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}
to Lionheart
The Unknown Unknown
Yes to Squall's gunblade.
Edited by erazor0707 on May 16th 2019 at 1:46:10 AM
A cruel, sick joke is still a joke, and sometimes all you can do is laugh.
The Unknown Unknown
Didn't expect this to be doublepost... Oh, well.
Seeing as Ravok has returned, I decided to bump this one up the priority list. Ravok, from one Date A Live fan to the next, welcome back. This is for you.
For those catching up? Unconcealed spoilers for later volumes. This is a long one.
What's the work?
Date A Live starts off as an off-kilter series where a teenager named Shido Itsuka is chosen to help seal off dangerous entities named Spirits. However, this simple premise of meeting the female Spirits and courting them becomes much darker when the history behind them, and the people looking to exploit them for their own purposes, is slowly unraveled. Today, I will be proposing one of the main antagonists, and the one Spirit that broke the mold and changed the tone of series forevermore.
Who is the candidate? The character’s actions?
Like all Spirits, the candidate, Kurumi Tokisaki, used to be a human girl. Saved from one day by the First Spirit, Mio Takamiya, she asked Kurumi if she wanted a power like hers to help her fight them. Wanting to protect her family and friends, Kurumi accepted and was given the Sephira Crystal containing Zafkiel. Afterwards, she bonded with it, unknowingly turning herself into a Spirit. Working together with Mio, Kurumi began hunting down Spirits to clean them up. One day, however, instead of a monster, she found her best friend Sawa lying dead as Mio was holding a red Sephira Crystal.
Mio then revealed the truth — she was having the Sephira Crystals bond with humans, turning them into monsters, and then killing the host in order to slowly refine the Crystals. Mio intended to entrust the Sephira Crystals to those chosen among humanity. Then, Mio thanked Kurumi for all her work so far before causing Kurumi to blackout. After recovering and getting out of dodge, Kurumi swore no matter what it takes to use her twelfth bullet to travel back in time in order to kill Mio and prevent the existence of Spirits from ever happening (and prevent all the people dying, but that's tangential).
Using her powers of cloning, Kurumi creates a massive information network. In order to gain enough time and power to use the Twelfth Bullet, she and her clones began to prey on humans, taking many lives in the process, which is how she gets her nightmarish reputation at the introduction. At this point, she gets tipped off my Phantom about Shido Itsuka and the Spirit power sealed inside his body (this is how she's aware of those facts in her introductory arc). Having nothing to lose, Kurumi infiltrated Raizen High School.
Shido tries his usual business of wooing Kurumi under Ratatoskr's and his young sister Kotori's guidance, but it proves tougher than usual. Eventually, Shido happens upon a lot in a forest where Kurumi had butchered some men harassing a helpless cat. Before she could take his power, Mana arrives to abate her. Later, when Shido confronts her on the school rooftop, Kurumi encases the school in "City of Devouring Time," a technique that slowly steals the time of those who step within the boundary of her shadow. Shido seemingly manages to convince Kurumi, only for her to be killed by another Kurumi, the real one. It was just a clone she used to scout things out. Kurumi proceeds to beat Mana, Origami, and Tohka, laughing victoriously thinking she's won.
Only for the Spirit of Flames "Efreet," Kotori Itsuka, to arrive. Using her Angel Camael, she defeats Kurumi, and "Nightmare" isn't seen until for a while.
In fact, unlike her antagonistic first appearance, she's seemingly more altruistic... she arrives in Shido's hour of need in taking back all the Spirits and people enslaved by "Diva" Miku Izayoi's Magic Music as well as Tohka from Deus Ex Machina Industries. Kurumi helps Shido get important intel on Miku, and she and her clones confront Miku and the possessed Spirits singlehandedly, giving Shido time to talk to Miku privately in her shadow. Once those plans fell through (they actually don't), Kurumi keeps DEM off Shido and Mana as they go get Tohka from Westcott.
