#(but still. not a big fan of entire races and species being depicted as evil bc That's Just How They Are)

[funnywormz]

one thing about me is that whenever a series introduces a species of alien/monster etc and is like "these guys are all evil. every single one. completely irredeemable. they love killing and destruction and they have no function in the narrative outside of being awful and hurting people. they're all the same and none of them have the capacity to be good." i will always turn around and be like "but what if there was a nice and friendly one"

[graceofagodswrath]

Aliens learning of Eldritch Horrors: Lovecraft Mythos

I’m a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft horror. I know most of the big stories and smaller ones. Cthulhu is horrifying, but honestly there are worse. The big man is one of the saner entities out there.

So I recently pulled down a Lovecraft story book from my shelf and was going back through the stories, and it made me think: how would aliens react to hearing these stories? The idea that reality is simply the dream of one ancient forgotten god, including the lesser gods. I mean, if you actually read them there is some wacky shot in there. A mythos centered around the mysteriousness of the unknown, and a true hell hidden behind blissful ignorance.

Then I thought, “what if aliens discovered these things and had their own mythos?” What if every species has stories like these, but humans have the largest collection of them all? Perhaps aliens know that these things are true, but keep their distance. Then they discover humans and their extensive experiences with these ancient evils. Then aliens do something stupid and humans reveal big secrets yayyyy. Now I’m just spitballing.

Written from the perspective of an alien historian charged with cataloging traces of the Lovecraftian mythos.

WARNING: Depictions of violence, blood, and suicide.

~~~~~~

The tales were old as time. Older than the most ancient of civilizations within the cosmos. Some evidence could always be found within every culture. Whether an art piece, an artifact, or an oral story. But all knew how to deal with such things: leave it be.

As alien races began to connect and introduce their cultures, it became apparent there was more out there than we ever imagined. But we also knew better. We catalogued the tales, the artifacts, every scrap of evidence of these ancient beings, and then we ignored them. If any of the stories were true, we needed to heed the warnings.

But we were not prepared for the Terran race. Humans. A strange alien race from a death world long thought to be uninhabitable. Now found to be beautiful. While smaller and weaker than most races, they make up for it in their cunning and wild attitudes towards the universe. Many races fear their eagerness and unimaginably huge ego, while others welcome it. Such races usually burn out quickly without interference from others. But Humans were… different. They knew how to survive, even their own kind. When we added their knowledges to our libraries, many thought it would be the data we needed to spread into the cosmos.

How wrong we were.

It was an acolyte in charge of sorting through the new data that found it all. The stories. The mass knowledge of the unknown. More than that, they were first hand experiences of the ancient evils thought to be mere myth. Yet here it was. More accumulated knowledge than every race combined.

Granted, the stories told no more about these things than others did. The difference was the accuracy. How the Humans chose to write down every piece of literature and oral history they could remember. It was remarkable. For many a klick then we sat scrounging through these tales, rewriting and translating the words.

The more we read, the more we realized what all this may mean. The Human stories dictated these ancient creatures living on their world, Terra, aka Earth. Countless inscriptions of encounters with unknown beasts and horrors. Yet when asked about such things, the Terrans only shrugged. They said that those stories had long been dismissed as ravings of the old. If such things existed, they would have found them.

It was shocking to find the young race so ignorant of these things, even though we were guilty of the same crime. But we placated ourselves, claimed we only had bits and pieces whereas the Humans had an entire network of evidence. But the Terrans did not care. These were bed time stories to them.

We dove deeper and found that while most Humans dismissed the evidence, there were many who still believed. We were warned against finding those that held more evidence and knowledge, even ancient practices of this lost culture. The humans that believed such things had created communities of wild religious belief, cults that were not afraid to defy human societal law. They were labeled extremely dangerous.

But we dove. We leaped. And we didn’t even look underneath us. We became guilty of doing the one thing Humans were known for without realizing that we were not human. We did not have their instincts nor their rationalization and wild zeal. Their immortal adventurous youth.

We did what we were warned against. We sought out a cult. These humans welcomed us, celebrated with us, danced wildly. They spoke even stranger. They seemed to think we had come not to document their history and knowledge, but to welcome the “old ones” as well. We soon realized we had “jumped from the frying pan and into the fire” as humans would put it. We walked into a deeper hell.

We were shown histories, stories, artifacts, more evidence than a historian could dream of. It was a zircasian mine, to put it plainly. The humans did not defend or act cautiously as we expected. They rejoiced. When asked why, they relented that other humans were skeptics “destined for the black pits” but that they knew we understood. They expected us to help them in some way.

It was horrifying. It was hell. It was worse than any religion could damn their evil to. The humans had tricked us. They took my colleagues, split them open and bled them dry. They committed such horrible acts upon the many colors of blood I dare not write them for others to read. The worse came after.

It was indescribable. I can only depict what I understood. The humans danced and writhed in my colleagues blood as I and Yina’sa watched. They kept us alive to “bear witness to the return.” It was as if the fabric of space was torn, contorted, ripped apart to reveal the hidden void. Black tentacles and appendages slithered out, mouths full of teeth and fangs on the skin. But the worst was the eyes. The eyes of these ancient beasts. They were eyes of all races, yet not. They glowed and swirled, power emanating like a beating heart drumming in my ears. The humans still danced and chanted, screeching with sick delight. The chanting became “unearthly”, deep and strange. As if the humans were no longer just the ones chanting.

That was when I closed my eyes. I tried to block out the sounds, tried to pretend I was anywhere but there. I heard Yina’sa screaming, then laughing her Urulian laugh. She was screeching and cackling just as the humans were, shouting hideous things in her native tongue. I just wanted it to be over, over over Over OVER OVER OVER OV-

Then gunshots. True screams. Then a cosmic screech. As if the universe was crying out in pain. The ground shook. But I kept my eyes shut. The chanting was still repeating in my ears, I could t make it stop.

I barely remembered what happened afterwards. I had to be informed by my rescuers, a team of human soldiers. They had caught wind of our escapade, and had tried to reach us before it was too late. But alas. They had dragged me from that cavern, the only survivor.

I found out that Yina’sa had struck her head against the floor until her skull split open. To find out I was the only survivor among my group was…not ideal.

The humans informed me that they cult we had contacted was one that had been under surveillance for years, suspected of extreme violence and illegal obscenities. The human governments tried to warn us against contact knowing these humans we violent and dangerous. They knew these stories were not false. They had tried to dissuade us for our safety.

But we ignored them. Now blood is spilled, and I shall never forget those blood curdling screams, nor the chant the still beats in my head.

Nah’ka thm da

Nah’ka thm da

Nah’ka thm da

~~~~~~

Wow I kinda went off the rails. Wanted to write about aliens discovering humans having eldritch evidence, then trying to keep humans from finding the eldritch beasts. But then it turned into alien hubris and humans keeping the aliens away from the shit. Surprisingly this was kinda tame compared to my other posts. And for those wondering, I have more Humans are feral stories lined up, don’t worry about it.

Hope you all enjoyed. I wrote this feverishly at 10am, so I apologize for grammar and spelling mistakes.

Let me know if you have other suggestions for stories, and if you want me Lovecraftian stuff. Love writing about eldritch monsters.

[thecorteztwins]

🔥 villains. 🔥 the hellfire club 🔥the difference between naive and unintelligent characters

Welp, this all got STUPIDLY LONG and I’m really sorry. Under a cut because HUUUUUGE.

