#cryptid

[ethanmaldridge]

Childhood can be scary.

A collection of some of my hand-drawn horror looping animations!

[eternalking-cabbage-dragon]

Everyone, let’s print these out and stick them on walls and lampposts!

Convince your neighbours and coworkers they were posted by the government and upper management.

I feel confident enough to post these now. A collection of all the existing posters after some edits from the other post that got 13k notes! These are full size/quality. Go nuts.

You may use them for wallpapers, tabletop campaigns, whatever. Consider tipping me or buying a print or sticker on ko-fi here! If you do use them, let me know what for, or send pictures!

[dokelsss]

mokele-mbembe

[owlyjules]

Little doodle of the PRINCE of the cryptids, MOTHMAN!

Couldnt take out my paints today but pretty happy I was still able to doodle!!:D

[milobyte]

giant mecha cryptid thing i forgot to post here before.

[ararebreedstory]

For the longest time, when people would say "Cryptocurrency," this is what I'd imagine.

[punkedsolar]

Rainbow Hydrakeet

The rainbow hydrakeet (Trichoglossus lernaîa) is a species of cryptid found in Australia. It is common along the eastern seaboard, from northern Queensland to South Australia. Its habitat is rainforest, coastal bush and woodland areas. Heads generally range from two to seven, though the most common number is three. Rainbow hydrakeets with more heads commonly fight frequently enough amongst themselves that they experience failure to thrive.

[tuckedinbugw]

[skitariiposting]

Ah man, why is this the one that escapes containment?

Gotta come clean, not real. I made this one up because I thought it was a cool writing idea and didn't think to tag it as fiction. (Retrospectively, I thought the "cool design idea for a monster" bit would be enough of a self congratulating nod to it being fake, but thats on me.)

My town sadly isn't cool enough to have any cryptids :(

Okay, weird thing I was reminded of. There's a four way intersection on the edge of my town, with one of those blinking one light stoplights that represents a stop sign. I'm sure there's a proper name for it or whatever, but it's these things:

People around here have sworn that if you stop your car anywhere near that one intersection when it's dark out, it'll "descend from the wires" to getcha!

Yup, we've got our own local cryptid! The "Stoplight Crawler." Been around since 2005-ish? (If someone knows when it was first sighted lemme know.) It's apparently some sort of creature with a giant red eye that comes in the night, crawls up and hangs onto the wire, covering up the light with its body so it can begin mimicking it by opening and closing it's eye throughout the night; "waiting for victims."

Now, I've got to give them credit, thats some clever creature design. I'm pretty sure everyone's looked at those and thought about how it could look like a big eye. But I will say the fact there's some folks attributing murder cases and missing people reports to it is very mothman-y, I'm pretty sure there's no actual evidence this thing is really real. Regardless, I find it neat that we've got a local creepy thing around here :D

[peoplegettingreallymadatghosts]

“But they forget”

[skelobite]

Mothgirl

Something a little different, got inspired by mothman and vintage cover illustrations with their decorative frames, hope you guys like it!

Prints and shirts available at my store!  

Insta l kofi l other links

[ufosandchippednailpolish]

Literally same, like def not in a D.I.D. way, but in a one day I'm a 70s alien and the next I'm 2010s glitter unicorn but another day I'm a 90s witch and one day I'm just a college student :] Every now and then I am an angel that was born in a computer. That's only on special occasions though :}

i feel silly in a way, i have multiple personalitites/personas and it switches troughout the day/days but it's not like i have alters.. Like one day i'm a 30 year old man and the next i'm a 15 year old wolfboy and the third day i'm a weird cryptid creature that hides under your bed.. I don't know if it's normal or if other people experience the same as i do. If anyone knows anythikg PLEEASEE tell me what the hell is wrong with me!! ;c!

[dokelsss]

quick cryptids

[victoriadallonfan]

Another Ward question: what’s the deal with Chris? Why does he end up betraying his therapy team to go over to Amy? And why does Victoria count it as a really personal betrayal? I know he’s a bio-tinker, but I’m still in the Fallen Fall arc of Ward and haven’t gotten a good grasp on his character.

