Rascal

**Rascal** (**Joker** in the original Japanese version), is a secondary antagonist in *Glitter Force.*

He has a harlequin-like appearance and is based on jesters.

## Appearance

Rascal appears as the most human compared to his partners, with the exception of his long fingernails and sharp teeth; he wears a white half masque, hiding his eyes which appear as black slots, a white and violet bodysuit with a small violet cape. His hair is styled into the appearance of a traditional jester's hat, and is multicolored blue, red, yellow and violet.

## Personality

As vibrant as his clownish appearance, Rascal tends to playfully break out in acrobatics and non sequiturs, but it is clear that his bouncy bearing belies a sadistic love of destruction. As leader of the Shadow Realm Commanders, he orders them every time he appears, and his partners later describe him as manipulating them into being evil. He's also very resourceful, as he's always coming up with new plans and tactics to counter the Glitter Force and restoring Nogo.

## History

Rascal came across three pixies named Ricky, Rufus, and Margie, who were mistreated for being fairy tale villains, and gave them power, transforming them into Ulric, Brute, and Brooha, who would serve Nogo alongside him.

Rascal usually stayed in the shadows in Season 1, letting the trio gather negative energy and fight the Glitter Force, while searching for the Miracle Jewel. He eventually gave them bluenoses to create Buffoons that are immune to the Glitter Force's powers, but they were able to destroy them with a combined attack in Tiara Mode.

At the end of Season 1, he stole 15 of the Glitter Charms and kidnapped Candy, defeating the Glitter Force in Jubiland. He eventually came to the conclusion that Candy knew nothing about the Miracle Jewel, and fought Glitter Breeze, who defeated him, though he survived.

In Season 2, Rascal recovered Nogo's egg after he was sealed inside it by the Glitter Force, and seemed to be in contact with him, as he would often tell Ulric, Brute, and Brooha that Nogo was not happy with their failures. He also put together noses to make Super Buffoons, and later Twilight Buffoons. At one point, Rascal trapped the Glitter Force inside a dream ball, inside which was a dream world of all play and no work, but they eventually broke free of it.

After sending Ulric, Brute, and Brooha after individual members of the Glitter Force, to no avail, and mentioning that Nogo was losing his patience and is close to turning them back into pixies, Rascal had a rematch with Glitter Breeze, unusually summoning a Twilight Buffoon from a mirror (mirroring Chloe's first Buffoon enemy) that acted as a separate entity rather than a shell he would control until he merged with it to duel Breeze. In the end, Breeze defeated him again, and he separated from his Twilight Buffoon before the Glitter Force destroyed it.

Rascal gave Ulric, Brute, and Brooha one last chance and gave them a black nose which they used to transform into shadow versions of themselves, but Glitter Lucky purified them back into pixies, obtaining the last Glitter Charm, which Rascal then stole, having gathered enough negative energy to turn Nogo's Wheel of Doom the final time. Rascal created shadow clones of the Glitter Force and had them fight them each in a different dimension. With Candy seemingly revealed as the Miracle Jewel, Rascal revealed that he and Nogo wanted the Miracle Jewel not to make a wish on it, but to destroy it and plunge the world into despair. Upon realizing that Candy was Queen Euphoria's daughter and that she had been placed inside the crystal to protect her, Rascal instead drained all the energy from Earth. When the Glitter Force defeated the Shadow Glitter Force and returned to Earth, Rascal sacrificed himself to complete Nogo's revival, melting into a puddle of black ink which was then absorbed by Nogo.

## Abilities

Rascal is an extremely talented and powerful fighter who is skilled in swordplay. He is also the creator of the Blue Noses, Big Red Noses, Yellow Noses, and Black Noses. In addition to leading three commanders, he uses playing cards to ensnare victims, block attacks and turn his opponents' energy against them. He is also able to turn five colored cards into the Glitter Shadow Force. Finally, when he sacrifices himself by letting Nogo absorb him, he makes Nogo far more powerful than he once was.

## Trivia

* He is the first villain in the franchise to represent the Joker card; the second is the Clown of the Mercenare Kingdom in *Glitter Force Doki Doki.*
* His name, between the original *Smile Pretty Cure* and *Glitter Force*, was likely changed to avoid being confused for the Batman villain of the same name with a similar clown theme.
* His appearance is probably based off the classic character Harlequin from the play *Commedia dell'Arte*, given his masked appearance, random constant acrobatics, and close association with Nogo.
* In one episode, Rascal was nicknamed Joker by Chloe, which references Smile Precure, the original Japanese dub.

## References

* http://prettycure.wikia.com/wiki/Joker