"The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking." ― Albert Einstein

Needles Kane, the killer clown with a Sweet Tooth from Twisted Metal.

Does he really need much introduction? The star of Twisted Metal, one of the most popular killer clowns, a Death Battle combatant, appeared in like one game outside of his dead series… well. Maybe he does need some sort of introduction.

This evil killer clown participates in the yearly Twisted Metal contest for one prize, a wish from the all-powerful Calypso that embodies his greatest desire. While his desires often change year to year and with game company to game company, he has always remained a threatening combatant.

Before We Start…

Twisted Metal has a really messy and subjective canon, so my intention with this blog is to cover the series as a whole. There’s not really any explicit reason to focus on a single iteration of Twisted Metal, be it 2012 or the TV show, so this blog will be taken as a “Soft Composite” Sweet Tooth in regards to the iterations that actually are Needles and actively tie into a game timeline, for example, him as a kid or what scaling he might get in a crossover. While 3 and 4 do contradict the narrative in Head-On that effectively retcons the story, and Jaffe doesn’t necessarily think it tackled Twisted Metal the best as a franchise, we do want to bring it up just to cover overall scaling for the series and these feats can be left out if preferred due to their more intentionally wacky writing.

For the record, there is not a “canon” to Twisted Metal and all of it comes down to how you interpret it, really. David Jaffe does not really think canon is a term you can apply to Twisted Metal as a series and Needles himself is sort of described as an idea that sits above the concept of the contest, and that there is no definitive overarching narrative per se. He outright compares this in contrast to the solid narrative of the God of War games, and

“Just in the sense that... if there's any canon to it, whatever the fuck that even means-- whatever value that is to attribute canon to something anymore that I think people take a bit too serious-- there is something accurate about the Twisted Metal-- the God of War games, for example, make a lot of sense when it's all one of story and one narrative... ... I think Twisted Metal it's more correct to think about, um... more like it- there's this thing whether it's Calypso and Sweet Tooth or just sort of forces of nature that are dark or evil that sit above the concept that is Twisted Metal and it's presented and interpreted and multiversed in many kinds of ways, but there is a main sense of despair and horror and doom and violence and... aggression that runs through it in whatever iteration that is being expressed. I think that's the accurate world of Twisted Metal. These people sitting above it, like, you know, again, Calypso, Sweet Tooth, maybe I would say, you know Dollface, and they're just looking in this reflective pool of all the versions of Twisted Metal and going "this is our contribution to humanity which is darkness and horror and chaos". I think that makes sense to me. But when you start to say "what's the definitive this or that" it doesn't have that kind of, um, skeleton.”

While he is absolutely cool with the idea of connecting his narratives because of the idea that a lot of his writing is inherently interpretative and underlying, he doesn’t really write the stories explicitly with these in mind. He treats the idea of canon more as a vibe with Twisted Metal that could really come down to how fans look at it, as he does mention the idea of a canon is simply taken too seriously. In regards to canon, Twisted Metal does have a timeline, but it’s… really complicated, and at the same time immensely simple. Despite coming off as a shocker, every ending in Twisted Metal is canon (although this can vary game-to-game).

In the first Twisted Metal, this logic isn’t as sound namely because it’s the first game, but we do explicitly know that there are contestants in this game which were hand-picked by Calypso, such as Sweet Tooth, and every night after everyone but that single driver is dead, they’ll gain their wish. Even though Outlaw (Carl Roberts) is often seen as the one who won the contest, it is very evident that every single contestant retained their lives after the contest despite explicitly having performed in it, and many sorts of wishes like Roadkill’s likely happened (his car gets stolen after changing the past and Marcus likely took possession of it at some point after the 2000s in the modern contest) or at one point Black escaped. This is way more vague than other points, so it’s pretty difficult to reason, but we do explicitly know in Twisted Metal: 2 that most of if not every character’s ending in that game happened. In Head-On, every recurring character has their story branch out from the original wish, and they are intending on getting back as a result. Miranda Watts wants to bring back her sister after her wish in Twisted Metal: 2, Carl and Amanda want to end Calypso’s tournament once and for all after both of their wishes and after returning to Earth, Krista comes back as a spirit because she died in the second game and Calypso survived, Axel’s story has him fitted with cybernetics after he ripped off his arms in the second game, Simon Whittlebone’s story continues after his death in Twisted Metal: 2 where he wants his body back to protect his life’s work he created in the second game as his wish, etcetera.

Similarly, Twisted Metal: Black and its planned sequel follow this exact same logic. In Twisted Metal: Black, all of the drivers make their wishes after all killing one another, and in the next game over they would all be competing again against one another and facing their individual fates after making their wishes to Calypso. This is a really blatant example, as it is constantly referenced in the character bios about what their fates in the first game led to and how they faced it as a result, wanting to each get back at Calypso who mysteriously came back after Needles killed him. While you could attribute this to the fact that Black is a game that takes place in Needles’ own world (more on that later), this makes it pretty evident that in most of the notable games, every ending is indeed a canon route that happened and it’s sort of just a wacky timeline that gives the means to branch off from every other narrative built up. After all, like Jaffe said, canon isn’t really a thing for Twisted Metal, it’s only based on what games vibe, so a wonky timeline like this wouldn’t really be non-sensical for a game as non-linear as this franchise. Even Jaffe seems to agree that every character follows their individual storyline without contradicting others, mostly because there is no canon, so it does make sense from a writers overview.

This blog is an abridged version of another blog that I worked on many eons ago that I don’t agree with, so the overall sections will draw from that with a few changes. Beyond that, there’s not really much more that needs to be covered.

Twisted Metal Media List:

Twisted Metal (1995)
Twisted Metal 2
Twisted Metal 2 (Comic)
Twisted Metal 3
Twisted Metal 4
Twisted Metal: Black
Twisted Metal: Head-On and Extra Twisted Edition
Twisted Metal: Lost (Extra Twisted Edition & bits from Harbor City)
Twisted Metal (2012)
Twisted Metal (TV Show)

Season 1

Background

Sweet Tooth

“Let's face it, boys and girls: A man has to have his priorities. I killed Calypso about as well as I've ever killed anyone. Now that I'm free, I'm going to be the greatest of all time.”

