peacefulIf you don’t want to bother with the entire meme but still want to play, it is highly encouraged to list some of your own favorites for today’s category in the comments.
If you wanted to, you could probably lump this category in with "settings", since the creation of a fictional world encompasses the various kinds of life within it. But I don't want to, because I freaking love made-up animals.
The example below is from X-Men but there was also a space whale in that one Doctor Who episode and I'm pretty sure I've seen it somewhere else too and guys, it's a giant whale that swims around in outer space.
I only ever played the Changeling RPG once, but the rules allowed me to roll a perfectly legitimate girl with wings who turns into a ferret. The rules specifically note that the animal form for a Pooka tends to be cute and cuddly. And that they're all compulsive liars.
My favorite World of Warcraft playable race. I can't define exactly what I like so much about them, except perhaps that they're basically minotaurs, but instead of being monstrous, they're just a furry tribal people rubbing shoulders with the rest of the Horde.
The way these creatures were revealed rather than introduced was fantastic, but I particularly love them for the pervading sense of sadness, rather than horror, that surrounds them. It takes someone special like Luna to understand that they're just animals.
I wasn't much impressed by the How to Train Your Dragon movies or most of the creature designs in them, but I would watch HOURS and HOURS of Toothless bopping around and if you have gifs of him, this is a good place to share them.
The Dragonriders of Pern is another series that won't make it onto my favorite books list, despite the large number of them I've read, for various reasons. The genetically engineered, telepathic, color-coded caste system dragons are not one of those reasons. They're awesome.
I guess I used up most of what I have to say on this topic when I talked about The Shire, but here's another nod to the little people. I don't think I mentioned their furry feet before. Or how great it is that they're biologically the closest cousin to Man in Middle-Earth.
I've mostly left my vampire phase, but I do still like them when they meet my demanding specifications. That basically equals the Buffyverse model. In fact, I'll probably never write a vampire novel just because I feel like I can't improve on the Buffyverse model.
No, but listen: this isn't just a character, it's a whole mythical species. Studio Ghibli released an animated short called "Mei's Kittenbus", which I haven't seen (I think it's only available at the Miyazaki museum in Japan), but which proves there are more catbuses!
Appa was in himself enough of a reason to fall for all things Avatar, and then there were those flashbacks where we saw baby sky bison and that was actually the day I died; I've been dead since then. There are more babies in Legend of Korra. How can they keep doing this to me?
Oh yes indeed I am a girl who loves unicorns. In this case, my vision of the ideal is in The Last Unicorn (and it's nice that every version has been consistent on their appearance and behavior). But really, any equine/cervine with a single horn will touch me, as long as it's beautiful.
This word means two different things to me, and while the real-world stone critters I collect don't apply here, the idea of a gargoyle as a fantastic beast is a fairly recent one and not that clearly defined. The Disney kind is good (NOT the ones in Hunchback of Notre Dame, thank you), but I also made up my own race of them and that's kind of what's in my mind for this post.
These days I'm pretty well established as the gargoyle girl, but I actually felt that griffins/gryphons/gryffons have even more personal significance for my history and imagination. In fact, I used to be one. I may still be one, if you happen to know the right incantation.
