(Photo Courtesy: https://pngtree.com/so/villain)
Karen's (RetroGirlRewind) choice of 7 villains:
Female villains in the 1980’s and 1990’s were either incredibly unattractive or they could be just as beautiful as the heroines. There really wasn’t much middle ground. Some were female and others were male. Sometimes male and female villains worked together.
(Photo Courtesy: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQlV-s3hxQDaA2dZ3Y9g6axULFVQfF-gxxzg0KQWNQVhqAfpIyA_gL_VhY&s=10 and https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mJOvx21Ll6Q/mqdefault.jpg)
1. Rose Petal Place- Queen Nastina the Spider and Horace Fly- We begin our list with royalty: Queen Nastina from Rose Petal Place. Nastina was a really scary looking lady spider. Her face is a bright periwinkle blue and she has big red lips. Her black spider body is made to look like a gown and she has a high white collar. She is mean and nasty and tried to kill Rose Petal and the other lady flowers. You definitely didn’t want to find Nastina and Horace Fly in your garden.
(Photo Courtesy: https://strawberryshortcake.fandom.com/wiki/Sour_Grapes)
2. Strawberry Shortcake- Sour Grapes was the Purple Pieman’s partner in crime. She has purple hair in an updo, a long purple dress with grapes printed on it, and green opera gloves. Her most striking accessory, however, is her companion: a boa constrictor named Dregs. Sour Grapes often wore Dregs around her neck.
I never had her doll and neither did any of my friends, so I don’t remember what she smelled like.
(Photo Courtesy: https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Peculiar_Purple_Pieman)
3. Strawberry Shortcake- The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak wears a purple baker’s toque, a blue shirt, purple pants, and a white apron, and of course his purple twisted Handlebar Mustache of Evil.
I did have the Purple Pieman doll and he smelled like cinnamon and apples. In the cartoon, the Pieman had an entire flock of Berry Birds but the doll only came with one. It perched on his arm rather nicely though.
I did have the Purple Pieman doll and he smelled like cinnamon and apples. In the cartoon, the Pieman had an entire flock of Berry Birds but the doll only came with one. It perched on his arm rather nicely though.
(Photo Courtesy: https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Murky_Dismal)
4. Rainbow Brite- Murky Dismal was the villain from Rainbow Brite. Murky wanted to drain color from the world. Murky had a green complexion and a black brush Mustache of Evil.
Murky wore a silver helmet that always reminded me of Super Grover’s helmet. He also wore a dark gray tunic with a lighter gray lightning bolt on it. Murky’s companion was Lurky, a brown furry creature with a long nose and gym shoes. He looked kind of like a mopey version of Captain Caveman.
On a sad note, last month we lost the voice of Murky Dismal as he was one of Peter Cullen’s stable of characters (along with Transformers’ Optimus Prime and Disney’s Eeyore).
Murky wore a silver helmet that always reminded me of Super Grover’s helmet. He also wore a dark gray tunic with a lighter gray lightning bolt on it. Murky’s companion was Lurky, a brown furry creature with a long nose and gym shoes. He looked kind of like a mopey version of Captain Caveman.
On a sad note, last month we lost the voice of Murky Dismal as he was one of Peter Cullen’s stable of characters (along with Transformers’ Optimus Prime and Disney’s Eeyore).
(Photo Courtesy: https://he-man.fandom.com/wiki/Shadow_Weaver)
5. She-Ra: Princess of Power- Shadow Weaver was a sorceress for Hordak and hypnotized Princess Adora to keep her loyal to the Horde. Hordak abducted Adora when she was a baby, and according to the Princess of Power/Masters of the Universe canon, Shadow Weaver raised Adora until He-Man came to Etheria to rescue his sister and help her find her destiny as She-Ra.
Shadow Weaver wore a long red hooded cloak and her eyes glowed under the hood, but what I remember the most about Shadow Weaver was her raspy voice.
There wasn’t a Shadow Weaver doll produced during the height of MOTU/Princess of Power popularity it in the 1980’s, but there wasn’t a collector’s edition produced with the reissues in the 2010’s and early 2020’s.
