General Plastro

In the field of antagonists, there can be a slippery slope in how effective they can be. In many cases, this can be seen as a case for flanderization and where many people would leave a franchise. This can be seen with Mojo Jojo in both the anime and reboot versions of Power Puff Girls. However, there are particular cases where characters 

That isn’t the case with this week’s video game antagonist.

General Plastro, the commanding General of the Tan Army and Leader of its nation.

                                              Image: armymen.wikia.com

Abilities: Commands the entire Tan Nation

Now General Plastro represents the complete opposite of our last villain, Stahl. While Stahl was a more serious and cunning villain, Plastro is the exact opposite. He first made his debut in 1998 in the game Army Men, the first of many in this franchise. He was used initially more as a figure head then anything and didn’t have any lines. Given the tone of the game, it could be inferred he was a man you wouldn’t want to trifle with. 

However, as the games went on and we saw much more of him, his personality turned to a more comical flare. Plastro is essentially a Card-Carrying Villain. A villain who for all intents and purposes is evil just to be evil or very simple reasons. Plastro of course wants power and to conquer the other color nations, but his schemes tend to reflect that.

Now for a game about war, one might think Plastro doesn’t fit. I would disagree. This is a game about toy army men and while it does play the storyline seriously at points, it still revels in its absurdity. Plastro works because he fits in perfectly with the absurdity and allows the audience to both hate and laugh at him whenever he appears. He is of course, incompetent, but his army and many other notable members of the Tan Army make up for it.  Even then, he isn’t to be trifled with as while his schemes are kind of out there, he knows well enough how to use them.

Jorhan Stahl

When it comes to political speeches, there are few video games I can think of that do it anywhere near as good as the Killzone games. Hello and welcome everyone to our special edition blog: video game antagonists. This will also be our very first character spotlight. I will however apologize for posting out of date. Circumstances played against me.

Anyways, yes Killzone. Releasing on the PS4 in the year 2004, Killzone is one of the few first person shooter games I fell in love with. No offense to the other first shooter games. In it you play as the ISA, a faction being invaded by the Helghast.

 Now the Helghast were the original settlers of the planet you’re fighting on. They were kicked off the planet and forced to live on Helghan after losing to the ISA in a rather large scale war. Needless to say, the Helghast didn’t take it well.

                                       Image: gaminghistory101.com

Today’s man of the hour is Jorhan Stahl, a leading member of the Helghast political party.

Skills:  Leadership, Cunning intellect, Access to advanced technology and soldiers

                                               Image: hollowworld.co.uk

Appearing in Killzone 3 in 2011, Stahl was one of the primary antagonists. His second appearance in Killzone: Shadow Fall (2013), while not nearly as present in story, was still significant to the overall story.

Now what makes Stahl a great villain is just how ruthless he is. He is a driven and charismatic leader when he wants to be, able to rouse the people with his fiery speeches, and had access to some of the highest level tech in the universe.

Stahl makes the perfect antagonist in Killzone because he is willing to go to the extreme in every single way. In his inflections, in his mannerisms, and in his actions. He is entertaining because of how full of himself he seems to be and how flippant he is of the enemy and those who oppose him. He is entertaining to watch, while also being frightening. Because even though he is full of himself, he has the resources and manpower to back it up. Even willing to go so far as to destroy Earth to win the war.

Of course, Stahl isn’t exactly what you would call a patriot. A lot of his actions, when not rousing the populace and army, come off as self-centered. Whether this is for his own goals or those of his race overall, he is not heartbroken to kill his own people just to prove a point about his new features and how sure he is of victory.

Stahl is a antagonist you want to defeat, but can’t stop listening to. Malcolm McDowell did a perfect job voicing the character and fit what needed to be done to a T. Stahl is an antagonist I don't see a lot of video games as he plays what I would like to call 'the political foe' as it were.

The political foe is someone who contends with others conventionally, such as straight warfare and threatening the lives of others. They also contend with others politically through tact and subversion. This can be seen with his contention with other Helghan, such as Admiral Orlock. This political squabble adds more depth to the Helghast and we get to see more of their interworkings through Stahl's actions. He is vitally important in continuing the story, even into its sequel where the Helghast still try and attempt his dream of being on top.

At the end, it seems he really did believe in Helghast superiority as he died.

Stahl is an antagonist others, not just those of video games, that wish to write antagonists should take note.