Clowns are a common fear between many- and rightfully so when you can think of them being twisted into merciless killers, such as the Tooth. Otherwise known as Needles Kane, the story of Sweet Tooth has changed many times throughout Twisted Metal’s history. At first, the man known as Sweet Tooth was simply a clown who wanted his imaginary friend back- joining the Twisted Metal contest and killing all other members in order to have his greatest desire granted by the scheming Calypso, an underground criminal overlord. However, this isn’t the only background, let alone the earliest known conception of Sweet Tooth’s background. Other instances have depicted Sweet Tooth as an insane killer clown who wants to break free from his cursed psyche that kills everyone around him, including his own father- to being a twisted evil child who wants to do nothing more but to become the star of Twisted Metal and overthrow Calypso. One concept that unites all of these clowns is their identity- and even more so, their twisted brains.

One of the many entries of Twisted Metal has shown an even deeper entrance to his psyche- such is the case of Twisted Metal: Head-on. This entry of Sweet Tooth’s vast interconnected storyline holds a story continuing after the circumstances of Twisted Metal, where Needles would reform himself in the conception of his true body- the ‘crazy bum’ of the previous game, Marcus Kane. Through this, Sweet Tooth breaks himself away from the bounds of Marcus’ mind that trapped him, releasing him into a new physical form where he can now hold dominance over his alternate self. Of course, that doesn’t mean he had to work with him in order to attain that kind of goal…

This isn’t the only medium of Needles’ insanity either- such as the events of Twisted Metal: Black. In this story, Needles would become a ruthless murderer locked away in an asylum alongside many other murderers who were invited into the Twisted Metal contest to be granted (again) their greatest desire. Needles’ greatest desire was to overcome the curse placed on him by a preacher at his failed execution which set an everlasting fire from the depths of Hell upon his head for the sins he caused- a pain that hurt him for three months straight. However, Needles over his time in the contest realized that there was no point in murder, an idea he would meed face-to-face when he finished the contest. Given a vial that would cure the pain- at the cost of giving up murder- Needles realized there was no point in accepting this, and would instead kill Calypso for the mockery he made. If anything, Needles wanted to be the greatest.

Alternatively, Twisted Metal’s 2012 game showed a more in-depth case to the broken mind of Needles- more accurately, the man known as Marcus Kane. Originally a very innocent ice cream man, Marcus became a cold-blooded killer when another personality of his overcame his mind, splitting it in two and forcing the man to don a new identity. Now known as Sweet Tooth, the killer brutalized his entire family as he became more and more deranged- save for his daughter, the one who got away. With this ambition, Marcus became a gang leader with the Clowns to compete in Twisted Metal’s competition made by Calypso in order to gain his greatest desire- to kill the one who got away from his first murder. However, Calypso, as the man does with all wishes in his tournament, was the only one to know the truth behind Needles’ daughter.

Because Sweet Tooth’s daughter had died herself, the only way for the clown to see her was in the grave- which Calypso loved to allow Needles to do. With this, the killer clown was sealed underground cursing out the man who was responsible for his death. This hadn’t stunted Needles at all, as while Calypso sought out the body of Marcus’ daughter to resurrect her from the dead, Sweet Tooth’s memetic existence came back to haunt his son- causing him to be corrupted and rob the grave of Marcus, becoming the host for Marcus Kane and continue his murdering spree across the world.

Regardless of how one goes through Twisted Metal, the Tooth has always been a psychotic, deranged murderer with way more than enough screws loose. While he hadn’t accepted this in many regards, contesting against himself every time he began to take lives, murder has always been Sweet Tooth’s passion. If he wasn’t going to be the greatest murderer, one known far and wide, feared the way he should deserve… then no one else was going to be great. Of course, after all this time, Sweet Tooth’s wish to become the star of Twisted Metal came true, feared by people all across the globe and renowned for the death he’s brought across it- undoubtedly one of his greatest achievements and the only one a person like him should achieve in life.

Experience & Skill

Being an immensely powerful serial killer, Sweet Tooth is a merciless killer feared by many. Not only was he a well-covered murderer portrayed multiple times throughout the series but he’s worked as a Twisted Metal contestant fighting all across the globe against various enemies and bosses in order to achieve his greatest desire from Calypso. Even beyond that, Sweet Tooth has orchestrated massive gang wars between factions with people who worship him, being their leader, and has lead revolts against the all-powerful Calypso with his circus of henchmen, becoming the true star of Twisted Metal. Sweet Tooth isn’t just good at killing, either, as he’s shown extensive skill in engineering and mechanical work- displaying such in his responsibility for the creation of the Sweet Bot. There isn’t much to touch on here overall, but given he’s less “story guy oriented around skill” and “wacky vehicle guy”, it’s honestly fair.

Forms

Marcus Kane

Marcus is often regarded as the “sane” side of Sweet Tooth, and have split eachothers consciousnesses before with Needles taking over Marcus in games such as 2012, Black, and Head-On. In Head-On, Marcus’ ending (shown above) has Calypso’s wish realize he is Sweet Tooth and, as a result, the driver of Sweet Tooth (Needles) comes out of Marcus’ body as his “real self”. However, this is not necessarily the route for Sweet Tooth having came out of Marcus, as it is shown Needles could pull himself out of Marcus’ body and become his own physical self. In Twisted Metal: Black, Minion can be released from the depths of Sweet Tooth’s consciousness (more on that, later) who is revealed to be Marcus Kane and has to hide from Sweet Tooth in his own consciousness, and in his ending (where you would be revealed Marcus’ secret) he is left without any story, instead cutting to the credits of the game.

It is pretty explicit that David Jaffe wrote this part of Minion’s story in continuation to Twisted Metal: 2, which pretty extensively supports this idea that Minion in Black was a part of Needles’ consciousness. He also pretty explicitly mentions that even though he did not intend for much to come from it, he actually believes it is a genuine connection between the series, so it isn’t something he wants to write off for fans who pick up ideas he didn’t intentionally write. Jaffe also pretty explicitly says that at the time of writing he believed it officially took in Needles’ head, so Minion isn’t just a crazy guy who thinks he’s in another world but is quite literally Needles himself.

Calypso’s Body

Through his wish in Head-on, which couldn’t be denied to Sweet Tooth, Needles gained the form of Calypso.

Equipment

The Mask

Sweet Tooth’s iconic mask which causes him to regress in his madness, the iconic mask resembles his ice cream mascot which he uses to cover his identity- both physically and figuratively. Donning this mask caused the man known as Marcus Kane to become a cold blooded killer, hiding a pitiful man because truthfully this mask is the true identity of Needles. After all, Needles is the clown, bearing the same constant smile painted on his face as he kills.