During the aftermath of the battle, Kurumi remarks with a content smile and a twirl into her shadows that she still hadn't found the Second Spirit, Nia Honjou, the one who knows the identity of the First Spirit.
Next, Origami, who's been turned into Spirit, requests to be sent into the past so she can prevent the death of her parents. Sympathizing with her plight, Kumi complies; she's also using Origami as a test subject for her own plans. After seeing Origami tap into her Inverse form, Kurumi takes the chance to talk to Shido. Kurumi tells him that everything he did will become meaningless once Origami went into her inverse form. She then proceeds to shoot Shido with the Ninth Bullet alongside the Twelfth Bullet, sending him five years in the past to find out the reason for Origami's inversion and to see if the past can truly be changed.
Eventually, she sees, that by sending Origami back in time, she's responsible for the Inversion. Feeling responsible, Kurumi convinces Shido he'll have be sent back farther, but they'll need the Kurumi of 5-years-ago to do it. They find her, and she convinces her past self to do it. One thing leads to another, but Shido settles the Origiami situation.
Later on, Kurumi finally finds Nia, having got rid of the transport escorts that allowed Nia to escape, and the two have their talk. This is when Kurumi learns all about the First Spirit. She comes to the conclusion it would be impossible for her to defeat the First Spirit. However, she feels that all the murders she committed aren't in vain since her Angel can rewind time. Before leaving, she utters her disdain for the three people responsible for the First Spirit's appearance 30 years ago: Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott, Ellen Mira Mathers, and Eliot Baldwin Woodman.
In the next major hurdle, done by none other than Westcott himself, Shido learns from one of her clones that he and everyone else are caught in a time loop. Shido has already been killed by DEM forces over 200 times as Kurumi repeatedly tries to save him using Zafkiel's Sixth Bullet: Vav. Though her efforts change the past and save, Shido, it just leads to Westcott — who has been gifted with Beelzbub's Story-Breaker Power from his... business with Nia — ordering a full-scale war onto Ratatoskr. He's stopped, but Mio kills Westcott in revenge, causing Shido and Kurumi to have to go back in time again because Mio kinda-sorta-maybe slaughtered the Spirits. Yay.
But "wait," you say? Doesn't that mean Kurumi is dead too? Well, sort of. Kurumi, revealed to have survived Mio's killing attempt by transferring her memories and Sephira Crystal to one of her clones (notice how this is a recurring thing for her?), steals back Nia's Qlipha Crystal from Westcott. So no more of that from him. In hopefully the last attemp to end the madness, after Shido tries and fails to reason with a despair driven Mio, Kurumi decides to entrust her Spirit powers to Shido by kissing him.
Everything is left to Shido and allies to stop Mio and Westcott, and it ultimately happens through some hard-earned efforts...
Now then, Date A Live is still ongoing (although I've heard rumors Volume 21 may be the last), but Kurumi is still alive. At this point? I think she's done. Her powers have officially been sealed, and she's no longer a big-time antagonist now that Mio and Westcott are done for.
Magnificent enough (Charming, charismatic, intelligent, etc.)?
Kurumi is a charming little lady. All smiles with a captivating mystique that leaves Shido putty. She was even able to get her past self to help Shido through words alone. In aggregate, there's a reason she's DAL's most popular character.
And in general, Kurumi's a crafty one beneath the teasing Faux Affably Evil demeanor.
First off, she was pretty damn close to winning in her first arc. Through a Sadistic Choice, either Shido lets her perform the spacequake that'd get her the time of many, many people, or she gets the latent, important power resting within him. She's only stopped because of something nobody, including the audience, saw coming: Kotori being a Spirit herself, and a strong one at that.
