#rhenoplos

[pikminjake]

Hey everyone! I just released the instructions for Slagtoth HERE, but I have a large selection of other small herbivorous monsters from Monster Hunter as well. Check the catalog for the full list! (A couple of these are in need of a revision, lol.)

[toxxicognaths]

8 days til MHWilds

[comm info]

[best-fictional-marine-reptile]

Rhenoplos [Monster Hunter] vs. Salada [Fossil Fighters]

[iamthekaijuking]

SPOILERS FOR MONSTER HUNTER WILDS I know you do more on the systemics side of spec-evo, but I wanted to see if you had any opinion of the star-ranking and general 'danger level' of monsters in Monster Hunter (as presented in the games).

I was going through the monster journals in past games and I realize how the star-ranking used for many of them is rather inconsistent (with Rise/Sunbreak changing a LOT of rankings in particular). So, I tried to make a 'Tier List' how dangerous or threatening each of the monsters (3rd gen and after due to how I feel the ecology is significantly more fleshed out after that point) are to human hunters and civilians that encounter them whilst foraging or as they travel between settlements (which often requires large herbivores as beasts of burden). It is also important to note that civilians include Felynes, as they are both smaller than humans and, given that other Lynians live out in the wilds, may be viewed as prey more regularly then humans. Note: I am also using this post as a brainstorming exercise for me to better visualize the effects that massive megafauna have on humans and broader ecosystems as a whole, so I apologize if it feel like I am spitballing at times.

Tier 0: Endemic Life

Virtually everything too small to really defend itself. An exterminator would likely be called, not a Hunter, if need be.

Tier 1: (★) → Aptonoth Tier. Generally non-aggressive and non-carnivorous (at least not the kind/size of carnivory an adult felyne needs to worry about).

Gen 3: Altaroth, Epioth, Gargwa, Slagtoth

Gen 4: Konchu, Larinoth, Moofah

Gen 5: Bombadgy, Gowngoat

Gen 6: Seikret, Ceratonoth, Gelidron, Porkeplume, Rafma

Tier 2: (★★) → Bullfango Tier. These mfs actively attack the hunter or have some clear potential to ruins a novice hunter's day while trying to carry wyvern eggs or powderstones. Felynes beware of some of these.

Gen 3: Bnahabra, Delex, Giggi, Rhenoplos, Uroktor

Gen 4: Zamite, Maccao

Gen 5: Gastodon, Kestodon, Shamos, Wulg, Wingdrakes, Boggi

Gen 6: Bulaqchi, Comaqchi, Dalthydon, Gajios, Kranodath, Talioth

Tier 3: (★★★) → Kut-Ku Tier. Start of the big boys. Assume I'm referring to the Greats when their species is listed. Human start to be viable prey options for some carnivores while felynes are definitely on the menu for most predators.

Gen 3: Jaggi, Baggi, Wroggi, Qurupeco, Ludroth, Arzuros, Lagombi, Volvidon

Gen 4: Seltas, Tetsucabra, Kecha Wacha

Gen 5: Jagras, Girros, Izuchi, Aknosom, Dodogama, Tzitzi, Kulu, Paolumu, Pukei-Pukei

Gen 6: Chatacabra, Lala Barina, Quematrice

Tier 4: (★★★★) → Khezu Tier. Beginning of the disproportionately large amount of large carnivores (compared to the lack of as many large herbivorous prey species for them).

Gen 3: Barroth, Nibelsnarf, Gobul, Gigginox

Gen 4: Zamtrios, Najarala, Nerscylla, Malfestio

Gen 5: Tetranadon, Jyuratodus, Radobaan, Bishaten, Somnacanth, Tobi-Kadachi

Gen 6: Balahara, Doshaguma, Rompopolo

Tier 5: (★★★★★) → Rathian Tier. This is where I start to be a bit controversial.

Gen 3: Uragaan, Duramboros

Gen 4: Seltas Queen, Mizutsune, Astalos

Gen 5: Anjanath, Banbaro, Beotodus, Garangolm

Gen 6: Ajarakan, Hirabami

Tier 6: (★★★★★★) → Rathalos Tier. Here we see most Flagships and generally what the community considers 'Apex Level' monsters. Some of which have known civilian kill-counts or are Ahtal-Ka (my bias, as while I love the monster, Idk if it's giant mech form should be counted or wtf to do with it considering how outlandish it is from an ecological and ethological perspective, so I am not including it for it's role as a threat).

Gen 3: Lagiacrus, Brachydios, Barioth, Agnaktor, Zinogre

Gen 4: Glavenus, Seregios, Ahtal-Ka

Gen 5: Magnamalo, Goss Harag, Almudron, Legiana, Lunagaron, Odogaron, Rakna-Kadaki

Gen 6: Uth Duna, Rey Dau, Nu Udra, Xu Wu

Tier 7: (★★★★★★★) → Kushala/Teostra Tier. This is where Rajang is allowed to 'tie' in a Turf War instead of steamrolling everything. Also, like everything here some mixture of huge, biochemical warfare or spoken of in lore as being disproportionately destructive.

