Subpages cleanup: Complete Monster

I'm about to head out, but I'll take care of and when I get back.

RIP Boyce. He was so young with no where to go but up in his career.

Man I remember watching Jessie just a couple of days ago.

Edited by Bullman on Jul 7th 2019 at 8:13:23 AM

Hopefully Royce rests in peace.

Haven't seen anything the guy was in but damn, that's really sad, especially so young to go.

to Vasquez and Kraal

to Diz

Abstain on Bean

to everyone proposed since my last post with the exception of Sawney Bean, the Popobawa, and Diz.

@The Immortal Angel Newton: If you want to take a shot at Charlie, go ahead. One of his victims was 12, so that may help his chances.

Edited by falcontalons on Jul 7th 2019 at 6:34:29 AM

As Diz doesn't seem quite finished I'll add to my suspicion that he's not played seriously. This claim that the aliens are played straight comes across as difficult to believe when their leader wants to destroy the Earth for failing his purity standards because... a child skipped school? Diz tries to hijack this plan because he thinks they should instead destroy planets because... um, muahahaha? Yeah, not buying this.

My second "Sniper: Ghost Warrior" EP

What's the Work?

After the success of "Sniper: Ghost Warrior", CI Games studio almost immediately started development of a sequel game "Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2" and released it in 2013. This time the game had only one protagonist, but this was the one who was one of the protagonists of the first game, Delta Force operative Cole Anderson. The premise of a sequel revolves around Cole Anderson and his partner CIA Special Agent Diaz trying to stop the selling of a biological virus on the black market. As soon Anderson discovers, the ones, who try to sell this virus, he realized that they are figures from his past.

My candidates are Merinov and Maddox

Who are Merinov and Maddox?

Cole Anderson's history with these two comes back a long way, with Maddox being his former partner in the US and Merinov being his informant in 1993. In 1993 Anderson and Maddox were sent to the city Sarajevo, where they supposed to meet Merinov, who in his turn supposed to lead them to take pictures of horrific war crimes of Serbian forces led by Marko Vladic, who is bombing a city and murders everyone within (pictures needed to show Vladic's true nature to UN and allow US to interfere). When they took pictures, Maddox got furious upon seeing the horrific deeds of Serbian forces and urges Anderson to assassinate Vladic, despite their superiors forbidding them from it. Maddox forced Merinov to lead them to his location and Anderson managed to snipe Vladic from afar. But then it was revealed that Merinov was a part of the Serbian forces and this was a ploy to frame Americans for Serbians war crimes in the city, while Merinov apparently would take over as a leader of Serbian forces and has them to bomb everything with mortars, including other members of Serbian forces who get in the way of their targets. Serbians capture both Anderson and Maddox, but Anderson manages to escape and when he found Merinov, he discovers that Maddox was in league with him all along, setting up Anderson and US forces, while acting like an angry soldier, who feed up with Serbian atrocities and wanted justice. He tricked Anderson to help Merinov get rid of Vladic (and later on, leave him to torturous death from Serbian soldiers) in return for half of Vladic's fortune of vast collection of weapons, planning to sell them on black market with Merinov. Anderson seemingly kills Maddox, but Merinov survived.

Back in the present Merinov and Maddox (who is revealed to be alive and becomes a bodyguard/second-in-command of Merinov's organization) become weapon dealers, who were trying to sell biological WMD (details about creation of which we find out in "Siberian Strike" DLC) to Abdel Ahmet Hassan, a very powerful terrorist, who plans to use this Bio Weapon on a border region between India and Pakistan, which would start a war between them and both Merinov and Maddox know this. They plan to specifically sell the Bio Weapon to Hassan because of Hassan's plans, since after the war will start, Merinov and Maddox will make a fortune supplying both sides of the war with weaponry.

Anderson and Diaz arrive at the meeting place, where Merinov was supposed to sell Bio Weapon to Hassan and kill both Hassan and Merinov (who tried to gun them down from helicopter). Tracking down Maddox, who tried to escape with Bio Weapon (to sell it to another client on his own), Anderson killed him with an assistance of Diaz.

Heinousness?

