#lightfury criticism

[bird--egg]

This is a continuation of this post, which I made awhile ago, talking about what I would have liked to see in httyd 3. I felt like drawing some nightfury’s, and figured I would depict Toothless and the baby Nightfury that he’s forced to take care of. This would be early in the movie, where Toothless is not super enthused at suddenly becoming a dad. Hiccup, meanwhile, is probably losing his shit now that they’ve found another nightfury.

[drakaina-amore64]

☕️ Light Fury

When watching the Hidden World for the first time, I wasn’t that fond of the Light Fury. I thought she was cute, but otherwise was indifferent about her as a character. I do understand why she was hesitant to trust Hiccup and the others given that she hadn’t had human contact like the other dragons. Towards the end when she saved Hiccup, I liked her a little more and I was happy for Toothless that he found love. I feel like a lot of people disliked her because of the whole ‘friendship ends with marriage’ idea that the movie gave off, which I understand and somewhat agree. I just wish the dragons didn’t have to go to the Hidden World to prove this point, and that Toothless and Hiccup still could’ve got their happy endings without needing to be separated. Healthy marriages and close friendships can still exist.

[sweetmoonbeam17]

Would I like HTTYD 3 if I don’t ship Hicstrid or don’t want toothless to become dumb because of a girl?

AAhaha uh oh

Is this in the context of having not seen it yet? If so, I mean, yeah, you might not like it. Or you might!! There’s always a lot to enjoy in these movies, they’re very rich and fun, including Hidden World. I too was resistant to like the Lightfury and the inevitable dragon romance that followed, but I think it turned out actually pretty okay & very sweet. BUT I’m well aware of the criticism and I can understand it, too. Toothless doesn’t necessarily become dumb lol but I get what you mean. We’ve seen him joke around with Hiccup before - it’s kind of a lot like that. He can be silly around the Lightfury but he’s still a huge badass. And for Hiccstrid, I mean I believe they operate more as a super team than as lovers, but there is still some smooching (and procreating lol). 

But what’s great about the third (that I personally missed from the second) is we get to see a whole lot of the other guys, Snotlout, Fishlegs, the twins, and I love it. Also the villain Grimmel is exceptional, the best villain of the trilogy and a very interesting guy. The hidden world itself is literally one of the coolest locations in any animated movie ever. And if we wanna get really technical, I think this movie has the BEST animation & cinematography of any other animated film, period. Just like the other dragon movies before it. They always set a benchmark and are hurdles past everyone else and it’s so amazing and beautiful to watch. So I guarantee there is more to enjoy about the movie than just the human & dragon romance lol. But, not gonna steer you the wrong way, the love part is important. 

And at the end of the day, I mean it is only like an hour and forty minutes or so, and it’s on Hulu if you have the subscription, I’d say it’s still worth a watch.

[intolerable-sushi]

My problem with the lightfury design in canon

Now that my hype for the movie has calmed down I can now take and give criticism on the movie. And a major problem I have is with the lightfury design.

Its so boring.

Not just “aw man its just a white dragon” more along the lines of “ I can gather nothing about this dragon based on its design.” She is literally a blank sheet. With every other you can gather something from design. Where they live, defence mechanisms, heck even personality. But with the lightfury what can you gather? Nothing. She is basically a white copy of toothless with glitter. Why is she glittering? Why are her feet do small? Her design gives off nothing. And the short doesn’t give us anything either. 

( But i reeeealy don’t like the short for a number of reasons so Ill talk about it later)

But she is just boring man. It doesnt even look like she has scales. The only conclusion of why this that I drew was that they needed to be like that to help her reflect light but even then!!!

Just wanted to rant about this. It just feels like a lot of lost potential.

[spheartsremaking]

1, 2, 13!!

thank u my babe... im gonna focus on the Top Trio (vamp king, cicero, light fury) for these!!!