Gen 3: Deviljho

Gen 4: Gore Magala, Gammoth

Gen 5: Bazelgeuse, Vaal Hazak, Namielle, Narwa, Ibushi

Gen 6: Jin Dahaad

Tier 8: (★★★★★★★★) → Akantor/Ukanlos Tier. Effectively godlike monsters, if the lore is to be considered in their respective games, and/or the apexes among apexes in whatever biome they live in (unless Dalamadur is nearby) and/or having disastrous impacts on ecosystems at an individual level (according to lore).

Gen 3: Cedeus, Amatsu

Gen 4: Shagaru Magala, Nakarkos, Valstrax

Gen 5: Nergigante, Velkhana, Malzeno

Gen 6: Arkveld

Tier 9: (★★★★★★★★★) → Fatalis Tier. Obviously, Fatalis is kinda considered like a deity among monsters, but I didn't have another reference point for 'literally the most dangerous without needing a siege battle'. Some are less overtly dangerous to encounter than others, but their presence nearby is an overt indicator that some calamity if about to occur which drives extreme civilian-wildlife conflict.

Gen 3: Alatreon, Dire Miralis

Gen 4: Gogmazios

Gen 5: Gaismagorm, Xeno'jiiva, Shara Ishvalda

Gen 6: Zoh Shia

Sieges: (★★★★★★★★★★) → Kaiju Tier. I don't know what to say about this beyond you need like an army for this mfs; they are a bit wonky in terms of their roles in their ecosystems compared to others.

Gen 3: Jhen Mohran

Gen 4: Dah'ren Mohran, Dalamadur

Gen 5: Zorah Magdaros, Kulve Taroth, Safi'jiiva

Gen 6: N/A

This is a pretty neat grouping! Generally monster danger levels can be pretty whacky because it has to take into account how dangerous a monster can be to hunt as well as how dangerous it is when it comes to human/wildlife interactions.

And the latter can very wildly from viewing people as prey items (khezu, nargacuga, etc), being aggressive towards people due to territoriality (Barroth, Raths, etc), being aggressive towards people due to negative human interaction (deadeye yian garuga, bloodbath diablos, etc), to just being something that you can’t really get rid of if it enters your city (lao shan lung, malzeno, etc).

How strong a monster actually is, isn’t usually taken into account. For instance despite being the same danger level, Mizutsune and Gravios are very obviously not equal in strength.

Anyways this was a neat ask

[nightclawduke]

Tetsucabra watching how my attacks have been interrupted by Rhenoplos 3 times in a row. ... Dumb Tetsu drawing. Inspired by an emote my friends like to use...(Reference under the cut).

[gilettefusion5]

Jeanette plays Monster Hunter and says Weird Shit

This here is my cat, his name is Cream Cheese and he’s here to blow you up

Look I’m sorry that I’m here to kill you wearing the skin of your dead wife but if you didn’t want that maybe you shouldn’t breathe fire at me

I refuse to be knocked out by a giant naked roadrunner that’s just embarrassing

I need your arms so I can make cool gloves, please stand still so I can shoot them off

Out here in my pumpkin queen fit and I’m ready to kill the abominable snowman

I literally cannot eat this fish any faster please stop chasing me

*being blocked by a small dinosaur called a rhenoplos* someone get this fucking rhododendron out of here

[vertebreakher]

I feel like I really have to complain because while I think it's commonly understood that Monster Hunter has serious problem with with the differences between male and female armor sets, I get the impression most people assume it's very typical difference between "sexy" and "cool" armor. (Male hunters get big pauldrons, female hunters get bikinis.) But that's not really why the situation is so damn frustrating, because there's remarkably little actual fan service throughout the female armors. The sexy bikini armor is sometimes present, but it doesn't really represent what's going on. It's more like there's just an underlying assumption in what fashion style of armor the developers assume you want based on the player's chosen sex.

Like there are examples of a male/female dichotomy in the armor design actually being stylistically justified. Even if they're approaching masculine or feminine presentation in a very simplistic way (and let's be real many games will do far worse than that) it offers up some very interesting fashion choices.

Rhenoplos armor for example has some actual extremely fun differences. On the one hand, there's this extremely unique look for the male set that has a round build some very bizarre claw arms and this cool wide helmet. And on the other hand, you have this delightfully overly cutesy bear motif for the female armor where the gauntlets look perfectly ideal for punching the shit out of something. Deviljho armor also plays with gender dichotomy in a really fun way, effectively exploring that wrestling heel vibe through two very different forms of presentation and ideas of physical prowess.

Late game Barroth armor, Odogaron, Paolumu, I think these also stand as great examples of how male and female sets can positively contrast.

