Turtles of the Frontier
(An Apex Legends x ROTTMNT AU fan project, in collaboration with @shardkn1ght.)
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This is the second half of a collaborative piece Shardkn1ght and myself have been working on. Soph's half can be found HERE.
Whilst Soph handled the artistic side, it was my role to advise/be a consultant when coming up with an original origin story and to make sure everything was lore-friendly to Apex and Titanfall. On top of that, we've also made concepts for each character's abilities and an lore explanation for each. This post will serve to present that.
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Leonardo
Class: Assault
Can open red supply bins
Carry more ammo per stack
Tactical: Red-ear retraction (30s cooldown)
Leo hunkers down and uses a small personal dome shield to protect himself for a short time
When the dome runs out, it emits a small shockwave around Leo, pushing enemies back and applying a stun effect for a short duration.
Any damage the dome takes during its active state will increase the radius and duration of the stun. (maximum 15m, 10s)
Lore note: A relic from a bygone conflict. The now discontinued Hammond Robotics™ Red-ear titan-grade dome shield. Named after the aptly named turtle from the core system, the Red-ear shield was used as on-board protection for Atlas chassis based Titans and the Militia’s Vanguard class Titans. It would be attached to the Titan’s top hatch to protect the Pilot as they either embarked or disembarked. However it was never fully adopted by either the IMC or Frontier Militia as the top hatch was rarely ever used by most pilots, rather opting for the quicker and far less claustrophobic options. After finding one in an abandoned Hammond construction line, Leo had Donatello retrofit a kinetic feedback discharge system to it, making it repel anyone who gets too close.
Ultimate: ōdachi point
Leo can use his blade to phase breach a short distance to a designated point.
Unlike Ash, Leonardo’s phase breach does not stay open. This means he can’t be followed by hostiles, however his squad can’t follow either.
Lore note: Ash has seen the combat potential in Leonardo. Therefore, like her own sword, Leo’s ōdachi has been modified by Ash to allow the blade to tear into the void to a non-adjacent location and end up there near instantaneously. Unlike Ash’s breacher, Leo’s can phase to a location outside his line of sight to get the drop on unsuspecting hostiles.
Passive 1: Professionally trained
Jumping, falling, landing and climbing are all silent
Passive 2: Natural Born Leader
Leo gains a slight boost to his speed and jump height if one of his brothers are in his squad
This effect stacks if both of his squad mates are turtles
tier 1: 10% speed boost, 25% jump height
tier 2: 20% speed boost, 50% jump height
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Raphael
Class: Support
Can access extra loot from blue supply bins
Can craft unrecovered or expired ally banner cards
Tactical: Security Specialist (0s cooldown)
Raph holds up his forearms and utilizes repurposed armour plates from an old Scorch Titan and inhuman reaction time to block any incoming offense. (50% bullet damage reduction, 20% grenade damage reduction, 80% melee damage reduction)
No cooldown, however it requires a short start-up and finish animation.
No effect against legend abilities
Lore note: Using scraps of a Titan’s armour plates found in an abandoned Hammond facility, Raph had Donny create a set of armour plates that attach to his prosthetic arms.
Ultimate: Goliath Projection
Raph projects a monstrously sized holo-decoy of himself to swing wildly and guard an area (won’t actually do damage)
Any hostile that gets close will refuse to go any further
Will block lines of sight but can still be shot through
Lore note: Another of Hammond’s failed prototypes. The Titan-grade Holographic Decoy projector never saw combat, instead the only known use of it is in leaked Hammond Robotics™ test footage. Originally intended to be a Titan-sized counterpart to the more successful holo-pilot program, this old piece of tech was close to completion yet remained flawed. For starters, it drew too much power away from the Titan’s much more critical systems and was prone to overheating. Secondly, the projections would always move a little too fast; so it would’ve been easy to discern whether or not it was real. However, Raphael isn’t a Titan powered on a highly volatile nuclear reactor. But he is just as menacing. After having recovered it in the same abandoned Hammond facility Leo found his Red-ear shield, Raph had Donatello integrate it into his gear to allow it to project a Titan-sized decoy of Raphael.
Passive 1: Snapper’s Pressure
Upon landing from a height of 10m<, the weight of all of Raph’s gear will create a small seismic sock around him
Shockwave will push enemies back
Won’t work whilst ADS
Passive 2: Big Muscles, Bigger Heart
Raph can use “Snapper’s Pressure” from a shorter height and with a larger radius (default is 2m) if one of his brothers is in his squad.
This effect stacks if both of his squad mates are turtles
tier 1: activates at 5m with 5m radius
tier 2: activates at ANY height with 7m radius
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Donatello
Class: Recon
Scan survey beacons to reveal next ring location
Uses bō staff to do so
Tactical: Soft-shell Intel (25s cooldown)
Donny uses his augmented shell equipped with Acolyte Pods to fire two Sonar darts wherever he aims
Enemies caught by the scan are revealed for 5 seconds.
Each dart has 10m radius
Both darts are fired on activation, however the second dart is delayed. This means Donny can fire it in a separate location from the first.
Lore note: After finding an old, inoperable Tone Titan in an abandoned Hammond factory, Donatello reverse engineered some of the armaments found aboard the Titan. Most notably its Acolyte Pods and Sonar darts. Knowing that his battle shell can support a hefty amount of weight, he has crafted the reclaimed pods into a smaller, more personal weapon system, akin to the salvaged Northstar Acolyte Pods Valkyrie utilizes.
