“A wolf is kept fed by his feet, not by its glowing explosion horns” might be new my favorite quote.

If epic kill monsters don't happen then how come I exist

"A wolf is kept fed by its feet, not by its glowing exploding horns" It's true, my grandpa use to say that all the time

Fun Crackpot theory for Valstrax: Rather than being analogous to falcons, Valstrax are actually the seals/sea lions of the sky. Monsters like Narwa and Yama Tsukami show that the world may host an entire ecosystem miles above ground, and Valstax is one of the only species that can exploit both terrestrial and high-altitude zones. The dream is that a future monster hunter game will have a map set on top a floating island or giant Yama Tsukami so we can experience it.

As I theorized in the UHC discord, I hypothesize Brachydios being a small prey specialist using its pounders and slime to excavate hidden small prey like a badger digging up squirrels. If it has prey trapped then the prime time of the slime isn't an issue and by blowing up the rock instead it protects the prey from being obliterated by the indirect nature of the blast. It primes its slime like the C4 on a safe in a heist movie and if the blast doesn't do the job the pounders break apart the weakened rock giving access to the meal trapped inside. We even discussed if this has to do with its conflict with Agnaktor, as Uroktors are likely an ideal meal for Brachydios and the Agnaktor may be hostile to a potential predator of its young like the Raths with Seregios.

Bazelgeuse once again proving why he's one of the best designs in the series. Not just badass, unique, and flashy, but also somewhat ecologically sound. Speaking of soundness or lack thereof I'd love to see you try and tackle Valstrax once and for all, to try and see if he can fill that falcon niche you mentioned in the Legiana video

High risk survival strategies like supercompetition and even self-harming evolutionary traits like brachy's mold might not be as unviable in the monster hunter world with the existence of hyper-medicinal remedies like vitalilies, vigorwasps, and herbs completely changes how one would approach danger. Even if their effect isn't instantaneous as it's depicted in game, the ecosystems provide different vectors of healing that would make recovering from greivous injury quickly and reliably enough to approach situations with greater confidence of survival- assuming they make it out of the initial encounter (which would also necessitate high lethality evolutionary traits since the komodo dragon method wouldn't work). A little bit of foraging might be all it takes for a predator to remedy an otherwise crippling injury before it can so much as begin to starve to death.

Zinogre's charge has always felt like a feature developed for intraspecific confrontation to me. I always thought two Zinogre squaring up would rather show off their charge instead of phisically fighting at the risk of hurting each other, the one that lures more fulgurbugs and thus generates higher charge and "shines" more would be dominant. It should also count as a honest signal, since a Zinogre unable to properly lure bugs clearly has somethign wrong with it and wouldn't make an insteresting mate. Another option I've considered could be that fulgurbugs may function as a form of anti-parasite that keeps pests away (been wanting a Wyvern Tick as a rare drop fro monsters for years) while in turn they get a safe shelter and a chance at dispersal or meeting their own kind by sticking with the fanged wyvern. Zinogre doesn't really need its electric attacks to hunt (it eats Gargwas, you really do not need elemental power for those) or defending itself, it already has the size, strength and agility to fend off the majority of predators that it could encounter in its mountainous habitat.

I think one good example for why super competition isn't viable is when you look at humans because humans are the number one species on the planet and instead of being able to breathe fire or something we have intelligence we're great marathon runners we have opposable thumbs we have social order and a bunch of other seemingly boring stuff that when it mixes together becomes incredibly powerful instead of having one super flashy ability.

I've always pictured brachydios as a hyper-aggressive ore eater rather than a top order predator. The shape of its jaw and tail club suggests a hard food source in need of rigorous crushing and grinding. It would explain why the mold seems inefficient for hunting and aggression, because it's primary purpose is foraging ores. Priming it with saliva lets it choose when to set it off, the delay lets it reach a safe distance (since we established its armor is poor for resisting frontward explosions- but might be better at surviving caveins). You could argue the pompadour is for precision placing slime when excavating a narrow ore vein where only its head fits. It was probably coopted as a weapon due to its overtly aggressive disposition, but even then it's more effective as a defensive mechanism (as exemplified by raging brachy).

