Monday 2 April 2012

B - Baddies


I feel that the media tends to put baddies in a negative light.  Despite their evil tendencies to enslave the world, murder people and whatnot, you have to admire their ingenuity, persistence, and intelligence.  Their actions may be motivated by personal greed, but the work is hard, the hours are long, and it tends to destroy your social life.  Dinner parties are difficult to arrange when you live inside an orbital doom laser.

As a celebration of bad guys everywhere, I thought I’d honour my favourite villains in the form of a best of list.
And the award for most inappropriate fighting footwear goes to...

10 – Heihachi Mishima

The Tekken series is chock full of token evil-doers, but few match up to Grandpa Evil himself, Heihachi.  To list all of his evil achievements would take too long, but his highlights include fathering the devil, throwing his 5 year old son off a cliff, throwing his grown up son into a volcano (same son, might I add), and gambling his entire corporation and billions in personal wealth, just so he could beat up his family members.  He makes Gaddafi look like Mother Teresa.

9 – Krang

Some think that Shedder was most evil person from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I reckon it was Krang by a long way.  Not only is he a hideous pink evil squid genius, but he hollowed out a guy just to live inside him.  That would make for a brilliant Halloween version of Grand Designs.

8 – Professor Monkey For A Head

Here’s an inspiring example of a villain who overcame a disability to become a feared galactic presence.  Professor Monkey For A Head has to be one of the best villains ever created, mainly because of the simian hanging off of his scalp.  It’s a comedic concept that still makes me grin inanely today.

7 – Scorpius

If you’re not sure who this leather-bound ghoul is, he’s from the Farscape series.  Just a cursory glance at Scorpius is enough to get him listed here.  Evil acts and misdemeanours are by the by when you are sporting the fetishised corpse look.  What?  Yes, I did watch Farscape.  The BBC used to put it on after The Simpsons.  Don’t judge me!

6 - Dick Dastardly

Animal abuse advocate Dick Dastardly was like a blueprint of villainy during my childhood.  When I think back, Dick Dastardly did very little apart from try and stop a bird from delivering letters and viciously thump his asthmatic dog, but his is an enduring character.  He had all the hallmarks of evil though.  He sported a devilish moustache, wore dark colours, and had a wicked cackle.  Plus his propensity for attaching ludicrously dangerous devices to flying machines was admirable.  I’d have loved him to catch that pigeon, just once.

Stop that pigeon NEEEEOWWW!
5 – Kain

Kain is a vampire lord with one of the meanest streaks I’ve ever seen.  When his lieutenant Raziel grew a pair of wings, Kain tore them off in a jealous rage and threw him into Oblivion.  When Raziel comes back from the dead for revenge, Kain leads him on a wild chase over space and time, which are frontiers that most baddies don’t normally meddle with.  Then there’s his propensity for farming humans.  Civilisation only exists because Kain allows it to in order to satisfy him at snack time.

4 – The Claw

Although we never saw him fully, The Claw had two noticeable characteristics.  The first was his steel claw which he liked to stroke cats with, almost skinning them alive in the process.  The second was that deliciously evil laugh.  “I’ll get you next time Gadget, next time...mwahurhurhurhur!”.  That delectable, throaty laugh is the defining laugh that all baddies should aspire to.  Interestingly, my spell checker doesn’t like the word ‘mwahurhurhurhur’, which I assure you is spelt 100% correctly.  Seriously, go and listen to it now.

3 – Brian Fury

Brian Fury is a cyborg who likes to crush people just for the fun of it all.  During his time in the Tekken series he is seen tearing tanks open like sardine cans, breaking an opponent’s bones even when they’ve been knocked out cold, and killing a scientist who saved his life, all while laughing like a monumental maniac.  You have to admire his callous disregard for everyone in the name of fun.

2 – Darth Vader

You just knew that everyone’s favourite negligent father had to pop up somewhere on the list.  Darth’s evil deeds include cutting off his son’s hand, not paying any child support whatsoever, and overseeing the construction of a planet sized weapon of mass destruction.  The Death Star is the pinnacle of evil achievements, sweeping aside the fact that it was destroyed easily by a lone fighter.  We also need to ignore his empire’s overwhelming defeat to a bunch of teddy bears.  In fact, Darth is directly responsible for some glaring mistakes when you think about it.  Gotta love that outfit though.

