Characters / Them's Fightin' Herds

Characters from the world of Fœnum.

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Playable characters

The Champions (Base roster)

The Champions in general

Whether they were chosen or volunteered themselves, these are the ungulates who are searching for the Prophet's Key in hopes of saving Fœnum from the return of the Predators.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: In the Pixel Lobby and the overworld, all of them can wear all sorts of headgear and accessories obtainable through various means over their sprites. Five out of the eight of them play this straight by already having something on them officially,^*Velvet, Tianhuo, and Oleander (unless you count her glasses from the tutorial mode) avert this, as they don't wear anything. See their indexes of the rest for details.
• Action Hero: How do they solve the conflict of who will become Fœnum's Champion? By setting out on an adventure while beating up Predators and each other, of course!
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Though only Pom plays this completely straight by default, it's the character's alternate palettes that fit this trope. Many of them are colors that are often loud and very vibrant, let alone something not naturally seen in the wild.
• Badass Adorable: All of them are cute animals designed by Lauren Faust. They're also pretty good at beating the crap out of one another.
• Cast of Expies: The characters have similar fighting styles to the six main characters from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, as this was originally going to be a fan-game of that show (see each character profile for specifics). Many are also similar in personality, to varying degrees.
• The Champion: The heroic title in-universe is literally this. For some reason or another, they were chosen by their respective nations to become candidates for the Champion. The one exception for the main characters is Oleander, who is acting against the wishes of her people.
  • Averted for Shanty, who isn't looking for the Key to save the world.
• Civilized Animal: They share a world with other quadruped ungulates.
• Collector of the Strange: Along with the many types of hats, some of the cosmetics the Key Seekers can find or buy consist of things like a stop sign, a large joystick, eldritch artifacts, and possible live animals.
• Dueling Player Characters: Justified as they're supposed to fight each other for the title of Fœnum's Champion.
• Grapple Move: Every character has a variation:
  • Arizona bounces the opponent off of her back after she grabs them, like she's in a rodeo. She also uses a lasso for some of her Magic attacks.
  • Velvet traps her victim in ice shards.
  • Paprika gives an affectionate Killer Bear Hug.
  • Oleander captures her opponent in the Unicornomicon and throws them out.
  • Pom's puppy attacks the other fighter's face in a Big Ball of Violence and she has to pull them off.
  • Tianhuo does a backwards somersault kick.
  • Shanty jumps on the enemy with all four hooves and either somersaults to chuck them backward or simply gives them a big old kick with both hind legs.
  • Texas grapples the others in his ropes and finishes up with a headbutt or simply throws them behind him.
  • Stronghoof attacks wilding twin ice axes.
• Headbutting Heroes: Justified as they're in a competition. Though the worst of the interactions have them annoyed rather than outright hating each other.
• The Hero: The Key Seekers are this to various levels. Not counting Shanty, who's looking for the key for more selfish purposes, all of them are traveling across Fœnum to save the world.
• Hero Antagonist: Only towards the other fighters. Each one is the Hero Protagonist on their own side, but since there can only be one Champion, they have to be rivals whether they want to or not. Shanty mostly averts the "hero" part, whose more selfish motivations make her the closest thing to a Villain Protagonist on the roster.
• Hyperactive Sprite: Though they all move, a few of them are worth special mention: ^note Oleander and Velvet are downplayed as they calmly stand still while idle.
  • Arizona sways back and forth, but every now and then she'll do a little stomp like she's overly eager to fight.
  • Paprika is energetically bobbing up and down.
  • Tianhuo's head keeps swaying back and forth. Though every few seconds she'll stop to stand completely still, take a deep breath to compose herself, and go back to her normal looping animation.
  • Pom is played with, as she stands mostly still as a board but is constantly shaking while idle.
  • Shanty is the most hyperactive out of all of them, repeatedly prancing left to right.
• Intentionally Awkward Title: When facing a computer player, all of the names possible for the ai controlled fighters are nothing but ridiculous. They also use a lot of Naming Conventions and Title Tropes. It's mostly best not to apply them here literally.
• National Animal Stereotypes: All characters to different levels.
  • Arizona is one of the Cattlekind and speaks like she's from Texas. ^*The U.S. State, not her father.
  • Velvet has a Scandanavian-inspired accent; those nations are associated with moose and reindeer.
  • Pom is a sheep and sounds like she's from Scotland. ^* Originally, she was going to take the stereotype further by having a New Zealand-like accent, but the former was easier.
  • Paprika is an alpaca coming from an area similar to the Andes Mountains.
  • Oleander is a unicorn, a mythical creature historically associated with British royalty, and speaks in such an accent.
  • Tianhuo is a longma, a dragon-like race coming from Chinese mythology. Naturally, she's a Chinese Girl.
  • Shanty can cling to walls, in real life goats are from mountainous regions that are hard to climb.
• Non-Human Undead: All characters have zombie palettes and masks meant to invoke this, giving them green skin/fur with glowing yellow eyes. Overlaps with Raising the Steaks (though that fits more for Pom's dogs) and loosely with Warrior Undead.
• One-Man Army: (Or One-Woman Army) All of them fight through hoards of mooks in succession by themselves, with the only real trouble being eachother or more powerful Predators. Though Pom and Oleander get help from their companions.
• Player Character: Each one is a playable fighter, regardless of how big their role in story mode is.
• Red Baron: The Key Seekers have the titles of "Champion of The *whatever province they're from*".
• Retcon: After the release of Story Mode: Chapter 1 on May 2020, the events shown deviate from how it happened in the Book of Lore due it being declared non-canon by Word of God.
  • The Book of Lore has Arizona became the representative of Cattlekind after winning the ballot meant to select it. When her father rejects it because of her age, she actually beats him in combat which convinces him to let her leave. In Story Mode: Chapter 1, she was the only cattle willing to even be the representative while the others ran back to their caravans in response to the call. Even her father only needed to be convinced by his wife non-violently to let her leave, instead of being beaten.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Kind of a given considering the game's roots and the character artist.
• Rotating Protagonist: Each playable character gets their own focus chapter in story mode, and why they started.
• Sailor Earth: Seems to be the pattern of known Key Seekers; pick an ungulate species, choose a biome they're from (Champion of the X), and give them a defining trait based on Animal Stereotypes.
• Saving the World: The end goal of all of the Champions. At least in theory; some like Shanty decided to become Champion for their own gain.
• There Can Be Only One: Only one ungulate is allowed to be the Champion. Which is why they're fighting each other instead of, say, working together to stop the Predators.
• Vague Age: Other than Arizona who is around one year old (if her confirmed age is still considered canon), with Pom around the same age, all of their ages or even age groups are hard to pin down. In Oleander's case she's older anywhere above thirteen, but unknown by how much.
• Virtual Paper Doll: All of them can wear different accessories in the Pixel Lobby and overworld.
• Whole Costume Reference: A lot of their alternate palettes reference other characters from completely different works. (For example, Tianhuo has a lot of color schemes based on dragons from various forms of media). So many that they have their own page.

Arizona

Arizona

Voiced by: Tara Strong

Champ'een of The Prairie

"Mess with the cow - you get the horns!"

A calf and the daughter of her nomadic clan's leaders, Arizona's small size belies her strength, courage, and determination. The only member of cattlekind brave enough to step up as a candidate for the position of Fœnum's Champion, she steadfastly charges towards her goal, despite her lack of experience with the world outside The Prairie where she was born and raised.

In Story Mode: Chapter 1, she is the playable protagonist.

Arizona is a rushdown character whose gameplan involves getting up close and personal with the opponent. Her magic meter starts empty and can contain up to 3 bars. One bar is added whenever Arizona successfully catches her opponent in her lasso, and it can be spent on enhanced versions of her special attacks.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Wears a red bandanna around her neck.
• Accidental Aiming Skills: She at one point pushes two heavy blocks into a dark abyss that somehow manages to directly land onto one sleeping wolf predator below and then the other confused one shortly later. Probably doesn't count as Accidental Murder since they're apparitions.
• Action Girl: One of the more adventurous and physically active of the main cast.
• Always Someone Better: Arizona canonically wins all of her fights in the first chapter (maybe with a bit of effort.) She gets floored by Oleander or FHTNG TH§ ¿NSP§KBL?, depending on whether she beats the former's boss fight or not. Though while Ollie can be beaten, there's nothing the calf can do about FHTNG.
• Americans Are Cowboys: Of the main fighters she's the only one with an "American" accent, as well as being named after a US state, and she sounds like a Texas cowgirl cow girl.
• Angry Cheek Puff: Befitting her being a Cute Bruiser, one of her dialogue portraits have her cheeks puffed up when she's annoyed.
• Animal Stereotypes:
  • Arizona is usually even-tempered, but can be pushed easily.
  • Arizona loves stomping and headbutting, and when she eats Paprika's dropped food she even grazes like a real cow.
  • Some of the characters, mostly Oleander and a lot of the deer in Reine assume Arizona is dumb when they meet her, she's also accused of being dirty.
• Badass Boast: What does Arizona do when she activates a trap and is surrounded and outnumbered by nearly a dozen predators?
  Arizona:*Stomps her hooves into the ground.*
  Arizona: WHO'S FIRST?
• Badbutt: The same kind of "rough-and-tumble cowgirl" as her pony precursor, if not even more so (as well as being just as tough as her father). Yet even though the game no longer has attachments to an E/I rated show, Arizona still keeps her dialogue and threats relatively clean. Justified, considering she's a calf.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Pretty chill and surprisingly quite friendly. But when aggravated, violence is usually her first answer.
• Bicolor Cows, Solid Color Bulls: Heifer, technically, but she is colored cream-and-brown, whereas her father is a solid brown.
• Blatant Lies: Arizona's opponent didn't knock her down on her back after they hit her that last time, she just "tripped"!
• Blood Knight: One of her victory lines suggests "These are a few of my favorite things: kickin', stompin', and kickin'!"
• Boisterous Bruiser: Arizona loves to fight, and she will be loud about it.
• Boyish Short Hair: Has small tufts of hair on top of her head that blends with fur of the same color.
• Bully Hunter: She has a strong sense of justice, and hates it when people look down on others (especially herself). This is how Arizona ends up on the bad side of both Velvet and Oleander, as their Smug Super attitudes get on Arizona's nerves.
• Break the Haughty: Knocks Velvet down a peg in her smugness after Arizona defeats the "Champion of ze Tundra" in her hometown. Arizona herself is on the other end of this from Fred if she manages to beat Oleander's third phase. He scares the ever-loving hell out of her and then KO's her in a single hit.
• Brief Accent Imitation: To Velvet when she says she doesn't have "Vinter Sprites" ^*Winter Sprites where she comes from. Or maybe Arizona legitimately thought they were called "Vinter Sprites".
• Bring It: Arizona doesn't necessarily go looking for fights, but when someone or something challenges or attacks her, she never backs off...
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: She likes to make it clear how tough she is, but when she's not fighting she can be really social, polite and helpful to other ungulates.
• Catchphrase: Tends to say "dangit" quite a few times in story mode, as well as when she misses with her lasso during gameplay.
• The Champion: "The Champion of The Prairie". ^*Or as she claims, "Champ'een of the Prairie!".
• The Chief's Daughter: The youngest daughter to the head bull of her clan.
• Close-Range Combatant: She exemplifies the classic rushdown character in Fighting Game terminology: great up-close with a lot of punishing blows, but effectively useless at long-range. To compensate for her poor reach, she can use her lasso to try to bring opponents in closer for a beatdown, and one of her magic spells is an invulnerable rush that gets her closer to an opponent.
• Counter-Attack: She has one.
• Country Mouse: Though she does find a few things in Reine unusual, it's Inverted since most of the deer are weirded out by her.
• Cowgirl: Not just literally either. She has the accent, mannerisms, and she's pretty good with a lasso as well.
• Cute Bruiser: Despite being one of the youngest members of the cast (see Younger Than They Look) she has no trouble flinging enemies across the stage with her horns and literally shaking the earth with her hooves.
• Daddy's Girl: One of the biggest reasons for her adventure and fighting is to make her Pa proud.
• David Versus Goliath: Managed to defeat a giant cobra by herself.
• A Day in the Limelight: Is the playable character for the first chapter of story mode.
• Deadpan Snarker: She gets a few quips under her breath when meeting anyone eccentric or odd.
• Determinator: She never gives up looking for the Prophet's Key no matter how many ungulates tell her to go home, even during parts where she's visibly frightened.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Her stomps can cause the ground to shatter and make earthquakes.
• Does Not Like Spam: She seems to really hate bananas, based on her comments on one painting and one sculpture.
• Expy: Of Applejack. Aside from being a cow girl, many of her melee attacks are similar, and she has the lasso special and headbutt super. One of Arizona's color schemes is also similar to her inspiration.
• EX Special Attack: She can fill up her Magic by successfully grabbing her opponent with her lasso, and spend it to enhance some of her special attacks.
• Face Plant: If the Prairie's boss manages to hit Arizona with its bite, she'll get shoved face-first into the rocky terrain.
• Family Eye Resemblance: Has the same green eyes as her father.
• Family Theme Naming: She and her parents are all named after states in the USA.
• Fish out of Water: Usually downplayed, if not subverted; even though she is visiting in unfamiliar territory for the first time in her life (and alone no less) she doesn't have too much trouble getting around or talking to others or the deerfolk in Reine. Although it depends on the NPC, and she does think several things are "weird."
• Funetik Aksent: Her dialogue is written in a bit of a southern twang.
• Furry Reminder: The way she eats Paprika's food items makes it look like she's grazing.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: She finds a plush toy of Velvet cute after she tries to pick it away from a sleeping Huggles, a giant nightmarish shadow bear. She also happily takes a plush toy of... herself. (?)
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: "Swears" the most out of the main characters with words like "dang it" or "darn it".
• Go Through Me: Tells the giant Cuddles that if it wants the Key, it will have to go through the Champ'een of the Prairie.
• Grapple Move: Has two for long and short range; her standard grab and her lasso attacks, which she can use to send her opponents in three different directions.
• Ground Punch: Can stomp with her hooves to cause the ground to shatter, with different levels of power. She can also do this in the story mode's overworld.
• Half-Witted Hillbilly: Arizona is sometimes accused of being this by other characters. Subverted as she, while maybe naive at most, certainly isn't stupid.
• Handy Mouth: Arizona swings a lasso using her mouth, and if an opponent is caught she reels them in by pulling on it with her teeth.
• The Hero: The most clear-cut and typically heroic of the cast as she lacks a dark past (Tianhuo), controversial powers (Oleander), cowardice (Pom), narcissism (Velvet), or outright insanity (Paprika).
• Home Stage: The stage "Sunset Prairie", which takes place in her homeland. Also the Pummelin’ Plains Pixel Lobby.
• Horn Attack: She slashes her horns upwards like an uppercut in one of her moves.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Played for laughs when she thought Velvet was trustworthy enough and told her she was "Champion of the Prairie." One jealous reindeer and a boss fight ensued.
• Hot-Blooded: Arizona prefers to run headfirst into danger if she see's something that doesn't look right.
• Humble Hero: Occasionally in story mode. Hard to imagine some of the other fighters would be as nice as her.
• Idiot Hair: Her cowlick on the back of her head. It's more pronounced in her dialogue profile than in her game animations.
• In a Single Bound: She can perform a Superjump, which makes her jump much higher than normal.
• Instant Knots: Subverted since the opponent has to be just the right distance from the end of Arizona's lasso, and then she can pull them right towards her. Otherwise it would just fall uselessly on the ground, leaving her open to be attacked.
• Jumped at the Call: After hearing about the need for a Champion, cattlekind asked for a volunteer to determine who should be The Prairie's champion. Being too eager to save Fœnum, Arizona jumped at the chance. Despite the protests of her father Texas, Arizona wouldn't be dissuaded.
• Just a Kid: Texas’ main reasoning for not wanting her to go through on the dangerous adventure to become Champion, Book of Lore and story proper, was because he thought she was too young (that and she is his daughter).
• Kick Chick: These are a few of Arizona's favorite things: kickin', stompin', and kickin'!
• Kid Hero: She's stated to be a calf.
  • If she is still around one year old, like the original Book of Lore says, she would be about 14, mindset-wise.
• Knows the Ropes: While she doesn't use rope as a weapon itself, she uses a lasso for her magic meter, as well as her level 3 Super.
• The Lad-ette: At least her direct inspiration has a clearly feminine appearance. Nearly everything about Arizona (voice, appearance, personality) is just "boy-ish". Heck, if it wasn't for her eyelashes, she could very easily fit under the Viewer Gender Confusion trope.
• Lame Comeback: One of her unique intros with Velvet features one;
  Velvet: Nice scarf! Do they make them for girls?
  Arizona: Nice face! Do they...eh, shut up!
• Leeroy Jenkins: She is described as the kind of calf that "charges headfirst into the fray." We can believe it. It takes a certain amount of courage to fight predators, let alone several at once.
• Leitmotif: Country-style instruments, with a bit of electric guitar thrown in.
• Lightning Bruiser: Is both sturdy and light on her hooves — especially when headbutting her opponent with the speed and force of a freight train.
• Limited Wardrobe: At one point a character notes how many red scarves she's carrying. And even with all the cosmetics she can wear, Arizona still has her bandana on.
• Location Theme Naming: Not only her and her parents, but six of her palettes are also named after U.S. states.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Arizona focuses on sheer combat skill over any kind of magical ability, which makes her the oddest member of the cast in that regard as every other Key Keeper incorporates magic in some way into their fighting style. This also extends for gameplay, as she's the only character whose super can reset JD, meaning she gets access to longer combos than anyone else in the cast.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: In her level 3 Super, she repeatedly slams her opponent into the ground using her lasso.
• Mini-Me: The "Minizona" is an equipable plushie of her that all characters can wear on their heads.
• Mistaken for Prostitute: Mistaken for... SOMETHING, but the dialogue clearly brings to mind this trope; If Arizona walks into a certain house in Reine, a male reindeer will mistake her for someone he's supposed to be seeing, and starts bringing up condiments in a pretty weird ambiguous way. Arizona runs right out and refuses to go back in the house.
• Mistaken for Servant: A couple of deerfolk assumed that Ari is the one who is meant to check out the noises in their basement. Arizona can do so anyway.
• Monochromatic Eyes: Her "Mauve" and "Milkpool" costumes completely lack pupils. The last one is justified because of who it's based on.
• Naïve Newcomer: Arizona's clan as a whole aren't used to the other ungulate's homes out of their land, so she treats a lot of things with curiosity or confusion. She's also the viewpoint of the player's first step into the world of Fœnum.
• Nice Girl: (Obviously when she's not kicking or headbutting creatures) Arizona is really just happy to help. She is shown to be friendly to nearly everyone when she first meets them, and usually at least tries talking first before immediately solving her problems with violence (which she is all too happy to do so). One more good example is her asking if Tianhuo's fiery head hurts; she doesn't sound taunting but more like concerned.
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: Seeing a few of the paintings in Reine's museum can incite this reaction from her, but upon seeing a giant banana peel she squicks out, walks far away without player input, and refuses to comment on it any further.
• Non-Lethal K.O.: Even though Fred tells her to "DIE" as he attacked her, Arizona just gets knocked out for a bit and is back up just fine later.
• Obligatory Joke: As a sentient cow in fiction, jokes involving beef or bovines are bound to occur.
• Oh, Crap!: Her body language says it all when Fred blacks out the environs for an A-to-B with the calf on why he will not tolerate her actions.
• Orphaned Etymology: She and her parents are all named after American states. Since this doesn't take place on Earth, one wonders what she was named after.
• Partially Civilized Animal: She's just as smart as the other ungulates, but her kind choose to roam the Prairie and live off the land, at least they do so in caravans.
• Patchwork Kids: Has her father's green eyes and most of his brown coloring. She also has the cream spots on her hide and "poofy hair" from her mother (according to Maddison, at least; Arizona's hair isn't nearly as "poofy".).
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Arizona is only a calf, but has the heaviest and most aggressive fighting style. Counts for this by the standards of her species as well, as her fight with Texas in the Book of Lore shows.
• Plucky Girl: She was the only Cattlekind brave enough to take on the Predators, and is completely confident she will be the one to find the Key.
• Post-Victory Collapse: What happens to her not too long after climbing to the top of the Highland Mountains.
• Primary-Color Champion: Her "Effersvescent Kicks" palette gives her a blue neckerchief and red legs which look like boots, and she's also one of the Champions. Downplayed since the rest of her fur is still brown (now even darker), and again, it's only an alternate costume.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: During her "Texas Throwdown" super, she'll say "I'm at the end... of my... ROOOOOOPE!"
• Pungeon Master: Has a lot of bull and cattle puns. It runs in the family.
• Rebellious Spirit: Arizona protested against her father's disapproval of her becoming Champion because she thought it was the right thing to do, and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.
• Red Baron: Before being dubbed Champion of The Prairie, Minnesota refers to her daughter as "Arizona of The Prairie. Child of Purple Mountains Majesty, Amber Waves of Grain".
• Red Is Heroic: Heroic and wears a red bandanna. Also one of her palettes is predominantly red, bringing to mind a cow mascot on a certain brand of cheese.
• Red/Green Contrast: She has green eyes and a red bandana, the two things which stick out the most on her color scheme.
• Retcon: In the Book of Lore, she became the Champion of the Prairie in a ballot (which she snuck her print into). In the main game, she bravely volunteered when no one else of her kind would.
• Rule of Three: She can store up to three bars of magic.
• Scarf Of Ass Kicking: Always seen wearing her burgundy bandana.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: On seeing a banana peel sculpture, she's too grossed out to even acknowledge it again and walks away. There was also that time she went into a certain deer's house (that might or might not have had perverted intentions)...
• Series Mascot: Probably the closest thing the game has to one. Arizona was one of the first characters revealed along with Velvet, she was the focus of the game's first storymode chapter and Book of Lore Entry, and she's on the Steam icon for the game.
• Shared Family Quirks: Shares her pa's taste for lame bovine-related puns.
• Shockwave Stomp: Her "Stomp" move is one of these. Stronger versions send the opponent into the air, and the magic version stuns them for a considerable time.
• Straight Man: She occasionally plays this role compared to the odd bunch of ungulates she encounters during her adventure, especially in Reine (where most of the time she acts mostly snarky or confused).
• Stronger Than They Look: Oleander makes note of how Arizona's strength is not common, and again, she's still a calf.
• Suddenly Shouting: Arizona has a habit of SHOUTING RANDOMLY IN LARGE LETTERS throughout the story, often when she's being boastful or excited.
• Theme Naming: Arizona and her family are named after American states, particularly those considered to be "rural" states. Arizona's father is named Texas, and her mother is named Minnesota.
• Tomboyish Voice: Her voice is relatively deep for such a young age.
• Too Dumb to Live: Not that Arizona is as dumb as Oleander makes her out to be, but maybe trying to pull away a dusty plush toy from a sleeping BEAR wasn't a good idea.
• Trespassing Hero: Can walk into any house in Reine with an open door.
  Reindeer: Does your kind always make it a habit of barging in on people's homes?
• True Art Is Boring: In-Universe. Arizona finds a lot of the artwork in Reine unimpressive, boring, or she just doesn't get it. With the exception of a single painting.
• Tuft of Head Fur: Has small tufts of hair the same color as her fur. It's impossible to tell where the line between the two begins and ends.
• Unskilled, but Strong: She's only a young calf with all the experience that implies, but according to the Book of Lore, she's strong enough to send her father, a grown bull, into the air simply by stomping the ground.
• Underestimating Badassery: Both Velvet and Oleander dismiss Arizona as some kind of lowly little cow. She manages to beat both of them in battle. (Or at the very least give the latter one heck of a really tough fight.)
• Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay: New Arizona players might be surprised or annoyed that Arizona's lasso just passes through the other characters. They need to be at just the right spot at the end of her open loop to work.
• Use Your Head: Justified, since she's a cow. One of her Supers — derived from Fighting is Magic Applejack's Summer Rambo (AKA Bionic Farm) — involves her launching herself horns-first at her opponent so fast she leaves Speed Echoes.
• Violation of Common Sense:
  • Applejack probably would have tried to find a way around that dark pit in the temple, Arizona can just jump right in (it’s the fastest way to continue forward). Also that part with the Huggles when she was trying to get that reindeer plush.
  • Maddison will comment if Arizona goes back down the mountain to take the secret alternate route, even though she already talked to her by taking the normal path beforehand. Arizona responds that she wants to see everything.
• Visual Pun: Arizona is a cow girl.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Described as such, to the point of naivety.
• You Fight Like a Cow: Painfully obvious irony aside, Arizona is shown dishing out a few smacktalks to her opponents.
• Younger Than They Look: She is actually only about a year old since, according to Lauren Faust, Cattlekind age like cows in real life.
• You Will Not Evade Me: She can pull opponents in with her lasso.

Velvet

Velvet Hoofstrongdottr

Voiced by: Tia Ballard

Champion of Ze Tundra

"Don't be ashamed, you were beaten by zhe best!"

No reindeer in the frozen Tundra city of Reine (the peak of high civilization within and the capital of Fœnum) is better at fighting, utilizing Winter Magic, or being "perfect" than Velvet Hoofstrongdottr, daughter of Jarl Stronghoof Hoofstrong ^note Hence the "dottr" at the end of Velvet's name. and a member of Reine's ruling elite. Velvet plowed through the competition in the tournament to decide a Champion for The Tundra, and who else would be better for the savior of all of Fœnum? (Maybe someone a little less full of themselves...)

Velvet will be the playable protagonist in Story Mode: Chapter 2.

As the game's zoner, Velvet specializes in keeping her opponents at a distance and stopping them with a blizzard of projectiles. Her magic meter has six bars, which start off empty and automatically recharge over time, and can be spent to quickly launch snowballs at her opponent, or move her opponent around with strong winds.

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• The Ace: In terms of athleticism, speed, acrobatics, ice magic, wind magic, and (let's face it) grace, there really isn't anyone in Reine better. For all of Velvet's unbearable boasting about being "perfect", she honestly isn't too far off the mark. Though she won't admit it, she does have at least one physical flaw.
• Alpha Bitch: A member of Reine City‘s ruling elite, and believes she's the best at everything. Everything.
• Ambiguously Bi: Two dialogue branches for when Velvet approaches Cashmere with the Mistletoe-on-a-stick was that she hasn't seen either Blitzen (male) or Vixen (female). Also, the MiniVixen apparently came from Velvet's nightstand. Though these could just be Cash trolling her cousin.
• Anti-Hero: Yes, she wants to save Fœnum, but she is very spoiled, arrogant, and it's obvious she's only saving the world for her own ego.
• Art Attacker: One of her attacks has her create instant reindeer ice sculptures.
• Art Evolution: Velvet no longer has a yellow underside like she did in earlier material like the Book of Lore.◊ Very earlier builds had her with darker eyelids and looking more overall brown.
  • Her "Icy" color palette (the bluish one with the pink antlers) was there from the beginning, but was a lot more gray in tone, with the white parts being more beige.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Velvet's "floof" is meant to look like a fancy fur collar or feather boa, completing her high-class and narcissistic personality. Her darker brown eyelids may also either be eyeshadow or just part of her fur.
• The Battle Didn't Count: Her health bar will just refill itself back to the maximum after Arizona kicks her tail during her boss fight. And it will do that twice, with the fight getting more and more challenging each time she gets back on her hooves. Don't expect her to be able pull that stunt after she becomes playable, though.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted in her profile picture as they all take damage during fights. Subverted in story mode; she might look fine during her boss fight with Arizona but when it's over and back to regular dialogue, she looks really beat up.
• Berserk Button: Not that it takes a lot to get her mad, but she completely loses it when she someone with more 'floof' than her shows up, like Paprika. Always someone... floofier?
  Velvet: How dare you out-floof me, you... you... ''marshmallow!''
• Bitch Alert: Arizona should've noticed Velvet wasn't too friendly when she did a Spit Take in her face and snapped at her sprites.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Velvet seems pretty nice when Arizona first meets her, starting a conversation with her and even politely thanking her Sprites for giving her the latte she asked for. And then she angrily spits out her drink directly in Arizona's face in disgust, then yells at her Sprites that she hated the flavor and telling them to make her a new one.
• Blow You Away: She has a pair of moves that use wind to either pull an opponent in for close-range strikes or push them away for zoning.
• Blue Is Heroic: If you count the color of her eyes and antlers.
• Blue Means Cold: She channels blue magic to her blue antlers to make light blue ice. She also has light blue eyes.
• Bond Creatures: According to the Book of Lore, the Ice Sprites fawn over their chosen deer as pets, and a deer's magic is fueled by the Golden Oats they're fed by the sprites.
• Break the Haughty: Velvet is stunned that someone managed to defeat her.
• Breath Weapon: Has icy cold breath as some of her attacks. Makes sense since she gets her power from eating magic oats.
• Calling Your Attacks: For (sp)icicles and her "snownado".
• Can't Take Criticism: Played for an In-Universe gag, not that it would be a surprise if it was part of her regular personality; If her level 3 Super doesn't connect just right or knock out the opponent, her Winter sprites will hold up signs saying '10', another '10', and... '9.9'. Velvet doesn't look too happy about it.
• Carpet of Virility: She gets it from her father, but in this case it's Inverted by gender and by its very meaning. Though she's still a fighter, for Velvet her floofy chest is a sign of femininity. This is probably one of the only positive female examples. (If there were any others to begin with.)
• The Champion: "The Champion of The Tundra". ^*Or as she claims, "Ze Champion of Ze Tundra!"
• The Chief's Daughter: Well, a jarl is a noble Scandinavian chieftain.
• Clothing Appendage: Her floof was intentionally designed to be treated like a fluffy fur coat or a feather boa.
• Combo Platter Powers: Velvet's Winter Magic makes her powers of both ice and wind a justified example.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Her fight with Blitz in the Book of Lore was short and effortless.
• Dance Battler: Many of her moves are ballet-inspired. One of her Supers is a pirouette that ends with her striking a graceful pose.
• A Day in the Limelight: Is the playable character for the story mode's second chapter.
• Decomposite Character: Velvet lacks the more fashionista aspects that were a big part of Rarity's character. Instead, that trait was more-or-less given to Velvet's cousin, Cashmere.
• Does Not Like Spam: She seems to dislike pumpkin spice, and a whole lot too, judging by her extreme negative reaction to even tasting it.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Velvet is very proud of her large and fluffy chest.
• Double Entendre: One quote upon winning a fight:
  "Vas it good for you, too?"
• Elemental Eye Colors: Light blue eyes that fit with her ice theme.
• Elemental Powers: Ice and wind.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Velvet's more advanced powers come from her golden oats, but even without them she's pretty acrobatic, has a few moves of her own, and implied to still be a decent fighter. With them, however, she's a true force of nature.
• Enlightened Self-Interest: She wants to be the hero, but she's mostly doing it for the attention.
• Epic Battle Boredom: Velvet's facial expressions during a few of her lighter attacks imply that she's bored, as if the opponent isn't worth the effort for anything more powerful.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: Every now and then her antlers will sparkle for a second due to her magic.
• Expy: Of Rarity, although she uses ice instead of gems and sewing supplies. She can also hold her ice projectiles in place similar to Rarity's Gem Shots. Personality-wise, she's like Rarity but with her vanity turned up to eleven.
• EX Special Attack: Her snowballs are an EX-only attack that always costs one bar of magic to use. Her Eruption can also be enhanced, but not her Ice Missile.
• Fantastic Racism: Pumpkin Spice?! Who do you think Velvet is, "some kind of lowly white tail deer"?
• The Fighting Narcissist: Rare nonhuman example. Velvet is too arrogant, prideful, and haughty to get her own hooves dirty in a brawl. Her ice spikes, however...
  (In a Mirror Match) Velvet: You always hurt the ones you love. Me!
• Foe Romance Subtext: It's probably a joke, but why would Velvet keep a doll of Vixen on her nightstand? One reindeer guesses that all of the fighting they do is just an act to hide a Secret Relationship, but that would be crazy.
• Funetik Aksent: Not to Pom's extent, but Velvet speaks in a Scandinavian accent, with her "th" sounds being replaced by "z" or "w"s replaced with "v", and her dialogue is written as such. Though none of the other reindeer speak like this, including her own family.
• Furry Reminder: Subtle, but the majestic fawn-like way she leaps into the air is another reminder that yes, you are playing as a talking deer.
• The Gadfly: A lot of her pre-fight interactions have her just insulting her rivals for seemingly no other purpose other than to rile them up.
• Heroic Lineage: She's a part of the proud Stronghoof lineage.
• Hold Up Your Score: Not her, but three of her Winter Sprites in her level 3 super, holds up three cards while judging her "sculpture"..
• Home Stage: The stage "Reine City", her literal home city in the Tundra. Also the City of Reine Pixel Lobby.
• Hot-Blooded: The irony isn't lost. While she's mostly calm and smug, Velvet can get very passionate into the fight, including shouting when using her most powerful attacks. She also gets mad pretty easily; sometimes the other fighters don't even say or do anything to provoke her, they just show up, and she'll find something to complain about and incite a brawl.
• Human Popsicle: Can freeze other ungulates solid. Just ask Blitz.
• I Am Your Opponent: Velvet is the Key Seeker who is most likely to announce herself when about to fight someone.
• I Broke a Nail: A possible mid-battle quote is "I chipped a hoof!"
• Ice Crystals: Most of her ice attacks come out looking like these. Fittingly, Rarity used gemstones in Figting is Magic.
• An Ice Person: Uses "Winter Magic". She can summon ice crystals at a distance, use ice shard projectiles, and materialize ice sculptures of a musclebound reindeer for melee attacks.
• Insufferable Genius: She's completely self-assured in her beauty and magical skill, and demonstrates her pride in both with abundance.
• I Shall Taunt You: During her boss battle in Story Mode: Chapter 1, she'll mockingly laugh at the player if they're hit by her ice shards while she's in her tornado.
• It's All About Me: Ms. Faust described her as being like a "bad" version of Rarity. Downplayed in way though; Velvet is undeniably spoiled and narcissistic, yet she does care about the fate of Fœnum, and she believes only the best, herself, is worthy enough to save it. The fact that a "lower" ungulate might be champion is inconceivable to her.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Played With as even though she doesn't wear any clothes, or even an accessory, she treats her luxurious floof the same way a snobby rich girl would talk about her expensive fur coat.
• Lack of Empathy: In the Book of Lore, Velvet shamelessly and blatantly cheats to earn her title as Champion, and has no regards for the waiting judges or other competitors. Her personality in canon isn't too much better, she even calls herself an "Ice Queen".
• Lady of Adventure: Claims to have done her own research on the artifact Arizona was looking on. She might have servants for the more menial things but you have to give her credit where credit is due for wanting to become Champion.
• Lady of War: The most overtly feminine of the Champions and whose moves for summoning magic attacks resemble ice skating.
• Large Ham: You thought Rarity was a dramatic showoff? Velvet can't do a special attack without shouting at the top of her lungs and being as over-the-top as possible.
• Leitmotif: Christmas-like bells and a Theremin feature prominently in her music.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Most of the reason why she wants to become the Champion is for the extra attention.
• Let's Get Out of Here: A few Winter Sprites carry an unconscious Velvet offscreen after her first defeat, and she's not seen for the rest of Chapter One.
• Long-Range Fighter: Velvet is the resident zoning character, with most of her special attacks focused on keeping the opponent at range with icy barrages.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Her block has her make a shield made out of ice.
• Male Might, Female Finesse: In the Book of Lore, Velvet beats Blitzen with her acrobatics and use of her magic over his brute strength.
• The Marvelous Deer: Specifically a Christmas-themed reindeer with glowing antlers.
• The Merch: She apparently has merchandise of her In-Universe. One doll can be found by Arizona.
• Mini-Me: The "Mini Velvet" plush can be found in story mode, and used as an accessory. Apparently, plushies of her sell in Reine.
• Ms. Vice Girl: The other fighters have their flaws but Velvet sure is something else. Really, the list of vices she hasn't shown at one point or another is much shorter.
• Nice to the Waiter: Subverted with her Sprites in her first scene in story mode; nice one second and raging at them when they make a mistake a few seconds later. She just needs to be in a good mood, it seems.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: She'll sometimes haughtily laugh with her hoof over her mouth during her boss battle with Arizona, specifically when peaking out of her tornado.
• Nobody Touches the Hair: As mentioned in post-fight dialogue, and fittingly for a narcissistic reindeer, Velvet is protective of the fluffy fur on her neck and chest, referring to it as her "floof"; getting very angry if it's messed up in any way.
  Velvet: I hold accountable for any damage done to my floof!
• Nominal Hero: Velvet certainly isn't looking for The Key out of justice or to protect the innocent, more than anything to show off and get more attention. Though the fact that she IS at least trying to save the world keeps her from being too bad.
• Non-Idle Rich: If Velvet is as loaded as Cashmere says, she probably doesn't need to be going down in the dangerous Salt Mines to get her own salt, but she does so anyway just like the rest of the girls.
• Non-Indicative Name: The "snowballs" she uses in her attacks look more like large jagged shards of ice stuck together rather than a round ball of snow.
• Obligatory Joke: Wouldn't be an Ice Person without some "Chill out!", "Cool it", and other puns would she? She says a few in her Level 2 Super, and even proudly refers to herself as "The Ice Queen". Also, count how many of her NPC names are ice or cold-related.
• Oh, Crap!: She'll have this reaction and start swatting with her hoof if Arizona gets too close to her tornado during her boss fight.
• Only One Name: The only one of the original Champions to avert this trope, having the surname Hoofstrongdottr.
• Orange/Blue Contrast: Her color scheme. She has a mostly brownish-orange colored coat of fur (along with another warm color) and has blue antlers, eyes, hooves, and uses a lot of blue-colored ice attacks.
• The Perfectionist: Her level 3 super imprisons her opponent inside an ice sculpture, which gets scored by a trio of Sprites. If she doesn't get a perfect 30 (read: if the super didn't KO her opponent) she smashes the sculpture in rage and the fight continues.
• Pet the Dog: Velvet does genuinely thank her Sprites every once in a while.
• Pink Means Feminine: The "Candy Floof!" palette turns the already girly-looking Velvet entirely pink. There's also her pink antlers in her "Icy" palette.
• Powers Do the Fighting: She does have a few physical attacks, but most of Velvet's moveset has her using ice or her magic.
• Power-Up Food: Gains her ice powers from Golden Oats of the Winter Sprites, at least in the Book of Lore.
• Pretty in Mink: Reindeer floof looks practical for keeping reindeer warm in the cold, but Velvet treats hers in a fancy way that resembles this trope.
• Pride: She is graceful, elegant, and incredibly talented with her ice powers. Her only problem is that she knows it, and it's made her egotistical.
• Pride Before a Fall: Velvet thought it would be best to have witnesses for Arizona's utter defeat in story mode, only to be beaten and KO'd in her home city.
• Proud Beauty: Though she likes to flaunt her skills more often, the two aren't mutually exclusive. She has this effect on the Sprites the most.
• Regenerating Mana: Her magic refuels over time, without any need for special inputs.
• Rich Bitch: She's from an elite family, but this trope isn't the only reason for her bad personality.
• Royal Brat: She's egotistical enough, but being the jarl's daughter doesn't really help.
• Saying Sound Effects Outloud: Usually with her snowball attacks. And quite adorably too. (Pew Pew)
• Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: According to the Book of Lore, during the contest to determine the Champion of the Tundra, Velvet gets away with shenanigans that should have disqualified her simply because the Ice Sprites are entranced by her beauty, much to the disgust and outrage of her fellow competitors.
• Sequential Boss: Her boss fight has three phases, with the last being very different.
• Serious Business: Her chest fluff- sorry, floof of course! She takes excellent care of it and would very much NOT like to have any damage done to it. Oh, and her status as Champion.
• Sexy Scandinavian: Her Scandinavian accent makes her sound more exotic and elegant.
• She-Fu: Even when only using her ice attacks, Velvet can't help but pull off some dynamic and fancy poses while doing so.
• Shown Their Work: Fitting with the Deerfolk's Nordic theme, Velvet's surname has the prefix "dottr"◊, meaning she is the daughter of Stronghoof Hoofstrong.
• Silk Hiding Steel: She doesn't immediately come across as a fighter just by looking at her, but there's a good reason why she's the Tundra's Champion.
• Smug Smiler: Her default facial expression is a condescending smirk, only going away once she's been struck or defeated.
• Smug Super: She's great at what she does, and dear God does she know it. She never misses a chance the rub her superiority to anyone who would listen.
• SNK Boss: In her boss encounter in Story Mode: Chapter 1, during the second half, she summons wind that constantly pushes the player away from her. Near the end, she summons a giant tornado of ice around her and shoots ice shards at the player. She can do none of these things as a playable character.
• Spectacular Spinning: She spins like a ballerina when using her Wind move.
• Spike Shooter: Her main means of magical attack is to fire icicles at her opponents.
• Spit Take: After drinking a pumpkin spice latte. Directly in Arizona's face.
• Sore Loser: Velvet doesn't like being beaten, in anything, whether losing a fight or someone having a floofier chest than her. If that happens, she completely loses her cool.
• Spoiled Brat: Though she can keep her cool (no pun intended) a lot of the time; she grew up rich and privileged, not helped by the fact she has her Winter Sprites who constantly cater to her. And since she DOES have the talent to be Fœnum's Champion, it only makes her more entitled.
  (*After being told by Arizona she doesn't have Winter Sprites where she comes from.)
  Velvet: No? So who styles your floof? Who brings your oats? Who carries you from place to place?
  Arizona: Myself, I reckon...
• Status Infliction Attack: Velvet's Level 1 Super makes the opponent slow down from the cold.
• Theme Naming: Her cousin (who runs a hat shop) is named Cashmere, another type of fabric. Her "stunt double" exhibited in the Story Mode demo also fits the theme, being named Denim.
• This Can Not Be: When Arizona beats her, even after everything she throws at the calf, the reindeer refuses to believe it.
  Velvet: How can a simple country bumpkin defeat... ME?
• Too Important to Walk: Velvet implies that she lets her Winter Sprites carry her from place to place. Also seen in this Live Stream artwork.◊
• Tornado Move: A few. The first couple are wind tunnels she makes while spinning, where she can bring opponents farther or closer to her, while she summons a cyclone for her super move. Last but not least, she hides in a cyclone in the last phase of her fight with Arizona.
• True Blue Femininity: Her blue antlers and light blue eyes count in her default color scheme (and at least five of her color palettes turn her whole body entirely blue). She's also the most feminine looking of the Champions.
• Tsurime Eyes: Her eyes slant upwards, not unlike her inspiration, Rarity.
• Unexplained Accent: It's never explained why Velvet is the only reindeer who speaks with an accent (If they do, then Velvet is the only one who has hers written out.). Though since she seems to lose it whenever she's shouting, it's implied she fakes it, or at least exaggerates it, for appearances.
• Video Game Sliding: Velvet can slide if she crouches while dashing. Oleander thinks it's because she polishes her hooves too much.
• Waif-Fu: She's a fierce fighter despite her lithe frame. Though most of the heavier hits come from her magic.
• Weak, but Skilled: In the tournament described in the Book of Lore, Velvet was too physically delicate and/or too haughty to complete the challenges of physical prowess without some form of rampant cheating, but more than made up for that in the final round with her graceful mastery of ice magic.
• Weather Manipulation: She makes the boss fight extra windy 2/3rd of the way through.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: As said, Velvet's accent is roughly Scandinavian, though which part of Scandinavia she's inspired from is anyone's guess.
• White-Tailed Reindeer: Downplayed. Her appearance is lithe and graceful, but she also has paired nostrils like real reindeer instead of the black noses cartoon reindeer tend to have, and a fluffy mane of fur around her neck.
• Why Won't You Die?: If the fight drags on longer than she would like it to, Velvet would growl and say "Just lose!"
• Winter Royal Lady: She is a high-class reindeer, being daughter of the jarl, and she has Winter Magic powers.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Her cyclone move can either bring others towards her, or in the exact opposite direction.

Paprika

Paprika

Voiced by: Marieve Herington

Champion of The Highlands

*chirping, giggling*

The Alpake tribe try as hard as their ancestors did to survive the harsh and unforgiving Huacaya Mountains. But there is one unusual alpaca that contrasts heavily to the tribe's somber way of living (as well as threatens it). Paprika is an extremely affectionate and unstable individual, sharing her bottomless love to anything within her vicinity whether they want it or not. The other Alpake would gladly let Paprika become The Highlands' Champion if it means making her gone.

Paprika is a charge character, meaning her special attacks have to be planned in advance. Her magic meter has 6 bars and starts out full, but can never be refilled until the round ends. She can spend her magic on projectiles that either allow some mix-ups by hitting high or low, or stay on the ground, where either player can eat them to recover slightly but become vulnerable.

