Microreveiew of RttE season 2!

So, I have finished watching all the episodes in the second season of Race to the Edge, and I'm gonna write a quick review of the ENTIRE season. What this means is that I'm gonna try to give you as many pros and cons that I can remember, so we may get quite a nice list. If you are still on the fence about the seasons, maybe this will help you to decide whether you do (or don't) want to watch them.

Ok, so I'll start with the good stuff this season has to offer:

• Lots and lots of Astrid. I just have to put that first. She gets a lot of spotlight in this season... in fact I feel like she might get more than any other character. I must say that I am not an Astrid expert... like at all. I've never looked deeply into her character or appreciated her as fully as she deserves, so because of this she might be out of character in this season and I didn't notice. But, I feel pretty sure that she is in character for the most part, and she is also getting tons of great screen time.
• Developing Hiccstrid. Again, this is not my area of expertise. However, if you've been on any dragon fancies lately, you may have seen gifs floating around of Hiccup and Astrid doing sweet things together. They also get some tension at a point in the series, and I think it is pretty well handled.
• Ruffnut AND Tuffnut both actually have some genuine moments in this season (ha, though not in the same episode). We see Tuffnut actually doing stuff well even though he looks like he is goofing off when he and Astrid have to defend Dragon's Edge together. Then we see Ruffnut becoming extremely concerned for her brother, becoming angry on his behalf, and doing anything she can to help him. I for one, found it surprising how well that was handled. The twins are not easy characters to do right. Usually they are just kinda comic relief, but in a few episodes in this season they really shined.
• New dragons! Ha, well, that's always a plus. Actually, I think I would be more accurate in saying "new dragon" because I can only recall one species that is entirely new. However, we get to see a dragon from HTTYD2, and that is really cool. It's the Seashocker, and in the film we only get vague glances at that beautiful sea dragon, so it was good to get to see more of it. Also, the dragon called the Armorwing is wonderful. I know it is kinda ugly (at least I think it is), but it is sooooooooooooo obviously a type of Boneknapper that uses metal instead of bone, and I geeked out when I saw it! I always wanted to know what those armor collecting dragons looked like underneath. Boneknappers and Armorwings are really awesome because each one will look completely unique because of their armor they collect over their lifetime.
• Snotlout and Spitelout. I just have to say that I love Spitelout's voice actor, so I can't help but enjoy the stories he is in. It was neat to see him team up with the riders in some episodes, but I actually thought it was even better to see Snotlout trying to impress him in the episode "Snotlout Gets The Axe". I do think Snotlout is a punk who deserves most of what he gets, but I don't hate him, and it made me really happy to see him impress his dad... even if it was just a little. It was good to see that Snotlout cares about things other than himself, and I found in in character and enjoyable to watch.
• Returning Dragons! I mean, WHOA. I had some people asking me whether we would ever see dragons like the Snow Wraith again, and I honestly didn't know, but I am proud of the developers for bringing some of the dragons back. The Skrill was by far my favorite comeback. It was a bit of a shame that he only got one episode instead of a two parter, but it was good to see Hiccup free him in the end. I think that was very in character. Also, who would've thought we'd see the Screaming Death again?
• Dagur and Heather. I do have to wonder where this is going! Is Dagur going to be redeemable? That seems like such a stretch considering he has killed so many innocent people and is one of the darkest characters in the franchise. It was also good to see Heather and Windshear do some arial combat. Windshear has really cool fire.
•  A SMART bad guy. This is genuinely frightening because these new dragon hunters are good at what they do, and Viggo their leader may very well be more clever than Hiccup. I really look forward to seeing how Hiccup will combat him in the future. Also, I do hope Viggo will live up to his super scary claim at the end of the season. I want to see the bad guys go big. He says he is pretty much going to target Toothless, and that would be very interesting to see considering how formidable he is. I just hope this bad guy lives up to his scary threats!
• Last but not least, Hiccup tried to have a PEACE TALK with one of the major villains. This is wonderful. It is so in character! After all, we see Hiccup trying to convince even Drago Bludvist in the second movie, so we know for sure that he still wants to see conflicts solved without bloodshed. I don't know for sure, but this may have been the most in character thing Hiccup did in the entire season. We've had so many tv episodes in which Hiccup just rushes off into battle with his dragons as weapons, and finally we see something that feels a lot more like the Hiccup of HTTYD1 and 2.

OK, and now to the stuff that was not so great:

• Noticeable lack of Toothless. I really don't need to say much more. I don't think there was a single episode that focused on him. He was in every episode, but he just didn't really play any major role. I understand that they don't want to make every episode about him, but I would still like to see him get more attention. After all it was Hiccup AND Toothless that were the real draws to the first film for me.
• Strong Hiccup? Hiccup pulled off some fighting moves that I found... dubious. I am not super comfortable with them making him physically aggressive. Also, in one of these scenes he felt kind of OOC. Really and truly... I imagine Hiccup struggles in this season to be in character the same way he has in the other seasons. He has his good moments and his bad moments. Ah well...
• Potty humor. I seriously don't need to see Meatlug break wind anymore...
• I think they are developing the flight suit way, way too quickly. By this time in the series Hiccup's suit practically works better than the one he has in the second film! Haha, it's not a huge deal I suppose, but I notice it.

Really and truly, that's about all I can think of at the moment. I enjoyed the newest season, and if any of you haven't watched it I'd recommend it. And to those of you who have: what were your thoughts? Did you like it? What do you hope to see in the next season?