- “It's Crunch Time!”
- —Barbella's official catchphrase
Barbella is a crystalline Earth Sensei in Skylanders: Imaginators, who trains Imaginators of the Sentinel Battle Class.
Character Development
During Skylanders: Giants development, character designer I-Wei Huang started with the idea of a strong Water female Giant, but eventually developed the idea of a living statue character for the Earth element, first used to create the Weapon Master. Though the statue design would later be finalized as the Golden Queen, many of its ideas such as the square barbells, large armor and the textured skin would later surface in Imaginators with Barbella. Her pose, skin and barbells went through many attempts and iterations for a look that fit her concept perfectly.[2]
Background
Biography
Barbella was the best fitness trainer in all of Skylands. Not only did she possess otherworldly strength, she was also a firm believer that a healthy diet and exercise led to true happiness. With such a positive message to spread, Barbella decided to open her own fitness center called “Flex-a-lot”, where she hoped to instill good eating and workout habits with all of her patrons. But one day, the gelatinous villain known as The Gulper destroyed her gym, and it took all of Barbella’s strength to keep it from collapsing while everyone fled to safety. It was then that Barbella realized that bad guys were more hazardous to your health than anything else, so she began to train in the ways of the Sentinel, where she quickly became one of the greatest masters in the world!
Gameplay
Barbella uses her super-strength and boulder barbells in battle. With her boulder barbells she can smash enemies, and even use them to summon rock constructs, ranging from a large pair of stone hands, or a runic cube that she can push at enemies with great force. Her Sky-Chi has her lift her barbells which causes crystal shards to shoot out towards her foes.
Stats
These are the starting and maximum Statistics for this Skylander in the Skylanders games.
- Health: 350 (max. 700)
- Speed: ??
- Armor: ??
- Critical Hit: ??
- Elemental Power: ??
Warning: These stats are not used in any of the Skylander games. They are only listed for completeness reasons.
- Strength: 210
- Defense: 330
- Agility: 100
- Luck: 160
Abilities
Basic Abilities These abilities are available from the start of the game. |
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Barbell Bash | Rocky Rep |
Taken for Granite
Do You Even Lift?
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Primary Ability Press Attack 1 to whack, thwack and smash with your Boulder Barbells. |
Secondary Ability Press Attack 2 to create stone hands that pull enemies towards you. |
Price: 4000
Press Attack 2 five times to buff yourself. You take less damage. Rock Crystals spawn over time. Attack 1 pulls Rock Crystals.
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Basic Upgrades Skylanders can buy new abilities from Persephone/Power Pods. | |||||||
Cubic Runic Rock | Unsteady Ground | Have a Gneiss Day | Rocks in a Hard Place | ||||
Price: 500 Press Attack 3 to conjure a giant rock that damages enemies near it and can be launched to explode into Rock Crystals. |
Price: 700 Attack 1 triple-combo covers a larger area, dealing more bonus damage to closer enemies. |
Price: 900 Rocky Rep's stone hands create Rock Crystals you can launch at foes with Barbell Bash. |
Price: 1200 Press Attack 2 during Rocky Rep to create Rock Crystals. |
Seismic Smasher |
|
Gifts of the Deadlift | Caving In | Rocky Roads | ||
Price: 1700 Rock Crystals will pound the ground when you press Attack 1. Press Attack 1 thrice to create Rock Crystals. |
Price: 2200 Barbell Bash does even more damage and the shockwave extends further. |
Price: 3000 Press Attack 1 thrice to send out cascading earthquakes. |
Ruler of Rocks |
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For the Crater Good | Rocky Rebound | Boulder and All the Wiser | ||
Price: 1700 Damaging enemies sometimes spawns a Rock Crystal. |
Price: 2200 Rock Crystals will return to their targets when they fly out. |
Price: 3000 Rock Crystals spawn more frequently when damaging enemies. Rock Crystals critically hit on their return trip. |
Weight Lifting (Active) | ||
[All Enemies] |
Mana cost: 3 |
Swinging Playground (Active) | ||
[All Enemies] |
Mana cost: 3 |
Time to Crunch (Active) | ||
[1 Target] |
Mana cost: |
Deadlift (Leader) | ||
[Self] |
Quotes
Battle Cries
- "It's Crunch Time!"
- "I'll whip all your Imaginators into shape with my workout program!" - Sensei Training Bonus
- "And I can train all of your Sentinel Imaginators in this awesome secret technique." - Secret Technique Bonus
- "Going, going, gong!" - ringing a Battle Gong
- "Bring it on, I'm always up for a challenge!"
- "I should probably warn you: I've been training for this." - before a battle.
- "Work it!"
- "Oh yeah, feel that burn!"
- "No pain, no gain. Right, bad guys?" - after a battle
- "Nothing stands between me and where I want to go!" - opening a gate.
- "Oh, I'm in the zone right now!"
- "And lift and smash!"
- "And that's how you get results!" - level up.
- "All that hard work has paid off!" - level up.
- "I can definitely improve on these numbers!" - checking stats.
- "Oh yeah, check out those measurements!"
- "One, and two, and Sky-Chi!" - activating Sky-Chi (Do You Even Lift?)
- "I've been waiting for that!" - after Sky-Chi
Gallery
Trivia
- Barbella is a pun on both barbells, a type of exercise equipment, and the Italian word bella, meaning beautiful.
- Her name is also a pun on Barbarella.
- Barbella is also an Italian surname.
- In earlier versions of the game, Barbella had an icon based on concept art and had white instead of yellow hair.[3]
- Surprisingly, Barbella's element and battle class have more female senseis than males.
- While most of the Senseis' garments consist of robes, tunics, and armor, Barbella's outfit is a jumpsuit with golden linen on the sleeves, pant leg, and even outlines around the chest like an actual chest plate with pauldrons.
- Barbella is very similar to Crusher - Both are members of elite Skylander teams, are Earth elements, have very similar powers and weapons, and have nearly identical catchphrases.
- She's the only Earth sensei without an alternate deco.
References
- ↑ Cynthia McWilliams's instagram post. (Date Posted - ). Instagram.
- ↑ The Making Of Skylanders Imaginators Figures With I-Wei! - Barbella!. YouTube.
- ↑ A visit to London with Skylanders Imaginators!, picture 17. (Date Posted - Jun. 12, 2016). Blogger.