——

• Abhorrent Admirer: Her stifling, crushingly enthusiastic displays of affection make her this to whichever poor sap becomes the object of her obsession.
• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Wears a pink and red blanket over her back with blue tassels. Originally, she didn't have it and was added sometime before the game's release, probably to make her less plain looking.
• All Animals Are Dogs: Paprika has a little tail wag when she crouches, and she essentially acts like a giant affectionate puppy.
• All-Loving Hero: Unlike most examples, this is not portrayed as a good thing. Paprika's love can get pretty frightening.
• All of the Other Reindeer: She is heavily disliked and feared by the other alpacas. Partly because they're confused by her, partly because she is a legitimate danger.
• And Call Him "George": Her main weapon is weaponized excessive affection.
• Artifact Name: Paprika's "cartwheel" move used to be just that. The animations have since been changed for all three of her variations, with none of them resembling a traditional cartwheel.
• Artistic Licence – Biology: One move has Paprika lick her opponents with a long tongue. In real life, alpaca tongues are so short they are almost incapable of licking. Then again, a lot of things Paprika (or any of the characters) can do are necessarily grounded to reality.
• Aside Glance: She'll look at the fourth wall whenever you select her. Slowly...
• Ass Kicks You: One of her combo strings ends with Paprika thrusting her rear in her opponents face. Quite effective.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Her rivals have just as much trouble fighting her as they do the more serious fighters, due to how unpredictable she is. There's also her level 3 Super...
• Black Sheep: A cheerful, silly, and clean alpaca in a tribe of serious survivors.
• The Cat Came Back: When Arizona tries to make Paprika go away, Paprika comes back behind her through the opposite side of the screen to play some more.
• The Champion: "The Champion of The Highlands". ^note Kind of.
• Charge-Input Special: Cartwheel has three levels of a back-charge move where she either hits by rolling, whacks the enemy with a bouquet of flowers, or flops on top of the enemy with her back depending if a light, medium, or heavy attack is used. She also has a forward charge with Zippy Teleport where she "teleports" in front, behind, or on top of the other fighter.
• Cheery Pink: The very near-always-happy Paprika wears a pink and red blanket over her back. Some of her alternate palettes also turn her whole body pink. Paprika is also highly insane.
• Cloud Cuckoo Language: Paprika literally speaks in symbols.
• Color Contrast: Paprika has yellow fleece with purple eyes. Though the blanket helps balance out her color scheme more.
• Confusion Fu: Paprika's greatest strength is her unpredictability, with most of her moveset helping to keep the opponent off-balance and constantly guessing.
• Corrupted Character Copy: Of Pinkie Pie. While Pinkie is a goofball with bottomless love for everypony and No Sense of Personal Space, she knows when she's gone too far and will usually stop if her antics aren't making people smile. Paprika is so insane that she seemingly lacks the mental capacity to realize when she's hurting others or making a situation worse—she's so Lethally Stupid that she almost killed all the other alpacas on two occasions, and her way of showing love involves hugs that can crush bone.
• Costume Evolution: Was given a blanket on her back early into the game's development, when she was originally bare.
• Cute and Psycho: Adorable, but pretty crazy.
• Cute Critters Act Childlike: Well, lots of characters in this game are cute, but she's a lot cuter than the rest of her clan, and unlike them has the mentality of a carefree child.
• Cute Mute: Words don't come naturally to this fluffy alpaca.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of Pinkie Pie's original character. Her inspiration was a silly and hyper pony, but Paprika is Pinkie's Cloud Cuckoo Lander personality turned all the way up, to the point where she is actually insane, and it shows just how off-putting and occasionally problematic such a character would be to more normal people. However, it's not played too seriously and there's a bit of Reconstruction to it; Pap still provides plenty of funny moments, and her interactions with the more serious Alpake and other fighters is nothing short of amusing.
• Delicious Distraction: Her apples and broccoli can be eaten by the opponent, leaving them open to a combo while refunding magic to Paprika. Indeed, it's hard not to start chowing down mid-fight when the floor is littered with food.
• Desperately Craves Affection: And she'll force you to love her.
• Dissonant Laughter: Her intro quotes consist solely of rapid-fire gibberish and manic giggling, leading some of the characters to dismiss her as an idiot or insane. Paprika keeps cheerfully laughing as she smothers them with love and weaponized food.
• Does Not Know Her Own Strength: She's a sweetie pie but, unfortunately for the targets of her affection, she might be a bit too rough. Her opponent's bones audibly creak when she hugs them, and most of her attacks are Paprika trying to do a friendly gesture way too hard.
• The Dreaded: She's a walking nightmare amidst her own clan if Adobo's testimony in the Book of Lore is anything to go by, mostly by virtue of how outright bonkers she is and how it puts the clan in mortal peril. And in story mode she is feared as a "monster" by the other Alpake.
• Edible Ammunition: Uses Apples, Broccoli, and Cinnamon rolls in her magic attacks. Though only the first two can be eaten.
• Edible Theme Naming: Like Adobo, and presumably the rest of her clan, she has a food-related name. A lot of her palette swaps are also named after foods or flavors.
• Eloquent in My Native Tongue: In this case, her "native tongue" is a bunch of seemingly random symbols that only she can understand. If translated, her dialogue consists of full sentences, in context to her situation.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: Inverted twice as it's Paprika who loves everyone and nobody who comes across Paprika likes her.
• Expy:
  • Of Pinkie Pie. In addition to having a chaotic personality, she has several of her Fighting is Magic special attacks such as the cartwheel, teleport, and randomized attack.
  • In a double example, Pinkie Pie herself was based on Faust, with attacks like licking her opponent, stretching her head, teleporting (with one version teleporting above her opponent and falling on them), and throwing random items, which Paprika retains.
• Fighting Clown: Paprika has a wacky-looking moveset, and often looks more like she's playing with a new friend than she's actually fighting.
• The Fool: Based on how she is described in her Book of Lore chapter, she is completely oblivious to the dangers of the High Plains or her quest as a Champion, yet somehow she just keeps surviving and coming out on top.
• Forceful Kiss: Weaponizes these. Though she's not intending to mock them, she just has a lot of love to give...
• The Friend Nobody Likes: The other alpacas used the search for the Key as an excuse to get rid of her, at least in the Book of Lore.
• Fun with Acronyms: Paprika has three different objects she can use as Abnormal Ammo: Apples, Broccolli, and Cacti/Cinnamon rolls.
• Furry Ear Dissonance: The art style makes alpaca ears look like thin yellow antenna rather than real animal ears.
• Genius Ditz: In spite of her faults, Adobe's Book of Lore testimony states that she has an impressive talent for knitting. She once sheered her entire clan in a matter of minutes to prepare for an incoming sandstorm. Unfortunately, she used the fleece to make sweaters instead of fixing their tents.
• Genki Girl: Much like the character she's based on, but ramped up to the point where her clan considers her a liability and most of the cast views her as a lunatic.
• Girly Bruiser: Uses lots of flips, cartwheels, and can hit pretty hard.
• Got Volunteered: Much like Pom, Paprika was "chosen" by her tribe to be Champion of Fœnum. Though of course, they just wanted an excuse to ditch her as fast as possible.
• Gravity Screw: There's an easter egg after Arizona beats her: Arizona can stomp a few times to make her go up in the air. After a few stomps, she never comes back down.
• Hammerspace: Even if you buy that she keeps in her fluff, she still has too many items she should be able to hold.
• Happy Dance: She'll happily hug herself while prancing on her hind legs in a her win poses. She'll also moonwalk in place during her taunt.
• Hated by All: Though not intentionally, Paprika's odd mannerisms and personality scares or enrages everyone she comes into contact with, including her whole clan. Even Arizona didn't start to pick a fight with her until Paprika confused her by speaking in a language she didn't understand and getting a little too affectionate.
• Heal Thy Self: Her apples can restore health to her or her opponent, depending on who gets to them first.
• Heart Symbol: Appears on her picnic basket.
• Hitbox Dissonance: All characters have the same sized hitboxes, and since Paprika is slightly taller than the other fighters, her head can't technically be damaged.
• Home Stage: The stage "Alpake Highlands" takes place near an Alpake camping ground in the High Plains. Also the Dreary Place Pixel Lobby.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: While she's implied to keep it all in her floof, she sure does have a LOT of snacks and flower pots than she should be logically capable of carrying.
• Improbable Weapon User: Along with her food items, she can also weaponize a potted plant and a bouquet of flowers.
• In a Single Bound: She's another character that can Superjump, a move which makes her jump much higher than normal.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: Usually Averted, but apparently Velvet can understand Pap's babbling in two of their unique intros.
• Irony: Compared to the character that came before her, Pinkie Pie was known for being quite talkative. Paprika, never says a single word. Also, While Pinkie spreads joy and smiles wherever she goes, Paprika brings nothing but misery.
• It Can Think: Paprika is so random and crazy you'll occasionally wonder if she's even sapient. But, while impulsive and easily distracted, she is capable of thought, and her textbox "gibberish" is actually coherent sentences that can be translated.◊
• Jabba Table Manners: The other Key Seekers might not make the most dignified of sounds when eating Paprika's food items, but Pap herself steps it up by sticking her whole face and mouth to the ground.
• Just Eat Gilligan: At least in her Book of Lore backstory. One has to wonder why the Alpake didn't try to get rid of her sooner after nearly wiping them all out at least twice.
• Killer Bear Hug: Her grab is a crushing hug. Though she doesn't mean it to be so deadly.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: To her credit, she does mean well, there's just not too much going on up there. (Or at least not enough to realize the danger that she's in.)
• Laughing Mad: She giggles and laughs a lot, even when not appropriate.
• Lethally Stupid: Just BARELY manages to avoiding killing off her entire tribe do to her foolishness on more than one occasion. It was a miracle any of them survived.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: During her level 3 Super, she gets as scary as her reputation perceives her as. She's completely stone-faced serious, and it's one of the few times she stops smiling.
• Leitmotif: Her music features a mix between a fast-paced bouncy polka and chiptune.
• Long Neck: Justified as she's an alpaca.
• Love Freak: She is desperate for someone — anyone — to love, and is overwhelmingly, dangerously loving once she finds someone.
• Mythology Gag:
  • She can throw random objects at her opponent (costing magic meter; if it's food and her opponent eats it, she gets magic back). The complete randomness of the objects references Rainbow Dash's description of Pinkie Pie in "Griffon the Brush Off" and "Swarm of the Century".
  • Among the random objects that she can throw at her opponent is a flower pot; if it connects with her opponent, it hits twice. These are references to the flower pot out of nowhere in "It's About Time" and a discussion between Pinkie and Spike in "Feeling Pinkie Keen".
• No Sense of Personal Space: Before she even starts doing what she's known for, she starts to weird Arizona out just by being so ridiculously close to her.
• No Social Skills: NO social skills. If it wasn't for the fact that she's shown to be somewhat capable of thinking, this trope would be Not Hyperbole.
• Oblivious to Hatred: Doesn't seem to process that her tribe does not like her "help", and absolutely no one wants her affection.
• Offscreen Teleportation: One of her moves has her run offscreen before reappearing from another direction, which can include from above.
• Overly-Long Tongue: Paprika uses her tongue for one of her attacks. (Something carried over from similar move Pinkie Pie had in Fighting is Magic.)
• Perpetual Molt: She's constantly shedding and regrowing wool, which she incorporates in some attacks such as her launcher and air heavy.
• Perpetual Smiler: Even when she's getting beaten up, Paprika never stops smiling. * With two exceptions. When Velvet denies her snuggles in an interaction and her entire Level 3 Super.
• Pictorial Speech-Bubble: Sometimes she uses this to communicate, as shown in story mode.
• The Pollyanna: Adobo, in his Book of Lore testimony, attests that he'd "never seen her so happy" when everyone was clinging together to stay afloat in the midst of a flood.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Deconstructed as it might be amusing for the audience, but her behavior makes her a walking disaster area for the other characters.
• Plucky Girl: Even when in danger nothing bothers her.
• Power-Up Food: The broccoli she leaves fills up every character's super meter.
• Rapid Hair Growth: Rapid enough that it instantly comes back the instant she molts it from an "attack".
• Redhead In Green: Paprika's "Emperor" palette has her with red fleece while wearing a green blanket. It is based on Kuzco and Pacha, after all.
• Reed Richards Is Useless: Oleander lampshades that Paprika's ability to pull food out of nowhere can end world hunger if she wasn't busy "literally killing everyone with kindness." Played for Laughs, of course.
• Sequential Boss: Arizona's fight with her has three phases, and keeps getting harder.
• Sickening "Crunch!": You can hear her opponents' bones and spine practically breaking when Paprika squeezes them in her Level 3 super.
• Sinister Silhouettes: In the fog throughout the Highlands in Arizona's chapter.
• Situational Sexuality: Non-sexual or even romantic example. ^*Hopefully. Paprika isn't too picky about who she wants to hug and smooch, be it the other (mostly female) fighters or dangerous predators.
• Somewhere, a Mammalogist Is Crying: Paprika's face is flesh-colored (along with seemingly the rest of the Alpake), and it's the same color as her fleece-less body ^note As shown in such moves where her fleece seems to come off, such as when she sneezes. implying that it's skin. As alpacas, she and the others should have fur covering their faces just like the rest of their body. Unless of course Fœnum's version of alpacas are different in that aspect or all of them just so happen to have skintone-colored faces.
• Speech-Impaired Animal: Unlike the rest of the ungulates in Fœnum, she can't communicate in normal words.
• Stalker with a Crush: Towards anyone. Her character profile on the main site says it best: "Once she decides you’re the love of her life, there can be no escape."
• Starfish Language: Subverted with her in-game text box, since her dialogue is still (technically) English, but it looks like a bunch of unpronounceable symbols.
• Success Through Insanity: Doesn't really "fight" in her "fights", but she can win them regardless just by being so off-the-walls nuts.
• Super Wool Growth: Whenever Paprika uses or loses her fleece for one of her attacks, it grows back instantly.
• Technicolor Eyes: Paprika has purple eyes, which stick out due to the rest of her being somewhat naturally colored. Unusual in the real world but maybe not so much in a world filled with colorful ungulates, though.
• Theme Naming: The alpacas in her clan have spice names.
• Toon Physics: Hammerspace, teleporting around the screen, and the ability the puff out her fleece and/or regrow it in seconds just to name a few.
• Tuft of Head Fur: More like tuft of head 'fleece', but the top of it resembles hair.
• Unblockable Attack: Paprika's Kiss move can not be blocked or broken out of, but it can be dodged by jumping into the air.
• Undying Loyalty: Dedicates her very life to whoever she becomes attached to... regardless of whether they want it or not.
• The Unintelligible: She has no coherent speech — only infantile burbles, giggles, laughs, and squeals. Her text is also a random mix of cutesy wingdings like hearts, rainbows, and smiley faces.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: According to the Book of Lore, her cheerfulness, friendliness, and overall niceness has nearly killed her tribe on at least two separate occasions, since she's also a lunatic.
• Uriah Gambit: The Alpake made her the Champion of the Highlands simply to be rid of her.
• Voice for the Voiceless: Sometimes other characters, like Velvet or Arizona, can understand what she's saying. Also, Paprika's seemingly random wingding dialogue can be translated, and can "speak" occasionally in pictures to say what she means. (Such as a bottle of paprika in a word balloon, when she tells Arizona her name.) Try not to think too hard about any of this.
• The Unfettered: Paprika is driven to spread her love to the world, regardless of the world wanting it or not.
• The Voiceless: Her dialogue consists entirely of giggling and trilling, with no actual words spoken. Though a Pictorial Speech-Bubble implies she can say some words, we just don't see or hear them.
• Walking Disaster Area: Even if she doesn't cause the disasters for her clan directly, she certainty never does anything to make things better.
• Wheel o' Feet: When she runs while dashing.
• Wingdinglish: As said above, Paprika "speaks" in a special version of wingdings within storymode.
• Womanchild: Playful and childish, doing things like putting a wool hat on Adobo's head every single morning from the whole 'hugging and kissing everyone' thing. This part of her personality is deconstructed, to the point she is portrayed as completely insane, and even dangerous.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Her level 3 super. Of course, not many characters like Pap even when she's happy, but if she starts scowling, do not stand close to her.

Oleander

Oleander

Voiced by: Alexa Kahn

Champion of The Woodlands

Oleander: "My magic may be dark, but it will bring light to the world."

Fhtng: "Yeah, or dark, either one."

The great-granddaughter of Divine Oracle Amaryllis, and the only unicorn in The Woodlands who believes that Dark Magic can be used for good just as much as Light Magic. Thirteen years ago, Oleander began studying the forbidden magic from a mysterious book called The "Unicornomicon", which cursed her white coat to become darker and earned condemnation from the rest of The Order of The Horn. But it didn't stop there; the demonic entity sealed inside the book, known as FHTNG, warned her of the upcoming Predator invasion, so to prepare to save her world Oleander formed a pact with the demon: He helps her, and she can use more from the book of dark magic. Sick of the stubborn mindsets of the rest of her clan, Oleander set off when the time was right to become the Woodland's Champion without their permission, with both the Unicornomicon and "Fred" by her side.

Oleander is an all-rounder who specializes in mid-range combat and setplay. She can keep her opponent away with projectiles and traps, but she can also hold her own in melee due to her disjointed hitboxes. Her magic meter has 3 bars which start out empty, and fill up whenever she studies from her book. She can spend her meter on enhanced special moves or to lay traps.

---

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Averted normally, but she wears a pair of purple glasses as the game's tutorial guide. Though there is the optional outfits her in-game sprite can have in the overworld.
• The Ace: In terms of dark magic; she literally knows every trick in the book.
• Adventure Archaeologist: She's seen studying an ancient artifact when we first see her in story mode.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Not an actual reindeer (that role goes to Velvet), but she’s shunned by the Order of the Horn for dabbling in Dark Magic.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She wasn't born with the dark hair, and she's only mostly by herself because the rest of her clan shuns her, so in a sad way this is both Justified and Played With.
• Ambidextrous Sprite: Oleander's mane changes sides depending on which way she's facing.
• Anti-Hero: It's not a stretch to see why she's the unicorn's "resident rebel". Oleander is concerned about saving the World and will do everything it takes (even if that means using Dark Magic) but ONLY saving the world. She has no time for games and sees her fights as nothing more than distractions.
• Art Evolution: A very subtle example, but Oleander's gray tail dock used to be entirely black like most of the rest of her tail.
• Autobots, Rock Out!: With the use of the heavy guitar, her theme for her final fight in story mode is absolutely this trope.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Oleander can get more magic from her book, which also refills her super meter if her magic is full. But in a fast-paced fighting game this isn't always helpful since it leaves her open.
• Badass Back: Her first character artwork has her doing this. She enters the same pose in her level 3 Super and one of her regular attacks.
• Badass Bookworm: She had to learn all those forbidden spells from somewhere. Subverted as she's hinted to not be as smart as she likes to think she is.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Oleander is convinced that she’s still working for the cause of light and good, even though she’s using dark powers to achieve her goals.
• Bag of Holding: Oleander uses the Unicornomicon as a throw. It seems to be able of storing a lot more than just Fred, like an entire ungulate for example.
• The Battle Didn't Count: Should Arizona defeat her in Story Mode, Fred/Fhtng just knocks Arizona out anyway with an overload of dark magic.
• Black Magic: A large amount of her attacks use dark magic, and even has some of its access power radiating off of her a few times.
• Black Magician Girl: She’s the ungulate equivalent, being a unicorn who rebels against her society's norms and specializes in eldritch magic.
• Black Sheep: The only unicorn willing to learn and use dark magic, which is treated as heresy among the rest of her peers.
• Boomerang Bigot: Oleander doesn't think too highly of the Keepers of Light despite, just by being a unicorn, she's technically one herself. Though for clarity it's only the narrow-minded beliefs of the other unicorns she doesn't like, not necessarily her race itself.
• Brainy Brunette: Black hair and pretty knowledgeable. She also explains the game's mechanics in a lot of detail.
• British Stuffiness: British equivalent at least; Oleander can get quite full of herself.
• Calling the Old Man Out: She stuck up to the who Order on their flawed believes about how only light can be good as a filly.
• Calling Your Attacks:
  • "SHADOW SPARK!"
  • "SHADOW BLAST!"
  • "Teleport!" / "Transverse!" / "Void walk! / "Blink!" / "Bamf!"
• Casting a Shadow: Her main projectile attack is a fireball of dark energy.
• The Champion: "The Champion of The Woodlands". ^note *self proclaimed.
• Characterization Marches On: After a while, Oleander gets snarkier and more full of herself compared to when the game was first forming.
• Cheated Angle: Her bangs are always behind her head no matter which direction she's facing, otherwise we wouldn't be able to see her face.
• The Chosen One: A weird example, but an example nonetheless; unlike the other fighters, she was aware that the predators were coming back years before they did, giving her time to train to defeat them. In any other game, she’d be a shoe-in for main hero status. However, she was given said “prophecy” by Fhtng, and of course there’s the fact that the other Champions have an equal chance to save the day…
• Creepy Blue Eyes: Her blue eyes stick out on her dark color scheme, and her default expression is usually a cold glare.
• Creepy Good: Downplayed, but her use of dark magic combined with her gothic appearance, baggy eyes, lanky proportions and less-than-approachable personality can make for a pretty unpleasant ungulate. And the more she uses her dark magic, the creepier she can get.
• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Subtle, but the purple makeup around her eyes sometimes look this way.
• Cultural Rebel: The largest difference between her and Twilight Sparkle is her rejection of her society’s norms, seeing them as close-minded and dangerously ignorant in regards to the threat posed by the Predators.
• Cursed with Awesome: Did Oleander make a pact with a demon and have her coat color changed? Yeah, but those dark powers are cool and flashy.
• Cuteness Proximity: Seeing Pom's puppies seems to be one of the only things that makes the girl smile.
  Oleander: *gasp* PUPPIES! I mean... prepare for battle!
• Darker and Edgier: Not really to Twilight (though her willingness to use dark magic makes her more of a downplayed version), but her idle aimation. Her original idle started out as a cute sway◊ to being changed from her standing still and glaring, which fits her more serious personality.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Her main motivation is to prove that dark magic can be used for good just as well as light magic. Whether or not she’s right is a different matter. The "secret" ending for Arizona's fight with her in story mode heavily implies that she’s wrong, and that Dark Is Evil.
• The Dark Arts: A user of such, and is condemned for doing so, but she wants to prove it can be used for good.
• Deadpan Snarker: Some of her pre-combat quotes, but most especially her commentary in the tutorials. Paprika and Velvet are the targets of an especial number of barbs.
• Deal with the Devil: Her powers stem from an agreement she’s struck with Fhtng, the entity sealed in her magic book. Whether or not this “friendship” is sincere remains to be seen, and could possibly have disastrous outcomes if her beliefs are proven false.
• Death Glare: Pretty much her default facial expression. She narrows her eyes even further after looking up from her book in her secondary idle animation as well.
• Defector from Decadence: Oleander was met with outrage from the other unicorns for simply studying dark magic. Tired of the close-mindedness of her clan, she makes a pact with Fred and embraces dark magic fully, intending to prove them wrong.
• Deliberately Monochrome: Almost all of Oleander's whole body was turned gray and dark because of cursed magic. Not completely monochrome though, as there's still some small parts of her with color such as her eyes and the tips of her mane/tail.
• Disapproving Look: Almost ALWAYS. She gives a look like this in her vector art, her idle animation, and most of her tutorial pictures.
• Double Jump: Can jump a second time in midair, without the use of magic or anything.
• Dual Boss: Technically is this in her boss fight since she always fights alongside Fred.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Fhtng affectionately calls her “Ollie”, which one of her intros has her react negatively to.
• Energy Ball: Her shadow spark and chapter traps are a dark energy version.
• Evil Brit: Averted by Oleander, who is a bit cocky but good at heart. Fred seems to play it straight; he’s bloodthirsty and snarky, at least.
• Expy: Of Twilight Sparkle. In addition to wielding a book, she retains the same projectile, teleport, and trap attacks, as well as having to stop to study her book to gain Magic. Unlike Twilight Sparkle, Oleander has Bad Powers, Good People in full effect; Twilight is The Hero of her franchise.
• Extra Eyes: One of her aerial moves has her head-butt her opponent while sprouting an extra set of eyes and turning her mane into tentacles.
• EX Special Attack: She can charge up her Magic by studying her book, and spend it to improve her Fel Spark and Teleport.
• Famous Ancestor: The rest of the unicorns were patient with her vocal defense of Dark magic on account of her lineage as great-granddaughter to Divine Oracle Amaryllis until she woke up to with blackened fur, proving to them that she had been actively researching the forbidden magic.
• Fantastic Racism: Not that she treats the others with much respect, but she's particularly hostile towards Arizona, brushing her off as some dumb bovine.
• Fascinating Eyebrow: She sports a raised eyebrow in a lot of her tutorial images.
• Flashy Teleportation: Teleports with a show of smoke and red magic.
• Floral Theme Naming: Named after the Oleander flower.
• Forbidden Fruit: She picked up the Unicornomicon simply because it was forbidden.
• Frames of Reference: Wears a pair of teacher-like glasses when guiding the game's tutorial mode.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: It looks like she really likes her Cashmere plushie hat.◊ Or maybe a certain someone else...
• Girl with Psycho Weapon: Even ignoring the spells and traps it possesses, The Unicornomicon is used as a weapon in and of itself.
• Gold and White Are Divine: Oleander's Paladin palette has silvery fur and golden hair.
• Good Is Not Nice: She's trying to save the world, but she doesn't have time for anything else, and doesn't even try to be a pleasant person. Even when she helps you learn the game through the tutorial, she sounds like she has very little patience.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: When she cements her pact with Fhtng in the Book of Lore, her eyes glow red.
• Hand-Waving: Oleander does this a lot in tutorial mode when she has no logical explanation for the character's powers. "Youthful energy" or "sheep magic" or whatever.
• Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: When Oleander goes berserk during the fight against her (two wins) in Chapter 1, you've allowed the story to progress. Lose at this point, and she and Fred loot Arizona's Longma Ball. Win, and Fred goes all-out, overloads Arizona with dark magic to knock her out, and loots her Longma Ball anyway once Oleander's come to. You do get to learn more about Fred if you score a third win, so there's that incentive...
• Healing Factor: She apparently has the ability to heal herself, at least from minor injuries. She doesn't have this power during gameplay though.
  Oleander: Ah, that's better. Now I'm only damaged on the inside.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: She's seen as a rebel at best and "traitor" by her clan at worst, but that doesn't mean Oleander doesn't want to save them, as well the whole rest of the world.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Or puppies, specifically.
• Home Stage: The stage "Woodlands Glade" takes place in her home forest. Also the Woodlands Grove Pixel Lobby.
• Horn Attack: Her down-medium attack has her try to stab the opponent with her horn. It's actually one of the only physical attacks she has where she uses any part of her body.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Take only a second to look at FHTNG or The Unicornomicon, and you need to wonder what made Oleander think that trusting them was/is a good idea...
• Hypocritical Humor: Oleander claims in Tianhuo's tutorial that she would never make such a rookie mistake such as saying attack names out loud before using them. See a few tropes above.
• I Am Very British: Oleander speaks in a posh sounding accent, her uptight behavior certainly helps too.
• Implied Love Interest: Cashmere. You really have to read between the lines, but some of Cashmere's dialogue suggests she reciprocates.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Despite the creepiness to her mentioned earlier, she's pretty optimistic about proving herself through dark magic. And if her "pure" alternate palette is her original appearance, it's one of the only colors that carried over during her transformation.
• Insufferable Genius: Not to the extent of Velvet, but she’s an expert who (as far as she knows) has tamed an Eldritch Abomination, and she’s gotten very confident in herself as a result. In Story Mode, should Arizona get to her third phase but lose, Oleander screams incredulously that she had to use that much of her power against an opponent who can't use any magic.
• Irony: Meta-sense compared to the character she was based on. Twilight Sparkle eventually became a princess, and at the end becoming the sole ruler of Equestria who is beloved by all her peers. Oleander is shunned by the rest of her peers and has a bit of a Small Name, Big Ego thing going on.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Ollie can come off as a little sour for blowing off everyone and everything in arrival of the Predators, but she's justified because, you know, she's preparing for the arrival of The Predators!
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She may have an aggressively aloof personality that matches well with her dark magic, but she genuinely wants to bring light to the world.
• Just Woke Up That Way: In her Book Of Lore entry, she says the trope name almost word-for-word when she tries to explain why her normally pure white coat has turned dark overnight.
• Kamehame Hadoken: Her shadow spark attack is a ball of stream of dark magic that she can set out at different speeds and powers. Though it comes out of her horn and not her hands like most examples. Because she's a quadruped and doesn't have any hands.
• Knight in Sour Armor: The rest of the unicorns might not believe her, but she believes her dark magic can be used to save the day. Doesn't mean she has to be friendly about it.
• Lady of Black Magic: Invoked as Oleander tries her best to come off as more mature and proper. Sometimes she pulls it off quite well, others she comes off as a teenager trying to sound cool.
• Lean and Mean: She's a very thin unicorn and can be really... okay, maybe "mean" is a bit harsh, and she's only an antagonist to the other fighters, but she still has her moments that make her a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Leitmotif: Gothic rock/metal. A harpsichord is implemented in her variations.
• Life Drain: Any enemy damage done by Oleander's Chapter Traps get returned to her as extra super meter.
• Locked into Strangeness: Reading too much of the Unicornomicon turned her coat and hair a darker shade.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: Summoning tentacles, forbidden knowledge, literal orbs of dark power, and shapeshifting is all part of the duo’s arsenal.
• Meaningful Name: The oleander plant is a white toxic plant historically associated with witchcraft and folk remedies.
• Mentor in Sour Armor: Oleander teaches the game's mechanics, the look on her face and her sarcastic way of talking make it seem like she doesn't want to even be there.
• Mirror Reveal: She first notices her changed appearance by catching her reflection in a bowl of water. (At least in the Book of Lore.)
• Monochromatic Eyes: Sometimes, her eyes turn pure white when tapping into the Unicornomicon.
• Monster and the Maiden: Oleander is the dark magical girl human (equivalent) to the demon FHTNG.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Despite being looked down on by the rest of her clan, and not owing the rest of Fœnum anything, she still vows to save it.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Unlike the other Unicorns, who are very averse to conflict and trust only light magic, Oleander takes it upon herself to become the Champion of the Woodlands and believes that dark magic can be just as good as light magic if used correctly. Their blind trust in light magic without even knowing how it will save them just convinced her even more to stick to dark magic.
• Mystical White Hair: What she used to have before being cursed.
• Noble Bigot: Oleander isn't really too friendly with the other creatures she comes across. Regardless, she's still trying to save all of Fœnum and the other Key Seekers are only in the way.
• Nonconformist Dyed Hair: She has hot pink highlights in her mostly black-ish mane and tail. Though her hair is not dyed by choice, the appearance works out for her rebellious nature towards her race's traditions.
• Not a Game: When Shanty asked how much the Unicornomicon costs, Oleander will shout "Is this a game to you!?".
• Nothing Personal: Oleander makes it clear that she only sees the other fighters as a hindrance to her goals and doesn't want to hurt them if she doesn't have to (Fred, on the other hand...)
• Not Hyperbole: Oleander claims she can read in the air, upside down, or with her eyes closed. Being she "reads" by absorbing magic, she probably can.
• Not So Above It All: "I have absolutely no time for anything that doesn't involve- OMG PUPPIES!"
• Not So Stoic:
  • She initially reacts with glee upon seeing one of Pom’s puppies during their battle intro, before quickly trying to come off as serious and ready for battle.
  • She gets more and more angry with every phase of her fight in Arizona's chapter, especially if Ollie wins the third round, where she completely loses her cool.
  Oleander: WHAT... INSOLENCE!! FILTHY, WRETCHED ANIMAL!!
  • She also gasps in excitement when she mistakes Shanty for a female demon.
• Occult Blue Eyes: She practices dark magic and just so happens to have blue eyes.
• Older Than They Look: Since Unicorns age and mature more slowly than the other species, Oleander is significantly older than the other known characters, despite looking roughly the same age.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: Some of her Variable Mixes include a pipe organ. Fitting for the character who wields dark magic and a scary demon sealed in a Tome of Eldritch Lore.
• Paint It Black: Her white fur turning black literally happened overnight because of that book.
• Perky Goth: Zigzagged all over, but Oleander isn't above squeeing over cute animals, taunt by doing a sliding dance, or owning one heck of an adorable bookmark◊. In general, all of the edginess and seriousness Oleander tries to show is implied to mostly be an act.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: And apparently all your fur if you study enough dark magic.
• Power Floats: Herself when activating her full power.
• Power High: Oleander clearly enjoys the dark energy that goes through her.
• Powers Do the Fighting: With the exception of a single attack where she uses her horn. All of her attacks ^*that aren't Fred. have her using magic, whether the book's or her own.
• Puppet Fighter: Using her level 2 super unleashes Fred from the book, acting as a second character, not unlike Shadow Labrys' persona.
• Race-Name Basis: She only calls Shanty "the goat" in tutorial mode.
• Red Right Hand: Played with in the Book of Lore in that her once-white coat of fur has been blackened by her reading too many pages of the Book of Undying Misery, causing the other unicorns to shun her even more despite her not being evil.
• Rejection Ritual: When Oleander is dismissed from the Sacred Grove, the bearded elders shun her by turning their backs to her. The entire herd follows suit.
• Repeated for Emphasis: In one victory quote, she calls her opponent dumb twice. See Smug Super.
• Rule of Three: She has a limit of three bars of magic, though she can regenerate them quickly.
• Sadistic Teacher: At times, she'll get a bit of a kick out of you or the dummy getting hit in training mode. Thankfully, she's not that sadistic in canon, and definitely not as much as Fred during his segments.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: The Order tolerated her rebellious behavior due to her lineage with Divine Oracle Amaryllis, but this was eventually defied to her by the rest of the unicorns once they saw her darkened fur.
• Sequential Boss: Her boss fight has three phases. She uses more spells in the second phase, with the third one being a very different fight.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Subtle, but Ollie got pretty uncomfortable when Fred mentioned the reindeer that she "likes" so much.
• She Knows About Timed Hits: Explains the exact moments of how to attack and dodge against the other fighters in tutorial mode in specific detail.
• Skilled, but Naive: She’s a powerful unicorn sorceress, but Ms. Faust stated her belief that dark magic can be used for good might come back and bite her in the rump with disastrous consequences. The "secret" ending for Arizona's fight with her in Story mode definitely lends credence to that.
• Slasher Smile: Occasionally in her training mode profile, she let's off one of these.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Speaks highly of herself, despite being one young unicorn with a magic book, and blatantly tells Arizona she is "the most powerful sorceress in Fœnum".
• Smart People Speak the Queen's English: Speaks in a British sounding accent, and is very well read. It also helps that unicorns are associated with royalty in the real world.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: When she's teaching and going in detail about the game's mechanics.
• Smug Super: Her victory lines come off as incredibly condescending, talking down to her fallen opponent. Then again, when her partner is an Eldritch Abomination and she’s won using the magic she’s put her faith into, perhaps a little arrogance is warranted.
  Oleander: You’re dumb; you lost, and you’re dumb!
  Oleander: I don't have the time or crayons to teach you how to fight!
• SNK Boss: When she's faced in Story Mode: Chapter 1. Her third phase has her repeatedly firing Shadow Sparks at Arizona where she can't be hit, and her final attack is a charge up move. If Arizona can't knock Oleander out of her charge, she fires off a One-Hit KO of dark magic. Oleander can do none of those things as a playable character.
• Splash of Color: The small amounts of color still left on Oleander's dark color scheme are her blue eyes, purple hooves and pink highlights in her mane and tail.
• Squick: In-universe, Oleander finds Paprika's kisses disgusting, judging by her responses in tutorial mode.
• Summon Magic: She can follow up her level 1 Super by releasing Fred from her book, allowing him to fight alongside her.
• Supernatural Floating Hair: Every now and then, her mane will move on its own. Taken up to eleven when she's rushed with dark power.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Checks the dark and snarky boxes easily. Not the tallest unicorn, but compared to most other ungulates? For sure.
• Telefrag: Oleander weaponizes the fact that two states of matter can't occupy the same place at the same time, "as all intellectuals know", with her Magic Teleport, where she uses her teleport to damage opponents instead.
• Teleportation: One of her many powers.
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: Played for Laughs in the tutorial where she and Fred teach the player. Fred eventually has to explain the concept of hitboxes and framerate (including the fact that even if two beings are touching unless their boxes are in specific conditions they might as well be phasing through each other), and lets slip the player’s existence. After all is said and done, Oleander admits she ‘needs to leave and reflect,’ clearly unnerved.
• Throw the Book at Them: Sometimes Oleander will use the Unicornomicon itself in some of her attacks. It helps that it's a book filled with dark magic.
• Time-Limit Boss: Oleander's third phase of her fight must be beaten in a certain amount of time.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: Her book of dark magic, the Book of Undying Misery/Unicornomicon, is Red and Black and Evil All Over, has the image of what looks like half of a draconic skull on the cover, and even has a couple of glowing purple eyes. It’s also the source of her dark magic, and as she uses its power “a horrifying creature makes its presence known”.
• Too Much Information: Ollie really didn't need to know which parts of her great-grandmother were or were not saggy.
• Trademark Favorite Food: If a few moments and throwaway lines said by Oleander and Fred sprinkled throughout the game (such as the arcade ending) are to be believed, doughnuts, of all things.
• Trap Master: One of the benefits of her magic is to lie out traps, with her "Chapter Traps" (concentrated balls of dark energy) and her "Magic Trap" (a more powerful version that manifests as a one-eyed book page). There's no mixup, they're both named that way by Oleander.
• Tsundere: Oleander still has a soft spot in her. So far only seen with puppies and (debatably) Cashmere.
• Twinkle in the Eye: Gains a bright and sinister-looking one during some of her portraits in the tutorial section complete with a shadowy Slasher Smile when telling the player to attack.
• Tyke Bomb: Fred states that his plan has been in progress for decades. Coincidentally, Oleander happens to be about that old...
• Underestimating Badassery: Oleander brings up how much power she had to use to fight Arizona, even if she wins.
• Unicorn: Has the look of the classical unicorn, with a lion’s tail, cloven hooves, etc…
• Unwitting Pawn: Should Arizona shut down Oleander a third time in Story Mode: Chapter 1, Fred makes some not-so-subtle statements to Arizona that his plans for Oleander are not as benevolent as he lets on before overloading her with dark magic and knocking her out.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: She and Fred don't really seem to get along too well. Downplayed as, even though they might be working together, it's pretty hard to call the two "friends".
• Wave-Motion Gun: One of her specials has her fire a massive beam of dark energy from the Unicornomicon.
• Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: Oleander has trained for thirteen years to prepare to become a Key Seeker, but she underestimated how strong the others are. It's Zigzagged though as it depends on the other players whether or not or how hard Oleander kicks ass or gets her ass kicked.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Earned condemnation from the rest of her clan for dwindling into dark magic. ^note "GASP!" Oleander turns it right back on them for being too old-fashioned and only trusting the light.
• Who Writes This Crap?!: While explaining that super jumps are like regular jumps, but "super", Oleander angrily asks who wrote the notes she's reading out loud.

