Thawfest

 Thawfest is the twelfth episode in the DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk series. It was aired on November 28th (at 8:00 in Cartoon Network). It mainly features Hiccup and Snotlout.

Overview
Hiccup challenges Snotlout during the Thawfest Games, but when beating him, his victory starts going to his head.

Plot
''"Every year on Berk, we come together to test our strengh and courage in the annual Thawfest games. For some of us, it is not such a great time of year. In fact, I've lost every single time to that guy. But this year, all that could change. This year, I finally have a chance to win! Because for the first time ever, this year, the Thawfest games will include...." "Dragons!"''

The show starts with the above narration by Hiccup. As the Thawfest games are only for teenage Vikings, all the dragon trainers, namely Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs and Ruffnut and Tuffnut are shown practicing hard for the games. The scene first shows Hiccup in the woods, trying to pull up a young tree, and failing, with his trainer Gobber telling him to put more force into it. Hiccup lets go of the tree by accident after tiring, and it hits Gobber in the face. Over in the distance, Snotlout is shown to have successfully pulled up a much larger tree, and cheers with his father. Right after this, Gobber then places a sheep on Hiccup's shoulders, and he begins to run, only to be passed by Snotlout, who is also carrying a sheep. Snotlout taunts Hiccup and then kicks dirt into his face, causing Hiccup to lose his balance and fall. Panting from his exertion, Hiccup slowly allows himself a small smile, recalling how this year's games are different. The scene then changes to the dragon academy which is being used as a stadium, with its safety cage raised, where most of the riders and their dragons are present with Gobber. The young Vikings are all shown to be practicing for the games, with Astrid practicing on Stormfly, and Fishlegs inquiring if there will be any intellectual events. Gobber states that it will have to be taken into consideration. Gobber then begins to explain that this year, there will be three additional events in the Thawfest games, featuring dragons: Gobber is then suddenly interrupted, as Snotlout noisily arrives on Hookfang. As the Monstrous Nightmare lands, he kicks up a large quantity of dust into the air, causing Hiccup to cough as it gets in his face. Snotlout dismounts his dragon, wearing all the medals that he has won over the previous years. He then begins to proudly gloat over Hiccup, as he has always beaten him in the past, and he has never lost a single Thawfest event. After speaking to Hiccup in a degrading way, Snotlout flies away on Hookfang, positive that he will also win this year.
 * "The Fly & Shoot"- Which will require them to fly straight and shoot straighter.
 * "The Freestyle"- Where it is up to them to impress the judges with a trick of their choice.
 * "The Hurdles"- Where they will be asked to fly under large hurdles without hitting them.

The scene cuts to Hiccup's house, where he is working on some ideas for Thawfest on Toothless. His father, Stoick the Vast, gently encourages him, noting that he could actually be able to win this time now that it involves dragons (and beat Snotlout's family clan, the Jorgensons, which he admits with a chuckle, does have a nice ring to it), but doesn't voice any particular desire that Hiccup must win this year because of it, or that he will be disappointed if he doesn't.

The Thawfest games start the next day, which is inaugrated by Stoick. Mulch is the commentator and announcer, and Bucket records the marks of the winners with blue paint on a giant scoreboard with the teens faces, with his bucket and Mulch's hook hand acting as a starting bell and ringer. Spitelout strongly urges on his son, Snotlout, thus preparing him for the first game, "The Sheep Lug". Snotlout wins this game with ease, while Hiccup struggles to finish with his sheep. Passing the dragons, Toothless looks on from the sidelines and lays his head down in disappointment, embarassed for his rider: just as he knew would happen, Hiccup eventually collapses beneath the sheep's weight, having not reached the finish line. While Astrid finishes behind Snotlout, it is quickly evident that there is no reward for second place, and that only the first-place winner recieves any credit. The next competition is "The Log Roll", where contestants must run on a suspended log without falling off. Fishlegs takes out Astrid by accident near the beginning of the event, and while Hiccup manages to keep up longer than the others, (despite his left foot being prosthetic, and thus expected to affect performance) Snotlout wins. Toothless helps Hiccup sit upright and the two momentarily share a disappointed look.

