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
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
Yes to Valentine.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Valentine
to Valentine
to Saint Valentine the Vampire
Interesting find: yes there.
Emperor Georgie Artémis Enkoom Evulz II
Sure to Richmond Valentine.
J’m’arrête pas tant qu’j’vois pas des lignes sur les moniteurs (Not stoppin 'til I see Flatlines)
Knight Bachelor
My third one.
What's the work?
BattleTech, a tabletop/video/miniature game/novel series (okay, there was also a cartoon, but we don't talk about that) in which giant stompy 'Mechs shoot each other in the face.
In the future, humanity has expanded out from Terra to colonize a swath of space known as the Inner Sphere. Five Great Houses hold most of the territory, if you picture the Inner Sphere as an analog clock (if anyone still remembers those), they are: From twelve o'clock to three o'clock, the Draconis Combine (House Kurita), from three o'clock to about five-thirty the Federated Suns (House Davion), from about five-thirty to about six-thirty the Capellan Confederation (House Liao), from six-thirty to about nine o'clock the Free Worlds League (House Marik), and from nine to noon the Lyran Commonwealth (House Steiner). The Inner Sphere was ruled for a long time by the Star League in a golden age of peace, justice, prosperity, and scientific advancement (at least, that's how most people remember it). Until decidedly non-magnificent bastard Stefan Amaris killed the First Lord of the Star League and his entire family, going down in history as Amaris the Usurper (invoking Amaris' name, depending on company and inflection, is the same as invoking either Hitler or Satan). The just-generally-magnificent General Aleksandr Kerensky of the Star League Defense Force saw this, said "aw hell no," and led the SLDF on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge through the Inner Sphere, culminating in kicking Amaris' ass off Terra and straight to hell. The heads of the Five Great Houses got together to decide who should take up the mantle of First Lord of the Star League. Perhaps predictably, each believed himself the only qualified candidate, and in the end the only thing they could agree on was to disband the SLDF, each Lord apparently hoping the bulk of it would join him so he could steamroll everyone else. General Kerensky saw this, said "aw HELL no" and pulled a Screw This, I'm Outta Here with almost the entire SLDF, leaving the Inner Sphere for parts unknown. His role in the story is quite obviously over.
The Great Houses, now the Successor States, began fighting a series of Succession Wars that nearly clubbed them back into pre-spaceflight, each trying to conquer the others and become First Lord of a new Star League. On Terra, ComStar arose to guard technology and knowledge, and morphed into a quasi-mystical religious order with schemes to let the Successor States bludgeon themselves insensate and then step in to "save" them, making themselves rulers of a new Star League. And the SLDF, having found some habitable worlds well outside the Inner Sphere, were reorganized by Aleksandr's son Nicholas into the Clans, basically eugenics-practicing Spartans Up To Eleven in giant robots, who would eventually invade the Inner Sphere to try and reestablish the Star Leauge (is the First Lord's throne made of solid crack or something?)
Who is Sun-Tzu Liao? What did he do?
There are basically two kinds of Liao: the dangerously insane, and the insanely dangerous. Maximilian Liao, who led the Capellan Confederation during the Fourth Succession War, his daughter Romano Liao who led it after his death and up to the Truce of Tukayyid, and her daughter Kali Liao are all in the former category (especially Kali. . . she actually believes she had her heart removed as part of a Thugee initiation ceremony). Sun-Tzu is the latter, but pretends to be the former, and does it quite well. Part of this is simple survival. . . when the people around you are very powerful and totally disturbed, it's best to agree with their version of reality. But part of it is to get people to underestimate Sun-Tzu, write him off as another unstable, easily-manipulated Liao. . . until he proves otherwise, too late for them.
We first meet Sun-Tzu during the Outreach Summit in 3051, during a lull in the Clan invasion. To help the Inner Sphere band together to repel the Clans, the Wolf's Dragoons mercenary unit (formerly of Clan Wolf themselves) puts the heirs of the various Successor States together in a training cadre modeled on a Clan sibko. Sun-Tzu plays his persona to perfection, being spoiled, stubborn, whiny, demanding, and just generally unpleasant to be around, causing everyone to write him off as completely useless.
One of these heirs is Kai Allard-Liao, heir to the St. Ives Compact (formerly the St. Ives Commonality of the Capellan Confederation), eldest son of Candace Liao who is Maximilian Liao's eldest daughter, thus Kai technically has a stronger claim on the throne of the Capellan Confederation than Sun-Tzu does, even though Kai doesn't want it. Kai is also possibly the deadliest MechWarrior the Inner Sphere has ever produced. Sun-Tzu plays up an extreme hatred of Kai, mostly to placate his mother, though he doesn't have to try very hard. Sun-Tzu has some pretty solid reasons to hate Kai and his father, Justin Allard, as Justin is predominantly responsible for the Federated Commonwealth carving away half the Capellan Confederation in the Fourth Succession War.