🔥 villains.There’s just been a robbery! All the jewels in the museum’s vault have been stolen! The culprits are….Sabretooth and Magneto!Yeah, that doesn’t sound right, does it? Thievery isn’t really something either of them do, they’re not bank robber or cat burglar types at all. And Magneto’s not a fan of Sabes to my memory, it’s unlikely he’d work with him unless it was essential to his ACTUAL goals…which this isn’t. But hey, they’re both bad guys, so they must do ALL the bad things! No matter what it is, it’s in-character if it’s evil or unlawful, right?This is the logic that I see running both often in fandom, and also sometimes with canon writers. There’s a mentality that if someone is villainous or bad in ONE way, then they must be villainous or bad in ALL ways. I think there’s always been this misunderstanding, as people do tend to think in black and white a lot, but I think it’s also increased with the rise of purity culture in Tumblr, where people/characters/works are All Good or All Bad, and if the bad guys aren’t depicted as 1000% heinously evil then it’s APOLOGISM. An example in RP would be that more than once I’d had people expect Fabian to be a racist. I can see why, given that he expresses sexism, classism, a bit of ableism, and disgust with physical mutations. But not only does he never express racism, he never expresses racism DESPITE AMPLE OPPORTUNITY. Think about it—his main antagonists are Magneto (Jewish) and Quicksilver (Jewish and Romani), he once personally fights Bishop (Black and Indigenous Australian) one on one, he’s on one team with Shinobi (half white, half Japanese), and his allies/underlings in the second-gen Acolytes included people who are African American, Moroccan (and Muslim-coded), and Inuit. And he never, ever, EVER even THOUGHT anything related to race (or religions that are usually implicitly tied to race) about ANY of them. Given how blatant his other prejudices are, I think he would very much let the reader KNOW if he were racist, anti-Semitic, etc. An example in canon…look, I’m sorry to bring up this dead horse again, but it is the best example that I presently have—Sebastian Shaw making the “women’s work” comment. As with Fabian, I get why it makes sense on the surface. He’s a powerful man, the proverbial rich old white guy, and he’s part of an organization where women walk around in lingerie as a general rule. It seems like it makes sense, it does, I grant that. But then if you actually look at his history…for 40 years of canon, he’s been allies and enemies with many powerful women, and never made a remark about their gender, never relegated lesser or menial tasks to them, never treated any of them differently as partners or foes, he actually never even flirts with any of them, be they opponents or partners in crime  (except that ONE issue when Emma is in Storm’s body and he kisses her…yeah that was a weird issue, why does a telepath need a gun to switch bodies?) Which is pretty unusual for a male Claremont villain. And he actually reacts with “I…see.” the one time a comrade makes a genuinely sexist remark. He doesn’t agree with him, he’s more like “wow ok I can’t believe he said that but I guess I’ll let it go since I want to recruit him” So, it’s actually VERY odd for him to suddenly say something like that, once you know the character. Especially since, like Fabian, he had TONS of opportunity in the past and he’s also not a character that most writers want to seem sympathetic or likeable. So it’s unlikely the writers were just trying to make him look good by playing down some secret sexist tendencies all this time or something. It’s more likely he just doesn’t have them BUT IS STILL A HORRIBLE PERSON! He just doesn’t need to be horrible in every way! Most people, even the MOST terrible, aren’t horrible in EVERY WAY POSSIBLE.That’s also why I try to avoid having Fabian being too homophobic (beyond “I can convert lesbians”) or transphobic, despite the fact that I *could* justify it (since those things are very intertwined with sexism)—because he’s awful enough. Giving him additional bigotries just seems stupidly redundant and cheap. Especially since I think people actually hate a bigoted character more than they hate a murderer; like I feel like if Duggan ever graduates to Shaw making a racist or homophobic remark, I might have to close his blog, but it’s fine to have blogs for fictional serial killers. By the same token, a villain having good traits doesn’t somehow eliminate their bad ones, especially if the good and bad traits are unrelated to each other. A mass murderer supervillain is not “actually a good guy deep down” because he loves his family; it’s actually VERY common for even genocidal dictators to care for their own. Hell, not to go all Godwin, but Hitler was an animal-lover and had a beloved dog. You can certainly point to good traits to show that a villain isn’t ALL bad (which as I just said, I support) but not being “all bad” isn’t the same as “actually a good person and just misunderstood!” Like, Shaw being an egalitarian in a lot of regards or was good to Madelyne Pryor or loved his father, doesn’t change he’s a heartless, morally bankrupt monster who abused his son and sold out an entire oppressed species (his own, no less) for his own financial gain. Mystique is an incredibly complex character, far more so than Shaw, but her love for Destiny and Rogue and many of her other good points don’t change that she hunted down other mutants for the government, abused her human son for not being a mutant, has committed rape by deception numerous times (though I think that’s due to the writers not realizing that’s a thing), constantly tries to manipulate her daughter’s life and choices, and I’m pretty sure I recall an issue where she framed a guy for domestic abuse just for funsies?Basically, villains are people. They have individual different traits and beliefs and motives, and those things will drive them towards individual different types of villainy. One villain probably won’t do the same kind of villainy that another does. Likewise, someone being a shitty person in one way, or many ways, doesn’t mean they will be in ALL ways. Pointing this out isn’t the same thing as denying their flaws or defending them, but some people do do this and that’s wrong too. Nuance needs to be allowed for. Pointing out Shaw isn’t awful in every way doesn’t mean I think he’s a misunderstood woobie whose crimes should all be forgiven. Pointing out Mystique has done awful shit doesn’t mean I think she’s pure evil and all her complex points should be ignored. It just means I don’t think characters should be strawmanned by fans OR writers as paragons or demons, especially when it contradicts what canon has actually established (with the caveat that canon is dumb sometimes too, and also some characters canonically ARE one extreme or the other, but I’m talking about ones who AREN’T)🔥 the hellfire clubI’ll give two on this! One is “unpopular” just in the sense it’s not something I’ve ever heard anyone express, but I’ve never heard an opinion in opposition to it either. The other is “unpopular” in that it does directly contradict a popularly held opinion.The first is that I think it’s stupid that Grant Morrisson made The Hellfire Club into a strip club, and it’s stupid that writers since depicted it this way. The Hellfire Club is shown in the 80s and 90s as being, first and foremost, an elite social club for the wealthiest and most powerful people in society. It’s basically a big posh country club, and most of its members are just regular people. Super duper rich people, but still normal people, lots of old money and new money and big business owners and politicians and probably royalty/nobility. Most of what they’re doing is big fancy, stuffy galas and balls, that kind of thing. But under the surface, it’s hinted that there is indeed a much more sexual underside to it. The female staff wear very fetishy maid costumes, the female Inner Circles literally have dominatrix lingerie as their getups, and while we actually never see what goes on beyond the closed doors in the 80s, nor was anything directly stated, the hints are definitely there that it’s as libertine in the private rooms as they are prim and proper in the ballrooms. We don’t know WHAT exactly is happening, only that it’s dark and decadent and surely sexual in some kind of “abnormal” (read: kink shaming) way.And then it turns out it’s just a strip club where the dancers wear corsets? Really? REALLY? I’m sorry, you expect me to belief that these oh-so-forbidden and secretive sexual delights that are available only to the richest and most powerful people in the world are…a TITTY BAR WITH NO ACTUAL TITTIES EVEN OUT???? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! It’s so fucking juvenile! It feels like something a 13 year old made up while trying to come up with the mos edgy, shocking, “sexy” thing he could. It just…doesn’t work. It doesn’t work firstly because it completely took away the whole “upper class veneer” that is as much an essential part of the HFC as the sex. In fact, I think more so. Writers, artists, and fans all like to focus on ZOMG THE SEXY COSTUMES but thematically speaking, I think the fact it’s an elite organization exclusive to the super-wealthy is much more important; that should be what they’re really about as villains, but writers end up focusing way too much on the shock value of the kink, and that’s how you wind up with stuff like this. The second reason it doesn’t work is that…it isn’t even shocking. When what they were doing was kept hidden, the reader could imagine no limit of decadence and depravity. When it’s revealed, and revealed as something that’s frankly super and common and TAME (seriously, strip clubs aren’t edgy these days) that you can get anywhere else, you’re left wondering why exactly anyone gives a shit about being in the HFC if this is all it really is? We should NEVER get to see what the HFC patrons truly do in private, and we should definitely never get shown that it’s just watching a woman pole dance with Victorian underwear on. That doesn’t make the HFC look sexual, it makes them look like PRUDES!Honestly, I do actually love the sexy sinful decadent aspect, but it’s overtaken the “extremely rich and powerful people trying to rule the world from behind the scenes through political and economic manipulation” aspect (which is far more interesting and villainous) that I kind of wish sometimes they had been created without the kink or colonial cosplay aspects, and instead had just worn some 80s powersuits.Now, here’s the “unpopular as in contradicts the popular” opinion. I see the Hellfire Club described a lot, in canon and fandom, as an organization of powerful MEN, as a bunch of MEN who just want to control others, as a BOY’S club…but aside from Sebastian Shaw, all the most prominent and effective members of the Club have been women? I mean, think about it. The names most synonymous with “Hellfire Club” in fandom are Emma Frost, Selene, Jean Grey as Dark Phoenix, and Sebastian Shaw. Shaw’s the ONLY dude that really gets any focus from writers OR fans; the women are almost always utilized more by writers and remembered more by fans. Heck, in the London Branch of the Hellfire Club, NONE of the male members of the Inner Circle even got NAMES, while ALL the women did. Now, of course, individual women in an organization being successful in said organization and beloved by fans/writers, doesn’t mean the organization itself can’t also be sexist. And like most people, the disparity between the costumes of both the Inner Circle and the mere staff does lead me to believe that it was probably founded and run only by men originally, and I bet women probably weren’t even allowed in for a long time (especially given that it was established in the 1700s) But that’s my HEADCANON. That’s what I EXTRAPOLATE. But what’s actually on the page IN THE PRESENT is women that are on equal footing with men, or superior to them. They’re not just simply ALLOWED in the Inner Circle, they’ve been dominating it from the first appearance with Emma ruling it alongside Shaw over Leland and Pierce, and then Selene coming in to challenge Shaw and Emma (with Shaw being terrified of her) in a way that none of the other members (all male—Leland, Pierce, Von Roehm) could. Gender is never brought up by anyone, even the most despicable male HFC members like Donald Pierce. So while I believe it was founded by sexist men, the Inner Circle seems pretty egalitarian now.But of course, there’s the costumes. I absolutely think it’s a sexist setup that the men get to wear (super ugly) period cosplay while the women are in fetish lingerie. It seems to be the standard uniform, and the fact that they haven’t CHANGED it shows that there’s definitely still some sexism.Except…it doesn’t seem to be a rule in-universe that the women HAVE to wear them? We actually see female members of the HFC, such as Selene, wearing clothing other than that while hanging out there; there’s actually a scene wear Selene is wearing pants and a sleeveless turtleneck with gloves. Maddy also wears a lot of black leather when she’s a member, but it doesn’t look like the Hellfire Club ladies getup, it looks like all the other stuff she was wearing in the 90s. And when Selene, Emma, etc., AREN’T in the Hellfire Club…they often still dress exactly like that, or in a similiar manner. I think it’s pretty clear that no one is MAKING them wear the uniforms, they just LIKE them, they’re probably “encouraged but optional” or something like that. And Emma even has that WHOLE DAMN SPEECH about how this is her armor, how it empowers her, etc. That said, while I don’t think any other CHARACTERS are making these women dress like that, I do think the writers/artists are. If a real woman made the speech that Emma did, I’d be like “ok sure, you go girl, do what feels empowering for you”. But Emma ISN’T a real woman. Every word in her mouth in that panel is being put there by Chris Claremont, a horny man with a dominatrix fetish who is trying to justify it by selling it as feminist. That is what it is. But just because that’s the case on a meta level…on an in-universe level, no one makes these women dress like this, and that’s very evident, and while the way they’re treated by writers/artists is definitely affected by them being women, the way other characters, including the Hellfire Club men, treats them, isn’t. At least not til shitty recent stuff. (I’ve seen some people think SHAW made the women dress like that….yeah, sure, like he could make SELENE do anything? He’s completely afraid of her but somehow can make her wear something she doesn’t want? Emma and Selene dress like that no matter where they are and whether they’re presently HFC members or not, but somehow he’s making them do that? HOW DOES ANYONE GIVE THIS GUY THAT MUCH CREDIT?)Basically, I think people are TRYING to be feminist, but it often ends up feeling like SEXISM to me? Because it’s totally ignoring and erasing the power and agency that these women exert in this organization, and often even claiming that it’s actually the men who have all the control, when aside from Shaw it’s usually the ladies running the show. It just seems disrespectful to me. It’s like, as much as people are claiming to hate a lack of agency for female characters, they seem more comfortable with that idea than a situation where women actually HAD it. Maybe it’s because they’re villains, maybe it’s because the costumes really are distracting and unequal no matter how the writers try to justify it (again, I wish they’d just gone with business suits), but there seems to be an overall fandom determination to insist on women like Emma Frost and Selene as victims or simply accomplices to a greater (male) villain, rather than embracing them as the Top Tier Bad Bitches they were/are, and, again, that seems more sexist to me than not. But I worry people will think I’m sexist if I say that. But you know me, you know I LOVE agency for female characters, and how I rail against it when see them ACTUALLY lacking it in comics, so you know it’s not that. I think it’s just a part of the rise in purity culture that even “progressive” people would rather see a woman forced or coerced to be a victim than choose of her own volition to be a villain and be GOOD at it :/🔥the difference between naive and unintelligent charactersWell, firstly, obviously there IS a difference. Naivete is just a lack of experience or learned knowledge, neither of which has anything to do with intelligence. A naive character may make mistakes in a new situation based on their lack of knowledge about it, and that may LOOK stupid to those who have this knowledge, but it’s not the same thing. I think we can agree that, say, Tony Stark isn’t stupid, but if he had to navigate in the wilderness, he might do things that experienced hikers and campers and outdoors people know are SUPER BAD IDEAS. Because this isn’t something he knows about or has experience with.So, I think considering characters who are new to this world (as is common in comics—lots of people from other dimensions, planets, and times) as stupid because they don’t know a lot of things we take as a given, is erroneous. I think it’s pretty common for fandom to look at, say, Longshot or Thor, and deem them as basically being idiots because they’re not familiar with their new environments…when in fact, we’d all be acting the same if we wound up in Asgard or Mojoworld. Not that there’s not other reasons they can’t be idiots, but not knowing what a toaster is isn’t one of them.The big difference is that naivete is a temporary state, and I think both writers and fans forget that. The character’s naivete will gradually decrease as they learn more and more. So if you’re writing an Avengers fic where Thor has been on Earth for five years so far, he probably knows what a toaster is, can order normally at a restaurant, isn’t confused by normal sights like cars or traffic lights or computers, etc., but could still be confused if he went to a Midgardian country with very different cultural norms than the ones he’s learned in the United States. Likewise, I can keep Malcolm perpetually baffled by new worlds in RP since time is kinda wobbly here and can be static or move forward or back as we like, but if I were writing him in a linear story, he would have to learn along the way about the technology and norms of other worlds as he experiences them; if he didn’t learn, THEN he would be unintelligent, not just naive. If he touches a hot stove once because he didn’t know what it was, and it burns him, that’s naive. If he touches it twice to test if it does the same thing again, that’s curious and maybe even smart, despite looking stupid to others. If he keeps doing it every day by accident, then THAT’S an idiot. Also, even a naive character may still be able to deduce that certain things are bad ideas, dangerous, etc. For instance, let’s say my character is a normal everyday girl sucked into a fantasy realm. She doesn’t understand the language, and the people around her don’t look like anything humanoid, but when all of them go quiet and still when a larger, more decorated one enters, and they all give it a lot of space, she can probably deduce that this is someone of great importance, and she probably should do what the others are doing and not risk pissing it off. She may know nothing about these beings or their customs, but she still can use her powers of observation and common sense. It may end up being a TOTALLY wrong move—for instance, maybe newcomers are meant to come introduce themselves to the leader by touching them–but it was a good, sensible guess. Whereas if she’d just walked up to the being and given it a good swift kick, that’d be unintelligent to an almost unbelievable point, and no amount of “she’s just naive!” could excuse it.Oh yeah, and optimism doesn’t automatically equate to naivete either. To be honest, I think that extreme cynicism is just as naive in its own way as thinking everything is sunshine and daisies, and I’d like to see this explored more in fiction rather than the perpetual “happy positive people are dumb and naive and just don’t know better, whereas the grumpy cynics are always smarter and more experienced” that media is so fond of.TL;DR Not only is naivete not unintelligence, it also should be a temporary state. It’s definitely cute to watch a naive character stumble around their new experiences, but in gaining those experiences, they’re going to become less naive, and make few mistakes. Naive characters should also still be capable of acting in ways that are sensible, even if they end up being wrong for the new situation. And being positive doesn’t automatically equate naivete either, nor does negativity equate to the reverse (and can be naive in itself)