Assisted war crimes of Marko Vladic, solely to kill him and "inherit" his fortune, as well as continuing bombing the city after Vladic death anyway, without caring about any of their own forces getting caught in their bombings. Also tried to frame up US for these crimes, which could have started a conflict, which in turn could lead to war.

In the present both were trying to sell dangerous biological WMD to a known terrorist, specifically because said terrorist plans to spread it across the region of two countries, which would start a war between them. A war on which Merinov and Maddox plan to cash on.

Mitigating Qualities?

None. They are not shown to care for each other beyond standard business partnership. Maddox didn't give a shit when Merinov died, planning to sell Bio Weapon later on his own and Merinov never treated Maddox as more than useful partner.

Close to the end of the game Maddox tries to justify his betrayal, saying that US government doesn't care about them anyway (calling them "Expendable") and that he needs to make a fortune on his own, but this rings beyond hollow. Also, in the finale he saved Anderson from death, only to immediately try to kill him, as he wanted to be the one who gets to kill his former partner (in sort of "Only One Allowed To Defeat You" kind of way).

Verdict?

I will say Yes.

Hello, everyone. Well, this one of those rare occasions for me where I reserved a work and actually have someone to talk about.

Today's candidate hails from A Voice from the Dark, an audio drama starring many of the former producers of Channel Awesome. Essentially, think of it as a Spiritual Successor to the anniversary movies they used to do, like Suburban Knights or To Boldly Flee. While still comedic like those films, this story is also takes inspiration from many horror tales. And the Big Bad is right out of a Cosmic Horror story...

Who Are They and What Do They Do?

The titular Voice from the Dark is a remnant of powerful entity that invaded from another dimension many years ago. It planned to conquer this dimension as it had done to countless others, but its physical form was unable to survive outside of its own realm. In its final moments, it let out a scream so it could continue to spread its influence across the world. The Voice reached out to Obed Scarsdale, a wealthy explorer who became obsessed with constructing a mansion to help give it a physical body again. He tried to fight its influence and built an expansive maze below the manor's foundations, intending to trap the Voice with the help of sound-dampening walls. However, the Voice drew power from the presence of large groups and began to take hold of the people who worked for Scarsdale. When two workers were trapped in a pit during its construction, the Voice silenced their cries for help and had them buried alive in concrete by their co-workers.

After the mansion was built, the Voice whispered to one of Scarsdale's maids, Emma. She was converted into of the Voice's heralds, and was instructed to head to the attic and scream. The air ducts up there spread all across the manor, and her scream would allow the Voice to stabilize and reach its full power. Anderson, Scarsdale's friend, learned about their scheme and killed her before she could reach the attic. More and more tragedies befell the mansion, until finally the Voice drove a group of Scarsdale's assistants mad. They slaughtered each other in droves, and Scarsdale boarded up the mansion in the hopes that no one would ever awaken the Voice again.

Many years later, Linkara wanted to host a surprise get-together with the former producers of Channel Awesome. Diamanda Hagan convinced him that Scarsdale Manor would be the perfect location for one. In reality, Diamanda wanted to unleash the Voice and have it destroy the world for her own amusement. As Linkara hired party-planners to set up an elaborate scavenger hunt, the Voice's agents went to work to prepare for its ascent. Once all the producers were gathered to the mansion, their collective thoughts woke the Voice and sent them all tumbling to the catacombs below.

It's here where the Voice put its plan into motion. It brought Emma back as a ghost in the hopes that she'd complete her task to stabilize the Voice with her scream. It then zombified the party-planners Linkara had hired and sent them to tear apart the sound technicians. The Voice had also been reaching out to Dr. Vivisen, a Mad Scientist who could build a physical body strong enough to contain the Voice's raw power.

Eventually, the other producers had learned about the Voice and planned to stop it. But their actions just made things worse. The group running from the zombies led them to its original body that allowed them to break the seal containing the Voice. Another group stopped the ghost of Anderson from stopping Emma, believing that he was one of the Voice's agents. And while one group was successful in destroying the body Vivisen had made, that just meant the Voice would possess one of them and switch hosts once their bodies burned out. And thus, the Voice possessed the body of H.P. Lovecraft as Emma's screams echoed through the mansion.