Sun-Tzu and Kai are eventually paired together in a final training exercise based on a Clan Trial of Position. Each has three opponents, and may engage any one they choose, but firing on more than one at a time opens the Trial into a melee, where all opponents may engage as they see fit. Sun-Tzu fires on one of Kai's targets and promptly ejects from his 'Mech, leaving Kai to face six opponents in assault-class 'Mechs. Kai takes down five of them before being downed himself, only to learn later those 'Mechs were piloted by legendary MechWarriors like Hanse Davion and Jamie Wolf, the leader of Wolf's Dragoons. When this attempt to make Kai look bad fails, Romano Liao leaves the Outreach Summit in a huff, taking her delegation with her.
As the Clan invasion resumes, Romano gleefully announces to Sun-Tzu and Kali that an assassin sent by Romano herself has killed Candace Liao and Justin Allard, finally avenging their treachery on the Capellan Confederation. Sun-Tzu is beside himself in disbelieving rage, thinking that Clans or no Clans, Hanse Davion will not let this slide, and Clans or no Clans, the FedCom still has enough troops to finish the Capellans off for good. He may be right, but Candace Liao, who survived the assassination, insists on dealing with the matter personally. She travels incognito to the Capellan homeworld of Sian and kills Romano and her consort in retaliation for the attempted assassination of herself and the successful assassination of her husband. She leaves Sun-Tzu with a warning: be a better Chancellor than his mother and grandfather, and don't make Candace regret leaving the Confederation in his hands. Sun-Tzu, for his part, is oddly grateful Candace spared him the trouble of killing Romano himself (and let's face it, if your mother was Romano Liao, you'd be plotting to kill her, too).
Sun-Tzu begins his Chancellorship by arranging a betrothal to Isis Marik, Thomas Marik's Spare to the Throne teenage daughter. Sending a message to Hanse Davion bragging about this (and a few other things) triggers Hanse's fatal heart attack, ending one of the franchise's definitive Magnificent Bastards and, ironically, tallying another score for the Capellans on the board of revenge owed the Federated Commonwealth.
Sun-Tzu immediately begins political wrangling to restore his nation. Thomas keeps putting off Sun-Tzu's marriage to Isis, since he knows Sun-Tzu wants nothing more than to break the Federated Commonwealth over his knee, and would use the Free Worlds League to do it should he be married to the sitting Captain-General. Thus, should Sun-Tzu and Isis actually be wed, everyone believes Thomas' days are numbered and that number could probably be counted on one hand. For his part, Sun-Tzu gives some very compelling reasons why he should not want to have Thomas assassinated (though it's left open if he's actually sincere) and is quite patient. . . he never lets the matter of setting a date for the wedding drop, but he never pushes quite hard enough to frustrate Thomas into calling it off. Thomas finds a peaceful arrangement with the Confederation as useful as Sun-Tzu does. Plus, Thomas' son Joshua is undergoing treatment for his leukemia at the New Avalon Institute of Science (New Avalon being the homeworld of House Davion), and Thomas hopes he will recover and one day succeed him as Captain-General of the Free Worlds Leauge.
Unfortunately, Joshua is not doing well. Reduced to extensive life support, Victor Steiner-Davion, against his better judgment, activates Project Gemini, a plan initiated by Victor's father Hanse to replace Joshua with a Body Double. Victor only intends to buy time, not put his own puppet on the throne of the Free Worlds League, and fully intends to inform Thomas of his son's death and return his body once things have stabilized and preparations for a renewed Clan invasion are well underway.
Sun-Tzu has a dream, a dream that seems to hint at the possibility Joshua has been replaced by a double. Sun-Tzu discards the idea, both because (unlike his mother and sister) he attaches no mystical or prophetic power to dreams, and because he cannot believe Victor could be that stupid, or that underhanded. However, just because Victor would never do such a thing doesn't mean it's not an awesome idea to accuse him of it. Sun-Tzu composes a message to agents on New Avalon to obtain a sample of Joshua's blood, which Sun-Tzu will have altered to make it appear Joshua has been replaced.
Thomas (thanks to his close ties with ComStar splinter faction Word of Blake, who handles all interstellar communication) hears of this message, and has his own agent obtain a sample and run a scan on it, preparing to refute any doctored evidence by Sun-Tzu. When the test comes back No Match, Thomas immediately sets about making Victor pay for this barbarism, and enlists Sun-Tzu's aid.
