[Remedy]

Beach Fenling - I really like the soft colors on this.  Very reminiscent of white-tipped waves and soft, sandy beaches.  Fenlings aren't exactly a favorite species of mine, but I do like this one a rather lot. c:

Halite Hunter - Very oooorange.  I actually really like it, though again I have trouble pinning characters to these guys.  I may scrape something together for this fellow, though~

Surf Myu Reaper - Very cute! The blue-greens blend nicely, and I really like the marking designs it has.

Festive Kitrell - Very eyeburn with those cheetah-markings! Complementary colors always make for some very striking pets.  I do like Kitrells a lot, too~

Illuminessi - Having a hard time deciding whether I like this one or not, to be honest. XD When I saw the box, I was expecting something more glow-y.  o ^o It does remind me a rather lot of a Nautical Kuhna, though, given its colors. :B

Stellar Riopath - WOW WOW WOW Look at that.  Wow.  Beautiful.  I reeeally like this one.  It's dark and shimmery, and Riopaths are up there with some of my favorite species.  Definitely a keeper.

Actiniari Kalamarei - I had high hopes for this one when I saw the colors on the box, but it's turned out to be... not quite what I expected.  It's not as colorful as I'd hoped, and Kalamarei seem a little outdated with their line art. o ^o So, not one of my favorites, unfortunately.

Attenuwockee - Can you ever go wrong with Wockee's? The answer is no.  Total Dudewockee right here, I love it! Looks like a total surfer bro.  All he's missing are some tribal tattoos and shades, man. XD Love it!

Banded Nonaga - Not one of my favorites, but Nonagas have always been very hit-and-miss with me.  Something about those stripy stripes, man.  Also a very hit-and-miss sort of marking with me. X'0

Mandarinkuhna - DO I EVEN NEED TO SAY.  Words.  I don't have them.  Wow.  Wow, look at this thinggggg! You had me at Kuhna, and then you went and threw some crazy complementary colors all over it and made it oh so beautifully eyeburn.  Gorgeous.  Perfection.  All of my love ;D;

Icthylotl - Didn't get any of the cash boxes this year, but out of the two there were, this is my favorite- and I'm sure most of Evelon would agree, given that Axolotls are very well received around here. XD It's very very cute~

Clown Seamare - Honestly, I'm kind of glad I didn't spend four bucks on this one, since... it's probably my least favorite out of the bunch. ;0; While I liked the colors on the box and everything, I was hoping to see a pet that wasn't just purely clownfish.  Like maybe clownfish with some anemone-colored stuff smacked on, like the box.  Also, the fish-tailed horses have never resonated well with my creativity, so all around this one is just not very appealing to me.

There's the dish out on all the new pets and what I think of them. o^o I don't mean any offense when talking about the ones I didn't particularly like, I'm just trying to be as straightforward and honest as possible. :3 I really do like the majority of the pets released this year!  I'm glad to see that not many were blatantly Christmas-themed (like the Gingerbread Tricky or Present Bandol of years past. ;0; Those tend to shoot down my muse, unfortunately. :"l).  The one that was given a Christmas twist to it (Festive Kitrell) is very wonderfully done, and doesn't limit my thinking to only the Christmas season. X3 So, yes!  Wonderful job this year! <3

[Azura Rayume]

That Inessi is a Lanturn. It's a Pokemon.

[Remedy]

WOW how did I not see that! XD Awesome, wow~ That's very cool! C:

[Silverin]

Halite Hunter- Is Himalayan rock salt c:

Actiniari Kalamarei- Is anemone based. there is actually a link to the one I picked the colors from in my Journal if I recall correctly.

Mandarinkuhna- XD I actually made this thing way before the Kuhna revamp during a live stream. The Icthylotl was also a live stream pet.

Stellar Riopath- I actually made this as a tutorial pet on how I do celestial pets for the other staff since it was requested.

Banded Nonaga- Is based on a banded sea snake.

This year a lot of the pets save for the Kalamarei, Attenuwockee and Illuminessi were pets that had been done for a while and were sitting around doing nothing.

xD even if I do not always enjoy the fact that some pets don't jive with people, as long as the negative feedback is done constructively I don't mind.

So its no problem Pickle. Even if you did not enjoy some things it gives me an idea of what people would like and expect.

[Mojave]

I called them! Hahahaha! And I'm SUPER happy the mandarin goby is a kuhna!!!!

[Indigo]

Kalamareiiiiiiiiiiiii

As for other things: I think my favorites of the bunch, apart from the Kalamarei, are the Riopath [which is funny, because I don't like Celestial at all], the Wockee [shockingly], and the Illuminessi [since it has my favorite color scheme, this is also not a surprise]. Also a fan of the Nonaga and Seamare. The Kitrell is going to be hard for me to work with because of its colors, although I'm fond of the species as a whole; the Kuhna is super cool but I am also going blind trying to look at it, alas. Uh. Yes.

