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:
- 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
Also the batch:
- Fushigi Yuugi: The brilliant, ruthless Nakago was once a boy named Ayuru Gi who was taken by the Kutou Emperor after his tribe was destroyed. Used as a Sex Slave, Nakago gained the Emperor's trust and eventually became a general of Kutou. Manipulating the priestess of Seiryuu, Yui Hongo, to his side and winning the loyalties of the legions of Kutou as well as his Seiryuu warriors, Nakago tricks his own subordinate into killing the family of hero Tamahome and often stays a step well ahead of the heroes. Eventually overcoming the Emperor and launching a coup that makes him ruler of Kutou, Nakago comes within a hairsbreadth of having Seiryuu summoned to make himself a god above all gods, even managing to absolve himself of his sins to pass to heaven in his final moments.
- Puella Magi Oriko Magica: White Magical Girl Oriko Mikuni uses a series of manipulations and distractions in order to murder Madoka Kaname to prevent her from inevitably becoming the witch Kriemhild Gretchen and destroying the world. Using the Black Magical Girl Kirika Kure to keep the heroines and even the cunning Kyubey busy, Oriko personally proves a match for the time-travelling Homura Akemi and manages to kill Madoka in one timeline while faking an attack at Kyubey. Wracked with guilt by what she must do, Oriko nevertheless stops at nothing, determined to save the world while outplaying everyone around her.
- Souten no Koumori, by Hiromu Arakawa: The Dreaded Iron Demon ninja leader is a ruthless tactician tasked with assassinating the pre-teen Lord Chiyozuru by the boy's uncle. Carefully surveying Chiyozuru's manor, the leader advances his men until realizing his surrogate daughter and former deadliest ninja, Henpeku-maru, is aiding Chiyozuru, moving swiftly to personally engage her. Chastising Henpeku-maru for her softness in leaving their clan, he nevertheless admits to his own tenderness towards her and foregoes killing her, even when doing so leaves him open to a fatal arrow barrage.
- Str.A.In.: Strategic Armored Infantry: Ralph Werec is the brother of heroine Sara Werec and second-in-command to Captain Vivian Medlock. After discovering that the Union was carrying out horrific experiments on the alien Emilies, a disillusioned Ralph defected from the Union to the Deague, and begins by leading an attack on a Union academy and killing everyone inside. Fighting against his revenge-seeking sister Sara, Ralph leads the Deague in fighting the Union and shows himself to be their greatest threat. Feigning loyalty to the Deague and seducing Vivian to get her and her soldiers on his side, he eventually reveals that he was using them all and betrays Vivian, hijacking the security system to kill her. Revealing that he despises both sides of the war and considers them equally corrupt, Ralph carries out his plan to Kill All Humans as revenge for their sins. Yet, despite opposing her, he loves Sara and explains his motivation to her in hopes that she will join him; when she refuses and defeats him in the final battle, he accepts that he went too far and gives her a tearful, heartfelt goodbye.
- Focus: Nicky Spurgeon is a seasoned con artist running his own team of pickpockters and scammers. Seeing the potential in novice conwoman, Jess Barrett, he takes her under his wing, teaching her how to be a successful con artist. At the Super Bowl, he scams Liyuan Tse out of two million dollars during a gamble by manipulating his subconscious into believing 55 is his lucky number and using Jess as his "blind mouse", he plants one of his inside men on the field with a jersey that says 55. Nicky pretends to work with Rafael Garriga to sabotage a rival racing team while stealing the EXR formula from up under his nose and selling it to various teams. Being captured by Garriga, Nick employs "The Toledo Panic Button"; Nick has his father (who acted as Garriga's right hand man) shoot Nick and take off with Garriga's car.
- Murder Mystery: Juan Carlos Rivera is a family friend of the Quinces who secretly despises them, blaming them for his father losing his legs. Juan works with Grace to dispose of them. He convinces Grace to have Tobey kill Malcolm Quince, helping Grace forge a suicide note under Tobey's name after she killed him. Juan kills Sergai and poisons Cavendish's drink. Lacking the pettiness of his partner, Juan retained the charm and sympathy of the audience, all the while having everyone believe he's an Adorkable Latin man who doesn't know English.
