| “ | Man... who are all these posers getting between me and the Skullgirl? Don't they know who I am? I was built to beat Skullgirls! | ” |
Peacock (JP: ピーコック Pīkokku) is the alias of Patricia Watson (JP: パトリシア・ワトソン Patorishia Watoson) a survivor of No Man's Land who was rescued by Lab 8 and turned into an Anti-Skullgirl weapon by Dr. Avian.
General Information[]
Peacock is one of the original eight playable characters in Skullgirls, standing out as being one of the few zoners in the game, and was among the first characters ever conceived by Alex Ahad. Her homestage is Lab 8, although Hilgard's Castle could be considered another home stage as of its inclusion.
Peacock is capable of aging, although some of her parts may need to be re-fitted because of this.
Peacock took up smoking after her transformation. They are imaginary cigars that are created in a similar manner to her other summons, and don't seem to have the same negative side effects as normal ones.
Alex Ahad has stated that Peacock will never stop believing in imaginary friends.
Peacock's favorite television program is "Annie: Girl of the Stars". She is shown to own merchandise from the show as she is seen wearing Sagan slippers while in her sleeping attire.
Personality[]
Nothing sates Peacock's boredom more than a good cartoon and fighting. Brash, combative, and impatient, Peacock is easily the most outspoken member of the Anti-Skullgirl Labs. Peacock is also, for the most part, optimistic and light-hearted, and considers imminent threats more of invitations to brawl. Her tendency toward violence is a reflection of both her trauma and near-death experience as well as the cartoons she cherishes.
While it has been stated she has a damaged psyche, Peacock does not attack people out of sheer randomness or without provocation. Although she often acts confrontational to fellow ASG Lab 8 members, Peacock still very much considers them family, and will go to great lengths to protect them from harm. Dr. Avian was particularly close to Peacock, and his death sent her into an outrage to search for his murderer. She also gets along well with other Annie fans as shown by her interactions with Aileen in Annie's story.
None, however, are closer to Peacock than Marie Korbel, her one true friend from her past in No Man's Land and the Skullgirl she is tasked to destroy. In Marie's story, Peacock went out of her way to save Marie from the Skull Heart, showing just how much she cares about her.
Character Basis[]
Origin[]
Peacock's poster art
Peacock's dialogue and animations reference multiple cartoon eras, but chiefly feature golden age of animation era cartoon violence and slapstick.
Name[]
Her true name is Patricia Watson, while she herself came up with Peacock. The word "peacock" is the more commonly known name of the peafowl, but is actually the term for the male bird.
The name Patricia is derived from the Latin word "patrician" and means "noble", which could be seen as ironic given her violent and choatic personality. Watson is a patronymic surname meaning "son of Walter". It should be noted that Walter means "ruler of the army", which accurately describes her relationship with her gang.
Being once close friends, Marie continues to address her as Patricia. Her gang typically refer to her as "boss".
Design[]
Her natural eye color used to be green before they were gouged out by slave traders. The Argus System is Peacock's only means of sight, as the ones on her face are actually empty eye-sockets. The holes left are also a visual pun: Due to her design being based on American cartoons, her eye-sockets could easily be interpreted as though they are natural eyes; drawn in the style of a 1930's cartoon character. The joke is how similar styles of drawing can offer different perceptions on how something looks. Her references are similar to the 30's such as Mickey Mouse.
Her outfit consists of a tall top hat and a dress with frills and a large red bow, both her hat and dress are a matching shade of purple. Her mechanical hands are covered with large gloves, a classic trait of old cartoon characters. She also has sharp metallic teeth that she uses as a bear trap, which she is speculated to use metal polish to clean instead of regular toothpaste. On her legs, Peacock wears a pair of knee-high boots of a somewhat darker shade of purple then her dress and hat that have secret boosters to propel herself forward, and white bloomers that cover the rest of her legs.
Her outfit in the flashbacks in Marie's story mode show her wearing a T-shirt of Annie and a pair of shorts. Although original designs showed her in a maid dress matching Marie's, but this was changed once Marie's story mode was worked on.
