Old Magnificent Bastard thread
Welcome to the Magnificent Bastard proposal thread! This is the thread where new Magnificent Bastard 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 mitigating features 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 MB 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.
- 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 MB" 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 other 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 MB 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, their goals and methodology, 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 characters, we'd be here all day if that was the case — but it should include the highlights of their journey.
How are they Magnificent?
This is the point where you highlight the character's brilliance. How to they convey their intelligence and charm to the audience? What makes them stand out among the crowd? What are their goals and how do they go about accomplishing them? This part welcomes a lot of creative thinking — not everyone has to be a Machiavellian Diabolical Mastermind to be worth considering here! This is also the time to showcase how the character can think on their feet if it's necessary.
How are they a Bastard? How are they not too bad?
What kinds of moral lines is this character willing to cross for the sake of their goal? Are they willing to let innocents die? Start wars? Commit crimes? The character has to show some kind of unscrupulousness in order to count as a "Bastard". Notably, this character does not necessarily have to be the villain, and an Anti-Hero can cross the line if they're immoral enough, but they have to be immoral somehow.
This is also the section where you then state your case for why they're not too bad. Perhaps their good intentions help mitigate their crimes. Perhaps others are shown to be much worse than them. Perhaps they're prone to Pet the Dog moments or are even fighting on behalf of loved ones. Whatever the case, there are certain lines that an MB can't cross, but as long as their villainy is reasonable for their goal, they can be considered.
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.
And that's everything you need to know. Welcome to the thread!
Edited by Twiddler on Jan 17th 2024 at 5:40:56 AM
The talk about doing inanimate objects makes me want to try the Tiki Man. The movie kind of treats him as more than just a big piece of wood/plastic and he's essentially the driving force behind the plot—with everything that happens ultimately resulting in his benefit by the end of the movie. Would anybody be against this?
Edited by futuremoviewriter on Apr 5th 2023 at 8:48:30 AM
Yeah, hoenstly, I think I would be. Plank is a step too far for me.
While I do think the movie makes Plank unambiguously sentient, the lack of facial expressions and reliance on Johnny to act as third party for translation makes it too hard for the personality aspect of the trope to hit through. I talked about Plank a while back and decided against trying for this reason, so I'll ultimately lean a sad no.
Think you're tough because you made it through Lord of the Rings? Real men survive The Silmarillion.
Lizzid people!
Yeah. The issue is the fact the series never consistently makes it clear whether he is sentient.
Yeah ![[tdown]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_down_emote.png "[thumb down]"){kind=small}
To Plank. As much as I love the piece of wood it’s hard to tell if he’s inanimate or not
The question of sentience isn't the issue honestly. The movie has him driving a bus, so he's blatantly depicted as having sentience. My issue is more lack of a discernible personality.
Think you're tough because you made it through Lord of the Rings? Real men survive The Silmarillion.
The Draftsman of Doom
Not really feeling plank, sadly.
And I thought I was nuts when I successfully effortposted a talking Dr. Seuss monkey.
Edited by SkyCat32 on Apr 5th 2023 at 1:02:23 PM
Feels good, don't it?
The Yggdrasil Cretin
I want to clarify I am not proposing Plank as an unambiguously sentient character but as a character in Johnny's head.
But anyways, about his characterization, other than the personality we know he has from Johnny's descriptions, what helps him be characterized enough imo is the fact there are some "Plank says"s where Johnny repeats Verbatim what Plank "says", and Plank shows enough of a colorful vocabulary to show personality (i.e. "Plank says you throw like a toothpick, Eddy! He won't pay for kiddie rides!" and "Plank says who needs that fatheaded no-neck chicken-livered geek anyway." from "Gimme, Gimme Never Ed")
Edited by KoshaVinka on Apr 5th 2023 at 7:14:13 PM
I’m actually going with a tentative yes for Plank here. As Lore Deluxe mentioned, the movie shows him driving a bus, confirming he is an unambiguously sentient character. While his limited characterization is a bit of a concern, the little bits of personality we do get out of him portray him to be a sly deadpan snarker, so I d o think he’s magnificent enough.
Goku Black
Guys. Could you vote on Emerald's last page.
Alright. Here's my part in the Ninjago collaboration with Emerald. Morro, the Big Bad of season 5 (possessed).
'Who is Morro?
