Atop the Fourth Wall/Characters
Linkara
An 'eccentric' comic book fan with a Nice Hat who reviews horrible comics. Also happens to be the Champion of our Earth, defending it against mad scientists, cyborgs, interdimensional invaders and the like.
- The Ace/Broken Ace: Seems to switch between the two quite often—He's a nice-looking hero with wonderful toys and True Companions around him... But he wants so badly to be the perfect Nice Guy superhero and to think that he's much more than his Channel Awesome co-workers. He has a fairly big ego and a Selective Memory, his number one priority seems to be whether the fans watch him or not, and his Comedic Sociopathy is far creepier than the others because whereas they embrace it, he denies it.
- By the end of the Entity Arc, he's become like as a subversion of both tropes. At once. Like a subverted Ace, he's presents the image of an awesome hero but has more than a few flaws as a person. Like a subverted Broken Ace, however, he refuses to let them break him and continues to at least try and do the right thing.
- Adorkable
- Adult Child: An advertisement for PowerMorphicon:
Narrator: Do you like playing with Power Rangers toys?
Linkara: Uh-huh!
Narrator: Do you pretend you're morphing with your toy morphers?
Linkara: Uh-huh!
- Alliterative Name: Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug. L.L., appropriately enough, and he was going out with a woman named Liz.
- Alter Ego Acting: Lovhaug has occasionally referred to "the Linkara character" in interviews and commentaries, but at the same time also calls him "basically me with the volume turned way up".
- Anti-Hero: Type I, often veers towards Type III in his nastier moments.
- Arch Enemy: Dr. Insano, whose plots include becoming President and controlling a Giant Robot of death. Insano was later temporarily replaced as Linkara's arch foe by the evil robotic duplicate, Mechakara. Then we got Dr. Linksano, an alternate version of Insano that appeared in the Warrior review. So far, the only evil thing he has done is be an evil scientist. Eventually, he ran off on realizing Lord Vyce was coming, and Mechakara stepped into the role again.
- Badass Boast: Linkara gets one in Silent Hill Dead/Alive, made even more awesome by being scored with The Ecstasy of Gold.
"I'm not some pretty boy with marital problems. I don't have some confused psyche or unresolved parental issues. You're not dealing with a Silent Hill protagonist here! Time and again, someone got it into their head that they could defeat me. Time and again they beat me down, they knocked me out, and they tried to make me give up. You come at me with insecurity, self-doubt, and angst? You try to make me doubt who I am? I am the man who defeated Pyramid Head. I am the man who conquered Countdown. I am the man who fought off the Vohrsoth and destroyed Mechakara! I am the liberator of Kickassia! I am a Starfleet captain! I am a Power Ranger! I'm That Guy With The Hat! I am Linkara! Who the hell are you?"
- And then at the end of Youngblood #3, we have Linkara taunting Vyce
This is Linkara, calling Lord Vyce. If you are receiving this signal, then you may want to take that huge-ass helmet off you head and listen for a minute. Listen, I just wanted to tell you how deeply honored I am. You see, I was once told you were the stuff of nightmares for gods and monsters alike. And that's why I'm so honored you see. You've seen fit to show me your true colors-and the main one is a big bright shade of yellow. "All that you see you conquer", huh? Well, I guess you never really did set your eyes on me then-you were too busy looking the other way and running for your life. And it's a good thing too: you've shown just how inadequate you are. You're not up to the task of facing this... "Entity" you're so afraid of. Tell you what: why don't you go tuck your cape between your legs and run home, while I deal with it. After all, it's what you're good at. However, if you want to prove me wrong, you know where to find me.
- Badass Comic-bookworm
- Basement Dweller: Joked about in the Superman vs. Terminator review, where his 50-year-old self (played by his father) still has not moved into his own place.
- Break the Cutie: Happens when a comic get really bad (and/or is Countdown)
- Break the Haughty/Laser-Guided Karma: Throughout the Vyce Arc, Linkara became notorious for becoming increasingly powerful and prepared. When Lord Vyce challenged him, Linkara's Badass Boasting and cocky expressions made it abundantly clear that thought he could win without much difficulty using the same tricks as before. The words "Epic Fail" do not even begin to describe how the fight went down for him and by the end of it, Vyce had invoked No Sell on ninety percent of Linkara's arsenal and only left because his suit was damaged and our universe is so alien to him he can't survive in it without it. Linkara was particularly scarred by the end of the fight.
- Brick Joke: In Spoony's Final Fantasy X review, Dr. Insano realized that Neutro had gone missing. More than half a year later, we learn that Linkara stole it.
- Brought Down to Normal: Somewhat his magic was disabled, possibly by Insano, so his gadgets no longer work (The Sonic Screw Drivers, the Morphers, etc.) because he cast a spell on them to make them real, and there's an anti-magic field stopping them. The Magic-gun was also depowered. Comicron-1 and other scientific inventions, however, continue to work.
- The Caligula: He has gradually shown signs of becoming this after defeating Lord Vyce and taking his spaceship. Along with his natural pride and difficulty in tolerating the criticism of his True Companions and Spoony in his Lady Gaga review, he's now defaulting on the spaceship to "win" arguments (because nobody would ever be stupid enough to argue with a spaceship, he's also become increasingly deluded about what it means to take responsibility for it, as shown by parading around in a Starfleet uniform and neglecting his job as an online reviewer, and he's also planning on having a whole fleet of them. Bear in mind that he does all of this while mostly ignoring his True Companions. Time will tell whether he gets any crazier.
- Catch Phrase: Several.
- "Hello, and welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn."
- "...so let's dig into *comic name*."
- "This comic sucks!"
- "I AM A MAN!"(punch)
- And in real life "Man, that was crazy!".
- Chekhov's Armoury
- The Chessmaster: Was the one who planned the uprising against the
The Nostalgia CriticN. Bison during Kickassia. - Caustic Critic
- Chivalrous Pervert: Being a feminist gives him "an appreciation for the female body".
