#i love the hodag!!

[martimer-underground]

Stan Twins | Pine Twins | Part 2?

I haven't really posted about my Gravity Falls Oc! But I wanted to post this because it's monster related :P big Monster Guy here.

Say hello to Monster Falls Mervyn!

They are a Gremloblin x HODAG! The Gremloblin, I think, is a creation of Alex Hirsch for Gravity Falls but the Hodag is my State's Cryptid! A little underrated dog monster. It's like super obv fake but there's like a whole tourist town celebrating the little guy.

[jtfieldsiii]

Listening to Old Gods of Appalachia and decided to try my hand at digital art for the first time in A Long while. Wanted to figure out my visualization of Jack and got a bit caught in the weeds.

Close up of the mantle under the cut:

[snickeringdragon]

working on kaycees cards...

[trashland-llamas]

Price to Soap after someone cheats on him; he is not the love of your life, he is literally just a guy. Hit him with a car!

— — —

König to y/n; you carry yourself with the confidence of a much taller man

Ghost; One thing about Price is that you carry a pen everywhere you go, right?

Price; *silently confirms*

Ghost; what other things make you special and unique?

Gaz to Soap; I’m proud of you, you’ve never succumbed to beauty standards. No matter how bad you needed braces.

— — —

Y/n to Graves; Omg, how are you such a good driver?

Graves; Because there’s illegal shit in here. Because if I don’t use my turn signal, we’re both gonna do 15. Because I will lie and say it was yours. Put your seatbelt on sweetheart, you are not safe.

— — —

Y/n; The Mothman stole my catalytic converter in Point Pleasant WV

Gaz about König; Bigfoot ate all the bottles out of my recycling bin and called my mom a slut

König about Gaz; The Chupacabra keeps stealing packages off my front porch and sending my wife suggestive text messages

Soap about Ghost; The NJ Devil has been knocking over my trash cans and taking out credit cards in my name

Ghost about Soap; The Wisconsin Hodag’s been stealing my chickens, donated to Donald Trump, and then shit in my pants

— — —

Y/h-your height, ft/cm

Y/n to König; I’m y/h, who the fuck you calling short stack? Better be careful unless you want me stealing your kneecaps

— — —

Ghost; If God didn't want me to commit fatherless behavior, he should've of given my mother better taste in men. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have shit to do.

Sources; (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

[studiolemonboy]

Mutants of Cherry Creek (pt 2)

Some MORE mutated critters from my YA lovecraftian horror comic set in 90s New England.

Mutagenic ooze is seeping into the town of Cherry Creek and mutating normal New England wildlife into terrifying monsters. The Cherry Creek Middle School Paranormal Investigation Club sets out to discover, catalogue, and tame all of the mutated cryptids and hopefully find the source of the toxic ooze before it permanently infects everything (and everyone) in town.

Northern Short Tailed Shrew — one of only a few venomous mammals

Brown and Black Bears - walk on two legs, climb trees, intelligent

Eastern Crayfish - present in the fossil record for at least 300 million years Eastern

Moose - huge but stealthy

Eastern Newt (Red Eft) — can secrete a strong smelling chemical from glands in its skin

At first, the animals just seem weird, strange, a little “off”. Over time, exposure to the ooze causes these creatures to get bigger, meaner, and much more dangerous. (all the beginning stage creatures shown here are newly mutated, their final stages are after only a few weeks of exposure)

I also love folklore and cryptids and I really love the idea of this club of dorky middle school cryptid hunters assigning names like “bigfoot”, “mothman”, and “hodag” to these monsters so can try and contextualize something they don’t really understand. Soon the club realizes these aren’t fun isolated critters but symptoms much larger impending ecological disaster!

I picture it like pokemon evolution, going from a cute water turtle to a kaiju which is a lot for a ten year old to handle.

Which is your favorite? What cryptid would you wanna see? What animal should I “Cryptify” next? lmk what you think!

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

Wisconsin has its own somewhat well known cryptid called the Hodag, it’s this silly beast:

I have this picture saved in my phone bc I love this creature, but every time I see it I can’t help but think “this guy looks like he should be the mascot of a small local brand of root beer”

[kate-komics]

*GASP*

The Hodag!!! I love how it turned out. :D

Will there be stickers of the cryptids at any point? (Or are there already, and I've just missed them?)

There are stickers!!!!

