Potemkin
I wouldn’t underestimate me. My drive for freedom locked inside my heart is my greatest weapon.
― Potemkin to Axl[src]
Potemkin is a recurring character in the Guilty Gear series. He was a former slave in the Zepp Armed Air Empire, and was a supporter of the democratic revolution that took place. He is currently a member of Zepp's elite presidential guard, working closely with President Gabriel.
Design
Potemkin is a tan, muscular man and one of the tallest characters in the series. He has brown hair that he ties up in a ponytail, or more often in a bun. He has eyes usually depicted as completely white without pupils. On his left shoulder he has a black barcode tattoo.
Potemkin's design before Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- has him shirtless, wearing blue jeans and red toed brown boots. He wears a giant red collar. In Guilty Gear (1998), it was a slave collar that would explode should he try to remove it, but this function was since removed. His gauntlets are black fingerless gloves with red metal plating and cuffs. In the Xrd series and onward, Potemkin's design has changed drastically, as he now sports a green body-tight military uniform with grey spiked shoulder pads. He also wears a robot-like metal helmet with a decorative orange ponytail. His gauntlets are more technologically advanced, now fully covering his hands.
Personality
Despite people's assumption regarding his appearance, Potemkin is actually an intelligent and calculating individual who dislikes fighting, only doing it when absolutely necessary and for the sake of others. While Potemkin can withstand pain, he cannot bear to witness the pain of others[1].
Potemkin is proud, and has a honest heart. He has a kind, gentle character, and great love for nature. He places the utmost importance on ceremony, and loathes superficial behavior or unreasonable demands. Able to meet pressure and adversity head on, Potemkin places great importance in his duty and comrades, and is capable of keeping his patience even when the person he's speaking to isn't being necessarily friendly[1]
During the Guilty Gear X and Guilty Gear XX series, Potemkin was a confident and kind soldier who would usually put others over himself trying to protect them, generally being friendly to most of his opponents and sometimes applauding them[2], with the exception of some like Eddie, with him generally avoiding killing his opponents as he tells them to rest before trying to fight him again.[2] Even makes friendships with some characters like Dizzy[3][4] & possibly the rest of the Jellyfish Pirates[5]. Along with him being quickly angered if he sees other people getting hurt, like when he saw how Johnny failed to protect Dizzy from I-no in his story mode of Guilty Gear XX[6].
In Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- and forward, Potemkin acts more militaristic and some what more enclosed, as he's much more critical of his opponents while being a more serious character[2]. Though Xrd -Revelator- seems to hint at him having a lot of doubts of his own strength and inability to protect others, with him fighting his own doubts in his arcade mode or when he's defeated in Ky's Arcade mode[7].
Story
Background
Potemkin was born in Zepp, the last country in the world to publicly use Black Technology.[8] Potemkin was one of the many slave soldiers[8] that it employed and was called by a barcode number, Code 4595605381[8]. Like the others, Potemkin was forced to wear an anti-desertion bomb collar[8] around his neck, and had to live in fear of it exploding at any given moment. He was born with a genetic mutation that resulted in large muscle mass[8], making him an unique asset for the Zepp Armed Air Empire.
One day, one of his superiors claimed that they finally found a use for Potemkin and his body. He ordered Potemkin to win the Second Holy Order Selection Tournament[8], so that he would then wish for suitable territory for Zepp to expand their empire into. Potemkin agreed, thinking that gaining territory peacefully was better than an invasion[8].
Guilty Gear
As Potemkin fights other opponents, his win quotes mention how he regrets fighting them, wishing to not hurt them or speak in disdain of others. The tournament is revealed to be a farce arranged by Testament to free Justice from her dimensional prison, however she is killed by Sol Badguy[9]. Potemkin is exhausted from the tournament, when Sergeant[10] Gabriel suddenly appears and states that Potemkin's mission has not yet been completed and that the tournament was simply his 'next mission'[10]. Seething with rage, Potemkin yells at Gabriel, but before he can do anything else to vent his anger, Gabriel explains how he too detests the corrupt Zepp regime and offers Potemkin to join his revolution to establish a peaceful, democratic nation. Surprised by this, Potemkin joins and takes off his slave neck collar, after Gabriel assures it will not explode[10].