- The Chosen One: Deconstructed. According to Lord Vyce, he is "the Champion" of his universe. Not only does this revelation change nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it also marked him out for a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown at Vyce's hands. Furthermore, it's implied that this is why the Entity left defeating Vyce in his hands; because he expected that he'd be able to defeat him.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Just like the rest of his colleagues. What makes it more interesting, though, is that while the other big names like Spoony, Critic and Chick have fully embraced their nastiness, he is insistent that he is a good guy and his insanity just spills out in creepy bursts.
- Crazy Prepared: Linkara has a miniature fan to blow away the fog if Silent Hill starts to come for him.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Driven to Madness: Happens often when a comic book seems to get worse and worse, and then some final revelation pushes him over into madness. We find out in part five of Silent Hill Dead/Alive that Mechakara and Lord Vyce were trying to invoke this by providing him with the back story of his Magic Gun. The really scary thing is, it almost worked.
- Driven to Suicide:
- When Linkara reviewed "Superman: At Earth's End" he was so utterly disgusted by it he almost tried to shoot himself yelling "ANTI LIFE JUSTIFIES MY HATE!!" before breaking down into tears.
- At the end of his three-part Amazon Attack review, when he realizes the whole thing was a tie-in to Countdown. He was so confused that he ended up trying to cut his wrists with his gun.
Linkara: WHY DOESN'T IT WORK!?!?
- Normally, Linkara plays this trope for laughs. Not so in his final Silent Hill Dead/Alive review. He finally finds out the truly depressing back story to his magic gun. Long story short, a young girl was tortured to death by her own parents to create it. Silent Hill almost manages to convince him that HE was one of her parents - and Linkara, being the good guy that he is, couldn't take it and holds the gun to his head. Thankfully, he manages to realize that he's not a Silent Hill protagonist and that he wouldn't have done such a thing. Cue subversion of this trope and a truly awesome World of Cardboard Speech - as seen above under Badass Boast.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Invoked He's won most of his fights, sure, but Linkara has never actually managed to finish any of his enemies off. It comes with them having Joker Immunity. This is probably because he's spoken out against "superheroes" who kill their foes in the past, thus he spares his intentionally (exiling Lord Vyce for example) because he holds himself to the same standards.
- Fan Boy: Of comics, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Power Rangers, The West Wing, The Wire, 24... He also seems to have the ability to go into their canons, because where else would he have gotten those morphers, pokeballs, phasers, and four sonic screwdrivers?
- Fedora of Asskicking: Even though the asskicking came a bit later in the reviews.
- Funny Character, Boring Actor: Lewis' commentaries are very serious and dry when he is out of character.
- Future Loser: In the year 2039, Linkara still lives with his parents.
- Go Mad from the Revelation:
- Amazons Attack being a tie-in to Countdown.
- That Doom IV had a fanbase.
- The ending to Maximum Clonage
- The very existence of Sultry Teenage Super Foxes #2 causes him to retreat into his own subconscious.
- The Pizza episode makes Linkara actually leave to cry during his history lesson on Power Rangers Turbo.
- The Brain Drain comic completely missing the point of the Thing's character, and then finding that it was written by Tom DeFalco, former editor and chief of Marvel comics.
- Good Is Not Soft: He may be willing to cut a deal with Linksano, but he also promised a sadistic punishment (being trapped on the same planet as Lord Vyce) to him should he ever try to double-cross him
- Guile Hero / Manipulative Bastard: Depending on the tone of the review. He was definitely the former by the end of the Vyce Arc, since it took him using his brain rather than his tech to win the day.
- Heroic BSOD: Just look at the guy's face after his defeat by Lord Vyce. Thank God Iron Liz managed to snap him out of it... By giving him a Care Bears comic.
- Hopeless Suitor: He assumes he has to destroy Todd in the Shadows to win The Nostalgia Chick's heart, not getting that Todd has no interest in the Chick whatsoever.
- Humongous Mecha: He steals Neutro!
- If It's You It's Okay: At cons especially, both Doug and Lewis (Doug in particular) like pushing the idea that Linkara has it bad for The Nostalgia Critic.
- Iron Butt Monkey
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the Sonic Live commentary, Lewis says that Linkara is a good guy, but he's still an asshole. He specifically points out the fact that Linkara's taken to using his new spaceship to win arguments with his friends, but he would never actually blast any of them.
- Laughing Mad: Subverted in the Rise of Arsenal #1 and #2 review. It looks like it at first, with a disbelieving expression melting into peals of laughter... And then it turns out he's actually amused.
- Marty Stu: As a result of his ever-growing ego, he practically tried to invoke this in-universe during the Vyce Arc... and hoo boy did he suffer for it. By this point, he'd become so confident in his preparation, strategy and combat skills that he more or less jumped into the fight with the Big Bad with the assumption that because he held his own better against Mechakara that he'd win. Cue Vyce's Curb Stomp Battle, in which he defeated Linkara with pretty minimal effort.
- Character Development: After the Entity Arc, this attitude vanished completely. He became a lot more sensitive to his friends' feelings and observations and expressed much more compassion towards them. Even before then, humility began creeping in during the arc. Case in point, look at how panicked he becomes when he realises that the Entity has taken everybody he loves. The proud Linkara of old probably wouldn't have acted that way.
- Medium Awareness
- Men Use Violence, Women Use Communication: "I AM A MAN!" (PUNCH!)
- Mr. Fanservice: Between the snappy dress sense, the feminism, and a reasonably attractive face, Linkara's got a lot of female fans. And not necessarily for pure reasons.
- Narcissist: When the Chick can hear the thoughts of guys she knows, all she hears from him is "I'm awesome" repeated over and over.
- Nice Hat: It's magic apparently!
- Nerd: He even admits it.
- Pride: The main reason why he'll never be the hero he thinks he is. His repeated victories and successful strategies tend to inflate his ego to ridiculous levels. It's only ever been brought down after being on the receiving end of a Curb Stomp Battle from Lord Vyce and being subjected to the Entity making everything a living hell for him. Starting from the beginning of the latter's arc, his girlfriend and Harvey Finevoice have started calling him out on it.
