Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Aeris Critiques DEATH BATTLE!

   

Aeris, the Irritable Gamer

VG Cats was created by Scott Ramsoomair, it can be read on its own website


WARNING

The contents of this webcomic may be offensive to some viewers, as it's a product of its time created during an era when edgy humor was more acceptable. Viewer digression is advised.

DISCLAIMER: The Imgur Purge of May 2023 deleted most of the linked scans. Until I am aided in reclaiming all missing images, this message will remain here. Regardless, the blog will continue being updated with new scans.


Welcome back to the blog! So… claps hands gamer webcomics. These tend to have a sort of negative reputation in the webcomic community for either following the same overused tropes, the same type of humor, and being offensive. VG Cats used to be one of my favorites growing up, but looking back at it… yeah, it's aged quite poorly, but it still has many jokes I find funny. While I can't say I love the series like I used to, Aeris makes the comic worthwhile. Even if the humor in the series can be quite weak—including her own writing at times—she's is usually a really standout character that has jokes that stick with me to this day. Here, I'd like to dedicate this section to one of my most nostalgic webcomic characters.

Background

"I'm going to start wounding you now. I'm not sure when I'll stop."

Video games, who doesn't like 'em? Apparently a lot of gamers. Every year, it seems like for every great game that's released, there are a dozen buggy, badly structured, lootbox-filled titles shat out alongside them. Regardless of the atrocities committed by gaming companies, gamers are loyal to their passion. Aeris, is one of the most dedicated gamers out there, despite all the complaints she has to say about the gaming industry as a whole.

Gaming has been a huge part of her life since the beginning. She grew up playing games like the Mega Man and Metroid series, had three siblings that shared her interest in gaming, and even attended a school full of video game characters. She loves video games through and through and will go off a limb to defend her gamer lifestyle any way she can. Whether it be supporting her favorite gaming companies, attending gaming events, or even writing some spicy fanfiction about certain gaming characters. But for someone who loves video games so much, she has a lot to complain about them.

Aeris is a bitter cat with a quick temper. Not only is she highly vocal about what bothers her about games, but she can take her anger to extremes. Even something simple as a disagreeable forum post can be a one way ticket to grisly torturing by her hands. It doesn't help much that she's frequently surrounded by fools that claim to be gamers, but use their controllers as pencils instead of actually helping her complete objectives. In this day and age, I'd imagine she'd be viewed as one of those toxic gamers that goes too far with their rants.

But if there's one thing that can fuel her rage as much as bad video game mechanics, it's her begrudging gaming partner and 'friend' Leo. If Aeris is the experienced and disgruntled gamer, Leo is the inexperienced and simpleminded noob. Both cats appear in the games they play, commenting on weird game mechanics, design choices, detestable playerbases, and anything else that can be poked fun at. They've known each other since they were little, and while he was someone she used to look up to, it seems he's never grown up. Aeris is completely fed up with Leo's constant demonstrations of stupidity, annoyance, and downright offensive and sociopathic tendencies. Despite how much he bothers her, she can't seem to shake him off. Even after erasing him from existence didn't stop him from coming back to annoy her.

However, she has grown a bit more tolerant of him over time. The turning point was when Leo worked tooth and nail to surprise Aeris with a Christmas gift: the prequel to a game she couldn't afford. Since then, her usual rage at him has been generally subdued, and they seem to have a better relationship in following issues.

While the series updates more irregularly than it has ever before, VG Cats wouldn't be the same without its pink fluffball of rage.

