Post by sairen on Sept 16, 2012 9:51:43 GMT -5
Torch was kind of a brat, but actually, I think that works in this story really well. If only for showing a change in Hiccup.
And here's my TL:DR.
Hiccup seemed soooort of arrogant in this episode. And not in an OOC way, because we've actually been getting hints of it. In the movie, it was established Hiccup had trouble believing in himself and part of the movie was learning to do that. And yet, while he couldn't believe in himself, he also felt he had to do things on his own, to prove himself. A pretty terrible combination, really. But he trusted his instincts, it paid off, and did something great.
But he hasn't learned to depend on OTHERS yet, except for Toothless. He can accept help, but rarely is it Hiccup's first instinct to get help from others. When the kids got together in the movie? It was Astrid. When the kids were recruited to train dragons? It was after Astrid pointed out there was only one of him. He doesn't really know how to ask for help.
Hiccup believes he's the best person for the job when it concerns dragons. And honestly, he is! But it also seems like Hiccup forgets that they don't really know that much about dragons at times. He's found something he's good at, he wants to PROVE HE'S GOOD AT IT, and so tries to show off he's better at it than everyone else. I don't think this is a conscious decision though. This is probably just another bad habit Hiccup has since he did spend most of his life desperate to prove himself. Thus why he has to do things on his own, and why he feels like he should be listened to with dragons.
In the first episode, when Hiccup interjects about dragons being dragons when Mildew first complains instead of letting his father handle it. When he goes to Gobber about making saddles. Gobber did teach everything Hiccup knew, he should know he's good. Gobber has had to make normal saddles before if he taught Hiccup how to make them, why did Hiccup automatically assume he couldn't do it without his notes? Because Hiccup was entrusting some aspect about dragons COMPLETELY to someone else. Admittedly, he was right to be wary, but why not just tell Gobber to make normal saddles. Why did he NEED Hiccup's design?
Though an interesting little note; it's kind of funny that with GOBBER feeling displace, he started inventing weird things. Like Hiccup did when he felt he had no place. It was a cute little parallel.
There's nothing I can think of off the top of my head for Animal House. Though maybe his insistence to keep working on dragons and animals getting along despite everything going to hell could have been? It was kind of a lapse of judgment to not realize the problem.
And now onto Terrible Twos. And the first time where I was actually questioning what's up with Hiccup was...with Fishlegs. Just how Fishlegs reacted. He got mad and defensive at Hiccup and Fishlegs looked really hurt. Now part of this could be some Fishlegs problems. (Maybe insecure now that Hiccup isn't in the worst Viking spot anymore.) But Hiccup wouldn't have much opportunity to make someone almost cry, since he was always at the bottom of the pack, and the fact he blew it off seems kind of telling. He thought he was right, and Fishlegs was being silly, he had no reason to be upset.
Then the arrogance kind of shined through more when Hiccup thought he knew dragons BETTER THAN A DRAGON. Hiccup has seen to other dragons before without Toothless getting defensive, why did he get defensive this time? He hadn't even shown Torch that much attention yet, so he couldn't be jealous then. Toothless would ahve to know something, but...Hiccup didn't think of it and just focused on helping the dragon. And after that, he just kind of blew off Toothless maybe knowing more.
Heck, even if what Hiccup saw was right, maybe that was just a thing dragons do! After all, that's not the first time Hiccup's seen Toothless pick on a small dragon before. *Directs your attention to one of Shade's gifs.* He even showed a Terrible Terror more attention than he showed Torch at first! And he knows Toothless would harass a Terror harassing him, and Torch wasn't exactly the MOST well behaved. Not as much of a brat in front of Hiccup, but he wasn't a little angel either. But he got an idea in his head and he stuck to it. Making Torch a little brat just emphasized how much Hiccup was truly missing.
And when the truth came to light, HIccup realized right away what was wrong. The idea MADE SENSE to him, so why couldn't have he have thought of it earlier? Yes, there was miscommunication, but there's also a part of Hiccup that's getting just a bit too cocky about his own ability. Which is mostly tempered by the fact Hiccup generally cares and wants to help others. Which will keep him from acting like, say, Snoutlout. But it also means he might think he's right when he's NOT and with him usually doing things for others, that can be dangerous.
Like sending away your friends, WHO HAVE THEIR DRAGONS RIGHT THERE, and you just run off into the woods and hope you can get to Toothless before the dragon gets you. Serious problem asking for help.
I think Hiccup is coming into a problem of not knowing how to deal with being GOOD at something and being RESPECTED for it. And not knowing how to properly deal with that. He went from a life on the lowest rung, trying to impress everyone, and trying to act confident probably so he didn't have a complete mental breakdown and suddenly he's found something he's good at, has everyone's approval, and is the go to guy for things.
But he still has all the habits he did before. The only habit of his that truly changes was believing in himself. His desire to impress and get approval is still there. Knowing dragons gets him approval. ACT LIKE HE KNOWS ALL ABOUT DRAGONS. And since it is true that he's the best man for the job when it comes to dragons, it's easy to fall into the trap that he's the only one truly capable. Thus his slight control issues.
Right now, it's not too bad. And I don't think Hiccup needs to be dragged down off his high horse, he's not on that high of a horse. It's good for him to be confident, but what Hiccup needs right now is to find the place where he's CONFIDENT, but isn't bridging into ARROGANT. Since it's a very, very fine line. When you reach arrogant, it would not be hard to go from slight to very. Which I think is going to be one of his character arcs. Learn how to ASK for help, learn to lean on others, learn how to accept he's good at something without needing to be the ONLY one good at it, and learn how to be his truly confident self without arrogance.
