Magmis & Mastione
And we jump back into the second part of the Temtem bestiary with a cool one! These guys are like, also hammerhead sharks, and I guess someone in the Temtem development team really liked hammerhead sharks! I approve, having multiple hammerhead sharks in a bestiary beats having multiple dragons or lions, everyone has multiple dragons and lions. Now mind you, these two don't hold a candle to the perfection that is Pewki, but Magmis is an adorable buddy too! A two legged little friend whose body is half face by volume, with two wibbly-wobbly fins and the most perfectly shaped face. As its name and colouration would tell you, Magmis is a lava-dwelling shark baby. Apparently despite being baby sharks with fin-hands, they also moonlight as foundry operators and heating systems. They are productive members of society!
Mastione does remind me of Garchomp, but I really do feel like they are going for a completely different vibe for Mastione here. In addition to the different colours, Mastione looks a bit more... chunky and scrappy compared to the 'fast and brutal' vibe of Garchomp. And it's interesting... I guess it's a combination of the face and the silhouette, and despite both Garchomp and Mastione having hammerhead shark heads, fin-blades and a theropodal dinosaur body shape, they really look different. Putting those eyes at the end of the hammers (like a real hammerhead shark!) really does make this creature look a lot more distinct!
Umishi & Ukama
Another pair of cuties! These guys are water-types, and I'm not 100% sure what they're based on. Tadpoles? Fish? Sea slugs? Whatever the case, they're adorable! Umishi is like this head and tail connected together, with two giant ear/fin things that just right out of its head and the end result is a very cool yet simple silhouette. Again, I keep saying that Temtem does a great job at making cute designs, and this ranks right up in being a cutie.
Ukama, meanwhile, keeps all the details in Umishi, swaps the colours and adds a seal/plesiosaur-like body. The end result is pretty cool looking! I still think that I overall prefer Umishi, but Ukama's pretty cool! It's got an old-school Digimon vibe, reminding me of Bukamon. Apparently Umishi is called 'Sea Angels' because they go round rescuing people, while Ukama is called 'Sea Sickles' because they are skittish and really quick to speed away from unfamiliar people.
Smazee, Baboong, Seismunch
And these monkeys are the third starter line. I'm not sure why they're so far apart in the tempedia for no reason other than 'hey, let's make it different from Pokeymans'. These monkeys are fighting-type (despite prominently breathing fire in that one animated trailer?), and the final form, Seismunch, is Melee/Earth. Easily my least favourite of the three available starters -- the crystal turtle is right up my alley on being a straight-up cool and simple chunky monster design, while the psychic alien baby is at least something that looks real cool. This is just... it's just a monkey whose hands get bigger and then gains some accessories, y'know? And some people certainly like that, sure, but it's just not my thing. Admittedly, maybe part of it is because I don't like monkeys in general? Eh.
Zizare
A bit of a weirdo stand-alone, Zizare (meaning literally just 'worm' in Basque) is just a giant armoured worm with horns and a little chinny-chin-chin. It's an Earth-type, and it's apparently one of the biggest Temtems, making it sort of the equivalent to something like Onix. I find giant subterranean tunnel-making worms inherently cool, so of course I like Zizare.
Kuri & Kauren
These look like deers with a bone helmet, but their names actually clue us in to the fact that they're hyenas, drawing their names from the Hausan word for hyenas. Cool! these guys apparently dig up and carve rocks to use as helmets, before eventually evolving and creating a rock-hard skull when they turn into Kauren. I don't want to keep comparing this to Pokemon, but I kinda feel like they could've done what Cubone and Marowak did and make it a lot more obvious that Kuri was using a helmet that's not actually attached to its body. And... again, it might be nitpicking, but maybe they could've done a bit better communicating the fact that it's a hyena and not some ungulate? I do like these.
Spirole, Deendre & Cerneaf
AAAA look at that. Look at Spirole, that precious big-headed baby caterpillar with a giant octopus mouth and big googly-woogly eyes. Look at that adorable thing! And... and it evolves into a regular ol' leaf deer. Oooookay? Like, okay, Deendre and Cerneaf are cool-looking leaf deers and I don't think I've ever seen a 'plant deer' creature have leaf-horns that also grow out of their ears. But at the same time... I dunno. I'd probably feel far more fascinated if they went from plant-bug to plant-deer to... plant-something else? Maybe a full-on plant monster, or a plant-elephant, or something? If you're going to randomly have one thing go into a completely unrelated animal, at least devote the entire line into being weird plant-animal creatures. The colours are pleasant and Spirole is pleasant, but I dunno, it just feels odd.
