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
Creator(s)	Daisuke Ishiwatari
Voice actor(s)	Hideyuki Anbe (GG); Takashi Kondou (GGX onward)
In-Universe Information
Birthplace	Floating Continent Zepp
Blood type	O
Theme song	"In Slave's Glory" (GG) "Burly Heart" (GGX -) "Megatona Furiosa" (Korean XX #Reload)

Potemkin (ポチョムキン, Pochomukin^?) is a character in the Guilty Gear fighting game series, and he has appeared in every single game to date. 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.

1 Story
2 Music References
3 Trivia

[edit] Story

[edit] Guilty Gear: The Missing Link

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: By Your Side

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: The Midnight Carnival

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 and/or the Queen song "Hammer to Fall". His instant kill move "Magnum Opera" is a reference to Queen album A Night at the Opera and/or Yngwie Malmsteen album Magnum Opus. The airborne nation of Zepp, from which Potemkin hails, is likely 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.