Hasbro Game Night FIGHT! - The Final Season

[Master Hero Sock-on-Rye]

1: Cavity Sam
2: Glover
3: Mr. Tiger Electronic

Honestly, this is going to be a big week.

 

[FazDude]

1. Mr. Tiger
2. Glover
3. Cavity Sam

 

[DragonRobotKing26]

1. Aska
2. Mr. Tiger
3. Glover

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

1. Cavity Sam. Operation is undeniably a very important and recognisable game, and honestly the idea of Sam fighting with a combination of the weird and bizarre things found in his body as well as various surgery tools with a bizarro doctor-based moveset would be so fun.
2. Mr. Tiger. Honestly, I wish I'd come up with this. Like, seriously. This is such a clever take on the matter of the Tiger brand and such a cool way of representing it. Never would have occurred to me in a million years.
3. Glover. I think Glover's a very solid Hasbro Interactive rep overall, and honestly he's got plenty of potential to be an interesting and unique inclusion as well as a neat lil retro throwback. He's cool!

Oh, and as for costumes...

For ROM, I think Retro would be a good fit. Unlike the other two we have currently, this would give ROM a look more akin to his original toy - including the alternative armour and helmet design, as well as a more plasticy look overall as opposed to metal. It's not often I'd say "just give them a costume based on the toy they were originally based on", but ROM is a good fit for something like this.

Next up is G1 for Bumblebee. I was actually kind of torn between whether to give him a costume based on the film (given I actually really like the design of him in that film specifically given it's less busy than a lot of the 00s-10s Transformers movies) but I felt a G1 look would be too iconic and historically important to miss out on. As for the model itself, it's kind of a fusion between numerous looks from the era - taking elements from the comics, the television show, and promotional art to make him look cool whilst still obviously being G1.

Lastly, I felt Mr. Potato Head should get some of the action, so I decided to go with Potato Head, being based on a box-art design from one of the recent releases post-rebrand to just "Potato Head". Whilst there's a variety of Potato Head designs to go with, I kind of ran the risk of them either being too similar to the default or being based on an external brand, so this is my solution. It's in keeping with the brand, promotes the rebrand, and gets him a fresh look.

 

[Deleted member]

1. Eiji
2. Aska
3. Cavity Sam

 

[AlteredBeast]

1. Cavity Sam
2. Mr. Tiger Electronics
3. Eiji

Costumes

Colonel Mustard Purple Recolor as reference to Professor Plum

Mr. Potato Head Alternate Costume based on the original Mr. Potato Head

Tyson Granger Alternate Costume based on Kai Hiwatari

 

[PinkFlare]

I went ahead and added images to my Aska moveset if anyone wants to check it out! Admittedly they're not all great, but that's mostly due to the screenshots being taken from obscure game releases with PS2 graphics, and in most cases Aska quite literally moves too fast for a clear photo. Although I guess that's a compliment to her speed!

Spoiler: Costumes

Dark Jem

Nemesis Prime

Rocky DeSantos (Jason Lee Scott)

This would use the Metallic Red Ranger armor that gives the Rangers a sparkly glow - though this is primarily just to differentiate Rocky from Jason, outside of the obvious changed voice lines and any helmet-less animations.
I'm not sure if we're ever going add the Blue Zeo Ranger as a playable character, and given that Rocky is Jason's direct successor, I felt like it was fitting that he be included at least as a costume.

 

[Northsouthmap]

1. Glover
2. Cavity Sam
3. Eiji

 

[Megadoomer]

1. Aska
2. Glover
3. Eiji

 

[PinkFlare]

DAY 72​

The results for the 3rd Hasbro DLC are in! Looking over the votes, this was definitely the most evenly matched round we've ever had; a single vote could've changed the tide for any of these characters!

But, ultimately, and to my surprise, the next character joining is...

Cavity Sam, nominated by @DarkVortex! He flatlined at 13 points, ahead of the competition!

