Taxidermied Koopa Paratroopa

Darick Maasen (facebook) made this unique ornament from an antique taxidermied turtle and a pair of chicken wings. [Darick Maasen Art via Kotaku]

• [bruckelsprout]

  Kill it!  Kill it with your feet!

• [MrJM]

  Satanic!

• [Plato Kasserman]

  …! People do the strangest things with dead animals.

• [Darick Maasen]

  Woohoo I’m famous!

  https://www.facebook.com/darickmaasen

• [Spitty Sumo]

  i’ve seen lovely taxidermy that seems like a sincere effort to pay tribute to the life of an animal — that i can appreciate – but i very much dislike “wacky taxidermy.”  i just personally don’t think it’s cool, artistic, edgy, or funny to mock dead creatures, and in this case in particular, it’s too close to home (i have a very dear, lovely pet tortoise). 

  • [Darick Maasen]

    I have been getting a lot of comments like this, I respect your angle, but This antique turtle is loved by more people than could have ever been possible when he was just sitting on a dusty shelf before I made him famous :)

    • [Spitty Sumo]

      the theoretical dead gandmother i referred to in my reply to EH might also be loved by a greater audience that she would have been had she remained in her grave.  doesn’t negate the opinions of those who feel that propping her up with a fresh paint job and the parts of other dead creatues attached to her might not sit well with some viewers.

      thank you for the respectful reply; i promise that it’s not my intent to troll or start a fight or anything.  this just isn’t my “thing.”  kudos for at least not gluing watch parts to the poor thing and calling it “steampunk” (yes, i’ve seen that done before, unfortunately…)

      • [TheMudshark]

        Would you concede that there is a difference between a taxidermied dead grandmother with a fresh paint job and wings attached and a taxidermied anonymous dead turtle with a fresh paint job and wings attached?

        • [Spitty Sumo]

          aside from species, no, not really.  i’d find them both offensive.  but then again i  Will concede to being one of those crazies who, for example, would place the value of the life of an endangered animal over that of a random human.  so perhaps being that kind of person negates my opinion in this and related matters in the eyes of many.  *shrug*

        • [TheMudshark]

          Well, if you are the kind of person who would rather have a random person, who has friends and family, killed, than, say, a Madagascan Fruit Bat, then yes, it totally negates your opinionin this in my eyes.

  • [EH]

    The dead don’t have feelings.

    • [Spitty Sumo]

      “The dead don’t have feelings.”

      yes; i know that.

      as a child i was upset to see a disinterred native american on display in a museum (he’s since been returned to his grave, thankfully), and he wasn’t even a relative so far as i’m aware.  going a step further, most people would be offended if someone made a curio from their dead grandmother.  or perhaps if this were a taxidermied kitten there might be calls for a unicorn chaser.

      disrespecting the dead, the way i see it, is disrespectful of the living as well.  i see it as a disregard for [former] life.

      though some people would say that art is intended to stimulate people in some way, and shocking/offending the viewer is one way that this can manifest.  in this manner, this piece qualifies as “art.” 

      it makes me a sad panda, regardless.

  • [Jeff Venicx]

    Lulz then GTFO the internet mocks everything get used to it e_e

• [JoshP]

  The true question???  How many times has Darik seen House of a Thousand Corpses?  Lol, great turtle :)

• [John Farrier]

  This piece would be great in a hunting cabin, placed there with no further comment or explanation by the owner to guests.

• [Arjay Go!]

  are we playing mario in this biotch?

• [eric42601]

  If I had someone turn my cat into Nyan cat I would think it was a stonecold fucking honor…
  truth…
  get over it, that thing was dead long ago and the artist probably just grabbed it at a garage sale, several artist friends of mine do that, they find old things people don’t want and are being tossed or sold for pennies and give them new life as it were.
  And personally if someone made a grandma table, like with her ashes I would be like it’s kinda cool, where do I put my cup so I don’t get her on it?  Most of my family is cremated, and some of my family members have done some weird shit with the ashes.  I look at it like this, the person is gone, that shell/husk is not the person.  Do I want my freshly dead relative being skull fucked by a necromancer? no, but I’m willing to forgo certain things.  I’m just not that upsetable (word?).  I was once identified by my ass by a doctor, serious, I was in a CT scanner getting a biopsy and the doctor comes around the ring and says OH HEY ERIC I THOUGHT THAT WAS YOU!
  I’m sitting there in disbelief and say, did you seriously just identify my ass and think of hey that must be Eric…
  just as an example, I’m generally pretty easy going after shit like that and almost drowning in my own blood from a nose bleed while on blood thinners and having low platelets.

  • [Spitty Sumo]

    so…  the shell/husk is not the person, it’s great to turn a dead pet cat into nyancat, but you wouldn’t want someone fucking your skull, though you’re not that easily upset.  i can’t really relate to that, but i’m reminded of a roommate whose pet rat died, after which he simply tossed it out into the backyard.  similarly, i cannot relate.

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  I used to threaten my mother with taxidermy when she was being particularly obnoxious. Funnily enough, her post-mortem instructions were so ironclad, she was already cremated before I got to the funeral home to discuss arrangements.