Luckily, Emma was stopped before the Voice could reach its full power, so it was still getting used to its new body. The zombies had captured ERod to serve as Lovecraft's replacement once the Voice had used his body up. It then gathered its followers together as it waited for its form to properly stabilize. Meanwhile, the remaining producers gathered together and came up with a plan to defeat the Voice once and for all. Since the Voice was a being of pure sound, the right anti-frequency would be able to cancel it out. And fortunately for them, they found the exact frequency that would be able to kill it for good.

The critics split into two, one to fight the Voice's minions while the rest set up a karaoke machine. The Voice offered them a chance to surrender and become its servants, but it failed. Once the producers had taken out most of the Voice's followers, it simply restored them full health. But the producers had distracted the Voice long enough. And so, by singing a group karaoke session of "The Time Warp", the frequency of the song destabilized the Voice and purged it from Lovecraft's body.

The manor eventually collapsed upon the Voice's death and its foundations sank into a giant sinkhole. While everyone celebrated aboard Linkara's spaceship, some of them began to wonder if the Voice was really gone for good. The series ends with some ominous whispers, hinting that the Voice had survived.

Redeeming Qualities?

The Voice has followers who bow to its every whim, but the Voice doesn't offer anything in return. It's perfectly willing to take away the autonomy from people if it suits its needs, and is willing to drive people to madness to get what it wants. It offers the producers a chance to surrender, but only if they become its servants and help bring about the end of the world. It has to rely on its agents because of how weak it is at the moment, but its heavily implied that they won't be spared once its escapes from the manor. There's a brief bit where it stops Vivisen from assaulting ERod, but that's because it suspects he's trying to rile Vivisen up so he can escape.

Freudian Excuse?

The Voice is trying to enter a physical body once again and escape Scarsdale Manor so people around the world can hear its voice. We're told by the Voice itself what that will mean. Those who hear it will become mindless worshippers praising its name before they succumb to its raw power. Those who don't will be killed on sight. Its mentioned in one of Scarsdale's journals that the Voice has done this to countless worlds before, and it would likely continue to do so after it was finished with Earth.

Heinousness?

First of all, yes, the Voice is taken as a serious threat. The previous anniversary specials had a lot of Mood Whiplash that meant it was hard to take the villains too seriously despite their actions. There's a more even balance between the horror and comedy here, and the Voice is never treated as a joke. Even its death by karaoke is more like it was defeated by The Power of Rock than a cheap gag.

Next up, the other villains. Most of them, like Emma or Vivisen, are mere agents for the Voice. They simply bend to its will and their agency is likely impaired because of the Voice's influence. We also have Goofy Gary, a killer doll who acts a scout for the Voice. Gary is played for laughs for the most part, as his immortal nature turns him into a Butt-Monkey as the series goes on. And then there's Diamanda, who was the one who wanted to release the Voice in the first place. A huge part of her character is her Comedic Sociopathy, and within the series we see plenty of jokes about her abusing her minion for the most minor of infractions. She did feel some resentment over not being invited to the previous anniversaries, but she admits she just wants to Voice to kill everyone because she's evil. Diamanda does eventually turn against the Voice, as she's completely underwhelmed by how the apocalypse is going.

Now, most of the Voice's backstory are told through Scarsdale's journals the group finds in the mansion. It's only until the final part does the Voice actually get proper dialogue by speaking through Lovecraft. We do see its agents doing its work, and we do see (well, hear anyway) the group stumble upon the bloody corpses the zombies tore apart. The Voice does get a fair amount to say, so we know its able to think along human lines and it doesn't seem to have Blue-and-Orange Morality. There's not a lot to go from its personality other than its completely focused on the task at hand and doesn't want to waste valuable time.

Verdict?

I'm unsure. The Voice has a fair body-count to its name, and we're given a lot of info about what it plans to do once it escapes its imprisonment. Its only in the final part do we see the Voice actually speaking, so I'm not sure if its able to escape Generic Doomsday Villain territory. There's not a lot to go on from its personality, other then it wishes to be heard and its lack of care of human life. I leave it up for the thread to decide.