Guilty Gear X
Potemkin is sent to face Dizzy—though rather than destroying her, his intention is to rescue her and bring her to Zepp in secret[4]. In the original version of Guilty Gear X, in his arcade ending Potemkin brings her to Gabriel. Guilty Gear X Plus added a story mode in which Potemkin appears as an opponent in a few other stories. To his first opponent May, he mentions how she had grown since they last met though she wouldn't back down. His next opponents are Chipp, who wants Potemkin to get out of his way, and Jam Kuradoberi who fights for Dizzy's bounty against him, having a unique pre-battle cutscene, showing off her parry. Faust tries to stop Potemkin as well, though he has no desire to fight the doctor, only fighting because of his duty. He meets with Ky as they both were trying to find Dizzy as bounty hunters as well as officials of IPF and Zepp. As they both fight for the bounty, they also have a pre-battle cutscene where Potemkin does a Giganter Bullet in the air, similar to his EX version in Guilty Gear XX.
When he finally gets to the forest where Dizzy is, Testament tries to stop him, saying that it was holy ground and they would not allow any filth to enter. Potemkin answers by saying that for people to live, they do need said 'filth'. When Potemkin finally gets to Dizzy, he requests that she to go back with him to Zepp, not just for her own sake but for those around the forest. In one ending, Potemkin brings Dizzy to Zepp where he talks about how major powers were also involved, and if she stayed in the forest it would possibly cause a civil war. Now that she is in Zepp, she is finally happy as Potemkin paints a picture of her smile.[4]
In the other ending Johnny interferes, and with both parties agreeing to fake Dizzy's death in the crossfire, and though he admits being frustrated at first, Johnny tells him that Gabriel gave him such a order. She goes with the Jellyfish Pirates instead as she bids a grateful farewell to Potemkin, saying that one day they would see each other again.[4]
After the events of Guilty Gear X, Potemkin started to work as Dizzy's Guardian[3], implying he works together with the Jellyfish Pirates as future games show that the ending where Dizzy joins the Jellyfish Pirates is the canon one.[11]
Guilty Gear XX
On a tip from Slayer, Potemkin goes to look for Dizzy[11], whom I-No knocked off the May Ship, and subsequently becomes entangled in the affairs of the Post-War Administration Bureau. As he kept searching for Dizzy, he stumbles upon some other characters that he need to fight, one of them being I-No who uses Eddie to try to kill Potemkin. In path where he loses to Eddie, Potemkin will go back to search for Dizzy, finding her acting strange after beating I-No, where he comments that she deserved it. Though he seems worried about fighting Dizzy, he ends up beating her, should he take a while to beat her. Johnny appears and bickers with Potemkin over how they couldn't protect her, as they keep bickering, Dizzy and May sneak out as the two continue to fight each other.[11]
Should Potemkin beat Dizzy quickly, he takes her to Zepp feeling sorry for having to hurt her and knocking her unconscious. As he returns from meeting with the president he meets with May who is acting strange, as he explains that Gabriel ordered him to give her back to the Jellyfish Pirates. He tells her to not allow this to happen again, only for May to suddenly start attacking him. As he beats her awake, May is freed from her mind control as a Robo-Ky appears from the shadows and tries to fight Potemkin. After defeating him, Potemkin quickly gives the unconscious Dizzy to May and tells her to get her back to Johnny with a message that the P.W.A.B. has begun to move as a army of Robo-Ky's try to attack Potemkin.[11]
In the path were Potemkin wins against Eddie, he ends up following I-No and tries to capture her, only to end up into a confrontation with Bridget, who mistakes Potemkin for a rival bounty hunter pursuing Dizzy. After their fight, Potemkin and Bridget clear up the misunderstanding explaining that Dizzy's bounty was already taken and become friends. Afterwards, Potemkin recruits Bridget into the Zepp military as a combat trainer[11].
