![]() Contrast Hypercompetent Sidekick and More Despicable Minion, where it's the Big Bad that's humorous and/or sympathetic and the main minion that's fearsome. Sometimes overlaps with Vile Villain, Saccharine Show and Perky Female Minion. ![]() ![]() If the villain is played completely seriously, he will usually be the blue to the lackey's red.Ĭompare Abusive Parents, Big Bad Wannabe, Brains and Brawn, Evil Duo, Eviler than Thou, A Lighter Shade of Black, The Man Behind the Man, My Master, Right or Wrong, Sliding Scale of Villain Effectiveness, Sorting Algorithm of Evil, Surrounded by Idiots, The Starscream, What Measure Is a Mook? A Terrible Trio can have this dynamic if one of them is in charge and meant to be taken more seriously than the other two, though the three of them together can act as the laughable lackey if they have a more serious boss, or they can even together act as the serious villain if they're not Played for Laughs and have one or more underlings who are. If the villain is also Laughably Evil, he will usually be the red to the lackey's blue. The Laughable Lackey is often the Butt-Monkey or The Chew Toy, as well, and can also be a Bumbling Sidekick to the serious villain, though there are more ways of being laughable than just clumsiness. ![]() The Laughable Lackey can also be The Igor, The Renfield, The Imp, a Minion with an F in Evil, a Sycophantic Servant, and/or a Punch-Clock Villain who only Pokes the Poodle, or possibly The Dragon, depending on his/her/their specific role in the evil organization-and in cases where The Dragon is comical due to ineptitude, this overlaps with Number Two for Brains. It's also common for the laughable lackey to have an unpleasant, demeaning, or dumb-sounding name. A Bumbling Henchmen Duo, a Quirky Miniboss Squad, or a Goldfish Poop Gang can also fill in the loser villain slot as well as a single villain can. It's not even necessary for the higher-ranked villain(s) to be out-and-out devoid of comedy for the trope to apply, either a noticeable difference is all that's really needed. The laughable lackey can be an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, but it's not necessary for the lackey to be sympathetic at all for this trope to apply, nor is it necessary for the laughable lackey to be ineffectual or a Harmless Villain: they can even win at times, as long as they're noticably less serious than their superiors. It's not really necessary for the higher-ranked villain to be cruel to his or her underlings for the trope to apply, though it's only really needed for the higher-ranked villain to be played noticeably more seriously than his or her underling(s). Also, for works aimed at especially young children, this also allows the writers to make the lesser villain goofy and funny, thus keeping a work lighter and softer and generally less frightening for the kiddies.Ī common, but by no means the only, way to show that the higher-ranked villain is serious is to display the lower-ranked villains afraid of him/her, or show that the higher-ranked villain is a Bad Boss who will Shoot the Messenger when brought bad news, or who punishes his minions for failure or for otherwise ceasing to be useful. This can have a lot of benefits to the writers, such as averting Villain Decay: no matter how many times the heroes triumph over the lesser villain(s), the fact that a more serious villain (or group of more serious villains) is still part of the same organization means there's still a credible threat that the heroes still need to deal with. However, the lower-ranked of these villains is meant to be taken far less seriously than the higher-ranked, whether due to being more cowardly, more comical, less powerful, less competent, or even simply less motivated than their dark superior. In a great deal of media aimed at children or families, there will be more than one villain working together against the hero, and one or more of these villains will be in charge over the other(s). The Dragon and the Butterfly: Whiteout, " Chapter 13: New Jobs"
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |