Vanilla Ice

"One by one, one after the other, I, Vanilla Ice, will scatter your atoms across my void... (ひとりひとり、順番に順番に、このヴァニラ・アイスの暗黒空間にバラまいてやる)"

- Vanilla Ice

Vanilla Ice (ヴァニラ・アイス) is a secondary antagonist featured in the third part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Stardust Crusaders, specifically in the story arc "The Miasma of the Void, Vanilla Ice".

Residing in DIO's mansion, Vanilla Ice is a devoted servant to DIO and one of the final vampires and Stand Users fought by the Joestar Group in, Egypt. His Stand Cream can become a portal to a void-like dimension, which he can lurk inside and disintegrate everything in his path.

Appearance
Vanilla Ice is a tall, muscular man with long, wavy, shoulder-length hair and lengthy, thin eyebrows. He has a large bang on his left side, which goes past his chin. On his head is a circlet with a heart locket crossing his forehead and he has a pair of metallic, heart-shaped earrings.

His clothing consists of a leotard with a dark open sleeveless leather vest on top. Like his master DIO, he wears a belt with a heart on the center, which ties the bottom of his vest together. His vest has fabric on the back extending down to his calves, similar to a cloak. Ice's right shoulder has a metallic strap connected to a large heart over his right breast and the letters "VI". The shoulder also has a symbol resembling a shield with rectangular holes in the bottom and a heart in the center, but this mark is not present later on. His legs are exposed, but he wears dark, mid-calf-high boots.

Early on, his leotard seemingly has sleeves as portrayed with screentone. The screentone on the arms is not present later on, implying his leotard was changed to be sleeveless. The colored manga and anime, however, consistently portray it with sleeves.

In the manga, he also wears gloves. However, this is inconsistently portrayed in other media. In All-Star Battle and the OVA, Vanilla Ice's leotard is sleeveless and he has wristbands. The symbol on his right shoulder is a tattoo in the OVA while it is absent in All-Star Battle. In Eyes of Heaven, he still has wristbands even though in the anime, he wears neither wristbands nor gloves. In Heritage for the Future, he has both sleeves and gloves.

In the anime, his teeth becomes more sharp and pointed after his transformation into a vampire.

Personality
""I almost finished him off... but he's a total fanatic! A complete madman! He's obsessed with serving DIO!""

- Polnareff on Vanilla Ice, Chapter 243

Vanilla Ice is most notable for a disturbing, unwavering loyalty to DIO, whom he believes to be above all others. He is willing to go as far as to decapitate himself to give DIO blood, which inspires admiration from DIO for the extent of his servitude. Even when on the brink of death, he remains in thrall to DIO and exclaims that he will not let himself die so long as Joseph and his companions are still alive. Although normally cool-headed and calculated, his devotion is great enough to send him into an outrage over being forced to attack a mere likeness of DIO created by The Fool. When infuriated, he prefers to draw out the torture of his victims for as long as he believes necessary to quench his rage. As such, he will abandon his Stand in favor of physically beating someone.

He displays great confidence in the ability of his Stand, Cream. He vows to DIO to kill the Joestar group, even carving a message in a pillar that whoever reads it will die because he believes so greatly in his Stand's ability. Despite being surprised by the speed and range of Silver Chariot and even being injured by it, he continues to boast the capabilities of Cream. He backs up his confidence with cunning, covering up his Stand's weakness by flying in a spiral to cover as much ground as possible in order to kill Polnareff.

His single-minded obedience can lead to him being somewhat oblivious at times. For example, he opts to glide through and obliterate the exit from DIO's room instead of simply opening the door, and he also is unaware of his transformation into a vampire despite his apparent immortality.

Stand
Vanilla Ice's Stand, the profoundly destructive Cream, can swallow itself and its master to become a spherical void of nothingness that obliterates everything in its path. Its only weakness is that it cannot see where it is going when in void form, forcing Vanilla Ice to temporarily expose himself in order to plot Cream's course.

Vampire
After being made into a Vampire by DIO, Vanilla Ice adopts a standard set of vampiric powers and weaknesses, such as immortality and the weakness to sunlight.

Stardust Crusaders (1989)
Vanilla Ice is introduced as a human, reporting the defeat of Telence T. D'Arby to DIO, outside the door to his chambers. After being allowed to enter, Ice was told the reason for D'Arby's defeat was because he was unwilling to give his life for DIO. He was then asked if he would surrender his blood in order to heal DIO's neck wound. Without hesitation, Vanilla Ice proves his loyalty by cutting off his own head and allowing his blood to spill into an urn for his master to drink.

DIO, amused by this, refuses to take the blood of such a devout servant and decides to heal himself using someone else instead. Vanilla Ice is brought back to life from the blood his master poured into his body. After his revival, he is dispatched to take care of the Joestars. He activates his Stand, Cream, before leaving to do DIO's bidding by making a hole through the wall, prompting DIO to lament that he could have just used the door.

Vanilla Ice's first targets are Iggy, Jean Pierre Polnareff and Muhammad Avdol. He carves a message on the wall saying that the person who is reading this will die the moment they turn around. Although he is aiming to dispatch all of them at once with a surprise attack, he only manages to kill Avdol, who shoved Polnareff and Iggy out of the way before the attack hit.

In a rage, Polnareff retaliates with a barrage from Silver Chariot, wounding Vanilla Ice's shoulder and demolishing the wall of the room they are in. After nearly being killed by another of Ice's attacks, Polnareff and Iggy flee. Instead of pursuing them directly, Vanilla Ice sends Cream to the front door, where he waits in his Stand's void form. Contrary to his expectations, the duo decide to go for DIO instead of fleeing. Thus, Vanilla Ice pursues them, destroying most of the mansion with his Stand's powers. After getting ahead of them, Ice erases part of Polnareff's foot to prevent him from running away again. A distraction from Silver Chariot allows Iggy to use The Fool to hide and to create a replica of DIO to trick Vanilla Ice. Although briefly shocked by his master's appearance, Vanilla Ice quickly destroys the clone. He explains that he saw through the ruse because of the sunlight in the room and knew that DIO trusts him too much to interfere in the battle. Enraged because he had to destroy DIO's image in self-defense, Vanilla Ice exits from Cream and viciously beats Iggy to the point of near-death. After turning his attention to Polnareff, he is skewered in the mouth by Silver Chariot's sword, as Polnareff used the sand in the room to track Cream's movements. However, due to Ice's newfound immortality, he survives the attack and destroys part of Polnareff's left hand by drawing it into Cream's mouth.

Ice then wounds Polnareff in a quick succession of attacks, breaking his right arm and absorbing part of his leg and cheek. He begins moving in a spiral pattern around the room with Polnareff and Iggy at the center. By doing so, Vanilla Ice could kill them without leaving himself vulnerable. Unable to escape, Polnareff tells Iggy to use his powers to escape and warn the others, but the dog's pride causes him to save Polnareff instead. Iggy thus dies from over-exertion, prompting an enraged Polnareff to skewer Vanilla Ice through the head and snap his neck. However, Vanilla Ice rises once again, more determined than ever to finish off his enemy. Unfortunately for him, Polnareff had finally deduced that Vanilla Ice was turned into a vampire by DIO, due to Vanilla Ice's ability to recover from several fatal injuries. With that in mind, Polnareff avenges his fallen comrades by taking advantage of Vanilla Ice's newfound fatal weakness to sunlight, using Silver Chariot to slice a nearby curtain and flood the room with sunlight, which vaporizes much of Vanilla's right arm and right leg. After curtly goading Vanilla to attack him, Polnareff uses Silver Chariot to nudge the crippled vampire into the light, disintegrating the vampire instantly.

Vanilla Ice appears in the 1993 OVA with the same role as in the manga, but with a few differences to his fight with the heroes. Unique to the OVA, Ice slices Iggy in half and kicks the dying dog's corpse into a wall out of anger for the dog daring to defy DIO.

His death in the OVA also differs heavily from the manga. Polnareff repeatedly stabs Ice in a rage after seeing him murder Iggy, before slicing Ice's head horizontally in half.

Creation and Development
Vanilla Ice was one of Araki's least favorite characters, as he couldn't stand the idea of drawing him.

In All-Star Battle, Ice can drain blood from his opponent despite that in canon, he had no idea that he was a Vampire. This was most likely added to justify his use of the Vampirism Style along with the Stand Style.

