Villains you hate

[Zak757]

This joke of a character.

He is what happens when you let disturbed children create an edgy character that fulfills their cartoonishly villainous fantasies. "He's going to have robot legs and he'll kill people with... katanas!" Seriously, he's just a despicable villain sue who only manages to escape danger due to cowardice, contrivance, and enforced incompetence on the player. Awful awful awful villain.

Possibly Ragyo if her presence is going to continue having the same effect on Kill la Kill as it did in episode 16. I watch it for the over-the-top dramedy, character interaction, and fight scenes. Not to witness child abuse and sexual explotaition. I understand what THAT scene was trying (and succeeding) to accomplish, but they could have done it in a way that was less... tasteless. If that never happens again, then I don't have a problem with her.

Also, the Reapers have got to be one of the most poorly handled executions of elder gods I've seen in fiction. Pretty much every villain in Mass Effect that isn't Nihlus or Sovereign is extremely lame as a matter of fact.

 

[Chaosian]

The slender man. I cannot figure out why people think this creature is so scary all he does is stand there....MENACINGLY.

I'd agree with you for the most part, but I still see a lot of potential for the character if someone could take it and give it a new spin. Memetic force anyone?

From a more creepypasta standpoint I'd have to go with "Jeff the Killer". There is nothing original or inspirational about him or his appearance, and the story he came from reads like a Grade 10 English assignment.

Keeping more with games I'd point out that a lot of 'bad' villains are just missed opportunities where battles are anti-climactic: Sundowner, Alduin, and Fontaine to name a few...

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

This joke of a character.

He is what happens when you let disturbed children create an edgy character that fulfills their cartoonishly villainous fantasies. "He's going to have robot legs and he'll kill people with... katanas!" Seriously, he's just a despicable villain sue who only manages to escape danger due to cowardice, contrivance, and enforced incompetence on the player. Awful awful awful villain.

Haha oh god, seconded hard. This character's inclusion is a billion times more offensive to writing than the ending ever could be. A sword? He's threatening because he uses a fucking SWORD? Mass Effects distant future technology and the soldiers using it are somehow threatened by somebody using a weapon that's been useless in a military scenario since before the 15th century. And when you beat him the manner in which you do it just enforces how stupid it is.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

Ghirahim, the main antagonist from Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
He's just, so, boring, he's just a flamboyant and stereotypically gay dude, the only evil thing he ever accomplishes is almost lick Link's ear and acts like he's letting you go no matter how badly you kick his ass.

Also, I don't know if I'm the only one, but the whole design looks kinda... homophobic to me, probably wasn't intended that way, but making the main villain act all foppish and vain while the entire hero's cast goes through this "rite of manhood" thing makes for an unfortunate contrast, it just feels wrong.

 

[K12]

I go back and forth on Moriarty. I think young and camp is an unusual and interesting way to go for a villainous mastermind but it's very hard to take him seriously a lot of the time. I mean, did he start building his criminal empire when he was 12?

It works well when he's clearly teasing and arrogantly taking the piss (i.e. the crown jewels bit) but he hasn't managed to combine this with acting sinister and dangerous. I think he needs to have scenes of actually doing something very cruel rather than just posturing. A "Childish but sadistic" character needs to include some actual sadism, rather than just paying others to do it.

Other choices: Venom, The Creeper (from Jeepers Creepers if anyone other than me has watched this film) and every single villain in any Capcom game ever made ever (especially Wesker)

 

[-Dragmire-]

Kai Leng from ME3. A villain that made me hate the writers and designers of him. I don't hate him, he's not a character anyway, just a tool that the writer's used to piss people off directly, though unintentionally.

Also, the Reapers have got to be one of the most poorly handled executions of elder gods I've seen in fiction. Pretty much every villain in Mass Effect that isn't Nihlus or Sovereign is extremely lame as a matter of fact.

Pretty sure you mean Saren, he shot Nihlus in the first 20 min of ME1.

EDIT:

this one will probably rustle some jimmies, but it is honestly how I feel

Kefka

the guy is a complete joke, there isn't a single time that I remotely think of him as the villain, more of just an annoyance and an immature pain in the ass, which is weird considering how many villains I like that are immature or do end up being a pain in the ass...

Hmmm, I do like Kefka quite a bit but it's his execution and not his character that I believe makes him compelling for me. He plans ahead, enacts those plans and actually succeeds through cunning and effort. His personality though... yeah, that could be improved quite a bit.

 

[Isalan]

Take a rock and throw it at any of the villains from the Metal Gear series. Whoever you hit, then him/her.

Except Psycho Mantis, that mad bastard can move controllers and read my mind!

 

[Amaror]

Who else? Joffrey Lannister from Game of throne! (Do I win?)

