Magnificent Bastard/Western Animation: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"Yes!"''|[[Gargoyles|David Xanatos]] does it again}}

* David [[Xanatos Gambit|Xanatos]] from ''[[Gargoyles]]'' is usually one step ahead of the Gargoyles, and everyone else. He frequently got away with actions that would send a normal man to jail for the rest of his life (although he ''was'' jailed for a short time), and was a member of the Illuminati's guild. Of course, since Xanatos was such a smooth talker, he would make you believe he was your friend all while positioning the knife in your back.

** There's a reason it's [[Trope Namer|called]] a [[Xanatos Gambit]].

** Xanatos's creation, [[Evil Twin|Thailog]], is one as well, solidified when he betrays and then ''outwits'' his maker in his very first appearance, leading a fearful Xanatos to speculate that Thailog may be even smarter than he is. Going by the comic continuation, Thailog seems to have inherited his ''father's'' fondness for [[Xanatos Gambit|schemes that profit him no matter the outcome]] as well.

** Let's not forget Xanatos' wife, Fox, who also managed to outsmart him on one occasion. He even refers to her as his equal!

*** His proposal amounted to "We get along, we'll have good kids, and we're the only ones as smart as each other."

* Megatron of ''[[Beast Wars]]'': He's a user and abuser of his followers, a gloating sadist who enumerates the ways he's beaten his enemies as he's standing over them in his moment of triumph, a master manipulator who is only served by his underlings' treachery... and yet he carries off scheme after scheme with audacity, panache, and an almost vaudevillian flair. Nor does he work in small potatoes; his schemes include {{spoiler|''two'' bids to rewrite history}} as well as {{spoiler|consuming his namesake's spark to add to his own personal power.}} Magnificent. Bastard. [[Memetic Mutation|Yesss.]]

** Hell, he singlehandedly took over Cybertron and '' {{spoiler|devoured the sparks of his entire species and became '''[[A God Am I|a GOD]]''' }}'' in the (contested) sequel series.

** In the BOTCON exclusive story "Reaching the Omega Point," by Simon Furman, the tyrant Shokaract - who has all the powers of the Dark God Unicron - travels back in time to the Beast Wars, and beats the crap out the most powerful Transformers in existence with ease. What does Megatron do? He tries to BLACKMAIL Shokaract, threatening to destroy the "Dark Essence" that the demigod had come to protect. He fails, but provides a crucial distraction that ultimately dooms Shokaract.

** His ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' counterpart also comes close, if not equal with him. This guy manipulates Sumdac to repair his body, avoids the mistake of his predecessors by killing {{spoiler|''[[The Starscream|Starscream]]''}} the first chance he gets, coaxed the Constructicons into his employs with just a couple barrels of fine oil, and pulled a [[Xanatos Gambit]] on Starscream to ensure that {{spoiler|the Omega Supreme clones didn't imprint on Starscream ''or'' Megatron himself, but on loyal Lugnut.}} And when he got physical, [[Let's Get Dangerous|he got physical.]] In a rather defining moment that puts him in this trope, after receiving the Allspark Key which grants him a new body, he subsequently pummels Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots. When Optimus effectively tells him to bring it on because he won't give up the location of the Allspark, Megatron rather smugly reveals he already has the Key which will lead him directly to it and that he was only kicking the crap out of Optimus for his own amusement.

*** Also his plan with Soundwave; the first is to use him as replacement body.However,when it clears that Soundwave had grown sentient personality, he changes his plan; he convinced Soundwave ''[[Knight Templar|to fight for the robots]]'' [[Manipulative Bastard|with him]]. Other Megatron usually will fall with his [[Villain Ball]] and continue with their plan; even if it risk that the target will betray them.

* Impostor Dan, from Dan Vs. After stealing Dan's identity, and endearing himself to everyone in town, he is finally taken down by Dan. Being a Magnificent Bastard, he gets out of prison and becomes a telemarketer. He uses his position to drive Dan insane, using a hidden transmitter to act as the voice inside his head, renting an apartment, just to capture them both, and even knowing the characters so well that he can place traps exactly where they will be. When Dan chases him with a baseball bat, he gets a cop to taser him twice. He even manages to do all this while being completely likable, suave, and normal.

* Megabyte from ''[[Re Boot]]''. The [[Evil Sounds Deep|low]], [[Evil Brit|British]] baritone voice of [[Tony Jay]] certainly helps, but this is one of the few cartoon villains that has never suffered from any sort of [[Villain Decay]], and is actually considered more dangerous as the series progresses. His most magnificent moment (besides the guitar duel) is when he took advantage of the web invasion and subsequent [[Enemy Mine]] situation to strand Bob, Mainframe's champion, in the web. While Daemon is more powerful and dangerous, Megabyte's return in season 4 evoked much more fear from the main cast. What makes this so Magnificent is how his dispatching of Bob is so ''un''-magnificent. He shoves him and presses a button. Dead easy. It also helps that {{spoiler|judging by the season four cliffhanger, ''[[The Bad Guy Wins|he wins]]''}}.

** Megabyte's bastardy in the first few seasons was completely overshadowed {{spoiler|by what he got up to in the fourth season. At this point, he has decided to forgo his pursuit of power in favor of personal revenge, which he does in truly epic fashion. He uses his newfound [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] to return to Mainframe in the guise of the original (Season One/Two) Bob, and comes within literal seconds of ''marrying Dot'' just to mess with everyone's heads.}}

'''Megabyte:''' [[It Amused Me]]. }}

*** Technically, he may have achieved this status in THREE episodes, because although he achieved it by the end of Episode 6, he didn't appear in Episode 1, 2, or 5. Yes, this entire feat was accomplished in just three episodes. (Technically, he does appear in the first episode, but just at the very end merely saying "I'm going to put my plan into action now", so he doesn't really do anything until episode 3.)

