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X-Files Episode Elimination Game


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This is TOUGH.  The Eves are great but I'm happy with them being in my third place, so focusing on Tooms v. Boggs.

 

Tooms has the distinction of being probably the best retread monster.  His second appearance is just as good as his first, unlike Modell and Pfaster.  Doug Hutchison's baby-faced looks make Tooms extra creepy, too.

 

Boggs is great because Brad Dourif does such an amazing job in the role.  Every time he "channels" someone different, his entire countenance changes and you can really see flashes of them in him.  The connection with the actual killer is never really defined all that well, IMO, but that's more a problem with the episode than the character.

 

UGH.  I think I'm going to go with........

 

.........

 

.........

 

Boggs.  I think I like that we never really know if he's a bad guy or not.  (In this part of the story anyway, obviously he did kill his relatives and makes no defense for that.)  Every single time I watch the episode, I waver back and forth on believing that he's just playing Scully to get to Mulder, and believing that he's sincerely trying to help find those kids.  Even if he is only doing it to keep himself off death row.

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As tough of a choice as this is, I think I'm going have to go with Tooms, with Luther Lee Boggs a close second.  Tooms was the first MOTW and he was just creepy as all get out, maybe even moreso in his second appearance.  That's a pretty difficult feat to achieve.

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I still can't decide.  I think I've settled on Tooms as my number three, but I can't make up my mind on number one.  I want it to be the Eves, but Brad Dourif is making it pretty hard to put Boggs in second.

 

Forcing myself to make a decision already, I'm going to go with Boggs as the most interesting, for the same reasons Taryn noted.

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If I had to choose for most creepy villain, Tooms would win, hands down. But I actually find Boggs to be the most interesting of the two. Tooms' motivation is pretty straightfoward: he needs livers to live and survive hibernation. Boggs, as Taryn said so well, is much more of a mystery, and that is why I find him more fascinating. So Boggs it is for me.

Edited by mauve
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With three votes, Luther Lee Boggs is our winner.  With two votes apiece, the Eves and Tooms tie for second place.

 

The Most-Interesting Villains of the Week, Season One:

 

1. Luther Lee Boggs (Beyond the Sea)
2. The Eves (Eve)
     Eugene Victor Tooms (Squeeze and Tooms)
4. Cecil L’Ively (Fire)
5. Phosphorescent bugs (Darkness Falls)
6. That beast woman (The Jersey Devil)
7. Parasitic glacial worms (Ice)
8. The Eurisko computer (Ghost in the Machine)
9. Brother Andrew (Genderbender)
10. Howard Graves through Lauren Kyte (Shadows)
11. John Barnett, AKA the salamander hand guy (Young at Heart)
12. Dr. Arthur Grable through Roland Fuller (Roland)
13. Warren Dupre through Jack Willis (Lazarus)
      Charlie Morris through Michelle Bishop (Born Again)
15. Mars Face ghost/alien/whatever-the-hell-it-is through Lt. Col. Belt (Space)
      Leonard Vance (Miracle Man)
17. Deputy Lyle "Werewolf" Parker (Shapes)

 

I think it's interesting that, although the season's (and series') very first VOTW tied for second, we generally felt the villains got less interesting as the season progressed, except for a big surge in the middle:  Other than the phosphorescent bugs, the villains of the late-season episodes ranked toward the bottom.  From the mid-season episodes came our other second-place villain, along with our winner and our fourth-place villain.

 

Thanks for playing, all.  Having used this first round to work out my behind-the-scenes logistics (how to keep the tally, exactly how to handle the weighted voting, etc.), I'm going to move things along faster in future: We'll do two seasons at a time and vote for more villains each round.  Shortly, I'll put up a draft list of the season two and three villains so that you can weigh in with any tweaks, and we'll be ready to go tomorrow.

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Okay, season two.  The ultimate villain in Blood seems to be the ubiquitous shadow government, so I skipped that one rather than listing the stuff that got sprayed on the crops and made the machines tell people to kill.   Same with Red Museum; the doctor was the one injecting the kids, but someone else was the one marking them (trying to expose what was happening to them?), but it again seems to be this shadow “let’s test alien DNA on people” government calling the shots.  The shadow government was also the culprit in F Emasculata.  And the Fearful Symmetry zoo animals were being manipulated by aliens.  Or something.  Now, Duane Barry is an interesting case, but he does plenty of his own accord - albeit for sympathetic reasons - to count, IMO.  So I came up with this; any clarifications or corrections, as I had hazy memories of a lot of it?

