The Winged Monster

   This is actually the only monster ever shown capable of flight, it causes a lot of grief for a few characters and I believe it gets away undefeated, to boot! It's also a VERY cool design. The body is a simple sort of chunky, hairless bat, but the large, rounded, neckless head has a truly unique and sinister looking face, difficult to put into words for your screen-reader visitors, but I'll try: the flesh of its head basically splits in two and stretches downward into a pair of flaps that frame its chin. In the pointed upper corner where these flaps split from each other, we can see just a few of its lipless teeth. Its perfectly round, red little insect-like eyes are to either side of this sinister little mouth, and each is partially covered by folds of flesh that grow back up out of the two "flaps." Man, this description doesn't feel right and probably overcomplicates it, but I really can't think of a clearer wording. Maybe imagine you pulled its cheeks downward and then folded those back up the sides of its head again?

The overall impression this design gives is a very menacing and original take on Mothman, I must add.

The obvious "desire" here is just that strong of a dream to experience flight, but I'd like to think it's more comically specific than that. Maybe this is someone who just desperately wanted to be an owl?

Crab-Eyed Monster

The fan wiki calls this an "alien-like" monster, but....aren't all of them? What strikes me more about this one is that his big eyeballs are on short, thick stalks, and that reminds me of a crab. We only see him for a couple panels, and I'd like to try and speculate on the "desires" of the more minor creatures here, but we're in for a LOT of monsters whose defining feature is that their eyes are weird. With absolutely nothing else to go by, we would really have to just wildly guess based on virtually nothing, so that's just what I'm going to do. This one's eyes are weird because he really hated wearing glasses and wished he could see better without them.

Belly Eye

This green-tinged monster has a large humanoid head on a thick torso, but no arms, no hair, no ears, shallow pits for eyes and nostrils, a mouth that opens vertically, and finally a very large pink eyeball on its swollen belly area. It says "UH" before we never see it again. What could this anatomy ever possibly suggest? This person is losing a lot o their anatomy, but developing a pretty big sensory organ right on their stomach, and they've kept their teeth, but their mouth turned sideways for some reason. Hm. Maybe they had a strong desire for some sort of food? So they're now "seeing the world through their stomach?" And maybe their new jaw arrangement makes it easier to consume their favorite thing? I just don't know what it would be. Something skinny? French fries? Pocky? Gummy worms?

Peekaboo Monster

The wiki dubbed this "shell head," but that's hardly descriptive. At rest, it's a humanoid with a smooth lump of a head and what looks like a frowning, jowly, toothless mouth, but these are seemingly just folds of blubbery flesh that overlap when its face is "closed." When its face "opens," it doesn't even look like there was ever a mouth, but an unpleasant crotch-like fissure with three eyeballs arranged in a vertical column.

So this is a monster whose only known ability to completely conceal its eyes. Not just close them or shield them, but hide that it even has any at all, let alone their number or configuration. Maybe this monster was a child still running on the logic of "if they can't see me, I can't see them." Or maybe they just had some extreme, overpowering phobia of their eyes being damaged in any way, and when the world suddenly erupted with monsters, their first thought was "oh no, this is SO MANY more ways for that to happen."

Wingneck

This guy's got a long, thick, super-flexible neck, his head has taken on a goofy football-like shape with a pointy little cranium, and weirdly, there are "wings" kind of like dried up palm fronds that seem to be sprouting right behind the base of the neck. We don't see him flying, and those don't look strong enough to lift him. I've got absolutely nothing to go by, here, Maybe it's another fear-driven one? Maybe this person had trauma from a neck injury and wanted to make sure his neck would be extra durable for the apocalypse?

Roll-Up Strong!

This monster first appears as an armored sphere barreling around the forest, and it actually speaks, too, simply saying "ROLL UP....STRONG!" So this another one who definitely did just want to survive, and I guess had a very particular idea about the best way to do that.

When Roll-up finally stops and un-rolls, we see lots of tiny, clawed arms and an adorably frog-like, beady-eyed head. This person simply took on the exact body plan of a pillbug!

Blockhead

Why did this guy turn into a rectangle? Nobody knows! A flattish rectangle with a face on it. Maybe it's a really sturdy form? The thing is, he also spits acid. I don't know how that ties in to the rectangle aspect.

Rectangle guy has legs, but no other limbs. We get another adorable view of rollup here, too!

Sucker Mouth

Excellent! A simple little humanoid ghoul with a big, egg-shaped head, buggy fish eyes and a huge gaping lamprey sort of mouth! Maybe like the tongue monster, this is another bloodsucker? Lamprey also use their mouths to rasp at flesh, though, it's really not as simple as "they suck blood." They latch on to things and suck blood as they also gnaw. I bet this friend does, too.

"I'm Scared"

This creature is quite simple, but there's something very satisfying about its shape. A "headless" humanoid, with the face directly between its shoulders and very thin, bony limbs, it overall looks like someone turning into a big frog. The thin, pupil-less eyes, and blocky-toothed smile look really unwholesome, and the pleased expression contrasts pretty eerily with the fact that all it ever says is "I'm....scared." It's kind of a generic monster form, but we know monsters usually won't harm their own kind, so if your only desire is to be safe, you don't really need anything that fancy.

