When a villains snaps. (your favorite Villainous Breakdown) SPOILERS

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainousBreakdown

We all know that part of the story, when the bone loses it. here's two(technically three) breakdowns I can think of from the top my head

[HEADING=1]SPOILERS[/HEADING]

Spoiler: lord Frieza

I understand dbz isn't high literature but I still think Frieza downfall is really well written (at least for dragon ball)
also the abridged series did his breakdown hilariously.

Spoiler: The Joker

I wouldn't say Batman Arkham knight is the best in the series (Fucking Batmobile) but I think has the best ending out of all them. I think what I like about it is it felt like the first time the Joker was truly defeated in any Batman story. Even in death he always had the last laugh but he was able to truly defeat him the first time!

so what are some your favorites?

P.S. sory four speling

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I did this same thread a year ago: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.844625-When-villains-lose-their-cool-spoilers

My favorite is still Ratigan.

EDIT: And hey, you also posted in that thread a year ago. Same vid of Frieza and everything.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

I did this same thread a year ago: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.844625-When-villains-lose-their-cool-spoilers

My favorite is still Ratigan.

EDIT: And hey, you also posted in that thread a year ago. Same vid of Frieza and everything.

now it has come full circle. Also I added someone to the list so I aren't completely copping myself

 

[Asita]

I said Khan last time, so I'm going to do a variant of something seen in Johnny's thread this time. Light's breakdown at the end of Death Note. The manga, not the anime. And yes, they are very, very different. Sure, in the anime he starts panicking, but he still gets a moment to recompose himself just before the end and goes out with a bit of dignity. He goes out screaming and begging for his life in the manga. Which contrasts beautifully with his actions and attitudes early in the series.

Exhibit A: First Meeting

Spoiler: Analysis

Quick, composed, arguably brave. The guy readily accepts the possibility of death as a consequence for using the Death Note and faces what he believes to be his death in that moment with dignity.

Exhibit B: Final Confrontation

Spoiler: Analysis

Night to the "first meeting's" day, with the confirmation of his death being met with a panicked mantra of "I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!", and a plea for help thrown in for good measure. If his demeanor in the first meeting could be described as brave, then his demeanor in this scene could only be described as cowardly. And it's the contrast between these two events that make this final breakdown so powerful in showing just how far Light had fallen since the first chapter. Gone was the calmly collected man who'd believed that creating a better world would be worth sacrificing his mind, body and life, replaced by a brat who was terrified of receiving the very thing that he'd been dishing out, not because he didn't trust the world without him but because he was scared. Which is exactly why I like it. More than anything else in the series, it showed just how far he'd fallen.

 

[necromanzer52]

Avatar: The last airbender

Spoiler

I love Azula's transformation from cool, calm & collected to batshit crazy paranoid throughout the final season. Truly one of the greatest shows of our time.

 

[Pickles]

I said Khan last time, so I'm going to do a variant of something seen in Johnny's thread this time. Light's breakdown at the end of Death Note. The manga, not the anime. And yes, they are very, very different. Sure, in the anime he starts panicking, but he still gets a moment to recompose himself just before the end and goes out with a bit of dignity. He goes out screaming and begging for his life in the manga. Which contrasts beautifully with his actions and attitudes early in the series.

Exhibit A: First Meeting

Spoiler: Analysis

Quick, composed, arguably brave. The guy readily accepts the possibility of death as a consequence for using the Death Note and faces what he believes to be his death in that moment with dignity.

Exhibit B: Final Confrontation

Spoiler: Analysis

Night to the "first meeting's" day, with the confirmation of his death being met with a panicked mantra of "I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!", and a plea for help thrown in for good measure. If his demeanor in the first meeting could be described as brave, then his demeanor in this scene could only be described as cowardly. And it's the contrast between these two events that make this final breakdown so powerful in showing just how far Light had fallen since the first chapter. Gone was the calmly collected man who'd believed that creating a better world would be worth sacrificing his mind, body and life, replaced by a brat who was terrified of receiving the very thing that he'd been dishing out, not because he didn't trust the world without him but because he was scared. Which is exactly why I like it. More than anything else in the series, it showed just how far he'd fallen.

This is off topic, but just a quick question. Is the manga different enough to justify reading it as someone who liked the anime?

