Editing Gelatinous cube (section)

==Creative origins==
[[Slime (fantasy creature)|Oozes]] are relatively common antagonists in [[fantasy]] fiction; in addition to the oozes of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', examples include the monster from the film ''[[The Blob]]'' (1958),<ref name="Ash1">{{cite book |editor1-first=Jeffrey |editor1-last=Weinstock |date=2014 |title=The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |page=193}}</ref> [[Slime (Dragon Quest)|slime]] in ''[[Dragon Quest]]'', and flan in ''[[Final Fantasy]]''. These fictional oozes may have been inspired by microscopic organisms such as [[amoebae]], which, like oozes, can consume organic matter by engulfing it ([[phagocytosis]]).<ref>{{cite book|last1=de Rituerto |first1=Blanca Martínez |last2=Sparrow |first2=Joe |year=2019|title=Dungeons and Drawings: An Illustrated Compendium of Creatures|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|location=Kansas City, Missouri}}</ref>

The gelatinous cube is an original invention of [[Gary Gygax]], rather than being inspired by outside sources and adapted to the roleplaying setting, as were many [[mythology|mythological]] monsters such as the [[Minotaur (Dungeons & Dragons)|minotaur]] and [[Dryad (Dungeons & Dragons)|dryad]],<ref name="Ash1"/> all of which appeared in the 1974 Monsters & Treasure book of the original boxed set.

Being a cube that is a perfect ten feet on each side, it is specifically and perfectly "adapted" to its native environment, the standard, {{convert|10|ft|m|adj=on}} by {{convert|10|ft|m|adj=on}} dungeon corridors which were ubiquitous in the earliest ''Dungeons & Dragons'' modules.<ref name="Ash1"/>