What's Your Favorite Monster?

Pickens writes "Mankind has always had a fascination with monsters, and mythologies from around the world include stories of strange and terrifying creatures. Examples include the half-bull, half-human Minotaur of Greek myths, the living clay Golem of Jewish traditions, British elves and Chinese dragons. Live Science has an interesting photo essay on their ten favorite monsters that may have a basis in real life. Their rogue's gallery includes the Ogopogo, a mysterious monster in Canada's Lake Okanagan; the Chupacabra, that Latin Americans believe is the unholy result of secret US government experiments in the jungles of Puerto Rico; and the perennial favorite Bigfoot."

Futurama

[CrazyJim1]

Sure, everyone's for keeping Hitler's brain in a jar, but when you put it into a body of a great white shark, you've gone too far.

Manbearpig

[el_coyotexdk]

FEAR Manbearpig!! :)

Re:

[AgentSmith]

SPIDER PIG,
SPIDER PIG.
Does whatever a SPIDER PIG does.
Can he swing,
From a web?
No he cant.
He's a pig.

LOOK OOOUUUTTT!!!!

He is a SPIDER PIG!!

Thank you!
Thank you!
Don't forget to tip your waitress on the way out!

Man, it's a slow Monday.

P.S. Even for a free news site this new format blows goats off the mountain.

Futurama

[vertigoCiel]

"Bigfoot's territory is being threatened, if he exists, although if he doesn't, it's not."

Where's Cthulhu?

[vonFinkelstien]

What a gip of a list!

Re:

[Fred_A]

What a gip of a list!

They even managed to leave CowboyNeal out ! Newbies !

Re:

[dbcad7]

Your covered.. number 8

Like the mythos though.. read a loooong time ago, maybe time for a re-read.

Re:

[meatspray]

Would it be better, the readership of Slashdot be reduced to raving mad lunatics having grasped the presence of the all great sleeper?

Ohh wait, that might already have happened.

Better lists

[FornaxChemica]

Meh, that article was too consensual to be interesting; Big Foot, vampires and werewolves in the top three, no surprise there. Better browse the monster list of international monsters in Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] or Live Science's own Top 10 Beasts and Dragons: How Reality Made Myth [livescience.com].

Re:

[weicco]

Vampires. Hot, sexy female vampires. Kate Beckinsdale. Need I say more?!

Cookie Monster

[rabiddeity]

I cast my vote for the Cookie Monster. They've tried to keep him down in recent years by forcing him to give speeches about vegetables and other such nonsense. But we all know underneath all that blue fur all he wants is more cookies...

Re:Cookie Monster

[bjmoneyxxx]

http://wh0rd.org/cookie-monster-abusing-cookie-dough.png [wh0rd.org]

Re:Cookie Monster

[pokerdad]

I second that.

The desire to suck blood, howl at the moon, hoard treasure or lure ships onto rocks just don't hit home with me. But stuffing one's face with cookies is something that I can relate too. Plus none of those other monsters have as catchy a song as "C is For Cookie".

Re:Cookie Monster

[Fear the Clam]

Plus none of those other monsters have as catchy a song as "C is For Cookie".

Meh. The song's not that great, but it's good enough for me.

Re:

[hey!]

Ah, yes. Cookie -- the thinking man's monster.

With respect to C is for Cookie, you have to understand that song in its proper cultural context. The typical "pop culture" monster song on Sesame Street is Elmo's Song. You know:" La la la la! La la la la! Elmo's song!" In the Sesame Street context, C is for Cookie is their cultural equivalent of Mozart's Mass in C Minor. Of course, we all know Cookie Monster is Sesame Street's leading intellectual, and not only gustatory matters. Under his Alistair Cook

Re:

[1sockchuck]

I'd like to see Cookie Monster eat a vegetarian.

He's needs help

[dj245]

Cookie Monster is the only creature I know that binges and purges at the same time. Clearly this is some new, more vile form of eating disorder that must be studied.

Re:

[colfer]

And he ate an IBM computer in 1967. His pics have been vilely removed from Wikipedia, but are on the Street wiki: http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Cookie_Monster [wikia.com]

You need to

[antifoidulus]

let the wookie win!

Around here?

[Trailwalker]

Microsoft

Re:

[XxtraLarGe]

Microsoft

Or RIAA, GOP, SCO, etc. Choose your own boogey-man.

Re:

[elrous0]

No, that's too obvious. The real evil is the evil that can masquerade as good. And in that regard, Apple wins hands-down.

Flying Spaghetti Monster

[mrycar]

Is there no other monster to have as a favorite?

Obviously missing option

[RuBLed]

Ghosts

Re:

[blueturffan]

I ain't 'fraid of no ghosts.

My favorite monster...

[PenguinBoyDave]

I've thought long and hard about this, and I think it has to be Eduardo on Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. (Sorry...I have kids)

Frankenstein's Monster

[esme]

You have to love the "monster" more human than his creator...

Re:

[NeverVotedBush]

The Peter Boyle version, of course!

rock monsters

[Bill Dog]

http://www.scifi.com/rockmonster/ [scifi.com] is sure to be cool.

See also the Fantastic Four [imdb.com] and The NeverEnding Story [imdb.com].

My Cat

[Trikenstein]

A stray I took in when he was more than a kitten, but no where near full grown.
I just know that one morning I'll walk outside and he'll have Gojira's carcase lying at the base of the porch steps.

Re:

[joebagodonuts]

You mean this cat [bbc.co.uk]?

Mae Nok

[Potor]

and I shared a soi with her [leasticoulddo.com]. ...

rtfm

[desierto]

Jorge Luis Borges wrote a fine manual [amazon.com] on this. (Read This For Monsters!)

Humans

[Ekhymosis]

Like it or not, I believe "humans" are the worst of all monsters. Unlimited potential for evil, and the will to do so at any time.

Re:

[sckeener]

Like it or not, I believe "humans" are the worst of all monsters. Unlimited potential for evil, and the will to do so at any time.

That's why for Halloween I go as "a homicidal maniac, they look just like everyone else."

Cheapest costume e-v-e-r!

Re:Humans

[elrous0]

I used to be a misanthrope myself. Then I worked briefly in college at a convenience store in a shitty part of town. Contrary to what you would expect, you know what it taught me? It taught me that people, by and large, are decent. I expected to have a shitty "Clerks" type experience, but what I got was a more positive view of humanity.

When I overpaid in change, most people would tell me. Most people would help me out when I made a mistake. When someone was looking for directions, people would help them out (even if I couldn't). Shoplifters were very rare. Most people were honest and decent--even in this shitty neighborhood.

Re:

[Nf1nk]

See you worked in a shitty part of town. I work at a major retailer in a rich town, and the number of people I deal with that are monsters is huge.
In my experience most of the people in the shitty part of town tend to be decent, even the druggies tend to be pretty nice when they are coherent. The rich people, women mostly tend to be real assholes, and have changed my mind about the virtues of wealth. It seems being a monster is either a key to becoming rich or a symptom of being rich.

Re:

[Creepy]

I seem to recall we're listed as "Mostly Harmless"

In any case, we have unlimited potential for good, as well. Just because I'm Chaotic Evil doesn't mean you have to be ;)

Re:

[Backward Z]

"Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous is are the common men, the functionaries willing to believe and to act without asking questions."

-Primo Levy

Re:

[aadvancedGIR]

Indeed.

Real human monster do actually exist, and they are called psychopaths, some of them are violent and usually die young or spend their life in jail, but many more are clever enough to understand that hurting others is bad for them and live a rather normal life. Except that they can't understand things like good, evil, empathy or love, only their profit and their safety.

A friend of my parents was a psychiatrist expert and he told me he preffered working on violent criminals instead of manipulative psych

Re:

[glwtta]

Mad Scientist: I have combined the DNA of the world's most evil animals to make the most evil creature of them all...

Man: It turns out it's man.

Re:

[Monsuco]

Like it or not, I believe "humans" are the worst of all monsters. Unlimited potential for evil, and the will to do so at any time.

*sniff* monsters with feelings.

Re:

[bark76]

I was half expecting someone to say "My ex-wife", but then I remembered what site I was on.

Re:

[meringuoid]

Like it or not, I believe "humans" are the worst of all monsters.

You misspelled 'Toclafane'.

My Favorite Monster

[Capt James McCarthy]

Is the one in my pants...

My credit card.

Gamblor

[HungSoLow]

To Quote Simpsons: "The only monster here is the gambling monster that has enslaved your mother! I call him Gamblor, and it's time to snatch your mother from his neon claws!"

Reavers

[adona1]

Reavers beat Bigfoot any day...any monster that makes Adam Baldwin whimper has to be good

Daleks

[Aussie]

Daleks of course !

Re:

[Tetsujin]

My favorite monster...

The Destroid Monster [mahq.net]...

Re:

[imtheguru]

Daleks and Cybermen.

        Cyberman: Daleks, be warned; you have declared war upon the Cybermen.
        Dalek Sec: This is not war. This is pest control!
.

Scariest

[LaskoVortex]

I don't know if this [mysanantonio.com] is the best, but it certainly is scariest.

Trolls

[teh kurisu]

I read somewhere about the idea that the trolls of Scandinavian folklore had their roots in human interactions with the remnants of the Neanderthals. I quite liked that idea, even if it's almost certainly not true. The troll under the bridge was one of the scariest stories I was told when I was wee. I hated crossing bridges over burns for a long time after that.

There was an interesting fictional documentary programme on a couple of years ago about an archaeologist who was uncovering evidence that dragons had lived alongside the dinosaurs, and survived up until relatively recently. I wish I could remember the name of it.

Re:

[Thanshin]

I read somewhere about the idea that the trolls of Scandinavian folklore had their roots in human interactions with the remnants of the Neanderthals.

And where would the Neanderthals find a computer? Let alone the means to connect it to the internet.

Re:

[Culture20]

Human interaction, not slashdotter interaction.

Re:

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

My favourite kind of troll doesn't live under a bridge. It's the Slashdot troll. Sometimes you can spot them right away, with their feeble attempts to spread disunity and chaos. Other times, you never know who they are. They could be anyone at any time. You could even be reading one right now...

BOOOOOOOOOO!

Hehehe...

Re:

[flewp]

http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/dragons/show/show.html [discovery.com] ^ I only vaguely remember it, as I was watching it more for the animation and whatnot, but I think that show had a part where a young dragon went up against an Allosaurus or something, so could be what you're thinking of. (or maybe it was just up against a bigger older dragon, like I said I'm a bit hazy on the content)

Re:

[teh kurisu]

That's the one! The Wikipedia page [wikipedia.org] also has a fair bit of info on it. And Lovefilm has it on DVD [lovefilm.com], so I'll be adding that to my rental queue.

Re:

[kbahey]

10 centuries ago, an Arab ambassador from Baghdad to the Volga by the name of Ibn Fadlan [wikipedia.org] was kidnapped by Vikings and taken to Scandinavia.

He lived there for a few years and later wrote a book about what he saw there.

One of the things he describes in detail is the battles between the Vikings and monstrous people with a foul smell (he mentions a name for them which does not sound Arabic, but I forgot what it was). From his description, I thought "Neanderthals" too.

Michael Crichton made a novel out of it was

Oh no...

[DynaSoar]

... there goes Tokyo.
Go go Godzilla!

Bigfoot is pratically unknown ouside the US

[andi75]

Most Europeans have no clue who bigfoot is, yet he's #1 on that list. There was a monster movie called bigfoot a couple of years ago, but it was forgotten quickly. Actually more famous are the pair of short skis with the same name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skiboarding [wikipedia.org]

Also, what about the Yeti?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeti [wikipedia.org]

--
Why is my comment box on the preview page only ~30 characters wide?

Re:

[tompaulco]

I always figured Bigfoot was a lowlands Yeti, or vice versa.
Surprising no mention of Godzilla. Godzilla has more of an international following than most of the monsters on the list.

Puff

[Fantastic Lad]

Puff the magic Dragon.

Took me by surprise when I heard a busker crooning that the other day; I'd not thought about that old song in many years. Brought a tear to my eye. -That part about, "Dragons live forever, but not so little boys."

-FL

Monsters

[ozbird]

Easy: The Rabbit of Caerbannog [livelypace.com].

Runners up: Monsters [allmusic.com], and Scary Monsters [allmusic.com].

Mike Wazowski

[NormAtHome]

You know, the little guy with his one eye?

Re:

[NormAtHome]

If you've never seen the Pixar movie "Monsters Inc." you have no idea what you've been missing, it has got to be one of the funniest movies of all time. The character of Mike Wazowski is voiced by Billy Crystal.

You can get some idea what the animated character looks like here:
      http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/monstersinc/desktops/1024b.jpg [go.com]

Fav? Smaug.

[jpellino]

Scariest? Reevers.

lame article, missing option

[Vidar Leathershod]

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you...The Five-Assed Monkey!"

One of the best single lines ever. That along with "He has only one ass! He is of no use to me. I must burn the room!

The "Hero"

[Doc Ruby]

The "hero" [wikipedia.org], a person who will sacrifice themself for their community, who typically travels roundtrip between West and East to commit some dangerous act, learns something mysterious that is used to complete the task, and changes spirtually before they return, is my favorite monster.

The Greek-style hero is the most well known in America (and perhaps globally), but it's common to every human culture.

This webpage

[Blakey Rat]

The giangantic block of blue hideousness on this webpage is uglier and scarier than most monsters on that list.

(BTW, the real answer is Godzilla. He's so badass he literally fought *smog*! And kicked its ass.)

St Patrick's Day

[sm62704]

My favorite monster was the woman I've been drinking with all weekend.

My head hurts.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

The ID monster from Forbidden Planet

[adzoox]

One of the greatest monsters of all time is the ID monster from The Forbidden Planet.

Favorite Monster

[hyades1]

I don't know about favorite, but scariest? No question: my ex. Dracula would run screaming in terror, and that Cloverdale critter would be heading back out to sea faster than an Olympic sprinter on crystal meth.

Re:

[hyades1]

Oops...sorry...meant "Cloverfield". Brain's having the day off.

