Big Creepy-Crawlies: Difference between revisions

[[File:21701757_them_lg.jpg|link=Them|frame| Bad day for a picnic.]]

 

 

 

 

Giant bugs. They're bugs or [[Muppet|muppets]] or [[Serkis Folk]], whichever, but all are mad creepy. They have no individuality or intelligence, except possibly a [[Hive Mind]]. [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|Nobody really worries too much about the morality of killing them.]]

 

 

[[Truth in Television]] back in the Carboniferus Period, but only possible due to higher oxygen levels at the time. In modern times, such creatures violate the [[Square-Cube Law]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Lutecia of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' [[Summon Magic|summons insects]] of varying levels of largeness. From the human-sized Garyu, to the car-sized Jiraiyo, to the [[Kaiju]]-sized Hakutenou.

* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': Overlapping with [[Animal Mecha]], several [[Robeast|Mechanical Beasts]] (such like Winder A2 or Megaron P1 and its "brothers") resembled giant, vaguely-humanoid insects.

** In ''[[Great Mazinger]]'', one whole host of the Mykene Empire army were bio-mechanical, massive insects. Their commander, General Scarabeth, resembled a gigantic rhinoceros beetle.

{{quote| '''Yami Yugi:''' Go! Summoned Skull! Destroy his cheap [[Godzilla|Mothra]] imitation! }}

* The Magic World jungle in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' contains dung beetles that are around the size of a human torso.

* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', the Demon World contains massive centipede-like monsters that dwarf trees and even some mountains. They serve as transport in Mukuro's realm.

* [[Letter Bee]] not only have giant soul-devouring insects, but they also have exoesqueletons made of metal to the point of [[Nigh Invulnerability]].

** Also from [[Osamu Tezuka]], [[Astro Boy]] features several insectoid robots, such as the Carabus, a beetle-like tank built by the French military; Gadem the [[Creepy Centipedes|robot centipede]] and most incarnations of North Number Two from the ''[[Pluto]]'' arc.

* The Vajra from ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' range in size from large jet fighter sizes grunts to ones larger than most capital ships. Their queen in particular is several kilometers in size.

 

== Films ==

* The giant insects in the ''[[King Kong]]'' remake qualify. Most were bizarre spider/crab or gut parasite/bloodworm [[Biological Mashup|Biological Mashups]], but the giant wetas were jumbo-sized versions of ''actual New Zealand insects''. [[Nightmare Fuel]] indeed.

** Speaking of giant New Zealand insects: [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9gbYHPyGGHU/RpqBrkv0ScI/AAAAAAAAAFo/T2T31lt5J5c/s400/giant_weta.jpg meet the Little Barrier Island giant weta.]

*** Damm!

* ''The Mysterious Island'' has giant bees, and a giant crab.

* Creepy crawlies don't come any bigger ([[Ugly Cute|or cuter]]) than the 350-ft. tall Insectosaurus from ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]''.

** [[Running Gag|Aaaaaaaa]][[Screams Like a Little Girl|aaaaagh!]]

* The prawns of ''[[District 9]]'' are basically like giant walking cockroaches. Though they do look a bit more like crustaceans.

** They are supposed to be called after the [[wikipedia:Parktown prawn|Parktown prawn]], a kind of giant cricket.

** And of course, there's Mothra, probably the most popular insect Kaiju out there.

** And Mothra's evil twin Battra and Megaguirus the demonic dragonfly

* ''[[The Black Scorpion]]'' is a 1957 film about giant prehistoric scorpions released by a volcanic eruption in Mexico.

* ''[[Beginning of the End]]'' is a 1957 film about giant grasshoppers attacking Chicago.

* ''[[Ticks]]'' has bigger-than-normal wood ticks due to pollution. Late in the film one giant-sized also appears.

* ''[[Clash of the Titans]]'' (both the original and the remake) feature a pair of giant scorpions.

* ''ManSquito''.

 

 

== Literature ==

* [[Orson Scott Card]] uses this with the bug-like species systematically killing the crew of a human starship because, aside from the queens, their own species doesn't have free will, and they just assumed we'd be the same way. Subverted in that the bugs have bones, and that they're actually quite a nice and sympathetic, even naive (if occasionally creepy) species.

* Subverted in [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s ''[[Humanx Commonwealth]]'' books, in which the insectoid Thranx are the principal allies of humankind. Not that the formation of this alliance went through without some problems (of the xenophobic terrorist variety).

* The Chi, neon-yellow arthropodoids, and Knnn, hairy black arachnoids, in ''[[Chanur Novels|The Chanur Saga]]''. The latter are infamous for their nearly indecipherable [[Starfish Language]].

* Ransom briefly encounters a giant fly and giant beetles in the caves of Venus in ''[[Perelandra]]''. He's initially quite terrified at their appearance, but they prove to be no threat, and his fear quickly subsides.

* The giant alien insect species, Hetwan, in ''[[Everworld]]''.

* In ''Hothouse'' the Earth is so old that there are only five remaining non-plant species: tree-bees, plant-ants, tiger-flies (think wasps), termights and humans. ''They are all about the same size.'' (Slightly subverted because it's made clear that humans have shrunk over time, and the insects have grown and met them halfway.)

* Most of the Vord from the [[Codex Alera]], though the Vord Queen has a degree of [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] and gradually changes from one of these to a [[Cute Monster Girl]] (though her personality never gets any more human, putting her squarely in the [[Uncanny Valley]])

*** What about the Shadows' ''[[It Got Worse|ships]]''?

* Giant arthropods and worms have made several appearances on ''Primeval''.

* [[Doctor Who]] has the stories ''The Web Planet'' and ''Planet of the Spiders'', among others. The queen spider was larger than a double-decker bus, man... Eugh.

 

 

*** And those three only have 4 extremities. Tyranids have 6.

** Being Warhammer 40k they take it [[Up to Eleven]], there are Tyranid biotitans such as the "Hierophant" which are about the size of the Imperiums [[Humongous Mecha|Titans]].

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has had many giant insects over the years, including bees, wasps, and ticks.

** And manscorpion (sort of scorpionic centaur). And the antlike formians.

** Interestingly, they come off as quite [[The Woobie|miserable]] rather than scary (to the point where people who know about their personalities call them [[Expy|Kafkas]]). They lose absolutely none of their humanity in the whole [[Body Horror]] process, and they can't live among humans since light hurts their eyes. The elders eventually become estranged from their human sides, but given the general misery that is their existence, it seems more like Unclean who ''[[Driven to Suicide|survive]]'' to that point used the logic of "You know what? [[Jerkass Woobie|Fuck you]], [[Madden Into Misanthropy|I]] ''[[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|am]]'' [[Tragic Monster|a monster]]!"

** Then there's the more conventional creepies, like the Azlu, or Spider Hosts. They're spiritual parasites who infiltrate human bodies, consume the brain, and turn the body into a puppet. They can turn into giant spiders at will, and are almost singularly dedicated to strengthening the barrier between Earth and the [[Spirit World|Hisil]]... which [[Everything Trying to Kill You|you'd think would be a good thing]], but with less traffic between Earth and the Hisil, things start to get spiritually barren on this side of existence, leading to general turmoil.

* In the Fantasy vesion''[[Warhammer]]'' the Forrest Gobblins frequently use giant spiders the size of saint bernards as cavalry, as well as some the size of moving vans for their shawmens to ride to war on, and with them being updated to 8th edition, they now come with a spidermonster that is so big Games Work Shop not only had to come up with a custom base for it, it has a cattapult as standard equipment.

* [[Monsterpocalypse]] has the Savage Swarm, which are giant radioactive bugs the destroy anything that has bright lights.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** {{spoiler|They may also be cybernetic, and are permanent space-dwellers since their hind legs are configured in a way that only make sense in free-fall.}}

* In Michigan: Reeport from Hell, the second report you're with can die from a big (relatively, it couldn't hide behind a beer can) scary spider if it jumps on her and bites. You can knock her out of the way, or if you see it enough it scurries off.

* Skrashers in ''[[Startopia]]'': They develop aboard your station inside the trash-eating [[Small Annoying Creature|Memaus]] before bursting out as huge insectile monsters with giant claws to smash up your station.

* ''[[Resident Evil]]'' liked to play this by having giant snakes, tarantulas, and even a Black Tiger...a giant spider Capcom specifically redesigned from the [[Video Game Remake]] on so it looks like a Australian funnelweb to make Chris or Jill shit themselves.

* The antlions in ''[[Half-Life]] 2''.

* The ChCh-t from the ''Deadlock'' turn based strategy series. They have a queen, pincer claws instead of hands, a scorpion tail, and all the other usual bug characteristics. They are also a playable race.

* ''[[The Conduit]]'' has creepy crawlies of all sizes, but the big ones include the man-sized Drones, the eight-feet-tall Scarabs, and the tank-sized Invaders.

* The Zerg of ''[[Starcraft]]''.

** Gliscor (A winged scorpion) and Flygon (An antlion) are even bigger, both at 6'07", but neither are actually a Bug-Type due to already having two more dominant types (Though both are in the Bug egg group and learn many Bug attacks.).

** The fifth generation introduces Scolipede, the "Mega Centipede" Pokemon, trumping all other Bug types in terms of height at an extraordinary ''8'02" (2.5m)''!

** And now subverted by Joltik, the 10cm electric tick which is now considered the smallest Pokemon yet, and still the size of a tarantula!

** Bug-Type specialists include Bugsy, Aaron, and Burgh.

* Zingers in [[Donkey Kong Country]], which are often invinincible barriers in levels, and have boss versions in multiple games. You get to explore a giant beehive too...

* [[Fallout]] games feature a handful of giant bugs [[I Love Nuclear Power|mutated by radiation]], including two-foot Radroaches, Radscorpions that grow upwards of six feet long, and Giant Ants, some of which breathe fire.

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has, in addition to various giant spiders, scorpions and the like, the Silithid. These are a hive dwelling race with much variation (or possibly several sub-species) to fulfill different roles. The [[Eldritch Abomination|Old God C'Thun]] transformed some of them into the Aqir. The Aqir empire launched a [[Bug War]] to wipe out all non Aqiraji life, and on their defeat split into two different races, the Qiraji and the Nerubians. The first remained servants of C'Thun, and continued to launch Bug Wars against the rest of Azeroth. The Nerubians left for [[Grim Up North|Northrend]] where they created an underground empire, which was destroyed by the [[The Undead|Scourge]]. Although some materials describe them as being just as xenophobic and evil as the Qiraji, the entirety of player interaction with living Nerubians is friendly. They also abandoned the worship of C'Thun on the basis that it, "makes as much sense as a fly caught in a web worshiping the spider who is about to devour him".

* Almost every single enemy in ''[[Let's Go Jungle|Let's Go Jungle: Lost On The Island Of Spice]]''. Most of which are [[Giant Spider|Giant Spiders]]. In fact, the only three enemies that aren't creepy crawlies of some sort are the [[Frogs and Toads|frogs]], [[Piranha Problem|piranhas]], and the [[Man-Eating Plant]] boss.

* Tons of them abound in the [[Shoot'Em Up]] ''[[Bio-Hazard Battle]]'', which takes place after a virus causes a planet's lifeforms to grow to massive proportions.

* Leaving a house empty for too long in ''[[Constructor]]'' results in it being populated by an 8-foot tall cockroach that likes to walk around the neighborhood on [[Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better|two feet]]. Needless to say, the neighbors don't like them influencing their children.

* In addition to multiple varieties of giant spiders which are about knee height to a player character, ''[[Runescape]]'' also has Kalrag, which is a spider much bigger than the human player character (and surrounded by the smaller giant spiders; that portion of the relevant quest is not good for arachnophobics), as well as several forms of giant cockroach, and some giant beetles called kalphite, which range from workers the size of the aforementioned giant spiders, to the building sized Kalphite Queen.

* Beetle Mania in ''[[King of the Monsters]]''.

 

== Web Comics ==

* The warrior-type slaver wasps of ''[[Girl Genius]]''.

** The Baron's [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070105 Hoomhoffers], giant beetles around the size of tanks.

* The People-Eating Poly-Sorbate Insectoid (P.E.P.S.I.) from ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]].'' It [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20060617.html ate the main character once.] But he got better.

 

 

== Web Original ==

* [[Mortasheen]] sort of has this. They're called Arthropoids, and are technically [[The Fly|Brundlefly-style]] [[Half-Human Hybrid|mash ups]] of [[Body Horror|humans and arthropods]]. [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/heartsucker.htm Some] [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/luminoct.htm examples] [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/blighterfly.htm over] [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/bloodbloat.htm here].

* The beetles in [[Spoilsbury Toast Boy]] range from normal beetle size to human size, with one about as big as a ''house''.

* Reemus, of ''[[The Several Journeys of Reemus]]'', tends to deal with these guys, which makes the fact that he's not quite as famous or well-respected as his dragonslayer brother just a bit nonsensical, since Reemus can and sometimes does take out entire colonies of giant beasties in his line of work, while his brother usually only gets one at a time.

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'': Mosquitos in [[Crapsack World|Miseryville]] are the size of horses.

* The ''[[Martin Mystery]]'' episode "Terror from the Sky" had the protagonists deal with giant bugs [[I Love Nuclear Power|mutated by a radioactive meteorite]].

* Kickback, Bombshell, and Shrapnel from ''[[Transformers]]'' are all Decepticons that can turn into insects.

*** A majority of the Predacons took on insect or arthopod modes.

** The Insecticons are back in [[Transformers Prime]], and they're bigger and uglier than ever.

** This was only possible because the oxygen in the atmosphere was almost ridiculously high at the time, 2-3 times today's. Bugs absorb oxygen through pits in their body, their size is strictly limited by the concentration of oxygen in the air.

*** While this is true for the very biggest, arthropods can get much bigger than commonly thought even on land -- the [[wikipedia:Coconut crab|coconut crab]] can reach 4 kg / 9 pounds, and there are reports of notably bigger ones.

* The Giant Asian Hornet is the size of your thumb, can fly faster than you can run, and its sting has venom that ''dissolves flesh''. [[Nightmare Fuel|Sleep tight, now.]]

** Might I add, that flesh-dissolving venom has pheromones that call more of the damn things to attack you, and they live right outside of major cities?

** Also Japanese Honeybees can outwit the hornets by luring them into the hive, swarm them and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6m40W1s0Wc&feature=player_detailpage#t=121s shake and bake.] The bees survive, the hornets are toast.

* The Atlas Moth has a wingspan of 25-30 cm and looks like [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-Ab3LtWIW_g/TEqwD7nWx0I/AAAAAAAAAIw/0MUS8ynG470/s1600/atlas-moth.jpg this]. But don't worry; it has no mouth and can't bite you so if one lands on your hand, all it can really do is just...hang out there.

* ''Scolopendra gigantea'', the Amazon giant centipede. Centipedes are creepy enough, but Scolopendra gigantea is about a foot long.