- A Perfect Murder: Steven Taylor schemes to murder his wife and get off completely scot-free as both revenge for her cheating on him, and to gain access to her trust fund worth millions. Upon discovering his wife Emily's infidelity, Steven blackmails and bribes her lover David into assisting him in killing her before creating multiple alibis for himself on the night his brilliant plan goes into motion. When David bungles the otherwise airtight plan by hiring a petty crook to kill Emily, Steven quickly and cleverly stays on top of the situation, manipulating both Emily and the police into suspecting it was a mere robbery gone wrong, and, even as David reveals he has proof of Steven's plans so as to blackmail him into paying David, Steven seemingly gives in only to murder David and get away with all of his money. Steven planned several contingencies on the chance his scheme went awry, rarely loses his cool, and even when Emily discovers the truth of his plans, it's solely because she got suspicious and guessed the combination to his safe where he had temporarily stored David's blackmail proof until he could destroy it.
- Don't be a Hero, by Chris Strange: Morgan Shepherd, better known as Quanta, adored superheroes as a youth and, upon superheroes being defamed and derided by society, makes a plan to bring back the world's reliance on and love for them. Assembling a team of villains he recruits through both charisma and bribery, Quanta stages prison breaks, hijacks a television station, and even allows his own capture only to then escape as part of his scheme. Quanta's final plan is to become a global threat, reviled by humankind simply so that only superheroes can take him down and bring back the "age of the hero," even as he shows disgust at some of his partners' sexually perverted and sadistic personalities. Pulling off his scheme with excellence and all while suffering from a crippling brain tumor that is slowly killing him, Quanta sets the stage for heroes to return and, noting that he's grown attached to being a villain, hopes to serve as a threat for the heroes to fight for years to come.
- How to be a Villain & The Villain's Guide to Better Living, by Neil Zawacki: The unnamed author of these villainous guidebooks is a slick, witty mastermind of diabolical proportions whose singular goal is to make the reader a successful evildoer. Unfailingly supportive and polite to the reader, the author encourages equal opportunities for all in villainous careers while promoting healthy romantic and platonic relationships alike. The author has a bevy of wicked schemes and manipulative tactics for dealing with any number of hero, sidekick, or animal companions that could thwart the reader's rise to infamy, for which the author often suggests dealing with in the bluntest, least dramatic ways possible to ensure slim chances of survival for such a heroic foe. Completely committed to the lifestyle of evil and an advocate for both self-acceptance and enlightenment, the author stands as a devilishly charming supervillain defined by genre savviness.
- Star Trek franchise:
- Star Trek: The Next Generation:
- Q is a clever transcendent being who masquerades as a rambunctious psychopath and tries to join the Enterprise Crew after being kicked out of the Q Continuum, demonstrating his powers by teleporting the Enterprise across the galaxy. Forcing the Enterprise to confront the terrifying Borg and for Jean-Luc Picard to beg for Q's help, Q saves them out of respect for Picard's humility. After the Q Continuum strips him of his powers, Q asked to be teleported to the Enterprise, knowing that Picard's nobility will force Picard to protect him against his various enemies. After regaining his powers Q uses his gifts on Picard to let him change his past so a series of events will allow him to avoid an untimely death, though at the cost of not being as highly-promoted within the Federation, in order to teach him the importance of learning from mistakes and taking risks. In his final appearance in the series, Q is tasked by the Continuum to destroy humanity, but Q does so in a way that Picard can prevent, where Picard creates a Time Paradox when Q shifts him through time and Q provides hints to Picard to resolve the paradox and save humanity.
