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
Yes to Hazel.
Did anyone ever try to write up Alto Stratus from Star Wars: Republic? If not, I’m not calling dibs on him but might try him in May (which I plan to be my last month befor going on a possibly permanent groping hiatus) if I approve of him in retrospect.
Also, after the rejection of Atticus and Kaddak (who I still feel did after all kill his trainer then broke out of prison and became an Ace Pilot and squadron leader who didn’t fear death and rallied people to put their lives on the line to be Doomed Moral Victors), I think this coming week I may finally have a Legends Republic/Rebellion associated (if not outright affiliated) keeper. Hope that comment isn’t Tempting Fate.
Edited by Melinda on Apr 29th 2023 at 5:26:47 AM
Ultimate Moral Compass
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_up_emote.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Hazel
Hazel and Mad Dog
Edited by Echidna on Apr 29th 2023 at 8:58:56 AM
Lies and Violence!
Let’s not forget Lighty’s please.
Woagh
to Hazel and Mad Dog.
Yes to Mad Dog and Hazel there.
Ultimate Moral Compass
Big to Mad Dog as well
I would have massive issues with Alto Stratus, not least of which being he’s a vicious and sadistic fanatic
So are half the Sith who got upvoted, most of whom have fewer Villain Has a Point or Tragic Villain moments than Stratus.
Edited by Melinda on Apr 29th 2023 at 7:46:01 AM
I don’t know if he is already proposed but just in case he isn’t, I would like to propose Stan Edgar from The Boys as Magnificent Bastard.
WHAT’S THE WORK? The Boys (2019) is a TV show based off a comic book series of the same name. In it a group of vigilantes named the Boys are going up against Superheroes and the company Vought. But here’s the twist. The superheroes, or supes for short, are actually mostly all at best self-centered jerks and at worst psychopaths. The biggest conflict is between Billy Butcher (the leader of the Boys) who has huge beef with the leader of the Seven (the most prominent Super team) Homelander who is an evil psychopath underneath the public persona of being Superman. The Boys also clash with Vought who creates Supes by injecting humans with a drug called Compound V.
WHO IS STAN EDGAR Stan Edgar is the CEO of Vought International, the company that creates the Superheroes. He runs the company while trying to expand his own agenda. He is played by Gincarlo Espesito who plays legendary magnificent bastard Gustavo Fring. Edgar tries to keep Vought on top and also to keep it in good condition and advance its relationship with the government. But he frequently has to deal with Homelander whose narcissism and ego cause messes that he must pick up. Despite being a normal human, he manages to keep Homelander and the other Supes on a leash while he either covers up their collateral damage or/and advances his own agenda. But he has also come to realize that the superheroes are far more trouble than they are worth and so he planned to replace them by creating Temporary V so that way soldiers can get powers only for 24 hours. He’s also the adopted father of Victoria Neuman (real name Nadia). They have a close bond but Victoria exposes Stan on Homelander’s initiative which forces him to all but resign as CEO of Vought. However… Edgar leaves with his dignity intact, telling Homelander that he will inevitably run himself into the ground.
WHAT MAKES HIM MAGNIFICENT Stan Edgar is almost like Gustavo Fring running a superhero company (or rather a pharmaceutical company). He is a ruthless mastermind who is almost always one step ahead of everyone. The earliest showing of his magnificence is when he puts Homelander down with a devastating speech about how he is not the company’s most valuable assets. Even when Homelander tries to get intimidating, Edgar stands his ground and ends up making Homelander feel intimidated. He also employs his adopted daughter Victoria to act as a mole in Congress and also to use her head exploding super power to take out any potential threats. Stan however is shown frequently to be polite and affable. When dealing with Billy Butcher, despite their enmity, he never loses his affable politeness and intends to keep his word to keep Ryan and Becca safe. Edgar also realizes how much trouble Supes are. They tend to be egotistical idiots and jerks at best and psychopathic narcissists at worst. So he was making plans to replace them with Temporary V which would make soldiers get powers only for a day. While it might be just to keep the company image positive, Stan also gives genuine advice to Starlight, one of the very few Supes who actually is kind and wants to be a true hero, and elevates her to co-captain of the Seven. Although he fails to anticipate Victoria turning on him, Stan actually still manages to make it a victory for himself. Homelander comes to gloat but Stan doesn’t even give him the attention he was hoping for. And when Homelander claims that Stan is just nothing, Edgar turns it back on him by asking him why then is he looking for his approval like he is his dad? Stan correctly points out that although Homelander may have taken control of the company he will inevitably run it into the ground and with Stan gone there will be no one left to cover for him. And as the episodes show, Stan was absolutely right. Stan Edgar may have lost his position but he manages to still make it a victory for himself because he won’t have to deal with Homelander’s incompetence anymore and tells the narcissistic manchild that he is not a God as he thinks. He is nothing more than “bad product”.
