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:
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. "
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
Nathara
There's an entry for a character called The Enslaver in the Lost Eden video game YMMV: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/LostEden
Was this approved? I had a look for it in the video game folder and only the previously approved Moorkus Rex was there.
So for Mythology, we've got:
- Celtic Mythology (Abhartach; Balor; Conomor the Accursed)
- English Folklore (Black Annis)
- Orcadian Myth: (Nuckelavee)
- William de Soulis; Sawney Bean (not sure how to even categorize these)
I don't know if we wanna combine any or all of these; I'm also not sure where William and Sawney should go (Scottish folklore??).
Edited by ACW on Jul 28th 2020 at 9:19:02 AM
Also while I'm here.
- Sawney Bean, born Alexander Bean started out as the son of an honest hardworking man. Preferring a life of "freedom", as opposed to following in his father's story. He would later take a wife in a like-minded woman named Agnes, where they made a home in a cave and lived a life of vice; mainly cannibalism and incest. Their union produced dozens of children and subsequent grandchildren from inbreeding. Over the years they would kill, rob and cannibalize thousands of people, and in turn would get innocent people lynched when they were blamed for the murders. Sawney and his family were revealed to the world when they attacked a married couple on their wedding night, and in the ensuing manhunt, their cave was found decorated with the bones, body parts and possessions of their victims. While there are slight variations to the story, a constant was the King orders Sawney and his family to be inhumanly executed without a trial, as they were no longer considered human at this point.
Edited by Beast on Jul 28th 2020 at 8:29:49 AM
"It's like...a cliff, and if I do it, I'm just gonna...fall." "I think we're already falling."Okay, Peace Talks? It's only half a book. Now, there are two people to discuss, but the book ends with a massive war kicking of with the Last Titan and King Corb of the Fomorians bringing the pain to humanity. We're gonna wait till Battle Ground to discuss in full, in September.
So, with my big Tales from the Crypt MB hunting, I did uncover a potential other CM from the episode What's Cookin'. Let's talk Gaston.
Who is Gaston?
The episode focuses on Fred and his wife Erma, the former played by the late, wonderful Christopher Reeve. Fred is a man with a vision and a dream: a restaurant that serves squid and only squid. But nobody else quite believes in it, and business is terrible with their only regular being a cop friend of theirs, Phil Farley, who's approaching retirement and wondering what to do with his life (and only really comes in out of pity)....and their employee Gaston, a drifter who's gone through states and helps clean the place up. One night, Fred gets into a bit of a fight with his landlord Mr. Chumley after Chumley insulted him and bragged about being ready to throw him on the street. And by fight I mean Fresh slashed his hand in a moment o rage...but the cops aren't called, no eviction comes...and Mr. Chumley is gone. Phil drops by for his daily breakfast, but sees...hey, there are some amazing steaks there! Fry one up for him, huh?
So...you probably guess where this is going. Gaston murdered Mr Chumley and butchered him to make the steaks. In fact, Gaston is a serial-killing cannibal and the drifter thing? Is a cover so he keeps on the move. Fred is offered the choice in how to handle this and keeps it quiet with Gaston smugly promising to ensure that the restaurant becomes a hot spot..as long as they make him a partner. The steaks are a hit and word spreads. Gaston becomes a bonafide serial killer, Phil stopping in to remark on the rash of missing people with Gaston killing them in huge amounts. When Gaston learns that Phil has a lead in Chumley's disappearance, he decides to clean house...setting up Fred, he tells Erma Fred took her pistol and is going to kill himself, and he's the murderer. Gaston tells Erma to call Phil and lures Fred to the resturant, planning on killing him...Erma arrives and Gaston tries to murder her as he fights Fred....
Twist? Her gun is empty. Gaston screwed up hard. He didn't know Erma never loads her gun, and Erma warned Fred immediately when she knew his story was fishy. At that moment, Phil strolls in and sees the scene...Gaston tries to pin the crimes on them...but Phil has developed something of a taste and cheerfully opines about the couple needing a new business partner. "Farley's Famous Flamebroiled sound alright to you? And it'd give me something to do about my retirement!"
With everything settled, Phil asks they throw him a steak on the grill...and Fred forces Gaston facedown on it, ready to start cooking as Gaston screams...and outside, the lights on his name fade out...
Heinosuenss?
It's Tales from the Crypt. The only other keeper is, justifiably, Treat Williams' Harold Prince from Only a Lonely Heart (perhaps the only CM ever directed by Tom Hanks) who's a serial bluebeard murderer and with a metric ton of murders even by this show's standards. The general standard is a couple deaths, nothing too crazy...most of the ones who exceed that have redeeming qualities or other issues and most of the show's protagonists define Asshole Victim to begin with...Gaston? Is a serial killing cannibal, who kills tons of people, tries to betray his partners and makes unknowing cannibals out of every customer.
Okay, sure, Fred doesn't exactly have clean hands here either, but he's presented as an honestly decent guy with a dream at first who loves Erma dearly, is clearly disturbed by Gaston and even by the end with Phil, killing Gaston could imply they'll just target bad people. Even then, Gaston outstrips everyone by far.
mitigating qualities?
None. Gaston's a vile little snake whose only excuse is a brief comment about "family recipe." The moment the going gets tough, he plans to frame Fred and kill him, possibly Erma as well (who he seems to lust for)...admittedly, the ending has some dark comedy when Phil indicates he's totally fine being a cannibal and going into business with Fred and Erma, Gaston's reaction is less visceral horror and more "Oh, come on, really?!" That his whole business enterprise with his personal recipe may've worked a little too well. But hey, it's Tales from the Crypt.
Conclusion?
I'd say Gaston is a hearty keeper.
Edited by Lightysnake on Jul 28th 2020 at 8:48:31 AM
No one kills like Gaston
No one grills like Gaston
And serves steak that would make people ill like Gaston!
What? Someone had to do it.
to Gaston.
Edited by ImperialMajestyXO on Jul 28th 2020 at 8:54:46 AM
