Old Magnificent Bastard thread
Welcome to the Magnificent Bastard proposal thread! This is the thread where new Magnificent Bastard examples are vetted, approved, and written up. If you're looking for the general cleanup thread (for cuts, rewrites, expansions, and the like), please go here
Important: Before suggesting any new examples, please read the Frequently Asked Questions and Common Requests List; if you have any questions, the odds are high they are answered there. Additionally, please check here for the earliest date a work can be discussed (usually two weeks from the U.S. release date) and whether the work has already been reserved by another user.
Here is how the process works:
- If you have a candidate to propose, you can simply come right in and propose them! If the character's run is brief, such as a single issue of a comic book, then a simple summary of their actions and any potential mitigating features will be enough; for longer-running candidates, an effortpost (EP) might be helpful for organizing the proposal. An EP is not outright required, but please be mindful that if a post becomes too clunky and unorganized, it can be very hard for other people to follow.
- After the proposal, there will be a 72-hour discussion and voting period, where people may ask questions and vote on the candidate. The number of upvotes must outnumber the downvotes by at least five for the character to be considered "approved".
- Three days after the proposal has been made, if the character has been approved, you may post the writeup (the text to be posted on the trope page itself) on the thread and send it to the drafts page. Your candidate will soon be added to the MB subpage. If the work has a page, you should add your candidate to the relevant YMMV page. Voila! It's that simple!
Outside of this process, we do have a few ground rules:
- To keep the thread moving at a reasonable pace, there are some restrictions on when a proposal can be made. There should only be a maximum of four EPs posted both per page and per hour to ensure that nothing gets lost in the shuffle; additionally, each individual troper should only be proposing or writing up characters from a maximum of three works at a time (from initial proposals to end of their voting period). If your proposal would fall outside of either of these guidelines, we'd like to ask you to please wait until they would fit within; feel free to type them up on an outside document, and then when the time comes, you can just copy, paste, and post!
- No plagiarism of any kind. This is a very serious matter site-wide, as the website could get in actual legal trouble over this; as a result, this can very quickly lead to mod intervention. This can take many different forms:
- Direct plagiarism, i.e. wholesale copying. This is not only the easiest to find, but is also the most likely to warrant quick moderator intervention. To be clear, quoting in some places is perfectly acceptable, but it has to be very clear you're quoting from something else and it cannot be anything longer than a sentence or two - if you're quoting an entire work summary from Wikipedia, no one is going to believe you've actually consumed the work, so even if you cite your source, your candidate will be downvoted anyway.
- Self-plagiarism. Even if you can prove that you wrote the same text in both places, the site itself can't contain any of the duplicated text. If you already wrote something once before, it's not too hard to write it a second time.
- Using another site's work as a template for a proposal. Just because you don't copy and paste something directly doesn't mean it's any harder to detect if you're basing parts or all of your proposal on text someone else wrote. To be clear, this doesn't violate site rules and won't lead to mod intervention, but just like if you directly plagiarize, no one will believe you've consumed the work if you're clearly basing your proposal on something else. This thread largely operates on the honor system, and tweaking someone else's work to pass it off as your own is one of the fastest ways to lose trust.
- Votes must be for specific candidates, meaning no blanket voting (i.e. "yes to everyone I missed").
- If you are the first person to downvote a candidate, please provide an explanation of why when you do so. We're here for discussions above all, and a hit-and-run downvote doesn't facilitate anything.
- If a work is already reserved by another user, please don't comment on the work or any potential characters worth discussion before the discussion date. We know how exciting it is when a work has a keeper that you're waiting to talk about, but it's not fair to the person who reserved the work who is just as excited to lead the discussion to see the discussion getting spoiled before they get to do it. On the other hand, if the reservation only has one name attached, shoot them a PM - they may be down for a collaboration, which will get you in on the fun as well!
- Please keep the thread on-topic. While discussing the trope is fun and we encourage people to enjoy it, questions like "who's your favorite MB" are off-topic and can lead to thumps. That's the kind of question to take to people's PMs if they're willing. Similarly, while we encourage friendliness and familiarity with other users, posts should always have some kind of thread-relevant purpose; for instance, if you want to wish someone a happy birthday, feel free to, but if it's the only thing in the post, it's off-topic and needs something else alongside it. Again, though, while we strive for a friendly atmosphere, this is not Facebook; life updates are fun, but unless they have some kind of impact on your thread participation, please do not bring it here - we have Yack Fest for that.
- Please refrain from asking anything along the lines of "How Did We Miss This One?" In almost every case, the answer is simply "No one thought about it before". This Is a Wiki where everyone has different interests, and the fact that people missed a particular candidate, even one that seems like a textbook example of a trope or a character who is particularly iconic in pop culture, means absolutely nothing. The question is disruptive, has a simple and consistent answer, and provides nothing to any discussion.
- If you are suspended from other parts of the website, it is still possible to participate!
- For users who are suspended from editing the wiki, you still have full access to this thread. You can propose candidates and write them up with no issues whatsoever; while you will have to ask someone else to post the entry to the relevant pages once it is done, all write-ups are considered thread-approved - as in, done by consensus - and thus doing so does not violate any rules regarding meatpuppeting.
- If you are suspended from the forums, your participation is limited but not impossible. It is still possible for a forum-suspended user to assist in creating the write-up for a character who has already been approved; as previously mentioned, write-ups are inherently considered a consensus-based edit and thus not tied to any one particular user. However, you can not assist in the proposal of a character; as a proposal is based around the forum rather than the wiki, doing so with a forum suspension qualifies as meatpuppeting.
- Please keep all discussions "in-house".
- What other wikis use for MB equivalents is irrelevant here.
- Please be wary of using other wikis, Fandom or otherwise, as sources of information. They are just as fallible as a site like Wikipedia in regards to accuracy because they can be edited by any user, just as this site can.
- Do not attempt to force a communication with an author in an attempt to gather evidence or settle a debate; besides the fact that this is a YMMV trope and thus author intent has variable weight depending on the circumstance, doing so may cross the line into drama exportation, which is prohibited site-wide.
If you would like to use an EP for your candidate, here's the general format. This format does not have to be followed exactly, but these are the main topics that need to be covered:
What is the work?
This is a brief summary of the work you're going to discuss. We don't need a full plot summary here, just however much we need to understand going into the discussion — it can even be as simple as quoting the summary on the work's page.
Who is the candidate and what have they done?
This is essentially the character's biography — who they are, their story, their goals and methodology, and, preferably (though not required), what happens to the candidate at the end. It does not have to include every single thing they ever do — for some characters, we'd be here all day if that was the case — but it should include the highlights of their journey.
How are they Magnificent?
This is the point where you highlight the character's brilliance. How to they convey their intelligence and charm to the audience? What makes them stand out among the crowd? What are their goals and how do they go about accomplishing them? This part welcomes a lot of creative thinking — not everyone has to be a Machiavellian Diabolical Mastermind to be worth considering here! This is also the time to showcase how the character can think on their feet if it's necessary.
How are they a Bastard? How are they not too bad?
What kinds of moral lines is this character willing to cross for the sake of their goal? Are they willing to let innocents die? Start wars? Commit crimes? The character has to show some kind of unscrupulousness in order to count as a "Bastard". Notably, this character does not necessarily have to be the villain, and an Anti-Hero can cross the line if they're immoral enough, but they have to be immoral somehow.
This is also the section where you then state your case for why they're not too bad. Perhaps their good intentions help mitigate their crimes. Perhaps others are shown to be much worse than them. Perhaps they're prone to Pet the Dog moments or are even fighting on behalf of loved ones. Whatever the case, there are certain lines that an MB can't cross, but as long as their villainy is reasonable for their goal, they can be considered.
Final verdict?
This is where you post your final conclusion on the character in question. You can continue elaborating on your reasons or even just say a simple "yes" or "no"; at this point, we've heard everything we need to hear.
And that's everything you need to know. Welcome to the thread!
Edited by Twiddler on Jan 17th 2024 at 5:40:56 AM
The MILF Virus
I figured this person qualified after checking old nostalgia anime. Who've seen D.N Angels? Because I'm proposing the main character, well alter-ego, of the story Dark Mousy.
Setting:
D.N.Angel is a romantic and action manga from famed author Yukiru Sugisaki, story is of Daisuke Niwa, hopeless young romantic who've been rejected by his crush Risa. Awakening the alter-ego Dark, the family's guardian spirit and lineage,Daisuke is tasked as Dark to steal curse artifacts to prevent disaster. The story has more to it with conspiracies, however our focus is our titular thief, Dark Mousy.
Who is Dark and his actions?
The family's thief spirit, Dark is a lineage of thieves tasked to protect the world from curse relics. Last awakening under Daisuke's grandfather, Dark returned after his new vessel's heartbreak. Explained as a curse for the family's men when they have their love issues, Daisuke is forced to take his new role, having partnered with Dark.
Made by Hikari, an ancient artist years ago, a ritual to bring life to his newest work the Black Wings form two beinfs Dark and Krad, his light side, occured after it went wrong. When Niwa, a thief trying to steal the art, came at the ritual, he ended up merging with Dark, which essense merge with his bloodline creating the lineage. Being around for many years, Dark would always return to prevent similar rituals, building his infamy through tauting each generations police force.
Having a big history when Daisuke awakens him, Dark acts like Daisuke's older teasing brother in the series. As the legendary thief, Dark continued his heist, reawakening from many years. He also had to juggle his relationship with Risa, the girl Daisuke got rejected by, while having his adventures with Daisuke. Dark also assists Daisuke in his own love hoping him not to repeat his mistakes with Rika. There's also multiple run ins with his twin Krad, finishing with the Black Wing curse.
Ending with Dark either losing himself after stopping the Black Wings curse from destroying the city, returning to oblivion after Daisuke found his maiden with Riku, or dies to stop the Black Wings and Krad in the manga wiping his memory of everyone, ending with Dark satisfied.
Magnificence:
A master thief, Dark's the flamboyant and showy phantom thief who manage to beat the police he warns, with master skills, charms, and cunning. A black winged angel figure saving the world from curse artifacts while remaining always the charmer, he's completely magnificent.
Too Evil?
He's heroic and well-intent, but he's still a thief. He still treats his heist as a show for everyone, and has no issue bringing the police down. He ain't evil, but he's not exactly kind. If he has to manipulate people, so be it. Use people, no problem. A thief with the knack for the extreme. He does acknowledge his thievery hurts other, he had no issue using magic on artist when trying his Unicorn Art, leaving Rise and Riku in jail in another world, with all having good intentions.
Final Verdict:
A solid keeper who I'm glad to remember.
Edited by TheImmortalAngelNewton on Apr 22nd 2024 at 11:00:35 PM
"Are you the devil?" "Don't compare to me to those small fry" - Mir
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_up_emote.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
to Talarist and Dark
Jogo
The Vampire, Bowfinger, Talarist and Dark
for Bowfinger, the vampire, Talarist and Dark Mousy.
I’ll take a potato chip… and EAT IT!
Talarist and Dark
RIP Toriyama
And to go with Paul:
- Lady Jessica is the beloved consort of Duke Leto, the mother of Paul, and one of the most clever of the Bene Gesserit. Having long raised Paul to hone his latent powers and natural leadership ability, Jessica works with him to evade Harkonnen capture when Leto is assassinated. Jessica takes up with the Fremen and, upon drinking the Water of Life, becomes their Reverend Mother. In her new position, Jessica spreads a cult-like worship of her son Paul amidst the Fremen, turning the vast majority of the Arrakis natives into fanatical soldiers for his jihad. Working with Paul to utilize atomic weapons against the Empire and seize control from the Emperor, Jessica outplays even her former mentor, Mohiam, then proudly watches on as Paul begins a war to conquer the galaxy.
Lies and Violence!
Talarist and Dark.
Got a bit of a long one, but he deserves no less.
What's the work?
