Bruiser

="fuuhuhuahaHAHAHA" - Bruiser, high on power.=

Overview
The Bruiser is the Brawler taken to the extreme on every account, and the game's dedicated Grappler. Using moves from the same martial arts school as Brawler (with his own power-fueled flair), The Bruiser is a combo focused, damage dealing fighter who, once he gets in, absolutely demolishes his opponents. Like high knockback and high damage traded for speed? The Bruiser is for you.

Appearance
Bruiser is a humanoid, muscular individual with spiky brown hair, a dark red headband, a grey tank top, and brown pants with a belt. He has a scar on his right eye and sharpened lower fangs, resembling a demon. He is notably bulkier and taller than the rest of the cast, and switches to a martial arts pose when idling for an extended period of time.

Light attacks
Neutral (Moving and Standing): Fierce Jab Combo

The Bruiser throws his left hand forward, dealing 4.6%.

The Bruiser throws his right hand forward, dealing 8%.

The Bruiser finishes with an awkward forwards kick, dealing 7.4%, with good knockback and moderate hitstun. This move isn't as bad as the Brawler's, but there are much better alternatives to throwing this out.

Aerial Neutral: Tatsumaki Tei Uzu

The Bruiser spins and kicks downward. Meteor smashes and deals 2%. Overall not the greatest aerial simply because its a Neutral Aerial, as spikes function better when the fighter can move. It can be used in combos, however.

Aerial Forward: Tatsumaki No Uzu

The Bruiser does a spin kick and floats for a small moment, dealing 4.6%. A very unique aerial in the fact it keeps the Bruiser airborne for the full length it's used. It can be used for recover or as a general attack. Overall a good move.

Crouch: Moeru Tora

The Bruiser throws out an uppercut resembling the first hit of the Brawler's Rising Dragon. It deals 6% and knocks the opponent straight upward, allowing for combos.

Dashing: Supido ihan no kikku

A generic kick that stops most of the momentum of the dash, identical to the Brawler's visually and mechanically. Deals 4.6% and stuns long enough to get a full combo off of.

Heavy Attacks
Standing: Ono kikku no kyuzo

The Bruiser concentrates immense power and performs an axe kick with Hyper Armor, meteor smashing and grounding the opponent, dealing 9% damage. This move generally shouldn't be thrown out in neutral, as it has high endlag and is very punishable. It should generally be reserved for combos and reads, as it is a serviceable counter move with it's Hyper Armor.

Forward: Asurippa bakuhatsu ken (CHARGEABLE)

The Bruiser concentrates power in his fist, either delivering an ultra-powerful explosive punch, or, if charged, tearing into the ground, throwing a piece of it directly where the Bruiser is aiming. The punch itself is very powerful and has high knockback, dealing 31.3%. The charged attack consists of two hits, and is not as powerful. The first hit, where the Bruiser digs into the ground, has short range and deals 8% damage. The second hit, where the Bruiser throws the rock, deals 10% damage. The rock is notably a physical object that can be stood upon, and pushes fighters around before it launches.

Aerial Forward: Josho Tora

The Bruiser rises into the air with an uppercut, identical to the second part of the Brawler's Rising Dragon. It deals 10.1% damage. It's a rather poor recovery move, likely one of the worst in the game. It has some use in combos, as it's launching power is still very powerful.

Crouching: Kegareta Toss

The Bruiser performs an unblockable command grab, kicking the opponent after grabbing their leg and throwing them backward. The first hit deals 5.5%, and the second hit deals 0.9%. Unlike Brawler's Overhead Slam, this move has poor combo potential, and serves better as a tool to edgeguard or finish off combos.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths


 * True Grappler: The Bruiser's sheer presence is a threat. His optimal damage output racks up to over 60%.
 * Powerhouse: All of the Bruiser's moves deal incredible damage and knockback. Any stray hit he gets means the opponent is getting hit into the outer edges of the stage.
 * Great Air Tools: Most of the Bruiser's air tools are much better than his fellow fighters. His odd Forward Aerial has a generous hitbox, and his Neutral Heavy can start combos easily with it's Hyper Armor.
 * Stylish Combos: Bruiser's combos are open to plenty of creativity, allowing you to style on opponents pretty much however you please.
 * FFA Beast: The Bruiser is a huge threat when it comes to vulturing. His attacks can easily box in many opponents, and even if he doesn't launch all of them, they will have plenty of damage tacked onto them. In HP FFA he is incredibly strong.

Weaknesses


 * Poor Range: Bruiser follows the archetype of having incredibly short range, like the Brawler. He has to really work hard to get his combos started.
 * Bulky and Slow: Bruiser is noticeably slower compared to most other fighters. Brawler takes about 5 seconds to walk from one side of the practice mode arena to the other, while Bruiser takes about 6 seconds. This makes him rather bad at approaches, which makes trying to push advantage arduous.
 * High Skill Floor: Brawler ironically isn't the most beginner friendly class, and Bruiser is less so. Similar to Brawler, you need patience and an understanding of the game's mechanics to play him effectively.
 * Punished VERY Easily: Bruiser is arguably the easiest character to punish in the game with his larger figure and incredibly slow moves. Throwing out a wrong move essentially spells your death.

Combos
TBA

Skins

 * Bruiser currently has no known skins.

Trivia

 * The Bruiser's command grab symbol is the same as the Veteran Brawler's, which implies that the Bruiser has great, if not greater, experience in the martial art that both the Brawler and he were taught.
 * Both the Bruiser and Brawler have many parallels in moveset, technique, and movement. The Bruiser notably has some more sloppy moves compared to the Brawler, yet performs moves that the Brawler seemingly cannot perform, with greater strength.
 * The Bruiser's command grab has a low chance to make the Bruiser scream "YEET" instead of his typical laugh or grunt.
 * The Bruiser's "Ink Brush" effect on his kick moves seem to be a reference to the Focus Attack from Street Fighter IV, having similar effects.