Lord Raptor

Lord Raptor (Zabel Zarock in Japan) is a character from the Darkstalkers series of horror fantasy-themed fighting games. He is a zombie who hails from Australia. He has been voiced by Yuji Ueda ever since his debut.
== Background ==
A charismatic young rock star who killed himself and 100 of his fans via ritualistic sacrifice. He became a supernatural being when Emperor Ozom took notice of his actions and revived him. After becoming Ozom's personal assassin he was told that if he seeks to be stronger, he would have to defeat the Darkstalkers as well as collect their souls for the Emperor. Although Lord Raptor agreed, his true plans were to destroy Ozom and to take his spot as Emperor.
During the events of Vampire Savior, Ozom and his castle disappear, leaving Lord Raptor puzzled. However, when he arrives at the location where Ozom's castle stood, he finds the entrance to the realm known as Majigen. This time, he intends to defeat the ruler of Majigen, Jedah Dohma, and take his role.
== Personality ==
Lord Raptor is a wise cracking and comical person, who does not take many situations seriously, no matter how dangerous it may be, and he will often joke around with his comrades, but often makes jokes against his foes while dodging attacks as a way to make them lose their cool. Lord Raptor is extremely passionate when it comes to music, for he is knowledgeable when it comes to different types of music and bands, making many references to various genres of music (especially metal and rock) and will play his guitar in his spare time. Lord Raptor is very loud (keeping to his rockstar personality when he was still a human) as well as shameless since he does not care if others see his "weird" side since he loves being a supernatural being, seeing as he will embrace this by making macabre jokes. Although his comedic nature and hammy speech may give off the impression that he is just a joker, Lord Raptor is actually much smarter than he appears to be, as he can trick his foes into being pawns in his plans to gather more information. Raptor will only make a deal with a villain only to betray them later for his own personal reasons, as he did to Ozom when rebelling against him.
On the battlefield, Lord Raptor is an incredibly strong opponent who shows no mercy to anything he considers an enemy. He will constantly belittle the opposition to throw them off as he attacks. Raptor is an incredibly skilled fighter who is powerful enough to take on the most dangerous supernatural beings that Makai has to offer such as Demitri and Morrigan, and he treats these duels just like his concerts, as he tries to look flashy and impressive as he defeats his victims, laughing all the way. Lord Raptor's ego will shine through at these moments as he will boast about how his foe is a fool for thinking they could defeat him. Despite his power, Lord Raptor is always seeking out a way to make himself stronger by gathering electricity or sucking out the souls of his fallen adversaries.  
Lord Raptor's biggest flaw is his own ego which can cloud his judgement and his attraction to Hsien-Ko, resulting in his plans blowing up in his face, but thanks to his supernatural healing power and own quick wit, he can withstand defeat being more angry than anything. However, he may end up with less power than he started with.
Although Lord Raptor may look like a monster with no compassion for humans or demons, he has shown that he is still a caring person at heart. He cares for the fans who enjoys his music even if he'll drain their power. He is best friends with Le Malta, as Raptor treats him like a brother, he genuinely cares for the Makai Beast, and will become very enraged if anyone hurts him; the two make an excellent team as they both fight for thrills and strength. Another side that Lord Raptor has is his respect for anyone as crafty as he is, and as for his deep feelings for the heroic Hsien-Ko, he has a massive crush on the Jiang Shi and is completely devoted to her as he will do anything to protect her. Hsien-Ko however does not view him in that kind of manner; however, she does seem to respect him for keeping his humanity as he is not like Jedah or Demitri, who has neither compassion nor empathy for humanity, especially in Jedah's case.
=== Powers and Abilities ===
Lord Raptor has the unique power to change into his human and zombie form at will. As a human, he can walk among regular people without being recognized as a Darkstalker, Even in this weaker state he has amazing strength as he can destroy a building with ease and knock out a powerful Darkstalker with a single punch without the use of the rest of his talents.
If Lord Raptor is in an actual battle, he will unleash his true power by transforming into a ravenous ghoul: in this form, his strength, speed, mobility, reach and resilience are increased to a supernatural level. As a zombie, Lord Raptor can generate electricity to empower himself as well using it in attacks like Evil Scream and Death Voltage, which can drain the energy of his foes due to the high amount of volts that come from his body, which can also contort and bend into different shapes as well as stretch his limbs far out which is useful for dodging attacks. This combined with his ability to transform his limbs into blades, drills, demonic faces and chainsaws makes him hard to approach in combat, if he is ever heavily damaged to the point of being crippled his body will naturally heal and restore itself back to normal making him nearly unkillable. Lord Raptor's can even use his demonic guitar as a way to produce soundwaves loud enough to damage opponents or if he wants to be more precise with his target, shoot lasers from the headstock of his instrument. Lord Raptor can also play supernatural tunes on his guitar to place mystical spells on his enemies or even increase his own power.    
If one of his limbs is severed, it is able to move on its own and maim whoever gets in Raptor's way. This is shown in a fight with Demitri where each of his torn off limbs are able to effectively defeat him.Since Raptor is so unpredictable and violent he is considered one of the most powerful Darkstalkers along with Demitri and Morrigan.    
