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 wifi here sucks
I could do a write up for the Wind Waker and maybe the downfall timeline but I'm not familiar enough with Twilight Princess to write that up.
Hope your prepared for an unforgettable luncheon
Cheers, have at it then folks!
The Salesman’s Stolen Mask
I’ll do Twilight Princess. It’s one of my favorite games and I understand the plot pretty damn well.
Edited by Remnant43 on Oct 30th 2023 at 10:29:44 AM
Balls idk
The wifi here sucks
I held off on posting this for a bit to let the Zelda discussion progress but I'm still on my Bond kick and I got another henchman to propose, and personal favorite at that!
What’s the work
Thunderball is the 4th Bond film ever. It follows 007 as he goes to Nassau to thwart a scheme by SPECTRE member Emilio Largo to steal a pair of nuclear bombs and hold the world ransom with them.
Who is Fiona Volpe and what does she do?
Fiona is a SPECTRE Agent who acts as Largos’ second in command. She initially seduces French pilot François Derval as part of SPECTRE’s plan to replace Derval with Angelo Palazzi, who has been surgically modified to look like Derval, and steal the bombs. As Derval is called away from the room he and Volpe are sharing, Palazzi arrives with another Agent, Count Lippe and kills Derval. Volpe provides Palazzi with the gear he needs for the mission as well as his pay. Palazzi demands much more money, causing Lippe to threaten to kill him, but Volpe talks Lippe down since without Palazzi the plan won’t work and agrees to pay the higher sum after the mission, and corrects him on some of Derval’s mannerisms before he leaves. SPECTRE orders Lippe killed since his choice of Palazzi almost jeopardized the plan, and Volpe uses a special motorcycle loaded with missiles to kill him (indirectly saving Bond, who Lippe was attacking)
Volpe later runs into Bond as he’s forced to hitchhike back to his hotel after an encounter with Largo. She drives him back to the hotel which happens to be the same one she’s staying at. She later has a meeting with Largo where she admonishes him for being too hasty in trying to kill Bond (since his death would bring undo attention to their operation), and promises to kill him herself. Volpe goes to Bond’s apartment while he’s gone and runs into his ally Paula, who Volpe captures with the help of Largos’ men (she kills herself in order to avoid giving away any information). Later Bond goes to Volpe’s apartment and she seduces him, allowing her to get the drop on him and capture him along with Largo’s men. While on their way to Largo’s home she is delayed by a parade and Bond takes advantage of a local peddler to escape, though he’s shot in the leg as he flees. Volpe follows him, using the blood trail to keep up with him, and corners him in a club. Bond tries to dance with a random woman as cover but Volpe steps in and begins dancing with him instead. Bond notices that she’s setting him up to be shot in the back and spins her around so she’s shot and killed instead.
Is she a Bitch?
She’s a part of SPECTRE’s plan to hold the world hostage with nukes and her actions lead to the deaths of Paula and Derval. She lacks the insane sadism of Largo though and instead practices Pragmatic Villainy so she never crosses the line into too bad.
Is she Magnificent?
I’m not as sure on this as I am with the other Bond henchmen I’ve proposed but I think she makes it. She seduces Derval (seemingly as a way of gathering information and to manipulate him but we don’t see much of their interactions), helps deal with Palazzi’s insubordination and Lippe’s incompetence, captures Paula, and almost does the same to Bond. Her seduction of Bond is her standout moment, given he already suspected her of being a SPECTRE Agent but still fell for the ruse, and she even gets to give a brief speech mocking him for thinking she’ll pull a Sex–Face Turn, and Bond only escapes her due to dumb luck.
Conclusion?
I think she keeps.
Edited by papyru30 on Oct 30th 2023 at 8:37:28 AM
Hope your prepared for an unforgettable luncheon
The Salesman’s Stolen Mask
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_up_emote.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Fiona, though I unfortunately haven’t seen Thunderball despite owning all of the Connery movies. She sounds like a keeper regardless.
And I’m sorry about this, but here comes another one. This one just occurred to me, but I won’t be able to get it out of my head until I write it up, so…
What's the Work?
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages are a pair of action-adventure games that serve as the seventh and eighth installments of The Legend of Zelda series. Like my precious Minish Cap, the Oracle games are also pretty underrated in the grand scheme of the series, but they've developed a devoted cult following over the years due to their release on Virtual Console and their similarities to the fan-favorite Link's Awakening.
The games follow Link after he is suddenly transported by the Triforce to two kingdoms in need. Seasons takes place in Holodrum, a land suffering from cataclysmic conditions after their seasons are thrown into disarray due to Din, the Oracle of Seasons, being kidnapped by the destructive General Onox. Link must utilize the Rod of Seasons to restore the natural order of Holodrum and rescue Din. Ages is set in Labrynna, a kingdom that’s being terrorized by the sadistic sorceress Veran after she possesses Nayru, the Oracle of Ages, and uses her powers to travel back in time and just cause all sorts of horrific stuff to happen in the present. Link must use the Harp of Ages to travel back and forth through time to undo Veran’s atrocities and save the land.
However, if you link both games together, you unlock a final story, revealing that Onox and Veran are glorified pawns serving a pair of devious masterminds. Introducing…
Who are Koume and Kotake? What Have They Done?
Koume and Kotake, better known as Twinrova, are a pair of twin Gerudo witches that raised Ganondorf as their son during his early years. In Ocarina of Time, the duo were slain by a past version of Link, only to inexplicably turn up alive some time after Ganon's death in A Link to the Past. Seeking to revive their beloved son and get revenge on the latest Link for their previous defeat, the Twinrova sisters set their plan into motion.
So basically, Twinrova set up a ritual to resurrect Ganon in their Room of Rites that requires three magical Flames to be lit: the Flames of Destruction, Sorrow, and Despair. They also need to sacrifice a powerful being; more specifically, Princess Zelda, who is canonically a demigoddess.
In Seasons, they summon Onox, a powerful dragon from the Dark World, and send him to kidnap Din, the titular Oracle of Seasons. This causes Holodrum to be thrown into complete disarray through natural disasters and rapid changes in climate that threaten their lives. Hey… wait a second…
At the end of the game, despite Onox being defeated and Din being rescued, the chaos caused is enough for the Flame of Destruction to be lit, filling in one half of the witches' scheme.
In Ages, Twinrova send one of their top enforcers, Veran, to possess the titular oracle Nayru and take over the kingdom of Labrynna. Their goal is to have Veran construct a monument to misery: the Black Tower. In the past, the building's construction began as a well-intentioned watchtower meant to guide the Queen's lost lover back home. However, Veran travels back in time and corrupts Queen Ambi's motivation, convincing her to build the tower as an insanely tall tribute to her own glory, while also using slave labor to get some of that precious sorrow for the ritual.
Twinrova's plan ends up succeeding in lighting the Flame of Sorrow, despite Veran's defeat and Link undoing the tower's construction. However, Veran also commits a litany of other atrocities that have nothing to do with said plan, which I’ll get to later.
Anyways, with their victory ensured, Koume and Kotake reveal themselves to Link, mocking him for failing to stop their plan. Even better, all of the chaos has lured Princess Zelda herself to the kingdoms, looking to help. Naturally, the witches seize the opportunity to kidnap her while Link is distracted fighting either Onox or Veran, and they take her to the Room of Rites.
As Twinrova place Zelda on an altar between the three flames and prepare the sacrifice, Link is transported to the Room of Rites by the combined powers of Din and Nayru. However, before he can reach the sleeping princess, Koume and Kotake transport him to an arena, where they engage Link once again in a round of their classic Tennis Boss phase from Ocarina of Time. When that doesn't work, they merge into their more powerful form, Twinrova, and battle Link in what is definitely the hardest fight across both games.
Twinrova is defeated, which stops their rites and allows Zelda to be saved . However, with their dying breath, Twinrova spontaneously sacrifice themselves in Zelda's place, allowing Ganon to return.
Are They Magnificent?
