ok ok fuck I’m pulling an all nighter on this and all I got for you is the car I’ll draw pictures of the character if I win because I can’t host.
Mako
shark-lady of the apocalypse
WIP: now with partial improvements but the arms are unfinished. For the original sketch just click below
dirty line sketch
Driver Name: Mako
Age: ??
Species: Android human-shark hybrid
Origin: Apotheosis Dynamics
Driver Number: TBA
Background:
A wise person once said humanity would end when bears shoot lasers out of their eyes and sharks grew legs and walked the earth. One for two won’t put a broke millenial out of their existential dystopian misery, but at least it’s a start.
Rumour has it that Apotheosis Dynamics is one of those weird transhumanist billionaire constructs and Mako is just one of a growing line of projects fusing the greatest attributes of multiple species into synthetic beings. But nobody important can reconcile the garbled rationale for improving humanity by replacing bits of it with… non-human stuff. Likewise, nobody important knows why Mako was created, but presumably it had something to do with trying to trigger the apocalypse. Nobody important knows exactly how much of Mako is organic and how much is cybernetic, only that there’s parts of both. Hell, nobody even knows Mako’s gender, but since we all know that the badass sharks are female, we’ll go with that.
And as female sharks go, Mako’s artificial components are designed to pull the absolute maximum out of her predatory instincts. She is all power, all the time. Perhaps too successful, she is not alive if she isn’t in a fight to the death, or going faster and harder than her body can take. She is full on in your grille and rip your face off. She will fuck your shit up.
One would think that such a spectacularly antisocial being is unsuitable for living in society at large. One would be correct. Perhaps this is an indication of Apotheosis Dynamics’ true purpose, creating organic weapons, and that would explain the source of their bottomless funds. An investment in conflict, if you will. But you didn’t hear that from anybody important.
But this time, Apotheosis Dynamics made a crucial error: Mako’s sole purpose didn’t include a directive on how she, as a weapon, was to be handled and by whom. Perhaps the developers should have studied Robocop, because shortly after initialising, Mako sunk her teeth into life and everything in general, leaving a trail of destruction before smashing her way out of reach of her handlers. Such a conspicuous presence could not remain long in the world though, and it through the timely intervention of a conglomorate with very specific interests that a much dreaded military operation to neutralise Mako was avoided.
This is how Mako found herself participating in “Drivers Legends Royal”. Her handlers learnt that such things as freedom and choice and self-preservation were meaningless concepts in the face of raw power and bloodlust. That they could apply her superhuman talents to anything they wanted as long as she had something potent enough to keep her engaged. And for that, they only needed the most powerful car in the league, and she was their loyal soldier to the death.
Nobody important paid any mind to the relationship between her new employers and Schmierig CO. Nobody important is going to do anything other than watch Mako do what comes natural: ripping and tearing at incredible high speed.
2025 Gryphon Gear “Apex Predator”
uwu
Car Class: Spear and how!
Power: 4360hp lmao
Weight: 1588kg
Top speed: 487km/h
From the unhinged mind of Lead Designer Dr McHorseguy, comes the most powerful Gryphon Gear prototype yet. It’s so new that the team hasn’t even come up with a proper name, but this one will do nicely for now. This car is the epitome of Gryphon Gear’s ethos of “speed at all costs”, but has also been honed to match and augment Mako’s shark attributes. Not only is it extremely fast and highly maneuverable, but all of its armor and reinforced points happen to be up the front. This makes it a potent “biting” machine, but leaves virtually no protection to the side and back, because why would such a powerful and agile predator need such things? Furthermore, emulating the irrepressible way of the shark, this car has no reverse gear, relying instead on a special ability for non-linear maneuvers. But the true secret to the car’s power? It has a symbiotic relationship with Mako: once she clambers into the cockpit, she is one with the machine, and they draw energy off each other. Meaning that if the car is damaged, Mako is too. And if the car is rendered immobile, she will suffocate and die. Just like a shark.
Passive Ability: Jaws
As mentioned, all of the Apex Predator’s hardpoints are in the front. This means the front “teeth” have quadruple defence and ramming ability. The downside of this is that defence everywhere else is one quarter the average. Face everything head on.
Special Ability 1: Thrash’n’Gnash
So the car didn’t have room for a reverse gear. Fear not, drawing off Mako’s energy reserves, the Apex Predator can put in an evasive burst in any direction required (which can substitute for reverse). Just make sure you don’t get yourself really stuck because if you get wedged fast, there’s little saving you. This ability has a quick recharge but uses 5% of Mako’s base energy.
Special Ability 2: Bloodlust
Feel the adrenaline rush of pure fury and violence! When activated, Mako and the Apex Predator will feel no pain for twenty seconds, and Mako will gain energy depending on how much damage the car deals to opponents. Be careful though, the Apex Predator will still accrue damage as normal, and the balance recalculated when Bloodlust ends. If the damage dealt is higher than the damage suffered, Mako will gain energy and the Apex Predator’s systems will be repaired by that amount. But if the damage taken minus damage dealt is higher than Mako’s remaining energy, the car will be rendered inoperable. Recharge time: one minute.
Ultimate: Frenzy
When a shark smells a drop of blood, it’ll hunt the source down even from miles away. If an opponent has even been slightly damaged, activating Frenzy engages a hunt mode where Apex Predator will home in on that target at full speed, with intent to rip it to pieces. If the teeth connect, they will deal massive, possibly terminal damage and refill Mako’s energy reserves to full. However, the car cannot exceed its usual handling limitations and no other ability can be activated during this time, so no evasive maneuvers can be undertaken. This is important because if timed poorly or in an unsuitable location, Apex Predator may crash and total. Use with extreme caution. Can only be used once per race.
Strategy Guide
The combination of extreme speed and low defence does not really match with this car having a good offensive ability and defence up only front. It’s potentially too flimsy to be a scrapper, but unless the driver is flawless, the speed may be too much and the car will accrue damage as the race goes on simply by virtue of crashing into things. Furthermore, Apex Predator is simple in its philosophy, and does not use any subtle skills. The upshot of this is that all approaches take commitment, confidence and a supreme level of skill, and the best approach depends on the context.
If surrounded by predominantly fast and light cars, it is likely worth duking it out with them, using the car’s maneuverability and evasion ability to avoid taking damage but then strategically using Bloodlust to make up for the spent energy. As this car is so fast, a favoured strategy for extremely skilled players is to actually hang back at the start, or even start driving the wrong way.
However if surrounded by tougher cars or cars with special evasive abilities, not even a solid bite with the jaws may be enough to make a bruising encounter worth it. But if the car is slow, then at least they can be easily outpaced. Be wary of vehicles that make use of the pickups, however, as trying to flee from a vehicle packed with a ranged weapon will leave you open to heavy damage! If in dire straights, it may be best to face the fire directly and activate Frenzy to save your skin.
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