Magnificent Bastard/Western Animation: Difference between revisions

** He might adequately be described as Lex Luthor (Evil Corporate Mastermind) mixed with Doctor Doom (genius inventor and likes mixing magic with science), only handsomer, possibly richer, and with none of the flaws that cause their plans to collapse, namely ego inflation issues and revenge obsessions. He even tends to take his defeats in stride, regarding them as a learning experience.

*** Uncannily enough, his SECOND<s>FIRST</s> second LINE in the show is "Magnificent!"

* Megatron of ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|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.]]

** Azula is succeeded by [[Big Bad|Amon]] in ''[[The Legend of Korra (Animation)|The Legend of Korra]]'', who has obtained this status in record time, SIX EPISODES! Every thing this guy does only gains him more followers. He sends a threat to city hall, and knows that they won't listen and just heighten security at the Pro Bending arena. He then has his fellow equalists disguise as simple audience members and sneak in their weapons by hiding them in their popcorn. Turns out he wanted the entire poice force there so he could take them all out at one before they could stop him and show the whole stadium how powerless they were. He also [[Wild Mass Guessing|might have payed off the Pro Bending referees to not call out the Wolfbats team's cheating to ensure that they'd win the match]], so Amon could then make an example of them by taking away their bending. And he knows how to take advantage of the situations: he always makes sure that people see the truth of his extremist beliefs that benders abuse their powers. It helps that the first thing we ever see him really do in the show is [[Kick the Son of A Bitch|taking bending powers away from dangerous crime bosses.]]

* Nerissa from ''[[WITCH (Animation)|W.I.T.C.H.]]'' Can also be considered a [[Manipulative Bastard]], as can Prince Phobos. Cedric too, especially in the original comic series.

* Dogbert on the series ''[[Dilbert (Animation)|Dilbert]]'' whose "religious belief" is "that everyone exists for the sole purpose of entertaining me." On one episode, he sets up a carnival booth where you "knock a street urchin off a beam with a baseball and win a toy." In another, he convinces Congress to abandon all holidays in favor of National Dogbert Day (The traditional Dogbert Day feast: the bald eagle. He wanted something special) for the sole purpose of being annoying. (The same reason he invented Secretary's Day.) Also, the aptly named Bob Bastard, the caped and hooded company tester on a quest to crush the hopes and dreams of engineers.

* Slade from ''[[Teen Titans (Animation)|Teen Titans]]'' normally falls on the [[Smug Snake]] side of things, due to his overconfidence and habit of grabbing the [[Villain Ball]] at inopportune moments, but in the three-part season finale "The End" he graduates to full [[Magnificent Bastard]] by orchestrating the downfall of a nearly all-powerful demon at no real cost to himself, getting his humanity back (which was his main goal all along) and doing it with ''style''. Of course, being voiced by [[Ron Perlman]] helps.

* [[The Powerpuff Girls|Mojo Jojo]] can be this at times. While his plans tend to be hair-brained, sometimes he's shown enough [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|savvy]] and [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulation]] to casually perform things that people rarely notice until they happen (the "Powerpuff Girls Rule!" special is a fine example.) The movie played this completely straight as well.

* ''[[Star Wars the Clone Wars]]'':* Pirate leader Hondo Ohnaka seems like a drunken, idiotic piratethug at first. However, so far he's managed to capture the very powerful trio of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Count Dooku in an attempt to ransom them to the Republic. Dooku never truly explains how he was captured (only warning the Jedi that Hondo's more clever than he looks), and Hondo manages to drug Anakin and Obi-Wan even after they are aware he's trying to do so and take measures to avoid it. During their attempts to escape, [[Affably Evil|Hondo keeps his jovial personality and insists that it's nothing personal, and that once he has his money they can all go back to being friends]]. He goes on to be a thorn in the heroes' side ''and'' an unexpected ally, and ends the series having humiliated {{spoiler|Darth ''freaking'' Maul}} by stealing his treasure and getting away with mouthing off to him to boot.

* Chase Young from ''[[Xiaolin Showdown (Animation)|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.

** [[Gentleman Thief|The Springfield Cat Burglar]], from "Homer The Vigilante," though a one-shot character, arguably qualifies as this. He manages to steal from several homes very sneakily, (the in-story newspaper states that he struck at least 15 homes) and is implied to have done so without waking up any of their occupants; he also distracts the pets with food. He leaves a [[Calling Card]], too, and yet this doesn't lead back to him. {{spoiler|His identity is revealed when Abe Simpson finds a suspiciously large gem on Malloy's coffee table, but [[Alternate Character Interpretation|that he would even think to look could probably be attributable to "mistaking" Malloy coming into his room for the cat burglar coming into his room earlier on]]. Also, once caught, he [[Affably Evil|returns the items he stole and speaks very kindly about the rest of Springfield]]. He gets put in jail anyway, and tells the police that he buried millions of dollars' worth of money under a big T. [[What an Idiot!|Idiotically enough]], the police as well as the whole town rush to the site, not bothering to leave anyone behind to supervise his cell. As such, when they get to the big T, instead of finding the money, they find a letter [[Batman Gambit|stating that the money isn't really there and that he's used this time to escape from jail]].}}

* Loki from ''[[Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes (Animation)|Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes]]'', first established during flashbacks in his first appearance and cemented when {{spoiler|he explains how pretty much the entire twenty-six episode season was the result of his plotting during the [[Season Finale]]}}. Xanatos would be proud.

* Discord from the opening episode of ''[[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' season 2. He's as old as-possibly older than-both Luna and Celestia and the Avatar of Disharmony that ruled Equestria in an endless maelstrom of anarchy and madness and led to the discovery of the Elements of Harmony; yet he's also one of the [[Large Ham|Largest Hams]] available, while still being incredibly sneaky and evil. By the end of the first episode, he's played ''everyone'' for fools ''without even trying'', all the while enjoying every second and relishing in the mayhem and suffering he causes.

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

* While [[Cyberchase (Animation)|The Hacker]] suffered from [[Villain Decay]], a new villain named Ledge becomes this when he {{spoiler|tricks the Cybersquad, and Hackerizes them (minus Inez)}} and he {{spoiler|Hackerizes almost all of the citizens in Sensible Flats,}} [[Disproportionate Retribution|all to impress the Hacker]]. And, that he succeeded in hurting the Cybersquad more than The Hacker ever did made him a dangerous foe.