Random Pet Family Appreciation Thread 14: Tallstriders!

[Wassa]

Former threads:
Moths - Warp Stalkers - Crocolisks - Monkeys - Wolves - Core Hounds - Wasps - Dragonhawks - Turtles - Boars - Carrion Birds - Bears - Serpents

Random pet family appreciation thread is where I roll a random pet family every week for everyone to share their pictures, their stories, their love for that pet family. Please no hate or rants. This is an appreciation thread. If you dislike the family, don't post! Hopefully with some love we can get some hunters to try out new pets they never would have thought to tame before.

Our 14th family is the extravagant tallstrider family!

Image from WoW TCG.

*explodes in glee that she rolled her favorite family*

Tallstrider facts

~Tallstriders have been tameable since Vanilla WoW.

~Tallstriders have six different skin colors.

~Tallstriders have two rare members which are Mazzranache and Strider Clutchmother.

~Mazzranache and Strider Clutchmother used to be unique skinned named rares of the tallstrider family. Since Cataclysm common mobs where also given their skins, so now tallstriders have no unique skinned named members of the family.

~Back in Wrath, tallstriders were tamed by 0.4% of level 80 hunters. Placing them near the bottom at number 19 on the list, tied with carrion birds, hyenas, and silithids. (Source)

~Back in Wrath, tallstriderskinpink was the most tamed skin at 53.2%. Tallstriderskingrey was the least tamed skin at 2.4%. (Source)

~Tallstriders special ability Dust Cloud used to cause enemies within 10 yards to miss their next melee attack. This worked on all bosses so some raiding guilds did use groups of tallstriders for hard hitting heroic boss fights.

~Tallstrider mounts are a recent addition to WoW introduced in patch 4.3. These four mounts are Swift Forest Strider, Swift Lovebird, Swift Shorestrider (TCG loot mount) and Swift Springstrider.

~Mulgore Hatchling is the only minipet tallstrider. It matches perfectly with tamed tallstriders using tallstriderskinpink.

~Tallstriders received many new animations in 4.3 with them becoming mounts. They now share animations with Hawkstrider mounts. Unfortunately tallstriders lost their old goofy head bobbing run animation.

~Deviate Plainstrider was one of the two "fire pets." This was a permanent appearance buff from the quest Sowing the Solution which one of the quest item's outcome was the pet burst into flames, creating a very unique pet that was a patch of fire. Since hunters tame beasts and not fire, also because this pet was untargetable by clicking, this was hotfixed shortly afterwards and all fire pets returned to their normal tallstrider/raptor look.

~Goodie is an alliance NPC's pet that is tameable only by horde.

~Ornery Plainstriders had 1.3 attack speed in Vanilla WoW.

~Strider Clutchmother is the best pet-oh sowwy how did this get in the facts section...

[Wassa]

I'm sure most of you here know how much I love my Hahadori. Wassa isn't Wassa without Hahadori. She isn't my pet; I'm her pet.

Personality wise Hahadori is brave, fearless, and always calm during battle. She is so vain that she will stop in the middle of combat to preen her feathers. She is extremely loud and screeches often to remind people she is around. She thinks highly of herself and loves to be the center of attention. She is a bit promiscuous, having many mates.

I first met Strider Clutchmother on my first hunter, which was a night elf (I know I know but my friends where alliance when I started the game). She was so beautiful with her bright and colorful plumage standing out from within the gloomy Darkshore fog. One of my oldest screenshots I still have saved is me meeting her for the first time.



I had to have her, however, she was untameable at the time.

Later on I heard she was made tameable and I ran back to tame her. I loved her. She was such a unique pet back when everyone only had a cat. Although I did delete my night elf hunter, I started Wassa with the intention of at level 20 I would make the journey to Darkshore to tame her again.

Hahadori quickly became more well known than I was due to her unique appearance. She became infamous on my old server Kirin Tor when she tanked Hakkar at level 60.