== The rock star life ==
Lord Raptor had charisma like that of a young Ozzy Osbourne. He was an expert guitarist, singer and was known as the God of Metal to his peers however he only gained a cult status when he began his music career. The only thing clear is that he was unknown to the mainstream before he released his first album, The Oral Dead.
Although his first album, an indie album, did not sell in numbers, he received a good amount of support from certain groups. Eventually, he became the next big sensation in the music scene. He instantly became famous in all of Australia and was loved by his fans. His second album sold 200,000 copies in a month, and reached one million in three months, making him a massive hit and icon in rock culture throughout Australia. His fans were more like followers of a cult for his music than fans of an artist.
On his final live performance, a hundred of his fans lost their lives by having their souls drained out of their bodies from a supernatural power by Ozom, and Lord Raptor himself died and became a supernatural being unbeknownst to the public. Years later Raptor came back, claiming to have hidden away due darkstalkers attacking his concert and then laying low. Although people questioned the story and his strange makeup choices, he was welcomed back by the music scene and continued to gather masses of fans who all seemed less brainwashed by his songs. Even his previous albums were shown to lack any of the supposed "evil messages" that some claimed.
=== The leather covered book ===
Days after, a strange leather covered book was found in his house, and people hoped that this book would uncover some truth to his death. The book was called "A Chapter of Tolagido" and was written in ancient Hebrew. In this book, it explained the existence of another realm known as Makai. The words in this book resembled the lyrics to his hit songs. And in a topic titled "A Curse To Give Sacrifices To The King of Makai", the horrifying truth was hidden. Raptor's last song at his live show was called "Sacrifice". This song was played for the first time and was the next song of Raptor's music. The lyrics in this song were identical to the lyrics found in the curse.
With further research, it was found that the preparation for the curse took a long time. Since the first album was released, Raptor had already started to influence his fans. However, there was no way to prove this at present. It was if he was manipulated by some other force. This knowledge was only a rumor though and most people involved with finding this information strangely disappeared
The songs he created are still sold on the market as metal classics and according to those who went to his shows, Raptor's enigmatic voice was like ecstasy. In the end, there was no rational explanation for the incident. The only thing that is certain is that a simple musician could not do such a thing unless he had the powers of the supernatural.
=== Lord Raptor's discography ===
* Oral Dead — His first album, which includes his titular hit song, "Oral Dead"
* Punishment — His second album. A million seller that was sold by word of mouth.
* Noise of Heaven — The third album, which is more religious and ceremonial. It contains the song "Soul Beats". Its theme is the rebirth of souls. It also contains the song "Black Justice" which speaks of darkness.
* Tripper — His first memorial live album, which took place in the Southern Cross Hall and gathered 60,000 people. 400 people went unconscious, and 18 people had heart attacks (two of which had lost their lives). After this had occurred, performing live became harder and the police began to monitor him.
* Fangorra — A compilation album which contains unreleased songs. There was a rumor that the album contained a track zero, so the record company called back the CD. Indeed, before the first track, there were 16 seconds of silence. Many people claimed that a supernatural curse would play during that time, although there was no music actually recorded during this silence. After the CDs were called back, the first press became premium items.
* Devil — His latest album, which was released after his death. Contains the song "Sacrifice", Which became a legendary classic along with the rest of his music lineup.
== About "real" zombies ==
In the voodoo cult of the Caribbean, a zombie is a soulless body that serves a sorcerer as a slave. The soul could have left the body through the regular death rituals, but could also have been removed from a living body by the power of the sorcerer. These Caribbean zombies are brought back to life through means of voodoo or necromancy, destroying the mental capacities of this person through the process.
In the present day, Haitians believe zombies to exist in their lands. Thousands of people in Haiti are considered to be zombies, some of which lead normal everyday lives with families, jobs, and are respected citizens. It is considered a crime to make a zombie in Haiti.
To create these Haitian zombies, a voodoo practitioner makes a potion that mainly consists of pufferfish poison and gives it to the intended victim. This causes severe neurological damage, primarily affecting the left side of the brain, which controls speech, memory and motor skills. The victim suddenly becomes lethargic, then slowly seems to die. In reality, the victim's respiration and pulse become so slow that they are nearly impossible to detect. The victim retains full awareness when being taken to the hospital, then perhaps to the morgue, and finally as being buried alive.
Then, the voodoo practitioner come at leisure to retrieve the victim, who has now become a slave, as a commodity. At one time, it was said that most of the slaves that worked in Haiti's sugar cane plantations were zombies. Zombiea will remain in a robot-like state indefinitely until they taste either salt or meat. At that point, zombies becomes aware of their state and immediately return to their grave.
The reality that there may be actual "zombies", kept in such state by the use of powerful drugs, has only been taken seriously by medical science within the last ten years, since the use of CAT scans of the brain, along with the confessions of voodoo priests, explaining their methods. Previously, zombies were considered mentally defective by science or explained as stunts to try to confuse scientists.
