#giant squid studios

[olvaheiner]

Sword of the Sea (2025)

[junoniadoesart]

[hollowsolaris]

~ Cernos the Tall One~ Wowie it's been a while since I've uploaded anything here huh? I finally got around to trying out Glaze, and seeing that AI stuff isn't going away anytime soon, I figured it's about time I actually start making things again. I've mostly been drawing my ocs recently, not sure if I'll post those anytime soon, but for now have some fanart for the game The Pathless <3

(this drawing has been glazed, any weird textures or artifacts are due to the glazing process)

[laurarolla]

Here's my playthrough of Abzu, beginning to end. It's about an hour and 40 minutes, and I definitely didn't do everything the game has to offer so there's plenty to find and discover if you want to try it for yourself. I very much encourage you to try it for yourself.

Abzu is not meant to be a huge challenge, but a lovely trip through an ocean as you interact with sea life and the ruins of a lost civilization. It's a beautiful, wordless journey centered around the cycles of rebirth and renewal, and uses beautiful music and stylized visuals to tell a fairly simple story. Overall, though, for me the game was a chill experience until the final rush of a chapter that built to a satisfying end.

I'm sure you could look the game up and find some professionals digging into the merits of the game and maybe deeper meanings, but this game feels like one you should experience yourself rather than take anyone else's word for it. Highly recommended.

[skaamit]

«SWORD OF THE SEA - LAUNCH DATE TRAILER - PS5 & PC» @ «Giant Squid Studios»

🔴 youtube.com

Выглядит просто великолепно. Как же красиво и захватывающе.

Складывается впечатление, что «Giant Squid» взяли и замешали все свои предыдущие работы – «ABZU», «Journey» и «The Pathless» в единый сосуд. Столько уже знакомых и разных элементов от песчаных волн, до голубых глубин и снежных прерий и тд. Будет любопытно посмотреть, как всё это сложится.

Жаль, что поиграть в этом мне будет не на чем. Придётся подождать.

[sallary]

It's like a bad guys in the form of fish … yeah it’s a strange idea

Nightmare-The vampire squid

Dust-angler fish

Killer-tiger shark

Cross-thresher shark

Horror-giant squid

Good night 🌙

Nm belongs to Jokublog

Killer belongs to rahafwabas

Dust belongs to ask-dusttale

Horror belongs to sour-apple-studios

Cross belongs to Jake95

[posthumanwanderings]

“Aqua Nova (アクアノーバ) is a medium-sized attraction designed by Sega Enterprises, Ltd. for its amusement theme park venues. Players don stereoscopic 3D glasses and sit in moving, tilting seats to watch a six minute long interactive CGI ridefilm on a large movie screen. The ride simulates a futuristic submarine voyage to an undersea colony, which is suddenly attacked by a sea monster. Aqua Nova's eight seats each feature a control panel allowing players to ‘shoot’ the monster and change the ending of the film. Plot Set in the future, Aqua Nova begins as a leisurely submarine tour of an experimental city located deep beneath the seas of a distant planet. A comical robotic sea turtle, ‘Ada,’ serves as the riders' tour guide and narrator. The calm atmosphere is broken when a monstrous giant squid suddenly appears and begins destroying the city, sending the players' submarine tumbling through collapsing tunnels and scaffolding. When the giant squid appears, players are encouraged to use the control panel mounted in front of their seats to shoot at the beast. Depending on how well the players accomplish this, Aqua Nova presents one of sixteen possible ending scenes, ranging from the complete destruction of the city to an explosive defeat of the squid. Development In 1995, Sega AM5 contracted Los Angeles animation studio Digital Universe to create the CGI film for Aqua Nova. Director Art Durinski led a six person team of modelers and animators to complete the project. Locations Aqua Nova made its first appearance at Fukuoka Joypolis upon the venue's opening in April 1996, and was installed at numerous amusement theme parks and entertainment centers opened by Sega into the mid 2000s. With the exception of Tokyo Joypolis, where its version has since been replaced by newer attractions, all venues have closed permanently.” source: https://segaretro.org/Aqua_Nova

[elderscrollsconceptart]

Text below is transcribed from Ray Lederer's 2012 blogpost about Adam Adamowicz after Adam had passed away.

