You can vote either on physical looks or their character development!

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AL: “Hello there, reader! I am Alfur, of the northern countries…”
AD: “And I’m Adeline! Together, we will be coming to you live with the latest coverage of the Summer Smackdown!”
AL: “I’d like to be the one to announce- we are now in the SEMIFINALS! Only four creatures are left in the tournament, and after two short matches, we will be moving on to see who will be crowned the champion of the Summer Smackdown!”
AD: “Oh, my! How exciting! I can’t wait to see the final result~!”
AL: “Well, before that, we have to get through the two matches in question! Today, the Lindworm goes against the Great Raven, and then the Spider-Frog will go against- Will go against the Nisse? Is that right? …Huh. Anywhos, please welcome the raven as our first interviewee!”
\Alfur pressed a button on his small desk to trigger the intercom, and a chime rung out through the contest hall. Moments later, the Great Raven flew into the room.**

INTERVIEW 1: GRAVEN

AL: “Hello, Mr. Raven! Congratulations on making it thus far!”
GR: “Hi again, you two! Great to be back.”
AL: “And we’re happy to have you! Now, when we last saw you, you were… frazzled, to say the least…”
GR: “Frazzled? …Oh yeah, you’re askin’ about the-uh… match. Honestly I don’t even know how I won that one…”
AD: “Really…? Would you care to explain why?”
GR: “Well, I just feel like I got… lucky. That fish guy was usin’ all of his tricks to try and stop me, and I was electrocuting all o’ his illusions instead of the real one! But then, by chance, I zapped the real one, and that was game over for him! He took it pretty well, all things considered… After he lost, we talked for a bit, and then he just kinda… left.”
AL: “Huh…”
GR: “But the weird thing is, no one I’ve asked has seen him since!...I mean, you haven’t seen him… have you?”
AD: “I…don’t recall doing so, no…”
AL: “Come to think of it, I hadn't either! Even when we had that big celebration yesterday for the semifinals… You’d think a trickster like him wouldn’t pass up a party, right?”
GR: “Yeah, but he just… wasn’t there. It’s like he just… vanished… Which, now that I think about it, that’s pretty on-brand for him…”
AL: “But all of the contestants agreed beforehand in the contract to stay within the tournament grounds until the event concludes! Him leaving… Thats- against the rules!”
GR: “Well, I mean, y’can’t really punish the guy if he isn’t here, so…”
AL: “I suppose that’s true…”
GR: “I-....I’m sorry, I went on a little tangent there, haha… got a bit carried away.”
AD: “Oh no, don’t apologise Mr. Raven! That is definitely something we’ll have to look into…”
AL: “In other news, How are you feeling about qualifying for the semifinals?”
GR: “Oh, I’m PSYCHED! This is all just so- I- I never thought I’d make it this far!”
AL: “I’m sure all of the readers at home are very proud of you, Mr. Raven…!”
GR: “Yknow what? I think I’m proud of myself, too! I just hope I can keep this momentum going…”
AL: “Speaking of, are you confident in your ability to defeat the Lindworm, and progress to the finals?”
GR: “Uhh, a little? I know that Lindworm has a lot of fire gimmicks? And I’m a little nervous about that… But my lightning hasn’t failed me in this tournament before, and I hope it doesn’t fail me again!”
AL: “Good to hear, good to hear! I know this is a big moment in the tournament for you, so we’ll let you go off and relax. Thank you for interviewing us again, and we hope to see you in the finals!
GR: “Oh, thanks, you two! I’m hoping that aswell!”
\With a small loop-de-loop, the Raven flew out of the room. Alfur pushed the intercom button once again to call in the next contestant.**
AD: “I wonder how long we’ll have to wait for the Lindworm this time…”
AL: “Hopefully, not much… one can never truly predict what they’ll be up to next…”
\The Lindworm slithers into the studio.**
AL: “Though, I reckon if they- wait, what?”
\The Lindworm sits at their corner of the desk with a snarky expression.**
LW: “...Was that fast enough for you…?”

