Dr. Light in the Bob and George webcomic seems like a complete idiot from the beginning. He made all his robots for mundane household chores. and Never believes Dr. Wily is evil or believes Wily has amnesia after two times trying to take over the world. However when the massive robot Gamma is destroyed Well just see
Thief of 8-bit Theater. In a team full of bastards, Thief is the magnificent one. He has total control over the team and all its assets, (and those of anyone he meets) due to his extremely convoluted and loophole-laden contracts. He is capable of stealing anything from anyone that isn't bolted down and on fire (and has broken that distinction at least once), and once stole The Lich's soul out of its gem with nothing but logic (and can cause aneurysms with the same method). And to cap it all off, he stole his own class change from the future. Case in point: Black Mage's response to Thief's Super Ultra Fine Print.
Arguably, the strip's creator, Brian Clevinger. He not only planned out a single gag five yearsin advance, but he also planned the events of the entire strip so that the Butt Monkey that is the Onion Kid eventually becomes the damn-near-omniscient Jerkass that is Sarda.
One more for you: Look at this. Here is the result. He lampshades it too; the second strip is called "Longest Set-Up In Webcomic History.
Then there's his ability to deal with the treacherous viziers. It's an Elven court. It's all viziers.
Not to mention Bun-Bun, especially during the Holiday Wars arc — "Well-a-ho-ho-freakin'-ho. Are we in for a year of great holiday fun or what???" Too bad his shadow was such an Unwitting Pawn...
Aldran of Anti-HEROES. There's many examples, but this comic can be taken as proof all on its own.
The character Ki, from Harkovast. He enjoys lengthy, cynical inner monologues. For example, his philosophy on heroism is an interesting one!
Dominic Deegan has several: The Infernomancer, his demonic patron Karnak, and, at least some of the time, Celesto Morgan and Jacob Deegan (the latter two sometimes act more like Worthy Opponents, too honorable for true Bastardry). Helixa might be considered one, too, and Dominic himself has certain tendencies in that direction, being at times insufferably smug about his abilities, and given to manipulating events to suit his interests (see especially the Snowsong story arc).
The IFCC, a trio of fiends from The Order of the Stick, most definitely count. Vaarsuvius using his/her newfound power to strike at Xykon, convincing him to stop playing around? Just as planned.
And now we have Tarquin, Elan's father. A bounty hunter tries to shake him down? He quietly agrees, sends them on their way, and when the bounty hunters get arrested in a barroom brawl and try to get out of being punished (excessively so), this happens.
Recently, Tarquin has made himself into a crowning example of this, revealing that he and his adventuring party are perpetrating an Illuminati-style conspiracy over the entire Western Continent, ensuring that rule of every nation will soon be in the hands of six people. Nale could stand to take a page from his father's book.
Tarquin really is a magnificent bastard, while Nale justthinkshe is one. The difference is evident in the grandness of Tarquin's accomplishments and the hilariousness of Nale's failures. Tarquin has been running his revolving-door empire conspiracy for over a decade, while Nale has trouble keeping members of his own Linear Guild alive in any given story arch. Nale and his cronies get put in jail, Tarquin has jailed or killed anyone that opposes him across half a continent. Nale plots needlessly convoluted schemes to satisfy immature emotional whims, Tarquin developed a working system to subjugate a continent for the purpose of peace (however dystopian).
And, according to his priorities and the rules of Elan's own Genre Savvy, he can't be defeated. Sure, he's likely to be defeated eventually, but only after a long run of the good life, and knowing that he will be remembered as a legend. A legendary villain, true, but Evil is Cool!
It isn't the speech that sells the magnificent bastardry. It isn't the inescapable plan, the genre awareness or the sheer evil glee of the entire thing. Its that, at the very end of the entire scene, when Elan runs away in horror, Tarquin just stands there...and smoothly takes a drink.That seals the magnificent in Tarquin's bastard.
