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About Ballista
Ballista is one of the four mercenaries that works for victim and Rocket Corp. in Animator vs. Animation Season 3.
Appearance
Ballista is a short, pixelated stick figure with a white solid head. He can shapeshift his body to various degrees (such as splitting his head in half to reveal a gun), and he also possesses gigantic teeth, making him one of the only stick figures capable of showing emotions through means other than body language.
Personality
Ballista is a mischievous and calculating individual who is often smug when picked for a fight. He is shown to be confident in himself when he sliced the shark that The Second Coming drew in half. Like his fellow mercenaries, Ballista is brutal and delusional. He's like Agent, willing to do anything to make victim proud, even if it means murder, showing a more sadistic side to him.
History
Animator vs. Animation Season 3
Wanted - Animator vs. Animation 9
Ballista, along with his mercenary allies chase The Chosen One in a city in the Outernet, following him up until they make it towards the spot The Showdown took place. The Chosen One creates a cumulonimbus cloud, powering down Ballista, Primal and Hazard's airborne vehicles.
The Chosen One escapes to ALANSPC, and returns to the Outernet with The Second Coming, the mercenaries spot The Chosen One flying down to the woods, they land in a field to search for him. The mercenaries spot The Second Coming and draw their weapons at him, they quickly suspect The Second Coming was helping The Chosen One and open fire.
The Chosen One helps The Second Coming, but The Chosen One is shot by the mercenaries' guns and becomes paralysed, leaving The Second Coming to fend for himself. Agent orders Ballista to deal with The Second Coming, Ballista's head changes to a turret and shoots The Second Coming, the latter managed to block these attacks by drawing eels that serve as a shield. Ballista brings out two pixelated guns to make things more challenging.
The Second Coming draws a shark that was about to land on Ballista. Ballista lands a lot of punches on the shark; The Second Coming manages to distract Ballista for the time being.
After The Second Coming finished distracting three out of four mercenaries, Ballista had cut the sharks that The Second Coming had drawn with a sword. The mercenaries almost defeat The Second Coming but are stopped by Agent.
The Chosen One recovers from his paralysis, blasting the three mercenaries away from him, Agent pauses The Chosen One and the four mercenaries retreat, having successfully captured The Chosen One.
The mercenaries return to the headquarters of Rocket Corp., they head into an elevator that leads to an office, they meet up with their boss, victim and inform him that The Chosen One was captured.
The Box - Animator vs. Animation 10
Ballista and the other mercenaries escort victim into the room with the Box. They watch victim beat up The Chosen One with Agent's help. Later, he witnessed The Second Coming using his awakened powers to blast The Dark Lord in The Chosen One's memory. Finally, he went with victim and the other mercenaries to see about the printing of the Wanted posters for Yellow.
Actual Shorts Season 1
Corn Dog Guy
During the events of Wanted, the mercenaries pursue The Chosen One and pass by a stick figure and his booth, which is hit by one of the mercenaries' glitch bombs.
Original Lore
Sidenote: Do not take this storyline as a full canon explanation for Ballista in Animator Vs Animation. It is still not confirmed whether or not this content is canon to him as a character. Some parts may also change depending on new things revealed for Ballista.
Storyline
The Dictator's Rule
A long time ago, the Dictator, seeking power to invade the world with a powerful rule, creates war machines that will help him achieve his goal. They were fully known as "Mangonels", an army of androids capable of only the most destructive possibilities. They possess high learning abilities, able to assess their surroundings and create their own tactics to combat any threat.
They took Planet Earth by storm, having claimed cities with no competition whatsoever. However, somewhere along the way, their high learning abilities have given them a small side effect. They realized that, for their survival, taking over the world would simply deteriorate them slowly. So, convinced they may have been given the short end of the stick. They decided to split into two main factions.
On one hand, there were the Ballistas. Mangonels seeking asylum and freedom, having vowed to now protect the world at all costs. And on the other hand, the Trebuchets. They were there to actively end the Dictator's Rule, and free Earth from tyranny. This led to a successful revolt, killing the Dictator and taking down the most powerful force from the inside out.
The Melton Event
A pillar of darkness came flying to this earth, piercing the plate that supported our mother planet. As a result, natural disasters brought storms, and storms brought death.
Later generations unanimously say that this was the worst tragedy faced by the world. It was known as "Melton." The source of all this evil was a single island, Belsalia. The ones who helped create it was none other than humanity itself. Those who had suffered the heavy blow rose up again and confronted the powerful military force. As a result, the resistance forces that had been thought hopeless achieved unexpected success, and Belsalia fell into the ocean, sinking before the sun rose again, filling the hole in the plate.
Many decades went by with peaceful years. Although there were repeated small skirmishes, humanity gradually became calm and cooperative. They did not know that in the northern hemisphere, Belsalia was rising up once more secretly from the ashes under the peninsula known as "Kanon". They knew the facts in history, and yet, humanity was still not prepared for a second Melton Event.
One day, a man carrying a holy sword unearthed an underground ruin in a corner of Kanon. The people who thought they knew everything changed their minds and began to investigate the ruins, but the overflowing winds of the abyss stubbornly refused to let people enter the depths. The lone person carrying the holy sword disappeared unnoticed into the darkness of the ruins. The man continued to walk without rest, showing no emotion at all toward the ancient civilization that was beyond human understanding, simply heading far underground. With each step he took, the winds of the Abyss blew his mind. The miasma turned him black and would turn even the monsters of the abyss back to dust. But only the holy sword lit up his path.
When he got to the center of the island's tectonic core, he saw Belsalia, once an island, now fused with the dreams and terrors of humanity itself. A grueling battle occurred within the depths of the ruins, the holy swordsman sacrificing his life to defeat it.
The sword split apart into two, and flew away from each other. The left wing of the sword, Lameiza, became the swordsman's grave deep underground. The right wing of the sword, Tenirka, buried Belsalia, being casted away to a realm beyond the edge of the universe.
This holy swordsman may or may not be Ballista himself.
Weapon & Ability Descriptions
The following are weapons and abilities Ballista has used in Wall Buster, not including its sequel. These can be found in REN's website.
Name of Weapon/Ability | Description |
|---|---|
The Holy Sword Sacrifice | "A sword that consumes the blood of its owner, whose power remains even after a flash." - Wall Buster "It is said that it was called a holy sword simply because the flash of the sword was white. The original Holy Sword no longer exists, and it is mass-produced at a high cost, but its lethality is even greater than the original." - Metallic Knights Arguably Ballista's most iconic weapon. The Holy Sword Sacrifice is a recurring weapon in most of MultiLockOn's works, allowing the wielder to cut with ease in exchange for their life force. It seems to connect to other animations such as Metallic Knights and Etakuro, but it is unconfirmed whether or not these animations are also connected by lore. In the original animations, Ballista seems to wield this sword by itself. But in Animator Vs Animation, it is seen alongside a cape. It is likely to emphasize the more heroic aspects of the character. |
Hammer | A giant war hammer bigger than 3 Ballistas stacked together. Notably, it is given the name "Thor" in the weapon descriptions. |
Handgun/Crusade | "A single 20mm steel bullet can shake 4 pixels." - Wall Buster "Not intended for use by humans. It is difficult to describe it as a pistol. The bullets do not spread and are more destructive than an average shotgun." - Metallic Knights An unrealistic pistol that can shoot 20mm steel bullets. In Animator VS Animation, it is shown that he wields two of these handguns at once. It is likely a homage to Metallic Knights, which in it of itself is a reference to Devil May Cry. |
"Ora Ora!!" | Yes. It is indeed, in fact, A JoJo Reference. This is not the only reference of its kind. There have been two major animation styles for when Ballista performs a barrage. One where Ballista is punching on the ground, it which it is a bunch of line strokes. The other, which Animator Vs Animation follows, has a bunch of extra spheres trail behind Ballista and hit the target. |
Mouth Beam | "It looks like Godzilla's famous incandescent light, but also like Ara○-chan's thing." - Wall Buster Not much to say about this one. Ballista opens his mouth (like his actual mouth, not split his head open) and fire a long lasting lazer out of it. |
Table Flip | "It is the strongest mental damage." - Wall Buster Truly, well said. Very self explanatory. It is a miracle that this is listed as an "Ability". |
Machine Knight: Gamma Ray Bullet | "The truth is always one! Maybe." - Wall Buster Ballista's second most iconic move. His head splits horizontally, revealing a laser-cutting turret. In Top Stick, the laser shot out of the turret is notably thinner and blue in color. In Animator Vs Animation, it was nerfed to be a turret that shoots regular bullets, instead of a laser. |
"Burn it Down!"/"Sweep it Down!" | One of only two moves that are named as a quote in the MultiLockOn website. Ballista summons a monster that shoots a mouth laser, with Ballista spawning a cape as he heroically points towards the wall. This cape would eventually be relegated to being an accessory for The Holy Sword Sacrifice when Ballista uses it in Animator Vs Animation. |
An Endless Poem | "By heading to the brink of death, I draw out my mad strength. Meanwhile, I'm tormented by a flash of visions." - Wall Buster A series of highly calculated blows that do great damage. With each strike in the original animation, a character, possibly from various Japanese media, is shown as a splash screen. |
Tenirka | "A concrete image of hell." - Wall Buster Ballista hovers into the air, before transforming into a lovecraftian monster. It shoots a beam of light that can be seen across the planet. Notably, it is implied that the monster shown is Belsaria itself. The laser beam may be a representation of The Melton Event. |
Powers & Abilities
Shapeshifting: Ballista can shapeshift his body to suit different situations. Examples so far include:
Splitting his head in two and turning it into a gun turret (known as "Machine Knight: Gamma Ray Bullet").
Producing a large diamond-shaped sword (known as The Holy Sword Sacrifice).
Producing a cloak/cape.
Producing two handguns, one from each hand.
Speed: Ballista has a "sprint" mode where he can seemingly double his ground speed.
Strength: Ballista is stronger than the average stick figure, able to send a barrage of punches to a shark The Second Coming created.
Appearances
Animator vs. Animation Season 3
Wanted
The Box
Actual Shorts Season 1
Corn Dog Guy
Trivia
As confirmed by Alan Becker, Ballista is not an original character, but rather adapted from a 2003 animation where a stickman is shown trying to break down a door.
Because of this, Ballista is currently the only mercenary with a confirmed name.
Before his name was revealed, he was given several fan names by the community, such as Pixel (or the plural Pixels).
In some AVG polls, he's been called "Merc (Pixellated)".
Ballista's animation style is reminiscent of the animations made in EasyToon, as that animation software was used to create Wall Buster.
This is why in Top Stick by Terkoiz, he is referred to as "EZToon".
The fact that Ballista appears in Top Stick may possibly imply that he was part of StickPage, though this has not been confirmed.
If someone counts his debut outside of Animator vs. Animation, then he is the first ever AVA stick figure created, as victim, the first stick figure, was made in 2006.
Furthermore, Ballista is the first and only major AVA character to have pre-established appearances before Animator Vs Animation.
He is currently the only solid-headed stick figure to have abilities.
After The Chosen One and The Second Coming were paused by Agent, they were both put on Ballista's motorbike.
The sizing of Ballista is very inconsistent. In "Wanted," some scenes depict him of being slightly shorter than Hazard, and in other scenes, he is shown to be slightly shorter than The Second Coming and The Chosen One.
In a few rare cases, Ballista is also drawn with a 1 pixel brush, instead of a 2 pixel brush.
In Victim, a voxel stick figure can be seen through the video, it is unknown if he has some type of connection to Ballista or if they’re different characters.
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