Smashy the Rabbit
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Yoinks! Smashy's first film. | |
| Smashy the Rabbit | |
| Player: @SusieBot | |
| Origin: | Science |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | War Mace/Super Reflexes Brute |
| Threat Level: | 7 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Smashy the Rabbit |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Cartoon |
| Age: | Confidential |
| Height: | 5'6" |
| Weight: | 100 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Yellow |
| Hair Color: | Purple |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | None |
| Occupation: | Cartoon, Criminal |
| Place of Birth: | Hollywood, California |
| Base of Operations: | None |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None |
| Known Powers | |
| Reality Alteration, Cartoon | |
| Known Abilities | |
| None | |
| Equipment | |
| Hammer | |
| No additional information available. | |
Smashy the Rabbit is an attempt to create a "mad villain" in the same vein as the Joker, albeit less psychotic and more wacky that genuinely dangerous. He is not so much "evil", as he simply applies the logic of the cartoon world to the real world, with disasterous results.
Contents |
Personality
Smashy the Rabbit is, in a word, surreal. A wisecracking rabbit with a procilivity for non sequiters and bizarre behavior, he is happy go-lucky, mischievous, and takes great delight in tormenting overly-serious individuals. He is also doggedly persistent -- since his cartoons always ended with him winning, Smashy believes that the eventual outcome of any situation is victory.
Powers
Reality Alteration
Smashy is only loosely bound by the rules of physical reality in this dimension. At times, he can accomplish feats of amazing strength and agility, deform his body to bizarre proportions, completely defy gravity, or produce objects from nowhere. These abilties, if unchecked, would make him incredibly dangerous. He has been known to produce giant hammers with which to smash people and property, drop anvils and pianos on civilians, or elude capture by painting a tunnel onto a wall.
Fortunately, he is bound by some rules -- the rules of cartoon logic. He can defy gravity, but only until he notices he is flying. He can only produce a giant hammer when it is funny. And, while he can not be permanently destroyed, he can be hurt quite badly. He has at times been reduced to a skeleton, a pile of ashes, a flattened version of himself, and a pile of goo.
Smashy is not a skilled fighter. However, he is exceedingly quick and creative, applying his reality altering skills in bizarre combinations to disable foes. He will slap, pinch, poke, and prod, in addition to creating props that can be quite painful for the victim.
Cartoon
Despite the fact that he has been projected into the real world, Smashy retains some properties of cartoon-ness. He can distort his body to bizarre proportions, allowing him to unexpectedly dodge blows. He can survive horribly traumatic injuries (provided he takes the time to do a double-take), ranging from incineration to having his head caved in. He is also naturally hyperactive and frenetic, making him exceedingly difficult to get a bead on.
Equipment
Hammer
Smashy's weapon of choice is a large wooden hammer. Like Smashy himself, the hammer defies most physical laws. Realistically, it is too big and unwieldy to be used as a weapon, but Smashy wields it deftly. It can also be produced as if from nowhere...Smashy will generally reach behind him to retrieve the hammer, and then strike after a suitably dramatic pause.
Character History
Creation
The late 1940s and early 1950s were the heyday of animation in Hollywood. Several competing studios were producing stables of animated characters that starred in short films, and eventually transitioned into the burgeoning medium of television. These animated shorts were madcap, often violent, and featured humor that appealed to both adults and children.
The Bungle Brothers studios, founded by two (unrelated) animators dismissed from existing studios, was a dark horse operation that pushed the edge of acceptability in animated features. Their cartoons were often slightly more violent, and slightly more innuendo-laden, than existing fare. As such, the studio seldom met with much success, though they were embraced by counter-culture and avant garde communities. The main star of their shorts was Smashy the Rabbit, a wise-cracking trickster that lived for mayhem.
The bulk of the Smashy shorts feature the rabbit attempting a mundane activity (shopping for groceries, buying a car), but thwarted by an authority figure. The two most prominent of these figures were Officer Mugg (an Irish police officer) and Mister Meekley (a wet rag of a character cast in a variety of professions). The shorts proceeded through a game of one-upsmanship, with Smashy's antics becoming increasingly violent, until the entire setting (supermarket, car dealership) was destroyed by one of his schemes.
The Smashy cartoons, especially the later ones, were admired for their surreal visual poetry and bizarre sense of humor. Smashy cartoons (somewhat censored) became a staple of children's programming in the late 1970's, often bookended by insipid new animated sequences featuring Smashy conveying a socially responsible message.
Smashy was just one member of the Bungle Barnyard of animal characters. Other Bungle Brothers creations include Horny the Bull (later changed to "Torro"), Blackie the Cat, Harilyn Honey (Smashy's on-again, off-again girlfriend), Cheddars the Mouse, Rakov the Russian Lamb, and a host of lesser characters.
Into the Real World
Smashy the Rabbit would have remained firmly in the cartoon world if not for an unknown super-villain. Some time in 2007, a mad scientist operating in the Rogue Isles created a "Fiction Projector" that transferred concepts from the dimension of ideas (the contents of which are altered by the thoughts of the collective consciousness) to our own. The device was used only once, translating Smashy from an old movie reel to this world. The process was never re-created -- the scientist attempted to incarcerate Smashy and, in typical Smashy fashion, the episode ended with the scientist's hideout collapsing, killing him and destroying his research.
