Last night I had the chance to play Legendary Villains from Upper Deck. In the game, players take on the roles of villains and work to defeat the heroes in an all out brawl deck building game.
It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for game play as I’ve played the super hero, the super villain, and even played with LEGO Marvel and DC Superheroes sets, which got me wondering, where do you classify yourself on the spectrum of hero to villain?
Stephen Schleicher began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen has freelanced for Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog, and Gizmodo. Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment. You can follow him on Twitter @MajorSpoilers and tell him your darkest secrets...
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I put “sidekick” because it was the closest to “support staff,” i.e., the Alfred/Jarvis/Q type that enables the hero but doesn’t necessarily go out into the field and fight alongside her/him.
I would actually classify myself as an anti-hero, but since that wasn’t an option, I went with Supervillain.
However, I don’t see myself as evil or anything (I think I’m a bit more along the lines of chaotic good, but I’m not sure that would be my actual alignment), I’m a bit more like a cross between Bizarro, Darth Vader, some versions of Lex Luthor and a pinch of Watchmen’s Ozymandias. I do what I do because I believe it is for the greater good (such as protecting the people I care about), even if sometimes I have to do questionable things to do it.
Plus, I have an executive supervillain chair from which to sit, plot and pet my cat and bunny, and I have a legion of children (my friend’s kids, their friends and neighborhood kids) to do my bidding. BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
And did I mention I might be a tad insane? I mean, I’ve never been CLINICALLY declared insane (My friend who is a doctor telling me I’m crazy doesn’t count), but I’ve had multiple therapists quit. I think that says something.
So, a villain who preys on other villains? Nice. Like Dexter.
As a midlevel government employee, and decades running GM, I’m Cleary on the villain spectrum.
With only 1 TPK, (missed a second one by 3hp) and totaling only 12 PC deaths I don’t think I quality for Super villain status.
Looks like I land on Villain, but there is always”Next Time! I’ll get them Next Time!”
I kid of course.
In the old Star Wars knights of the old republic games, I use to like to play a dark Jedi. It is kind of fun to act like a jerk when you are only interacting with ai/computer.
I played through each side at least once, but on subsequent replays I more often than not played dark side. It was particularly fun with some specific mods (appearance mods that replaced existing armor, weapons or character models, rarely anything that altered stats or gameplay).
I regularly play “superheroes” with my kids (age 6, 4, and 1), so I am either a fellow superhero or a supervillain, depending on the needs of the nplaytime “narrative”. When the game starts getting too ridicuous I just shout “Reboot!” and we change everything up.
I think I have to classify myself as an “Anarky”-class Villain.
My initial motives would be heroic… but there’s only so much general stupidity and callousness that a guy can take, amiright?
Eventually, I would try to use my powers to “make things better”.
It would likely end up badly.
Where’s the “narcissist” button? Oh, there it is… SUPERHERO!
I work as an engineer at a steel mill, mostly working all day on either fixing existing problems or doing after the fact damage analysis and thinking up ways to prevent them from happening again. So I said “hero” because when I do things right I save my plant millions of dollars (and potentially lives), but I can’t prevent them from happening, so I definitely not super.
I guess it’s all perspective though, since most of the time my solutions mean more work for someone, and they definitely would see me as a villain.
My wife is the superhero and I’m her sidekick.
I’m pretty lazy, and bad at everything, so I’m best suited for the role of bystander.
I put Sidekick because I’ve wanted to be Robin since I was six years old. Plus, Jason plays Batman in videos, so I guess that makes me Robin! It’s a win-win.
Goddess wasn’t a choice? We are disappointed…
No, actually, I have to go with hero. I’m not quite a superhero. My lightning powers only work at pretty short range – like half an inch or so, although I can get a pretty good zap. I’ve also been accused of being able to teleport. But seriously, I do try to help people out as a mentor in my job and a mentor for Magic judging, and I do a fair amount of volunteer work locally too. I think I can call myself a hero. Who can zap unsuspecting people with Very Small Lightning Bolts.
I put myself down for hero because I’ve kinda always figured I’d be the guy who watches everyone else get the superpowers while I’m sorta left on the sidelines but have very important things to contribute. Like one of the team members the Flash and the Arrow has.
Rodrigo picking bystander is interesting because it makes me think he’d be the Stan Lee figure in a Stephen vs. Matthew superhero movie: doesn’t play a major role in the plot but contains a world of secrets and knowledge onto himself.
I would totally be a supervillain, probably like Superman when he tries to do good, but fails, or a lesser version of Irredeemable. I don’t think I would ever kill people at random, but I would probably force people into peace, and most likely make things even worse, and make myself the enemy of mankind.
Uh… Backseat villain, I guess?
I’d be a villain too lazy to really get anything done. You’d hear a lot of complaining about the plans of other villans and supervillains and pointing out the blinding flaws in their plans, but actual villaining? That requires work…