Paprika

**"***But there is one among them who eschews their sober, serious attitude. Her name is Paprika, and she’s brimming with vigorous affection. Some say she aims to fill the world with love the land never had for her, but whatever her reasons, she feels compelled to share all she has and more, whether you’re willing or not.***"**
— **Paprika's character entry on Mane6 site**

**Paprika** is a highly affectionate Alpake chosen as the champion of The High Plains. She serves as one of the main characters of the game and is part of the original roster, providing a tricky type of all-rounder gameplay.

## Appearance

To contrast with the rest of her tribe which is of darker and duller colors, Paprika has bright yellow wool covering almost entirety of her body, and a bright pink-blue blanket. Her eyes are purple, her skin tone is pale peach pink, and her legs are brown, having toenails at each ends. She also carries with her - presumably in the wool - a picnic basket, full of apples, broccolis, cinnamon rolls and plant pots.

## Personality

Paprika, even for being a non-talking character, radiates her personality: she wants to give love. One could say she's even selfish about it, since she won't care for the possible consequences of her affection and crushing bearhugs. What matters to her is that she wants to share her love with someone, anyone. Little is known about Paprika's personality in detail, but this uncertainty is what makes her mysterious and equally dangerous.

## Story

### Book of Lore

The Alpake of the Huacaya Mountains have lived a nomadic existence, focusing on little but survival in the harsh wilderness. Paprika, however, was the only one standing out, brimming with joy in comparison to stoic clan. Due to her nature, her compassion would put the whole tribe at risk during travelling from place to place. Once the Council's call was brought to Adobo by his son, Paprika was chosen as The High Plains champion, mainly for a purpose to get rid of her.

### Story Mode

#### Chapter 1

**Part III: At The Mountains Of Sadness**

Paprika stalks Arizona through the Foggy Mountaintops, revealing herself by popping out of a rock at the exit. Arizona tries to communicate and figure out what Paprika is doing all alone in the area, but only met with gibberish and personal space invasion, to which Arizona decides to respond with brute force. Paprika serves as the end boss of Part III with three phases.

**Phase 1:** Paprika has her neutral moveset and acts similarly to how the AI controls her (depending on the difficultly). She has her health set up significally lower than normally, and it has to be fully drained to proceed to the second phase.

**Phase 2:** Paprika runs off-screen and tries to swipe Arizona from behind, and can be either blocked or jumped over to prevent from getting hit. Paprika still has her normal moveset except now she gains an aerial rolling forward attack which has shield. Her health is back to full and set up to default (5350 HP), and half of it needs to be drained to proceed to the third phase.

**Phase 3:** Paprika runs off-screen and appears on the player's screen, then turns around and jumps on Arizona, then runs off-screen again and repeats. Paprika will try to swipe Arizona. This attack also has shiled. If at closer range, Paprika can start doing her normal attacks.

## Abilities and Fighting Style

Paprika is quick on her feet and confusing in her fighting style. Her attacks are bewildering and full of fluff; don't breathe that! This playful alpaca has tricky movement and specials to confuse opponents. Add even more variables to the fight with her randomized magic attack.

Your movement options are quite decent, having a run for both directions, a shorthop, a super jump, and three Zippy Teleports, each for the A, B, and C buttons.

On top of having fast movement, her normals are fast, too. Her 5A and 2A may not be the fastest, but they can be chained into two rapid hits, and are amazing for pressure. Cart A is safe on block as well, making it hard to punish. Additionally, her magic moves send out a variety of projectiles, tied to a meter that only refills when the opponent eats one of your gifts, or at the beginning of a round.

Paprika possesses very simple combo structures, as long as you understand how charge motions work. In general, she won't be too difficult for a beginner to pick up and use, with some practice.

With these great strength comes some downsides. For one, many of Paprika's blockstrings are unsafe. This means that when she's pressuring someone's block, there are points where the opponent can easily hit Paprika. Additionally, her Zippy Teleports are very unsafe and reactable, making it easy for her to get hit out of them. Additionally, Paprika will inherently be affected by cross-ups more, due to her charge inputs.

## Trivia

* Paprika is based off of the *Fighting is Magic* character Pinkie Pie from *My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic*.
	+ Both characters share majority of their movesets in both function and design: normal attacks, cartwheel and teleport specials, magic system, and a killer hug Level 3 Super
		- Pinkie's j.2C (aeiral Down Heavy) didn't transfer to Paprika's current moveset.
		- Pinkie's 2C (Low Heavy) used to be a low attack with a swipe. Paprika's 2C doesn't have this property.
		- Paprika's Level 1 Super can only be performed on the ground, whereas Pinkie's can be done only midair.
		- Paprika gained a 623ATK (Z-input + any attack button) Kiss! command and a super jump.
		- She also gained [2]8ATK (Charge Down-Up + any attack button) Belly Flop command in later updates.
	+ Story-wise both characters originate from a harsh and depressing environment, and are capable of teleporting, as well as breaking the 4th wall. They're also able to hide objects inside their mane and wool respectfully.
	+ Pinkie is accepted by her family and others for her bubbly, hyper, and eccentric personality, but Paprika is rejected and exiled from her tribe; Pinkie Pie wants to bring happiness and throw parties for her friends, whereas Paprika only wants to share her love in a destructive way, bringing mysery and fear everyone around her. Besides this, Pinkie is known for her baking skills, while Paprika is mostly shown to knit sweaters and hats out of her own wool.
* Paprika's name originates from a ground spice made from dried red fruits of the same name. In many languages, but not English, the word *paprika* also refers to the plant and the fruit from which the spice is made, as well as to peppers in the *Grossum group.*
* Paprika used to not have her blanket in early concept art.
* As implied by one of the fight intro lines, Fred likes Paprika.
* She's capable of restoring her wool instantly, after using some of it for knitting and even fighting, as shown in some of her attack moves.
* Along with Velvet, Paprika is the second oldest character in the cast by maturity of her species lifespan (first being Tianhuo), and third oldest in the cast by raw age (after Tianhuo and Oleander respectfully).
	+ Converting into human years, Paprika is what could be considered past 25 years old.
* Paprika smiles almost at all times, even when she's knocked down. The only times she frowns are during Sculpted Perfection and Deadly Affection.
* Paprika sometimes likes to break the 4th wall in-game. If you wait a few seconds when Paprika is picked, her eyes will slowly turn to look directly at the player. Another case is her fight intro animation (as a second player), during which she comes up to the screen and leans towards it, directly looking at the player.
* She's the only known character who doesn't speak. Instead, she expresses herself with noises such as purring, giggling, and grunting. It's not known if Paprika herself understands what others say around her, but she reacts pessimistically if she's getting direct threats, or being rejected from snuggles.
	+ Her overworld dialog uses wingdings, also commonly known as Papdings in the community.
	+ It's implied that Cap can understand Paprika's language.
	+ There's a chance Fred could understand her as well.

## References

1. ↑ McGraw, T., C., & Boss, T. (Eds.). (2020, June 15) Mizuumi. Retrieved November 21, 2020, from https://wiki.gbl.gg/w/Them%27s\_Fightin%27\_Herds/Paprika
2. ↑ https://www.forums.themsfightinherds.com/index.php?threads/patch-notes-version-2-0.2368/#post-54442

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