Demon Hunters: 4 Horsemen/7 Orochi projects

I've been thinking quite a bit lately of how to make these two projects work. It was only recently that I realized that with how slow Vol 1: World Eaters is being written that I needed to push the 4 Horsemen project forward. The premise was that these 4 Cobra officers would come into town and mess things up usually through different forms of manipulation and strong-arming. I forgot what the specific analogy was besides the Winchester brothers from Supernatural. In terms of the tv show, the brothers ride into town and solve the problem of the day. However, the other side of that story is that they tend to wreak havoc when they come in and a lot of innocents die. The 4 Horsemen would ride into town and while everything goes to hell because of their plans, there is more scheming involved. I didn't quite know how to write that all up. Visually, I saw the 4 of them riding into town all in Ford Mustangs (I personally think it would be 2000s models but not opposed to classic 60s versions. The problem here is, what do I see them actually in. And I can't see Dr Mindbender or Crystal Ball actually driving a car!)

A few months ago (or earlier this year), I realized because of who the Horsemen represent, I could see them 'using' military squads to do their bidding. Now, the Horsemen are classically written as Death, Pestilence, Famine, and War. When I did some light research on them, I came across very liberal (or modern) takes on them which I hate to admit, I'm playing around with.

For example, Pestilence has to do with sickness. The modern take spoke of Pestilence not just as a physical manifestation, but a mental one. I'm playing with the idea that the Horsemen are targeting military squads that are slightly mental. Enough that Crystal Ball can 'poison' their mind even more through all his means (Interrogator could do the same but their techniques are different. Crystal Ball seems more suited for the 'horror' side of things whereas Interrogator would feel like you are watching a spy thriller or something. To have both on the Horsemen or Orochi would be redundant to me and to put an Interrogator together to how I see fit, probably would be a pain in the ass.) Crystal Ball could work his magic; making them more violent, impatient, etc. The Devil Dogs (Vol 1 main characters) will be one of their 'experiments'. 

Experiments are how the Horsemen see their subjects. What the Horsemen do to these people, it's for their own interest and satisfaction, not so much a political statement or giving Cobra more power (though, it ends up being that way most of the time). The story of the Horsemen is still being worked on. They'll take a squad under their wing and they'll do their bidding but it's not obvious why. Lady Obitus is the representation of Death. It's not just about killing people; she actually doesn't have interest doing it herself. It's the act of death that she finds fascinating. I think it was written in the latest vignette, she wants to know why there is an unaccounted 21 grams when the body dies. She believes it is the human soul leaving the body. She wants to know what it is. Why it happens. Where does it go? And she certainly wants to see the light leave the body. This will be covered lightly in Vol1: Devil Dogs: Story 4: FATES WARNING.

Somewhere in all this, the Horsemen evolved into the 7 Orochi. The simplest explanation is that the group gains 3 members. One of them is an entity called Red 5. Here is where I came up with a story for the Horsemen; whether it's THE story, I'm not sure. 

Red 5 is the 5th member of a Cobra squad; I haven't figured out if they were a special squad or just regular old Vipers. The 4 Horsemen get their fangs in them (hee hee) and this 5-man squad does what they tell them to do. They have no reason to question it because these are all Cobra officers of some sort. When Major Bludd gives you a mission, you do it. Cuz certainly, he represents Cobra's best interests and it must be under Cobra Commander's order, yes??? This squad, the Red Squad (insert placeholder name), well, things don't go well of them in the end. Red 5 is the surviving member and he becomes an experiment of Dr Mindbender (give or take Overkill). 

I haven't decided if the Red Squad failure occurs before the Horsemen put the Devil Dogs (and their subsequent squad name) through a series of missions or after. It could be simultaneous which means, the 4 Horsemen have all sorts of plans going on at once. By deciding to go with, basically a Red 5 origin story, this relaxes my plotting/planning/anxiety of creating a new military squad for the Horsemen storyline. If I went with a regular military crew, it'd be some random Marauder Task Force squad. Keeping it within Cobra makes sense. In fact, I believe I have 5 MTF'd Vipers that I can use for visual/physical representation.

I admit, I still don't know what Red 5 is. I was thinking about it when on a drive to Ritzville today (2 hr round trip; let's me think). I was thinking cyborg but not entirely sure I want to go that route. Just how deep on the cyborg scale does he go? And where do I make my line between cybernetic augmentation and actual cyborg? I've got some ideas but none feel very strong. However, I like the idea of the Viper Red Squad being the Horsemen's play toys. 

4 Horsemen:

Death - Lady Obitus

War - Major Bludd

Pestilence - Crystal Ball

Famine - Dr Mindbender

 Metallica - Master of Puppets

It's no secret that I'm not that much of a fan of Metallica anymore. Been that way for years. I don't know if I lost interest, outgrew them, etc. I have select tracks I do like from Black, Load, and Reload. But in terms of studio albums, nothing beyond. (Garage Inc and S&M are kind of outliers to me) I think it's safe to say, the albums I listen to are Puppets and Justice. Having played bass and guitar (and grew up playing piano), I had fun playing Metallica tunes cuz frankly, they were fairly easy. 

But why those two and not Kill 'em All and/or Ride the Lightning?

For me, a lot of it has to do with sound. I love the sound of the Black album. I feel Bob Rock (producer) did good on them. Gave them a metal sound, but I would learn later, the thrashiness and complicated riffs disappeared. Still, the Black tour showed/proved that the thicker sound (I call it 'thicker') works for the old stuff. What gets me on Kill is James young voice! Same with Ride, plus, there are some stinkers on there that I don't care for.

What's interesting to note, my 'faves' on Masters tended to move around. I remember really like Leper Messiah and Orion. But neither were pushed by the band, instead they seemed to favor the title track (duh), Battery and Sanitarium, which as a high schooler, I didn't really care. At least at first. Later, I'd learn to like Sanitarium but it helped that a friend had his preferences and at times, showed me the light. I think I was in my 30s when I came to the realization that Battery is an awesome tune. It's got the energy and aggression that equals Slayer and (later) Pantera. It's possible that things were going on in my life where Battery sounded attractive finally. And it's also possible that my guitar playing was (finally) evolving. 

Another track I preferred as kid was Disposable Heroes. In the end, the only track I really don't care for is Damage Inc.

I hate to be part of the crowd that says Master is their best album. The gatekeepers like to bicker over their 1st 3 albums. They seem to respect Justice but those old farts are all about Cliff Burton over Jason Newsted. Where I'm a Newsted fan and just accept that Cliff was the bass player. He did his thing. That's probably an entirely different topic I won't bother to babble about. (No offense to the late Cliff Burton)

I still don't quite know what it is about Master of Puppets that I ended up liking it. When I was getting into metal in middle school (coming from a few years of punk), Metallica wasn't what I was expecting. It's hard for me to explain what I thought metal was supposed to sound like. I was listening to it in the car when driving around a couple weeks ago and I was thinking, "this album is quite good".

 Devil Dogs Story 4

Finally got back to working on the story. I finished #3 a few weeks ago and had started #4 immediately. I actually have a rough draft for the 1st 'act'. It's fast and quick. The rest of the story, I'm at a bit of a crossroads. #4 serves as the end of the Devil Dogs phase (their story will continue under a different squad name; War Hounds). I had ideas on how I wanted to tell the next scene, but it's where to go with it all. I have a plot, it's the finer details of whether I want to go certain routes. I'm still formulating a lot of ideas too because in some ways, I have to set the stage for War Hounds #1. I'm hoping I can write it out and it'll all come together.

This kind of brings up something I've kinda been reading about studio-made tv shows and movies. That a lot of the story/script are written on the spot. Like, the writer or writers just bust it out in a short time. But I can't help question of the editing, rewriting, and revision processes involved. How many times have we heard that a scene is written on the spot? Is that how creativity works for some people in the entertainment industry?

Yet here we have other writers who can take a lot of time to work things through. Hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc. The things that I ponder...

*Firenado and Trainwreck*

 Demon Hunters Project: What is it?

I haven't explained what the Demon Hunters project is.

The Demon Hunters is a Marauder Task Force military squad that takes out really bad bad guys. The crew is made up for 2 primary soldiers; Lt Rocker and Sgt Hunter. They hunt down the baddest of the bad. If they can't take them down on their own, they call the rest of their team. However, the real story isn't about the hunters, it's about the entities they are after.

Originally, it was just going to be 1 group to focus on. When I decided to add 2 more entities for down the road, it changed how I had to look at the project. The breakdown of the project got very technical. I admit, it's ugly looking and sounding.

The 1st theme was based Warhammer 40k's World Eaters. As the premise of each story tells, it's not about the people that are remembered, but the name. Or title. I decided to have some fun with the 40k universe, creating a prequel that has very little to do with modern day 40k. 

In the future, there is only war.

