Subpages cleanup: Complete Monster

Now then, for my next one, this'll be a quickie...I proposed him exactly 3 years ago last month, and he was ultimately declined primarily on the premise of being a Show Within a Show. But, as said, with other villains setting enough precedent to be ok with said formats having candidates, I'd like a relitigation.

What's the work?

Bolt is a 2008 Disney animated film featuring such voice talent as John Travolta and Miley Cyrus. The film follows the titular dog, Bolt, a superstar canine who stars in a show in which he plays a super-powered dog....with the issue being that Bolt actually thinks he's a superdog and is forced to face reality of his average status when he's lost in the streets.

I wanna talk today of the tie-in video game that came out around the same time, whose format is that of an actual season of the show Bolt starred in...

Who is Dr. Calico? What has he done?

A lanky terrorist with one green eye who wouldn't be out of place in a Bond film, Dr. Calico serves as the Big Bad of the game, having kidnapped young girl Penny's scientist father to force into helping him with his evil schemes. Which gives us our plot, as Penny and her superpowered dog Bolt go on a variety of adventures to find her father and stop Calico.

In the game proper, Calico tries to kidnap Penny to use as a hostage to better her father's compliance. When Bolt's attempts to rescue her damage the building they're in and cause it to crumble, Calico leaves Penny to die in the building, remarking to his soldiers "As long the professor believes she's alive, he'll do what I ask and finish the weapon. Too bad we don't all have nine lives!"

Later, though Penny and Bolt thwart his operations much, Calico ends up capturing the duo and revealing what he's had Penny's father create: a Kill Sat with which he plans to wipe out every nuclear arsenal in the world and leave only his own stockpile left so as to have ultimate power. Calico also happily notes that they're going to eliminate Penny's father...but not before he plans to test the Kill Sat on their hometown to make sure it works, referring to it all as "Like melting butter with a blowtorch."

Luckily, Penny and Bolt escape and destroy Calico's weapon before he can use it, leading to Calico to attempt to flee...aaaat which point Calico proceeds to launch his entire arsenal of nuclear weapons at random just to distract the heroes while he escapes.

And though Bolt barely manages to stop the missiles from strikung, Calico escapes with Penny's father in tow, ready to begin scheming once again.

Freudian Excuse or other redeeming features?

Nope, he's a legitimate spy supervillain transplanted into a vidya game haha nothing to discuss

Heinousness?

Even though it's nothing particularly special, I'd say Calico passes for a Disney work. The specific cruelty he shows in stating his intent to kill Penny's father only after wiping out their hometown is pretty damn notable, and there's no minced words over the fact that death will result from Calico's plans—Penny's dad explicitly uses the words "people will die" even, so Never Say "Die" ain't in effect.

Other issues?

As I said, the game is technically "just" a season of the Bolt television show: the game has an opening, few-seconds long cinematic of the movie character Rhino settling down and turning on his TV, then the game starts and plays, and then when you beat it, Rhino once again is seen, turning off his tv and remarking how good the show was.

So while, yes, it's all technically happening in the TV show, I think it's a solid case of a Framing Device being used and can be allowed.

Final Verdict?

I'd go with Keep

Edited by Ravok on Feb 5th 2021 at 5:29:23 AM

Yes to Calico.

Calico

Is he still voiced by Malcolm McDowell in the game ?

Calico. God, it's been ages since I watched Bolt.

Yes to Dr. Calico. Another from a work associated with Disney Animated Canon, but not actually from the films.

Edited by Bullman on Feb 5th 2021 at 7:24:22 AM

@mir: It is indeed still him, as one of the few actors carried over from the film into the game. Guy is obviously enjoying himself, too

Ray and Calico.

Fun fact: That Bolt game was technically the first game I ever played for the PS3; it was a demo kiosk at a movie rental store that also had a demo of Ratchet and Clank Size Matters for PS2 nearby.

to Calico.

