Spandules are a race of magical, sentient humanoid being.
Description[]
Spandules are a race of sentient humanoid beings. They are said to be cousins of the Gremlins, and live 30,000 miles in the air, inside clouds, except in the winter time, when they come down to Earth to "have some fun". They are covered in thick hair to protect them from the cold, their faces are "rather like oxygen masks", and they are flat and thin to better withstand the pressure of the air. The Spandules feed on hailstone and are three times larger than ordinary Gremlins; however, they are weak to warm temperatures, where they can melt away into nothingness, leaving only their gloves and a few hairs.
The Spandules, like the Gremlins, are also known to destroy aeroplanes; however, instead of taking them apart mechanically like their cousins, they use their power of blowing snowy breath to freeze airplanes and their pilots. Also unlike the Gremlins, it appears destroying planes is “their very nature”.
By 1943, the government of the United States had apparently learned about the Spandules, and created an instructional booklet for their pilots on how to avoid the Spandules. Whether they came around before the end of the War like Gremlin Gus's Gremlins is, however, unknown.
Behind the scenes[]
The Disney Micro-Heroes depiction of a Spandule.
The Spandules first appeared in the 1943 book The Gremlins, and reappear in the World War II instructional booklet Winter Draws On: Meet The "Spandules".
A Spandule in the illustrations of The Gremlin.
Spandules' appearance differs slightly in each of their appearances. In the illustrations of the original Gremlins book, they have frog-like hands with three fingers, are quite flat, and are covered in brown hair. In Winter Draws On, they are much less hirsute, with visible beards distinct from their fur and a smooth forehead that appears to be an actual helmet. Finally, on Disney Micro-Heroes, they are depicted as even more yeti-like, with their hair resembling scruffy fur, and their three-fingered hands have two regular 'fingers' and one 'thumb'.