History Headscratchers / MonsterHunter

* What prevents Akantor and Ukanlos from being classified as Elder Dragons, despite having many characteristics of them - non-capturable, are considered powerful in-universe, are usually in the highest tier of High Rank or G Rank? Sure, Raging Brachydios also has those characteristics, but it's a variant of a monster that the Guild knows well enough to fit into a more standard classification.

* So, Poison Purr-ison. It's effectively a Pitfall Trap that also poisons the victim. If the monster who runs over it is immune to poison but not Pitfall Traps, why doesn't the trap simply catch the monster and not poison them, instead of being destroyed with no effect to the target?

* In ''World'', [[spoiler: the Research Commission plans to capture Zorah Magdaros, an ''Elder Dragon'', and more than a few [=NPCs=] point out how balls to the wall insane this plan is, since nobody has EVER captured one before. Which begs the question: Besides research purposes, [[AndThenWhat what]] ''[[AndThenWhat were]]'' [[AndThenWhat they planning to do with it after they captured it?]]]]

* Here's one related to ''World's'' final boss: [[spoiler:so Xeno'jiiva is suggested to be the reason for the Elder Crossing, where Elder Dragons journey across the ocean to die in the New World, because apparently they are attracted to the incubating Xeno'jiiva for some unclear reason. The Elder Crossing has been happening for an extremely long time, and now the ecosystem of the Rotten Vale and Coral Highlands is fueled by the corpses of Elder Dragons that have died there. So... now that Xeno'jiiva is dead, presumably the Elders aren't being attracted to the area anymore. Doesn't that mean the New World's ecosystem is going to shift dramatically if it can no longer depend on the released bioenergy of dead Elders?]]
** It is suggested in ''World'' that [[spoiler: Xeno was actually corrupting the cycle in the New World, by siphoning off the bioenergy the dead Elder Dragons released on death, with Xeno dead the cycle of the New World will apparently stabilize, remember when Xeno was nearing its "birth" the Elder Dragons only appeared because they were "going nuts" Xeno was an abberation, not a natural part of the cycle.]]

* How does Desert Seltas Queen Concentrate ("D.S.[=QueenConcentrate=]") exist in ''Generations Ultimate'' if you can't hunt Desert Seltas or Desert Seltas Queen?

* Here's one related to ''World's'' final boss: [[spoiler:so Xeno'jiiva is suggested to be the reason for the Elder Crossing, where Elder Dragons journey across the ocean to die in the New World, because apparently they are attracted to the incubating Xeno'jiiva for some unclear reason. The Elder Crossing has been happening for an extremely long time, and now the ecosystem of the Rotten Vale and Coral Highlands is fueled by the corpses of Elder Dragons that have died there. So... now that Xeno'jiiva is dead, presumably the Elders aren't being attracted to the area anymore. Doesn't that mean the New World's ecosystem is going to shift dramatically if it can no longer depend on the released bioenergy of dead Elders?]]

** It isn't really brought up in Monster Hunter: World, what with Astera being the only human settlement in the entire New World and Monster-Human incursions being exceedingly rare as a result, but as far back as MHFU, Teostra would occasionally have a quest on the Town map- which is literally right next to Dundorma, a fairly major human settlement in the Old World. Lao Shan Lung are also prone to Elder Dragon-Human incursions, as demonstrated by their constantly wandering through the Fortress and Town maps. Elder Dragons have also been known to just randomly interfere with normal hunts in the story (Ace Commander's backstory in MH4U), though obviously not in gameplay. All of this, on top of how stupendously dangerous anything labeled "Elder Dragon" really is, makes going after them first fairly reasonable.

* Exactly how big of a threat are elder dragons really? most seem content with living in their inhospitable zones until a dumbass with a big sword wanders in and decides s/he wants its skin. sure there are a few that are genuine threats to existence like the gore magala or the Ceadeus which was causing massive quakes, but ones like the teostra seem content with the above first sentence. obviously in game terms they are powerful bosses but from an actual human standpoint, most of them seem to just want to be left alone.

** Well the commander told the researchers to bring anything they might need with them because they'd have to do all their studying on-site. There's no way they're bringing something that massive back to base. Later in the game everyone balks at the idea of killing ol' Magdy, so they were probably just going to let him go once they were done with him.

*** Most likely, the giant bullets are for gameplay visibility purposes. Given the scale of 3D models in ''[=MonHun=]'', [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality you'd have a hard time seeing your shots and whether they hit your targets if they were realistically-sized]].

* In ''World'', [[spoiler: the Research Commission plans to capture Zorah Magdaros, an ''Elder Dragon'', and more than a few [=NPCs=] point out how balls to the wall insane this plan is, since nobody has EVER captured one before. Which begs the question: Besides research purposes, [[AndThenWhat what]] ''[[AndThenWhat were]]'' [[AndThenWhat they planning to do with it after they captured it?]]]]

** In ''World'', [[spoiler: the Research Commission plans to capture Zorah Magdaros, an ''Elder Dragon'', and more than a few [=NPCs=] point out how balls to the wall insane this plan is, since nobody has EVER captured one before. Which begs the question: Besides research purposes, [[AndThenWhat what]] ''[[AndThenWhat were]]'' [[AndThenWhat they planning to do with it after they captured it?]]]]

** In ''World'', [[spoiler: the Research Commission plans to capture Zorah Magdaros, an ''Elder Dragon'', and more than a few NPCs point out how balls to the wall insane this plan is, since nobody has EVER captured one before. Which begs the question: Besides research purposes, [[AndThenWhat what]] ''[[AndThenWhat were]]'' [[AndThenWhat they planning to do with it after they captured it?]]]]

*** You mean non-obligate herbivores. Many animals that people consider herbivores are actually omnivores with herbivorous tendencies. Horses, for example. True herbivores can't tolerate meat.

** According to canon, Elder Dragon is any monster powerful enough to bring destruction to whole ecosystems. So Elder Dragon is actually "this shit will mess everything up", not really being an old dragon.

** In real life, hippos are technically herbivores but are also one of the most dangerous animals in existence. They will attack anything they see as a threat, and will quite often scavenge their kills. In fact, most herbivores will eat meat if given the chance since it's more easily digestible, nutritious, and calorie-dense. As for Apceros, the same rules probably apply. Ankylosaurs were heavily armored and had giant bludgeons on their tails, as Apceros does. Apceros also has a beak, and new evidence suggests that beaked dinosaurs like Triceratops actually ate a decent amount of meat.

*** Perhaps the catch-all term could be 'tempering'. Blunt objects can only take so much punishment, so the 'sharpening' reinforces them to make them last longer.

** Alternatively, the flavor text for both materials sate they are formed from compressed bone material. Depending on just how great the pressure gets under the sandsea, that could very well be geologically metamorphosed Jhen plating.

** They may share a common ancestor, just underwent different evolutionary paths.

* Speaking of bones, what are Rhenoplos Bones doing inside G-Rank Slagtoths and Apceros?

** Presumably a piece of its carapace, which is a Monoblos skull, and thus made of bone.

** ... from it's stomach?