Chris is a complicated character and I think any analysis of him must begin with the sad fact of his life: Chris does not know what he wants.

He was born with instincts to perform tasks against his will.

He was implanted with memories of a man whom he once was and whom can be considered his father, against his will.

He was implanted with directives to drive him to crave bigger and better impacts, to make impressions, to achieve something.

He carries with him the sins of the father in a literal sense.

That does not stop him from desiring natural things. He seeks out people; he finds friends, companions, allies. He finds caretakers he can begrudgingly trusts. He even grows, despite what he has been implanted with, and comes to love the group he's a part of.

He comes to love them so much that he is willing to fight to the death for them, multiple times. Even as an enemy, he goes out of his way to save Victoria more than a few times, for no benefit other than he can (even as he is dismissive of her when she points this out).

He finds safety in the fact that, well, he believes he has the group wrapped around his fingers. Not in the sense that he can manipulate them, but that - in his mind - none of them are any the wiser as to his odd behaviors. Which is incorrect; Ashley and Yamada both clock something wrong and odd with Chris, but due to their positions, Chris does not notice.

The team is going to be heroes, without the supervision of Yamada, so even that barest sense of restriction is gone. He could really go all out with his body manipulation and how he behaves in a fight.

Along comes Victoria.

Chris might be the first person who catches on that the team gravitates toward her being the leader. She's articulate, she's smart, she's endearing, she's knowledgeable, she's experienced, she seems to get everyone.

Chris doesn't hate her. But perhaps, subconsciously, he recognizes the threat to his position. Maybe his mind connects dots to String Theory and their rivalry for one-upmanship for each other. Maybe he thinks of Dragon constantly watching him and telling him to not experiment on people. Maybe he connects this goody-two shoes with his sister, who hid her serial killer nature behind that facade.

Maybe its all of the above and only escalated when Victoria starts trying to be his guardian. She tries to keep him out of fighting directly, she tries to limit his direct involvement with scouting out Cedar Point for his safety, she tries to limit him birthing cannibal grubs on top of villains, and while he doesn't know it - Yamada has tasked Victoria with checking in on Chris and making sure he's safe (and also making Victoria paranoid about what is wrong with the group)

From her perspective, she's trying to keep a child safe. She's seen what happens with kids who aren't safe in the cape game.

For Chris, this is all limitations. And while he never draws the connections himself, it's another point where a woman has control over his decisions.

When Goddess happens (oh look, another woman trying to have control over him), and he is freed, he realizes he has the prime opportunity. Because he remembers Amy; weak willed, pensive, pushover Amy. A monster who can't hide her sins and whom he can read near perfectly, a woman that he can control.

Not all of this conscious, to be clear. A lot of this is impulses and drives implanted in him, mixed with trauma. Victoria is just the best target of his ire because he has no other; his sister is dead, String Theory is dead, Goddess he kills, and Dragon is untouchable.

He hates Victoria: he'd sell her to Amy if he thought it would get him what he wants and get back at her and will fight her multiple times.

He loves Victoria: he saves her life multiple times, he tries to joke and bond with her, he feels happy when she snarks back at him.

He doesn't understand Victoria. He doesn't understand himself.

He's a kid. He's a man. He's a monster. He's a mastermind. He's a pawn.

He doesn't know what he wants.

For Victoria, it was never personal. She saw Chris as a child to protect, subconsciously as a means to be a better guardian than her own parents, and as way to protect Yamada's legacy (she may or may not be dead in Vic's mind prior to her return in arc 11). She didn't like Chris - her own words - but she cared for him and was willing to risk her life to save his as well.

Even while she was horrified at his connection to Lab Rat, due to knowing several of his victims personally, it was anger at Yamada for lying to her. It was Victoria that defended Chris from Tristan claiming he was a monster. She was hurt that Chris chose Amy over her, but she... had more or less accepted the failure on her end.

