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NegaScott, also known as Nega Scott, is Scott Pilgrim's alter ego and dark side, and represents his forgotten past mistakes. He has no lines, and has only appeared in some panels of the comic. NegaScott is the manifestation of all of Scott's callousness, spite, faults, and flaws, and rather than accepting them and himself, he runs from them, thus creating this physical persona. Though NegaScott doesn't appear that often in the series, he can be considered a major character because of what he represents.
History
NegaScott is first seen in Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together after Scott first contracts The Glow, after discovering that Roxie Richter spent the night at Ramona Flowers's apartment. Scott, however, refuses to accept NegaScott and charges through him, causing him to disappear.
NegaScott has a short appearance in Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe, after Ramona leaves and Scott is staying with Stephen. Scott is brushing his teeth and he looks in the mirror, half of the mirror is him while the other half is NegaScott.
NegaScott merges with Scott
NegaScott is seen again in Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour, when Scott on his "wilderness sabbatical" and contracts the Glow the second time, Scott tries to defeat NegaScott, believing it to be the only way to get over Ramona and carry on with his life. Kim Pine, however points out that if Scott forgets his past mistakes, he won't be able to learn from and he'll just keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Scott then sees a vision of Ramona, causing him and NegaScott to stop fighting. Then, NegaScott merges with him, allowing Scott to finally accept his faults and remember all his past memories he had previously forgotten.
NegaScott and the Alternate Histories
Throughout the series, there have been a number of inconsistencies with Scott's memories and other peoples' telling of events:
- A flashback in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World showed Scott telling Kim he was leaving for Toronto. But in Book 6, it is revealed that Scott never told Kim (she found out from Lisa), causing a rift between them.
- In Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness, Stephen Stills mentions that Scott had been drinking the night he and Envy broke up and that they had a huge fight. Envy confirms this in Volume 6. This conflicts with Scott's memories, which were that he was not drinking and that Envy simply dumped him.
Both of these instances illustrate times in which Scott had repressed his mistakes, rather than accepting his insensitive behavior, making him seem innocent. Scott recovered both of these memories once he merged with NegaScott.
In vs. the World
Micheal Cera as NegaScott in the film adaptation
In the movie, Nega Scott appears shortly after Gideon was defeated, which the dying villain implies may be a creation of his own doing. Knives and Ramona go outside as Scott says he needs to face this challenge himself. In a hilarious anticlimax, both Scott and Nega Scott emerge from Chaos Theatre a few minutes later talking and laughing. When asked what happened, Scott says they just "shot the shit," that Nega Scott was a great guy, that they had "a lot in common" and they were gonna do brunch next week, on Tuesday.
Nega Scott's appearance in the movie is foreshadowed by the game Scott and Knives play, Ninja Ninja Revolution, in which Scott enters a solo round where he has to face a Nega Ninja, Scott mentions he could never defeat the character as his character is effortlessly defeated. There are also at least two deleted scenes of Scott having visions of Nega Scott. The first time was after seeing Knives and Young Neil together. While washing his hands in the restroom, he looked into a mirror and saw Nega Scott next to him. When he turned around, Nega Scott was gone. The second time is at the "4" club, right before he fights Roxie. While arguing with Ramona, he looks up and sees Nega Scott scowling at him, in which he tells Ramona that he's sorry and that he's not normally like a total ass.
Though mostly intended to be humorous, the twist at the end involving Scott and Nega Scott becoming friends instead of fighting can be interpreted as Scott being able to accept his faults.
In the Game
NegaScott's player art in the game.
NegaScott in the game.
NegaScott appears in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game as the boss of World 6, where he is assisted by undead and random minions to distract the player. He has most of Scott's regular moves, including shooting out fire balls and a flying kick attack, however he's much faster and much more brutal making him a very tough opponent. A Lvl of 16 is recommended before facing him as he can do a lot of massive damage to lower level players. After defeating him he teleports into a purple mist and leaves behind $12.60.
NegaScott is also a secret playable character in the game, unlocked by completing the game with all of the 4 Main Character Stories (Not including Wallace or Knives.) at any difficulty. He plays the same as Scott in addition with the above moves and a NegaKnives as an assist. He slightly differs in his stats when selected: At level 1 his guts points are 50, instead of the normal 100, but his tech moves do massive damage (30 fireball and 72-75 flying kick (if strength is 100)). Oddly enough, when NegaScott is selected in story mode, the sixth stage boss is STILL NegaScott. It's possible to have FIVE NegaScotts if you have all players select NegaScott (after entering a code) and going to World 6.
Since Scott fights NegaScott instead absorbing or befriending him as he does in the books and film, this could be interpreted as Scott not accepting his past mistakes which may be why he ends up dating Knives, Kim, and Envy instead of Ramona in his ending. Conversely, if the player is Ramona, then the battle against NegaScott could be interpreted as her being willing to look past Scott's mistakes, which is why in her ending, she and Scott end up together. (Referencing the movie, where Ramona says she should probably "dissappear", and then Scott asks to tag along into a star door, like the one in the ending behind them.)
Unlike other characters, who when losing all lives, turn into angels, NegaScott turns into a purple, demon-like mist.
Endings
thumb|350px|left|The Moral: Always confront your mistakes before they mess you and everyone else up
In NegaScott's ending, he ultimately takes over the world, and makes Ramona Flowers, Stephen Stills, Kim Pine, Scott Pilgrim, and Knives Chau his slaves, he then sends them off to the salt mines to labour away before going to bed.
Boss Battle
He's NEGAAWESOME! (Boss Art)
Scott defeating NegaScott once and for all!
A good tactic for NegaScott is to always jump around and, if he is coming towards you in the air, do an air attack. If he stops at the far side of the screen get out of the way or jump as there are fireballs coming your way (His fireballs can't be blocked with the B/Circle buttons.). Try to avoid being hit by his flying kick as it deals lots of damage, and try to attack him as quick as possible.
Game Sprites
NOTE: These sprites were taken directly from Paul Robertson's blog, and do not match in-game palette used for NegaScott.
Trivia
- NegaScott's fireballs resemble the Pokemon, Gastly.
- NegaScott always has a evil smile on his face in the comics.
- The only instance he doesn't is when he's about to merge with Scott, in which his expression mirrors Scott's (that does not show any feeling).
- NegaScott is shown to be a better fighter than Scott. This is emphasized in the video game where he is shown to be stronger than all the bosses and sub-bosses in-game (Excluding Gideon, although they may equal the same amount of damage) and can take away a player's life in a few moves.
- NegaScott is a reference to the "Shadow Doppelganger" stock character present in many games and anime & manga.
- NegaScott's in-game color swaps is a reference to the Super Smash Bros. series, as characters on the same team playing as the same character get a lighter and darker tint, and it's possible to be completely pitch black as the 4th Color swap. (though pitch black NegaScott could also be a reference to how other shadowy doppelgänger's look)
- Both Scott and Kim appear to be familiar with NegaScott, suggesting that they've encountered him before.
- The dialogue between Scott and Nega Scott while leaving the Chaos Theater in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was improvised by Michael Cera and Erik Knudsen.[1]
See Also
References
- ↑ Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Director's commentary.