Bad guys are cooler?

[Darth Wong]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that bad guys are generally much cooler in most sci-fi shows and movies. Conversely, good guys are often dorks.

In SW, we have the various Darths, who are generally the coolest dudes in whatever film they appear in. Opposite them, we have the Jedi, and Luke Skywalker, who may not necessarily qualify as full-blown dorks, but certainly show signs of dorkdom.

In Transformers, we have Megatron, Galvatron, Devastator, Unicron, Soundwave, Shockwave, and a generally ultra-cool roster of bad guys. On the good guys' side, we have ... Optimus. He's pretty cool. But the rest of his pack has a distinct tendency toward dorkiness.

In Star Trek, we had the Klingons in TOS, before they became good (at which point they became dorks). We had the Borg in TNG, before they allied themselves with Voyager (at which point they became dorks). On the good guys' side, we have Janeway, Sisko, Picard, and Wesley Crusher. Ugh ... the only cool good guy in Trek is Kirk.

In Galactica, the Cylons had shiny armour and that cool SoundWave voice, along with the red cycloptic eye. The Colonials had ... 70s hair.

Is there some unwritten law that good guys must be dorkier than bad guys? Or am I off-track here?

[David]

It is the unwritten rule. It appeals to use because, deep down inside, we all want to be as bad ass as the bad guys.

[Anarchist Bunny]

O'Niel and T'ilec,(i know shit on spelling) from SG-1. Mainly O'Niel, but T'ilec has his moments. But then there is Jackson and Carter.

Uhhhhhhh... Dylan from Andromedea isn't dorky, he sucks and they basicly made him hercules in space, but he isn't dorky.

[Isil`Zha]

Basically, yes, they are...

[Isil`Zha]

Of course there's always.... *starts playing Shaft music*.. MACE!

[Pablo Sanchez]

I forget where I read this explanation, but here it is: The bad guy makes the story, the good guys all react. Secretly, we all want to be the man calling the shots, even if it means being evil.

[Next of Kin]

By Darth Wong:

Optimus. He's pretty cool. But the rest of his pack has a distinct tendency toward dorkiness.

Did you forget the likes of IronHide, Jazz, Blaster, and Bumblebee. I thought Omege Supreme to be quite cool as well because of his personal vendeta against the Constructicons.

[Captain Cyran]

What kind of question is that Lord Wong?, being a person of your stature I would've thought you would know that it is a rule that the bad guys are the cooler of the two sides. I mean come on.

[Wicked Pilot]

Obviously most bad guys are cool.






However, some aren't

[RayCav of ASVS]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that bad guys are generally much cooler in most sci-fi shows and movies. Conversely, good guys are often dorks.

In SW, we have the various Darths, who are generally the coolest dudes in whatever film they appear in. Opposite them, we have the Jedi, and Luke Skywalker, who may not necessarily qualify as full-blown dorks, but certainly show signs of dorkdom.

In Transformers, we have Megatron, Galvatron, Devastator, Unicron, Soundwave, Shockwave, and a generally ultra-cool roster of bad guys. On the good guys' side, we have ... Optimus. He's pretty cool. But the rest of his pack has a distinct tendency toward dorkiness.

DAMNIT, YOU FORGOT STARSCREAM! MAN, THAT GUY WAS SO CRAZY HE WAS OUTRIGHT COOL!

In Star Trek, we had the Klingons in TOS, before they became good (at which point they became dorks). We had the Borg in TNG, before they allied themselves with Voyager (at which point they became dorks). On the good guys' side, we have Janeway, Sisko, Picard, and Wesley Crusher. Ugh ... the only cool good guy in Trek is Kirk.

Scotty and McCoy were cool in their own dorky way

In Galactica, the Cylons had shiny armour and that cool SoundWave voice, along with the red cycloptic eye. The Colonials had ... 70s hair.

Is there some unwritten law that good guys must be dorkier than bad guys? Or am I off-track here?

You're perfectly on track

[Master of Ossus]

I think that Vorlons are even cooler than Shadows (but they eventually turned out to be bad guys). In FotR, Legolas seemed much cooler than the orcs he was constantly killing, but I didn't think that Gimli was as cool as the Uruk Hai.

But yes, you are correct, in general bad guys are cooler than good guys. Perhaps one of Yoda's teachings should have been that "coolness matters not. A Jedi craves not popularity." Or similar.

Maybe it is because cool characters almost always have to have some traits which are inherently evil. Or maybe it is because they tend to dress in black and wear really cool looking outfits to highlight both their evilness and coolness simultaneously. Whatever the reason, in general you are correct.

[Guest]

DAMNIT, YOU FORGOT STARSCREAM! MAN, THAT GUY WAS SO CRAZY HE WAS OUTRIGHT COOL!

Yeah! How one can talk about cool Transformers without mentioning Starscream is beyond me.

[Starscream]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that bad guys are generally much cooler in most sci-fi shows and movies. Conversely, good guys are often dorks.

In SW, we have the various Darths, who are generally the coolest dudes in whatever film they appear in. Opposite them, we have the Jedi, and Luke Skywalker, who may not necessarily qualify as full-blown dorks, but certainly show signs of dorkdom.

In Transformers, we have Megatron, Galvatron, Devastator, Unicron, Soundwave, Shockwave, and a generally ultra-cool roster of bad guys. On the good guys' side, we have ... Optimus. He's pretty cool. But the rest of his pack has a distinct tendency toward dorkiness.

DAMNIT, YOU FORGOT STARSCREAM! MAN, THAT GUY WAS SO CRAZY HE WAS OUTRIGHT COOL!

In Star Trek, we had the Klingons in TOS, before they became good (at which point they became dorks). We had the Borg in TNG, before they allied themselves with Voyager (at which point they became dorks). On the good guys' side, we have Janeway, Sisko, Picard, and Wesley Crusher. Ugh ... the only cool good guy in Trek is Kirk.

Scotty and McCoy were cool in their own dorky way

In Galactica, the Cylons had shiny armour and that cool SoundWave voice, along with the red cycloptic eye. The Colonials had ... 70s hair.

Is there some unwritten law that good guys must be dorkier than bad guys? Or am I off-track here?

You're perfectly on track

Imputent fools! You did forget me.

[Akm72]

...the only cool good guy in Trek is Kirk.

Hell no, the coolest guy in Trek is Sulu. No contest.

[Mr Bean]

Evil Good
Fire Bad!


When you have crappy Good guys and Cool badguys it means generaly you have bad Writers

[Dark Primus]

In Transformers, we have Megatron, Galvatron, Devastator, Unicron, Soundwave, Shockwave, and a generally ultra-cool roster of bad guys. On the good guys' side, we have ... Optimus. He's pretty cool. But the rest of his pack has a distinct tendency toward dorkiness.

How dare you leaving out the cool and mighty Dinobots.

[Darth_Shinji]

We have fallen a long way from the days when John Carter and Conan were the norm. Back then the heros went out and did something, and it was the villains getting in the way. Now it seems villains are the only ones with goals in their lives.

And for some reason I think people relate to villains more. I don't know why, but its true. Look back at old cartoon villains, they always loosed, and even sometimes stupid. But lots of poeple still love them and think there the bomb.

Skelator
Megatron
Galvatron
Cobra commander
ect.

[Darth Wong]

We have fallen a long way from the days when John Carter and Conan were the norm. Back then the heros went out and did something, and it was the villains getting in the way. Now it seems villains are the only ones with goals in their lives.

Hey, good point. Conan was cool. Hercules was cool. Thor was ultra-fucking cool. Odysseus was uber-cool. Somewhere along the line, things changed. Perhaps it's the increasing popularity of "pacifism = good" as an ethic. Since pacifism is now considered good, good guys must be passive, which makes them uncool in a society where would-be alpha males compete for position.

And for some reason I think people relate to villains more. I don't know why, but its true. Look back at old cartoon villains, they always loosed, and even sometimes stupid. But lots of poeple still love them and think there the bomb.

Skelator
Megatron
Galvatron
Cobra commander
ect.

How dare you compare Skeletor and Cobra Commander to almighty Megatron and Galvatron? Foolish flesh creature ...

[starfury]

not surprising, since the nazi of world war II did have some of the nicest uniforms of all time, and that many villans in sci-fi did in general are both better developed and more realistic.

I guess that is why batman is still the most popualr DC character, he is much closer to a villian than a hero, much more so then superman.

[Pablo Sanchez]

Since pacifism is now considered good, good guys must be passive, which makes them uncool in a society where would-be alpha males compete for position.

You know, you're right. That's probably why the most popular heroes in the comics today are characters like the Punisher and Nick Fury. They're guys who are going to get things done, and someone is going to get hurt in the process.

How dare you compare Skeletor and Cobra Commander to almighty Megatron and Galvatron? Foolish flesh creature ...

Yeah, at least the Decepticon's plans made some sort of sense. These are some typical plans:

Cobra Commander: Okay men, here's what's going down. We're going to shrink ourselves to six inches tall using my shrink ray, then we'll sneak into the Joes' base through the ventilation ducts. Once inside, we'll disguise ourselves as rats and chew through the insulation on their command consoles, thereby disabling their security network. Then we'll regrow ourselves to normal size and catch them completely by surprise.
Cobra Soldier: That sounds a little complicated to me, sir.
CC: What do you mean?
CS: Well, we've got some tanks right over there. We could actually just take those and blow up the Joes' base.
CC: Shut up and get infront of the shrink ray!

Skeletor: Beast man, you semi-retarded turd, I want you to go burn the Eternian library to the ground!
Beast Man: Why?
Skeletor: Because then they won't have any books, and I will discover the secrets of Greyskull, moron!
Beast Man: Okay.

[ArthurDent]

Han Solo was cool....but that's probably because he was a bad guy at heart.

[Doomriser]

Villians are generally more cool for the reasons described above, and because they have more interesting reasons to be villians. They have some tragic backstory of betrayl, misfortune, and evil deeds. The hero is just John Q. Great White American Hero who is living his honest (if somewhat crappy, at times) life when he has to go fight the hero out of sheer goodness.

Darth Wong, are you kidding me? Pacifism is 'in'? Since when? Where do you see pacifist heroes that are enjoyed by people other than chick-flick moviegoers or Trekkies?

[Captain Cyran]

Pacifist is a bit to strong of a word, I think what Wong meant was hero's who are generally meak and don't make first strikes and are morally pure etc.

[Shadow WarChief]

As for Good-guys who are bad-asses...

Blade and Spawn.

Those are the only recent good guys who are actually cooler than their respective villains.

And as for "at least the Decepticon's plans made some sort of sense."

New weapon in your possesion: The ability to turn organics into metal.

Practical uses: Turn every major cities populace into new pigeon shitters.

How they used it: Go around the forest turning trees into metal...

[Ender]

Come on, young Obi-Wan Kenobi is a total badass. Far cooler then Darth Sideous. Jack Ryan is the shit. And of course... Yoda

"Made you my bitch, I have."