Dezarrakks (Dark Saviour)

Dezarrakks is a super hero created in DC Universe Online, and is the main protagonist of the YouTube series Dark Saviour. Dezarrakks was created by Mike Taylor in 2012, though the series only began in October, 2014. Along with his role in Dark Saviour, Dezarrakks was also featured as a character on a text based role playing site that Taylor was an admin for.

Character Conception
In 2012 Mike Taylor (creator) was made aware of the superhero MMO DC Universe Online. Taylor signed up, installed and began playing the game, creating the character of Dezarrakks (initially named Dezaras).

On the text based role playing website, that Taylor was an admin of, a Marvel/DC RP was suggested and approved, allowing Taylor the opportunity to use the character and tell more stories of his own. However "Dezaras" wasn't a viable name, due to rules forbidding character usernames matching main account usernames (Taylor's main username, at the time, was Dezaras Prime) so a compromise had to be reached. Having being nicknamed "Dez" by friends over the years, Taylor was eager to keep that part of the name and came up with the name Dezarrakks. Dezarrakks was a play on words somewhat, as the character's weapon of choice was an axe. Rather than go with "Dezaraxe" Taylor decided on "akks" instead of "axe" to prevent limitations on weapon usage. Despite this Taylor's character, in-game, retained the Dezaras name until recently, when he changed it properly to Dezarrakks. Dezaras is now the name of the secondary Dezarrakks character that Taylor created, to enable the Dezarrakks character to appear in scenes with other characters on his main DCUO account.

Costume
Dezarrakks' costume is comprised of multiple different styles. They are as follows: To keep it somewhat realistic Taylor opted not to give Dezarrakks his full outfit, when escaping the ship. Instead Dezarrakks escaped the ship in only a pair of jeans. Following that his costume was comprised of pieces salvaged from the ship, including the Fourth World Cape, Fourth World Chest, Fourth World Gloves and Boots, and the Fourth World Belt. He also wore a Simple Domino Mask.
 * Runed Hood: Black with red trim.
 * Valiant Mask: Red.
 * Jah Kir Shoulderguards: Black with red and silver trims. First seen in Dezarrakks/Flogirl: Reluctant Alliance.
 * Battle Mage Top: Black with red "webbing" and silver diamonds.
 * Battle Mage Leggings: Same colour scheme as the top.
 * Retro Tech Belt: Black with red pouches, and a silver/red oval buckle. First seen in Dezarrakks/Flogirl: Reluctant Alliance. Replaces:
 * Simple Utility Belt: Black with red pouches and silver clasp. Inactive.
 * Metalhead Gloves: Black with red stripes and silver spikes/studs.
 * Metalhead Boots: Same colour scheme as gloves.
 * Greco Roman Cape: Black with red trim. First seen in Dezarrakks/Flogirl: Reluctant Alliance. Replaces:
 * Fourth World Cape: Black with red trim. Inactive.

Two images for the upcoming Dezarrakks/Flogirl team up have been uploaded, showing Dezarrakks wearing a new outfit. The runed hood/valiant mask combo remains, but the rest is different. The colour scheme remains black/red. The episode itself actually shows Dezarrakks wearing two outfits, but the first outfit is brief (and an extension of his regular outfit), whereas the second outfit (in-story) protects him from the OMAC virus. The Runed Hood/Valiant Mask/Greco Roman Cape combo remains, with the following changes:
 * Daring Vigilante Shoulderguards: Black top tier, with red ribbing under tier.
 * Daring Vigilante Chest: Black with red side ribbing.
 * Daring Vigilante Leggings: Black with red inner thigh ribbing.
 * Daring Vigilante Belt: Red.
 * Daring Vigilante Gloves: Black with red inner forearm ribbing.

The above outfit was done specifically for the episode and there are no plans to use it again.
 * Biker Boots: Black with red kickpads and silver buckles.

Weapons
Dezarrakks uses various styles of dual wield axes. Said axes will follow his traditional colour scheme. When the character was first created he wielded a two handed weapon, which carried over into the RP. However in the Dark Saviour series he hasn't used a two handed weapon yet, due to Taylor's preference for dual wield. When escaping the Braniac Harvester Ship, and for the duration of the Pilot episode, Dezarrakks was unarmed, therefore using the brawling technique.

