General Tapioca is a major antagonist in the The Adventures of Tintin comic book series, serving as an overarching antagonist of The Broken Ear, The Seven Crystal Balls, and The Red Sea Sharks, and the secondary antagonist of Tintin and the Picaros.
He is the archenemy of Tintin's friend, General Alcazar, as both he and Alcazar are generals in the army and also the presidents of the fictional state of San Theodoros.
Appearance[]
General Tapioca is only physically seen in Tintin and the Picaros. He is depicted as a black haired man with a black mustache, thick black eyebrows and large prominent lips on his mouth.
Personality[]
General Tapioca is depicted as an egotistical, vain man. He also has comedic frequency when he leads his country.
Biography[]
The Broken Ear[]
General Tapioca is mentioned by the army charged of Tintin's execution. He is then presumed to have lost against Alcazar, but is revealed to be still in power, which failed the rebellion that would've freed Tintin from being shot.
The Seven Crystal Balls[]
While still being absent from the story, it is mentioned that General Tapioca won back power against Alcazar, resulting in him fleeing his country and becoming a music hall performer with his partner Chiquito (who is revealed to be Huasco).
The Red Sea Sharks[]
It is mentionned at the end of the story that Tapioca has been replaced by Alcazar as the leader of the banana republic but he later regains power.
Tintin and the Picaros[]
General Tapioca finally makes a full physical appearance as the main antagonist of Tintin and the Picaros. He ordered Bianca Castafiore, Wagner and Irma as well as the Thompsons to be imprisoned for allegedly attempting to overthrow his military dictatorship in San Theodoros.
He is assisted by Sponsz, the main antagonist of The Calculus Affair, sent from the East Bloc of Borduria, who sets a trap for Tintin and his friends and tries to get revenge for his humiliation in The Calculus Affair. Sponsz then orchestrates a show trial to sentence Bianca to life imprisonment and the Thompsons to be executed via firing squad. In the meantime, Tapioca started dropping copious quantities of alcohol, including Loch Lomond, near Alcazar's camp with the Picaros as Tintin was arriving in his jungle headquarters to enlist his help in order to save his friends. After Alcazar's men were healed from alcoholism thanks to Calculus creating a pill that makes alcohol disgusting to anyone who ingest it, Alcazar, Tintin and Haddock infiltrates Tapioca's palace by "borrowing" the troupe's costumes and sneaking inside the building. Alcazar then topples Tapioca but does not execute him, instead, he forces him to surrender his power to him and is then exiled with Sponsz to Borduria, resulting in his defeat.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- It is unknown how Tapioca managed to successfully topple Alcazar multiple times in the series, as it is not revealed how it was done in any of the books Alcazar appeared in.
- General Tapioca once renamed the capital of San Theodoros, Los Dopicos, to "Tapiocapolis", which is a reference to Metropolis, a fictional city in the Superman series in DC Comics.
 Villains
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