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
Feel better Lighty.
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
to Marian and the Snow Queen.
Hope you feel better soon Lighty.
Stay safe, Lighty.
- Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child:
- "The Emperor's New Clothes": Keiji and Toshio are a pair of common swindlers who charm the clothes-loving emperor of Japan by offering to weave him the "Fabric of Dreams", visible only to the wise. Requesting the finest materials, as well as payment of the entire royal treasury, the two pretend to work tirelessly weaving the fabric over several days—tricking the emperor's staff, the populace, and eventually the emperor himself into thinking they are fools for not being able to see it. While the nearly-naked emperor becomes a public laughingstock, Keiji and Toshio get away scot free, having earned everything for doing nothing.
- "The Pied Piper": The Pied Piper is a smooth-talking traveling musician who's solved many infestations with his saxophone playing and offers to do the same with Hamelin's rats. Despite the town's doubts, the Piper easily gets every last rat to follow the music out of town by playing at frequencies only they can hear. When the corrupt mayor refuses to pay the Piper the promised amount, he gets his revenge by luring every child in Hamelin out of town and away from their parents. The Piper, however, leaves behind a poor boy he befriended so he'd be the only child in town, making the townsfolk more compassionate and Hamelin a better place—with their only hope being that he will return someday as promised.
- "The Snow Queen": The Snow Queen herself has a heart made of ice and a personality to match. Having created a magic mirror that would make everything good appear bad just for fun, she grows bored one day and lets it shatter, following its shards towards her next victim. The Snow Queen uses some shards to freeze the young Kai's eye and heart to make him more literally and figuratively cold, then appears to him the next day to appeal to his pride and comfort him with a kiss, erasing his memories. Though she and her army are defeated by the pure-hearted Gerda, the Snow Queen genuinely compliments her on her pluck before melting with her castle.
to Marian and the Snow Queen.
Feel better lighty
![[tdown]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_down_emoticon_3571.png "[thumb down]"){kind=small}
Meixi.
Marian, Snow Queen.
Feel better Lighty.
Edited by jjjj2 on Jul 10th 2022 at 11:38:35 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
Snow Queen
Feel better soon Lighty
Woagh
to the Snow Queen and Marian.
Lies and Violence!
Hope you feel better. Dawes, Jemmy, Marian, the Snow Queen.
And now. It's time.
There are many names to call her by. Squire. Warlord. Countess of Marchford. Odin cosplayer. The Black Queen of Callow. Sovereign of Moonless Nights. Queen of Winter and the Hunt. Bisexual disaster. Arch-heretic of the East. Losara Queen of Lost and Found. First Under the Night. Harem anime protagonist. Warden of the East. Vertically challenged person. Warden.
But in the end, there's only one that matters.
Who is Catherine Foundling?
An orphan from the conquered Kingdom of Callow, Catherine became disillusioned with rising up against the Dread Empire of Praes through heroic yet ultimately doomed-to-fail rebellion. As such, she instead hopes to join and rise through the ranks of the Empire's army so she can reform its corrupt practices from the inside. She soon gets her wish when she's saved from a rapist by the Dread Empress' right hand, the Black Knight, who offers to make her his Squire for his own mysterious reasons.
So kicks off the massive adventure of a girl who will reshape the entire continent to her whims.
- In order to become the Squire, Cat needs to kill the other claimants to the title. They all ambush her while she's hunting the leader of a local rebellion, the Lone Swordsman, but she reanimates herself with necromancy after she's grievously wounded and slaughters them all. She also lets the Swordsman go, hoping to use the chaos provided by his rebellion to rise in acclaim.
- Black sends her to the Imperial War College disguised as a transfer student... also getting her assigned to the worst company at the college, Rat Company. In her first "war game," their forces are immediately halved by Juniper, leader of the best company. Cat takes emergency command and leads them to stunning victory, mostly dependent on Juniper not realizing she has super powers as the Squire.
- At a gala, Cat's Arch-Enemy, Akua, goads her into making a poorly thought-out bet for control of the soon-to-be formed Fifteenth Legion, dependent on her winning a five-way war game with the four best companies. After a few alliances, betrayals, and undead exploding suicide goats, Cat removes three from the board and bribes Juniper to take the L in exchange for becoming second-in-command of the Fifteenth.
- Cat leads the Fifteenth against the Swordsman's rebellion, fighting him once more at the city of Summerholm. Akua also releases a demon onto the rebelling city of Marchford, but Cat has the Fifteenth stay to defend the citizens. She has under her command a bunch of forced conscripts recruited from death row, but after she successfully punches a few devils to death they're quickly galvanized into her fanatically loyal honor guard of "Gallowborne." The people of Callow start to view her as a national hero for her bravery and success against impossible odds.
- Her third fight with the Swordsman unfortunately is set to follow the In-Universe trope of a "Pattern of Three," wherein the nemesis of a hero will win the first match, draw on the second, and die the third. Cat gets around this by using necromancy to raise herself from the dead. As Akua and the Swordsman fight for control of an angel, Cat invokes her relationship with Black (him as the effective ruler of Callow and her as his heir) to pull the angel's sword from a stone, bully the angels into resurrecting her, and kill the Swordsman.
- Akua bargains to be spared, but Cat uses Exact Words to brutalize her and her minions before calling up some of their high-ranking relatives, threatening to rip out the minions' souls lest they give her what she wants. Dread Empress Malicia and Black make her the effective ruler of Callow, with a few Praesi-sponsored training wheels attached.
- The fae invade. Cat goes into their dimension, Arcadia, and enters the Winter capital using a lie so blatant the guards hesitate to call her out on it. She goads a Duke into a fight and slays him, shaping the confrontation to resemble an In-Universe fairy tale so she subsequently inherits his divinity as Duchess of Moonless Nights. Unfortunately, the Winter King commands her to defeat Summer with a magically binding contract. From there she sways one of the Swordsman's former allies, the Thief, to her side and has her steal the Arcadian sun, blackmailing the Summer Queen into fusing the two Courts together and effectively killing both her and the Winter King. Cat gets the full might of Winter from this.
- Akua tricks her and enslave her soul, but Black and Thief provide a distraction for her to destroy said soul, becoming a full-blooded Winter fae. She rips out Akua's heart and adorns the noble's own soul to her cape, ordering the crucifixion of hundreds of Akua's surrendering minions before forcibly conscripting the remainder, adamant that she'll march them to their graves as retribution for the thousands Akua slaughtered. Cat also realizes that Malicia funded Akua's atrocities and splits from Praes, declaring herself Queen of Callow.
- The neighboring nation of Procer launches a holy crusade against Praes and Callow, headed by First Prince Cordelia Hasenbach and two infamous heroes, the Grey Pilgrim and the Saint of Swords. Cat employs Akua's ghost in negotiations and fights the heroes to a standstill, drowning their armies in massive Arcadian lakes she teleports above their heads and evading the Pilgrim's efforts to entrap her in a losing story. The crusade is beaten back, but nowhere near squashed.
- The ancient lich known as the Dead King invites them to negotiate an alliance; with no better options, Cat intends to release him on Procer while warning Cordelia ahead of time. This should splinter the crusade while reducing civilian casualties. Unfortunately, Praes is also negotiating with the Dead King and Cat realizes his invitation to her was just to create a bidding war, to see who would give the lich more favorable terms for his much-needed aid. She instead turns to the drow of the Everdark.
- Along the way, Cat also discovers that the Wandering Bard, another of the Swordsman's allies, is an immortal bodyhopper and nemesis to the Dead King with her own genocidal goals. Cat steals some of the Bard's memories, but these get locked under Things Man Was Not Meant to Know-style amnesia.
- Cat makes good headway conquering the drow through a combination of charisma, Akua's manipulations, and having a bigger stick than all the other demigod-warlords... until she runs into the drow goddesses, Sve Noc, who rip Winter out of her and try to sacrifice her. However, Cat learns of the Bard's part in corrupting them into the despairing, self-genociding barbarians they are now and convinces Sve Noc to help her in exchange for a home for the drow to repair their society/escape the invading dwarves.
- Cat and the drow save Callow's armies from a three-way fight with the crusade and another villain, the Tyrant of Helike. The Pilgrim ensnares her in the first step of a Pattern of Three, so Cat surrenders right when they're about to meet in a draw for their second match, completely negating the pattern. She also goads the Tyrant into a sneak attack, allowing her to immediately negotiate the release of her army to fight him.
- Once they all converge in one spot, Cat reveals the Dead King is currently trying to kill them all and convinces everyone to team up. The Pilgrim has Black's soul captive, so she leverages the Tyrant's repeated betrayals to manipulate events for his rescue, all the while slowly convincing the Pilgrim that she means it when she wants peace and isn't going for a fake-out like 100% of the other villains he's faced. The Saint isn't so cooperative, so when she goes into a Knight Templar rage and tries to kill them all, Cat uses all the power she's been accumulating since her return from the Everdark to age her to death. Peace is made with Cordelia and the Pilgrim, and they begin preparing for the march of the dead.
