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:
- 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.
- 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".
- 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:
- 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!
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Votes must be for specific candidates, meaning no blanket voting (i.e. "yes to everyone I missed").
- 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.
- '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!
- 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.
- 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.
- If you are suspended from parts of the website, it is still possible to participate!
- 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.
- 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.
- Please keep all discussions "in-house".
- What other wikis use for CM equivalents is irrelevant here.
- 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.
- 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:
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
Okay, I'm gonna wrap up Saint and move onto one of the Cyberpunk guys I had in mind...
What has Ripper done?
- Ripper (mainly appearing in the Danger Girl Dossier) is perhaps the most sadistic and violent member of the Maelstrom, the most sadistic and violent gang in Night City—which is saying something. Ripper was brought on by the gang's leader Warlock to properly organize his scavver armies—and it's remarked "of all Warlock's decisions, this is the one most likely to bite him."
- Formerly working as an enforcer for one of Warlock's Co-Dragons, Quake, Ripper's job description entailed beauties like "disemboweling Inquisitors, slicing parts of deadbeats, dragging traitors behind his van for a 'chat'" but after he graduated to the organizer of Maelstrom's scavver army, Ripper truly went to work. Ripper entices scavvers (whose day job, mind job, involves scavenging in radioactive hellholes populated with nightmarish monsters) with chances to become proper members of the Maelstrom. The catch is…they have to pass his "Tests" first, sadistically agonizing trials that push the poor bastards who partake in them to the brink. The survivors are inevitably scarred both physically and mentally…if you survive. The survival rate is one in twenty.
- In one particularly horrifying "Test," a newer recruit named Ghoul was selected by Ripper for his trials. For his final Test, Ripper is offered a carbon-crystal fighting knife…that Ripper then drops in a pot of molten aluminum and forces Ghoul to take out with his bare hands. "Two tries and a lot of screaming" later—and minus a pair of hands, which Ghoul replaces with prosthetics—Ghoul becomes a Maelstrom member, horribly messed up in body and in mind by Ripper like so many other recruits.
- For the time being, Ripper is ostensibly loyal to Warlock, but he's not afraid to hide details (like the sheer number of "cast-off corpses" he's left behind him, for starters; Ripper keeps his boss in the dark about the true casualty rates of the Trials) and it's remarked that Ripper's loyalty to Warlock is a fickle, fickle thing…
- Laughable. He's not on-page much, but what we see is easily seen enough of him to gauge the kind of character he is. Maelstrom is considered the most dangerous gang in Night City. They specialize in all manners of Cruel and Unusual Death, widespread gang executions…even their raves result in dozens of casualties every time they're thrown. Ripper is exemplary even by those standards.
- See above. You have to be really, really evil to stand out in Night City's gritty crapsack universe, but Ripper cuts it, both in-universe and out.
Edited by Starkrafty on Mar 25th 2024 at 8:08:40 AM
Westhaven, Palps, Brightman, Captain Fried, Ripper
I'll put Darramouss under his boss' existing entry on YMMV.Creature Of Havoc, copied-and-pasted verbatim:
- Creature of Havoc:
- Zharradan Marr is the former cabal mate of Zagor and Balthus Dire, and easily the worst of the so-called "Demonic Three". After the trio murdered their mentor, Volgerra Darkstorm, Zharradan struck out on his own, becoming the despotic ruler of the region around Trolltooth Pass, and aiming to extend his rule over the whole of the continent. Using mind-control drugs and fear to keep his soldiers in line, Zharradan assembled a slave-mining force and an army of cannibal monsters, sacrificing countless sapient beings to the mines and his army's hunger. Experimenting with transformational magic, Zharradan Marr transformed the Captain of the Galleykeep into the titular Creature of Havoc, then turned it loose in his dungeons, arranging for the Creature to encounter, kill, and cannibalize many members of the Galleykeep's former crew along the way. More than happy to discard his henchmen for failing him or outliving their usefulness, Zharradan's final attempt at manipulating the Creature into killing Vallaska Roue and handing over the secrets of Elven magic that would grant him mastery over the very stuff of life, cemented his position as one of the worst beings on the continent of Allansia.
