We’re back to Dragons and taking a look at the next 3
episodes of Race to the Edge
Snotlout’s Angels
Charlie, you have competition, though it is Snotlout so not
much.
Astrid is mad at Snotlout for totally justifiable reasons.
During the fight, we don’t know exactly what he said to Astrid but it pisses
her off majorly. She storms off and begins searching for something in her hut.
Hiccup, having found out encourages Snotlout to leave immediately so Astrid can
cool off. He does so, flying right into a storm, Snotlout’s helmet is struck by
lightning and he falls off. Hookfang dives down to rescue him but he’s picked
up by girls with wings.
The others soon are concerned and Hiccup has them all
prepare to fly after him. He wakes up and thinks he’s in Valhalla. My Norse
mythology is rusty, I’ll admit, but don’t people only go to Valhalla if they
die in battle? Anyway, the ‘Wingmaidens’ who rescued him give him a goblet of
‘herbal tea’ and he chugs it down.
The others riders eventually find Hookfang who wants them to
follow him. Snotlout is feasting and his sexist garbage is rather repulsing the
wingmaidens, who reveal they plan to have Snotlout as part of their sacred
stew. Snotlout tries to escape but ends up captured. The riders follow hookfang
and have a brief encounter with the wingmaidens, discovering their village,
it’s decides that Heather, Astrid and Ruffnut will best go in alone, less they
earn their ire.
They meet up with the Wingmaidens who invite them their
village and explain that they don’t allow men here because of equally sexist
reasons. Heather and Ruffnut are tasked with keeping the chief busy whilst
Astrid searches for Snotlout. She finds him rather easily and eventually
releases him. But as the trio are to head out, they discover that the
Wingmaidens can fly thanks to baby Razorwhips on their backs, the same species
as Windshear.
Male Razorwhips will feed on the young and since they’re
born blind, they’re lacking in defence, so the Wingmaidens have been tasked
with protecting them until they’re able to defend themselves. Ruffnut
accidentally reveals that they’ve saved Snotlout and he’s heading to a
rendezvous in the Northern Mountains, where the Razorwhip mothers are, they
will attack and kill if they sense a male presence.
Snotlout is once again shown to be capable, and evades them
on his own for a while, he is eventually cornered but I appreciate the effort.
Snotlout and Astrid make up, and the Wingmaidens have learned about tolerance
and are allies to the riders.
It’s a solid episode though the Maidens’ turnaround is
jarring to say the least.
Rating 7.5/10
A Matter of Perspective
The Erupdadon and his son are able to stop another eruption
from hurting the village. But it’s clear the OG is weak and Mala says it’s
time. Meanwhile Hiccup is busy on his secret for some reason project. Astrid
knocks on the door and whilst she knows he’s up to something, she’s content to
wait until he’s ready to show them. In the meantime, they’ve got a message from
Mala.
With the OG eruptadon unable to continue, there is to a be a
‘changing of the guard’ ceremony after which he’ll retire to Vanaheim to live
out the rest of his life.
Now, since we know this show isn’t going into the 9 realms
territory, why pray-tell would anyone name anywhere after one of these realms.
It seems like it’s asking for trouble. Apparently, it’s the last resting place
of all dragons. This makes no sense, and why call it Vanaheim? Mala says
they’ve never seen and have never been inclined to look for it as it’s a place
that humans shouldn’t go. Hiccup seemingly agrees.
“If I had to say goodbye to Toothless, it’d be pretty sad”
go to town on that line, internet. The eruptadon departs and thanks to some
shenanigans the twins pull, they quickly follow. Hiccup soon finds out and is
on their trail, wanting to keep them away from the island. He fails in that
regard as they all arrive. Hiccup passes what he thinks are sentinel statues.
They pick up the twins and prepare to leave but as they do
so the statues come to life and attack, sending them back to the ground. It’s
rather barren looking place. The Vanir are gods associated with Fertility, it’s
rather sad how little vegetation there is. On a movie budget this place would
look gorgeous I’m sure.
Hiccup tries splitting up the group to split up the dragons
but the sentinels are smart and knock them all down again. They split up again,
but taking the ground route this time. Fishlegs is also keen to explore the
island so partnering him up with the twins is a monumentally bad idea.
No luck with the land exits but thanks to the Twins
categorising they realise that there no Nightfuries have ever made their resting
place here, which means the sentinels may not have the tactics to counter him.
It kinda works, and Hiccup realises that the sentinels are blind. However he
also realises that going to Berk for help means telling more humans about the
sacred island and he doesn’t want that to happen.
Whilst looking from above he watches the crew tend to the
island, realising that they can pick fruit without seeing it, so they’re able
to smell it. Hiccup comes up with the idea of covering them all in fruit, so
the dragons don’t smell them, which doesn’t stop them from being heard but… One
fruit-fight later they take off, but Snotlout gives himself away because he’s
an idiot. He’s saved thanks the Eruptadon.
Inspired by the idea of a new perspective, Hiccup takes
another go at his secret project
It’s a lesson with a nice message, if a bit ham-fisted… but
Vanaheim? Really?
Rating 8/10
The Return of Thor
Bonecrusher
Did I seriously just
type that?
Ok we open with
Krogan, new dragon flying leader of dragon hunters meeting a mysterious… oh,
who am I kidding, it’s Viggo. On the edge, 2 denizens of Outcast Island come
seeking the help of Thor Bonecrusher, as Alvin, their chief has gone missing. They’re
scared to call in the riders in case the bandits that captured him see them and
pull the trigger on Alvin.
Hiccup doesn’t want
Thor Bonecrusher to return after the last time. But thinking that he might
help, Fishlegs goes straight to Snotlout. Snotlout offers to hypnotise him but
Fishlegs adds a couple of provisos, retaining his love for meatlug, adding an
easy out with 3 claps, and making him less ‘heroic.’ Snotlout tells him to be
anti-heroic, and assuming we mean anti-hero-like as opposed to just villainous,
this can only turn out badly.
Thor Bonecrusher is
an instant hit with the Outcasts and has arrived just as another ransom request
has come in, this time for a giant fish native to their waters. They deliver
the ransom but with a couple of outcast soldiers ready to signal their
position. Unfortunately, we don’t mean anti hero-like, we do infact mean
villainous as Thor Bonecrusher sells them out, pinning everything on Snotlout.
Oh look, these
bandits have coverings over their faces so they don’t have to animate lip
movement. Snotlout makes it back to the edge and warns the others. Thor
Bonecrusher meanwhile takes command of the bandits and has them prepare for the
riders’ attack. Snotlout is stunned during the attack and is unable to clap
properly, he ends up captured whilst the others escape.
Turns out the fish
are a contract for a client. Never guess who. The plan is to ditch the hostages
as soon as the shipment is passed over. Hiccup knows he has to try something
unexpected, so surrenders to Thor Bonecrusher, bringing Meatlug to sweeten the
deal. But it’s a distraction as Astrid rescues Snotlout so he can use the clap
to snap him out of it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work and Thor uses
Snotlout as a hostage.
With the bounty
damaged in the skirmish, Fishlegs sends Meatlug to send a demand for more fish.
Hiccup finds a note inside, that contains the position of the lookouts on the
exchange route. A big brawl ensues, I think Fishlegs was pretending to be Thor
Bonecrusher to give them an opportunity to free Alvin. One of the Bandits got
away but I wouldn’t worry about him. Viggo and Krogan make short work of him.
I still don’t care
for Thor Bonecrusher but hey, the plot is starting to move again, will that
continue next time, well, tune in next week and find out
Rating 7/10
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