Colossus Pristinus

My baby X3
"Design a Colossus and win a mammoth prize", said Sony's official contest for Shadow of the Colossus' European release.
Well, I designed my Colossus and won the prize, or so it seems. I still can't believe it, sometimes. Then I read the mail again, and it hasn't changed overnight. It still says that I'm flying to Patagonia with my love for two weeks... courtesy of Sony, which isn't losing enough money on PS3s as it is XD
"Cara Eva,

Grazie per aver partecipato al concorso “Crea un colosso”. Abbiamo ricevuto centinaia di domande di partecipazione, tra le quali abbiamo selezionato un vincitore. Il disegno più originale è stato scelto personalmente da Fumito Ueda. Siamo lieti di informarti che, grazie al tuo disegno di Pristinus, sei stata selezionata come la vincitrice del concorso “Crea un colosso”! "
(Dear Eva, thanks for having participated in the "Design a Colossus" competition. We have received hundreds of entries, and a single winner was chosen. The most original design was chosen by Fumito Ueda himself. We are proud to inform you that, thanks to your drawing of Pristinus, you have been chosen as the winner of the "Design a Colossus" competition!)



Back to the Colossus. As you can see, it's dinosaur-shaped. It's funny, when I was thiking of possible animals to base my Colossus on (every Colossus is based on an animal, for the non-SotC players, and... what are you still doing here if you haven't played SotC? Go out and rent it! Tsk, people ), dinosaurs were my first thought since I've been obsessed with them for as long as I can remember. But then I thought that everyone and their dog would've been doing dinosaur Colossi, it was the most obvious choice imo and there's no such Colossus in-game (there was a dragon Colossus but it got cut out from the final release, you can see it in the artbook). I wanted to do a flying Colossus, not a boring dinosaur! But hey, I'm no monster designer and couldn't think of a single decent idea for a flying beast that wouldn't have ended up like an Avion or Phalanx clone. So I had no choice but to stick to my dinosaur. My boyfriend, on the other hand, had this brilliant idea of a jumping frog Colossus, Viridis, you can see it here: [link] It's clever, original and well-drawn. And since the world is a weirder place than I usually give it credit for, you know what? There were 4 frog entries... and... no dinosaurs. o_O

I did my research, copied a lot of textures from the game (I still have those 5 pages of Colossal textures... thanks, Time Attack Mode, without you and your convenient pause screen I would have never been able to draw them ), studied what the statues looked like when compared to the actual Colossi they were meant to represent, thought of what would've been cool to do but didn't make it into the game... using trees to reach a weak point being the main idea around which I developed my beastie. I hope you can figure out the process from the 16-panel comic up there but, in case you can't, here it is:
Pristinus has two weak points, one on each side. You can't climb the Colossus from where you are, the legs are bare and the tail is a bit too high. But there's a small cave that you can use to reach a higher point of the arena. From there, you can jump on its tail and make your way to the base of the neck. You still can't reach the weak points because of the double line of scales which were such a pain to draw and colour that they better serve a purpose in the Colossus design, or else... > ...anyway XD There's a big scar at the base of the neck. It makes Pristy lower its head in pain, now you can jump over the neck decoration thingies and run up its neck as far as you can before he raises its head again. Grab onto the fur and climb until you reach the head. Enjoy the view, I'm not talking Phalanx-height here but we should be near Malus' size, give or take a dozen of metres :*
Now, to the left weak point. The poor thing's back is aching so much that it has started to run in circles around the small group of thousand-year old trees in the middle of the arena, counter-clockwise. Climb down its neck hanging from the small platforms and jump onto a tree. There's so many of them, you're bound to grab something. Climb the tree down to its trunk and wait for Pristinus to complete a lap. When it's in front of you, jump from the tree to its side and voilà! One weak point is over! (there's a platform on the leg if you're out of grip, I'm not such a *coughArguscough* bastard...) Now climb back to the head, as the ever-so-zealous Dormin tells you. Shoot an arrow at the scar when you're on its head and it'll do the head-lowering thing again. Now you can view its other weak point, but you're still too far and... what's that thing right there? Another scar? Shoot an arrow at it (I know I know, the scar abuse is a complete Malus ripoff but I couldn't think of any other way) and Pristy will near its head to the side. Jump over and finish it. ;________; The poor thing. ;______________;
In Hard Mode there's a third weak point on the chest but I was short on panels already XD
I didn't get a chance to mention that my Colossus calmly grazes in the mystical Eastern Wood, in the unreachable upper-right corner of the map. Just believe that you can dove-hump till you pass the ravine and... there it is. |: And no, I don't know what Agro is doing in the picture either. Maybe he can hawk-hump too... weirder things have happened. Like a bird flu epidemic at the Shrine of Worship (I have pictures! >_<.
And that's it. I gave it all my love and everything a Colossus may fancy and more: triple name, statue, Dormin hints, map... even a tax code, but that didn't make it into the final entry, guess why... and I guess it was appreciated.

Oh, the names... Sylvestral Keeper is pretty self-explanatory, it being in a friggin' forest and all. Pristinus means "the ancient one" in Latin: since it's not part of the spoilery you-know-what thingie I'm guessing its existence may have another meaning, that it may be older than the others. Never bothered to come up with a decent explanation though. Lacerta Prudens means "careful lizard" in Latin, that's because it was clever enough to lock itself up in an unreachable part of the map and avoid miniature-sized adventurers with dangerous swords altogether. Did any of you kill it? No? See, it worked!

And here I am, packing my luggages for Patagonia. I'm working on a Phalanx plushie to bring with us and take lots of pictures with (and of). Phalanx 'cause it looks like it's the easiest to make... and carry around. Pristinus itsef would've been nearly impossible thanks to the new hand baggage restrictions... and then, of course, Wander and Mono costumes. I have the wig and fabric already, and Andrea is starting to work on it! I'm so excited!

Long story short, this is my ultimate tribute to the genius that is Fumito Ueda and to his two masterpieces. Long live Ueda!

...whoa, did any of you make it past this, uhm, colossal description? *gives herself an award for the most non-gratuituous use of the word "Colossus" in a single entry*