2014-09-20 - September Release

[Alexiel Dragoness]

Honestly? I love, love, LOVE the fact that these new dragons don't have dimorphism, mainly because so many dragons (both in-cave and concepts) that exhibit dimorphism tend to have the big, strong, and aggressive male sprites and the smaller, weak, and non-agressive female sprites. The black dragons are one of the best examples of this. They're supposed to be warriors and the female sprite doesn't fit this description at all. And don't even get me started on that freaking alt black female sprite; that view from the back with the head turned to stare at you is basically the go-to "sexy woman" pose and these are DRAGONS. There are lots of other dragons like that as well. For starters, look at your golden wyverns, golds, coppers, undines, and soulpeaces and you'll see what I mean.

 

A good way to test this is to look at your favorite dragon breed that exhibits dimorphism and mentions nothing about gender differences in the breed description. Now imagine that TJ switched the sprites and your male dragons now have the former female sprite. If you would complain that your males now look weak, not strong enough, not aggressive enough, etc. then there's a problem with the sprites for that breed since that breed description says nothing about males being stronger than the females. If the description specifically states that males are larger or stronger than females, then the sprites do fit the breed. The problem here is that the only stated female-dominant dragons are Hellfire Wyverns (although it is strongly suggested with Hellhorses) but there are lots of species that are male-dominant.

 

tl;dr I am quite leery of gender dimorphism on DC because it seems to strongly conform to the concept of a male-dominant species and often uses human ideas about gender roles to depict dragons, even when the description mentions absolutely nothing about stronger males or gender differences. DC dimorphism can be done well where both male and female dragons of the same breed have sprites that show similar characteristics and fit the breed description but it often isn't done like this (again, just look at female black dragons for an example of female sprites that don't match the breed description).

 

On a more positive note, awesome job artists and concept creators! These dragons are really neat and have unique descriptions for each variation.

Totally agree

 

I think females should look stronger. For example the Undine Dragon female really looks like a frightened dog.

oh well...

 

As for the new dragons, I love their colors.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Alexiel Dragoness

[HollowSoul]

-whispering homestuck in the distance-

This is exactly that too.

The name Pyralspite, Pyrope, the strong sense of justice and telling things apart by taste are all traits of a certain troll. This makes me happy, being a Homestuck fan myself.

[Sany]

Oh yes, we were right about the names

 

I adore these adults! I like how the wings all have a slightly different finish! I think I like the red ones best, but they're all stunning!

 

Why were there 3 eggs per color though, I'm a bit confused now that there's no dimorphism..

[TCA]

Oh guys guys guys.

 

Now that TJ has adults, I have a present for everyone.

 

 

DERGUN FACE AVATARS

 

Please don't actually use them as forum avatars until after we have non-TJ adults, but once the first hatchies on normal user scrolls hit adult, go wild.

 

(And for the love of Shinki please don't recolor them or touch my white-Pyralspite avatar.)

Edited September 24, 2014 by TheCompleteAnimorph

[Jazeki]

Are these hatchies slow to gender or is it just me? I just had my Nilia Pygmy gender at 5d18h with 4508/889/2 stats, while my new Pyralspite hatchies are all at 5d13h with stats around 4100+/1000+/3+ and they are still ungendered.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Jazeki

[LumosSeeker148]

Oh guys guys guys.

 

Now that TJ has adults, I have a present for everyone.

 

 

DERGUN FACE AVATARS

 

Please don't actually use them as forum avatars until after we have non-TJ adults, but once the first hatchies on normal user scrolls hit adult, go wild.

OMG those are amazing!

[prpldrgnfr]

Oh guys guys guys.

 

Now that TJ has adults, I have a present for everyone.

 

 

DERGUN FACE AVATARS

 

Please don't actually use them as forum avatars until after we have non-TJ adults, but once the first hatchies on normal user scrolls hit adult, go wild.

 

(And for the love of Shinki please don't recolor them or touch my white-Pyralspite avatar.)

But but but my Silver Tinsel! Now I have to choose between her and the Almadine!

[MessengerDragon]

Why were there 3 eggs per color though, I'm a bit confused now that there's no dimorphism..

I second the question.

[NekoA]

I'm happy that the differences in colors are so clear in the adults. I thought that they would look very similar, like the eggs and hatchlings. I like all of them!

[rubyshoes]

Are these hatchies slow to gender or is it just me? I just had my Nilia Pygmy gender at 5d18h with 4508/889/2 stats, while my new Pyralspite hatchies are all at 5d13h with stats around 4100+/1000+/3+ and they are still ungendered.

Yeah, they are slow to gender (just like they were slow to hatch).

