#Good Guys vs Villains

[figs-oliomedley]

What a wacky group of characters! I sure hope nothing tragic happens to them :)

“where are they” BACKGROUNDS ARE HARD

also @keeperofthebox​ I stole your Harumi design I hope you don’t mind :]

little style guide I made for myself while drawing

go crazy go stupid

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 15 interludes thoughts

Carol interlude:

Holy shit you really were just a fucking TERRIBLE mother!

Like I get it, you had lots of horrible childhood trauma. And you didn't want to adopt Amy and let yourself get bullied into it by your sister. But that doesn't give you an excuse for how you treated both your kids.

Got to see another trigger event!! Fuck yes. Give me more. I want to see more details on those higher dimensional beings.

Fucking hell seeing Marquis's powers in play is pretty crazy. Dangerous boy.

Carol was just going to full blown stab right through that closet door without even looking inside! She almost killed a child! God damn.

“No.  He’s just my daddy.  Reads me bedtime stories, makes me dinner, and tells me jokes.  I love him more than anything else in the world.  You can’t take him away from me.  You can’t!” Fucking ooof that's a line.

No seriously though this can't be the first time there has been a young child of a cape that needed to be adopted because their parent was arrested or killed. Is there really no system in place for this? Cause Amy should not be going with Carol.

Just the way through most of the present sections of the interlude that Carol thinks about her daughter and Amy. Not her daughters. And this was before she knew anything about what Amy had done. Terrible mother.

HOLY SHIT AMY OH MY GOD YOU MADE IT EVEN WORSE! And I thought flesh coffin Victoria was bad! FUCK!

Vic is going to need lots of therapy.

Fucking Carol basically deciding Amy is her daughter now only because she doesn't want to think about Victoria being her daughter. Damn. Bad mother.

And Amy is in the birdcage (Hellfire playing in my head the entire damn time I'm reading this part). I'd be rather terrified to see what she becomes except no one ever gets out of the birdcage so obviously there is no worries. She is never going to be an issues. (I shouldn't need the /s but just to be safe.)

Brian interlude:

Not much to say here, most of my thoughts on this relationship was said in my last post.

I do always love seeing Taylor from the PoV of someone else. Just shows how fucking badass she is. And kinda terrifying.

"She conveyed an eerie kind of confidence that he knew she didn’t have at her core." This is just incorrect bud. When she isn't thinking about how she is portraying herself she conveys the confidence she does have at her core. The stuff she hides from herself.

Alexandria interlude:

DATES! DATA! LORE! AHHHHHHH!!!!

Date of first Endbringer attack!!!!! Strong estimation of the number of capes in August 1986! Knowledge that Cauldron was working in 1986! Their "success" rate at the time that I can compare to now! (Success in quotes cause I don't personally think tentacles is a failure. I want to meet tentacle lady.)

Obviously I'm not a big fan of any of the Cauldron people on the surface. But I think I like Contessa within those boundaries. I technically have no idea what she can do but I'm almost positive she is some type of precog. And I kind of ship her and Alexandria.

Behemoth is fucking scary. Just light people on fire from the inside, shoot lightning. Full energy manipulation. Damn.

Alexandria is the head of the PRT! Damn! (I assume at least.)

I want to know more about the Terminus project!

And Coil is a product of Cauldron! But he doesn't know it (supposedly). Damn. They list him as an alternate to the Protectorate which is very interesting. I'm super curious what Cauldron's goal with the Protectorate was and how Coil can do the same.

Fucking Alexandria just going and grabbing people to be experimented on and it's "ok" cause they were dying. Holy shit! She even manages to make the comparison to her chemo treatment and still does it! Fuck lady. You can justify anything.

Triumph interlude:

See? Triumph is fine! So Skitter didn't do anything wrong.

Triumph is Cauldron created too. Cause he was only good enough at baseball for the minor league but not the majors. God damn fucking privileged ass rich white boy. And he describes it as a traumatic thing! God. At least later he does kinda call out that he got stuff from having a rich dad with connections.

Assault seems to be doing great! Sure was a good idea to let him join the Protectorate just cause he wanted to be a creep to this one girl. Turns out when that girl is gone he doesn't have any motivations to be a "good guy". Great decision Legend.

Robot daughter! Good to see you again! And you built yourself a bio body! Or a head at least. Still, fun!

AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Defiant.

