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The right and wrong way to write a mysterious villain.
General | Posted a year agoHeya guys, Js here, back with another journal. I'm sure I have already said some important things from my two last journals... Well, that is if you guys even CARED about reading them, but we're going to do something different with this one.
One of the things about villains is that the majority of them tended to be greedy, powerful, manipulative, and, well, evil. But, I haven't seen anybody talking about MYSTERIOUS villains. And when I say mysterious, I mean those with moral ambiguity, or those that make you keep guessing what their real motives are until the end. Making them mysterious and threatening is a great way to do it, especially if you're going to reveal their true identity later on.
But, today, I'm gonna talk about what makes a good mysterious villain vs a bad mysterious villain. So, sit back, and enjoy the read as I show the right and wrong way to write a mysterious villain. Just a reminder, there will be some heavy spoilers for Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth and Lackadaisy, so keep that in mind.
Now, let's start off with the good example of a mysterious villain, starting with Yutaka Yamai from Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth.
Yutaka Yamai is a yakuza boss who runs the Yamai Syndicate. He used to be the member of the Tabata Family, led by Shunji Tabata. Yamai and his members would kill and make money for Shunji's wife, Yui Tabata. At some point, Yamai became madly in love with her. One day, at some point around or prior to 1993, twenty-year-old Yamai was spoken to alone by Yui, who stated she was having an affair with his captain. Believing it to be his only chance with her, Yamai agreed to kill Shuji with the promise that she would keep him safe from the police or the family. That night, he accompanied her to Shuji's office and attacked him. As soon as Shuji stopped breathing, Yui ripped her clothes and ran to Shuji's subordinates, claiming Yamai killed him then went after her. Yamai managed to flee to safety.
He would see Yui one more time with her living happily and openly with his captain, and Yamai started having shivers, which he tried to hide by claiming that he was ''cold'' even when in Hawaii. This is why he had a coat covering him, and only had it taken off when he fights against someone.
Around 2017, he took in Eric Tomizawa, a man who owed debt to the Yamai Syndicate, who would become his "errand boy."
Yamai orders Tomizawa, whose taxi was impounded, to track down Ichiban, as Ichiban was responsible for Tomizawa getting arrested. Led to a motel, Yamai, along with Tomizawa and other subordinates, head inside to find Ichiban Kasuga and Eiji Mitamura. Realizing Kasuga doesn't appear wealthy enough to pay for the taxi, he decides to attack him instead. Defeated, he seems to take an interest in Kasuga. At some point, Yamai learns that other criminal organizations are searching for a woman named Akane Kishida, and he begins searching for her to find out why she is so valuable to them.
Yamai and his men head to Akane's house to see if they can find anything pointing to her location, only to reunite with Kasuga alongside a grey-haired man. Upon seeing his face, Yamai recognizes the man as Kazuma Kiryu, a man who he knew was still alive, thanks to his ability to deduce someone's identity by looking at their faces.
Tomizawa was about to kill Yamai, but missed, and Ichiban was able to convince Tomizawa to switch sides. Given this information, you'd think Yamai would seek revenge on Tomizawa for switching sides. But, surprisingly, he doesn't, instead simply looking for a fight with Kiryu. Though Kiryu keeps denying his identity, Yamai doesn't budge and attacks anyways. Despite losing the battle, Yamai says he expected more out of the legend, being unaware of his condition. He leaves, hoping their next fight will be worth it.
Yamai would track the heroes down in a forest, where he would burn it all down. After losing the fight, Kiryu would start to collapse due to his condition, and Yamai took advantage of this by knocking him out. Now, this is where we the audience expect for Yamai to do something terrible to Kiryu. Perhaps he was going to torture him, perhaps he was going to kill him, or something like that. But, once Yamai lose the fight again in his club, one of the ladies admitted that Kiryu was fine, and that Yamai even treated his wounds.
Who exactly was this guy? Well, as it turns out that Yamai was actually kinder than we thought. After he made it to the hospital, he found Yui in the bed, and asked if there's anything he could do for her. Little did he knew, that she was suffering from Alzheimer's, and so, she didn't remember who he was.
Given the situation, you'd think Yamai might take his revenge on her for what she did to him, since she framed him after all. Instead, he gave away his coat to her, and walks away. When Ichiban asks, ''Are you sure about this?'' Yamai replies with ''Yeah... I was too warm anyway.'' The fact that he silently gave away his coat to warm up a lady who framed him for a terrible crime, walks away before saying a few words, and with subtlety to his kindness no doubt, makes him one of the best mysterious characters I have ever seen.
Despite his tough, cold, calculating exterior that he tried to maintain, he's actually a good guy at heart.
Not only that, he was a real threat to the main heroes, as shown when he managed to track the heroes down with no difficulty, and even managed to knock out Kiryu Kazuma with his crowbar.
So, what makes him a great mysterious villain? For one thing, the lack of information about him was what makes him interesting. When he was introduced, he was a ruthless, cold, and creepy villain that we needed to defeat and escape from. Yet, towards the end, we saw that mask shattered once we saw him treat Yui with such kindness. We're also given subtle hints to his character.
One of those hints being that he was cold all the time, given his shivers, which was the result of his trauma, rather than being in a cold environment. Another subtle hint was that he'd rather have a great fight with Kiryu rather than take revenge on Tomizawa, which shows his willingness to let go of grudges, just like in that hospital scene.
Lastly, the subtle hints didn't undermine him as a threat, and he gave the characters and players quite a hard time more than few times.
The fact that everyone in the Yakuza fanbase pretty much loved this character goes to show you how well-written he really is.
The same cannot be said with a bad example of a mysterious villain, Mordecai Heller from Lackadaisy.
Yes, yes, I've already beaten a dead horse already, sue me. But I think with how badly written Mordecai is, and given there's not enough views on my journals, I figured that I might as well give more details about Mordecai being a mysterious villain starting with his backstory.
Mordecai Heller was born on March 28, 1899 in New York City, New York to German-Jewish immigrants, he lived with his 3 siblings. Before starting his education Mordecai suffered from congenital myopia and was forced to wear spectacles, After his father Issac passed from a stroke, Mordecai became very protective of his family and they moved to the east side of Manhattan in terrible living conditions.
At the age of 13 Mordecai begins working as an accountant and bookie for grifters, loan sharks and gambling operations, he finished his primary education and in need of money at the age of 17 extorts money from someone minor in the crime world and later murders them to replace their role and was able to embezzle money from higher-ranks though he is later caught.
In fright Mordecai leaves New York on a getaway train to either Chicago or Detroit, he leaves all the money for his family and meets Atlas May and later leaves with him to St. Louis, Atlas helps Mordecai get out of his former troubles and Mordecai decides to join Lackadaisy as a sharpshooter, though after Atlas’s death in 1926, Mordecai leaves and kneecaps his coworker Viktor, he later gets hired by Asa Sweet in early 1927 to be a triggerman for Marigold.
However, what Asa Sweet didn't know was that Mordecai was actually trying to investigate about who killed Atlas May for his purpose of revenge.
In the animated pilot, we don't know much about his motive, other than the fact that he was still working for Asa Sweet. Due to Rocky's clumsiness, Mordecai's car crashed, and Mordecai would go on a pursuit trying to kill him and Freckles. When that failed, Mordecai went to report the situation to Asa Sweet, and the pilot ended.
Now, on the surface, it looks like he got everything that Yutaka Yamai had, just with a different backstory. Mordecai went through a terrible situation, escaped to safety, lead a family, and kept a cold, calculating persona to hide his true identity. So, what exactly went wrong here?
The whole point about Mordecai is that he is supposed to be a highly accurate sharpshooter with a cunning intellect to boot. Mordecai was supposed to be a foil to Rocky, what with Mordecai being emotionless, cold and calculating and Rocky being the insane, immature, child in an adult's body.
While there's absolute nothing wrong with how Mordecai was written for his backstory, the problem is that Mordecai has got NO personality whatsoever. He is SO freaking boring. And so, I ended up not caring about his journey, or his stakes. In the comic, he was pretty much invincible, with him able to escape to safety with no problem, and being more than one step ahead of everyone at every page that he's in. Mordecai had NO fatal flaws, or anything that made him stand out. Compared that to Yutaka Yamai, who had suffered shivers, and failed to defeat the heroes, yet somehow was a lot more threatening at the same time.
In the animated pilot, Mordecai is a TERRIBLE shooter, and shoots like an inept Stormtrooper from the original Star Wars trilogy. And just when Mordecai had the perfect opportunity to shoot at Ivy, he just sighes and lowers his gun. I don't have a problem with villains or characters doing something that's seemingly out-of-character for the sake of revealing a clue to their backstory. What I DO have a problem with is that this undermines Mordecai as a threat to the main hero.
Yutaka Yamai managed to easily track down the heroes with no difficulty and managed to knock out Kiryu of all people with relative ease. However, his hidden compassion and kindness made him open to attack, thus making him lose a few fights against the heroes.
Even his shivers didn't stop him from taking that perfect opportunity to take advantage of one of the main protagonists. So you CAN make your character do something that seemed to be out-of-character to reveal a clue or hint to their character, to show who they are, but, when you have a villain, who's supposed to be this terrifying threat that the heroes must escape from, and he does nothing but miss his shot again and again, then you have a problem.
This is why it's important that you balance out your character's strengths and weaknesses. It IS tricky, trust me, as a writer, I had to make sure to give Toshineko a fatal flaw that Lucario had to exploit, but, it would make Mordecai a better villain.
You don't have to have Mordecai shoot Ivy in the head or give her a fatal shot. Instead, have him shoot her in the arm or somewhere to make her swerve out of control, and cause the car to crash, and have Mordecai make sure she was alright, while still trying to kill Rocky and Freckles. Or, you know, SHOOT THE FREAKING TIRES!! That way, you have a villain who is threatening and mysterious at the same time.
Hell, George Lucas did that with Darth Vader, as we got to see just how terrifying Darth Vader really was, and even chopped Luke's hand off. However, once we get to see more hints of his character, we see that he couldn't really kill Luke because of the conflict within him, which he tried to deny, due to his compassion toward him, since Luke was indeed his son. Then at the end, Darth Vader decided to throw Palpatine down the reactor shaft when he saw Luke suffering.
That is character, that's how you write a great villain.
This is why Mordecai fails as a character, and as a mysterious villain. Because, not only did the mystery of his character undermined him as a threat, but he also has no personality as a result. Sure, his cold persona was supposed to hide his fear or something, but, we don't get to see him being afraid of anything.
I also really don't like Mordecai in the Lackadaisy Stratgem short, due to him rambling about something that makes no sense. There's also a part of his dialogue that I particularly dislike, and I'll copy and paste it here: ''I mean your strategy. What strategy are you playing? The Pelagatti Attack? The Archizer-Meyer Countergambit? Der Hammerschlag? The Zugzwang Zigzag? The Poached Penguin? The Drunken Tartakower? Some half-cocked variation of the Dizzy Whippet Defense? ...Checkers?''
Now, in writing, there's the concept called brevity, a style of writing that is concise, terse, straight to the point, direct, and professional. Or, to put it more simply ''Less is more''. Let's take an example of Ernest Hemingway's writing style in his novel called: ''The Old Man and The Sea'' There's a part where he uses a short sentence to describe a protagonist's thought: ''I’m clear enough in the head, he thought. Too clear. I am as clear as the stars that are my brothers.'' Short and simple.
