my suspicions about licensed characters who fell through and turned into original characters
Discussions about how the Skull Collector was obviously supposed to be Predator but the license fell through got me thinking about the other "original" characters who I suspect came about the same way. So here's my list:
- Leatherface ➡️ Billy (of course, they later got the rights to Leatherface and had to add him with a slightly different power, and I think they did a pretty good job)
- Scorpion ➡️ Deathslinger ("get over here!")
- Xenomorph ➡️ Twins (this one's a bit of a stretch, but you can see it if you squint. 😁)
- Joker ➡️ Trickster
- Predator ➡️ Skull Merchant
Comments
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I'm pretty sure it actually was said somewhere that when the game was in development they initially tried to get Leatherface but the license holders said no and so they made their own killer based on Leatherface, so actually that first one isn't entirely wrong. That's also if I heard correctly and it wasn't just someone's theory.
Although I'm still not sold on the whole "Skull Merchant was Predator and they changed it because of the license" idea. Personally I think that theory came from people thinking up a new excuse why to call this chapter bad. I don't think people would have gone there if the chapter was amazing.
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i think twins is more chucky than xenomorph (i cannot see it im squinting so hard my eyes hurt)
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I don’t see the twins one. And deathslinger is based on something else I’m pretty sure.
spirit is based on the grudge archetype.
trapper is likely jason. Jason is a commentary on societal pressures and revenge
wraith and nurse are based on traditional western ghosts
meyers is meyers who is based on the freudian psychopathy theory
doctor is almost a 1 for 1 to the outlast character.
hag is an excuse for hex totems. possibly an early adoption of sadako.
huntress is a furry. Just like pig.
the rest are memes.
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Non-license killers can be inspired by licensed content. Doesn't mean that BHVR had a license fall through.
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My rationale (which I'm sure is wrong, but it's fun to think about) is that babby is a facehugger, and if she'd been xenomorph there would've been an intermediary step of laying an egg, but when it became an original character they just had her spawn babby directly.
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I personally buy into the 'this was formally Predator' theory, and I actually like this chapter as is too!
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I just saw a video about the similarities between Tools of Torment and Predator and I definitely see it more than I did when I posted my comment. I'm a little more sold now, but I'd still personally need some convincing since the reason behind the survivors is so weak imo that you could blow on it and it would snap in half and fall over. However I definitely see the correlation between Adriana and Predator and the mori makes more sense if it was supposed to be Predator.
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Artist seems like they wanted Candyman but couldn't get the license. She's an artist, her hand is cut off and replaced with a weapon, and she throws out birds instead of swarms of bees.
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Homages aren’t a thing, I guess.
The OG trio are all clearly inspired by certain big slashers. Jason, Predator, and Bubba/The Hills Have Eyes respectively. That doesn’t mean a license fell through. On the contrary, it likely means they never got it in the first place. There’s evidence of another “Bob” killer that was inspired by Myers, before they got the big man himself and “Bob” was made redundant.
Slinger x Scorpion: Mechanically, maybe, but the character is completely different. Scorpion is also not a horror character.
Twins x Xenomorph: No shot
Trickster x Joker: Not sure where this one even comes from. Joker isn’t even a horror character. Moreover, they recruited a K-pop group for this chapter. Even if they landed a DC license, it must’ve fallen through very early in development.
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You could also make a case for artist and candyman thought that’s also a stretch
plus obviously trapper is a Jason clone
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I can also see the Predator angle. What's not discussed a lot though is this: everyone says the skull merchants power is clunky and weak, so if she were replaced with the predator, wouldn't peeps hate on him, too?
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I would love Viktor screaming while another tiny Viktor heads shows from his mouth.
But no way Twins are xenomorph.
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Ugh. We were robbed.
imagine if we had a killer that was just named Bob and looked like an ordinary person among the roster??
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I agree that it's supposed to be Predator. I even requested them on that survey about licenses too. I would have been a lot happier just seeing the iconic Predator cloaking and uncloaking even if it is just like Wraith.
What we got just feels kind of forced, awkward, and a little too safe visually. The drones could use some more polish too.. I wish they could be controlled manually in First Person view. Maybe smash into Survivors and deal a single health State hit? Just something a little more interactive maybe?
