Cleanup thread: Magnificent Bastard

Hades

When people say he was better than Zeus, that's really only by a small margin

Well, I have a new respect for re-watchign movies before doing effort posts for their characters after this week. Annie and Oakley from Pokemon Heroes don't make the cut like I thought they did and this character wasn't quite as impressive as I remembered, although she's still more than worth an effort post in my opinion.

Work

Superman III is the third movie in Richard Donner's Superman series, and features Superman going up against Ross Webster, a Corrupt Corporate Executive who tries to poison and then brainwash him.

Who is Lorelei Ambrosia

Lorelei is Webster's girlfriend and masseuse who acts like a Brainless Beauty Gold Digger but is Obfuscating Stupidity to a serious degree, either as a game or (according to the novel) so people will let their guard down around her and give her information for insider trading.

What does she do?

Lorelei's first few scenes just have loiter around Ross before their villainous nature is fully established, while acting ditzy around people and bickering with Webster's sister Vera.

Webster recruits/blackmails computer programmer Gus Gorman to hijack a weather satellite and destroy South American cops for him to corner a monopoly.

Superman stops the weather disasters though. Ross and Vera then lament how this will keep them from pulling a similar oil scheme as long as Superman is out there. As they're fretting Lorelei looks up from putting on some frilly ski boots long enough to calmly suggest they find and use kryptonite against him. Then she quickly pretends to have trouble remembering the right name to avoid blowing her cover. Th attempt to poison Superman fails but causes him to become amoral temporarily due to the chemical structure of the artificial kryptonite used.

Her next notable scene is reading a philosophy book while lowering around Ross's lounge then hiding it and getting out a fashion magazine when the others arrive and Gus sends fake computer orders to several oil tankers and oil pumps to cause a shortage he can take advantage of.

When one tanker remains on schedule, Lorelei poses as a seductive suicide jumper to draw in an apathetic Superman and seduces him into sopping that last tanker. He then flies to her house where she amps up the seduction and there a Sexy Discretion Shot. It's implied that most to all of this is done on her own without Ross's orders or input/

The Websters, Gus and Lorelei go to the Grand Canoyon where a computer has been built to further their goals. Lorelei then shows up Vera when it comes to turning the computer on. Vera gives her a bunch of complicated instructions abotu the computer they've only just arrived at and Lorelei a bit smugly says "in other words, just push this red button" and does so as Vera tries to grasp how she figured that out.

When Superman (whose morality is back to normal) arrives to stop them, they activate missile defense systems to fir at him. Lorelei briefly roots for Superman to avoid them, before nervously changing her tune when the Websters glare at her. Superman arrives and she tries to win him back over to their side iwht a flirtatious greeting but if fails.

The computer blasts Superman with a kryptonite laser and Ross and Vera bask in this while Gus and Lorelei are horrified, with Gus ultimately disarming the computer. Lorelei sees some sparks, goes through complicated discussion of what's going wrong with the computer and runs for it. Vera gets sucked into the machine and subjected to Unwilling Robotization as Ross and Lorelei watch in horror before incapacitated with energy beams. After the computer is defeated and Vera gets returned to normal, Superman drops Wbester and the two women off at a police station, where they are presumably arrested.

Magnificent

She's he one who first propose how to kill Superman, and later gets him to do their bidding by being The Vamp when that fails and tan oil tanker threatens to break their monopoly.

Her acting stupid fool everyone around her (except maybe Ross, based on one brief wink) even though she has a better understanding of the supercomputer they make for their schemes than anyone except maybe the man who designed it.She's seen debating a point of a philosophical textbook to herself in an insightful way.

She does show concern and distress when Superman and Vera are in danger the climax, even if it doesn't make her do anything to help them (not that she could have in Vera's case).

Bitch

She helps start an energy crisis and stood by during an attempt to wipe out South American crops, both of which would have affected lots of people. While she does come to care about Superman, she's also the one to propose using kryptonite to kill him earlier on.

Edited by Melinda on Apr 5th 2022 at 7:44:49 AM

Sure to Lorelei.

Sounds like she checks out. Let's get to this, overdue:

Abraham van Helsing.