Backstory time. Anyway the Ninja's mentor Sensei Wu took in a young orphan named Morro who was trying to find food in his trash can. Wu trained Morro and discovered that he was the elemental master of wind and encouraged him that he could one day be the green ninja. For years, Morro spent training to achieve this but it was not to be as the weapons meant to choose the green ninja rejected him. Wu stated it was not his destiny. Morro became obsessed with proving destiny wrong and become more reckless, eventually culminating in him leaving Wu believing that Wu didn't care about him and had set his hopes far too high. Eventually he committed an evil act and died, his wicked soul sent to the cursed realm (where evil goes to rest). (And yes I know this is the backstory of Tai Lung from Kung fu panda. That Is intentional so you don't need to make any jokes).
Dying at the young age of according to the creators as just a teenager. When Lord garmadon sacrificed himself to send Lord Chen into the cursed realm, a portal was opened which Morro snuck in from.
Morro has become the right Hand man of the cursed realm which is a living entity (called the preeminent ) which seeks to escape and curse all 16 realms Anyway he starts by attacking the museum to steal the allied armour of Azure which can be used to summon inhabitants from the cursed realm. Anyway possessing a guard he has him call Lloyd the green ninja in and posses him. This has the side effect of taking out the Ninja's powers. Anyway Morro attacks and steals Sensei Wu's staff which can be used as a way to find clues to the location of the tomb of g first spinjitsu master which contains his realm Crystal which can be used to bring the preeminent here.
Anyway after discovering the scroll of air jitsu the first clue has been stolen by Ronin. He summons the soul archer who made a deal with ronin to help him in return for ronins soul as a debt. Anyway the Ninja come. And he waits till they find it be for rushing with it. He uses his moves to defeat them one by one well outrunning and leave them in the dust.
He has his minions acquire Nya's mech to use it to get to Ninjago's highest mountain where the portal the next clue Wil be. Airjitsu is needed for go into the portal and get the sword Thats in this kingdom and use it to on a map to find out where the tomb is. Anyway pulling a few strings they race to the top and get the sword but Morro eventually has it taken away from him. Causing him to fall into an abyss.
Anyway he blackmails Ronin into stealing it and giving it to him at his new liar at the rafted city of Stiix. He than forces Ronin to Send a message to the ninja. This is a trap he's set up and were he originally died. Planning to take them out of the picture. They escape narily as Ronin escapes and saves them.
Anyway during the hunt for the actual tomb of the first spinjitsu master. They corner Ronin in a an ice maze who defuses from Lloyd and has him hostage if they don't give him the Crystal. Still with lloyd no longer possessed, they have their powers back and ambush him. Eventually he ends up stealing the Crystal and opens the portal which needs time to charge before letting the preeminent (the cursed realm) out.
Anyway taking over Stiix, Morro floods it with spirits to await the arrival of the preeminent. The ninjas send the nya the water ninja (water is fatal to ghosts) in Lloyds green gi to ambush him. He fends her off but enough that Lloyd can go for the realm Crystal and evacuate Stiix. When she's in endanger thought Lloyd comes to help and the two square off, Morro stating after this he will b the green ninja. Anyway thE two fight and Lloyd gets the realm Crystal and Morro Is able to manipulate him long enough for the preeminent to arrive by making him think he can use it to get his father back from the cursed realm.
The preeminent snatches him into it and begins it's attack. Morro plans to have Wu's loved ones wiped out but Lloyd arrives and. The two end up battle. When Morro sees that their trying to drag the preeminent into the ocean. So he has his minions protect it by having stixx added to it to turn it into a giant mechanical monster hybrid.
Anyway Lloyd and Morro than fight across the various realms of creation using the realm Crystal before Morro loses him. Nya sinks the preeminent beneath the waves. It tries to drag Morro down with her and Wu takes his hand. Morro states he's only here for the Crystal and has never cared about him but Wu disagrees and state he's always loved him. Morro sadly gives him the Crystal and let's himself be taken by the waves, stating that you can't save those who don't want to be saved.
Anyway Morro comes back when Yang resurrects the various defeated archfoes of the Ninjas and brings Pythor into the fray who wants to get back at his archenemy Lloyd. Morro pretends to be evil but instead helps warn Wu and sabotage Yang's plan. Now at peace and than ascends peacefully into the afterlife. Wishing Wu well.
