Indie Squid Kid

I didn’t want to speak too soon, but we finally got our Internet fixed this week!

Your Friendly Neighborhood Squid Blog will now resume its regular schedule.

©jdillon82

“Diver’s Haul” by Julie Dillon. Check out her work on deviantART.

(Via Hello Zombie!)

Southern Rail is a restaurant smack dab in the middle of Carrboro, North Carolina. It is built in and between three converted train cars, and it is located right next to an active rail line. As you might expect, much of the decor is railroad-themed, which is why it’s so surprising to come face-to-face with a mural depicting a diver locked in mortal combat with a giant squid! The mural adorns a wall of the narrow corridor in one of the converted cars (you’ll see it on the way to the restroom)…so narrow that it was pretty much impossible to get a good shot of the entire thing.

While Giant Squid is not on the menu, they do serve the most delicious tater tots known to Man and Mollusc alike.

Southern Rail Restaurant and Bar
201-C East Main Street
Carrboro, North Carolina

Welcome to Toy Week!

I might as well come clean. I own a lot of toys, and this will be the first of several theme weeks dedicated to toy cephalopods, both vintage and modern.

We begin with the Squid Sub from the Mega Rig® Building System by Matchbox.

The packaging here pretty much says it all. The submarine consists of a primary hull with modular accessories that can be attached in a number of different configurations. It has a working motor and launching harpoon, and it comes with a cute little diver man. The most important part, of course, is the “Squirting Squid.” In my customary nit-picky analysis, this large purple cephalopod more closely resembles an octopus than a squid. It has eight arms, each tipped with a single large sucker. (There is a strange slit in the middle of each arm, and I suspect this has something to do with maximizing the toy’s flexibility.) Its head resembles a cross between the bulbous head of an octopus and the pointy, finned mantle of a squid, but ultimately, it is not nearly long enough to be accurately called a squid.

Did I mention the sub was motorized? Because the screaming octo-squid really wants you to know that it is motorized.

The Mega Rig Squid Sub doesn’t seem to be in stores any more (I got mine a year or two ago on clearance at Wal-Mart), but you can still  buy it on Amazon.com.

Although I’ve never seen it anywhere, Amazon also has the Mega Ocean Adventure, which combines the Mega Rig Squid Sub with the Mega Rig Shark Adventure into a single über-Mega playset.

Previously on ISK: Matchbox Monsters: Kraken vs. Hovercraft!

You shouldn’t have looked behind you…, originally uploaded by Cryptonaut.

Please remain calm.