Villain Archetypes: I've noticed that we've been getting a steady stream of people coming to this site searching for "villain archetypes" (or some minor variation of that subject). If you happen to be one of these individuals and have come upon this post, I'd like to point out the best places to find that kind of information here at TwistedJenius.com. First and foremost is my "Essay on Villain Archetypes"- Parts One and Two which you will find in our Evil Rant section (I've been knocking around the idea of doing a third one, but I'm not sure if or when I will). These are pretty lengthy and deal primarily with analysis of basic villain archetypes. Secondly, we have the Villains & Heroes Character Key under our Leisure section. Although not such a straight forward explanation of villain archetypes, these characters are all designed based on very clichéd character types and they might provide you with some insight into this subject.

Finally, we have two links within our Villainesque section which I would highly recommend. The first is So You've Decided to be Evil and although intended as humor, presents basic information about villain archetypes from several different angles (categories include: what they wear, what kinds of lairs that they inhabit and what different villain goals and objectives are). Last, but certainly not least, is The Sixteen Villain Archetypes, and consists of a list with some brief, but insightful descriptions about each of these classic evil doer archetypes. This site will probably appeal to those of you who are looking for a more academic or literary approach to villain archetypes. I hope that this quick guide will be of help to those of you who have come here looking for this sort of information. Congratulations on making the choice to further develop your evil education!

        - False Prophet

Tonight I'd like to share with you, my values readers, some more of the influences which went into creating Twisted Jenius. Towards the end of my Dark Comedies- Part Two: The Continuation rant, I briefly mention that I am a fan of Little Shop of Horrors and I cited the original, 1960 Roger Corman version. The truth is that I'm a fan of both the original and the 1986 Frank Oz versions (yeah, I know, "heresy"!). I actually saw the Oz musical version first and became an instant addict (when I finally got the video of it, I watched it so many times that I broke the tape). The first time that I saw the film, was actually when it was shown to us at a day care center (which is pretty messed up, even by my demented standards; though I guess the film does kind of resemble Sesame Street, what with the singing, the "puppet", the wacky characters and the urban setting). At a young age, I was unbelievably fascinated with that Man-Eating Plant (I wanted one very badly), and it sparked a lifelong tendency to look at household flora in a very bizarre way.

You may have noticed that our mascot Twisty has some basic design similarities with the botanical antagonist in Little Shop of Horrors. Although this was not my conscious intention when designing him (in-house, we often compare Twisty to a hideous, evil version of Pac-Man), I doubt that it's a complete coincidence either. Another design element that may have been partially and inadvertently inspired by Little Shop of Horrors is our logo itself. The blood which Twisty uses to write on the padded wall does have some vague similarities to the movie graphic. And while we're on the subject, I think that it's only fair to mention that the general "movie poster look" is what inspires quite a lot of the commercial art here at Twisted Jenius. We're all about entertainment.

        - False Prophet

You probably don't know this about me (in fact, I'm quite sure that you don't), but I'm a big advocate of trackball usage. Vicious and I Recently had an in-depth conversation about the advantages of using a trackball as opposed to a mouse. Now I realize that there is a lot of stigmata among many computer users about trackballs. Many people claim that they don't like them. I think that people often come to this conclusion based on using a trackball only once and then realize that it is not quite as intuitive as mouse (intuitive meaning simple; I'm fairly sure a monkey would have a much easier time using a mouse than using a trackball).

Now I'm not one of these snobby tech bastards who believes in making things more complicated than they need to be (I'm a capitalist and user friendly is definitely more profitable), but once you get used to it, I do think that the trackball is a superior device in both speed and especially precision of use. If you want a Star Wars analogy (well too bad, you're getting one), I would say that a mouse is probably more like how blasters are described in the films (clumsy and random, but probably easier to use) and trackballs are more like lightsabers (elegant weapons, which require a little more practice to get the hang of). You only have to move one finger instead of your entire arm while using a trackball and you never have to pick up the entire device while in use as is occasionally necessary while using a mouse.

Vicious suggests that all of you hardcore gamers out there consider using a trackball as opposed to a mouse from now on, as you will see a noticeable improvement in your game play. For example, in the online game World of Warcraft, it is to your strategic advantage to be able to circle around a lot and effortlessly and this is something that trackballs excel at (he describes tournament level Rogues in the game as having to "constantly circle around like a twelve year old crack addict" in order to be any good in pvp). I imagine this would be an advantage in many games; especially first person shooter types. As a graphics guy, I find trackballs to be much less cumbersome than a mouse would be. This would probably also apply to individuals in fields such as architecture and engineering as well. In fact, anyone who spends a significant amount of time on the computer should consider using a trackball. It may take some getting used to, but in the end I think you'll find that it's well worth it.

        - False Prophet