How To Train Your Dragon Archives | Otaku No Culture

The Fantasy and Freedom Found with The Flight of Dragons

Peter Dickinson’s The Flight of Dragons looks at the mythical origins of the creature and postulates how they may have evolved based on real life science.

The Flight of Dragons Book Cover — This book is available for those who know where to look.

Not since 30 years ago has there been a worthy look at the nomenclature of dragons. Author Peter Dickinson and illustrator Wayne Anderson crafted the brilliant The Flight of Dragons. It’s a book that’s sadly forgotten. This unique tome and movie based on it looks at the mythical origins of the creature and postulates how they may have evolved based on real life science.

Literary observation and historical research fills the pages. The read is like that of a textbook. Dickinson draws upon centuries of research from clerics to theologians to explore the habitat and biology of a dragon. In what he gleams from various novelists, especially from Tolkien to McCaffrey, the ideas presented here read like something Charles Darwin would write.

Some readers might liken this work to that of On the Origin of Species. The prose is sometimes difficult to read, and whats presented is nothing like the Book of Dragons, as penned by a youthful Hiccup in the animated series How to Train Your Dragon. In the novels, Fishlegs is responsible for chronicling what they discover. His version gives stats and descriptions alongside illustrations. In Dickinson’s version, the drawings are phenomenally detailed. It’s doubtful that Hiccup will ever dissect a beast just to explain how the digestion system works.

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Spin Master Releases more Dragons, Chibi-Style!

In time, the rest can be found or toy collectors can scour the Internet and pay collector’s price for Spin Master toys latest HTTYD figures.

IMG_0076- small The next wave of Spin Master’s Dragons: Defenders of Berk toys are here, and some of them look terrific for any How to Train Your Dragon fan to put on his or her shelf. Just like the original release, the same points of articulation can be found. That’s mostly with the neck joint so the head is poseable and there is limited bendability for the wings and tails.

Three more three-inch figures spotlighting these serpentine creatures are given the cute treatment and they are Thornado, Hookfang, and Belch & Barf. Also included in this new round is a Toothless variant with an appropriately painted on brown leather tail over the mold.

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Breaking down the Next Stage of Dragons: Defenders of Berk

How Defenders of Berk will continue will be interesting since the team will have to learn more about how to function as a unit.

Dragons_defenders_of_berk_poster_1 A sure sign that the How to Train Your Dragon series has entered the mainstream consciousness is when it starts to allude to well known movies in pop culture. In this case, the premiere episode of Dragons: Defenders of Berk, refers to the Dragon Training Academy as a secret Flight than Fight Club. That’s because, in the wake of the previous season’s finale where Alvin and the Outcasts finally learn the secret of how to train the dragons they captured, Hiccup’s team has been banned from patrolling the isle of Berk.

Stoick, Hiccup’s father, is afraid that the youths are in over their heads with what’s coming.

The citizens of Berk will face invasion by Alvin’s tribe. It is coming. Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Tuff and Ruff think they can handle it, but Stoick does not. He thinks they do not have the skills as fully trained warriors. They have to know how to fight.

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September is Going To Be A Busy Dragons Month for How to Train Your Dragon Fans!

In the new season, DreamWorks Dragons: Defenders of Berk , Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his dragon Toothless lead the way as the gang graduates from experienced riders to confident defenders.

Dragons Defenders of Berk on Cartoon Network Poster So just when is the next season going to begin for the How To Train Your Dragon television series? Dragons: Defenders of Berk, as its now called, will begin Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. (ET, PT) on Cartoon Network.

Toys have been trickling into the toy stores and the excitement for what’s coming will definitely build to the release of the second movie, due in theatres June 13th, 2014. With that in mind, Alvin the Treacherous and Mildew will no doubt pair up to cause problems for everyone living on Berk. Quite a bit of fuss has been built upon to show how useless Mildew seems to be, but when he turned trecherous, the tale is as exciting as the books originally penned by Cressida Cowell.

Even the next book in the fictional universe, How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero, is expected to be released in the UK the very same month. The North American release is expected to follow a month later.

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JumpStart’s School of Dragons Needs a Better Cirriculum

In terms of continuity, some astute pupils may wonder why Hiccup is not the Headmaster in School of Dragons.

Welcome to the School of Dragons Despite the fact that the Summer is not yet over, fans of Dreamworks Animation‘s How to Train Your Dragon will soon be going to school. JumpStart launched an online educational product, School of Dragons, that will get young fans excited for science, botany and perhaps a whole lot more—namely Dragon Flight school.

This MMORPG went live in June for beta-testing. As new players come in to check this game out, they will soon find out that there is a membership fee (starting at $9.95 USD per month) to access the game’s higher functions like customizing their avatar or earning free coins.

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How to Keep on Selling and Loving How to Train Your Dragon Beyond its Source Material.

Both the novels and animated series in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise can be enjoyed as its own separate entities.

How to Train your Dragon Poster DreamWorks has a solid winner in How to Train Your Dragon. Loosely based on Cressida Cowell’s novel of the same name, the film offers a refreshing spin on dragon folklore. With nods to legends of old, the caricature-driven CGI world here does more than stir the imagination—it hints at a saga in the making. Given the number of books in the series, there’s ample material for future adaptations. Writer-directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders doesn’t seem too concerned about diverging from the source material, and for good reason.

A veteran of the animation scene, Sanders is best known for Lilo & Stitch, and he brings much of that magic to DreamWorks. Look closely and you might notice that Toothless the dragon bears a striking resemblance to the alien Stitch.

Instead of a girl meeting an extraterrestrial, the story ventures into a fantasy realm where a young boy, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), encounters a dragon. His Viking village is at war with the entire dragon race, and in preparation for the next generation of warriors, Hiccup attends a training school. Instead of following the rules, however, he skips classes to secretly rehabilitate a wounded dragon. The real question becomes: who is training whom? These moments of mutual discovery are among the film’s most engaging, with a few irresistibly adorable scenes as the bond grows—much like in Lilo & Stitch.

When Hiccup and Toothless take to the skies, the aerial sequences are breathtaking, rivaling and arguably surpassing anything in Avatar. Even James Cameron could take a few notes here.

The film’s slightly exaggerated, cartoon-like style makes it more charming than if it had pursued pure photo-realism. At its core is a powerful message: alliances are possible, even between sworn enemies. The story doesn’t shy away from the cost of conflict either; battles leave their scars, lending the film a welcome touch of realism.

The franchise’s reach extends beyond the big screen. The television series Dragons: Riders of Berk has shown that Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut can do more than tame dragons—they can work alongside them. The upcoming series, Dragons: Defenders of Berk, will see the heroes face Alvin and the Outcasts. Given the previous season’s cliffhanger, Berk’s residents may be facing a full-scale invasion. Life in their once-secluded village is changing, and Hiccup might soon have to learn what it takes to be a leader—perhaps even a king. While the books have never served as a strict blueprint for the animated series, familiar plot points are beginning to emerge.

Both the How to Train Your Dragon novels and the animated series stand on their own, offering different yet equally enjoyable experiences. For fans awaiting the next instalment—whether in theatres, on streaming platforms, or as part of the live-action reimagining—reading the books is a great way to keep the magic alive. There’s room to expand this world in many directions, from side stories for the supporting cast to deeper arcs for familiar faces, with or without direct ties to Cressida Cowell’s source material. It’s rarely worth reinventing the wheel; new interpretations will come in time. For now, growing the How to Train Your Dragon universe feels like the best path forward.

5 out of 5