- "Elementary Dear Data": The hologram of Professor Moriarty, created to be an opponent capable of defeating Data at Holodeck games accesses the computer to learn of his past and the ship, Enterprise, then kidnaps Dr. Pulski, revealing he is self aware, and taking control of the ship's computer. Sealed away until the crew finds a way to free him after making an agreement with Picard, Moriarty returns years later in "Ship in a Bottle" when he's accidentally released. Angry at the crew's failure to free him, Moriarty demands to be released along with his beloved, Countess Regina Barthalomew. Taking control of the ship when Picard refuses, Moriarty threatens to crash it unless he and his loved one are set free. Although Picard wrestles back control of the ship, Moriarty traps Data and Barclay in an illusion on the Holodeck, before accessing Picard's access codes to the real ship, willing to die alongside everyone on board unless his dreams are granted. Although eventually trapped in virtual reality with the countess, Picard had to compromise by allowing Moriarty to live in the bliss of exactly what he wanted to save his crew from the brilliant criminal.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Elim Garak presents himself as merely a plain, simple tailor, but is quickly revealed to be much more then that. A former member of the Cardassian Intelligence outfit, the Obsidian Order, Garak is exiled from Cardassia and forced to live on Deep Space 9. Garak is able to defeat several of his enemies, outwitting arrogant Cardassian military officials like Gul Dukat and Gul Toran. Garak also is able to manipulate the heroes as well, spotting an assassin on the station sent to kill him, Garak blows up his own shop to get Odo investigate the situation and deal with the assassin and gets Worf to defy his orders by playing to his sense of honor. After Cardassia joins the Dominion, Garak is resolved to freeing Cardassia from the Dominion. Garak's masterstroke is forcing the Romulan Empire to declare war on the Dominion by manipulating Sisko into manufacturing evidence of an upcoming attack on Romulus and presenting it to a Romulan Senator. When the Senator decides the evidence is fake, Garak blows up his shuttle, so that the Romulan Empire will think the Dominion killed him and declare war on the Dominion. In the final season, Garak works with Colonel Kira and Legate Damar and uses his skills to help a Cardassian resistance movement overthrow Dominion rule on Cardassia.
- Star Trek: Enterprise: "In a Mirror, Darkly": The Mirror Universe version of Hoshi Sato stands in stark contrast to her reserved Main Universe version as a conniving Social Climber who seduces men in the Terran Military who can advance her career while being no less important to the mission for her linguistic skills in communicating with hostile aliens. Hoshi supports Archer's mission to recover the Defiant from the Tholians and helps him to maintain control over the ship, even exposing a plot by T'Pol and other alien members of the crew in time to stop the uprising dead in its tracks. Seducing Archer's bodyguard Mayweather and tricking Archer into downing a poisoned drink while his guard is down, Hoshi emerges the victor out of the continual backstabbing and uses the threat of the Defiant's advanced weapons systems to declare herself Empress of the Terran Empire.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation:
- Demon: The Fallen: Lucifer himself, First of the Fallen, once led a rebellion against God via his charisma and magnetic leadership. After the Fallen were defeated and sealed in Hell, Lucifer began to manipulate all of human history, teaching mankind sorcery to save his former lieutenants. Upon realizing the monsters they had become, Lucifer propagated the spread of reason and science to weaken them. Upon the end times, Lucifer reveals himself to sway humanity, the Fallen and even the Earthbound how he wishes, defeating some of his old lieutenants with brilliant tactics to place things exactly how he desires and kick off the final battle for the fate of humankind.
- Rose Guns Days: Father Caleb, real name Souhei Keireiji, is the feared head of the Caleb Family mob and the main antagonist of the 1947 arc. A war veteran who seeks to restore a defeated Japan to its former glory, Caleb seeks 100 million Japanese dollars to pay the GHQ to help restore the economy. After teaming up with Club Primavera to defeat rival boss Alfred Akagi, Caleb takes over Primavera and all of City 17, putting a bounty on the Primavera runaways. Caleb uses any means possible, from extortion to murder, to get the money he needs. Despite this, he is well-respected by his men, and he truly loves Miguel and Amanda, his two main subordinates. Nearly defeating Primavera several times, Caleb honorably confronts them in a last stand. After his defeat, he eventually returns to help them fight against greater threats, including the GHQ itself, proving that his loyalty is to the people of Japan first and foremost.
- DC Animation
- Marvel Animation
Edited by 43110 on Apr 19th 2020 at 5:24:38 AM
Since we're discussing quotes. How about this one.
Jude Duarte: We learn how to fight well?
Madoc: We get power by taking it.
Demon: The Fallen: Lucifer himself, First of the Fallen, once led a rebellion against God via his charisma and magnetic leadership. After the Fallen were defeated and sealed in hell, Lucifer began to manipulate all of human history, teaching mankind sorcery to save his former lieutenants. Upon realizing the monsters they had become, Lucifer propagated the spread of reason and science to weaken them. Upon the end times, Lucifer reveals himself to sway humanity, the Fallen and even the Earthbound how he wishes, defeating some of his old lieutenants with brilliant tactics to place things exactly how he desires and kick off the final battle for the fate of humankind.
And yet another Code Lyoko fanfic candidate.
What's the work?
