During the investigation of recent hollers in the Complete Monster thread, it's become apparent to the staff that an insular, unfriendly culture has evolved in the Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard threads that is causing problems.
Specific issues include:
- Overzealous hollers on tropers who come into the threads without being familiar with all the rules and traditions of the tropes. And when they are familiar with said rules and traditions, they get accused (with little evidence) of being ban evaders.
- A few tropers in the thread habitually engage in snotty, impolite mini-modding. There are also regular complaints about excessive, offtopic "socializing" posts.
- Many many thread regulars barely post/edit anywhere else, making the threads look like they are divorced from the rest of TV Tropes.
- Following that, there are often complaints about the threads and their regulars violating wiki rules, such as on indexing, crosswicking, example context and example categorization. Some folks are working on resolving the issues, but...
- Often moderator action against thread regulars leads to a lot of participants suddenly showing up in the moderation threads to protest and speak on their behalf, like a clique.
It is not a super high level problem, but it has been going on for years and we cannot ignore it any longer. There will be a thread in Wiki Talk
to discuss the problem; in the meantime there is a moratorium on further Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard example discussion until we have gotten this sorted out.
Update: The new threads have been made and can be found here:
for the earliest date a work can be discussed, (usually two weeks from the US release), as well as who's reserved discussion.
- Why do a cleanup?: This trope definitely exists and has a well documented history of use. That being said, it frequently gets misused to a character who meets one of the components, namely that they are smart, charming while not necessarily even being a villain, or create good plans. While these are components, there is also a certain personality required, not to mention that all of the above are required to be present for a character to be a true Magnificent Bastard. As the trope attracts interest, it unfortunately brings in a lot of misuse and I thought the best way to rectify this would be a Perpetual Cleanup Thread, as is being done and has seen success with Complete Monster.
- What makes a Magnificent Bastard: Below is a list of the individual components to make this character. Note that they must all be present, not just some, which has lead to frequent misuse:
- Must be intelligent: Goes without saying, to be a Magnificent Bastard, the character has to be smart in the first place and use their brain to work towards whatever their end goal may be;
- Must be a Bastard: While going overboard in how vile the character is can be detrimental, a key aspect is the Bastard part of the trope, whether the character is an out-and-out antagonist in the work, some manner of Villain Protagonist, or something in between, they at least have some unscrupulous qualities to qualify for this trope;
- Must not be too detestable: Again, there is a ceiling on how bad the character can be before they just become too nefarious, blocking out the Magnificent part of the trope. A genocidal racist or child-raping Sadist aren't going to make the cut;
- Think on their feet: In addition to being a Chessmaster, a Magnificent Bastard, if the character deals with situations in which their initial plan is ruined, has to be able to pull a Xanatos Speed Chess and at least come up with a competent strategy to make up for lost time, otherwise they fail for being unable to think in tough spots;
- Have charm: Even if they don't necessarily make every character they meet fall in love with them and can even be detested by others, the audience has to find an amicable social relation to the character, or they are failing to make the impact required for this trope.
- What to do if a character is listed on a page but has not been approved?: They need to be removed, all candidates need to come through the cleanup thread first. The character could well count but they need to be analyzed properly and voted on first.
- Do we list Playing With this trope?: No; as a YMMV trope, this cannot be Played With, so we only want examples that are Played Straight.
- What do I do if I want a character to be listed as a Magnificent Bastard?: The greatest success Complete Monster saw for its cleanup effort was from the invention of the effort post format, so, borrowing from that, a troper wishing to propose a Magnificent Bastard will create such a post in the following format:
- Begin by describing The work, this will help establish the setting the character is in and for the reader to understand what kind of a scenario they are in;
- Summarize The character's actions, this will provide a listing for readers to understand what they do and how it applies to this trope because charm and lack of smugness are so crucial, this is a good time to be incorporating exactly the flavor of how they operate to explain this;
- List circumstances in which the character must Think on their feet, these are times where a wrench might be thrown in their initial plan and they have to adapt on the spot or even come up with a new scheme all together, this is also a good time to explain how the villain reacts to defeat when they have to face it, a true Magnificent Bastard won't break down into tears at the thought of death, they should have known such a possibility could occur and be able to handle it with more dignity;
- The competition, similar to the Heinous Standard dealt with for a Complete Monster, this section is to deal with how successful the character is in carrying out their plans compared to other characters. While, as a villain, they probably are going to lose in the end, it is good to explain how other characters handle the same situation. There is no exceptionalism case to be made for this trope but explaining the variety helps the reader have a better understanding of the proposal.
