Bickslow

Bickslow is a 22 year-old member of the Fairy Tail Guild and, along with Freed Justine and Evergreen, makes up the Thunder God Tribe.

Appearance
Bickslow is a tall man, towering over the rest of the Thunder God Tribe, with a mildly muscular build and a distinctive, otherworldly appearance. His hair is blue and black in colour, with the black parts being almost shaven, and the blue ones, occupying the top and the sides of his head, being instead much longer, with the one of the top being styled in a mohawk-like crest, and the ones on the sides pointing backwards. Bickslow’s large eyebrows are also coloured blue, and the upper part of his nose and his forehead bear the tattoo of a stylized man extending his long, curved arms outwards, likely in reference to Bickslow’s own human-controlling powers. His irises each have a concentric circle surrounding the pupils inside them, possibly as a consequence of his Figure Eyes Magic. He also has characteristic, prominent eyelashes ending in a spiralling curved motif, each placed at one of his large eyes’ sides; the pair of eyelashes pointing towards his nose are headed downwards, while the outer ones jut upwards. All of this traits, together with the somehow slanted look of Bickslow’s eyes, makes them somewhat resemble a pair of Eyes of Horus. Below his eyes are two slightly curved lines pointing downwards. The location of Bickslow’s black Fairy Tail Stamp is also peculiar, this being the upper part of his own tongue, often visible due to him sticking it out. In the manga, his fingernails are also covered by dark nail polish; something which was left out in the anime and stopped being used in his newest appearance.

Bickslow’s outfit keeps up to his distinctive physical appearance. Most of his upper body is covered in a dark, mildly fitting cloth covered in vertical white stripes, which extends up on his head to cover it in a tight hood, exposing only his hands and face. The upper part of the latter, however, is almost always obscured by a metal visor reminiscent of a Medieval sallet, which comes covered with eight small, elongated holes, with four of them in front of each of his eyes, allowing him to see, but preventing others from being affected by his Figure Eyes, something which prompts him to remove the visor whenever he wants to make use of his Eye Magic. His arms are adorned by a pair of large armbands decorated by intricately decorated and coloured motifs, which have a somewhat tribal appearance to them (in the anime, they were greatly simplified, being replaced by a simple series of lines and coloured green). On his shoulders, he has a pair of large, prominent shoulder pads seemingly made of cloth, each bearing a skull represented on its centre and having lighter-coloured edges, which are secured to the rest of his outfit by a pair of bands made of metal, covering the sides of his chest on the front, and being connected together on the back. His waist is circled by a simple dark band, which holds up a massive waistguard made of cloth, which comes in four long, light-coloured pieces, each adorned by a dark “X”, reaching down below his knees. Under such waistguard, Bickslow dons a pair of extremely baggy, loose dark pants, with each leg being adorned by a pair of lighter-coloured belts crossing in an “X” formation. Such pants are tucked inside a pair of light, armoured greaves.

When Bickslow returned to Tenrou Island alongside Freed Justine and Gildarts Clive to save his guildmates, he was shown in a new attire: the upper part of his body is still covered by a dark cloth, which, however, now is almost completely plain, with the exception of a pair of lines on his chest, which slightly jut outwards in its upper part; his separate shoulder pads were replaced by an unique one, reminiscent of a mantle, bearing the same colour of the cloth covering his chest and having lighter-coloured edges, that connects to a leather collar. His hood now sports a furry crest on the back of it, and Bickslow’s visor got replaced by a more elaborated one, with bolts on its centre and secured to his head by many bands; a pair of things which further accentuate his knight-like appearance. He doesn’t have armbands anymore, instead he sports three metal bangles circling each of his biceps, and his waistguard was replaced by a simple, long and fair skirt-like cloth, held up by a large metal belt bearing Fairy Tail’s symbol on its front. Bickslow’s pants and boots, on the other hand, seem to be the same he used to wear.

Personality
Bickslow has a strong tendency of laughing out loud maniacally and sticking his tongue out. He enjoys fighting, and also appears to have a perverted side, as seen during his and Freed's "fight" against Lucy Heartfilia and Cana Alberona, where Freed suggested the girls to wear something over their revealing bikinis before engaging in battle. Bickslow's immediate response to this was dismissive, claiming that they were better up that way.

Like the rest of the Thunder God Tribe, Bickslow holds great respect towards Laxus Dreyar. He was willing to turn against the rest of Fairy Tail on Laxus's command, and he expressed open resentment when he learned that Makarov had excommunicated Laxus from the guild after the events of the Battle of Fairy Tail. During the S-Class Wizard Promotional Trial, he apparently partnered himself with Freed due to their shared desire to take Laxus' place as one of the top Mages of the guild.

Bickslow refers the dolls he controls with his Magic as his "babies", and in turn, they tend to repeat the last words in most of his sentences in an echoing manner. He claims to like souls, which fits in with his two types of Magic; but expressed a dislike for a currently unknown Magic, called "White Magic".

