TR-0009 Tager

Iron Tager is an ex-Sector Seven soldier and loyal subordinate to Kokonoe, he is a playable character in the BlazBlue series, being one of the original 12 playable characters in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger.

Information
Originally the leader of a Sector Seven assault team sent to retrieve Nirvana in the 4th Hierarchical City of Naobi, the mission was intercepted by Azrael and Tager suffered a mortal wound during the mission, due to being the only survivor, Tager was forced to withdraw. He is feared by many, but in truth he is very calm and calculated, only engaging in violence when necessary. He has resumed his duties since his revival as a cyborg and is currently not only pursuing Hakumen, but also Ragna as a secondary target.

Trust You


Following the Phenomena Weapon Dispossession Operation, Tager awoke after the surgery preformed by Kokonoe. She introduced herself as he scanned everything about her, noticing her shabby appearance. It was at this point that she gave him his name, 'Tager', claiming that she came up with it on the spot; Tager himself was unable to remember his real name despite the effort he put in. After an uncomfortable silence, he then went on to ask why he was there, to which Kokonoe white-lied about his origins, skimming all important details. Trying to recall his origins once more, Kokonoe warned him that doing too much may damage his engine, ringing alarms in Tager's head as he realized that he wasn't truly all himself. He was soon able to move thanks to some intervention from Kokonoe's part. She then revealed that she had injected him with Demon Cells and that he was a splendid match; whatever the cells didn't heal, she replaced with machinery. Tager immediately understood what she meant as he looked into the reflection of some nearby glass.

Soon after his resurrection, Kokonoe sent Tager onto his first mission; to retrieve the Murakumo Units Λ-No.11-, μ-No.12-, and ν-No.13- during the confusion that still lingered from the Burning Fields. He covertly snuck in and found that Mu's casket was empty (due to her adoption), as was Nu's (due to transportation to the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi in the short story an evil sign). Tager retrieved the casket that contained Lambda as Kokonoe issued a warning stating that she would rot if left too long.

Continuum Shift
In BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, he was sent by Kokonoe on a mission to capture the true holder of the Azure, Noel Vermillion. When he arrived in Kagutsuchi, Kokonoe teleported Λ-No.11- to him and told him to fight her so that she could analyze her performance. Afterwards, Kokonoe told Tager to meet up with an agent to obtain an item for her. Tager headed to the rendezvous point, the Kagutsuchi Museum, and encountered Makoto Nanaya who, after giving her the password, handed a disc to him. She then attempted to ask about his mission, but he refused to say anything. She later left after giving him a warning that she would show no mercy to those who harm Noel.

Not long after, Tager picked up an Azure reading and headed to Orient Town. There, he found out that the reading was from Ragna who was just fighting Lambda and had already left. Before he could continue his search for Noel, he was discovered by Litchi who asked to speak with Kokonoe. Knowing that Litchi intended to ask about Arakune, Tager told her that Arakune chose his path knowing full well the risks and that she should just let Tager and Kokonoe handle him. Before Litchi could argue, Kokonoe ordered Tager to subdue Litchi to which he reluctantly complied. After rendering her unconscious, Tager took Litchi to her clinic and lied to Linhua by telling her that Litchi collapsed from exhaustion.

After reaching the Hanging Gardens, Tager began to become frustrated with his lack of progress. However, he was soon met by Hazama who began tormenting his mind through his experience with the Sin Architects. Kokonoe snapped him out of it by ordering him to fight Hazama and not think about anything else, but Hazama easily defeated Tager and began torturing him further. Kokonoe told him to retreat, which Tager complied just before Hakumen and Valkenhayn arrived on the scene. After being taken to a safe location, Tager thanked Hakumen for his assistance. Hakumen then questioned his loyalty to Kokonoe to which he stated that he has the utmost faith in her. Hakumen then reminded him of the nuclear warheads that Kokonoe has stockpiled and asked once again.

In the True Ending, he escorted Noel and Makoto out of Kagutsuchi.

Appearance
Tager is massive in stature, standing just under 8 feet, and has a body with muscles bulging out of each and every corner. His most defining trait, however, is his crimson red skin, a side effect of being injected with Demon Cells. Tager has spiky black hair, possessing a white streak. He wears orange goggles without reflection that do not show his eyes. He wears a dark red-colored Sector Seven uniform, but with a sleeveless top. He has golden rods attached on the darker red cross on his back, and two black gauntlets made of complex machinery.

Personality
Tager is a serious, mature cyborg. Well known as a fearsome mechanical juggernaut to the enemies of Sector Seven, he is feared by many, having earned him the alias "Red Devil". In truth, he is very calm and calculated, only engaging in violence when necessary. When confronted by a member of the NOL, Noel Vermillion, he discusses the situation prior to engaging in aggression of any kind. Later, when he stumbles across Ragna, his secondary objective on his mission to recover Hakumen, Tager acknowledges that Ragna would have been his opponent if he had the energy, and the two simply part ways without a fight.