In Volume 17 shortly before Shido decided to seal all of her bullets, she put into action a contingency plan just in case something were to happen to either of them during the sealing. Knowing that he sealed Vav during the events of Volume 16, but also knowing that he isn't aware that he has it, she creates a clone and and sends her one hour ahead in time with orders to tell Shido of this fact. This turned out to be a great instance of foresight on her part. Kurumi's fear of a third-party intervention comes true as she is killed by Mio before the sealing can be done. One hour later, the clone manages to get her message to Shido and expires shortly after (due to it being exactly one hour after Kurumi dies). Shido then uses this knowledge to use Vav's Mental Time Travel ability to jump back in time 24 hours.
She's also reasonable enough to change her plans up when confronted with an obstacle. For example, she wants to gather enough power to travel back 30 years into the past and kill the First Spirit, and she needs the power sealed within Shido to accomplish this. After meeting Nia in Volume 13, she changes the plan after learning she won't be able to kill the First Spirit to simply preventing its summoning into the world.
Can't be understated how many times Kurumi helped Shido get over roadblocks that would ended the plot right out.
Bastard? Too much?
Has a kill count over 10,000 people, and her brutal nature earned her the moniker of "Nightmare" according to Ratatoskr's database. In one OVA, a clone of her (the one that almost accepted Shido's offer atop the rooftop) that fell in love was disposed of by the real Kurumi for having gone rogue. Safe to say, Kurumi can be a bastard when she wants to.
That said, Kurumi's got one heck of a Freudian Excuse that anchors her heinousness. Mio basically tricked her to becoming a Spirit, and the trauma from killing her best friend and becoming a "monster" made Kurumi Ax-Crazy. Even so, Shido's influence has mellowed her out. She becomes less antagonistic, if still mysterious, in their subsequent encounters. Heck, she's even starting to act like the clone she murdered.
Competition?
Mio, Westcott, and Kurumi round out the three biggest villains in the entire story.
Phantom/Mio also seems to push Kurumi in the direction she wants, but Kurumi dances to her own tune, including having her own plan and working towards it (a la the relationship between the approved Pain/Nagato and Tobi). Even then, Kurumi ultimately gets the jump on her, the person who turned her life upside down, in Volume 16-17 as said above.
Westcott dances his way through the whole story while never ever outright losing—more often succeeding—always keeps his cool and calm even when dying. He's charming, manipulative, and a genius. For example, Westcott, having learned about the future through Beelzebub, changes his tactics; instead having his forces target civilians across Tengu City in an attempt to have Ratatoskr turn Shido and the Spirits over to him. He also faked his death, as he's now the Second Spirit of Origin, after Kurumi personally ripped his heart out in that timeline preventing the Spirit's death by Mio.
I argue Kurumi's potential as an MB is not mutually exclusive despite his existence either — after all, she managed to steal Beelzebub from him despite dying in one timeline. That was critical.
Conclusion?
I lean yes. What say you guys?
Edited by erazor0707 on May 16th 2019 at 4:38:04 AM
A cruel, sick joke is still a joke, and sometimes all you can do is laugh.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Wescott sound like solid MB material. How come he doesn’t qualify?
to Kurumi
Lizzid people!
Because he's too evil.
Kurumi.
The Unknown Unknown
Way, way, way too evil.
A cruel, sick joke is still a joke, and sometimes all you can do is laugh.
The Draftsman of Doom
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
Kurumi
Oh a bit late but I'm gonna chime on Sith Warrior from SWTOR, who was cut in page 384 after a cleanup. There is no real canon within the Legends-era wrt SWTOR character arcs going light or dark. Wookiepedia has gone by the rule of "Republic characters are light side while Sith characters are dark side. If we use this rule...Sith Warrior dosen't qualify. Many of the dark side actions are way, way too sadistic for this trope. And I think there is one Sith faction quest on Corellia for every class that ends with the player character effectively giving the go for launching a genocide on an alien race that lives in Corellia because they oppose the Sith occupation if the player takes Dark side options at the end of the quest. So if we only tally dark side choices as canon for the Empire, all the dark side characters are wayyy too sadistic for this trope.