Both were artists on Skyrim and shared an office together. They were very very close.

---

[Ray Lederer (L) and Adam Adamowicz (R)]

-Tuesday, February 14, 2012

I first met Adam when I started working at a tiny game development studio in Boulder, Colorado back in 1998 called Devil’s Thumb Entertainment. I walked into the studio on my first day of work and I’m pretty sure The Cramps were playing full blast from his general direction. There he was, sun baked and surrounded with what at the time I assumed were rare Jaimie Hewlett sketches pasted up around him, loads of cds and flyers for rockabilly rollerderby raver chicks with squids on their heads. ‘Welcome to the monster factory!’ he said and I thought instantly ‘Oh hell yeah! I came to the right place!’ It didn’t take long to figure out that what I thought were Jaimie Hewlett drawings were actually his and to be quite honest were 10 times more appealing and hilarious. (No offense Jaimie!)

When I finally got the chance to see his apartment in Denver I realized I was stepping into the mind of a creative genius. His entire apartment from floor to ceiling, front to back was covered with his paintings, massive cardboard sculptural cat like gargoyles, christmas lights, intricate costumes (designed with little more than a leather jacket, cheap sombrero, toys from a thrift shop, black and silver spray paint and hot glue) flyers for previous rent parties from his old warehouse, Tank Girl comics, Low Rider and American Artist magazines, Thomas Pynchon novels and a constant stream of music. Every square inch was interesting and VITAL and ALIVE. This was an intellect far beyond anyone else I’d ever met and there was not a single hint of pretentiousness to him. His entire life was a beautifully structured and disciplined chaos. Even then I began to see that not only was I in the presence of greatness, I was in the presence of one of the more important illustrators of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He just didn’t know it yet and neither did anyone else. Quite frankly he wouldn’t give a shit if someone gave him that label. He simply wanted to come up with more ideas and get better at drawing. Period.

Since then we got into many beer soaked adventures that sometimes included late night bike rides through the city streets of Denver with a boom-box strapped to the back blasting Big Audio Dynamite with sparklers hanging off the handlebars(and some stiches on the scalp of yours truly). Dangerously drunken skateboarding with cap guns, ditching psychedelic parties to go laugh our asses off and throw giant rocks in a frozen river, concerts, weekend long patio surfing tours in the Colorado summers, trips to the reservoir to float around wearing finely crafted and thrilling 12pack headgear, lunchtime bike rides up to our favorite outdoor patio Rhumba in Boulder for $2 Red Stripes and then back to work again, and many hours working close to him and learning as much as I could about being an artist and a better human being. He once said to me “I may not be Mozart, but at least I can try to be the Pixies.” He just wanted to entertain people in any way he could.

In his last few days we spent together in the hospital we sat on his hospital bed listening to music for hours, talking, and drawing in our sketchbooks. Our conversations were tinted with what was happening for him in the moment certainly, but mostly we talked about friends, art, music, and life. We spoke without much nostalgia or finality, just very real and present and forward looking despite the circumstances. He kept drawing until he couldn't possibly draw anymore, squeezing every last ounce he could out of life, just as he always had.

Watch papa go to work.

I love you Adam. You continue to be my friend, mentor, and greatest inspiration

---

Original post can be found here:

[gregorygalloway]

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea premiered in New York City on 23 December 1954, before wider release 2 days later.

The rights to Jules Verne's 1870 novel had bounced from studio to studio before Walt Disney announced they had purchased the rights in December 1951 and put the film into production.

Screenwriter Earl Felton and director Richard Fleischer had worked together on a number of films, including Trapped (1949), Armored Car Robbery (1950), and The Narrow Margin (1952), mostly B-movies, before getting the offer from Disney (Fleischer's father, Max Fleischer, had been a pioneer in film animation and one of Disney's main rivals in the 1930s). It was their first big budget project.

Fleischer would also be tasked with filming in the newly developed CinemaScope. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea would be the most expensive film made in Hollywood at the time.

It was a commercial and critical success, earning almost 3x its budget at the box office, and received 3 Academy Award nominations, including Best Film Editing (Elmo Williams). It received Oscars for Best Art Direction - Color and Best Special Effects.

Some of the original sets were featured at Disneyland from 1955 - 1966, and a submarine ride (with giant squid) was at Disney World from 1971 - 1994 (with the theme song from the film played as background).

[sasoxichomoshi]

are the pathless and abzu related? yes, and this connection is way more important than people give credit for (i will be rambling now)

visual cues are everywhere; the beheaded shark statue right at the start of the game, the purification process and the spirit realm architecture all nods to the previous game as the shells and the locked door at cerno's domain are literal imports from abzu, which are all sweet references present in the pathless

everything that concerns the spiritual realm has a touch of abzu (pantone abzu blue when)

i'd also add that i have autistic urges to just write about how the pathless feels like this result from accumulated knowledge/experience from past Nava games - the pathless has both the 'myth of creation' and the journey of the hero combined in order to tell this lil story with these silly characters (i see it all as if giant squid team woke up one day and said "what if we made like a fancy fanfic yknow" really best decision ever), however knowing myself it''d just feel like nonsense rambling (even worse than this) and a bit off topic, but i had to mention or my skin wouldn't stop itching

anyway back to the two games -

i have this recurring impression that abzu allegories and symbolism are woven in the fabric of reality in the pathless - it's not about them directly, but are foundational for whatever is being told here and now

you cannot, in full consciousness, tell me that these are just easter eggs in the pathless that giant squid introduced because it's a past title from the studio; not when there was giant effort in blending the two games sensibly - abzu is brought up in the symbolism, the color palette (red/blue), in the environment, and it's even present in the soundtrack

in short, tying the universe of the two games together was intentional

but despite visually tied, it still made no sense to me; ok we share the color palette, we wander around with the help of a tall one, we defeat the bad one, what else there's to it? is it just the start of the giant squid MCU? giant squid cinematic universe? or gaming universe? (i feel stupid)

regardless, as i answered the question to how, i wanted to understand why - and to make sense out of it all, i resorted to a feature unique to the pathless: written text

what is so important to tell the player that you need written text, something you were avoiding in all your past games but that suddenly you bring back out of nowhere to tell a story in a way you havent done before? i can just assume some topics were too necessary to just left it implied (at best), or never explained (at worst)

one of the reasons i have written this blog post until this point (the main reason, actually) is that i feel there's a bit of an overlook of an essential part in the established the pathless n abzu crossover (can i call it that?), something that permeates everything, but it's not really visible in a literal way

--

as i played the game, godslayer perspective and motives stood out - they are the focus of a good part of all the tablets and dead people's memories - and as i dived deeper into the abzu connections (pun not intended) certain lines got too remarkable:

so,,, godslayer deems this world broken because it's made out of pure chaos, ok i guess it makes sense uhhh wait wait im having flashbacks i have seen this befo-

uhh oooooohhh ok ok get it i can see some parallels ughhh woooow just wow omg

the underlying factor here is that chaos is origin, foundation for both games universes (tho we can all see that at this point it's the same universe)

in abzu, by ordaining chaos the diver brings back life; in the pathless the ordained chaos, the one that constitutes all life, is at risk because someone decided that having everything made out of (essentially) chaos wasnt really suitable for the second industrial revolution i guess

note: if you know nothing about abzu i recommend reading this post cause it explains a bit about what chaos means in abzu, hence it's relevant to the pathless too

and understanding the chaos that impregnates existence as a whole is central in the pathless, which brings us to another focal point the game brings up: religion

you see religion a big deal in the pathless in the sense that it defines factions; you pick a side, and it's what drives the line of action of almost everyone in the island - the pathfinder quest against the tall ones, the godslayer followers vs the tall ones followers, entire communities dedicated to their local gods, and so on

superficially, it's easier to go to the "bad vs good" route where godslayer must be defeated to keep the order and the light and tall ones good guys whatever, the problem of this line of thought is: too much black and white and no gray to be seen

the pathless final message speaks about decision making: you are free to trace your own path (and this message is reinforced through game design and the title and at the final boss fight, you can name it) however, here lies the detail: similar to the chaos surrounding us, it goes unnoticed that the will to take a determined path comes from within

that's why religion is a hot topic in the pathless, it's what allows people to trace a path in a chaotic world, literally

the myth of creation - the eagle mother, the branch, her children - in itself is a form of understanding reality, religion - prayers, sacrifices, lines of conduct, contemplation - is also a form of grasping the real, and from this understanding, this particular view of the world, you are invited to take action; you cultivate the land and you build temples dedicated to your god

you take action based in what you believe, and you can see it better in the dead followers you can commune with through the island, they are fierce in their beliefs, which leads them to make a stand or fight back

it also stands out how the tall ones are imbued with negative traits; nimue shifts moods like summer rain, kumo is terribly jealous and childish, sauro despite everything will resort to violence, cernos is too shy, heck even eagle mother as gentle as she is let atrocities took place before any meaningful action was considered

all the tall ones have their virtues and imperfections because in the end they are also made out of chaos, essentially they are not that different from any tree on the plateaus; but, as the tablets about the masks state, they see things beyond this realm, and with this knowledge they try to guide those that dont see it - it's like this for their followers, and hunter is also guided by them

godslayer is no different, he took a path lead by his beliefs, beliefs those that reject the idea of having life from chaos, which lead to his obsession of fixing what he deemed broken; from his perspective, he suffered in the hands of the tall ones and their followers which made him believe that anything of their nature was treacherous - he failed tho, failed to understand that a single path would lead to perpetual suffering (as some memories states, "i was not meant to bloodshed"), which was a fate his followers had bittersweetly tasted

in this scenario, hunter is special: she's an outsider, she doesn't comprehend her mission just yet neither knows those lands; she's facing chaos in its pure form and in order to make sense of her new reality, she takes the eagle mothers advices; upon taking on the trials of the island she witnessed chaos in its many forms, and she assimilates it, not good nor bad but a 'in between' - that's why (from my understanding), on purifying the godslayer final form, her eyes glow in bright blue not because she's some 'declared since birth' allied of the tall ones, but because it signals purpose, she understands the chaos, the one that causes life and death, and she embraces that view from within and translates it into strength to fight back and endure

there's not a single creature in this world that doesnt feel lost and be it whatever creature - human, tall ones, demons, animals, everyone is trying to make sense of this confusing world we live in, be it through any path at hand - and religion is just one of the possible ways in the sea of infinite available paths

as hunter explores deeper into the island, she bonds with the tall ones but make no mistake, she's not really a faithful follower - and she doesn't need to be - cause she has the understanding that the tall ones represent this organized chaos necessary to the flux of life, she respects them

pathfinder, unfairly treated, will look at the tall ones and see just lies, refusing their guidance, he will strive for a new path not taken before and ignore any previous knowledge about the world, he will build up a single vision for a brand new reality absent of chaos because that's how he was conditioned to see and absorb the world around him

(and that makes godslayer feels even more tragic, having the possibility of seeing the world through new lenses by wearing the mask of the ancients yet he persisted in his views and ignored the reality as it was - chaos neatly woven - perhaps out of hate and sorrow for all past injustices; even in the end he resisted to accept the world that nurtured him, as he too was made out of chaos - and for that he's forgiven)

you and i can both worship sauro, but in the end we will look at the surrounding chaos from different perspectives and i will decide that pottery is the way to go while you see the sword as the suitable option; as the truth stands, this is a pathless land - there's no defined answer

the pathless, beyond the 'pathless land' lesson, has something more to tell - that perhaps the path is already established and to you is given the choice of going forward that path or re-evaluate and change directions;

if i had to define the pathless i'd say it's about what touches the eye and where you rest you hand (which can also explains why the eye is an ever present image throughout the game); through perception you grasp the world around you, you create your views and based on it you take action - will you release the bow string? will you strike with your sword? will you cultivate the land? or will you shed blood? what have you seen that made you act like this?

what a chaotic world

anyway, i have too much to say and no one to listen so my only options are write Big Blog Post or bang my head against the wall if you read until here (complete madness) thanks for enduring until the end

(cant wait to see the pathless references in sword of the sea i have faith)

[junoniadoesart]

Today’s ABZÛ news: local Diver bugs and does handstand while riding on manta ray

[just-asomeone]

With Sword of the sea by the Giant Squid studio and This game will end in 205 clicks by insertdisc5 both coming out in august, aka the month of my birthday, it feels like my favourite game developers are giving me gifts. I'm flapping my hands happily.

[birdsofthefictionalworld]

Bird Spotlight: The Pathless

The Pathless(2020) is a action/adventure game from Giant Squid, a studio formed by the art director of Journey(2012), Matt Nava. Nava was also joined by other members of Journey’s production team and released their first title Abzu, in 2016. However, unlike Abzu, our main companion in this game is a bird!

Our striking Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) companion does not disappoint, even to a discerning eye. The model is simple, sleek and beautifully designed, more than worthy for a main protagonist.

The animations are similarly smooth, meticulous, and objectively adorable, just look at those hops!

Additionally, markings on the bird’s underwing coverts and white tail feathers show that or friend is a juvenile.

The sounds, sadly fall short of realism, giving the bird sounds that would match a red-tailed hawk, instead of a golden eagle. I am willing to forgive, however, as the call and response button is a treasure, and the sounds used are, objectively, far more impressive than the real sounds of an eagle.

And, as a final note: YOU GET TO PET THE BIRD

Thank you for reading! If you want to see more of these, I will be tagging this series as #spotlights as well #bfw(my general works tag), and as always, my ask box is open to suggestions for bird stuff for me to check out!

[meoware]

MUSIC OF THE DAY #2

I definitely did NOT accidentally post this yesterday. So just don't worry about that.

There's a lot of Jonathan Coulton songs that will probably wind up sprinkled throughout this because he's one of my favorite artists of all time, he has a lot of underappreciated music... Best Concert Ever is a live album that holds a lot of sentimental value to me in particular and because I sort of grew up with it in a way, and I find I prefer many of these simple acoustic versions to the studio productions.

I like how he takes very weird concepts he comes up with and spins them into a sort of story, like this one. I Crush Everything is about a giant squid who loves a woman on the surface but knows he can't be with her because he would probably kill her if he tried. And it's probably one of my favorites off his whole discography? Which says a lot because I fuckin love so much of his music. I think the live acoustic version of it brings out the emotion better than the studio version. So yeah. 10/10 song, highly recommend giving it a listen.

[doctorstrangereview]

0086: Marvel Feature #3

Cover Date: June 1972 On-Sale Date: January 18, 1972

The third installment of The Defenders finally gives a them they're own villain. He's not an original, but his previous appearances were pre-FF #1 so he's almost an original. The Defenders move onto their own title making this the last written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Ross Andru. Doc will start new solo adventures in Marvel Premiere soon as well. What does our final Defenders in Marvel Feature story have in store for us?

We begin with the capsule Castor and Pollux 1 returning to Earth. (Castor and Pollux are half-brother twins who, collectively, are know as Gemini.) Among those awaiting the capsule's return is General Thunderbolt Ross who's pitching in because the Hulk is on a break and being quiet. General Ross provides a bit of exposition telling us that something odd happened while the astronauts were in space. On a spacewalk, one of the astronauts encountered a white mist and then radio contact was lost.

