Islabelle, the Ghastly Dreamwalker
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! Up to this point, I've covered the leading protagonists of numerous webcomics. However, this blog series isn't exclusive to them. Some webcomics may have a side character, deuteragonist, or even a villain that outshines the main character in their potential in VS. Today, I'll be talking about a really fun villain. Even though this one isn't complete, I'd like to put up a spoiler warning in case you plan on reading Dreamwalker Felix—which I highly recommend. I'd also like to give a big thanks to the authors of the webcomic for clarifying questions that I had while writing this, they've been a great help and a pleasure to chat with. If you're a webcomic creator that wants to collaborate with me on one of these blogs, let me know!! I try to cover ones that have a sufficient amount of VS viable content and has unique potential that would be fun to see on a VS show like Death Battle. Anyway, let's get on with the blog!
Background
"I wanna LIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!! again!"
Long ago in the 1800s Oregon County, there once was a girl named Islabelle, spelled with an L. She was a quiet and innocent child who had a great relationship with her mother. Unfortunately, Islabelle was subject to frequent rumors about her. Many thought she was strange, perhaps even a witch. However, that was far from the truth. In actuality, she was a dreamwalker. When she sleeps, she enters the dream world, a bizarre realm full of fantastical creatures and doors leading to other peoples' dreams. Dreamwalkers bear immense power while they slumber, capable of willing whatever they can imagine into existence. A far cry from how uninspired her life outside dreams is.
The following events haven't been fully revealed yet, but for the remainder of Islabelle's life, this is what happened. As Islabelle aged, her mother grew sicker, and passed away. Even more nasty rumors spread, some believing she actually killed her mom. She looked into the minds of her family and friends, and they all had terrible things to say about her. Eventually, her father remarried to a woman who Islabelle couldn't get used to, especially because of how she badmouthed her mother after her death. She tried putting up with all the negativity directed towards her, even after hearing one of her mothers saying "you aren't my daughter." (unconfirmed which one said this) But where did that get her? Beheaded, with her home in flames.
That wasn't the end for Islabelle. Before her demise, she put all of her power and soul into a single ring. And there she remained, alone, for centuries. The longer she stayed in that ring, the more her sanity slipped away. She was consumed by her desire to live again, becoming an unpredictable tragically demented girl who never quite grew up. And thus, she waited for someone to put on the ring so she'd take over their mind. Specifically, a dreamwalker of her descent. That way, she'd be as powerful as she once was.
After nearly 200 years and years of rest, she'd finally live again, but not quite in the way she'd hoped. Her ring was discovered by Crissy—cousin of the dreamwalker protagonist Felix Faircloth—hidden away in an old relative's house during the 21st century. The ring latched onto her like a disease and Islabelle completely took over her. Unlike Felix, Crissy isn't a dreamwalker, so that threw a wrench in her plan. Now she sought to make Felix's body her own.
With Islabelle currently occupying Crissy's body, it's obvious to Felix's friends that accompanied her that something was off. They know Felix can see ghosts, so they correctly assumed what was up with 'Crissy.' Luckily for her, Felix was in a coma, so she coerced one of his friends into driving her to the hospital, under the guise of helping Felix recover from his coma.
Islabelle arrives at Felix's location in the dream world's void—the vast space in the dream world populated by dream doors. Felix has been going on his own quests learning about his powers under the guidance of his sleep paralysis demon mentor Delpha, while avoiding the goopy bounty hunter sisters Mizran and Ruzin that are gunning for Felix. At this moment, said bounty hunters confronted the duo. Had Islabelle not intervened, the situation likely would've played out way differently. All she needed to do was to throw Felix into one of the portals populating the void so he could wake up and she'd snatch his body. The sisters really tested her patience. Despite Islabelle's overwhelming power, they were able to get away with Felix.
Luckily for her, Delpha reached out to help her rescue Felix, not knowing what her true intentions were. Soon enough, they were able to retrieve Felix. Turns out, the sisters weren't so bad after all and needed Felix's help to take down a far greater evil and wanted to stay to help them, but Islabelle was having none of that. She threw away her facade the moment she kicked Delpha into the void when he sided with Felix, and the two dreamwalkers had themselves a psychic battle.