Equipment


Before I go on, Imma lay down some ground rules. Since this is a webcomic that involves crossovers between other media, I'm gonna have to clarify a few things.
  1. Wearing a costume doesn't automatically give Aeris all of a character's powers & weapons. I'm looking for moments where it's either shown or stated that she has abilities & arsenals from the characters she plays the role of. The only exceptions to this is if their clothes function as part of their arsenal, like Samus' power suit.
  2. Video games vs Real life. The depictions of Leo & Aeris' adventures are inconsistent when comparing their lives inside games and their lives outside of them. One could argue that their appearances in games chalks up to them getting in the zone and imagining themselves in these situations, like in the webcomic GaMERCaT. There are strips where they play some of the games they appear in and are clearly fictional, along with issue #377 showing Aeris occupying the role of the playable characters when she plays the games. However, the origin story of Leo & Aeris shows them attending a school with video game characters as the students and teachers, a Christmas special shows Leo raising money in the Mario world and in a normal setting to buy Aeris a game, Aeris utilzing fictional weapons in real life like the DeLorean, and a few other examples. These are certainly older than the flashbacks to Aeris and Leo as kids playing games, but none of these have been confirmed to be noncanon. To not complicate matters, I'm just going to comp feats that are expressed in the games and the outside-the-game settings.
  3. Cross-scaling.  Aside from the often-times satirical depictions of crossover characters and games, the powersets of characters are typically consistent with how they are in their original media. The crossovers aren't official, but I wouldn't call them full-blown parodies like Mad or Robot Chicken. This may be a bold decision, but here's how I'll treat cross-scaling: if Aeris defeats a character or has access to something that has a clear power level (like weapons, armor, summons), she'll scale. If you wanna view this without cross-scaling, don't fret. Anything considered cross-scaling will be written in orange. You can choose to ignore 'em if that's not how you roll. Fair warning that I'm no expert in most of the series that potentially involve cross-scaling, so if I get anything wrong, don't be shy in letting me know.
With that out of the way, it's game time.

Poké Balls


Unlike the usual ones, they will crush anything caught inside them. They have not been shown to catch anything other than pokémon, so it likely can't catch anything else, as that's the primary function of them.

Sniper Rifle, Gatling Gun, and Sentries

Pulled straight from Team Fortress Classic, it's assumed that she and Leo share these weapons.

CMC Powered Combat Suit

Hailing from the Starcraft franchise, it's a bulky armored getup widely used by terran forces. I cannot confirm it, but it closely resembles the CMC-300 suit.
Features of the CMC-300 includes
  • Nuclear/biological/chemical resistance
  • Full life support
  • Gravity generation
  • Gun compartments in its lower legs
  • A display HUD (with features like superimposing a map of the area on the helmet's screen, targeting systems, life support display, and jacking into video feeds)
  • Long distance communication
  • A narcotic pump if the user is wounded
  • Illuminators
  • Cooling systems
  • Resupply unit of stimulants called stimpacks


Holy Hand Grenade

She has Holy Hand Grenades from Monty Python.

Rifle

Seems like a standard rifle enemies in Metal Gear Solid would use.

Krystal's Staff

Krystal's mystical staff from Star Fox Adventures. She was going to lend it to Leo… but he was being an idiot again so all he get was a rock thrown at him.
With Krystal's staff, she has access to:
  • Forcefield generation
  • Fire manipulation
  • Ice manipulation
  • Can propel her in the air
  • Disguise mastery
  • Small earthquakes
  • Opening magically-locked doors

Power Suit

The iconic armor of Samus Aran, able to shoot chargeable balls of energy.
If you want an in-depth description of what the power suit is capable of, I'd recommend checking out the G1 blog of Samus Aran vs Mega Man X. But to summarize, here is a list of powers her suit is capable of:
  • Missiles
  • Lash out a grapple beam
  • Multi-shot
  • Plasma beams
  • Ice beams
  • Darkness projection
  • Light projection
  • Numerous types of energy beams
  • Matter-antimatter projection
  • Unconfirmed if she has Chozo physiology, but the Power Suit can condense its user in its Morph Ball form and can drop different kinds of bombs

Laser Blaster

A weapon Aeris uses in Unreal Tournament, yet does not resemble any guns from the game. Doesn't have any light-based qualities.

Headset

With it, she has long distance communication with anyone else she's begrudgingly teaming up with. She also owns a walkie talkie that functions similarly.

Claws

Claw-like weapons she uses in Final Fantasy XI.

Varia Suit

An upgrade of Samus' power suit, which reduces damage by half. It also resists acid, intense heat, and deathly cold temperatures.

M41A Pulse Rifle

A futuristic assault rifle from Alien vs Predator 2.

Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor

The armor used by the spartans of Halo. The armor contains:
  • Shields that cover the body made up of energized particles
  • Circuits that increase the wearer's physical force, making physical combat easier
  • Reaction-enhancing circuits
  • Pressure seal that keeps the suit airtight in water and in space
  • An electromagnetic system that lets the wearer walk on metal surfaces

Gas Mask

Protective against toxic fumes.

Multi-Vision Goggles

Sam Fisher's iconic goggles from Splinter Cell, which grants her night vision, along with thermal and sonar vision, footprint tracking, and a zoom function.

Gas Tank


Likely has a match to light up the flammable gas.

COG Trooper Armor

The armor worn by the troopers of Gears of War.

Senbonzakura

Because Aeris is heavily implied to have Byakuya Kuchiki's bankai from Bleach (or at least a parody of it, given Leo's is a parody), that requires her to possess a Zanpakutō, a soul reaper's weapon. It takes the form of a katana, but when released, it can turn into a thousand miniature blades that appear like cherry blossoms. She can direct these petals by swinging her sword's hilt. The blades can't enter within 85 cm of her unless she wills them to.

Portal Gun

The iconic blaster from portal that creates two portals that objects or people can pass through. Portals can only land on large surfaces made of refined or manufactured moon rock. If she fires a third portal, it replaces the one prior to the second one being fired. It can also lift small objects directly in front of it, similar to Half-Life's Gravity Gun.

DeLorean Time Machine

The car from Back to the Future that can drive through time, to either the future or the past.

Pistol

Just a standard firearm she uses in Left 4 Dead.

Arceus

The god of the pokémon world… Seeing as this is THE Arceus, they deserve a blog of their own and I'm not knowledgeable enough to give them justice. As to not completely derail the blog, I'll just link Arceus' full moves list to show their moveset and powers.

Energy Sword

The iconic double-bladed weapon made of energy from Halo.

Force-A-Nature

One of the Scout's guns from Team Fortress 2. It's designed to knock back enemies with each shot. Shooting the ground would allow her to cause her to bound through the air in a force jump.

N-ZAP '85

One of the guns from Splatoon, it fires ink at a fast rate that can limit opponents' movements and harm inklings opposite to its color. Since the ink shares her color, she's unharmed by it and can travel inside it in her squid form.

Splattershot

One of the primary weapons from Splatoon. It functions similarly to the N-ZAP, but has a higher damage output and a slower fire rate.

Psycho-Portal

In one of the issues, Aeris appears in a Psychonauts level. Since psychonauts need a Psycho-Portal to enter mental worlds through astral projection, she'd need one in order to appear in someone's head.

F.L.U.D.D.

The Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device from Super Mario Sunshine, a waterpack that can spray water and shoot it downwards to make her fly.

Abilities


Small Size (Type 2)

She was once shown to be the size of a hocotatian from Pikmin.

Resistances



  • Soul manipulation resistance (survived the Shun Goku Satsu—The Raging Demon, Akuma's signature soul-targeting move from Street Fighter)
  • Poison resistance via gas mask
  • Resistance to mind manipulation via having Byakuya Kuchiki's powers
  • Resistance to high and low temperatures via having Byakuya Kuchiki's powers
  • Fire resistance (when being directly burned by a flamethrower, she was only covered in ash instead of burns)

Hadoken

The signature energy projectile from Street Fighter… unfortunately she only knows how to use Dan Hibiki's pathetic version of it.

Digital Physiology

In one panel, she was represented as the holographed AI Cortana from Halo. With her AI construct body, she has access to:
  • Hacking
  • Data manipulation
  • Remote ship managing
  • Fragmenting herself to create imperfect clones
  • Energy manipulation
  • Information analysis

Wolverine's Powers

This comes from a strip that parodies X-Men, featuring some characters performing their usual powers. Aeris only demonstrates Wolverine's animalistic instincts, but if Leo is able to use Nightcrawler's teleportation powers willy nilly in the comic, she would likely have access to Wolverine's full abilities list, consisting of:
  • Animal senses
  • Retractable bone claws
  • Regeneration (mid)
  • Slow aging
  • Adamantium-infused bones, a metal that's considered indestructible, even able to withstand blows from Thor.

