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
Given both the dissonance mentioned and the existence of multiple versions interpreting his actions as rape, I'm going to be honest: I'm honestly not comfortable with these variables up in the air. There might have been a version of the myth wherein he counted but it seems muddied with too many potentially mitigating factors.
Scraggle take care of yourself friend, I hope things work out well for you!
Edited by 43110 on Aug 21st 2019 at 10:37:00 AM
I think I've got an easier keeper from The Wire this time
What's the Work? The Wire a show about Baltimore and all the things that make it tick. In season two Avon Barksdales drug empire is struggling. They don't have quality product and they are currently lacking on muscle. To supplement this, Stringer Bell, Avon's right hand man partners with Proposition Joe, another drug lord, to get his high quality heroin. The deal was two split their territory. However Stringer neglected to tell Avon this and when when he tries to bring up the idea Avon is vehemently against it. As for the muscle problem, Avon claims he has that covered. He sends in: Brother Mouzone.
Who is he? Brother Mouzone is a stylishly dressed and famed New York hitman. He approaches Cheese, one of Joe's lieutenants, says that he needs to leave. When Cheese says that there has been a misunderstanding, explaining that they were given permission to be there before moving to attack him, but Mouzone extremely quickly draws out his gun and shoots Cheese in the arm. He explains it's just a rat shot, but then tells him the next shot will be quite more lethal and Cheese needs to think on what he has to do to get this man to stop threatening him. Cheese opts to retreat and Mouzone responds with a "Good day to you sir." Later he is simply able to use his presence alone to scare away Joes eastside dealers. He simply sits on a bench and reads intellectual magazines.
Cheese wants revenge, but Joe cautions against this. He comes up with the idea to send the only man in Baltimore with a reputation to counter Mouzones, Omar. Stringer parlays with Omar telling him that Mouzone was the one who actually tortured his lover Brandon to death. Omar later ambushes Mouzone in his motel room, but when Mouzone denies it, Omar at first accuses him of lying. Mouzone tells him to believe what he will then says and Islamic prayer. Omar realizes the man is innocent and even calls an ambulance for him.
Later while recuperating in the hospital, Stringer offers to help Mouzone find whoever shot him. Mouzone is adamant that whoever did it he will take care of them himself. Stringer visibly surprised, asks "Them? Who came at you?". Mouzone just stares at him taking this information in and thanks him for his concern. He then absolves the agreement between him and the Barksdales.
Later he returns in Season 3, looking for Omar. He finds out he is gay and sends his homophobic assistant, Lamar, into gay bars to look for him. Dante Omars new lover hears this and Ambushes Lamar, but Mouzones ambushes Dante in turn and knocks him out. He tortures Dante, and gets Omars location. After having glorious Mexican Standoff he then asks Omar for help taking down Stringer. He then goes to Avon and reveals to him that Stringer was the one who arranged for him to be shot. Avon recognizes the truth of the matter but tries to protect Stringer. Mouzone then blackmails him with the threat of losing his connection to New York. Realizing the truth of this and that he has fundamental philosophical differences with Stringer, Avon gives up Stringer. The next day using the information Avon has given him, Mouzone and Omar ambush and kill Stringer at his condo developments. Mouzone then releases Dante, and leaves Omar to dispose the weapons. He thus exits the series.
Charming? Good Planner? Mouzone is extremely charming. Affably Evil, Wicked Cultured, and ultimately larger than life. As mentioned he is ultimately clever enough to deduce that Stringer had something to do with the attempt on his life, and he quickly figures out how to find Omar given limited information.
Bastard? Too Much? He is a hitman. He tortures Dante. However he doesn't torture Dante too bad. Dante ultimately looks like he went through a bar fight and could easily recover. Even though his assistant screwed up, allowing Omar to attack him, he keeps the man on. In addition he is perfectly content to work with Omar, who is openly gay, which in the criminal underworld speaks wonders.
Verdict? In my mind an Easy keeper.
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
The Draftsman of Doom
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Brother Mouzone.
Emperor Georgie Artémis Enkoom Evulz II
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Understood.
Sure to Brother Mouzone.
BTW, is the Greek worth an EP?
