Magma Pets: Xweetok pg1, all others from pg2

[zebru]

*excited* All pets! It's pretty obvious different artists did different species as the creativity and quality differ from pet to pet quite a bit.
These four are my faves I think (+ skeith Seerow posted before):

Spoiler: open/close

*runs back to rainbow pool to study them further*

[Jazzy]

I'm just adding the magma pets to the database now - you can see the ones I've got so far here:
http://www.neocolours.me.uk/viewpet.php ... happy+male

If you have database access, please do not attempt to add any of these pets yourself because we'll get our wires crossed

edit: also, I will be fixing the images that appear on the front page and on newcolours.php at the end. They're currently broken because they use the New Features images and obviously in this case there aren't any.

[daisybell]

I'm not going to try and review any pets in detail yet, but as a first thought, what strikes me most is the sheer variability between the pets, from the very on-fire Nimmo to the very plain Ruki and a lot of pets in between. I would have expected that if all the pets were drawn at once, they would have been very similar, because the brief wouldn't have been able to have been interpreted differently over time. Alternatively, they were drawn at relatively short notice and they didn't have enough time to go back and change any art that wasn't quite right.

[Wingsrising]

I'd like this a lot if it weren't for the STUPID FUZZY SMALL IMAGES. Seriously, Neopets, what's with the horrible looking small images -- for pets and many wearables, both. You guys do know we see our active pet like this on EVERY PAGE, right? I KNOW you can make a sharp small Eyrie because I have one. So why is the Magma Eyrie so fuzzy you can barely see the face???

Seriously, this kills SO MUCH of the new pet art for me, as well as otherwise wonderful wearable art.

[zebru]

I agree with Wings - the fuzziness/blur is so annoying! It started back with zombie usul I think and stuck around. I assume that it in someways speeds up the process of drawing pets/wearables, because they were perfectly able to do it sharp before. When it first appeared I sent several mails to both neo and editorial complaining about it, but never got back from them.

[Cranberry]

Hm. I like a few of these -- it looks good when the pet is mostly dark with just the red lines of lava, like these guys:



But some of them are hideous. The lupe doesn't look like it's glowing; the aura is just solid orange and way too thick. The kougra's stripes are neat, but the whole face looks terrible with that orange outline around the muzzle.

[Felid]

These look way better that I imagined they would or could do - but then that was based on the Xweetok, which, with it's glassy and misshapen pupils is not one of the better Magmas. The Lutari doesn't work at all, just looks like an ill-defined melting blob without much depth....The Hissi, Moehog, Krawk, Skeith and Lenny, on the other hand are all excellent with some wonderful detailing....

[BazookaBabe]

I think they're all shaping up wonderfully so far~ I love the constant presence of swirly cracks within the molten rock. The fire/aura around some of them could use tweaking, either for the sake of composition or have all the pets be uniform. I especially like how the Skeith appears to be shaded. The fire design on the inside of some of the pets' ears is cute, as are the on-fire tails. I definitely like this color.

[EofS]

The jubjub looks like the flame is bursting out from within. Coooool.

[Felid]

But some of them are hideous. The lupe doesn't look like it's glowing; the aura is just solid orange and way too thick. The kougra's stripes are neat, but the whole face looks terrible with that orange outline around the muzzle.

You're right, those crude thick orange bands around the base of the Lupe ruin it entirely, and the Gelert may have gone the same way....the molten feet and tails of species like the Lenny & Aisha generally work very well though...still liking the Skeith and the Hissi best.

[Kantark]

Wow! They have been busy :-)

I'm still not sure I like the whole concept (in that they all look like they're Neopets that have been incinerated, which I find a little disturbing) but if I buy int othe whole Magma thing there are a few prettily done species. I like the Zafara, I'd even consider getting one. It's a shame the Kyrii doesn't look much like the one in the plot (which reminded me a little of the legendary rabbit whose name escapes me, from the Watership Down film), that could've been a winner. The crack patterns on the Ixi and Scorchio are nice.

[zebru]

I found 8 worms so far - still need rainbow one and black one, hopefully I'll be able spot the later. Also according to neoboards, getting the option to paint you pet magma at magma pool seems to be random. Several people just clicked on the pool link in the news and were asked which of their pets they wanted painted.

[TCStarwind]

I can't say I was expecting this. Some of those pets are really cool (like the acara and the buzzz and the hissi). I'm having an inner debate with myself on whether or not I want a magma kyrii.

And those worms are adorable. I've only got six since I just got on, but I seem to be finding them at a fairly steady rate.

[Madge]

Oh my gosh, that is awesome! They're no-eyed freaks!

[thelonetiel]

So while there is a way to get magma pets by apparently refreshing and randomly finding the guard asleep, there is also an accepted image of the guard, implying there is a way to get there "legitimately." I hope this legit way is relatively simple, as I want to be able to spontaneously paint lab rats I'm dissatisfied with. Otherwise, I have the suspicion that pool access is only for a few minutes at a time, probably with a pattern, that's different for each account. Hmph.

Also, I'm giving up on my last worm, the black one. I'll just hope that this isn't a one-day-only thing.