C.O.W. - #088: Buoy - Voting!

[Fozzybar]

ROUND #088 VOTING

Topic: Buoy

Deadline for the voting: Wednesday, 20th June 2007

Posting thread (closed):
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=98914


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OK - before voting/posting read this!!!

1. Please give c&c or a reason why you voted for the image!

2. Feel free to comment on any or all entries, the artists will appreciate it!

3. No voting for your own entry!!! If a participants votes for his own entry, every member has the right to call him a stupid lame moron in this thread! And i will delete his/her vote anyway...

[Fozzybar]

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artist: Alejjo
concept:
The Water sloth receives its name because he spends 18 hours a day sleeping, he is normally under water but while asleep he naturally floats, since he is always asleep his always floating and because of this land critters jump on his floating body to reach the lotus berries that grow on deeper waters, this is why he is commonly referred as the creek buoy.


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artist: Sangmort
concept:
Nare eggs are found deep down on the ocean floor of the Atlantic and Pacific, hatchlings roughly the size of a small elephant. Quick, and agile swimmers at first, a nare spends it's first few years near the bottom of the ocean hunting prey; sharks, crabs, fish, bits of driftwood and whatever else they may get into their mouths. As a nare ages, it grows rapidly, bloating up to the size of a blue whale, it begins to collect oxygen in the large chambers in it's back and tail, discarding the gills it hatched with. At this stage in it's life, a nare has only two goals; to eat and breed. However, as a nare continues to grow and becomes the size of a small island, it looses the ability to control it's fins and tail, the muscles become overly weighted down by fat, making a nare utterly immobile. It's once mighty fins succumb to it’s massive size, and hang limp at the creature's sides. The nare, however, has planned for this moment since birth, and if it has gathered enough oxygen stored within it, the creature consequently floats towards the ocean surface.
Once on the surface, the floating nare opens it's large gaping mouth and allows the waves of the ocean to push it wherever the water dictates. A nare remains on the surface of the water for the remainder of it's long life, eating whatever floats into it's open mouth, whether it be ships, sailors, fish, gulls, or the occasional whale. The nare's greatest weapon now becomes it's long tongue, which may stretch out and snatch whatever wanders by, pulling it into the depths of it's immense stomach. As such, the nare is called the "Buoy of Open Water," and was a large reason why many believed the earth was flat for so long. In truth, much later it was discovered, that sailors did not fall of the edge of the world, they simply sailed straight into the gullet of a nare.~


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artist: zeldalady
concept:
The Buoy is a creature that has developed a symbiotic relationship with the plant matter that grows on it. It has evolved to feed off the energy that these plants pull from the sun, and so must float near the surface, and most preferably above the water. This also means that it no longer has need of a mouth and that feature has disappeared over the years. Its nostrils are on the top of its head due to its floating nature, and the air sacs near its lungs can be filled with air as the creature wants, allowing it to float more easily since the plants don't provide alot of excess energy. The massive size of the Buoy keeps most predators away. Sailors will sometimes see the Buoy floating and think it is an island, but as they approach it will dive under the surface to escape, which has given rise to the myth of the Disappearing Isle.


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artist: ravenslayer
concept:


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artist: SOUTHERN
concept:


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artist: JakkaS
concept: Lamarian Underwater Walker
There is not much information about these creatures... They live in shallow waters of many oceans on planet Cobia 4. The most interesting thing about these creatures is, they can walk on the water surface.... but from the water side (so..technically they walk on the "air surface" ) .. Scientist assume that they can change the structure of the water or....they can change water pressure. Every time when they make a walk, the water around their "feet" is "freezing" for a very short time...


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artist: jchery
concept:
the buoy of the lakes, or "magic
lantern" is known for its characteristic
has emetter light thanks to frottemement
silk wire of the end of its legs. thanks to
them it attract the insects which come to
take the sêve of legs and thus to allow the
reproduction
it acts of a species floral born of a
mortal moissisure with broad of Kenya it
floats thanks to its body of meduse, but
only saw only one and single day, its goal
is thus to reproduce thanks to the light,
one says that some specimen can produce the
same light after their death!


