Mutant Pteri, Zombie and Camouflage Grundos

[Usul_Princess]

The Camo grundo and the camo ixi obviously hang out together in an undiscovered world full of strawberry jam.

That gave me a big laugh! I didn't think of jam. I forgot to add that I have no opinion on the zombie, but the camo reminds me of a picked scab in different healing stages. The shades they use remind me of dried blood.

[Rakumel]

The Mutant Pteri is well drawn and well thought out, I think. But I'm not getting the "OMG MUST HAVE" vibe from it, and I'm not sure why.

Nothing about either the Zombie or Camo Grundos really appeals to me. Especially that color on Camo, which personally reminds me of raw beef. Ick.

[Ailiel]

Like a few of you, I'm not that keen on the new mutant style... imagine that. While they aren't cartoony, there is something too shiny, plastic-like, and commercial about them. The beautiful rich purples, blues, and turquoises seem suited better for faerie or royal, not mutant!

Give me a crawly, leathery, partial-internal-organ-showing mutant draik any day. I miss the harsh drabness about them-- remember the original mutant chia? These were truly mutants-- forgotten, hideous creatures you might find hiding in some cave somewhere. This is some beautiful preening jungle bird. That's not to say it's not a nice color. It's quite nice. I just miss the old way.

Blah blah, I hate change, what else is new.

[Foghawk]

I must say, I don't care for the direction the new Mutants have been taking. Ever since I was a kid, the Mutants (well, next to the Darigans) have been some of my absolute favorite pets. The Mutant Ruki is the only pet I've ever really wanted. Why? Because they had real character - a darker side that rarely showed up on Neopets, and which I treasured. It wasn't just that they had been horribly mutated - it was that they knew it. With redraws, the artists were free to change not only the pets' form and appearance, but also their body language and expression. All the best Mutants had (have!) that hunched posture and glare of dull resentment that said clearly just how awful things had been for them (ruki, gelert) — or those wild-eyed, twisted, even bloodthirsty grins and snarls that spoke of a creature deformed in mind as well as body (ixi, korbat) — or the droopy, blank-eyed smile that suggested they were too far gone even to understand what had happened to them (gnorbu, usul). In an incredibly understated way, and without anything explicit enough to frighten the kiddies, the art made the Mutants angry, hopeless, crazy - in a way that made them more real than the happy, smiling colorfills.

Somewhere along the line, someone forgot that.

The Yurble and Eyrie had a bit of it. But the Peophin has next to no expression, and none at all that can be seen in the small versions. The Kau is staring right at the mass of rubbery tentacles that has sprouted from its face, yet doesn't even seem to acknowledge them, the way you wouldn't acknowledge your nose. "What? —I've always had those. —Yes, everybody has them. —What are you talking about?" The Pteri doesn't recognize the fact that with those wings and that bulk of neck, it probably can't even fly - it just looks vaguely menacing the way things with big claws do. As if it were completely normal. As if all Pteris were like that. As if the question had been not "What if a Pteri was horribly deformed?" but "Hey, what if Pteris were, y'know, all weird?"

It's interesting. It's even pretty. But it's not Mutant.

[Mistress Morbid]

*nod* I wholeheartedly agree with you Foghawk. There's just something too 'pretty' about these new mutants and I don't care for them at all. Having a few in that style is fine, but variety is more interesting and I sincerely hope they don't keep having the same artist do all the mutants from now on. I miss the old ones. The Mutant Cybunny is still one of my favourites, and it's nowhere close in style to the latest ones.