Official art of the Major Player from the Hires & Heroes key art
The Major Player on an album cover in the Pacesetter's room
Major Player
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The Major Player is a Bossbot Manager Boss who was introduced as part of the Hires & Heroes Update. He can be fought in The Musical Master of Melody found on Tenor Terrace in Mezzo Melodyland after unlocking the Kudos Task Let's Dance!. He was first introduced in the Musical Monstrosity Blog Post as part of an ARG.
Content Sync
Toons fighting against the Major Player will have Content Sync applied to them. They will be synced down to the following stats:
- 105 Laff Soft Cap (111 Max)
- All Gags permitted
- All rewards permitted
Attacks
| Major Player Attacks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot Air
(Single) |
Re-Arrange
(Single) |
Song and Dance
(All) |
Quake
(All) | |
| Damage | 16 | 18 | 15 | 15 |
| Accuracy | 90 | 85 | 85 | 75 |
| Frequency | 30 | 30 | 20 | 20 |
Cheats
General
The Major Player increases the number of Cogs that can be present in the fight by 2, totaling up to 6 Cogs in one sitting.
The Major Player can only be lured for 1 round.
Phase 1
The Major Player summons Cogs ranging from levels 10-14 with a unique 'Dance Partner' status effect. Each one of them will be paired randomly with one of the Toons in battle, labeled as either a square, circle, hexagon, or star. Partnered Toons deal 50% more damage to their partner and 40% less damage to all other Cogs. Cogs deal 25% more damage to their partner and 25% less damage to all other Toons. These damage changes also apply to Lure knockback, but Toon-Up and Splash damage are unaffected.
The Major Player will send in Dance Partners at the end of the first round, and then every five rounds after that. Cog Capacity functions differently for Dance Partners. Despite there being a capacity of 6, Dance Partners only adhere to 5. This means that if there are 3 Cogs in battle (Major Player included), he'll only send in 2 Dance Partners. The max number of Dance Partners the Major Player can send in at once is 4, and if there are 5-6 Cogs currently in battle, he cannot send in any Dance Partners.
Dance Partners will also come equipped with an additional cheat. They can have one of any of the following:
Lure Resistance: This Cog will be entirely immune to being LURED. This also means the Cog is unable to be lured into Trap. Only one Lure immune Cog may be on the field at any given time.
Soak Resistance: This Cog will take 60% less damage when SOAKED.
Damage Reduction: This Cog will take -50 less damage.
Focused Defense: This Cog will take 50% less damage from the first Gag Track that hits it each turn (including Splash).
Siphon: This Cog deals 15% less damage, but heals for 4x its damage dealt. Guest Verse attacks will trigger Siphon's effect, however this Cog cannot be Overcharged.
At the end of every other round, the Major Player picks one Cog from an audience of 48 Cogs ranging from levels 1-8. Once on stage, they are given the Rising Star buff, granting them an additional 425 HP. They gain an additional +30 damage that increases by +5 every round. They receive the same benefits as Manager Cogs (no Fires/Sues, 2 round Lure Resistance).
Rising Stars will also come equipped with an additional cheat. They can have one of five cheats (these are the same five additional cheats Dance Partners can have, shown above).
Defeating a Rising Star Cog grants a permanent and stackable +15 damage buff to all Toons for this phase (does not affect Toon-Up). If the Major Player is defeated, all the Rising Stars revert back to regular Cogs, losing their buffs (excluding Lure Resistance and their additional cheat).
The Major Player will allow one of the present Cogs to attack again, unluring them if necessary. Their attacks are given a fixed accuracy base, which is 90% for single target attacks or 80% for group attacks. This cheat is first used on turn 3, then happens every 2 turns after. Toons hit by a Cog using Guest Verse will gain the Viral Sensation Status Effect.
Viral Sensation: Viral Sensation is a Status Effect lasting on a Toon for 2 rounds. Toons with this status effect will deal +60 more damage, but have decreased accuracy. This damage boost effects all Gags besides Toon-Up. The accuracy decrease is dependent on the level of Gag:
- Level 1-4 Gags: Accuracy remains the same
- Level 5 Gags: -8% Accuracy
- Level 6 Gags: -16% Accuracy
- Level 7 Gags: -24% Accuracy
- Level 8 Gags: -32% Accuracy
The accuracy debuff does not affect Gags with guaranteed accuracy (e.g. Toon-Up, Zap, attacks on Lured Cogs).
The Major Player will initiate a unique attack similar to that of Match Game with the Toons, requiring you to mimic his dance steps with the corresponding arrow/movement keys. He will trigger this cheat twice, when he falls below 66% health (2963) and again at 33% health (1482). This cheat goes before Toons' attacks. This attack has 3 waves, starting with 3 notes, then 5, then 7. Toons are given 5 seconds per wave to match the notes.
- Rockin' In Rhythm - This corresponding cheat punishes players who fail to input the correct arrows. You will take an additional 8 damage for every note you didn't reach beyond the first. This cheat will cap at a maximum of 32 damage. For example, if a Toon hits 3 notes the first round, 5 notes the second round, and 4 notes the third round (missing 3 notes), they will take (3 - 1) * 8 = 16 damage.
Phase 2
The Major Player returns to the stage with a full set of health and three Level 12.exe Mr. Hollywoods. He also deals +5 additional damage (+1 per round). The icon for this cheat expands in size every round.
The Mr. Hollywoods all receive a MAJOR health boost, having 898 HP each, dealing an additional +10 damage (+5 per round). They, however, start with a 10% damage reduction. Manager benefits still apply. Defeating a Superstar will grant a permanent and stackable +15 damage buff to all Toons. The Superstars will also come equipped with one of the 5 additional cheats, cycling to a different one every round.
The Major Player will make himself and the three Mr. Hollywoods Dance Partners with each getting assigned to a Toon. He will not summon any additional Dance Partners. Dance partners of the same shape deal 50% more damage to each other and 40% less damage to anyone else. The Major Player will partner himself with a different available Toon each round if possible. He cannot shift partner status to someone who is currently partnered with a Mr. Hollywood.
Rising Stars have had their damage values adjusted, now only dealing +15 additional damage (+5 per round). They will now also cycle through one of the five additional cheats every round. The Major Player will summon the first Rising Star on the second round, then every round after that. Like in phase 1, they have +425 HP and Toons gain a permanent +15 damage each time they defeat one. This buff effects all Gags besides Toon-Up.
The Major Player will now use Guest Verse every other round if possible, starting on round 1. The Major Player can use Guest Verse on the Superstars.
- Viral Sensation: Functions the same as in Phase 1.
This and Rockin' in Rhythm functions the same as in Phase 1, but the game has had an increase of notes needed per wave. Wave one has 4 notes, wave two has 6 notes, and wave three has 24 notes, with each wave having a 5 second time limit. He will only trigger this cheat once after falling below 50% health. The punishment has been reduced to 4 damage per note missed and still caps at 32 damage. The first two notes missed will not increase the damage dealt to the Toons. The damage from this attack is not affected by the Dance Partner status. If you do not enter any inputs (or fail each first input) in all 3 rounds you will take 999 damage.
Strategy
| Recommended Gags | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Track | "Should I bring this Gag to this fight?" | "Should I Prestige it?" | "How many Toons should bring it?" |
 Toon-Up |
Important for keeping you and your teammates alive. Like in most Manager battles, your team will be accumulating a lot of damage throughout the fight, making multiple healing sources a near necessity.  Rating: 3/3 Stars |
Decent prestige. Its improved self-heal can reduce the need for more healing towards you, and the Cheer buff can help Lure, Throw, and Drop hit more often, which will often be used on the Major Player. Rating: 2/3 Stars |
2-4 Toons |
 Trap |
Countered by Lure Immunity and Focused Defense to a lesser extent, but is otherwise incredibly potent against Dance Partners, and is good for reducing the Major Player's defense to help Lure, Throw, and Drop hit more often. Rating: 3/3 Stars |
Incredibly valuable in this fight. Further increases its damage potential against Dance Partners, and because of that, often allows for lower level Trap Gags to kill a Dance Partner. Rating: 3/3 Stars |
4 Toons |
 Lure |
Great at mitigating damage from Cogs and setting up other attacks like Trap and Throw. You will want everyone to have Lure to ensure that Phase 2 goes smoothly, as the beginning of the phase is pretty Trap focused, assuming enough people have Trap. Rating: 3/3 Stars |
Not very necessary since the Rising Star damage bonuses and Viral Sensation can give you all the damage you need, but can still get results if you often use Lure + 3 Throw combos. Rating: 1/3 Stars |
4 Toons |
 Throw |
A reliable damage dealer when used with Lure. Lure + 3 Throw is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Rising Star damage buffs, as the Throw Gags' damage will benefit both from the Rising Star buff given to the Lure Gag's knockback and the damage buff given to the Throw Gag itself. Rating: 3/3 Stars |
