Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Ax Arcenast Gears Up for DEATH BATTLE!

               

Ax Arcenast, the Vigilant Firefighter

Steamgear Inc. was created by Snuffysam, it can be read on its own website or Webtoon



Welcome back to the blog! As a 3D animation student, I have great respect for anyone who sinks their teeth into making 3D projects that aren't related to games or animation. Completely 3D webcomics with original assets are hard to come by, so this one really stuck out to me. Add in my love for steampunk and you've completely sold me on it. Let's see what Ax is all about!

Background

"My brother's legacy is worth a million times more than what you will ever be!"

Welcome to Steamgear Incorporated, a massive corporation responsible for practically every widely used invention in the world. They've built glamourous locomotives, high tech record players, and most notably their large variety of weapons called Steamgears. Outside of their groundbreaking inventions, the second thing Steamgear Inc. is most known for is the crimefighters that work under the company name, Steamgear Defenders. Defenders are bona fide steampunk superheroes who use their Steamgears to stop lawbreakers and uphold justice. If you aren't dreaming to get your foot in the door into the inventing world, you're most likely hoping to be a Steamgear Defender. At least, that's what Ax Arcenast believed at first.

Alexandra Cadogan Arcenast is an Irish-American born and raised in Wyoming with her brother Hatch. Ax was always an optimistic ray of sunshine who always brightened her brother's day. She may be impressionable and idealistic, but she's also very shrewd and stands up for what's right when no one else is willing to. She greatly looked up to her inventor brother, wanting to follow in his footsteps to become a Steamgear Defender. After their parents died in a horrific fire, he designed an advanced fire extinguisher so no one would have to experience what happened to their family. This invention is what landed him in Steamgear Inc.'s Oasis Campus so he can continue building world-changing machines—and is the Steamgear Ax currently possesses.

She decides to surprise her brother by arriving at the campus to experience a tour. On her way, she crosses paths with a mysterious barkeep named Nell who tries to swindle her like she has done with other Defenders. However, Ax's blind optimism and righteous acts inspire Nell to join her on the tour to see what lies behind Steamgear Inc.'s door. Unlike Ax, Nell believes the Steamgear Defenders aren't all they're cracked up to be. In fact, some are quite lousy...

Ax marvels at every gizmo featured during the tour and befriends a few cool Defenders on the way. Suddenly, a Steamgear goes haywire and the Defenders are unable to stop it with their combined efforts. When no one else tried to help, Ax jumps into the fray and singlehandedly stops it herself. For her valiant efforts, she is rewarded with what she desired the most. She relished the moment of sheer happiness when she finally became a Steamgear Defender. Everything was perfect… until she asked about her brother's whereabouts.

As it turns out, when Hatch was accepted into Oasis Campus, he was lumped into the Bright Minds program to keep coming up with brilliant ideas for all kinds of inventions. The program was extremely demanding, so much so that he quite literally worked himself to death. His corpse was used as fertilizer for a giant tree in the center of the campus and was swiftly forgotten about.

Truly, Ax was enraged by this news. The campus' administrator wrote it off as entirely voluntary and choosing Steamgear over his own life, but it was clear to Ax that the program is what killed him. On the turn of a dime, the Defender friends she made at Oasis turned against her and she had to fight each and every one of them. Thankfully, Nell decided to team up with her. Now that both really knew what was going on behind doors, they couldn't just stand around and let this slide. Thus, they beat each Defender on campus and beat its corrupt administrator Phillip Driver.

Now, Ax and Nell are wanted women. In order to clear their names, Ax came up with a plan to ask Steamgear Inc.'s CEO Thaddeus Thinner for help. Phillip was a bad apple, but Thaddeus is the most beloved man on the planet and a rich supergenius. Surely he can get rid of the corruption in his corporation. Nell is certainly more suspicious of him than Ax is, but she takes part in the plan regardless. As it turns out, Ax was wrong about him. Removing Phillip from the company would set the company's innovation backwards, and that's something he can't risk in spite of his program's backwards morality. In the end she had to rescue Nell and collaborate with a duo of robbers to escape him.


