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8-Bit Theater/Characters: Difference between revisions
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*** [[The Smart Guy]]: Red Mage
*** [[The Big Guy]]: Fighter (again)
*** [[The Chick]]: Thief
** What the format ''actually'' is:
*** [[The Big Bad]]: {{spoiler|Sarda}}
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* [[Seen It All]]: By the end of the comic, except for Fighter.
* [[Static Character|Static Characters]]: Every time it looks like they might get some [[Character Development]], they stay the same in the end.
** The time anything resembling character development stuck was early in the comic when Red Mage learned [[Munchkin|that it was better to use one of his heal spells and live than be more versatile and dead]]. [[It Got Worse|Then he started his trademark illogical plans.]]
** Black Mage has a number of epiphanies about the nature of evil and the nature of morality... unfortunately [[Ignored Epiphany|he ignores them]] either because his [[Sanity Meter]] is turned to "psycho" or [[For the Evulz|evil is too much fun]]. The two could be interrelated.
* [[Teeth-Clenched Teamwork]]: And that's on the very rare occasions when they do work together at all. Most of the time they are closer to [[Divided We Fall]].
* [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist|Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonists]]
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* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]: He makes no attempt to present himself as anything other than evil, makes absolutely no excuse for [[Person of Mass Destruction|mass-murder and destruction]], and he's [[Insult Backfire|damn well proud of it.]] Red Mage and Thief tend to be [[Somebody Else's Problem|just blind to morality and ethical standards]], but Black Mage can very easily see the moral dilemma of a problem, and he may even argue about the validity of it. ... Of course, he only identifies it so he can go in the completely opposite direction.
* [[Casanova Wannabe]]: Every time he talks to White Mage, he is either this or [[Dirty Old Man]] (minus the 'old' part, [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/01/26/episode-653-growing-pains/ as he only went through puberty a year or so before the events of the comic]).
* [[Character Alignment]]: Confirmed to be [[Lawful Evil|of]] [[Neutral Evil|the]] [[Chaotic Evil|evil]] alignment in [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/12/15/episode-1204-chew-on-that/ this strip].
** On his better days he's [[Chaotic Neutral]]. Usually he's [[Neutral Evil]].
* [[Charm Person]]: [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/05/06/episode-281-helpin-a-buddy-out/ Hypno][http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/12/16/episode-783-protective-eyewear/ vision].
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* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: Not only does he betray the rest of the team when given a chance, but he also frequently stabs them in the back (or head) ''[[Knife Nut|literally]]'' - especially Fighter.
** While Black Mage is a literal back-stabber, Thief may hold the higher "betray the group" count.
* [[Cosmic Plaything]]: The universe just loves gnawing on him. To be fair though, the universe probably should have thought about the consequences of allowing a nexus of excessively destructive reality-warping power to exist in the soul of an individual with as much sanity and stability as a nuclear bomb. The universe is probably trying to rectify the situation by attempting to stamp him out of existence ''without'' killing him (as killing him would hence get rid of the [[Restraining Bolt]] that is his mortal body... you know, 'cause [[The End of the World as We Know It|that did not]] [[Apocalypse How|work out so well]] [[Oh Crap|last time]]).
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Occurs mostly when he is around Red Mage and Fighter for any period of time. And when he's not holding the [[Idiot Ball]].
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Even Black Mage thought that Thief's idea to impose fees for ''clouds'' [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/01/29/episode-948-like-new-coke/ was really sick].
** Also planned to create a whole new level of hell specifically as punishment for the things Red Mage did to chocobos.
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* [[Eye Beams]]
* [[The Faceless]]: And [[Nightmare Face|for a good reason]].
* [[Fake Ultimate Hero]]: All of the Light Warriors qualify, but [[Ax Crazy|Black Mage]] really takes the cake, stabs the cake, urinates on whatever's left, poisons it, gives it to an orphanage, and then [[Kamehame Hadoken|Hadokens]] said orphanage for good measure. A full list of his atrocities would probably double the size of this page.
* [[For the Evulz]]: The reason for nearly everything he does in the series.
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: subverted. Technically he has one, in that the excessive amount of power that exists in his soul has driven him insane (confirmed in-universe)... but he realises this at one point, [[Ignored Epiphany|ignores it]], and continues to go on to do so many evil things that there is literally no justification for what he's done.
* [[Genre Savvy]]: Very much so. Unfortunately for him, he's not [[Genre Savvy]] enough when it comes to Sarda.
* [[Glass Cannon]]: [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/04/10/episode-977-moving-as-hell/ He describes himself as one].
