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RenDragonClaw β€” Seraphodon Sketch

Published: 2014-03-19 13:37:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 467; Favourites: 14; Downloads: 1
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Description Took me forever to load this because DA was doing maintenance when I finished cleaning it up. This is more of a full drawing than a 'sketch' but it's small and it's going in with the others so sketch it is. I actually had full access to references and my original work when I did this so I had a good idea of what I wanted to attempt before I even started. I'd say Seraphodon got the visual update he needed. To further distance him from Confessoroc who is basically a big holy stork living areal aircraft carrier type of kaiju, Seraphodon kept just about every major design quirk he originally with more of a focus on making him more raptorish (as in predatory bird). Being that I have Gayan and Saint Angelis still in the wings and those are based or have traits of eagles, I went more hawk with Seraphodon. taking his original crest and merging it with actual pteranodon skull. Taking that skull and modifying it with a hawk's beak and eyes. Since Confessoroc is going more 'fluffy' I decided that I'd enhance the reptile aspect of well...a flying reptile. A hybrid mixture that is not quite feather and not quite scale but something in between. His chest is interesting as its no longer a box with plates but is now a quadruple set of pectoral muscles to support two pairs of wings. Kinda like an areal version of a Shokan from Mortal Kombat. The massive protective sternum is still there but isn't quite so boxy. The first pair of wings has a thick bone knob for support when touching the ground and the second set has the traditional little fingers which are still just traction spikes. I considered having the talons have an extra hallux (back talon) that becomes something akin to the wing digit on the wings to form the third pair. However, his lore deliberately mentions said tail wing and it can be actually seen here so I kept it. At least here you get a view of where the tail splits and becomes the 'wing rudders'. Feet got more raptorialΒ  so less pudge and more talon. Also of of note at the back of the head, you can see two cylinder like things sticking out of his skin there. Those are the drug dispensing behavior inhibitors that were implanted in order to bring the wily areal terror to heel. There are four of them, two or each type of drug, two per side to stimulate or depress both sides of his brain.

Another thing that came about from my further research was that the seraphim, the order of six winged angels that Seraphodon takes his name, were beings that were so overflowing with charity and belief in God that that they were like flames. So basically a cluster of wings which may or may not have eyes on said wings that had so much holy radiation that if you got close to it you'd probably disintegrate. Well, the eyes on the wings idea was easy enough, gives a general guide line for patterns on Seraphodon's wings which you can see shaded in there on four of them. So how about the 'burning'. Well, Seraphodon is the Air Elemental of the Heavenly Fang Kaiju, specially Aerokinesis and all that entails. Thankfully there is something of a wiki on superpowers from people who had wondered about the potential of such things long before I was born and so I got a nifty idea out of it. As something of a finishing move, Seraphodon can mix together atmospheric gases that combined with intense pressure and speed can create a fiery 'halo' about himself (huge windup but that epic flaming slingshot though). Much like a object from orbit undergoing atmospheric reentry. It basically turns him into a super sonic 'Mr. Fahrenheit' living bullet with a combustion inducing shockwave of a slip stream. Of course, Seraphodon isn't immune to his own heat and after one pass his skin is smoldering. If he goes to far or uses the move more than a few times in a day he'd suffer severe burns. If he's hyped up on the combat stims he might utterly disregard that he's supposed to be in agony and potentially turn into the most lethal buffalo chicken wing in existence before gliding to the ground as charred bone. So at least one move in his arsenal can simultaneously give that seraphic 'burning' and 'send him to heaven' at the same time. This is besides the normal Razor Wind, Air manipulation, speed boost, sensory enhancement, pressure screw etc that he usually has.

So, much more of an sky born, intensely lethal killing machine this time around.Β  If Confessoroc is the carrier, Seraphodon is the fighter
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Comments: 6

JacobSpencerKaiju79 [2014-03-20 09:14:29 +0000 UTC]

Well, i really digging this new concept, Ren. This guy looks very scrappy and is ready to shred a enemy to pieces.