Hemingway also uses long sentences sparingly, too, but he also gives them the right sentence length: ''You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.'' Let's count how many phrases Hemingway used in this one. So far, there's five. We get to see how the old man felt in that situation without having it explain it to us like we're kindergarteners.
Now let's count Mordecai's phrases from that dialogue. Well, given the amount of questions, I would say... Eight. That's right, EIGHT!!! I could write a freaking essay shorter than that! Not only that, but the amount of sentences he spews is redundant. ''The Pelagatti Attack? The Archizer-Meyer Countergambit? Der Hammerschlag? The Zugzwang Zigzag? The Poached Penguin? The Drunken Tartakower? Some half-cocked variation of the Dizzy Whippet Defense? ...Checkers?''
Instead of having his feeling described in a few, short simple sentences, we need to hear EIGHT of them just to understand the fact that Mordecai is making a fuss over his BISHOP being taken. It's like the writer wasn't confident that we as the audience would understand that in a few words, so, they had to just spell them out for us.
This is TERRIBLE writing, and I'm surprised how many people enjoyed that scene, considering that it's a scene about nothing.
Sorry for that little rant there. But, yeah, that is my journal about having to write a good mysterious villain.
Writing villains with mysterious motivations takes great skills and talent, and the important thing is, while they can be mysterious, they also have to be, you know, villains as well. Just like writing a mysterious anti-hero takes skill and talent, they also have to remind us that they're villains. Balancing out the evilness and mystery of them is tough, but I've seen talented writers do this, and if the writers at RGG Studios can write a character like that well, then so can the fanfiction writers.
Who knows, we might have a villain who's not a Villain Sue like Mordecai is from the Lackadaisy comic series.
Anyway, that's all I have to say. Tune in next time.
One of the things about villains is that the majority of them tended to be greedy, powerful, manipulative, and, well, evil. But, I haven't seen anybody talking about MYSTERIOUS villains. And when I say mysterious, I mean those with moral ambiguity, or those that make you keep guessing what their real motives are until the end. Making them mysterious and threatening is a great way to do it, especially if you're going to reveal their true identity later on.
But, today, I'm gonna talk about what makes a good mysterious villain vs a bad mysterious villain. So, sit back, and enjoy the read as I show the right and wrong way to write a mysterious villain. Just a reminder, there will be some heavy spoilers for Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth and Lackadaisy, so keep that in mind.
Now, let's start off with the good example of a mysterious villain, starting with Yutaka Yamai from Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth.
Yutaka Yamai is a yakuza boss who runs the Yamai Syndicate. He used to be the member of the Tabata Family, led by Shunji Tabata. Yamai and his members would kill and make money for Shunji's wife, Yui Tabata. At some point, Yamai became madly in love with her. One day, at some point around or prior to 1993, twenty-year-old Yamai was spoken to alone by Yui, who stated she was having an affair with his captain. Believing it to be his only chance with her, Yamai agreed to kill Shuji with the promise that she would keep him safe from the police or the family. That night, he accompanied her to Shuji's office and attacked him. As soon as Shuji stopped breathing, Yui ripped her clothes and ran to Shuji's subordinates, claiming Yamai killed him then went after her. Yamai managed to flee to safety.
He would see Yui one more time with her living happily and openly with his captain, and Yamai started having shivers, which he tried to hide by claiming that he was ''cold'' even when in Hawaii. This is why he had a coat covering him, and only had it taken off when he fights against someone.
Around 2017, he took in Eric Tomizawa, a man who owed debt to the Yamai Syndicate, who would become his "errand boy."
Yamai orders Tomizawa, whose taxi was impounded, to track down Ichiban, as Ichiban was responsible for Tomizawa getting arrested. Led to a motel, Yamai, along with Tomizawa and other subordinates, head inside to find Ichiban Kasuga and Eiji Mitamura. Realizing Kasuga doesn't appear wealthy enough to pay for the taxi, he decides to attack him instead. Defeated, he seems to take an interest in Kasuga. At some point, Yamai learns that other criminal organizations are searching for a woman named Akane Kishida, and he begins searching for her to find out why she is so valuable to them.
Yamai and his men head to Akane's house to see if they can find anything pointing to her location, only to reunite with Kasuga alongside a grey-haired man. Upon seeing his face, Yamai recognizes the man as Kazuma Kiryu, a man who he knew was still alive, thanks to his ability to deduce someone's identity by looking at their faces.
Tomizawa was about to kill Yamai, but missed, and Ichiban was able to convince Tomizawa to switch sides. Given this information, you'd think Yamai would seek revenge on Tomizawa for switching sides. But, surprisingly, he doesn't, instead simply looking for a fight with Kiryu. Though Kiryu keeps denying his identity, Yamai doesn't budge and attacks anyways. Despite losing the battle, Yamai says he expected more out of the legend, being unaware of his condition. He leaves, hoping their next fight will be worth it.
Yamai would track the heroes down in a forest, where he would burn it all down. After losing the fight, Kiryu would start to collapse due to his condition, and Yamai took advantage of this by knocking him out. Now, this is where we the audience expect for Yamai to do something terrible to Kiryu. Perhaps he was going to torture him, perhaps he was going to kill him, or something like that. But, once Yamai lose the fight again in his club, one of the ladies admitted that Kiryu was fine, and that Yamai even treated his wounds.
Who exactly was this guy? Well, as it turns out that Yamai was actually kinder than we thought. After he made it to the hospital, he found Yui in the bed, and asked if there's anything he could do for her. Little did he knew, that she was suffering from Alzheimer's, and so, she didn't remember who he was.
Given the situation, you'd think Yamai might take his revenge on her for what she did to him, since she framed him after all. Instead, he gave away his coat to her, and walks away. When Ichiban asks, ''Are you sure about this?'' Yamai replies with ''Yeah... I was too warm anyway.'' The fact that he silently gave away his coat to warm up a lady who framed him for a terrible crime, walks away before saying a few words, and with subtlety to his kindness no doubt, makes him one of the best mysterious characters I have ever seen.
Despite his tough, cold, calculating exterior that he tried to maintain, he's actually a good guy at heart.
Not only that, he was a real threat to the main heroes, as shown when he managed to track the heroes down with no difficulty, and even managed to knock out Kiryu Kazuma with his crowbar.
So, what makes him a great mysterious villain? For one thing, the lack of information about him was what makes him interesting. When he was introduced, he was a ruthless, cold, and creepy villain that we needed to defeat and escape from. Yet, towards the end, we saw that mask shattered once we saw him treat Yui with such kindness. We're also given subtle hints to his character.
One of those hints being that he was cold all the time, given his shivers, which was the result of his trauma, rather than being in a cold environment. Another subtle hint was that he'd rather have a great fight with Kiryu rather than take revenge on Tomizawa, which shows his willingness to let go of grudges, just like in that hospital scene.
Lastly, the subtle hints didn't undermine him as a threat, and he gave the characters and players quite a hard time more than few times.
The fact that everyone in the Yakuza fanbase pretty much loved this character goes to show you how well-written he really is.
The same cannot be said with a bad example of a mysterious villain, Mordecai Heller from Lackadaisy.
Yes, yes, I've already beaten a dead horse already, sue me. But I think with how badly written Mordecai is, and given there's not enough views on my journals, I figured that I might as well give more details about Mordecai being a mysterious villain starting with his backstory.
Mordecai Heller was born on March 28, 1899 in New York City, New York to German-Jewish immigrants, he lived with his 3 siblings. Before starting his education Mordecai suffered from congenital myopia and was forced to wear spectacles, After his father Issac passed from a stroke, Mordecai became very protective of his family and they moved to the east side of Manhattan in terrible living conditions.
At the age of 13 Mordecai begins working as an accountant and bookie for grifters, loan sharks and gambling operations, he finished his primary education and in need of money at the age of 17 extorts money from someone minor in the crime world and later murders them to replace their role and was able to embezzle money from higher-ranks though he is later caught.
In fright Mordecai leaves New York on a getaway train to either Chicago or Detroit, he leaves all the money for his family and meets Atlas May and later leaves with him to St. Louis, Atlas helps Mordecai get out of his former troubles and Mordecai decides to join Lackadaisy as a sharpshooter, though after Atlas’s death in 1926, Mordecai leaves and kneecaps his coworker Viktor, he later gets hired by Asa Sweet in early 1927 to be a triggerman for Marigold.
However, what Asa Sweet didn't know was that Mordecai was actually trying to investigate about who killed Atlas May for his purpose of revenge.
In the animated pilot, we don't know much about his motive, other than the fact that he was still working for Asa Sweet. Due to Rocky's clumsiness, Mordecai's car crashed, and Mordecai would go on a pursuit trying to kill him and Freckles. When that failed, Mordecai went to report the situation to Asa Sweet, and the pilot ended.
Now, on the surface, it looks like he got everything that Yutaka Yamai had, just with a different backstory. Mordecai went through a terrible situation, escaped to safety, lead a family, and kept a cold, calculating persona to hide his true identity. So, what exactly went wrong here?
The whole point about Mordecai is that he is supposed to be a highly accurate sharpshooter with a cunning intellect to boot. Mordecai was supposed to be a foil to Rocky, what with Mordecai being emotionless, cold and calculating and Rocky being the insane, immature, child in an adult's body.
While there's absolute nothing wrong with how Mordecai was written for his backstory, the problem is that Mordecai has got NO personality whatsoever. He is SO freaking boring. And so, I ended up not caring about his journey, or his stakes. In the comic, he was pretty much invincible, with him able to escape to safety with no problem, and being more than one step ahead of everyone at every page that he's in. Mordecai had NO fatal flaws, or anything that made him stand out. Compared that to Yutaka Yamai, who had suffered shivers, and failed to defeat the heroes, yet somehow was a lot more threatening at the same time.
In the animated pilot, Mordecai is a TERRIBLE shooter, and shoots like an inept Stormtrooper from the original Star Wars trilogy. And just when Mordecai had the perfect opportunity to shoot at Ivy, he just sighes and lowers his gun. I don't have a problem with villains or characters doing something that's seemingly out-of-character for the sake of revealing a clue to their backstory. What I DO have a problem with is that this undermines Mordecai as a threat to the main hero.
Yutaka Yamai managed to easily track down the heroes with no difficulty and managed to knock out Kiryu of all people with relative ease. However, his hidden compassion and kindness made him open to attack, thus making him lose a few fights against the heroes.
Even his shivers didn't stop him from taking that perfect opportunity to take advantage of one of the main protagonists. So you CAN make your character do something that seemed to be out-of-character to reveal a clue or hint to their character, to show who they are, but, when you have a villain, who's supposed to be this terrifying threat that the heroes must escape from, and he does nothing but miss his shot again and again, then you have a problem.
This is why it's important that you balance out your character's strengths and weaknesses. It IS tricky, trust me, as a writer, I had to make sure to give Toshineko a fatal flaw that Lucario had to exploit, but, it would make Mordecai a better villain.
You don't have to have Mordecai shoot Ivy in the head or give her a fatal shot. Instead, have him shoot her in the arm or somewhere to make her swerve out of control, and cause the car to crash, and have Mordecai make sure she was alright, while still trying to kill Rocky and Freckles. Or, you know, SHOOT THE FREAKING TIRES!! That way, you have a villain who is threatening and mysterious at the same time.