Casting
Of all the characters in the 2010s adaptations of Stardust Crusaders, Vanilla Ice is the only character to have a voice actor reprise a prior role from an adaptation dating to as far back as Heritage for the Future for the Part 3 Anime and Eyes of Heaven. That same voice actor, Sho Hayami, also voiced Noriaki Kakyoin in the Stardust Crusaders Drama CD and Enrico Pucci in All-Star Battle.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (SFC)
Vanilla Ice appears as the game's penultimate boss before DIO. As a boss, Vanilla Ice is the second most difficult character to beat, as he has a large amount of health. He uses his Stand to attack.

The main difference from the original story is that all 6 heroes battle Ice at once and that he does not kill Avdol and Iggy straight away. Instead, both can stay alive for the remainder of the game.

Heritage for the Future (PS1/DC/Arcade)
Vanilla Ice appears in two "forms" in Heritage for the Future. The first is the standard character which can be selected on the main menu for Story Mode or versus play, and the second functions as the "sub-boss" of the game, appearing before the final battle with DIO.

These two "forms" are more or less identical in appearance, but the sub-boss version of Ice can use alternate special attacks and super moves that do greatly increased damage. As a CPU boss, he uses his Stand's void more often to attack, generally by either moving in a straight line on the bottom of the screen or sweeping from top to bottom in an arc. His super moves both involve more drastic movements, with one having him void-warp around in a spiraling circle, just like in the manga and anime.

Vanilla Ice's Story Mode starts after the Joestar party has infiltrated DIO's mansion in Egypt. The vampire is able to eliminate one hero after another, until he fights Jotaro Kujo himself to the death. Afterwards, Ice reports his success to DIO. According to his ending, the vampire blood which transformed Ice took complete control of him afterwards, and he became DIO's slave forever.

When other characters (such as fellow villains) fight him in the game's Story Mode, the spiraling grooves from his attacks are not present in the stage.

Strategy
Vanilla Ice is predictably one of the most powerful fighters in Heritage for the Future, arguably much more deadly than his sub-boss version if used by a skilled player.

Aside from commanding a powerful array of physical attacks, Vanilla's specialty, much like in the manga, is to use the powers of the "void" to crash into his opponents and damage them. He can take the form of the void ball while on the ground, in mid-air, and even change directions in the middle of a charge. This allows a player with quick reflexes to counter an oncoming attack, juggle an opponent into the air with careful timing, or even retreat in the face of danger.

Caution is advised, however, because unlike the manga, Vanilla Ice is STILL vulnerable while in his "void ball" form, and can be hit by projectile attacks (or even certain physical attacks, if the angle is correct).

Ice can also take the full form of his Stand Cream, who possesses very powerful and far-reaching attacks, but it comes at a steep penalty in speed and some mobility.

As noted before, Ice really shines in the hands of experienced players, as he benefits greatly from the Tandem mechanic. Unlike other fighters, who can attack faster when using the Tandem, this ability allows Ice and Cream to attack the opponent simultaneously for long and brutal combos. While this takes careful timing to execute properly, Ice is more than capable of depleting half of the opponent's energy in a single flurry of blows.

All of this gives Vanilla Ice the tools to be one of the most deadly characters in-game, when played properly.

All-Star Battle (PS3)
Vanilla Ice is a DLC character in the PS3 game, released alongside Narciso Anasui for the fourth campaign. He, DIO, and Old Joseph Joestar are the only characters to have two different Styles (Stand and Vampirism Powers in the case of Ice and DIO).

Vampire characters (Dio Brando, DIO and Vanilla Ice) and Pillar Men characters (Wamuu, Esidisi and Kars) can't fight on stages that contain sunlight. To play on those stages they need to be equipped with the Red Stone of Aja on the character select screen, which is unlocked by beating their respective parts in Story Mode.

Costumes
Although his default hair color is brown in ASB, his unlockable Color D changes his hair color to white and his clothes to pink, the same ones seen in the Capcom games and the OVA.

Command List
Vanilla Ice has 950 HP.

Exclusive to Vanilla Ice is a Stand Power Gauge, which shows how much Cream can be used and slowly regenerates at all times when not full; Ice always starts the match with the gauge half-full. Only one ability may be used when Cream is active; Ice is unable to use his Throw, HHA, or GHA while inside Cream. The Stand Power Gauge also depletes if Cream blocks or takes damage. When empty, Ice will automatically exit Cream. Of special note is that Cream is the tallest entity in the game while active, being slightly taller than even Wamuu.

