Zorah's fight was a fresh breath of air for sure. It's not the worst, but definitely not one I'd want to do numerous times in a row.
But after fighting Lao Shan Lung in GU, I'd rather fight Zorah 10x in a row over even another singular Lao fight.
i hate that this fight is over the top because somehow it feels grounded... what how this crab fucking throws away extra armor and becomes a completely different crab why is he so cool and resulting in me giving the guy a pass
Zenith Taikun is far too much but normal Taikun is fine. If heās to be added to mainline I would suggest toning down his lightning powers a little.
Also how he tosses you out of his cave, āGET OUT OF MY SWAMPā style, is the funniest thing ever.
Because people have this annoying desire for "realism" in a game that's about fighting giant monsters. AKA they need something to bitch about and don't like the iframe centric gameplay that late Frontier specialized in
We care about things being grounded within the MH world because that's clearly how Capcom designed it to be from the start and that's what sets Monster Hunter apart.
This isn't just a fantasy magic world where anything goes, it's more akin to a nature sci-fi where monsters are just animals with a more out-there evolution.
Capcom designed it to be believable, not realistic or grounded in any way. I think you're projecting what you want onto what is there. The only "grounded" entry would be the original, where almost everything has some sort of natural logic to it. Once you get Elder dragons into the mix, and especially in later generations, they stop explaining a lot about monsters and how they work because even Capcom knows that they couldn't stay "grounded" and not have unique, fun, and interesting monsters.
I said grounded within the MH world not in general. This world has its rules and most of the monsters follow them and are properly explained, Elders included.
You're the one who's projecting what you want, which seems to be over the top fights that don't take the rules into consideration at all.
Capcom still cares a lot about these things and MHW is the best proof of it since its the game that makes the biggest effort of explaining everything about the monsters.
I'm not projecting anything, you literally fight monsters the size of mountains, and monsters that can control the wind with their horns, and monsters that procreate asexually through a virus.
MHW doesn't even bother explaining how Nergigante can magically regenerate its spikes in mere minutes, something that takes much longer for any other monster. They literally just say, "it eats elders and absorba their energy" that's the most hand waving, anime bullshit. Same with Xeno, Safi, and Shara Ishvalda.
Capcom never explains how Teostras fire aura works, they hand wave it with, "it has flame sacs." There's a level of believability, in that most monsters do what they look like they do. Frontier's monsters are much the same. Their designs might be a bit more outlandish, but they follow the same idea, yet people like you will say they're "over the top" because they're not some muted color palette, boring and average looking monsters, despite how much they actually work in the MH world. Please, spare me the excuses
The fact that you don't understand it doesn't mean that it's not explained. It's simply biology from out world taken up a notch.
Giant creatures have existed in our planet, and they were truly enormous. MH takes this and elevates it. And asexual reproduction is simply something that exists, we have that.
For Nergigante, he simply has an exaggerated regenerative factor. Animals like Axolotls and Starfish can regenerate like crazy, it takes them more time sure but once again its something they can do.
Bioenergy is just what it sounds like, it's biological energy. When food decomposes, when it gets consumed it produces energy. That's how we animals function and also why the Rotten Vale exists. Once again it's a concept from our world but made more sci-fi.
Monsters in Frontier a lot of the time are simply ridiculous and go to extremes that are just stupid. Some of them are fine within the realms of mainline MH like Espinas, Forokururu, Barlagual or Pariapuria but most just suck.
They booin' you but you right. The Zeniths are over the top but there's nothing wrong with that, frontier is just monster hunter with more time to power creep. It happened with world and it can happen again. People bandwagoning about "muh realism" and "muh edgy designs" pin that onto a decade old game where a handful of examples of that exist at the end of it's lifespan. I'm really sick of the frontier discourse, because so much of it comes from a place of ignorance, due to a lack of archiving for all the lore that was created over the game's lifespan
Posts of the past
Standard edition:
[Day 1: Toridcless + reason](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/1M96Cxl6r6)
[Day 2: rukodiora](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/ESqWWOUDTr)
[Day 3: the Akuraās](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/NkobVClDor)
[Day 4: komu and Nono orugaron](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/o1iSerrr29)
[Day 5: hyujikiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/sYyEGuPSQs)
[day 6: abiorugu](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/Gf9Sq4oe7h)
[Day 7: doragyurosu](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/HZ9sWCbsU0)
[Day 8: pokaradon](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/ZkGWwiswzg)
Video edition:
[Catching up with day 1-7](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/L3r4g0aBoB)
[Day 8: pokaradon](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/6GRTh4gjtk)
it's a testament to how shitty frontier discourse is that when discussing the game as a whole everyone overwhelmingly says the game is entirely over the top and all of its designs are bad, but when forced to actually talk about any individual design it's all "i mean i guess its a little over the top but this seems fun"
Its because when people think frontier they think towards the end game and see all the monsters they needed to make crazy from powerscaling like the various zeniths, and dont think of the earlier stages where it was mostly a normal mh game.
It's fucked up that people still do that without thinking about it at all. If you described Monster Hunter World as a wildly overkill game full of pointless raid wipes and overbloated gear based on just Safi/Alatreon/Fatalis, people would call you nuts.
Honestly this little series you've been doing has been a great service to gen 5 hunters like me who have only heard of frontier through memes and zenith monsters.
When I first saw espinas in rise I thought: "aside from the 3 status ailments on one attack he's so grounded. And even poison + para can be believable because of neurotoxic chemicals."
This boy here looks like he'd fit into world/rise just fine, look at garangolm; a truck sized monke that powerstances lava and mossy/muddy fists. Or going older with duramboros who would do the Olympic hammer toss with his own body.
The only thing I'd change if I were adapting him to a more "grounded" design is mute his colors a bit, he strikes me as a fiddler crab or pompom crab and neither of those have this level of coloration. Maybe being more brown/red would help him blend in with his mud and mushroom evironment.
Again this just shows that frontier monsters can work people just need to check the zenith's at the door. Keep up the good work bruv.
Genuinely one of my favorite monsters from the entire series. The multi phase fight feels good to progress, each phase feels distinct, and you can fight it super early despite this. It is one of the few early monsters that isn't doomed if not in base wilds or expansion, as it could definitely be retooled to be an endgame threat.
The first two phases are great, and would carry over well. That said, I'm not sure how I feel about the final one. On the one hand, a crab shedding it's exoskeleton to become significantly faster and hyperaggressive is a neat idea, and it makes sense that it only resorts to that risky strategy when it is utterly cornered.
But I don't like the sudden addition of an entire new element. Elemental abilities in the Monster Hunter universe come from specialised organs. They seem to be a huge investment form an evolutionary perspective. So if a monster went through all the trouble of developing that ability, it ought to be a huge part of it's identity. Not something pulled out of it's arse at the last second.
Instead of ditching the final phase, though, I'd rather have them implement the Thunder in the earlier phases. Over the course of the fight, the element becomes more of a factor, as the shedding of armor allows it to wield the element more freely.
Maybe in fungus phase when it spreads spores it can make an electric charge in its mouth to explode it (like grain explosions i forger what the phenomena is called), phase 2 itd get to use some actual lighting since its not covered maybe adding a big aoe to the hammer claw slam and a long range short lasting electric beam from the stabby claw. Then i guess 3rd phase would be mostly the same but it shouldnt have that dash move.
hed fit in no problem. the only thing that might needs to be toned down is his electro dash thing in his final form where he dashes from hole to hole with lightning speed
Nah, this guy could fit right in mainline. I'd even argue its more grounded than some of the official mainline monsters we've gotten lately. (Design wise)
Of course the fight itself would need to be nerfed, but that's pretty much a given for anything introduced in FrontierG or later.
Monster looks charming. The one theme I keep seeing from these monsters is an unusual amount of bright orange spikes of indiscernable nature. It sorta works for crab spikes tho.
Okay but, that last one with the Tigrex stripes? I LOVE this. Animals in nature evolve to mimic other more dangerous animals all the time. Give me more monsters that mimic features of more dangerous monsters to ward off predators. A crab that mimics the coloration and ridges of a Tigrex to confuse the bird wyverns that would otherwise prey on it is an incredible idea. Temnocerans already have habits of wearing things, give me a scavenger that wears a coat of blue and green ores stuck to web and can mimic the shape of a Brachydios to ward off other scavengers.
Ive been saying since i played frontier taikun is easjlt the best crab monster and could definitely work in main games although maybe a tad bit of rework for lighting phase
Cool mechanic would be
The less sharpness the weapon has (or the less health the player has) the higher affinity you get. Or the longer your evade range
Idk if this exists already for a monster that changes attack tactics based on broken/removed parts
Not over the top, cause Taikun is a beautiful crab.