- Pet Peeve Trope: Monster Clown
- Robot Me: Mechakara
- Selective Obliviousness: Still appears to be baffled to Dr. Insano's true identity. Then again, so is everybody.
- Self-Serving Memory: When he mentions the events of Kickassia, Linkara neglects to mention his attempt to seize control of the nation, instead claiming that he "liberated" it.
- Shonen Upgrade: He is planning this for Mechakara's return, even going as far as to hire Dr. Linksano to achieve this.
- Skeptic No Longer: He originally poo-pooed the idea of the Entity. Come the next story arc and he's absolutely scared s-less of it.
- Stupid Evil: To paraphrase Film Brain; for a guy who reviews comic books he makes a crap villain.
- Super Mode: Zeo Linkara
- And now he's the Green Ranger!
- Talking the Monster to Death: Literally. Linkara eventually realizes that there's no way he can beat The Entity/Missingno. by brute force, so instead he does this, asking it what it plans on doing after it becomes the only thing in existence and ultimately convincing it to explore what happens when an Outer God dies.
- Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty: Louis' commentary lampshades the fact that, in order to defeat Vyce, he had to fight dirty at every conceivable opportunity; which is what led to the Worf Had the Flu-induced victory over him.
- Unfortunate Names: Was bullied at school because his last name, Lovhaug, is pronounced "love-hog".
- Waxing Lyrical: Whenever the comic includes text that happens to be identical or similar to the lyrics of a song, his response is usually a continuation of the lyrics.
Allies
90s Kid
A character created by Linkara to poke fun at The Dark Age of Comic Books. An obnoxious teenage slacker who prefers blood, guns and Rob Liefeld over plot, characterization and good artwork. Also a huge fan of the Sega Genesis, the most hardcore console of all time which did what Nintendidn't.
- A-Team Firing: During the Silent Hill: The Grinning Man review. Iron Liz snarks at him for it.
- Big Word Shout: "DUUUUUUDE!"
- "And one of them has the greatest superpower of all, GUUUUUNS!"
- Catch Phrase:
- "Duuuuuuuuuuude! [insert lame 90s comic, character or concept here] is AWESOOOOOME!!!"
- "I'm '90's Kid, and what you see is what you get!" (to finish most of his segments)
- Crosses the Line Twice/ Something They Would Never Say: His idea for a Nirvana reunion involves digging up Kurt Cobain's body and having zombie chicks play him like a puppet.
Linkara: "There is something seriously wrong with you!"
- Crossover: Is best friends with 80's Dan.
- Dark Age of Supernames: His ideal comic book hero is named "Bloodgun", and wields a BFG called "the Bloodgun of Bloodgun".
- A Day in the Limelight: Got to review Freak Force #1 when Linkara went missing.
- Dead All Along: The Entity/Missing No. has been impersonating him. The real 90's Kid got taken before the KISS Comics review.
- Thankfully, he gets better.
- Dead Baby Comedy : Subverted, it looks like he's about to cheer Superboy Prime for vaporizing a pregnant woman, when he actually thinks that's a horrible thing.
- Darker and Edgier: A big fan of this.
- Disco Dan: Possibly - it's unclear whether he's actually supposed to be talking from the 90's or not. The Avengers joint review with Spoony suggests it, though.
- Distaff Counterpart: 80's Chick.
- The Ditz: To the point that he appears in Todd in the Shadows's review of "S&M" to display the intellectual capacity of the website ("What's a Rihanna?").
- Dork Age: Parody of it.
- Drop-In Character:
Linkara: "Just ignore him--he's like a pop-up ad, he won't go away."
- Everyone Has Standards: Even he thinks Superboy-Prime killing a pregnant woman was going too far.
- Friends Rent Control: He appeared in a cameo in The Nostalgia Critic's review of Bio-Dome to explain how it was apparently the way things worked in The Nineties.
- And then Reality Ensued when his landlord arrived with an eviction notice... And a battering ram... And a sawed-off shotgun.
- Heroic BSOD: After the above Superboy-Prime incident. He gets better after picking up a Rob Liefeld comic.
- He has another one when Oancitizen tells him that Nirvana is responsible for the creation of Nickelback.
- Which is especially funny considering how Linkara has stated that, unlike most critics, he actually likes Nickelback.
- He has another one when Oancitizen tells him that Nirvana is responsible for the creation of Nickelback.
- Keet
- Large Ham
- Leitmotif: Constantly has Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" playing in the background, or, more often than not, it was "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Smells like Nirvana".
- Like a God to Me: "Liefeld, you are my god!"
- Limited Wardrobe: He's always with that Grungey plaid shirt and a black "WYSIWYG"[1] shirt.
- No Indoor Voice
- Perverse Sexual Lust: Has written both a fanfic and a review script where he makes out with Obscurus Lupa.
- Totally Radical
Alex Munroe
Lead character from Star Trek Elite Force, which Linkara did a Let's Play of. Originally an ensign in Starfleet, now promoted to lieutenant. Has so far appeared in Atop the Fourth Wall twice, a brief cameo when reality was damaged in the Micky Mantle review, and then a more substantial one at the end of Linkara's review of the Elite Force tie-in comic.
- Badass
- Catch Phrase: "I'm Ensign Munroooooooe!"
- Large Ham
- Only Sane Man/Hypercompetent Sidekick: Compared to the rest of the crew of Voyager, that is...
Continuity Alarm
A device which starts beeping loudly and flashes its name on the top and bottom of the screen whenever Linkara starts rambling about continuity issues in a comic.
- Deadpan Snarker: Will occasionally alter the "CONTINUITY ALARM" text to make smart remarks and bicker with Linkara.
- Foreshadowing: It gets broken and is one of the first signs of Mechakara's meddling... or so we are led to believe. It was actually broken by Dr. Linksano.
Harvey Finevoice
Linkara's other main alter ego, a lounge singer from The Fifties with a touch of The Mafia.
- The Cast Showoff: In his Anita Blake review, he skims the second issue so that he can perform a full-length song number instead.
- A Day in the Limelight: When Linkara was interdimensionally abducted, he guest-hosted the show and reviewed Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter.
