Alderaan: A Retrospective

Alderaan. The "Shining Star" of the Core Worlds, a peaceful planet of unparalleled beauty, rich cultural heritage and a long, proud history dating back more than 30,000 years. And yet, somehow the name has become synonymous with explosive, fiery destruction. One year on, Death Star PR takes a completely objective look back at the "Alderaan incident", at what we've lost and what we've learned, in a quest to finally uncover the truth.

 The mountains of Alderaan. Probably.

What we know
Let's start with the cold, hard FACTS. Alderaan was (almost definitely) a planet that (allegedly) existed. There are many (probably not faked) photos. At some point, for some reason (discussed below), it ceased to exist in its more well-known planetary form in the spatial location it was previously renowned for being found at.

 Alderaan: You don't know what you've got till it's gone.

What may have happened that day
From scientists to conspiracy nuts to "eyewitnesses" who were "actually there", everyone seems to have a different theory on what "actually" happened to Alderaan.

Many scientists have suggested that Alderaan may have spontaneously combusted. "Oh yes," said Professor Iluff Scyeenze, "planets do spontaneously explode all of the time. It has to do with complex gravitational forces combining with a freak build up of magma beneath the planet's mantle, as well as loads of other scientific things like exothermic reactions and the parallax effect and... umm... carbohydrates."

Another strong possibility is an unexpected strike by a huge meteor, as seen in documentaries like Armageddon with Bruce Willis.

Was this man responsible for riding an asteroid into Alderaan? We're not saying he is, but can you prove he isn't? 

More likely, however, is that Alderaan was disintegrated when it was hit by a wayward paragraph of gigantic floating yellow text, a tragic tale that has become all too common in recent years. But where exactly do these unstoppable monolithic paragraphs come from? What do they want? Are they, perhaps, some kind of expository message to us from an unknowable, unfathomable creator? For now, the answers to those questions remain a mystery.

A photograph of one of the rogue paragraphs, taken by one of the few to survive an encounter.

A small minority have even suggested that the benevolent Galactic Empire used the Death Star's superlaser to destroy Alderaan as a demonstration of the Empire's firepower, designed to frighten the Rebel Alliance into submission. Well, just about anybody can suggest anything. Maybe it was accidentally eaten by a gigantic star turtle carrying four giant elephants on its back, who in turn carry some kind of disc-shaped world on their backs. Maybe a giant space bird flew off with it. Or MAYBE it was just a "special effect" made for a "movie" using "computers" and Alderaan never really existed at all.

Who's to blame?
Assuming Alderaan did exist and was blown up? Terrorists. There's a lot of things we don't know in this crazy, mixed up galaxy we live in but one thing's for sure: terrorists are always to blame for explosions.

For years, the Rebel Alliance have been waging guerrilla warfare against the Galactic Empire, constantly disrupting our valiant attempts to bring peace, order and security to the galaxy (even if we have to very occasionally use extreme violence, oppression and fear to do it).

 Grand Moff Tarkin surveys a totally unconnected asteroid field.

Although the Rebel insurgents haven't claimed responsibility for the attack, and indeed have quite vehemently and consistently stated that the Empire is to blame, the reality is that there would be no wars of the star variety or otherwise if the Alliance simply gave up. They won't, of course. They're only too eager to risk your lives for their own selfish ends. Said Eeval Tehryryst: "We're fighting to free the entire galaxy from a ruthlessly oppressive totalitarian dictatorship led by two evil wizards." See? Selfish.

Hypothetically speaking
From a purely hypothetical, non-committal, just throwing it out there kind of a place, if Alderaan did explode and if we did it, which we are in no way suggesting is actually the case, then it would definitely have been totally, unequivocally justified.

 What the Death Star laser might look like if it was fired at Alderaan. Which it almost definitely wasn't.

If the Galactic Empire did, for example, use the Death Star's gigantic superlaser to turn Alderaan into the galaxy's newest meteor field, it would only have been to bring peace to an entire galaxy. A galaxy filled with literally thousands of planets, and possibly to teach a certain uppity Princess a lesson. Are people really going to miss one? After all, doesn't the good of the many outweigh the needs of the few (billion)?

Tarkin, Leia and Darth Vader share a laugh during some father/daughter bonding/abduction time.

Simply put, if Alderaan did get blown up by the Galactic Empire, it was the Rebellion's fault. But even if it turned out that there was some kind of "video evidence" that "proved" we were "responsible", the chances were that we were just test firing the laser when Alderaan shifted its orbit in front of it.

