I'm writing about The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and it makes me wonder, what must it have been like to read it for the first time not knowing what happens? The same for Frankenstein, Dracula, any classic story that has wormed its way into societal consciousness. Until this year the closest I have come to any adaption of any of those three novels is the tv series Penny Dreadful, which takes many liberties, and yet nothing about the stories surprised me because I already knew. Since when? Always?
Imagine picking up one of those books just after it was released and starting this story you know nothing about. It must have been so exciting not already being familiar with the outcome and the twists.
Herbert West (Re-Animator, both book and film) vs Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein)
Propaganda below cut
Herbet
Literally has a whole monologue about defying god in the second movie. (https://youtu.be/BOt0rRhofuI?si=o7wCwAaT347jUmcp)
Playing God by defying death itself
Victor
"ouh im gonna create life from scratch and it's gonna be Pog and Slay" WRONG it wwas FUCKT . he didnt give that thang enough SKIN even . and then it killed his whole family, well he is just a silly guy .
Textbook definition of fuck around and find out. To his credit - yeah, he was a genius who sped through All Of Chemistry Classes in 2 years and revolutionized the field of natural sciences at his university while he was barely 20, arguably invented biochemistry (and then never told anyone) and created a human(ish) being from scratch (and again, never told anyone), BUT Honestly I don't even need to say anything here, I can literally just paste a direct quote: "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs." He saw LIFE AND DEATH ITSELF as just a STARTING POINT ffs Needless to say, the "find out" stage hit him like a freight train making the rest of his life just one long trauma conga line until he died completely alone before even hitting 30 Give it up to our king of hubris, Greatest pathetic wet meow meow of gothic literature tbh
thought he could be better than God by making his own man so that he could later bring people (his mother) back to life. whole thing blew up in his face cause 1. he made it way too big and way too able to kill people 2. he immediately got scared of it and ran away 3. he left it alone without teaching it how to actually function as a human, further adding to the murderous tendencies.
Thinks making life is easy. Does not consider the life he made actually worth anything, He's like the platonic ideal of a shitty parent who wants recognition for Being A Parent without actually having the ability to care for someone else, just taken to a cartoonish extreme. Look where that got him.
Tries to create a whole ass person from scratch. It does not go well; The guy needs no introduction. Guy tries creates a whole human person cobbled together from dead bodies, breathes life into it, immediately abandons his creation, and proceeds to have his life completely destroyed when said creation goes on a rampage of revenge. Subtitle of the book is literally the 'Modern Prometheus.'
Do I really have to explain this one. He made a Guy. He played God. Then the Guy killed his entire family and (boy)friend; He is Pathetic
Victor wanted to play god. Created monster. Monster tried to kill him. Killed his brother, his gf, and his BFF, and came after him. A horror icon, and the modern archetype of the mad scientist in fiction. He's a pathetic pissbaby that needs to be punched. Cunt dies in the end get rekked lol.
Random thought: Silver Wolf's virtual companions seem to loosely correspond to the other Stellaron Hunters (+ a bonus)
Warning: Long post
For those not in the know, SW's weapon holds an A.I of her creation, which she calls Prometheus (hmmm). Prometheus comes with five modules -the chibis pointed out above- each of which has its own special name: Friend, Demon Lord, Whitecollar, Servant, and Preschool Classmate.
I'm unsure if they all look and act the same as they did upon creation, so the theory here is that she based or modified them using her colleagues as inspiration after joining the Hunters. Now, here are the parallels I think make the most sense:
1) Friend -> Kafka. Most of SW's appearances are on joint missions with Kafka specifically, and that -along with the banter they exchange all the time- leads me to assume she's the closest colleague to our tiny hacker. Friend is also the first and currently only companion that actually talks to us ingame and outside of the game (she shows up in one of SW's lines and in her Keeping Up With Star Rail video), and who was the first Hunter we encountered in the story?
Yeah.
2) Demon Lord -> Ren. According to SW's second character story, the companion is inspired by a poster she saw one time, and she based it off the idea of a veteran who lost the ability to speak. Ren isn't perpetually silent, of course, but he's a man of very few words, and is strongly associated with demon imagery as well (that one vidyadhara elegy, the kit icons, the clothing design, etc.). I also think Demon Lord is the chibi on the top left with the sword, right next to Friend, and what would you know- there's only one Hunter we know whose signature weapon is a sword!
(That and he's also seen a lot alongside Kafka. Neat.)
3) Whitecollar -> Sam. Admittedly there's pretty much nothing to go on in regards to Sam, and that makes him a weak link in this theory, so I hope for some future crumbs that can clarify things. All we know about him so far is that he's a more straightforward and efficient sort of guy who doesn't fool around on the job- if SW's express visit line is anything to go by. That makes for a veeeery threadbare argument that he'd make a good whitecollar with these qualities, but honestly they apply to any job, and Sam obviously doesn't sit around in an office all day...
4) Servant -> Elio. This is a pretty simple one: Elio is literally called Destiny's Slave. If that's not Servant, then who is? More crumbs are always welcome to give further proof or contradict this assumption, but for now it seems pretty reasonable to me.
Bonus:
5) Preschool Classmate -> Trailblazer. This one is the most interesting to me because, here's a fun fact: Preschool Classmate was actually deleted soon after its creation. This parallels the Trailblazer being left behind to join the Express and set the script in motion, in a way, and might explain SW leaving alongside Kafka without talking to them at all. But then this raises the question of why she personally visits them at the express, and why she became their gamer buddy.... hmmmmmm.....
Overall, I think this is a pretty nice design element, and while my theory has little substance to go on, I think it would be better if this wasn't a mere coincidence. If anyone has anything more to share on the topic, then by all means, go ahead! I love hearing about small tidbits and trivia and fuel for the found family agenda!
Propaganda why Victor Frankenstein is insufferable:
Victor Frankenstein is so pathetic not even tumblr could love him. The best parts of Frankenstein are the ones where your blessedly saved from being in his whiny, self deprecating, self centered pov. He’s so conceited that when his creation tells him directly “In revenge for killing the wife you were making for me I’m going to kill YOUR wife to see how YOU like it!”, Victor Frankenstein thinks that the creation is going to kill him and *only* him. (A decision And on top of it, he’s a shitty dad. Truly the worst.
this fucker has zero self awareness, which could maybe be fun to read about! except that 3/4 of the book consists of him constantly woe-is-me-ing about his own mistakes and how he shouldn't be responsible for any of his own actions.
He's not irredeemable, but his refusal to take accountability til it's too late is irritating
Propaganda why Caillou is insufferable:
Horrible, whiny, mean (I know they're like three but that's no excuse)
He's the absolute worst bratty child I've ever seen in a kids show, his voice is suuuper annoying.
You know and I know why, he's the poll's icon for a reason.