...and there was my TL:DR.
And here's my TL:DR.
Hiccup seemed soooort of arrogant in this episode. And not in an OOC way, because we've actually been getting hints of it. In the movie, it was established Hiccup had trouble believing in himself and part of the movie was learning to do that. And yet, while he couldn't believe in himself, he also felt he had to do things on his own, to prove himself. A pretty terrible combination, really. But he trusted his instincts, it paid off, and did something great.
But he hasn't learned to depend on OTHERS yet, except for Toothless. He can accept help, but rarely is it Hiccup's first instinct to get help from others. When the kids got together in the movie? It was Astrid. When the kids were recruited to train dragons? It was after Astrid pointed out there was only one of him. He doesn't really know how to ask for help.
Hiccup believes he's the best person for the job when it concerns dragons. And honestly, he is! But it also seems like Hiccup forgets that they don't really know that much about dragons at times. He's found something he's good at, he wants to PROVE HE'S GOOD AT IT, and so tries to show off he's better at it than everyone else. I don't think this is a conscious decision though. This is probably just another bad habit Hiccup has since he did spend most of his life desperate to prove himself. Thus why he has to do things on his own, and why he feels like he should be listened to with dragons.
In the first episode, when Hiccup interjects about dragons being dragons when Mildew first complains instead of letting his father handle it. When he goes to Gobber about making saddles. Gobber did teach everything Hiccup knew, he should know he's good. Gobber has had to make normal saddles before if he taught Hiccup how to make them, why did Hiccup automatically assume he couldn't do it without his notes? Because Hiccup was entrusting some aspect about dragons COMPLETELY to someone else. Admittedly, he was right to be wary, but why not just tell Gobber to make normal saddles. Why did he NEED Hiccup's design?
Though an interesting little note; it's kind of funny that with GOBBER feeling displace, he started inventing weird things. Like Hiccup did when he felt he had no place. It was a cute little parallel.
There's nothing I can think of off the top of my head for Animal House. Though maybe his insistence to keep working on dragons and animals getting along despite everything going to hell could have been? It was kind of a lapse of judgment to not realize the problem.
And now onto Terrible Twos. And the first time where I was actually questioning what's up with Hiccup was...with Fishlegs. Just how Fishlegs reacted. He got mad and defensive at Hiccup and Fishlegs looked really hurt. Now part of this could be some Fishlegs problems. (Maybe insecure now that Hiccup isn't in the worst Viking spot anymore.) But Hiccup wouldn't have much opportunity to make someone almost cry, since he was always at the bottom of the pack, and the fact he blew it off seems kind of telling. He thought he was right, and Fishlegs was being silly, he had no reason to be upset.
Then the arrogance kind of shined through more when Hiccup thought he knew dragons BETTER THAN A DRAGON. Hiccup has seen to other dragons before without Toothless getting defensive, why did he get defensive this time? He hadn't even shown Torch that much attention yet, so he couldn't be jealous then. Toothless would ahve to know something, but...Hiccup didn't think of it and just focused on helping the dragon. And after that, he just kind of blew off Toothless maybe knowing more.
Heck, even if what Hiccup saw was right, maybe that was just a thing dragons do! After all, that's not the first time Hiccup's seen Toothless pick on a small dragon before. *Directs your attention to one of Shade's gifs.* He even showed a Terrible Terror more attention than he showed Torch at first! And he knows Toothless would harass a Terror harassing him, and Torch wasn't exactly the MOST well behaved. Not as much of a brat in front of Hiccup, but he wasn't a little angel either. But he got an idea in his head and he stuck to it. Making Torch a little brat just emphasized how much Hiccup was truly missing.
And when the truth came to light, HIccup realized right away what was wrong. The idea MADE SENSE to him, so why couldn't have he have thought of it earlier? Yes, there was miscommunication, but there's also a part of Hiccup that's getting just a bit too cocky about his own ability. Which is mostly tempered by the fact Hiccup generally cares and wants to help others. Which will keep him from acting like, say, Snoutlout. But it also means he might think he's right when he's NOT and with him usually doing things for others, that can be dangerous.
Like sending away your friends, WHO HAVE THEIR DRAGONS RIGHT THERE, and you just run off into the woods and hope you can get to Toothless before the dragon gets you. Serious problem asking for help.
I think Hiccup is coming into a problem of not knowing how to deal with being GOOD at something and being RESPECTED for it. And not knowing how to properly deal with that. He went from a life on the lowest rung, trying to impress everyone, and trying to act confident probably so he didn't have a complete mental breakdown and suddenly he's found something he's good at, has everyone's approval, and is the go to guy for things.
But he still has all the habits he did before. The only habit of his that truly changes was believing in himself. His desire to impress and get approval is still there. Knowing dragons gets him approval. ACT LIKE HE KNOWS ALL ABOUT DRAGONS. And since it is true that he's the best man for the job when it comes to dragons, it's easy to fall into the trap that he's the only one truly capable. Thus his slight control issues.
Right now, it's not too bad. And I don't think Hiccup needs to be dragged down off his high horse, he's not on that high of a horse. It's good for him to be confident, but what Hiccup needs right now is to find the place where he's CONFIDENT, but isn't bridging into ARROGANT. Since it's a very, very fine line. When you reach arrogant, it would not be hard to go from slight to very. Which I think is going to be one of his character arcs. Learn how to ASK for help, learn to lean on others, learn how to accept he's good at something without needing to be the ONLY one good at it, and learn how to be his truly confident self without arrogance.
...and there was my TL:DR.