September 2020 Update

Those seem good starting points for a villain that has screen time. In regards to xenomorphs, the villains of Alien and Aliens are - in my opinion - quite clearly the Weyland-Yutani corporation. The xenomorphs, while certainly terrifying, lack sufficient agency to be villainous. They're Chaotic Evil, if you pardon the reference, and simply operate according to their nature. (They should probably be exterminated anyhow; I fail to see any situation that makes me go "yes, adding xenomorphs will surely make this better" from an in-universe POV). As regards to the yacht villain, I really feel that adding a couple of scenes where he's doing something other than getting his girlfriend to do things for him would help (not sure if that part was intentional though) - perhaps even having him get frustrated (similar to the good General Hummel) and lash out at his subordinates (not every villain needs to go "you have failed me for the last time" but hey, bad bosses lashing out on the wrong people is a trope for a reason). This helps set up a reason why the subordinate in question might be more receptive to the "good guys" later on.

Anders Kronquist

Damn you do good work. Just finished the the 9th episode of the Ryan Drake series. I went from "I'd like to beat his head in with a brick" with a certain character to "damn the man's a legend." Love the videos, but I hope you don't stop writing, because you've got a hell of a gift.

Comrade Crozier

I have a thought to share. Maybe the Drinker and his legion can weigh in: I think a good movie villain ought to check two boxes 1) There should be some relatable reason for the villainy 2) Their villainy should be difficult to orchestrate I'll give an example of failures for both of the above to try and illustrate my point Anakin Skywalker, Revenge of the Sith (Unrelatable Villainy) - Ok, Anakin loves Padme and wants to save her from dying. That is relatable. However, Anakin takes an impulse to save Padme and converts it to the mass murder school children. This is absurd. Has he lost his humanity in the last 15 minutes? Murdering children helps Padme how? Granted, the mechanism through which one gains "Force Power" is somewhat vague in the universe. But at no point anywhere, ever, was there any indication that "Force Power" follows Highlander rules. This failure of "relatable villainy" is even more egregious when you consider that there were six hours of prequel whose sole purpose was to make Anakin's descent to the Dark Side relatable. Whoever the hell Kevin Bacon's character was in X-Men First Class (Easy Villainy) - Here's a villain who is secretly orchestrating a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States. My own job is regular old accounting. How come it takes me 60 hours of mind-shattering, face melting grind just to close the books at month-end but every time you see Kevin Bacon's character he's just sipping a cocktail on his nuclear powered yacht? This dude is plotting the complete destruction of mankind, in opposition to the entire U.S. and Soviet political apparatus. He should at least have bags under his eyes. Now consider Ed Harris' character in The Rock, General Hummel. A career soldier who is disgusted at a Pentagon that isn't worthy of the soldiers who serve it, so he takes radical action after conventional action fails to remedy the problem. I'm not saying I would do the same thing if I were in his shoes but at least I get it. Further, as the story progresses General Hummel starts to crack. Yelling at negotiators, visibly conflicted about killing the SEALs sent to stop him, pointing a gun at his oldest and most loyal friend. This dude is hustling. Would you add anything to the list? Do you disagree (the Xenomorph in Aliens isn't really relatable)?