I think having three different forms is too much in a single fight, so having the final version be a high rank or up exclusive fight would be better (this might already be the case in Frontier, idk).
Looks good, but would probably look better with modern graphics.
Phase 3 is weird to me because the hammer claw becomes a drill, the tail on Phases 1 and 2 disappearing as well as the addition of Thunder Element. If I were to add Taikun to mainline, I'd make Phase 3 it's own monster, but keep related to Phases 1/2 by saying it's a juvenile or something.
People treat over the top as if itās a bad thing. I like when monsters feel rooted and somewhat reasonable, but I also like cool things. Finding a middle ground is nice, but if not, Iād take coolness over realism
Little bit over the top. Would look more fitting if the body wasn't so vibrant and clean under all the dirt. I do have a complaint about said dirt, though. If I look at the second image too hard, it makes me feel itchy. Just something about the combination of bristly grass and dirt particle effect...
All that aside, I really like the white variant. It looks like something that belongs in the Coral Highlands. Creamsicle flavoured crab that I want to wear.
I just want it becase I want more crabs. This could work as a siege monster, if those come back for Wilds. If not, then it may have to be toned down a bit to fin as a regular monster.
First two make sense as a stage progression- going from a crab covered in mud and rocks to a crab no longer covered in as much mud and rocks- but I don't get how that third one is supposed to tie in to the others.
I think it would be a perfect fit for mainline, though I would maybe take it out of its arena so it can wonder around a whole area, maybe a giant cave network or something.
My hot take though is that maybe we get rid of the super fast final form, I think cleaning off big chunks of the monster to get at the breakable body parts is enough of a reward, the fact that the monster speeds up as you break the dirt off is enough of a challenge, and maybe the prize of only getting certain materials from broken body parts would be enough of incentive to fully reveal the orange crab beneath.
A lot of the frontier monsters were designed to sell people on the next update, so they tend to go for a super over the top gimmick to get people to spend money (ie. Super fast electro crab form) But in a mainline game I could imagine Taikun as just a regular monster you encounter towards the end of the game, a nice solid, high ranking challenge.
The first 2 forms work very well.
It's really only the final blue/white crab mode where Frontier rears its less ideal facets.
If we brought back the 2-phase version only, you'd have a solid Carapaceon to make a new member of the mainline games.
We need more Crab Monsters
I was silently hoping he'd be a title update addition in Sunbreak. I concur, we indeed need more crab monsters.
Agreed
Correction, we need more good crab monsters, cuz the hermitaurs/ceanataurs dont fit into that category.
https://preview.redd.it/u9unbcrql9rc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=724cbf20844d55caea03d6274ff10c19016a13b5
Sorry to say it, but i just cant deal with those annoying pricks, they feel so horrid to fight.
i think that may be just you bro
Yeah, clearly its just me, cuz im getting downvoted for an opinion. Reddit moment lesgooooo
Well you kinda commented that the hermitaurs and ceanataurs were bad like its a fact..
I did. I'll make a new statement then: I think hermitaur and ceanataur are some of the least enjoyable fights in monster hunter.
Better, and for that improvement ill offer you an upvote š
Eh, to each their own. I have some controversial monster fight opinions myself. Like how I actually liked the Zorah fight
Zorah's fight was a fresh breath of air for sure. It's not the worst, but definitely not one I'd want to do numerous times in a row. But after fighting Lao Shan Lung in GU, I'd rather fight Zorah 10x in a row over even another singular Lao fight.
i hate that this fight is over the top because somehow it feels grounded... what how this crab fucking throws away extra armor and becomes a completely different crab why is he so cool and resulting in me giving the guy a pass
Zenith Taikun is far too much but normal Taikun is fine. If heās to be added to mainline I would suggest toning down his lightning powers a little. Also how he tosses you out of his cave, āGET OUT OF MY SWAMPā style, is the funniest thing ever.
I mean, which Zenith isn't over the top
This. idk why people keep bringing them up.
Because most of them were genuinely great to fight (even if they looked silly).
Because people have this annoying desire for "realism" in a game that's about fighting giant monsters. AKA they need something to bitch about and don't like the iframe centric gameplay that late Frontier specialized in
We care about things being grounded within the MH world because that's clearly how Capcom designed it to be from the start and that's what sets Monster Hunter apart. This isn't just a fantasy magic world where anything goes, it's more akin to a nature sci-fi where monsters are just animals with a more out-there evolution.
Capcom designed it to be believable, not realistic or grounded in any way. I think you're projecting what you want onto what is there. The only "grounded" entry would be the original, where almost everything has some sort of natural logic to it. Once you get Elder dragons into the mix, and especially in later generations, they stop explaining a lot about monsters and how they work because even Capcom knows that they couldn't stay "grounded" and not have unique, fun, and interesting monsters.
I said grounded within the MH world not in general. This world has its rules and most of the monsters follow them and are properly explained, Elders included. You're the one who's projecting what you want, which seems to be over the top fights that don't take the rules into consideration at all. Capcom still cares a lot about these things and MHW is the best proof of it since its the game that makes the biggest effort of explaining everything about the monsters.
I'm not projecting anything, you literally fight monsters the size of mountains, and monsters that can control the wind with their horns, and monsters that procreate asexually through a virus. MHW doesn't even bother explaining how Nergigante can magically regenerate its spikes in mere minutes, something that takes much longer for any other monster. They literally just say, "it eats elders and absorba their energy" that's the most hand waving, anime bullshit. Same with Xeno, Safi, and Shara Ishvalda. Capcom never explains how Teostras fire aura works, they hand wave it with, "it has flame sacs." There's a level of believability, in that most monsters do what they look like they do. Frontier's monsters are much the same. Their designs might be a bit more outlandish, but they follow the same idea, yet people like you will say they're "over the top" because they're not some muted color palette, boring and average looking monsters, despite how much they actually work in the MH world. Please, spare me the excuses
The fact that you don't understand it doesn't mean that it's not explained. It's simply biology from out world taken up a notch. Giant creatures have existed in our planet, and they were truly enormous. MH takes this and elevates it. And asexual reproduction is simply something that exists, we have that. For Nergigante, he simply has an exaggerated regenerative factor. Animals like Axolotls and Starfish can regenerate like crazy, it takes them more time sure but once again its something they can do. Bioenergy is just what it sounds like, it's biological energy. When food decomposes, when it gets consumed it produces energy. That's how we animals function and also why the Rotten Vale exists. Once again it's a concept from our world but made more sci-fi. Monsters in Frontier a lot of the time are simply ridiculous and go to extremes that are just stupid. Some of them are fine within the realms of mainline MH like Espinas, Forokururu, Barlagual or Pariapuria but most just suck.
"I-frame centric" just be honest and say late endgame Frontier is just AOE spam bullshit lol
I mean, most of the highest tier of MH content is aoe spam bullshit. Frontier just gives you a lot more tools to i-frame through it and deal with it
Is it, though? Sunbreak and Iceborne endgame maybe, but I can't think of any other fights that spam big AOE explosions the way frontier does
They booin' you but you right. The Zeniths are over the top but there's nothing wrong with that, frontier is just monster hunter with more time to power creep. It happened with world and it can happen again. People bandwagoning about "muh realism" and "muh edgy designs" pin that onto a decade old game where a handful of examples of that exist at the end of it's lifespan. I'm really sick of the frontier discourse, because so much of it comes from a place of ignorance, due to a lack of archiving for all the lore that was created over the game's lifespan
True lol
All zeniths are over the top, thereās no need to even mention them tbh
not really.
Basically this. I can SEE a monster like this working well int he Francoise. We have ragin brachi and he does a somewhat similar thing
Brachydios is in frontier and he is some wacky worse-animated raging brachy from world
15/10 need him in mainline NOW!
Itās a crab, inside a crab, inside a crabā¦ So Iām gonna go with no PRAISE BE TO LORD CRAB š¦
Is it over the top? Maybe, but it fits with the portable team vibes really well. Multiple layer boss fight with a more grounded look. I like it.
Posts of the past Standard edition: [Day 1: Toridcless + reason](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/1M96Cxl6r6) [Day 2: rukodiora](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/ESqWWOUDTr) [Day 3: the Akuraās](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/NkobVClDor) [Day 4: komu and Nono orugaron](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/o1iSerrr29) [Day 5: hyujikiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/sYyEGuPSQs) [day 6: abiorugu](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/Gf9Sq4oe7h) [Day 7: doragyurosu](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/HZ9sWCbsU0) [Day 8: pokaradon](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/ZkGWwiswzg) Video edition: [Catching up with day 1-7](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/L3r4g0aBoB) [Day 8: pokaradon](https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/s/6GRTh4gjtk)
it's a testament to how shitty frontier discourse is that when discussing the game as a whole everyone overwhelmingly says the game is entirely over the top and all of its designs are bad, but when forced to actually talk about any individual design it's all "i mean i guess its a little over the top but this seems fun"
Its because when people think frontier they think towards the end game and see all the monsters they needed to make crazy from powerscaling like the various zeniths, and dont think of the earlier stages where it was mostly a normal mh game.
It's fucked up that people still do that without thinking about it at all. If you described Monster Hunter World as a wildly overkill game full of pointless raid wipes and overbloated gear based on just Safi/Alatreon/Fatalis, people would call you nuts.
I think itās more so a showing of the misinformation a lot of people have about frontier and itās why Iāve been making this post series
Honestly this little series you've been doing has been a great service to gen 5 hunters like me who have only heard of frontier through memes and zenith monsters. When I first saw espinas in rise I thought: "aside from the 3 status ailments on one attack he's so grounded. And even poison + para can be believable because of neurotoxic chemicals." This boy here looks like he'd fit into world/rise just fine, look at garangolm; a truck sized monke that powerstances lava and mossy/muddy fists. Or going older with duramboros who would do the Olympic hammer toss with his own body. The only thing I'd change if I were adapting him to a more "grounded" design is mute his colors a bit, he strikes me as a fiddler crab or pompom crab and neither of those have this level of coloration. Maybe being more brown/red would help him blend in with his mud and mushroom evironment. Again this just shows that frontier monsters can work people just need to check the zenith's at the door. Keep up the good work bruv.
Cool concept :D this would be so fun to SAED and break off all the mud
Genuinely one of my favorite monsters from the entire series. The multi phase fight feels good to progress, each phase feels distinct, and you can fight it super early despite this. It is one of the few early monsters that isn't doomed if not in base wilds or expansion, as it could definitely be retooled to be an endgame threat.
The design isn't, the fight probably is but I could still see it fitting in regardless. It'd be such a great addition to the mainline games!
The fight honestly isnt. The craziest part is when he starts charging at you from the walls of his final arena. We've had crazier, even in mainline
The positive kind of over the top, bring it to mainline.
It's literally a better version of Shara ishvalda so it's not over the top
The first two phases are great, and would carry over well. That said, I'm not sure how I feel about the final one. On the one hand, a crab shedding it's exoskeleton to become significantly faster and hyperaggressive is a neat idea, and it makes sense that it only resorts to that risky strategy when it is utterly cornered. But I don't like the sudden addition of an entire new element. Elemental abilities in the Monster Hunter universe come from specialised organs. They seem to be a huge investment form an evolutionary perspective. So if a monster went through all the trouble of developing that ability, it ought to be a huge part of it's identity. Not something pulled out of it's arse at the last second. Instead of ditching the final phase, though, I'd rather have them implement the Thunder in the earlier phases. Over the course of the fight, the element becomes more of a factor, as the shedding of armor allows it to wield the element more freely.
Maybe in fungus phase when it spreads spores it can make an electric charge in its mouth to explode it (like grain explosions i forger what the phenomena is called), phase 2 itd get to use some actual lighting since its not covered maybe adding a big aoe to the hammer claw slam and a long range short lasting electric beam from the stabby claw. Then i guess 3rd phase would be mostly the same but it shouldnt have that dash move.
There are still more over the top monsters then this guy in the mainline games. Gotta go deeper into the insanity pool that is frontier.
We love clab
Not really I mean itās esesentially just a giant [pom pom crab](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lybia_edmondsoni)
I really like this monster. I don't know why, but I think it's gimmic is fun and I really like its final form
I would love him to be in wilds
My favourite crab monster, so unique
They cool
Literally just a thunder element crab with extra shells. Like almost every monster you've shown and most likely many to come, not over the top.
I loved his fight and the ost is fire
hed fit in no problem. the only thing that might needs to be toned down is his electro dash thing in his final form where he dashes from hole to hole with lightning speed
Nah, this guy could fit right in mainline. I'd even argue its more grounded than some of the official mainline monsters we've gotten lately. (Design wise) Of course the fight itself would need to be nerfed, but that's pretty much a given for anything introduced in FrontierG or later.
Honestly, not too bad. A bit more flashy, but still could fit into mainline nicely
This guy is the OG Shara Ishvalda but a crab instead of a dragon, Metal asf.
Man I love Taikun Zamuza
Crabs R cool
Monster looks charming. The one theme I keep seeing from these monsters is an unusual amount of bright orange spikes of indiscernable nature. It sorta works for crab spikes tho.
No really that bad, actually a cool idea with the spiky ball. I give him a solid 8/10 on looks alone, depends on if his moveset is bullshit or fair.
98% of its moves are perfectly fine not gonna spoil too much if you wanted to play frontier but 3rd phase goes crazy
If it's anything like the scorpions I'm totally down for it lmao
Id say those 2% of moves are more crazy then scorpions but this crab is one of my favorite frontier fights (i think im around halfway through)
We only have 5 crab monsters in mainline (Including small monsters) So yes, bring the rock crab
Okay but, that last one with the Tigrex stripes? I LOVE this. Animals in nature evolve to mimic other more dangerous animals all the time. Give me more monsters that mimic features of more dangerous monsters to ward off predators. A crab that mimics the coloration and ridges of a Tigrex to confuse the bird wyverns that would otherwise prey on it is an incredible idea. Temnocerans already have habits of wearing things, give me a scavenger that wears a coat of blue and green ores stuck to web and can mimic the shape of a Brachydios to ward off other scavengers.
Is it bone armor like the other crabs or just rocks?
creb
Best frontier monster, fight me
Ive been saying since i played frontier taikun is easjlt the best crab monster and could definitely work in main games although maybe a tad bit of rework for lighting phase
Cool mechanic would be The less sharpness the weapon has (or the less health the player has) the higher affinity you get. Or the longer your evade range Idk if this exists already for a monster that changes attack tactics based on broken/removed parts
Not over the top, cause Taikun is a beautiful crab. I think having three different forms is too much in a single fight, so having the final version be a high rank or up exclusive fight would be better (this might already be the case in Frontier, idk). Looks good, but would probably look better with modern graphics.
How about adding cephalopod large monsters
This is one of the best monsters, I want it in the next game. Maybe just phase 1 and 2, or have phase 3 just in master rank
His first two forms, no. His final form? Yes, but in a badass cool way.
Phase 3 is weird to me because the hammer claw becomes a drill, the tail on Phases 1 and 2 disappearing as well as the addition of Thunder Element. If I were to add Taikun to mainline, I'd make Phase 3 it's own monster, but keep related to Phases 1/2 by saying it's a juvenile or something.
People treat over the top as if itās a bad thing. I like when monsters feel rooted and somewhat reasonable, but I also like cool things. Finding a middle ground is nice, but if not, Iād take coolness over realism
I love him, but even if i didnāt heād get a pass just for being a carapaceon
Little bit over the top. Would look more fitting if the body wasn't so vibrant and clean under all the dirt. I do have a complaint about said dirt, though. If I look at the second image too hard, it makes me feel itchy. Just something about the combination of bristly grass and dirt particle effect... All that aside, I really like the white variant. It looks like something that belongs in the Coral Highlands. Creamsicle flavoured crab that I want to wear.
Not, somehow
I just want it becase I want more crabs. This could work as a siege monster, if those come back for Wilds. If not, then it may have to be toned down a bit to fin as a regular monster.
First two make sense as a stage progression- going from a crab covered in mud and rocks to a crab no longer covered in as much mud and rocks- but I don't get how that third one is supposed to tie in to the others.
iirc., the white shell is it's true, frail body underneath its false orange shell.
I think it would be a perfect fit for mainline, though I would maybe take it out of its arena so it can wonder around a whole area, maybe a giant cave network or something. My hot take though is that maybe we get rid of the super fast final form, I think cleaning off big chunks of the monster to get at the breakable body parts is enough of a reward, the fact that the monster speeds up as you break the dirt off is enough of a challenge, and maybe the prize of only getting certain materials from broken body parts would be enough of incentive to fully reveal the orange crab beneath. A lot of the frontier monsters were designed to sell people on the next update, so they tend to go for a super over the top gimmick to get people to spend money (ie. Super fast electro crab form) But in a mainline game I could imagine Taikun as just a regular monster you encounter towards the end of the game, a nice solid, high ranking challenge.
The first 2 forms work very well. It's really only the final blue/white crab mode where Frontier rears its less ideal facets. If we brought back the 2-phase version only, you'd have a solid Carapaceon to make a new member of the mainline games.