The Golden Dragon is an exclusive Mystery Class Dragon released in December 15th, 2021. It's a species originated from the Dragons: Rescue Riders TV Series, for more information on the species, check the HTTYD Wiki's article on Golden Dragon.
Obtainability
The Golden Dragon was available as the final prize in 2021's Snoggletog Event for 17,000 Treat. It's now available in Store for 1000 
(800 for Members). There's a chance in being available on a Weekly Sale with an Adult Ticket File:Dragons adult token.png.
In Quests
The Golden Migration
Old notes and trophies from Stoick reveal the Golden Dragon's egg shells are purely composed in solid gold, and the species make seasonal migrations to Armor Wing Island to lay their eggs. They seem to be very docile with humans, accepting the new nest and strangers without any major backlash, but very protective of their eggs.
Staging the Legend
The golden glitter Golden Dragon spits can be used to naturally coat something in sparkly glitter, in this case, the stage, implying it sticks to a surface. The Dragon behaves like birds in regard of touching the nest, if disturbed or messed with, it will disrupt the nesting process.
The Baby Golden Dragon
The golden sparkles can be used to attract hatchlings, perhaps explaining why the progenitor used the same spit over the nest.
The Golden Controversy
In spite of the average to positive reviews, Dragons: Rescue Riders isn't well received by the majority of the HTTYD community. It's highly criticized for being obviously marketed for children with their oversimplistic design and writing, the general disregard of continuing the original story after How To Train Your Dragon: Hidden World, and for being an unrequested show in contrast to the popular demand of continuing the story through Hiccup and Astrid's children. As such, there was a popular request across the majority of the SoD community once a poll[1] was released, mentioning two Rescue Riders species - to never release any Rescue Riders species into the game.[2]
The majority agreed on the idea to keep them out of the game, some addressing a design change to better fit the universe[3][4][5][6][7], others were hoping for more Dragons of the previous series[5][6] after the addition of the Slitherwing and Cavern Crasher, two species orignated from Dragons: Race to the Edge. Overall, the reception was negative and wary of the potential idea of a Rescue Riders Dragon being in the game, though it didn't stop the Golden Dragon from being released.
Upon release, the reception was overwhelmingly mixed[8][9][10]. Half of the playerbase expressed disappointment in the release of a Dragon without any design changes to better fit the universe[11][12] as well as the limited coloration possiblities[13], as an Event prize[14], and as a future method to grab another target audience into the game [15]. Other half questioned the uproar for the Golden Dragon[16] because players could just avoid the Event - or avoid achieving the egg - and move along, as opposed to criticize a Dragon that so happen to originate from a TV-Y rated show.
Brynjolf responded to the backlash addressing the team's effort in increasing the pool's diversity in spite of the reception, but they let the community know the team has acknowledged the overwhelming negative reception and Dragons from the desired avenue will be released instead.
| “ | Hey everyone! After reading a lot of opinions from fans across our player base, we understand all your arguments regarding the Golden Dragon. Although it is not what the fans wanted, the dev team is proud of the hard work done bringing a new avenue of dragons into our already diverse species pool. We will be continuing to release more dragons in the future that is more in line with designs we have released in the past, as well as designs fawned over by our most dedicated players. We acknowledge that Rescue Riders just isn't what you guys want to see in our game, and we will try to heed your desires more when we plan more events in the months to come! | ” |
| — Brynjolf [src] | ||
Trivia
- Golden Dragon is the first Dragons: Rescue Riders Dragon to be released.
References
- ↑ https://twitter.com/SchoolOfDragons/status/1438251030605611008
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/petition-keep-rescue-rider-dragons-out-sod
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/petition-keep-rescue-rider-dragons-out-sod#comment-901183
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/petition-keep-rescue-rider-dragons-out-sod#comment-901186
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/petition-keep-rescue-rider-dragons-out-sod#comment-901167
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/petition-keep-rescue-rider-dragons-out-sod#comment-901299
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/petition-keep-rescue-rider-dragons-out-sod#comment-901215
- ↑ http://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/snoggletog-has-arrived-1
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/gold-dragon
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/golden-dragon-discussion
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/and-here-it
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/and-here-it#comment-907800
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/and-here-it#comment-907826
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/gold-dragon#comment-907576
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/golden-dragon-discussion#comment-907928
- ↑ https://forum.schoolofdragons.com/content/gold-dragon
