Five episodes into Vampires SMP, a lore series on YouTube, we spoke to content creator AvidMc about his experience making content on the server, as well as diving into his character and what comes next for his lore.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Episodes 1-5 of the Vampires SMP, plus teasers for Episode 6.
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“What makes Vampires SMP special to me as a series is getting to work alongside some of my really good friends, and getting to do more story-driven content, which historically doesn’t do well on YouTube,” Avid tells us. Unlike POWCreations’ previous SMPs, Vampires is a YouTube-exclusive rather than livestream-oriented series. “It’s not super- hyper- over- omega- edited. You have to pay attention, and you can’t just put it on in the background while you get some stuff done.”
“It’s definitely special in that I get to make exactly the content that I’ve always wanted to make, and there is actually an audience for it,” Avid continues. “That was one of the biggest surprises to me – I can actually make slower-paced content where I infuse music and really work on the cinematography, and people enjoyed it.”
As well as being a content creator, Avid is also a musician – with his original song “Not Right” being used as his theme song for his Vampires SMP episodes. Surprisingly, however, the song wasn’t written specifically for the SMP. “I wrote that song originally to be part of my lore for another series that I’m in, called Sky Block Kingdoms,” Avid reveals. “I actually wrote that song with my island partner, my kingdom partner, Marmalade. When I was invited to Vampires SMP, I hadn’t yet used that song in any videos, and I looked at the catalogue of what we had in the album at the time and what could fit the vibe – and that song was it.”
Avid’s character on the SMP – hereafter known as v!Avid to distinguish from the content creator – is an alchemist and monster hunter. Before the SMP begins, v!Avid’s hunting partner and best friend, Elle, got turned into what v!Avid believed was a vampire, and he was forced to kill her in self defence. Originally when arriving at the town of Oakhurst in Episode 1, v!Avid tells the other townsfolk that he wants to kill any vampire he can find, in order to avenge Elle.
Before vampires are confirmed to exist, v!Avid consistently tries to persuade the other townsfolk that vampires are real, and is generally considered “crazy” as a result. “My favourite part of playing v!Avid as a character is really exploring someone who is deeply, deeply troubled and ostracised – and quite frankly annoying,” Avid says. “It’s been a lot of fun to play this character and watch him evolve. Everything we do is improv, so really not a lot of planning went into it other than just the animation, and then yes-anding until I got where I am now.”
“Some of my favourite moments from the series so far are probably the first time that I saw Scott and Pyro transform into bats, when Owen called me a monster, and that time that Owen told me that he killed like 2,700 people,” Avid tell us. “I think that was all in the same episode – that one episode has so many amazing moments.”
Another of Avid’s favourite moments comes in the most recent episode, Episode 5, in which v!Avid asks Shelby (a.k.a. Shubble) to turn him into a vampire, in order to cure a childhood wound on his neck that had never healed. “Outside of the SMP, I told Shelby that I just wanted to have a conversation, but I intentionally didn’t tell her what the conversation was going to be about,” Avid says. “I wanted her reaction to be genuine – and I think I got that reaction out of her, so it just made for better content.”
“Outside the recording sessions, which are only two hours, saying ‘hey, I want to have a story beat with you today, do you have a minute? Hopefully I can find you’ is about as far as the planning goes,” Avid reveals. “That’s really it. I know people are not going to believe it because it seems too perfect to be true, but that’s literally how it is.”
Shortly after v!Avid is turned into a vampire, there is a big “confession circle” in the town of Oakhurst – with many townsfolk revealing themselves to be secretly vampires. However, v!Avid lies and claims to still be human. “He’s ashamed,” Avid tells us. “He’s a hypocrite. He’s embarrassed. He’s disgusted by himself. He acted impulsively and recklessly without really thinking about his actions – that will be explained a bit more in the intro of Episode 6 as to why everything seemed to escalate so quickly.”
There is potential hope for Avid’s character, as the townsfolk have found books revealing that there is a cure to vampirism. While none of the characters have discovered all the books required yet, one that has been found suggests that the “sire” vampire must die permanently, so that the players they have turned can be cured. Whether this refers to the “main vampire”, i.e. just the vampire at the top of the chain of conversions, or any vampire that has turned at least one other player, is up for debate – which means v!Avid asking Shelby to turn him could lead to some unintended consequences. “v!Avid did not consider anything,” Avid tells us. “He’s impulsive – he doesn’t think more than fifteen minutes ahead in the future, so no, he didn’t consider that. That is something that’s going to come back into Episode 6 – a little bit of him making some realisations about how silly and reckless his actions were.”
There have been a lot of fan theories in the community surrounding Avid’s character and story. “I think one of the big ones was what the bandages are about,” Avid says, referencing the bandages we now know covered his character’s wound that wouldn’t heal. “That was something that I had been planning for a little bit, and so that was really cool to see people’s speculations on it. People are speculating what creature could have caused the wound underneath his bandages. I do keep up with everything, and it is kind of fun to see people speculate.”
“I’ve just been having so much fun with this series,” Avid continues. “It’s a dream come true. The people who have found me through this series have been so unbelievably kind and supportive, and I hope that POWCreations will invite me back to the next one, because I would love to do another series like this.”
You can watch Avid’s POV on Vampires SMP on his YouTube channel, where Episode 6 will release this Sunday (26th October), or you can follow the overall SMP at @POWCreations on X.
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