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Beetle Maniac
aka: Beetle Mania
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"There is a story, possibly apocryphal, of the distinguished British biologist, J. B. S. Haldane, who found himself in the company of a group of theologians. On being asked what one could conclude as to the nature of the Creator from a study of his creation, Haldane is said to have answered, 'An inordinate fondness for beetles.'"
— G. E. Hutchinson, President, American Society of Naturalists, in a speech to the Society's annual meeting
Characters who have a great curiosity and interest in beetles. Very common in anime.
See also Bug Catching, Friend to Bugs.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- The Aburame Clan in Naruto not only has interest in beetles, they literally become homes for them, controlling the beetles in exchange for their own chakra.
- Luffy in One Piece shows a keen interest in beetles in the Skypeia arc.
- In the Pokémon anime, there's a kid dressed as a samurai (in fact, Samurai is the name he goes by) who catches Bug types. He uses a Metapod*
which are cocoon like Pokemon that know one harmless technique and a Pinsir* which is like a giant gnarly stag beetle of a Pokemon .
- Ryuuto from the horror manga Region, who is willing to risk bullying from his classmates and elementary school teacher over his refusal to let them kill the insect collection they were keeping as a class project. This leads to him sleeping with the insects in his bed to help them stay warm, much to his unsuspecting sister's chagrin.
- Samurai Champloo has Sumo Beetle!
- Weevil Underwood in Yu-Gi-Oh! uses a deck that specializes in Insect monsters.
- In the 2009 anime of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, during the summer Groundhog Day Loop, Haruhi leads the group on beetle hunting (and she wins every time).
Comic Books
Literature
- On Gor, the only thing that can kill a Priest-King is basically a giant beetle, which the Priest-Kings keep around for when they tire of life. The beetles have an aroma that's overwhelmingly enticing to a Priest-King.
- In the Discworld novel Last Continent, the god of evolution is all about beetles.
- Star Wars Expanded Universe: As a child, Jacen Solo had a fascination with beetles.
- In Galaxy of Fear: The Swarm it's noted that some of the S'krrr, particularly Vroon, all but worship drog beetles.
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876): in chapter 5 Tom plays with a beetle while in church. The other worshipers and even a dog get into the act.
- Carl Meredith from ''Rainbow Valley'' and ''Rilla of Ingleside''
- One of the first things we find out about Eustace Clarence Scrubb is that he "liked animals, especially beetles, if they were dead and pinned on a card".
- In Something Fresh, the first of P. G. Wodehouse's Blandings Castle novels, J. Preston Peters is fanatical about scarabs and has a large collection. When Lord Emsworth absent-mindedly takes one home, it becomes the MacGuffin for the rest of the story.
Live Action TV
Video Games
Webcomics
- Dr Tarsus Beetle from Girl Genius chose a stylized beetle as his emblem, present all over his city, Beetleburg.
- In The Water Phoenix King, Gilgam has quite a few beetles decorating his equipment. His pauldrons, the large pin which unfolds into a collar that connects them over his warmer-weather gear, the charge crystals for his gun, are all scarab-shaped, and his riding-beast is a robot that looks like a cross between an ant and a beetle of some sort. It makes sense...
Western Animation
- In the animated series at least, beetles are the favorite treat of Beetlejuice.
- Nadine from Hey Arnold was a complete bug maniac and spoke of her love of beetles at least once.
Real Life
- Some of Charles Darwin's earliest interests were in beetles. Of course, it wasn't until he started looking at finches that he put his name down in history, but things might have been different if Darwin wasn't so interested in beetles. To give an example of how strong his obsession with beetles and beetle collecting was, once as a young man he was returning home after collecting beetles in the woods when he came across a bombardier beetle. Even though he was already out of room to carry it, he was determined to bring it home with him and attempted to carry it in his mouth. Naturally, this resulted in him discovering what being sprayed in the mouth by a bombardier beetle was like, and the resulting effects caused him to lose both the bombardier and all the other beetles he'd collected. He described the event with great enthusiasm in his diary.
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