Powers
Dezarrakks has a fire powerset, including a range of pyrotechnic abilities. These include, but aren't limited to:
 * Heat Vision: Recently occured in Metropolis, giving him the ability to shoot fire from his eyes.
 * Inferno: Gives him the ability to create a pool of fire around his enemies, burning them over time.
 * Enflame weapon: Allows Dezarrakks to channel his fire to his weapon, engulfing it and causing more damage.
 * Absorb Heat: First used in One Step Closer. Dad theorises that Dezarrakks' powers may have emotional ties, meaning the more emotional he becomes the hotter he burns.
 * Mass Detonation: Causes enemies to combust. Particularly dangerous, when in the inferno pool.

Personality
Being Mike Taylor's personal DCUO character, and being voiced by Taylor, Dezarrakks shares many of his creator's personality traits, including quick witted responses, a sharp tongue, sarcasm, and short temper. However Dezarrakks also shares Taylor's family values and sense of responsibility.

In the first two episodes the personality of Mike didn't differ from the personality of Dezarrakks. However after meeting Agent Thomas, who disapproved of his irresponsible, immature attitude, Dad Taylor suggested he try to separate the two personas, leading to Dezarrakks acting more seriously, using less snippy lines, and altering his tone of voice. Ironically Agent Thomas seemed to be more relaxed around Dezarrakks, as opposed to his uptight attitude with Mike.

Fictional Character History
Mike Taylor (character) was born and raised in Gotham City. His family consists of his father (Dad Taylor), his mother, and his younger sister Betty. He worked as a bartender until he was one of many caught in the exobyte shower, instigated by a future version of Lex Luthor (who had stolen them from Braniac). Mike, along with many others, was abducted by present day Braniac, who wanted to reclaim all exobytes. Quite how present day Braniac would have knowledge of his future tech is unclear, though Mike theorises that future Braniac visited present Braniac, in the same way future Lex visited present day Lex.

Oracle was able to hack the ship's mainframe, allowing Mike to escape his holding chamber. From there Oracle guided him as he fought through hoards of Braniac Sparks, Subjugators, and Overseers, picking up various armour pieces along the way, and learning how to use his powers. Eventually he faced off against a Braniac Guardian, after he had destroyed a weapon. Mike defeated the Guardian, enabling Oracle to send in Superman. The two fought together, destroying most of the Braniac forces, though some were deployed to Earth. Mike was then able to teleport out, landing in the East End GCPD safehouse. There he learned about vendors, mailboxes and other things.

Six weeks later Mike is dreaming about recent events when he receives a phone call from Dad, asking that Mike go to his house. Mike travels to Dad's residence, surprised to discover that there are Braniac forces practically camped outside his front door. Dad calmly dismisses it as "quite the ruckus" before informing Mike of his work with Oracle. Dad doesn't have much intel but Mike suggests heading outside and beating it out of the androids.

After suiting up (in his makeshift costume) Dezarrakks heads to the East End GCPD safehouse, where Brainac forces are gathering en masse. Dezarrakks fights them, with help from Gotham's Special Crimes Unit. Despite the high quantities of shredded metal more Braniac forces arrive, forcing Dezarrakks to use more power, which starts to weaken him to the point of even burning himself. He falls back, taking refuge on a rooftop, where Oracle informs him that there are more Braniac drones, seeking out other exobyte targets.

After speculating briefly about whether others had survived the ship Dezarrakks made his way to the next area, where he began fighting more robots and rescuing people, who were trapped. Dezarrakks was also trapped a couple of times, though he managed to break free. After rescuing some Braniac targets he made is way to the waterfront (after stopping a burglar) to disable the scramblers, that were blocking Oracle's communications (Dad's comms were on a separate frequency, explaining why he could still maintain audio contact.)

Dezarrakks was able to disable the scramblers, between fighting more hoards of Braniac soldiers, but suffered his first power drain, meaning he couldn't use his fire abilities. This was only temporary though, and his fire powers returned fairly quickly.

The next day he spoke with Dad on the phone, appeasing Dad's concerns about the power drain and self burning. Dezarrakks stated all he needed was a good night's rest. Before hanging up Dad told him to check his basement, where an armoury sat, containing his new costume. Dezarrakks approved, stating it looked exactly as he pictured it to be. Dad then told Dezarrakks he was to begin weapons training. Dezarrakks suited up and made his way back onto the streets. (Pilot)

After undergoing weapon training Dezarrakks assisted in rescuing Batwoman from Scarecrow, but was unhappy with his performance, feeling it was sloppy. Dad reminded him that he still succeeded in rescuing Batwoman, and bringing in Scarecrow, and that he should take the win. Dezarrakks continued training but was interrupted by Dad, who had just received word that Bane was back on the streets.

Dezarrakks made his way to the abandoned Soder Cola factory, which was being used as a venom distribution centre. Inside he fought various thugs, envenomed and not, as well as dogs who's been injected with the substance. There were also women there, leading Dezarrakks and Dad to agree that they were "probably hookers". After defeating the henchmen, and gathering distribution intel, Dezarrakks faced off against Bane's supplier Diego. With assistance from Nightwing Dezarrakks was able to defeat Diego. Nightwing then bolted, leaving Dezarrakks to hack the final terminals and gather the remaining information.

Said information led Dezarrakks to Cape Carmine Lighthouse, where he was faced with more of Bane's thugs. He fought through the thugs, destroyed venom canisters, and blew up doors, making his way through the various levels of the lighthouse. Dad's satellite tracking picked up one more friendly in the building, Nightwing. Dad reminded Dezarrakks of the urgency, noting that Nightwing doesn't have powers, and that Bane broke Batman's back. Dezarrakks finally reached Nightwing and the two faced off against Bane.

Despite later speculation that Bane wasn't operating at full strength, he was still a difficult challenge to overcome. Dezarrakks suffered power drainage, was thrown around like a ragdoll, and was hit a few times with a steel girder. Against his father's wished Dezarrakks continued the fight, even though Dad wanted him to retreat. This time it was Dezarrakks putting the mission first (he even stated he couldn't leave because the room was locked down) and, despite the beating he took, he and Nightwing were able to defeat Bane.

Later Dezarrakks was watching TV while Dad was making a phone call. Dad informed Dezarrakks that there was suspected Braniac activity in Metropolis, involving HIVE. Dad would procure credentials for Mike to go in as a WayneTech employee, where he would meet Dad's contact. (Cleaning Up The Streets)

Mike travelled to Metropolis where he met Dad's contact, Agent Thomas. Thomas, being FBI, former military, and as straight as they come, was unimpressed with Mike's excited attitude, especially when Mike got excited over Steel's robots (calling them Transformers) and referring to Thomas as "a fed."

Thomas led Mike into a building, describing it as one of the safest, most covert, state of the art laboratories that the allied factions possessed. Thomas, unimpressed with Mike, asked him why he was so special that Dad sent him instead of coming, himself. Mike explained that he was there for exobyte research, specifically gathering exobits. Thomas informed Mike that HIVE had a large stash of exobytes at Metropolis' Metrodome, whilst wondering what would be done with the exobits. Mike explains that the exobits could be reconstructed into an exobyte (exobits named because they're bits of an exobyte) and the exobytes could be socketed into armour, offering enhancements. Thomas requests a demonstration but Mike declines, angrily stating that he wouldn't be there for exobits, if he already had exobits handy. Frustrated Mike leaves to make a phone call.

On the roof of the building Mike talks with Dad on the phone. Mike dislikes Thomas, calling him a "grade A Harvard grad dick". Dad explains that Thomas is wound tightly because of the discipline instilled in him, through the military and FBI. Thomas comes outside, questioning how Mike got on the roof. Mike responds with his usual sarcasm, though he wasn't actually lying when he said he flew. Dad reminds Mike of the mission, suggesting he excuse himself, but Mike says Thomas wants to meet Dezarrakks. Dad sees this as an opportunity to differentiate Mike from his alter ego. Mike then excuses himself, telling Thomas that Dezarrakks is on his way.

Soon after Thomas is on the same roof, when Dezarrakks arrives. Heeding Dad's suggestion Dezarrakks talks calmly and sensibly, offering some useful speculation. Thomas, on the other hand, is annoyed by Mike, slating him in front of Dezarrakks, leading to an awkward moment. Dezarrakks pulls Thomas back on track and together they deduce that Braniac is controlling Queen Bee's mind, in turn controlling her entire hive. Dezarrakks and Thomas travel to the Metrodome, but Thomas is ordered to wait outside where he'll be safer.

Inside Dezarrakks fights the HIVE forces, inadvertently unleashing his inner Mike, making a few snippy remarks. Guided by Thomas he fights through the building, taking on more HIVE troops and Lexcorp agents, and rescuing scientists. During the battle Dezarrakks shoots fire out of his eyes, surprising himself. Thomas says other heroes reported gaining new powers over time, and suggests he get it checked out. Dezarrakks continues, finally facing Queen Bee. Despite controlling some security guards Queen Bee is defeated. However she is teleported away before Dezarrakks can fully apprehend her. After arresting a final Lexcorp agent Dezarrakks leaves the building.