 

Flukeworm (The Host)
Augustus Cole (Sleepless)
Duane Barry (Duane Barry and Ascension)
The Unholy Trinity (3)
Dr. Trepkos/Volcanic Lifeform (Firewalker)
Dr. Larson (Red Museum)
Invisible attacker (Excelsis Dei)
Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)
Donnie Pfaster (Irresistible)
Mrs. Paddock (DHDV)
Col. Wharton (Fresh Bones)
Contaminated Water (Dod Kalm)
Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)
The spirit of Michael, the dead twin (The Calusari)
Dr. Banton (Soft Light)
Walter Chaco and the other townspeople of Dudley (Our Town)

 

Season three.  Am I the only one who didn’t know the homicidal maniac bellhop in CBFR was called Puppet?  Anyway, as always, shadow governments and aliens were left out (which means no Lord Kinbote, damn).  So that produced the following; let me know if you have any thoughts on adjustments to it: 

 

Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.)
The bellhop, Puppet (Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose)
Neech Manley (The List)
Virgil Incanto (2Shy)
Sgt. “Rappo” Trimble (The Walk)
Carl Wade (Oubliette)
Simon Gates (Revelations)
Robotic Cockroaches (War of the Coprophages)
Terri and Margi (Syzygy)
Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque)
Robert Modell (Pusher)
Jaguar spirit (Teso dos Bichos)
Organ harvesters (Hell Money)
Succubus (Avatar)
Big Blue (Quagmire)

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Looks like we're ready to find the most-interesting villains of the week for seasons two and three. 

 

Season Two:

 

Flukeworm (The Host)
Augustus Cole (Sleepless)
Duane Barry (Duane Barry and Ascension)
The Unholy Trinity (3)
Dr. Trepkos/Volcanic Lifeform (Firewalker)
Invisible attacker (Excelsis Dei)
Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)
Donnie Pfaster (Irresistible)
Mrs. Paddock (DHDV)
Col. Wharton (Fresh Bones)
Contaminated Water (Dod Kalm)
Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)
The spirit of Michael, the dead twin (The Calusari)
Dr. Banton (Soft Light)
Walter Chaco and the other townspeople of Dudley (Our Town)

 

Season three:

 

Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.)
The bellhop, Puppet (Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose)
Neech Manley (The List)
Virgil Incanto (2Shy)
Sgt. “Rappo” Trimble (The Walk)
Carl Wade (Oubliette)
Simon Gates (Revelations)
Robotic Cockroaches (War of the Coprophages)
Terri and Margi (Syzygy)
Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque)
Robert Modell (Pusher)
Jaguar spirit (Teso dos Bichos)
Organ harvesters (Hell Money)
Succubus (Avatar)
Big Blue (Quagmire)

 

Vote for the three villians you want to see eliminated first, in order. 

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For season two, I'll start with those I don't/barely remember, since by definition they can't be interesting to me:

 

The Unholy Trinity

Augustus Cole

Invisible Attacker

 

With season three, I remember them, but some definitely bored me:

 

Succubus

Carl Wade (actually, him I don't remember, because Lucy annoys me so much I always skip this episode in rewatches)

Simon Gates

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The spirit of Michael, the dead twin (The Calusari)
Invisible attacker (Excelsis Dei)

Dr. Banton (Soft Light)

 

Sgt. “Rappo” Trimble (The Walk)

Succubus (Avatar)

Jaguar spirit (Teso dos Bichos)

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Season 2 and the barely remembered:

Augustus Cole

The Unholy Trinity

Invisible attacker

Season 3 and the barely remembered:

Neech Manley

Organ harvesters

Sgt. "Rappo" Trimble

Edited by joelene
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Having remembered Taryn's desire that we rank the villains of the mytharc at some point, I'm now having second thoughts on including Duane Barry in this game.  Let me know whether you'd prefer to include him with the villains of the week or with the villains of the mytharc.