Edited by GeorgieEnkoom on Aug 21st 2019 at 4:52:33 PM
J’m’arrête pas tant qu’j’vois pas des lignes sur les moniteurs (Not stoppin 'til I see Flatlines)
Looks like a keep but The Greek ran a prostitution ring.
![[nja]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/user_ninja_2074.png "[nja]"){kind=small}
Sex trafficking. Might also be a Complete Monster; I once saw an effort post but it fizzled out in the voting. Not that you can't be a Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard but I do feel he is one of those too heinous to count types.
Edited by jjjj2 on Aug 21st 2019 at 10:56:05 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
Emperor Georgie Artémis Enkoom Evulz II
IIRC, the Greek was genuinely Affably Evil, so I wouldn't say he's a CM...
Edit : Forget what I said. I think he can actually make it.
Edited by GeorgieEnkoom on Aug 21st 2019 at 8:15:02 PM
J’m’arrête pas tant qu’j’vois pas des lignes sur les moniteurs (Not stoppin 'til I see Flatlines)
Yup to Mouzone. I wish you good luck, Scraggle.
Brother Mouzone. There's another series I should get back to someday. Or probably restart from the beginning.
Goku Black
mouzane
Yeah greeks cm ep went absolutely nowhere which is weird as I though he sounded bad enough. If you want to reevaluate him he's all yours.
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
Emperor Georgie Artémis Enkoom Evulz II
If I have enough time, I'll deal with him. Otherwise, I'll let others do so.
Edited by GeorgieEnkoom on Aug 21st 2019 at 7:17:14 PM
J’m’arrête pas tant qu’j’vois pas des lignes sur les moniteurs (Not stoppin 'til I see Flatlines)
Brother Mouzone.
Hey I got a question about this trope.
Can someone to a Groin Attack on another person and still count as an Magnificent Bastard? I mean I know rape is an automatic disqualifier for this trope but what happens if like a female villain kicks a man in the nuts, can the female villain still qualify as an MB?
Barb(Its a thread joke you wouldn't get it)
I'm really not seeing any issue with that? Like, I don't even see a VAGUE connection between kicking someone in the Nuts and Rape.
Also, while I'm neutral on the Greek Guy, I don't think Values Dissonance is an issue with that Charachter sense, as Georgie said her age isn't actually stated in the myth itself.
to Mouzone
That's good to hear
Now then I’ve got a potential candidate from a South Park Fan Fic that I finished reading online called Girls Game, so lets talk about that for the moment.
What’s The Work?
Girls Game is a Fan Fic based on the hit adult cartoon South Park. The premise revolves around the girls of South Park formulating a plan against the boys due to always having been pushed to the sidelines by their shenanigans. Now the person behind all of this is Bebe Stevens.
Who Is She? What Has She Done?
Bebe Stevens is a blonde 4th grade girl of South Park Elementary who plans recruiting all the girls throughout South Park into joining her new club and formulating a master plan to get back at the boys and mold South Park to their image to which Bebe titles the plan Girls Game.
Bebe would then write encrypted messages with invisible ink before giving them to her peers, having them hand out these messages to all the girls recruiting them into her cause while the boys are unable read the messages, until Token Black finds a way to encrypt the message for the boys.
Bebe would also make business deal with child crime lord Loogie giving them baby teeth from children in exchange for Loogie’s help in dealing with the boys and make money to fund her plan while having Karen Mc Cormick deliver the baby teeth to Loogie knowing that her brother Mysterion AKA Kenny will be too distracted to stop Bebe’s plan by making sure Karen is safe from Loogie.
As more more girls join Bebe’s caused, Bebe discovers that several boys have infiltrated her club disguised as girls. The first of them is Stan Marsh who she exposes, first by kicking him in the groin before taking the wig off his head and eventually all the other disguised boys (and Henrietta) gets exposed by Bebe.
With the disguised boys exposed and purged out of her Girls Club, Bebe is able to set her plan into motion, first by organizing a school assembly having all the children attend, boys included. She and her cheer squad then pulled out their fortuneteller device and start warping reality and time.
She then reveals that her plan is to alter South Park’s reality into her and the girls liking and all money she was making was spent on buying books about existentialism and the philosophy of existence study them extensively so she can use its knowledge to shape reality and time while tearing the pages from the books to make her fortune telling devices work, and once that boys realizes this they are already to late to stop her.
