Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25097457-20140701225048/@comment-24667521-20141001012506

70.49.56.119 wrote: I like Hiccstrid. I just don't really want to tamper the original ship. People say that mericcup and hiccstrid are about the same. If they are about the same, why was mericcup even created? And yes, it's an alternate universe, I know that. Still, Astrid can still be in that alternate universe and the ship can continue. I just don't know why people ship mericcup because of it. So, Mericcup shippers, sorry if I had offended you in any way. I didn't mean to, and if you want to explain, then go ahead.

Hiccstrid and Mericcup actually aren't all that alike, mostly because Astrid is a rule-follower and Merida isn't. I like both Hiccstrid and Mericcup, but I lean toward Mericcup because I just feel that they relate more. They both have that whole "trouble relating to my parents" issue, and they're both pushed by their societies into being something that they're just not. As far as I saw, Astrid never really went through that (though tbh I didn't watch that much of the TV series so I may have missed something). I think Merida would be attracted to Hiccup because, despite the fact that he's nerdy and kind of a wimp at times, he is in fact a rule-breaker like she is--he's the reason that the whole Viking society was revolutionized, after all. In that sense, I think that's why Astrid was attracted to him as well, but since Merida and Astrid are different characters with different personalities, they're relationships with Hiccup would be different as well. Some people prefer the Hiccstrid dynamic, while others like the Mericcup dynamic more. It's all a matter of perception, and both views are equally valid. But the ships are not the same at all.