Magnificent Bastard/Multimedia/Pokémon
The magnificent masterminds of the Pokémon franchise:
- Giovanni from Pokémon tends to be portrayed like this in the adaptations. Particularly magnificent is his depiction in the Pokémon Special manga, in which he had a huge criminal operation carried out under the guise of a string of seemingly unrelated incidents, had many plans (Mewtwo, the Legendary birds, the raid of Silph Co.) running simultaneously and even being altered to accommodate circumstances, and is shown to be so skilled at Pokemon battle that he can anticipate what his opponents' Pokemon will be, what move they'll make, what counterattack to use, AND how many seconds or minutes it all will take, all before anything's even happened yet! Subsequent appearances reinforce how magnificent a bastard, and what a surprisingly good sport, he is. Eventually, Giovanni's gameverse incarnation attained this status when he resurfaced as the leader of Team Rainbow Rocket in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, pulling alternate universe versions of other team leaders to help him. Taking advantage of the Ultra Wormholes, Giovanni invaded Aether Paradise, taking Aether Foundation president Lusamine hostage. Giovanni planned on using their technology and research to gain an army of Ultra Beasts, and even when he was defeated, simply pulled out while setting his sites on another world. Although cruel, Giovanni is also honorable and polite, and is willing to yield if it means him and his team benefit in the long run.
- The actual game series had one in Cyrus, Big Bad of the Generation IV games and boss of Team Galactic. He's shown to always be steps ahead of you or the other good guy characters, has an intricate criminal/terrorist operation carried out while using his team doing official business for his energy company as a front for these crimes, is highly intelligent and calculating, and has enough charisma to sway the spirits of his followers and deceive them into following his stated cause of using the powers of time/space to Take Over the World and change it for the better, when in reality he plans to literally destroy the existing world with these powers and create a new one where all living things would be stripped of spirit (what he believes is the source of all strife and incompleteness in the world) and he'd reign over it as God of a new universe. As a master of suppressing his emotions, he rarely ever loses composure and is strangely respectful and courteous towards his enemies too. Unlike other villains, he claims to not use Pokemon as friends or tools, but instead make their power his own through his man-made devices fueled by their energy such as the Red Chain. Cyrus ends up being so magnificent that even his enemies revere him. Although suffering a Villainous Breakdown, Cyrus quickly regained composure, vowing to never give up on his dream. A very ambitious man, Cyrus's polite and philosophical exterior offset what was a horrible vision he had for the world.
- The next generation's Big Bad, Ghetsis Harmonia, builds himself up as a contender for this trope by being a skillful, fiendishly clever Chessmaster, a Manipulative Bastard, and a Faux Affably Evil Diabolical Mastermind whose scheme is Dangerously Genre Savvy and exploitative of the way the Pokemon world works in general...but by the end he MAJORLY falls short of the mark by revealing himself to be an overconfident Smug Snake and a Complete Monster who makes some notable blunders in his own plan when he's carrying it out rather than relying on a pawn to do his work, and raves furiously when all his plans start to crumble, insisting he's perfect and demanding he have his way like an overgrown Spoiled Brat and a Sore Loser. He returns in the sequel games as an unhinged madman whose Evil Plan has far less subtlety and who undergoes an even bigger Villainous Breakdown upon defeat. So ultimately, he subverts the trope.
- Colress was the acting leader of Team Plasma in Black 2 and White 2. A scientist looking for the best way to bring out a Pokémon's strength, Colress traveled across Unova and battled trainers to craft a theory for him to test out. As part of Team Plasma, Colress invented a machine to maximize the full extent of Kyurem's power and fire it upon the world, freezing Opelucid City in the process. Admitting that he doesn't care about his cruel actions, Colress engaged the protagonist in battle to test out his theory on hidden potential and upon defeat allowed them to face off against Ghetsis to develop his theories more. Showing no loyalty to Team Plasma or Ghetsis, Colress is such a seemingly nice person that it is easy to forget that he never regretted almost destroying Unova.
- The Big Bad of Generation VII's Sun and Moon Lusamine, may be among the most (if not the most) successful and manipulative villains in the main series. Despite being completely insane, she still manages to successfully run the Aether Foundation by putting on the charade of still being a loving and caring person, and has the entirety of it at her fingertips, the majority of whom do not even know her true intentions. Meanwhile, she secretly freezes dozens of rescued Pokémon and keeps them in her hidden chamber as decorations, and manipulates Guzma and the rest of Team Skull into doing her bidding (meaning that she controls two different organizations at once). She oversaw the project to create Type: Full, a Pokémon intended to emulate Arceus itself, and even though her children successfully managed to escape her, she still indirectly controlled their lives to such an extent that they were in no position to stop her. She nearly kills Nebby in order to open the wormholes, successfully releases at least ten dangerous Ultra Beasts all over Alola, brings Guzma into the wormhole along with herself in order to escape this world, and now that she has what she wants, discards him like a used toy once they arrive in Ultra Space, trapping him for an indefinite time. Virtually the only reason that she managed to be defeated is due to Lillie's newfound determination and your prowess as a trainer, and even when you both confront her, she makes her last stand by fusing with a Nihilego and attempting to kill her own daughter.
