ZONE DEFENSE

Blitzwing
Ground and Air Commander

“Destroy first, think later!”
What’s that in the sky? It’s a plane! No, it’s a tank!? NO! It’s BLITZWING, FOOLS! Master of air and ground combat, Blitzwing is a jack of all trades, AND a master of all! At least, that’s what he wants you to think.

That’s not to say Blitzwing isn’t highly skilled, on the battlefield, he’s one of the best Decepticons out there. His mastery of air and ground is also second to none, but Blitzwing himself is no strategic mastermind. In fact, he’s a brash, loud, rude idiot who nearly every other Decepticon hates with a passion. He’s only kept around due to his prowess, which means that Blitzwing’s closest ally is the heat of war itself.

However, recently, Blitzwing has undergone an odd mutation. Different aspects of his personalities seem to come to the forefront, sometimes he has the ice-cold personality of a strategist, other times he’s a burning bundle of rage, and sometimes a raving loon who thinks he’s hilarious. With this mutation came the addition of unique ice and fire based powers, which have made him even more of a deadly warrior.

This, of course, doesn’t mention Blitzwing’s wonderful starring role in the classic Transformers episode “Triple Takeover”. In the episode, he (And his other Triple Changer “friend” Astrotrain) manage to take control of the Decepticons. It doesn’t go well. Blitzwing ends up taking over a football stadium, and taking advice from a football coach. The entire thing is hilarious in how stupid it is.

Blitzwing’s appearance in Smash Bros. mostly reflects his appearance in the original cartoon series, rather than his latest (garbage) Generations toy.

Tech Specs
Strength – 8
Intelligence – 5
Speed – 9
Endurance – 8
Rank – 6
Courage – 7
Firepower – 7
Skill – 7
Smash Stats
Weight – 135
Dash Speed – 1.45
Walk Speed – 1
Air Speed – 1.25
Fall Speed – 1.95

It’s worth noting that Blitzwing’s Speed stat in his Tech Spec specifically refers to his Jet mode’s incredibly rate of Mac 2.7 travel, and not to either of his other modes. Anyway, Blitzwing stands slightly taller than Ganondorf, and as wide as Bowser, making him an absolutely massive target. Luckily, his weight surpasses that of even Bowser, making him a lot tougher to knock around, even with his size. His ground speed is rather lackluster, mostly coming from his large size, but his aerial movement is stunning, some of the best in the game. His first jump is decent, perfectly serviceable, but his second jump is pretty pitiable. Not exactly what you’d expect from a ground and air commander, huh?

Specials
Neutral Special – Blitz
Blitzwing, in a surprisingly quick animation for his size, transforms into his tank mode, and fires out a single, purple laser blast from his tank turret. The blast is large, about 2/3rds the size of a Party Ball, and has infinite distance. It’s also rather slow, slightly faster than an uncharged Charge Shot. It is rather powerful, obviously, it’s a tank shot, dealing around 10% damage with rather harsh knockback that can KO at the early 90%s. The time the shot takes to fire is rather brief, comparable to a moderately charged Samus Charge Shot in terms of lag. There’s also a slightly longer end lag than start-up lag, as Blitzwing goes from tank to robot. Blitzwing CAN fire multiple blasts, however, by quickly pressing the special attack button a few frames after the blast fires. He can only shoot 3 before he has to switch back to robot mode automatically. With each shot, the damage lowers, going from 10%, to 5%, to 3%.

Now, if you squishies haven’t noticed, Blitzwing is a big honkin’ tank when this happens. The tank is large, as stated previously, about half as tall as Blitzwing’s robot form, and about 1.5 Bowsers wide. Due to it’s flat shape, it can actually be used as a platform by other opponents, which they can attack. Luckily, in any vehicle mode, Blitzwing gains 25% superarmor, which does instantly regenerate whenever he goes back to robot mode, making him incredibly tough to get through. It’s like trying to take out a tank with an energy slingshot, literally! He doesn’t retain the superarmor during animations where he transforms into a robot, however.

Anyway, the point is, by holding the special attack button, Blitzwing can delay his shot, leaving him in tank mode for a moment. During this delay, Blitzwing can adjust his angle, or move back and forth. Movement wise, his tank mode is slightly slower than his usual speed, and has a bit of a delay before changing directions. It also can’t turn around, and since the cannon will always be facing the direction Blitzwing was when he started the move, that might end up being a bit of a problem in some cases. He can, however, aim his turret up and down, going from any point between its original position, and facing directly upwards. Blitzwing can sort of aim in between shots, but the total amount of times means you need to be quick if you want to change angles. Blitzwing can only adjust his aim for a short while, however, about 1.5 seconds in total. You can just fire it off by letting go of the button, too. Blitzwing can also cancel out of the stall by quickly tapping the special attack button twice, causing him to enter the laggy ending animation.

