Five-Bad Band/Playing With

Basic Trope: A villain's answer to the Five-Man Band.

Straight: Emperor Evulz's inner circle consists of himself, General Drake, Dr. Crazystein, Jason Bloodspiller and Violet Darkheart.
Exaggerated:
- Each one is so capable on their own that it's a question why they're still together.
- Their positions on the band are too obvious. Evulz is a subdued man draped in Obviously Evil armor with Spikes of Villainy, Drake is an Ax Crazy Master Swordsman, Dr. Crazystein is an Evil Albino Mad Scientist who's an expert in Death Ray machines, Jason is a Blood Knight Serial Killer, and Violet is The Baroness.
- There's enough villains that they really don't need an army of mooks.
Justified: Evulz teamed up with the other four because he knows his political ambitions have next to no chance of succeeding with his influence alone, and he knows that a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits can cause serious problems if left unchecked.
Inverted: The group is a Five-Man Band.
Subverted:
- The heroes spot the five villains amok at once; however, upon closer inspection, the villains hate each other's guts.
- Drake is a traitor, Dr. Crazystein is Brilliant but Lazy, Jason has an F in evil, Violet is just evil for the fashion.
- The team is actually a Big Bad Duumvirate.
Double Subverted: It was just a ploy to get the heroes guards' down.
Parodied: The team is comprised of stereotypical villains that are hilariously incompetent. They will either scarcely accomplish any evil or betray each other in every stereotypical way they can think of, making the group bring itself down from the inside.
Deconstructed:
- Emperor Evulz's cadre of villains are highly successful, eventually leading Bob and his team to a long line of defeats that will either force him to be forcefully retired, or unable to cope with the new balance of power, leading him to suicide.
- Evulz's villainous supergroup are unable to remain a coherent force because their mutual sociopathy leads them to fight amongst themselves, straining their cohesion.
Reconstructed:
- Bob's crew bucks up and uses a new strategy to defeat the villains; or they were precursors to Alice and her team of Antiheroes who plan to avenge Bob's loss by killing Evulz and his allies.
- Evulz hires a therapist to mend the strained relationships in his group, allowing them a greater degree of effectiveness in the field.
Zig Zagged: Emperor Evulz assembles Bob's enemies, and their individual loyalties are constantly shifting between themselves and Evulz, leading them to plot and counterplot against each other.
Averted:
- Emperor Evulz has no ties to the other baddies.
- Alternatively, Emperor Evulz and Empress Arachne are a Battle Couple who have two evil geniuses in the form of Dr. Crazystein and Dr. Biotech, and the Cold Sniper Deadeye, thus defying the traditional structure of the Five-Bad Band.
- Alternatively, the team of 5 villains all have the same personality and are interchangeable.
Enforced: The comic that Bob and Emperor Evulz are in needs a new and more dangerous threat each month, so the author decides to have the villains team up.
Lampshaded: Bob: "Why do my problems always come in fives?"
Invoked: Evulz gets defeated by Bob's team for the first couple of times, then gives a few calls to Bob's other enemies, knowing that there is strength in numbers.
Defied: Bob defeats Evulz for the first few times and realizes that he's getting more desperate. He then takes steps to sabotage any negotiations that Evulz will have with the rest of the villains.
Discussed: Bob is talking to Alice about their team-up to remove a bomb from a government building and says, "I'm glad we're the good guys. Emperor Evulz would be doing the opposite of this if he teamed up with the other villains."
Conversed: Alice is watching "Bob vs Emperor Evulz On Ice," and mentions to her boyfriend Charlie that towards the middle of the show, Evulz will probably call in General Drake, Dr. Crazystein, Jason Bloodspiller and Violet Darkheart for backup.

Back to Five-Bad Band.