#Van Helsing x Harker

[grimgrinningghost456]

I had a thought✨

✨Vampire Hunter Jonathan au✨

So my random crappy thought is the set up of the story is about the same, except, Johnny-boy knows exactly who he’s dealing with, and is attempting to kill off Dracula before he fully rejuvenates himself.

Dracula still has his johnny infatuation, but isn’t actually aware of Jonathan’s goals due to his act of innocent solicitor. My johnny happens to be on the shorter side (around 5’6”, while Dracula stands at a good 6’5” and is filled out enough where he looks big, not just tall) so naturally the count underestimated him right off the bad. Only seeing him for a potential new bride.

Johnny actually doesn’t really work with anyone from the original “lets kill Dracula!” Group aside from Van Helsing, who in this au, has been researching creatures of the night for a good 15 years, acquiring Harker for field work witching the last five years of the 15. They don’t really know about Dracula being a vampire until Harker reaches the village said count rules over (Harker would still be keeping his day job as being a lawyer) and Jonathan quickly makes that known via sending a shorthand letter, claiming to the post man that it is to a loved one, making it known that he has arrived at the village safely from the train.

Johnny has white hair right off the bat (pun intended) of this Au, because Dracula isn’t his first vampire; although will be the strongest vampire he has yet to face. He already has a bite scar on the nape of his neck from a past foe who he got too close to in his act of ignorance. He and Mina are not engaged in this take on the story, because Jonathan didn’t want any of his targets being able to worm into his head and use her as blackmail, hold her life over his head, turn her, or straight up kill her just to get back at him for aiming to kill the vamp.

As far as shipping would go I feel like it’d have some Harkula, and maybe some tension between Harker and Van Helsing after being on the road together and dealing with so much trauma. They kinda become a safe place for one another. Really if anyone wants to take on this, you can decide whether there ends up with murder husbands or if they manage to kill the count. I may update more on this idea so…sorry for the potential spam

[yallemagne]

Mina: “Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty rejects me! I am bound for Hell!”

Jonathan: “Mina, sweetie. Tell me what I need to pack.”

Mina: *so confused she stops crying* “What?”

Jonathan: “I’m going with you.”

Van Helsing: “NO ONE IS GOING TO HELL!”

[darklinaforever]

I don't understand the problem people have with rewrites of Dracula that humanize him. Yes, Dracula in the original book is a pure representation of evil. But like Carmilla he is a fictional and almost mythological figure at this stage who evolves with the times. The myth of the vampire has changed, so it is logical that Dracula himself follows this model. The book will still exist, so what's the problem ? The same goes for offering him a romance, whether or not it is with a rewriting of the character of Mina or an another invented female character, or sometimes a woman linked to the Van helsing lineage, or even Van helsing changed directly into a woman !

Even Jonathan himself for exemple in order to explore a homosexuality or bisexuality in the story of Dracula ! Strangely I never see people revolting when Jonathan is placed as a romantic interest. I totally see where that's coming from, but the fact is that their relationship isn't good in the original material either.

As for the problem of Mina, a strong female character, apparently having her strong characteristics erased when she is made Dracula's lover... I don't agree.

After all, it all depends on how the thing is done. Yes, the Mina from the 1992 film is not the one from the book (which is far from being a flawless representation of a strong woman... Yes, for the time when the book was released, it works, but in our time modern era, there are flaws apparently, as with most works dating back a certain number of years), but she still remains a strong female character in her own way and morally ambiguous in this adaptation. It's just a different version. I particularly liked the version of Mina in the canceled series of 2013. These 3 versions of Mina are all strong women on different levels.

Don't make me say what I didn't say. I love the original version of Dracula, and I really hope one day to have a more or less faithful adaptation, but the rewritings of the characters of Dracula and Mina are not to be demonized. I also think that we will surely continue in the future to have versions where Mina and Dracula are associated together as lovers, as other times not. Maybe one day we'll even have a version with Dracula and Jonathan officially partnered as lovers. Who knows ? And everything will simply depend on the writing of the characters. On the other hand, yes, I am a little exasperated by the tendency to make Jonathan a character either bland or an asshole in certain adaptations. Give me the adorable Harker from the book for a change please... Anyway, these are my thoughts on the various adaptations of the Dracula myth !