- How do you know when the character's arc is done so they can be proposed? When their tenure as a villain or antagonist finishes. This could happen in a single Story Arc in an entire work, a single work of a franchise, or the whole series in general. We'll show lenience to Long-Runners with constantly recurring candidates or series with outstanding continuities (ex. comic books), and it's entirely possible to count in a work or two but not in general for a reason like Depending on the Writer.
- What about candidates evil because of external sources? Those Made of Evil can qualify if they show enough individuality and tactical acumen — in other words, they have the personality to fulfill the magnificence requirement. Conversely, those brainwashed, especially if they're a better person without it, may fail the individuality aspect and cannot count.
- What if they are under orders from a higher-up? Depends. If the boss created the plans down to the letter and the candidate is just following them, sounds like we should discuss the boss instead. However, if the candidate takes creative liberties with the orders, adds their own charm and flair to them, fills in holes in the orders, and/or actively deals with obstacles their boss did not talk about, the candidate shows enough individual thinking to qualify.
- What about Character Development? An MB is something a character can develop into... a nice person who plots well might become more morally gray as the work goes on and hits the "Bastard" criteria, thus making them viable. Likewise, a Smug Snake might shed their ego, become more understanding of the threat others pose and gain the personality or "Magnificent" criteria, likewise making them viable. Conversely, a character who looks like this trope might suffer from a Sanity Slippage or just get outed as not being as smart as they thought they were and become incompatible with MB.
- Can an MB be a good guy? Not in the conventional sense... it is required they have at least some dubious traits lest they fail the "Bastard" criteria. That being said, a character who pulls a Heel–Face Turn or eventually stops taking villainous actions is still fair game: as there was a point in time where they were both "Magnificent" and a "Bastard" at the same time and they've merely adapted as time goes on. Now... if such a character begins showing other issues (i.e.: becomes prone to freak outs or starts getting outwitted) then they're compromising their Magnificence and will probably be deemed a cut. What's important is stylishly operating while at least for some time being willing to take at best underhanded methods to see a job done. A Heel–Face Turn in itself isn't a disqualifier but they do have to have been "Magnificent" and a "Bastard" at the same time and afterwards can't start slipping on the former front.
- What about characters whose stories can take different routes?: When proposing a character in a form of media that has them in multiple story routes. Said character must be consistent with their characteristics in all routes. (ex.: Can't have an example who shows promise on one route yet fails in another.) The only exception is if a later installment of the series confirms the character's actions which made them worth proposing are the canon route.
- Is there a timeframe rule like with Complete Monster?: Yes, please wait two weeks until after the work has concluded before proposing a character (again, usually using the North American air date). As is the case with CM, we want to give a reasonable time frame so that everyone interested in seeing the work has done so and can participate in the discussion without having anything spoiled.
- What about groups like with Complete Monster?: This is a point of divergence between the two tropes. While CM does not allow for a single entry encompassing more than three characters lest their heinousness for crimes becomes too watered down, with MB as long as they are treated as one "unit" it is acceptable to lump all characters provided they share acts of charm and intelligence.
- Can I propose my own work's character as a Magnificent Bastard?: No, this is a YMMV subject and the creator of a content is way too biased to be able to evaluate the criteria we're looking for without a second opinion taking over. That being said, you are more than welcome to encourage someone to consume your creation and if they feel a character counts, are more than welcome to suggest them.
- My example/edit has been approved, but the example subpage is locked! How do I get it added?: The moderators do not add examples to locked example subpages in the MagnificentBastard/ namespace directly. Rather, you need to do the edit to a sandbox page that follows the format Sandbox.MagnificentBastard<Name of the example subpage> (e.g for MagnificentBastard.Fullmetal Alchemist it's Sandbox.Magnificent Bastard Fullmetal Alchemist) and on a Friday, ask in the locked pages edit requests thread for the content to be swapped in.
