How my collection started...

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   I started this collection at the end of 2014, after I have been marked by the cuteness of Toothless in the first How To Train Your Dragon movie. This dragon inspired by a black panther made me think of my cat named Link. Link and I are like Toothless and Hiccup : we share an amazing bond and we are the best friend ! Even many years after I discovered this franchise, it still amazes me and it has brought so much joy, excitement, cuteness, and many other emotions in my life. As you will probably guess it after seeing this collection, my favorite character is Toothless. I know it's not original, but it's true ! However, Cloudjumper often exchange his place with him to become my favorite dragon because his owl-inspired design is really cool and amazing, he's really cute and he seems to be like a big brother full of wisdom for Toothless (I got all his items in 2020 thanks to my friends in Europe, what a year!). The Night Lights are in the third place because I've adored them almost as much as him since I first saw them ! Even if it's a hard choice to make, my favorite movie of the franchise is How To Train Your Dragon : The Hidden World because of its excellent and cute ending, its emotional story and the final morality as what dragons, like the animals, should be free. To give you an idea how much I love this movie, I saw it 10 times in the theater between February 20 and April 23, 2019 and 8 times at home since its release on Blu-ray in May 2019. 

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   When I discovered the existence of the second movie, which I have watched at least probably 30 times since 2015, I fell in love with this franchise even more. I love How To Train Your Dragon 2 partly because the story is really excellent and emotional, but also because in 2018, my father met the same tragic fate as Stoick in this movie. Thinking about the strength and courage that Hiccup has shown after that helped me pass through this difficult time. It's a sad coincidence that my dad died when I was 20 years old and that Dean DeBlois's father died when he was 19. The director even confesses in an interview on HTTYD2 that he "wanted the movie to be a tribute to parents, particularly those who some of us lost early".

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   Also, I fell in love with the How To Train Your Dragon movies because they exhibit a very beautiful morality related to animals, which are also a passion for me. Indeed, in the movies, Hiccup wants to convince the people of Berk that they should not attack and kill dragons anymore, because, as Valka says in the second movie talking about Cloudjumper, "This wasn't a viscous beat, but an intelligent, gentle creature [...]". So, it's by teaching the Vikings of Berk to respect, know and understand the dragons, Hiccup managed to convince all Berkians to live in harmony with the dragons. I really share this way of thinking and I think we should apply it to any animal to be able to live peacefully by his side. I love when Hiccup and the gang defend and release the captive dragons in many episodes of DreamWorks Dragons : Race To The Edge because it reminds me of the battles being waged around the world to free captive animals from marine parks and circuses.

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   Finally, I'm even more proud to be a Quebecer and a Canadian since I learned that my HTTYD idols are from Quebec. Indeed, the director of this franchise, Dean DeBlois, was raised in Alymer and Jay Baruchel, who voices Hiccup, was born in Montreal ! On September 15, 2018, I had the incredible chance to meet them at the Toronto International Festival Film (TIFF) during an event called How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World: A Behind-the-Scenes Look ! There, I saw clips from How To Train Your Dragon : The Hidden World, in advance, I assist to a QA session with Dean, Jay Baruchel and Brad Lewis, and I got an autograph from the two talented Quebecers who made How To Train Your Dragon the best animation franchise ever created !