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Let's see how you handle the mighty me! And by me, I mean Gilgamesh!! And by handle, I mean DIIIE!!!
— Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy I: Dawn of Souls
Enough expository banter! Now, we fight like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men! For Gilgamesh... IT IS MORPHING TIME!!
— Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy V
FOOLS! You face the mightiest swordsman in all Ivalice! You face ME! GILGAMESH! Long have I sought the blade of legend, scoured have I the furthest marches, east and west! And now my search brings me HERE! To YOU! Your weapons are forefeit to me!!!
— Gilgamesh, Final Fantasy XII, almost immediately after tripping and crashlanding off of the bridge he's fought on.
I've been waiting in this Coliseum for so very long now! I was starting to worry that you’d never download this part of the game and I’d be stuck in digital limbo!
Appearing in Video Games more frequently than in other media, this character combines traits of the Harmless Villain, Affably Evil, Large Ham and Fake Ultimate Hero into what is essentially a villainous version of the Boisterous Bruiser; a blustering, over-the-top buffoon who confronts the heroic party, often completely out of nowhere, pompously and dramatically introduces himself, and challenges the heroes to battle.
The Braggart is usually either competent but not particularly deadly, or a complete joke, but either way his comically over-the-top blow and bluster is played for laughs. He'll insist on making a dramatic entrance (sometimes backfiring spectacularly), pause to deliver long, bungling villainous speeches punctuated by megalomaniacal laughter that come off as more snickerworthy or just plain confusing than ominous, and when defeated will either promise an epic rematch and run like a chicken, or be foisted embarrassingly out of the scene by some humorous Deus ex Machina. Rest assured, this will be a Recurring Boss, of the most annoying kind. Even in the instance that you only fight him once, he'll probably have led you on some kind of bizarre Side Quest to reach that point.
Just how annoying this is depends on the way this character is used. He's similar to the Goldfish Poop Gang except that rather than diminishing in importance in subsequent encounters, he's likely to continuously power himself up trying to match you. He's also usually a solitary character; if he's part of a Gang or a Quirky Miniboss Squad, he's the one who's champing at the bit to engage the heroes and takes any slur against the team as "fighting words". However, he's more likely to appear as an Affably Evil Dragon to the more obvious Big Bad, or as a colourful Psycho for Hire who is set up as a dangerous opponent but winds being more bark than bite. This character type is never the Big Bad himself.
He's usually big, with an oversized weapon and bright, flashy clothes or excessively ornate armour. He'll usually announce himself as "The Magnificent _______" or "the Legendary _______". He'll almost always claim to be the greatest warrior, wizard, or whatever alive, and to be attacking the heroes simply out of the search for a challenge. He'll try to downplay any defeat he suffers, claiming he wasn't at his best or he let the heroes win, and when he does come back he'll usually be toting some kind of gimmicky new weapon or spell that is sure to beat them this time. He may be the instigator of Wutai Theft and has an irritating tendency to hijack himself into unexpected places (such as the end of a dungeon, a secret treasure room, or as the final opponent of a Tournament Arc), sometimes with upgraded power to compensate for how badly you thrashed him last time.
However, even if this character really is a challenging opponent, he'll never live up to his own hype, largely because he's so boastful that nobody possibly could. He's similar to the Fake Ultimate Hero, except that this character isn't seen as heroic, and instead of everyone believing him to be great and awesome, it's the Braggart himself trumpeting his glories. In fact, nobody in the story might believe him at all. Being an entertainingly Large Ham and most often a Harmless Villain, this character is likely to escape death (at least by the heroes' hands) and is a frequent candidate for Heel Face Turn. He'll probably claim at least once that the heroes have earned his respect, or even start addressing them as friends, but if the heroes react at all to this character it's probably with annoyance or simply bewilderment. In this respect, the Braggart Boss crosses over with the Unknown Rival.
Compare: Fake Ultimate Hero, Unknown Rival, Affably Evil, Boisterous Bruiser, Miles Gloriosus. This character could also be considered the video game equivalent of Ted Baxter.
ExamplesAnime and Manga
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