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The Unholy Trinity (3)
Col. Wharton (Fresh Bones)
Contaminated Water (Dod Kalm)


Jaguar spirit (Teso dos Bichos)

Succubus (Avatar)
Organ harvesters (Hell Money)

 

 

I tend to think of Duane Barry as somewhat separate from the mytharc villains in general probably mostly because he wasn't recurring but also because he wasn't part of the conspiracy but was a victim whose villain-y (kidnapping Scully) was done to save himself and not to further the whole alien/syndicate/conspiracy stuff.  But I would understand if he was lumped in with the mytharc instead since he's definitely connected with it.

Edited by smrou
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Season 2:

Walter Chaco and the other townspeople of Dudley (Our Town)

Col. Wharton (Fresh Bones)

Augustus Cole (Sleepless)

 

Season 3:

Jaguar spirit (Teso dos Bichos)

Simon Gates (Revelations)

Succubus (Avatar)

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Dr. Banton - who?

 

Tony Shalhoub!  Dr. Chester Banton is the guy with the deadly shadow (it's like a black hole) who winds up being held by the government (or shadow government, I forget which) to be a test subject.  I've always found him a sympathetic character in an episode that isn't as interesting as it should be (it's rather slow-moving).

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Barry definitely works in both places but I don't mind keeping him where he is. I think he'd feel just a bit more out of place as a mytharc villain.

And what was up with the invisible attacker in Excelsis Dei? Something something old people's pent-up aggression something something a janitor with special drugs?

Edited by joelene
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Tony Shalhoub!  Dr. Chester Banton is the guy with the deadly shadow (it's like a black hole) who winds up being held by the government (or shadow government, I forget which) to be a test subject.  I've always found him a sympathetic character in an episode that isn't as interesting as it should be (it's rather slow-moving).

Yeah, I find him to be an interesting and memorable character and it's a strong performance from Tony Shalhoub.  The episode is pretty dry, though.

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It's definitely a shame Soft Light is such a forgettable episode. 

 

I think Duane Barry is good in the MotW villains, for all the reasons smrou said.  I don't think of him as a mytharc villain even though his story was part of the mytharc, because he actively kidnapped Scully, his part was over quickly, and he wasn't a part of the recurring shadow gov't.

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Season 2

The Unholy Trinity (3)
Contaminated Water (Dod Kalm) <-- are you kidding me O_o
Flukeworm (The Host)

 

Season 3

The bellhop, Puppet (Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose)
Jaguar spirit (Teso dos Bichos) <-- here fake kitty, kitty :P
Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.)

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Okay, so I did a thing. I put the ranking for our Season 1 Game (taking away the mytharc eps, + Tooms so they would be even numbered) next to our Season 1 Villain Game to see how much they differed. Make of this what you will.

17. Space -- 17. Deputy Lyle "Werewolf" Parker (Shapes)

15. Shapes -- 15. Mars Face ghost/alien/whatever-the-hell-it-is through Lt. Col. Belt (Space)

15. Jersey Devil -- 15. Leonard Vance (Miracle Man)

14. Young at Heart -- 13. Warren Dupre through Jack Willis (Lazarus)

13. Roland -- 13. Charlie Morris through Michelle Bishop (Born Again)

12. Born Again -- 12. Dr. Arthur Grable through Roland Fuller (Roland)

11. Miracle Man -- 11. John Barnett, AKA the salamander hand guy (Young at Heart)

10. Ghost in the Machine -- Howard Graves through Lauren Kyte (Shadows)

9. Gender Bender -- 9. Brother Andrew (Genderbender)

8. Shadows -- 8. The Eurisko computer (Ghost in the Machine)

7. Lazarus -- 7. Parasitic glacial worms (Ice)

6. Fire -- 6. That beast woman (The Jersey Devil)

4. Eve -- 5. Phosphorescent bugs (Darkness Falls)

4. Darkness Falls -- 4. Cecil L’Ively (Fire)

3. Beyond the Sea -- 2. The Eves (Eve)

2. Squeeze -- 2. Eugene Victor Tooms (Squeeze and Tooms)

1. Ice -- 1. Luther Lee Boggs (Beyond the Sea)

Edited by joelene
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The least-interesting villain of season two is the Unholy Trinity, with six votes.  Augustus Cole and the invisible attacker both got four votes, but with the weighted voting ol' sleepless is out second.