Trente Degrés
is a French-written Code Lyoko one-shot by VioletBottle and released in February 2015 (it's also available on Fanfiction.net
). The story is set in Melbourne, Australia, years after the end of the original series. The main characters are William and Aelita, who only just met there years after William lost touch with the other Lyoko-warriors (Yumi, Jérémie, Ulrich, Aelita, Odd) after X.A.N.A.'s defeat. William, having recently settled in Australia (while Aelita is studying sciences) himself doesn't remember in detail the whole adventure he had with the Lyoko-warriors.
That being said? No, X.A.N.A. isn't our candidate (because I'm not sure he does enough and he's ultimately Out-Gambitted). Our candidate is much, much more surprising.
Who's Aelita Schäffer? What has she done?
See, shortly after X.A.N.A.'s defeat, William and Yumi were about to leave Kadic for college. So, one last time, under William's innocuous request, Ulrich, Yumi, Jérémie, Aelita, Odd and William reunited in the factory, to say goodbye to Yumi and William...
Except the whole thing? Was carefully planned by X.A.N.A., who survived it's defeat in the original series by leaving part of itself inside William. X.A.N.A.-William also carefully trapped the factory to prevent any Lyoko-warrior from escaping, first by blowing up the bridge, the only way to leave the factory. Now possessing William, X.A.N.A. doesn't waste time and kills Ulrich, Yumi and Odd. In that order. Jérémie and Aelita reactivate the Supercomputer (while Aelita virtualizes on Kyoko), hoping to find a way to get rid of X.A.N.A.. But X.A.N.A. is too much of a No-Nonsense Nemesis and kills Jérémie before shutting down the Supercomputer, trapping Aelita inside. It then goes back home and collapses (it later tries to destroy the Supercomputer to kill Aelita for good, but William successfully fought from the inside to reclaim his body), and thus there's no way to link William to the brutal slaughter when the investigations will start, which allows X.A.N.A. to plan out it's next move... It didn't expect William to subconsciously contain him. Meanwhile, when the army is investigating the factory, a young, recently recruited soldier named Thomas Déset, reactivates the Supercomputer, freeing and devirtualizing Aelita. Aelita, at this moment, plans to find William and kill him, killing X.A.N.A by proxy. First charming Thomas, Aelita later learns that the now 25-year old William is now living in Australia. She goes there with Thomas as well to reach her goal. She accidentally bumps into William (who was late to a job interview) and they meet each other once again. Aelita proceeds to reconnect with him and realizes that William... Doesn't remember anything about the Lyoko-warriors' deaths. She gives him her number before leaving.
At night, Aelita and William sent each other messages, with the latter being overjoyed at the thought of reconnecting with one of the Lyoko-warriors after having "lost contact" with them. This goes for the following days, and it looked like Aelita and William never lost contact with each other. A couple days later, Aelita tells William to meet her in a secret place. William goes there... And hears a gunshot. He hides, and hears a cold, vaguely familiar voice (Aelita) and an unknown, masculine one, seemingly talking about their victim... And then Aelita shoots dead the guy she was talking with. She notices William and tells him to follow her. They hid in Aelita's home, and Aelita allows William to sleep there. She wakes up earlier than him and leaves while he's still sleeping. Upon waking up, William, albeit having noticed her with a gun, thinks she's still the innocent Nice Girl he always knew, not suspecting a thing. He notices Jérémie's glasses, and starts remembering his friends' murders. He doubts that his memories are real because he thinks he'd have heard about it if they were dead. Aelita told him that she had the Lyoko-warriors' numbers and that they were still in contact. He then proceeds to call Yumi... No response. He calls Hiroki, Yumi's brother... Who tells him Yumi really did die. William instantly hangs up, realizing that his still vague memories are indeed true, and that he and Aelita are the only Lyoko-warriors still alive. Pretty much shaken by the whole ordeal, finally realizing that well, Aelita is guilty, he hesitates between telling the police or not, but he chose against it, too affected by the memories he recently regained. Aelita calls him and asks him a couple questions to make sure he started remembering stuff. She promptly tells him to meet her in the beach. There, Aelita explains to him what really happened, making sure he remembers everything before she finally shoots him dead.
After succeeding in killing William, Aelita swallows a cyanide pill, quickly joining her target.
Is she charming? Intelligent?
