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Micah@rincewind.run |
this is one of my least favorite tropes and it is especially ridiculous when the heroes have just shot their way through an army of mooks to get to the villain oh, you can kill 475 henchmen but the guy who is actually responsible for ordering them around is a step too far? do you hear yourself?
57 replies 177 reposts 1071 likes
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Pad Rock
@padrock.bsky.social
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The opening scene of John Wick 2 is where I really noticed how egregious this is
1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Lewis (fungus)
@lewis-fungus.bsky.social
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I had to pause Acolyte and yell and the TV when this happened
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Fellow Member of Your Preferred In-Group
@immaculatepizza.bsky.social
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Thousands of years of philosophy but people want their morality from the cartoon version of Batman.
0 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
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Regular Non-Seasonal Steve Cartwright
@chompmancobra.bsky.social
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I liked the Expanse's "you're not that guy, you're not that guy" Beat "I am that guy"
4 replies 2 reposts 57 likes
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Alex Karp (he/him)
@autistic.af
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Especially because you *know* that if they don't kill the villain and instead opt to lock them in a dungeon for the rest of their life, they're going to escape somehow and become even *more* dangerous.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Ian Russell
@ianrussell.bsky.social
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Deadpool got this one right.
1 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
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Svenska Doomfrämjandet
@doomlobbyn.se
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We don’t want a society which punishes those in charge. And with “we” I mean those in charge.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Jerry Timber
@jerrytimber.bsky.social
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A reminder that Henry Kissinger is fucking dead.
0 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
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marlo
@marlo.ooo
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liberating the henchmen and helping them realise the errors of their ways as they read capital part 1 🤯
1 replies 0 reposts 12 likes
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PurpleVortex 🏳️⚧️
@gendermaelstrom.bsky.social
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Hold up though, isn't that subscribing to the great man theory of history? Because the henchmen are just as guilt in that sense because they are the ones that make the villain possible. But I guess it depends on the exact circumstances of the villain and the relationship with the henchmen.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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PurpleVortex 🏳️⚧️
@gendermaelstrom.bsky.social
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This is why assassin's creed 1 is kinda based. You kill one to save many. Many includes all the henchmen.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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PKPs Powerfromspace1 🚀 Twitter ‘X’ refugee thank you 'Elmo' 🙄
@powerfromspace1.bsky.social
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I can think of few names 🙄🪆
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Christopher Bird
@mightygodking.com
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"a good man will kill you with hardly a word"
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Daily Snailies 🐌🏳️⚧️ Team Stardust! 💫
@dailysnailies.bsky.social
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I think that's just the ideology that has historically and continues to support the whole idea of war as people deemed less valuable being sent to kill and be killed by each other by powerful people who give orders from a safe distance.
1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Phil
@gameboygambit.bsky.social
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It's like how international law says you can't assassinate leaders of another country. Leaders make the laws...
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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A Wooloo for all seasons
@mockwooloo.bsky.social
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I like how Deadpool 2 completely avoided this.
0 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
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Liza Mazel
@lizamazel.bsky.social
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also see: "centrists" who bleat and squeal about people who punch Nazis, people who veto lining up behind Biden for the reason that "THEY'RE the cult, WE'RE -better- than that", etc ad nauseum
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Super Callie 🏳️⚧️ fragile autistic sexy ally docius
@caledoniafife.bsky.social
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I don't like the death penalty, I agree that killing a killer is wrong But I'm totally on board with it making no sense if they already killed his army, that's stupid
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Joshua Keep
@jekeep.bsky.social
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Gotta reinforce that idea that a nebulous elite of humanity matter more than the rest.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Lars Hansson
@romabysen.bsky.social
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It's incredibly annoying. Thug who's cashing a paycheck by guarding a compound? Merc that fucker. Shot him in the head even if you don't have to. Stab him in the heart. Big bad guy who orchestrated everything? Nah, live and let live, bro. I'm not a bad guy. Fuck. Off.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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rainsometimes
@printzura.bsky.social
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I always want to stand up for the mooks' right to live...however, i guess narratively the difference tends also to be that the mooks are killed in the heat of battle, but once you corner the maim villain, the battle is pretty much won, so it's perceived more as killing in cold blood (i.e. murder) 🤔
1 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
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Chris Taylor
@chrisftaylor.bsky.social
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Can top that with Thomas the Tank Engine where hordes of the trucks regularly get smashed up and nobody bats an eyelid
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Disem Genedom
@dgenedom.bsky.social
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"It's only OK to kill people if they aren't powerful and important." ...Great moral principle you have there.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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gary bjusey.