Archery Skills

Even though she thinks the archer class in dungeon crawlers is for cowards, she's still skilled with the bow.

Resurrection

Aeris has been killed numerous times within the webcomic, yet she always comes back after the strip. It's consistent with Leo too, who returned in the next strip after being erased from time.

Explosion Manipulation

Test her long enough, and she can become so mad that she causes a massive F-shaped explosion that towers over buildings.

Reality Warping

Seeing as she's able to change a video game's graphics at will, that should count as reality warping.

Shinigami Physiology and Byakuya Kuchiki's Powers

Mentioned before that Aeris has access to bankai. Not only would she need a Zanpakutō to summon its spirit to the real world, she would need to be a shinigami in order to wield it, providing her with the following powers:
  • High tier shinigami physiology, providing her with
    • Holy manipulation
    • Power bestowal
    • BFR/matter manipulation
    • Invisibility
    • Limited spatial manipulation
    • Size manipulation (only with her zanpakutō)
    • Limited healing
    • Reactive power level
  • Afterimage creation
  • Danmaku
  • Limited telekinesis
  • Lightning manipulation
  • Energy projection
  • Fire manipulation
  • Light manipulation
  • Paralysis inducement
  • Forcefield creation
  • Limited power nullification

Existence Erasure through Time Travel

It's best I don't elaborate on how she is capable of this.

Self Sustainability

She's able to breathe in space.

Low-Mid Regeneration

In one strip, her legs were melted in acid, and immediately in the next panel they're completely back.

Inkling Physiology

Aeris has been represented as an inkling in multiple comics, providing her with the sort of innate abilities the squid kids have. She is able to turn into a squid and swim through ink that matches her color.

Astral Projection

Aeris doesn't express enough of Raz's psychonaut capabilities to warrant full cross-scaling, but she should at least have his astral projection for being able to enter peoples' minds.

Techniques


Byakuya Kuchiki's Techniques

Because Aeris has access to Byakuya's Bankai, she should be able to perform his other moves:
  • Shunpo: Lets her move faster than the eye can process
  • Senka: Can seal an opponent's spiritual powers by attacking their Saketsu and Hakusui whilst approaching with Shunpo
  • Utsusemi: Way of the Onmitsu, the Third Shihō: Leaves her cloak behind as a decoy while moving fast enough to generate an afterimage, whilst the real Aeris strikes
  • Hakuda: The shinigami form of hand to hand combat
  • Shikai: The initial release of her Zanpakutō, changing the shape of her weapon and providing her with special powers.
  • Senbonzakura Kageyoshi: Aeris' bankai: the final and typically strongest stage of the Zanpakutō. After dropping her sword, giant blades rise from the ground and split into millions of tiny petal blades she controls with her mind, but can increase their speed and efficiency with her hands.
  • Senkei: The true form of Senbonzakura. It's compressed into giant blades that circle her and her opponent. Loads of blades are created by Senbonzakura's petals with an immense strength boost.
  • Ikka Senjinka: Targeting someone with all her swords at once.
  • Gōkei: The petals form a sphere around the enemy before converging in every direction.
  • Shūkei Hakuteiken: All the petals form one giant blade to maximize its power.
  • Kidō: Pretty much soul reaper spells. She has access to the following spells:
    • Unnamed barrier
    • Hadō #1: Sho: Shoots an invisible bullet from her finger piercing the target without explicit damage
    • Hadō #4: Byakurai: Fires lightning from her fingertip
    • Hadō #33: Sōkatsui: An explosive blue flame that reflects the power of the caster
    • Bakudō #61: Rikujōkōrō: After pointing at her target, 6 prongs made of Reiatsu (the physical force created by a shinigami's spiritual energy when released), restricting and immobilizing the target's movements.
    • Bakudō #61: Dankū: Nullifies all Hadō level 89 or lower, and Hadō-like abilities