Magnificent?
Oh yeah. Is he arrogant sure ? Can he back it up? Oh yeah. Hes one of the best fighters in the series. An expert manipulative Bastard able to play peoples emotions. Really cool. He does get A Big "NO!" now and than but their pretty minor and he bounces back. He also always has a new plan. His backstory and relationship is genuinely tragic. And adds a nice pathos to his character. Right one thing to note is that he can be get into Driven by Envy rants at times but it's not totally his fault he ended up like that and honestly he at the end knows he's wrong and reforms and moves on from it. Plus their not like something that interfere with his aims.
'Bastard?'
Okay. So Morro has the occasional kick the dog like trying to kill Wu's loved ones but uh that stuff is kinda normal for main villains. And is it the worst he does being pragmatic for the most part. And him and Wu make up anyway.
But the thing is he's also really sympathetic being in an awful position. He's quite cool. And the whole curse all 16 realms does not leave the realm of PG crimes. Like compared to the visceral horror of genocidal maniacs like Iron Baron and General Vex were good. Plus he reforms and helps atone for what he did.
Conclusion?
Giving him a yeah.
Edited by miraculous on Apr 5th 2023 at 10:26:37 AM
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
Not the Eye
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_up_emote.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
to Morro
The Yggdrasil Cretin
Hehe, this Morro guy's backstory sounds like Tai L-reads the parentheses DAMMIT!
Anyway Morro
Lies and Violence!
No on Plank, Edgy Boi. Mir gave me the okay to do his writeup since I already had it pre-drafted when we started working together.
Edited by EmeraldEmperor on Apr 5th 2023 at 2:39:56 PM
Caesar
Sure to Morro and Nadakhan!
WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY!
To Morro and Nadakhan
Caesar
Ok, my second and biggest from Training Day!
Who is Tommy Campbell? What makes him a candidate?
A former surfer who survived a great white shark attack, Tommy Campbell dedicated himself to fighting crime through any means necessary soon after, and allied with the corrupt but well-intentioned Frank to pull this off.
- Throughout the series, Tommy is one of Frank's right-hands alongside Rebecca. Most every scheme that Frank gets into? Tommy is right there by his side, using his combination of excellent shooting, deduction skills, and cool head to help Frank's plans work out.
- On on case, Tommy works with Rebecca to set up a sniper's nest and take out an entire gang of criminals lured into their crosshairs by Frank; in another, Tommy and Rebecca kidnap a Yakuza thug and, uh, "interrogate" him by pushing him into a shark tank and refusing to let him out until he gives them info.
- Tommy's eye for detail is really, really good as well, as he expertly picks out a killer from a crowd of people just from the sight of him and uses the pattern of gunshot spray during a drive-by to reveal that a seeming innocent bystander was the actual target of the shooting.
- Not only willing to let a women be used as bait to draw out ruthless traffickers but also totally fine with hanging back while an arms dealer murders his own customers to further incriminate himself, Tommy's most notable case comes when he personally leads the charge in rescuing a former friend of his turned crook from a band of corrupt cops, tracking down the transport and preventing their attempt at silencing the crook from being a witness. Tommy skillfully evades pursuers until being caught, at which point he still gets the one-up by dropping a tip and strategy to Frank through a cell call with the hostage-takers, enabling Frank to ride in and distract the kidnappers long enough for Tommy to escape and help Frank kill many of them.
- In the finale, Tommy is one of the several crewmembers who team up and lead a massive, guns-blazing ambush and raid on a cartel compound to save Frank and wipe out the final villains, riding off into the sunset on horses and ready to continue protecting LA in their own way.
Is he magnificent?
He's a carefree surfer-bro who's great with a gun and consistently serves as a major participant in Frank's schemes, ready with a quick shot and an immorality to help his boss's plans succeed. He's definitely a side character to Frank, but he gets an entire episode dedicated to his backstory along with his own quest to save his old pal and take down arms dealers, and his role in Frank's enterprises can't be understated!
Is he a bastard?
Yeah, he's totally onboard with the majority of Frank's corrupt doings in the name of making the city a better place, and he's fully willing to interrogate crooks through such means as fake lawyers or shark tanks lmao
Final Verdict?
Yep!
WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY!
Ultimate Moral Compass
Morro, Nadakhan, and Tommy
Based on the EP, to Tommy.
Ravok, your Smiley writeup never went to the film or YMMV pages by the way. Again Lighty, yours for the Acheron Captain from Master and Commander didn't go to either page as well. I put up placeholders in the sandbox to compensate for the time being.
Anybody else want to weigh in on whether or not the Tiki Man's worth it?
Also, who's planning to do the book version of Hannibal Lecter? I haven't read any of them so it'll have to be someone else.
Had two more candidates to ask about, but forgot though.
Edited by futuremoviewriter on Apr 5th 2023 at 1:59:42 AM
Not the Eye
to Tommy
Goku Black
Tommy.
Yes to Nadakhan, Morro and a big one for Tommy!
Sadly not quite seeing it for plank and... Ravok did Smiley? I genuinely don't recall that EP.
Re: Book!Hannibal, I don't think anyone announced "planning" to do him, if he's a clear cut one we're just gonna have to wait it out until someone reads or recalls it.
Edited by 43110 on Apr 5th 2023 at 5:16:46 AM
Lighty did him Smiley too actually. Here you go.
Edited by futuremoviewriter on Apr 5th 2023 at 2:18:30 AM
Well shit, I even voted on him! My bad memory there. I'm sure he'll get to him when he's got the time for a writeup.
I feel like you guys think I'm sane. That needs to change now. It's time for the craziest (and, depending on who you ask, stupidest) character I'll ever propose here! Buckle your seatbelts and let's sing a song!
What's the Work?!
Ed, Edd n Eddy is a Cartoon Network show from the good ol' days of 1999, one that I hope needs no introduction.In the Cul-de-Sac, many colorful kids live, from the cool guy Kevin to the eccentric immigrant farmer boy Rolf, but a trio stands out among them: Ed, the idiot with a heart of gold, muscles of steel and a love for chickens, Edd or Double D, the neurotic geek with a passion for machinery, book, cleanness and keeping his scalp hidden and Eddy, the No-Neck schemer always on the prowl for some quarters.
In their pursuit of the unreachable Jawbreaker candy, the ill-fated Eds come up with countless ill-fated scams to gain enough cash from the kids.
Incompetent scammers and naive scam-goers, this cartoon doesn't look like it can have anything even resembling an MB, right?...turns out a potential candidate has always been hiding in plain sight.
Who is It?!
Plank is a wooden plank and the imaginary friend of the eccentric kid Johnny 2x4. Never heard by the audience or most of the other kids, Johnny and Plank communicate and we know from countless "Plank says..." from Johnny that this piece of wood is the Voice of Reason of the two, though also a bit of a troublemaker and wise guy as well.A member of the Urban Rangers, an alleged fan of Chinese Literature and someone who "knows people", this piece of wood is more than meets the eye...
Is He Magnificent?!
Plank is the Sane imaginary friend to Johnny's ditzy wise guy. Of the two, Plank is clearly the one who calls the shots, makes the decisions and, in some occasion, tried to even talk Johnny out of falling for a scam (like with a Kung Fu course Eddy was holding).Now, Ed, Edd n Eddy is a show with a very un-magnificent cast of dumb kids, petty assholes, disproportionate retributors and slapstick sufferers all around. But among them, Plank stands out as the most dignified.
First off, while he can be a gratituous asshole like everyone else (like telling Johnny not to let the Eds in a candy shop in an episode), it's not nearly as bad as what other characters in the show do, such as Eddy, Sarah and especially Kevin, and it probably helps a lot that he's the friend of Johnny, one of the nicest guys in the show, so Plank doesn't look bad by proxy through Johnny's actions.
While Plank is not fully immune to the show's slapstick (i.e. being used as a backscratcher by the Kankers until Johnny saved him), with him it's much rarer, briefer and more dignified than with the rest of the characters to the point where it doesn't really become a consistent aspect of his character like with many others (see Eddy and Jimmy). Usually, if Plank's troublemaking has things turn sour for him and Johnny, it's the latter who will actually go through the Butt-monkery, while Plank will usually come out unscathed and dignified.
A lot of Comedy with Plank actually derives from how successful and competent he is despite being a piece of wood: He is a member of the Urban Rangers, he attends school as an actual student apparently, he has tutored Johnny in the past, he is an alleged fan of Chinese Literature and, when Sarah and Jimmy were playing airplane hostess, Johnny got just a few peanuts while Plank got lobster because he "preordered".