Hell, George Lucas did that with Darth Vader, as we got to see just how terrifying Darth Vader really was, and even chopped Luke's hand off. However, once we get to see more hints of his character, we see that he couldn't really kill Luke because of the conflict within him, which he tried to deny, due to his compassion toward him, since Luke was indeed his son. Then at the end, Darth Vader decided to throw Palpatine down the reactor shaft when he saw Luke suffering.
That is character, that's how you write a great villain.
This is why Mordecai fails as a character, and as a mysterious villain. Because, not only did the mystery of his character undermined him as a threat, but he also has no personality as a result. Sure, his cold persona was supposed to hide his fear or something, but, we don't get to see him being afraid of anything.
I also really don't like Mordecai in the Lackadaisy Stratgem short, due to him rambling about something that makes no sense. There's also a part of his dialogue that I particularly dislike, and I'll copy and paste it here: ''I mean your strategy. What strategy are you playing? The Pelagatti Attack? The Archizer-Meyer Countergambit? Der Hammerschlag? The Zugzwang Zigzag? The Poached Penguin? The Drunken Tartakower? Some half-cocked variation of the Dizzy Whippet Defense? ...Checkers?''
Now, in writing, there's the concept called brevity, a style of writing that is concise, terse, straight to the point, direct, and professional. Or, to put it more simply ''Less is more''. Let's take an example of Ernest Hemingway's writing style in his novel called: ''The Old Man and The Sea'' There's a part where he uses a short sentence to describe a protagonist's thought: ''I’m clear enough in the head, he thought. Too clear. I am as clear as the stars that are my brothers.'' Short and simple.
Hemingway also uses long sentences sparingly, too, but he also gives them the right sentence length: ''You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.'' Let's count how many phrases Hemingway used in this one. So far, there's five. We get to see how the old man felt in that situation without having it explain it to us like we're kindergarteners.
Now let's count Mordecai's phrases from that dialogue. Well, given the amount of questions, I would say... Eight. That's right, EIGHT!!! I could write a freaking essay shorter than that! Not only that, but the amount of sentences he spews is redundant. ''The Pelagatti Attack? The Archizer-Meyer Countergambit? Der Hammerschlag? The Zugzwang Zigzag? The Poached Penguin? The Drunken Tartakower? Some half-cocked variation of the Dizzy Whippet Defense? ...Checkers?''
Instead of having his feeling described in a few, short simple sentences, we need to hear EIGHT of them just to understand the fact that Mordecai is making a fuss over his BISHOP being taken. It's like the writer wasn't confident that we as the audience would understand that in a few words, so, they had to just spell them out for us.
This is TERRIBLE writing, and I'm surprised how many people enjoyed that scene, considering that it's a scene about nothing.
Sorry for that little rant there. But, yeah, that is my journal about having to write a good mysterious villain.
Writing villains with mysterious motivations takes great skills and talent, and the important thing is, while they can be mysterious, they also have to be, you know, villains as well. Just like writing a mysterious anti-hero takes skill and talent, they also have to remind us that they're villains. Balancing out the evilness and mystery of them is tough, but I've seen talented writers do this, and if the writers at RGG Studios can write a character like that well, then so can the fanfiction writers.
Who knows, we might have a villain who's not a Villain Sue like Mordecai is from the Lackadaisy comic series.
Anyway, that's all I have to say. Tune in next time.
This is unbelievable!!
General | Posted a year agohttps://apnews.com/article/missouri.....30fa0cfef4185a Not only did the Missouri governor denied an innocent man clemency, despite knowing full well that he was innocent, but the Missouri Supreme Court had the nerve to deny halting the execution. Everyone involved knew he was innocent from the beginning, from the victim's family, to even the prosecuting attorney who realized that the conviction was wrong, and even begged the courts to reconsider.
The governor and the Missouri Supreme Court just murdered an innocent man, a crime that I know they will regret in hell!
You see what I mean when I say that corruption in the United States is out of control?
The governor and the Missouri Supreme Court just murdered an innocent man, a crime that I know they will regret in hell!
You see what I mean when I say that corruption in the United States is out of control?
Corruption in the United States has grown OUT of control!
General | Posted a year agoAs an American citizen, I am appalled and extremely disappointed at the current state in my country. Not only has law enforcement continue to violate our rights day and night, but not much has been done about it. No thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts that have granted officers qualified immunity.
I believe what I'm about to write is one of the most important journals I will ever write, and I hope to GOD the Supreme Court will FINALLY acknowledge their mistakes, and END this corruption once and for all!
Now, before I get into the topic, allow me to explain to you what qualified immunity is.
According to the Institute for Justice, “Qualified immunity” is a legal shield the U.S. Supreme Court created that protects all government officials (not just police officers) from being sued for violating the Constitution. Officials can only be held liable if they violated a “clearly established” constitutional right, which usually requires finding an almost identical case as precedent. Although only the Supreme Court and Congress can end qualified immunity nationwide, cities and states can pass laws that let individuals sue government officials and prohibit qualified immunity as a defense.
It's a special protection for government workers that the Supreme Court created in 1982 as an act of judicial policymaking. The case, Harlow v. Fitzgerald, did not even involve police. It was brought by a whistleblower who wanted to sue Nixon White House aides for punishing him because he spoke out against a Pentagon weapons program. In Harlow, the Supreme Court made all government workers immune from constitutional liability by default.
Pretty bullshit, right? Under qualified immunity, government workers can only be held accountable for violating someone’s rights if a court has previously ruled that it was “clearly established” those precise actions were unconstitutional. If no such decision exists-or it exists, but just in another jurisdiction-the official is immune, even if the official intentionally, maliciously, or unreasonably violated the law or Constitution.
So, what do they mean by "clearly established"? To show that a right is clearly established, a victim must identify an earlier decision by the Supreme Court or a federal appeals court in the same jurisdiction holding that precisely the same conduct under the same circumstances is illegal or unconstitutional. If no decision exists, qualified immunity protects the official by default. Importantly, when courts grant government workers qualified immunity, they do so despite the fact that the government worker has violated the Constitution or they simply do not address that issue at all.
"But, wait," I hear you guys say. "Don't courts have to decide whether the Constitution was violated before granting qualified immunity?" Unfortunately, no. The clearly-established test requires a victim to identify a nearly identical earlier decision by the Supreme Court or a federal appeals court in the same jurisdiction. This means that courts will sometimes hold that a government worker’s actions violated the Constitution and then use qualified immunity to let him off the hook. But often courts do not even address whether a government worker violated the Constitution. Thanks to the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Pearson v. Callahan, courts may decide cases without addressing whether the actions at issue violate the Constitution. Such a system fosters what some scholars call “constitutional stagnation” since courts may simply ignore the underlying constitutional issues and decide cases under qualified immunity. By not reaching constitutional questions, courts avoid establishing law that could guide and bind government workers in the future.
For instance, when a police officer shot a 10-year-old child while trying to shoot a nonthreatening family dog, the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that the officer was entitled to qualified immunity because no earlier case held it was unconstitutional for a police officer to recklessly fire his gun into a group of children without justification. The Court also declined to establish that rule. Not only was the officer let off the hook in that case, but the very same officer could act the same way again and would still be entitled to qualified immunity.
"That's outrageous!" I hear you say. "Don't the courts realize that the Founding Fathers created the U.S. Constitution to protect our rights?" Yes, but, apparently, the courts don't consider the Constitution to be the deciding factor before granting qualified immunity. Can you believe it?
There's more on this issue, but, to read more, check out this article: https://ij.org/issues/project-on-im.....fied-immunity/
"Well... Ok, so, if we can overcome qualified immunity AND win the lawsuit, the officers will have to pay us the money for the damages, right?'' Not so fast. While yes, nearly all judgements and settlements are paid by government employers or insurers, they will only use TAX dollars to do it. That means the taxpayers will have to pay for what the officers did, and in 99.59% of cases, officers don't have to pay a dime.
That means the officers, despite their clearly OBVIOUS and EGREGIOUS constitutional violations can get away with it, making the lawsuits almost pointless.
''Well... Ok. But, I'm sure the prosecutors can charge them and prosecute them to the max, right?" This is where you're ALSO wrong. Yes, prosecutors CAN do something like this, but it's REALLY rare. What's worse, charges on police officers RARELY end in convictions. https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature.....or-misconduct/ And even if it DOES, it involves giving them a WAY too lenient punishment. Part of the problem is that many prosecutors work together with the police, and would rather do something to keep that good relationship rather than preserve fairness and justice.
For example, Tillamook Police Chief Raymond Rau was charged with missing and tampered evidence. Oregon State Police’s (OSP) investigation began in May, after an audit of the department’s property room revealed that evidence had been tampered or removed in more than 80 cases dating back to 2005. Most of the cases, 64 of the 83, related to drug crimes and the majority had occurred since 2021. The investigation led Tillamook District Attorney Aubrey Olson to reevaluate the affected cases and begin dismissing charges and seeking vacations in several cases.
The indictment against Rau comes after the chief had been on a murky leave since at least the middle of May and charges him with removing money and controlled substances from the Tillamook Police evidence locker. Rau is alleged to have removed more than $100 in cash and less than $100 worth of controlled substances from the locker between October 1, 2021, and May 8, 2023.
He was eventually caught, indicted, brought to trial and pled no contest. Guess what the sentence was? One year of jail? Five months? Three months? Nope! The sentence was 10 DAYS IN JAIL!! 10 DAYS. IN. JAIL!!!
https://www.krem.com/article/news/c.....c-102bb6467ba7 You see the kind of favoritism and corruption we're dealing with, here?
And in the cases that make it to trial, judges and juries may be more inclined to believe law enforcement officers when they say their lives were threatened, because of "officer safety" a concept that's been abused SOOO many times that it pretty much becomes a playbook for officers to use to get away with crimes and unjustified shootings.
"Ok, well... at least those are isolated incidents, right?'' Oh, but you're wrong, I'm afraid. It is happening nationwide. The most egregious being that officers are STILL not required to know or study the laws they're supposed to enforce or even people's rights, and the STAGGERING cases of mistaken identities.
According to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, mistaken identity arrests occur almost every day. Even celebrities, such as rapper T.I. and actor Nick Offerman, have faced arrest over mistaken identity. The Flordia police have also arrested an innocent woman for that same case, and has still not given her a proper apology: https://ij.org/press-release/innoce.....lorida-police/
And it doesn't just happen with mistaken IDs, it also happens with mistaken LICENSE PLATES and HOME ADDRESSES!! https://apnews.com/article/family-g.....94388735719b1a
https://youtu.be/4030XKO7j24?si=3PXWPpaaz2J-M0vo
https://youtu.be/PZCHdk0sf-U?si=Kaslc4TNfiV04SRk
https://youtu.be/WVr6BeHjYSo?si=DpGwsNkqql9V_yoU
https://youtu.be/u3N6S_9VaXA?si=8Iy1wynkS8-_5o2_
https://youtu.be/zt6r40aihU8?si=FopFRIiqiArBMtQV
https://youtu.be/b3bepgEzV0I?si=3TIGkrDlwYAjfZnY
https://youtu.be/Xt55aJhe1kU?si=t1MmGTIx2KPpnhra
https://youtu.be/PMdm61YfoHI?si=CYTTK5I-06u9DD3h
So no, these are NOT isolated incidents. These are happening almost EVERY DAY AND NIGHT! And this issue STILL has NOT been resolved.
