Shaktoad: Stormer variant 707

Editor's Note: This would be NecrosisBob flexing his creative humor in a parody based on Karma-style depictions of new Stormers (playable or not) with a full illustration included (Now Extra Chunky!).

The so called "Shaktoad" variant 707

Quote: "BELIEVE IN KARMA."

Originally a project given to a Karma head designer to "Make a better Shaktar with a stormer" as the main goal. Loyal, unthinking beyond the parameters given, and of course a powerful warrior. The end result earned the scorn of many and is looking to be a public relations disaster. Despite the red coloration and reptilian features, the Shaktoad, as one viewer coined it, contains no actual Shaktar DNA.

The Head Worms aka 'Dead Locks' (a perfect example of off the wall ideas being tested) is the Shaktoad's built-in symbiotic weaponry. The trademark dreadlocks of a Shaktar are instead a nesting of worm like parasites designed to detach and offer advanced scouting, target marking, and even an additional means of attack. Dead Locks (insert notation: Seriously who comes up with these names?) have a sucker like mouth from which the worm can see its environment via chemical and infrared sensors and dozens of tiny hairs protected in the folds of their thick bodies that sense vibrations. They move by simple caterpillar locomotion and can leave special chemical trails that a Shaktoad can follow, allowing it to identify dead ends, traps, and such via simple chemical reception. A downside is that the parasitism of the organism and its chosen placement on the host leads to a severe drop in intellectual faculties.

The Shaktoad features a long forked tongue and advanced chemical receptors in its jowls, allowing it to analyze an encyclopedic amount of chemicals.

The Shaktoad has a 'superior' digestive system that does away with the rudimentary genitalia and excretory system. Hard indigestible bits are simply regurgitated and fluid waste is perspired out in a thick gooey sweat giving the Shaktoad a slippery wet sheen and somewhat pungent aroma.

Their thick, red hide provides protection from the sun, enabling them to trek though a desert without suffering from hear exhaustion or dehydration. Likewise, their hide and the thick layer of blubber underneath helps insulate them from cold temperatures as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit below zero.

"Seriously for a moment I thought a Shak and a Low Wave got it on. This thing waddled out and I nearly bust my gut. Even the squad Chagrin was embarrassed by this ... thing. We asked for covering fire. Thing wasted three drums of ammo on a wall... the wall it was crouched behind. Yeah it didn't remember to stand up, but it knew to reload. And those Dead Locks? Things are slow, by the time they're done scouting a hall we'd done a sweep of the entire building. Plus I think the damn thing lost a few to some rats. Somebody pull a plug on these things already..."
Spear, Brain Waster

"Slower than a Chagrin, Dumber than a Low Wave, Worse than a Day with Sour Blood. New from Karma, it's the Shaktoad. Seriously there is no making this thing look good."
Anonymous Karma employee

The picture features "Zitz", one of the original of three prototypes.

Images: 
Shaktoad by NecrosisBob