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artist: Thalion
concept: Atlantoise
Do you know the legend of Atlantis? I am sure that everyone heard about this island, but nobody could even suppose that it was placed on the giant turtle's carapace. Atlantoise (that is the name of the turtle) feed only the small sea creatures and it was one of the rarest animals on the Earth. The animal gave this society safety, as the result of which they could conquer other nations without any obstacles. Only the cities which were situated on the East of the Mediterranean Sea could feel safe, because the turtle was too big to pass the Straits of Gibraltar (that's why Plato wrote "behind Pillars of Hercules").
Patient reptile was the homeland of this warriors, but as every creature it was mortal. When Atlantoise died, civilisation of the Atlantis went to the bottom with the animal


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artist: fate
concept:
This creature uses an air filled sack to float on the surface of the water mimicking a clump of seaweed. Its tentacles, which bear a resemblance to kelp, contain poisonous stingers which paralyze any unwitting bird or fish that tries to take shelter in or feast on this peculiar creature. After its victim is paralyzed, this creature takes its time slowly consuming it.


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artist: Brunob
concept:


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artist: whiteeeeeee
concept:
This strange and scary creature comes out every three days from the cold sea depths to warm his huge body up and swallow some unlucky left-alone fisher. With the help of his huge lungs the creature can stand up to 7 hours on the top of the water and then to return to his dark home. The Bouy feeds with almost every living thing, which is smaller than him, including people. His rare appearance and the fact that he comes almost only at sea storm out helped the creature to stay away from the curiousity of mankind.


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artist: Simonl
concept: Ruby Float
The Ruby Float is a large plankton feeding Jellyfish. It's gas filled float keeps it at the surface and it drifts at the mercy of the wind and the currents. They are typically found far from land in the mid ocean reaches where they use their feathery tentacles to catch and filter plankton and krill. Like most floating objects, Ruby Floats usually attract a wealth of small fishes and other creatures who shelter under their bodies. The small fish attract the bigger predators who wait to snatch them if they should stray too far from the tentacles.


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artist: ManicShadow
concept:
The Giant Pacific Howlerfish, is a peaceful animal that slowly drifts along warm shallow waters, where it feeds on plankton or any small creature that crosses its path. The inflatable pouch on it's back catches the wind and helps it move foward. It also doubles as an amplifier. As it's name suggests, the Howlerfish can emit a low sound that carries for miles to attract mates.


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[Fozzybar]

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artist: lukavi
concept: Puffer Wurm
With over-sized lungs, these deep-sea creatures can fill their body with air and float to the surface when fish are scarce at the bottom. Their attractive, bright red backs are a welcome sign to travel-weary birds. They strike when the prey least expects it. One of the more versatile inhabitants of the sea, the Puffer Wurm's diet of fish and fowl have kept their bellies full and the species thriving.


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artist: muleskinner
concept:
The Coral Hopper is a carnivorous plantlike creature. It can be found along the coastline of tropical islands preying on schools of small fish. Looking very much like stringy purple seaweed it waits patiently for its quarry to get within the range of one of its four telescoping maws. Along with a steady diet of small fish the Coral Hopper has the unique ability to photosynthesize through a large jellylike green orb in the center of up to ten tentacles. These tentacles, with smaller orbs at the ends surrounded by a halo of stringy barbs, are used to defend itself from gulls and other scavenging birds. Natives of the islands consider the Coral Hopper a boon for two reasons. One being the migrating nature of the Hopper in its search for good fishing and the second for the phosphorescent glow emitted at evening and night, alerting extended fishing parties of sharp outcroppings that could possible sink a larger fishing vessel.


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artist: Cloister
concept:
The Mongrogg were first spotted around heavily polluted coastlines in South-East Asia. There they dragged themselves forward with long arms, digging and clawing through the soil bottoms for trash, stray fish or anything at all that would fill their bellies. When driven out into deeper water the Mongrogg looses their ability to manoeuvre, and can be found drifting aimlessly across the open sea. Their great abdominal air-sacks keep them afloat, and their clawed limbs are swift enough for them to catch some fish and an occasional gull – which they attract from miles away due to their natural smell of rotting flesh. When hitting a shoal, the Mongrogg tend to stay on to it to regain control, a behaviour that has aided many a captain in navigating safely past banks of sand and sunken rocks. This unintentional serving as sea marks soon produced the nickname Buoy, for this particular species.
The undersides of these creatures are clad in fat slimy tentacles. (Barely visible in the illustration) These are sensitive to electrical vibrations and help the Mongrogg in spotting and catching underwater prey.
(Whether or not the ‘Buoy’ is a result of recent 'big-leap' mutation is still under debate... and some suggest illegal biomechanical experiments as the source.)