[elddansurin]

there’s a pretty good character development questionnaire going around my dash right now, so i took the liberties of filling the entire thing out on my own time, because buddy, you gotta make your own destiny.

1. Who’s the oldest character of yours that you still use? I had to give this one some thought bc my gut reaction was to say Tuo, but it turns out the answer is Falshavo, because I can explicitly remember drawing him in the hazy, far gone year of early 2006 when I was taking a drivers ed course. He started out as either some bastard of a Silent Hill fanchar, or a heavily SH-"inspired" character, and I think he could have at best been called a demon? I was like 16 when I made him, cut me some slack. In any case, Fal has changed very much over the years, most recently into an original species that can best be described as something visually between a satyr and a manticore, but is actually neither of those things. For quite a while he was based out of my one world, Undecim, but recently I decided he and his ilk would be better suited to my OTHER world, Aphelion. As far as motivations go, he's swapped from evil/crazy/malevolent to a much more nap-based personality. Two things that haven't changed since I've made him, though, are that he's blind in one eye and doesn't talk very much. So there's that.

2. Who’s the oldest character of yours, defunct or not? That honor goes to Jonathan, who was definitely and absolutely a FF7 fan character back when that game was new and I was still in my larval stage. He morphed into a mental illness coping mechanism as my childhood went on and he's just had a whole lot of interesting/embarrassing iterations, but I guess that's to be expected of a character I made in fucking 1997. That said, I retired him a few years ago. Tried briefly to bring him back, but I just wasn't feeling 2.0, so I didn't force it.

3. Has creating a character ever made you realize something about yourself? I was GONNA say no, but then it just dawned on me how much time I spent creating gay male characters in my early teen years before THAT realization caught up with the rest of me. I'm not going to say the characters themselves were involved in the inevitable personal revelation (they weren't), but more than anything I just think it's proof that pieces of my brain do not always work as a cohesive whole. I knew before I knew, so to speak, and it showed up in my characters.

