FeatherGroom

Here's an example of a real-time "feather groom effect" which consists of spawning feathers on the surface of a skeletal mesh, similar to fur/hair grooming techniques used in movie CGI and games. The difference here is that every feather is a planar-aligned billboard particle, which then can be controlled via usual particle-level scripting. This allows effects like this "Mystique-like" change of skin between one side of the feather and the other.