Pom

Pom

Voiced by: Allie Moreno

Champion of The Meadow

"You wouldn't hit a wee lamb, would ye?"

What did Pom do to become The Meadow's Key Seeker? When the Sheeple received news of The Predator's return to Fœnum, and they were debating if they should send one of their own to become Champion, all what she did was pretty much say "yes". As the only sheep brave enough to have her own opinion, Pom was voted the bravest in all of her homeland and was immediately elected by vote to be their champion, much to the timid lamb's extreme disapproval. Luckily, she is not fighting alone as a small pack of sheepdog puppies accompany Pom on her quest, literally pushing her to get into fights she wants no part in.

Pom is the game's puppet character who summons her dogs to attack at her command. Her magic meter starts out full with 3 bars, and is spent on summoning the aforementioned dogs. Each type of dog has a different magic cost, which is slowly refunded once the dog is dismissed.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: She wears a small purple collar around her neck with a gold bell.
• Actual Pacifist: Yes, she's one in a fighting game. In fact, she doesn't even attack you at all; almost all of her attacks consists of her dogs attacking you, with her trying valiantly to get them to stop attacking. Some of her attacks are even her getting spooked by their barking and accidentally hitting the opponent. It's only when her Level 3 super gets triggered due to the opponent hitting one of her pups that she snaps and beats them up herself.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: Her Pixel Lobby Description: Pom's Prominently Precious Puppy Party Proudly Feat. Pom.
• Air-Dashing: Pom is capable of dashing in the air. Though she doesn't have the excuse of wings like Tianhuo.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Inverted as the rest of the sheep praised Pom for her bravery. The funny part? It got her chosen to become a Key Seeker, so she still has every right to be miserable.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Pom is a light pinkish colored sheep. It's actually more subtle than the rest of her kind who comes in shades of green, purple, blue, etc.
• Animal Stereotypes: Pom is very skittish. Every other Sheep in the Meadow shown isn't much better.
• The Artifact: Her aerial movement techniques made a whole lot more sense when she was a pegasus.
• Assist Character: The biggest difference between her and the other fighters is that her puppies do most of the battling for her, allowing for superior field control. She can also summon the father dog, Big Papa, as her Level 2 Super.
• Badass Back: "Pom" and "badass" normally shouldn't belong in the same sentence but in her Level 3 super, she finishes up her No-Holds-Barred Beatdown with her back turned towards the camera, Akuma-style.
• Battle Cry: Parodied as she only lets out a pathetic little "Um... Rawr!" when Tianhuo demands to hear her battle cry. She lets out a louder, proper one in her Level 3 Super.
• Battle Intro: Her puppy forcefully pushes her onto the field, while she pleas with her opponent to stop fighting.
• The Beast Master: Although the dogs still do a large portion of Pom's attacks, her mainly being a Puppet Fighter, she is still the one who calls her pups onto the field and orders them when to attack or leave.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: She's the meekest and most sheepish member of the fighting cast, being very reluctant to take any part in fighting, to the point her dogs have to outright drag her into doing so. That said, as shown through her unreleased Level 3 super, if she ever sees anybody actually hurt her puppies... well, let's just say she doesn't like it. At all.
• Brave Scot: Inverted; she may have a Scottish accent, but she's also the meekest character in the game, and she's really only brave by hilariously weak sheep standards. Her biggest act of courage is simply stating her opinion that maybe they should send a representative to fight for their kind, immediately backpedaling on said opinion when the others picked her as a result.
• Canine Companion: She is followed by about four (Five? Six? More?) dogs.
• The Champion: "The Champion of The Meadow". ^** Though Pom herself would prefer absolutely anyone else.
• Charge-Input Special: "Bark!" is activated by holding back and then pressing forward with a heavy attack. Pressing the other two causes her to dash toward the opponent.
• Chew-Out Fake-Out: In one of her victory quotes she scolds her puppies for beating up the other ungulate, only to quietly congratulate them for winning the fight for her.
• Classical Anti-Hero: She doesn't believe herself to be hero material, nor does she want to be, but she's close to becoming Fœnum's Champion regardless and very well may have the potential to be so.
• Cosmic Plaything: The one time someone listens to her, it gets her chosen for a life-threatening quest? Keeps getting dragged into and beaten up in fights she wants no part of whether she wins them or not? So far nothing seems to be going right for poor Pom.
• Costume Evolution: Like Paprika, she was originally bare and an accessory (her collar and bell) was added to her later, before the game's release.
• Counter-Attack: Her Level 3 Super. Her puppy jumps in front of her, and if it's hit, she gets mad and does a Raging Demon on the opponent.
• Cowardly Lion: It's implied that Pom has more of a fight in her than the timid sheep realizes. Maybe.
• Desperate Plea for Home: Will whine either "I wanna go home!" or "I don't wanna be here!" when picked on the selection screen.
• Difficult, but Awesome: She's not very strong in direct, close combat. In order to fully realize her potential, one must learn to correctly utilize her dogs, which requires careful positioning and resource management, making her one of the most complicated characters in the game.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Makes a short nameless cameo in Arizona's second chapter before the story introduces her proper.
• Expy: Of Fluttershy; her dogs fulfill a similar role to Fluttershy's animals, and her personality is also similar. Pom is mostly just more skittish than shy.
• Extreme Doormat: Comes with the territory of being an expy of Fluttershy. The only reason she engages in combat at all is because her puppies drag her into it.
• Face Plant: After her dash, she falls and slides face-first into the ground.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Pom isn't any more strong or brave than the rest of her kind, but the Sheeple has chosen Pom as the single bravest and strongest-willed among them. In a way though, she kind of is.
• Funetik Aksent: Pom's dialogue is written out in her heavy Scottish accent, as shown when she meets Arizona.
• Furry Ear Dissonance: Her ears don't look anything like a real animal's, let alone a sheep's.
• A Girl and Her X: A lamb and her pack of pugnacious puppies.
• Got Volunteered: Pom never wanted to fight in the competition herself, but she was forced to by the rest of the sheep.
• Happy Dance: Her taunt has her happily kicking her hoof and swinging her head from side to side.
• Heli-Critter: Pilot Pup, one of the puppies Pom can summon, flies by rotating its tail like a rotor.
• Heroes Love Dogs: She cares about her puppies just as much as they do for her.
• Heroic BSoD: Pom's reaction to her dog being hit in her level 3, acquiring a Thousand-Yard Stare in the process. It lasts for only a few seconds before pummeling the attacker.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Doesn't think she's smart or brave.
  Pom (in a ditto match): I look even weaker than I thought...
• Home Stage: The stage "Baaah" is her homeland in The Meadow.
• Human Hummingbird: She'll flail her legs around in one of her ariel attacks and while dashing.
• Ironic Name: Her name is "Pom", like in "pom-pom". But besides her Tuft of Head Fur, Pom isn't really all that fluffy, and her young fleece still has yet to grow. But her name does make sense since a part of her wool actually looks like a pompadour!
• Irony: A sheep in control of a group of sheepdogs?
• It Runs on Nonsensoleum: According to Oleander, Pom can float in the air because of her poofy hair and small bean-like body.
• Leitmotif: Her theme is a unique twist on math rock that features some harp, xylophone, clarinet, and a bit of calliope.
• Lovable Coward: Her immediate reaction to being chosen as the Champion of the Meadow in the Book of Lore was to immediately downplay the importance of Champions, and even in canon, it's her dogs doing the fighting while she tries to dodge and get away.
• Magic Hair: This trope isn't used literally, but Pom's hair can inflate to make her descent back the ground slower.
• Mama Bear: She may be incredibly meek and submissive normally, letting her dogs do most of the fighting for her. But hurt her puppies at your own peril, as seeing her babies smacked around will make her temporarily lose her Extreme Doormat personality and utterly pulverize the offender until she calms down.
• Meaningful Name: It seems like Pom is named for her pompadour hairstyle.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Pom on her own is a bit mediocre as a fighter, as a Puppet Fighter her dog summons are required to play Pom to her full potential. Her magic meter also doesn't refill automatically the same way as the rest of the cast; it's more of a way to keep track of how many dogs she can have onscreen at once, and it's instantly refilled when they're all dismissed.
• Nervous Wreck: She's always shaking during her fights. Precious thing looks like she'll break at any moment. Justified as she's in a dangerous position she really doesn't want to be in.
• Nice Girl: Pom is a sweet lamb who's quite complimentary to even her opponents.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: In her Level 3 Super, Pom goes absolutely ballistic if the other fighters manage to hit her pup, and she frantically attacks.
• Nominal Hero: All Pom wants to do is go back home. Yet she keeps getting dragged to fight Predators and into the contest for Fœnum's fate. She's more or less forced to become a hero by everyone.
• Noodle People: Has long, stick-like legs connected to a very tiny body.
• Not So Above It All: She will occasionally get happy if she actually manages to win her fights, when she's not flabbergasted that she managed to do so.
  Pom: Bad Puppies! ... Good puppies...
• Not Quite Flight: Pom can glide slowly to the ground using her puffy hair.
• Oh, Crap!: When she's chosen as Champion, and every single time she's in a fight. For the most part, she's been in a constant state of this trope ever since the former.
• Only Sane Man: Among the sheep, she's the only one who thinks they should do something to save Fœnum from the predators. In the Book of Lore, she also is the only one who realizes how wasteful it is to keep trying to feed plants to the meat-eating sheepdogs.
• Pink Heroine: She's light pink, the leader of her pack of dogs, and is one of the heroes. (Whether she likes it or not.)
• Pink Means Feminine: Has a pinkish tone to her fleece, and is the least violent and one of the more girly looking of the Key Seekers.
• Planet of Copyhats: The other sheep are somehow even greater Extreme Doormats than she is. She got volunteered because she was the only sheep brave enough to have an opinion.
• Precious Puppies: A large sheepdog pack has taken to hanging around her, including the 6 pups she can summon and the one featured in her Level 1 Super. They are very protective and do most of the fighting.
• Puppet Fighter: Mastering her requires you to control both her and her dogs at the same time.
• Refusal of the Call: Pom really doesn't want to be fighting or adventuring, not that anyone would listen to her, though.
• Reluctant Warrior: "Warrior" being very loose. Most of her attacks look like she's trying to play keep-away with the other fighters. In her idle animations, if she tries to back out, her pup guilt trips her into staying.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: A sweet, adorable lamb with fleece tinted a slight pink. We sadly don't see her being happy too often due to her situation, though.
• Rule of Three: To limit how many dogs she can send out at a time, Pom has only 3 bars of magic.
• The Scream: She'll let out a distraught "BAAAAAH!", which sounds more like a yell than a bleat, if her pup gets successflly hit.
• Shrinking Violet: Despite being the only sheeple to form their own opinion, she's still too timid to let her voice be heard.
• Springtime for Hitler: She wants nothing to do with the battle for the Key, and keeps trying to lose so that she can go home. Despite all her efforts, she keeps winning fights and getting pulled deeper into the contest.
• Super-Scream: One of her moves has her mimic a dog's bark, which briefly stuns her opponent.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Pom clearly gets more and more irritated by her clan's refusal to see common sense.
• Sweet Sheep: She's an adorable sheep who's too timid to even fight her opponents, so her sheepdogs fight in her stead. Just don't hurt her dogs if you know what's good for you.
• Tareme Eyes: Helps that "worried" seems to be her default expression.
• Tears of Joy: After a K.O. from her level 3 super, she'll cry in happiness when she sees her puppy is alright after being hit.
• Tuft of Head Fur: The really prominent hairdo of fleece on top of her head.
• Unlikely Hero: Of the known Key Seekers, it's safe to say she doesn't look much the part to be all of Fœnum's heroine compared to the others, who are mostly a little more impressive by comparison.
• Unusual Euphemism: Calls herself an "egg" in the Book of Lore, scolding herself.
• Verbal Backspace: Immediately tried to backpedal on her opinion when her clan decided to select her as Champion.
  Pom: “I-I didn’t mean it! I meant, nah, we shouldn’t help! I meant to say that’s a stink idea!”
• Waif-Fu: She's very skinny and doesn't even want to fight, but she's still capable of surviving and winning battles.
• When She Smiles: Pom isn't shown smiling in this game too often. (With good reason.) But whenever she does, it's kind of heartwarming after seeing her so constantly scared and shaking.
• Xenophobic Herbivore: Downplayed, but she begs Tianhuo not to kill her in one intro fight.

Tianhuo

Tianhuo

Voiced by: Kay Bess

Champion of The Volcano

^{Click here to see her with her armor}

"Honored mother, give me strength. Honored father, give me courage."

The Captain of Guard for The Empire of Houshan and Her Royal Highness the Longestma. A former bully in her youth, Tianhuo completely turned herself around and has worked to become a great and noble protector. The half-dragon/half-horse longmas as a whole are a race of warrior defenders for all of Fœnum, so when the Empress heard the world was in need of a Champion, there was no better choice than the greatest warrior in their volcano-like homeland. While encountering the other Key Seekers, Tianhuo tries to encourage them to be better, just as she tried for herself.

Tianhuo is a mobile fighter who does best at close range and in the air. Her magic meter has 2 bars, which can be spent on Firecracker attacks that let her move and attack at the same time, or quickly retreat. Her magic refills automatically over time, except when she is flying.

