Villain Decay in Writing Fiction

There are also instances of villain decay to which a villain goes from competent to incompetent.  Here are a few examples:


Cobra Commander in the G.I.Joe cartoon.  Though he originally started out pretty intimidating, he was later written away from the vein of real life terrorist masterminds like Osama bin Ladin to that of the angle of Yosemite Sam.  It was done on purpose so Serpentor can be introduced who is even a worse leader than he was yet is still well-respected by the others due to the former's cowardice.  However after he overthrew Serpentor, he resumed back to being the ruthless terrorist leader he was originally intended in the rather comical DIC seasons.


Take for instance when Megatron turning into Galvatron.  While Megatron was still a cunning leader though a coward like Cobra Commander (who kept calling for retreat), he retained that side of him as Galvatron in the movie. But after he was rescued from Thrull by Cyclonus and Scourge, any remains of the great leader Galvatron that was in the movie no longer existed.  He was now a raging psychomaniac of sorts who was definitely a very bad leader who not only shot his own minions but also arrogantly believed he was invincible.  Worst plan ever?  When he intended to become Grand Galvatron and sacrifice his own troops, so Sixshot betrayed him to Scorponok which also Scourge and Cyclonus did.


Goldar in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers decaying was notoriously decayed with no explanation.  While he was a competent henchman of Rita Repulsa who basically told Rita the best course of action but when Lord Zedd arrived, sheesh he became a buffoon with little or no explanation.  Apparently Galvatron had a better explanation behind his decay.

If villain decays are to happen, at least an explanation should be done to why they are suddenly decaying like old age and factors that made them insane.

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