1. Are any of your F/Os LGBT+?

all of them are at LEAST not straight. can’t date me if straight. however, my hcs for the Trio are:

vamp king is nonbinary, but generally doesnt give a damn about labels so further than that is just “f*ck”

cicero is in NO WAY cishet. hes genderfluid and pansexual as FRICK. the fool of hearts claims All the genders for himself.

lightfury is trans/nonbinary sapphic! yes this means toothless is a he/him lesbian(also trans) no i don’t take criticism in ANY way these are au based anyways

2. Did you come out to them? How did it go?

oh definitely!!! most, if not all, of my self inserts will be nonbinary. all of them took it well- okay well vamp king kinda just goes “what. do you want a prize for that.” because that’s his attitude to everything but thats how he loves

cicero was enthusiastic. too happy about it. had to be put in time out for mentioning it in every sentence. good intentions, but he’s one braincell and its clown shaped.

lightfury was sweet abt it... she was very accepting and gotta cuddle my dragon s/i as a result... make her little happy noises...

13. What's your fashion style? Your F/Os? Do you share clothes?

CICERO IS SO SHORT I CANT STEAL ANYTHING BUT HIS HAT AND HIS SHOES AND I DO SO FREQUENTLY

vamp king. steal his clothes. theyre so baggy. sleep in his cape. 10/10

anyways for fashion sense. cicero literally just wears jester clothes. i just wear jester clothes. we are two clowns in not a circus

for vamp king, i’d def prefer comfort over fashion, so catch me wearing the WORST clothing. his style is........................... purple

[toonindividual]

My thoughts on How to Train your Dragon 3 (spoilers)

Seriously, spoilers, don't read if you haven't seen it yet.

Pros -

I saw it in 3-D so I couldn't study the details that well, but, what I could tell, it was beautiful, the animation will never let me down.

The music, god damn, Test Drive and some Forbidden Friendship played and I slightly screamed, its so beautiful.

The gang were pretty funny in this movie, loved Tuff giving Hiccup boy talks, Ruff annoying Grimmel, Snotlout hitting on Valka (while kinda being creepy) was...something I will say that much.

GOBBER BEING GAY FOR ERET, OH MY GOD.

"Why are you slobbering and panting so much?" Toothless is horny Hiccup.

Hiccup getting smacked on the ass? More then once...a'ight.

Anything involving Hiccup and Toothless being close hurt me.

THE FUCKING ENDING NARRATION BEING JUST LIKE THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST BOOK FUCK

"Its ok, he's not gonna eat your father."

Hobbly Hiccup at the end.

Hicky.

It was a pretty good length.

Grimmel was an asshole, which is good for a villain, better then Drago.

The fucking end credits, killed me, and were wonderful.

Cons -

I liked the Lightfury enough, but, eh, I do not hate her do not get me wrong, it just was not my favorite.

I know this is a small thing, but, Valka's hair is very off color? Its more red. In 2 it was brown. I dunno.

This is not a criticism to the movie but I wish the release dates were better I got some things spoiled and its so stupid. Feel like I would have been more suprised.

And that is about it, I'll probably come up with more opinions when I can see it again on the 22nd. But in full, its not perfect, but, it was so beautiful and I am so glad I became apart of this fandom when I did, around 2013, I wouldn't change the experiences for the world.

[itistimetodisappear]

So I had a lot of problems with the new How To Train Your Dragon film, The Hidden World, even though it was a good film. If you don’t want me to affect your opinion, especially if you have not seen the movie yet, then do not read this. You can see what I liked about it here. Also, this is a HOT TAKE, straight outta the cinema, so don’t judge if I miss something.

Alright buckle in buckaroos, i’m gonna split this into four topics:

Romance

Toothless and the Lightfury’s romance didn’t work for me, like, at all. And what’s worse is that everyone’s decisions in the movie relied on this romance working.

Toothless loves Hiccup because they’ve been through so much together, they really know each other. It’s a super strong bond. So when Toothless runs away with the Lightfury (a dragon that he’s only know for like two minutes), it’s not because he truly loves her - they haven’t had time to form a real bond. So that narrows Toothless’ motivations down. I think it’s lust but also, an intense curiosity about romance and his own kind. Its a passionate, but naive kind of love, like Romeo and Juliette, or Ariel and Prince Eric from the Little Mermaid (I could draw a lot of little mermaid parallels but i’ll save you from that). Toothless is just fascinated by the idea of being in love rather than actually getting to know each other.

This is why it makes no bloody sense when toothless leaves to live with the Lightfury over his literal best friend in the world.. but this ending doesn’t work on two other levels which I will mention in the next section.