But there's a reason why differences are seen negatively, and Goss Harag is a great example of where things start to get really annoying, because ironically the two armor sets aren't that meaningfully different from eachother even though there are some minor differences because of the implied physical build of female characters. For the most part, they're the same armor set aside from the thigh and chest area. In my situation, getting to see that my character's armor emphasizes the boobs is actually kind of a plus. And the male armor emphasizes the pecs so much it's easily justified. ...but while the male Goss Harag set gets to have a sick skull helmet, the female one gets stuck with this stupid looking visor/headdress nonsense. Aside from the crime of being denied a cool skull helmet, were it not for that one point of difference I would not even have to think about what fashion I'm potentially losing out on at all.

It's likewise just as frustrating as with the Tetranadon armor. I don't really personally give that much of a shit how much skin is on display here or whether you can see their boobs. The differences between the male/female form are more egregious here but I'm not gonna die because of it. What drives me up a goddamn wall is that the male set gets this cool looking full gas mask helmet, and the female set gets a doofy hat with goggles. It's not even that I particular dislike the faces in monster hunter, it's that whether a character has a full helmet or not is all the difference in the world for how much of a cool badass you feel like.

This pattern repeats for a lot of armor sets throughout the games with varying degrees of difference between the male and female sets. The poster boy Rathalos, Legiana, Diablos, Seething Bazelgeuse and Nargacuga are all valid examples of this. The reason for this difference I have to assume is because there's an initial assumption from the designers about what I want. If I chose a female character it may be inferred that I am explicitly interested in seeing my character's face as often as possible. Because (I assume) they see that choice as me wanting to look at a female character for their body and the face just happens to be part of that. And that's not actually entirely inaccurate, but there's a difference in what I get out of that. And it's a little screwy to think that no one could choose a male hunter for similar reasons.

And I hate deliberately choosing a female character for my own sense of comfort only to loose out on the style and vibe the male armor oozes, which also from a trans perspective is a uniquely infuriating problem.

Going back to positive examples, the Frostfang Barioth Alpha armor does not have this problem. While I hold preference for the male helmet, I cannot deny that the female helmet is equally cool and conveys a distinct feminine quality that makes it feel sharp and dangerous. There are as many differences as there are similarities between these two armor sets, and the inclusion of the rapier accurately conveys what vibe they were going for with the female set, an equal degree of competence and mystique conveyed through elegance rather than machismo.

And it might be a bit difficult to talk about this problem without making it seem like I'm specifically complaining about objectification, I think that's a part of why this issue exists to begin with but I'm not really cool with harping on people who just want a create-a-character they can use to engage in light voyeurism. I don't like the idea that the solution here is to start taking away sexy outfits, that feels like moving backwards and I'd rather continue to put up with this problem than start putting my comfort above someone else's. Even though there are many sets where the differences could be simply phased out and merged into one armor set, It does not feel fair to do that at the expense of the range of choices and styles these different sets have brought, with Frostfang Barioth I think serving as a peak example of that positive aspect, a true silver lining. All in all, I would much rather that some thought be put into what parts of the existing armor designs are compatible with androgyny, and work on making both choices available to male and female hunters based on that. The best possible case scenario for me would be that female character get to look like a goddamn WH40K space marine in exchange for a bunch of spindly twinks in Nergigante bikinis. And somewhere in between those two extremes, I get to enjoy a much wider selection of cool helmets.

[blood-darkened-moon]

I love Rakna-Kadaki and hope one day we will get a male one. I want him to be small compared to the female, just like some real spiders. Maybe he could be about Rhenoplos-sized.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

WIP Wednesday but it’s Thursday

This was written for @phosphoricbomb and we call this Crimson Valstrax Catrapta AU

yes you read that right

______________________________________

Catra and Scorpia tied ropes to the Tetranadon’s carcass, multiple long cuts across its body. Catra rushed to complete the task as fast as possible, and Scorpia took her time, careful to not snip the ropes with her claws.  Catra was still soaked in water from the battle. Gross!

Tetranadon was not their first rodeo. It had been a long week.

First, a kulu yaku had made its nest in the middle of the food supply route, and they had to repel it. Then, a Great jagras AMBUSHED the food supply route, and they had to kill it and free Kyle from its stomach. Then they had to divert a herd of Rhenoplos which were going to run straight over town. And, THEN, this Tetranadon had the AUDACITY to attack, and now catra was covered in goo and going to scream. At least Scorpia seemed to be having a good time.

Catra was thirsty for the BIG hunts. Tetranadon? Small game, infuriating. But she needed to take on these small quests. She couldn't afford to wait - She NEEDED to beat Adora. She needed to reach Master Rank first!

Catra finished her work and laid flat on her back. Scorpia smiled and sat next to her, offering her some water. Catra waved her away. She closed her eyes and listened to the sweet song of the woods, pushing back her blood rage. And then, AND THEN, she heard some annoying squawkings, and a Jaggia jumped on top of her, knocking her out of her rest.