In the end, Islabelle managed to toss him through one of the portals—waking him from his coma—and she woke up to try and possess him. Delpha and Ruzin managed to enter the same portal but were reduced to far weaker versions of themselves. To her surprise, Islabelle couldn't possess him, or anyone for the matter. Because she put all of herself into that ring and couldn't remove it, she was stuck in Crissy's body. Now she had a new plan, running off to the house the ring was in, stuffing Delpha inside her head, and waiting for Felix to show up.
When Felix arrives, he unknowingly enters a gateway Islabelle created that physically takes him into the dream world, and the two had another fight. Islabelle lured him here to kill him and prove who is the stronger dreamwalker, while Felix simply wants his cousin back. As the fight goes on, she starts having more fun and realizes she doesn't want to kill him. Instead, they can have all sorts of wacky, fun, and creative dream battles for eternity. Compared to the two of them, nothing else matters, and wants Felix to forget about everything he ever cared about to do what she wants. But Felix sees through her, saying she doesn't know what she wants. During their fight, he's seen glimpses of her past, and knows that there's something she's too scared to face, and wanted to help her confront it.
In the meantime, while Delpha is stuck inside Islabelle's head, cracks begin to form and he slips into her Unconscious, the realm inside her head that's beyond her dreams. Crissy fell down there a while ago too, and has been surviving there ever since. It's revealed that Islabelle is suffering from entropy, which stems from a trauma or degradation inside her mind that's causing it to deteriorate over time, explaining why she acts so loopy. The two manage to weaken her entropy for the time being, but what's worse is that Islabelle and Crissy's minds are becoming so entangled that Crissy's having an identity crisis, sometimes turning into Islabelle or gaining attributes of her. Eventually, Crissy becomes a duplicate of Islabelle dubbed Crislabelle.
Felix manages to best Islabelle in a duel and makes her sleep, separating Islabelle and Crissy within the dream. Felix is able to enter Islabelle's memories and learns about Crissy and Delpha's location, entering the Unconscious to rescue them and eliminate all other sources of entropy in Islabelle's head before her mind quite literally falls apart.
Unfortunately, Felix isn't well equipped to really help. No matter how hard Felix and Delpha try, they can't get through to Islabelle and fail to separate Crissy from her. Even when Crislabelle gives Felix the chance to save himself and leave, he won't leave without his cousin so he avoids being kicked out of her mind. Islabelle fights her entropy head on as Crislabelle is caught in the crossfire and fades away.
After both Crislabelle and the entropy are destroyed, Islabelle staggers up and reminisces on the close rivalry they had. On one hand Felix ruined all her plans, on the other, she took Crissy from him and he has no way of leaving as her mind falls apart. In her last moments, she spawns a TV to replay highlights of their fights. Smiling and drenched in blood and sitting next to her rival, Islabelle's body starts to crack before she, and the rest of her mind are wiped from existence. Felix is left alone in the empty void, unable exit what used to be her mind by himself.
At least, luckily for Felix, Delpha is still around to help him leave.
It's too late for Islabelle.
Equipment
Pistols
A set of cowgirl pistols. They go pew pew.
Bazooka
Although this weapon was created by Crislabelle—Crissy when she and Islabelle's personalities were becoming entangled—it's reasonable that Islabelle would be able to conjure the same weapon. It's a modern weapon, but Islabelle has access to Crissy's memories, so that gives her a whole slew of modern stuff to draw inspiration from.
Giant Scissors
[insert clocktower reference]
Axe
Heeeere's Izzy!
Abilities
Possession
Islabelle is only capable of this through the ring her spirit bound to. The conscious of who she possesses can still live in her mind—unless she so chooses to do away with them.
Islabelle is able to project her spirit out of her body to see beyond the physical plane. Here, she can see spirits and dream beings that roam said plane.