[another-chaotic-bisexual-vampire]

Mina: Doctor, you must take me with you!

Dr. VH: But it'll be dangerous!

Mina: But if you leave me behind, the Count will make me do awful things... terrible things...

Dr. VH: Like what?

Mina: Like... lie to Jonathan!

Jonathan: SHE'S COMING WITH US.

[its-a-gold-song]

i need an animated version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula right now

[argyleheir]

Horror of Dracula (1958)

[commonsenseispaineful]

Another new chapter. I didn't feel like it was right to give y'all a short update, considering that many have expressed that they wanted to re-read the whole story from the beginning.

Romantically and Gothically yours.

[general-sleepy]

Assigning Saw Traps to Dracula Characters:

Because this is how my mind works. Also, I previously mentioned I was playing with this and @animate-mush encouraged my bad behavior. (With brief summaries of the traps if you're not as disastrously obsessed with the Saw series as I am.

Seward: I can honestly really see Jack in Lawrence's place in the Bathroom Trap (the main setup of the first movie, you wake up in a room with a stranger and you have to murder them or several of your loved ones will be killed; also in order to murder them you have to cut off your foot). Both of them are physicians who are emotionally disconnected and generally don't appreciate their lives. Honestly, though, I don't think the self-amputation aspect of the trap would be that huge of a deal for Jack. He might think it's kind of morbidly interesting.

Jonathan: I wasn't sure about this at first, but I decided Jonathan could take Adam's role in the Bathroom Trap. Adam is being punished for being passive, which is also a trait of Jonathan at the beginning of the novel; though due to politeness and a desire to please, rather than Adam's internalized homophobia unspecified mental illness. So, they have to suffer the wages of their own passivity, being helpless to another (implicitly more important) person's whims. Honestly, I can see John Kramer looking at Jonathan and getting big "pawn in someone else's game" energy. (Note that this applies to Jonathan pre-novel; post-novel, John would be very sore about Jon's willingness to die for/with Mina, because loving someone so much you couldn't live without them is pretty cringe tbh).

Arthur: Jigsaw would honestly struggle to find a reason to throw Art into a murder game. Maybe if he didn't process the grief of losing nearly everyone he loves in a few months in exactly the way John Kramer approved of. He'd probably get stuck in one of the more basic ones. Maybe the Venus Fly Trap (there's like a mini iron maiden around your neck and you have to cut out your eye to get the key surgically implanted behind it to get out of it). Arthur's a tough guy, though; honestly, I think he could get through it.

Quincey: Maybe Rigg's game (being faced with a variety of people in Saw traps and being encouraged not to help them, because either they deserve to die or they can only recover by "helping" themselves). We know that Quincey is self-sacrificing and willing to put his neck out to help near-strangers because for some reason he believes concern for others is a valuable reason to risk your own life. However, I imagine that Quincey would help rescue a victim of domestic violence, instead of deciding that she won't learn anything unless she pulls herself up by her bootstraps and helps herself (by killing her husband and suffering horrible pain, because DV victims are just complacent).

Lucy: Lucy and William Easton don't have a lot in common, but I realized his trap would fit for her. William's trap is super complicated, but mostly he has to go through a variety of situations where he decides who lives and who dies. Like, having to decide whether to kill a healthy young orphan with no friends or family and a chronically ill wife and mother, both of whom have done literally nothing wrong. Or having to decide which two of five people to save from being shot in the chest with a shotgun. This is the worst thing that could happen to Lucy, a boundlessly loving people-pleaser. That might be why he puts her in a trap, to encourage her to stand up for herself or something.

Mina: My immediate instinct was the Angel Trap (you're hooked up to this rig that is going to rip your ribs open unless you can fish the key out of a bottle of acid before it melts), mostly because of her and Kerry giving me kind of similar vibes. Kerry, a cop, is put in the trap because she's apparently obsessed with death more than the living, though really it seems like she's just too close to catching Jigsaw. Mina is fascinated by ghost stories and reads about criminology. She's, in a way, suicidal, and John Kramer absolutely cannot stand that. John would say that becoming a vampire is still close enough to living that you should still appreciate it.