Who is Abraham van Helsing?

Played by none other than Mel Brooks himself, van Helsing is a doctor and expert vampire hunter who kicks off with showing his students an autopsy. Which actually doubles as a prank in him trying to just make them faint, to which his nurse cheerfully notes he got "ten out of ten," prompting a "Ja! I still got it!" When he finds out about Dracula preying upon Lucy Westerna, the professor immediately clues in that vampirism is afoot and sets up garlic to protect Lucy...while instantly being suspicious of Count Dracula for good reason. The two also literally cannot allow the other to have the last word.

Sadly, Lucy is killed by Dracula and van Helsing's demands to drive a stake through her heart are ignored, prompting her to rise as a vampire. Van Helsing sets up a trap and saves Jonathan Harker from her, driving Lucy to her coffin and, uh...lies his ass off about how Harker must be the only one to stake her as liking her is "close enough" to loving her. So he can hide and not get any of the resulting eruption of blood on him. Sinc, after all, you "have to know where to stand!" during a staking.

Van Helsing, now knowing the vampire is Dracula and he's targeting Mina, sets up a few schemes: first setting up a ball for Dracul with a mirror to expose him, and later releasing Renfield so he'll lead them to Dracula. Fortunately, Renfield is too stupid to understand effectively shaking a tail. Van Helsing manages to have them corner Dracula, who almost escapes but for Renfield's terrible attempt at helping.

Victorious, the film ends with Van Helsing opening Dracula's coffin and shouting one final insult at the ashes.

Mitigating Issues

It's. Mel. Brooks. He's hilarious. Just about every line from his mouth is a goddamn banger in this underrated movie. Brooks chews the scenery and the good doctor is a surprisingly effective planner in multiple scenarios, trapping Dracula to expose him with the mirror, releasing Renfield to lead them to Dracula and more.

Is he a bastard? I mean, for the film's whacky little comedy logic, definitely. He loves tormenting his medical students and making them faint and he sets up Harker to be the one drenched in blood by the time they're done (hilariously, they didn't warn Steven Weber how much blood was going to pour on him, his reaction wasn't fake). Beyond that he's heroic. So....yep.

Conclusion?

Heck yes.

to Van Helsing and Lorelai

Edited by Libraryseraph on Apr 5th 2022 at 11:44:20 AM

Based on the EP, that's a to Mel Brooks as Van Helsing! Wonder what other keepers movies like that got.

Well besides these two I mean.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Apr 5th 2022 at 9:15:50 AM

Uh... Dracula... who I already did and had upvoted.

Definite yes to Van Helsing and yes to Lorelei as well!

van helsing and I guess Lorelai

Here's the first of another two candidates from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Who is Bell?

Bell is the codename given to the Player Character of the single player campaign under the CIA brainwashing program, whose true identity is that of being The Dragon of the man known as Perseus, the Big Bad of the game.

Are they Magnificent?

Being revealed as the second in command of Perseus already speaks volumes of their capabilities, with the game itself showcasing they didn't gain such a position for nothing.

Throughout the story mission, Bell is able to easily contribute and stand side to side by seasoned and elite CIA operatives, more than pulling their weight on the various black op missions, whether through stealth(like successfully infiltrating the KGB Headquarters) or sheer badassery(like fighting through a secret training facility using a tank)

The various side missions also showcases Bell's intelligence and competency as a codebreaker by using their language and cryptography skills to locate and shut various enemy agents and their operations, such as a spymaster and his entire, well-hidden spy ring spread all across America.

When getting into a near death accident close to the end of the story, Bell undergoes a severe mental torture session in order to get them to reveal Perseus' location, where their true identity is revealed. From there, the player as Bell as two options that decides the fate of the world: Truth or Betrayal.

Should they go with Truth, they, Adler, and the rest of the team plus back up and head to Solovetsky to take down Operation Greenlight and preventing nukes all across Europe to be detonated. The ending then has Alder try to shoot Bell in order to tie up loose ends, but they have anticipated the possible betrayal, drawing their own gun at the same time, leaving their survival up in the air.