Final thoughts
In all of the discussion of the "horrific tragedy" that (allegedly) befell Alderaan, aren't we all forgetting something? Did the (alleged) destruction of Alderaan really happen to the Alderaanians? After all, you don't hear them bringing it up very often. Isn't it fairer to say that Alderaan happened to all of us? For it is we who must march bravely onwards, valiantly struggling to put behind us/forget completely what (may or may not actually have) happened on that fateful day.

And doesn't that make us the real heroes, in the end?

Yes. Yes it does.

Respect

You have to admire anybody who can wear a cape to work and still command the respect of their employees.

 Kick ass art by Livio Ramondelli, via Coolvibe.

10 Reasons Why You Should Work for the Galactic Empire

With more and more planets coming under the benevolent rule of the great Emperor Palpatine by the day, there's never been a better time to join the Galactic Empire. Here are ten reasons why you should work for us:





10) Earn good money

Well, actually, you’ll earn minimum wage (if you’re lucky) and you'll like it. But on the upside, that’s loads better than having Stormtroopers visit your house in the middle of the night and burning your house down because you decided not to join the Galactic Empire.

9) Great health benefits

Working for the Galactic Empire will ensure you remain in peak physical fitness at all times. After all, what better high intensity fat blasting cardio workout is there than running around doing the bidding of two extremely demanding sociopathic evil sorcerers? Plus, you can forget about Bikram Yoga once you get deployed to a desert planet in full body combat armour.

8) Plenty of opportunities for promotion

There’s literally nothing worse than slaving away day after day, being constantly overlooked for the promotion you so richly deserve. In the Galactic Empire, our on-the-spot employee performance appraisals and liberal use of Force chokes as part of our progressive disciplinary policy ensures there are always vacancies in key management positions for young go-getters. Particularly if you have a flexible approach to certain moral grey areas (like “murder” and “oppression”) and a high pain threshold.

 

7) Travel to exotic worlds

And blow them up.

6) Learn about other cultures

In your travels, you'll encounter diverse cultures, experience fascinating new customs, and be forced to listen to innumerable conversations in alien languages you don'have the time or inclination to understand. You'll also have plenty of time to study their combat methods and tactics in the event that you need to frame them for the murder of unhelpful moisture farmers.

5) Meet interesting people

The galaxy is a vast and wondrous place, teeming with strange and intriguing aliens you couldn't possibly imagine in your wildest dreams. And you'll get to oppress and brutalise them all personally. Or, for those of you who are more interested in hobnobbing with high society, why not consider joining the 483rd Legion, where kidnapping Princesses is their specialty?

4) Face exciting challenges

Most jobs are the same boring stuff day after day. Same cubicle, same coffee place, same small talk, then you die. However, some rare jobs make you continually challenge and better yourself, enabling you to achieve things you'd never have thought possible. Like trying to kill magic space knights with superpowers and laser swords before they can kill you while wearing insanely large helmets that are almost impossible to see anything out of.

3) Stick it to the Alliance

The Rebels talk a big game about fighting for freedom and equality and peace but their track record tells a different story. Would people who love peace really have blown up the Death Star, killing over a million people? Would people who believe in equality really only employ two women, neither of whom are allowed to get involved in the fighting? Why didn't Chewbacca get a medal as well? Will they see Han Solo brought to justice for drug smuggling and the murder of single father and soup kitchen volunteer, Greedo? At least with us you know what you're getting.

2) Work for "hands on" bosses

Most people working for big business or government bodies go their entire careers without ever meeting the men and women at the top. Thankfully, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader both believe in spending time with their employees, getting to know them personally before choking, electrifying, or occasionally even beheading them to death. You call it "murder", we call it "micromanaging".

1) Be more than just a number

Here in the Galactic Empire, we care about our employees and their hopes and dreams. Unlike some corporations, we view our workers as distinct individuals who are so much more than just faceless, anonymous clone drones. You'll never be just a number to us. Because we care.

10 Easy Ways You Can Celebrate Star Wars Day

May the 4th be with you! 

Yes, May the 4th is here. Star Wars day. The day that we celebrate one of the greatest stories ever told, a story that has captured the hearts and minds and money (soooo much money) of countless fans for over thirty years. Apart from the bits with Jar Jar Binks in.

But it also presents a problem for people who don't live in a galaxy far, far away who dream of one day warring amidst the stars: how do you satisfactorily celebrate the occasion? Fret not humans, Death Star PR has the answer. Here are 10 easy ways you celebrate Star Wars Day:

10. Kidnap a Princess and blow up her planet

This one should be a cinch but on the off chance you don't have easy access to a Princess and/or a planet destroying super weapon, try thinking outside the box: substitute "Princess" for "that snooty girl who lives down the street and always ignores you when you stare adoringly at her through the cafe window" and "planet" for "setting fire to her car".

9. Tell Luke You're His Father

This is a classic Star Wars joke that never, ever gets old. Every time you meet, speak to, or hear of someone called Luke today, tell them: "I am your father. Search your feelings, you know it to be true." If you happen to have some kind of laser sword (or katana blade, axe, etc in a pinch) and a reactor shaft handy, the rest of this scene just writes itself.

8. Use the Force

Don't pretend you haven't "used the Force" to open automatic doors. Everybody has. Well today's your chance to revel in it; really just do it continually all day long. Also strongly encouraged: trying to Force choke annoying family members/co-workers/customers.

7. Have an Epic Lightsaber Battle

We understand that Earth is too backwards to have actual lightsaber battles but for this one you'll just have to make do with toy replicas. If you think about it, what makes a lightsaber battle EPIC isn't just having a super cool laser sword that cuts through almost anything while going, "SchwmmMMM!", it's the 47 minute duel across a variety of exotic, increasingly dangerous locales. Start your toy lightsaber fight in the house, take it out to the street, through the traffic, fall on to the top of a passing truck, then roll off that in to a busy factory that, if you're lucky, will be full of molten lava.

6. Do Jedi Mind Tricks

As much as we hate to admit it, Jedi mind tricks do work, it's just most people don't have the patience required to make it happen. The trick to a Jedi mind trick is this: it's not enough to just say, "I'm not the Lloyd you're looking for". You need to say it one hundred times. Or at least, just as many times as it takes for the other person to give up and either agree with you or go away because THEN YOU WIN.

5. Find the Droids No One Was Looking For

We'll be honest, our Stormtroopers kind of dropped the ball on Tatooine but that doesn't mean you can't make up for their mistakes. How, you ask? Any time today you see anything mechanical that could even in the loosest possible sense be described as a robot, point to it and exclaim, "Look! That's the droid we were looking for!"

4. Get Cocky

Although not generally noted for his advice giving, Han did have one great tip for  Luke when he said, "Great, kid. Don't get cocky." The utter irony of this comment coming from the galaxy's cockiest cock makes it a must that you get cocky on Star Wars day. Do this by saying, "I know" any time someone tells you anything, e.g.
Co-worker: "I'm going to get lunch."
You: "I know."
Co-worker: "Probably sushi."
You: "I know."
Co-worker: "So... do you want to come, or what?"
You: "I know."
Co-worker: "I'm going now."
You: "I know."

3. Time to Imperial March

We'll let you in on a little secret. There is one, incredibly easy, surefire way to go from complete loser to total bad ass in under five seconds: throw John William's "Imperial March" on to your iPod, crank the volume to full, hit play and then stride down the corridor, street, etc. For even greater badassery, play it on a boom box and make a lackey scurry after you holding it. Cape optional.

2. Do the "Obi-Wan"

Remember that classically heroic moment when Obi-Wan cut off his best friend's legs and arm and then gave him a lecture about how he was supposed to have been a good guy while the poor kid was burning to death in a river of magma? Well, you can be just as heroic! Give your friend a series of horrible paper cuts, then throw boiling hot water in their face while you deliver a lecture about how they are a bad friend.

1. Shoot First

Actually, most guys already have this one covered, particularly once the Slave Leia costume comes out.

Bonus: Kiss Your Sister

OF COURSE this is a trap. Rebel sickos.

WANTED: Luke Skywalker

Earth's most wanted terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, may be dead but rest assured Sithizens, the Galactic Empire's war against terror continues unabated. Emperor Palpatine has personally guaranteed that the "Mission Accomplished" banner will not fly until Luke Skywalker is brought to justice for his crimes against humanity [and assorted weird aliens].

The Galaxy's most infamous terrorist, "Cool Hand" Luke Skywalker is wanted in connection with the destruction of the first Death Star, resulting in the deaths of more than 1.3 million people, moral depravity and practicing Jedism, as well as planning and executing numerous other Rebel terror attacks.

Skywalker is often seen in the company of other high profile dissidents Han "Low Blow" Solo, Leia "Princess" Organa, Chew "Teddy Bear" Bacca, Lando "Token" Calrissian and droid life partners C-3PO and R2-D2.

