Glitter Slays DEATH BATTLE!

     

Glitter, the Zombie-Hunting Unicorn

Hooves of Death was created by Sam Bragg, it can be read on Webtoon

Welcome back to the blog, which has just surpassed 1,000 views in total! I can't thank all of you enough for giving my niche little corner on the internet attention. Hopefully, my blogs will have gotten you interested in matchup potential for the characters—or even checking out the series for yourself! To commemorate this milestone, along with my venture into the double digits, I decided to do something special. I've been asked from time to time "Vibes, what's your favorite webcomic?" My answer is Homestuck, but that's way too complicated to tackle when I'm this new to making documents/respect threads. Since this concluded recently, I figured I should cover the protagonist of my favorite Webtoon series instead: Hooves of Death. As per the usual, lengthy bio and spoiler warning ahead. Now, time to discuss one of my favorite protagonists in all of webcomics.

Background

"It's all that I have left. Hope… and my friends."

Humanity is a blemish on the planet they call home. For every genuinely peaceful person, there are hundreds of selfish and greedy ones that seek to harm others and the environment. Fate above decided that humanity had run its course, and it was time to start anew by sending the Four Horsemen to Earth to wipe out humanity to make a better world. Famine rotted millions of crops and kept the remaining humans starving. War caused endless destruction and conflict in his wake. And worst of all, Pestilence unleashed a plague that spread like wildfire, turning humans into ravaging zombies. The apocalypse would be complete once each horseman has claimed their steed—increasing their powers tenfold—and enacting their assigned duty. But then there's Death, who has not yet claimed his steed, nor set the souls free of everyone trapped in their walking corpses. Due to his hesitance, the apocalypse persisted for a long time…

However, humans are not the only ones suffering from the apocalypse. There are many factions of magical creatures that thrive on the planet, but in their own hidden pockets. Fae, gnomes, sirens, even dragons roam the Earth. All have been punished for hiding from humanity instead of stopping them from digging their own graves. That brings us to the unicorns, a race of magical horses who are immune to the zombifying virus. They've set up a safe zone for humans and unicorns alike. Its most prominent figures are its leader Commander Sprinkles, the medic Blaze, and the spunky Sergeant Glittering Sky.

Don't let her pink mane fool you, Glitter isn't all sunshine and rainbows. She's a brazen battle-scarred mare who's willing to fight to protect the ones she loves. Her brother died and her father vanished when the apocalypse began, so she wants to defend humans and her remaining loved ones so they don't end up like her folks. While tenacious and supportive, she can be pretty reckless at times, and her rash decisions are what changed the course of her life forever.

Instead of running drills with her squadron, Glitter brashly elected herself to scout for food. There have been rising tensions between the unicorns and humans due to the former species' authority. The humans grow enraged when all Glitter brings back is Kate, a rebellious human girl she saved from zombies and a mysterious hellhound. As the unicorns were addressing the shortage of food, their safe zone was invaded by zombie gnomes who terrorized and infected the residents. Glitter tried to help best she could, but Sprinkles sacrificed himself so she, Kate, and Blaze could flee together.

While searching for a new home, they encounter the hellhound that attacked Glitter and Kate. Calling himself Grim, he's a servant of Death that seeks to eliminate Kate. As he attacks, he's ambushed and trapped by a mysterious unicorn named Silver, who turns out is War's steed. He warns them about the horsemen, and that Death has yet to choose a steed of his own. Since Death has yet to carry out his job, Silver requested Glitter and her gang to help him seek Death to force him to end the apocalypse, as Pestilence will never cease his plague. Interrogating Grim, he explained that Death hadn't chosen his steed yet to prolong humanity's suffering, and that Kate has evaded Death for too long.

The gang decided to keep the hellhound prisoner and force Grim to help them locate his master. The unicorns conjured a magic collar around his neck to keep him from disobeying them. And thus, the group set off on a journey to find Death, encountering villages of magical creatures along the way. They even meet the lazy and snappy horseman Famine, who's been chilling ever since she starved the planet. She told them Death is located in Las Vegas. Not only that, but she told the group that Fate showed them the girl that would be the key to ending the apocalypse: Kate (explaining why Grim was after her). As the journey progressed, Glitter grows a closer bond with Kate. The two had a rough start, but they bonded over their shared losses of their families, and Glitter helps her deal with the overwhelming pressure of being the one to end the apocalypse. Eventually, they'd be as close as sisters.

Later on they're confronted by War and Pestilence's wicked zombified steed Blight, who seeks to bring Kate and Glitter to his master alive. Grim was forced to stop Blight from kidnapping her and Silver fought against War. Unfortunately, both were killed in the process. It was a sad moment for the herd, undermining the fact that Silver's death broke the spell keeping Grim leashed to them, so he pretended he was still under their control as the journey progressed.

The rest of their trip to Vegas was filled with twists and surprises. While Glitter was sent to rescue the fae queen, she discovered both fae and unicorns were having their magic conquered by one of Pestilence's minions by removing just enough of it to turn them into zombies capable of thought. Among them, she found the undead Commander Sprinkles. As Glitter was rescuing Sprinkles and the queen, Grim made his move to eliminate Kate. Thankfully, the apocalypse trained her well and she was able to best him, forcing Grim to flee, never to be seen again for a while.

In the wake of a fight against a horde, Glitter is ambushed by Blight. In a shocking twist, he reveals that he was her missing brother Starlight, who feels like Glitter and her father abandoned him. Unknown to her, Blight was suffering from the fade, which had previously claimed their mother thanks to the decrease in the world's magic. But now that Pestilence has turned him into a zombie, he never has to fear death again. He now seeks to turn Glitter as well so she won't fade either. Pestilence has… different plans. Glitter is imprisoned, though a mysterious crow tries to open the cell before fleeing when Pestilence shows up. She isn't given the opportunity to escape before being brought to Death, who surprise surprise, was never in Las Vegas to begin with. Pestilence orders Death to kill her to prove his allegiance to him… because Glitter is Death's steed. This enrages Blight, killing her wasn't the plan at all, and he turns on his master. In a turn of events, Death asks Blight to free her. After undoing her bonds, he faces Pestilence head on to distract him while she flees.

Glitter manages to escape, but is now all by herself and has no clue how to return to her herd. The crow who tried to free her before shows up… who turns out to be Grim…… and Grim was actually Death the whole time. Death is pretty complicated. He hasn't claimed Glitter all this time because he came around to believing humanity doesn't deserve what Pestilence put them through and wants to end the apocalypse. Yet he questions if his purpose truly is to kill humanity and doubts he can live with that guilt of potentially wiping everyone out. Despite his actions, he's warmed up to the herd—even considering Glitter his first friend—but he doubts she will ever agree to being his steed. Ans boy is she rightfully pissed when he reveals himself to her. Gone is the trusting and naïve unicorn that she was before. She's full of rage directed at the horsemen for completely wasting months of pain and loss when they could've ended the apocalypse right then and there. Thankfully Famine is here to break the two up, and decides to introduce Glitter to her steed Sunshine—who turns out to be Glitter's aunt—to help her come to terms with her role as Death's steed.

The group goes to a unicorn sanctuary Famine has been secretly running with Sunshine, where it's revealed Glitter's father dwells. He became too entangled with assisting running the sanctuary to return. Even after heart-to-hearts with both of them and hearing Death out, she's still too stubborn about trusting Death. Before they could wrap it up the sanctuary was attacked by zombified fae, who could infect unicorns. Sunshine and Glitter's dad succumbed to the plague. With all that remains being revenge, she agrees to be Death's steed to end the apocalypse once and for all. Amidst all this, Kate and crew found their way to Glitter (all of whom having gone through their own complicated arc) and the human and unicorn reunited at last.

With the group back together, they amassed an all kinds of magical creatures and the friends they made along the way to storm Pestilence's castle. Before facing Pestilence, she had to let go of Blight—well, now Starlight. He was willing to sacrifice himself to weaken his master. It was a painful goodbye, but ultimately it was his choice. Glitter and her friends finally arrived at Pestilence's chambers to duel him. Even with Starlight's sacrifice, Pestilence bore all the power of everyone's souls claimed by his infection. At last, Death mounted Glitter to unlock her steed form, and they fought off Pestilence. It was a brutal and long fight, resulting in Sprinkles' permanent death and Kate losing an arm to stop herself from being infected. Ultimately Death finished him off, freeing all the souls trapped within him.

After besting Pestilence, it was up to Glitter and Death to reap the souls trapped in every single zombie. When they returned to Kate and the others, Glitter lost her steed form. The horsemen's role on Earth was through, and it was time for them to return to Fate for whatever role they may play next. With a bittersweet farewell, Famine and Death faded away…

Many years in the future, the world has been rebuilt. Glitter has returned to her lively and positive self. Her and Blaze's herd has grown exponentially, full of unicorns free as can be. She still bears the scars of the past, but that's all it is: the past. Now, she can focus on her bright and peaceful future. Kate remained by her side all this time, aging unlike the pure equines. As she watches them frolic through the fields, a familiar hellhound appears in front of her.

Equipment

Horn

Her horn is an essential part of unicorns. Not only can they channel magic spells through them, but they're really sharp. Glitter uses it to skewer and slice through deadheads like butter.

Grenades

As much as she doesn't like them, having grenades on hand is helpful for dealing with hordes. She wears a collar she keeps a few grenades on. She has a limited supply, so she has to use them wisely.

Hooves

Reminder that being trampled over by a horse is really fucking painful. That could get you sent to the hospital, or worse!

Magic Compass

A compass created by the Fae Queen to direct Glitter to what she needs the most

Abilities

Magic

Unicorns are inherently magical beings, and all are capable of powerful magical abilities. She's able to channel most of them through her horn. Unicorn magic is based on purity, growth, and healing, but that's not all she's capable of. It should be noted that just because Glitter is a unicorn, that does not mean she's capable of the kinds of magic other unicorns show. There are higher degrees of magic that Glitter can't perform like teleportation or fire manipulation. However, Glitter is capable of drawing from Death's power to enhance her magic. The following is a list of all her magic powers:

Levitation

Whatever she levitates is surrounded by blue magic flux.

Magic Barrier Negation

If she is trapped within a barrier made of magic, she's able to open it with ease. Glitter is also able to sense when she crosses the threshold of an invisible magic barrier.

Shield Generation

She can create a magic shield around herself. She can hold it for a minute.

Magic Slash

Glitter can make concentrated magic swipes that can cut through things.

Commanding Collar

A spell that requires the magic of three unicorns, a collar is placed on the target. Whoever wears the collar has to do everything she and the other unicorns say. If they disobey, the collar will tighten. If it gets too tight, I'm sure you know what happens next. She's able to make the collar loosen or tighten on command. It's only able to be removed if the spell is lifted or one of the unicorns dies.

Magic Beam

Of course she can fire magic beams from her horn!

Light Manipulation

She's able to make balls of light with her magic

Illusions

On the unicorn holiday Yulicorn Day, there's a tradition where an illusion spell is casted onto a log sculpture where an acorn is inserted into it, and it becomes a cupcake on the other end. However, the cupcake is still just an acorn, it looks like a cupcake because of the illusion. She hasn't showcased any other illusion spells.

Signal Beam

She creates a large signal to request pegasi to come to her location. Given the state the world is in now, it took them hours to notice.

Illumination

She can simply make her horn glow to light up a dark area.