What's worse is that thousands of innocent people have been jailed, prosecuted and convicted because of the following factors:
1. The police are STILL allowed to lie to you, even when they KNOW it's a lie.
2. The Reid Technique used in police interrogations where the police can psychologically manipulate and torture you into confessing a crime you didn't commit, and it's STILL being used to this day!
Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected cases challenging qualified immunity for police: https://www.reuters.com/article/wor.....idUSKBN23M2HW/
So, is there hope to this situation? Yes. Two recent decisions from the Supreme Court offer some hope for the future. In Taylor v. Riojas, the Supreme Court breathed new life into the concept that some constitutional violations are so obvious that they do not require an earlier decision to provide the government worker with fair warning. And in Tanzin v. Tanvir-a case that did not address qualified immunity-the Supreme Court adopted IJ’s argument that (1) damages for constitutional violations are important and often necessary, (2) damages for constitutional violations have a great historic pedigree, and (3) it is not within this Court’s purview to import policy concerns into its decision-making. This unanimous opinion written by Justice Thomas repudiates the type of policy decision-making the Court engaged in when it created qualified immunity, undermining the entire foundation of that unlawful doctrine.
However, it will still take more than that to bring true accountability to corrupt police officers everywhere. We can only hope, though. So, the only best way we can combat this is to spread the news. Please share this with your friends and family, or, donate to the Institute for Justice to combat the corruption spreading everywhere in our country.
I believe what I'm about to write is one of the most important journals I will ever write, and I hope to GOD the Supreme Court will FINALLY acknowledge their mistakes, and END this corruption once and for all!
Now, before I get into the topic, allow me to explain to you what qualified immunity is.
According to the Institute for Justice, “Qualified immunity” is a legal shield the U.S. Supreme Court created that protects all government officials (not just police officers) from being sued for violating the Constitution. Officials can only be held liable if they violated a “clearly established” constitutional right, which usually requires finding an almost identical case as precedent. Although only the Supreme Court and Congress can end qualified immunity nationwide, cities and states can pass laws that let individuals sue government officials and prohibit qualified immunity as a defense.
It's a special protection for government workers that the Supreme Court created in 1982 as an act of judicial policymaking. The case, Harlow v. Fitzgerald, did not even involve police. It was brought by a whistleblower who wanted to sue Nixon White House aides for punishing him because he spoke out against a Pentagon weapons program. In Harlow, the Supreme Court made all government workers immune from constitutional liability by default.
Pretty bullshit, right? Under qualified immunity, government workers can only be held accountable for violating someone’s rights if a court has previously ruled that it was “clearly established” those precise actions were unconstitutional. If no such decision exists-or it exists, but just in another jurisdiction-the official is immune, even if the official intentionally, maliciously, or unreasonably violated the law or Constitution.
So, what do they mean by "clearly established"? To show that a right is clearly established, a victim must identify an earlier decision by the Supreme Court or a federal appeals court in the same jurisdiction holding that precisely the same conduct under the same circumstances is illegal or unconstitutional. If no decision exists, qualified immunity protects the official by default. Importantly, when courts grant government workers qualified immunity, they do so despite the fact that the government worker has violated the Constitution or they simply do not address that issue at all.
"But, wait," I hear you guys say. "Don't courts have to decide whether the Constitution was violated before granting qualified immunity?" Unfortunately, no. The clearly-established test requires a victim to identify a nearly identical earlier decision by the Supreme Court or a federal appeals court in the same jurisdiction. This means that courts will sometimes hold that a government worker’s actions violated the Constitution and then use qualified immunity to let him off the hook. But often courts do not even address whether a government worker violated the Constitution. Thanks to the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Pearson v. Callahan, courts may decide cases without addressing whether the actions at issue violate the Constitution. Such a system fosters what some scholars call “constitutional stagnation” since courts may simply ignore the underlying constitutional issues and decide cases under qualified immunity. By not reaching constitutional questions, courts avoid establishing law that could guide and bind government workers in the future.
For instance, when a police officer shot a 10-year-old child while trying to shoot a nonthreatening family dog, the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that the officer was entitled to qualified immunity because no earlier case held it was unconstitutional for a police officer to recklessly fire his gun into a group of children without justification. The Court also declined to establish that rule. Not only was the officer let off the hook in that case, but the very same officer could act the same way again and would still be entitled to qualified immunity.
"That's outrageous!" I hear you say. "Don't the courts realize that the Founding Fathers created the U.S. Constitution to protect our rights?" Yes, but, apparently, the courts don't consider the Constitution to be the deciding factor before granting qualified immunity. Can you believe it?
There's more on this issue, but, to read more, check out this article: https://ij.org/issues/project-on-im.....fied-immunity/
"Well... Ok, so, if we can overcome qualified immunity AND win the lawsuit, the officers will have to pay us the money for the damages, right?'' Not so fast. While yes, nearly all judgements and settlements are paid by government employers or insurers, they will only use TAX dollars to do it. That means the taxpayers will have to pay for what the officers did, and in 99.59% of cases, officers don't have to pay a dime.
That means the officers, despite their clearly OBVIOUS and EGREGIOUS constitutional violations can get away with it, making the lawsuits almost pointless.
''Well... Ok. But, I'm sure the prosecutors can charge them and prosecute them to the max, right?" This is where you're ALSO wrong. Yes, prosecutors CAN do something like this, but it's REALLY rare. What's worse, charges on police officers RARELY end in convictions. https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature.....or-misconduct/ And even if it DOES, it involves giving them a WAY too lenient punishment. Part of the problem is that many prosecutors work together with the police, and would rather do something to keep that good relationship rather than preserve fairness and justice.
For example, Tillamook Police Chief Raymond Rau was charged with missing and tampered evidence. Oregon State Police’s (OSP) investigation began in May, after an audit of the department’s property room revealed that evidence had been tampered or removed in more than 80 cases dating back to 2005. Most of the cases, 64 of the 83, related to drug crimes and the majority had occurred since 2021. The investigation led Tillamook District Attorney Aubrey Olson to reevaluate the affected cases and begin dismissing charges and seeking vacations in several cases.
The indictment against Rau comes after the chief had been on a murky leave since at least the middle of May and charges him with removing money and controlled substances from the Tillamook Police evidence locker. Rau is alleged to have removed more than $100 in cash and less than $100 worth of controlled substances from the locker between October 1, 2021, and May 8, 2023.
He was eventually caught, indicted, brought to trial and pled no contest. Guess what the sentence was? One year of jail? Five months? Three months? Nope! The sentence was 10 DAYS IN JAIL!! 10 DAYS. IN. JAIL!!!
https://www.krem.com/article/news/c.....c-102bb6467ba7 You see the kind of favoritism and corruption we're dealing with, here?
And in the cases that make it to trial, judges and juries may be more inclined to believe law enforcement officers when they say their lives were threatened, because of "officer safety" a concept that's been abused SOOO many times that it pretty much becomes a playbook for officers to use to get away with crimes and unjustified shootings.
"Ok, well... at least those are isolated incidents, right?'' Oh, but you're wrong, I'm afraid. It is happening nationwide. The most egregious being that officers are STILL not required to know or study the laws they're supposed to enforce or even people's rights, and the STAGGERING cases of mistaken identities.
According to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, mistaken identity arrests occur almost every day. Even celebrities, such as rapper T.I. and actor Nick Offerman, have faced arrest over mistaken identity. The Flordia police have also arrested an innocent woman for that same case, and has still not given her a proper apology: https://ij.org/press-release/innoce.....lorida-police/
And it doesn't just happen with mistaken IDs, it also happens with mistaken LICENSE PLATES and HOME ADDRESSES!! https://apnews.com/article/family-g.....94388735719b1a
https://youtu.be/4030XKO7j24?si=3PXWPpaaz2J-M0vo
https://youtu.be/PZCHdk0sf-U?si=Kaslc4TNfiV04SRk
https://youtu.be/WVr6BeHjYSo?si=DpGwsNkqql9V_yoU
https://youtu.be/u3N6S_9VaXA?si=8Iy1wynkS8-_5o2_
https://youtu.be/zt6r40aihU8?si=FopFRIiqiArBMtQV
https://youtu.be/b3bepgEzV0I?si=3TIGkrDlwYAjfZnY
https://youtu.be/Xt55aJhe1kU?si=t1MmGTIx2KPpnhra
https://youtu.be/PMdm61YfoHI?si=CYTTK5I-06u9DD3h
So no, these are NOT isolated incidents. These are happening almost EVERY DAY AND NIGHT! And this issue STILL has NOT been resolved.
What's worse is that thousands of innocent people have been jailed, prosecuted and convicted because of the following factors:
1. The police are STILL allowed to lie to you, even when they KNOW it's a lie.
2. The Reid Technique used in police interrogations where the police can psychologically manipulate and torture you into confessing a crime you didn't commit, and it's STILL being used to this day!
Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected cases challenging qualified immunity for police: https://www.reuters.com/article/wor.....idUSKBN23M2HW/
So, is there hope to this situation? Yes. Two recent decisions from the Supreme Court offer some hope for the future. In Taylor v. Riojas, the Supreme Court breathed new life into the concept that some constitutional violations are so obvious that they do not require an earlier decision to provide the government worker with fair warning. And in Tanzin v. Tanvir-a case that did not address qualified immunity-the Supreme Court adopted IJ’s argument that (1) damages for constitutional violations are important and often necessary, (2) damages for constitutional violations have a great historic pedigree, and (3) it is not within this Court’s purview to import policy concerns into its decision-making. This unanimous opinion written by Justice Thomas repudiates the type of policy decision-making the Court engaged in when it created qualified immunity, undermining the entire foundation of that unlawful doctrine.
However, it will still take more than that to bring true accountability to corrupt police officers everywhere. We can only hope, though. So, the only best way we can combat this is to spread the news. Please share this with your friends and family, or, donate to the Institute for Justice to combat the corruption spreading everywhere in our country.
So... Ace Attorney Investigations Collection just came ou...
General | Posted a year agoNgl, I'm actually glad Capcom finally decided to release the second Ace Attorney Investigations in English this time. Though, I'm not a fan of the English voice cast they chose for this. Gegory sounded WAY too young. Blaise Debeste doesn't sound smoky or evil, and Judge Courtney sounded way too soft. It's like none of these actors really cared at all, which is a MAJOR downgrade compared to the fan translation. And no, I won't use their new localized names Capcom gave them, because they're too ridiculous. I mean... Estance Winner? Really, Capcom?
Lustitia - Shadow Wars is now on FA!
General | Posted a year agohttps://www.furaffinity.net/gallery.....ia-Shadow-Wars I hope you guys enjoy! This is my tribute to Lucario, my favorite Pokemon character.
Publishing Lustitia - Shadow Wars on FA
General | Posted a year agoHey guys! So, I've decided to change my mind and publish my story on Furaffinity. I'll only publish 15 chapters a day, however, since having to publish all of this is very hard work. Also, if you guys want to see the story, you'll have to click on 'Download' on the upper left corner besides ''PDF file''.
Story now published on Fanfiction.net.
General | Posted a year agoGood news! This story is now published on # https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14377678/1/Lustitia-Shadow-Wars
Story published on Wattpad!
General | Posted a year agoHeya guys! Just wanna let you know that my story has been completed and published to Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/37407.....ia-shadow-wars I hope you guys enjoy! I'm still publishing chapters at Fanfiction.net at the moment.
