Abandon Shipping: Spyro x Elora's popularity greatly declined after Insomniac's departure due to Elora's unexplained absence from the series and the introduction of Ember and Cynder. Following the release of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, however, both the pairing and Elora herself have seen a resurgence in popularity, especially since Toys for Bob has added extra emphasis to the Ship Tease in the game's cutscenes.
Adaptation Displacement: Younger fans of Skylanders might be surprised to learn Spyro was the star of his own game and following series for quite some time prior to Skylanders.
Americans Hate Tingle: The franchise is considered a classic in America, but largely disliked and forgotten in Japan, to the point that the third game in the original trilogy, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, didn't get a release there due to how poorly the first two games sold, and would not see a release in Japan until Spyro Reignited Trilogy, several years later, Spyro thus having a long history of No Export for You in the region.note Other than the first two games and Reignated Trilogy, Spyro: Season of Ice, Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy and the first Skylanders game are the only Spyro games that got a Japanese release The conversions for the first two games, which altered the camera to be spaced far above Spyro (but was nearly uncontrollable), significantly slowing down Spyro's movements, and signs (which allow you to read them when you attack them, but are sometimes placed near enemies) are largely blamed for the tepid reception, with the differences ironically meant to offset complaints about motion sickness during the demo period.
Bad Export for You: The Japanese conversion of the first game in the series is hated even from Western fans of the series, which is why the series isn't popular in Japan.
Base-Breaking Character: We'd be tempted to say "everyone" and call it a day if it weren't for it being against trope entry policies. Generally, people who are fans of the Classic series aren't a fan of Legends characters while people who are fans of the Legend series aren't fans of the Classic series characters; even outside of that, fans of either series typically have one or several characters from it that they still dislike. The only characters you're likely to not find people complaining about, characterization-wise or otherwise, is Bianca (and even then, there are some who debate whether her portrayal in the Reignited Trilogywas good or not).
Broken Base: Considering that there are no less than threenote or four, depending on how you view the games between the classic trilogy and Legend of Spyro different continuities with varying themes and gameplay styles, fans have many different views on the franchise as a whole.
Sierra fans versus Insomniac fans; so bad that it would lead anyone who didn't understand the fans to believe everyone was either a LoS-tard or a "Classics"-tard.
Skylanders' Spyro broke it again. Some say it completely ruined Spyro because they don't like Spyro's design, while others say they like the look of the game itself and Spyro's look isn't that bad.
The Game Boy Advance games are polarizing as well. While some like them (including Ted Price) and consider them faithful to Insomniac's work on the series, others either dislike the isometric perspective or just consider them to be inferior to the original trilogy in general.
With the Reignited Trilogy reviving the Classic franchise again, there's been some debate over which characters from the other continuities/post-Insomniac games should be "adapted" into the Classic continuity if a new game is made. This extends to several characters, such as...
Cynder (and this especially holds true for her). As per her standard Base-Breaking Character status, she's sparked a lot of furious debates regarding if she should be brought into the Classic continuity: people either want her in for the sake of possibly reworking her to be a better written and more fitting character than she was in the Legends series, shipping her with Spyro (which in on itself is divisive, especially regarding Spyro/Elora shippers) or simply liking her character, or they don't because of fears of other elements of the LoS series "bleeding in" to the Classic series, find her to be a poorly written character who doesn't fit into the light-hearted classic continuity at all, or would simply prefer to ship Spyro with Elora instead due to LoS' Spyro's already divisive relationship with Cynder.
The Guardians, Ignitus being the most notable example for being Spyro's possible biological father in the LoS continuity. Some want him in as it would serve to provide an explanation of who Classic Spyro's parents are and because of their bond in the LoS games. Detractors point to the fact that Spyro having a parent would make his attempts at adventure limited without portraying Ignitus as incompetent at raising his son and destroying the fanon that Spyro was raised by the Artisans as a whole.
Red and/or the Sorcerer. On one hand, people liked the idea of having dragon villains opposing Spyro and would like the Sequel Hook hinted at in Shadow Legacy to be followed upon. Others claim they're too flat and generic in motives to be given another chance.