4. Any minor characters that have either taken over or branched off into their own stories? UHHHH Your Boy Kolja was initially a primary antagonist in Mikhail's storyline, back before I decided to fundamentally retool a lot of things about Mik's whole deal. But I'm nothing if not predictable, and I'm a guy who loves a good villain, so I ended up making Kolja FAR more fleshed out and engaging than the actual protagonist of the story. Same thing kind of happened with Anzo, who was initially kind of an offshoot wildcard character in the horrible and confusing political landscape of that entire bed of storylines. But uhhh, that didn't last.

5. Do you prefer to make human, animal, monster, or _____ characters? Why? My characters are all unambiguously human/humanoid. Even the monsters are going to have recognizably human faces because I have a hard time getting emotionally invested in a character otherwise. I'm really not sure the reasons for this. There's a few exceptions, ofc, but not many. Peeling off for a sec, in regards to making characters in TES settings, I definitely am biased toward the elven races because if I wanted to make a human character, I'd do so in own properties. Also the human races in the elder scrolls are kind of... underwhelming...

6. When creating a character, do you come up with the visual concept or the written concept first? Written concept, almost every time. The rare exception is usually with minor and/or lore-based characters, like gods or monsters, since I rarely explore those characters as deeply as I do the regular types. But if I'm making Just Some Dude, I'm probably going to have a full written concept drafted out months to years before I ever get a concrete idea (much less an actual depiction) of what he looks like.

7. Do you have characters that you know you’ll never use, but can’t bear to get rid of/recycle? I'm going to have to go ahead and call back on Jon for this one, largely based in both his history and his significance to me and my own development. He was my primary, go-to character for such a long time, I don't think it'd do him justice to ever properly put him out to pasture or recycle (and I'm a chronic recycler, so that's saying something). He kind of exists in a creative limbo, and that's where he's gonna stay.

8. Is there a character that embodies your good traits, or traits you wish you had? Good traits? In all seriousness, probably. Nothing I am consciously aware of, so cop-out answer on this one. I'm also not really one for wish-fulfillment characters, so that's a no on "person I wish I was" aspect, sorry.

9. Is there a character that embodies your bad traits? Several characters? Which ones and what traits? HAHAHA hoo boy. Gavriil is the embodiment of my general shiftlessness and crippling self doubt, Tuo embodies my crushing depression and self-destructive tendencies, Ludo represents my reoccuring fear that I’m stuck in circumstances so far beyond my control that I ought not bother to try and change, and I'm not even gonna TOUCH on which of my boys were created as blatant outlets for trauma. There's a fun little game for you, try and figure that one out yourself.

10. Is there a character that explores your interests or fetishes (orrrr is that just all of you characters)? Uh, flat no on the "fetishes" part, but yeah, most of my characters tap on my significant interests in some way or another. Most concrete example I think is Desoto, who I designed (or, well, redesigned if we're getting technical) when my interest in astronomy was at its peak, back before I realized physics is something I'm terrible at and makes me cry/change my major in college. I still love astronomy and astrophysics on a conceptual level, but the second you break out equations, I'm gone. My Boy Desoto, though, I have designed to be significantly more likely than me to do math, so good for him. Funny enough? I've never made a character who's into geology. You know, my actual field. Go figure.

11. If you have characters that embody certain traits of yours—good or bad—has writing them changed how you view those traits? Has it affected you in any way? Not really, at least I don't think so. I might wake up in the middle of the night with a better answer screaming to my forebrain, but my gut reaction is a no. I tend to go into writing something with fixed views, and I can't recall an instance of me suddenly deciding "hey, actually this thing is good/bad and I never thought of it this way." I've definitely started viewing the characters themselves differently after starting a project, but never really the traits they personify.

12.   Do you fantasize about being any of your characters, or are you more detached? Definitely the latter. I'm not shy about putting pieces of myself into the characters I make, but at the same time, I really do not see myself in them, nor do I wish to. There's a firm level of detachment in that these are my creations, and rarely do I mold the sort of character where I can in good conscience think "yeah, that's who I want to be." A big part of this is that my character creation/world building habits are and always have been rooted in maladaptive daydreaming (and I have only recently figured out the terminology for a phenomenon I was otherwise well aware of, funny how that works), and that has always been based in me trying to distance myself from who I was (and at times, am). I don't want to put myself into new shoes, I want to focus on someone who isn't me, but has weird, tenuous connections to me. If that doesn't make any sense, pretend that it does.

13. Do you create playlists for your characters? No, and that's based mostly in the sad reality that I stopped seeking out new music years ago. That, and I've never been much of an audiophile, so there'd just be so much overlap in any playlists I created that honestly, why bother. That said, I will occasionally listen to something and think "holy shit, this is ___". First example that comes to mind is Motorhead's Dust and Glass, which is very much the anthem for Ludo. Do me a favor and listen to that song, and you will know everything you need to know about Ludo. Also, I’ve got a handful of songs that make me think very much of Gav, but most recently, I decided that Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street is a good song for him. Like, also for me? But mostly Gavriil. It can be both.

14. When writing for specific characters, is there anything you have to do to get into the right mindset? I've gotta be in the right mood, and that's all it comes down to. I'm still trying to figure out the secret to writing something that's counterintuitive to my mood, but I'm not there yet. I know the answer is "just fucking do it," but here's an idea: shut up? I dunno. I'm a very flaky content creator.

15. Which character is your guilty pleasure? Right now, it is absolutely Gavriil. For a long time I had such an issue with allowing myself to have characters based out of properties that weren't my own, so I started out feeling very self-conscious about putting so much time and thought into Gav. I have since made like eight or nine more TES-based characters in his wake, but some residual sentiment still lingers! See also: I still am too self-conscious to publically share the story I've been writing with him. I'm not sure if that's rooted in me playing in somebody else's sandbox, or if the story itself is coming out of a place of extreme personal vulnerability (I wrote the bulk of it during my recent Complete Mental Breakdown™). Or maybe I'm just self-conscious about my writing in general. Who knows! But at the end of the day I absolutely love Gav and I'm having so much fun working with him. Before him was Kolja for many years, and Tuo before that. Don't get me wrong, I still adore the both of those guys, I just have a new focus for the time being.

16. Is there a character of yours who’s a real struggle to write/draw? Why do you think that is? Right now, definitely Anzo. He started out very different from what he's become, and at the end of the day, I'm still not sure what exactly I'm trying to do with him. I was/am trying to write him in a story, but it's been proving very difficult because I'm just not sure what I'm trying to accomplish with him. Initially, his core concept was based very deeply in a revenge fantasy that had gotten out of control (I mean, it was a justified revenge fantasy, but that still doesn't make it healthy, my dude, my guy). but then I started thinking a bit more about the major events in his life, and if I was making him react believably enough to what he'd endured. That, and by this time I was in some genuine, bonified darkness in my own life, and that started leaking out into the character and story very much. Now I'm stepping back and wondering, is this where I want it to go? If the answer is no, then where SHOULD it be going? I don't have an answer to that yet. So he's a hard character to write, at least for now.

17. Which character is the easiest to draw/write? I wanted to say Kolja, based in how enthusiastic I was for him for such a long time. I could tell you his story from birth to death, and there's only a few small threads that are still unclear in my mind. Unfortunately, this level of enthusiasm has left me with the understandably daunting task of, you know, actually writing it down. There's SO MUCH to sift through, and it's like scaling a damn mountain. It's all there, I can see the whole thing, but fuck me if I'm not in for a climb. I started in on it late last year before retreating to work on something on a bit... smaller of a scale. Gotta work my way up to that. That said, the actual easiest character to write right now is, again, Gavriil. Part of it is that enthusiasm I have for him right now, and another part of it is that his story is based on the main quest of Skyrim which, lets be honest, is an underwhelming plot on the whole. So the plot has already been written out by someone else; I don't have to worry about that. Neither do I have to worry about actually depicting the entirity of said plot, because it's not actually an interesting one. And honestly why are you reading a story of a character from Bad Game Skyrim if you don't at least have some cursory knowledge of how that game's plot goes? The interesting part- to me, at least- is the effect it has on my character. That's what I've been focusing on, and it's been fun.

18. Is there anything you really wish you could do, character-design-wise, that you feel is outside your current skillset? A concept that you wish you could pull off but are uncertain about? Visually? A lot. There's a lot that's outside my skillset, because I don't know how to fucking draw. That's why I shy away from drawing characters who, say, I imagine to have unnecessarily complex tattoo designs. Not only do I not feel like putting in the time to actually depict that, but I also lack the talent to properly do so. It also kind of neuters what I can pull off for some of my more outlandish designs, namely gods and monsters. Kjelchaikhan is the only one of the gods I've drawn so far, and not coincidentally, he also has the easiest design to deal with. I started in on trying to draw Tsenmaer before I realized holy shit, the way I picture her in my head is so far beyond what I'm capable of actually doing. I'm not even going to fucking touch on Archaeos, because that design is going to be... even harder!! Conceptually, not so much. It sometimes happens on a small scale, such as how I've designed Ludo to be a boxer when I know little about boxing and I don't honestly care to learn. But at the same time? His story is based far, far more heavily in the shitty circumstances of his life and how he's trying to worm his way out of that than in the actual "punching dudes in the head for money" thing. That was more a tool to tie him in with the questionable, shady shit that I needed him to be shackled to. "Underground boxing circuit" just sounded like as good of an idea as any, so I figured why not. That aside, most anything I want to write about ends up being something I'm either familiar with based on personal experience, or at the very least am interested in researching for story purposes.