- Disco Dan: In a subtler way than 90's Kid, but still.
- Elvis Has Left the Planet: In one of the joke Multiple Endings to Linkara's Silent Hill review, Harvey is actually an alien from a planet with good comics. An interview has confirmed the two are in-fact separate characters, and Earth!Harvey wants to do a duet with Alien!Harvey.
- The Heart: During and after the Vyce Arc, Harvey became a lot more supportive of Linkara's True Companions, encouraging them to keep getting up during their battle with the Big Bad. Plus, when Linkara starts naming his spaceship, Finevoice's tone implies that he thinks it should be "Vigilant", since that was the one chosen by his friends.
- He Knows Too Much: The Entity gets him after he recognizes the words in the Silent Hill book.
- His Name Is--: After taking a look at the Silent Hill book he comes to a realization, but runs into the Entity before he can warn Linkara.
- Insistent Terminology: Consistently addresses both Linkara and Iron Liz as "kid."
- Older Sidekick
- The Nicknamer: Rarely, if ever, calls the others by their actual name. Linkara and Liz are both "Kid", 90's Kid is "the idiot", Pollo is "the robot"....
- More Dakka: In the Power Rangers review, he attacks Mechakara with a tommy-gun.
Iron Liz
Linkara's former Real Life girlfriend, who appears sporadically in his reviews. During his disappearance, she filled in for him in a review and stuck around after he returned. She reviews Tabletop RPGs on her own website as well as That Guy With The Glasses.
Linkara-Prime
Linkara's real-life father. He makes occasional cameos in Linkara's videos, including as a 50-something version of his son and Jacob Marley from A Christmas Carol.
The Magic Gun
Linkara's weapon of choice partner, the Magic Gun is true to its name. It shoots lasers, and is frequently used as a tool when a comic gets so bad it drives him to suicide. Or something else does. He can also rely on it whenever he's in a fight; when he can't, you know he's in trouble. Though one wonders where he got it...
- Artifact of Doom : Subverted. While it was created by sealing the tortured soul of a little girl inside it, after taking revenge on her parents the girl's spirit has become much more benevolent, protecting Linkara and treating him as a friend.
- Belated Backstory: See the spoilers.
- Gone Horribly Right: The cultists' plan to make the ultimate weapon worked too well; once forged it proceeded to kill them.
- Hand Wave: "It's magic, I don't have to explain it!" Subverted later.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The cultists were destroyed by the weapon. See Gone Horribly Right above.
- No Name Given: As of now, Linkara has no idea of what her name is.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: Was created in a ritual by sealing away a little girl's soul inside it in order to make an all powerful weapon born out of sheer rage and hatred.
Ninja Style Dancer
A ninja who likes to dance. Another Linkara character, based off the bizarre reference in Nightcat to the title character's backing dancers being described as "Ninja Style Dancers".
- Almost-Dead Guy
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin
- Informed Attribute: As with many examples of The Voiceless, other characters (in this case Harvey Finevoice) nonetheless claims he's annoyingly talkative.
- According to Iron Liz, he once beat Harvey in Karaoke, so it's possible he has an even better voice than the professional lounge singer.
- Leitmotif: Has made three appearances thus far accompanied by The Vengaboys' "We Like to Party"
- McNinja (presumably)
- The Voiceless: Except in Linkara's hallucinations brought on by the powers of Silent Hill.
Pollo
Pronounced "Poyo", he's Linkara's Robot Buddy and manager. He took over the show while trying to get Linkara back during the "Linkara Lost" arc. He also hates famed comics writer Garth Ennis and the A.I. Is a Crapshoot assumption about robots.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Subverted. As stated above, he hates this, and even had Linkara do the Strange Adventures review to prove his point.
- Bilingual Bonus: His name in Spanish means "chicken."
- Breakout Character: Was originally just a robot puppet for Linkara's Mystery Science Theater 3000 fanmovie, then a one-off gag for the Amazons Attack review, but Linkara liked him enough for him to become a recurring character.
- Brilliant but Lazy: As shown by his fights with Linksano and Mechakara, he can be pretty crafty when he wants and is quite efficient as the show's manager... But also tries to avoid work as much as robotly possible.
"Linkara":What do I pay you for again?!?
- Deadpan Snarker
- Drop-In Character: Began as this, but now appears more regularly and is important to the plot.
- The Other Darrin: In his first appearance, he was voiced by Microsoft Sam, but the voice source was later changed to Speakonia.
- Robot Buddy
- Sidekick
- Synthetic Voice Actor
- Took a Level in Badass: Previously just a Drop-In Character who did really nothing at all, he now apparently manages the show and even beat Insano all by himself and managed to keep the show afloat during Linkara's absence.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Is genuinely friendly with Linkara and has saved his life more than once...and when he does, he takes every opportunity to screw Linkara over with embarrassing return favours.
Tom Servo
Yes that Tom Servo. A puppet of the robot that Lewis' brother Graham gave him for Christmas shows up several times, including when Liz and Linkara are wishing us a Merry Christmas.
- The Cameo
- Canon Immigrant
- Drop-In Character: Somewhat. He shows up in the opening in a display.
- Mirrorverse Pollo uses the puppet as his body, while the normal Pollo body sits in the display case.
- Pollo recently took over the puppet to beat Lord Vice, who had taken over his old body.
- Robot Buddy: A secondary one.
- The Voiceless
NIMUE
The AI built to run Comicron 1. She has yet to be installed there, however, and is currently in Linkara's house running security.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Linkara tests this by supplying a hypothetical Humans Are the Real Monsters scenario. Her final response is that it would be Someone Elses Problem.
- Fridge Brilliance: Hypothetical nothing, that's today's Crapsack World!
- Shout-Out: Nimue is the real name of the Lady of the Lake from the Arthurian mythos. Linkara has previously said that Camelot is his all-time favourite film.
- She was also inspired by DECA from Power Rangers in Space.
- According to Word of God her statements of "Information" are a Shout-Out to Zen from Blakes Seven.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Possibly for Pollo.