- Darramouss is a half-elven lich and Zharradan Marr's personal Torture Technician, tasked with orders of carrying executions which Darramouss welcomes with delight, gleefully having prisoners privately tortured in his dungeons before sending them to their deaths. After being granted control of the Yellowstone Mines, Darramouss' first course of action is to have the mine's previous keeper, Hannicus, blinded before throwing Hannicus into the dungeons, before ending the paying system of labourers, turning Yellowstone Mines into a slave camp. Organizing large-scale raids for more slaves regularly, Darramouss even dabbles in necromatic mutations turning selected prisoners into mindles monsters which he sends to aimlessly roam the mines and devour escapees.
Aaaaaand... the brotherly reunion not happening. Guess hell is not big enough for The Doctor and his brother
- High Risk: Rabbit is the younger brother and primary henchman of The Doctor, and a willing supporter to the Doctor's various terrorist attacks for extortion. Introduced leading his men in herding a school full of children into a bus to target a tycoon's child for ransom, Rabbit guns down a teacher to silence everyone and helps the Doctor strap a Time Bomb underneath the bus, whose resulting explosion kills everyone including Li Kit's family. Rabbit would later assist the Doctor's heist of raiding Hotel Grandeur's jewelry exhibition on it's opening day, spearheading massacre of the lobby's staff before taking over the penthouse where all the guests are gathered, personally executing the hotel's unarmed security chief for being unable to unlock the display cabinets. When Li Kit interrupts the raid, Rabbit casually guns down fleeing hostages and later traps Helen in a room full of poisonous reptiles, trying to kill her because She Knows Too Much.
Been a while since I’ve done one of these. And since I’m proposing a Big Bad, it’ll be an effort post.
What is the work: Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge, the final season of the original continuity for Bakugan (specifically the second arc).
Who is the candidate? What have they done?
Coredegon/Mechtavius Destroyer is a rogue Mechtogan obsessed with wiping out all the Bakugan so he can’t be summoned to do battle. Introduced destroying his progenitor Fury, Coredegon and his entourage then travel to Bakugan City on Earth to wipe out all the Bakugan living there, along with their human partners. Defeated, Coredegon abducts the human Gunz Lazar and copies his appearance to become Wiseman, a guise he uses to recruit the Nonet Bakugan to empower him and his fellow Mechtogan under the pretence of attacking humans to force them to give up their Bakugan. In battle, Coredegon/Wiseman proves perfectly willing to use underhanded tactics such as directly attacking his opponents to prevent them from rolling their Bakugan/summoning aid. He then uses Gunz’s likeness to infiltrate the Brawlers’ HQ to steal a Bakumeter that allows him to summon Battle Suits for the Nonets, making the Brawlers, including Gunz’s partner Reptak, think their friend has betrayed them in the process. Managing to defeat the Brawlers, Coredegon offers to spare Bakugan City from destruction if the Bralwers kill their own partners. Regaining his full power, Coredegon murders the Nonet Balista for suspecting his true operation, before revealing himself to both sides by attacking them. Banishing the Brawlers to spend an eternity in the Doom Dimension, Coredegon then slaughters the Nonets for standing up to him by preventing them from returning to ball form to recover from damage, and in one Bad Future, murders all the Bakugan throughout the dimensions along with their partners and people living with them.
Any mitigating factors/Freudian Excuse? None. Coredegon’s only real moment of doing anything nice is complementing Drago on his strength. His reason for villainy (being a Mechtogan, which means that a Bakugan can call upon him to aid in battles) isn’t shared by any other Mechtogan in the series other than his minions. Even Genesis Dragonoid points out how flawed his motions are.
Do they meet the Heinousness Standard? The previous two Big Bads in Bakugan both successfully got nominated for Complete Monster status, and like Coredegon, they also go Omnicidal Maniac. But whereas those two only became genocidal after a Villainous Breakdown, Coredegon wanted that goal from day one. And the other villains in this arc are either capable of redemption (the Nonets, Gunz) or Coredegon’s Living Prop minions (Slicerak, Exostriker and Mandibor).
Final Verdict? Cruel, sadistic and devoid of all emotions other than rage and selfishness, Coredegon more than earned his status as the Brawlers final and greatest enemy.

You’re a fan of this series? I never knew that.