ROUND 1 — Match 274 of 276
Michael Distortion (The Magnus Archives)
Problematic because: "eats people" Propaganda: "he's supposed to be the embodiment of lies and yet! he's surprisingly honest"
vs. Handsome Jack (Borderlands)
Problematic because: "Basically a corporate dictator with a hero complex. He takes over Hyperion, declares himself the saviour of Pandora, and then uses that as an excuse to bomb settlements, kill employees, wipe out anyone he labels a “bandit,” and generally treat an entire planet like his personal cleanup project. He’s also holding his daughter Angel in a control core and using her powers to charge a Vault Key, which is the big magical/sci-fi key he needs to wake up an ancient monster called the Warrior and use it to take over Pandora properly. So he’s using his own daughter, running a violent corporate regime, and trying to justify mass murder because he thinks he’s the good guy. He also kills Roland, captures Lilith so he can use her powers after Angel dies, betrays Claptrap after getting what he needs from him, kills Mordecais pet bird, and has a whole casino later revealed to be a rigged trap that leaves people stuck there losing everything. A lot of the appeal is that he’s funny, but the actual list is like... dictatorship, child imprisonment/exploitation, murder, corporate violence, mass surveillance, revenge killings, and an insane amount of propaganda" Propaganda: 1. "Handsome Jack is awful, but he’s one of the best awful characters in games. He’s funny enough that you understand why people remember every other line he says, but the game also keeps making it worse until the jokes stop covering how terrifying he actually is. He genuinely thinks he’s the hero, and that makes him so much more interesting than if he were just doing evil things for no reason. He’s petty, cruel, charismatic, pathetic, and dangerous, usually all in the same conversation. Vote Jack because sometimes the villain is iconic for a reason." 2. "THE problematic fave for me. like yes he’s a dictator, yes he uses his daughter as a battery, yes he keeps calling everyone bandits so he can feel better about killing them, but unfortunately he is also really really funny. every time he calls you just to say something insane i’m like okay i hate you but keep talking. he’s horrible in a way that actually matters to the story, and he’s entertaining enough that you get why borderlands kept dragging his ghost back into things. terrible man. excellent villain. awful father. 10/10" 3. "this man has committed every crime available in the sci-fi capitalism starter pack and still finds time to make jokes about pretzels. he’s a dictator, a terrible boss, a terrible dad, a worse boyfriend, and somehow still the funniest person on the echo. would i trust him with literally anything? no. would i listen to him monologue for twenty minutes while everything exploded behind him? unfortunately yes" 4. "There's a reason he's in most of the games in the series. Like he's undoubtedly a bad guy but he's very entertaining to watch. He'll call you up and play violin badly and then tell you you're a bitch, canonically. The series wouldn't have got this far without him." 5. "Annoyingly charming and funny. Good yaoi ship(s)."
Who should advance?
Michael Distortion
Handsome Jack
(Disclaimer: All text above was sent in by submitters and not written by OP.)
