Late Bloomer

**Preceded by:**

None

Vice President

“*It keeps everything in 'mint' condition down in the Mints. You'd be hard-pressed (like the coins the Mint produces) to interrupt its work at any time.*”
―*The Cogs Volume 2*, Lullaby LibraryThe **Late Bloomer** is a Special Cog on the Sellbots corporate ladder. It is an optional boss fight encountered in the Sellbot Headquarters, accessible through the Courtyard.

Players can challenge the Late Bloomer only after starting a Progression ToonTask at Daisy Gardens Progression Level 10. Thereafter, players can challenge it again at any time.

The difficulty of the battle with the Late Bloomer depends on the party's Variable Difficulty rating. When defeated, the Late Bloomer rewards the player with Merits, with a high chance of Jellybeans, and a low chance of receiving either a low-levelled SOS Toon or Unite, or a Booster.

## Appearance

The Late Bloomer has a tall and stout body with a flowerpot for a head and a budding sprout. In its right hand, it carries a large shovel. If the Late Bloomer is heavily damaged, cracks appear on the flowerpot. Depending on the stage of the fight, the sprout will also change visibly:

* Phase 1: A small unopened flowerbud.
* Phase 2: The sprout is taller, and the flowerbud opens slightly to reveal small yellow petals.
* Phase 3: The flowerbud opens to reveal a medium-sized orange daisy.
* Phase 4: The flowerbud opens completely, revealing a large red daisy.

## Encounter

When encountered, a Laff and Gag Limiter is put in place to limit Toons' Laff to a maximum of 60, and Gags to a maximum of Level 5.

The Late Bloomer will have 2,000 HP during the fight, and a base movement range of 4 Squares per turn.

In battle, as its name suggests, the Late Bloomer deals low damage at an early stage but gains increasing amounts of strength as the battle drags. In exchange, it summons a large number of Cogs to come to its aid, has various defensive abilities to prevent Toons from attacking it directly, and it is innately durable and only becomes vulnerable to most Gags when its accompanying Cog summons are destroyed.

Players will have to juggle between attacking the Late Bloomer aggressively and targeting its Cog summons, which themselves grow stronger every turn.

### Passive Abilities

* **Disabling Resistance**: The Late Bloomer cannot be disabled by any means, but can be Lured for a maximum of 1 turn.
* **Earthly Possessions**: The Late Bloomer ordinarily has 40% damage resistance and 60% Lure resistance each turn. For each summoned Cog destroyed, the Late Bloomer loses 10% damage resistance and 15% Lure resistance for 2 turns. Any existing debuff stacks are refreshed for 2 turns each time a Cog is destroyed.
	+ If four summoned Cogs are destroyed in one turn in any Phase, the Late Bloomer takes damage equal to the combined Levels of the summoned Cogs x 5.
	+ If four summoned Cogs are destroyed in one turn when the Late Bloomer is in Phases 1 or 2, the Late Bloomer is stunned for one turn, takes 25% additional damage from all sources that turn, and cannot use any Cog Attacks.
* **Slow Start**: The Late Bloomer battle has four phases, starting at Phase 1.
	+ Every 6 turns, the Late Bloomer advances one phase, gaining a significant power-up and unlocking new offensive abilities that deal increasing damage with each stage.
	+ If the Late Bloomer drops below 800 HP, it automatically advances one phase regardless of the current turn.

### Attacks

#### Non-Damaging Attacks

* Phase 1: Level 4 to 7
* Phase 2: Level 5 to 8
* Phase 3: Level 6 to 9, with at least one Shady Salesman or Go-Getter
* Phase 4: Level 7 to 9, with at least one Go-Getter or Hard Seller

If the **Annoying Music** ToonTool is used, there is a 50% chance that only one Cog will spawn on Phases 1 - 2. It has no effect on Phases 3 - 4.
 **Fruition** | Used on every even numbered turn before using any attack.
Promotes two random summoned Cogs by up to 2 levels, granting them bonus HP (which can over-heal) equal to their New Level x (New Level+1). Promoted Cogs also gain a +3 stacking damage boost that lasts until they are destroyed.
Summoned Cogs can be promoted to a maximum of Level 12. Cogs that reach Level 12 also gain +100 additional HP and +6 damage boost.
 Stonewall
 **Daisy Chain** | Links two Cogs up across any range for 5 turns. While the Cogs are linked, both Cogs split any damage received equally.
 Ring Fence
 Parasitize
Only used when at least one Toon is in attack range.

### Strategy

* Players will need to balance being aggressive at early Phases of the battle with taking out higher-levelled and more dangerous Cogs at the later Phases. The bulk of the damage received will likely come from the accompanying Cogs and not the Late Bloomer itself.
	+ Generally, in Phases 1 and 2, players can focus on taking out enough low-levelled Cogs to lower the Late Bloomer's damage reduction, before focusing on the Late Bloomer entirely. The rest of the Cogs can be safely ignored or out-healed.
	+ At Phases 3 and 4, players should prioritize taking out any Level 10 or 11 Cogs before the Late Bloomer to prevent them from being promoted to Level 12, which would provide a significant damage and health boost (especially to the Shady Salesman or Hard Seller).
	+ At earlier Phases, players can also consider accumulating multiple lower-levelled Cogs to defeat all four of them at once, and stun the Late Bloomer for one turn. This is risky, however, since players will need to coordinate to defeat all Cogs in one turn or risk them getting promoted.
	+ If the Late Bloomer is stunned, players can use stronger Gags such as Drop or Bonk with impunity since the Late Bloomer cannot dodge.
* The Late Bloomer can be chain-lured and damaged with ease with Throw and Squirt Gags. Use this to your advantage.
* Avoid reaching Phase 4 of the battle at all costs - the Late Bloomer gains a number of damaging attacks that deal heavy damage and can leave you vulnerable to other Cogs finishing you off in the same turn.
* If the battle does run into Phase 4:
	+ Eliminate enough high-levelled summoned Cogs so that Toons do not get overwhelmed by both the Late Bloomer's and the summoned Cogs' attacks.
	+ Keep all Toons at full Laff if possible. If the Late Bloomer uses **Parasitize** on itself, its attacks can deplete almost all of a Toon's Laff.
* For ToonTool options, players should consider either the **Gag In A Box** or **Floaty Balloon** to reach around any obstacles placed by the Late Bloomer, or **Annoying Music** to limit the number of Cog spawns at earlier Phases of the battle.
* For Gear options, players should consider either the **Protective Wellies** to prevent the Late Bloomer from immobilizing them with **Muddy The Waters** or **Uproot**, or the **Squire's Helmet** to prevent the Late Bloomer from stunning them with Deal Breaker at later Phases of the battle.

## Encounter (CT)

When encountered when a Challenge Ticket is used, no Laff and Gag Limiter is put in place. However, the Late Bloomer will now have 6,500 HP during the fight, and gains the following abilities:

### Passive Abilities

* **Disabling Resistance**: The Late Bloomer cannot be disabled by any means, but can be Lured for a maximum of 1 turn.
* **Earthly Possessions**: The Late Bloomer ordinarily has 80% damage resistance and 100% Lure resistance each turn. For each summoned Cog destroyed, the Late Bloomer loses 20% damage resistance and 25% Lure resistance for 2 turns. Any existing debuff stacks are refreshed for 2 turns each time a Cog is destroyed.
	+ If four summoned Cogs are destroyed in one turn in any Phase, the Late Bloomer takes damage equal to the combined Levels of the summoned Cogs x 5.
	+ If four summoned Cogs are destroyed in one turn when the Late Bloomer is in Phase 1, the Late Bloomer is stunned for one turn, takes 25% additional damage from all sources that turn, and cannot use any Cog Attacks.
	+ If four summoned Cogs are destroyed in one turn when the Late Bloomer is in Phase 2, the Late Bloomer takes 25% additional damage from all sources for one turn but is not stunned.
* **Fling Mud**: The Late Bloomer's attacks leave a Mud debuff on affected Toons for 2 turns. Toons affected take 50% additional damage from all sources for the duration and have their movement range reduced by 50%.
* **Slow Start**: The Late Bloomer battle has four phases, starting at Phase 1.
	+ Every 6 turns, the Late Bloomer advances one phase, gaining a significant power-up and unlocking new offensive abilities that deal increasing damage with each stage.
	+ If the Late Bloomer drops below 4,000 and 2,000 HP, it automatically advances one phase regardless of the current turn.

## Dialogue

### General Taunts

* Now unfortunately for you I am in the middle of tending to my garden - well, what's left of it anyway, after the oil pollution.
* I'll have to politely ask you to leave.
 **Advancing to Phase 2** | * Alright. Now I'm starting to get riled up.
* Alright, time for you to begonia.
* It's time I rose to the occasion.
* Now what in carnation are you trying to do?
* This is starting to get interesting.
 **Advancing to Phase 3** | * It's time to nip this in the bud.
* Now you're just pushing my buttons.
* Thistle' be a pain in your side.
* Time to plant my feet down on the matter.
 **Advancing to Phase 4** | * Time to bring out the big guns... and roses.
* Time to put the petal to the metal.
* Yes, this is my final form.
 **Defeating a Toon** | * Ashes to ashes, dirt to dirt.
* Don't soil your own reputation, now.
* Now just where are you rushing to? Back to the playground?
* See what happens when you rush me?
* The early bird gets the shovel.
* Time to return to the dirt.
 **Defeated** | * Argh! You didn't let me cook!
* I knew my tardiness would get the best of me.
* It seems that I can't do this in my own time.
* Too little, too late...
* When you try your best, but you don't succeed...

## Trivia

* A "late bloomer" is someone who reaches their full potential or becomes good at something at a late stage, or later than expected.