"Ugh." Catra picked up her dual blades.

Scorpia took out her book, accidentally ripping out a page, then quickly trying to put it back in as if nothing happened. "Uhh... Oh yeah, their behaviour!" She pointed to the jaggi, which were hopping around. "They seem to be more skittish than usual! Do you think there's a predator nearby?"

Catra rolled her eyes and picked up her twin swords. The small monsters surrounded her, but she knew they were no match for her superior reflexes.

As one jumped for her back, her ear twitched, and she turned to strike---

FWIP

Before Catra knew it, the Jaggia had been knocked out of the sky.

And then another fell. And then another.

Arrow fire.

Her gaze dashed towards the woods, and there, sure enough, stood Bow the marksman. He gave a happy wave.

Adora and Glimmer were close behind him, hauling... no... A zinogre!!! Blast it! While she had been hunting small game, Adora had taken the opportunity to hunt a true monster! She had been one-upped again.

"Hi Catra", said Adora, bashfully. Catra gave a glare to her mortal rival.

"Guess you always have to get the final word in, huh, Adora?" Catra crossed her arms.

Before Adora could bite back, Glimmer let out a chuckle. "No, it's okay, you're welcome for us saving your life AND the village again!"

Catra hissed. She prepared herself for a catfight with the hot headed gunlance user, while Adora, Bow, and Scorpia mentally prepared for holding them back.

But then.... a DEEP RUMBLE came from the woods. Catra's shackles raised and everyone turned to the woods. There was a smell of burning fire.... and then, it REVEALED itself....

"Oh snap", said Scorpia. "This must be the predator that the jaggia were running from. I'm right! Right? Catra?"

With a great jump, an ANJANATH tore across the clearing raining fire and death, and Bow jumped out of the way of its initial attack. Everyone readied for action, Scorpia reaching for her lance. Bow raising his bow, Catra licking her lips as she grabbed her favourite swords.

"An Anjanath?" She laughed. "I could eat that for breakfast!" She lowered her torso, swords at her side, moving one leg back and preparing to jump---- DOOOF! Shit!! She slipped on the tetranadon water, scrambling for purchase, but her swords were in her hands and she fell forward, arms sprawled to her side.

Anjanath was racing directly towards her, drawn in by the dead monster. It breathed in, smoke coming from its mouth.

"Catra!" yelled Adora. "Wildcat!" yelled Scorpia. They raced to reach her--

vrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Catra heard it first, the unmistakeable hum of a perfect engine. It accelerated and raised in pitch, still so quiet, but high enough that now Glimmer turned her head to look up too.

Oh no.

vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

VrrrRRRRRRRW  WHOOOOPOSOOOSOOSOSOOSSHSHHHH

Adora dived out of the way just in time, the crimson comet DESTROYING everything in sight. Her head vibrated from the sound. The first thing she could see through the smoke was the red streaks... and then... the dust cleared, and revealed - picking at the neck of the destroyed anjanath - was a great dark dragon. Its wings were rimmed with fire.

She had seen it in the books.

"Catra, WATCH OUT!" she yelled, immediately jumping back in to protect her feline friend. "It's a Crimson Glow Valstrax, an incredibly dangerous elder dragon--"

"What the hell!" shouts Catra, pushing Adora out of the way. "What did I say about interfering with my hunts? I HAD this!" The valstrax made little noises and turned its head as Catra continued berating it for.. whatever it just did.

Adora, Glimmer, and Bow stared, completely perplexed. "Is she arguing with it?" started Bow. "Oh no! Is Catra hallucinating?" He plucked his tranquilizer arrow at the ready.

"Who cares?" roared Glimmer. "It's a big monster, and wer'e hunters, so let's kill it! RWWAAAAAARRRR---"

At that moment, Valstrax perked up its head, and bit Glimmer's gunlance by the stick. It picked her up and tried to wag her off like a fly. "HEY!!" yells Glimmer, holding on desperately to her favourite explodey weapon. After seven seconds of sheer grit and determination she is no hope for Valstrax's stamina and is forced to let go, sliding across the floor into a tree. "Holy shit!" She pouted at the monster. "You stole my weapon! That's not fair!"

Catra rolled her eyes for the sixteenth time as the Valstrax started fiddling with the gunlance, poking its trigger with its giant claws, and huffing when nothing happened.

Adora raises her greatsword.

"I'll get it back", she says, with the sheer determination of someone who MUST succeed at their goal. "For you, Glimmer! RAAAAAAAAAAA---"

Catra burst into mad laughter, falling onto the floor.

"Y-You're laughing", said Bow, voice breaking. "A Valstrax is going to eat all our friends and you're LAUGHING!"

"Oh, she's harmless", said Scorpia.

"She?" said Glimmer.

Suddenly the valstrax stops fiddling with the gunlance, and picks it up with its valstrax teeth, and hovers over Glimmer. Somehow, its eyes are filled with expectation and eagerness.

