| 1 | [[WMG:[[center: [-''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' '''[[Characters/GuiltyGear Main Character Index]]'''\ |
| 2 | ''[[Characters/GuiltyGearTheMissingLink The Missing Link]]'' ([[Characters/GuiltyGearSolBadguy Sol Badguy]], [[Characters/GuiltyGearKyKiske Ky Kiske]]) | ''[[Characters/GuiltyGearX X]]'' | ''[[Characters/GuiltyGearXX XX]]'' | ''[[Characters/GuiltyGear2Overture Overture]]'' | '''''Xrd''''' | ''[[Characters/GuiltyGearStrive -STRIVE-]]'' | [[Characters/GuiltyGearNPCs NPCs]] | [[Characters/GuiltyGearOther Other]] -]]]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | Characters introduced in ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear Xrd -SIGN-'' and its {{Updated Rerelease}}s ''-REVELATOR-'' and ''-REV 2-''. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | The CaptainErsatz, {{Expy}}, "NoCelebritiesWereHarmed", {{Mythology Gag}}s, {{Continuity Nod}}s and ShoutOut references go [[ShoutOut/GuiltyGear here]]. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | * For May, Millia, Zato, Potemkin, Chipp, Faust, Axl, and Baiken, check the sheet for ''[[Characters/GuiltyGearTheMissingLink The Missing Link]]''. |
| 9 | ** For Sol, check [[Characters/GuiltyGearSolBadguy his sheet]]. |
| 10 | ** For Ky, check [[Characters/GuiltyGearKyKiske his sheet]]. |
| 11 | * For Venom, Johnny, Jam, and Dizzy, check the sheet for ''[[Characters/GuiltyGearX GGX]]''. |
| 12 | * For Slayer and I-No, check the sheet for ''[[Characters/GuiltyGearXX GGXX]]''. |
| 13 | * For Sin and Raven, check the sheet for ''[[Characters/GuiltyGear2Overture Overture]]''. |
| 14 | ---- |
| 15 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 16 | !!Introduced in ''-SIGN-'' |
| 17 | [[folder:Bedman]] |
| 18 | !Bedman (Romeo F. Neumann) |
| 19 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bedman_img.png]] |
| 20 | [[caption-width-right:350:''[[WellIntentionedExtremist Pitch black, pure white.]] [[AntiVillain All the same.]] [[RealityWarper Endless, finite.]] [[UnwittingPawn Copy that.]]'']] |
| 21 | |
| 22 | |
| 23 | ->''[[MotorMouth "We talk about survival of the fittest a lot, but all that really means is the skilled live and the unskilled die. Since you're clearly in that second group, maybe pick your fights a bit more carefully? Do you understand what I'm saying? It's never going to matter how much you 'want it' when you're up against someone who can kill you with a sneeze."]]'' |
| 24 | |
| 25 | -> '''Voiced by:'''\ |
| 26 | '''Xrd'''\ |
| 27 | '''JP:''' Creator/HikaruMidorikawa\ |
| 28 | '''EN:''' Creator/YuriLowenthal\ |
| 29 | |
| 30 | -> '''Playable in:''' ''Xrd -SIGN-'', ''Xrd -REVELATOR-''/''REV 2'' |
| 31 | |
| 32 | ->'''Profile:''' |
| 33 | ->Height: 5'1" (8'9" including bed) |
| 34 | ->Weight: 99lbs (1468lbs including bed) |
| 35 | ->Gender: Male |
| 36 | ->Blood type: A |
| 37 | ->Birthplace: Unknown |
| 38 | ->Date of Birth: Unknown |
| 39 | ->Hobbies: Unknown |
| 40 | ->Likes: His buckwheat pillow |
| 41 | ->Dislikes: The cry of the brown-eared bulbul bird, talkative people |
| 42 | |
| 43 | ->'''Character theme:'''\ |
| 44 | [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_jD-5Dlkzo Does the sheep count the sheep?]] |
| 45 | ---- |
| 46 | |
| 47 | A comatose young boy (though he certainly ''sounds'' much older) piloting a sort of hybrid between a MiniMecha and a bed. His purpose and motives are shrouded in mystery. All that is known is that he is the subject of horrific experiments that allow him to trap people in nightmare worlds of his own creation.\ |
| 48 | The plot of ''Xrd'' reveals that Bedman works for a mysterious third party, later revealed to be the entity known as the Universal Will. He serves as the Will's personal hitman and right hand. He has taken countless lives, yet remembers all their identities out of respect, having committed himself to his goal for an "Absolute World" where he can be with his long-lost sister again, along with everyone he has killed being revived. He and his sister suffered from a rare condition that caused their minds to progress faster than their own bodies could handle, thus causing their bodies to "overheat" in a sense. The two had to be put in a constant state of sleep to ensure their survival. His interactions with various other characters showcase his HitmanWithAHeart qualities. Sadly, he realizes too late that his ideals and those of his benefactor's are not the same, and he dies tragically betrayed and cast aside by the Universal Will.\ |
| 49 | In ''-STRIVE-'', however, it's revealed that his mechanical bedframe managed to survive his final encounter with the Universal Will, and is seemingly moving of its own accord. The living bedframe protects his sister Delilah and fights on her behalf, but no one knows why. Is the bed simply following programming that Bedman has given it? Or is it that Bedman himself is controlling it seemingly from beyond the grave?\ |
| 50 | In-game, Bedman is an aggressive zoner who thrives when engaging opponents on his own terms. Attacking with his special moves leaves a Déjà Vu seal on the ground which he can 'replay' a copy of that move out of, leading to extremely oppressive combos. He also possesses a unique floating 8-way air dash, and a forward dash that will teleport Bedman behind his opponent if he is attacked while doing so. However, he will suffer heavily if he doesn't gain match control due to his large hurtbox, mediocre defensive options and limited movement speed. |
| 51 | ---- |
| 52 | * AbnormalLimbRotationRange: It's been said that Bedman himself can rotate his head far more than an average human. |
| 53 | * AmbiguousSituation: In ''-STRIVE-'', Bedman's bed is revealed to have survived and is now determined to protect Delilah at all costs, but there's a lot of haziness regarding how it gained sentience without Bedman. Is it Bedman somehow controlling the bed from beyond the grave? Was the bed sentient the entire time and is just continuing where Bedman left off? Or is it all a red herring and some other force wants Delilah for undisclosed reasons? Regardless, nothing is concrete, with even the name "Bedman?" hinting that even in-universe no one knows the answer. |
| 54 | * AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:According to Happy Chaos in the Arcade Mode of ''-STRIVE-'', this is actually what happened to Bedman when he "died" at the end of ''-REVELATOR-''. All entities within the world of ''Guilty Gear'' are given "physical ID tags", which supernatural beings do not have, allowing them to essentialy exist across multiple dimensions. Bedman deleted his own ID and became a multi-dimensional being.]] |
| 55 | * AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:After viewing Revelator's story mode, it's hard not to sympathize with him after his backstory is finally revealed and he dies in one of the cruelest ways imaginable.]] |
| 56 | * AllInTheManual: His real name, Romeo F. Neumann, is never said by anyone in the stories of either ''[=Xrd=]'' or ''-STRIVE-'', only being revealed through his entry in the latter game's GG WORLD and later by Delilah in her Arcade story. |
| 57 | * AnimalMotifs: He has a hairstyle evoking a sheep, summons a monstrous phantom sheep to stun his opponents as one of his Overdrives, and his leitmotif is titled "Does the Sheep Count the Sheep?". [[spoiler:Takes a very tragic turn in ''-REVELATOR-'' where we learn he blindly follows Ariels' orders like a sheep, only to be betrayed and killed by her.]] |
| 58 | * AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Is only acting in the effort to enable a world where he and his sister Delilah can be happy. Even the deaths he causes are ones he hopes to eventually reverse.]] |
| 59 | * TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Likely would have become this after his defeat in the climax of ''-REVELATOR-'''s story mode, [[HeelFaceDoorSlam had Ariels not revealed her true plan to him]].]] |
| 60 | * BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: His method of killing people is to force them into dreams and kill them there. |
| 61 | * BodyHorror: Downplayed. It looks like those huge nails embedded into his chest are what keeps him fastened to the bed, but they actually don't. They're still ''huge nails embedded into his chest'', though. |
| 62 | * CallingYourAttacks: One of the few characters to completely avert this trope, considering Bedman sleeps through entire matches and only speaks if he wins, activates his Instant Kill, is subjected to the opponent's Instant Kill or gets KO'd. |
| 63 | * ConfusedQuestionMark: He technically appear in ''-STRIVE-'', but he's referred to as "Bedman?" due to the uncertainty of whether or not it's really him controlling his bedframe. |
| 64 | * CreepyMonotone: Speaks in a deadpan, [[MotorMouth rapid-fire]] monotone. It's especially prominent in ''-SIGN-'s'' English dub, thanks to none other than Creator/YuriLowenthal voicing him. |
| 65 | * CutenessProximity: In his own weird way, this is his reaction to gaining [[PieEyed cartoony eyes]] from Faust's Instant Kill. |
| 66 | -->'''Bedman:''' So... so ''[[GratuitousJapanese kawaii]]!'' I must savor this; document it. Yes! From the right side, adjust to a 66.6 degree angle of inclination and ''snap!'' |
| 67 | * CynicismCatalyst: [[spoiler:Being separated from his sister Delilah, who also had powers that made their childhood difficult.]] |
| 68 | * DarkAndTroubledPast: [[spoiler:He and his sister Delilah were ostracized because of their inexplicably-high intelligence. Unfortunately, their rapidly-growing intelligence was, in fact, a curse. Their bodies could not keep up with how far their minds were growing, and they began to "overheat", so to speak. The only way for them to live was to be put into a state of constant sleep. It turns out that human dreaming is connected to the Backyard, and Bedman happened upon the Universal Will, who promised him the chance to not only see his sister again, but also an Absolute World where he could be able to leave a lasting mark and return the people he'd killed to life, instead of only being able to cause death.]] |
| 69 | * DeadpanSnarker: Drops quite a few zingers if his System Voice is used. |
| 70 | --> '''Bedman:''' ''[about [[PrehensileHair Millia]]]'' The money you spend on shampoo could likely pay another person's rent. |
| 71 | * DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:The ''Another Story'' episode of ''-STRIVE-'' reveals that either his spirit or his will still lives on within his mechanical bedframe, as it fights to protect and comfort his sister Delilah seemingly of its own accord. Whether it's actually him or something else entirely is not explained.]] |
| 72 | * DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: A minor example, but he interrupts the machinations of [[spoiler:'''That Man''']] of all people by grabbing him and warping him out of the battlefield during the Cradle assault. |
| 73 | * DisabilitySuperpower: Being in a nigh-perpetual coma might sound like a bad thing, but for Bedman it's a blessing since he's at his strongest when he's asleep... which probably still counts as a bad thing depending on who you ask. |
| 74 | * TheDragon: [[spoiler:To Ariels, ruler of the Sanctus Populi.]] |
| 75 | * TheDreaded: The Story and Arcade leaves every immortal character baffled and every mortal character terrified as he is nearly indestructible, as well as being terribly powerful in combat. Zato on the other hand figures out how Bedman fights very very quickly, and quite bluntly states that he can beat Bedman. This makes Bedman break a sweat and wish that Zato would just go back to being dead. |
| 76 | * DreamTropes: His main motif. One of his Overdrives summons a nightmarish creature to attack his opponents. [[VisualPun Ties in with the idea of children being unable to sleep at night due to their fear of the creatures living underneath their beds]]. |
| 77 | * DreamWalker: A particularly powerful one, given that his consciousness exists primarily in the Backyard. |
| 78 | * EmpathicWeapon: The bed robot moves and acts less like a machine and more like it's Bedman's own body and limbs, reacting quickly and flawlessly with his current demeanor at all times. |
| 79 | * EquivalentExchange: The longer the distance he has to teleport, the more time he needs to prepare. [[spoiler:This is eventually used against him during the assault on the Cradle, with Leo and Johnny constantly going on the attack so he can't warp away to stop Faust.]] |
| 80 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler:He's killed many people all for the sake of seeing his sister again, and is utterly crushed when Ariels reveals the true scope of her plans to him.]] |
| 81 | * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: He's a man in a bed. Well, technically he looks like a kid, but you get the picture. |
| 82 | * {{Expy}}: Of the two playable puppeteers from ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'', Carl and Relius Clover. He shares both Carl and Relius's creepy mannerisms and has Relius's theme of using their opponents' worst fears against them, but his motivations are more simlar to Carl as he's a WellIntentionedExtremist who only wants to be with his sister again and will use any means necessary to see her freed from her condition. [[spoiler:This is made more prominent in ''-STRIVE-'', where his ghost is seemingly able to manifest inside his bedframe and protect the now-awakened Delilah. However, in this series the roles are reversed, as he's the soul inside the machine who does the main fighting, while Delilah is the human piloting him and sometimes acts as a "puppet" assistant.]] |
| 83 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Ariels orders Bedman to kill Ramlethal now that her purpose was fulfilled. He's alright with this at first, but once he sees that she's starting to develop emotions, he quickly changes his mind and refuses to harm a "little girl", even threatening to quit working for Ariels in his fit of rage. It's implied that his estranged sister was also seen as a tool with no regard for her feelings, which makes his actions understandable.]] |
| 84 | * EvilMentor: [[spoiler:He is so willing to encourage Ramlethal to believe in her own individuality that he does it in the cruelest fashion possible. He kills her dog and immediately offers her a replacement. He already knows she will refuse, and uses that to explain that she too is unique, like the dog she loved.]] |
| 85 | * GeniusBruiser: Matched in strength by his intellect. |
| 86 | -->'''Bedman:''' ''[post-MirrorMatch]'' A shame. If you really were anything akin to me, perhaps we could have become friends. Of course, you would need an IQ of more than 200 to meet the minimum requirements. |
| 87 | * GivenNameReveal: Bedman's real name is finally revealed in ''-STRIVE-'' through GG World entries and his sister's Arcade story: Romeo F. Neumann. |
| 88 | * HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler:After he's defeated by Venom, he decides to ditch Ariels and atone for what he's done by tending to the victims of his actions while under her command. Cue Ariels showing up and cruelly revealing to him that the "Absolute World" was meant to destroy humanity entirely and that she'd been using him all along, with no intentions of sparing him or his sister from the ensuing omnicide. This prompts him to overload himself in a last-ditch effort to take down Ariels, which fails and results in his death.]] |
| 89 | * HitmanWithAHeart: [[spoiler:He gets into an argument with Ariels over being ordered to kill Ramlethal, who moments ago had just shown that she was developing emotions. Yes, his method of encouraging Ramlethal was very cruel, but Bedman showed genuine care for her. In ''-REVELATOR-'', he does the same with Elphelt, trying to ease the pain of becoming Justice's core by placing her in a LotusEaterMachine. When she tries to free herself, Bedman pleads with her not to, fearing that the reality of the situation will traumatize her.]] |
| 90 | * HypocriticalHumor: His profile says that he hates "talkative people", but he talks a lot himself. |
| 91 | %%ZCE* InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha: And a bed. |
| 92 | * InsufferableGenius: His MotorMouth habits are bad enough, but then he also constantly rubs it in others faces just how inhumanly smarter than them he is. His MirrorMatch win quote states that having an IQ of 200 is the ''minimum criteria'' to befriend him. |
| 93 | * IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: His nature as an InsufferableGenius naturally leads to this, since he pretty much has no friends whatsoever. The only person he ever speaks with on equal terms is [[spoiler:Ariels, his client]], and even then he's not afraid to get testy with [[spoiler:her]]. [[spoiler:Given his history and the ostracism he and his sister suffered, this attitude isn't too surprising.]] |
| 94 | * {{Irony}}: In ''Xrd'', he was a ''huge'' MotorMouth. In ''-STRIVE-'', he can no longer talk at all because he doesn't have a human body anymore, nor is his bedframe configured for speech. |
| 95 | * {{Jerkass}}: When he does speak, he's very condescending. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oo58D-Fls8 Check out his victory quotes]]. |
| 96 | * JerkassHasAPoint: Yet despite the above, sometimes he has legitimate advice for his opponents. He subtly praises Chipp for 'reacting' to him and advises Venom to rely on his sight a little more. [[spoiler:And in ''[=Xrd=]'', he and Axl have a surprisingly honest heart-to-heart over their similar situations.]] |
| 97 | * KickTheDog: Quite literally, [[spoiler:in the Story Mode, he kills a Magehound puppy that Ramlethal had befriended. Subverted when you take into account that he did this because as she started developing her emotions, he took pity on her and wished to teach her the value of individual life. So in a weird way, it's also an example of PetTheDog at the same time.]] |
| 98 | * KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Ends up critically injured by Venom in the story mode of ''-REVELATOR-'', and is then betrayed by Ariels. The last moments of his life are defiantly using the remainder of his life force to cast ''something'' in a miniature bubble of the "Absolute World" and then dying by turning into stone. ''-STRIVE- Another Story'' makes it clear he isn't coming back (unless Happy Chaos' story of him [[AscendingToAHigherPlaneOfExistence becoming a multidimensional being]] is true), though it's heavily implied some of his will remains in his bed.]] |
| 99 | * KnightTemplarBigBrother [[spoiler:Bedman's desire to make a better world for himself and Delilah is why he became and served the Universal Will.]] |
| 100 | * LightningBruiser: Despite his robot's extremely large build, his attacks hit hard and fast, and is extremely fast and flies around just as much as his opponent, though this only applies when he's on the ground. |
| 101 | * LogicalWeakness: Bedman can use his dream powers to telepathically read people's minds, thus allowing him to predict their movements. [[spoiler:Robo-Ky doesn't have a mind he can read because he's a robot, thus putting Bedman at a disadvantage against him.]] |
| 102 | * MadeOfDiamond: The bed robot is durable to a ridiculous degree, though granted with all the fighting Bedman usually does it's somewhat of a requirement. The only one to ever do lasting damage to it was [[spoiler:President Gabriel]], which paved the way for it to get more damaged later on. |
| 103 | * MechanicallyUnusualFighter: His main gimmick is that he can make copies of his special moves come out after using the main versions, as a sort of trap[==]combo extender. |
| 104 | ** He also lacks a traditional air dash. Instead, his double jump makes him pause in mid-air for a split second and he can dash in any direction from there. This leads to some difficulty in [[DamnYouMuscleMemory adjusting to him.]] All in all, you get a character that plays more like someone in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' than ''Guilty Gear''. |
| 105 | %%* MightyGlacier: When airborne, he moves slowly compared to being on the ground. |
| 106 | * MiniMecha: His subconciously-controlled "Reinforced High-Density Bed Frame", apparently the eighth revision. The bed starts out looking fairly normal until its mechanical parts emerge from underneath it. |
| 107 | * MindRape: Bedman's MO is to trap his victims in nightmare worlds to kill them in their sleep. His OneHitKO attack forces the victim to relieve their painful pasts as he watches. That Man is [[NoSell completely immune]] to its effects, and the Nightmare Theater is little more than a frustrating prison for him to break out of. |
| 108 | * MotorMouth: As seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FGDPEnvYKOE#t=53 here]]. Creator/{{Tomokazu|Sugita}} [[VideoGame/BlazBlue Sugita]] even lampshades how long his winquote is. |
| 109 | ** Slightly less so in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oo58D-Fls8 English version]] as he talks slower, but it's still a mouthful and the subtitles take up three or four lines, and sometimes go on even after other characters have begun talking. |
| 110 | ** If Bedman is KO'd and loses the match, he will start speaking as he falls up until the victory animation for his opponent plays. |
| 111 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:When he realizes The Universal Will wants to destroy humanity with no intention of resurrecting them in the Absolute World, he loses it and turns on her.]] |
| 112 | -->'''Bedman:''' [[spoiler:''[[[BrokenTears starting to cry]]]'' How many people do you think I've killed!? How could... HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ME!?]] |
| 113 | * MySkullRunnethOver: What will happen if he ever wakes up. [[spoiler:It finally happens in -REVELATOR- when he confronts Ariels, only able to maintain his level of power in the waking world for mere moments before flash-calcifying and crumbling away.]] |
| 114 | * NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: His family name is a reference to either John von Neumann or Carl Neumann, both of whom were famed mathematicians. Fittingly, Bedman has an IQ of over 200 and he's able to tap into the powers of the Backyard, which is said to be akin to utilizing a complex computer system and necessitates a myriad of complex equation-esque srtuctures. |
| 115 | * NightmareWeaver: His Instant Kill places the opponent inside of a movie screen and forces them to remember their worst memories (not shown directly to the player -- only hinted at through the target's dialogue) before several shadowy demons surround and devour them. For example Chipp [[spoiler:laments that he only needed one extra vote to become a president]], while Faust [[spoiler:has a flashback to the incident that initially drove him to madness]]. |
| 116 | * NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:While Ariels did kill Bedman as thoroughly as she possibly could, his bedframe was left alone by the attack. And come the Another Story in ''-STRIVE-'', the bedframe is now moving on its own, trying to protect Delilah from getting herself killed. The other characters are not sure what is making the bedframe move, but it is clear Bedman's influence is still in it.]] |
| 117 | * NumberOfTheBeast: According to his character page on the ''Xrd'' website, the combined weight of the boy and the bed adds up to 666 kg. |
| 118 | * OhCrap: At the end of his arcade story in ''-REVELATOR-'', [[spoiler:encountering Jack-O' has him breaking out in cold sweat. He very quickly puts together that this woman is That Man's trump card, and vows to stop them from ever reaching Justice lest they ruin everything.]] |
| 119 | * PetTheDog: [[spoiler:His final act is to cast a spell in his small localized "Absolute World" while muttering about how he had to atone. Moments after Ariels leaves, a girl arrives to find his calcified body. The context of the scene and her identical leg markings to his implies that he used his power in the miniature "Absolute World" to allow his sister to exist in the waking world without "overheating".]] |
| 120 | * PhotographicMemory: [[spoiler:PlayedForDrama. Bedman's vast intellect makes it easy for him to remember the faces and names of every single person he's murdered, with the intent of bringing them back to life when the "Absolute World" is created. Once Ariels [[KickTheDog taunts him with]] [[DidYouActuallyBelieve the true nature of the "Absolute World"]] he's ''crushed'' by the guilt of what he's done due to vividly remembering every victim and now understanding they're never coming back.]] |
| 121 | * PowerIncontinence: [[spoiler:According to the Arcade story in ''-REVELATOR-'', the reason why Bedman fights while asleep is because using his powers while awake would cause his body (referred to by him as an "engine") to overload.]] |
| 122 | * PowerLimiter: [[spoiler:His sleep. If he were to wake up, his power would surge so massively it would overwhelm his bed.]] |
| 123 | * PsychicPowers: Bedman's power quite clearly go beyond killing people in their sleep, enough so to classify him as a... |
| 124 | * RealityWarper: He can pop into and out of the dream world at will, which is how he [[TeleportSpam teleports during battles]]. He can also bring nightmare-created monsters with him, or create mental duplicates of earlier actions he made (specifically his Overdrives in-game; the skill is called "Déjà Vu"). |
| 125 | * SameCharacterButDifferent: He, or rather his bed, returns in ''-STRIVE-'' as the 3rd DLC character, but because of the dubious nature of whether or not it's actually him controlling the bedframe, he is billed as "Bedman?". |
| 126 | * SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: His dialogue is this, made worse with MotorMouth. |
| 127 | -->'''Bedman''': ''[After a long off-topic tangent]'' By the way, [[HypocriticalHumor I hate long talks]]...\ |
| 128 | '''Sol''': ''[Stomps ground in frustration]'' At least we agree on that. |
| 129 | * SiblingYinYang: [[spoiler:As shown by his sister Delilah's appearance in ''-STRIVE-''. The arrow patterns on their heads are on opposite directions and their hair colors are also opposite to one another (Bedman has white hair while Delilah has black hair). Bedman is also the more sociable and talkative of the two, while Delilah has NoSocialSkills.]] |
| 130 | * SpannerInTheWorks: His main purpose throughout the plot is to invoke this himself by derailing as many of the protagonist's schemes as possible. [[spoiler:For the most part, he's successful.]] From his perspective, while anyone would be wary of Sol Badguy, he considers Zato to have the potential to be this to him due to Zato immediately figuring out how to counter his powers. |
| 131 | -->''Ah, Conclave, you've really left a '' mess''. I understand that the minute details of your order need not be carried out to the letter, but letting Zato run free is just sloppy. I'm going to have to dispose of him next.'' |
| 132 | * TheSpeechless: Other than his bed's creepy growling and some [[MotorMouth rapid-fire monologues]] when he wins or loses the round, he is completely silent during battles. It's jarring compared to everyone else. |
| 133 | * SpikesOfVillainy: His bed robot has quite a few spikes on it arms, which also end in spinning, spiked flails. Bashing and slicing with them is his main method of attack. |
| 134 | * TragicDream: [[spoiler:His one and only desire is to see his sister again. From that desire and the actons he was made to undertake per the Universal Will's direction, his dream became a literal "Absolute World" where his thoughts could shape reality and he could undo all the murders he committed. Unfortunately, he ends up betrayed by the Will and is told point blank by her before he dies trying to [[TakingYouWithMe take her with him to his imminent demise]] that not only is her idea of the Absolute World different from his (a world where all humans are dead), but that his Absolute World can never truly exist.]] |
| 135 | * UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:His dream of an "Absolute World" was used by Ariels just to string him along, and he was unaware of her genocidal plan towards humanity until it was far too late]]. |
| 136 | * VillainousBreakdown: When he gets hit by another Bedman's Instant Kill, one of his reactions is genuine fear of being placed into a world he has no control over. Another reaction appears to [[VillainousBSOD major mental shutdown]], as he blankly recites pi to forty decimal places. |
| 137 | * VocalDissonance: In Japanese especially, he sounds a ''lot'' older and deeper than his appearance would suggest he should. [[spoiler:''Revelator'' drops some hints that it's his ''appearance'' that might be out of sync due to his sleeping being near-stasis-like, and that he's actually significantly older than he looks and his voice reflects this. Sure enough, once he wakes up mere minutes before he dies fighting Ariels, his mind finally catches up to his body as he unleashes his power, overloading him and resulting in flash-fossilization.]] |
| 138 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: He wants an proper-noun "Absolute World" [[spoiler:where his thoughts would shape reality, rather than dreams. This would allow him to save his sister ''and'' all the people he's killed. He's memorized ''every'' person he's ever killed, with the intention of resurrecting them.]] |
| 139 | * WouldntHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Quite possibly his sole redeeming quality. For all the dirty business Bedman gets involved in, hurting a child is the one line that he won't cross. This even extends to Ramlethal, who Ariels ordered executed, but once he sees that she's on the cusp of developing emotions he adamantly refuses to kill her, thinking of her as a child herself.]] |
| 140 | [[/folder]] |
| 141 | |
| 142 | [[folder:Ramlethal Valentine]] |
| 143 | !Ramlethal Valentine |
| 144 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ramlethal.png]] |
| 145 | [[caption-width-right:350:''[[TinMan All things are made of Heart and Heart]].'']] |
| 146 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Xrd]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e0a92282_e89b_41fb_98cf_961bee05221a.png[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 147 | |
| 148 | ->''"I'll create... the future."'' |
| 149 | |
| 150 | -> '''Ramlethal voiced by:''' |
| 151 | -> '''JP:''' Creator/MegumiHan\ |
| 152 | '''EN:''' Creator/ErinFitzgerald (''Xrd -SIGN-''), Creator/LauraStahl (''-STRIVE-'') |
| 153 | -> '''Lucifero voiced by:''' |
| 154 | -> '''JP:''' Creator/TomokazuSeki\ |
| 155 | '''EN:''' Creator/SamRiegel (''Xrd -SIGN-''), Creator/DerekStephenPrince (''-STRIVE-'') |
| 156 | |
| 157 | -> '''Playable in:''' ''Xrd -SIGN-'', ''Xrd -REVELATOR-''/''REV 2'', ''-STRIVE-'' |
| 158 | |
| 159 | ->'''Profile:''' |
| 160 | ->Height: 5'6" |
| 161 | ->Weight: 115lbs |
| 162 | ->Gender: Female |
| 163 | ->Blood type: Unknown |
| 164 | ->Birthplace: The Backyard |
| 165 | ->Date of Birth: June 3rd |
| 166 | ->Hobbies: Pondering about the meaning of things |
| 167 | ->Likes: Almost everything |
| 168 | ->Dislikes: Arthropods |
| 169 | |
| 170 | ->'''Character themes:'''\ |
| 171 | [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9IJbHfdYtE Diva of Despair]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hze8a6OyVzk Necessary Discrepancy]] |
| 172 | ---- |
| 173 | |
| 174 | The main boss character of ''Xrd -SIGN-''. A mysterious girl who comes from the Backyard, another dimension that is said to hold immense knowledge and power. Roughly a year after the "Baptisma 13" incident in ''Guilty Gear 2: Overture'', she appears in the sky above Japan and declares war against the entire world, intending to pass judgment upon those who she views as unworthy to inhabit it. The announcement sends mass panic throughout the world, as the instigator of "Baptisma 13" also went by the name of Valentine. Like her predecessor, she wields a strange balloon-like familiar called Lucifero.\ |
| 175 | The story of ''Xrd'' reveals that she is actually a pawn for the Conclave, the advisors to the Pope of Rome, who are orchestrating events from behind the scenes. She and her sister Elphelt, along with the first Valentine, were created by the Universal Will based on her previous host body: the Commander Gear Justice, who in actuality was Sol's lover Aria. Unlike her sister and the first Valentine, Ramlethal was specifically created to not have or show any emotion, instead being stylized in a more bestial manner with shark-like fangs for teeth. Defeated by Sol and Elphelt, she is taken in by the Illyrian government for questioning. Over the course of the story, it's shown that although Ramlethal herself was not given emotions and has no sense of self, she still has the capacity to develop them, and her interactions with Sin and Elphelt slowly but eventually result in her growing out of the "doll" persona her Mother designed her to be, gaining true humanity and sentience. On her own will, Ramlethal rebels against the Universal Will and vows to protect those she cares about, promising to save her sister when she is taken hostage by the Will. In a true show of her newfound humanity, she sacrifices herself during an ambush so that everyone else can escape. Saved and resuscitated by Raven, Ramlethal now lives peacefully within the Kiske household.\ |
| 176 | She was a time-released secret character in the Arcade version, first available on April 8th. In console ''-SIGN-'', she was a launch character, and moved to the launch roster for all versions of ''-REVELATOR-''.\ |
| 177 | Confirmed as a returning character in ''-STRIVE-'', now sporting a more military-styled hat with a four-leaf clover adorning it and a more elaborate cloak.\ |
| 178 | Taking inspirations from 3D fighting games, Ramlethal is a hybrid between a set-play and a combo-oriented character who relies on sending out her slow-but-powerful giant swords to lock the opponent down with disjointed attacks, before moving in for mix-ups with weak-but-fast punch and kick combo chains. However, this results in a distinct lack of proper Gatling Combo routes and poor normal attacks without her swords (which give her both reach and power) by her side, resulting in her struggling when it comes to neutral situations. In addition, Ramlethal getting hit before or during sword swings causes them to return to her side without completing the attack. This makes proper management of her swords and situational awareness a necessity.\ |
| 179 | In ''-STRIVE-'', Ramlethal's gameplay has undergone a significant change. Though still rooted in 3D fighting games conceptually, she has traded in her chain combos and set-up attacks with her swords for much stronger mid and long-range options. In essence, her weaknesses have effectively been switched. She can now control the neutral space extremely well, but struggles in close range situations. |
| 180 | ---- |
| 181 | * AmbiguouslyBrown: She's not even human in the normal sense. [[spoiler:And it's a sign of how heavily she's been modified from the template of her genetic forebear, the stridently-fair-skinned Aria. Ramlethal looks more like Aria with her sixth color palette]]. |
| 182 | * AnimalMotifs: Her hat resembles a pair of cat ears, and her crouch animation has her going down on all fours, and she acts in a distinctly feline manner in battle. Some have even noted that she resembles [[VideoGame/BlazBlue Taokaka]]. |
| 183 | * BadassCape: Her cape has... fangs(?) growing from the outer rim; she can weaponize it to slash at opponents with her normals. |
| 184 | * BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Sin's earnesty and kindness are what help her break away from of her stoic and detached attitude ([[ThroughHerStomach also cuz he bought her burgers]]), and she begins to cherish him as one of her closest companions. |
| 185 | * {{BFS}}: Has two of them, which are carried around by her familiars, and naturally provide a ton of range and damage on her attacks. |
| 186 | * BigBad: Declares war on all of humanity in ''Guilty Gear Xrd'', bringing her into conflict with the game's various protagonists. [[spoiler:Later heavily subverted in that she reveals she's only a pawn after certain characters defeat her in their arcade modes (canonically, Sol's) and any antagonist role she could have is finished as soon the ''-SIGN-'' story mode starts.]] |
| 187 | * BilingualBonus: Most of her moveset is in Esperanto, what was supposed to be a Universal Language. |
| 188 | * BoringButPractical: In ''-STRIVE-'', her Mortobato is nowhere near as flashy as Calvados, among other supers. That said, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbBlYq5wCaA for reasons Rooflemonger explains]], it's one of the best. [[MeaningfulName Appropriately]], its name translates to [[NamesToRunFromReallyFast Deathblow]]. |
| 189 | * CharacterDevelopment: Perhaps one of the most heavily-developed characters in the franchise, and she's only been in two games! Her changes in attitude get reflected in updates to her animations in ''-REVELATOR-''. |
| 190 | ** One example is her victory animation. In ''-SIGN-'', she takes off her hat, pats it down a little, and then orders Lucifero to ''eat'' her opponent, with us getting a cutaway of her evil-looking SlasherSmile. In ''-REVELATOR-'', she takes off the hat like she does in ''-SIGN-''... [[spoiler:and then gives her opponent an introspective look and comment, and if she's friends with her opponent (like Sin or El) she even tells them to focus now on recovering from their bout.]] |
| 191 | ** In ''-SIGN-'', Ram tends to be very dismissive of her opponents in her win quotes. In ''-REVELATOR-'', [[spoiler:because she's developing actual emotions and isn't fighting to kill, she shows a lot more curiosity about many of them.]] |
| 192 | ** Even her ''stage'' reflects her development to some degree. In ''-SIGN-'', it's the huge crater of Japan, with the background basically being a terrifying hellscape caused by the Cradle hovering ominously in the sky, with ''huge sinister hands'' manifesting in later rounds. It's the same area in ''-REVELATOR-'', but now it's a clear sky at early sunset, and the seaward rim of the crater has become a kind of waterfall which catches the sunset in a gorgeous manner. [[spoiler:It all reflects how, while Ram is still rather strange and intimidating, there's an inner beauty to emerging from her.]] |
| 193 | * ClothingCombat: She can control her cloak (which seemingly has razors at the edges) to attack her foes…until you look at her intro and realize that those "razors" are ''[[LivingWeapon teeth]]''. |
| 194 | * ComicallyMissingThePoint: In ''-STRIVE-'' during one of the conversations she can have with Lucifero within a taunt, he will try pressing Ram into talking about her developing emotions, specifically if she has a crush on someone now, first Lucifero is direct in his question about who Ram likes but she doesn't quite understand the difference in liking friends, family and love, he then asks direct biological responses Ram may be going through, like feeling hot whenever close to a potential special one, or just the sound of their voice instigating a reaction, etc. Ram takes those questions too literally, answering Leo is the one who makes her feel all of that but in response to his very bombastic presence as she finds him to be cool, not exactly in a romantic manner, Lucifero is puzzled by the exchange, not getting the answer he wanted. |
| 195 | * TheComicallySerious: Throughout the story modes of both ''Xrd'' games, her non-emotional nature is used for humor, such as whenever her puppy bites her finger, resulting in a flat "ow", or her... ''difficulties'' in understanding exactly how smiles work. |
| 196 | * CovertPervert: Lucifero, despite being her familiar, very obviously has the hots for Ram in how he not-so-subtly implies he'd like to get with her. |
| 197 | * CutenessOverload: Ramlethal seems to have a small weakness for cute things. |
| 198 | ** It's her growing relationship with her puppy in the story mode that causes her to develop more emotion. |
| 199 | ** She'll react this way to seeing her own face if Faust uses his Instant Kill on her, and only if she ends up with the cute BlackBeadEyes. Otherwise, she'll either [[NoSell not care]] or react with DullSurprise. |
| 200 | --->'''Ramlethal:''' How...how cute. |
| 201 | * DashAttack: Two of them: |
| 202 | ** "Dauro" is a fast lunging palm strike, allowing her to end combos or juggle airborne opponenets. |
| 203 | ** "Sabrobato" has her lunge forward with a powerful overhead strike using her swords. Without the swords, she'll instead attack with an arm swipe. |
| 204 | * DeflectorShields: Her blocking animation is her putting up a green, small rectangle-shaped barrier. |
| 205 | * DefrostingIceQueen: Part of her story arc in ''Xrd's'' story mode is this, thanks to Sin and her sis El, it actually works. She's a lot more emotive in ''-STRIVE-'' because of this. |
| 206 | * DemotedToExtra: In ''-STRIVE-'''s story mode, making no appearance outside of a cameo with the Kiske family in the epilogue, despite being part of the game's base roster and having a major part of the story of ''Xrd''. [[spoiler:''Another Story'' features her as one of the main protagonists.]] |
| 207 | * DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:She was unable to escape from the Antimatter Gear's explosion after saving the little girl, causing everyone to think she died. However, at the last second, Raven saved and healed her just in time to save Elphelt in the last chapter. Happens again in a more figurative sense in ''Another Story'', where she is teleported away to parts unknown along with Baiken and Delilah.]] |
| 208 | * DoggedNiceGuy: Lucifero often acts this way in taunts where they converse with each other, often not-very-subtly implying he'd like to get with Ram. For her part, Ram has zero interest in these advances and often reacts to them with a simple "Self-Destruct", inciting Lucifero to bitterly back off. |
| 209 | * DualWielding: She has one sword tied to each of her slash buttons. This becomes important in ''Xrd'' because deploying the sword will tie its commands to the respective input. Ram will also have to resort to fighting hand too hand with that button until the sword comes back. |
| 210 | * DullSurprise: Her reaction to ''everything.'' [[spoiler:Except for watching her puppy get killed and seeing Elphelt get forcibly transported back to the Backyard. Only then does she cry.]] |
| 211 | ** Or, if you're on the Japanese voice track, when she catches Faust's [[AssShove Kancho]] she lets out a ''very'' distressed squeak. |
| 212 | ** And in ''-STRIVE-'', when hit with Faust's Overdrive, she reacts just as much as the rest of the cast (save Zato). |
| 213 | * EmotionlessGirl: More of a blank slate that has at most two basic expressions: a completely neutral one and a maniacal one. [[spoiler:That slowly changes over the course of the story. Though even after she realizes her own capacity to feel emotion, she's still somewhat reserved when it comes to expressing them.]] |
| 214 | ** Because of this, she CannotTellALie; her inability to outright tell whether something will help or hinder her often has her blurt out vital info. |
| 215 | * EyelessFace: Lucifero resembles a little winged orb with a big mouth for a face, unless Ramlethal's secret taunt is triggered. |
| 216 | * EyesDoNotBelongThere: The Diva-like thing in her stage background has three eyes on each of its numerous hands. |
| 217 | * FamilyOfChoice: Curiously enough Ram starts to consider herself as Sol's daughter with her status as a Valentine, being born out of Justice's mold, as she says in one of her conversations with Lucifero in ''-STRIVE-''. |
| 218 | * {{Fangirl}}: For Leo, of all characters, in ''-STRIVE-''. She calls him "So cool" in her intro line against him and one of her secret taunts has her talking to Lucifero about guys she might like in a romantic way, with her answer being Leo. |
| 219 | * FanservicePack: Inverted with her appearance in ''-STRIVE-''. She originally wore nothing but a strap over her chest that exposed a lot of {{Underboobs}}, but in ''-STRIVE-'', she's switched that top out for a comparatively more modest double-breasted vest. |
| 220 | * FireBreathingDiner: Sin puts hot sauce on her pizza, telling her it's delicious. She's then shown with a burning red face and supremely puffy lips. |
| 221 | * FourStarBadass: She's recruited by Ky and Leo as a brigade leader in the Illyrian army come ''-STRIVE-'', and she's still just as powerful as she's always been. |
| 222 | * FriendlyEnemy: Exclusively to Bedman. [[spoiler:The first thing she does when he appears to attack is thank him for helping her gain true emotions and sapience.]] |
| 223 | * GuestFighter: Appears in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters All Star'' as part of their collaboration with ''Guilty Gear''. |
| 224 | * HadesShaded: She's notably darker-skinned than the other Valentines, likely due to her origin from the Backyard. |
| 225 | %%Comes full circle in what?* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:When Elphelt finally convinces her that it's okay for her to have emotions. Comes full circle in , where she becomes one of the main trio of heroes alongside Sol and Sin.]] |
| 226 | * HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Goes from the BigBad of ''-SIGN-'' to one of the main heroes of ''-REVELATOR-'', with this continuing into ''-STRIVE-''.]] |
| 227 | * HeroesLoveDogs: The sign of her heroic side is her love for [[PreciousPuppy puppies]]. She bonds with a puppy throughout ''Xrd'''s story, signaling her growing appreciation for love and expressing feelings. ''-STRIVE-'' brings this back in her win animation where a similar puppy jumps up and licks her face. |
| 228 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Saves a little girl from an Antimatter Gear's explosion and after a Phalanx soldier cornered them she had Lucifero carry the girl to safety.]] |
| 229 | * LegacyCharacter: Serves as the second "Valentine" in the series, after Valentine in ''Guilty Gear 2: Overture''. Considering that the first one singlehandedly brought a kingdom to its knees within a few weeks, '''everyone''' takes her intentions seriously. |
| 230 | * LikeBrotherAndSister: Her friendship with Sin has shades of this, being marked by friendly banter and hanging out over fast food like kids after school. [[spoiler:Then there's the revelation that both Sin is Sol's paternal grandson and Ram is a clone of Aria, Sol's lover, meaning the two of them are basically akin to cousins.]] |
| 231 | * MechanicallyUnusualFighter: To an extent, she plays like a ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' character (in that her moveset involves ''MK''-styled single-or-dual-button-mash combos as opposed to the all four/five-input combos of most ''GG'' characters, with her specials also behaving in a slightly more ''MK''-esque fashion). On top of that, she has different properties depending on whether or not one or both of her greatswords are deployed (with her only able to use certain Overdrives depending on whether she has her swords equipped or deployed). |
| 232 | ** ''-STRIVE-'' removes this auto combo mechanic from her entirely, streamlining her to fit other characters mechanically. She does keep the swords deploying mechanic to an extant though, being unusable after using Bajoneto briefly and having to rely on her body as a hitbox. |
| 233 | * MsFanservice: She's not as busty as her sister, Elphelt, but underneath her cloak, she wears [[{{Stripperiffic}} hardly anything]], leaving most of her very toned body completely exposed. Particular emphasis is given to her long and athletic legs. ''-STRIVE-'' tones down the {{Stripperiffic}} aspects of her outfit a lot, though her bare legs are still prominent and even given slight jiggle physics. |
| 234 | * MusicalNod: Being the second Valentine, her ''Xrd'' theme is very similar to Valentine's "Diva" from ''Overture''. |
| 235 | * {{Nerf}}: Going from ''Xrd'' to ''-STRIVE-'', Ramlethal's moveset received a massive overhaul that removed or replaced a lot of unique mechanics from her. In ''Xrd'', she plays like an unconventional mix of a PuppetFighter and StanceSystem tools, either controlling space with her swords to space out her opponent or deploying them like controllable assistants to attack independently of her, creating a vortex of individual attacks to block. Her punch and kick buttons also operate on an entirely different combo system than other fighters, giving Ram [[DifficultButAwesome a ton of unique options and a high-skill floor]] for those picking her up from the rest of the cast. [[labelnote:other abilities]]a [[GrappleMove command grab]], an EnergyBall projecitle, a SuperMove that changes depending on whether she has swords, and a DashAttack super[[/labelnote]] ''-STRIVE-'' overhauls a lot of that; gone are her unique three-hit-strings on the punches and kicks, as is the ability to deploy her swords like traps. Her fundamentals of working towards cornering and overwhelming the opponent are similar, but incredibly simplified from before, becoming more centered around using the swords for her normals. |
| 236 | * NeverTheObviousSuspect: Invoked. [[spoiler:Ramlethal's initial (and brief) campaign against the world was simply a ploy by Ariels to get everyone's eyes on her pawn, so that her defeat would make everyone think the latest Valentine crisis was already over. Ky surmises -- correctly -- that the ''actual'' crisis hadn't even begun.]] |
| 237 | * PolarOppositeTwins: She and her sister Elphelt seem like complete opposites to each other; Ram is stoic, unemotive, and fights brutally and efficiently with her giant swords and energy attacks. Elphelt meanwhile is sweet, bubbly, and uses firearms [[FightingClown bizarrely]] crossed with wedding accessories like a bouquet. |
| 238 | * PowerFloats: Can float in mid-air, as a sign of her power. |
| 239 | * PreciousPuppy: Sin brings her a magehound, which she subsequently befriends as part of her development in learning emotions. Furthermore, her new win animation in ''-STRIVE-'' has a puppy coming to pounce on Ram and lick her face. |
| 240 | * PrimalStance: Her crouching animation is feline-like, complete with her "hissing" blowing her cloak up like a standing-up fur. |
| 241 | * ProgressivelyPrettier: Though she's given a slightly less revealing outfit in ''-STRIVE-'', her design overall has softer features, particularly her face. Her sharp teeth are also given less prominence. [[spoiler:It does further emphasize that she's now on the side of good]]. |
| 242 | * PuppetFighter: ''Xrd'' Ram fights by deploying her swords across the stage and inputting commands to have them attack independently. Combined with her feral autocombos, she can trap her opponent in a whirlwind of damage. |
| 243 | * RedGreenContrast: The green to Elphelt's red. |
| 244 | %%* ReiAyanamiExpy: She plays this to a T. |
| 245 | * SailorFuku: Wears a green one in the story mode after she's been captured by the heroes. Still sans shoes, though. [[spoiler:She keeps it as her everyday-wear once she joins "the team" in ''-REVELATOR-''.]] |
| 246 | * SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: She has a crush on Leo, whom, under that bluster, is TheGoodKing, and AFatherToHisMen. |
| 247 | * SlasherSmile: Makes shark-toothed grins whenever she's about to attack... or most other times she grins, for that matter, to hilarious effect in the story modes of both ''-SIGN-'' and ''-REVELATOR-'' (her moment with Leo in ''Rev'' being especially memorable). In fact it seems that's either the only smile she was taught how to do by Mother, or ''the one that is biologically easiest for her to do''. |
| 248 | * SignificantWhiteHairDarkSkin: She is a clone of Aria Hale, but unlike the original Aria she has bright white hair and dark skin to make her stand out from most of the cast, especially her sisters Elphelt and Jack-O'. |
| 249 | * SmallNameBigEgo: Lucifero gives off these vibes in some conversations, describing himself as handsome or desirable in a [[CovertPervert very transparent attempt to win Ram over.]] |
| 250 | * SmallRoleBigImpact: [[spoiler:''Another Story'' shows that had it not been for her actions, the events of the main story might have played out '''very''' differently.]] |
| 251 | * SNKBoss: In ''Xrd'' where she's final boss of arcade mode. Not only does she continuously build tension meter, but both her [[KamehameHadoken Calvados]] and Trance overdrives do vastly more damage and last longer than her normal, playable version. |
| 252 | * SoundtrackDissonance: Her theme, while still a driving rock track true to the spirit of ''Guilty Gear'', opens with and centers around a very airy, calming guitar riff, and in general is rather more upbeat than you'd expect for the theme of someone who bills ''themselves'' as a murderous BigBad. [[spoiler:This would be due to the fact that her true inner nature is more heroic than anything.]] |
| 253 | ** This continues into ''-STRIVE-''. Again, though it's still clearly rock, the style of it is quite unusual and unique to ''Guilty Gear's'' soundtrack. Rather than being traditional hard rock or heavy metal, it's a prog rock song with non-standard time signatures and more of an emphasis on techno elements and keyboards. |
| 254 | * StanceSystem: She has different properties depending on whether she has both greatswords equipped, one equipped and one deployed, and both deployed. |
| 255 | * {{Stripperiffic}}: |
| 256 | ** Her cloak can potentially cover it up, but underneath it she's very much exposed. She's got {{Underboobs}}, bared midriff and barefoot going on beneath that cloak. It's even a subject of conversation between her and Lucifero in a secret taunt. |
| 257 | --->'''Lucifero:''' Look, I don't know how to say this, but don't you feel kinda...''exposed''? You're just like the last Valentine, what's the deal with you ladies?\ |
| 258 | '''Ramlethal:''' Not your business.\ |
| 259 | '''Lucifero:''' [[LegFocus Damn, look at those legs.]] You like showing that sexy stuff off, huh?\ |
| 260 | '''Ramlethal:''' Shut up.\ |
| 261 | '''Lucifero:''' Hey, you have a thing for me, dont'cha?\ |
| 262 | '''Ramlethal:''' Go die.\ |
| 263 | '''Lucifero:''' Yes, sorry. |
| 264 | ** Her design in ''-STRIVE-'' dials backs a lot of these elements, making her outfit still revealing but conservative by comparison. |
| 265 | * SupermodelStrut: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. During her walking animation, her upper-body keeps mostly still, but her legs move as if she's strutting, with her placing one foot directly in front of the other in a purposeful and confident manner. |
| 266 | * SwordAndFist: She alternates between fighting with her massive swords to tearing you apart with her bare hands. |
| 267 | * TakingYouWithMe: Tried to do this with Sol, but was stopped by Elphelt. |
| 268 | * ThreeStrikeCombo: In ''Xrd'', her punch and kick buttons can be pressed up to three times to perform an advancing combo unique to each. Coupled with her swords puppeted elsewhere, Ram can trap opponents in very damaging combos. This is done away with in ''-STRIVE-'' and instead replaced with her "Erarlumo" special, a more straightforward "rekka"-style move that can be delayed between each strike for mix-ups. |
| 269 | * ThroughHerStomach: One of Sin's attempts to [[DefrostingTheIceQueen get Ramlethal to smile]] was by feeding her a burger. [[spoiler:It actually works.]] |
| 270 | * ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: [[ExaggeratedTrope Taken to the extreme]]; her Bajoneto special fires her swords off like missles which then pin into the wall and explode. She has to wait for the swords to reform before using them again. |
| 271 | * TookALevelInKindness: After befriending Sin and Elphelt in ''-SIGN-'', she learned about kindness and gained dramatic character development by ''-REVELATOR-'', where she acts more respectful to her friends and the people she meets. And her kindness and respect continues on in ''-STRIVE-'', where she even misses being with Elphelt and friends while working with Leo, whom she considers as a cool boss. |
| 272 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: Hamburgers quickly became a favorite of hers after Sin introduces her to one. One of her digital figure poses involves her contemplating one; a scene in ''-REVELATOR-'s'' story mode has her comment that she's not hungry, but she starts following Sol and Sin after the former comments that they're going to Danny Missiles while walking away; and her unique pre-fight interactions with Sin have the two arguing over what they should have for dinner, with Ramlethal advocating for a burger. In ''-STRIVE-'', one of her pre-fight interactions with Elphelt has her accusing the latter of stealing her hamburger. |
| 273 | * VirtuousCharacterCopy: To [[VideoGame/BlazBlue Nu-13]]. Both are nonhuman ReiAyanamiExpy clones of a woman who is significantly related to the main character (Saya for Ragna, Aria for Sol), use giant swords in combat, and debuted as the main villains in their respective introductions. Whilst Nu-13 remained a villain [[spoiler:all the way to the end and required what amounted to a near-DeathEqualsRedemption and ''massive'' rehabilitation by her sisters Noel and Lambda to even finally turn face]], Ramlethal goes [[HeelFaceTurn face]] very early after her debut. Nu-13 showing to be batshit insane and off her rocker post-defrosting and her extremely one-sided, obsessive and toxic relationship with Ragna stand in stark contrast with Ramlethal being far more stable post-defrosting and having a much more positive relationship with the man she yearns for Leo. In short, Ramlethal is basically Nu-13 if she grew up in a less cynical, more forgiving world. |
| 274 | * WaveMotionTuningFork: She uses her swords as this for her Gamma Ray super, covering the entire stretch of the screen in a laser. |
| 275 | * WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Lucifero has this reaction when Ram claims she likes Leo in ''-STRIVE-''. |
| 276 | * WhenSheSmiles: SlasherSmile notwithstanding, [[spoiler:she actually smiles a tiny bit after trying a burger. As of ''-REVELATOR-'', she now gives a genuine smile instead of a SlasherSmile during her win pose. And of course, she gives a small, genuine smile before her "death" halfway through ''Rev'''s story mode.]] |
| 277 | * YinYangBomb: Uses both a black and white Lucifer weapon in battle. |
| 278 | [[/folder]] |
| 279 | |
| 280 | [[folder:Elphelt Valentine]] |
| 281 | !Elphelt Valentine |
| 282 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_3628.png]] |
| 283 | [[caption-width-right:250:''[[BreakTheCutie I fell down a lot, I hurt a lot, I was laughed at a lot]]. [[LoveRedeems But then I realized, I just need to weed it all]].'']] |
| 284 | [[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see her classic appearance]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/08ccec07582a68a1eb4b799b0e8b1d14.png [[LoveFreak Til death do us part.]][[/labelnote]]]] |
| 285 | [[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see her ''-REVELATOR-'' appearance]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2lqsar6.png ''Parting is such sweet sorrow.''[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 286 | |
| 287 | ->''"My dream husband is waiting...!"'' |
| 288 | |
| 289 | -> '''Voiced by:'''\ |
| 290 | '''JP:''' Creator/AyaSuzaki\ |
| 291 | '''EN:''' Creator/CassandraLeeMorris |
| 292 | |
| 293 | -> '''Playable in:''' ''Xrd -SIGN-'' (DLC), ''Xrd -REVELATOR-''/''REV 2'', ''-STRIVE-'' (DLC) |
| 294 | |
| 295 | ->'''Profile:''' |
| 296 | ->Height: 5'6" |
| 297 | ->Weight: "Dreamy" |
| 298 | ->Gender: Female |
| 299 | ->Blood type: "Mysterious" |
| 300 | ->Birthplace: The Backyard |
| 301 | ->Date of Birth: December 25th |
| 302 | ->Hobbies: Romantic discussions, pretending to be a bush dog |
| 303 | ->Likes: Smiling faces, saving up for a bush dog, anything sweet |
| 304 | ->Dislikes: Bugs, killing, loneliness |
| 305 | |
| 306 | ->'''Character theme:'''\ |
| 307 | [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-2KWs-44ks Marionette]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiViLUEi11I Extras]] |
| 308 | ---- |
| 309 | |
| 310 | Ramlethal's sister, sent to be a sleeper agent that malfunctioned and gained emotions during her infiltration, outing her identity and leading to her capture by the Illyrian Army. A lovestruck girl who wears a wedding dress and wields a shotgun-rifle combination. She tries her hardest to be the pinnacle of femininity, but usually ends up failing. Elphelt is called upon by Ky as their "ace in the hole" against Ramlethal, incapacitating her and allowing her to be captured by the Illyrian government for questioning. She grows close with Sol, Ky, and Sin, convincing them to spare Ramlethal once it's discovered she's just the Conclave's pawn and trying to get her to feel emotions as Elphelt does. After the Conclave's defeat, however, it's revealed that she actually ''didn't'' malfunction as a sleeper agent, and was simply programmed to wait until the opportune moment to retrieve the revived Justice's corpse. Sol and a newly-awakened Ramlethal are able to get through her programming, but she ends up captured by the Universal Will, who attempts to drive her into despair and then use her as the new core for Justice, intending to use it as the vessel to end humanity once and for all. Sol is able to save Elphelt at the end of ''-REVELATOR-'', and she eventually settled down in the Kiske household as a maid alongside her sister.\ |
| 311 | Elphelt returns in ''-STRIVE-'' as part of the 3rd season of DLC, now sporting a drastically different design. Although she had grown accustomed to her new job as a maid, Elphelt wasn't very good at it and as a result she started to feel out of place. With her sister Ramlethal joining the Illyrian military, she wondered how she could make people happy, culminating in her picking up a microphone. She's now the lead singer of a death metal band, embracing her past as the former love interest of a rock star and taking center stage to reach people's hearts through her music.\ |
| 312 | Elphelt was a originally console-exclusive DLC character that came free with first print copies of ''-SIGN-''; in ''-REVELATOR-'' she became part of the main roster in all versions. She is a versatile character with a strong pressure game, using various tools that forces her opponent to respect both her approach and offense. Many of Elphelt's special moves involves entering a relatively immobile aiming stance and using either her Miss Travalier shotgun at close range or Miss Confire rifle (the latter she actually has to aim manually) to snipe her foe. if the situation doesn't favor her, she can cook and throw a Pineberry grenade either to ward off opponents in neutral or to set up a knockdown combo (okizeme) On the negative side, her lack of reliable reversals means she has difficulty breaking out of a opponent's offense without using up her Tension (Super meter) or Burst mechanic.\ |
| 313 | Returning to the series in ''-STRIVE-'', Elphelt remains a flexible mix-up machine but with several key components from ''Xrd'' replaced like her firing stances and grenade cooking. In exchange, she comes packing with new zoning and cross-up tools like a tracking gunshot, a somersault that rolls a grenade towards the opponent, and a string of unique melee strikes that she can freely chain together to force block mix-ups. She can also latch a belt of grenades onto the opponent as a new Overdrive, blowing up seconds later and letting her follow up with combos and pressure. |
| 314 | ---- |
| 315 | * AllLoveIsUnrequited: All love from Elphelt, anyway: some of her victory quotes have her learning that her opponent already has eyes for someone else (Ky and Slayer are married, [[IncompatibleOrientation Venom doesn't want a wife]] and is [[SingleTargetSexuality in love with Zato, Zato only wants Millia]]). |
| 316 | * AmbiguouslyBi: Contrary to assumption, Elphelt doesn't show any possible signs of attraction to women outside a ''very'' occasional comment, but it's contradicted by her belief that two women can't married to begin with, and seems to hold no fantasies about finding a wife as much as she is interested in a husband. While there ''could'' be an argument as to her finding women attractive, she never makes anything explicit like she does with men. |
| 317 | * AnimalMotifs: Like the other Valentines, Elphelt's outfit, primarily her hat, bears a resemblance to a kind of animal. In her case, a rabbit. Even her personality is like that of a rabbit's (she's lovesick and her profile states that she hates being lonely). |
| 318 | * AntiVillain: The only reason Elphelt is an antagonist in ''-REVELATOR-'' is because the Universal Will [[BrainwashedAndCrazy forces her to be]], which is not only something she's [[ObliviouslyEvil completely unaware of being in the first place]] until later on, but very much ''[[FriendToAllLivingThings does not like]]''. It's to the point that once they have a clear picture of what's going on thanks to Ramlethal, not a single character in the cast blames her for the ongoing events and outright try to rescue her. |
| 319 | * BadassAdorable: She may be cute, clumsy, and sweet, but she ''is'' a Valentine and, as the game's Story Mode shows, more than capable of holding her own in battle. |
| 320 | * BaitAndSwitch: One of Elphelt's taunts show her getting ready to go OneWingedAngel... only for it to be revealed that she was fantasizing about going One-Winged Angel. |
| 321 | * BoldlyComing: Invoked; her reactions to being abducted by a UFO in Goldlewis's win animation is excitement at marrying an alien. |
| 322 | * BottomlessMagazines: The fact that Elphelt's guns never need reloading is kind of taken for granted in ''Xrd'', but it's especially apparent in ''-STRIVE-''. This is because the only other primary gun wielder, Happy Chaos, has a reloading mechanic which is intrinsically built into his playstyle while Elphelt is much more focused on GunFu with no reloading required. |
| 323 | * ButNotTooBi: Zigzagged. Elphelt can be perfectly content with marrying someone regardless of gender (or sexual orientation) as per her instant kill, but she ''only'' makes comments about marriage and/or has fantasies about ''husbands'' rather than wives or partners, and never actually proposes marriage to any female character is Haeyun due to her male disguise. |
| 324 | * BrickJoke: In ''Xrd'', Elphelt reveals that she first discovered love through a rock musician, and the two would have been HappilyMarried if the Universal Will didn't activate her programming. Come ''-STRIVE-'', and Elphelt has become a rock idol herself. |
| 325 | * TheCameo: Shows up alongside the Kiskes in the ending cutscene of ''-STRIVE-''. |
| 326 | * CarefulWithThatAxe: Her ''-STRIVE-'' match victory animation has her giving a metal growl. |
| 327 | * CleavageWindow: She would be the TokenWholesome if not for her revealing cleavage. |
| 328 | * CrosshairAware: Whipping out Elphelt's rifle brings up aimable crosshairs. Of course, the opposing player can see them, too. |
| 329 | * CrushBlush: Her face has a perpetual BlushSticker in her victory pose when going on about her wedding with the defeated. |
| 330 | * CuteClumsyGirl: Her attack animations show a general sense of incoordination such as tripping while using normals or her air-throw leaving her flailing in panic. And her taunt in ''Xrd'' has her happily thinking about tripping and thus throwing a wedding cake in someone's face. ''Strive'' continues the trend by having some of her moves involve her weapon malfunctioning or her tripping over nothing (incidentally hitting the opponent), or her not recovering properly after a move. |
| 331 | * DashAttack: "Bridal Express" has her fly forward atop a huge bouquet to knock down opponents in front of her. ''-STRIVE-'' replaces it with a similar move called "Out of Repair" where she instead flies using the [[RecoilBoost recoil from her gun]]. |
| 332 | * ExtremeOmnisexual: PlayedForLaughs. While she only rhapsodizes about being married to male characters, she doesn't hesitate to use Magnum Wedding to instantly infatuate men, women, those who are already married, part-Gears, vampires, parasites, boys on mechanized beds, her own sister or even anyone from her extended family. One of Elphelt's lines [[MirrorMatch if she's on the receiving end of the Magnum Wedding]] even lampshades this: |
| 333 | --> ''"[[ScrewYourself I-I'll just take anyone!?]]"'' |
| 334 | * EvilCostumeSwitch: By ''-REVELATOR-'', her clothes have changed from white and red to black and grey, complete with a [[SpikesOfVillainy spiked collar, spike gauntlets, and devil horns]]. |
| 335 | * {{Fainting}}: Of the emotional variety; in ''Xrd'' she gets a bit too excited about marrying her defeated opponent and faints with a {{nosebleed}} in her win animation. |
| 336 | * FamilyOfChoice: Elphelt starts to consider herself as Sol's daughter due to her status as a Valentine, being born out of Justice's mold, as she says in one of her conversations at the epilogue chapter in ''-REVELATOR-''. This is demonstrated in ''-STRIVE-'' with her redesign costume, which takes a lot of cues from Sol's wardrobe but is [[PinkMeansFeminine more pink]]. |
| 337 | * FemininityFailure: A variation in that she's not a tomboy, but she still fails at being feminine due to her clumsiness and her penchant for using firearms. This continues in ''-STRIVE-'', where she's now the vocalist of a metal band, a musical genre not considered traditionally very feminine. |
| 338 | * {{Foil}}: By ''-STRIVE-'', Elphelt has become this to I-No. Both of them are rock musicians with a prominent red color theme and immensely powerful creations of the Backyard, but Elphelt is a [[LoveFreak lovestruck]] [[CuteClumsyGirl klutz]] who still retains her innocence and love of life despite all she goes through. I-No, by contrast, is more overtly sexual in her mannerisms, and gave into despair and depression a long time ago. Even their choice of instrument shows their differences. I-No, being a guitarist, is more inclined to keep to herself and express her true feelings of anger and sadness through her guitar. Elphelt, however, is the main vocalist of a band, being willing to express herself more openly through her singing. |
| 339 | * FriendToAllLivingThings: She loves people, animals and nature, with a particular fondness for bush dogs. |
| 340 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: She keeps talking in her sleep about "eliminating all redundancies", just like Ramlethal. You may think she's having flashbacks... [[spoiler:this is a sign that she is still being controlled, and that the backstory she gave is false]]. |
| 341 | * GirlyBruiser: Actively tries her best to be as much of a ProperLady as possible, but when left with no other options, Elphelt is ready to bring out the heavy artillery. |
| 342 | * GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: |
| 343 | ** She's a cutesy, highly feminine and buxom woman who dresses in a cross between a PimpedOutDress and a PlayboyBunny outfit and is [[LoveFreak obsessed with love and marriage]], and yet she uses guns as her primary weapon and can be quite fierce when confronted. ''-STRIVE-'' leans more into this, giving her a redesign which while still obviously very feminine also incorporates aspects of her new job as a DeathMetal vocalist, itself a very un-girly occupation. |
| 344 | ** Her ImageSong in ''-STRIVE-'', "Extras", also demonstrates this rather succinctly. Despite the roaring death metal vocals, a feminine voice still rings out from beneath it talking about love, showing that despite the events of ''Xrd'', Elphelt is still the cutesy marriage maniac we all know and love even if she's toned it way down from ''-SIGN-''. |
| 345 | * GirlyRun: Blatantly done in her win pose. |
| 346 | * GlassCannon: The number of ways she has to open up your defenses and blast you is quite impressive, but she suffers from a poor disadvantage state as a trade-off, having to rely on universal mechanics rather than being equipped with strong getaway moves. |
| 347 | * GlowingEyes: Her eyes have a rather noticeable cybernetic-like glow to them. Likely due to her status as Valentine. |
| 348 | * GodzillaThreshold: Ramlethal's plot is the threshold, and Elphelt HERSELF is Godzilla. |
| 349 | * GratuitousEnglish: In ''-STRIVE-'', she always sings in English regardless of the language settings, particularly at the end of her "Juganto da parleo" Overdrive, where she screams "DIE!!!" |
| 350 | * GunFu: Her fighting style involves her both shooting her opponents with her guns, using them for acrobatic maneuvers and just straight up hitting with them as blunt weapons. |
| 351 | * HomingProjectile: "Miss Charlotte" fires an energy bolt that pauses briefly and then beams straight to the opponent. |
| 352 | * HopelessSuitor: In ''-STRIVE-'', she makes heavy advances toward ''Nagoriyuki and Faust'', of all possible people. Nagoriyuki is a famously aloof and inscrutable Nightwalker who barely understands Elphelt's rambling, and Faust at that point in the story has [[spoiler:distorted all his limbs and become a spindly abomination as well as reverted back to his old Dr. Baldhead identity]]. Not only are neither of them are actively pursuing romance, but they would also be bad choices for Elphelt to marry to begin with. |
| 353 | %%* IdiotHair |
| 354 | * IncompatibleOrientation: She'll propose to anyone, even the canonically-[[StraightGay gay]] Venom. |
| 355 | * InnocentInnuendo: Her theme in ''-STRIVE-'', "Extras", is ''laden'' with innuendos, befitting her LoveFreak characterization. |
| 356 | * InterfaceSpoiler: [[spoiler:A very rare glitch in the game which allowed players to select Shadow and Gold color palettes from past games revealed that the color palette for her OneWingedAngel form is her Shadow color.]] |
| 357 | * KickingAssInAllHerFinery: She has no issues duking it out in a full wedding gown. |
| 358 | --> (announcer Slayer) "Elphelt. You wear that dress beautifully." |
| 359 | * LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler:In ''-REVELATOR-'', due to Bedman's LotusEaterMachine abilities.]] |
| 360 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Her taunt in ''-STRIVE-'' has her tell ''each member of the cast'' what type of song she'd write for them... most of which sound dangerously close to describing their actual themes in the game. |
| 361 | * LockedIntoStrangeness: [[spoiler:Following the events of ''Xrd'', she has been left with white hair, pale skin and pale blue eyes after she was taken by Universal Will. These changes remain even after she is back to normal]]. |
| 362 | * LoveFreak: [[{{Pun}} Loves]] to think about love and marriage. |
| 363 | --> (as announcer) "Let's go find love!" |
| 364 | * LovePotion: Her Instant Kill is basically a firearm version of a cupid's bow and arrow. |
| 365 | * MarkedBullet: The bullet she uses in her Instant Kill has a heart shot by an arrow engraved on it. |
| 366 | * MeaningfulName: Naturally shares her surname with the commercial holiday, but she also shares it with the holiday's namesake; ''St.'' Valentine, who was an advocate for keeping the institution of marriage in the Roman empire. |
| 367 | * TheMole: Was intended to be this, until a very intense wedding party overloaded her programming and awakened her true "self". [[spoiler:It turns out that she is actually a ManchurianAgent, Elphelt's programming having been kept secret from her so she could fulfill it. Her true role is that of a spy sent to observe Sol, allow Justice to be revived, and prevent Sol from "awakening".]] |
| 368 | * MotorMouth: Both her winpose and winquotes are so long that they put [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV Rufus]] to shame. She pulls out a marriage certificate and then starts rambling on about something before getting a nosebleed and falling over. |
| 369 | * MsFanservice: Her huge boobs and cleavage window definitely qualify her for this. It still applies even after her ''-STRIVE-'' redesign: while the cleavage window is gone, she is visibly not wearing a bra under her shirt and her animations feature a lot of {{Gainaxing}}. She also shows more skin than her previous design thanks to her exposed thighs. |
| 370 | * MusicalNod: Like Ramlethal (and later Jack-O'), her theme "Marionette" references Valentine's theme "Diva" from ''Guilty Gear 2: Overture'', but in a way that's different from Ramlethal's "Diva of Despair." |
| 371 | * NamedWeapons: "Miss Confire and Miss Travailler", are her rifle and shotgun respectively. In ''-STRIVE-'' she replaces both with a new rifle named "Miss Charlotte". |
| 372 | * NavelOutline: Her skintight leotard in ''-STRIVE-'' gives her one of these. |
| 373 | * {{Nosebleed}}: |
| 374 | ** Her nose starts gushing as she envisions a future with her opponent in her win animation. |
| 375 | ** She gets a little too excited about ''holding hands'' in one victory dialogue. |
| 376 | ** Bizarrely, she also gets one when Sin describes the love of his father for him and his mother. |
| 377 | * NiceGirl: Unlike the other Valentines, she happens to be very sweet, friendly, and kind. |
| 378 | * OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:In ''Xrd's'' story mode when her ''true'' programming is awakened, as it was actually revealed that Dr. Paradigm warned her not to fight, due to her fighting limit is too weak, and easily being manipulated by Bedman and Ariels into exceeding her fighting limits, turning her into a mindless Gear. Once her threshold has been exceeded too much, her body becomes black, her hair glows white and her personality is overwritten with one resembling the other Valentines. Sol manages to beat her back to normal.]] |
| 379 | * PerkyGoth: Her ''-STRIVE-'' design taps more into heavy metal aesthetics, with dark eyeliner, an emphasis on leather and lots more spikes, all while still retaining Elphelt's pink-pastel palette and lively attitude. |
| 380 | * PinkIsErotic: Her choice of color ties into her romance motif. |
| 381 | * PinkIsFeminine: With her lacey, florally attire and [[PinkIsErotic lovesick]] personality, Elphelt's association with pink fits her characterization. |
| 382 | * PistolWhipping: |
| 383 | ** She can bash her opponents with her shotgun. |
| 384 | ** ''-STRIVE-'' has her regularly using her rifle as a blunt weapon. |
| 385 | * RedGreenContrast: The red to Ramlethal's green. |
| 386 | * ReverseGrip: She does this with Miss Charlotte when she's singing, as the rifle has a mic built into the butt. Sol's not the only one who can emulate Freddy Mercury's way with a mic stand, it seems. |
| 387 | * RoseHairedSweetie: Her reddish-pink hair in ''-SIGN-'' fits into her sweet, [[LoveFreak romantic]] nature. She loses the pink hair in ''-REVELATOR-'' though after her brainwashing takes over. ''-STRIVE-'' adds a very slight pink tint back into it as part of her new redesign. |
| 388 | * SexyBacklessOutfit: Both of El's dresses show off portions of her back. |
| 389 | * ShipperOnDeck: She wholeheartedly encourages A.B.A and Paracelsus to be with each other and helps them to come to a better mutual understanding, even saying she'll be waiting for her wedding invitation. |
| 390 | * ShortRangeShotgun: Miss Travailler is mainly for blasting at close range, and she can also [[PistolWhipping bash people with it]] if they get even closer. |
| 391 | * ShotgunWedding: The theme behind Miss Travailler. And there is her winning animation, where she tries to convince her beaten-up opponent into signing up the marriage contract; and her OneHitKO attack, which she dubs a "Magnum Wedding", wherein she fires a bullet that forces her opponent to fall in love with her. |
| 392 | * SickeninglySweethearts: How Elphelt imagines her future with her opponents or their male friends is overly saccharine, like she's basing it all off a romance novel. |
| 393 | * SignificantWardrobeShift: |
| 394 | ** Elphelt has received a drastic redesign for ''-REVELATOR-''. Her hair is now white, her outfit has been modified to add a spiked collar around her neck, and said outfit now has a black-and-white color scheme in addition to being torn in certain areas. It's also been inscribed with depressing messages like "Nothing Matters", "No One Cares". [[spoiler:Though she still acts the same, it is hinted that her appearance has something to do with Bedman's powers.]] |
| 395 | ** Elphelt's new design in ''-STRIVE-'' is almost a complete departure from both of her ''Xrd'' designs. She's completely ditched her bridal gowns and flowery bouquets and has now taken up a wardrobe befitting a rock idol, making her almost look like an inversion of I-No. |
| 396 | * SingingVoiceDissonance: In her return in ''-STRIVE-'', she becomes a singer--a ''death metal'' singer, surprisingly, ala Music/{{BABYMETAL}}. Her singing voice is appropriately ''very'' deep and nothing at all like her regular voice. |
| 397 | * SmallNameBigEgo: She doesn't seem to notice the fact that her band has only sold ''[[LowCountGag nine tickets]]'', and keeps waxing poetic about how she's going to go on a world tour/honeymoon with her husband and be adored by millions even though none of the characters in-game seem to have even heard of her band. |
| 398 | * SomethingAboutARose: Her dress bears a rose motif and she wields a full bouquet of them as a melee weapon. Downplayed but still present in ''-STRIVE-'', as her skirt still has a very flowery pattern. |
| 399 | * StanceSystem: In addition to her normal stance, she has a versatile Shotgun stance and a more limited Rifle stance. |
| 400 | * StartXToStopX: She is sent to subdue Ramlethal using the link they share as Valentines. [[spoiler:When Elphelt tries to self-destruct, Ram uses the same link to stop her.]] |
| 401 | * StealthPun: The name of her band in ''-STRIVE-''? '''Speothos Venaticus'''. [[spoiler:It's the scientific name for "bush dog", Elphelt's favorite animal.]] |
| 402 | %%* StockingFiller |
| 403 | * ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: Many of her win quotes consist of giddily romantic marital scenarios about herself and her opponents. |
| 404 | * ThreeStrikeCombo: "Chain Lollipop", introduced in ''-STRIVE-'', is a Rekka move that lets Elphelt link four unique attacks into any order she wants, up to two times per attack. With this her close-ranged pressure is vastly boosted as she forces the opponent to block accordingly to each attack. |
| 405 | * ThrowDownTheBomblet: She can cook a strawberry-shaped grenade with a three-second timer and then throw it (or not, causing it to blow up in her hands). |
| 406 | * TokenGoodTeammate: She IS a Valentine after all who are all created as human weapons. But she's a very sweet and friendly one. This is downplayed, and then ZigZagged, after both Ramlethal and Jack-O' both [[HeelFaceTurn turn face]], and Elphelt's brainwashing briefly turns her into an antagonist instead. |
| 407 | * UnnecessaryCombatRoll: She can perform a diving roll in and out of using Miss Travallier, being able to dodge under most attacks with it to surprise you with a [[ShortRangeShotgun face full of buckshot]]. |
| 408 | * VaporWear: Her ''-STRIVE-'' outfit visibly has no bra, which likely contributes to all the {{Gainaxing}} which occurs in her animations. |
| 409 | * VictoriasSecretCompartment: She retrieves a fairly large marriage certificate from there in her winning animation. It's also where she keeps the MarkedBullet for her Instant Kill. |
| 410 | * VisualPun: |
| 411 | ** [[Music/GunsNRoses She wields guns and her clothing bears a rose motif.]] |
| 412 | ** Her Instant Kill has Elphelt [[Music/BonJovi shoot the opponent through their heart]]. |
| 413 | ** She's a shotgun bride, in both her looks and mannerism. |
| 414 | * WalkingArmory: There doesn't seem to be a limit to how much heat she's packing. She's got handguns, a shotgun, a rifle, explosives of all kinds, and even a sword for [[ItMakesSenseInContext slicing cake]]. |
| 415 | * WhyAmITicking: |
| 416 | ** Her throw in ''Xrd'' sees her sticking a grenade onto the opponent. In ''-STRIVE-'' she instead shoves a boombox onto them, blasting them away with sound. |
| 417 | ** One of her supers in ''-STRIVE-'', "Bomb-Bombnnière", has her [[GrappleMove grab an opponent]] and latch a belt of explosives onto them that detonates after a few seconds. This forces even more pressure onto the opponent and can extend combos for El. |
| 418 | * YankTheDogsChain: [[spoiler:Her programming ends up undone to a degree, but she is teleported away by the Universal Will. And in ''-REVELATOR-'' it's shown that her programming is now right back to where it was before. She gained human emotion only to have it taken away from her...]] [[spoiler:Almost. While her colors did dull out and her default in ''-REVELATOR-'' makes her look like a true Valentine, she actually ''didn't'' lose her memories or emotion. She is happily reunited with Ramlethal at the end of ''-REVELATOR-'''s story mode as the exact same person she was at the start of ''Xrd''.]] |
| 419 | [[/folder]] |
| 420 | |
| 421 | [[folder:Leo Whitefang]] |
| 422 | !Leo Whitefang |
| 423 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leo_ggs.png]] |
| 424 | [[caption-width-right:350:''My voice withered away, llimbs can't hear my commands, but still, I can see the way home; [[SurvivorsGuilt I am the Reaper, I took my friends to the netherworld,]] [[TheAtoner That's why I have to go home]].'']] |
| 425 | |
| 426 | ->''There are only two entries in my dictionary for inimitable: your mother's apple pie, and my skill.'' |
| 427 | |
| 428 | -> '''Voiced by:'''\ |
| 429 | '''JP:''' Creator/TetsuInada\ |
| 430 | '''EN:''' Creator/JamiesonPrice |
| 431 | |
| 432 | -> '''Playable in:''' ''Xrd -SIGN-'' (DLC), ''Xrd -REVELATOR-''/''REV 2'', ''-STRIVE-'' |
| 433 | |
| 434 | ->'''Profile:''' |
| 435 | ->Height: 6'5" |
| 436 | ->Weight: 183lbs |
| 437 | ->Gender: Male |
| 438 | ->Blood type: A |
| 439 | ->Birthplace: Germany |
| 440 | ->Date of Birth: July 1st |
| 441 | ->Hobbies: Editing his own personal dictionary |
| 442 | ->Likes: Records, his own pride |
| 443 | ->Dislikes: Pickles, those more capable than he is |
| 444 | |
| 445 | ->'''Character themes:'''\ |
| 446 | [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIC1stFLCvs Stolz]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFKOen2dAqY Hellfire]] |
| 447 | ---- |
| 448 | |
| 449 | One of the three ruling kings of the United Kingdoms of Illyria, the Second King, and a veteran of the Crusades alongside Ky. He assists Ky and the heroes throughout the story, and eventually takes charge in combating the Conclave and their machinations. Confirmed as a DLC character for ''-SIGN-'' on November 4, 2014, he was made available for purchase on December 18, 2014 in Asia and on December 23, 2014 in North America. As of ''-REVELATOR-'', he is part of the main roster, leading the charge on the rescue mission to take back Elphelt. Returns for ''-STRIVE-'', with shorter hair and now sporting a more formal suit with a bomber jacket.\ |
| 450 | Leo is a high-damage, high-defense rushdown character who can seamlessly switch between a normal stance and the defensive, backward-facing Brynhildr Stance to launch very punishing left-right mix-up combos. On the other hand, he practically has no zoning tools making him ineffective at mid-far range, and also only has a short dash, making it difficult to quickly approach an opponent who is on the other side of the screen. |
| 451 | ---- |
| 452 | * TheAce: Since his youth, Leo has been exceptionally skilled at everything he did. [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Then Ky showed up.]] |
| 453 | * AnimalMotifs: His name, long mane, sharp teeth and strong sense of pride is reminiscent to that of a lion. His Instant Kill in ''Xrd'' also morphs his blades into a big metallic lion head that mauls his opponent. |
| 454 | * AntiAir: Like a classic Flash Kick, "Eisensturm" is a strong reversal that can shut down airborne opponents. It has a stronger variant performed with Heavy Slash that does an extra hit at the end. |
| 455 | * BadassBack: His [[StanceSystem alternate stance]], the Brynhildr Stance, has his back turned from the opponent at all times, only leaving his weapons facing the front. |
| 456 | * BadassBoast: Frequently uses these as a way of displaying his superiority, especially after winning a match. |
| 457 | -->(Xrd) ''"Attempting to analyse your defeat would be an utter waste of time. The truth is painfully simple: you lost because you aren't me."''\ |
| 458 | (Strive) ''"The reason you lost is you fought against '''me!'''"'' |
| 459 | * BadassLongCoat: A fur-lined one that even adds on to his lion-themed appearance. |
| 460 | * BarbarianLongHair: He's not much barbarian in the present, though, as he's an (mostly) articulated gentleman. However, [[LetsGetDangerous when]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown battle starts...]] |
| 461 | * BaritoneOfStrength: A tall and strong war hero with a fittingly rich voice. |
| 462 | * BeneathTheMask: You couldn't tell from how he acts in the present, but Leo carries heavy SurvivorsGuilt over all the comrades he's lost in the Crusades. |
| 463 | * TheBigGuy: He's the tallest [[BadassNormal "NORMAL"]] guy, at 6.4 ft. |
| 464 | * BookDumb: When Ky explains the Information Flare phenomena, he adds on a bit after his fist explanation which is, apparently, practically a magical equivalent to basic addition or subtraction, and Leo didn't get it despite that. It took Zappa severely dumbing down the explanation for him to understand. |
| 465 | * BreakTheHaughty: In his younger years, he was an [[{{Jerkass}} arrogant jerk]] who looked down on others. His being shown up by Ky, and then his earnest efforts to better himself in order to surpass Ky, eventually turned him into a decent man. |
| 466 | * TheChainsOfCommanding: The lyrics to his ''-STRIVE-'' theme, beneath the jaunty-sounding tune, suggest he suffers from Survivor's Guilt over all the soldiers under his command that were killed in action. |
| 467 | * ChargeInputSpecial: An odd case for the archetype associated with charges. "Gravierte Wurde" and "Eisensturm" function like a standard charge projectile and anti-air respectively. In contrast to the typically defensive archetype associated with charge inputs, Leo's defensive moves can seamlessly transition into a very aggressive rushdown style that makes him a beast at close quarters. |
| 468 | * ChekhovsSkill: In ''-STRIVE-'', he boasts to Daryl and Ky that he's "a video surveillance fiend" after I-No meets Ariels, claiming that he could track a flea to the end of the world while pointing out that I-No had destroyed the security footage. [[spoiler:It's hearing Giovanna's comment about the US Secret Service dress jackets and the [[SpotTheThread difference in the badges]] - her superior wore the version that had a cartoony star, versus her fellow agent Udo's more normal one - which tips him off that the "Happy Chaos" the US forces were arresting at the moment wasn't the real one when he rechecks the body camera footage, and that the ''real'' Happy Chaos was [[OhCrap still at the White House]].]] |
| 469 | * ChickMagnet: Ramlethal and Giovanna find themselves very attracted to Leo's personality and physique. |
| 470 | * CloseRangeCombatant: ZigZagged; Leo's blades and projectile actually do give him some decent range in his base stance. But when switching to Brynhildr Stance, he can overwhelm his opponent point-blank thanks to his super quick and chainable attacks. The last thing you want is to be right in front of Leo after he's swapped. |
| 471 | * DoesNotLikeSpam: He hates pickles, so much so that Bedman's Instant Kill which reveals a character's worst fears and nightmares shows Leo screaming about how much he hates them. |
| 472 | * DualWielding: Wields two {{BFS}}s. |
| 473 | * ExtraOreDinary: While it's not outright stated, Leo's metal swords grow and retract in a distinctly fantastical manner, with them growing even larger and being topped by a roaring lion's head in his Instant Kill, suggesting that Leo's using some kind of magic to control the dimensions of his weapons. |
| 474 | * FaceDeathWithDignity: In gameplay of course, as he withstands his opponents IK's without fear, and with pride. |
| 475 | ** That is, his face looks like he doesn't really care, [[NoSell as if he knows that it's not really going to hurt him]]. {{Averted|Trope}} when it comes to Faust's IK, where his expression is one of the more horrified ones. |
| 476 | * AFatherToHisMen: In one of Bedman's Instant Kill animations that's clearly exploiting Leo's affection for his soldiers and one of them apparently dying to exploit the fear of MyGreatestFailure, he yells: |
| 477 | -->'''Leo''': "[[DiedInYourArmsTonight Don't die on me]], [[ThatsAnOrder that's an order!]]" |
| 478 | * FlashStep: He actually has this trick on his dislikes list, mainly the teleportation kind. It makes sense, given how Leo's fighting style relies on his opponent remaining in one place. This is how Bedman manages to take Leo out. |
| 479 | * FriendlyRival: A friendly political rival of Ky's. |
| 480 | * GrappleMove: ''-STRIVE-'' gives Leo "Glänzendes Dunkel", a piledriver he can use only in Brynhildr Stance to mix up his foe. It does have a lengthy startup though, so he has to be careful just throwing it out. |
| 481 | * GratuitousGerman: His special moves, Overdrives, Instant Kill and leitmotif are all named using German words. |
| 482 | * HeroicSelfDeprecation: When he reminisces on his first time knowing Ky during the Crusades, and about how Ky changed him and his outlook on life. |
| 483 | --> '''Leo:''' Still, if I had to grade myself, I'd probably say C. C-. |
| 484 | * HiddenDepths: The lyrics to his theme in ''-STRIVE-'' imply that he, beneath his BoisterousBruiser behavior, is a man suffering from immense Survivor's Guilt over the lives of all his men who were killed in action throughout his reign as king. Consequently, this also casts his famously aggressive playstyle as (in the vein of ''VideoGame/SeriousSam'') him throwing himself headlong into the frontlines recklessly in hopes of, if not victory, having TheLastDance; [[RedemptionEqualsDeath redeeming himself from his own perceived sins via a warrior's death]]. |
| 485 | * {{Hunk}}: While Sol is TallDarkAndHandsome with a HeroicBuild, and Axl and Ky are blond [[LongHairedPrettyBoy bishonens]], Leo is tall, blond, [[BarbarianLongHair has an awesome mane]], possesses a larger, thicker build, and is a king, supporter and rival to [[TheGoodKing Ky]]. |
| 486 | * ItsNotYouItsMe: The formerly number one, now number two, words that Leo never wanted to hear. |
| 487 | * KavorkaMan: He's not traditionally attractive like Sol, Ky, Sin, Axl, etc., with Lucifero calling him a "big, bear-looking gorilla." That said, both Ramlethal and Giovanna have shown interest in him, with Ramlethal seeing him as a cool boss and Giovanna seeing that he fits the bill as a potential partner. Heck, this might even extend to Millia, since one thing she can say, [[https://youtu.be/eayiznfuaeA?t=150 in a taunt]], to him is "I'm taking you home today." |
| 488 | * KingOfBeasts: Naturally, since he has a lion motif, he's also one of the three kings of Illyria. |
| 489 | * LargeAndInCharge: He's a king just like Ky, and towers over most of his subjects. |
| 490 | * LargeHam: As large as they come. |
| 491 | --> '''Leo:''' ''[during his Instant Kill]'' These royal blades are '''ten''' times stronger than any other! My strength is '''ten''' times that of any other man! Since I feel generous I'll '''''DOUBLE''''' their multiplied power, for '''''two-hundred''''' times the force! |
| 492 | * LightningBruiser: ZigZagged; at first his mobility seems a bit [[MightyGlacier sluggish]] compared to other fighters, only having a simple dash instead of a full run and walking rather slow. But his {{dash attack}}s grant really fast burst movement and allow him to [[StanceSystem switch]] to "Brynhildr Stance", letting him shimmy all around his opponent on foot and even slip behind them. All of this is paired with impressive strength and durability that let him take a good hit before retaliating. |
| 493 | * ManlyMan: Leo is a strong-built, lantern-jawed king covered in facial hair who frequently boasts about how strong he is. However, he has some HiddenDepths like his fascination with language and his obsession with studying security camera footage, of all things. |
| 494 | * MorphWeapon: His swords, as they can freely change size and shape, up to combining with each other to form a much larger lion-shaped drill/lance during Leo's Instant Kill. |
| 495 | * NumberTwo: Specifically called "Second King Leo". If you didn't guess it yet, the First King is [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Ky]]. |
| 496 | %%* NoBrows |
| 497 | * OhCrap: Leo reacts this way in Strive's Story Mode [[spoiler:when he realizes that Happy Chaos is still onboard the White House]]. |
| 498 | * PersonalDictionary: His hobby is making a dictionary with his own definitions. He writes into it during a match as a taunt, along with consulting it after winning a match. |
| 499 | * {{Pride}}: It is even inscribed on his belt (like "Free" and "Hope" for Sol and Ky, respectively). He was once a very proud man who hated people who were better than him. [[CharacterDevelopment Meeting Ky changed him]] for the better, but now he's got legitimate reasons to be prideful. |
| 500 | ** That said, he still indulges in his ego from time to time. For example, his winning animation is for him to wait for a giant soldier to bring a throne for him to sit on. His stance system involves turning his back to the opponent, which is both supremely arrogant and showcases his utter confidence in his own skills. |
| 501 | * RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: He's a king and an ally of Ky Kiske. |
| 502 | * SiblingRivalry: One of the definitions for the word "Devil" in his personal dictionary? His sister's name. |
| 503 | * SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration: He's TheAce, except that he's a bit on the BookDumb side. Appropriately, he's a Gorilla[=/=]Unga Bunga ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aXOUvlyYDI&t=893s and the trope namer for the latter]]), the type of Rushdown character in fighting games that specializes in massive amounts of pressure meant to overwhelm the opponent, and break through their defenses. |
| 504 | * SoreLoser: In regards to his former jealousy to Ky, though he compensated for it by working harder to improve himself. |
| 505 | * StanceSystem: By changing into his BadassBack (Brynhildr) stance, he gains altered normals, the ability to go dash behind his opponent, and gains a shield move that [[AttackReflector reflects projectiles]] and [[CounterAttack stuns the attacker for a follow up]]. Leo is able to go for an incredibly aggressive and damaging offense in this stance. |
| 506 | * SuperSpecialMove: "Stahlwirbel" is an even stronger version of his "Gravierte Würde" projectile, firing several times faster and dealing a huge chunk of damage. |
| 507 | * SurvivorsGuilt: His theme in ''-STRIVE-'', as well as his reaction when defeated by Bedman's Instant Kill in ''Xrd'', reveal that he suffers heavily from PTSD after a mission where his entire squad was wiped out. |
| 508 | * YourMom: Astonishingly enough, he makes a G-rated version of the joke for one of his victory quotes. |
| 509 | --> '''(Xrd)''' There are only two entries in my dictionary for inimitable: your mother's apple pie, and my skill.\ |
| 510 | '''(Strive)''' Only two things in this world are insurmountable: a mother's recipe, and my genius. |
| 511 | [[/folder]] |
| 512 | |
| 513 | !!Introduced in ''-REVELATOR-'' |
| 514 | |
| 515 | [[folder:Jack-O']] |
| 516 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jacko_strive.png]] |
| 517 | [[caption-width-right:300:''[[BeYourself Perfection can't please me.]]'']] |
| 518 | [[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click to see her previous appearance]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/641px_ggxrd_r_jacko_portrait.png[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 519 | |
| 520 | -> ''"Sol Badguy... I see. You're only half complete, too."'' |
| 521 | |
| 522 | -> '''Voiced by:'''\ |
| 523 | '''JP:''' Creator/HiromiIgarashi\ |
| 524 | '''EN:''' Nicole Tompkins\ |
| 525 | '''KR:''' Ah-yeong Yoon |
| 526 | |
| 527 | -> '''Playable in:''' ''Xrd -REVELATOR-''/''REV 2'', ''-STRIVE-'' (DLC) |
| 528 | |
| 529 | ->'''Profile:''' |
| 530 | ->Height: 5'5" |
| 531 | ->Weight: 99lbs |
| 532 | ->Gender: Female |
| 533 | ->Blood type: O |
| 534 | ->Birthplace: Unknown |
| 535 | ->Date of Birth: December 13th, decided by herself (As of ''-STRIVE-'') |
| 536 | ->Hobbies: Thinking of new methods |
| 537 | ->Likes: Candy, memories, novel ideas |
| 538 | ->Dislikes: Scientific ideas |
| 539 | |
| 540 | ->'''Character themes:'''\ |
| 541 | [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEzEHUNWBsg Juno]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYhYueboxuM Sky Should be High]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAngvEa_4A Perfection Can't Please Me]] |
| 542 | ---- |
| 543 | |
| 544 | Originally introduced as 'Jack-O' Valentine'. A mysterious woman with multi-colored red-white hair, a ball and chain in the shape of a jack-o'-lantern, a metal jack-o'-lantern mask, and a halo of light floating above her head. It is soon revealed that she is in fact the long-[[TheFaceless unidentified]] "third associate" of That Man alongside I-No and Raven seen briefly, heavily robed, in certain ''XX'' endings. In ''-REVELATOR-'' she finally takes center stage as she tries to put a stop to the nefarious plans of the GreaterScopeVillain of series, the Universal Will, encountering and eventually teaming up with Sol and company along the way. Come ''-STRIVE-'', having fulfilled her original purpose, she's now working alongside Sol as a bounty hunter.\ |
| 545 | While the "final bosses" of ''-REVELATOR-'' tend to be a bit more varied due to the nature of its Arcade Mode (and lacking any Story Mode fights), Jack-O' is the most common final boss among the character routes and so is the nearest thing the game has to a "final boss". She was included with the release of both the arcade and console versions of ''-REVELATOR-'', and made her return as a playable fighter in ''-STRIVE-'''s first DLC pass.\ |
| 546 | Jack-O' is an unusual summon-type character, with the developers themselves describing her moveset as "comical". Much of her gameplay revolves around putting down 'houses' that continually spawn a horde of Servants who automatically upgrade themselves and move toward the opponent to attack them (a la [[MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena MOBA]] minions) to start her pressure game and attain match momentum, while using her limited normal and poking Dust attacks to keep locking her foe down.\ |
| 547 | Her play style was reworked in ''-STRIVE-'' to give the focus more to Jack-O' herself rather than her minions, giving her the ability to summon her minions directly to her hands, command them to attack and defend with certain special moves, and even use them as makeshift projectiles. |
| 548 | ---- |
| 549 | * ActionBomb: Her Countdown special sets her servants on a timer, that ends with them exploding and damaging [=Jack-O'=]'s opponent. |
| 550 | * AIIsACrapshoot: Discussed. In ''-STRIVE-'', she claims she's nothing but an artificial personality designed to inhabit the body until [[spoiler:Aria's consciousness]] returns. She further claims that she's unable to feel, despite the obvious signs of her growing emotions and a {{Tulpa}} of her old self insisting Jack-O's own life and feelings are entirely real and valid. [[spoiler:In point of fact, Jack-O' is much closer to a {{Reincarnation}} of Aria who inherited the emotions and feelings that Aria wanted to go on even after her mind irreversibly shattered, with Jack-O' insisting she's fake and artificial due to [[HeroicSelfDeprecation her own doubts in herself]].]] |
| 551 | * AlwaysSaveTheGirl: The climax of ''-STRIVE-'' reveals that [[spoiler:Sol is fine with putting the world further at risk if it means getting to be with her, and involves her breaking out of her mindset of [[TheNeedsOfTheMany putting aside her personal feelings for the sake of the world]] by admitting she would do the same if allowed to embrace her own feelings]]. Of course, it helped that [[spoiler:[[TakeAThirdOption Sol had already prepared a backup plan that didn't involve sacrificing her]]]], so it's less about her callously throwing the welfare of the world aside and more about not treating herself as a SacrificialLamb by default. |
| 552 | * AmbiguouslyHuman: Come ''-STRIVE-'' she's said to be human again... but also still has some of her more than human abilities like being able to fuse with I-No to control I-No's powers. |
| 553 | * ArtifactTitle: |
| 554 | ** Her having the surname of "Valentine" at all. As That Man himself alludes to, she's not an ''actual'' Valentine, as rather than being a ''copy'' of Aria Hale, she's ostensibly the genuine article, formed of her human soul, and the "Valentine" appending was little more than a thematic holdover. In ''-STRIVE-'', it's no longer even a part of her listed name, [[spoiler: having been reunited with Justice and become, at least mostly, human.]] |
| 555 | ** Downplayed in ''-STRIVE-''. She drops the jack-o'-lantern mask in the story due to becoming "complete" and not needing the mask anymore, but she continues to use the name to distinguish herself from her past self [[spoiler:Aria]] and she still wears it by default in battle (although you can take it off with a taunt). |
| 556 | * AscendedExtra: The "third associate" of That Man who barely appears in ''XX'' becomes one of the major story focuses in ''Revelator'' and ''-STRIVE-''. |
| 557 | * AssistCharacter: In ''-STRIVE-'' her servants gain the ability to attack on command, giving her a versatile set of combo and pressure options. Though she can only have three of them out at once as opposed to the spawning army she had in ''Xrd''. |
| 558 | * AttackReflector: The Defend Command in ''-STRIVE-'' lets her servants counter an opponent's attack and put them in a stunned state, allowing Jack-O' to follow up with additional attacks. |
| 559 | * BadassAdorable: With her sweet personality, attractive design, and CuteClumsyGirl animations, she really leans into this trope. Her servants count as well, being essential to her fighting style while still looking like little cartoon mascots. |
| 560 | * BadassBiker: She's typically riding the sidecar on Sol's motorcycle, which can detach, and be driven as a bike itself. |
| 561 | * BattleCouple: Starts joining Sol on his bounty hunt outings in ''-STRIVE-'', much to his concern as the events of ''Revelator'' had [[DePower made her into a normal human]]. [[spoiler:Interestingly, this ends up inverted by the game's end, as Sol himself is turned back into a normal human as well, and the two of them eventually settle down in Iseo to live a more idyllic life.]] |
| 562 | * BeYourself: Her [[CharacterDevelopment character arc]] in ''-STRIVE-''. Even though Jack-O' [[spoiler:fused with Aria]] in ''Xrd'', rather than having her consciousness replaced with the "real" her, it just made Jack-O' herself a permanent existence with many still incomplete memories due to the trauma her other half suffered. This causes her to deep down feel like she's a fake who failed to live up to Frederick's expectations by remaining herself rather than becoming the person she used to be. And because of this, she ends up denying her own personal feelings: her love for Frederick. In the climax, Frederick reminds her that he has not called her [[spoiler:Aria]] even once, and that even if she isn't the same person anymore, he loves Jack-O' all the same. Similarly, when she accepts her own feelings, her and her {{Tulpa}} [[spoiler:of Aria]] begin to speak in unison. |
| 563 | * BecomeARealBoy: [[spoiler:At the end of ''Xrd'', she merges with Justice and becomes Aria truly reborn. As of ''-STRIVE-'' her child personality is gone, with her acting purely like an amnesiac Aria, as though Aria's soul and memories are complete again, portions of them still remain dormant]]. |
| 564 | * BewareTheSillyOnes: Don't fooled by her strange attack moves and whimsical round win animations, she can handily kick ass and take names. |
| 565 | * BootstrappedLeitmotif: This happened [[InvertedTrope in reverse]] to the theme ''Sky Should be High''. It started off as Jack-O's boss theme, but became the loading theme for a match in ''-STRIVE-''. The load is short enough that most people who play ''-STRIVE-'' don't even know it has lyrics. |
| 566 | * BroughtDownToBadass: Come ''-STRIVE-'' she's lost the god-like power of the Scales of Juno, one of the two master keys to the power of the Backyard, and is described as very much human and mortal again to the point Sol is concerned about her welfare on his bounty hunts... this doesn't stop her from demonstrating the same SuperStrength, SummonMagic and FusionDance abilities she had in ''Xrd'' though. |
| 567 | * CallBack: A lot of elements of [=Jack-O'=]'s character call back to [[spoiler:Justice]], but often "reversed" (usually for comedic effect), which isn't surprising, given [=Jack-O'=]'s purpose and who she "is". |
| 568 | ** Jack-O' commands a small army of adorable ghostly servants. [[spoiler:Justice commanded a ''large'' army of murderous corporeal Gears.]] |
| 569 | ** Jack-O' is a very silly woman who sometimes gets more serious and contemplative. [[spoiler:Justice was a very ''angry'' individual who occasionally got more contemplative, especially when confronted by honorable humans like Kliff.]] |
| 570 | ** [=Jack-O'=]'s primary outfit color is white, with red as a secondary color. [[spoiler:Justice's primary outfit color was also white, with ''blue'' as a secondary color.]] |
| 571 | ** Jack-O' airdashes forward by using a spurt of jet power from her metal jack-o'-lantern. [[spoiler:Justice used the large jets on her armor to airdash as well.]] |
| 572 | ** [=Jack-O'=]'s stage is titled "Heaven's Edge". [[spoiler:Justice's traditional stage, while not explicitly named, is the Stairway to Heaven.]] |
| 573 | ** With Jack-O' and Dizzy, it can feel like the game's slipping a bit into OnlySixFaces territory, as they look ''really'' similar, down to having the same eyes. [[spoiler:That's the point; Jack-O' is the most similar Valentine to the original Aria, who pretty much ''was'' Justice. As a result, she resembles Dizzy a fair bit because she looks like what Justice would've looked like as a human. We can see that Dizzy inherited her mother's eyes, among other things. The plot summary comic for ''-STRIVE-'' that covers ''X'' further hammers this commonality home.]] |
| 574 | ** [=Jack-O'=]'s crouch Slash behaves pretty much exactly like Dizzy's, just with a leg instead of wings. [[spoiler:Like mother, like daughter, after all.]] |
| 575 | ** For that matter, in general Dizzy and Jack-O' have a similar concept when it comes to combat and both fight in a somewhat similar fashion. Both rely on servants and familiars to assist them in combat - Dizzy's are just attached to her body as wings, while Jack-O' has a pseudo-familiar chained to her leg and her other helpers come from little houses. And they both rely on filling the screen with secondary targets, either in the form of Dizzy's various bubbles and attacking jaws or in the form of [=Jack-O'=]'s Servants, and playing a bit of keep-away to allow them to set up to go aggressive. [[spoiler:The details are a bit different again, but ultimately mother and daughter rely on similar combat styles.]] |
| 576 | ** A call back of a different sort comes from her movelist; one of her specials, Zest, has the same name and behaves similarly to a move Valentine had in ''Overture'', and her Overdrive, Calvados, shares a name with one of Ramlethal's, though [=Jack-O'=]'s Calvados behaves a bit differently. [[spoiler:She is, after all, a Valentine, just one created by That Man instead of the Universal Will.]] |
| 577 | ** In ''-STRIVE-'', the outside of [=Jack-O'=]'s hair color becomes red while the inside becomes white, inverse from her original appearance of white hair on the outside with red on the inside. [[spoiler: Justice also had red hair, given that she's Aria.]] |
| 578 | * CloneAngst: As her full name Jack-O' ''Valentine'' implies she is another sister to Ramlethal and Elphelt, as well as another clone of [[spoiler:Aria. She has Aria's face, and half of Aria's soul, i.e. that portion of Aria's memories Asuka managed to salvage from the Universal Will's attack on Aria's mind, and is intended to be a SacrificialLamb "physical patch", in the software-update sense, for Justice.]] ''-STRIVE-'' heavily plays with this, with her dealing with insecurity that she ''hasn't'' become the perfect recreation of [[spoiler:Aria]] that she thinks she's supposed to have become, believing that her only purpose in life was to be a SacrificialLamb who should be disappearing for the sake of the real article. On the flip side, Sol treats her in pretty much exactly the same way he would treat the real [[spoiler:Aria]], but she believes he's doing it out of LovingAShadow and that she doesn't have the right to love him back because she doesn't fit the ideal of what he wants. The real answer is somewhere in between: [[spoiler:her supposedly "artificial" emotions are representative of everything Aria wanted to leave behind in her memory, so even though Sol recognizes her as a distinct person, he's at peace with the idea of the Aria he knew being gone for good, and the fact Jack-O' still has the same feelings and emotions her prior self did means she's no less entitled to act on them and build a new life with him]]. |
| 579 | * CompositeCharacter: In ''-STRIVE-'', on top of having a more streamlined version of her [[MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena MOBA]]-esque fighting style, being a Set Up character who can use attacks to launch stuff at opponents, she's also a {{Expy}} to Venom. |
| 580 | * CoolMask: Sculpted in the shape of a typical jack-o'-lantern. [[spoiler:The reason she wears it is because she has the same face as Aria, confirming her as a Valentine. Interestingly the mask and lollipops also serve to keep her body functioning prior to her merge with Justice making her "complete".]] |
| 581 | * CuteButCacophonic: Subverted: she normally speaks in an extremely high-pitched tone... But her voice switches to a lower, smoother tone when she gets serious or contemplative. [[spoiler:It's easier for her to stay focused like that when around Sol/Frederick, as shown in the latter part of the Story Mode, and she drops this entirely after merging with Justice.]] |
| 582 | * DeathFromAbove: Her Instant Kill is a drop kick ''from orbit''. |
| 583 | * DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: She thought she was a SacrificialLamb who would disappear after she fulfilled her original purpose to fuse with her "other half". However, ''-STRIVE-'' reveals that's not how things worked out at all, and the very much still here Jack-O' is left wondering what she should do with her life now that it turns out she's not a temporary existence whatsoever, since she's convinced that her only "roles" she's supposed to play are [[spoiler:bringing Aria back]] (which isn't possible in the way she believes is necessary) and "protecting the world" (even if it means having to do a HeroicSacrifice). Sol berates her multiple times for prioritizing her supposed "role" over what she wants to do for herself, and her personal story involves coming to terms with the idea that she's allowed to have her own personal desires outside of those perceived duties. It's because of this confusion over the meaning of her life that she ends up empathizing with I-No's troubles. |
| 584 | * DifficultButAwesome: In her ''-STRIVE-'' incarnation, Jack-O' is a fighter with a very unorthodox means of play; her pressure and damage potential are all heavily tied to her servants whom she needs to manually summon and keep track of. And then they disappear if she takes any damage, creating even more pressure to stay ahead of her opponent. Combined with very few reversal options and limited specials, she takes a lot of work to fully get moving. With servants deployed however, her ability to overwhelm her opponent drastically increases, having uniquely powerful tools for locking down and racking up damage, like trapping her opponent between herself and a servant to attack from both sides or firing her servants off like big canonballs. |
| 585 | * EmeraldPower: Her jack-o'-lantern attacks all emit a bright green light, as do the eye-holes in her and her servants' masks. |
| 586 | * EnemySummoner: Can summon [[MookMaker three little houses]]... which three types of mooks can come out of. |
| 587 | * EpicFlail: She has a ball & chain attached to her leg that she can use to attack from afar. [[spoiler:It seems to be fairly similar to Lucifero, being a familiar named Dorpos that assists with combat, it's just non-communicative.]] |
| 588 | * ExpressiveMask: The mouth and eyes on her metal mask can move to match her emotional state... when she's wearing it, anyway. |
| 589 | * {{Expy}}: Borrows heavily from Noel Vermillion from fellow Creator/ArcSystemWorks series ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'', [[spoiler:being an ArtificialHuman clone of the main protagonist's CynicismCatalyst who after fusing with a major antagonist becomes the functional {{Reincarnation}} of that person.]] |
| 590 | * FastballSpecial: In ''-STRIVE-'', she's capable of either throwing or kicking her servants at her opponent. |
| 591 | * FlipPersonality: She alternates between a bubbly girl and a mature woman [[spoiler:who is a lot closer to the original Aria.]] In a number of spots, she does this ''mid-sentence.'' |
| 592 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: If Dizzy defeats her in ''Xrd'', she'll comment on how her scent is "nostalgic," hinting at [[spoiler:[=Jack-O'=]'s true nature as a reincarnation of Aria, Dizzy's mother.]] |
| 593 | * FriendlyAddressPrivileges: In ''-STRIVE-'', she's the only one besides That Man who calls Sol by his original name of "Frederick", which he notably doesn't seem to mind much compared to [[BerserkButton how he usually reacts when anyone else calls him that]]. It's an early hint that [[spoiler:she's not as distinct from the original Aria as she thinks she is, and that he considers her a worthy successor to her legacy.]] |
| 594 | * FriendlyEnemy: The first final boss of the franchise that wants to fight for fun (and candy). |
| 595 | * FusionDance: |
| 596 | ** As a Valentine her ultimate purpose is to fuse with her "other half", [[spoiler:the revived EmptyShell of Justice. In her case it's more to repair Justice[=/=]Aria's broken mind rather than take control of her as the Valentines created by the Universal Will were meant to.]] |
| 597 | ** In ''-STRIVE-'', it's revealed that, as a Jack-O' unit, she's also capable of doing this with I-No to nullify her TimeMaster powers, but doing so would result in her [[HeroicSacrifice erasing her own existence]]. |
| 598 | * GeniusBruiser: Some of [=Jack-O'=]'s in-game quotes hint at her having a pretty good understanding of physics. During her Instant Kill, she might bring up that she has to override a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_coefficient drag coefficient]] to successfully deliver a kick through the atmosphere, and one of her responses to May preparing to launch her from a cannon has her ramble on about all the different principles involved in firing a cannon accurately. She may also gush about the specs of the cannon itself, or discuss philosophy. [[spoiler:Not too surprising when you consider that she's the closest of the Valentines to being Aria, who was herself a scientist.]] |
| 599 | * GuestFighter: She has guest appearances in several mobile games like ''VideoGame/ChainChronicle'', ''VideoGame/SevenKnights'', and ''VideoGame/ElementalBattle''. |
| 600 | * GuysSmashGirlsShoot: She has this dynamic with [[spoiler:her boyfriend,]]Sol. While Sol is an oppresive Rushdown character who's one of the franchise's biggest Gorillas, Jack-O' is a Zoner who has her Servants do a good portion of the work. |
| 601 | * HeroicSafeMode: Played with. In ''-STRIVE-'', her own consciousness not being overwritten by the "real" her at the end of ''Xrd'' makes her consider herself a temporary AI steering [[spoiler:Aria's]] body until she "comes out", insisting that she can't feel real emotions because they were artificially constructed, and that the "real" [[spoiler:Aria]] is due to return someday. On the other hand, both Sol himself and [=Jack-O'=]'s {{Tulpa}} representing her ideal image of her previous self believe otherwise, considering her to be a part of [[spoiler:Aria's]] heart that she wanted to leave behind in her memory. [[spoiler:In the end, Jack-O' admits that she ''does'' have proper emotions, up to and including inheriting Aria's love for Sol, but didn't want to admit it because she felt it would be a hindrance to Sol's future with "the Aria he wants".]] |
| 602 | * HeroicSelfDeprecation: Much of ''-STRIVE-'''s story mode has her dealing with the fact she feels like an imposter who failed to become [[spoiler:Aria]] due to her full memories not awakening as she expected them to after ''Xrd''. This despite Sol and her partially dormant other half both insisting she is and always was the person she'd wanted to become, and encouraging her to live a happy life in the present rather than worrying about the past. |
| 603 | * HolidayMotif: She's themed around Halloween, her name being a play on "jack-o'-lantern''. She dons an iron mask with a jack-o'-lantern design-something that's also on her minions and ball-and-chain weapon, has a deep love for sweets and candy, and is a twofold reference to the holiday as well as the power metal band Music/{{Helloween}}. |
| 604 | * HolyHalo: Has a glowing white halo floating above her head, to visually denote both her PhysicalGod level power and her ultimately well meaning nature [[spoiler:as the "good" parts of Justice[=/=]Aria]]. Although it initially disappears at the end of ''Revelator'' [[spoiler:when she recombines with Justice]], she retains it throughout ''-STRIVE-'', albeit with a crack in it; it's implied that she could take it off if she wanted to, but refuses because she still considers herself too much of an ArtificialHuman to do so. [[spoiler:It also resembles [[TragicKeepsake the hat that Aria wanted to leave behind for Frederick]] as a memory of her existence, and, after Sol helps Jack-O' come to terms with the fact that she's similarly a living incarnation of Aria's last wish instead of a failed replacement, she stops wearing it in the epilogue.]] |
| 605 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: Self-destructing minions can and will damage Jack-O' herself, so players need to keep a fair distance from them if they initiate the countdown. |
| 606 | * IAmNotHim: [=Jack-O'=]'s character arc in ''-STRIVE-'', she has been harboring deep self-doubts about her actual identity; she was the Valentine unit created to essentially bring [[spoiler:Aria]] back to life. And at the end of ''Xrd Rev 2'' that was accomplished to an extent. But that lingering feeling of something still missing makes Jack-O' think she's nothing but a fake, unworthy of her old identity or of Sol's love. In the end, [[spoiler:Sol keeps insisting Jack-O' should just accept herself for who she is now, and he doesn't care about being a carbon copy of her old self. He is happy for Jack-O' the way she is and she should be too, with that said Jack-O' accepts herself and remains at Sol's side]]. |
| 607 | * IKnowMaddenKombat: Her version of the Calvados Overdrive, in ''Xrd'', involves volleyball-spiking an ball-like energy charge from Dorpos to create a huge gout of flame. Likewise, in ''-STRIVE-'', she can punt her servants like she's playing UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball. |
| 608 | * ImageSong: In ''-STRIVE-'', she has "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3epk0R_oGAs Perfection Can't Please Me]]" |
| 609 | * IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: An odd variant where it involves "competing" with oneself. In ''-STRIVE-'', despite hanging around with Sol and making some occasionally flirtatious remarks with him, she [[InsecureLoveInterest constantly tries to put a stop to him getting too emotionally invested in her]] because [[spoiler:she considers herself to be a temporary replacement for his "real" lover Aria. Eventually, it turns out that Jack-O' inherited her previous self Aria's love for Frederick/Sol, but refused to act on it because she felt that Sol wanted a future with the old Aria he knew and loved and not the "temporary, replacement personality" she is now, not realizing that he'd already come to terms with losing the Aria he once knew and loves her back for who she is now.]] |
| 610 | * KickChick: A large portion of her normals comprise of flexible kicks in conjunction with her ball-and-chain, particularly her heavy slash where she performs a spinning handstand kick. |
| 611 | * {{Leitmotif}}: In ''Xrd'', she has "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEzEHUNWBsg Juno]]". |
| 612 | * LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: She takes up bounty hunting with Sol in ''-STRIVE-'', and the two of them banter comfortably to the point where he noticeably is much happier and more comfortable than usual around her. [[spoiler:One sign that she's taken on much more of Aria's spirit than she initially thinks is that her banter with him is shown to be very similar to the way he and Aria bantered back when they were dating.]] |
| 613 | * LiteralSplitPersonality: PlayedWith. Though her body is a magical clone, her personality and memories are those lost by her "other half" [[spoiler:Justice[=/=]Aria]] after the GreaterScopeVillain of the series made her original self BrainwashedAndCrazy. |
| 614 | * LossOfIdentity: In ''-STRIVE-'', one major reason she still identifies as Jack-O' instead of [[spoiler:Aria]], despite technically being a complete reincarnation of the latter, is that her memories are still fragmented. [[spoiler:It's because Aria's mind was shattered so irreparably during the Crusades that [[ThatManIsDead restoring her in the exact way she was before has become impossible]].]] According to her at the beginning of the game, [[spoiler:Aria]] is still locked up somewhere in her head. Sol, on the other hand, believes that "Aria" is not in her past (her head and memories) but in her present (her heart and feelings), and [[spoiler:recognizes Jack-O' as a successor to Aria's memory even if she's not exactly the same person.]] |
| 615 | * MagikarpPower: Her Ghosts (the houses that she can deploy) have an invisible timer that gradually upgrades them up to level 3, increasing their durability (requiring 5 hits to destroy them at max level) and the number of hits each minion can deal during its attacks. Most of the time, it is a good idea to not let these houses stay on the stage for long. |
| 616 | * MaleGaze: Her win animation is an extremely gracious close up of her butt, complete with a panty line. Safe to say that she [[Music/QueenBand makes the rockin' world go round]]. |
| 617 | * MaskOfPower: Her iron jack-o'-lantern mask allows her to use her abilities while she's still in an incomplete state. It tends to light up whenever she uses strong attacks like Overdrives. Her servants in ''-STRIVE-'' can also be equipped with masks using an overdrive; using this command grants them damage reduction. |
| 618 | * MechanicallyUnusualFighter: |
| 619 | ** Her fighting style can best be described as ''Overture''-style. According to WordOfGod, her style is based on the RealTimeStrategy genre (what with her summoning minions), similar to how Elphelt's gameplay design was based on the FirstPersonShooter genre. In addition to that, the range of her basic normals are a lot shorter than the standard, to the point where she cannot chain the usually chainable attacks like crouching kick to crouching slash. What she gets in trade are a lot of easy-to-execute specials (instead of complex inputs, most of her specials just involve direction+Dust, and even her overdrive input is what would be a simple special on other characters) that use up a tiny bit of Tension to make the moves stronger (and connecting with them will usually result in a full "refund" of spent tension and then some). |
| 620 | ** The aforementioned mechanics are toned back significantly in ''-STRIVE-''. She no longer creates houses to spawn servants, instead only being able to summon three servants to the battle, who she can then command to attack or defend. While they still operate on their own resource meter, there are lot less variables for Jack-O' to track compared to her last appearance, making her still unusual but more in line with the mechanics and fundamentals of other fighters. |
| 621 | * MoodSwinger: It's stated in the story that she has a very odd personality that almost changes on a whim from being childlike to serious. [[spoiler:It's because she isn't fully "born" yet, and she develops a more consistently mature personality after merging with Justice to become "complete".]] |
| 622 | * MookMaker: The servants in ''Xrd'' will constantly spawn out of the houses she sets up around the stage. |
| 623 | * MsFanservice: Jack-O' is a pretty lady wearing a tight suit with cleavage exposed and [[MaleGaze plenty of emphasis on her shapely legs and rear end]], particularly with her crouching animation. |
| 624 | * MundaneUtility: You know that cracked halo of hers? She can use it as a hula hoop, it seems. |
| 625 | * MusicalNod: Like Elphelt and Ramlethal, part of [=Jack-O'=]'s theme [[https://youtu.be/2JDVmSChM00 "Juno" ]] references Valentine's theme from ''Guilty Gear 2: Overture'', [[https://youtu.be/YTB2kNcmww8 "Diva."]] (Compare the start of Juno to the part in Diva about 16 seconds in.) All four of them are in some way pieces of, or copies of, Aria. |
| 626 | * NavelDeepNeckline: Her one-piece suit is cut pretty deep in the front. |
| 627 | * NotQuiteDead: ''-STRIVE-'' reveals that [[spoiler:her fusion with her "other half" didn't quite fix everything mentally, with Aria's full soul and memories still being dormant due to the same trauma that left the revived Justice unable to even bring herself to move in ''Xrd''.]] Thus she continues to identify and act as the mature version of Jack-O', still in a limbo where [[TraumaInducedAmnesia part of her memories are missing]]. [[spoiler:By ''-STRIVE-'''s ending, she has accepted that old Aria is never coming back, and that she is her own individual rather than a temporary copy.]] |
| 628 | * OddFriendship: During her brief stint as a runaway, she strikes a camaraderie with Jam of all people during the latter's arcade story. They travel together for some time, discussing philosophies and [=Jack-O'=]'s meaning for existence. |
| 629 | * OfficialCouple: [[spoiler:With Sol by the time of ''-STRIVE-''.]] |
| 630 | * PetTheDog: Sol noticeably is [[TookALevelInCheerfulness much softer and more cheerful in her presence]] in ''-STRIVE-'', and also expresses concern for her welfare distinct from [[spoiler:that of "Aria"]] despite her insistence that she's just a temporary stand-in AI inhabiting her body. [[spoiler:This is because he's already accepted the idea of the "Aria" he once knew being long gone, and considers Jack-O' to be just as much of an important person in carrying on her feelings and memory, so he's unhappy with the idea of her being so flippant about her own existence in comparison to an "ideal" version of herself that isn't there anymore.]] |
| 631 | * PumpkinPerson: She has a jack-o'-lantern motif (most obviously with her metal mask), fitting her name. |
| 632 | * PunnyName: Outside of the possible Music/MichaelJackson reference, her name sounds like "Jack O Lantern". |
| 633 | * PuppetFighter: Her play style in ''-STRIVE-''. Instead of putting down houses and letting her minions ZergRush pressure her opponent, she can summon up to three minions total and directly command them to do various things. |
| 634 | * ReallyWasBornYesterday: After becoming "complete" at the end of ''-REVELATOR-'', since [[spoiler:Aria's]] consciousness and memories never quite formed together for real, by the time of ''-STRIVE-'', she's still inexperienced in knowing about the world since she'd technically only been fully "born" less than a year ago. Since she's technically an ArtificialHuman, she acts like a mature woman and has many of [[spoiler:Aria's]] personality traits and feelings, but Ky has to give her advice on understanding human nature and tells her that there's still more she needs to learn about the world before she can try to save it. |
| 635 | * RedBaron: She is known as [[spoiler: ''The Scales of Juno.'']] |
| 636 | * {{Reincarnation}}: |
| 637 | ** Despite being a newly born Gear, [=Jack-O'=]'s mind could be considered half of [[spoiler:Aria Hale's]] "soul". Specifically, she contains the memories and personality traits [[spoiler:not in Justice, that That Man managed to save when the Universal Will invaded Justice and corrupted her mind to use as its puppet]]. |
| 638 | ** Reinforced in ''-STRIVE-'', where Jack-O' has to grapple with the fact that she's not a SacrificialLamb for [[spoiler:Aria]] as she expected, but her own individual self, simply with inherited feelings and memories from her past life. Much of her arc has her learning to accept she doesn't have to become a perfect copy of her old self either, free to embrace her own feelings and desires. |
| 639 | * ReplacementGoldfish: In ''-STRIVE-'' she sees ''herself'' this way, thinking that she's failed to live up to everyone's expectations by not becoming a perfect copy of the person she used to be [[spoiler:i.e. Aria]] like she believes she was intended to. Throughout the story, she insists that Sol wants ''his'' [[spoiler:Aria]] to return, and reminds him at the beginning of the game that she's only supposed to be a temporary stand-in. Notably, nobody ''else'' treats her this way at all, and Sol often talks to her about her own well-being distinct from her old self. [[spoiler:In fact, Sol never saw her as a replacement to begin with, pointing out that he'd never called her "Aria" even once; he's perfectly at peace with the idea that the Aria he knew will never return and that Jack-O' is a distinct person, but still considers her an important person who represents Aria's feelings and desire to leave a part of herself behind in memory.]] |
| 640 | * RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Her Servants are insanely adorable; they resemble little robotic companions with screen faces, tiny bat wings, and a similar color palette to Jack-O'. (Naturally, they become punching fodder for the tutorial mode.) |
| 641 | ** Her Servants, curiously, are totally absent in Story Mode. |
| 642 | * RoseHairedSweetie. Her hair in ''-STRIVE-'' changes to red like Aria's, and she's no less bubbly and sweet. |
| 643 | * SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:Raven establishes the plan in Revelator is that Jack-O' will switch places with Elphelt as Justice's battery, effectively making her purpose to die. Turns out, the actual result was a fusion which resulted in the resurrection of Aria, and the fact she ''didn't'' end up this way leaves her unsure about her purpose and unaware that her importance to everyone around her has upgraded her to full-on potential SacrificialLion.]] |
| 644 | * SadisticChoice: Go after Jack-O' herself at the risk of the upgraded minions snowballing the fight in their favor, or kept destroying houses and leaving Jack-O' free to run safe poke or unblockable offense against you. |
| 645 | * SelfSacrificeScheme: In ''-STRIVE-'', the possibility of her merging with I-No to nullify her TimeMaster powers at the cost of her own existence is repeatedly brought up. Everyone around her is obviously against it, but Jack-O', who sees herself only as a SacrificialLamb meant to pave the way for [[spoiler:the return of "Aria"]], only sees this as a "sacrifice" in the sense that it would prevent [[spoiler:Aria]] from returning. [[spoiler:In the climax, knowing that it's now impossible for the "Aria" Frederick once knew to ever return, Jack-O' tries to pull it off because she sees herself as a failure at her duty to resurrect Aria and believes sacrificing herself for the world is the only way left for her to fulfill her purpose in life, but Sol eventually stops her by telling her that she doesn't need to be the same person as Aria, and that she's free to live her life as Jack-O' with her own desires and feelings.]] |
| 646 | * SensualSpandex: She wears an extremely tight white jumpsuit that clings to every curve of her body. It's to the point her panty line is even visible in one of her win poses in ''Xrd''. [[spoiler:It gets a bit weird once you realize that it must be That Man himself who put Jack-O', basically half of ''Aria'', his old friend, into that outfit.]] |
| 647 | * SecondLove: Sort of. ''-STRIVE-'' reveals that, while she's [[spoiler:a sort of reincarnation of Sol's old fiancée Aria]], her memories and consciousness are fragmented enough that [[ThatManIsDead she technically counts as a distinct entity]]. She carries the same feelings for Sol that her past self did, and Sol treats her in pretty much exactly the same way he treated [[spoiler:Aria]] in the past, but in the end he reveals that [[spoiler:he's aware that "Aria" is gone for good and has accepted this. He's fine with Jack-O' not being the same person as Aria, because she's still carrying on her feelings and memory, so she's no less important to him.]] |
| 648 | * SpannerInTheWorks: She's the only Valentine not created by the Universal Will. This means that neither Bedman nor Ariels account for her existence until it was too late, letting That Man steal [[spoiler:the resurrection of Justice (and thus Aria)]] from right under their noses. |
| 649 | * SpinningPiledriver: Her Overdrive, "Forever Elysium Driver", has her transform her ball-&-chain into an iron maiden-like device to grab an opponent and perform a powerful piledriver. It's does a huge amount of damage expected of an SPD. |
| 650 | * SplitPersonalityTeam: |
| 651 | ** Her child and adult personalities are in fact both active at the same time, to the point Jack-O' claims there's no real distinction between them on the inside and everything she did in ''Revelator'' was ultimately a choice on her part, not a sudden flight of childish fancy. |
| 652 | ** Similarly in ''-STRIVE-'' her still partially dormant memories manifest in her mind as a ghostly {{Tulpa}} of her old self, encouraging her to accept herself for who she is now and pursue her desire to be with Sol. |
| 653 | * SNKBoss: Notable for the fact that the trope is largely ''averted''; she's actually not nearly as bad as any previous series boss, and is definitely not on the level of Ram from the previous title. While she does gain constantly-charging tension and a more powerful Calvados (spawning three flame pillars instead of one), between the difficulty being both selectable and variable in ''Rev'''s Arcade Mode, and the AI [[ArtificialStupidity struggling a little bit to fully utilize her unique playstyle]], even on harder difficulties, she's vastly more manageable than Justice, Dizzy, I-No or Ramlethal were. [[spoiler:And there's simultaneously some irony and story logic to the first comparison - yeah, without her armor and armed only with a ball-and-chain familiar, Justice probably wouldn't be nearly so dangerous.]] |
| 654 | * StrongerThanTheyLook: Her build doesn't seem like it'd suggest strength, yet she's so strong that even ''[[WillfullyWeak Sol]]'' is utterly shocked at how she could keep up with him. Her Instant Kill in ''Xrd'' has her dropkick an opponent so hard that it creates an explosion visible from orbit. |
| 655 | * SummonMagic: She summons her servants in ''Xrd'' by placing small strucutres around the stage that spawn the latter to advance towards the enemy. Come ''-STRIVE-'', she can now only summon three servants, one at a time, but has a more robust set of commands that they can perform to aid in attacks. |
| 656 | * SweetTooth: From her intro and victory scenes she really likes her lollipops, [[spoiler:and she needs to eat them to keep her body going when not wearing her mask]]. By ''-STRIVE-'', [[spoiler:recombining with Justice and becoming "complete"]] means she's no longer dependent on this, but she still seems to have a taste for hot chocolate. |
| 657 | * TangledFamilyTree: Her relation towards her family is simultaneously much simpler than Sol's and much more complicated depending on what consensus said family reaches as the series moves forward; strictly speaking she is a Valentine unit, thus Jack-O' is Elphelt and Ramlethal's sister as all were born out of Justice's mold, but [[spoiler:Jack-O' doesn't share their desire to consider themselves Sol's daughters for the very obvious reason Jack-O' is a special Valentine, made solely with the purpose of bringing Aria back to life, thus Jack-O' was to be Sol's lover for all intents and purposes, and by a stretch she would Elphelt and Ram's "mother" in a sense. Elphelt herself in ''Xrd'' brings this confusion up by wondering if she should call Jack-O' her sister or her mom, Jack-O' just says it is complicated. [=Jack-O'=]'s arc in ''STRIVE'' is her coming to terms she can't actually be Aria in absolute terms, she shares all her memories and some personality traits but in the end they are different people, even if their love for Sol is undeniably the same; Sol does everything in his power for Jack-O' to accept she is a different person and he likes her the way she is and all ends well in that front, however, nothing in how Jack-O' sees herself when relating to Elphelt, Ramlethal and even Dizzy is discussed further than Xrd did, which is to say not all]]. |
| 658 | * ThatManIsDead: Inverted at the beginning of ''-STRIVE-'', where she insists that [[spoiler:the original "Aria"]] is still in her head and that Jack-O' is just controlling her body for the time being until she "returns". [[spoiler:It's ultimately revealed that it's impossible for Aria's mind to ever return to the way it was before and that Jack-O' will never be the exact same person as her, making it more of this trope.]] |
| 659 | * ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Her Instant Kill is so powerful, [[https://youtu.be/j6A-0iQd8LE?t=4s the results of it can be seen from space]]. |
| 660 | * TowerDefense: Her gameplay is based around protecting various towers that spawn [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter insanely adorable]] servants to kill people with. |
| 661 | * {{Tulpa}}: In ''-STRIVE-'', she visualizes her still dormant "other half" as a ghostly version of the old her [[spoiler:i.e. Aria back in the 2010s]]. This despite the ghost her outright saying they are equal parts of the same woman and in the climax both Jack-O' and her other half beginning to speak in unison to express their shared desire to be with Frederick. |
| 662 | * WalkingSpoiler: Needless to say, the fact that the game's promotional material and initial intros and whatnot don't offer up much information about her necessitates this entry looking a bit like a CIA document, as quite a lot of information about her is saved for {{Wham Episode}}s at climax of Arcade Modes or the latter portions of Story Mode. |
| 663 | * {{Womanchild}}: Her child personality makes her out to be this. Several of her taunts and intros lean into her playful, immature side. She'll teeter atop her ball-and-chain, stick her tongue out to taunt oppoenent, and throw all sorts of Halloween lingo into her dialogue. |
| 664 | * WrestlerInAllOfUs: One of her grabs transforms her flail to a Iron Maiden to grab the opponent... which she ''bulldogs''. Elphelt actually comments on this in her win quote against Jack-O'. |
| 665 | * YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Throughout ''-STRIVE-'', she continually treats herself as a "temporary, replacement personality" housed in [[spoiler:Aria's]] body with no purpose to be alive than to fulfill her "roles" of protecting the world and eventually disappearing to pave the way for [[spoiler:Aria]] "coming back". Throughout the game, it becomes increasingly clear that ''nobody else'' sees her this way, with both Sol and Ky urging her to do things for herself and stop with her tendency to [[SelfSacrificeScheme consider her existence as disposable as she thinks it is]]. [[spoiler:In the climax, she tries to sacrifice herself to stop I-No while considering herself a "failure" to others' expectations, even though it's obvious that everyone around her is ''horrified'' at the prospect. Sol eventually has to yank her out with assurance that he never saw her this way at all.]] |
| 666 | [[/folder]] |
| 667 | |
| 668 | [[folder:Kum Haehyun]] |
| 669 | !Kum Haehyun |
| 670 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kum_image_2.png]] |
| 671 | [[caption-width-right:350:''[[InstrumentOfMurder 琴 全カ]]'']] |
| 672 | |
| 673 | -> ''"Power is meaningless before a tuner."'' |
| 674 | |
| 675 | -> '''Voiced by:''' Hideaki Tezuka (Jonryoku), Unknown (Haehyun) |
| 676 | |
| 677 | -> '''Playable in:''' ''Xrd -REVELATOR''/''REV 2'' (DLC) |
| 678 | |
| 679 | ->'''Profile:''' |
| 680 | ->Height: 8'1" |
| 681 | ->Weight: 439lbs |
| 682 | ->Gender: Male (actually female) |
| 683 | ->Blood type: A |
| 684 | ->Birthplace: Korea |
| 685 | ->Date of Birth: December 5th |
| 686 | ->Hobbies: Trimming "his" beard, making accessories |
| 687 | ->Likes: Humanity and justice, the chain fitted on "his" arm |
| 688 | ->Dislikes: People who don't try their best |
| 689 | |
| 690 | ->'''Character theme:'''\ |
| 691 | [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aZK9twB-m8 The Tuner]] |
| 692 | ---- |
| 693 | |
| 694 | A new character initially introduced in the Arcade Mode of ''-REVELATOR-''. Kum Haehyun, also known as Tuner, is the latest descendant of the Kum family. While Haehyun's outward appearance is that of a large, powerful elderly man named Kum Jonryoku, it's actually a disguise - a robot suit piloted by a young woman. She is being sought out by Leo and Johnny in order to obtain crucial information about the Japanese, their colony, and Ki energy, in Johnny's case largely for the purpose of helping May. Haehyun was a first-print bonus DLC character like Elphelt for the console version, and was later patched into the arcade version.\ |
| 695 | In-game, Haehyun is a balanced ground-based fighter, boasting intuitive special moves but relying on links instead of the Gatling Combo mechanic, similar to the cast of ''Franchise/StreetFighter''. The Tuner can launch controllable Tuning Ball projectiles for space control and knockdown (okizeme), and has strong and simple poking attacks at her disposal. However, the large hurtbox of the Jonryoku suit and its relatively slow movement makes Haehyun weak to harassment by the opponent. |
| 696 | ---- |
| 697 | * BiggerOnTheInside: Haehyun's win animation reveals that her robot shell's interior is much larger than its dimensions would suggest. |
| 698 | * TheCameo: Shows up eating at Jam's restaurant in the ending cutscene of ''-STRIVE-''. |
| 699 | * EjectionSeat: In her win pose, she accidentally activates hers and begins to comically panic. |
| 700 | * FingerPokeOfDoom: Her Instant Kill involves Jonryoku flicking the opponent away with tremendous force after immobilizing them. |
| 701 | * FirstNameBasis: Kum is her family name. Everyone, including the game's announcer, refers to her as just Haehyun. |
| 702 | * GlamourFailure: In May's ''-REVELATOR-'' arcade mode, Johhny mentions that Haehyun refuses to go through official border checkpoints equipped with "modern" magical cameras, since those can see through the Jonryoku suit without issue. She has her photos taken with old cameras that rely on film, since they just take a picture of what's there. |
| 703 | * KiManipulation: She is a master of ki techniques, to the point where she has earned the [[RedBaron moniker]] of "Tuner", as in "tuning fork". She's so powerful, in fact, that she can even manipulate the energy of her surroundings to the point where the opponent becomes unable to lift a finger to stop her, as her Instant Kill shows. |
| 704 | * KneelBeforeZod: Said Instant Kill begins with Haehyun immobilizing the rival and forcing them on their knees, before she gives them a BreakingSpeech and then a FingerPokeOfDoom that sends them pretty much flying. |
| 705 | * MiniMecha: The robot is the size of a large human. |
| 706 | * MobileSuitHuman: The real Haehyun is the girl piloting the robot. |
| 707 | * PinkGirlBlueBoy: Jonryoku's outfit is a grayish blue, while Haehyun has dark pink hair and a hanbok with magenta accents. |
| 708 | * PoweredArmor: Jonryoku is functionally a suit of power armor that she pilots to do the fighting for her. |
| 709 | * PowerLevels: All of her win quotes are Haehyun assessing her opponent's level in string instrument terms, usually comparing them to a guitar or something appropriate for the character to match her musical tuning theme. As an example, [[OneManArmy Sol]] apparently has 7 strings that are Gauge 80 with two heads, which makes Haehyun question if Sol's a monster. The outliers are the Valentines, who are compared to wind instruments; Axl and I-No's alien natures makes them unreadable (at the very least, I-No appears to be compared to her own guitar); Raven is so ancient that she is unable to appraise him and Jack-O' is, to her surprise, described as cut in half. |
| 710 | * RememberTheNewGuy: Haehyun and the Kum family were never mentioned in prior entries of the series, and suddenly everyone is talking about the Tuner in ''-REVELATOR-''. Johnny reveals that he's old friends with Haehyun, Sol recognizes that the current master of the Kum family shouldn't be so old yet, etc. An established family that knows how to manipulate ki to this extent, in a world where ki is both very powerful and yet still barely understood decades after its discovery, should have been rightfully famous. The remaining Japanese are essentially kept in [[GildedCage gilded cages]] to both prevent them dying out and to study their ki. Other characters who can merely get it to ''work at all'' without being Japanese either get widespread recognition for the feat or get targeted for nefarious reasons (e.g. Kliff Undersn, Chipp Zanuff, and Jam Kuradoberi). It still feels weird that even ''-SIGN-'' or the old [[AllThereInTheManual side materials]] never so much as hinted at their existence. |
| 711 | * SamusIsAGirl: The shell, Jonryoku, takes on the appearance of an elderly man. The pilot of said shell is a much younger woman. |
| 712 | [[/folder]] |
| 713 | |
| 714 | !!Introduced in ''REV 2'' |
| 715 | |
| 716 | [[folder:Answer]] |
| 717 | !Answer |
| 718 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/answer_rev_2_25.png]] |
| 719 | [[caption-width-right:350:''Enough is Enough'']] |
| 720 | |
| 721 | -> ''[[ExcuseMeWhileIMultitask "Hello, Answer speaking..."]]'' |
| 722 | |
| 723 | ->'''Voiced by:'''\ |
| 724 | '''JP:''' Creator/TomokazuSeki\ |
| 725 | '''EN:''' Creator/DerekStephenPrince |
| 726 | |
| 727 | -> '''Playable in:''' ''Xrd Rev 2'' |
| 728 | |
| 729 | ->'''Profile:''' |
| 730 | ->Height: 6'0" |
| 731 | ->Weight: 143lbs |
| 732 | ->Gender: Male |
| 733 | ->Blood type: A |
| 734 | ->Birthplace: Eastern Chipp Kingdom / South Africa |
| 735 | ->Date of Birth: September 8th |
| 736 | ->Hobbies: Visiting secret hot springs |
| 737 | ->Likes: His current way of life |
| 738 | ->Dislikes: Unforgettable memories, losing connection |
| 739 | |
| 740 | ->'''Character theme:'''\ |
| 741 | [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP-84TWKwAg Enough is Enough]] |
| 742 | ---- |
| 743 | |
| 744 | Adjutant to self-proclaimed President Chipp Zanuff. He is blessed with a preternatural memory and can remember any fact after hearing it only once. Some refer to him as a human database. When Answer first met Chipp, he was poor and had fallen in with a rough crowd. He found Chipp's incessant preaching irritating, and challenged him to a duel which he then proceeded to lose spectacularly. It was at that moment that he fell under the sway of Chipp's charisma. He has since put his memory to good use in Chipp's service and has sworn to put Chipp in office.\ |
| 745 | Answer is a footie/set-play character who controls the neutral game by setting up scrolls and business cards which allow him to teleport towards the cards and perform air dashes in-between the scrolls. He shines on the attack with great frame traps, safe pressure, and a command grab where he can truly frustrate the opponent. However, he has a noticeably low damage output and is heavily dependent on the Tension resource and set-ups in order to score knockdowns, and is heavily reliant on the aforementioned scrolls and cards to truly damage the opponent. |
| 746 | ---- |
| 747 | * TheAce: Calm, cool and collected. Doubles as a human database while being efficient in combat (while not even paying full attention). |
| 748 | * AscendedExtra: Previously an NPC who simply appeared alongside Chipp. Now a fully playable character who will have his own Episode Mode scenario. |
| 749 | * TheBeastmaster: He is capable of summoning a giant toad as well as a giant snake in his dust and IK respectively. |
| 750 | * BeleagueredAssistant: Is one to Chipp. Whenever Chipp causes a political mess due to his own brashness, such as in his ''-REVELATOR-'' Episode Mode intro, Answer is left to clean it up. |
| 751 | * TheCameo: Shows up working as Chipp's assistant in the ending cutscene of ''-STRIVE-''. |
| 752 | * DeadpanSnarker: His response to a lot of Chipp's sillier antics. |
| 753 | * DoppelgangerAttack: A part of his main moveset. |
| 754 | * ExcuseMeWhileIMultitask: In a match, he's on the phone the entire time he's fighting his opponent. |
| 755 | * ImprobableWeaponUser: As shown in his profile art, he weaponizes business cards. |
| 756 | * KiManipulation: Incorperates it into his attacks, though he is not as good at sensing it as the true masters. |
| 757 | * TheLancer: To Chipp, he's the brains supplementing Chipp's charisma. |
| 758 | * MasterOfIllusion: Can create shadow clones- which somehow also duplicates his phone. |
| 759 | * MeaningfulName: He "Answers" the phone, and can answer lots of questions due to his superb memory. |
| 760 | * MotorMouth: He ''never stops talking'' in a match, since he's taking a business call. |
| 761 | * {{Ninja}}: The second Ninja to join the series as a playable since Chipp. |
| 762 | * PhotographicMemory: A defining trait, Answer can recall anything after only hearing it once. |
| 763 | * PromotedToPlayable: A minor side character that later became part of the core cast. |
| 764 | * ShoutOut: His theme is named "Enough is Enough" referencing Enuff Z'nuff and connecting him to Chipp further. |
| 765 | ** It may also double as a shoutout to Irish rock band "The Answer". |
| 766 | * SpinningPiledriver: As befitting a ninja, he has an Izuna Drop. |
| 767 | * TheSpymaster: One of the many roles he performs for Chipp. He keeps an eye on the movements of all major players and reports back to Chipp to devise a strategy when a response is warranted. |
| 768 | * StreetPunk: Started out as this, until his fight with Chipp changed his life. |
| 769 | * SummonMagic: See TheBeastmaster. |
| 770 | * ThirdEye: While he doesn't have a third eye per say- Answer's glasses have a third lens above the other two where a third eye would be located, which instead has a diamond-shaped marking.[[note]]Initiate one of Answer's taunts, and it's revealed it can ''fire lasers''. [[/note]] |
| 771 | [[/folder]] |
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