Despite claims, Mothman is NOT the Onceler of cryptids: he is the Sans Undertale. In this essay I will
explain this point briefly, by way of fandom evolution.
(Apologies in advance to @dimetrodone, this is literally several hundred more words than needed to be said about this)
So a while back, tumblr user @dimetrodone had this controversial opinion on Mothman:
Now, I think a lot can be said about Mothman, and how amongst Internet young people it’s become this lovable friend-shaped owl-creature, a far far cry from the vague shaped that menaced Point Pleasant in the middle of UFOs and relative High Strangeness. But, if we’re being honest here, I don’t think Mothman is the Onceler of cryptids, per se.
Mothman is something, though.
If we approach Mothman from a kind of fandom-history aspect, we see there aren’t a lot of parallels to the Onceler. Is he popular? Sure. Is he the New Hotness that’s eclipsed other cryptids? Certainly, if West Virginia’s other stories are anything to go by. Is his character twisted to be something much friendlier, than its original character, which caused conjunctivitis and ate a man’s dog? Absolutely. But the similarities to the Onceler, and his ~fascinating~ evolution, end there.
The Onceler fandom wasn’t just defined by its focus on this character from Illumination Studios’ summer blockbuster miss “The Lorax”, though boy did they. What defined the Onceler fandom’s unique place amongst the fandom ecosystem was its recursion- the Oncecest. I could go on about that, but another user, @madredhattie, had a great little write-up on what happened there. The takeaway is, though, that with the Onceler, the focus was only on the Onceler. It was enough that for fandom shipping, he was shipped with just other versions of himself.
The Mothman, meanwhile, is at least regarded in fanart and askblogs and the like as part of the greater tapestry of cryptozoology, albeit as its centerpiece. He still hangs out with the Fresno Nightcrawlers, or plays chess with the Jersey Devil. This even extends to the Mothman’s own source mythology; those years Point Pleasant was plagued by the creature also saw UFOs, and Men in Black, and even other monsters - like the headless humanoid Grafton Monster, claimed now to have been someone wheeling a dolly piled with boxes. Mothman gets the most focus, but is still accepted well enough as one part of a big story.
There is another character, however, who could be compared to the Mothman. Another character who some have argued reached comparable levels to the Onceler in fandom obsession and focus, yet never quite reached it, being a part of a bigger and still good story.
*Megalovania on theremin intensifies*
But as for the cryptid who could be the Onceler of cryptids? They do exist, and I can pinpoint them. There is one cryptid in particular who seems to have become popular beyond cryptozoology itself - they’re bumper stickers, commemorative plates, and lawn ornaments. They’re on TV, in books, and definitely all over the Internet - even US politicians have gotten into the fandom! There are people who know about this one cryptid who’d never be interested in any other kind of cryptid, and it’s gotten to the point where other versions of the exact same creature are claimed far far beyond its suspected range in the Pacific Northwest - from the swamps of Florida, to the backwoods of West Virginia itself, along with every other state.
There he goes. Our Onceler ~ *
(with thanks/apologies to @dimetrodone, @madredhattie, @mothmandaily, and all the Onceler fans, Sans fans, and cryptid fans)