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Or order them to follow survivors around? But that would just make her Knight 2.0 ... For starters, I think the scanner laser net needs to go, its again giving survivors all the info in the world, making the power sorta impotent. There should be a peeping sound or something that gets heared occasionally, but nothing as obvious as "you are entering the killers power now. Prepare thyself."
I am torn on the parked drones: for ones, you might want to reactivate them, but on the other hand you also want survivors to tamper with them, so that they get the little claw marker. I like how part of her gameplay loop is looking at her scanner device and checking if she gets any reports from anywhere, but by itself the claw markers drain too fast and pose too little a threat.
On a more controversial note: her lore is all over the place. She is a selfmade millionaire and a big manga weeb and trying to relive her fathers unpublished killer persona, but she looks tame like this? She should have a full on mechanical, bulky arm and weird hair styles like Goku, if they really wanted to lean into the "Manga Killer", but it more feels like an afterthought then anything else. At least the Trickster was designed as "the K-Pop star who is secretly a killer" and hits all the marks on his design, if you hate it or love it, but he is spot on. But the Skull Merchant as a killer version of a real life batman-eque Manga Killer? Not even half weird and cool enough.
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IIRC, there was a leak that suggested much more to Slinger during the initial design phase. Such as the ability for him to pull himself to obstacles quickly by shooting them and reeling himself in. I don't think Slinger was ever intended to be another character, he just ended up similar to something else because of constraints and limitations.
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Twins are probably inspired by the characters in the movie Basket Case, where the monster was a conjoined twin who was surgically removed.
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oh! you're totally right about Artist and Candyman! I totally see it now.
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To rein discussion back in a little, this thread was originally intended to be about killers who specifically seem like they were originally designed to be licensed characters, but were changed to original characters because the license fell through. It's not about "inspirations"; the inspirations for the original killers are obvious in most cases.
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Joker isn't a horror character... but a random member of BTS is? 😂
My rationale was that he's a skinny, smiley character, he throws knives (cards) and uses a blunt weapon (the Joker often uses a mallet or cane). AND he's the only killer who's announcement video was a cartoon, further solidifying the cartoon / comic connection. (yes, I know I'm reaching. This is for fun, you guys!!)
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The house from the dredge chapter is clearly the house from Get Out.
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If the Skull Merchant was supposed to be Predator, then the Predator license holders dodged a minigun.
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This right here, there are many killers where thats the case
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Because the mori is the same from the movie Prey, Predator also used drones and the Hud radar with three dots and tracker is the same as Predator crosshair it's called tri laser and her weapon very iconic to Predator franchise. That's why this theory is so believable because there are too many similarities and Bhvr even made behind the scenes video where they constantly call her apex predator, telling the player to watch out because she knows where you are, like bruh, you didn't not made a nurse 2.0 with aura reading abilities as a basekit, it doesn't matter if she knows where I am, because she can't do ######### with that info.
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You can throw in Candyman > Artist to the pattern too.
That said, jumping to "deals the fell through" is a little too much of a reach.
We know that they work on multiple concept at a time, sometimes just as a 'proof of concept' kinda thing. In a dev interview they mentioned how they have a Pennywise killer built that they're particularly pleased with. I doubt they would have mentioned this if there ws actually any deal for Pennywise in the pipeline.
So,they could have had this Predator killer concept already built, just for fun. When brainstorming new original killers, they already had this concept built so repurposing it for an original one would be a decent way to cut a few corners.
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Twins being Chucky & Tiffany makes way more sense.
I seriously can't wait!
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Joker? You mean the guy from persona?
Nah its obviously Dio from Jojo's bizarre adventure
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Also, The Dredge is clearly supposed to be The Edge from U2. Once you see it it's obvious.
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I doubt any of them were deals that fell through. Billy was likely inspired by Leatherface, The Hills have Eyes, and many other hillbilly based serial killer movies, but not a deal that fell through. The rest are nice conspiracy theories, but a stretch.
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I think you're referring to the Legion.
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Yeah, I’ve been pretty convinced about this one for a while.
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