WHAT MAKES HIM A BASTARD He is the ruthless mastermind of an immoral company that creates Supes who end up becoming terrible people and cause collateral damage. Edgar usually covers up the damage but doesn’t punish the Supes for their recklessness. He also employs psychopaths like Stormfront, a racist Nazi. However Stan isn’t a monster. He is capable of forming genuine bonds like with his adopted daughter Victoria and her daughter. He also doesn’t hold it against her when she gets him ousted as CEO. And despite his immorality he does have standards. He is uncomfortable with Stormfront’s racism and is also annoyed with Homelander’s narcissism and tries to keep him on a leash. FINAL VERDICT Like I said, Stan Edgar is basically Gustavo Fring running a superhero company instead of a fried chicken restaurant. His ruthless mastermind nature combined with his affable character at times as well as the fact that he is probably the only guy who makes the narcissistic psychopath Homelander sputter in disbelief makes him a magnificent bastard. What else can you call a guy who can turn a loss into a victory just by giving an epic “The reason you suck speech” to the guy responsible?
Edited by WhiteWolf4961 on Apr 29th 2023 at 7:54:27 AM
Lies and Violence!
I believe we're waiting on Edgar just in case he has a humiliating breakdown like Stillwell from the original comic.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Lighty. Then again, I haven’t read that arc in a few years so maybe you’re right and he’s worse than I remember, although the images and speech bubbles I’ve found on google images over the last couple days make him look promising.
Did you read Star Wars: Allegiance? The character of Caaldra is one Id like to see make the cut but I am worried he may be disqualified For being Unwitting Pawn to Disra, regardless of His magnificence in planning a doomed rebellion and how he fared in his clashes with Mara Jade.
RIP Toriyama
Yeah, I'm personally a wait-and-see on Edgar, he's got promise but his comic counterpart took a nosedive that knocked him out of the running and the show is very likely to adapt it similarly. And also, what Edgar has presided over across Vought has been shown to include...some pretty messed up stuff that, while maybe not quite enough to disqualify him in itself, on top of other issues makes me say he's worth waiting on. Great layout of his character thus far though!
Yes to Mad Dog and Hazel
Edited by Ravok on Apr 29th 2023 at 8:31:45 AM
Tonight I dine on monkey soup.
Angry babby
Since he's been approved and the writeup was added to the drafts page, I crosswicked Bowie to YMMV.Total Drama. Hope I didn't overstep as I've never gotten a MB passed before now!
I'm also considering reserving the revival of Futurama just in case, even though I'm unsure if it would have any options (I have mixed feelings on some of the options on the page).
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Yes to Mad Dog and Hazel.
Time for the 2nd Trooper effort post. After dealing with the traitors of Havoc Squad, the Trooper is sent to deal with a mysterious new superweapon being developed by the Empire. However, things quickly take a turn when the weapon's designer becomes their sworn enemy and becomes the Big Bad of the Trooper's entire story line. Today I present the Old Republic's version of Admiral Thrawn and proof one doesn't have to be a Force user to be a dangerous threat in Star Wars.
Who is Arkos Rakton?
General Arkos Rakton is considered the greatest tactician and battlefield strategist in all the Sith Empire and has never once been defeated in war. Rakton is universally beloved and respected by both his peers and those under his command for caring deeply for his fellow soldiers and for his devout belief in the Empire over the decadent and corrupt Republic. Almost an enigma among the Empire, Rakton is also extremely moral and goes out of his way to prevent civilian casualties and expressly orders his men to not harm noncombatants. The Gauntlet superweapon mentioned above was masterminded to target starships and other military targets across hyperspace with precision accuracy to avoid civilian casualties. Nevertheless, the Trooper destroys the Gauntlet in their act 2 finale, and Rakton is smart enough to know this will be final straw to reignite full scale war. He declares war on the Republic and launches the first surprise attack in the new Galactic War.