Sun-Tzu has been funding and establishing guerrilla and terrorist cells all through the Sarna March, the worlds taken from the Confederation in the Fourth Succession War. Activating these agents, combined with attacks by League and Confederation troops, causes the whole region to collapse into what comes to be known as the Chaos March. Victor's sister Katherine (styling herself Katrina after her legendary grandmother) takes advantage of the situation to secede the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth. Thus did Sun-Tzu, in roundabout fashion, slay the mightiest nation in the Inner Sphere since the Star League.
Later, meeting on Tharkad (homeworld of House Steiner), a plan to end the Clan invasion once and for all is discussed. Part of this plan involves reforming the Star League, a major goal of the Clans. The position of First Lord will rotate among the various Successor Lords, the first First Lord being elected. Katrina nominates Sun-Tzu, expecting Victor to object so strongly Katrina herself will be a shoe-in. Victor realizes what she's up to and endorses Sun-Tzu, who wins the post. Sun-Tzu immediately tries to turn the ceremonial position into one of actual power, though he doesn't get very far (it was deliberately designed to be symbolic). He does, however, become known as "Defeater of the Clans," as the Great Refusal took place during his tenure as First Lord.
Sun-Tzu places an agent in a St. Ives unit which attacks the Confederation, giving him reason to reclaim the St. Ives Compact, which he does after a brutal two-year war, despite also fighting in the Chaos March to reclaim Liao worlds there and despite his batshit bonkers sister Kali committing a nerve gas attack in the middle of it (Sun-Tzu has her sent to the Free Worlds League to stand trial). He also finally breaks his engagement to Isis Marik, instead marrying Naomi Centrella, heir to the Magistracy of Canopus. This eventually resulted in Danai Liao-Centrella, the Dark Ages answer to Kai Allard-Liao.
Sun-Tzu restored such strength and pride to the Capellan people, after they were shattered in the Fourth Succession War, that it is commonly believed he ascended to godhood on his death. In actuality, Sun-Tzu Liao didn't die, but placed himself in cryogenic stasis at the age of 82. Whether he expects to be revived to lead the Capellans again or is just cheating death is unknown.
Is he magnificent? A bastard? TOO much of a bastard?
Sun-Tzu is mostly played as an antagonist in the Clan invasion era, where his schemes are presented as undermining the unity the Inner Sphere must find and maintain to successfully oppose the Clans. But he's not painted as outright evil, or even particularly short-sighted. He's neither unknowing nor uncaring that sparking wars while the Clans remain a threat weakens the Inner Sphere as a whole, but rather that strengthening his nation while everyone else is focused on the Clans will ensure the Capellan Confederation endures once the Clans have been dealt with. And his circumstances are quite empathetic: a young and inexperienced leader handed a shattered nation and broken people after a string of insane rulers, and doing his best to restore some of their pride and glory. He may loathe getting his hands dirty or putting himself at risk, but he's shrewd, cunning, and excels at dirty tricks (indeed, shrewdness, cunning, and dirty tricks are about all his nation has left).
Verdict?
I think he fits.
Edited by ErikModi on Oct 23rd 2019 at 6:55:59 AM
The Draftsman of Doom
Sun Tzu.
to Sun Tzu
to Valentine and Sun-Tzu Liao.
to Sun Tzu
Yay to Valentine and Sun Tzu.
You know since you talked about how difficult for adult comedies to have MBs, given that they can be too offensive to have anyone qualify, I decide to look back at The Dictator about Tamir Aladeen. for those who weren't present I effort posted Tamir and got him approved but after looking at Tamir again, I'm starting to have doubts. This is the write-up I had for him:
- The Dictator: Tamir Aladeen is the Treacherous Adviser and uncle to Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen who plots to overthrow the titular dictator. Upon arriving in New York City Tamir arranges Aladeen to be kidnapped and killed while he replaces him with a mentally challenged body double, Efawadh. Tamir would then manipulate Efawadh into signing a document that would turn the dictator-ruled country, Wadiya, into a democracy allowing Tamir to sell the countries oil fields to the highest bitter. A plan that fails only due to Aladeen's last minute intervention, Tamir uses this opportunity to make an attempt on Aladeen's life.
Just to be clear everything in that write-up is true, and he is by far the most dignified character in the movie. The problem however after looking over that movie again is that Tamir isn't given a lot much screen time as much of the movie is focuses on his nephew Crosses the Line Twice acts and Tamir is more of a plot device rather than a show stealing villain, though he can be charming in a Comically Serious way (he is played by Ben Kingsley). There was also one scene Tamir kisses Aladeen's armpits (That's probably the least offensive thing in the movie but still) and near the end a scene where Tamir's attempt of Aladeen's life appeared much more desperate on Tamir's part. I thought it would be important to bring these issues up, since a few of my previous candidates that I did get approved (Leslie Meyers and Scott Shelby) but were eventually cut for similar reasons, but I'll leave the decision to wether Tamir needs to be cut or does enough onscreen to qualify.
