Rawa
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You are not prepared, PEASANTS! Long live RAWA THE DRAGON KING!
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„
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— Rawa cultist (GigaBash) |
Rawa (ラワ Rawa) is a bipedal dragon Titan who inhabits Tarabak Island in the 2022 video game GigaBash. First seen in 2009, Rawa overpowered all other opponents on the Island of Tarabak, becoming the dominant Titan in the area and gaining a cult of followers who worshiped him. In one of the game's four story modes (which are alternate timelines),[2] Rawa, along with Skorak and Rohanna, were eventually defeated by Gorogong, who took over as Tarabak Island's supreme reigning Titan.
Name
Rawa's name comes from a combination of a play on words of Naga, the name for a legendary serpent in Malay, an Indonesian flower market called Rawa Belong, as well as an island named Rawa Island. Finally, the Titan's status is hinted at if the "w" in Rawa is flipped to make Rama, a title given to the kings in Thailand's Chakri dynasty.[3]
Description
Rawa was first sighted in 2009, on Tarabak Island. However, his history with humanity dates back to the first few centuries of human civilization on Tarabak Island. The earliest settlers of the island constantly lived in fear of the various Titans that inhabited the area. This changed with the arrival of Rawa, who proceeded to topple and crush the other giants, for none were able to stand up to the might of the Extinction Dragon. With this, the humans quickly accepted Rawa as their god, and, under his newfound order, the humans were able to establish their civilization.
In exchange for the Dragon King's protection, all the inhabitants had to provide Rawa with Violet Elixir, forcing them to dig up its raw form, Giga Crystals, leaving the miners with purple marks on their skin. Rawa would burn the presenter of the elixir alive if it was made poorly and did not appease him. If he is satisfied, Rawa will allow the presenter to pick one of his previously-shed golden scales, which the tribespeople believed wearing to be a sort of symbol of loyalty to their king.
Although some saw death as a gift from Rawa, not everyone is satisfied enough with living under his tyranny, especially due to the aristocrats marking people they dislike as traitors, leveraging Rawa to kill anyone who opposed them. Hence, in a forbidden ritual involving bloodshed, some called upon a new ruler to help overthrow the Dragon King, and another titan answered. On the 97th year of their offering of Violet Elixir, Rawa was poisoned, for his drink was laced with the toxins of the slug known as Skorak, who then proceeded to devour him from the inside out, then take the Dragon King's skull as a trophy, using it as a snail-like shell and a weapon ever since.
In the wake of Rawa's death, Tarabak fell into civil war between those who remained loyal to Rawa, and those who flocked to their new overlord, Skorak, while others escaped to the western side of the island, where they encountered the paradise of Queen Rohanna, who they swore loyalty to in exchange for her protection. Rawa's loyal cultists eventually imbued his severed nose horn with Giga Crystals to revive him in an undead, more dinosaur-like form. Rawa has been seeking vengeance and a return to power ever since, and likewise, his followers aim to capture and enslave those who betrayed them and turned to Skorak.
In one alternate timeline,[2] Rohanna, Skorak, and Rawa were defeated by the Titan Gorogong from Luana Island, causing all of their cults to unite and worship him as the sole reigning titan of Tarabak.
Development
Rawa was birthed from the team's desire to put a Southeastern mythological spin on the bipedal-reptilian kaiju archetype. Early designs include a much more serpentine body structure, physical wings, the idea of floating, and more. The idea of the monster continually flying was explored a little bit, but it was quickly found that this did not work for a playable character, with problems such as length causing difficulty when an even more traditional Naga design was utilized.
When creating Rawa, several references, including a fire-breathing dragon, a nuclear blast, and Monsterverse Godzilla's nuclear pulse were all used in both the designing and programming process. During the digital creation, Rawa's Ethereal Flame caused some difficulty, with the right solution needing to be found so that the fire did not kill the game's performance, while still retaining what the developers described as a cool look[4]. References used for Rawa's armor include characters from the GARO franchise, while references used for his skin include a Godzilla human armor model created by fan BATZEMO and Arch Belial from Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial.
Design
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According to the ancient murals of Tarabak, Rawa once had a larger serpentine form, prior to his death to Skorak.
In his current, revived form, Rawa instead resembles bipedal theropod-like kaiju from classic tokusatsu, such as Godzilla, combined with the traits of the Phaya Naga of Thai mythology. Rawa sports a large head with a large horn protruding from his snout, as well as incisors with golden rings. He is covered in heavily armored scales and golden plating, which covers his claws, head, horn, back, and tail. He has big, glowing red eyes and a large maw, as well as a forked tail. Rawa's S-Class form wreathes him in flame and causes his horn, back spines, and tail to grow further and sharper and glow a greenish-blue. His ventilation-formed wings are also larger with the flames spreading farther and higher in different directions. This form also has Rawa's golden plating cover more of his body, as well as causing a greenish-blue light to shine through the large scales on his chest.
Personality
The Dragon King is fiercely aggressive, attacking anyone who comes close to his territory. Despite this, Rawa appears to not actively attack the Tarabak civilization. Rawa is described as hating dishonesty the most when he kills a man for stealing one of his golden scales. Similar to European dragons of myth, Rawa also seems to enjoy hoarding precious metals and materials, such as gold and a Giga Crystal.
Rawa is also described as having a vengeful streak, as it is stated that he would like to destroy his old skull, which is being used as a shell and weapon by Skorak.[5]
History
- GigaBash (2022) - Microsoft Windows, Sony PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X
Legend of Luana Island
As a submarine transported a Giga Crystal dangerously close to Tarabak Island, a large object was spotted on the sonar, heading straight toward the sub. Above the surface, Rawa breached with the craft crushed in his jaws. Rawa then snatched the crystal, swimming back to Tarabak Island and leaving the wreckage and crew to float in the ocean.