More update on my project.
General | Posted a year agoHey guys! So, after realizing the expensive cost of hiring a beta reader, I've decided to forget about it, and simply publish my fanfic story. It will take some time though before it's completely published, but, once it's done, you guys can find it on Fanfiction.net or Wattpad.
I won't publish it on Furaffinity, since, having to revision and check to make sure my documents for my story are perfect can take an even longer time, and I'm not sure I have the energy or the patience to do that. lol. But anyway, stay tuned.
I won't publish it on Furaffinity, since, having to revision and check to make sure my documents for my story are perfect can take an even longer time, and I'm not sure I have the energy or the patience to do that. lol. But anyway, stay tuned.
Update on my project.
General | Posted a year agoAlrighty, guys! So, I have pretty much finished my fanfic story, Lustitia - Shadow Wars. I am now looking for beta readers and/or proofreaders to take a look at it before I publish it, and see if there's anything I should add, remove, or change.
Why Lackadaisy Stratagem SUCKS as a scene.
General | Posted a year agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvuuHLoYomk I know I'm gonna go to jail for this, but, to me, Lackadaisy Stratagem is one of the worst scenes I have ever seen. Literally nothing interesting happens... at all. So why do I think this scene sucks? Well, let's go ahead and analyze the scene.
Now, the two are playing chess in a store. Viktor takes Mordecai's bishop with his knight. As a chess player myself, both a bishop and a knight have equal values, but, it depends on the position you're in. There are instances where a bishop can be better than a knight. Although the chess board itself looks weird, I mean, why would a bishop be in front of the pawns that haven't moved? But, I can accept that inaccuracy... if not for the following dialogue:
Mordecai: Wait. What is that? What are you doing?
Viktor: I take your bishop.
Mordecai: I mean your strategy. What strategy are you playing? The Pelagatti Attack? The Archizer-Meyer Countergambit? Der Hammerschlag? The Zugzwang Zigzag? The Poached Penguin? The Drunken Tartakower? Some half-cocked variation of the Dizzy Whippet Defense? ...Checkers?
Viktor: Viktor. Takes. Your bishop.
Mordecai: Where'd you you learn to play? In a cave?
Viktor: In a trench.
Mordecai: Right. In the dirt. That explains everything.
Now, already, the dialogue sucks entirely, and I'm gonna go through a few reasons why.
1. The conflict in this scene was either shore-horned in or not clearly explained. We don't know why Mordecai was upset when Viktor took the bishop. Nor do we get an explanation as to why he was upset. We also don't understand why Mordecai couldn't just take the knight and have a fine position.
2. The two act in the exact same personality and emotions, as the two are all serious and pissed off at each other, and so, it feels unnatural. No characters should have the exact same emotion and the exact same voice for a scene.
3. It contradicts as to who Viktor was supposed to be. We're supposed to believe that Viktor is the bear that you shouldn't poke or you'll regret it. We see this in the Lackadaisy comic where he punched Rocky for trying to open his eye patch, and we even saw it in the animated pilot where he growled at a few scared individuals. Why would Viktor just throw a chessboard and cross his arms?
If he was supposed to be this guy we shouldn't mess with, he could've just punched Mordecai instead. Like this.
Mordecai: Right. In the dirt. That explains every- *Viktor punches Mordecai, and crosses his arms. He glares at the shop owner, and he ran in fear.*
See? That was a really easy fix.
For a much better example, let's take a look at Steamed Hams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jXEuIHY9ic Now, I know everyone of you know just how good this scene is. There's a reason why this scene remains a masterpiece, and why there are still memes about it to this day. Let's go over the dialogue, shall we?
[Chalmers rings Skinner's doorbell. Skinner opens the door.]
Chalmers: Well, Seymour, I made it, despite your directions.
Skinner: Ah, Superintendent Chalmers, welcome! I hope you're prepared for an unforgettable luncheon!
Chalmers: Eh...
Now, right off the bat, there are several things that were done right about the dialogue. But, let's go over the few most important ones:
1. The conflict in this scene is clearly established. Chalmers got lost trying to go to Skinner's house, because of Skinner's stupidity, and wanted to eat his lunch in his house as quickly as possible.
2. Their personalities and emotions contract each other perfectly. Chalmers is a serious, up-right man, while Skinner is goofy, and naive. Even without seeing the scene itself, you can tell the difference in their emotions.
3. Their personalities remained consistent throughout the entire scene. This makes sense as despite their difference in emotions, they stayed who they are as characters.
4, and most importantly. It's an excellent example of dark humor. Obviously, Chalmers is the only person who could tell that he's in an insane world, and so, kind of has to go along with it, which explains his dry sense of humor. The best example of this was Skinner's lies. Because he's goofy and naive, and not socially intelligent, he had tried desperately to come up with white lies to get himself out of trouble, which makes the scene very funny, and thus, explains the iconic line: ''Aurora Borealis? AURORA BOREALIS!?''
Now I'm not saying that Lackadaisy Stratagem has to be exactly like Steamed Hams. I'm just saying that the scene had a pretty easy fix, and I was just surprised I made that fix as if the writers did NOT know what they were doing with the scene.
Here's a better version of Lackadaisy Stratagem, with a different chess position but with the same lines:
[Viktor takes the bishop with his queen as Mordecai ponders. He stops when he realizes what was wrong] Mordecai: Wait. What is that? What are you doing?
Viktor: I take your bishop.
Mordecai: I mean your strategy. What strategy are you playing? The Pelagatti Attack? The Archizer-Meyer Countergambit? Der Hammerschlag? The Zugzwang Zigzag? The Poached Penguin? The Drunken Tartakower? Some half-cocked variation of the Dizzy Whippet Defense? ...Checkers?
Viktor: Viktor. Takes. Your bishop.
Mordecai: Where'd you learn to play? In a cave?
Viktor: In a trench.
Mordecai: Right. In the dirt. That explains every- [Viktor punches Mordecai in the face, knocking him down on the ground then crosses his arms. He turned to glare at the shop owner. The shop owner looks in fear and runs off and the short ends.]
Now, of course, my improvement wasn't the best, but, it's much better than Mordecai making a big fuss over nothing. So yeah, I think Lackadaisy Stratagem sucks as a scene.
Now, the two are playing chess in a store. Viktor takes Mordecai's bishop with his knight. As a chess player myself, both a bishop and a knight have equal values, but, it depends on the position you're in. There are instances where a bishop can be better than a knight. Although the chess board itself looks weird, I mean, why would a bishop be in front of the pawns that haven't moved? But, I can accept that inaccuracy... if not for the following dialogue:
Mordecai: Wait. What is that? What are you doing?
Viktor: I take your bishop.
Mordecai: I mean your strategy. What strategy are you playing? The Pelagatti Attack? The Archizer-Meyer Countergambit? Der Hammerschlag? The Zugzwang Zigzag? The Poached Penguin? The Drunken Tartakower? Some half-cocked variation of the Dizzy Whippet Defense? ...Checkers?
Viktor: Viktor. Takes. Your bishop.
Mordecai: Where'd you you learn to play? In a cave?
Viktor: In a trench.
Mordecai: Right. In the dirt. That explains everything.
Now, already, the dialogue sucks entirely, and I'm gonna go through a few reasons why.
1. The conflict in this scene was either shore-horned in or not clearly explained. We don't know why Mordecai was upset when Viktor took the bishop. Nor do we get an explanation as to why he was upset. We also don't understand why Mordecai couldn't just take the knight and have a fine position.
2. The two act in the exact same personality and emotions, as the two are all serious and pissed off at each other, and so, it feels unnatural. No characters should have the exact same emotion and the exact same voice for a scene.
3. It contradicts as to who Viktor was supposed to be. We're supposed to believe that Viktor is the bear that you shouldn't poke or you'll regret it. We see this in the Lackadaisy comic where he punched Rocky for trying to open his eye patch, and we even saw it in the animated pilot where he growled at a few scared individuals. Why would Viktor just throw a chessboard and cross his arms?
If he was supposed to be this guy we shouldn't mess with, he could've just punched Mordecai instead. Like this.
Mordecai: Right. In the dirt. That explains every- *Viktor punches Mordecai, and crosses his arms. He glares at the shop owner, and he ran in fear.*
See? That was a really easy fix.
For a much better example, let's take a look at Steamed Hams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jXEuIHY9ic Now, I know everyone of you know just how good this scene is. There's a reason why this scene remains a masterpiece, and why there are still memes about it to this day. Let's go over the dialogue, shall we?
[Chalmers rings Skinner's doorbell. Skinner opens the door.]
Chalmers: Well, Seymour, I made it, despite your directions.
Skinner: Ah, Superintendent Chalmers, welcome! I hope you're prepared for an unforgettable luncheon!
Chalmers: Eh...
Now, right off the bat, there are several things that were done right about the dialogue. But, let's go over the few most important ones:
1. The conflict in this scene is clearly established. Chalmers got lost trying to go to Skinner's house, because of Skinner's stupidity, and wanted to eat his lunch in his house as quickly as possible.
2. Their personalities and emotions contract each other perfectly. Chalmers is a serious, up-right man, while Skinner is goofy, and naive. Even without seeing the scene itself, you can tell the difference in their emotions.
3. Their personalities remained consistent throughout the entire scene. This makes sense as despite their difference in emotions, they stayed who they are as characters.
4, and most importantly. It's an excellent example of dark humor. Obviously, Chalmers is the only person who could tell that he's in an insane world, and so, kind of has to go along with it, which explains his dry sense of humor. The best example of this was Skinner's lies. Because he's goofy and naive, and not socially intelligent, he had tried desperately to come up with white lies to get himself out of trouble, which makes the scene very funny, and thus, explains the iconic line: ''Aurora Borealis? AURORA BOREALIS!?''
Now I'm not saying that Lackadaisy Stratagem has to be exactly like Steamed Hams. I'm just saying that the scene had a pretty easy fix, and I was just surprised I made that fix as if the writers did NOT know what they were doing with the scene.
Here's a better version of Lackadaisy Stratagem, with a different chess position but with the same lines:
[Viktor takes the bishop with his queen as Mordecai ponders. He stops when he realizes what was wrong] Mordecai: Wait. What is that? What are you doing?
Viktor: I take your bishop.
Mordecai: I mean your strategy. What strategy are you playing? The Pelagatti Attack? The Archizer-Meyer Countergambit? Der Hammerschlag? The Zugzwang Zigzag? The Poached Penguin? The Drunken Tartakower? Some half-cocked variation of the Dizzy Whippet Defense? ...Checkers?
Viktor: Viktor. Takes. Your bishop.
Mordecai: Where'd you learn to play? In a cave?
Viktor: In a trench.
Mordecai: Right. In the dirt. That explains every- [Viktor punches Mordecai in the face, knocking him down on the ground then crosses his arms. He turned to glare at the shop owner. The shop owner looks in fear and runs off and the short ends.]
Now, of course, my improvement wasn't the best, but, it's much better than Mordecai making a big fuss over nothing. So yeah, I think Lackadaisy Stratagem sucks as a scene.
Lackadaisy review.
General | Posted a year agoAnd why I think the series as a whole is mid at best. Now, before you go and type some hate comments at me. (I'm kidding, go ahead and type them) Let me explain as to why I don't like the series. But first, here's some backstory.
