Quests & Challenges

You've probably had it happen -- you eagerly anticipate hatching a nest or unhatched egg, only to receive a hatchling that is just... ugly. Not only must you contend with the expense of a replacement egg or waiting 2-5 weeks for a breeding cooldown, you've got the nasty little beast responsible staring you in the face right there in your lair! You probably were inclined to auction or exalt the miserable whelp immediately. That was certainly my reaction the first time it happened to me...

But then I felt bad. Dumb, I know: it's not a real creature. But it wasn't any fun for me to feel like I was disposing of a baby just because it was ugly. Hey, I was an ugly baby too, who am I to judge?

So, I decided to take it as a personal challenge to find the potential in even the most unfortunate dragons, and help every ugly duckling I hatch grow into a beautiful swan!

This challenge has just 2 rules:

1. Original colors must be kept - no scatterscrolling
2. Final tertiary gene cannot be basic - all colors must be used

What counts as "ugly"?
This is a question that is extremely subjective. Really the only criteria to define an Ugly Duckling is that the player who hatched it sees it and goes "yuck". Obviously different players have different aesthetic tastes - for example, I love muted brownish tones and hate neons, but plenty of people feel the opposite. And that's fine! The point of it as a personal challenge is to exercise creativity to discover an aesthetic you like in a color palette you would otherwise dismiss out of hand.


I will be documenting the progress of my Ducklings here. I'd love to see other players try this challenge too - please ping me if you do!

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[center][size=6]Ugly Duckling: [b]BOBBIE[/b][/size][/center] [b]Original Appearance:[/b] Bobbie was a December Solstice hatch from the first unhatched egg I ever got, which I saved for the occasion. You can imagine how dismayed I was when I first saw her - I do NOT like seeing purple and red together! [center][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=161&bodygene=0&breed=6&element=11&eyetype=1&gender=1&tert=27&tertgene=0&winggene=0&wings=16&auth=6246f16627b0df9a999763b42a41f37d6ffea475&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Garnet Basic | Purple Basic | Azure Basic[/center] [b]Makeover Goal:[/b] Eel reduces the big block of purple on the wings by half, and Chrysocolla adds purple and blue tones into the body so the jarring contrast is muted. Peacock further distracts the eye from that glaring purple, overlays very nicely with the color transition in Eel, and adds an additional element of unity between the body and wings. [center][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=161&bodygene=237&breed=6&element=11&eyetype=1&gender=1&tert=27&tertgene=24&winggene=84&wings=16&auth=77bfbc5594eaba4ccf8f99839e5d2c3cee1065e6&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Chrysocolla | Eel | Peacock[/center] [b]Current Status:[/b] makeover completed on 1 Feb 2024! [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/915325/91532474.png[/img]

[center][size=6]Ugly Duckling: [b]NEVIN[/b][/size][/center] [b]Original Appearance:[/b] Nevin was one of the progeny resulting from my other active challenge, [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3309971#post_3309971]Frisky Friday[/url] random breeding. Neither of his parents had their intended final genes yet at the time he hatched. Honestly I've gotten very lucky overall so far on the random breeding with a lot of pretty offspring, so one big ugly in the mix seems fair. [center][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=92&bodygene=24&breed=7&element=11&eyetype=0&gender=0&tert=102&tertgene=4&winggene=136&wings=68&auth=7a03395b66e1f000a71f44e214c1ad2fa32d51db&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Plum Starmap | Heather Paisley | Honeydew Gembond[/center] [b]Makeover Goal:[/b] Petals wrangles the accents colors of the primary into a calmer and more neutral base, while Alloy brings out a darker tone from the secondary that harmonizes with the primary accent palette. And the tertiary color is perfect for Firefly - it gets the real bioluminescent color almost spot on! [center][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=92&bodygene=13&breed=7&element=11&eyetype=0&gender=0&tert=102&tertgene=22&winggene=17&wings=68&auth=ce73ab3cacdaeceeaa047173a6949adf68ad167b&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Petals | Alloy | Firefly[/center] [b]Current Status:[/b] makeover in progress! 1 of 3 genes applied [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/921554/92155312.png[/img]

Update on [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3310862/1#post_56054752]Bobbie[/url]: Eel gene added! [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1199119742447919174/1202406548601708676/image.png[/img] Before and after. She looks better already!

Another update on Bobbie: Peacock gene added! [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1199119742447919174/1202661301059325952/image.png[/img] Making rapid progress now thanks to festival profits!

[center][size=6]Ugly Duckling: [b]FEBRUARI[/b][/size][/center] [b]Original Appearance:[/b] Februari, as the name suggests, was the second hatch of my egg-a-month calendar project. And yikes, what an eyeburner! I don't super love either of those colors individually, so both together is right out as far as my usual aesthetic sensibilities go. [center][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=65&bodygene=0&breed=11&element=1&eyetype=0&gender=0&tert=49&tertgene=0&winggene=0&wings=39&auth=8a019ef342bb714c67a4ea0b096b7a62efa4a745&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Magenta Basic | Leaf Basic | Tangerine Basic[/center] [b]Makeover Goal:[/b] Coming up with a goal for this one was extra challenging because not only did I have to find a gene combination that wrangles those egregiously bright colors into something that doesn't make me wanna barf, it also has to fit a seasonal theme. Where I live, toward the end of February plum trees begin to bloom. The coloration here can be taken as an abstraction of a tree trunk with its blossoms and a few new leaves set against overcast skies. I'll need a silhouette scroll in addition to the three genes, since I didn't like the pattern of Piebald and Paint on the default male pose. [center][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=65&bodygene=9&breed=11&element=1&eyetype=0&gender=1&tert=49&tertgene=5&winggene=10&wings=39&auth=77eebef891aa7f3e9da9271830320588d7c11035&dummyext=prev.png[/img] Piebald | Paint | Underbelly[/center] [b]Current Status:[/b] makeover pending [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/926606/92660542.png[/img]

A double update today! First, [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3310862#post_56054767]Nevin[/url] got to temporarily jump ahead in the queue of my many many geneing projects thanks to the Swipp trade for Firefly coming up today. [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1199119742447919174/1203051389346123836/image.png[/img] Still an ugly boy, but at least he doesn't look like he has a scale fungus anymore! Secondly, [i]we have our first swan![/i] [img]https://www1.flightrising.com/static/cms/familiar/art/38282.png[/img] I finally excavated the Chrysocolla gene for [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/qnc/3310862#post_56054752]Bobbie[/url]! [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1199119742447919174/1202729350928269374/image.png[/img] Full makeover progression. She looks fabulous! This will probably be the end of updates for a bit, since I have a lot of projects besides just these, and many of the items I need here are quite pricey. But who knows? Maybe I'll hatch another ugly. Stay tuned!