I think it’s funny how the only other threatening villain in Dispatch with a personality other than Shroud is Brainteaser.
Like if you want a fic’s love interest to save Robert from the big bad in a dramatic scene, your two options are either epic fight against Shroud, or solve this stupid riddle to release Robert from a Batman 66 death trap.
It is kind of funny how the only real threatening villain is Shroud and a guy who was the arch-enemy of Robert's grandfather.
It does kind of leave room open for people to make their own OCs to help fill in the gaps. And like the sky's the limit of on you can come up with, so it could be a fun creative exercise to come up with a character to play as the big bad.
Or to expand more on the villains we already see. Always fun to see villain exploration in fics. Like dive more into untapped parts of their past and their character.
I wouldn't mind expanding on Brainteaser, because it might give more insight into Robert's grandfather and that whole legacy. And I'd love to see his reaction to the fact that Robert is the grandson of the man he considered his arch-enemy. But then, you'd have to question how much of what he says about Mecha Man Prime is true or just his own memory interpretation of him. Though, still it would be interesting to see more of Mecha Man Prime, we kind of only know that he went by "Bobby" and was like Iron Man in the sense that he built a fully functioning suit from scratch.
I guess you could possibly count Red Ring Sonar and Red Ring Coupé as threatening. They do torture Robert and give us a boss fight in the finale. But I've mostly seen people go the "No one gets cut" route with some fics, and honestly I can agree. I would rather just not cut anyone rather than try and make one of them a big bad.
Toxic is honestly more annoying and just gives me the urge to punt him through a window than he is threatening. And I don't think he'd ever kidnap anybody, or at least he wouldn't be doing it on his own. Talk shit and purposely poke at all of your sore spots yes, but he gives more "obnoxious asshole ex from your past that you are embarrassed to admit that you dated" than "big bad" energy. It's like a bully character in a horror movie, who thinks he's the baddest guy around only to get blown out of the water when the real threat shows up.
Not that he can't be threatening with his corrosive acid ability and can make for some good fight scenes, but just not a lot of "this is THE big bad" energy from him.
