#link monster

Yummy★Snatchy

What's a crane game without the trusty claw itself??? In contrast to the dark, fuzzy looking Yummys, Snatchy brings a green blobiness to the game. It’s even stated to be jelly-like when not partaking in kitty mimicry (not unlike what the Yummys do). As the crane part of this crane game, Snatchy is tasked with collecting sweets (which it loves to eat instead of wear) with the help of its pal, Catcher-kin, who’s the adorable little UFO crab in the top right corner. There’s even little sprite work of the two in the top left. Why the UFO/space theming you ask? Why, it's because crane games in Japan are called UFO catchers! Pretty cute if you ask me, and it contributes a lot to the gacha theme. This art seems to depict Snatchy being actively lowered by Catcher-kun (as indicated by the green UFO beam connecting the two, even if the angle looks odd), while the background appears to be the front of a crane game machine, complete with prize and coin slots at the bottom. I think my favorite detail is the multitude of downwards facing arrows, which not only relates to Snatchy’s single link arrow, but also back to the crane/UFO theme. Snatchy even has one on its suit!

Ojama Emperor

I've genuinely never seen this guy before now, but his art's really nice honestly. I'll be real though... His rating would probably be closer to a 10 if his artwork colors were actually like what shows up on his wiki page. Something about the more subdued, dark bluish purple there just looked super good on him. His actual, bright purple does feel more fitting with the rest of the Ojamas, however. The only weirdly realistically details are pretty much localized to his chin area and are honestly pretty ignorable (which is a good thing). His squished up face makes him look like he's in pain lol, especially with his narrowed eyes, but otherwise his head just reminds me of a squid (fun). I have no context for why they would make an Ojama specifically just to wear Elvis Presley's emperor jacket (and name him, of course, Ojama Emperor), but they sure did it, huh. His hat reminds me of the Pope's hat for some reason though????? Pope hat with included floral speedo design. I thought (for some reason) the decorations on his chair's armrests were supposed to be Unowns, but a longer look shows that they're just weird, one eyed Ojama heads, complete with big lips. If you look closely, you'll also see that his throne is modeled a little bit after Ojama Yellow, as it includes his eyestalks as a decoration. His background is fairly unique for an Ojama card, and it honestly looks like it would fit right in with the Performapals' backgrounds (I feel like Barokuriboh is a particularly fitting match).

Marincess Coral Triangle

The Coral Triangle has come alive as this lovely aquatic princess. And boy is she colorful! The cool colors used here all (expectedly) mesh together so well, especially with an underwater theme. Her outfit has so much going on, from parts that directly reference coral reefs (the pink coral in her hair and on her arms), to her poofy skirt(?) having tassels that create the illusion of a giant jellyfish, and even the fabric coming off of her sleeves that kinda reminds me of a leafy sea dragon. One does have to wonder how she keeps her hairstyle so pristine while submerged in water though. The aquatic life in the back makes for such a cute background to this lady, although the bubbles at the top there are a little jarring to look at because they're more realistic than everything else. It's probably not meant to mean anything specific, but her left hand turning blue is so weird to look at, especially since it starts to blend into the background.

Ghostrick Festival

Happy Halloween! Let's all have a party with the Ghostricks! I might have said it before, but these kinds of cards that show a multitude of related monsters interacting are some of my absolute favorites. There's always a little too much to describe/get into too much detail, but it's absolutely worth it to see these kinds of cards in bigger resolutions. I mean. just look at all of our little Ghostrick pals! Look at how much fun they must be having! Well... Except for maybe Mary. They really just... Put a bunch of balloons on her vanity and let her float up into the sky. Bye, I guess! Anyway, the mix of purple and orange used here is well balanced and fitting as well (being, you know, Halloween colors). Aside from the cute gathering of monsters at the bottom, I really like the way the sky was drawn. Especially the moon, which has its own spooky face on it, cleverly half hidden so you don't really notice it at first.

Condemned Darklord

I'm so distracted by the fact that this is the lady from the "Forbidden" cards (Forbidden Dress, Lance, etc) that I can't even pay attention to what she looks like now. This is her??? Hello??? Damn girl what even happened. You were given some completely harmless looking forbidden items and now you reside in the nine layers of hell. Sucks, girl. ANYWAY, uh. I guess being turned into a demon/Darklord means you magically get fallen angel wings, complete with what I'm guessing are stylized bones jutting out of them. Her appearance really is not at all similar to how she looked before and it's throwing me off so much. I thought maybe at least her headwear was the same, but it's been reduced to a single, thorny band instead of the strange, semi-head cage thing she had before. I will say her demon horns (and the kinda scaled/cracked texture there) are pretty sick, as is her weird, corrupted, pointy red halo.

Junk Connector

My favorite part of this guy? The fact that you can tell which way his link arrows point just from his artwork. I haven't seen any other link monster make clever use of their design this way, and I'm wondering why it isn't more prevalent? It's really neat. The junk archetype is funny, because the majority of the monsters don't even look like they're made out of junk, like the name implies. Just look at how clean and well put together Connector looks. This is straight up futuristic robot design here, and I wouldn't say a single part of him looks like it was pulled straight out of a scrapyard. The "future robot" look is also extremely fitting for his role as the only junk link monster (the background helps a lot in this regard). I just kinda wish he had more of a fun color scheme. Don't get me wrong, the grayish green with silver isn't bad, I just wish it was something that stood out more like what the junk synchro monsters have.

Xtra HERO Wonder Driver

I think the pose here for this guy's legs is a little... Unfortunate. They really said "Let's show off his whole crotch" huh. Speaking of his legs, they also look absurdly long??? Who gave this man leg extensions? Disregarding his leg situation, I like the mage design going on here. His hip cape(?) is simple but has lots of nice, flowy movement, and I like the implication that he's wearing skintight gloves that go past his elbows. My favorite part is his mask, which you could either interpret as having one big blue eye OR as the pink visor line as his eyes based on the way it's drawn.