Thread rules
When voting a troper must specify the effort post they're voting on and cannot merely vote on "Everything I missed" as in the past it has indicated the poster didn't read the effort post and is guessing instead of analyzing.
Resolved items
In general, a character listed on this trope is considered "settled". This means they should not be challenged unless information used to list them was incorrect or information was missed in the initial discussion.
However, when re-litigating a candidate, the same rules apply for when they were originally proposed. If they do not have five or more upvotes than downvotes for approval upon a re-litigation, including votes from the initial discussion if they do not change, then they are a cut.
This especially applies to the characters listed below, who have been discussed excessively and repeated attempts to get them listed/cut may result in punitive action for bogging down the thread.
Definitely an MB
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers: Any sadism Darkrai displays is limited in effect thanks to the game's nature and any cowardice which can be inferred about him is Alternative Character Interpretation about his tactical retreats.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: Azula's Villainous Breakdown is undone in the sequel comic Smoke & Shadow where she regains her composure and ends up stable and in control enough to count.
Definitely not an MB
- South Park: The show's frequent use of vulgar comedy and mean-spirited humor leaves any potential candidates devoid of the dignity or charm to qualify.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Aug 31st 2023 at 4:15:22 AM
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
for Faisal, Tara and Lily, Odysseus, Kharl (tentative), Darkman, Inspector 13, Dryden, and Reiny.
![[tdown]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_down_emoticon_3571.png "[thumb down]"){kind=small}
for Percy.
Cut Aggregor.
Edited by TellAll111 on Jul 18th 2021 at 3:20:59 AM
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
I have a question has Immortus from Marvel comics ever been discussed or does he technically already count due to being a version of Kang?
Edited by Bullman on Jul 18th 2021 at 5:23:08 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
I don’t think Immortus himself has been discussed yet.
Immortus...sure.
J, I think a kicker for me...
Satsuki develops competence as a hero, but there's something to be said that all her plans fall apart as a villain. By contrast, Omni-man, etc? They're good schemers as villains and their character development as positive takes them from it, but Nolan still has the blood of entire worlds on his hands and nothing washes them away.
@TBYN: Oh, if you think Lawrence is a majestic hero, you should definitely watch the film. Which reminds me of another potential I could discuss soon...
Edited by Lightysnake on Jul 18th 2021 at 3:29:10 AM
Yup thanks, that's what I thought! Reiny.
![[down]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_down.png "[down]"){kind=icon}
Yup, just wanted confirmation that my thinking was correct; I felt Reiny was similar along those lines to Omni-man.
Edited by jjjj2 on Jul 18th 2021 at 6:36:07 AM
You can only write so much in your forum signature. It's not fair that I want to write a piece of writing yet it will cut me off in the mid
Same's really true of Catwoman, your other example, who can't really break out from Bane's thumb without just becoming a good person.
Goku Black
Also if Ben 10 gets a page.
This will be like the the fifth or so for it's own show that does.
Not bad considering their we're like,,only 25 entries back when we started.
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
Work
Son of the Mob, by Gordon Korman, is a drama-comedy duology (for readers 12 and up)about Vince Luca a male Mafia Princess who just wants to be normal. He becomes Star-Crossed Lovers with Kendra, the daughter or the federal agent investigating his dad.
Whis is Anthony Luca
Anthony "Honest Abe" Luca if The Don and Vince's Affably Evil father.
Intelligent
Anthony is a sucsessful mob boss who has avoided being arrested for decades. He is Properly Paranoid about listening devices and such. In the first book, his intelligence is more off-screen, but in the sequel, he really steps up. He secretly arranges for Vince to become college roommates with the son of a senator whose on the other side of a union dispute, letting his other son and some enforcers act as spies when they visit Vince. Earlier, he smuggles a suitcase full of money that the feds are after out of New York by swapping it with Vince's suitcase for college, smuggling the goods past the FBI in a car the head agent's daughter is riding in (something Vince describes as a classic Anthony Luca strategy.