Sleep Manipulation
Islabelle is able to put people to sleep. She can do this both in the waking and dream world. Wait, does that count as double-sleep?
Entering Dreams
As a dreamwalker, when Islabelle sleeps she can enter peoples' dreams through dream doors scattered throughout the void. While asleep, Islabelle is in her projected form, which has far more powers than she does when awake as Crissy. If she wants to enter a specific person's dream, she has to fall asleep beside them while they are resting.
She can return to the waking world at any point she feels like.
Flight
An ability shared by her physical and projected selves
Gateways to the Dream World
Islabelle can form gateways that can physically bring herself and other people into the dream world. In here, she still inhabits Crissy's vulnerable body. But unlike the waking world, she has access to most of her other abilities. When Islabelle's body is put to sleep in this dream world, her unconscious body reappeared in the waking world. She can conjure exits just as easily.
Pocket Dreams
Islabelle can stuff the consciousness of anyone she has possessed and weak dream denizens into a pocket dream inside her head, which is basically an empty storage space. However, due to her entropy, it will eventually shatter and lead to her unconscious (all of that will make sense later, I swear-)
Size Manipulation
She can grow to the size of a large building (type 1) and as small as a doll (type 1).
Dream Manipulation
Within her own mind, the dream world, and other peoples' dreams, she's capable of doing pretty much whatever she wants before her powers eventually need to recharge. Her imagination/creativity is the limit, and Islabelle can really think outside the box. She can turn an empty space into a room that looks like it was drawn with colored pencils, cause a written message to come out of someone's forehead, create heat-seeking baseballs, turn the interior of a house into an open field, and many other abilities I'll describe throughout this. This could very well be compared to something like reality warping, but because it only occurs in the confines of dreams, it's safer to just classify it as that.
Disguise Mastery, Shapeshifting, and Body Manipulation
She can don any outfit she wishes and transform her body to resemble a different species. She can even alter traits of her own body like giving herself huge sharp teeth.
Object Creation
Like her disguises, she can conjure any item she wants. From spotlights, to weapons, to sports equipment, if she can think of it, she can make it.
Body Control
Islabelle is able to manipulate her body in bizarre ways. She's able to remove and reattach her own body parts and control them, grow extra appendages in empty spots like a giant mouth coming from her head, and can extend parts of her body. She's even able to change the size of the body parts she controls, like making her head huge.
Memory Manipulation
Psychic Powers
Since dreamwalkers are heavily associated with the mind, of course she'd have psychic powers. She can unleash psychic waves, huge yellow flashes of psychic power, fire giant beams of psychic energy, and form psychic shields around herself. She also emits psychic brainwaves that can be picked up by other dreamwalkers, which would feel like a presence to other dreamwalkers.
Cloning
She can create clones of herself that can range from different sizes.
Enhanced Physical Traits
She has increased strength, agility, and endurance
Perspective Manipulation
Islabelle can interact with things that are out of her perspective in unique ways. Like being able to squish a building from a distance with her fingers, or grabbing a giant pathway from behind her and using it like a whip. She can also change the size of things she interacts with via perspective, like turning a small baseball to the size of a huge boulder.
Regeneration (Mid)
She's able regrow anything from lost body parts, like a big silly mouth.
Fire Manipulation
She knows how to turn up the heat.
Telekinesis
With a brutal technique, I might add
Shield Generation
The aforementioned psychic shields I mentioned. They can appear as small protective barriers or body-encompassing shields
Mind Erasure
With a simple glare, she can completely scramble someone's mind
Resistances
- Mind manipulation resistance (she resisted her mind wiping attack being deflected back at her. It should be noted that she isn't resistant to sleep manipulation if her psychic barriers don't block it)
- Outside energy draining resistance (in the void, there are portals that lead to the waking world. If dreamwalkers enter them, they wake up. If dream denizens fall through it, they'll be completely drained of energy and reduced to dust)
Electricity Manipulation
Danger, danger! High voltage!