Gameplay Overview
Vanilla Ice's normal attacks possess good range and are difficult to punish, a minor boon to accentuate his devastating specials. More importantly, he possesses multiple anti-airs and guard-point skill, allowing him to turn a defensive position into an offensive one. This is also accessorized by the chance to steal his opponent's health afterward as a possible follow-up. Ice can pressure the opponent at a distance, while they're airborne, or even as they're recovering from knockdown using Cream's power. His Stand's ability is both strong for the ranges it covers, and is always unblockable in every move involving its void form. Both his HHA and GHA being unblockable as well further emphasizes his unique formidability. Ice's most intimidating move lies in his only Stand On special, "Once and for all!"; Drawing from the Stand Power Gauge, he holds access to the ability to rapidly deal enormous damage comparable to a GHA from both a neutral state and especially as a means to bookend most combos.

Ice's glaring weakness is the linearity and sluggishness of most of his special abilities to offset his great range, power, and guard-defeating potential, and opponents can easily react to and outmaneuver his attacks. He suffers against characters with counters or parries as a result, such as Diavolo, and otherwise tends to leave himself very vulnerable after using most of his skills if he does not successfully connect with his foe.

In all, Vanilla Ice is an explosive yet easy-to-use character whose multitude of unblockable moves allow him to constantly overpower a careless foe. He rapidly whittles down his opponent with his set of simple, destructive attacks while requiring some caution against those who have the abilities necessary to avoid them, and can be trusted to end battles very suddenly when the correct moves are made.

Eyes of Heaven (PS3/PS4)
Vanilla Ice was confirmed for the game alongside DIO. Ice is both a Stand User and a Vampire. As a Vampire, he is able to steal opponents' health. All damage to him aside from Ripple-based will become "white damage", that can be healed over time, and inversely, Ice will take more damage from Ripple-based attacks.

As a Stand User, Vanilla Ice is one of many characters with wildly varied abilities that grant him uniqueness in battle. The player can switch control between Ice and Cream to alter his abilities, with Stand Mode being the more powerful.

Costumes
Unlike the previous game, his main color scheme is now based on his anime appearance, including the effects of Cream's ability (turning from a deep red to the purple and black color).

JoJolities

 * You brought this on yourself! It's all your fault!: Ice must connect the EX variation of "You foul creature!". (200 Points)
 * It's no use... you won't get far on those legs.: Ice must connect "Now I've taken your legs!" 3 times. (200 Points)
 * I'm going to toss you into the void.: Ice must connect "It's time to settle this once and for all!" 3 times. (300 Points)
 * Whoever's reading this: Turn around, and you die.: Ice must Backstab 5 times. (500 Points)
 * They were crushed into tiny pieces... and died.: Ice must Retire an opponent with a Dual Heat Attack. (800 Points)

Story Mode
In the story mode, he is revived by DIO (in his Heaven Ascension form, but from alternate world where he finally conquered the world) and now able to fight in a daylight thanks DIO's new godlike powers on him, similar to the way how Kars becomes immune to the daylight after using the Red Stone of Aja implanted Stone Mask on him. He is seen in the last part of Chapter 2, set in Part 5/Vento Aureo timeline in Italy, backing a now revived and brainwashed Bruno Bucciarati to kill the heroes and to get the Saint's Corpse from them. However, he and Bucciarati are defeated by Polnareff and Giorno Giovanna as they retreat via teleportation by DIO. Before Ice retreat after Bucciarati first, he is asked by Polnareff about his true loyalty, the late-DIO or "that man". However, Ice only says that he is only loyal to one person, without telling them "that man" they speak of is none other than his master DIO, Ice knows this and departs afterward.

Tournament
Vanilla Ice is paired with Jotaro in the Eyes of Heaven Tournament, defeating Hol Horse and Yukako Yamagishi in the first round, but is eliminated by Jolyne Cujoh and Gyro Zeppeli in the second.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * In the English localization of All-Star Battle, the subtitles of his default opening line read "Let's kick it one time...", a clear reference to the opening lyrics for his namesake's, Vanilla Ice's song, Ice Ice Baby.