Now, when it comes to specific acts of magnificence, there has been more than one episode where Plank has been resourceful, manipulative and a good planner to plot-relevant degrees:
Is He a Bastard?!
As is par for the course with this show, Plank is capable of being a huge jerk (though is never as bad with his pettiness as others like Eddy, Kevin or Sarah are capable of being), but some things make him stand out in bastardity even compared to the other kids.He has a friendship with Johnny 2x4 that seems very toxic and controlling: in "All Eds Are Off" we see that Plank has made Johnny so dependent on him that the kid can barely last a day without Plank with him to tell him what to do and quickly caves in on his bet with Eddy, and in Big Picture Show we see an even darker side of the relationship as Plank very controllingly imposes his vengeful will on Johnny when the latter starts to get reluctant and even physically corners him.
Of course, like almost everything in the show, it's played far too much for ridiculous laughs for it to be too disturbing an abusive relationship and make him too bastardly.
In some episodes, he's gone as far as to endanger the lives of fellow kids, such as the lethal rides he puts the Eds through in "Gimme, Gimme Never Ed" or in "Boom Boom Out Goes the Ed" when he causes the sewers to violently flood despite knowing Edd, Rolf and Kevin were down there (matter of fact, if you rewatch the episode, FridgeBrilliance and Alternative Character Interpretation make you realize that maybe the plan to "get rid of the Mole Mutants" was actually a front to have revenge on Rolf and Kevin who had used Plank to open a manhole). This also doesn't make him too bastardly, as this is a show of pure slapstick where the characters will survive this and more, so the heinous impact of Plank's endangerment is all but null.
Then there's Big Picture Show where, like with the other kids, the Eds' scam has been so bad that Plank is now out to kill them, and in his pursuit is willing to spur Johnny if he gets reluctant and even hijack a bus. When the kids turn against Johnny and Plank due to terrible timing, the two become vengeful towards the whole Cul-de-Sac and the show ends before they can ever redeem.
Can a "Character" Like Him Even Count???!
Now...Is he just a piece of lifeless wood?Probably yes! Danny Antonucci, the man himself, said Plank was just a piece of wood, and even if we wanna kill the author and dismiss his Word of God, All of Plank's Not-So-Imaginary Friend moments either have a possible in-story explanation (He's being moved around, Johnny has very good hearing, etc.) or can be dismissed as part of the show's surrealist humor rather than actual evidence Plank is sentient.
But even if Plank really does only exist in Johnny's head, Tyler Durden and Imaginary Billy Loomis taught us that a complete Thought Form can still be qualified if they are characterized enough, show true manipulation of the person who can perceive them or, through them, even manages to influence the plot and the other characters.
First things, Johnny does believe Plank is real and it's not all a front. Johnny "talks" to Plank even when the two of them are all alone and there's no reason for Johnny to pretend, as seen at various points in Big Picture Show. So Plank does exist in Johnny's mind at least, and whether he's an imaginary friend or a split personality or something, Plank's "words" and "actions" have to be attributed to Plank as an actual person in Jhonny's head rather than to Jhonny himself.
Now, through Johnny's "Plank says..." and scenes of Plank "acting on his own", the audience gets some substantial characterization from Plank, to the point where I'd say he has more personality than Nazz, an actual character. He's a Deadpan Snarker and a trouble-maker, he's the voice of reason of Johnny, though arguably a Control Freak over the boy, he apparently is Book-smart enough to like Chinese literature and have tutored Johnny in the past, he's a thrill-seeker, etc.
And, through some "Plank says..."s where Johnny repeats Verbatim what Plank "tells him", we get some instances of knowing how Plank talks and it's colorful enough for him to have concretely seen personality.
As for his planning, again, we've seen episode where, through Johnny being his Mouth of Sauron, Plank has been able to share clever plans with the other kids (the flush plan in "Boom Boom Out Goes the Ed") or straight up manipulate them throughout (Eddy in "Gimme, Gimme Never Ed").
So I do believe that, even though likely not actually real, Plank, as an imaginary being, is still enough of an established character and schemer to the audience to qualify.
Final Verdict!
This guy is a piece of wood...and yet, he still is not the riskiest character I'll ever try proposing for MBEdited by KoshaVinka on Apr 5th 2023 at 8:08:18 PM