Cool sci fi monsters

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Sci-Fi Wi-Fi > Cool sci fi monsters

Lemniscate Blue: Apr 21, 2006; Here we go again.

Pondex posted:

I would argue that trekkies pitching a fit over her death was funnier. And that they had to make that alternate timeline-ep where she gets to have a noble death.

Yesterday's Enterprise was pretty great, though.

# ? Jul 8, 2021 17:36

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# ? Nov 12, 2025 18:08

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

Cranappleberry posted:

yea I read the wiki entries on a lot of the stuff. I know wiki entry condensation of info can make stories seem more coherent and interesting than they are. I liked the Giant Spider-That-Knows-All with inexplicably normal-sized human hands just trying to keep reality from collapsing in on itself and helping out the protagonist for inscrutable reasons. Also he likes to collect scissors. And ears. All the left ears.

Chaos Golem

I read Perdido Street Station and I liked it a lot, it was smart and well written. I still got a feeling that it started as a Planescape DnD Campaign.

One particular thing I liked was that it has a steampunk setting, and it uses that setting well, in that the thing that gets the main plot (IE the nightmare moths) rolling is the fact that neo-Victorian times doesn't understand occupational health and safety

# ? Jul 8, 2021 22:30

SlothfulCobra: Mar 27, 2011

How about this lil' guy.

Okay, I guess there's a more full shot. Those legs go all the way to the ground.

I guess at its core, it's part of the rich tradition of artists trying to figure out how to depict the martian tripods in war of the worlds, but it's a really unique look. And it comes in pocket-size version.

All the combine synth units have a real unique look to them. It's an interesting idea for these aliens to create an organism from scratch to serve as a vehicle. Or maybe there was some naturally creature that mostly fit the bill before they were enslaved by the combine.

# ? Jul 8, 2021 23:00

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

Those are good; If you look at the gunship you can see how it sort of a propose and a Mi-24 mashed together.

# ? Jul 9, 2021 00:21

Sally: Jan 9, 2007; Don't post Small Dash!

RandolphCarter posted:

Every Thing from The Thing.

when i opened this thread i also intended to post this....

# ? Jul 11, 2021 18:52

BiggestBatman: Aug 23, 2018

Space Herpe

# ? Aug 4, 2021 09:46

Cannibal Kane: Aug 3, 2021

This movie gave me nightmares when I was young in the 80's, Invaders from Mars.

Their design and look always stuck with me.

Especially the Brain look alike that made think of TNMT.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ? Aug 4, 2021 14:32

Pennywise the Frown: May 10, 2010; Upset Trowel

The face reminds me of the eye thing from Big Trouble in Little China.

# ? Aug 5, 2021 21:14

quantumfoam: Dec 25, 2003

The Stuff in the 1985 movie THE STUFF is a surprisingly cool sci-fi movie monster despite being a combination of shaving cream and yogurt on-camera.

https://youtu.be/yZRdPNlLG4s

https://youtu.be/FXSjAqEVSSo

# ? Aug 5, 2021 23:39

Arc Hammer: Mar 4, 2013; Look deep within your shell

Cannibal Kane posted:

This movie gave me nightmares when I was young in the 80's, Invaders from Mars.

Their design and look always stuck with me.

Especially the Brain look alike that made think of TNMT.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

You can't fool me that's a Spider Mastermind.

# ? Aug 6, 2021 03:13

Finger Prince: Jan 5, 2007

Cannibal Kane posted:

This movie gave me nightmares when I was young in the 80's, Invaders from Mars.

Their design and look always stuck with me.

Especially the Brain look alike that made think of TNMT.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ? Aug 7, 2021 14:26

Regarde Aduck: Oct 18, 2012; by Pragmatica
(and can't post for 29 days!); Grimey Drawer

SlothfulCobra posted:

How about this lil' guy.

Okay, I guess there's a more full shot. Those legs go all the way to the ground.

I guess at its core, it's part of the rich tradition of artists trying to figure out how to depict the martian tripods in war of the worlds, but it's a really unique look. And it comes in pocket-size version.

All the combine synth units have a real unique look to them. It's an interesting idea for these aliens to create an organism from scratch to serve as a vehicle. Or maybe there was some naturally creature that mostly fit the bill before they were enslaved by the combine.

It's the latter I think. The human combine troops are undergoing what has happened to these creatures. Eventually they too will be misshapen husks and utterly enslaved.

# ? Aug 7, 2021 18:16

Pondex: Jul 8, 2014

SlothfulCobra posted:

All the combine synth units have a real unique look to them. It's an interesting idea for these aliens to create an organism from scratch to serve as a vehicle. Or maybe there was some naturally creature that mostly fit the bill before they were enslaved by the combine.

That sequence in HL2 when you get to the prison and have to fight two of these is still one of the most intense bossfights I've ever played.

# ? Aug 11, 2021 13:43

Arc Hammer: Mar 4, 2013; Look deep within your shell

Pondex posted:

That sequence in HL2 when you get to the prison and have to fight two of these is still one of the most intense bossfights I've ever played.

I do like that one but the best gunship attack is when one ambushes you as you're jumping the broken bridge on highway 17.

# ? Aug 12, 2021 01:39

1000 Sweaty Rikers: Oct 13, 2005

Cannibal Kane posted:

This movie gave me nightmares when I was young in the 80's, Invaders from Mars.

Their design and look always stuck with me.

Especially the Brain look alike that made think of TNMT.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

yeah I loved that movie as a kid. there were some cool monster designs in that

# ? Aug 12, 2021 11:25

Small Strange Bird: Sep 22, 2006; Merci, chaton!

Space: 1999 was first broadcast in my region on Thursdays at 7pm. Anything at that time should be family-friendly and not at all traumatising for a young kid, right?

This thing had other ideas.

The first season of Space: 1999 liked to throw in the occasional unexpected moment of horror, but this was no mere shock-shot of a rotting corpse or burn victim. It was the nemesis of one of Moonbase Alpha's surprising number of crew with a hidden past, who encountered it on an earlier space probe mission and came back to Earth as the only survivor. We get to see what happened in flashback, and... yeah. As television monsters go, it's one of the greats.

It lurks in a graveyard of strange alien spaceships, which the probe crew obviously decide to investigate. No sooner have they opened their airlock than there's a gale-force rush of wind, weird whirling apparations, then it materializes in their ship and starts screaming and SCREAMING and flailing its tentacles. It's hungry, and it eats by hypnotizing its prey so they willingly walk up to it one by one, then grabbing them. At that point it doesn't need to maintain the whammy, so the soon-to-be victims recover and join in with the screaming as it drags them into whatever horrible maw it has underneath it.

But it's not over yet! In a matter of seconds, anything inedible is spat back out and slithers across the floor to stop in front of the other people on the menu. If they weren't already screaming, they are now. And yes, you get to see the steaming, half-digested remains of the corpses. For me, it was in prime time on a Thursday evening

Inevitably, the Alphans encounter the same spaceship graveyard, and when he goes to slay his demons, the guy ends up as another steaming corpse. It's down to Martin Landau to kill the thing, which he does by hacking out its eye with a fire-ax. But is it really dead, when according to all Alpha's instruments it was never actually alive? (I'm sure there's fanfic which says no, here it is again, with terrifying new powers!)

# ? Nov 23, 2024 17:48

Groke: Jul 27, 2007; New Adventures In Mom Strength

Full Metal Jackass posted:

Slake Moth (Perdido Street Station) . They mesmerize you with their colorful changing wings if you can't get away quickly enough. Then as you stand there drooling they suck your mind out.

That's the critter where just hearing about how they might be around made the Ambassador from Hell go "Nope, peace out guys, I'm going home".

(New Crobuzon is, of course, the kind of place that has open diplomatic relations with Hell.)

# ? Jan 22, 2025 12:03

Mister Speaker: May 8, 2007

Regarde Aduck posted:

It's the latter I think. The human combine troops are undergoing what has happened to these creatures. Eventually they too will be misshapen husks and utterly enslaved.

This is right. IIRC the game itself doesn't do much explaining so I'm not sure where the lore comes from, but basically the entire Combine are weaponized races they've enslaved.

When you know this, some of the noises they make not only make a lot more sense but are even scarier.

Content: The Cycloid Emperor from Duke Nukem 3D. This guy scared the loving poo poo out of me as a kid.

the redesigns of DOOM bosses were all really good, but the original Cyberdemon was also loving scary.

# ? Jan 28, 2025 02:06

dr_rat: Jun 4, 2001; the COBGOBLIN got me! I bear the curse of bad sandwiches

Mister Speaker posted:

the redesigns of DOOM bosses were all really good, but the original Cyberdemon was also loving scary.

OG Cyberdemons the best obviously, but always loved the look of the Spider Mastermind:

The grungy industrial look of the mechanical legs just makes it look so much more menacing, then any advance sci-fi robotic would.

# ? Feb 17, 2025 12:12

Linux Pirate: Apr 21, 2012

SlothfulCobra posted:

How about this lil' guy.

Okay, I guess there's a more full shot. Those legs go all the way to the ground.

I guess at its core, it's part of the rich tradition of artists trying to figure out how to depict the martian tripods in war of the worlds, but it's a really unique look. And it comes in pocket-size version.

All the combine synth units have a real unique look to them. It's an interesting idea for these aliens to create an organism from scratch to serve as a vehicle. Or maybe there was some naturally creature that mostly fit the bill before they were enslaved by the combine.

Not a synth but from the same series. One of my favorite monster designs that was cut from the original Half Life was the Kingpin.

If you've ever played Sven Co-op you've probably fought this guy, but arguably the best use of it comes in the form of a boss fight in the excellent mod Half Life: Field Intensity. It came out a couple of years ago and I highly recommend it.

# ? Feb 18, 2025 17:46

Farmer Crack-Ass: Jan 2, 2001; this is me posting irl

Mister Speaker posted:

This is right. IIRC the game itself doesn't do much explaining so I'm not sure where the lore comes from, but basically the entire Combine are weaponized races they've enslaved.

When you know this, some of the noises they make not only make a lot more sense but are even scarier.

Content: The Cycloid Emperor from Duke Nukem 3D. This guy scared the loving poo poo out of me as a kid.

the redesigns of DOOM bosses were all really good, but the original Cyberdemon was also loving scary.

for the longest time, for whatever reason, i thought the cyberdemon's eyes were those tiny little yellow lines and not the big red orbs to the side

i colored in green here where i used to think his eyes were

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ? Feb 22, 2025 17:43

Mister Speaker: May 8, 2007

LOST was maybe the only thing worsely-planned than BSG, but the Smoke Monster was loving cool. Its sound design was way ahead of its time. Almost all of the sounds it made sounded eerily familiar to me, like the mechanical clanks and gear/chain sounds and ESPECIALLY the 'horn'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjKoS7-5Z0k

# ? Feb 23, 2025 02:21

Mister Kingdom: Dec 14, 2005; And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light

The Shrike from the Hyperion Cantos.

I like the fact that he can manipulate time to a degree that he can kill everybody in your group at the same time.

# ? Jun 21, 2025 20:24