Question: Why is not every terrorist sent after John in Die Hard? Or the pirates wipe out Samus' ship in {{Metroid})? Why not have The Master send every vampire and demon after Buffy? You're not immediately fighting a horde of Cyberdemons in Doom? Or every Deadite tries to kill Ash in Evil Dead? Wouldn't the terrorists win if they immediately set off a bomb or kill the hostages in Splinter Cell? The Syndicate would win outright if they just killed the Saints in Saints Row, or Pelleum killed Rubi in Wet, so why don't they? Rule of Drama, that's why. These are Acceptable Breaks from Reality in that while it might be effective to just kill every Player Character off in Call Of Duty it wouldn't make much of a game. Bond Villain Stupidity is a set of rules that...oh who are they, Bond villains have a habit of doing. If Goldfinger had just left Bond in his Death Trap then that would count. Not making sure someone is dead? No, otherwise we would have to count every horror and monster movie, we would have to count The Punisher, all manner of works. As it is used this is a Square Peg Round Trope.
Edited by tsstevens Currently reading up My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours
You know Zaptech, I'm getting a little tired of you constantly saying that every entry you don't like is whining.
Harbinger not finishing off Shepard is a pretty blatant example of the trope. It literally would've taken him half of a second but he instead assumed that simply being hit by a shockwave killed the guy he previously would not accept as dead until he found a body. He had him right there, right where he wanted him, and just left. He could've nuked the entire city or fired at Shepard himself with a laser. The others could also be filed under Bond Villain Stupidity, since they all involve the Reapers just not shooting when they very easily could've, but they do probably fit better under Hollywood Tactics. Their presence on Tuchanka in particular; they don't seem to have any excuse at all for just sending one Destroyer and having him act as illogically as possible.
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Okay, let me ask you a question then. You play shooting games? Call Of Duty? How many times have you shot someone and thought you killed them off only to be wrong? Would you fall under Bond Villain Stupidity?
Currently reading up My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours
1. Never
2. I can't level cities in seconds or flat out disintegrate people.
3. None of those people were the arch-enemy I spent years hunting.
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You've never thought you killed someone in a shooting game only for them to survive? Not once? So either Mass Effect is about the only video game you've played or you're stretching the truth a little. It's an easy mistake to make, just because it happens does not make someone fall under Bond Villain Stupidity.
Currently reading up My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours
1. No. I've never thought I've killed someone only for them to live. Ever.
2. It's not an easy mistake to make when you can disintegrate people in a split second. Last time he tried to find the body. Here he didn't for no reason.
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I find that rather hard to believe, quite frankly. However the point is Harbinger could just kill Shepard off, game over. It wouldn't make much of a game though would it? Instead Rule of Drama is used to make the game more interesting. As I said above, why didn't Saren just hunt down and kill Shepard. He knew she was on the Citidel. What was stopping him? Bond Villain Stupidity or Rule of Drama? Would Buffy the Vampire Slayer have been a better series had Angelus killed Buffy first chance he got? Or is he stupid to keep taunting her? Here's a good one, Mortal Kombat. Shang Tsung could have just killed all the competitors so that Earthrealm could not win. But no, he has to have his little tournament.
Let's examine the examples that are on Bond Villain Stupidity shall we?
- The worst example is probably Golden Eye, when the villains have several opportunities (most notably in the Statue yard) to just shoot Bond and don't. Then Ouroumov has the chance to shoot Bond, announces that he is about to do it, and then is promptly cold-cocked. What moves this into beyond-belief territory is that both have direct evidence of how dangerous he is when cornered.
Did Harbinger ever do this in the third game?
- In Diamonds Are Forever Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd had Bond unconscious and they simply dumped him in an unfinished pipeline and left, assuming he'd eventually die.
I don't recall Harbinger ever doing this. Perhaps you can help me out.
- Simon in Die Hard With A Vengeance handcuffs John Mc Clane and Zeus to a bomb on a ship and leaves them to die, instead of shooting them and blowing up the ship after.
Did Harbinger ever leave Shepard in a Death Trap assuming she would die, only to escape?
If it bothers you how about wiping all your save games the first time you die in game? That will give you the full experience you're after.
Edited by tsstevens Currently reading up My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours
Do the Reapers' inefficient military strategies really count as Bond Villain Stupidity? The trope description is rather specific about it being a case of the villain not killing the hero when he has him trapped or helpless, as opposed to an inefficient overall plan.
There are probably better tropes for this entry, like Hollywood Tactics or something else under Villain Ball.
Either way, it likely needs to be cut back from what was put down, as the current version is...well, to be blunt, very whiny and reads much more like a rant on Reaper tactics than a trope example. It very strongly feels like it is a a square peg being shoved into a round trope just to complain.
Edited by Zaptech Hide / Show Replies