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[Lord Dullard]

I don't mind the cicada swarms that much.

I do hate the spittlebug booms, though. When I used to walk in the woods regularly, there were always a couple of weeks every year that it looked like thousands of people had combed through the entire forest with the sole purpose of hocking giant loogies everywhere.

And even that wasn't so bad until you accidentally walked into a branch covered with them and ended up coated in the crap. Ugh.

[Cthulhu]

They're not scary, but they're gross as hell.  They look like giant houseflies, it's fucking nasty.  I'm also lucky enough to be right in the heart of magicicada territory, and doubly lucky enough to have only experienced one, relatively mild brood hatch.

I'm fine with most insects, praying mantises can crawl all over me and I'm cool with that.  It's just those fucking cicadas.  There's some kind of bell curve for grossness when it comes to size.  Extremely small bugs are cute, and absurdly large ones are rad as hell.  Cicadas are right on the crest, to the point where my skin is crawling just thinking about them..

[Lagslayer]

They're not scary, but they're gross as hell.  They look like giant houseflies, it's fucking nasty.  I'm also lucky enough to be right in the heart of magicicada territory, and doubly lucky enough to have only experienced one, relatively mild brood hatch.

I'm fine with most insects, praying mantises can crawl all over me and I'm cool with that.  It's just those fucking cicadas.  There's some kind of bell curve for grossness when it comes to size.  Extremely small bugs are cute, and absurdly large ones are rad as hell.  Cicadas are right on the crest, to the point where my skin is crawling just thinking about them..

I think shape also has a lot to do with it. It looks like a fly, and flies are small. Gigantic atomic superflies are not fun in any regard. Plus, they got all those weird hairs and antennae; it's just entirely too many appendages, and looks utterly alien.

[Megaman]

Also, living in places where there aren't many such insects is a good way to become terrified of them.

[DarkWolfXV]

I felt that if i met such thing in real life id get a heart attack.
Good that we have no such big insects in Poland

[Frumple]

I felt that if i met such thing in real life id get a heart attack.
Good that we have no such big insects in Poland

... sudden terrifying urge to find some invasive species of large bugs and smuggle them into poland.

It would be an absolutely terrible thing to do, but... the urge. The temptation.

Not just poland, really. Everywhere that doesn't already have some. To spread the love.

[Graknorke]

Anyway, spiders and such don't really bother me much. But, centipedes. Goddamn centipedes. I hate them with all my heart. Not the little ones you find in your basement, the other kinds.

Ohoho, you're scared of THOSE?
Wait until you've seen this.

Pretty cool, about half a metre long, and mad strong.

[Shinotsa]

During the next brood hatch everyone be sure to go up to a relatively small tree, the kind that's just old enough to handle being on its own but not quite completely sturdy yet, and give it a good, solid kick. I dare you.

[RedKing]

Well then there's the palmetto bug (i.e. American cockroach). Over an inch long, can run almost as fast as a human, and they can fly.

For comparison:


Gregor Samsa, eat your heart out.

[Lagslayer]

Hate cocroaches! I think that sentiment is universal, though. They are ugly, live in filthy environments, big, and live in huge swarms.

[Darvi]

Nookular scientists love 'em though. Why else would they make it so that nukes wouldn't harm them?

[Lagslayer]

Nookular scientists love 'em though. Why else would they make it so that nukes wouldn't harm them?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach#Hardiness

[RedKing]

Now the most terrifying swarm I've ever seen was something like....

Spoiler: ...THIS! (click to show/hide)

We went up to a friend's grandparents' cabin up in rural West Virginia one spring. It was unseasonably warm and we grilled streaks on the porch the first night there. I think the combination of the two generated enough heat to wake THEM.

Next day, it was "oh how cute, you have a ladybug on you". "Oh! hey, you do too." "Oh...you've got like ten on your back." "How cute!"

Went for a hike. Came back. Opened the door. The entire inside of the cabin was blanketed in a crawling, seething, orange-and-black wave of arthropod horror. And it was too late in the day to safely get down the rocky, bumpy road down the mountain. It really was like something out of a horror movie. We ended up sleeping through the night terrifed (I had my sleeping bag zipped until there was just a small hole over my face, and I had these images of thousands of them deciding to pour into that hole for some reason...) and then got the holy hell out of Dodge the next morning.

[Heliman]

I actually have a little habit of taking pictures of every strange bug I come across.  I'm like the guy in that discovery channel song about loving the whole world that's staring at a spider like a creeper and mumbling "I love arachnids."
I can't stand stepping on them though, and I'm still a bit of a pansy about crushing them with a napkin. I've totally gotten used to walking through spiderwebs though. I once had a huge ole spider decide to make his web in the spot where my bed meets the wall in my room. I took the web down, but before I could kill the spider, it was all "Nawp I'm getting the hell out of here," and climbed down the into the wall-facing side of my bed where I couldn't reach him. I had to clean my sheets any way, so I slammed the other side of my bed, crushing the spider.

Or so I hoped.

Procrastinating like I usually do, I sat in my bed and watched TV for awhile instead of putting my sheets in the wash. About a half hour later I notice a little brown dot in the corner of my eye. When I saw it I spooked instantly and jumped right out of my bed. The spider had come back from the dead and was coming at me to avenge his own death. Almost all of it's legs were crushed, save for one it was using to slowly drag itself towards me in a slow charge of what could only be blind bug-rage. Relieved that my quick reflexes had thwarted it's assassination attempt, I very carefully took two stacked tissues, somewhat hesitantly crushed the zombie spider, threw it down the toilet, and flushed twice. May it find peace in my septic tank.

[DJ]

Ladybugs come in swarms?