No you don't. In fact you fail by a factor of a million.
The question was for characters that fails as a villain. If you truly hate a character for the bad things he has done then he has succeded as a villain.

A character fails as a villain when he is, for example, funny instead of threatening, hilariously incompetent or just such a bad character that he's simply not a good character much less a villain.

I hate the character joffrey, which means that joffrey is an amazing villain, in fact one of the best villains i have ever seen in any medium. Because he's not only evil, but also incompetent and utterly undeserving of the power he commands and even gets.

I second (Or third or a thausand) lai leng.
That guys a joke!

 

[LaughingAtlas]

Hm... Colonel Autumn of Fallout 3 fame, for failure to put up a half-decent fight, (I've had more exciting battles with radscorpions, and you probably have too) Sofia Lamb in Bioshock 2 for being smug, disingenuous ***** from the very moment you first see her, (though I'm mostly just annoyed you personally don't get to shove a drill-arm through her face) and the Crawler in Fable 3 for not posing any real threat to me personally, though that kind of goes for every enemy in that game.

It's a little more than the questionable design choice of the hero's apparent immortality, though, he didn't scare me at all. The light shows and the cryptic bullshit about 'the children' did nothing for me in terms of what I think was supposed to be horror, and that it dies when you kill it by killing the person it possesses doesn't win it any extra points, either.

Seriously, I don't know if Mr. Generic Shadow Monster was even vulnerable before, but it just jumps into a guy, you kill that guy, shadowy crisis averted and the day is saved. I struggled more with the bandit warlord guy.

 

[Weaver]

I'd say The Illusive Man from ME2; though I do guess it's debatable if he's really a "villain" or not.

 

[Eamar]

I really hope you're just talking about the version from Batman and Robin, because I don't see how anyone can think Mr. Freeze from Batman: TAS is a genuinely bad villain. I can understand someone being apathetic towards him, but bad? That's just crazy.

Never seen TAS so yeah, I'm talking about the Arnie-tastic version. Hence why I posted a picture of him

 

[Silvanus]

Never seen TAS so yeah, I'm talking about the Arnie-tastic version. Hence why I posted a picture of him

Oh, Arnie's version is terrible. Rest assured, though, the version in most comics is very different. He's sometimes quite terminator-like: ever-serious, unsmiling, sparse with his words.


(...Funny that a comparison with another Arnie role should give the character greater gravitas and credibility).

 

[Trooper924]

I go back and forth on Moriarty. I think young and camp is an unusual and interesting way to go for a villainous mastermind but it's very hard to take him seriously a lot of the time. I mean, did he start building his criminal empire when he was 12?

It works well when he's clearly teasing and arrogantly taking the piss (i.e. the crown jewels bit) but he hasn't managed to combine this with acting sinister and dangerous. I think he needs to have scenes of actually doing something very cruel rather than just posturing. A "Childish but sadistic" character needs to include some actual sadism, rather than just paying others to do it.

I have similar thoughts on the John Simms version of the Master from Doctor Who. Sometimes it really does work, especially when he's being played up as an evil, mirror version of The Tenth Doctor, but then it feels like they get too carried away, and it becomes hard to believe that, even with the psychic brainwashing influence thing he had set up, that anyone would take this clown serious enough for his evil plan to work.

 

[MacChris1991]

This joke of a character.

He is what happens when you let disturbed children create an edgy character that fulfills their cartoonishly villainous fantasies. "He's going to have robot legs and he'll kill people with... katanas!" Seriously, he's just a despicable villain sue who only manages to escape danger due to cowardice, contrivance, and enforced incompetence on the player. Awful awful awful villain.

Haha oh god, seconded hard. This character's inclusion is a billion times more offensive to writing than the ending ever could be. A sword? He's threatening because he uses a fucking SWORD? Mass Effects distant future technology and the soldiers using it are somehow threatened by somebody using a weapon that's been useless in a military scenario since before the 15th century. And when you beat him the manner in which you do it just enforces how stupid it is.

Hey now, Kai Leng is a badass. He eats people's cereal without giving a fuck, pees in vases like a boss, and kills people with toothbrushes. But seriously, yeah, Kai Leng is a complete and utter joke. It didn't help he came across as a Sephiroth wannabee and only survives because of magical plot armor.

I honestly feel that it was always a matter of implementation with Lang. I get that they were trying to give us an anti-Shepard, and part of that was giving him an arsenal that was melee focused and more old world ( and I understand that a sword that ignores shields and dices conventional armor would be perfect for that), but it is never really shown through gameplay, just cutscenes, so it doesn't ring true. If we the player had more interactions with him maybe he would have been more compelling, but in the game he just seems to be a jerk with a sword.

 

[C F]

This joke of a character.

