#as would zinogre since it's a wolf

[hal-o-ween]

As a purely self indulgent sort of post, here's a little "spotlight" on one of the maps for my little thought experiment monster hunter project!

The Verdant Expanse

The Verdant Expanse is a largely forested region that displays an incredible variety of flora and fauna. While technically the second region that the research outpost encountered, it was the first one they turned their focus to, as the region now known as Sharq Tooth Beach was considered too dangerous to explore in depth without qualified hunters.

The Forest:

The large trees and abundant undergrowth of the Verdant Expanse provide excellent shelter and food for small monsters such as Kelbi, who prefer the more open clearings with plentiful berries, and Mosswine, who are typically found in the more dense undergrowth foraging for mushrooms. Bullfango root through the dirt for food, and will brazenly charge at any who disturb their meal, and are occasionally accompanied by a Bulldrome, their white-crested leader. Pukei-Pukei may be found on occasion, feeding in the mushroom-dense depths of the forest.

Night Time:

At night, the stunning Malfestio fly silently through the air, using the mesmerizing patterns on their wings, and the dust-like scales they shed, to confuse and daze prey and predator alike. The howls of the powerful Zinogre ring through the trees, as fulgur bugs gather around them, providing them with their terrifying control of the thunder element.

The Lake:

As one wanders further into the Expanse, they will quickly come upon a lake. Formed by the dams of Caeserbur, this lake is frequented by most monsters in the area as it is rich in prey and plant life. Caeserbur dams are large, befitting their large creators. They can be seen dragging entire trees to their dams, and should they feel threatened, will even throw the trees they carry at attackers.

The lake is also the home of several other large monsters. Arzuros fish along the banks near small waterfalls, and collect honey amongst the trees. Tetranodon forage along the mucky lakebed for plants and small creatures to eat, and frequently rest near the surface where they give the appearance of small, mossy islands. Mizitsune live along the lake and river, using their long necks and sharp teeth to catch fish. Evidence of their recent presence is often found in the form of bubblefoam along the water's edge.

The Meadow:

At the forest's edge lies a vast field of colorful wildflowers, full of insects such as Bnahabra and Vespoid. Be wary in this area, as it is the home of the Apex of the Verdant Expanse. The Forokururu, despite feeding only on insects and nectar, is a formidable foe, and guards its fields ferociously. The variety of flowers at its disposal give it the ability to utilize an incredibly wide variety of ailments, and even the fire element. This beautiful monster has made studying the meadows difficult, and passage to the desert region even more so...

[thethronezone]

Oh, don't mind me, I'm just imagining which monsters from Monster Hunter would serve as the best companions for each individual Primarch. Tried to avoid Elder Dragons but some were just too perfect.

Konrad would definitely have a Nerscylla because come on. Creepy giant spider that wears the skins of its victims as a cloak? That screams Night Lord to me!

Jaghatai definitely has a Kirin since he's all for speed and loves horses. You try and look me in the eyes and tell me he wouldn't be all for this lightning unicorn. Maybe a Valstrax.

Fulgrim gets a Mizutsune. They are very beautiful and he's all about the aesthetic. He'd probably name it some super pompous name and give it a diamond collar.

Corvus would have a Nargacuga. It's stealthy, got wings and is covered in black fur. It would also serve as his emotional support animal.

Lion would have a Barioth. Partially because, yes, it's a fucking cat, of course LION would have a cat monster. But I really do believe it would fit him.

Leman would have a Zinogre. Just like how Lion would have a cat monster, Leman would have a wolf one. That and it is very ferocious. He would ride that thing into battle.

Angron... well, I have to go with Odogaron. At first I considered a Deviljho but then I remembered that gladiator Angron artwork where he's got a dog beside him and... yeah.

Horus has a Nergigante because that thing hunts Elder Dragons and Mr. Horus "I almost killed the Emperor" Lupercal wouldn't settle for less.

Alpharius and Omegon shares a Nakarkos. It's a cephalopod that looks like it has two tentacles it pretends to be dragon heads, it is an actual fake hydra.

Ferrus is a bit hard (no pun intended) but ultimately I think a Bazelgeuse would fit him. I think he would be absolutely fascinated by its exploding scales.

Perturabo could probably have a Diablos. I can mainly see him with one because they dig underground lairs and I could see him use one during a siege.

Sanguinius' monster would be a Legiana. It is very beautiful, can fly and I dunno, I just think it fits his vibes. Not to mention I see some potential with different patterns on its wings.

Rogal would have a Gravios. It has tough stone like armor which makes me kinda associate it with Dorn's fortresses. I can see it sleeping on the fort walls.

Roboute gets the Arkveld. It is considered to be part of an extinct species and... well, there aren't a lot of Primarchs around anymore. He'd probably feel a kinship to it.

Magnus has a Malfestio. Because he's a wizard. And that's a big fucking owl. I'm so sorry, I can't get it out of my head. It also looks very magical.

Vulkan gets a mf Zorah Magdaros. Is it unfair to everyone else? Yes. Do I care? No. That's his baby! His giganitic, magma covered, living mountain baby. He would have a forge near one of its cores.

Lorgar has a Rahian. A golden one, to be precise. Because this bitch loves the Emperor (at least before the Heresy and falling to Chaos) and we all know Big E loves gold.

[articskele]

EHEHEHEEEE :D!!!!!!

Here's a closeup of my pfp!! And one without the background ouo. The design is a little outdated but I'm so proud of this drawing :D

Also here's one of my favorite doodles of her ouo

—

There's this one scene where Artic freezes up and then it cuts to someone thawing her out with a hairdryer-

I could totally see her getting caught in a loop where she freezes -> thaws out -> "Wait what was I so worried about?" -> suddenly Remembers -> somebody has to step in so she doesn't freeze up again-

Honestly I never considered how her other emotions would play into it! Though there are little things like when she sneezes it's just a puff of snow ouo

Or how her bones are always cold, so during the summer everybody's hugging her or asking her to cool their drinks, and Ink has to bundle up before snuggling with her- And sometimes flowers just naturally grow in Artic's hair ouo

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I imagine the Essence of Winter itself is this light blue liquid that shimmers in the light, it's about the same consistency as blood, and it's probably the reason why Artic has ice powers and why they're contact-based!

Essences can be of pretty much anything! You're basically harvesting the sheer vibes, so I imagine different ones would affect you in different ways!

Like the essence of wood would probably turn all your organs into wood if you drank it, meanwhile essence of zonked would make you higher than a darn kite and sitting in the floor of your bathroom inventing new shapes aksjfhds-

—

It's not at all normal for essences to be naturally occurring, much less for them to just be in someone's system- And a big part of Artic in general is that nobody quite knows What She Is

While the bones have a similar look and feel and density to regular bones, the outside can be cut through like you can with skin. And her cheeks are squishy bc it's cute ouo

And they look similar to regular bones under a microscope, but something's inexplicably off. The bones themselves aren't quite bone, but they're not just made of ice, it's some kinda strange inbetween.

I don't think she has a circulatory system per se, the stuff is just chillin out in the bones ouo. She does have a heartbeat, though nobody knows how or why. Something something love and friendship ouo

ALSO the mental image of Artic being stopped by TSA bc "miss you literally have an illegal substance throughout your entire body" is really funny to me-

—

But there is one other creature that just naturally has essences in it: the Alatreon.

Basically its whole deal is that it can use every element in Monster Hunter (fire, ice, electricity, etc), making it super unstable and overall a calamity-level threat to any ecosystem it happens upon.

And I headcanon it's Like That bc it has multiple elemental essences in its blood, which is just too much for any one creature to handle, so it's just overcharged all the time-

I have yet to fight the thing since it's basically the endgame monster of MH3U, but it makes for some neat similarities to Artic, and I can only imagine how cool the fight would be :D

—

AAAA YES it's so fun imagining Artic's fighting style and sneaking around and!!!!

Wait did I mention she has a big ol journal full of notes and sketches and stuff of various monsters and everything she's learned about them- She just feels at home out in the wilds studying creatures!!

Lately I've been thinking about her washing dragons and other various monsters, like those pet grooming videos- Inspired by this!!!

There's a scene where she's washing a Zinogre, which is basically a giant wolf that can fight with electricity bc it has a symbiotic relationship with the Fulgurbugs living in its fur!!

So Artic finds the queen Fulgurbug and puts her in a clip, so the rest of the bugs follow just like bees do, so they're safety out of the way for her to wash and brush through the Zinogre's thick fur ouo

—

And the funny thing is that while she's all graceful and dancelike in combat, she struggles to dance normally bc "aaa people are here and what if I mess up-"

There's this REALLY pretty scene where it's got this song playing, and Ink and Artic are at some kind of town festival.

Colorful pennant flags strewn about, really good street food, people dancing in the town square. At some point they get lost in the crowds and get pushed into the center of where everyone is dancing

Artic's lowkey panicking bc now they're being Watched, but Ink gets an idea and does like an easy-to-dodge jab at her. She dodges, and there's that moment of realization like "ohh just treat like a fight!" and they're so in sync and OUGHHHH IT'S SO GOOD

AND it was inspired by this scene from Avatar: The Last Airbender!!!! The episode is titled The Headband btw, it's great ouo

—

MONSTER HUNTER MY BELOVED-

Basically the story of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is that the seaside Moga Village is experiencing earthquakes. And it's assumed that Lagiacrus, dubbed Lord of the Seas, is the cause.

(Btw I just ADORE Lagiacrus, it's one of my favorite monsters of all time!! The design is PEAK, the fight is incredible, it generates electricity using the spikes on its back, I love it so so much-)

(THERE'S AN EARLY-GAME QUEST WHERE IT JUST APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE SO YOU HAVE TO RUN FOR YOUR LIFE AND IT JUST PERFECTLY ESTABLISHES THIS THING AS A THREAT AND. OUGHHHHH)

But once you do fight it, the earthquakes don't go away. If anything, they get worse.

It turns out that the cause is this giant whale-like creature called Ceadeus. One of its horns has grown so big that it's covering one of its eyes and causing pain, so it tries to relieve that by scraping its horns against the seafloor.

Or in this case, the bottom of the island that the village was built on.

But once you notify the Hunter's Guild, they say that you're not qualified enough to fight this thing, so you and the rest of the village are told to wait as the Guild sends in higher ranking hunters.

But time is running out. Who's to say that the village will still be around by the time help arrives?

I can't find a clip of it for the life of me, but at one point Aisha has this little speech saying that we can't just wait around like sitting ducks, hyping you up to save the day! And I think she says something along the lines of "If they fire you for this then I'm quitting in solidarity" akjsfkdsf-

So you go down into the depths, and once the Ceadeus's horn is broken off, it's no longer hurting and leaves.

It has such a folklore feel to it that's just magical to me, and it fits Artic's character really well methinks!!

Also this is what Aisha looks like! And a really old doodle of Ink and Artic that's just so soft and sweet and awbawbabwba <3

—

YESSSSSJHFJKSFHSF I LOVE LOVE LOVE putting in little references to other stories and iterations of Artic it's so fun!!!!!!

And the title of IDPS refers to Kat, which is my friend's character!

Long story short, Kat's the princess of this sci-fi kingdom of shadow people. As one of the few remaining people with the ability to travel between dimentions, she's tasked with taking care of them and making sure they don't get corrupted.

But between the rising expectations of her family, her kingdom, disability, etc, she needs an outlet. A way to get away from it all.

So, she sells pizzas out of her van and works as a mercenary! If Artic's thing is swords and strategy, then Kat's bread and butter is guns and being as flashy and reckless as possible-

I was told to use this image as a way of summing her up akjfskdjf

Ok so the aforementioned OC universe is known as IDPS, short for Interdimentional Pizza Shop (and Mercenary Work)! There is literal YEARS worth of lore and ideas put into this thing I love it so much :D

This version of Artic is the one in my pfp, and who the oc: artic tag refers to lol- Basically she's embodiment of the season of winter, a huge dragon enthusiast, and the much-needed voice of reason!!

She's not a "true" skeleton per se, like she's not undead, she's just kinda in the shape of one- Though she can disconnect and reattach her bones like a cartoon ouo

She has ice powers, but not in a "shooting ice beams out of your hands" kinda way, it's very contact based!

She can freeze things by touching them, she can make a layer of ice under her feet to sliiide around super fast, and sometimes she physically freezes up under stress so you have to wait for her to thaw out akjfds

She can pick up your drink and little ice cubes form in it, in whatever shape she wants! And when she cries the tears freeze up so there's just little bits of ice on her face you gotta wipe off

In IDPS there are these things called essences, which are the super concentrated (and super illegal) form of a concept, usually in liquid form like a potion. Like if you poured a drop of Essence of Princess onto an apple, it would turn all sparkly and have a big bow on it!

Artic just naturally has the Essence of Winter in her bones instead of blood or marrow! So she doesn't have to worry about vampires bc they'd just get a really bad brainfreeze lol

She mainly fights with dual blades made of ice, inspired by Monster Hunter's dual blades! She's a very strategic and speedy fighter, her movements almost dancelike in combat, and she likes to use the terrain to her advantage!

And since this is a multiverse story, she actually goes through the story mode of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, saving a village from a giant sea monster! The gal who gives out quests in that game, Aisha, is like an older sister to her hehe ouo

So Artic is a licensed monster hunter, and she is absolutely FASCINATED with these creatures and how they work. And after some shenanigans in her childhood town in the mountains, she even starts her own sanctuary to educate people and care for dragons that wouldn't make it in the wild!

Here she's shipped with Ink Sans, and they live together with her dragon pet / companion Blizzard ouo!

It's this really sweet little story about Ink showing this really anxious and sheltered girl the world, seeing all the potential and life in her eyes and wanting to see her blossom.

And there's a scene where Ink is trying to hide his condition (basically he's undead and needs to drink magic paints in order to feel and regulate emotions), bc so many people have left him after finding out. But Artic doesn't mind at all, after all it's still him and she likes him for who he is ouo

The two are basically opposites, but they work well together and they're just silly little guys in love ouo

Artic's main arc is about identity and archetypes. Like how winter is often portrayed as this harbinger of death that needs to be driven away, but Artic is really soft and sweet-

She wants so desperately to be a hero, but the archetypal hero is confident and charming and brave and super strong; everything she thinks she isn't. But in reality, she's the most heroic of her peers because of her kindness!

There's a whole theme of knights and dragons and legends, realizing that those notions of what she should or shouldn't be don't define her, because people are more complex and nuanced than that ouo

THIS IS SO COOL OUGHHHH I LOVE IT I LOVE IT

My FAVORITE part is that there's literal years of lore built into this thing. Clearly it has been crafted with nothing but love and care in mind and I think that's beautiful.

I didn't even realize that was Artic in your pfp?? That's so cute I love it so so much :DD (Is there a high definition version I can look at? I wanna see her clearer!)

ARTIC'S POWERS ARE SO NEAT IN THIS!!!! I want heart shaped ice cubes that's actually so cute. And the way her abilities affect the way she experiences stress and cries? Chef's kiss. Do her ice powers affect her whenever she experiences other intense emotions? And also can the thawing out process be helped by blankets and stuff or does she just stay frozen? Oooh or does she just continuously keep refreezing bc of the stress? Like trying to thaw her out helps a little but not for long and not much? SORRY I'M JUST SO CURIOUS I REALLY LIKE THE CONCEPT OF HER POWERS AFFECT HER BASED ON EMOTIONS THAT'S SO FREAKING COOL-

And essences!!!!!! Oughhh I really like the concept (pun intended)!!!!! Is there an essence for every concept or just certain ones? And vampires getting brainfreeze LMFAO. Can you drink an essence or does that turn your organs into the concept? And is Artic the only person with an essence in her bones or do other people have it?

THE COMBAT YES OMFG I CAN SEE IT SO CLEARLY,,, STRATEGIC AND SPEEDY AND DANCELIKE I LOVE IT!!! She's so intelligent using the terrain!!! I can see her in my head looking around, eyes darting quickly to survey the area as she narrowly avoids an attack before making her next move!! Effortlessly she slashes her opponent when they're not looking due to her adaptability and quick thinking.

And I'm so sorry I don't know anything about Monster Hunter whatsoever </3 BUT I DID SOME RESEARCH FOR YOU OFC AND IT LOOKS LIKE SM FUN???? I didn't get much of the story aspect of it but it seems great omg. Anyways Artic's curiosity is always something I love seeing!! I can see her killing this giant sea monster (Lagiacrus, I presume?) and then being like "wait a moment- I know this thing was terrorizing you all but I want a closer look at it-" AND FOUND FAMILY MY BELOVED OUGHHH ARTIC AND AISHA <333 THAT'S SO CUTE,,, and the sanctuary <33. Artic is so caring it's so sweet!! It's completely refected in her character and everything she does, I think. Not just in IDPS but across the board! Like. She saves this village from a sea monster and she wants dragons to be taken care of because she's just like that natrually. And even in like Buttermilk Daydreams she just wants to take care of The Onceler as best as she can!!!! And in the Biggering AU even though she's MAD at this man she's STILL telling him that they'll figure something out (they always do). Sorry I'm literally IN LOVE with the threads that stitch your AUs together I got so sidetracked LMFAO-

But anyways Artic and Ink Sans being opposites is SO GOOD AAAAAA- Artic feels so deeply and Ink doesn't feel at all without the paints. Artic has been sheltered and Ink has seen too much. And there's Artic's sweet and caring side coming out again!! Ink is afraid to tell Artic about his condition, but Artic could care less.

ARTIC SELF DISCOVERY YES YES YES YES YES!!!! SHE DOESN'T NEED TO GIVE INTO THE STEREOTYPES!!!!!! She's not winter even though she has its essence flowing within her. She's a hero even though she doesn't look like it. And her kindness being the thing that makes her most heroic?? I'M IN LOVE. This is what I was talking about earlier!!!! She's just so caring and sweet!!! It's something she uses to her advantage!!!!

[lone-wolf-nergiganos]

Razor X Zinogre Rider Male Reader {Genshin Impact X Monster Hunter Crossover}

A/N: for those who aren't familiar with Zinogres, they are Fanged Wyverns that gets their electrical energy from bugs called, Thunderbugs, when they become enraged their electrical energy increases dramatically, however hunters can get them out of their electrified state by doing a good amount of damage. Now that you know what a Zinogre is, as always, enjoy reading 💙.

Razor was in a middle of his daily training with Andrius, they continued training until they've heard a howl nearby, Razor thought it was from a wolf that has been badly injured so he decided to investigate. On his way to the source of the howl, an unusual bug had appeared towards Razor, "is that, lighting bug?" He asked himself, he examined the bug's features for some time until he heard the howl again, this time it was very close.

Once Razor had found out what made the strange howl, he was beyond words, "strange wolf, with boy?" He asked himself shockingly, the strange wolf walked pridefully while having an electrical aura around it and with a boy riding on it's back. Razor was blown away, it took him a while to realize that the strange wolf with Y/N on it's back was standing right in front of him, "ahh, Razor is sorry," he apologized while looking up at you and your Zinogre monstie, "it's okay, you aren't the only one who gets shocked by my Zinogre monstie," you replied kindly.

"Zinogre, monstie?" Razor asked while tilting his head, before you could explain to him, multiple hilichurls started to appear. Razor quickly pulled out his claymore while your Zinogre monstie howled, while it was howling a lot of bugs started to appear around the Zinogre which caused Razor to stare in awe. The Zinogre's fur was covered in lighting, it let out a loud howl before multiple lighting strikes appeared, hitting the hilichurls before they all died at once.

"Now, what were you saying?" You asked, "oh, about Zinogre monstie?" Razor replied, "Zinogres are wolf-like Fanged Wyverns that can gather Thunderbugs to increase their electrical power," you explained to him, "Razor likes Zinogre monstie," he replied, "thank you, and allow me to introduce myself, I am Y/N, and I am a monster hunter" you said, "and I am Razor, and Razor loves to hunt," he replied with a smile before saying, "oh, Razor wants Y/N to be Razor's friend," he added, "I would love to be your friend, Razor," you said before lifting your hand to him a handshake, Razor lifted his hand as well and you both shook hands with gratitude.

"Oh, Razor wants Y/N to meet Razor's other friend, Andrius," he said excitedly, "sure, I would like to meet him," you said before getting on your monstie's back, "can Razor ride on Zinogre monstie?" Razor asked, "of course you can," you said before giving him your hand for him to climb on your monstie's back, "where do Andrius live, Razor?" You asked, "Razor will show you," he replied. When you all got to Andrius's liar, you was blown away completely, you've never seen a place quite remarkable as the liar. "Who is this mysterious boy?" A voice asked, you were having finding out where the voice came while Razor was nonchalantly standing in the middle of the place near a large sword as if he isn't afraid of the mysterious voice. "And what is that strange creature?" The voice asked, then suddenly a strange glow appeared before a large wolf appeared out of nowhere.

"Who is this stranger, Razor?" The voice asked again, it didn't took long for you to realize that it was the wolf that was actually talking, "these are Razor's new friends, Zinogre monstie, and Y/N, Andrius," Razor replied, "oh, are they now?" The large wolf asked before coming close to you, you were on your monstie's back while trembling in fear as Andrius came closer to you, he stopped where you two were before saying, "there's no need to be afraid of me, Y/N, since you and your companion are Razor's new friends, I have no intention of hurting you," Andrius said, "okay, it's nice to meet you Andrius," you replied while calming yourself down, "it's nice to meet you as well, Y/N. I have a feeling that me and Razor will get along with you and your companion very well," Andrius replied, "same goes for me and my monstie," you replied with a smile.

Ever since then, you and Razor always hung out with each other, and the relationship between you and him always grew. Surprisingly, your Zinogre monstie grew a relationship with Andrius as well, they would always train and go on hunt together, Razor even confessed his love to you a few months later and you accepted it. Serious threats in the Wolvendom Region rarely occurs since it's even more protected thanks to the efforts of you and your monstie, the team you've built is unstoppable, and you was seen as the hero of Wolvendom.

[reve-de-dragon]

Results of the form

results under the cut

The donjon and dragon is, obviously, not surprising. I’m on the same page here, it counts as a dragon, and is honestly the closest to basic pop culture european dragon i can find. 

Donjon and dragon wyvern gets some not a dragon answers. From what i gather from looking through the answers, I assume it has to do with the sapience of the wyvern, as aside from a single person, i haven’t seen the “four legs two wings is a dragon” type of answer.

The tarasque surprised me a bit more! I see them as a dragon, but physical traits of that type (weird chimera) usually doesn’t matters to me if they are quite reptilian, which works here, in most pictures. I think for most dragons however, it is a too weird creature for them to comprehend them as a dragon. There might also be the problem of the dnd tarasque, who is treated as its own thing in the game, which might have influenced some.

Smaug is overall seen as a dragon. The picture was the movie smaug, so the one not a dragon comes from the “four leg 2 wings is a dragon” answer (btw, not trying to say that is wrong, for this form!).

not much to say here.

Had to go back to see what kind of answer said that pernese dragons were not dragon for their own mind, and from what i see of the rest of their answer, I suspect that its the book’s twist on these dragons that influenced the answer. I wondered if i would have more not a dragon because of this specificity, but it seem it overall is seen as a dragon.

Dutch angels are pretty divided! They are not dragons in my eyes, as they are too mammalian to register as a dragon, which i believe is the case for most people here, from talking with people who answered. 

Wyrms register as dragons for me. The non dragon part seems to be on the lack of wings (usually also putting the draque as not a dragon) and the lack of limbs. Some may also have thought about sapience, although i can’t check that, and haven’t encountered that one while talking with some who took the form.

Amusingly, the sea serpent almost mirrors the wyrm. I do not really understand that one, as it tends to be registered as the same thing for me (big long beast who can grow to tremendous sizes). If the wyrm is put as not a dragon, I assume it’s the lack of wings/limb, but some do put wyrms and not sea serpent, as seen here! This appear to be caused by wyrms and sea serpents as different kind of beasts, as a sort of cousin specie.

:’( Poor chimken. My human logic tells me dragon, because they are referred as such in some myths. As a dragon however, i’m not sure. Size plays a lot into it for me, but the dangerosity of the beast does too. I think I wouldn’t consider it a dragon as the pop culture cockatrice that is small, but as soon as it is human sized or more, i’d have a doubt and consider it something on the same level as me.

Too mammalian for me, but technically a dragon I guess ahah. It depends on who you ask, in myths. I tend to see it as another kind of creature both as a dragon and human, though. 

Same, to a further extent.

That one is very strange! Not because of the amount of not dragon, that i expected, but because I saw quite a few people who did agree that it was a dragon say that a sea serpent wasn’t one, which boggles my mind! I see it as a simple animal myself, and haven’t been able to understand that sea serpent is not but nessie is situation, so if you answered that, would love to know why!

Was simply to check if reptilian body and sapience was enough for some. Two people did answer yes, but for the most part, it’s a no. 

Got a friend who is a predacon were, so I was curious if being biological or mechanical would influence some. Amusingly enough, from that predacon, I learnt that they, themselves, didn’t consider all predacons dragons, due to differences in behaviors. The exemple here was predaking, so a pretty normal dragon aside from the mechanical thing. I wanted to add the bipedal cybertronian form too, but was afraid my first question may be lost like that. One person did say they were not dragons to them, so i wonder if it’s due to lore or nonbiological nature.

The worms from dunes have technically very draconic behaviors and lore, and are inspired from european dragons. One person did agree that they were sort of alien dragons, apparently, but for the most part, i assume the physical form says not dragon. On my side, i am unsure! I think not, because they are not creatures i can really interact with, i assume, so I’d mostly see them as bigger than average animals.

Wondered where humanoid body type started to be seen as nondraconic. Depending on the anthro dragon, I myself am on a “maybe”. Behavior and dangerosity would probably matter a lot to me here.

And that’s where I myself draw the line! Flat faces disturb me, and in that case, size and general appearance convey a “not a dragon” feel for me.

The lack of wings is what makes them not a dragon, for the one who answered that, as it seems. Perhaps some sapience too?

