Herring the Phaser

Adam Alexander Herring

Once a successful surgeon has become the most notorious serial killer in the United States. Speculation is that he developed his murderous intentions due to trauma.

His methods of execution are precise. Victims are found dead with minimal cuts. Herring is more than aware of human pressure points and vital arteries. His arsenal is said to be limited to a single six-inch blade and wire. Victims are also initialed by Herring with "A.A.", written in their own blood.

Herring has been declared psychologically instable. Therapy has concluded that he can hear voices of the dead.

Although Herring cannot be found, it is presumed that he is still alive.







(c) Exo_Kopaka/Tony Nguyen 2010

Comments

The above description only gives background of Herring, well, before he "transformed". Of course, now he possesses the body suit and mask as pictured, and according to the title of this piece, he now has the ability to "phase" through walls and other objects. How he transformed, well, I can't give everything away.

The development of Herring was, I'm not going to lie, last minute. Initially, Black Silhouette had three "boss" villain characters. Upon further development, these boss characters were given abilities (much like, say, the X-Men). It came time that I decided I needed a fourth boss character.

Initially, there was this one character I created, which was like some Jehuty Tekkaman Cyborg Ninja love child, but that was scrapped (obviously) for a new fourth character. I had pretty much exhausted the list of "comic book abilities" that were practical enough to be in a video game, and soon I came across "Phasing" or "Intangibility" (you know, like Shadowcat on X-Men).

The "Phaser" was developed into two concepts. One was a female in a suit with hair similiar to that of Sadako (that ghost from The Ring). Another concept was a white haired male in a suit. I opted for the latter and gave him a mask.

The idea was to create a boss character that was as iconic as Cyborg Ninja from Metal Gear Solid. A boss character that isn't necessarily human in appearance, and cannot remove himself from the binding of his own suit (epic character dynamic!!!). To keep it original, I decided to not make a helmet, but instead, make a mask, where Herring's hair is still visible (and thus making him more human), but now everyone's talking about how he's a Raiden ripoff (yeah, whatever lol).

All of the boss characters were intended to be "freaky". In that sense, I wanted to design the suit to exploit the human senses and make the audience cringe. The suit was modeled after human muscle arrangement, with holes and rivets that make it look like each "muscle" was nailed onto this poor guy. The arrangement was heavily influenced by the "Xenomorph" from Aliens. The suit is initially black, but depending on Herring's internal blood pressure, will turn to a blood red color. The suit texture was stolen from the live action "Guyver", which had these vein like structures all over him. I thought it would be a nice addition.

The suit is attached to him directly. Not only does it enhance his movement and give him armor, but it's the only kind of suit that will "phase" along with him. The idea was that he was imprisoned by his nature. I wanted to have him move quickly, and then ghost through the surroundings, attacking the player from all sorts of directions (from the walls, ceiling, and ground). His weapons include his blade that he conceals in his back and a wire that is invisible to the human eye.

His mask separates into three "panels" which fold under each other and flip upward, revealing his eyes. The middle panel can digitally become translucent orange, becoming a visor. His mouth is embedded into his rebreather unit, which feeds him Adrenaline (part of the MORAIA System).

Yes, I am well aware that he looks very similar to Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 4, but hopefully this entire long description will convince you otherwise.