* [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]: stabbity-stab-stab. Plus, [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/12/28/episode-103-those-wacky-light-warriors/ he once used Hadoken] on a ''bee'' [[Disproportionate Retribution|that annoyed him]].
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* [[Laughably Evil]]
* [[Like a Badass Out of Hell]]: He managed to briefly take over Hell after {{spoiler|being killed by Lich, then came back to the land of the living to kill Lich. This eventually backfired on him, as Lich in turn took over Hell in his absence and then brought Black Mage back to life... thus demoting him from the position of the all-powerful Hell King back to that of the universe's favourite [[Chew Toy]].}}
** That said, {{spoiler|1=after Lich manages to bar Black Mage from Hell by getting him stuck on the corporeal plane, a lot of very powerful [[Eldritch Abomination]]s make sure to keep him ''out'' of hell (such that whenever he dies, a [[God of Evil]] sends him right back to the overworld)}}. If Black Mage ever gets back there, which he is still conspiring to do, the universe wouldn't be around for much longer (or it would, but it wouldn't be a nice place to exist). Let's just say this: there is a reason why ''all the legions of Hell'' were terrified of him.
* [[Love Makes You Dumb|Love And Anger Make You Dumb]]: on a good day, he's smarter than Thief. Introduce anger or a proximity to White Mage, and his IQ and sanity will plummet so fast you'll swear you just witnessed it exceeding the speed of light.
* [[Made of Evil]]: He is the closest thing to the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Evil. If he ever gets back down to Hell again, he will fit the bill of [[God of Evil]].
* [[Magic Knight]]: When the plot doesn't require him to be [[Squishy Wizard]], he can be quite competent in physical combat - to the point where it's hard to tell whether he killed more people with his [[Kamehame Hadoken|Hadoken]] or with his [[Knife Nut|knives]]. He even managed to kill [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/01/22/episode-506-underappreciated/ a sea monster] and [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/04/01/episode-535-something-for-everyone/ at least one], [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/09/28/episode-749-murder-by-numbers/ possibly two groups of cultists] with nothing but knives.
* [[Major Injury Underreaction]]: [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/12/12/episode-1203-maligned/ "I appear to have come aflame."]
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* [[Never Bareheaded]]: He actually does remove his hat once, but it's not shown on screen and the only person who sees it is driven mad from the sight.
* [[Nice Hat]]: According to the epilogue it's ''huge'' too.
* [[Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant]]: despite how much of a [[Genre Savvy]] [[Deadpan Snarker]] he is, he doesn't realise how a lot of what he does or says immediately throws the minds of everyone around him into speculative horror territory. [[Nightmare Face|His face doesn't help]].
* [[An Adventurer Is You|The Nuker]]
* [[The Odd Couple]]: And no, not in [[Shipping|that]] way (okay, [[Ho Yay|mostly not that way...]]) with Fighter. No matter how many times he attempts to or successfully kills Fighter, they're still together, even three years ''after'' Chaos is defeated ... probably so he can still make Fighter suffer, but it [[The Chew Toy|never works out that way.]]
* [[Omnicidal Maniac]]: He's not very discriminant with who he murders. Or brutally maims.
* [[Only Sane Man]]: When he's not killing everyone in sight or carrying the [[Idiot Ball]], he frequently finds himself in this role.
* [[Person of Mass Destruction]]
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* [[The Pig Pen]]: Acknowledged by everyone but the man himself. [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/05/29/episode-288-on-the-way-out/ He insists that the smell is from his spell components].
* [[Ping-Pong Naivete]]: He can be the smartest of the Light Warriors, barely smarter than Fighter ([http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/11/11/episode-481-black-belt-walks-into-a-bar/ if not dumber than Fighter]) or somewhere in between, depending on what makes for a better joke at the moment. In particular, his intelligence seems to rapidly decrease the closer White Mage is to him.
* [[The Plan]]: A [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] one he set up at the Citadel of Ordeals, {{spoiler|where he knew he would have to "face his flaws"; as per the typical physical manifestation of fantasy metaphors, he would therefore have to kill off his evil side. Considering that there was no way in hell he was going to get rid of all of his evil, he managed to rig the situation so that after killing his evil side, he would re-inherent all the evil}}. It's a real pity that he has never attributed so much forethought to plans that could in anyway benefit the world.
* [[Played for Laughs]]: His numerous atrocities. Only the fact that they aren't played seriously saves him from being a [[Complete Monster]].
* [[Power At a Price]]: His ''own'' power seems to come at the price of his sanity and morality. However, he isn't opposed to using ''other'' people's lives or sanity to get access to more power. [[Human Sacrifice|Remember how]] [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|he got the]] [[Kamehame Hadoken|Hadoken]]?