19. What’s more important to you: visual design, unique personality, a trendy character aesthetic, etc? If you’re not sure, then what’s the first thing you usually nail down in a character? Definitely the personality and basic concept. I very much enjoy crafting characters that are fleshed out and generally believable, and I am very much terrible at designing them on a visual scale. Do all my characters end up looking the same? Yes. Does this bother me? No. If it did, I'd fucking do something about it. What's important to me is who a character is when you boil away all the set dressing. Who is he on a conceptual level? What are his motivations? His basic structure? My character creation process is me sitting down and saying "I want to make a character who embodies these basic traits, and is based on this core concept," then building from there. Visual design is always, always an afterthought.

20. Do you ever plan to do anything (comic, animation, etc) with your characters? Or are you just happy to have them? For the most part: Nope! My characters exist primarily to make me happy and give me something to think about when I'm tired of thinking about myself and my life. There's a few that I'm working very much to translate into stories, but even then I hem and haw over whether or not to actually share the content I produce. Part of it is I'm much more self-conscious about my writing than my art. Used to very much be the other way around, up until I stopped considering myself an artist. Now I just kind of shit drawings out from time to time, and if people think they're terrible, that's because they are and I put no effort into what I do. It's the other way around with writing. I very much put effort, care and detail into my stories. More than bad reception, I fear no reception, which is to say that I'd put so much effort into something, put it out there, and go completely ignored. I have no issues with "you suck/your work sucks," but absolute indifference cuts me pretty deep on matters like this. So yeah, that's a significant obstacle between me and content sharing. That, and assuming I did find any degree of an audience, putting my work out for someone else's scrutiny makes it SIGNIFICANTLY harder to go back and retcon. And boy oh boy, I am a notorious an unrelenting retconner.

[kahnac]