 

 

The future is dark. The future is grim. The future is violent.

The universe only has war.

 

For centuries it was believed that people don’t exist forever. Philosophical types believe that the human spirit can be eternal in the form of energy.

 

Humans are not legends or myths. The names and titles become legends and myths. These transcend the ages.

This is the story of a group of soldiers whose name became bigger than them. Their group would be remembered millennia later…

 

To do this, I chose the World Eaters. I simply think they are neat and the Chaos chapters of mutated, manipulated, demented Space Marines are fun! It doesn't help that my Facebook feed when it pertains to JoyToy product, is often 40k stuff (or 30k but I'm not going there) and their World Eaters figures are very nice. This part of Demon Hunters starts with the Devil Dogs. They later become the War Hounds and finally evolve into the World Eaters. It is a series of stories.

Naming convention-wise, it reads like this:
Demon Hunters
Vol 1: World Eaters
Phase 1: Devil Dogs
Phase 2: War Hounds
Phase 3: World Eaters

Vol 2: The 4 Horsemen

Vol 3: 7 Orochi

The 4 Horsemen takes Cobra operatives who are doing outside of the usual fare. They are noticed by the powers that be and the Demon Hunters are sent after them. The story is what the 4 Horsemen are doing and to a degree, why.

7 Orochi is the evolution of the 4 Horsemen in that 3 more members join up. I haven't decided if they will be all Cobra. I might branch out. It's been months and I still don't know who member #7 is.

 Accomplishments (I finished something!)

I'm one of those type of creative artists that comes up with ideas and plans but has a hard time finishing them. That said, last week, I finished a Devil Dogs story called FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF GOD. This would be story #3 under the Devil Dogs phase of the Demon Hunters project. It took longer than I wanted. Finishing it was an accomplishment, something I don't give myself credit for usually because I have a lot of things in my mind. In terms of the Devil Dogs stories, I was thinking of #4 and how to wrap up the phase and to transition to the next phase of their evolution: War Hounds.

To get technical, Demon Hunters Vol1 is a mouthful. I didn't see any other way on how to do break it down because it's that complicated. Well, it's probably not but it's multi-layered! That aside, I'm working through #4 which will be called FATES WARNING. Yes, that is an Iron Maiden song title. Yes, I have a habit of using their song titles for stories.

The other story I finished last week (or was it the week before), was a vignette (short diostory) for Demon Hunters Vol2: The 4 Horsemen (shortened, 4 Horsemen or 4H). The visual shorts are out-of-sequence prequels to the 4 Horsemen story. It will not be a series of stories like the World Eaters (which follows the adventures of the Devil Dogs). It will be a self-contained story but the 4 Horsemen, to a degree, show up in Vol1 in a preliminary way. That part of the Demon Hunters project deserves it's own blog post or 2. 

In the end, I finished up #3 which took a life of its own. In fact, that lil story starts to set up for Vol3: 7 Orochi. Vol2 and Vol3 are closely related.

Wait, what ARE the Demon Hunters?

Who writes a story about a squad who hunts demons but doesn't actually tell their story?!?

Almost better not to ask! (okay, the 2 primary Demon Hunter characters make a cameo in FOR THE GREATER OF GOOD only to introduce them and indicate what the future holds for the Devil Dogs. They won't get story time until Phase 3 when they are tasked with the hunt!)

At the moment, I don't have plans for a 4 Horsemen #4 vignette. Focusing on Devil Dogs #4.

*Lt Rocker. Leader of the Demon Hunters squad. 1 of 2 of the primary members*

 Action Figures: War of the Scales

I was just thinking about the scale issues that people have when it comes to action figures. When GI Joe released the Classified line back around 2020 (woo hoo, pre-covid!), I wasn't overly excited. I think it had more to do with price point than the increase in product size. At the same time, things weren't looking pretty for the 1:18 Joes; be it 3.75" or 4" or whatever Hasbro felt like making them. I remember trying a few of the figures out near the beginning. A lot of it had to do whether it had the same magic feel as the 8in Sigma 6 figures that Hasbro produced in 2005. Those things were fun and they were different.