While she's a bitter, vengeful, uncaring and cynical shadow of her former self, Aelita is still the smart girl she was in the original series and is still fully capable of pretending to be her former Nice Girl self, while effortlessly fooling the amnesiac William and slowly bringing back his memories, slowly reconnecting with him, then kill people and willingly letting him stay in her apartment, where he can find the Lyoko-warriors' numbers and Jérémie's glasses, which should allow him to slowly start remembering what happened.
Thinking on her feet?
Upon learning that William left France and was studying in Australia, Aelita went there because she knew no one knew either of them there. Which means it would be easier to get close to William and kill him, and identification of their corpses would take a long time. When she realizes that William is amnesiac, Aelita decides to commit murders in front of him to jog his memory, thus having him remember everything before Aelita kills him.
What about the competition?
X.A.N.A.'s plan was near perfect, but not only William retook control of his body to prevent him from destroying the Supercomputer, but when Thomas reactivated the supercomputer and freed Aelita, it couldn't do anything to stop her from killing William, and thus, killing X.A.N.A. by proxy.
Is she a bastard? Too much of a bastard?
Well, despite having full awareness that William himself is in no way guilty of killing the Lyoko-warriors, Aelita still kills him because she doesn't want any trace of X.A.N.A. left alive. In her last crusade against X.A.N.A., she also kills two innocents, and utterly forgets about them. After succeeding, even when committing suicide, she shows no regret whatsoever for her most depraved deeds, as long as she reached her goal.
That being said... She has a Freudian Excuse. She couldn't do anything as the X.A.N.A.-possessed William killed Yumi, Ulrich, Odd and Jérémie, and she still cares about them. Her goal remains the same : defeat X.A.N.A., albeit with legit Well-Intentioned Extremist undertones.
Verdict ?
I'll leave her case up to you guys.
Edited by GeorgieEnkoom on Apr 19th 2020 at 8:13:05 PM
J’m’arrête pas tant qu’j’vois pas des lignes sur les moniteurs (Not stoppin 'til I see Flatlines)@43110 Pretty much thanks to me having read several of these before joining the thread, and remembering about potential keepers on these!
Berserk Button: misusing Berserk Button
Aelita.
43, mind adding this to the batch?
- Despair Island: Justin, The Eye Candy, is significantly more cunning than in canon. A model born into the Serbian mafia, Justin aims to win the Deadly Game of Total Drama Island and reunite with his family by any means necessary. To that end, he cultivates the image of a dumb pretty boy obsessed with his looks to make the others underestimate him, charms several female contestants into doing what he wants, and manipulates events to get several contestants eliminated. Proceeding to lay low and go beneath suspicion for a while, Justin beats fellow manipulator Alejandro, forms friendships with other campers for his benefit, and eventually manages to win the competition. Despite this, he feels regret for his heinous deeds and forms genuine bonds with his allies, especially Geoff whom he apologizes to. When the Canadian military saves the remaining campers, Justin amiably parts with Geoff and the others and goes on the run from the Serbian mafia, remaining untouchable to the end.
Edited by MasterN on Apr 19th 2020 at 1:02:43 AM
One of these days, all of you will accept me as your supreme overlord.Just dropping by to expose this old unapproved pothole from the Sprite Comic page.
- 8-Bit Theater is a fractured Sadist Show retelling of the first Final Fantasy game for the NES. The "heroes" of our tale are Fighter McWarrior (a naive nimrod obsessed with swords), Black Mage Evilwizardington (a Heroic Comedic Sociopath, though calling someone who was briefly King of Hell "heroic" is stretching the term to the breaking point), Thief Prince Elf of Clan Khee'bler (a Magnificent Bastard elf with a fondness for exploiting the stupidity of those around him with convoluted, fine-print laden contracts, enforced by his crack teams of Lawyer Ninjas), White Mage (the resident Only Sane Woman, who also plays the Deadpan Snarker when Black Mage isn't available) and Red Mage Statscowski (the Munchkin personified, complete with stat-fudging, rules-lawyering, and needlessly complicated plans thwarted by either circumstance, or blissful ignorance of his own stupidity). Quite possibly the single most successful Sprite Comic ever made, as it served as the launchpad for Brian Clevinger's general creative career and inspired countless imitators.
(Removed external links.)
Edited by PurpleEyedGuma on Apr 19th 2020 at 4:38:31 AM

I think we’ve just about gone through all the same arguments on her too.