Oh, no. I was sent a photo by a reader…a photo of such terrifying horror that one cannot imagine the reality without reeling back in shock. I hesitate to put it here, but…the shattered fragments of my mind can no longer resist the compulsion to infect the world with this atrocity. I tried, I swear I tried, but the gibbering screams — I think they’re mine — have splintered my resistance. I’m about to click…I’m about to expose you all to this nightmare…
But wait. I’ve mustered enough will to at least put it below the fold. Warn everyone! Don’t click! Don’t look! Nooooooooo…my mind is slipping into the primordial void, the madness rippling like ravaging worms through my brain…
I told you not to look.
Cuttlefish says
Finally, baby pics with the right number of legs!
cicely, unheeded prophetess of the Equine Apocalypse says
Kidthulhu!
–
EvoMonkey says
A cephalopod that eats happy laughing babies whole!!!!! Run!!! Run for your lives!!!
Dhorvath, OM says
I will never recover. I may just put my head in it’s path so it may chew my nose and thereby access my brain to silence my horror. My horror…
freelunch says
Thank goodness that you put it below the fold.
We wouldn’t want anyone to think you are an old softy.
you_monster says
Where is the “not safe for work” warning?
Pierce R. Butler says
One of us?
RhubarbTheBear says
THERE WAS NO FOLD! Ohhhh, my eyes… ::clawing them out with my fingernails::
Father Ogvorbis, OMoron says
Very cute.
Cute.
Very.
Laís says
owwnnnn!!!!
Brett says
That’s a very cute outfit, and cute baby.
PurpleElephant says
Sea Food! Woohoo!
Sili says
Thank you for the warning. It kept me from looking below the fold.
Razzlefrog says
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! BABY.
Cutest. Thing. EVAR.
(We’ll need an army of these teeny scamps to cute away the theocrats!)
Father Ogvorbis, OMoron says
Bambinemari?
Carlie says
I kind of want it to drool on me. Eat me first, kidthulhu!
'Tis Himself, OM says
So besides roasted and barbecued babies, us atheists can also have baby sushi.
EvoMonkey says
Kidthulhu?
I shall call you Cutethulhu.
Gregory Greenwood says
‘Tis Himself, OM @ 18;
Yup, it’s seafood to go.
Father Ogvorbis, OMoron says
And the worst part? Octodiapers!
Walter Byers says
As a lover of everything Lovecraftian, you’re the best PZ. Made my day.
mat says
What!? No beard?
StarStuff! Because f**k you, that's why says
That’s horrifyingly cute.
Jafafa Hots says
Whew. For a moment I thought it was going to be one of those goofy costumes people put on dogs.
I hate those. They’re inhumane.
Azkyroth says
I figured babies were more like Azathoth. Mindless, gibbering, yet everything revolves around their whims.
mythusmage says
@26
Why do you think they refer to him as the “crawling chaos”.
Kimpatsu says
Yes, I love calamari, and as an atheist I clearly eat babies, so this is a calamari baby FTW.
'Tis Himself, OM says
Would this baby be eaten first?
grchyoman says
Kidthulhu?
I shall call you Cutethulhu.
Trying to imagine Kittehulhu.
Father Ogvorbis, OMoron says
I wonder if the bambinemare would be good steamed?
Holytape says
“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl l’phygik ma jkui min” –
In the darkness Cthulhu waits for his diaper to be changed.
Christ and Cthulhu
Mario says
Seven. Kinds. Of. Awesome.
Utakata, yes that pink pigtailed Gnome says
I would be more worried about the ink squirt and where it would be aiming it. :(
Gazza says
Does your wife know about your and Cthulu’s love child?
Rumtopf says
Careful when you change its diapers, there’s a huge beak in there somewheres D:
frankb says
That costume is so clean, it must have been put on a second before.
A. R says
PZ: have you been engaging in illicit genetic engineering?
davecook says
“Watch me reduce the big creatures to gibbering morons with my powerful adorableness rays. Bwahahahahaha!”
Mr.Grimm says
@27
Actually, Nyarlathotep is known as The Crawling Chaos not Azathoth.
ye olde blacksmith says
Oh, the horror! I can only hope to be burped on first!
mythusmage says
@40
Now that you remind me, you’re right. I should know better than to get those two mixed up.
Mr.Grimm says
@42
Honestly, the only reason why I was able to correct you was because I read the Wikipedia page on Nyarlathotep.
nanahuatzin says
I think that photo should be along the kawaii version of PZ…
Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says
@ Mario – #33:
FTFY
Or FTFKidthulu, as you prefer.
Chris Hughes says
Hmmm – Wouldn’t it look better on a spit, maybe?
spirokeat says
Darn it! I was looking for an octopus outfit for my baby daughter and couldn’t find one anywhere! I wonder where this one came from. Too cool!
Matthew North says
The horror… The horror….
John Morales says
“These creatures are are so undignified, yowling and screeching and spraying urine all over the place.”
(Also: They crawl! They puke! They pule! They enslave humans!)
madbull says
:*
sailor1031 says
I imagine this eldritch creature was photographed by the wan light of a gibbous waning moon?
julian says
That’s totally going into my personal monster manual.
Adorable humanoid. EL elebenty!!111! Casts any spell with a compulsion effect as a level 20 sorcerer.
ManOutOfTime says
#octopi cuteness
Moggie says
sailor1031:
It’s… oblong?
Michelle says
I am soooo proud. Kidthulhu is my friends’ baby. It is a female and she is from an atheist household so we can’t eat her. ;)
anton says
What a beautiful little Wing Nut!
Come on Detroit Red Wings!!!!
DLC says
. . . The Horror . . . The horror. . .
Ga-Ga Cthulhlu FT-goo-goo! …
not much sanity left. .. don’t flee, it will only consume you last!
Dr. Audley Z. Darkheart OM, liar and scoundrel says
MY EYES! The extreme cuteness has caused them to pop and dribble out of my eye sockets!
GAHFLARGBLAFG!
The Sailor says
A. R says: “PZ: have you been engaging in illicit genetic engineering?”
Again!?
Jim says
This is, indeed, a frightening picture. No animal will cause more harm. No animal will consume more resources. No animal will infect the planet the way a homo parasitus will. To see this parasite in its larval stage is indeed terrifying.
I live live in SF close to an area rich in human larvae: noe valley. The parents tote their larvae like they were the most precious creatures on earth. The larvae has become the status symbol in the area.
When I see these larval parasites, I just think: another dead cheetah. Another dead polar bear. Another dead jaguar. Or, another dead anything. The more larvae I see, the more I think about mass extinctions.
This larvae needs some sort of predator. Given that homo parasitus is at seven billion, I suspect something will evolve to eat us. No food source as large as us goes long without something evolving to eat it. I just hope that whatever evolves kills homo parasitus quickly with a great deal of pain. We deserve it.
Yes, the extinction of the black rhino has pissed me off and celebrating the existence of another larvae of homo parasitus pisses me off even more.
Mike Kimel says
Here is my kid doing the same.
razzlefrog says
@ Comment 61 – Jim:
Dude. It’s a little darling in an octopus costume. It’s a sweet little creature. You really care about rhinos? How ’bout drop the cynicism and advocate for environmental reform. How ’bout educate people on wise family planning. How ’bout something else.
Something not having to do with referring to people’s tiny tykes as “larvae”. Just really. Don’t be dumb.
I for one found her bubbly baby smile positively endearing.
Jim says
@63:
Dude, I’ve been advocating environmental reform since I was a young boy in the 60s. Guess what? It hasn’t happened. The only thing that will stop the mass extinctions is our own.
You might want to consider that the little darlings of the wart hogs are cute to wart hogs, but to no other species.
Marcus Hill says
It must be a symptom of my impending fatherhood that my reaction to this picture, which would previously have been “that’s nifty”, is now “Where can I get one of those? Seriously, I’ll sell you my first born… no, scratch that, it would defeat the object of buying it.”
Nancy New, Queen of your Regulatory Nightmare says
Won’t SOMEBODY think of the CHILDREN! (clutches pearls compulsively)…
anuran says
Tekeli-squee!
Tekeli-squee!
Pseudonym says
@61: Do the world a favor and kill yourself, parasite. Nobody’s going to bother celebrating your existence.
Oh, and may a critically endangered but still living Eastern black rhinoceros take a shit on your grave.
Excluded Layman says
This post reminded me of a book. Good times.