"Dry Garbanzo Beans (Chick Peas) For Martian Heads?" Topic

I visited Mom yesterday and was surprised to see that she has started cooking again. I asked if I could help and she told me to bring out a bag of dry Garbanzos from the pantry.

However, the moment I opened the bag and looked at the dry beans I suddenly froze …

QUESTION:

Has anyone else noticed* how close Garbanzos are in appearance to the big-brained heads of cephalopod Martians, as described by HG Wells in War Of The Worlds, with beak and everything???

NOTE:

I think all you'd need to do is sculpt some tentacles, base them and you're basically set, right?

What do you think of that crazy idea?

Thanks,

Dan
* Someone on TMP may have suggested before, and I just kept the idea in the back of my mind. I seriously doubt I'm the first one to see the similarity.

Wells' actual description:

"They were, I now saw, the most unearthly creatures it is possible to conceive. They were huge round bodies--or, rather, heads--about four feet in diameter, each body having in front of it a face. This face had no nostrils--indeed, the Martians do not seem to have had any sense of smell, but it had a pair of very large dark-coloured eyes, and just beneath this a kind of fleshy beak. In the back of this head or body--I scarcely know how to speak of it--was the single tight tympanic surface, since known to be anatomically an ear, though it must have been almost useless in our dense air.

In a group round the mouth were sixteen slender, almost whiplike tentacles, arranged in two bunches of eight each. These bunches have since been named rather aptly, by that distinguished anatomist, Professor Howes, the HANDS. Even as I saw these Martians for the first time they seemed to be endeavouring to raise themselves on these hands, but of course, with the increased weight of terrestrial conditions, this was impossible. There is reason to suppose that on Mars they may have progressed upon them with some facility.

The internal anatomy, I may remark here, as dissection has since shown, was almost equally simple. The greater part of the structure was the brain, sending enormous nerves to the eyes, ear, and tactile tentacles. Besides this were the bulky lungs, into which the mouth opened, and the heart and its vessels. The pulmonary distress caused by the denser atmosphere and greater gravitational attraction was only too evident in the convulsive movements of the outer skin."

Source: link

This is close:

The picture below could be of an entire horde of them, coming ot of one of their cylindrical spaceships:

Dan
TMP link
TMP link

So they weren't the Martians themselves who invaded Earth, but actually Martian garbanzo beans. Similar to the blancmanges from the planet Skyron in the Andromeda galaxy.

I'm sorry Dan you aren't cleared for that.

….that's what THEY want you to think!!!!!!!

Slishfully,
Sgt DWW-btod

That is a great idea … and we just happen to be playtesting something that could use such a force. I hate reusing 50's style alien miniatures for lots of games. It's like going to a party and someone is wearing the same dress you are. And you're a guy. With a beard.

Brilliant idea!

Doug

Another example to inspire you further (floating brain or Grell):

Just find the right vehicle for them:

Dan

Add ears and you have these:

link

My Martian fighting machines are made from cob nut shells.

I like your idea.

Andrew.

Very cool!!! What are cob nuts?

More Grells:

link

Dan

A hazelnut, sorry, here in Kent we just call them cob nuts.

Wow. And they crack so neatly? Or are you a surgeon or safe cracker (pun intended)? :)

Dan

The shells are not significantly tougher than balsa, anything a squirrel can do…

It is impossible to play a game with them without singing "The chances of anything coming from Mars…"

I think they look great!

And I can just imagine each one of those carrying inside a tiny garbanzo Martian pilot.

Dan

So, if I blew my nose and sculpted a Shoggoth….

Skippy0001,

Just make sure it's not too sticky when you start building up the "green". Wait a bit until it starts drying a little.

Dan

No fear, we are all worshipers of 'found art' and an enhanced set of character recognition muscles. We are not insane or mentally impaired at all.

Man, Garbanzo beans and Hazelnut shells!!!!! It is ALL GOOD!!!

Relax, I'm just grabbing a tinfoil wrapped toilet paper tube and communicating the good news to my dead relatives…

Hey yeah, they will definitely understand!

Truly I do not feel alone now. I once had a block of wood that I carried from move to move, waiting for just the 'way' to use it. It turned out to be the basis of an entrance to a ? pulp temple. I used the plastic rollers of adding machine tapes and used them as the basis of a VSF steam boiler and front wheel.
The only difference between us and 'Installation artists'
is that we work on a smaller scale and don't tell anyone what we are doing.
All silly aside, it is a wonderful exercise in problem solving. The results are usually personal but if you use it in a game, it becomes communal.

By the way, how where the beans?

They were soaked and started yesterday, while I was there visiting, but were not going to be served until today. In other words, I missed out.

Dan

QUESTION:

What would be a good way to seal the outer surface of the garbanzo/chickpea, so that you can then go ahead an apply paint without fear of causing it to swell up with moisture?

Thanks,

Dan

Couple ogf coats of varnish should do it I would think?!?!? or maybe PVA.

Dan, you are an insperation. Twig 66, you too, we have about 20 cob nut trees in our back garden!!!! Time for an invasion force maybe….

Out to the store!

I usually like them in a salad …

I know humans are pattern finding fiends, but I must say the center, upper right one in the first piccie looks like it has a face, including a pair of compound eyes.

THAT one is scary!

And, yes, the hazelnuts are brilliant, but we are indeed the purveyors of the found art. I'm a regular at thrift stores, but almost never in the clothes aisles. Always toys and bric-a-brac…

Wait, if the Shoggoth is green, that'd be a nasty infection. See a doctor immediately!

Doug

TheBeast: "I know humans are pattern finding fiends, but I must say the center, upper right one in the first piccie looks like it has a face, including a pair of compound eyes.
THAT one is scary!"

LOL. And a squid or octopus beak, right?

If so, then I guess you know what I'm seeing in them too.

Dan

Again, nice idea, but using food items in sculpting is a bad idea. They tend to attract various kinds of pests, no matter how well you "lacquer" the pieces.