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[font=Monotype corsiva] ~ The Monsterworks: Ruination 4 Lineup ~.[/font]</big></big></big></big></big>
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LW:</big></big></big>
First, for some
entrance music!
Presenting the Sword of St. Angelo, the Shield of St. Michael, slayer of Mehmet's Moslem hordes, defender of Christendom, vanquisher of pirates, protector of Maltese virginity, smiter of heretics, master of the Chivalric Code, beloved of the Pope, the kings of Castile and Aragon, and all faithful Christian men and women who await God's kingdom, it's...
<big><big><big>La Valette!</big></big></big>
This Baroque bruiser comes armed with a massive <del>Sword of Christendom</del> <del>Muslim Mangler</del> <del>Jew Jeopardizer</del> <del>Heretic Harmer</del> <del>Pagan Punisher</del> <del>Hindu Hammerer</del> <del>Orthodox Obliterator</del> <del>Taoist Tormentor</del> <del>Atheist Annihilator</del> <del>Confucian Converter</del> <del>Rasta Wrecker</del> <del>Buddhist Batterer</del> <del>Shintoist Smasher</del> <del>Satanist Slayer</del> <del>Voodoo Violator</del> <del>Daoist Decapitator</del> <del>Zoroastrian Zeroifier</del> <del>Mormon Mulcher</del> <del>Hutterite Hurter</del> <del>Terrorist Terrorizer</del> <del>Scientologist Savager</del> <del>Druid Decimator</del> <del>Sikh Splatterer</del> <del>Wiccan Waster</del> <del>Jain Juicer</del> <del>Brony Bludgeon</del> horizontal spinning blade that will gleefully smite any who stands opposed to <del>God's will</del> me winning.
There isn't much of a chassis to speak of. This is basically a re-themed Atom (NoiseyGiraffe's old bot). The wheels are powered by hub motors, as is the weapon. The connecting spars are so large because they're hollowed out and packed with batteries and signal cables. This is pretty much the ultimate weapon on wheels, and that's how I've statted it.
3 speed / 1 traction / 1 torque / 17 weapon / 8 armour
La Valette is here to kill or be killed, but with as much weapon power and reach as it has, it should only need one or two hits to vanquish what are sure to be its many foes.
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MW:</big></big></big>
It was scarcely a day before a second red flower was placed and a second creation emerged from the works. Though its colours were largely the same, its approach was radically different. In many ways, it was a thematic continuation of what had come before it. In others, it was a reinterpretation. If nothing else, this new aberration was a testament to the importance of aesthetics and the <del>sheer edginess of its creator</del> [font=papyrus]primal fear attributed to the appearance of the human skull,[/font] or perhaps the feelings that it conjured. In keeping with a theme, the man in the frayed coat decided to name it...
<big><big><big><big><big><big><big>[font=vivaldi]~ Magnolia Pico ~[/font]</big></big></big></big></big></big></big>
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The hammer is double-sided, with one end (the top of the skull) being blunt, and the other (the 'thorn') being sharpened. These can be inverted before any fight. There is also a fixed ABR plow in the front that can be pressed into the ground by having the bot extend its rear pair of legs, effectively making it a 2WD wedge with a walker's weight behind it. This is to ensure that nothing will be able to get under Magnolia Pico head-to-head unless that's what I want.
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Magnolia Pico is debuting a new walking system that aims to improve upon, at once, the realism, mobility, and legitimacy of previous mechanisms. Each leg has three joints: the lowest has a 90 degree range of motion along the x-axis (left-right when viewed front-on), the middle one rotates 90 degrees along the z-axis, and the upper one, where the leg pod meets the body, rotates 90 degrees along the x-axis. Its primary walking motion involves the lower portions of individual legs swinging outwards while the upper portions rotate forward through ~90 degrees. The overall effect is a wave/undulating motion not dissimilar to that employed by centipedes. Its secondary walking motion involves shuffling to the side with a crablike motion. Its tertiary motion involves the lower joint of each individual leg swinging all of the way out and the upper joint going through 90 degrees so that the middle joint's aperture is directly facing the floor. This effectively allows Magnolia Pico to straighten its legs and 'stand', drastically increasing its ground clearance at the cost of making its gait much less effective. It can straighten any individual pair if necessary, particular for the purpose of pressing its wedge.
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This robot is able to self-right easily using its hammer, which is mounted on a platform so that it can swing down at opponents and hopefully over any anti-hammer defenses they may be utilizing. Additionally, Magnolia Pico has been designed with ample ground clearance so that it can scuttle off of wedges and so that it doesn't strand itself on its front leg protectors when pressing its wedge.
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5 speed / 5 Traction / 1 Torque / 12 weapon / 11 armour
The white skull is alternate to the grey one, and there are removable wedge teeth and a hammer blocker that you can find by clicking the title for a link to the album. The title, as always, is an album, and clicking it is highly recommended. The red text is a link to a song. It really hits its stride at about the 3:30 mark. Thanks for looking. Oh wait...you thought I was done? How cute.
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In the first of its two alternative configurations, it becomes, Magnolia Magnifico, an 8 power turret flipper, also benefiting from weapon armour on the flipper, to give it a nice, meaty, 13 armour plow.