Feats

Overall


  • Baited 200 adventurers into picking up Holy Hand Grenades, exploding them
  • Frequently one-ups Leo in games, even if he often beats her through stupid luck or gameplay mechanic abuse
  • Is well-versed in professions. She has been a fast food business owner, a news anchor, a lawyer, a psychiatrist, and countless video game character roles she substitutes.
  • Completed a puzzle in Four Swords with Leo by leaving Tingle behind as a distraction for the crazed Red Link guarding the exit
  • Scales to Leo, who has the force from Star Wars, the Master Sword from the Legend of Zelda, Cappy from Mario, and much more
  • Infiltrated a mall and an orphanage
  • Killed Ridley from Metroid
  • Beat up a thug with Leo's body
  • Kidnapped someone over a forum post

Strength



Speed


Durability


Weaknesses

  • Her gamer rage rambles can leave her distracted, giving an opponent an opening to exploit
  • Aeris tends to get screwed over easily by players who don't know what they're doing or sheer misfortune
  • In her inkling form, she dissolves in water

Matchup Potential


Aeris vs Gamercat (VG Cats vs GaMERCaT)


(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

I have not finished reading GaMERCaT yet so I can't make definitive comments on the results, but this is what I have in terms of connections: Two hardcore gamer cats from webcomics about poking fun at games and other forms of pop culture. Both are depicted both inside the game worlds and out of them, providing comedic commentary on the industry, and are capable of using powers and weapons of other fictional characters. Both are seriously passionate and intense gamers with a harsh temper and strong opinions. They are often paired with a goofy noob cat who frequently causes problems.

Probably the most interesting aspect of this matchup is that Gamercat is just a regular cat in real life, but when he plays games with his friends, they envision themselves inside the games and get into hijinx that wouldn't normally occur inside their games. Seeing as Aeris is seen both inside the video games and in a world where those games are typically fictional there, I could see it playing out like this: Aeris & Gamercat are at a gaming event and get into a heated disagreement about a console or game, and the two decide whose opinion is superior by competing in loads of games. But in the animation, they're depicted duking it out with their crossover equipment in various game worlds.

Their interactions would be great, with both pretty much having a heated nerdy debate while commentating on questionable mechanics in the games they are playing. Maybe even weasel in a shocking VG Cats-esque joke and have Gamercat react in complete shock. The soundtrack needs to have a video gamey feel to it, maybe include some chiptune sections or have the soundtrack shift to fit whatever game they're playing. By the end of it, one of the characters dying equates to them losing in real life. Despite their competitive natures, I could see the winner giving the loser something in return for gaining their respect before leaving.

As for the verdict, it depends on what you buy for Arceus. From what I've read, Gamercat no-sold Kirby and owns the Bakery from Cookie Clicker (which is complex multi for some reason?? lmao????) I may make a Gamercat blog in the future once I get around to finishing it.

Aeris vs Kokonoe Mercury (VG Cats vs Blazblue)

(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

I used to be really into this as an Aeris matchup before I checked out Gamercat. I figured I'd discuss this as an option too.

The connections are fairly simple: Both are snarky and sarcastic pink cat girls that usually take on a role on the side lines, like as a remote assistant or tutor, but when they fight, they're one of the most powerful characters in their verses.

However, the main appeal for me is the fight potential. Kokonoe has a wide range of unique gadgets that can compliment Aeris' in many ways. Have Kokonoe shoot Aeris with her freeze ray, only for her to melt through it through sheer anger. Have Kokonoe deploy her gravitron and use it to take Aeris by surprise and electrocute her, leading to Aeris making a 'combo breaker' joke. Have Aeris travel back in time to try to erase Kokonoe, only for her chadly parents to beat the crap out of her before sending her back into the present, only to be met with a trap Kokonoe set up while she was out of the arena. Have Kokonoe summon a giant version of Iron Tager and Aeris utilize her power armor and portal gun to take him down.

There's just so much cool stuff that can be done with it. Topped off with angry banter and lots of video game references, and you've got yourself a good time. It's a bit of a weird option for Kokonoe, but I like it.

Even though Kokonoe has some broken resistances, Aeris should AP stomp her.

NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it

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