Guilty Gear Dust Strikers
Potemkin appears in his own and a few other story modes as an opponent. Like all the other characters in Dust Strikers, he doesn't have a straight forward story, instead he appears in his or other's stories interacting with characters only to them fight them in a free-for-all. In his case Potemkin starts by fighting Axl, Jam, and Ky, telling them that his drive for freedom locked inside his heart is his greatest weapon[12]. After that he meets with May and has a conversation about her growing up, only for Eddie to try to attack her as he saves her and is thanked by Johnny. In the next one he stumbles upon a conversation between Millia Rage and Testament, as they talk about how she's still trying to run from the past, while Anji Mito passes by.[12]
Then Potemkin sees I-No, though just as he was about let her go, Zappa appears looking for Faust only to annoy him and the others, making them all fight each other. On the last stage, Dizzy is thanking Sol for saving her from the woods, while Potemkin mentions that while it didn't go as planned the president understood and he was happy to see her smile, as Slayer comes in and is glad at how Dizzy is doing. After they talk about what resolutions they find in fighting and decide to test Slayer's resolution that it's just combat.[12]
Later Potemkin meets Gig and says how unfortunate that he was too late, giving sympathy for its suffering. As he defeats it, Potemkin mentions how it would been best if it turned like "him", probably meaning Sol. Potemkin meets with Dizzy to see how she was doing, glad to see her happy and starts drawing her smile.[12]
Guilty Gear Judgement
Like most of the cast, Potemkin is not playable at the start, only unlocked after beating stage 3-2 as Bridget, who also needs to be unlocked first as well.
Upon hearing the disappearances of the Villagers in Isene, Potemkin is ordered by Gabriel to investigate whats going on in the island. As he arrives, he was only able to find strange creatures which he dispatches quickly as trying to get any information from them gets no result. As Potemkin goes through the island, he's not able to find any of said villagers but finds things like ancient structures and remnants of a ancient civilization, later fighting creatures from the Otherworld and a strange fusion between a human woman and a flower creature, that which he apologies and says that whoever did such a thing deserves to be punished.[13]
Potemkin finds himself in a research center where the creatures he has been fighting are being made, realizing that all the inhabitants of the island have already been turned into beasts, as he tries to get to the end to find any survivors, but he only finds a large canine like monster thinking it was a crude trap. Afterwards he finds a Experiment Log Book, detailing the research of a man named Raymond trying to become God[13], as it goes on to explain that he needed 'cooperation' from the people of Isene to his project, which was made easier thanks to how isolated it was from the rest of the world. At the end of the log, Potemkin finds out that he's in the Wind Tower finishing his research to become a god.[13]
After surviving what seems to be a volcano explosion with the help of a friendly mount beast, Potemkin arrives at the Wind Tower, there finding more of the transformed villagers and dispatching them quickly. On his way to the top, Potemkin finds Jam Kuradoberi being surrounded by beasts, as he was about to question what she was doing in the island, she calls him Pumpkin Pumpster[13], which just leaves him confused if it was a metaphor. Before he questions more, the two deal with the beasts surrounding Jam as he asks one more time, though she hesitates explaining, Potemkin just says that she might have her reasons and won't force her to answer, as he moves on forward with his mission, all while Jam quietly says that if she said that she got there by falling through a hole, it would be too embarrassing.[13]
Fighting another horde of monsters on his way to the top, he finally finds Raymond who was expecting the soldier to arrive, so much so that he knows his Slave number 4595605381[13], along with knowing about their coup d' etat that he and Gabriel pulled to liberate Zepp from it's tyranical leaders. Potemkin is straight forward and tells him to turn himself for all his crimes, saying he would not hesitate to use deadly force & if Raymond didn't he would go to hell. But right when Potemkin was about to capture him, Raymond summons a portal to the Otherworld saying his research is almost complete, while summoning another one of the monsters to try to stop Potemkin. After beating them, he takes a calculated risk and jumps into the portal.[13]
As he arrives into the Otherworld, Potemkin exclaims with the place not agreeing with him, as he finds Raymond standing in front of Inus, the king of the Otherworld. As Potemkin was about to imprison him, Raymond is eaten alive by Inus who Potemkin has to fight, as it says that anyone that disturbs it's rest will go to hell. After defeating the king of the Otherworld, Raymond reappears in his new form, with his research being complete as he took over the powers of Inus, something that could exceed the powers of the Gears, so he used monsters from the Otherworld to fuse with humans, though the immense power makes it impossible to maintain their identity, which is why none of the beasts Potemkin fought during the mission would respond to him. So Raymond found out that he could take over with his own identity by killing the monster's, mainting his own and transforming him into the new King of the Underworld. Potemkin exclaims angry at him for playing with the souls of the villagers and creatures from the Otherworld. Though right as he tries to apprehend him, Raymond uses his powers to teleport the two to his castle, where he calls Potemkin his first 'guest'.[13]
