Astrid's lost identity within the fandom
Anyone wish that the fandom focused on Astrid not actually liking Hiccup at first, I don't mean being mean to him cause she wasn't really bullying like Snotlout as much as she just ignored him, but I gen think you miss a lot of her character by just having it be a built-in fact that Astrid already likes him. Or would immediately go with him in a runaway au (not bashing, if you want to write that there are plenty of ways for that to be good and make sense, even disregarding everything I've said. I'm speaking in the missed opportunity sense. Not that runaway Aus are bad)
Astrid's personality as a warrior is crafted by her desire to be one; she constantly pushes herself and everyone to follow an exact standard of a professional, stoic and capable warrior. She forces herself to be one, so judges characters like Hiccup who are not, because she feels it's the only way to be. When Hiccup "becomes stronger" than her, it's impossible to her, not because he's scrawny or anything physical, but because she trains every day, she's out there pushing herself beyond her limits to be a true warrior of berk. Setting the standard of what every warrior should be, her willingness to do so, to her should be rewarded by being the best. Most effort = highest reward.
She values trained strength above all, to the point where she doesn't even recognise intelligence (outside of direct battle/strategic intelligence), cunning, patience, and other key qualities she does actuallly poses until after becoming closer with Hiccup because they aren't skills to her until she sees them used in battle. Then, when Hiccup teaches her about dragon riding, and she gets Stormfly, she does start to see Hiccup as an "exception" to the rule, still viewing the other riders as not training hard enough, as being inherently lazy or like with her behaviour towards Fishlegs esp very dismissive. Although she loves Stormfly, she sees a way to be stronger. Not really understanding it in the same way Hiccup does as companionship, even though that's what they are.
A similar thing later occurs with the twins, and it seems highly intentional that it follows a similar structure to the start of her friendship with Hiccup. Astrid is frustrated by Hiccup's acceptance of them because to her Hiccup is her exception to the strict pattern of being a warrior, by his not only growing stronger over their journey but by his out of pocket ideas proving him the right leader for the group. Not because she's allowed her warrior-only mindset to change. Anytime the other riders prove their ability outside of battle, she just ignores it, not even praising them or acknowledging it, like when Ruffnut steals the key from the guard, she just quickly moves on.
Then, when she's put in a situation where she has to entirely rely on Tuffnut, she refuses to until all her defences have been compromised and she's forced to do something more than be surprised and quickly move on. She has to accept that the twins and the other riders aren't entirely lazy or lacking in skills, just provide different abilities to the team. She finally has to accept there's more than one way to succeed and that Hiccup isn't an exception to the rule but the person trying to show her something outside her ridged world view.
I think when that's ignored or misunderstood, for Astrid immediately becoming Hiccup's ride or die and completely able to lead the riders just as good as him, you lose a lot of her character that has great story potential and even who Astrid is as a character.
