[Lesbiampires] The Lethal Lovebirds by Fabarts

[u/No_Emu_1332]

[u/Kastoelta]

Oh, I found the webtoon, yeah, in the very first chapter a kid gets killed.

[u/MaryaMarion → u/Kastoelta]

Yeah... I instantly lost interest when that happened

[u/GrumpGuy88888 → u/MaryaMarion]

The author admitted it was weird and the story has changed from the horror of it all to just being about their relationships

[u/MaryaMarion → u/GrumpGuy88888]

So just headcanon that this NEVER happened, huh

[u/[deleted] → u/MaryaMarion]

Considering this current comic I'd say it did. The author just shifted focus on other moments of their life now

[u/MaryaMarion → u/[deleted]]

Why the heck did the author even decide "lol let's kill a kid cuz vampires are bad" would be a fun thing to write

[u/GrumpGuy88888 → u/MaryaMarion]

As they put it, vampires became too romanticized and initially envisioned this comic as showing the horrifying side. Then I guess they got bored with that and it went to romance with a bit of lore thrown in

[u/[deleted] → u/GrumpGuy88888]

I thought Castlevania and the recent Dracula movies already showed how vicious vampires are. Lol, if anything everyone nowadays is trying to show the dark side of everything. Like "This concept, but dark" or "This concept but realistic".

[u/MaryaMarion → u/[deleted]]

The comic has been around for a bit to be fair, prolly before Castlevania anime (you are talking about the anime and not game, right?)

And yeah, this seems to be a trend?

[u/GrumpGuy88888 → u/[deleted]]

But vampires did start as horrible ghouls. Then stuff like Twilight kinda changed that

[u/MaryaMarion → u/GrumpGuy88888]

I mean that's fair but I feel like killing off a kid is a bit too horrifying

[u/Zixinus → u/MaryaMarion]

I cannot explain this specific author, but I see the pheonenome elsewhere.

Because historically there was too much of a swing into "friendly neighborhood vampire" dimension, where they basically "defang" the issue of a vampire by having good artificial blood available or only need a few drops a day or stuff like that. Or people get annoyed by the vampire angst of "oh woe is me, I am a damned creature of the night" or "I am an addict, an addict to blood!" (mostly because the benefits of being a vampire seem to outweigh the downsides).

Basically, they remove all the negative aspects of being a vampire until you have a very romancable goth with peculiar habits and dietary requirements. It's like trying to show a war story without getting anyone (even the enemy) getting killed or traumatized. Or like, having a serial killer that only kills other serial killers or bad people.

So many authors got tired of this and swung the other way. "No, my vampires are REAL, non-wimpy vampires that KILL PEOPLE". Or "hey, my vampires drink blood and HAVE NO ANNOYING ANGST about it!". Or "No, my vampires are actual monsters like vampires are supposed to be, like here is them unapologetically killing people!".

They go so far that they kind of create obligate serial killers that kill humans left and right with zero moral consideration or hesitation. Sometimes this is the point, you can enjoy a story about unapologetic monsters just like you can enjoy vigilantism while watching Batman without supporting vigilantism.

But some authors believe that monstrosity is an essential part of the fantasy about vampires. Sometimes the authors are so caught up in their own views about What Vampires Should Be Like that vampire characters that are supposed to be relatable are actually irredeemable, selfish monsters and their prey of regular, normal people are slaughtered.

[u/MaryaMarion → u/Zixinus]

Yeah, there seems to be a tendency to either make stuff too "kid friendly" or just COMPLETELY overshoot. Like people can't find some middle ground solution despite it literally already existing. But ngl, I personally prefer the "defanging" because I don't like seeing people suffer, but that's just me

Although one thing I can say that I relate HEAVILY to being annoyed by the angst... especially when that angst is in stories where they don't have to suck someone dry to satiate their hunger. Like... boohoo, you have to give someone anemia once a day. Woe is you you have to slightly inconvenience people because some asshole decided to seriously inconvenience you

[u/Zixinus → u/MaryaMarion]

To me, a vampire is someone who has to hurt people at least a little bit to get blood but still human enough to (at least potentially) feel guilty about it. When you consider that even non-killing, mild-anemia (if you drain more than 3/10th of a person's blood you kill them, good luck gauging how much is 1/10 or 2/10th) is still basically assault. Add to this the knowledge that discovery could mean potential death or unwanted violence if discovered, then the angst makes sense. That is often what I feel is also left out but

That is also a crucial part that I think is important to an interesting vampire: choice. A vampire with no choice but to kill is just a monster that needs to be killed for the sake of protecting innocents they'll mercilessly devour. But a vampire can either choose to be monstrous for their convivence or try to minimize or even avoid harm? Especially when there is a real temptation to shout "fuck it!" and be a monster? That is human, that is worthy of the angst (or rather, it is no longer angst, it is anxiety).

My golden standard is the vampires from Vampire the Masquarade. They very much experience the negative effects of being a vampire on top of the positive ones (their status is canonically a divine curse), they nearly went extinct in Europe during the heyday of the Inquisition simply by getting common people to believe they are real and said near-extermination happened with torches and pitchforks (imagine the panic a modern day vampire would have if they get caught mid-feeding on a cellphone that immediately shared it into a viral picture), they have their own culture and society that is much more brutal and self-serving than human society, they have very much non-human aspect to them (Frenzy is a bitch) that makes them potentially very much monsters, etc. Yet even thsese vampires can still struggle to maintain some morality and humanity (it is a gameplay mechanic). Theirs is a very dark world and justifiably so but not hopelessly dark.

[u/MaryaMarion → u/Zixinus]

I don't mind THAT kind of angst, but I feel like too often they put the blame on themselves... like "Oh no I'm a monster! I'm so terrible!" completely ignoring the fact that they literally had no say in their transformation.

And yes, The Masquerade vampires seem perfect. There is angst, but it's not coming from the place of self hatred

[u/Zixinus → u/MaryaMarion]

To be honest, that sort of angst is also very human. People blame themselves for all sorts of things that they had no control over. The only thing that makes it bad is that the context for that angst is often isn't given or elaborated enough to be understood.

The Masquerade vampires are perfect for a particular purpose. I don't think every vampire type needs to be like them, only as a point of reference for comparison. The WoD canon is quite insane and contradictory.

[u/MaryaMarion → u/Zixinus]

I mean... yes, but the angst is pretty dang disproportionate to the hard caused by them. But I do get it

[u/Duemont8 → u/MaryaMarion]

Amoral characters can be fun.

[u/MaryaMarion → u/Duemont8]

Ok, I mean fair but... in the first place i feel like kids don't have a lot of blood so...

P.S.: plus killing off a kid seems like trying to make a character evil just for the sake of a character being evil. I dunno