Magnificent Bastard/Anime/Dragon Ball: Difference between revisions

* King Piccolo was truly the original [[Magnificent Bastard]] of the entire series. His first course of action upon being reborn is to send out his henchmensons to assassinate every great martial artist in the world in order to prevent anyone from using the Mafuba technique against him ever again. And when he beats Goku down the first time they met, he checks for a pulse before assuming he's dead., Tooand badonly forfails himto thattruly Goku'skill hearthim startedthanks againto afterhaving heno left,way to account for somehis reasonridiculous Saiyan resilience restarting his heart. Also, he was also [[Genre Savvy]] enough to realize the heroes would most likely attempt to stop him with the Dragon Balls either before or after he got the wish, so at first, he swallowed them. Then he threw them back up once therehe was sure there was no-one else around left to challenge him, and to finish it off, he killed Chiaotzu when he attempted to give his own wish and interfere with Piccolo's before he could finish, and after having his wish granted, he then proceeded to one-hit-kill Shenron with his breath blast just to ensure that none of the heroes attempt to use the Dragon Balls to defeat him. ContinuingAnd hiseven darkwhen reignhe over thefinally Earthdies, Kinghe Piccolospits allout butan wins.egg Even aftercarrying his death,son/reincarnation to finish what he spitsstarted outas anhis eggfinal thatgambit. carriesAnd hiswhile reincarnationPiccolo Jr. fails to finishdefeat whereGoku, he leftdoes off.go Ason coolto asbecome heone wasof evil,his Kingbest Piccolofriends wasand fondlymost rememberedreliable forallies, beinggiving him a legacy as one of theGoku's firstmost trulyinfluential threateningopponents one way or adversariesanother.

* While [[The Rival|Vegeta]] was more a stoic [[Smug Super]] in his debut saga, he did show shades of this that made viewers appreciate him. Notably when he told [[The Brute|Nappa]] to stop fighting the good guys and wait three hours for Goku to arrive because he wanted to break Goku's spirits by crushing his son and remaining friends in front of him once he got there, when he avoided Goku's spirit bomb ''and'' Krillin's disc attack meant to cut off his tail while in Oozaru form, and when [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|he immediately realized his false moon would still be in effect the moment he saw Gohan's tail had grown back, prompting him to attempt to remove it.]] In the Namek saga, however, he ascended to full Magnificent Bastardry. He successfully hides his true power from Frieza and his men so that not even their scouters detect it, revealing his secret of doing this to the unsuspecting Cui before killing him. He outmaneuvers Dodoria and kills him only after being told a secret about the Saiyans' destruction. ''Then'' he implements his strategy for obtaining the Dragon Balls that will allow him to wish for eternal life: he figures he'll take just one Dragon Ball from a Namekian village and hide it underwater, then lie in wait for Frieza to gather the remaining balls. And not only is this exactly what he does, but he ends up acquiring five balls from Frieza's ship when he's taken there after losing to Zarbon in order to have his health restored (Frieza had hoped he'd tell him where his hidden Dragon Ball was), meaning he took them ''right from under Frieza' nose!'' He takes the last ball from Krillin after he had made full use of a Saiyan's power growing stronger after a previous defeat by killing Zarbon. The only reason his plan falls apart is because Gohan finds the Dragon Ball hidden underwater using a Dragon Ball locator. Even after this failure and being forced into an [[Enemy Mine]] with the good guys, Vegeta continues to employ cunning plans and come dangerously close to having his way. He lost this magnificence after his first revival due to his characterization being altered significantly to being a [[Hot-Blooded]], foul tempered [[Anti-Hero]] prone to making downright stupid decisions, but damn if he wasn't impressive as a bad guy.

