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.
- Don't delete an EP unless you intend to swiftly repost it. We know that there are reasons why you might want to delete an EP, especially if it's being downvoted - rejection is hard, even in a low-stakes environment like this. However, deleting it renders the current discussion null and void, makes it impossible to reference the discussion in the future and can confuse tropers who didn't read it before the deletion. If the issue is temporary (such as formatting problems or a post getting overlooked as the thread moves on), then deleting and quickly reposting the EP is a valid option, but to fully retract an EP, please use the [[strike:]] markup instead.
- Votes must be for specific candidates, meaning no blanket voting (i.e. "yes to everyone I missed").
- If you are the first person to downvote a candidate, please provide an explanation of why when you do so. We're here for discussions above all, and a hit-and-run downvote doesn't facilitate anything.
- If a work is already reserved by another user, please don't comment on the work or any potential characters worth discussion before the discussion date. We know how exciting it is when a work has a keeper that you're waiting to talk about, but it's not fair to the person who reserved the work who is just as excited to lead the discussion to see the discussion getting spoiled before they get to do it. On the other hand, if the reservation only has one name attached, shoot them a PM - they may be down for a collaboration, which will get you in on the fun as well!
- Please keep the thread on-topic. While discussing the trope is fun and we encourage people to enjoy it, questions like "who's your favorite 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 Mrph1 on Jul 12th 2024 at 3:34:22 PM
to Mukuro
Alright now that I got my Jack Ryan stuff out of the way, I can now EP stuff from the 2nd work in my disposal. I finished watching the first five seasons of Castle (I intend to watch the rest of the series) and I may have found another pair of candidates worth discussing so let us talk about it.
What’s The Work?
Castle is an American Crime Mystery show that stars Nathan Fillion as the titular crime novelist, Richard Castle where he works with NYPD homicide detective Kate Beckett in solving murders together. My first candidate shows up in the Season 5 episode, "After Hours", where Castle and Beckett must protect the witness named, Leo, as he is being pursued by the mob, though Leo is not what he seems and will be the first candidate I’ll be discussing.
Who Is He? What Has He Done?
Leo, the supposed witness, is actually a hitman hired by the O’Reilly crime family to assassinate their chief enforcer Mickey Dolan when his best friend Father Joel tries to convince Dolan to leave his life of crime. In Leo’s effort’s to kill Dolan, Leo kills Father Joel while pretending to be a witness to the murder knowing that Dolan will come out of hiding and find the guy who killed his best friend.
Though first Dolan sends his goons after Leo, though they were stopped by Castle and Beckett, who at the time, believed Leo to be a witness. Leo himself would pretend to be a witness who sprained his ankle in front of Castle and Beckett while trying escape the neighborhood they were in, but in truth Leo was just killing time having Castle and Beckett run in circles avoid Dolan’s men, until they went to a basement, while Leo was waiting for Dolan to come out himself for Leo to kill.
While Castle leaves Beckett and Leo eventually getting captured by Dolan, one of Dolan’s goons shows up. However Leo ambushes the guy and ruthlessly takes him out before holding Beckett at gunpoint when she sees his true nature, where Leo then forces Beckett to call Dolan and Castle tell them to meet them under the bridge.
After luring Dolan and Castle to where he wanted them to go, Leo then shoots the Van that they were in to make sure that he kills Dolan. However Dolan and Castle got out of the Van and surround Leo, where Beckett had gave Castle a veiled message regarding his mom’s inviting them and Beckett’s dad to baseball (Martha doesn’t like baseball), tipping Castle that something was off about Leo. Dolan would then attempt to kill Leo to avenge is friends death, but Castle convinces him not too, where the police arrive to arrest Dolan and Leo.
Is He Intelligent? Is He Charismatic?
As a Professional Killer, Leo proves himself to be very cunning and charismatic formulating many plans to kill his targets in his past, like killing his target’s BFF so that Dolan will come out of hiding to find Leo making it easier for Leo to kill, while pretending to be a terrified witness to manipulate people into underestimating him.
Hell the only reason why the good guys get the best of him was because they had information that Leo wasn’t aware of (Castle and Beckett’s parents had an argument about baseball in the beginning of the episode to which they never told Leo about) and even then Leo never looses his cool or charm, showing absolutely no fear when Dolan is about to kill him or when the police arrest Leo, simply remarking that the O’Riley family will simply hire another hitman to kill Dolan, so yeah pass here.
