>Someone who has a large based media empire/monopoly. or >Someone

>>54705889
Electricity.
Will always be people who see through media bullshit, but everyone uses power.

>>54705889
Well this is gonna get /pol/ real fast

>>54705889
>Which makes for a more dangerous villain and why? Pic mostly related.

Media makes better more subtle villians, Power companies make for better mustache twirling villians. 'Cause if people question the media you're a "conspiracy theorist", but everybody already expects a power company to be corrupt- they work with energy, they supply something.

It really depends on what you want, they can both be very dangerous for completely different reasons.

I'll try to refrain from just posting the "dependsonthesetting.jpg".

Both of those can be very dangerous, depending on what you mean by dangerous. Power control can literally shut down countries which, of course, is disastrous. Media control can sway culture in unstoppable ways, which can have deep consequences for the future.

Flipside, there are cases where neither of those things in and of themselves make the villain "dangerous". A team of sufficiently motivated murderhobos could make short work of Mr Power/Media executive with plain old guns and bombs if they really wanted.
Personally, I think a villain with control of the media is more interesting- assuming the heroes are played reasonably logically and don't just go full murderhobo. I like watching characters have to figure out how to take down a villain who everyone else believes is the hero.

>>54705889

Electricity is way more fun.

Media is pretty much Game of Thrones political bullshit

>>54705889
Aaaand you just reminded me that the Archie Sonic comics are now dead. Now I'm sad again.

>>54706018
IDW though.

>>54706028
Sega though.

>>54705974
To be fair murder hobos don't tend to last very long in a setting where you can reasonably just throw men at it till it dies. If they fuck up their assassination attempt they'll get mowed down by whatever Mr. CEO throws at them if they can't get out of there fast enough and if they try to go loud they'll get mowed down even faster. This isn't exactly GTA. Even if they do kill him and get out then that doesn't solve anything because Mr. CEO can just be replaced.

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Why not both?

>>54705889
Probably the media monopoly if it's mass media and they are good at propaganda since it's a really effective tool for controlling the population and their emotions.

Unless the electric monopoly is a monopoly because they guy who runs it is Not!zeus and generates electricity via controlling lighting or some shit.

>>54706418

>Unless the electric monopoly is a monopoly because they guy who runs it is Not!zeus and generates electricity via controlling lighting or some shit.


Cool idea, but you can also be more subtle about it.

The one who controls and owns all media is afforded the opportunity to be more diabolical, while the one who owns the power is, well, powerful.

What do you want more in your villain?

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>>54705974
>I think a villain with control of the media is more interesting
Counterpoint: Bad guy with good publicity has been done quite a lot lately, and the solution is usually pretty simple (find a way to expose their sins, or quietly assassinate them).

On the other hand, I'd be very interested in seeing the sheer havok of the BBEG just casually condemning a city, or even an entire county or nation, to borderline apocalyptic crisis, and how the utterly outmatched protagonists try to adapt, organize and eventually find ways to fight back.

>>54709175
So Final Fantasy 7?

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>>54705889
Both make you pretty powerful, but I'd say a media monopoly makes you the most powerful. When you control what information the people get, you can push for effectively any narrative you want. You can influence how people think, how they talk, what they vote for, what they consider right or wrong, what wars they support and what wars they protest against. You can probably incite entire riots depending on what you show them and what you withhold from them. This isn't just about being able to push for propaganda, it's about your ability to make your propaganda the *only* narrative.

I'd say that media power is more soft power (the power to suggest) while controlling the electricity network is more hard power (the power to coerce).

>>54705974

>Personally, I think a villain with control of the media is more boring

It'll just be Game of Thrones image bullshit. Super fucking boring. Electricity guy controls something more real and has way more creative scenarios than "But anon! The news says that YOU are the badguy!"

>>54709252

Tell the media guy he's more powerful when all the power is off.

>>54709290
If he's the only one who can print newspapers (even if using more primitive techniques) he can incite ire against the guy who controls all the electricity. Spin some nice narrative about how he's goading the media complex into not letting the truth out and you have a very upset population with a goal in mind.

Then again, that's assuming the two are in direct competition with eachother and not either indifferent or working together, or that OP's scenario isn't just "pick one" with the other being controlled by the free market.

>>54709269
And we have the actual IRL example about evil electric company.

Enron and how they screwed over California with their "shortages" before they went bellyup for another reasons.

>>54705889
Media empire would be more fun to play, since you could have the PC''s faces plastered everywhere, "SPIDERMAN IS A MENACE" type shit, and you could go wild making propaganda to show your players for world building

>>54709197
I thought FF7 was about aliens and eating the life force of the planet, although I never played it myself, so eh.

>>54705889
The media villain thinks they're in charge. The electric villain actually is. People already distrust the news, so it's entirely possible that the PCs could walk into a bar where every station is blaring how they're the spawn of Satan and the patrons would jut shrug their shoulders and say that it's politics as usual.

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>>54705889
What if the villain owns the banks and the media?

Electricity is a public utility in the US. Shutting off the power grid to attack a city or for extortion flies in the face of political power--you'd have your shit seized by your setting's equivalent of the feds and the board of directors would appoint a new CEO.

You could threaten to destroy infrastructure, but that also destroys your influence. Follow through, and you'll just end up swinging from a lamppost (again, assuming existing authorities don't act, or are complicit).

Media can manipulate more subtly.

>>54705889
media. Unless the electricity based empire is part of a new technological revolution and the electric company is filled with innovators who can make new electricity based weapons that are unlike anything else.


Basically it comes down to how you want your villain to act.

want your heroes to face off against wave after wave of mindless zombie mook, then go with media.

want your heroes to face off a giant robot crab that shoots lightning bolts, then go with electricity.

>>54705889
I'm gonna miss Breezie. Hope IDW gets to do something with her in their version