Charm
Luca is known for his Evil Virtues and always dating honestly with partners. He's disappointed that Vince wants a normal life away from him, but he deeply respects that decision (aside from ocassionally using Vince as an Unwitting Pawn). He also went to a lot of trouble to help Vince get a legitimate credit card and a car bought with honest money when most of their possessions are stolen.
After Vince calls him out for letting some of his men running a money laundering operation rip off desperate people by selling them shares in a club with no profit, Anthony burns down the club after hours, causing all of the investors to get insurance money (and the people running the club to have to get in debt to him to pay it of).
He takes good care of the wives and kids of any of his men who are arrested and ultimately goes to a certain degree of risk and inconvenience to keep Vince's roommate from being arrested for wrecking a car given how his father is about to be arrested. He's also oa Back-Alley Doctor for his men whenever they are wounded and can't go to a hospital.
In the second book, he goes to a lot of trouble to save the life of a kidnapped union official (albeit a almost certainly corrupt one) rather than let the man die, personally leading a rescue mission.
Despite being known for destroying any film from social gatherings with his face on it, Anthony keeps a film that Vince (a film student) inadvertently got of him rescuing the union leader so the whole family can watch it, rather than destroy his son's work, even though it could be evidence against him in the future.
He has a certain cheekiness in talking right into the FBI listening devices and giving them mocking nicknames (Kendra's dad Agent Bightly is referred to as "Agent Bite-Me" by Anthony, etc.)
Ruthless
There's a fair amount of mostly Offstage Villainy with Anthony. He has a professional assassin on his payroll and it's implied that the guy gets a lot of work. A man who owes money to the Lucas claims that there loan-sharking crew cut people's fingers off on rare occasions, and it's implied that this is true. When two of this debts try to go to Vince to get help, Anthony does something non-physical offscreen that leaves them too terrified to even be near Vince later on. When he finds out that a member of his inner circle was an undercover FBI agent, the only thing that stops him from killing the man is Vince threatening to give the cops evidence of a crime his brother committed (although he's ultimately amused by Vince's actions_.
Mitigating factors
In the first book, despite boasting that nothin gets past him, he has no idea that his son is dating the FBI agent's daughter. Also he is forced to give in to Vince's blackmail ploy, due to not keeping a close enough eye on Vince's brother to keep him from getting involved in a side racket.
I hate spoilers
I agree in the case of Satsuki. If a character shows more competence as a hero than as a villain, then they don't count. I had a similar problem when I wanted to work on the Kaiser Oblivion.
Everyone look at my sandbox
Re: Anthony: I was gonna say, I read that book, and his 17-year-old son gets one over one him, which is a little...embarrassing, to be quite honest. And he was letting a double agent run around for quite a while—again, his 17-year-old son figured it out before he did.
But it's a YA book, so giving the teenage protagonist the win makes a certain amount of sense in the genre, and the series does emphasize that the Mob is corrupt all the way down despite how much Vince might like his father.
I'll give him a smallish
New EP, after deciding to hunker down and look at Momoa's Conan.
What is the work?
Conan the Barbarian (2011) is a 2011 action-adventure film and adaptation of Conan the Barbarian, starring Jason Momoa as Conan and Stephen Lang as Khalar Zym, the Big Bad.
It is the Hyperborean Age of history, a time when the sorcerers of Acheron attempted to Take Over the World with the use of a mask crafted from their ancestors' bones, powered by the Human Sacrifice of their virgin daughters. But a chieftain named Corin (Ron Perlman) destroyed the mask and scattered its pieces across the world. However, a warlord named Khalar Zym, head of a cult that worships the snake, would attempt to recreate the mask and attempt the conquest again.
Who is the candidate and what does he do?
Conan himself (Momoa) is the main protagonist, the son of Corin. As a boy, Conan's village was attacked and put to the sword by Khalar Zym. During the battle, Conan cuts off the nose of one of Zym's henchmen named Lucius. Corin sacrifices his life so Conan can escape and Conan vows revenge.
