Punder

Now, that’s not to say that I think Sneyser and its Rare and Epic cousins are the most perfect example, but it’s just one I think of when I think about how a line of Monsters should be done. If nothing else, it serves as a great baseline for expectations.

Anyways, let’s start with the Common Sneyser.

Right off the bat, we’ve got a great design on our hands. Appealing color scheme? Check. Main feature that’s used to make music is highlighted? Check. Overall Monsteriness? Check. Basically, Sneyser is a great example of a base Monster. You can look at it, know what it’s supposed to be, and reasonably understand how it makes its music. On top of that, it does it in a way that’s natural, and logically makes sense in universe. It blows magma out of its nose, which makes a deep bass sound, while heating up its stomach and the water inside, like a hot spring. When seeing this Monster, people can easily go “Oh! It’s a landmass-like hippo creature that makes music by blowing out its nose. Neat!” On top of all that, Sneyser is very basic in design. You’ve got the nose, the eyes, the crystals, the body of water, and the arms as all the standout parts of the design. It’s a lot, sure, but Sneyser’s ranking as a Quad Monster basically requires it as it’s just following the design philosophy of other Quads.

There’s one aspect of Sneyser I haven’t covered, and that’s the lore- rather, its ingame Bio. But I’ll cover that after I cover the design of each Monster (even though I dipped a bit more into the fundamentals of Sneyser).

Anyways, time for it’s molten cousin. Rare Sneyser!

Right off the bat, things are different. The cool, crisp colors indicative of natural land has been swapped out for a harsh black tone. Supplementary colors are now a present red and orange, highlighting Rare Sneyser with crimson crystals and a deep lava pool in its back. Eyes and hands are noticably different- it’s hand is palm up, and the eyes are open and spaced out.

Yet, fundamentally, it’s still a Sneyser. Still blows magma out of its nose, still makes that bass sound, still wags that tail of theirs. That’s what makes it a good Rare- it takes the concept of the Common’s and spins it on its head. Instead of a landmass/hot spring hippo, it’s a molten rock/lava pool hippo. An inventive take on the design, while not being too bizarre and out there. That’s what I believe to be a good Rare design.

Now we get to the variant that is REALLY bizzare and out there. Enter Epic Sneyser!

Let’s work backwards on this one. Fundamentally, this is still a Sneyser. There’s the telltail nostrils, the body shape, you can look at this and go “Yup! Still Sneyser!” And yet… it’s astoundingly different. Natural liquid of any sort has been swapped out for radioactive sludge. The pointed crystals, now neon green, have become warped and curved. There’s spikes protruding at the bottom of its nostrils. Most notably, Epic Sneyser has grown an extra eye and set of arms, a common trait associated with mutation and exposure to hazardous chemicals- Epic Sneyser’s whole thing.

If Rare Sneyser takes Common Sneyser’s concept and spins it on it’s head, Epic Sneyser does just that, but they put it in a blender and put it on the max setting. They take the simple points and crank them to their most outlandish and interesting levels, while still being digestible and appealing. That, in my opinion, is what being an Epic is all about.

So that’s all about their designs, and I could end this post here. However, I want to talk about two more things- The Sneyser line’s bios, and other examples of Rares and Epics.

Firstly, every great design has a great explanation behind it. So let’s quickly go over the ingame bios for each Sneyser variant to see why they are the way they are.

Sneyser’s bio is simple- it talks about the pool of water in its back and how it can erupt into a geyser of water if Sneyser sneezes. It adds more depth to the Monster while giving us a better understanding of how they work- their nasal capabilities are tied to their ability to produce water-magma. But now let’s look at Rare Sneyser’s bio, and how a Common Sneyser evolves into one.

It says in the Bio that Rare Sneyser’s are Sneyser’s that’ve been exposed to the sun’s rays for extended periods of time, citing it as the reason for all the differences between the two. While in the real world, heated water doesn’t become magma, the flexibility of the game taking place in another world leaves room for the suspension of disbelief. Sure, why can’t a Sneyser develop charcoal-black skin and magma after frequent exposure to the sun?

Epic Sneyser’s Bio pans out a little differently than you’d expect. It explains the green substance it produces as slime, rather than toxic sludge. However, mention of the slime being acidic can lead one to believe that it could be considered the same as toxic waste. The Bio also explains that this slime protects the Epic Sneyser from the sun and its own sneezes, so there’s an added benefit to the substance that helps it. Finally, it explains the extra eye as extra watch over it’s slime reserve and the extra pair of arms as increased mobility for the Monster. While it explains these extra features in a natural, evolutionary way, they still naturally look like mutations developed from toxic chemicals, which despite being neglected in the Bio, is clearly what this Epic is based on.

