Monster Hunter Wilds director defends its freakiest new monster from players hoping to hunt it to extinction: "There are people who find Rompopolo cute, I just want to say!"

Capcom's reveal of Monster Hunter Wilds' Rompopolo beastie was met with remarks from fans that the oily brute wyvern was so disturbing they wanted to hunt it to extinction. To that, director Yuya Tokuda says y'all are being mean and that plenty of folk find the slimy freak "cute," thank you very much.

Given the chance to talk to Tokuda recently, we ask if the reaction means that Capcom has done its job – Monster Hunter being a series about hunting monsters, and that. Given his right of reply, Tokuda says sure, but the reaction is more varied than that.

"There are people who find Rompopolo cute, I just want to say!" he says. "Because we've seen all the comments, and for every person who wants to eradicate it as soon as the game comes out, there are plenty of people who think it's cool or cute, and people are even drawing cutesy fan art.

"The designers have been really happy to see that – I mean they think it's cool and cute. So there's a varying reaction to it. I think that for a monster to be such a unique design compared to past games that it engenders all this discussion on different levels is definitely, you could say that that's a success in terms of our design goals!"

In fairness to the humble Rompopolo, it's not the only excellent new freak we're getting in Monster Hunter Wilds. Just the other month, we got another look at an oily octopus that can combust into flames. Needless to say, Tokuda is "incredibly proud."

Monster Hunter Wilds is out February 28, and we can't wait.

Monster Hunter Wilds' endgame bosses may be a lot tougher than you're used to since the devs don't want you to "breeze through" just because you have the right gear.