There is a reality where all Vic felt was that guilt she had failed Chris.

It was Chris selling Vic to Amy that crossed the line. She couldn't comprehend it. It didn't make sense. Nothing she'd done warranted that kind of behavior, that kind of fate worse than death. When she confronted him, incapable of understanding why he would do that to her, all she got from his was his fucked up moral view of the world and posturing.

Posturing, while Natalie and Armstrong were in danger. The latter about to be brutally killed (and framing Victoria for it to boot).

She leaves that situation scared, traumatized, and unable to understand. Why? Why why why? And when Chris is ordering Amy to start WW3, she is further confused, conflicted, seeing him enable her unwell sister as a patsy for his own desires.

More confusion, when Chris purposely seeks her out first, talking about the Titans and the futility of the fight. She points out how weird it is that he seeks her out and that he was being nice to Sveta about how he could cure her, which he deflects. She doesn't know it, couldn't know it, but this entire interaction is a reflection of how Lab Rat and String Theory would go out of their way to antagonize each other.

When Victoria is nearly killed, it is Chris giant who saves her. He claims it was a coincidence. This happens twice.

When Victoria is mutated into the Wretch 2.0, it is Chris who approaches with a cure, no drawbacks, no hidden betrayals. He wants to help her.

Victoria does not understand, she's scared, she's helpless, she's angry... and then Chris reveals that Amy has her skin, using it as some kind of fuck up pet, unprompted. Trying to make her hate him, even as he wants to heal her.

It clicks for Victoria. Chris doesn't know what he wants.

He's hiding it behind his poker face, but he's entirely at war with himself.

Victoria accepts the healing and gives Chris one last chance, much to his shock, but she means it. She's accepting this olive branch, accepting how Chris is fucked up but offers him this chance: commit. Don't betray her or his friends or humanity.

To Chris's credit, he doesn't. He actually sticks well with Breakthrough, following her orders, offering to help with the Dream Plague, and while they clash over things (can't end conflict and suspicions in an evening) they work together.

It's the Simurgh that fucks it all up. She poisons Chris's trust, plants seeds of betrayal, and prepares to unravel what little bond the two have.

To Victoria's credit, when the betrayal does happen, she immediately realizes the Simurgh got to him as he tries to rationalize why it wouldn't be so bad for everyone (even offering help to the team to live on). She's still angry at him for the betrayal, but it's an anger that is very human.

And even in their final fight, after both of them posture about not holding back, with Chris even claiming he'd kill Vic... neither one does. Chris has several chances to do so, and just knocks Vic around. Vic has Chris at her mercy and doesn't kill him.

The fight ends in a hug. A very battered guardian hugging her troubled charge. Victoria admitting that they can't understand each other, but wanting him to still have a better life. One where he's happy with himself. Chris brushing it off, but leaving her alone, and she lets them leave.

In many ways, one could compare this final hug to Carol and Amy hug before the Birdcage, but with a different meaning. In that hug, it was the acceptance of guardian over troubled charge, without any real growth or understanding of each other. In this hug, it was admittance that they are incompatible as they are, even if they care for each other, and in many ways the world has sabotaged them.

It's not hopeless. Vic does not resent Chris anymore, but rather wishes he finds the answers to what he seeks. Chris is solemn but Bonesaw believes he can find a way forward.

Wildbow mentions that one of the first steps for Chris being happy is finding a body or bodies that he can accept, and perhaps that can be his fate down the road. Perhaps one where he can manage those impulses.

There are ways forward.

[geoxx-carrboro]

The Snallygaster - Geox

“The Devil Came Not by Land, But by Air”Or: How a German Forest Phantom Became an American Flying Machine of Pure Hysteria In the hills and hollows of western Maryland—where the fog coils like a threat and the trees seem to lean in just a little too close—there is said to be a creature that swoops from the sky with a scream like scalding steel, blood in its beak, and no agenda beyond terror for…