Best and Most Terrifying Sci-fi Antagonist "Group"
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The problem I have with Cthulhu is that he isn't scary. I'm sure the idea is scary but HE isn't.Vhite said:
It seems more like people are afraid of the warning signs than the actual being.
According to the novel he escaped iirc, but then they changed it. There were also 3 novels about Bester.Catfood220 said:To be fair, Bester never worked with the Shadows, in fact he worked against them because they actually altered his telepath girlfriend into a biological pilot for their almost indestructible spaceships.Guy from the 80 said:I wrap up this thread by saying the shadows in Babylon 5. Creepy insect aliens that also had human minions that also were creepy.
Bester was creepy because he was a militant anti non-telepath member of PsiCorp. Its sad that we never got to see Michael Garibaldi's revenge on him, I'm guessing it wasn't pretty.
Wow you are right. I guess its been too many years since I saw it. For some reason I was lumping Bester in together with Morden.
Theres no doubt in my mind, I'm watching season 2 again this weekend.
Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. In their first appearance, not their encore where they became stupidly hax[footnote]To paraphrase the problem: "Never take your eyes off an angel...but don't look at them too long or your mental image of them will come to life"[/footnote]. In Blink they were simple, elegant and darn scary because of the simple fact that if you so much as blinked they could nail you. The only way to stop that from happening was to ensure that they were continuously observed. The true genius of the presentation, however, was the way that the episode leaned on the fourth wall by counting the audience as an observing force. Every character onscreen could have their back to the angel but that angel would still remain locked in place so long as the camera was on it, effectively blurring the lines between fantasy and reality to allow the audience to more fully share the protagonists' experience. You never see them move in that episode. And that's part of what made them so creepy.
He himself probably not, there are worse deaths than being ripped apart by tentacles but the fact of existence of any Cthuloid god implies futility and chaos of universe which in such explicit form can drive people to instantly loose all their hope and sanity. Similar things can even happen in real world. I remember reading somewhere that second law of thermodynamics made few people go insane or suicidal.Terminate421 said:
Reapers from Mass Effect, before they were explained by a holographic kid. Horror lives in the unknown. It is helped by skyscraper sized robot aliens with death lasers and an unwillingness to bargain on murdering all organic life.
Necrons and Tyranids from 40k. Eerie undead robots with star gods and the 'xenomorph' type living weapon hiveminds. Total Death Void versus Way Too Alive sides of the pan-galactic annihilation coin.
The Flood, from Halo 1... Before the gravemind got involved and more sequels got made... I like the idea of a unstoppable sporulating flood of rampaging pandemic space cancer that both warring factions acidently spilled on the floor.
Borg, Star Trek. Neat.
Reavers. Firefly. Again, more interesting before they got explained away in the Serenity movie.
In a lot of ways, all of these, spiritually speaking, Lovecraftian Horrors in popular culture. I'm quite fond of ol Howard Philips personal pantheon as well.
Necrons and Tyranids from 40k. Eerie undead robots with star gods and the 'xenomorph' type living weapon hiveminds. Total Death Void versus Way Too Alive sides of the pan-galactic annihilation coin.
The Flood, from Halo 1... Before the gravemind got involved and more sequels got made... I like the idea of a unstoppable sporulating flood of rampaging pandemic space cancer that both warring factions acidently spilled on the floor.
Borg, Star Trek. Neat.
Reavers. Firefly. Again, more interesting before they got explained away in the Serenity movie.
In a lot of ways, all of these, spiritually speaking, Lovecraftian Horrors in popular culture. I'm quite fond of ol Howard Philips personal pantheon as well.
I think that's a problem with me. I can imagine somethings having terrifying power. Mass Effect 1 and 2 gave the reapers a fine sense of actual strength when I never REALLY got to truly see it (Unless it was the final battle of the first one).Vhite said:
But then there are somethings where my imagination just doesn't really allow it to, you know? It's like being told "This guy is scary" is all I keep seeing when it comes to Lovecraft stuff.
Hell, Im the kind of guy who found "IT" to be a comedy about Tim Curry who was supposed to star in another movie but snuck onto a different one in a clown costume and kept being annoying to them. (Stephen King but that's just something)
I guess if I get an actual example well seen I can really feel fear about something. I do get scared of certain things, I guess I just need the right pushes on seeing how something is strong.
