Subpages: Magnificent Bastard

Oh boy. I'm going out an a limb and saying that none of the subpages for Magnificent Bastard contain a picture that is not a glaring face and a caption.

• Anime - Sitting with your fingers steepled does not convey anything other than "thinking deeply"
• Comic Books - Bald man standing in front of flag. He's... running for president?
• Film - A clown holding a playing card.
• Literature - A Fascinating Eyebrow does not a Magnificent Bastard convey.
• Live-Action TV - He's the Trope Codifier you say? How exactly does the picture tell me that?
• Others - He's just standing there.
• Real Life - He has a horse. Not geting Magnificent Bastard vibes at all.
• Video Games - Really is Just A Face And A Caption.
• Western Animation - Ditto finger pyramid comment (although you could argue that Xanatos is iconic enough to stay given how many tropes he's named).

I don't think it's actually possible to convey Magnificent Bastard through any image (I don't think Magnificent Bastard is even a viable trope, but that's neither here nor there). Personally, I would leave all the subpages blank. Thoughts?

Also, if "We've had this topic before" I don't care. I want a fresh start

If Magnificent Bastard cannot be represented by a still image, then going with characters who are both major examples and somewhat recognizable is probably better than nothing. The image of The Joker is probably pretty fitting... for one thing, The Dark Knight is one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, and for another the explanation is just below the image.

Alternatively, we could use images that SOMEWHAT demonstrate magnificence; I recall recommending in a previous MB thread an image of Palpatine getting Anakin to bow to him for the film section...

The main Magnificent Bastard page isn't allowed to have images. I don't think the subpages should have.

And some of these are admittedly crap. I don't see Aaron from Titus Andronicus as a Magnificent Bastard at all.

I'm wondering if the enthusiasm for The Dark Knight and other recent movies as page images isn't a kind of time-based Fan Myopia. Numerous people on this forum claim to have never watched The X Files, yet in the 90s, it was the big thing, and got referenced and parodied in almost everything. The Dark Knight isn't necessarily going to hold up as well in the 2020s.

Comments (this is not supposed to be comprehensive):

If none of these subpages should have images, this is irrelevant, nuke them all from orbit, maybe leave an ampersanded comment on each.

• Comic books: his pin does say "Lex" (Luthor). But it is small, and that is possibly weak.
• Film: That is the Joker, if this page can have an image, that is fine. (The Dark Knight myopia notwithstanding ^)
• Others: pulled. (I do think Aaron is a Magnificent Bastard, but, that was strongly JAFAAC, the page quote says it fine.)
• Real life: pulled. (Even if it were obviously Napoleon, he isn't a Magnificent Bastard by most measures, unless maybe you think France is evil.)

edited 20th Nov '10 2:50:30 PM by rodneyAnonymous

For what it's worth, I'm the one who put both the Aaron quote AND the Aaron pic up there, partly because most of the subpages had page pics at the time and I felt like completing the pattern. I chose that pic because since "screenshots" don't apply to plays by their very nature, I would look through google images for something of him, and that was the play-related illustration that seemed to show up the most.

edited 20th Nov '10 4:26:43 PM by neoYTPism

Video Games: The Spy from Team Fortress 2. I mean come on. He sapped your sentry, backstabbed your medic, stole his identity and fucked your mother. The bastard. I think if anyone is deserving of being the image for the Magnificent Bastard page, it's him. Have you listened to his domination lines too? Plus he's French.

Maybe find an image of him about to stab the Soldier and the Heavy from the Meet the Team videos?

edited 1st Dec '10 7:09:45 AM by BlaineTheM0n0

Bismarck for Real Life? Putin?

Well, one of the first images of Vladimir Putin to come up on google image search turned out to be easy to crop slightly to yield this.◊

Not sure about the potential for controversy in using a modern politician though...

Vladimir Putin isn't a Magnificent Bastard.

I think the Real Life Magnificent Bastard subpage should be imageless. Or maybe Rasputin.

I still think that if we can't find any images that actually illustrate the trope then we should leave 'em all blank.

I'm usually loath to recommend Order of the Stick for, well, anything here (not because it isn't awesome — it is — but because it's so Trope Overdosed), but the latest as-of-this-posting strip is:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0763.html

Second from the bottom, on the right. Tarquin: "That's the beauty of it all, my son. If I win, I get to be a king. If I lose, I get to be a *legend.*" And for a stick figure, that's one magnificent-looking bastard. It should at least be the Web Original image. It might even be worthy of the main page.

Tarquin is best candidate for trope image for web original, but i think the last panel fits better (or maybe i wish se it on characters page).

Or can we ad all bottom panels ?

The problem with adding just the last panel is the context: without knowing who the character is, it's just a stick figure drinking from a wine glass, and the context problem is the problem with all the images. Tarquin explaining his plan functions much better even to people who AREN'T familiar with order of the stick, making it preferable.

Well this last panel sream MB but I agree we need some of his monologe.

Can we try the last 3 panels?

The Tarquin one seems to be more along the lines of a Xanatos Gambit to me, and would probably be better for that page, since "losing but being a legend" hardly strikes me as the kind of thing a Magnificent Bastard would regard as victory.

Grand Admiral Thrawn would be a good page picture for this one. He's a brilliant strategist and is extremely liked as a villian.

Page Images Should Explain The Trope. A picture of just Thrawn isn't good enough; it should be illustrative and not just an example.

use the Trope Namer◊ for the RL section?

JAFAAC. I might recognize a name historically, but recognize their face?

Yeah I have no clue what Rommel looks like. I would not recognize him by his face if not for the fact that I'm well familiar with the trope.

Supreme Chancellor Palpatine anyone?

Really, there shouldn't be pictures on any of these pages. As has been said by others, it's impossible to really illustrate the Magnificent Bastard with a picture, so anything that is thrown up will just be fan myopia.

Bumping for resolution's sake.

The current pic for Anime is even worse than Gendo:

I think it's okay. I have no idea what work that's from, but I can see some Magnificent and I can imagine some Bastard. The caption's terrible, though.