Tass Ilo

Tass Ilo is an NPC and vendor in Plants vs. Zombies: Infinite Generation. He appears as the announcer and manager for the Vortex Trials arena gamemode, but enters active combat in The Dark Mirror upon learning of his PHASMA counterpart's exploits.

In combat, Tass uses a modified Pale Rider Cavalry retrofitted with numerous hardpoints and a flat-model GN Drive system. These modifications are meant to be in tune with the Build Driver, a device created by Tass alongside 60 separate components called Fullbottles (later used to create the Metalbottles for mass production) to allow him to equip the Voltaic Armor and assume the guise of Armored Rider Build.

Origins
Tass Ilo is an Electromagnetic Mushroom, and is therefore based on the Cortinariaceae family of mushrooms.

Interestingly, his name is not related to his real-life basis, but is instead a splice of the first name Tassilo, after Tassilo Vago from Mobile Suit Victory Gundam.

Personality
Tass is an intelligent, compassionate person, devising the Metalbottle system with the intent of sharing his custom arsenal with LEAF and himself rushing to the aid of others when he is not burdened by other duties.

He is known to behave rather oddly in the face of scientific developments and is somewhat excitable; this is thought to be out of his relentless pursuit in the creation of technologies that might help him and his allies.

As a consequence of his full dedication to the field, Tass is acutely aware of the principles of scientific ethics and will aggressively refuse any orders to develop or experiment with things that go against them. This becomes his motive to fight during The Dark Mirror, witnessing firsthand what Gauss is capable of and becoming increasingly infuriated as the latter tries to personally off and replace him.

Pale Rider Cavalry
Tass's Infinite Robot takes the form of a custom navy-blue Pale Rider Cavalry by default. Retrofitted to make use of a flat-model GN Drive and the Voltaic Armor, it is thus much stronger and more durable than the original models. Additionally, the HADES system within has been reprogrammed (with external assistance) to merely automate certain movements and corrections, rather than taking full control.

By default, this customized model carries a standard rifle and GN Sword.

Voltaic Armor
By attaching the Build Driver to the Cavalry's waist, inserting two Fullbottles, and turning the crank, the Voltaic Armor manifests and attaches to the Cavalry, creating its true form as Build. Despite its patchwork appearance, its performance is on par with stronger Gundams, and can be freely adjusted by replacing the individual Fullbottles in the Driver while in combat, which also grants Tass new weapons and abilities.

For unknown reasons, the Cavalry can recognize and use the Build Driver and Fullbottles while under the influence of HADES and operating without a user; however, it is not programmed to take further action independently. The Build Driver itself is also locked to Tass's soul imprint, or connectome, and use by anyone else not cleared by him will result in it shocking them.

Based on the number of Fullbottles in existence, 900 (30^2) possible configurations exist; however, only 30 of those 900 configurations, known as Best Matches, are designed to fully work together with each other, with the other 870 providing lesser benefits when transformed. With the Metalbottles used by player characters, this number extends to 3600 (60^2), though the number of synchronized combinations does not change.

Gameplay
Tass first appears in a laboratory in the LEAF-Prime Headquarters following the completion of the first campaign. Talking to him will begin the unlock quest for the Vortex Trials.

Vendor inventory
After this, he will begin selling Metalbottles on a daily rotation; the Rabbit and Tank Metalbottles will always be in stock at a cheaper rate. His inventory also includes daily bounties that can be used to generate upgrade currency for the Metal Driver, themed around data acquisition.

Obtaining the Hazard Trigger from Gauss will enable Tass to begin selling a new variety of bottles that can instead generate schematics of other armor sets in the game once they harmonize.

In combat
As an AI partner during certain quest missions in The Dark Mirror, Tass is functionally identical to an Agios Phase user equipped with the Lumiere subclass and the Ferric Drifter armor set, generated as a result of plugging in the Ghost and Magnet Fullbottles into the Build Driver. As the result of using the Magnet Fullbottle, he is equipped with the EMC-XG blaster, a gun with abnormally high bullet magnetism and stagger strength.

Tass can swap between other configurations, but these are used strictly for events and have no bearing on his combat capability as a partner.

Trivia

 * Inspecting a pin-locked storage unit in the LEAF-Prime Headquarters reveals that Tass is secretly addicted to plastic model kits, a nod to the original Build Driver's transformation sequences which constrain the liquid Fullbottle essences into the shape of plastic runners.