I did it. I did the thing. I redesigned him. (Click for better quality on the images 💔)
1st image = Original, 2nd image = Live action, 3rd image = Live action redesign
I think Toothless has always been a very realistic depiction of a dragon (especially by cartoon standards) since the first film released in 2010. He actually got less realistic as the franchise progressed and slowly removed his more animalistic traits.
He barely needed anything about him altered beyond a texture upgrade to fit within a live action film. He doesn't have any exaggerated proportions like we see on some of the other dragons, and his face is distinctly reptilian whilst still having the ability to be expressive. He is a good, believable example of a creature that could exist (ignoring the six limbs).
The live action makes him almost look like a mammal. His eyes are massive, his fucking lizard eyebrows (??) are so expressive that they might as well have just let him grow hair and he's just really smooth looking. Oily. He looks like a hairless cat. And to top it all off, they made him a digitigrade! Name one currently living reptile that has a resting posture where it is a toe walker!! You can't!!! THERE ARE NONE!!!!
For my redesign of live action toothless, I scrapped live action toothless. I took animated toothless and just gave him more muscle in places wearing flying animals need muscle (chest and wing joints). He's got loaded as fuck secondary pecs, as I like to call them.
Anyway yeah, glad to have re-reptiled the reptile that got de-reptiled
