Characters / Assault Android Cactus

The characters found in the game Assault Android Cactus.

The Androids

Cactus

"Don't call me a stowaway, I'm an officer of the law and you're under arrest! Throw your arms on the ground and come quietly!"

Primary: Machine Gun

Secondary: Flamethrower

The titular android and primary character of the game. Cactus acts as a beginner's best friend, using her all-around solid arsenal to sweep through the Section lords' forces. She is especially good against bosses.

• Ambiguous Syntax: Cactus and Holly tend to fall into this trope during the cutscenes.
  Coral: Well, I can't believe you hit those robots with your ship!
  Cactus: Oh, no problem! I do that kind of thing all the time!
  Holly: (skeptical) Save people? Or crash into things?
  Cactus: (confused) Both?
  (Tutorial immediately starts.)
• Boring, but Practical: Machine Gun is the most "common" weapon, and is most usable in almost all situations.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's acknowledged as more competent than she seems In-Universe, by Starch.
• Cowboy Cop: She disobeys orders in the introductory cutscene to ram her patrol craft into the Genki Star.
• Cutting the Knot: Cactus tends toward a direct approach to problems. In the ending cutscene, she saves Holly from a dangerous and probably illegal attempt to hack Medulla's core to prevent a disaster, by just shooting it with a leftover cannon from the boss fight.
  Aubergine: What did you do!
  Cactus: (casually) The way I saw it, the Core was the problem. Blowing it up was the fastest way to fix things. Don't worry, I do this kind of thing all the time.
  Holly: (skeptical) Fix things? Or destroy multi-billion dollar pieces of equipment on impulse?
  Cactus: (confused) Both?
  (Smash Cut to logo, roll credits.)
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: Cactus' secondary weapon is a flamethrower. Not just that, but it was made from an old BBQ, after she was told she could not, under any circumstance, have a flamethrower.
• Jack of All Stats: The most basic character, and the one the game is named after too.

• Space Police: A member of the InterPlanetary Police's anti-robot squad.

Holly

Em-Em-Embryo! You've, uh, gone too far! And, umm, and I'm here to stop you! So, stop!

Primary: Seeker

Secondary: Cannonball

Second android unlocked from the start. Her primary is weak and has low range but homes on enemies, allowing players to concentrate on dodging. Meanwhile, Cannonball is slow but damaging, requiring aim and prediction.

• Cowardly Lion: Holly, formerly the stuttering and browbeaten subordinate of Embryo, steps up to face both her tormentor and everything else the Genki Star can throw at her as the player character.
• Homing Projectile: Holly's primary weapon is a gyrojet gun that launches homing projectiles with limited range.
• Odd Friendship: The timid Holly and the socially awkward Shiitake initially became close because the freezer insulation stopped Embryo from bugging her.

Lemon

If you won't stop this, I will! I'll never give up on everyone who's still on board this ship!

Primary: Spreadshot

Secondary: Rocket Launcher

Third android unlocked from the start. Similar to Cactus, but is more suited for crowd control.

• Spread Shot: Lemon's primary weapon, as suggested, fires several projectiles at once across an angle.

Coral

Embryo: Huh, Coral is it? What are you doing down here, don't you have, uh, a pilates class to teach?
Coral: Kickboxing. Nobody shows up for class when robots take over the ship though, so I've got some free time! And you look a bit like a punching bag.

Primary: Shotgun

Secondary: Plasma Field

Final android unlocked from the start. Both her weapons can only hit at close range, but Plasma Field stays on same spot for few seconds while repelling enemies and their bullets.

• Difficult, but Awesome: Always being close to enemies you want to damage without being damaged yourself, and knowing when to deploy your Plasma Field is not easy. But if you can pull it off, you get excellent DPS and great capability for scoring.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Coral's shotgun is one of the more powerful primary weapons, but has one of the slowest rates of fire. Firing just two shots without killing anything will negate your combo.

Starch

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack had insufficient heat tolerance on key axial joints!

Primary: Laser Rifle

Secondary: Micro Missiles

Unlocked by beating Embryo, this android is decent in most cases.

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Went [REDACTED] immediately upon awakening, before even receiving proper human-like skin.
• Boxed Crook: Cactus freed her in exchange for assisting in a little crusade against Section Lords.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Starch tends to speak in non-sequiturs, obscure folktale references, and Buffy Speak.
  Starch:(waking up when being chosen in character select screen) Pineapple!
• Energy Weapon: Starch's primary weapon is a laser weapon that can reach halfway across an arena, and behaves more like a real laser than many of the other weapons in the game.
• Homing Projectile: Starch's secondary is a Macross Missile Massacre homing on enemies.
• Mad Oracle: Skirts the line between this and The Ophelia, according to designer Tim Dawson. She's the only one who understands why Medulla is going rampant, and Dawson's restricted [[ask.fm/ironicaccount Ask FM page]] states that while Cactus thinks Starch can be tamed with kindness and being treated equally, Starch mainly plays nice because every future she doesn't ends with her head punched off.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Starch had been locked up because of a suspiciously vague rampage during her activation; several of the bosses are visibly afraid of her. (Venom is a big fan of her work.) She also expresses herself with a childlike joy, especially when killing Mecha-Mooks.
  Starch: (victory quote; sulking)... Everything's dead...

Aubergine

As acting head of security I have to protect this ship, even from itself!

Primary: Helo Companion

Secondary: Singularity Generator

Unlocked by beating Vespula, this android is tricky to use. Helo does not work as usual guns and instead is a remote-controlled buzzsaw, damaging foes directly from where he is. Secondary is also unique in that it deals low damage on its own but drags and stops all enemies, combining well with area-hitting attacks.

• The Beastmaster: Aubergine has a smaller robot, Helo, as a partner and primary weapon; firing causes Helo to spin rapidly, using his ears to slice anything near where Aubergine sends him.
• By-the-Book Cop: Unlike Cactus, Aubergine is a more strait-laced member of the Genki Star's internal security forces, and a faithful disciple of the Section Lord Justice.
• Token Heroic Orc: Helo is not subject to the typical robot hierarchy due to directly reporting to Aubergine. As such, he wasn't affected when the Section Lords and Medulla go rampant.

Shiitake

Hello Mistress Vespula! I am here to hunt you! I am hopeful it will be a beautiful fight!

Primary: Railgun

Secondary: Propeller Mines

Unlocked by beating Justice, this android fits role of sniper. Her Railgun hits instantly and penetrates targets, making it slow but strong mean of removing any threat. Propeller mines are useful for preventing enemies from coming closer.

• Blood Knight: Despite being (almost disturbingly) friendly, Shiitake is eager to explain to the Section Lords how much she's looking forward to fighting and defeating them. Her first response to encountering Liquorice is expressing gratitude for the chance to "hunt the most dangerous game".
• Friendly Sniper: Shiitake is soft-spoken and polite, and wields a powerful and accurate railgun.
• Magnetic Weapons: Shiitake's railgun.
• One-Hit Polykill: Shiitake's railgun can penetrate and damage an unlimited number of enemies in a row.

Peanut

You're beyond repair, I'm recommending a total disassembly. Don't worry, I'll use your parts for something.

Primary: Magma Welder

Secondary: Giga Drill

Unlocked by beating Venom, this android is good at closer ranges. Unlike Coral, she has means of actually getting close to the enemy - Giga Drill lets her charge at high speed while taking down anyone on her way.

• Fire-Breathing Weapon: Peanut's primary weapon is a magma spewer.
• Good Old Robot: Peanut enforces this trope for herself. Despite being a skilled Wrench Wench, she deliberately does the bare minimum to keep her body functional, resulting in her visibly decrepit appearance. This does not harm her combat skill in the least.
• Little Bit Beastly: Peanut is the only android with horn-like data antennae. This is justified by the artist, as she was built on Europa, with the Satyr frame popular in the Jupiter region, but was badly damaged in a workplace accident and had herself transferred to an Assault frame instead of waiting for replacement parts. While she's interested in returning to her Satyr frame, she never finds the time.
• This Is a Drill: Peanut's secondary weapon, the Giga Drill Lance, a rocket-propelled drill that can send larger enemies flying across arenas before destroying them.
• Wrench Wench: Peanut's specialty was repairs, which frequently led to Jurisdiction Friction with the Section Lord Venom.

Liquorice

You primitive types really don't know how to speak to your betters, do you?

Primary: Panzer Cannon

Secondary: Vorpal Blade

A miniboss fought right before final boss, and last playable android that is unlocked by beating the game.

An advanced special-forces android and former private military contractor, Liquorice's I Work Alone attitude eroded her career prospects. Shortly after migrating to Jupiter, she vanished and was legally classified as "lost to space."

• Awesome, but Impractical: Charged Attack of her Vorpal Blade in most cases - it is very damaging, but you have to stay at same place while charging it, without any protection. It can be pulled off and sometimes is useful, but its much safer to just use non-charged strikes instead.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: If you play as Liquorice, her conversations with the Section Lords revolve around her deciding that They Have Outlived Their Usefulness, mostly as an Excuse Plot. When the player enters Collider, the level where you fight Liquorice, you will still fight Liquorice, who will ask you to explain your way out of this development. You (the playable Liquorice) then replies that you don't need to explain anything, and what matters is that this is a video game and that you're playable.
• Life Drain: In her mini-boss fight, after you deplete her battery, she destroys all enemies still in the arena and regains a sliver of battery before retreating. Shiitake refers to this as "revival capability."
• Mirror Boss: Liquorice as a miniboss. She is an android, and plays by the exact same rules as you. Shooting her will knock her down for a bit, but she'll promptly get back up with Mercy Invincibility. She can defeat enemies and upgrade her weapon, steal Power-Ups from the field, and steal battery pickups. To defeat her, you must run out her battery before she runs out yours.
• Mirror Match: What her fight turns into when she's the player character.
• Smug Snake: She almost enjoys belittling others as much as she enjoys singing the praises of her own technological superiority. Almost. In the Mirror Match against her playable version, she's happy to be beaten by someone as perfect as herself.
• The Dragon: Serves as Medulla's sentinel. However, when facing Medulla as her, she reveals her true allegiances lie with the mysterious "Children of Terra," and that Medulla was a test subject in their goals, including the resurrection of Terra Nova.

The Section Lords

The Section Lords are the advanced robot supervisors of the various functions of the Genki Star, under the supervision of the ship's AI core, Medulla. They are the leaders of the robot rebellion the Androids have to fight.

Embryo (Production Overlord)

Rats! Sneaky filthy rats scurrying around my hold!

Vespula (Hydroponics Controller)

Swarm! Protect me!

Justice (Security Administrator)

My apologies officer, it appears both of us have paths we are compelled to follow.

Venom (Superstructure Engineer)

This is the best day of my life! Every time I shake the ship, more candy tumbles out and gets caught in my web!

• Disc-One Final Boss: After defeating Justice, he's named as the leader of the robot rebellion who forced the other Section Lords to join in. However, he starts to reveal who put him up to the plan before being silenced.

Medulla (Neural Nexus)

• Last Ditch Move: The "aethersphere." If you don't destroy all the constructs before the battery runs out, Medulla will assimilate your androids' cores. Liquorice calls it a "physical space Facade Breach."
• The Pawn: According to Liquorice, corrupting Medulla was a field test in a greater plan to resurrect Terra Nova.

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