Blitzwing’s tank mode has slight momentum based properties, interestingly enough. You’ll come across it rarely, due to Smash 4 not really having many slopes, but going on a slope will actually substantially increase the tank’s top speed. Not by a lot, but it is very noticeable, especially when the tank gains a large, purple aura in front of which end is travelling downwards. This shows that the tank has become a hitbox, which causes 7% damage, and buries opponents. The burial time is over instantly, but the opponent will remain buried until Blitzwing passes over them. Basically an aesthetics thing more than a mechanical thing.

So what, this is just a rather mediocre projectile, and a bunch of stuff about a tank!? Come on, Blitzwing can do better than that! So, what if you double tap the special attack button instead of just holding it? Blitzwing will catch on FIRE, of course! This mainly means tapping the button during the transformation animation, but double tapping is an easier way to describe it. This actually activates a brief hitbox that bursts from the tank model, slightly larger, and more ovular than the tank, but has high knockback that causes 6% damage. You can also hold the button down, which, of course, lets you delay the fire and aim. Since the tank is on fire, any opponent who now tries to stand on it will bounce off, taking 3% damage with fixed knockback that mostly just allows them to escape the burning machine. Wimps! C’mon, TAKE THE HEAT! Running them over with the tank boosts the damage to 10%, and instead launches opponents upwards.

This fire mode isn’t all blastboxes and fixed knockback, though, as the projectile has now been completely changed from the normal mode. Instead of a single, slow moving projectile, Blitzwing now fires a MASSIVE STREAM OF FIRE from his turret! This blast only reaches forward about 3 Battlefield platforms, and is actually taller than Blitzwing’s tank mode by just a bit. This means, of course, that it is very large. It behaves like a slightly weaker version of Samus’ Zero Laser, meaning that opponents who are hit by it will be stuck taking damage until it ends. The damage, in this case, is 2% every other frame, meaning that it totals up to 15%, for 15 frames of the attack. After the move finishes, any opponents who get hit by it will be launched at upwards, forward angles, which can KO at 80%. And yes, Blitzwing can aim this devastating blast. Master of ground to air combat!

This, of course, also comes with a price. The first back draw is that he can’t fire it multiple times, obviously. The second is hefty amounts of lag, both starting and ending. Starting lag wise, it’d ridiculously telegraphed, taking 20 frames to actually fire, while a large fire effect gathers around the turret. Ending lag wise, not only do you have to watch the already slow ending transformation, but you also need to sit through a slightly shorter animation where Blitzwing shakes off the flames, which also results in a brief hitbox, similar in both animation, and size to the one when he catches on fire. This hitbox, however, is more fitted for his robot mode, only does 3% damage, and has much less knockback. It’s basically a way to knock punishers off during the last handful of frames.

The other massive drawback to the move relates to Blitzwing’s Superarmor. See, it only recovers at around 1% every 30 frames Blitzwing remains in robot mode. Using the Fire Mode will actively cause damage to Blitzwing, dealing 5% every time he uses it. For every 5 frames Blitzwing remains in Fire Mode, he’s take 1% damage. This, of course, tallies into the Superarmor, so when he runs out of Superarmor, Blitzwing will begin to take damage himself. An extreme risk/reward situation, but by Primus, Fire Mode is powerful!
Those two hitboxes, as well as the ending lag animation for it, are consistent across all moves relating to the fire, as well as another thing we’ll get into. So yeah, Blitz is a perfect ground-to-air projectile, with its versatile aiming, and its powerful alternative fire. Tank mode is perfect for approaches, also, with the super armor and hitbox once it goes down a slope. So get out there, and GET BLITZING!

Wait, what’s this? MORE STUFF TO EXPLAIN!? Yes, now that we’ve explained how Blitzwing’s tank mode works, we can get into another one of his gimmicks: Transformation Combos! Transformation Combos are very simple, they let Blitzwing freely go from one Tank Mode attack to another, removing any lag that came from the actual transforming part of the move. I mean, why would Blitzwing go from Robot Mode, to Tank Mode, back to Robot Mode, and then to Tank Mode if he’s already in Tank Mode? It also resets the time he can stay in Tank Mode, so that’s fun! The main problem is that it takes some quick reflexes to perform, as you need to input another move before going into the transformation animation. In the Tank Mode’s case, these moves consist of: Neutral Special, Down Special, Dash Attack, Down Smash, Down Air, Back Grab, and Down Grab. There are a few special cases here, mostly the Down Air and Grabs. You can only activate the Down Air while, obviously, in the air, which means you’re going to have to drive off a cliff to perform it. For the Grabs, you obviously can’t grab an opponent while in Tank Mode, so you’ll have to start out with those. We’ll get into those more later on.