Lesson learned: predators only need the weapons enough to get the job done

15:34 Obviously Cheetahs just need to evolve to be faster to the point where they can create afterimages, then they can take their rightful place as the super-mega-apex species 😎. I see no way that an increase in speed optimized anatomy could backfire in this endeavour. In all seriousness, great video. Would love to see more in this vein, as someone who messes around with spec evo your videos are always a source of inspiration, wether for something I’m currently working on or something I’ve yet to start on.

Absolutely love these videos, i'm always interested to learn more about biology/zoology in order to help my writing and you attributing it to MH is a blessing.

I think I have a general pool of ideas for Brachydios. 1: I've said before, but I believe the pounders themselves evolved to help kill hard-shelled prey. It's shown to hunt Rhenoplos in the older games at least, and I can imagine it taking Apceros that venture near volcanic areas as well. Even if it's mouth can bite through such shells, injuring hardier prey with other weaponry is often the case when quicker kills aren't as possible. Brachy isn't going to instantly crunch through a Rhenoplos like a pufferfish can through a crab. Also the bluntness probably serves as better intraspecific weaponry against the harder upper shells of other Brachys than their claws. 2: I don't think it's likely that Brachy actually HUNT things like Uragaan, Gravios, and Agnaktor like Akantor would. I think instances shown of them fighting are moreso just encounters that escalated into life or death. Brachy may coincidentally have the equipment to process the hard shell of Uragaan, but even then the tar that covers their body is likely unappealing regardless. I could see Brachy hunting juvenile Uragaan and Basarios, however. It's not unlike how we see Rathalos attacking Nargacuga. Rathalos certainly could kill and consume one, but it's moreso just a result of not wanting it in it's territory. 3: I think the slime's primary use could actually be as an intimidation display. While not as safe as a Bazel bombing run, we do see Brachy scrape it's arms on the ground often, which allows the slime to dislodge and explode. Between roars, explosions only further add to the loudness and displayed danger of Brachy. The slime is also brightly colored as well, which is a common trait for things that are displaying that they are something that shouldn't be messed with. And perhaps that's why Brachy formed a relationship with the slime in the first place. It's not explicitly meant for predation, but was a way of perhaps a weaker, more vulnerable ancestor of Brachy to intimidate more immediate predators. It doesn't exactly matter that the slime is slow-acting when used in combat. Much like an animal attacking another that's poisonous. The poison isn't going to be effective within seconds, but it still ends up acting as a deterrent. This also in turn cultivated the slime to become more and more explosive over time as well, as their hosts became more resilient, allowing for better spreading and multiplying. Buuuut that's enough from the Brachy Defense Squad. I'd be perfectly fine with more short-form videos in between the bigger releases. Just means more good content!

This is like Anti-TierZoo. I dig it.

Have you ever considered doing some videos on the spec Evo on the monsters from the game Pikmin? Their not as flashy as monster hunter monsters but there's just as much effort to explain their roles in the ecosystems

I think among all these arguments for what all these adaptations can be alternatively useful for, and how they could still be effective for hunting, it's actually important to note that nearly all turf wars in the game end in mere seconds and almost always end in one or both monsters running/walking away afterward. These aren't all predatory interactions, and half of the cutscenes tend to support this. I imagine the majority of these extreme adaptations and weapons are just there to scare away predators, discourage fighting, and fight for mates. I could be wrong, but that's my guess.

There's a curious example of a predator that eats mostly "predators" of its same size, albeit it wouldn't exist whithout our intervention. The grey wolf populations of the iberian peninsula feed largely in asociation with livestock (horses, cows...) but the prey that they choose more often are the shepherd dogs that watch over the herds of cows. They also consume a lot of foxes and domestic cats, maybe because hunting cows/horses its more work for the small-ish packs that live around here than just killing their domestic counterparts.

Commented to the same effect on the design video, but I think the Brachydios' slime splats against a hard surface and then detonates could mean it functions, in the same way as a HESH round, which is a kind of tank shell used primarily by the British army. It's a shell with a thin exterior full of soft plastic explosive - when it strikes the target, it squashes and spreads before being detonated, kind of in the same way Brachy's slime pancakes against hard surfaces before exploding after a few moments. This causes shockwaves that ripple through the structure of hard armour - in warfare it primarily results in spalling on the interior of an armoured vehicle that causes the interior surface of the armour to flechette and ricochet around the interior, killing the crew, though in the case of a monster with stony or chitinous armour it's more likely to result in ruptured organs, concussion, internal bleeding and the like. Obviously Gravios is the prime candidate when it comes to large prey with hard armour but it's not the only one, there are a lot of creatures with hard armour in volcanic regions lower down the pecking order like Basarios, Volvidon and Ceanataur that might fit the bill without it coming into too much direct competition with super-predators like Akantor. This method of hunting is also consisten with the way Brachy's fingers protude backwards from below the pounds and appear to be long and strong if not particularly dextrous. I think they're for prising hard armour plates off of prey that have succumbed to internal injuries so Brachy can feed.

I think the slime of Brachydios is atleast useful in killing massive prey like Uragaan. Brachydios is more agile so it could Hit a Uragaan multiple times before the Uragaan can even turn to see the Brachydios and defend itself or roll away. But otherwise I can't really imagine the slime to be useful in any other way. Even Uragaan lives in volcanic areas, so explosions and fire realistically wouldn't be that effective. Maybe it is mainly used as a form of defense (like shown in the Agnaktor cutscene, Agnaktor is the aggressor, not Brachy) and thus possibly sexual selection too. Edit: I also think that the existence of Akantor isn't much of a problem for Brachydios. Yes, an encounter would probably a death sentence for Brachy, but here is the thing: Akantor is said to be really rare, rarer than some elder dragons. Also Akantor mainly lives in secluded areas in volcanoes where barely any predator other than Elders or Raging Brachydios (it is stated that it gets the flashpoint slime in more secluded areas of volcanoes) would go. So an encounter between normals Brachydios and Akantor is probably very rare.

Unexpected yet welcome surprise. These videos are some of the most helpful for us creature designers, gotta be grateful for this content

I appreciate the crap out of this video. I stumbled on this while world-building, and it really helped me build my death world.

According to a data book for MHRise, apparently the horns, spikes, etc on Magnamalo are for sexual display or so I heard. Just thought I'd let you in on that.

I feel Brachydios would work great as a herbivore and ore eater. Then have it so that the fist slime works by being excreted during stress like terror sweat. We already have Iguanodon, a big animal that had big ass arms. Thus, having Brachydios be like that makes perfect sense

Interesting analysis! As a fan of monsters in general, it is engrossing to compare monsters to real life animals, and examining the requirements for the more fantastical elements. "You don't need to explodorize bones to kill things" is a hilarious, but logical, way to think about these supposed extreme adaptations.

I like these more broad concept videos about stuff like "superweapons" or basic design. I'd like to see more of them.

In Magnamalo's defense, the games do state that it's ludicrous armor is apparently this ludicrous due to sexual selection. Which, I guess makes them somewhat akin to Peacocks. Still no idea how they're meant to survive tho, unless they were secretly herbivores or "hunters" of sessile organisms all along. I feel like both it and Brachydios must be far less top-ordery than Monster Hunter likes to pretend. I assume we only see the larger males with both, and they surely must have Raptorwyvern-esque small counterparts hiding somewhere. Brachydios massively resembles that subset of Birdwyverns, after all.

I’m of the opinion that Magnamalo’s very over-the-top design could actually be just that ecologically - over-the-top, meant to be an intimidation tactic. The glowing hellfire it makes as exhaust, having fangs, spines, and a tail that can fan out and retract, and generally being a large-looking, vibrantly-colored animal suggests to me that more than anything, Magnamalo is trying to communicate that it isn’t to be messed with. Magnamalo is a very mobile wyvern, as seen by its movement in battle and across the map, as it scales the mountainous parts of the shrine ruins with ease. Its environment, additionally, are all inclusive of varying elevations and narrow clearings. The shrine ruins, frost islands, and lava caverns are all very complex terrain, with little in the way of open space. In areas like these, Magnamalo’s vibrancy doesn’t matter, as it can still easily function as an ambush predator to things like the weaker fanged beasts and bird wyverns. These monsters may not even register how vibrant Magnamalo is - tigers, to their prey, are certainly not bright orange. Instead, I theorize that Magnamalo produces its hellfire when eating as a sign to warn other predators that might try to steal its kills from far away. The glow, especially given Magnamalo’s intro cutscene is at night, would be easily noticeable by other predators from a distance, ensuring that it isn’t disturbed while eating.