Hakkar was bugged where his mind control (that always casts on the highest threat target) would disconnect you from the game. Hard to tank the boss when you are at the loading screen, so just for fun we tried with Hahadori tanking since pets are immune to mind control and it worked! Vent was hilarious with the healers screaming, "Heal the bird! Keep that chicken up!"

Hahadori has become the guild mascot in guilds I've been in. It's a common joke in my guild that Hahadori can tank anything, solos heroic raids, and bosses "face not Hahadori alone but the raids she commands." Some of my guildies have fought over her affection. She even got married to our priest (looooooong story on that).

Enough talking. Picture spam time!



Hahadori and her husband.


Queen Hahadori's favorite place is sitting on the throne of her recent boss kill.




Haha's super tank form.


How does it feel to be killed by a giant chicken?


With my Swift Shorestrider mount.















<--- Even NPCs know she's awesome.

[Rhyela]

Your post on Hahadori is awesome!

I, too, have Strider Clutchmother, named Rainey (after Ma Rainey, the "mother of blues"). Like you, ever since I saw her for the first time, I knew I had to have her (and back then I wanted to name her Porkchop...no idea why). When the time was right, I snatched her up. However, due to our small stables back then, I kept releasing her then re-taming her, then releasing her, etc. This continued all the way up to Cataclysm. She never changes or is a different bird in my mind. She's always the same Rainey, and every time I find her, I feel that she just had to leave to raise a new batch of chicks and I bring her home again. <3

But, now that we have 25 stable slots, she's definitely here to stay for good. ^.^ Sadly, I don't use her much since I'm always putzing around taming new animals, but I love her no less.

Rainey is quite a bit like Hahadori, actually. She's just more mischievous than vain, and thinks herself quite the joker.

I changed my hair to match her color in this picture, but my hair is normally green (as I'm sure everyone knows). :3

[TygerDarkstorm]

Tallstriders oh my god yay!! I've been waiting for these guys to pop up.

So funny story with me and tallstriders starts with before I was running the Pet Challenge threads. I used to strongly dislike these goofy looking "useless" birds and their slightly outdated model. And then the pet challenge roll system proceeded to roll me just about every color tallstrider in the book for all sorts of different hunters until I admitted defeat. Turns out I utterly love and adore tallstriders and I tend to choose them over foxes anymore. Currently I have two tallstriders on my hunters and I got the Swift Springstrider this Noblegarden for my druid mount collector.

I know a lot of people disagree with the tallstriders' new run animation, however I took a two month (or so) break from the game and when I came back, the new animation had been implemented. I logged into my baby hunter on Staghelm and saw the new run and practically fell out of my chair squeeling in delight. For me personally, I think it adds to their character.

Rulian and her new mount, Twinkletoes (thank you Toph from Avatar: TLAB for the name) :


Ruffley doesn't get as much use these days now that I mainly play on Staghelm, but I did decide to go out and tame her a tallstrider after freeing up some stable slots. And since my pink tallstrider mini pet, Marvin, never leaves Ruffley's side I knew it had to be the pink one, and not just any pink one, but Mazzranache. Little bugger gave me the run around for about 30 minutes before showing up and letting me tame him. Since all of Ruffley's pets have food based names, Maraschino seemed like the perfect name.

And perfect Maraschino has been. He has become a loving, devoted father to crazy little Marvin and he has the patience and wisdom of a saint. But he also has his moments of running around like a young hatchling.

And my second tallstrider, Henbane, is very special to me. For the first time when I went to tame the Strider Clutchmother, even without BoA gear, I died. And not just once, I died like two or three times before the tame finally went off with Tsara at very low health. Right then and there Henbane earned her name and personality. Much like Wassa is Hahadori's pet, Tsara is Henbane's pet. Henbane runs the show and she knows it. And she spends a lot of time purposely trying to trip Tsara up and even get her hunter killed. All in the name of fun and trying to make Tsara stronger, of course.