 

For season three, the jaguar spirit and the succubus both got five votes, but with weighted voting the killer kitty is our clear least-favorite.  Third out is Simon Gates.

 

Season Two:
 

Flukeworm (The Host)
Duane Barry (Duane Barry and Ascension)
Dr. Trepkos/Volcanic Lifeform (Firewalker)
Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)
Donnie Pfaster (Irresistible)
Mrs. Paddock (DHDV)
Col. Wharton (Fresh Bones)
Contaminated Water (Dod Kalm)
Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)
The spirit of Michael, the dead twin (The Calusari)
Dr. Banton (Soft Light)
Walter Chaco and the other townspeople of Dudley (Our Town)

 

Season three:

 

Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.)
The bellhop, Puppet (Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose)
Neech Manley (The List)
Virgil Incanto (2Shy)
Sgt. “Rappo” Trimble (The Walk)
Carl Wade (Oubliette)
Robotic Cockroaches (War of the Coprophages)
Terri and Margi (Syzygy)
Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque)
Robert Modell (Pusher)
Organ harvesters (Hell Money)
Big Blue (Quagmire)

 

Again, vote for the three you'd like to see eliminated next, in the order you dislike/least like them.

Edited by Bastet
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Dead twin's spirit

Dr. Trepkos and the Volcanic Lifeform (sounds like a band)

Contaminated water

 

Sgt. "Rappo" Trimble (I don't entirely remember this guy, but I remember disliking him)

Organ harvesters

Carl Wade

 

That last one probably isn't a fair vote, as he may be very interesting and I just don't know it because the annoyance with Lucy keeps me from watching the episode, but everyone else I do find interesting to at least some degree - yes, including Neech - so he gets my vote before any of them.

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As far as I remember, Carl Wade is mostly just a creep who likes to imprison girls in his basement. There was nothing that special about him or his motivation (I think?), but the actor really sold the creepiness. It's a plus compared to the ones I barely remember.

Season 2

Dr. Trepkos and the Volcanic Lifeform

Contaminated water (kind if a toss-up between this and Trepkos)

Dead evil twin spirit (nice idea but poorly executed)

Season 3

Neech Manley (I just don't remember him at all)

Sgt. Rappo

Organ harvesters

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Neech Manley (I just don't remember him at all)

 

Dude came back as a fly, and took out J.T. Walsh.  I laughed so hard the first time I saw that; I have no idea why, but it truly delights me.

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Col. Wharton (Fresh Bones)
The spirit of Michael, the dead twin (The Calusari)
Dr. Banton (Soft Light)

 

Sgt. “Rappo” Trimble (The Walk)
Organ harvesters (Hell Money)

Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.)

 

As

far as I remember, Carl Wade is mostly just a creep who likes to imprison girls in his basement. There was nothing that special about him or his motivation (I think?), but the actor really sold the creepiness.

 

 

He really did.  He literally looks like he's getting a "special kind of pleasure" out of cutting Amy's face out of the photo.  *shudder*
 

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Contaminated Water (Dod Kalm)
Dr. Trepkos/Volcanic Lifeform (Firewalker)
Col. Wharton (Fresh Bones)

 

 

Organ harvesters (Hell Money)
Neech Manley (The List)
Carl Wade (Oubliette)

 

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Season 2:

Walter Chaco and the other townspeople of Dudley (Our Town)

Col. Wharton (Fresh Bones)

The spirit of Michael, the dead twin (The Calusari)

 

Season 3:

Simon Gates (Revelations)

Sgt. “Rappo” Trimble (The Walk)

Virgil Incanto (2Shy)

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Season 2:

The spirit of Michael, the dead twin (The Calusari)

Col. Wharton (Fresh Bones)

Dr. Banton (Soft Light)

 

Season 3:

Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque)

Neech Manley (The List)

Carl Wade (Oubliette)

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With five votes, the spirt of Michael the dead twin is out first this round, followed by Col. Wharton with four votes and Dr. Trepkos with three.  The contaminated water also got three votes, but with weighted voting it survives. 

