D&D 5E Monster Manual - What pictures really stood out, or changed your view on a monster?

[Mercurius]

Like many of you, I just got my Monster Manual today. I skimmed through it for about ten minutes and was pleasantly surprised - I knew reviews were good, but it was even better than expected. Anyhow, one thing that struck me is that the art was not only very good, but also very dynamic. I feel that many pieces were exemplary of the monster, and a few actually changed my view on a creature, brought it to new life. Two that come to mind are the cockatrice and merrow. I mean, damn. The cockatrice is so...visceral, and the merrow so damn cool. There are others, but those two stood out in particular.

What about you? What monster pictures stand out, even changed your view on that monster?

 

[Wrathamon]

The griffon ... griffons are weak.

 

[xanstin]

I enjoyed the mind flayer picture....I found it very menacing

 

[Mercurius]

I enjoyed the mind flayer picture....I found it very menacing

Yeah, me too. It really has an alien look. Actually, when I saw it I spontaneously had an idea for mind flayer backgrounds in my setting - they are the descendents of "ancient aliens" that crash-landed thousands of years ago, or came through an inter-dimensional portal, and are stranded on the world.

 

[SilverfireSage]

Every time I flip through it, the Peryton really freaks me out. Definitely a monster I had never thought about until now, and I'm definitely going to use it in a campaign somewhere.

 

[MortalPlague]

I'll second the vote for Merrow. That piece of art is just menacing.

I was a big fan of a lot of pieces in the book. The aboleth and the mummy lord were also spectacular.

On the flip side, the owlbear was a huge disappointment, especially after all the awesome concept art.

 

[The Shadow]

Yeah, me too. It really has an alien look. Actually, when I saw it I spontaneously had an idea for mind flayer backgrounds in my setting - they are the descendents of "ancient aliens" that crash-landed thousands of years ago, or came through an inter-dimensional portal, and are stranded on the world.

There was an ecology article in the Dragon back in the day (and one of my favorites) where this was basically true.

Except instead of being stranded, they deliberately came to this dimension because theirs is dying. The author put a lot of work into imagining what the illithid homeworld must have been like. He had it as a tidally-locked world with the sun always above one side; the mind flayers' big goal is not to put out the sun, but to stop the Earth's rotation, thereby "illith-forming" it.

It also tied a lot of other monsters into that dimension. The oozes, a lot of the fungi, and some of the giant insects, as I recall.

 

[Psikerlord#]

i love the cockatrice, which I would never have used before. And the carrion crawler, I love this pic!! woot! And i'm only part way through the book

 

[Pickles JG]

Worgs look like Peter Jackson's Wargs not like giant wolves.

 

[ephemeron]

Myconids!

I strongly suspect these guys started out as a joke about psychedelic mushrooms, but the 5e art is majestically unearthly.