robuchon

Latelier Robuchon

Latelier Robuchon is a creature from Duel Monsters, a card game and anime you have definitely forgotten about but is in fact still going on as we speak. Robuchon is a Darkness aligned creature from the Mafi Gang family of monsters, specifically the Shadowed People sub-archetype. The Shadowed People are generally the higher ups in the Mafi Gang, consisting of edgy shadow people who dress extravagantly and even ave their own version of King Arthur's round table (Or rather, did).

Robuchon, however, is different. While still having a large ego, Robuchon is but a humble chef, who's goal in life is to serve the most delicious food he can make to his masters. Unfortunately, coming from the Darkness world, his food is inedible to anyone outside of it, and is made using leftover pieces from deceased creatures. In fact, Robuchon's food is far more likely to attack you than you are to eat any of it. Robuchon's main dislike is when his ingredients decide to save their skin from him. Fortunately, he knows very well that things outside his kitchen are much, much worse.


Stats
Weight - 100
Walk Speed - 0.945
Run Speed - 2
Air Speed - 0.95
Fall Speed - 1.5

Latelier is one of the tallest characters in the game, with his actual face being situated slightly below Ganondorf's. The rest of his height is made up by his hat, pushing him to just above Ganon. And yes, the hat is part of his hurtbox. The large armament of cutlery on his back is not, however. He stands roughly as wide as Ganondorf as well, with his idle being similar to the image posted above. This idle is very subdued, and is actually the only subdued animation in Robuchon's entire set.

Robuchon's walk has him stride forward with swagger like Bayonetta, and his run animation is basically a ninja run (This actually reduces his hurtbox size by a lot, similar to characters like Sheik. His jumps are on the average side of things, with his first being noticeably better than his second. For his jump animation, his first has him performing a flip, while his second has him imitating the pose on his card art, though obviously with the plates and other monsters missing.


Specials
Neutral Special - Full Course Meal
Robuchon quickly whips out a dinner platter, complete with lid, and holds it in one hand as said hand begins to spark with blue flames. He then dramatically removes the lid, revealing one of five multi-colored monsters, which proceeds to leap off the platter. This overall animation is fairly fast, though there is a decent amount of end lag. Robuchon will toss the lid away as he reveals the monster, which will quickly vanish in a puff of smoke. He does the same with the actual platter once control is regained, with him dropping it to the floor.

For the minions themselves, you can see all 5 of them on Latelier's card art. Each monster corresponds to a color, Purple, Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow, which is how they will be referred to for the rest of the set. In order to summon a certain one, you will need to input a direction while holding Neutral Special, Red being forward, Blue being back, Green being down, Yellow being up, and Purple being summoned by just releasing the button without holding anything. YOu can technically hold this indefinitely, but you probably don't want to do that during a fight.

All five monsters have a few things in common. For one, none of them measure larger than 2x2 small grids on the training stage. Note that this is different that a full Grid Block. The best thing to compare them to is probably Mr. Saturn, basically. The point is that they're very tiny, and very aggressive. While each has unique stats and attacks, they all behave the same way: They will rush to the nearest opponent and attack them until either the opponent dies, or the monster does. This isn't a particularly great AI, but you can deal with it for the time being. The monsters all have 2 attacks, and can use them in the air without any real changes to their grounded version (At least, for now). Also of note, Robuchon can only have 3 of any of the monsters on the stage at a time, meaning you can't have the whole gang out at once.

The Purple monster is the shortest and widest of the five, thanks to its quadrupedal stance. It has the most average speed of them, but the fastest attacks. It's attacks are a rushing claw swipe where it leaps into the opponent to slash them for three hits of 2%, and its second is a tail slash that deals 5%. On important thing to note is that (at least for the moment) these attacks are practically worthless in terms of actually killing opponents, thanks to how small the monsters are. This is a bit of a double edged sword, as this small size makes them hard to hit, but makes their effectiveness basically zero. Generally, however, Purple is the most basic of the bunch. It's health is 10%, which is pitiful, but again, very tiny.

Red is a bipedal monster with buzzsaws for hands and a face. He has above average speed, which is fitting as Red is the most melee focused. While Purple's leaping attack let him get in close, Red has nothing of the sort. It's main attack is punching with one of its buzzsaw hands, which will deal 5 hits of 1.5% damage if it connects. It's secondary attack is a headbutt that deals 5% damage. Size wise, Red is the second largest, but mostly clocks in at making him the Mario of them five. While not a general rushdown character, Red is one of the better at actually dealing damage, as his attack speed is above average as well. He has 13% health, making him marginally better than Purple defense-wise, but the increased size makes him easier to hit.

Blue is another humanoid with an odd head and wielding a double sided axe. Despite appearances, Blue is the fast one of the group, easily being able to outrun any of the others. His attacks are a quick sweep of his axe which deals 2%, and a spinning attack that deals 3 hits of 1%. Even at this small size, Blue has the weakest knockback of them all, but he doesn't need it thanks to his speed. He can very easily get in a few shots before dying, though his health is an especially pitiful 5%, making him by far the weakest of them. Size wise, he's slightly shorter than Red, but only by a small bit, and roughly as wide. Blue's speed is his main asset, but him being incredibly weak is the main downside.

Green, however, is the opposite. He's a bull-like humanoid creature with a single sided, very large axe. He's the largest, actually being slightly larger than the 2x2 grid I mentioned previously (Though not by a significant margin). He attacks are a simple axe sweep that deals 5%, and a heavy chop that deals 8%. Green is the only one of the monsters that's actually capable of dealing any noticeable knockback, even at this pathetic size. It also has 18% health, meaning it will take a bit longer to take down (Though obviously not by a whole lot), but this comes at the expense of speed, as it moves at the equivalent of Ganon's run, but with a tiny body. Green is useful for actually dealing some damage and keeping the opponent distracted, but at the moment, he's probably one of the more useless.

Finally, Yellow is an odd horned toad monster with long arms. It's the second smallest, though it may be the actual smallest since its arms aren't part of its hurtbox, leaving it basically just a squat lump. Yellow has a unique behavioral quirk where he enjoys being in the air more than on the ground, with his aerial speed being considerably better than his ground speed, which is the second slowest. Yellow only has 8% health, but he also has the largest range. His main attack has its arm stretch out fairly far in any of the 8 cardinal directions, dealing 3%. The range is still not that great due to the size, but its the best comparatively, and he will always aim his arm in the direction of the opponent he's targeting. Yellow's secondary attack has him performing a stall then fall drop that deals 4%. This isn't really that good, due to the size of the monster, and due to not dealing any knockback. It kind of defeats the point of a stall then fall, but oh well. Yellow is superior in the air than he is on the ground, making him the most... unique of the five.

Now, none of these guys may seem especially useful at first glance... and you'd be right, practically all of them are just annoyances to get in the way of the opponent for a few seconds. This has its uses, which will become more apparent as we get to the rest of Robuchon's attacks, but they're still very limited in terms of usefulness. However, every good chef knows that you need good ingredients to make a truly great meal.