Rakton launches an ambush on a diplomatic summit and captures numerous heads of state from different Republic worlds. He intends to pressure them into allowing the Imperial Fleets to bypass their space to attack the heart of the Republic, and he succeeds with two by promising to give them positions of power before the Trooper arrives and rescues the hostages. Realizing the full threat of the Trooper, Rakton decided to play dirty and moved over three hundred prisoners of war into a derelict space station as bait for the Trooper. When the Trooper arrived, Rakton began opening fire on the station in an attempt to kill the Trooper, eventually forcing them to choose between saving a friend of theirs or the prisoners before barely escaping. With military force on its own not being enough, Rakton decides to make use of corruption within the Republic and bribes a Senator to bring up charges against the new Havoc Squad and have the Trooper and his team suspended. Despite the Senator trying to frame the Trooper as a loose cannon, they present evidence of the bribe and the Senator is arrested.
Despite his vendetta against the Trooper, Rakton still kept his eyes on the prize and made his move on his ultimate goal. He sends an Imperial black ops team to capture the legendary Bastion on the world of Corellia to use as his new base of operations. The Bastion is the center of the Republic Military and holds countless databanks filled to brim with information on every asset in the Republic including all their data on every species, government, and organization in the galaxy. The Bastion had been used by the military to stage elaborate war games to create strategies for any possible military attack, but they unfortunately didn't anticipate the Corellian Council handing over control of the planet to the Empire. Obviously, Rakton intends to use the facility to create brilliant strategies that can finally defeat the Republic once and for all. Alas, despite his best efforts to create an impenetrable defense, the Trooper manages to infiltrate the Bastion and bring the fight directly to Rakton. Rakton proves to be as skilled a warrior as he is a commander, but falls in battle to the Trooper. A defiant Rakton can either be executed on the spot by the Trooper or taken away as a prisoner to be traded away for thousands of Republic soldiers. If taken prisoner, Rakton calmly states he hopes to meet the Trooper again.
Is he magnificent?
Rakton is said to be the greatest tactical mind in the Empire and his track record in-game certainly backs that up. Rakton uses both military ambushes and political plots to face off with the Trooper and successfully captures the most heavily defended Republic base in the galaxy for a time. He is always calm and never loses his cool, and he never comes across as smug even when decrying the Republic as being a cesspool of corruption.
Is he a bastard?
Relatively speaking, Rakton is a saint by Empire standards with his strict moral code against harming civilians, yet he still uses some very dirty tactics while fanatically supporting the Empire's war effort. Using POW's as bait by itself sends Rakton over the bastard line.
Final verdict?
I think Old Republic Thrawn deserves an easy .
Arkos. I might look into Guardians of the galaxy 3 and RWBY to reverse it if anyone minds looking at how no one reverse it yet.
Edited by Echidna on Apr 29th 2023 at 11:45:12 AM
to Arkos, Mad Dog, and Red. The last one reminds me of when we got Martin the Mouse upvoted ...
The Moron
Sorry, I actually meant to say this before - Snoke wanted to reserve RWBY for discussion here, but he’s edit banned, so I’ve offered to reserve it on his behalf. I’ve now done so, so you’ll have to talk with him about it.
Edited by STARCRUSHER99 on Apr 29th 2023 at 11:53:07 AM
Oh I didn't know about that. I'll talk to him if that's the case
Agreed on waiting for Edgar—Snoke and I will be watching for him amongst others when the next season comes through—that's good mewtron and yes to Rakton.
Not the Eye
to Mad Doh, Hazel and Rakton
Yes to Red. He's going directly next to Martin from Secret of NIMH II as a template for "How To Redeem Your Terrible DTV Film With The Power Of a So Bad, It's Good Villain Song."
Edited by Scraggle on Apr 30th 2023 at 1:01:39 PM
To Red, Mad Dog, Hazel, and Arkos
Goku Black
mad dog, hazel and Aktos.
Edited by miraculous on Apr 30th 2023 at 1:42:00 AM
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
What's the work?
The Umbrella Academy is a live action adaptation of the comic of the same name. Centered around the superpowered Hargreeves siblings, the series is about their fights to survive against time-travelling assassins, evil violinists, and their own heavily dysfunctional family dynamics.
But enough about that! Let's backtrack to those time-traveling assassins!
One of the Hargreeves, Five, accidentally sent himself to the future, where he got recruited by "The Commission," an organization dedicated to ensuring history happens as it is supposed to happen. Through murder. Lots and lots of murder. Five is sent to murder hundreds throughout the past and future to prevent time anomalies from screwing the up proper timeline.
...Unfortnately, part of that proper timeline includes an apocalypse that sees Five's family killed. Five resolves to escape the Commission and return to his family to save them, naturally angering his former employers and leading them to send more assassins after him.