After going through a long gauntlet, Potemkin finally arrives at Raymond's new throne room, telling him to finish his prayers and to prepare to die, as Raymond goes on to rant about how there was no god, only him, mentioning how after 100 years of holy wars, the world seeks peace again, though it was over in the surface, the holy wars still continue in the darkness, as they need a powerful force to save them from said darkness. Though Potemkin interrupts him angered by his words, saying the magnitude of the collateral damage he caused, with so many lives lost. To Raymond such a great feat came at a great cost, as Potemkin was about to strike him, Raymond speaks once more about how there was a man who preached Justice, only for it to collapse like a house of cards, unable to cast light upon the darkness and how the one suited to rule over the world is not justice but the judge, for his name was Judgement.[13]
When Potemkin is finally able to defeat Judgement, he says how worthless he was, thinking he acquired absolute power, not realizing that when he killed Inus the body would not survive without it's true master. As Raymond lies on the floor begging for Potemkin's help, not accepting his mistake, Potemkin takes out his limiter and calls him a fool, only for Raymond to be disintegrated and taken by said powers. As the castle starts to rumble, Potemkin quickly walks out evacuating the castle.As he gets out, he finds Chipp watching him while he prepares to get out of the island, asking him for a quick duel, though at first he hesitates, Potemkin decides to go for it anyway.[13]
Guilty Gear XX Λ Core Plus
Potemkin is tasked with investigating the P.W.A.B. and if necessary, destroy it. On his mission he meets Baiken who requests information on the P.W.A.B., though he speaks about not wanting to fight her & says she would get her information in one way or another, as he beats her he tells her to not worry and that he would deal with such a threat. As he sneaks into one of their facilities, he's spotted by a Robo-Ky who for a moment expected it was going to be his new wife. After beating the Robo-Ky, Potemkin has two options to either get out or continue investigating, which will lead to the two different paths.[14]
In Path A he gets out of the P.W.A.B. base before anything happens, only to stumble upon Sol Badguy who tells him to tell any information about the P.W.A.B., though Potemkin refuses saying it was classified information, saying he knows that Sol won't give up so easily, knowing the would have to fight. Upon defeating Sol, he tells him to not worry as Zepp would take care of them, as Sol just walks off. Then he stumbles upon A.B.A, as she asks if he's from Zepp which Potemkin responds yes and asks about her, though he seems a bit weary about the woman and her key which she calls her husband, he asks the two to come with him but Paracelsus change form and attacks. After defeating them, Potemkin finds out why A.B.A was trying to find him, asking for help to get Paracelsus a body, though he refuses the request. Ultimately Potemkin escorts them both back towards Zepp's Laboratories.[14]
As Potemkin was about to go back to his investigation, Bridget stops him and comes to him with the request to train Zepp soldier. At first Potemkin looks confused but is quickly reminded of it, as Potemkin summons the troops to watch them fight. After the battle, Potemkin thanks Bridget for the training, as he gives her a check for the financial department to get her compensation. Right when he was about to continue his investigation, Potemkin is stopped once again, this time by Chipp as he claims he wants to become the next president of Zepp, wanting to get Potemkin into his side for the next election, which Potemkin chuckles and tests him to see if he has what it takes to be a president.[14]
After defeating Chipp with a instant kill, Potemkin asks him why he even wants to become a president, which Chipp responds by saying 'to fight the good fight', such words made Potemkin offer a position in the presidential guard, saying that Gabriel is the kind of man who'd do anything for good of others and that if he won the people's respect as a presidential guard, his election would be much easier. Chipp finally gets it as he takes the offer and becomes a presidential guard. From that day, they became known as "Chipp the Skilled" and "Potemkin the Powerful", becoming legends in the nation of Zepp.[14]
Path B Potemkin continues on with his investigation of the facility, only to find that Crow found him & has the place was explode. He is saved by Faust last minute, as he thanks the doctor for his work only to be stopped by him saying he needed rest, forcing his hand as the two fought each other. Upon defeating Faust, he mentions his wounds beginning to heal, only to be found by I-No who tries to tease him. Then he tries to imprison her for her crimes, only for her to cast a spell while saying she'd rather die then follow him. Afterwards he regrets letting her get away, only to stumble upon Venom who Potemkin recognizes from the Assassin's Guild, as Venom tries to recruit the giant to join which Potemkin declines and defeats him.