Yes to the Sniper duo, and a more tentative yes to the Voice. Also, RIP Cameron Boyce.

Edited by falcontalons on Jul 7th 2019 at 7:50:59 AM

sure to the sniper duo and tentative yes to the voice

To the three candidates above

Yes to the Sniper duo and a tentative yes to the Voice.

Edited by Bullman on Jul 7th 2019 at 9:49:28 AM

Hey, all. So I recently finished watching story playthroughs of Tales of Beseria and Tales of Vesperia, and after looking at the Tales Series monster page I'm seriously wondering if we should cut Innominat from the former and to a much lesser extent Alexander Cumore from the latter.

Innominat I would really appreciate someone finding the original EP for if they could, since I remember seeing it but not when - because I feel like he has serious moral agency issues. It's all wrapped up in the game's metaphysics and I'm not sure how much detail to go into, which is another reason I'd appreciate the effortpost, but basically I'm not sure how much control he has over his Mind Rape 'hunger' (including the bit actually mentioned at the end of his current writeup), and there are also a couple of moments where the memories of his not-evil host body seem to break through that have me wondering. Subjectively he just doesn't feel at all like a CM to me, more like a living tool for the real driving villains of the game. (Who themselves are clear-cut WIEs, although I would love to qualify Melchior, because fuck that guy.)

As for Cumore, as I said it's a much lesser issue, but I just feel like he's totally overshadowed by Magistrate Ragou from the same game, who is IMO at the same tier but worse in every way. Cumore enslaves the populations of two towns to carry out, admittedly evil, orders; Ragou abuses the people of his city and feeds them (including kids, which Cumore never explicitly does - although the characters think he would) to monsters just because he gets his kicks out of it.

I will freely admit, though, that I may also be influenced here by the fact that I just find him very hard to take seriously as a CM due to his truly awful attire in a rare JRPG that otherwise avoids it with its villains, not to mention how generally pathetic he is.

Edited by nrjxll on Jul 7th 2019 at 10:01:10 AM

Couldn't find with a search? He popped up on the first page for me... anyways, the EP is here.

Based on your information, Cumore sounds like a cut; I'm not commenting on the other guy until I or someone else can find the EP.

Edited by falcontalons on Jul 7th 2019 at 8:06:18 AM

@nrjxll Innominat... I recall he was E Pd by Phi Sat. Here's the EP for him

I very much agree with cutting Innominat for agency issues. I'm much less certain about cutting Cumore though.

Oh, and Merniov, Maddox, and the Voice

Edited by lrrose on Jul 7th 2019 at 11:13:07 AM

Voice and Sniper Duo.

Sure to Merinov, Maddox and the Voice.

Merniov, Maddox, and the Voice

Honestly I've been meaning to ask on Immoment as his character page seems to indicate that he doesnt actually have much control over what he's doing. Mixed in with a weird origin. I didn't ask since his entry is so new I figured that should have been hashed out already.

Edited by miraculous on Jul 7th 2019 at 8:20:25 AM

Innominat is an ancient Eldritch Abomination who was incarnated when Laphicet, an eleven-year old child and the protagonist Velvet's younger brother was killed in a voluntary blood sacrifice. He has the appearance and memories of Laphicet. The problem is that it's vague as to whether he is an ancient being taking the form of Laphicet (in which case he might count) or whether he is Laphicet corrupted by Innominat's hunger and taking out his frustrations on Velvet (in which case he doesn't count). For what it's worth, Velvet defeats him when Laphicet's personality causes him to throw a temper tantrum, which would imply that it is the latter. Either way, Innominat's situation is too vague to definitively say that he has agency over his actions.

Edited by lrrose on Jul 7th 2019 at 11:29:13 AM

With that information, I'll throw in a vote to cut Innominat.

Haven't played it but if this is a case of a GSV of eldritch origins that just pops up at the end to be evil I'm also pretty suspect of agency. With the likes of Ouroborus his personality and goals are fully spelled out, this doesn't quite seem to measure up.

Cut Innominat and Cumore.