YMMV / The Self Made Man

• Complete Monster: Hannah Steele is the leader of the Black Sun, an Atlas nationalist organization that seeks to subjugate Vale on Atlas's behalf. Introduced kidnapping Jaune's innocent girlfriend and then stabbing her underling through the hand for talking back to her, Steele voices her intention to wipe out every gang in Vale. To this end, Black Sun annihilates every gang they can find, uncaring of the civilians caught in the crossfire and even being willing to bomb a building in the middle of a crowded street. When this inevitably escalates into an all-out gang war, Black Sun begins mowing down everyone they can possibly can, with Steele's only final regret being that she didn't kill Jaune sooner.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Jaune Xiong begins as a rejected student being beaten up in an alley and rises to the undisputed kingpin of Vale's underworld. Forced into leading the Xiong Clan by Cinder Fall, Jaune slowly learns the ropes of the criminal underworld before finally taking control when Laurie Laurette and Dominic Hands attempt to assassinate him. Massacring the attacking combatants, including executing several survivors, Jaune later leads the charge against Hannah Steele, killing everyone on his quest to the top of the Valean Alliance through False Flag Operations before executing Hannah herself. Put in charge of bombing Amity Colosseum by Cinder, Jaune works to undermine her, completely destroying her plans and ensuring her death.
  • Tony Scarlamento is one of Jaune's top advisers and his most valuable teacher in the criminal underworld. Managing all of the Clan's detailed work, such as keeping track of their legitimate businesses and their moles in the police, Tony's advice ensures Jaune's continued survival against the rival gangs, with Tony even discovering and then tracking a rival gang encroaching on their territory. Later being the one to discover the Ravagers lacing their cocaine with Dust, Tony also utilizes the gang's information networks to find Tukson and unearth Blake Belladonna's past when it's needed. Later on managing the massive Dust payment Cinder requires and leading the charge at the handoff, Tony's advice is most valuable during the attack on the Club, where Tony manages the defenses and even sells the gas leak excuse for the police by blowing up part of the Club after clearing up the battlefield in less than an hour.
  • Lord Bon-Hwa of the East Dragon Company is a dangerously efficient enforcer of his gang. Carrying himself with a genuine sophistication and nobility, Bon-Hwa begins by deducing Kane's intention to have Jaune killed and warning him of such. When Jaune brings him evidence that the Ravagers are lacing their cocaine with Dust, Bon-Hwa wisely waits to prove it himself; as soon as he has, he massacres the entire gang in a single evening, with no innocents caught in the crossfire. Later on managing a 12-tonne order of Dust for Jaune and managing to secure it within a few days, Bon-Hwa also asks for payment in drugs to ensure it can be laundered effectively. Later on turning the tide for the Xiong Clan during their battle and ensuring their victory, Bon-Hwa is the exact type of crime lord Jaune models himself after as he rises to the top.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The aftereffects of Meg Scarletina's death are pretty much dropped once Black Sun rolls in and Jaune's involvement in her death never comes up. Velvet's appearance with Coco trying to set her up with Jaune, could have moved into her trying to uncover what happened while growing closer to Jaune, but Velvet just vanishes from the story.