Which do you prefer? I'm speaking within the realm of comic books, novels, movies, TV series etc...(not Obama vs McCain)
You may use whatever criteria you feel is necessary to determine how you define "prefer". Preferring one or the other doesn't have to mean that you necessarily want/wanted one side or the other to win a fight (but it could), but maybe you preferred a certain type of outfit one wore, their weapons, the actors who played them etc...Just have fun.
I'm voting Bad Guys for the simple fact that they were much much cooler to me when I was younger. As a kid playing with my SW action figures I much preferred playing as Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, Boba Fett, because they looked cooler and they were just more badass than Luke, Han, Leia, and Obi-Wan. With GI JOE, Stormshadow was more appealing to me than Lady J. With Transformers, Soundwave, Shockwave, and Devastator turned me on more than Bumblebee and Ratchet.
Even as an adult, Darth Maul was much cooler than Qui-Gon and the Emperor appealed to me more so than little green Yoda. Even Sauron's legions over Frodo and Samewise. Am I inherently evil? I'm not sure, but I've just happened to swing the way of the bad guy more often than not. What about you guys/gals?
Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate.
Pinhead in Hellraiser.
Boba goddamn awesome Fett in the Star Wars films.
Gary "I'm straight and I'd **** him in this film" Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula.
The Gecko Brothers in From Dusk Til Dawn.
Sephiroth in FFVII.
King Bohan in Heavenly Sword.
All legendary characters in awesome films/games.
Oh sure, the good guys always win, and although the usual "start out good, bad thing happens, almost the end of the good guy, good guy rallies, good guy wins at the last moment" part of films, comic books and other media results in many a bitten fingernail, nothing can beat the first time someone sweeps onstage and makes you think "Man, dey a badass!".
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I voted bad guys, partly because Blokey mentioned Sephiroth. I wanna set something straight, though. Boba Fett, arguably the most badass character ever to be created, is not evil or bad. If anything, he is amoral. A professional hitman is not bad, he's just doing it for the money.
Also, "badass" doesn't equate into "bad guy". Look at Auron from FFX. Or Hiko Seijuro, if you're familiar with the Samurai X/Rurouni Kenshin anime. They're good guys, but they're both pretty badass.
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I wanna change my vote. Clearly Bill O'Reilly is a bad guy, because Steven "Defender of Truthiness" Colbert would only impale the monstrously evil with the red, white, and blue.
Boba Fett, arguably the most badass character ever to be created, is not evil or bad. If anything, he is amoral. A professional hitman is not bad, he's just doing it for the money.
Like I didn't know that Boba Fett was a bounty hunter. However, given his ties with Darth Vader, the Empire, AND Jabba the Hut and his lack of hanging out with Mon Mothma I'd say that if a war broke out he'd definitely be on the side of the bad guys.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Smokey
Also, "badass" doesn't equate into "bad guy". Look at Auron from FFX. Or Hiko Seijuro, if you're familiar with the Samurai X/Rurouni Kenshin anime. They're good guys, but they're both pretty badass.
I never said or even implied that good guys couldn't get badass. But in many instances the bad guy happens to be the most interesting and normally cooler by, to offset the fact that they are going to lose in the end anyway.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MR EPIC
Like I didn't know that Boba Fett was a bounty hunter. However, given his ties with Darth Vader, the Empire, AND Jabba the Hut and his lack of hanging out with Mon Mothma I'd say that if a war broke out he'd definitely be on the side of the bad guys.
Again, who's got the cash? Jabba and the Empire. Boba Fett would have sided with the Alliance just as quickly if they could have possibly outbid the Empire. Check out K.W. Jeter's series on Boba Fett. You'll find that Fett can be just as altruistic as Luke Skywalker...if the price is right.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MR EPIC
I never said or even implied that good guys couldn't get badass. But in many instances the bad guy happens to be the most interesting and normally cooler by, to offset the fact that they are going to lose in the end anyway.
That's the implication I got. But I'll give you that one.
It's curious, though. Unlike in early literature, almost all modern storytelling that actually has an antagonist ends with some sort of positive resolution. That never used to be a guarantee. As a result, the audience is now bound to be bored. Because storytellers feel obliged to give audiences some sort of happy ending, they have to find new ways of developing tension and shaking audiences from their boredom - if the ending is guaranteed, the struggle between good and evil is a lot less interesting. So there seems to be a renewed focus on bad guys: we humanize them; we sympathize with them; we respect them. Oftentimes, the bad guy is more developed and real than the hero. By doing this, the storyteller casts doubt on what we might consider a happy ending, thus renewing the tension. Of course, we all know how the story will end, but if done well the tactic tricks us long enough to keep us interested.
That's why videogames are such a bizarre anomaly. The happy ending is guaranteed, but only if you can make it that far. There's less pressure in a game to make the villain really human and relate-able, because the happy ending may never come.
Again, who's got the cash? Jabba and the Empire. Boba Fett would have sided with the Alliance just as quickly if they could have possibly outbid the Empire. Check out K.W. Jeter's series on Boba Fett. You'll find that Fett can be just as altruistic as Luke Skywalker...if the price is right.
Then tell me, what reason did Boba have to attack Luke, Han, and Chewbacca on the skiff from Jabba's sail barge? He'd already done his job and had been rewarded both by Jabba and the Empire. And how friendly do you think Boba would have been with an Alliance that he saw cut his father's head off? You can argue all day but you can't rewrite my childhood. My friends and I saw Boba as a bad guy and that's how I'll always view him.
I always assumed that Boba Fett went after Luke/Han on the skiff because they were still extremely valuable. Vader was clearly on the lookout for Skywalker so there's that motivation and allowing Han to escape would make him look bad since he was in the general vicinity. Also the entire group just orchestrated the assassination of a Hutt Lord, so surely if he put them down he would be rewarded by someone within that clan.
I do agree with Epic though, I think that Fett had an intentional bias towards the Empire. I'm sure he would do jobs for the Alliance if the price was right but overall I think he preferred a galaxy under Imperial control. When I was in middle school I read the Han Solo trilogy of novels which went over his origin up to Episode IV. In one of those books Fett had an internal monologue that basically stated he admired order and for that reason he sided with the Empire. All the Expanded Universe stuff is contradictory though, so that's hardly definitive.
And how friendly do you think Boba would have been with an Alliance that he saw cut his father's head off?
/discussion, srsly. Can't argue with that.
Also, Sonny in The Godfather. Abusive, dirty, cheating son of a bitch, but who doesn't love the scene where he goes to pay his brother in law a visit? Man, what a goddamn badass.
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