Should Bell go with Betryal, they are able to successfully lead the entire team to the wrong location, and even with their death, their deception allows the nukes go off, millions in Europe dying, and America’s now seen as public enemy #1.

However, Bell can go one step further and alert Peresus to set up an ambush right under everybody's noses, and once they arrive at Duga, get into a shootout that results in their former team getting killed off. After personally killing Alder, Bell sets off the nukes themselves before leaving with Peresus for the next phase of the plan.

Is he a Bastard? Too much?

Given the fact that they are the second in command of the Big Bad prior to the story's events says a lot in of itself of Bell's morality, with Alder even commenting on the blood of their hands during a possible dialogue option. And that's not getting into the various kind of shady stuff the can get up to in the story's various missions.

However, Bell doesn't let any of this get in the way of doing their job, remaining a cool headed, efficient operative whose aid is invaluable to both sides of this conflict. There's also the fact they can form genuine camaraderie and friendship with the team they join and is shown to have a genuine Villainous Friendship with the man known as Perseus in his ending.

Any Mitigating Factors?

Bell’s under the whim of either/both Adler and Perseus, so one can see it as everything they do can be traced back to being a puppet of either Adler or Perseus.

However, it is STILL their personal choices that decides how the story ends and who wins regardless of influence, with the fate of two global superpowers in their hands with what decision they make.

Final Verdict

I do say so they make a good entry.

Edited by TrueChaos on Apr 5th 2022 at 10:05:51 AM

Sure to Van and Bell.

I'll read the EPs later, but True do you have a response to why you downvoted Shinjiro?

@jjjj2 Its more of a personal preference given that I REALLY don't sympathize with any of the antagonist of that film given how unreasonable their grudge comes across to me.

Like...why do they blame the swordsmen that saved the world from total destruction and not the Megid that caused all of the chaos and destruction in the first place?

Edited by TrueChaos on Apr 5th 2022 at 9:59:07 AM

Lorelei, van Helsing, and Bell.

What's the work?

Set on the continent of Calernia, where general fantasy tropes have become ingrained laws of fate and common character archetypes (or "Names") such as the Black Knight and Evil Chancellor act as literal empowering roles to those who stubble into the proper narrative, A Practical Guide to Evil tells the sprawling tale of a young orphan named Catherine Foundling. Although her homeland, the Kingdom of Callow, has recently been conquered by the Dread Empire of Praes, Catherine is pessimistic about the odds of reclaiming it through rebellion, especially with the current, brutally pragmatic Black Knight snuffing out nascent Named heroes faster than you can say "Your reign of terror ends here!" As such, she hopes to one day enroll in the Imperial War College to join the Legions of Terror, intent on rising up the ranks to reform her home from within the Empire itself. However, a chance encounter with the Black Knight sees Cat's dream suddenly thrust within reach, as the monster of legend offers to make her his Squire.

Relevant backstory: the current Black Knight and Dread Empress of Praes, Amadeus and Malicia, won the throne after a bloody civil war. What made their victory special, however, is that the two sought help from the orcs and goblins. The two races' contributions to everyday Praesi society come in the form of taxes and soldiery, both of which are pretty shitty to have to contribute to — taxes because, well, taxes, and soldiery because orcs and goblins have been historically used as little more than cannon fodder and meatshields.

Black, however, saw greater potential in them. Rallying the Howling Wolves and Red Shields orc clans, Amadeus befriended their chieftains, making them generals in his army. Black's Legions of Terror quickly conquered both the Dread Empire and the Kingdom of Callow, with his reforms allowing the "greenskins" to keep their long-denied positions of authority in the Praesi military.

Who is Juniper of the Red Shields?

Daughter of one of the co-founders of the modern Legions of Terror, Juniper was a Blood Knight even as a child. While tending to her Clan's sheep herds, she would recreate her mother's famous battles in her head, thinking about how she would have won the Conquest of Callow better.

Her keen tactical mind quickly drew attention, and she was sent to train in Black's War College (basically what it sounds like, a school for future Legion officers where they're taught tactics and participate in capture-the-flag style war games). Keeping her relation to Istrid quiet — better to rise through genuine acclaim than nepotism — Juniper's ruthlessness led to her becoming head of her assigned Company and skyrocketing said Company to the top of the entire school.