[Zoophilos]

The Actiniari Kalamarei is cute.  I like it!  Long name, though!  Maybe we can nickname it Actiniamarei? ;D

The Halite Hunter is a surprise.  I honestly thought it would be a stargoyle.  After all, it was among the cheapest, and the last Christmas Hunter, the Sugilite, gave itself away by roaring while in the wrapper!  But this one didn't.  At this rate, I'm gonna have a sizable pride of Hunters in my zoo!  

The Illuminessi - eh, not sure that coloration really works for me.  Still kinda cute, though.

The Stellar Riopath was also a surprise.  But a very pretty one!

The Mandarinkuhna - Whao.  Holy shla-moly. That is really something.  I bet it can disorient predators alright!  Now I kinda wish I had gotten that present...

Finally, the Banded Nonage makes me think "Jailer Nonaga!"

[Shieba]

Everyone knows that I'm suuuuuper-picky with species (as in, I only like around seven or so xD), so while none of the pets are pets that inspire me, I do find them all very interesting and can give my opinions. XD

Beach Fenling: I am very fascinated with this one, but that's probably because of my computer; I can barely make out its eyes at all since they're so pale, but I adore the golden hue a lot. But it's a Fenling and I just... I can never really notice anything about them because srsly where is their second front leg they have no second front leg omg. I mean it, I just can't stop looking for that leg and that distracts me. /offtopic

Halite Hunter: The color of this one is so unusual! I find it quite eye-catching, but somehow it seems to... I dunno, compared to other Hunters it seems to have very little color-differences. I dunno how to describe it. Like it has less shading and highlights and seems more flat. Maybe that's because of the unusual color? I somehow always seem to think that Hunters seem to stay behind their potential. Like, they are crystal-beasts, so where are the gradients and lightshows? XD; So yeah, I'm a bit iffy on this one. Not too sure what to think about the color.

Surf Myu Reaper: Whoaaaa, now THESE are the colors I would have preferred on the Hunter (Bigger pet = more space for awesome colors). Bright and nicely matched and just plain awesome. I really like this one a lot!

Festive Kitrell: Yeah, so I'm really not a fan of the Noel color theme in general. The little leopard-like markings are really pretty and noticeable, too, though, and that is something I like a lot! Detailed markings are always made of win.

Illuminessi: I am not quite sure if I like it. I wouldn't have guessed Pokemon since I'm not in the fandom, but I do like the color combination. It just seems very plain, somehow. Like, the Memorinessi is really shiny and sparkly and this one looks rather non-shiny.

Stellar Riopath: FAVOURITE PET out of the whole bunch. Never enough awesome celestial stuff. Never. Enough. Seriously, I love starry pets and this one has awesome stars.

Actiniari Kalamarei: I don't find Kalamarei (as a species) that thrilling, but aside from that, I DO like the colors on it... except that they don't seem to match the box at all. If I had bought the box, I would have been disappointed since I would have expected a pet with such vibrant colors and not a mostly black one. =/ That's the only really nitpick I have, though, as I do actually like the design in itself. As in, if the box and the pet would have matched, I would have been very satisfied with the purchase.

Attenuwockee: I admit I have troubles with this one since Wockees are pretty much some of my least favourite pets. They scare me. I find them incredibly creepy and they remind me of mass murderers from horror movies with the mask and all. Even the happy beach theme can't help me much there...

Banded Nonaga: Not my fav marking, actually. I feel like the "mysterious" theme the Nonagas have going for them (with all the eyes) kind of gets completely drowned in the very prominent marking here. I can't even see the (regular) eyes of it, but that might be my computer again. While I approve a lot of the species choice, I feel that either the marking or the colors of this one should be a bit lighter on the eyes. Somehow the hue of blue combined with the black seems to hurt my eyes a bit, no clue why?

Mandarinkuhna: My least fav color is actually orange. xD I am in big approval of more Kuhnas in original poses, but maaaan, it's orange. But that's just a personal thing. I do find the theme and color distribution very well done, actually.

Icthylotl: I actually had to look up the pet this is based on (so many people on Evelon seem to be into pets-based-on-animals when I don't care about any non-bunny animals at all, so I always feel very clueless) because at first this one scared me. It looked so naked and stuff. I actually thought it was based on an alien fetus or something before I read the thread here... XD; Now that I see that the actual animal is just cute and not creepy, I feel better and can look at this pet with more ease. I actually LOVE its eye coloration a lot, together with the feathers (they probably aren't feathers. Aquatic animals don't have feathers, right?).

Clown Seamare: It's orange again, but daaaang, that tail fin is so awesome, this is actually my second fav pet of the bunch. I don't even care for horses at all, but that tail fin. It's so pretty, I can't stop looking at it. For some reason, I think of Koi fish when I look only at the fin. So yeah, I definitely love this one!


tl;dr: Fav pets (not counting species-preferences but only pure colors and designs) are the Riopath, the Seamare and the Myu Reaper. Least fav pets are the Nonaga and the Kitrell.

That said, I DO agree with Pickle that I definitely approve a LOT of the fact that we don't have many blatantly Christmas-themed pets this year. And I love the more "general" beach and sea theme as it leaves more for imagination and character creation than a Bandol wrapped in lights. (It's actually one of the reasons why I also normally never wish to know stuff like 'This pet is based on a bird' because then I can only think 'But it's not a bird!' and can't make a character anymore. So yeah, I prefer pets based on general themes like sand and water and not living animals.)

[MillietheWarrior]

Overall, I am incredibly happy with how wonderful these pets all look and are. There are TONS of potential for characters with them, especially without a decidedly 'Christmas' theme (except maybe one or two, but that's a personal thing; I'm not a fan of Kalamarei cuz they're so...I dunno and I've never really liked the Nonagas).  Even the Kitrell, which does have a somewhat Christmas-y theme, there is potential. It's really pretty, and it doesn't really say 'Christmas' to me as much as some pets do. It's more like a little red and white fox with some green spots than a Christmas pet. I do love that new Kuhna, and I'm happy I ended up getting it (Guess what I'm going to turn it into? -Cackles-)

I LOVE that Riopath, though. They've always been a favorite of mine, and that dark celestial is amazing. <3 I also really love the Wockee; beaches are my favorite thing in the world, so anything that reminds me of them is aces. And the clown seamare is gorgeous! I feel like we need more horse-like pets; like a pony or something. And their description is cute. <3 And this one definitely fueled my love of the four legged beasties. I think the Hunter is nice, and I love all Hunters, but I think it could've been a bit more...standout. But the pink is a nice touch, and I do like it regardless. I guessed the Inessi immediately, and I like it, and the Myuu Reaper is really cute, as well as the Beach Fenling (Although, like Shieba, I miss it's front leg. I always thought they only had one front leg until I saw the sliver of it, but at first glance, it looks like only one).

Overall, I think it was an amazing Christmas gift year. <3 I think they're all lovely.

[Shieba]

(Although, like Shieba, I miss it's front leg. I always thought they only had one front leg until I saw the sliver of it, but at first glance, it looks like only one).

Mind helping me out? ;_; Where is the second leg on Fenlings? I looked again and I don't see it anywhere:

If you mean that tiny stuff you can see above the visible front leg paw... I'm pretty sure that's the paw from the back leg? o_o Help, I don't understand these pets... I actually REALLY like the Fenlings (they remind me of tiny Felloxes), but the fact that they seem to have only one leg totally keeps me from really using them since I have no three-legged characters needing such a form.

[Flame]

I'm pretty sure that the other front leg is assumed to be hidden behind the body, as if the Fenling is leaning back on it. It's the same idea behind the original Kuhna images as well, I believe:

The angle seems a little more awkward perhaps, but that seems the most likely to me. Of course, I could be entirely wrong, but that's my interpretation. o3o

[Shieba]

I think that's indeed what is intended, Flame. =) It's just anatomically not really possible. XD; The Fenling is very thin, you should see a part of the front leg (at least the shoulder, I think). Also there is the Psi Fenling:

The shoulder part is around where the second collar sits; if the Fenling would move his leg backwards the collar should - I think - not sit like this.

But. Getting totally off-topic. XD

[MillietheWarrior]

It's so weird, but the more I look at it, the more I realize that the little toes peeking out really do just look like it's back foot. So it does look like it has one leg. What is seen, cannot be unseen. x3

[Kyrit]

The Fenlings do have four legs. Keep in mind they were drawn way back in 2007. That's a long time ago. Baal didn't have anywhere near as good of a grasp on anatomy back then. The idea of it is the same as the old Kuhna as Flame pointed out though. If it ever does get a revamp some day, it'd end up properly showing all four legs. Just yeah. Things like that tend to happen with super ancient pets.

[Moofius]

I was actually in the IRC and speaking with Baal when this little sucker was being made and remember it fondly. She'd been struggling with the Fenling for awhile now, sometimes things just will not pose right, or lineart right, or colour right. We got to this point and that last leg would just not work. At this point her carpal tunnel was so bad she couldn't hold the pen right and just wanted to finish it and get it out for everyone. So yeah, Fenling leg is meant to be behind, hidden from view, because crippling carpal tunnel.

PS: And by "fondly" I was like, "OHMYGAWD, stop drawing you'll hurt yourself!!! ;DDDDD;"