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artist: bara
concept: Dragon Ray
The Dragon Ray inhabits waters near coastlines, in tropical climate. It eats mainly coral and small number of underwater plants.
It's large size alone is a formidable defense against most predators, but the hard, bony edge around the middle of it's torso can be used for ramming. During mating season males sometimes compete for females and this bony edge sees much use during that time.
The horns on the topside aren't actually used for aggressive purposes. They are bioluminescent and are used for attracting mates.
The creature spends much of it's time only half-submerged, basking in sun during day. The carapace is home to numerous parasites, which, although mostly harmless to it, provide food for birds and some fish.


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artist: infinitemonkey
concept: Rock Whale
The rock whale is a distant evolutionary cousin of the baleen whale. Adults can reach a height of roughly 15 metres above sea level. The rock whale uses bioluminescent patches on its belly to attract fish, squid and other sea life and then rapidly inhales, which causes them to become trapped in the hairs of the cage-like tube of baleen plates. The rock whale uses its prehensile tongue (over 20 metres long) to coil around the outside of the tube and drag its meals in. A rock whale's plume can make it dip as much as 5 metres into the sea. The specimen seen here is a late-juvenile; as it is unable to fully submerge, its back is hardened and bleached by the sun. Adults have almost no freedom of movement in what remains of their neck, and they are usually completely covered in the rock-like bony protrusions from which the species gets its name.


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artist: iwantjelly
concept:
The dreadful giant pentapus nonchalantly wrecking a ship passing by.


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artist: peppi
concept:
The Sarcophagous Tropical Mockfish is an utterly rare inhabitant of the seas which is, due to his nutty appearance and politically questionable prey scheme, being widestly ignored by science. It was first discovered in 1827 by British naturalist and womaniser Lord G.E.E. Schneckerfeffney who instantly died of a gastric ulcer, and who has also been widestly ignored by science. Its diet consists mostly of gay seabirds.


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artist: Frostdrake
concept:
The B'ooy is found in warm, shallow waters, generally with rotting plant-matter. Its antennae are the only remainder of its crustacean ancestry, trading a life of mobility for one of filtration. Its legs, covered in furry filtration fibers, provide some means of movement or anchor - the tips of which are prehensile, and when come in contact with an object can grasp, thus either pulling the animal along, or anchoring to a spot. The dust-caps extending from the back of the animal are in fact used as waste management. Once food is digested, it is stored in the dust-caps, dried, and blown away in the hopes that the B'ooy will have moved on to a new feeding location by the time the dust sinks back into the water.


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artist: mocknot
concept:
They live in colonies of about 20, and are opportunistic feeders, living off of what gets caught in their tentacles. If attacked by birds they can duck into their hard shells and let themselves be briefly pushed under water.


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artist: tigerazzo
concept:
a creature-buoy with two works!


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artist: inkvenom
concept:
The Tentisack lives out in the ocean, it uses the many airsacs located around it's main body to stay afloat, but can deflate them to submerge itself.
It hunts it's food by staying afloat and using the lighted bulbs to attract fish, and then grabs them with it's tentacles and eats them. The bulbs above water have the same effect but with birds or any other land creature.
This monster is a serious threat to any boatists or fishermen.


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artist: ibbo
concept: The pale artic calamari
These medium sized squid inhabit the freezing waters of the artic, and can be seen in large groups which- to the uninformed onlooker- appear to be large colonies of icebergs. In fact, these ingenious squid use the natural boyancy of the ice as anchors, and float upside down allowing them to catch small fish swimming near the surface. An adolecent PAC (pale artic calamari) slowly burrows into a small piece of ice which eventually grows along with the creature, allowing some of these strange beasts to grow up to impressive sizes (as does the iceberg they leech onto).


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artist: Supervlieg
concept: Gargantuon
Saura Emmanis
This enormous member of the lizard family is one of the most inactive reptile species. Its most distinctive feature is its huge size. The Gargantuon can sleep for centuries, while gathering enough body heat for a short period of activity and mating. During its "hibernation" period it sleeps floating in the sea. During its centuries long sleep lifeforms attach to its back and thrive there, giving the Gargantuon island like features. Meanwhile the Gargantuon gains food from the surrounding water by absorbing it through it's huge pores. It breathes using the tubes on his back. These tubes are also used to expell the excrements from its body. These excrements light up when exposed to oxygen, and thus create the effect of a huge lightbeacon. The Gargantuons are therefore often mistaken for buoys by sailors. In a bid to end this confusion, most Gargantuons have been wiped out. And only a few are believed to remain, but they are hard to find.


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artist: Michael Jaecks
concept: Cephalosapien
Cephalosapiens are a highly intelligent species from a planet covered mostly by oceans. Their enormous brains require a tremendous amount of oxygen. They use the conductive nature of the salty oceans to transmit bio-electric messages to others of their kind as language. Although they can submerge themselves like any swimming creature, cephalosapiens oxygen requirements are too high to process it from the sea like fish. And while they could survive on land, without the saline medium that connects them, cephalosapiens would be unable to communicate. As such, these creatures prefer to congregate in large buoyant colonies in their planet's most temperate waters. Besides the brain, the rest of cephalosapien's anatomy is designed to carry it's most important organ like a passenger in a covered rickshaw. The integument covering the top of the brain is attached to a tail of sorts and can be retracted in the cephalosapiens version of a yawn.
Most cephalosapiens are highly social and value the sea that connects them to others of their species. Very rarely, a particularly anti-social cephalosapien chooses to leave the sea and live a monastic life on land. Treated like outcasts, these cephalosapien monks are regarded as dangerous, religiously fanatical, or just plain insane.


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[Fozzybar]

not accepted entries:

All WIPs/sketches/not finished yet/placeholder/yaddayaddayadda images...AND (if not mentioned further) all entries which didn't pass the quality check

zindrome
no 3d-art allowed for COW

Stampedie
You missed the topic

Grim Reaper
Not a species.

Arn J.
hehe, nice try, nice try Another 1-2 hours spent in art and concept and it would have been in i guess...rushed art and even more rushed concept makes a bad combination




close to rejection:

Alejjo, Sangmort
some areas really needed more effort guys i might be in a different - "more rejecting" - mood next time




special note:

none

[RichardPajuelo]

For me, all the works are excellent. But it is necessary to choose some of them, I choose to Supervlieg. I Repeat, all entry's nice.
Congratulations!

[Moai]

I'm currently trapped between the two kickass entries of peppi and bara. So, for now at least, I'm going to play favorites in my crits and comments.
bara- This is a wonderful image. Your creature has a very natural feel to it, and the design is innovative. It reminds me quite a bit of the oceanic sunfish, and has the same gentle, slow-moving character. Crits: the part of its body above the water and the part below the water blend together a bit too much, I think. You might have emphasized the dividing line just a bit with just a little bit of whitewater, or something. Also, its far fin bends in one direction too much. Great entry, though.
peppi- I must be a gay seabird, because I too am falling in love with this image. Fantastic design, color work, rendering, composition...everything! I love the crispness of the creatures' outlines and the variety of hues in the pink. The description is pretty funny as well. So sorry, bara, because I'm going to have to go with peppi this round. Awesome awesome entry!

Edit: One more comment...
JakkaS- Very nice level of finish on this piece. This is the first time I've looked at this image since the first version you posted, and I'm still impressed. Good call including that bit about the way it changes the water pressure with its feet. I was thinking about your concept earlier, and I realized that I didn't think that this creature would be able to move very effectively. So, good job making the concept a little more plausible.
By the way, are you ever going to do another tutorial? Digital painting has been frustrating me lately, and I need some information and inspiration.

[Michael Jaecks]

Ooops whiteeeeee. We don't get to vote for ourselves here. It makes the red bear even redder. I won't call you a "moron" as the rules suggest, cuz yer fairly new in these parts...

Cloister thank you for the thoughtful feedback in the posting thread. I'm glad I entertain you. Personally, I feel more like the land-living cephalosapiens than the sheep-like ones that stay in the sea. America doesn't love introverts much more than it loves atheists. People tell me I should get out more, but I think they should sequester themselves more. You get more accomplished. The colors this week are dedicated to the 80's, Nagel, Duran Duran and Miami Vice.

Voting: Jakkas or Peppi. That is the question. I literally liked both so well I had to eenie meenie minee mo the decision. So Peppi got the vote. It's just as well the love gets spread around, and I happily spread mine to the homoaviavores. But Jakkas' idea for the reverse walker is so good, I wouldn't be surprised if he got his billionth star this week.

[Fozzybar]

new round is on:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=99593

[Fozzybar]

whiteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Who you wanna vote for? i will fix it...

[RichardPajuelo]

I, involuntarily, voted by me in previous c.o.w (razor fly) hehehe….I'm sorry for that! hehehe

[Master_v12]

I vote whiteeeeee!

[Supervlieg]

Voted peppi. Largely ignored by science, and diet of gay seagulls sold it!

[bara]

many cool entries... sucks that i get to choose just one.

fate, brunob, white, peppi, michael jaecks, great job. Peppi's entry made me lol. Michael jaecks' design feels original and interesting, but trying to imagine giant brains swimming around just doesn't work for me, i feel like nature wouldn't come up with a design like that, the vulnerable brains would be easy pickings for any predator.