- Two-year time-skip into the middle of the "War on Keter." Cat has been getting a bit stressed out, seeing young innocents butchered by the dead and having to deal with a metric ton of politics as she tries to get the other nations to agree to her ideas for a permanent alliance between heroes and villains, so she decides to take a break from the warfront to visit their R&D site, the Arsenal. Surely nothing bad will happen there!
- Long story short, a murder, a naive hero who's convinced she's working with the Dead King, and an invasion of Autumn fae alert Cat to the presence of the Bard stirring up trouble. Fortunately, she's able to unlock the memories stolen from the Bard, giving her the knowledge needed to face her in a meta-narrative battle. The two play a card game as they predict/narrate to each other the events concurrently happening to everyone else in the Arsenal, having nudged events to play out the way they desired using conversations/plot threads laid out in advance hours ago. Cat outwits the Bard and manages to temporarily kill her, though there's a lot of fallout to deal with—I'll skip over most of that, since it's a lot of boring politics.
- There's also a big war arc where they lay siege to an important city taken by the Dead King. It goes well until it doesn't. Another long story short, Cat loses an eye and faces her first major military loss, and now has no choice but to finally invade Praes to recruit the diabolists necessary to stop the Dead King from releasing the full brunt of Hell onto Procer.
- Cat steamrolls her way through Praes. The most difficult obstacle isn't unseating Malicia—that's obnoxiously easy—but rather dealing with two Wild Cards:
- Black wants to save his old friend Malicia from Cat's unyielding retribution. He manipulates the entire war to destroy the Dread Empire and forces the nobles to bow, then attacks Cat. With him dead and Akua abdicating, only Malicia is competent enough to rule in their stead, this time without the stories of the Dread Empire to drag her down into megalomania.
- The Bard almost tricks Cat into sabotaging her own story of rule over villains, leading to the above situation where Cat has to kill Black. Cat manages to strike back by stealing the Bard's control over all heroic stories, but—still a bit raw from the whole "murdering her father figure" thing—takes a few seconds to gloat, allowing the Bard to "mute" the evil stories and giving the Dead King free rein to unleash everything he has without fear of falling into the fatal Near-Villain Victory trope.
- They go to the drow to find a solution. Cat masterminds the death of the rebellious false god Kurosiv, repairing Sve Noc's divinity and giving them the means to steal the evil stories back.
- Epic siege of the Dead King's capital. Skipping over most of that, lots of fighting while avoiding the Bard's meddling. I'm dumbing this down a bit, but Cat sentences the lich to death and uses all the narrative weight she's accumulated from reshaping the continent to follow her desired story to inscribe her judgement into fate itself... they still have to throw everything they have at him, of course, but it shouldn't be understated that she literally had to rewrite reality to ensure his death was a fixed point to beat him. There's also a final clash with the Bard, but Akua takes care of that.
- In the epilogues, Cat sets up a permanent loose alliance between the heroes and the villains so they can work together to stop mass-murdering assholes on both sides of the fence (Knight Templars, Evil Versus Oblivion). She takes a few decades to smooth over some lingering issues before faking her and her friends' deaths, using Sve Noc's power to extend their lifespans and crossing the ocean to seek adventure in new, distant lands.
Any mitigating factors?
Hell no. Catherine is a brutal yet charismatic warlord with an unparalleled track record of success. She quickly adapts to whatever unfamiliar situations she's thrown into—whether it be fighting, politics, warfare, or manipulating story beats—and has numerous allies gathered to her banner to take care of the problems she cannot. She has exactly one major military loss from Book 6, and even that results in a good chunk of the Dead King's hordes wiped out and her own forces humiliated but intact.
Is she perfect? God, no. Her impulsive temper and tendency to mouth off gets her into a lot of trouble as the Squire, and she always takes a chapter to brood after doing anything even remotely morally ambiguous. But she matures throughout the story, becoming stronger and smarter until she gets to the point where slaying gods is an average Tuesday.
Cat's a butcher with thousands of bodies to her name, but her brutality is always aimed at creating a better future for her kingdom, with the ultimate success of respectively killing and neutering the two greatest evils of her age while creating a system to prevent that level of mass death from ever being reached again.
Verdict
Fuck. Yes.
