Lost Video Game Villain: Ripto

Name: Ripto
Title: King of the Riptocs
Goal: To rule over the Dragon Kingdom, Avalar, and any other world he decides to enter for his own amusement.
Current Whereabouts: Unknown

History/Origins:

Spyro the Dragon has faced many different opponents over the years in his quest to keep the peace in both his own world and the many worlds connected to the Dragon Kingdom, but few have ever proven to be as irksome as Ripto, the king of the Riptocs.  No one is really sure where exactly Ripto comes from, but wherever it is, he did not enjoy his life growing up; unlike other Riptocs, Ripto is considerably short and was often teased about it as a young beast growing up.  Things turned out surprisingly well for Ripto, however, when he accidentally discovered a magic-infused stone while hiding from a group of bullies in a cave.  Riptocs and similar reptilians, unlike dragons, are unable to utilize magic on a regular basis and therefore have little chance of actually taking over any worlds aside from their own.  Ripto was a smart beast, however, and quickly learned how to use the magic crystal to his advantage, even to the point of becoming a fully-fledged sorcerer before he even reached the age of 20 (which, for a Riptoc let alone a dragons, is extremely young).  Escaping from his home world into Molten Crater, Ripto used his negotiating skills to earn the trust of two Riptoc-like monsters, Crush and Gulp, and managed to generate a portal that they could use to escape to another world.  At the same time this was going on, a group of denizens in Avalar were attempting to test out an experimental portal that they too had been working on; when one plugged in a random array of coordinates, however, it accidentally linked with Ripto’s portal, sending him and his two minions into Avalar.  Ripto had always hated dragons not only for their size but their magical powers, and arriving in a world free of them only made him the happiest Riptoc alive.  It wasn’t long after this that he began using his powers to take over parts of Avalar; pressured and out of options, the same denizens constructed another portal to try and summon a dragon to help them; the result, albeit accidentally, was the arrival of Spyro in Avalar.  It didn’t take Spyro long to become annoyed at Ripto, though, and he quickly began helping the denizens in defeating both Ripto’s armies and his two minions, even to the point of sending the poor villain falling off the edge of a cliff.  Though Gulp had accidentally swallowed the scepter Ripto had used to get this far, he tenaciously ambushed the realm’s denizens and stole an experimental power crystal they were suing that supposedly had the power of dozens of Orbs, making it nearly eight times more powerful than the one Ripto had before.  Eventually, Ripto was confronted by Spyro, and with the assistance of the denizens that had brought him there, Ripto was defeated.  Despite this initial defeat in Avalar, however, Ripto would continue to prove to be a nuisance for many years to come, attempting to defeat Spyro and take over the universe on many more occasions, a task that he has yet to accomplish.  Even so, it is doubtful that Ripto will ever give up, if only because he is sick and tired of Spyro calling him “shorty”.

Personality:

Unlike almost all of the other Riptocs known to exist, Ripto is extremely intelligent and is more than classified as a villain simply from his capacity to formulate complex strategies and cause as much chaos as possible while exerting minimum effort.  Since his physical form is still quite limited in terms of power, Ripto generally acts haughtier then he should and allows his minions to do most of his dirty work, something that tends to backfire on him due to the fact that his minions are usually stupid to a fault.  Even though Ripto today has more power than the average dragon by a long-shot, he is still constantly disrespected because of his small stature, making his temper not only dangerously short but extremely violent.  For Ripto, the only thing that matters is conquering every single world that comes into his view; this may make his personality pretty simple and one-sided, but he is nonetheless a villain that should be taken seriously at all times.

Powers:

Ripto is more than physically limited by his small stature but is nonetheless able to cause great destruction with the magical powers he has stolen and perfected over the years.  Much like a true expert sorcerer, it is difficult to say exactly what he is and is not capable of, but in laymen’s terms, Ripto is able to wield fire, electricity, ice, light and a variety of other elemental powers to not only destroy anything and everything that dares to get in his path but even protect himself from harm, making it difficult if not impossible for the average dragon to put a dent in him.  Ripto’s power extends far beyond normal magic, however, in that he is able to both physically alter his form to make himself a brutish giant and even conjure monsters at will, making it almost impossible to get near him without being attacked by an army of monsters in the process.  Despite all of this, Ripto is still vulnerable in that his powers and thus any threat he poses are completely dependent upon the scepter he uses; if separated from his magic bauble, his power is almost nonexistent, though the chance of this ever being a real situation are slim to none.

Future Potential:

Unlike most other forgotten villains, Ripto is still very much around and is constantly spending his time trying to conquer worlds across the universe, only to be beaten and tracked by Spyro time after time.  As far as most villains go, he is pretty simple and not a major pain to deal with, though his extraordinary magic skills nonetheless make him a serious threat to non-magical creatures everywhere.  Given that Ripto has mastered the ability to travel from world to world without any trouble at all, the reach of his influence is practically limitless and it is more than possible that, with the right amount of encouragement and maybe a bit of help, he could easily enter just about any world he chooses, even a world filled with humans such as the one we currently occupy.  Ripto might be a simple enemy with little in the way of showy power or even deep personality, but when it comes to bringing great damage in small packages, this is one reptile that even advanced heroes should pause and contemplate for a moment, lest they find out what can happen if this sorcerer ever loses his temper.