I'm going with Simonl's concept. I like the fact that this feels like an animal that might exist in the real world, yet it appears alien, i can imagine a lifeform like this on another planet perhaps. Plus it's rendered nicely, a very polished piece.

[muleskinner]

I chose fate for my vote. Nice creature render and layout of the entire composition. I like the tilted view and the way the image flows in a circular fashion to end up focusing on the red underbelly and eyes.
Once again, hard to choose, many nice pieces in the poll.

[gene0i1mortal]

Such a hard round with some real stand outs.. Jakkas, Peppi, Cloister and whiteeeee...

When it came down to it though Simonl got my vote, a very elegant creature design that seems at home in the sea.

[Arn J.]

Awww my entry got rejected. xD
Next time I won't announce too much that I made it in the last minutes jaja, or maybe work abit more on it jaja. Next one I'll put more effort I know you'll be expecting something better from me.

---

Great entries everyone!
I voted for bara, he seems to be a very respected dude in the oceans!!
One thing is bothering me abit, the protuberance that is twisting I think I don't like it that long.

[Alex Alexandrov]

hohoho how shoud i know about that :]]]]]]] ok if i got to vote for someone that would be peppi i just love the rendering and the idea . And Michael thx for not calling me a "moron" DDD ok so if some one can fix this let him take one from my votes and put it on peppi

[Cloister]

For me there were two options:


Jakkas's creature is a celebration of imagination and detail (though I liked the first post better in many ways... and luckily saved it before the alterations...)

bara's creature is proof of the effiecency of simplicity and realism when skillfully and soberly balanced (great call on the surface btw!)


As you can see from my own entry... I've left the sober solutions for the time being... so the vote goes to Jakkas!
(Long live the King! ...)

[Sangmort]

Whoa, really wasn't expecting mine to go to the poll since it wasn't finished lol


Had to give my vote to jakkas though whiteeeeeee was deffinitely another favorite.~

[Johann de Venecia]

Voted for Jakkas! Very alienesque and imaginitive. The design, although had a lot of different elements, were very cohesive and compact, if that makes any sense. I get the feeling of one whole, functioning creature and not a missmatched abnormality. That, and the rendering is amazing.

[Verithin]

Voted for JakkaS with an honorable mention for peppi. Peppi... just brilliant, love it... wonderful character and execution BUT... what can you say about JakkaS entry. I think this may be his best to date.

Brilliant stuff everyone!

[ibbo]

I vote Peppi for the innovative and pure crazy concept!

[dragon4lunch]

CloisterÖ Love those clwas! Those little speckles of dark and light on them looks great. I'm not too crazy about the neck of the creature, but it still is a unique looking monster!

whiteeeeee: Cool, cool, cool! Maybe a little default with the face, but hey, large mouth with teeth will always impress

ManicShadow: One of my favourites here. The back fin and the large tail fin could have used some more detail and love, translucency and the like.

peppi: Starkes Bild Mann, besonders die Farben und alles ueber Wasser!

lukavi: Ultra-close to getting my vote! This is such a lovely little image, very much reminds me of the Alice in Wonderland Illustrator from 100 years ago: Arthur Rackham
Your style rocks my boat

Simonl: Yay, dig the shape of the creature. This is my winner!

[Alejjo]

My vote goes for peppi, great concept, greeat render.

Fozzybar got the scolding, will owrk harder next time, quick question, how come i dont have a lil COW face next to my nick name??

[Fozzybar]

Fozzybarquick question, how come i dont have a lil COW face next to my nick name??

i will add one soon....as soon as you win 1 cow round, muhahahahhahahahahahaa......

[Alejjo]

i will add one soon....as soon as you win 1 cow round, muhahahahhahahahahahaa......

Hey thats cruel,lol instead of the ligth bulbs next to our nicks everybody had the cow face, i refreshedit and its gone now so i guess it was a bug or something but hey.Mark my words you will be giving me that icon SOON jajaj nice evil laugh

[Fozzybar]

voted for peppi
awesome skills and great rendering. I like the funny description and the tilted perspective...cool composition...so summing it up: Newcomer of the week!

My favs:

ManicShadow
Nice creature design and good feel of scale....love the color scheme.

bara
actually i liked your creature design best...but the water part which is not painted by yourself killed the illusion

[infinitemonkey]

I voted for whiteeeeeee for the reasons I gave in the posting thread.

[Alex Alexandrov]

infinitemonkey - thx i forgot to thank you for the nice comment in the posting thread thx again

[SOUTHERN]

Tough call this time. I went for Simon L in the end after hours of deliberation.