Definitely isn't Polearm McGee! Nope! Absolutely a different person. That also likes really long pointy sticks.

I am glad Frank Miller's Armsmaster was able to remove the restrictions on robot daughters code. She deserves freedom. Pretty much served his purpose now and she basically just keeps him around to humor him. "Oh yes I need Defiant to help me, even though I built his suit and could just control it directly myself."

Seven Dragon suits in Brockton Bay huh? I'm sure that won't result in anything next arc. What with Dragon specifically on the lookout for Taylor and Taylor planning on going with her dad to the town hall on the election.

Triumph gives in to the weight of not speaking up about Defiant being Armsmaster but then he gets mad at Prism for not speaking up! My dude! You didn't speak up, you can't be mad at her for the same thing!

Fucking LOVED the ending of this interlude, and thus this arc, though. Absolutely perfect. Just with the inherent comparison of Defiant to Mannequin, especially considering Colin called Mannequin a "monster" in his interlude and said "I'm nothing like you!" And then Triumph thinking how he could see the reason for every step Colin made and could see himself justifying each one. And the previous chapter had Taylor dealing with how far she had let herself go. All that and then ending this chapter with Triumph staring at the bodies of Crawler and Mannequin (finally confirmed dead) and the line "Maybe it was to find some clue, some sign he could watch out for, that would let him identify the monsters from the men."

Just fucking. So good. I think it's my favorite quotable arc ending so far. I might like Arc 11's ending more (it's close) but not in quotable way. "All lies" at the end of Arc 14 is a close second, but I like this one more.

[villainartist]

😇 BE NOT AFRAID!✨

this has been a wip for MONTHS... but i cant stay away from the despair sisters for too long

(reblog >>>>> only liking!!!!)

[shadowslocked]

Mmmmm it’s hard for me to put into words but I feel the reason why people have such a hard time with this Q!Foolish arc is that it doesn’t really fit easily into most arc/tropes what have you

Is Foolish being manipulated and used? Yes, a lot of Cucoruchos language is very off and clearly intended to pull Foolish in. Foolish also suspected this and wanted to see what would happen anyway because he thought it would be fun (unsure if he means in a meta or character way).

Is Foolish probably in some danger by interacting closely with the Federation meaning it’s harder to pull away? Possibly but I don’t think Foolish is overly concerned about his safety at the moment considering his response to a possible trap for him was to go “Let’s check it out :)”

Is Foolish a neutral/amoral immortal who doesn’t fully grasp the consequences of his actions? Most likely yes given he’s asked twice now if he’s made the wrong choice, but he’s not so amoral that you can say he doesn’t care about Tazercraft or what happens to the other islanders.

There’s no way for Foolish to know about the harsh conditions of the prison or about Tazercrafts traumatic past? Yes, very true, Foolish largely has a positive view on the Federation and likely assumed they would be okay and returned later like Max was BUT ALSO dude had no way of knowing that and you know what they say about assuming. Whether or not he knew Tazercrafts past prior, he doesn’t seem to grasp the seriousness of that trauma when talking about it with Fit

Tazercraft likely would have been arrested anyway? Yeah more than likely and while I do think it’s the Federation setting up a decoy to take the heat from them it’s still a dick move on Foolish’s part

Foolish has been completely honest? Foolish has been pretty upfront with most information BUT he is also lying about doing it to keep Richarlyson safe and has been keeping the fact it was Cucorucho that hired him a secret. So yes, Foolish isn’t a complete liar but he has lied because he knows the true answer wouldn’t be satisfying to the others

But he can’t tell the others? As far as I have seen Foolish was never threatened or sworn to secrecy, you might say he’s doing it because he does genuinely believe the Federation doesn’t want him to tell but it’s also just as likely Foolish just knows people would be even angrier with him if they did know the truth

TLDR: basically Foolish is very weird in his arc because it’s not a complete villain arc (or at least my understanding of one) but his actions are also not good either but also Q!Foolish could have a very different view of what’s happening due to his immortality but also that doesn’t change that he hurt Tazercraft but also he does care about them but also he’s a silly guy

[writers4all]

"BAD GUYS DESERVE HAPPY ENDINGS, TOO!" Except It's A Random Person's Essay Opinion On It.

