Devs

That being said, I haven't watched the full live-action movie myself. I followed it's development, saw the trailers, read interviews and articles - I probably will eventually watch it just 'cause, but for now I just haven't bothered. I share the sentiment that the movie is a shallow cashgrab to follow a trend that was always mid at best, horrible at worst.

Aside from story details being changed and some dialogue I don't care for, my main issue is the visuals. The colors, the outfits, the movement and design of the dragons (ngl the Monstrous Nightmare is my biggest grievance because it's my favourite dragon in the franchise. It's not necessarily the worst of the bunch, but again it's so generic, and the thing that bothers me is how skinny and gangly it is, just a worm with wings </3. How does my boy fly with no chest muscles to move those wings) - everything that is the world we're presented on-screen. It's all either bad or just generic. The original Httyd movie is one of my all time favorite movies and one of the main contributors to that is the visual masterpiece that it is.

So anyway, Toothless. There was never going to be an easy way to redesign one of the most iconic and beloved characters in the world, so I don't want to be too harsh. (In general, I mean no ill will towards the artists and animators who worked on this project) However as the habit has been, unfortunately this design falls in the same direction as Httyd 3 (even Httyd 2 Toothless in some aspects, these comparisons are a common topic) does. Aside from obvious, commonly covered "cat -> dog" traits, everything about the design favors a sort of "show don't tell" type of approach if that makes sense. Exaggerated, cartoonish expressions, very saturated and large eyes, it's very far-removed from the Toothless I personally prefer, which is the original one. He was more reserved, more eerie. You had to pay attention to his movements and expressions to understand what he was feeling, but it still wasn't complicated to do so. Both are valid ways to design a character, but in Toothless' case, the latter suits his character better in my opinion.

The designs of him I most prefer besides the og, and the ones who keep his characteristics the best are in my opinion the Gift of the Night fury, Riders/Defenders of Berk and Race to the Edge models (with the shows' design maybe being a little light in color and eyes being a touch too dull, but anyway). Oh, and special shoutout to the new Toothless animatronic at Epic Universe's Isle of Berk, love that little guy! /lh

After all that exposition, here's FINALLY the part about these edits xD I wouldn't call these "redesigns", these were made for fun, as a design practice to see how he would look with traits more akin to the Toothless I prefer. Nothing fancy, just gave him his blue hue, made his eyes smaller and adjusted the color, plus added his scars and markings and some other minor adjustments.

I first saw Scarecrow when playing Lego Batman 2 on the Ps3 way back in the day, when I was young and knew very little about DC. He was just a funny witch as far as I knew, but that was my first memory of him, after which I'd see him pop up in some animated movies, etc.

But the first time I paid real notice to the character, and what would become my absolute favorite iteration of the character (by personality, story and design), is when I decided to play Batman: Arkham Asylum in 2019. I've always enjoyed intelligent, strategic characters, they're my jam. Logically, Scarecrow fills these expectations, but that alone is not what caught my attention here. He doesn't get a lot of screentime in the game, but when he does, he uses it well.

Scarecrow and how he appears and functions in Asylum is unlike any of the other characters. He's eerie, mysterious, out of reach and even out of bounds. He literally makes it seem like the game crashed and your save got lost, so your playthrough supposedly starts all over from the beginning. He warps reality, and you don't even know he's struck until it starts to kick in. And I love that it's still possible to notice, you can hear the gas as it floods into the room before every single Scarecrow encounter in the game.

The final thing to strike me upon this first impression, is the fact that Scarecrow never physically hurts Batman, other than the prick of injection needles I guess lol. He can't physically match Batman or even most normal people, yet he's capable of controlling a room with nothing more than words, a presence, and of course some knowledge in chemistry.

And him in Arkham Knight - I can't even begin to describe how much I love his story in the Arkham games, but he is absolutely the highlight of that game and carries the whole thing for me, where as otherwise the game is a bit mid imo (story and characterwise mainly). Only complaints are that he got robbed so bad ALSO WHERE IS THE BOSSFIGHT ROCKSTEADY. WHERE ARE MY FEAR TOXIN ENCOUNTERS. AND NO I DON'T MEAN THE "AR TRAINING".

