#face character

I've been a HTTYD fan since I read the first book in middle school and was solidly in the sauce for more than a decade. It's definitely a property that means a lot to me, to the extent that even a relatively shy individual like me couldn't keep it under wraps; in college I fully dressed up like a cartoon Viking whenever I had an excuse, and even built a huge cardboard Toothless for Trunk or Treat one year. It's my jam, and even though I had a break from it for a few years, the promise of a trip to the newish Isle of Berk at Universal Studios' Epic Universe brought it back in full force, with me rewatching a lot of the media just to see if I could catch some of the deep cuts in the park. One part of the trip I was dreading, ironically, was interactions with face characters; while I'm boisterous if you know me, I get incredibly shy and awkward, and for months I was writing mental scripts just so I wouldn't have to improvise on the spot if I ever got the privilege. I needn't have worried. "The wind in my- CHEAT SHEET!" and all that. LMFAO. It's part of a face character's job to do a lot of the improv in the interaction, as I would find. But I'm getting ahead of myself! This is Berk!

(Thanks to Spotweld and Tabbiewolf, my travel buddies, for pictures and moral support lmfao) The park is beautiful! Everything from the manholes to the lighting is Vikingized in that bombastic cartoony HTTYD way. Even the soundtracks are piped in throughout the area. After all these years of fandom it really felt like home in a way I'm not sure anything else could replicate. (I'm so glad they went with the animated versions of everything too, now that the live action.... exists...) My travel buddy Tabbie recommended that we go to the Meet and Greet first since the lines there get long quickly, so away we went. I was expecting to touch a Toothless animatronic and be done with it. Oh no... From our place in line we were able to watch other families meet Toothless. It was adorable. Hiccup was there for a while but then presumably went on break before we got to the front. Again, given my anxiety, I was slightly disappointed but not all too concerned. For the purposes of this story, I gotta explain what I was wearing: basically soft HTTYD cosplay. My hair was braided, my boots were furry. I had a vest. I was wearing a pin that said "dragon person", and my shirt was one I'd drawn nine years ago during the heyday of Race to the Edge:

In short, I looked positively nerdy, which was a contributing factor in the events that took place.

We approach the holding area and Stormfly and Astrid appear for a few photo ops in front of us. As someone with a huge appreciation for dragons as well as costumery and theatrical arts, I was quite outspoken in my admiration for the Nadder with my friends.

The patterns! The way the tail is poised, as if to shoot spines! The eyelids and jaw MOVED for chrissake, allowing the dragon to emote quite effectively. It was gorgeous!

We get to the end of the line and meet the attendant there. She asks, "Have you ever met a dragon before?" And I, like the dork I am, kind of gesture to my whole deal and say "I'm... familiar." She gives the spiel on the rules of engagement for interacting with the dragons (basically don't touch anything but the head/snout and definitely not under the chin lest there be lore mishaps lmfao), but by the end of it Astrid and Stormfly are turning to leave! I express my disappointment perhaps too loudly (though I understand these characters have people to meet and places to be of course!). It is what it is. Stormfly is almost to the door... But suddenly, she WHIRLS, puts me in her sights, and CHARGES right at me, demanding pets on the snout!!

I go total fangirl, squealing in delight, and call her beautiful, to which a visibly surprised and somewhat miffed Astrid at the door is like, "Don't let her hear that!" (Nadders, after all, are incredibly vain). Feeling blessed, I proceed to Toothless' holding area, heart racing in delight. I was blessed. Toothless was a beautifully articulated, pretty life-sized animatronic with extremely expressive eyes and range of motion.

We were informed that the staff members would take two pictures for us during our turn (which turned out to be completely untrue for the best reasons, as you'll soon see lmfao) I approach the dragon and the miscellaneous Viking attending him. She admires my boots, pointing out that they match hers, both too fluffy for the Florida heat. I say "Hello beautiful!" to Toothless as well, and the Viking comments that I certainly know how to greet a dragon. She introduces me, and I get to Forbidden Friendship the beast (because of course!!!)

The Viking asks, "Is that Tuffnut on your shirt?" I reply that it is, indeed. Then I am prompted to turn around... Tuffnut and Ruffnut are literally right there behind me, and Tuffnut is absolutely chuffed to see my shirt. He hugs me, and crows, "Finally, someone with a sense of style!" (Meanwhile Ruffnut approaches Tabbie and hugs her, saying "That's me on your shirt too, right?" It was not. But also Ruffnut probably can't read, so that tracks entirely lmfao)

I get to take pictures with Ruff and Tuff!

(Sometime while we're setting up Tuffnut seems to mime pulling out something smallish and says "Is anyone missing a tooth? Like, a back molar??" He was not miming. He was holding what looked to be a real human tooth. Where the fuck did he get that??? Extremely on brand interaction lmfao) Anyway I'm like, freaking out at this point, unable to believe my own luck. I'm grinning ear to ear as we grab our stuff and get ready to leave, but then my friends tell me to turn around....

HICCUP IS LITERALLY JUST CHILLING THERE OMG Scar, leg, the whole deal. He raises an eyebrow and asks in a pretty respectable Baruchellian honk, "Is that Chicken on your shirt?" (Oh, this guy knows his shit!) I reply that it is. He looks exasperated in a very long-suffering Hiccup way and remarks that he doesn't think it's wise to have a pet chicken around dragons. He whispers (Toothless, after all, is right there) that he's afraid that Chicken will get eaten. I am a mess of glee at this point but I agree entirely. Shortly after, Hiccup dips. Like. We think he was pulled off break or something JUST TO SEE MY STUPID SHIRT

LIKE WTF. LMFAO At this point, I'd really like to thank whoever it was at Epic Universe that pulled whatever strings to make all this happen for me. It was very silly but it meant a whole lot and made me feel very special. We literally don't know. There were all kinds of cast members milling around and we were definitely near the cast doors, but for such a combo of events to occur... was I just lucky? Did I time it right? Who radioed who? Who went and pulled Hiccup from his smoke-and-diet-coke break??? lmfao In any case I will think of these moments fondly for a very long time, and I can't thank the actors and whoever else was involved enough. (There's not even a good way to do so really? Like, do I need to write a review or.... where would I even do that?) It just felt like Berk, which already felt like home, welcomed me with open arms, which was priceless. (Honorable mention: This interaction was so short we couldn't have possibly got pics but: We ran into Gobber in the town square, just finishing up taking pictures with some other fans. As he walked past, presumably to his next engagement, I figure I better not miss my chance, and so I call out "Hey Gobber, what's the good word?" Reader, Gobber gave me a look of DISDAIN, and grumbled "That en't me on yer tunic." And then he was gone. We couldn't stop laughing.) My day at Berk was delightful. We ate at the Mead Hall. We rode Hiccup's Wing Gliders. We saw The Untrainable Dragon. It was bliss. I had packed an extra suitcase just in case i went nuts buying all the merch. In the end I didn't need much: mostly this shirt to remember the day by: