Game Changer

AGame Changer, orKnight of Cerebus is a villain who appears incomedic and lighthearted media in which villains are meant to be friendly but creates a stark contrast by being played completely seriously and thus changing the tone of the story. To clarify, when a story portrays usually bumbling, comedic and/orincompetent villains or even villains who despite posing a conceivable and credible threat still have some comedic moments, the Game Changer is actually very competent, really dangerous, sometimes even frightening and has a much bigger impact. Episodes or stories featuring them focus on the seriousness, drama, even horror, and not on humor and comedy.

For a villain to qualify in this category, they must provide situations that are much more serious or threatening than any other villain that has appeared in the same story. The very appearance of only one alone can change the tone of the series for good and/or shatter the status quo. Game Changers are the exact opposite of, and mutually exclusive fromComic Reliefs. They are also extremely rarelystupid, because such villains are very intimidating and dangerous threat. In some cases, they can qualify asPure Evil if they are not just taken seriously, but also meet the necessary criteria for such a distinction.

Good examples for this arethe Lich fromAdventure Time,Isaac Ray Peram Westcott fromDate A Live,Ren Sohma fromFruits Basket,Hopper fromA Bug's Life,Death fromPuss in Boots: The Last Wish,Dick Hardly fromThe Powerpuff Girls,King Sombra fromMy Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,0 fromKirby,Eddy's Brother fromEd, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show,the Nowhere King fromCentaurworld,Slade fromTeen Titans,Dark Danny fromDanny Phantom,Jimmy Crystal fromSing, andGwi-Ma fromKPop Demon Hunters, who are all seen as darker and more competent than the other villains preceding them.

Note: Just because a villain is taken seriously in-universe in a comical/lighthearted setting and/or lacks comedic traits doesn't automatically mean they are Game Changers because their presence in the story may not clash with the tone enough to qualify as a Game Changer.

Basic Guidelines:

1. They are hardly comedic. Of course, there are rare exceptions, namely if their gimmick is that of a clown or jester in which that is simply part of their gimmick. However, this cannot distract or lighten the mood. In the very, VERY few comedic scenes a Game Changer could be part of, they can't be the butt of the joke and the comedy in the scene will, instead, come from the villain having a morbid sense of humor (i.e.Judge Claude Frollo,Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear andThrax) or them being baffled/irritated by the other, much more exaggerated characters (i.e.Drake,Agatha Trunchbull,Hopper,Unhinged Fan,Jimmy Crystal andAccelerator). However, a Game Changer can still have more prominent comedic moments as long as they're still seen as serious threats in-universe (e.g.Lord Shen,Isaac Ray Peram Westcott,Kurumi Tokisaki,Dennis, andSentinel Prime). but if a villain is capable of darkening the mood of the story but at the same time comes off as too comedic or tame (e.g.HIM,PAL,Toffee,Lord Dominator,Rob,Mr. Ross andSpot) then they don't count, as it completely goes against the idea of them being the most seriously treated.
2. This is not simply a dark character. It has to be of an unheard level of villainy, especially for the standards of a specific franchise. If a villain simply heightens the stakes or further darkens the mood in a story that isalready serious and/or mature (e.g.Thanos,Jenner,Azula,Shou Tucker,Vicious,Muzan Kibutsuji,Emperor Belos,Gus Fring,Dante Reyes,Dimentio,Vladimir Makarov,Silco,Bon,Brian Irons,Sōsuke Aizen,Bloody Mary,Adam Smasher,William Afton,Hikaru Kamiki,Dogranio Yaboon andReze) then they do not count, even if that serious story is in a light-hearted franchise, and they aren't necessary to make the story serious (e.g.Mephiles the Dark andThe Core/King Aldrich). If the villains come from works that mostly rely on dark comedy (e.gChucky,Bill Cipher,Rick Prime,Fliqpy,Junko Enoshima, andStriker), or works that fall under horror or dark fantasy, then they also do not qualify.
3. There are very few, if any of these within a story or said media, and if there is already one before it is much harder to have another one later due to a couple of reasons. After one is introduced, it is harder for another villain to stand out enough to truly count. The other reason is that the audience in general isn't as easily shocked and at times even expect more like them. An example of a villain managing to stand out as a Game Changer despite not being the first one in the story isTrigon, who was preceded bySlade.
4. In very rare cases and if pulled out correctly, even one character alone can completely change the tone of their respective settings if they started out as rather lighthearted (i.e.Mewtwo,Giygas,All For One,Accelerator, andIsaac Ray Peram Westcott) but things got darker and more series after they came into the picture.
5. This villain type must ultimately contrast to the current setting of the story and, by just their very presence darken it as a result. The character's actions must be unwarranted and be previously unheard of within the setting.
6. Darkening the tone doesn't automatically means the character qualifies as a Game Changer since it's basically something that can even be done by accident and the character might fail to meet the criteria.

This is for villains who appear in acomical/lighthearted settingand are treated seriously enough in-universe to change the tone.

See Also[]

• Game Changers on theHeroes Wiki