Quick httyd rant because I keep thinking about this.
I will preface this by saying I love everything httyd, all the movies and series (we don't talk about nine realms) have a special place in my heart.
But, there is one thing I cannot forgive the TV shows for doing, and that's making Snotlout a misogynist.
Don't get me wrong, Snotlout was an ass right from the start, bullying Hiccup and relentlessly pursuing Astrid even when she clearly told him not to. But in the original film he never questioned Astrid's combat skills, he tried to impress her by bragging about how good of a fighter he was (which in itself is kinda misoginistic, just not in the way I'm talking about), but he never disputed her place at the top of the class, especially not because she was a girl.
In all three dragons shows, at one point or another Snotlout tells Astrid, and sometimes Ruffnut, that they can't be good at something, can't do something, or aren't as good as him at something because they are girls. Which just DOESN’T MAKE SENSE! This kid was brought up in a culture full of warrior women who were on par or better than the male warriors and held the exact same social standing, they speak in meetings, they lead fights, and can have the same jobs as any of the men in the tribe. Misogyny in the way we have it just doesn't exist, the women in Berk are seen as equally capable as the men.
For some reason the writers of the shows decided that in this series where the main female lead and love interest is the best warrior out of the main cast, including the male lead, needed to introduce misogyny into its main cast.
One of the reasons httyd is so great is because the female lead is the best fighter of all of them, and she didn't have to overcome anyone's low expectations of her. Astrid is introduced at the beginning of the film as the best in the class at fighting dragons, and that's it, there's no reason for any of the characters to question it. Very few kids films present that narrative to young girls, and boys for that matter, this film shows young kids that girls can be good at something our society deems "masculine" and its not a big deal, it just is.
The writers of the TV shows fucked that beautiful premise up and I think it should be mentioned more.
