C.O.W. - #020: Brain Stealer

[Fozzybar]

Round #020

Topic:
Brain Stealer

Deadline:
Monday, 05 September 2005




- for any questions or help go here:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37512

note: The deadline won't be EXACTLY after a week...it can last up to 24 hours more, i am human and have to work also, you know

Post your creature for this week!

[Carnifex]

*must...think...of...something...else...than...zom bie...*


edit: oh,and of course:
http://www.heartofeugene.org/images/MartyFeldman.jpg

[arteric]

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeee................ ain't got no boooooodddyyy! And.... no body... cares for me..... yatta da da yatta da dah! - Random Young Frankenstein Quote.

Brain stealer is quite interesting..... will begin the thought process immediately. Hmmmmm, THINKING about BRAIN STEALERS? I sense some irony here.

Eric

[brokk]

awesome topic!

[Xpose]

The hardest part is going to be trying to stay away from the Starship Trooper bugs...

[redehlert]

My initial thought too, Xpose - cool creature in that movie!

[Lake]

good topice, although generic. watch out for mind flayers.

[shadoman]

Damn!! I have a great idea for this topic too, but cannot do it. I have to start my Thunderdome piece now or it is never going to get finished!

[nightfend]

Kuldugar Brain Stealer:
The gas miners of Kuldugar IX have but one thing to fear and that is the deadly Brain Stealer. Attaching itself to the stalagtites and rocky crevices in the ceilings of the mines, the Brain Stealer skulks about waiting. It prizes above all else the warm brains of the human miners that work on Kuldugar, though it can sustain itself on the brains of lesser creatures that sometimes enter the mines.

[Mike Corriero]

Nightfend - that was an insanely quick turn around. Nice job

[nightfend]

Well I really need to work on my cityscape image for the Thunderdrome out for blood contest, and buildings take *forever* to paint, so I figured I'd spend the evening last night and get as much of the COW image done as possible.

[vigostar]

yeah what mike said.. very nice... being that you have some time make sure you do refine it!!!! why not right??? great work! i think i may submit something but, i get this feeling my lil' creature looks like something Ive seen before.. oh. well... thats the way he brain workS!!!

[shadoman]

Hell yeah, that brain eater rocks, Nightfend!!

[Lake]

hmm... almost done with mine. post tonight or tomorrow.

[Lake]

amend to that, I just noticed a BIG booboo... prolly take another day on it. maybe 2 or 3, depending on my work schedule.

[possessed]

The many different species of Icharus VI all have one thing in common. A well placed fear for the brain stealer (Cephalo Furtum). This intelligent predator starts hurting it’s prey when it’s still miles away from it. With it’s complex mind it can sense the brain activity of higher organisms within a wide range. The proximity of it’s target triggers a series of internal events that will help to overcome even the mightiest of foes. The first action is a vibration that punctures through most types of organic matter. This vibration causes the Olfactory cortex and the Occipital lobes to function at a very low level causing the prey to lose it’s sense of smell and identify potential predators and greatly reduces the vision of the prey.
The second action is delivered through a neuron toxin injected by piercing tentacles in the victims neck. This specialised toxin concentrates on the Cingulate gyrus. It’s effects are the inability to feel emotions which in tern triggers the loss of any feeling of pain and negates all potential aggressive behaviour. Basically the shutting down of all the instincts so needed for survival. The third action has the Brain Stealer grabbing the back of it’s victim’s head with a horned beak similar to those of a cephalopod. This beak is attached to a number of sucker tubes which soak up the contents of the pituitary gland. The Brain Stealer receives a multitude of hormones from this last action which it needs for growth and to strengthen the organs it uses for this delicate matter of prey catching. The prey, if it’s strong and fit enough, never instantly dies from the psychic assaults it had to endure. Instead it reduces them to mindless, gibbering half-beings. When their crazed cries are heard you can sometimes see a bulbous shape floating ominously through the
sky.

[vigostar]

thats dope possessed!

[WARHEAD]

The rare Brainius Stealius worm from the desert planet Hur'aa.....
a species of symbiotic worm lived on this desolate waste preying on humanoids. Due to the lack of water and resources the worm when hatched would make for the nearest source of brain activity via prionic sensors in it's skin within 24 hours or it would die (humanoids living close to stagnant water were easy targets for newly hatched worms). They would then enter via the ear canal controlling the nerves and sensory organs of it's host. Locals calling them 'brain stealers' since they completely overtook there humanoid hosts so they were only living, breathing vessels......

The Brain Stealer worm has backward growing spines so that once entered the ear cavity it cannot be pulled out. It has hook like teeth and sucker lips to attach itself to the host's brain, controlling it via chemical and nerve impulses, so it is always near resources that it otherwise couldn't obtain........

ps this was the science behind my concept New Scientist

[redehlert]

Star Trek, anyone?

[Lake]

red: seriously, we need our atomic blasters.


*chuckles* brainius stealius.... hehe.

[Ben powis]

Hi there,



'The Brain Stealer enters its victim in its earliest form, as a small bug, and makes its way to the head. It is here that it begins to spawn, and in a matter of hours it will grow through the facial orifices of its victim, rendering them unable to move, thou still conscious.
It is in this form, that the Brain Stealer begins its most morbid act of removing the victims brain, with the aid of a vast number of varying sized tentacles it creates a suction motion with its body and literally sucks the brain out from within the victim, pumping it into a translucent sack on its body, which it fills with the fluids from within the victims own head, to protect the brain.
Once the brain is removed the brain stealer is able to detach from its prey and retract its scuttling legs from within its now fully formed body.
The brain stealer feeds off the brain of its victim, it is this which keeps it alive from anywhere to 3 weeks to 2 years, depending on the maturity of the brain cells.
It is not know where Brain Stealers originate from, thou many of their victims are infected while in extreme terrains such as jungle and deserts.

The Brain Stealer is also known by the nickname ‘The Brain Jelly’.'

WARHEAD, Possessed & Nightfend - Cool work!

~ Ben

[BrainBug]

nice, Ben... new and (very much) improved futurama brainslug:
http://tfp.killbots.com/scans/034_brain-slug-man.gif

[redehlert]

red: seriously, we need our atomic blasters.
*chuckles* brainius stealius.... hehe.

Set phasers to liquify.

[Kaylon]

My Brain Eater hangs from cave ceilings waiting for un suspecting adventurers...and..is a worm sorta thing....



K.

[Helzon]

"I don't give a fiddler's fuck how you do it. Get it done, tonight!"

Do you see that!?!? That was Bill Mellinsen CE friggin O of THE largest financial firm in this hemisphere! I will have nothing if it doesn't happen...Damon my life will effectively end. I won't even be able to get a job mucking out the gay booths in a back alley porno shop. Don't smile at me like that you sanctimonious prick. My future is on the line here!
What the hell am i gonna do?....If those investment projection figures don't magically shit themselves out....what?!?

You got two hours?

Yeah....

Then that's more than we'll ever need. What's the name and address of the lead data cruncher?

Gustafson, three blocks that way Arlington Tower 1028

Consider it done. But you will owe me so goddamned big...you're lucky I'm not asking for your first born.

What are you talking about?....what do you have in mind, kidnapping?...We can't touch him...everyone in that building is under the heaviest security they can barely shit without someone watching them. What the FRIG is that?

Latest in corporate espionage 'brain stealer'....Hackers can be expensive, sloppy...traced...hunted down, with you paraded infront of the media. Very embarassing. These little beauties ..untouchable as they are discreet. Supply it with a target...it secreets 9 different types of anesthetic and neuro relaxers and voila..his entire memory perfectly copied. Mr. Gustafson won't know what the hell happened other than a wonderful night's sleep with the woman of his dreams. He'll probably even have a little accident too....

Don't you think someone will notice this thing has bored into his brain?!

You are a simple bastard aren't you?.. It first puffs a numbing agent up his nose to deaden the hairs...then crawls up the nasal cavity...into the sinus...and only has to puncture through a thin wall of bone and tissue...no fuss no muss...in/out...and in less than two hours...data beyond your wildest dreams. Everything he has ever thought...from when he was a friggin baby on his momma's boob. All stored right there..in those sacks back there... Collect the data...this thing dies... No one the wiser...and you very much the richer.

(Vigostar: shit!..i'm sorry i didn't see your backstory before...I don't know if mine cleaves to close to your idea....if you or fozzy think it does...then I would ask FOZZY to delete my text and just present the pic...i don't have time to come up with another story..

[vigostar]

The Einsteinian Muncher is a very small animal that was found in Germany in the ealry 1900's.. Legend has it that Albert Einstein was the only living person to ever domesticate this small creature. A nocturnal animal that was said to be a carnivore loved to eat small birds. Although no hard evidence is found, it is rumored that this creature had a very unusal appetite for an odd delicassy. A person's mind. Once Albert was able to tame the wild animal he discovered that it was unusually smart and like to loom over the head of the beds at night. It used it wide feet and hands that acted like suction devices and abled the creature to place itself on the wall and from what it seemed to meditate. Einsteins curiosity grew deeper and began doing varius experimants with th creature. He learned that the creature had the ability to literally steal the smarts from someone's brain rendering them useless. Although, Einstein knew this was a dangerous experiment it went on for months until the day it stopped. the creature was rumored to have been poisoned but, not before it helped Albert make one of the most facinating discoveries of all time. E=MC2! and the rest is history!

[Lake]

VOILA!



The Cranul Ephemerus, known as the "Brain Stealer Beetle" is rare, but not ludicrously unheard of. It has been known to appear atop the skulls of chieftains of the Mer'teba tribes of the southern Grebulan peninsula. It hangs from high branches, waiting for an unsuspecting victim to wander by. Having no external sensory organs, the only way it can tell that prey is beneath is the brain waves that they emit. Having dropped onto the skull of the intended victim, the brain stealer beetle burrows in its eight legs, each tipped with a minorly conductive surface, much like the body of an electric eel, but more subtle. The brain stealer beetle recieves sensory information in the form of electric signals through its legs (this is what it feeds on), but can also transmit its own signals to the host body, taking control of all of the senses.


full version of the pic:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...nstealerlg.jpg

[Mattinian]

Cool stuff so far people... Panda - maybe you can define the bug a bit more, and change the black background it`s just too sharp as in contrast imo.
I`m pretty stumped myself on this topic but weekend`s almost here so maybe something will come up

[Legato]

i think this is my first post here in a little under a year... i guess life just took me a different direction. hopefully with my first year of college coming up i don't get too bogged down... but anyway, though i would try my hand.

keep in mind this isn't done, its just an hour in or so. did the lines in sketchbook pro (brilliant program) and have just started layering in photoshop. keep in mind i am a pencil artist, and literally have never done a photoshop colored piece using proper layering techniques and the like. this is my first time using multiply layers and so far, im loving it. im not sure how shading, highlights and details will go/how they will work, but im sure it will turn out.

wasn't wanting to go with an obvious "head crab" esque idea, but i think my straying away from the obvious made me tip in the direction of zerg. this was not my intention, and hopefully the colors i add will pull it away from the brown monochromatic slum.

[Fozzybar]

glad you entered Legato...the pencil work looks promising!