TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Subpages cleanup: Complete Monster

Go To

During the investigation of recent hollers in the Complete Monster thread, it's become apparent to the staff that an insular, unfriendly culture has evolved in the Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard threads that is causing problems.

Specific issues include:

  • Overzealous hollers on tropers who come into the threads without being familiar with all the rules and traditions of the tropes. And when they are familiar with said rules and traditions, they get accused (with little evidence) of being ban evaders.
  • A few tropers in the thread habitually engage in snotty, impolite mini-modding. There are also regular complaints about excessive, offtopic "socializing" posts.
  • Many many thread regulars barely post/edit anywhere else, making the threads look like they are divorced from the rest of TV Tropes.
  • Following that, there are often complaints about the threads and their regulars violating wiki rules, such as on indexing, crosswicking, example context and example categorization. Some folks are working on resolving the issues, but...
  • Often moderator action against thread regulars leads to a lot of participants suddenly showing up in the moderation threads to protest and speak on their behalf, like a clique.

It is not a super high level problem, but it has been going on for years and we cannot ignore it any longer. There will be a thread in Wiki Talk to discuss the problem; in the meantime there is a moratorium on further Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard example discussion until we have gotten this sorted out.

Update: The new threads have been made and can be found here:

     Previous Post 
Complete Monster Cleanup Thread

Please see the Frequently Asked Questions and Common Requests List before suggesting any new entries for this trope.

IMPORTANT: To avoid a holler to the mods, please see here for the earliest date a work can be discussed, (usually two weeks from the US release), as well as who's reserved discussion.

When voting, you must specify the candidate(s). No blanket votes (i.e. "[tup] to everyone I missed").

No plagiarism: It's fair to source things, but an effortpost must be your own work and not lifted wholesale from another source.

We don't care what other sites think about a character being a Complete Monster. We judge this trope by our own criteria. Repeatedly attempting to bring up other sites will earn a suspension.

What is the Work

Here you briefly describe the work in question and explain any important setting details. Don't assume that everyone is familiar with the work in question.

Who is the Candidate and What have they Done?

This will be the main portion of the Effort Post. Here you list all of the crimes committed by the candidate. For candidates with longer rap sheets, keep the list to their most important and heinous crimes, we don't need to hear about every time they decide to do something minor or petty.

Do they have any Mitigating Factors or Freudian Excuse?

Here you discuss any potential redeeming or sympathetic features the character has, the character's Freudian Excuse if they have one, as well as any other potential mitigating factors like Offscreen Villainy or questions of moral agency. Try to present these as objectively as possible by presenting any evidence that may support or refute the mitigating factors.

Do they meet the Heinousness Standard?

Here you compare the actions of the Candidate to other character actions in the story in order to determine if they stand out or not. Remember that all characters, not just other villains, contribute to the Heinousness Standard

Final Verdict?

Simply state whether or not you think the character counts or not.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Aug 31st 2023 at 4:14:10 AM

futuremoviewriter Since: Jun, 2014
#163626: May 17th 2019 at 9:50:15 PM

I love hating both Bill Cox and Antoine Sartain for one thing. Poppy Adams and Madisons Bell and Lee are pretty cold bitches. Helen Burton is a KH, so I totally hate her for that. There are candidates I love hating who never got approved, but I'm not gonna talk about those (at the least, there's Bats, AKA Leon Jefferson III, who I myself believe doesn't count). I guess Big Boy Caprice, Billy Lee, William Strannix and Commander Krill will round it out for me.

36 EPs, I forgot Brett Petrie and Descendants: Hellfire's Judge Claude Frollo (fanfics I never finished or even started and because of that were cut or unapproved).

Michealthehero21 Since: Jan, 2019 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#163627: May 17th 2019 at 9:51:32 PM

First EP in a long time, and it’s great. Great job, Ravok! :) [tup] Cup.

Oh, and an tentative [tup] to Koopa, unless somebody has counter arguments.

DemonDuckofDoom from Some Pond in Hell Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Clown-Face Wild Child from Canada Since: Dec, 2015 Relationship Status: In another castle
Wild Child
#163629: May 17th 2019 at 10:01:01 PM

[tup]Cup.

Why so serious?
AustinDR Lizzid people! (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Lizzid people!
#163630: May 17th 2019 at 10:07:09 PM

[tup] Cup. Slight yes for the Koopa.

G-Editor The 47th President Since: Mar, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
The 47th President
#163631: May 17th 2019 at 10:10:38 PM

[tup] to Gurngsi

I missed these EPS of yours Ravok

My sandbox of EPs and other stuff
Tyk5919 Your friendly neighborhood stank goblin Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
Your friendly neighborhood stank goblin
#163632: May 17th 2019 at 10:11:29 PM

Bentley Little—this guy...this guy.

THIS. FUCKING. GUY. [lol]

You know, a lotta times I wonder if a lot of the stuff I write is far too explicit or too gory or just too gross in general. Then Ravok throws up an EP from a Bentley Little book and I feel better. tongue

[tup] for Cup Hu Gurngsi.

Gonna abstain on Koopa for now.

