The Hunter

[Tom the Fanboy]

Anyone else wondering when we'll see the Geek Hunter again? I'm expecting a couple cameos the next time Matt is by himself but no big confrontation for awhile.

I've decided that we need to figure out who he is and why he hunts geeks. I think Alina is too clever to go with the obvious crazy fundamentalist christian. We've seen the reaction that'll get and I don't think we want to be responsible for anyone injured when Thunderhowl reads that page of the comic.

I have two theories.
The first is that he was once an uber geek. He owned a gaming shop, was an expert at most gaming systems, spoke at panels at a variety of conventions, and had a wide array of collectibles that were the envy of the local fans. However, he could never gain the acceptance of his parents. His father's last words to him before dying were "Why couldn't you have been more like your brother?"

His brother was an assistant manager at a local car dealership, had gotten through college on a football scholarship and graduated with a Bachelors in Business Management. The Hunter did away with all of his geeky goods and went to his brother's condo to get advice, hoping that he could do his father proud after his death. However when his brother opened the door, there in the mix of moonlight and glow from the mood lighting within, The Hunter saw that his brother was a weregeek! There was a game of AD&D going and they were in the middle of a heated battle in the Underdark. The Hunter's older brother invited him to join, saying that he was glad he could stop hiding how much he loved RPGs and video games now that their dad was gone.

The Hunter snapped at that point. Learning that his brother, whom his father had given the praise he so yearned for, had been a geek all these years infuriated him. With a mighty rage he screamed vows of vengeance upon his brother and stormed out. Using the funds he earned from selling his impressive collection of memorabilia and his keen insight into the ways of geeks, The Hunter began his crusade to deny those that would tread in both worlds their freedom. They must all choose, the path of geeky ruin or that of crushing banality. There is no middle ground to this crazed vigilante.

I have to go look something up for the other theory...brb....

[Tom the Fanboy]

Theory two has several "sub theories".

OK, The Hunter is actually a character much like General Stryker from X-Men 2. He is gathering together weregeeks for his own evil research because his son is a weregeek and as the stereotypical jarhead military dad he sees it as a waste of time and so he has dedicated his life to "curing" his son.

If you take the collector thing in a different direction The Hunter could be just an unscrupulous geek who is gathering wergeeks for someone else. This means that there's someone higher up that is responsible for the hunting. Who would need weregeeks though?

A Gaming company (or a comics publisher or Cable TV channel) that wishes to develop products that appeal to "mundanes" as well as geeks and finds weregeeks the perfect test subjects.

A name brand clothing manufacturer (or other boring company) who wants to use wergeeks as "sleeper agents" to get geeks to care more about the brand of clothes they buy and other consumer choices that geeks somehow think of as "unimportant".

A mad lycanthrope collector who studies all forms of lunacy and needs a weregeek to complete his "Menagerie of the Moon".

Some sort of geeky group or club who spends way too much money on crazy schemes. They hope to perfect a mind control weapon to effect geeks and make them agree with THEIR opinions of what is cool and what sucks. They are after weregeeks because they need test subjects and the weregeek is a lot easier to catch due to the disorientation the "first change" usually causes. This group is the craziest by far and could be anything from Trekkies to Illuminati (the CCG) fanatics to people who really want to pretend they're elves at official SCA events.

The CIA. Do they even need a reason?

......so what do you think?

[Narf the Mouse]

...I thought he was just a vampire hunter character for the game.

[Thunderhowl]

I've decided that we need to figure out who he is and why he hunts geeks. I think Alina is too clever to go with the obvious crazy fundamentalist christian. We've seen the reaction that'll get and I don't think we want to be responsible for anyone injured when Thunderhowl reads that page of the comic.

Heh.
I gotta agree with Tom, for two reasons.
1) Alina is way too clever.
2) I know where she lives. Just kidding.
Also, Hey man! I'm not some crazy guy who's all crazy with the craziness!
Ow! My feelings!

I think she'll have the Hunter be something other than a fundie weiner, because there's so many COOL things she can do with him. Tom just scratched the surface, especially if Alina's been watching old X-Files dvds while our backs are turned.

To reiterate, I'm NOT gonna kill Alina everyone, just relax. Sheesh! I LARP with her for fricks sake!

[Thunderhowl]

...I thought he was just a vampire hunter character for the game.

Except he threw a knife at Mark, and that sort of shenanigans gets you tossed out of LARPs, and charged with assault.