This one is an animal for me, whereas drakes are dragons. Amusingly enough, some said drakes were not dragons, but those were! I assume it’s the flight/glide.

Dragon brains says That’s A Horse, whereas human logic says it’s closest to a dragon. Pretty easy to understand here, simply the appearance. 

Overall, dragon. Logical. However, two person said not a dragon! The first did say Cortos (little wyvern type creatures) were, from the same game, and the other said zinogre (a wolf/dragon that wield thunder) and dah’ren morhan (a gigantic desert leviathan) did say those were dragons! So it’s not the game. I really don’t get that one, and would love thoughts on it.

Was curious if the mammalian appearance would matter. Zinogre is on the line for me. 

They look like wyverns, but are very small and weak. They don’t register as dragons for me, but as animals. Seems they do for most though, although i can’t say if all understood their size due to the picture.

This one is similar to the sand worm for me. Although technically draconic, being similar to a leviathan, he just doesn’t register as one, although there’s the power and size to usually back it up for me.

Was curious to what extent dragon like horrors would be understood as dragons. I see that one as a dragon, but that may be due to myself seeing my draconity as somewhat lovecraftian. I relate a lot to cthulhu on a conceptual level. 

I mean. I’m surprised there’s not a dragon human hybrid kind of thing here ngl. What’s the difference? Plus tbh, he does seem more draconic than the pic i used for the human dragon hybrid in my opinion. Probably the pose does it for me. Really like this painting.

Expected it, but hey! Fun fact! The red dragon of the apocalypse above, and Satan/the devil are the same entity! Bamboozled again. I have to admit, although the depiction above makes me think dragon, due to the imagery associated with satan, i mostly see him as a human looking dude or goaty fellow. I’m pretty sure he is called a dragon in christian lore.

Not threatening enough for me, but yeah that’s probably what’s going on here, he’s simply not very threatening. Deal breaker for some, but dragon for most.

Tried to see if more strange looking “dragons” got the same approval as charizard, since they even had the typing. Seems like theropods body type isn’t commonly seen as draconic, as I furthered that question with a smaller group with some other theropod looking draconic creatures! Have to admit, unsure if it’s the human logic that applies here, and makes me go : that’s a real animal, or if it’s a dragon thing.

Same but more theropod.

Technically, he can be called one, but yeah he is very mammalian, which is most of those no votes. I’d say I would probably consider him on the same level as me. Something about the tatzelwurm makes me think of a sapient beast, which may play into it. Everything seems more dangerous and more “at my level” if they are intelligent. They are small, and not very powerful, but for some reason it still doesn’t strike me as wrong here.

Wanted to see both if something very bird like, and very non threatening looking was understood as a dragon. Seems like for the most part, it works. I’d honestly probably just see that one as a weird fire bird. For the most part, most dragonvale dragons don’t register as such for me, in a similar way to pokemons. 

Putting those two back to back because it’s very funny. Expected both to be dragons, or both not, and turns out there’s also a fair share to one is, but the other no. I can understand toruk yes, ikran no, as toruk is much more imposing, but the other way around i don’t quite see, although a few people did say so. If you have theories, would love to hear.

Added the thanator last minute as a sort of “pandoran drake”. Seems like most people just see it as an alien. Flight plays a strong part on recognizing something as draconic for most, so if you throw away the obvious reptilian/draconic features, isn’t so easy. Plus, I won’t lie, it acts pretty non draconic, but hey was worth trying. Expected it.

Similar thought, although more reptilian. although the thanator doesn’t register as same as me, xenomorphs do. Probably the dangerosity/intelligence here too.

It’s very, very weird, but dragon shaped. I’d see it as a dragon. A lot don’t. Put it for the same reason as the tarasque, but with wings.

I won’t lie it’s a bird i expected that, but it’s golden? It eats metals? Maybe some feathered dragons could relate. Where does bird dragon stops, and mythical bird begins? Amusing to go back to the peteu or the serre with this thought in mind.

If quetzacoatl gets to be a dragon, why not them. I see them as dragons like wyrms. Seems like a fair share don’t! Amusingly, I assume like the sea serpent, it doesn’t mirror wyrms, although the two are very close.

Yeah fair. Honestly though, it’s strange how so many weird appearance don’t get a pass, but that one does. I assume it’s because they fly, or are very powerful? Since other very reptilian looking chimeras or draconic beasts don’t make the cut. Or pop culture i guess. I see them as beasts like me, but actually not as dragons. I see them as “eastern dragons” which for me is a dinstinctly different creature from european dragons on all level, and probably shouldn’t share the dragon name, which is why i try my best to find another term to use, like long or ryu. I do however make them fall in the category of beasts that are “same as me”, although i usually see them as a bit higher, closer to deity like, in folklores.

Was curious since “he doesn’t act like a dragon anymore” is something I had heard a few times from dragons. From the people who answered, seems there isn’t much here. I personally do feel weird about how toothless act in the third movie, the whole thing is a bit off. Probably because, like another dragonkin said, they are treated as exotic pets or human adjacent.

Gidorah is pretty dragon like, not much here, it was mostly to introduce the following. We did get a few no, though! I assume it’s because it’s an alien, or something of the sort? Theories appreciated once again.

Godzilla is honestly very dragon like. Massive, reptilian, breath weapon. He even protects things sometimes. But seems like for most, he isn’t one. Curious as to why so. I assume the theropod look must have struck again, as well as pop culture making you automatically go : no that’s a kaiju, not a dragon.

Fair. With the zinogre i wanted to see how far i could push it.

To the 2 people who answered yes : Wrong. I am judging you. 

EDIT : forgot to say : Feel free to give any thoughts! I’d love to start a discussion

[damnwyverngems]

Something that has bothered me, is that Zinogre hasn't gotten an Insect glaive. You'd think the lightning-wolf who's power comes from a swarm of bugs would be one of the first monsters to come to mind for it.

Since I don’t play Insect Glaive, this was the mood when I read it:

Yeah you’re totally right, like we need answers ASAP Capcom. Why the monster that uses electric bugs to attack/charge doesn’t have a weapon that uses a bug to attack?

[nostalgic-blood]

so i went to california a few weeks ago and...

No, I didn’t go ham. I had friends who were like “HERE HAVE THIS” and then I had this thing, and later went to a convention and THEN I went ham. 

Also this was my first non-family trip so I sort of bought a souvenir anywhere I deemed important enough to do so... America, you took a lot of my money. Oh and Disneyland too. 

...also I couldn’t fit some things and forgot others in that top pic.

this wall scroll my cat is trying to destroy

a backpack I bought solely so I was able to even bring all this back, and the posters/prints I STILL needed a friend to ship back anyway...

and this cute koishi i bought, all of three of which were from fanime, yes...