Spoiler: Full Vote

Cavity Sam: 13
Mr. Tiger Electronic: 11
Aska: 10
Glover: 10
Eiji: 9

As I said before, this was a very evenly split vote! Although, out of all of Hasbro's Board Game characters, Cavity Sam is definitely the next most popular to include in this line-up.

On another note, I am leaving the Costume job open for one more day, so with that, let's move straight into the next job...

NEW JOBS​

Normally I write up a big paragraph about a huge franchise or company that builds up to the eventual job and explains its importance and yada yada. But this is just Hasbro, and I ain't gonna beat a dead horse. Actually I think this is our 4th FFA round? Honestly, pretty wild. Anyway where was I?

Job: Nominate any Hasbro Character!
Doesn't matter who they are or what they represent; If they're owned by Hasbro (or Takara), they're eligible!

Job: (If you haven't already), Nominate 1-3 alt. Costumes!

 

[AlteredBeast]

Resubmitting Matt Trakker (M.A.S.K.)

From the hit Hasbro franchise M.A.S.K., he is the protagonist and leader of the Mobile Strike Armored Kommand. The 80s series was launched to help promote the merchandise line of toy vehicles and the liking. Matt can fight with his vehicles as well as his team. M.A.S.K. is a big part of the Hasbro multiverse as it has been mentioned in variouys Transformers TV series as well as Trakker appearing in G.I. Joe as well.

I feel we should have a rep from each of the older Hasbro toy lines as they are a part of Hasbro's history. Plus, there was going to be a Hasbro cinematic universe but that's not going to come to fruition most likely. Basically, we need a fan-favorite from the 80s era of Hasbro to join the game night fight for sure!

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

I felt like another slightly odd pick could be a lot of fun to delve into here. Whilst there were a lot of interesting considerations I had at one point or another (such as a representative of Risk or Diplomacy in the form of some form of military general, a potential second Clue rep who I originally intended to be Miss Scarlett, or even a resubmission of Bop-It!), I ended up deciding on a somewhat unconventional Takara-focused pick in the end.

Character Name: Shinkalion E5 Hayabusa
Character Origin: Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion (Toys in 2015, animated series in 2018)

So, okay, you're looking at this and you're probably thinking "Oh, is this a Transformer?" No. It's a spinoff of the Plarail brand, though also features a transforming robot (which in this case transforms from an E5-series shinkansen, or "bullet train", into a mecha.) Also, it is actually a mecha - piloted by the eleven-year-old Hayato Hayasugi.

The series is a bit of an oddity: the Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion toyline was introduced in 2015 as an evolution of the long-running Takara Plarail brand, which is a series of train-focused toys. (Even so, the concept had existed since long before then: the Tomica Hyper Series had a similar concept back in 2012.)These took the form of three train carriages that could be assembled into an 18" mecha, complete with an array of weapons! Whilst this makes the brand objectively toy-centred, it wasn't long until an anime started following it: and, I might add, a surprisingly popular one. One popular enough to cross over officially and directly with both Vocaloid and Neon Genesis Evangelion. The series is still on-going today, with the second season having ended last year, and has seen a theatrical film and even a video game.

In terms of gameplay, there's plenty for us to pull from here: but in the simplest terms, E5 is a fast-paced mecha with size and speed to match what you'd expect. Similarly scaled to the Transformers characters we already have, but typically moving at a much faster pace with slightly less defensive and aerial options to match, E5 has access to a plasmatic katana (as any mecha should) and can also transform at any time into a literal bullet train. Most of its attacks are very quick to activate, though some have above-average endlag given the character's size. If we want to extend the character's moveset potential, we can also pull from other Shinkalion toys by giving E5 arm-mounted cannons, short knife-like plasmatic blades, or even a scoped rifle!

Overall, whilst a particularly unconventional pick considering we've mostly been centring this game on Western appeal, I think E5 would be a great Japan-centric pick to go for that captures some more modern releases from either Hasbro or Takara - plus, even if you didn't know what this character was from, you'd still inevitably think they were cool.