Hello, Good Evening, and welcome to another "Kahnac's Top Countdown" list. This time we'll go into a certain category i'm pretty much a big fan of. Though first, i'd like to give a big shoutout to japanesegodzilla1954 who was once again kind enough to assemble the list up above. And especially for being so creative while doing so. I really appreciate it, and i'm glad he did it. And now, back to the subject of the countdown. "What subject" you might ask? Well, the answer is quite simple, actually: Villains. Now, as i'm sure it's no surprise to anyone who watches me: i absolutely love villains. Like many people who do the same, i find the villains to be alot more fun than the heroes (not that i would diss them in any way). But there's actually quite alot to villains that make them so appealing, and enjoyable to watch. And trust me: i have a large list of villains who i enjoy. But i think one of the most amusing, and enjoyable brand of villain is the kaiju villain. Though there haven't truly been many kaiju who would qualify as villains because of their animalistic nature, with a few exceptions. But if there is one place where there could be legitimately evil kaiju: it is in the Godzilla Universe. For over 60 years, toho has delivered a slew of kaiju who are not simply a bunch of rampaging beasts who need someone to stop them from simply destroying cities because they're angry. These monsters are beings who are actually quite intelligent, and even quite despicable. They aren't animals who are bent on survival: they are beings who have agenda's of their own which range from conquering the entire world, to simply killing everything in sight because it's funny, or because they were made to. And though some of them have served as pawns to some lesser alien species, that hasn't stopped them from being completely vile, and destructive. Because on their own: these kaiju would cause trouble just so they can. They do their best to give their worst. And i'm here to honor some of them today. So sit back, relax, and have fun as we take a look at my Top 10 Godzilla villains. 10. Megaguirus: Starting off our list is none other than the fearsome queen of them Meganula herselfNow here's one very nasty example of what a crazy mom is. As a product of the ancient past brought to the present thanks to the Dimension Tide, Megaguirus was basically the ultimate means of returning the Meganula race as the dominant rulers of Earth. Though of course she had to go through some changes first. Said change involved creating a swarm, sending it to hunt down Godzilla, drain his energy, return back with it, then transfer it into her along with their own lifeforce energy. Thus changing her into the gigantic, speed-induced, queen of the Dragonflies. Which she really does live up to the name of, doesn't she? But anyway, any can see that her "children" are quite devoted to her in such regards. But she doesn't seem to give a single crap about that. Probably because she knows she can probably just grow a new colony at some point. What a horrible mother to have, that's for sure. But either way, she has also shown to be somewhat sadistic in her methods. Like dropping buildings on top of a grounded Godzilla with a sickly smile on her face, for example. And she also seems to be quite possessive when it comes to power. In both the movie, and the comics, almost immediately she stuck her stinger into two kaiju so that she could get some of their energy. But in ROE, she goes further, and tries to feed Godzilla to her swarm. Guess she also shares some qualities with Queen Chrysalis from MLP, doesn't she? Guess she isn't as heartless as she seems. But she definitely has a strong rivalry with Rodan's species, since both have been rival species since they were born. A shame we didn't get to see this outside of the Original Rodan movie with the Meganulon, and the several fanfic universe which expands upon the concept, like Neo, and Endgame. But either way, Megaguirus is a fast, furious, and all around vicious queen you'll wish to keep both eyes on at all times. If you can. 9. Mechagodzilla 1: Now, we get to delve a bit into the concept which usually comes about in every form of media: the evil doppleganger. And none seem to have pulled this off as dangerously as Mechagodzilla 1. While this super robot has been a mechanized pawn to a race of space apes trying to take over the world: M Bison-"OF COURSE!!!" But that didn't make Mechagodzilla any less brutal, or destructive when he first appeared. Hell, he even disguised as Godzilla himself to basically frame him as antagonistic again before he would kill him. He then proceeded to beat the crap out of poor Anguirus, and even break his jaw wide open. I get so creeped out from even thinking about it still. Anyway, what makes him truly threatening is just how powerful he is. On his own, and against singular kaiju, he has singlehandedly beaten everyone he's come across, including the great King Caesar, who is considered an equal to Godzilla in terms of strength, and power. So if he can take down someone that strong, you know he's dangerous. But he "surprisingly" doesn't do well when he gets double teamed. Especially when one of his oponnents gets the ability to control magnetism, which Goji used to rip off his mechanized head. Too bad Mecha G learned from the past experience, and was teamed up with Titanosaurus to prove that two can play the team up game. Sadly for him, it still didn't turn out well. But that still hasn't deterred people from liking him so much, and for him to become IDW's equivalent of the Sentinels from the X-Men. Because this mecha-double only proves that you can't keep a good robot down, and if you do, he'll just come back better, and stronger than ever. 8. Megalon: Now here, we have a perfect example of what a dangerous moron is. Now, in his debut, Megalon was depicted as the God of Seatopia, their greatest weapon, and their best hope at getting revenge upon humanity for what they perceived to be intended attacks on their city. And Megalon was more than willing to fill in the position. Unfortunately, there's just one small problem: HE'S A COMPLETE IDIOT, AND A SUPERIOR MORON! While we see he has a great pangent for destruction, he needs somebody to tell him where to point his destructive habits at. Otherwise he will literally start hopping around like a grasshopper, blowing up everything in sight. And honestly, this is pretty hilarious when you think about it. Because from what i saw of him, he has the mindset of a man-child. Kinda like Fat Buu, or even better yet: TFS Nappa. Which is obviously where tarbano got inspiration for his own interpretation from. Though he also mixed it in with some Deadpool, too. But that's not the point. What is is that he's also a pretty tough fighter, too. He can put up a good decent fight with other kaiju. Though when it comes to Godzilla, and Jet Jaguar, he obviously needs help. But considering how lethal his arsenal is, and how carried away he can get with what he does, it's honestly no wonder people see him as a complete demolisher. 7. Monster X: As sinister as he looks, Monster X is a veritable example of a final boss enemy. Even though he appears for a short while, he leaves a pretty good impression. Especially with how well he handles Godzilla up until the showdown with Keizer Ghidorah. From what i saw, Monster X appears to be a very focused, driven, and all around ruthless fighter who will use any means to win his battle. Guess that's why i imagine him as the Godzilla equivalent of Slade from Teen Titans. Especially with how sinister his armor is. In fact, it makes him look less like a kaiju, and more like one of those villains you'd see in Power Rangers, or a Sentai series. And to top it off: he has the power to transform into a second form called Keizer Ghidorah. Something which gives me a small Maleficent vibe when that happens. And i know many people like the idea of the two being separate entities sharing the same body ala Jekyll/Hyde. But personally, i like thinking that Keizer is just another form that X takes when he decides it's time to get serious. Basically like Frieza, or villains with another form. Either way, not much else is needed to be said other than how badass Monster X is. Even if his time was less than hoped for. 6. Orga: Attack of the clones part two, so to speak. Except this clone is a monstrous hybrid between Godzilla, and an ancient, alien lifeform with intelligence unlike anything humanity has seen before. Originally, he was an alien species known as a Millenian, who crash landed on earth, and got stranded for millions of years. Time passes, he gets waken up, and he immediately goes out to find a genetic template to give him a physical form. And it just so happens he picks Godzilla. Though apparently, Orga is not completely stupid, as after his first fight with him ends in a draw, he realizes he needs to learn everything he can about the Saurian. To do so, he basically begins hacking into Japans Databases, and starts stealing every shred of information he can gather. All also as part of a plan to make the earth a suitable home for himself, and possibly any more of his kind still out there. Or probably so he can create more of his kind to inhabit the earth. Either way, he still needs Godzilla's G-Cells to make it happen. And after a rematch which ends with Orga winning, he succeeds in regaining his true form. But he clearly didn't account for the radioactive properties of the G-Cells, and he ended up as a misshapen abomination as a result. But even in this state, he doesn't seem too far gone. I know alot of people consider him a mindless brute who basically goes feral after he mutates, but from where i stand, it looked like he was attempting to adjust to his new body. And it looked like he was doing a good job at it too, as he gave Godzilla as much trouble as he did in his ship. Which makes me believe that he still has his intelligence in tact, but he doesn't really use it when he's fighting. And considering many people also believe his species to be superb at genetic engineering, which i agree with, i'd also like to consider him the Shockwave of Godzilla if we were able to have more of him. After all, both of them basically turn into brutes if they get angry. Though Orga's biggest weakness seems to be his obsessive desire to get what he wants. To the extent that he'll through caution out the window, and charge into the frayhead first. Or at least when he gets desperate. After all, how else would he have done something which would give him a massive "stomach ache", if you know what i mean. But inspite of his little flaw, Orga is still a fearsome, and intelligent villain who knows that information is powerful, and that brute even brute strength can be even more so. 5. Gigan: And now we get to the lean, mean, sometimes green mother from outer space. And he's baaaad. Now Gigan here is a very special case because he's done what noone else has done before: he actually cut into Godzilla deep enough to make him bleed. And i mean "bleed". Gigan is the living definition of what a ruthless, vicious, and bloodthirsty mercenary/assassin is lie in the world of kaiju. He was designed by an alien race of gigantic cockroaches to basically kill anything threatening, and i imagine it's sometimes for a profit. The first time he came to earth, he was teamed up with King Ghidorah. And the two were so ferocious, they nearly brought down both Godzilla, AND Anguirus. Hell, Gigan even managed to beat up Godzilla for a good while without Ghidorah's help. But of course he got Godzilla angry. And we all know what happens when he gets angry. Either way, his second appearance had him join up with Megalon, who he seemed to be best buddies with when they double teamed Jet Jaguar. I can see why people like pegging them as brothers. Of course, not even their friendship was enough to beat Godzilla, and his robo-pal. Though it is funny how he seems to be kind of a coward when things go badly for him. And he'll actually ditch his "friends" so that he can save himself. But then, considering he got his arm broken once, i can't really fault him for that. Though what is funny is that he lost this little habit of his when he came back for Final Wars. Basically, he got upgraded to a "biker with machetes for arms", which is both a funny, and honestly creative description of him. But either way, this is the Gigan that begins to get more serious for his depictions. In fact, both this Gigan, and the original, were mixed together to make Gigan something both formidable, and amazing. True, he still ran away when things got ugly, but he scored more hits than misses. And besides, he's had to contend with some serious fighters: counting Godzilla, JJ, and even Spacegodzilla himself. Even though FW made him more robotic than he should've been, what with him getting his head blasted off then replaced, it was handled much better in Rulers of Earth: he starts off as Showa, but then gets upgraded to FW scythe, until he finally gets his chainsaws. At which point he helps to beat an alien invasion, fight Jet in an epic rematch, and then basically go up in a massive blaze of glory with the chance of his return in a possible continuation. Few can get as hardcore as Gigan is, just like few could ever really make the cut for his own tenacity. Because he is a monster. He is badass. He is: GIGAAAAAN!!! 