Upon stumbling into another branch of the P.W.A.B., Potemkin finally meets Crow the division chief, as he was about to apprehend him using his force, Potemkin is quickly stopped by Crow's latest creation, a copy of Justice.[14]
If Potemkin defeats her with a Instant Kill, Crow mentions how he was surprised but not really, as Potemkin explains how he is next}. Should Justice be defeated normally, Potemkin questions the lack of challenge, while Crow mentions her being just a prototype, though right when the giant was about to imprison him, Crow mentions how he sent quite a few groups of Robo-Ky to Zepp, as Potemkin quickly rushes out of the base to try to save Gabriel, hoping he was safe.[14]
He arrives at Zepp, only to see that Slayer has dealt with them, with him saying that Gabriel was safe, though he wasn't exactly satisfied and would rather fight a human opponent. Potemkin defeats Slayer & time passes forward as we see Gabriel in a speech, speaking about how the horrible war was and how important peace is, only for Potemkin to feel that something wasn't right & find out that a Robo-Ky was trying to snipe the president. Potemkin rushes over & takes the bullet, dying in the process & sacrificing himself for the president. A bronze statue would be built in his honor, with it's base covered in flowers.[14]
Given the events of the Guilty Gear Xrd series, neither of his endings can be considered canonical, as Potemkin is still alive and Chipp has his own country, though there's a possibility for Chipp being a presidential guard & leaving before the events of Xrd -Sign-.
Guilty Gear Xrd
In 2187, Potemkin and Gabriel are going over Ramlethal Valentine's status and are considering allying with the United Nations before any kind of confrontation, but first, Potemkin is ordered to scout the area and report back.
He encounters Bedman, who is charged with keeping Potemkin away from Ramlethal. After Bedman's "defeat", Potemkin realizes he's been stuck in Bedman's dream world for three days. When he escapes, he is confronted by Ramlethal, who has already put her plan into action. Potemkin defeats her, but the Cradle's been activated. Potemkin laments and wishes he could do something.[15]
Potemkin makes a brief appearance towards the end of Chapter 5, where he is interrogating Bedman in one of Zepp's holding cells. However, as Bedman is asleep, the endeavor is fruitless before he teleports away.[16]
In the week after, Potemkin is assigned to investigate the Conclave's old hideout: the Opera House. Gabriel senses that Potemkin has lost his ambition, and offers some parting words about being a first rate soldier. He faces off with himself, trying to clear his mind and learning to trust himself more. Then Potemkin runs into Ky Kiske at the Opera House, surprised that the king has came alone. Ky needs a testimony from Zepp's scientists regarding the Opus along with Zepp's assistance. Potemkin challenges him to a fight, saying he needs to know something himself.
After the fight, Potemkin reveals that he questioned the limits of his strength after his fight with Bedman. Ky disagrees, and Potemkin admits to overthinking things. Ky is glad that Potemkin came, and says they need hope in the face of an unknown force, which could be achieved by their countries joining forces. Potemkin and Ky shake hands and agree to become that unwavering force of hope. They find Chipp, who thinks the Universal Will may actually be human.[17]
Later Potemkin takes part in the battle to defend the the capital of The United Kingdoms of Illyria, which has been attacked by massive anti-matter Gears and the Phalanx. He works in tandem with Chipp and helps clear a path for Faust, whose injections will prevent the Gears from exploding. The crisis ends when the group attacking Ariels defeat her and Justice is fused with Jack-O' Valentine.[18]
Guilty Gear -Strive-
When the White House is invaded by Happy Chaos and he activates its aerial Tír na nÓg mode, Gabriel contacts Potemkin to help Sol, Vernon, Asuka, and Giovanna. Meanwhile Daryl was able to convince Chaos to set him and the rest of world's leaders (barring Vernon) free from the white house as it was becoming a battle field. Upon his arrival with the newest Magic & Black Tech hyprid mech Vidia [19], Potemkin helps to stop the White House from flying straight to Old Mexico, saving it as Sol, Vernon and Asuka were able to get Chaos off the White House.
Just as Ky and Jack-O' arrive, Asuka removes the flames of corruption from sol reverting him to a regular gear[20], Potemkin patrols from the top of White House airship, however when an injured Giovanna arrives the allies are too late to realize that the "Chaos" they last saw was in fact a high-ranked officer Stryper, while the real Chaos is still inside the White House and had been disguised as new agent Udos after stealing his jacket. Chaos reveals the Tome of Origin had been fused with Asuka, and uses it to fuse himself with I-No, transporting her to the White House under her now godlike-state. Potemkin, Giovanna and Frederick ignore Asuka's warning to avoid engaging in combat, and are swiftly defeated. Although Frederick with the help from Vernon and Nagoriyuki, is able to recover and help Ky, Axl, Asuka and Jack-O' win against I-No.[21]
In the credits scene, Potemkin is seen saluting Gabriel, showing that he survived the events of Strive.
Abilities
Due to a unique genetic mutation, Potemkin possesses extraordinary durability, strength and power. Throughout the series he never exhibits his full strength thanks to a limiter-collar placed upon his body during his slavery. The only time he disengages the limiter is during his Instant Kill Giganteer Bullet, in which both the Gauntlet and Limiter explodes and he one shots his opponent with one punch. It has been stated in the Guilty Gear 10th Memorial Book that as Potemkin's strength continues to grow, he would eventually have to equip a special limiter that would constrain his entire body in order to regulate his power. Potemkin mentions in Bridget's story mode of Dust Strikers that he was born mutated, not much is known about said mutation.
Even with the limiter, with his giant frame and mastery of Zepp-style martial arts , his sheer battle power is comparable to that of an entire ground-based army division and "has been compared to a storm that can demolish mountains", according to his P.W.A.B. report. He is capable of descending from Zepp to ground-level without injury, and is capable of throwing Gears the size of large buildings with relative ease, as shown in -Revelator-. He has been personally mentored by President Gabriel, who in terms of battle prowess is on par with the likes of Slayer.
Along with that, Potemkin is possibly the only character in the Guilty Gear series to not use any sort of Magic, possibly explaining why during the games he doesn't have a air dash with him, with the exception of his Guilty Gear X Advance Edition EX version, Guilty Gear Judgment and his Gold form in the XX games, mostly relying on both his fighting technique and his Black tech gauntlets. The latter during Guilty Gear X and forward being able to create energy shields, enhance certain techniques like Potemkin Buster and Giganteer Bullet by creating a burning red and blue aura and using large artillery like bullets for using techniques like Heat Knuckle and Judge Gauntlet. After Potemkin gets redesigned in Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- his new uniform and gauntlets not only act as bigger limiters to his strength but also allows him to use new techniques like Trishula, along with some like Giganteer being completely redesign to come mostly from the uniform then the Gauntlet itself.
In terms of gameplay, Potemkin has high defense and is able to deal damage in great proportions whenever he is able to use his signature move, the Potemkin Buster. He is a grappler that works best in close range to the opponent, having a good range and a variety of throws at his disposal, but has poor mobility. In the original Guilty Gear, he cannot dash. After Guilty Gear X along with a complete redesign of most of his normals, he gains some of his most staple techniques, including both Heavenly Potemkin Buster and Hammerfall, both of which allowed him to get a lot more movement and anti air then most grapplers, along with Giganteer and Giganteer Bullet, giving him some more defensive options. During Guilty Gear XX he also gains F.D.B. allowing him to flick projectiles which, during the XX era, would affect anything that could be considered a projectile including supers and certain normals. Slash also gave him Judge Gauntlet which was a special where he would remain still but have infinite armor to hit back the opponent, during Accent Core it turned into a ability that required Tension, along with a new special called Air Potemkin Buster.
Music
- In Slave's Glory - Guilty Gear
- Burly Heart - Guilty Gear X
- Burly Heart II - Guilty Gear XX
- Megatona Furioso - Guilty Gear XX ♯Reload Korean OST
- Riches in Me - Guilty Gear ISUKA
- Engage - Guilty Gear Xrd
- Armor-clad Faith - Guilty Gear -Strive-
Quotes
Allusions
- His name was inspired by the Russian battleship initially named Kniaz Potemkin Tavricheskiy, famous for a 1905 mutiny considered to be the first step for the Russian Revolution of 1917. Potemkin (Потёмкин, Potyomkin) is a Russian surname derived from Потёмка meaning "darkness".
- His Hammer Fall attack may be a reference to the band HammerFall, or Queen's "Hammer To Fall".
- His "Burly Heart" theme may be inspired by "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin, "Wake Up" by Rage Against the Machine, or "Hold the Line" by Toto.
- Potemkin's Heat Knuckle and Heat Extend may be homage to Domon Kasshu's Erupting Burning Finger and Heat End techniques from G Gundam.