As far as the topic goes, this is more of a slow decline than a breakdown, but the unravelling of the 'bad guy' in Silicon Valley was pretty interesting, and I really like the actor who plays him which made it a lot of fun to watch.

EDIT: I totally forgot Tsukiyama in Tokyo Ghoul (The anime, haven't read the manga). He goes through a pretty awesome breakdown as his plans to eat the main character don't pan out.

 

[Aerosteam]

Death Note.

Spoiler

Still think the story should've ended when L died, but I do like how definitive this ending was.

 

[Carrington666]

I just love Loki's breakdown in the first Avengers movie. The combination of his breakdown, Hulk's reaction and Loki's final line after he calmed down (woke up) again, makes the whole thing incredible awesome

Begins at 0:50

Spoiler

 

[Asita]

This is off topic, but just a quick question. Is the manga different enough to justify reading it as someone who liked the anime?

If you like something do you really need a good justification to seek out another copy? That said, the two aren't terribly different, no. The most significant differences are found in the tone set by relatively minor changes in how events play out. See for instance the breakdown I referred to.

Spoiler

In the anime Light escapes custody and dies alone, only realizing what's happening pretty much the instant he dies. In the manga...well see my second link. He gets the single most undignified death in the series which completes his arc from a kind, brave, and arguably heroic individual to a malicious, cowardly villain. On the one hand the result is approximately the same. The warehouse was Kira's last stand and defeat at the hands of Near and the investigation team. On the other hand, the tone sent by the way it plays out is markedly different and arguably represents the single greatest point of divergence between the anime and manga.

 

[Michael Tabbut]

I'm rather fond of Prince LaCroix's defeat in Vampire: the Masquerade-Bloodlines. Particularly in the Anarch/Loner ending.

Spoiler

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Kuja, a man(?) with a plan. One of the most successful villains in an FF game gets everything he wants only to be told that it doesn't matter because his body was designed to fail anyway. What do you do with god like powers and nothing to lose?

Spoiler

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Not so much a breakdown and more of an [he was always crazy], but an excellent scene of abject rage being directed towards the protagonist by the villain:

Spoiler: Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves

And for a proper breakdown I know Dragonball Z has already been posted, but Vegeta's breakdown in the Abridged version is a classic, especially since they occasionally add his screams into scenes in future episodes as a running joke of there being this cloud of rage slowly transcending through space and time.

Spoiler

 

[Dizchu]

Not sure if he counts as a "villain" in the traditional sense, but this scene in particular really gave me shivers.

Spoiler

On its own this scene is pretty intense, but when you've watched four seasons of unrelenting intensity, it becomes pretty nightmarish. The audience reacts as Skyler does, just recoiling in horror as the man that they may or may not have been rooting for this whole time just loses his mind. As he starts cackling maniacally to himself, you realise that he's not the intimidating kingpin he tried to make himself out to be in the "I am the one who knocks" speech earlier in the series. He's a vulnerable guy who has spiralled out of control and the mess he has made will only get worse.

For me, this was when Walter White turned from being the good guy to being the bad guy. Leading up to this moment, his motivation was to keep his family safe and his complete sense of panic was the result of that. But when he lies in the crawlspace grinning, all he has on his mind is "I am going to fuck this guy up".

And he does all of this at home, in front of his wife. He's not hiding it the way he bottled up his rage earlier in the series. Compare how he behaves here to how he behaves in the first episode, especially when he's at home awkwardly engaging in chit-chat at his birthday party.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Ganondorf has some good ones when he's not already broken down:

Spoiler: Should've read the fine print.

The fine print is 'he who touches it shall have whatever he desires granted'. He finally, FINALLY beat Link and Zelda and formed the completed Triforce by taking theirs... but someone else touched it first and made a wish. Amazingly, the laughter still sounds only about 80% insane with rage and 20% marvelling at the irony. This version of Ganondorf really is the most self-aware and rational he's ever been, but of course that won't stop this kind of defeat from turning him homicidal towards a couple of kids.