I can see light side Sith Warrior or any of the light side playthroughs as a MB(especially Bounty hunter, who can turn on their Sith employer if they spare the Supreme Chancellor), but the canoncity of light or dark side choices being so muddled and the popular interpretation of SWTOR canon pushing all the Sith characters into "too much of a bastard" territory because it implies they take the Dark Side options while Republic characters take the Light side ones make them all ![[tdown]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_down_emoticon_3571.png "[thumb down]"){kind=small}
s
Also Kaiserreich released it's 0.9 content update today, so keep an eye for an EP from me 2 weeks from now if I find possible qualifiers.
Frolaytia X Qwenthur of Heavy Object
Little Miss K.
Yes to Lionheart and my favourite Date A Live character.
Gonna say absolutely not to Westcott... far too evil.
![[down]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_down.png "[down]"){kind=icon}
Bruh, she the fucking greatest.
Edited by 43110 on May 16th 2019 at 9:31:08 AM
The Unknown Unknown
>my favourite Date A Live character.
Well, hello there, fellow man of culture.
A cruel, sick joke is still a joke, and sometimes all you can do is laugh.
to Kurumi.
Me in a nutshell (Coping with Depression)
Sure to Kurumi...
Speaking of which... Opinions on Mio Takamiya. Westcott is so obvious because he's goddamn evil
"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."
The Unknown Unknown
Not sure on Mio... if only because I have no real opinion on her.
A cruel, sick joke is still a joke, and sometimes all you can do is laugh.
RIP Toriyama
A handy 'Yes' to best girl Kurumi there, great job on that erazor!
And yes, Westcott is far too evil for this trope, he absolutely passes every other bar except that he's too much of a bastard.
Mio is one who I feel probably counts but is more of a "technical" one rather than anything else. She's smart, not too evil, stays dignified, etc., but she also doesn't have the swagger or charm of Kurumi or Westcott so even though she probably counts, it's that lack of charisma that makes her more of a technical one than a shoe-in.
Though on the note of Westcott and "too evil", during my time away I see Palpatine got discussed and downvoted, which is somehow both surprising and unsurprising, lol.
Which brings me to questioning a candidate I once dismissed for possibly being "too evil", Makuta Teridax from BIONICLE.
Now, Teridax is a vile customer no doubt, a CM in fact, and many of his crimes fall into the same categories as Palpatine (mass murder; moments of sadism; manipulation of wars), but unlike Palpatine, there are no undercurrents of Nazism or xenophobia with Teridax (unlike other villains in the franchise), and by the time Teridax becomes more egotistical and sadistic? He's quite literally won and become god after thousands of years of schemes and manipulations paying off, so it's quite possible that it could be considered an earned ego.
All of this a prelude to say, would anyone here be immediately opposed to discussion on Teridax? I ask because his potential effortpost will be big, and if many folks are in immediate agreement that he sounds too evil then I won't go through the trouble, but if there's curiosity/no major opposition, I would enjoy bringing in my return with an effortpost for one of my favorite villains, but again, I'm running it through the thread first to see what the interest/opposition to the idea is.
Tonight I dine on monkey soup.
I mean...yeah, TBH? Teridax seems a clear cut way too evil for me, remembering your EP on him in the CM thread. I just cannot see it.
I love to see a MB EP of Teridax, but that’s just me
Me in a nutshell (Coping with Depression)
Been a while since I EP a MB eh... Let's see what I can do
What's the Work
Grimms Notes is a 2019 anime adaptation of the mobile RPG game of the same name. The story tells us about Ex and his companions, Reina, Shane and Tao who were the holders of the "Blank Book" and basically travel across Fairy Tale worlds such as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Momotaro and so on. Together, they try to stop the people known as Chaos Tellers who tries to rewrite several of the Fairytale stories for their own whims.
Today, the candidate I want to brought today for Magnificent Bastard is one of the members of the Chaos Tellers and one of the Big Bad of the anime... Say hello to Curly everyone!
