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Description
As seen in the (as of now) most recent submission: Sprite Stuff: Fake Hasbro Fighting Game8

The long-time enemies of Rom, the Space Knight and (as far as I know) now former Marvel galactic threat, the fiendishly insidious Dire Wraiths. Like Skrulls mixed with Body Snatchers (with a bit of the John Carpenter 'Thing' thrown in), they're quite the force to be reckoned with.

Originally turned into an evolutionary off-shoot/exiled sub-race/cousin of the Skrulls, they'd pop in every now and again even after the end of Marvel's tenure with the Rom property to remind the world of their presence. They were the primary threat of Rom's people on Galador. Such was the massive threat posed by them, that Galadorians volunteered to be transformed into Space Knights, giving up their humanoid bodies to battle the devious bastards.

Just when it seemed as though they were going to finally succeed in ending the threat posed by the Wraiths, the creatures fled and scattered across the galaxy. Not wanting to rest until they were all destroyed, Rom pursued them... which brought the Space Knight to Earth. When Marvel lost the rights back to Parker Brothers, the Wraiths still appeared in their comics. Their last big event involved an attempt by a Skrull scientist to establish a new offshoot of his race (heavily crippled following the destruction of their homeworld by Galactus) using the genetics of their deviant 'cousins'. This plan was undone by the galactic super-group known as the Annihilators, aided by the Wraith Queen herself when she realized that said Skrull was impersonating her dead son.

Then Marvel fully lost the rights to the Dire Wraiths (more or less) to Hasbro when they apparently bought Parker Brothers.

IDW's version (which I based this sprite on) is pretty much like Marvel's, (in basic concept) except with a different origin. They weren't originally shapeshifters, nor dark sorcerers, but that changed following a devastating war started by the Cybertronians centuries before the birth of the likes of Optimus and Megatron. Their planet was invaded under order of Onyx Prime, and while they fought valiantly, they were no match for the tremendous forces that the invaders brought to bare. Amidst this, one of their scientists (grief stricken and driven made) decided to bring out a doomsday weapon.

Long story short, said weapon started a process that turned their planet into what would eventually (over centuries) become Unicron, with the intent on wiping out ALL life on said planet (organic and mechanical alike)... which transformed those who had somehow managed to survive it's implementation into the first Wraiths. They fled their now (pretty much) inhospitable homeworld for a new home, settling on some unnamed planet in the 'Dark Nebula'.

For reasons seemingly lost to time, the Wraiths decided upon their own attempt at galactic conquest, and began to search the galaxy for suitable targets.

Like the planet Elonia for example. Their battle with the Space Knights of that universe left Rom's home planet in almost utter ruin despite managing to drive the parasitic monstrosities off (so a pyrrhic victory). Much like the Marvel version, the Space Knights followed the surviving members across the galaxy. As Rom would find out, much to his chagrin, there had already been a few Wraith infiltrations on Earth by the time he arrived, having placed a decent number of their kind just about everywhere (government, military, etc.) to make way for their total conquest. But time and again their machinations were thwarted by Rom and the various heroes that lived there.

Despite being universally despised by just about everyone, hero and villain alike, the Wraiths were still (amazingly) willing to aid in stopping Unicron due to the massive threat he posed. Hell there were even a few Wraiths that weren't total bastards. For reasons I guess.

Both versions of these monsters utilize similar themes and powers. They don't just shapeshift into someone, they're more like the Thing, they kill and/or violently absorb those they intend to impersonate. This gives them access to the memories of that person as well. Sometimes this process isn't always successful, like when they attempted to absorb/assimilate Joe Colton and he was able to stop the absorption process by cutting off the arm they had latched onto and escape. This didn't, though, prevent them from using what DNA they had gotten to still change into Colton while he went underground and into hiding.

They both also practice dark magics in various ways. While the Marvel version had dueling factions (one dedicated solely to magic, while the other embraced the technological knowledge they had assimilated from over the centuries), the IDW version seems to enjoy the best of both worlds, mixing their blasphemous magics with the vast amount of technological/scientific prowess they had accumulated over time.

God that's a huge exposition dump. >_<

Anyway, made this sprite using a whole slew of parts. A mixture of Rikuo/Aulbath and Lord Raptor/Zabel's upper torsos, bits and pieces of their heads, (though one can barely tell anymore) with the lower torso/legs of Rikuo, the upper arms and hands of the AWESOME Carnage project by theFuTuR3 & T.O.P.S. on mugenarchive, and the lower arms come from Jedah of Darkstalkers.

All mixed together into some hodgepodge sprite abomination that I'm quite proud of.

Hope you all enjoy

Description
As seen in the (as of now) most recent submission: Sprite Stuff: Fake Hasbro Fighting Game8

The long-time enemies of Rom, the Space Knight and (as far as I know) now former Marvel galactic threat, the fiendishly insidious Dire Wraiths. Like Skrulls mixed with Body Snatchers (with a bit of the John Carpenter 'Thing' thrown in), they're quite the force to be reckoned with.

Originally turned into an evolutionary off-shoot/exiled sub-race/cousin of the Skrulls, they'd pop in every now and again even after the end of Marvel's tenure with the Rom property to remind the world of their presence. They were the primary threat of Rom's people on Galador. Such was the massive threat posed by them, that Galadorians volunteered to be transformed into Space Knights, giving up their humanoid bodies to battle the devious bastards.

Just when it seemed as though they were going to finally succeed in ending the threat posed by the Wraiths, the creatures fled and scattered across the galaxy. Not wanting to rest until they were all destroyed, Rom pursued them... which brought the Space Knight to Earth. When Marvel lost the rights back to Parker Brothers, the Wraiths still appeared in their comics. Their last big event involved an attempt by a Skrull scientist to establish a new offshoot of his race (heavily crippled following the destruction of their homeworld by Galactus) using the genetics of their deviant 'cousins'. This plan was undone by the galactic super-group known as the Annihilators, aided by the Wraith Queen herself when she realized that said Skrull was impersonating her dead son.

Then Marvel fully lost the rights to the Dire Wraiths (more or less) to Hasbro when they apparently bought Parker Brothers.

IDW's version (which I based this sprite on) is pretty much like Marvel's, (in basic concept) except with a different origin. They weren't originally shapeshifters, nor dark sorcerers, but that changed following a devastating war started by the Cybertronians centuries before the birth of the likes of Optimus and Megatron. Their planet was invaded under order of Onyx Prime, and while they fought valiantly, they were no match for the tremendous forces that the invaders brought to bare. Amidst this, one of their scientists (grief stricken and driven made) decided to bring out a doomsday weapon.

Long story short, said weapon started a process that turned their planet into what would eventually (over centuries) become Unicron, with the intent on wiping out ALL life on said planet (organic and mechanical alike)... which transformed those who had somehow managed to survive it's implementation into the first Wraiths. They fled their now (pretty much) inhospitable homeworld for a new home, settling on some unnamed planet in the 'Dark Nebula'.

For reasons seemingly lost to time, the Wraiths decided upon their own attempt at galactic conquest, and began to search the galaxy for suitable targets.

Like the planet Elonia for example. Their battle with the Space Knights of that universe left Rom's home planet in almost utter ruin despite managing to drive the parasitic monstrosities off (so a pyrrhic victory). Much like the Marvel version, the Space Knights followed the surviving members across the galaxy. As Rom would find out, much to his chagrin, there had already been a few Wraith infiltrations on Earth by the time he arrived, having placed a decent number of their kind just about everywhere (government, military, etc.) to make way for their total conquest. But time and again their machinations were thwarted by Rom and the various heroes that lived there.

Despite being universally despised by just about everyone, hero and villain alike, the Wraiths were still (amazingly) willing to aid in stopping Unicron due to the massive threat he posed. Hell there were even a few Wraiths that weren't total bastards. For reasons I guess.

Both versions of these monsters utilize similar themes and powers. They don't just shapeshift into someone, they're more like the Thing, they kill and/or violently absorb those they intend to impersonate. This gives them access to the memories of that person as well. Sometimes this process isn't always successful, like when they attempted to absorb/assimilate Joe Colton and he was able to stop the absorption process by cutting off the arm they had latched onto and escape. This didn't, though, prevent them from using what DNA they had gotten to still change into Colton while he went underground and into hiding.

They both also practice dark magics in various ways. While the Marvel version had dueling factions (one dedicated solely to magic, while the other embraced the technological knowledge they had assimilated from over the centuries), the IDW version seems to enjoy the best of both worlds, mixing their blasphemous magics with the vast amount of technological/scientific prowess they had accumulated over time.

God that's a huge exposition dump. >_<

Anyway, made this sprite using a whole slew of parts. A mixture of Rikuo/Aulbath and Lord Raptor/Zabel's upper torsos, bits and pieces of their heads, (though one can barely tell anymore) with the lower torso/legs of Rikuo, the upper arms and hands of the AWESOME Carnage project by theFuTuR3 & T.O.P.S. on mugenarchive, and the lower arms come from Jedah of Darkstalkers.

All mixed together into some hodgepodge sprite abomination that I'm quite proud of.

Hope you all enjoy