Theming

I personally picked up three main themes from this movie.

Nature and mankind cannot co-exist (*unless mankind is at peace which is a really abstract condition). I don’t know why this is here. This separating view of conservation is a bad one, in my opinion, and i’m sure anyone in conservation biology will agree with me. Yeah Dean’s right, we don’t deserve nature. We are pretty bad. But distancing ourselves from nature is not a viable solution. We need co-operation, education and integration. It’s much more important than just feeling guilty about how we’ve treated animals. There has always been a strong environmentalist message about living alongside nature in the httyd films but it’s just been dropped here in service of the plot.

Members of a relationship should not be completely dependent on one another. Make sure you know who you are outside of your relationship. Remember to love yourself too. No qualms with this one, good message Dean!

If you love me let me GOOOOOO (as in, if you truly love someone, you  put their happiness/safety above your own). Good message in theory and I understand why hiccup would want to protect toothless from the evils of man. However, It’s framed more like: Hiccup has to ‘let go’ of toothless so that he can be with his lady love. ugghh. I hope people know that in real life, you don’t have to give up your best friends when you fall in love. uuggghhh. Romance can exist with platonic love, they’re both equally strong. uuuuuuugghhhhhhhh. Yeah not feeling this one.

Theme 3, combined with Theme 1 and the failed romance, makes the ending of THW just not work for me. not at all.

Characters

There was one, maybe two character arcs in this movie. Hiccup learnt to believe in himself and learnt to let go. The lightfury learnt to trust in others, and that not all humans are bad. Toothless had a motivation. He wanted to find a mate but, it’s not an arc. He wanted a thing, then he got it. There was no learning moment.

This part gets a little savage and I apologies for any hurt feelings,

Almost everyone else was one note and one dimensional. Tuff was a joke, Fishlegs was a joke, Ruff was a plot device/joke, Snotlout was a weird yo momma joke, Eret just literally only used for exposition. You’re allowed to make funny characters but these’s aren’t human beings, they’re just jokes. It’s so sad because I do love these characters.

Don’t even get me started on Astrid and Valka. They were honestly just there to be emotional support for Hiccup. Both characters deserved an arc, but instead, I learnt nothing new about either of them. Astrid’s decision to not get married was only important when it effected Hiccup. Not to mention, Hiccup and Valka  have such a complex relationship. I would have LOVED to have seen that explored. Wasted opportunity imo.

The Lightfury :/

Why is she filmed so seductively in her introductory scene? Why is she white, sparkly and soft looking? Why does she have such high-pitched vocalisations? Why does she act all feminine when dragons wouldn’t have that human social construct? why iS SHE LIKE THIS?? WHY ARE YOU RUNNING DEAN? COME BACK HERE AND TELL M

So there are things to like about this movie and if i haven’t mentioned them here it’s probably because I love them. However, I feel like dean was adamant on having the ‘there once were dragons’ ending and the movie suffered for it. I can’t tell you how to feel about this movie, i’m no professional movie critic. If all this stuff worked for you then god i wish that were me but also you should keep on loving it.

[ellieanneswan]

Httyd 3 spoilers below

I love some of the characters so much still and I appreciated some of the throwbacks to iconic parts of the first movie but

Didn't the appreciate the Everybody Loves Raymond-esque comment from hiccup about how relationships are awful

Tbh I never liked hiccup and I never liked how forced his relationship with Astrid was and tbh? Never liked toothless either and this movie just made me dislike em all even more

Didn't like the lightfury and everyone's already heard the criticisms about it and tbh it was part of a bigger problem of the movie that is a lot of forced heteronormativity and sexism and like I really shouldnt be surprised at all anymore (honestly) but I feel like other animated movies I've seen lately have been doing a bit better about that so it was just blatantly obvious in this movie

And it pissed me off that toothless just left hiccup halfway through the movie with seemingly no intention of coming back like???? So fucking much for their seemingly perfect friendship??? Also WHY did all the dragons have to leave in the end, that still doesn't make sense to me

Anyway

First movie is still the only good one in my opinion

[irrevocably-delicious]

So i read your httyd and i just watched trailer and it seems like she's a different species all together. A Lightfury. Does that change your thoughts on her design?