@jm6k.bsky.social
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i think the message is also supposed to be along the lines of "vigalantism = bad, systems = good" but, uh.
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Allan Murphy
@cullenskink.bsky.social
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<Stares at THE BEEKEEPER in disbelief>
0 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
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Sean Eric Fagan
@kithrup.bsky.social
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Well, presumably the henchmen were actively attacking so it was all self-defense, but the bad guy standing there with no weapons, in a wheelchair, giant head covered with sweat... that is different, no?
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Vinchenzo the Jackal
@vinchenzojackal.bsky.social
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I agree that trope is absolutely unacceptable and absurd then! The person in charge and giving evil orders, that person is always responsible for making his minions do evil shit, the boss is always the worst of the bad guys! Treating the boss with mercy and not his much less evil minions is stupid.
1 replies 2 reposts 14 likes
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Nunya Bidness (He/Him)
@noopbear.bsky.social
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Seriously! Like just POP! when they turn around sneering “Ah Mr. Bidness I see…” Don’t care about the monologue or reason. A bitch is tired and bloody.
1 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
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Brianomite 🧨
@brianomite.bsky.social
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He has immunity tho
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Alex Wallace
@spanishspy.bsky.social
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I wonder if this is descended from the old military notion that the rank-and-file was expendable but the officers (usually nobility) were valuable/respectable
0 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
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Kismetta Art
@kismettaart.bsky.social
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That and knocking people out with a blow to the head or by choking them. Yes, you refrained from killing them, but if they don't wake up in less than a minute you've likely given them permanent brain damage instead. I feel it's contributed to people not realising the choking kink can be dangerous.
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Danica
@ultrarider.bsky.social
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"If you kill him, you'll be just like him." "I just killed like 500 of his henchmen, I'm kinda already a bad person, maybe?"
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Karl Sherratt
@kincaid.org.uk
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Men at Arms SPOILER Carrot just cleanly and unemotionally ending the villain...
1 replies 0 reposts 9 likes
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Slowloader
@slowloader.bsky.social
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One of favorite subversions of this trope is the ending of Darkman.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Darren Adam Reinhardt
@darreinhardt.bsky.social
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It has a real "Well, they don't have names or faces, so they don't count as people" vibe. And it gets even dumber when combined with "If you kill be you'll be just as bad as me 😈" Like, fuck off with this he-who-fights-monsters shit. Besides, I just mowed down 1000 mooks; I already am by that logic.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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jcc333
@jcc333.bsky.social
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I wonder if it’s post-French Revolution trauma
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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They Might Be David
@aferaldavid.bsky.social
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I wouldn't mind it so much if stories were not so hellbent on letting the villains escape or otherwise come back in some fashion. Catching the Joker and handing him over to proper authorities is fine. Constantly doing nothing while he walks in and out of prison is ridiculous.
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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@foxhound9154.bsky.social
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"Joshua Graham you can't kill this one guy who probably deserves it the most, even though you just executed his minions who deserved it less!" "Yes sir courier sir, glory to the Happy Tails caravan sir!"
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Lots42
@lots42.bsky.social
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Recently watched a movie where the only weapon available against the main villain was a heavy club and the heroine used that club twenty times. Guy was obviously dead after the seventh blow but eh, more power to her.
