As dragons swoop back onto the big screen with the live-action adaptation of DreamWorks How To Train Your Dragon, Blocks has the final instalment surrounding the design choices for LEGO Icons 10375 How To Train Your Dragon: Toothless.
“Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous,” reads Hiccup from the Book of Dragons as he reluctantly trains to become a warrior. All the tome contains are the fighting strategies of the different species and weak points to target. However, as Hiccup comes to understand Toothless and the other dragons, he forms a deeper connection with the Night Fury. Realising that the only way for Toothless to ever fly again is with a rider, he sets about to unlearn everything from the Book of Dragons. He makes sure to let Toothless roll in dragon grass (the Berk version of catnip), angles his shield to create a light for him to chase and avoid bringing him eels.
Yet surprisingly the initial concepts of the stylised LEGO Toothless didn’t include the accessories or saddle that allow Hiccup and the Night Fury to bond. LEGO Model Designer Jae Won Lee balanced the curves and contours of the saddle into 10375 How To Train Your Dragon: Toothless, but there were early iterations of the model that didn’t have these accessories at all. “In the first sketch model there was no saddle,” explains Jae. “That was to capture Toothless when he’s a wild creature before he meets Hiccup. But then I realised it was an important symbol of their friendship and bond, so I changed it to add it in.”
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Another addition was a snack for 10375 How To Train Your Dragon: Toothless. “We began with only one accessory for Toothless and that was the blue blast [fire] element. But I suggested that we also include a fish. It’s such an important thing as fish are how they begin their friendship,” explains Jae, who was oddly thrilled to be able to create a dead fish for Toothless to eat. As Hiccup tries to bond with the Night Fury he finds out about how dragons love salmon and cod but absolutely despise eel (clearly dragons have expensive taste). It’s through this knowledge that he’s able to befriend other dragons – and appear as a ‘dragon whisperer’ to his friends.
Hiccup’s enduring friendship with Toothless is the heart and soul of the franchise. They both need each other. Toothless so he can fly with his prosthetic tail. Hiccup so that he can protect his people and dragons alike. But 10375 How To Train Your Dragon: Toothless only focuses on the Night Fury. So why are these characters not minifigures in this set? “We did discuss special minifigures for Hiccup and Astrid,” says Jae, who would have loved to see minifigures of these characters as a massive fan of the films himself. “But we decided to simply focus on only Toothless, so our budget could then go into the decorated [printed] elements for him instead.”
Every detailed element in 10375 How To Train Your Dragon: Toothless is printed and there isn’t a sticker in sight for the scales. But there’s one more special element – a recoloured LEGO turntable element in pink. Why did it need to be bright pink? So that it could seamlessly blend into Toothless’ mouth. “His tongue can flop around,” laughs Jae as he shakes the model. It’s one final ode to the films and how Toothless, like any loyal dog, wakes up Hiccup with a slobbery lick.
With his passion for character design and deep emotional connection to the How To Train Your Dragon films, Jae seems to have been the perfect LEGO pro to bring this set to completion. His clear vision and dedication to such a distinctive style has resulted in a LEGO Icons model like no other.
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