There are two very major downsides to Transformation Combos, however. The first is that you can only use each attack once before you’re forced to go back to robot mode. And when you do shift back, it will take 1.5x the amount of lag it usually does when you end the move. The second downside is that you can’t enter Fire Mode while doing it. Fire Mode only covers one move plus the movement you get in Tank Mode. After that one move, no matter if you moved around or not, Fire Mode will end, and due to Transformation Combos cutting off the frames where you could reactivate it, that means you only get it once per vehicle shift.

Up Special – Alley-oop
In another quick transformation animation, Blitzwing transforms into his jet mode. He then rockets up, and performs a loop-de-loop. The loop-de-loop acts similarly to Meta Knight’s Shuttle Loop, in a pretty obvious connection. There are several hitboxes to this attack, the first being the actual launch, which is then followed by the loop, and then the continued rise afterwards. Each of these hitboxes deals 2%, with it usually being able to max out at 10% if the opponent is caught in it from the start. The launch will bring Blitzwing up around 2 Ganondorfs in height.

When Blitzwing reaches the apex of his launch, he will perform a small loop, and enter a glide. Yes, it’s the return of the gliding mechanic, but in a much different way. This glide is much more controllable than any from Brawl, as Blitzwing is able to turn around during it. He cannot, however, alter his trajectory like in Brawl, but the glide can be cancelled at any time by inputting any attack other than the standard A press. Blitzwing glides down at a fairly slow pace, comparable to Ganondorf’s walk speed, but aerial and downwards.
Like the tank mode, Blitzwing’s jet mode acts as somewhat of a platform, around the same size, but without the turret to make it more complicated. Opponents can stand on it like any normal platform, though it acts as a solid, meaning opponents can still attack Blitzwing while he’s in jet mode. If you press the standard attack mode while in jet mode, Blitzwing will fire a missile at a downward diagonal angle. This missile is around the same size as Samus’ missiles, but looks more like a cartoon missile, with a color scheme matching Blitzwing’s purple and beige. The missile flies at the maximum speed of Samus’s missiles, and has infinite range. When the missile hits, it deals weak knockback that KOs at 250%, as well as 3% damage. There can only be one missile fired at a time.

The jet mode follows the same rules as the tank mode does when it comes to Transformation Combos. It will flow into other jet based moves, but only during the gliding portion. This can complicate potential combos, but will leave you with a good amount of combo openers. The moves Transformation Combos apply to while in jet mode are Up Special, Side Special, Up Smash, Forward Aerial, Up Aerial, and Up Throw. Like with the tank mode moves, these will be covered later on.

Jet mode also has a similar effect to Fire Mode, this being Ice Mode. Its activated the same way, by double tapping the attack button during any jet based move. This has Blitzwing spontaneously cover himself in ice, with an icy aura coming off of him. This follows most of the trappings or Fire Mode, including the damage it deals to Blitzwing himself. Basically, if it applies to the Fire Mode, it is there in Ice Mode. The only thing keeping it from being a straight up reskin of Fire Mode is that the damaging hitbox around the tank is replaced with an ice surface effect on the jet. This acts like ice regularly does, but twice as slippery. If Blitzwing is moving in jet mode, the opponent will not be able to stand on him. It achieves the same function as Fire Mode’s flame aura, but without dealing damage.

Like the Fire Mode, the Ice Mode has an effect on every move attributed to it, which is every jet mode attack. For the Up Special, this only effects the move during the loop. During its brief movement, Blitzwing will fire off 5 ice missiles. The ice missiles look like regular missiles, but blue tinted. These missiles travel for around 1.5 Battlefield platforms before exploding on their own. The missiles, when they hit an opponent, deal 5% damage, and heavy, directly upwards knockback that Kos at 200%. They also freeze opponents, but this is a more cosmetic detail, as it only lasts until they reach the apex of the knockback. There is another effect these missiles can cause, but that will be covered in a moment.

While gliding, Ice Mode will remain active until another attack is used, or until Blitzwing enters out of it. When comboing into another jet attack, there will be a quick cosmetic animation of the ice breaking off of Blitzwing. When comboing into something like the Down Air, or any other non-jet based move, the effect will also be applied. But when the move finishes, Blitzwing will instantly go into the endlag animation (Which behaves like it does during Fire Mode, but with an ice effect), which also doesn’t ignore gravity. Be careful when using it.

