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
Goku Black
![[tdown]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_down_emoticon_3571.png "[thumb down]"){kind=small}
Nova then.
Alright here's a very bizarre(ly awesome!) candidate and my half of the collab. Jackie will get to his when he's got time:
What's the work?
FLCL and its late-arriving sequels Progressive & Alternative basically involve a sexually frustrated and psychologically troubled cast a la Evangelion but with comedic overtones set to its themes instead of the more serious ones of the latter. In the small Japanese town of Mabase, where allegedly nothing ever happens until the building of a mysterious factory, the "Medical Mechanica" plant and sudden sprouting of robots popping out of the noggins of people with "the right kind of head". Wacky hijinks to ensue as we learn more about the mysterious corporation as our characters learn to deal with their own personal issues.
The first series deals with protagonist Naota Nandaba as he's used to summon the robot Canti from a whack in his head by a rambunctious woman riding a vespa with crazy pink hair. Our first candidate? Said woman and the closest thing to a Big Bad the works have, who claims to go by the name Haruko Haruhara, an alien claiming to be a galactic police officer.
Who is Haruko? What has she done?
After crashing into Naota and causing Canti to come into existence, Haruko mostly presents as a silly goofball who spends her days picking her nose and flirting with Naota's father, much to the latter's chagrin. Underneath the facade however, she can also be seen seemingly contacting her superiors in the mysterious organization of alien police, claiming Canti is one of Medical Mechanica's robots and she has recruited it for their purposes. Throughout the series, further Mechanica robots are fought but through a combination of Haruko's plotting and deploying Canti, whom after devouring Naota (don't worry he can defecate him out after), suddenly gains a mysterious strength boost and crushes the enemies of each episode.
Later into the work we discover Haruko, whose real name is Haruha Raharu, as revealed by secret government agent Amaro, seeks people with foreheads which can open a gate to pull objects through and activated when the person is sexually frustrated—word play in Japanese will get you "Fooly Cool" out of this—and she had previously used Amaro as she now does Naota to... summon robots/guitars/other objects from outer space, which is known as an "N.O." ability, in her plans. What plans you ask? Why, to covet the power of the "Pirate King", Atomsk, who has the greatest N.O. strength of any being in the universe and Haruko's sorta Love Interest who is currently being held captive by Medical Mechanica. Everything she's been doing so far? Getting closer and closer to activating a "core" to turn on Medical Mechanica's plant, which will allow her to free Atomsk as the building has no way to enter without N.O. power.
Defeating Amaro and his fellow servicemen as they come to arrest her, Haruko activates the core to turn on Medical Mechanica's factory and free Atomsk from within. Even though the result nearly destroys the planet as the plant activates and she battles Naota for Atomsk's power which is now being driven through Canti. Coming to close victory, Haruko is overpowered in combat by Naota now being fuelled by Atomsk, though accepts her defeat after Naota confesses his love for her. Having grown to look at him as a little brother, Haruko departs to continue searching for Atomsk, leaving Naota in Mabuse to grow up and enjoy his youth uninterrupted by her bizarre quest.
The end? Not quite... years later Haruko returns to Mabuse at Atomsk's has been taken in by Medical Mechanica once more and his contact with Haruko has split her into two beings: "Raharu" who resembles her original self in look and personality and seeks Atomsk for his power and Jinyu who loves Atomsk and wishes for him to be free of all shackles and frenemy of Raharu. Posing as the teacher of two N.O.-rich students: Iide and new protagonist Hidomi, Raharu/Haruko manipulates them to her own ends and eventually forms an alliance with her Jinyu half to free Atomsk from Medical Mechanica in a temporary truce to further both of their goals. When the two do come into conflict? Haruko promptly devours Jinyu and strings Hidomi along into absorbing Iide and causing an abundance of N.O. power in the air for her to make a move on Atomsk as Medical Mechanica prepares to attempt to destroy the Earth again.
Meanwhile Hidomi and Haruko fight one-another, with Haruko offering her an alliance but respecting her decision. Invading the space holding Atomsk thanks to Hidomi's N.O. powers, the duo call another temporary truce with her as Haruko aims to unleash Atomsk and Hidomi to free Iide, they delve deeper into Medical Mechanica and with the return of Cant are able to free both Atomsk and Iide. Again though, Atomsk rejects Haruko and though she is at first driven to tears by this, he is moved by her emotion and offers her an embrace before departing and leaving Jinyu whole once again. Offering Hidomi and Iide some parting advice, Haruko admits her quest for Atomsk is a pointless one but keeps her entertained all the same and departs on her vespa to continue her chase throughout the galaxy.