I write stories and shiz. You can read them here.
erazor0707 (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Tyk5919 Your friendly neighborhood stank goblin Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
Your friendly neighborhood stank goblin
#163635: May 17th 2019 at 10:33:08 PM

[up][up] Trust me, what I write is tame compared to Bentley Little. For the most part. tongue

Edited by Tyk5919 on May 17th 2019 at 1:33:22 PM

I write stories and shiz. You can read them here.
therealjackieboy from Austin, TX Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
#163636: May 17th 2019 at 10:35:37 PM

[tup] Cup Hu Gurngsi

Ah, it warms the cockles of my heart seeing a Ravok EP after so long.

Edited by therealjackieboy on May 17th 2019 at 10:36:02 AM

It's Spooky Month!
UltimateDemonBeast65 Since: Feb, 2018
#163637: May 17th 2019 at 10:37:00 PM

It's understandable with my EP considering its origins.

And for some who didn't know, the Koopa is just Darkness, who is an original character from the series.

I understand why it would be abstain or a slight yes.

Scraggle Since: Nov, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#163638: May 17th 2019 at 10:54:18 PM

Anyways, for my first Lovecraft-themed post...

What's the setting?

The Haunted Palace is the first Lovecraft film adaptation, directed by Roger Corman (who tried Lovecraft to make something different, though the producers changed the title and slapped on an Edgar Allan Poe poem to the end of the film just to cash in on his recent Poe successes) that loosely retells the story of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Mr. Ward (played by Vincent Price) and his wife Anne arrive in the sleepy New England village of Arkham, where he has just inherited a deserted palace from his great-great-grandfather's will. The palace, though, is spoken of in ill tongues by the villagers, and Charles finds a portrait with an alarming likeness to his own he starts to obsess over. Turns out that's a portrait of his great-great-grandfather...

Played by Vincent Price? Joseph Curwen.

Who is Curwen? What has he done?

A wicked sorcerer aided by his valets Simon and Jabez, and his dark mistress Hester Tillinghast, Curwen was feared and despised for his dark sorcery by the nearby village of Arkham, in the 18th century. For good reason—Curwen was placing hexes over women and luring them to his castle, whereupon he had them chained up and forcibly mated with the Great Old Ones, intending to create a series of superhuman hybrids through which he'd open up a gate to hand over the entire world to the Great Old Ones (and anyone with the slighest whiff of Lovecraft lore knows what happens in this event). The result children born from Curwen repeatedly having women raped by eldritch demons? Were misshapen, monstrous abominations that permanently polluted their own bloodline. Interrupted from doing this to his final victim, Curwen was lynched, but put a curse upon the entire town of Arkham that he would be back... and they would all suffer.

Curwen, true to his word, is taking over the body of his descendant Charles one-hundred-and-ten years later, forcibly suppressing Charles' mind to dominate his body utterly slowly but surely. Curwen intends to start business right up once he's totally taken control over Charles—leaving his mind fighting helplessly within his own body—and vows to get revenge on Arkham itself and the descendants of those who put him away. The results of his experiments have inflicted godawful mutations upon those in the infected bloodlines where several—including a little girl born without any eyes, and another reduced to nothing more than a feral monster kept locked in a cage—stumble around... more than that, Curwen decides to start personally murdering many of those descendants. Curwen releases said feral monster upon his own father to have him torn to shreds, and douses another in gas before striking a match and burning him to death. When Simon addresses Curwen's lust for revenge in disgust, Curwen informs him he won't stop until he's turned the entire village of Arkham into a graveyard, refusing to stop "until they have felt as I have... the kiss of fire on their soft, bare flesh. All of them."

Beyond that, Curwen also starts taking a lustful delight in Charles' own wife Anne, musing over the privileges he has as her "husband" and eventually trying to outright rape her and exercise his "husbandly prerogative," gleefully stating "we have the whole night ahead of us!" Eventually, Curwen convinces the local doctor that Anne has completely lost her mind, intending to have her locked away in a mental institution... when she comes back anyways, Curwen tries to murder the doctor and resolves to make Anne the final breeding slave for the Old One he keeps entrapped in the basement to finally bring the Old Ones through, strapping her up and preparing for the ritual before the villagers attack the castle. In the chaos, Charles briefly regains control and gets Anne out of there, and Charles himself is narrowly saved from the flames of his castle... except Curwen is still indicated to have full control now.

Any mitigating factors?

Only tiny detail to note is Curwen's dark mistress Hester, but... the relationship isn't fleshed out much. Curwen is explicitly shown to treat all women as objects of carnal desire or merely tools for him, and even seems pretty blithe over the repeated failures of Hester's revival. It's not nearly enough to disqualify him, and nothing else comes close. This is probably, if not necessarily Price's most despicable screen role (that'd be Witchfinder General) easily his nastiest heinous-wise.

Conclusion?

The first Lovecraft film to ever have a keep. And a Vincent Price one at that.

Thoughts?

Edited by Scraggle on May 17th 2019 at 10:55:21 AM

Lightysnake Since: May, 2010
#163639: May 17th 2019 at 10:55:16 PM

As the one who passed this one to you, and as we just watched it?

