After thinking about it in the Animals for fighter archetypes thread, I've come up with an entire character based around the idea of armored attacks and counters.
Rhino is literally a knight in shining armor and acts as a kind of guardian to it's kind. Unlike Pom & Ari in their own stories, Rhino is the character you would want to send in to combat the predators. That's been it's job for all of time, and it works as an arbiter within it's community, settling disputes and carrying authority similar to a police officer. I.e., a Knight
Rhino's Magic system would be all about holding down to charge it's magic meter (Similar to Ole, but the meter charges x amount for button length pressed). For every attack that's used with magic meter, you gain armor for each meter bar you spend (max of three) meaning it takes that many attacks to knock you out of it. Using an armor-able attack with meter will consume the the total completed magic bars, giving you the ability to partially complete a magic bar to be used later as like a quick charge attack.
Rhino has the slowest movement across the board. To make up for this, Rhino would have an attack to charge down the field to close distance (similar to cerebella's charge attack). This way, you can charge after your zoner opponents with armor as to not get knocked out of it easily, but still take half damage. If you miss or the attack is dodged, Rhino has to complete the charge, so spam of the charge is easily punishable.
Rhino's basic attacks all have forward momentum with the heavies themselves being able to move you a full step forward to also help with the terrible mobility. These attacks also cause your opponent to be pushed back a great deal, giving you time to charge magic in between attacks if you time it right.
Because Rhino is literally wearing armor, it would have a pretty garbage jump or a limit to the horizontal distance in which Rhino can jump compared to other characters, but in return, Rhino would have quick slams for it's air attacks, that chain into something that can cause a knock up. Since it's a rhino, after all, I'd say a good few of it's standard moves involve use of the natural horn and are anti air.
Being the big slow armored character, Rhino would need a counter or a few to actually deal with your opponents without getting stomped on. Since the movement is poor, Rhino can move while charging meter, but charging meter takes it out of block. Rhino does not lose magic for being hit out of charging. This is where the magic meter gets used for attacks on it's own: Rhino has a three counters that each consume magic. Much like Ari's Rope, only two of these can start a combo, but the one that doesn't will be the most reliable (i.e. counter duration, what it can react to, etc.). The counters would each have different inputs ending in (i.e. , , )
Air Counter forces a stun and a knock up that's treated as an anti air. This would have the shortest input duration, but be the most effective counter as it would easily combo into Rhino's other attacks. This counter causes the least amount of juggle decay, but has no effect against low attacks and misses crouching opponents.
Standing Counter forces a wall bounce/stick (whatever it's called) which can be combo'd into with Rhino's charge, meaning it would take two meter to actually use effectively from a distance. Otherwise, it becomes the opposite of useful and puts you back to square one if used at the wrong time/you can't cover the distance you just created. This is effective against standing and low attacks and causes heavy JD, misses on high attacks. Mid counter has the longest counter duration.
Reflect Counter reflects projectiles, and only counters on projectile attacks. When hit with a projectile, Rhino reflects it using it's armor and returns it at high speed, and homes it toward the opponent. If the opponent is hit with the projectile, it causes massive JD and a ground bounce, so even if your counter works, not much can combo off of it due to JD, but this can give you time to recharge and prepare to close distance. Projectile counter has medium duration.
Supers!
The biggest drawback to Rhino is that it would be very susceptible to grabs of all kinds, and would struggle heavily against characters with command grabs due to it's poor movement and reliance on armor and counters. based on this alone, I'd say Rhino's worst match up is Ari at the moment, and it's best with this kit would be either Tian or Pap.
Anyways, that's my ideal Rhino. This is the play style I like to take when I can in any game, and I love the rock/paper/scissors mind games that this kind of character causes. What'cha think?
Rhino is literally a knight in shining armor and acts as a kind of guardian to it's kind. Unlike Pom & Ari in their own stories, Rhino is the character you would want to send in to combat the predators. That's been it's job for all of time, and it works as an arbiter within it's community, settling disputes and carrying authority similar to a police officer. I.e., a Knight
Rhino's Magic system would be all about holding down to charge it's magic meter (Similar to Ole, but the meter charges x amount for button length pressed). For every attack that's used with magic meter, you gain armor for each meter bar you spend (max of three) meaning it takes that many attacks to knock you out of it. Using an armor-able attack with meter will consume the the total completed magic bars, giving you the ability to partially complete a magic bar to be used later as like a quick charge attack.