So I've legit lost count the number of times I've seen people say that villains deserve to get a fairytale Happily Ever After and whatnot. But here's the thing ... I always get the vibe that they mean it as in it's always rainbows and butterflies (it's not) where the good guy gives the bad guy a Heel-Face Turn.

No, no, no. Stop right there.

While I don't entirely mind there being complicated af relationships going on in stories — OG Fiction or Fanfiction, it matters not — we really need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. How about instead of having the bad guy having a Heel-Face Turn or whatever we just flat out have The Bad Guy Win? It's actually been done before, and quite a lot, surprisingly. Here are a couple of examples down below:

Pokemon USUM where the big bads from Gen 1 to Gen 6 (Giovanni, Archie, Maxie, Cyrus, Ghetsis, and Lysandre) won in an alternate timeline.

Most of the SAW films with a vast majority of the traps.

Batman Arkham Knight actually succeeded in doing this by having Scarecrow reveal who Batman truly is ... ... ... ... ... TO THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD VIA LIVE TELEVISION.

Injustice: Gods Among Us played with this when The Joker manages to successfully brainwash Superman into killing Lois Lane. This one's pretty triggering, though, so head's up.

Dragon Ball Z plays with this as well for the timeline Future Trunks is from Cell actually won due to everyone except for Bulma and Trunks dying by the hands of Androids 17 + 18 and Cell.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers played with this for the Rangers actually lost the ability to morph permanently via the morphers they had at the end of the series thus having to obtain the Zeo Crystals to morph into the Zeo Rangers and not the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Mortal Kombat 11 plays with this if you choose Shang Tsung over God Liu Kang and have it to where Raiden and Fujin are mindless servants.

Something similar happens in Injustice 2 where you choose Superman over Batman to where the latter becomes a mindless servant of the former (thus scarring the young Supergirl).

With all of that being said, why not have it to where the villains do have a happy ending but not in the way we expect it. Get your readers emotionally invested to where they're not happy with the outcome kind of like when Sephiroth killed Aerith out of nowhere in the OG FF7. Or, if you really want to, make it to where they get a kick out of it kind of like how The Joker makes Batman laugh at the end of The Killing Joke. Just have the bad guy win every now and again.

[bumblingbabooshka]

The truth comes out

[mistninja]

watched the black clover movie. Mereoleona yuri moment >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[badger-with-a-boa]

Absolute Carnage Vs. Deadpool made me lose it because of these two stupid-ass panels

These are amazing

[snekdood]

its wild to me how western european beauty standards even effected me as a child. my blonde, blue-eyed ass. i'd tan and come inside to look at my skin and it was "darker" in a way thats not conventionally understood as beautiful, I thought I was "supposed" to have more red and orange pigment when I tanned

like this

but instead it was more like

this and it always made me feel insecure on a subconscious level, like i wasnt the "right type of tan" or something :/

anyways, everyone with olive skin is beautiful and fuck them other color undertones sdjkhbvsfgdvghsdfhgvdfshvgfdgshv

[likeabxrdinflight]

okay having now finished the crimson flower route I honestly don't know how I'm gonna do any of the others and have to side with the church like

obviously I realize this fictional church is not the actual catholic church but hoooo boy the similarities are clearly not accidental and hearing rhea scream at me for like 10 hours of gameplay about how I'm going to burn in hell for being a worthless sinner is...........yikes lady. I'm not gonna be able to unhear that on any of the other routes.

now I've gotten bits and pieces of her side of things- she's lost her family, she's obsessed with getting her mother back, I'm sure there's more to it that will look more sympathetic on other routes, but...I dunno, she struck me as bad news from the very start of the game. not only does jeralt not trust her from the get go, but she doesn't exactly start off in the most flattering light. what is it like, chapter two or three when she starts executing the western church "heretics"?