Finally, there’s some more examples of Rares and Epics I want to bring up. Firstly, I want to talk about Rare Dandidoo.

This is probably one of the more stand-outish Rares, as Rare Dandidoo literally has another head. This Rare shines a light on the technical side of some variants- different animations. They couldn’t just reuse Dandidoo’s animations, that leaves a whole other head unaccounted for. They most likely had to come up with a whole new rig for Rare Dandidoo just to make them work. Other variants which have extra moving parts to them include the likes of Epic Spunge, Epic Rootitoot, Rare Phangler, and a handful of others.

Additionally, there’s Epic Glowl, which has some interesting traits lore-wise.

Epic Glowl is so distinctively different from it’s Common and Rare cousins, it even has its own name it’s known by- “Glorvid”. While this species evolved from the Common Glowl, it’s become near different enough to almost become like a subspecies. It expands on the options for Epics, as the scope of what they can be has grown to include near-completely different species as well. (Fun fact: Epic Glowl was teased in the Feast-Ember 2022 Loading Screen, and everyone mistook it for the Fire Oasis Mythical simply due to the mouth shape not looking like any current Monster aside from Glowl’s concept art, which Epic Glowl is based on)

Well, with all that said and done, I feel I can finally rest. Though, something lays at the back of my mind. All these great examples of variants… are there any examples of BAD variants?

Well, I’m sure there’s a couple of sore spots here and there. But, as with many things about this game, I can excuse and defend most of it. Most, except…

So, Mindboggle’s on the horizon. Mindboggle. Miiindboggle. Miiiiiiiiiind…

…uh, sorry. Anyways, as with the other Aux. Seasonal Events this year, we’ll probably get a new variant for Psychic Island. Looking at past Seasonal Events for the Magical Islands specifically, we’ve had:

-Rare Withur for Beat Hereafter

-…no actual variant for Cloverspell due to it aligning with Tuskski’s release (though Rare HippityHop could count as they came out unexpectedly the following Eggs-Travaganza)

-Rare Flouress for SkyPainting

So, odds are we’re getting a Rare Magical. Of the Psychic Monsters currently Rare-less, there’s: Bonkers, Poppette, Tapricorn, Rooba, Periscorp, and Gloptic. (Actually, I think Paychic Island is the Magical Island with the least Rare Magicals on it…)

However, there’s a smal caveat I want to bring up- what if we get a Fire Epic instead? It’s not entirely out of the question, as we did get Epic Sneyser for Perplexplore, so new variant releases and new Amber Island variants can be one in the same

Of the Fire Monsters currently Epic-less, there’s Flowah and Phangler. Either of them could receive an Epic form for Mindboggle.

…though, MSM seems to be nearing finishing up the line of Rare Fire Quads, with Incisaur just 4 weeks ago at the start of SummerSong with July’s Amber Island Set. So Rare Bisonorus is theoretically next, and… I mean, heck, THAT could be the MindBoggle variant.

…No, that can’t be. These events have always released with a new variant for a Monster on the Island. It’d be weird if it was just Rare Bisonorus for Mindboggle… wait, no, it’s not just Rare Bisonorus. We’re getting a Rare Wublin as well. Dang!

(I mean, I don’t know if new Rare Wublin releases coincide with new Amber Island sets/variants, but this is what we’ve seen with the last one. The penultimate Rare Wublin release was Rare Blipsqueak, and that came with… Epic Whisp… in Life-Formula…

Ok no, stop the parentheses. Somehow that aside turned into something important. When do Rare Wublins release? If they come out during Seasonal Events, we could totally see one this Mindboggle. They seem to just release alongside new releases. Also… they seem to come out every 2 months maybe? At least, that was the timeframe from Rare Blipsqueak to Rare Tympa… but it was a month’s time in between Rare Whajje and Rare Blipsqueak so who knows. Dang it, I’m just rambling up a storm.

I’m gonna try to reign it in a little. Putting aside the thoughts of Fire Epics or Rare Bisonorus or Rare Wublins for a minute, there’s going to be a new Rare Psychic Monster. Any of the 6 Monsters I listed 7 paragraphs ago could be potential candidates. Though, I think one’s perhaps more likely than others.

Think about the other variants that released for the Magical Island Seasonal Events. Rare Withur, (technically) Rare HippityHop, and Rare Fluoress. A Triple, a Double, and a Single. The last Element-tier of Monster left is a Quad, and there hasn’t been a Rare Magical Quad yet, so… Rare Gloptic could be Mindboggle’s variant quite well.