Rhino has the slowest movement across the board. To make up for this, Rhino would have an attack to charge down the field to close distance (similar to cerebella's charge attack). This way, you can charge after your zoner opponents with armor as to not get knocked out of it easily, but still take half damage. If you miss or the attack is dodged, Rhino has to complete the charge, so spam of the charge is easily punishable.
Rhino's basic attacks all have forward momentum with the heavies themselves being able to move you a full step forward to also help with the terrible mobility. These attacks also cause your opponent to be pushed back a great deal, giving you time to charge magic in between attacks if you time it right.
Because Rhino is literally wearing armor, it would have a pretty garbage jump or a limit to the horizontal distance in which Rhino can jump compared to other characters, but in return, Rhino would have quick slams for it's air attacks, that chain into something that can cause a knock up. Since it's a rhino, after all, I'd say a good few of it's standard moves involve use of the natural horn and are anti air.
Being the big slow armored character, Rhino would need a counter or a few to actually deal with your opponents without getting stomped on. Since the movement is poor, Rhino can move while charging meter, but charging meter takes it out of block. Rhino does not lose magic for being hit out of charging. This is where the magic meter gets used for attacks on it's own: Rhino has a three counters that each consume magic. Much like Ari's Rope, only two of these can start a combo, but the one that doesn't will be the most reliable (i.e. counter duration, what it can react to, etc.). The counters would each have different inputs ending in (i.e. , , )
Air Counter forces a stun and a knock up that's treated as an anti air. This would have the shortest input duration, but be the most effective counter as it would easily combo into Rhino's other attacks. This counter causes the least amount of juggle decay, but has no effect against low attacks and misses crouching opponents.
Standing Counter forces a wall bounce/stick (whatever it's called) which can be combo'd into with Rhino's charge, meaning it would take two meter to actually use effectively from a distance. Otherwise, it becomes the opposite of useful and puts you back to square one if used at the wrong time/you can't cover the distance you just created. This is effective against standing and low attacks and causes heavy JD, misses on high attacks. Mid counter has the longest counter duration.
Reflect Counter reflects projectiles, and only counters on projectile attacks. When hit with a projectile, Rhino reflects it using it's armor and returns it at high speed, and homes it toward the opponent. If the opponent is hit with the projectile, it causes massive JD and a ground bounce, so even if your counter works, not much can combo off of it due to JD, but this can give you time to recharge and prepare to close distance. Projectile counter has medium duration.
Supers!
Rhino's level 1 comes as a multi-hit air teleport slam, a-la Hulk's gamma crush. The character charges for like a second, quickly gaining one magic meter (faster than a normal charge), then shoots into the air, slamming down on the opponent. Once charged, Rhino has armor through the rest of the attack. The initial jump has an AOE that consumes magic and will stun a non blocking opponent. The AOE deals damage depending on the amount of magic consumed (2 or more to deal damage). The attack only does damage if magic is consumed and fails if the initial charge is interrupted. Successfully hitting this super causes a ground bounce and knocks the opponent in range to start a small combo. Juggle decay here is similar to Ari's "Here comes the truck."
Rhino's level 2 expands on the first super as a knock up. This super must be performed after colliding with your opponent and before the ground bounce happens. Rhino takes your opponent out from under it before landing, and tosses them up and knocks them skyward with it's horn, stunning them until they hit the ground or are knocked out of it. This does less damage over all, but the JD is less severe and you still have your ground bounce to continue comboing on, netting you the opportunity to do more than the standard Rhino Smash.
The biggest drawback to Rhino is that it would be very susceptible to grabs of all kinds, and would struggle heavily against characters with command grabs due to it's poor movement and reliance on armor and counters. based on this alone, I'd say Rhino's worst match up is Ari at the moment, and it's best with this kit would be either Tian or Pap.
Anyways, that's my ideal Rhino. This is the play style I like to take when I can in any game, and I love the rock/paper/scissors mind games that this kind of character causes. What'cha think?