4. Destoroyah: Oh, boy. Now we're getting to the biggun's of the Godzilla franchise. And very few can be as despicable as the Destoroyah himself. So what makes this guy so cool, but also vile? Quite a bit, actually: first of all, he is one of the more personal enemies because of how his origin ties into Godzilla's in the most unpleasant way: he was a collective of microscopic precambrian crustaceans laying dormant in Tokyo Bay for centuries, but got mutated by the Oxygen Destroyer when it was used to kill Gojira. Over 40 years alter, when Micro Oxygen is released, the creatures mutated again, and began fusing together until eventually they formed into Destoroyah himself. And he is a right nasty piece of work. He kills lots of people in all of his forms, and even kills Godzilla Jr for beating him in his second/third form. But that's not exactly the worst of it, because he did it in front of his father. Right in front of him as he was helpless to do anything. He probably sensed that it was Jr's father who was also there, and so he wanted to make both of them suffer because he could: Jr for basically beating him, and Senior for Sh*ts and giggles. Though all he does is incure Godzilla's wrath, because nobody f*cks with his family, and lives to tell about it. But the interesting thing is that Destoroyah is a friggin tank. He can take hits from Godzilla when he's in his strongest form, and he can beat the crap out of him in normal stage like he did in Rulers of Earth. And naturally, it takes several kaiju to tangle with him, and hopefully win. Especially since he's strong enough to toss kaiju several meters away, and he can take almost anything thrown at him short of Sub-Zero ice attacks. Though what makes him all the worse is the fact that when he fights someone, he doesn't just beat them into submission, or anything. He goes out of his way to make them hurt on the inside, as much as outside. And he is absolutely brutal in his methods, too, whether he tries cutting kaiju with his horn, beating them like a punching bag, or in Anguirus' case, try, and break every bone in their body.And all of this stems from the source of his mutation. It usually stands to reason that the thing that mutates something often influences them in ways they never knew before. And for Destoroyah, he was not only enfused with the power of the Oxygen Destroyer, but also what it was created to do as well: bring death, and destruction to every living thing. That....is an almost sad thing to think about, actually. Since the day he was changed, Destoroyah was made to be nothing mor than a harbinger of death, and to bring destruction, and misery to everything. And from what i've seen, he knows no other way to live. All he knows is death, and destruction. Therefore, all other concepts are probably alien to him. Which leaves him as the kind of villain who isn't interested in profit, or conquest, who can't be bought, bargained, or reasoned with: he's the kind who wants to watch the world burn. And if it weren't for Godzilla, and a few others, he may very well have succeeded. Even when he served under the Devonians for a while. For he is a force of destruction few would ever wish to cross, and would ever wish to face alone. Also because, like AVGN once said: HE LOOKS LIKE THE GDDAMN DEVIL!!! 3: Grand/King Ghidorah: Now comes the esteemed archenemy of Godzilla, and the often considered big bad of Toho as a whole. But first, let me be clear on something: I don't, by any means, like King Ghidorah as he was depicted in the Showa series. And the only reason for this is because of how, after his debut, he became nothing more than a simple pawn to a bunch of alien fools who couldn't hold a candle to him as villains. Maybe secondary villains, or even minions, but not main villains. Because of this, i feel like King Ghidorah's potential as a villain suffered greatly, as he didn't do anything on his own, and was only a mind controlled servant to who i consider lesser beings. But with that being said, i do still love his concept, and how he is depicted when he first appeared. When he first appeared, he was built up significantly, and his reveal was drawn out considerably well. Even when he spent a good deal in his meteor transport, you could feel the tension rising as he seemed to gather more power from the surrounding area, and add it to his own. Even adding a small mention of his supposed control over gravity itself, which we sadly don't really see outside of the one scene where he makes a gravity tornado that draws in rocks, and tree's, and other stuff. Also, his arrival was heralded by the essence of an alien species who came from Planet Venus itself: which once had the ability to sustain life like Earth. That is until HE arrived, and reduced the entire world to a lifeless husk: killing every living thing on the planets surface, making it so life could never prosper, and grow again. And this happened many centuries ago, leading to the obvious idea of King Ghidorah having existed for billions of years, or more. Either way, when he gathers enough os his energy, and then finally makes his appearance, it is absolutely spectacular: he emerges from his meteor crater like it were an egg, except for him emerging as an immense ball of fire. And like a Phoenix, or rather reverse of a Phoenix, when his flames rise into the sly, he forms into his golden, 3 headed state as if he were being born for the first time. Once he emerges, he gets right to work destroying the earth. It's only thanks to the combined strength of Mothra, Rodan, and Godzilla to drive him away. Showing that he's so strong that only a large number of kaiju can successfully fight him in battle. Otherwise, he would completely demolish his enemies with no real problem. And in each of his appearances, he has always fought more than one kaiju, and is the only way he has been beaten (except maybe in Godzilla vs Gigan). The only thing which could put him down for good was an entire army of kaiju ganging up on him as he attempted to destroy them all. But it's kinda obvious what happened. Either way, this was unsurprisingly not the last we'd see of him. Cause believe it or not, there came a Ghidorah who was far worse in comparison to this one. One who left more of an impact upon the universe he existed in (which i am convinced is still in the heisi series of Godzilla). I speak of none other than the Grand King Ghidorah himself. Now, how does one begin to describe Grand King Ghidorah? Well, for one thing at least, let's imagine that Showa Ghidorah survived hi ordeal, went back into space, decided that he finally need to get off his lazy ass and train, spend around 30 years doing said training, and then come back so much stronger than ever before. Though i'm sure this didn't actually happen, it's still fun to dream. But i will definitely say that this is a vast improvement over Showa Ghidorah. Though, as i said, it could be argued that this is Showa Ghidorah, but i digress. Because what he does is far more despicable than anything we've seen his kind do before: while he does begin destroying the planet slowly, and probably getting a kick out of doing it, he also begins kidnapping children, and then trapping them inside of an energy doem using his own power. While it seems obviously clear that king Ghidorah was doing this just to eat, i think my friend UltraGWRzilla has a better theory which gives more context to this, and make him all the more frightening: Grand King Ghidorah also feeds on fear, and misery. Though he obviously can eat like any regular being, there is the idea that he kidnapped human children so that he could bring despair to the human parents, as they worry about, and fear for their kids. And Ghidorah not only feeds on that misery, but also the fear of the humans he has taken as his prisoners. Only a truly malevolent, and sadistic being could do something as horrible as that. Which makes him all the more intimidating than his predecessor's. Also, as a nod to the showa films, he actually has the power of mind control for himself. As a way to show that he is nobodies servant, and he can easily enslave anyone close to him if he so chooses. Like he did to one of the Elias so that he could turn them against, and kill, each other because of how amusing it probably was to him. As is quite evident throughout his film appearance, Grand King Ghidorah is a sadist who enjoys killing others, and hurting them in the most excruciating way he could possibly find. Just like he did to Mothra Leo, who was probably at Godzilla's level of power by the time Ghidorah showed up. After Ghidorah beats him up, though, it makes him desperate enough to actually go back in time to when Ghidorah killed the dinosaurs, a point in which he was considerably weaker, and kill him then. It succeeds, and Grand Ghidorah fades from existence. Though surprisingly enough, his tail stayed in tact, and it let him regenerate from that small piece. Guess it shows that he also has similarities to Cell, as well. Funny enough, like Cell, he lost to our hero once the latter gained a new special form, and completely destroyed him with it. But it was quite an epic finish to such an epic kaiju. Still, as far as i'm concerned, i don't think even an army of kaiju could stand against him as simply as Showa Ghidorah. Not that we can ever see for ourselves since Toho still won't let IDW use him yet. But i'm still hopeful that someday they will be cooperative on the matter. It really is a shame we don't get to see more of him outside the fandom, Yet one thing we can all agree on is that Grand/ King Ghidorah is fearsome, sadistic, vicious, and powerful force of destruction who has long since earned his title as "The King of Terror". 2. Spacegodzilla: Remember when i said that noone in Godzilla pulls off the evil doppleganger concept better than Mechagodzilla? I lied. As far as i'm concerned, there is an evil version of Godzilla who more than lives up being considered his evil half brother. And that is Spacegodzilla, the heavily modified, cosmic clone of Godzilla who is easily one of the most popular kaiju villains ever made. And there is quite alot to enjoy about him, too. He's vile, cruel, malevolent, he enjoys hurting others, manipulating them, and also conquering other worlds for his own gain. Which is something that makes him stand out among many of the evil kaiju. Where others like King Ghidorah, and Destoroyah do nothing but destroy everything around them is considered part of their nature, as they were basically born to be destroyers. Kinda like it was their purpose, and they were made specifically to do so. It's likely instinct to them. Except for Spacegodzilla, who doesn't simply destroy planets like them because it's in his nature, or because someone makes him, oh no. He conquers, and enslaves other worlds for no one other than himself. He holds the ambition of a tyrannical conqueror. He wants to control, and rule everything that exists. But he also tries, and makes sure that any threat to his future reign is killed, or destroyed first. Hence why he traveled to earth as soon as possible to kill Godzilla: as far as Spacegodzilla was concerned, Godzilla was the only real threat to his dominion of earth. And he is certainly one who is willing to go to ANY lengths to make sure it happens. In fact, aside from Destoroyah, Spacegodzilla did something that might be more despicable in comparison: after arriving on Godzilla's Island after honing in on him with his own "species tracking ability", the first thing he does upon arrival is attack little godzilla. He actually attacks a virtually helpless infant so that he can draw Godzilla out. And what happens when Godzilla DOES show up? He gets his ass kicked rather quickly thanks to Spacegodzilla's immense power, and he's forced to watch as his son is locked up in a crystal cage which even he can't break. Which means that he has no choice but to fight Spacegodzilla. And Spacegodzilla is certainly no slouch when it comes to getting ready for a fight. After his Island fight, he sets a course for Fukuoka, then turns it into crystal power station which, using the tower, would keep his strength, and energy, at maximum at all times. After that, he patiently waited for his "father's" arrival. Seriously: he didn't even destroy anything himself. Either on the way to Fukuoka, or once he arrived. At least, except for whatever damage his crystals caused. He just stood there, and waited. it's obviously because he was conserving his energy for the fight, as he knew he would need to be at maximum to win. And he certainly gave Godzilla, and Moguera, a good pounding once they arrived. Funny enough, even after they destroyed the tower, and shattered his shoulder crystals, they barely managed to defeat him because he is a durable bastard who can take as much damage as he receives. Of course, Godzilla did kill him, but there was a sense that he would someday come back. Even if it wasn't in the films. (Which he did). What i also like about him is how he acts more like one of those solo act villains who cannot stand to have any sort of competition for control of HIS world. Or the interference of his plans. Just ask the Jap-Mafia who tried mind controlling Godzilla for a profit. But that's not to say that he doesn't join forces with other evil kaiju, though. In IDW's series, he joined up with Monster X, Hedorah, and Gigan to conquer the planet together. It went about as well as you'd expect. What's funny enough is that even he seemed to realize that he was better off alone. So he went back to being "single". And just like with the Vortaak, who he was also aligned with for a short while, he gave the figurative middle finger to an alien species called the Cryog, who were also trying to take earth. He didn't even hesitate when Gigan was sent to stop him, since he has no other loyalties, and quite frankly, not even Gigan could stop him. The only other foe aside from Godzilla who nearly bested him were the Trilopods. And mainly because they ambushed