The next event is the "Axe Throwing" competition. Astrid, despite being an excellent axe thrower, is once again accidentally eliminated by Fishlegs, as both throw at the same time, and Fishlegs' axe collides with hers in midair, due to his target crossing paths with hers. Ruffnut and Tuffnut's axes are poorly aimed, Tuffnut throwing his axe where it is caught by Stoick, and Ruffnut's sticking into a wooden post, having narrowly missed hitting a spectator. Hiccup, surprisingly, manages to throw his axe in a perfectly straight line, but due to his lack of physical strength, the axe does not reach the target, and Snotlout once more wins the event. He then proceeds to brag, retrieving Hiccup's axe and then proceeding over to the axe rack, throwing the axe and two more over his shoulder, and hitting the targets without even looking, leaving both Hiccup and Astrid irritated by his pride. Spitelout, now believing without any doubt that his son will win the Games entirely, begins to taunt Stoick, stating that maybe he should give Snotlout the medal now, and save Hiccup the embarrasment. This somewhat angers the cheiftain, and he 'suggests' that Spitelout sit down. Gobber tells Stoick to not let the man get to him, but Stoick replies that he has been for years, why should today be any different? Snotlout, having scored three points, begins to proudly gloat over Hiccup. Hiccup then cuts him short, stating that tomorrow, everything changes, as the next events will involve dragons.

Day Two of the Thawfest Games begin the dragon events. The first contest this day is "The Hurdles", in which the dragons and their trainers must fly beneath hurdles without touching them. Fishlegs and Meatlug go first, but unfortunately, the hurdles are too low, and the pair became wedged beneath the first hurdle. Ruffnut and Tuffnut do good at first, until one of Barf & Belch's heads tries to go over the hurdle instead of underneath, the dragon becoming caught where his two heads meet. Astrid succeeds while riding Stormfly, the two managing to clear each hurdle, except for one. Snotlout manages to go through all the hurdles, but Hookfang flies slightly too high, repeatedly hitting his rider's head on each one. Despite this, Hiccup ultimately emerges the winner of the challenge with Toothless, the two clearing all the hurdles with a single wingbeat (along with a spin), and a greater speed. Astrid and Fishlegs are at first happy for Hiccup, but are suddenly surprised when he begins to gloat over Snotlout, due to such actions not being a part of his usual character, and as stated by Astrid herself, they have never seen him gloat before.

The next event was "The Freestyle". Ruffnut and Tuffnut come up with a trick with Barf & Belch they called "The Iron Split", but fail to pull it off successfully. Fishlegs and Meatlug come up with another trick that they call "The Stream Butterfly", in which Meatlug flies in tight circles as quickly as possible, but Meatlug becomes disoriented in flight and spins out of control. Their score is low, but still higher than the twins. Astrid and Stormfly then comes up with a trick that Fishlegs calls "The Balance Dance", a gymnast routine on Stormfly's back as she smoothly glides, which is admired by the other riders and gets excellent points. Hiccup earned the most number of points with a daring maneuver, in which Toothless flys up the side of the slanted pillar beside the arena, going into a reverse somersault over the top, then soaring away. Snotlout attempts a trick called "The Rings of Deadly Fire", in which Hookfang flys through hoops set on fire, but as they approach, Hookfang is startled by the appearance of the hoops, and throws Snoutlout, causing him to crash into the rings in what could have been a terrible accident, although Snotlout escapes with little to no injury. Hiccup has now earned two points, leaving Snotlout somewhat jealous, and worried that Hiccup might actually win the Thawfest games. Hiccup then starts to taunt Snotlout, leaving him angry and frustrated. Astrid is shocked to see that Hiccup is actually trying to provoke Snotlout, and seems to heavily dislike his sudden change in behavior.

The next event was the "Fly & Shoot", a live-fire exercise that requires the trainers and their dragons to shoot pop-up characters while flying throughout a mock-up "village", with ones such as women and children being Friendlies (which they must avoid shooting), and Outcasts as Enemies (which they must distinguish from friends and shoot). Hiccup and Toothless perform the exercise with ease, shooting all the Enemies without harming any Friendlies. However, when Snotlout begins his turn, he yells at Hookfang for shooting a Friendly pop-up, and the dragon becomes impossible to control, burning the entire fake village and all the pop-ups, regardless if they are friendly or not. Hiccup wins the event, and for the first time in history, Thawfest has a tie. In order to break the tie, the next day would be a race on dragons between Hiccup and Snotlout, the rider to come in first being the winner of the games. Once more, Hiccup begins to taunt and gloat over Snotlout, leaving him furious and upset. Afterwards, Astrid walks over and tells Hiccup that she cannot believe the way he is acting, as he appears to be completely oblivious to the fact that he is doing something wrong. In a disappointed and somewhat heartbroken manner, she tells him that what she always really liked about him was that he was always a gracious loser, and that she never knew he'd become a lousy winner.

The episode cuts back to Gobber's forge that night, where Hiccup is modifying Toothless' gear. He fits the dragon with a new saddle for lightness, and equips him with a tail fin specifically designed for racing. As he does so, he angrily mutters to himself and to Toothless, clearly furious at Astrid, stating that Snotlout won't have any chance of winning the race. During this time, Toothless appears to be angry as well, but whether or not it was at his rider's behavior, or simply a desire to win the race, is not clear.

