Zombie Aisha & Flotsam

[Huggles]

The only thing that makes me sad is how awesome this could have been before customization, with body parts falling off and whatnot much like Subeta's graveyard. It's still nice, but *sigh*

[Fjorab_Teke]

I guess that's my main disappointment too. Before the customization thing (which although nifty still doesn't make it up to me) I was much more excited about new colors, and the artists had so much leeway for awesome creativity.

I just didn't feel like posting that exactly because we all know and have run the issue into the ground.

Ah well, tatty rotten clothing, anyone? I guess they could have made that available to ALL pets for this hyped customization, but the spotty green-gray flesh and vacant expressions do make it a little special. Still nothing I like though.

[gomababe]

I like this colour, the clothes and the skin look brilliant considering that the artists can only work with one pose. My only dissapointment is that there is no actualy rotting of anything nor any appearance of brains or internal organs. I think Neo underestimates what kids are capable of handling to be honest. Most kids {particularly boys, but some girls as well} from about age 8 *love* the idea of rotting body parts and internal organs. Kids don't like feeling as though they're being protected from stuff like that.

{as an aside, I was watching Starship Troopers at age 8 and laughing my head off when one guy gets his arm melted off. It's a graphic scene but I loved it}.

[hebdenhippy]

I think it's alright, just not my cup of tea, and i think TNT will have a hard time making this look different to some of the Mutant pets. But a new colour is nice anyway ^^ and I look forward to seeing some of the pets released

[Alecko]

My basic reaction to seeing those two on the front page was basically along the lines of 'oh, zombies...*yawn*'. It just feels like a concept that could have been worked into the Halloween Paintbrush as opposed to a standalone colour.

As the pets themselves, I'm more keen on the Flotsam, which looks to have had more thought put into it than the Aisha. I like the wonky glasses and its clothes look much more realistic (read: tatty). The glassy eyes on both are a neat touch and the skin colour is actually a nice shade of undead-grey.

The Paintbrush itself also makes me giggle. I love how there's a random eyeball just sitting on it.

[Farseek]

I liked this better when it was called "Graveyard."

My thoughts excately. It really just seems like a generic version of the much cooler graveyard pets on Subeta.

[Danish]

There are two Neopets TCG cards called the Zombie Aisha and Zombie Flotsam from the Maraqua and Haunted Woods set, so that maybe where they got the idea from... although the flotsam looks different.



Oh, they could've looked so awesome in the old poses... especially that Aisha.

[nanabobo567]

I could imagine a pre-customization Aisha with a tatty ear, and in its Hit pose one eyeball would actually be coming out of its normally closed eyes. All I can say is, great that we can, too bad that I can barely imagine anything useful when we talk about TNT.

[Illuen]

I really really like these. They're spooky and cute at the same time, which can be a hard feat to pull off. I think that they did the eyes fantastic, and I love the way they went with the clothing. The dark bluegrey zombie "dots" are a nice touch, and if they do become a staple of the color, I hope they're not overused, or oversized. I think the amount they put on these two pets is just about perfect. There isn't much to criticize for me. I like the Aisha's mouth, and I think the glasses and the few teeth on the Flotsam are a nice touch (The Flotsam reminds me of an old man zombie for those reasons, where I see the aisha zombie as more of a schoolboy, with the rotting clothes that look to me like an uniform),

I also like that they do look like pets that have just died and came back to life. While the showing bones and gobs of blood is a neat and fun thing to do, it is not how I imagine most zombies to look like. Zombies in most literature have been the recently deceased, so for me at least it fits to not have super decomposed looking zombies. I guess this is why I don't see the connection to Graveyard pets on Subeta (that and I do not think it is particularly useful for the petty "our reborn is better than your fire" "Well our baby is better than your chibi" arguments on the forum). Graveyard pets never struck me as zombieish, really.

Finally, and this is probably just me, but I find it isn't worth the effort to say "this sucks because of customization". While I'm sure that everyone can imagine how awesome these pets could of been pre customization, what may people seem to forget (at least to me) is that they could have also been a total wreck. For every Faerie Buzz on the site, there was a Faerie Usul, for every Maraquan Jubjub, a Maraquan Mynci. Post Customized pets very well may be inferior to the pets in the past, but in my opinion, when that is the only criticism we throw against them, something is wrong. Just as pets were bad and pets were good pre revamp, we've had some awesome pets and some horrid pets post revamp. As customization is extremely unlikely to go away at any point in the near future, I think we should at least let the art try and stand on its own merit, without having the damning dogma of being a post customization color.