One day, Juniper's Company is assigned to participate in a war game with Rat Company (the absolute worst company in the entire school). Things start pretty well — the first night of the games, Juniper makes a mad dash for the Rats' flag once she realizes how shit their defenses are, easily capturing their leader while splintering their remaining forces. Some insolent little rookie named Catherine Foundling grabbed the flag the moment she realized what was going on, rallying the rest of the Rats to escape into the forest, but Juniper allows her to get in a few more wins through attacks on patrols and their prison camp. From there, an overconfident Cat launches a full-scale assault on Juniper's suspiciously poorly-defended main fort. With basically half of the Rats' soldiers wounded in the fight, the remaining bulk of Juniper's Company surrounds them.

Seems like it's wrapped up, right? They're outnumbered, exhausted, and even if they could escape, their camp's still a mile away, while Juniper has logs prepared to roll down the hill and crush them if they make a mad dash. You'd need super powers to be able to get past all that!

Cat has super powers.

Taking her defeat with begrudging grace acceptance acknowledgement, Juniper quickly puts together that Cat is the Squire. Cat later gets into some trouble when she's goaded into making a poorly thought-out bet with a Praesi noble by the name of Akua Sahelian: a five-way fight between a bunch of other War College companies, wherein a defeated Cat would be forced to cede her promised command over the soon-to-be-formed Fifteenth Legion. Juniper's Company is participating, as is a company headed by Juniper's best friend Aisha.

• Cat teams up with Aisha to take out the fourth company.
• Juniper has Aisha betray Cat while laying siege to the fifth company (whom Cat was already planning to betray Aisha to)
• While Cat deals with Aisha, Juniper captures said fifth company.
• Cat's forces are exhausted after all this, but she also has access to undead suicide goats she can throw at Juniper. The question becomes who will run out of what first: Cat and munitions or Juniper and soldiers.

Cat proposes a draw — not a loss under the bet's phrasing. Juniper is confident she can weather it out, knowing that beating the Squire would probably do wonders for her career upon graduation — maybe she'll become a captain. Cat offers to make her second-in-command of the Fifteenth Legion.

Juniper accepts, filling out their officers with competent friends from the War College, before out to deal with a growing rebellion in Callow.

And then Akua releases a demon into a city.

Reluctantly agreeing to defend the citizens, Juniper booby traps the entire city, allowing the oncoming devil hordes to gain ground all the while tearing them to pieces in a brutal battle of attrition — it goes so well she takes a fucking nap in the middle of the battle, so confident her strategy will work.

Yadda yadda yadda, more warfare — they go into a lot of detail on all the military maneuvers, but there's only so many times I can say "They went this way, but she went this way!" — and the rebellion is put down.

And then the fae invade. On top of Akua openly rebelling from the Empire. It's basically one clusterfuck after another, we'll go into more detail later.

Anyway, Cat, tired of Praesi nobility constantly trying to sabotage her, reinstates a Callowan knightly order. Which have been banned by Black for over two decades. So she's basically committing treason. Juniper is terrifying in just how utterly pissed this makes her, but Cat promises it's just to deal with the bajillion factions trying to murder them at the moment and swears they won't take up arms against the Empire (more specifically Juniper's mother). Juniper accepts gets straight to work incorporating the knights into her strategies, using them to outmaneuver the fae and corner Akua's devils into killing zones.

Unfortunately, her mother is assassinated during the conflict — they never find out who was responsible, but given how Cat and Black both split from the Empress out of disgust for her desire to keep Akua's doomsday weapon (we'll get to that later), Juniper can't exactly say Malicia wasn't trying to get rid of one of Black's most ardent supporters. With Praes not exactly a friend and Procer preparing to invade Callow for a crusade against the Dread Empire, Cat crowns herself Queen and makes Juniper her Marshal.

Juniper gets straight to work on ways to defeat the crusade.

• Option A: Utterly massacre them using their access to Praesi eldritch horrors goodies. This kind of fighting would leave half of Callow on fire, so not the best idea.
• Option B, affectionately referred to as the Bonfire: Use Cat's new ability to create fae portals to teleport into the Procer countryside, rampantly burning crops before portaling away the moment an enemy army comes near them. This would probably work, but Cat kind of needs the nations of Calernia to not be disgusted and terrified of her for her master plan to work.

The second option is disturbing popular among Cat's war council, and Juniper is annoyed by her refusal to consider it — politics are all well and good, but best not spend too much time wrapped up in them lest you ignore defeat staring you right in the face. Nonetheless, she recognizes that Cat generally knows what she's doing and appreciates the challenge of planning a battle with an arm tied behind her back.

As the crusade finally comes to Callow, Juniper has Cat raid their supply lines using the fae portals while setting up more explosives along the countryside, creating a massive river during one battle that leaves her enemies disorganized. It's not a perfect fight, but they nonetheless bloody the crusade enough to force them into a ceasefire.

Unfortunately, Callow still has no allies, Black has taken inspiration from Bonfire to raid with the Legions of Terror into Procer, and the crusade will inevitably be back once they resupply. Cat disappears to find allies, leaving Juniper in command. When she returns after a few months, things are... pretty shit.

Long story short, Juniper and the others she left in charge decided they needed to rescue the Legions stranded in Procer, who, mostly being Black loyalists, might be inclined to help them against Malicia's growing antagonism (Black himself has since been captured). To do this, they had Cat's fae minions portal the entire Callowan army into Procer, intending to scare off the Legion's pursuers before portaling their rescuees out — they brought the entire army to reinforce the entryway into Callow from Procer through the mountains, in preparation for the Dead King's invasion.

Unfortunately, once they're actually there the portals stopped working. The Dead King has dislodged part of faerie land and is dropping it on top of existence, which I think is fair to say no one could have seen coming. Juniper does a decent job staving off the Proceran forces — not perfect, but they hold out long enough for Cat to save them. Cat, while furious over how badly they fucked up in endangering her entire goddamn army, acknowledges that she still sees the logic behind their decisions despite it horribly blowing up in their faces.

While the leaders of the factions are negotiating peace, Malicia takes control of the Legions through orders subconsciously planted in their officers. Juniper, immediately realizing she could be compromised, orders herself and all other Praesi officers arrested. Her instincts are right, and although they remove the brainwashing, the process damaged her mind, leaving her only able to work a few hours before succumbing to agonizing headaches. She's still noted to be able to accomplish more work in that time than most people in an entire day, and collaborates on the plans for a siege of a captured city, but it's still not good for her faith in her own competence and she's forced to stay away from the war for two years.

Once those two years are up and she's good to go, it's time for the invasion of Praes itself! They do a good job of taking their first few fortresses before running into the current leader of the Legions, Marshal Nim. She outmaneuvers them a few times, and while Juniper once again responds quickly while keeping casualties to a minimum, it doesn't do any favors to her deteriorating self-confidence. They eventually find themselves in a four-way battle royale between Nim, the rebelling army of another Praesi noble, and Black's remaining loyalists.

All of her childhood heroes, everyone still alive who could potentially achieve her old dream of becoming Marshal of Praes, is here on this battlefield. And, despite her damaged mind, despite her doubts in herself, she already has an idea on how to beat them. Cat tells her to work her magic.

I highly recommend this series, so I won't go into too much detail since the end of the battle is goddamn amazing, but basically she lures in the tentatively-aligned enemy armies before filling the area with smoke, pulling her own troops back and allowing them to massacre each other while she once again takes a fucking nap to show She's Back. The Legions take so many casualties the next day sees a mass desertion, and Juniper wins.

Is she magnificent?

Catherine accomplishes a lot, but she wouldn't have gotten anywhere if it weren't for Juniper backing her all the way. She's an utterly brilliant strategist when it comes to the art of war, while Cat keeps an eye to the future and reins in her more ruthless tendencies. Her one biggest stumble — getting the entire goddamn army stranded — I can excuse since an ancient lich god decided to rip out a piece of faerie land and chuck it at reality, which is somewhat difficult to prepare for. Even after her brain is damaged, it's made clear she's still one of the most gifted military minds on the planet, as proven by her utter success against her former idols.