Who is She/What Has She Done
Okay, so Curly? Is one of the members of the Chaos Tellers and also a member of a religious church known as Church of Fortrem who could be described as a beautiful tanned skinned white haired girl. She, along with her accomplice, Loki, travels through several Story Zones, manipulate the people who doesn't have a good fate into becoming Chaos Tellers just like them (Such as Long John Silver who wanted to escape his fate to be jailed after he stole the gold) and as a result of the manipulation, several citizens of the Story Zone become a creature known as "The Villains" and the Story Zone itself is getting distorted and would get destroyed as a result of the people Curly manipulates who defied their fate that was written in "Book of Fate". And yeah, after all that's done and if both Loki and Curly got defeated, they rinse and repeat the process.
Although she made her appearance in Episode 5 or something like that, she encountered the heroes in Episode 7 where she puts her own facade as a kind blind girl who I recall build a lodging for Ex and co. when they traveled through the "Ice Queen" story zone except she reveals her facade as she was the person who manipulated the "Ice Queen" all along to become a Chaos Teller.
Curly appears again at the Jeanne D'Arc episode when she had a nice conversation with Ex about why she did all of this stuff after she treated him when he lose the battle as it was revealed that she wants to free people from their accursed fates (Granted that several of the fates of the characters in their storyline tend to be fucked up like Jeanne D'Arc's fate being burned on the stakes or Cinderella's stepmother will have her fate getting her feet burned as she is forced to put on red-hot iron shoes and "dance" until she drops dead.) which resulted on Curly and Loki's plan on attempting to destroy all of the Story Zone and create the new Story Zone where they rule.
Although despite Curly's view and asks Ex to join the side, Ex refutes it by saying that the characters in the Story Zone had their feelings to hold to such as Jeanne D'Arc and he has no interest for fighting for the name of fate itself as their feelings are more important than anything else. Although Curly calls him hopeless, she cures Ex's curse at the end and let him escape for now. It is unknown what happens to Curly at the end of the anime and thus making her a Karma Houdini but in the games however, she performs a Heel–Face Turn and join the heroes side at the end of the day.
Charismatic, Intelligent, Thinks on her Feet?
Curly? Is a rather Affably Evil person unlike her subordinate, Loki, who despite his Faux Affably Evil tendencies, is a dick through and through. And this was shown during her conversation with Ex when she treats Ex nicely after he's seemingly getting defeated by the Evil Necromancer in the Jeanne D'Arc episode and even if he calls Ex hopeless as he still fight for fate in Curly's eyes, she still lets him escape anyway and heals his wounds.
As far as thinking on her feet goes? Well, both Curly and her subordinate, Loki, manipulate several people to become a Chaos Tellers so that they could escape their cruel fate and when that failed, she and Loki goes into Plan B when they mess with other Story Zone again. Does that answer your question?
Is She A Bastard, Too Much?
Two words: Multiversal Annihilation. As she and Loki tries to destroy all of the Story Zones and recreate it in their own image. That and she does partially responsible of the bad things happening in several story zones and working together with Loki who unlike Curly, is practically a bastard all around with awful personal crimes but sadly I don't think he hits the mark as a Complete Monster even if I want him to hit it.
But Curly? I should note that compared to Loki, is basically an angel, as the reason why she wants to destroy all of the Story Zones is because of her belief that people with the book of fate truly had a horrible fate that awaits them in the end and this was truly shown like Jeanne D'Arc's last fate or Long John Silver's fate. So as a result, it's her duty to free people from their accursed fate. Yep, it's Rau Le Creuset scenario all over again everyone. And like I said, she's pretty Affably Evil when having a conversation whether with her accomplice or with her enemies alike. And if you take her game counterpart, she performs a Heel–Face Turn and joins the hero side at the end.
Final Verdict
Your call
Edited by ElfenLiedFan90 on May 17th 2019 at 4:31:38 PM
"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."
@ Elfen, Sure there.
@ Ravok, Sounds a bit too evil for me, still.
I'll toss in a yes for Curly, and I'll agree Teridax is probably too awful.
The Draftsman of Doom
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