Of all of them except the Hodag. But give me like… literally a day to get those made.

[belle--ofthebrawl]

4, 24, 33.

which cryptyd being do you believe in?

Beast of Bray Road, love of my life since childhood. I've driven the road a few times after dark when I'm in the area but no luck.

Yet.

Obligatory Hodag glamour shot. Said to be the amalgamated soul of all the killed oxen whose corpses were burned in Wisconsin's logging period, brought together by the howling fury and murderer of the owners that lead to the destruction of the forests. This one was built by engineering students and it's the best picture I've taken of anything ever.

The fair folk, but it's a belief I'm wary with. Oh they smile at me from time to time but I try to never forget the way their teeth gleam.

if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

Oh, we'd have our scent collection OUT. It would be so fun to compare scents and what we pick up. We could talk about fic WIPS of course, Ghost in general. Maybe I'd bring my astronomy books out and we can look for certain stars and constellations, astrology and occult stuff. I love hearing different systems of how people make it work for them, whether they're an animist, if they involve deities as like, impersonal help or if they worship pantheons in a more faith-focused manner. If you teach me how to roll a blunt, I can massage your hands after you play guitar because I love giving massages but it's one of those things I think is weird to just offer people at the risk of being taken wrong so I just. Don't.

the last adventure you’ve been on?

A big one would be flying to New York to see Sleep Token at Radio City Music Hall. (Flight credit+stored up points=terribly impulsive decisions) There was some trouble getting home on the holiday weekend but overall I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Small adventure, going to set up and get my costume fitted at my temporary summer job. I spent an hour or so with the costumer finding pieces that would fit appropriately (long limbs, short torso) then four hours cleaning and sorting leather goods in historical get-up. It probably won't feel like an adventure after a few weekends, but this totally counts and I am SUPER excited, can you tell I'm excited? I think I'm being incredibly subtle about it. I also couldn't find parking since the lots are barricaded until next weekend so I spent time driving around looking for a topless silo.

(if you figure out where I work, fellow Wisconsinites, I'm fine with it and welcome visitors to the storefront. Otherwise I wouldn't be talking about it :) just be warned I can't break character)

[therosepetalrps]

I've never done a munday post in all of my rping years — so I thought it might be fun once in a while.

Earlier this year, I took a long roadtrip to visit my mom's family and turned the journey into a cryptid adventure. Mothman & the Flatwoods Monster are like Sanrio characters to me.

I was able to hit up Point Pleasant, Flatwoods, and Rhinelander — and explored all of their museums and gift shops to my heart's content. Pictured above; me & my big puppy, the Hodag. And Mr. Mothman, of course.

It was absolutely one of the best roadtrips of my life. The only tricky bit was having roughly fifty in-depth conversations with hardcore cryptid people in which I had to essentially LARP as one of them. Because I didn't want to come off like an asshole by being like, "Oh, no, I don't believe any of this. I just love folklore".

Pretending and playing along with it enhanced the experience, honestly.

also, does anyone want to tell me why the iconic point pleasant mothman statue has six-pack abs and what appears to be chest hair??

[spookygibberish]

I read "Hotdog Monster" as Hodag for a moment and was disappointed when I realized I made a mistake. Btw love your harpy designs.

Ahaha, If he's any Fearsome Critter, then he's more than likely (half) Snoligoster. It's actually not super far off from what (his kind of) Siren is in this setting anyways, sans horn and propeller.

(Also thank you ^^)

[itsdetachable]

I really think that if you want to get into keeping millipedes, Ivory Millipedes are fantastic. I DO see them recommended all the time bc they are surface active and have really quirky personalities, and it's all true. They are super fun, they are often out and about (especially in the evening and overnight), ans they do seem to have varied personalities.

Like, take these two for example. Flatwoods, the one with dark legs and paler sides, is a female and she is very active and always on a mission. Laser focused. Will flop like a fish if the TINIEST bit of anything touches her the wrong way. Hodag, the one that has pale legs and orangey pale parts, is a male and he is super sweet and cute and always looks SO OFFENDED (as he does in these pics) when Flatwoods pushes him out of the way.

Anyways I love them.

[chroniclyst]

4, 14, 24 :3

4. which cryptid being do you believe in?

there's this kinda obscure one in the area i grew up in called the hodag. i think that could be real

14. do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

yesssss i do so much

24. if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

looking at the sky and seeing what shapes we can find in the clouds!!!