I mean she's obviously closely related enough that we're supposed to get the impression her and toothless could reproduce. Also yeah I watched the trailer too! It looks really interesting! Bearded hiccup was fucking wild haha. But no, this dragon still looks like a raw, skinless chicken, and I think my other criticisms still stand. I actually found it kind of weird watching this perfectly smooth dragon moving around. Like she felt naked almost haha. I kept being like:"Oh my god, someone get this girl some pants! She's too exposed! I'm worried she'll catch a cold!"

[hornsda]

To the person saying her criticism came off not constructive: Did you even read it?? She explained why the piece had lack of professional coloring and details. She even COMPLIMENTED them a couple of times before she was done. I personally hate the lightfury too but she didn't put her opinions on the criticism, she judged the artist's shading and color choices. Which, as an artist too, I would find helpful to make my work pop out more and improve.

^ Ye don't take ir as hate, when I put my hate a side to help out ✨

[magnoliasandbeardedtooth]

thoughts/criticism of httyd3 (spoilers)

Just wanted to get my major thoughts together, since it's doesn't quite feel right to just pour them onto someone else's post

Lemme preface this by saying that httyd is my favorite movie series. There are other movies that get very close, but httyd is one of the most heartfelt, humorous, and beautiful movie series I've ever seen, and it will remain my favorite for the foreseeable future

that said, httyd3 is definitely more Hiccup's movie than it is Hiccup and Toothless's movie

The conclusion is very conclusive, and I can't say it's not satisfying. It's delightful to see a little snapshot of the future and know that eventually Hiccup and Toothless interact again and they both still love each other

It's also just as emotional as advertised, I cried multiple times

however, as emotional and solidly conclusive as it was, I feel like the middle lacks some serious characterization

Most of the humans get WONDERFUL characterization, it's very funny and entertaining. The only human I have a question about is Valka, I would have loved to see more motherly moments between her and her newly reunited son, but most moments where they could have interacted, she encourages Astrid to talk with Hiccup instead. And while I adore all the time Hiccup and Astrid spend together compared to httyd2, most of Valka's screen time is getting creeped on by Snotlout. I do really miss seeing Valka be enthusiastic about dragons and her family, and I think just like, one moment of each would have really solidified her in the movie

But really my biggest issue is, of course,  with the dragons

Before getting into the Two Big Dragon Characters, I wanna mention the minor characters

I miss Stormfly!!! the closest thing to characterization we get is when they say goodbye!!! And even then, she and all the other dragons of Berk hardly react when they're all about to leave. The humans are all in tears, and the dragons just kinda, look at them. and then leave

And like, we get the big purple dragon and the baby gronckle, and they're very cute, but I think they could have really used just a couple background moments to solidify their relationship. Honestly, I kept forgetting they existed until they came up on screen for like 3 seconds

And then, there's the major dragons

With Toothless, there was a weirdly small number of characterizing moments with Hiccup before things go to shit. There was the leg fetch scene, which was great, and the moment where he looks back with his new tail, but I can't really think of any other moments where he and Hiccup were able to just, be friends

Even when Toothless carries Hiccup out of the Hidden World, a moment that should be where he becomes torn between the two worlds important to him, he's very flat the entire time. When he sees Hiccup in the hidden world, he orders most of the dragons back and shoves the rest out of the way, but we don't see any worry or frantics from him. He just kind of notices something and then does it

Especially on the way back, he has very little expression. He's not angry, he's not looking back, he's just sort of, flying. This lack of a reaction for either side puts very little stakes in his decision. He's not conflicted about whether to go with the lightfury or to stay with Hiccup, he's just kind of going with the plot.

