#they feel like a mismash of animals and it doesn't work

[drinkinggblood]

why i hate seawings design

i hate this thing so much heres my rant lol

why does it have bio scales? "for communication via language" creatures dont evolve specific parts FOR languages, bio parts are not evolved in open waters for the point of communication; that is usually limited to DEEP-SEA CREATURES due to the lack of light making visual communication difficult. it would make more sense for seawings to communicate via NOISE rather than BIO SCALES. why do they have barbels? barbells are essentially fish whiskers; they work as sensory organs to allow fish to see in murky/dark conditions (hence why you see them on many species of river/swamp fish that reside in water that is often murky/cloudy/dirty, or on hagfish, which live in deep depths of the ocean); seawings do not need barbels as they are OPEN-SEA DWELLING ANIMALS. they (seem too) reside in only the most upper levels of the ocean, not near the depths or within rivers/murky water. they have no reason for barbells. their fins are useless too; they don't need back fins or tail fins really, fins are for steering, balance and stability; seawings do not have the proper fin anatomy to do any of those things, even if they DID, they wouldn't need it seeing as they have a tail with similar purpose to a crocodile's (thrust in water via tail)

the entire design makes no sense from a biological standpoint, let alone a fantastical one either. It is poorly made. heres some examples with (my opinion) reasons why THEY work and seawings don't.

example 1:

Namielle.

namielle's design is HEAVILY fiction and would not work in OUR WORLD (she has biology in the monster hunter world that explains a lot of her features but ehhh whatever) but do you know why it works? because it is unique and has features that make sense for her and her enviroment; her design is good because it's UNIQUE and it looks otherworldly, which is the purpose of her design

namielle is like that in how a lot of it's features are mashed together from animal parts, but that IS the point of it's design and it executes it well; it's meant to look otherwordly and unsettling, alien yet beautiful. it was put together with design elements that are meant to build on it's concept of an creepy, otherworldly sea dragon who lives in an alien environment; that IS the point of it's design. it is meant to look familiar yet off. seawings had not been made with the idea of making them look alien/otherworldly, it was made with the idea in mind of "sea creature" and that is it

seawings don't work in this regard because it's just "mash all the sea things to together, hope it sticks" so it feels unbalanced and a giant mess because none of it's features are set in stone or make sense for it to have. It's features are not placed mashed on PURPOSE to create a fluent design with a message to tell. Namielle's design IS a mash of many sea creatures, but she has fantastical biology to explain why as well as get the message of: Unsettling, Eerie, familiar yet beautiful.

example 2:

Shadowmane.

Why do Shadowmanes work?

Simple: It's a design with a clear point. It's a VERY basic concept with a in my opinion, GREAT execution. "Lionfish but a Lion" is the basic concept for the design. And That's It. It's simplicity yet complex design is why I think it works over the Seawing's because it's design has a clear concept, while Seawings have a mess of marine-life stuck together to make a generic 'sea-dragon' design.

"But Seawings are based on traditional sea dragons"

No. They really aren't. If it was, it's design would reflect that and be a lot more visually interesting. /hj

"Seawings are based on Leviathan"

No They clearly are not. I WISH THEY HAD BEEN, it would make for a far more interesting fantasy sea-dragon design, but they aren't. The features are inspired by real-world animals.