Dr. Cakey said:
The Borg were quite scary, but ultimately I found them very shit and predictable, every 2 minutes "They've adapted" and suddenly your weapons don't work anymore and they could do it in a matter of minutes, how dull and unimaginative. At least with the replicators it was believable, it took a lot of harder work and elaborate espionage to overcome the weapon used against them, it would take them time to adapt and improve captured technology. To me the Borg were more like magical elves, than terrifying machines operating like a colony of ants.AD-Stu said:
Another vote for some 40k factions from me.
In terrifying I'd have to say either Dark Eldar or Chaos Daemons. Dark Eldar WANT to take you alive, fighting them isn't like fighting Tyranids or what have you. A soldier could be patrolling a wall, there would be a flash of green, the man in front of him would dissapear into ash and a chain would hook into his shoulder and he'd be dragged of the wall behind a zooming raider. Dark Eldar gain sustenance of pain for gods sake, they drink every last ounce of agony from their captives because the other races are so far beneath their contempt that they see them as cattle. Dark Eldar are the super-villains of 40k.
Chaos Daemons are terrifying in the unknowable Cthulu way. Each a servant of a dark god of Chaos and manifestations of raw emotion. Pink Horrors of Tzeentch constantly shift form, a mouth opening to allow another head to climb forth and shift once more.
Theres loads more but it would take ages of description to do the daemons justice.
In terrifying I'd have to say either Dark Eldar or Chaos Daemons. Dark Eldar WANT to take you alive, fighting them isn't like fighting Tyranids or what have you. A soldier could be patrolling a wall, there would be a flash of green, the man in front of him would dissapear into ash and a chain would hook into his shoulder and he'd be dragged of the wall behind a zooming raider. Dark Eldar gain sustenance of pain for gods sake, they drink every last ounce of agony from their captives because the other races are so far beneath their contempt that they see them as cattle. Dark Eldar are the super-villains of 40k.
Chaos Daemons are terrifying in the unknowable Cthulu way. Each a servant of a dark god of Chaos and manifestations of raw emotion. Pink Horrors of Tzeentch constantly shift form, a mouth opening to allow another head to climb forth and shift once more.
Theres loads more but it would take ages of description to do the daemons justice.
Star Trek Deep Space 9 - Section 31
Why Section 31, out of all the antagonist groups from Star Trek? They're merely humans with money, that's all. Why not pick something more appropriate, even outside of Star Trek, like others who chose the Reapers?
Simply because Section 31 is terrifying in the way it's almost possible. Mere humans who are fantastics with no sense of morals and the money to accomplish anything. They have no qualms with killing anyone, interrogation, etc, as long as it ensures the Federation's existence.
But another thing is their interrogation is through Holodecks. An entire DS9 episode revolved around how they are able to trick a person into believing the holodeck was real, that they never entered it in the first place and allowed them to create a story to their liking to force the person to give up information. All they know is they fell asleep, woke up, and immediately everyone was slightly different and the world around them was crumbling.
But finally, even when you break free and figure out it's all a holodeck and fake--do you really? How can you know everything else is real? What if when you say "Computer, end program" that it's actually part of the program of the computer to pretend to end and instead make a new version?
The possibilities of how deep into your mind these fantastic can go, and will go, is terrifying to consider. They don't just kill you, they don't tear you apart mentally. They let you do it to yourself.
Why Section 31, out of all the antagonist groups from Star Trek? They're merely humans with money, that's all. Why not pick something more appropriate, even outside of Star Trek, like others who chose the Reapers?
Simply because Section 31 is terrifying in the way it's almost possible. Mere humans who are fantastics with no sense of morals and the money to accomplish anything. They have no qualms with killing anyone, interrogation, etc, as long as it ensures the Federation's existence.
But another thing is their interrogation is through Holodecks. An entire DS9 episode revolved around how they are able to trick a person into believing the holodeck was real, that they never entered it in the first place and allowed them to create a story to their liking to force the person to give up information. All they know is they fell asleep, woke up, and immediately everyone was slightly different and the world around them was crumbling.
But finally, even when you break free and figure out it's all a holodeck and fake--do you really? How can you know everything else is real? What if when you say "Computer, end program" that it's actually part of the program of the computer to pretend to end and instead make a new version?
The possibilities of how deep into your mind these fantastic can go, and will go, is terrifying to consider. They don't just kill you, they don't tear you apart mentally. They let you do it to yourself.
The Cybermen and the Daleks, before Moffat done fucked them up.
