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Category Archives: Monsters
Daughter of Disease, Maker of Snakes
Picture by Tero Porthan In my ongoing search for topics from mythology and folklore, and specifically in terms of ogres and witches, I saw a mention of the Syojatar (properly spelled with marks above the letters, but that’s a hassle) … Continue reading
Iron Constitutions
I’ve been looking a bit into witches, and I latched onto one physical trait the Russian Baba Yaga is sometimes said to have, which is iron teeth. Such teeth seem to be associated with witches in general in Slavic lore. … Continue reading
Posted in African, British, Christianity, Fairy Tales, Finnish, German, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Oz, Oz Authors, Religion, Russian, Slavic, Technology
Tagged alexander volkov, asanbosam, baba yaga, bronze, demons, dorothy gale, giants, ilmarinen, iron, iron woodman, ivashko, kalevala, magic land, ogres, perchta, prince ivan the witch baby and the little sister of the sun, psoglav, sasabonsam, the wonderful wizard of oz, tin woodman, vampires, wicked witch of the west, witches
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Oh Yeah, Mario Time!
I have pondered Mario’s age before, and mentioned how he’s officially supposed to be in his mid-twenties. But then, I grew up with the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, where Captain Lou Albano was playing Mario and Danny Wells Luigi in … Continue reading
Posted in Cartoons, Donkey Kong, Mario, Monsters, Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Television, Video Games
Tagged captain lou albano, comet observatory, cranky kong, danny wells, donkey kong, donkey kong jr., ice ice outpost, kamek, king bowser koopa, koopalings, luigi mario, mario and luigi: partners in time, mario kart, mario kart 8, mario mario, new donk city, nintendo, paper mario color splash, pauline, princess daisy, princess peach toadstool, Rosalina, shigeru miyamoto, star children, super mario bros. 3, super mario galaxy, super mario odyssey, time travel, toad polar expedition, wario, wario land 4, wendy o. koopa, yoshi, yoshi's island, yoshi's island ds
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A Whale of an Island
There are many tales of gigantic sea monsters, perhaps because what’s under the sea is pretty mysterious, and some of what people see really IS pretty monstrous. Northern Europe has many such legends, and this is where people really did encounter … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Art, Inuit, Monsters, Mythology, Native American, Norse, Poetry, Uncategorized
Tagged aspidochelone, fish, giant squid, greenland, hafgufa, imap umassoursa, jasconius, kraken, lyngbakr, odd, ogmund, orvar-oddr, sea monsters, sinbad, squid, st. brendan, trolls, turtles, vignir, whales
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Yikes, Spikes!
I thought it might be worth looking at the Mario enemies known as Spikes, since they seem to be rather prominent nowadays. I’ve even seen them as stuffed animals at the Nintendo store in Manhattan, although I don’t have one … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Donkey Kong, Fairy Tales, Focus on the Foes, Magic, Mario, Monsters, Mythology, Norse, Russian, Toys, Video Games
Tagged clubbas, don bongo, donkey kong country, flails, gabon, giants, glitz pit, grubba, hammer brothers, klubbas, koschei the deathless, lakilester, lakitu, luigi mario, mace penguins, maces, magikoopas, mario mario, morning stars, new super mario bros., nintendo power, paper mario, paper mario: the thousand-year door, penguins, ptooies, snow spikes, spikes, stone spikes, super mario 3d world, super mario bros., super mario bros. 3, the blubbening, the giant who had no heart in his body, tubba blubba, turtles, weapons, yoshi's island, yoshi's story
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He Blinded Me with Scienstein
The video game I’ve actually been playing the most as of late is Breath of Fire 2, which I remember from the Super Nintendo. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it soon. I just got past the part … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Breath of Fire, Food, Humor, Kirby, Mario, Monsters, Science, Technology, Video Games, Zelda
Tagged arewo shitain-hakase, breath of fire 2, croakians, custard kingdom, dr. ivan knit, dr. mario, dr. mario 64, dr. wright, earthbound, frogs, golden pyramid, Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru, kilgore, kilgore trout, kurt vonnegut, link's awakening, lord delarin, lost woods, luigi mario, mad scienstein, mandola, mario mario, masakachotto university, megavitamins, mille-feuille kingdom, minister crepe, moldorms, nantendo island, paper mario: the thousand-year door, prince of sable, prince richard, princess eclair, princess shokora, princess tiramisu, pudding continent, robots, rudy the clown, shigesato itoi, simcity, snakes, strudel continent, the frog for whom the bell tolls, trout, waffle kingdom, wario, wario land 3, wario land 4, witches
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Wonder Boy on Adventure Island
In my latest installment of video games I don’t know much about but have some interesting trivia regarding, I remember seeing an arcade game called Wonder Boy at a diner on a family trip before my parents split up. Those … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Cartoons, Ethnicity, Food, Magic, Mario, Monsters, Relationships, Television, Video Games
Tagged adventure island, adventure island ii, adventure island iii, angels, bees, bock lee temjin, boy, bug-tte honey, camptosaurus, dinosaurs, eggplant, elasmosaurus, fairies, honey bee in toycomland, honey girl, hudson soft, jeannie jungle, king drancon, master higgins, master wigins, monster boy and the cursed kingdom, monster world iv, nintendo, nintendo power, pina, princess leilani, pteranodon, sega, sega master system, takahashi meijin, tanya, tina, tom-tom, toshiyuki takahashi, triceratops, wonder boy, wonder boy in monster land
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Orc My World
This past weekend, Orcs were trending on Twitter, based on a tweet about how a description of them in Dungeons & Dragons was pretty racist. (Full disclosure: I haven’t played D&D, although I’ve come across it quite a bit in … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Authors, Biology, Christianity, Ethnicity, Fairy Tales, Focus on the Foes, Games, History, J.R.R. Tolkien, Language, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Norse, Prejudice, Religion, Science, Star Trek
Tagged beowulf, dungeons and dragons, dwarves, elves, fantasy, gnolls, goblins, klingons, morality, ogres, orcs, racism, scientific racism, trolls
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I Came in Like a Wrecking Crew
It’s weird how many obscure Mario-related games there are. I’d wanted to discuss a few Japan-only ones that I’ve seen footage of recently, but there were some connections there to games we did get here in the States that I’d … Continue reading
Posted in Comics, Donkey Kong, Food, Kid Icarus, Mario, Monsters, Video Games
Tagged adventure island, booster, chibi-robo, donkey kong, donkey kong 3, donkey kong 3 dai gyakushu, donkey kong 3 great counterstrike, eggplant, eggplant men, eggplant wizard, foreman spike, galaga, gotchawrenches, hotel mario, ice climber, insects, kid eggplant, king bowser koopa, koopa troopas, luigi mario, mario mario, mobile golf, mushroom kingdom, shigeru miyamoto, stanley the bugman, super mario bros., super mario rpg, tetris, the 3 little princesses, wario, wonder boy, wrecking crew, wrecking crew '98, yves bourgelas
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