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• The Ace: The Longma are a race of warriors, and Tianhuo is agreed by the Empress and the rest of her kind to be the best of the best out of all of them.
• Action Girl: She's Captain of the Guard, and she loves to fight. Seriously, just watch her in action!
• Air-Dashing: Tianhuo can dash forward or backwards in the air using her wings. Her Firecspracker Ability can also be used to quickly dash in the air.
• Alpha Bitch: In the Book of Lore, she was this when she was a bully.
• Anime Chinese Girl: She is clearly based on a Chinese dragon, or more specifically a longma and has Chinese instruments in her theme song. And as mentioned before, her name is Mandarin.
• Armored Dragons: More specifically, armored half-dragon.
• Ass Kicking Pose: Tianhuo stands on one hind leg and extends her hoof if she wins a match.
• The Atoner: In the Book of Lore, deeply regretting the way she acted as a bully, one of her first actions after her Heel Realization was to apologize to her most recent victim.
• Authority Sounds Deep: She's a captain and her voice is noticeably deeper than the other female fighters.
• Awesome McCoolname: Her name can be translated to mean "Heaven" and "fire". The trope's title is even one of her possible NPC names!
• Bait-and-Switch: Pulled this on one of her victims in the Book of Lore. She appeared between her and the trio of bullies and scolds them for making lame insults, making her think Tianhuo had come to help... only to simply kick her herself soon after.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: In a prophetic dream, she bore witness to a clash between the spirits of the stallion and dragon who gave rise to the Longma.
• Battle Intro: Tianhuo hovers onto the field with her fiery wings before landing.
• Bifauxnen: Tia sure does have a lot of more masculine traits than she does feminine. Her lack of any real hair helps.
• Big Good: Of the playable main characters, she has vibes of this. Being the wisest, most straightforwardly heroic, and already having a title in her home region.
• Big Ol Eye Brows: Tianhuo and the rest of the Longma have prominent scaly brows, though not made of hair like most examples.
• Big Sister Mentor: Tries her best to come off as this to the other fighters, especially Pom. None of them listen, though.
• Bilingual Bonus: Her name is Mandarin (天火), and the English translation of "Heaven's Flame"/"Sky's Fire" is easily one of the coolest names in the game.
• Blood Knight: Based on her dialogue, she seems to be the ungulate out of the playable cast who enjoys fighting the most. (With Arizona not too far behind.)
• Breath Weapon: Should be obvious what element just by looking at her, but she has fire breath to match her fiery appearance.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": After she finishes her "Flames of Houshan"/level 3 special, a Tiān (天) character will appear in the sky made of fire.
• The Bully: She used to be one before a prophetic dream set her straight, and now thinking about her dishonorable past fills her with shame.
• Calling Me a Logarithm: Tianhuo mistakes Paprika's incomprehensible babbling as some kind of slander.
  Tianhuo: How dare you insult me! That was an insult, right?
• Calling Your Attacks: Calls out a lot of her special attacks, including a couple for when she parries.
• The Captain: Of the Empress' Guard.
• Challenge Seeker: Though saving her homeland is her number one goal, of course, that doesn't mean she doesn't like her competition putting up a decent fight for the title of Fœnum's Champion.
• The Champion: "The Champion of The Volcano".
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: The Longma are sworn not only to protect their volcanic home, but all of Fœnum itself.
  Tianhuo: It is my solemn duty to save Fœnum.
• Close-Range Combatant: All of Tianhuo's attacks need her to be close to other fighters to work, even fire breathes are close-range attacks. However, Tianhuo can attack from a long distance towards an enemy by using her firecracker ability to get up close in a split second.
• The Comically Serious: Is completely stoic and serious, even when trash-talking. Special mention goes to watching her deal with Paprika, where Tianhuo has no idea what she's up against, and, if she gets finished by Paprika's Level 3 Super, is the only character in the game who actually faints from the attack, complete with Wingding Eyes and her tongue sticking out.
• Color Contrast: Green scales with red eyes and orange fire for hair and wings.
• Criss-Cross Attack: The third part of level 3 Super: after flying up to grab her opponent and doing a Shoryuken, she kicks her opponent from several directions in mid-air.
• Curtains Match the Window: Tianhuo used to have orange eyes that matched her fiery mane (if having hair made of fire counts as hair), but they have been changed to red.
• Dark and Troubled Past: She used to be a bully until she received a prophetic dream, now that part of her past fills her with shame.
• Dash Attack: Her Firecracker special move propels her a good and quick distance.
• Delightful Dragon: She's considered a hero. Kind of cheating since her species is half horse, but still, we can thank Honored Father for making the race so noble in the first place.
• Diving Kick: Her Firecracker Magic move has her do a flying kick. Though it can be performed in any direction, doing it downwards while in the air results in one of these.
• Dracolich: Though only a costume, her "Death From Above" palette is made to make her resemble an undead dragon hybrid.
• Dragon Ancestry: Her race is half dragon, after all.
• Elemental Eye Colors: Tianhuo uses fire in a lot of her attacks and she coincidentally has red eyes. The orange eyes she had pre-release also fit just as well.
• Elemental Rivalry: Invoked by Tianhuo herself when she goes up against Velvet.
  Tianhuo: At last, we shall see who is stronger- ice, or fire!
• Experienced Protagonist: Compared to the others, Tianhuo already went through her training, has combat experience, and earned a reputation as a hero (at least among her kind) before being chosen as champion. Now she'll put it all to the ultimate test.
• Expy: Of Rainbow Dash. Personality-wise, she possessed the worst aspects of Rainbow Dash’s personality in her youth before turning around. Ironically, her default palette resembles Lightning Dust more.
• Eye Colour Change: Her eyes were orange by default in older versions and concept art, now they're red.
• Face of a Thug: Being a longma, she definitely has a rather striking and threatening appearance. But make no mistake, she is one of the good guys; Tianhuo is shown to be wise, disciplined, and usually treats her opponents with some degree of respect than the other fighters. That doesn't mean she isn't a competent, and ruthless, fighter.
• Fiery Salamander: The Longma in the Them's Fightin' Herds universe all have the "fiery reptile" trait as a part of their biology.
• Flaming Hair: Her mane and tail are made of flames.
• Flight: The only character in the game who can fly.
• Funny Bruce Lee Noises: Downplayed but present; whenever she's doing something particularly fancy expect her to either call out the name of her attack or let out a battle cry.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The best fighter in a whole race of powerful creatures, but can possibly be beaten by a crazy alpaca or a small weak lamb and her puppies.
• Gang of Bullies: Was the leader of one before her Heel Realization.
• The Ghost: She's the only playable character not directly interacted with in Arizona's story mode, but is referenced a few times. She appears in a painting with Velvet at the Museum, and the reason the lake between Reine's District I and VII is melted is because she was recently there.
• Good Is Not Soft: A long since reformed bully, and one of the more heroic of the main characters, who even tries to push them to be better. But she was chosen as the Empress' Champion for a VERY good reason.
• Heel Realization: Went through this after her prophetic dream.
• Hellish Pupils: She, like the other Longma, has vertically slit pupils, inherited from her predatory dragon half.
• Hit Me, Dammit!: She likes a challenge, and she gets irritated if her opponent is a lousy fighter as shown in her taunts.
  Tianhuo: Stop trying to hit me, and hit me!
• Home Stage: The stage "Houshan Capitol" takes place in the volcano she's from.
• Hot Wings: She is able to fly using wings of fire.
• In a Single Bound: Even without the wings, with her High Jump and her two Firecracker dashes she can get up to ridiculous heights.
• Kick Chick: Hard to notice due to the game's fast pace, but Tianhuo mostly fights with her hind legs.
• Kick the Dog: In her Book of Lore segment, she confronted and called out a group of bullies... for insulting a foal with Toilet Humour insults instead of just going for physical violence, before kicking the foal they were bullying.
• Large Ham: Her moves and Warrior Poet sayings are so over-the-top, it's almost hard to take her seriously.
• Leitmotif: A Chinese-style tune that implements an erhu.
• Lightning Bruiser: Her flight and Diving Kicks give her great mobility, allowing her to quickly close the distance and dish out serious pain.
• Lizard Folk: Being an ungulate species that are part reptile, the longmas are Fœnum's equivalent.
• Long Neck: Largely because she's partly based on a Chinese dragon. They're called longmas for a good reason.
• Man Bites Man: Tianhuo has an attack where she bites her opponent with her sharp dragon-like teeth.
• Meaningful Name: She's a longma with fiery wings and mane, Captain of the Imperial Guard and The Atoner, and some of her victory quips relate to honor and wisdom. A name that can be interpreted as Heaven's Flame is appropriate.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Longma are an unusual mix of horse and dragon. They have the body structure of a horse, but are covered in dragon scales and have reptilian eyes.
• No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Regardless of how well your opponent did, if Tianhuo wins she'll be pretty disappointed, implying they weren't worth the effort.
• Not Bad: Will occasionally compliment her opponent's attacks on her, sometimes daring them to try it again.
• Our Dragons Are Different: As a longma, she is descended from a stallion, referred to as Honored Father, and a dragon, referred to as Honored Mother. As such, her form is equine, but she has scales, reptilian eyes, and wields fire magic.
• Playing with Fire: She can produce wings, a tail, and a mane made of flames. She can also use Firecracker magic to out-maneuver opponents.
• Proud Warrior Race Girl: Every subject of the Empire is a member of the military, and she's the best warrior among them.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Being the Captain of the Imperial Guard, it’s only natural.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Red reptilian eyes, and she can and WILL kick butt.
• Red Is Heroic: Her red armor, seen in the second picture above, and she's one of the game's most heroic characters.
• Regenerating Mana: Her magic refuels over time, no special inputs required.
• Reformed Bully: In her youth she was an arrogant bully, but after having a prophetic dream she has a Heel Realization and grows up to become the Captain of the Imperial Guard.
• The Runt at the End: Tianhuo was the last of the original six characters to be revealed, the last focus in the Book of Lore, and is usually the last of the main characters listed. She's also the only one to be part reptilian, part predator, and a former antagonist.
• Slide Attack: Her strong down attack is a sliding kick.
• Spectacular Spinning: Some of her moves involve spinning midair.
• Spinning Piledriver: At the end of her Level 3 super.
• The Stoic: Tianho hardly changes expression from the same look she has on her character select screen. If she ever does make something a little different, such as say a little smirk or a look of surprise when hit, it's hard to tell since the shape of her eyes and brows makes her look like she's constantly glowering.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Can be as righteous as her Honored Father, or as vicious as her Honored Mother dragon-half.
  Honored Father’s righteousness courses into her heart. But, to her surprise, it is Honored Mother’s anger that compels her to act!
• Super Mode: After activating her Level 2 super, she will temporarily start glowing, and during this time certain attacks will be enhanced.
• Tomboyish Voice: She's a full warrior, and speaks in a low-pitched voice.
• True-Breeding Hybrid: Like all Longma; the interspecies coupling seemed to happen only once, and all modern longma are only descendants that are born from longa parents.
• Tsurime Eyes: Fits her more serious personality.
• Undying Loyalty: One of the few noticeable traits she has in common with Rainbow is her loyalty. To the Empress, her race, and all of Fœnum.
• Vegetarian Carnivore: Part of a formerly carnivorous race that have taken a vow to not eat other ungulates, and can eat Paprika's apples and broccoli just fine. Justified since she's only part predator, meaning longma are technically omnivores, so not eating meat shouldn't be too much of a problem.
• Video Game Flight: Tianhuo can fly in game... for exactly two seconds with a max magic meter before it runs out.
• Video Game Sliding: Her crouching "strong" attack is a slide that propels her forward.
• Wingding Eyes: If she gets knocked out by Paprika's Level 3 Super, her pupils become Xs for a few frames, before her eyes are entirely replaced with spirals.
• World's Best Warrior: The Longma at least consider her so.
• Worthy Opponent: Tianhuo views her opponents as these and greatly admires their skills. She simply cannot enjoy a duel unless they’re giving their all towards her, with her in-game lines towards opponents urging them to surpass themselves.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Gives these types of speeches to her opponents before their fight occasionally, mostly towards Pom. Though this could also be because Tia likes fighting worthy opponents.

DLC characters

Shanty

Shanty

Voiced by: Afi Ekulona

Champion of The Islands(?)

"That key's as good as mine!"

A Pirate Girl goat who was taken in by the pirate captain Bravura after she was orphaned at a young age. In order to be seen as a true crew member of the Goatani Greats, though, Shanty intends to steal the world's most valuable treasure: The Prophet's Key, and be seen as the greatest pirate of all time.

Shanty was obtained with the second crowdfunding stretch goal and was added in the 2.0 update in March 2021. See her trailer here.

In-game, Shanty is a mobile fighter with a focus on short-range attacks. Her magic meter starts off empty each round, and can hold up to six charges. Shanty's Magic slowly fills up over time, but can also be manually charged by using Parley, which can grant up to three bars of Magic depending on how long it's charged up, regardless of if the attack hits or not. Magic can be spent to enter a Run stance with different attacks and movement, or to climb walls (which has another set of unique attacks).

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Wears a teal bandana tied around her head.
• Action Girl: She is the most acrobatic of the Champions so far, and being both a pirate and Key Seeker this is a given anyway.
• Animal Eyes: Unusually, Shanty's eyes are much rounder than the other characters', and her pupils are horizontal ovals; much like a real-life goat. It's especially noticeable comparing her against Pom.
• Ambidextrous Sprite: The light patch of fur around Shanty's eyes always faces the direction of the camera, the notch in her ear changing sides as well. ^note It's officially on her right eye and left ear based on official artwork.
• Animal Stereotypes: Can climb up the walls in any game level; goats are well known for climbing up very tricky surfaces in real life, such as near-vertical mountain slopes.
• Anti-Villain: Her main goal is to steal the Key, the very thing meant to seal the Predators away, just so she can impress a pirate crew.
• Arms and Armor Theme Naming: All of Shanty's specials are named after swords or pirate-themed weapons like harpoon and cannonball. Oleander lampshades the Theme Naming on weapons "the goat" doesn't have.
• Audible Sharpness: A lot of her specials has a sound effect that sounds like a pirate's sword swing, though no actual swords are involved.
• Badasses Wear Bandanas: She wouldn't look like a pirate without some kind of pirate accessory.
• Battle Intro: She runs onto the screen from the side before skidding to a stop.
• Bouncing Battler: Can attack by clinging to and jumping off walls.
• Breaking Old Trends: The first major character (including Fred) that is not based on or inspired by any particular My Little Pony character. ^note Though some have been able to draw a few parallels to Scootaloo, both fanon and canon.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Though Card-Carrying Pirate is much more accurate, as she makes her kleptomania intentions clear and often tries to straight out rob the other characters.
• The Champion: "The Champion of the Islands?" ^note That question mark is intentional.
• Charged Attack: Her "Parley" special move can be charged up by holding A. There are three levels that increase the power of the attack and how much Magic she gains.
• Close-Range Combatant: She doesn't have any projectiles so she has to be up-close to attack, but to counter this she can bounce from wall to wall and can get behind other fighters very quickly.
• Combat Parkour: Shanty's acrobatic style and her ability to jump off walls make her a bit tricky to fight against.
• Dash Attack: She can rush right into opponents, similar to Arizona, using her head. (She is a goat, after all.)
• A Day In The Lime Light: Shanty was planned to have her own side story after the main game was complete.
• Diving Kick: Can do so off of a wall and in her Cannonball Super.
• Downloadable Content: Shanty, her stage and, eventually, her planned episode were formerly available for DLC, but she was later made part of the main game.
• Dreadlock Warrior: Though most of it is tied back behind her head.
• Dressed to Plunder: Averted except for one part of her; the only stereotypically "pirate" accessory she has is a pirate-like bandana.
• Ear Notch: Is missing a chunk of her left ear.
• Edible Ammunition: Not from her, but when she uses her level 3 super, she is attacked by pirates who try to bombard her with coconuts and a durian. Shanty avoids them, but her opponent isn't so lucky.
• Evil Redhead: "Evil" is stretching it a bit, but she's still a pirate and thief.
• Exploiting the Fourth Wall: Weaponizes the borders of the screen, even though there is logically no "wall" she should be able to climb up.
• Facial Markings: The colorings around one of her eyes (canonically her right eye, only seen in promo/splash art) is a lighter shade of brown, bringing to mind a pirate's eyepatch.
• Fiery Redhead: Red hair and full of spunk.
• Fish Eyes: Her eyes go in to different directions when in her stunned animation. The blank look on her face also makes her eyes look even more like a real goat.
• Foil: To all of the other playable characters. While they're looking for The Key to save the world, she wants to steal "the world's greatest treasure" to be considered the best pirate in Fœnum.
• Fragile Speedster: She has low health, but strong mobility on the ground.
• Furry Reminder: If the timer runs out and Shanty loses, her legs stiffen up and she falls over like a fainting goat.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Shanty talks a lot about stealing and plundering, but she still buys and trades salt fair-and-square at Cap'N'Cash's like the others. Though Cashmere does say she's keeping an eye on her.
• Gangplank Galleon: Her stage is The Capricorn, a pirate ship.
• Girls With Mustaches: Has a tiny Seadog Beard below her chin. Of course, she's a goat, and it's only natural for her species.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: She has no weapons, notable powers, or outside sources to help her in fights; her moves are all physically her. That said, many of her moves are named after weapons, such as "Cannonball", "Cutlass", and "Harpoon", something Oleander mocks in Tutorial Mode.
• Greed: As a pirate, she's always trying to steal and rob from the other characters.
• Gruesome Goat: Downplayed as she isn't necessarily evil; just greedy, selfish, and violent.
• Handy Mouth: A lore livestream revealed that Shanty ties her bandana with her tongue. Honestly, how else could she do so?
• Harsh Word Impact: Her "Parley" attack, where she shouts, making a large word bubble that damages opponents.
• Hero-Worshipper: Towards a crew of pirates.
• Hitbox Dissonance: Despite being noticeably shorter than the others, she still shares the exact same hitboxes as the other characters. This is done so all other attacks can hit her easily without any need for further tweaking on Shanty or the other fighters.
• Home Stage: "The Capricorn", a pirate ship belonging to the Goatani Greats.
• I Am Not Weasel: Gets mistaken for a demon by Oleander, and possibly another bovine by Arizona.
• Idle Animation: She shakes her head, then gives a determined smile with a twinkle.
• Jumped at the Call: She wanted to find the Prophet's Key as soon as she heard the news. Though for different reasons than Arizona did.
• Kick Chick: Many of her moves involve fancy kicks.
• Leitmotif: An ominous-sounding march with strings and flute, which shifts into a more upbeat reggae and calypso theme.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: The world is in danger and the only way to stop them is a magical key? Surely stealing an artifact that sought after would impress the pirates.
• Lovable Rogue: It's a good thing Shanty is adorably optimistic and a pretty impressive fighter, otherwise she would just be a selfish slimeball.
• Making a Splash: Has a limited amount of Water magic.
• Meaningful Name: A "sea shanty" is a type of song that's often used as a Pirate Song.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: She has the unusual ability to run and jump off of the walls. More specifically the screen's borders.
• Mirror Character: Shanty has a lot in common with Arizona. Both are young, boastful, adventurous horned ungulates that happen to be cute bruiser tough girls, both are "rushdown" characters who have a dash and headbutt attacks, they're the two most enthusiastic about finding The Key, both are covered in mostly brown fur (their legs being lighter), and their eyes and accessories are practically the opposite of each other's in color. However, Arizona is a lot more heroic than Shanty, and while Arizona is a Seeker and Champion because she loves her homeland Shanty wants the Key for more self-centered reasons.
• Mistaken for Undead: Oleander mistakes her for a female demon at first sight. Fred comments that Shanty's a bit too scrawny for that.
• My Name Is Inigo Montoya: She'll tell her opponent that Shanty's her name, and plunderin' is her game.
• Non-Standard Character Design: One of the few ungulates to have pupils, even horizontally split ones. Yes, Shanty is an anthropomorphic goat so it makes sense, but this trope is noticeable since none of the other species of ungulates ^note *Besides the Longma are shown to have visible pupils in the game's art style.
• Orange/Blue Contrast: Against the rest of her color scheme, her teal bandana is the thing that visually sticks out the most, especially next to her orange hair.
• Orphan's Ordeal: She was basically a street rat before becoming attached to a pirate crew.
• Parrying Bullets: Shanty's shouts can destroy projectiles.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: The smallest of the Key Keepers, but can still hold her own in a fight.
• Pirate Booty: A good chunk of her dialogue is her talking or looking for treasure, salt, or something to steal.
• Pirate Girl: This is Shanty's entire schtick, being a swashbuckler goat who fights aboard her pirate ship.
• Pirate Song: Apparently, Shanty is "named after a song with no title".
• Plucky Girl: Like Arizona, she is overly optimistic in looking for the Key
• Race-Name Basis: Oleander only refers to her as "the goat" in tutorial mode.
• Redhead In Green: An orange-haired goat in teal, but close enough.
• Regenerating Mana: Her magic refuels over time, though players can get more magic faster with a successful Parley attack.
• Rule of Funny: Shanty isn't an actual fainting goat, otherwise her legs would lock up every time she was surprised or stressed. Needless to say, this would make her an absolutely horrible Key Seeker, let alone a playable character. Why does it only happen during a Time Up? Because it's cute/funny.
• Rule of Three: Her Parley move has three levels of strength, depending how long she holds it for.
• Seadog Beard: Played with; she's a pirate and has a beard, but beards like hers are natural for goats.
• Slide Attack: One where she slides on her belly while literally Making a Splash.
• The Social Darwinist: Shanty is shown to be self-entitled, and being inspired by pirates she's come to believe "the only ones who make it in life are those brave enough to fight to the last", according to the main site.
• Spectacular Spinning: One of her signature moves is flipping in the air which the player can control.
• Stance System: Her Magic lets her enter an alternate stance where she runs continuously instead of using short dashes, and she has three different ground attacks and one air attack.
• Sticky Fingers: She relishes in her thievery, to the point where even Cashmere is wary of her being near her shop. Best emphasized by one of her winning quotes:

"If it ain't bolted down, it's fair game!"

• Street Urchin: No sea puns intended; this is what Shanty actually is, and is more of a pirate wannabe.
• Super Mode: Her level 2 Super Avast! dramatically increases her natural Magic regeneration and decreases the Magic cost of her attacks.
• Super-Scream: Her "Parley" attack and level 2 super, "Avast!".
• Talk Like a Pirate: She recharges her magic by saying pirate expressions. Depending on how much you charge up her "Parley" special attack, she'll either say "Ay!", "Aye!", or "YARRR!", which restore larger amounts of Magic and affect the opponent in different ways.
• Theme Naming: Most of Shanty's moves are pirate terms or pirate-themed weapons.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: Well, kind of a ponytail...
• Twinkle Smile: Has one in her idle animation after she shakes her head.
• Use Your Head: There's a lot of headbutts in her attacks, being a goat and all.
• Volumetric Mouth: She opens her jaw very widely when she yells during her most powerful Parley◊ and in her Level 2 Super.
• Walk the Plank: One of her victory quotes references this trope towards her defeated opponent.
• Wall Crawl: Her most unique feature among the other fighters is her ability to crawl up walls.
• Wall Jump: She can attack by jumping off them as well.
• Wall Run: She can also run up them to prepare an attack.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Shanty's "D'ja Make 'er?" pallet has her headkerchief changed to the Jamaican flag.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Is trying to impress a bunch of pirates so she can join their crew. She has no family of her own.

Texas

Texas

Voiced by: Patrick Seitz

Head Bull & #1 Dad

"Eeyup, still got it!"^note "D'OH! Yep, yep, and it's gone."

Arizona's father and the tough, brave leader of the cattlekind. Texas, stubborn as he is, refused to let Arizona go off as Champion out of concern for his daughter. But with some convincing from his wife, Texas lets her go. However, while his daughter is off on her own quest, it doesn't mean that Texas will just sit idly by when there's some Predator hides that need whooping, and he sets off on his own to assist his daughter before hoping to finally settle down for good.

Formerly just an NPC in story mode, Texas was revealed to be the first season pass DLC character at Summer Jam 2022. He fills the role of the game's true grappler, laying the pain with some nasty, high-damage command grabs. However, Texas has more than enough tools to close the gap thanks to his cowbells. He was released on December 19th, 2022.

Texas excels at dealing huge damage to opponents at close range, but he still has a few tricks to deal with faraway enemies, like a full-screen shockwave and an armored charge. His Magic meter is empty at the start of each round, and can hold up to three bars. Texas's Magic attack, "Cowbell", hits the opponent with a cowbell at the end of a long rope. If the opponent is hit by the bell at a precise distance, Texas gains one point of Magic and pulls the opponent closer. Magic can be spent to perform additional attacks with the Cowbells.

See his trailer here.

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• Action Dad: Despite Arizona's pa not technically being a Key Seeker himself, he still takes part in the action as a playable fighter.
• Actor Allusion: Texas' voice actor is also known for playing the English dub version of Dio Brando. His moveset includes a super move where he rapidly pummels his opponent with his cowbells in a way that looks similar to Dio's iconic Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs, and he will sometimes imitate his "MUDA MUDA MUDA!" Kiai when performing the move.
• Authority Sounds Deep: He's the Head Bull and has a very deep voice.
• Baritone of Strength: He's a large bull and, again, has a deep voice.
• Bicolor Cows, Solid Color Bulls: Barring a single dark stripe on his nose barely any darker than the rest of his brown fur, he is entirely a solid color.
• The Big Guy: By virtue of being a full-grown bull. He's the largest character in the roster, with Stronghoof being a close second.
• Blood Knight: It's clear as day where Arizona got her love of fighting from. Texas absolutely loves the thrill of battle, with him looking like he's having the time of his life when pulling off specific attacks.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • After seven girls, he's the first male fully-playable character, who was not an assist like Fred or Big Papa. Until his reveal, it was up in the air if the game was even going to have a male character.
  • He's also the first character to not be or be referred to as a Champion in any way, in-universe or out.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: A massive, strong, and hot-blooded bull, but he clearly cares about his herd, especially Arizona (even if he has a weird way of showing it).
• Brutish Bulls: As seen as a playable fighter, he doesn't hold back when fighting. His personality is more of a subversion as he's actually a pretty nice guy, only being intimidating when he has to be.
• Charged Attack: Rodeo Run, it starts with Texas running that can end in two optional attacks.
• Chew Bubblegum: Parodied when he accidentally messes up the "take names" version of the phrase.

  Texas: I'm here to kick names and, er, wait hold on a sec...