* [[Power Limiter]]: if Black Mage finally manages to get rid of his mortal body, he'll no longer have his [[Restraining Bolt]] in place and hence be able to use his full powers without limit. That is a ridiculous amount of power, and the universe seems to [[Cosmic Plaything|wisened up enough to this]] to try to make sure this doesn't happen.
* [[Psycho for Hire]]: as long as you can point him in the right direction and get out of the disaster zone, you can invade and destroy an entire country single-handedly. As Thief found out with the poor Dwarf nation.
* [[Robe and Wizard Hat]]
* [[Sanity Slippage]]: goes up and down the insane slope like a yo-yo. The way it works is this: if he's (relatively) sane, he will be [[Genre Savvy]], smarter than Thief, and generally the level of violence will be restricted to a comparative minimum (or at the very least will be efficient); if he's gone down the insane slope, his IQ will reduce massively, he will lose all ability to reason, and carnage will ensue. Lots of carnage. [[Captain Obvious|With blood]].
* [[Sarcasm Failure]]: A lot of Black Mage's sarcasm is all but lost (much to [[Angrish|to his frustration]]) 100% of the time on Fighter (who either cannot understand it or is [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] to infuriate Black Mage), and 75% of the time on Red Mage (who has a habit of [[Completely Missing the Point]]).
* [[Self-Made Orphan]]
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* [[Starfish Language]]: A purported spell for reading a book for hours at a time.
* [[The Starscream]]
** Probably one of the only instances where one of the ''heroes'' is trying to replace the [[Big Bad]]. Okay, so maybe "[[Villain Protagonist|hero]]" [[What the Hell, Hero?|is a bad description...]]
* [[Ted Baxter]]
* [[Terrible Artist]]: It seems that [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/09/21/episode-746-out-of-the-aeons-and-into-the-frying-pan/ he can't draw very well].
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* [[Villain Protagonist]]
* [[Heroes Want Redheads|Villain Protagonists Want Redheads]]: His lust for White Mage.
* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]] Type 1: With Fighter.
* [[Walking Wasteland]]: The evil "mindless destruction is fun" kind. Sometimes it'll be limited to just stabbing someone repeatedly until they die. Sometimes he's a [[Walking Disaster Area]] and bad things just continuously happen in his vicinity ([[Cosmic Plaything|usually to him]]). Sometimes, he'll just Hadoken something that annoys him a lot. In any case, his violence is usually indiscriminate and completely arbitrary (much like some kind of [[Chaotic Neutral|natural disaster]]... a [[Chaotic Evil|sadistic natural disaster]]). However, if [[Evil Genius|Thief]] decides he wants to target something, he'll use Black Mage to horrifyingly direct ends. [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/11/18/episode-354-its-funny-to-hurt-the-innocent/ Remember the Dwarf nation?] Nuff said.
* [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?]]: Frequently asks this with a lot of sarcasm that [[Sarcasm Failure|neither Red Mage nor Fighter seem to hear.]] This often is coupled with Fighter's use of the phrase, which he uses in (seemingly) complete innocence, and together makes for some very [[Meta]] leaning on the fourth wall.
* [[What Is Evil?]]: Discussed via internal monologue [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/05/31/episode-289-a-change-of-heart/ here]. Unfortunately, anger at the stupidity of Fighter tends to have an amnesiac/obliterating/stupefying effect.
* [[Witch Species]]: He's an [[Fantasy Character Classes|Inherent Gift Magician]] whose face is a bastardization of non-euclidian geometry so [[Mind Rape|mind destroying]] that even seeing it drives you insane. This trope ''might'' fit, but then again...
* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]: He's a nexus for the ley lines in reality and has the ''lowest'' sanity tolerance ever. Being born like this, his incredible power has warped his sanity considerably over the years, making morality seem increasingly irrelevant to him. Having an insane [[Ax Crazy]] maniac running around with the forces of creation at his finger tips was probably not the best idea ever.
* [[The Worf Effect]]: [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2007/09/18/episode-895-the-punching-bag/ Lampshaded by Red Mage.]
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{{quote|'''Red Mage''': ''Oh dear. I think it's finally happened. Years of exposure to Fighter's, shall we say, point of view, has left Black Mage a [[Angrish|spluttering vegetable]].''}}
* [[Bumbling Sidekick]]: At times. Although he occasionally proves to be [[Dumbass Has a Point|smarter]], [[Made of Iron|deadlier]], and basically more competent than his fellow Light Warriors, and ''always'' holds [[Token Good Teammate|the moral high ground]], he mostly serves as the local [[The Ditz|ditz]].
