Malicious, animate trees that first appeared in the 1991 Squaresoft Final Fantasy IV (improperly titled as Final Fantasy II in North America) Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) video game. Final Fantasy IV has also been re-released several times since then on various platforms (Sony Playstation, Bandai Wonderswan, Nintendo Gameboy Advance, and Nintendo DS). These monsters can be randomly encountered in the 'Sylph/Sylvan Cave' and 'Cave of Trials' (a bonus dungeon found exclusively in the Gameboy Advance version) areas. The creatures Wood Eyes/Treant and Mammon share the same game sprite, but differ in color/capabilities (enemy recycling is a practice found in many video games).

Mammons physically attack with their snapping jaws and branches. That's only half the story though, as they're fond of augmenting their aggressive tendencies by casting the white magic spell 'Berserk' on themselves--this incantation causes the target to enter an uncontrollably violent state of mind, forcing the enchanted individual to attack at every opportunity, and also grants a hefty boost to the resulting damage they deal out. Mammons have 3,900 hit points (HP), and each is worth $525 and 5,041 experience points when slain. The items 'Diet Food' (cures 'Pig' status), 'Mallet' (cures 'Mini' status), 'Maiden's Kiss' (cures 'Toad' status), and Remedy (cures any abnormal status) can potentially be obtained from a Mammon, either from stealing or as battle spoils.

Mammons, unsurprisingly, given their composition, are quite flammable--any kind of attack associated with the Fire element will do them considerable harm. Additionally, because they're classified as 'Mage-type' enemies, the 'Rune Axe' and 'Mage Masher' (rare, enchanted weapons created specifically to deal with spell casters) will also prove highly effective when it comes to reducing them to harmless kindling. Mammons are immune to 'Pig', 'Toad', and 'Mini' transformations.



Materials:
Newsprint, Kleenex, white glue, and acrylic paint.

Dimensions:
5.5 cm/2.2 in. x 5.8 cm/2.3 in. (widest point x highest point)

Time:
Roughly two days; July 10-11, 2009.