0 replies 0 reposts 8 likes
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Adrian Tchaikovsky
@aptshadow.bsky.social
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I wonder if this goes back to the Middle Ages where non-noble enemies were trash and the lords of either side were mostly related and had far more in common with one another than with commoners.
3 replies 0 reposts 24 likes
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Guinea
@guineaprince.bsky.social
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"If I kill the Joker, the number of killers in the world stays the same." Yeah but he's killing 300,000 when he escapes next weekend. He's promised to. He showed you his plans. He attended the warden's son's bar mitzvah.
2 replies 0 reposts 32 likes
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Speedy
@speedyjr.bsky.social
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In view of the 475 mooks, your next Terry quote could be the dedication at the start of Guards! Guards!
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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I Am A Pyrite King
@iamapyriteking.bsky.social
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One of my pet hates is when the Good Guy, having been a Bad Guy up to now but having Seen The Error Of His Ways, shoots his way through dozens of his former colleagues on his way to the Big Bad without the slightest hesitation.
0 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
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Skye Birdsong (they/them)
@skyebirdsong.bsky.social
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I think this is why I liked John Wick so much
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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@hawkslight.bsky.social
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i mean, it does kind of line up with the way our actual, real-life justice system works. mercy for the white-collars and not for poors
0 replies 0 reposts 7 likes
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▲▼▲▼▲▼
@arajay.com
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avatar aang...
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Drifting
@softapocalypse.bsky.social
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My "favorite" example is Advance Wars Dual Strike. A literal war game, where each mission consists in ordering guys with guns and tanks to blow up dozens of other guys with guns and tanks. But killing the person responsible for the war, who is currently an active combatant, is a big moral dilemma.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Seth D. Michaels
@sethdmichaels.bsky.social
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I think about this every time I get to the “we’re not so different you and I” villain speech in a movie.
4 replies 0 reposts 26 likes
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OneFeinCat
@onefeincat.bsky.social
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One of my favorite instances of this is Uncharted 4. Drake has someone at gunpoint, and the villain says something like "Relax, Drake's not a killer, he won't do it". Flashback 5 minutes to Gameplay Drake playfully quipping "THAT's your neck!" as he snaps a man's neck.
1 replies 0 reposts 7 likes
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@favila1998.bsky.social
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Paging Merrick Garland.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Hugin
@hugintheraven.bsky.social
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I like the fanon interpretation of Avatar:TLA where Toph knows that she taught Aang a bunch of lethal earthbending moves and they've both been using them regularly and just...doesn't mention that when Aang is conflicted about having to resort to murder to stop Ozai.
1 replies 0 reposts 7 likes
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@dedreamer.bsky.social
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I actually played this strategy game called Symphony of War that's fairly standard fantasy but one thing I loved about it was it strongly encourages the player not to kill the soldiers you face in the levels because the whole civil war thing isn't their fault
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Windy
@windyspirals.bsky.social
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I remember being done with the Green Arrow TV show on episode 1where he was all "It would be bad to kill the evil guy, I will work to undermine his company." And meanwhile is firing arrows directly into the chest of security guards to get into company headquarters
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Love
@drlovef.bsky.social
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Killing henchmen was to gain control. Killing someone you control is evil.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Kevin OMalley
@holyshitimfucked.com
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At this point, every orderly at Arkham has to look at why they have never killed The Joker. Even odds that he kills at least 100 people this month with smile venom, including them.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Trick Weekes
@trickweekes.bsky.social
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In one game I worked on, I wanted (but eventually cut for reasons of sad professionalism) to give the player the chance to tell a party member, "Don't do it! You're not a killer!" and have the party member say, "We killed several dozen people on the way to this apparently difficult moral choice."
3 replies 5 reposts 106 likes
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Frish
@frish.bsky.social
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"If you kill a killer, dig two graves." "Oh yeah, smart, he might have an accomplice."
0 replies 0 reposts 14 likes