Even within the Classic series, there's still this trope. It's mainly a split over Insomniac trilogy fans VS fans of the classic series as a whole. Most Insomniac trilogy fans refuse to accept anything past the original trilogy as "true" canon, and feel like everything past them isn't anywhere as good. Fans of the classic series as a whole point out how certain games, such as Spyro: A Hero's Tail, are also generally well regarded too, and that Insomniac's Spyro games are by no means flawless either, often pointing to the big Broken Base over whether or not Spyro: Year of the Dragon was good thanks to certain design choices. The constant Creator Worship also tends to grate on non-Insomniac fans, especially those who think Insomniac's other platforming series has been going steadily downhill since All 4 One.
Common Knowledge: Many people assume that either Insomniac Games sold the Spyro rights to publisher Universal Interactive Studios before moving on to Ratchet & Clank (2002) or that Universal gave them a crummy deal where they had the rights all along. In actuality, Universal always had the rights to Spyro and it isn't an uncommon practice even today. For example, the Ratchet & Clank rights went to Sony when Insomniac moved to them, which is "no better" than the situation with Spyro.
Spyro and Cynder are shipped with Spike, as they are all purple dragons (though mostly Spyro and Spike) that have saved their respective worlds.
Draco in Leather Pants: The biggest of the offenders being Ripto, Red, and Malefor (and possibly Dark Cynder if you want to count her in). note Of these villains, the only ones who really make sense in canon are Red and Dark Cynder, who were under the control of a larger threat. So bad with some fans that it's lead to a lot of artwork flooding DeviantArt galleries and some pretty odd Fan Fiction.
Fans of the classic trilogy and fans of the Legend series are noted for not getting along particularly well, owing to the vastly different tones, casts, and general themes of their respective series.
Good luck trying to find any fan work based on the classic series that aren't just fanart; a vast majority of the content made for the Spyro the Dragon franchise usually tend to take place in The Legend of Spyro sub-series. Even after Reignited Trilogy sparked interest in the classic series again, most fan works still tend to be primarily focused on The Legend of Spyro universe (with their own specific plots to go with it; see its YMMV page for more info).
When it comes to content actually set in the Classicverse, there's a shocking number of fanfics that involve classic Spyro going through puberty and "taking notice" of whoever the author currently wants to ship him with. Never mind the implications behind that and Spyro's actual age.
If you believe the explanation that Dragon Eggs are delivered to the realms by the Fairies are actually canon or just a form of dancing around the topic of "where do babies come from" for younger players, it's common for the fanbase to have Spyro (and generally any young dragons of the world) being collectively raised by their respective dragon race rather than having traditional parents.
Since her race was never specified in her game, people often tend to slot Ember in as either an Artisan or a Dream Weaver, or a mixed-race dragon of the two dragon races. Flame is usually placed as a pure Artisan like Spyro and when fans try to adapt Cynder into the Classicverse, she's often portrayed as either a Magic Crafter or Dream Weaver.
Malefor, when adapted into the Classicverse, is usually portrayed as a Peace Keeper who somehow 'fell' from his spot into a power-hungry dragon who wishes to take over the realms. In relation to Cynder, he's usually portrayed as either her father or is in some way related to her, with Cynder often going along with him (either reluctantly or not) due to their family ties.
Fanart of Flame will usually make changes to his appearance to differentiate him from Spyro, as he is a Palette Swap in his official appearances. This is often done by modifying his face, horns, or spines, or by making him younger and smaller. Similarly, Ember is sometimes drawn with stouter, pudgier proportions, forming a Fat and Skinny duo with Cynder.
Fanon Welding: A few peoplehave speculated that two or more of the three Spyro seriesnote That being the original, the Legend of Spyro, and Skylandersare set in the same universe, thousands of years apart from each other. Commonly cited evidence is that the repaired planet from the end of Dawn of the Dragon (which was split into many floating islands) looks suspiciously similar to the Dream Weavers' homeworld and/or Skylands.
Ember and Flame are paired together almost constantly, despite Ember apparently falling for Bandit the Armadillo.
Ever since Skylanders Spyro and Cynder are showing some signs of being this, since whilst they were eventually an Official Couple in the Legend series, their Skylanders counterparts do not appear to show any romantic attachments to each other.
2016-2017 saw a huge surge of Ember X Cynder fan art and stories as a backlash against the Ron the Death Eater, Die For Our Ships tropes they frequently suffered, to the point it started to eclipse Spyro X Cynder in the fandom.
One of the most criticised aspects of The Legend of Spyro games, specifically how they could get dark to the point of suffocatingly so, can actually be traced back to the original Insomniac trilogy. The Big Bad of Spyro 3, in particular, was attempting to commit genocide of an entire generation of dragon newborns, which is exactly what Malefor had his followers do at the start of The Legend of Spyro. The difference, however, was most of these darker moments were either self-contained or masked behind the games bright art style, on top of the fact that the games still had far more sillier moments to balance it out.
Spyro's status of being The Chosen One was hinted at in the very first game of the franchise, with many of the dragon elders saying as much on the subject. The main difference was, however, the fact that it was quickly dropped after said game, either becoming an Aborted Arc or not having any moments to expand upon this, with a few hints that said elders may have just been senile.
For a character as hotly debated as she is, it can be easy to forget that Cynder's general arc had already been done with a character from the Classic series: Bianca. While Cynder ended up becoming a Base-Breaking Character for it, Bianca ended up becoming very popular with the Classic fanbase for it. There is, however, a few key differences:
While they both have Dark And Troubled Pasts, Bianca's didn't define her as a character. While Cynder became so obsessed with her past to the point of (arguably) being Wangst and causing problems in the story because of it when Bianca finally pulled her Heel–Face Turn she did everything she could to help Spyro and co. stop the Sorceress, not even bringing up her prior villainous ways as a reason she shouldn't be accepted into the cast.
On top of this, Bianca had several other traits to her character even before her Heel–Face Turnnote being an AdorkableMinion with an F in Evil with a softer side to help balance her out as a character once her role as The Dragon ended. Cynder, debuting as a Brainwashed and Crazy dragoness to the Big Bad and thus not reflecting what her true personality may be, didn't, leaving her as a pretty flatDamsel in Distress in The Eternal Night before being shifted to an irritable Tsundere character in Dawn of the Dragon with little reason to the sudden personality shift as the writers struggled to give her non-brainwashed self a personality.
Also, there's the fact that Bianca was Easily Forgiven once she helped stop the Sorceress, while Cynder constantly had her past repeatedly thrown into her face; which not only makes it fatiguing since this bit of angst never really goes anywhere or furthers feelings of it being Wangst, it also causes the by-product of wondering why the heroes are even trying to save a population of irritable, unforgiving Jerkassess, furthering feelings of the series getting dark to the point of suffocating.
And finally, there's the fact that both of them end up in a Relationship Upgrade with one of the protagonists. The difference here is while Bianca's eventual romance with Hunter is foreshadowed early on and ultimately plays a major factor in her Heel–Face Turn, Cynder spent most of her screentime in The Eternal Night or Dawn of the Dragon either snarking at Spyro or angsting about her past, making the eventual hookup seem like it comes completely out of the blue and only happens because otherwise Malefor would have won.
Spyro first appeared as a demo in the third Crash Bandicoot game and the fandoms remained friendly ever since. The speedrunning community takes this one step further by being completely merged into a "Sprash" community.
The franchise is also generally friendly with most of the Friendship is Magic fandom, thanks to the classic series sharing a similar art style and aesthetics, as well as a focus on a bright fantasy world inhabited solely by non-human magical creatures and Funny Animals. Notably, despite the two sub-series' mutual antipathy, the Legend side is also fairly friendly with the pony fandom, for broadly the same reasons and because its mythology around purple dragons meshes in interesting ways with one of FiM's main characters being also a young purple dragon. It helps that Tara Strong voiced in both franchises.
Believe it or not, there are a few fans out there that like both the Classic and Legend series equally, and an even rare few who like the franchise as a whole, including Skylanders.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The series has garnered a lot of its success within the United Kingdom, with many Spyro content creators being British, as well as a majority of contestants in the International Spyro Grand Prix hailing from the UK.
Spyro at Subway.Explanation (NSFW) A particular piece of Spyro fetish art, featuring Hunter crapping on a Subway sandwich that Spyro is making. It's garnered a ton of infamy on the internet for how disgusting it is, and is often posted on 4chan as a shock image. It's also been crossed over with Yu-Gi-Oh!, with people posting the character's faces on Exodia's cards to "summon" the image.
Only the Creator Does It Right: The first three games on the PlayStation, created by Insomniac Games, are usually considered the best in the series; the games released afterwards, while still having their fans, were made by different developers and are seen less positively.
Unsurprisingly, the series' premise of playing as a dragon created a lot of childhood fans that joined the furry fandom, who will often cite one of the games (particularly those belonging to the original trilogy) as a major — if not the — reason for kicking off their interest in other works more appealing to furries. A Hero's Tail introduced Ember and Flame who helped draw in and inspire more furries while The Legend of Spyro trilogy helped out by introducing a female dragon love interest known as Cynder, who has a cool, evil form (and, by intent or not, a lot of the classic trilogy fans were teenage furries who found her attractive) and a cute, popular normal form. Fanart of that series drastically exploded in popularity on furry art sites from the revival announcement alone, especially art sites focusing on scalie content. And that's not even getting into the redesigns in Reignited Trilogy and how they reignited the furry fans' love for the characters.
This doesn't even stop at dragon fans, as there's plenty of animal characters as well (Hunter the Cheetah and Bianca being the most well-known).
Ron the Death Eater: Both Cynder and Ember have gotten this treatment by the fandom. A bit more common with Ember, as her one sided crush on Spyro is often used to make her a Clingy Jealous Girl trying to break Spyro and Cynder up or kill Cynder and have Spyro to herself. The overuse of this in fan works seems to be dying down, thanks to an increased backlash against this trope.
Ship-to-Ship Combat: Spyro/Cynder and Spyro/Ember used to be infamous for this before it died down, and let’s not forget Elora’s fans either...
Ships That Pass in the Night: Ember X Cynder saw a huge surge in popularity starting around 2016-2017 as the result of a backlash against the frequent Ron the Death Eater use in regards to both of them in fan works. This is despite the fact that they both exist in separate continuities.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: As should be apparent, both Ember and Flame are very popular with the fandom despite the fact they only appear in two of the six "Classicverse" games, and in both times, they're extremely underutilized NPC characters. This is especially apparent for Ember, as despite having a crush on Spyro, she only appears twice in her debut game, and then gets both her character and crush on Spyro essentially written out in Shadow Legacywith a very flimsy excuse why. Neither character ended up appearing in the tworeboot series afterwards, despite proving popular enough that most fan works would find ways to write them into those settings. After the Spyro Reignited Trilogy happened, not only did someone make character mods for both Flame and Ember a mere week after the release of the PC version, but many are anxiously hoping they get added into whatever possible future Spyro game ends up being.
The classic series as a whole:
Creator Worship: When people reference the classic series, they usually mean the classic trilogy. The sheer number of people clamoring for another Insomniac Games Spyro game is rather insane. Most people seem to believe Only the Creator Does It Right when it comes to this regard; despite the fact that several non-Insomniac classic games are generally regarded as okay to great quality as well. However, many classic fans warmed up to Toys for Bob after their well-received remake of the classic trilogy.
The Egg Thieves. The second game had only a single thief challenge in Shady Oasis, but the third game had a bunch (usually involving supercharge ramps).
Bianca, due to her beloved redemption arc in Year of the Dragon, and simply for being adorkable in general.