Anyway, Blitzwing can still fire a missile while in Ice Mode and gliding. This is identical to the ones fired from the Alley-oop’s Ice Mode variation, but behaves more like the standard missile as a projectile. Though, it retains the upwards knockback and freezing effect, but applies it to the missile’s standard functions. The major application of this, and technically the Alley-oop’s frozen missiles, is to hit the ground with them. Doing this will cause the ground to freeze over, in exactly a Battlefield platform’s worth of ground. This ice behaves like normal ice, not the Ice Mode ice that covers Blitzwing’s jet mode.

Blitzwing can have exactly 3 of these on the stage at the same time. At first, there might not seem to be any major use to them, other than being cosmetic and kind of annoying. However, when using Fire Mode, if Blitzwing runs over one, it will result in creating a steam vent. Steam vents don’t do much, they don’t even cause damage, but they do launch opponents into the air. This can help play into Blitzwing’s air game. Steam vents take up around the same place as an ice patch, but also extend upwards around a Ganondorf. Hitting a steam vent will cause the opponent to be launched upwards at around half a Spring’s power. They vanish after five seconds however. The ice patches, however, do not disappear.


Side Special – Kickoff
-Like Dragon Rush
-Can fire ice bombs in exchange for speed
-Can lift opponents for air combos

Down Special – Long Bomb
-Launches bomb upwards, at an arc
-Sticky, can cause massive knockback
-Blitzwing can attach to himself, not harmed by it because he’s a big robot


Smashes
Forward Smash – Zone Blitz
-Fires a blast over his shoulder, powerful
-KO move?

Up Smash – Jump Shift
-Launches upwards, ice effect
-Lifts opponents, perfect for air combos

Down Smash – Sweep
-Tank catches on fire, spins around
-Good at knocking away enemies? Maybe makes an air hitbox somehow?


Standards
Jab – Sluggo
-Three hit combo, left hook, right hook, kick

Forward Tilt – Spike
-Overhead sword swing
-Knocks opponents into the air

Up Tilt – Pyramid Play
-Launches bombs into the air
-Anti air move, but they explode when they hit the ground

Down Tilt – Onside Kick
-Stomp that knocks foes into air

Dash Attack – Power Run
-Turns into tank, runs over opponent


Aerials
Neutral Aerial -  Student Body Right (& Left)
-Explosion around Blitzwing made of fire and ice
-Maybe different effects depending on which side hits?

Forward Aerial – Flea Flicker
-Fires ice shots towards the ground
-Air-to-ground move

Up Aerial – Air Option
-Loop, knocks opponents farther into the air
-Can be used to continue a combo once?

Back Aerial – Reverse
-Leans over, fires his cannon in robot mode
-Other KO move?

Down Aerial – Checkdown
-Tank catches fire, slams into ground
-Good air-to-ground stall and fall


Grab Game
Grab & Pummel – Statue of Liberty Play
-It’s a squeeze

Forward Throw – End Run
-Drags opponent across the ground, then throws them

Up Throw – Fly
-Rockets up into the air with opponent, combo starter

Back Throw – Out
-Stuffs opponent in tank turret, fires them off

Down Throw – Flat Route
-Grinds over the foe with tank treads


Final Smash – Zone Defense
Blitzwing has the Smash Ball, and its time to unleash his ultimate play! ZONE DEFENSE!
The ‘con lets out a growl, causing a large scoreboard to appear. One side is labeled “Blitzwing” while the other side is labeled “Visitors”. He then transforms into tank mode, catching on fire, and begins spinning the turret around, firing fire blasts rapidly. They act like Long Bombs, though they travel at much higher, shorter arcs than a Long Bomb. While this only lasts 5 seconds, he fires a ridiculous amount, each causing 8% damage with high knockback. The tank, of course, also becomes a massive hitbox, behaving like it usually does while on fire.

After 5 seconds pass, Blitzwing will then transform into jet mode, and rise up to the top of the screen. During this, he enters flight mode, constantly dropping ice bombs onto the stage. These bombs fall fast, and there is plenty of them to go around! They behave basically exactly like the fire blasts from the tank section, only with an ice theme instead of a fire theme. Instead of the usual slipperiness of the jet’s ice form, it will instead have an ice themed version of the tank’s knock away hitbox.

So, what about that scoreboard? Well, with every action during the Final Smash, Blitzwing’s score will go up. He gets 1 point just for hitting the ground, 10 points for hitting an opponent, and 100 points for KOing an opponent. The “Visitors”, that being his opponents, cannot score, period. Once the attack finishes, Blitzwing will let out a line relating to his score, negative with a low score, and positive with a higher score. This does nothing, and is mostly just a fun sight gag.

Taunts
-Taunt where he pulls out a football coach, asks for advice
-“Express my feelings in song!”