Is she a bastard?

I refer back to the Bonfire: raiding and burning as much cropland as she can, dooming thousands to starve in order to call off the crusade. She doesn't go through with it because of Cat's adamant refusal, but the sheer fact that she can come up with that idea, not be disgusted, and continue to passionately suggest it is pretty goddamn evil. I could refer to other examples of her being ruthless, but I think this is more than enough.

Final verdict?

Easy yes to the Hellhound, and first of many more to come.

Edited by EmeraldEmperor on Apr 5th 2022 at 5:13:38 AM

to Juniper.

Edited by Javertshark13 on Apr 5th 2022 at 3:29:20 PM

Juniper

Here's the overall fourth COD COW candidate:

Who is Dimitri Belikov ?

Dimitri Belikov is a CIA mole infiltrating the KGB, having first started working for the CIA in late 1967 when he came into contact with Jason Hudson while helping train the North Vietnamese military in how to fly Soviet-made helicopters, which led him to question his allegiance and beliefs.

Are they Magnificent?

For around fourteen years, Belikov has managed to successfully infiltrate the KGB, even managing to become Head of Security at its headquarters without anyone figuring out he was The Mole right up until the very moment he had to get his allies inside the building itself, when they have already gotten what they wanted.

The moment he becomes a playable character to get Alder and Bell into the building is when Belikov truly shines. After getting through a meeting discussing the mole without raising suspicions upon himself, is shown to be quite the smooth operator who is shown to have a variety of methods to get his side of things taken care of: from bribery, to framing someone with fake evidence, to convincing slyly convincing a prisoner to kill someone else on his behalf, Belikov clearly shows his experience and cunning when it comes to completing any given task.

After being rescued when his cover is blown, Belikov joins the Alder and Bell in escaping the KGB Headquarters, easily keeping pace with them as they fight throw heavily armed guards before successfully escaping together with no deaths on their side.

Is he a Bastard? Too much?

Make no mistake: Belikov is a very ruthless man, more than willing to kill - innocent or not - to get the job done. For example: he can willingly poison his best friend and cause his death, despite being a personal friend to his family.

There's also the fact that he willingly and unremorsefully leads to armed guards - who are just doing their jobs and aren't shown to be doing any shady dealings or anything - to their deaths in order to get Alder and Bell disguises for their infiltration.

However, Belikov is firmly one of the good guys and is presented as a friendly ally whose trying to stop the activation of nukes all across Europe.

Final Verdict

Another one for the books, if I do say so myself.

Belikov.

I've thought of another potential candidate from Lost. Our candidate is Mikhail, affectionately known as "Patchy", who makes his appearance in Season 3.

Who is Mikhail Bakunin and what has he done?

Mikhail Bakunin (played by Andrew Divoff) is a former Soviet operative who came to regret what he did in their service. Seeking to atone, he answered a newspaper ad reading, "Would you like to save the world?" He was recruited by the Others and taken to the island, becoming one of Ben Linus's most trusted operatives. He was stationed at the Flame station, as he was proficient with computers and liked solitude, likening it to being a lighthouse keeper.

On the day of the plane crash, Mikhail uses the station to hack into news networks around the world, compiling a complete manifest of the passengers, which the Others put to good use. He continues to work there undiscovered for the next two months.

When Locke, Kate and Sayid discover the Flame station, Mikhail is waiting for them. As Sayid approaches, Mikhail shoots him nonlethally and gets away with it by posing as a Dharma agent who thinks Sayid's an Other. He invites the group into the station, where he offers them iced tea and explains some of the island's history to them. Sayid eventually sees through the ruse, but Mikhail saw this coming and attacks the group, landing several hits on them before being taken down. He is tied up, but breaks free and gets the drop on Locke, ordering him outside at gunpoint. The survivors have captured one of Mikhail's friends, Bea Klugh, and a standoff ensues. With great reluctance, Mikhail kills her at her request to prevent the survivors from using her to get information.