2099 was a comic brand set in a dystopian far future of the Marvel universe, with new legacy versions of classic heroes taking up their mantles to bring down the man and embrace the edge of the 90's. Or, well... most of them were legacies. And most of them were heroes.
One of the flagship titles of the imprint and the second longest run of the entire series featured a man out of time. Because in a world run by ruthless mega corps that oppress and betray at the drop of a hat, equally ruthless measures are needed in turn to combat them. And one man's tyrant can become another man's hero.
Who is Doom 2099?
Liberator and dictator in the same stroke. The enlightened madman. He who once usurped god, yet found it beneath him. Though there is initially some ambiguity to his identity, with even the good doctor himself unsure if his memories are real, this truly is the original Victor Von Doom himself, seemingly sent hurtling into the future after another of his audaciously harebrained schemes. In this timeline, Doom looks upon the new world and observes it is steeped in a great sin: it is not under Doom's boot. And so, he sets out to rectify this grave error.
- Immediately confronting the new dictator of Latveria, Doom is beaten badly by all the new advanced future tech. However, he's saved by his people, the Zefiro Romani, who recognize him and his potential to retake control of their country. With several hidden safehouses undisturbed by time, Doom smuggles himself out of the country to a research outpost for one of the big name mega corps, where he ransacks all their technology to add to his own armor. Doom returns to Latveria and begins a war with their new dictator: spreading food to the impoverished people, causing a blackout in the capital, and stealing an advanced power source. With the power source as bait, Doom battles the new dictator in an underground mountain base, reconfiguring his armor with all kinds of fancy tricks like nanotech healing to counteract his prior defeat. Doom ultimately detonates the power source, burying the rival dictator under the mountain while Doom's armor safely phases him through the rubble.
- Retaking control of the country, Doom's next immediate problem is a living computer virus that begins messing with his cybernetic implants. Doom travels into cyberspace to confront the virus, and he... uh, does not have a good time figuring out all the rules. Doom is nearly killed, necessitating the help of an AI to bring him back from the brink... only for Doom to hijack this process and usurp complete control over all of cyberspace, killing the virus and proceeding to go mad with power. His allies reboot the system to prevent the stream of knowledge from driving him completely insane—unwittingly giving the AI true self awareness in the process—and though a livid Doom responds by immediately trying to attack the all-powerful AI to get his power back, he quickly recovers his wits, convincing her to overthrow the mega corp that hired the virus and is currently invading Latveria. The AI takes control of the mega corp to express her newfound whims over the world, securing a powerful ally for Doom's reign.
- The "Fall of the Hammer" crossover focuses on the Alchemix corporation creating their own Norse gods from the floating city Valhalla—unfortunately, Valhalla has shit design, and threatens to crash upon New York and kill millions. Doom arrives partway through the event to coordinate the other heroes in preventing Valhalla's fall, but in the aftermath of the event, it's revealed he sabotaged the floating city's databases to take control of it for himself.
- After sundry misadventures—allying with Wakanda while secretly hacking into all their stuff, a weird encounter with aliens, a trip to the Savage Land—Doom learns of two shadow rulers of the world, one of which is allegedly the real Doom. How would one learn more about this? Why, by conquering another country, obviously! Doom goes to a nation built upon the craft of spyware, threatening to use Valhalla as a giant magnet to purge all their computers unless they surrender. With this, Doom gets the info he needs to find the shadow rulers.
- Doom confronts the other Doom, while the second shadow ruler, Margaretta, sends them hurtling through time. The other Doom's inferior technology eventually proves our Doom is the real deal: Our Doom and Margaretta had been playing their games over the world for decades, until Doom was subject to a horrible accident. Margaretta decided to have fun with his incapacitated state: she reset his age, wiped his memory, and dropped him in Latveria, while setting up another Doom as the "real deal" just to mess with him. Unfortunately for her, our Doom has tired of games, abandoning her to die in the time rifts caused by their fight.
- With his identity secure, Doom sparks a civil war in a neighboring nation to see what the U.S. will do when they get dragged in. The U.S., to his disappointment but not his surprise, goes overkill, literally melting the population in chemical warfare. Secure in the knowledge that the U.S. is the greatest threat to the rest of the world, Doom assembles his various allies for a military coup of the country. America's fall to mega corps has left it fractured and weakened, allowing for Doom to easily barge in and wipe out his opposition, from the corrupt senate to the president himself. He declares himself president and takes total control over the government: "The senate, empowered to veto this, are in agreement, as proven by their silence."
- Under Doom's rule, things get both better and worse. The power of mega corps are limited, basic infrastructure is restored, Latverian tech combats pollution, and equal rights/freedom of speech is secured for everyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality, etc. On the other hand, Doom employs the likes of the Punisher and Ghost Rider to met out their "unique" brand of justice as they see fit, planning to discredit the former when he begins losing it. Another hero, Ravage, lives on a toxic island home to hundreds of mutants (not X-Men mutants, to clarify). Doom views the island as the biggest threat to the planet's environment, and arrives in the final issue of Ravage's comic to kill them all, drowning the hero, his people, and the island in a massive casing of liquid adamantium before chucking the thing into space.
- Things deteriorate from there. The reveal of an alien as one of the mega corp CEOs, who stabs Doom with hallucinogens during his unmasking, sends Doom into a rage, losing it on public TV as he orders an increase in martial law as punishment for the public's ignorance. Another CEO, Herod, plans to usurp him as president. With a fake Captain America to turn the public against Doom, and the combined troves of all the mega corps' tech that even Doom doesn't have access to, he destroys Valhalla and causes disasters all across the country, before wiping out everyone in Latveria with more chemical warfare.
- Doom survives the chaos and takes to the shadows, saving a young mutant from Herod's bigoted cops. With her powers and the coerced help of an "armchair revolutionary"—whom Doom kills for his disrespect—they hack into a weird car superhuman to bring them to a mutant safe haven designed by Doom, while luring pursuing cops to their deaths. From there, Doom packs the driver full of nanobots and pilots him right into the White House, destroying Herod's advanced tech and killing his administration—save Herod himself, whom Doom leaves alive but in eternal pain.
- With that done, Doom retires to the aforementioned spyware country he took over, using its information to influence world events... unfortunately, being Doom and all, he gets greedy and absorbs all the knowledge at once. In doing so, he burns the names and faces of every Latverian into his mind. In a fit of pure, spiteful refusal to accept his responsibility for their deaths, he travels to the present of the Marvel universe to undo the genocide. There, he clashes with the likes of Daredevil, Namor, and his own past self as he wracks up damage to find a cure for the chemicals. Doom ravages the ocean (intending to fix it in the future), spreads a special drug to brainwash CEOs into compliance, and reluctantly conducts horrific human experiments on Latverians to produce a cure. The heroes' interference destroys most of his samples, and Namor and his past self capture him, but Doom 2099 takes control of their ship through his advanced armor and uses an escape pod to find an alien stargate, which he uses to return to the future. There, he finds the descendants of his subjects have survived—some fine, some mutated, some insane, but alive. Half of Latveria is preserved.
- Unfortunately, there's also an alien invasion from the techno-organic Phalanx, which has destroyed the ice caps and flooded the world. Doom decides to kill two birds with one stone. He allies with them to facilitate their conquest, with their nanobots restoring the Latverian land lost to the sea. Doom purges the tech from his own suit so he can't be controlled, and locates the innocent "scout" human embedded with Phalanx DNA intended to serve as a herald for their forces—something he's known about and been manipulating since the present Marvel timeline. He uploads a virus into him, so when Latveria is restored, he can activate it to destroy all the Phalanx. Doom sacrifices himself in the ensuing explosion so Spider-Man 2099, the scout, and another of his allies can escape.
- His nation in mourning, Doom posthumously has his last will delivered to the world. First, Latveria will lead this broken planet in a rebirth, now purged of the corruption and pollution that once dominated it. Secondly, the heroes who aided him will be forever immortalized as honored allies to their nation. And finally, the kindhearted scout, whose bloodline Doom has watched for over a century, making him the closest thing Doom has to a child, shall be ruler of Latveria. With his advisors to guide him to greatness, so too will the world continue to be guided to prosperity by Doom's hand.
Is he magnificent?
It's Doom. He's an egotistical ass, a megalomaniac who refuses to admit fault for anything or acknowledge that anyone could ever possibly be smarter than him. But the thing is? He's, again, Doctor Doom. Even if he stumbles, time and again he's able to prove he deserves all the praise he gives himself, playing everyone left and right to ensure his total dominance. And weirdly, the time travel arc shows his pride is restrained compared to present!Doom.
Doom refuses to lose power that was driving him mad? Responds to the loss by convincing the AI who gained his powers to be his ally. An alien poisons him? He briefly goes off the deep end, sure, but his bajillion and one contingencies ensure he survives to kill the thing. He's overthrown? Dismantles his enemies with a vengeance, before time traveling to undo the worst of the damage.
And, of course, it all culminates in Doom saving the human race, going out like a champ to protect his newfound friends even as he secures Latveria's power over everyone else.
Is he a bastard?
Again, it's Doom. Genuinely well-intentioned he may be, but he's still a fascist dictator willing to murder any who defy his whims. Notable fucked up things include starting a civil war as a social experiment, rightfully suspecting it will end in effectively genocide; experimenting on his own people; and permanently offing another flagship hero of the imprint along with his entire nation.
But it's hardly the worst to occur in either 2099 or Marvel in general, and as much as everything is designed to feed his megalomania, it's in equal measure intended to benefit the world at large. The civil war? While Doom may have foreseen the outcome, he's disgusted by the savagery America uses to quell the chaos, leaping at the opportunity to overthrow them now that he knows without a doubt that the current system is irredeemable. Experimenting on his own people is to save their descendants down the line, and even then is conducted with distaste. Killing Ravage's people is done to protect the rest of the planet from toxicity—Doom calls it "global suicide" to leave them alone.
For everything wicked he does, it's undercut by his startling progress to save the world. His rule over America, while bad, is objectively a thousand times better than the corporation-ruled hellhole it was before, with Doom going out of his way to secure equal rights, free speech, and public health for everyone. It's not all entirely altruistic of course, he wouldn't be Doom if he wasn't setting up a million different backup plans, but a kernel within him genuinely wants to do good, and for all his many faults he gets the job done.
Verdict?
Vote Doom. What other choice is there?
Easy for Doom 2099.
Goku Black
doom 2099
I’ll take a potato chip… and EAT IT!
Not the Eye
Doom 2099
for yet another version of the Doc of Doom
Fool! Polar Phantom upvotes as he pleases!
Doom 2099
Lord of Space
How does this look?
- Suck Up!: The Player Character proves to be a skilled Master of Disguise and manipulator in both game modes:
- In the main game mode, the Vampire intends to suck the blood of all the people in the neighborhood. Forced to abide to old vampire rules, the Vampire must convince the various neighbors to let them inside their houses. To achieve this, they use a variety of disguises to manipulate the neighbors to let them in, being even able to disguise as the neighbors themselves.
- In "Love Bites", the Vampire—called "Cupid" here—doesn't plan to suck the neighbors' blood, but rather to ruin their romantic relationships for seemingly no reason other than their own amusement. Much like in the maim game mode, Cupid can use a variety of disguises to achieve their goal, manipulating the various people to break up with their partner. While the couples they target are all mostly functional and healthy, Cupid unintentionally does something good by causing Karen and Prince Charming to break up since the former had actually used a Love Potion on the latter.
Edited by CapitanoNox on Apr 24th 2024 at 2:41:21 PM
Seeing support for Bowfinger and no issues, so cheers to Steve Martin. Draft write-up, only issue is I was unsure what potholes to use for relevant tropes.
