Eldar and Malkavians

[vonkortez]

when was Alan Moores The Killing Joke published?

Let's see, I'm ashamed to admit I bought that the week it came out; it must have been '87 or '88?

My Gary Numan halflings still need some element of fantasy novel trappings to stand getting anywhere near as whack as Eldar Harlequins. Somebody suggest something.[/quote

But are those mid eighties Mad Max style Gary, glam rock era Gary or modern post apocalyptic nomad Gary halflings?

 

[Tubehead]

Giant pink Flamingos & flame lances?

Done.

 

[Tubehead]

But are those mid eighties Mad Max style Gary, glam rock era Gary or modern post apocalyptic nomad Gary halflings?

Just thinking new wave; Tubeway days through Telekon. (The sea base uniforms from Warriors of the Deep were inspired by him too probably.)
Specifically, some halflings would have the red jumpsuit from the 'Cars' video and others would have the black one from the Telekon era.
Optionally some halflings would be equipped with sections of hoover tube borrowed from Gary's mum with which to motivate the flamingos and/or sheathe their flame lances.

(Glam rock era... Not to be confused with Gary Glitter...!)

 

[Zhu Bajie]

when was Alan Moores The Killing Joke published?

Let's see, I'm ashamed to admit I bought that the week it came out; it must have been '87 or '88?

Yeah, I checked Killing Joke came out in March 1988 - and it was HUGE in geek circles wasn;t it? Like posters in book shops, and Tim Burtons Batman movie on the horizon. It was massive. Eldar Harlequins were launched December 1988.

Oh and Don;t forget the Jeremy Goodwins Diciples of the Red Redemption are basically Doctor Doom - published only 2 months after Byrne retold the Doom origin story.

Well, I've convinced myself even if nobody else!

Giant pink Flamingos & flame lances?

Done.

Moorcocks Hawkmoon.

Why not flying manta-rays and las-rifles?

 

[Citizen Sade]

Because we're talking Halflings, there's better eating on a Flamingo and it would take forever to barbecue anything with a lasrifle?

 

[Citizen Sade]

Oh and Don;t forget the Jeremy Goodwins Diciples of the Red Redemption are basically Doctor Doom - published only 2 months after Byrne retold the Doom origin story.

What’s your take on the Chaos Agents in Chainsaw Warrior and 40K? Latter-day redemptionists?

http://www.sodemons.com/rhrare/40kchaosagent/index.htm

 

[Zhu Bajie]

Oh and Don;t forget the Jeremy Goodwins Diciples of the Red Redemption are basically Doctor Doom - published only 2 months after Byrne retold the Doom origin story.

What’s your take on the Chaos Agents in Chainsaw Warrior and 40K? Latter-day redemptionists?

http://www.sodemons.com/rhrare/40kchaosagent/index.htm

Yeah. Chaos Agents are definitely part of the Red Redemptionist / Doom Clone tradition.

Some point the Metaface / Red Hood look got transferred to the Adeptus Mechanicus, and Necromunda changed them from Khornate Kultists to Imperialist Fanatics for whatever reason.

 

[symphonicpoet]

But that just leaves clowns, masks with big disturbing grins, and perhaps their nebulous relationship to sadomasochism requiring some sort of explanation.
This is why I paired up this question with reference to Malkavians from Vampire the Masquerade; they too seemed to revel in masks with big disturbing grins, and mime/harlequin trappings.
Back in the 90's I worked at a gaming shop in Atlanta, the city where the White Wolf Games HQ was located, and we always got teenage goth Malkavian-obsessed loonies pumped to bursting with absurdist pretensions in there buying Vampire game books and dice and trying hard to act as creepy and wacky as they could manage. It seemed like every Vampire player that came in there was:
A) squarely 17 years old
B) a goth wannabe with top hat and black lipstick
C) currently gaming a Malkavian playing character
I got the impression that Malkavians were something like eldar harlequins crossed with ork madboyz with the movie The Lost Boys thrown in for good measure.
Well anyway to hell with that game. Didn't the GW fluff mention something about Slaanesh being born from the death of the Eldar culture? What was the connection to the old Slann then? Is Slaanesh where the sadomasochism connects with the Eldar?

On top of the hair metal, comic books were decidedly in just then. Wolverine and the X-Men were still somewhat cult at the time, as I recall; not the widely known and almost passe things of today. Batman was coming back, and the whole "Dark Knight" take was maybe only just then new. It was the era of Beetlejuice and Tim Burton. Edward Scissorhands seems decidedly Malkavian. The Joker seems straight up Harlequin. So much so that Katsuhik JiNNai did a lovely "Djoker" model and accompanying band using a wide assortment of late 80s and early 90s models. All that was needed to suggest the comic book character was the right (purple) paint. Or Priss in Blade Runner. Or even Roy Batty. Both seem quite "Harlequin" to me. (And maybe even a touch Comedia, now that I think of it.) I think killer space clowns are a perfectly 80s trope. (A troupe of tropes? Dancing about wildly in their destructive spandex glee?)

All this talk of pretentious goth kids is making me feel all nostalgic. I might possibly have dated one or two people who roll played Malkavians and attended an early and thoroughly underground goth night that largely overlapped with a Vampire roll playing group. (Though I typically played characters neutral to or even hunting vampires myself. Never once played an actual vampire so far as I can recall. Though I do have a well worn copy of the book six feet away from me as I type this.)

Good times!

 

[Tubehead]

...and attended an early and thoroughly underground goth night that largely overlapped with a Vampire roll playing group.

That happened with you too, huh?
Not Powder on Spring Street in downtown Atlanta c.1995...?
I only ever played a Cappadocian in Vampire Dark Ages and I deliberately avoided wearing black on goth night... honest.
Oh, the silly hoops egotism makes us jump through so it can laugh at us... ( * 艸) 恥ずかしいですよ...

 

[symphonicpoet]

^Nah, I was in Columbia Missouri at the time. (Then the home of Pagan Publishing, which was trying to get some of that sweet White Wolf work when Wraith and Faerie came out.) There was a place called the Music Cafe. I think the goth night was probably a big part of what got the place shut down with extreme prejudice. I did wear black, but I was a stagehand, so black was required for work and made up the overwhelming majority of my wardrobe. Was mostly battered black t-shirts if that helps any. Frequently with a c-wrench, a mini mag lite, and a lanyard with ten laminates hanging off. (Christ I wish I knew what happened to that. I had a Rolling Stones laminate of which I was incredibly fond.)

Yeah, my ego still requires me to jump through odd hoops. Oddly, I've almost accidentally grown my hair back out thanks to the pandemic. At this rate I'm going to turn into a twenty year older version of my twenty something self. (Might have to lose somewhat more than twenty something pounds to do it right though.)