Toxolotl & Noxolotl
OH WHAT A PRECIOUS BABY and I know it's like the fourth time in this page alone that I open up an entry with that, but look at Toxolotl. Look at that precious axolotl dinosaur! Having an axolotl with dinosaur proportions alone is already a huge A+ from me, but the fact that they swapped out the more common gill-horns with a massive mane of bubble-gum coloured little tendrils that sweep backwards? Oh man, the colours on this thing is just marvelous. And, hell, even being brightly coloured fits with the fact that it's a Toxic-type creature, too.
Its evolution, Noxolotl, keeps a lot of the details the same and just makes it bigger, more majestic, with a more sauropodal-style stance. A shape that it loses those very cute eyes that Toxolotl has, but I do still like its pre-evolved form a lot more.
Blooze & Goolder
Hee hee hee, these two are cute, too. These are the 'toxic waste' monsters, like the Muks and Raremons and Otyughs of various other fantasy bestiaries. Apparently, Blooze are noted to be a completely old lifeform, identified as an 'atavic variety' that represents a completely opposite evolutionary path compared to Toxolotl. Very cool, and I do find this bizarre muppet face with bright green-and-purple colours with smoke coming out of its holes to be pretty charming.
Even more charming, of course, is its evolution Goodler, who loses his legs and just blobs and wobs around its big fat belly like, well, like Muk. But look at that precious face with the empty white eyes and the happy smile and the toad tongue hanging out. Sure, it's a literal walking wasteland of toxic-spewing grossness, but it's happy to be one! I do like it, and I do find the tempedia entry fascinating, noting that Goolder's features apparently shows 'vestigial features of a more complex organism, devolved to a more primitive or atrophied state'. Kind of an interesting idea that something far more complex (and probably far more traditionally badass-looking) eventually evolved and 'degenerated' into Blooze and Goolder, but honestly I think they're fine as they are! Very cool stuff.
Zephyruff & Volarend
Mmm after so many winners in the past couple of entries, these two are a bit more of just there. The colour palette of purple and neon green is very pleasant, and the idea of a Toxic/Wind bird with a ring of toxic fumes is very cool. Apparently the poison puff also doubles as a nest for their chicks, which is neat. But otherwise, they're just kinda birds.
Grumvel & Grumper
And I'm not 100% sure what's going on with these guys. Grumvel is... uh... he sure is phallic. A long rock creature with a weird arrangement of legs. It's.... eh? Its tempedia entry doesn't really give us much more information either, just that Grumvel is a sulky, sad dude who gets used as an idiom. Grumper is a lot more cohesive as a monster, being this ogre-like creature with lots of horns, and apparently its central horn now functions as like a lightning rod that turns it into an Earth/Electric monster. Grumper's neat.
Ganki & Gazuma
And yet another winner! Look at that happy buddy! I'm not even sure what Ganki is supposed to be based on, and honestly that ambiguity certainly works in Ganki's favour to make it more memorable! A jellyfish-like face-body, two giant horns, and little wings that are pointed downwards like a cloak around its body and legs, and those wings are constantly beating? Absolutely adorable and an instantly memorable silhouette. This little friend is Electric/Wind, and is apparently revered as mountain spirits that control the weather by ancients. I do like that it certainly changes a fair bit when it becomes a Gazuma, but doesn't lose what made Ganki so adorable in the first place. The silhouette is still preserved and it doesn't suddenly grow like a humanoid fairy body or anything.
Yowlar
I thought those dangly bits from his ears or hair were something a bit naughtier before I took a cloer look. Yowlar's based on the Yowie, a mythological cryptid from Australian mythology that's described as being a large humanoid. I like the reference to more obscure real-life myths, but the gorilla-bear with a tiger face design gets a 'eh' from me.
