Magnificent Bastard/Western Animation: Difference between revisions

** Book Two of the series gives us Varrick, the goofy, quirky, eccentric, but charismatic business genius who is also a criminal mastermind seeking to profit off of the Water Tribe's war. As he cheerfully puts it, "If you can't make money during a war, then you just plain can't make money!" He does several crooked, rotten, underhanded things that could put the fortunes, reputations, and lives of others on the line ''while being on the side of the good guys.'' And even when he's outed as a crook, he keeps the characters' respect by pointing out all the good he's done as well and assisting them yet again by offering them his air ship. He does this from a luxurious prison cell [[Crazy Prepared|that he had made just for him because he knew he'd go to jail one day]], a cell from which he later makes a stylish escape from the moment he sees the opportunity using a hang-glider which he just happened to have smuggled into his jail cell in the event an aerial escape opportunity presented itself. Throughout the season Varrick manages to be surprisingly ingenious in his plots, [[Crazy Prepared]] for any eventuality, and genuinely affable to the Krew even as he's manipulating them or screwing them over for his own interests.

*** When he's next seen in Book 3, it's in Zaofu, being treated as a guest of honor and going completely unpunished for any of his actions. Su Yin trusts him and believes him reformed. Come Book 4, he promptly proves her wrong as he helps Kuvira conquer the Earth Kingdom and then subverts that refusing to build Kuvira's weapon of mass destruction, even blowing up the supply of its power source. He is later vital to destroying Kuvira's [[Humongous Mecha]] and defeating the Earth Empire. His [[Character Development]] even leads to a marriage with Zhu Li in the [[Grand Finale]].

** Kuvira in Book 4, like Amon, is a [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] Chessmaster [[Villain with Good Publicity]] who has so far managed to outmaneuver anyone who's challenged her. She even breaks Amon's record and earns her status in one episode! In "The Battle of Zaofu" she anticipated that Suyin would try to attack her and set up a clever [[Batman Gambit]] to capture them making it look like they were the aggressors while maintaining her [[Villain with Good Publicity]] status. That forced Korra to challenge her to a one-on-one duel for Zaofu, which Kuvira wins (though granted, the fight was full of Idiot Ball moments on Kuvira's part and she only won due to something she couldn't have planned on). She then attempts to kill Korra, which works out either way because it would either eliminate the Avatar or force Jinora and Opal to violate the duel. The latter gives her just the excuse she needs to invade Zaofu. And though Bolin and Varrick managed to escape, Bataar Jr. has seen enough of the spirit vine experiment to restart the project with Zhu Li's help. In other words, she won decisively. And then there's "Kuvira's Gambit" Kuvira knows that Republic City has been warned of her coming attack, so she moves up the schedule to one week instead of two. In addition, they believe that she is transporting the cannon by rail, so they attempt to disable rail transport; anticipating this, she deploys the cannon on a Colossus instead. And when presented with a [[Sadistic Choice]] of leaving Republic City or never seeing Bataar Jr again, her response is to (though not without a great deal of regret) [[Shoot the Hostage]].

* 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.

* {{spoiler|Rava}} from ''[[Galtar and the Golden Lance]]''. When she's assigned to take down Galtar, she actually ''succeeds'' in capturing him, and only ultimately loses because {{spoiler|she also used the assignment to set ''Tormack'' up, she tried to pull an [[I Have You Now, My Pretty]] and imprisoned Galtar when he refused, and Tormack and Galtar pulled an [[Enemy Mine]] to restore the [[Status Quo Is God|status quo]].}} In a series where the villains tend to be generally a touch more credible than most similar action cartoons of the age, {{spoiler|Rava}} is by far the most dangerous.

* Loki from ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes|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]]}}.

** The second season features the machinations of the Skrull Captain America, who really utilizes people's trust in Cap well in order to further the Skrulls' plot for Earth. Preying on the Avengers' trust in the real Cap to keep them under surveillance without Iron Man to get in the way of plans, as well as dealing with the Hulk by having him voluntarily revert to Bruce Banner and letting Gen. Ross's Hulkbuster units detain him are two instances of this star-spangled phony's magnificence in bastardry.

* Discord from the opening episode of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|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. It helps greatly that he is both [[Word of God|apparently inspired by]] and shares actors with another magnificent bastard, [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Q.]]