Fighting Festival arc
Bickslow was first seen together with the Thunder God Tribe in the Ghoul Spirit Guild while he and Evergreen defeat the Dark Guild's members. After defeating all of them, the three talk about something that Laxus is planning and head home to Fairy Tail. After Evergreen petrifies the Miss Fairy Tail contestants, Laxus, Freed and Bickslow reveal themselves. He listens as Laxus challenges Makarov and the guild to "The Battle of Fairy Tail", a contest to find who is the strongest in Fairy Tail. After Laxus explains the rules of the game, he and his bodyguards leave the building.

As the festival begins, Bickslow confronts Gray Fullbuster in a fashion house and the two prepare for battle. As the two battle it out, Gray manages to freeze Bickslow's dolls causing Bickslow to get distracted, giving Gray an opening to attack. However, Bickslow transfers his doll's souls into some mannequins and controls them. He uses X Formation to used the mannequins as shields to give him time to run away and trap Gray inside one of Freed's Jutsu Shiki. Inside the runes, nobody can use Magic, giving Bickslow the advantage since his Magic is long range; and using his dolls from outside the runes, Bickslow defeats him.

After defeating Gray, Bickslow continues to hunt down other Fairy Tail members. Among his victims is Nab and Laki Olietta, who ask him to stop saying that they are nakama, but Bickslow just ignores them and defeat them swiftly.

Bickslow then comes across Lucy and Happy and fight them. He gains the upperhand quickly and tries to finish off Lucy with Baryon Formation, but Loke arrives at the last second and saves her. He explains that the power of his love for Lucy allowed him to get through the gate by himself. Loke tells Lucy to stay back, but she responds that she would fight alongside him. They continue the fight with Lucy and Loke being able to stand up to him and his dolls, until Lucy gets close and tries to attack Bickslow with her whip.

She fails and Bickslow releases his secondary Magic, Figure Eyes. Happy tells the other two to close their eyes since they may be turned to dolls and controlled by Bickslow, giving Bickslow the opening he needs to attack them. Bickslow gains the upperhand once again, but with Loke's strategy, Lucy was able to use her whip to bind Bickslow. Loke then uses Regulus Impact to finally defeat Bickslow.

After Laxus' excommunication, Bickslow, along with the rest of the Thunder God Tribe, tries to convince Laxus not to leave. But Laxus denies their request and leaves, telling them to stay healthy. After the Fantasia Parade, Bickslow and Happy teas Lucy asking her if she and Loke are getting it on.

Edolas arc
Bickslow and the rest of the guild celebrate the arrival of Wendy Marvell and Charle at their welcoming party. Later, he was sucked through the Anima that appeared in the sky of Magnolia Town and turned into lacrima along with the rest of the guild and the citizens of Magnolia. However, they were freed thanks to Mystogan, who returned everyone in the lacrima back to Earth Land through the Reverse Anima Process. He, like the rest of the members of the guild and citizens of Magnolia, is unaware of the events in Edolas.

Tenrou Island arc
Bickslow appears, along with Freed and Evergreen, at the Fairy Tail guild welcoming back Lisanna. Lisanna is surprised, saying that it was rare to see them around the guild. Moments later, he and Nab instigate a guild brawl. When Makarov announced Freed as a participant the S-Class Wizard Promotional Trial, Freed chose Bickslow over Evergreen to be his partner for the exam.

Bickslow and the participants head towards Tenrou Island, where the trial will take place, and he doesn't seem to mind the heat despite wearing heavy clothing. Shortly after, the master arrives to explain the rules of the first trial, to get to shore and pick one of the 8 paths there. As soon as the trial started, Freed uses his Jutsu Shiki to trap everyone on the boat, except him and Bickslow, for 5 minutes. Freed uses his Dark Écriture: Wings and Bickslow uses Flight Formation to fly towards the island, while Bickslow asks why Freed didn't simply trap them for good, and he replied that if he did then it wouldn't be a fair trial.

They arrive on the island first and have the luxury to choose any path they want. After they realize that their chosen path leads to a battle with Cana and Lucy, they smirk, since Lucy doesn't have Loke to fight Bickslow and Cana couldn't even touch Freed during their last encounter. Freed asks Cana and Lucy to cover themselves before starting the fight, but Bickslow says that they are better the way they are. Cana realizes Freed's weakness to women in bikinis and uses her Sexy Lady Card to attack Freed. With Freed fully distracted by the women holding him, Bickslow decides to take matters into his own hands.

Lucy calls on Virgo who appears in a bikini, distracting Freed even more. Bickslow claims that stuff won't work on him and easily defeats Virgo by hitting her with his dolls. He then proceeds to attack Cana and Lucy. Not wanting to lose, Cana plays the Prayer Fountain card. Beams of water form in many directions but fail to hit any of Bickslow's dolls. From the water Cana just formed, Lucy summons Aquarius. She attacks Freed and Bickslow with a huge wave defeating them. Once Cana and Lucy leave Bickslow gets up and asks if Freed is really okay with this. Freed reveals he's okay with purposely not fighting back because he owed those two. Bickslow still says he was excited to take Laxus's spot though. Bickslow and Freed think to themselves how lucky those two were that they ran into them. After their defeat they head back to the guild with Gildarts.

