What is your least favorite base/markings?

I feel like people who dislike merle, do so mostly as a pushback to it being popular and sought after, it's rather interesting to observe. I do agree that some colours can look dubious on quite a few bases though (honey merle... just no). 

Actually, I think for colours, at least marking colours honey has got to be my least favourite. Red can work though it's hard to pull off well if you want markings at full opacity for the pass rates, but honey just doesn't really seem to go along with anything. 

My least favourite base is probably khaki. I actually adore honeydew for how bright green it is, but khaki is just... Meh. 

As for markings themselves (colour aside) I just can't get along with the inner ear marking, mostly because it tends to be nice in the parent wolf -- since it was probably added during customisation -- and clash with the base colour badly in the pups. XD And then you get a nice pup with weird inner-ear fur. 

"I feel like people who dislike merle, do so mostly as a pushback to it being popular and sought after, it's rather interesting to observe." - Zodiark's Heart

There may be some of that, but I never seem to see the same sort of dislike expressed for inuit unders and as an RMA-exclusive that is just as rare and sought after as merle. Personally I really like inuit unders. Merle? Ehh... as with all markings it can look lovely in the right combinations but it often muddies things.

There was a different topic a while back and a lot of people there mentioned disliking Inuit unders actually, either that or it was a conversation in the chatbox. It's definitely not an uncommon sentiment (as is with merle). The only rarer marking I haven't seen discussed negatively before are the tamaskan unders, and that may be due to having been added recently. 

It's an inevitability that if something is popular, it'll also be disliked by a smaller group that is often just as vocal. That's not to say I love merle. I think it can look good in some wolves at some opacities against some bases. And it can look atrocious. Same with pretty much every other marking here really. 

I don't like Snow, Glaucous and Gold Darker/Lighter. Khaki is meh as well.

Gold Darker. When my stud was Dinar so many fake cheese puppies. I didn't mind the base before that.

I don't like merle. On dogs irl or on WD. Now if it was brindle...

I am not on a hate bandwagon, I like merle if it's blended or when used in a bottom layer. Everyone wants it at 100% and because of the way the smudges are arranged it will block out most of the design if the merle was placed on a top layer. I also am not a fan of how the smudges are laid out in general.

I've seen people studding merle say that they themselves don't like the marking but because of it's rarity people will pay to get it. I figured most liked it because it's a rare/status marking and not because they actually like it.

I love merle in real life but it is a heavy marking in game. I'd love to see it used more subtly. Or maybe a variation released in the future that looks more like real-world merle.

I think all colors and markings can look good. But merle and green base are two of the most difficult for me to work with when used with the available markings and colors.

Edit: I love Brindle too!

honestly, i don't really like glaucous, (i say, as i've consigned myself to cool light hell, since my future stud has pale) i like honeydew a lot better. i'm also not a fan of the pure white OR pure black bases, they look just... really boring. also, obligatory dunk on gold darker. and while theres not a lot of other bases that i can really say i outright dislike, i find that mojave and serpentine look really strange, and i honestly suspect that they look the way they do because someone used some kind of tone curve.

as for markings, oh boy, i think most applications of merle are pretty ugly, but QueenOfFrowns *is* right in that it looks better on lower layers. full mask is definitely ugly, mostly due to how i've found all the subtleties of the facial aspects from other markings (and even sometimes the bases) just get completely overridden most of the time. aside from that, i hate a lot of the sharp-edged high-contrast markings, since the harsh look is just kind of *weird* on an actual animal, and irish is the only one among them that i find is actually pretty workable.

some bases hurt my eyes or dont sit right with me such as glacuous, pearl, snow, nocturne, feldspar and peach

i dont hate any bases, but these ones are the ones i like the least

i do enjoy my unnatural colors like khaki/honeydew and henna/red though

Not a fan of honeydew or any gold bases, though I think Khaki base is nice!

As for markings, I'm not a fan of high opacity grizzles or full mask. Merles, I like, though in lower opacities. High opacity merles, I'm not a fan of visually.