Something I noticed this year in my annual httyd1 rewatch that's really interesting: Astrid never talks to Snotlout.
When he's flirting with her, she's not replying to him. She just makes dismissive gestures and leaves. Even his "dragon-esque figure" line only gets a punch, no dialogue. She does say "hey!" when he pushes her out of the way in the Nadder maze sequence, but no actual conversation.
So uh. Can we really blame him for just staring at her in sheer wonder when she encouragingly yells "you're the Viking!!!" I've always laughed at him for getting distracted and falling here, but. Can we really blame him under these circumstances. It's not only that he's never heard a kind word from Astrid, it's that she's never verbally acknowledged him at all
(And this makes her act 1 interactions with Hiccup even more interesting, honestly. Because he warrants verbal rejections from her. "Nope, just you" and "read it" are firm and clear but not cruel. It fascinates me that she won't even speak to Snotlout but she will bother to talk back to Hiccup, even in a funny way that first time)
