Dr. Baldhead
My, my!! Lots of patients today! Get ready for your operations!
― Dr. Baldhead[src]
Dr. Baldhead is a playable character in the Guilty Gear series. Formerly a physician of great renown and skill, the mysterious death of one his patients during a surgery drove him mad, thinking he had committed malpractice. In his insanity, he became a violent serial killer.
Design
Dr. Baldhead is—as his name indicates—bald and has black eyes, unseen behind round-shaped glasses. He is generally smiling with his tongue out. Of a lanky build, he is an extremely tall man, and towers over every other character in the game whenever he is not in his extremely low fighting stance: a deep crouch with his body leaning forward while holding his six-foot scalpel.
Outside of battle, he wears a white laboratory coat above a black shirt with a red tie. During his battle intro, he rips it off to reveal a short-sleeved, entirely dark green tunic with a loincloth and a white collar, held together by several black-colored belts and a silver buckle. He has matching gloves and boots.
Personality
In the days he worked as a physician, Dr. Baldhead was a genuinely benign man, gentle and skillful[2] and nothing warmed his heart like curing the sick.[3] However, the mysterious death of one of his patients deeply traumatized him and severely weakened his grip on sanity. Baldhead continues to behave like a doctor, thinking of his victims as patients to be treated, but seems to simultaneously revel in their bloodshed as much as he can be horrified by the results.
Story
Background
Born in China, the man who would come to be known as Dr. Baldhead became a revered surgeon during the Crusades. With his deft surgical skill, the doctor was regarded as the finest physician in more than a hundred years and was respected throughout the world.[2] As with many others, the doctor saved the life of Fanny, who immediately began to study medicine to honor him.[4]
Sometime in 2177,[5] a young girl came under his care. In order to save her life, the doctor proposed an unauthorized procedure, but he was denied repeatedly. Unbeknownst to him, the procedure held the secret to resurrection, which the Conclave wanted to remain unrevealed so that their plans would not be compromised. The good doctor was unaware of their existence or their all-reaching influence, and chose to perform the procedure anyway, in defiance of their orders.[6] Their proxy, the covert Post-War Administration Bureau, used one of the doctor's colleagues as a puppet[7] to hire Zato-ONE, the leader of the Assassin's Guild, to "take care of" the doctor.[6]
During the surgery, the girl died mysteriously[2] and the doctor was led to believe that he had committed a mistake, or malpractice.[6] Some said the girl's death was orchestrated by jealous colleagues, but the doctor did not know of the conspiracy and the shock drove him mad. Twisted[8] by misery and regret,[3] Dr. Baldhead embarked on a violent serial-killing spree and murdered an untold number of people before finally being captured.[2]
Baldhead was then locked away in a dimensional prison[9] until a tall, thin stranger appeared, telling him that numerous patients were awaiting his surgical genius and expertise. They threw at the doctor his giant scalpel and freed him so he could participate in the upcoming tournament.[2]
Guilty Gear
During the Holy Order tournament, the bloodshed orchestrated by Testament frees Justice, the leading figure behind the Crusades that had tried to exterminate humanity, from her dimensional prison. Canonically, she is ultimately killed by Sol Badguy.[10]
As the Gear collapses, Dr. Baldhead finds himself (like, presumably, the other contestants) surrounded by a crowd that lets out cries of relief and jubilation. Baldhead realizes that there are more patients to "treat" but their voices awaken a memory in him. A young girl's voice at the operating table says that it wasn't the doctor's fault, that it is simply her time to go, and that everyone is waiting for him. In anguish, Dr. Baldhead flees into the cold night and disappears.[10] Having regained his humanity, he decides to take his own life to atone for his sins, but just as he was about to end it all, he learns that it was someone else was at fault for the mistake. The doctor then decides to seek the truth behind his past misfortunes, and resolves to save all the lives he possibly can under a new name: Faust.[11]
Abilities
Although blessed with healing abilities out of the ordinary, Dr. Baldhead employs his medical and surgical expertise to kill people by using long-reaching attacks thanks to his extraordinary height. His weapon of choice is a giant, six-foot scalpel that he employs to pierce his enemies or go into a Pogo Stance.
Dr. Baldhead's gameplay style can be said to be the same as Faust's, but much more simplified as it only focuses on his physical skills with the scalpel. It's unknown if Baldhead knew teleportation magic at the time, due to it not being present in his moveset.
Music
- Suspicious Cook - Guilty Gear
Quotes
Allusions
- Dr. Baldhead's name may be a reference to the song "Crazy Baldhead" by Bob Marley.
- One of his moves, Going My Way, is possibly an allusion to the song "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" by American rock musician Lenny Kravitz.
- His lanky stature and psychotically insane nature is evocative of the character Chaos, from the Battle Arena Toshinden series.
Trivia
- Pre-release articles for Guilty Gear show that, during development, the doctor was supposed to be 32 years old, his height was 199cm & his weight was 52kg.
- Dr. Baldhead shares his voice actor with Zato-ONE in Guilty Gear.
- According to Fanny's win quotes against May in Guilty Gear Petit & Guilty Gear Petit 2, she believes Dr. Baldhead is not naturally bald & instead just shaves his head. However, this is likely just her own assumption.
Gallery
External links
- GGML/Baldhead at Dustloop Wiki
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Guilty Gear Complete Bible, pg.54-55
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 Guilty Gear manual, pg.21-22
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 GG World/Dr. Baldhead
- ↑ GG World/Fanny
- ↑ [GGWorld - Chronology]
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- script § "Faust"
- ↑ Guilty Gear XX script § "Faust Path 3"
- ↑ GG World/Faust
- ↑ Guilty Gear Series Story digest comics
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Guilty Gear script § "Faust"
- ↑ Guilty Gear X manual, pg.33