The Bolt game makes him more of a qualifier than the movie one.

to Dr Calico. Will he go in the Bolt YMNV page and put Video Game on the writeup?

Batu, Iachilla, Ray and Calico

Tiff and Klara

Ray and Calico

yes to Calico

to Dr. Calico.

I think we might want to remove "The Narrator" from Deathspell Omega's The Furnaces of Palingenesia. The creators have stated that they're not a character but a mouthpiece for a totalitarian state, and groups are disqualified from qualification. Otherwise, we'd add the government of 1984 or Big Brother to the complete monster lists.

According to his entry, he's the leader of the totalitarian state, so all of its atrocities can be linked back to him and thus can qualify, despite being part of a group. Also, the trope page mentions that he pulls a Taking You with Me on all of humanity after his group has collapsed, giving him even more heinousness points. It also appears that the Word of God statement is only implicit that the group has no true leader. Taking all of this in consideration, I think the narrator is still a keep.

Edited by DrUnknown on Feb 5th 2021 at 6:17:49 AM

Also, The Misfits are always surrounded by underlying black comedy and have a general horror aesethetic, so I don't think anything they make can count for the same reason a song by Slayer or Cannibal Corpse can't count.

Yup. Keep the Narrator.

Edited by Tvtropesfan234 on Feb 5th 2021 at 6:19:18 AM

It's stated in 1984 that Big Brother is the creator of Oceania and the head of state which all atrocities can be traced to. It's possible he doesn't exist and is just a mouthpiece for the party, but the same is the case for the narrator. Wouldn't he qualify as well?

I'm not sure what "same as the narrator" means, but we never see Big brother, there is no confirmation Big Brother truly exists. He cannot be considered here.

Understandable, have a nice day.

I'd say the difference between Big Brother and the narrator is that we're not even sure if the former exists, as we never meet him and the Party is well known for spinning lies. With the narrator, he's sufficiently characterized across eleven songs, which leaves no doubt that he exists.

As for the black comedy, how bad is it? Black comedy works are allowed, as long as they can maintain a serious tone when it is appropriate (i.e. Lavrentiy Beria from The Death of Stalin).

Edited by DrUnknown on Feb 5th 2021 at 6:23:55 AM

I'll post the lyrics for both songs. They are very gnarly and heinous and would count in most media contexts, but they're sung in this silly light-hearted punk tone and aren't much grislier than other songs they make. Again, we don't qualify Cannibal Corpse or Slayer here because all their songs are about nasty, spooky things.

Last Caress: I got something to say

I killed your baby today

And it doesn't matter much to me

As long as it's dead

Well I got something to say

I raped your mother today

And it doesn't matter much to me

As long as she spread

Sweet lovely death

I am waiting for your breath

Come sweet death, one last caress

Go, sweet lovely death

I am waiting for your breath

Come sweet death, one last caress

Well, I got something to say

I killed your baby today

And it doesn't matter much to me

As long as it's dead

Sweet lovely death

I am waiting for your breath

Come sweet death

One last caress

One last caress, sweet death

One last caress, sweet death

Jack The Ripper:

I can see it in your eyes

The moment of surprise

The end is near

I can taste the blood

When everything is done

You feel the fear

I feel it in my hands

A million grains of sand

Like lives that I take

So you better run

So you better hide

You make no mistake

Where you gonna go?

Whatcha gonna do?

I know the answer

The knife is in my hand

As much as you can stand

I’m breathing down your neck

The blood it starts to run

Under the midnight sun

I ain’t finished yet

Your eyes start to spin

From this forbidden sin

The closer you get

As you start to fade

From this death parade

The tables are set

Where you gonna go?

Whatcha gonna do?

I know the answer

So as this moment dies

Along with your eyes

I must retire

And… More

Edited by Orangutans on Feb 5th 2021 at 6:30:10 AM

Is there a comedic flair to the song?

Eh, kind of feels more like Narm than "crosses the line three times" humor found in uber black comedy works.