* [[Character Alignment]]: [[Lawful Good|Confirmed]] [[Neutral Good|to be]] [[Chaotic Good|good]] in [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/12/15/episode-1204-chew-on-that/ this strip].
* [[Characterization Marches On]]: In the early strips, he and Black Mage were a bit closer to [[Vitriolic Best Buds]] Type 2, with Fighter occasionally snarking back at BM. For example, back then Fighter [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/05/23/episode-033-amongst-our-weaponry-are-such-diverse-elements-as/ mocked BM for being beaten up by White Mage] and even [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/03/26/episode-009-what-the-thief-says/ called him a jerk once]. In later strips, Fighter just takes BM's insults and abuse without fighting back and always assumes that they're BFF anyway.
** Considering how many times BM stabbed him in the head, I'd say this might've been intentional.
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** Although, that said, sometimes you get things like this:
{{quote|'''Fighter''': I like this plan. It needs a sword fight in the middle, but we can burn that river when we cross a bridge over the bush with two birds in glass houses.}}
** I rest my case.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]
* [[The Ditz]]: So much...
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* [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]]
* [[Warrior Poet]]: Likes haiku.
* [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?]]: Will say this with utter conviction and (probably) lack of any kind of sarcasm. This is usually followed by Black Mage a) stabbing him, b) being so consumed by [[Angrish]] that he is immobilized, or c) using heavy sarcasm that Fighter obviously ignores.
* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|Why Did It Have To Be Spiders?]]
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* [[The Evil Prince]]: He fits a number of the qualifications, but [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas|seems to genuinely care about his father]].
** And [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/11/30/episode-776-by-any-other-name/ his mother].
* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: When it comes to politics, schemes and contracts he can bind anyone across the scale from [[Chaotic Good]] to [[Chaotic Evil]] onto a piece of paper. That or rob them blind.
* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas|Even Bad Men Love Their Papas]]
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Both he and Red Mage were disgusted by [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2007/07/24/episode-874-silence-implies-consent/ Black Mage's plan] to make White Mage drink what was most likely a paint thinner and then rape her (alive or dead).
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* [[Impossible Thief]]: Among other things, he can steal secrets, souls, resolve, childhood memories, and most famously, his ninja class abilities from the future. One of the only things he apparently can't steal are things that are ''both'' nailed down and on fire.
* [[Jerkass]]
* [[Kid with the Leash]]: is one of the few individuals that can control Black Mage and channel his destructive impulses to a common goal (... most of the time).
* [[Magnificent Bastard]]: Called this in-universe [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2002/10/08/episode-201-does-he-work-for-best-buyin-memory-of-jesse-james-schosek-and-nathan-larkins-we-will-miss-you/ by Black Mage], and rightfully so.
* [[Miser Advisor]]
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* [[Minion with an F In Evil|Minions With An F In Evil]]
* [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]
* {{spoiler|[[Throw the Dog a Bone]]: Propped up as the true heroes and saviors of the world in the epilogue}}.
* [[Unknown Rival|Unknown Rivals]]: The Light Warriors are barely aware of them, only Black Mage recognizes them during their first encounters as a full team, and [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/04/25/episode-1121-loose-lips-sink-light-warriors/ they didn't even know why they were out to get them, or that they were even after them in the first place.]
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* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: Becomes prevalent in his interactions with Thief and the other Dark Warriors towards the end. Needless to say, his elven royalty shows.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]
* [[Dual-Wielding]]
* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas|Even Bad Men Love Their Papas]]
* [[Giant Spider|Giant Spiders]]: His minions prior to becoming a Dark Warrior.
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{{quote|'''Dragoon''': ''"Muffin '''is''' a dragon. It all makes sense now. Like, when I'd say 'Polly want a cracker?" '''she'd''' say "No, Muffin want to rip a knight in half and suck out the pulp.'"''}}
* [[Achilles' Heel]]: {{spoiler|A spear through her brain.}}
* [[Batman Gambit]]: How she deals with each of the Light Warriors.
* [[Evil Plan]]: Forming the Dragoons to kill off all the other dragons to take their treasure and having the Dragoons killed off, too.
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* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: Turns people who annoy her into frogs.
* [[Crystal Ball]]
* [[
* [[Interspecies Romance]]
* [[Smug Snake]]
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* [[Smug Snake]]
* [[Villain with Good Publicity]]: As far as "good publicity" is possible among elves.
* {{spoiler|[[Anticlimax Boss]]}}
* {{spoiler|[[Talking the Monster to Death]]: Literally - Red Mage and Black Mage tried to come up with a [[Pre-Mortem One-Liner]] before fighting Astos, but they botched it so badly that it ended up killing him.}}
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