Disneyland souvenirs! A friend (Souless) bought the one of the left. You may have noticed Minnie Mouse ears on the first photo! I didn’t actually get them from Disneyland itself, t’was a gift from our Disneyland veteran who led us to many-a-ride and the least amount of waittime possible, Souless’ fiance Kat. :)

And yes Inside Out is my favourite Pixar movie. Watched Coco recently which was really good, but it’s only second to Inside Out. P:

Let’s start off with my ridiculous friends who decided I needed to own more merch:

All of this was bought by my friend Cannibalfood AKA Akira who went to cons and saw stuff I might like but never got around to actually shipping them to me.. and then, came with me to California and brought this stuff. This is why Negima is on there. It’s been that long.

Oh the non-weeb stuff is souvenirs I got with her while we were in San Fran, including Alcatraz touristy photos since we have few pictures together, a taxidermy place where we each got matching stingray barbs, how romantic. The rock was my very first souvenir. I wasn’t expecting on buying anything else in that shop, so it is the most boring thing here.

Here’s a look at the Touhou artbooks!

One of two CDs, this one with best 2hu on it. I recall from reading the back that one of these has some TAMUSIC on it, which has lovely classical pieces. 

Here’s a semi-random page with some artwork. I recognize some of the artists!

The other one! I cannot read anything in these books, and yes there’s plenty of text as well as the art.

Some sample of the art! I’ll have to revisit these books later but from first glance I think I prefer the art of the first book? Idk.

Next is stuff given to me by various people. The gacha is from Magus, the guy who I stayed at for about half the trip and spent the entire trip WITH since he also went down to SLO and I also shared hotels with him for Fanime. Awesome host, will do again. 10/10. I have another button from someone else but I accidentally included it wit my fanime merch pile photos, so it’ll be along shortly.

The dreamcatcher was made by SlimeMush’s friend who I paid $10 for, and for some mysterious reason it kept being returned to him every time he tried to send it to me. I couldn’t get a good pic of it alone because my cat kept attacking the feathers. SlimeMush also gave me the Flareon button! Apparently all the Eeveelutions he had went to those whose favourite was so-and-so, and apparently there’s equal amounts of love for all of them except for the two he kept himself because he loved them the most. Yes. Flareon is my favourite. :D

The gacha is a ditto + a ditto version of Sableye. 

This Monster Hunter blindbox was given to me by Wolfe, whom I’ve had a few MonHun merch exchanges with so far. I also gave him a MonHun figure from another line, which I’ll elaborate further (because I gave them all out similar to SlimeMush giving out the Eeveelution buttons) and kept whichever was left behind. This is Monoblos! I didn’t fight him all too often so I don’t have much impression of it as a monster, also I thought he was white but w/e, still very cool looking to add to my collection!

Now of all my loot THIS is the stuff I really could have done without in terms of when and where I spent my money. I bought that Incineroar evolution line figure sort of on a whim at a random city in the middle of nowhere, California while on the long drive down to SLO. The Touhou blindboxes, Digimon CD, and RWBY manga came from Kinokuniya in Japantown. Just wanted to buy them because. Even if the Tri series was mediocre in the end the nostalgia still has a strong grip on my heart, especially that music with Kouji Wada. ;_;

And the most touristy thing was buying this wind chime at a gift shop in a spa that I really didn’t need but it was pretty so w/e.

See? Pretty.

The results of the blindboxes. Not the luckiest result as I wanted other characters but you CANNOT SAY NO TO WEEB MERCH!

As much as I have been distancing myself from the show, RWBY’s manga has wondrous art. It also decided to focus on some random unknown side character named Ruby instead of the main characters, which I thought while was quite the bold move, was rather refreshing. 

DELICIOUS WEISS BACKSTORY. I recall posting something about this particular chapter on here before. YEEEEE!

So yeah I went to the island prison in San Francisco where AAAAAALL the tourists go. In my defence I have a genuine interest in prisons. Just ask my 300k RWBY fanfiction in which the first quarter of it is set in a prison. It is also not my first prison fic. I put lots of research in that setting to write that kind of shit. 

Also all the souvenirs were the most gimmicky things possible that I didn’t think I’d ever use or would just be paperweight. Except this bag! I may actually use this bag! I know!

And excluding the stuff that is too big or I forgot to take a pic of near the beginning of the post, THIS was the Fanime loot! Magus got me the Monokuma onesie which was extremely nice of him and now I am no longer perpetually cold. Ah yes the warmth of the hide of a psychotic bear. So good.

I could not believe the artist who made one of my favourite Aya pics EVER was at the artist alley. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. Obviously this was an instant purchase. This was my phone background for the longest of times. She had Touhou artbooks too but they sold in the first twenty minutes of the first day of the artist alley. Wow. My friend may try to snag me some at AX in July, so here’s hoping!

I didn’t see a lot of specifically Weiss prints there, and this was the best of the lot IMO. My only wish was that it was a brighter print, or that Weiss herself being so white would stand out more because it’s the least noticeable thing on my wall atm, which is a shame. 

I say this when I saw precisely ONE Aya print (jackpot) and one of another coming up in this bombardment of pics.

THIS IS PERHAPS THE MOST PROVOCATIVE ONE HERE LOL. But it was the only Tenko, and DRV3 merch was the most difficult of everything I was looking for to find. Unlike 95% of Tenko art SHE ACTUALLY HAS VISIBLE ABS HERE, which according to the official artbooks she’s supposed to have, so bonus points for that. I had a brief discussion with the artist too and we both agreed Tenko was the best and Ouma was overrated. He has great taste.

Overwatch on the other hand was all over the place in this con, from merch to art, to cosplayers. There were so many cosplayers they didn’t even have enough time to run through half of the tanks and all the supports at the shoot! So sad, so sad. This piece of Widowmaker is beautiful though, so I had to have it.

I saw this online a while back and really loved this image of all the Overwatch ladies being formal. There was a suit-version too, but for whatever reason I preferred this one. Sadly this print is quite small, as it probably would have benefited the most in being larger what with the many characters and thus detail.

Out of all this mess the one thing I wanted the most and hunted for the most was charms. I found NO GOOD CHARMS that fitted my taste and interest, and the closest were these buttons. Oh, and I met my good friend Raphyninja at Fanime and he gave me EXCLUSIVE RAPHYNINA MERCH! Thus that button being here and not in the friendo pile. ANYWAY. There was a deal, 3 for 5, so aside from the obvious ones I grabbed Kork. I love Kork. I didn’t think I would for that type of character, but somehow DRV3 managed it. He will of course be very far away from Tenko and Himiko though. >_>

Here’s a page from one of the Touhou doujins I got, which in hindsight I maybe should not have got? Way too late I noticed that I recognized the seller who I think showed up on a Tumblr post warning of a creeper at the Touhou shoots. He’d try to take pics of cosplayers in a private hotel room at weird, uncomfortable angles as far as I remember, so uh, oops? I was just so excited at finding Touhou doujin for the first time ever that I paid zero attention to the person selling so hopefully I am wrong and they were just someone that resembled that person.

