Mighty Glacier: Difference between revisions

Was used a lot in older video games with [[Boss|Bosses]]es who could deplete your entire health meter with a couple of blows, and the trick was to jump around / move fast enough to avoid his deadly attacks. Some games back away from the trope later on; the leveled-up Mighty Glacier becomes as fast as other characters or even [[Lightning Bruiser|positively zippy]]. Racing games tend to have a variant where the heavier vehicles have slow acceleration and turning, but once they get moving they can go ''really'' fast. Other games mitigate the Mighty Glacier's slowness by providing support units which can carry it around more quickly than it can move on its own.

The Mighty Glacier is usually male; [[Fighting Game|Fighting Games]]s will commonly make him a [[Husky Russkie]]. [[Mighty Glacier|'''Mighty Glaciers]]''' are most often portrayed as "[[Dumb Muscle]]", but the [[Genius Bruiser]] variant is increasingly common. A greater muscle mass theoretically provides speed but the [['''Mighty Glacier]]''' tends to use the heaviest equipment possible, sacrificing any speed for the pure crushing power that only he can achieve. [[Stout Strength]] may also come into play. They tend to become [[Difficult but Awesome]] in games that favour the relentless pressure strings [[Fragile Speedster|Fragile Speedsters]]s or [[Jacks of All Stats]] can produce.

See also: [[Competitive Balance]], [[PVP-Balanced]], and [[Character Roster Global Warming]], which they are frequent victims of because it appears to be harder to be "creative" with big-and-slow characters. [[Heavily Armored Mook|Heavily Armored Mooks]]s tend to be this when they're not [[Stone Wall|Stone Walls]]s.

* In ''[[Ranma ½]]'', [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy|Ryoga]] [[Bromantic Foil|Hibiki]] is this to [[Lightning Bruiser|Ranma Saotome]], being [[Super Strength|incredibly strong]] with [[Does Not Know His Own Strength|little control over it]] and [[Nigh Invulnerable]], but Ranma is capable of dodging his attacks and outmaneuvering him with ease, particularly after studying the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. However, against anyone else, Ryoga is more of a [[Lightning Bruiser]], capable of moving with frightening speed himself, so either Ranma Saotome just has greater heights of [[Super Speed]] or Ryoga's rivalry with him has helped him overcome this weakness. Genma Saotome seems to be something of a [[Stout Strength]] variant of the [[Mighty Glacier]], but he's surprisingly quick and agile, even when he's turned into a fat, ugly panda, to the point he can actually challenge his son equally for most of the series (and fell behind only because he kept dodging real fights and leaving them to Ranma, so Ranma outpaced him). Played utterly straight with [[Monster of the Week|Lime]] of the [[Lamarck Was Right|Musk Dynasty]].

* The closest thing ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has to a [[Mighty Glacier]] would be [[Cute Bruiser]] Vita. She isn't particularly fast by the heroes' standards, and her attacks use a [[Drop the Hammer|really big hammer]] that doesn't swing particularly fast. On the other hand, she deals out immense amounts of damage, takes more punishment than she has any business taking, [[Determinator|and then asks for more.]]

** Arguably a better fit would be Reinforce. Her speed is also middling, but her attack power is among the strongest -- whostrongest—who else have you seen throw out {{spoiler|a city-sized Starlight Breaker?}} -- and—and unlike [[Squishy Wizard]] Hayate who has some of her power, her defence is also top-notch. Just see {{spoiler|her entry under [[No Sell]].}}

* The Akimichi clan in ''[[Naruto]]'' are an entire clan made up of [[Mighty Glacier|Mighty Glaciers]]. They're all pretty big, due to [[Big Eater|eating a lot]] in order to convert calories into chakra, are physically very strong, and can expand their arms, legs, and [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|entire bodies]]. However, they are also very slow, and as we've seen in [[The Big Guy|Chouji's]] fights, this lack of speed tends to put him at somewhat of a disadvantage.

