Who are your favorite villains?

[Arrian]

I voted for:

Vader
Iago
Richard III
Khan
Sauron (though I do think his old master, Morgoth, ought to be the one in the poll)

-Arrian

[Heresson]

Perhaps Soundwave?
I liked Skyscream or what was his name too...
I tend to like bad guys generally. I feel them as my brothers.

[DinoDoc]

Thanos:

[DinoDoc]

Starscream:

[mactbone]

Dreamwave Productions has a great site DD!

Notice how every villain in Transformers had a counterpart, except for Starscream (and his annoying, whiny voice)?

[Dinner]

That Starscream shot was from Transformers the Movie. The animation was much better in the movie then in the tv show.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by SnowFire
Compare this to say, Javert, who was held up as an example as a sympathetic villian. Javert falls into the category I like to call "Lawful Stupid" villians: people who follow some kind of idiotic code super-rigorously even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary (until the end, when they realize the error of their ways). Unfortunately, they're fairly popular. I far prefer SMART villians who come to their conclusions on their own.

I think Javert is one of the greatest literary characters of them all, certainly the archetype of the obsessed lawman. His somewhat mindless devotion to the law isn't from stupidity (indeed, he shows several times in the book that he's not stupid), it's because of a desperate attempt to flee his ignominious birth. He hates his origins so much that he goes to the opposite extremes to prove he isn't scum of the earth. He's a really tragic figure, especially if you read his final chapter. It's a powerful portrait of a man coming undone by his own beliefs.

No, he's not really a villain, as his intent isn't to be malicious (it's to be perfect, actually). But his actions cause the hero and others so much trouble that I can't help but include him among legendary antagonists.

[Boris Godunov]

Bah, Starscream annoyed the hell out of me. Not a good villain at all, just a whiney little b*tch!

[DinoDoc]

Perhaps you'll find this one to be more your taste:

[Kassiopeia]

I've never seen Excel Saga, but I really do want to, just to see that guy in action.

Long silver hair, long black cape - I guess I know now where Square got it's inspiration when creating Sephiroth (FFVII).




Then there's the business of Kefka (FFVI, or FFIII in US).


I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate [...] hate hate hate you!

There's SAND on my boots!

Nothing can beat the music of hundreds of voices screaming in unison!

Run run or you'll be well done!

I will hunt them down. I will destroy them all! Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!

Now, for my next trick, I will make you all...disappear!

Oh dear...you wanna fight me?! This is just dreadful!

Now I feel you've outlived your usefulness...

Hee, hee, hee !! But what fun is destruction if no 'precious' lives are lost!

I will destroy everything! I will create a monument to non-existence!

This is sickening! You sound like chapters from a self-help booklet! Prepare yourselves!


Other Square baddies... well, Goblez was evil enough... Ultimecia (or should that be Ultimekia ) was a joke (and female, tut tut)... Kuja looked like a girl. What I've heard Seymour's a copy of Sephiroth, but I don't know much more.

[Heresson]

Thanks for Skyscream
I missed Him so much!
Now he's back again, and everything is going to work out fine.

[Mr. Oobir]

What about that one thing from Forbidden Planet? That unstoppable, I don't know, Id creature near the end? I watched the movie once a long time ago, but that creature struck me as interesting.

Also, what about Lavos from the Super Nintendo's best game, Chrono Trigger? It was the absolute embodiment of pestilence and death and the end of the world. Truly great. Though I might me inclined to say that Magus was the better villain...

[Sava]

Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back.

Jet Li was a good bad guy in Lethal Weapon 4. He couldn't speak much English, but his eyes were filled with rage.

Hmmm, I'll ponder this some more.

[ixnay]

Originally posted by Wraith
Finally, someone else who's seen Excel Saga Although with that location field, I may have to ask you to sing the afro song...

I'm Nabeshin and my afro suits me,
It's easy to clean, just wash it once.
The babes all like it 'cause it's fluffy,
and I like it 'cause I don't have to brush.
Shaggy and curly, frizzy and messy,
My afro-do is the best for me.
I'm Nabeshin and the chicks dig me,
It's a wop-do-wop-do-wop-do-wop hair do,diddy diddy diddy DAY!

Got to love Nabeshin...

[SnowFire]

Bah. I happen to agree that of "entity" villians (big unthinking brutes/gods/something that only care about kill, kill, kill), Lavos is one of the best, but he still can't compete against a villian with real character, something more than a very cool screech.

And whoever told you Seymour was a Sephiroth clone hasn't played the game very closely. There are several MAJOR differences between Seymour and Sephiroth- he's no more the same as Sephy as Sephy is the same as Golbez. I mean, just for starters... nah, don't want to spoil the plot of FFX.

BG: Well, then it just goes to show how much characterization can do for you. My complaint with Javert, the musical Javert at least, was that I could tell we were supposed to find him this "noble villian" (as I can tell you do) but they didn't do anything, as far as I'm concerned, to back this up. He was just there to always be muttering about how he knew that Valjean was really evil (yah, sure, good job investigating Mr. Investigator!) and swearing off by the law to the letter.

Still, he's not the worst example of a character like that. Here's a better one that I know some people here will be familar with: anybody who has seen Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within knows what an amazingly poor villian General Hein was, whose stupidity truly knows no bounds and valiantly clings to his idea of what to do in the face of all evidence to the contrary and the massive amounts of destruction he causes. The really annoying thing was that the gave him a chance at redemption, too (Spoilerific, don't read if you want to watch the movie)- after he lets the bad aliens into the base (he sabotages the base's own defensive system) in the hopes that the outrage provoked by this attack will trigger the High Council (or whatever the governing body was) to his course of action, needless to say the aliens eat virtually the entire base and only he and our heroes escape (this was a big city too, so we're talking SERIOUS losses, especially when humanity only has so many of these walled in cities). Oops. So he puts a gun to his head.

Okay, fine, he recognizes what an amazing ******* he was and the number of people he basically murdered by playing games with the shield wall. I actually don't mind villians like this, since that shows that they/the movie realize what idiots they were. But nope, he doesn't shoot himself. That doesn't mean things have gone downhill yet. He recognizes he screwed up, but knows that killing himself may ease his guilt, but it won't help anything, and he's going to live to try and help things out and reverse the mistakes he's made. But no! He pulls the gun away... and continues along with the same idiotic plan he's been pushing the whole movie, which has been conclusively shown not to be wise, and he also continues trying to kill the heroes! I mean, he didn't learn a thing!

Sympathetic villian, yeah, sure. Oh well, FF:TSW was at least a promising start, I suppose, but Square Pictures closed after its release, so we'll never see anything more polished, I guess. Bah. And we're left with a very mediocre movie as its only contribution, a shame.