Along the way, Bickslow, Freed, and Gildarts see the alert signal and immediately head back to the island. He and Freed then arrive and take Levi, Lisanna, and Pantherlily's place in their battle against Rustyrose. Bickslow attacks with a Baryon Formation, but Rustyrose escapes and creates Belfast of the Hurricane. However since it was an inanimate object, Bickslow was able to take control of its soul and told it to crush and destroy itself. This allowed him to create an opening for Freed to injure Rustyrose signifcantly. He and Freed then stand over Rustyrose and state that he is not getting off, since he hurt their friends. Rustyrose then uses the attack Ghosts of the Britear on Bickslow and Freed and the ghosts produced begin to wrap around Bickslow and Freed's bodies. Bickslow is later seen collapsing when Azuma destroys the Great Tenrou Tree.

After Azuma's defeat, he and Freed regain their power and attack Rustyrose together. Rustyrose summons his Tower of Dingir to capture them both, Lisanna, Pantherlily and Levy. Bickslow uses his Figure Eyes to take control of Elfman, who attacks Rustyrose and releases him and the others from Rustyrose's Magic. Then, with Freed and Lisanna, they defeat Rustyrose.

When Natsu and the others return to the camp, Freed and Bickslow are seen reviewing the situation while Pantherlily informs them about the Grimoire Heart Battle Ship's location. When Natsu is ready to go battle Hades he calls on Lucy, and Happy. Lucy feels she would be better on defense, but Bickslow and Freed reassure her they will handle the defenses. Before the attack team leaves Bickslow says he will protect them no matter what.

Magic and Abilities
Human Possession (人形憑 Hitotsuki): A type of Seith Magic that allows Bickslow to seal wandering souls inside objects and manipulate them as he wishes. The souls he uses aren't bound to the specific "dolls" he chooses to insert them into, meaning that he's capable of changing their containers at his whim: this comes in handy if, for example, the opponent does manage to incapacitate Bickslow's dolls. So far, he has always been seen controlling five dolls at a time, all capable of firing powerful beams to attack opponents, using them in a variety of way: for offense, defense and even transportation.
 * Line Formation: All five dolls stand on top of one another, and release a crescent shaped beam toward the enemy. Unlike the normal beams, this type cuts through its targets.
 * Victory Formation: Either an actual attack or a strategy; it is undetermined as Gray froze Bickslow's dolls before he could use it.
 * X Formation: Four Dolls form an X-shaped pattern to block an incoming attack. This formation appears to be more effective with larger dolls.
 * Baryon Formation: All five dolls spin around in a pentagonal pattern, which then releases a massive beam at the opponent capable of mass destruction.
 * Flight Formation: All five dolls forms horizontal line and Bickslow mounts on it and can fly. This formation is very similar to line formation.
 * Crush (砕 Sai): Bickslow raises two of his fingers to take control of his opponent's possession, then swipes them down causing it to explode.



Figure Eyes (造形眼 Figyua Aisu): As a member of Thunder God Tribe, Bickslow possess exclusive Eye Magic which he employs as a secondary ability. In his case, the Figure Eyes allow him to take control of the souls of living things who come into eye contact with him, and to manipulate them as if they were his dolls. When he uses this Magic, the body of the one being controlled turns into a darker colour. Such control can seemingly be nullified at Bickslow's will, with the controlled target being returned to the old self and regaining control of his body. Activating such Eye Magic usually forces Bickslow’s opponents to close their eyes, in order to avoid eye contact and become possessed by him; this very action, however, leaves them open to the attacks of his dolls. Bickslow claimed that his Human Possession and Figure Eyes, together, make for a combination unbeatable by anyone in the world, something which seemingly proved itself right until his fight with Lucy and Loke.

Levitation: Bickslow has been shown to be able to levitate in the air even without the aid of his dolls. How he does this is as of yet unknown.

Master Acrobat: Bickslow has been shown to be able to do amazing acrobatic feats like hanging from a chord in the middle of the street without any problem.

Appearances in Other Media
Bickslow appears as a playable character in the second Fairy Tail Video Game, Fairy Tail Portable Guild 2. In the game, he is unlocked through quests.

Major Battles

 * Thunder God Tribe vs. Ghoul Spirit
 * Gray Fullbuster vs. Bickslow
 * Lucy Heartfilia, Happy & Leo vs. Bickslow
 * Fairy Tail vs. Daphne's Lizardmen & Dragonoid
 * Lucy Heartfilia & Cana Alberona vs. Freed Justine & Bickslow
 * Freed Justine, Bickslow & Lisanna vs. Rustyrose

Quotes

 * (To Nab Lasaro and Laki Olietta) "I don't have weaklings for nakama. Ain't that right, babies?"
 * (To Rustyrose) "From the start, we never had plans of doing this fair and square. Now, we're going to take you down."

Trivia

 * His dolls are named Pappa, Peppe, Pippi, Poppo, Puppu.