Note: Jason and HH were having an interesting discussion down the board a ways, and I was going to chime in there but then figured the board could stand to have a little more activity, so why hide it halfway down the board?
Quote:
There are three classic enemy types, the opposite, the almost-alike, and the manipulator. The opposite would be someone very different in power-set but still able to threaten Yuki physically; a biological monster stronger but slower, perhaps. The almost-alike would be another cyborg - maybe a male - who can do what Yuki can but who uses his abilities for evil. Their confrontations then become battles of wits and strategy. The manipulator is more like the puppet master you cite and would need to be tied to Yuki's past, her origins.
Interesting. I hadn't really stopped to examine it that blatantly, but those categories do fit well... although "the opposite" can be applied rather broadly as a catch-all. Looking at Spider-man's rogues gallery for example, Venom is an obvious almost alike. Doc Ock comes in just around the line, being alike in scientific thinking and the 8-legged animal motiff, but not an obvious twin by any means. Norman Osborne is clearly the manipulator type (quite common for the one who gets the "arch enemy" designation). But much of the rest... Rhino, Electro, Vulture, Sandman, etc... that's just a grab bag of opposite. I suppose it's much harder for characters in this category to really jump to the top of a hero's rogues gallery because of this lack of obvious connection.
In any event, I thought it would be fun to run down the Parodyverse's Heroes main enemies and see how people would define them. Hopefully others will chime in and add their own characters to the list (Hatty and CSFB have some clearly defined arch enemies, after all...) and I'll probably need to come back to it a few times as well as I think of others:
Visionary:
The Apostate is a manipulator first, although there's a healthy bit of opposite in him... But when your hero is Visionary, you can't really help that. I admit, though, that his position as Vizh's nemisis is largely manufactured. There's no compelling reason given why he and Vizh are linked in a way that only allows for one of them in the Parodyverse...
Roni Y. Avis is probably as close to an "almost alike" villain as Vizh has, in that he's mostly a buffoon and no physical threat at all.
Hallie:
Rikka Ulz Hagan is definitely her arch enemy and a manipulator. She also has the familial history link to boost her to that "arch" position. Unlike many other villains, she genuinely has little interest in tormenting anyone other than Hallie as well.
HAGGIE is a clear almost alike, although the damaged robot body does make her a bit different now. Still, I would expect her to be able to do most anything Hallie can do.
Magweed:
Camellia is likely her arch enemy, a manipulator type again. Then again, I could see Auntie as the arch enemy of the twins with Camellia a larger threat to the entire family...