And to return to an earlier point, which Absolute Batman also beautifully displayed: how effortlessly Scarecrow can hold complete control over a room with nothing more than his presence. To draw an example that's not as spoilery as a very new comic issue, I'll just refer to the very first face-to-face encounter we have with him in Arkham Knight. A weak, crippled man in a tiny room with no escape. He proceeds to get down on his knees and raise his hands before the Dark Knight, yet he says "I am in complete control". And it's not a bluff, he is.

These same observations of the character carry on to other depictions of him and why I enjoy him. Of course there are many other characteristics about him I enjoy too. The analytical mind, the attitude and sarcasm, the "I'm surrounded by idiots" vibe... He has a lot of attributes I relate to actually - which I don't think I need to explain that I obviously don't mean to say I relate to him as the criminal or justify his actions, but the habit of explaining that fact compels me to say it anyway lol.

Honestly I feel like there's so much I'm failing to mention here, I just love so many aspects of the character, but one of the saddest things is how much he gets misused (if he is used at all). I feel like so many stories and depictions misunderstand him, or just don't bother to utilize him at all. Most commonly, he's only there to be another thug in Joker's crew or worse - they don't need him at all, they just need him for the gimmick, aka the fear toxin. (Which, don't even get e started on Batman Begins. The one chance he had to be in a major, live-action movie and they fumbled it. And it's sad because I genuinely think Cillian Murphy could have portrayed a great Scarecrow, but nah. He's just some drug dealer dude WHO DIDN'T EVEN INVENT THE TOXIN OK)

Another reason that Scarecrow has become such a meaningful character to me, rivaled only by Soundwave, is how much he has impacted my life personally. This is the character that got me into psychology. This is the character that worked as a comfort during the most depressing years of my life. He gave me completely new ways to look at characters and stories and how to interpret and/or create them, gave me insight into fear and the human mind when I started therapy and began to learn about self-reflection, and so much more. I discovered so much about the world and how to look at it through this silly costumed crook, and that's just really cool to to me.

The Unity Crystals, the three pieces to seal away all magic, were not made to resemble three pony kinds (as I don't think Twilight would want to enforce that type of separation, plus the magic isn't only the ponies', it's all magic from all creatures in Equestria). No, the important detail is what they become when combined: an alicorn.

In reality, Twilight creating the crystals was just a means of doing what Opaline would have done, had Twilight not beat her to it. Only, crystals are less likely to abuse all that power after obtaining it.

See, Opaline's magical specialty in my AU (like unicorns in G4 used to have each their unique magical talent, aside from basics like levitation etc) is extraction of magic. Collecting it like sap from a tree. In Equestria such a talent borders on miracle, but Opaline wasn't from Equestria, she was from Skyros. And as a god among gods (alicorns having longer lifespan, stronger magic, etc), it's harder to stand out. When everypony is special, nopony is. That's how Opaline saw it.

So how would she become a god above gods? Why, by being the one who controls that godhood. If she could have power over all of magic, granting it to the world only as she sees fit, she could finally stand out, making everyone dependant on her. She only needed to develop her magic so she'd be able to extract any and all magic and collect it for herself.

Only Skyros caught on, and cast out the disgraced alicorn, into the lands below. Out of sight out of mind (they were a very high and mighty kingdom in their time, rather disconnected from the rest of the world, seeing themselves as better than them. Luna and Celestia for example were different in this instance, and after being sent to conquer Equestria in the name of Skyros, decided to instead abandon their old home and become part of this new land, finding value where their alicorn kin had seen none. It was a disgrace, so the gatesof Skyros were locked for them forevermore). It took a while for Opaline to recover her footing, but this development did little to deter her, it only changed her target. Equestria would now become the first to bow to her.

