Real Monsters

[@beckoning-chasm]

I often wonder what Lovecraft would have thought of images from an electron microscope. Some of those images (fleas, for example) already look like things from the Mythos.

[@SandyofCthulhu]

electron microscopes were just starting to appear when he died.

[@mendelovitch]

8:05 - "it's possible that the slime mold lifestyle evolved more than once" Yes, I have seen that kind of people.

[@SpokenFlesh]

i mean, technically we have a creature that convinced humans to take it back home, take care of it and feed it) they are called House Cats)

[@MajesticOak]

Humans might not have brood chambers, but we do have kindergartens and schools... ... hol up.

[@charlesdexterward7781]

I once created a crazy D&D monster by combining a centaur's body with a minotaur's head. I called it a cow.

[@markhill3858]

wouldnt that be a horse with a cows head :)

[@ethanrumley746]

Today I thought of the Centaur-pede and a piece of me is still crying about the image

[@almanacofsleep]

Behold the Esquilax, a horse with a head of a rabbit and the body of a rabbit!

[@CloseingStraw97]

Fumny enoigh 9:05 i am currently reading a comic called "Wytches" that is about a town who does this for a bunch of monsters who biologivally help them.

[@dileepvr]

You need to check out "The Filth" by Grant Morrison. And you have to wonder how much sleep Robert Boyle lost while discovering and sketching never-before-seen microscopic creatures.

[@marekjurko4548]

Great material, I did not know quite a few of them. Wouldn't mind a part two. I hope you got past the cold since filming!

[@rodneykelly8768]

I found a definition of "Monster" that is "Any creature, removed from its habitat." examples include the cockroach, Caulerpa taxifolia, fire ants, and lamp rays.

[@PurpleBraveGiraffe]

take care of yourself :)

[@deplorabledegenerate2630]

1: Your dog really doesn't like that butterfly. Can't blame them. 2: Little Shop does have a correct ending. Producers just made them change it. You can find the original ending on youtube. 3: Honestly the way you look at monster is both infuriating and refreshing. Refreshing because we spend so much time imagining dragons when St. George probably killed a nile crocodile Infuriating because... you don't mean it this way, but a predatory animal predates on a human and it gets labeled a monster. Which is fine, but people take that to mean malice when at worst it was hungry or being territorial. More than likely the person attacked did something to piss it off though.

[@Tulijoki]

Well wishes to you, Sandy!

[@Palendrome]

This video flew by, great stuff

[@KaptainKlips]

Hope you feel better soon!

[@AFnord]

Speaking of weird stuff living today, one of the more famous examples is probably the Man o' war, a jellyfish looking communal organism that floats around at sea, and where individual organisms have managed to take on very specific roles within it. It's a fascinating beast.

[@demogorgonzola]

Great video, I think the "monsters" deserve their own series, maybe even a deep dive as you've only scratched the surface of the weirdness of our own world. :)

[@professormoore4876]

Another great branch from your regular style of content. I'd love to see more of these. Thanks Sandy!

[@AaronLitz]

I love your editing. 😃 Just imagine if the prospective Humanoid Blue Archon larvae looked like an irresistibly cute little baby, and enticed humans to either put it in an orphanage with lots of other babies, or to adopt it outright... while also emitting something like pheromones or subtle psychic suggestions to make adoptive parents also adopt lots of little brothers and sisters for it. And then when the time is right it for it to grow to its next life stage it has itself a nice little feast of tender, helpless little bebbes. The crime scene would be horrifying, with nothing but bloody baby clothes, blood and gore splattered all over the floor, walls, and ceiling, with a tiny bit of baby remains... all babies accounted for but one, which is seemingly missing... Perhaps they become Black Eyed Children? And now thinking about my absolutely adorable little 1 1/2 month old niece right downstairs I have utterly horrified myself.

[@rodClark717]

Excellent examples of outré critters, the slime molds are a bold choice since they don't look like much. There's a theory of a shadow biosphere that could show how things we don't even think are alive account for a significant portion of the ecosystem. Monsters within monsters or perhaps entire biomes mutually and separately aware. Fun stuff.

[@SandyofCthulhu]

When it's pointed out that there are archaeobacteria probably inhabiting the top few miles of the crust, it's possible that there is more "extremeophiles" biomass than "normal" biomass.

[@krinkrin5982]

I love learning about weird animals, plants, fungi and whatever the heck that thing is.

[@oneoneonefour]

You know, I just played some AoE2 today! One thing that is a little different in our time from Lovecraft's is that most of the world is explored now. He still had Antarctica on the surface and could....squeeze out an excuse for the New England foothills and mountains. That makes it a little harder to hide plausible monsters nowadays. At least we still have lots of the deepest ocean and all of outer space left!

