Suggestions

[quote name="mushrooms" date="2014-07-09 16:13:58"]While I don't agree or disagree with any of this (and I hope you don't think I'm being rude for saying!) I don't think it would be reasonable to request a species with a very distinguishable or visible size difference (if that's what you're requesting). All of the dragons here have the same size images, or just about. A fae at less than 2m: [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=3787309] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/37874/3787309_350.png[/img] [/url] A Ridgeback at nearly 20m: [url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=3809562] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/38096/3809562_350.png[/img] [/url] Even the hatchlings have large images. So unless you mean to ask for a noticeable size difference only in description, it's probably not gonna happen. D: Just as well, something as obvious as a huge size difference isn't really comparable to, say, a male having longer whiskers/more horns than the female. Those things are slight, so if we were to see a new species with something "more/longer/bigger" about the female, it would be reasonable to think it would be a minor, less noticeable detail, like the horns or antennae or something.[/quote] haaaaaa, I was just coming here to make this exact same comment. I am opposed to a breed where the image on site is super small or something, and a lot of white space on the canvas, because then you'd lose a lot of details. If all the images were sized to the actual size of the dragons, in order to keep faes proportional, you'd have to draw then like two pixels tall, or stretch the page for imperials. I am totally okay with the description or measurements in the info box on dragons saying that one sex is much larger than the other. And I'm totally down for ornamental or flashy sexes with the opposite sex being less flashy and muted in comparison.

@mushrooms @clockworkmoose

It would be description based, yes. But so far the sizes and weights are pretty average between males and females of a single species.

I know that the dragon art size on the site is 350 px, i'm not asking for that to change. What I want is for there to be species with very obvious differences between males and females - whether it be size or actual anatomical differences that mirror sexual dimorphism as it appears on earth (a touchy subject, since a lot of people want to ignore 'earthly' things on fr)

Well I also think it might be a bit odd- if they came out with a new species with vast differences like you're describing, it would be a really big difference from all of the other dragons on the site, it'd be like an odd one out. There would be twelve breeds where males and females are nearly identical, at least at a glance, and then this one new breed that's completely different from that.

In my opinion, it should stay the way it is simply for continuity on the site.

Imagine a tableware set of 13 where twelve of the plates are red with polka dots and then there's one plate, which is bright blue with stripes on it.

'O'

...I would totally sit at that blue stripe seat and be the happiest clockworkmoose in the world.

If they want to work it in to the site and not have it stand out- there are going to be more dragon breeds if what admin has said in the past still holds true. If they make one that is /slightly/ different, then it would be less weird later on when the next breed is more different, and the next breed after that is very different.

@Mushrooms

the repeated vague dimorphism in the breeds is what is becoming boring. Once you see one, you know exactly what the other sex is going to look like, aside from pose and maybe how the genes lay. Is it a bad idea to have more diversity in the anatomy of a single breed? Honestly this thought came to me when I saw the fantastic renditions of dragons based on their element, how they could be adapted to their birth element regardless of the breed's home element.

I thought that without drastically changing the system, how could differences be illustrated on flight rising more than just genes and color? My answer for that diversity was stronger dimorphism.

And it'd be fine if it was the 'odd breed out' I think. Pearlcatchers are the only dragons with pearls. Mirrors are the only ones with four eyes. Spirals have extra winglike extensions on their legs. Skydancers are the only ones with a layer of feathers on their wings. Coatl are the only dragons that actually have true feathered wings.

Why not have one breed be "the dragons with dimorphism" as a quality?

When it boils down to it, all of the dragons on the site basically match their sexual counterpart in silhouette. The major defining feature is the pose - aside from Tundra, which are close to the kind of dimorphism I mean.

/shrug
I never said this was a bad idea- I agree with you mostly.
I'm just throwing out there some possibilities as to why these suggestions might not work, but I also have zero control of the site. Plus, I think a large reason as to why males and females are so similar is because it's probably easier for the artists.

And what clockworkMoose said is also true, but releasing new breeds takes a lot of time and effort so new breeds will be few and far between, I would think.

Maybe every new breed they release can have gradually more and more dramatic differences between the males and females, so it's not like BAM all at once. :O

Support. Especially for the females also getting some cool stuff.

As a biology & animal lover (and with several fish in which my females are larger than males) I vote support!

@Clockworkmoose

I think they achieved that pretty well with the coatls. They were a freaky looking breed (IMO) when they first came out, but after a week or so they pretty much blended in with all the other breeds.

If the artists can do that with dragons that display the same amount of dimorphism for each sex, then they can most certainly do it in the extreme for the next, or after the next, dragon without it ruining the style.