I think I started with Snake Eyes, Scarlet, and Roadblock. I liked the updated look. Scarlet and Roadblock were fine. I actually liked the bulkiness of Roadblock. That was one big block of plastic and oddly, I felt it moreso w/ the Classifieds than I ever did with Sigma6. My disappointment was with Snake Eyes. Now, let's get this straight, I've bought this damn figure at least 3x. 1st time, I noticed that the chest piece was loose/wobbly (remember Big Hero6 when Hiro is putting his robot into the fight cage and it just flops around?) and the hands were so frakkin' stiff, I couldn't get the gun or sword in them. The 'use hot water to temporarily loosen them' is a bs solution because as a photographer, I'm not carrying a thermos of hot water with me outside, on a photoshoot, just to loosen up the hands. I love the Snake Eyes design. As a hobby artist who has done fan GI Joe stuff, coming up with a Snake Eyes design that I feel is good, acceptable, or something I can deal with, is incredibly hard cuz he's been made so many times. Thing is, those Classifieds still have hand issues. They also have stiff/locked joint issues too which bewilders me cuz that never happened in the 80s or even the 2000s (Theme Years!!!).

That aside, I realized that with Sima6, I didn't get held back by a scale change. I bought what I liked. I made stories with those 8in figures. I did photos with those 8in figures. I made memories with Kody with those 8in figures (gal's son; it was a common point between the two of us. Music, skateboarding, light sabers, GI Joe toys) because he was pretty much all in it. I'd buy doubles so he could have his own and we could do our thing with them. Eventually, that all went away and to move the story forward, I was at Boeing when I got into imports. In which, scale wasn't an issue cuz I wanted what I wanted. Be it cool-looking, weird, or that's just how things were. I have Kamen Rider figures in 2 different sizes. I bought SH Figuarts Power Rangers (movie outfits) which were awesome and so much better than the junk mass released for the stores.

These days, it feels like there are tons of gourmet toy companies out there. As far as I can tell, they are all good. 6in is the current trend but like 4in, these companies are stretching the sizes. Some seem to doing 6.2in. One is doing 7in. 4in makers are even pushing up, which is really weird to me. I've pretty much made peace with GI Joe Classified. 

I see it like this.

I am not a toy collector. That saves a huge headache right there. I see posts on FB from the collector side of things and their rants towards every lil thing and detail. Some I can understand but others, it's like, "ha! good thing I'm not a hardcore collector!" I prefer that the product I buy has a use. Stimulates the creativity. Never been much of the type to just put on a shelf for dust to gather on it. I'd be far more the type to create dioramas on a shelving unit to show stuff off.

I am not a completionist. This one is tough because it's easy to get into this situation. I don't need all the Classified Dreadnoks to satisfy myself. In this particular case, I've been trying to fight it pretty hard. But I admit, they do look good. It'd be nice to have the Z family and the 3 original noks plus a Thrasher (if they ever make him). I have the family and I kind of fell in that trap. However, I do like Zandar, Zarana, and Zanya in general. Speaking of the GI Joe O-13, that's another matter. The figures look good. It's hard not to want them all and end up with all of them. It's probably a good thing I'm not a hard Warhammer 40k fan and completionist cuz that would suck!

I buy what I think is neat. I buy what makes the Zedd Universe deeper. It's about the creativity and the stories to tell. Therefore, I don't feel I should be held back by scale. It's about fun. People probably forget that.

*Red 5. Unused image from 4 Horsemen: Vignette 3*

 Thinking...

When I started this Demon Hunters project, the plan was for a series of fast-paced, short stories following a Marauder Task Force squad called the Devil Dogs. Over a short period of time, they would evolve into the most hunted rogue squad in the world. They'll have also have changed their name twice, not to elude the good guys, but because each stage they attained. The end name would be World Eaters and that name would become legendary.

I had writer's block for some time on this one. A week or two ago, I figured out a go-around. That 'revelation' led me thinking of how I'm doing this entire project. The initial focus was, as stated, short and fast stories. Writing the current chapter, I realized that this is the perfect vehicle to build the Zedd Universe. Why in this project as opposed to the GI Joe stories I'm rewriting (from the existing diostories)? Because the GI Joe stories are very narrow in focus and doesn't really build the world. But with Demon Hunters, it's a chance to do a lot of stuff that I couldn't tell/push/explain/explore in the GI Joe diostories (or written stories in which, only TRANSFORMATIONS has been finished). It's a fascinating thing to me to realize this. The chapter I'm writing is actually fun. It's different, slightly dorky, definitely unusual but it explains a lot. It also helps flesh out the Andromeda Quest project that I never got underway (because that was turning into a massive entity that I didn't have time or money to do).

For those not familiar with the Demon Hunters project, here's the premise:

*physical representation of Devil Dogs (in toy form, duh)*