The main character is never the biggest badass.
- Thread starter Xeros
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Does no one remember the old Zatch Bell?
Zatch Bell = Brago.
That crazy bastard ate a live crocodile.
Zatch Bell = Brago.
That crazy bastard ate a live crocodile.
You gave examples of quite possibly the least most badass shows/characters ever.Xeros said:
Splinter Cell, Sam fisher is a beast.
GTA IV. Niko Belic is quite possibly the most badass guy..ever.
Assassins Creed, Altiar.
Gears of War, Marcus.
God of War
Prototype
Oblivion and Fallout (both of which you are pretty badass)
Halo
I think we've pretty much established that many badasses are the main characters (though I do have to add Rambo to the list).
Is it just me or am I seeing a pattern here? Most Japanese examples I can think of (like anime and JRPGS) have non-main character badasses. Western stuff on the other hand seems to put the badass as the main character. There are obviously exceptions to both, but I'm going to chock this up to cultural differences.
Is it just me or am I seeing a pattern here? Most Japanese examples I can think of (like anime and JRPGS) have non-main character badasses. Western stuff on the other hand seems to put the badass as the main character. There are obviously exceptions to both, but I'm going to chock this up to cultural differences.
The Fallout 3 main character. Assuming you got the DLC that raises the level cap, you can be known as True Mortal (boring), Messiah (me), or Devil. The more interesting ones proclaim you as the savior of what remains of the human race; the other, the destroyer.
I would have to go with Mario.
I mean... he has a moustache! that's like instant badass.
Louigi has a moustache too but nobody cares about him...
Oh and YOU in Morrowind
I mean... he has a moustache! that's like instant badass.
Louigi has a moustache too but nobody cares about him...
Oh and YOU in Morrowind
spoiler said:
Someone said Link as an exception. I'm just thinking, even though he's the one you play as throughout the whole game, the title of the game is "Legend of ZELDA". Doesn't that kinda make her the main character of the story, if not gameplay?
OT: I've always thought the villains are the most badass in anime because of either gadgets or techniques. In games the main character is supposed to be the most badass just so you'll want to keep playing.
OT: I've always thought the villains are the most badass in anime because of either gadgets or techniques. In games the main character is supposed to be the most badass just so you'll want to keep playing.
Well, going by the spirit of the OP I think we mean "badass" attitude wise, not in terms of their raw power. For example the OP mentions in Rurouni Kenshin that "Saito" is a bigger badass than Kenshin, yet he is proportionatly a weaker character, I'm not even sure if I'd put him in the top 5 for that series (sadly the names of most of them elude me, I need to rewatch it eventually). Attitude wise though, yes... he's a badass.
The thing is that the "Badass attitude" generally works better as a supporting character because the general qualities that make someone a badass are not traditionally heroic. Such a character works well backing up a character with a more heroic outlook, and perhaps doing the dirty work for them when it needs to be done to move the story along. Typically when such a character becomes truely heroic themselves, oftentimes by being changed by the protaganist, the story ends or the character dies off so you never really see the results of the change which would portray them very differantly.
To use an anime (which other people have referanced) as an example, look at Trigun. Vash is generally the antithesis of a Badass, sometimes he acts the part, but in the end the guy is a peacenik who can't kill. His "parner" Wolfwood on the other hand *IS* a Badass and saves the hero on several occasions by doing what he cannot do, for example finishing off a certain samurai-type guy. Later it's arguably Vash rubbing off on him (to an extent) that leads to his death, and the timing of his death also figures into the climax of the series because the hero doesn't have Wolfwood around as an "easy out" to clean up the mess so the hero can maintain his principles. Understanding that is part of what is supposed to make it dramatic.
In cases where you have a protaganist who is a Badass, typically your moving away from real "heroic fantasy" and into the realm of "Dark Fantasy" and so on. For example Kratos gets away being what he is largely by being an anti-hero at the best, and sometimes an outright villain.
One important exception though is comedy. Something like Dragonball Z gets away with it by being a massive satire... while fairly consistant within itself, it's intended to be an absurdist comedy. The same can also be said of things like the video game "Kenka Bancho" which basically makes fun of the entire idea of being a Badass, while at the same time worshipping it oddly enough. The old movie "Big Trouble In Little China" was also a giant send up of the entire idea of the badass anti-hero protaganist, which is again why it worked (though the joke was that Kurt Russel failed at pretty much every badass thing he tried to do except for one...)
The thing is that the "Badass attitude" generally works better as a supporting character because the general qualities that make someone a badass are not traditionally heroic. Such a character works well backing up a character with a more heroic outlook, and perhaps doing the dirty work for them when it needs to be done to move the story along. Typically when such a character becomes truely heroic themselves, oftentimes by being changed by the protaganist, the story ends or the character dies off so you never really see the results of the change which would portray them very differantly.
To use an anime (which other people have referanced) as an example, look at Trigun. Vash is generally the antithesis of a Badass, sometimes he acts the part, but in the end the guy is a peacenik who can't kill. His "parner" Wolfwood on the other hand *IS* a Badass and saves the hero on several occasions by doing what he cannot do, for example finishing off a certain samurai-type guy. Later it's arguably Vash rubbing off on him (to an extent) that leads to his death, and the timing of his death also figures into the climax of the series because the hero doesn't have Wolfwood around as an "easy out" to clean up the mess so the hero can maintain his principles. Understanding that is part of what is supposed to make it dramatic.
In cases where you have a protaganist who is a Badass, typically your moving away from real "heroic fantasy" and into the realm of "Dark Fantasy" and so on. For example Kratos gets away being what he is largely by being an anti-hero at the best, and sometimes an outright villain.
One important exception though is comedy. Something like Dragonball Z gets away with it by being a massive satire... while fairly consistant within itself, it's intended to be an absurdist comedy. The same can also be said of things like the video game "Kenka Bancho" which basically makes fun of the entire idea of being a Badass, while at the same time worshipping it oddly enough. The old movie "Big Trouble In Little China" was also a giant send up of the entire idea of the badass anti-hero protaganist, which is again why it worked (though the joke was that Kurt Russel failed at pretty much every badass thing he tried to do except for one...)
Alex Mercer in Prototype, Ezio from Assassin's Creed 2, Mal in Firefly, Iron Man... the list goes on!
Yep, let me tell you, I was surprised I got there first with that, too. I was going to think long and hard about all badass main characters and make a list. But then I decided I'd just end the thread right there, at the beginning, with the epitome of badass.Ghostkai said:
Why I agree with most of your points, I just want to point out that Altiar is not a badass, just an ass.Mcface said: