Goliath

WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS?

A revamped version of an armour I designed for a friend. But it was too depraved, that not even her villain would create such a thing. But at the same time, I felt it was too good to go to waste. Also, I want to show that I'm capable of designing something legitimately depraved and villain-y. So I modified it and cranked up the depravity, because I was holding back when I designed the original (The people who saw it first know it as the Apocalypse armour), so when I designed this one, I wasn't holding back anymore to see the extent of my abilities to draw something terrifying.

However, I didn't overload on the depravity to keep it at a nice balance. I noticed that when I see a character legitimately designed to be terrifying, such as a monster, I don't feel afraid, because that's what it's supposed to be. Like, for example, a monster is supposed to be a monster, so I judge it by "monster" standards. If something gets too terrifying, the standards would move up from "normal" to "monster", making the armour no longer judgeable by "normal" standards, but the "monster" standards, which is harder for me to move up in. Also because Goliath wasn't supposed to be a monster--Goliath was Axl. Or what he became after Sigma succeeds in his plan in X7: Capture Axl and make him his bitch. So this is basically more of a new form/character(?) than an armour set.

The "scare factor" in Goliath is the wrongness of it all. "It was Axl" is what makes Goliath so scary. It was Axl, but at the same time, Sigma doctored him so badly that it's horrifying. But you can still see that it was Axl. Some sort of a "demon form"; you can see traces of the original person, but it's still a "demon". If I stuff Goliath with too much depravity, eventually it'll be seen as a "monster" and not a "deformed protagonist". But I think Goliath is so up the depravity scale that it sits on a limbo in the middle. Which is exactly what I'm aiming for.

I named this form Goliath because Goliath is a fearsome warrior, even though he was defeated by David, a small stone, and his faith. Even to this day, Goliath is associated with anything big (Goliath grouper, goliath beetle, and so on). Also because Vile's ride armour was called Goliath, and Vile is Sigma's right hand (outside of MHX that is). But he's absent in X7, so Sigma made Axl into his new right hand--Goliath.

STORY

Sigma succeeded in capturing Axl and makes him the murder-machine he intended Axl to be. But he knows Axl will not cooperate with him, so he decided to remove all traces of the person, leaving a functional brain that can still obey commands and learn--a yes-man. Corrupted and mentally deformed by the virus, Sigma did not stop there and horribly modified his body as well, eliminating almost all traces of humanity in what was Axl--now Goliath. Only a small trace of Axl remained, but not enough to return Goliath to who he used to be. Only enough to see who Goliath used to be.

If X and Zero succeeds in retiring Goliath, Axl will simply be remembered as "another casualty in the long maverick wars". No one will mourn him, because everyone who would are gone.
If Sigma succeeds in defeating X and Zero with Goliath..... Well, there's no knowing what will happen next. Maybe because there won't be anyone left to record it.

THE DESIGN

I modeled Goliath after a Roman soldier because the Romans were the ones who persecuted Jesus, and because Caesar Nero, one of the people speculated to be the 666 guy, was Roman. This is also why I changed Axl's hair colour to BRIGHT RED because of the things on top of Roman helmets--they're red, too. I made him look like a warrior because Sigma wouldn't need a thief-type (Axl is a stealth type, judging by his powers: Shapeshifting (Can be used to spy and trick) and later Stealth Mode.) or a mage-type, because mage-types are squishier than the other two. By making Goliath a warrior, I emphasized how Sigma erases Axl's identity because he doesn't need it, and replaces it with what he needs. Goliath is a dark magic knight, even though his armour is mostly white.

His colour scheme is based on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: White (Conquest), red (War), black (Famine) and pale (Death). For "pale", I used desaturated toxic/sickly green and grey.

The mods are mostly on his torso and face. His eyes are replaced by "snake eyes". There are holes where his eyes used to be, and the snake eyes are inside the holes--like, normal eyes bulge and pop a bit outside, but the snake eyes are "inside". They're slightly telescopic--they can move inside and outside. The snake eyes serve to shoot beams that petrify the enemy, like a basilisk's stare.
His mouth has also been changed--he has razor-sharp teeth now, and it can be used to close the mouth, which was kept permanently open with a spider gag that was "sewn" into his cheek, and the helmet. He doesn't have a tongue anymore. A laser gun was installed in place of the whole insides of his mouth.
The head embedded on his chest is a goat-snake hybrid, and the tubes connected to it also serves as its "horns". It's very grotesquely embedded, as you can see the blood if you squint. He's not constantly bleeding. It was just marks from when the robotic flesh was first cut. It has "fangs" that sinks into the flesh. The head is Sigma's command core. He uses it to control Goliath--a receiver device of some sorts. It has to pop outside to receive signal, but has to be embedded into the body so it doesn't flail, and so it will be difficult to rip off.
There are parasitic tubes all over his torso and neck, which are all connected to the command core. This serves to enhance the flow of his DNA data to make the shifting process faster. It also serves as an order-transmitter. I coloured them green to give make them look like maggots burrowing, eating into him, to enhance the scare factor.
The "snake eye" on his belt is how Sigma sees through Goliath. And the Sigma logo on his helmet is from X7.

I think Goliath will primarily wield a great sword (Wielded by the red horsemen, War) and a bow (Wielded by the white horseman, Conquest) and probably a shield.