Yeah, I think so. Their cross-game plan is surprisingly complex for these tiny Game Boy Color games, involving them dispatching two different villains to two different kingdoms and successfully wreaking enough havoc to light two of the Flames needed for the ritual. Mind you, they do all of that without anyone even realizing their involvement until they reveal themselves to Link directly. They then manage to lure Zelda out of Hyrule and kidnap her as well, which both lights the Flame of Despair and supplies them with the sacrifice they need; they killed two birds with one stone.
There’s one hiccup, though; their sacrifice at the end of the game causes Ganon to be revived as an Almighty Idiot, now stripped of his former cunning and reduced to rampaging beast. That being said, they only had two options by the point: just flat-out die and fail to bring back their son, or sacrifice themselves and at least somewhat bring him back. It's definitely a Morton's Fork situation, and they chose the option that ensured they at least didn’t completely die for nothing and manage to revive their son in some way. Plus, even prior to Link's interference, they had already lit the three Flames, kidnapped Zelda, and were dangerously close to completing their rites, so it’s not like their plan wasn’t clever enough already.
Aside from that, personality-wise, they're solid. They're not Laughably Evil in these games like they were in Ocarina; as a matter of fact, things get pretty damn serious whenever they show up. However, they're just as hammy as ever, with their over-the-top monologues punctuated by their usual "Ho-ho-ho!"s and "Hee hee hee!"s keeping them entertaining whenever they show up. It's hard not to Love to Hate Twinrova, regardless of which game they show up in.
On top of all that, they have a pretty understandable motive. While reviving Ganon is a pretty standard (and arguably heinous) goal, what sets Koume and Kotake apart is that Ganon is their son, and all of their actions are motivated by their Mama Bear desire. Granted, they're probably a big part of why Ganon is evil to begin with, but it’s still weirdly heartwarming to see how far they're willing to go to bring him back.
Are They Bitches? Too Much?
Oh, they are absolutely bitches. They're both evil witches seeking to cause mayhem for their ritual to revive Ganon, who they outright call "The Evil King". They know they're evil, and they are perfectly fine with that.
As for too much? No. I already mentioned how their motive is slightly sympathetic and not based solely on sadism or a lust for power like most other villains in this series. They want to revive their son and maybe help him Take Over the World, but that's nothing too atrocious. Veran, on the other hand, actually does do some pretty appalling stuff, which includes (but is not limited to) mass enslavement, petrification, wiping out a city, and poisoning the ocean with all of the Zora in it. However, Twinrova only ever ordered her to possess Nayru and build the Black Tower as a monument to sorrow; all of that other stuff was done by Veran of her own free will, because she thought Labrynna was too boring. Yes, Veran is a Complete Monster, why do you ask?
All in all, Twinrova themselves aren’t particularly heinous by this series' standard, even if one of their subordinates absolutely is.
Verdict?
Maybe a yes? I don't know, it just kinda popped into my head and I thought “Eh, why the hell not?” I’m also running on nothing but 12 oz of coffee and a fanboyish Zelda high, so I could be completely missing the mark here. What do y’all think?
Edited by Remnant43 on Oct 30th 2023 at 11:42:11 AM
Balls idk
Yes to Vaati with that information in mind, but abstain on Twinrova. Didn't they order Veran to poison the sea, take over Queen Ambi and all the nasty Time Crash stuff she did? Edit: Alright with that addressed I think I can give a yes.
Edited by Klavice on Oct 30th 2023 at 11:43:27 AM
Lord of Space
Now that the two-week limit has officially passed for my reversed series, I Woke Up A Vampire, I technically have permission to propose a character from the show, but I'm not quite sure whether I should. I currently have my eye on Dylan Helsing, who seems like a worthy fit, but I'm also aware that Netflix had posted the first 8 episodes, while the show aired on Family Channel (a Canadian network) a few months prior with 16 episodes.
What do you think? Should I propose my character now (considering he's got some form of a completed arc), or should I wait for the other 8 episodes to come to America, and talk about him then?
...I seriously doubt anyone here's got Express VPN, to watch movies and shows from other countries.
By the way, Happy Halloween.
I’ll take a potato chip… and EAT IT!
To Vaati and Happy Halloween 
Goku Black
vaati , Twinorva and Fiona Volpe
Caesar
Yes to Lucia, Vaati, Fiona and Twinrova!