Also multiple times in Ocarina of Time, when he starts puking up blood and screams your name before bringing the house down with his anger. Then willingly uses his Triforce to transform himself into a mindless beast for the sole purpose of killing you before being banished. 'Curse you... Sages! Curse you... Zelda! Curse you... Fuck Me!' (Taken from both Lucahjin and Yahtzee's playthroughs)

Hades gets a lot of these, they're kind of his thing, but here's the two resulting from his actually losing:

Spoiler: So close, we tripped at the finish line

And losing the ability to speak at 1:39

Got a game and a movie... not so many in literature that come to mind. Best would probably be Visser Three at the end of Animorphs. The twist is that he's spent most of the series angry at everything, probably exceeding Darth Vader's kill count on his own side. As a telepath, he yells more often than he speaks so everyone within a hundred meters can hear him.

When it finally comes to the point where he has completely, unquestionably lost the war and nothing he does can change that, he just kind of... deflates, and becomes completely passive. He probably didn't say very much when on trial even when even granted the ability to. One fanfic I've always wanted to write was one of each of the Animorphs visiting him in prison to have one final conversation with him for different reasons (Cassie to try and make him understand, Marco to gloat, etc.).

 

[PunkRex]

Azula, Hades, Kuja, we got a good list here, I love all of these characters.

Honestly, the last villainous break down I really enjoyed was,


Short but sweet.

My favorite was probably... I'm not sure really. A break down suggests a lack of conviction and all my fave bad guys/girls are fairly unshakable in terms of personality/drive.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

There's no villain breakdown like a real-life villain breakdown...

Spoiler

People who've only ever seen the parody dubs of this scene really owe it to themselves to watch it properly (and the rest of the movie as well while they're at it). As hilarious as many of the parodies are, the impact of the real thing is just... wow. Seeing one of the most evil men who ever lived finally being forced to confront the total and catastrophic failure of his plans, but not before proving to everyone around him what he'd been reduced to: A quivering child spitting venom at the few left loyal to him, refusing to take any of the blame on his own shoulders, while still trying to claim total credit for his brief successes.

It's the kind of moment you really, really wish you could have been around for the real life version of... and yet also really, really not.

 

[Saltyk]

Avatar: The last airbender

Spoiler

I love Azula's transformation from cool, calm & collected to batshit crazy paranoid throughout the final season. Truly one of the greatest shows of our time.

I came here to post this very one. I'm glad someone beat me to it. Combined with her final scene when, after Katara chains her up, she starts screaming and it slowly turns into sobs, Azula's breakdown was one of the best in fiction. Going back and watching the series over again, it becomes obvious, not only that Azula was on the tipping point from the beginning, but that even her own "friends" despised her, especially Mai.

However, is it odd that after Azula's defeat I actually feel really bad for her? It's one of those moments that I could almost cry over. It's possible I like Azula as a villain and that's why I feel bad to see her fall so thoroughly and believably.

There's no villain breakdown like a real-life villain breakdown...

Spoiler

People who've only ever seen the parody dubs of this scene really owe it to themselves to watch it properly (and the rest of the movie as well while they're at it). As hilarious as many of the parodies are, the impact of the real thing is just... wow. Seeing one of the most evil men who ever lived finally being forced to confront the total and catastrophic failure of his plans, but not before proving to everyone around him what he'd been reduced to: A quivering child spitting venom at the few left loyal to him, refusing to take any of the blame on his own shoulders, while still trying to claim total credit for his brief successes.

Had to watch the video on Youtube, but I can say that was a great scene. And your description is pretty apt.

 

[09philj]

While the ending of Bioshock was bad, Fontaine's descent from big talking gangster to ADAM crazed lunatic was still creepy.

"Don't know what I was thinkin'. Never spliced up once the whole time I was down here in this aquarium. Figured it was bad to mix business with pleasure, but whooo! Forget all the nose-candy and floor polish I been wastin' time with! This stuff is the mother's milk!"

"Hah! That might be enough for the working scrubs and the pencil pushers, but I need more, more. I want to splice 'till there ain't nothing left to splice with!"

 

[voidraz]

I'm gonna go with EVERY villain in Phoenix Wright games. One of the sweetest parts of playing any game in the series is the anticipation of the big Villain Breakdown. While there's one or two that fall short, most of them are fantastic, over the top, and reall makes you feel like you accomplished something.

I feel like I'm doing anyone who hasn't played the series a disservice by showing breakdowns of characters that often don't appear as villains until you turn their plots upside down, but if you really want to see my absolute favorite go search "Apollo Justice Breakdown" on Youtube. Should be easy enough to find.