I once heard someone say that in most fiction related situations adults ask ”why?” once. If you explain in convincing enough detail how something like Tobi-Kadachi generates electricity it becomes easier for people to accept some more fantastical monsters

12:07 I like that humans and Rexy are both extremely well adapted for distance walking

I just assumed that it was to protect against being predated. After all, we know that Magnamalo is preyed upon by some elder dragons like Narwa.

Argument here: Brachydios: The slime of a Brachydios might taste terrible similar to the Hagfish (again we are back to this guy lol) which like the Hagfish would repel opponents since Brachydios' least defensive point is it's underside. Considering that if baby Brachydios can accidentally kill themselves with slime, due to it being a entire different thing of it's own. Another usage likely is that this is how they temper and harden their shells. Again, we see this example with Raging Brachydios: A Brachydios large, old and strong enough to withstand the Flashpoint Slime, which tempers it's shell even more! It is now so strong anc tough that it makes Raging Brachydios' tier the same as Savage Deviljho, Seething Bazelgeuse, Scorned Magnamalo, Furious Rajang, Mid-Tier to High-Mid Tier Elder Dragons like Teostra, Lunastra, Kushala, Chameleos, Vaal Hazak, Namielle, Velkhana, Nergigante etc.

I would make a couple of defences/comments on this theory. First of all is the misnomer that these creatures have evolved superweapons at all. Compared to reality the monster world is far more energetically rich, so seemingly excessive adaptations don't have the same drawbacks we'd expect in reality. When everyone's super, no one will be etc. These weapons are arguably less effective in interspecific combat than in real life; a lion can end a hyena with a good bite, whereas Bazelgeuse and Deviljho can dramatically crash and explode into one another repeatedly and both walk away with little lasting damage. Monsters are so naturally resilient that such 'superweapons' are necessary to even tickle each other. It's a fairly normal evolutionary arms race, it simply looks more dramatic than it really is. Take Rajang and Kirin; we all know how absurd Rajang is. If it's 'hunting' Kirin with any degree of regularity, Kirin's lightning powers look a lot more reasonable as a defence mechanism. Or say, if Brachydios predates Uragaan (I've only played World so this might be off base). Uragaan needs that shell to defend itself, and Brachydios needs such explosive power to hope to take Uragaan down. If anything doesn't make sense in the monster world it's the continuing presence of mid-sized, slow and defenceless herbivores. Elder dragons we see a bit less as a rule, but if Nergigante is an expected, highly aggressive regenerating predator, then again they don't seem so absurd. Lunastra and Teostra rely on cooperation to defend themselves successfully, for instance. But maybe this is all a moot point as all these ludicrously powered creatures are simply defence mechanisms against humans. Seeing as a few particularly good hunters can still slaughter even the toughtest of elder dragons, maybe that's what really drives the escalating evolutionary power creep, and all the other trophic interactions under that are just the fallout of this. This is a rather messy thought dump some time after actually watching so forgive me for any mistakes.

As a fellow who dabbles in speculative evolution, this video was super helpful and informative! Would love to see more like it

imma say magnamalo woud make for a great surprise herbivore not just because of all the weaponry but the vibrant coloring and most of all the use of flamable gas something completly associated with big herbs

I don’t want super accurate MH animals, but I don’t want super ridiculous animals either. MH is about finding that balance between the “ok I could see this” and “damn this is sick” reaction when seeing a monster for the first time. Which I think rise and Sunbreak have mainly veered into the rule of cool territory, but as long as a fight is fun, I don’t mind too much. I just hope it doesn’t go overboard

Been hearing you critique all these ubermonsters, and I love your theories, but I'm actually curious to see what YOU could design based in science while being epic as hell

Dougal Dixon is so fucking weird. Like, he'd draw some insane shit, everybody would roll their eyes and be like "pfft, sure thing Dixon", and then thirty years later we'll dig up an animal that looks fucking exactly like what he drew, like Yi qi

Just add to the back story some sort of nanobot situation providing exponentially more energy for your alien species cells. Because something something 0 point energy. Digital mitochondria. But also explain "psychic field hive minds" and such. Nanites in the atmosphere. Also make the digital bits responsible for managing mutation. Now you could have super evolution, super competition, even super cooperation.

