Generic Mysterious Non-Speaking Mooks That Threaten Humanity

[CarlManvers2019]

You guys know the usual generic mook that mysteriously appears and threatens the majority of the human race and results in specific people's getting a job/title for killing them?

Well, I just don't get the sheer melodrama regarding them or see them as terrifying, especially when they're slaughtered en masse and don't talk or show signs of sapience

I much prefer dudes like these instead

What about you guys?

 

[Human Primacy]

Who're these guys?

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Who're these guys?

The Apostles from Kentaro Miura’s Berserk

Apostle

These are those refashioned by causality and extraordinary obsession. These are apostles. [...] Beasts to be simply shunned, feared, and detested.– Locus on apostlehood Apostles (使徒) are inhumans who, typically having acquired and activated a beherit in a moment of anguish, summoned the God Hand...

berserk.fandom.com

Unlike RWBY’s Grimm, these mooks are clearly sapient and even vary from individual to individual in appearance and ability(this is to varying degrees, Guts doesn’t have to figure out the specific weaknesses and abilities of each Apostle)

 

[Gaouw]

Yeah... No.

The Apostles here, each of them is Hero units.

They became Mook only because their leader is the closest canon equivalent of god (since AFAIK the Idea of Evil is nixed).

So, yeah. Not mook at all.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Yeah... No.

The Apostles here, each of them is Hero units.

They became Mook only because their leader is the closest canon equivalent of god (since AFAIK the Idea of Evil is nixed).

So, yeah. Not mook at all.

Okay, that said, still much more interesting and actually terrifying an enemy than the Grimm that guys on our sisters sites and FFN keep melodramatically talking about

 

[Human Primacy]

I think he was getting at that they're not just disposable mooks, and they actually are shown to be threatening. I really should get to reading Berserk. Judging by that 2016 anime, I can't expect them to ever make much of a decent adaptation for anything beyond what was covered in the original series.

The Grimm had potential, but like everything else in RWBY, went to shit after Monty died. I didn't even finish the last season. It was just so stupid and boring.

For antagonists or monsters to have impact, they have to have some level of competence. This is why Darth Vader is remembered as a frightening badass, but Grievous (in everything but the Genndy cartoon) is a ridiculous clown. They need to be shown to be an actual threat, and this threat has to be taken seriously by the protagonists.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

For antagonists or monsters to have impact, they have to have some level of competence. This is why Darth Vader is remembered as a frightening badass, but Grievous (in everything but the Genndy cartoon) is a ridiculous clown. They need to be shown to be an actual threat, and this threat has to be taken seriously by the protagonists.

Also, to have at least SOME personality and intelligence

Say, I’ve been playing some God Eater Resurrection and Code Vein, does the Aragami and the Lost count as just a bunch of generic mooks to be killed en masse that are without intelligence or personality

I’m only on the first few missions of God Eater Resurrection and as for Code Vein, I don’t see much signs of sapience or thinking left in the Lost, closest thing to scary is that any Revenany can become one of them and they’re a sad horrible fate for those who don’t get enough Blood Bears and Blood in-universe and the city is full of em

 

[Human Primacy]

Also, to have at least SOME personality and intelligence

Eh, that depends on how it's structured. Mooks can work as an extension of a villain, even if they don't have much intelligence on their own, like your hordes of zombies or space bugs. There's also a difference between video games and other media. I find it more passable to have mindless hordes as bad guys in games, as you're actually interacting with them directly, and there's a fun factor. Again, though, they do still need to pose a threat, or the game has no challenge. I've been playing a lot of Vermintide II and Deep Rock Galactic lately, both of which borrow from the Left 4 Dead model. Very much about fighting off hordes, though they very much do pose a threat, if not always the most intelligent enemies.

This is much less forgivable in a show or movie. Watching a nigh invincible protagonist mow down hordes without significant risk to themselves or others is horribly boring, and dilutes the threat of your bad guys.