Hiccup, Astrid and Snotlout are patrolling some subarctic waters to the Far North. Astrid is freezing her ass off and Snotlout is mocking her for being cold intolerant, he claims he's so awesome that he doesn't get cold. Astrid reminds his stupid ass that she just doesn't have a natural seat warmer like Snotlout does. Hiccup however is not so concerned with Snotlout's repugnant stupidity as he is with Bucket and Mulch (haven't seen them in a while) as they've been 2 days overdue.
Not long after he spots Bucket and Mulch over by an ice berg being attacked by a Berserker Ship. The Berserkers are trying to commandeer the vessel for Dagur The Deranged. We know because the Berserker Captain announces it for any of the audience who didn't know. Hiccup and the others rush to Bucket and Mulch's aid, but they seem to be doing pretty fine on their own. But still, the teens and the dragons manage to force the Berserker's to run with their tails between their legs.
Hiccup and Astrid ask what this shit was all about. Mulch tells them that they found the Berserker's and thought they were trapped. So they dropped by to help some poor motherfuckers who were down on their luck. The Berserker's tried picked a fight with them instead, because they saw . . . It!
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| What the fuck is . . . It? |
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| That's . . . It! |
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| Rad. |
Back at the Academy, Toothless investigates the ice cube thoroughly. Snotlout and the Twins want to smash the ice cube and blow it to smithereens. Hiccup tells them they ain't blowing anything up or he'll throw them off the cliffs. He gets Fishlegs and Meatlug to melt away some of the ice so he can get a closer look at the dragon. Hiccup and Fishlegs get a closer look, and think they have a good idea of what exactly is in that ice cube. If it is indeed what they think it is, shit's gonna go down. But they ain't jumping to some crackpot conclusion before consulting the Book Of Dragons first. They leave Snotlout and the Twins behind to look after the Ice Cube, who get some ideas.
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| Fuck with that Ice cube and you die! |
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| Chill bra! |
At the Great Hall, there's a heated argument between the Towns Folk. Stoick tries to tell them to calm their tits, but that ship has sailed. Bucket and Mulch and the rest of the ton say this is an act of war. Gobber doesn't help when he flat out calls for war. Although aren't they technically at war anyway after the shit that went down in The Night and The Fury?
Hiccup manages to break the tension in the room by informing them why Dagur's men most likely attacked Bucket and Mulch. The Dragon in the Ice is a Skrill, which instantly changes Bucket's mind about keeping it. Finally! This is one of the dragons I've been waiting for on the show, the other being the Timberjack (though I don't think it'll show up at this point).
Stoick asks Hiccup is he's 100% sure about that, but Fishlegs barges in acting like a rabid fangirl over this revelation. Hiccup shows them all a picture of the Skrill in the Book Of Dragons. The Skrill is the Crest of the Berserkers.
Dagur is at some disclosed location, making a speech about how Captain Vorg has finally located a Skrill after many years of searching. He also beats the shit out of Vorg for failing to bring it to him. Dagur promises that they will wrest the Skrill from Hiccup's frail little hands, then use it to kill Hiccup and Toothless. This gets his army riled up for bloodshed.
Back on Berk, the group is discussing the abilities of the Skrill. It spits lightning and farts thunder, it can absorb lightning and redirect right at your face. Stoick decides he's heard enough facts about it. All he knows is that they need to get that Skrill out of there before Dagur decides to politely ask for it with a 1,000 ships and 50,000 riled up savages behind him. Gobber likes a good ass-kicking as much as the next badass motherfucker, but he thinks they should just give them what is probably a useless corpse. But Fishlegs points out that Skrills can stay frozen for decades in hibernation. So the Skrill is still alive and Hiccup left it with Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout. Hiccup thinks they wouldn't do something so stupid.
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| Oh no . . . |
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| OOOH NOOOOOOOO!!!!! |
So Snotlout and the Twins have unleashed one of the most dangerous dragons in existence, and it's every bit as awesome as I imagined it would be. Despite Toothless and the other Dragon's feeble attempts to contain it, the Skrill makes a run for the exit and knocks Stormfly aside when she stands in it's way. Ruff and Tuff decide to act quickly, they decide to blame Snotlout. Not a half bad plan actually, only Snotlout steals their idea and blames them when Hiccup and the rest show up.
Hiccup calls them the stupidest motherfuckers he's ever met in his life and asks them why in the god's name would they do something so utterly brainless? They try to pull an excuse out of their ass, they say the dragon sneaked up on them. Hiccup remembers that the Skrill was encased in a big cube of ice however and he ain't buying shit. Stoick recalls some stories his grandfather told him was he was a little shit, stories about Berserker fleets with harnessed dragons that would vaporize everything in their path. Stoick never thought anyone could train a god damned Night Fury, he's perfectly willing to believe anything at this point. Hiccup promises they'll get that Skrill back, and break The Twins' legs for allowing it to escape.
So the group heads off to find the Skrill. The plan is to catch it, tame it and train it. More importantly keep it away from Dagur. Astrid sarcastically thinks that'll be a walk in the park. Fishlegs however points out that the Skrill doesn't do so great in water, maybe that explains how this one got trapped in ice. Hiccup thinks that's a start, but Snotlout complains that a start would be knowing where that stupid thing is, they've been doing nothing but circling
the island and he's parched! Hiccup realises Snotlout said something unintentionally brilliant. Snotlout agrees, then asks what the brilliant thing was.
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| What the first thing you want to do when you wake up in the morning? |
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| Well, usually I have to take a sh. . . |
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| No! After that! |
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| Oh! Eat. |
The teens head into the storm, Fishlegs assures Meatlug that nothing'll get her. Except for the seriously pissed off Skrill they've come to capture. Hiccup decides to go faster it alone as maybe, probably it might not attack if it doesn't feel outnumbered. But that doesn't appear to sway it in the least. Hiccup attempts to try and touch it and calm it, but it ain't having none of that shit!
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| Touch me and die, boy! |
The Skrill then draws all the lightning from the sky and sprays it at the teens. It manages to disperse them and nearly kills Fishlegs. It also has Snotlout pissing his breeches. Hiccup decides to take this game to the next level. He's going to come down on it from above, while the others take it from the rear and push it into the water. This plan works despite the Skrill's cleverness. But just as Ruff and Tuff are about to finish it off, a flaming arrow ignites their gas before they can.
The rest of the teens come under fire from arrows and boulders. During this distraction, the Skrill manages to give Snoutlout . . .
*Puts on sunglasses*
Quite a shock!!!
Ohh Yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaahhh!!
Hiccup looks out of the clouds and sees a trio of ships with the Berserker crest on it. Dagur the Deranged has come to fuck them up and claim the Skrill that is rightfully his. His Berserkers throw everything they've got at the Academy teens. They manage to fight off or destroy whatever the Berserkers throw at them, but Hiccup decides it's still best to retreat.
Fishlegs is already ahead of them on that regard.
Dagur's right hand man takes this as a sign of victory. Dagur calls him a stupid asshole, they're regrouping not retreating. He decides to relieve his 2nd in command of duty.
Dagur then gets a good look at his Skrill and decides those shit legends of theirs don't do this glorious dragon any justice. I agree wholeheartedly. He also praises it for being a dragon that can go toe-to-toe with Hiccup and his Night Fury. He vows that they will both be his.
The teens regroup, Snotlout is speaking a whole lot of Gibberish because of the lightning bolt. Tuffnut however translates his disorientated speech. Snotlout says that there's been enough talking already, Dagur is his. And Tuffnut is the toughest of them all, though Tuffnut just implied that last part. So Hiccup sends Fishlegs, Astrid and Snotlout to deal with Dagur, him and the Twins are going after the Skrill.
As Alpha Team deals with Dagur, who decides that Hiccup's more tricksy than he thought, Bravo Team goes after the Skrill. Hiccup instructs the Twins to fly through the clouds and fill it with Barf's gas. They are only to ignite it when they've filled it all up. The Twins like this plan as there'll likely be a big ass explosion. And indeed there is, big enough to drive the Skrill out of the clouds. Hiccup and Toothless try to bring it down.
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| It's gonna take more than that, sucker! |
Hiccup it taken back by that display of awesomeness. He's gonna have to step up his game even further. He tries multiple blasts, but the Skrill deflects each one with it's own lightning. Hiccup realises that he just might be truly fucked now. The Skrill steps up its game and completely flips the tables on Hiccup. This dragon better be in How To Train Your Dragon 2 or I'll be pissed!
Dagur's 2nd manages to climb back on board while Alpha team gives Dagur's a good spanking, and points to the sky for Dagur. Dagur is impressed that the Skrill seems to have Hiccup on the run. His 2nd thinks they should retreat and come back for the Skrill another day. Dagur throws his ass overboard again for suggesting such a thing and because he wasn't supposed to climb back on.
Hiccup is up shit creak without a paddle and he's pretty much at the Skrill's mercy. Until the Twins come out of nowhere and blast it out of the sky. But Barf runs out of gas and now they're at the Skrills mercy. As the Skrill closes in and shoots lightning at them, Toothless shoots a bolt at the lightning.
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| Beautiful, but deadly. |
Hiccup lands on Dagur's ship. Toothless gives Dagur an evil stare and Hiccup tells Dagur he's sorry about his dad. Dagur abuses his 2nd in a rage.
Hiccup and the others regroup and try to figure out where the Skrill went. Fishlegs bring up where the Twins have gone, since nobody else cared enough to inquire.
The Twins have crash landed on a little rock and witnessed Alvin The Treacherous dragging the Skrill back to Outaast Island. They decide to do something smart and useful for once and follow them.
Summary
This episode was simply epic! Dagur is back and he's as awesome as ever, and the Skrill is one hell of a dragon. This is the first dragon the teens faced that actually gave them a real run for their money (aside from the Screaming Death of course). This is one of the Dragons I've been waiting for and it is every bit as awesome as I thought it would be. Perhaps even more so. And it's nice to see a dragon that can take on a Night Fury and win.
The animation in this episode was fantastic as well. The Skrill looked amazing, the animation looked smooth and beautiful even for this show, and the lightning effects were out of the park! That big explosion at the end looked amazing.
My only gripe is some of the jokes with the Twins seemed wholly unnecessary, but this was still a really epic dragon with a really awesome new dragon. And with Alvin taking the Skrill at the end, who knows where this'll go.
9/10
The good news in HTTYD2 is that there will be Timberjacks in it but I don't know about Skrills. Maybe, I don't really know. Great review as always.
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