He is widely known to frequent desert caves owned by creepy old men in bathrobes, goblin-infested swamps, trash compactors and hives of scum and villainy.

Skywalker is considered one-armed and extremely dangerous.

A New Hope... for the Dark Side

The Galactic Empire had just about written off Earth as being worth sparing, but the actions of one small child suggest that perhaps there is some hope for you yet.

On a trip to the Jedi Academy at Disneyland, Sarah Gallego made the wisest decision of her life. The rest is history.

From all of us here on the Death Star, welcome to the Dark Side, Sarah. You can now enjoy our delicious cookies, Cyborg Limb Replacement Policy, and the ability to shoot lightning at your brother Alex if he bugs you.

Thanks to literally everyone on the internet for the tip, but especially ClawX for being first.

Imperial Oath

In brightest day, in blackest night,

No Rebel shall escape our sight

Let those who worship Jedi's might

Beware our power... Death Star's green light!

The 10 Jerkiest Things Obi-Wan Kenobi Ever Did

While the Rebellion would have you believe that Obi-Wan Kenobi was an excellent mentor, a highly-regarded General, and arguably one of the greatest Jedi Masters ever, the truth is, he was a bit of a douche. In fact, he was such a massive jerk that the hardest thing about writing this list was narrowing it down to just the ten jerkiest things he ever did.

10) Calling Darth Vader a "Master of Evil"

Although he's always been a smug bastard, Obi-Wan took it to a new level when he came face to face with his old apprentice and ex-BFF on the Death Star, calling him a "Master of Evil". Hey Obi-Wan Jerknob-i: when the last time you met, you cut off someone's arm and both of their legs and threw them in to molten lava, you don't get to make a call about who's evil and who's not.

9) Always cutting off everyone's arms

Look, we know we bring this up a fair bit but we really feel that it's a valid point because seriously, doesn't someone with amazing Force powers that include telekinesis, superhuman speed and reflexes, empathy and even limited precognition have A SINGLE BETTER OPTION FOR DISARMING SOMEONE THAN LITERALLY DISARMING THEM? 

8) Training Luke
Although Obi-Wan used the Force for loads of things, he used it most for backflipping like crazy on his opinions. As a younger Jedi, Obi-Wan didn't want Qui-Gon Jinn to train Anakin because he was "too old" for the training at age nine, but was only too happy to train Luke when he was 19. Why? No, not "out of necessity" Kenobi apologists,  but because when you're a hypocritical jerk you can make the rules up as you go along.

7) Not helping Luke on Hoth

Here's the scenario: Your friend has just barely survived a near-fatal crash on a snow planet and is now literally freezing to death. As a ghost who has "become more powerful than you can possibly imagine" by becoming One With The Force, do you:
a) Use your nifty ghost teleportational powers to go get help;
b) Do anything else in any way actually helpful; or,
c) Be a complete jerkbag and ignore the fact that the kid is dying of hypothermia and internal injuries and just give him his next set of marching orders?
You guessed it.

6) Not training Leia

As a child of Anakin Skywalker, Princess Leia inherited great Force powers equal to those of her brother, Luke. So why didn't Obi Wan decide to train her too? Surely two Jedi would have had a better chance fighting evil Sith Lords than one? The answer is simple: Obi-Wan didn't like girls. 
Here's how the Yoda/Kenobi Dagobah conversation actually went:
Obi-Wan: "That boy is our last hope."
Yoda: "No, there is another."
Obi-Wan: "Yeah, I was at the birth, genius. Remember? I just don't count girls."

5) Being a bad friend

So what if love is expressly forbidden by the sacred laws of your ancient religion that has allowed your order of warrior space monks to maintain peace for over ten thousand years? What's so bad about falling in love? What possible downside is their to a moody young Jedi Knight with narcissistic tendencies and a bit of a God complex marrying a career-driven cougar ex-Queen? If Obi-Wan was a better friend, he would have stood by Anakin's decision to be married instead of getting all judgey about it.

4) Not telling Luke and Leia about being brother and sister

We can forgive Obi-Wan for the oversight. I mean, finding out you have a long-lost twin brother or sister probably isn't a big deal for orphans, right? You can certainly see how that little detail might not come up in the many, many hours of conversation aboard a starship hurtling towards the sibling in question. Oh well, it's not like anyone got hurt, because it's not like there's any chance the twins would meet and develop sexy feelings for each other, right?