Dezarrakks meets Agent Thomas at the Little Bohemia MPD safehouse. Thomas had previously been on the phone to Dad, enquiring about Mike's location. Thomas reassures Dezarrakks that he did a good job, despite Queen Bee's escape. They thank each other, before Dezarrakks leaves, but Thomas then makes a phonecall, asking for information on someone. (Metropolis)

Mike returns to Gotham, filling Dad in on his recent abilities. Dad suggests going to STAR Labs, which Mike agrees to. Before this can be arranged Dad receives a phonecall from his daughter, Betty, warning him that something's happening in South Gotham. Dad goes to meet her, while Mike suits up.

Dezarrakks meets with Dad and Betty at the site of a mass Braniac bottling. Dezarrakks and Dad try to determine a strategy, while Betty uses her journalism studies, and family ties to determine Dezarrakks' identity. Betty is sent home, while Dezarrakks and Dad travel to the Watchtower.

At the Watchtower Dad peruses the files, learning that Braniac is using South Gotham as a building site. Braniac is using the citizens as a work force, making them build Sub Avatars. While Dad explains this Dezarrakks is concerned that Betty is too close to his secret identity, though he agrees to focus on the bigger picture.

Dezarrakks takes the teleporter to South Gotham and begins fighting the work force, which is a frustrating experience, considering he has to fight Constructors, Wing Armors, Sunstone Bounders, and others. He also expresses his displeasure at the mind controlled humans hoping the heroes kick his ass. Dad theorises that the citizens might not know their being controlled, and see him as a villain, which doesn't exactly appease Dezarrakks.

During a fight with a Wing Armor he unleashes a new heat absorbtion power, causing him to burn blue as he sucked the heat from the Wing Armor. He then takes a breather while Dad explains that Dezarrakks' powers may also be tied to his emotions, given his recent frustrations in the field.

After dismantling some more Braniac androids Dezarrakks prepares to return to the Watchtower but a Sub Avatar is loose. Despite Dad ordering him to return to base, Dezarrakks refuses, teaming with other heroes to take down the Sub Avatar. When the Sub Avatar falls Dezarrakks falls back.

Back at his home Mike and Dad discuss the latest events but they're interrupted by Betty, who's been invited over by her brother. Mike asks Betty to explain why she thinks he's Dezarrakks and she presents compelling evidence, including increased muscle mass, a new sense of purpose, and the fact that she's his journalism student sister, having grown up with him and knowing him better than just about anyone. Despite Dad's attempts at diversion Mike congratulates Betty, admitting that he's Dezarrakks. They talk by his armoury but are interrupted by Dad, who alerts them to a situation at Gotham STAR Labs. Dad explains that Braniac forces are invading the building, attempting to hijack the STAR Labs satellite. Mike suits up again, allowing Betty to assist Dad on the consoles. Dad warns that the satellite is overrun with Braniac forces, but Dezarrakks insists on going ahead with the mission. While Dad and Betty work from home, Dezarrakks flies to Gotham STAR Labs. (One Step Closer)

RP Dezarrakks
The following highlights the difference between the Dark Saviour version of Dezarrakks and his text based RP counterpart. Since there may never be a wiki about the RP Dezarrakks the information will be listed here.

RP Dezarrakks is a married father, who's wife is murdered by the Joker. Saviour Dezarrakks is single, with no children. Prior to her death the wife and son were placed into witness protection. However they are captured (along with Dezarrakks's sister) by Harley Quinn and taken to an abandoned carnival. Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya, Summer Gleeson, and an unnamed politician are also captured.

Due to the situation his family is in Dezarrakks demands he go rescue them, but the Joker wanted Batman. After some back and forth Joker lets Dezarrakks into the funhouse, where Bullock, Montoya and Gleeson are rescued (after a fight with Captain Clown.) However Joker deems the use of his powers as cheating, so he shoots Dezarrakks's sister, Betty, who is being held in a cage above a vat of acid. The wife, son, and politician are also held in cages above acid vats. There is more back and forth between Dezarrakks and Joker before Joker releases the cages. Dezarrakks is able to save his son and sister, but is unable to save his wife and the politician. Dezarrakks actually dives into his wife's acid vat, desperately trying to save her, and crawling out close to death.

That is as far as RP Dezarrakks' story went. With the Dark Saviour series in creation it is unknown if the RP will be continued/revived.