Now, Five himself should count easy, but I want to wait for season 4 to wrap up his arc. In the meantime!
Who is Hazel?
Hazel is one of the two Commission assassins sent after Five, alongside his partner Cha-Cha, and definitely the more lazy and disinterested of the pair. He constantly complains about their shitty work conditions and the "pencil pushers" giving them impossible tasks, and is apathetically more focused on what to get for lunch when they're torturing an innocent old guy to death with jumper cables for info on Five.
He also quickly establishes himself as the more forward-thinking of the pair. When they attack the Hargreeves house looking for Five, putting up an epic fight against the superpowered siblings, Hazel grabs one of them, Klaus, in the chaos. After failing to torture him, they threaten to steal his drugs if he doesn't talk, leading to Klaus explaining that Five is investigating a glass eyeball belonging to the mysterious culprit behind the upcoming apocalypse. The two proceed to burn the eyeball-manufacturing business to destroy his lead (accidentally taking Klaus' "special cookies" and getting super high in the process), leaving a note at the scene of the crime telling him where they are.
Five fails to fall into their trap. Who they get instead is a detective friend of the Hargreeves, who catches them off guard while they're arguing in their motel bathroom. Hazel steps out and pretends to surrender, making it seem like he's the only one there, while Cha-Cha climbs out the bathroom window to circle around and shoot the detective in the back.
More shenanigans ensue as the assassins and the Hargreeves fight over the course of the season, but while all this is going on, Hazel falls in love with Agnes, a waitress at a local donut shop. Around this time, Five infiltrates the Commission and individually sends Hazel and Cha-Cha orders from "headquarters" to kill each other. Both unwittingly set each other up for perfect executions, and both back out at the last second. Unfortunately, Cha-Cha gets a massive yandere mindset upon spying Hazel privately hanging out with Agnes, while Hazel finds Cha-Cha's half-assed attempt to burn evidence of her own order to kill him. As such, he turns on the shower and hides in the closet when Cha-Cha comes back to their apartment, knocking her out from behind when she knocks down the bathroom door and begins shooting.
Having enough of his dumbass job, Hazel resolves to run away with Agnes, though finds himself unable to kill his old friend so she won't come after them. He briefly stops by the Hargreeves manor to offer his aid in stopping the apocalypse—Five informs him that it's already been prevented (he's wrong), and a relived Hazel turns over the gun used to murder the detective to clear another of the siblings from suspicion of her murder. He returns to Agnes...
To find Cha-Cha waiting for him. The two wait, but before Agnes can fall into a pool of acid she's set up, their Handler arrives. She orders the two to protect Viktor, the Hargreeves sibling who is about to bring about the apocalypse, with the promise that their past failures will be forgiven. Hazel quickly realizes she intends to leave the two of them to die to tie up loose ends, and, while monitoring Viktor, suddenly speeds up his car so that an unseatbelted Cha-Cha is sent flying out the window and gravely wounded. He doubles back to the Handler, shoots her, and steals her time travel device, escaping the apocalypse with Agnes to live out their life in peace.
Twenty years later, Agnes dies, but not before making Hazel promise to help the Hargreeves stop another apocalypse. Now an old man, he meets up with Five when he suddenly gets transported to this apocalypse and brings him to ten days before the event, so he'll have enough time to stop it. Unfortunately, before he can explain how the new apocalypse happened, more Commission assassins arrive. Upon noticing them, he quickly gives Five a starting lead before being gunned down, leaving the fate of the world in the hands of a bunch of dysfunctional morons once again.
Is he magnificent?
Easily one of the best villains in the show. He's far more insightful than his partner, and despite how much he complains, is exceptionally good at his job. He's not perfect: Five continuously evades the pair, and letting Cha-Cha live proves to be a big mistake that almost gets Agnes killed, but he's ultimately able to turn things around. He and Five end on good turns, helping get his brother cleared of a murder charge and giving him what he needs to undo a second apocalypse, while Cha-Cha he's able to outwit again to secure his and Agnes' safety.
Is he a bastard?
Being a Commission assassin is not a bloodless job. Hazel and Cha-Cha have tortured and murdered countless innocents throughout the years—Klaus, who can commune with the dead, finds himself the room filled with ghosts of their past victims when he's held hostage by them. Still, he isn't heartless—some of the ghosts state that Hazel, against Commission policy, let witnesses and loved ones of the victims escape, so long as it wouldn't effect the timestream. That plus his Heel–Face Turn helps him stand out as one of the most sympathetic antagonists in the first season, aside from Viktor.