Let's Shame some Beholders

Beholders are a nasty species of monster that over the years have spawned new variants and given many a player a terrifying experience.

Unique to the universe of Dungeons and Dragons, Beholders have stuck in the imaginations of several generations of gamers and show up in some interesting places.

Walking through the doors at Gen Con and being faced with this monstrosity was certainly a fun experience. This Beholder is captured, frozen in time and can't do a thing to the throngs of gamers who pose in front of the trapped beast all day and all night. It's a great punishment!

I scoured the magical land of the internet for other interpretations of this creature and found many cool pieces of art. Here are just a few of the things I found.




CAKE:

Ever wonder what one of these tastes like that? No, me neither. However, the lucky 14 year old Josh the Jouster (sorry strange teenager, I had to) got this super treat for his birthday. That's some cool parents.

You can see more 3D cakes of different varieties at the blog Just Cake.

CROCHET :

This little guy was separated from the Hive Mother and who knows what will happen if he is raised in captivity. Maybe he'll grow up to replace the trapped Gen Con Beholder?

This creature was made by relientKitten.







STEAMPUNK:


Instead of multiple eye-stalks this metal beasty has
some nasty looking implements like clamp claws and what looks like a small spinning saw.

In the right game setting this could make an interesting monster.

To read more about it check out the original article on Boing Boing.





I think we can safely agree that Beholders would hate everything about their images being used in such creative ways. There are even more sculptures out there in other mediums and of course some great artwork as well. Probably my favorite use of a Beholder is in Futurama. If you watch the special features on Bender's Game you can hear the creators of the show talk about that a little more in-depth.