Created in 2006 by Tracy J Butler, the series takes place in the 1920s, where Prohibition is law, and everyone is an anthropomorphic cat (I know, furry bait, lol) We follow our main characters, Rocky Rickaby, Calvin Freckles and Ivy, as they go on night shifts finding bootleg alcohol for the Lackadaisy gang, with its leader, Mitzi May. Sounds like an interesting concept, right? Unfortunately, the execution is simply meh. In fact, the only interesting thing about the story was Rocky, Freckles and Ivy themselves, with Rocky being my favorite character.
Rocky is what happens when you take the insane genius of Captain Jack Sparrow, and the fun loving energy of Majima Goro, put those brains into an anthro cat, and modify his brain to make him more insane and more mysterious than Jack. What you get is an energetic, fun-loving, crazy cat that loves doing what he does, has all sorts of personality meshing together, and becomes a great anti-hero for the story. Rocky is a great character, not only because of his personality, but also because how he became the way that he was. You see, his mother died of tuberculosis, and his father, for whatever reason, decided to abandon him, leaving Rocky to be taken care of by his aunt, Nina. However, because he took the blame of the incident that wasn't his fault, he ended up kicked out of Nina's house, and he ended being stranded, until he joined the Lackadaisy gang.
Given his past, I found it perfectly understandable why Rocky became such a crazy cat. And that's what makes him adorable, as he is like a little kid, or kitten, wanting to have fun in a world that treats him like crap. Not even his Lackadaisy gang like him much, with Mitzi calling Rocky an ''incomprehensible surprise''. Although he does negatively influenced Freckles, he ultimately cares about his gang, which gives Rocky enough redeeming traits to be a likable anti-hero. Plus, he is very intelligent and very creative. Despite his life, he actually managed to recite poems in memory.
Freckles is also interesting, in that he's kind of the Two-Face of the series, with his one side being kind and awkward, and his other side being just as crazy as Rocky. Ivy is the jolly but also serious one of the group, making sure to keep the gang, including Rocky, in line. She's the cutest one of the group, and I do like seeing a character that contracts Rocky's personality, and who keeps him in check. Plus, the romance between Ivy and Freckles is just adorable to watch.
The art itself is beautiful as well, and it was clear that Tracy was inspired by the 1940s Walt Disney animation to write the comic in a black-and-white style.
Unfortunately, that's all I can say about the positives. Now, let's talk about the negatives.
First, the story started off great, with Rocky being kidnapped by mafia farmers, or thug farmers, whatever you wanna call them, and using his creativity to escape from being run over by a train. We also see him having his fun burning down a farm while laughing maniacally. Great stuff! But then things got really dull really fast, as we cut to stories about some side characters just talking and talking and talking and talking with not much going on.
Second, the side characters are ONLY interesting if Rocky was the one interacting with them at all. Because they're some of the most boring, most one-note characters I have ever seen in a comic. Mitzi is always jaded. Zeb is always bored. Asa Sweet is jolly and happy. Wick is a gentleman. Nina is always strict towards Rocky. And Viktor is just always pissed-off. And I think that's why the comic wasn't as popular before the animated pilot came out. The story was weak and the characters were not interesting.
To be honest, I wish this series was just based on Rocky, Ivy and Freckles, as they are the only characters that I enjoyed.
Asa Sweet wasn't interesting as the main antagonist either. Just some cat dude being a jolly cat mafia boss who sits on his ass all day, and just letting his one-note minions do the hard work for him.
And, look, I know I've already made the Lackadaisy fans upset already, so, I might as well get this out of the way.
Mordecai Heller is the WORST, most UNINTERESTING antagonist I have EVER seen since JIREN from Dragon Ball Super!
The main problem with Mordecai is that he has no personality. He doesn't crack any jokes, or say any interesting lines. He has NO fatal flaws, NO vices. Mordecai would often take everything so seriously, and this personality takes up MOST of his screentime throughout the ENTIRE COMIC!! The ONLY things he said were like this: ''I'm a very serious assassin, and I take things VERY seriously!'' That's his character. There's really not much to him.
I can tell you right now, there will be no Mordecai memes. Because, in order for characters to have memes, they need to SAY something interesting, DO something interesting, or, you know, HAVE a personality. Mordecai doesn't do any of those things. His animated counterpart wasn't better either. No disrespect to ProZD, though, he did the best he could with the material.
It's not about the voice actor, it's about Mordecai. He sucks! Both AS a character and as a VILLAIN!
Which is a shame, too, because, Mordecai could've made Rocky an even greater character by actually giving him challenges, which we never got in the comic so far. The only ''challenge'' Mordecai gave to Rocky was just shooting the car, but, that's about it.
Mordecai never uses his wits, creativity, or intellect to outwit Rocky, nor does he provide Rocky with any adequate obstacles. Really, the only adequate obstacles for Rocky is Rocky himself. THAT'S what makes him interesting.
But because Mordecai doesn't have fatal flaws, it's hard to find him interesting as a character. The only ''best'' moments I can think of was when he had interactions with Asa, his letter to his mother, and his affection towards Ivy, but that's pretty much it.
Also, I don't like Rocky's voice in the animated pilot, no disrespect to the actor, as it sounded a bit too annoying for my taste.
Overall, the series was mid at best. Here's what I suggest: Tracy has given us TOO many characters. Cut off Mitzi and the rest of the side characters, leave only Rocky, Freckles and Ivy, and you get a great series that's worth reading and following.
Created in 2006 by Tracy J Butler, the series takes place in the 1920s, where Prohibition is law, and everyone is an anthropomorphic cat (I know, furry bait, lol) We follow our main characters, Rocky Rickaby, Calvin Freckles and Ivy, as they go on night shifts finding bootleg alcohol for the Lackadaisy gang, with its leader, Mitzi May. Sounds like an interesting concept, right? Unfortunately, the execution is simply meh. In fact, the only interesting thing about the story was Rocky, Freckles and Ivy themselves, with Rocky being my favorite character.
Rocky is what happens when you take the insane genius of Captain Jack Sparrow, and the fun loving energy of Majima Goro, put those brains into an anthro cat, and modify his brain to make him more insane and more mysterious than Jack. What you get is an energetic, fun-loving, crazy cat that loves doing what he does, has all sorts of personality meshing together, and becomes a great anti-hero for the story. Rocky is a great character, not only because of his personality, but also because how he became the way that he was. You see, his mother died of tuberculosis, and his father, for whatever reason, decided to abandon him, leaving Rocky to be taken care of by his aunt, Nina. However, because he took the blame of the incident that wasn't his fault, he ended up kicked out of Nina's house, and he ended being stranded, until he joined the Lackadaisy gang.
Given his past, I found it perfectly understandable why Rocky became such a crazy cat. And that's what makes him adorable, as he is like a little kid, or kitten, wanting to have fun in a world that treats him like crap. Not even his Lackadaisy gang like him much, with Mitzi calling Rocky an ''incomprehensible surprise''. Although he does negatively influenced Freckles, he ultimately cares about his gang, which gives Rocky enough redeeming traits to be a likable anti-hero. Plus, he is very intelligent and very creative. Despite his life, he actually managed to recite poems in memory.
Freckles is also interesting, in that he's kind of the Two-Face of the series, with his one side being kind and awkward, and his other side being just as crazy as Rocky. Ivy is the jolly but also serious one of the group, making sure to keep the gang, including Rocky, in line. She's the cutest one of the group, and I do like seeing a character that contracts Rocky's personality, and who keeps him in check. Plus, the romance between Ivy and Freckles is just adorable to watch.
The art itself is beautiful as well, and it was clear that Tracy was inspired by the 1940s Walt Disney animation to write the comic in a black-and-white style.
Unfortunately, that's all I can say about the positives. Now, let's talk about the negatives.
First, the story started off great, with Rocky being kidnapped by mafia farmers, or thug farmers, whatever you wanna call them, and using his creativity to escape from being run over by a train. We also see him having his fun burning down a farm while laughing maniacally. Great stuff! But then things got really dull really fast, as we cut to stories about some side characters just talking and talking and talking and talking with not much going on.
Second, the side characters are ONLY interesting if Rocky was the one interacting with them at all. Because they're some of the most boring, most one-note characters I have ever seen in a comic. Mitzi is always jaded. Zeb is always bored. Asa Sweet is jolly and happy. Wick is a gentleman. Nina is always strict towards Rocky. And Viktor is just always pissed-off. And I think that's why the comic wasn't as popular before the animated pilot came out. The story was weak and the characters were not interesting.
To be honest, I wish this series was just based on Rocky, Ivy and Freckles, as they are the only characters that I enjoyed.
Asa Sweet wasn't interesting as the main antagonist either. Just some cat dude being a jolly cat mafia boss who sits on his ass all day, and just letting his one-note minions do the hard work for him.
And, look, I know I've already made the Lackadaisy fans upset already, so, I might as well get this out of the way.
Mordecai Heller is the WORST, most UNINTERESTING antagonist I have EVER seen since JIREN from Dragon Ball Super!
The main problem with Mordecai is that he has no personality. He doesn't crack any jokes, or say any interesting lines. He has NO fatal flaws, NO vices. Mordecai would often take everything so seriously, and this personality takes up MOST of his screentime throughout the ENTIRE COMIC!! The ONLY things he said were like this: ''I'm a very serious assassin, and I take things VERY seriously!'' That's his character. There's really not much to him.
I can tell you right now, there will be no Mordecai memes. Because, in order for characters to have memes, they need to SAY something interesting, DO something interesting, or, you know, HAVE a personality. Mordecai doesn't do any of those things. His animated counterpart wasn't better either. No disrespect to ProZD, though, he did the best he could with the material.
It's not about the voice actor, it's about Mordecai. He sucks! Both AS a character and as a VILLAIN!
Which is a shame, too, because, Mordecai could've made Rocky an even greater character by actually giving him challenges, which we never got in the comic so far. The only ''challenge'' Mordecai gave to Rocky was just shooting the car, but, that's about it.
Mordecai never uses his wits, creativity, or intellect to outwit Rocky, nor does he provide Rocky with any adequate obstacles. Really, the only adequate obstacles for Rocky is Rocky himself. THAT'S what makes him interesting.
But because Mordecai doesn't have fatal flaws, it's hard to find him interesting as a character. The only ''best'' moments I can think of was when he had interactions with Asa, his letter to his mother, and his affection towards Ivy, but that's pretty much it.
Also, I don't like Rocky's voice in the animated pilot, no disrespect to the actor, as it sounded a bit too annoying for my taste.
Overall, the series was mid at best. Here's what I suggest: Tracy has given us TOO many characters. Cut off Mitzi and the rest of the side characters, leave only Rocky, Freckles and Ivy, and you get a great series that's worth reading and following.
Why zp92 is no longer my favorite artist.
General | Posted a year agoSo, as if right now, I've decided to stop watching his art and block him. Zp92 used to be cool. However, given that he ignored almost every single one of my comments and notes, and refuses to draw any Haa characters, including Z'nth, for no reason, I've decided to cut all ties with him.
It seems that he just writes whatever he pleases without accepting commissions. Plus, he doesn't make f/m tickling art anymore, so, yeah.
It seems that he just writes whatever he pleases without accepting commissions. Plus, he doesn't make f/m tickling art anymore, so, yeah.
Why I think Crimson from Helluva Boss sucks as a villain.