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AkityMH [2014-03-19 23:21:29 +0000 UTC]

All works for me. Seraphodon is a decent kaiju. This update brought him up a few notches. BAM! Emerald Lagasse all up in here! ..which is funny given you mentioned Seraphodon is at risk at cooking himself. Hibachi Grill anyone?Β 

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RenDragonClaw In reply to AkityMH [2014-03-20 02:09:26 +0000 UTC]

Kentucky fried, don't even need the bread mix and spices.

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AkityMH In reply to RenDragonClaw [2014-03-20 02:16:45 +0000 UTC]

BAM! Look at that chicken sizzle!

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Ravensaurs-Rex [2014-03-19 16:55:22 +0000 UTC]

This is a very interesting take on him and I think it is a bit stronger than the original. In general he doesn't feel as squished together and weedy, in fact it looks like he came back from the gym ripped and ready to challenge 'Fessor to a wing-wrestling match. I much rather like the set up for his wings, the original the extra sets were more or less just there, but I love the way they are angled in different directions and don't feel so cluttered. I however admit to being curious as to how he might use them, as far as I can tell the two upper sets are the same basic shape and size, this shape is best for riding thermals and prolonged flight which is why you see the largest flying animals use it such as the giant pterosaurs and modern day eagles. Now, this makes me think of something, the way they are positioned it looks like he could just open his wings and hold them together, lined up with his tail-wings to create one giant super-wing akin to a stealth bomber. This would let him glide and swoop around at an ungodly level and while he is set up to be more of a speedy brawler I think you have possibly made one of the most stealthy kaiju short of going invisible(Which he could possibly do anyways by using his abilities to blow clouds around him and then going stealth-super-wing inside of them). This is all largely speculation on my part, born mostly from the shape of his wings, I would have to see them used in flight to know if this tactic would work, not that he would ever use it since he's more about sudden rapid attacks not sneaking about.

In general I think this is a great improvement, the only hitch to me is he looks oddly similar to Rodan who also sported a similar head-crest and an armored-scale chest. The similarity isn't so great that it takes away from the speedster but it was the second thing that came to mind when I looked at him and that might be a problem. In any case this designs is a hell of a giant step and I very much love how he looks compared to what he once was.

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RenDragonClaw In reply to Ravensaurs-Rex [2014-03-20 02:08:54 +0000 UTC]

Rodan is the archetype so it's pretty difficult to get away from that entirely unless you go with a radically different species (like Confessoroc). Especially if you're going down the list of popular dinosaurs lol. The tri horn arrangement is also primarily a Heisei trait as most other versions of him go with the classic bi-crested split. There was actually a version of Seraphodon that Gregole came up with that was even MOAR Rodan like because it had the sharp, short bird beak. I kept the tri crest because the number has significant value in Christian mythos so at least on that front there's a reason. I did focus on the central one being much larger so that it ties in with classic pteranodon. They also have a more defined shape to them now as otherwise they were just huge spikes before lol. I didn't really intend for the chest to be 'armored' though the chest is the most important area for a creature like him. It has a different style as it resembles scale mail rather than plate as in Rodan's case. It reflects how the two attack. Rodan strafed things with his chest at super sonic speeds. It's got spikes and everything while still keeping wind resistance in mind (at least in later suits). Seraphodon meanwhile is a primarily talon, beak and wing buffet sort of creature and rarely comes in contact with his target unless there is something sharp and slashy doing the touching. Though, Seraphodon at least in his current state has two primary mood sets, calm and berserk. One for each type of drug that's administered. While calm, I can really see him being open to tactics and stealth, silently tracking his target before administering a sudden high pressure 'bomb'. While berserk he's the frenzy of areal murder we all know and love. While he was entirely off the drugs he was a capriciously cunning mix of the two.

The use of the wings as I've usually imagined them is a lot like gears for a car. Folding them in during a dive to increase speed or unfolding them to gain maneuverability. They'd either beat in time with each other or have a 1-2 tempo for hovering and launching. I usually think of wing shape in regards to birds as changing the shape of a whole span of flesh requires ligaments to alter the anchor points or a different curvature from wing tip to body. I wasn't thinking that much about it in regards to how I drew the wings here other than getting the limb and joint position to look more like a pterosaur and not a bat/dragon.Β  It's a nifty side effect though and I thank you for alerting me to the possibility of that wing combination being able to do that.

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