I don't want to give away absolutely everything yet, but as things started escalating, Twilight slowly realized there was no way to stop what Opaline intended to do. Equestria would lose all its magic, and there was no stopping it. Only choosing who would have that power.

So it was done. And Opaline, as an alicorn stripped of so much magic at once, fell into an endless dream. Until of course, the crystals would one day be brought together once more.

And the rest is history.

That said, I will be honest in saying that my opinion has always been and remains to this day, that Httyd 3 is the weakest addition to the franchise (not counting Nine Realms), and completely contradicts the movies' overall tone only to shoehorn in the book ending. Which is not a bad ending or a bad message, but it does not fit the narrative of the movies, which have all along taken their own original route. So the ending and how we got to it do not correlate. Aside from this, the third movie struggles with many themes, such as ableism, misogyny and a bunch of other things I won't get into, lest this goes on forever.

Now, the Light fury has been a topic of discourse since day one. We all know it, we've all seen it, so I don't want to go into it too much here. That said, this post is purely about the visual aspect of her character. I will say, I personally have some issues with the canon design, but aside from that I wanted to try and do a slight "redesign" where I try to change as little as possible, while keeping her idea the same. This is the result!

-ICARIS is still a major wip for the Au. I actually had a very rough concept scetch for a map of the research site, but that's so old that I'd have to go digging to find it so I don't have it for this post, apologies! Anyway I know for certain that I want to give the site more meaning and establishing features which the show lacked, so you never quite had a sense of scale or direction of where everything was located (as opposed to, say Berk or Dragon's Edge where you can immediately pinpoint locations like the Great Hall or the dragon hangars, etc)

That aside I do definitely want to give it the same approach as in the show, where the research site and the Rakke corp. are not initially aware of the dragons, but pose a threat in the form of "we should keep the dragons a secret", as it is in the show. Only difference being I want the threat to feel more active than it is in the show. I also want to include Mr. Rakke himself way sooner, and have him become a permanent part of operations. Still not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, but I liked the sort of John Hammond/Simon Masrani vibe he had to him in the show, so I might still use that 👍

-Sledkin's an interesting one, I have to say! She was very bland in the show and had me rolling my eyes at the "I need to spell out that I'm a villain" thing that both her and Buzzsaw have going for them. But I love myself a smart, cold and calculating villain, so I definitely want to try and do her better in my rewrite.

First of all I have to say I love that idea of a seemingly docile and unlikely dragon being an antagonist's dragon, it has so much potential! For Sledkin though, I am thinking of a more cold, scientific approach. Unlike in the show though, she puts way more value on the discovery of the dragons than just Dragonsite (which was such a plothole like- girl you just discovered mythical beasts of legend exist, you're going to just brush that off and write a book abt some rocks?). Dragonsite (which I'm still workshopping on what it actually is, maybe still crystals, but not for producing oxygen, instead her mining operation and depletion of it is what will eventually lead to the awakening of Jörmungandr. In that vein I think it'd be a neat detail that instead of being drawn to it, dragons recoil from it, because they know where there's a lot of Dragonsite, instinct says there's something bad) is still her main obsession, but the dragons also hold great potential as not only a means to an end, but also future scientific advancements.

This is all early wip stuff, but this is the train of thought I have: Sledkin takes interest in Deathgrippers. She could possibly learn about their venom through observing or perhaps reading through entries in the Book of Dragons (or omg maybe even Grimmel's personal notes this just hit me. Btw Grimmel is a dumb villain imo in the way he was written, but in this AU hid relevance is that he was a known mercenary in his time, known for utilizing Deathgrippers and downing even dangerous species, like Night furies. NOT the guy who killed an entire species though lol (which btw another thing to note: in this AU, Night furies are NOT extinct. Very rare, yes, but not gone. So that ties into how Rift still has so much black in his scale coloration after generations since Toothless). Anyway she has no interest in bonding with dragons and she doesn't believe in controlling them through fear like Buzzsaw does either, because a beast with a mind of its own, no matter how controlled, will always be a liability in calculations (how she sees it). So I think she'd experiment with making the venom as potent as possible, also work on developing modern armor to cover the Grippers in, to a point where you can't tell if it's a dragon or a machine.