* Super Majin Buu was the most [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] villain in the history of the series and he was only person in the history of the series that was able to [[Out Gambit]] Piccolo of all people by wiping out all of humanity in only a few minutes when Piccolo was expecting him to take hours to do it, so that Goten and Trunks got extra time to train, and on top of that, never even leaving Kami's lookout while doing it. He then masterfully pulled off a [[Xanatos Speed Chess]], when he noticed Gohan's growing power, and so he fought against Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks and tested the limits of his strength and his weaknesses (e.g. fusion limit). After briefly fighting Gohan and finding himself overwhelmed, he goes through an intentional [[Superpower Meltdown]], knowing he will regenerate and buys time (and getting Goten and Trunks to recuperate, to fuse again). When he returns he goads Goten and Trunks into fusing again at full power and absorbs Gotenks and Piccolo into his being, deciding 30 minutes is more than enough to handle Gohan, and he was right in that regard. Goku then arrives and the fusion breaks down. Goku says Gohan alone is strong enough to defeat Buu, but then Buu reveals that he planned for this eventuality as well, and had a piece of himself ready to absorb Gohan the whole time, who he goaded into standing still until it was too late. He was also the only villain that did not succumb to [[Bond Villain Stupidity]], which is very atypical for this series.

* In the Future Trunks Saga of ''Super'', we have the Alternate Future Zamasu - both of him. Particularly the one who's become Goku Black; he's a thorough [[No-Nonsense Nemesis]] with a [[Mysterious Past]] who wastes no time in divulging his identity, rather opting to fight his opponents head on without hesitation, and in the present, when discovering Trunk’s time machine, he destroys it in an attempt to leave Trunks there before being forced back into the future, and even when Trunks returns, with Goku and Vegeta no less, he is only amused and in fact excited to fight them both. He is keen on bringing his foes into his traps, such as when he stabbed Vegeta, and is such a Combat Pragmatist that he doesn’t allow a one-on-one fight between Goku and his partner. He was able to meld the Saiyan power of Goku's stolen body with his own divine energy to power up into a new transformation called Super Saiyan Rose, and kept making up new techniques on the fly to counter his foes. He keeps a sadistic form of polite grace at all times, genuinely complimenting the heroes in their battles and never losing his temper or raising his voice even once in any of his appearances, completely averting major [[Villainous Breakdown]]s of any kind. And not only are they one of very few villains to actually gain immortality (and unlike anime [[Filler Villain]] Garlic Jr., they exploit the advantage of this rather than suffering a drawback of it), but after becoming Merged Zamasu and even after getting seemingly defeated {{spoiler|they're one of the most successful villains in the history of the franchise, as they actually accomplish exactly what they set out to achieve, their spirit leaving their body and becoming an all-powerful divine existence that merges itself with the entire universe in Future Trunks' timeline, eradicating all mortals in said timeline and extending his power across Universe 7's entire multiverse, which can only be stopped by Future Lord Zen'oZeno.}}

* As of the Universe Survival Saga, [[Arch Enemy|FreezaFrieza]] has managed to very nearly graduate to this level. While he remains [[Complete Monster|an utterly sadistic bastard]], he's [[Character Development|more level-headed, cunning, charismatic, and savvy this time around]], as demonstrated with his bargaining with Goku and manipulation of Frost. To this end, he's even willing to help his mortal enemies for a long-term goal, and in contrast to the Saiyans, he is perfectly content to sit back and wait while the other strong contestants tire themselves out fighting each other before making his move, all while still acting his usual self. He has managed to terrify his foes, his teammates, and the spectating Gods of Destruction alike, long before exhibiting his full potential. {{spoiler|The saga ends with him becoming instrumental to helping the Universe 7 team win the tournament, and while he doesn't get to wish for godhood on the Super Dragon Balls like he'd been planning on, his actions during his [[Enemy Mine]] with Goku are rewarded by Beerus and Whis bringing him back to life with no strings attached. The first thing he does with this new chance at life? Go back into space and call together the remnants of his empire or any newcomers willing to join him so that his [[Evil Overlord]] status is restored, only this time he's even stronger than before (with his Golden Freeza transformation) and now is patient enough to wait until he and his forces are even more powerful before he's to take any shots at revenge on Goku and his friends on Earth. As he puts it, "the emperor of the universe has returned!"}}

[[Category:{{SUBPAGENAME}}Anime]]