Twenty years later, Conan is a pirate/mercenary teamed with his buddy Artus (Nonso Anozie). Conan and Artus attack a slave caravan and free all the slaves, sending them to the city of Messantia, which happens to be a place that features a garrison run by the snake cult. While there, Conan recognizes Lucius, now warden of a prison, who is pursuing a thief named Ela-Shan (Saïd Taghmaoui). Conan allows himself to be arrested by Lucius as a Trojan Prisoner. It doesn't take long for Conan to break loose, killing his way to Lucius, whom he promises not to kill, and interrogates him for information on the cult. When Lucius reveals all he knows, Conan drops the prison key down his throat, reminds Lucius that he only promised not to kill him, and allows the other prisoners to kill Lucius to get the key.
Meanwhile, Khalar Zym, who has reassembled the mask, and Marique, who are looking for a pureblood Acheron girl, lead a raid on a monastery. One girl, Tamara (Rachel Nichols) manages to escape, but the monastery head is murdered by Zym while the rest of the acolytes are killed by Marique after she determines that they are not pureblooded and therefore useless. Another of Zym's men, Remo, sees Tamara fleeing and attacks her, but Conan intercepts them and captures Remo. After forcing Remo to reveal why Tamara is so important (she's a pureblood Acheronian and a virgin), Conan sends Remo back to Zym with a message... by catapulting him into Zym's houseboat, with a message to meet him at the Shaipur Outpost.
Conan pretends to be a Bounty Hunter selling Tamara for money, but then reveals himself and challenges Khalar Zym to a duel. They fight and Conan nearly wins, but is poisoned by Marique and barely escapes to Artus' ship with Tamara. While sailing, they are attacked again by Khalar Zym's men but they manage to repel them, with Tamara helping Conan to kill two of Zym's lieutenants. Conan decides to confront Khalar Zym's cult alone, but Tamara catches up to him and they make love; this may or may not have an impact on the plot later on.
Tamara is captured by the cult next morning, so Conan hires Ela-Shan to help sneak him into the cult's headquarters in a mountain. Shan is captured by the cult and about to be eaten by a tentacled beast called the Dweller, so Conan kills the beast and its handler Akhun, the latter by chaining him to Shan's cage and throwing him into the water so Shan will be freed as Akhun drops into the water. Conan infiltrates the cult while Khalar Zym collects Tamara's blood, but the mask's powers merely cause the mountain to collapse. Conan faces Khalar Zym while Tamara kills Marique, reminds Zym that Corin vowed that Zym would fail, and collapses the bridge they're standing on when Zym attempts to revive the spirit of his dead wife, causing Zym to fall to his death.
The film ends after Conan returns to where his home was, assuring his father he is avenged before departing on new adventures.
Is he magnificent?
In the same vein as some of Arnold Schwarzenegger's characters, yes. Conan isn't an outright manipulator, but he's pretty Street Smart and crafty, very tactical in a fight, which was learned over decades because he wasn't originally like that as a youth and had to learn patience. Case in point his infiltration of the prison: he deliberately gets himself caught, decapitates a guard at the first opportunity, and uses the head to sneak into Lucius' quarters before killing the guards inside; he even throws a table full of weapons at a bunch of prisoners in a neighboring cell so they'll incapacitate/kill another guard. Another is his killing of Akhun: Conan frees Ela-Shan (because Shan dropped the keys to his cell into the water) by tying Akhun to Shan's cage and dropping Akhun into the water so the cage will remain above water and eventually break.
Is he a bastard? Too much?
I think he's just enough of a bastard given that he's a fan of using Exact Words and killing Zym's men when they're at his mercy whenever he runs them dry of information. One example is dropping the prison key down Lucius' throat and leaving the prisoners to tear him apart to get it after he said he wouldn't kill him. Another is "sending Khalar Zym a message" by catapulting Remo into his house. All this is tempered by Conan's genuine love for his father and hatred of slavery.
Competition?
His main competition is Khalar Zym; Zym is a man not unlike Conan: ambitious, savvy, looking to avenge his loved ones. The main distinction is that Conan isn't willing to use a Human Sacrifice or Take Over the World like Khalar Zym is.
Verdict?
Up to you guys.
Edited by k410ren on Nov 29th 2021 at 10:32:28 AM
"I'll show you the Dark Side." CM actors and kills
Sure to Conan.
to Luca and Conan
Yes to Luca and our second Conan.