As Bebe nearly succeeds in shaping reality and time to her liking then one of Dr. Mephesto creations comes out of nowhere and attacks her destroying her device and ruining her plan.
Defeated, she admits that all she wanted was to bring South Park to a simpler time and that the girls would finally be recognized and accepted. Eventually her best friend comforts Bebe while complimenting her plan while the boys were so amazed that Bebe pulled off such an impressive plan that they invite Bebe and her friends to hang out with them and join them in their adventures, much to Cartman’s dismay.
Is She Intelligent? Is She Charismatic?
While Bebe has always been smart, charismatic, and a little devious, being the only student in her class to have answered a math problem correctly and having led the girls cliche several times, such as leading a conspiracy with tampering the list deeming whose the cutest boy in school, the Fan Fic amp these qualities of Bebe Up To Eleven.
Bebe has orchestrated a complex plan to shape all of reality while recruiting and persuading all the girls in South Park into joining her cause. She also finds a ways to deal with obstacle such as having Karen deliver the baby teeth to mobster Loogie distracting Mysterion from her plan and figuring out that the boys have infiltrated her club driving them out.
Even when the boys figure out their plan, they are too late to stop her, and she nearly succeeds in shaping all of reality and time, which is only stop when a creature of Dr. Mephesto come out of nowhere. Even then she succeeds in her goals of her and her friends getting accepted by the town, impressed that Bebe has pulled off such an impressive plan.
What’s The Competition Like?
Bebe is by far the most intelligent and charming character in the fan fic. Other characters include Loogie who helps Bebe’s plan for his own ends and Eric Cartman who wants to foil Bebe’s plan.
However Loogie is doesn’t do much other than be Bebe’s criminal associate and has Henrietta spy on them for his own plan which we don’t even know and Cartman, well, he’s still the whiny racist and sexist asshole he was in the show and both of them don’t realizes Bebe’s real plan until its too late to stop it.
Is She a Bitch? Is She Too Much of a Bitch?
Okay so Bebe has delved into criminal activity, has endangered her child peers several times, injures Stan to expose his disguise, tries to tear the fabric of reality just to shape it to her liking, and turns on her best friend Wendy when she goes against Bebe’s plan. I’d say Bebe is enough of a bitch to count.
That said Bebe never delves into anything deplorable nor disgusting. She does have well intentions for her friends and cares for their safety even if she does put them in harms way. She also not sexist towards boys as she doesn’t hate them, she just doesn’t like how she and her female cliche gets pushed aside in favor of them.
She’s also shown to genuinely cherish her friendship with Wendy Testaburger which allows Bebe to redeem herself and admitting her mistakes, taking her final defeat with grace, and is invited by the boys to hang out with them.
Final Verdict?
I’ll leave it to you guys.
The Draftsman of Doom
I'm pretty sure that a Magnificent Bastard can kick anyone in the groin if they are Combat Pragmatists and want to come out on top/defend themselves, regardless of their own gender or that of the recipient, but if there is no pragmatic reason to do so, I'm not sure groin kicking exactly counts as magnificent. It definitely wouldn't be considered sexual assault. However, if a female character was a rapist, she wouldn't belong anywhere near this thread. You know, unless we were cutting an unauthorized entry, or she was on the recieving end of an MB's revenge rather than an MB.
Bebe.
Edited by SkyCat32 on Aug 22nd 2019 at 6:10:05 AM
Feels good, don't it?
Mouzane and Bebe
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
Yes to Mouzane and Bebe.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
to Mouzone and Bebe
Yes to Mouzone and Babe.
Take it easy Scraggle, you're a great guy and I want what's best for you.
Tyk wake up, we have a story for you to read!
For real, I'll probably abstain but that's mostly due to what South Park-related stuff has run us into in this thread and until any kind of re-litigation comes up, I don't mind her being up for now at least.
So, remember more than a week ago when I said I'd effortpost Sombra along with Doomfist from Overwatch, only to never follow up with that? Well, I kinda sorta buried myself in my personal writing and forgot all about her (And Doomfist's writeup, for that matter). Well since 43110 gave me a much needed reminder that Doomfist still had a writeup pending, I think it's time to take a break from my personal writing and follow through with my promise.
So in case you need a refresher on what Overwatch's setting is like, here's a link to Doomfist's effortpost here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15255322860A44444400&page=470#comment-11730
Now anyway, to the important stuff: here comes Sombra.
