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
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
I hate spoilers
Alright, first EP of the page. I'm going back to Yu-Gi-Oh!
Intro: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS is a Virtual Reality series where characters log into Link VRAINS (Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence NetworkSystem). Pretty much all of the duels take place there. I won't elaborate too much since I already did Revolver in the past from this series.
Who is Bohman?
Bohman is an advanced Artificial Intelligence created by the Big Bad Lightning in order to create a new world for AIs as an Ultimate Life Form and is the Dragon-in-Chief of Season 2. He was created from data accumulated from The Hero Yusaku Fujiki/Playmaker's duels. During Yusaku's first 2 encounters with him, Bohman doesn't really understand why he was created, since his job was just to get stronger by dueling Yusaku. It's during their third duel that he knows his purpose in life. Bohman gains experience from watching others duel and forms a bond with his brother Haru. Eventually, Bohman loses his fourth and final duel against Yusaku and is Killed Off for Real.
Magnificence?
Bohman definitely qualifies. His Hydradrive deck revolves around Elemental Powers, controlling the attributes of monsters on the field and negating their effects which makes him a dangerous Power Nullifier. He's an expert at Xanatos Speed Chess, able to come up with solutions to his opponents' strategies after understanding how they work. This allows him to repeatedly catch his opponents off guard with Hand Traps, brand new monsters, and The Magic Poker Equation when they think they're at an advantage.
During his duel with Soulburner, he's willing to use dice rolls to combat him, but also has tricks up his sleeve to either manipulate the roll or render it moot, defeating him in a Heads I Win, Tails You Lose scenario. Up until this point, Soulburner had been established as an Invincible Hero who reeked of Plot Armor, so this was a Shocking Elimination.
By the final duel against Yusaku, Bohman has become Strong and Skilled, able to summon powerful monsters by using weaker monsters and recycling his cards. The only reasons why he loses at all is because his Master Storm Access was nullified and Yusaku gained an Eleventh Hour Super Power in the middle of the duel. When he finally is defeated, Bohman is shown to be Graceful Loser, not holding this against his enemies.
Is he a Bastard? Too much?
Yes, he is. The first thing he does onscreen is kidnap the young Jin Kusanagi so that he can be used by Lightning as a vehicle to duel. He also destroyed the Cyberse World that the Deuteragonist Ai hails from, resulting in a Doomed Hometown. Late in Season 2, Bohman defeats The Lancer Takeru Homura/Soulburner and The Chick Aoi Zaizen/Blue Maiden, which terminates them until the arc is over. He also assimilates several humans who are logged into Link VRAINS to use them as Living Batteries for his Story-Breaker Power during his final duel against Yusaku.
That being said, he is an Affably Evil Noble Demon at his core and is capable of showing compassion to his enemies. After defeating Blue Maiden, he lets her see her older brother Akira Zaizen before she disappears. Whenever he criticizes someone, he does so respectfully and in a way that doesn't make him seem arrogant.
Any Mitigating Factors?
Despite being created by Lightning, Bohman is not under his thumb. He still manages to disobey Lightning after the latter tries to use a Human Shield against Revolver. When assimilates innocent humans to make himself stronger, Ai tries to say that he's doing the same thing as Lightning, even calling him a Hypocrite. Bohman refutes this, saying he's not hindering Playmaker's ability to duel like Lightning did. There's a difference buffing yourself with outside resources and stopping your opponent from playing the game.
Final Verdict
Does he count? Up to you.
Edited by 227someguy on Jan 30th 2023 at 4:21:17 AM
Everyone look at my sandbox
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Carpenter, Yang, Lecount, Gaucho, Student, David, Music, Galmar, Astrid, Zoso, Delta and Bohman
![[tdown]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_down_emoticon_3571.png "[thumb down]"){kind=small}
Death
to Song!Delta, Zoso, and Bohman
Not the Eye
song!Delta and Bohman
Introduce a little anarchy
to Death.
Gotta love Jaws!
to Delta, Zoso and Bohman.
to Death.
The wifi here sucks
Here's by best trim for Mom, she's down to 164 words compared to the 199 words she was before.
- Carol Miller, better known as Mom, is the head of the massive company MomCorp who hides her ruthlessness behind a grandmotherly facade. Throughout the series, Mom effortlessly manipulates others to her own ends, notably draining Fry’s bank account to protect her oil monopoly, and using the eyePhone to brainwash people into buying the eyePhone 2. Mom even used her control over all robots to enact a plan to conquer Earth, only to relent upon reconnecting with Professor Farnsworth. In Bender’s Game it’s revealed that Mom uses a massive farm of force fed Nibblonians to monopolize the fuel industry. When she is pulled into Bender’s imagination, she is turned into the witch Momon and uses her powerful magic to attain the Die of Power. In her last appearance, Mom is revealed to be performing illegal genetic experiments to solve world problems, when Leela contracts Squidification and finds her lab, Mom captures her and uses her DNA to help solve world hunger, and then cures Leela as thanks.
