Mother Longlegs

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Mother Longlegs
A Mother Longlegs in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
A queen Mother Longlegs from Skull Island: The Birth of Kong
Alternate names Spider,Lanard Bamboo Spider[1]
Class-
ification
Arachnida Malum,[2]
Mater Crura,[3]
Arachnida Acidosasa[3]
Species Giant arachnid florafauna
Height 18-23 feet[4]
Length 5-7 meters[1]
Enemies Humans, King Kong, Mantleclaw
First appearance Latest appearance
Kong: Skull Island Godzilla x Kong:
The Hunted
Roar(s)
Kong: Skull Island:Monarch: Legacy of Monsters:More roars
Spoiler.png SPOILER WARNING: This article may contain major plot and/or ending details.
Proceed at your own discretion.
FEAR THE FOREST
„ 

Monarch reconnaissance video about the Mother Longlegs

The Mother Longlegs (バンブー・スパイダー,   Banbū Supaidā, lit. "Bamboo-Spider") is a giant arachnid superspecies that first appeared in the 2017 Legendary Pictures film Kong: Skull Island. Mother Longlegs have been a regular presence in subsequent Kong-centric Monsterverse media, and appeared in the TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

Name

The Mother Longlegs' name comes from "Daddy longlegs," a common nickname for various types of insects and arachnids. The "Mother" part of the name comes from the fact that Mother Longlegs is an all-female species.[4]

The Mother Longlegs' cryptozoological classification is not consistent. Their superspecies profile from the Discover Skull Island website simultaneously dubs them Mater Crura (likely derived from an Anglicized spelling of the Latin word māter meaning "mother," and crura, a form of the Latin word crūs meaning "leg") and Arachnida Acidosasa (derived from arachnida, the name of a class of chelicerate arthropods, and acidosasa, the name of a genus of East Asian bamboo). The creatures' bio provided on the Kong: Skull Island "Monarch Files 2.0" bonus feature instead uses Arachnida Malum (again coming from arachnida, as well as the Latin word malum meaning "evil"), and this is echoed, albeit with the Malum part decapitalized, in the Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure.

Design

Mother Longlegs are gigantic spider-like creatures that stand around 20 feet tall. They possess incredibly long legs that resemble bamboo stalks, allowing them to blend in seamlessly with the surrounding forests, with their legs posing as plants and their upper bodies held high above the canopy. Mother Longlegs' faces resemble skulls, being a light beige in color with large red eyes. In addition to their eight legs, Mother Longlegs possess two additional limbs located closer to their heads, which are equipped with pincer-like claws. A queen Mother Longlegs appeared in Skull Island: The Birth of Kong, significantly larger than the others and possessing a horned crest.[5]

Behavior

Mother Longlegs are carnivorous ambush predators[3] who use their environment to their advantage by being able to blend in with the bamboo forests of Skull Island when staying motionless. Their young live on their backs, subsiding on a diet of small parasites.[6] They are considered one of the most dangerous creatures on the island to humans, and consequently the bamboo forests where they hunt are little-explored.[6] They will seldom leave these forests unless forced out by a larger rival Mother Longlegs, as they are vulnerable to many of the island's other superspecies.[6] However, in Skull Island: The Birth of Kong they raided the Iwi village in broad daylight after Walter R. Riccio blasted an opening in the wall, and attacked the much larger King Kong.

Origins

Monarch's superspecies profile of the Mother Longlegs presents the theoretical possibility that the creatures are a supermutation of the Opiliones order of arachnids.[3]

History

Monsterverse

Kong: Skull Island

While Lt. Col. Preston Packard and his troops were passing through a dense bamboo forest on Skull Island during Monarch's 1973 expedition, one of the soldiers was impaled through his mouth by the leg of a Mother Longlegs. The other soldiers looked up at the canopy and saw the colossal arachnid's body moving across the treetops. They immediately opened fire on the creature, which retaliated by trying to stab the men with her legs and using the tentacle-like structures in her mouth to try and eat Warrant Officer Glen Mills. Captain Earl Cole realized the monsters' legs were vulnerable. The soldiers sliced off the tips, causing her to lose her balance and giving Mills time to cut himself loose. After he fell to the ground, they concentrated fire on her cephalothorax, forcing her to the ground as well. Packard approached the fallen creature and fired several rounds into her head with his pistol until she died.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

"Aftermath"

During Monarch's ill-fated expedition to Skull Island in 1973, a Mother Longlegs chased Bill Randa out of the bamboo forest and to the edge of a small cliff overlooking the ocean. With nowhere to go and the monster approaching quickly, he decided to throw his bag in the water so it could be discovered after his demise. Before the giant spider could kill him, however, a Mantleclaw emerged from the ground and roared at the Mother Longlegs, prompting the two arthropod monsters to fight. The Mother Longlegs jabbed the Mantleclaw in the eye with one of her legs, only to lose the limb to the crab-like monster's claw. The Mother Longlegs retaliated by pushing it off the cliff and fell in after it, while Randa was narrowly able to avoid their clashing and survived.

Abilities

Camouflage

Mother Longlegs are perfectly adapted for camouflage in the dense forests of Skull Island. With their limbs resembling bamboo stalks and their bodies held high above the forest canopy, Mother Longlegs blend in seamlessly with the forest, allowing them to attack unaware prey that passes through their territory.[4]

Legs

The Mother Longlegs' legs are razor-sharp, and can be used as deadly spears. Once a Mother Longlegs uses her legs to immobilize her prey, she will use them to inject paralytic Mother's Milk Venom[6] into her victim's body and start to absorb nutrients from it.[4] They can also draw moisture from soil.[6]

Tendrils

The Mother Longlegs can release muscular tendrils from their underbelly to ensnare immobilized prey and drag them into their open stomach.[3] Any inedible matter on their victims is expelled by reopening the chamber.[6]

Reproduction

Due to being an all-female species, the Mother Longlegs are capable of asexual reproduction.[4] Their offspring are clones of themselves.[6]

Webbing

In Kong: Skull Island - The Official Movie Novelization, the Mother Longlegs uses webbing instead of tendrils to lift up Warrant Officer Glen Mills. He was unable to escape from it on his own, although Captain Earl Cole cut him out after the Sky Devils shot the monster down.[7]

Weaknesses

Mother Longlegs are not particularly durable, as the Sky Devils were easily able to slice through the legs of the specimen specimen they encountered with machetes. Once she was brought to the ground by gunfire, she was swiftly killed by Packard's pistol. Multiple Mother Longlegs were nowhere near a match for Kong, who easily killed all of them in a relatively short struggle.

Video games

Books

Kong: Skull Island - The Official Movie Novelization

Rather than the Mother Longlegs attacking the Sky Devils unprovoked, Packard accidentally sliced through one of her legs. The monster ensnared Mills with webbing instead of tendrils. He was unable to free himself, with Cole cutting him out of the web after the soldiers toppled and killed the Mother Longlegs. This scene is moved to latter in the story, after Hank Marlow's reintroduction and Kong's battle with the Mire Squid.

Kong and Me

A Mother Longlegs blended in with the trees as Kong and Jia explored the forest.

Comics

Skull Island: The Birth of Kong

"Over the Rainbow"

Several Mother Longlegs entered the Iwi village in 1995 after Walter R. Riccio blew open the wall with explosives. The creatures killed several people, including Evgenij Medov, before Kong arrived to save the villagers. Kong easily killed all of the Mother Longlegs and the man responsible for bringing them into the village, then left after meeting Aaron Brooks face-to-face.

Kingdom Kong

In 2021, Monarch sent a team selected to explore the Hollow Earth into the forests of Skull Island to train. Shaken after a close encounter with a Death Jackal and flashing back to her battle against a Titan in 2019, Captain Audrey Burns spotted a Mother Longlegs walking overhead. With the rest of her team oblivious, she froze, then found the strength to open fire on it with her rifle, quickly killing it. As her team praised her, Burns threw up.

Tabletop games

Gallery

Main article: Mother Longlegs/Gallery.

Roar

Mother Longlegs roars in Kong: Skull Island
Mother Longlegs roars in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Videos

The Mother Longlegs' scene

Trivia

References

This is a list of references for Mother Longlegs. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "About The Movie - Monster". warnerbros.co.jp/kingkong/. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  2. Kong: Skull Island Bonus Feature - Monarch Files 2.0
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 KSI MYTHOLOGY BLADE SPIDER V2.jpg
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Monarch Recon: Mother Longlegs
  5. Zid (4 August 2021). "That's correct. This was one of those times I had to suggest a "queen"-like version. Otherwise, Kong wouldn't have any issues stepping on a bunch of tiny spiders like toothpicks. There is a panel right before Kong dashes in where a clear size distinction is shown". Twitter.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Trent et al. 2023, p. 89
  7. Lebbon, Tim (2017). Kong: Skull Island - The Official Movie Novelization. Titan Books. p. 221-222. ISBN 978-1785651380.
  8. Kong: Skull Island iTunes-exclusive audio commentary
  9. Dunn, Billie Schwab (17 November 2023). "How 'Monarch: Legacy of Monsters' Created New Titans to Rival Godzilla". Newsweek.
  10. Trent et al. 2023, pp. 89.
  11. Napton, Robert (2023). Legends of the Monsterverse: The Omnibus. Legendary Comics. p. 443. ISBN 978-1681161174.
  12. Trent et al. 2023, pp. 6-7, 88.

Bibliography

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