* ''[[Poke Wars|The Pokèmon They Carried]]'' features a [[Military Mashup Machine|land battleship]] known as the M1-12 Rhydon. This is a ''large'' vehicle that weighs about 130 tons and carries a 105  mm smoothbore gun and is bristling with 30  mm autocannon. Its armor can shrug off anything but Legendary Pokèmon attacks or a Hyper Beam. As a tradeoff, it is insanely slow with a top speed of twenty five miles per hour.[[/

* A few [[Kamen Rider|Kamen Riders]]s who use [[Multiform Balance|multiple forms]] have strength and defense-based forms. [[Kamen Rider Kuuga|Kuuga Titan]], [[Kamen Rider Agito|Agito Flame]], [[Kamen Rider Den-O|Den-O Axe and Zeronos Vega]], [[Kamen Rider Kiva|Kiva Dogga]], [[Kamen Rider Double|Accel]], [[Kamen Rider OOO|OOO SaGoZo Combo]], and [[Kamen Rider Fourze|Fourze Magnet States]] are examples in this vein.

*** Just gonna clarify something here: IF you haven't used your Swift action that turn (and have no real need for it), a Stone Dragon adept can easily go from [[Mighty Glacier]] to [[Lightning Bruiser]]. You move into position, use your Swift to reactivate the Stance you just ended, and then use a Strike (most Stone Dragon Strikes are Standard actions, meaning you can do this all day).

** Also in 3.5 the Dwarven Defender prestige class, which gives you a limited use ability that increases your strength and constition but preventing you from moving. [[Captain Obvious|It's dwarf exclusive]]. It's very useful for [[Hold the Line]] situations in a bottlenecked dungeon where all enemies must get through the dwarf's square to reach your [[Glass Cannon|Glass Cannons]]s. In most open spaces... Considerably less so.

* [[Exalted]] has Mount Mostath, a glacier-mammoth Behemoth whose assigned duty is to arrange glaciers in the arctic north. Its normal movement is too slow for anything with a human lifespan to notice that it's animate at all--butall—but when sufficiently agitated, it does attack the aggressors. It has Strength rating of ''Immeasurable'' and its stomps usually inflicts infinite damage to those without divine constitution. Of course, even a mere mortal can run quickly enough to evade Mount Mostath's stomps, given its tremendous size and weight.

* [[Luminous Arc]] series has three notable [[Mighty Glacier|MightyGlaciers]], Heine, Rasche and Gaston. While giving AO+ Lapis to the bottom two made them faster, it turned Heine into a [[Person of Mass Destruction]] immediately.

** In the [[Visual Novel]], his attacks were so strong and fast that they caused air distortions which hit nearly as hard as his stone sword-axe-club-thing. With his [[No Sell]] God Hand, he was very much a [[Lightning Bruiser]]. However, this would obviously have made him rather broken (Saber notes in the [[Visual Novel]] that all the skill in the world wouldn't help if your opponent can just attack-spam his way through without consequence), so he got [[Nerf|Nerfed]]ed.

* Toyotomi Hideyoshi in ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'', since he's portrayed as a man with the size of a gorilla. He's even moreso [[Mighty Glacier]] than the [[Humongous Mecha]] Honda Tadakatsu, since a lot of his moves involves grappling moves (also Tadakatsu actually has good moving speed due to jets on his back). Even moreso in the fighting game spinoff ''[[Sengoku Basara]] X'' thought the most notable [[Mighty Glacier]] would be [[Church Militant]] [[Love Freak]] Xavi, the slowest of all characters in the game but one with massive amounts of firepower and love.

** Takeda Shingen also plays this trope straight (though maybe not as slow as Zabii), being the foil of his [[Fragile Speedster|super speedy]] [[The Rival|rival]] Uesugi Kenshin. Regardless, when you have [[Tessho Genda|Genda Tesshou]] as the seiyuu, you're almost guaranteed to be a [[Mighty Glacier]].

* In ''[[City of Heroes]]'', the final power available to the Stone Armor set (accessible only to Tankers and Brutes) was Granite Armor, which basically turned the character into a [[Mighty Glacier]]. Virtually impervious to ''any'' type of damage, but you moved extremely slowly, had heavily reduced recharge on all attack-powers, and coouldn't jump at all... In general, though, this trope was averted in ''[[City of Heroes]]'', which allowed Tankers to be speedsters if the player so chooses.