Video Game Fridays

Video games are one of mankind’s newest story telling phenomenon, having only been around a few decades. Most other forms of media have had much more time to develop and be seen by the general audience. Still, video games do play a big part in our society in that they can educate and entertain a very wide general audience.

Now of course over time the story and characters in video games have evolved, but many people didn’t regard them as important as the gameplay. With movies, books, and other types of media, the characters have to shine since they are who we are focusing on. In games, there are other factors such as the gameplay that take precedent.

Image: watchmojo.com

This and the social stigma against gaming have rather disvalued actually interesting and engaging characters, such as video game antagonists. Videos such as the Nostalgia Critic have popped up on games, although I very much disagree with the outlook.

Video games are in fact a form of art and should be treated as such. We are and have seen a number of games with engaging characters and storylines over the years. Amongst them are the ever defining video game antagonists. The medium has changed and many people have caught on that we do sorely need good antagonists in video games in order to enjoy ourselves. As such, they fall under the same writing techniques we use for other mediums.

So as well as recurring cartoon antagonists, every Friday I shall write a blog detailing a recurring video game antagonist in order to expand this blog and to give credit where credit is due. Many people owe a bit of thanks to video games for their enjoyment and so have I.

The Ultimate Antagonist

Video: LessonsfromtheScreeplay.youtube.com

While not specifically about cartoon show antagonists, I felt that this video would be appropriate to the topic at hand. There are of course several different roles an antagonist can take and not all of them have to be monumental tasks that the heroes overcome. However, there comes a time where a hero must face the ultimate antagonist.

This is someone who challenges the hero like no other. That changes them forever in ways that not even they could imagine. They can effectively define a protagonist and the story overall by their very existence. So yeah, the ultimate antagonist can be quite a big deal.

When it comes to shows, these types of villains aren’t always common. However, when they do appear, they can make or break a show. Since they do appear across several episodes, their characterization has a bigger impact than most other characters. Usually, they are given season long arcs in of themselves.

Sometimes even longer than that if the show writers keep them along, such as Megatron of the Transformers series. Megatron was a crucial antagonist. You can't make a Transformers show without having him appear because of how great he is as a villain and how much his very presence effects the plot. He is the central antagonist as well as one of the strongest in all of the series. His viewpoints and how far he'll go put him as the exact opposite of the hero of the franchise, Optimus Prime.

Joker fits this same role for Batman. He is his anti-thesis. He brings chaos to the order Batman tries to maintain. The two opposites are allowed to play off each other and really test the other's weaknesses while showing off their strengths. They allow each other to reach their full potential in their line of work.

Stretching such a character across such a span of episodes can be extremely challenging, but the reward is most assuredly worth the effort. They will create, in essence, an entirely new show as the series goes on. Now they don’t have to be ‘evil’ parse, but they do have to be a challenge in both strength and intelligence.

This video does an extremely good job of highlighting many of the best character aspects that one has to take into account when attempting to write an ultimate foe for your show’s protagonist. 

About This Blog

Hello and welcome, new blog readers. If you have ever watched a cartoon villain growing up, you have come to the right blog site. I am sure everyone has watched a cartoon show growing up. I would also hazard a guess that said show had recurring antagonists. Characters that actively challenged our heroes and vied for victory. Every show has them because they are an essential part of a given show. They help set up the tone, adventure, or eventual moral our heroes must learn.

 

Image: moviepilot.com/

Antagonists are the lifeblood of a show. They keep the protagonist from getting an easy win, an easy life that makes it interesting from the audience to watch every time the show comes. What sets them apart from movie villains is that. They are given much less time to formulate plans and execute them. This is usually 11-22 minutes to actually be a threat, which does add some challenge for writers to get right. Movie villains usually have over an hour to get them right, so show villains require more attention. As well, they usually come into contact with the flowing narrative of the show, such as the plot or ongoing character progression. That is if the show isn’t just episodic.

Growing up, amongst my favorite characters of shows was the villains. They were some of the most fun I had watching characters grow up and I honestly would remember them more often then the heroes. This is especially so with the likes of Zim (possibly my favorite antagonists ever) of Invader Zim and other such antagonists. As an avid reader and writer, I believe I'm qualified enough to write about antagonists.

The goal of this blog will be going over recurring antagonists of these shows. Antagonists that have been able to influence their shows more then once, so oneshot antagonists will be excluded. As well, I will not count a villain who had a small cameo/appearance in another episode. This will only count to antagonists who have had at least two major story appearances.

I hope you all enjoy these future blogs and have a great day.