Clown Outfit

When Sweet Tooth was first introduced as a legitimate character (at least, under the alias of Sweet Tooth), he was a literal killer clown wearing… well, a clown outfit. While not offering much physical protection likely, it is very inherently unaffected by flames which makes it likely useful if Sweet Tooth gets a bit too hot.

Ringmaster Outfit

In Twisted Metal 4, Sweet Tooth wore a new ringmaster outfit which was worn when he reigned control over a large circus with his henchmen. Now renowned as the master of these clowns, he wore an outfit matching his status, becoming the leader of Twisted Metal. He’s even worn this into combat, both directly which allows him to work athletically but even when fighting in his own vehicle.

Body Armor

While normally being bare-chested, Needles has worn a fair share of outfits all across the series- however one of his lesser known defenses was his body armor which he wore in the TV show. Although it hasn’t shown much defense, it’s a lot better to be hit by something wearing layers than being hit naked…

Machete

Sweet Tooth has wielded weapons outside of his truck and his iconic machete is no different. Although it first appeared in Black and later in 2012, Sweet Tooth has used it extensively outside of his series, such as in the Peacock show or Playstation All Stars, becoming a staple to his overall killing abilities.

12-gauge Shotgun

Another weapon Needles has picked up across his entries is the shotgun, which he has shown expertise in, both being able to wield it on-hand against opponents to take them down as well as in his truck. Beyond 2012 in its usage as a sidearm, Needles has also displayed separate usage in Playstation All-Stars and usage of it alongside other firearms in the Twisted Metal TV show.

Sidearms

Twisted Metal 2012 introduced various sidearms, including and not limited to…

Magnum Revolver: Seen above.
Laser Pistol: A pistol which shoots lasers.
Submachine Gun: An automatic firearm.
Swarmer: A long-distance rocket launcher which can be used to blow up vehicles, shooting four entire missiles at once as well as having homing capabilities
Mega Gun: A pick-up sidearm which can be used by Sweet Tooth, .

Chainsaw

Another weapon Sweet Tooth has wielded in his entries, the chainsaw is a weapon he can hold with one hand typically upon the Reaper vehicle (more on that later). In vehicles like that, Sweet Tooth can drag his chainsaw on the ground to ignite it on fire as to be able to deal more damage to enemies with it, including against cars that are normally able to withstand massive nukes.

Sniper Rifle

Wielded in 2012, Needles is able to use a sniper rifle at a long range in order to take down opponents as long as he stays locked upon them for a significant time, however if it were to switch targets the weapon’s increase in damage will fall off requiring more time to charge as a result.

Vehicles

As you would expect from a character from a series all about driving cars, Sweet Tooth drives a bunch of different cars. Many are in the style of his most iconic ice cream truck, but he has a greater variety of overall cars to drive that can give him access to different playstyles beyond the Sweet Tooth. Speaking of which…

The Sweet Tooth

The namesake for Sweet Tooth solely because of confusion in the series, the Sweet Tooth is a modified ice cream with gatling guns and a large ice cream bomb on top, having usually high armor and a slow top speed. However, Needles has various other vehicles beyond the usage of the Sweet Tooth as well as being able to modify the Sweet Tooth itself.

The Sweet Bot

By transforming his bot, Needles can wield the Sweet Bot, a beefy transformation from his normal truck. In Twisted Metal: Black, it is a mech that rises from his vehicle and allows him to barrage with missiles and the like, while in Twisted Metal 2012, it is a mech that gives Needles the tools to fly around, as well as thrust forward to take down vehicles, throw his head as a projectile, or come down in a smashing shockwave attack when flying.

The Dark Tooth

Driven by Marcus and Needles, two of the same person, the Dark Tooth is a monstrous vehicle with its own murderous intent, having some of the highest stats in the entire game. Using its massive jaws, the Dark Tooth’s special ability allows it to chomp forward, biting into any opponent and ripping them before spitting them out. With its miniguns, it shoots out mini napalm ice cream cones in the likeness to other Sweet Tooth vehicles.

Boss Sweet Tooth

Appearing in Twisted Metal 4, Needles wields a stronger ice cream truck alongside his henchmen. With its special ability, Needles launches out three henchmen illusions that lock onto opponents, targeting them through walls, with Needles’ blue minion sucking in enemies, the green minion constantly fires M.I.R.V missiles which barrage the opponent with explosives, and the red one shooting out flames that set the opponent alight. When this special is over, all three of the minions blow up, usually ending the unlucky contestant who has this attack used against them.

The Gold Tooth

Appearing in Twisted Metal: Lost, the Gold Tooth is a golden version of the normal Sweet Tooth however holds higher stats, allowing it to perform moderately better despite being no different in special abilities or usage beyond that.

Tower Tooth

A large tower that Marcus and Needles drive after their minds split into two physical beings, compromised of four standard Sweet Tooth trucks which a pillar rests upon, holding up a gigantic restaurant with a large clown head in the likeness of Sweet Tooth on top of it. It wields a large flamethrower which can set opponents alight, create storms of lightning to strike down opponents, wield multiple napalm cones akin to other trucks, and wield a machine gun. Minus the machine gun, almost all of its attacks have high homing power on opponents.

Axel

Equipped with two machine guns, Sweet Tooth is put into a two big wheeled contraption that allows him to charge opponents. By sealing together the vehicle, he can crush opponents dealing consecutive damage to them as he progresses. Even further so, Sweet Tooth can create large shockwaves with the wheels to affect opponents around him.

Crimson Fury

A speedy sportscar which Sweet Tooth can drive, which although not reliable physically can deal tons of fire damage with the usage of its special flamethrower and incindiary shockwaves.

Darkside

A large semi-truck which can be driven by Sweet Tooth with immense strength and armor. It is able to quickly bash into enemies with its special ability as well as drop mines behind itself. Another special ability is the tri-gun, three machine guns that pop out of the hood of the truck to shoot down opposing enemies.

Death Warrant

Another vehicle that Death Warrant can drive, a well-balanced vehicle which wields dual chain guns and the ability to fire ‘Zoomy Rockets’, chargeable rockets that can be used as a projectile against enemies which deal more damage as Sweet Tooth charges them up.

Juggernaut

A gigantic semi-truck with armored padding and wields the ability to launch bouncy mines in front of itself as well as a particularly special ability with the power to tuck partnered cars inside of itself to shoot down enemies. It is immune to the freeze ability as well as ramming, preventing it from being hurt by most common means.

Junkyard Dog

A unique tow truck with generally balanced stats. With its special ability, Junkyard Dog can use its hooks in many ways, such as grabbing taxis and ramming them into opponents. The taxi can be used to blow up things, as well as heal enemies.

Kamikaze

Wielded by Sweet Tooth, Kamikaze is a very fast car which packs a heavy punch, wielding a close range flamethrower which can burn down enemies. In addition, Kamikaze has an area-of-effect freeze where it drops a bomb that can blow up, completely freezing over enemies.

Meat Wagon

An ambulance that Sweet Tooth can drive which is able to shoot out gurneys with explosive people behind it, as well as wield its special ability which allows the person’s gurney to be piloted and detonated remotely than timed.

Outlaw

A police wagon driven by Sweet Tooth, wielding turrets. When using its turrets, Outlaw can also shoot out grenades, however it can also shoot Blood Missiles with its alternative special. Beyond its ability, Outlaw is very well-rounded in its statistics.

Reaper

A motorcycle with immense speed that Sweet Tooth can drive, however it has very weak defense. Its specials include the Chainsaw, a short ranged attack that Sweet Tooth can ignite on fire when popping a wheelie to deal extra damage (as mentioned earlier), as well as the usage of an RPG to deal ranged damage which it is able to charge even further.

Road Boat

A slow but otherwise balanced car with magnetic specials. By using its primary special, Road Boat shoots out three homing magnets that deal extra damage when bouncing off walls, as well as its alternate special allowing it to stick enemies to its front, being able to slam them into walls to deal damage or launch them outwards.

Roadkill

A beefy racecar that Sweet Tooth can drive with well-rounded stats however holds nothing particularly special. With its ability, Sweet Tooth can launch mines behind itself, wield automatic chain guns, and launch chargeable Blood Missiles which get strong with every charge held.

Shadow

A slow and less powerful vehicle that Sweet Tooth can drive with a little bit more armor and beef. It is able to throw explosive coffins at people which blow up in time or can be arced with the alternative special. These coffins deal more damage the farther they’re able to travel away from the player.

Talon

The first and only helicopter that Sweet Tooth can drive, it is a very fast and agile but weak vehicle with generally powerful specials. It is able to wield three gatling guns to fire down on targets or drop a magnet from the bottom of itself to pick up enemy vehicles and drop them out of the sky.

Vermin

An extermination van that Sweet Tooth can ride which shoots out rockets in the style of a mouse mascot, both being able to be remotely controlled and piloted or shot out normally as homing missiles, being able to deal immense damage if it hits directly.

Warthog

A modified station wagon to resemble a tank that Sweet Tooth can drive. One of its primary abilities is being able to angle itself via its wheels to crush enemies, as well as create front-facing shockwaves which can hit multiple enemies as to deal with large crowds.

With all of these vehicles and weapons, Sweet Tooth has various other weapons he can use in combination with their own guns, such as…

Missiles

Sweet Tooth has access to several different kinds of missiles which he can use against opponents, such as…

Missiles: Standard balanced missiles which target enemies and usually lack strong homing, if any, or other special properties.
Freeze Missiles: Missiles that explode in enemies’ faces, freezing them in solid ice or entirely.
Fire Missiles: Missiles that, when they explode, will either set enemies on fire or leave fire behind them as a result.
Power Missiles: The most powerful missiles usually, they are much stronger at the expense of speed, homing potential, and fire rate.
Homing Missiles: Missiles which home in on enemies however lack any good damage due to this factor.
Zoomy Missiles: A skill missile that shoots out several fast missiles out at once with homing capabilities. If Needles hits all ten, he is rewarded with additional damage.
Swarmer Missiles: A skill missile that charges at a timed rate which increases the rate of fire and number of missiles shot out the longer it is charged for.
Stalker Missiles: A powerful missile which gains more homing the longer it is charged for.
Ricochet Projectile: While not a regular missile, this explosive projectile can be shot out, bouncing off of walls allowing it to deal more damage.
Reticle: When using this weapon, Needles has to aim at his enemy for about five seconds before unleashing a load of missiles at them. If he doesn’t, however, they will backfire and hit him instead.
SAT: Another reticle-based weapon, Needles launches a bunch of missiles into the air. He can either leave a reticle on an enemy and use the fire button to call them all down, or they will come down after a set amount of time to wherever the reticle is located. These missiles become more powerful if they stay in the air.

Bombs

Bombs are a constant weapon used across the series which comes in variants between placeable or detonable bombs, usually working in contact or at a range where they can be detonated at a long range. Other detonated explosives, such as Gas Cans, will release gas in contact or the Freeze Remote Bomb which can be detonated at a long range and freezes enemies when activated. Needles can also use different explosives such as the Catapult, which launches his car into the air, or he can drop down a gas canister which will charge overtime and can be detonated at any range into a powerful explosive.

Mines

Small explosives that detonate on contact, Needles can place them behind his vehicle to take on any opposing vehicles that attempt to chase after him. This isn’t the only type, however, as Needles can upgrade them to Super Mines which are inherently stronger than their normal variant. Needles can also use tire spikes, which can slow down an enemy without damaging them, Rear Flame which leaves a trail of flames behind Needles, or leave an oil slick behind him.

Relics

Needles can obtain relics in the specific Game Modificer, Relics mode. These gift Needles with a variety of different abilities. However, he can only hold one at a time.

Defiance: Partially blocks incoming damage, prevents fire and freezing.
Restoration: Doubles Health and gives a bonus regeneration.
Slayer: Weapons do double damage.
Mega Guns: Amplifies Needles’ guns for a short time across 100 shots, and then gives a permanent upgrade to machine guns.
Special Regen: Regenerates special weapons faster.
Backlash: When shielding, all weapons that are shot at Needles will be deflected. Halves the cost of shielding.
Assassin: Cloaks Needles if his vehicle isn’t moving.
Evade: Prevents enemy weapons from auto-locking, making it useful against Reticle weapons or homing attacks.
Relic Buster: Removes a relic from any enemy it hits.
Blitzkrieg: Doubles fire rate and amount of drops from pick-ups.
Parasite: Drains health, Energy, and Turbo from opponents hit.
Demolition: All weapons do area of effect damage.

Calypso’s Ring

Stolen from Calypso in the events of Twisted Metal 4, Sweet Tooth reigns control over Twisted Metal with the power of its master. Becoming the true star, Sweet Tooth brings down an iron fist however will grant any wish that the drivers want with this- unless they defy his own wishes, like with Calypso himself. Even so, the ring has displayed immense power, a vast display of it, and how to wield it properly.

Although we won’t be explicitly touching upon Calypso’s powers, the ring grants a lot of abilities. From being able to lock out the very player from the game to moving things across time to sealing minds into a coma all the way up to… creating pizza? However, one of Sweet Tooth’s greatest powers, which he has displayed with the ring, is the usage of soul absorption including absorbing ones entire physical body inside of the ring, which he did to… Calypso and himself. Yikes.

Abilities

The Flames of Hell

Due to a curse placed upon the Preacher during Needles’ execution in Black, the clown’s head is constantly on fire, bringing headaches, delusions, and brings never-ending pain. While this is only one of the few tales of Sweet Tooth’s neverending flames- others situated upon him setting alight his own scalp or his hair being formed to become flames- it is one of the most known causes for it. While it used to overwhelm him when he was in his asylum, Needles decided to try to cure it with help from Calypso- at the cost of losing his urge to kill… a limit he simply wouldn’t pass, returning back to his killing ways which led to the flames coming back, yet this was something he was fine with when he immediately started killing- beginning with Calypso, who he decapitated with a single movement of his knife. Despite the neverending pain this curse brings him, Sweet Tooth aspires to be the greatest murderer of all time.

Contestant Physiology

As a contestant of the tournament of Twisted Metal, Sweet Tooth is subject to the many limits of the tournament… a groundwork of ‘rules’, if you will.

As a contestant, you are selling your soul off to Calypso and Satan.
You must face all opponents and kill them in order to ascend to the next level.
Your wishes made when winning are taken literal, however can also be twisted to work off of your greatest desire should I, Calypso, prefer it.
You will come back every year during every tournament, even if you die!

However, at the catch of these rules, many contestants across the series have displayed numerous abilities when working in the Twisted Metal tournament.

Immortality

Contestants have the ability to come back from the dead and function as an ‘evil spirit’, being able to tie oneself to a physical object or intention, or are able to be raised by Calypso to work in his contest. Spirits in Twisted Metal can come back on their own intention and will, such as with Scott Campbell who is a spirit trying to find a way to resurrect himself after dying unjustly from a murderer through his sheer will, the evil spirits in Mortimer’s ending staying in the world above due to their intention to take revenge on Calypso, or Simon Whittlebone who’s spirit was bound to his life’s mission, to create the largest tower in the world, leaving him to wander the world as a spirit trying to gain a wish from Calypso to bring himself back to live while simultaneously protecting his tower. While in this example, Simon’s spirit could potentially disappear if he kept his physical existence up, characters like Scott have shown that they can stagnate for years constantly moving, so it is unlikely this is a limit. Needles himself is implied to hold this capability, corrupting his own son who believed he was made to carry on his legacy into becoming the new Needles, the statement preceding these cutscenes being that Needles would come back for a new fight against Calypso. Even as spirits who would normally be contracted to Hell, being sent down directly (as this is why the contest was made in the first place) as souls to entertain Satan, those with strong enough willpower are able to resist this. This extends even further into 2012, where souls are trapped into Calypso Industries in cells, and 3-4, where the souls of dead contestants are absorbed by Calypso. While Needles himself was outright overpowered by the latter, with his fight regarding him versus Calypso resulting in the two being forced into the ring, his soul has explicitly resisted being sealed away in the Reboot granted he literally comes back after his wish through a non-physical aspect attaching to his son, unlike someone like Preacher, which would imply this being a higher layer of soul manipulation than his soul manipulation being weak.

Furthermore, souls in Twisted Metal are described as immortal. Not only has this applied to Calypso, who appeared in Head-on after his apparent death in Grasshopper’s ending seen in 2 to where he couldn’t even talk to the player, but contestants such as Carl and Jamie Roberts who have appeared in five simultaneous Twisted Metal contests without explicitly aging, with Carl himself having been sent to space between two contests (a year timeframe) without any food or oxygen however remained alive and nourished. Sweet Tooth has lived through. Other contestants, such as Captain Rogers, have lived for over a hundred years as long as he held the intention to better himself and his old body. Besides becoming souls with enough willpower, those who are peacefully killed are able to come back from the dead if their death is disturbed, such as is the case for Mortimer. In more natural cases, characters like Captain Grimm have risen from the dead for the sole reason of going after Calyspo, having the intention to take his soul, or Rob Zombie, a zombie who has rage exceeding any mortal who wants to display the rage encompassing his soul hence why he becomes a contestant. Generally, vengeance as a whole allows characters to come back from the dead, both with the case of Needles as well as others such as Severed Sam who raised from the dead as a contestant to get revenge on the crazed fan who stole his decapitated head when he died.

Contestants in Twisted Metal are able to constantly come back from their wishes affecting them in bad ways, such as being turned into a bug or being sealed inside of a clock, constantly returning to a state they once were. With Needles specifically, his ability to come back from the effects of his wishes came from his sheer will to manifest, appearing in Marcus’ conscious and forcing himself into a physical form, a notion even further supported with him taking over Marcus’ consciousness through his own wish when he wanted to see the truth of the world, as well as in 2012 where he came back once again by taking over his son after his death. He also appeared in Head-On (where every ending is officially canon narratively) through these means despite prior being turned into a bug, so it’s very likely that any form of general incapacitation can be circumvented by Needles just willing himself from his own consciousness into a new body. Granted in Head-On, he and Marcus splitting consciousnesses also created Tower Tooth and the fact that Black as a whole entirely alters the world would support the idea further that Needles could simply reemerge into a new form after every altercation. Calypso himself demonstrates this, too, as he could come back after Krista’s death (which canonically happened) despite the police force believing he was entirely dead and came back from his death in Twisted Metal: Black at the hands of Needles in Lost, granted he was still being hunted by Black and the rest of the cast intended on making a wish while all of their stories from the first game continued onwards.

Shields

By amplifying the vehicle, Sweet Tooth can protect his cars in a shield to block attacks, and can be further upgraded to the Absorption Shield which allows Sweet Tooth to take any projectiles shot at him as his own, as well as reflect back with his own missile passively. However, while the blue Absorption Shield lasts shorter, the red Shield is longer and can defend more easily.

Combo and Energy Attacks

Besides 2012’s shield ability, one of the primary abilities in the game, Twisted Metal has had numerous different types of Energy or Combo Attacks across the series. In Black, these are abilities bestowed upon their vehicles by Calypso’s power.

Invisibility: Sweet Tooth can turn invisible, allowing him to sneak up and attack opponents without being seen.
Freeze Missile: A free Freeze Missile (or in other cases an AoE effect) which can freeze opponents which can also be shot behind Needles.
High Jump: With this energy attack a high jump can be performed allowing Needles to make gaps with height.
Hyperspace: With this energy attack, Needles is able to teleport out of sticky situations, preventing Needles from getting hit by an attack.
Flak: A shockwave that destroys any projectiles around Needles when used.
EMP Blast: Similar to the Freeze missile from previous games, Needles can launch out missiles that stun enemies, shutting down their cars and weapons forcing them to restart them.
Mine Drop: Needles can drop mines around him which can be used to destroy enemy cars, as well as in 2012 able to be upgraded.

Charge Mine: In Black, Needles can drop a more powerful version of the mine although the button combo takes a second longer to perform.

Massive Attack: Another ammo-less attack which releases a barrage of missiles upon any unsuspecting enemy.

Turbo

Turbo acts as a boost for Needles’ car which can allow him to ram through enemies, and even break out of getting frozen! It’s a general mechanic across the series so it’s pretty hard to showcase exact showings, but it is a very reliable way for Needles to speed up in a race or ram into a target effectively.

Reality Warping

As crazy as it sounds, Twisted Metal Black portrays a heavy cosmic degree to Twisted Metal, in particular relating to Needles Kane. In particular, one of the secret characters known as Minion has secret messages in regards to unlocking him which can be translated. Many of these reference the story of Black taking place in Needles’ mind, trapping everyone inside of it in a dark world that hurts them and how he must hide to prevent being discovered. By beating the game as Minion, Needles realizes the identity of him and the entire ending for Minion ends in… nothing. Trapping people into Needles’ conscious basically forces you to keep fighting in the contest, where you will constantly die and come back because Heaven nor Hell accept you, your soul seemingly bound as your memories shift and repeat themselves, as seen in Twisted Metal: Lost where every contestant’s ending in Twisted Metal: Black all happened and their stories continue from their with them either roaming the world as spirits forced to keep fighting, have experienced near death, or continue to face the delusions that happened as a result of their wish to Calypso. His mind seems to inhibit its own space and time, which can solidify the idea of it being its own universe or exists within the timeline.

Needles is the only one unbound by it all (besides someone like Black)- showcasing that he can kill Calypso, retaining power beyond any other contestant within his mind. While this might be assumed to be because of Needles being schizophrenic, Lost does explicitly mention how one of the main ideas for (the driver) Black’s origin is that he comes from an alternate universe where a more colorful Calypso sent him, and Jaffe mentions himself that off of memory Twisted Metal: Black officially took place in Needle’s head quite literally and that the importance is basically casted aside since it would need to be decided in a sequel– and as we can tell in Lost, that decision seems to have been made that it was within Needle’s head granted the specific wording of the theory of Black being sent by another Calypso into this universe to kill the Calypso in Needle’s world.

Fate Manipulation (4) (Debatable)

Revealed in Twisted Metal 4, Needles’ wish when he was first a part of Twisted Metal’s tournaments was to be the ‘star of Twisted Metal’, a wish that while at first did not seemingly come true Needles was fated to take over Calypso’s power, an event that would happen when he invades Calypo’s home and seemingly takes him down, a feat normally unaccomplishable when Calypso has laid waste (in 989’s telling of Twisted Metal, at least) to anyone who has attempted to usurp his power, and once the tables turned Calypso displayed physical superiority having taken down all of Needles’ minions even without his ring and physically matching Needles with the ring. Needles could have a similar nature to Calypso’s own fate with Twisted Metal; Calypso’s life was constantly surrounded with bloodshed, such as when he killed his own sister and his family, yet however many attempts Calypso performed to kill himself it wouldn’t work. This, according to Calypso in the future, stated that it was ‘fate’ leading events such as him being shot or statements in his past explicitly lining up to his current self. This isn’t necessarily literal, but you could potentially interpret it as such.

Resistances

Soul Manipulation: As referenced above.
Limited Life Manipulation: Needles, alongside other contestants, can withstand having their lifeforce drained of their vehicle by Mr. Grimm, although not entirely.

Weaknesses

While Sweet Tooth is a devastating killer, his insanity comes at a toll. Not something that would make him get out of his car in a fight, but Sweet Tooth is an obsessive murderer who is unwilling to let anyone who hurts him leave free without death. Not only is this the case of his daughter, who would later be resurrected under the Clowns, but Sweet Tooth has applied this to other people such as Calypso or even Marcus himself. Beyond his mental weaknesses, Sweet Tooth’s general arsenal comes at a supply which he must resupply himself save a few examples of weapons which either hold infinite ammo or don’t need to replenish.

As mentioned with ammo, a lot of Sweet Tooth’s weapons are not constantly usable, although they can replenish automatically or he holds a vast stockpile. For example, Sweet Tooth’s special weapons have ammo limits and can be wasted, however they can regenerate overtime should Sweet Tooth run out amidst combat.

Support

The Clowns

Being the large cult dedicated to his means, the Clowns are a gigantic gang that fight for Needles in vehicular combat under his control. All of which having their own vehicles, they all fight for Sweet Tooth’s attention as they kill any opponents, in particular including rivalled teams or general enemies.

Evil Henchmen

Appearing in Twisted Metal 4, Needles has an entourage of small clown men to fight for him, such is the case when he used them to overtake Calypso. Usually fitted with small clown weapons and general gags, they often act as the firing squad behind Needles and support him whenever as he is their leader.

Crazy Harold the Wacky Lunch Snack

Being Sweet Tooth’s first original motive for joining the Twisted Metal contest, Harold is a lunch bag that is Needles’ best friend. If it were to be destroyed… well, I don’t think Sweet Tooth would be too happy.

Feats

Overall

One of the most constant contestants of Twisted Metal, recurring every contest due to his willingness to kill.
Has fought all across the world and areas using his truck.
Has won the Twisted Metal contest multiple times with his prowess in vehicular combat and mastery.
Has tricked and deceived Calypso occasionally to steal his powers and become the owner of Twisted Metal.
Became a renowned serial killer and strikes fear into the hearts of many as a result.
Also a successful ice cream man… somehow.
The leader of the Clowns and the Circus participating in a large scale gangwar.

Power

Various contestants can ram through billboards with sheer speed (2)
Overpowered Calypso, throwing him out of a building (4)
Ravaged his way through an entire hospital, throwing his machete with enough force to cause someone to burst apart (Reboot)
Killed a man by using his daughters nameplate (Reboot)
His sidearms, such as the Magnum Revolver or Shotgun, are able to harm enemy vehicles (Reboot)
Can reduce a giant billboard to small pieces with gunfire (Black)
Dark Tooth can ram into enemies at high speeds (See below) (3.2 Megajoules)
Can entirely freeze over opponents with his freeze missiles (14 Megajoules)
Blew up the Statue of Liberty (~0.4 tons of TNT in total wield) (Reboot)
Able to shoot down an airplane and instantly destroy helicopters (Black) .
Able to bust down walls with gunfire (Black)
Able to destroy a large dam with his weaponry (Reboot)
Gold Tooth is stronger than any other vehicle in the Twisted Metal competitions.
Within Twisted Metal 4, with Calypso’s power, it’s likely he just created a black hole for shits and giggles.

Speed

Needles’ van moves at 89 miles per hour in Twisted Metal 1.
Needles’ van moves at 91 miles per hour in Twisted Metal 2, with a Turbo speed of 138 miles per hour.

Dark Tooth and Tower Tooth far exceeds this, being able to outspeed Twister who moves at 145 miles per hour without Turbo. Twister is a max-star and the fastest vehicle in the game disregarding Tower Tooth and Dark Tooth.

Dodged his own missile in Twisted Metal 4’s commercial.
In Twisted Metal 4, one of the special combo attacks is called Hyperspace which allows the user to instantly teleport, potentially through speed.

Hyperspace refers to an object moving faster than light, often used in tandem with the idea of “teleportation through sheer speed” in sci-fi.

Durability

Constantly withstands the pain of his head being set on fire, including in Black when it was set alight for three entire months constantly.
Can withstand extensive gunfire and several missiles in his truck, including against Calypso’s nuke or Axel’s Supernova Shockwave (Scaling)
Able to withstand being frozen, hit by EMPs, hit by satellite lasers, mortars, hit by mines, etcetera.
Can survive being hit by lightning from some unnamed Gods in the Amazonia level (4)
Withstood his eye being gouged out by his daughter and attempted to chase her afterwards (Reboot)
Alongside he and Calypso, withstood the explosion that came from all of Calypso’s power from the ring which led to him and Calypso replacing the souls (4)

Scaling

Contestants

Needles is pretty evidently comparable to other contestants across the series, so he should retain scaling to their feats. He himself is a powerhouse and appears in a variety of different levels as a boss, as well as being the boss of Twisted Metal 4, so it would make sense for him to be stronger than most vehicle feats too.

Characters have taken down the Eiffel Tower with their missiles (Head-On)
Axel…

Can hit the ground with the force of a nuclear explosion with his Supernova Shockwave special. (2)
Ripped himself free from his father’s contraption in his ending (Head-On)

Mr. Grimm…

Withstood falling off a building catching himself with his own power (Head-On)
Overpowered Calypso with his soul manipulation in Twisted Metal 1.

Calypso’s powers came from Black, who is stated to be able to destroy the planet (Before the Verdict)

Absorbed all of the souls across the planet from Calypso’s wish (2)

Calypso’s wish affected the whole planet in a short timespan all across the planet with a single gleam of light (1,699.84c) and Mr. Grimm sucked up souls across the planet in turn, likely meaning he is comparable as a result.

Calypso’s Nuke Mobile (Twisted Metal 4) wields the Nuke special weapon that creates a large explosion (20.284 Tons of TNT)

The nuclear missile is stated to be of Soviet origin, with Soviet era nuclear weapons like the Toshka being equipped with payloads of 10-100 Kilotons of TNT.

Calypso was able to outmaneuver Minion and seemed to have dodged his tank shell, which could likely land in at around Mach 5 speeds (Twisted Metal 2 Promo Comic)
Jamie Roberts piloted her modified police cruiser back to Earth in a short timeframe (Twisted Metal 2) (0.0047c)
Quatro (Twisted Metal 4)...

Wields his special that unleashes a pulse of microwave radiation which moves at the speed of light which other characters can move in tandem with.
Likely implied to have physically fought against Sweet Tooth in his ending, taking him and henchmen on in a large gunfight.
Is described as an “intergalactic law enforcement” who comes from across the universe presumably through driving with his hoverbike (Potentially 9,265,676,723,595,201c) (Outlier; See Notes)

Comparable to General Warthog who…

Uses a ‘modernized ion blaster’ and can call down lasers with his special ability which would move up to around 90,000 mph (Mach 117.3)

Comparable to Black who…

As the goal of Mr. Ash in his ending to be obtained from Calypso, was stated to be powerful enough to destroy the entire world. This would include Hell, which is treated as parallel in the Twisted Metal 1 continuity, which is also referenced in Twisted Metal 2 as being another area separate from our world (Likely Planet level)

Black in Twisted Metal 1 is regarded as similar to Black in Twisted Metal: Black despite the connection since Jaffe talks about an idea of a “what if Black was different in this universe”, so Black could likely interchangeably scale between their different incarnations due to their similar natures of power.

Calypso

Calypso. Does he need much introduction?

Calypso’s power is responsible for the creation of the Energy weapons, such as the shields, which can block enemy attacks.
An eruption of Calypso’s ring power was able to destroy a building (4)
Grew a large number of human sized Venus flytraps (534 Megatons of TNT) (Wishes) (3)
Grew to a large size and stretched Ken Master’s face across the entire planet (1513.86 Yottatons of TNT) (Wishes) (2)
Granted the wishes of Marcus Kane who believed the entire world to be a dream and a fictional horror story, a wish that Calypso granted by sending him (or potentially creating) a world beyond Twisted Metal (Wishes) (2)
Calypso’s wishes are implied to be unbound by the limits of reality.
Calypso locked Agent Stone into a permanent time loop.
Calypso sent Black to an alternate universe (Needles’ world) with his powers (Black)
Granted the wish of Pizza Boy, who’s pimped up ride could speed into a black hole in space (Mach 112) (See Notes for the calculation information)
As a giant could react to his movements which move at immense speeds (0.62c) and stretched Ken Master’s face across the planet (0.03c)
Granted Amanda Watts wish, which was to move faster than anyone, allowing her to travel through time with sheer speed (Lightspeed, potentially higher under Immeasurable ends). Calypso’s magic, which is responsible, could scale.
Granted the wish of Mr. Grimm which was to accelerate the process of people dying, which Calypso granted affecting the whole planet in a short timespan all across the planet with a single gleam of light (1,699.84c)

Rob Zombie

Hell yes. (non-srs) thank you please read the blog i helped on

Notes

Quatro Too Goated

Quatro in Twisted Metal 4 has some of the fastest feats of the series,

Simply put, Quatro’s ability is stated to be a ‘pulse of microwave radiation around his hover trike that severely damages opponents’ who’s statement lines up perfectly with gameplay, being a pulse sent omnidirectionally around him. Not only does its namesake being a microwave explicitly mean electromagnetic radiation (this is further supported in its description) which is light, but the pulse of electromagnetic radiation follows the description of an EMP, further supported by its increased vehicular damage and general attributes of being an area-of-effect pulse stated to be microwave radiation. Quatro’s special weapon is just pretty explicitly lightspeed, due to not being a frame one movement, means that characters are innately able to move in tandem with it… But that’s a really boring way to inflate Twisted Metal stats.

On a similar note, Quatro is also stated to be an intergalactic officer who came to Earth in the span of time for Needles to become a danger to the rest of the universe, and while it is likely acceptable… I’m not willing to buy into it. It is an egregious high-end for Needles that comes from a pretty cartoony part of the series that I wouldn’t accept as canon, and I’ve only listed it just to catalogue the feats in the series. It is a really high outlier regardless, as the highest feat in the series in particular also comes from Twisted Metal 4 with Pizza Boy’s flight and the addition of Rob Zombie.

Pizza Boy Flight

As referenced earlier, Twisted Metal 4’s Pizza Boy ending displays the character driving out into space and encountering a black hole. Not much more to the feat, really, since it’s a miniscule ending. You could take the idea literally that he flew into a black hole and that it would be impossible to display the distance a black hole would need to be away from the Earth, or that it’s just the closest cosmic distance for the Earth since it’s impossible to otherwise calculate distance, I.E the Moon or the Sun. We believe it’s best to tackle this with the idea of it being a similar cosmic distance like the Moon rather than an egregious distance like a real black hole.

Calypso Scaling

For the record, Calypso is a top dog of the Twisted Metal series, although specific interpretations of the series give routes for someone like Needles to scale in certain continuities if you wanted to push for it. This isn’t something I will say I heavily agree with the scaling for, but isn’t entirely unfounded as a claim especially depending on what part of Twisted Metal you look at.

Twisted Metal 1 - 2 - Head-On - Black Canon

While Needles does not explicitly scale within this continuity, it is very notable for Needles in that his whole “world in his head” thing can likely exceed Calypso’s power. Jaffe does mention that the intention was for the game to take place in his head and Marcus refers to it as a world different from the one they (all the contestants) lived in. This is explicitly the case within Lost, which was developed as a sequel to Black while Jaffe was off the team, where it is basically stated that one of the rumors for Black’s existence (the driver, not the game) is that he comes from an alternate universe and was brought likely due to the world being out of Calypso’s reach. This, alongside how Head-on portrays that Marcus/Needle’s subconscious can create objects and forms of himself, and Calypso explicitly states that the world is “as he [Marcus] sees it” and that “your [Marcus’] mind is a powerful thing”, shows that Marcus’ mind is likely more than just him perceiving the world differently. By making the wish that it would end once and for all, Calypso is unable to actually push his powers to do anything on that scale if you were following under this interpretation, and instead he wakes up as Needles. While Needles likely would not scale physically, he could achieve arguments that place this idea of reality warping beyond Calypso’s scale within the Black timeline.

You could argue this further with the case of how Black is stated to be able to destroy the world, and him being a regular contestant in Twisted Metal: Black as well as him being responsible for Calypso’s power in the first game in the context of the statement, but due to its vague application it is far more difficult to argue. However, given Black does scale to Calypso’s power in Twisted Metal 1 and his power remains the same in Head-on as they’re simply alternate universe selves of one another (a What-If?, if you will), you could potentially argue that they should scale to Calypso’s showings in 1-2 at least, which can expand the idea of Needles scaling to Calypso if you really wanted to push for it. You could also make the case for Mr. Grimm scaling to the flash of light that affected the planet in his ending in Twisted Metal 2, as souls were travelling across the planet, but given it took a week to perform that can only hit around 66.26 m/s at best application. However, Calypso’s feat of expanding in size should be fine for scaling, as many contestants that Needles scales to like Calypso within this continuity are comparable to if not exceed him physically, and Calypso should simply scale to his own reactions at a larger size given he has no reason to be amplified that hard. Although Roberts does not outright use this part of a vehicle, given she could pilot her Cruiser back to Earth which gets in a possible fraction of lightspeed, you could certainly argue it is consistent in the series.

Reboot

No.

Twisted Metal 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 Canon

On the other hand for an admittedly more than likely non-canonical timeline, the scaling is much more arguable. Needles and Calypso both seem to survive the eruption of the ring’s power, continuing to wrestle within the ring. This is pretty clear-cut as an argument, although it is very questionable, but given it is a very silly series and is a self-contained argument I’m more inclined to say it could be applied with strictly Twisted Metal 3 and 4 in mind.

These arguments are both taken with full merit towards Needle, although there is definitely some more scrutiny you can apply to them. I personally wouldn’t hard-sell it as what Needles can do in general, but as a high-end against matchups with a far more powerful character, you could make the case in some way.

Conclusion

“When they captured me, all I could think was, "What a waste!" All those people I hadn't killed yet. Come the night of my execution, there must have been over a thousand people gathered outside to watch me fry. I was upset about that. There should have been more.”

Attack Potency:

Main Continuity: ~0.4 Tons of TNT, although arguments exist for much higher ends.
3-4 Continuity: At least 534 Megatons of TNT (off of Calypso’s wishes specifically in this continuity)
Reboot: At least 14 Megajoules.