• Deadly Ringer: In combat, he uses a pair of cowbells tied to his yoke to hit opponents from a distance.
• Dishing Out Dirt: All of his Super attacks involve pulling giant rocks from the ground.
• Downloadable Content: The first character in the Season 1 pass, and the second DLC character overall.
• Dual Wielding: Fights with twin cowbells tied to each side of his yoke.
• Epic Flail: He can use two giant cowbells tied to ropes as a weapon.
• Eye Color Change: His eyes were brown in the Book of Lore, while in the game they're green like Arizona's.
• Family Eye Resemblance: Arizona gets her green eyes from him.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Really didn't want Arizona to become champion. To be fair, it makes sense that he wouldn't want his young daughter doing something so dangerous, though he is described as such in The Book of Lore, so it's probably a trait he has regardless.
• The Grappler: The first playable fighter to fit this role, using his ropes to grab and throw opponents.
• Hammered into the Ground: Texas Smash ends with the other fighter slammed halfway into the ground.
• Happily Married: One of his character select line is "This one's for you, Minnie!".
• Home Stage: Caravan Cattledome, which is a campsite in The Prairie converted into a makeshift fighting ring.
• Horn Attack: A few attacks have him slash with his large horns.
• Immune to Flinching: Texas gains super armor during his Rodeo Run stance.
• In a Single Bound: Like Arizona, he has the ability to jump really high.
• "Knock Knock" Joke: He tries to tell one to Oleander and Paprika in his pre-fight dialogue with them. Oleander just groans in response, whilst Paprika does her usual incomprehensible giggling. Texas' response is either irritated or amused depending on who he's fighting.
  Texas: Hey! I didn't even get to the punchline!
• Knows the Ropes: Which he uses to grapple and throw. He also combines this with Deadly Ringer by attacking with cowbells tied at the end of each one.
• Large and in Charge: He's an enormous bull and is the leader of the Cattlekind.
• Leitmotif: A metal piece that starts off similarly to Arizona's theme with country-style instruments before quickly picking up the pace and transitioning into some fittingly hard-hitting riffs.
• Lightning Bruiser: He fights a lot faster than you would expect from a powerful bull of his size.
• Living Legend: He racked up quite a few stories of adventures during his time. His bio is even titled "A LIVING LEGEND".
• Location Theme Naming: Named after a U.S. State, and one of the largest ones, at that.
• Manly Tears: Comes really close when Arizona heads out, in both versions of her backstory.
• Meaningful Name: As you know, Everything is Big in Texas, so what name could be more fitting for the biggest playable character in the game?
• Meteor Move: Launches his whole body and slams his opponents into the ground in his Cattlepult Level 3 Super.
• Mister Exposition: While bits were mentioned in the prologue, Texas explains the Predator's past in more detail in the first chapter.
• Non-Standard Character Design: As an adult bull, Texas is much, much larger than any other playable character in the game. He's nearly twice as tall as his daughter!
• Not Big Enough for the Two of Us: Says "This town ain’t big enough for the two of us!" in one of his pre-fight quotes against himself. Due to the amount of screen they take up, he's not kidding.
• Obligatory Joke: He makes even more rodeo and bull puns than Arizona.
• The One Guy: For a few months, he was the only male character to be added to the roster until Stronghoof.
• Promoted to Playable: Went from a relatively minor story NPC to a fully-fledged playable character.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: It's pretty obvious WHY he's the Head Bull.
• So Proud of You: In fights with Arizona, she can start the fight with "I'll make you proud, Pa!", to which he replies "You already have, darlin'."
• Spam Attack: His Level 1 Super has him rapidly fire his bells in a move resembling Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs.
• Spin Attack: His Rodeo Run Spinner ends with him spinning around with his cowbells.
• Still Got It: One of his victory quotes shows that his age has negatively impacted his fighting ability ("You should have seen me in my prime!"), but another has him declare "Still got it!"... only for him to suddenly feel the consequences of overexerting himself.
• Top-Heavy Guy: The front half of him is a lot broader than his hind half, and even then he's still the biggest fighter so far.
• Tough Love: In the Book of Lore only, he and Arizona have a small fight to prove if she really has what it takes to become the Prairie's Champion. As in, actually physically fight. Once she comes out victorious, he's so proud of her he nearly lets out a tear.
• Twinkle Smile: His teeth give off a gleam in his character art, shown above.
• Use Your Head: One of his moves is a headbutt.
• Verbal Tic: He affirms negative statements with "No, sir" more than once when he's talking.
• Would Hit a Girl: The guy clearly enjoys fighting, regardless if most of the cast are female, and this includes his own daughter.
• You Fight Like a Cow: Says this word-for-word as one of his taunts.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Many of his moves are catered towards drawing the opponent closer to him to give him the advantage. His level 2 super, "Pummel Pillar", erects two stone pillars on both sides of the screen, locking the stage in place.

Stronghoof

Stronghoof Hoofstrong

Voiced by: Christopher Sabat

Jarl of Reine City

Velvet's father, the leader of the deerfolk and the jarl of Reine City. In battle, he is assisted by his personal Winter Sprite, Vetr (read further for details on him) and uses many weapons made out of ice. Revealed as the second DLC character of the first season pass at, fittingly enough, Frosty Faustings 2023.

See his trailer here.

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• Action Dad: He's Velvet's father, and not afraid of taking on the Predators himself.
• An Ice Person: As with the other deer, he has ice powers, although unlike velvet he tends to use it to create weapons and to coat the battlefield floor with slippery ice.
• Art Evolution: He was noticeably redesigned after becoming a playable character. His playable design has smaller eyes, larger hooves, and different shaped antlers.
• Authority Sounds Deep: Makes sense for the great Jarl of Reine City to have such a booming voice.
• Battle Intro: He removes his cloak as he gets ready to fight.
• Baritone of Strength: Has a very deep voice and is one of the manliest ungulates in Fœnum.
• Beard of Barbarism: His floof visually invokes this look.
• The Big Guy: He's second only to Texas in that regard, being a full-grown buck that is noticeably larger than the other male deer seen in Reine City.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Thick, brown eyebrows. His ice sprite has them too, but more unkempt.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Blink and you miss it, but his light aerial attacks has him slash with an icy bear-like claw on his forehoof.
• Blood Knight: He loves fighting, but at least he's honorable about it.
• Braids of Barbarism: His chest fur is kept in three long braids, fitting his role as the boisterous warrior chieftain of a Norse-inspired culture.
• BFS: One of the weapons he spawns out of ice is a huge sword.
• Calling Your Attacks: He occasionally shouts the name of his attack or his summoned weapon.
• The Cameo: He appears as a background NPC on the Reine stage.
• Campy Combat: He might be occassionally flamboyant, but he clearly loves to fight.
• Carpet of Virility: His very large, impressive floof, which is even braided.
• Chick Magnet: He's surrounded by a crowd of girls when Arizona first meets him, each gushing over him. Arizona even blushes when he praises her.
• The Coats Are Off: He starts wearing a cloak at the beginning of every fight, which he then discards.
• Dare to Be Badass: His banter in fights primarily consists of encouragement and telling his opponent to take him on with all they've got.
• Dual Wielding: His grapple move has him swing two different axes.
• Even the Guys Want Him: In the crowd of deer swooning over him, one is a male, gushing over his thick antlers.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: Ice and fire variant as Stronghoof's reveal trailer has him fighting against Tianhuo.
• Frictionless Ice: He can slide farther while dashing after covering the floor with his Ice Slick. Though he has no problems simply walking on it.
• Gentleman Adventurer: The Jarl of Reine is just as polite as he is adventurous.
• The Good King: Even when fighting, he's friendly and humble towards his opponents, with the rest of the Deerfolk implying he's a great jarl. Downplayed since he is a playable character in a fighting game.
• Heroic Lineage: The Hoofstrong family line has a long, old, and heroic history within Reine.
• Home Stage: Reine Ramparts. As the name implies, it takes place on a large castle wall with Reine City in the background.
• Horn Attack: In his Hoofstrong Hoist, he extends his antlers' reach to attack opponents after hoisting them up.
• Hunk: The deer girls compliment him as such. Even Arizona blushes when he praises her strength.
• Ice Crystals: He summons some of these for one attack, but he mostly uses ice-made weapons.
• Idle Animation: He'll momentarily stroke and smooth out his floof.
• Incoming Ham: All you need to do is listen to most of his pre-fight intros and character select tropes.

  Stronghoof: My heart soars with anticipation of our glorious battle.

• Large and in Charge: He's the Jarl of Reine and a huge buck.
• Large Ham: He shares his over-the-top and dramatic personality with his daughter. He's a lot nicer than Velvet, though.
• Magic Knight: He uses Winter Magic to make the weapons he fights with.
• Manly Tears: He sheds some at the end of his level 3 super.
• The Marvelous Deer: The strongest and mightiest reindeer in all of Reine!
• Meaningful Rename: According to his bio, "Stronghoof" is a title, passed down to the greatest warriors, that replaces their original name.
• Nice Guy: While most of the deer treat Arizona with disdain or are rude to her, he's respectful of her strength and rewards her for it if she's accomplished certain things. Even his banter during fights is respectful and encourages his opponent to do their best.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: His level 1 super is him simply just battering his opponent senseless with all sorts of weapons (with help from Vetr).
• Palette Swap: Velvet's "Strong Hoof" palette is appropriately his (now outdated) color scheme. Interestingly, she had this costume before her father appeared in story mode.
• Promoted to Playable: He's the second previously-established backstory character to be made into a playable fighter.
• Pun: He refers to Vetr as his "Vetr" half.
• Puppet Fighter: The player can control both Stronghoof and Vetr.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Jarl and one of Reine's greatest fighters.
• Regenerating Mana: Happens over time, but standing on the ice made by him makes Stronghoof's magic regenerate faster.
• Repetitive Name: Subverted. His name and surname are simply the two words "strong" and "hoof" put together and switched around. Real creative there.
• Respected by the Respected: Subverted. If Arizona has defeated every Predator in the abandoned mine or Reine's undercity, he will show great respect for her strength and reward her with a headband. However, his respect doesn't stop the other deerfolk from treating Arizona with disdain.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He's the Jarl (a Norse title roughly equivalent to Earl) of Reine. He's also well-aware of the return of the Predators, having taken on a number of them himself.
• Royalty Super Power: To be fair, all the deerfolk have Winter Magic, but his is clearly the strongest.
• Say My Name: He's the first character to say his own name in the character select screen.
• Shield Bash: He can do so with one made out of ice as one of his Arsenal moves.
• Spirited Competitor: He also seems to fight just to enjoy testing other fighters.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Just like Sub-Zero he uses his mastery of Winter Magic to create weapons out of ice in combat.
• Temporary Substitute: Stronghoof says his own name and announces his own victory rather than the regular announcer.
• Universally Beloved Leader: He's well-respected by all the deerfolk, regardless of how they feel about his daughter.
• Video Game Sliding: He can slide while ducking, like Velvet. He'll also slide farther when making in ice slick.
• Warrior Poet: Recites a speech during his Level 3 Super.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: The axes, swords, hammers, and shields he spawns all have a Nordic feel.
• Worthy Opponent: A short story in his bio details a younger Stronghoof fighting a mysterious reindeer mercenary and was bested, she let him live because he showed talent as a warrior.
• Would Hit a Girl: At least he respects them as fellow warriors.
• You Fool!: Sometimes says this after a successful throw.

Vetr

Voiced by: Aaron Stavely

• Art Evolution: He was redesigned along with Stronghoof when they became playable. Most notably he was given a belt and his facial hair takes up most of his face.
• Assist Character: Helps Stronghoof in battle by attacking, blowing wind, or using discarded weapons for a follow-up attack.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: He has enormously thick eyebrows that keep his eyes completely hidden.
• Blow You Away: Vetr can blow opponents left and right with Winter Wind and also keep them in the air or force them to the ground.
• Combination Attack: After Stronghoof performs one of his Arsenal attacks, an extra combination immediately makes Vetr use the previous weapon for his own follow-up Combination Attack.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: After getting hit, Vetr is temporarily be taken out of the fight, but respawns a few seconds later.
• Eyes Out of Sight: His eyebrows cover his eyes.
• Flight: He's always floating by Stronghoof's side.
• Gravity Screw: As a result of being able to blow wind up or down, he can do this for the opposing player
• Hidden Eyes: His redesign has his eyebrows cover his eyes.
• Horns of Barbarism: His hat has small horns on it.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Vetr's follow-up action for Stronghoof's Shield is him simply holding it up.
• Manly Facial Hair: His eyebrows and moustache cover half his face.
• Meaningful Name: Vetr's name means "Winter" in Old Norse.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He assists in pummeling the opponent during Stronghoof's Hailstorm, though he does so with his bare fists.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Can lift many weapons and ungulates several times his size.
• Pointy Ears: Like the rest of his species, he has large, out-sticking pointed ears.
• Satellite Character: His only characterization is being Stronghoof's sidekick.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: He loses his sleeves (and becomes jacked) in Stronghoof's first super.
• Uniformity Exception: His moustache, eyebrows, and belt make him stick out from the other sprites as Stronghoof's personal sidekick.
• You Will Not Evade Me: He can blow enemies towards Stronghoof if the player chooses.

Nidra

Nidra

Voiced by: Anjali Kunapaneni

Revealed as the third DLC character of the first season pass at Combo Breaker 2023.

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• Acrofatic: She’s rounder than the other fighters, but is just as agile.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: She's a lavender tapir.
• Baku: Nidra's design is based on the baku, as she's a tapir associated with sleep and stealing dreams.
• Color Contrast: Yellow eyes and a purple body.
• Downloadable Content: The third character in the Season 1 pass, and the fourth DLC character overall.
• Gag Nose: Comes with being a tapir.
• Glowing Eyes: Has these upon waking up, as shown in her trailer.
• Stance System: Various moves put her into one of three stances that can change her moveset.
  • Her Night Stance puts her to sleep, lowering her profile to the ground and rapidly filling her magic, but all of her attacks cost Magic. However, even attacks that cost Magic can still be done with no Magic. It is uniquely enterable when being knocked to the ground.
  • Star Stance puts Nidra in a relaxed recline. This also lowers her profile, and lets her roll around to dodge attacks.
  • Moon Stance is meant for attacking and improves Nidra's high/low mixup game.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: She has yellow eyes and is based on the mythical Baku.

Baihe

Baihe

Voiced by: Crystal Lee

Revealed as the fourth and final DLC character, Baihe is a veteran longma and a friend of Tianhuo.

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• Long-Range Fighter: Her playstyle is essentially Tianhuo, reimaged for staying out rather than getting in.
• Stone Wall: While she shares some movement options with Tianhuo, her primary gameplan is keeping away from the opponent and showering the field with a wide array of oppresive projectiles, which is backed up by strong defensive techniques and counters if the opponent does get in close. However, this is offset by low damage output outside of some niche scenarios and an underwhelming mixup game.

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NPCs

Major Non-Playable Characters

The Horned Prophet

The Horned Prophet

An important oryx figure from Fœnum legend. Tired of living in fear of the predators, and guided by her ancestor's spirits, she discovered a portal her predecessors used as a passageway to the afterlife. Inside was a void-like chamber that led to other worlds. One of the doors led back to Fœnum while another door led to a realm known as The Void. She knew this was the place where the predators should belong. Under her guidance, the nations of Fœnum fought a long and costly war to drive the predators through the void and into the Hold. The Prophet then used an Enchanted Key, made from one of her magnificent horns, locking both the door to the Hold and the door to Fœnum, ensuring peace forever. Well, except now.

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• The Adjectival Man: She's often called The "Horned" Prophet because, well, she had horns.
• Ancient Egypt: She is described as an inhabitant of a desert in the time of pharaohs and pyramids.
• All for Nothing: Her locking the Predators in The Void only postponed them, and now they're coming back. Downplayed, since the plot of the game is to stop them from coming back.
• Big Good: Of Fœnum; it was through her guidance that they were able to defeat and imprison the Predators.
• Cool Key: Made The Key itself by using materials from one of her horns.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Everyone just refers to her legendary title of "The Horned Prophet." Her real name was probably forgotten by time.
• Expy: Most likely of Starswirl the Bearded, due to being a magical figure from the past who had a long beard.
• Famed In-Story: Was the one who sealed the predators away.
• Girls With Mustaches: She was referred to as female and had a long beard. Justified as it appears she was a goat.
• The Leader: Lead and guided the resistance which banished the Predators.
• Lost Common Knowledge: Her story wasn't forgotten, but several other basic things about her were; such as her real name, what she looked like, or even what species she is.
• No Name Given: Only referred to as "The Prophet." At least so far.
• Spell My Name with a "The": The (Horned) Prophet.
• Posthumous Character: Is most likely dead by the time the game takes place, but her actions had an important role in it.

FHTNG (Fred)

FHTNG TH§ ¿NSP§KBL? AKA Fred

Voiced by: Keith Ferguson

FHTNG TH§ ¿NSP§KBL?, or "Fred" as Oleander calls him, is a demonic entity who lives inside the Unicornomicon (Oleander's magic book), and is presumably the source of that book's power. Parts of his body sometimes manifest from the book in a semi-corporeal form.

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• Admiring the Abomination: Paprika is met with fear or confusion from the other characters. Fred says he "likes" her.
• Aerith and Bob: Oleander and Fred. You can invert this too with his real name and "Oleander" sounds more normal in comparison.
• Ambiguously Evil: On one hoof, his true voice sounds "nebbish", and he apologizes profusely for not mentioning to Oleander that her fur will turn black after reading a certain number of pages. On the other hoof, one has to remember that he's an Eldritch Abomination trapped inside a Tome of Eldritch Lore. Even after the release of the game, his exact alignment (if he even bothers with them) is still unclear.
• Assist Character: He fights alongside Oleander in battle and can be unleashed from the book to fight alongside her by her Level 2 super. He takes the form of a skull atop an amorphous mass of dark energy, and can attack enemies from a distance by projecting his limbs through portals.
• Awesome, but Temporary: He can be controlled for a little while after Ollie's Level 2, but eventually he has to go back inside of the Unicornomicon.
• Battle Trophy: Somewhat played for dark comedy when he looks through Arizona's inventory for anything good to loot.
• Beneath the Mask: Hopefully you're not alone with him when Ollie isn't around to hear, or if you knock her unconscious, otherwise he drops the act.
  "YOU MISERABLE WRETCHED PILE OF BEEF...! YOU ARE RUINING MY PLANS."
• Big "YES!": If Oleander manages to temporarily summon him out of the book's bindings.
• Blood Knight: Some of his intro quips have him relishing the prospect of fighting, particularly when he distorts his voice.
  Oleander: Let's make this quick.
  Fhtng: Slow works too... MORE FUN FOR ME!
• Caps Lock: Every normal letter of his real name.
• Casting a Shadow: His many sources of power and his whole body seems to be made of dark magic.
• Combat Tentacles: One of the 'many' ways he can still attack the other characters.
• Composite Character: While most other main characters are Expys of a single MLP character, he seems to combine traits from two. Like Spike, he is the snarky sidekick of the Twilight Expy, but he seems to take his power level, sense of humor, lack of concern for the Fourth Wall, and some mannerisms from Discord.
• Cuteness Proximity: Upon meeting Pom.
  Fhtng: (Gasps) Can I keep her, Oly?
  Oleander: NO! You ate the last one!
• Dark Is Evil: In contrast to Oleander's Dark Is Not Evil policy. A possible outcome of the Story Mode fight against Arizona implies that Fred has some rather nasty plans for Oleander.
• Dramatic Irony: If Arizona somehow beats Oleander's third phase. He implies to have evil plans of his own involving Oleander. Since Ollie was unconscious and Arizona didn't remember a thing when she wakes up, only he and the audience knows what happened. Downplayed though as we still don't know what those plans specifically are.
• Eldritch Abomination: If the Unicornomicon is anything to go by, he has at least four eyes, draconic horns, fangs, tentacles, and clawed hands. He's also aware of video game mechanics and apparently naturally sees the hitboxes and the world in frames.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Oleander calls him "Fred", which he finds annoying. That said he also uses the name in some of his quotes, so he might on some level have come to like it.
• Evil Brit: His normal voice has a "nebbish" British accent, and he's an Eldritch Abomination sealed in a Tome of Eldritch Lore.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Whatever his true motivations are, they are most likely not good, but he needs Oleander to help.
• Evil Laugh: Lets loose a maniacal one during Oleander's level 3 super, before he crushes the opponent with his palms.
• Expressive Skull: His face sometimes shows emotions (such as all four eyes shifting to look angry) despite his head being a skull, at least in his profile pictures.
• Extra Eyes: He has four glowing purple eyes.
• Face on the Cover: Part of the Unicornomicon is in the shape of half of his head.
• False Friend: He's using Oleander for something unknown. Not that the two can literally be considered "friends", though.
• Flying Books: The book he inhabits most of the time is constantly floating next to Oleander. He's probably the reason why it does so.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: In the tutorials, while Oleander touches on some aspects, she views everything as being part of the way the world works. Fred however, can see hitboxes, is aware of the frame rate, and is even aware the player exists and is who they're really talking to. Oleander is naturally weirded out by this.
• Gruesome Goat: While not an actual goat, he has a very goat-like demonic skull for a head. In a match between Oleander and Shanty, the intro may have Oleander mistake her opponent for a female demon.
• He Knows About Timed Hits: Like Oleander, but he takes it up a notch by going over their invisible hitboxes and frame rates.
• Hellish Horse: His skull has the look of a horse's as well.
• Humanoid Abomination: Slightly more humanoid when he goes all out in Oleander's Level 3.
• Laughably Evil: His characterization in the tutorial mode paints him in this light, including telling Oleander that she owes him donuts. There's also the whole 'Fred' thing. His actions when Arizona well and truly knocks Oleander out do a lot to diminish the "laughable" part.
• Leaking Can of Evil: He's a monstrous creature sealed in a Tome of Eldritch Lore, and is the source of Oleander's dark magic. How evil he truly is remains to be seen.
• Meaningful Name: Oleander uses Fhtng in her f-i-g-h-t-i-n-g style.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: His "head" seems to be a combination of a horse's and Goat's Skull, with four horns like a Jacob sheep. What's possibly his body in Oleander's level 3 super is strangely humanoid.
• Monster and the Maiden: The eldritch monster to Oleander's normal-ungulate maiden.
• Mythology Gag: His full name is a reference to how the game's predecessor was killed by a C&D from Hasbro's lawyers and how the new game can't have any references to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, especially the title "Fighting is Magic".
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Invoked on his part; "FHTNG TH§ ¿NSP§KBL?" sounds so much more impressive than just "Fred", doesn't it?
• Non-Lethal K.O.: Even though he tells Arizona to "DIE", she just gets knocked out for a minute or so.
• Odd Name, Normal Nickname: His real name is FHTNG TH§ ¿NSP§KBL?. For simplicity's sake, Oleander just prefers to call him "Fred".
• The One Guy: Fred is the only male character to be (sort of) part of the original main cast.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Even when feeling particularly violent, there's always a hint of dark comedy to him. When he's finally alone with another character after Oleander gets defeated all comic relief he has drops, he reveals a shard of his true colors, and instantly KO's Arizona for nearly ruining his "plans".
• Painting the Medium: Sometimes his word boxes have his own creepy red-on-black text when trying to be scary.
• Power Echoes: His voice always has a distorted echo to it.
• Punctuation Shaker: Try reading his full name in the description.
• Reality Warper: In the tutorials, he's able to slow down time, make the hitboxes visible, and other such things.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Not him, but the Unicornomicon he's trapped inside of that has his face.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes can occasionally glow bright red, usually when trying to sound intimidating, or if he's angry.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • He approves of Oleander's "date" with Paprika in a piece of official (though non-canon) art drawn by character artist Lindsay Towns. Though due to Oleander's situation in said picture, it's obvious he's just trolling.
  • He also teases Ollie about Cashmere.
• Shout-Out: "Fhtng" is a reference to the famous Black Speech word, "fhtagn", and the book he lives in is named after the Necronomicon.
• Skull for a Head: He has a four-eyed, horned skull for a head.
• Some Call Me "Tim": Oleander just calls her Fred because it's easier to remember. (And pronounce.)
• Stealth Pun:
  • Fhtng is a being made entirely of magical energy, trapped in a book. In other words: Fhtng is Magic.
  • Let your head fill in the gaps for the lack of actual vowels, and his name looks like "Fhtng the Unspeakable".
• Suddenly Shouting: Every now and then, FHTNG will speak in a louder demonic voice.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: He's trapped inside of one, called the "Book of Undying Misery" or the "Unicornomicon". In one of the livestreams the trope name is referenced and it's joked that reading it would cause the other characters to go insane. He wants out badly, a point he drills into Arizona's head before zapping her unconscious.
• Tom the Dark Lord: A violent and dark demon, who occasionally goes by the name of "Fred". Averted with his real name, which isn't even pronounceable.
• To Serve Man: One of Pom's intro lines for fighting Oleander has the unicorn rebukes his request to keep Pom as a pet by saying he ate the last one.
• The Unpronounceable: That'll happen to you when you don't have any vowels. Though it just seems to be a self-proclaimed name; his real one might just be Fred.
• Vocal Dissonance: You wouldn't expect such a terrifying creature to sound so... normal sounding. Played with, though; as he can distort it to make himself sound more threatening as seen below. There's also always a demonic echo to his voice whenever he speaks either way.
• Voice of the Legion: When he wants to sound intimidating, like when being summoned out of the book, he distorts his voice with Power Echoes. Otherwise, he sounds pretty nebbish.
• Would Hit a Girl: This is a fighting game after all, and he's a demon without empathy. He'll rip through the playable characters with anything Oleander would allow, and presumably wants to do much worse if the book wasn't keeping him held back.
  Fred: "For the record, I do want to hurt you!
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: He speaks in botched Shakespearean English when trying to sound intimidating.
• "You!" Exclamation: If Arizona defeats Oleander, this is the first thing he'll say towards the former.

The Winter Sprites

Winter Sprites

Small, very mysterious, elf-like creatures who have formed a special relationship with the deerfolk, and helped them build their city. The Winter Sprites^note Previously referred to as Ice Sprites in The Book of Lore. also provide them with special magical oats that give them the ability to fly and use Winter Magic. They happen to be the only sapient bipedal species in Fœnum. No one really knows where they came from, or why they have a great and almost obsessive fascination with the Reindeer.

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• An Ice Person: They have "winter magic" of their own.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: To the ungulates at least; they walk on two legs!
• Bond Creatures: To the reindeer of Reine.
• Christmas Elves: They're meant to invoke this, although they look more like a hybrid of The Fair Folk and The Greys (while still being very cute). They even have a mysterious ritual where they have eight reindeer pull a sleigh through the sky on one night in the middle of winter.
• Extreme Doormat: They pamper Velvet and the other reindeer regardless of how they talk to them or treat them. Thankfully, The reindeer likes the sprites back in return, and even Velvet isn't outright abusive towards them.
• Fairy Companion: Little elf/fairy-like creatures who can occasionally fly.
• Familiar: Essentially, they have this kind of bond with the deerfolk, serving them and even provide the source of their magic. Played with as they're a humanoid species compared to the anthropomorphic ungulates.
• Flight: A lot of them are shown to be capable of floating, though most of the time they walk on the ground.
• Head Pet: Arizona can find a Winter Sprite cosmetic in her chapter that sits on her head.
• I Have Many Names: They are referred to as both "Ice Sprites" and "Winter Sprites".
• Loyal Animal Companion: Inverted as it's the little, humanoid sprites who are obsessively loyal to the reindeer.
• Mysterious Past: Not much is known about the Winter Sprites. Not that the deerfolk really care; they're just happy to have them around.
• Our Elves Are Different: Tiny little blue elf-like creatures who help take care of reindeer.
• Pointy Ears: Being Fœnum's equivalent of Christmas Elves, it's only natural they have large pointy ears.
• Retcon: Possibly. They go by "Winter Sprites" in the main game when they were usually called "Ice Sprites" before.
• Power-Up Food: They provide the magic oats which provide the reindeer their powers.
• Riddle for the Ages: Where did these guys come from, what are they, where do they get their magic and oats, and why are they so obsessed with the reindeer? Right now, Fœnum has bigger things to worry about.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: In a world filled with very cute ungulates, that's really saying something!
• Servant Race: They serve the deerfolk, and they are quite happy about it.
• Shock and Awe: In the tutorial stage, they appear as hazards in the obstacle courses, surrounded by what appears to be white balls of electricity (or maybe fast-moving ice).
• Starfish Language: Whenever they do get a chance to speak, their dialogue is written in rune-like gibberish that appears to be their language.
• This Is My Human: The Winter Sprites live in this kind of relationship with the reindeer. They care for them like pets while the reindeer treat them as servants. Both parties are happy with this arrangement.
• The Unintelligible: Communicate in squeaks that only they themselves can understand. In-game, this is represented by a set of runes.
• You All Look Familiar: Besides the different styled and/or colored coats and hats they wear, every Winter Sprite looks exactly the same.
• Your Size May Vary: Depending on where they're seen, the Sprites seem to range in size from being barely any bigger than the character's eyes to reaching up to Cashmere's chest.

Cashmere and Cap

Cashmere and Cap

A duo consisting of a reindeer (Cashmere) and a winter sprite (Cap). They run the shop in the pixel lobby, where players can spend their salt on hats and other accessories.

Cashmere is also the cousin of one of the game's champions, Velvet.

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Tropes relating to both

• Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: Getting the higher-priced items from them would take many visits to the Salt Mines. Even the cheapest ones would require at least two or three trips.
• Bilingual Dialogue: Zigzagged as sometimes Cash can understand what Cap is saying, just get the gist of it, or can't understand him at all.
• Color Contrast: Cashmere wears green, while Cap wears purple.
• Crazy-Prepared: They fireproof their merchandise in case they make their deals with Tianhuo.
• Developer's Foresight: Cashmere will have some unique dialogue for certain characters for some accessories. If it looks remotely risqué, and you're playing as a certain unicorn, try talking to Cash and Cap. ^note Keep in mind some of these comments are only available during Holiday events.
• The Fashionista: Cashmere keeps up to date with the latest fashion trends, and insists that the player does as well.
• Holiday Mode: They stock Halloween-related merch around October and Christmas/Holiday related ones around December.
• An Ice Person: One of Cashmere's lines of dialogue when talking with Tianhuo in the Sacred Grove reveals they also have a degree of Winter Magic of their own.
• Interspecies Romance: At least on their side; Cashmere has a thing for Ollie, while for Cap... seemingly every female character, Velvet more often.
• Intrepid Merchant: They travel to all the different lands of Fœnum to sell their wares.
• Limited Wardrobe: They wear the same outfits wherever they go. Cashmere explicitly refuses to remove her scarf, even when they're in the Prairie, which is hot, dry, and dusty.
• Meaningful Name: Cashmere is named after a type of wool (and her name can also be shortened to Cash). Cap is a sprite with a large top hat who runs an accessory shop. (It's also short for Capitalism.)
• The Merch: In-Universe, they also sell Mini versions of themselves, with the MiniCap referencing itself as "Official Merch".
• Money Fetish: In her own words, Cashmere is "a doe with simple tastes". In the Pixel Lobby, if the player has at least 25k salt, she takes on a more flirtatious tone when talking. Cap also gets excited.
• No Animals Allowed: Cashmere tells Pom she doesn't allow the dogs into the shop. Not after an incident Cash and Cap had last time.
• Non-Player Character: Cashmere and Cap are worth a mention of this trope on their own, as for quite a while (before the first story mode chapter introduced a lot more Fœnum residents) the deer and sprite were the only two characters players could interact with besides the fighters, being the owners of the shop near the Salt Mines.
• Only Shop in Town: They run the only shop in the pixel lobby.
• Repeating So the Audience Can Hear: Averted; Cashmere doesn't repeat what Cap's saying to the player, though judging by how she tends to react to what he says, it may be for the best. Other times, Cap will say lines and Cashmere won't react at all.
• The Tease: Cashmere, though mostly towards Oleander. Possibly Cap too, if we can understand his dialogue.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: They're business partners, but they sometimes don't seem to get along.

Cashmere

• Abhorrent Admirer: On the receiving end from Paprika. In one branch Cashmere freaks out and has to call Cap to help her out. Though to be fair, Paprika is like that around everyone.
• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Cashmere wears a green scarf, a small pair of glasses, and a saddlebag filled with planks of wood.
• Ambiguously Bi: Canon crush on Oleander aside, Cashmere will occasionally flirt with the shopper if they banked enough salt. Keep in mind all of the playable characters (except for Texas) are also female, meaning she's definitely into the same sex. If interpreted towards the player (or Texas, if playing as him in the pixel lobbies), it's this trope.
• Blatant Lies: Cashmere tries to convince Paprika that the mistletoe is not actually mistletoe.
  Cap: (winter sprite gibberish)
  Cashmere: Still. NOT. Mistletoe.
• Boring, but Practical: She apparently sells a lot of white robes in The Hallowed Grove. While she normally should be happy making so many sales, she also seems a bit bored and disappointed that the unicorns aren't interested in anything else.
• Buy or Get Lost: Cashmere will note, often bluntly, if the player is too low on salt to buy anything, and she'll get irritated if they select something when the player can't afford it. Thankfully, this is the only time as she's normally pretty friendly and doesn't have a problem with potential customers simply just browsing.
  Cashmere: We don't do payment plans. Let me see some salt on the table or no sale.
• Characterization Marches On: Over time, her interest in Oleander started to become more and more explicit.
• Clashing Cousins: Cashmere seems to be a little bitter about Velvet being from the wealthy side of the family, and while friendly with her, she won't give her any family discount.
• Color Motif: The reason her scarf is green is because money.
• Cuteness Proximity: She thinks Pom is very cute.
• Decomposite Character: While Velvet (who Cash very much looks like) seemed to take a lot of cues from Rarity's personality, Cashmere gained Rarity's heavy interest in fashion, something her cousin seems to lack.
• Double Entendre: Cashmere gives the player MANY of these. She has to be doing it on purpose since she usually lowers her eyelids when doing so.
• Flanderization: Her shipteasing interaction with Oleander was more implied at first (she seemed flirty in general, Oleander just being her favorite). By the end of 2020, it turned into a (very obvious) full-blown crush. In a way though, this could probably be seen as character development.
• Frames of Reference: Being a fashion expert, Cashmere has a pair of sleek, stylish glasses.
• Friendly Shopkeeper: Cashmere is always eager to greet whoever enters Cap N' Cash's. Though it's more likely because she's more interested in the salt players have to trade, she's still polite even if they're low on salt or leave without buying anything. The only time Cashmere really gets annoyed (towards a customer) is if they try to buy a cosmetic when they can't afford it.
• Hypocrite: Cashmere scolds Cap for suggesting something skimpy for Velvet. Cap would also call out Cash when she tries to do the same for Oleander. Of course, Velvet and Cashmere are cousins, so on Cashmere's end, it's fairly understandable.
• Interspecies Romance: Obviously has a thing for Oleander, which might or might not be mutual.
• Mini-Me: A plush of her can be bought at the shop.
• New Friend Envy: If Oleander shows up wearing a plushie of another character that is NOT the Cashmere one, such as Arizona or Velvet, the real Cash would be pretty upset...
• Nightmare Retardant: Used in-universe during the Halloween event, Cashmere will say they're preparing for the festivities and simply just say "Boo!" (She isn't even wearing a costume). Cap responds with what we can assume is something along the lines of "That wasn't scary".
  Cashmere: Yeah, perhaps I need to work on that...
• No Hero Discount: Cashmere doesn't cut deals. Even towards Velvet (her cousin), Oleander (who she takes a lot of interest in), and Pom (who she appears to have a soft spot for).
• Palette Swap: One of Velvet's alternate costumes is her color scheme. Downplayed normally though; Cashmere definitely looks a LOT like her cousin with a scarf at first glance, but they have subtle differences, such as their antlers and tail shapes.
• Red/Green Contrast: Her red eyes and her green scarf.
• Scolded for Not Buying: Only if you have an enormous amount of salt saved up, poor Cash will be absolutely broken if you leave without spending any of it.
• Ship Tease: Cashmere with Oleander, both in Story Mode and in her Pixel Lobby dialog. While Cashmere has unique dialog for every character, the dialog with Oleander is downright flirty, even more so during the Halloween 2020 update. By Christmas the same year, it more-or-less turned official.
  Cashmere: Nice angel costume... Oh, wait. That's just you.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Besides the occasional flirt every now and then, Cashmere really seems to have a thing for Oleander. During the winter events, visiting the shop as Tianhuo wearing mistletoe triggers this dialog:
  Cashmere: My my, Captain. I didn't know you cared! ... Sorry to say I've got eyes on... someone else.
• Snake Oil Salesman: In Story Mode, Cashmere sells Arizona a Tinfoil Hat by claiming it will cloak her from "cosmic entities residing just beyond the veil". Arizona has no idea what she means, but buys it anyway.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She looks a lot like her cousin Velvet, body and facial feature-wise.
• Tell Her Im Not Speaking To Her: Cashmere will just angrily tell Cap to attend to Oleander (referring to her as "this customer") if the latter is wearing any other character plush besides the MiniCash.
• Troll: Two of the other Velvet-with-mistletoe dialogue options has her tell Velvet that she hasn't seen Blitzen or Vixen around. Keep in mind that in the first chapter Velvet and Vixen apparently had a fight so ugly that a section of the city had to be closed off due to damage repairs.
• Tsurime Eyes: Same pointy eye style as her cousin.

Cap

• Amazon Chaser: Most of the girls he's implied to hit on are all Action Girls.
• Casanova Wannabe: Some of the responses Cashmere gives to Cap's gibberish suggest he's flirting with her. As well as the others.
  Cashmere: Ick. So dusty. I will most certainly need a bath after we're done in the Prairie...
  Cap: (winter sprite gibberish)
  Cashmere: That was not an invitation.
• Cool Shades: Cap wears a pair of yellow shutter shades that completely obscure his eyes.
• Eyes Out of Sight: His eyes are completely covered by his shades.
• Fascinating Eyebrow: Cap always has one.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: You just have to see how excited he gets when Velvet approaches Cashmere with the mistletoe. Despite the fact that they're cousins.
• Ignored Enamored Underling: Cashmere is more like a business partner, but he's still a part of the same species that serve the reindeer, and sometimes makes moves on her just the same. To be fair though, Cap seems to hit on ALL of the female characters.
  • Some hints imply he feels about Velvet the same way Cashmere feels about Oleander. Take one of the branches for when Velvet wears the mistletoe (not the one mentioned above).
  Cashmere: Sorry, Cap. I don't think she's interested.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: Of a sort. While Cashmere doesn't understand the exact words Cap is using (as he's a winter sprite), she can understand what he means.
• Interspecies Romance: On his side at least, he seems to be interested in Velvet and/or Cashmere. It's not mutual.
• Mini-Me: In theory, it should be the "MiniCap", though he is hardly any bigger than the accessory is.
• Nominal Importance: Cap is the only winter sprite given a name, since he's the only one of any prominence for the player we don't need to know the names of the many others. His over-the-top duds is also meant to show he plays a (somewhat) larger role than the other sprites.
• Our Elves Are Different: Cap doesn't behave like the rest of the Sprites seen so far.
• Pimp Duds: Cap's attire strongly resembles one.
• Pointy Ears: Like the rest of his species.
• Signature Headgear: Always wears a stylish tophat, unlike the other sprites who would wear something more suited for the cold climate of Reine.
• Starfish Language: We can't read what he's saying since his text is composed of unreadable runes. And just by his personality, that might be for the best.
  • One player has deciphered both Foenician Runes (seen almost everywhere) and Elvish Runes (what Cap speaks in) here.
• Troll: Implied in some dialogue.
  Cashmere: Cousin.. that mistletoe's a joke, right?...
  Cap: (Though we can't understand him, we can get a pretty good idea.)
  Cashmere: Not happening....
• Uniformity Exception: None of the other sprites seen wear shades or a medallion. Then again, most other Sprites don't run an accessory shop.
• The Unintelligible: Like other winter sprites, Cap speaks in a language nobody in Fœnum can understand. His dialog text is presented as gibberish written in runic alphabet.
• Yellow/Purple Contrast: Purple clothes with a yellow medallion and large shades, which is also meant to make him stick out from the other sprites.

The Sheep Dogs

The Sheep Dogs^note Includes Pom's Puppies, Big Mama, and Big Papa.

Sheep dogs are the only full predator to live peacefully in Fœnum alongside Ungulates. They are Loyal Canine Companions to the Sheeple, and are very protective of them. A pack of puppies ^note Their names are Woof, Ruff, Tuft and Puff in the Book of Lore, but this may no longer be canon. In game, Pom has several, along with their mother and father. follow Pom on her quest to save the world. Or more specifically, they drag her into it.

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• Action Pet: Pom's dogs do at least half of her fighting.
• All There in the Manual: The names of Pom's dogs are listed in the Book Of Lore and in the game's start, before the Start Screen. In game, however, each pup is only called by their function, and the one by her side isn't named at all.
• Animals Not to Scale: To an exaggerated degree; the Pup's mother and father are bigger than even the bears in this game.
• Apathetic Pet: While the other puppies have a reaction to when Pom gets hit, her main puppy is smiling no matter how much pain his owner is going through. It's zig-zagged, though, when he takes the hit for Pom in her Level 3 Super.
• Assist Character: Big Mama, Big Papa, and many puppies show up to assist Pom in attacking.
• Attack Animal: Loyal companions to the Sheep, attack dog for everyone else they see as a potential threat.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Pom was trying to catch up with a herd of her dogs in story mode who were chasing some Winter Sprites.
• Badass Adorable: Little dogs who can fight.
• Badass Family: It's strongly implied that Pom's personal pack, including the Puppies, Big Mama, and Big Papa, are very literally a family unit loyal to her as the alpha. They also fully apply for this, as not only is each individual dog a very capable Assist Character for Pom, they are at their most badass when being used in tandem with each other and Pom.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: The sheep dogs are technically predators, but they're friendly and absolutely adorable compared to the creepy and violent ones encountered as enemies, such as Fluffers.
• Big Ball of Violence: When Pom's main pup latches onto the face of her opponent.
• Big Eyes, Little Eyes: Most of the pups have very small bead-like eyes, except Pom's main pup whose eyes are a lot larger in comparison to its siblings.
• Canine Companion: Not just Pom, but to all of the Sheeple.
• Canis Major: Big Mama and Papa are HUGE doggies!
• Empathy Pet: Most of Pom's pups will look upset whenever she's hit. Averted for her main pup, who is constantly smiling whenever she wins or loses a fight, as well as getting beat up.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": More so out-of-universe. We don't know which of Pom's pups is which so it's easier to call them by what function they do. (Pilot-Pup, Digger Pup, etc.)
• Foil: Unlike the reluctant Pom, the sheepdogs keep wanting to fight. And while Pom is always nervous and shaking, the puppy next to her keeps smiling and wagging its tail. The other dogs either look just as happy, ready to strike, or seriously pissed like the parent dogs.
• Fridge Horror: The huge swarm of puppies are all tiny and cute, which makes it easy to miss that all of them will grow to the same massive size as their parents, until Oleander points out in the tutorial that Pom doesn't like being reminded about that inevitability.
• Furry Confusion: They can't talk and aren't anthropomorphic like the shadowy Predators encountered. Must be an evolution thing.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Pom is supposedly followed by four named sheepdogs in canon, and to be fair all of her Pup variations can never all be on screen at once through normal gameplay, yet that's not counting the dozen or so that can show up in her super.
• Heli-Critter: One of them can fly near the top of the screen, using its tail as a helicopter.
• Invincible Minor Minion: Pom's dogs can not be attacked. Subverted as a pup taking the hit is part of Pom's level 3 super, only for him to get back up just fine.
• Let Me at Him!: Pom's puppy is the one who wants to fight, Pom herself has to keep holding him back.
• A Lizard Named "Liz": Two of Pom's pups are named "Woof" and "Ruff."
• Mama Bear: Big Mama.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: The pack that follows Pom are all implied to be from the same litter.
• Meteor Move: One of Big Mama's three attacks.
• Papa Wolf: Big Papa.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: All of the puppies that help Pom's fight.
• Precious Puppy: Even when fighting they still look cute.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Used literally when Pom is about to step away during her idle animation, the sad look on her main pup's face is enough to convince her to stay a bit longer.
• Raising the Steaks: Just like Pom, all of the dogs have zombie versions of themselves in her "Bellraiser" skin.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Even Oleander thinks they're cute.
• Super-Scream: Big Papa and Pom's main puppy has a really big bark that can do damage.
• Taking the Bullet: In her level 3 Super, Pom's main pup jumps in front of her opponent's attack.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Averted. Pom can refer to them as "lad" or "lass" but they all look the exact same.
• Undying Loyalty: To the Sheeple and Pom.
• Vegetarian Carnivore: Averted for the sheepdogs in general: they're still Predators, and so eat the meat of non-sapient animals (mice and bunnies, who the sheep regard as vermin) to survive.
• Volumetric Mouth: All of them whenever they bite, but special mention goes to Pom's main puppy during her launcher attack. It opens its jaw so wide in a near-perfect circle you can barely even see the rest of its head.

Minor Characters

The Prairie

Cattlekind

• Bicolor Cows, Solid Color Bulls: The Cattlekind mostly run on this trope. Compare Arizona and her mother (brown/cream and black/cream, respectively) to her father (who is a solid brown). There are a few who downplay this, though; at one point Arizona meets a cow named Madison who, barring a light stripe across her face, is almost entirely brown.
• Location Theme Naming: Cattlekind are named after US states and other geographic locations from the Midwest and Great Plains areas, such as Arizona, Texas, Minnesota and Madison.
• Wandering Culture: The Cattlekind don't live in a fixed location, but instead are always moving while living off the land within The Prairie.

Minnesota

Minnesota

Arizona's mother and Texas's wife.

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• '80s Hair: Her hair is huge, and it's even brought up by a character in-universe.
• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: A lavender headband keeping back her hair.
• Bicolor Cows, Solid Color Bulls: Arizona gets her two-tone coloring from her, though Minnesota's brown is a darker shade.
• The Cameo: She appears as a background NPC on Texas's stage.
• Deadpan Snarker: Mainly in the form of a Lame Pun Reaction.
• Eye Colour Change: She is described as being blue-eyed in the Book of Lore. They're more teal in the final game.
• Feminine Mother, Tomboyish Daughter: A lot more feminine-looking than the tomboyish Arizona.
• In-Series Nickname: "This one's for you, Minnie!"
• Lame Pun Reaction: Her reactions to her husband's and daughter's bovine puns are... less than amused.
• Location Theme Naming: Also named after a U.S. state like her husband and daughter, and is as nice as the trope that shares her name.
• Minnesota Nice: In addition to the name, she seems more mild-mannered than her husband and is considerably more understanding of her daughter's choices.
• Number Two: Texas temporarily leaves the herd in her care while he went off on his own quest.
• Open-Minded Parent: Minnesota fully believed that her daughter can become Champion, even if she does know the dangers. Texas too, though he needed a little extra convincing to let her go.
• Verbal Tic: "Don'cha know."

Madison

Madison

A cow Arizona meets when first starting her quest. And the first NPC encountered.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: A blue flower crown around her hair and a green collar.
• Bicolor Cows, Solid Color Bulls: Averted, or at least downplayed, since her whole body is brown except for a tan stripe across her nose.
• Cool Old Lady: She travels between The Prairie and Reine all on her own, and is rather cool about Arizona's desire to become Champion, despite her young age.
• Intergenerational Friendship: She and Arizona get along very well when they first meet.
• Nice Girl: A sweet and kindly cow.

The Tundra

The Reindeer

• Christmas Town: Reine might not be decorated for Christmas 24/7, but it's a snowy town filled with Reindeer and little elf creatures, where every year they have a tradition of eight chosen reindeer pulling a sleigh through the night's sky. The town looks much more the part during Holiday seasons, though.
• Fantastic Racism: Many arrogant reindeer of Reine look down on other animals and make comments complaining about other animals in the city. In Chapter 1 of story mode, Arizona can speak to one particular reindeer who makes disparaging remarks about sheep, horses, and cows, only to notice too late that she's talking to a cow.
  Reindeer: Next thing you know, we'll have horses and cattle wandering the... oh. Well, darn.
• Punny Name: Their capital is called Reine, a pun between "reign" and "reindeer".
• Quirky Town: For the highest level of society in Fœnum, a large chunk of the reindeer seem rather off, but at least in a cute and funny way.

Blitzen

Blitzen

The toughest of all the deerfolk, he was the one who challenged Velvet. She managed to beat him easily using her Winter Magic, and he found himself falling in love with her as she left. In Story Mode, it's revealed he was the first reindeer chosen by the Winter Sprites chosen for their mysterious yearly ritual, making him one of the "Elite 7", as they are currently known as.

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• The Ace: He's built up as this, being a part of the Elite Eight and only one fight away from being the Champion of the competition determining the Key Seeker... up until Velvet wipes the floor with him.
• Amazon Chaser: In the original backstory, Blitzen was scornful of Velvet's fastidiousness and scrawny body- until she curbstomped him with ice magic far beyond the other reindeers' abilities. He actually fell in love with her while he was still lying in the dirt.
• Badass Crew: He's the first member of the Elite 7, a team of elite chosen reindeer.
• Character Shilling: A Fangirl in front of the Elite Reindeer HQ goes on and on about how amazing and handsome Blitzen and the other Elites are. Again "fan girl", so this is justified.
• The Ghost: He doesn't appear in the first chapter, but we can tell he made it into canon because he (and all of the other elite reindeer) is mentioned quite a few times.
• Human Popsicle: Ends up as this at the end of his fight with Velvet. He gets better though.
• Hypocritical Humor: (at Velvet, taking her time being primped) "Come on! This a fight, not a beauty contest!" (at Ice Sprite polishing his hoof) "You call that a shine?"
• In-Series Nickname: Blitzen sometimes goes by "Blitz" or "The Blitz".
• Love at First Punch: Becomes awed by and infatuated with Velvet after she beats the fluff out of him in the deciding final round of the competition.
• Male Might, Female Finesse: He had this with Velvet with his fight with her in the Book of Lore, trying to use mostly his brute strength but was beaten by her athletic movement and skill with Winter Magic.
• The Merch: In-Universe as a reindeer tells Arizona that dolls of the Elite 7 exists. She can't buy any though.
• Named After Somebody Famous: He's named after one of Santa Claus' reindeer.
• Would Hit a Girl: Although he was unable to land a single hit, he still tried fighting Velvet for the title of Champion.

Vixen

Vixen

A female reindeer and the last so far to be picked for The Elite 7.

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• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Her color scheme consists of various shades of pink.
• Art Evolution: Vixen was the pink-colored reindeer seen in the background of Velvet's stage, ^note According to an old Discord post◊., but as seen on the "MiniVixen" cosmetic, her colors were slightly altered.
  • Her redesign◊ has different shaped antlers, darker tail markings, and a lighter muzzle, with the black fur only being part of her ears.
• The Ghost: Like the rest of the Elite 7, she is mentioned throughout Reine in Arizona's chapter, but never appears onscreen.
• Early-Bird Cameo: She appeared as a plushie cosmetic before she had any role in story mode.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": She's seen fawning over Stronghoof in his Arcade ending picture.
• The Merch: Like Velvet, merchandise of her and the other Elite 7 are apparently sold In-Universe.
• Mini-Me: Has a plushie version of herself sold in Cashmere and Cap's shop.
• Named After Somebody Famous: She is another Deerfolk named after Santa's reindeer.
• Pink Means Feminine: Her entire body is colored pink, and looks even more feminine than Velvet.
• The Rival: Several reindeer implied or stated that Vixen and Velvet really don't like each other.
• Ship Tease: The Vixen plush is said to come from Velvet's nightstand and an Elite 7 fangirl questions if the two might actually be in a secret relationship. The same reindeer also brings up rumors that Vixen and Comet might be an item.

Cupid

Cupid

A male reindeer who lives in Reine and a possible contender for the next Elite member.

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• Ambiguously Gay: He's one of the reindeer admiring (even blushing over) Stronghoof in the latter's Arcade ending. That or he's just a really big fan.
• Art Evolution: His color scheme was slightly tweaked when he was first made as a background character, but not as drastically as Vixen's.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Cupid's floof is somewhat heart-shaped.
• The Cameo: Appears in the background of the Reine City stage.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Another "Santa's reindeer" Deerfolk (and by extension...)
• Palette Swap: Stronghoof's "Matchmaker" skin has his color scheme.