The next day, Stoick and Spitelout come down to talk to their sons before the competition. Stoick just simplifies his encouragment from before, reminding and reassuring Hiccup with a smile that there's no pressure and heads back to his chair. Spitelout, however, is very hard on Snotlout, first scolding him for even allowing someone else to win points, and then stating that no Jorgenson before him has ever lost Thawfest, and that his son would not be the first, leaving Snotlout incredibly worried and upset. This entire encounter was witnessed by Hiccup and Toothless from nearby, and Hookfang gives his rider a sympathetic look. The final deciding event of the Thawfest games is "The Obstacle Course Race". They have to navigate the Log Dodge, avoiding all the rolling logs while going up a ramp from the stadium floor, and then must clear the Cliff Climb, scaling a rocky cliff while stones are thrown down at them from above. They then must get on their dragons, who are waiting on top for the flight race portion. They are to then loop around Berk's flag ship archored off the coast, navigate the Sea Stack Maze as a slalom, then come back to the stadium to cross the finish line.

In light of what he just saw between the Jorgensons, Hiccup goes over to Snotlout and asks to speak with him for a moment. Although Snotlout says no, Hiccup continues anyway. Showing a genuine spirit of sportsmanship, Hiccup explains that he wants to wish Snotlout a good race and that may the best Viking win, offering a handshake. However Snotlout, not appreciating Hiccup's attempt, blows this off, saying that the best Viking, namely himself, will win, and tells "scrawny little" Hiccup to not worry about it. He'll see Hiccup at the finish line... or perhaps not. Out loud, Hiccup says he tried, and if that's how Snotlout wants it: Snotlout replies loudly that that's exactly how he wants it. Hiccup shakes his head with a rueful smile; if he had any plans on taking it easy on Snotlout, Snotlout had just very foolishly and arrogantly blown those plans right out of the water. As far as Hiccup is concerned, he is going to fully enjoy completely humiliating Snotlout in front of everyone.

Before the starting bell sounds, Toothless and Hookfang share a competitive glance. At the beginning of the race, Snotlout shoves Hiccup aside, getting a head start and easily finishing the Log Dodge. After getting back up, Hiccup takes advantage of his smaller size and dodges the rolling logs. While climbing the cliff, Snotlout makes sure that Hiccup can see him and Hookfang lift off for the flight portion. Right afterwards, one of the rocks thrown causes Hiccup to loose his grip and he begins to fall, but the metal of his prosthetic foot digs into the cliff face, and keeps him from sliding all the way down or sustaining an injury, allowing him to climb the rest of the way. Once on Toothless, he quickly gains on Hookfang and Snotlout, due to Toothless' natural Night Fury speed and racing gear, and they soon catch up to Snotlout as they enter the Sea Stack Maze. Toothless eventually passess ahead of Hookfang, and Hiccup is very close to winning. But as he looks back with a sneering grin of his face, he can see Snotlout on the verge of tears, his pride being crushed; he knows that his Hookfang can't possibly fly faster than Toothless and that there is no way he can win now.

Hiccup suddenly realizes what Astrid had meant, and that what he is doing is wrong. With a soft apology to his father, he closes Toothless' tail and they fall behind Hookfang, leading the spectators to believe something is wrong. Toothless flounders for a distance, then makes a skidding but safe landing in the woods beyond the stadium. Worried, Stoick and Gobber are just happy the two are okay, but Astrid gives herself a small smile, fully aware of what Hiccup just did. Snotlout finishes the race first, appearing to be momentarily surprised he won before quickly dismissing it, and Hiccup arrives shortly after on Toothless. Hiccup congratulates Snotlout as they walk up to the stage, who in return replies that he put up a good fight, then bragging that Hiccup's effort just wasn't good enough. Stoick grandly announces Snotlout as the winner of the Thawfest games and presents him with the medal as the teen looks up at him with joy. Stoick warmly tells him that he did his family proud, but then looks over at Hiccup and beams a smile at him, silently expressing those words, yet somehow even more so. Hiccup makes his way off the stage, and looks on as Snotlout presents the medal to the spectators, a genuine smile on his face at Snotlout's happiness. Astrid then rushes up and punches him on the arm, telling him that she knew what he did. Hiccup, now back to his usual self, states that he lost, as usual. Astrid then tells him she knows that he threw the race; Hiccup completely denies any knowledge of this and that Snotlout was just the better Viking today. Astrid however corrects him with a smile, saying that nobody was a better Viking than Hiccup today, before pulling him to her and kissing him on the lips. Astrid happily walks off, with Hiccup and Toothless turning to watch Spitelout proudly hoist Snotlout on his shoulder. Hiccup is happier with having lost, and sharing a smile with Toothless, concludes the episode with the following narration:

"Some things never change. But I guess certain things are more important than winning - like being a good friend. Even if the friend is that guy!"

Transcript
The full transcript can be found here