Equipment


Custom Steamgear Arm Cannon

Anyone competent enough in this world owns a Steamgear, their weapon of choice. Ax is no exception. Her Steamgear was designed by her brother Hatch; it's a modified fire extinguisher taking the appearance of an arm cannon. Its ammo contains foam made with a chemical formula  that repairs fire damage at a molecular level. Sounds like a pretty nifty fire extinguisher, right? More on that later. She can fire the foam in front of her, or under her to launch herself into the air. She can even spray foam to mask herself from her opponent or shoot other objects from the cannon. The ammo can be used as small spray cans. Destroying a single piece of ammo unleashes an explosion of foam. Ammo can also be cracked open to wield like a broken bottle. The arm cannon itself can also be used as a gauntlet.

Matches

Ax has 48 matches on hand in case she needs to cauterize wounds with them. Then she heals the spot with her Steamgear.


Abilities


Un-Burning Foam

Ah, yes, the bullshit. Remember when I said that the foam repairs damage done to fire? Weeeeell, I didn't mention everything. You see, Ax's steamgear's foam doesn't just repair fire, it repairs ANYTHING at the cellular level back to its original state. If I had to compare un-burning to another fictional power, it would be Crazy Diamond from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Wanna know what sort of tomfuckery this entails? Here's a list of every instance she un-burned something

Strategism and High Intelligence

She may not be as smart as her brother who built a Steamgear, but she more than makes up for it with battle strategy and quick thinking. She picked up a lot of obscure trivia from Hatch, which is surprisingly incredibly useful when she has the power to revert anything back to its previous state. Her level of big brained ass-pulls feels like something straight out of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure!

Acrobatics

Ax and Hatch grew up in a forest, so there wasn't much for them to do. Ax found entertainment in scaling trees. That paid off quite well, as Ax is very agile and acrobatic. Her Steamgear helps with that since it can launch her into the air.

Techniques


N/A


Feats


Overall


  • Defeated the criminal Ro Terry and his goons, fixing the cell tower they tampered with for years so people can rely on them for repair jobs instead of Steamgear. 
  • Figured out how Nell was cheating in a game of pool, and bested her by cheating in return
  • Shut down a haywire Steamgear with her melted arm, un-burning it into a non-skeletal arm so it could fall onto its button. She accomplished this while the Steamgear Defenders Stud, Piques, and Claudette couldn't
  • Defeated the corrupt coal-fueled captain of the Oasis Campus Defenders, Claudette Claudette, crushing her under the weight of coal
  • Beat Isaak Piques, the privileged ice-bearing Steamgear Defender by filling his body with the cigarettes he oh-so loved
  • Defeated the remorseless administrator of Oasis Campus, Phillip Driver, and his advanced Steamgear mechanical suit. The fight resulted in nearly 20 million SteamBux in property damage
  • Correctly deduced that Thaddeus Thinner was on his way to his apartment via a train, and snuck onto the triple-decker Grand Continental Express to intercept him
  • Squared off against the Gilded Bandit Dimitri Drill
  • Defeated Corporal Malcolm Mallet, the Steamgear Defender who takes the moral high ground, by using him as an electric conductor
  • Saved the nearly dead Nell and Dimitri after their fight with Steamgear Inc. CEO Thaddeus Thinner

Strength


Speed


Durability


Weaknesses

  • Ax's overly idealistic and optimistic behavior and blind her from the bigger picture at times
  • An advanced analytical engine determined her biggest weak point is subsurface nerve damage near her cheekbone. Granted this was scanned directly after her fight with Claudette, but attacking that area was the best way to neutralize her with his Steamgear at the time
  • Ax isn't the best at making split-second decisions, preferring to think things out first
  • She often draws a lot of attention to herself with her rash decisions, which eventually led to her being wanted by Steamgear Inc.
  • Even after learning about the horrible things going down in Steamgear Incorporated, Ax is still too trusting. She thinks that seeking out Thaddeus can solve all her problems, when for all she knows, Thaddeus could be the worst of them all
  • Un-burning can't revive something that has been killed
  • Her brother's invention may be brilliant, but it has one drawback. Many chemical reactions only work in certain temperature ranges. In the case of the Steamgear, it can't work in freezing temperatures.