I love this kind of focus on educational content for spec evo design. Love all your work, cheers!

I like to think the world of monster hunter is kind of like the insect world, filled with monsters that have imaginative abilities that rival the known abilities of the insect world, just scaled up to 1000. Once you start to think of the monsters like insects, fighting each other with their crazy abilities for food/dominance it starts to feel a bit more grounded. Despite this, I do however think some are overdesigned such as Rise's flagship: Maggy. One thing to note is the descriptions having "carapace" in their name. Just goes to show that maybe it's not so outlandish for the monsters to have insane abilities after all a lot of animals in the micro world have bizarre abilities for hunting such as spiders having webs that are more than strong enough for their prey or bombardier Beatles that use chemical attacks to scare off larger predators, or even the pistol shrimp that can shoot bubbles hot enough to produce light (though it can't be seen with how short it last) Honestly, I feel there is still a ton of room left to make vastly unique monsters that have more insect-like properties similar to Astalos

Excellent video! Good stuff for us spec creators to keep in mind.

I do think it’s important to note that Brachydios when enraged, seemingly makes its slime explode on impact which makes far more sense in a fight where you need something dead fast. It could be something that is actually more voluntary, able to actively stimulate the slime for this enraged mode for proper combat situations, and its normal form being more of a warning to not engage Brachy. That being said it is baffling that Capcom didn’t put emphasis on this rage mode in any cutscenes, and it would of made a lot of sense for it to turn it on for a fight against agnaktor.

First off, top tier video like always. Genuinely love getting this level of nitty-gritty information. Your vids are always an instant watch for me. Second, of all the things mentioned here, your closing comments on how what you're talking about isn't canon may actually be the most important. I know people can get pretty defensive when criticism is brought up (Fuck you Valstrax is badass), but I appreciate that the main bulk of your content is an examination from one single facet of the series. An important one, of course, but not the only one. I've mentioned elsewhere, but MH designs need to balance fantasy concepts, anime stylization, a light dose of realism, and (what might get glossed over the most) the necessity for the monsters design to functionally act as a video game boss. In this regard, I appreciate that while each individual monster may shift in its strengths among its goals, they at least attempt for everything.

Your videos are great, I’ve made a few monsters inspired by monster hunter myself as well as google docs trying to explain their ecology and why they’re the way they are, your videos have really helped me design these monsters because I always try to consider what would and wouldn’t make sense, but of course I’m no expert so my reasonings could be horrible

A truly well made and pertinent video ! Again ! Yeah, this trope to show only competion, with subject predators, when the animals kill preys or fight others carnivores is very common (even if not as common than before. Most wild nature documentaries about animals life today since some decades are quite diverses in term of themes and subjects others than the competition aspect when they depict an animal life) still pretty strongly in mind when we think about animals ecology and the Evolution's History of their respective family/order. In addition, as a unvolontary but bad bonus effect, to depict them as bloodthirsty mindless beast that attack everything at view. Which of course is not the case. Sure, the competion domain still a big component of an animal life and specie evolutionary direction, but it's not the only component and plenty others things can put pression on the specie to adopt one particular behavior or an other. For the case of Monster Hunter, the idea that if almost every creatures are so ridiculy buffed to the maximum with many badass and cool looking superpowers is because mainly to proprely fight as best possible the others monsters between themselves. It's not a stupid idea on the surface. Of course, your video had explain just why in nature and real life, the "supercompetion" where totally every animals and especially predators, in a same location, evolved at the maximum to protect themselves and attack the others just don't happen at all. Because animals must avoid as possible any kind of injuries, sensible and dangerous situation and keeping most of their body energy, every animals will evolved to avoid competion with others animals. By taking differents ways, with some leading to the apex predators niche for the luckiest of them, and others leading to only flee in front of the first. If competion happen noneless, it's because it can only be put on the lowest level, never entirely shut down. And some animals will whatevers happen entered in competion with others animals (like in Lions, Hyenas for example). Also, However, in the world of Monster Hunter, to this day, whatevers in game on a hunt, during the cinamtics, etc... of every entries of the franchise, we have seen very few kills/death made by a monster on an other one. Sure, we have a lot of fighting whatevers in game and in the cinematics, more famousely known today as "Turf War" (especially in the recents entries and especially in MH World). But very few case when we see directly a monster actually killing an other. Most of the time, we see two monsters entered a fight, this latter during most of the time few second to one minute only, and the two stop with one of them fleeing in front of the others. And, actually, this kind of behaviors is very realist since it's an extremely ultra common scene/situation and behaviors that animals do in nature. So, even if the designs are and still ridiculy buffed to a more funny point than anything else, it's show that monsters in general not have developt such overpowered abilities only to resist and attack at their best to the others monsters between themselves but also maybe due to others pressions on them given by their environnement. Afterall, many of them still have a ecology missunderstood or with plot holes. Also, even if Monster Hunter is a 50/50 mixbag when it's come to realism, and even if the franchise still a pretty interesting and good Speculative Evolution universe in many ways, it's still firstly games mean for fun and to play good time by hunting creatures. The creators made mainly serious and important work of logic and realism on the creature and their ecology in order to made them more alive and put more deepth in the games, but let liberties because it's not means to be educationals, and embrace his fiction aspect. But for any kind of true serious scientific spec evo world, which the main goal is to be educative by using fictional examples, these same kind of liberties can't be accepted. The world must be serious in 100% when it's come about the biological and evolutionary domain.