Boffo the Clown
A clown in a Willy Wonka suit introduced to fight the Monster Clown stereotype. Communicates with a horn.
- It's Probably Nothing: Linkara's reaction to his disappearance.
- Monster Clown: Defied.
- Non-Ironic Clown
- Sacrificial Lamb: He lasts less than 30 seconds before he's abducted by the Entity off camera.
- The Comically Serious
- The Voiceless
- Unexplained Recovery: Returns with the rest of the world in Pokemon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu.
Dr. Linksano
Dr. Insano's alternate-universe counterpart. He is trying to take Insano's spot as Big Bad and designated science villain, but isn't very good at it. His latest failure led to Linkara Hiring him as his scientific adviser.
- Alas, Poor Villain: The Entity attacked him at the end of The Backstreet Project #1.
- Badass Longcoat: Minus the Badass.
- Big Bad Wannabe
- Butt Monkey: Heading this way.
- Continuity Nod: He's actually Oscar Schlumper from Spoony's Party Mania review, while his brother Wayne is the Insano of their universe.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Linkara does just this to get him to become a member of his group. In addition to offering him pay as Linkara's scientific adviser, he also explains to Linksano just how much of a hard and thankless job running the world would be if he were to actually conquer it, and gives Linksano full access to Comicron-1's science lab (to satisfy his scientific urges), and holodeck (to satisfy every other power fantasy that running the world wouldn't actually give him time to indulge in). Mad scientist or not, Linksano realizes how much of a good deal that is, and signs on.
- Defeat Equals Friendship: Built a Cybernat to Fry Linkara, didnt work, got himself a logic bomb dropped on him, Heel Face Turn
- Didn't See That Coming: Yeah, he's worked for Vyce.
- Enemy Mine: He teamed up with Linkara against their common foe Lord Vyce, tired of running from him through different universes.
- Even Evil Has Standards: In Linkara's joint review of The Spirit with Film Brain, Linksano thinks that melting someone's face is acceptable, but melting a cat (as Octopus does in the movie) is just wrong.
- Filler Villain: Basically just a breather between Mechakara and Vyce.
- But now it's was revealed that he was actually important to the plot: he gave Mechakara the upgrades Vyce planned to give him.
- Heel Face Turn: in All-American Comics #16
- Logic Bomb: Linkara drops some of this and gives Linksano a holodeck and lab (complete with sparking stuff and flashy tools) apon his Heel Face Turn
- The Evil Genius: Under Lord Vyce.
- The Goggles Do Nothing
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain
- The Mole: Against Vyce.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The minute he found out Lord Vyce was coming to his home dimension. Did the same when Vyce came to this one.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He owes his existence to Linkara's desire not to need to bug Spoony for Doctor Insano footage.
- The Starscream
- Sure Why Not: Originally his official designation was "Alternate universe Doctor Insano". "Linksano" was just a fan nickname that stuck.
- Trrrilling Rrrs
- Unexplained Recovery: He comes back after the Entity's defeat.
- Unknown Rival: His defeats have either been by accident or by Pollo. Linkara didn't even know about him until the final stage of his plan.
- Wham! Line: "Weep for your universe Linkara. Weep for all universes. For Lord Vyce is coming, and all he sees, he conquers."
- "Now's where things get really interesting."
Villains
Bear
He's evil. He's behind everything. He's six inches tall.
- Creepy Doll
- Everything's Worse with Bears
- Phrase Catcher: BEAAAAAAR!
- Shout-Out: His Real Life name is Littlefoot.
- Silent Bob:
Linkara: He's a bear! What did you expect?
Dr. Insano
A recurring character in both The Spoony Experiment and Atop the Fourth Wall, Dr. Insano is a mad scientist bent on world domination, and the former President of the United States. He's also Linkara's archenemy. His section is on the Spoony Experiment page.
The Entity a.k.a Missingno.
A being from Lord Vyce's home universe, described as a "glitch" that threatens all reality.
- Adaptational Badass: In Pokemon, Missingno is mildly creepy if you start applying Fridge Logic, somewhere between useful and annoying if you don't, and is nigh-universally pathetic in battle to the point of usually being incapable of victory. Now, he's a horror that makes Slenderman look friendly and harmless, and reduces entire worlds to nothingness. Also, Word of God says that in this case, all the other glitch pokemon are just different forms of Missingno..
- And I Must Scream: Linkara explains that the Entity's goal of absorbing everything in existence, including existence itself, would ultimately lead to this.
- A God Am I: Even for a being with literally godlike powers, it seems to be a bit full of itself, regarding itself as the most perfect of all beings-which is thrown into perspective when it calls itself an outer god, but simultaneously knows it was the product of a programming error.
- Proves it's undoing in the end-after being forced to acknowledge the meaninglessness of it's own existence, it commits suicide.
- And Then What?: Linkara manages to defeat Missingno. by pointing out that once it absorbs all of existence, it will have nothing else to do for the rest of eternity but exist, and manages to get it to kill itself by asking it what happens when an Outer God dies, which it decides to explore.
- Batman Gambit: Rather than keep fighting Lord Vyce itself, it sat back, impersonated 90's Kid and gambled on Linkara defeating his Arch Enemy for him. It worked.
- Big Bad: Becomes the main threat of its own arc after Lord Vyce is defeated and exiled.
- Bigger Bad: In the Lord Vyce arc.
- Beta Baddie: To absorb all and become all was Missingno.'s way of truly become meaningful, to become something instead of the nothing that it is. When Linkara points out that even after becoming existence itself, existence itself will also become pointless, it accepts the only thing that could bring meaning into its existence: Self-Destruction.
- Catch Phrase: That buzzing sound that's been heard throughout the series: HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMAAAAAAAAAN!!!
- Cosmic Horror Story: Deconstructed awesomely by Linkara in order to defeat it: if the world is truly meaningless as Lovecraft seems to think, then so are the various Eldritch Abominations of the universe. If it became everything, then it would still be just as pointless. It doesn't take this well. Ironically, self-destruction was its way to become meaningful.
- Driven to Suicide: Linkara convinces the functionally-confused Entity to do this after a successful Logic Bomb.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Its voice is heard in a couple videos before being explicitly identified.
