#masterhallmark

I don't know any Japanese but this is the like to dislike ratio for the Japanese version of the Dimensions trailer

cosplaying as mad Mod sounds very fun!

a whole website dedicated to selling clothing with the Union Jack, you say? I'm glad Scotland chose to remain part of the union!

What makes you think mine isn't?

Lord Darigan is up there as one of my favorite Neopets characters. He's also an absolute trainwreck and has never been consistent at any point in his entire existence. To summarize as best as I can:

Design 1a (which is oddly hard to find good art of, probably because it's the oldest one): This is the design used for him throughout most of Champions of Meridell. Note the main features: large, multi-layered mane; fluffy ears; skull; two "fangs" above the skull; and an exposed yellow jaw with darker lines (also a skeletal tail, which isn't shown a lot but is there).

This being Lord Darigan, there are, of course, about half a dozen variations of this design, such as 1b, wherein the jaw and hands are solid yellow, as opposed to having the darker lines:

And 1c, which is similar to 1a but with exposed teeth, instead of just the two downward fang shapes on the top part of the skull:

For the record, this is the design that I like best (specifically the 1b option, which I think is the cleanest). It's imposing and kind of scary at first, but he also has a presence in many of these and an an air of dignity. Plus, I also think this design just looks really cool.

There's also the Spectre of Lord Darigan. This one's an intentional design change so it's not super relevant to this review, but I wanted to bring it up because it's also Really Cool Looking.

Now, three minor variations on the same design wouldn't be too bad... until TNT decided to completely redesign him for Battle of Meridell, for some reason. There's not even really a reason for it; he gets defeated and then goes insane for a bit and for some reason that makes his entire appearance change.

I guess maybe they wanted him to look more like a standard Darigan pet, given that they normally don't have exposed skeletons? Which like, fair enough; but I don't see why he can't have a unique design, and making him look "prettier" during his redemption arc has some beauty = goodness implications that I just don't care for.

Design 2a has the following features: no skeletal body parts at all; no exposed jaw; no fur along the ears, which also have a rounder shape; no fangs; and no fur ruff (just a purple collar on his cloak).

It's not a terrible design, but outside of not being as visually interesting as design 1, it also lacks the presence. Like I said, design 1 Darigan looks both imposing but also respectable; design 2 Darigan just feels like A Guy.

Design 2b is the same as 2a (minus the costume difference, which is justified in-universe so no problems there), he's just absolutely fucking ripped for some reason.

Design 2c is the same as 2a except he's fucking ripped again and has the exposed jaw of his 1a/b/c designs (once again, outfit change has a reason and is justified). I still like the first design better, but this is a decent compromise between the two. It doesn't show up very often though, just in a handful of panels.

Design 2d is the same as 2a except it implies a skull without actually giving him one. He also has a terrible baby head here and I hate it but that's beside the point.

And you might think, "well, at least they're being consistent now by using design 2," but they're not! They've used both designs for him within the last few years. Like don't get me wrong, I like it when artists bring their own little design quirks to characters, but when his design flips around literally from panel to panel there might be an issue.

Doing everyone is too much, so we'll just stick to King Altador for now:

To his credit, King Altador has had a shockingly consistent design (by Neopets' standards); probably because he was released after the early non-anthro period, and his design was solid enough that they didn't feel the need to change it.

And yeah, it's a pretty cool design. You definitely get an air of power and royalty from his design, and I think it's neat that it uses knight elements while still feel befitting for a king due to the gold/silver/red palette. The armor is detailed but not overly busy, the colors are well balanced, and I like the way they handled his hair in particular—sometimes Neopets' characters have a problem where their hair looks like a wig, but here, both his hair and beard feel like a natural extension of his fur.

The only inconsistencies in his design (that aren't just accidents by the art team like King Legador up there) that I've noticed is that his lower body isn't always consistent. Usually he's wearing black pants with shinguards and shoes, but sometimes, like in the below art, he's shown without pants and with golden kneecaps and no shoes. For the record; I prefer the former; the later's not bad, but it feels weird for the bottom part of his body to be relatively exposed. (Though I do like his slightly digitigrade legs here.)

MAGAX (written in all caps because it's cooler that way) is every Neopets player's favorite edgelord anti-hero. His backstory is that he worked for Hubrid Nox back when he was still alive, but then turned good and now fights against him with the two having a complex friends-to-enemies relationship.

His design generally has a few main characteristics: blue Wocky, a large scar over one eye (unclear if he got it when doing something morally unethical in the past or he got that fighting Hubrid, but either way it makes sense for him), some kind of outfit with a belt, glowing green energy weapons, a goatee, and a helix piercing (I direct you to this post from Claire Hummel acknowledging the sheer amount of helix piercings they kept giving characters back in the day). However, the details vary a bit, with two main designs:

Design 1 is mostly used in MAGAX's Neopedia page. He has a standard Wocky build (left image looks better in terms of bulk) with a silver earring, pink scar and nose with light blue ears, and a strange half-belt half-vest combo that makes him look much more naked then most NPCs that don't wear clothes do.

Design 2a varies slightly in terms of color but is distinct from design 1. Eyebrows, purple ears and nose, hair tuft on head, arm bands, skull (for coolness factor), flared shoulders on the shirt, and actual pants that are at least clearly clothes.

For the most part I like this design the best as it feels more fleshed out and considerably less Naked, though I do have some issues with the palette. For example, the scar is still pink but all the pink accents are now purple—either make those parts pink or make the scar dark blue or something.