Complete Scoundrel: Example scoundrels

lukelightning · Jun 26, 2007

I just got Complete Scoundrel, overall I like it, but was amazed to see the examples they used for soundrels from other media.

Magneto is a scoundrel! What the heck? Magneto is a mastermind, sure, and engages in secret plots and all that, but I would hardly call him a scoundrel.

Carl Denham from King Kong is Chaotic Evil? Yeah, he is selfish and deceptive (Chaotic Neutral), but calling him Chaotic Evil is a stretch.

Kahuna Burger · Jun 26, 2007

lukelightning said:
I just got Complete Scoundrel, overall I like it, but was amazed to see the examples they used for soundrels from other media.

Magneto is a scoundrel! What the heck? Magneto is a mastermind, sure, and engages in secret plots and all that, but I would hardly call him a scoundrel.

I found myself thinking that the example section in that book would have been better if prefaced with "We couldn't agree on a good word for this Complete book and we finally agreed on Scoundrel which has all sorts of connontations that don't actually match what we were thinking of. So here's what we were thinking of and we'll just use scoundrel to mean all these different archetypes in the book, 'kay?"

Apropo of nothing, "scoundrel" is also one of those words that looks more misspelled to me the more I type it....

IamTheTest · Jun 26, 2007

Funny thing that alignment...

lukelightning · Jun 26, 2007

Kahuna Burger said:
Apropo of nothing, "scoundrel" is also one of those words that looks more misspelled to me the more I type it....

On a side note, the word "cemetery" does that for me; I always want to write "cemetary" or "cematery". The trick I learned recently was that cemeteries are scary, so you go "EEE all the way through."

krissbeth · Jun 26, 2007

The example section gave me and my S.O. a really good laugh. Batman's alignment is especially funny.

bento · Jun 26, 2007

lukelightning said:
Magneto is a scoundrel! What the heck? Magneto is a mastermind, sure, and engages in secret plots and all that, but I would hardly call him a scoundrel.

I guess as many times as the character has been portrayed in different media, he could be more scoundrel like in some places, and more mastermind in others. I think in the movie series he's more scoundrel like, as he is often stirring up trouble and manipulating people more than he manipulates metal.

Of all the BoEM members in the comics though, Mastermind was much more of a scoundrel, as is seen in the Claremont-Byrne classic Dark Phoenix saga.

Kahuna Burger · Jun 26, 2007

bento said:
Of all the BoEM members in the comics though, Mastermind was much more of a scoundrel, as is seen in the Claremont-Byrne classic Dark Phoenix saga.

Was Mastemind ever BoEM? He was Hellfire Club during Dark Phoenix, and that was my first exposure to him... But he was a major scoundrel!

lukelightning · Jun 26, 2007

bento said:
I think in the movie series he's more scoundrel like, as he is often stirring up trouble and manipulating people more than he manipulates metal.

I see nothing "scoundrelly" about his behavior in the movies, unless the definition of scoundrel is so broad as to include anyone who does anything intelligent for a goal. With his power and force of personality he does not need to resort to trickery and luck. He is a leader not a rogue.

lukelightning · Jun 26, 2007

Kahuna Burger said:
Was Mastemind ever BoEM? He was Hellfire Club during Dark Phoenix, and that was my first exposure to him... But he was a major scoundrel!

I believe he was given probationary membership because he was instrumental in the Dark Phoenix plan, but when it went wrong they kicked him out.

Kahuna Burger · Jun 26, 2007

lukelightning said:
I believe he was given probationary membership because he was instrumental in the Dark Phoenix plan, but when it went wrong they kicked him out.

Kicking out is sort of reduntant for a guy who just went through the Total Perspective Vortex without the angel food cake...