Misused: Evil Genius

To-do list:

• Retool Evil Genius into a supertrope for other tropes about intelligent villains.
• Move any examples that fit any subtropes after Evil Genius is converted into a supertrope. Progress is being tracked using the Evil Genius Wick Cleaning sandbox.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 7th 2022 at 9:57:53 AM

Opened for discussion.

If you're proposing an index, you could have listed what tropes would go to it. The Chessmaster, Diabolical Mastermind, Evilutionary Biologist, Mad Scientist, Manipulative Bastard ?

For an index I think there's just too few. And the main issue of ZCE (lacks evil or genius) likely comes from 1. Five Bad Band's corpse 2. Trying to be "self-evident from character's role / other tropes". It's possible a cleanup would clear or conextualize most of them if looked closely without needing to know the work. Not to mention Evil Genius is a known stereotype and the wick check showing only 20% overlap means most of these don't fit into abovementioned tropes and the index argument would be too excessive.

I think a middle ground can be made if it's turned into Super-Trope and the discussion moved to a cleanup. Overlapping examples would be moved while examples that don't fit anywhere would have "and is villain" or "is defined as intelligent" appended if nearby tropes show evidence of it.

Agree with most of the points ^. Evil Genius is an existing stereotype independent to the now-defunct Five Bad Band and is the inverse of Dumb Is Good (I'm surprised it's not mentioned in that page). Anyway, turning into a supertrope probably makes more sense than turning them into an index.

Fair points. I'd be more than happy to turn the page into a supertrope.

I prefer Supertrope too.

Supertrope may work, but what do we do about examples like, say, Caesar?

Edit: Oh, found the example:

• USAF Lieutenant General Charles Samson Russell, call-sign "Caesar", is secretly the head of the elite 7th Squadron at the secret base Area 7—which also contains the Sinovirus, a Chinese bioweapon, as well as its vaccine. Caesar is also a top member of the secret racist Air Force society the Brotherhood. Putting into motion a plan he had been working on for 15 years, when the US President visits Area 7, Caesar activates a transmitter attached to the President's heart. If the President's heart stops, or if he fails to match his palm print to the nuclear football every 90 minutes, over a dozen bombs located in the airports of a dozen US cities will go off. Willing to give the President a "final chance", Caesar has 50 7th Squadron members face off against the President's Secret Service detail, which, unbeknownst to Caesar, also includes Shane Schofield, call-sign "Scarecrow", and several of his Marines. Eventually, the President explains Caesar's plot: The cities that would be destroyed would all be Northern cities, as "Caesar wants an America without the North". Then, Caesar, with both the Sinovirus and its cure in his possession, could use the Sinovirus to rid America of its "human waste products"—how he refers to the Black population. Finally, even when the Sinovirus is no longer an issue, Caesar still had a transmitter attached to his own heart, and is planning to die, which would set off the bombs.

Edited by WarJay77 on Aug 23rd 2022 at 5:42:22 AM

"USAF Lieutenant General Charles Samson Russell, call-sign "Caesar""

I have no idea who that is, but he can just be left as Evil Genius, especially when lacking own work page.

Also yeah, a supertrope just means the more specific examples get moved to more specific tropes. It wouldn't mean all the wicks get moved.

Ah, okay, then yeah, a supertrope works, and examples like Caesar can stay where he is.

My only concern is making sure that the subtropes are used correctly. For example, General Ripper is a subtrope of Insane Admiral, and I've noticed a LOT of the use of the former when the latter is meant.

Supertrope

for supertrope

supertrope

I'm good with a supertrope.

Supertrope to the rescue!

Supertrope

I managed to find a fair few potential subtropes:

• The Cracker
• Mad Scientist
• Manipulative Bastard
• Mephistopheles
• Psycho Psychologist

Things that could be listed:

• The Chessmaster (doesn't seem inherently evil)
• Diabolical Mastermind (doesn't seem inherently smart)
• Evilutionary Biologist (already seems to be a Mad Scientist subtrope)
• Magnificent Bastard (is YMMV, but lists Guile Hero as its Good Counterpart)

Also, I feel like the subtropes should be indexed, but I'd like some more opinions on the matter.

I agree with converting this into a supertrope.

Not The Chessmaster - there's no inherent morality attached to it. Magnificent Bastard also claims that it can cover characters that are at least nominally on the side of good.

Otherwise, treating it as a supertrope seems to make sense.

Edited by underCoverSailsman on Aug 23rd 2022 at 11:51:09 AM

Would Evil Sorcerer work as a subtrope?

I've rarely seen them played up for their intelligence, especially compared to the typical "Good Wizard" types.

Merge with The Smart Guy, but as a villainous example.

Uh... why? This is a genuine character archetype, not just an "evil version".

Edited by WarJay77 on Aug 23rd 2022 at 1:03:12 PM

Supertrope sounds good to me.