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 >>/6680/
> Hippogryphs primarily, because they look so extremely thin and delicate, where they should be more robust and durable than their griffon cousins.
I don't think their design is bad, in fact in the hands of the right artist look rather elegant, but I can understand the nature of this criticism. We've seen other creatures translated to pony with far more of their mythical features preserved and them being hybrids would open up a lot of possibilities plot wise.

Speaking on Hippogryphs, it is from my understanding that they are relatively new creation compared:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/hippogriff
> Hippogriff, a legendary animal that has the foreparts of a winged griffin and the body and hindquarters of a horse. The creature was invented by Ludovico Ariosto in his Orlando furioso and was based on a proverbial phrase about crossing a griffin with a horse that was used to signify an impossibility or incongruity. 
https://sacred-texts.com/neu/orl/index.htm

Random side note: Derpi's tagging on the topic confuses me. They have a Hippogriff and a "classical Hippogriff" but with the discription stating they are their own species. Yet, aren't classical ones a hybrid? More confusing is that they have both a G4 Hippogriff and the very OC you cite as examples of classical Hippogriff so I don't understand what the differentiator is here.
https://derpibooru.org/search?q=Hippogryph&sf=id&sd=desc  
https://
https://derpibooru.org/tags/classical+hippogriff

> but they're of the Zodiac clan, one of the "factions" to use Fallout-NV terminology, that the main-char has to deal with at various times.
Definately them:
https://twibooru.org/987023
> Hoofington’s favorite clan of assassins, the Zodiacs.