Sea monsters ravage the Pacific at the end of WWII

December 11, 2019 12:09 PM

May 1945: An enormous octopus is sighted several times outside of Puerto Vallarta, given the nickname "El Pulpo." American attention is mostly focused on the end of the war in Europe
posted by gottabefunky (33 comments total)

This is some SCP-grade alt-history livetweeting and I'm invested.
posted by mhoye at 12:14 PM on December 11, 2019 [5 favorites]

What a wild ride! My RPG group is playing a homebrew game that takes place about 700 years in the future, which is 500 years after magic spilled forth into the world. We're currently helping found a colony on the lost island of O'ahu, and I bet this would make good hay for our DM.
posted by turtlebackriding at 12:16 PM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

Hey, right on! This was me, riffing on an idea I had while doing some stress-relieving drawings, and, uh, sorry about San Francisco and Oakland.

also, i actually think Ray Spruance was a great naval commander, and it's a damned shame that the realities of sea monster warfare made him look bad in here; no one could have won under those conditions)
posted by COBRA! at 12:20 PM on December 11, 2019 [29 favorites]

Sorry, I flagged this as a double, assuming it was the thing about the Staten Island ferry on the Advent Calendar of Curiosities, but this is an entirely different historical description of 20th-century giant octopus-type sea monster attacks.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 12:20 PM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

I like how this whole thing was basically an elaborate lead-in to a "Dewey defeats Truman" joke.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:22 PM on December 11, 2019 [13 favorites]

I thought this was a real thing and was VERY annoyed midway through when I realized it was a made up story written in weird chunks.
posted by agregoli at 12:23 PM on December 11, 2019 [6 favorites]

This is great. Worse movies have been made from tweets. I think Netflix should look into it.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:26 PM on December 11, 2019 [6 favorites]

This is some SCP-grade alt-history livetweeting and I'm invested.
posted by mhoye

If you like SCP and also video games, you should definitely play Control. It's maybe the only game where I actually read ALL of the in-game documents.
posted by Grither at 12:29 PM on December 11, 2019 [4 favorites]

Coming to theaters soon under the title Pacific Rim: Origins!

Seconding Control, I’m in the middle of playing it now and it’s an extremely perfect realization of an SCP-inspired game.
posted by ejs at 12:34 PM on December 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

People who enjoy science fiction cephalopodic shenanigans might enjoy China Miéville's novel Kraken. It's more secret society than South Pacific but still involves scary squid.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 12:52 PM on December 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

My dad was on the Maryland at this time. Sonofabitch killed-off my dad!
posted by Thorzdad at 1:10 PM on December 11, 2019 [8 favorites]

Is this still going? Or is that the finale?
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:15 PM on December 11, 2019

The nickname of the octopus is "the octopus"?
posted by aubilenon at 1:18 PM on December 11, 2019 [9 favorites]

My dad was on the Maryland at this time. Sonofabitch killed-off my dad!
posted by Thorzdad

if it helps, i realized that I also probably trapped my grandfather in Australia and erased myself from history

Is this still going? Or is that the finale?
posted by RolandOfEld

More to come!
posted by COBRA! at 1:23 PM on December 11, 2019 [6 favorites]

Glad to see that GPT-2 AI Dungeon is back online and better than ever
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:28 PM on December 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

Brings back fond memories of Grigori (aka Grischa), the conditioned octopus from Gravity's Rainbow...
posted by chavenet at 1:29 PM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

Was hoping for the involvement of CV-6, including the destruction of a leviathan by a PT boat commanded by one Commodore Decker.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:34 PM on December 11, 2019 [3 favorites]

1952: Construction of PAVE KNIGHT, the first experimental jaeger, begins, later designated VF-X-1.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 1:42 PM on December 11, 2019 [4 favorites]

Do you seriously think I'd explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I released the giant Mexican octopus thirty-five minutes ago.
posted by GuyZero at 1:59 PM on December 11, 2019 [11 favorites]

With laser beams?
posted by clavdivs at 2:11 PM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

Giant Pacific Octopus vs Bald Eagle.
posted by bonobothegreat at 3:23 PM on December 11, 2019 [6 favorites]

I released the giant Mexican octopus thirty-five minutes ago.

And it was delicious!
posted by Thorzdad at 3:41 PM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

Don't piss off Aquaman.
posted by benzenedream at 3:46 PM on December 11, 2019

The nickname of the octopus is "the octopus"?

I think if a dude can be nicknamed The Dude this is probably kosher
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:56 PM on December 11, 2019 [8 favorites]

When I lived in Florida (mid 70s) I was lucky enough to be friends with a man with more than just a few extra dollars in his pockets, and he loved fishing. I can't remember right now which was which -- a party boat or a charter boat -- one of them was really big, didn't go out far, and was filled to overflowing with people tossing out their lines, always a Chance you'd catch but it was pretty much that. Chance.

The other type catered to people with a few bucks in their pockets, and you had four to maybe six people fishing, and Chance wasn't in the equation -- you were going to catch fish. If not grouper then mackerel or who knows what but the captains always knew where there were fish, what bait, etc and etc.

One sunshine afternoon someone pulled up an octopus. It was the damndest thing as it came out of the water, it had right at 47 arms and not just 8, all of them waving about unhappily. I think the captain got it off the line and tossed it back over, though it's possible that he cut it up for bait -- this was not a sentimental guy, he was a fisherman, and if octopus is good bait it was curtains for our new friend.

I don't remember what happened to the octopus after he was dragged out of his garden in the shade, but I damn sure do remember it coming up from the depths.
posted by dancestoblue at 4:12 PM on December 11, 2019 [4 favorites]

I think if a dude can be nicknamed The Dude this is probably kosher

I'm no Rabbi but the octopus isn't kosher regardless what its name is.
posted by GuyZero at 4:13 PM on December 11, 2019 [12 favorites]

~The nickname of the octopus is "the octopus"?
~I think if a dude can be nicknamed The Dude this is probably kosher

Octopus is treif.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:18 PM on December 11, 2019 [7 favorites]

These octopi are nihilists, Donny, there's nothing to be afraid of.
posted by AndrewInDC at 6:18 PM on December 11, 2019 [7 favorites]

Arg. If it isn't injured by 16" battleship shells point blank, then crashing a B-29 into it won't do squat.

And while I'm on the subject, the Indomitus Rex would have been super dead with all the ordnance (including a rocket!) those mercenaries unloaded on it.

I demand my media have realistic imaginary giant sea monster and genetically swiffered resurrected dinosaur behavior! Otherwise, we might as well just be making it up.
posted by BeeDo at 9:35 PM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

Sea monsters [of another kind] ravage the Pacific at the end of WWII
posted by fairmettle at 12:04 AM on December 12, 2019

And while I'm on the subject, the Indomitus Rex would have been super dead with all the ordnance (including a rocket!) those mercenaries unloaded on it.

Yeah, bulletproof dinosaurs are pretty dumb. At least in the previous films you could justify it by saying that the characters shooting at the dinosaurs just missed, but I'm pretty sure that scene shows direct impacts with no effect.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:47 AM on December 12, 2019

> Giant Pacific Octopus vs Bald Eagle.

Why would you steal a wild animal's food like that? Unless it was your pet dog or something, let the damn thing eat!
posted by Godspeed.You!Black.Emperor.Penguin at 7:59 AM on December 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: Squat the Squid.
posted by mule98J at 10:52 AM on December 13, 2019