Glimmer, confused, extracts the weapon from Valstrax's teeth and wastes no time reloading it. Valstrax does a happy loud yelp that makes everyone jump and sits there watching again.

“Well go on”, said Scorpia. “Fire it!”

Glimmer aims the gunlance at Valstrax. Before Catra can say anything, she fires, but instead of being dead on the floor, Valstrax is two metres away, covered in gunpowder. It blinks, dazed, and yelps happily again.

“Wh... how.....”

“Yeah that weapon isn't going to do shit”, said Catra, “she just wanted to see how it worked.”

“See-- See how it worked?” squeaks Adora.

“Catra, can you explain what is happening here?” says Glimmer, very done with the situation.

“Oh that's Entrapta”, says Scorpia. “She's Catra's hunting partner!”

“She is NOT my--”

“You gave it a NAME?”

“Catra has a hunting partner??”

“Why does she hate my sword?!!!”

Catra sighed. “Entrapta hoards weapons and RAIDS my hunts”, she said sharply, “but she doesn't know how to USE any of the weapons, because she's a giant dragon. So she forces me to show her and periodically HIJACKS my hard earned victories.”

Catra glares at Entrapta the Valstrax, who gave her a dopey innocent look and was totally not trying to sniff her way into Catra's bag to steal her sushifish.

“So.... you've been cheating?” said Adora.

“NO!!!!”

[ideas-on-paper]

Monster Hunter Tri Diary, Part 11: Exploring the Sandy Plains

For previous entries, search for #monster hunter tri diary

Disclaimer: Text is paraphrased from my localization and might slightly deviate from the English version.

Quest: Secret of the Crystal Bones

Since we're going on an expedition to a desert now, I packed 3 Cool Drinks. (3 instead of 5 because the Guild graciously supplies us with 2 Cool Drinks; once again scrounging what I can, since I don't have to buy them if I take the free ones. And if you don't use all of them, you can even stock up your own supplies a little! :-) ) In addition, I donned my leather armor again for some gathering bonuses.

I chose to eat Grainy Wheat + Cudgel Onion this time, and despite both ingredients being fresh, that apparently tasted absolutely disgusting. So now, my max health has been reduced. Eh... But hey, at least I still got Felyne Woodsman and a boost to Thunder resistance! :-)

This time, our client is an archaeologist who claims that hunters are mocking his studies about Crystal Bones, which according to him are important to learn more about "the life of old and the mysteries of today". First off, I can assure you I would never mock you - I'm the kind of person who drinks up any MH lore content I can find. I wonder what exactly he means by "the life of old" and "mysteries of today" - I think I remember from the artbooks that there are some extinct monster species (most of which are based on scrapped designs), so does he intend to study them and how they evolved? (However, bones from prehistoric animals turn into fossils, not crystal; though perhaps, the bones of the MH creatures contain some substance that causes them to turn into crystal instead?)

Still, I wonder where this "hunters are dimwits" bias is coming from, given the biologist said something similar. You certainly need some brains to hunt monsters, as you can't defeat them by randomly flailing at them. (If you tried, you wouldn't survive very long.)

And here we are: The Sandy Plains! One of my favorite desert areas in the whole series, for both the soundtrack and the overall design. I just love how the first areas (1-5) are more savanna-like, and it transitions into a desert further out (8-10).

This is also where we encounter our first Veggie Elder, who kinda aimlessly wanders around in the base camp. (I wonder if he got lost?) He gives me some random stuff, including a tuna bait; I probably shouldn't overload myself before gathering anything though.

Veggie Elder, giving me the tuna bait: "Take good care of it, you hear?" Yeah, yeah, old man, I hear you! (I wonder what's so special about a tuna bait, though...)

Btw, the increased Thunder resistance actually comes with a visual effect: I've got something like a green aura surrounding my character now. Kinda cool!

Moving on to area 1, and... OH GOD, it's Rhenoplos! Yep, I certainly remember you guys. (More specifically, I remember the many times you knocked me down when I was just doing my own business.)

Rhenoplos monster info: "Extremely territorial herbivores with poor vision but accute hearing." So they're basically rhinos, I take it. (Rhinos also can't see very well, but they have excellent hearing and sense of smell.)

Note to self: Do NOT hit Rhenoplos on the head; your weapon will just bounce off. Instead, get around them and attack their rear.

LOL, the Rhenoplos ran into a rock! xD Just randomly happened after I dodged its attack; didn't even plan that. (But that's probably what their description means by "they often collide into boulders".)

Rhenoplos Scalp: "A sturdy part of the skull that yields, shall we say, dashing results?" Heh... I see what you did there! ;-)

I've never seen a Gluehopper before. I think I've seen it listed among the required materials for some equipment though, so I better hold on to it.

Gluehopper description: "This bug's expectorations make for a strong adhesive that can bond any materials." Makes sense why they would use it for crafting, then.

There are some Giggis in area 7 (I killed 3, so I only need one more for the subquest), as well as some Kelbi. (Kinda surprising that Kelbi thrive in savanna environments too.) Also, there's a fishing spot, but I’m not sure if my tuna bait is going to be very useful here. Besides, I've got more important things to do right now.

Btw, thank God you don't have to use Hot Drinks in the caves anymore; I would always forget this in MH1/Freedom Unite since it felt so unusual. xD (The 1st Gen had no snow areas, so the Hot Drinks were exclusively used in caves.)

I got some Nitroshrooms from a gathering spot as well. Definitely gonna hold onto those so I can cultivate them later, which is gonna be really handy to make Barrel Bombs/gunpowder.

Still, despite this, I don't see a single mining spot around here. Well, guess we'll have to go deeper into the cave...

And into the everlasting darkness we go - I'm definitely gonna need a torch to explore area 6 (which, thanks to my wise foresight, I forgot to take from the supply box). Still, I really want to get the extra supplies from the subquest as well, so I'll just see if I run into a Giggi while blindly stumbling through the darkness.

Alright, I did manage to kill one Giggi for the subquest, so I'm gonna get out of here and pick up the torch and some other supplies at the base camp; BRB.

Okay, so this cave is absolutely hardcore: You've got Giggi and Bnahabra near the entrance, and Melynx further inside - no matter where you go, it's absolute hell. The Melynx snatched some items from me, but thankfully, I still had a Felvine I gathered before so I didn't lose anything more valuable. One of them made off with my tuna bait, though. (So much for "taking good care of it". xD)

Finally I managed to find some mining spots where I could get my Crystal Bones - I was beginning to believe I might actually fail the quest. xD And you bet I'm not gonna go anywhere near the Melynx right now - I'm not losing my quest items right after getting my hands on them.

Since I have time left to gather some other stuff now, I went back to where I entered the cave and picked up some Choice Mushrooms. They’re not worth that much money, but a penny saved is a penny earned.

As always when you explore a new area in Monster Hunter, there is so much stuff to gather, and so little inventory space... I'm gonna skip the gathering spots in area 5 since they don't have any interesting items and move on to area 9.

What the--?! Just when I was peacefully gathering some Cactus Flowers, a swarm of nasty Delex attacked me. Why can't you troublemakers just pass by and be on your way? I've done nothing to you!

You know, viewed from afar, the Delex look like dolphins in a sea of sand. They move exactly like dolphins do, leaping out of the sand as if it was water! (I gotta say, I love the design concept Capcom has going on here: On one hand, we have the actual ocean in Moga, and on the other, an ocean of sand in Loc Lac. Awesome!)

I followed the Altaroth in area 8 to the gathering spot, getting some Might Seeds from their shinies (which is nice since Might Seeds are kinda expensive to cultivate). Also got some more Waterblock Seeds and Monster Fluid from them.

The gathering spot where the Altaroth go also yields Fire Herbs. So now, I can cultivate both ingredients needed for gunpowder!

The monster info for the Delex says they retreat if other Delex are killed. Thought I would try this out in area 10, but nope - despite killing one of them, they continue to annoy me the same as before. You know what? I'm just gonna leave these bullies to themselves.

I gathered all of my courage together and jumped down the bottomless chasm leading into area 11 (pretending I didn’t know there was no fall damage in MH). Found some additional mining spots there to get some more Crystal Bones from. I technically don’t need them for the quest, but they are gonna be good for extra cash! :-)

Was the connection to area 7 a one-way route in 3U as well? I can't precisely remember, but I don't think so. (Maybe they changed that to make it less of a hassle to get to area 11.)

Anyway, back to the base camp we go. Just before I left, I grabbed a Cool Drink for the one I used from the box as well as an Old Pickaxe. As I said: Scrounge anything you can. ;-)

Quest: No guts, no glory

I actually threw my whetstones out to have some more inventory space. Also, I exchanged my Cool Drinks for Hot Drinks, since we're going out into the desert at nighttime now.

As a dish, I picked a Plumpkin + Drybutter (both fresh). That apparently tasted boring, but at least I got Felyne Woodsman.

Btw, I love how the English quest name is essentially a proverb taken literally. xD

Our client is a caravan leader explaining to us that Delex attacking in packs are devious (yep, can confirm that one), but their guts make for good field rations. So I guess the guy got stuck somewhere near the Sandy Plains and now wants me to help him out by killing the Delex pestering his caravan as well as restocking his supplies. Fair enough, I suppose.

The quest description also contains a great example of a MH universe-specific idiom: If I remember correctly, the Caravaneer once said "what the Diablos?" instead of "what the devil/hell?" in MH4U (implying that a Diablos is these people's equivalent of the devil, which is… understandable xD); in a similar spirit, the caravan leader says slaying the Delex is like "killing two Vespoids with one stone". It might just be my localization though since he literally uses the phrase "kill two Vespoids with one swatter" (derived from "kill two flies with one swatter", meaning the same thing as killing two birds with one stone), which makes it funnier since, y'know, Vespoids are overgrown insects. xD Still, really cool if the translators are adding this kind of flavor for each individual language!

I left the Cool Drinks and Paintballs in the box for now (I won't need Cool Drinks at night, and there are no big monsters around), but I plan to pick them up once I get back to deliver the items for the quest.

What I did take, however, were the Sonic Bombs from the supply. If only I could stash them away for later... (You can't buy them and need Screamer Sacs to combine them, which you don't have much of this early on, so they're quite valuable.) However, killing Cephalos without Sonic Bombs was already enough of a hassle in MH1, and Delex are way more nimble and harder to catch, so I'm probably going to put those to their intended use.

On my way through area 4, I picked some stuff from the mining spots, including a Golden Bone. Going by the description, it's literally a bone made of gold. I mean, bones made of crystal are already wild enough, but bones made of solid gold? How the hell did those come into existence? (The best explanation I can come up with is that they're from some kind of ore/metal ingesting monster; Lao-Shan Lung, for instance, is said to feed on ore, and depending on the region where it lives, its scales can be colored differently, caused by the concentration of minerals and other substances in the rocks. So maybe for some ore-eating monsters, the ingested metal is deposited in the bones rather than the scales.)

Moving on to area 9, and I definitely wasn't wrong: The Delex are way harder to hit than Cephalos (especially if you're using a Great Sword).

To make matters even more difficult, Monster Guts seem to be a quite rare carve from Delex - at least it feels like that after I got 5 Sharpened Fangs and exactly 1 Monster Guts from 6 Delex.

So the Delex do leave the area after all if you slay their buddies - however, you have to kill a few for them to get frightened. Looks like they're leaving for area 10 right now, so let's go after them.

I threw my second (and last) Sonic Bomb juuust right to get 10 Delex out of the sand at once! xD Wohoo! (However, I only managed to kill one, since they were pretty quick to get back into the sand.)

We've got that subquest in the bag, but I’ll definitely need to kill more than just 8 Delex for 3 Monster Guts. Can you please give me my Monster Guts already?

Just when I finally got the third Monster Guts, the Delex decide to leave once again. Phew... I actually thought I might run out of whetstones, since I solely had to rely on the two mini whetstones from the box; I would've been pretty screwed if this went on for longer. ^^' Still, everything worked out fine in the end; let's gather some extra stuff for cash and then get out of here.

At night, area 11 is unusually deserted - like, there aren't any monsters there, not even a single Jaggi. Okay, then - makes it easier for me to mine some Crystal Bones. I'm gonna go back to the base camp real quick to gather some more in area 6 as well.

I finally found out how you can gather while holding a torch! What you have to do is NOT select the pickaxe/bugnet from the item menu; at spots where the icon pops up, you simply have to press the gather button and hold R (with the Classic Pro Controller at least).

Ugh, of course the Melynx are still there... You know what, I'm gonna leave area 6, go all the way around to area 5, and then enter area 6 from the other side so they don't spot me.

And I got a new item from one of the mining spots: Icethaw Pellets! Yet another one of those elemental berries. (Though I wonder what they're doing inside a rock formation; are those even still edible?)

Got my first Ice Crystals as well! These caves have to be pretty cool for them to not melt, though. (I have a feeling Capcom might have planned that you have to use Hot Drinks in the caves like in the older games, but they decided against it; in that case, thank you, Capcom - thank you from the bottom of my heart!)

Snuck up on that one mining spot near the Melynx reeeally carefully, filched the last few items right under their nose, and then bolted off. Wouldn't want the Melynx to get any ideas about snatching our hard-earned Monster Guts, would we?

Back to the base camp we go, and as I said, I grabbed myself some free Cool Drinks and Paintballs from the box. Take what you can while you can! ;-)

Village Talk

Item seller: "I love Sonic Bombs. Sometimes I throw them just to listen to them." Oookay... The item lady has some weird preferences, I suppose. (Where did she get the Sonic Bombs, though? They're certainly not for sale in her shop. Do you love them so much that you don't wanna sell them to me?!)

"When I throw stones, I also want to throw iron or machalite ore. Weird..." Maybe that's because all share the same icon? xD

"Sometimes, there are monster bones that are too big for S and too small for M. So many objects, so few adjectives…" So whether a bone belongs to the "S" or "M" category is determined by some kind of common measurements, I take it? (Seems like the tolerance limit is a topic of debate, though. xD)

In today's episode of MH food lore, we learn that Salty Milk was created by a careless servant who added salt to milk instead of sugar, which ended up tasting surprisingly well. Lucky for the servant, I suppose. xD

The Wandering Cook is a big fan of Mosswine meat (confirming my suspicion that Moss Pork comes indeed from the Mosswine). He says it's delicious, especially the feet, which taste best with bean puree according to him. He does note, however, that you have to give it a good wash so you don't end up with more moss than meat. Well, I guess it's called "Mosswine" for a reason. xD

The cook describes the Twinshroom as a "strange mushroom" growing in pairs; both are identical in color and shape, impossible to tell apart and inseparable. So, they're not just Twinshrooms, they're conjoined Twinshrooms.

Also, we finally learn what an Escargogo is: It's an "unusual snail" that spins inside its shell for its whole life, so "the world is practically spinning around it!" (I wonder if "You Spin Me Round" is playing on a loop inside there. xD) Given it's classified as seafood, I assume it's a sea snail, and the name seems to be derived from "escargot", the French word for snail. (Also, Escargogo is the title of a French children's book, apparently? xD)

According to the description of the Rhenoplos armor pieces, it's commonly used in mining and resource prospecting (primarily ore and water). So I guess it's just the workwear of miners from the MH universe. (I can't imagine it's very comfortable to wear that all day though. xD)

Also, I get the impression it's primarily used by workers from Loc Lac, since the description of the greaves says it's "often used to mine resources for city development". ("City" being synonymous with Loc Lac in Tri.) Would make sense, since Rhenoplos are a local species and the materials thus easy to come by.

Oh no, the terrible pun disease is spreading further! While arguing that bowguns are both handy and elegant, the Outfitter used an idiom literally meaning that they're not a "shot in the oven" (the English equivalent of which would be "a lead balloon"). I'm not sure what she says in English here, but it did make me chuckle. xD

I've sent the fleet out to hunt for the first time now. If I remember correctly, it's really just a way to farm materials from smaller monsters so you don't have to bother to do it yourself all the time, but let's see what they bring back.

Guild Sweetheart: "Are you enjoying yourself? I was super busy around here. Manicure, napping... I even carried the piglet from the farm into the village. We played the whole day! Then manicure again." Yep, relaxing effectively is a super though job. I can imagine you needed another manicure after playing all day with the Poogie though... xD

Alright, so now that we're done with the Sandy Plains quests, I'm going to do some free hunting in the Moga Woods next. (Conveniently, we've got a Ludroth breeding in the north and a herbivore breeding in the south, so I can get both some extra paddles and the Super-sized Dung I need.) See ya then! :-)

To be continued

[rocketbirdie]

What weapon are you using on Lao-Shan?

High Undertaker dragon element lance! When he's standing up, face him, high poke his tummy 2-3 times, hop backwards as he slowly moves. Rinse and repeat. Great for baiting out roars and belly flops, since those attacks don't damage the fortress. Just make sure to bring tremor res, it's essential!

I repelled him with just moments to spare in MHGU. Armor was more important than the weapon actually; I just got a bunch of mostly random armor pieces with lots of slots, then slotted in artillery expert, transporter, and tremor res. The only armor piece that really mattered was the rhenoplos helm x with +7 artillery.

The secret to Lao is that all you have to do to beat him is just stall for time. With artillery expert, the cannons and ballistas do way more damage than your weapon. Save binding shots for the final area to interrupt his attacks.

If the fortress is still standing when the timer runs out, you automatically win. Sadly it's kinda down to rng. If he decides to body check the fortress 5 times in the last 60 seconds, nothing you can do about that. :(

Bonus fun fact: lance can block Lao's body check without ANY armor skills. Meanwhile, Plesioth's water beam attack requires guard +1 AND guard up. I just think that's... neat.

[flamingskia]

Gift art for some people in a server I’m in

[best-fictional-marine-reptile]

Best Fictional Dinosaur Tournament: Ornithischian Bracket; Round 1F, Poll 1/8

[iamthekaijuking]

What do you think the small herbivore monsters are? I personally like to see Slagtoth as a dinocephalian or dicynodont haha

Aptonoth, apceros, ceratonoth, and gowngoat I think are descended from early Thyreophora.

Larinoth are sauropods.

Epioth are Polypterygian leviathans.

Slagtoth and Rhenoplos I think a pachyrhinosaurs.

Popo are Proboscideans.

Kelbi could be part of Giraffomorpha.

All the theropod herbivores are brute wyverns, with the exception of Porkeplume which is a bird wyvern, but I haven’t gotten a good look at it.

Moofah, Anteka, and Rafma are likely part of Caprinae.

[the-wyvern-biologist]

Despite numerous obvious physiological differences the kestodon and rhenoplos are actually fairly closely related species belonging to the order of ornithischia. Their internal structures, namely their skeletons share a number of minute details that clue us in to their relation such as their skull structures, hip shape and tooth distribution.

[bloodfirewolf]

"The Road to HR1"

Been replaying MH3U with @sean-ofthe-dunn lately and its been nothing but fun! Definitely still retains its spot as one of my favorite games. Tools: black pen