Anthropomorphic characters (What are some of your favorites?)

[Gors]

the reason for such a shift in focus is that Dragon Ball was originally supposed to be a parody of the chinese myth Sun Wukong (Son Goku anyone?) who is a monkey boy with many animal companions

eventually Akira Toriyama went "fuck it" to this premise and made Sun Wukong (in this case Son Goku) be an alien from another planet, then we get Capsule Corp, Cell, Frieza and etc (which is supposed to be a shift to a more tech/sci-fi setting)

I'm not exactly fond of this and I preferred the original, but Z introduced so many anime concepts that I think it's good this way

[Koh]

I also miss the diversity in the DBZ background characters. But this sort of thing is expected to happen with series that run as long as this. The writing plateaus, and eventually starts to dwindle.

But since we're now in anime territory (boy, we jump 'round lots, eh?), Digimon. Specifically, the child level mons are closer to home for me, as they're simple and cute again, like Veemon or Mushmon.

[Benny The Miraj]

Aww man, that's like asking me what my favorite kind of bat is. There's so many of them, and I like so many. (...What? I have a thing for bats.)

I guess with a lot of things for me: bigger is better. I always preferred the big, tank-like dudes who can take loads of hits over the sleek and speedy kind who are really bad at tacking hits. I remember the Shining Force had a lot of anthro characters, but two of my favorites were always Guntz and Kiwi. Big guys in huge armor or giant turtle monsters are always cool, and I just started playing a Shining Force game a while ago, so I got characters from the franchise on my mind right now.


Speaking of Akira Toryama, I can't help but wonder if he has a thing for fatties. I notice a lot of fat monsters in his work. Tuskateer's one of my faves in that regard. Maybe I just think walrus' are cool, and I'm not as turned off by the big, ugly fat monster as much as most people are, in fact I think they're kind of cool as long as they're not overdone and still look fairly capable of being menacing. Kind of the same thing: big guy who looks like they can take lots of hits.

...I know I'm kind of weird, but...

[NICKtendo DS]

Speaking of Dragon Ball, I love Beerus.

[psychospacecow]

I'd say that DBZ still keeps some of its Journey roots. Heck, look at Vegeta.

Spoiler

It is definitely not as obvious though. A lot of the character play shifted more towards puns, though those have always been there.

The Ginyu Force were a parody of sentai shows and were named after fairy products.

Also, I really like Warcraft Pandarens. They seem too fluffy for the horde, but so do blood elves. Plus, Mist was years ago, so that ship has sailed.

[miyabi95_]

Speaking of monkey people, I would play UMVC3 far more often if they kept SonSon. Capcom loves adding DLC to their games, the least they could do is experiment a little (just in general, not only UMVC3 since the Capcom-Disney thing shut down).

Wakfu/Dofus has some unique anthro designs. I probably like Miranda the most (that class/race in general is pretty well-designed). I suppose I could try watching the cartoon, because I have little time to play MMO's.

[~DrakoRero~]

Are we talking about anthropomorphic characters in Dragon Ball? well everybody probably knows that my fav is Giran, I mean I'm the one who posted the spritesheet of him ( From DB Advance Adventure on GBA ) on TSR haha, I also love Cymbal and..and..Gosh theres so many characters I love from different media I'd never shut up about this if I went on haha.

[Dolphman]

Speaking of Super. I suppose most of you have seen Botamo, AKA "Anime Winnie the Pooh".

There's no denying that he's inspired by that silly old bear, which makes his design more funny.

I've also noticed a lack of turtle characters in anything, like as NPCs, enemies and heroes. Is it because of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
Really, that shouldn't stop people from making them. Heck, I want to see more turtle girls (IE human with a turtle shell attached to their body)
And with harpies, I want to see more than just ones based on birds of prey. Monster Musume's official artwork even features breeds based on ostriches and chickens. With Papi, I think she looks like a normal bird harpy as the raptor bird harpies have a bigger breast size.
There's also this cute budgie harpy by DA artist Yufika.

