Cloverfield monsters... stolen?

[No brains]

Yep here goes a nerd rattling off about an old movie oh this should be good.

Anyway, the first time I saw Cloverfield, I didn't get motion sickness. Just wanted to get that out of the way.

But I also noticed some odd, things about the monsters from the film. I saw sure I had seen them somewhere before. Of one thing I was certain: the parasites as some people call them were 'Albino Flightless Rasts'. If you have the D&D 3.5 monster Manual, you might have seen this little used monster. If you don't have it on hand, take a gander here:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10402041&postcount=530

Now look at the Parasite:
http://images.wikia.com/cloverfield/images/b/b0/Cloverfieldparasite.jpg

Now look at your man, now back at me. Tell me I'm not the only one who sees many similarities here. The multitude of spindly clawed limbs as well as head and tooth shapes is pretty 'odd' to me. The Cloverfield monster just looks more buggy and white.

Now on to the main monster. It took me longer to remember where I had seen it before since it was in a cartoon ten years ago and I wasn't paying attention to it. You know what it was? The villain in the 1998 Godzilla cartoon pilot!

Dumb commercial lines here:
http://www.beyondhollywood.com/the-cloverfield-monster-toy-from-hasbro/
More dumb marketing cliche:
http://images.wikia.com/godzilla/images/9/93/C-Rex.jpg

The likeness here is a bit more vague, but a while ago I was watching the cartoon for nostalgia's sake and as the episode went on, the similarities struck me harder and harder. What really hit me like a monster foot was how crustaceous rex shared an environment with another creature that mushed up food for it, the mutant giant squids as they were called. To think, Godzilla vs Cloverfield happened before Cloverfield!

I hated J.J. Abrams with his lazy writing and crappy font he uses for all his shows, but it will be hard to convince me to watch anything of his after what seems to be theft.

Aside, but similar- the Thanator of Avatar is a Displacer Beast Pack Lord. Maybe links to come later.

Anyway, nerding over. For now. Please, share your thoughts with the psycho. (me)

[Mewtarthio]

The rat monster and parasite? I can sort of see the similarity, but that's because it's such a basic "cram freaky head onto freaky creature" concept that I'm sure it's been used dozens of times. Namely, they both have insect legs with a fanged mouth. The rat thing's head doesn't look anything like the parasite's head. They're roughly as similar as a wagon and a Ferrari (both of which have wheels).

As for the Godzilla villain and the Cloverfield monster... I'm sorry, but what's the similarity?

[No brains]

Pfft... you call yourself insane? Where's your willingness to believe the outwardly dumb! You dishonor your signature!

[Grinner]

These concepts are all pretty trite. You can't really say the writer "stole" them, seeing their pervasiveness.

See here:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AttackOfThe50FootWhatever

[Soras Teva Gee]

That's not a blatant copy....

THIS is a blatant copy:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Kks0uDfWsdI/TO0RA_BDCbI/AAAAAAAAAL0/5YL3beg1AGM/s1600/Shazam01.jpg

[Forum Explorer]

Not giving it to you, sorry.

If I just looked at those two pictures within five minutes of each other I would not say they are similar. Its only with rapid flips between the two can I pick out similarities. As such it seems to be incidental.

[Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins]

Also I gotta say they don't look alike. Big C has the four jawed petal mouth and the tentacles going for it, and also only two legs. Cloverfield, judging from that toy, does not contain these features. I cannot comment on habits or their relationship to other critters, though remember that C. Rex did not have a symbiotic relationship with its squid and indeed only came to surface when they fled its over-predation. And then it tried to eat a highway.

Also the snark in me wants me to point out that C. Rex managed to stay in focus almost every time it appeared. Another trait Clover apparently didn't inherit.

I have to say almost because I can't remember how Godzilla: the Series did the TV news reports for the alien invasion and monster island episodes.

[Dr.Epic]

Meh, still seems just like a coincidence. And even if it's not, he could have just based the design on those. I don't think there's anything wrong with basing an idea on something else so long as the new product is still somewhat original.

[STsinderman]

To be honest i would say that the Cloverfield monsters are closer to that of Starship Trooper bugs than anything in DnD.

[Hunter Noventa]

I just remember that ages ago I saw a piece of concept art for the cloverfield monster and said. "Damn, that really looks like Sin (From FFX)"

Never saw the movie though.

[Pokonic]

Nah, slap a few extra limbs on anything and they will end up looking very much the same. Also, besides said extra limbs, there is little else that they share. Nah, cant say that your right.