Also? the brush itself fucking rocks.

[Darigan]

I think Neo underestimates what kids are capable of handling to be honest.

Kids are not the problem. Really.
Those noisy adults that blame all kids problems on the "influence" of evil companies (and are eager to sue) are the real scary stuff.

[Bacon]

Finally, and this is probably just me, but I find it isn't worth the effort to say "this sucks because of customization". While I'm sure that everyone can imagine how awesome these pets could of been pre customization, what may people seem to forget (at least to me) is that they could have also been a total wreck. For every Faerie Buzz on the site, there was a Faerie Usul, for every Maraquan Jubjub, a Maraquan Mynci. Post Customized pets very well may be inferior to the pets in the past, but in my opinion, when that is the only criticism we throw against them, something is wrong. Just as pets were bad and pets were good pre revamp, we've had some awesome pets and some horrid pets post revamp. As customization is extremely unlikely to go away at any point in the near future, I think we should at least let the art try and stand on its own merit, without having the damning dogma of being a post customization color.

I agree. All the "this pet would look so better before customization" argumentation has no merit whatsoever. Remember pets like the gray Tonu or the ice Jetsam? The art no one liked because it was an ugly recolor? I do and they weren't so great. No, not all customization pets are good, but for what we're getting, they're not bad at all. Artists can now create new pets in the new style instead of converting the old art to the new style. I personally like the new colors, and they look great for what they are, honestly.

[yvonne_l_d]

The only thing that makes me sad is how awesome this could have been before customization, with body parts falling off and whatnot much like Subeta's graveyard. It's still nice, but *sigh*

Technically, they could still do this. For example, for a future pet, they could could make one of it's body parts - a tail, a finger, or ear - a removable 'clothing' item. They'll probably not go as creepy as subeta's graveyard, but they could still be creative.

[AngharadTy]

I think the before-customization argument is quite valid. It's not saying "this would have been better before," but "this could have been better before." Just because there were some poorly done pets pre-customization doesn't negate the fact that some pets were absolutely creative, stunning, different, etc. I hardly think that wishing for the good ol' days (so to speak) has "no merit whatsoever," and to say that is to be dismissive of others' feelings. As great as it is to see Neo finally put out a zombie color, I regret that it wasn't pre-customization. I would have been passionate about it, then, and now it's just "oh, that's nice."

Along those lines:

Post Customized pets very well may be inferior to the pets in the past, but in my opinion, when that is the only criticism we throw against them, something is wrong.

Yes, indeed, something is wrong. But it's not wrong with us.

[Sayle]

Hmm...! Well, I wasn't expecting that.

Frankly, I'm not terribly impressed. I'm the least likely to go for an undead pet, but even I think these could stand to be a little more macabre. I don't know if there's any point in introducing a zombie colour when the nature of the site ensures that its artists can't go all the way with it. It ends up just being a green pet with some stitches, tattered clothing and glazed-over eyes, in my opinion.

That said, the art is rather nice, given the restrictions. The clothes are nice, and the glasses on the Flotsam don't look oddly placed, for once.

[thelonetiel]

I have the feeling this would have looked about the same before customization. I can't see Neo doing this as a full redraw color. We might have gotten a little bit more creativity, a rare pet with new poses (like desert), but we can still have things in customization that make up for that loss. Imagine some nice "Protruding Ulna" and "Exposed Ribcage" wearables. :3 (If something like that actually happens, I'll be shocked, but lets not give up hope now)

I don't have a problem with it being a tamer version of Graveyard. I, like Will, associate Zombies with the freshly dead, not the mutilated, rotting creatures of Subeta. I don't even like most of those, partly for the old art, but also as my mind can only imagine fantasy creatures walking about when all their vital organs remain in the body.

But, Danish, I doubt they went through their own art and thought "Hey, we already drew two zombie pets, lets use that as our new color!" I don't think people generally use their own art as inspiration.

I'm looking forward to seeing more pets. I think it is a great color for customization. The clothes are great for pets that are "poor" or "insane" with the nice ratty tatty feel, and the base can be used with other clothes for a great zombie technique. I'd really like to see a Zombie Krawk mixed with the Neovian Krawk clothes. Done wrong, it'd look like Ghost, but I can see it looking really good in my head.

It does distress me just a tad, as I will have a harder time proclaiming my Mutant Flotsam as a "zombie fishy" without people wondering why I don't paint him Zombie. Ah well.