My pet monster

[holophrastic]

He's big and blue and scary, but friendly monster too. My pet monster, pet monster I love you.

What?!? No Zombies?!?

[Bender0x7D1]

How could they leave out zombies? After all, they are considered monsters and, if we accept the claims* of a powerful "zombie drug" in Haitian Voodoo, they actually exist.

*I say "claims" since I believe there is evidence, but no one has a conclusive, repeatable formula that has been demonstrated in the lab.

Monster Group, the largest blahblah group in math

[colfer]

Known in German as the Friendly Monster.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_group [wikipedia.org]

Grendel's Mother

[Nom du Keyboard]

Angelina Jolie, of course! She can scare me into intimate relations with that body any time.

No Yeti

[RogerWilco]

No Yeti?

Ogopogo?

[Chris Mattern]

Igopogo!

Griffins

[bar-agent]

I always liked Griffons. They look quite imposing, and aren't as well-defined as other fictional monsters.

Sometimes they're intelligent, sometimes they're savage, sometimes tame, sometimes noble. Even the spelling of their name is uncertain. Gryphon, griffon? Plus, they actually have some authenticity, being from real mythology.

The Witch with Flying Head

[steveha]

In Southeast Asia, there are legends of supernatural monster women whose heads can detach from their bodies. During the day they seem like normal women, but at night, their heads can detach (with heart, lungs, and guts coming along with the head, and the rest of the body left behind). These heads then fly around looking for victims.

My favorite part: after they feed, their guts are a bit swollen, so once they get back to their lair they soak their guts in vinegar to shrink them down, so they will fit back

how about the least favorite monster?

[constantnormal]

I think that extremists intent on pushing their conceptual frameworks into the lives of others, have to rank near the top. People like Islamic radicals, Christian fundamentalists, neocon politicians and socialist extremists.

Any kind of monster that isn't a human being isn't really scary at all. Just ask Stephen King what scares him -- odds are, it's other people.

Bill Gates

[Master of Transhuman]

Or whoever just changed the /. interface AGAIN to some weird layout that looks even worse than the last one.

Go ahead! Rate me troll!

What, is that all you've got? Are you nuts? Come at me!

Re:

[bjmoneyxxx]

Shut the fuck up, you don't know what your talking about!!!!!!!! This is why albino's should NOT be given access to computers, let alone the internet, idiot.

Re:

[sm62704]

No, trolls aren't to be feared, they're to be pitied. Here in Springfield [kuro5hin.org] we do our trolling offline [kuro5hin.org].

Bread golems [uncyclopedia.org] are to be feared.

"OHH GOD!!! IT'S KILLING ME! But it's so tasty and delicious... AAAHHHH!!! STOP!! NOOOO!!! Where's the butter?"

~ Oscar Wilde on Bread Golems

"In Pre-Soviet Russia, Trollstoy"

-mcgrew

Re:

[Silver Sloth]

And what have you got against Gerry Anderson [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[cytg.net]

Vista

Re:Let me just say...

[Anonymous Coward]

don't paste perl in here.

Re:

[Rolo Tomasi]

Funniest comment I read this week, mod parent up

Re:

[molarmass192]

Funniest post I've read in a LONG time!

Re:

[RazzleDazzle]

I agree. Though I would rather just see the concept of god on this list. What single entity is more responsible for homicide than the concept of god? How many people have died in the name of god over the documented and semi-documented history of humans?

But being a global warming hating pirate I must say that scurvey is also a vicious monster. Now, where are my damned oranges!?!?

Re:

[mdwh2]

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."

Oh dear - I guess the mod missed the obvious quote. I even put in quotation marks, to indicate that it was a quote.

But this proves an interesting point - no one

Re:

[NeverVotedBush]

Karl Rove?

Re:

[Archangel Michael]

You think Karl is scary? How about Hillary as Pres finding out that Bill has a new Monica .... THAT's a Scary Monster.

Re:

[Himring]

Number 1 is Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch).

Get out!

(btw, why is /.'s html all jacked-up now?)

Re:

[fifedrum]

woa, html badness going on, but I'll try and reply sensibly...

bigfoot = my number 1 baddie, with the worst scare coming as a kid watching the Six Million Dollar Man fight BigFoot, and even though there was a twist at the end (bigfoot is a robot) it still scared the crap out of me more than any other monster, hence my vote for favorite.

The recent cheeze fest sasquach movie on Sci Fi didn't do anything to ease that image in my mind, certainly not when the baddie bit that guy's head in half.

As far as using the

Re:

[Nos.]

Interesting how posting a complete lie with a link to a wikipedia article is enough to get modded up, even though the link does not back up the statement at all.

I'm from Sasktchewan, and if anything, we're called Saskatchewanians.

Re:

[geminidomino]

Bah. Druge Skeletons have regeneration!

Re:

[Culture20]

Vampires _are_ undead...