Also I recognized this artist for their cute Satori Koishi content, but could not find any of their Koishi doujins. Sadness.

I bought two Monster Hunter blindboxes at Fanime because CLEARLY I need more, right. I got a Nargacuga, including the box left remaining in the pile I gave away and the one I already have...  I now have three Nargacugas. That’s quite a lot for something I never fought before...

I also got this tiny Zinogre. If we include my buttons I have FOUR Nargacugas now and FOUR Zinogres. The difference is I have fought Zinogre multiple times (I have no idea exactly because I have 600 hours in 4U >_>) and actually really like him! Sadly, in grand tradition like the last time I visited San Francisco (when I was five) I lost something, that being my favourite MonHun button, Zinogre. It is now in the wild with my teddy bear and my hat, forever gone in the California abyss. ):

I got this at the swap meet for 6 dollars. It may not have a stand and is rather dusty, but damn is that a bargain. My only regret is not having the GIGA DRILL BREAKAAAA model instead. I also got that Monokuma bag there too, but that was just because I went there and couldn’t find a single thing I wanted until I saw the bag, which I was on the fence on but wanted to buy SOMETHING from there and got it, thinking that was it ... but then this and the Touhou doujins showed up, soooooo...

Finally this other Nargacuga that was left behind became my monster in that line of figures, the rest in the hands of my friends. It’s actually cuter than I expected, and barely fit in this cheap crappy display case I bought at a Daiso. I moved my dresser a nudge and the Pokemon fell over, so yeah. 

You may have noticed a drop in quality in the photos and that’s because I cannot be bothered to touch up such a gargantuan amount of images anymore, not with the time I have. Would be nice tho. SO, THAT IS THE GIANT POST OF SPOTTO’S MERCH, NOW WITH 100% MORE QUANTITY THAN BEFORE! I spent too much money so I might as well get something out of it by BRAGGING about it! Right? 

Ye.

[ask-magala]

More MH World Opinions

[I was looking back and I realized my “Opinion - Nergigante” post was relatively popular (15 notes! wow!) for an opinion piece. Especially since I was rambling and saying things off the top of my head. So I was wondering if people like reading this kind of thing? Maybe I should post something like this more often?]

So one of the things I noticed about World is the fluffies. Like seriously every single new monster in this game is chock full of feathers and fluff. And I think this is Capcom’s way of playing with a new engine in order to create a more “realistic” effect. One of the things that made MH really cool was the unique monster fighting patterns. They were not only realistic but also plausible for a bunch of fantasy monsters. But its limitations came in mimicking the movement of muscle, fat, feathers, and fur. Yeah some monsters did it pretty good, like Gore Magala’s cape wings. The fluidity and the movements of the wings really made it look like Batman or something like that. But a monster like Zinogre or Teostra with fur and mane had stiff polygon textures that did not move but rather stayed in one place, rather stiffly. I think this is why MH had mostly scaly monsters with not alot of fluff up to this point.

But with this new engine, Capcom is able to create flowing manes, puffy cottonball fluff, realistic fur textures with hair strands, and realistically moving feathers. So what I’m trying to say is… imagine the old monsters in this new engine. Imagine a Teostra shaking its head with a lion’s mane of majesticness. Imagine a Zinogre that shakes its fur like a wolf. I predict that Monster Hunter is going to show off this engine as much as possible by adding monsters with unique body movements like that. They are already doing that with the new monsters to the point where they are starting to look like Bloodborne monsters to me. So I'm expecting to see monsters where they can show off effects. A monster like Barroth is a great choice since we can see the mud effects dripping down its body. (Diablos is also a good choice though not for the physics “fur” aspect but for the dynamic environment aspect). In the future I expect them to show off monsters like this, though we have not seen any. Really I would have liked to see Rathian for the fur effects on her shoulders.

So hate it or like it, the physics engine will be implemented, and I expect them to implement it as much as possible. Not only does it make the monster look amazing, they also help with the movement of the monsters as they fight. Dang is this game going to look amazing.

One last thing...

Im thinking of creating a Nergigante character, I think it would be pretty cool :)

[rumikothefox]

Favorite Monster Hunter Monsters, Part 2

So here is the second half of my favorite normal Monster Hunter monsters. Once again, these are in no particular order.  Let’s get right to it.

Lucent Nargacuga

I put Lucent because it is definitely a very cool rare species of Nargacuga, but really, it could be this or the original Nargy. Green is pretty cool, too. I often say that my true favorite monster is either Nargacuga or Zinogre (way to go spoiling an entry on this list, right?). Nargacuga looks very much like a black panther in many ways, along with the roar to match. Despite not fighting him in the game he was the flagship of, I fell in love with him when I fought him in 3U. His movements are sleek and I love how fighting him makes you wonder just who is hunting who. Lucent takes it a step further by being able to go completely invisible when he enrages, only letting you track him by his glowing eyes. His fight is on top of a tower in basically a small arena, so it makes it very difficult to evade him.

I love the Nargacuga set, especially as a gunner set. 

It has very high evasion and has this cool ninja look to it. The Lucent armor looked especially cool, but sadly, I was never able to get it. Lucent was just TOO damn difficult for me to want to bother farming him. It was like “spikes for everyone” Opera-style, plus the fact that they could poison you and there was NO way Lucent was going to give you an opportunity to deal with that poison while you were on the screen with him. Lucent is highly fast and aggressive, so reprieve is something you rarely get against him.

Stygian Zinogre

So I mentioned Zinny was hitting this list, but I have to say that Stygian JUST pulled ahead on this one. OG Zinogre is awesome on so many levels, but Stygian, as frustrating as he can be, just amazing as well. Zinogre is a giant lightning wolf monster, basically. He was, at the time, the only canine monster I’d seen in this series and was very cool. I loved his vocals, I loved his style, I loved his moveset, and MAN did I love his music (I may have to cover music in another post, because that is another cool topic to put out). Stygian swaps the lightning element for a dragon element and man is he hard. For those unfamiliar, dragon element will cause dragonblight, a debuff that causes the element or status on your weapon to be disabled until you cleanse it. It can get really frustrating. 

