Personal Halloween Character Design Challenge - Slashertown
Time to reveal what I've been doing for Halloween/Spooktober!
Basically a personal character design challenge, inspired by my Tiger vs Slasher Villain post!
The gist is that it's set in a town that's basically a magnet for various kinds of horror villain archetypes, ESPECIALLY Slashers... hence its Name.
The Leads: The main protags of the challenge/setting.
Linda Rivera - A young woman of Spanish-American descent, known equally for both her stubborness and her empathy, and a strong, strong survival instinct. She's the been the "Final Girl" for most of her life, be it as a survivor of a literal cult war when she was a kid to Prom night when she was a teen. She cosplays and paints minis for a living, and is genuinely curious about what's REALLY going on in Slashertown.
Rodney "The Ripper" Rackham. Filling in for the unstoppable masked slasher villain ala Jason and Michael Myers, Rodney was once just a humble shop student with an interest in metallurgy and blacksmithing, until one day a trip to the woods went terribly wrong. For years he was the town's most famous slasher, targeting repairshops and others indiscriminately... nowadays he's more famous for another thing -killing other slashers.
Animal Companions: Filling in for the Animal guide/voice of wisdom, ala Coraline
Peggy Thirteen is Linda's cat. A crafty and wiley critter than seems to know just about every nook and cranny in town. Unusually intelligent for a cat, and remarkably obedient when Linda says to "stay put". There's more to her than meets the eye, as shown with her smug face.
Maharaja is the town celebrity Tiger, having been the one to save Linda from a slasher known as "Henry the Hatchet" a few years ago. Unbelievably strong, and much like Peggy, seems to be far more intelligent than what a big cat should be. Linda certainly suspects something.
Cannibal Archetypes: Self explanatory
Marlowe Magritte: Filling in for the Hannibal Lecter side of the cannibal villain, with a dash of Slowik from The Menu, he's the owner of the most famous restaurant in town. His food is to die for, as certain patrons disappeared in his business, just infrequent enough that no one suspects anything. Sure, while having liver with a nice chianti is nice, what he's REALLY after are memories and experiences. THAT to him, is what makes a true experience.
Merle "The Man Ogre" Mason: The Hills have Eyes meets Leatherface, Merle was a man exposed to chemicals during the end of World War 2 and became a mutant... THEN the magics of the town turned him into a cannibalistic monster, lurking about the hills just outside of town. Suprisingly articulate despite his looks!
Lethal Ladies: Because one can never go wrong with more female slasher villains!
Heather Berry lost her mind when she couldn't be Queen of High School Land, and thus took it out on some students, before mysteriously dissapearing after a fight with eternal Final Girl Linda. Now she's back, as Haley Babbit, successful business women with great PR... but beneath the facade, is still the same bloodthirsty Heather!
Liv Malone - SHE FOLLOWS. Slowly. Very slowly. Sure, she's completely unrelenting in her need to dispatch someone, but man oh-man is she SLOW. A simple shove is usually all that's needed to stop her from following you.
Killer Clowns: And this time, they're a family!
Marco the Clown and Minnie the Mime are a brother sister team that only wants to entertain you with their (occasionally lethal) shows! Please laugh at Marco's jokes and take Minnie's Art seriously, they get uspet if you don't!
Jethro the Jester is their grandfather, and leader of the group, simply known as The Troupe. One of the most powerful entities in town, his shows and acts seem to defy physics itself, and he'll always make sure that you leave the show a new person!
Terrible Toys: Three different flavors of violent toy!
Tricky the Ragdoll - Guardian of all children in town, much like Gamera, just one that's VERY open to lethal force when he sees a kid in trouble. Is actually quite helpful to them, no strings (ha!) attatched, offering blankets, food and subtly guiding kids to reunite with their parents if they ever get lost.
Mrs. Olivia - An overpossessive ghost of a woman from the 40s stuck in a porcelain doll. She'll do ANYTHING to protect her "poppets". ANYTHING. She is awoken whenever someone cleans up her toy body.
The Immolator - The most overtly Chucky-like of the bunch, with a dash of Small Soldiers. A psychotic, misanthropic inmate that winded up possessing the toy of a 90s action figure, he'll be more than happy to murder any meatbags in his sights... so long as he has batteries. The REAL danger is that, when dormant, he can imitate ANY voice possible, subtly suggesting you to really, REALLY give him those batteries!
Oceanic Killers: Because you gotta have a Jaws reference!
Big Bertha and Finn are a Great White Shark and Dolphin duo, that work together to un-alive silly and stupid hairless apes. Big Bertha LOVES the taste of humans, and would go out of her way to find 'em, but usually it's Finn that calls the shots. Any human that bothers him or makes fun of him, either gets a taste of his rostrum, or he sends Bertha to do the dirty work.
Primeval Horrors: Because everything's better with dinosaurs!
The Great One and his Flock: Combining both Jurassic Park and Hitchcock's the Birds, the Great One is a colossal, fifteen ton Tyrannosaurus rex, and is the oldest entity in town, and by far one of the most powerful. So powerful, that no slasher dares to enter his territory (which is the Slashertown Museum of Natural History). The birds of Slashertown are his eyes and ears, agents of his will, and those that mess with 'em don't tend to live to see the next sunrise. It's also a foolish thing to lay a hand on his skeleton, as the paleontologists who worship him like a god like to remind visitors. All those that have done so, either disappear (with the only remains being bloodied claw marks) or become skeletons stripped down to the bone.