Elora is an interesting example. She was a major character and mild Love Interest for the second game, but was completely absent from the third except for a cameo. She was meant to pop up in games afterwards but was always cut from the final product. Despite this, Elora is a very popular character in the franchise, and fans rejoiced when she was revealed for the Reignited Trilogy.
Ember and Flame, thanks to being the few dragons around Spyro's age in the entire franchise. Even a few Classic trilogy-only purists wouldn't mind them being adopted into "official" canon if another Classic game is made.
Hunter, who progressed from minor aide in Ripto's Rage to fully playable by A Hero's Tail and is the only character besides Sparx to make it through from the original trilogy to the Legend series, albeit in a rather different form.
The secret agent twins, Handel and Greta, are decent fan-favourites despite being minor NPCs who only appeared in two worlds across the original trilogy, due to being both creepy and badass. It goes double for Greta, as her role and subsequent badassery in Year of the Dragon's Fireworks Factory is heralded as one of the most iconic moments of that game.
Despite only being playable in a few levels in Year of the Dragon and having some minor NPC appearances in later games, Bentley is a huge fan-favourite due to being a Genius Bruiser who has some great lines due to his Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness.
Agent 9 was so popular for his Trigger-Happy personality that he was intended to become a full-on Breakout Character, getting his own spin-off games. Alas, his games never saw the light of day.
Fan-Preferred Couple: Spyro and Elora have mild Ship Tease, particularly in Ripto's Rage!; note although Spyro is implied to dislike romance unsurprisingly, fans of the game wasted no time in pairing them together. Several of their interactions in the Reignited Trilogy were overhauled to be more romantic, increasing the ship's popularity even more as a result.
Most Wonderful Sound: The ringing of when you pick up a gem. Considering the overwhelming number of gems in the series, you’ll be hearing it in your sleep.
That One Sidequest: The "Flight" levels from Spyro 98, renamed the "Speedway" levels in Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon can be incredibly frustrating. The fundamental premise is simple; Spyro flies through the level trying to complete four tasks — either flying through rings or similar checkpoints, or scorching targets with his fire. Usually a mixture of both. Each individual task marker gives a small time boost (from 1 to 3 seconds), and Spyro has to complete the tasks before the timer counts down and without touching the abundant water (or stand in). Each individual task gives 1/5th of the level's associated gems when completed, and completed tasks are permanently registered — but the player has to pull of a perfect "All In One" run of the level to get the remaining 5th of the gems. The problem is that Spyro's flight controls are awful, being essentially just Spyro's glide ability with the added trait of being to go up or down. The flying Spyro has very sluggish speed, turns slowly, and can't either accelerate (outside of touching blue star-shaped "boosters" in Year of the Dragon) or turn more sharply. Combine with the very tight time limits and the demand for absolute precision in hitting/flying through each target on the first try, and these are the most consistently challenging levels in the trilogy.
The Year of the Dragon Speedways deserve their own mention. Now, the player has three challenges to complete; the traditional Speedway challenge (called "Time Attack"), finding a hidden Hunter to play a unique minigame, and a new challenge in the form of a race against five local fliers. Whilst it does make things a little easier by having Sparx tell the player the "easiest" (but not fastest) route at the start of the Time Attack challenge, the racing challenge highlights every problem with Spyro's flight controls by having Spyro automatically start dead last, with the AI racers being notably faster and more agile than Spyro. Whilst they can be slowed for a short time by using a homing missile powerup, or very briefly stunned by attacking them, they're just as capable of using the speed-boosters as Spyro, and the incredibly tight turns required to hit every single speed booster (which, fortunately, the AI racers don't do) is made nightmarish with how poor Spyro's turning is.
Vindicated by History: In the 1990s, many (predominantly teenage and adult) hardcore Playstation gamers thought of Spyro the Dragon as nothing but a kiddie Mario cash-grab that didn't fit the "mature-geared" console. As the core demographic of Spyro the Dragon displaced the older gamers, the series has become Sacred Cows amongst 3D platformers.
(due to both being Awesome Aussies) and Ripper Roo
