Gnu

Gnu

Attempted self-analysis:

Gnu is a heavyweight, that, unlike his stature would suggest, is highly nimble and can easily beat out stall strategies. He is almost exclusively short-ranged, but has the speed and agility to close the gap against most opponents. If the opponent somehow manages to evade Gnu for extended periods of time, he can use Compile to gain a fearsome speed boost, or use Emacs to eliminate the advantage the enemy gains by camping.

In hand-to-hand combat, Gnu is mediocre, but gets the job done. His jabs and tilts may not have the best startup, but they have short endlag, denying the enemy chances to punish Gnu on reaction for his moves. Gnu doesn't have the ability to combo well, but his high knockback lends to his ability to break stalls by forcing the opponent out of advantageous positions. At high percents, these same neutral tools become potent finishers, allowing Gnu to make quick work of damaged opponents. Shields, a common cornerstone of defensive play, are easily defeated by Gnu's grab, his quickest move, which leads into a very damaging pummel and decent throw resets.

Gnu's air game is inferior, but if he needs to, he can battle aerial opponents. There is larger endlag on all of his aerial moves, but they operate similarly to his other moves. Alternatively, Gnusteps allows him to set up temporary platforms in the air, letting him fight air battles on more familar territory. Bash is slow, but is an option that ledge campers and recovering opponents must respect, lest they get KO'd by a large spiking projectile.

Gnu's stallbreaker abilities come at a cost, of course. His moves are relatively laggy, allowing dedicated brawlers to beat him to the punch with ease. If Gnu ends up above the opponent, his large frame and floatiness, together with his inferior aerials, make him easy to juggle. And Gnu has few combo options, making it harder for Gnu to work his opponent up to the crucial percentages where Gnu can knock out the opponent. Gnu players must be able to respect the opponent's damage output and Gnu's own mediocre damage output, and against aggressive players, maneuver the game so that Gnu is going up against defensive, rather than offensive, play.

Medium-large frame
High weight
Medium fall acceleration
Medium-low maximum speed
Medium-high friction
Medium air control
1 midair jump

Walk: Medium-fast.
Dash: Medium speed, and highly nimble. 20 frames of turnaround.
Roll: Gnu rolls in his egg. Intangible frames 3-17, ends on frame 30. Medium-high distance.
Spotdodge: Intangible frames 2-16, ends on frame 24. A lock appears if an enemy puts a hurtbox where Gnu is during intangible frames.
Airdodge: Intangible frames 2-28, ends on frame 31. A lock appears if an enemy puts a hurtbox where Gnu is during intangible frames.
Jump: Medium-low. Active frame 4.
Shield: Gets in an egg, whose properties are like Yoshi's egg.