Van Helsing: I was struggling to figure this out until I saw Saw X. Van Helsing is obsessed with brains and intellect and feels himself to be intellectually superior, so I think the brain surgery trap (you have to cut out a certain amount of your own brain tissue or your head gets roasted in a kind of mini-brazen bull) would fit. Maybe the instructions/insult tape would be something like, "You think you know what's going on in my brain, let's see if you know what's going on in yours." Something dumb like that.

[ladyminaofcamelot]

They prayed together! They all knelt down and prayed together! Van Helsing pats Mina's head. Johnathan and Mina hug so much. Johnathan would go to hell for Mina but she would never let him. He hides his face in her skirt. The boys leave them alone with God. They set a watch outside the door. They're all crying. I'm crying. It's so tragic and beautiful I can't

[miseru346]

In addition to my previous art, What if Lucy manage to get all her 3 suitors? Almost Van Helsing, cause you know, he joked about all of them being poly, he got jinxed lol 

Van Helsing managed to elude them despite being bitten (He has plot armor) and got Mina’s help cause he thinks Mina is the only one left suited to end Lucy’s vampirism without getting caught by the seduction (or he thinks lesbians don’t exist, JKJK, he’s open minded, so he probably would accept that  lol)

Why not ask Jonathan? Van Helsing insists cause he’s dramatic like that.

There’s not a lot of fanfic of these 4, I’m not asking for anything specific when I say that, but if anyone wanna make a fanfic, especially AHEMS one... *side eyes*

[hattiecursedsigh]

Currently writing a new Drac fanfiction on AO3 it's shameless smut!! All the different possible pairings in the group locked in a closet, what could go wrong?

[yallemagne]

Mina: “Jonathan, I’ve noticed that you need more male friends.”

Jonathan: “I do not.”

Mina: “You always spend all your time with me and Lucy, and any time you can’t, you mope around the house waiting for me to return.”

Jonathan: “I don’t get along with men!”

Mina: “What about the journalist from The Exeter News?”

Jonathan: “That is your friend. I introduced you two, sure, but every man I introduce to you is immediately more charmed with you than with me.”

Mina: “Well, what about Mr. Hawkins?”

Jonathan: “Mina, he loves you! He likes you much more than me.”

Mina: “That is a complete lie! Surely, he sees me as an extension of you. He loves me as his daughter-in-law.”

Jonathan: “Mina, if anyone is the in-law, it’s me. You’re his pride and joy!”

Mina: “It’s not like he even raised me! Meanwhile, you were at least trained by him.”

Jonathan: “But it’s you he brags about. He grants us a loan once and suddenly all your accomplishments are a result of him being our benefactor. “Did you know Mina is a schoolmistress?” Yes, boss, I’m married to her. He sees you as his own daughter.”

Mina: “And what of you?”

Jonathan: “His clerk.”

Mina: “Well! It’s not going to happen again! I’m going to introduce you to a whole posse of men, and they’re all going to love you!”

*few days later*

Van Helsing: “Oh, dear husband of Madam Mina-”

Jonathan: *side-eyes Mina*

Mina: “... listen--”

[winterxisxcomingx]

Mina Harker interacting with everyone, I love her sm.

DEMONS (2009) || Nothing Like Nebraska (6x01)

[carnivorous-horses-lover]

Full ocean lineup is because I am reading Moby Dick lol. I have a shitpost somewhere about Moby Dick also attending the Scholomance

Ahaha, I see)) Yeah, this would do that.

But Moby Dick and the Count attending one (devil) school sure is a thought! Then again, considering everything I've heard about the Greatest Whale, maybe Moby Dick was one of the founders...

Still cannot unsee Renfield as cookie-cutter shark - they will bite on anything, from tuna to whales to submarines. Also I found a perfect fish for the Count: sea lamprey, literal vampire fish! They even have a fluid that prevents blood clotting.

[see-arcane]

With a total of 1,176 votes tallied, the preferred plushie poll winner with 28.8% of votes is…

What a close one! Jonathan came in with 27.7%, the mysterious Mr. Morse with 24.9% and, delicious irony of ironies, London Dracula with 18.9%. Rest in pieces. Now, what does all this mean going forward?

