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Reading the original Vampire Hunter D novels was a very fascinating experience that I can't actually recommend to anyone.

In most ways, they're very straight-forward pulpy adventure stories. Nothing about the plots or dialogue are compelling. The translation is competent at least.

But the world building is fascinating, rife with fun little details.It's like the author, Hideyuki Kikuchi thought of some off the wall stuff and threw it in for aesthetics, but then comes up with background to explains it, and then actually builds on that explanation, rather than leave it as a fig leaf.

The books are set post post post apocalypse. Humanity nearly wiped themselves out in a nuclear war, so the vampires and other creatures of the night came out of hiding and ruled for ten thousand years... and then started slowly but steadily declining. No longer strong enough to have total control over the world, but more than powerful enough to topple humanity's attempts to organize.

Humanity is in this weird pseudo-medieval state except, they also have cyber-horses. Why? Because that's how the Aristocracy (the v-word is gauche) liked it!

Humanity has been genetically engineered with psychological blocks, such that if they ever learn about the vampires' great weaknesses (other than the sun: garlic, crosses, holy water) they'll immediately forget them!

It's ostensibly "pure sci-fi" because there's no magic. The story is clear about this. Vampires just have novel biology. That gives them telekinesis. (And hemokinesis too. I've always thought that should be a fundamental vampire ability. It's how they slurp every last drop of blood out of a human without needing to like suspend the body and let them bleed out. They also soak cloaks with the blood of virgins over the course of decades and end up with one they can control, to turn into shield or sword.)

D is your classic pulp-y OP protagonist (I compare him in my mind to Doc Savage). Made from the gametes of the Aristocracy's greatest scientist and genetic engineer (whose name also starts with D, wink wink nudge nudge), and his lover: humanity's greatest psychic. He was implanted with a parasite engineered to not take over his body and be helpful instead. He inherited an indestructible sword crafted by the greatest swordsmith who ever lived. He's equipped with a supercomputer in a pendent that can auto-hack most technological locks and defenses. He uses the same cyber-horses as everyone else, but because of his "ability to commune with their inner natures" can wring double performance out of them.

What started me thinking about this is the dhampir like protagonist of yet another forgettable Isekai story (actually, this was a "Returner" manhwa, a genre much more popular in Korea now, which involves people reincarnating back from isekai worlds, or traveling back in time, etc). This guy, like the protagonists of many stories, is so overpowered he is a geopolitical super-power embodied in a single person. That always takes me out of the story, because I can only think about how much responsibility that would entail in my mind, and these guys just use it to fuck around.

#vampire hunter d #i think that in d's case him being op adds to the horror of the narrative #that the nature of one's being is inevitable #that the unstoppable force will turn and we'll all be fucked

[bossmodeplus]

the worst part about having obscure interests is there's no one to talk to and even if there was I suck at conversing anyway

#i get this way abt vampire hunter d #it feels like im screaming into the void abt bloodlust #i have ideas i wanna shareeeeeeee

[bossmodeplus]

#vampire hunter d #love this

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Putting on a good face

#blood

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Walkcycle from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust by Camperlvl60

#vampire hunter d

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Do you guys think he knows he's my muse....

#castlevania #alucard

[bossmodeplus]

#castlevania #alucard

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Yuffie: How many vampires do you think have been hit by a car backing up in a parking lot because the driver couldn’t see their reflection?

Vincent: *in concern* I’ve never considered it but you’re really shining a light on what’s probably a very serious issue.

#ff7 #vincent valentine #i love how we all agreed this dude's a vampire #considering he has all the beats #lack of aging gothic getup #sad demeanor #dislikes being outside #changes into monsters and the red eyes really sell it

[bossmodeplus]

People, especially games, get eldritch madness wrong a lot and it’s really such a shame.

An ant doesn’t start babbling when they see a circuit board. They find it strange, to them it is a landscape of strange angles and humming monoliths. They may be scared, but that is not madness.

Madness comes when the ant, for a moment, can see as a human does.

It understands those markings are words, symbols with meaning, like a pheromone but infinitely more complex. It can travel unimaginable distances, to lands unlike anything it has seen before. It knows of mirth, embarrassment, love, concepts unimaginable before this moment, and then…

It’s an ant again.

Echoes of things it cannot comprehend swirl around its mind. It cannot make use of this knowledge, but it still remembers. How is it supposed to return to its life? The more the ant saw the harder it is for it to forget. It needs to see it again, understand again. It will do anything to show others, to show itself, nothing else in this tiny world matters.

This is madness.

#yes #yes!

[bossmodeplus]

The VHD canon calling them dhampeel/dunpeal is the textual equivalent of drinking milk and it tastes funny. It hasn't even gone bad! But the taste could be best described as Something.

Both the book and movie for Vampire Hunter D are a fucking trip for completely different reasons

#i personally call them dhampir even if the canon doesn't #i thought dhampeel was a translation error? correct me if i'm wrong

[bossmodeplus]

you’ve heard of “Vampire Hunter D” now get ready for...

#vampire hunter d

[bossmodeplus]

Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust for the PS1 is so hilarious to me because it's a bargain bin FFVIII. That wants to be Silent Hill. Except you are The Horror. The Unstoppable Force. But the game feels weirdly campy in the way that it pads out the playtime with puzzles. I, the Goth of all Time have to find keys and music box passwords to open doors.

VHD Bloodlust for the PS1 I want to flatten you with a hammer.

#vampire hunter d #vampire hunter d bloodlust #vhd bloodlust #the tank controls are A Choice to put it nicely #i am extant and powerful and unknowable but i Must use doors and passwords. sure. #the music and aesthetic are the only good marks of the game #it plays like a game #it's campy to me and i have a thing for camp sometimes #bosstext

[bossmodeplus]

#vampire hunter d

[bossmodeplus]

finished the scarf!

#ff7 #vincent valentine #galian beast #mmm i love this so much

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Quick phone screenshot of model art for Galian Beast from the FFVII Rebirth Ultimania ❤️

(Will try to see if I can do a better quality photo / scan at some point)

((Edit: For the folks in the comments/tags acknowledging that even his Galian Beast form is sexy, you are correct and valid ❤️ ))

#ff7r #hot #galian beast

[bossmodeplus]

Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust

#vampire hunter d

[bossmodeplus]

i feel like Bubblegum's transformation in/role in elements is so underdiscussed in terms of really appreciating what it says about her as a character ugh UGH i love elements and even though PB is not there for long, every moment she's there drives me nuts. like her control driven impulse, her attempt to recreate the Mother Gum (and have a world where everything is safe, everything makes sense, nobody questions her, nobody confuses her) being so powerful she could transform OTHER elementals AND she almost took over the entirety of Ooo. being so obsessed with making everyone happy and carefree and connected to her... reminds me of her looking at her family turned into candy people in bonnibel bubblegum (episode) and saying they were happier and more unburdened that way. elemental was kind of her outlet to feel that really intensely.

and also just to reiterate she literally seemed to be the most powerful elemental there, not because candy is inherently more powerful than the other three, but because her force of will; her convictions and her obsessions. i LOVE HER SOOO MUUUCH.

#at #fun fact that the mural in thin yellow line acts as foreshadowing #she is likened to a god due to her resources #her 'eyes/surveillance' giving the impression of omnipotence #or her connections to great and terrifying beasts #such as the candy sphinxes or marceline #much like a god she is kind and terrifying #there's no cognitive dissonance here