With a happy Halloween to all, who better than one of the most classical movie monsters to discuss? Going back to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), we have one of the final arc villains:
Who is Dracula? What makes him a candidate?
- The dark lord of vampires and played by Fright Night (1985)'s Jerry Dandridge himself, Vlad Dracula is plucked out of time by Savanti Romero to join his cabal of monsters in taking over the world. Though Dracula has reigned over Transylvania supreme for years and resists initial attempts by Savanti to turn him into a minion, Dracula begrudgingly teams with Savanti upon a demonstration of Savanti's power, with Dracula realizing the potential of their combined abilities.
- Together, Dracula and Savanti travel to the era of Victor Frankenstein, where Dracula uses his hypnotic eyes to turn Victor into their slave and have him finish his creation of Frankenstein's Monster, aka "Frank". In the process, Dracula bites and turns Raphael into one of his many vampire thralls, and uses him throughout the arc to spy on and subvert the Turtles' attempts at stopping Savanti. After Frank is brought to life, Dracula enthralls him to his will and drafts him into Savanti's cabal of monsters.
- Travelling to the present day, Dracula ambushes and turns Casey Jones and April O'Neil into vampires, spreading his curse throughout New York City. Using the duo's knowledge, he locates the Turtles' lair and sics vampires on it, enabling Raphael to retrieve the Time Scepter from the Turtles and bring it seemingly to Savanti...only for Dracula to try to betray Savanti, wielding the Scepter for himself and revealing his own plan to travel back in time and infect early humanity with vampirism so that every human in history is transformed.
- Realizing with annoyance that only Savanti can operate the staff, Dracula puts aside their differences teams with Savanti once more, turning Donatello into a vampire as well and sending the Turtles on the run. When the heroic time traveller Renet interferes and the heroes and villains are sent tumbling through history, Dracula encourages Savanti to get the Time Scepter working and synchronized while he fights off the Turtles. Dracula almost destroys them all, but he is ultimately impaled at the last second by Michaelangelo with a makeshift stake, which kills Dracula and frees all his vampiric slaves from his thrall. With Dracula out of the picture, Savanti is then summarily taken down and history saved.
Is he magnificent?
Well ofc, it's Dracula! He's Faux Affably Evil and Wicked Cultured to the max, and it is his role in Savanti's group that enables it to flourish as it does, using his hypnotic powers and knowledge he gleams from his thralls to outwit the Turtles. Even though he's "enslaved" by Savanti, he has plenty independent maneuvers and winds up betraying Savanti to claim the Time Scepter for himself. Only reason it fails is because Dracula doesn't know how to use the Scepter fully, and even then he puts aside this animosity with Savanti to team up and become more of a Big Bad Duumvirate, nearly winning.
He does let out a Big "NO!" as he's killed, but eh he's been staked through the heart and is disintegrating, I'm fine with it. Plus he's an Expy of a classical movie vampire, so Large Ham reactions are expected ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
Is he a bastard?
Eyep, he tries to take over all of time and turn all of humanity into vampires, but in this series it's pretty "meh" to such a point that he was cut from Complete Monster for not standing out. He's cruel at times but it's always with Evil Is Cool flourish.
Final Verdict?
Yes to Drac for the trope he fits much better than CM!
WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY!
Goku Black
TMNT Dracula
Who is a much better fit here.
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
Happy to welcome Drac to this trope instead!
Happy Hallowtide to you all! Yes to Fiona, Twinrova, and TMNT Drac.
Ultimate Moral Compass
Fiona, Twinrova, and Drac
Missed them so yes to Fiona and Twinrova and I'm not sure there Space... unless there's a reason we have to follow the streaming date I think you're good to post them now.
to Vaati and Twinrova.
On the note of someone bringing up Cynthia and Jill may qualify for The Whole Nine Yards - I'd personally vote no on them. Cynthia spends much of the first film being passive and isn't actively involved in the plot beyond telling Oz about the trust money. She does show more guile and is more involved in the second film, but Cynthia on her own doesn't do anything to qualify as a "Bastard", she doesn't personally hurt anyone or wish anyone harm. As for Jill, she's got more going for her as a "Bastard", but in both films she doesn't really scheme much on her own and the sequel in particular emphasizes she's a novice hitter who has yet to successfully kill anyone (her clients tend to die through accident and misadventure without her doing anything intentional).
