2019-10-31 - Happy Halloween!

[Lurhstaap]

Funny, I was actually expecting something rather zombie-like because of the surrounding game and suchlike. Definitely didn't get that! I guess it would've been a bit redundant with the actual zombies, but I'd still like to see some kind of Lich-Lord or Dracolich species that may or not be literally undead but more or less looks the part and can control and dominate zombie dragons. Even a fully skeletal breed, with tattered webbing on its wings...! (end fantasizing.) 

 

I hate to say this, but I agree with people saying this ultimately feels more like a creepy regular release than an actual Halloween. Having an atypical color scheme is one thing, but they just don't feel Halloweenly. All the other Halloween breeds except Caligenes and Omen Wyrms use either traditional or semi-traditional Halloween-associated colors. Vampires (not official, I know, but I still think of them as the first Halloweens) are black, red, and white (albeit the female is more of an ivory or bone white). Pumpkins, of course, are pumpkin orange. Black Marrows are black/dark gray and red. Cavern Lurkers are black and deep purple/violet with red/orange flecking. Shadow Walkers are ghostly white/gray. Graves are white, black, and orange. Desipis are black and orange. Arcanas are purple, orange, and green, with some candy corn colors on the wings. 

 

But with the other nontraditionals, IMO, it still works and feels Halloweenly. The gray bone marks on the brown-and-gold Caligenes, and the specific patterns formed by the golden markings, both help tie them to sarcophagi and mummies as well as death's head moths; they have a Halloween-in-Egypt vibe. Whereas Omen Wyrms get away with it by being dramatically and blatantly (and wonderfully!) Lovecraftian, with their Color Out Of Space/Dreamlands Nightmare Beast look. The Kohrakis just... don't quite give me that same specific feel. They're definitely creepy and swamply, but I think more of bayous and rot and decay and... wait a minute. I think I'm actually talking myself into this color scheme. The color on the wings still throws me - I'd prefer if it were less saturated, so it looked more like swampwater, or that it were more of a true gray/black - but the gray hair like hanks of mossy lichen hanging from a dead tree, the tarnished gold like something that was once bright and shiny but has now fallen to decay and sickness... Yeah, the more I look at them and settle them conceptually, the more workable it feels. It's not as immediate as the other breeds, and I still wish it were more distinctively Halloween-colored in some ways, at least in markings or something... but I can feel the conceptual Halloweenness and that's helping to make the colors feel less random (as in non-holiday-specific). 

 

Color nitpickery aside, I love their vorey lore and their azhdarchidness and their beautiful antlers. Yes, they're reindeer antlers, but while I do think they'll breed well with a number of Christmas breeds, that alone doesn't make them look Christmassy to me. I'm a sucker for dragons with antlers, or with branching antler-shaped horns, so that type of feature will always please me. And as I mentioned I love their lichen-y fur and their tarnished look. They're definitely spooky in a way I appreciate. I don't see a strong wendigo resemblance, but there may be some influence there. There are other predatory mimics in mythology, after all.

 

I do wish they'd been allowed to go full drake, as they're very drakely, but maybe someday. I haven't given up hope for a holiday drake or two-head yet! We have a holiday pygmy, after all! 

 

As for the pose similarity, I think it's just a natural sort of pose for a flying creature to be shown in. They don't strike me as being similar enough to be traced at all. It's just a coincidence of what kind of poses make sense to best show the sort of creature while also giving it a scary, powerful appearance. 

 

And no, you're not crazy! That's normal. TJ always keeps one to freeze, or two if the hatchlings have different sprites for the sexes. 

 

EDIT: Wanted to add that I LOVED the game and rather wish there was a way to keep playing it. I think I missed out on one of the treats, to my eternal shame, but RL was not kind to me this year and denied me a lot of the playtime I would normally have been able to invest. I did notice that there seemed to be fewer eggs dropping this year, both in the Halloween biome itself and in the regular biomes when the new eggs were dropping. If that was deliberate, I don't think it was a good idea. If not, maybe it means there are more people playing than before, which in turn suggests it might be time to increase drop numbers a little. 