** Queen Chrysalis is a more straightforward example. She shapeshifts into the exact lookalike of Princess Cadence in order to marry then bump off Prince Shining Armour so that she can rule Equestria. She's also an [[Emotion Eater]] who possesses the ability to gain power from other people's love. When her true identity is exposed she reveals her [[Xanatos Gambit]]: using the power she's gained from Shining Armour's love to [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|defeat Celestia]] and take Equestria by force.

* In the 2017 reboot of ''[[DuckTales]]'', Scrooge's old flame and "ex-everything," Goldie O'Gilt, is a beautiful, conniving treasure hunter who rivals Scrooge himself in sheer wit and tenacity. Lacking Scrooge's scruples and possessed of a penchant for betrayal, Goldie has backstabbed Scrooge countless times to leave him in the wake of danger while she constantly walks off untouched. In her debut episode, Goldie plays both Scrooge and Flintheart in her pursuit of the Golden Lagoon, using Scrooge to locate the Lagoon for her before managing to fake her death with the Eye of Demogorgon and making off with the treasure herself, completely untouched in the end. Even through their constant quarreling and rivalry, Goldie and Scrooge retain a fierce, mutual respect for each other, with Goldie always knowing Scrooge will make it out alive out of whatever conundrum she leaves him in and Scrooge acknowledging her as his greatest [[Worthy Opponent]].

* In ''[[Voltron]]'': ''Legendary Defender'', Prince Lotor quickly ascends to the position after the disappearance of his father Emperor Zarkon, easily besting Throk in battle, and also proves himself a master manipulator, portraying himself as a benevolent ruler who many planets would prefer to submit to rather than risking rebellion with Voltron. When he first goes up against the Paladins of Voltron, he sets traps and deploys clever strategies that get the Paladins working against themselves and soon sees them divided in a dangerous, toxic environment where Lotor could easily kill them all one by one. After failing to do so, he sees Voltron's resurgence as not a setback, but "an opportunity." He goes on to launch a highly audacious [[Xanatos Gambit]] involving a parallel reality, and sure enough one of the ways he could win pans out. He eventually forges an alliance with the Voltron Coalition, managing to save the life of Keith and the entire crew at least twice and even killing his father in a battle. Beating out Sendak and all other challengers for Zarkon's throne, Lotor becomes the new ruler of the Galra Empire and, keeping the alliance with the Coalition going, persuades Princess Allura into assisting him in unlocking the Quintessence Field of Oriande, where Lotor sought to power his Sincline ships, specially made to form into a new defender robot, in order to bring about his own rule over the galaxy, where he could position himself as a benevolent peacemaker despite wishing to expand a new Altean Empire and wipe the universe clean of all who were opposed to him and he felt were unneeded in his new reign. {{spoiler|It was revealed to the Paladins by the Altean girl Romelle that in the past, Lotor had rescued thousands of Alteans and kept them living in a hidden colony, making them look upon him as their savior and leader only to deceive many of them into volunteering to go to his "second colony", which was actually a facility where the Alteans had their Quintessence forcibly drained from them and harvested for Lotor's own purposes, with Romelle's younger brother Bandar being among the victims. Lotor kept these activities well concealed and was on the verge of achieving total success with Allura when the Paladins found out the truth. Even when captured by his own former generals and brought before his mother Honerva, Lotor remained defiant and dignified, with Axca and the other two generals switching their allegiance back to him once Honerva fled the scene.}} Believing his cause to be noble, having a very sincere affection for Altean culture and Allura that he used to his best advantage in order to win the princess over to his side, and possessing such charisma, intellect, and firm convictions that he even had the Paladins fooled, Lotor proved to be far more dangerous than his father ever was.

* ''[[Castlevania]]'' (2017): Aside from the dreaded Count Dracula himself, the series gives us Isaac, a Devil Forgemaster who is Dracula’s last friend and a ruthlessly competent general. An abused servant until he killed his master, Isaac believes the world will only know love once all humanity is purged. To this end, he helps Dracula by reviving corpses as monsters to serve in his army. When the brutal Viking Vampire Godbrand suggests deposing Dracula, Isaac effortlessly kills him. No one ever discovers Godbrand’s death, with Isaac even telling Dracula that if anyone ever sought to betray him, Isaac would remove such that even Dracula wouldn’t know. After Dracula’s death, Isaac continues his war on humanity, seeking to build an army with his Devil Forgemaster skills. Utterly loyal to Dracula and one of the main reasons the Vampire Lord is a threat, Isaac is a human who can easily compete with all manner of monsters.

{{reflist}}