Summons
She's able to create shadowy figures that roamed the western town she made. They don't do much. Creating living creatures is considered a difficult task to do for dreamwalkers—as even the Lord of the Dreamscape struggles to do it. Seeing as Crissy was able to make funky little man when using Islabelle's powers, these could be seen as living beings. If not, it'll likely count as shadow manipulation.
Weapon Creation
So far she's only shown to make two pistols.
Corrosion
Even if the target isn't capable of it, she can make it melt
Heat Manipulation
She became so mad one time, that the remaining goo covering her head from Mizran's sneak attack began to boil.
Elasticity
She can become quite noodly.
Energy Manipulation
Gotta thank one of the authors for clarifying what sort of power this would count as: flaring up her energy to the point where it can blind people.
Teleportation
This was only expressed by Crislabelle—when Crissy and Islabelle were becoming entangled, allowing Crissy to use some of Islabelle's dreamwalker abilities. Thus, teleportation is something she can do.
Portal Creation
Another ability used by Crislabelle. She's able to open portals with her bare hands.
Hammerspace
Another Crislabelle ability, where she can pull out whatever she wants out of thin air.
Techniques
A move expressed by Crislabelle. Who knows if she knows any other boxing techniques, but that's a knockout if I've ever seen one.
Below even her dreams, there is her unconscious, an entire landscape within her head. Among the stone structures and icky seas, it's inhabited by
monsters that are manifestations of Islabelle's core feelings, along with some of Crissy's. It should be noted that Islabelle is experiencing something called entropy, which stems from a trauma or degradation inside her mind that's causing it to slowly deteriorate over time. I mention this, because if she were to stuff someone into a pocket dream, it would eventually shatter and they'd fall into her unconscious. There are two entropies that dwell in her headspace.
The first stems from old age, manifested as an old giant in her head. Thankfully Crissy was able to hold off her degradation a bit by
making said giant young again.
Her other form of entropy is her trauma, taking the form of a shadowy giant resembling herself with an axe and spear for hands. Its face can turn into anyone relevant to Islabelle's past like her parents. Islabelle may think she can face it head on, but it always takes her by surprise.
Feats
To make this uncomplicated, I am going to compile feats from both the dream world and the waking world. Just know that there is a vast difference in strength when comparing both.
Overall
She dominated most of the battle against sisters Mizran and Ruzin, who are incredibly difficult to kill thanks to their inky bodies they can morph at will
- She managed to escape from Mina, the right hand woman of the Ruler of the Dreamscape
Killed the authors of Dreamwalker Felix and took over their roles during the Q&A. They failed to retcon her out of existence (non-canon lmao)- Tricked Delpha, the King of Nightmares, into helping her retrieve Felix
- She fought Felix a couple times. During her second fight, she thought she and him could simply fight forever if he was willing
- When Felix physically entered the dream world, she manipulated the interior of the house to twist, warp, and crush Felix
- Islabelle has five tarot tattoos: Fool, Magician, Empress, High Priestess and Emperor. The number of tattoos one has is an indicator of a dreamwalker's growth, emotional journey, and power
Strength
- In Crissy's body, she flew through the roof of a bus
- Destroyed a building by squishing it from a far away perspective
- All dreamwalkers are similar in power output, but Islabelle is weaker due to being bound to Crissy's body. Thus, she should downscale from the highest dreamwalker feat: the Ruler of the Dreamscape creating a city the size of a country (which may be potentially bigger), which replaced nearly everything that was once there (special thanks to one of the authors clarifying this for me)
- She created a small town within the dream world
- Unleashed a giant beam of psychic energy, way bigger than her body
- Completely splattered Mizran, who grew to the size of a small building, with a single headbutt
- Her psychic fight with Felix was bright enough to be seen from a distance
- While fused with Crissy, she created building-sized hand statues, and proceeded to telekinetically move them towards each other
- She caused a giant explosion, then created an even bigger one moments after (likely town level)
- Crislabelle blasted Delpha out of the sky, causing a small explosion (likely wall-small building level)
- A fully transformed Crislabelle bisected an entropy giant in half before completely pulverizing it with psychic energy
Speed
Durability
Weaknesses
- Because she put all of herself into the ring, she's currently unable to leave Crissy's body to possess anyone else.
- Due to possessing a non-dreamwalker body, her abilities are hampered and they drain faster in the dream world
- Most of her powers are suppressed in the waking world, only able to fly, put people to sleep, project her spirit, has enhanced strength, can create entryways to the dream world, alter her clothing, and can stuff people into pocket dreams.
- On that note, when she's in the dream world as her physical self, the wounds she receives affects the body she possesses. I doubt she'd be able to slice off her own head and live when inhabiting Crissy's body
- Her unconscious is suffering from entropy, which is literally causing her mind to fall apart. If her mind falls apart, so does Crissy’s. Entropy stems from a trauma or degradation inside her head, which can’t be fixed, but hindered. When more cracks appear in her mind, it gives her a sudden migraine. Since she's suffering from entropy, if someone is stuck in her pocket dream, it will eventually collapse and lead to her unconscious. Due to Islabelle's entropy, Crissy occasionally experiences an identity crisis where she's replaced by Islabelle, or gains traits of her
- Crissy resurfaces when she's unconscious
- She tends to not take her opponents seriously, so when they gain an upper hand she's taken off guard
- Because she's dead, she can't gain any more tarot tattoos because it requires both a body and a soul to gain them
Matchup Potential
Islabelle vs Spinel (Dreamwalker Felix vs Steven Universe)
(thumbnail by Vibe Check)
Vibe Check
Connections: Both are unhinged and deranged twintailed girls with appearances and personalities based off of older times (Islabelle’s 1800’s aesthetic and Spinel’s 1930’s rubber hose aesthetic). Both have abilities involving stretching and morphing their bodies in various ways. Although both characters were kind and born with incredible powers, they were frequently mistreated by those she thought she loved, ultimately leading them to remain in a dormant state for thousands of years as their happiness and sanity drifted away. But one day, they find a second chance in life when they learn of a descendent of the ones that hurt them (Felix and Steven). As they hunt them down and completely turn their lives upside down, they start to realize that they don’t want to hurt them as the descendants help them cope with their trauma.
Although Spinel only has a major appearance in the Steven Universe Movie and only appears in a few episodes afterwards, I’d love to see her on the show due to the memorable personality and abilities she has to offer. Her matchup range is unfortunately lackluster to say the least, but I wanted to pitch in what I consider her most fitting opponent. Islabelle matches up with Spinel to a T. She has Spinel's hilarious and spontaneously crazy nature, sinister and threatening power and rage, and a deeply tragic backstory pertaining to isolation, wrapped up nicely with an old timey aesthetic and wacky toony abilities to boot. Even the author of Dreamwalker Felix is aware of Islabelle's comparisons to Spinel (despite predating the SU Movie). But what can Islabelle offer to a fight? Quite a lot.
I just explained the entirety of Islabelle's current movepool, so you'd know that she has really creative potential on the show. Not to mention, the fight can function with Islabelle either confronting Spinel while she's sleeping to fight her in her powerful (but limited) projected form, or create a gateway for Spinel to enter the dream world at the cost of Islabelle using Crissy's vulnerable body.
Spinel is more so limited to her stretchiness, body morphing, and scythe (which normally wouldn't harm Islabelle, but seeing as it's a dream, she can make it seem like she was damaged by it only to throw Spinel off with a surprise attack), but she still has an immensely creative and versatile fighting style that could lead to some creative and entertaining exchanges and adding another layer to the visual flare the fight could have. There's potential for lots of wacky slapstick accompanied by scenes of genuine badassery.
