Subpages cleanup: Complete Monster

to Wanyudo

Mmm. Provisional yes to the Wanyūdō. I think "most of the folklore legends tying it back to one guy" is as good as we can get in this case.

I'm kinda tempted to revisit one old God of Evil from ancient mythology, that being Whiro from the Maori folklore. It's tricky because a lot of Maori culture is oral, but there are plenty of recordings and studies about the Maori mythology dating back centuries from people who have visited the island. Every single one I'd read reputes that the Maori people universally considered Whiro to essentially be their equivalent to Ahriman.

Edited by Scraggle on Mar 29th 2020 at 8:50:20 AM

Yes to Wanyudo.

Wanyudo. There's one also in Hell Girl who happens to be probably the nicest one among Ai's crew, ironic this guy is where he was base on. Japanese folklore don't really have much evil beings, the ones who do harm do out of nature over vices, but yeah Wanyudo is most certainly one of the few yoikai who originated from pure evil.

'Yes' to Wanyudo, nice find there!

Alright, this one might take some explanation, but let's do it. This is an effortpost for a character that is currently listed for CM, but he's needing more detail and there are some potential issues due to tie-in material, so let's talk it, with thanks to 43 for introducing me to this series and helping out with my thoughts on this guy...

What's the work?

K is an anime series made by the studios GoHands and GoRa. Our setting is Japan, in an alternate world where an out-of-control experiment ended up granting 7 people—dubbed "Kings" and each assigned a color—great powers, at the slight cost that using these powers causes a massive sword to materialize in the sky above the users, and should the users overexert themselves or be killed by anyone other than another King, their "Sword of Damocles" comes crashing down, and considering how big those damn things are, entire cities can be wiped out alongside the user, at which point the power of the dead "King" transfers to someone else. Kings are also able to grant portions of their power to people of their choosing.

Alright, now onto plot...high school boy Yashiro Isana is having a rough time, as a video emerges of him apparently shooting and killing a member of the gang known as HOMRA, a gang controlled by the fearsome Red King, Mikoto Suoh. As Yashiro is sent on the run from HOMRA as well as Scepter 4, HOMRA's rival gang controlled by the Blue King, Reisi Munakata, he must figure out with help of his frenemy Kuroh Yatogami and his fiercely protective cat-turned-girl Neko who truly performed the murder and has framed him for the killing.

This brings us to the villain of the first season...

Who is he?

The Colorless King is the latest "Seventh King", granted the power of Body Surfing to anyone who looks him dead in the eye. A giggling, sadistic little monster whose visible form is represented only as a fox-like spirit, the Colorless King is capable of stealing the spirits and powers of others, and arrives in Japan for the first season of the series, planning to steal the powers of his fellow Kings one-by-one...

What has he done?

Possessing a young school boy, the Colorless King tracks down the Silver King, Adolf Weissman, hoping to steal his body and powers of invulnerability to make the rest of his mission far easier. When Tatara Totsuka, a member of HOMRA, stumbles across the Colorless King with a video camera, the Colorless King needlessly guns the pacifistic young man down for shits and giggles before continuing his quest, jumping into the body of Adolf Weismann aboard Weissman's flying airship.

Thanks to Adolf's powers, though, his mind and powers are transferred into the body of the school boy the Colorless King was possessing, and the Colorless King then kicks Adolf from the airship hoping to kill him.

Now, thanks to some coincidences, Adolf loses his memory in this new body, and takes on the new identity of Yashiro Isana. When the Colorless King learns that Adolf survived, he is giddy to realize that the video camera Totsuka was recording with has framed Adolf/"Yashiro" as the killer, and spends much of the first half of season 1 just kicking back and watching the show as Adolf avoids murder by HOMRA members, with Colorless King spending free time dancing with a woman's corpse he apparently killed at some point.

When security forces of Scepter 4 come after the Colorless King aboard the airship, the Colorless King lures them in as close as possible before blowing the airship up, trying to kill as many of the Scepter 4 members as possible before crashing the airship into the middle of Japan, endangering even more people.

Bodyjacking someone else, the Colorless King gets into contact with the Red King, Mikoto, and, hoping to possess his body and steal his powers, the Colorless King brags that he'll begin killing more members of HOMRA until Mikoto's will is broken, and when Mikoto remains staut, the Colorless King gleefully states that he'll rape and have "major fun" with Anna, a child member of HOMRA who is a surrogate sister to Mikoto, before trying to take over Mikoto's mind, though the Colorless King is driven off by Mikoto's willpower.

