamworks movies generally aim to be extremely heartwarming/ life-lessony). That's all fine, until they warp the original author's ideas so much that they become unrecognizable. I know that the author allowed her work to be adapted, but it's just my personal opinion that the ideas and creative choices of the original author should be respected.
Yes, movie toothless is badass, and was vulnerable, and everyone loves him, me included. However, there are quite a few reasons I like the book toothless better. Honestly, I could go for a long while about this, but I feel like (this is my opinion, please don't lynch me) in the movie, Hiccup and Toothless's relationship is pretty contrived and unrealistic. I may be wrong, but it just felt like hiccup made friends with a giant, wild, injured, fire-breathing animal far too quickly to make sense. In the books, it takes Hiccup and Toothless MONTHS to even slightly begin working together, and they naturally begin to forge a bond over a long period of time. (also, a reason I don't like Toothless's redesign in the movies is that it really felt like it was trying to pander to the audience. Dreamworks thinks people would rather watch a movie about a big black scary dragon that a small green one)
The biggest problem i have with the movies is that it takes characters I love, characters i've forged a bond with, and completely changes them or gets rid of them completely. For example, I can tell you play Kingdom hearts. I don't, so bear with me here. Imagine they came out with a new kingdom hearts game. You're so excited, it's a series you love and you can't wait to try it out. Imagine your surprise and disgust when this game turns out to be disturbingly different from the rest of the series. And I don't just mean minor changes: Β all the character's personalities are wrong, they've changed/gotten rid of many of the stages, they added a bund of really unnecessary / annoying characters, the theme of the whole game is weird, and your favorite character was completely omitted and/or so changed that you didn't even realize it was them until another character called them by name. This game isn't necessarily bad; in fact, you'd like it except for how it's mutilated people you love. Then, however, this new game starts becoming more popular than the originals. Everywhere you look, there's fan art and people exclaiming how they're the biggest kingdom hearts fans just because they love this game. You still like to play the originals, but whenever you recommend them to people the reactions are either "There are other kingdom hearts games?" or "Ew, i played those and they're terrible, they're nothing like the new one." This new game turned something you love into something completely different, something that is becoming increasingly hard to share with others. After awhile, you just get bitter. Do you see where I'm coming from? That's how the HTTYD movies are like for me; I've read and loved this series since third grade, but the movies completely overshadow and twist the books. It doesn't mean the movies are bad or that people aren't allowed to like them.Β
Again, all of this is purely my opinion.
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I totally understand and neither person is right or wrong here. I was just showing the other perspective.
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No, I know. I wasn't trying to change your opinion or anything, just to give mine
You should read the books, though. even if you prefer the movie, they're still really good XD
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oh, i'm planning to read them! just gotta find time.....i work every single day DX
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Ooh, that sucks XD
well, I hope you get time eventually
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Finally someone who's read the books! While I do enjoy the movies (though I view them more as a "re-imagining" than an actual "adaptation" and can see them as completely different stories from the books) I LOVE the books and can't wait until number 12 (though I am a slight bit anxious)! I love what you did with Fishlegs' shadow *wink wink nudge nudge* and Camicazi looks like the in-book BAMF she is (I was disappointed with Astrid being the "Camicazi" of the film...)
I do understand your problems with the films though. How they got a horse-sized demon-dragon out of Toothless the Toothless Daydream (*cough*maybesomethingbetter*cough*) I'll never understand....
Great work! I love it!
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I completely agree with the "finally, someone who's read the books!" It feels like no one's read them 
I'm also so excited for book twelve. CRESSIDA COWELL, WHY YOU NO WIRTE FASTER??!! ;D
I'm really worried about the dragons though! I CAN'T LIVE IN A WORLD WITHOUT THEM!!!
Camicazi is the best. Astrid bothers me precisely because she's essentially camicazi's replacement. If dreamworks had just had Camicazi come in early, i would have been fine, but they just went and replaced her⦠makes me wanna cry
And I love toothless's plot twist 
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I don't mind the movies generating hype. In fact, the movies is how I found the book series. All good things in moderation though (I did see film #2 recently and was...pleased? confused? conflicted?...yes. Conflicted. I was conflicted.) and I believe that, as an adaptation, they didn't do too bad. Too much to all (I think at the time movie one came out there were...) 4-6 books in one movie would have Harry Pottered the damn thing and we would have hated it.
Did you see the comprehensive guide to dragons Hiccup (Cressida) put out? It's hella cute!
I would have liked Camicazi. I would have LOVED Camicazi. I'm OKAY with Astrid. She is...a subpar substitute but...no Camacazi. Plus I can never really see Camacazi with Hiccup but with Fishlegs instead. IDK...weird ship but :I Yet after what they did to Alvin...I'm pretty sure they did us a favour by not touching Camacazi. (At least Astrid is a strong character who isn't just there to be arm candy for Hiccup.)
THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME! IT IS KILLING ME! I NEED THE NEXT BOOK NOW!!!!!!!!
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Yeah, I suppose you're right. I just wish there was a possibility for another movie that was truer to the books.
I did see it! I'm kinda working my way through it whenever I have free time.
I could see fish legs and camicazi, that's not too weird. And I really wish camicazi was there, but you're right, they probably would just screw her up, too.
What did they do to Alvin? I haven't seen the second movie yet.
I WANT THE NEXT BOOK SOOOOO BAD
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Alvin's not in the movies so much as the TV show. They took spindly little conniving Alvin the "Poor but Honest Farmer" and turned him into this hulking bear of a man. While he is clever and he is evil and his is the leader of the Outcasts, he's just not the same. Book!Alvin is a helluva lot scarier that TV!Alvin imo.
I swear, if time travel was possible, I'd jump to when its released, buy a copy, and come back and read away to my heart's content.
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Ah, that's a shame. Oh well :/
Yes. All the yes. Time travel must become real right now.
Except you wouldn't be able to talk to anyone about it, and that would suck.
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I never thought about that! 0n0
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OH MY GOSH that's so so so so awesome! i LOVE fishlegs shadow, and couldn't agree more with everything you just said about the book vs movie (ps welcome back from iceland!!!!!)
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YAY! and glad to be back
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I have heard about the books but I've never actually seen them in bookstores T.T
It's a shame because when I saw the movie I wanted to read the books too but I sort of forgot 'bout them
And I love Camicazi's hair.
So floosh.
Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Very blonde.
Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β
Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Wow.
XD
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I know, they're really good though, you should keep looking for them
and I love camicazi's hair so much
fwoosh
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Yay! Do it, they do NOT disappoint.
Also, that series is a series that gets better with each new book, so the first book is pretty great but each book after that gets better and better and asdjdfsfjkssfbjhfd
I'm kind of on a how to train your dragon kick right now XD
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Hehe. I'm sure I'll enjoy it! ^^
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