Brandon Charbonneau

""May dust be brought to dust but not in despair, for there is no futility even in death.""

- Edited quote by Monty Oum

Brandon Charbonneau is a character created by Mark Zhang that debuted in the Fanmade "Charcoal" Trailer, attacking a convoy of trucks and a small army of enemies to obtain the contents for his apparent faction. So far many of the details surrounding him, such as his occupation and allegiance are unknown at the time, though he appears to be part of an antagonistic group that might oppose Team SLVR, who were also created by Mark.

Appearance
Brandon appears to be a young man around the age of an average Huntsmen-in-training, roughly about as tall as an adult male. He has a slightly tanned but still pale complexion, narrow red-orange eyes, and spiky dark grey hair under a lighter grey bowler hat with a fringe sticking out from the side. For the rest of his outfit, he wears a sleeveless black jacket with a popped collar, dark symbols down the back that reach around the front (including his personal emblem right under his shoulders), and short coattails lined with red around the lower edges, held together by rectangular silver clamps down the middle and open around his chest. Underneath that is a bright red dress shirt with a black bow tie and buttons, the sleeves of which come out from his jacket's arm holes and are folded up to above his elbows, as his forearms and hands are completely covered by long black-and-grey gloves. He also has dark dress pants over his legs with a small grey magnetic plate around his left pocket where his weapon can be holstered, and wears sneakers of the same color scheme as the rest of his outfit.

Personality
Not much can be assumed of Brandon's personality from his short time on screen, but he appears to be very serious in the execution of his duties, having the same measured look on his face even while in the middle of fighting and handling his opponents with an almost professional sense. He seems to have a habit of closing his eyes to quickly concentrate in the middle of battle, and he was seen smiling smugly after cutting down the first Stone Samurai and readying his weapon for the rest of them, as if daring them to come at him. After the battle, he was coolly leaning against one of the bridge's pillars, patiently waiting for his ride out of the area.

Abilities and Powers
Brandon is shown to be a very close-combat fighter, preferring to battle opponents nearer to him rather than stay away and fire from a distance. With this style, he was shown to utilize a variety of moves usually involving his legs without needing to rely on his weapon except as a way to block blades, spinning and kicking foes around so they can help him take down their own allies with their bodies or get into position for his next attack even when his current opponents haven't even hit the ground yet. Along with his kicks capable of shattering a "Stone Samurai" with just his foot, Brandon is also adept at using his hands in conjunction with his legs, punching a "Jade Ninja" in the face and catching others' arms in his own grip so he can flip them around on their backs.

Weapon
Brandon's weapon of choice is officially named Magnum Opus according to the description of the "Charcoal" Trailer.

In its original standard mode, Magnum Opus is a dark grey rectangular-shaped rifle with a blade attachment on the underside of the barrel, extending past the muzzle and curving downward, with Brandon's personal emblem above the grip. It fires bullets in single shots with enough force to shatter several blades held to its mouth, and Brandon, who wields the firearm in his right hand, is an expert marksman with it, able to shoot the tires from a truck passing beneath him as well as the foot on an approaching "Jade Ninja" and the two rifles used on him by distant gunmen. The rifle can still be used as a melee weapon, as the blade can parry and catch other swords in its shape, and it was even seen deflecting bullets off of it.

When transformed, the grip straightens out as the rest of the blade unfolds outwards while the barrel compacts into itself until he wields a full-length sword of his own, longer than his own arm and still possessing a curved shape neat the end. With its force alone, Brandon is able to cut through both the weapons and bodies of the "Stone Samurai" in just a few slices, but he can fire the gun component during his swings to increase their speed and power, letting him slice through several of the artificial enemies in one spinning move.

Semblance
Brandon's Semblance was confirmed by Mark in the comments of his video to be "heating [what] he touches". Initially thought to be the effects of Dust, the ability was first seen after performing his aerial spin attack when the edge of his blade began to glow a bright orange before he rushed at one of the "Samurai", swinging it through the ground underneath and causing the stone to melt before cleaving his foe in half to the same effect.

With this power activated, Brandon's attacks are far more efficient as dispatching enemies, cutting through their forms with far more ease and even unleashing a slicing wave through the air that managed to destroy half a dozen of the artificial warriors rushing at him, with two in the back getting knocked away from the force. Upon reverting his sword back to its rifle mode, he causes the barrel itself to heat up and give the bullets more of an impact through their armored forms whereas before the shots merely knocked them away, even managing to blast through two of them in a row.

His final attack against a last wall of "Samurai" had him ready his attack, and a slow motion shot showed the air shimmer as if in a heat haze right before he struck, appearing behind them and timing his magazine reloading to perfectly coincide with each warrior suddenly falling apart, leaving them to disintegrate into ash.

History
Brandon was first seen after apparently lying in wait for the truck convoy guarded by the "Jade Ninjas" was passing through the waterfall bridge, shooting out their tires and taking them all on by himself. After defeating around two dozen of their forces with his bladed rifle and fighting moves, the cargo security flees, only for the "Stone Samurai" to start leaping out from the waterfall to challenge Brandon. Once again, however, he manages to wipe out all of them using his weapon's sword mode and heat Semblance, and he eventually gets picked up by an aircraft that also collects the large container held in one of the trucks before flying away, its purpose unknown.

"Ash Swordsmen"
The unofficially-named faction of knight-like automatons with flame and sword abilities were seen behind Brandon in the final image of the Trailer, making a connection between the two. This may indicate Brandon is or will be a villain for Team SLVR, as Lycan Arcadia fought one of them in the "Linen" Trailer.

Trivia

 * Unlike the other members of Team SLVR, Brandon's allusion has not been confirmed by Mark. However, elements of his design heavily imply a connection to alchemy, as his weapon's name of "Magnum Opus" is what the process used to create the Philosopher's Stone is called, and his jacket features a collection of symbols related to astrological metals important to the science such as antimony, copper, and silver.
 * Because of this connection both thematically and in his name's origins, along with his use of fire-based fighting techniques, some believe his allusion is Nicholas Flamel, the French scribe reported to be a legendary alchemist that discovered the secrets of immortality. This would be something in common with Simin Megistus, who is also based on a legendary alchemist, Hermes Trismegistus.
 * His name follows the Color Naming Rule, as "Brandon" is Old English for "hill covered with broom" (referring to broomweed) or "from the beacon hill", and his surname "Charbonneau" is both a nickname for someone with a dark complexion and a type of wine grape in French.
 * Brandon's Trailer is unique in comparison to the rest of Team SLVR's videos for multiple reasons, as the color "Charcoal" matches his last initial rather than his first, it may be the first of its kind to focus on a villain or anti-hero rather than an aspiring Huntsman, his leap into the air does not have the moon behind him, it does not end with a shot of him alongside any official teammates (with Lycan not counting for the fact his team shot was intended to be there but was unable to be added due to time constraints), and it does not even contain the name SLVR in the title, which is obvious given he is not a member of the team and the Trailer may have initially been made as a one-shot with no further plans for any future members.