I hate spoilers
I have another Yu-Gi-Oh! EP ready for y'all.
Intro: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds is a series about card games on motorcycles, where the heroes (known as Signers) have to defeat a group of Psycho Rangers called the Dark Signers. After they're dealt with, Team 5D's has to contend with Yliaster, a group of time travelers from the future. At the heart of it all is the mysterious Z-One.
Who is Z-One?
Z-One is the Sole Survivor of a Bad Future, and is willing to do anything to prevent it from happening. He tried reinventing himself as Yusei to become a Hope Bringer, which failed. This hardened him to the point where he made mechanical copies of his friends with their memories and sent them back in time. After being defeated, his warning of said future causes the characters to act preemptively stop things from escalating.
Intelligence: Realizing that Yliaster's circuit wouldn't be able to be completed without his intervention, Z-One gives Yusei Shooting Star Dragon so that he could defeat Placido and create more duel energy. During his duel with Aporia, he leads him to believe that Time Machine God Metaion is his ace monster only to catch him off-guard when he summons Lazion. While his Time Machine Gods are powerful, they are more of a Difficult, but Awesome archetype since they go back to his deck after they attack, and his strongest Trap Cards require him to sacrifice his previous one to activate.
Villainy: While he plans to save the world, it comes at the cost of causing a Colony Drop on Neo Domino City with the Ark Cradle (a future version of the Satellite). He also kills Aporia shortly after he tries to redeem himself.
Virtues: Z-One is a genuine Well-Intentioned Extremist who wants to save the world. When finishing off Aporia, he invokes You Have Outlived Your Usefulness as calmly and politely as possible. He never raises his voice, making him Affably Evil. His refusal to listen to the heroes' hope speech stems crossing the Despair Event Horizon due to having suffered a Hope Spot of his own. After being defeated by Yusei, Z-One is consoled and pulls a Heroic Sacrifice instead of Yusei, happy that he will be Together in Death with his friends.
Improvising: When his initial plans start to fail, Z-One recruits Sherry LeBlanc and revives Aporia to fight for him in the Ark Cradle. After they defect, he decides to duel Yusei for the fate of Neo Domino City, forcing Yusei to borrow the Signer Dragons of Team 5D's and to gain an 11th-Hour Superpower.
Charm: While fans were upset at Z-One not actually being Yusei, he's still considered the best Final Boss in the series (especially after Don Thousand became The Scrappy and Zarc became a Base-Breaking Character) for being a Tragic Villain with an awesome battle theme. It helps that Yusei sympathizes with him, giving him an Alas, Poor Villain moment. His deck is considered strong, but he's also Strong and Skilled, making his duel more popular than other Final Bosses (especially DT, who was the Yu-Gi-Oh! equivalent of Kaguya).
Everyone look at my sandbox
Lies and Violence!
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_up_emote.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Conan and Z-One.
The work
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers is a Darker and Edgier comic reimagining of the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, set in the modern day. Long story short: a floating head in a jar named Zordon brought together five teenagers (Jason, Zack, Trina, Billy, and Kimberly) to fight the forces of the evil Rita Repulsa (accompanied by her warriors, Goldar and Scorpina; her monster-maker, Finster; and two idiots, Squatt and Baboo).
While in the show the evil aliens were incompetent morons, in the comic they're strangely terrifying yet still quite sympathetic.
The candidate
Rita Repulsa, as previously mentioned, is the evil leader of the aliens. The daughter of two researchers investigating the power of the Morphing Grid, Lady Fienna and Eldin, Eldin became obsessed with the power of an Eldritch Abomination residing outside of reality known as Dark Specter. Taking on the name Master Vile, he intended to "hollow out" Rita to be used as a vessel for Dark Specter to finally enter our dimension. After a few years on the run, he finally managed to kill Fienna and kidnap Rita... but not before Fienna and the Phantom Ranger managed to infuse her with Morphing Grid energy, thereby making her useless as a vessel. Still, Vile took her away and raised her to be evil.
Some backstory on her minions:
- Finster was a sculptor who went mad and began making monsters to terrorize his village, as a form of "art." He killed his love by accident when she discovered this, went further insane, and was recruited by Rita. Every day, he tries to "resurrect" her through his sculptures, but kills her and starts over when she pleads with him to stop.
- During her conquest, two parents offered their child in return for Rita sparing their lives. Rita, disgusted, had them killed. The baby became the loyal, if stupid, Squatt.
- Baboo was an alchemist whose world was invaded by Rita. His king made him make a potion that would make their armies invincible... but instead turned them to stone. Baboo begged Rita to kill him in shame, but Rita took him into her entourage.
- Goldar was sent to spy on her by her boss, Lord Zedd. Rita figures this out, and manages to easily convince him to faithfully serve her instead, bringing up how Zedd made him murder his brother for merely questioning him.
- Scorpina... is around. I don't know, she gets a character arc but we never really learn her origin.
- Another minion, Monotaur, was blatantly planning to overthrow her. He had committed a genocide for her, but after expressly stating he thinks she should rule through fear, Rita just kills him and laments "Pity, I had such high hopes." She then chains his spirit to serve as a guard for one of her temples, later destroying his soul when she needs to get in (she made it so even she would have to fight to get inside).
- Another minion betrayed her by taking the Green Power Coin. She just blew him up but didn't kill him, entombing him in the aforementioned temple.
Long story short, ten thousand years ago she and her minions got into a fight with Zordon. Zordon got stuck in his glass tube thing, while Rita and her stooges were imprisoned on the moon (where Rita was forced to live the lives of every single being she ever murdered, so... impressive she's still sane). Now free, they set out to conquer Earth using Finster's wide-array of weird-ass monsters.
In the Rangers' first interaction with her, she immediately shows she means business. She lures them into a trap on her palace, deduces their identities (by which I mean she pays attention when they call each other their real names, but that's still more intelligent than 95% of other Power Rangers villains!), offers to spare them if they just surrender, and simply shrugs it off when Zordon teleports them away (in contrast to her usual signature screaming temper tantrums when faced with failure).
During a monster attack, Rita kidnaps Matthew Cook (ugh, Matt), Kim's then boyfriend, and replaces him with a Putty-duplicate to spy on the Rangers (having the Putty beforehand go out into the world and learn human customs). Matt (ugh, Matt) eventually escapes and the Putty, having grown to like the Rangers, turns on her. Rita instructs Finster to make all their Putties dumb from now on, and takes control of the monster herself to try and destroy the Rangers.
When an evil ranger pops up (the Ranger Slayer; a Brainwashed and Crazy Kim from Lord Drakkon's universe), Rita has her minions test her power before offering to form an alliance, letting her and the Rangers beat the shit out of each other while she arranges for the victor to be greeted with a monster. When that fails, she decides to change tactics, traveling to another planet she had previously conquered. The current inhabitants happen to have been a slave race to the previous dominant race, whom Rita had genocided, so they're pretty cooperative. They fight their way through the aforementioned temple where she has stashed the Green Power Coin. The former slave race betrays her and their queen almost overpowers her, but the Rangers blast her away. They try the same on Rita, but she deflects it and teleports.
While this is going on Baboo has been approaching the other minions about betraying Rita. When she returns they tell her of this, but Rita simply reveals it was all a test of loyalty, and begins plotting to make a Green Ranger. She summons an "echo" of her mother, telling her she needs to know how to work the coin to stop Master Vile.
You all know how this goes, I'm hoping. Tommy Oliver is brainwashed into being the Green Ranger, and becomes a major Knight of Cerebus before being freed (I should note beforehand that she tried to tempt Zack into taking up the coin, and his obvious temptation creates conflict with Tommy later).
Anyway, after that backfires Rita goes right back to planning, having the Rangers destroy monsters to power some crystal. She sends Scorpina to steal back the Power Coin from Tommy (either it drives him insane with hallucinations of Rita or she get it back right here and now, no skin off her back). She uses the aforementioned crystal and a replica Dragon Dagger to take control of Tommy's Dragonzord. Even after that fails, they take the crystal back to their base and it explodes, releasing the Black Dragon — a mysterious entity who informed Rita that Tommy would turn on her before she even knew who to give the Coin too, and offered an alliance. It turns out later to be a Zord controlled by Lord Drakkon, a Tommy from a universe where he stayed evil and overthrew Rita.
