Squid Boy,  anti-hero of the 207 Island Mermaid Parade, 
was troublg

idkkk   and everyossssssssssssssssssgffffffffjjjjfffffffgggggggggggggsssssssssne knew it.
Coney Island,  June 2007
From the moment his sinewy tentacles were first spotted breaking the waves
 off the Coney shore,  people knew things would be different.
With his seemingly optimal mix of irascible wit,  cynicism,  get-it-done-itis,  and great pecs,
 he seemed like the perfect tool to fight the evil real estate developers who wanted to take away
 the peoples' Coney Island...but it turned out he was just...well...a tool...

At first,  he did give the real estate guys a few slaps,  we'll give him that,
but he did it only when it suited - fit in with - his own agenda of equal rights for cephalapods.
Not crustaceans,  crabbies,  mollusks and their ilk,  or other such creatures of the sea;
just his suction-cupped cohorts,  for whom he demanded we all storm the calamari-serving
 restaurants in the area.    "Breadcrumbs are not good for you!"  and "down with butter !"  he would
 shout,    pausing only to tell beach-goers of the horror of losing his family to hungry day-tourists
 from Manhattan....most didn't believe him.

Things started to change after that fateful day - Mermaid Parade Day - in June 2007,
when he first spotted that elusive crustacean of hubba-hubba,  Lobster Girl.
But alas,  she slipped through his tentacles...
...ran for the subway station and never looked back,  actually...



It all seemed a bit much:  the developers were gaining ground,  the long nights searching for Lobster Girl,
the "ink everybody" threats,  the Larry King interview that turned ugly.
Squid Boy slipped into the now-cold waters,  rarely venturing out.    But down below,  in the darkness,
jet-propulsing around,  he knew that he was meant to do more,  to become something better...
...to transform.

    Nothing much else happened that winter,  except for the night that fiery meteorite fell near the pier:
all that lightning,  a scream,  the sounds of metal twisting and suction cups popping,
a brightly painted truck racing away....

It was that next summer,  at the 2008 Mermaid Parade,  when thousands caught a glimpse
 of someone,  something....new....new,  yet familiar.
The tentacles seemed the same,  certainly the pecs - better than ever - but all that metal,
that robotic voice,  its benevolence....what was this thing that now vowed to protect all?
...We will see....



Don't be shy,  Jerky!    Follow the story:
click on 'Squid Boy's Photos' in the red band up top!




Listen to KISS,  loudly!