I feel like MH designs are half Speculative Evo, and half Rule-of-Cool. Also, unrelated to the video, but I've been thinking about the potential of Pseudo-magic having existed at some point during the history of Monster hunter's world(but died out somehow). I KNOW that the main thing about MH and it's creatures is that magic is never used, but that doesn't completely rule out the possibility of it existing. The kind of Pseudo-magic I'm thinking of would be things like bioenergy, or the twins resonating with dragons- things and abilities that can just Almost be explained, but don't have an exact parallel to our world.

I love this! Fiercely educational and interesting spec-evo. I’d love to see more shorter videos like this on the side of the bigger videos

I love your videos. They're exceptionally educational and insightful to the design of fictional creatures. I'd love to see a video on Valstrax or Nergigante since they're such odd animals in the MH world. Hope you have a good day and good luck in the future!

I really like the approach you take in your videos. I don´t mind you criticising (kind of) the design of the monsters. Its in an educational way and i learn something new most of the time, if not every time.

INB4 Capcom says the over the top monsters are bioweapons created by the ancient civilization

Maybe brachy isn’t a top order carnivore. It is rather small for brute wyvern standards, so the slime could be a defense mechanism. And I don’t mean fighting, I mean anything that gets slime on it and is wounded by a blast is not gonna target another Brachydios for a long while afterwards.

One interesting thought that could *possibly* explain super lethal weaponry, would be a need to survive non-organic aggressive danger. This seems to be only possible in the case of fantasy magic, perhaps fantastical evolutionary response to technology (such as animals somehow evolving to monsters to be able to compete with modern humans and weaponry), or possibly aggressive flora? If for example, rock golems come alive in an area and animals require super-weaponry to fight off the things rather than compete with them for food, it seems relatively plausible to me. Even then that is a very specific scenario and not exactly similar to reality. It would still also be likely to be better to be fast and better at running away.

16:00 aren't Akantor rare though? The chances of the 2 meeting and competing seems rather unlikely. Certainly possible but I doubt it's something Brachydios as a species would have to be worried about. I don't think Brachydios is necessarily a super predator I think it's possible his symbiosis with the slime came about coincidently and he simply uses it to his advantage if he happens to clash with another monster. You could apply these criticisms to the majority of the monster roster to be honest. Like why does Rathalos need fire breath or Legiana need ice wind? They're fantastical elements to make the monsters more interesting. I only have a problem when they go completely overboard like with Magnamalo.

Good stuff! You presented your points well, and I'd love to hear more from you on the topic.

I think a good point to consider is the rate and degree these monsters can heal from injury. For a lot of animals getting wounded can be a death sentence so it's best avoided. Although if the creatures are able to survive considerable punishment and heal up as good as new that would have a significant impact on behavior and the frequency of fights. Based on the game's I get the impression they heal pretty quickly.

I know you were talking about an interim video until primal S2 but I wasn’t expecting it this soon what a pleasant surprise!