Who is Sombra?
Sombra is many things: a terrorist, a global criminal... and probably the best damn hacker in the world. A mysterious, enigmatic, playful woman, Sombra works for Talon with her expertise in hacking (duh) and infiltration making her a valuable asset to the organization... much to the annoyance of a good majority of her Talon allies thanks to her love of messing with them. She's ultimately not too loyal to them, but sticks with them out of necessity: partially because they're a useful group to consolidate power with, but also because they serve as good protection against a far bigger, mysterious threat that only she seems to know about...
But before we go into that, we need to start at the beginning.
What has she done?
Thanks to her homeland of Mexico being hit hard by the Omnic Crisis, Sombra was one of many Mexican children orphaned in the fallout, leading to her being taken in by the street gang Los Muertos. Thanks to their influence and already being something of a bad seed herself, Sombra proved to be something of a child prodigy in terms of manipulating others and making them dance to her tune. She'd help Los Muertos with their anti-government activities by stringing along influential people such as the local police commissioner, stealing their personal data and evidence of corruption, and either exposing them to the public or keeping them in line with blackmail. While her work against Mexico's corrupt government would make her a hero to the common people (more specifically the citizens of her hometown Dorado), Sombra went on one hell of a power trip and obsessively hacked so many other powerful individuals while believing herself untouchabl. And for the most part she was correct... until she dug too deep.
Somehow, Sombra managed to stumble upon a mind-bogglingly powerful conspiracy that in turn noticed her, forcing her to go into hiding, erase all traces of her identity from the internet, and abandon her birth name. But instead of just lying down like a dog and living out her life in anonymity, this setback only served to make Sombra come back stronger than ever: now she didn't just want to amass power for herself, she wanted to find out everything she could about this conspiracy and make it come tumbling down. And so, Sombra went all-in with her hacking and made herself a global threat by hacking and blackmailing politicians, CEO's, and other important figures all around the world, which got Talon's attention. They recruited her for use as an asset, and as discussed earlier Sombra was happy to oblige.
Working alongside Talon, Sombra's hacking continued with her famously exposing Mexican corporate mogul Guillermo Portero as a corrupt asshole who skimmed company funds and bribed government officials in order to expand the influence of his company (He ended up being exonerated of any wrongdoing, but his shadier actions halted due to him having to focus on a fruitless attempt to silence her for good). One of the strongest showings of her skill as a hacker though would be in the video short "Infiltration", where she, fellow Talon agent Widowmaker, and one of Talon's leaders Reaper attempted to assassinate Russian CEO Katya Volskaya. The plan went without a hitch, Reaper and Widowmaker took out Katya's guards, Sombra shut down the turrets protecting her office (And trolled Reaper by messing with the doors he tried to enter in the process)... and then Sombra intentionally set off an alarm right when Widowmaker was about to get a clear shot at her target. She pretended to be angry that the infiltration failed, but secretly hacked a mech and used it to keep Reaper from chasing and killing Katya while she was able to corner her and kill her bodyguards. But instead of killing her as ordered, Sombra allows Katya to live, saying that she always wanted to be friends with someone like the most powerful woman in Russia...
And secures that friendship by threatening to expose her own shady, underhanded dealings with Omnics (Who are hated by the Russian populace due to hardships bought on by the Omnic Crisis) to the public as well as subtly threatening the safety of her young daughter. Katya relents, allowing Sombra to secure another powerful pawn she could call in favors from. Naturally, like any good CEO Katya wasn't too pleased with this and in the comic "Searching", she sent Russian athlete-turned military hero Aleksandra "Zarya" Zaryanova after her. And after a globetrotting adventure that leads to Zarya and an Omnic hacker ally cornering Sombra in a warehouse in Dorado, Sombra reveals Katya's deeds to Zarya... who in turn reveals that she knows her true name (Olivia Colomar, for those curious). Sombra is shocked at first, but rolls with the punches and manages to slip away thanks to having preemptively hacked Zarya's Omnic friend and disabling his body, having set her hideout to explode, and forcing Zarya to save the Omnic before the explosion instead of arresting her, escaping while leaving her with knowledge that something bigger than Overwatch and more dangerous than Talon exists...
And that's where her big magnificent feats end. So far she hasn't done anything else really noteworthy aside from helping Doomfist rid Talon of it's profit-driven members and helping her Talon defector buddy Baptiste stay hidden, but she's still playing it cool and amassing power, hoping to someday expose the power behind the conspiracy that forced her into hiding...
How does she operate? Is she magnificent?
Ever since she was a little kid, Sombra was already stringing powerful people along and playing them like fiddles. If she wants something, you bet your ass that she'll get it one way or another: she's toppled politicians, businessmen, and other such people and even when they aren't outright ruined, they're hit with a noticeable setback. She makes suckers out of enemy and ally alike, and even when she was scared and surprised by a threat beyond her imagination... well, that conspiracy never actually caught up with her and killed her, now did it? Sombra has her moments where she stumbles and slips up, sure, but they're few and far between and she's always able to either bounce back or even the playing field while always carrying herself with an air of sly playfulness in the process.
However, I still wonder if those slip-ups could hurt her chances of counting. While introduced as an all-powerful hacker who makes monkeys out of everyone around her, later comics seemed to... nerf her magnificence a bit, if that makes sense. In the "Masquerade" comic, Reaper reveals that he knows that Sombra sabotaged his attempt on Katya Volskaya's life and is making sure to keep tabs on her. And in "Searching", it turns out that Sombra got sloppy enough to where a little girl in her hometown somehow knew her real name through the power of bad writing and helped lead Zarya to her. That... is very much a screwup unbecoming of a genius hacker.
But like I said earlier, there are things that help even the scoreboard out in her favor: while Reaper knows what Sombra did he can't punish her for it, because Doomfist approves of her actions and views her as the perfect example of the kind of people Talon needs. And while Zarya gets the drop on Sombra, Sombra visibly shakes her faith in Katya Volskaya by revealing all the lies she was being told by Katya, and shows that she already knew she was being tracked by having hacked her Omnic friend before she even got to Mexico. More than anything it may hint that Sombra being found so easily may have been part of her plan, but since that comic is plagued with somewhat infamously bad writing it's hard to tell for sure. But either way I think there's room to argue that Sombra's magnificence still holds up at the end of the day.
Is she a bastard?
Given that she's a borderline sociopath with an obsessive love of blackmailing people, knowingly helps a dangerous terrorist organization, seemingly threatens the life of a little girl to make her mom cooperate with her, and loves to annoy her teammates, it goes without saying.
Is she too much of one?
Nah. She's sure as hell not a good guy, but Sombra has her fair share of redeeming qualities. Usually, the people she blackmails have it coming due to them being greedy and corrupt themselves, and she genuinely seems to want to expose their true nasty nature to inspire the common people to revolt against them (Though she sure as hell also loves the power she obtains in the process as well). She's hailed as a hero in Dorado and is fond of the town in return, and as mentioned before is good friends with Talon defector Baptiste. As far as evil people in Overwatch go there are definitely worse, and she hasn't gotten up to anything too bastardly. Plus, she sleeps with a teddy bear! And no one truly bastardly would still sleep with their teddy...
Ha ha, in all seriousness though I'd say she passes this criteria just fine.
What's her competition like?
I already covered the competition in Doomfist's effortpost, and it applies here: Sombra is easily the smartest character in this game. No one even comes close to her skills at manipulating and tricking others, with Doomfist being the one who comes closest. Slip-ups aside Sombra is leaps and bounds ahead of the pack, with Doomfist being no slouch himself.
Final Thoughts?
Sombra slips up every now and then, but at the end of the day she's definitely one of the smartest, most dastardly villains in Overwatch and seems to bounce back from her mistakes just fine. But of course, there is always room for debate...
PS: I actually have one more Magnificent Bastard candidate with an effortpost either coming later tonight or sometime tomorrow. They're a... somewhat unorthodox incarnation of one of Marvel's most famous villains, and that's all I'm saying for now.
Edited by FriedWarthog on Aug 22nd 2019 at 5:10:19 AM
Yes to my hacker wife.
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
to Sombra
Well, for age, Greek Mythology is a notorious case of Values Dissonance, but that said, Anticlea's age wasn't stated.
J’m’arrête pas tant qu’j’vois pas des lignes sur les moniteurs (Not stoppin 'til I see Flatlines)