And speaking of just kind of going with the plot, I really would have liked to see some more interaction between Toothless and the lightfury before they fell in love and such. Of course, there are multiple scenes before they form a solid connection, where they try to understand each other, but the whole reason they keep interacting is because they're already into each other. Like, Toothless finds her in a field, she sees a strange dragon approaching her, and BOOM they're crazy for each other. even then, all those scenes where they try to bond end awkwardly with so little progress

I really would have liked, in the first meeting scene, just a couple little moments where they display character to each other, like at all. Or even better, something a la httyd1, where toothless tries to get her to trust him, to draw some parallels between his relationships with her and Hiccup. I get that that's what the Mating Dance scene was supposed to be, but it comes off less as heartfelt discovery and bonding, and more just, awkward. and it ends badly anyway

In general, the emotional conflict is entirely dependent on the fact that we watched the first 2 movies. If we hadn't, there isn't nearly enough characterization to care about anyone other than Hiccup and most of the human supporting cast. Even Stoic gets more characterization than ALL of the dragons, and all he's dead with 2 flashback scenes

And the last character, the biggest question mark in the whole movie, the Lightfury

Weirdly? Somehow, with as little character as she has, she has more characterizing moments than any of the other dragons.

She's got a total of 3 major traits:

Scared of humans

Horny for Toothless

a Mother now

(the whole, "oh I'm a Mother now, look as I pose graceful and regal and then look knowingly over at my Children, who are only just now visible, for now I am a Mother" trope is so wildly annoying and has been for as long as I can remember, just once I want the character to just be the character and then they get BOWLED over by some kids)

And despite the fact that these are her only main characteristics, we still get more moments to solidify these traits than most of the other dragons get to solidify ANY traits

The lighfury plays a major role in the film, which is supposed to be to teach Toothless how to be a wild dragon again, but like. Where is any of that??

She has no real characteristics for Toothless to fall in love with, and most of the teaching she does is off screen. Both of these issues could be solved in one 3-5 minute scene, where she tries to bond with him by doing Wild Dragon stuff, but they find that he's forgotten how to do them, or that he never got the chance to learn them in the first place. And while she's doing that stuff, she's showing off some character, showing off what she finds fun, and that's when Toothless falls for her, and he has to work to get her to like him more.

Literally just, any character at all would be great

The only other traits she displays, even weakly, is that she doesn't like to get bossed around, and that she cares for strangers enough to not get them trapped, but even warding toothless from the human trap is just another example of the fact that she doesn't like humans

Another big major thing that made her character suffer for me specifically, is that I didn't know if she was trustworthy for like, most of the movie. This is entirely because of her connection to the villain

of course, she’s not connected to the villain, but he’s definitely connected to her. Why did he up and let her go? Why was he so sure she and toothless would like each other? Why was he so sure that she would KEEP trying to approach him? Why DID she keep approaching him when every time she does, it goes bad?

In hindsight, it’s definitely because he’s just that confident in his ability to hunt her down again, and that she just really likes Toothless and wants to teach him how to be wild again, but the fact that this wasn’t obvious from the start really damaged my image of her. Without knowing these things, it made it seem like there was something keeping her tied to the villain, that somehow, interacting with the lightfury would directly lead to a trap, rather than just keep him distracted so he would be easier to get to.

And then of course, there’s her design

Many, many people have talked about this before, both for and against her design. I saw a post that had photos of the artbook, where they discussed the reasoning behind her design. And most of it I have no issue with. The one thing they mentioned that I have a problem with, is the notion that “females are hard to design,” that every element needs to be carefully considered, that a single stray angle could ruin the whole design

and like

no more than any other character design?????

Thing is, I have 0 issue with the fact that she’s femenine, what I take issue with is that she’s Female. I quite like her fish elements, and the fact that she walks like a cat, and that she’s pretty in general. It’s just, she’s So Pretty, every single element to her design is meant to be Pretty. That paired with the fact that she has so little character is a real problem.

This series as a whole has done a good job with their female characters, making them pretty but imperfect, why is this character, one of the most important in the movie, the ONLY ONE that looks like the cover of a magazine???? she looks like a makeup commercial, she looks like a model whose entire portfolio is laying down and looking half-lidded at the camera, she’s a lizard character from a fantasy movie, whose design was carefully deliberated for years, WHY does she look like she was drawn by someone trying to make a lizard SEXY, the only things she’s missing are eyelashes and boobs

she has so much POTENTIAL and they made her Hot and Horny I’m so upset

but, uh, yeah that’s it, thems my thoughts on the finale of my favorite movie series

I’m not opposed to seeing extra content from fanon, but I’m sad that I feel like I need to do so in the first place. I just really wish the dragons got more characterization