General | Posted a year agoAfter watching some clips of Crimson in Helluva Boss, I can confidently say that he's a terrible antagonist. Let's go over a few reasons why:
1. For a crime boss, he's pretty stupid. Crimson is probably the second most stupid antagonist in Helluva Boss, right behind Stella. The many things that leads me to conclude that Crimson isn't smart is the fact that he didn't check if Chez was telling the truth, the fact that he sent Moxxie and Chaz to do a heist with no getaway vehicle, no weapons, or anything to cover their faces.
Lastly, he got distracted by Fizzarolli's distraction song. Let's tackle these instances of stupidity one at the time, shall we? Crimson never bothered to check whether or not Chez was rich throughout Exes and Oohs because if Crimson did, then he would've killed Chaz right then and there. Despite being a crime lord, he almost got bamboozled by one of his former lackeys. That is just embarrassing. Like, all it took to convince Crimson that Chaz wasn't rich was Blitzo just telling him that. I wish I was kidding.
Apparently, Crimson is also gullible, as he will believe anything you tell him. The second instance is that Crimson couldn't even do a heist right. Crimson tasked Moxxie and Chaz to rob a bank, which again makes me question what exactly his mafia does. But when we look at the heist, we see that Moxxie and Chaz don't have weapons to defend themselves, they don't have a getaway vehicle, nor do they have masks to cover up their identity. And since there is law enforcement in hell, that has led to Moxxie getting caught and thrown to jail, and Chaz being likely the most wanted man.
Had Crimson planned out the heist in the first place, then Moxxie and Chaz would've succeeded, and Moxxie would've still be working under Crimson. But nope! Moxxie gets caught, Chaz gets away, all because Crimson wasn't intelligent enough to think all of that through for a heist.
Also, Crimson holding Fizzarolli hostage in Oops was stupid as well. If Crimson failed to contain Fizzarolli, and Fizzarolli escapes, then Crimson would have to worry about one of the Seven Deadly Sins coming after him. I didn't think crime bosses were this careless because if they were, then there would definitively be fewer crime lords on earth. (also, who smokes a cigar just to put it out?)
So, with that in mind, you'd think Crimson would do everything in his power to make sure Fizzarolli doesn't escape, right? Well, let's see what he does instead. Crimson walks out where he's holding Fizzarolli and Blitzo hostage. Off to a bad start, but hey, at he improves, right? He got distracted by Fizzarolli's singing instead of shooting Fizzarolli or at least restraining him. Are you kidding me?
You know, with the lack of intelligence Crimson has, it's pretty surprising that he's still alive, even more so surprising that he is still a crime lord.
2. Crimson is not threatening at all. I mean, when you think about it, Crimson isn't really a threat to the main cast. He's not physically strong, imposing, or intelligent, and his goons aren't better either. Just generic dumb and useless goons that get easily defeated. Why do I think he's weak, you may ask? Well, it's because he mainly relies on his goons to do the fighting for him. But when he's alone and is confronted with a violent individual, he backs off like the wimp that he is. There are two instances like this in Exes and Oohs.
When Mille was trying to kill Chaz and Chaz hid behind Crimson, Crimson tried to calm Millie down as if she were a rabid dog. After Crimson's goons are killed, way too easily, I might add, Crimson never tries to fight Millie himself.
Instead, he just gives up Moxxie to her and pouts like a big baby. Like, I know crime lords aren't supposed to be fighters and all, but they should've way more guts. Crimson does not have guts. Next, his goons are all weak and useless. Millie was able to kill a good handful of them in Exes and Oohs and with minimal difficulty, no less, thus, removing any tension from the scene, making the scene uninteresting. Another good amount of them were killed by Fizzarolli and Blitzo, the former isn't even a fighter at all, and yet, he still defeated the goons easily. Are all of his goons made out of paper mache or something? So, not only is Crimson physically weak, but his goons are also bad at killing people.
Couldn't they at least do some amount of damage to the main cast? Is Crimson running a mob? Or is he just running a club for insane sharks?
3. The tonal whiplash for this character makes it really difficult for me to take him seriously or not to take him seriously. Like, we were told that he's an intimidating villain, only for him to have dildos on his walls as trophies. I wish I was kidding. Due to this, I cannot find anything interesting about this character.
And lastly, Crimson had very little buildup in the series overall. Even then, saying that he had buildup is a bit of a stretch considering that the build up he had was a throwaway line Moxxie said in the first episode. ''Maybe like a bad dad, or a mob family. That's understandable.'' Crimson hasn't been hinted at, at all throughout the first season. For instance, the main protagonists and Stolas (and Octavia) go to Loo Loo Land. Which is an amusement park located in the Greed ring. Who lives in the Greed ring and is very infamous? Crimson does, and Crimson just happens to be infamous. Despite the physical similarity and the fact that Moxxie worked for Crimson for most of his life, nobody in Loo Loo Land pointed out that the fact that Moxxie was part of Crimson's mob or even looked similar to Crimson.
They just ignored him. Another example is in Truth Seekers, Moxxie goes into a bad hallucination due to the Truth Gas, yet the only person he sees in his hallucination is Blitzo. Not Crimson nor his mother. But if we were to believe that Crimson is important to Moxxie's life, then wouldn't he be included in his hallucination and not flashback? Just some food for thought.
Also, Crimson's design is mid as hell. Just some generic mafia design that doesn't stand out.
If you want a crime lord villain done right, look no further than Sir Crocodile from One Piece.
Here are a few things about Sir Crocodile that work:
1. Sir Crocodile had major buildup before the Alabasta arc. We even get glimpse of him in the shadow when Sanji was talking to him on the phone pretending to be a goon of his. It wasn't until the beginning of the Alabasta arc that we get to see who Sir Crocodile looked like. First, we got to see him fighting off the pirates, making him look like the hero to the people. In reality, this was to cover his tracks for his plan to orchestrate a civil war in Alabasta by taking away the rain and making it look like it was the king's fault. Princess Vivi even mentioned him before the Alabasta arc, explaining how big his organization was.
So as you can see, Sir Crocodile had a great buildup.
2. Sir Crocodile is extremely competent and threatening as a villain. Not only is he physically imposing, strong, powerful and intelligent, he also defeated Luffy, the main protagonist, pretty easily during their first battle. He also have really competent goons working for him, giving the heroes as much as a challenge to save Alabasta. Unlike Crimson, who is dumb enough to not even think through his heist plan, Crocodile really had everything together, and always seem to be in complete control, with his crowning achievement being that he always have backup plans FOR his backup plans.
To recap, the heroes tried to stop the civil war. Crocodile managed to crush that plan really easily, and so, when the heroes tried to stop the fighting, Crocodile had a plan for that. And when stopping the fighting didn't work, and they tried to stop the bomb instead, Crocodile had a plan for that too. If you really think about it, everything in the Alabasta arc had gone exactly the way he had planned. Plus, it took two losses for Luffy to finally defeat Crocodile, and also forces Luffy to use his brain to defeat him strategically.
So, to recap, Crocodile is physically imposing and powerful, able to take down Luffy instantly during their first battle. He managed to pull the strings in Alabasta without leaving any loose ends. He made sure to plan as many fail safes as humanly possible, and managed to foil the heroes' plans multiple times.
3. His design for a mafia pirate esque villain is awesome, with the outfit looking just like the Italian mob to make it stand out and to make him look influential.
So, in conclusion, Crimson is a terrible and incompetent villain. While I don't think Crimson needs to be exactly like Crocodile to be a good mafia antagonist, he still needs to be threatening at least. Crimson just isn't.
1. For a crime boss, he's pretty stupid. Crimson is probably the second most stupid antagonist in Helluva Boss, right behind Stella. The many things that leads me to conclude that Crimson isn't smart is the fact that he didn't check if Chez was telling the truth, the fact that he sent Moxxie and Chaz to do a heist with no getaway vehicle, no weapons, or anything to cover their faces.
Lastly, he got distracted by Fizzarolli's distraction song. Let's tackle these instances of stupidity one at the time, shall we? Crimson never bothered to check whether or not Chez was rich throughout Exes and Oohs because if Crimson did, then he would've killed Chaz right then and there. Despite being a crime lord, he almost got bamboozled by one of his former lackeys. That is just embarrassing. Like, all it took to convince Crimson that Chaz wasn't rich was Blitzo just telling him that. I wish I was kidding.
Apparently, Crimson is also gullible, as he will believe anything you tell him. The second instance is that Crimson couldn't even do a heist right. Crimson tasked Moxxie and Chaz to rob a bank, which again makes me question what exactly his mafia does. But when we look at the heist, we see that Moxxie and Chaz don't have weapons to defend themselves, they don't have a getaway vehicle, nor do they have masks to cover up their identity. And since there is law enforcement in hell, that has led to Moxxie getting caught and thrown to jail, and Chaz being likely the most wanted man.
Had Crimson planned out the heist in the first place, then Moxxie and Chaz would've succeeded, and Moxxie would've still be working under Crimson. But nope! Moxxie gets caught, Chaz gets away, all because Crimson wasn't intelligent enough to think all of that through for a heist.
Also, Crimson holding Fizzarolli hostage in Oops was stupid as well. If Crimson failed to contain Fizzarolli, and Fizzarolli escapes, then Crimson would have to worry about one of the Seven Deadly Sins coming after him. I didn't think crime bosses were this careless because if they were, then there would definitively be fewer crime lords on earth. (also, who smokes a cigar just to put it out?)
So, with that in mind, you'd think Crimson would do everything in his power to make sure Fizzarolli doesn't escape, right? Well, let's see what he does instead. Crimson walks out where he's holding Fizzarolli and Blitzo hostage. Off to a bad start, but hey, at he improves, right? He got distracted by Fizzarolli's singing instead of shooting Fizzarolli or at least restraining him. Are you kidding me?
You know, with the lack of intelligence Crimson has, it's pretty surprising that he's still alive, even more so surprising that he is still a crime lord.
2. Crimson is not threatening at all. I mean, when you think about it, Crimson isn't really a threat to the main cast. He's not physically strong, imposing, or intelligent, and his goons aren't better either. Just generic dumb and useless goons that get easily defeated. Why do I think he's weak, you may ask? Well, it's because he mainly relies on his goons to do the fighting for him. But when he's alone and is confronted with a violent individual, he backs off like the wimp that he is. There are two instances like this in Exes and Oohs.
When Mille was trying to kill Chaz and Chaz hid behind Crimson, Crimson tried to calm Millie down as if she were a rabid dog. After Crimson's goons are killed, way too easily, I might add, Crimson never tries to fight Millie himself.
Instead, he just gives up Moxxie to her and pouts like a big baby. Like, I know crime lords aren't supposed to be fighters and all, but they should've way more guts. Crimson does not have guts. Next, his goons are all weak and useless. Millie was able to kill a good handful of them in Exes and Oohs and with minimal difficulty, no less, thus, removing any tension from the scene, making the scene uninteresting. Another good amount of them were killed by Fizzarolli and Blitzo, the former isn't even a fighter at all, and yet, he still defeated the goons easily. Are all of his goons made out of paper mache or something? So, not only is Crimson physically weak, but his goons are also bad at killing people.
Couldn't they at least do some amount of damage to the main cast? Is Crimson running a mob? Or is he just running a club for insane sharks?
3. The tonal whiplash for this character makes it really difficult for me to take him seriously or not to take him seriously. Like, we were told that he's an intimidating villain, only for him to have dildos on his walls as trophies. I wish I was kidding. Due to this, I cannot find anything interesting about this character.