I have one more for this series, but I'm going to take a break to work on some other stuff I've had on the backburner before doing him.
- Catherine Foundling rises from a mere orphan to the dreaded "Black Queen" of Callow in her quest for peace. Chosen by the Black Knight to become his Squire, Catherine battles her way to victory in the hopes of swindling rule over Callow from the cruel Imperials, emerging against impossible odds to best the Lone Swordsman and Akua Sahelian's respective rebellions while swaying legions of competent minions and fellow villains to her banner through her charisma and drive. Garnering enough acclaim to take Callow for herself after orchestrating the destruction of the Winter and Summer Courts to claim the former's power as her own, Catherine weathers the Tenth Crusade and gains the favor of the goddesses Sve Noc, outwitting the legendary Grey Pilgrim to bring the Principate to heel. Catherine and her Woe make alliance with their former enemies to war on the genocidal plans of the Dead King and the Wandering Bard, leading the charge against the former on the warfront while battling the latter's all-encompassing schemes as Catherine becomes the Warden to corral the nations of Calernia into accepting her rules for Named and reining in the infamous mass-slaughters of their era. Bringing peace to not only Callow but also the very conflict between heroes and villains itself, Catherine and her Woe leave their home in an unprecedented Age of Order as they seek new adventures in distant lands.
- Akua Sahelian began as Catherine's most hated enemy and the embodiment of the worst vices of Praesi cruelty before evolving into the unofficial sixth of the Woe, Catherine's one true equal, and a truly selfless individual. Having sought to uphold the Praesi values of bloodshed and backstabbing as the Heiress, Akua clashed with Catherine several times as a guise for her true ambitions, always emerging with a stronger powerbase than before. Eventually rising as the Diabolist, Akua usurps her mother's resources to lead her own uprising, crafting a doomsday weapon to butcher any in her way and matching the Empire itself blow for blow until her ultimate defeat. Even as a mere shade Akua is able to scheme and charm her way to greater power, aiding Catherine in her battles against the Tenth Crusade and the Firstborn while mentoring her former enemy in mastering the eldritch powers of Winter and the Night, all the while growing a true conscience and breaking free from the destinies others chose for her. Well aware she's Beyond Redemption yet content to do whatever it takes to help the innocent nonetheless, Akua aids in the destruction of the horrific Dread Empire she had once sought to claim as her own before permanently binding herself to the Intercessor, glad to give up everything by becoming the Calamity to the Bard's Providence if it means saving others.
Edited by EmeraldEmperor on Jul 9th 2022 at 12:26:56 PM
Professor Gigachad
- Goosebumps: Welcome to Dead House: Compton Dawes is the realtor of a town called Dark Falls. The town was normal until a chemical leak killed the entire town and resurrected them as zombies. The citizens were now immune to aging but needed to feed on fresh human blood once a year to maintain their existence. Using his business skills as a realtor, Dawes began luring families into Dark Falls once a year by tricking people outside the town into thinking they inherited a house in the town from a relative of theirs. After the family moved in, the town would feed on them, preserving their undead existence for another year and turning the families into more zombies. During the book, Dawes lures the Benson family into the town, tricking them into thinking they aren't zombies, and then captures the children, Amanda and Josh, after the parents are captured. Dawes was able to escape the sunlight that killed off most of the town, and plans to repopulate it one family at a time.
Abstain on the above.
Edited by Ordeaux26 on Jul 9th 2022 at 8:31:24 AM
CM Sandboxes, MB Sandboxes
Sigh. You know, I'm beginning to have second thoughts about my whole write-up involving Long Sin. I mean, I was already taking a huge risk by using the novelization in place of the 14-part film serials, but upon further examination, it turns out he also appeared in the sequel serial series The New Exploits of Elaine, which not only is even more difficult to find (maybe even lost) but Long appears to get Demoted to Dragon with Wu Fang becoming the new Big Bad. I feel like Long Sin was more or less a pawn in this, but I don't have any proof. I can't even read a novelization like I did last time. I feel like this whole thing was just a big waste of time.
Y'know for the stepping stones and building blocks for film as we know it, some people just don't have any respect for silent films.
All this to say... I'm renouncing my write-up. I just don't think it's worth it considering he's from material I can't even access. Also, I need a rest and a break.
to Catherine
Gotta love Jaws!
to Currie, Marian, the Snow Queen and Catherine.
to Meixi.
I hope you're feeling better now Lighty, headaches suck.
"For a second there, I mistook ya for a threat... but you're just a dirty little man!"