Ultimate: S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N
Donny uses his technologically enhanced bō staff to call down S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N, a Reaper who warpfalls onto a designated location.
Anyone who is underneath S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N when he lands will be instantly knocked down.
S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N can fire short-range anti-personnel rockets from his left arm at a slow rate of fire to suppress enemies or draw their fire
S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N’s right arm weapon can be chosen by Donatello on his gauntlet before he’s called in:
Option 1. a slow-moving shield-draining ball of electricity, which will behave similar to that of the LG-97 Thunderbolt.
Option 2. A Branthium powered gravity well that can bring targets in close to S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N
Option 3. S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N can use a second anti-personnel rocket system which effectively doubles the rate of fire.
Anyone in S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N’s sight line is spotted for Donny and his squad
Will be active until destroyed or time runs out (60s).
Give an audible warning that a S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N has been deployed with the Reaper’s iconic screeching.
Lore note: “Scanning Hardware Emplacement Linked to Logic, Defence and OffeNce”, or S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N, is a heavily modified Reaper that Donatello has reprogrammed to aid him and his brothers in combat. With S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N being a model of Reaper that predates the design improvements Ash made during the late stages of the Frontier war, he fires at a slower rate and cannot deploy ticks. However, Donatello has equipped him with threat optics, an enhanced Operating System, and modular weapon capabilities, allowing Donny to equip a multitude of different tools onto S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. Mikey has also painted him Purple now.
Passive 1: Violent Streak
When Donny uses a grenade he has the option to either make it adhere to surfaces and enemies OR lay it down as a proximity activated mine (mine has to be set manually from close range).
Passive 2: Genius Engineer
If one of his brothers is in his squad, Donny’s Sonar Darts will give out a pulse-echo which will scan a second time
This effect stacks if both of his squad mates are turtles
tier 1: 2 scans per dart
tier 2: 3 scans per dart, third pulse is larger (20m radius)
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Michelangelo
Class: Skirmisher
Can scan care packages and see the highest tier item
Tactical: Lockup (30s cooldown)
Mikey uses his Kusari-fundo in a small area of effect to temporarily wrap up enemies in high-tensile wire and ignite them, causing burn damage over a short time (4 seconds).
Can hit multiple enemies at once.
3m width and 5m reach
Lore note: Whilst exploring an abandoned Hammond Robotics™ facility, Mikey found an old patent for a Pilot’s tool that never made it to production. A set of Kusari-fundo which use a high-tensile wire in place of a chain. This variant of the weapon was not so much meant for offense, more so utility. From what Mikey could see, it was equipped with a small yet powerful internal power supply, which would superheat the wire. The intention of this was to allow Pilots to wrap it around and melt through the extremities and weapon systems of hostile Titans. However with the advancements in Titan defences and with how quickly the battery depleted, the idea was left by the wayside. Mikey has instead found a way to fix the power issue, and the answers lie in Branthium.
Ultimate: Artist’s Intuition
Mikey pulls out a can of explosive spray paint and can tag any surface he chooses.
Once the can runs out or he chooses to stop, Mikey can detonate the paint causing massive damage to anybody caught in the blast.
Useful for area denial
Lore note: Donny’s intellect and knack for high-explosives had pushed him to combine the two just to challenge himself, and so one day he did. The result was a nano-explosive that he found could bind itself to the Lead particles in Mikey’s spray paint. Once Mikey found out that Donny had been using his paint for his little science project, he hounded Donatello to let him use it for himself. Naturally, Donny didn’t trust that he wouldn’t accidentally kill himself, so he refused. Michelangelo, however, was unrelenting and so Donny eventually had to yield and give up the highly volatile tech to his gung-ho brother.
Passive 1: Rad Enough Ride
Mikey can perform 2 individual dashes using his Branthium powered, gravity defying board
Can be used for a speed boost, evasion, or to get in close
Uses a “fuel” gauge
Lore note: After the team of the Iris Project sent the remaining Branthium through the Phase Runner on Olympus and the rift was created, a sufficient supply of Branthium was distributed across the Outlands. However, not all of it went accounted for. A crate of the rare crystal was discovered by the Turtles and studied close by Donatello. He found that not only Does it have the potential to provide a near unlimited source of energy, but it also possesses gravitational properties; a by-product of the crystal forming on the edge of event horizons. Donny found that by superheating the Branthium and making it rotate at a high enough velocity, he could create what was, for lack of a better term, a miniature sun. Of course he had to make a suitable containment vessel, so he employed the help of Dr. Mary Somers; whom has had her fair share of Branthium related encounters. And once they’d done so, he had essentially made a battery that could never deplete. A perfect external power source for Michelangelo’s newly acquired Kusari-fundo. Not only that, he could take advantage of Branthium’s Gravity-manipulation qualities to modify Mikey’s boring old skateboard into something much more useful in combat. And so with that, Michelangelo had his new gear hooked up to the Branthium battery mounted onto the back of his shell.
Passive 2: Boxed-in
If one of his brothers is in his squad, the width and reach of “Lockup” is increased, as well as the length of time enemies take damage .
This effect stacks if both of his squad mates are turtles
tier 1: 5m width and 7m reach
tier 2: 7m width and 10m reach plus enemies take extra damage over time.
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credits:
Character art - @shardkn1ght
Backgrounds - me
