This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Working Title: You Are Evil: From YKTTW
Would this comic
count? I don't see any fanservice-related examples currently. —Document N
To whoever added the line about Bio Shock: Bravo! That was a brilliant way to
Actually never mind, looking at the Bio Shock tropes page I realized that the famous catchphrase was been hidden there, and should be hidden here too.
- Done with subtlety and elegance in Shadow Of The Colossus: arguably the whole idea behind the game's minimalistic structure and almost complete lack of dialogue is to silently stress the fact that you are slaying mostly docile creatures that are unique, majestic and beautiful. You Bastard! indeed.
- Of course, as noted in the Zero Punctuation example below, the opposing argument is that you're a bigger bastard if you don't play the game, thereby helping a unique and lovingly crafted title pass into obscurity.
Fly: Cutting:
- Fallout 3 pulls one of these if you choose to put a sick man out of his misery. The dialogue box reads, "Even to a skilled surgeon, it would look as though he died from his illness. You bastard."
Document N: Too lazy to move it, but I'd say it fits under What the Hell, Hero?.
Eno: Nothing important here, just saying that I find it amusing how so many of the people who utilize "You Bastard" moments in their work fail to see just how hypocritical most of them are. The Pictures For Sad Children example is especially bad; we have someone saying you're a horrible person for only wanting to create something like a comic or movie instead of aspiring for greater things that would improve humanity... Yet his career seems to be based on making comics. I don't see him out there trying to create some new renewal energy source or anything... And even if he's actually saying "and I'm a bastard too", he'd probably need to state that outright for me to believe he's not just acting Holier Than Thou without looking at himself.
And no, pointing such a thing out does not make exempt you from it.
I think the biggest thing which annoys when an author pulls a You Bastard! is that it can be pulled in any work of fiction at all: Anything with violence? You're a sicko pervert for enjoying the violence. Anything with sex? You're either enjoying perverted sex or you're compensating for not having sex yourself. Anything with heroes and doesn't include the previous? You're horrible for not being that hero instead of reading about the fictional character. Anything that is somehow about to eschew all the above? You're indulging in pure escapism from your horrible life. Heck, you could probably also apply it to anything that is non-fictional as well, using most of the above or the one below: Trying to learn something about reading about it? You're horrible because you're not smart enough to just figure it out by yourself. In other words, if the creator is seriously arguing for a You Bastard!, they're actually arguing against all forms of fictional or nonfictional media except that they usually don't go that far because then the ridiculousness of their statements would become apparent.
Oh, and that sense of smugness that the creator has that somehow lets them give a You Bastard! to the reader and not to themselves for creating the work. (Seriously, why do people think that this is a good technique?)
Count Dorku: Cut this:
- Super Robot Wars Original Generation has a particularly nasty instance that had everyone who played it feeling this way. When Ingram turns on you and shoots Aya to kill her, calling her defective garbage. The Kick the Dog gets elevated this when you remember she had a very deep crush on the man. In the manga of the game, even the fact that Ingram was not a traitor completely of his own will still had the fans screaming You Bastard! when it revealed that the night before he turns traitor, he actually has a romantic scene with her where he starts making out with her, which makes it a LOT harder to forgive him after The Reveal.