Multiversal Dezarrakks' Within The DCUO Cinematic Multiverse.
Taylor is a fan of the multivere concept and views each DCUO server as its own separate universe, parallel to his. Taylor jokingly refers to these as Earth-EUPC (the Earth that the series takes place on, making it the Saviourverse's Earth-1), Earth-USPC, Earth EUPS, and Earth-USPS. Due to some players wanting to interact with Dezarrakks, and take part in the series, Taylor is considering the option of having stories set in these other universes.

Taylor has various variations of Dezarrakks on his accounts.
 * Dezarrakks: The "prime" Dezarrakks, seen in the series.
 * Dezaras: The Dezarrakks duplicate, created so Taylor could have Dezarrakks interact with other characters on his main account. Could be used as an alternate world Dezarrakks.
 * GL Dezarrakks: A Green Lantern version of Dezarrakks. Unknown whether he'll appear in the series, but could be used as either a Green Lantern "prime" Dezarrakks, or a parallel world Dezarrakks.
 * RL Dezarrakks: A Red Lantern version of Dezarrakks, on the villain side. Unknown if he'll appear in series.
 * Dezarro: A Lexcorp created clone of Dezarrakks. Unknown if he'll appear in the series.
 * Dezzarro: A hero version of Dezarro.
 * Cyber Dezaras: A cybernetic/organic duplicate of Dezarrakks, again created by Lexcorp. Unknown if he'll appear in the series.
 * Dezarrakks (USPC): A recent character creation, announced on Taylor's Twitter account. Described as "a different Dezarrakks for a different world. A Steel Saviour." This is the closest thing to a parallel world Dezarrakks that has been announced. Images have since been uploaded on Facebook and Twitter. The first movie to feature this character (Elseworlds: Steel Saviour) went public on September 27th, 2015.
 * Nemesis Dezarrakks (USPC): An evil version of "Steel Saviour" Dezarrakks. Another Nemesis Dezarrakks was planned for use on the USPS (Playstation) servers but that plan has been shelved, due to cross play intentions being announced by the game developers.
 * Dezarakks: A USPS version of the Steel Saviour Dezarrakks.
 * DS Dezarrakks: An EUPS version of Dark Saviour Dezarrakks.

Dezarrakks Appearances In Other DCUOCM Media
Taylor and Sutherlin have been working on other projects, specifically a modern noir style series, inspired by another YouTube user, Sound In Reverse. SiR created a modern noir series called Night Falls, chronicling the adventures of The Tective. Taylor took some photos of Dezarrakks in a fedora and trenchcoat. He greyscaled the images and uploaded them to the DCUOCM Facebook group. It met with mostly positive reviews.

On July 6th, 2015, Taylor uploaded a title sequence for his modern noir series: Taylor And Taylor. If follows parallel world versions of Dezarrakks and Dad Taylor, who are private detectives. The series will also feature Agent Thomas. It is planned for release during a Dark Saviour off season, much like Steel Saviour. The EUPC versions of Dezarrakks and Dad will be used for the series.

Also on, July 6th, Sutherlin uploaded episode 3 of his series, The Figment. The episode (titled "Going A Little Psycho") featured a Taylor cameo as Michael, a supervisor at Custom Furniture, where Figment (in his civilian persona of Alaric Figgins) underwent a job interview. Taylor voiced Michael as he voices Dezarrakks, and Michael even had the same face/hair as Dezarrakks Michael, but it hasn't been confirmed that this Michael is the Steel Saviour Dezarrakks (who is the Dezarrakks of Figment's universe.) The USPS Dezarakks version (a double of the USPC Dezarrakks) was used for this.

The Steel Saviour version of Dezarrakks actually made his debut in one of Bern Unit's stories, on July 9th 2015. Bern's storytelling is text based, accompanied by in-game screenshots. Taylor approved of the way Bern wrote the Dezarrakks character, saying he couldn't praise the portrayal enough. There has been talks of Taylor introducing a non-DC version of Dezarrakks into Bern's non-DC version of his story. As with the Figment episode Taylor used the USPS Dezarakks character.

When Taylor's son, Bradley, saw the Taylor And Taylor video he was disappointed that the video wasn't about the two of them. Taylor had plans to introduce his son's characters into the Dark/Steel Saviour series', but not immediately. Instead Taylor "dipped into his bag of multiversal Dezarrakks's" and crafted a new version of Dezarrakks, whose sidekick would be his son. An image was uploaded onto Taylor's Facebook page, showing the usual pentacle, but with "Saviour And Son" as the caption. The EUPC version of Dezarrakks will be used, though it will be a different character to the Dark Saviour version.