got mad thinking about HTTYD3 again and decided to funnel it into design practice and a little retelling exercise. ohh what a Night Fury hunter character could've been...
(not supposed to be a redesign of Grimmel, but a separate character to replace him as an antagonist. he's also quite similar in design to Drago -- who i think is a wonderful villain, for the record -- so i wouldn't expect to see him in any canon HTTYD media.)
when characters like Dagur and Ryker go on about wearing a Night Fury's skull as a hat i've always been curious to.. actually see a villain who delivers on that and proves themselves as a threat prior to meeting the heroes. a character who doesn't kill dragons because he has a vendetta against them like Grimmel or seeks to control them like Drago, but just wants the social status given to people capable of killing the most dangerous.
and then being around the riders' age; someone like Astrid or Dagur who are young but already so good and so accomplished at what they do, brutal and efficient. someone to both reflect Hiccup, and be his opposite. a rival. the kind of person who would have bullied him if they knew each other as kids, but also carried through on his initial goal right at the start of the first movie: killing dragons for status.
anyway, i don't think it's a perfect design yet, but it sure was fun to develop :) Set has a wonderful face, btw