 

[Master Hero Sock-on-Rye]

Submitting Zachary Foxx (The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers)

The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers is owned by Hasbro through their Entertainment One library of family-friendly shows. I'm submitting Zachary Foxx over characters like Shobu, Elefun, or Leader-1 because EOne needs another rep, and one that non-preschoolers can enjoy. Contrast that with the multiple Power Rangers and Transformers representatives, for example, and giving another series a shot could be a good change of pace.

 

[DragonRobotKing26]

Zoe Trent (Littlest Pet Shop)

Zoe is the main character from Littlest Pet Shop,she is a purple dog that have talents of singing and dancing. Littlest Pet Shop has a stage,but also it needing a fighter,and we needs more female fighters and non-pony characters

I'll resubmit again Zoe

 

[PinkFlare]

Thought about it for a while. Had to really think about which characters I want and when I want them; Ultimately, I'll be resubmitting Ninjor

Hasbro Character

NINJOR
View attachment 368244​

Power Rangers

I thought about this for a while; Bounced around between different characters that I may submit later, but I know for sure I wanted Ninjor at some point, and what better point than right now?

And, yeah, let's clear the smoke out the room first; Why Ninjor out of all the possible Power Rangers characters? I did think about a few others; Adam Park, one of the Gold Zeo Rangers, and any Blue Ranger. But, but but but, Ninjor's better.
For starters, when it comes to getting another PR character, another Ranger is a bit predictable. Of course they make up 90% of the franchise's characters, but I wanted to highlight an ally character that wasn't a Ranger, because very rarely does this ever happen. And, all things considered, Ninjor is fairly important to the lore, given his connection to the Power Coins, and the overall representation of the Ninja Rangers, which was one of the biggest arcs in MM Season 3. Also, he wasn't in Battle for the Grid, so he has that going for him as a fully new character.

Speaking of the storyline, yeah, Ninjor is very important all things considered and is a recurring ally for the Mighty Morphin Rangers between their various incarnations, including several crossovers such as the Street Fighter one where M. Bison kicks his ass, and recieving a specialized team-up arc in the Boom! Comics.

Of course it all means sh*t if Ninjor doesn't have moveset potential... but, c'mon, it's Power Rangers, of course he has a whole heaping ton of abilities!

• Size Shifting​
• Battle-Mode Transformations​
• Self-Buff​
• Lightning Bolts​
• Fireballs​
• Full Control over the Ninjazords​
• Teleportation​
• Swordsmanship​
• Smoke Bombs​
• Aura Sense​
• Cloud-Riding​
• Full Control over The Power Coins​

TL;DR Ninjor is stacked.
Definitely think a Power Rangers character should happen and this is the one I'm putting my money into.

 

[Northsouthmap]

Cat Boy (PJ Masks)

 

[PinkFlare]

Reminder to submit any characters before I end the day in a couple hours. This is your last chance for Hasbro characters this season!

 

[PinkFlare]

DAY 73​

Submissions for the FFA round are official closed! And, since we didn't have a vote yesterday, that means we can jump straight into this next vote!

NEW VOTES​

Alright, so this will be a fairly important vote, given that this is the last Hasbro character of this season; the next 2 will be Guests. As an aside, every character submitted, with the exception of Ninjor, is being submitted for the first time this season; Just something I found interesting!
In any case, this could be a make or break for any of these characters, so vote wisely!

• Matt Trakker [M.A.S.K.] AlteredBeast​
• Shinkalion E5 Hayabusa [Plarail] KneeOfJustice99​
• Zachary Foxx [Galaxy Rangers] M Master Hero Sock-on-Rye​
• Zoe Trent [Littlest Pet Shop] DragonRobotKing26​
• Ninjor [Power Rangers] PinkFlare​
• Cat Boy [PJ Masks] Northsouthmap​

Between these 6, go ahead ans rank your Top 3, and your own nominee cannot be in first!

NEW JOBS​

Job: Nominate a Transformers Stage
Given that Shockwave has joined the roster, and that we won't be having anymore Transformers this season, we may as well go ahead and make some more progress regarding our stages!
Go ahead and submit a stage to come alongside Shockwave in this DLC Season; Mind you, it doesn't have to be related to the character specifically, just from the same universe!

Job: Submit 1-3 Alt. Costumes
I did not time this properly and didn't realize we would be doing the character vote today, so this vote will be held off until tomorrow... which means, if you have not already, you can still submit costumes!

Movesets, Arcade Endings and Reveal Trailers are open indefinitely!

 

[AlteredBeast]

1. Shinkalion E5 Hayabusa
2. Matt Trakker
3. Zoe

Transformers Stage

Resubmitting Savage Land

This is a secret jungle paradise located in Antartica where dinosaurs were still living. This is also the place where the Ark crashed where the Autobot and Decepticon armies were first found on Earth within the comics lore. You simply fight on the mountains and trees of the land. Occassionally, dinosaurs will come and attack you so watch out! A fun stage that is important to the Transformers lore after all. I was going to resubmit Lost Light but I feel Grimlock needs a home stage so filling in a gap here as well.

 

[DragonRobotKing26]

1. Matt Trackker
2. Zoe
3. Cat Boy

 

[PinkFlare]

For my votes:

1. Matt Trakker
2. Zachary Foxx
3. Ninjor

Definitely want to adhere to what some other users said during their nomination, and bring in a new, legacy series. Not necessarily just a Retro series ala Microman, but one that has a fleshed out world and medium that can compare to other classic 80's/90's series on our roster.

To me, Matt is the most logical choice; M.A.S.K. is mostly overlooked in this thread, but when it comes to classic 80's Toys-into-Shows, M.A.S.K. is up there, essentially as a brother series to Transformers and G.I. Joe, and I think Matt is honestly overdue for a spot on the roster.
Follow this up with Zachary Foxx; I looked into Galaxy Rangers after it was submitted as a round, and despite the series never catching mainstream popularity, its somewhat of a hidden gem that I think could be tapped into for interesting results.
Though of course I did end off with a self-vote; I would like to see a Power Rangers DLC at some point.

Transformers Stage

SHOCKWAVE'S LAB

​

This isn't really a specific location, but rather a mixing of various tropes regarding Shockwave's character.
Shockwave has evolved from Generation One from simply being a top lieutenant of Megatron's to a mad scientist with an ever-growing agenda, which has become the centralized characterization for him, so this to me makes sense.

The stage itself would be set on a Lab on Cybertron, with various details in the background; A functioning Space Bridge, given that he co-invented that technology in G1, multiple test tubes in the background with various creatures floating inside, and just to put a cherry on top, the Insecticons would also make cameos here as a reference to Fall of Cybertron.

Space Bridge

Test Tubes

Insecticons

Additionally, I did want to opt for atleast one stage hazard:

The Serpant that was featured in the Live-Action films. Through various points in the stage, the Serpant will come drilling through different platforms, either from top to bottom or side to side, spiking players it hits along the way.

 

[Deleted member]

1. Trakker
2. Zoe
3. Foxx

 

[Master Hero Sock-on-Rye]

1: Matt Trakker
2: Zoe Trent
3: Zachary Foxx

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

1. Matt Trakker. There's only so many ways to say "M.A.S.K. was an important 80s-era series for Hasbro and had similar star-power at the time to other series such as Transformers and G.I. Joe." He makes sense.
2. Ninjor. Even if his costume does make him look... rounded, he's still pretty cool. Some research into this guy suggests he's got plenty of potential, and honestly he strikes me as a neat Power Rangers inclusion with this in mind (even given my general lack of knowledge on the series.)
3. Zachary Foxx. An honestly pretty interesting pick - and an inspired one at that - but one that feels nice and fresh. Some cursory research makes me think he's got potential to be pretty cool!

 

[Northsouthmap]

1. Matt Trakker
2. Zoe Trent
3. Cat Boy

 

[Qwerty UIOP]

1. Matt
2. Zoe
3. Catboy

 

[PinkFlare]

DAY 74​

The 4th Character round of our DLC has officially closed! Lots of excellent character submissions, but with how obvious the winner is I see no reason to stall the reveal.

Yes, that's right; Every single person who voted had this character in their #1 spot, except for the one who submitted them (and thus couldn't rank them #1 due to the rules)!
Rounding out at 23 points is...

Matt Trakker, the leader of the Mobile Armored Strike Command, aka M.A.S.K., nominated by AlteredBeast !
I don't think I can say anything regarding this character that hasn't been said before, but in any case, Matt was one of the most recurring submissions in the base game, and now he's finally making the playable roster!

Spoiler: Full Vote

Matt Trakker: 23
Zoe Trent: 11
Zachary Foxx: 5
Shinkalion E5 Hayabusa: 3
Ninjor: 3
Cat Boy: 3

With that, our group of first party characters for our first season of DLC is wrapped up! I'll still be holding off a total Season reflection until our final 2 characters though, that being the Guests, which will have a round... tomorrow! Get pumped!

NEW VOTES​

First off, we'll be having a strawpoll for the Stage Vote!

Which Transformers stage should be included? - StrawPoll.com

What is your opinion? Vote now: The Savage Land, Shockwave's Lab

strawpoll.com

Interestingly enough, Shockwave has a connection to both of these, being trapped in the Savage Land for 4 Million Years in the original Marvel Comics after a fight with the Dinobots, and his lab being... uh, his lab.

On another note, here are the latest 9 costumes submissions!

• Retro Rom​
• Classic Animation (G1) Bumblebee​
• Rebrand Potato Head​
• Purple Colonel Mustard​
• Original Potato Head​
• Kai Hiwatari Clothes (Tyson Granger)​
• Dark Jem​
• Nemesis Prime​
• Red Ranger Rocky DeSantos​

As usual with our costume votes, go ahead and rank each of these with Y/N!

NEW JOBS​

Job: Nominate a Takara-Tomy Stage!
Given that we have a new TT franchise in our DLC, I figured we may as well hold a dedicated TT round to coincide with the character's inclusion! (I'm referring to Mason, of course)
Obviously, Transformers stages will not be allowed for this round.

Movesets, Arcade Endings and Reveal Trailers are open indefinitely!

That's about all I have for today.
As I said before, tomorrow will be the dedicated Guest Round, and the final week of Season 1 will be filling out extraneous content, such as the remaining stages. As a reminder, the Guests for tomorrow will have stricter rules regarding who is allowed, so don't expect every character from the bonus round to be eligible for resubmission.

 

[Master Hero Sock-on-Rye]

Yes to all costumes.

Takara-Tomy Stage: Tomica World

(Image recreation)

Thought of as "the Japanese Matchbox", this stage would basically be like taking the Island of Sodor, and sanding off the happy smiling faces off the trains. But now that Mattel is part of this game, maybe this isn't the best idea in the long run, as Thomas is a Mattel IP currently.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

Might as well plagiarise myself given the opportunity!

Stage Name: Tomy Blip
Stage Origin: Tomy Blip (1977)

One aspect of Tomy that I find pretty interesting is the sheer amount of video games and technology they seem to have produced over time - and despite a lot of it obviously focusing on toy promotion, there's some unusual and surprising additions to that roster such as the Tomy Tutor 16-bit computer. Amongst these interesting little trinkets is the Tomy Blip, which is basically a 70s-era Pong clone machine. However, I think this could be made pretty unique!

In terms of the stage, think of it being a little like Kirby's Dream Land in Smash in that the stage is encapsulated by a 70s-looking television, and the fighting arena is inside the screen. There'll be a platform in the centre (horizontal, of course, so you can fight on it) but there's also a game of Blip (legally distinct Pong) going on in the background! I feel it'd be a bit much to have the ball interact with gameplay - but it is possible to interact with the paddles, so if you're launched away off the side, it's possible to recover if you're lucky!

Also... I'm not really sure how to feel about "Plum" Mustard. I like the rest of them and it is admittedly a solid way to represent another Cluedo rep but at the same time I'm not sure how to feel about a straight recolour. (This isn't a jab at all, I do like the idea! Just not 100% sure it's a good fit.)

 

[PinkFlare]

Yes to all costumes.

Takara-Tomy Stage: Tomica World

(Image recreation)

Thought of as "the Japanese Matchbox", this stage would basically be like taking the Island of Sodor, and sanding off the happy smiling faces off the trains. But now that Mattel is part of this game, maybe this isn't the best idea in the long run, as Thomas is a Mattel IP currently.

We do already have a Tomica-based stage, though it's titled "Plarail World"

Yes to all costumes except Purple Mustard. Not really that interested in just simple color swaps as full-fledged costumes

 

[Northsouthmap]

Yes to all costumes except Purple Mustard.

Screwball Scramble

 

[AlteredBeast]

Yes to all costumes except Purple Mustard. I will have to admit, I was running dry on ideas for costumes and I will have to agree..that’s my least favorite costume idea I came up with.

TOMY Stage:

Conning Tower Base M-115 (Microman)

To coincide with Mason, why not give him his home stage based off of a play set set from his world on Micro Earth? Basically, the platform is small as you’re fighting on the size of the small base which is at the top as well as on the plane that is carrying it. Occasionally, the plane will fly and missiles will shoot off as hazards so be careful! You will even see a Microman on the top of the base piloting it as well!

 

[PinkFlare]

Yes to all costumes except Purple Mustard. I will have to admit, I was running dry on ideas for costumes and I will have to agree..that’s my least favorite costume idea I came up with.

Don't sweat it; I don't really think it's a bad idea, but that's not really what I'm looking for when it comes to costumes.

Honestly there are some other costumes in the past that are similar to this that I do wish I said no to, but they're already in and I don't like walking back on people's votes.

Next Day is in like an hour or less btw cover ur butts
Edit: F*ck

 

[PinkFlare]

DAY 75​

Well, I did get sidetracked... buuut, the weekend is upon us, and you all know what this entails.
First up, regarding the previous votes...

Shockwave's Lab will be our designated Transformers stage for DLC! It beat Savage Land by 4 to 2.

All of the Costumes will be being added, though with the exception of Purple-Coated Colonep Mustard; Regardless, that's 8 new costumes, so we're making a lot of progress so far!

Moving on to the vote for our next DLC Stage...

NEW VOTE​

To go along with M121 Mason's inclusion, one of these Takara-Tomy stages will be added!

• The Tomy Blip KneeOfJustice99​
• Screwball Scramble Northsouthmap​
• Conning Tower Base M-115 [Microman] AlteredBeast​

Since there are only 3 submissions, only rank your Top 2; Regardless, we will end with only 1 Takara stage being added.

And now, since you've all been waiting for this...

NEW JOB​

Continuing off from our Skeletor addition in the Base Game, it was only inevitable that this would happen! Crossovers can only ever expand in magnitude one way, with new franchises; And with all of Hasbro's most iconic franchises already present in one form or another, all that's left is the most iconic franchises from other companies, so without further ado...

Job: Submit any Guest Character!
So, a couple notes; Last time we did a guest round it was very open-ended, but this time around it's gonna be a little different.
I'm going to be honing in on what the most popular characters were in the last guest round and forming the criteria around them; Afformatively, this means the required criteria for a guest is:

• The Character can be from another Toy Company​
• The Character can be a Toy themselves or have heavy relations to Toys (in their own Franchise)​
• The Character can be a past crossover character from Hasbro/Takara history​

Reminder that they only have to fill out one out of these three criteria, but if they don't they will be disqualified.
With that being our only disparity this time around... let the nominees roll-in!