1 – Psycho Mantis

The guy looks like a mustard gas gimp.  Although he’s rocking that World War II look, Mantis can read your mind, dodge bullets with relative ease, make you go blind, and float around with the power of his mind.  As a child, Mantis razed his entire hometown to the ground in some sort of crazed psychotropic fury, the effect of which probably made him a little touched to say the least.  Fighting Psycho Mantis is akin to overloading on hallucinogens, then trying to punch a balloon in a hurricane.  Of course, you could always plug your controller into port 2.  “Nooooo!  I can’t read you!”.

Your memory is completely clean, dumbass!

23 comments:

  1. Great post, I love that you included Dick Dastardly, I used to watch that all the time when I was little :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not being able to have dinner parties is the main reason I decided not to be a villain. I love dinner parties. Or I would if anybody ever invited me to one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great list. I used to feel kinda sorry for Dick Dastardly, he would try so hard but always fail :)

    Universal Gibberish

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Claw and that laugh has to be the best villain ever-- just saying. :D

    Cheers, Jenn
    http://www.wine-n-chat.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know Darth Vader...that's it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. You get a +12 to coolness for not only watching Farscape but recognizing the level of evil incarnate this was Scorpius. This was such a fun post. Can't wait for tomorrow's.

    *~ MAJK ~*
    Safireblade.com
    A to Z Blog Challenge

    ReplyDelete
  7. I totally agree with Darth Vader! Now he is a proper baddie. I love the comment about the teddy bear ewoks. Great that you included Dick Dastardly also!
    Great post!

    Here's my B post:
    http://lostinthought-becca.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/b-is-for-bag-end-bilbo-baggins-and.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. How about Sephiroth to carry on your FF7 theme? He was awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm not too familiar with some of these villians, but thumbs up for Psycho Mantis. I was all giddy when I found him in Metal Gear.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I always loved Dick Dastardly and felt sorry for him. I kinda wanted him to catch that pigeon, it just pooped on cars anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great and fun post! I could write down a lot of great villains that made each story better. They complete the whole plot.

    A Ladybug's Life

    Sonnia

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm another one who likes Dick Dastardly. I think that says much about the public. No wonder we always end up with rubbish politicians

    ReplyDelete
  13. great A-Z post! Baddies sure make for great stories, though. Love darth vader.
    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. I will admit to not knowing some of your baddies- but I love the mention of several classic cartoon villains from some for my childhood days.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I actually don't know some of those bad guys, but I definitely remember watching Dick Dastardly and The Claw as a child. You got to love those as bad guys.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I once dated a girl who looked like Krang. Once...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Scorpius was number 1 for me...such a great bad guy

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi, I only am familiar with three of your dastardly villains:
    Dick Dastardly, The Claw, and Darth Vader. Somehow, I missed the others. I believe that for me, Uriah Heep (from Charles Dickens' writing) outdoes all of them.
    Ruby

    ReplyDelete
  19. hahahahahhaa! now I have to go look these dudes up!

    Violet @ Revolution ~ Evolution

    ReplyDelete
  20. It does feel like the bad guys would be more fun on a night out.


    new follower,
    mood
    Moody Writing
    @mooderino
    The Funnily Enough

    ReplyDelete
  21. How is Darth Vader not number one. This upsets me. And how is Raziel not the ultimate bad dude? I know nothing about him, but that name is pure Evil.

    ReplyDelete
  22. These bad guys come from a variety of sources, from TV to movies to video games. I probably should have mentioned where they're all from, but I cut it out to save space on an already long post.

    Glad to see a lot of love for Dick Dastardly though. Those animal rights campaigners haven't ruined our enjoyment of a man who beats his dog.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Well maybe it's just me, but why do I love all these Baddies in your list?
    Hmmm....

    ReplyDelete

Leave me a nice comment or die trying.