Black Badge "The Dancing Dead"

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Black Badge "The Dancing Dead" (or BB for short) is the first of the berserk Adepts appearing in Azure Striker Gunvolt 3, and the boss of the mission Holy Night XIII (Downtown Christmas). His Septima is Geist, which allows him to control thought constructs. Although it's a very ghostly power, according to Kirin it doesn't actually summon spirits of the dead.
Following BB's defeat, he is recruited into the Sumeragi Group's Bureau of Dragon Saviors, and assists Kirin and Gunvolt in the mission Phantom Mist. His Sumeragi ID card has no diamonds on it, meaning he ranks the lowest out of everyone in the bureau.
==Website Description==
==Appearance==
In his masked form, he has long cyan hair and wears a gray suit covered in black armor with turquoise and white accents, his real arms are hidden and his fake arms are skeleton-shaped with hidden turquoise blades that when extended chisel scythes that can be thrown. His boots look like skeleton feet. His mask is turquoise in color, it has black horns, red eyes with a Z shape, and black details at the height of the mouth that resemble teeth.
In his human form he has red hair, cyan eyes, and wears a sleeveless black suit under a green jacket with no top and silver accents, wears black fingerless gloves, has a silver necklace, a silver belt, pants with black boots, and black knee pads.
===Gallery===
Main article: Black Badge "The Dancing Dead"/Gallery
Gv3booklet07.jpg
BB armed IP portrait.png
== Personality ==
BB wears his heart on his sleeve and is incredibly earnest, to the point of being detrimental at times. A generally cheerful person, BB is often the "life of the party" kind of individual often trying to lighten the mood or increase rapport with his fellow Dragon Saviors. BB's most notorious trait is his ladies man nature, actively trying to flirt with any woman he comes across, which ends up generally poorly for him, which hits a nerve within him, although he generally recovers to try again. In fact, it was noted that he was attempting to flirt with women right around the time he went berserk, and even during his out of control phase. Having equally failed, his twisted instincts compelled him to ruin Christmas (the holiday being a well known day for couples to celebrate in Japan), and grew more angered when his attempts at wooing Kirin, were immediately rejected and countered by the latter correctly deducing he was already rejected during the day.
He nonetheless feels genuinely remorseful for his mischief and gladly joins the Dragon Saviors as a means to make up for the trouble he caused. Nonetheless, his work ethic leaves a lot to be desired, as his desk is usually very unkept, with piles of paperwork that is often slow to work with, is regularly seen dozing off and has even what appears to be a magazine featuring women. Apollo is noticeably appalled by this, being the one directly next to his desk. Even then he tends to be the one who livens the environment, often talking using outdated slang and informal language, though he is capable of talking normally should the situation call for it.
His performance in the frontlines is, however, considerably better than his administrative work. BB is able to put both his abilities and personality to great effect, by usually becoming the center of attention causing enemies to focus on him and distract them from targeting Kirin. Despite being as noisy and unsubtle as possible in his entrance, BB is still surprisingly capable of stealth tactics, successfully sneaking and ambushing enemies ahead, thus clearing the way for the Dragon Saviors to move with less impediment. BB relishes and takes pride on his task, boasting about his role as the "Grim Reaper" in causing as much disruption, sabotage and terror to enemy forces, though it is generally rooted in playfulness rather than sadism. His fellow Dragon Saviors rely on and trust him a fair deal in battle, even Kirin who rebuffs his advances and is typically strict with him, admits to his excellent ability in combat and openly praises him.
==History==
===Azure Striker Gunvolt 3===
Following the awakening and sealing of Gunvolt, in a downtown area BB succumbs to a phenomenon stemming from GV referred to as Dragon Radiation, seemingly occurring in combination with BB being turned down for a Christmas Eve date. He transforms into a type of entity referred to as a Primal Dragon, gaining a masked armored form similar to those of Armed Phenomenon enhanced Adepts. Unlike GV when he was in a similar state, BB retains part of his original self and is conscious enough to speak, but loses all control of his emotions and goes on a rampage.
