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Livin' Large: War Children

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On the left: Amanda Ironclad –see below for details

On the right: The Mississippi Queen- manaista.deviantart.com/art/Th…

 

Artist notes are on the bottom. Please give some constructive feedback so I can continue improving!! Don’t get me wrong.   I do like the faves, but I also like nice comments too! :icongreatsuccessplz:

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:bulletred::bulletwhite::bulletblue: 1st Lieutenant, Amanda Armadillo Ironclad :bulletred::bulletwhite::bulletblue:

 

Theme song: “Gimme Shelter” www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_a0zO…

 

AKA: Big Momma, Little Miss Serious, the Unstoppable Force

Species- nine banded armadillo (semi-controlled mutation)

Standing height- 71m (233ft)

Mass: 40881 tons

Organization:  Leader of First Squadron, Fourth Platoon in the United States Army’s Domesticated Assault Weapon Giants (D.A.W.G.) program.

 

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Powers:

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:bulletblack: Armadillo armor- Her natural armor is extremely tough, even by giant monster standards.  She can simply shake off attacks that would normally be lethal to other monsters her size. The humans provided her with artificial armor to protect the areas her natural armor does not cover. The artificial armor is not as strong her natural armor, but it is still very strong and much better than having no protection at all.

:bulletblack::bulletred: Extreme endurance- She has almost unbeatable endurance. She can fight for several days straight without food, water, or sleep if needed. In combination with her tough armor, her high endurance allows her to constantly take hits and continues fighting as if nothing happened.

:bulletgreen::bulletgreen: Military training-  She pretty much spent most of her life in a very brutal (even by military standards) training program/ experiment.

:bulletgreen: Military Martial Arts-  They trained her the best they could in hand to hand combat.  Although much of what she learned came from her experiences on the battle field.  Her martial arts training in combination with her strength and agility makes her a very well balanced and deadly fighter.

:bulletgreen: Military Tactics: she had spent much of her life learning military strategy, ethics, and ideals. They forced her to learn all the various tactics used in dealing with other giant monsters.  From the somewhat impractical one on one battles, to coordinating multiple squadrons to take down a threat.  All those years of study have paid off.  Some of her commanding officers even credit her as a tactical genius.

:bulletgreen: Hard Headed- A life in the army has given her very extreme discipline and will power.  So much in fact, that she has actually developed a very high resistance to any sort of mind reading/ control. 

:bulletgreen: Backup- One of the many perks of being a monster of the army is that you very rarely have to fight alone.  She actually holds rank in the army and even commands a specialized squadron.  She gets artillery, infantry, and air support.  Do to the nature of her job; she was even given special privilege for an officer of her rank.  If needed, she can call in a special weapons drop: other friendly giant monsters, tactical nukes, or any other specialized anti giant monster weapon.

:bulletblue: Fast digger- just like an armadillo she is a very adapt digger, she can dig a vast network of tunnels in a matter of minutes.

:bulletyellow: seismograph senses- She has developed a very sharp sense of vibration and sound.  Her sense of vibration is so precise, she can accurately track the number, speed, and size of friends and foes from several miles away, much a like a radar.  Her eyesight is a lot better than a normal armadillo, but it is still only about as good as a human’s eyesight.

:bulletyellow::bulletred: Earth bender- Using a combination of her sharp senses and brute force, she can actually manipulate the properties of the ground to her advantage by punching or stomping the Earth  in just the right way. This includes but is not limited to: creating sudden sink holes, sending large pieces of earth hurling towards her enemies from seemly random directions, or simply changing the terrain to her advantage.

:bulletpurple: Packs one serious punch- She has very impressive strength for her size.  She can actually send a monster much larger than her flying with a single kick or punch.  Her claws are very well adapted to digging through earth, but not the most efficient flesh cutters. However, it is still the equivalent of sticking a spike on the end of a sledge hammer.

 

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Weaknesses:

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:bulletred: Pollitics- The main problem with working for the US Government is working for the US Government.  She has to follow the orders of her superiors no matter what those orders are.  The slightest disobedience will result in a severe punishment, even death.  The public is much divided on the D.A.W.G. program, and many public officials want to have her and many other monsters euthanized.

:bulletpblack: Weak spots- Her armor cannot cover her entire body for mobility reasons and the artificial armor pieces are significantly weaker than her natural armor. A well-aimed attack into one of her soft spots could do some serious damage.

:bulletyellow: No ranged attacks- Besides throwing things very hard, she lacks any natural ranged attacks (boulders and buildings can only go so far).

:bulletgreen: Not the best immune system- As tough as she is, certain venoms and tranquilizers can have a strong effect on her.

:bulletblue: Not a great swimmer-  She can swim and keep her head above water.  However, compared to many other monsters, she is pretty much a sitting duck in the water.

 

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Personality:

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:bulletblue: She tries to restrain her emotions.  She claims they do nothing but interfere with judgment on the battle field.  She claims that showing fear, sadness, or even mercy in battle is a sign of weakness.  The slightest hesitation will result in the deaths of thousands. 

:bulletblue: Is she a solider, or a weapon?  Another unspoken reason she tries not to show emotion is because she can sense the fear and distrust in humans.  She can tell many of her fellow soldiers only view her as just another rampaging savage monster.  They treat her just like another weapon in the army.  She feels that showing any emotion will leave the impression that she is unreliable and she must be put down and replaced.  She wants to be treated like her fellow soldiers.  She wants honor and respect.

:bulletblue: Obedient, but not blind.  Most of the time she will follow any of her superior’s orders without question.  She trusts they are doing what is best for humanity, even if it may not seem that way at first.  However she is far from a blind follower.  She is aware they may not do what is best for humanity, and occasionally violate the same ideals she was forced to learn.  She has been known to disobey direct orders on many occasions.  She tries to be very clear in her reasoning.  Amanda will be very outspoken when she questions her superior’s judgment.

:bulletblue: Battle Fatigued…  Amanda may try to hide it, but all the years of death and destruction been slowly eating away at her.  Underneath that hard shell is a caring remorseful being.  There are some humans and other monsters she has developed very close feelings with.  She hates her life of war and the very monster she is, but Amanda believes it’s a small sacrifice to save millions.

 

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Backstory:

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Amanda’s origins are pretty similar to many of the other monsters in Livin’ Large.  It is believed she was an originally an ordinary nine banded armadillo born somewhere along the borders of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. A sudden meteor shower carrying very strange alien micro-organisms rained debris all over the planet. Several years later, many animals began mutating in once impossible ways and sizes.  If they received a high enough dose, they would mutate in months or years. It can also pass down to the next generation too.

 

Amanda received a high enough dose to begin her mutation.  A military patrol just happened to be in the area studying that strike area.  They were already partially aware of what the meteors could do to some animals.  A few cities already experienced their first attacks from the increasing number of giant monsters. A few weeks into their studies they happened to stumble across an armadillo. It was not yet the size of some of the other giant creatures, but it was too large to be a normal armadillo.  They took her in alive to study her development.

 

Years past, and she continued growing in size.  They did several tests on her to study just how they mutate. Oddly enough, as she grew in size, she also grew in intelligence.   To the human’s amazement she could actually understand them and even speak back.  The general in charge of the program and his officers had very mixed feeling about what to do with her.

 

Through much debate, a very controversial decision was made.  Keep her alive, train her to fight, teach her to protect and serve.  Use the very force that threatens humanity to save it.  Eventually she was given the name Amanda, after the general’s baby daughter that died in a car accident years ago.

 

She now spends her life in a brutal training program doing whatever orders she is given, traveling around the world, going to war, and meeting strange new creatures.

 

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Artist notes:

Wow this was a doozy!  For the first time in a very long time, I’m actually kind of happy how this one came out!  I know there are still some problems I need to fix, but this came out better than I thought it would.  It took much longer than what I wanted, but that was because of school and that I ran into art block a couple times.

 

So Amanda would be one of my main hero giant monsters, and the Mississippi Queen would be one of my main villains.  This is would be one of the first attempts where I put the monsters in two point perspective as well as the scenery.  To my surprise that actually made them easier to draw.  I also wanted to try putting some of the building in mid-collapse to try and help give more movement to the picture.  That was harder than I thought it would be, and I think I screwed up a couple times.  In some ways I want to keep going with this, but in some ways I want to finally move on to the next big thing.  I may go back and re-scan this at the very least...

 

Overall I think this was fun to draw!

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Burksaurus's avatar

Dude, this is really cool seeing your kaiju battle in the city and I like the info on Amanda since she works with humans.