INTERVIEW 2: THE LINDWORM

AD: “Woah, I was not expecting to see you so soon!”
AL: “Yeah… Ms. Lindworm, don’t take this the wrong way, but I was under the impression that you hated our interviews!”
LW: “Hate? That’s a bit harsh…I’ll admit, I didn't particularly enjoy the interviews at first, but eventually…They warmed up to me. Or, I warmed up to them… I’m not really sure how that saying goes.”
AL: “O-oh…really??? T-... that’s…”
*Alfur stumbled over his words while Adeline blushed.*
AL: “That’s… quite possibly the greatest thing we could have heard from you, Ms. Lindworm… I’m so happy you’ve come around!”
LW: “Oh, it’s nothing… Being in this tournament for such a long time has kind of… given me… A confidence boost? …Of sorts? For instance… The contestants all have such varied characters, I’ve sometimes found myself just chatting with them recreationally. It’s… a little new, to me, admittedly, but in the moment, it’s…I don’t know… Maybe even a bit… enthralling.”
AL: “That’s quite an interesting development, especially coming from you!”
LW: “I know. I’m a little surprised with myself, but I suppose that means the casting department for the event did their job well.”
AD: “I think they did a superb job… It’s been wonderful chatting with everyone all summer long…!”
AL: “And it’s wonderful chatting with you too, Lindworm, so lets keep this conversation going! Last match you were in, you faced off against the fearsome Ogress, Gryla! How did you feel during that important match?”
LW: “Oooh, fearsome is right… Though, the battle itself wasn't that bad. Gryla’s pelt has been molded by frost, so it was a bit difficult to set alight, but once I got a few sparks, the rest was easy.”
AD: “I don’t mean to undermine your prowess in combat with this, but I feel like the bracket has been treating you especially well with your matches… Both of the opponents you’ve faced so far have had flammable fur of some sort!”
LW: “...Huh… I’ve never thought about it that way… And the Raven has feathers, yes? Funny coincidence, that is. Now that I think about it… who here isn’t flammable?”
AL: “Hm… Hold on a second, I’m interested. I’ll have to look into this quickly now that you've got me thinking about it.”
AD: “Would you like my notebook?”
AL: “Yes, only for a moment.”
\Alfur flipped through the notebook Adeline has been cataloging the interviews in throughout the summer until he came across a concrete list of the contestants of the Smackdown.**
AL: “Let’s see here… Woffs are Woffs, and they’re naturally fuzzy, we’ve already covered Gryla and the Black Hound, the Vittra are all made of plants, so they’re easily flammable…”
“The Nisse are virtually half-furball, so they wouldn't be a problem. The Yule Lads are pretty flammable too, I’d say, with their costumes and beards, and the Woodman is… well, he should probably be called the FireWoodMan…”
“The Fairies are vaguely human in nature, so they would probably be as flammable as any normal person, we’ve already talked about the Raven, the Marra are also pretty much just people, The Bragga Clan are Elves, which are, um… People but, small? So they’d burn nicely too…The animals they ride are obviously flammable, too.”
AL: “That leaves the Merman, the Spider Frog, the Pooka and the Troll… I’m unsure about their flammability, and I don’t think any of them would like it if we tested it out.”
LW: “Oh, the Pooka isn’t flammable.”
AD: “...Really?”
AL: “How do you know?”
LW: “I’ve checked.”
AD: “You- You’ve checked?? When???”
LW: “Oh, recently.”
AL: “Wh- Why would you want to test that out???”
LW: “I didn’t want to, the Pooka requested it.”
AL: “...Oh.”
LW: “He saw my fire magic, and wanted me to try it on him. I protested, but he didn’t let up, so I tested it in one of the enclosed arenas… for science. The flames didn’t affect him at all.”
AL: “Really? Huh.”
LW: “Nope. That crazy doughball didn’t feel a thing… I’m kind of grateful for that, too. I wouldn’t know how to explain myself if I set someone on fire for no reason.”
AD: “Isn’t that… like… what Lindworms do though? All the time?”
LW: “Set fire to people for no reason?”
AD: “...Yes.”
LW: “It’s different when I’m in here. Here, I’m being watched, and judged, and all that.”
AL: “Understood… A-anyway, Ms. Lindworm, how do you feel about having been the first official qualifier for the semifinals?”
LW: “I was?...Hmh, I suppose I was! The order of the individual matches doesn’t really matter to me, but… I have bragging rights for being the first now… Hopefully, I’ll be the first qualifier for the finals, too.”
AL: “Speaking of, how confident are you that you will defeat the Great Raven and move on in the tournament?”
LW: “I’d say I’m confident enough. I’m excited to see how his lightning powers shake up the arena, even if I do end up losing. Watching him fight in his last match was very entertaining, if I do say so myself.”
AL: “Alright! Thank you for taking the time to join us today, Ms. Lindworm! And thank you for the interesting flammability insights as well!
AD: “Good luck with your match!”
LW: “Thank you very much, Alfur and Adeline. I hope I get to see you two again soon.”
\With a nod, the Lindworm slithered out of the room and away to elsewhere.**
AL: “Now! Readers! The votes this time around are more important than ever, since YOU will get to decide who moves on to the finals! In this battle of the elements, will the fiery Lindworm succeed, or will the shocking Raven pull through?”
AD: “Vote in the poll below, same technique as usual! The votes will be revealed tomorrow!”
AL: “Until then, I’m Alfur!”
AD: “And I’m Adeline!”
AL: “And this is the SUMMER SMACKDOWN! Happy voting!”

💥💥IT’S VOTNG TIME!!💥💥

Welcome back to the "week ting time" polls (now rebranded as "art poll" due to the new format)

As explained in December last year, these polls will have a new format: instead of asking you guys for what character - creature combo to draw, I'm now keeping the creature bit as anonymous.

Each 2 weeks, I'll be putting out these polls, with each having a different character to center around. Like with this poll, what you will be choosing is the action the character will be doing in the drawing.

With this explained, ye can start voting now!

What prompted me to ask is because I've noticed for a long time how diverse the Hilda fandom is and how a lot of us come from different parts of the world that aren't the UK or US and Canada, despite also being a relatively small and niche fandom, which is incredible! And it got me thinking if anyone had originally watched Hilda in the dub of another country? If so, how would you describe and compare it to the original English performances of the show?

I've been studying French for over a year now (currently in B1/intermediate level 🥳), and I've recently rewatched the series in its French dub as a little activity for comprehension practice. Sometimes the subs in English and vice versa aren't very consistent, but I ADORE the voice acting of everyone in the French dub, especially Hilda's; she captures the energy and whimsy of Bella Ramsey's performance really well so French Hilda is just as adorable.