- It also was shown in The Dark Knight Strikes Again Part 2 when Linkara made a joke about it.
- It was also shown even earlier, in Linkara's video about comics he won't review. When he's talking about webcomics you may see a page from Super Effective. This page.
- It also was shown in The Dark Knight Strikes Again Part 2 when Linkara made a joke about it.
- Eldritch Abomination
- Evil Sounds Deep: Not usually, but it's voice becomes very deep if you piss it off.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: It actually starts leaving near-subliminal messages in the closing credits of various episodes and whenever the fans ask Linkara about this he says he doesn't see anything.
- Giggling Villain
- God of Evil: Or, at least, it's worshipped as though it was one by Whately and his Cult. It says a lot about the monster, however, that this still tells us nothing about it.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: The telltale sign that it was impersonating 90's Kid. Even scarier than most, since they're literally static screens.
- Hell Is That Noise: It has a high-pitched, mechanical sounding voice which is all we hear of it for a while. More recently, we've heard a vaguely feminine laugh.
- His Name Is--: Marz Gurl said something beginning with "M" before being taken by it. Turns out she was about to say Missingo...
- Immune to Bullets
- Irony:Missingno, a Pokémon, is a computer glitch that evolved to a godlike being that gained life somehow. This makes it more like a Digimon than a Pokemon.
- Logic Bomb: Linkara defeats the Entity this way, making it question the logic of its own end goal if it were to become the only thing left in the universe.
- The Man Behind the Monsters: Inverted, as it's worshipped by Whately as a God of Evil.
- The Missingno: In the most literal of forms
- Nigh Invulnerable: It's perhaps the only villain in Linkara's Rogue's Gallery that anyone has failed to develop any kind of weapon against or true countermeasure for. Every single attempt to fight it off have been met with failure.
- No Ontological Inertia: When it kills itself, everyone is restored to normal. Linksano suggests that it might have been an act of generosity or else just an effect of its death.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Easily the most mysterious villain so far, and all the scarier for it. Even with Mechakara's backstory and motivations being unknown until the end of his story arc, we could latch on to the fact that he was a robot duplicate of Linkara. Here, we've got nothing to go on but some extremely esoteric phrases to know anything about what the Entity even is. Until the end, that is.
- Pokémon-Speak: "huuuuuumaaaaaan..." What else would a Pokemon say when taking human form?
- Uncanny Valley: The Entity is just unsettling to look at. Nevermind that it's taking the form of comic relief 90's kid with a distorted voice and unnatural, interfence cascade eyes, but every shot focusing on it just glitches from time to time, like its voice scratching and repeating, or its body blinking in place or from one place to another. Just its presence is outright creepy, let alone all the rest.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: It doesn't have a form of its own, which is why it's spent an unknown amount of time impersonating 90's kid.
- Villain Poem: "Beneath the seas, Beside the flame, The bones from hell you cannot tame..."
- You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Played with. See "Voluntary Shapeshifter".
The Gunslinger
A mysterious man from another dimension with his own Magic Gun, who wants to gets his hands on Linkara's.
- Anime Hair
- Badass Longcoat
- Blond Guys Are Evil: Or just antagonistic; it's too early to tell.
- Braids of Action
- The Collector: One of his lines implies that he's successfully stolen Magic Guns from others in the past.
- Gadget Watches: His pocket watch appears to serve as a teleportation device, allowing him to beam in and out of Linkara's home.
- The Gunslinger: Of course.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: All we know is that he wants the Magic Gun, and by the time he shows up, Linkara is in no mood to care about why.
- Nice Hat: Basically a black version of Linkara's.
- No Name Given: According to Linkara, he's just known as the Gunslinger. For now, anyway.
Judas Liz
An AU counterpart of Iron Liz, Judas Liz was recruited by Lord Vyce. She and Mechakara attack Linkara but she disappears after a morphed Linkara holds a gun to her head.
- Badass
- BFS: A nice sinister looking one.
- Out of universe, the sword is actually a replica of Frostmourne.
- Chekhovs Gunwoman: At the end of the Vyce Arc, we learn that she's an assassin, although the gun has yet to be fired.
- Evil Counterpart: To Iron Liz.
- Evil Is Sexy: Try and deny it.
- Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Whilst her existence was foreshadowed during Liz's videos, if you only watched AT4W she became this, as there was no foreshadowing whatsoever to her existence on that show and she seemingly just appeared from nowhere to keep Liz out of the Linkara/Mechakara fight.
- Gotta Kill Em All: Judging from Part 3 of Liz's Warhammer review, she's hunting down every other Liz in the Multiverse, though the reason's unknown at this point.
- Leitmotif: "Nightcrawler" by Judas Priest
- Musical Theme Naming: Named after Judas Priest, just like Liz is named after Iron Maiden.
- Meaningful Name: Judas Liz.
- Shout-Out: Judas Liz's sword is Frostmourne.
Lord Vyce
All that he sees, he conquers. In his opinion, protects as well-he was a survivor of a universe destroyed by an Eldritch Abomination known as "the Entity", but grew fed up with his warnings never being listened to and decided it would be better if he took command.
- And It Worked: See Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: His constant pursuit and attacks on the Entity actually managed to hurt it significantly, rendering it vulnerable.
- Anti-Villain: See Well-Intentioned Extremist. Also takes the time to assure Linkara that the universe would be under his protection.
- Badass: Flattens Linkara and effortlessly kills Pyramid Head.
- That's not all. It's recently been revealed that the Entity is not the first Eldritch Abomination he's fought. It's just the only one who survived his attacks.
- Big Bad
- Cassandra Truth: He tried to warn other worlds of the Entity before, but no-one listened (after all, would YOU believe that a glitch from a Gameboy game has become an Outer God?) so he turned to the conquest route.
- Ironically, he falls on the opposite side of this trope later on, refusing to accept that Linkara managed to beat the Entity.
- The Chessmaster: Due to mysteriously depleted resources he sends Mechkara after Linkara in order to weaken him enough to destroy him and as not to scare off a mysterious thing known only as "the Source".