Luring the forces of HOMRA and Scepter 4 to Ashinaka High School, the Colorless King stages bombings at the school to cause chaos and put dozens of students in danger, attacks members of Scepter 4, and tries to assassinate Anna of HOMRA while in the body of a Scepter 4 member, framing each side as the orchestrators of the attacks to kickstart a war between them.

Hoping for Scepter 4 and HOMRA to tear each other apart, uncaring for the countless high school students thrown into the fray as well, the Colorless King possesses the student Kukuri and uses her to get close to Adolf and try to bodyjack him and his powers once more, failing once again and instead unlocking the man's lost memories.

Now sent on the run, the Colorless King orchestrates for Scepter 4's leader Reisi and HOMRA's leader Mikoto to duel each other to the death, hoping for them to wear each other down so he can swoop in and take both of their powers, utterly indifferent to the danger of Mikoto's Sword of Damocles dropping on the school and killing everyone inside due to the Colorless King's plans.

Confronted by Adolf, the Colorless King tries to goad him and Kuroh into striking Kukuri's body dead just to torment them, before trying one last time to possess Adolf and, once again, failing, instead is left open for Adolf to trap him and allow Mikoto to deal a killing blow to the Colorless King, destroying him for good and the cost of Mikoto and Adolf's own lives (Adolf gets better tho).

Freudian Excuse or other redeeming features?

Now, for the anime series? The Colorless King has no excuse for his crimes, being a completely power hungry nut who brags that he just wants power, and has an obvious deep love for hurting others, with a Slasher Smile being his default expression.

The Colorless King does have a sequence in the season finale where, while possessing Kukuri, he begins talking to himself in different tones of voice, saying such things as

Sadistic voice: "Oh, so the Blue King is wearing down first? I didn't expect that."

Silly, childish voice: "So, let's take him down first!"

Sadistic voice: "And get myself killed by the Red King? That's not even funny!"

Serious voice: "We'll wait for the Red King to wear down, then take control of him."

Sadistic voice: "Then I can take my time with the Blue King." Licks lips

This is, ah, interesting exchange, and as Adolf himself later states? According to him, the Colorless King has bodyjacked so many people that he's forgotten who his original self even was, and basically has a bunch of multiple personalities inside him all at once, and Adolf pities him for it. The Colorless King angrily lashes out at this, and simply replies "I'm...I am the Colorless King!" with a nervous smile on his face.

This by itself...I don't think is disqualifying. Even though he seems to have multiple personalities, the Colorless King's primary, almost exclusive personality until the finale? Is the gleefully sadistic one, and nothing indicates that he isn't completely and totally in control of his faculties, just that all the bodyjacking has lead to there being other voices in his head that he converses with.

Now, the possible issue? Comes from the manga adaptation of the anime, released about 2 years after the anime. In that? The Colorless King's mental state contributes to his Freudian Excuse, as he gets an extra flashback that wasn't in the anime where he is shown to have been deteriorating in mental state due to all of his body jumping, and now? He wants to gain all the powers of the other Kings so that he'll be the only King and finally be able to "be his own person", that being the supreme King over all, and no longer just a fragmented basket case. The Colorless King acknowledges this as his goal, giving him a lot more sympathy.

In this manga adaptation, the Colorless King absolutely doesn't count, and I get the feeling that hints of this more tragic outlook were there in the anime—such as Adolf mentioning he "pities" the Colorless King—but ultimately, though it might differ for some, I don't see this as disqualifying. Even if the Colorless King was planned to be more tragic, it doesn't come across in the anime, and the manga is nothing but a retelling adaptation and expansion, not actually effecting the anime itself.

In the manga? The Colorless King's multiple personalities are played for tragedy and tie into his goal to finally be a "somebody" and not just a bunch of fragments of other people. In the anime? The Colorless King is nothing but a power hungry sadist, his multiple personalities manifesting in maybe two scenes and just acting as advisors to his plans, not debilitating mental fuckery like in the manga.

So yeah, all told, I don't think this disqualifies his anime counterpart, but I feel that should be mentioned, and it really never was on the thread.

Heinousness?

For someone who's literally a ghost who can possess people and has jack squat else? The Colorless King is shockingly bad. Later villains—who also were The Man Behind the Man to the Colorless King—have exponentially more resources than him, yet never approach his level of personal, vile douchebaggery. Murder of teens, threats of rape and murder of a child, bodyjacking countless people which almost always ends in their deaths, and kick-starting a gang war that nearly wipes out a school? The Colorless King is nasty, even for the setting. And considering, as 43110 said, this is a setting where people can "light up city blocks", the Colorless King is all the more impressive.

