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LoC Rest of the Best - Day 10 - Top Villains
God, this one is tough, because while I like the original list, there are lots of great missing from it. Angel Eyes, Mojo Jojo, GLaDOS (though she did make the best video game characters list), Eric Cartman, etc. Plus, Don't forget the great comic book villains who didn't make it: Darkseid, the Riddler, Bullseye, Etc. But again, this is also a chance to celebrate characters that aren't so well known:
Friend
I can’t find a proper bio on my villain for this today’s subject, so I had to write it myself.
Friend is the central villain of the manga series (and later film series) 20th Century Boys. Friend is the leader of the Friendship Party, a political movement and cult. What makes his cult incredibly strange is that it seems to be centered entirely around the games a group of children were playing in the late 60’s (which in turn were modeled after the various cartoons, comics, toys and such that they were consuming at the time) and their plans to grow up to become super-heroes and save the world. Obviously, this never happened and the children grew up to be normal adults with their own issues, ironically only becoming heroes (though villains in the eyes of the public) when they are forced to reunite to uncover the secret of who Friend is and what his overall plans are. Friend seems to have taken their game (which was scribbled down in a notebook titled “the Book of Prophecy”) and seems intent on making both the heroic rescue of Japan and the threat that motivated it real.
According to his followers in the Friendship Party, Friend has super-human abilities and perhaps even psychic powers, but it is unclear as to how much of this is real and how much is simply smoke and mirrors. It is undeniable that he has tremendous charisma, instilling in the people who follow him complete and utter loyalty in the hopes of making his world vision come true. Over the course of the series (without giving away too much), Friend rises to power in a number of ways and the Friendship Party’s power on the world stage is unavoidable. Friend, though cool tempered and brilliant, is very childish and seems completely focused on childhood nostalgia. He’s not so interested in saving or ruling the world as much as he is about seeing how far he can take his game.
The truth behind Friend’s identity and motives are the central mysteries of the series and even when Friend’s true identity is apparently revealed, halfway through the series, his true nature remains a mystery until the very end. For the majority of the series, Friend’s true face is unseen and when it is not simply kept in shadow, he is seen wearing either a cloth mask carrying the symbol of the Friendship Party or wears cheap plastic kid's masks that can be bought during festivals.
Personal Thoughts – I find things like cults scary (then who doesn’t, members aside). It’s not just that there are a large number of people in a cult or that their creepy and up to no good. It’s the fact that a lot of members are true believers and that absolute certainty that they’re right no matter what evidence there is to the contrary. Friend uses his charisma and ability to tap into what people want to be a part of to completely dominate his followers. He works as a straight up super-villain, but the fact that he essentially creates himself as a messiah for insanely petty reasons is pretty frightening. Is he a believer? That would be telling, but there’s no doubt that Friend is a megalomaniac and that what Friend represents is just as dangerous as Friend himself, if not more so.
The other reason I like the character is I think the idea of creating a cult entirely around nostalgia is very clever. Nostalgia is a powerful force in its own right and for people to be told that they can be like the heroes they grew up on stopping clear cut “villains” would certainly be inviting for people who are looking for something to believe in. Its like a sub-par sci-fi novelist saying the answer is we’re all the ghosts of space aliens and… actually, I think Friend’s ideas make more sense.
Oh and apropos of nothing, one of my favourite moments, which is both funny and scary, is when a robotics expert who's daughter is kidnapped is dealing with the cult who demand that they build him a robot. The Friendship Party starts bickering amongst themselves as what counts as a robot and whether their giant city destroying robot should resemble Gigantor (which is remote controlled) or a Gundam (which is piloted). While the expert is desperately trying to explain that a giant robot like those wouldn't exist in real life, Friend decides to settle the argument by saying that the robot should be versatile and what it should be able to do both. The Friendship Party cheers and the poor robotics expert still can't get through to them that ROBOTS DON'T WORK THAT WAY!
Trailer for the movie trilogy based on the series
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Topic: The Rest of the Best (Read 52440 times)