Mikhail is taken prisoner, but begins manipulating the survivors by revealing what he knows of them. When they encounter a sonar fence, Mikhail almost tricks them into being caught in it, but Locke pushes Mikhail through as a test, which seemingly kills him. However, the fence is set at a nonlethal level, so Mikhail plays dead and escapes.

A few days later, Mikhail sees a flare and goes to investigate. He is found by a group of survivors, who are tending to Naomi, who has been sent by Widmore's freighter. Mikhail has orders to stop the freighter from reaching the island, so he negotiates with the group, striking a deal to be set free in exchange for saving Naomi's life. Using his medical skills, he removes a branch from her punctured lung, while mistranslating what she says in order to mislead the survivors. To try to stop her from contacting the freighter, he swipes her phone and almost gets away before Jin notices. When confronted about this, he coolly tells them that they couldn't respect him if he didn't at least try to take it, and is still allowed to walk away free. He then finds Ben and warns him about the freighter.

The next night, Mikhail is sent to the Looking Glass station to stop Charlie from disabling the jammer. When Charlie tells him that Ben is jamming transmissions off the island, Mikhail radios Ben and demands an explanation. He gets Ben to concede that he made a mistake by not trusting Mikhail with this information. Ben then tells him that Bonnie and Greta, who are manning the station, must be killed. Mikhail is troubled by this order and asks Bonnie and Greta for information, and when they ill-advisedly tell him that orders should be followed without question, Mikhail concedes that this is an excellent point, and apologetically shoots them both dead, before Desmond shoots him with a spear gun. Down but still not out, Mikhail gets back up and uses his diving gear to leave the station. In order to take out Charlie, Mikhail appears outside the porthole with a live grenade, which he then detonates, sacrificing himself in the belief that he is ensuring the island's safety.

Is he magnificent?

He's cool, calculating, and resourceful in any situation, and puts his skills to good use. He's in control even when held captive, and constantly shows a dry, sardonic wit. He's generally honorable and Affably Evil toward the survivors, and only cares about protecting the island.

Too much of a bastard?

He commits multiple murders, but doesn't seem eager to kill and only does so out of loyalty to Ben and to protect the island. He keeps his word when he makes deals, and isn't involved in a lot of the Others' worse crimes.

Disqualifying factors?

He notably gets beaten up a lot, but he doesn't lose his cool and shrugs it off, so it doesn't harm him too much.

Conclusion?

I'm thinking he might count.

Edited by Javertshark13 on Apr 5th 2022 at 4:02:39 AM

Can we cool it with the EPs for a bit please? It's getting pretty crowded

Lorelei, Helsing, Bell.

Emerald could you shorten that? Will read the other EPs later.

to Brooks Hellsing, Bell, and Juniper.

Okay before I vote. Could we like maybe make an unspoken rule from now on to only do like 3 to four eps on a single page.

We're getting into weird cycles where their are like 7 or 8 one page and later like nothing. It's leading to a weird pace.

Edited by miraculous on Apr 5th 2022 at 1:21:31 AM

x3 Working on it, posted that before heading to a class without consideration to shortening it. So sorry, give me a bit to fix that.

I finally came up with a new potential candidate. I was recently rewatching the Super-Hero-Bowl! series from Toon Sandwich, and I feel like the all-mighty, endlessly powerful Oscar is definitely worthy of at least an attempt on this cleanup... or maybe I could try Dr. Manhattan, the Hero Bowl's most recurring winner, and a crafty manipulator.

Do those seem like good nominees?

As a longtime fan of Lost, I’m not personally feeling Mikhail - when you say he gets beaten up a lot, what you mean is he gets the shit beat out of him in literally every appearance he has, to the point of practically being a Running Gag in the fandom - Locke beats him up, he gets thrown in the sonic field around the Barracks, even Desmond gets in on it. Like, he’s cool and effective and I will say that he handles it well, but when literally every one of his appearances ends with him getting his shit kicked in I can’t personally say yes.

Edited by STARCRUSHER99 on Apr 5th 2022 at 4:31:32 AM

to Mikhail, then

Votes to come but as requested can we chill on the EPs folks? Juniper already has quite a big boi post.