The elf ear-itation.

[steeldragons]

Just for the sake of...well, sharing...here's my typical representation of elves...not as many colored as I expected but...

High elves:

Here's...my world's "Wood Elves, High Elves, Aquatic Elves":

...and just cuz I have it, another aquatic elf, though I think the differences between them and land-lubber elves are not an issue for anyone.


And...fer fun...some classic elf images from over the years...none of which have ears sticking at a 90 degree angle off their heads:

 

[Sunseeker]

I'm totally fine with the different elf races having different ears and other characteristics. They're different sub-races after all, so they inherently have differences if they're being categorized like that.

And I admit, I balk a bit about those who say it "breaks their immersion" because it makes helmets and crap more difficult to imagine working. I've run into a few of those on WoW for example and how they always complain about the equipment models looking funny on elves and I just say "Do you really expect them to devote time and assets to making them perfect for every single race? There's such a thing as 'good enough' when it comes to such a large undertaking as WoW is." And there's such a thing as not being able to please people because some people just can't be pleased. *shrug*

I do have to give props to the games that take the effort to do just that though. Different races have different styles and it's nice to see that reflected. I don't think it's necessary, but it's nice.

Just for the sake of...well, sharing...here's my typical representation of elves...not as many colored as I expected but...

High elves:*image*

Here's...my world's "Wood Elves, High Elves, Aquatic Elves": *img*

...and just cuz I have it, another aquatic elf, though I think the differences between them and land-lubber elves are not an issue for anyone.
*img*

And...fer fun...some classic elf images from over the years...none of which have ears sticking at a 90 degree angle off their heads:
*lots of images*

Yep, there've been a lot of depictions of elves over the years, and they've certainly evolved a lot from their classical western roots of being more akin to gnomes than elite, beautiful, magic humans. I think that sort of evolution and diversity is worth representing to some degree within D&D. Perhaps not all in core, that's a lot of diversity to represent. But if elves are going to get multiple varieties, they ought to put some effort into justifying them.