Edited November 3, 2019 by Lurhstaap

[Sazandora]

41 minutes ago, Mewtie said:

I understand how it might give that impression, but poses absolutely can turn out very similar. How such similar poses happen makes more sense when you think about the reason why the poses may have been chosen. In the case of the male Kohraki Dragon, the pose shows much of the dragon and also fits well into a square, which is ideal for Dragon Cave sprites because you can make full use of the space. Additionally, the pose nicely shows depth and expresses superiority, the angle from below dwarfs the viewer and the wings seem to trap the eye. The dragon moreover intimidates with eye contact and a roar. The diagonal alignment of the body and the fact that the neck changes direction to the right not only save space, they also grant the pose a more dynamic look. Hopefully this shows what I mean. Generally, there are a number of poses that can be considered conventional, but they are common for a reason. Vice versa, while it is nice to have variety, it isn't inexplicable why many poses are rarely used.

This is just to give some insight, as an artist. Similar poses don't have to mean that an artist was lazy, and when an artist has not even thought of the other pose, that can even have been a further cause of the resemblance. c:

Huh, interesting. Thank you for this little analysis!

[Pilauli]

32 minutes ago, Aqub said:

I'm sorry, am I crazy, or did one of TJ's dragons revert to being a hatchling? 

 

They were certainly all grown up earlier.  I understand TJ often just lets them all grow up and then reverts however many he wants to freeze.  So no, you're not crazy.

[purplehaze]

33 minutes ago, Aqub said:

I'm sorry, am I crazy, or did one of TJ's dragons revert to being a hatchling? 

 

It happens all the time. He doesn't get one frozen before they grow up, so he uses his magic to revert it.

[HeatherMarie]

2 hours ago, purplehaze said:

And that's a bad thing? I have seen several people mention this. I happen to love the female Lurker's pose. The dragon itself is quite different from the Lurker. We have many dragons in the cave with poses that are quite similar. I actually like to pair similar poses for breeding. So I really see no problem here.

 

2 hours ago, random_dragon_collector said:

 

Copying and pasting?  It didn't remind me of the cavern lurker at all.  Not at all.

 

I literally had to go to the cavern lurker's encyclopedia page and tab back and forth between that and the new adults to even figure out why people were taking about them. I can see the resemblance in poses now that I've done that, but goodness, I can't see why it's a problem. A lot of the breeds on this site have similar poses, especially the all-fours-standing westerns. Boreal and Blue-Banded are nearly identical in pose, just flipped. Cheese and male Cavern Lurker, Coastal Waverunner and male Copper (flipped).... With over 240 different breeds (and tons more poses, considering dimorphism and alts), I really don't think similar poses should be an issue. They are rather small sprites that all share certain dragon-ish features, of course poses will be similar sometimes. 

 

As far as 'not Halloween-y', I personally *much* prefer holiday dragons that aren't so stereotypical for that holiday. Flashy bold 'holiday' colors like the Arcanas, Wrapping-Wing, Ribbon Dancer, etc are great every so often, but they certainly don't need to be like that in order to convey creepy/spooky/etc. These dragons look plenty creepy, definitely something I wouldn't want to run into at night!

[Bigbite]

Swallow their prey whole, the smaller  dragons had better beware this Halloween horror. I like this new DC addition.

[Shajana]

I love the new Kohraki Dragons! The female is my favorite sprite between those two, both spriters did an amazing job on them!

[HawktalonOfRiverClan]

Wow, that shading is STUNNING, and the descriptions are so delightfully spooky. Love them!

[Laura-Borealis]

Thumbs up from me. I like the colors, they're autumnal. And the description is beautifully creepy.

[yeehaw_gang]

I've only seen the sprites for eggs and hatchlings, but they look really cool! Shame I missed the drop, but oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Lushwave]

Lovely colors and texturing! The female sprite is gnarly; not sure if I like the male one, but everyone has their own tastes, and I guess I will eventually warm up to it.

 

I might have missed it in this thread, but any particular reason for it having two wing "thumbs"? (Not sure about the more precise anatomical term for them, if there is one) 

I think it's a pretty cool detail that sets it apart from other dragons. Even if it's just a random aesthetic choice, I'm curious...

