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Complete Monster Proposal Thread

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Old Complete Monster cleanup thread

Welcome to the Complete Monster proposal thread! This is the thread where new Complete Monster examples are vetted, approved, and written up. If you're looking for the general cleanup thread (for cuts, rewrites, expansions, and the like), please go here

Important: Before suggesting any new examples, please read the Frequently Asked Questions and Common Requests List; if you have any questions, the odds are high they are answered there. Additionally, please check here for the earliest date a work can be discussed (usually two weeks from the U.S. release date) and whether the work has already been reserved by another user.

Here is how the process works:

    Process 

  1. If you have a candidate to propose, you can simply come right in and propose them! If the character's run is brief, such as a single issue of a comic book, then a simple summary of their actions and any potential redeeming qualities will be enough; for longer-running candidates, an effortpost (EP) might be helpful for organizing the proposal. An EP is not outright required, but please be mindful that if a post becomes too clunky and unorganized, it can be very hard for other people to follow.

  2. After the proposal, there will be a 72-hour discussion and voting period, where people may ask questions and vote on the candidate. The number of upvotes must outnumber the downvotes by at least five for the character to be considered "approved".

  3. Three days after the proposal has been made, if the character has been approved, you may post the writeup (the text to be posted on the trope page itself) on the thread and send it to the drafts page. Your candidate will soon be added to the CM subpage. If the work has a page, you should add your candidate to the relevant YMMV page. Voila! It's that simple!

Outside of this process, we do have a few ground rules:

    Ground Rules 

  1. To keep the thread moving at a reasonable pace, there are some restrictions on when a proposal can be made. There should only be a maximum of four EPs posted both per page and per hour to ensure that nothing gets lost in the shuffle; additionally, each individual troper should only be proposing or writing up characters from a maximum of three works at a time (from initial proposals to end of their voting period). If your proposal would fall outside of either of these guidelines, we'd like to ask you to please wait until they would fit within; feel free to type them up on an outside document, and then when the time comes, you can just copy, paste, and post!

  2. No plagiarism of any kind. This is a very serious matter site-wide, as the website could get in actual legal trouble over this; as a result, this can very quickly lead to mod intervention. This can take many different forms:
    1. Direct plagiarism, i.e. wholesale copying. This is not only the easiest to find, but is also the most likely to warrant quick moderator intervention. To be clear, quoting in some places is perfectly acceptable, but it has to be very clear you're quoting from something else and it cannot be anything longer than a sentence or two - if you're quoting an entire work summary from Wikipedia, no one is going to believe you've actually consumed the work, so even if you cite your source, your candidate will be downvoted anyway.
    2. Self-plagiarism. Even if you can prove that you wrote the same text in both places, the site itself can't contain any of the duplicated text. If you already wrote something once before, it's not too hard to write it a second time.
    3. Using another site's work as a template for a proposal. Just because you don't copy and paste something directly doesn't mean it's any harder to detect if you're basing parts or all of your proposal on text someone else wrote. To be clear, this doesn't violate site rules and won't lead to mod intervention, but just like if you directly plagiarize, no one will believe you've consumed the work if you're clearly basing your proposal on something else. This thread largely operates on the honor system, and tweaking someone else's work to pass it off as your own is one of the fastest ways to lose trust.

  3. Don't delete an EP unless you intend to swiftly repost it. We know that there are reasons why you might want to delete an EP, especially if it's being downvoted - rejection is hard, even in a low-stakes environment like this. However, deleting it renders the current discussion null and void, makes it impossible to reference the discussion in the future and can confuse tropers who didn't read it before the deletion. If the issue is temporary (such as formatting problems or a post getting overlooked as the thread moves on), then deleting and quickly reposting the EP is a valid option, but to fully retract an EP, please use the [[strike:]] markup instead.

  4. Votes must be for specific candidates, meaning no blanket voting (i.e. "yes to everyone I missed").

  5. If you are the first person to downvote a candidate, please provide an explanation of why when you do so. We're here for discussions above all, and a hit-and-run downvote doesn't facilitate anything.