* In the RTS ''[[Total Annihilation]]'', the unit called "The Sumo" is true to its name: huge and powerful. Its problem is that it moves ''really'' slow. Its maximum speed is 0.34  m/s, compared to 1.72  m/s for the basic infantry unit. It acceleration stat is 0.04, which is abysmally slow.

** Don't forget the ''Red Alert'' series which just ''absolutely runs wild'' with this, especially for the Soviets. The Soviets are lucky enough to field the Apocalypse Tank, an [[Expy]] of the Mammoth Tank (which the Soviets also had in ''RA 1'') which can also run over smaller tanks, as well as the mighty [[Cool Airship|Kirov airship]] which is slow enough that ''infantry'' can outrun it; fortunately, it not only can obliterate an enemy base single-handedly, but is nothing short of a bullet sponge, especially in ''RA 2''. The Allies gained the Battle Fortress in ''Yuri's Revenge'' whose main attack mode is to simply run over enemy tanks, and the Assault Destroyer in ''RA 3'' which is quite literally a [[Military Mashup Machine|warship on land]]. And to say nothing of the Empire of the Rising Sun's Shogun Executioner, which is quite possibly the slowest, most awkward-moving unit in an RTS--andRTS—and you're expected to defeat the enemy completely with it and it alone.

* The heavy cruisers in ''[[Homeworld]]''. The Taiidani ''Qwaar-Jet''-class heavy cruisers are nearly half-a-kilometer long and armed with 2 dual [[Wave Motion Gun|ion cannons]] and 6 large [[Magnetic Weapon|mass driver]] turrets. They can take and dish out tremendous amount of punishment before going down. They are also slow as hell and vulnerable against fighters and corvettes, lacking anti-fighter weapons, making carriers useful, if they can stay out of their [[Arbitrary Maximum Range|weapons range]]. The Kushan ''Avatar''-class heavy cruisers are slightly smaller and faster but just as powerful (and just as vulnerable to fighters). ''Homeworld: Cataclysm'' features the return of the ''Qwaar-Jet'' but also adds the ''Archangel''-class dreadnoughts for Kiith Somtaaw (a Kushan clan), which costs almost double the heavy cruiser but also has more firepower and a better defense against fighters. ''Homeworld 2'' features even more mighty glaciers, including massive (nearly a kilometer long) battlecruisers for the Hiigarans (formerly known as the Kushan) and the Vaygr, both featuring their own [[Wave Motion Gun|Wave Motion Guns]]s (the Vaygr one being a [[Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon]], while the Hiigaran one being turreted). Then there are the limited-edition [[Precursors|Progenitor]] dreadnoughts (only 2 in the campaign) and the ''Sajuuk'' (5 kilometers in length), all of these featuring ridiculously-powerful [[Wave Motion Gun|phased cannons]] that can [[One-Hit Kill]] most warships.

*** A much earlier example is Lt. Surge's Raichu. Evolving it far too early caused his Raichu to be much slower than the average Raichu, which are normally [[Fragile Speedster|Fragile Speedsters]]s. Ordinarily a slow Raichu would be a housepet and not a battler, but fortunately Lt. Surge's Raichu appears to have compensated for its slow speed with immense power and a great deal more bulk. But neither Raichu nor Lt. Surge were aware of any of this, and Raichu was completely confused when faced with Pikachu's superior speed during the rematch.

* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' the [[Mighty Glacier]], [[Meaningful Name|Presea Combatir]], is a [[Cute Bruiser|twelve-year old girl with pink hair]] who wields [[An Axe to Grind|axes bigger than she]].

* ''[[Ace Combat]] 6'' has the A-10A -- it10A—it's (even moreso than before) a [[Lightning Bruiser]] against ground targets, but as before a Mighty Glacier in air-to-air combat. Highest Defense and Stability in the game, but it pays for that in Speed and Mobility, and due to its lack of any air-to-air special weapon the A-10A pilot must use the regular short-range missiles and/or the even-shorter-range gun for dogfighting.