[@erichinkle7347]

First of all, I hope your cold or whatever you have clears up soon. Secondly, I can't help but to feel some amusement at how, while you're talking about 'something' that could manipulate humans into taking care of it, feeding and cleaning and nurturing and all just because of how much we'd love it, your dog is working for your attention. Kind of like that hypothetical monster you just finished describing!

[@polishedpebble4111]

Age of Cthulhu, with the alien/pre history civilizations as playable factions.

[@polishedpebble4111]

Or a online 4x Cthulhu Wars...

[@SandyofCthulhu]

Back to video games?! Brrr

[@FlyingFlumpasaurus]

I'm one of David Unwin's students currently, so it was very bizarre to hear his name pop up. I think he'd be chuffed to hear he got a mention!

[@grindsaur]

Glad to hear that you're recovering! Also: nice topic and video. I would certainly like to see more of these if you feel like making them :) An alternative topic could be plant horrors.

[@DoctorPhobos]

Another thing to consider, is that we only know about these creatures because of the fossils they left behind. How many creatures were there that didn't leave a fossil, either because of chance (remains were devoured or destroyed) or that they didn't have a structure that would leave a fossil.

[@davidlanier2290]

This was really great. Thank you for sharing the informatiin. Always felt the depths of the oceans also contained vast elements.. Add H.P. and Darwin posited similiar concepts albeit from vastly different approaches

[@sirguy6678]

Great video! Love the Real monsters! I thought ghouls were raised by humans until they changed into more monster-like. But we all know “humans are the real monsters.”

[@chrisseymour2848]

The dog can sense the dark esoteric lore you are spreading and is trying to warn you.

[@osoewert6439]

Though it was not the direction I expected this video to go (you have a bit of an Ed Gein look going on in the thumbnail image), I loved hearing about these real world monsters. I definitely thought you were going for the more human variety. Very cool stuff, Sandy!

[@ToddHimself]

Just a fun fact about the 80s version of little shop of horrors. It did have a ending as bad as the previous versions with the plants taking over, it has like kaiju size Audrey II's rampaging through cities laughing their butts off. However it didn't go over well with test audiences so they quickly reshot and cobbled together the happy ending. THats why Audrey II's death in the climax feels so rushed, originally once mean green mother from outer space ends Seymour dies.

[@matthew_thefallen]

My favourite eras are all those ocean era, like Ore Cambrian, cambrian, Devonian. We had the weirdest creatures!

[@SlackerChief]

The 1980's version of Little Shop of Horrors has a cut ending of the plants taking over the Earth

[@SandyofCthulhu]

yeah I know. The theatrical version also ends more or less this way.

[@alankelly1001]

I really love the phrase "slime mold lifestyle". I bet we could sell it to Millennials... My current favourite "weird" terrestrial lifeforms includes the giant weta (bloody big land cricket) and the Nemertea phylum, which contains the proboscis worms (throws part of its digestive tract out at you, snares you and reels you in for a snack... ok, not "you" in a human sense, they're not that big... but if they were... ugh!) Oh, can't forget the Portuguese Man-o-War... it's not really just one creature, it's a co-operative colony of sub-creatures masquerading as a single life form. And it's predator, the Blue Angel (Glaucus atlanticus), a fish-looking shell-less marine gastropod (slug) that eats the man-o-war, then stores the man-o-war toxins in its body for self-defense. Beautiful, but weird...

[@jeffreyrussell4874]

Hey buddy, you ok? You dont look well. Hope it's just the winter weather. Good video all the same. Take care

[@SandyofCthulhu]

winter weather and mild cold now gone.

[@jeffreyrussell4874]

@@SandyofCthulhu good to know. Glad you're doing better now. All the best you Master of the Mystical Macabre!

[@darthboxOriginal]

That was a fantastic and interest in video! I learned a lot. Thanks for making it despite feeling under the weather!

[@nyarparablepsis872]

This was a slightly surreal experience - like watching an older, male version of myself.

[@RabbitEngineering]

"we don't know which end was the mouth and which was the anus" - I guess they would not have made very good pets then.

[@SandyofCthulhu]

well we could probably figure out if we had a live one.

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

Aaah, no, no kisses!

[@thriftjunkgaming1670]

Rational Brain: Surely monsters aren't real and never existed outside books Natural History: o b s e r v e

[@TheViperZed]

Actually fossil finds suggest that pterosaurs cared for their young, also birds usually eat and then regurgitate food to their young, no grasping feet required. Maybe read a wider selection of books on topics that interest you.

[@general0mega]

First stage play I attended was Little Shop. I didn't get it the first time but I should credit it more for how I turned out. The Creature Below (2016) is your human/butterfly horror, as ocean life. Not well-liked but I recall it's beautiful for its budget and it does a lot right. And it's respectably Lovecraftian without saying it.

[@chriscotgrove9674]

Amazing video, sir! HPL would definitely approve.

[@MacaroniMancer]

That picture of a "pteronadon" is a Quetzalcoatl I'm pretty sure.

[@user-yr5nv2gv7m]

what if its not a tail but a neck and Tullimonstrum is a scale invariant recapitulation of Dileptus or Lacrymaria? how does this even happen??

[@SandyofCthulhu]

I'm assuming the skinny part is the "neck" and the fat "fin" part is the tail. But who knows? A giant Lacrymaria would be pretty scary - esp. if it had eyes so it could target you with its super-long snoot.

[@cinadel5546]

Are you ok Sandy?

[@u-8743]

All good Sandy? You sound a bit under the weather.

[@SandyofCthulhu]

better now.

[@rickardspaghetti]

Perfect hat, Sandy! I've been meaning to ask you this question about AoE2 before, but it felt awkward to just ask it on a video with a completely unrelated topic. But that hat gave me an excuse! So anyway, whose idea was it to put the Shelby Cobra into AoE2?

[@SandyofCthulhu]

Scott Winsett, who loves cars and racing. He current works for Boss Fight Entertainment.

[@rickardspaghetti]

Thanks!

[@Wolfphototech]

Poor doggo .

[@bigsarge2085]

👍

[@517342]

The human version of that butterfly parasite sounds an awful lot like micro piglets. People buy them as pets not expecting how large they can become. I'm joking of course but that does happen.

[@teutonichealingfortress]

Mr. Sandy, Do you view The game mode 'Nomad' as a different game mode then the standard start of say, arabia, arena, black forest, islands or 4 lakes similar to how death match and regicide are different from the standard play? Was the reason nomad wasn't added to the same menu as adding regicide/death match due to possible bugs(say, villagers trapped within treelines) with different random map scripts so it was added in via specifically tailored maps for the mode?(nomad) May I ask your personal opinion on this?(for age 2) Where as in age 1 it was labeled as a separate mode, and in age 2 it appears to be labeled but only on a map to map basis.

[@harleyjackson3708]

I just wanna hear just ONCE in my life what Sandy thinks about the movies they make out of his games. Do you think he owns copies of Doom and Doom: Annihilation, or do you think he would hiss at the mention of those movies?

[@davidlanier2290]

Texan pterosaurs!

[@ataricom]

Growing up in Illinois with a father as interested in primitive local life (but obviously not as professionally well versed as you) I always imagined the Tully Monster to be a relative of the axolotl. Honestly, axolotl are weird enough on their own, but can you shed any further light on my state's official fossil?

[@mikeehinger6566]

at 7:50: evil Peeps

[@georgekostaras]

Sandy I love your hat

[@singletona082]

My favorite sea monster is dunkalopsis. That... .behemoth of an armored fish. Yes there are more terrifying predators but this is an armored submarine with self sharpening blades that could ram you into submission before eating you. and i like your opening statements. Just because we gave it a scientific taxinomical name does not mean they aren't monsters. The dire wolves and sabre cats are monsters. Hell there were dire BEARS at one point and NOBODY KNOWS WHY THEY DIED OUT... because they were essentially unkillable by most natural means. ya the borign answer is they probably starved to death as food became scarce but still. giant bear the size of an SUV.... that is a goddamend TERRIFYING monster.

[@SandyofCthulhu]

The short-faced bear is really something. Also I love placodonts.

[@Dylandrawindog]

Hopefully you see this sandy but just letting you know you where thanked in a doom Easter egg in the new game dying light 2 ... They may have misspelt your name .

[@christopherespinal4620]

You look sick I hope you get well

[@nolan412]

Now I'm going to wonder who had the Teratorn Mandela Effect: they remembered the museum exhibit, went back years later, and there was no record of it.

[@nolan412]

And that other real life monster: the person who discovered teenage blood infusions extended life millennia ago.

[@SandyofCthulhu]

@@nolan412 Pretty sure that last one was Elizabeth Bathory

[@nolan412]

@@SandyofCthulhu JFC. And there's no movie?

[@nolan412]

There's a list on Wikipedia. 2008's Bathory looks well produced.

[@nornironlad8472]

Great video, interesting pointer to some even weirder Pre-Cambrian critters. Too be honest I thought the real monsters was going to be about the likes of Adolf Eichmann etc.

[@georgekostaras]

Second I love the biology lesson

[@jobhayes4213]

I believe in Eldritch beings I am in love with a unghoul shoggoth girl and she is defined as mathematically Good but I understand that there might be Bad natured Eldritch being I tend to see things though a positive view because I am a positive person.

[@cinderheart2720]

Glad you're feeling better, you look pale with red around your eyes.