Jab: Horn spear. Slight disjoint. Active frames 6-14, ends on frame 28. 7 damage, moderate horizontal knockback.
Ftilt: Headbutt. Active frames 12-24, ends on frame 34. 16 damage, high horizontal knockback, can KO at 150.
Utilt: Horn jab up. Slight disjoint. Active frames 10-19, ends on frame 33. 19 damage sweetspot, 13 damage sourspot, both high vertical knockback, can KO at 140.
Dtilt: Lowers head to the ground, then sweeps up with horns. Slight disjoint. Active frames 8-14 early, 15-25 clean, ends on frame 35. 11 damage early, 16 damage clean, medium horizontal knockback early, high diagonal knockback clean.
Dash: Tramples over the opponent. Active frames 10-11, 16-17, 22-23, 28-30, 34-35, ends on frame 48. Each hit 5 damage, slight diagonal spike.
Fsmash: Turns around and does a back kick. Active frames 16-24, ends on frame 40. 18(25) damage, high diagonal knockback, can KO at 110.
Usmash: Gets up on hind legs, and headbutts upwards. Active frames 13-18 ascending, 20-26 headbutt, ends on frame 42. 3(4) damage ascending, 15(21) damage headbutt, ascending connects into headbutt, headbutt high vertical knockback, can KO at 115.
Dsmash: Gets up on hind legs, and comes back down with a bodyslam. Active frames 18-28, ends on frame 40. 15(21) damage, moderate knockback down, 5* hitstun.
Nair: Spins around. Active frames 7-20, ends on frame 31, land 14. 7 damage, slight knockback inwards.
Fair: Horn spear in front. Slight disjoint. Active frames 12-24, ends on frame 36, land 16. 10 damage, slight horizontal knockback, can KO at 150.
Bair: Back kick. Active frames 9-13, ends on frame 35, land 16. 14 damage, high diagonal knockback, can KO at 130.
Uair: Upwards horn spear. Slight disjoint. Active frames 11-20, ends on frame 34, land 22. 9 damage, high vertical knockback, can KO from up throw at 140.
Dair: Downward kick. Active frames 10-17, ends on frame 40, land 22. 9 damage, strong meteor smash.
Grab: Bites the opponent. Active frames 6-12, ends on frame 35.
Pummel: Bashes opponent into the ground. Active frame 12, ends on frame 35. 4 damage.
Fthrow: Tosses the opponent forward. Active frames 20-30, ends on frame 48. 11 damage, modest horizontal knockback, but strong knockback growth, can KO at 130.
Bthrow: Turns around and tosses the opponent back. Active frame 35, ends on frame 55. 9 damage, good horizontal knockback, but low knockback growth, can KO at 200.
Uthrow: Throws opponent upwards. Active frame 10, ends on frame 25. 8 damage, modest vertical knockback, low knockback growth.
Dthrow: Body slams opponent. Active frame 20-50, ends on frame 70. 10 damage, good diagonal knockback, grows slowly.
Ffloor: Back kicks at both sides, and gets up. Active frames 10-16 front, 20-26 back, ends on frame 35. 11 damage, very strong diagonal knockback.
Bfloor: Turns over while kicking with all four legs, and gets up. Active frames 10-22, ends frame 30. 6 damage, good vertical knockback, but doesn't grow.
Tfloor: Same as Ffloor.
Edge: Spins around while getting up, doing a back kick. Active frames 17-24, ends frame 35. 11 damage, very strong diagonal knockback.
Nspecial: Emacs. When first activated, this move copies the nearest enemy's special. The special copied is the one corresponding to the direction the control stick is tilted when the special is active, or neutral if the control stick was at neutral when active. Subsequent uses use the copied special move. Directable forward specials use the direction the control stick was tilted when the copy was activated. Taunting will erase the copied move and allow Gnu to copy a different move. Active frame 35, ends on frame 50 for copy, usage depends on the opponent's move.
Fspecial: Gnusteps. Generates a series of platforms in the direction the control stick is tilted, starting fron under Gnu. They last 8 seconds, and they don't count as ground; if Gnu hasn't contacted ground when they disappear, he can't make more. If interrupted, step generation halts, but currently existing steps stay. Active frames 10-50, ends on frame 60.
Uspecial: Bash. Launches a short distance, and summons a large projectile that falls with gravity. It falls with the same properties as Gnu, and disappears when it hits a surface. Active frame 30, ends frame 55. 4 damage, moderately strong meteor smash.
Dspecial: Compile. Chargeable move; when released, Gnu gains increase walk and dash speed and higher weight for 10 seconds depending on how long the move was charged. It has 5 levels: 1 second for -O0, yielding +10%, 3 seconds for -O1, yielding +25%, 6 seconds for -O2, yielding 45%, 10 seconds for -O3, yielding 70%, and 15 seconds for -Ofast, yielding 100%. Charge is stored, and instantly cancellable. Activation active frame 25, ends frame 30.

Up taunt: A halo with three squares, resembling the Gnu Octave logo, floats above Gnu's head.
Down taunt: Gnu pipes together some boxes, referencing the Gnu project's ubiquitous libraries.
Side taunt: Gnu holds a road sign that looks like Bazaar's logo.