There are many examples of zombies in modern day Haiti. A case reported a writer named Stephen Bonsal, who described a zombie he witnessed in 1912 in this way: "A man that had at intervals a high fever had joined a foreign mission church, and the head of the mission saw the patient die. He assisted at the funeral and saw the dead man buried. Some days later, the supposedly dead man was found dressed in his grave clothes, tied to a tree, moaning. The poor wretch soon recovered his voice but not his mind. He was identified by his wife, by the physician who had pronounced him dead, and by the clergyman. The victim recognized no one, and his days were spent moaning inarticulate words no-one could understand."
== The Country of the Comers-Back ==
Lord Raptor's date of birth coincides with the release of Lafcadio Hearn's short story entitled "The Country of the Comers-Back." Published in 1889 in Harper's Magazine, the non-fiction article covers skullduggery on the Island of Mozambique, and netted the first literary mention of zombies in the Western world.
== Other appearances ==
He is also included in Namco x Capcom as one of the enemies.
He also appears as a Rival Unit in Project X Zone and its sequel.
=== Cameos ===
He, Hsien-Ko and Morrigan appear in civilian outfits and human forms in Ken's stage in Street Fighter Alpha 2. In Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Lord Raptor appears in the background of Hsien-Ko's background after the match is finished. Lord Raptor can be spotted in the background of the "Makai Bar" stage of Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, playing his guitar onstage.
He, along with his companion Le Malta, can be seen floating in the background at the Underworld stage, in Capcom Fighting Evolution.
Lord Raptor has a cameo in Dormammu's ending in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.
== Trivia ==
* Lord Raptor's former life was likely based off the 1980's stigma and controversy of heavy metal and rock music in the West being associated with satanism and evil. Coming from Australia, he is also likely to have been based on the Young Brothers of rock band AC/DC; his zombie form is likely a resemblance to Eddie the Head, the zombie-like mascot of the British Heavy Metal band Iron Maiden, while his human side appears to be based on a young Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath.
* Lord Raptor's entrance animation changes when fighting Hsien-Ko. During this pose, Lord Raptor’s eyes become hearts and pulse out of his head. This may imply that he is in love with or desires Hsien-Ko. This same animation can be seen during battle whenever Lord Raptor taunts.
** However, Hsien-Ko, if her Marvel vs. Capcm 3 quotes are to be considered, has no interest in him, or is shy about it, to the point of being tsundere; in the manga, it is implied she does have feelings for him, but does not admit to it.
* Lord Raptor’s entrance animation also changes when fighting Baby Bonnie Hood, though instead of Lord Raptor appearing with hearts pulsing from his eyes, it is Le Malta who is love struck. This can be seen again whenever Lord Raptor taunts during the battle, in which Lord Raptor kicks Le Malta to get him to stop.
* For a moment at the beginning of Lord Raptor's Dark Force, he appears for a moment wearing a leather jacket and his hair styled in a mowhawk. There is a one out of sixteen chance that he will appear with an afro instead of a mohawk. This same afro also appears when Lilith performs her Gloomy Puppet Show on him.
* Lord Raptor has the ability to move while crouching.
* During Demitri's Midnight Bliss, Lord Raptor turns into a young punk teenybopper with a leather bra and shorts on. As Demitri begins to feed on him, he aims a gun towards Demitri. Demitri drains him of his blood before he has a chance to shoot.
* During Anakaris' Pharaoh's Curse, Raptor turns into an electric guitar with his own head on it.
* During Jedah's San=Passare, Jedah inflates Raptor's buttocks until they explode.
* In some USA and European games, Lord Raptor name was misspelled "Lord Rapter".
* An alternative version of Lord Raptor is "Gold Raptor", which is an unfinished character for the arcade version of Darkstalkers 3. It's considered to be garbage data which can only be used if by hack. It's unstable when playing the character in arcade mode, and causes the game to reset and crash at the same time. Only shows his lower body when selecting him in the "?", and his Vs. portrait is Baby Bonnie Hood in a deformed corrupt color (same thing with the winning portrait). It is stable only in Vs. mode, which shows him using his Dark Force power (the background of the Dark Force doesn't show up; only his power, with no time limit bar).
* Emperor Ozom is known as "The Master" in Lord Raptor's story.
* When using ES Death Phrase, Le Malta becomes a giant amplifier that accidentally launches Lord Raptor into the opponent with a powerful soundwave. This may be a reference to the opening scene of Back to the Future where the main character Marty McFly is thrown into a bookcase after playing a power chord in front of a massive amplifier.
* He is the only character in the series with a final victory winpose, ie. he wins the game, where demons carry the body of the fallen enemy and he himself turns into his human form; The only other character with this characteristic is Bishamon, prior to Vampire Savior.
* In the American 1995 cartoon of Darkstalkers, Raptor would often, if not always, make references to songs from that time.
Category:Monsters
Category:Male Villains
Category:Antagonists
Category:Capcom Characters
Category:Capcom
Category:Darkstalkers (series)
Category:Darkstalkers Characters