Recently, Redcloak made it clear just how well he qualifies for this trope. Following his brilliantandeffective crushing of the Resistance, he reveals to Tsukiko that he's been lying to and manipulating Xykon since they met — over thirty years ago — suffering every insult and humiliation and playing the spineless servant, in order to get Xykon to do what he wants and help him fulfill the Plan. And to top it off, he does this while delivering a "The Reason You Suck" Speech as he takes control of Tsukiko's own wights and has them kill her for knowing too much.
Not only does he kill Tsukiko, he confesses to it, using the opportunity to paint Tsukiko as a traitor while making himself look even better. The smug smile he sports behind Xykon's back during this is what really seals the deal.
Schlock Mercenary has General Levaughn Matsui "Hugo" Xinchub, a magnificent bastard who controlled pretty much everything for quite a while, until outdone by Tagon, a magnificent bastard in his own right. The true mark of Ximchub's magnificence was in becoming King of the planet he was exiled to, and escaping various plots by faking his own death.
But, no one compares to Petey when it comes to bastardry magnificent.
Charlie, from Erfworld, is laid out to be the Magnificent Bastard of the Wargame world of Erfworld. However, it turns out that Parson is too alien and unpredictable to make his Xanatos Gambits work, just because of how differently Parson sees his world (as a Wargame world, while its inhabitants only see it as "world"). More recently, as Charlie thought he was being clever in his mindgames against Parson, Parson showed him that he discovered more than Charlie out of the deal (namely that Parson's Mathamancy artifact could predict the future).
Well, extrapolate statistical probabilities, at any rate.
Seth from Sorcery 101 definitely counts. At one point, he fingered a woman he was fighting. While she had the heel of one of her stilettos lodged in his skull.
And won the fight because of it.
King Radical of The Adventures of Dr. McNinja has managed to reach this status at the end of the "Doc Gets Rad" arc. He manages to trick the Doctor into disposing of his former nemesis, who was the only entity (supposedly) who could help the Doc catch him. And he did it RADICALLY.
Tarvek Sturmvoraus of Girl Genius. When Big Badpossessed another powerhouse and they switched without any warning, he played them both for hours, in such a way that he would be not only alive, but on the winning side whoever wins. Later he instantly made up to his underling he riled into hating his guts for years in such a way that she wasn't formally subservient to the Big Bad any more, he could rely on her assisting an operation saving his life, and she was blackmailed into silence about a fact that could treaten the legitimacy of his authority. While feeling himself, ahem, the prettiest frog in this entire pond!!.
Ostensibly quite uselessZola, grand mistress of Obfuscating Stupidity to such a degree that the Magnificent Tarvek (as well as Gil) considered her a mere Damsel Scrappy for years. When she showed up again in Mechanicsburg as a figurehead "Heterodyne" for some conspirators, she told Gil outright that she uses Obfuscating Stupidity, yet not even the readers saw it coming when she single-handedly knocked out every single one of the protagonists and curb-stomped the only one to regain consciousness. When she re-awakened the Big Bad and got Strapped to an Operating Table for it, she managed to Xanatos Speed Chess her way out of literally losing her mind and into holding a copy of the Big Bad prisoner in her head.
In the main story she's recently proven that she belongs here with The Reveal that she had her daughter, Kalki, through the Jaal'darya in secret and avoided her mother finding out and to top it off the "father" is one Mel'arnach Val'Sarghress!
Nickolai Alaric of TwoKinds. He played Xanatos Speed Chess so well that even his own death couldn't derail his plot, and was indeed factored in as a controlled variable. All to right a wrong against his best friend. Not to mention he's a charismatic, likable rat bastard, too.
Terezi Pyrope from Homestuck is an (arguably) Lawful Neutral version of this. At one point, she manages to manipulate an omniescent being into getting revenge on her former teammate for her. What's particularly impressive is that she manages to do this with no psychic powers whatsoever. She's just a regular troll who's really good at pushing people's buttons.
In a more meta case, Andrew Hussie himself.
Also Doc Scratch, who apparently single-handedly manipulated most of the major events in both sessions. He's a bit of a dick, but he's also impeccably dressed and a very good host.