The banter is highly complimentary, as Spinel would be on the more offensive end spewing wacky and harsh insults and phrases. Meanwhile Islabelle would completely underestimate Spinel, basically toying with her most of the time while remaining hyperactive and goofy with sinister moments sprinkled throughout. But given how strong Spinel is, I can see her pushing Islabelle to her limits, making her take the fight more seriously and making the tone of the fight even more intimidating. Aside from the physical comedy and banter, the fight could also be really funny with the frenzied expressions both can make. It could even have moments where it capitalizes their traumas. Lastly, the track definitely has to be some variation of electro swing, mostly taking inspiration from Other Friends but with a faster tempo and some chaotic moments I'd compare it to PIERRE JANET'S CRIMINAL DEFENSE by Ghost & Pals. Overall, this matchup goes reeeeally hard, despite it being virtually impossible.
In terms of the debate... it's really difficult to say. While Spinel easily outstats, Islabelle haxstomps. But when it comes down to it I'd side with Spinel. Islabelle has tons of ways where she can end the fight in one move: pulling out her gem with her perspective manipulation or telekinesis, erasing her mind, corroding her gem, etc. But judging by what I've learned about Islabelle's speed, Spinel is probably way faster. Islabelle definitely has ways of extending the fight with her regeneration, cloning, etc. but given how her fight against Ruzin and Mizran played out—a fight against characters that can bounce back from any injury thanks to how they can morph their bodies—Spinel might be able to outlast Islabelle's limits and deliver a fatal blow once she's fully drained. But it's still really debatable, and Islabelle can easily be argued as a winner too. I really wanna discuss the matchup with more people so I can figure out who could truly win.
NintendoRookie
Spinel vs Islabelle? Honestly, the matchup really fucking vibes for the most part (ha, your name has been reduced to a pun), like seriously, their aesthetics of rubber hose insanity and the way their personalities reflect this mesh together perfectly. The fight dynamic could go all-out with the crazy ways they stretch themselves out, and while I admit that Islabelle's side of the combat would be much more insane due to her array of abilities compared to Spinel who to my knowledge is limited to stretching and a scythe, you can clearly see the potential since their main gimmick is morphing their own bodies whatever way they want, with Islabelle extending this to the world around her. Then we get to the debate, which if I had to describe would be basically Dimentio vs Wilfre but Dimentio doesn't have any hax and just has a scythe. While it's hard to know the exact speed for the Dreamwalker Felix series as we don't ENTIRELY know the exact scope of the Dreamscape (although I think it's implied to actually be comsic to some extent), so we don't know the best way to estimate Islabelle's speed through traveling through the Dreamscape. Even then, as the most powerful potentially scalable feat we've seen is creating a country, Spinel dominates in the AP department, and possibly speed as well. But then you consider the fact that Spinel might not be able to kill Islabelle in the first place while Islabelle still has options for that, and the debate is an absolute stat stomp against an absolute hax stomp. I think it'd definitely be interesting to actually debate this with everyone else, and I'd love if we could look into Dreamwalker Felix more for stats, maybe figure out what a fair number for speed would be too
Overall, the matchup has good enough connections, a killer aesthetic, fight potential screaming "creativity" for meshing Islabelle's powers with Spinel's rubber hose body and the similar portrayals of how they actually use their abilities, and an actual debate here which can have more discussion than "stat stomp, moving on."
Andrex
Spinel vs Islabelle interests me because of the fact it's an actual good matchup for Spinel lmfao. Its connections work in the sense of the characters since they go deeply than most other Spinel MUs and it brings a fight dynamic very unique to other Spinel MUs with the old school aesthetic. Besides, it's super close as well from what I know. I think what just, stands out the most is the fight animation potential, given Spinel's rubberhose-like shapeshifting abilities and Islabelle's dream powers clashing, it could go pretty hard on that aspect.
Dick with a D
I'll be the first one to admit that I am in this mostly for Spinel. Being one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite series, I'm very excited to have a good matchup for what I consider a very fun character. That said I did get into Dreamwalker Felix through this matchup and I've really enjoyed what I have read. The personalities of these two characters mesh really well and you can do a lot for power interactions. Music potential is also off the charts as expected from a SU matchup. This is just a really great matchup and one I'd certainly want for a Death Battle.
NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it