(Photo Courtesy: https://he-man.fandom.com/wiki/Catra)
6. Princess of Power- Catra. It was common practice in the 1980’s that if your heroine had a certain hair color, your female antagonist had the opposite. Princess Adora/She-Ra had gleaming golden blond hair, so of course Catra had raven black hair. She also came with a cat mask so that you could pretend she transformed into her large panther-like form. Her skirt was black faux fur and had a black furry tail attached to it.
(Photos Courtesy: https://jem.fandom.com/wiki/The_Misfits ; https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Eric_Raymond ; https://jem.fandom.com/wiki/Techrat)
7. Jem and the Holograms- The Misfits (mostly Pizzazz) Eric Raymond and Techrat from Jem and the Holograms. Phyllis “Pizzazz” Gabor, Roxanne “Roxy” Pelligrini, Mary “Stormer” Phillips, and later Sheila “Jetta” Burns.
The Misfits were the Holograms’ main rival when the cartoon first aired. They were the edgier counterpart. Stormer wore *gasp* fishnet stockings! Depending on the coloring artist, Pizzazz either had fluorescent green highlighter hair or dark olive green hair. Roxy had white hair, and Stormer had blue curly hair. Later, the line introduced Jetta and Jetta had black hair with white lightning bolt like streaks.
The true power behind the Misfits was their manager, Eric Raymond. Raymond was also the co-owner of Starlight Music following the death of the company’s founder, Jerrica and Kimber Benton’s father. I could call out the obvious conflict of interest of Raymond representing the Misfits, but a major plot point was that Jerrica was lead singer Jem of the Holograms in a disguise.
Techrat was Eric Raymond’s henchman and what we would later know as a hacker. Anytime Eric Raymond needed someone to interfere with a signal or electrical equipment, Techrat was on it. Like Shadow Weaver, Techrat had a disturbing raspy voice. They may not have had a pharmacy on Etheria, but Jem took place in the “real” world. Techrat could have bought himself some lozenges.
Eric Raymond’s (and the Misfits) efforts to derail Jem and the Holograms gave the show its addictive soap opera meets MTV charm. MGA’s Rainbow and Shadow High rivalry is their modern-day spiritual successor.
Chad's choice of 3 villains
For my villains list, I'll try and go with some unconventional thinking, but ensuring that my choices did their dirtiest work in the decade of the 1980s.
1) Bill Laimbeer (Detroit Pistons) - it might be a little unfair to single out one of Detroit's "Bad Boys", but in my opinion, the Pistons primary center for much of the decade, including their two NBA title runs, was pretty much the muscle and enforcer of the team. Isiah Thomas was the point guard and leader, Dennis Rodman was the young energetic rebounder, Joe Dumars was the quiet and reserved shooting guard, Vinnie Johnson was the big shot maker coming off of the bench. Rick Mahorn would probably be a very close second if we were choosing a single villain.
Laimbeer was a tough, gritty player who by the time the Pistons became a contender in the NBA's Eastern Conference, had 7 or 8 years under his belt. Known for his swinging elbows, shoving to gain his position for a rebound, hard flagrant fouls, or even a clothesline (ask Larry Bird). Many call Laimbeer one of the dirtiest players to ever play professional basketball, and Laimbeer was a menacing presence in the 1980's NBA scene.
(Photo Courtesy: https://www.nba.com/pistons/features/truebluepistons_110929.html)
2) Francis Buxton (Pee Wee's Big Adventure) - one of my favorite comedy movies from the decade. Pee Wee was just minding his own business one day, and as he approaches a street corner, an envious Francis approaches and offers a nice cash offer for his bicycle. Pee Wee turns down the offer, and Francis warns him "You'll be Sorry Pee Wee Herman". Francis then hires some street punks to steal the bike, and then orders the bike to be sent away - which sends the bicycle across the country to some interesting stops along the way. Francis's jealously ultimately led to the "Big Adventure", but just his whiny voice, demeanor, and overall presence makes Francis an despicable villain.
(Photo Courtesy: https://legendsofthemultiuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Francis_Buxton)
3) Troy Perkins (The Goonies) - while not the main antagonist of the classic 1985 children's adventure film (that distinction goes to the Fratelli family), Troy is a wealthy son of a land developer who finds pleasure of the news that the Goon Docks were going to be foreclosed and demolished, and also tried to run Brand off the road when he was driving his convertible. Troy tries to be pretty controlling of Andy, and also makes fun of Mikey and the rest of the Goonies. Luckily, Mikey's quick thinking in the cave allowed the gang to achieve the funds to stop the foreclosure, much to Troy's dismay.
