...garth and Bhakoru. xD;; Sorry, these pets were released all at once!
I actually don't like the Graveyard Bumbus very much. Not much has changed from the original Bumbus design, aside from the facial expression and the missing arm. And then there's the fact that I initially thought it was a Graveyard Illumis until I remembered that six armed bug != Illumis. :/
I like how vicious the BloodRed Priggle looks, what with the completely awesome facial expression, as well as the really painful-looking (for the victim) blood on the spiked tail.
The Bloodred Cybill is a revamp, one that unfortunately doesn't include the axe the original had. I can't figure out what the hell is going on with the posed arms and the flying blood...
I like the Nightmare Dragarth's awesome face, but not too fond of the pose itself. The Bhakoru is pretty "meh" to me, like all of the other colors of that species...
The flying blood is in the shape of an axe. It's "holding" the handle in the flipper to our right. I think it's pretty clever; I like the overall pose and the blood could just look like blood, but is also an axe. A nice touch, even if I will still miss the original real axe a bit.
I like the bhakoru a lot. The expression and the crest and the pose are all good. It helps that I was just watching snapping turtle videos, hehe.
I can't see the axe in the blood, either. I've had it explained to me a couple times, and I think I see what I'm supposed to see, but it doesn't look like an axe to me. Is it more like a pickaxe now? Or maybe I'm still making the wrong shapes. Either way, it's a bummer. I appreciate that effort went into preserving the axe at least in some capacity, but I still don't get what was so wrong about just keeping the original; that's certainly the easier solution. One of the things I still miss about Neopets is the inclusion of "exception-pets" (eg. Camouflage Jetsam and Krawk, Spotted Gelert, Koi, Tuskaninny, Rainbow Lenny, Striped Meerca, etc.) that aren't necessarily consistent, but still make sense. Is anyone really bothered by those kinds of pets? My impression is "no," but I can't speak for everyone. I think they're creative, and back when I played, I looked forward to them. I get that not every site needs to do something like that, and that extreme art consistency is Subeta's "thing" but I just keep thinking... what's the big deal? Let the poor penguin keep its axe. That was the original artist's choice, and I think there's a responsibility to honor that. Anyway, I don't own a Bloodred Cybill, but I hope the people who do are pleased, or can at least tolerate it. I'd check, but lately, new pet color news posts (on Subeta, not here) have devolved into such nonsense, I don't really have the patience to wade through them.
I loooove the zombie bumbus so much. I really wish Pie had more pets, her redraws are always so great. I'm humming and hawing about whether or not to get one. It would mean not just recolouring an existing pet (since you can only get bees from the BB) but abandoning one. I just used this year's loyalty box a few weeks ago, so I don't think I can wait a full year... but... missing a leg! Crumpled wings! Scruffy fuzz! Adorable. Need.
I was actually pretty relieved I didn't like any of the nightmare pets this year, for the same no-more-pet-room reason. In general, it's my favorite colour, so I always get nervous around Morostide. Or rather, my existing pets do. I actually really disliked most of this year's offerings, but the Bhakoru is the least bad. In fact, it's fine. Not as great as I was expecting, but I think that's because its basic pose and colours are so great, they're going to be really hard to top. That said, I do own a Chibi one, so obviously it's not an impossible task.
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.
My favorite of the bunch is the nightmare bhakoru. I love what the artist did with the arch of the spine and tail with that particular angle. The crest is also very striking - it seems distorted, but when you look closely it looks like it could be just a very vicious version of a bhakoru. The touches done on the corner of the mouth (the ripping effect) is very subtle too, but nightmarish. My only complaint is that at first, I thought the rest of the image wasn't loading right and got cut off unnaturally, since the bottom looks very flat.
Personally, I think Rah brilliantly nailed the execution of the blood-axe - I saw it right away and I think it was a great compromise for the old and new species to be combined. Like Ty said, I like how it can either look like flying blood OR an axe, so it's up to the owner's interpretation of how they want it to represent their pet c: Fabulous job, Rah!
I am in love with both the NM Dragarth and the NM Bhakoru, especially the latter and I really want one xD I love the pose for the Dragarth, however. It's so unique compared to other NM pets, and the reaching hand is just creepy enough xD I love how the BR priggle's tail is so bloody as well, like he just bludgeoned someone's head with it.
I have been watching way, way too much Law and Order...
ETA- Linds has posted the full-size versions of the NM Dragarth and BR Priggle, as well as her NM Cadogre from the other topic on her DA so I thought I'd post them for her c: The detail in all three at full-size is amazing!
I had trouble seeing the axe, although I assumed that weird mess of blood was probably supposed to represent it. I knew what I was supposed to be seeing, but I had to track down a sketch someone commented with in the news before I actually could:
With that rough outline, now I can't NOT see the blood-axe. I think that idea and execution is neat and a pretty clever way to make up for taking away the actual axe, although the alternative (weird, thick strands of blood stuck to the side of its face) still doesn't make visual sense to me. I always kinda liked the idea, though, of an angry penguin wielding an actual hatchet. Now the art is vastly improved, but it looks a lot like any other bloodred pet, which doesn't make it terribly tempting to own.
I don't really have an opinion on the others, except for the bumbus, which I love. If I didn't already have a bee who I loved, I'd be searching for a way to get one of these.
I absolutely love the Nightmare Dragarth. I think Lindsey is a good match for the species and it really shows here. The pose is neat and I love it's evil evil grin. I need a pet that can fit this! I also like the Bhakoru, but again none of my pets fit the color. I'm glad to see another color for this species, it needs more redraws!
The Cybill looks quite bloodthirsty, I would not want to meet that guy alone on the beach. The blood confused me at first but I caught onto it quickly and had to smile at how clever it was. Now that I realize that the Bumbus is missing a leg it makes more sense. I could not for the life of me figure out what that black circle was!