He places great trust and faith in Kokonoe, and almost always follows her orders, but there have been some occasions where he follows his own intuitions to choose what to do in a situation. The two are constantly conflicting in moral decisions, this is primarily linked to Kokonoe's philosophies of 'shoot first, ask questions later' or/and to order Tager to kill an opponent, such as Arakune, on sight.

Within Sector Seven he is known as a solid, dependable soldier and a passionate scientist. When not working, he can be found reading mystery novels and constructing ships in bottles.

When fighting, Tager can become fierce and determined, goading his opponents through verbal taunts. Despite this, it is rare to see Tager actually angry; he has rarely if ever lost his composure during battle. After most victories, he will cease attacking, leave his adversary alone and attempt to report to Kokonoe to deliver a status update.

His relationships with his colleagues, both former and current, are both professional and amicable. In Calamity Trigger, he is seen chatting pleasantly with Litchi, then a member of Sector Seven, about his new assignment as Kokonoe's field agent; Litchi mentions that Kokonoe's tasks must be gruelling to give "our Tager" cause for complaint. He tests Sector Seven's newest recruit Makoto without reservation, he gives her his open and honest opinion each time and the two have a relationship somewhat akin to a father and a daughter as the story progresses. When Tager bests Makoto in combat in his Arcade story INCEPTION, he offers her advice on how to progress in life, with friends and on the battlefield, baffling Kokonoe and emotionally touching Makoto.

However when encountering Arakune, he expresses his heartfelt grief that someone he had once seen as a brother has become something far from human, and sees his duty of bringing him down as a kindness to a suffering loved one. Whenever Kokonoe orders to kill Arakune, Tager will always hesitate and allow him to escape.

Powers and Abilities
Story-wise, Tager is highly feared in the world for his fierce appearance and frightening stature, this reputation seems to be exaggerated but it is quite the opposite; Tager is an incredibly powerful opponent who earned his reputation for more than just mere looks alone, with his intelligence only adding to his collective arsenal. His strength alone has allowed him to defeat a slew of opponents such as Arakune and Litchi Faye-Ling, two beings who stream power from the Boundary in their every attack. Thanks to the modifications that Kokonoe had made to him, Tager is also the only being capable of deploying an Eclipse Field.

Gameplay-wise, Tager is noticeably the slowest character in the game, unable to dash (mentioned in Teach Me, Miss Litchi), but makes up for that in power and defense. When close, his great power allows him to inflict great damage by tossing his opponents around effortlessly. His gauntlets are also surprisingly complex machinery. In addition to short ranged bursts, they can act as electronic magnets. With this, Tager can magnetize and draw in opponents toward him instead of having to pursue them.

In addition to their standard electromagnetism, he is able to build up a charge over time that can launch opponents away and subsequently draw them in. When in close proximity, Tager can grab his opponents for extreme damage, or alter the properties of his grab to add additional magnetism. His gauntlets also destroy most projectiles while closing distance.

His Astral Heat, King of Tager, combines an extreme magnetic pull with a leap that puts Tager and his enemy into the atmosphere, crashing down to leave only Tager standing in a dust-clouded crater.

Etymology
Tager means Taking in Danish but a slightly more realistic translation would be a variation of the Australian boy name Togar which means Smoke in the same language.

Trivia

 * Tager's Unlimited form allows him to dash, however, his normal movement speed is set to almost a crawl and the dash has a long recovery time, probably because of his massive weight gaining velocity during the dash. Tager gets stronger magnetism to compensate. His Spark Bolt meter is also cut in half, allowing two to be stored at once in addition to starting the match with both halves filled, along with Voltic Charge doubling the amount of Spark Meter that is gained. A full-duration Voltic Charge will cause him to gain approximately 1 and 3/4ths spark bolt meter.
 * Because of the Story Modes tendency to re-use and flip sprites, Tager's white streak of hair is rarely seen.
 * Going through Tager's voice clips in Continuum Shift hints at some unused move concepts, and the possibility of a playable Kokonoe in this era.
 * "Kokonoe, I'm going to have to do this my way."
 * "BATTLE GALHAGGER!"
 * "PEDALHOT (?) SCISSORS!"
 * "LIFTING ALL RESTRICTIONS!"
 * "LOCK ENGAGED! ACTIVATING ETHER DRIVE!"
 * "FEEL THE POWER OF SCIENCE!"
 * Somewhat ironically, when Amane Nishiki uses his Astral Heat on Tager, he appears as a toy.
 * During his last appearance in the Episode 7 of the Alter Memory anime, the white streak of Tager's Hair is missing.
 * Tager's birthday is also the International Day to End Impunity.
 * In BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Tager will guide the player through the section Intermediate- Application.