That’s Mr. Burns to you or I.

Words escape me when I think of all the dastardly deeds this man has committed over the years. From trying to block out the sun over Springfield, to kidnapping Tom Jones… er, ok he might be let off the hook for that one, but my point remains, he is a bad, bad old man . He even managed to single-handedly steal a trillion dollar bill from the U.S. government – Chrysler, Ford and GM together haven’t been able to top that one! I digress, but when it comes to being the baddest baddie on the block, Mr. Burns has enough dirty tricks up his sleeve to send your average villain running to the nearest underground lair.

Thanks to everyone who voted in the Cartoon Villain Showdown. There were plenty of surprises, and some of the biggest names dropped out earlier than expected. Eric and I had a lot of fun putting it all together. Stay tuned over the next couple of months, we already have another contest planned.

Of course the final winner is up to you – just leave a comment, or drop Eric and I an email and we’ll work out the final result. This being such an important decision to make, we’re accepting entries for two weeks, until April 20th. Choose carefully, and get voting!

This time, the cartoon villains of the 80’s were both conclusively eliminated, as Wile E. Coyote out-foxed Skeletor, and Mr. Burns beat Megatron. Excellent.

Feather’s McGraw beat Dick Dastardly, proving penguins are even harder to catch than pidgeons, and finally The Brain took one step closer to taking over the world by winning against Bluto.

The final match-up is just around the corner, so get voting for who you want to make it to the last round – winners will be announced on Friday, so hurry!

Another week, another batch of animated arch-enemies fall by the wayside. Yes, sixteen bad-guys have been announced in the Cartoon Villain Showdown, but now we’re left with eight final contestants – the very cream of mean.

Skeletor proved too much for little Invader Zim to handle. Megatron showed Cyril Sneer that it takes more than chomping on a cigar all the time to be considered truly naughty. Size, it seems, really does matter when it comes to evil scheming, as Dick Dastardly convincingly beat modern meanie, Plankton. And finally, tricksy schemer, The Brain polished off Gargamel – hats off to Chad for remembering the name of Gargamel’s cat by the way, even Eric couldn’t remember that one!

Things are getting very interesting now we’re down to the second round. Without any time to waste, get voting on your favorite villains. The next group of winners will be announced on Friday.

Strangers have been stopping me in the street lately and asking the same question, time and time again – “Shane, how do you pick which villains will be included in the contest?” Eric and I thought we’d take you behind the scenes for a little preview.

There’s a detailed list of criteria that each underhanded applicant has to meet, for instance, average number of foiled attempts at evilness, ratio of evil laughs to evil deeds etc. These statistics are then tallied up and multiplied by the mean (very mean) average of cronies/lackeys and then… look, it’s a detailed science that only Eric and I have been able to perfect over the years, and even then it’s not exact.

The only true way to find out who’s the baddest is to vote, so without further ado we give you the final batch of baddies in the Cartoon Villain Showdown!

Wile E. Coyote, was able to out-fox Team rocket, most likely with the help from an Acme product or three. Angelica proved she needed to take a leaf out of Maggie Simpson’s book if she had any hope of defeating nasty old Mr. Burns. Dr. Claw was the only contender in the whole first round who didn’t get a vote, proving that if you can’t beat a clutz like Inspector Gadget, you’re not going to stand a chance against big bad Bluto. And finally Feather’s McGraw saw off one of my favorites, Shredder – be sure to keep an eye on him, he’s sure to go far.

Eric and I would like to thank everyone for voting this week, we had a great response, especially from Kelvin with his in-depth analysis… he’s surely a criminal mastermind in waiting! Maybe that should be a Linkedin recommendation?

Be sure to check back on Monday for the next round of matches, we have some fiendish surprises for you!

The names of the crafty contestants have been randomly selected from a hat, (a cowboy hat, actually) and the first round of match-ups selected. This week, eight villains will be battling, with the other mystery eight being revealed next Monday. All you have to do is leave a comment or email me, and vote for who you think should win. Easy… diabolically easy! Don’t worry if there’s a certain character you don’t know, just guess.

The winners will be announced each Friday and go through to the next round. So what are you waiting for? Get voting, and may the worst weasel win!