User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Ahtal-Ka/@comment-5020152-20181116181254

Ahtal-Ka is absolutely fantastic. Until I fight her myself, I can't say for sure, but she might be even better than Gogmazios for me.

Her design, first of all, is incredible. I love beautiful monsters and Ahtal-Ka is definitely up there. She's an orchid mantis with various traits inspired by spiders, Egyptian scarabs, and crows of all things. Additionally, she carries a combined theme of treasure and royalty, reflected extremely well in her golden, gilded design. I really like her high-pitched screeches and chitters, and her music is wonderful - very fitting for such a queenly, majestic, entrancing creature. I can't describe how in love with her design I am. Granted, she's no Malfestio, but she comes damn close. They definitely nailed the look of an empress.

Then there's the mech. Let me just say that again. WE HAVE A FRIGGIN' MECH IN MONSTER HUNTER. THAT'S INSANE. I want to know who first brought that up in the design meeting, because they deserve a raise. "How can we make this otherwise ordinary mantis monster worthy final boss material? Should we make it really big? Nah, LET'S GIVE IT A GODDAMN MECH." Ahtal-Ka's Jaeger, as I like to call it, has a really neat sauropod-like design and I love how it's made entirely up of all kinds of scrap metal. The gameplay looks all kinds of fun as well, especially with how Ahtal-Ka literally puppeteers its movements to lay siege to your party.

Also, the armor's skills seem to tie into Ahtal-Ka's "treasure" theme by encouraging you to decorate it with your own "treasures". Might not be the most useful armor set, but definitely one of the most creative.

All in all, Ahtal-Ka is an absolutely CRAZY monster that somehow makes this level of insanity work in the semi-realistic MH setting. She'd never fit in World - she could only possibly exist in a game where the monsters routinely GO BEYOND and players can pull off anime-like moves at the drop of a hat. Definitely one of my favorite final bosses in Monster Hunter, and possibly one of my favorite monsters overall.

Now when do we see Ahtal Neset and Gogmazios fight?