Berserk Button: misusing Berserk Button
the protagonist herself. Was wondering about her.
The wifi here sucks
Watched Thor Love and Thunder earlier, really fun movie. PM me if you want to talk about it
Hope your prepared for an unforgettable luncheon
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I as well. PM me by all means.
Yes to Catherine.
@Lighty yeah I'll take a stab at it later today. Hope you feel better, my dude.
Yes to the Snow Queen and Catherine.
Found another Fist of the North Star anime original from the first expanded arc:
Who is Joker? What has he done?
An anime original character, Joker acts as the messenger for Shin and is completely loyal to him and a laid-back, green-haired dude with a kickass bird that literally carries him from place to place. Throughout the first arc—extended in the animated version of the work—he sets up traps for Ken along the way, including unleashing the diabolical Devil Reverse to aid Shin's minion Jackal in killing Ken.
He's also insanely adept at tracking Ken's whereabouts, either luring him into traps or just keeping tabs to report back to Shin so more minions can be dispatched to deal with him. After Ken defeats the mighty Devil Reverse Joker reveals his location to Shin's great martial artist Dante.
All else failing, Joker forces the large rival Snake and Scorpion gangs to join forces to kill Ken, trying something new with the mix of techniques and promising them more territory should they succeed. Even when the Scorpion leader tries to betray him for Ken, the resulting combat sees Ken fighting more enemies than he ever has before at once and the Snake leader tearing into him viciously with his whip technique before Ken comes out victorious.
Reporting back to a furious Shin, Joker is sent out with the armies trained by his fellow CoDragon and launches a ploy to kidnap Lin and Bat while Ken is distracted in combat, continuing to lure him into a series of traps after they're freed. When his arrogant cohort believes he's killed Ken in a bombing, Joker knows not to underestimate their foe and arrives at the scene to check for the body. Springing forth, Joker's fatally wounded in their duel, Ken offering to spare his life in return for taking a message to Shin. Joker defiantly tells him off, passes a message to his bird to deliver to Shin and dies pondering which fighter will ultimately win between the two.
Actions and personality?
Joker is one bad dude, enforcing his boss' will and happily empowering his revolting underlings, make no mistake but his loyalty to Shin is 100% genuine. He's a cunning manipulator in his own right and Shin largely leaves him to his own devices while the main villain himself is overseeing Southern Cross and trying to woo Ken's fiancée Yuria.
He sets cool traps, threatens far more vile villains into submission like Jackal and ultimately faces death at Ken's hands with a calm face, satisfied at having served his master and bonus points for the Hokuto Shinken being an extremely painful way to go out!
Mitigating factors?
While Shin himself is involved in mass slavery, Joker himself is just a loyal underling responsible for corresponance... he simply acts the part of a messenger and plotter to help Shin defeat Ken.
Verdict?
Another for the classic!
Edited by 43110 on Jul 10th 2022 at 11:34:32 AM
Goku Black
catherine and Joker.
Will read catherine later, but I mistyped earlier, I wanted to give a Meixi (which I have corrected).
Batman.
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
Yes to Catherine and Joker.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
Yes to Catherine and the Joker.
Now time for another Warcraft effort post, this time on a long running character from the RTS days that finally hits the mark just right in the recent expansion.
Who is Lady Vashj?
Vashj was born to a night elf noble family during the prime of their civilization 10,000 years before the present day and was chosen to be one of Queen Azshara's handmaidens for being nearly as beautiful as her Queen. Azshara would later bring their civilization to an end when she helped summon the Burning Legion to Azeroth for the first time, and Vashj was among her many servants the fell into the cold ocean depths when the capitol sunk at the end of the war. Azshara made a pact with the Old Gods to turn her and her surviving followers into the first Naga, and began rebuilding a great civilization beneath the sea. Vashj become her most competent general and right hand and won countless victories for the naga over the next millennia. This continued until the modern day until Illidan Stormrage called in some old debts and recieved aid from the naga, though in truth they had been ordered by the Old Gods to ensure he succeeded in destroying the Lich King.
