Who is Herbert West?

Herbert West, portrayed by Jeffrey Combs in the "Re-Animator" Trilogy (1985-2003), is the main character of the horror-comedy "Re-Animator". A deranged scientist with the obsession of defeating death, he enlists the help of medical student Daniel Cain to finally bring his work to life (haha), and fulfill his life's mission. He keeps this goal throughout the following two films, "Bride of Re-Animator" and "Beyond Re-Animator", and his freakish and arrogant vibe has made him quite the interesting specimen.

About Herbert West...

Herbert West is a very interesting character to me, and I find him quite easy to analyze and sympathize with. I believe I first watched "Re-Animator" two or three years ago, and while I suppose I didn't realize it at the time, I was quite taken with that twitchy little rat freak of a man. I say this with love! His primary motivation, of course, is to defeat death, but also to prove himself as a worthy scientist, and in turn to prove that he himself is worthy of meaning. Being an Enneagram 5, like myself, I believe that his needs as a child were dismissed and ridiculed, his motivations made to seem trivial. Of course I am certain I am projecting at least a little bit, but save for his frustration at Daniel for not understanding his motives, his anger at Meg and Francesca for getting in the way of his work by distracting his big strong henchman, I do believe that he seems to display a bit of anhedonia...a disconnect from emotion, inability to feel pleasure.

Of course, Herbert isn't completely unable to feel joy or happiness, that's not what I'm implying, but the positivity in his life hinges on how valuable his work can be, how valuable he can be. Without his work...he's nothing but a failure, a nobody, someone stupid and undeserving of any of life's comforts. He is DETRIMENTALLY social blind due to his upbringing and just how he is as a person. He likely grew up in a well-off, academic family, or that is what I like to believe. Absent parents, ones who provided him with what was needed to succeed, but everything else was entirely vapid. His struggles were not important because he had it all, and so he learned to separate himself from his emotions, from his womanhood. (Yes, this is where I drop on you that I personally headcanon Herbert to be trans.) He holds disdain for people and for doing the things that make one "human", though he has a very rich inner life, of course. You cannnot have such a strong desire to defeat death and to be known for YOUR work without having some crazy inner fantasies!!
His "safety" in the world hinges on his knowledge of science and the body. His passion for what he does, and the fact that despite his mishaps he is GOOD at it, is wwhat gives him his autonomy as a person. I mean, hell, when he's in prison in "Beyond" he STILL gets some semblance of livelihood because people know of his work, and that there is strong potential. Through his knowledge he builds walls of emotional blockage and self-sufficieny...and I love him for it XD.

To get a little "darker", I will now discuss my headcanon regarding Herbert West being transgender, and how it effects his social biases. I mean, come on, you can't watch "Bride" and listen to him say "I will not be shackled by the failures of your God. The only blasphemy is to wallow in insignificance. I have taken refuse of your God's failures and I have triumphed!" and not find even a little bit of a transgender undertone...right? Anyway. There is quite a bit of misogyny that women and feminine-presenting people face in the STEM field, there is no denying it. I've experienced it, my friends have experienced, my professors have experienced it...so it does not seem far-fetched to say that Herbert, as a child and young adult, would have faced this as well prior to his transition. That, in turn, would further push him to throw himself into his work, to become a Dr., so that no one says "Miss". Perhaps his disdain towards Meg and Francesca is a misguided anger at what they face, but in front of it all is still a pretty healthy dose of just pure hate, haha. Of course, people would still falsely judge his work if it was done by a woman, so I believe this further motivated his pursuits. He likely found his own way to do DIY HRT haha, but I believe that by the beginning of the first movie, with the death of Dr. Gruber, he had gotten top surgery. I like to personally think that at some point in the future, when his serum works, he somehow manages to give himself phallo. Reanimated penis, hells yeah.

About Herbert & I...

So, you might be wondering...Isolde, why the HELL would you want Herbert...ew!!!!!
And, I really don't have an answer. When I watched the first two movies, I of course shipped DanBert, because the dynamic is quite good. I still read fic for them to this day! I found the bratty scientist cute, ok? Sue me. To actually answer your question, though, I first "discovered" my attraction for him sometime in November of 2023, and sent my first message to the discord server I run with my friends on the 23rd, talking about how attractive he was and how I wished we were gay married. Yup. Took me a bit, but I fell pretty fast. I find him deeply interesting, and I want to make him worse. I want our evil sp5xsp5 dynamic to ruin the world, and cure death at the same time. Evil yaoi will change everything. We both need our alone time, of course, but I want to be there in the breaks between our shifts at the hospital when we're still figuring out the serum, taking his things for him as he comes home to a dark house, brushing our teeth side by side, listen to him complain about his "mouse brained colleague who drains his long-gone hope for humanity" (his words, not mine).

In terms of how I ship myself with him, I do use a sort of "sona" or self-insert oc, but it's just me with extra flavor, and in the 80's. I, like Daniel, am a medical student, pressured into schooling by my parents, who have decided that the arts are too frivolous of a passion. We don't meet the way Herbert and Dan do, in fact I think we meet after the events of "Re-Animator", when Herbert and Dan are living together and working. After Daniel proves that he'd rather get some puss than dedicate himself to the work, Herbert decides to take his chances in hopes that he can find SOMEONE's life to ruin, and lo and behold, there's me, who just lost a patient. Perhaps we're caught in an elevator, or meet in passing, and I vent my frustrations. He listens, sees his golden ticket, and offers me the chance to change it all. The rest is history.
Okay, well, maybe not history. The events of "Bride" change quite a bit...Dan is of course hurt that Herbert seems to be replacing him, but The Bride still comes to her fruition. All the while, I become a student to Herbert and become more obsessed with him by the minute. Things come to a head when the crypt collapses as it does in canon, but I'm there to get him out of the rubble and drive us out far. Herbert is of course at large, but I'm just reported missing, and so I finish my schooling and we continue to work in relative isolation. Our story "ends" with his success, and we're seemingly immortal.

OK...that was a lot of gushing...so be prepared for more!
Over the years it takes for him to perfect the serum, I am at one point reanimated myself. One of the experiments fights back, as they tended to in the early years, but this situation would have resulted in my death if not for the fact that spare parts were present, and Herbert was able to do what he does. I acheive my dreams of my body - a man's chest, and smooth all the way down. That's right baby, Ken Doll style! XD
Of course, the adjustment to being reanimated with new parts, and the fact that my death partially comes from head trauma leave me quite disoriented when I'm brought back from death's veil, and so for the first while of my recovery, I'm completely dependent on Herbert, and he loves it. My left leg is mangled, but we both like my legs so he keeps it, though that does come with the need for a cane. If we somehow weren't close already, we're definitely close now, with my being all but attached to his side. Normally he'd hate this, but the fact that it's me? Living proof of his work that's a success, that's something he cares about in more than just a clinical way? He manages to be happy about it, in his own fucked up way. I'm his fucked up dress up doll, and once his name is swept under the rug due to the passage of time and the success of his work, he tolerates the galas and panels we're invited to, for the fact that it brings me a little too much joy to hang on his arm as he introduces me as his partner. Because it's the early 00's, the tabloids go wild.

Our Playlist!!!

My Heart Goes Bang(Get Me To The Doctor) - Dead Or Alive
Blood Makes Noise - Suzanne Vega
Hold Me Now - Elastica
No Talking Just Head - The Heads, Debbie Harry
Electric Barbarella - Duran Duran
Shake The Disease - Depeche Mode
Uncontrollable Urge - DEVO
Darker Times - Soft Cell
Cccan't You See - Vicious Pink
Mental Hopscotch - Missing Persons