Psychedelic Taco/Absolute Zero

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Absolute ZeroSentinels of the Multiverse
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Absolute Zero (AKA Ryan Frost) is one of the 40 base characters in Psychedelic Taco, and is the dreamer's representative of the Sentinels of the Multiverse universe. He was selected for inclusion in Psychedelic Taco as he is the first character GG played in one of his favourite board games, Sentinels of the Multiverse, which has influenced a variety of GG's works, specifically his own hero universe. Appropriately for the love-letter to superhero comics that is SotM, Ryan Frost is known primarily for his chilly disposition and love of classic tunes. He is also the final member of the Freedom Five, SotM's core superhero team.
Ryan Frost had a promising life ahead of him until his fiancee was killed in an accident. Ryan spiralled hard and ended up taking a job as a janitor at the Pike Industries Cryogenics Laboratory. His life took another turn when he was caught in the explosion of a sub-zero atomizer. He survived, but his body's core temperature permanently dropped to nigh absolute zero.
The shock of the explosion, combined with his new biochemistry, sent Ryan into a coma. With no known cure for his condition, the lab put him on ice.
Ryan spent over ten years unconscious and alone in a frozen chamber, until the government took custody of him for the Freedom Five Intiative. Eventually he was operated on and revived, but still couldn't leave his cry chamber. Ryan was offered a choice: Take a government funded suit capable of maintaining his core temeprature, but join the Freedom Five Intiative to pay off his debt, or live out the rest of his days in the cryo chamber.
Intially he refused, but boredom soon led to him joining the Freedom Five Intiative.
The Chaos spawned Baron Blade to oppose Absolute Zero. As the nemesis of his fellow Freedom Five member Legacy, as well as the founder of the Vengeful Five, Baron Blade has battled Absolute Zero countless times, even recruiting the soviet soldier Proletariat as his nemesis.
==Gameplay==
Absolute Zero is a relatively slow moving and complex controller who excels at keeping his opponents debuffed and buffeting them with a variety of powerful attacks. While his poor air control and low jump speed make his air game weak, his strong combos, low knockback, above-average range and ability to keep enemies grounded make him an ideal ground combatant at close to mid range. AZ's resistance is also above average, making him harder to pin down with stun-locking, and he attacks suprisingly fast, making him a good defensive character, or, in team fights, a powerful supporter on the offense to punish opponents who focus on his allies. 
AZ's area control makes it difficult for characters with poor range to get close without getting hit by his combos or specials, while his strong defense makes the chip damage of ranged attacks barely noticeable. Ultimately, AZ's aforementioned weak air game and lack of anti-air makes him weak to characters like Spider-Man and Obi-Wan, and characters with high resistance and/or penetration, such as Kingpin or Doomfist, will be able to penetrate his defense.
AZ is best paired with an ally who can keep enemies close to him either by forcing them to stick to a specific area or keeping them busy so he can catch them off guard. For this purpose, fellow Freedom Five member Bunker is a solid choice, as his strong area denial will force enemies to confront them. Molly Hayes or Red Death can also be good choices, but are slightly harder to predict and are only recommended for characters who are more familiar with AZ's abilities, as both of them could lead the opponent away from AZ's intended spot.
Absolute Zero has two traits, and the first is Isothermic Transducer. The Isothermic Transducer is a special bar that takes over the Reality Meter's ability to power up specials, representing the heat built up by his suit. Heat is built up by using special moves, filling up 5 segments, one of which can be expended to power up a special move, replacing it with a heat based power that does vastly more damage. To balance this, Absolute Zero's Reality meter fills slower than any other characters. 
His second trait, Null-Point Calibration Unit, is utilised through his ice attacks, which all apply a single stack of Chilled, reducing afflicted move speed and jump height for five seconds.
===Deep Rest===
Absolute Zero's ally in Deep Rest is Bunker.
Having defeated PT, Absolute Zero absorbed his power. His powers now infinitely enhanced, Absolute Zero unleashed a terrible blast of ice that quickly engulfed the entirety of the Dream. Satisfied, Absolute Zero rest's on the throne as ice slowly envelops him, living ice statues of the Freedom Five watching guard over the Dreams new ruler.
==Moveset==
Absolute Zero's basic combos are mostly just punches, supplemented by ice blasts. While not particularly strong on their own, the ice blasts have a reasonable range, making it easier to close distance. Absolute Zero's true power lies in his ability to keep opponents grounded through debuffs applied by his special abilities.
*Neutral Special: Fueled Freeze/Hoarfire - Absolute Zero unleashes a sustained ray of frost at a medium distance, continously dealing damage and chilling anything it hits. Hoarfire unleashes a simultaneous ray of frost and blast of heat until the Isothermic Transducer is depleted or Absolute Zero cancels the special, burning and chilling anyone caught in it.
*Side Special: Impale/Heatwave - Absolute Zero briefly creates a spike of ice in front of himself, slightly launching anyone it hits. Heatwave unleashes a blazing fast fire projectile.
*Up Special: Elemental Wrath - Absolute Zero fires a blast of ice downwards, launching himself upwards and chilling anybody next to him. The Isothermic Transducer version is instead a blast of heat that launches opponents downwards and burns them.
*Down Special: Coolant Blast/Thermal Shockwave - In both specials, AZ hits the ground with one hand, releasing a short blast of ice in both directions. Thermal Shockwave is immediately followed by a heatwave, burning anyone it hits.
*Special Finisher: Glacial Structure - Absolute Zero fires a close range blast of cold, chilling the opponent. If the Finisher is sucessful, the opponent is frozen completely and their body becomes a breakable stage obstacle.
*Reality Break: Sub-Zero Atmosphere - Absolute Zero unleashes the full might of his power, covering the entire stage in a snowstorm which chills all opponents and deals minor damage over time for fifteen seconds.
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Design NotesIn Sentinels of the Multiverse, Absolute Zero deals a lot of self damage, either ice or fire. This is because his equipment cards, Null-Point Calibration Unit and Isothermic Transducer, allow him to heal when dealt ice damage and deal ice damage to enemies whenever he is hit with fire damage, respectively. While this would be nearly impossible to replicate in a fighting game, I've tried to give a similar gameplay style through his traits here, but the majority of his abilities only really deal ice damage to enemies. The fire damage is mainly dealt to himself, representative of the heat built up by his suit as a result of overusing his powers. 
Because of his reliance on these two cards, he's slow to set up, as using most of his powers without them can lead to a quick depletion of health. 
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==Trivia==
*The biography is a paraphrasing of the official description on the SotM website.
*Other Dreamer candidates from SotM included Ra, Legacy, the Wraith, Setback, Bunker, and Argent Adept. AZ was eventually chosen due to his unique moveset and importance as GG's introduction to SotM.
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