Even Withers looks mortified by Henbane in this screenshot.

[cowmuflage]

Bird aproves of this thread.


White Tallstrider is best Tallstrider.

They allso good parents.


Bird is posh and uses many big words that hurt Cowmuflages brain. He went to all the best unis all over the world. Don't ever tell me not to smoke his pipe. "By golly! How dare you say such a thing!"



Oh and he's britsh :3

[Niabi]

I once believed that Tallstriders were only good for one thing -- comedic antics. They were the poster pet for ridicule and banter and would more likely get me kicked from raiding events than have me be taken seriously as a player. When I first started playing WoW, and had chosen the role of a hunter for my second character, this was just a small fragment of the warnings/advice I was given from my friends and guildmates. I was a goldfish in a pond full of koi ... I dared not question their logic.

Then I saw her along my travels one day. She was magnificent! The colors of her plumage, so bright and alluring in contrast to the ominious forest of her home. She was the Clutchmother!



The attraction was instant but the previous warnings kept me from acting on my impulses. I also knew that with only three stable slots at my disposal, I needed to make practical selections. I left never knowing if I'd ever see her again.

Over the course of the Burning Crusade (I think), hunters were given more stable space, and again, the thoughts of the Clutchmother began to resurface. I was no longer an unknowing newb but a capable player with credentials to back the choices I had/could make for my own classes. I didn't care as much what other players may have thought of me now. I was going to have that bird!

So I returned with Niabi to the dark, foreboding woods of Darkshore. To my utter disappointment and frustration, she was not there to greet my return. I did not know how long she had been gone or when she would return but I knew that I needed to be patient. Afterall, I snubbed her during our first encounter. Perhaps she wanted to make this reunion difficult for me; to understand what I had given up on so easily. I knew I was a fool and deserved the lesson I was about to be taught.

By chance it would seem that I missed her whenever I allowed myself to be distracted with the nuisances of hunger, sleep, or RL responsibilites (damn job, grrr!). Then it happened! I had found her! Her mad attempts at gouging the eyes from Niabi's skull told me she did not handle rejection well! She was a bird with a grudge! She wasn't without forgivness though and eventually accepted Niabi as a companion.

More time passed before the Clutchmother allowed Niabi to see her true personality - the one underneath all the hostility and pain. Deep down she's really just a sweet-tempered girl with a heaping side of quirkiness to boot! She loves to indulge on snacks from Niabi's bags and puffs her feathers whenever she wants to express happiness or agreement. She acts as a kind of surrogate mother to her fellow stablemates; always grooming them and knocking them on the heads with her beak to keep them in order. Her bright coloration, gave inspiration to her eventual name: Kiwi.


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I've grown to love tallstriders and have since tamed a Lost Torranche (named Chianti) for Kadija and a Mazzranache (named Cerise) for Saerra.

[Ana]

Aww another one of my favorite

Kahluas beloved bird is named Caipirinha - and even though the booze she is named after is green, Kahluas lovely bird are purple She sooo doesnt fit in Kahlus almost color attuned stabled but she´s just so charming that i just cant get rid of her - eventhogh the color classes so badly with Kahluas transmorg








Tårnfalk on the other hand is not so attacthed to her tallstrider. They seam to change color whenever my transmorg gear does (which is quite often). WHen i had the black transmorg i did not have any tallstriders but when Kaesora (the aqua cat) jumped into my stables and Tårnfalks transmorg changed there were yet again room for a lovely tallstrider. Tårnfalks current bird is named Erudin after a city in EQ. Erudin are homes of the Erudites one of the most wises of the races in everquest and as i view tallstriders to be extreeemly intelligent this was just a perfect name for her. And she matches my gear which is always good (cept for the orange in her but hey shes cute anyway)

[GormanGhaste]

I've loved Tallstriders ever since meeting them for the first time in Darkshore. Among all my toons, I've tamed every color except grey.
My main has a brown strider named Tepui, after the rock formation in the movie UP.
I now realize that the White Hawkstrider mount was just a placeholder for Tallstrider mounts; can't explain how much I love the squawk!

[Melentari]

Melentari and Ianaren go way back. Ianaren was the first real pet I tamed on Mel, going all the way from Azuremyst Isle down to Mulgore to track down the pink plainstrider of my heart.

Mel and Ianaren's Christmas Card

When we could tame five pets, I went out and tamed the Strider Clutchmother and one of the Lost Torranches from south of Terokkar. Mel and her manthing, Tevildo, decided that they were going to retire to Nagrand and raise plainstriders.

All of Mel's 'Striders

For a while, Ianaren and I were joined by Sooki and Floyd. We hung out as often as possible, just to get all the Flamingo comments.

Even now, expansions later, Mel and Ianaren are tight. They always will be. Halaren is her guardian and Ianaren is her friend, and all together, how could she ask for more?

Oh, wait. Ianaren has a whole family now. That's how. (:

[Vephriel]

Kevin was the tallstrider that stole my heart. Before meeting him I'd never felt particularly strongly one way or another towards the creatures. I didn't dislike them by any means, but they simply didn't feel like a pet that I would bond with.

In The Burning Crusade I found myself oohing and ahhing over the plumage of the Lost Torranche striders on their island in Terokkar. It's no secret that I love purple and green together. Even with that though I still didn't feel a powerful pull to tame one, I just admired their colouration.

I can't quite recall exactly what it was that made me change my mind, but one day on a whim I decided I had to give them a try. The purple and green was too pretty to ignore, and I had been growing fonder of tallstriders after joining this forum and hearing about others' pets.

So I went out and tamed one. It didn't take long for me to see him as a 'Kevin' (I had watched UP very recently before the tame). Here's the very first photo I have with him:


Kevin and I hit it off immediately. He was so full of quirky charm and character, I honestly loved him. With the stable constraints in WotLK, however, I was eventually forced to let him go for a while to make room for some other pets. I knew it was never going to be a permanent release, I had every intention of coming back for him one day.

I couldn't bear just dropping him off someplace randomly. Instead I took him to Sholazar Basin, where I was sure he'd enjoy himself in the lush climate. I thought of this as a tropical vacation for him.



Wherever I went thereafter, I could always smile and imagine him relaxing there on the beach of River's Heart, maybe lounging in a hammock and sipping cocktails.



By having this little background story it really helped to cement the bond I had with him, and even while he wasn't in my stables I still felt attached.

Retaming him was one of the best pet moments I've had, and I'm so glad he's back as a permanent member of my stables now.

He always seems to lighten the mood when I have him out, he has so much personality, I always smile when I think about him.

Kevin's also enjoyed tanking bosses on many occasions (he's a cheeky guy, he loves taunting them!). The sight of a colourful little bird taking on the big bads is just priceless to me.







Of course I was absolutely thrilled to get the Darkmoon Faire mount, it's great to have Kevin around in more ways than one!

[starkittens]

yay! tallstriders! I have one, she's a white one, and she was randomly tame to go with the mount, But I love her. She's not done anything as cool as tank a boss, but she's still cool.

[Miacoda]

Yeee! I love hearing about peoples tallstriders. <3 They always seem to be a pet that brings a smile to faces, including my own!
I have two Tallstriders!

Mia's lovely bird is Spazzranache! <3 Or Spazzy, for short! :3



I had tried a fox with Mia, but it really just didn't stick that much. I was never really a huge fan of tallstriders at first. I had one a long long time ago names Spaz, but he was more of a tame for fun, and this was in Vanilla so he soon was released to make room for other pets. So here is Cata, and with foxes having no luck, I decide to listen to everyone who raved about how aweaome tallstriders were and get one for my own. I first tried out a white one, and he was okay, I named him Harrison, but he just didn't stick as well as I had wanted him to. It probably would have gone better if his legs were all black, because for some reason I love animals with black legs. XD
So I went to the tallstrider skin that I loved but hated admitting that I loved: pink. And I just could not tame any other tallstrider than Mazzranache.
I have a very deep fondness for one of Mazzranache's chicks, though. Spazzranache is such an adorable little bird, I couldn't help but pretend I tamed him instead, so Spazzranache is here now, and here to stay, despite his new run (I miss you old run, you were amazing ).



Spazzy was used a LOT more when he had his old run. I can't get rid of him, despite the new one, just because I love him so much. He makes me laugh and is just full of fun and happy personality. He loves to run around and be super quirky, and he always makes me smile and laugh.



And of course when I first saw the datamined Swift Lovebird, I knew what that meant, pink tallstrider mount! I love matching mounts and companions with my pets, so I was super thrilled!




My second tallstrider belongs to Sarahma, his name is Byrd!



I started Sarahma as a bird collector, so of course I had to get her a tallstrider! I only wanted her birds to have natural colors, though, so I tamed the one closest to a cassowary! I love him, he looks very tough and sort of punkish. Byrd is a very proud bird. He's strong, physically, mentally, and willfully. He has his quirky moments--what tallstrider doesn't?--but he's generally calm and collected.



He also has this absolute love for Sarahma's armor. He'll rest his head on her shoulders and gnaw on it all day. That's just what she gets for having such a shiny wardrobe!



And deal with it she does! Byrd is wroth it. <3

[Rhyela]

That last picture is cute. The gray is actually tied with the blue for my favorite skin. It seems under-appreciated. Yeah, the gray body might not be the most striking, but I absolutely love the blue and pink details! They really stand out.

[Miacoda]

I kept telling myself I wasn't going to make that image while writing this but Byrd was like "NO, DO IT."

I adore the grey! The colors really do stand out and they're so lovely. <3

[Wassa]

Hehehe! Awesome.

[Karin]

I, too, was one that always wanted a tallstrider the minute I saw them in Mulgore long, long ago, but never had the room for them. This was back during the TBC era. I admit, I truly felt heartbroken watching them perish just for a few quests. Their calm squawking. By Wrath, it was my destiny to tame one. Of course, the rare tallstriders always caught my attention here on Petopia's site. I can tell my only memorable story.

As soon as I hit level 20 on my orc hunter, I had my heart set on the Clutchmother. Traveling all the way to Darkshore on foot only just for her. However, I did wait one more level for it, even though I already had my Freezing Trap taught. Shortly after hitting 21, I set foot for this bird. It took me a good while to almost get there. When I got to troll settlement in Ashenvale and got my flight path there set, I went ahead and tamed a crab nearby as I read crabs can be helpful when taking on the Clutchmother's babies and her. With my new crab ready to be released back into the wild, we set foot for Darkshore. After minutes, we arrived. Searching around the Clutchmother's usual path, I steadily grew more disappointed as each second passed by and no sign of her while killing cats within the vicinity just in case. By the time I reached the shoreline as the last place to find her, my Silverdragon went off, showing the pretty blue bird in its icon picture. I did not engage them right away, seeing as there were a few more cats around I had to kill so I don't have more than just the Clutchmother to deal with once I am done. Then, when time couldn't be more perfect, my crab went for the babies. It was going accordingly to plan at first, but when the first baby died, my crab went for the Clutchmother. I instantly made it go for the other baby and this made the Clutchmother get mad at me. I used Scare Beast to distract her while my crab killed the last baby. I bid my quick farewell to the crab that helped me get this far, released it back into the wild, and started trying to tame the blue bird. At this point, however, I was getting worried about my health, and unfortunately, both Scare Beast and Freezing Trap don't last long enough and the Clutchmother did stun me a few times, breaking my tame. When I knew first round would end horribly for me if I don't do something, I used Scare Beast again and hightailed it to the waters. The Clutchmother did run after me but gave up as soon as I retreated to the waters. After leaving that panic mode, I knew I shouldn't give up, seeing as we were destined for each other; she knows how to challenge hunters that want her. She only picks those that don't give up. Returning to find her and just her around (the cats I killed previously had been killed awhile so I was worried they can spawn at any time while I attempt for her again). So, I thought up of a quick strategy that could work while watching her eyeballing me, studying me carefully. Concussive Shot, Scare Beast, Freezing Trap, Tame, Profit. So, finding the good moment to do it, I engaged her again. I instantly went into panic mode again when my Concussive Shot missed then did Freezing Trap quickly followed by Scare Beast and Tame. During the tame, I was still into panic mode, watching her run around then run right for me when the tame was slightly less than halfway finished. I prayed she would not stun me during this time, as both of my abilities were on cooldown. Before I knew it during my panic mode, her yellow icon turned blue and she walked beside me. I was surprised and amazed but that was short-lived when a couple cats respawned and attacked me. My new bird saved my life though and she instantly jabbed at the cats. When it was over, she looked at me as if she was still inspecting me curiously, but she clicked her beak softly and smiled, even though the shape of her beak already smiled. I returned to Crossroads, named her Mystify, and showed her off. She had no problem showing off in front of her new pet. She did respect me for my bravery and confidence though.

Tallstriders are another ferocity pet I always thought are underappreciated due to their dodo personality. Yet, I remembered before Wrath, tallstriders were known to have slightly more health (I remembered it was 5% extra health, 0% extra armor, 0% extra dps) and they do look powerful. I used to love their old dust cloud back in Wrath but its new one is not frowned at either.

[Sesamee]

Muffet is my much adored Tallstrider. I named her after a nursery rhyme because before I gave in to the taming whim "Along came a Strider" kept playing over and over in my head. I love her soft grey coloring complimented by just enough purple and red to give her some pizzazz yet retain the somber coloring of a female bird. And she just has a happy face! I wish she had a more useful buff. She is one of my indulgent pets, ones I keep around for sheer attachment as opposed to utility. I do bring her out on the rare occasion that a raid buff is completely covered and she got to see Heroic Spine quite a bit as I cycled through my Ferocity pets to make sure Call of the Wild was up for every tendon burn.

Leilani is my alt's Tallstrider. It's a Hawaiian name because I'm from there and her pretty bright coloring begged for a bright tropical name. I use her quite a bit on my alt as the restraints of progression game play aren't there so I can pretty much do whatever I want.

[Royi]

Great story Wassa, I like seeing vanilla screenshots. Takes me back

Neat that Haha was a Vanilla legend back then

[Miacoda]

I too found Haha's story really interesting!

And Sesamee, your screenshots of Muffet are lovely! <3

[Mozag]

Better late than never. I didn't have access to my WoW while this thread was taking place, but I didn't want to miss out on all the lovely tallstriders. I have one of almost every colour, and all of them are very dear to me. Let's start with my number one:



I had to put the whole of Gem in the picture, because she's a flamboyant, vain little lady. She's far more concerned with preening her feathers and strutting her stuff than protection or normal hunting activities. This is my favourite tallstrider (though not my favourite skin), and Lazuli is desperately devoted to her bird diva. I don't know what it was about this whim tame that made it special, but I realised very quickly that these two worked together perfectly. I adore my Gem.

Radagast on the other hand is mellow and calm, wise and peaceful. A bit derpy in that crazy professor way, but Lindy doesn't mind. He's her oasis of calm, and sometimes the two will just wander around silently in forests and jungles, enjoying the quiet and each other.

Lazar is the opposite. He is strong and powerful and very, very aggressive. Although his nature suits the ferocious Garshanga, even she sometimes wonders whether it was a wise idea to bring him along. He tries to vie for kingship with her beloved boar, who isn't having any of it, and more often than not, scuffles occur. Still, he is devoted and brave, and has a loyalty for which Garsh has a deep respect.

Thank you, Wassa, for inspiring this great love I feel for tallstriders!