- Curb Stomp Battle: In what was likely a shout-out to Lord Zedd's devastating No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Mighty Morphing Power Rangers, Vyce gets fed up with indirect combat with Linkara and proceeds to completely wreck him before leaving when Linkara manages to inflict some damage to his armor.
- Dimension Lord
- Evil Is Cool
- Evil Sounds Deep
- Evil Versus Oblivion
- The Faceless: We never see him take his helmet off.
- Five-Bad Band: He appears to be forming a nascent group with himself as the Big Bad, Mechakara as The Dragon, Doctor Linksano as the Evil Genius, and Judas Liz as The Dark Chick.
- Humiliation Conga: He ends up being played for a sucker to get him away from his ship and powerless, suffering the combined force of every weapon in Linkara's arsenal, and marooned in a barren universe.
- Inspired By / Required Spinoff Crossover: When viewed in parallel with Linkara's ongoing "History of Power Rangers" series, it's clear that the style of Lord Vyce (in particular his name and his use of a group of Putty-like mooks, the Shades) was inspired by Power Rangers villains, predominantly Lord Zedd.
- Implacable Man: He beats Pyramid Head in one hit. Pyramid Head.
- Knight of Cerebus: After Mechakara's defeat, things went back to being silly when Dr. Linksano became the main villain. Then Lord Vyce came along....
- Mooks: The Shades
- Motive Decay: Downplayed. At first he seems determined to stop the Entity, but when he reappears he is more concerned about being recognized for his exploits then actually stoping the Entity, but is still obsessed with it's destruction for the good of the world. As implied by Linkara after he was beat for the first time, his massive ego was always a part of his character, but it wasn't expounded on before their second encounter.
- Multiversal Conqueror
- Necessarily Evil:He conquers universes so he can protect them from something even worse than him.
- Virtual Ghost: Becomes one to escape from the dead universe. The fact that he is now exactly the same sort of entity as Missngno. is an irony not lost on him.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist
- Xanatos Gambit: Following Mechakara's plot to have the powers of Silent Hill mentally destroy Linkara was really just a plan to ensure that, even if it didn't work, he could see what Linkara and his weapon were capable of.
Mechakara
An evil android duplicate of Linkara come from... elsewhere... harboring nefarious plans. Actually the Alternate Universe doppelganger of Linkara's Robot Buddy Pollo cloaked in a humanoid shell, Mechakara traveled to our world when Doctor Insano breached dimensions with his Hypertime device.
- Artificial Human
- Back from the Dead: Thanks to Lord Vyce.
- And now apparently again, via body-jumping into Pollo's new body from his old hand, possibly as a result of power gained by stealing Linkara's Power Coin.
- Except not.
- And now apparently again, via body-jumping into Pollo's new body from his old hand, possibly as a result of power gained by stealing Linkara's Power Coin.
- Breakout Villain: Originally only created because Linkara wanted a robot version of himself for the end of Superman vs. The Terminator. He decided to bring him back, even though at first he had no idea what to do with him. Eventually, this trope was even lampshaded.
"I was a popular character and villain; seeing me again should drive up the viewers."
- The Chessmaster: He didn't lay a finger on Linkara, his plots more driven at driving him insane, and only attacked him when all those plans failed.
- Curb Stomp Battle: His first fight with Linkara. He won.
- Does it again in their rematch, stopping everything that happened to him last time... Then promptly ends up on the receving end of one courtesy of White Zeo Linkara.
- Death by Irony: The exact reason Lord Vyce gave him his flesh appearance instead of rebuilding him as wholly robotic: he wants this universe's champion to be killed by his own image.
- He was finished off by Neutro, a human piloted mecha.
- The Dragon: Is now this for Lord Vyce.
- Energy Being: Appears to have become one thanks to the magic coin, having remained alive inside his hand until he could transfer to a new body, leaving a trace similar to that of the Entity, but see Red Herring bellow.
- It should be noted, however, that Linkara has said that Mechakara's appearance in the Suburban Knights stinger has to do with this idea actually being correct.
- Evil Counterpart: ...but actually Pollo's!
- Works as Linkara's too, since they look the same and are both excellent strategists.
- Evil Laugh: Magnificent, Mister Lovhaug.
- Eviler Than Thou: Shortly after his arrival, Mechakara scares off Linkara's previous archnemesis, Doctor Insano. And forced him to get a haircut, apparently. But Insano gets the last laugh when, after Linkara defeats Mechakara, he teleports the robot to his lab for revenge.
- Eye Awaken: The latest view of Insano's lab has a close-up of Mechakara's cybernetic eye. Which proceeds to flash on...
- In the Power Rangers Zeo review, after Linkara sets Mechakara's hand on the bookshelf, it wiggles its figners ominously.
- Gaslighting: Seems like his plan for Dead/Alive, using Linkara's already deteriorating mental state to torture him and try to convince him to kill Pollo in order to drive him over the edge.
- ... But the real plan was just for him to drive him insane using the unholy beast the girl from the introductions unleashed. He didn't count on the gun (I.e. the girl's life force) helping Linkara. And now Lord Vyce has upgraded him
- Joker Immunity: Has survived being torn apart twice now.
- Kill All Humans: His ultimate goal.
- Killer Robot
- Knight of Cerebus: The original one.
- Manipulative Bastard: Every plan he had was to break Linkara psychologically. Though it failed and he eventually had to resort to physical violence, it's still his MO and he appears to have figured out the best way to do it.
- Red Right Hand: More like "(comically small) skeletal robotic right hand".
- Maybe not, given his original size.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Red Herring: Appeared to be the Big Bad Back from the Dead of the "His Blue Soul" arc, but in reality it was Lord Vyce.
- Robot Me
- Robotic Psychopath
- Super Strength
- Super Villain
- Sure Why Not: "Mechakara" was originally a Fan Nickname.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Both generally, in that he comes from a universe where humans are in a war with machines, and specifically, as he is an alternate version of Pollo who killed alternate-Linkara.
- Took a Level in Badass: Granted, he was already Badass, but he got even stronger in his second fight.