- She's actually a much straighter example in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, where she's not impaired by toxic-induced mania that drives her into wild emotional mood swings. In this version, Lusamine does everything she did in Sun and Moon up to the point of finally capturing Cosmog when she has Lillie abducted, only this time she does it all for the ends of opening a single Ultra Wormhole so that she can capture/defeat Necrozma in Ultra Space and save Alola's light, and she takes advantage of the Ultra Recon Squad by making them believe that she's going to use a different means to stop Necrozma when she actually intends on dealing with the beast all by herself for her own personal, more self-centered reasons. Even when she loses a battle to the Player Character, thus failing to prove that she has the strength to handle Necrozma and Ultra Beasts on her own, she says that since she has Guzma with her, she's not on her own before using Cosmog to open the Wormhole to Ultra Space anyway. Her only failure was overestimating her and Guzma's ability to neutralize Necrozma as a threat once it starts flying into a rage.
- In Pokemon XD: Gale Of Darkness, Greevil was the Grand Master of Cipher, ruling the organization with his sons. Under the guise of Mr. Verich, Greevil interacted with the citizens of Gateon Port and gave free food and drink at The Krabby Club. After the defeat of the organization in Orre five years prior, Greevil restored the organization with the creation of a Shadow Lugia that could not be purified. Using the Lugia for evil purposes, Greevil worked to hide Cipher's efforts in creating an army of Shadow Pokémon, only acting when the plan was in jeopardy, such as kidnapping Professor Krane when he was inventing a purification machine or attacking ONBS when they had evidence of Cipher's return. Even when production of the Shadow Pokémon fell apart, Greevil was able to kick start the last part of the plan anyway in which Lugia would lead the Shadow Pokémon to take over the world. Upon the defeat of both him and Lugia, Greevil briefly considered destroying his base to make a getaway in spite of the loss of life before surrendering so that he wouldn't have to live with the moral consequences.
- In Pokemon Conquest, Oda Nobunaga is the Warlord of the kingdom of Dragnor and a master of Dragon-type Pokemon. Seeing his homeland of Ransei ravaged by wars to unite the seventeen kingdoms and summon Arceus before the victor, Nobunaga decides to conquer Ransei himself and destroy Arceus so these destructive wars will cease. Though the Player Character pushes back his campaign, Nobunaga feigns defeat so that they will be the conqueror of Ransei instead and summon Arceus in his place; Nobunaga then launches a surprise attack against it with his five lieutenants and an even more powerful partner Pokemon than before. He treats friend and foe alike with respect even as he confidently tells them he will defeat them, and then takes his loss with dignity and acknowledges his opponent's power if they prevail. Nobunaga's reputation as the greatest Warlord in all of Ransei is well-earned.
- Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers
- Dusknoir is Primal Dialga's right-hand man who pursues the player and Grovyle into the past. He poses as a friendly explorer while using his knowledge of the future in order to pick up information. He successfully deceives Treasure Town into helping him capture Grovyle, thereby dooming the future to paralysis, and even drags the amnesic player back to the future as a precaution. Once Grovyle, the player, and their partner escape, Dusknoir allows them to find Celebi, intending to capture her once she reveals herself. He brings along Primal Dialga to accompany him and the party is barely able to escape him. Despite his ruined reputation, he lies in wait in the past and forces Grovyle to sacrifice himself by dragging them both back to the future. Once they arrive in the future, he earns Grovyle's trust and lures him into a trap in an attempt to hijack his body. If it wasn't for the conscience he'd developed convincing him otherwise; Dusknoir's plan would gone off flawlessly
- Darkrai is the true mastermind behind the destruction of Temporal Tower, which he sabotaged so he could create a world of darkness to rule. When Grovyle and the player traveled back in time to stop it, Darkrai attacked them within the Passage of Time. This separated the two, as well as giving the player amnesia and transforming them into a Pokémon. After Temporal Tower is saved, Darkrai decided to distort space in order to create a world of eternal nightmares. Disguising himself as Cresselia, Darkrai blamed the player and their partner for the distortions, and convinced Palkia that their deaths would restore everything back to normal. Once his ruse was revealed, he retreats to Dark Crater and puts the player in an illusion to convince them to join him. When that fails, he reveals an army of six other Pokémon to help him kill the player. As a final back-up plan, he has a dimensional hole ready for a quick getaway, only being stopped by the timely arrival of Palkia.
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