User blog:Luwdol/What Bloodbound Could Have Been

It's really no secret that I'm not particularly a fan of BloodBound; while it seems I have quite a lot to say about most of PB's series, this is the one I thought could have been something really cool and different in the vampire genre. There was a lot of wasted potential in this series, mostly due to their lack of "show me don't tell me." So, here are a few ideas that were bouncing in my head for what BloodBound could have been. I'm going to structure this post with a "what was my gripe" and "how it could have been fixed/done differently."

GRIPE: the human thrust into the vampire world trope


 * It's tired. It's been done. It's the same story over and over again. You have your Twilights and your Vampire Diaries and hell, even Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie) gave you this. If you're going to do something others have done, do it better and smarter. And, in my opinion, they didn't do any of these things. Perhaps it might have been an interesting angle to work the whole "my boss is a vampire" over a bit of a story arc, but it was rushed in the very first episode and, given that we have a description of the books ahead of time, it fell extremely flat. "Oh is this a shock? I couldn't tell." It's not that I have a problem with the human enters wacky world of vamps, it's more or less how it was executed.

My Suggestion(s)


 * Instead of our MC's introduction to the vampire world being mundane or boring (ie: i fell in love with a vampire! my boss is a vampire! my next-door neighbor is a vampire!!) perhaps the series could have started with MC instead starting a new job (or really anything else) and coming home to her roommate dead. This way, instead of forcing us to bond with our boss (even though it's pressed he's a LI,) we would have had quality time with our roommate in order to form an attachment to them on a basic level. So, when the news hits, it has impact not only on the character but for us as well. As it stands, Lily was a bit of an afterthought and we were given no real concrete reason for why our MC would throw away countless lives to save her friend other than "she's my friend." - From that point, it could be decided if the story wanted to go the route of "stranger who offers to turn her best friend" oooor having the MC try and figure out her friend's killer (my personal favorite.) This would give her a lot more agency in the story instead of "I'm a helpless thing, please help me, I have no choice in anything I do!" Because if the former you could have it either turn into a Clanless situation or have the MC become indebted to a specific clan. Or if the latter, the MC could find herself in a world she doesn't understand, making important relationships, and relying on others for the skills she lacks. Either way, she'd have her agency and she'd have motivations behind what she does that go further than simply "I like this person because reasons." "I'm doing this because reasons."


 * Or, if you're feeling cheeky and want an entirely different angle, you could start the MC off as either a newly turned vampire - perhaps a simple happenstance, or perhaps Lily took the place of our current MC and we're the roommate that was attacked. From there you could experience vampire courtly intrigue as one of them. You could have even started the MC, instead, as a hunter (whether that be a vampire who hunts ferals, or a human who hunts vampires.) This could give us a very interesting take on the events that occur. It would give us some say over the type of hunter we choose to be and allow us to question the credibility of our MC's narrative - are they biased one way or another? are we getting the real story here? Granted both of these ideas would require a lot of rewriting of the original work; the latter more so than the former.

GRIPE: the damsel in distress MC


 * I've never been a fan of the "incapable woman" character - and I'm not talking about characters that aren't physically able to handle themselves in a fight, I'm talking about the chronically oblivious ones; the ones who choose to do stupid, ignorant, or boastfully arrogant things and, in turn, need rescuing (whether it's from a big meanie or from her own social blunders.) Don't get me wrong, everyone makes mistakes, but what I find infuriating is a woman who is written to never learn from these mistakes. Who keeps doing the same dumb thing over and over just to be rescued. That's how this current MC reads to me, and I'm constantly cringing every time she opens her mouth. She's ignorant of the world - understandably, so- but time and time again we're given dialogue from her that queues her up to that "save me" moment. Oh, sure, she has little sparks of "kick ass" (for example, when Lestor tries to verbally grope her) but those seem more like scraps given to stave off a rabid dog.

My Suggestion(s)


 * If PB is intent on keeping the "human girl is mystified by the vampire world" motif, then perhaps a better MC would have been someone more like Lily or (on an extreme end) someone like Nicole Anderson (if you blinked and missed her, she's the Vice President who's clan spot Lily stole -cough- I mean borrowed.) Someone who has a strong set of morals, who know themselves and isn't likely to get pigeon holed into anything they don’t want to do, but at the same time show wisdom or humor in given situations. Our MC simple lacks personality. She's a proverbial yes-man whose best defense is to stand there agape or run away.


 * What I really want? An MC (guy, girl, etc.) who may not be a born leader, but has at least a personality.

GRIPE: the vampire "monster" conflict


 * Know what would have been cooler than having Feral monsters? Not having them. No, wait, hear me out. The whole point of vampires being the monster is that they look like us, that we could very well become them. There’s a reason that olden stories made vampires the villain of the stories. There’s something so sinister about a being who appears harmless (good looking, kindly mannered, charming) and eventually drains you or kills you. It’s a cautionary tale about losing one’s humanity. These little monsters are just… dull vehicles if you ask me. You can’t connect with something that grotesque. Even if there is some horror of “They were once us” it loses meaning when translated to actual monsters. Which brings me to...

My Suggestion(s)


 * It would have been so completely poetic to make the big baddies, not some crazed creature, but vampires themselves. The duality of their nature - that they were once human, and it's the human part of them that's corruptible and monstrous, yet at the same time they do a monstrous thing (feeding off humans.) Where you may have good and decent vampires, but the real horror is not only what they have to do to survive, but what happens when vampires lose their humanity. When they become just too old or too jaded to connect. That would have been interesting. So instead of having some gruesome monsters plaguing the city, what if they were misguided vampires. What if they were enthralled humans (either through some sort of lustful hypnosis or literally believing in their vampire.) What if the horror was not in the blunt scary appearance and visceral gore that comes with them, but rather in the face of humanity. That someone who could be exactly like you could do monstrous things.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So, I think I’ve gone on long enough – or rather to long from the looks of it. I’d just like to end this with a little positivity, because thus far it’s been a little negative. I do really look forward to where PB intends to go with this series. It may not be what I had hoped it would be, but it’s not overtly terrible. If there are twists even half as good as ILitW then I’ll be placated.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and I’d love to read other thoughts on the matter. I don’t mind a little friendly debate either, if you have contrary opinions, I’d love to read them!

-- Luw