Bass Armstrong

**Bass Armstrong** is a character from the *Dead or Alive* games.

A retired professional wrestler and father of Tina Armstrong, Bass enters the Dead or Alive Tournaments to stop Tina from dropping her title as a pro-wrestler to become a Hollywood sensation. The reason why is unknown, but some suspect that he made a promise to his deceased wife Alicia to protect Tina and make her into a woman of importance. He holds a job as an oil platform worker, which is how he knows Rig.

While working on his oil platform, he saw the announcement of the next DOA and Tina has returned to the wrestling ring. After reigniting his fighting spirit by fighting Rig, Bass returns to the wrestling ring, disguising himself as 'Mr. Strong'... which fails to fool anyone, but he still decided to embrace his old fans' cheering. He was unfortunately defeated by Jann Lee in the actual DOA tournament, and sometime later, the oil platform he worked on is destroyed but not after Bass and Rig evacuated every worker there. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten ahold the information that Rig is actually Victor Donovan's son playing amnesiac.

## **Appearance**

Bass is a tall man with a large, wide frame. His overall appearance is based on the American wrestler Hulk Hogan, and like him Bass has blond, shoulder-length hair styled into a mullet, and a beard which covers the whole of his lower face, but is trimmed close to the skin. In the first game, the beard was blond to match the rest of the hair on his head, but it was later darkened to a brunet shade. This could mean that Bass dyes his hair blond, or that the beard just changed color with age. Bass also has lightly tanned skin and small eyes that are the same shade as Tina's.

In *Dead or Alive 5*, it appears that Bass has lost a substantial amount of weight.

Most of his outfits are wrestling costumes with either a biker or American theme. Recurring elements to his costumes include leather, patterns that resemble the US flag, and some form of sunglasses, which can usually be hit off in a fight. One of his recurring outfits include a tanned and brown-colored cowboy outfit, complete with hat.

## **Personality**

Bass is the self proclaimed strongest fighter in the Dead or Alive series and he believes it. He also wants to prove to others his strength, and will not hesitate to show it in or out of the ring. This has also led to some instances of smashing people with chairs and hurling insults into a microphone. He is not so arrogant that he cannot accept others as equals, and will easily befriend anyone who can live up to his personal standards of strength and might. He does bear a more caring side for his daughter, Tina, and is very protective over her.

## **The Adventures in Gamesphere**

### **Gamesphere Accounts**

In Chapter 4, Bass is present in Zack's Beach Party where he confronted Wario, Waluigi and Larry Lovage for ogling his daughter and her friends, and beats them up off-screen.

In Chapter 6, Bass is present at the 31st Annual Gamesphere Legacy Awards.

In Chapter 7, Bass is seen attending a festival somewhere in the PC Kingdom.

In Chapter 10, Bass is amongst the many guest inside an amusement park in the PC Kingdom.

## **Abilities**

Bass is a power/grappler character, as is reflected by his large size and execution timeframe. His throw attacks are combo based and they can result in over 60% damage, but are easily escaped from by experienced players. However, thanks to his strength, Bass's counters can inflict massive damage (i.e. his "Manhattan Driver Combo" throw). His "Tiger Knee" is quite competent as well, with attacks such as the Rising Palm and One Hand Hammer.

Bass's slow speed results in him having to play aggressively and take advantage of missed counters and blocking. In Dead or Alive 3, his grappling prowess was increased due to the implementation of air throws and ground "lifts" to open up offensive opportunities (i.e. "Lift Up").

Bass is one of the heaviest characters in the Dead or Alive series; even heavier than Bayman and Leon. Because of this, he is the hardest character to perform juggles.

## **Trivia**

* Bass alongside Hayate and Lisa are three characters in *Dead or Alive 5* that have "alternate egos", being Mr. Strong, Ein and La Mariposa respectively.
* It's heavily implied that Bass is from the southern states of America - most likely Texas - due to his cowboy-themed costumes and recognizably southern accent in the *DOA2: Hardcore* games.
* Bass is heavily influenced by the wrestler Hulk Hogan, both in his look and moves. In one of his win poses in *Dead or Alive 2*, Bass holds his hand up to his ear, just like Hogan does. In another win pose, Bass slaps his rear end like Hogan has in the past. Also, Bass has a masked persona named "Mr. Strong" while Hulk Hogan had a masked persona named "Mr. America" from 2002-2005.
	+ Bass along with Jann Lee are the two characters in the *Dead or Alive* series that are inspired by real life fighters, they are inspired by Hulk Hogan and Bruce Lee respectively.
	+ Ironically, Bass is portrayed by Hogan's fellow nWo friend, Kevin Nash in the live-action version of DOA: Dead or Alive.
* Fans were discussing about whether Bass Armstrong (along with Jann Lee) would be in the main storyline if *Dead or Alive 6* is developed since he and Rig were best friends ever since his first time working on the DOATEC offshore plant. Unknown to Bass, Rig is possibly Victor Donovan's son.