Matchup Potential


Ax Arcenast vs Brigitte Lindholm (Steamgear Inc. vs Overwatch)

(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

The connections are as follows: Both are aspiring fighters who grew up surrounded by steampunk tech. Both want to follow the footsteps of an inventor family member and join a fighting force organization. Both are lovers of tech with hearts of gold who are determined to get their needs met, and they prove themselves as worthy heroes. Upon reaching that point, they realize that the organization they wanted to join is corrupt in some way, and seek to fix it. Both of their main abilities are mending things and people.

Ax has fought against many characters with high tech gear before, so fighting one of the more low tech characters in Overwatch seems fitting. Heck, Ax even fought someone that wielded a flail like she does. There could be a gag where the two sustained a lot of damage and pause to heal themselves. Ax's un-burning could be used in completely breaking down one of Brigitte's weapons into its bare essentials, but perhaps even that isn't enough to take her down. There also aren't any fights I can think of that had a steampunk aesthetic. Closest we got was with Dio vs Alucard in its Victorian battleground. There's a lot of cool environment usages that can be done with a steampunk environment, especially considering how Ax can use it to her advantage by un-burning certain things and tricking Brigitte into getting harmed by them. Something I'd like to be shown in the fight is their comparison in intelligence. Both are smart, but Brigitte's knowledge lays more in her mechanical skills while Ax's relate more so to her battle strategism.

Even though Ax has way more useful hax, I'd imagine Brigitte speedblitzes her.

NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it

Saturday, September 9, 2023

Lucy Goes Berserk on DEATH BATTLE!

              

Lucy, the Legendary One-Eyed Menace

The Legend of Lucy was created by Dylan Durmeir it can be read on Comics Break



Welcome back to the blog! Lately I've been ambitious with a lot of my blogs. A completed Webtoon series with lengthy chapters, my longest blog focusing on a haxed up duo, and even my first blog where I researched a movie as much as I did the comic. I needed something more grounded for me to regain my energy, and that's when this series came to mind. The Legend of Lucy is an easy read with a digestible length and a lovable protagonist with a simple but cool powerset. However, once I returned to this series, I made a discovery that the webcomic has a few lost chapters on the Wayback Machine. I was prepared to brush them off as non-canon, but they frequently reference events that appear in the present series. Thus, I saw it fit to cover them. However, one story remains lost: Lucy Gaiden. I was able to get in contact with the author  and asked him about it (props to him for answering some questions about Lucy), and he said it isn't canon anymore and will be replaced by a new story. Along with that it can't be pulled from the backup at the moment, so for the time being it will remain lost media. Regardless, there's still more than enough juicy content for me to cover on this blog! Without further ado, let's see what makes Lucy so legendary.

Background

"So here I am, the only thing keeping this guy from falling to his death, and he takes a swipe at me! Can you believe it?"


Picture this: You're a criminal mastermind who's made quite the name out of yourself. You've led successful heists, have an armada of minions at your beck and call, and your firepower is so threatening that the nation can't even lay a finger on you. Today is just like any other, robbing a bank with the gang. Easy as taking candy from a baby, right? Just when things seem so simple, your entire squad is knocked out by an odd-looking pig girl. Standing at 4 ft, weighing at 128 lbs, and wearing nothing but rags and a biker jacket, she doesn't seem intimidating in the slightest… yet something about that look in her only eye makes you feel a sense of dread. As if the entire empire you built was about to fall in this very moment…

This is Lucy, a notorious bounty hunter who has made it increasingly difficult for criminals to thrive. She's a mercenary, adventurer, and treasure hunter all in one package, drifting from place to place to make dough by beating people up. She's basically a living action hero! Emphasis on hero since unlike most bounty hunters she takes a vigilante-like approach to it. Her heroic acts made her have a decent relationship with the police, allowing her to avoid arrest on multiple occasions.

She may look like a hog, but she actually hails from a race called orks. They're a race of beefy powerhouses bred for murder that are infamous for their participation in the brutal Dragmyre War. Lucy may be powerful in her own right, but she's a black sheep compared to her kind. She denies the bloodthirsty part of herself, not taking pride in killing others. Instead, her personality is outwardly chipper. She still has a tough attitude, but she's still outgoing and kind to others. She also tends to come across as naive due to her sheltered upbringing.

There are many tales told of the notorious crooks and mobsters Lucy has caught, yet her origins are often shrouded in mystery. Not even the story of how she lost her eye is known. What's currently known about her is only bits and pieces of a bigger story. She was abandoned as a child and was found surviving in the jungle by a soldier. Taken back to their base, and was trained for war. At the time, she was known as Rosethorn, a name reviled by many orks. She may have tried to bury her past, but the orks never forgot the one who betrayed her kind, opposing them during the war. She believes that her past has shaped her into someone best fit as a mercenary, as if it was a destiny she couldn't go against.

Her past experiences have led her to become very insecure, especially about being an ork. You wouldn't know it due to her casual attitude, but it's been internalized for a long time. Thankfully, she'd meet someone she feels totally accepted by: a goblin named Glenda.

After settling down in Demonhead City, she saved Glenda from being mugged. Lucy was nervous about being friends with a civilian, as she was afraid Glenda would be scared off by her profession or be put in harm's way because of it. Surprisingly, Glenda was okay with it. Although it made her a target of kidnapping by Lucy's enemies, it made her life far more exciting than it has in ages. They did have a falling out once when it was revealed that Glenda kind of based her friendship around secretly studying ork biology, but they made up afterwards.

After going through hell and back together stopping the up and coming ork criminal overlord Carmack, Glenda asked to join Lucy on her adventures, and the two have been partners since. Glenda helps Lucy on the sidelines, relaying information and strategies to her while she does all the heavy lifting. Lucy's on the road again, but this time she isn't alone. She wouldn't have it any other way.


Equipment


Horns

Mess with the bull, you get the horns… wait, pigs don't have horns…

Sword

She occasionally brings real and model swords to fights. They have a habit of breaking

Glenda

Ever since the gearhead gobbo Glenda became Lucy's partner in crime, she's has taken an Otacon-like role on the side. With Lucy acting as her eyes and ears through inventions (I'll get to shortly), she can easily relay info and plans to Lucy. She also helps behind the scenes like tracking down targets for Lucy.


FP-Gear Mk. 1

An advanced eyepatch engineered by Glenda. Not only does Lucy's eyepatch hide her missing eye, but it also has a hidden camera for Glenda to view what Lucy sees. The camera has a 15 mm fixed lens with a f/2.0 aperture, 1/3000 max shutter, and runs on 1080 p and 60 fps. It runs on a power crystal and also has a thermal imaging camera and a microphone.

Comgear Mk. 1

A phone made by Glenda for Lucy so she can be in contact with her at all times. It has typical phone functions like games and map information, but instead of being something she can pocket, it's a device that fits on her wrist for convenience. The outer casing of it is very sturdy. It's bulletproof, has a 750 lumen flashlight, and a large expansion port. It runs on a 12 x 1.75 GHz CPU and a blast processor and has a dual band GPS, near-field communication, and a radio transmitter.


Abilities


Ork Physiology

Orks are known for being powerhouses. They're naturally physically strong, immune to illnesses,  and can digest nearly anything without a hitch (i.e. she can't get food poisoning or drunk easily). Aside from being a berzerker (more on that later), the only other difference Lucy has compared to other orks is her height. She has stunted growth due to being born with Higgins Syndrome. It should be noted that orks bleed green.


CQC

Don't let her short and stout size fool you, Lucy isn't to be trifled with on the battlefield. She's a gifted fighter who can take on dozens of people just with her hooves. She may have never had formal training in martial arts, but her raw strength is enough to beat foes in a blow or two.

Weapon Mastery

Lucy generally doesn't have any weapons on her person. However, she's prone to taking weapons from recently defeated enemies or utilizing any dangerous objects lying around to dish out even more pain. She's proficient in swords, axes, knives, bats, and machine guns.

Berserk Mode and Temporary Statistics Amplification

Lucy is a berzerker, a rare type of ork born with glands that can trigger a berserk state. Under moments of intense stress, she enters an enraged state that increases her adrenaline and boosts her power and stamina tenfold. This is signified by her hooves, horns, and eyes glowing green.