Oceara
It's a pretty kelpie-style water horse! While just sort of a rare Temtem, apparently Oceara has inspired legends of the 'Serbatiyo', which, I think, is meant to be just like a local in-universe legend? Sort of like the Loch Ness Monster, but if the Loch Ness Monster exists in a world with actual kelpies and nymphs? I'm indifferent, but it's certainly a pleasant design.
Droply & Garyo
This Water/Earth evolutionary line most certainly based on pet salamanders are explicitly noted in their tempedia entry to be not particularly popular among trainers. What is wrong with Temtem trainers, you'd rather have a dirty, ill-mannered fighting monkey as your friend instead of this adorable, always smiling little baby salamander? Look at Droply. Look at its happy expression and it wobbling back and forth with its pretty light-blue fins and those two legs. An adorable little friend and how dare you make him feel sad by calling him unpopular.
Garyo's a lot less cute, but it is a pretty neat 'what if a salamander was also a dinosaur' style monster, with far more developed legs for a larger creature while still keeping the fins of its pre-evolved form. I kinda feel like Garyo could actually be a bit more colourful; real-life Salamanders certainly are... but I guess these are explicitly mud-dwelling salamanders since they're Water/Earth? The Tempedia notes that Garyos are employed by the locals of Lake Moyo to harvest seaweed and basically act as sound-based lighthouses, warning boats away -- a nice adaptation of the hissing Giant Chinese Salamander! Not only are they cute and underappreciated, they're even a great boon in society!
Shuine
A Chinese dragon, but one that's been modified and given some nice neon colours to not look like they just drew a Chinese dragon in the Temtem style. I approve of this a lot, this feels a lot more like 'monster based on a Chinese dragon' instead of just shoving an 'exotic' mythical creature in a Pokemon-esque game and calling it a day. I do like a lot about this Water/Crystal creature, from the face to the little horns to the little crystal hovering over his head to the twin tails sashaying in its animation. It also serves as a bit of a guardian spirit, helping to filter toxins away from water to allow local humans to drink them. Nice!
Nessla
Oh, hey, a Nessie monster. Instead of going for just being an obvious Plesiosaur, Nessla is actually a giant electric eel with huge flippers. I get it, she's a Nessie-Tesla hybrid, and a Water/Electric creature. Nowhere as cool as Shuine, and it's kind of unfortunate that Nessla comes right after the far more impressive Shuine in the index, but she's still a cool creature nonetheless.
Valiar
A psychic deer-bunny? The colours are neat and I like the oddity of giving it a nose-horn and litlte holes on the ears. Pretty neat and graceful, I don't have much to say here other than that it's pretty neat.
A psychic deer-bunny? The colours are neat and I like the oddity of giving it a nose-horn and litlte holes on the ears. Pretty neat and graceful, I don't have much to say here other than that it's pretty neat.
Kalazu & Kalabyss
I am always fascinated with cephalopods and I cannot lie, and Kalazu is also another one of the Temtems I saw briefly during my little sojourn through the first few areas of the game and certainly one of my favourites. Look at that adorable cartoon squid with spikes, and I do really like that the tentacles are arranged less like goopy tentacles and instead is in a concentric circle like a claw. Very nice little visual that is displayed really well with that animation.
Kalazu's evolution Kalabyss turns into a Water/Toxic creature and... it's a bit more of a mundane squid monster, but at least the colours and the shape of them look interesting enough, as is those two horns of 'smoke'... or are they supposed to be the little frills on a cuttlefish? Either way, a good squid boy.
Adoraboros
...not sure where the 'ouroboros' part of this buddy comes from, it's not eating its own tail? Huh? Adoraboros is sure adorable, so that's half of his name being pretty accurate. It's a sleeping lizard baby, and it's a Mental/Toxic creature. Okay? I do like the toxic smoke wings and the little mental orbs that hang just right off of its tail and head crest, but overall nowhere as exciting as the rest of the temtem bestiary.
Tuwai, Tukai, Tuvine & Turoc
Someone likes toucans. Apparently the signature Temtem of the local professor, Konstantinos, Tuwai is basically the Eevee equivalent of the region, having multiple final evolutions and noted to have 'meta-mimetic properties', and you can turn your Tuwai into one of three final forms if you go to the right shrines. It's also a cute baby toucan, but I really don't have much to say about it.