Edited by DrakeClawfang on Oct 31st 2023 at 11:39:35 AM
Classy, Refined, Unstable
Consider this my Halloween EP for you guys. Why? Well he's an undead mummy, albeit a campily evil one.
What is the work? (Copied from the trope page)
Power Rangers Mystic Force is the 14th season of Power Rangers. After an earthquake hits the city of Briarwood, a stranger appears and asks for help locating someone in the nearby forest. But the local townsfolk are superstitious about the woods, and the only one brave enough to volunteer is Nick, a wanderer just passing through. A group of young locals join him, not wanting to be shown up by an outsider. The group soon discovers the secret of Briarwood Forest: it is home to a pocket dimension inhabited by mystical creatures, and the stranger who summoned them is a powerful sorceress. More than that, their bravery marks them as wizards destined to protect both them and the human realm from the forces of the Underworld that have been freed by the quake. They are given the power to become Rangers to give their magical powers an extra edge, but if they're going to win they'll need to find out what happened years ago when the monsters were sealed...
During the second main story arc, there's a new villain to be the main threat. Meet Imperious
Who is Imperious and what has he done?
A corpse taken by Necrolai and brought to the underworld after Morticon's demise, Imperious is revived and takes command of the Underworld's forces since Koragg is also MIA. Wanting to test out his powers after his revival, Imperious heads to Briarwood and fights the rangers not before giving them an offer to join his side. The fight is incredibly one sided with Imperious casually opposing the ranger's attacks. To end the fight, Imperious grows to a gigantic size (like 5 times the size of the megazord) to combat the ranger's megazords and by combat... he literally boots them with his foot and backhands them lmao. Imperious only loses to the intervention of the genie Jenjie who grows to his size and has the rangers launched to Imperious' face to strike him, forcing him to retreat since his power's are not final.
To destroy the city of Briarwood and stop the rangers, Imperious then releases a monster called Jester and grants him the ability to create magic seals which will destroy the city. Meanwhile, Imperious heads to the ranger's base as his original moniker, Calindor an old friend of Udonna. To evade being discovered, Imperious uses tricks to make Udonna's apprentice Claire seem like she saw something incorrectly. Imperious then fabricates a lie to Udonna about his disappearance and that he was cursed by a former ranger and old friend named Daggeron. Wanting to acquire the Xenotome, Imperious goes to make a drink for Udonna, with a lethal poison within it, only to be stopped by Claire when she was told by ally Phineas that Calindor was the traitor. Caught, Calindor turns into his current form and overpowers Udonna and Claire before going to take the Xenotome since it'd benefit him and halt the rangers. Discovering there's a protection seal, Imperious starts to remove it's many seals and almost has it before the intervention of the rangers returning with Daggeron due to them stopping Jester.
Having a personal enmity with Daggeron due to them duelling after Imperious' corruption which caused them to be cursed in that cave, Imperious summons another monster called the Behemoth and tells it to use seismic shakes to draw Daggeron out to destroy him. Daggeron eventually bests the monster and destroys him. Imperious then has two monsters attack civilians to steal their life-force (basically their souls) and release it to explode throughout the city, telling one of them that if they succeed, he might grant them the position of second-in-command. When Koragg returns to the Underworld with a reforged blade from Morticon's old weapon, Imperious immediately shows his displeasure at him although he informs about Daggeron being a new foe for them alongside the rangers in which Koragg sets out to fight. Eventually the rangers overcome the two foes and saves everyone's souls from being annihilated.
Playing on Koragg's sense of honour to take his magic, Imperious gives the power to Necrolai and has her with another monster to "have some fun". By fun it means, Necrolai paralyses people and the monster turns them into mounds of feathers. Obviously the rangers eventually prevail. Reviving 4 monsters called "The Barbarian Beasts" to serve him, and has them attack bit by bit to weaken the rangers. When the first one falls, Imperious boosts the second one's power to "make it interesting". Imperious concurs with the last two about him straying from loyalty to Octomus for his own agenda. When one of the beasts say about Koragg not allowing it, Imperious has them two ambush Koragg since he's currently lacking in magic, with them beating Koragg and leaving him to die which he would if not for Phineas being nearby.
