Blasto

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Blasto</default></title>

<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>

<label>Status</label><format>

Deceased

</format>

<label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox>Rey Andino,<ref name="playtest"/><ref name="I19"/> known publicly as Blasto, is an independent villain operating in the Boston area.

Personality

Blasto is very anti-establishment and withdrawn from society, although he does not hate it. He even had aspirations of meeting a woman who appreciated his "art" (his creations), settling down and having children.<ref name="I19"/> He is quite laid-back; this may be due to smoking marijuana regularly.<ref name=PT1>Blasto
There’s a joke to be made about this tinker liking his ‘weed’. Blasto is the archetype of the tinker struggling to get off the ground; he doesn’t want to lead, but seems doomed to be at odds with the gangs that exist, given the lack of Latino gangs in Boston and his messy, easy nature. - Playtest Capes</ref>

He is wary and skeptical of others, expecting traps at any moment from Accord, confident in his abilities and appreciates the work of other tinkers, such as Dragon. However, he had grown used to substandard equipment and was excited at the prospect of a real lab.<ref name="I19"/>

He has no problem with dutifully executing those of his creations which are doomed to fail.<ref name="I19"/> Regardless he was still ambitious; his attempt to create The Morrigan, see below, was something that Bonesaw later admits that "she's not even crazy enough to do".<ref name="I19"/>

Relationships

Applesauce

He was in an on-again/off-again relationship with Rotten Apple; his disappearance and death affected her deeply.<ref name="II1.1>“As a villain, she went by Bad Apple, Poison Apple, Pomme De Sang, probably called herself Applesauce, I don’t even know. I guess she wanted to corner the market on apple-related names so nobody would have something similar. She spent a lot of time palling around with a biotinker called Blasto. She kept going back to him to pair up. Might have been boyfriend-girlfriend, even. That ended when the Slaughterhouse Nine passed through Boston. We don’t know what happened to Blasto, but we can guess it wasn’t good. Poison Apple got a little reckless after that, even though she hadn’t met up with him in over a year at that point.” - Excerpt from Daybreak 1.1</ref>

Accord

They have a rivalry that extends for years.

Reputation

While he has the potential to be a major threat he was effectively cowed by the authorities to be content with his current lot.<ref name=17.8e1/>

Appearance

Blasto was of presumably average height, being taller than Accord, with frizzy brown hair.<ref name="x.2"/>

Abilities and Powers

Blasto is a "wet" tinker, specializing in creating life-forms, minions, using raw materials.<ref name=R8/> Detailed below; this includes but is not limited to a lab assistant, a pseudo-endbringer and other, non-specified hybrids. He often working with plants, fungi, and animals to create weaponized hybrids, which he uses to wreak havoc upon his enemies.<ref name=PRTF1>Blasto, Real Name Unknown
Classification: Tinker 6 (sub: master 5, blaster 2, shifter 2, brute 2); plants.
Disposition: Villain (B)
Last Known Location: Boston (Allston area, east). - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x</ref><ref name="playtest">Playtest Capes</ref> He can use tissue samples to create his minions even from things that don't contain DNA.

Blasto has been operating for a long time and as such greatly expanded from his original tinker repertoire thanks to scanning other parahumans and researching into his power.<ref name=PT2>Note: Blasto’s list has been extended considerably from its starting point as he gained experience and researched over the years. - Playtest Capes</ref> Additionally, he deliberately makes his creations sterile, as he was warned that self-replicating beings would constitute an S-Class threat which would mean a kill order for him.<ref name=PRTF2>:Crime lord of East Allston since est. date of April 2009. No subordinates. No past history as a subordinate. Criminal history indicates cap of second degree murder, tendency to mass damage to property and persons. Produces uncontrolled lifeforms that are incapable of replication. Adversarial relationship with Accord (#13151), Spree (#14755) and Chain Man (#14114).

Note: High risk of Class-S classification. Should creations self-propagate, kill orders are pre-authorized.
[...]
No big surprises on the possible kill order. He’d been made aware of it some time ago, and had grumbled, groaned and grudgingly avoided making any lifeforms that could breed in the years since. - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x</ref>

Equipment

Equipment Features

Cloning Vats - Can create or adapt from any sufficient container into a cloning vat, through this he is able to create his various minions.<ref name=Vat>Vats. A row of them against one wall, dirty and smeared enough that the contents weren’t immediately obvious. Humanoid figures, each one different from the others. [...] There was something else at the far end of the room. It looked like a boiler, but it had the same rushed, improvised feel that the vats did. Metal, welding, tubes winding around it, and a glass aperture, showing a sea of what looked like green moss on the other side. “Step away from that,” Rotten Apple said. She was breathing hard. Ashley extended a hand out toward a vat. The intention was to threat, but her power sparked out. It cut into thick glass, into water, and into the figure on the other side. She flinched back, holding her arm against her chest as she stumbled away. She stood up straight, forcing a smile she didn’t feel. The remains of the body were tipping forward as the fluids emptied from the vat, and they were breaking apart like wet toilet paper as they brushed against the edges of the broken glass. Rotten Apple wasn’t acting like Damsel had just killed someone. - Excerpt from Eclipse x.4</ref> Typically used to make one minion at a time he can construct a mass production version or even high-quality vats for specialized projects.<ref name="playtest"/> Compost Battery - Uses decaying biological material, with some tweaks, as an off the grid power source for creation vats.<ref name="playtest"/> Fungal mask - Blasto wore fungus-based biological masks; early in his career, these would be like a typical mask completely obscuring his face.<ref name="x.2">There were three capes with a plant theme. A guy with frizzy brown hair sticking out over the top and sides of a mask that looked like it was made of the softest rubber, all in oval-shaped nodules. More mushroom-like nodules stood out diagonally from his shoulders. A man sat on a rock beside him, foot propped up on a creature that looked like it was made of driftwood, a snake with two forelimbs and no rear legs. A woman stood in the shadows behind them. She had no name for them. - Excerpt from Eclipse x.2</ref> Later he refined it to the point it mimicked the texture and appearance of a normal face.<ref name=I19e3>“No mask?” Accord asked. “Yes,” Rey replied. He folded one corner of his face back. “It’s a fungus. Same texture as human flesh.” - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x</ref><ref name="playtest"/> All tinkers are able to make minor items such as these. Grenades - Unlike some tinkers, these are not his specialty. Nevertheless, Blasto has a few options for what he can build. Including canisters that dispense dangerous miasmas, smoke canisters the release pollen, fragmentary grenades that shoot thorns, or even paint grenades that use pheromones (see below).<ref name="playtest"/> Marker pheromones - As part of his control system Blasto synthesizes three known types of specialized pheromones. One was an 'attack' pheromone, another an 'adore' pheromone, the last a 'shun' pheromone that made the creation ignore something or leave an area.<ref name=I19e9>Rey kept his creations in line with pheromones, spraying them liberally around his lab and the surrounding neighborhood. They would move to the nearest unaffected location as soon as they were free. Once he did that to Accord’s home, the place would be rendered immune to his own attacks, at least for a little while. [...] It wasn’t as though the method of control was that difficult to master. One set of pheromones would make the creation feel fond of something, the other would have an negative effect, drive them away from a person or area. Still another would provoke feelings of anger or hatred, useful if he wanted to bid them to attack. If Accord found the pheromones, he could be rid of Rey, and he’d have whatever creations Rey had put together in the meantime. [...] Rey took the opportunity to brew and spray himself with a set of pheromones. His creations would be more favorably inclined towards him now. - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x</ref> They can last a long time but can be removed with a good scrub down or inclement weather.<ref name="playtest"/> Minions - grown in his vats these creations can take many forms based on input genetic materials (see seeds below). Hommoculi - the simplest type Hybrids - more advanced versions that are partial clones of the original. Clones - In a forced collaboration with Bonesaw, aided by stolen Toybox technology, Blasto was able to create clones Programming - Blasto is able to educate his clones by uploading information from his own brain to theirs. The extent of this ability is unknown. Fundation Seeds - Prepared plant zygotes Blasto uses as a template for his cloning process. These have a flexible and adaptable genome that used plugged into genetics from other sources to create the Clones.<ref name=seed>He went through the contents he’d unloaded from his pockets until he found a piece of paper he’d folded into an envelope. He tore it open and tapped out the contents. Each seed was about the size of a pea, tapered at each end, a mottled white-brown. He hurried over to one of the large glass tubes and fiddled with the controls until it started flooding with water. [...] “These seeds,” he raised one hand, a seed pinched between index finger and thumb, “Are like stem cells. They harbor the potential to become virtually anything. Wherever information is missing, they fill in the gaps.” “Like using frog DNA for dinosaurs.” “Like using frog DNA for dinosaurs, right. The way I worked it, they’ll decode the information in a very brute force way. The seed starts by forming two bodies, attached by a central hub. I kill the least viable one, it buds and splits again, with copies that are derivatives of the survivor. Usually two to four. Kill all but one, repeat.” “Until you have something viable.” “Exactly! Takes anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Then I have what’s essentially a plant-animal hybrid, and I nudge it in the direction of my enemies. Or give it simple programming that I can use. Training half-plant rodents to fetch shiny objects, for example.” “How?” “Trade secret,” Rey said. “I’m not dumb. I won’t give away the essentials.” - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x</ref> Megaprojects Woad Giant<ref name="DoD CS:B">Boston Games - Survived and made her mark during the Boston Games arcs, killing the Woad Giant and the Gem, earning some attention in the villain community. - Damsel of Distress Character Sheet BACKGROUND</ref><ref>In Boston, the original Damsel had faced off against Blasto’s big project. - Excerpt from From Within 16.9</ref> - Grown in a vat within his headquarters over the course of weeks.<ref name=Vat/> Blasto was able to weave into the giant some power expression, so it would have enough durability to move.<ref name=x7WG/> The Morrigan- pseudo-Endbringer composed using tissue samples from both Myrddin and the Simurgh, genetically merged together using a really complex fungus.

History

Background

Rey Andino was gifted and/or fortunate enough to attend medical school. It created a rift between him and his family and friends. He was too 'uppity' to belong anywhere at home and too much of a welfare case to get acceptance from school peers or professors. Caught between the two, he saw both realities crumble. His father was sent to jail, his brother targeted, his sister at risk with no one to protect her, while the doctor he was interning for ignored him and effectively sabotaged him. He triggered.<ref name="WoG">Blasto was one of the only kids in his town to go to med school. It created a rift between him and his family and his friends. He was too 'uppity' to belong anywhere at home and too much of a welfare case to get the acceptance of school peers or professor. Caught between the two, he saw both realities crumble, with his father jailed, brother targeted, and sister at risk with nobody to protect her, while the doctor he was supposed to intern for ignored him and effectively sabotaged him (though sabotage implies paying attention)

He triggered while cut off from both paths.

Broke away and just left both lives behind, throwing himself into his work. He's not so much a crime lord as a scientist of ill repute - he creates his work, studies it, and trades the research info gleaned for parahuman studies, in the hopes of figuring it all out.

He's very independent and because he threw himself into his work, he's pretty driven and single-minded about it. - Comments for WildBow</ref>.

After Blasto triggered, he completely dedicated himself to life as a Tinker, leaving everything else behind.<ref name="WoG"/>

Boston Games

Blasto and his girlfriend, Rotten Apple, started growing their own 'green'-themed faction, Blastgerm, for the sake of increasing their influence during the power vacuum.

They quickly made an enemy out of Accord by rudely declining his plans and being generally distasteful.<ref>Eclipse x.3</ref>

Blasto's HQ was the second target of Damsel of Distress. After installing some much needed ventilation in the building, she agreed to keep the pairs messy secret about Blastgerms true team numbers in exchange for a share of their assets.<ref>Eclipse x.4</ref>

Sometime later he released the Woad giant, which scared at least a half of the city, without doing much of anything.<ref>Eclipse x.6</ref> It caused the other powers of Boston to dedicate resources to understanding and preparing for it.<ref name=x7WG>“-And they have thinkers. You worked the genetic material of people with powers into your giant, to give it the strength to stand despite its own weight. It’s tougher than it would appear.” - Excerpt from Eclipse x.7</ref> Blasto explained that it served mostly as a symbol of his claim on South Boston.<ref>The territory is on lock. South Boston is ours, with some office space given to some other villains. - Excerpt from Eclipse x.7</ref> It was destroyed by Damsel of Distress on her way out of Boston.<ref>Eclipse x.7</ref>

Story Start

Blasto was the crime lord of East Allston since April 2009. He had committed second-degree murder and was noted for mass property damage during his crimes. He was enemies with Accord,<ref name=17.8e1>“Before you do, let me make you an alternate offer. You do mercenary work?”

“We do.”

“I’d like to hire you for a task.”

“What task?”

“I’d like certain items stolen from a rival. I can describe them to you and show you photographs. Do this for me, and we’ll waive the fee for entering my territory. Also, I’ll concede to have my share cut down to a mere ten percent.”

“Which rival?”

“Blasto. A tinker. Not quite the destructive personality his name implies.”

“I read up on him. Blasto from the latin prefix, meaning bud, germination or seed. Tinker botanist, grows walking, sentient plants in giant glass tubes.”

Accord gave Trickster an approving nod. “Yes. Tinkers are… bothersome. Tinkers who work wet are especially bothersome. They build, they learn from past research and past projects, each thing is created more elegantly or faster with the tools they’ve designed and amassed over time. A tinker designs a better welding torch, to use an analogy, and that allows him or her to build a better power drill. And so the cycle continues. Steal Blasto’s tools for my trophy case, it will set him back weeks or months. I’ll give you a further bonus if you destroy any other projects of his, as well as any computers or blueprints.”

“Dangerous, to attack a tinker in his lair.”

“Ah, you want more than just the waiving of your hospitality fee?”

Trickster was careful to be diplomatic. “No offense intended. If Blasto was that easy to handle, I’m sure you would have dealt with him already.”

"Agreed - Excerpt from Migration 17.8</ref> Spree and Chain Man.<ref name="I19">Interlude 19.x</ref>

Post-Slaughterhouse Nine

After Blasto's lab was destroyed, ostensibly by remnants of the Empire Eighty-Eight, Accord proposed a peace. In exchange for a cessation of hostilities and part of Blasto's territory, Accord provided an equipped laboratory with various samples of highly classified material.<ref name="I19"/>

However, several hours into the creation of his latest project, disaster struck. Bonesaw and Damsel of Distress showed up, trying to weaponize the tinker's works, in order to move armageddon along. Defiant then tried to kill Bonesaw and did kill Damsel. Bonesaw then took control of Blasto's body, gathered all the various DNA samples from past members of the Slaughterhouse Nine, and left, still in control of his body.<ref name="I19"/>

He was used as part of the nines assault on Toybox and helped operate their technology.<ref>Interlude 20.x</ref>

The Timeskip

He finally died under torture in the Slaughterhouse 9's private world.<ref>Interlude 25</ref>

Trivia

• Blasto, as stated in the story, comes from the prefix 'Blasto-' relating to plants it usually means bud, germination or seed.<ref name=17.8e1/> However, it can also be seen in Blastocyst, a mammalian blastula in which some differentiation of cells has occurred.

Gallery

• Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Illustration by CLOVERemixs

References

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