 

[Qwerty UIOP]

Submitting Lord Vortech from LEGO Dimensions

 

[FazDude]

Question - Does being something published by a Hasbro subsidiary count as a crossover, or does the franchise have to directly cross over with one of Hasbro's?

 

[PinkFlare]

Question - Does being something published by a Hasbro subsidiary count as a crossover, or does the franchise have to directly cross over with one of Hasbro's?

The latter. Licensed characrers are no longer a qualification

 

[FazDude]

Gonna resubmit Red (Angry Birds) in that case.

For some reason, SB isn't letting me quote my original submission, so you can find it here.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

Okay, so I've been giving this a bit of thought, and I think I've got one that might be cool. Whilst not technically a toy, I specifically chose them because of their toyetic design, and a couple of other additional bits and bobs too. But who?

Character Name: Don-chan
Character Origin: Taiko no Tatsujin (2001)

Don-chan is a sentient taiko drum, and the central protagonist and main character of the Taiko no Tatsujin series, a rhythm-game series owned and published by Bandai Namco. Now, I'm aware this already runs into the issue of being iffy: the series didn't originate as a toy, it's not exactly well-known for being a toy, etc. It's not even like Tamagotchi where it was designed to be toy-like in its nature (I'll get to that!)... but nonetheless, I do genuinely feel that Don-chan is a good pick. Allow me to explain.

First things first, Don-chan isn't a character who peaked in the late 90s and has continued to exist in moderate-to-low states of recognition or popularity since. In fact, this guy is the central face of a long-lasting rhythm series that's surprisingly prominent both within the genre and across the world. Whilst mostly Japan-centric in its popularity (originating from arcade games and soon thereafter being ported to consoles), the series found itself in Western markets as soon as 2004 - and has pretty much remained there ever since. In fact, the series has gone from strength to strength and is arguably more relevant now than ever - the recent release of Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival for the Nintendo Switch is a good showcase of that. And, well, how many third-party characters can you say have featured in the Mario Kart series? Don-chan's one of those lucky few!

Secondly, being that he's the main character of what was originally an arcade series, he - and his series as a whole - is designed to be extremely toyetic. The very concept of how you play a Taiko no Tatsujin game is with a giant drum and a pair of drumsticks that you need to use in rhythm - it's hardly a traditional affair by any means! This, as well as Don-chan's own appealing and simplistic design, give him a solid basis to be fighting against other characters that - primarily - are toy-centric over anything else. We also don't run into the issue of just representing a video game here. Pac-Man is probably the most obvious "Namco pick" that comes to mind for people, being a solid character from their golden arcade age and a great way to represent that era - but Pac-Man is undeniably a video game character, thoroughly interlinked with games as a whole. Don-chan doesn't have that close of a colloquial association with exclusively video games (and isn't in Smash yet, either!), and thus this makes Don-chan feel less "strange" in the roster as a whole. He's purposely toyetic, it's just that his "toy" happens to be an arcade title. Bear in mind he's also not new to crossovers: music in his games has been from sources as wide as Dragon Ball, Frozen, My Neighbour Totoro, Super Mario and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and he himself has featured in Yo-Kai Watch, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Yakuza 5.

As for his moveset, I'd suggest there'd be a lot of focus on rhythm! Mostly fighting both with his own rounded body with a variety of purposely cutesy attacks, as well as with his drumsticks, (and possibly bringing in cool little aspects like the Balloon Notes as a method of flight!), he'd be a simple character to pick up overall. Also, it'd be neat if either his neutral special or his down special had him bang himself with his drumsticks, given he is a drum.

I think this little guy, whilst being a technicality, would nonetheless be a good fit for a roster like this.

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

Does Sanrio count as a "toy company"? Haven't decided on a submission yet, but would be helpful to know