And lastly, Crimson had very little buildup in the series overall. Even then, saying that he had buildup is a bit of a stretch considering that the build up he had was a throwaway line Moxxie said in the first episode. ''Maybe like a bad dad, or a mob family. That's understandable.'' Crimson hasn't been hinted at, at all throughout the first season. For instance, the main protagonists and Stolas (and Octavia) go to Loo Loo Land. Which is an amusement park located in the Greed ring. Who lives in the Greed ring and is very infamous? Crimson does, and Crimson just happens to be infamous. Despite the physical similarity and the fact that Moxxie worked for Crimson for most of his life, nobody in Loo Loo Land pointed out that the fact that Moxxie was part of Crimson's mob or even looked similar to Crimson.
They just ignored him. Another example is in Truth Seekers, Moxxie goes into a bad hallucination due to the Truth Gas, yet the only person he sees in his hallucination is Blitzo. Not Crimson nor his mother. But if we were to believe that Crimson is important to Moxxie's life, then wouldn't he be included in his hallucination and not flashback? Just some food for thought.
Also, Crimson's design is mid as hell. Just some generic mafia design that doesn't stand out.
If you want a crime lord villain done right, look no further than Sir Crocodile from One Piece.
Here are a few things about Sir Crocodile that work:
1. Sir Crocodile had major buildup before the Alabasta arc. We even get glimpse of him in the shadow when Sanji was talking to him on the phone pretending to be a goon of his. It wasn't until the beginning of the Alabasta arc that we get to see who Sir Crocodile looked like. First, we got to see him fighting off the pirates, making him look like the hero to the people. In reality, this was to cover his tracks for his plan to orchestrate a civil war in Alabasta by taking away the rain and making it look like it was the king's fault. Princess Vivi even mentioned him before the Alabasta arc, explaining how big his organization was.
So as you can see, Sir Crocodile had a great buildup.
2. Sir Crocodile is extremely competent and threatening as a villain. Not only is he physically imposing, strong, powerful and intelligent, he also defeated Luffy, the main protagonist, pretty easily during their first battle. He also have really competent goons working for him, giving the heroes as much as a challenge to save Alabasta. Unlike Crimson, who is dumb enough to not even think through his heist plan, Crocodile really had everything together, and always seem to be in complete control, with his crowning achievement being that he always have backup plans FOR his backup plans.
To recap, the heroes tried to stop the civil war. Crocodile managed to crush that plan really easily, and so, when the heroes tried to stop the fighting, Crocodile had a plan for that. And when stopping the fighting didn't work, and they tried to stop the bomb instead, Crocodile had a plan for that too. If you really think about it, everything in the Alabasta arc had gone exactly the way he had planned. Plus, it took two losses for Luffy to finally defeat Crocodile, and also forces Luffy to use his brain to defeat him strategically.
So, to recap, Crocodile is physically imposing and powerful, able to take down Luffy instantly during their first battle. He managed to pull the strings in Alabasta without leaving any loose ends. He made sure to plan as many fail safes as humanly possible, and managed to foil the heroes' plans multiple times.
3. His design for a mafia pirate esque villain is awesome, with the outfit looking just like the Italian mob to make it stand out and to make him look influential.
So, in conclusion, Crimson is a terrible and incompetent villain. While I don't think Crimson needs to be exactly like Crocodile to be a good mafia antagonist, he still needs to be threatening at least. Crimson just isn't.
Why I think Adam from Hazbin Hotel sucks as a villain.
General | Posted a year agoI know I'm likely going to get hate comments for this, but, yeah, I don't think Adam is a good villain. There, I said it. Burn me at the stake. I mean, I don't know what to tell you, but I find Adam to be a VERY weak villain, especially considering that people seem to believe that he represents heaven's hypocrisy and acts as Charile's foil, like him being an outspoken jackass that somehow got into heaven.
That's my issue with him, and Viviziepop's villains in general. They're all cartoonishly evil. As such, I don't find Adam interesting, especially since there is no subtlety or nuance, treating the audience as if they're all stupid and wanting to hammer the point about how Adam is a foul-mouthed jackass who makes penis jokes all the time.
It's also oddly flat. I find that the best villains, like Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows' James Moriarty, Owlman from Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2, Senator Armstrong and Judge Claude Frollo from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame to be the ones that make you think or you can see where they're coming from. I didn't really get that with Adam.
Like, you don't have to make him out to be a foul-mouthed jackass who loves to make penis jokes to get across that he's a horrible person and point out the hypocrisy of heaven.
He's essentially just become the designated bad guy in a show fill with people just like him and I found him even more annoying than a comedic. Even if Adam does split his roles, it doesn't mean he's a good villain or even a good foil. Charlie was a person who believes in redemption, while Adam is just a foul-mouthed jackass who loves to make penis jokes. So really, what is Adam even to Charlie?
He sure isn't as good as Senator Armstrong.
So, yeah, Adam is a great example and lesson on how not to write a good villain: he's one-note, cartoonishly evil, lacks any subtlety or nuance to his character, and is not even a good foil to the protagonist. Now, I'll admit, my design with Toshineko wasn't exactly subtle either, with his military uniform giving him a dictator-vibe, but, at least, I actually try to make him a good foil to Lucario, as well as make him more dimensional and complex than all the mustache-twirling villains tend to be.
That's my issue with him, and Viviziepop's villains in general. They're all cartoonishly evil. As such, I don't find Adam interesting, especially since there is no subtlety or nuance, treating the audience as if they're all stupid and wanting to hammer the point about how Adam is a foul-mouthed jackass who makes penis jokes all the time.
It's also oddly flat. I find that the best villains, like Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows' James Moriarty, Owlman from Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2, Senator Armstrong and Judge Claude Frollo from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame to be the ones that make you think or you can see where they're coming from. I didn't really get that with Adam.
Like, you don't have to make him out to be a foul-mouthed jackass who loves to make penis jokes to get across that he's a horrible person and point out the hypocrisy of heaven.
He's essentially just become the designated bad guy in a show fill with people just like him and I found him even more annoying than a comedic. Even if Adam does split his roles, it doesn't mean he's a good villain or even a good foil. Charlie was a person who believes in redemption, while Adam is just a foul-mouthed jackass who loves to make penis jokes. So really, what is Adam even to Charlie?
He sure isn't as good as Senator Armstrong.
So, yeah, Adam is a great example and lesson on how not to write a good villain: he's one-note, cartoonishly evil, lacks any subtlety or nuance to his character, and is not even a good foil to the protagonist. Now, I'll admit, my design with Toshineko wasn't exactly subtle either, with his military uniform giving him a dictator-vibe, but, at least, I actually try to make him a good foil to Lucario, as well as make him more dimensional and complex than all the mustache-twirling villains tend to be.
Well, no good deeds go unpunished, huh?
General | Posted a year agoSo, bad news. The artwork I've uploaded, Renee Catches a Puppy, has been removed by the FA staff, because apparently, I need to ask for Zp92's permission before uploading it. Given that Zp92 did not upload the art in this website himself, I'd say this decision is a little unfair, but, hey, it's Furaffinity, so, what did I expect?
Just thought I'd let you guys know.
UPDATE: So, I asked Zp92 if I can upload the art, and he said no. Great... So he decided to leave FA users in the dark. He could've use archive that picture, or, you know, upload it to FA.
Just thought I'd let you guys know.
UPDATE: So, I asked Zp92 if I can upload the art, and he said no. Great... So he decided to leave FA users in the dark. He could've use archive that picture, or, you know, upload it to FA.
Sorcererlance needs help!
General | Posted a year agoFull story here:
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10839063
Lance has reluctantly opened up donations to help him get through these difficult times. I have reposted this to keep it circulating.
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/SorcererLance
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10839063
Lance has reluctantly opened up donations to help him get through these difficult times. I have reposted this to keep it circulating.
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/SorcererLance
Happy New Year and important announcement.
General | Posted 2 years agoHappy new year, everyone! Now that 2023 is gone, let's hope that 2024 will be an even better year! Now then, for this new year, I have an important announcement to make: I'm in a progress of finishing then revising a new fanfiction story of mine called: Lustitia - Shadow Wars. It is based on Lucario and Toshineko.
I have been quite fascinated with the idea of Lucario and Toshineko using both their genius level intellects and similar aura powers to outwit and defeat each other. I shall explain the summary of the story right here: This takes place in my fictional universe where humans, anthro animals and Pokemons co-exist. It also takes place in the year 2020 AD.
Here is the premise for the story: The world had kept a close eye on the cold war between two superpowers, Audia and Keidolifya. They had been at each other’s throats for five years. Some suspected that it was terrorists from both countries. Others believed there were spies from both countries trying to undermine each other’s government. Others suspected the actions were done from both armies themselves. Yet, there was one secret organization that would find out that it was entirely different. As they would soon find out, what started off as a simple pursuit for justice would lead them to a war behind the shadows.
Lucario would be the leader of Lustitia, the secret organization, and Toshineko Hirozaki, my villain, will be the leader of the Toshineko Army as well as the Toshineko Army's Phantom Mask Division, a division in which it involves secret agents that do his bidding. As you can tell, this will be a story in which there will be two organizations battling against each other. Right now, I'm still in the process of finishing the story, but I would love to show you the Sherlock Holmes/James Moriarty like rivalry between Lucario and Toshineko.
As you know, Lucario is my favorite Pokemon character. To me, he had the potential to become a heroic genius himself, with his thinking and aura skills, like in that movie he was in. I wanted to make a villain that would give Lucario his greatest challenge yet, one that challenges his morals, intellect and aura powers.
If you're wondering about how Toshineko would sound like, I got a perfect video for you guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFgclRTOUE8 I can't wait to show you guys my entire fanfiction story after I finish it and after I finish revising it.
I have been quite fascinated with the idea of Lucario and Toshineko using both their genius level intellects and similar aura powers to outwit and defeat each other. I shall explain the summary of the story right here: This takes place in my fictional universe where humans, anthro animals and Pokemons co-exist. It also takes place in the year 2020 AD.
Here is the premise for the story: The world had kept a close eye on the cold war between two superpowers, Audia and Keidolifya. They had been at each other’s throats for five years. Some suspected that it was terrorists from both countries. Others believed there were spies from both countries trying to undermine each other’s government. Others suspected the actions were done from both armies themselves. Yet, there was one secret organization that would find out that it was entirely different. As they would soon find out, what started off as a simple pursuit for justice would lead them to a war behind the shadows.
Lucario would be the leader of Lustitia, the secret organization, and Toshineko Hirozaki, my villain, will be the leader of the Toshineko Army as well as the Toshineko Army's Phantom Mask Division, a division in which it involves secret agents that do his bidding. As you can tell, this will be a story in which there will be two organizations battling against each other. Right now, I'm still in the process of finishing the story, but I would love to show you the Sherlock Holmes/James Moriarty like rivalry between Lucario and Toshineko.
As you know, Lucario is my favorite Pokemon character. To me, he had the potential to become a heroic genius himself, with his thinking and aura skills, like in that movie he was in. I wanted to make a villain that would give Lucario his greatest challenge yet, one that challenges his morals, intellect and aura powers.
If you're wondering about how Toshineko would sound like, I got a perfect video for you guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFgclRTOUE8 I can't wait to show you guys my entire fanfiction story after I finish it and after I finish revising it.
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