Traal Anno 6
Despite what Magda says later, I think that if Iver had stopped talking here, this plan of his would’ve had a decent chance of working. At the very least, he deserves kudos for seeing what was going to happen between Harky and Penk, well before Penk himself did.
He’s basically saying, “You want to save your friend, I want Harky gone. You can make both those things happen without anybody knowing it’s you or calling Penk a cheat. And I’ll back your play if you do.”
So picture how it might’ve gone if Iver had restrained himself here, and had he also not tried to make the Penk-Harky fight about himself when it happened. Penk and Harky go at it, Harky seems to have the upper hand… and then the Earth half-swallows him and Penk finishes him off. Because Magda is fully committed to the movement Penk is now spearheading, as well as to Penk himself. Penk casts around with his own connection to Tectonicus and immediately knows the truth: this victory was not fully his… and Iver can make an issue of that, if Penk ever gives him reason to delegitimize him as troll leader and Rebellion commander.
It’s a pretty good plan! Now, strap in for the part where he goes too far and fucks it up beyond all recovery!
When you plot and scheme, you have to resist your love of hearing yourself talk\. That’s Evil Overlord 101, and so many of them fail that class.
Yeah, the problem with Megalomaniacs is that their plans are often overshadowed by their own ego. At that point, they only get as far as their enablers allow them to.
This is all off on a big “what if” tangent, but if Magda had used her power to give Penk the upper hand, but Penk still had to deliver the final blow, then I imagine it going a bit like Tenshinhan fighting Goku.
For anyone who doesn’t know OG Dragonball: Tenshinhan’s friend covertly used telekinetic powers to help him, which gets him to land some blows on Goku during their tournament fight. But Tenshinhan discovers this right before ending the fight and makes him stop, insisting on a fair fight (in which Goku nearly beats him). It’s a nice moment as it’s pivotal for Tenshinhan in deciding the type of person he wants to be.
I’ve meant to watch the original Dragon Ball. I only saw a tiny bit of it, back when the first part was localized to America (I think the first 13 episodes). I acknowledge that Dragon Ball Z is extremely important to worldwide anime, being the show that seems to have largely popularized the format in much of the world; however, I don’t consider it to have held up as a show that remains very “good”. The Kai recut is much better with its tighter story and more appropriate ending which has me very curious about the first series.