The flashback ends and the capsule is heading to the ocean when suddenly a whirlpool appears, sucking the capsule underwater. Fortunately this is a great way to draw one of our trio into the story. Namor happens to be nearby. He follows the capsule down. Awaiting the capsule is a giant octopus that Roy calls a squid. Ross should have looked at more encyclopedias.

Namor returns the capsule to the awaiting shift and expresses his displeasure at having to harm a sea creature to rescue the land-lubbers.

This causes unreasonable anger in sailors aboard who decide "let's deck the dude who single-handedly rescued our guys!" This doesn't go too well for the sailors and Jim Wilson, a Hulk buddy, threatens Namor who mostly laughs it off. The astronauts exit from the capsule with attitudes.

Namor leaves and the newsies start taking lots of photos. The astronauts announce these are their last official pics. All of the photos fail to develop. The astronauts resign and almost instantly cut a deal for a TV show.

The show is unimaginatively called The Astro-nuts and appears to be some kind of children's show. One of the features is Xemnu from the magic planet.

The scary looking word balloon clues us into the fact that there is more going on here than we are being shown. Next we see a home viewer who says it's hokey, but he's compelled to watch it. The show continues with a bunch of childish antics. We see General Ross watching the show with Jim Wilson who both consider it rubbish. Jim splits. He has suspicions. He doesn't know how to contact Bruce so he heads to Doc's pad. Ross draws it a bit better this time.

Jim has an unpleasant encounter with his cab driver which is promptly sorted by Doc. He seems to have been standing nearby.

Doc's TV happens to be tuned to The Astro-nuts. Wong was watching it. Jim explains about the compelling nature of the show.

At the show, one of The Astro-nuts is having some buyer's remorse about the show while his partner in crime reminds him how rich they're going to be. Just the, Jim Wilson and "The Hulk" enter the studio with Hulkie expressing a desire to "make the world see he's not as bad as they think." Not a sterling endorsement, but we'll take what we can get. Once the deal is settled, Jim and "Hulk" fly out of there on Doc's cloak. Yup, "Hulk" was Doc in disguise. He's still good at that illusion thing.

It's four weeks later, the time when Xemnu promised to take all the little kiddies back to the magic planet with him. The Astro-nuts has had the heck merchandised out of it. The former astronauts are getting rich and Xemnu is now present at a rocket launch along with Jim Wilson and the Hulk-disguised Doc. Doc isn't feeling too good and it's more than just the strain of maintaining the illusion.

Bruce Banner happens to be walking past a shop with a TV playing the live broadcast and sees the Hulk-disguised Doc. This doesn't please him and Bruce releases his inner jolly green giant.

Real Hulk heads to the cape while Xemnu shows his real colors. Xemnu has acquired Pied Piper powers.

A senator's kid is affected by Xemnu which means it's time for people to get involved. Doc drops his disguise to face Xemnu.

Xemnu protects himself with a psychic shield, but Doc was able to peer into his mind for a moment. We flash back to Xemnu's appearances in Journey into Mystery, reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl. Xemnu's weakness is a mirror. Xemnu was turned into a gas which drifted back to his home world. The planet was lifeless because of a germ and the Xemnu cloud headed back into space where it encountered the astronauts. Doc is struck down by Xemnu, but manages to call out to Namor who wrecks the rocket. Namor attempts to take out Xemnu, but fails. The astronaut not possessed by Xemnu attempts to take him out, but is killed when crushed in Xemnu's claw.

The real Hulk arrives and Xemnu attempts to take him out, but his blasts are less effective against the green giant and he keeps coming. Hulk beats on Xemnu until he once again turns into a gas cloud. Doc believes he knows why Hulkie won.

The military personnel surround the Hulk making him less happy than a moment ago. The Hulk stomps on the ground causing all the gun-wielding dudes to fall. Namor reappears and the two depart, promising never to answer Doc's summons again. We know how well that will work!

Doc then skirts the whole consent thing by making everyone present forget the events. He tells Jim "The children will always survive, for in the long run, what else is there?"