Pyramid Head
The creature from Silent Hill. Tried to kill Linkara while he was stuck in the netherworld, but Linkara just trapped it in a Pokeball. Killed by Lord Vyce. Later, Whately appears with two of them and Linkara captures another before defeating him.
- BFS
- Curb Stomp Battle: Versus Lord Vyce.
- Mons: Parodied. Twice.
- Sealed Evil in a Can
Whately
The ineffectual villain behind the Silent Hill comics. He turns out to be a follower of the Entity and has been using the aforementioned comics to try and drive Linkara mad to the point of becoming his Cult's prophet. Played by Linkara-Prime.
- Big Bad Wannabe: He tries to come across as a legitimate threat when it's painfully clear that he... just isn't.
- But for Me It Was Tuesday: Pretty much implied.
Linkara: "Do you remember the name of that girl that your cult turned into (the magic gun)?"
Whately (Confused): "No...?"
- Cult: He's the leader of one.
- The Dragon: Subverted. He considers himself to be this...
- Harmless Villain/The Load: ... But he's more like one of these.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The magic gun his cult created? She decides she wants to finish him off once and for all.
- Large Ham
- The Man Behind the Man: Parodied. He's the one behind the various Silent Hill comics and the events connected to them, but he's less of a Magnificent Bastard and more of a raging loon.
- The Man Behind the Monsters: Inverted, as it turns out that the Entity is his master.
- Mind Rape: Attempted. The Silent Hill comics were intended to turn Linkara to their cause by driving him insane.
- Moral Event Horizon: Is considered to have crossed it in-universe by the girl who was turned into the magic gun.
- Shout-Out: His name is Silent Hill comics writer Scott Ciencin's tribute to Wilbur Whateley from HP Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror. On AT4W, though, his name is pronounced "wut-ley" rather than "wait-ley" because of how WUT-inducing he is.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy: Rather hilariously subverted.
Mirror Universe
Mirrorkara
An alternate version of Linkara, who began reviewing comic books in hopes that they could help him take over the world. He also controls a spaceship, and without the interferance of Mirrorsano he would have taken over the Mirror Universe in a matter of days.
- Bad Boss
- Beard of Evil: Resembles that of Mirror Spock.
- Big Bad: In the Mirror Universe, at least.
- Evil Versus Evil: Presumably. While the opening credits have changed, it still shows clips of Mirrorkara defeating the same villains as Linkara. Then again, there is no indication that these versions are still villainous in the Mirror Universe...
- But aren't most of Linkara's foes from alternate universes themselves? Are there mirrors of those universes as well? Were they conquered by Vyce / Mirror Vyce?
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: Has pins of the three Lantern Corps generally considered "evil": red (anger), orange (greed), and yellow (fear).
- Not So Different: Lampshaded by Iron Liz (Linkara himself, however, doesn't see it).
- Take Over the World
Mirrorsano
An alternate version of Dr. Insano (though still played by Linkara) who is just and heroic. Iron Liz convinced him and Tom Pollo to take control of Mirror Comicron-1 from Mirrorkara in order to prevent him from taking over the world.
- Big Good: In the mirror universe, at least.
- Brilliant but Lazy: When Liz suggests he take over Comicron-1 from Mirrorkara, he briefly quips that sometimes its easier just to stun him.
- For Science!: Just like the Insano of our universe, his methods can best be described as "science".
- Man in White: While the white labcoat is no different, he also sports white scrubs, shiny white goggles and white...socks.
- Science Hero
Tom Pollo
An alternate version of Pollo. Shares identical personalities with the Pollo of our universe, except has the body of Tom Servo.
Mirror Liz
An alternate version of Iron Liz. Not much is known about her except for the fact that she thinks 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons is the best in the entire series.
- Something They Would Never Say: Her above statement about 4th Edition.
Linkara: Clearly some kind of transposition has taken place!
Other
Snowflame
A villain from the DC comic New Guardians, in the comic he died in the issue he was introduced (#2) but he was a such a bombastic character that he was rather taken to by many people who read it. Linkara has discovered him and taken him back to his place during the review of New Guardians #1. He worships, and is powered by, cocaine. At this point it isn't clear if he's Linkara's ally or enemy or just some sort of bizarre roomate Linkara's found. More recent strips lean towards 'bizarre roomate'...
- Adult Child: He thinks the snow outside is cocaine, butts into conversations and scenes, and is rather inquisitive natured for an adult.
- He is a Brony or at least would be if he could remember the show and character's names.
- Calling Your Attacks: If "doing random stuff" can be classed as attacks.
Snowflame: SNOWFLAME IS WATCHING YOU READ!
Snowflame: SNOWFLAME IS STEALING YOUR SHOOOOES!
- Cloudcuckoolander
- Large Ham: Much like in his comic book appearance, Snowflame likes to yell and exclaim things.
- He also makes a sandwich in the most bombastic way possible...and then carefully measure the amount of cocaine to put on top.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: His advice on peer pressure is thus: If someone challenges to do <insert challenge here> no matter what it is? Do fifty <Insert challenge here>, At the same time! no matter what the challenge is.
Snowflame: Somebody challenges you to smoke a cigarette? Smoke 50! AT THE SAME TIME!
Snowflame: Somebody challenges you to jump a bench? Jump 50! AT THE SAME TIME!
Snowflame: Somebody challenges you to eat the last cupcake? Eat 50! AT THE SAME TIME!
Holokara
A holographic duplicate of Linkara, down to his very last mannerism and verbal tic, Holokara was created (using Star Trek tech) to fake out Whatley and his eldritch cult when he was forced to review another stack of Silent Hill comic books. Effectively identical to Linkara in every way, save for the fact that he's simply an electromagnetic light construct.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: If you've ever watched Star Trek: Voyager with some regularity, you know that Linkara didn't review a single one of those Silent Hill comics.
- Sarcasm Mode: When 'slain' by Whatley's Pyramid Head.
Holokara: Oh, ow, I have been slain. Blargh.
- ↑ What You See Is What You Get, a typical 90's phrase