him on the way to earth, and took him by surprise, thus allowing them to assimilate, and replicate him. And they certainly must've sensed that he was a big threat, because all of their attention was focused on him during the fight in LA. And it was only when he, and Godzilla combined their strength did they finally win. Even though it took everything Goji had, and knocked him unconscious. Of course, true to his nature, Spacegodzilla tried to off him as he lay unconscious. But he immediately sensed the hive coming, and decided to give a "this isn't over" roar before leaving. Like i said: he has no loyalties, and if he see's any opportunity, he'll stab anyone in the back so that he  can win. He's very treacherous, and not someone to take lightly. In fact, there was another instance in history where he nearly brought about the end of the world, and almost succeeded in claiming it as his own: the crystal incursion. Long story short: after getting sucked into a black hole, he sends a swarm of crystal meteors to earth, which then infuse with the elemental properties and become power surge crystals, causing global catastrophes along the way. They enhance/enslave any kaiju that use them, increase in power over time, and are used to free Spacegodzilla from his prison. Now, if anything, we can see a full demonstration which only proves Spacegodzilla can do in a short while what it probably takes King Ghidorah many hours to do. Because in my opinion, Spacegodzilla probably does this as a means of drawing a planet's lifeforce into him, and thus destroying worlds in a similar sense to Galactus. Either that, or he would have crystal-formed the entire world so that he could make the seat of his new empire, which would be made similarly to what he would've done to earth. And he basically used many kaiju to gather the necessary power crystals to make this possible. People like KaijuSamurai take it a step further by having him obtain a secondary form, stronger than the first. I mean, he was already an almighty psychic before, like Mewtwo. But he was close to omnipotent in his ultimate form. Now imagine if he acquired every last PS Crystal in that state. He would basically become a god, and none could be able to stand against him. So basically, he's like the Dr Doom of Godzilla. Though he also has a similarity to the Joker in at least one aspect: his origin. While it was hinted at in his film, we never truly get what his actual backstory is other than the fact he is somehow related to Godzilla. As a matter of fact, he's had quite a number of backstories which are each unique in their own way: whether it was Biollante's spores floating through space until flying into a blackhole, then fusing with a crystal organism. Mothra carrying Godzilla's cells with her as she went into space resulting in the same thing happening, a crystal entity abducting Jr, and the absorbing his DNA to become Spacegodzilla, an evil Godzilla from an alternate universe who fell into a blackhole and fused with a crystal anomaly, a clone bred in a laboratory by King Ghidorah, or Gigan, to be their weapon only for him to turn on them, or Mothra, Battra, Biollante, and Godzilla's DNA fusing with an alien crystal, falling into a backhole once again, and then form Spacegodzilla. Many different accounts, all of them different, except for one detail: Godzilla. And i bet if you asked Spacegodzilla about his origin, he'd either just keep changing it, or he'd say "if you're going to have an origin story, you're better off making it multiple choice". His beginnings are a complete mystery, but everything he has done up to this point only further defines who he is, and proves him to be another example of how villains with silly names can often be the most sinister, and evil. Intelligent, sadistic, pure evil, and with a lust for power unlike any kaiju before, Spacegodzilla is a kaiju who definitely knows what it means to be a Crystal Tyrant. And my number one favorite Godzilla villain is: 1.Bagan: Now, i'm sure many people will probably consider this some kind of cop out, considering how Bagan has never been in a Godzilla movie officially, but hear me out, please. What makes me love Bagan most of all isn't him being an overly popular scrapped kaiju who was planned for at least 3 different movies, and only got featured in a video game: it's what everyone else does with him that makes him enjoyable. Bagan is a kaiju who may be conceptual at this moment, but what toho had planned for him has been beneficial enough to give others something to work with. The basic story for him is simple: he was once the ancient guardian of China, which he guarded over a thousand years ago. But something happened which had him vanish from the world for centuries. Eventually, he returned to the world, and sensing the changes made, decided to wipe out humanity. That was the original concept for him. But now a days, he has a much darker, and edgier story shared by everyone. But i have my own version to go by. He was indeed a guardian of earth, and has existed since the earth itself was formed. He was the most powerful being that ever existed, and was by all accounts a god. It could even be believed that he nearly slaughtered King Ghidorah himself when he invaded, while the divine moth's sealed away his sibling, DesGhidorah. After that, he continued to serve as protector for the planet, and soon enough the new species of human, and animal which began emerging. Humanity soon built civilizations which had both science, and magic, as the foundation of their lifestyle. Even using it to revive extinct species, like dinosaurs, as a way to see how well their abilities worked. And for a good long while, things were quite peaceful. But then something horrible happened which spelled dark days for the earth, and humanity. Bagan, for some reason, had lost his desire to protect all life, and soon wished to bring an end to all life. Noone knows exactly why he ended up like this. Maybe as he watched over humanity he began to grow weary of his task, and turned against it, or as he watched humanity progress he used his godly powers to look into the future, and saw the horrible things humanity would do, or he feared that someday his power would no longer be enough to keep his home safe, and he struck a deal with a dark force for more power so that he could better protect his charges, and became corrupt in the process. Or perhaps even that as humanity progressed in their achievements, he grew jealous of their accomplishments because they no longer seemed to care for, or respect the guardians anymore, and as they began to grow, learn, and even see themselves as Gods, Bagan decided that he needed to take action. Allowing his anger, jealousy, and newfound hatred festering inside of him to eventually corrupt his heart, and make him become a force of evil who believed that humanity, and in turn all living things, were now too dangerous for their own good, and needed to be protected as only he could: by killing every last one of them, and restoring them to their true form as immortal souls, united in a single, strong source that would keep them safe for all eternity: himself. Either way, he wasted no time in laying waste to ancient humanity: decimating their once proud, and advanced cities, vaporizing every last animal he could find, and ultimately destroying the inherent magic which was once inherent within the planet as he consumed to it give himself more power. He eventually face his fellow guardians, possibly offering them the chance to join him, but they refused. Unfortunately, because of how powerful he is, they can't fully stand up to him, and he destroys all but Mothra, and Battra, reducing them to the last of the divine moth's. A chance is also that he may have killed many of the kaiju we know exist in the Godzilla 2014 universe. Perhaps even killing all but one Goji2014 as well. Either way, the divine moth's are given no choice but to cast a great deal of diminished magic to create an imperfect seal to keep Bagan imprisoned for many thousands of years. Though they may not realize that because the seal wasn't complete, he may escape earlier than anticipated. Either way, the humans try and aid the divine moth's one last time by using the last of their resources to create new guardians who are meant to fight Bagan should he ever return. And the earth uses the last of it's magic to restore the damaged earth to it's original state. So as you can see: Bagan is a force of unimaginable power who caused another great extinction in several universes. The idea of him being a guardian who's power basically makes him a god is an often favorited means of development. Though what makes it much better is when he is depicted as a Luciferian figure who rebelled against his fellow guardians, and fell from grace as he was cast into the earth as he was beaten. And of course, when he eventually does get free, he once again brings chaos to the world. And usually people depict him as a final boss villain who Godzilla requires his Super form to defeat. Which does seem fitting because of the fact he best serves as the "Ultimate Evil". And rarely does he get anymore evil than when he is used. For in his bid to destroy everything, he will often go to may lengths to do so, like absorbing the DNA of Godzilla, and King Ghidorah to increase his power, or even assemble an organization of evil kaiju to carry his will, and find the means of restoring his full power. In short, he is a puppet master who will often pull the strings of others in many ways. Whether he infuses his dark essence into Godzilla Senior so that he can kill the divine moths, or he can manipulate humans into forming organizations, or secret societies to carry out his will. But either way, he never takes no for an answer. If someone is unwilling to cooperate with him, he will often force them to do what he wants, whether by psychically screaming into kaiju's minds, or just beating them into submission. Though if he wishes, he will often work on his own to do whatever. Because like any god, he really doesn't need anyone's assistance. Even if it's King Ghidorah who offers said alliance. And Bagan seemingly has no limits to what he can do, too. He either just does what any kaiju can do (super strength, beam weapons, etc.), or he uses powers that very few can do themselves: like being able to transcend through reality, time, and space by going to any universe, or time period he wants. And if he wills it, his own presence can often shape the world around him into something which reflects his black soul: an icy, cold, frozen wasteland with black ice like obsidian, and a cold which reaches all the way down to the human soul. A trait which is reminiscent of the biblical 9th circle of hell, which is the furthest away from heaven, and God's light, and as such is a realm of darkness that isn't warm, or bright. Just cold, and dark. With this in mind, it doesn't surprise me when he has the power to also change his shape into anything he wants, or anyone. Which is also very reminiscent of the very first concept of Bagan from the "Return of Godzilla" film script. Speaking of which, there is another power he wields which is also very unique. When he has noone else around, and he doesn't want to dirty his own hands, Bagan will summon from his own darkness three entities known as Enjin, Mizu, and Doragon Reijuu. These beings are the aspects of Bagan's own soul, and they resemble what Bagan once was before he became a dark god. They each represent earth, air, and water, and also have no wills of their own save for whatever Bagan has them do. They're basically puppets that he can control from anywhere, but are still dedicated to their missions. Though i will say that this gave me some interesting thoughts, too: what if Bagan not only has the ability to consume energy, but also the souls of others, either human, or kaiju? Because as an entity who is so in-tuned with mystical energy, and is a god of incredible power, it stands to reason he also has the power to steal souls, and add them to his power. This would allow him to turn them into will-less slaves who only have one purpose: to serve Bagan for all eternity. Such a thing would only give Bagan more of a satanic feel, and give him the necessary qualities to further cement him as a dark force who seems pretty close to a satanic, lovecraftian horror. Either way, his power is incredible, and it often takes the combined power of every kaiju on earth, as well as Super Godzilla, to bring down this almighty destroyer of worlds. But it is left to wonder if an evil such as his can ever be destroyed so long as evil exists in the universe? We may never know. But soon enough, the inhabitants of the world of Equestria, along with Godzilla, and his universe displaced friends, and foes will eventually. We can only hope that once that time comes, they will be ready. For Bagan is an evil unlike anything seen before save for his former fellow Guardians. With a history paved in blood, hatred, darkness, and oblivion, Bagan will always continue to prove his metal as the ultimate God of Extinction, and the true Lord of Darkness. As the great Makuta Teridax, who is my inspiration for Bagan as well, once said: "So, it has begun, my brother. But soon, it will also EEENNNDD." And that was the list of my top 10 Godzilla villains. Did you agree with my list? Have any thoughts about these guys? Any other kaiju you considered for a spot? If so, then feel free to share in the comments below. And as always, i will see you all in the next installment of...whatever. Goodbye!

Just in case: Some of this artwork is owned by @spankzilla85

Godzilla/these kaiju in general are owned by Toho