* In any given ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' game where you have Knight and General class characters, you have a [[Mighty Glacier]]. As these characters generally are barely mobile, often half the speed of anyone else, but will generally take a "No Damage" from most enemy units, while able to crush enemies with a single hit.

** Knights are weak against magic, though, especially in the third game: due to how [[Critical Hit|Critical Hits]]s were calculated, the Graucalibur spell (which had a very high critical hit rate) was a massive [[Game Breaker]] against them, leading to the [[Fan Nickname]] "Can opener."

* ''[[Star Control]]'' brings to the fray a number of [[Mighty Glacier]] ships, among them the pure brute-force Dreadnoughts and Marauders. Interestingly, the [[Puny Earthlings|Earthling Cruiser]] has a number of traits here as well, despite being a cheap mass-produced vessel; it has the best crew complement (i.e. health) for anything near its cost, excellent long-range firepower with tracking systems surpassed by exactly one other ship, good turning rate to line up shots and point-defense lasers to sweep enemy fighters. The catch? It would kill the three-times-the-price Dreadnought without breaking a sweat... but its forward speed is so incredibly bad that the [[Mighty Glacier]] ''poster ship'' can simply chase it down and melt it to slag.

* For the most part, all [[Super Robot|Super Robots]]s in ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' are Glaciers of various composition, while [[Real Robot|Real Robots]]s serve as Speedsters. However, the most notable [[Original Generation]] Glacier is without a doubt the Giganscudo, which is all but useless in ranged battles without enough Will but takes hits so damn well when its armor and health are fully upgraded it doesn't really matter. There is also [[Mazinger Z|Mazinkaiser]], which is trumped up as the "Unbreakable Defense" by Go Nagai, and it delivers(although in some incarnations, its stats are so unbalanced that it goes into [[Lightning Bruiser]] territory). Daitarn3 and the Mazinger series in general have always been the Glaciers of SRW, while [[Getter Robo]] is the [[Glass Cannon]] and the Gundams are [[Fragile Speedster|Fragile Speedsters]]s.

* [[Tank Goodness|Tanks]]. They started out in The Great War as the ultimate Mighty Glaciers, with horrendous top speeds slower than that of a running infantryman, but great firepower, and nigh invulnerability to small arms fire. As wars became increasingly dynamic and mobile, though, tanks underwent progressive evolution to become [[Lightning Bruiser|Lightning Bruisers]]s, with modern Main Battle Tanks striking an even balance between firepower, armor and mobility. The image, however, still sticks. The last true Glaciers would have to be the heavy monsters built or designed by the Nazis and Soviets in World War 2:

**** Not speaking of the tank destroyer version, Jagdtiger. It had 128  mm gun which could penetrate anything the Allies had on their disposal, and enough armour to protect a small town. It was usually driven into an ambush position, where it could best employ its assets - massive gun and massive armour. Jagdpanther was a similar tank destroyer version of Panzer V Panther.

** [http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/su-25.php Su-25] - "answer to A-10". Back when USSR had its turn with Afghanistan, the first version resisted autocannons and Blowpipe, but turned out to have the fuel tank above engines vulnerable, especially to to Stinger hits; later variants got improved armor, stopping losses to man-portable missiles. It survived Sidewinder hits, too. As to "doing unto others" part, twin 30-mm autocannon is the secondary weapon with modest magazine, the plane mainly relies on hardpoints. In comparison with A-10, differences are a close trade-off: somewhat lighter, but more agile <ref>rate of climb is almost twice better</ref> and versatile .<ref>same 11 pylons, but Su-25T doesn't need to waste 2 on countermeasures and targeting pods, these systems are built-in - which leaves it with 2x 8 anti-tank missile launchers instead of a tank-cutting cannon, but those can be replaced with e.g. two fuel pods or antiship missiles</ref>.

* The [[Cool Train]] [[wikipedia:Norfolk %26& Western 2156|Norfolk and Western Y5/Y6 class]] was extremely strong so it could pull heavy coal trains over the Appalachian Mountains, but was very slow.