*** [[Xanatos Gambit|His plan in episode 6 was actually a win/win for Amon.]] If they do listen to his threat and stop the Pro Bender finals, then the government and police force look weak and useless against him and his Equalist movement. If they don't listen to his threat, well, we saw what happened when they didn't.

** Dr. Octopus as "The Master Planner" has also obtained this status. He operates his plan, for the most part, from a mental ward, has Gwen Stacy kidnapped and then has her father betray the law in exchange for her safety, damn well nearly takes over the world in the end... all while managing to casually sit back and drink coffee out of a mug labeled "[[For the Evulz|Evil Genius]]".

** Arguably just as impressive (even if it didn't succeed) was his brilliant [[Evil Plan]] in the ''[[Justice League]]'' episode, Twilight: [[Playing Both Sides]] in the conflict between Superman and Brainiac. He successfully manipulates both [[Superman]] and Brainiac into believing he's on their side, pitting them against each other and playing both sides. He boxes them both into this even though both Superman and Brainiac know that they can't trust him and know that he'll betray them. But appealing to Superman's (and the Justice Leagues') sense of morality and Brainiac's self-preservation he does it. By the end, Superman is incapacitated and Brainiac is under Darkseid's control with him moments away from achieving his ultimate goal. [[Big Damn Heroes|Only the last minute arrival]] of Batman, Wonder Woman, and Orion (which nobody could've forseen) foiled him.

** A more straightforward example would be Tak, who would have succeeded if the [[Villain Ball]] hadn't made her brag to Zim.

* Derek Powers from ''[[Batman Beyond]]''. Manipulated an entire city with his company, and only grew more deadly when he gained radioactive powers. Using his money, intel, and connections, he kept people under his thumb and proved to be a deadly opponent for the new Batman.

** His son Paxton also qualifies, arranging for his father's exposure to the public and eventual demise despite Batman's best efforts to stop him. He does next to nothing for the entirety of Season Two, but then again, why bother? He had [[The Bad Guy Wins|already won]] in his first appearance!

'''Wendy:''' I told her... [[This Is Sparta|Don't. Fuck. With. Wendy.]] '''[[This Is Sparta|Testaberger!]]''' }}

* Chase Young from ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'', mostly during the second season in which he debuted, would meticulously manipulate events so that even if the monks won, Chase would benefit from it, mostly with regard to his plans to corrupt Omi. This lead to him, on several occasions, helping the monks in order to gain Omi's trust, as well as manipulating other villains to force Omi into situations where he would have to resort to underhanded tactics not approved of by his friends.

** Sideshow Bob, however, is arguably the most obvious [[Magnificent Bastard]] in Springfield. His schemes are considerably clever, and typically just so happen to get [[Rule of Funny|thwarted by circumstances]]. Examples include:

*** Krusty Gets Busted, {{spoiler|in which Bob frames Krusty for armed robbery, and takes over Krusty's show. He manages to convince almost everyone of Krusty's guilt, except for Bart and Lisa, who just so happen to uncover the whole scheme [[Eureka Moment|when Sideshow Bob says he has big shoes to fill]].}}

*** Black Widower, {{spoiler|in which after being released from prison, Sideshow Bob convinces every Simpson except Bart that he has reformed. Bob then marries Selma Bouvier, who has made a lot of money in the stock market, so as to inherit her money. Bob also finds out that Selma tends to smoke after watching [[MacGyver]], and that she has an impaired sense of smell. So he then decides that one day, to get the money, he will get up and leave while she is watching [[MacGyver]], and leave the gas valve open so as to fill the room Selma is in with natural gas, without her noticing, such that when she lights up to smoke her cigarette when the show is over, the ignition will blow up the room she is in, killing her and leaving him with her money. The only reason this does not work is that Bart, who was already distrustful of Bob, also knew these things about Selma and managed to guess what Bob's plan was.}}

*** Cape Feare, {{spoiler|in which Sideshow Bob manages to convince the parole people that he has reformed. Upon hearing of his release, the Simpson family flees Springfield to a houseboat in Terror Lake, but Bob manages to find their houseboat anyway. While the family is asleep, Bob disconnects the boat from the dock, and ties up all the Simpson family except Bart, including the pets. Then, cornering Bart at the edge of the boat, Bob is just about to kill Bart until Bart convinces Bob to [[Wicked Cultured|sing the entire score to H.M.S. Pinafore]] first. By the time Bob is finished singing, the boat arrives in Springfield, where the police are waiting for Bob and have him arrested.}}

* Skipper from ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' qualifies. He happily has outmoded gender stereotypes, is openly speciest, prefers violence to solve everything, has willingly admitted that his ideal future is a post apocalyptic scenario that involves roving bands of irradiated mutants, and his team WILL succeed in whatever it is they are doing. This has ranged from escaping a zoo, preforming a good deed for a day, stealing fish while disguised as King Julien, and [[It Makes Sense in Context|defeating a giant MP3 player with the power of musical mind control from taking over the city with an evil dolphin at the helm]]. Unlike most of the rest of the entries, Skipper is the hero of the story.

* Jerry Mouse in ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' can be this depending on the situation and how his actions are presented. Other times, he's a [[Guile Hero]].

** And just how do we know that all those times it caused all those calamities which forced Jeremy to use Return to the past weren't part of a [[Batman Gambit]] to make itself more powerful in the first place?