Potemkin (Guilty Gear)

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Potemkin

Official Guilty Gear XX Accent Core artwork for Potemkin.
Game series Guilty Gear series
First game Guilty Gear
Created by Daisuke Ishiwatari
Voiced by Hideyuki Anbe (GG); Takashi Kondou (GGX onward)
Information
Birthplace Floating Continent Zepp

Potemkin (ポチョムキン Pochomukin?) is a video game character in the Guilty Gear fighting game series, and he has appeared in every game in the series thus far. A massive man with dark skin, he was a slave-soldier of Zepp, a floating continent originally controlled by a military dictatorship, and thus wore a metallic slave collar which would explode if he attempted to escape or remove it. Although the collar was disabled when Gabriel overthrew Zepp's government and freed him to become a soldier of his own accord, Potemkin still continues to wear it.

Contents

[edit] Story

[edit] Guilty Gear

In Potemkin's ending -- most of which is still canonically possible, despite the fact that technically only Sol Badguy's ending is valid -- he is approached by Gabriel. Initially, Potemkin is irritated by Gabriel's brusque, casual reaction to Potemkin's victory, but then Gabriel informs him that his next assignment is to attack Zepp: Gabriel is actually part of a resistance movement to overthrow Zepp's military dictatorship, apparently freeing all slaves, including Potemkin. After successfully revolting, Gabriel becomes the President and Potemkin becomes one of his top agents.

[edit] Guilty Gear X

Potemkin is sent, supposedly as a bounty hunter, to face Dizzy -- though rather than destroying her, his intention is to rescue her and bring her to Zepp in secret. In one ending, Johnny interferes, and Dizzy goes with him and May instead; in the other, Dizzy goes with him to Zepp, where she finds happiness. Events in subsequent games render the second ending impossible.

[edit] Guilty Gear XX

On a tip from Slayer, Potemkin goes to look for Dizzy, whom I-No had knocked off the May Ship, and subsequently becomes entangled in the affairs of the Post-War Administration Bureau. One of his endings ends with him bickering with Johnny over whether Dizzy should go back to the May Ship or to Zepp. In his second ending, he fights with Bridget, who mistook him for a bounty hunter chasing Dizzy. His third ending has Potemkin fighting against an army of Robo-Kys.

[edit] Music References

Potemkin's Hammer Fall attack is named after the band Hammerfall. The airborne nation of Zepp, from which Potemkin hails, is possibly named for Led Zeppelin, or possibly the Zepp chain of concert venues across Japan. Adding further to the Led Zeppelin reference is the fact that Potemkin's theme song, "Burly Heart", is based heavily on the Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir".

[edit] Trivia

  • Potemkin was also inspired by the actual Russian battleship Potemkin, in terms of characteristics and relation to (air)ships. Both were considered gigantic and extremely powerful, and both became involved in an uprising of lower-class citizens.
  • Potemkin's "Gigantic Blid" Overdrive appears similar to Gaogaigar's "Hell and Heaven" attack.
  • As illustrated by Isuka in-game story dialog, and the announcer's pronunciation of his name, Potemkin appears to have been nicknamed "Potummy" by the other characters.
  • Potemkin's special grab, the "Potemkin Buster" shares a resemblance to Kinnikuman's technique, the "Kinniku Buster".
  • Potemkin's followup attack to his Heat Knuckle, the Heat Extend, may be a homage to Domon Kasshu's God Finger attack from G Gundam. Domon would grab the opponent's face and shout "Heat End" before burning them to bits in a fiery explosion. Likewise, Potemkin grabs the opponent and shouts "Heat Extend" before exploding his opponent. For further evidence, Potemkin's hand flashes the King of Heart's emblem, which Domon also had when using the technique.
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