 

In season three, both Sgt. "Rappo" Trimble and the organ harvesters got four votes, but with weighted voting Rappo goes first and the harvesters second.  Neech Manley and Carl Wade both got three votes, but with weighted voting my man Neech bites the dust (alas, he'll be back - and those of you who voted for him better run if a fly lands on you) and Carl hangs on for another round. 

 

Season Two:

 

Flukeworm (The Host)
Duane Barry (Duane Barry and Ascension)
Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)
Donnie Pfaster (Irresistible)
Mrs. Paddock (DHDV)
Contaminated Water (Dod Kalm)
Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)
Dr. Banton (Soft Light)
Walter Chaco and the other townspeople of Dudley (Our Town)

 

Season three:

 

Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.)
The bellhop, Puppet (Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose)
Virgil Incanto (2Shy)
Carl Wade (Oubliette)
Robotic Cockroaches (War of the Coprophages)
Terri and Margi (Syzygy)
Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque)
Robert Modell (Pusher)
Big Blue (Quagmire)

 

Vote for the three villains you'd like to see go and, as always, put them in order so I can use that in the event of a tie.

Edited by Bastet
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I have to apologize for my voting these last couple rounds.  I can't remember half of these villains/monsters and I've been too busy to do the research on them, so I've been operating under the assumption that if I can't remember much about them it must not have been good.  :)

 

Season 2:

Dr. Banton (Soft Light)

Walter Chaco and the other townspeople of Dudley (Our Town)

Contaminated Water (Dod Kalm)

 

Season 3:

Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque)

Carl Wade (Oubliette)

Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.)

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Sorry about the last round. I hadn't noticed Simon Gates was already gone.

Season 2:

Walter Chaco and the other townspeople of Dudley (Our Town)

Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)

Dr. Banton (Soft Light)

Season 3:

Virgil Incanto (2Shy)

Carl Wade (Oubliette)

Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.)

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Sorry about the last round. I hadn't noticed Simon Gates was already gone.

 

No problem! I just wanted to give you a chance to stick someone else in there and move the other two up if you wanted to.  So when counting your votes for those two, I kept them as your second and third choices rather than moving anybody up.

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Dr. Banton (Soft Light)
Walter Chaco and the other townspeople of Dudley (Our Town)

Contaminated Water (Dod Kalm)

 

Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.)

Big Blue (Quagmire)

Robotic Cockroaches (War of the Coprophages)

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S2:

 

Contaminated Water (Dod Kalm)

Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)

Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)

 

S3:

 

Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.)
The bellhop, Puppet (Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose)

Big Blue (Quagmire)

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With seven votes, the contaminated water is out next, followed by Dr. Banton and Walter Chaco and his fellow cannibals with six votes each (and in that order, by the weighted voting).  Harry Cokely was the closest contender at four votes.

 

Carl Wade and Big Blue both got six votes, but weighted voting gives Carl the boot first, and Darren Peter Oswald joins them on the eliminated list with five votes.

 

 

Season Two:
 

 

Flukeworm (The Host)
Duane Barry (Duane Barry and Ascension)
Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)
Donnie Pfaster (Irresistible)
Mrs. Paddock (DHDV)
Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)

 

Season three:

 

The bellhop, Puppet (Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose)
Virgil Incanto (2Shy)
Robotic Cockroaches (War of the Coprophages)
Terri and Margi (Syzygy)
Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque)
Robert Modell (Pusher)

 

It's the penultimate round, so vote for three (in order as always) to give us our three finalists.

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Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)

Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)

Flukeworm (The Host)

 

Robotic Cockroaches (War of the Coprophages)

Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque) -- this episode, and this character, should have been roughly a thousand times more interesting

Virgil Incanto (2Shy)

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Season 2:

Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)

Flukeworm (The Host)

Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)

 

Season 3:

Virgil Incanto (2Shy)

The bellhop, Puppet (Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose)

Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque)

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Flukeworm (The Host)
Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)

Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)

 

Robotic Cockroaches (War of the Coprophages)
Virgil Incanto (2Shy)

Special Agent Bill Patterson (Grotesque)

 

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S2:

 

Leonard, the detachable conjoined twin (Humbug)

Harry Cokely through BJ Morrow (Aubrey)

Mrs. Paddock (DHDV)
 

S3:

 

Robotic Cockroaches (War of the Coprophages)

The bellhop, Puppet (Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose)
Virgil Incanto (2Shy)
 

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