Flight Rising Discussion

I'll admit that I was making the "not light-y and not elegant" critisism when the teaser came out... but the breed itself proved me 100% wrong!!!
(I thought they were gonna be cute, but they're elegant aliens and I love them)

This is exactly what people were begging for, and a correction for every complaint against Fathoms, Dusthides, and even Aethers.
There are some parts I dislike, and they did take a day to grow on me, but overall they're weird, and beautiful, and excellent!

I get why people are worried that the backlash will prevent more stuff like this, but I get the impression Staff is (sadly) used to it already!

The Luxie fans have been just as loud as the haters imo, but even if not, this is the FR staff made Ridgebacks and Bogsneaks. The genes Keel and Gembond. The Space gene, which they used again here!

These people are no stranger to love-it-or-hate-it designs, and they're great at standing their ground when backlash comes.

I think Staff will be okay. I know we will be okay. :)

[quote name="ChaoticFriendzy" date="2024-11-13 20:33:52" ] Something may snap in the community soon if this trend continues and [i]It Won't Be Pretty.[/i] [/quote] oh it's been like this forever, don't worry. just about every time something new comes out there are people in an uproar over it. i don't want to downplay the fatphobia, that's a bit different and worse obviously, but in general this attitude isn't anything new. it feels like the last half dozen times we've gotten a new ancient there's been lengthy threads lamenting that it's not weird-looking [i]enough[/i]. how bout that.

[quote name="skinklegs" date="2024-11-13 20:46:23" ] [quote name="ChaoticFriendzy" date="2024-11-13 20:33:52" ] Something may snap in the community soon if this trend continues and [i]It Won't Be Pretty.[/i] [/quote] oh it's been like this forever, don't worry. just about every time something new comes out there are people in an uproar over it. i don't want to downplay the fatphobia, that's a bit different and worse obviously, but in general this attitude isn't anything new. it feels like the last half dozen times we've gotten a new ancient there's been lengthy threads lamenting that it's not weird-looking [i]enough[/i]. how bout that. [/quote] Yeah, sorry, i just got reckless a bit there...(that and the frustration i have around this whole controversy) Gonna delete that part of the post so it's less extreme.

To give the skinny legs a fair shakedown, they're supposed to be grubs. A lot of caterpillar legs taper pretty dramatically off into little points. I also want to mention that the thinner legs also help emphasize that these are fat grub dragons. I've seen people attempts to make the legs thicker and while I don't think that's bad in the slightest, it covers up their bellies more and makes them seem less grub-like.

To be biased I love bugs and I adore the everluxes. I would move to light flight if it didn't ruin my clan lore (which is also intertwined with light flight somehow?)

[quote name="StarrySunrise" date="2024-11-13 20:45:31" ] I'll admit that I was making the "not light-y and not elegant" critisism when the teaser came out... but the breed itself proved me 100% wrong!!! (I thought they were gonna be cute, but they're elegant aliens and I love them) This is exactly what people were begging for, and a correction for every complaint against Fathoms, Dusthides, and even Aethers. There are some parts I dislike, and they did take a day to grow on me, but overall they're weird, and beautiful, and excellent! I get why people are worried that the backlash will prevent more stuff like this, but I get the impression Staff is (sadly) used to it already! The Luxie fans have been just as loud as the haters imo, but even if not, this is the FR staff made Ridgebacks and Bogsneaks. The genes Keel and Gembond. The Space gene, which they used again here! These people are no stranger to love-it-or-hate-it designs, and they're great at standing their ground when backlash comes. I think Staff will be okay. I know we will be okay. :) [/quote] Ty for saying this, it helps me feel a little saner!

[quote name="KingVulture" date="2024-11-13 18:16:55" ] In general, I'm not really fond of how people have been responding to breed releases lately. It's okay to find a breed disappointing, to wish you had got something different, or even to outright dislike it - but the amount of vitriol I tend to see with what feels like every breed release is pretty disheartening. [/quote] this. i really dont know who or what started this culture, but it's starting to seriously weird me out how hypercritical people get over new breed releases. it's so routine at this point. i dont expect everyone to be happy smiling positive about every last little thing, but how are people not exhausted by this song and dance by now? either the breed is too "samey" and "standard" or the breed is too "ugly" and "weird". no matter what a new breed looks like people are gonna go make a bunch of unnecessary noise. what especially has been weirding me out is the focus on picking apart every last line of breed artwork and every tiny detail of posing to try to 'justify' a dislike of a breed instead of just settling on it being a matter of personal taste. there's pretty much still just one artist making all the breed art for the site, and i can't even imagine what it must be like to have every last line that exits your pen under such a microscope. just the thought of that is making me anxious. there comes a point where it's just really, really unnecessary vitriol and i think we're well at it.

The way that some folks will post rants and redraws for every update(not just breeds) and demand that it conform exactly to their tastes is so... Weird. I'm not big on Skydancers or Veilspuns but that's fine. Other folks love them and that's excellent. That's the point. There's diverse designs so that they can appeal to lots of different tastes. Let me enjoy the buggies [emoji=tundra sad size=1] Some folks really need to back up and have some respect though... Especially this time around. It feels very amplified by the body shaming.

100%. the vitriol the community has for... a lot of releases, frankly, is disheartening.

having owned a hercules beetle grub for years, i adore the everlux. grubs are so so SO cute. hollow knight is also my favorite game. i love bugs. everlux are absolute darlings. the perfect softcore horror. elegant plotting. silly lottle babies.

