Update #58 - Year of the Dragon!

Hello everyone!

We've wrapped up our second set of Legendaries following the recent release of Keldeo as the fourth member of the Swords of Justice, and although we will return eventually to do the Paradox forms of them when their sprites eventually finish (hopefully someday soon), it's time to look at what the next month(s) have in store.

Back in November I asked which Legendary sets you'd like to see prioritized, and tied for third (with Deoxys) was the Tao Trio set - Kyurem, Reshiram, and Zekrom. In a complete and total coincidence with absolutely no planning or even knowledge on my part, we just so happen to be entering the Year of the Dragon with the Chinese New Year.

That makes it easy deciding between the third place winners and go straight for the Tao Trio.

But that's not all we're going to do.

Dragons are a fan favorite no matter where you go and I love creating Dragon Moemon, particularly because they usually have some of the better sprites, showcasing a lot of personality and color. We'll be breaking this up over the next two or three months, returning to the older format of non-Legendary releases, coupled with a few Legendary, Mega, Paradox, and an Ultra Beast to go with it - as well as a couple of Trainers / Gym Leaders.

The emphasis will be on DRAGONS. Everything DRAGONS. Think DRAGONS, always.

Let's check some out.

As you'll recall, this was the main set that was voted on back in November, though there actually are a few varied versions of both Reshiram and Zekrom, seen here:

The first row above is the updated set of the original voted on already, while the two bottom rows are other sets made my separate artists. I think. I'm actually not sure what the plan was, here. Still, once I get around to making them, all of the designs will be taken into consideration and either adjusted or replicated as best as possible. We'll see how that turns out later.

Before then, we have a slew of other sets coming out, in no particular order:

Goomy, Sliggoo, and Goodra

And maybe their Hisuian forms (Goomy is the same in Hisui)

Axew, Fraxure, and Haxorus

Jangmo-o, Hakamo-o, and Kommo-o

Deino, Zweilous and Hydreigon

...And Hydreigon's Paradox, Iron Jugulis

Ultra Beasts Poipole and Naganadel

Bagon, Shelgon and Salamence - including Mega Salamence and Paradox Roaring Moon

And of course, it wouldn't be Year of the Dragon without the most famous non-Dragon's Mega Dragon and non-Dragon forms, Mega Charizard X and Y:

There's a handful of other Moemon families I'd like to do that aren't previewed above - such as reworking the Flygon family, the entirely new Baxcalibur line, and oddities such as Drampa, Turtonator, Dracovish - all of which have new sprites, though priority is a bit low since while all of them are technically Dragon-type, they don't exactly look like dragons (Well, Drampa does). Still, expect them a bit down the line.

Latios and Latias are also an easy Legendary set, since their sprite is technically exactly the same at the moment, other than a palette swap. In fairness, that's basically how their forms look in Pokemon anyways.

Also, I might rework Druddigon. I'm actually fairly happy with her previous release, but she does have a new sprite.

She has a bunny outfit too.

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There's plenty others not mentioned above, particularly favoured ones among fans, that may arrive even sooner than you'd think, depending on sprite work and simple motivation on my part. I'd start naming them, but I don't want to make promises. Still, if you are active in the actual Moemon discord and know your Dragon-types, you'd know who I'm talking about.

All of that said, expect a slightly slower release window with these sets. I want to take my time with them and be a bit more complex with the design, where necessary of course. My goal is to capture the essence and spirit of each Moemon and I'm going to start leaning towards more accessory-heavy builds rather than keeping things too simple.

With some exception, of course. Attachment nodes will always be the bane of my existence and I will always hate clipping, but if it's within reason, we're going to go for it this time.

Hopefully it'll work out and that you see the results of this slightly new approach with the next release. We'll just have to wait and see.

That's all for now. See you next time!