As a sidenote, I want to mention that where as Sledkin won't show any particular cruelty or bargaining (like giving food as conditioning to perform tasks) for dragons (she kind of just treats them with general indifference, an asset for use, though that's not to say that certain procedures and experiments she requires them for won't be painful and abusive), Buzzsaw will instead be that person!

Like briefly mentioned in my last post, we'll get to Buzzsaw later because I'm still trying to figure out how I want to write him without just making him Dagur 2.0, but I know I want his relationship to dragons to be one of control. It always left a bad taste in my mouth that the first Timberjack we get to see as a recurring character in the franchise, is one who gets abused into a friendship. Like Buzzsaw was hurting it, keeping it trapped (although the "tied to the ground with a rope" is a laughably bad way of doing that), and sensory overloading it with the whistle, and then they just.. become buddies? Like I understand HOW that could happen, it's not impossible to believe considering Alvin in Riders and Defenders of Berk, but in this case I'd argue it doesn't matter because anything Buzzsaw did with the Timberjack, was off-screen.

Eugene does get his own dragon, but it's not Webmaster because, I'll be honest, I hate that design so bad 😭 it's just- it looks like something from Spore and I did not need another uncanny valley Thunderpede situation with the hands 💔 Also just- Webmaster's design seems so random to me, it doesn't really match the other dragons and it doesn't really match Eugene in any way.

THAT rant aside, here's Eugene and his dragon - a Firegill called Partycrasher! It seems like what they tried to do with Webmaster was to make him seem like an unlikely fit for the team, an untrustworthy newcomer that seems like bad news, just like Eugene! So I wanted to keep that, with the Firegills being established as highly hostile and territorial dragons, it's immediately ringing alarm bells for the kids when the dragon that Eugene finally seems to connect with is this one out of all.

Partycrasher is found by the gang, injured by a dragon trap (yes, Buzzsaw still exists, we'll get to him once I figure out how I want to write him clearer 👍), with his back sail ripped and wing injured. At first they are hesitant to help it incase leading it to the lair for treatment or in general out of the Fire realm could cause future threats where it could possibly lead its whole pack there. But Eugene insists, and surprisingly it's Jun of all people who vouches for him, as seeing him so adamant about something that isn't guaranterd to benefit him in any way, surprises her. Also the fact that his interest in the dragon has lasted for so long, without him getting bored and moving on to the next thing.

And for once, he doesn't fumble the chance he's given. Does he test it? Oh absolutely, he bends and sometimes nearly breaks the trust he's earned, but that's just part of the terms and conditions when you let Eugene join your group /lh

I love when god characters are given layers and despite Khonshu obviously having many faults, such as his abuse and manipulation of Mark and Steven (I haven't read the comics, so I'm not certain how Jake feels about it all), I also find it really fascinating how human he is. His ego and godly demeanor hides it well and I doubt he's aware of it, but there's moments in the show where you can definitely pick up on a sense of longing in his voice, as he is essentially all alone and isolated - aside from his avatar of course.

This scene being one example. There's something equally somber yet warm in his voice when he talks about the night sky. Another thing is his demeanor before and during the meeting with the other gods: the initial uneasiness about going to the meeting, and then the burst of emotion when he DOES talk to them. Of course Khonshu is generally very temperamental and forward, but I think the moment must have had a certain vulnerability to him, as it's probably the first time in who knows how long that he sees or talks to his fellow gods in any way.

I also wonder wether he acknowledges people admiring the moon and the night sky, and how he feels about it. Is it perhaps a part of why he feels especially strongly about interacting with the mortal world instead of distancing from it? In that vein I wonder if his time in banishment, in seeing the world alongside his avatar during their active duty.