I'll be honest, I was a little disappointed at first. I think I, along with a lot of other people, kind of built up an idea of what the light ancient would look like beforehand, which, looking back at it, isn't really fair. We never had been given any guarantee that the light ancient would be an Emporer hunter, or anything similar, all of that was just speculation.

After that initial disappointment though I'm kind of neutral towards them, they're not really super my thing but they're neat and more importantly they feel new, they feel like a type of dragon we didn't have yet. While I think some criticism is understandable, I do think some people need to step back a little and recognize that not every release is going to be 100% cattered towards their tastes.

I will say, as a more positive note, people on the Light flight discord have been a lot more positive about these guys, or at least more civil (at least from what I've seen when I'm on there), the negativity seems to be more prevalent on the forums.

Hard agree, minus the part about the dusthides- what I found dissapointing about the dusthides wasn't the fact that they don't have a good strong silhouette, it's that they did not break the mould apart from their foreclaws and chunky tails. Their posing is good and uncluttered, but they fall into the same design flaws/tendancies that all the other breeds do- standard draconic body plan, snatched waist, etc. Their base design is exactly like a modern dragon to me, just a little dulled down so that you can slap linebreaking terts on them to make them more unique. It's not what I want from an ancient, even if I think they're cute.

Everlux dragons, though? Everlux dragons are EXACTLY what I want out of an ancient. They're completely different from the sameface (or body, rather) syndrome that previous breeds followed, they break the traditional dragon mould VERY well, and their linebreaking terts embellish an already visually interesting design rather than add the interest the base design misses. Their silhouettes are a little cluttered, but imo that's a posing issue, not a design one, and it's not even all that bad. Ex, I think the wings on the females should be angled back a bit to make the head pop out more, and the tails/hind legs on the hatchlings are a bit confusing to follow. But those are very minor gripes, and don't detract from the fact that the overall design is very, very good.

Also, I think that people's disgust about the fact that they're buglike is not only shockingly childish (yes, even for a teenager website), but it's also just horrifically rude. Yes, I'm aware that it's a common phobia. Yes, I'm aware that phobias are irrational and cannot be helped (I have some odd ones myself). But people are just being outstandingly awful about how buggy these guys are, and as someone who adores bugs? It's horrible. If someone with a dog phobia was saying this about dog-inspired designs, they'd be chased down with pitchforks, but for some reason it's okay to shout about how disgusting and revolting you find bugs from the rooftops here because it's socially acceptable? Most of earth's animals are bugs!! The majority of animal biomass are invertebrates!! They make an excellent design choice for dragons and the fact that people are being so openly hateful about them makes me sad. I'm personally still arachniphobic but I'm aware the fear is irrational and that the targets of said fear are animals that don't deserve it, and actively try to work on it. People seem to think that it's morally okay to be rude and throw tantrums over them being bugs bc it's a common fear, but fears are not rational and disgust is not moral, and, at the risk of sounding like a jerk- I think the loudest of them need to learn to get over it. This not a helpful or healthy means of managing your fear.

Personally, I hate the concept of mammilian dragons. I'm not a mammal fan. I got into dragons as a kid because I primarily liked reptiles and birds- I thought that mammals were lame and overhyped (which is something that has returned in full force now that I've taken a multitude of invertebrate biology/entomology/herpetology/ornithology courses for my bio degree- mammals really are just so, so boring in comparison). That being said, I'm solidly neutral on the amount of furry dragons we've got on site because...they're fantasy drawings, and I think that a diversity of animal inspirations greatly enhances the design choices going into each dragon breed, nor do we have any dragons that I look at and go 'this is x mammal but with wings'. Same with everlux dragons tbh. They're pretty buggy but they're not something that I'd look at and automatically think of one species in particular. Rather, I think they're the only dragon we have that ACTUALLY has clear bug design elements in them, and I love that! Veilspuns were just fairy borzoi weasels to me (i love them, don't get me wrong) and adult aethers look more like snubnosed tundras to me, but everlux dragons? Clear caterpillar influence going on. I love it.

Also, the fact that people keep calling them bloated/disgusting/diseased/repulsive/unhealthy/inelegant is honestly disturbing to me. One: these are magic fantasy pixel png animals. Two: there are actual animals out there where chonk = peak health- caterpillars beetle grubs, tardigrades and silkmoths are prime examples (y'know, the design inspiration for these guys), but also heavy-bodied snakes like gaboon vipers and blood pythons are a good thing to look at here, they aren't dogs/cats for crying out loud. If you want mammilian examples, look at manatees/seals/bears. Three: the female's belly is tight/smooth/ like that because she's arching backwards and pulling it taught, that's how bodies work, and four: actual real life people look like that. I'm a sturdily built man with a taught, rounded belly. I'm not unhealthy; I weightlift and am careful about what I eat. I'm just built like that because of genetics. It doesn't matter how many different layers of complexity people try to throw on the argument, it all boils down to fatphobia in the end, and that's inexcusable. Oh, also, for the lack of elegance thing: fat people/animals are indeed able to move gracefully and with elegance. Elegant design is not and has never meant thinness. Just look at how penguins and seals move through the water, or how moths fly in slo-mo, or how a viper slithers through the undergrowth, or how plus size dancers/fighters can move. Larger body plans are just as capable of moving with grace as smaller, thinner ones are capable of being absolute disasters

Anyways. Everlux dragons good. I need 10,000 of them and I need every new breed to follow in their example