As Gorogong entered his lair, Rawa emerged from behind a waterfall, stopping in front of his hoard of gold and the Giga Crystal to breath an Ethereal Flame into the sky in challenge. Gorogong and Rawa then engaged in battle. Later on, Rawa, realizing he was losing, crunched the Giga Crystal between his jaws and used the energy to transform into his S-Class form. The two battled again until Gorogong absorbed enough energy to perform his own S-Class transformation, eventually coming out on top when he punched Rawa in the chest and swung him around by his tail, then jumped into the air and smashed his fists down onto Rawa, creating a massive explosion and defeating the Dragon King.
Woolley's Misadventures
As Woolley traveled through several different locations, he wandered past Rawa and Gigaman battling in a city. On his way back to Siberia, he passed by Rawa and Gigaman again, who were exhausted from their fight.
Abilities
Physical abilities
Rawa sports immense physical prowess, being able to maul and charge his enemies with great strength. His horn and forked tail are believed to be powerful enough to slash foes in half.
Triphibious nature
Rawa has shown mastery of movement on land, in the water, and in the air, using his Ethereal Flame for the latter.
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Rawa swimming underwater
Ethereal Flame
Rawa has the ability to produce a light greenish-blue Ethereal Flame which he can use to both torch opponents by breathing it and conjuring a pillar of fire from the ground. According to GigaBash writer Gerald Yong, this fire removes molecules from existence rather than altering their structure.[6] Given its nature, the Ethereal Flame is not a beam, and therefore cannot be used for beam clashes.
As Rawa uses his Ethereal Flame, he must ventilate more flame from specialized orifices on his shoulders, forming his "wings". Rawa can utilize this ventilation as a thruster, propelling himself at great speeds and allowing flight. By focusing Giga Energy, he can cause a large explosion of fire around him, known as Decimate.
S-Class form
After gathering a sufficient amount of Giga Energy, Rawa achieves peak power to grow to massive proportions, gaining great power and enhanced abilities. Giga Energy is gathered through dealing damage to other Titans, or gathering it from the surrounding environment.
Extinction Beam
After gaining enough Giga Energy, Rawa gains the ability to use his Extinction Beam, a massive cone of Ethereal Flame that gradually thins into an unfathomably powerful, focused beam that vaporizes both enemies and cities alike in a single strike. As with all beam-based ultimates in the game, this attack cannot beam clash, as it would overpower all of the other Titan's normal beams.[7]
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Rawa's initial firing of the Extinction Beam -
The Extinction Beam focusing -
The Extinction Beam fully focusing
Decimate: Supernova
In both his regular and S-Class form, Rawa can use all of his remaining life energy to erupt into a massive explosion known as the Decimate: Supernova as a last resort.
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Rawa charging his Supernova -
Rawa using Decimate: Supernova
Golden plating
Rawa is covered in golden plating that acts as defense against a multitude of attacks. Rawa also frequently molts and sheds these scales.
Gallery
Concept art
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![Early concept for a Godzilla-like monster that ultimately became Rawa[8]](https://wikizilla-images.s3.us-east-va.perf.cloud.ovh.us/thumb/d/d3/Rawa_Notzilla.png/95px-Rawa_Notzilla.png)
Early concept for a Godzilla-like monster that ultimately became Rawa[8] -
Early Rawa concepts -
Rawa development -
Rawa concept art -
Rawa S-Class concept art
![Early concept for a Godzilla-like monster that ultimately became Rawa[8]](https://wikizilla-images.s3.us-east-va.perf.cloud.ovh.us/d/d3/Rawa_Notzilla.png)
Prototype
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Prototype Rawa footage[9]
Subspecies
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The Dragon King -
Firestorm -
Blizzard -
Jade Serpent -
Orochi -
Holotail -
Uwabambi -
Eclipse -
Napal
Roar
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Videos
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Trivia
- Rawa flying with his Ethereal Flame (when using his charged special in the air, or when using the taunt "Thrusters Engaged") is likely a reference to Godzilla's atomic breath-powered flight in Godzilla vs. Hedorah.
- One of Rawa's four emotes, King's Victory, is the shē dance that Godzilla performed in Invasion of Astro-Monster.
- One of Rawa's subspecies, "Wu Long", pays homage to some colorations of Nagas in mythology, as well as giving him a similar scale pattern. Another subspecies is named "Orochi", after Yamata no Orochi.
- For some time, it was ambiguous as to whether Rawa is a relative of the deceased, serpentine "Dragon King" that shares his title, or is in fact the same Dragon King as referenced in the ancient lore of Tarabak Island. Gerald Yong, GigaBash's former writer, eventually confirmed that Rawa and the Dragon King killed by Skorak (who now wears his old skull) is one and the same individual, with Rawa's form having changed due to his revival.[10][5]
- Given how Skorak's skull is larger than Rawa's current head (matching his body size), it means that Rawa was either larger in ancient times, or he was in his S-class state by the time he died. If it is the latter, it is possible that he was slain by Skorak using his ultimate (Poison Deluge, an attack that involves spewing acid over a large area) inside of him to devour him, which is fitting given how Rawa's elixir was tainted by Skorak's toxins, and ultimates are one of the few things in-game that can damage an S-class titan without the enemy also assuming their S-class form.
- Rawa's Ultimate attack is similar to that of the 2016 Godzilla's Atomic Breath, starting as fire before focusing into a beam.
References
This is a list of references for Rawa. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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