History YMMV / HowToTrainYourDragon2

** Drago Bludvist. Some see him as a boring character and a one note chracter while others think that he is an intimidating threat who serves as an excellent contrast and foil towards Hiccup.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Valka. Some fans love her for being a badass ActionMom, others can't overlook the fact that she abandoned her son and husband.
** Drago Bludvist. Some see him as a boring character and a GenericDoomsdayVillain while others think that he is an intimidating threat who serves as an excellent contrast and foil towards Hiccup.

** The television show attempts to explain this by showing that Hiccup managed to redeem and/or talk down[[''nearly every single villain of the show'' (Alvin, Dagur, Mala, and Viggo respectively), despite many of them seeming ''well'' past the point of any redemption.]] With that level of success, of course he'd think trying his hand with Drago would be a viable option.

* BadassDecay: Anyone who knows and loves Toothless' design and personality, knows he is meant to embody ''many different animals'', their behaviors and their varying attributes. Someone in production however, realized Toothless' untapped marketability, [[ExecutiveMeddling and so sought a more "kid-friendly" mascot dragon]]. Toothless now continually behaves... [[ABoyAndHisX more like a dog]]... as opposed to a bat, panther or cat as he did before. While this can result in some utterly adorable scenes with Hiccup, the [[TheDreaded Night Fury]] has lost some defining traits within transition to the sequel.

*** Listen for yourself, [[https://youtu.be/HMcUdnDgfiI?t=4m22s here]].

** Drago could have been more fleshed out. His backstory of [[spoiler:having his town, family, and arm destroyed in a dragon attack when he was a boy and then growing obsessed with both a need for revenge and eventually a hunger for power]] is a fairly interesting one, but it only gets a brief scene so that we can know why he can't be reasoned with.
** The good Alpha had little screen time; it therefore had few opportunities to display its personality.

** Many fans of the franchise were disappointed that Astrid got almost DemotedToExtra, specially considering her expanded role in the TV show.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Some people are just so evil or crazy or rotten to the core that they cannot ever be negotiated or reasoned with, so fighting is the only option. This is a specially hard pill to swallow if you are a pacifist who thinks violence only generates more violence.

** The Season 6 finale of ''WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk'' gives a lot more context to Hiccup being so insistent that they find a peaceful solution to the Drago situation: [[spoiler:He accidentally killed a previous enemy, and was left lamenting that it didn't have to end that way.]]

** The villain of a dragon film being named ''Drago'' can fall into this. How... inventive?

!! YMMV for the film version of ''How to Train Your Dragon 2'':

** As explained under FamilyUnfriendlyAesop some people, unfortunately, just can't be reasoned with.

* HilariousInHindsight: KitHarington's role in this movie is rather amusing considering a rather well known [[spoiler: and ultimately confirmed]] fan theory that his character in GameOfThrones is actually related by blood to THAT setting's dragon riders.

** The villain of a dragon film being named ''Drago'' can fall into this. How... original?

* ContestedSequel: Fans and critics can't seem to agree whether this film or the first is superior. On one hand, those who prefer the first film argue that it has more charm, and reliance on ShowDontTell moments, while supporters of this film prefer it for being DarkerAndEdgier, and having a more mature and realistic story with more action sequences. A third group values the films equally for their different strengths.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Okay developers, you want to make a game about [[ABoyAndHisX a young man and his flying dragon]] in a Viking village where dragons and viking are living together. So, are you going to make a cool flight simulator with dragons, or an action game? No? So, what are you guys making? Why, [[VideoGame/{{Superman64}} a game about flying through rings]] of course.

* ContestedSequel: Fans and critics can't seem to agree over which film is the superior one between this and the first. On one hand, those who prefer the first film argues that it has a "more charm", and reliance on ShowDontTell moments, while supporters of this film prefer it for being DarkerAndEdgier - having a more mature and realistic story with more action sequences. A third group value the films equally for their different strengths.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** If Drago hadn't crossed it before, he ''soars'' over it when he [[spoiler: hypnotizes Toothless to kill his own loyal master. When Stoick [[TakingTheBullet takes the blast instead]], Drago simply scoffs in satisfaction]].
** Arguably, he crosses it at the part where he has his enslaved dragons kill all the chiefs who refused to go along with him, which is what convinces Stoick that he can't be reasoned with. And that's ''[[EstablishingCharacterMoment his introduction]]''!

** For fans of Hiccup and Toothless' friendship in particular, this is a ''really'' sad film to watch, [[spoiler:thanks to the scene where Toothless is mind controlled into killing Hiccup, and would have ''succeeded'' if not for his father TakingTheBullet.]]

* CompleteMonster: Drago Bludvist, an unfeeling madman who seeks to take over Berk. Having lost his village and family to dragons when he was younger, Drago subverts a FreudianExcuse by becoming exactly like the ones who he sought revenge against and using fear to dominate anyone in his path. Prior to the plot, Drago came to a chieftain's meeting and offered to drive away the dragons if they would kneel to him. When they declined, [[DisproportionateRetribution Drago responded by burning them alive]] and leaving no survivors but Stoick, Hiccup's father. In the present, Drago raises a dragon army, led by a Bewilderbeast he abused into loyalty, and attempts to execute his right hand man for failing him, as well as the other dragon riders he brought with him. [[spoiler: Drago enslaves the dragons living under Valka's care and kills their Alpha to assert his power. Drago even hypnotizes the loyal Toothless to fire on his own master, Hiccup, and simply scoffs when Stoick takes the blast. He then proceeds to raze Berk with his new-found army, taking no prisoners.]] Power hungry beyond salvation, Drago ended up putting even the [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon first movie's]] BigBad to shame.

* HilariousInHindsight: KitHarington's roll in this movie is rather amusing considering a rather well known [[spoiler: and ultimately confirmed]] fan theory that his character in GameOfThrones is actually related by blood to THAT setting's dragon riders.

* HellIsThatNoise:
** Drago's primal scream to summon his Bewilderbeast.
** The hypnotic song of the Alpha makes its return from the first film and is used to even more chilling effect by [[spoiler:down right brainwashing Toothless.]]

** The Season 6 finale of ''WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk'' gives a lot more context to Hiccup being so insistent that they find a peaceful solution to the Drago situation: [[spoiler:He accidentally killed a previous enemy, and was left lamenting that it didn't have to end that way.]]

* EarWorm: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzxW85KCGQ8#t=123 For the Dancing and the Dreaming]]", which [[spoiler: Stoick and Valka]] sing together.