Oh, hell yes

IukaSylvie from Kyoto, Japan Since: Oct, 2017 Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
SumDumNerd LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES ENGAGED from [REDACTED] Since: May, 2017 Relationship Status: You cannot grasp the true form
G-Editor The 47th President Since: Mar, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Tyk5919 Your friendly neighborhood stank goblin Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
Your friendly neighborhood stank goblin
#163643: May 17th 2019 at 11:28:23 PM

[tup] for Joseph Curwen.

I write stories and shiz. You can read them here.
erazor0707 (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
TheMadCr0w (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Get out of here, STALKER
ElfenLiedFan90 Me in a nutshell (Coping with Depression) from Jakarta,Indonesia Since: Aug, 2017 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
Me in a nutshell (Coping with Depression)
#163646: May 18th 2019 at 12:17:51 AM

Sure to Curwen.

Hand's up... I'm reading Brynhildr today so hopefully I can re-litigate several characters from there. Wish me luck

"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."
ACW from Arlington, VA (near Washington, D.C.) Since: Jul, 2009
#163647: May 18th 2019 at 12:24:40 AM

[tup] Marshall.

[tup][tup][tup] The image. Probably has to go through Image Pickin', but it's got everything: The dead bodies, the burning city, Nyarly holding a...jester's head (???). Any good captions? I'm thinking this:

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/neverkind.jpg
They don't get much worse than Lucia "The Consultant" and Nyarlathotep.

[tup] Ravok's.

[tup] Curwen too. Another one I'm kinda surprised took so long.

Lightysnake Since: May, 2010
#163648: May 18th 2019 at 12:26:15 AM

It's a Venetian jester mask. Nyarlathotep loves playing up his 'jester' theme at times.

DemonDuckofDoom from Some Pond in Hell Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Scraggle Since: Nov, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#163650: May 18th 2019 at 12:39:57 AM

And... since Lighty has gotten us started on Call of Cthulhu, boy do I have some nasty customers upcoming... our first, from the infamous module Mansion of Madness? Ezekial "Zeke" Crater.

Who is Crater? What has he done?

Zeke "the Geek" Crater is a waterfront kingpin with a wild lifestyle who ruthlessly silenced all competition and opposition, Crater found an eldritch artifact called the Dark Stone that amplified his sexual potency, as well as his durability and strength. Crater organized several weekend orgies, escalating to biting the heads off of chickens to empower the Dark Stone, where his wild orgies eventually got the attention of a cult leader named Josephine who was subliminally lured by the Dark Stone. Josephine hideously deforms Zeke through a shell, causing him to retreat into solitude... now, Crater has the investigating group of players dispose of Josephine for him while he keeps the full extent of his deformities hidden, and shows a bit of his nastiness if he's allowed to investigate Josephine's old friend Andrea, where he brutally murders her in her apartment leaving little but a trail of organs and blood splattered on the walls. Standard stuff for the setting so far. Then the investigators go into his mansion...

So... we learn Crater was turned into a hideous, chitinous insectoid man, and turned to experimentation with stuff like the Book of Eibon in an attempt to cure himself. Crater turned to the service of the Eldritch Abomination known as the "Thing Hanging in the Void", offering it sacrifices in an attempt to come back to normal. This isn't where it ends, though. Crater wants an army. So he starts luring women back to his house and... dear, how do I put this?

Long and short of it? Crater starts tying up the women to beds, severing their hands and feet and cauterizing the stumps and raping them into insanity to force them to bear his hideous, mutated insectoid spawn. The investigators find a woman reduced to foaming, mindless insanity by Crater's repeated rapes, and...

[T]he excitement of being rescued by the investigators will bring on her first labor pains. The young woman suddenly begins to shudder and choke, then falls to the floor, writhing in agony. As the investigators watch, her belly starts to heave and quake. Then, with a scream, she gives birth to a dozen or more of the gangster’s offspring; little bug like Crater things, that chew and bloodily scramble their way out of the womb to scuttle across the floor and disappear into cracks and crevices.

All the women forced to give birth to Crater's awful bug-like children die from it, with piles of their body parts and entrails seen piled around the Thing's altar and a log going back weeks detailing Crater's victims. Most women only last a day or two in rapid, horrible gestation, and Crater has both dissected them and his own bug children to experiment on them further. A final battle ensues where the investigators kill Crater and end the hideous experiments once and for all.

Any mitigating factors?

Nada. The Dark Stone doesn't mess up his agency any—everything he does with it is completely voluntary. And while being turned into a hideous bug monster and trying to return to human form might be understandable, the way Crater goes about it...

Look, the standard, I'm not going to lie? Is bloated. There's no one continuity as has been said before, though, and Crater sets it for his own module... and honestly, even if they were all weighed as one? I think Crater would still pass. The shit he's doing with the wives is infamously horrifying, even for the pitch-black setting of Call of Cthulhu.

Conclusion?

Easy fucking keep. I've got others coming, but Crater is... mmm, a taste at some of the visceral horror Call is willing to get up to.

Thoughts?


Total posts: 326,048
Top