3) Lying to Luke about his dad

Admittedly, telling the kid you've spent the last 19 years creepily spying on/"watching over" that you were the one who attempted to brutally murder his father is a pretty awkward conversation but it's probably right up there in terms of pretty important information they might want to know before they make the decision to hang out with you. Some people are just weird like that.

2) Leaving Anakin to die

Friends argue. Sometimes they even come to blows. But it takes a pretty special kind of "friend" to cut off your arm and legs and leave you to burn alive in molten lava. Even accepting the fact that Anakin was in some small way responsible for causing the tiff, if you have to be that guy who de-limbs his "friend" and throws them into magma, at least do them a solid for old times' sake and put them out of their incredibly, incredibly painful misery.

1) Hiding the droids we were looking for

By hiding R2-D2 and C-3PO from the great and benevolent Galactic Empire, Obi-Wan was directly responsible for the explosion of the Death Star, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1.3 million people. Sure, maybe a few of them were a teeny bit evil, but what about all of the service staff, subcontractors, senior citizen tour groups, people shopping in any of the 178 beautifully appointed shopping malls, and the sweet, innocent children in the Death Star's 604 baby creches?

In conclusion, Obi-Wan Kenobi: total and utter bastard.

The Death Star was MY idea

The good people at Sneaky Zebra have been working hard on the Galactic Empire's latest advertising campaign. Not that we need one, of course.

The Windows 7 parody completely fresh and original campaign shows the public that what's at the heart of the Death Star isn't a gigantic hypermatter reactor; it's the dedicated, salt-of-the-earth folks who give their all day in, day out to make the Galactic Empire great.

TK-421

"It's a bit of a nightmare going door to door trying to find the droids we're looking for. So I had this idea: what if we could just cut out the middle man and wipe out a planet from orbit?"

Darth Vader

"Wouldn't it most impressive if we had a weapon that was insignificant to the power of the Force?"

Chewbacca

"Rrrawwwrrrlllgghhh! Raawwwrrrr! Groawaarraghr!"

I run the Death Star's PR Department, and the Death Star was my idea.

Franchise

Is being a bad guy getting you down?

Have an evil empire but nobody will take you seriously?

Want to own your own Death Star?

Franchises available, enquire within.

8 Totally Awesome Things About Having A Cyborg Hand

A lot of people criticize Darth Vader's decision to cut off Luke's hand, bizarrely seeing maiming your only son as some kind of a "parenting fail", rather than as Vader's way of giving his son the greatest gift of all: a totally awesome cyborg hand.

Don't believe us? You will. Here are 8 Totally Awesome Things About Having A Cyborg Hand:

1) Say goodbye to oven mitts.
Apart from freedom of speech and anti-fascist dictatorship campaigners, probably the most annoying thing in the world is getting your fingers burnt when you go to pull something out of the oven. With a cyborg hand, that will never be an issue again.

2) More opportunities to wear leather gloves.

Forget having to wait until you're driving your douchey sports car before you strap on the leather; covering up your mechanical hand gives you all the excuse you need to sport a fashion forward hand accessory at all times.

3) Be a bigger tool.
Forget Inspector Gadget or MacGyver. Thanks to recent advances in robot hand technology, your robot fingers can become even more useful with a screwdrivers, laser pointer, or even a can opener in.

4) Cyborgs have super powers.
Having a robot hand makes you a cyborg, and cyborgs are supremely cool deathmachines with superpowers. Name one who isn't. You can't, because they don't exist. Davros? Lightning fingers. Darth Vader? Force powers. Stephen Hawking? Megabrain.

5) No more paper cuts.

Congratulations! Now that you don't have any flesh, you are free from paper cuts, food slicing errors and other annoying hand injuries! Added bonus: you can never feel the touch of another person ever again.

6) Handicapped parking.
Although your cyborg hand has given you super powers, the rest of the world doesn't always need to know about it, particularly not when it entitles you to handicapped parking and sweet, sweet government pension money. You better equip that robohand with a stick, because you're going to need it to beat the ladies away.

7) Do funny impressions.

You are going to win charades every single time from now on. Know why? Because having a robot hand means you can do the best Terminator 2 thumbs-up-sinking-into-molten-metal impression ever.

8) Impress the ladies.
Guys, newsflash: nobody cares about how much money you donated to Alderaanian orphans last year, or how long it took you to train as a cardio-thoracic surgeon, or your chiselled movie star good looks. This is the 2011's. Ladies only care about whether you can crush rocks or block lasers WITH YOUR HAND.

So please Sithizens, the next time Cool Hand Luke Skywalker has one of his patented whinges about his dad cutting off his hand, tell him you wish you had such an awesome father.

Hug

You say "Force choke", we say "loving long distance throat hug".

Old Ben

 


OBI-WAN KENOBI is a creepy old hobo who lives in a cave, does "magic" and "watches over" young boys.


Can YOU really trust him?



This message brought to you by the "Death Star Cares" initiative.

Take It Down A Notch

Charlie Sheen lecturing Lindsay Lohan on impulse control is like us asking the Nazis to take it down a notch.

11 Reasons Why Bad's The New Good

Beside the great hair, chiselled jawline, rockhard physique, nerves of steel and the adoration of the masses, why does everybody grow up wanting to be a "hero"? Life is so much better when you're bad. Supervillain bad. Here are 11 reasons why it's good to be bad:

11) You get to be your own boss.

Nobody likes being told what to do or when to do it. As a supervillain, you get to choose your own pet projects and, more importantly, your own hours. If you enjoy a good sleep in, fine. Get to work on that moon-mounted nuclear missile battery after a late brunch.
Also, having lots of henchmen makes doing household chores a breeze.

10) Traditional black outfit is very slimming AND hides those pesky bloodstains.

There's a reason why bad guys always wear black and it's not symbolism: black hides the flab and the telltale DNA evidence in a way no other colour can.

9) You shouldn't judge a book by its black, hideously disfigured cover

These days the business world is all about style over substance. What you do isn't important, only how pretty you look doing it. Unfortunately, those who happen to have a horribly disfiguring facial scar or a robotic claw for a hand don't even get a chance to prove themselves.
Supervillainry, on the other hand, welcomes those with less than aesthetically "perfect" bodies. Indeed, it's those charming little physical imperfections that make a supervillain stand out from the crowd. And give them some excellent fuel for the "building a doomsday device" fire.

8) Plenty of opportunities to show off that maniacal laugh you’ve been working on.

Sure, they may look effortless but really good maniacal laughs don't just happen by accident. They take time and determination to create. If you're going to put all that effort into something, it's good to know it will be regularly appreciated.

7) Murder is a growth industry.

Everybody's going to die sooner or later, so you may as well make some money from it. Plus, we’ve all wanted to kill somebody at some point. Why fight it?

6) Own exotic animals, interesting architectural features and/or diabolical death traps.

Dog? Big deal. Dining table? So passe. Swimming pool? Yawn. Supervillains aren't bound by the traditional. While everyone else is keeping up with the Joneses, supervillains have encased them in carbonite and use them as decorative lawn fixtures. In an evil lair you can really let your imagination go wild. Want a swimming pool under a hidden floor in the lounge room filled with Gorilla/Sharks with shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, or a dining table that converts into spinning saws? Go for it!

5) Money is no object...

When you can steal it from banks using your TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME giant mole machine. 'Nuff said.

4) Lots of available real estate for that secret base on the moon.

Cities become more and more crowded by the day. You can hardly kill anyone without some inquisitive do-gooder finding out about it and lecturing you about the "sanctity of human life" and the "law" and how experimental freeze rays are "bad". But not on the moon, or deep underneath an active volcano. Quiet, roomy, out-of-the-way locations are a steal to buy AND the perfect place to set up an evil lair.

3) It's good "brain food".

Any pimply-faced, snot-nosed 16 year old kid with magic powers, training from a creepy old wizard and a bunch of ragtag-yet-lovable misfit friends can ruin a lovingly crafted, intricately detailed and incredibly devious plan for world domination in seconds. But coming up with that unnecessarily intricate plan in the first place? That's the hard part. Not many people have the initiative and bravely visionary thinking required to change/take over the world.

2) You get to deliver some great monologues.

The monologue is a supervillain's turn to shine. With all eyes on them, the meglomaniac gets to show off their acting range and simultaneously prove just how smart they are by explaining the plan that, up until now, nobody else really understood. It doesn't get any better than that.

1) Being bad helps other people be good

a) Nothing makes a person happy like the endorphins you get from a good workout. If you think that's pretty good, wait until you feel the amazing adrenalin rush that comes with dangling headfirst over a pool of killer sharks with rocket launcher teeth.
b) Nobody ever heard of a hero with a sub-par nemesis. Only by having a truly evil bad guy can the hero be truly good. Which means bad guys bring out the best in people.
Still not convinced? Consider taking candy from a baby. A lot of people strangely seem to consider this as stealing from a poor defenseless being for your own self-gratification, but really, it's just being helpful: babies shouldn't eat candy.