Multi-Faced Monster

Another seen in a momentary flashback, this guy's head has melded into his torso, giving his upper body a big bullet-like shape. He has a mouth orifices in a sort of upside-down Y-shape, full of shark teeth, while his eyes and nose repeat on either of it, with what looks to be one more face on the back of the head! Maybe he was afraid of being snuck up on?

Centipede Monster

One of the very few arthropods besides the pillbug! This lucky pal received an elongated, armor plated body with lots of long, thin legs! The dark exoskeleton really brings out the paler white head, which is still kind of human, but also kind of mummified and corpsey looking with four dark, droopy eye sockets! A really pained expression in most panels, grimacing intensely, more a look of supreme disgust than of fear or hostility.

Eye Hole

There's a few different monsters in this crowd shot, and we'll get to some of them too, but first let's appreciate this monster whose primary feature is the giant eye that's sort of replaced their head and neck. Not like an eyeball sitting on their shoulders, but that the front of the body just gapes open into a big round hole, with an eye in it. Nasty! Like I said earlier though, there's a LOT of "weird eye" monsters in this half of the series. Let's just give them random eye-related things. This one loves those old "magic eye" posters. There, done!

Pseudopod Head

This crowd scene has a variety of oddly shaped monsters, sadly only seen from above, but none so weird as the thing in the middle here. All we see of it is a roundish, veiny body stretching into a long, thin neck that branches into a few knobby fingers and a small head, if indeed there is a face pointed away from us. It gives me the impression of a soft and malleable monster, kind of amoebic.

A Cutie

This monster is simple, but it feels like one of the cutest ones. Neckless, with a great big head that's just slightly square-shaped, like you kind of flattened out a toad? The only facial features are two very large eyes, like an owl, and a little sharp-toothed vertical mouth. It's just a very cute combination. A lot of personality. Does this qualify as another eye-centric one, just because the eyes are big? Sure, why not! This one liked bird watching!

More Eyeball Buddies and the Ball Guy

So first, let me direct your attention to the fellow on the right, since this is the only panel that fully shows him at all. He's become a giant, veiny orb, like a fleshy basketball, with stumpy human legs and a vestigial head on top, with only an ear and eyes. He's got bigger eyes on the lower back of the sphere, though, as well a very large human mouth on the upper back. Seriously what HAPPENED here? His body became a whole new head but it's upside-down and backwards? What does this accomplish? What did he want that would have caused this? I've got nothing.

At least we get a nice look at Eye Hole, and there's this other weirdo who's also lost their head and face, but now has big eyeballs for shoulders. This one, uhhhh...wanted tooooo......be able to look both ways down the street easier?

That third little guy back there is actually my favorite design in the series, I think, maybe because it's another really cute and innocent looking one, and another of the least human; a fleshy ball head with a few hairs and one giant eye, on a fleshy egg-shaped body that walks around on lots of little squirmy tentacles! I guess we really can't extrapolate much from these designs anymore, but perhaps we could if we knew what "powers" some of these monsters had? For all we know this little goof can read minds, or see the future, or can deflect bullets or something else that simply never comes up.

Harpooner

This unsettling monster is just a giant egg-shaped head with arms and legs and thick, dark lips, concealing a tongue that ends in a crescent-shaped blade! Not as long as the bloodsucking tongue monster, but perhaps a lot tougher?

"Was it You?"

So this humanoid's head has become an eyeball on a *stalk,* with two smaller eyestalks sprouting out the base of the neck. We actually see quite a bit of it as one of the stronger and more persistent members of the final horde, and it keeps saying "WAS IT YOU??" to everyone it encounters, so finally we get another little hint at something. Someone wronged this individual, perhaps, but they weren't sure who.

Tongue Monster II???

"Was It you" is later joined by a monster with a very long, thin tongue, like the tongue guy from the very beginning of the series. Could this even be his mutated form? I feel like it's a little too different for that,even a little "sillier." Yellow skinned with a sort of phallic head, like a hot dog sticking straight up, it has three to four randomly placed eyeballs and a relatively small mouth; if the original Tongue Monster had mutated, I imagine it'd look a lot more dramatic.

Hm. No.

Nope. Don't like it. By which I mean I do like it, it's great, it's just deeply unwholesome is all. A pot-bellied ghoul whose head has become mostly a paid of giant, exaggerated, puckered lips, with an eyeball in the center instead of a mouth opening. His nose is squished up right behind this horrible distended mouth, and his other eyeball is still there on the back of his head. He never really gets to do anything, but I feel like every reason you would "need" this anatomy to "fulfill your desires" has got to be just horribly unpleasant.

Ha ha. Look at him just standing there. Freaking weirdo.

Battering Ram

This monster is only seen briefly, smashing its way through a window to let in a bunch of its pals. Very cool and unique head design, though! The rest is humanoid, but the cranium is a big, bony, kind of triangular wedge with a single horn sticking straight out the front, and eyes charmingly peering out from the sides just under the rim. Then there's also no visible mouth or any more face, but just more bony shield that tapers downward! It really is a perfect shape for smashing into stuff. They had to have taken this form when they desperately needed to either break out of or break into a building, right? Maybe they were even in one of those situations where the only safe shelter was already barricaded by other survivors, or they were locked out and nobody was willing to risk letting them back in. Guess we know who won that argument, and we know how!

Spoiler #1

A major character turns into this one, so we do know the motives, it's just a long story! His monster form is PRETTY nasty looking, his face still recognizably human but sort of in the process of degenerating and melting away, with one normal-sized eye and one huge monster one. Then there's the teeth down his chest, of course, and the giant hands. A lot of monsters in this series could fit into Resident Evil, but I'd say this especially looks like some sort of G-mutant.

The Blob

Yeah, someone turns into nothing but a pink, veiny amorphous blob. Who it is, and why, is an even bigger spoiler, but the blob is actually completely harmless, technically speaking; it exists solely to surround and imprison another monster, to keep that monster safe from others and vice-versa.

The "Knight" Monster

The last one that ties too much into the story to flagrantly spoil, though you can see him in the previous illustration. This monster has a blackish, leathery hide and a head with a single, glowing eye in a T-shaped orifices, very much like a knight's helmet! This monster wants only one thing, in its own words: to protect its Home Sweet Home.

THE BEST MONSTER IN THE COMIC.

I decided to save the best for last. Simply known to the fans as "face monster," this creature used to be a harmless enough young dude who just happened to be secretly deeply insecure about his looks. So, he becomes a big tall monster whose entire torso is now a second face, with chiseled features and huge, dreamy eyes. So what does he do, exactly?

....He just wants to know if he looks good! Unfortunately, the person he's asking makes the mistake of referring to him out look as a monster.

When he doesn't like your answer, he doesn't just stare you down with this hilariously agonized expression, but does something that starts to make your head hurt, exponentially worse. We never see what this leads up to, because all you really have to do is finally be nice:

See! Was that so hard?! He actually takes the compliment and everything, unlike say the Slit-Mouthed Woman or similar bogeyman figures.

The only problem is...........

....His extremely short memory and attention span.

And the only thing that makes this monster angrier than being told he isn't handsome, is if the only person around to ask finally tries to make a run for it.


This sadly leaves the "hero" no choice but to put this monster down, but the whole encounter is such a memorable blend of horror and comedy that it feels like one of the comic's defining moments and exemplary of its entire surreal setup. It would be a real shame if the live action adaptation, say, reduced this monster to a brief and completely humorless reinterpretation in which a vain character becomes a flabby half-melted version of himself with a miserable stomach-face, especially if they sucked out all the danger and made him a pathetic, crawling horror that's quickly mercy-killed, that would suck! That would just be loosely referencing a charming, creative and amusing monster-fight to a completely straight-faced body horror sequence we've basically seen a million times!



Why, just imagine, just hypothetically of course, if Sweet Home's streaming adaptation was actually so boring, even during its rare monster encounters, that I eventually left it running on mute just so I'd know if anything important came up for this article, and paid more attention to illegally streamed episodes of The Simpsons. RECENT episodes of The Simpsons, which are better than most of the episodes since the early 2000's but still by and large forgettable.


Granted, it's cool that we now live in a world where webcomics can get big enough to grab the attention of major media brands, but this was one that truly deserved a more faithful, ideally animated adaptation. It's an excellent setting that turns the now tired Apocalypse Monster Plague routine into something much more exciting, if at minimum only because you never know what kind of oddball monster is going to show up next or what it might say about a given character.


All this, and I still never mentioned another major facet of the series monsters; a path they can take after "fulfilling their purpose" that isn't as visually interesting, but darkly intriguing regardless, and important to the bittersweet note that the entire story ends on. Then there's the more recent prequel series, Shotgun Boy, and as a prequel it has almost no creature designs per se, but one notable exception ties into just why and how the events of Sweet Home ever happened. Will this be it for the "franchise," or is some other spinoff in our future? Whether we've heard the last of it or not, there's a better timeline out there where it's had a three-season, beautifully drawn anime popular enough for Sweet Home "Monstersonas" to trickle across social media, which brings us to the obvious question of what kind of monster you think you might turn into yourself, which of course might be an entirely different question from what kind of monster you would HOPE to turn into.

Personally, I think one of my biggest anxeyeities in life is getting older and dying before I can see all the things I've always wanted to see, so maybe I would in fact just add another Weird Big Eyes Guy to the ever-growing pile. On the other hand, seeing something as spectacular as actual supernatural monsters might be more distracting than the dream of getting to see my favorite insects that only live in Australia, or something, so either I'd be preoccupied enough to not turn at all or I'd end up a Weird Eyes Monster that also still remembers how to take photos of other monsters, upload them to the internet and possibly share opinions about their physiology.

So I guess what Iam saying is that if all this ever actually happens., I hope you'll still check out my latest Bogleech.com updates and forgivve how hard it is to type coherre;tnlyleyu withhhh difeernt sahaped hambss noww,

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