I just feel like I've seen this kind of person before. she looks sweet and gentle, she acts warm and loving to your face- and as long as you stay on her side, in her good graces, and faithful to her religion- she'll continue to be that way. it's not insincere, exactly, her moments of kindness and affection. she genuinely means it- but it comes with terms and conditions.

she's not very different than any other zealot I've known. put one foot wrong, step out of her good books, do something she considers a sin, and she turns on a dime. and now granted, what byleth and edelgard do in crimson flower isn't exactly a small thing, but still- rhea struck me right away as the type to smile or frown based on whether or not you're meeting her approval. do the right thing in her eyes and you're rewarded with kindness. do the wrong thing and she turns cold. and clearly she's quite unforgiving, that's made apparent well before the time skip.

and that is very familiar to me. I knew people like rhea. I've been hurt by people like rhea. and admittedly it's hard to look past that projection when the game didn't even try to make the church of seiros not look like a direct rip off the catholic church. but whether or not you think the church or edelgard are in the right (or neither, which is probably the correct answer), there's just no denying that rhea isn't exactly a good person- and I'd wager even in routes where she isn't blatantly playing the role of villain, she's not exactly the hero either. the game certainly doesn't set her up to be one.

and this isn't even getting into any of the shit with byleth and sothis, mind.

[secondstar-acorn]

just finished the dark phoenix saga

I loved it

[aangopologist]

can't believe liking team greens characters is a sin as if isn't the same fandom where the Lannisters (who have done far, far worse than any green) have a large fanbase

[cuntstable]

sorry for thinking about jojo’s bizarre adventure this much but cant get over how some of the central heroes of stone ocean constantly repeat the theme of ”life is worth living even if it ends tragically” meanwhile puccis whole deal as the villain is that hes unable to cope with the tragedy of his own past and as such is hellbent on remaking the world itself to prevent pain like that from ever happening again no matter what it takes…..aaaaah aaaaaah im screaming a little

[holdharmonysacred]

I woke up from a nap and want to swing at a hornet’s nest again, so I’m gonna give a hot take on villain redemption arc discourse:

A villainous character earning a redemption arc does not mean “Has this character become Morally Good enough to earn a slot on the good guys team?”, it means “Has the character’s writing earned this particular type of conclusion as the conclusion to this character’s arc, and can said writing sell the audience on it being the best narrative path for this character’s story to take? Or is the writing for this character such that giving the character a redemption arc without some serious groundwork leading up to it would at best give the audience intense narrative whiplash?”

Because a lot of villain redemption arc discourse - when it’s not dealing with the actual bad implications of the impulse of “Everyone who has ever been victimized by this character must magically forgive them, no one is allowed to have beef with this character who hurt them” that comes with a lot of redemption arcs - really just boils down to the redemption arc sucking ass because it’s being handed out to x characters when the writing around said characters has done nothing to really earn said payoff. You have to actually build up to the heel-face turn before you can say “This character is good now!”, the same way you have to have build up for any character arc’s conclusion. This is why it’s so common to have villains the writers want to redeem openly doubt their cause or get smacked in the face with The Consequences Of Their Actions - a villain with moral qualms about what they’re fighting for is more likely to leave and join the good guys, and a character Facing the Consequences Of Their Actions is more likely to go down the path of personal change that’s essential to any good redemption arc.

This is also why so many people get frustrated with redemption arcs getting handed out to fantasy tyrants. A fantasy tyrant’s crimes are typically massive and far-reaching and affect the whole cast, and tyrants in general just aren’t the type of people who would naturally come to a conclusion of “You’re right, we should stop being evil!”. Something big usually has to happen on the level of the universe itself punishing said tyrant for their sins - whether it be them getting violently deposed and thrown out of their Fantasy Tyrant position, or them facing immense personal tragedy as consequence of being a Fantasy Tyrant - so that the writing has an actual catalyst for the personal change required for the redemption arc in the first place. Situations like these is also where the impulse to say “Everyone must magically forgive this character because they are Good now!!!!” tends to get really ugly, since now it’s basically forcing the entire cast of a work to shut up about their grievances and let the Fantasy Tyrant do whatever they please, and that’s just shitawful writing.

To put it all a simpler way - if you’re writing a character who is a cartoonishly vile villain who’s constantly cackling while kicking puppies and is overall Evil And Lovin’ It, you’re going to need the run time of basically the entire series in order to get that villain to an ending of “They’re a sweet person on the side of good who runs a wholesome well-intentioned orphanage”, because that is a massive change in characterization that’s going to be extremely goddamn hard to sell to your audience unless you put in the legwork to make your writing earn that outcome. And depending on the villain, you really might just be better off writing the more natural outcome of “And then they were a horrible rat bastard to the end” rather than trying to force a redemption arc you’re in no way equipped to write.

[robbed-ghost]

Nah cause what the fuck at this point

[zaggyzoo]

hate to say it bc it's only 3 episodes left but i might just drop may i help you