The three evolutions are the Wind/Water Tukai; the Wind/Crystal Tuvine and the Wind/Earth Turoc. How a creature named 'Tuvine' isn't a Nature-type but instead manipulates crystal rocks is a bit odd, but okay. I really don't have much to say about any of them, they're just the same toucan-with-big-wings with some honestly rather minimal additions. Tukai is probably the coolest by virtue of his wing designs, but the others really don't communicate their typica or deviate visually enough from each other for me to have much to say about.
Kinu
Okay, this Nature/Mental nature spirit is pretty cute! With those big eyes and ears and all. I'm not 100% sure what it's supposed to be other than just a good ol' nature fairy spirit, but it sure does feel like it! I like this one, not much to say beyond that.
Vulvir, Vulvor, Vulcrane
These guys are Fire/Earth, and the tempedia notes that the line is speculated to be the last remnants of a long-lost 'draconic' temtem variant. No Dragon-types in this game, sorry. Honestly, I kinda think that they could've communicated the 'dragon' vibe a lot better... there sure are a lot of other temtems that look far more draconic, like Drakash and Shuine. Vulvir's the cutest of the three, being jut this cute squat friend with a giant rock as a head with holes cut into it. Vulvor and Vulcrane honestly feel like they just stretched Vulvir's body out, and they're supposed to look draconic but I don't think Vulcrane's body really look like a dragon or a dinosaur and more like an awkwardly gangly lizard-person. Not the biggest fan of them here, although I appreciate the line.
Pigepic
Hee hee, look at the name. Pigepic! And it's a pig blob with ears that are also wings! Pigepic is pure-Wind, and it hovers around as a fat flying pig. It's like Patamon if Patamon was more piggy, and honestly? It's clearly meant to just be an adorable fat pig critter but it certainly works as a fat adorable pig critter. They're noted to be very popular children's pets in the Temtem world, and I certainly do approve!
Akranox
This dude is an Earth/Toxic creature, and it's like a monstrous drider that has a monster head with giant horns while having the rest of his body be sort-of based on a scorpion. Is that main body supposed to be serpentine? That's certainly very cool, a snake-scorpion hybrid with a vaguely humanoid upper body. Akranox design is pretty damn cool and I think it's designed with a specific purpose in mind, to be the coolest, edgiest creature in the game. And you know what? It's actually a good cool-edgy design, and I'm a big fan of it!
Vulffy
An Earth/Nature plant kitsune fox creature. I... I really don't have a whole ton to say here. Kitsunes are cool, and giving it a bit of a plant vibe is cool, but I think they kind of missed an opportunity here by not making the huge swath of fox tails into giant leaves or something. It's like... I dunno, there's a certain je ne sais quoi that this design lacks.
Anahir
The last available Temtem in the game at the time of writing, Anahir is Crystal/Fire and is sort of an 'event' Temtem. I haven't played through the story, but apparently Anahir is the result of the villain character's attempt to create a brand-new Diamond-type... by lobbing a Crystal-type monster into the heart of the Anak Volcano. And thus was born this kind of poor, tortured lava baby. It does look like a creature that is coloured like lava with armour holding it together, which I think was what they are going for? It's got dreadlocks, or are those just a Toxolotl-style mane? Neat, but not my thing.
----
And... and that's about it! The tempedia lists Anahir as creature #161, but we've only had 108 Temtem released at the moment. We have a couple of Temtem that were revealed but not obtainable (and I can't find good gifs of them) at the time of writing (I am aware of Raignet and the Ampathyr line)... and many others who has shown up in things like official artwork or 'choose which Temtem gets added in the game in the next patch' polls. Maybe we'll eventually do a part 3 or something if we get enough new Temtem additions to the game!
I genuinely wasn't particularly excited about this game, but looking at my friends play it and taking a deeper look through gameplay and the bestiary certainly do make me really like this a fair bit. The very light, pastel colour choices is something I'm a huge fan of, and while there acre certainly a fair amount of 'expy' characters equivalent to something from Pokemon... it's still clearly done as a work of labour and passion and I'm a huge, huge fan of most of the creatures that we do actually get here.
No comments:
Post a Comment