People really enjoy their marks around here, don't they?
Fine then, I shall declare myself officially as well.
Edit#1Introducing:
MANDALA FIRE CRUSH DRAGON
*
More commonly known as:
BLAZIN' FLIZARD
Backstory: **
Imagine a world ravaged by conflict. Two wars, spanning many years, have left the planet a desolate landscape. The cities, reduced to debris. Once fertile lands turned barren. That was the aftermath of the so-called Maverick and Elf wars. 60% of humans got wiped out, alongside 90% of reploids - sapient human-like machines, serving and fightning for the former. Rampaging machines, afflicted with viruses turning them berserk, cunningly malevolent and worse, have made living a desperate fight for survival. This was the bloodstained legacy of a century prior, a memory that was purposefully cleansed.
Two greatest heroes of said wars were called X and Zero. The latter, having a bearing on the virus issue, decided to go into stasis. The former stayed active, helping humans and reploids to erect from the ashes a new, safe haven, in which they could coexist. Credited for his combat exploits, wisdom and gentleness, X was hailed the ruler of the new city - Neo Arcadia. The century of gradual increase in prosperity was the same one that saw the fading of the past's remembrance.
At some point during this period, Blazin' Flizard made his appearance as the Left Fire Judge of the Hachishinkan - the Eight Gentle Judges. The group he belonged to represented the official judicary branch of Neo Arcadia. They resided many times with X mostly in trials meant to decide whether the charged reploid is indeed a maverick or not. That is, whether said individual is a threat to the society by the virtue of its actions, for the newer models of reploids have come to possess the ability to turn against their creators and companions by their own will, without the need of a virus to corrupt them.
It has not been stated whether members of the Hachishinkan rose to their positions alike X or have been simply created together to serve their purpose. However, their shared design of the human-like form, called the "Judge" form, would suggest the latter. Moreover, the head of the judges possessed three independent thought circuits, acting as the voices of compassion, aggression and reason, which he used to reach a fair judgement. Such a specialization in design makes it likely they were created with occupying said stations in mind.
It is worth noting that each of the Eight Gentle Judges, aside from their civilian "Judge" form, possessed a combat "Punishment" form. Be it due to the remnants of the mavericks still out there, the threat of new ones arising, handling potentially dangerous ones during the court trials or even being targeted as important officials of Neo Arcadia, they were more than capable of handling themselves in combat. On a daily basis though, they stayed true to their shared name, however, conducting themselves accordingly.
A century of relative peace passed and, while it wouldn't be wrong to say that streak of dramatic events shook Neo Arcadia, it should rather be first said that a silent blow was dealt silently to the very foundations. Unbeknown to all but a select few, X was forced to use his own body to seal up Mother Elf, a powerful, artificially created being, which possessed many powers, including restructuring, rewriting and controlling Reploids. The very same being that was both the key behind ending the Maverick Wars - ridding the world of the corrupting virus - as well as starting the even more violent Elf Wars, even if not by her own accord. That being said, as to preserve the integrity of the system, a copy of X was created to put up the facade. However, the genetically engineered child prodigy who achieved this task, wasn't able to recreate the past experiences and the complex morality core of the original X. Thus, the rule of a reploid who considered its actions just by the virtue of being a seemingly perfect copy, came to be.
Four years passed and the solution had proved itself effective up until this point. Things weren't bad until the crisis struck. Due to the rapidly increasing number of reploids there wasn't enough energy for both them and the humans. Seeing that, Copy X decided to preserve the humans' living standards by cutting down the number of those he saw at the heart of the problem. From that moment onward, innocent reploids began being accused of being mavericks, sentenced and disposed of. The Eight Gentle Judges who presided over the trials with Copy X, have began to question between themselves whether the latest trials were truly just. They noticed the shift in personality between the original and the Copy X, though whether they knew about the switch at that point isn't clearly stated.
Fast forward to Zero, being awakened from stasis by Ciel, the very creator of Copy X, now teenage and leading Resistance formed from those suffering from the one she put together and set on the throne. Blazin Flizard continued with his occupation alongside the other members of the Hachishinkan throughout three games worth of time from that point onwards. They held their station after Zero killed Copy X and most probably helped the ones second-in-command manage the city in crisis, for they have been shown to be not only on respectful terms with the one that assumed responsibilty of command afterwards, but they also shared their view on the matter before things even got out of hand.
The Eight Gentle Judges didn't meet a happy end. A spacecraft with the banished scientist who was responisble for altering Mother Elf and starting the Elf Wars, returned. That guy consequently brought back the tyrant Copy X as his marionette and disposed of anyone that stood against him. Consequently, the Eight Gentle Judges, holding a position of power, yet having dangerous opinions of their own, got brainwashed by him to serve his purposes. They ultimately met their demise, fightning Zero, the best friend of their former, benevolent ruler.
Personality/Why this character?:Let's start from the fact that Blazin' Flizard is but a tertiary, single stage boss from a GBA game.
He says but a few generic lines, the likes of which you hear throughout all the playthrough, amounting to "I'm confident in my abilities, you are about to get wrecked", before having his sorry butt handed to him. Honestly, his stage, full of erupting volcanoes constantly raining down magma on you and moving platforms sinking rapdily in lava, make the fight with him be more of a reward than anything else. Heck, you don't even get to know that the Eight Gentle Judges were good guys before you kill them... before you finish the game... actually, you finish the game and don't even know that they were called that way, let alone had any significance prior to the game you eradicate them in.
Hence, why even pick such a character? Sure, the design is nice, but what can one offer in the roleplay? Honestly, I've bothered with those issues for a good while now. One had to dig deep to get some quality stuff. The data about them comes from scribbles on the side of the art books and bonus audio tracks, released in the remastered version of the music discs. Sadly, ge wasn't one of the 4 lucky Judges that got voiced and starred in said audio tracks.
It is stated, however, that he was a serious guy. Shared a bad relationship with the playful, inquisitive, child-like Childre Inarabitta, another one of the Judges. Given that the two tracks show the way they all were before and after the brainwashing, showcasing the way it affected them, one can infer what Flizard was like before, given how in-game one gets a glimpse of what he became afterwards. He seemed like an honourable fellow, at least. With a flame burning within, yet the gentleness from the "Eight
Gentle Judges" prevailing for the most part. Could see him being resolute, though not exactly rash, given his profession... also, he has a quirk of inserting heat/flame-related words and phrases in his speeches.
Why am I even writing that? Firstly, I wished to stay fair and show how things with this guy are. Showing my shortcomings when it comes to collecting data about him and the difficulties in roleplaying him the way he is without pumping out headcanon. Granted, I doubt I would encounter here a person willing to dispute the way Flizard should be enacted based on MMZ knowledge, but I feel it's gonna be a good call to show where the lines blur and what difficulties I may run into. Helps on both sides, I reckon. Understanding being the key to resolving issues etc.
Most importantly... I wrote more than was his due in the story, yes. However, that rich of a background makes the character spring out from it on its own, even if it's direct engagement isn't clear, ain't that right? After all, during all those events, he lived and experienced them from a different, yet still knowledgeable perspective. Much left unsaid, yet leaving a lot to potentially work with.
Hope it plays out in the roleplay.
Pairing: Au
burnFandom: Megaman Zero
Sexuality: Asexual Hetero Demiromantic (Reploids with reproductive organs started appearing only many years after Flizard's destruction. However, those with a human-like scope of emotions were long in production before his creation. As for the gender preference, it is my estimation that a society able to manufacture viable lead figures meant to propagate the restoration of life in a post-apocalyptic world would not intentionally encourage relationship models bearing no children. Thus.)
Height: that of a grown man's in the "Judge" form, slighly bigger in the "Punishment" form, the width of the frill and the length of the tail adding mostly to the visage of him, being more 'massive' in this form, despite many parts remaining quite lanky. It all pays tribute to how the frilled lizard, the inspiration for this character, makes itself appear as to become more intimidating.
Weight: More than a human's weight of a similar stature, at least a few times, for sure. Body of metal and all that. Quite heavy. The principle of mass conservation might just work with this guy, thankfully, so unlike some other MMZ bosses, I reckon his weight might be proportionate for both forms. It's within reasonale limits, I reckon, unlike Tretista, for example.
Weapons/Abilities: Mostly just proficiency with the weapons installed as parts of the body: Triple-barreled flamethrowers at the end of each arm; reflective and moveable collar, which can be thrown alike a boomerang, albeit bouncing off the walls; cannons, mounted as parts of the frill, capable of shooting fiery bullets in rapid succession; tail, able to launch arcing napalm payload and in case of being cut away, flail on the ground with considerable force, while it is being replaced - again, alike a lizard's. Lastly, Flizard's capable of leaping considerable distances, easily a few times a human's height and a spaceable room's worth of distance, as well as using his body mass to his advantage.
Combat weakness: Lightning-based attacks. They deal a good deal of additional damage and immobilize momentarily with each usage. t's worth mentioning that it's not due to simply being a robot. In the game, fire beats ice, ice beats lightning and lightning beats fire. Go figure.
Additional notes: I will be roleplaying the way he was before the brainwashing, yet possessing the knowledge of what happened afterwards. At least one of the Gentle Judges' bodies has been a shown intact a century later in in the background of one of the areas in Megaman ZX. Add to that the concept of reploid 'souls', comprised of data and whatnot living in cyberspace, being able to not only exist but talk and all that, as well as the fact that Omega, the one resposible for opening up rifts to cyberspace, lives on as a corrupted memory file at that time period and voila. Just a step away from having a preserved, knowledgeable Flizard on the prowl. Reckon that, while his tail is the only part capable of being auto-repaired mid-combat, the rest of his body would possess capabilies of this kind to a limited degree as well. Hence back in the body. Unless Ploegy has other plans and wants Matchmaker to be a master artificer, capable of repairing said reploid. Fine in my book. Reckon I might go with either of these theories once the game starts. Boy, is it gonna be fun..
*The file used is publicly available official artwork of this character. I'm aware that this site's policy regarding shapeshifting characters states you're allowed two pictures, each depicting a single one of your character's forms. However, I thought I'd choose this one, as it represents conveniently both of them without clumping up too much space. Not that I had many to choose from regardless. It's a niche pick. Admittedly, it'll be the first time I witness anyone roleplaying this character.
**The game
is rated 12+