Final Verdict?

I think the Colorless King still counts, all told, but he absolutely needed a proper evaluation due to the shiftiness of his multiple personalities and the fact that the expansive manga adaptation gave him far more tragedy and a legitimate backstory. Despite these though, when the anime itself came out, the Colorless King was written as a right bastard who, though earning Adolf's pity for his state of apparently not remembering who he originally was, his dominant, prevailing attitude is a psychopathic monster, and I think he absolutely Keeps.

Edited by Ravok on Mar 29th 2020 at 9:17:21 AM

After talking this one over with you: a thorough and hearty yes to the original anime version of the Colorless King. Head and shoulders above everyone else in depravity and as you summed up very well, though I can't recall your exact wording, "When the anime was made, pure evil was the intent and that's what you see in him" and that exactly the feeling that I get. Well vestiges of sympathy can be vaguely interpreted, he very solidly rejects any and all human compassion he's offered in the show to absolutely revel in the monster that he is. While the manga took it and expanded on it, any mitigation to his condition in the original falls solidly under Alternative Character Interpretation. For a guy whose powers are just being able to hijack bodies in a world where all of the other kings can flatten buildings when they feel like it and the crazy rap sheet he works up for ultimately just being a pawn to the much more intelligent and noble true villains of the series, I'm a yes, a hundred times over.

to keeping Anime!Colorless King.

to Wanyudo and the Colorless King

King.

One last question...

If a character is never addressed by the name which they are credited, is the monster entry still supposed to mention the name by which they are addressed by the credits?

And if they are credited by multiple names, can you use more than one of them, including the one that isn't actually said in dialogue?

Edited by SkyCat32 on Mar 29th 2020 at 12:26:55 PM

King

Yep. That's how it goes.

Definitely keep the Colorless King. I still remember him being a horrific bastard in the anime. I only watched the first does anyone else counts in K?

Edited by G-Editor on Mar 29th 2020 at 6:30:39 AM

Nope, stay tuned on MB though!

Fortinbras, Wellebourne, Sinclair, Wanyudo, Bask, Colourless King. Some bloody good work all!

Reluctant to the Azog picture. While that particular scene is quite nasty, Decapitation Presentation isn't a uniquely evil trope even if we associate it with villains more often than not

Edited by captainmarkle on Mar 29th 2020 at 11:44:02 AM

43: Got it.

Wanyudo. I just ordered that Survival Guide.

That's Weismann, ONE S, TWO N's. I refuse to have my exact last name be shared with a guy whose first name is Adolf.

Keep Anime!King.

Wanyudo and king

Wanyudo and keeping Anime!King.

Wanyudo and the Anime King

Edited by MovieFan2000 on Mar 30th 2020 at 2:48:23 AM

Added to the batch:

• Genocyber anime:
  • Dr. Kenneth Reed, in contrast to his kindhearted manga counterpart, was an amoral research assistant to Dr. Nguyen Morgan. Arranging for Morgan and his wife to die, Kenneth takes their super-powered daughters for his own research. When a detective helping the girls hides them in a hospital, Kenneth and his goons slaughter the entire building, gruesomely eviscerating the detective. Even as he dies, Kenneth watches with glee as the girls merge into the titular Genocyber, destroying Hong Kong and killing millions in the process.
  • Mayor Grimson Rockwell is the corrupt, smug leader of the City of the Grand Ark, using his influence to cruelly keep most of the citizens as abused, starving slave labor while his upper class elite throw hedonistic parties, engaging in torture and trafficking of lower class civilians. When a large group of people try to rebel against Rockwell, he orders them massacred and thrown into mass graves before executing his own security chief for moving too slow in carrying out the exterminations. Rockwell's greatest act of villainy comes when he learns of a church taking in orphaned children and spreading the word of God and, declaring them to be a threat to his rule, has them all slaughtered in machine gunfire, leading to dozens of defenseless men, women and orphan children being killed where they stand in the church.
• G.I. Joe (IDW): Krake is a brutal, vicious Cobra leader who carves a path of destruction straight into the position of Commander. Born in a war-torn country, Krake raised himself to be a cold-blooded mercenary, able and willing to kill anyone in his way in his path to power and survival. Upon joining Cobra, Krake carries out a bevy of missions chosen for him, notably leading an attempted massacre of a village detrimental to Cobra's operations, until he is chosen as a candidate for Cobra Commander, at which point he assassinates a fellow candidate and orchestrates the deaths of hundreds of G.I. Joes to secure his election. As Cobra Commander, Krake quickly orders the murders of the entire Cobra Council to secure his permanent reign; invades and nukes the country of Nanzhao, killing hundreds; and executes dozens of Cobra prisoners and any Cobra troops who have no usefulness to the organization any longer. Under Krake's more aggressive Cobra, terrorist attacks endangering civilians are faked to kill enemies of Cobra; an entire city is nearly destroyed to frame the G.I. Joes; and young children are taken captive to force their parents to do work for the organization, all of this working together to cement Krake's Cobra as the most evil the organization has ever been.
• Chasing Butterflies:
  • Mr. Hive is the sadistic operator of the looming Skycavity, traveling the endless time stream known as the Kinematic Envelope seeking those endowed with Steam. When Mr. Hive finds a lost xeno roaming the Kinematic Envelope, he offers them "deals" for one of the antiques onboard his Vanity Rail, tricking them into giving up their Steam while leaving out the fact that it will kill them and trap their essences in his Steam cane, powering himself up in the process. Taking the xenos Feyf and Croque as abused slaves, Mr. Hive treats them like property and kills Croque when he rebels, later breaking Feyf's legs when she escapes from him, promising her that she'll never leave his side again. When his attempts to steal the Steam of the young xeno Sal fail, Mr. Hive goes on a hunt across the Kinematic Envelope for him, wiping out a ship of sailors and torturing the survivor for information before recruiting the murderous "Gentlemen" to his side and giving them free reign to go on a massacre of Xemidas. As Sal continues to evade him, Mr. Hive, killing his own minions and promising to murder Sal's friends in front of him, threatens to drop the Skycavity on top of Xemidas and wipe out thousands of innocents, refusing to let anything stop him from cowardly sacrificing as many people as it takes to escape the Kinematic Envelope himself for good.
  • The Kind and Rude Gentlemen, nicknamed Kindly and Rudely, are a pair of reptilian xenos. Despite their differing personalities, the two share an intense sadism, manifesting in their operation in the slave trade while also enjoying murder for hire and fun, sometimes being paid in captives they can torture to death. Allying with the wicked Mr. Hive, Kindly and Rudely lead an attack on the peaceful city of Xemidas, crashing their chronofreighter into the gardens and playing a game of who can slaughter the most innocents before the other. Even after Kindly's death, Rudely kidnaps Ransa to salvage a payday, mocking the other xeno how he will deliver him to a chef who enjoys cooking his victims alive.

Yes to Wanyudo and the Colorless King.

to Wanyudo.

Edit: Um a minor correction to my Rosalind Dyer write up, turns out she pulled the teeth out of a anesthesiologist not a paediatrician. Sorry about that.

Edited by MGD107 on Mar 30th 2020 at 4:20:19 AM

I think that Rich Bitch would be a better pothole than Big Bad for Athena, honestly.

Edit: I don't know, ACW. The more I think about it, the more Wicked Pretentious fits better, considering that judging by her character sheet, she has poor knowledge of Orwell and Delusions of Eloquence.

Edited by SkyCat32 on Mar 30th 2020 at 8:33:48 AM

Colorless King

Tweaking Cain's writeup:

• The Bleeding; The Vampire Monarch, Cain Black, seeks to spread vampiric dominion over the world while running a nightclub where humans are regularly slaughtered. Having slayers captured and tortured, Cain tracks down and murders one hunter when he escapes before inviting several women to one of the clubs. We see Cain keeps a chamber full of dozens, if not hundreds of corpses, capturing women to have his men drain them sadistically, or have them butchered and carved alive by another vampire. Cain then initiates a slaughter of the humans in his club before attempting to murder his own brother, Shawn Black, to become even more powerful with his blood.

I basically just added his last named and corrected a minor factual error (he's only shown to have one nightclub).

Before i do the EP, i wanted to propose these images of Cluny The Scourge and Slagar The Cruel from Redwall: The Graphic Novel:

Cluny The Scourge: 1 2

Slagar The Cruel: 1

Edited by VeryVileVillian on Mar 30th 2020 at 2:24:05 PM

Yes to the images.

I fixed Rosalind. As for Athena, is that a key part of her character? Because it's not on her character page.