Also, if that's the case, why wasn't he at coffee, and why haven't they seen him since?

Puzzling, no?

[Xaq]

Also, if that's the case, why wasn't he at coffee, and why haven't they seen him since?

Puzzling, no?

Ah, but we HAVE seen him since... Mark spotted him in an alley as he made his way home from work the day after the game. Or was that just a hallucination? Maybe the Hunter doesn't exist? OR DOES HE?? It could be ANYTHING! Spoooky!!

(Yes, I know the deal with the Hunter, since I help write the strips, and no, I'm not going to give anything away. )

[DrunkenPrayer]

To reiterate, I'm NOT gonna kill Alina everyone, just relax. Sheesh! I LARP with her for fricks sake!

Either that or you're just giving yourself some non-dismissable evidence for when you do.
My theory his dad was bitten by a were-geek and consequently ignored him as a child so he set out to destroy the original were-geek but can't figure out who he is and thus commits were-geek genocide on any he encounters.

[Tom the Fanboy]

Either that or you're just giving yourself some non-dismissable evidence for when you do.
My theory his dad was bitten by a were-geek and consequently ignored him as a child so he set out to destroy the original were-geek but can't figure out who he is and thus commits were-geek genocide on any he encounters.

...then in the third year of the comic they'll reveal that it was actually Sandman who bit his father....

[Lunaroki]

*shrugs* Eh, this may sound lame, but I just thought he was the guy who runs the game store.

[Narf the Mouse]

...True, there was the knife-throwing.

[Thanatos5150]

In your wild theories, ya'all seem to be forgetting that the Hunter hunts ALL geeks, not just the Weregeek.

[Xaq]

I'm really curious to see what people think now that they're seeing the Hunter in the FUTURE. Apparently he's gotten rather beaten up over the years! And he's STILL after Mark! That guy never catches a break.

[Khayankh]

I think the Hunter is a crazy person who is just crazy, not a crazy person who is a fundamentalist. I mean, he runs around at night throwing knives at LARPers - how much weirder can you get? I think he's simply a psychotic villian. Maybe he thinks the geeks are an evil Martian cartel who are trying to take over the world or something. If he had logical motivations for wanting to 'degreenify' people, wouldn't he talk to them instead of attacking? ('Degreenify' is a Wicked reference. Wicked is a musical that appeals primarily to adolescent girls and geeks. Being in both camps, I am a major fan.) Back on topic: the Hunter's actions don't currently make sense. Maybe we'll get information confirming that he's in touch with reality later in the comic.

[Tom the Fanboy]

I'm really curious to see what people think now that they're seeing the Hunter in the FUTURE. Apparently he's gotten rather beaten up over the years! And he's STILL after Mark! That guy never catches a break.

My guess was that we're actually seeing the characters from the shadowrun game. It doesn't seem too futuristic yet though so I wasn't going to voice that theory. If it is the Hunter then who knows what's going on.

[Lunaroki]

I'm with Tom on this one. I really don't think that's the Hunter at all. We're just seeing Mark and Sarah in their Shadowrun characters. The guy in black was just a random badguy, not the Hunter. That guy had none of the pizzazz of the Hunter, nor did he monologue about how he was trying to rid the world of geeks.

[Thanatos5150]

And, he was carrying a gun.
The Hunter is a fan of knives.

[Thedon]

It's Reptile

[Allbark]

On the knife though... Tom was really into the whole larping experience. It didn't quite click with him that he wasn't dealing with real Vampires until a few minutes after he woke up from passing out. The knife could have just been his imagination.

[Lunaroki]

Who's Tom? Do you mean Mark?

[Tom the Fanboy]

On the knife though... Tom was really into the whole larping experience. It didn't quite click with him that he wasn't dealing with real Vampires until a few minutes after he woke up from passing out. The knife could have just been his imagination.

I really need to cut down on the drugs!
That's actually a pretty good argument, it was his "first change" after all and those are usually traumatic. It could be that "the game becomes real" for an hour or so on the first night.

That's actually be pretty cool if it happened during the first couple of hours of the full moon. They'd also be able to show it later on. Mark could have heard "Physical Challenge, I am dexterously throwing this knife at you!" Mark throws his hands out with fingers splayed (which is interpretted as a throw of paper by the Hunter's player) and yells "I'm quickly getting out of here!" and then his mind just paints the picture that we all saw.

Hmmmmm.... I'll need to review the archives soon.

With the appearance of more baddies I'm sure this is somebody's character.