- Bobby Bowfinger is an aging Hollywood director who decides to shoot an Alien Invasion movie starring an action star without him knowing he's in it. Gathering together a group of wanna-bes for his actors and illegal Mexican immigrants for his crew, he follows A-list actor Kit Ramsay around filming him in secret and editing the film around his footage. Unaware that his actions are triggering Kit's Paranoia Fuel about aliens being real, Kit's mentors at Mindhead realize what's happening and bust Bowfinger as he films the final scenes. Bowfinger bounces back with secret footage of Kit flashing himself to the Laker Girls, blackmailing Mindhead and Kit into cooperating. Fast-talking, quick-thinking, and never letting any opportunity go to waste, Bowfinger manages to pull off his scheme and finally make a movie like he's dreamed of.
to Machiavillain, Catwoman, Riddler, Talarist, Dark and Doom.
I'm back, and with a villain to propose from Helluva Boss. It's not one of the main characters, those have their own problems to work through that stop them being sufficiently magnificent, and their arcs are ongoing anyway. But this guy, I don't think he suffers either of those issues.
What is the work?
Helluva Boss is a Black Comedy musical made by Vivienne Medrano, better known online as Vivziepop. It follows the adventures of I.M.P, a group of imps, led by the cheerful yet somewhat dull Blitzø, who act as assassins for any Sinners who want someone on Earth dead, typically for revenge.
Who is Loopty Goopty? What has he done?
Loopty Goopty is I.M.P's client for the season 1 episode, "C.H.E.R.U.B". A genius inventor and the co-founder of Lyle-Loopy Robotics, when on Earth, he and his business partner, Lyle Lipton, invented a device to age and de-age someone and tested it on themselves, only for them to become aged too far due to an accident. Loopty died as a result, and Lyle was aged into an old man.
Damned to Hell, he approaches I.M.P in hopes of getting them to assassinate Lyle, stating that he didn't want Lyle to get all of the money from their creations. Even as Blitzø points out that this reasoning isn't evil enough, Loopty insists on it and leaves, awaiting results.
After an episode of wacky hijinks involving I.M.P trying to convince Lyle to kill himself while C.H.E.R.U.B tries to convince him that life is worth living, Lyle ends up being killed in an accident and ends up in Hell. Loopty Goopty then shows up, only for Lyle to show up in Hell right then and there. Overjoyed, Loopty proceeds to thank I.M.P for reuniting him with his best friend. In truth, he didn't want revenge on Lyle Lipton - he missed him, and wanted to see him again, which wasn't possible as long as Lyle was still alive.
Is he Magnificent?
Personality-wise, of course he is. He's a delightfully hammy character with excellent voice work selling the "Mad Scientist" vibe perfectly, and he's just as hilarious as the rest of the show he's in, claiming that "I am eccentric, and must therefore do eccentric shit". With funny, quotable lines galore and a brilliant stage presence, Loopty certainly leaves an impression despite his low screentime.
Intelligence may be a harder sell for this character, but he did successfully deceive the I.M.Ps, knowing they only take on revenge missions and disguising his own request as one so that he could see his friend again. He even paid in advance to ensure they got the job done. He has the intellect to run a technological empire with inventions that benefited enough people for the C.H.E.R.U.Bs to want to preserve his work, and though one of his inventions ended up doing him in during his life, he does seem to recognise exactly where he went wrong there now that he's in the afterlife.
Is he a Bastard? Too much?
While requesting Lyle's death can't be held against him too badly, since the motive wasn't petty and vengeful like he initially invoked, it should be noted, Loopty did consign him to his death without his consent. It could be considered a Mercy Kill, since Lyle on Earth was suffering on life support and bound to die soon of, say, a heart attack, but this angle is never explored in the show itself, and is more Fridge Brilliance than anything.
It's also mentioned a couple of times that in life, he and Lyle would routinely test their inventions on the poor, something Loopty doesn't seem to have any remorse about. That said, like most everything in the show, it's Played for Laughs and doesn't receive much focus, so it's not too vile, and he never displays any particularly classist attitudes - it's more likely out of convenience than anything.
Final verdict?
A weak in my opinion. But I'm not really here for my opinion, am I?
Edited by Iceaura39 on Apr 24th 2024 at 2:49:24 PM
It is I, the narrator, categorising addict and writer of books you haven't read.