Crystallization and Durability Negation

Glitter's most devastating ability: she's able to completely turn others into solid crystal, bypassing their durability. She unlocked this power shared by her father when cornered by the zombie unicorns

Magic Bonds

She can restrict people with her magic

Resistances

Zombification resistance (Unicorns can be mauled to death by zombies, but being bitten won't turn them into brain-eaters due to life magic coursing through them. That is, unless it's a fae or unicorn zombie)

Vampirism resistance (A unicorn's horn is the only cure for vampirism, so unicorns themselves wouldn't be able to turn. Not to mention, unicorns are able to break out of a vampire's thrall through experiencing pain, so they have a higher tolerance of not a vampire's thrall after the blood bond is broken than humans do)

Immortality (Type 1)

Unicorns can live forever unless they are killed.

Immortality Negation

The only ones capable of actually killing the immortal horsemen are their own kind and unicorns.

Steed Form

Glitter's gothic transformation she gained once Death rode her for the first time. She doesn't need Death riding her to be able to use this form, but it's only available to her if the apocalypse still persists. Outside of flight, it mainly boosts her magic abilities and stamina and provides her with fire manipulation.

Techniques

N/A

Feats

Overall

• She's competent enough of a leader to not only be a sergeant for the safe zone's unicorn army, but eventually became the head of her herd, despite it being a dominantly male role
• She managed to escape the safe zone and the pegasus kingdom when they were overrun by zombies
• Starting in Idaho, she went on a journey that spanned months to reach Las Vegas
• She figured that her group were being held captive by a vampire in a brainwashed safe zone, and broke her gang out of there with Grim's help
• Glitter held on her pegasus signal from sunset to when the stars came out
• She saved the fae queen from being turned into a zombie, along with the zombified Sprinkles
• She's capable of wiping out groups of zombies with her crystallizing attack
• She fought Blight, who's capable of higher magic techniques like teleportation
• Helped amass an entire army of magic creatures and staged an attack on Pestilence's castle
• Despite her own problems with them, she was able to convince tons of magical creatures to trust that Famine and Death would help them
• Aided Death in killing Pestilence
• Flew across the whole world for weeks to help Death free the souls of every infected
• Glitter is one of the few directly responsible for ending the global zombie apocalypse

Strength

• Her grenades cause small explosions, leaving craters behind (wall level)
• She can slice through zombies in half with her horn (street+)
• She scales above Blaze, who was able to toss Grim over treetops with ease
• She scales above Sprinkles, who created a large town-sized barrier (shoutout to Gucci for letting me know the barrier is 3200.4 meters long).
• She destroyed a tree with a magical blast (small building)
• Glitter's levitation is strong enough to lift a boulder about as large as herself (class 1 lifting strength)
• As a steed, she should be comparable to Silver, who helped War destroy nations, and was able to fight War head on (it should be noted of the context of that statement, as there have been cases where Silver and War directly cause destruction, but others where they influence war and fights among humans by flying overhead. Given what we see of the world Glitter and Death traverse while freeing the souls, it's more likely the horsemen aren't capable of blowing up countries with their power alone)
• When she first unlocked her crystallization power, she channeled a giant light beam starting within the bottom of a canyon could be seen from above its peak
• She's capable of crystallizing large hordes all at once

Speed

• She outran one of her grenade explosions (at least supersonic+)
• Scales to Silver, who fought War, who can move as fast as a blur (subsonic)
• Scales to Kate, who was able to react to and Blight's magic attack, which has electric qualities
• Scales to Death, who could slice through Blight's spells

Durability

• Survived being mauled by Grim
• She endured being pinned under the sorceress in her bear form, which was much larger than her
• She was unaffected by Pestilence's energy blast, which destroyed the enchanted prison bars in front of Glitter
• She and Death were slashed out of the air by Pestilence when he was the size of a building

Weaknesses

• Her horn is her most trusty asset, but also her greatest weak point. A unicorn's horn is the source of their magic, so they would instantly die if it were broken. Horns themselves are durable enough to clash against blades, but enough force to smash one would kill them
• While unicorns are immune to zombification, that isn't the case when faced with zombified fae or unicorns
• She doesn't know how to read, nor does she know a lot of human customs
• Glitter can make hasty decisions and is too trusting of others, though her experiences with Death and her herd shaped her to be much more wary of these faults
• She can exhaust her magic output, and will need to recharge later
• Magical creatures are dependent on nature's magic. Without enough magic in the world, they start to fade out of existence. That's how Glitter's mom passed away, and what Starlight was experiencing before being zombified

Matchup Potential

Glitter vs Glitter (Hooves of Death vs Glitter: Survivor of Earth)

(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

I find it hilarious that two webcomics exist starring a survivalist masculine unicorn that fight through a zombie apocalypse that threatens both humans and magical creatures AND HAVE THE SAME NAME. I like the contrast in personalities: whereas HoD!Glitter is openly kind and protective, G!Glitter is an angsty asshole who wants to be on his own and purposefully acts like an emotionless macho action hero. I'd imagine the fight would when G!Glitter mistakes HoD!Glitter for one of the ones responsible for the apocalypse and she has to defend herself. While the fight has the connections, banter, and the vibes going for it, there's one thing that majorly holds back this matchup for me. Glitter: Survivor of Earth stopped updating in 2018… right when G!Glitter showcased his first magical power: creating a rainbow bridge. I wasn't that into the webcomic, but it's a shame it stopped updating right as the dynamic started showing more potential. In the rest of the series, G!Glitter's an entirely physical fighter, and rarely uses magic because of how frilly it looks. At the very least, his fight potential can make the fight surprisingly gruesome and gory and have it play out like Frank vs Leon where the two fight each other while fighting zombies.

As for who wins, Glitter absolutely outhaxes. They may have similar AP and dura, but she should outspeed too.

Glitter & Kate vs Horse & Rider (Hooves of Death vs Centaurworld)

(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

Connections: Two survivalist and aloof girls and their faithful talking magical equine steeds that do their best to combat a deadly apocalyptic world. Both horses get separated from their riders and go on their own journey that is both wholesome and dark. One partner gets stuck in a mysterious and magical dimension and the other is captured by a main threat and kept prisoner before escaping. Both steeds are stubborn to accept their situation and want to reunite with their rider to help fight in a war. Meanwhile their rider thinks about their steeds just as much as their horses do for them, wanting to be them again. However, by the time they all find each other again, one of the pair has gone through immense physical changes after living in another world for so long (Kate is a few years older after living in a world where time is faster, and Horse became toonified after staying in Centaurworld for a while). All four have gone through traumatic experiences and revelations, gaining new abilities and appearances, having a new perspective on the world, and making new unlikely allies.

This matchup is uniquely thematic because the horses have more in common with the humans on the opposite teams (Glitter & Rider and Kate & Horse), which could make for some really interesting interactions. While Glitter and Death are the primary pair in the finale in her steed form, she's capable of using that form without needing Death to ride her at least while Death still has to carry out his duties, so I could see it being included towards the end of the fight. It's primarily a fight on horseback with the horses shooting out magical attacks. Granted Glitter has more deadly spells, but Horse should have enough to make the dynamic decent. Plus, there could be a moment where she hops into Glitter's head to find a way to beat her, freezing her in place, which causes Kate to lash out at Rider to get her to bring Glitter back to normal. If the fight took place in Centaurworld, the episode could even have a musical aspect to it since Centaurworld residents have broadway force. I'd imagine Horse has way higher durability thanks to repeatedly falling down from the atmosphere, but Glitter is better in every other category. Especially considering Glitter can negate her durability with her crystallization. I wouldn't say Horse or Rider really scale to the insane feats Nowhere King is capable of.

NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it