This dog will do everything he can to get you. Claw stomps, throwing elemental balls at you, flipping through the air and either smashing you with his tail or attempting to do a back flop on you, shoulder checks... He isn’t too bad when you first fight him, but as with normal Zinogre, he has two levels of charge above his base level that he’ll build up to. Each charge will make him faster and more aggressive.  And hope and pray to the MH gods that you get out alive if he enrages while on a max level charge. 

I also love his blademaster set on females.

It has that thing going where it gives you its own hair and you have these adorable little dog ears and I really just can’t help myself. >.>

Azure/Silver Rathalos

So we have another instance where I really couldn’t decide and just listed both. Rathalos is a cool monster, but Azure and Silver have such cool colorations to them and have interesting twists on the normal moveset. It’s totally not because my favorite colors are blue and silver. >.>

Ahem. Azure is one of the first subspecies I ever saw, being on the US cover art for MH3U. He’s faster and hits harder than your standard Rathalos and hangs out in the air a bit more. He also seems to really have a homing instinct for those poison claw attacks, moreso than normal Rath. He also had one of the best armors for blademasters in MH3U skill-wise and I remember wearing his set a LOT with my Brachy switch axe.

Silver is a rare species (the difference between subspecies, rare species, and variant has always been kind of dumb to me) that basically says “Fuck this, I’m just going to be airborne about 80-90% of the time. Deal with it.” He’ll start on the ground like any other Rath, but once you get that first enrage and he goes airborne, it feels like nothing short of a flash bomb or him finally running out of stamina is going to get him down. And that very well might be the case, to be honest. You fight him on top of a tower, so there are no other maps to escape to.  You’re trapped with him and he’s super pissed about you intruding.

I have to give an honorable mention here to Rathian and her sub/rare species, the Pink Rathian and Gold Rathian. Rathalos is the male counterpart to the exclusively female Rathian. She didn’t make the list, only because Rathalos pulled a bit ahead and it felt redundant to have them both on here. She focuses a bit more on poison than fire and likes the ground a bit more than Rathalos. You also tend to fight her earlier in any game they appear in. In World, you find that these two are difficult to deal with when spawned together in the Ancient Forest, due to the fact that Rathalos is very protective of his mate. I found instances where I’d use a dung pod to shoo him away from her, only for either her to seek him out or for him to come right back, at which point if I hid, he’d proceed to hover over her like a mother hen, looking around for where I went.  It was a cool touch, but also a bit of a terrifying one.

Black Diablos

Black Diablos is labeled as a subspecies of Diablos, but as in-game lore and other sources will explain, a Black Diablos is a normal female Diablos. During mating season, the females darken to a deep black color as a warning to other monsters to not get in her way. She’s getting that D and god help you if you get in her way.

Diablos was already a terrifying monster to me. Diablos trades any sort of elemental or status attacks in favor of raw brute force. For the most part, its attacks are highly telegraphed, so you can avoid them pretty easily if you’re paying attention. Lose focus and get hit, though, and you can easily get nearly one-shot if not at full health. That’s at a full 150, I-ate-food-for-buffs, hp. If you’re at base 100, say goodbye. Especially gunners.

Black Diablos takes a step further. She’s faster, stronger, and her horns are harder to break. She also changes up her charge attacks and will often charge in ways you weren’t prepared for. Still, maxed out Black Diablos weapons often had some of the best raw damage in the game, even factoring in their negative affinity.  And taking out a monster this dangerous is always immensely satisfying.

Odogaron

So now we’re touching into Monster Hunter World territory. The monsters I’ll be mentioning aren’t really super spoilery (they were all shown in the trailers), but if you’re unsure, stop now.

Odogaron is a monster I highly looked forward to since the trailers.  He was scary and icky but I was super curious about how this monster would behave.  Plus, it was awesome to see another canine-based monster. Zinny was feeling lonely.

Getting closer looks at him, it’s apparent that he’s not a skinless dog like the impression the trailers gave me. Instead he reminds me of an intricately-carved jade statue (albeit jade of a particularly bloody color). The armor you made from him for your hunter and your palico have this detailed sort of Chinese look to them that is really cool. The female hunter set is one of my favorite sets in the game so far appearance-wise.

As far as combat, Doggo is a bleed-type. The double claws he uses against you rip and tear in ways that bleed the hunter dry. As with dealing with Seregios’ bleed debuff, you either must crouch for a time to recover, or eat a piece of meat. This monster has similar movesets to Zinogre, though there are a few lunges and such that are purely his own.  He is also smaller but much faster than the other canine. It isn’t uncommon for Doggo to leap off my screen and cause me to have to reorient my camera to keep track of him. He definitely earns his place as the apex predator of the Rotten Vale.

Radobaan

I honestly surprised myself when this monster came to mind when thinking of my favorites.  The more I pondered it, though, the more it totally made sense. I honestly never thought I’d love a monster that is essentially an Uragaan at its core. I mean, nothing BAD about an Uragaan, but I wouldn’t put him in a high place, either. But there’s something about Radobaan that makes him less annoying than an Uragaan, more unique, and more fun.

At first, I thought the bones of the Radobaan were his own. But noticing the Diablos horns on his sides, I started to question it. That was answered further when I started to break off the bones on his body, only for him to go to a bone pile and roll around in it until he was covered in brand new bones. His actual skin has a tar-like substance that coats it and makes him able to stick the bones on his body like armor. You have to break the bones off to make him vulnerable. I had a lot of fun with him and he’s one of the few monsters in the Rotten Vale that don’t fight down in the nasty, health-sapping acid floor downstairs, so it made him that much more fun to fight. 

Tobi-Kadachi

Not the best or worst on this list, just the last. Tobi is like if you took a flying squirrel, gave him a snake head, and gave him the ability to charge himself with static electricity. Oh, and made him highly aggressive. Can’t forget that.

Tobi is fast and can give you thunderblight. He’s especially tough in forested areas where he has trees to jump in to use to jump on YOU. Though this often results in him going up into Rathalos’ nest to fight you and you can imagine how THAT ends up half the time. He will charge his fur up with static and seems to have different levels of charge, similar to a Zinogre. He’s even prone to sometimes doing Zinny’s tail slap on you.

Despite how fast and dangerous he is, though, I found myself learning him pretty fast. He’s tough, but he’s by far not the toughest monster out there and is pretty easy to farm.  Which is good because he gives you thunder-based weapons, which are good against a number of monsters, notably Rathalos, who is rather scary without a proper setup.

He’s challenging enough to not be boring, but is easy enough that you can casually hunt him for fun and not feel like you’re struggling.

And that’s it for the normal monsters. I know it was a lot, but I guess that just goes to show how good Capcom is at making memorable and engaging monsters. Next time I’ll do an Elder Dragon edition. Then maybe a music version. o/