Vashj helped ferry Illidan to the Tomb of Sargeras to retrieve the Eye of Sargeras, and she held off his nemesis and jailer Maiev long enough for him to retrieve the Eye and escape across the sea. In the ruins of the mage city of Dalaran, Illidan tried to cast a great spell to destroy the Lich King, but was stopped by his brother. Illidan fled to Outland to seek allies after failing the Legion's leader Kil'jaeden, while Vashj hid in a nearby lake to seek allies for Illidan's future endeavors. Vashj found the perfect allies in Prince Kael'thas and his blood elves, and she watched as they struggled under the leadership of the racist Garithos. Vashj manipulated Kael'thas into an unwinnable situation by coming to his aid against an overwhelming force of undead and then allowing him to be arrested and slated for execution for receiving aid from the naga. Vashj came to Kael'thas and gave him an offer he couldn't refuse, and she then freed him from his imprisonment and took him and his people with him to aid Illidan in Outland.
Vashj and Kael'thas would come to Illidan's aid and help him gain control of Outland, and later aid him in his direct assault upon the Lich King and the Frozen Throne in his desperate last attempt to placate Kil'jaeden. Illidan's plans failed and the trio were forced to flee back to Outland. While Kael'thas later betrayed Illidan to work for the Burning Legion, Vashj maintained her loyalty while still working to further both her and the naga's power in Outland. The naga took over the swamps of Zangarmarsh and enslaved the tribes of Broken draenei that lived in the swamp. She used them to build massive drains that pulled all the water from the rest of the marsh to her reservoir in Coilfang Lake. This allowed her to control the waters of Outland and in turn control the lives of its people. This all came to an end during the Serpentshrine Cavern raid when players kill Vashj in battle, with her last words being an apology to Illidan for failing him.
This would not be the last for Vashj, however, and her soul would fly free to the infinite afterlives of the Shadowlands. Unlike Kael'thas who was sent to Revendreth for eons of torment for his sins, Vashj's many victories in life allowed her a place in the eternal conflicts of Maldraxxus where she worked her way up to Baroness and spymistress in the House of Eyes. Though Vashj had always imagined an afterlife of extravagance and beauty, she found herself enthralled in the eternal battles for dominance and served her House well until it was betrayed and destroyed by the other Houses. Vashj took the surviving Eyes to seeks vengeance on Mor'bitan, a lich of the House of Rituals, who had personally brought down the House of Eye's citadel. Vashj has the player capture one of the Lich's necromancers and rips information from his mind on how to summon his master. She then perfectly replicated the ritual while sabotaging it to summon a weakened Mor'bitan and kill him. From here, Vashj would join the remnents of her House to the remaining Houses to fight against the Jailer's forces.
Early in the war, Vashj created and executed a plan to capture a necropolis from their enemies and staffed it with a perfect crew she had scouted out beforehand, and later got involved with the assassination of the leader of the House of Constructs by destroying magical projectors that rallied the Construct forces which in turn destroyed their morale. As the Shadowland Covenants moved their assault directly against the Jailer's forces in the Maw, Vashj used her time with Illidan to help root out and destroy Dreadlord infiltrators that were working against the Covenants. She accompanies the player to Revendreth to seek out aid from the Ven'thyr Covenant in rooting out the Dreadlords in mass, and reunites with Kael'thas in process. The Dreadlords had infiltrated the Ven'thyr as well and stolen a powerful Medallion of Wrath from one of its leaders, leading to Vashj and Kael'thas using an artifact from their living days to expose infiltrators and track down the Medallion. Vashj then spends the rest of the conflict exposing and wiping out Dreadlord infiltrators from the Covenants and rooting out any forces of the House of Rituals still loyal to the Jailer.
Is she magnificent?
Vashj was beautiful in her elven days and still retained much of the beauty in more monstrous way in her time as a naga. She complemented her physical appearance with a witty and sarcastic attitude that kept from going full smug by her competence and ability to back up her haughty nature. Most of Vashj's losses came to down to overwhelming force against her and she always fought back as cleverly as she could, but her tactical mind is still shown off her manipulation and traps.
Is she a bitch?
Vashj was always on the villainous side of morality what with the enslavement and join or die offers. Even though she becomes an ally to the player in Shadowlands, she never actually repents or shows regret for her past crimes. She's still a bad person overall, but tempers it by fighting with forces aligned to the player's goals.
Final Verdict?
Easy I'm thinking.
Edited by LoreDeluxe on Jul 10th 2022 at 9:29:10 AM
Think you're tough because you made it through Lord of the Rings? Real men survive The Silmarillion.
Ultimate Moral Compass
Joker and Vashj
Yes to Vashj!
Sorry to hear that Lighty.
No to Meixi, yes to Marian, Jemmy, Snow Queen and Currie.
Edited by Klavice on Jul 9th 2022 at 3:51:34 AM