First, just to reconfirm: I will absolutely be looking into the costs for having more than one plushie character produced at a time. For all that Mina has the top spot if it comes down to a solo run, Nobody Wants to Separate the Gothic Horror Soulmates, even as wee little plushies. It hurts my heart to think of. Mina and Jonathan deserve to sit side by side on everyone’s pillow. Just as Quinn Morse deserves to haunt the pillow next to theirs while casually throttling and carving London Dracula into pieces. For enrichment.

But beyond that, some other key things:

How is this getting done?

Sadly, I was not a cool enough kid for Makeship to greenlight a collaboration with me. Tragique. But while I was sitting around waiting for them to get back to me, I had time to browse around for other options. During that sniffing around I dug up a couple of promising manufacturers—one of which has some really neat options for not only plush toys, but all sorts of bric-a-brac like stationery, shirts, bags, cups, et cetera—and I plan to reach out to them for quotes to start with. Nothing really gets to move forward until I can nail down prices and the amount of X plushies to be made.

I am more than a little hesitant to tell anyone MAKE ME 1000+ PLUSHIES, PLEASE, THE TUMBLR POLL SAID THEY’RE GOOD FOR IT. These aren’t as simple as print/make-on-demand products, so I need to be careful estimating the amount of folks ready and willing to drop money on the little guys. But I will keep everyone updated on the numbers regardless!

Sooo is this a crowdfunding thing or an investment or what?

Don’t know yet. I am still between jobs at the moment—reminder to check out my Ko-Fi if you want to drop me a buck or commission some art!—but if this is something I can safely drop some of my own money in with the guarantee that it will let me do better than break even, I’ll do what I can out of pocket. However, if the cost of making something of good quality turns out too steep, I’ll start looking into stuff like Kickstarter and Backerkit and so on. I want to be sure I’m not gutting anybody’s wallet to pull this off and I want to be double-sure that what we’re paying for isn’t some flimsy throwaway junk. We are all here on the same Dracula book club starving artist site, so It Has to Be Worth It and not a money-sink for anyone.

Got it. Any other info to spare?

For the plushies specifically, this is when I’ll start:

Polishing up the current four designs into cleaner illustrations with different angles to provide for mockup samples with whoever I pick to manufacture with. If I get stuck on something—(which is likely)—I may throw up another poll to bug everyone about palettes and fashion choices. I have a few more designs I haven’t dropped yet for Epilogue Harkers, a non-Bloofer Lucy, and keychains that I’d love to share too!

Eyeballing materials. I’m already picturing a very close-cut cloth for the build and clothes, but I need to decide on filling too. Stiff overstuffing to hold a pose versus softer/lighter plush for floppy cuddleability. 

Poking at other character roughs, ala the Suitor Squad, the Weird Sisters, Van Helsing, Renfield, and Baby Quincey. And if all of those go well…

…maybe some designs for other favorites in the public domain playground. (Looks meaningfully at Clarimonde, Carmilla, Victor Frankenstein and the Creature, the King in Yellow, too many others.) ((But that’s all far-future stuff at the moment.))

Cool! But you also mentioned something about other merch?

I did.

Because goddamn do I want some Dracula-themed stationery. Journals! Memo pads! Pens! Every day we don’t have these things with the Harkers’ mark upon them is a victory for the forces of Count Dracula’s document-destroying evil. Likewise for shirts, totes, mugs, keychains, face masks and other things that could use some novel-flavored goodies. Hell, I’ll probably even get on with making stuff for The Vampyres to link on my website too. Because I am. Maybe behind on that. By several months.

Anyway.

I’ve got to start working on some designs for those too while the plushie process is progressing. Pray that my carpals don’t get tunneled.

Nice! Sounds like your plate is pretty full. So that’s it, right?

:)

Arcane?

:3c

Arcane. I need you to tell me this is all you’re working on.

>:}

Arcane.

Please stand by.

I have a little treat brewing for the Dracula Dailiers and @re-dracula folks in honor of a very special day for our good friend Jonathan Harker.