The Dragon
Here's Mira along with Chishiya's new writeup.
- Alice in Borderland:
- Shuntaro Chishiya was once a caring, good-hearted doctor who grew colder and more detached from his director's orders. One of the many people forced to play the games of Borderland, Chishiya allies himself with anyone he can in acquiring all of the playing cards to escape. Helping Arisu and Usagi in beating the Five of Spades game, Chishiya joins the organization Beach, using Arisu as bait to find the hiding spot of the playing cards. During the Ten of Hearts game, Chishiya confronts Sugaru Niragi, burning him with a homemade flamethrower, retrieves the Ten of Hearts card, and joins with Arisu's group to beat the citizens of Borderland. Separated from the group, Chishiya beats several of the citizens with nothing but his own wits. Changed by his experiences in Borderland, Chishiya grows into being a better person by the end, demonstrating this by letting himself get shot by Niragi to save Usagi's life.
- Mira Kano is a mysterious executive member of Beach who is revealed to be a citizen of Borderland. As the Queen of Hearts, Mira is responsible designing the Hearts games, games that toy with the emotions of the players, turning them against each other leading to the deaths of many players, including Arisu's two closest friends. The final opponent Arisu must defeat, Mira's game initially appears to be a simple game of Croquet. During the game, Mira takes the time to toy with Arisu a bit with elaborate lies on the secrets behind Borderland before revealing the true nature of her game: gaslighting Arisu into thinking that Borderland only exists in his head as a coping mechanism for losing his friends. Nearly getting Arisu into quitting the game, Mira relents upon seeing Arisu persevere out of his love for Usagi, accepting her defeat and bidding Arisu and Usagi farewell before her demise.
I'd also like to mention that Ginji Kyuma, who is listed down in Anime & Manga, also counts in the show.
The Undercover Troper
Well, it's been 72 hours since I first gave my entry, and I've tallied 11 yeses (10 definitive; 1 tentative) and 0 noes. I think it's time I gave my write-up for Crys.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3:
- Teach
- Crys is an Off-Seer from Keves who later became part of the evil Moebius. Thousands of years ago, he grew tired of Homecomings being little more than unceremonious executions after a soldier's tenth Term, and with the help of Consul M, successfully convinced Consul V to retool Homecomings into ceremonies where a soldier is sent off, removing them from the cycle of death and rebirth. He continued his Off-Seeing through multiple reincarnations, and in his final reincarnation, became Noah's mentor as an Off-Seer. Reborn as Consul C, he's tasked with eliminating Ouroboros and joins forces with the Queen of Keves to guard the last piece of Origin metal. However, he uses this as a ploy to murder the Queen and give Ouroboros the Origin metal, but not before fighting them to the death to see if Noah and his friends are indeed Worthy Opponents against Moebius. In his last moments, Crys takes the time to point out how there's no telling what will happen once Moebius is defeated, and he's proud of Noah for coming so far. Noble, crafty, and desiring the best for everyone, Crys was a figure Noah was honored to have learned from.
Edited by RWBYraikou888 on Jan 30th 2023 at 9:56:45 AM
Orcus on His Throne will always be my pet peeve.
I hate spoilers
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
You might wanna trim that, and remove some of the Potholes.
![[down]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_down.png "[down]"){kind=icon}
Oh, snap. That's a lot.
Edited by 227someguy on Jan 30th 2023 at 10:03:12 AM
Everyone look at my sandbox
The Undercover Troper
I had already trimmed it from 216 words to 199. I also just removed a little bit more just now.
Here's one right before I go to bed, HOI 4 is a hell of a drug...
What is the work?
Equestria at War is a Game Mod for Paradox Interactive's Grand Strategy Game Hearts of Iron IV and a Fan Game of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic that blends the detailed World War II and political simulation of Hearts of Iron IV with a modified, grimmer version of the My Little Pony setting and storyline.
Who is the Candidate and what have they done?
Genevieve Guildedwing is the niece of Ghislain Guichard, the Iron Chancellor of Skyfall. He rules it with an iron fist, keeping the oligarchs in check while his own wealth grows.
Our first time seeing Genevieve is in the first focus event, where Genevieve implores Guichard to help the people of Skyfall, while also warning that the oligarchs are getting richer by the day and that he can’t keep them down forever. (She ends up being right; if he instead chooses to let the money flow or going for total control, his will is ignored or he becomes the most hated griffon in Skyfall, respectively.) If the player chooses for Guichard to listen, a few focuses will pop up that show Genevieve showing him the benefit of kindness, taking him to charities, soup kitchens, and making him negotiate with the Syndicates for better worker’s rights. Slowly but surely, Guichard admits to himself he likes being good… then he dies of old age.
In Guichard’s following will, Genevieve is named the successor to his fortune and his title… but the oligarchs and crime lords of Skyfall take this as an opportunity to revolt, scared of Genevieve’s reformist tendencies. Luckily, Genevieve has a plan to crush them.
For the oligarchs, she allies herself with the moderates of both the syndicalists and the clergy, forming a united front against them. She then orders the sabotage of oligarch factories across the country using loyalist workers, publishes secrets about them in the news, and pays a group of thieves to secretly rob the banks and give the money to her, crippling both the oligarchs' images and their profits.
After this, Genevieve then allies herself with the smaller industries and businesses by bailing them out and promising protection, further weakening the oligarchs’ hold on the economy. With their control slipping away, the oligarchs surrender to her and her government.
With the drug lords, she first sends the police to crack down on smaller drug dealers and dens, before outright declaring war on the drug lords themselves. First targeting the drug labs, then the ringleaders, striking a huge blow to the arteries of the drug gangs in the process; before finally ambushing the last of the drug lords with the police, ending the crime spree for good.
With the smugglers plaguing the docks, she starts by bribing those who work in said docks, building a support base to jump off from. She uses it to send infiltrators and informants inside the smuggler’s ship and dens, giving her the info and tools she needs to dismantle them, while also using the police to ambush lesser smugglers to gain even more info. With all the cards on the table, Genevieve orchestrates police crackdowns on the hideouts, as well as assassinations targeting smuggler-friendly mercenaries and eventually the pirate captain Bechard, nipping them in the bud.
With all opposition to the rule dealt with, Genevieve is free to build a free democratic state enshriing welfare for the poor; implementing voting laws, dissolving the business sector’s hold on politics, and nationalizing/taxing vital industries.
How are they Magnificent?
Genevieve basically runs circles around her enemies, and despite having a lot of wealth at her hand she spends it wisely on ways to defeat them, whether it be informants or paying criminals to rob them blind. She mostly relies on her quick wits rather than simply crushing them with pure monetary might.
How are they a Bastard? How are they not too bad?
While she’s a good guy deep down, she’s not unwilling to fight dirty at all, and uses illegal measures to get rid of the oligarchs and the smugglers (the drug lords less so) While less moral than most other Harmonists (basically the 'good guys', democratic leaders, benevolent monarchs, etc.) of the setting, she’s far better than a lot of the kings and dictators in Griffonia.
Final verdict? I’m thinking yes.
Edited by Koopa22 on Jan 31st 2023 at 5:21:55 AM
Simultaneously hands-on and hands-off with my life.
Man in the Yellow Hat
After thinking about it a bit, sure to Genevieve. Given she uses bribery of the dock workers, she seems bad enough, in addition to her robbing the barons to get money and leaking their private information (though that's mitigated by the fact they are traitorous asshole from the sounds out it). She's also definitely intelligent enough.
Edited by Purgatoryisof2 on Jan 30th 2023 at 10:59:01 AM
He/Him
Sullivan, The Music.
I have a question on the Student. Reading the EP this just feels like actions a character performs in game. How much of this is just player doing things the game allows them to versus actions acknowledged by the story? In other words how much Gameplay and Story Integration is there? Otherwise I'm just getting protagonist does things the game allows them to.
You can only write so much in your forum signature. It's not fair that I want to write a piece of writing yet it will cut me off in the mid
Yes to Genevie, Bohman, Astrid.
It has been specified that the Student’s pursuit of vengeance is viewed as a selfish desire with three of his five targets having moved one from villainy becoming Retired Monsters (Kuroki is an artist, Jinfeng runs a company and while Yang is still researching the Talismans he’s running a rehabilitation clinic) and the Student will kill them in their first try
The student also has been looking up information about theirs whereabouts long before the players control them (they have a whole detective board) not to mention it is unavoidable to not attack, beat up, and/or kill just about everyone in their path since they are viewed as enemies to the student for blocking their path, even if some of them are just security guards, patients and nurses.
Edited by G-Editor on Jan 30th 2023 at 1:33:43 PM
Yes to Genevieve and Bohman. Also Raikou, I may not have said it at first but I decided on a yes for Teach so you can write him up too as he has enough votes.
Edited by Klavice on Jan 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
The Undercover Troper
Teach was TheWrongOne41's proposal. He's already written up.
Okay Student.
SO I got one that I'm not sure of, but hey....there's a coupla possible examples from this one. let's do it:
What's the work?
Training Day was the film that won Denzel Washington his Oscar. Jake Hawkins is a rookie cop assigned to the beat with veteran Alonzo Harris. Harris is a feared man in town and begins showing Jake the ropes...but, okay, the twist everyone knows: Alonzo is corrupt to the bone. A cold and vicious man who cares little for anything but money and power. And Alonzo's got some issues. See...he's in debt to the Russian mob. In a fit of anger, he recently killed a man in a brawl and that man was a somebody. Alonzo's gotta pony up a million bucks to save his life, and he does so by robbing and murdering druglord Roger. Jake, however, isn't corrupt, and won't be corrupted, so...
Alonzo's leaving him to this man: Smiley.
Who is Smiley?
Played by veteran character actor Cliff Curtis, a Maori actor playing a Latino gangbanger, Smiley is a Latin criminal who's done some bad stuff. He lives in a small place with his family nearby, including his two subordinates/friends, Moreno and Sniper. Smiley is also an associate of Alonzo who pays him to handle jobs and disappear people who prove problematic, but Smiley heavily dislikes Alonzo because in his words, Alonzo "don't respect nada."
The problem of course is that when Jake becomes a problem for Alonzo, Alonzo dials up Smiley to deal with said problem. Bringing Jake to Smiley's,Alonzo opts to leave the rest to Smiley who plays it all off with smiles, jokes, and slowly charms and tricks Jake into relaxing, unwinding and playing poker. And also to show him his sidearm so they have it disarmed and away from Jake.
Only then does Smiley slowly reveal how screwed Jake is....with Moreno bringing up that "Hey, ese. If you ask me- and only if you ask! Then Alonzo played you for a fool, man." Smiley tells Jake about how Alonzo fucked up with the Russians how badly he's in debt and oh yeah, that Jake is now figuring out Alonzo paid Smiley to kill him.
And he's unarmed. Outnumbered. Defenseless. The conversation turns creepy quick and Jake tries to break for it but is easily subdued, angering Smiley who isn't pleased to have been punched in his own home.
Jake is dragged to a bathtub, Smiley having a shotgun ready, but a twist of fate results in Moreno going through Jake's pockets and finding a wallet. See, earlier in the film, Jake rescued a young girl from being assaulted by drug addicts trying to rape her, and this girl? Is Smiley's cousin. Smiley is ENRAGED, thinking Jake messed with his cousin and is just interested enough to verify Jake's story. He calls up his cousin who, after a little prodding from Smiley, admits to what happened and confirms Jake saved her.
Sniper noting this is some "freaky shit," Smiley decides to spare Jake for "having my cousin's back," unties him, gives him a towel so not to bleed over Smiley's floor and "You know this shit was just business, right?" before he lets Jake go to deal with Alonzo.
Mitigting issues?
More I think of it? No. Training Day is a dark and murky world, and Alonzo is probably the most evil man we see. A corrupt cop who abuses his power to dominate the neighborhood, but Smiley....Smiley is far from a good person. The planning I would say he completes when he plays Jake effortlessly with Moreno and Sniper, charming the poor guy to disarm himself and get helpless all while Smiley is planning to kill him.
Cliff Curtis's completely charismatic performance elevates Smiley from a one-note, IMO. He's certainly Affably Evil to a great degree. I mean, he's a criminal whose activities aren't detailed, but he accepts money from a corrupt cop (even if he dislikes the man) to murder an honest cop. He doesn't have anything personal against Jake (at least not till Jake punches him), and he drops all affability when he finds Letty's picture in Jake's pocket. That's when he drops all affability, snarling "don't fucking lie to me!" But he seems to think Jake hurt Letty, as he growls "ain't right involving her, she's a civilian!" and threatens to "blow your balls off" if he finds out Jake harmed her.
With Letty, he actually comes off as stern and even brotherly, admonishing her for ditching school and telling her they'll "talk more about this later"....but when he finds out Jake did save her, he spares him for saving her and makes clear it was just business. Basically a sign to Jake to let it go and they never have to see one another again.
Beyond that, he seems to have a fully functional friendship with Moreno and Sniper (both of whom seem more bloodthirsty than he does), and he doesn't even seem like a bigot. When Moreno and Sniper ask crude questions of Jake, ah...being "receptive" to other men to drive in how much Alonzo fucked him, Smiley just playfully remarks he wouldn't mind to "getting from the homeys."
Conclusion?
I'd give Smiley a yes. One-Scene Wonder for sure.
To Smiley
Ultimate Moral Compass
Smiley, love that dude
Goku Black
Smiley
Yes to Song!Delta and Zoso.