2023-10-31 - Happy Halloween!

[BringsTheSnow]

Ooh! I really like them. Maybe they don't fit into the gimmicky cartoon version of Halloween but I think they still work in the "let's watch Horror movies" version of Halloween.

 

The open ocean and deep sea is something that the more you know about it, the more terrifying it is to you. I can just imagine one of them coming up out of inky, pitch black water and all you can see are trails of lights emerging from the deep before you realize "That's not a school of fish, or a submarine, IT IS ONE GIANT SEA MONSTER! AHHH!"

 

Anyway, I like them!

Edited November 3, 2023 by BringsTheSnow

[seventeendeer]

The adults are super beautiful, I'm so happy they retained the egg's color scheme! Though like a few others, I'm also surprised these are Halloween dragons. I wonder if maybe the "long, red, stalk-like bodies with bright eyeballs on the ends" is supposed to resemble a disembodied eyeball? With the red stuff at the back?

 

9 minutes ago, PokeCat said:

If you don't feel they're Halloween like, don't collect them.

 

As long as people are polite and respectful, stating a preference for something more Halloween-y next time is perfectly within the forum's rules, as has been explained by mods in the past. Some friendly feedback on what the userbase would like to see next is a standard topic of discussion on here.

 

I'm personally hoping for something a bit more classically spooky next year, but in the meantime I'll definitely be starting up lineages with these pretty noodles. >:3c

[Jack_Lernaean]

Iridichi didn't exactly 'fit Halloween colour theme' yet it is one of the hardest to collect because everyone seems to wanting it (quick check on Trading page back there on Halloween will confirm it) so yeah, everyone entitled to their opinion but I am sure TJ and mod and the artist and everyone else that have working on the Halloween release have doing their best and I will said, GOOD JOB!

 

The dragon are beautiful. Time to properly name them. Thank you for the artist, love the art and love the lore.

 

Now, I don't have Thalassophobia or Megalohydrothalassophobia or other phobia sea-related but I have see enough video about Deep Sea Creature and they do scare me so yeah, I think this deep sea creature fit for Halloween.

 

It might be pretty but I won't playing around with any deep sea creature...

[dracornithologist]

1 hour ago, Tokusa said:

I miss times when we had pumpkins and witches, like why we can't have scary-goody dragon in black cloack and scythe? Or with bedsheet and chains, like back then when dragons had charm, you know?

Witches are still my favourites.

 

Interesting! I'm pretty sure proposed dragons aren't supposed to have props, right? But maybe you could propose a dragon with cloak like wings and scythe like claws!

 

I really love the more abstract Halloween concepts. These bloody looking leviathans - oops!! wyrms!! - (i agree, they remind me of optic nerves!!) are so gorgeous! And rejoining after so long, it's really cool to see the enormous diversity of dragons for different users' tastes!

Edited November 3, 2023 by dracornithologist

[MoonShark]

Hi, everyone!

 

Now that the Abyss Watcher adults have arrived, I'm delighted to come forward as their conceptor! This marks the tenth release that I have had a hand in, but it is the first release in which I concepted the dragon before the art was even begun. ❤️

 

I first wrote lore for these pretties back in 2019, inspired by everything from Antennarius striatus (the striped anglerfish) to Stauroteuthis syrtensis (the bioluminescent octopus) to the many-eyed Watchers of fantasy fame. Though they went through numerous changes in appearance from original concept to the beautiful sprites that Schen made this year, their general color scheme and their basic description did not change drastically.

 

I am incredibly thankful to Schen for taking on this project that is so dear to my heart. She did an absolutely fantastic job bringing these dragons to life. When she first completed the art, I couldn't help but stare at them for ages. She captured their essence perfectly, and I'm so very excited to see them on the site! ❤️

 

They do have encyclopedia notes (which will be uploaded hopefully soon), but here's a few fun facts about Abyss Watchers to tide you over!