Her cartoon revolver bears resemblance to the Smith & Wesson Model 29, a .44 Magnum revolver made famous by Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry.
In older design concepts, Peacock was intended to be a more "demented type" character, originally being envisioned as a scarred, sociopathic individual due to her experience as a slave. At one point, she was considered to be a boss alongside Marie. Her design was changed to be more 'cartoony' and lighthearted. These design documents also included references to her abilities being part magic with spells being carved onto her bones.
Story[]
Backstory[]
Once a war orphan slave named Patricia, Peacock’s body was gruesomely mutilated by slave traders that captured her. She was rescued by Dr. Avian’s Anti-Skullgirls Labs, and rebuilt with a reality-defying arsenal of biomechanical weaponry: the Argus System augmented her body, and the Avery Unit gave her access to unprecedented weaponry.
Alas, they couldn’t do anything for her mind: Peacock’s damaged psyche and abiding love of cartoons shaped her new “toys” into a terrifying gang of cronies, who she has no qualms using to paint the town red… with blood. Terrifying as she is, she may be the kingdom’s best bet against the Skullgirl.[3]
Patricia once lived in Rommelgrad, when that country got turned into no man's land she ended up in a makeshift orphanage along with Marie (although it's unconfirmed whether they knew each other beforehand), which was originally the castle of the kindly Gigan man Mr. Hilgard. Patricia spent her time at the orphanage lounging around the TV, often not getting along with the others. At some point after that, the castle was raided by slave traders who worked under the Medici Mafia. Patricia and Marie escaped, with the former distracting and letting herself be captured so the latter can find help. Once captured, Patricia was quick to defy to her slavers, but was soon mutilated to be set as an example to the others, leaving her eyes were gouged out, and maimed.
One year prior to the events of Skullgirls, Lab 8 teamed up with Lab 0 and the Last Hope to infiltrate the Medici warehouse said to be containing Rommelgrad's refugees. Although Valentine and the rest of her gang safely rescued the refugees, there was very little Valentine could do to heal the injuries done to Patricia's body and was even willing to abandon her as a casualty of war. Big Band, however, believed that Dr. Avian would be of help and took the girl back to the Anti-Skullgirl Labs. The doctor informed him that Patricia would adapt well to her new eyes and that she would be walking in no time. Patricia became insistent on becoming an ASG soldier after the impression left on her by Lab 8's team. Despite that, Avian was wary about giving her too much power, while admitting her compatibility with the Avery Unit is strong.
After some tests, Patricia's Argus System and Avery Unit were completely installed, and the combination proved to make her more powerful than the scientists had anticipated. Instead of being able to bend only space, Patricia could also bend other aspects of reality, spawning Tommy and Andy during her training. Eager to sign up for Lab 8's team, she assigned herself the name "Peacock".
She later vanished into the city with her gang, causing Lab 8's crew to worry immensely about her safety and condition after her surgery, and Stanley insisted that Big Band find her as soon as possible. Following her trail, Big Band stumbled upon an ice cream stand from which Peacock and her gang ate all of the ice cream, except for Rocky Road. He considered this a clue, but later assumes that she was merely stress eating due to all the strange new occurrences happening to her all at once. He finally arrived at a movie theater, where he found the "clown car" that Peacock was said to have driven away in. As the vehicle appeared damaged, he burst into the theatre, assuming that the Medici may have returned for her. Peacock is revealed to be perfectly fine, having gone around the town because she felt she needed a break from the labs. The two begin to hit it off; although Big Band tells her she could have taken a break without causing property damage, they begin to connect through what they like most in a movie.
Story Mode[]
Peacock's story opens with her watching TV while Dr. Avian talks to fellow ASG soldiers about her and her powers. Avian reminisces about how she was just a poor orphan, afterwards we see a flashback from her point of view of a brutish-looking man pressing his thumbs against her eyes. She later is woken up by Avery, who alerts her that the Skullgirl is on the move. She does her daily routine and proceeds to fulfill her duty as stopping the Skullgirl.
After fighting some other people, she gets a call from Dr. Avian, who alerts her that Valentine let the Skullgirl in to wreck the lab. She quickly rushes back to find a mortally wounded Avian, to which Peacock vows to take down who did this to him. She then finds out that the Skullgirl was none other than her best friend Marie, before being stopped by Double. She then heads to the Grand Cathedral to finally confront Valentine, Double, and finally Marie.
After defeating Marie, Peacock destroys the Skull Heart, though the skull heart claimed her act to be "foolish" and that this will "not be over". She and Marie have a friendly conversation before Marie disappears from the world, and Peacock vows to take revenge on the people who made both their lives miserable.
After spending the night bashing and slaughtering the Medici's is seen confronting the true head of the Medici family and his own secret weapon (Black Dahlia) and the two duke it out.
Other Stories[]
Big Band's Story[]
Annie's Story[]
Peacock makes a brief appearance in Annie's story.
Umbrella's Story[]
Peacock makes a brief cameo at the start of Umbrella's story, having brought of all the ice cream while Umbrella was fighting Filia. The artwork is a re-edited version of the shot of her and her cronies from her own story mode.
Marie's Story[]
Peacock is the secondary protagonist of Marie's story. Freeing her friend from the Skullheart's influence using her reality warping powers.
Abilities & Fighting Style[]
Her arsenal consists of two synthetic parasites, the Argus System and the Avery Unit, and her "gang", which includes Avery, Andy Anvil, Tommy Ten-Tons, George Bomb, and Lonesome Lenny as well as a variety of modified objects and weapons taken from Lab 8.
The Avery Unit has the power to summon objects and weapons from Lab 8 and gained the ability to distort reality as a side effect of Peacock’s insanity. She can’t create things out of thin air, but rather modify Lab 8’s range of specialized arsenal. Her power is still growing so she may be able to summon more things in the future.
The Argus System is composed of her arms and also function as her eyes, the "arm eyes" can be detached and can float around, as well as shoot Z-Rays at the precise wavelength needed to disrupt the Skullgirl's essence.
As a playable fighter, she is the game's primary zoner character. Using cartoony gags as projectiles and can use her teleports to make quick escapes.
Trailer[]
Color Palettes[]
- "Rerun" - Default colors
- "Inkling" - Original colors
- "Untouchable" - Alucard (Hellsing)
- "Sketchy" - Original colors
- Original colors
- "Pea Shooter" - Lucky the Leprechaun (Lucky Charms cereal)
- "Dream Catcher" - Peacock's story mode intro pajamas
- "That's All Folks!" - Black-and-white cartoons
- "Freeze Frame" - Cirno (Touhou)
- Original colors
- Milk-chan (Super Milk-Chan)
- Nathan "Cable" Summers (Marvel comics, Marvel vs. Capcom 2)
- Original colors
- Hsien-Ko/Lei-Lei (Darkstalkers/Vampire series)
- Original colors
- "Ultraviolent" - The Warden (Superjail)
- Inspector Gadget (Inspector Gadget)
- Sayaka Miki (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
- Raspberyl (Disgaea series) - Indiegogo backer color
- ”Mean One” - The Grinch (How the Grinch Stole Christmas!)
- Princess Daisy (Super Mario series)
- "Prism Plumage" - Indian peafowl - Indiegogo backer color
- "Wildcard" - The Joker (DC Comics) - Indiegogo backer color
- Nonon Jakuzure (Kill la Kill)
- Annie
- "Deal Breaker" - Cuphead (Cuphead)
- Woody (Toy Story)
- Sir Pentious (Hazbin Hotel)
- "Primal Prodigy" - Mojo Jojo (The Powerpuff Girls)
Trivia[]
- Peacock's Ant Wasted move (c.MK) does not kill the ant, but rather the beam from the magnifying glass teleports it back to a safe area. In addition, all ants (if Peacock summons multiple through cancelling the move repeatedly) are the same ant, summoned from alternate universes.
- Peacock could be considered a secondary mascot and main character to the game alongside Filia, with Peacock even having more prominence in the story of the game than Filia.
- Given her surname, she could be from the Skullgirls equivalent of England or Scotland, although she lacks any accent.
