I also think we can put a fair bit of stock in this concept art - while not everything will be used, it's not as if Bethesda tell the artists, "hey, paint some cool TES stuff and we'll pick out some things we like for the game!" They'll be given fairly specific things to work on, I would think... things that Beth already want in the game. That combined with how good the (human) characters in screenshots look, leaves me very optimistic about the character design overall.

I'm actually pretty certain that's exactly how concept art is used. The artist draws something he believes would fit the universe, look cool, whatever...And then the design team/production supervisor w/e tells them what they like about it, what they don't. It's an evolving process.

I like the new look and I'm not disappointed in the slightest. It really looks more beastly than argonians did in Oblivion and Morrowind, even without the alien legs.

They look awesome now!

I'm gonna slink back into the shadows before I get yelled at for not disapproving that their legs aren't backwards unlike http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/KomodoDragonRinca1.jpg.

To be honest I think that looks better than both Morrowind and Oblivion style Argonians despite it being from behind.

Although... My dream Argonian would have Thane Krios-like voice and the legs of a Sangheili or Turian.

How is the concept art legitimate?

Concepts are just that concepts they are leggitamate concepts but that Is all. Hence no spears in OB when they were concept for the game. I also think the beastraces wouldn't have animal legs as humans lost gripping feet once we left the trees why keep full ankle joint if your bipedal?! Some feature would remain but I think alot would be lost once they are no longer front heavy.

I'm gonna slink back into the shadows before I get yelled at for not disapproving that their legs aren't backwards unlike http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/KomodoDragonRinca1.jpg.

A digitigrade is an animal that stands or walks on its digits, or toes. Digitigrades include walking birds (what many assume to be bird knees are actually ankles), cats, dogs, and most other mammals, but not humans, bears, and a few others (cf. plantigrade, unguligrade). Digitigrades are generally quicker and move more quietly than other mammals.

While humans usually walk with the soles of their feet on the ground, i.e. plantigrade locomotion, digitigrade animals walk on their distal and intermediate phalanges. Digitigrade locomotion is responsible for the distinctive hooked shape of dog legs.

There are anatomical differences between a plantigrade and digitigrade limb. Digitigrade animals have relatively long carpals and tarsals, and the bones which would correspond to the human ankle are thus set much higher in the limb than in a human. This effectively lengthens the foot, so much so that a digitigrade animal's "hands" and "feet" are often thought to correspond only to what would be the bones of the human finger or toe.

Unguligrade animals, such as horses and cattle, walk only on the distal-most tips of their digits, while in digitigrade animals, more than one segment of the digit makes contact with the ground, either directly (as in birds) or via paw-pads (as in dogs).

I apologize if this has been covered already (work soon and no time to read the whole thread), but you do realize we already have a screenshot of an Argonian, right?