THE PUPPET MASTERS ARE MY BIG BAD. My series’ end game villains, that I have been crafting and concocting since the inception of Adventures of Rel Rel back when it was a simple story written by a 13-year-old introverted boy. I wrote about them way back in Writing Journey #9, I believe. The images and artwork are gone since I’ve moved websites, unfortunately, but yeah.
I am currently listening to Cyberpunk 2077 | Rain in Night City | Synthwave Music as I write.
THERE IS ALWAYS AN ULTIMATE EVIL. Every story has a final boss. An endgame bad guy that everything leads up to, when the story, series, or books come to a conclusion. Harry Potter has Voldemort. A Wrinkle in Time had IT. The Lord of the Rings has Sauron. Final Fantasy VII has Sephiroth. Final Fantasy VIII has Ultimecia. Final Fantasy IX has Kuja or Necron. Stranger Things had Vecna and The Mind Flayer, and so on. My most powerful villains in Adventures of Rel Rel are known as the Puppet Masters. Or, more recently titled, the Vambiellum Ventriloquists.
I WANTED TO TALK ABOUT THEIR INSPIRATION. What was it that first birthed the idea of the Puppet Masters in my story? At the moment, as far as the events of Adventures of Rel Rel Malidimus Mages, the Puppet Masters are a single line mentioned in an ancient legend. Told to Rel Rel through Razor and Kitty. That’s the seed. I wanted to try to connect everything with a purpose, and this is the first time the ultimate evil is mentioned. There aren’t too many details, aside from them being a world-ending threat that vanished when they fought the Kiajin Knights. And their names: Puppet, Harlequinn, Clown, Jester, and Pierrot.
THERE ARE FIVE PUPPET MASTERS. That’s a specific number I chose because of Darkwing Duck. In the show, there is a group of bad guys that band together and call themselves the Fearsome Five. I was always intrigued by the Fearsome Five, and they were the beginning, the cornerstone of my creation of the five Puppet Masters. Megavolt was my favorite character, and also why electricity and lightning are my choice of super power.
NIGHTS INTO DREAMS was a pivotal game in my childhood. Not only did it become one of my favorite games of all time, but it was the point in my life where I became obsessed with jesters. It was Reala that first introduced me to a clown like entitiy and blossomed my love for all things jester-like. To this day, clowns and jesters have become something that I am obsessed with.
LATER, I REALLY GOT INTO DIGIMON. Digimon Adventures, season 1. At the end of the series, the Digidestined children face off against the real threat to the Digital World: The Dark Masters. This was when my idea for puppet or jester-type enemies first truly took shape. I was around 18 or 19 years of age at the time, and that’s when the Puppet Masters took on their final form.
DURING THIS TIME, NSYNC RELEASED “BYE BYE BYE.” I remember watching one of the first performances of Bye Bye Bye on TV, and instantly being mesmerized. I was taken in by the giant dolls, and the opening to Pinochio’s “I Got No Strings”. That was freaking cool. Then the beat starts, the dolls fall, “No Strings Attached” is heard, Nsync rises from the floor, and Bye Bye Bye begins to play. And holy sh**, I was hooked. Then the marionette dancers and the giant hands in the back? It became my favorite song of all time, and an anthem for my Puppet Masters. But in my head, instead of being about a girl, it’s about five beings betrayed, and saying bye, bye, bye to the world. F***, I love this song!
EVEN TO THIS DAY, AFTER 2 DECADES, I still listen to Bye Bye Bye and love it. I learned the whole dance once upon a time, and it still gets me fu**ing amped whenever I hear it! So needless to say, I was so freaking happy when the song made a comeback with Deadpool and Wolverine! I still wish Nsync took the opportunity to have a reunion tour, but that’s a rant for some other time. Did I mention I love Nsync? Bye Bye Bye is my Puppet Master theme song. If and when I ever get my book turned into a show, Bye Bye Bye will be played during the Puppet Master’s entrance. One day!
Closing Thoughts
THAT’S HOW MY PUPPET MASTERS CAME TO BE. They’re briefly mentioned in the Adventures of Rel Rel Malidimus Mages, but I already have the rest of the novels planned out. And the end will culminate with the return of the Puppet Masters. I have songs, playlists, and ideas jotted down here and there. I just have to write it all out.
