Question for my Followers · 11:15pm Jun 17th, 2016
So this is less one of my regular blogs and more a question I've been pondering. Feel free to answer if you feel like it.
What kind of antagonist do you prefer in a MLP creepy-pasta/horror story?
The oldest stories (and many of the more popular ones) tend to take a member of the shows cast, be it Mane 6, background pony, or villain from the show, and have them in the roll of a killer. Sometimes their motivation is revenge, others insanity, and others curiosity, sometimes there's no motivation given at all and we're just left with a mystery as to why they do what they do. Do you like thinking of a member of the Mane 6 as having a dark secret? Is that your prefered antagonist?
Other stories put OC's in a similar role. Once again, sometimes their motivations are made clear (usually as part of their back story) and other times they are even more of an unknown. That fear of the unknown can be powerful, but there seem to be markedly less of this type of antagonist. Do you prefer the horror element of a story to be something fresh and new, even though it lacks familiarity? Do you prefer the villain to be an entirelyunknown quantity that you get to learn about? That you never learn more about?
Finally, do you prefer your horror antagonists to be mundane or supernatural? Do you prefer the scheming killer or psycho slasher type? Or do you prefer a literal monster of some kind? An undead abomination? A ghost of some type?
I'm not sure what my own answers would be to all those questions, so don't think you have to answer them all if you're not sure.
Any feedback would be appreciated though.
I like both OC's and show characters with a dark side equally. I also enjoy antagonists that you slowly get to learn about through the story. Lastly I love em all, Mundane, and supernatural. Scheming, and psychotic. And above all I love evil twisted monstrosities from the darkest abyss, that haunt your every nightmare and waking moment.
Variety is the spice of life, and death.
I prefer the Candymare!
I like supernatural antogonists the most. Scary forces the nobody knows about and hasn't the foggiest clues how to beat.
That reminds me, I still haven't given you the info for Red Butcher yet.
Some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused, who am I to disagree?
Sweet dreams are made of screams... the insane killers are my favourite
4029639 Fair enough. I like variety too, if I'm being honest, though there are things I like more than others...
4029860 Blatant pandering will get you everywhere.
4030104 I can see that. To be honest, I've always found such supernatural forces to be the most frightening, because they don;t follow any rules. There's no point where you can actually consider yourself 'safe'. With a more mundane threat like a killer or even some monsters, if you run fast and far enough or if you put a locked door between yourself and the threat you might have some modicum of security... with a ghost or a demonic entity they can just appear where ever you are, or reach through your dreams or through a mirror. There's no place that is safe.
Of course that can be overplayed to the point of ridiculousness. There are points in some J-Horror and even movies like A Nightmare On Elm Street where the deck is so hopelessly stacked against the protagonists that it just becomes funny.
4030325 I think I've actually used Pipsqueak in two of my stories now... though he's a victim (and a pretty quickly eradicated victim too) on both occasions. I remember a tumblr blog where Twist was 'twisted' and had a tendency to kill people with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. It wasn't especially scary though.
I actually kind of like a combo I call the 'Scheming Slasher'. They seem mindless and like their just taking victims of opportunity, and would be easy to outsmart... but then it turns out that they are much more intelligent than they've been acting, and have made several arraignments to make sure that there's no chance of you escaping once they start going on their rampage. It does suffer from the same problem as the 'supernatural' killers though... once the deck is sufficiently stacked against the protagonist, the story becomes a bit farcical, and it's just one big comedy of gore at that point.
It's nice when there's a sliver of hope, even if it's false hope, for the protagonists to believe in.
4030618 Insanity is a fun element, but one that has to be carefully managed. An insane character does not usually believe themselves to be insane, after all, and work on their own internal logic. It can be fun to watch a manic character just go nuts and behave in a deranged and disturbing manner, but if there's no internal logic to their actions it's worse than a joke, it's a parody of actual mental illness.
When it comes to 'insane' characters, I actually prefer to go for quiet insanity, the kind of madness that looks perfectly sane right up until it's sliding the knife into your back. By contrast my more manic characters tend to be perfectly sane...they're just enjoying themselves. I think that may be close to my own preference.
4030141 Indeed you have not.
4032621 I totally agree with everything!
Coming up, well now that I've got free time.
A revenge driven Spike is my taste. Being abused by the Mane Six and ignored by his mother figure in Celestia and even aunt figure in Luna.
I prefer something like Cthulhu or similarly. Antagonists who are far beyond our understanding and existence that they shatter your psyche. As for Mundane... there's nothing scarier then someone who do things for no reason other then they want to SHOW how evil they are. They don't want to be redeemed. They don't want your compassion or pity. If you're their friend it's only because you're a tool for them to use until you're potential is used up. Your Candy Mare sort of mixes BOTH sides of Supernatural and Mundane that I like in a horror antagonist. However you said choose and ultimately I would have to say beings from beyond human, or equine, comprehension.