With Koragg seemingly dead, Imperious gets the 2 beasts to attack the rangers to kidnap Jenji since the ranger's were weakened and tried to use him. With Jenji in Imperious' hand, Imperious wishes that there wasn't any Power Rangers, causing a new timeline where the Underworld was able to invade the surface world due to the Rangers not discovering the magic realm. Now for the next episode it mainly focuses on the rangers trying to revert it, which involves basically looking 3 extremely powerful beings to revert the wish. They succeed (albeit almost failing since the Tribunal are strictly neutral, it doesn't matter to them what magic is in control of the world so long as it's there) and Jenji manages to escape because of Necrolai's daughter who gets tricked into freeing him. When one of the beasts return to Imperious after Koragg returns in fury to the underworld looking for the two beasts (albeit unware Imperious ordered the execution), Imperious has the two go out to destroy the rangers and almost succeed until Koragg intervenes, out for revenge. During the fight, the Tribunal give the powers a power boost and they take out one of the beasts, the other flees beforehand. When the beast returns, Imperious is furious for his cowardice and when he realises the beast won't fight for him, Imperious uses his soul to fuel a war machine called Ursus to combat the rangers. Because of the Ranger's power boost, they're able to destroy the robot with their new megazord.
When Imperious scolds Koragg for allowing the Rangers to aqcuire their new powers, Koragg takes back his magic from Necrolai and leaves to fight the rangers, almost about to wipe them until the green ranger Xander returns, giving them boost to turn the tides on Koragg. When the rangers almost take down Koragg in their Megazords, Imperious implants a virus onto their Megazord, almost taking it down and them with it. Now Koragg doesn't exactly favour sneaky tactics so he reverts the virus, giving Imperious the means to accuse Koragg of being a traitor and have him trialed. When Koragg returns to the Underworld, Imperious has his soldiers seize Koragg and held under trial before Octomus to pass judgement with a showcase of Koragg's failures and instances of honour. When it looks grim for Koragg, he turns it on Imperious by showing how he was formerly a ranger himself and revealing that he's aware of Imperious' agenda of the Barbarian Beasts to kill Koragg. In the end Octomus just has enough and orders both Imperious and Koragg with one task, whoever kills Daggeron, receives his favour while the other gets banished. The two meet Daggeron and Imperious lets Koragg fight Daggeron first in which he then intervenes at the final blow to take down Daggeron before the other rangers intervene. After duelling Daggeron and Nick, Imperious retreats after being struck down noting "it's an unfortunate end". Imperious and Koragg stand before Octomus who grants Koragg his power back.
When Imperious goes to poison Octomus he's stopped by Koragg who arrives. Imperious fabricates a lie to cover his tracks and plans a scheme for Koragg to steal the ranger's power to gain Octomus' favour. Exposistion stuff happens about the original red ranger Leanbow, Udonna's husband who led the charge against Morticon's attack. During this Daggeron escapes to try and get Leanbow and Udonna's infant son out of harms way since the Underworld were after him (The Chosen One shit etc). As Daggeron tried to escape, Imperious (when he was known as Calindor) attacked and tried to take the baby for himself to bring to the Underworld which led to their cursed position in the cave. In the present, Imperious calls Daggeron for a dual to finish an old score between the two former friends. Imperious makes a false attempt of rejection to sneak attack Daggeron. The two dual with Imperious beating Daggeron normally sized, growing large to fight Daggeron in his Megazord, stealing his power when Daggeron goes to for a powerful attack. With the magic in his hand, Imperious uses it to create a monster out of the souls of all of the ranger's fallen foes and has it almost kill Daggeron and has the monster ordered to steal the ranger's powers to let Imperious release Octomus and seemingly kills Daggeron.
When the monster lets Koragg send the rangers to the underworld, Imperious has them captured by his soldiers and them drained of their magic to release Octomus, with the spell imminent before the intervention of Udonna, which proves fruitless as Imperious lets Octomus kill Udonna. In the past couple of episodes, Koragg's been having flashbacks to another life (spoilers he's Leanbow, twisted and corrupted by Octomus.) Now seeing his wife die isn't exactly a thing Leanbow wants so he intervenes and stops the execution. Imperious goes to kill them all but is deflected by Leanbow who escapes with the rangers and Udonna. They're tracked by Imperious who arrives with Necrolai and the Chimera to put and end to the heroes. Imperious has Leanbow taken by Necrolai while he lets the Chimera kill the rangers before Daggeron is shown to be alive and stops the Chimera. Imperious has the Chimera give chase to the rangers while he challenges Daggeron to a duel, with the outcome to be fatal for either side. When almost losing the duel, Imperious uses magic to use Jenji's lamp to summon Jenji to stop the Daggeron's strike and uses dark magic to take down Daggeron, leaving him weak for the final blow. As Imperious goes for the final kill, Daggeron strikes through the magic and delivers a fatal blow to Imperious. Mortally wounded, Imperious starts to turn to start and crumble as he says there's horrors that Daggeron can't comprehend incoming as he starts laughing while crumbling to nothing, ending the second major arc villain of the series.
Is he Magnificent?
For a Power Rangers villain? I'd say so, pulling off multiple schemes and can keep up against Koragg (who IMO is a pitch perfect MB if not for the fact he's a brainwashed character so ergo an unfortunate miss). He's arrogant not smug and I'd say he's got the right since not many villains outright just backhand an attacking robot the size of a building lmao. V Bs? He says a few "What?!"s but considering how the franchise runs on Evil Is Hammy, I'd let him slide and the episodes don't show his reactions to his first set of schemes failing, just that he plans another so there's no tantrum VB or anything to be worried about. His death isn't him dying in a VB either, just him laughing as he crumbles away, no This Cannot Be! or whatnot. His final words for reference:
What else do you want? Gloriously hammy and a credible threat, a schemer out for himself, loves being evil but isn't some horrific Bad Boss (he doesn't care for anyone sure but the only person he punishes for failure is Fightoe for being a coward.)
Is he a bastard?
I mean read the EP lmao. Imperious' schemes are nasty and I would argue above average for PR villains (ergo the soul stealing which includes a confirmed child victim, gets reversed) and is a scheming sociopath out for himself and the power that comes with it. One massive thing that helps him though? He's in the series with the Omnicidal Maniac cast of villains lmao. No lie practically all the major villains are out for the worlds destruction, Imperious was content with ruling the surface and underworld.
To address the two major concerns people might have: The bad timeline, the world's said to be under rule and there's mention of slavery in mines for insubordination. However with that, we don't see Imperious sending people to their deaths or whatnot, he's just chilling in the underworld while his soldiers are out and about. Oh and deciding to switch goals to free Octomus isn't exactly good because... Octomus is kind of a dick lmao. However a fair few villains are striving for Octomus' release so he's not alone there.
My biggest concern though is attacking Daggeron while he holds a infant Nick to take the baby to the underworld... that's dark for the series lmao. If it means anything, it's never exactly said what would happen to the baby if it was taken, just that the forces of the underworld fear it because of The Chosen One schtick. Other than that, his crimes are nasty but nothing I'd ever say revolting.
So yeah he's above usual PR villains IMO and possibly a CM in a standalone work but considering the amount of shit other guys get up to and him being in a cast of villains out for mindless destruction? I think he's ok?
Final Verdict?
What say we?
Oh, Mr. Kennedy, you entertain me. To show my appreciation, I will help you awaken from your world of clichés.
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
Yes to Vaati, Fiona, Twinrova, Dracula, and Imperious.
Edited by Bullman on Oct 31st 2023 at 1:59:48 PM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
Not the Eye
to Fiona, Twinrova, Dracula and Imperious
The wifi here sucks
Yes to Twinrova, Imperious, and Dracula
Hope your prepared for an unforgettable luncheon
Goku Black
imperious
I hate spoilers
That’s 4 effort posts. Bumping so we can have more.
Everyone look at my sandbox
I'll pitch a yes to Lucia and Vaati while I am here. Quote seems fine, too.