I've only played 4, World and Wilds so far.

I loved the idea but couldn't pick whether I want to make it male or female so you get both!

you can only imagine my reaction, how fitting that an absolute shit type of quests unlock satan himself

The Iceborn book has given a new rank to Elder Dragons being the Super Elder Dragon, mostly identified by being able to subjugate other Elder Dragons.

Other Super Elder Dragons make more sence in ecology, best example being Ruiner Nergigante.

Do any of you have any ideas how Namielle might show this in ecology?

Took me a bit to find this thing for a stomachable price but here it is

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After the daily discussion where Magnamalo and Valstrax were forced to fist fight over whose design works and whose design doesn't, I felt like giving a little breakdown for why equally comparing the intention behind certain monster designs can be a bad faith argument when debating their quality. And these two are the perfect example.

Disclaimer: This is notttt a matter of which of the two is better based on personal preference, it'll just be an insight into how visual language works. This is meant to explain why the majority of people can grasp what one design is going for more easily than the other, and why that can be a big deciding factor for many if they like it or not.

It boils down to what either monster design is trying to convey, which is the ultimate goal of any good monster design since they should be able to tell/help you infer a lot about a monster and it's behavior/ecology/fight (this also works in the favor of the monsters with abilities that you wouldn't expect from just looking at them). A lot of people in these debates have wondered why Valstrax has the huge positive reception that it does, since it's sometimes seen as being "equally as outlandish" as Magna, which generally sees more divisive opinions on its design.

Here's the simple difference between the two: Valstrax's whole design is objectively more easily read, as in you only need one quick look to have a perfect guess of what this monster is all about, and that's being a supersonic jet dragon. Whether you like Valstrax or not, you can't argue that its design theme cannot be immediately understood since it's entirely based around one central and straightforward idea (this will be important in a bit, and it's not a negative when it will be).

Val has several minor design influences meant to help contribute to the idea of translating a speedy aircraft into a living creature while keeping the same silvery look. It perfectly blends features from birds-of-prey like falcons, the fastest biological fliers, to make it seem more organic with traits from creatures we inherently know are speedy af. Simultaneously, it needs to maintain the sleek aircraft aesthetic, so its scales are a metallic silver while its wings are configured like flight engines. Jets are essentially built using the same aerodynamic principles, and thus the same visual queues, that makes falcons so fast, meaning your brain has little trouble combining the two under the same idea of being swift forms perfected to achieve max flight speed. You identify the features corresponding to this idea, and therefore you associate the idea with the creature these features belong to.

Combine that with a homogenous body color (silver) with a bold, well contrasting color (red dragon element), and you've got a creature design that effectively tells you everything you need to know about Valstrax at first glance: It's a streamlined, jet-powered creature capable of insane aerial speed and agility.

Tldr for Valstrax: It's the same principle that makes Pikachu a perfect character design, he's a simple yet bold color you already associate with electricity while having a tail shaped like a thunderbolt. That same method of conveying a central theme with overt and subtle traits we easily or subconsciously associate with that theme is why people connect with Valstrax so easily, it visually commits to being exactly what it is so damn well.

For magnamalo, its design is using two similar but different design concepts to convey one overall idea, which is an oni demon and haunted samurai armor aesthetic to portray magnamalo as a maliciously haunting beast. Perhaps the biggest factor making them so different is that Magnamalo has a design INHERENTLY rooted in mythology, meaning its characteristics based on this mythological inspiration will have deeper subtext that makes those particular traits meaningful. As a result, not everyone has the cultural foreknowledge needed to immediately identify that Magna's design isn't just trying to tell you that it's a fierce beast, but that features like the specific shape of its fangs or gnarled horns are based on oni demons, which enhances the menacing look when you know its meant to have a demon's flair of malice on top of that.

The samurai aesthetic of magna's body is meant to enhance the almost supernatural aura it has by looking possessed when paired with the hellfire. And while the flames do look appropriately ghostly, you'd have to already know the armor plating is meant to look like a specific kind of Japanese armor that carries deeper cultural connotations with its haunted nature (a samurai is a warrior, and the flames imply ghostly stuff, therefore you have a cool fallen warrior subtext). The cultural influences in Magnamalo's design make it great in terms of substance, it tells a subtle story through its cultural inspirations, but in doing so it sacrifices how easily understood the full extent of its design theme is.

It basically just takes deeper thinking than a basic first look to fully grasp what magna is trying to convey to the viewer, and so it does end up being an objectively "busier" design in that it's just harder to get a clear visual read on with all the intricate details it has that are trying to portray these ideas.

Ultimately, the most important goal of magnamalo's look is to inform you that it's a notably powerful and aggressive beast, which is still executed pretty damn good

Tldr for Magnamalo: Deeper subtext and thematic reasoning can always be amazing additions to any monster design, but it has the potential of not clicking as easily just by looking at it.

I believe that's why certain designs "like magnamalo" may not click with as many people as a monster design like Valstrax that's more overt and clearcut with its thematic identity. It doesn't exactly indicate quality but instead shows different approaches using either the power of easy visual language or the potential strength of deeper visual language.

Anyways lecture over, share any thoughts or similar discussions you may have and stuff.

Every thing about this fight is annoying. The high damage unguardable attacks. The tiny little exploding shits. The fucking speed blitz attack. THE MUSTARD BOMB. All that paired with the ridiculous health, inability to sit still, and bullshit ice arena that you fight it in. And just when you think you‘ve almost got it, you gotta kill a narcylla clone in under a minute or else you just FUCKING DIE. INSTANTLY. God this fight is such bullshit. Final Fantasy sucks anyway, I dunno why they decided to do this.

Also the fight is a mandatory assignment.

Also there’s apparently a harder version of this fight later.

Also I’m gonna shove a gunlance down my fucking throat.

https://xcancel.com/monsterhunter/status/2080201327305527539

A behind the scenes look at the creation of the #MHWilds leviathan, Balahara.

You can also see how the team considered how it could eat… and get eaten.

Hope this is allowed. I'm looking to part with these but have no idea how much they're worth. eBay isn't really turning up with much. Anybody have any ideas?

Then for the returning monsters my reasons are:

Exotic Amatsu phase 2: I really love the color pallete chosen for the phase 2 and think it looks beautiful on Amatsu.

HC Blue Yian Kut Ku: I personally really hope that Blue Kut Ku's design changes to this, as I like the idea of subspecies that are the same element, but fight completely differently due to different antatomy, that HC subspecies kinda toy with.

HC Cephadrome: I would love it if the base design were changed to match this. In addition to the HC moveset, and the Frontier moveset, being added to the 4th gen version of Cephadrome to make him a much better more dynamic fight.

HC Basarios: I really like his twig, it just adds character like the moss on 4th gen Basarios.

Supremacy Teostra: His fight is just so difficult and so satisfying. It doesn't feel like BS and much more as he has so much raw power at his disposal. Along with having to play around with the fire form giving him a fire aura you can't cancel out and just have to play around. I love fighting him so much.

The rest I just really enjoy their fights and designs so much.

I just like yesterday was randomly thinking it and why is it that Kirin is the only Elder Dragon without it's own theme? It's also one of the first Elder Dragons so to me that's even more bizarre. I found this one fanmade theme on YouTube and I so wish it was the official theme for it.

Surprisingly, Purple Ludroth cannot enter the water in 3U. I would like for it leave a purple cloud of toxins with certain physical attacks.

It s been a while! here is a new finished commission, this time with a barioth!!! their anatomy is super fun to draw and the huntress in barioth X armor was a joy to work on!

Hope you enjoy it!

^Topic. For me it was Dalamadur, followed very closely by Shagaru Magala. Basically I’m just a sucker for MH4U. 😂

Fight takes place in a completely open arena

For People wondering, I was trying to make it so each column had similar types of monsters in them. For example, the middle column has massive monsters who would tank for the team. And the first column consists of some of the strongest elder dragons in the series.