Love your videos, since I am one of those guys who likes to hear about the evo as much as the spec part, if not more

Honestly I enjoy this stuff you do, very educational and fun at the same time. Also i noticed you mentioned Xenomorphs within one of your previous videos and they actually are excellent examples of the quip about invasive species. Things that are native to a non Xenomorph infested planet haven't evolved to handle a extremely adaptable, acid filled organism with a Mesoskeleton that requires armor piercing rounds to really hurt it. I know you might not cover them since it's most likely they were specifically created to be a Bioweapon by strange alien bois, but I just find them interesting. Very alien yet so very real, in the terms of certain traits its species has.

I finally finished watching all your videos! One small suggestion might be to make a playlist for all your monster hunter videos, as the existing ones don't cover all of them. Love this channel and keep up the great work!

Question for you: How come you don’t do ecology videos on more elder dragons too? Is it maybe because they are more fantastical than the other ones? Edit: typo

Gotta say I loved this video, it was very entertaining and a good subject matter! I think this format can work out, smaller videos with simpler subject matters between grand videos. I hope to see a video addressing the possible questionable taxonomy practices of the guild and here what monsters in your opinion might be misplaced.

Anjanath still my favorite fictional animal in video game, not only does it reflect what Dinosaur would look like alive, but at the same time the simplistic design almost made it as a Flagship.

One thing I thought it to be interesting is that this show competition is costly. Sometimes, the best strategy is just let everyone keep their own way.

This video was amazing. if you're looking for feedback on whether or not you should do more "shorts" where you break down general tropes through the lens of real-world ecology, the answer is YES! One of the things that makes this channel wonderful is the way you use these works of fiction to explain (and play with, speculatively) real-world ecology, which enriches both sides there. I love to see it.

I would love a series of videos covering spec evo tropes in your style of comparing them to the real world

You are also thinking of constant ready for battle type evolutions. A constant upkeep of ready to fight would be horribly energy and efficient in regards to the noger as its body is still organic and needs a rest from constant electrical charge every now and then. Brachidios has the Speed and Agility despite its own size and bulk. The Slime that brachidious uses gets primed whatever it's enraged instantly detonating so brachidios whenever coming across a potential Challenger May pump itself up figuratively to Prime the Slime so that it detonates instantly in order to go tackle something much larger than itself like Gravios. Not that I don't see the inefficiency of these super weapons though they are necessary in quotation at adaptations to survive in the world of Monster Hunter considering there are giant snake elder dragons that terraform mountains as a hobby it goes to say in rather realistic terms for a brachideos to use slime and wait for it to detonate

This is honestly a really good video 👍 it sure can help me with my creatures I really enjoyed your videos and gives me new ideas 😊

Maybe the T-Rex thing is also good explanation of brachyodos. The caustic compounds might be good for physically breaking down food, with pounding down being a good substitute for impressive jaw muscles. Maybe the horn then coopted the mechanism for display purposes.

You should make more of these shorts, they’re really good

Well this was a nice change of pace. Overall I do agree with a lot of what you have said and videos like these are really good for me as someone who's workings on his own spec evo project about life in the future so thanks.

Is extremely hard to explain even the most basic forms of this concept to the average monster hunter fan. I'm glad you laid this out so nicely.

One thing that *might* (maybe?) explain why monsters are like this would be the theory that you presented in the Deviljo video, that the world has somewhat recently gone through an ice age or something like it, and in the same way Deviljo themselves have yet to fully adapt to the new state of things maybe the current top carnivorous monsters used to be lower on the... Uh, "power scale", and there used to be some mega-super-12yo'sOC-tier-carnivores that forced them to evolve the defences they did. This also comes with a whole lot of problems, but I feel would make a bit more sense than competition... Maybe?

I love learning more about t rex and big cats holy fuck. Lions adaptations being moreso for "diplomacy" rather than murder destruction is something i never really considered before. And t rex being designed to walk makes a lot of sense! It makes them seem so much more tangible now. I wonder how many would exist on a single continent and how theyd section their territories

Man, i was hoping that Mattpat did a dumb again and was ready for a verbal smackdown. Alas, i’ll just have to settle with your hyper specific knowledge on animal ecology 😆

You tell them, Unnatural! It's nice to have a video so soon after the previous one. Hope you're having a good rest between 'em.

I'd love to see more of these, full on. That said, I knew there was a reason I didn't like Savage Kingdom and shows like it. Though now I really want to re-watch that speculative documentarial take on "what if dragons had been real" and compare it to what I've learned from places like this channel.

Nature is only boring to the arrogance and ignorance of the human ego.

Brachydios and Valstrax are at least cool Magnamalo feels like something I would have designed when I was 13, moveset and all

YOOOOO NEW UHC VID!!!!!

Brachydios' explosive slime could be for foraging for minerals rather than meant for combat.

But that's just a theory An EVOLUTIONARY GAME THEORY! Seriously, had no idea that was even a term.

That s was a great shorter vid! Love your style so any length video from you is something to look forward to

"Superweapons", IMHO, are pretty much evidence of intervention in some way - magi, supernatural beings, aliens playing with genetic LEGO bricks, or whatever fits best in your world or story. This video pretty much explains it better than I could.

I'm glad for your work UHC! I truly grateful for dedicated people like you trying to spread the truth!

Your videos should be cannon cause they all make sense! But thank you for all your videos cause there’re all quite entertaining and informative!!

Just saying the whole speculative evolution theory is cool and I really enjoyed learning about trexs and how they weren't tyrannical

This sounds like what a supercompetitor would say.

Very enlightening video, big fan of your work! What're your thoughts on the way some creatures such as Gravios and Uragaan primarily feed on rocks/minerals? Does this have much basis or feasibility in real life?

Appreciate this, gonna take this video into account for my future work!

I think I mentioned this in a previous episode, but IMO the "supercompetition" theory could possible still hold some water. Like, someone look me in the eye and tell me that an Aptonoth is going to pose any sort of risk to a hungry Rathalos. A marauding Bazelgeuse looking for an easy steal/kill will prove to be significantly more dangerous than a huge majority of Monster Hunter's prey species. Also, in Magnamalo's defence (and I have no strong feelings towards it), the Rise art/lore book states that Magnamalo doesn't go out of its way to hunt other large monsters, though will when given the chance. It's simply that Ibushi & Narwa's influence causes panicking monsters to converge into a single series of stampedes filled with a whole menagerie of confused and possibly injured monsters; easy pickings for a horribly overpowered (and over-designed) monster. Similar to how Nergigante only really shows itself during the Elder Crossing. Now WHY monsters bunch up during the Rampage instead of scattering like IRL animals would is still beyond me, however.

I swear that the computer is reading my mind. I was recommended this after I wrote up a story where a woman is hunting several MH-level beasts. However, I have specifically lampshaded that they are unfeasible, rare and seem to suggest they have one alternative means of feeding and a much more dense energy storage. Specifically, their skin absorbs energy from the environment that most are not attuned for, however it is not that effective so they do need to keep a wide territory.... and even after this I propose that this is not some evolution, but an unnatural mutation. Still, good to see someone taking on the subject. Practicality is exactly what nature maximizes on. Often you find animals becoming super-powerful if they require it to defeat their environment, and often that need not be just competition.

Theory discussions are fun, more of these would be cool!

I always assumed that in mh the extremes were in part due to more energy/energy efficiency. Stuff like elements seeming to be an energy that is potentially more efficient to produce/magnify. Hence enabling the ecosystem on the scale we see. Doesn't explain everything but it helps framing I think.

Loved this

Always thought of brachydios slime primary as a way to explode rocks and secondary as a weapon, but that's just my headcanon. Also there's the fact that brachydios has overdeveloped arms, so when it punches other monster it may disorient them giving the time the slime needs to explode

Loving your content, thanks!

The best explanation for some of the more outlandish designs; Magnamalo, (Stygian)Zinogre, (Flaming)Espinas, Goss Harag, Glavenus, etc.; is that them and/or their ancestors, were some of the 1st wyverns to every exist alongside elder dragons, so they evolved to sort of cope with them, and maybe even the environment, because like u said in the deviljho video, that era may have been a little more volcanic, and as the world started cooling down, they either stayed the same, or evolved for less hotter habitats; and in Goss Harag’s case, may have been somewhat isolated from the world.

So you are saying my spec evo T.rex that lives in snowy Mountains shouldnt have giant antlers on its Back ?!?!!

Absolutely fantastic video ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥🙏🙏🙏👏👏👏💯