Now Alternative? Is indicated to be a Stealth Prequel and Haruko takes a massive step down in villainy. She's kind of a jerk to the main characters... such as flirting with the boyfriend of one of the protagonist's friends but she helps them in each episode and even after causing a breakup, happily humiliates the guy to take the girls' side. She's still quite bright and tactical and ends up saving the world from Medical Mechanica by using guile to get the assistance of this series' resident N.O.-gate powerful main character, Kana but all the same she's not really a villain anymore, so I'm just going to leave it at that.
How do her actions and personality show she is a Magnificent Bitch?
Verily, while it's easy to write off Haruko as just a nutcase happy to cause as much chaos as possible, she works her way to her goal—which she keeps hidden from just about everyone for 90% of the first series—through a series of manipulations and carefully plotted moves, having everyone and everything dance to her tune. In terms of personality she's Crazy Awesome you just can't help but love and even while almost causing the end of the world, really does come to care for the people she's using as puppets and shows she has a heart.
Also here, the space agency she's ostensibly working for seems to have no clue about her true end goal, so it's more than just Earthlings she's fooling.
Mitigating factors?
While Haruko does almost cause the end of the world, the works tone helps here. We've got many characters who have tried to pull an Earth-Shattering Kaboom directly and in Haruko's case it's not even that so much as she's willing to let Medical Mechanica destroy the planet as long as her object of obsession/power source can be unleashed. She also relents here, throwing the idea aside after Naota reminds her people are worth carrying about and while still happily destructive in Progressive, is nowhere near as violent and doesn't aim to allow Medical Mechanica to flatten the Earth as she tries to take Atomsk from them. Also helping here is that she's got redeeming features and humour in contrast to Medical Mechanica themselves, who have a history of planetary destruction under their belts, are presented as a faceless, galaxy-wide corporation without an ounce of humanization to what they do.
We've already had keepers toy with people's emotions but just to cover it off: while N.O. power is activated through sexual arousal, Haruko will tease the cast and takes advantage of the Precocious Crush of Naota, she has no interest in their sexuality themselves and even during a scene where she kisses Naota in CPR, breaks the fourth wall to explain how awkward it was to shoot. She also canonically only loves Atomsk and there are no predatory undertones to what she does, again in this works tone it's all light, silly humour. Notably, what makes her choose to leave Naota alone is when he says he loves her and decides to stop toying with him, who she has genuinely grown to care for and leaves for space alone. Also the only person she seems to be willing to have sex with to test out their N.O. powers is Naota's very much adult father.
Verdict?
Keeper number one from FLCL. Quite possibly the most unique Gendo Expy ever written under all of the comedy thrown into the writing.
Goku Black
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Haruko
How is the anime ?
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
Fantastic
to Eisenheim.
Mir: I like your write up, those feel like important details that were left out.
@ Kirby, Sorry but I missed your question: for a candidate to be "approved" it means they have at least five more upvotes than downvotes.
The Draftsman of Doom
Nova.
Haruko.
You guys wanted to hear this effortpost out. I have my concerns. Don't say I didn't warn you...
What is the work?
Terminal is a 2018 neo-noir film. The paths of a terminally ill suicidal man, a waitress/dancer, two assassins, and a terminal custodian cross in a game of cat and mouse involving local mobster Mr. Franklyn.
It turns out that the waitress and the dancer are actually a set of twins looking to avenge the death of their mother, for which Mr. Franklyn is responsible.
I am writing the effortpost in a linear fashion, which the movie does not follow, so bear with me.
Who are Annie and Bonnie Merriweather, and how do they operate?
Annie and Bonnie Merriweather seek vengeance against Mr. Franklyn - in actuality, their absent father Clinton Sharp - for the death of their mother, Chloe Merriweather as children, as well as landing them as wards of the precinct. After gathering information on Franklyn's frequent role in assassinations, Bonnie kills Franklyn's assasin, Nigel Illing while posing as a prostitute, leaving a severed appendage for Franklyn to discover, while Annie arranges an agreement with Franklyn that she becomes his contractor if she manages to take out his other potential candidates, arranging for Franklyn to find her former teacher, Bill Braithwaite, in return.
Once Mr. Franklyn has arranged for two assassins, Vince and Alfred, to pick up a briefcase from the terminal lockers containing a matchbook and a stack of cash, Annie seduces the junior assassin Alfred while posing as a waitress, slowly turning him against his senior partner Vince.