Man in the Yellow Hat
I thought about Loopty and was a bit concerned about the whole "experimented on the poor" thing when someone mentioned it, but given it's offscreen, played for laughs, in a universe filled with vile villains, and doesn't seem to be out of classism, I guess it's fine. Weak to him.
Edited by Purgatoryisof2 on Apr 24th 2024 at 1:55:34 PM
He/Him
Jogo
Doom 2099 and Loopty
Edited by jlvs200s on Apr 24th 2024 at 5:41:37 PM
"Stand Proud, Sukuna, you are strong" | He/Him
Lmao, I was planning on going back to rewatch that episode after I had an inkling that he could count. for him.
Surprised Doom 2099 hasn't been proposed before. to him. Likewise to Loopty.
I’ll take a potato chip… and EAT IT!
Goku Black
I guess loopty
He's not that bad by hazbin standards.
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
Not the Eye
Talarist, Long Live the Queen fanfic Heavy Is The Crown.
The Work
In canon, Princess Elodie can be deposed in a vote of no confidence at a gala even if her fiancé Talarist, Duke of Sedna (who can get her out of lesser kinds of trouble), is present. Here, the Point of Divergence is that Talarist is prepared to deflect even that.The Character
Like in canon, Talarist is a duke from the country of Talasse bordering Elodie's own Nova, who has seized the opportunity to get himself engaged to Elodie soon after the death of her mother, the queen regnant.Due to major political blunders of Elodie's, Duke Banion, one of Elodie's subjects, instigates a vote of no confidence at a festival gala, and Elodie loses it, with only her father, her uncle, and her mentor voting to keep her queen. In canon, such a route ends with her getting deposed in all but name and forcibly betrothed to Banion...
...while here, Talarist calmly says "You forgot to count a vote" and affirms he stands with Elodie. As Banion tries to get him seized by guards, everyone realizes that the servants working at the gala are actually an entire battalion of Talassian soldiers in disguise. Before anyone can blink, Banion is shot with an arrow, and everyone else is held at swordpoint.
Talarist asks Elodie what she intends to do with the traitors, and she orders all of them executed. He tells her that he was almost killed in an assassination attempt when he was fifteen (the duchy of Sedna and the neighboring Novan duchy of Elath are constantly at odds). When Elodie assures him it must have been without her mother's knowledge, Talarist's only answer is a diplomatic but vague "Her reputation precedes her".
Realizing she desperately needs an ally, she tells Talarist that they will be married as soon as possible instead of making it a long betrothal as originally planned, even though she realizes that it's possible he might not have known about Banion's plans to depose her (but would never admit it in this case) — which begs the question as to why he brought a battalion of soldiers to the gala.
Talarist agrees to speed up the marriage plans and to swear loyalty to Elodie immediately, though he warns her that it will make the king of Talasse, without whose permission it all has occurred, displeased — but between that and staying without powerful allies, Elodie takes the risk.
Is he magnificent?
During the entire fic, he is absolutely unfazed and unfailingly polite with everyone (even with the traitorous nobles). Thanks to being Crazy-Prepared, he is able to turn what would have been a coup into a victory for Elodie and himself.Is he a bastard?
There's the icky fact that Elodie is fourteen and he is twenty-six (the Fictional Age of Majority in these places is fifteen). However, in canon, if Talarist marries her early (and canonically, the earliest it can happen is when she is sixteen), it's made clear he is in it for the title and power and "is in no hurry to provide an heir", and there is no sign it would be any different here. Moreover, unlike other people who want Elodie's crown (like, say, Banion, who also actively tries to marry her), he is Enlightened Self-Interest personified, being very kind to Elodie. It's implied he is genuinely proud of her holding herself together and finding new strength despite the attempted coup.His worst canonical moment is absent here by default — in canon, it's heavily implied he kills twelve-year-old Duke Adair of Elath should the latter be unprotected... but only if Talarist and Elodie aren't betrothed.
It's left ambiguous whether he knew about the plans for a coup and, if not, why he brought the soldiers with him. (It could have been just for protection, considering he has been the target of murder attempts as well).
Conclusion?
You decide.Edited by AutumnLeaves on Apr 22nd 2024 at 7:08:58 PM