The Mercenary

The Mercenary

A mysterious reindeer mercenary who Stronghoof fought in his youth.

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• Category Traitor: One of implied several deerfolk mercenaries who work for the enemy for salt.
• Dark Action Girl: She's a female mercenary.
• Hired Guns: It's implied the Goatani Greats hired her.
• An Ice Person: She was very skilled in Winter Magic.
• Mysterious Past: We aren't given anything else about her backstory other than she's a mercenary.
• No Name Given: The mercenary was not given a name. (Yet.)
• Rivalry as Courtship: Since their encounter happened in Stronghoof's youth, it's very possible this female warrior became Velvet's mother.
• Smoke Out: She left the battle by disappearing in a cloud of icy mist.
• Spike Shooter: Her first attack against Stronghoof was shoot a storm of icicles at him.
• We Will Meet Again: She spared a young Stronghoof since he showed potential as a warrior, and wanted a rematch when he was stronger. Stronghoof looks forward to their next encounter.
• Worthy Opponent: She was the only opponent aboard the ship who gave Stronghoof and Vetr trouble. She let Stronghoof live since she saw his potential.

The Woodlands

The Unicorns

• Actual Pacifist: They firmly and unequivocally abhor violence.
• Enchanted Forest: The Woodlands are just as magical as the unicorns themselves.
• Floral Theme Naming: Unicorns are named after flowering plants, such as Oleander and Amaryllis.
• Unicorn: The Unicorns of the Order of the Horn lead secluded lives in the Woodland. They don't participate in violence of any kind and believe that Light Magic will ultimately prevail (although they do not presume to know how). They're physically of the classical medieval kind, with cloven hooves, long fetlocks, and goat-like tails.

The High Priestess of the Order of the Horn

The High Priestess of the Order of the Horn

The well-intentioned leader of the unicorns. She, along with the others, is horrified when she sees Oleander's coat turned black, since it means she's been dabbling in dark magic. She and the other unicorns are quick to ostracize her for this.

---

• Big Good: On the side of the unicorns, at least.
• The Extremist Was Right: While she sees even getting slightly involved in dark magic as a massive taboo, to the point she took the Champion competition as a perfect excuse to effectively exile Oleander when she was Locked into Strangeness as a sign of actually using it, there are several signs that her Black-and-White Insanity about magic might actually be right, not the least of which is that FHTNG is seemingly a genuine case of a Dark Is Evil Eldritch Abomination.
• Gasp!: She and the rest of the Order responded this way to everything Oleander said in her defense.
  Oleander: But-
  Crowd: GASP!
  Oleander: Seriously?
• Go to Your Room!: Her reaction to Oleander dabbling in dark magic is... "Go to your room and think about what you've done."
• High Priestess: The leader of the unicorns and, well, her title is in her name.
• The Last Straw: While she was begrudgingly willing to overlook Oleander's insistence that dark magic could be harnessed for good due to her famous ancestry, Oleander actually dabbling in dark magic is the last straw for her.
• Light Is Good: The collective mindset of the Order of the Horn, which is why they find dark magic so abhorrent.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She is horrified that Oleander would actually do something so heretical as harness the power of dark magic.

Divine Oracle Amaryllis

Divine Oracle Amaryllis

Oleander's great-grandmother.

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• Famous Ancestor: To Oleander, which is why the Order of the Horn were as patient with her as long as they were.
• Floral Theme Naming: Like Oleander, she's named after a flower.

The Highlands

The Alpake

• Death World: The mountains where the Alpake Clan live. All forms of natural disasters happen on a weekly basis and it doesn't faze them one bit.
• Edible Theme Naming: They're named after spices, such as Paprika and Adobo.
• Wandering Culture: The Alpake don't live in a fixed location, but instead are always moving while living off the land within The High Plains.

Adobo

Adobo

The leader of the alpacas, and the narrator of Paprika's chapter in the Book of Lore. He does not approve of Paprika's upbeat nature and is more than happy to get rid of her.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: He has a colored blanket draped over his back in the game. He's also wearing a wool hat when Arizona meets him, apparently because Paprika keeps putting it on him.
• Art Evolution: His unused illustration from the Book of Lore looks very different than his final design in story mode. Mostly, it looked like he originally had brown fleece, but he's gray in the main game.
• Color Contrast: That purple, yellow and green blanket really sticks out on him.
• The Comically Serious: His dour seriousness clashes with Paprika's The Pollyanna, leading to comical reactions on his part.
• The Cynic: Justified as the Huacaya Mountains isn't a great place to live, but they try to survive against nature regardless. And he has Paprika as part of his tribe.
• The Determinator: Willing to cross "never-ending" salt flats, scalding mud geysers, and high mountains for the chance to make Paprika go away.
• Edible Theme Naming: Like Paprika, he has a food-related name.
• Eyes Out of Sight: His eyes are hidden by his wool, greatly emphasizing his stoic nature.
• Furry Ear Dissonance: Much like the rest of the Alpake, his ears look nothing like real alpaca ears.
• Gloomy Gray: Adobo has gray fleece, and he's kind of a bummer to be around. Not without justification, of course, since he lives on a Death Mountain.
• Godzilla Threshold: What he believes Paprika would be like against all of The Predators. Considering that the higher peaks occupied by her are devoid of them...
  Adobo: It will be a miracle if the Predators survive.
• Meaningful Name: Adobo is raw food immersed in a stock or sauce (potentially composed of paprika) to preserve flavor.
• Narrator: Unlike the other Book of Lore chapters, which are told in 3rd person, Paprika's chapter is told from his point of view.
• Not Hyperbole: When he said "and [Paprika] is going to kill us all" in the Book of Lore, he brings up two situations where she actually almost did. It's a miracle any of the Alpake survived.
• Palette Swap: Paprika's Herd Leader palette is his color scheme.
• Partially Civilized Animal: Like the other Alpake, but unlike most other ungulate species, he purposefully chooses to live off of the land. At least they have tents.
• Pretentious Pronunciation: Considers "alpaca" an "endearing, if slightly insulting" alternation of the tribe's proper name, the Alpake of Huacaya.
• The Stoic: He doesn't emote much.

Adobo's son

Adobo's son

Gets a minor role in Paprika's backstory. He's the one who hears of the championship being held.

---

• Hope Bringer: His news about the Key Bearer competition provided the excuse the Alpake needed to get Paprika away from the tribe.
• No Name Given: He is not addressed by name in Adobo's narration.

The Meadow

The Sheeple

• Animal Stereotypes: They're a culture of sheep defined by their intense cowardice and extremely strong herd mentality.

Prime Minister

Prime Minister

The, erm, Prime Minister of the sheep.

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• Forgetful Jones: It's implied that banging his head in lieu of a gavel has made him slightly forgetful, leading to revotes... and revotes... and more revotes...
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Goes hoof-in-hoof with the above. For example, he once made the Sheeple revote on whether to have the dogs eat alfalfa or clover for four hours. Let us remind you that the dogs are carnivorous.

Woogums

Woogums

Pom's older brother.

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• Desperately Needs Orders: Like the rest of the sheeple, he couldn't read the letter given to him, because there hasn't been a vote on whether he should do so.
• Honor Before Reason: He probably didn't need a vote to decide if he should open and read a letter, especially since it's a matter of "life or death".
• Spear Carrier: His sole purpose (at least in the Book of Lore) was to let Pom know of the competition.

The Empire of Huoshan

The Longma

• Code of Honour: The Longma live by a strict code of honor that forbids certain actions, like eating meat.
• Flaming Hair: The Longma have manes and tails made of flames.
• Hot Wings: The Longma have wings made of fire.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Half horse and half dragon, they can fly and wield fire magic. They have a militaristic culture similar to that of Imperial China.
• True-Breeding Hybrid: The longmas first arose from the interbreeding of horses and dragons. The actual interspecies coupling only appears to have happened once, between the dragon and the stallion known respectively as Honored Mother and Honored Father, and all modern-day longmas are the descendants of these two and born from longma parents.
• Vegetarian Carnivore: The longma were originally carnivores — being partially descended from dragons — and are technically omnivorous, although they abstain from eating meat as a measure of pride.

The Empress of Huoshan

The Empress of Huoshan

The Empress of Huoshan, also known as the Daughter of Heaven and the one who choose Tianhuo to be the Key Keeper.

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• Flaming Hair: Like all other Longma, her mane and tail are made of flames.
• Hot Wings: She is able to fly using wings of fire.
• Large and in Charge: Comes with being the Empress of all Longma.
• Lizard Folk: An ungulate that's part-reptile.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Is another dragon/horse hybrid, like Tianhuo.
• Names to Trust Immediately: The "Daughter of Heaven"?
• Our Dragons Are Different: As a Longma, she is descended from a hybridization of horses and dragons. As such her form is equine, but she has scales, reptilian eyes, and wields fire magic.
• Playing with Fire: Like all Longma she can produce wings, a tail, and a mane made of flames.
• Supporting Leader: She leads the longma and sends Tianhuo out as their Champion.
• Throne Made of X: Sits on an ornate throne of red and gold.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Her full title is "Daughter of Heaven, Her Royal Highness, Empress of the Minuscule yet Mighty Realm of Magnanimous Magma, Lava and Fire, Huoshan."

Honored Mother

Honored Mother

The spirit of the dragoness who gave rise to the Longma.

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• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: As powerful and ferocious as she is, she cannot comprehend the strength that comes from The Power of Friendship or The Power of Love.
• Knight of Cerebus: In a story whose protagonist was already a violent bully as a kid, she has an encounter with a no-quirks monster.
  Tianhuo: No, wait, please-
  Honored Mother: (laughing) You beg mercy from a dragon, little prey?
  Like a snake, she strikes at Tianhuo. Tianhuo closes her eyes and braces herself for death.
• Noble Demon: She is a dragon, one of the most powerful types of predators, but she chose to mate with a horse, and her spirit watches over her descendants.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Fiery Red to Honored Father's Blue.
• Scare 'Em Straight: Honorable Mother's power and ferocity terrified Tianhuo to the point where she resolved to better herself and not give in to her predatory side.

Honored Father

Honored Father

The spirit of the stallion who sired the Longma.

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• Cool Horse: Any stallion who manages to fight, fall for, and have offspring with a DRAGON deserves this trope.
• Dating Catwoman: He fell for a dragon.
• Dragon Tamer: He manages to convince Honored Mother, a dragon, to calm down and later father children with her.
• Papa Wolf: He stops Honored Mother from attacking Tianhuo by fighting with her.
• The Power of Love: He is the origin of the herd mentality and protective nature of the Longma.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Calm Blue to Honored Mother's Red.
• Spirit Advisor: He gives Tianhuo some sage advice.

The Islands

Captain Bravura

Captain Bravura

The Captain of "The Goatani Greats", the pirate crew who took Shanty in.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: She wears a captain's hat and collar.
• The Captain: Of the Capricorn and The Goatani Greats.
• Clothing Appendage: What looks like a dress down to her back hooves is actually part of her fur.
• Girls With Mustaches: Has a long beard the same color as her fur. Justified as she's a goat.
• Palette Swap: Shanty's "Captain" palette is Bravura's color scheme.
• Parental Substitute: For Shanty.
• Pirate Girl: A female pirate captain.
• Seadog Beard: Again, as a goat, she would have a beard whether or not she was a pirate.

First Mate Ruvido

First Mate Ruvido

Bravura's first mate.

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• Large and in Charge: He is a very large and burly-looking yellow goat, and is second-in-command.
• Manly Facial Hair: He has a huge beard that's nearly the size of his captain.
• Number Two: For Captain Bravura.
• Pirate: First Mate of The Goatani Greats crew.
• Seadog Beard: One that reaches down to the floor.

Subito dal Segno

Subito dal Segno

Voiced by: Aaron Stavely

Another ship captain. He attacks Shanty and her opponent during Shanty's Level 3 super with numerous small cannons and one gigantic cannon that breaks his ship.

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• A-Team Firing: He fires cannonball after cannonball on Shanty, all of them just barely missing their target every time.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: He has large and bushy brows that cover his eyes.
• BFG: One of the cannons he uses is so big and heavy that it leaves a large crack down the middle of his own ship when as it's set up.
• The Captain: A rival or enemy captain of Shanty's crew.
• Collateral Damage: In context, Subito only tries to hit Shanty, but every shot lands on her opponents instead.
• Dressed to Plunder: He wears a pirate captain's hat, though that's it.
• Edible Ammunition: The last object he tries to shoot at Shanty is a durian.
• Gruesome Goat: When he finds Shanty, he tries to bombard her with cannonballs.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: He accidentally helps Shanty by damaging her opponent, when he was aiming for her the whole time.
• Pirate: He's another goatani pirate.
• Villainous Gold Tooth: Seems to have one of these when he grins near the end of Shanty's Level 3 super.

Other

Ribbon

Ribbon

A young zebra who encountered the predators before the start of the story.

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• Cheerful Child: When she first started explaining, Ribbon was happily playing in an empty field with a firefly, though that changed quickly when she encountered the Predators.
• Fantastic Slurs: Was called a "Grass Eater" by the Predators. Since she's young, she questioned if it was a bad word. Judging by the reactions of everyone, it probably is.
• Innocently Insensitive: Accidentally insults a bison when describing the hairiness of the predators, and the rest of the council by bringing up a possible slur.
• Run or Die: What she claimed to have done when the Predators first saw her. Hard to blame her.
• Serendipitous Survival: If the dawn haven't shown up to evaporate the creatures, Ribbon most certainly wouldn't be around now to tell the council what she saw.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Ribbon is only present in the prologue. But she's the one who alerted the Council of the return of the Predators, as well as the Key to keep them away. The news spreads across Fœnum and officially kickstarts the main plot.

Council Chief Anga

Council Chief Anga

A white rhino who asks Ribbon about their encounter with the predators.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Wears a large, blue, and decorated blanket across her back.
• Big Good: Implied to be the head council member.
• Supporting Leader: Along with the other Ungulate leaders.

Vizier Kalimat

Vizier Kalimat

A camel who is part of the Council of Ungulates. Unlike Anga, he believes in the legend of The Prophet and the mystical Key.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Wears a brown keffiyeh.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: He has a very large, gray pair.
• Mr. Exposition: He's the one who brings up the legend of the Prophet's Key for the audience.
• Supporting Leader: A very minor character, but his leadership is implied by his title of "vizier".

The Announcer

The Announcer

Voiced by: Jessica Gee-George

Announces characters and calls out rounds starting, and KOs. Shows a bit more personality than most announcers.

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• The Announcer: For everything in the game except those relating to Stronghoof.

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The Predators

Predators in General

Long ago, the lives of the ungulates of Fœnum were threatened daily by the presence of predators. These carnivorous beasts had been banished to a magical realm known as the Hold long ago, ushering an age of peace for the herbivores. Now that peace has been threatened: countless numbers of them have escaped their supernatural prison and are now threatening to infiltrate Fœnum en mass, led by the greatest and most horrible of all, known as The Devourer.

The predators themselves include wolves, lions, hyenas, crocodiles, bears, jaguars and many many others.

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• Always Chaotic Evil: From the ungulates' point of view, they're monsters that knowingly prey on equally intelligent beings. While Word of God assures it's more complicated, Lauren also points out the ungulates didn't do so without good reason.
• Capital Letters Are Magic: The Predators are often (though not always) capitalized when referring to them as a whole, to highlight how otherworldly they are to the ungulates of Fœnum.
• Casting a Shadow: So far, they can only take the form of ghostly shadow version of themselves.
• Dark Is Evil: All what we see of them are black, ghost like-figures. They're this in the eyes of the ungulates, at least.
• Dire Beast: Some Predators of the same enemy type can get pretty large. The giant Snake in Arizona's chapter is probably the best example.
• The Dreaded: The predators are the this to the inhabitants of Fœnum.
• Facial Markings: Well, not physical ones. Some predators were shown (which also includes Pom's pups and Tianhuo) to have a colored dash show up on their eyes in the artwork.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Despite being The Dreaded, they have ridiculously adorable names.
• Ghostly Animals: Their black, shadowy forms resemble these as they project themselves into Fœnum, something Ribbon brings up to the council.
• Hellhole Prison: Word of God confirmed in one of the game's livestreams that the Predators have been locked away in the Hold for so long, that to them, it's an awful place they want to escape from. In their prison, they are even forced to eat each other, including their young, to try and survive.
• Leaking Can of Evil: They're starting to get out of the Hold, but can't yet escape from the other dimension just yet. However, they can project themselves as shadowy ghosts, and all of Fœnum fears that they may soon escape yet...
• Man Bites Man: They're predators, so expect some biting moves from most if not all of them.
• Money Spider: In the Salt Mines, they explode and drop salt when defeated.
• Mook Chivalry: In Story Mode, regular and large variants of predators will hang around in the back of the stage and wait for you to finish fighting your current opponent before the next one leaps in. Averted with miniature snakes and wolves, who gang up on you while you're dealing with bigger targets.
• More Predators Than Prey: How predators separated from any prey have survived at all for eons isn't clear.
• Non-Standard Character Design: They look slightly more realistic than the Civilized Animals that are the Fœnum inhabitants.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Dragons are the strongest of the predators. All that's known about them is that they wield fire magic and at least one of them interbred with horses to give rise to the longmas.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Although the Predators have escaped from the Hold, they are still trapped in the Void Between the Worlds/Afterlife Antechamber, and therefore they can't interact physically with the inhabitants of Fœnum. However, they can manifest themselves as intangible ghostlike figures, dark and misty.
• Phantom Zone: Banished to a magical prison realm called the Hold.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: Every predator has a straightforward, predictable fighting style, based on different fighting styles often seen in fighting games. Memorizing what they are is key to beating them quickly.
  • Fluffers often opens with a low or high attack, which are both easily blocked and countered.
  • Flopsie blocks and counters if the player attacks first, but is highly vulnerable if its own attacks are blocked.
  • Cuddles keeps its distance, shooting poison projectiles, and uses long-range low and high attacks.
  • Flappy is always airborne, and will do quick, short attacks before retreating. Anti-air attacks are necessary to bring it down.
  • Huggles has attacks with armor, allowing it to temporarily ignore damage from its opponent while performing certain moves, but is slow and has a large hurtbox.
• Predators Are Mean: They're described as having threatened and menaced the peaceful herbivores on a daily basis. However, only the kinds that knowingly eat intelligent prey are treated as villains. The predators with no real ability to kill or eat ungulates, like smaller snakes, scorpions, and insects, are basically treated like regular animals—they were not banished by or considered enemies of ungulates, and do not appear to be sapient. This also applies to the Longma, who do have predatory attributes (including the red eye markings), but knowingly avoid killing and eating only sapients, and thus weren't banished.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: They appear as black silhouettes with red eyes.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Their eyes glow red.
• Sapient Eat Sapient: They preyed on the ungulates, which unlike other herbivores are intelligent. Notably, predators that didn't do this weren't banished.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: They were sealed into a cursed realm called The Hold. The plot of the game happens when they're starting to get out.
• Slain in Their Sleep:
  • By far the easiest way to get rid of a predator in the Salt Mines is to throw a dynamite stick at them while they're sleeping.
  • Arizona unintentionally crushes two sleeping Fluffers with giant stone blocks in Chapter 1.
• Sleepy Enemy: Most Predator mooks encountered in the overworld have two distinct behaviors: they will either be fully alert and looking for players at all times, or be sleeping until woken up by loud noises or being too close, and will only then give chase.
• Snot Bubble: When asleep, they have a small bubble coming from their nose.
• Wingding Eyes: Their eyes turn to spirals when defeated.

Mook Predators

Simplified NPC fighters who appear in the Visual Lobby as PVE enemies and in the Arcade Mode as a Boss Rush fight. Each one of them represents a single fighting game strategy.

Fluffers

A wolf. They specialize in high/low mixups, but are also capable of a potent strike/throw mixup.

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• Grapple Move: On harder difficulties, it uses a move where it grabs the opponent by the mouth and throws them.
• Savage Wolves: Quick and vicious in battle. Their savageness is amplified in the prologue, where a pack hunts down a zebra foal.
• Summon Magic: Its specialty in the Salt Mines is to summon phantom versions of the player characters, and then it disappears.
• Would Hurt a Child: In the prologue, a pack smells a zebra foal and attempt to kill her.

Flopsie

A panther. They specialize in frametraps and strike/throw mixups, but are also capable of potent crossups.

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• Big Ball of Violence: Its grab attack traps you in one.
• Cats Are Mean: Just like the rest of the Predators.
• Grapple Move: Its specialty; it will often block attacks and then grapple at the first opening.
• Panthera Awesome: A large panther that's made of shadow.

Cuddles

A cobra. They specialize in zoning.

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• Background Boss: During the first two phases of its boss battle in Arizona's chapter, it stays in the background spitting venom and hitting you with its tail.
• Black Comedy: The very name itself when relating to snakes.
• The Great Serpent: The first true boss of the game's story mode is a scaled-up cobra.
• King Mook: In the Prairie, Arizona encounters a giant one that serves as a boss.
• Long-Range Fighter: Has the longest-ranged attacks of all Predators.
• Poisonous Person: Venomous, technically.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The sole cold-blooded predator, and as vicious as the rest.
• Sequential Boss: During Arizona's chapter:
  • First, it spits a rain of venom at you. After surviving long enough, reaching the right side of the screen ends this phase.
  • Second, a wolf Predator appears, which you must defeat while still avoiding the venom rain.
  • Third, it alternates between spitting venom, attacking with its tail, and trying to bite you. When it bites, you must attack its head.
  • Fourth, you finally get to fight it head-on. In this phase, its only attack is to jump and then dive down on you.
  • Finally, you fight against it with its full moveset.
• Snakes Are Sinister: All of the ones encountered are quite vicious.
• Sssssnake Talk: They talk like this as shown by the boss Cuddles.
• Super Spit: One of its attacks is spitting venom.
• Technicolor Toxin: The venom it shoots is dark purple.

Flappy

A hawk. They specialize in airborne combat and a careful neutral game.

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• Airborne Mook: It's always airborne, thereby requiring anti-air attacks to bring it down to ground level.
• Beak Attack: It has two attacks using its beak: one where it flies straight at the opponent, the other where it pecks rapidly.
• Brutal Bird of Prey: Based on a hawk, and keeps swiping for the main characters.
• Early-Bird Cameo: It appeared along with the other predators on the Salt Mines entrance long before it was added to the Story Mode update.
• Feathered Fiend: Naturally, as it's one of the predators.
• Kidnapping Bird of Prey: One of its grab attacks while scaling the Huacaya Mountains invokes this: it flies upward, then dives down to grab Arizona with its talons, carries her in the air, and then slams her onto a lower platform, forcing Arizona to climb back up again.

Huggles

A bear. They specialize in grappling.

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• Background Boss: One of his special attacks is to jump into the background and make rocks fall from the ceiling.
• Bears Are Bad News: They're the toughest of the four predator mooks, both in Arcade Mode and in the Salt Mines.
• Counter-Attack: Its specialty in Arcade Mode is baiting the players into attacking before retaliating.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: Its health is scaled based on how many other players are in the Salt Mines; the more players there are, the less damage it takes. As players thin out, it starts taking more damage.
• Final Boss: In Arcade Mode.
• Grapple Move: One of its moves is picking its opponent up and throwing it to the floor.
• Hell Is That Noise: When a player is controlling it in the Salt Mines, it has loud footsteps. Due to how dark the Salt Mines are lit, it'll likely be the only warning the other players get before they're ambushed.
• Killer Bear Hug: One of his moves has him doing this to the fighters.
• Optional Boss: In Arizona's chapter of story mode, it resides in a hidden room in the Reine museum and visiting it is optional. Beating it gives her the Mini-Velvet hat.
• Play as a Boss: Whoever has the most salt gets to play as it at the end of the Salt Mine run to devour the rest of the survivors.
• Promoted to Playable: The Salt Mines 2.0 patch made it playable at the end of the Salt Mine runs; whoever has the most salt turns into Huggles and gets to chase down and beat the rest of the players.
• SNK Boss: A rare player-controlled example. In Salt Mines, whoever manages to collect the most salt once time runs out is turned into a bear with a massive health bar and overpowered attacks, and must hunt down the remaining players.
• Videogame Dashing: To compensate for it otherwise being a Mighty Glacier, it has a powerful dash attack.

The Shadows

NPC fighters that are encountered in the Salt Mines, summoned by Fluffers.

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• Evil Counterpart: To the playable fighters.
• Evil Knockoff: Seem to be summoned on the spot just to battle the main characters.
• Mini-Boss: They serve as this, due to having more moves, more complex AI, and slightly more health than other Predator mooks spawned at the same level.
• Mirror Match: If they managed to catch up to the player they spawned as, it will result in battling a mirror copy.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: They have a unique color palette, both in battle and in the overworld, of red, black, and maroon.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Their eyes glow red, though Phantom Oleander's eyes are more violet.
• Summon Magic: They're summoned by Fluffers. In the old Salt Mines, they would instead be a random spawn that would become more frequent at higher difficulties.

The Devourer

The greatest and most horrible of all the Predators and the leader of the invasion.

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• Big Bad: The leader of the invasion.
• Names to Run From Really Fast: The top Predator's name is basically a Spell My Name with a "The" version of their general intentions.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Described as the greatest and most horrible of the Predators.
• Spell My Name with a "The": The Devourer.

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