Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons

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Fandom
Name(s): Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons aka "The Big Four" and Rise of the Brave Tangled Frozen Dragons aka The Super Six
Abbreviation(s): B4, RotBTD, S6, RotBTFD
Scope/Focus: Brave, Rise of the Guardians, Tangled, How to Train Your Dragon, and Frozen
Date(s): How to Train Your Dragon released March 2010
Tangled released November 2010
Brave released June 2012
Rise of the Guardians released November 2012
Frozen released November 2013
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Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons is a popular fandom crossover for four major Disney/DreamWorks films: Brave, Rise of the Guardians, Tangled, and How to Train Your Dragon, mainly featuring the characters Jack Frost, Merida, Rapunzel, and Hiccup. When the fandom first emerged, Mavis from Hotel Transylvania and The Once-ler from The Lorax were occasionally included as main cast members. In late 2013, the film Frozen premiered and the characters Elsa and Anna were quickly added to the crossover, replacing Mavis and Once-ler as semi-permanent main cast members. Elsa and Anna's addition to the crossover was known as Rise of the Brave Tangled Frozen Dragons.

Canon

The only canon interaction this fandom has took place in Ralph Breaks The Internet (the sequel to Disney's Wreck-It-Ralph), in which Merida and Rapunzel both appeared. As Rapunzel and Merida are both owned by Disney and Hiccup and Jack Frost are both owned by Dreamworks, Rapunzel and Merida are the only characters to have met in any established canon. Their appearance as a group exists exclusively in fanworks.

Often referred to as "The Big Four" by the fandom, a name based on a line from Rise of the Guardians canon which actually refers to the Guardians of Childhood: Nicholas St. North (Santa Claus), E. Aster Bunnymund (the Easter Bunny), Toothiana (the Tooth Fairy), and Sandy (the Sandman). However, given that Jack, Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel are often portrayed as Guardians of Childhood and the Four Seasons, the phrase is sometimes used to refer to the ROTBTD crossover.

Main Characters

  • Jack Frost (from Rise of the Guardians) is a free-spirited boy who falls through the ice and becomes the spirit of winter. He is later chosen by the Moon to become the Guardian of Fun.
  • Princess Merida (from Brave) is a skilled archer and the heir to the Scottish kingdom of DunBroch. She competes for her own hand in an effort to avoid an arranged marriage, and later seeks a spell to change her fate. Often considered to be "Autumn" spirit in the Four Seasons AU.
  • Princess Rapunzel (from Tangled) is a cheerful and peppy artist who longs to leave her tower and learn more about the floating lights she sees every year on her birthday. She later discovers that she is the missing princess who was stolen from the kingdom as a baby for her hair's magical healing abilities. Often considered to be "Spring" spirit in the Four Seasons AU.
  • Hiccup (from How to Train Your Dragon) is an inventive but clumsy Viking boy who is determined to prove himself to his father and to his peers by killing a dragon, but ends up befriending it instead. Often considered to be "Summer" spirit in the Four Seasons AU.

Other Notable Characters

  • Toothless (from How to Train Your Dragon) - a Night Fury dragon that becomes Hiccup's first best friend.
  • Pascal (from Tangled) - Rapunzel's pet Chameleon and her first best friend.
  • Astrid (from How to Train Your Dragon) is a fierce, no-nonsense warrior girl who is at the top of the class in dragon training until Hiccup usurps her spot with his newfound dragon knowledge. Although she resents him at first, Astrid later becomes Hiccup's love interest, and later his wife in canon.
  • Flynn Rider (from Tangled) - a thief who climbs into Rapunzel's tower to hide while fleeing the city guard and befriends Rapunzel after she forces him to take her to see the floating lights. Canonically, he falls in love with Rapunzel and they get married.
  • Pitch Black (Rise of the Guardian) - the villain in ROTG, and a common villain in ROTG fanworks.

Other Crossover Characters

The vast majority of ROTBTD works were focused on the main four and were limited to characters that appeared in those canon, but other characters who were popular in their own fandom were sometimes included, usually in minor roles. After the release of Frozen, it became by far the most significant additional crossover.

Fandom

The Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons crossover fandom arose because the four movies involved had a number of similarities or were complementary. All four were CGI movies aimed at the same young audience and types of fandoms. Tangled and Brave are both Disney movies, and Rapunzel and Merida are both Disney Princesses, a group that has their own long-standing crossover fandom (and some canon crossovers). How to Train Your Dragon and Rise of the Guardians were both Dreamworks movies. All four movies are fantasy and have protagonists who are roughly in the same age range. Since before RotBTD, there was a thriving genre of fanvids, largely in cartoon and CGI fandoms, that involved using a mix of footage and masking techniques to create scenes in which characters from different worlds interact. This made a matchup between any of the four movie natural.


This fandom has inspired numerous fanworks, including fanart, fanfic, gif-sets and vids, the latter often edited to show multiple members of the RotBTD crossover are interacting.