5 speed / 4 Traction / 1 Torque / 12 weapon (8 flipper / 4 turret) / 11 armour
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In its final configuration, it becomes a Complete Control style clamp and flamer on a turret, known as Magnolia Morte. The lifter, clamp, and turret, are all fast, at five power, and the flamethrower has the informal maximum of 3 power.
5 Speed / 4 Traction / 1 Torque / 12 weapon (9 lifter/clamp/turret + 3 flamethrower)
If these pictures aren't clear enough, I strongly recommend clicking the title for an album with more.
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<big><big><big>
HW:</big></big></big>
The works had fallen <big>[font=papyrus]silent[/font]</big>, their assets sold, doors padlocked shut, windows shuttered, and furnaces cold. Their four great smokestacks stood like sentries, but there was nothing for them to watch over. The hum of life and activity that had once characterized this place was a thing of the past. People passed by the old workshop, appreciating its wrought iron gates, admiring its splendid Victorian era brickwork, remembering a time when it had been the birthplace of nightmares made metal. Over time, memories became legends and legends became myths.
Until they weren't anymore.
A single, loud clank emanated from the cavernous interior, followed by a second. A bright light flickered to life amid mountains of machinery, burning into the night. More followed it, racing from one end of the shop to the other. A man in a frayed black jacket, a red flower in his lapel and a scarf swept jauntily over one shoulder, scurried from machine to drafting table and back again, checking, testing, scribbling, and erasing. He fumbled with a lighter, and suddenly, the yawning maw of one of those furnaces was lit with hungry fire. The derelict chimneys rumbled to life, belching black smoke into the predawn sky. Pistons, flywheels, and presses clicked and whirred. And something was born - no, not created, for Monsterworks machines aspire to be something more than lifeless steel. It was something diabolical. Placing the red flower atop this first of his new monsters, its creator named it...
<big><big><big><big><big><big><big>[font=vivaldi]~ Magnolia Grande ~[/font]</big></big></big></big></big></big></big>
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Equipped with dual counter-rotating blades chain driven by a single enormous radial engine through a series of idlers, Magnolia Grande boasts impressive durability, horrifying destructive capabilities, and virtually insurmountable range. The blades can be reversed before fights so that they spin inwards or outwards, or both in the same direction, creating a strong gyroscopic pull to one side.
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The exhaust pipes for the massive radial that powers the weaponry are mounted at the rear of the robot. The entire chassis is also segmented and different parts are shock-mounted, allowing it to flex with impacts and hopefully absorb incoming damage better than it otherwise would.
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The track pods provide a wide stance for stability as well as rapid turning and a zero turning circle. They are designed to have many redundant rollers that protrude above and below the protective armour. If the treads are disabled, the machine can still run (albeit less effectively) on these rollers.
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The robot is fully invertible and quite low to the ground. It has a fairly large footprint, even moreso with both of its blades spinning. The tips pass only a couple of centimeters from each other, but there is no danger of them colliding.
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<big> 4 Speed / 2 Traction (incl. tracks bonus) / 1 Torque / 17 weapon (-1 dual weapons) / 7 armour</big>
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<big><big><big>
SHW:</big></big></big>
Just when you thought it was safe to go outside...
The works were really chugging now, churning out new machines at a rate that could only mean one thing: a tournament was coming soon. The man int he frayed jacket decided to revisit an old design, and a particularly destructive one that had never quite made good at the highest level. Reviving it wouldn't be particularly difficult. He already had the blueprints. Yes, three deadly blades. Hmmm. Hexagons. Treads for extra grip.
Yet, there was more that could be done to take one of the most destructive machines in the history of the sport to the next level. The man worked until the sun set and
the moon rose, bone white, into the star-filled sky. When he was finally finished, something new but familiar emerged:
<span style="display:block;text-align:center">
<big><big><big><big><big><big><span style="font-family:copperplate gothic bold"><span style="color:powderblue">Howler III</span></span></big></big></big></big></big></big>
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Howler III uses a tread system like the previous version, but this one is at once heavier-duty and grippier than before, providing an extra point of traction and being a bit more resistant to being torn off. It's also designed so that Howler can still move (albeit poorly) on its rollers if the tracks are... forcibly removed.
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Four blades. Why? Because coverage matters. It's now harder than ever to hit the treads without Howler turning a couple of degrees and erasing you from existence.
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In terms of weight class, this one will go where it needs to go in R4. As for Howler III's stats? Well, how about...
3 Speed / 2 Traction (incl. tracks bonus) / 1 Torque / 17 Weapon / 8 Armour
Oh yeah...there's one more thing...
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Yup, that's an 18 power (with the bonus) hammer.
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Aaaaand this is a dual hammer. All one piece, just two hammers, for weird coverage and more flopping around.
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<span style="display:block;text-align:center"><big><big><big><big><big><span style="border:2px dotted red"><span style="color:red"><span style="font-family:Monotype corsiva"> ~ Ridiculum et Terribilis ~<span style="color:indigo">.</span></span></span></span></big></big></big></big></big></span>