  6. 'If a work is already reserved by another user , please don't comment on the work or any potential characters worth discussion before the discussion date. We know how exciting it is when a work has a keeper that you're waiting to talk about, but it's not fair to the person who reserved the work who is just as excited to lead the discussion to see the discussion getting spoiled before they get to do it. On the other hand, if the reservation only has one name attached, shoot them a PM - they may be down for a collaboration, which will get you in on the fun as well!

  7. Please keep the thread on-topic. While discussing the trope is fun and we encourage people to enjoy it, questions like "who's your favorite CM" are off-topic and can lead to thumps. That's the kind of question to take to people's PMs if they're willing. Similarly, while we encourage friendliness and familiarity with other users, posts should always have some kind of thread-relevant purpose; for instance, if you want to wish someone a happy birthday, feel free to, but if it's the only thing in the post, it's off-topic and needs something else alongside it. Again, though, while we strive for a friendly atmosphere, this is not Facebook; life updates are fun, but unless they have some kind of impact on your thread participation, please do not bring it here - we have Yack Fest for that.

  8. Please refrain from asking anything along the lines of "How Did We Miss This One?" In almost every case, the answer is simply "No one thought about it before". This Is a Wiki where everyone has different interests, and the fact that people missed a particular candidate, even one that seems like a textbook example of a trope or a character who is particularly iconic in pop culture, means absolutely nothing. The question is disruptive, has a simple and consistent answer, and provides nothing to any discussion.

  9. If you are suspended from parts of the website, it is still possible to participate!
    1. For users who are suspended from editing the wiki, you still have full access to this thread. You can propose candidates and write them up with no issues whatsoever; while you will have to ask someone else to post the entry to the relevant pages once it is done, all write-ups are considered thread-approved - as in, done by consensus - and thus doing so does not violate any rules regarding meatpuppeting.
    2. If you are suspended from the forums, your participation is limited but not impossible. It is still possible for a forum-suspended user to assist in creating the write-up for a character who has already been approved; as previously mentioned, write-ups are inherently considered a consensus-based edit and thus not tied to any one particular user. However, you can not assist in the proposal of a character; as a proposal is based around the forum rather than the wiki, doing so with a forum suspension qualifies as meatpuppeting.

  10. Please keep all discussions "in-house".
    1. What other wikis use for CM equivalents is irrelevant here.
    2. Please be wary of using other wikis, Fandom or otherwise, as sources of information. They are just as fallible as a site like Wikipedia in regards to accuracy because they can be edited by any user, just as this site can.
    3. Do not attempt to force a communication with an author in an attempt to gather evidence or settle a debate; besides the fact that this is a YMMV trope and thus author intent has variable weight depending on the circumstance, doing so may cross the line into drama exportation, which is prohibited site-wide.

If you would like to use an EP for your candidate, here's the general format. This format does not have to be followed exactly, but these are the main topics that need to be covered:

    Effortpost Template 

What is the work?

This is a brief summary of the work you're going to discuss. We don't need a full plot summary here, just however much we need to understand going into the discussion — it can even be as simple as quoting the summary on the work's page.

Who is the candidate and what have they done?

This is essentially the character's biography — who they are, their story, the crimes they commit, and, preferably (though not required), what happens to the candidate at the end. It does not have to include every single thing they ever do — for some villains, we'd be here all day if that was the case — but it should include the highlights of their journey.

Any redeeming qualities? Freudian Excuse?

This is where any potential redeeming characteristics or tragic backstory should be discussed. Do they have a tragic past? Do they show that Even Evil Has Standards or Even Evil Has Loved Ones? Maybe a Pet the Dog moment or two? This is where these should be discussed in full. Not every potential redeeming moment is a clear-cut disqualifier, but we should hear of any potential issues to ensure the character is discussed in full.

Are they bad enough?

A Complete Monster has to be particularly vile by the standard of the work they appear in. Therefore, you should look at what the character does compared to similar characters in the same work. This takes into account things like:

  • Their resource level (a human Serial Killer can't stand up to an alien Omnicidal Maniac, but they can be bad by the standard of other human serial killers)
  • The amount of time they have to work with (such as a one-shot character versus long-running antagonists)
  • The quantity vs. quality of their crimes compared to others (someone with a lower victim count but far more visceral and personal crimes could be considered as equally bad overall as someone with a higher body count but less horror involved)

Essentially, this section is an analysis of the kinds of villainy shown in the work and an explanation of why this particular character's villainy stands out within it.

Final verdict?

This is where you post your final conclusion on the character in question. You can continue elaborating on your reasons or even just say a simple "yes" or "no"; at this point, we've heard everything we need to hear.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: This thread tackles very serious and dark matters on a daily basis. We will be discussing things like murder, rape, torture, human trafficking, crimes against children, and in particularly dark cases, several of these issues at the same time. We keep a lighthearted air, but all candidates carry the general assumption that these are awful individuals committing disgusting crimes. We ask that if you participate, you do so with the requisite seriousness such dark topics require; exclamations of how gross something is, whether serious or sarcastic, are disrespectful to the topics at hand, and if you cannot handle such topics, please do not participate.

And that's everything you need to know. Welcome to the thread!


Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 12th 2024 at 3:13:36 PM

ACW from Arlington, VA (near Washington, D.C.) Since: Jul, 2009
#12601: Apr 27th 2023 at 1:40:40 PM

Speaking of reserving...it's too early to officially reserve it, but I'd like to request if I could reserve Lighty's novel when it comes out.

EDIT: Also, the pending:

Edited by ACW on Apr 27th 2023 at 5:58:19 AM

futuremoviewriter Since: Jun, 2014
#12602: Apr 27th 2023 at 2:58:55 PM

Considering reserving The Little Mermaid (2023) since it's about a month out now.

TheMadCr0w (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Get out of here, STALKER
#12603: Apr 27th 2023 at 3:14:03 PM

@ACW Thanks for pinging me! I'd also like to thank Beast for helping me with the page [awesome]

I'm normally iffy about creating new Monster pages but the Slender Man Mythos utilizes so many different formats that I feel its necessary at this point, and that's not even getting into the extended universe—HABIT, Mary Asher and Dr. Freuhauf were all expanded upon in supplementary material of the Shared Universe.

[down] Almost, we just need an image and a quote. I have something in mind for both.

Edited by TheMadCr0w on Apr 27th 2023 at 10:24:09 AM

ACW from Arlington, VA (near Washington, D.C.) Since: Jul, 2009
#12604: Apr 27th 2023 at 3:31:58 PM

Oh, I'm fine with the page; I meant are there any more keepers we don't have, or can the page be launched?

Lumberwood Outdated af account from Wouldn't you like to know? Since: Aug, 2018 Relationship Status: And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Outdated af account
#12605: Apr 27th 2023 at 3:34:55 PM

Sincerely, Lumberwood
ACW from Arlington, VA (near Washington, D.C.) Since: Jul, 2009
Lumberwood Outdated af account from Wouldn't you like to know? Since: Aug, 2018 Relationship Status: And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Outdated af account
#12607: Apr 27th 2023 at 3:38:24 PM

Already done! Listed in Films: A to B sandbox.

Edited by Lumberwood on Apr 27th 2023 at 3:39:20 AM

Sincerely, Lumberwood
Ravok Son of Liberty from Big Shell Since: Jun, 2015 Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
Son of Liberty
#12608: Apr 27th 2023 at 4:16:13 PM

Jackie and I'd been planning on tackling The Long Shalom after talks with Lighty on the side, so we'd like to collab on that with you when the time comes, ACW.

Edited by Ravok on Apr 27th 2023 at 4:17:15 AM

No! That is NOT Solid Snake! Stop impersonating him!
ACW from Arlington, VA (near Washington, D.C.) Since: Jul, 2009
#12609: Apr 27th 2023 at 4:40:26 PM

I'm fine with a collab.

Regardless of whether or not there are keepers, the book looks awesome. A mob story combined with supernatural elements, all with a Jewish flavor.

TheMadCr0w (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Get out of here, STALKER
#12610: Apr 27th 2023 at 5:11:51 PM

Wrong thread.

Edited by TheMadCr0w on Apr 27th 2023 at 10:09:53 AM

Lightysnake Since: May, 2010
#12611: Apr 27th 2023 at 8:37:35 PM

  • Hirokin: The brutal tyrant known as "The Griffin" opens the film murdering rebels who refuse to let him know where to find the revolutionary Moss. Griffin rleads his forces to massacre encampments and villages with massive casualties and survivors taken to be butchered in his arenas. Having taken the family of the hero Hirokin, Griffin intends to force them to be his family, finally attempting to rape Hirokin's wife out of frustration near the film's climax.
  • Arthur of the Britons: Rodolph is a brutal Saxon slaver who takes entire Celt and Briton villages, civilians forced to work to death in his quarries as Rodolph lays into them with his whip. With many killed, Rodolph happily orders more shipments, intending on building a mass slavery operation where countless innocents die.

Lightysnake Since: May, 2010
#12612: Apr 27th 2023 at 8:57:37 PM

Moment we've all been waiting for...

What's the work?

Renfield is a 2023 horror-comedy from the POV of Robert Montague Renfield, who some decades ago abandoned his life and family to serve none other than the infamous Count Dracula. Becoming his servant, Renfield refused to see the utter toxicity of their relationship and frequently saw to Dracula's darker needs and self-indulgent whims, while saving him from hunters and moving about to lie low. In modern day, this has brought them to New Orleans, where cop Rebecca Quincy is working on taking down the Lobo crime family and poor Renfield is attempting to deal with his issues by attending a group session for toxic relationships- and using it to find victims for Dracula by taking the group's abusers to the Count....unfortunately, it never goes so easy, does it...?

Who is Dracula?

The Prince of Wallachia. Some call him the Dark One. Others...the Lord of Death. But he is known to most as Dracula. An ancient, sadistic, abusive evil, Dracula lured Renfield to his side and has killed countless people, shown preying on a woman early on...and slaughtering hunters. Dracula has a pattern: go to new area, kill loads of people, get wounded by Hunters, move somewhere new to recover. He manages to get Renfield to help him via appealing to them as friends and how much Dracula cares for him. Renfield? "Maybe he means it this time!"

As Dracula recovers, he's not impressed with Renfield bringing him bad people, demanding innocents: tourists, nuns, cheerleaders (he's annoyed when Renfield tries to make that sexual). This request is admittedly played for laughs, but the humor ends quickly when Dracul begins to plan a major return...not just to take over the world, but to crush humanity and everyone will be food or servants. Renfield is freaked out and breaks from Dracula. When the Lobo crime family goes hunting for Renfield (who killed one of their assassins), Dracula kills everyone with the family heir Teddy, but spares him when he learns Teddy is, well...evil, and has a way to make Drac's plans more efficient with his family and especially his crime boss mom.

Going to see Renfield, Dracula callously breaks down all the poor guy's newly won self esteem, absolutely flensing it to bloody shreds and making it clear how pathetic he thinks Renfield is. He later enters Renfield's grief counseling group and makes fully clear this is pure spite, before slaughtering everyone in the room without even feeding on most of them an promising that he's going to massacre countless innocents so Renfield can suffer for his "betrayal" of daring to want independence and respect.

Allying with the Lobos, Dracula plans to build an army. Renfield teams up with Rebecca and takes the fight to the Lobos, when dracula and the Lobos kidnap Rebecca's sister, plus kill her...Dracula reveals himself to Rebecca and puts on a great show of being well intentioned, lonely and simply wanting someone to help him change....and when Rebecca seems to buy it? Dracula grins wickedly over her shoulder at Renfield.