This is something of an improvement over the previous issue. Gathering the three heroes seems more plausible. Resurrecting Xemnu (who was called The Hulk in his original appearances) while not a masterstroke, was clever and even more clever was incorporating his history. The appearances pre-date FF #1 and this is an early example of Atlas era story bleeding into modern Marvel continuity. Bill Everett returns to ink Ross Andru's pencils and does a better job than in Marvel Feature #1. His hand seems steadier and the lines sharper. It's a big improvement and closer to Sal Buscema's inks from the prior issue. I wonder what went through Bill's head inking his creation drawn by another artist?

Not being a Doc villain, Xemnu manages to keep the cast better balanced, but the Hulk could have had a larger role. It's a perfectly serviceable story. The Defenders get their own official title and followed by book length solo stories for Doc. Things are looking up!

[dragonoffantasyandreality]

Of Fear and Statues

Based on some of my fears manifested by watching a certain analog horror series :')

(Enjoying a lot of fun for the upcoming Halloween season 😅)

Hey, at least Gordon will suffer with me XD

@teapotteringabout @skymaiden32 @knyee @janetm74 @the-original-sineater @amistrio @thundergeek59 @riallasheng @katblu42 @yarol2075 @mariashades @room-on-broom

-0-0-0-

Virgil had always wondered why Gordon - a once military man within WASP and a fearless rescuer of International Rescue - was too darn nervous when around statues. More specifically, ones from their mainland.

It was something that he noticed since the Little Squid was a teenager.

He remembered the first time that happened: when Alan wanted to look at the Statue of Liberty, the 16 year old Gordon turned pale as a ice.

"Don't go! T-There's a giant ass horned snake in there! He'll zap you out of dimensions!"

What the heck?! Was everyone's first thought.

What was that "snake" was he talking about?

And why freaking out over a monument that just stand there? And existed for a very long time and representing the liberty of their people... for a certain time.

Usually, strange rumors and scary stories that his school friends would tell him just give Gordon something to make the old age "Unsolved Mysteries" joke.

But, since then, he was terrified for even seeing a face of one of those legendary pieces of sculped art.

Thankfully, his fear had eased for the poor Little Squid. And it seemed - at least what Virgil thought - that his phobia was long forgotten...

Until recently.

Coincidentally, Virgil was sculping a beautiful gargoyle based on a Kirin, when he heard a scream booming through the Tracy Villa!

It was Gordon's...

With wet clay on his face, hands and art apron, the pilot of Thunderbird 2 rushed out of his art studio towards his wing-man's room.

When he eventually arrived, another scream nearly made the poor Virgil deaf for a moment.

Then there was a loud crash.

And then there was silence. The Fish and the Tank simply stared at each other.

Beside a trampled Gordon, lay a film box that used the house a file cylinder, a discarded bowl of caramel-flavored popcorn, and some spilled spinach juice on the floor.

On the screen of the television, was a rather terrifying looking menu screen. The visuals replicated that of analog film nearly half a century ago, the colors were black and white. A certain statue of a warrior lady with a sword in her hand, flickered in and out in the background of the static. Along with some other strange anomalies in the semi-dark sky and a muffled vintage music was playing.

The older brother reached for the remote, convientely thrown at the edge of the doorway and turned the TV off.

"Gee Wiz, Virgil!" the aquanaut broke the silence, finding his breath, "that face paint of yours made me think you were 'Freedom' coming to chop my head off, bro!"

After another moment of awkward silence, the artist slowly put his hands on his hips, with the most deadpanned expression that rivals that of Scott's.

"Gordon? What on Earth were you doing?" he stood before the curled up joker for a brother.

"Trying to face my fears... The last ep of season one still killed me!" Gordon smiled with embarrassment as he gave the Tracy Puppy Eyes.

Virgil took the box and glanced at the cover. And then suddenly, all of the puzzle pieces just clicked into place!

He had found culprit of Gordon's odd fear, written in two words:

Monument Mythos