What’s The Competition Like?
I already watched the first 5 seasons of Castle and plan to watch the next 3 so there may be more candidates coming out in the future but for the moment, Leo clears the competition by being the most brilliant, charming, and badass one-shot villains that Castle and Beckett has ever encountered.
Is He a Bastard? Is He Too Much of a Bastard?
Leo is a Professional Killer who has killed many people in the past with Leo mentioning to Beckett that he killed his own psychiatrist, killed an innocent priest as part of his plan to lure Dolan out for him to kill, brutalizes one of Dolan’s goons in the basement, holds Beckett in gunpoint, and attempts to kill Castle and Dolan when he thought that they were in the van, so yeah I’d say he’s a bastard.
That said Leo doesn’t go beyond basic hitman villainy, doesn’t commit any needlessly cruel nor deplorable crimes and does try to give Beckett and Castle some advice when he figures out that they were having relationship troubles (granted this may have been part of maintaining his cover of being a scared witness but still), and is far from the worse the series of Castle has to offer, so yeah not too much of a bastard.
Final Verdict?
I will leave it to you guys.
Edited by G-Editor on Feb 14th 2023 at 9:24:19 AM
My sandbox of EPs and other stuffIT'S PIZZA TIME
Sadly, nobody counts. Now, the Big Bad Pizzahead does have some credentials under his belt: he did make an cleverly built tower filled with traps and tricks after all. Also, while it's played for comedy, the background info reveals that he tricked the bosses into working for him so he could stop them from destroying the tower. Helps that the man himself is a hilariously well-animated twist villain.
The problem is that his entire fight with him has him completely underestimate Peppino and thus refuses to take the fight seriously even as he's losing, resulting in Peppino absolutely demolishing him when he gets angry. The whole thing's also a Humiliation Conga that's also played for comedy at his expense, so he doesn't exactly exit the game with much dignity.
Nobody else worth going into, the other bosses aren't particularly clever and are actively bamboozled by Pizzahead. BTW, a few of the ending slides do show that Pizzahead survived and is still out there, so hey he could return sometime, who knows.
to Leo before I forget.
Edited by DoodSlayer136 on Feb 14th 2023 at 6:41:27 AM
Leo
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Not very. She’s still a competent fighter and a serious threat as a villain (she’s mainly the brawn to Junko’s brains), just too willing to believe her sister (like when she believes Monokuma’s false claims about Makoto’s blood type during a hasty transfusion) which gradually goes away once she starts getting serious and switches sides. She’s certainly not a crying wuss, that’s for sure, only shedding tears when Junko disowns her (which is understandable).
Edited by therealjackieboy on Feb 14th 2023 at 7:11:58 AM
It's Spooky Month!Yes to Mukuro and Leo!
Ok, time for a Valentine's Day proposal that connects to one of my greatest loves!
...no, not a person, I mean Star Wars! To go with Talon:
Who is Marka Ragnos? What makes him a candidate?
A "Sith Lord who exemplified the virtues of the Sith," Marka Ragnos was an "imposing, merciless figure, a master of the Force and the arts of war", who was such a powerful leader that he is solely responsible for the legendary "Golden Age of the Sith", in which prosperity and power flourished amongst the Dark Side.
Having struck down his rival for the title of "Dark Lord of the Sith", Ragnos lead the Sith into the aforementioned "Golden Age" as he tactically annihilated all foes against his rule, pitting his enemies against each other so they would weaken before he delivered the killing blows. It is noted that "Strength, power and strategy marked the rule of Marka Ragnos.", and in his time as the Dark Lord—on top of creating and crafting a variety of powerful Sith artifacts and weapons—Ragnos further bestowed power and the title of Darth upon Vitiate himself, setting the powerful youth up to—ambiguously known to Ragnos—one day in the far future create the most galaxy-spanning Sith empire in the galaxy during the time of the Old Republic.
Even Ragnos's demise differentiates him from his Sith contemporaries. Ragnos died...in total peace and comfort, with his empire flourishing and no foes to challenge him. When, upon his death, his successors Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh began warring over his title, Ragnos reached out from beyond the grave and chastised the both of them, bringing Sadow, Kressh and the entirety of the Sith to their knees in awe of his boastful words that the Sith have a glorious destiny, but they must choose the right battles and tactics.
....Sadow takes these words to heart for about .5 seconds before murdering Kressh and taking over the Sith to send them on an insane galaxy-conquering war that utterly decimates the Sith. Many years later, Ragnos's spirit reached out once more to touch the minds of former Jedi Exar-Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma, sensing the power in them and using his coercive words and tempting power to crown them the new generation of Sith and encouraging them to lead a new war on the Jedi to bring the Sith back to prominence.
After Exar-Kun fails, Ragnos's spirit lay dormant for centuries more, until finally, he reached out and his power was used to create an entire cult calling themselves "the Disciples of Ragnos", who travel the galaxy using one of Ragnos's own creations to drain the Force from life. Their leader Tavion soon enough succeeded in summoning Ragnos back from the grave, offering her body for his possession, and though Ragnos nearly rose to power once more, he was defeated by the Jedi Kyle Katarn, his spirit once more sealed away even as he swears "One day, I will return Jedi! One day I will return, and annihilate you all!"
Is he magnificent?
Marka Ragnos is just great. He's one of the longest-lasting, most puppeteering Sith to have ever lived...he pioneered the "Golden Age", he set Sadow and Kressh up for success, he made Exar-Kun into the new Sith lord, he helped Darth Vitiate ascend to power...he's got his fingers in all sorts of Sith pies, and he stands as a truly brilliant machinator and a shining example of a Sith who 100% cared about their legacy and overall standing, not just his own power.
Is he a bastard?
Yeeeep, all that makes him magnificent simultaneously makes him a bad dude for empowering monsters like Sadow, Exar, Vitiate...but he's a very indirect fellow who is far more charming and scheming than those batch of sadists and what they go on to do isn't a direct result of Ragnos or anything.
Final Verdict?
Easy Keep to the guy Sidious wishes he was.
No! That is NOT Solid Snake! Stop impersonating him!Marka Ragnos is a very, VERY easy yes for this trope.
notably Ragnos is uniquely less depraved than most other Sith. He's evil, but he tends to think in grandiose ways, and it's explicitly noted he's known for his power and his intellect in how he dealt with rivals. Not only that, his rival, Simus? Ragnos defeated Simus, who survived as a severed head in a life support sorcery box, and Ragnos...apparently was magnanimous enough to allow it without any further issue between the two.
Edited by Lightysnake on Feb 14th 2023 at 9:21:45 AM
Yes to Mukuro, Leo, and Ragnos (I find it funny that half of his EP covered his actions after his death)
OK I need to finish up with Dice Funk so here's the first of three Arc Villain characters from this season.
What's the work?
Dice Funk is a D&D podcast created by Austin Yorski. It mostly follows the regular D&D setting but there are several differences. Firstly there’s a power greater than Gods known as the Forms, manifestations of concepts which occasionally manifest as objects in the world with special properties. Second are Conduits, Personality Powers that everyone has. Thirdly, due to events in previous seasons all of the gods are dead.
This podcast covers Season 6 Purgatory which is based around the Planescape setting in D&D, focusing on the various planes of reality that act as the afterlife and the magical city of Sigil. All of these planes are held together by the Yggdrasil, a mystical tree which extends throughout reality. Purgatory itself used to be a full on plane of reality but after the gods died it became a building in Sigil which houses the “Soul Trade” which is effectively the Stock Exchange but with souls as currency. In Sigil there are various factions working towards their own ends but the two most important are The Believers of the Source (or just The Believers), who wish to ascend to godhood, and the Athar, who want to keep anyone from ever becoming a god again.
The season follows The Furies, four people who have been brought back to life by a soul trader named Cato so he can have them maintain balance in the world by killing powerful people who threaten that balance. They consist of Cordelia Heller a serial killer, Blake Ferris a former corporate assassin, King Badass (yes really, he chose that name for himself) a former assassin, and Nyfix a professional gamer with magic powers.
Who is Jean the Demon Queen and what does she do?
So one of the afterlifes for evil people is The Abyss, a 666 layer deep literal hellhole occupied by demons. For a long time these Demons were in a Forever War with Hell, one of the other afterlifes, but the war stopped when the gods died since both sides were left leaderless. Various Demons have tried to fill the power gap but all have ended up being killed for their ambition. Enter Jean who is the Conduit of Fun, which gives her the power to give people what they think is fun. With this ability Jean has accumulated the support of most Demons and has gathered enough power that she is close to ascending to the position of a Demon Overlord, which is very close to an outright god. The Furies are sent in to kill her because a person becoming a Demon Overlord would likely restart the war and cause chaos across the Planes.
The Furies begin their job by traveling down the Phlegethon, one of the rivers that passes through all the layers of the Abyss, in order to reach Jean, who is on the 666th layer. Sometime after they begin traveling, King thinks about how fun it would be to fight himself Jean obliges by creating a duplicate to attack the Furies. When Nifyx (who loves overcoming challenges) thinks about how fun it would be to go to a more dangerous location, Jean teleports their boat into a more dangerous layer of the Abyss, getting their boat stuck (also sending a boat full of Believers who wanted to steal Jean’s power there, which got all but one of them killed). Jean also tricked a powerful demon into going to the same layer, hoping they will fight the Furies. When the Furies befriend the Demon and get them to help move the boat, Jean teleports a powerful Angel who wants to kill the Furies to where they are, taunting them to distract them from the Angel’s attack. When the Furies get their boat moving again they discover that Jean actually moved them into the River Styx which will take much longer to reach Jean than the Phlegethon.
As the Furies continue their journey Jean impersonates Cordelia’s girlfriend and teleports her to a different layer. Jean then attempts to convince Cordelia to work for Jean, offering her control over two layers of the Abyss but Cordelia refuses. Jean also tries and fails to get Blake to abandon the journey by offering him a cushy life on a beach. The Furies eventually reach the 665th layer which is a giant fortress guarded by an army of Demons and an undead dragon and after a tough fight they enter the 666th layer. Jean then explains what her idea of fun is, hurting others, and uses her conduit to weaponize her sadism against the Furies by inflicting them with heavy debuffs, giving them a tough fight before they finally kill her.
Is she Magnificent?
Being the Conduit of Fun, Jean is very Faux Affably Evil, treating her interactions with the Furies as a genuine attempt to give them something fun to do (albeit in a somewhat sarcastic way), while also peppering her speech with a ton of hilarious innuendos. Hell she's likable enough that both King and Nyfix are reluctant to kill her. She’s a very good schemer as well, convincing the Demons to work for her and being really clever with her various attempts to stop the Furies.
Now there are a few possible issues I should cover here. Firstly she does undergo a slight Villainous Breakdown when the Furies reach the 665th layer, briefly screaming at Nifyx when she lands a powerful blow to the dragon and trading her playful tone for cold death threats in her fight with them. This isn’t a full blown breakdown and she remains controlled and dignified throughout this aside from her snapping at Nifyx which she calms down from. Second, her sadism shouldn’t be a disqualifier, it doesn’t really come up until the final fight and even then her speech comes off as more of a Badass Boast than anything else.
Is she a Bitch?
Now the whole ‘restarting a war that could cause chaos across the Planes’ thing is pretty bad I won’t lie but it’s also not given much explicit detail and Jean herself mostly just talks about how becoming an Overlord will give her absolute control of the Abyss. Hell she doesn’t even explicitly say that she will restart the war, the Furies are sent in because even the possibility of the war restarting is too much of a risk to take.
Conclusion?
I think she keeps.
Edited by papyru30 on Feb 14th 2023 at 10:26:53 AM
to Marka and Jean
Edited by G-Editor on Feb 15th 2023 at 10:31:14 AM
My sandbox of EPs and other stuffLight could you move that to the next page.
Mukuro, Leo, Ragnos and Jean.
Edit:
Right sorry. Didn't mean to imply it wasn't an accident or anything. I'm also an easy yes to your guy too.
Edited by miraculous on Feb 15th 2023 at 5:31:37 AM
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."

So with Valentines Day coming to an end, I figured I would propose my final Danganronpa candidate. It'll be an interesting one, but I think she's worth a shot.
What’s the Work
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF is a What If? Light Novel based on the first game. Written by Ryōgo Narita, it can be read in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair as a reward for beating the game.
Here, the beginning plays out the same. Makoto Naegi and a bunch of talented teenagers at Hope's Peak Academy are trapped inside and forced by the killer teddy bear Monokuma to kill each other to ensure their escape.
But here's where it gets different. Before the first killing starts, Makoto wins a super rare escape switch from a game due to his incredible luck. But it turns out to be a trap, as he's electrocuted upon pressing the button. This prevents Sayaka Maizono from conducting her scheme to kill Leon Kuwata, as she's busy with taking care of the ill Makoto, thus preventing Sayaka from getting killed by Leon.