[indigo-a-creeping]

I loved all the Hodag stuff.

[saurotitan]

My Superhero Ideas: The Midwestern Marvels

This is based on something I started thinking about while coming up with my "spidersona" Cave-Spider, which is the simple fact that the midwest doesn't get any superheroes in mainline comics. Sure, there's the Great Lake Avengers, but those guys are literally a joke. To rectify this massive travesty I brainstormed a few ideas and wrote quick character profiles for the first members of a team I'm tentatively calling the Midwestern Marvels. I'd love to get some feedback from you all on this idea, and if you've got any character ideas, character art or constructive criticism feel free to let me know.

The Iron Brigadier:

Name: Thomas Miller

Age: 24/ 183 (time travel mishap)

Aliases: "The Old Soldier" "The Last Black Hat" "Kang's Little Oopsie"

Abilities: Trace amounts of super-soldier serum in bloodstream due to transfusion provide Miller with peak human performance in athletic endeavors. Trained marksman with upgraded 'Spencer' repeating rifle, talented hand-to-hand combatant, owns a bayonet crafted from a damaged piece of Sam Wilson's flight harness. Trained public speaker.

Overview: A member of the Civil War group known as the Iron Brigade, Thomas was just another young man fighting for his country. One day on an especially bloody battlefield Thomas was wounded and separated from his fellow soldiers, and out of nowhere a flash of light appeared. When the light dissipated Thomas saw three men in odd costumes fighting (Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, and Dang the Conqueror). Ignoring his injuries, Thomas ran over to help the man wearing the colors of the American flag, picking up a broken piece of Falcon's wing from the mud to use as a knife. Upon realizing the fight was three on one Kang attempted to retreat to the present day, bringing Mr. Miller along for the ride in the chaos. Kang fled the scene shortly after, leaving a very confused Thomas Miller to collapse from wounds sustained in 1864. In order to keep him alive until medical aid could arrive Steve Rogers gave Miller a blood transfusion. Now trapped in the present day, Thomas is the last man standing from a force of men who never gave up while fighting a good fight. He is the sole beneficiary of a veteran's pension fund set up for those who served in the American Civil War, and occasionally gives talks on the importance of cooperation and equal rights. He actually had to take lessons on public speaking after coming to the present day but he believes in the message he's spreading with all his heart. Thomas recognizes the Union he fought for has flaws but he's still glad to see that the future turned out pretty bright.

Hodag:

Name: Lawrence Jackson

Age: 19

Aliases: "The Forest Beast" "The Midwestern Mutant"

Abilities: Inhuman strength, bullet-resistant hide, retractible claws, tail, steel-crushing jaws, rapid regenerative healing, adaptive camouflage. Skilled cook and excellent with computers

Weaknesses: Sensitive hearing, mediocre low-light vision, requires more food/water/minerals than normal human to fuel regenerative healing capabilities. Not a great climber and has trouble making sharp turns while running.

Overview: Lawrence was born looking relatively normal despite possessing an x-gene and probably would've gone through life without an issue if not for his college professor Dr. Smith. Doctor Smith was a cutting-edge researcher in the relatively new field of mutant genetics, and wasn't going to let little things like morality or ethics get in the way of a promising test subject with vestigial mutations just waiting to express themselves. Smith staged a "lab accident" that caused a shift in Lawrence's DNA, expressing his latent mutant traits. To cover his tracks the professor blamed a nearby fight between local hero Cave-Spider and a crew of armed robbers. Cave-Spider and young Mr. Jackson wound up going head-to-head in a widely publicized brawl the next night outside Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin (the troll capitol of the world!) before cooler heads prevailed and the real culprit could be identified. Sadly, Dr. Smith had fled the region while his former student was distracted, trapping Lawrence in his monstrous form with little hope for a cure. Dubbed the Hodag by the local media, Lawrence now tries to use his strength to protect the innocent from those who would harm them, running a soup kitchen for mutants in downtown Milwaukee. He, Cave-Spider, and Iron Brigadier were all founding members of the hero group The Midwestern Marvels.

Zaj:

Name: Ying Kue

Age: 21

Aliases: "The Hmong Dragon" "The Minnesota Powerhouse"

Abilities: Flight, fire projection from hands, pyrokinisis, strength sufficient to lift a freight train, hand-to-hand combat training, magic resistance, costume is strong enough to deflect multiple RPG rounds. Bilingual and able to play the trumpet.