But it really irks me when harpies look like generic she-demons, or there's males when it's official they're exclusively a female only race.
Yeah, I'm a big classic mythology nerd.

[Gors]

well if you're so big a classical mythology nerd, shouldn't the fact of existing "ostrich harpies" be irksome for you? Like. Harpies are always depicted as being birds of prey.

There's even the Harpy Eagle.

If anything other types of bird monsters shouldn't be named harpies as they're personifications of wind storms and carriers of evil-doers to hell... and chickens aren't really known for being swift and deadly.

[Dolphman]

Nah, I'm fine with harpies based on other species of birds. But I get what you're saying.

I'm not alone with this one, but there's also the issue with how Sirens are portrayed in modern fiction. Instead of the beautiful singing bird women as they are in the original legend, they're almost always lame and generic fish women or mermaids.
At least The Wicther did something unique with them by making them more like a mix of pterodactyl and serpent.

The way I draw them in my art to separate them from harpies is make them with wings on the shoulders and legs of a crane or flamingo.
I usually draw harpies the traditional way. Bird legs, tail, and wings for arms plus clawed fingers. Sometimes even with velociraptor sickle toes.

[Jermungandr]

If you're going to complain about harpies not being depicted as they were in classical Greek mythology, then any harpy with a humanoid body would be invalid anyways. Traditional harpies were literally just large birds with human heads (and sometimes breasts). They weren't humanoids with with wings and bird feet, as is the common modern-day way of depicting them.

[Gors]

yeah this seems kinda pointless

though I can't say much because I also have a share of, uh, should I say headcanons when coming to mythical creatures.

For example Dragons are 4-limbed and winged creatures;
Wyverns are 2-limbed and winged;
Wyrms have no limbs but have a pair of wings, and
Drakes are 4 limbed dragons without wings.

Anatomically speaking, the dragon makes no sense because wings are actually modified arms and that would mean they have 6 pairs of limbs. Huh

But well this is just my headcanon.

[Dolphman]

I only complained when they're portrayed as generic female demons instead of the half bird abominations they actually are.
Making them half bird looks more terrifying than what the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans calls a "harpy"

Seriously, that looks like a piece of garbage. Harpies give that uncanny valley look and feel thanks to the half human, half bird design.

I am fine when they're still bird monster girls. Even when they don't follow the classic human head (and breasts) on bird body.
The harpies from Dragon's Crown are like the classic design, and do look cool. Plus the game also featured this bundle of adorableness.


BTW Gors, what's your opinion on medieval art dragons? I really like how creepy they look due to what the artworks make them out to be.
And they were more than just reptilian in those paintings too. They could be mammalian, avian, or even a composite of either three.

[Koopaul]

I've also noticed a lack of turtle characters in anything, like as NPCs, enemies and heroes. Is it because of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
Really, that shouldn't stop people from making them.

Reptiles in general always get the short end of the stick. One of my OC is an anthropomorphic turtle named Rush. He's been my personal character since I was 8 years old and has evolved immensely over the years. None the less, I stuck by him.

[Benny The Miraj]

Speaking of Super. I suppose most of you have seen Botamo, AKA "Anime Winnie the Pooh".

Now that I think of it, he does make a lot of fat characters. ...But they're always villains. I mean, Giran did get to be a good guy for an episode, but I think he died that same episode. Deep down, I feel kind of sad always seeing the big guys as villains. I mean, I get why they're usually villains as most people who like them tend to consider them a novelty, but it still makes me feel kind of happy whenever I see a big guy in media that's one of the goodguys.

...Too bad I can't think of any off the top of my head except certain Pokemon if they count. Maybe that's why I like monster collecting games like Pokemon and Dragon Quest Monster (but NOT Yokai Watch. I'm sorry, but I could not get into that game.), they have a diverse roster of characters that let you use the kind you want. I know everyone hates Emboar, but I always thought he was cool. Everyone was booing him when he showed up. "Fat! Ugly! Third Fire/Fighting type in a row!" but I liked him the second I saw him. He has a face that borders on "so ugly, he's cute." Plus, I really like his bio that describes him as a creature who "cares deeply for his friends."