Insanely good for this fight. As usual, the self-healing allows you to deal damage without having to spend as many actions on Toon-Up and keep up your momentum in the fight. The self-healing can get ludicrous as there can be multiple ways to deal increased damage here. Rating: 3/3 Stars |
4 Toons (Avoid being both Throwless and Lureless if possible) |
 Squirt |
Enables the usage of Zap, a very effective Gag in this battle, and is good for reducing the Major Player's defense to help Lure, Throw, and Drop hit more often. Also notable for its use against the Focused Defense cheat, allowing for subsequent Gags like Zap or Drop to deal full damage. At most, you should have 1 Squirtless, as lacking Squirt reduces your likelihood of being able to deal with Dance Partners and Superstars well whenever Trap isn't favorable. Rating: 3/3 Stars |
The additional splash damage can help deal with Dance Partners easier if using Squirt and Zap to take them out, especially considering Splash Damage ignores the non-partner damage reduction. However, consider this Prestige low priority, as all other Prestiges (except maybe Sound) generally get more mileage throughout the battle. Unless you or a teammate knows what they're doing and has a specific strategy in mind, consider passing on this Prestige. Rating: 1/3 Stars |
3-4 Toons (Avoid being both Squirtless and Zapless if possible) |
 Zap |
Zap is great at dealing with Dance Partners when using Trap isn't favorable and when there aren't many Cogs with Soak Resistance present. It is also highly valued for being able to take out Rising Stars while also getting respectable damage on the Major Player himself or lingering Dance Partners or Superstars. Rating: 3/3 Stars |
While not absolutely necessary, the additional jump damage can help deal with Dance Partners, Rising Stars, and Superstars easier. Rating: 2/3 Stars |
3-4 Toons (Avoid being both Zapless and Squirtless if possible) |
 Sound |
Countered extremely hard by Damage Reduction and to a lesser extent Focused Defense, but otherwise can be a solid option for dealing with Dance Partners in Phase 1 (with help from Drop if Focused Defense is present) and Rising Stars in Phase 2. While it is generally less consistent than using Zap, Trap, and Drop to deal with Dance Partners due to the aforementioned hard weakness to Damage Reduction and its weakness to Focused Defense, it can be a solid alternative. Rating: 2/3 Stars |
Decent for allowing stronger swing turns after using Sound to make up for dealing less direct damage to the Major Player than other gags. Rating: 2/3 Stars |
0 Toons/4 Toons |
 Drop |
Greatly valuable here, as it is capable of dealing massive amounts of damage to the Major Player and can help greatly with dealing with Lure Immune and Focused Defense Cogs (needs a Gag to hit Focused Defense before Drop). Rating: 3/3 Stars |
Drop's Prestige can greatly enhance damage on the Major Player with proper setup. However, unless you plan to use them to destroy Superstars in Phase 2, it is not very necessary as the Gag already has a high base damage and can gain damage buffs through other means in this fight. Rating: 2/3 Stars |
3-4 Toons |
The random nature of the status effects can punish overreliance on a few Gag combos to get through them. Your team's Gag builds should be very versatile, allowing anyone to be able to occupy or change jobs on a whim.
Phase 1
Dance Partners
Do your best to destroy at least 3 Dance Partners on round 2 so your team can comfortably deal with the Rising Stars on round 3 and beyond.
- Trap, Zap, and Drop are effective against Dance Partners due to their high base damage benefitting well from the partnered damage bonus, but note that each have their own weaknesses against certain cheats.
- Sound can also be effective, but note that it is shut down hard by the Damage Reduction cheat. Refer to the advanced strategy section for damage values to remember when using Sound against Dance Partners.
- Dance Partners are not immune to Fires. Using Pink Slips is a good last resort option.
Rising Stars
Get rid of Rising Stars quickly because they can deal immense damage if ignored, especially if given an extra attack via Guest Verse. Only ignore them if everyone will be safe and you are close to ending Phase 1.
- Squirt + 3 Zap can destroy Rising Stars with any cheat except Soak Resistance.
- If a Rising Star has Soak Resistance, it can be instead dealt with using Trap + Drop, Sound + Drop, or Lure + 2 Throw.
If you have Viral Sensation and are using a high level Gag, be sure the reduced accuracy is circumvented (Using Toon-Up, Trap, Zap, or hitting a Lured Cog), or is heavily compensated for. Triggering a Trap gives a huge accuracy bonus that overpowers Guest Verse's accuracy penalty.
If using Unites to heal on the last turn before going into Phase 2, make sure you use them before everyone has locked in their gags or you will be on reward cooldown at the start of Phase 2.
Phase 2
Superstars
When dealing with the Superstars, follow the same general ideas for dealing with the Dance Partners from Phase 1.
- TNTs and Lightnings are very effective for dealing with the Superstars.
- If using Squirt + Zap, generally have the Major Player's partner use Squirt, and have everyone else Zap their partners.
- If using Squirt, make sure as many cogs lose Soaked as possible by using Zap. Any Cogs that are left Soaked could instantly get heavy damage resistance by rolling into Soak Resistance.
- Clara + Prestige TNT can one-shot Superstars with Siphon or Soak Resistance. Refer to the advanced strategy section to see how to destroy Superstars with Drop if using Trap won't work.
- Completely destroying 1 Superstar on the first round of this phase is much safer than spreading damage across all 3.
Post-Superstars
After dealing with all of the Superstars, you have freedom to balance beating down the Major Player with Drop and/or Throw and destroying Rising Stars with Sound or Zap.
- The Rising Stars have a much lower initial damage bonus than in Phase 1. You can more comfortably choose to ignore them for a few rounds in this Phase.
- Unless you failed all 3 first inputs or did nothing at all, remember that the maximum punishment damage for this phase's Match Minigame is 32.
Loot
Major Player Sticker
Saxophone
Solemn Rose
|
Dialogue
Music
| Theme | Audio File | Song Title |
|---|---|---|
| Lobby Theme | N/A | |
| Elevator Theme (Unused) | N/A | |
| Opening Cutscene Theme | Dance of the Showman | |
| Phase 1 Theme | Takes Two Ta Tango ago go! | |
| Phase 2 Theme | Last Tap! | |
| Ending Cutscene Theme | Bru's Blues | |
| Victory Theme | Meno Mosso Morendo |
Sound Effects
| Statement | |
|---|---|
| Question | |
| Grunt | |
| Murmur | |
| Death |
Version History
- v1.8.0 BETA
Decreased the damage reduction to 40% from 75% for Toons targeting a Dance Partner that is not theirs.- Lowered the damage of the Hollywoods in phase 2 by 10%.
- Lowered the starting damage of audience members in phase 2 from 20 to 15.
- v1.7.0 BETA
Re-animated most Cog animations from Toontown Online for every Cog body type.- Introduced new Cog reaction animations to Sound Gags.
- Introduced a new Cog reaction animation to large Throw Gags (Birthday Cake and Wedding Cake).
- v1.4.4 BETA
"This fight, while more interesting and engaging overall, acted as a sort of brick wall for players at the intended difficulty level. These changes are intended to allow players more room to take advantage of Viral Sensation and the Star of the Show damage boost to take out the Major Player more efficiently. Additionally, we wanted to minimize some scenarios where the random buffs could be particularly mean if a bad set was chosen, such as when getting multiple Cogs with lure immunity. " -Corporate Clash Crew
The Major Player added brighter spotlights to the show!
- Dance Partners occurs every 5 rounds instead of 4.
- Toon Star Boost: +10 -> +15 per defeat
- Only one Lure immune Cog may be on the field at any given time
- Viral Sensation damage boost: +40 -> +60
Flat Damage Down value: -30 -> -50- Cogs attacking via the Guest Verse ability will now have 90% accuracy for single target attacks and 80% accuracy for group target attacks.
- Star of the Show Starting Damage (Phase 2 only): +15 -> +20
- v1.4.0 BETA
- Major Player is now switching up his show routine.
- The Major Player's attack damage values have been decreased by roughly 50%.
- Hot Air: 33 -> 16
- Re-Arrange: 37 -> 18
- Song and Dance: 30 -> 15
- Quake: 30 -> 15
- Rising Stars have had their damage values adjusted in both phases. The Rising Star Toon damage boost has also been increased.
- Phase 1: +10 damage (+2 per round) -> +30 damage (+5 per round)
- Phase 2: +10 damage (+2 per round) -> +15 damage (+5 per round)
- Toon Rising Star Bonus: +5 damage per defeat -> +10 damage per defeat.
- Likewise, the Superstars have had their damage ramp-up increased.
- Superstar: +10 damage (+2 per round) -> +10 damage (+5 per round)
- All Dance Partners and Rising Stars come with an additional cheat. These cheats can be one of the following: Lure Resistance, Soak Resistance, Damage Reduction, Focused Defense, Siphon.
In Phase 2, Superstars and Rising Stars will cycle through one of the five cheats every round.- The Major Player has gained the cheat Guest Verse.
- Toons hit by a Guest Verse attack will gain a new status effect: Viral Sensation.
- v1.3.0.11 BETA
Fixed a district reset related to Major Player.
