This is a vintage stamped brass jewelry finding of an octopus. It costs $2.75 at the provided link and you can find it for significantly less at a variety of jewelry supply houses.
It is an octopus. A very nice octopus, to be sure, but nothing more.
It is not Cthulhu. Epoxying it to a gear does not make a steampunk Cthulhu. Putting it on the end of a chain does not make a Cthulhu necklace. Adding an earring mount does not make it a Cthulhu earring. Adding a backing pin does not make it a Cthulhu lapel pin. Gluing it to a barrette does not make a Cthulhu hair clip.
If you feel a deep and abiding need to pay $45 or more for this octopus and pretend that it is Cthulhu, please contact me. I'll sell you one for half that.
Cordially,
Snarky "Etsy is a scourge upon the Earth" McSnark
Update: Dr. Curiosity pointed out that others have trod this path before. Please check it out.
Stuff like this rarely sets me off. I'm normally a live and let live, do your own thing kind of guy. Love cute little crocheted Cthulhus? No problem mate, it's just not my cup of tea.
But the insidious proliferation of this particular finding masquerading as Cthulhu is just too much. It's. Freaking. Everywhere.
9 comments:
Thank you for pointing that out. The tentacles = Cthulhu equation is really wearing down my cultist's pride. :-)
THANK YOU!!
Sadly popular, indeed:
http://www.regretsy.com/2011/02/23/not-this-god-damn-thing-again/
Slinks away with head hung in shame because I own one of these. Bought it last year as an early experiment in modding before they became common as dirt. I even slapped a pair of wings on it.
In my defense though, at least I'm not trying to sell it for $45.
So I don't know whether to cringe or laugh at your link Dr Curiosity. Well done.
THANK YOU! I stopped looking for Cthulhu or Lovecraft stuff on etsy because of that piece. Granted, I own one. I got it from Hobby Lobby and put it on a chain and I love it. Because I like cephalopods. It's not a Cthulhu necklace and I'm not going to doll it up and try to sell it as one.
Though now what bothers me almost as much is that I can't find the size and variety of that piece that the resellers have.
Octopi are nice, intelligent and Earthly creatures. Yes Cthulhu is not an octopus. I like cephalopods and I even like Squidbillies on Adult Swim (it’s pretty surreal). But I have never, ever confused Cthulhu on an octopus. Occasionally I like a good joke, but don’t care much for the cutethulhu cottage industry and not for $45 (‘cause I be cheap).
This stinking finding irritates me just on the basis of being a craptastic octopus. Really!? Is an octo that difficult?
It might just be me being a bitter old man but have most of the people making and buying these sorts of things never heard of Lovecraft except from briefly scanning the wikipedia on Cthulhu?
I wonder if the ubiquity of this piece may have been an influence on the Order of the Brass Octopus as detailed by Gail Carriger's 'Alexia Tarabotti' sequence of novels? If anyone is interested in a refreshingly funny take on the often all too serious steampunk genre, I'd recommend her novels: http://gailcarriger.com/
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