"Metallic" Mayer

Mayer as he appears in Story Mode Chapter 5: Roaring Regret

Lars von Mayer is a major secondary character in Schwarzerblitz, who plays an important role in story mode. In-game, he is playable as a costume for Graf Shabeel, sharing his whole moveset with him. He appears in several story chapters and arcade endings.

## In-game character profile

Quoted from his in-game profile:

> Lars von Mayer had always been a brilliant student and scientist. At the age of 26, he was appointed as the leader of a huge experimental group in Geneve, with the task to study containment measures for outburst of distorsion energy, in order to prevent the appearance of hostile reality oscillation phenomena (ROP) near the distortion power plants.
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> In 2051, during a high energy experiment, the laboratory exploded due to an issue with the security system. Mayer lost half of his upper body in the accident, remaining on the edge between life and death for several months. After his recovery, he had the missing limbs replaced by conspicuous mechanical prosthetics.
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> His new look caused people to call him "**Split Metal**" or **"Metallic" Mayer**. Mayer accepted it, since it didn't impair his ability to work, but rumor has it that he lost his humanity and empathy in the aftermath of the accident, becoming nothing short of a machine.
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> In 2060, after the chaos ensuing the Neo Helsinki accident, Mayer was appointed as the leader of the Schwarzer Blitz project, an experiment born with the idea of using the outburst of distortion energy to create weapons and other means to wage war. While the first proposed place for the research group was the old Polaris base in Antarctica, the government opted to carry out the experiment in the city of Euterpe, Italy, using the existing distortion power plant as a means to perform experiments.
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> In the following four years, Mayer was responsible of several atrocities which led to the creation of mutants of any sort, like Sambiong and Shabeel.
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> On the night of the Black Lightning Disaster, Mayer attempted to stop Sambiong from running away, but was heavily injured in the ensuing fight. The distortion plant in Euterpe exploded soon after, killing him in the process.
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> Since then, the only known remnants of Mayer are some artifical brain backups left in a couple safes around the world. Nobody ever managed to analyze them properly, and it is rumored that they could have maintained a bit of their former owner's conscience...
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## Appearance

Mayer was an averagely tall man, with bright green hair, green eyes and a rather pointed nose. He used to wear a lab coat with a bat insigna, rumored to be a connection with the criminal syndicate known as "die Fledermaus". The right half of his upper body was replaced with mechanical implants, giving him the appearance of a cyborg. Mayer's implants look extremely rough and unrefined, leaning into a "more a machine than a man" aesthetic. The glowing yellow lights on his mechanical half complement the ominous feeling of someone that *shouldn't* exist, yet is still there, against all the odds.

## Concept and inspiration

Metallic mayer is one of the characters from the original 2000s concept for the game, as shown in a tweet that showcases his late 2006 concept art. He was added in-game as a bonus costume for Graf in 2017, though without an own moveset.

Mayer's most distinctive feature is the artificial half of his body, which features glowing yellow lights in place of his right eye and half of his mouth. The game's creator stated that he was heavily inspired by the villain Cyberiad from "Spider Man and his amazing friends", which he watched as a child.

Mayer is described as "one of the two morally evil characters in the game", the other one being H-168 Krave (though this statement seems to exclude other questionable characters like Silman Simmerik, Sanjuro Bonzaga and General H.H. Boost. It's unclear if the developer referred only to playable characters). Mayer was originally supposed to be a playable character, but was later relegated to a secondary role, despite his prominence in story mode.

## Unlock conditions

Mayer is playable in Schwarzerblitz as a costume for Graf Shabeel. He can be unlocked by clearing arcade mode twice with both Graf and Tiger. He has a unique climatic battle against Graf at V.R. Panic and an own arcade ending.

## Quotes

* *"How do you dare to oppose your maker's will?"* - intro line against Tiger Sambiong
* "*That idiot... he can't possibly have changed your firmware!*" - intro line against Graf Shabeel, possibly referring to Silman Simmerik
* *"You seek revenge for him? How stupid! Revenge is useless, if you can't survive it! Don't you want to live, Sambiong? Yes, surely you want! Who would be so stupid to desire death for themselves?"* - Mayer confronting Tiger Sambiong in **Chapter 5: Roaring Regret**
* *">Now, brace yourself, specimen! It' time to experiment... AGAIN!"* - Mayer taking over Graf Shabeel in his own arcade ending

## References

1. ↑ confirmed by the game's creator, but not referenced in-game
2. ↑ Schwarzerblitz - Jenn Husler's arcade ending
3. ↑ Schwarzerblitz - Metallic Mayer's in-game character profile
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Schwarzerblitz - Story mode, chapter 6: Through the Fire and Flames
5. ↑ Schwarzerblitz - Story mode, chapter 5: Roaring Regret
6. ↑ "#screenshotsaturday (a bit late). I found another old sketch of mine :) Tiger and Metallic, 12 years ago vs. now! #gamedev #indiedev" - Tweet by Andrea "Jens" Demetrio (link)
7. ↑ "mad #scientist "Metallic" Mayer enters the brawl as a custom #skin for Graf! #gamedev #indiedev #cyborg #fgc #characterdesign" - Tweet by Andrea "Jens" Demetrio (link)
8. ↑ "Lars "Metallic" Mayer. A scientist who lost his best half (the right one) in a laboratory accident in Geneve and was patched up by German science. One of the two morally evil characters in-game, where he is a bonus costume for Graf." - Tweet by Andrea "Jens" Demetrio (link)
9. ↑ "Lars "Metallic" Mayer, pencil-coloured. Originally, he was supposed to be a playable character, but then I relegated him as a skin for Graf. In story mode, though, he's a prominent player, despite being dead" - Tweet by Andrea "Jens" Demetrio (link)