Edited by G-Editor on Oct 23rd 2019 at 11:50:19 PM
Barb(Its a thread joke you wouldn't get it)
Thanks for being Honest G.
Frankly, I don't see an issue with him staying based on Technicalities, he displays the Charm needed in the screen time he has, and he doesn't need to be this massive, show stealing Villain to count.
Things are really about to get Fun around here
New proposal, from Trilogy of Terror.
This one will be short, as the character only appears in one segment of about 20 minutes.
Who's the candidate?
Julie Etheridge, a seemingly mild-mannered English professor.
What does she do?
In truth, Julie is a Serial Killer with a love of manipulating dirtbag men. When a student named Chad starts obsessing over Julie, she pretends to be a naive victim being blackmailed into a relationship. After a week ir so, she gets bored and explains the whole scheme to Chad, having already poisoned him. When her latest victim dies, Julie sets a fire in his darkroom to both deatroy the blackmail material and make it look like Chad died in an accident, soon after adding a newspaper clipping to her trophy scrapbook and inviting a new victim into her web.
Intelligence? Charm?
She's smart enough to jnow how to make predators think she's a perfect target while never losong her position as the secret master of the game. She also remains collected even when explaining her scheme and that she did all this For the Evulz.
Thinking on her feet?
Not applicable. Julie's scheme goes off without a hitch and she never faces any unanticipated danger.
How bastard is she?
Yes, she's a sadist manipulating men until she can kill them for fun. But given that she goes exclusively after scumbags? I'm gonna say she isn't too terrible for the trope.
Competition?
The film's an anthology, wuth no indication that the three stories take place in the same unoverse, so I'll just focus on Chad: She plays him like a goddamned fiddle, subtly pushing him into more and more extreme predation until she gets bored and kills him without issue. Chad is an idiot and basically exists in the film to be Julie's toy.
Verdict?
Edited by DemonDuckofDoom on Oct 24th 2019 at 2:26:50 AM
Yes to her and cut the Dictator.
The Draftsman of Doom
Despite the fact that For the Evulz is normally not compatible with being an MB in my opinion, I'd say the fact that Etheridge doesn't target the innocent, as well as her intelligence, makes me inclined to easily suggest keeping.
Abstain on Tamir.
Edited by SkyCat32 on Oct 24th 2019 at 9:29:48 AM
Yes to Duck's and I'm going to say cut Tamir.
I've spotted a Magnificent Bastard pothole on the Awesome Moments page for Only Fools and Horses, which by my own admission was one of mine from way back when:
- The third time (they get the best of Corrupt Cop, Roy Slater) pushes the Trotter brothers to borderline Magnificent Bastard territory. They blackmail Slater, with the promise that they will send to the police, a photocopy of a letter from a diamond merchant regarding 10 undiscovered diamonds that Slater had kept aside before the smuggling racket fell through. They tell him to divorce Raquel, leave Peckham for good and keep his mouth shut about his marriage to Raquel.note Slater complies and leaves, but true to form when it comes to the Trotters there was an element of bluff; the photocopier was never working. Good old Del Boy, he may a chronic liar, but that's why we love him.
There's also one that isn't mine:
- In "A Losing Streak", a crowning moment for Del when after playing Magnificent Bastard Boycie at high stakes poker, he bets everything he owns on the last card stating his belief that Boycie is bluffing; Boycie managing to cheat and replace the cards dealt to him with four kings. After Boycie reveals his hand, an apparently shocked Del keeps Boycie hanging on by stating he just has "two pairs" before revealing that this is "one pair of aces... and pair of aces." The conversation that follows this.
As much as I love the show, none of the characters fit the criteria, mine just came from the days when Magnificent Bastard was a catch-all term for "coolest villain ever" or "Oh, you sly dog, you got them good!" Just wanted to know if it's okay to edit it, I know how I'd rewrite it now.
The Draftsman of Doom
Go ahead and rephrase.
- The Shadow Zone: Undead Express: Valentine is the charming leader of the subterranean vampires. Having been forcibly turned and confined underground, Valentine has killed and turned many others. Growing weary of his undead existence, Valentine takes the chance to befriend and manipulate teenage hero Zack, bonding with the boy and seeing the outside world again. Having Zack's friends kidnapped to lure Zack into freeing the vampires, Valentine reveals his true scheme was to die and to take the ravenous, murderous undead coven with him by purposefully sending them into sunlight, dying in complete peace by the end.
Got a few things to take care of today and there's a few things I've gotta play around with on the drafts, so I'll get to that either tonight or tomorrow.
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]")
Valentine.
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