While initially Mavis and the Once-ler were sometimes used as the fifth and sixth members of the group for AUs that called for additional characters, such as Friends AUs, with the release of Frozen in November 2013, a number of Jack Frost/Elsa works surfaced sometimes combining with The Big Four fandom, and Elsa and Anna began to replace Mavis and the Once-ler as the additional cast members. "Rise of the Brave Tangled Frozen Dragons" became more prominent than other additions to RotBTD had been. Ultimately, this gave rise to the emergence of the The Super Six (also known as Rise of the Brave Tangled Frozen Dragons), which saw Elsa and Anna become frequent members of the group alongside the original four.

Shipping

Jack Frost/Rapunzel and Merida/Hiccup were the most prominent ships when the fandom first emerged, other pairings have become increasingly popular in later years, namely Jack/Hiccup and Jack/Elsa.

RotBTD pairing names are all smooshes.

Common Tropes & Genres

Guardians of Childhood / Four Seasons AU

Canonically, Jack Frost is the Guardian of Fun and a winter spirit. This alternate universe sees Merida, Hiccup, and Rapunzel join Jack's universe as additional seasonal spirits and Guardians of Childhood.

Hogwarts AU

Arguably the most popular alternate universe setting for the Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons fandom, this alternate universe sees Jack, Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel attend Hogwarts School, often sorted into each of the four houses, where against the odds, they form an inter-house friendship.

Merida is almost always placed in Gryffindor due to her red hair, her film's title Brave, and her bold, reckless nature. Some more recent works have seen her placed in Slytherin, for her cunning and her 'ends justify the means' attitude.

Rapunzel was often placed in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, and there seemed to be a fairly even divide between those who saw her as a Ravenclaw for the scholarly interests she listed in her 'When Will My Life Begin' musical number in the opening of her movie, and a Hufflepuff for her sunny disposition and determination. Later on, she was occasionally sorted into Gryffindor for her bravery in leaving the tower with a stranger or into Slytherin for her cunning in convincing Eugene to take her to see the lights and her ability to think quickly on her feet.

Hiccup is most often placed in Ravenclaw due to his artistic abilities and thirst for knowledge, or Hufflepuff due to his determination to prove himself to his peers. Later works occasionally place him in Slytherin for his ambition and cunning as shown in the Race to the Edge TV series.

Jack Frost, while predominantly placed in Slytherin when this alternate universe first began to emerge, recent years have seen a shift to placing Jack in either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, due to his loyalty to Baby Tooth and mischievous streak being reminiscent of the Marauders and the Weasley Twins.

Elsa is often placed in Ravenclaw for her introverted personality and blue aesthetic or Slytherin for her aloofness and perceived 'ice queen' persona. Alternatively, she is also portrayed as a Beauxbatons student.

Anna is typically portrayed as a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff student if she is from Hogwarts, or from Beauxbatons if Elsa also is.

Modern AU

High school alternate universes are the most popular modern AU, although as the fandom aged, more works portraying the characters as college students or adults began to emerge.

Avatar: the Last Airbender AU

Primarily popular with the original four, due to there being four characters and four elements. There are no typical element assignments for the ATLA AU like there are for the Hogwarts AUs.

Challenges

  • Mericcup Month - an appreciation month for the Mericcup ship that began on tumblr in September 2016
  • Jackunzel February Special - an appreciation event for the Jackunzel ship that began on tumblr in February 2020.

Fanworks


FanFiction

  • Among the Stars by Song Of A Free Heart, The crew of the Night Fury - Hiccup Haddock (captain), Merida Haddock (first mate), and Jack Frost (Pilot) - have a habit of getting into trouble. Accidentally rescuing Princess Rapunzel of the planet Corona puts them in more trouble than they can deal with... unless Jack can admit he was wrong. (Sci-Fi AU)
  • Escape by drfrankensara, A jock, a nerd, a loner, and a homeschool kid end up trapped in a basement together at a back-to-school party gone horribly wrong. The tagline of our lives. And that’s only the beginning. (High School AU)
  • Rise of Wizardry Series by OwlsWingFlying. "We'll always be friends forever, won't we?" Jack grinned, standing on his knees in his chair so he could ruffle Hiccup's hair with both his hands. Hiccup laughed and started wrestling back. "Yeah, forever." Hiccup promised. (Hogwarts AU)
  • A Penchant for Mischief by iamlongstockings. Going to Hogwarts School had always been her dream, but raised a squib, it had always remained firmly out of reach, until one day an owl lands on the windowsill carrying a letter with her name on it. Thrust into a world she's only read about, Rapunzel feels more alone than ever until she meets Hiccup, Merida and Jack, three students as lonely as she is, and who seem to share her knack for finding trouble. (Hogwarts AU)
  • Book 1: The First Year by gigilberry. When Jack, Hiccup, Rapunzel, and Merida go to Hogwarts, they find more than magic - they are given the chance to change their lives. In a tale filled with new discoveries, forged friendships, trials, and heartaches, four children from very different backgrounds will make their choices and face what comes, thus setting the stage for the adventures that will soon come to follow. (Hogwarts AU)

Fanart

Original Four:

The Super Six:

Fansongs

Fanvids

Meta

Archives and Communities

External Links

Resources

References

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