 

Despite their rather solitary lifestyle during much of the year, Abyss Watchers can be quite sociable and especially enjoy listening to ghost stories and other creepy narratives. Particularly enterprising storytellers may even be able to bribe one to accent their tall tales with appropriately timed glowing.

 

Younger Abyss Watchers sometimes get too caught up in such stories, though, and decide to make some of their own...by scaring the daylights out of passersby! Smaller ships and fishing boats in particular should keep a sharp eye out when the currents shimmer with a bioluminescent glow.

 

Though their lures and their belly scutes glow brightest, their orange scales actually possess a faint bioluminesence of their own. Shed scales maintain this glow for a while, and it's not uncommon for children to comb beaches after an Abyss Watcher sighting, looking for loose scales that might have washed ashore.

 

That's all for now, but I'm happy to answer any questions folks have, to the best of my ability. I hope you all enjoyed this release, and I can't see what beautiful lineages are created with these!

(As a side note since it's been mentioned a couple times, I know nothing about Dark Souls 3, so any similarity to some boss there is completely coincidental. These creatures were born from my love for the ocean and all the mysteries embraced in its depths!)

 

(Also, I keep seeing folks refer to them as leviathans... They are actually wyrms! Their original name was even Abyss Wyrm, though I changed it to Abyss Watcher for the final version.)

Edited November 3, 2023 by MoonShark

[Tokusa]

2 minutes ago, dracornithologist said:

 

Interesting! I'm pretty sure proposed dragons aren't supposed to have props, right? But maybe you could propose a dragon with cloak like wings and scythe like claws!

 

I really love the more abstract Halloween concepts. These bloody looking leviathans (i agree, they remind me of optic nerves!!) are so gorgeous! And rejoining after so long, it's really cool to see the enormous diversity of dragons for different users' tastes!

 Cloak like wings with the hood like crest on its head, standing on two legs, front paws with single scythe-like claw, that could work! Or Dragon looking like crazy clown, its all possible. Well, maybe in next years something like that will be drawn ^^

(Also Witches have their hats tho)

[RainbowTheAlbinoServal]

6 minutes ago, MoonShark said:

(Also, I keep seeing folks refer to them as leviathans... They are actually wyrms! Their original name was even Abyss Wyrm, though I changed it to Abyss Watcher for the final version.)

I was right in clocking them as wyrms after all! Very cool, I really like how glowy they look

[schenanigans]

I also had a notebook page of some sketches that I whipped up into a quick little reference~

 

 

Thank you to everyone for their support and critiques, I can't wait to see the beautiful lineages made with them

[purplehaze]

@MoonShark Thank you for the concept. I find them quite scary enough for Halloween. All things dark and mysterious fit the theme for me. Halloween is not all witches and pumpkins and ghosts and vampires.

@schenanigans The art for these dragons is really superb. I love all the detail and the coloring.

[mishhelle]

I love unconventional event releases. it’s fun to see something different, and I get a kick out of people getting their knickers in a twist over it. 😈

 

thanks Schen and Shark for the beautiful art and lore. I can’t wait to hoard the Abyss Watchers. 
 

 

[HeartJacker13]

100% certified noodle is killing me

 

Thanks so much for these awesome dragons! I wish I knew how to do pixel art and make gifs, because I could imagine you could get pretty creative with their scales. 😮

[Quinney]

Lovely dragon, well done again, spriters!

[Magellan]

The meticulous details in the scales and the lighting... holy pumpkin O_O

[Jack_Lernaean]

8 minutes ago, MoonShark said:

That's all for now, but I'm happy to answer any questions folks have, to the best of my ability. I hope you all enjoyed this release, and I can't see what beautiful lineages are created with these!

How big are they? And the teeth, since they are like shark teeth which means it can fall off, do people also collect their teeth like what they did with the scales? I just think it will be amusing, I imagine there will be place that hold Autumn Festival where people can see (from safe distance) these dragons and then local will start gather the scale/teeth after they done mating and sold it lol.