If you play Mitadake High and are a charismatic Kira, as opposed to a n00b or someone lucky enough to run into the Eyes and get their help early, you will be one of these. It's basically a victory requirement.
In Decades Of Darkness, * US president Hugh Griffin, and of course * Otto von Bismarck (who's a bit different from his Real Life coutnerpart, but no less magnificent)! * Russian Emperor Alexander II (not even the same man) also deserves a mention.
British Ambassador: Why have you declared war on Great Britain?!
Alexander: Because every Great Game must end in checkmate.
Maffeo Servitore, of Florence, who's not coincidentally an Expy of Machiavelli.
Alfred Kleiber, chancellor of German Atlantis (=America), who manages to unite the three Germanies (in Europe, North and South Atlantis) into one great superpower.
And the New Roman emperors, who make Italy into another superpower owning lands on four continents.
Michael-lan of The Salvation War, who is able to manipulate an entire interdimensional war to position himself in control of Heaven, and his ambitions might not even stop there.
Mildly subverted by one of his motives being to prevent angelic extinction — if his "muscle" had gone about their plans unabated, they might have very well taken out his native power base and possibly himself in the process... and, if they ever decide to do kill him, they most likely will succeed.
It's to be expected that Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfiction contains a Magnificent Bastard if the author is doing his job, but Gendo Ikari in Aeon Natum Engel puts his narrative predecessor to shame; he actually seems incapable of doing even the most rudimentary of actions without dragging in a multi-layer Xanatos Gambit.
Although given some of the other characters, both Expys and OCs, he has competition. Not enough to lose (because, hey, he's Gendo), but enough that the story becomes a Jigsaw Puzzle Plot.
On Neopets, there was one villain who was in one of those events where you pick a side in a conflict. Darigan was an early one, and he's notable in that he managed to get most of the players on his side, making him win the war. Yes, through a sob story, a villain managed to convince most of the players to join his side.
In the same part of the manual, he blows up his new body to get inside a space station commander, kills the commander and uses a spaceship captain to organize a resistance, and then proceeds to hide that resistance for years before using two superpowers against one another, arranging a mass Reverse Mole inside The Empire, stealing their superweapon, and teaming up with the Reverse Moles and The Alliance to completely destroy them. Then he just leaves, dropping in to taunt people every once in a while.
While Let's Play-ing Within A Deep Forest, DeceasedCrab said of the game's designer "I can't help but respect Nifflas for his superior bastardry. Not saying that you're illegitimate or anything, just that you're utterly heartless, dude." Note the context: DC was LP-ing Within A Deep Forest because he had previously been playing La-Mulana, and he needed a break from its aptly-named Hell Temple. So a comparison of DC's reaction to the two games' difficulty levels is a nice object lesson in the difference between Magnificent Bastardry and plain old bastardry.
Kevin Baugh in Kickassia. He instantly ends the first attack on his country by pulling a machine gun from Hammerspace, is revealed to have a sword that enables him to teleport, and when Molossia ends up conquered he uses Obfuscating Stupidity to sow dissent among the new government.
Whateley Universe has multiple ones. Ayla, at the least, is in training as one. Thuban is working his way into this position. The winner, however, is Dr. Diabolik. He initiates a beautiful, three-tiered Xanatos Gambit in the latest story.
Dr. Diabolik is such a Magnificent Bastard that he uses tropes to manipulate his opponents. His computer system has an auto-gloat system because he knows the heroes expect it of him.
Doctor Steel is about as magnificent as they come.
Liz Polanski on Survival Of The Fittest V4 is becoming this. She disabled her collar, and broke a camera (which would normally lead the the collar exploding) to demonstrate that it didn't work. When Danya had another student's collar blow up because of it; she decided to destroy all the cameras she could find just to make Danya look stupid..
Ranger was nearly this in Game 11, but his plan imploded at the last second due to a Spanner in the Works.
The titular character in Blockhead, despite his overwhelming stupidity everything he does always benifits him and he comes out on top of every situation
