Complete Monster/Analysis: Difference between revisions

* The [[Complete Monster]] can [[Tropes Are Not Good|sometimes]] be indicative of lazy writing: a villain with no redeeming qualities can be viewed as exceedingly simplistic. A particularly poorly-executed [[Complete Monster]] will fail to engage the audience.

* The tone of the work and it's characters is also to be considered. There is a big difference between a [[Laughably Evil]] villain who still commits heinous acts that are only perceived as funny by the villain and a villain whose character and actions are [[Played for Laughs]] by the narrative, which is shown by how little a reactions the actions actually get from the other characters. A [[Complete Monster]] can be both reprehensible and [[Laughably Evil]] but ''never'' [[Played for Laughs]].

* The scale of a villain's actions and the playing field they occupy are important to note. If the villain is an [[Evil Overlord]] with enough power and resources to cause widespread devastation and does so, then he/she is a example of the trope. But if the villain is a low level [[Serial Killer]] who causes as much devastation within his/her setting as is possible given their limited power and resources, than this character is also an example of the trope, for it suggests that a smaller playing field is the only thing keeping this villain from doing worse, so they're as bad as they can possibly be with what they have at their disposal as compensation. Therefore, it is entirely possible for varying degrees of [[Complete Monster]] to exist within the same universe without truly eclipsing one another in heinousness. (Darkseid and [[The Joker]] are good examples of this.)

 

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