Techniques


Spinning Galaxy Kick

One time she tried to replicate an attack from one of her favorite movie. It was surprisingly effective


Feats


Overall


  • Claimed a bounty after beating up a criminal ape and his cronies, then immediately after rescued Glenda from two thugs
  • Beat up five brainwashed dinosaur guards
  • When she was held up by Cheech, a big triceratops she'd later befriend, she slipped out of her jacket, hopped over her, and threw her overhead by the horns
  • On K'orut Island, she killed the Garwor overlord—who was the last of his kind—and rescued the villagers he brainwashed into being his guards
  • Survived an explosion contained in a building by hiding inside a freezer
  • She famously caught the infamous criminal and self-proclaimed nemesis of Lucy, Rachel Giallo. She was the head of a notorious criminal sanctuary. She was considered such a threat, that it took the surrounding nations to hire many mercenaries in an attempt to take her down. Lucy was the one who put her behind bars. However, what most don't know is Lucy beat her by strangling with her loincloth after it was pulled off
  • Stopped two thugs from robbing a convenience store
  • Took down the notorious criminals Skoon and Peabo
  • Took down the group of five goons that burned her house by blinding one with her horns, simultaneously knocking out two with swift kicks, throwing a goon at one of the people she kicked, and knocking out the leader with one of the criminals' bats
  • Broke out of captivity after entering her rage mode and killed the madman who was torturing Glenda
  • Defeated the ambitious drug trader and fellow ork Carmack, who rallied all the gangs in the city to take it over
  • Lived up to adulthood in spite of having Higgins Syndrome—a rare condition that stunts the growth of 0.6% of orks. In most cases, orks with this affliction are abandoned and left to die
  • Made it to the quarter finals in the 240th Golden Fist tournament despite having no formal martial arts training. She was the first ork contestant in over 50 years. Among the people she beat was Pauline Ikari, who starred as Princess Shooting Star in her favorite movie. Her victory was accidental, as Ikari bodied her before Lucy realized who she was and caught her off guard during her fangirling, leading to her getting a ring-out win

Strength


Speed


Durability


Weaknesses

  • Lucy is more brawn than brains, as she never went to school. Sometimes she really comes across as clueless
  • She's quick to make decisions, some of which can be pretty dumb. She brought a display sword to a fight once, she should've known that would've been pointless
  • It's easy to manipulate her, like how the ork crime boss Carmack lured her to his hideout after allegedly kidnapping Glenda
  • Without her berserk mode, it's hard for her to defeat opponents that tower over her. When it comes to that, she tries beating them through any underhanded tactic that's available to her
  • Her berserk mode is incredibly stressful on her heart, and can kill her if she stays in it for too long
  • While her strength may carry her through fights, her lack of martial arts training makes her moves predictable to anyone particularly experienced

Matchup Potential


Lucy vs Val (The Legend of Lucy vs Val and Isaac)

(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

This matchup was introduced to me on this blog's Discord server (which y'all should totally join btw) and I vibe with it!

It basically boils down to one-eyed webcomic bounty hunting ladies in duos who are the primary fighters within them. I haven't read Val and Isaac yet so I can't say for certain if there is much else that matches, but it sounds decent enough.

While I haven't read Val's series, I did stumble upon a respect thread detailing her verse's feats (which I'd recommend reading if you're interested) and she seems to be a mainly ranged fighter, owning a lot of advanced guns. There aren't many matchups out there that put a character skilled in close range combat against someone with an abundance of guns, so I'm getting some Rocket Raccoon vs Stitch energy from this. The debate seems interesting too at a glance since Lucy resists some of the effects of her guns like the poison one and can easily deflect bullets…… but then I got to the black hole gun. GG.

I'm unsure if either of Val's partners can be included in the fight, but it could be neat with Glenda being involved.

NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it

Emperor Schorl is Fearless in DEATH BATTLE!

                     Emperor Schorl, Lord of the Rats In Our Shadow was created by Kitfox Crimson, it can be read on DeviantArt and  Webtoo...