Sorry if it is too far fetched.

[random_dragon_collector]

Lovely description and colors--great Halloween release!

[MoonShark]

8 minutes ago, Jack_Lernaean said:

How big are they? And the teeth, since they are like shark teeth which means it can fall off, do people also collect their teeth like what they did with the scales? I just think it will be amusing, I imagine there will be place that hold Autumn Festival where people can see (from safe distance) these dragons and then local will start gather the scale/teeth after they done mating and sold it lol.

Sorry if it is too far fetched.

They're pretty big as dragons! You could ride on the back of one for sure, though I recommend caution in that situation, since even if one was feeling magnanimous and accepted such a request, they'd be likely to do some rather fancy dives and spins in the water and possibly forget that humans can't breathe underwater.

 

I mentioned in my post about kids collecting scales, and teeth would definitely be grabbed as well! Though they shed much more slowly over the course of years, so they'd be a much rarer find. As for selling them, well, humans will sell just about anything, so I could definitely see them being made into trinkets or jewelry or the like for a festival booth.

[Talisraye]

They’re pretty neat, but I don’t see what’s Halloweeny about them.

[FuecocoBoi09]

WHAT DID I SAY! WHAT DID I SAY! ABYSS WATCHERS, BABY! I KNEW IT! I love the dragon, fantastic.

Just now, Talisraye said:

They’re pretty neat, but I don’t see what’s Halloweeny about them.

Ever hear of Thalassophobia?

[DarkellaLord]

Gorgeous adults=3 Love the colours=)

[FuecocoBoi09]

15 minutes ago, MoonShark said:

They're pretty big as dragons! You could ride on the back of one for sure, though I recommend caution in that situation, since even if one was feeling magnanimous and accepted such a request, they'd be likely to do some rather fancy dives and spins in the water and possibly forget that humans can't breathe underwater.

 

I mentioned in my post about kids collecting scales, and teeth would definitely be grabbed as well! Though they shed much more slowly over the course of years, so they'd be a much rarer find. As for selling them, well, humans will sell just about anything, so I could definitely see them being made into trinkets or jewelry or the like for a festival booth.

wait a second you knew the whole time

[MoonShark]

3 minutes ago, FuecocoBoi09 said:

wait a second you knew the whole time

I did!   I didn't want to say anything until there were adults... But I did speak up when people were brainstorming names, because I loved seeing the theories!

[Talisraye]

7 minutes ago, FuecocoBoi09 said:

WHAT DID I SAY! WHAT DID I SAY! ABYSS WATCHERS, BABY! I KNEW IT! I love the dragon, fantastic.

Ever hear of Thalassophobia?

That’s not really Halloween-specific either.

 

They’re awesome dragons. I love the poses and colors and the little fin-wings. I’m just curious they were chosen when they’re not ghosts and witches and ghoulies. 

[FuecocoBoi09]

Just now, MoonShark said:

I did!   I didn't want to say anything until there were adults... But I did speak up when people were brainstorming names, because I loved seeing the theories!

I love them so much :3 blood for the blood god skulls for the skull throne noodles for the soup

Do you know if you will get salts? I would love to see those.

[MoonShark]

Just now, FuecocoBoi09 said:

I love them so much :3 blood for the blood god skulls for the skull throne noodles for the soup

Do you know if you will get salts? I would love to see those.

Conceptors do get salts for holiday dragons, yes. You can actually see my Pryanost alt in my forums profile pic right now in all her pretty glory. ❤️ It'll be a bit before the Abyss Watchers are alted, since I haven't even finished collecting them (I have a few kind folks helping me reach the allowed 24).

[Rhahatl]

Stunning sprites, I especially love the detailing in the head!! But like a lot of others, I do wish there was something more to them and that they had more of a Halloween feel.

 

(Not to say that I dislike nonconventional holiday releases either, but these feel a bit more like a regular release imo)

 

Congrats anyways, and (late) happy Halloween.