- His Gigant Bullet super is extremely similar to GaoGaiGar's Hell & Heaven finishing move.
- The Potemkin Buster may be a reference to the Kinniku Buster from Kinnikuman.
- It is referred to as his "48th Secret Art" (48の必殺技), a term used to describe Kinnikuman's moves.
- When hit by Bone-Crushing Excitement, Potemkin exclaims the name of one of three painters; Van Gogh, da Vinci, and Picasso, as an allusion to his hobby of art.
- His Trishula move in Xrd refers to the trishula trident, a divine symbol in Hinduism and a weapon used by the god Shiva.
- His Garuda Impact move in Strive is named after the Hindu demigod Garuda.
- His jawline in Xrd onwards is similar to that of Dix-Neuf from Top o Nerae! 2: DieBuster.
Trivia
- His Guilty Gear X & XX series fighting stance is animated to the tune of "Burly Heart".
- Potemkin and Faust share the same Japanese voice actor, Takashi Kondo.
- Faust's What Could This Be? and its Overdrive version involve Faust dropping small-sized dolls of some characters. Potemkin is one of these characters.[22]
- During early development, F.D.B stood for 'Faultess Defense Breaker', and was originally a tool to deal with Faultless Defense, and only later changed to be an anti-projectile move.[23]
- In Guilty Gear Xrd, Potemkin's throw is based on his alternate throw from the original Guilty Gear, which was performed identically to a normal throw but with
instead of 
. - A costume based on Potemkin's Strive look, belonging to Bruiser Khang (Mighty Kongman in Japan), appears in Tales of the Rays. It gives him access to Potemkin's attacks as artes, in which Potemkin Buster is renamed "Kongman Buster".
- Potemkin has made a guest appearance in the game Code Shifter.
- Daisuke Ishiwatari comments in one of his art of Potemkin that he wished he originally made him a robot, thanks to how rather difficult it was to draw him. This is possibly why he had such a redesign in Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, along with a lot of character winquotes agaisnt him mentioning him looking like a robot.
- Pre-release articles for Guilty Gear show an initial concept for Potemkin that is very different from the final version.[24]
- Instead of being a slave in Zepp, he was a Russian warrior from the prestigious Hansen family.
- His motivation for entering the tournament was that he was so strong that he could not find a worthy rival.
- He wielded an axe called "Dreadnought".
- He is not quite as large, at 197 cm tall and 123 kg, indicating that he didn't have his genetic mutation.
- He was 34 years old and his blood type was B (instead of O).
Gallery
External links
- ポチョムキン | キャラクター | GUILTY GEAR Xrd REV 2 AC版公式サイト
- POTEMKIN | CHARACTER | GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- | ARC SYSTEM WORKS
- GGACR/ - GGXRD-R2/ - GGST/Potemkin at Dustloop Wiki
Notes
- In the Guilty Gear X and Guilty Gear XX series of games, Potemkin is a rare oponent in most story modes, only appearing in a few and usually only fighting someone by either mistake or to try to continue his mission, either be protecting Dizzy or investigating the PWAB.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Library Mode
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Potemkin/Quotes
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Guilty Gear 10th Memorial Book
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Guilty Gear X Plus Script Potemkin
- ↑ Guilty Gear Dust Strikers script
- ↑ Guilty Gear XX script
- ↑ Guilty_Gear_Xrd_-Revelator-_script/Episode
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Guilty Gear Complete Bible
- ↑ Guilty Gear Series Story Digest Comics Chapter 3
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Guilty Gear script Potemkin
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Guilty Gear XX script Potemkin
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Guilty Gear Dust Strikers script Potemkin
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 Guilty Gear Judgment script#Potemkin
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 Guilty Gear XX Λ Core Plus script#Potemkin
- ↑ Guilty_Gear_Xrd_-Sign-_script/Arcade#Potemkin
- ↑ Guilty_Gear_Xrd_-Sign-_script
- ↑ Guilty_Gear_Xrd_-Revelator-_script/Episode
- ↑ Guilty_Gear_Xrd_-Revelator-_script
- ↑ Guilty Gear -Strive- script#Myth
- ↑ Guilty Gear -Strive- script#Conclusion
- ↑ Guilty Gear -Strive- script#Strive
- ↑ What Could This Be?
- ↑ http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~kokuyume/IMAGE2/CARNIVAL.htm
- ↑ https://www.fightersgeneration.com/news1/gg-july21.htm