Also, I wanted to mention that Slayer actually used to have a candidate, Josef Mengele, who was cut because he was found to be too similar to his historical counterpart, not because the music band was deemed too light-hearted to count.

Skulduggery Pleasant again. Some background before beginning: this world operates with "name" magic, everyone having three names. There's the given name your parents assign you at birth, which sorcerers can use to influence mortals; the chosen name, which protects from said influence and is the reason for the prevalence of Awesome McCoolname (Nefarian Serpine? Really?); and the true name. Using someone's true name can make them do anything you want, but if you find out your own true name first and seal it before anyone else does, congratulations! You're now God!

One such person who does this, Argeddion, is a pacifist who wants to create peace on earth by using his new unlimited power to give magic to everyone. Before doing so, he experiments on a few people, giving them incredibly powerful magic to see what happens. Let's see why this is a really shit idea!

The candidate

Kitana Kellaway is one of these people Argeddion experiments on, first seen testing out her powers with three of her friends who also got experimented on by firing lasers into the sky (one of them is nice and leaves the group, so we'll ignore that she exists. Kitana does). They're stopped by a guy who tells them to get down from where they are (I should note her response is "We have the owner's permission! Unless you're the owner, in which case get lost or we'll kill you!"). The man is a sorcerer, who after explaining the basics of magic realizes they have far more varied abilities than they should have, and goes to call the Sanctuary (magic government). Kitana crushes his brain with her mind and laughs.

I... I usually try to cover these in as much detail as I can, so you all can make the best decision you can despite what I believe. But... I'm just going to list the rest.

• Telekinetically rips her ex-boyfriend to pieces.
• Encourages another of the experimentees, Doran, who is just as bad as her but too stupid to bother going into, to destroy his abusive brother's car and then rip said brother apart.
• Tries to kill Pleasant and Cain after the former stops her from melting a random women in a cafe's face off ("kick her to death" being an explicit order given to try on Cain).
• Taking hostage a class at her school, massacring a bunch of sorcerers that were guarding it and on the lookout for the three of them.
• Sees Argeddion kill some other sorcerers he gave his magic too by taking said magic back, and decides they need to kill him (when the third member of their trio, Sean, reunites after escaping Sanctuary custody through shenanigans, she just tells him to stop whining and start preparing to murder Argy).
• Forms an Enemy Mine with the Sanctuary against Argy, agreeing to have their powers enhanced (sending Doran to be enhanced first in case it's a trap).
• Kills Argy's wife in front of him but doesn't kill him, realizing her powers might disappear and instead willing to keep him alive as a trapped and helpless battery for their superpowers.

They're eventually killed by having Darquesse destroy their brains, Argy brings them back without powers, and (after she tries to blame it all on Doran threatening her) all three are sent to one of those "not even light shall escape" prisons.

Heinousness and competition

Kitana doesn't cause as much damage as many of the other villains. At least a quarter want to bring back dark gods that will kill humanity, Darquesse after growing Blue-and-Orange Morality also wants to destroy the world, and the book Kitana is in is also the one that introduces L!Mevolent, who has committed far worse crimes.

But... let me just say this. Serpine (who I will probably use as the standard for heinousness in the series) is incredibly petty towards his enemies. But not even he would try to kill a random person who mildly aggravated him in his personal, day-to-day life by spelling his name wrong on his coffee or whatever.

Kitana is a monster. She eggs on Doran and Sean, the latter of which might have made better choices, into committing horrible murders, and verbally abuses the fourth Token Good Teammate of the experimentees, Elsie. Everyone she kills she does with a smile on her face, only showing remorse when there are actual consequences. Anyone who humiliates or annoys or gets in the way of her fun she kills or has the other two kill. In terms of damage done and overall threat she's relatively small-scale, but personality-wise she is easily one of the most monstrously cruel and terrifyingly psychopathic villains in the series.

Final verdict

Up to you all, but I say that the magic school shooter should definitely count.

Edited by EmeraldEmperor on Feb 5th 2021 at 6:51:40 AM