The explosion seemingly kills Scorpina (really sending her to Drakkon's dimension), but while Rita obviously sees that as a loss she's otherwise very pleased with the results. The Black Dragon sabotages all except Tommy's powers and takes over the Zords. Being hilariously petty, Rita sets up her throne where Zordon's tube was, and with the Rangers seemingly out of the way sends out the Zords and begins broadcasting her message of invasion to the world.
Tommy and Billy are taken to Drakkon's world after beating the Black Dragon, and Rita plots to attack the remaining Rangers while they're still processing with an army of Goldar clones, also hacking into a damaged Alpha to monitor their whereabouts. Once the Rangers get their powers back and destroy her castle, an unfazed Rita teleports away, letting Finster rampage on Earth for a while.
Locating the "Wizard of Deception" (a Monster of the Week that will pop back up in season two of the series) she obtains a Green Candle that can drain Tommy's powers, in exchange for her admitting her folly in giving them away in the first place. Rita then returns to Earth, repairing her castle and freeing Finster from his prison the Rangers are keeping him in, before ordering him to accelerate his plan as a celebration of her grand return.
...That kind of backfires, as the monsters he's currently using aren't designed to withstand the Make My Monster Grow mutation Rita puts them through, but oh well. After that, the Rangers get preoccupied with the events of Shattered Grid and Lord Drakkon's return. When they return to the story proper a Time Skip to halfway through season two occurs. Offscreen, Rita's used the candle to drain Tommy's powers and has been ousted by Lord Zedd.
Given the nature of this comic, she'll be back, and reclaim her position alongside Zedd. Can't wait to see how they turn the Camper Van of Evil into an insidious plot!
Magnificence
Rita in the show was less an "Empress of Evil" and more a "Sorceress of Mild Irritation." Here? She's terrifyingly competent. Her schemes are always pretty well thought out, she's an exper manipulator, and when faced with failure (which admittedly happens a lot) she takes it exceedingly well. In contrast to her infamous rage quits on the show, here she just shrugs it off and moves onto the next plan.
In her conversation with her echo mother it's also made clear, despite their idiocy, she truly loves her minions — why else would she keep them around if they keep failing? And, you know, she also misses her mother.
The comic pretty effectively crafts an image of her as a Tragic Villain who has nevertheless made a name for herself in the evil community, the mere mention of her cowing civilizations with fear.
Bastardness
Of course, with Adaptational Badass comes Adaptational Villainy, as Rita is now responsible for razing entire civilizations and torturing/traumatizing Matt (ugh, Matt). I don't think it hurts her too badly; it's less unnecessary sadism, more impersonal ruthlessness.
Thoughts?
Edited by EmeraldEmperor on Sep 10th 2023 at 2:42:49 PM
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
Yes to Luca, Conan, Z-One, and Rita.
Speaking of Power Rangers. Anyone who want Vrak feel free to take him. I don't know if I will ever get to him and to be honest I just don't want to rewatch that season.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
Lies and Violence!
Isn't he a Complete Monster?
I mean, I'm sure he could get away with some of his sadism under the reasoning that he's a Saturday morning cartoon villain, but IIRC he was a bit of a dick to his dying minion.
Fair enough, didn't mean any offense.
Edited by EmeraldEmperor on Jul 18th 2021 at 5:56:17 AM
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
Hey I was just suggested him, plus a lot of what he does is kind of Fridge, but text enough to count. The only thing he does that would be to far his abandoning Metal Alice.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
Goku Black
So many eps.
Luca, Conan, zone (well tbf of the final boss yu gi oh villains he's probably the best since the others are not great lol), and Rita
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Bull I have a few potentials from much less terrible seasons if you want an example.
Can I pm you my thoughts.
Edited by miraculous on Jul 18th 2021 at 5:59:12 AM
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
Sure go ahead. I still want one from that franchise.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
to Z-One and Rita
Luca, Conan, Z, & Rita
Yeah to Z-One and Bandora Rita.
So my question
?
You can only write so much in your forum signature. It's not fair that I want to write a piece of writing yet it will cut me off in the mid