- v1.3.0.6 BETA
- Dave's found his tip-top tappin' shoes and is ready to tap the night away!
- Last Tap's initial boost now starts at +10 damage, from +5.
- Fixed an oversight that would cause the Major Player's defeat count to go up by 2 each time the instance was completed.
- This bug doubled the opportunity to get one of the Major Player's drops.
- Fixed some clean-up issues in the Major Player's instance.
- v1.3.0.4 BETA
- Poor performance will now result in a harsher punishment.
- Rockin' In Rhythm's maximum damage is 32, from 24.
- v1.3.0.1 BETA
None of the following changes are real. These patch notes were added as a joke as nobody had fought the Major Player at the time of this version's release.
- Fixed some transparency issues with the GIANT DOO-DRAGON ATTACK!!!!
- Also fixed... actually, nevermind. Too spoiler-y.
Added a second phase.
Removed the ant swarm.- Fixed an issue where the Record Scratch attack would only hit 4 Toons.
- Disco balls now properly absorb 33% of all aerial damage.
- No more elemental blasts!
Minor text fixes.
Reverted true name to Dave BruBot.
One of the above changes are real.
The above statement is false.
The above statement is false.
- v1.3.0 BETA
- The off-key crashing of cymbals can be heard from an all new music hall on Tenor Terrace.
- The Major Player is added to the game.
- Undocumented Changes
- The +10 damage boost from Last Tap (added in v1.3.0.6) has been reverted back to 5 damage.
- Splash damage is now affected by Dance Partner's damage reduction.
Trivia
- A major player is a very involved or important person in an activity or organization.
- The Major Player's real name is a reference to Dave Brubeck, an American jazz pianist and composer.
- On the cogs.ink website, the Major Player's username is
brubotdaveand his password isdQw4w9WgXcQ.- The password was revealed by standing in "Syncopation Corporation" in Tenor Terrace long enough to collect some note sheets and then auditing them by some 2D props in the Playground. Doing this would give the player the password to a text file located within the game's phase files which contained the Major Player's password. The username was revealed through prior knowledge of the Major Player's real name.
- This password is also the Youtube video ID for the music video of the song Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley.
- He can be seen doing one of the dance moves from said song as his neutral animation.
- All of the Cogs summoned in this fight have both white gloves and a shining emblem. They are only removed in the first phase when the Major Player explodes.
- The Major Player is the only Regional Manager shown to explode in the game.
- The Major Player is credited as a composer for some of the songs found throughout the game, including the Cog Building themes and themes found within his main location.
- The Major Player was the first of the 16 Managers revealed for the Hires and Heroes update, in both appearance and design.
- The latter was revealed in a Q&A Twitch stream with Smirky and the Corporate Clash Crew.
- The Major Player's 999 damage punishment for failing the rhythm minigame is perhaps the strongest Cog attack in existence due to how quickly it can deal such damage.
- While it is unrealistic to reach this point, should the Major Player attempt to summon a 49th audience member with his Star of the Show cheat, the game will crash.
- The Major Player's voice clips were made by converting the normal Cog voice clips to a piano MIDI.
- When phase 2 begins, the Toons and the Major Player swap places. The Toons are now standing facing the audience, while the Major Player faces away.
- Attempting to access this Manager's fight without the requirements will result in the following message: "You hear swing music blasting through the elevator, but the show isn't until tonight."
Gallery
Medley Monstrosity
The Major Player's profile picture on cogs.ink
The Major Player's Silhouette
The teaser from the Q&A Twitch stream, featuring the Major Player dancing
The in-game popup announcing the first Toons to defeat the Major Player
A Valentoon's Day card from the Major Player
The Major Player featured in a teaser for the 2023 Summer Update
Images from the opening scene of the Major Player's fight
The Major Player using his Guest Verse cheat on a Conveyancer
The Major Player returning for Phase 2
The Major Player and his Mr. Hollywoods
The Major Player winking at the end of his fight
The Major Player reaching out to a Toon at the end of his fight
The rose left behind at the end of the Major Player's fight
The 24 notes attack being beaten by a community member named Pippy
Group taking -999 for missing all inputs during Match Game
The login screen shown during MAYpril Toons 2023 featuring the Major Player
The Major Player and the Duck Shuffler being introduced in the High Roller's fight
The Major Player about to transform during the High Roller's fight
The Major Player in the High Roller's audience despite being on stage
Close up of the Major Player
A render of the Major Player
A render of the Major Player
A render of the Major Player
The Major Player's neutral animation
The Major Player's death animation
The Major Player with colored Silhouette's that inspired the High Roller