In response the Sumeragi Group deploys Peacekeepers to handle the situation. The Peacekeepers successfully evacuate the citizens, but city defenses, robots, and Adepts among the soldiers suffer secondary Dragon Radiation contamination from BB and go berserk too, with Kirin and Gunvolt arriving on the scene afterwards and dealing with the fallout.
They eventually reach BB, who spots them from atop a clocktower. He comments on Kirin being alone too and going on a walk with her dog, and asks her out, which she declines due to him being a smooth talker and wanted man. BB snaps and a fight ensues, with him declaring Christmas is officially over and that all couples are going to Hell. Kirin and GV defeat him. BB survives and returns to normal, joining the Bureau of Dragon Saviors and supporting Kirin and GV afterwards.
During ATEMS' heists on the Binding Brands, BB joins Kirin and GV to try and stop Serpentine from stealing a Brand hidden in a forest. His Geists and high-speed flight abilities help to distract the patrolling soldiers and security systems.
BB and the other Dragon Saviors participate in the assault on ATEMS' Sunrise Palace. Despite making it pretty far in, BB is eventually cornered and taken out by Sistina.
The True Ending reveals that BB survived, and continues working for the Dragon Saviors.
==Other Appearances==
===Card-en-Ciel===
"Yo yo yo! Did you cats forget about me?!"
BB is one of the characters from Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 featured as cards in the crossover roguelite card-battling RPG Card-en-Ciel.
BB's cards possess the [Convert] function, which means his normal state card is the default one in the deck and all copies will be converted into the armored version when [Convert] is triggered, and back again if [Convert] is triggered again.
Card 	Character 	Effect 	Cost	Movement
The Dancing Dead	B.B. (Normal) 	5 damage. [Convert](Special: 20 damage. [Convert]) 	1 	Up
Death Procession	B.B. (Primal Dragon)	20 damage. [Convert](Special: 35 damage. [Convert])	1 	Up
==Powers and Abilities==
BB holds power over the Geist Septima which allows him to control thought constructs, granting him the ability to manipulate greenish energy-like matter which manifests in ghostly and ethereal shapes and forms. Although spooky his Septima doesn't actually neither control spirits nor holds any power over the dead, but is employed to look terrifying and menacing, something BB generally likes. With Geist, BB is capable of raining down fireballs shaped like spirits which even crawl along the ground. Eject ghost shaped projectiles the size of an adult person (and even larger too) which has a particular property to curse its victims upon hit. Repeated hits will greatly weaken its target, although this curse is not long lasting and fades over time rather quickly.
Geist allows BB to fly and float in midair, but doesn't need his wings to do so. In fact, BB is capable of infusing the segments of his wing with Geist and use them as projectiles causing a spectral bony hand explosion upon impact which reaches several meters tall. His transformation bestows BB with a pair of long skeletal arms when he can manipulate in the form of rotating scythes (his normal arms being withheld within his chestplate). At its strongest, BB can use Geist to create a giant construct like an enormous horse shaped bike he can use to plow through enemies with sheer force. 
BB can use Geist for stealth tactics allowing him to vanish from sight, becoming visible only when about to attack his targets. BB puts this ability to great effect during his work as a Dragon Savior, generally favoring engrandoised entrances followed by his sudden disappearance, causing confusion and disruption to enemy forces, while laying in wait before taking out threats along the way, clearing the way for the rest of the team. 
===Boss Battle Skills===
Skill 	Description
Phantom Chaser(ファントムチェイサー) 	BB flies from one corner of the screen to the other, dropping will-o-wisps that crawl along the ground in the same direction as him. The falling wisps can be sent flying off-screen by attacking them.
In Hard Mode, the wisps, once reaching the ground, crawl along at a slower speed before speeding up.
Dancer Geist(ダンツァ・ガイスト) 	BB goes to the center of the screen and starts rotating his wing bits around himself, forming a shield and then starts shooting them one by one at the player. If the pieces hit the ground, an arm-like tendril of dark energy erupts from that spot. The pieces can be bounced away by Kirin's sword slashes and GV's Flashfield.
In Hard Mode, BB creates two rings of wing bits, and may either launch them three at a time or arrange them in a line before bringing them down rapidly from one side to the other, or from the center to the sides.
Deadly Wraith(デッドリーレイス) 	BB goes to one side of the screen and fires a series of ghosts that go in straight lines at different heights. After all the ghosts leave the screen, BB flies towards the player. Switching to GV clears them.
Taking a non-prevaded hit from the ghosts results in 4 wisps appearing over Kirin. Each successive hit taken causes one to go out, and if all do, BB traps the player in an unavoidable instant death attack.
In Hard Mode, the ghouls go in slightly diagonal directions, and BB launches a bigger ghost after launching the others, before flying towards the player.
Spectral Raid(スペクターレイド) 	BB flies from off screen towards the player then throws a rotating scythe in the direction he is facing. He then throws another, causing both to bounce of each other before they return to him; at which point he dashes offscreen.
In Hard Mode, BB first dashes to one side of the screen before performing the attack.
Death Procession(デスプロセッション) 	BB's special skill. He darkens the background, slashes around himself, disappears, then reappears near the player three times, slashing around himself with his scythes each time. After that, BB forms a motorcycle in midair and rides it off the screen, before making another pass on the ground.
In Hard Mode, the front end of BB's motorcycle is raised up in the air during the ground pass, necessitating the use of Arc Chains to avoid it. His ground passes are also faster and leave behind wisps on the ground; and he does two such passes. After that, he reappears at the center of the screen and makes a slash along the floor and sides of the screen, causing the wisps to erupt into pillars of flame.
==Boss Battle Voices ==
===Japanese===
Event 	Translated 	Romaji 	Japanese
Start 	I HATE all of those jerks! 	Douitsu mo koitsu mo ki ni irenaee! 	どいつもこいつも気に入らねぇッ！
Start (Epilogue ATEMS)	I’m so ANNOYED! 	Uttsun shita ze! 	うっつんしたぜ！
Phantom Chaser 	Break down! There! 	Kowarechimae! Hora hora! 	壊れちまえ！ほらほら！
Dancer Geist 	Dance away! Did you see that!? 	Odore, odore! Mita kaa! 	踊れ踊れ! 見たかッ！
Deadly Wraith 	Ghosts! Possess ‘em! How’s that one like!?(Caught) You’re already DEAD! 	Bourei yo! Toritsuke! Doudaa!Omae wa mou shinderuze! 	亡霊よ！取り憑け！どうだッ！お前はもう死んでるぜ!
Spectral Raid 	There! Take THIS! See! 	Soko da! Sore nara! Hora! 	そこだ！それなら！ほら！
Death Procession 	I’m so PISSED OFF! Death Procession! I don’t need any “Messiah”! Merry Christmas! Ahahahahah!(Hard Mode) This is the end!	Kire chimatta zee! Desu Puroseeshon! Meshia nante iranee no sa! Merī Kurisumasu! Todome da!	キレちまったぜッ！ デスプロせーション！ メシアなんていらねえのさ！ メリークリスマス！ 止めだ！
1st Phase Down 	So I’m not welcome, huh!? 	Oyobi janai tteka!? 	お呼びじゃないってか！？
2nd Phase Down 	You’ll PAY for this! 	Meecha yurusenee! 	めっちゃ許せねえッ！
Defeated 	That’s so SUPER VERY BAD! 	Chou berii baddo! 	超ベリーバッド!
=== English ===
Event 	Voice
Start 	I can't stand any of ya!
Start (Epilogue ATEMS) 	I'm totally cheesed off!
Phantom Chaser 	Take this!
Phantom Chaser 	I'll waste ya!
Phantom Chaser 	Haha!
Dancer Geist 	Dance, dance! You see that?
Dancer Geist (Hard Mode)	Eat thiiiiis! You see that?
Deadly Wraith 	Calling the dead! Haunt 'em! You like that?
(Caught) You're already... dead, baby!
(Caught, Epilogue ATEMs) Now you're...done for!
Spectral Raid 	Got ya! This'll do it! How's that!?
Death Procession 	Now I'm seeing red! Death Procession!
I don't need no messiah!
Merry Christmas! Ahahahaha! Ahahahaha!
(Hard Mode) You're dead!
1st Phase Down 	I never asked for this!
2nd Phase Down 	This is so not over yet!
Defeated 	Weaksauce! Mega... ultra... bummer...!
==Special Skill Chants==
Death Procession:
==Designer Comments==
Source: Dengeki Online interview about Gunvolt 3 character design and illustration
==Musical Themes==
(C) = Composer
(A) = Arranger
Title 	Context 	Musicians 	Audio
Holy Night's Lament(慟哭の聖夜, Wailing Holy Night) 	Downtown Christmas theme	Ryo Kawakami (C) 	
Holy Night's Lament -Roar-(慟哭の聖夜 ーー, Wailing Holy Night -Roar-) 	Gunvolt version 	Ryo Kawakami (C)Hiroaki Sano (A)	
==Trivia==
*BB's design motifs are the Major Arcana XIII, Death (and in turn a grim reaper), and Nidhogg,Concept art refers to him as shinigami (死神), which is how the Death Arcana is rendered in Japanese, and Niddhog (ニーズヘッグ). matching the Arcana motif of Gunvolt 3 characters, and the dragon motif of the Berserk Adepts.
**His mission name Holy Night XIII references this.
*BB might be named after the Rolls Royce Black Badge, matching the possible car-based names of Cayman, Shiron (Chiron), and Apollo. The Black Badge also has variants named the Black Badge Ghost and Black Badge Wraith, matching B.B.'s Geist Septima.
*BB being referred to as Pale Rider (ペイルライダー) while riding the horse motorcycle is a reference to Death of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It has also been speculated that the other Berserk Adepts have references to Conquest, War, and Famine, but that is unconfirmed.
*BB was voted #1 on the Gunvolt 3 character popularity poll held by Inti Creates' Twitter accounts to determine the six characters who'd be featured in a promotional Halloween wallpaper. However, this occurred after voter interference--someone bought off Korean users to vote for BB, resulting in a massive amount for him. During the poll Inti Creates acknowledged the problem and nullified Korean votes for BB up until that point,INTI CREATES Official tweet about poll interference but by the end of it he still received several times the number of Korean votes for other characters combined. (It is worth noting that BB was a popular choice even outside of the Korean votes, so he would probably have been in the top six regardless of the interference.)
*BB was the first Gunvolt 3 boss character to be designed.March 2021 gameplay stream
*The Berserk Adepts' designs may pay homage to the Four Guardians from the Mega Man Zero series, with B.B. referencing Sage Harpuia. BB's introduction, with the camera moving upwards to show a figure on top of a tall structure who jumps and floats down, is also very similar to the Model H (Harpuia) Pseudoroid Hivolt's introduction.
*BB is the first boss to use a vehicle for his SP Skill during his boss battle.
*BB was the first Gunvolt 3 character other than Kirin, GV, and Lumen to be revealed. He was first seen in an October 2020 Inti Creates stream, where only his in-development spritework and part of the Death Procession attack animation were shown. He and Cayman served as Japanese event demo bosses the following November at the Digigames Expo, with still no information revealed about them. It wouldn't be until May 2022 that BB and Cayman were properly revealed; in the meantime the entire Luminous Avenger iX 2 development and post-release periods had gone by.
==References==
*Gematsu article with a summary about BB.
*4gamer.net article about BB.
*Gunvolt News Channel Episode 42, BB's debut stream featuring his Japanese voice actor Taishi Nakano as a guest.
==Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 Navigation==
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