Since that time, Smashy has been wandering around the Rogue Isles and Paragon City, taking in the sights and getting into trouble. In time (actually, just a couple of days -- his attention span is fairly short), Smashy began to miss the other Bungle Barnyard characters, and began to develop a scheme to recreate the Fiction Projector and bring them into this world. Unfortunately, such research requires a large amount of funds. Fortunately for Smashy, his moral flexibility and unique abilities make him ideal as an enforcer or operative for any one of the Rogue Isles' criminal entrepeneurs.
Re-animated
Smashy apparently met his demise when, while investigating the mad professor Dr. Aeon, he was doused with Wite-out. Witnesses report that Smashy dissolved into nothingness (as opposed to his usual near-death experiences, which generally leave a carcass, a puddle, or some ashes). He was not seen for a span of several months.
Smashy suddenly re-appeared, somewhat weakened from his previous condition, but back to his madcap antics. He claims to have been playing in a Mariachi band in Puerto Vallarta for several months. This story is considered unlikely.
When asked about his confrontation with Aeon, Smashy said only "Of course you realize that this mean war."
Re-Re-animated
Approximately one hour after his previous re-arrival on Mercy Island, Smashy vanished once again when an Arachnos flier crashed into a hot dog stand (it's better not to know). And once again, Smashy went missing for months.
Recently, Smashy re-resurfaced, equipped with a much more majestic hammer. Smashy claimed that he had been swept away to Valhalla, the warrior's paradise, and that the hammer was a gift from Thor, God of Thunder. He further insists that he is trapped in a marriage of convenience to a Valkyrie named Helga, who serves only mead and smoked fish for every meal. This story is considered unlikely.
Smashy has been somewhat more cautious since his re-reappearance, insisting that Helga will "get everything" if he dies.
Re-Re-Re-Animated
Just kidding.
Trivia and Musings
Costume
It is surprisingly difficult to make a cartoon character in City of Villains, mostly due to the limitations of the body slider. Honestly, if I could just give Smashy big huge feet (and sneakers without socks), the costume would be complete. My only other complaint is the lack of boogly eyes as an option. The Galaxy Glasses are currently stunting in for boogly eyes -- I don't think it quite comes across, and Smashy ends up looking more sinister than intended. The creepy smile doesn't help.
Inspiration
Obviously, Smashy is a riff on Bugs Bunny, mashed up with Tom and Jerry (for the over-the-top violence). The actual concept of a cartoon creeping into the real world reeks of Roger Rabbit, but I really don't like that movie. In actuality, Smashy was inspired by Loony Leo from Astro City (and if you haven't read Astro City, you should -- even if you don't like comic books).
I love the concept of a cartoon projected into the real world as a villain. It's a very Silver Age concept, and would never fly in modern comics -- modern comics are too grounded in real life to allow such a ridiculous notion. But back in the day, Captain Marvel or Superman would have had a fun, ridiculous romp against such a villain.
The End
Inspired by Marvel's "The End" series of comics, and a thread on the official forums, I once formulated a "The End" type scenario for one of my characters. As the notion strikes me, and a character seems worthy of it, I will sometimes tack one on.
Smashy's is pretty obvious -- clearly, the culmination of his antics is the complete and utter destruction of life on our planet. And probably the planet itself. It certainly wouldn't be intentional. Longbow would be pursuing him into a series of caves after one caper or another, where a mad scientist was creating the Earth Smasher, with which to ransom millions of dollars from the citizens of Paragon. The scientist would try to stop Smashy, Longbow would try to stop Smashy. Everyone's in the room fighting when Smashy sneaks out of the melee, sidles over to the Earth Smasher, and says:
"Gee...I wonder what this button do?"
Cut to the utter destruction of the planet, and Smashy spinning through the vacuum of space, with a bashful, "Ain't I a stinker?" look on his face. The last panel is probably Smashy drifting into the tractor beam of an approaching alien ship.
Musings
I don't think that anyone is shocked by the popularity of the Brute class -- in my opinion, it is the most ridiculously fun-to-play and viscerally satisfying class in CoX. That being said, I very rarely play them -- until Smashy, I found it very challenging to conceptualize a Brute character. And even Smashy isn't a Brute in the dictionary sense, but the addition of super reflexes as an option for brutes has rendered "Brute" somewhat erroneous.
Neither War Mace nor Super Reflexes seem to be highly thought of as options for Brutes. I've not had enough experience with War Mace to have an opinion one way or the other -- I will say that I've found it to be satisfactory as a Brute weapon thus far.
Super Reflexes, though...ahh, super reflexes. It's one of those powers that you either love or hate, and I personally love it. Yes, it can be a harsh mistress when your luck fails, but the upside is a complete immunity to...well, everything. Toxic damage? Not a problem. Psychic damage? Not a problem. The secondary slowing effect to Fortunata mind blasts? Not...well, you get the idea. The rule of thumb seems to be one point of Defense is two points twice the resistance. Given the ancillary benefits, I'm not sure I subscribe.
Mind you, Smashy's only at level 7. So this could be a complete disaster -- stay tuned, twue bewievers.
More later, as I accumulate thoughts/complaints on Smashy, Brutes, and life in general.