The Cybermen were the original Borg, born from the idea of the (then newly forming) plastic surgery industry. The Cybermen were cold, unfeeling and logical to a fault. This is something Big Finish got right for the most part (especially with the Audio Drama Spare Parts, which was the inspiration for the only decent Cyberman story of New Who The Age of Steel). And then much like how the Zerg are now currently inspiring the Tyranids (rather than the other way around), the Cybermen are now being inspired by their spiritual successors the Borg (if Nightmare in Steel is anything to go by).
The Daleks have persisted for years, and with good reason. Whether Skittles colored or blinged out, the Daleks are essentially Cyborg Space Nazi's. They hate you simply because your not a Dalek. Just a shame they're being downgraded into -
"The Daleks take love and replace it with hate."
Seriously, wut? O_O
The Cybermen were the original Borg, born from the idea of the (then newly forming) plastic surgery industry. The Cybermen were cold, unfeeling and logical to a fault. This is something Big Finish got right for the most part (especially with the Audio Drama Spare Parts, which was the inspiration for the only decent Cyberman story of New Who The Age of Steel). And then much like how the Zerg are now currently inspiring the Tyranids (rather than the other way around), the Cybermen are now being inspired by their spiritual successors the Borg (if Nightmare in Steel is anything to go by).
The Daleks have persisted for years, and with good reason. Whether Skittles colored or blinged out, the Daleks are essentially Cyborg Space Nazi's. They hate you simply because your not a Dalek. Just a shame they're being downgraded into -
"The Daleks take love and replace it with hate."
Seriously, wut? O_O
Going to have to go with C'thulhu and the rest of the Elder Gods and other Lovecraftian Horrors - as the origial article that spawned the Chaos Gods, the Shadows, the Reapers, the Zerg and the Borg - all unknowable "infinitely greater" threats of "impossible" power and seemingly (or genuinely) magical abilities.
The big difference is that they can't lose. The Chaos Gods of WH40K are kept in check by the Emperor's psionic powers, the Shadows and the Vorlons are perpetually locked in struggle and, eventually, the Shadows can be reasoned with, the Reapers, the Zerg and the Borg are just minions of a hive mind and they can be quite easily defeated compared to the others listed here.
The Old Ones and Elder Gods are simply to us as we are to single-celled organisms and tiny viruses or bacteria. We could kill billions and not even notice.
They don't care about us, neither compassion nor hatred to be manipulated, nor do they have a goal in mind for us - or made us a target in a way we can expect. They just are.
They may never approach us. They may never even know there was life in this tiny corner of the universe.
Or they might.
captcha: look away
The big difference is that they can't lose. The Chaos Gods of WH40K are kept in check by the Emperor's psionic powers, the Shadows and the Vorlons are perpetually locked in struggle and, eventually, the Shadows can be reasoned with, the Reapers, the Zerg and the Borg are just minions of a hive mind and they can be quite easily defeated compared to the others listed here.
The Old Ones and Elder Gods are simply to us as we are to single-celled organisms and tiny viruses or bacteria. We could kill billions and not even notice.
They don't care about us, neither compassion nor hatred to be manipulated, nor do they have a goal in mind for us - or made us a target in a way we can expect. They just are.
They may never approach us. They may never even know there was life in this tiny corner of the universe.
Or they might.
captcha: look away
Personally, I liked the old Horrors, the ones that looked like claymation monsters. The Standard bearer had flashy antlers, the musician had a flat top it hit with its arms and tail like a drum. And they laughed at everything.VeneratedWulfen93 said:
Especially in chaos gate, where they were seriously creepy, IIRC. I can't find footage of them, but:
If the Splund was thinner and if you killed him he'd break into two smaller blue monsters instead, he'd make a great Pink Horror.
Im thinking of what that would look like now, two blue Splunds rolling around.thaluikhain said:
In 40k that is (or was) at most a temporary thing, sooner or later He would die and chaos would win.HellbirdIV said:
In GW more generally, it's hinted that Chaos could win whenever they wanted to, but a destroyed world/galaxy is no fun. So they give limited power to mortal champions and send them off, because it's more amusing than playing on literally god mode all the time. As such, they can't lose, the world only has a chance of surviving until they get bored with it, and it's only a chance even then.
The psy corp in B5 were always really intimidating, especially Bester. Honestly, I always found the Vorlon more fear inducing than the Shadows, at least with them you kind of knew where they stood.
What's wrong with Serenity?hazabaza1 said: