Cagney Carnation

* Intro
* Phase 1
* Phase 2

**Cagney Carnation** is the boss of the level titled Floral Fury. He is one of the bosses that can be encountered in Inkwell Isle One.

## Description

### Appearance

Cagney Carnation, like his last name implies, is a tall, sentient carnation flower.

At first, Cagney seems like an innocent-looking flower with a stamen as a face, orange cheeks, a small, pointed nose, six orange petals, each with stripes of a darker shade of orange on the tips, large leaves that act like hands, and a dark green stem with four light green leaves on the bottom.

However, shortly after, Cagney's stem grows small yellow thorns, his petals get a pointed tip in the middle of each of them, his orange cheeks completely disappear, his nose gets longer, his eyes become larger, and his leaves turn into long arms with actual hands.

In his final phase, Cagney will have his hands planted into the ground (presumably absorbing the nutrients from the ground to make himself stronger), and his usually round teeth and petals will have a sharper shape, his stem gets much larger, and he seems to have vines come out of his bottom petal.

### Personality

Cagney is sneaky and cunning. He seems to delight in catching his enemies off guard with his appearance, posing as a harmless and adorable flower before roaring loudly.

He also seems to be slightly crazed in his final phase, with his maniacal grin and shrieking laughter.

## Battle

### Intro

Cagney smiles at the player(s) in an innocent way before suddenly roaring/yelling at them. He then begins his characteristic dancing idle animation as the battle begins.

### Phase 1

"Fools who attempt to fight this will leave with allergic rhinitis!"

—Cagney Carnation, Phase 1 Death Screen

At the start of the battle, Cagney is capable of using three different attacks.

* **Lunging Lurk-**He extends both his face and his arms as a lunge to quickly lash out and deal damage. To avoid this attack, players must either jump on the platforms or get off of them, depending on which section Cagney is aiming for. In Expert Mode, he lunges after much less of a delay.
* **Magic Hands-**His stem splits into a pair of legs and he cups his hands together, opening up to shoot either:
	+ One sycamore seed with eyes that will fly like a boomerang across the screen over the flying platforms, then fly back across under the platforms.
	+ Three flying acorns that will be shot out from top to bottom, moving toward where the player(s) was.
* He can chain three attacks at most before going back to idle animation. This attack is referred to as "Magic Hands" because the action he is doing is similar to showing a magic trick, and glitters shines when he opens his "hands". In Simple Mode, he can only chain two attacks at most, and the acorns and the sycamore seed fly slower. In Expert Mode, there will be four acorns, and both the acorns and the sycamore seed fly much faster.
* **Gatling Seed Plant-**He morphs his face into a Gatling gun to shoot different colored seeds. Each seed has different abilities:
	+ **Blue Seed** - This seed grows a vine and then releases a green Toothy Terror Chaser that acts like a homing missile. In Simple Mode, they spawn slower, turn and travel slower. In Expert Mode, they spawn, turn and travel faster. Hitpoints = 4/4/10
	+ **Purple Seed** - This seed grows a Baby Toothy Terror on the ground that acts like an obstacle. In Expert Mode, Cagney will never shoot purple seeds. Hitpoints = 5/5/8
	+ **Pink Seed** - This seed grows a vine and then a Toothy Terror Floater that will fly above. It then opens its mouth and shoots a seed at the player(s). Only one can be spawned at maximum and any excess pink seed will turn into a green Toothy Terror. The seed itself and the flower's bullets can be parried. The Toothy Terror cannot be damaged until it is in its attacking animation. In Simple Mode, the pink bullet travels slower. In Expert Mode, two of this kind can be spawned at maximum, but the chances are slim. Hitpoints = 3/4/4

In Simple Mode, the seeds fall slower.

In each difficulty, all of his attacks are divided into sub-phases a lot more pronounced than most bosses in this game.

* In Normal Mode, he initially alternates between the lunging and Gatling gun attacks. After a damage threshold, he begins to use the “Magic Hands” attack before alternating between it and the lunging attack. After a second damage threshold, he will go back to using the Gatling gun attack before alternating between it and the “Magic Hands” attack.
* In Simple Mode, he initially only uses the lunging attack until enough damage is taken. Afterwards, he starts with shooting three purple seeds every time he uses the Gatling gun attack, and cycle between lunging and using the Gatling gun attack. After reaching a second damage threshold, he only uses the "Magic Hands" attack. After a third and last damage threshold, he will only use the Gatling gun attack, however, he will not shoot anymore purple seeds, just blue and pink seeds.
* In Expert Mode, he will only use the Gatling gun attack very rapidly at the beginning of the fight. After taking enough damage, he will alternate between using the "Magic Hands" attack and the lunging attack for the rest of this phase.

After taking enough damage, Cagney will pull on his petals in frustration and thrusts his hands underground. While this happens, he undergoes a scary transformation, resembling a lion in some way. His petals will become sharp and more spread-out, he develops an even wider and more insane smile with razor-sharp teeth, his nose grows longer until the tip bends slightly upward, his eyes become slightly yellow, and his pupils intensely dilate. As his arms sink underground, they become thorny and sprout back out as spreading thorny vines that make the lower ground untouchable, forcing the protagonists to stay on the three flying platforms. In Simple Mode, Cagney will simply pull on his petals without spreading his thorny vines when defeated. Hitpoints = 1000/702/810

### Phase 2

"Extreme pollination and total domination!"

—Cagney Carnation, Phase 2 Death Screen

Cagney will start releasing dandelions from his tongue that fly across the screen and when they come in contact with the player that applies a nauseous effect, and the screen will get blurry.

At the same time, vines will grow below 1-2 of the flying platforms and then shoot upwards, briefly encasing them and making them impossible to stand on. In Expert Mode, the dandelions travel slower to stay on screen longer, with a combination of the vines on the flying platforms growing faster.

Once Cagney enters this phase, all Toothy Terrors will disappear beside the flying orange ones, which will continue to shoot pink bullets at the player(s). Even if it creates more parry opportunities, it will be a hazard when player(s) try to jump over platforms. This will be way more apparent in Expert Mode if two of the Terrors are left alive at the same time.

After taking enough damage, Cagney will be defeated, screaming to the sky and his eyes becomes black and hollow. Hitpoints = 598/690

## Gallery

Cagney's IntroCagney's Intro (no frame loop)Cagney's idle (with blinking)Cagney's idle (no blinking)Cagney's idle blinkCagney's Magic HandsCagney's Magic Hands (no frame loop)Cagney's upwards face attackCagney's upwards face attack (no frame loop)Cagney's downwards face attackCagney's downwards face attack (no frame loop)Cagney's Gatling GunCagney's Gatling Gun (no frame loop)Transition to Phase 2Transition to Phase 2 with Overgrown RootsTransition to Phase 2 (no frame loop)Transition to Phase 2's Overgrown RootsPhase 2 Cagney's idlePhase 2 Cagney's spit attackKnockout!Passive CagneyCagney roaringPhase 1Seed Gatling GunMagic Hands (idle)Magic Hands (attack)Lunge Attack (up)Lunge Attack (down)Frustrated Cagney/Simple knockout/Final phase transitionCagney about to transformCagney extending his arms into the ground and transforming them into overgrown rootsFinal PhasePollen TossKnockout!Toothy Terror Floater seedLight Blue Baby Toothy Terror seedBaby Toothy Terror seedLight Toothy TerrorSeed bloomingBoomerang ThingyAcornCagney as seen in the good endingUnused frame of Cagney's idleUnused screenshotPlaceholder pollen spritePlaceholder Cloud bomb projectilePlaceholder Cloud bomb explosionThe reveal of Cagney's calyx after multiple fans specualting how it looks likeCagney Carnation in the Xbox One, Fan Expo Canada, and EB Games advertisementConcept artConcept art 2Concept art of his background.Floral Fury background (unused)Pencil test of Cagney (no blinking)Unused WeaponUnused Weapon (Exploded)The Sprites For Cagney!Cagney Carnation knocked out in Simple ModeOrange FlowerBlue FlowerOrange Flower (open mouth)Blue Flower (open mouth)
## Unused Content

A cloud bomb attack is one of Cagney's "magic hands" attack projectile, Cagney will fire one of them each time, they aim straight at where the players are and stick to the flying platforms or the ground, having a small delay before exploding into a puff of clouds.

Pink seeds can spawn a blue flying Toothy Terror, when it shoots a bullet, it will aim at Cagney and deal 25 damage to him. It shows its eyes and shouts "OH!" when shooting. Even though the flower appears to be on the player(s)' side, they will still take damage from its hitbox or from the bullet, which is still always parryable. Hitpoints = 1

## Trivia

* Cagney has only 5 petals when using his Gatling gun attack. This might be a mistake in the drawing, as he loses one petal.
* Despite his name, Cagney does not fully resemble a Carnation flower. His face is in a central petal-free spot that carnations lack.
* Cagney's ability to turn into a gun and shoot seeds out is a pun on the word "pistil", a reproductive organ in the center of a flower's face, and "pistol", a type of gun.
* The original track for Floral Fury is the only soundtrack in the base game that does not have a '30s jazz style. Instead, it has a samba-like style. The other track that has a similar instrumentation is Snow Cult Scuffle.
	+ This theme can also be heard in Admission to Perdition along with many others.
* In Cagney's Phase 1 death screen, his face is the same color as his petals. This appears to be an error.
* Cagney's old death phrase was "Looks like you're pushing up daisies!", a euphemism referring to someone dying.
* His first death phrase is referring to some people's common allergy to flowers and pollen.
* Cagney Carnation originally had Shootin N' Lootin as his battle theme before this was changed to his current battle theme, Floral Fury.
* Apparently, his tongue can morph. In his roaring intro, his tongue is snake-like. In his Phase 2 Dandelion attack, his tongue turns into a hand throwing the projectile. In the Phase 2 Death Screen, Cagney's tongue is back to "normal".
* Regular Mode is the only mode in which all of the "Gatling Gun" attack's types of seed are shot together.
* According to the E3 2014 Trailer, all of the seeds would be parryable and had a white outline instead of a black one.
* Cagney appears to grow a seventh petal in his transition to his final phase, which is behind his neck.
* Cagney's final phase resembles a lion, which may be a pun for his dande"lion" attack.
* Cagney is one of the most popular bosses in internet culture, particularly with his intro animation spawning a popular meme template.
* Cagney appears in a Geico commercial where the Geico gecko witnesses Cuphead defeat him.
* Cagney's roar in the intro appears to be a Lion's roar altered in pitch, which, much like his 2nd phase, is a pun on the terms "Dandelion" and "Lion".
* The v1.1.3 patch made it where, in his final form, if his dandelion attack touches the player, the screen will now shake and get blurry and distort the music for a moment (along with the player getting hurt).
	+ When a player gets hit by this attack for the first time, they receive the achievement Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy

### Inspirations and similarities

* His dandelion attack causing the screen to blur is a nod to touching or eating the Fuzzies in *Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island*.
	+ The achievement the player gains when hurt by it is the name of the level where Fuzzies first appear in *Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.*
* Cagney Carnation's design and cute face in the intro, as well as the background, are a tribute to famous animated flora from the 1932 Disney Silly Symphony cartoon *Flowers and Trees* through the 1930s and beyond. His first name came from the famous 1930s film star James Cagney.
* Cagney's first name, sharp-nosed profile, and "Seed Gatling Gun" attack are a reference to James Cagney, a 1930s American actor who was typecast as a thug in most movies he was in.
* Cagney's seed attack is very similar to Papaya Dance's in *Gunstar Super Heroes*, a franchise which is referenced numerous times in *Cuphead*. Additionally, the Toothy Terror Floater that Cagney spawns looks like the bombs Papaya Dance drops during his fight.
* Cagney's intro animation could be a possible reference to Necro's taunt from *Street Fighter III*, most notably the tongue.
* Cagney's idle animation in his first phase is a direct reference to the dancing style of a ghost in the 1930 Talkartoon *Swing You Sinners!* (which is referenced multiple times in the game), which is, in turn, a reference to Monroe Silver, a popular Jewish vaudeville comedian from the 1930's who frequently incorporated a similar dance into his routines.
* The Baby Toothy Terrors that Cagney summons resemble Munchers from the *Super Mario* franchise. Also, the platforms' red and white polka dot patterns resemble those of the Piranha Plants and the 8-bit jumping sound effect can be heard in the intro right before Cagney roars.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/StudioMDHR/status/946109737740984320?s=09
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/StudioMDHR/status/1035558067906269184?s=09
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Art of Cuphead, Cagney Carnation, page 64
4. ↑ https://youtu.be/VNttqN1wUMY?t=218

## External Links

* Cagney Carnation - Antagonists Wiki