But that shock Makoto got also allowed him to recover his memories of everything that happened two years ago. And with those memories, Makoto realizes that the woman calling herself Junko Enoshima, is in fact Mukuro Ikusaba, her twin sister... who is about to be killed by the spears of Gungnir. Makoto pushes Mukuro out of the way, saving her life in the process and creating a separate timeline where she survives.
Who is She?
Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier and the true protagonist of the story, makes up one half of the Ultimate Despair alongside her sister Junko Enoshima.
What does she do?
An emotionless former member of the mercenary group Fenrir who displays an excellent knowledge of weapons and combat, Mukuro was also heavily abused by her younger sister Junko and conditioned to love despair just as much as her, as she believed it was her ultimate mission to spread it, being a soldier and all.
After Makoto saves Mukuro from the Gungir spears, but gets impaled by one of them himself, Mukuro begins to have a crisis of faith of sorts about her relationship with Junko. Once Junko, disguised as the Ultimate Hacker Besshiki Madarai, frames Mukuro and Makoto as the masterminds behind the killing game, Sakura tries to fight back against them. Able to hold her own against a powerhouse like Sakura without knives or guns, when she realizes that she can’t win against her, Mukuro devises an escape strategy. Getting Sakura to bleed, Mukuro forces the hemophobic Toko to witness the blood wound and switch to her Genocide Jack personality, taking advantage of everybody’s shocked reactions to take the dying Makoto to the infirmary to heal him.
Caught hiding by Kyoko and calmly telling her everything about her and Junko’s plan, Mukuro, despite holding out hope for her sister to love her again, finds that’s not gonna happen when she’s later held captive by her.
But it’s not until the final third where Mukuro decides to make a proper Heel–Face Turn and show how magnificent she can really be. Saved by Mondo after being swarmed by an army of Monokuma robots, Mukuro starts to turn a new leaf. Choosing to forgo her attachment to Junko and love of despair, Mukuro, when hearing about a challenge by Junko to press the escape switch guarded by an army of exploding Monokumas in only 15 seconds, volunteers and concocts a brilliant gambit. Using a hospital IV pole she was carrying around as a makeshift javelin, Mukuro launches it at the button... only for the Monokuma bot to grab it before it could press it. Junko laughs at Mukuro’s failed attempt... which is what Mukuro predicted would happen. You see, after she threw the javelin, Mukuro had Sakura immediately launch her toward the switch, taking on countless explosions and shrapnel to press the button with milliseconds remaining.
Successfully ensuring the escape of the students with everyone making it out alive, Mukuro, despite knowing she’s a branded criminal for what she’s done to the world, nevertheless joins up with Makoto to help him rebuild the earth and put a stop to whatever her sister has in store, even choosing to dress up like Junko in order to get a better understanding of her.
Is she charming? Intelligent? Able to think on her feet?
For a good portion of the story, Mukuro is a damaged wreck who, while displaying great intelligence and strength in her fight with Sakura, is often easily manipulated by Monokuma/Junko because of her deep attachment to her, and did a poor job of explaining herself when her disguise is exposed.note
But that all changes when she performs her Heel–Face Turn. Afterwards, Mukuro becomes her own kind of fighter, choosing to side with the good guys because of what she thinks is right, and pulling off a very clever gambit that leaves her evil sister frustrated, and everybody surviving. It's a great turning point for the character, showing how one can become a potential MB through well-done character development.
Is she a bitch? Too much of one?
Mukuro helped cause the end of the world for the sake of spreading despair, and was heavily involved in her sister's plan to kill all of her friends. Normally she wouldn't count in the games...
But this version of Mukuro undergoes an epic Heel–Face Turn that involves ridding herself of Junko's control, growing as a more independent warrior able to turn against her oppressive sister while learning to care for her friends and rebuilding the world she helped destroy. It's a nice redemption arc. And even before that, Mukuro cared for Makoto, which is why she wanted to make sure he survived, so she's always had a heart.
It also helps that this came out before the 3 anime, so it doesn't mention any of Mukuro's more deplorable crimes (assisting in the onscreen massacre of the Academy's Student Council, Mind Raping Chisa to act as Junko's despair slave by sticking needles into her brain, etc) that would've prevented her from counting, and "The Tragedy" isn't given much detail here beyond mainly destruction, unlike the sequels.
Verdict
I think she keeps here.
Edited by therealjackieboy on Feb 14th 2023 at 5:46:30 AM
It's Spooky Month!