Weaknesses: Sustained fire from heavy weapons can eventually wear through defenses, reliance on fire renders some rescues challenging (rescuing cats from trees, rerouting floodwaters, etc). Powers are recharged by sunlight, meaning winter operations may leave Ying drained from shorter days. Time management skills are a constant challenge. Allergic to shellfish and unsure of how to expand knowledge of magic.

Overview: Daughter of a Hmong immigrant family living in Minneapolis, Ying gained her powers on her 18th birthday when trying to save an elderly neighbor from frostbite during a blackout that struck seemingly out of nowhere. When she asked others in the neighborhood about the old man no one seemed to know who she was talking about, and upon checking his apartment all Ying found was a costume and a note : yours now. Taking this as a sign, over the following years Ying would make a name for herself as a protector of Minneapolis, a vocal supporter of Asian-American communities, and the first new member of the Midwestern Marvels after the group's inception after a team-up against mutual foe Road Rage. She still struggles to make time for her family, her personal life, her hero career, and exploration into just what her powers are, but time management is a struggle for everyone these days.

Thoughts?

[studiolemonboy]

MUTANTS OF CHERRY CREEK

Mutagenic ooze is seeping into the town of Cherry Creek and mutating normal New England wildlife into terrifying monsters. The Cherry Creek Middle School Paranormal Investigation Club sets out to discover, catalogue, and tame all of the mutated cryptids and hopefully find the source of the toxic ooze before it permanently infects everything (and everyone) in town.

I want to base all the “cryptids” the Club discovers on real animals in New England’s different ecosystems. At first, the animals just seem weird, strange, a little “off”. Over time, exposure to the ooze causes these creatures to get bigger, meaner, and much more dangerous. (all the beginning stage creatures shown here are newly mutated, their final stages are after only a few weeks of exposure)

I also love folklore and cryptids and I really love the idea of this club of dorky middle school cryptid hunters assigning names like “bigfoot”, “mothman”, and “hodag” to these monsters so can try and contextualize something they don’t really understand. Soon the club realizes these aren’t fun isolated critters but symptoms much larger impending ecological disaster!

I picture it like pokemon evolution, going from a cute water turtle to a kaiju which is a lot for a ten year old to handle.

Which is your favorite? What cryptid would you wanna see? lmk what you think!

[rustbeltjessie]

Rust Belt Jessie’s NaPoWriMo 2023 Prompts: #2

Cryptids (& Climate Change)

More climate change talk today. If you can’t handle it right now—and I often can’t, either, so I get it—feel free to skip this one. Or just go with the cryptid part and ignore the climate change part.

I love cryptids. I think about them a lot. I write about them a lot. I find them fascinating because they are both so specific, and so universal. Universal in that every part of the world has a cryptid or two, and there are certain types of cryptids which show up across disparate regions and cultures. Specific in that the way they are described and discussed has a lot to do with the region and culture they’re from.

But I recently got to thinking: we all know that climate change affects the habits and habitats of proven-to-exist animals. Why wouldn’t it affect the habits and habitats of cryptids, too?

For this prompt, I want you to research a cryptid from your area (or an area close to yours/a similar climate), and the effects of climate change on prove-to-exist animals in that same area. Then ask yourself some questions. For example: Where does Mothman live when his home is flooded by  excessive rainfall? How does the Beast of Bray Road find a mate when there are no wolves in the area? How does your local cryptid find food if their prey animals are critically endangered?

Answer those questions in a poem. As for what vantage point you answer from, that’s up to you. It could be second person (“Dear Loup-Garou”), first (“I Am Bigfoot”), or third (“The Legend of the Jersey Devil”). Or, god, you could even blend POVs and do a dialogue between yourself and your cryptid! 

If you choose to skip the climate change aspect of this prompt, simply research a cryptid of your choice, and not the climate change part. Asking yourself questions about how said cryptid lives and then answering them in the poem is still a pretty good jumping off point, and you can still choose any POV as listed above.

Recommended reading:

Cryptozoology in South Jersey (by Ron Block)

Hodag (by Jessie Lynn McMains—hey, it’s me!)

Southern Cryptozoology: A Field Guide to Beasts of the Southern Wild (by Allie Marini)