- People who donated $50 to the Skullgirls Evo 2013 Breast Cancer Donation Drive could request a personalized voice mail message from one of the game's voice actors. Peacock's voice actress was requested to sing "Yakko's World" from the cartoon show Animaniacs and two versions of this cover exist, the original with the voice unmodified and the Lab Zero edit which has the voice modified to match the filter Peacock's voice has in-game.[4]
- The name of Peacock's "Robo With a Shotgun" move is a reference to the 2011 film "Hobo With a Shotgun," which in turn is based on a fake trailer in the intermission of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature film Grindhouse.
- In an unused alternate ending, Peacock decides to "wish for something cool" and proceeds to make numerous outrageous wishes (such as turning the world's oxygen into chocolate), which the Skull Heart is unable to fulfill. Comically frustrated, she begins questioning its legend, and the Skull Heart laments that, in the thousands of years it has been doing its work, Peacock is the worst wisher it has met.[5]
- Peacock originally had an aerial move where she would fire one of her eyes off her Argus arms in a similar fashion to a bow and arrow. This move was dropped for being useless.[6]
- Peacock's alternate title, The Murder-go-Round (and the full phrase from her character poster, "The 'Murder-go-Round' Broke Down") is a reference to the Looney Tunes theme song, from 1937 to 1969, known officially as "The Merry-go-Round Broke Down", reflecting her vintage cartoon theme.[7]
- Her Shadow of Impending Doom Level 3 - Avery drop is a reference to DIO's 'Road Roller Da!' attack from the anime/manga JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders
- Peacock's Argus system is a reference to a Greek myth in which the Goddess Hera takes the eyes of her guardian the deceased giant "Argus Panoptes" and places them in the feathers of a peacock to commemorate his servitude.
- While it is commonly believed that the bird Avery is the same as the Avery Unit, the actual Avery Unit is a parasite with an unknown appearance located somewhere on Peacock's body. An old live journal by Alex Ahad states that, at the time, Peacock could summon things such as objects or minions from a tattoo on her back so it might be possible the Avery Unit is something similar to this.
- It is common knowledge that the Avery Unit is an obvious reference to the famous cartoonist, Tex Avery. An even obscurer reference is how the Avery Unit was actually the name used for his team of animators.
- According to an old drawing, the fridge that Peacock can drop has a name, which is "Feta the Fridge."
- Peacock was made as an homage (or an expy) of Hsien-Ko/Lei-Lei of the Darkstalkers series mixed in with a rubber hose theme and a more chaotic personality. Ironically she is more often compared to Baby Bonnie Hood of the same series by many Darkstalkers fans as they're are both young violent girls who are parodies of a form of older media (rubberhose and fairy tales respectively), but B.B. Hood has served as inspiration for Black Dahlia's gameplay style instead.
- To make the reference clearer, Peacock has a Hsien-Ko palette while Dahlia has a B.B. Hood palette.
- In earlier Skullgirls lore/art, Peacock was originally an adult woman who was taller and had a "creepier" looking appearance, making it a bit more clear she has no eyes. She was also a magic type with runes and spells in her bones, described as having an "Argus Soul" and some other differences compared to her modern counterpart. She would eventually evolve to be into the chaotic and cuter younger design that most know of today.
- She has two palettes referencing other characters played by Sarah Anne Williams, Sayaka Miki and Nonon Jakuzure.
- In early art when things like most characters having a "Super Mode/Form" were planned, she seemed to be able to have much more abilities, but it could be possible she is still capable of this but they just haven't been seen yet.
- Two of Peacock's Japanese voice files (Specifically, for her BANG! BANG! BANG! special move) are not filtered. This is most likely an error on the developers' part.
References[]
- ↑ Reverge Labs. Skullgirls - Show Me Your Moves: Character Movelist. skullgirls.com. Retrieved on 2021 July 9.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Peacock « Skullgirls. skullgirls.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-19. Retrieved on 2021 July 9.
- ↑ Peacock's Biography.
- ↑ Original Post of the Song Cover & Later Post with the Lab Zero Edit
- ↑ Alternate Unused Story Endings in the Game Data
- ↑ Skullgirls E3 2011 Peacock gameplay revealed - YouTube
- ↑ Wikipedia article