He is what happens when you let disturbed children create an edgy character that fulfills their cartoonishly villainous fantasies. "He's going to have robot legs and he'll kill people with... katanas!" Seriously, he's just a despicable villain sue who only manages to escape danger due to cowardice, contrivance, and enforced incompetence on the player. Awful awful awful villain.

Haha oh god, seconded hard. This character's inclusion is a billion times more offensive to writing than the ending ever could be. A sword? He's threatening because he uses a fucking SWORD? Mass Effects distant future technology and the soldiers using it are somehow threatened by somebody using a weapon that's been useless in a military scenario since before the 15th century. And when you beat him the manner in which you do it just enforces how stupid it is.

Hey now, Kai Leng is a badass. He eats people's cereal without giving a fuck, pees in vases like a boss, and kills people with toothbrushes. But seriously, yeah, Kai Leng is a complete and utter joke. It didn't help he came across as a Sephiroth wannabee and only survives because of magical plot armor.

Kai Leng hate train? I'm game.

I debated snipping the image, because if this thing goes on any longer we're going to have a massive quote pyramid on our hands.
But then I thought "If this thread exists as a monument to all the villains we hate, what better way to run it than leaving this clown's image plastered everywhere?"

Let me cover the sword part first: it would have been absurd in the first Mass Effect. Bioware had a firm emphasis on a realistic portrayal of the late 22nd century when it came to humanity, and they would have never done anything to jeopardize that. Cerberus wasn't a laughably evil company of villains, it was a group of morally bankrupt researchers mixed with a rogue special ops unit.

But in ME3? When I first got control of my ship, we had already introduced the Omni-blade (Want to stab people? There's an app for that!), a group of Halo Spartan wannabes dressed up in bomb disposal and riot gear 24/7 (They have robo-voice synthesizers, even over comms. How were they fooled by Mark Meer/Jennifer Hale's distinct voice? You think they would have studied up on audio-visual cues for Commander Shepard in their 101 field training I mean come on), an infiltration mech designed to look like a sexy woman, and a villainous mastermind most likely featured in the space Fortune 500.
What kind of setting are we now running?

Is Cerberus fielding their vanguard and infiltrator specialists as ninjas really that absurd anymore? It doesn't help that I am a vanguard, and I charge and melee things for a living. The question I am asking myself is not "Why do they have a sword?" The question is "Where's MY sword?" I would love to turn this into space Assassin's Creed over here. I am not a human being. I am a heavily-armored and highly mobile hyperspace generator with an emphasis on survivability to repeated bullets in the face. I'd say give me a claymore, but do you know what that would do to my cooldown time? Gimme something light, like a wakizashi.
Hey, wait a minute. Cerberus is doing the exact same thing? Clever.

So if he does everything I wish I could do, why do I hate Kai Leng?
He does it all wrong. He walks. He circles around. He sticks to rafters. It's like he really does think it's Assassin's Creed. Come on, there's no stealth. Unlike the other Phantoms, I don't think I've seen you cloak once in the game. And as soon as your boots hit the nearest ground, everyone whips around and puts their sights on you. Don't move stealthily.

And your sword? How often do you actually use it? You only close the distance ONCE in the entire game, and it was suddenly the most delicious moment I have ever played. Because you have a sword, and I'm a vanguard Shepard. If you replaced all the command consoles in the Normandy CIC with Asari strippers, it still wouldn't get me as excited.
But one QTE and it's over.
You just circle around some more and use that palm-cannon of yours. I don't mind the palm cannon, it's actually a pretty decent weapon. I need to continually charge, energy drain, or stick to cover, or Phantoms chew me up with those things.
I DO mind that you won't man up and use the friggin' sword! You should be all up in my face 24/7, trying to turn me into a meat pie. Instead I'm continually charging at you trying to beat you into a pulp with the butt of my gun. Tell me: what's wrong with that picture?
And you just run some more.

And yeah, I think he personally scripted every cutscene he's in, because he's at his most powerful then. Shepard and co. reduced to an ineffectual joke so you can win for once? Check. Every shot fired your way misses or is deflected by a biotic barrier? Check. Hand-to-hand with Thane? Sure, let's even ditch the sword for that part!

Introduced halfway through act three of three, and the writers think we're supposed to care about him. There's nothing more to him than horribly contrived recurrences leading up to a pathetic boss fight. He has everything I wish I could have in ME3 and he squanders it horribly.

I do not like Kai Leng.

 

[Hunter Hyena]

Time to prepare my flame shield

The Joker from The Dark Knight

He came across as a rather bland idea of crazy, that just rubbed me as being too tame and never interested me. Lick lips, looks above someone you talk to slightly, comb hair. Done?

I think the reason it gets viewed as a great performance is due to Brandon Lee syndrome with The Crow. Actor dies and everyone assumes the last role was pure greatness (though I did find Lee better in his role than Ledger was in his).