[F.ury]

I second the question.

TJ was trolling everyone. Also, apparently there is a troll character in Homestuck who shares many traits with these dragons. It's trolling because of troll dragons.

[Meymo]

Welll... That's slightly disappointing. I was so excited for this release but the adults are not at all what I expected, and I won't hoard anything with no dimorphism. The Pyropes are still my favourites and all three of them look lovely, they're just not for me. Still, congratulations to the spriters for getting their dragon into the cave! :3

[CheshireFox]

Finally got a pair of all three types!

(watch them refuse to gender into pairs though, lol)

Edited September 24, 2014 by CheshireFox

[Suzumiya]

I'm disliking the amount of Coastal ones I'm able to obtain. It seems I can get any number of Alpine and Volcano that I want (5x Alpine so far) and yet I only managed 2 Coastal and that was on release date. I ADORE the orange color too.

[DigitalGarden]

HA, I knew which one were these<3 Though I remember they had different egg sprites, they weren't that shiny on the completed list O.o

[Taintedtamer]

Wow oh wow, I love these adults! <3 Gorgeous.

[Jazeki]

All my hatchlings have gendered. :3 I think they gendered sometime over the past hour. They are currently at 5d11h.

 

For those curious about stats: the views for the group are between 4156 and 4564, the unique views are between 1018 and 1068, and the clicks are between 3 and 9.

[Claudii]

Ah, so no dimorphism. But they are very pretty!

[loftiicry]

my inner homestuck is geeking out so hard at these little adorable little losers.

the time to invent as many ridiculous scalemate names as possible has come.

[Guillotine]

Honestly? I love, love, LOVE the fact that these new dragons don't have dimorphism, mainly because so many dragons (both in-cave and concepts) that exhibit dimorphism tend to have the big, strong, and aggressive male sprites and the smaller, weak, and non-agressive female sprites. The black dragons are one of the best examples of this. They're supposed to be warriors and the female sprite doesn't fit this description at all. And don't even get me started on that freaking alt black female sprite; that view from the back with the head turned to stare at you is basically the go-to "sexy woman" pose and these are DRAGONS. There are lots of other dragons like that as well. For starters, look at your golden wyverns, golds, coppers, undines, and soulpeaces and you'll see what I mean.

 

A good way to test this is to look at your favorite dragon breed that exhibits dimorphism and mentions nothing about gender differences in the breed description. Now imagine that TJ switched the sprites and your male dragons now have the former female sprite. If you would complain that your males now look weak, not strong enough, not aggressive enough, etc. then there's a problem with the sprites for that breed since that breed description says nothing about males being stronger than the females. If the description specifically states that males are larger or stronger than females, then the sprites do fit the breed. The problem here is that the only stated female-dominant dragons are Hellfire Wyverns (although it is strongly suggested with Hellhorses) but there are lots of species that are male-dominant.

 

tl;dr I am quite leery of gender dimorphism on DC because it seems to strongly conform to the concept of a male-dominant species and often uses human ideas about gender roles to depict dragons, even when the description mentions absolutely nothing about stronger males or gender differences. DC dimorphism can be done well where both male and female dragons of the same breed have sprites that show similar characteristics and fit the breed description but it often isn't done like this (again, just look at female black dragons for an example of female sprites that don't match the breed description).

 

On a more positive note, awesome job artists and concept creators! These dragons are really neat and have unique descriptions for each variation.

This rant makes me sad that I can't get into contact with the spriter I was working with for one of my private concepts; they were dimorphic, with the females being more aggressive and starkly colored and the males being timid and dull (their social structure is loosely based on canids so there's no male/female dominance division).

 

But it is a common issue with dimorphic sprites; while I disagree with the assessment of normal blacks (the males don't look terribly warrior-like, imo; the females actually look like they're mid-pounce and the males like they're weakly swatting at something), the female adult alt is emblematic of the issue. It's A Problem and one I'd like people to be more aware of when designing dragons.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Guillotine

[DragonLady86]

 

Why were there 3 eggs per color though, I'm a bit confused now that there's no dimorphism..

Presumably so TJ could have an adult pair plus one hatchling which he will retro-freeze.

[Rosedamai]

All my hatchlings have gendered. :3 I think they gendered sometime over the past hour. They are currently at 5d11h.

 

For those curious about stats: the views for the group are between 4156 and 4564, the unique views are between 1018 and 1068, and the clicks are between 3 and 9.

Ah, thank you!

[Chococat0815]

The adults are pretty =)

Thanks!

[Iside]

Wow, so elegant!

[djengis]

Sad theres no dimorphism, and i like it when the male sprite is more Brute then the female