When the matchbook leads the assassins to a dance club called La Lapin Blanche, where Bonnie works, Bonnie poses as Annie to continue sowing discord among the assassins, taking the money from the briefcase as payment for passing information about the supposed hit.
Mr. Franklyn arranges for the assassins to wait in as apartment to shoot a target in the opposite window when told, with Vince told to kill Alfred via phone call. Annie tells Alfred that Vince intends to kill him in order to completely turn Alfred against Vince.
While the assassins wait in the apartment, Annie converses with the sickly Bill in the End of the Line Café, where she works. She lures him into a chasm, where after failing to convince him to jump to his death, she stabs him with his own pen and pushes him down the chasm, revealing that she was one of the victims of his abuse.
Once Franklyn calls the assassins' apartment, telling them to take the shot, Annie appears in the window across, and Alfred turns on Vince, shooting him in Annie's presence, while Annie behaves affectionately towards Alfred.
In the terminal, Annie and Bonnie switch places, and Bonnie kills Alfred while revealing her affections were false. She reveals by mistaking the janitor (in reality Franklyn) for Annie that Annie's affections for Alfred were not entirely fake, pulling a gun when she realizes it isn't Annie, then enlisting the janitor's help to dispose of the bodies down the chasm where Bill went.
After Franklyn pledges his full financial support, Annie and Bonnie confront him as he is leaving his lair, drag him back, give a motive rant detailing how Franklyn, AKA Clinton Sharp ruined their life by killing their mother, before lobotomizing him and driving a nail into his temple. The girls then walk off into the distance.
Are they intelligent and charismatic?
They manage to charm Mr. Franklyn into giving them their business, and Alfred into turning against his partner, Vincent. Annie herself manages to manipulate Bill into a vulnerable situation where she can kill him.
Admittedly, Margot Robbie has an excellent screen presence in this movie.
Are they devious and unsavoury?
They kill a mob boss' assassin, set up a plot whereby the possible replacements are set upon each other, kill their former abusive teacher, and it's all just an elaborate scheme to avenge their mother's death.
Are they too smug, vile or petty?
There are a lot of things which concern me here:
- Annie takes pleasure in playing sadistic mind games with Bill (although considering that he sexually abused her, one can hardly blame her).
- When Annie finds out her former abusive teacher Bill Braithwaite is dying, she tries to goad him into suicide, and sarcastically encourages him to "rape and pillage to his heart's content".
- Bonnie impersonates Annie and pretends to be affectionate towards Alfred, leaving it ambiguous if she slept with Alfred or not, which opens the can of worms known as the Bed Trick (we know Alfred slept with one of them at least once).
- Annie and Bonnie lobotomize Franklyn in revenge for killing their mother, Chloe Merriweather.
Do they have any competition?
They play everyone else like fiddles, although Alfred almost considers the possibility that his new squeeze might betray him. Mr. Franklyn himself is a schemer, but he too is played by his own daughters.
Bonnie almost blows her cover when she thinks that the Janitor is Annie, but quickly recovers.
Verdict?
There are too many complicating factors for me to be comfortable approving these candidates. For once, I'm saying "no" outright.
![[down]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_down.png "[down]"){kind=icon}
I know. I just don't know if an MB is supposed to make rape jokes; also, telling someone to kill themselves doesn't exactly strike me as magnificent. I mean, Bill fucking deserves it, but there is an element of pettiness, in my opinion, to that sort of thing.
Addendum: I stand corrected.
Edited by SkyCat32 on May 4th 2020 at 9:30:33 AM
Feels good, don't it?
Sky, this trope isn't "Magnificent Nice Person" I haven't seen the film but unless they're played with the tone of successful Smug Snakes or Slimeballs I'm leaning yeah here.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
This doesn't sound like it's framed as rape... we didn't cut Lilith from Sabrina for being intimate with the fiancee of the woman whose body she's using.
He's her abuser, an MB should brutally show someone who hurt them they're not to be fucked with. Look what Charlotte did to Anton. Look what Lara did to her father.
Edited by 43110 on May 4th 2020 at 9:26:34 AM
The Draftsman of Doom
Thank you for your input, 43. This item is honestly not as cut and dry as CM, so I have a little more trouble with it than I do there.
Feels good, don't it?
That's okay, that's why we talk about things here. You're going to run into a lot of scenarios where the question is going to be "Well how is it framed?"
Goku Black
Merriweather twins.
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
Yes to Haruko and the Merriweather twins.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
the Merriweather twins and Haruko.