But Rebecca isn't buying it and she and Renfield take on Dracula before trapping him and proceeding to beat him down, cut him apart and because of ALL the conflicting lure and Dracula always returning from the dead? They cut him to tiny bits, encase them in cement and scatter them through the sewers ensuring if Drac's not dead, he isn't coming back anytime soon...plus using his blood to bring back Rebecca's sister and the counseling group (the leader being disturbed of the "things you see that you cannot unsee. And learn things that you cannot unlearn" about the other side) but...Renfield and Rebecca leave happily, having regained control.

Mitigating issues?

Heinousness? Absolutely there. Dracula's violent slaughters are like a matter of course to him. he happily carries on massacres wherever he goes and the Lobo family can't even begin to come close. As funny as the film gets, Dracula loses a lot of comedy quick, with his plans. The slaughter of the group, contrary to the trailers, is played for absolute horror and Dracula promises to massacre humankind simply to make Renfield suffer.

Speaking of which, let's talk about them...Dracula's relation with Renfield is straight up abusive. Renfield is stuck in a very toxic relationship to a narcissistic sociopath, desperately trying to convince himself Dracula cares about him- a delusion Dracula is very happy to stoke to get his way. when Renfield mildly contradicts him early on, Dracula cuts him open on the spot before healing him. When Renfield dares to want independence and respect, Dracula does everything he can to stamp it out, telling Renfield he deserves only suffering and how much he's going to hurt everyone for Renfield's "crimes" of betrayal. Drac is positively gleeful about it and the one time he displays any humanity, he quickly reveals it as a ruse just so he can take away another person Renfield cares about.

Conclusion?

And a very easy yes to Dracula.

Ravok Son of Liberty from Big Shell Since: Jun, 2015 Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
Son of Liberty
#12613: Apr 27th 2023 at 9:00:18 PM

Yes to Dracula himself, played by Nic Cage himself!

No! That is NOT Solid Snake! Stop impersonating him!
therealjackieboy from Austin, TX Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
#12614: Apr 27th 2023 at 9:00:46 PM

Big [tup] to Nic Cage Dracula

It's Spooky Month!
fanman "To watch it all burn." from Earth-Prime/Earth-1218 Since: Feb, 2022 Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
"To watch it all burn."
#12615: Apr 27th 2023 at 9:01:11 PM

I haven't seen the movie, but would Drac being annoyed Renfield assumed the request for cheerleaders was sexual in nature be a case of Even Evil Has Standards?

Bullman Enid Sinclair Since: Jun, 2018 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
G-Editor The 47th President Since: Mar, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Clown-Face Wild Child from Canada Since: Dec, 2015 Relationship Status: In another castle
Wild Child
#12618: Apr 27th 2023 at 9:12:15 PM

[tup]Dracula.

Why so serious?
SkyCat32 The Draftsman of Doom (Five Year Plan) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
The Draftsman of Doom
#12619: Apr 27th 2023 at 9:15:45 PM

Yes to Renfield (2023) Dracula, because I assume he is merely trying to have his command not be misinterpreted, re: the cheerleader thing.

Lightysnake Since: May, 2010
#12620: Apr 27th 2023 at 9:17:41 PM

That's not a moral standard at all.

AustinDR Lizzid people! (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
futuremoviewriter Since: Jun, 2014
#12622: Apr 27th 2023 at 9:29:56 PM

Might reserve Peter Pan & Wendy if no one else did.

Gonna wait to see Renfield before voting on Dracula, but I had the feeling he might count. Definitely the first CM for Nicolas Cage, but first for Director Chris McKay as well?

Echidna from Ontario, Canada (Striking Back) Relationship Status: Two-timing
#12623: Apr 27th 2023 at 9:41:47 PM

[tup]Dracula. A Nicolas cage CM.

Also decided to reverse To Catch a Killer right now. Let you know if there is any cm there

Edited by Echidna on Apr 27th 2023 at 12:49:57 PM

DoodSlayer136 It's Him from SAGE (Snick Amateur Game Expo) (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
fanman "To watch it all burn." from Earth-Prime/Earth-1218 Since: Feb, 2022 Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
"To watch it all burn."
#12625: Apr 27th 2023 at 9:51:21 PM

Alright, [tup] to Dracula


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