(Photo Courtesy: https://goonies.fandom.com/wiki/Troy_Perkins)
Brian's choice of 2 villains:
As the cartoon villain guy in the group, I’ve probably written a hundred articles about animated bad guys. You can read one of them on Rediscover Old School about the history of animated villains. One area I’ve avoided for ages, though, is Disney villains. About seven years ago, I did a month of Disney villain posts on my old blog called Disnovember, and it’s about time I revisited it. I want to touch on two of my favorite Disney movie villains because they’re such complete opposites.
(Photo Courtesy: https://villainstournament.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horned_King)
The Horned King from The Black Cauldron. I don't think Disney has done a villain of this calibre before or since the Horned King. I mean, look at him! He’s practically a ghoul: mottled skin, frayed robes, and a face like a rotten apple. His whole plan in the movie is to raise an undead army, something we see done at the end to terrifying effect. John Hurt portrays this villain with the most malice you can imagine. He’s the first Disney villain I have no problem imagining has killed before, even though the only thing you really see him do is strangle his henchman, Creeper. There’s no questioning why it took Disney over thirteen years to bring this movie to home video.
 |
| (Photo Courtesy: Tenor) |
Sykes from Oliver & Company. About as different as you can be from the Horned King, you have the loan shark, Sykes. Sykes has to be one of the most intimidating villains in Disney canon who doesn’t have magic powers to back it up. Instead of shapeshifting or fireballs, he’s got stinking cigars, the first modern pistol shown in a Disney movie, and two massive Dobermans who are just as mean as he is. Sykes has no problem talking on the phone about murder while shaking streetbum Fagin for money. When he finds out Fagin has a wealthy kid’s pet, it’s insane how fast his mind goes to kidnapping and ransom while casually threatening to have his dogs eat the girl!
Wyatt's choice of 5 villains:
(Photo Courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/HistoryofTheBatman/posts/jack-nicholsons-joker-and-michael-keatons-batman-photographed-by-herb-ritts-in-o/1305906040904063/)
(Photos Courtesy: https://thundercats-ho.fandom.com/wiki/Mumm-Ra and https://screenrant.com/mumm-ra-joins-new-thundercats-continuity-jae-lee/)
Mumm-Ra from the Thundercats cartoon is a worthy second villain. The fact that Mumm-Ra goes from an intelligent, frail, cloth-draped being whom ponders to keep his throne on third earth then as danger or opponents ensue metamorphosis' into a muscular and powerful being is captivating to me. A strong opponent to the Thundercats and their endeavor to make Third Earth their new home. While one could argue that the Thundercats did impose on Mumm-Ra's property, the fact that any encounter with this challenging opponent generates a fantastic battle.
(Photo Courtesy: https://www.pinterest.com/authortara/cobra-kai-karate-kid/)
(Photo Courtesy: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0507122/characters/nm0369567/)
Harlen Jenkins was the small, one time nemesis of Stringfellow Hawke back in the 1980s where vehicles were equally the star of the television and movies. Yes, Harlen was the hot headed pilot who claimed to have built both Airwolf and Airwolf II (aka Redwolf) despite the narrative of Dr. Charles Henry Moffett being the Airwolf engineer. The persona that Wings Hauser was able to create made him appear as if he could easily challenge and overtake any good-guy throughout his bad guy character career. In the case of pitting pilot vs pilot, he was a great competitor to Stringfellow Hawke and may have even defeated our hero pilot and Airwolf had he not been so cocky.
(Photo Courtesy: https://michaelcavacini.com/2012/08/05/murdoc-one-of-tvs-greatest-villains/)
Murdoc from the MacGyver series was an awesome contender with MacGyver. The character seemed to rebound from death with more scars and limps, yet able to escape enabling himself to encounter and place MacGyver in another inescapable episode. Murdoc would seem to leave a calling card or etch his name which raised my hairs thinking what will he do to our crafty hero. His animated behavior, his traps, and yearning to strike out MacGyver was so entertaining.
The verdict: which would you rate as the worst of the worst villains during our captivated decade?
0 Comments