[Infinis]

4 minutes ago, Lushwave said:

 

I might have missed it in this thread, but any particular reason for it having two wing "thumbs"? (Not sure about the more precise anatomical term for them, if there is one) 

I think it's a pretty cool detail that sets it apart from other dragons. Even if it's just a random aesthetic choice, I'm curious...

 

it looks cool v: they're just fingers rather than thumbs, though. i imagine they would help stabilize it on the ground.

 

Quote

I still wish it were more distinctively Halloween-colored in some ways, at least in markings or something

idk the first color i think of when i think of halloween is orange. (however your monitor(s) display it, it looks orange to me.) as for markings, we couldn't really think of anything that would work without detracting from the shading and textures.

 

----

 

also it's apparently kinda huge so i don't wanna post the image directly but here's a sketchy basic reference of sorts i drew -> https://sta.sh/013b3me83n15

[VixenDra]

3 hours ago, Infinis said:

also it's apparently kinda huge so i don't wanna post the image directly but here's a sketchy basic reference of sorts i drew -> https://sta.sh/013b3me83n15

 

Seeing all the "not halloweeny" comments I can't help assuming those people just didn't look close enough to notice their skull-like faces ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (I get it that some people can have trouble with reading small pixelart of DC, I'm personally having eastern vibes as much as the leshen ones probably because of pixels tricking the mind)

 

As for the colors, my screen screams gold tbh, it was the same with my cousin's phone where I first saw them. Guess lots of people have it displayed as gold instead of orange. The sketch's stash displays it orange to me though (a faded pumpkin)...

Edited November 4, 2019 by VixenDra

[Lantean_Pegasus]

10 hours ago, VixenDra said:

I really like how skull-like those heads are, I'm having sort of a leshen vibes:) and therefore can't imagine them without antlers!

 

 

Also, high time to give myself a credit for my treat: I originally made it for Halloween 2016 because there were way too few owl treats in my basket (apparently just 1 back then).

Thank you for the owl ! I love this treat, it's so beautiful !

[MIGOR]

Thank you for beautiful new HW dragons

[Luxrayx]

Gosh dangit, I missed out on this release. Oh well, I'll absolutely be hoarding these beauties next Halloween 

[ChristineFury]

Gosh I ADORE the new dragons, they remind me of a mix of Leshen and Skinwalkers on a massive scale for ultimate devouring. *u* 

 

And I honestly don't care about the male's poses. Just because one dragon has a certain pose doesn't mean that a similar pose can't be used at all for any other dragon, some folks are just being picky. 

[Pinch of StarDust]

1 hour ago, Luxrayx said:

Gosh dangit, I missed out on this release. Oh well, I'll absolutely be hoarding these beauties next Halloween 

All is not lost. Hunt the AP as very kind folks tossed some new 2019 Halloween eggs there.

[Pilauli]

I see their color as a sort of golden brown.  Huh.

[Cinspawn]

The new dragons look awesome! I love the antlers

[PaintdGryphon]

21 hours ago, Jazeki said:

Imagine escaping a Witchlight just to run into these.

 

Imagine them working in tandem...or as packs

[Laura-Borealis]

How much longer d'y'all think the Wall will last?

[purplehaze]

1 minute ago, Laura-Borealis said:

How much longer d'y'all think the Wall will last?

It all depends on how many people bred dragons on Halloween. The ones in the AP now were bred the 31st, but there is no way to know how many more there are. Some people wait until the last minute to breed.

[High Lord November]

These are amazing   I love their colours and textures, and I adore the female sprite, one of my top favourites in the cave. I think their descriptions are also very Halloween-esque category and not just a creepy regular release, as most dragons don't actively prey on humans. Thank you TJ and spriters!!!

[Lagie]

9 minutes ago, purplehaze said:

It all depends on how many people bred dragons on Halloween. The ones in the AP now were bred the 31st, but there is no way to know how many more there are. Some people wait until the last minute to breed.

I bred a heap of lurkers in the afternoon of that day, not sure if they've come through yet.