Edited by Riley1sCool on May 4th 2020 at 7:00:42 AM
Though I think this not being "as cut and dry as CM" is just by virtue of their being more moving parts here. There it's heinousness x mitigating factors and even with those two there are a lot of questions to ask... like how many CMs/near=CMs just walk the line a little too close/not close enough to having a loved one? How many "Bad on paper, generic in practice" candidates have we had? Here we see similar scenarios spread across the "Magnificent" and "Bastard" parts... particularly the former since within that you'll get queries on how well they can play events, people, adapt plans and charm. The one that sticks out to me there are the number of cases we've seen where someone ostensibly charming in universe is clearly smug or unpleasant to the audience and that can be confused further by the fact Awesome Ego can apply to both MBs and Evil Is Cool examples of Smug Snakes. It needs a talk and it's why the EP-system saved this damn trope from the cutlist, just like it's big brother CM.
Berserk Button: misusing Berserk Button
Haruka and Twins.
For Haruko, doesn't she go through a Major Villainous Breakdown when Naoto absorbs Atomsk?
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
Not really... she gets pissed off and recovers.
I mean I haven't watched progressive and alternative, but my memory of the scene is that it's pretty big as a Villainous Breakdown, so I will abstain.
Here it is for reference:
She... gets mad while they're fighting. Again, she leaves the series accepting her loss and leaving Naota alone and she's just as functional and devious in Progressive... I fail to see this as a major blackspot.
to Haruko and the twins
Thinking on Haruko, changing to , there's her getting enraged when Naoto absorbs Atomsk, then there's her crying when Atomsk rejects her. I know she recovers, but that's too much for me.
Lizzid people!
Giving a for Haruko...but the anime was a little too bizarre for my liking.
@ J, I get this is a more complex case than most but we've got Azula listed who breaks down way worse than anything Haruko does before recovering... we've got Ares who tried to destroy the planet alongside his sister when she refused to join him... the original version of Chayne Summers goes out fighting in rage and heartbreak... Gordon Gekko bounces back after a Smug Snake takedown. With Haruko there's a clear pattern of growth and recovery and again, in her first "breakdown" she gets mad for all of 30 seconds while fighting with Naota. In her second her actions are so touching an Eldritch Abomination is moved to comfort her and she goes on to happily face whatever the future holds with every indication she's grown to do so. Imo the emphasis is in the right place for her to count here.
The Draftsman of Doom
I will need help trimming this, please.
- Terminal: Annie and Bonnie Merriweather seek vengeance against Mr. Franklyn - in actuality, their absent father Clinton Sharp, who poses as a terminal janitor - for the death of their mother, Chloe Merriweather as children, as well as landing them as wards of the precinct. To this end, they gather information on Franklyn's frequent role in assassinations, with Bonnie posing as a prostitute, killing Franklyn's assassin, Nigel Illing, and leaving his appendage for Franklyn's discovery, while Annie bargains to become Franklyn's contractor if she can dispose of her competitors by pitting them against each other; in return, Annie requests that Franklyn deliver her former sexually abusive teacher Bill Braithwaite into her hands. Once Mr. Franklyn has arranged for two assassins, Vince and Alfred, to pick up a briefcase from the terminal lockers containing a matchbook and a stack of cash, Annie seduces the junior assassin Alfred while posing as a waitress, slowly turning him against his senior partner Vince. When the matchbook leads the assassins to a dance club called La Lapin Blanche, where Bonnie works, Bonnie poses as Annie to continue sowing discord among the assassins, taking the money from the briefcase as payment for passing information about the supposed hit. Once Mr. Franklyn arranges for the assassins to wait in an apartment to shoot a target in the opposite window when told, with Franklyn telling Vince to kill Alfred via phone call, Annie tells Alfred that Vince intends to kill him in order to completely turn Alfred against Vince. While the assassins wait in the apartment, Annie confronts Bill, eventually luring him to a chasm where she attempts to goad him into jumping to his death out of revenge for his abuse. When this fails, Annie stabs Bill with his own pen, then throws him down the chasm. When Vince is about to take the shot, Annie reveals that she had turned Alfred against Vince. In the terminal, Bonnie switches places with Annie, assassinating Alfred, before disposing of the bodies with the janitor (in actuality Mr. Franklyn). Once Bonnie has ensured Franklyn's full cooperation, she and Annie confront him as he is leaving his lair, drag him back to his lair, lobotomize him and drive a nail into his temple.
No to Nova in that case.