The upside of this article is that it's hilarious, and, though the short length probably is to its detriment as a full-fledged article, it certainly magnifies the point. The aha! moment for this one was great. Quoth the Writers Guide:
Remember, the best kinds of articles are those that a reader can grasp without you having to explain everything to them- it's the aha! moment that really pulls a reader in.
I am, of course, a sucker for all things brief and anomalously spiteful, but even I don't know if I can call this article sufficient.
Plus, I felt the corny, canned ending was for the worse. Vindictive jellyfish are brutally funny, but the final note feels like it's trying to convince you that it's really freaky and scary and ends up just falling off. I've heard of the monster that grows inside of you before. Admittedly, this article has a better thematic reason to use it than many, but it still tainted the mood for me.
The tone is nicely done, barring a few pieces of hedging and questionable grammar. I went through and made the most obvious edits myself. What I really want to add is an image, because it probably wouldn't be hard to get and would've added a lot to the piece. Seriously! Multimedia whenever you can! I learned my lesson.
It's between a 2 and a 3 for me, and I feel somewhat bad doing this, but I think I'm sticking with a 2/5. It's funny but too short, and doesn't really emanate a cleverness that can save it, especially for an X00 article.
(Hm… I've read four X00s now, and they were all surprisingly uneventful.)
