BEST OSTs SO FAR!! | First time reaction to GUILTY GEAR STRIVE OSTs (Character themes) 

"Isn't her weapon a key?" The term you are looking for is "husband".

I fucking love Potemkin - a slave, a soldier, a revolutionary, a gentle giant that wants nothing more than peace but knows that his country needs his strength and so he continues to fight for what he believes is right.

Brief explanation about A.B.A: She is a homunculus that got obsessed with keys because they are a symbol of freedom for her, then she found the giant key, which is a demonic axe called Paracelsus, and got in love with it. Now she is utterly obsessed with Paracelsus and only wants his company and acts violently with other people who approach him out of jealousy, and Paracelsus is just trying to get her to open up to the world and help her because she is quite mentally unstable

There's a common trope in Fighting Games that the grappler characters (like Potemkin) are disliked by players for the gameplay (at least on the receiving end lol), but are generally really nice people in the lore. Potemkin is that a 100%, but you'll find examples of this in pretty much every FG franchise.

Aba's theme is my favorite 😄 Symphony is what got me into Gulity Gear

Backstory on A.B.A and her "weapon", for those curious: The key is called "Paracelsus", tho his original name is Flament Nagel. Flament Nagel is a type of being called a Magical Foci, which is usually an object that has been imbued with strong emotional power and come to life- In his case, he was an axe imbued with the desire to kill. During a 100 year long war that occured in the Guilty Gear world, he brainwashed anyone who wielded him and made them fight to death on the battlefield, to sate his thirst for blood. However, he was eventually defeated and left for dead, all alone in the wasteland for years. Meanwhile- A.B.A is a homunculus, an artifically created human. She was the mangum opus of her creator, an alchemist living alone in a secluded manor called Frasco. But, just before he could "finish" A.B.A he was drafted into the war effort for his talents. As a result, A.B.A woke up completely alone and "incomplete". Since she was frightened of the outside world, she stayed within the manor for the first 10 years of her life, in complete isolation. It became a hobby of hers to collect keys, as she loved their shape, and they symbolized freedom to her. Eventually, she decided to venture out after all, and soon came across the remains of Flament Nagel. Since his shape reminded her of a key, she became immediately enarmored with him, and he used this to make her feed him her blood, so that he could regain his strength. Since he was the first person she ever really talked to, A.B.A became so infatuated with him, she decided to make him her "husband", and renamed him "Paracelsus" to fit her taste. Ever since then, the two have been travelling together, with A.B.A's initial goal being to find a way to turn Paracelsus into a human, so that they could be a "proper" couple. Paracelsus on the other hand, slowly seemed to mellow out from his bloodthirst by spending time with her, even if her way of treating him distressed him, too. That's the basic idea of their background- Guilty Gear Strive has us revisit the two of them 6 in-universe years after their last appearance, and gives is a look at how their dynamic has changed since then 🤔

Guilty Gear's lore is infamously deep(especially since the series has been around since the 90s), so if you're looking into learning about the lore I recommend WoolieVersus's, "Guilty Gear Lore: Heaven or Hell" series which covers everything that happens from the start until right before Strive. It's well edited and weaves in story cutscenes/more of the series' iconic music during his explanations.

abas a bit of a crazy charecter that's 1st interaction after being born as a lab experiment alone in a mansion for 10 years is a key she found and grew attached to obsessively. shes a homunculus. a mixture of alchemy. the key is a demon axe that manipulated her for years using her inhuman strength to its advantage until recently both of them coming to a mutual understanding of each other. anyway you nailed it

Potemkin has a really sad backstory where he was a slave under the Independent State of Zepp (think if India relocated their population onto a massive air ship) and was enlisted to fight in a tournament for his freedom against the main Guilty Gear cast. He didn't win but the lessons he learned led to him and his best friend Gabriel to perform a coup on Zepp, dethroning the leaders and refounding the nation on democratic principles with Gabriel in charge. Potemkin then works as a soldier under Gabriel to help protect the nation and stop threats to the world. The song is basically a cruel talking down of the prior leadership and their abuse of the people while Potemkin grapples with being seen as nothing but a clown with aspirations too grand to make reality, but knowing he needed to do something to protect the people.

So for ABA, you might have noticed the amount of hype for her release around social media. She’s definitely a fan favorite for both her design and her playstyle (she’s a very balls-to-the-wall character who relies on “turning on” and getting into a specific mode, where she can get to the Cannon part of her Glass Cannon playstyle). As for her story, she’s a homunculus created by the scientist Paracelsus. She was abandoned soon after, left to live in the lab. But, she had one solace in her lonely life: collecting keys. It was a sort of obsession of hers, as they represented her freedom, and she would even leave the lab sometimes to come back with keys, never straying far from the safety of that lab. But, in a twist of fate, she found the demon key, a magic weapon possessed by a blood-hungry demon. Love at first sight. She named it Paracelsus, after her creator, and fled the lab at last in order to find a human body for her new soon-to-be husband. In strive it’s revealed that her jealousy is changing and morphing Paracelsus’ form, and they have a nice talk about it and how Paracelsus is perfectly fine with it, as long as she makes an effort to change for his sake.

LIVE BRIDGE REACTION

The thing about guilty gear is that every theme perfectly fits who the character is, their lore and personality as a whole. It’s really fun to analyze the songs and it’s fun to listen to them too.

Actually Potemkin is 100% human, his earlier game designs shows that. His massive figure and strength is due to the years of slavery that he endured before his friend Gabriel freed the country of Zepp from the dictatorship that ruled the nation. It is heavily suggested that Gabriel is even stronger than him, he fought against Bedman and damaged his bed which is supposed to be nearly unbreakable.

strive theme reactions are my guilty pleasure and yours are definitely some of the best out there

Been listening to Town Inside Me ever since it came up randomly in a ska playlist and it's become a very important song to me personally and I'm glad it came out of nowhere

How about everyone's favorite cowboy samurai pirate aka Johnny. You could also do the genius that's also a bumbling idiot (Asuka).

One that I can definitely recommend is Johnny theme “just lean”

The thing I love the most about Bridget's song is that every iteration of the chorus is louder, stronger, until it becomes an entire parade. So yeah, she finds her light (by painting the grey sky herself) and she can feel the warmth "even when the sun goes down".

Idk if anyones said it yet but since you're interested in the lore, i definitely recommend the Woolie versus series on it, as its one of the most cohesive ways to learn the lore

The "I taste like vegetables I don't like" is such an amazing way of describing gender dysphoria😭 I really like that you're not just reacting, you're saying what you think the character is like and what you understood, and most of the time you're (kinda) right!

Ok, haven’t finished, but here’s all three backstory: Potemkin: A slave soldier from the city of Zepp, (a sky city) he led a rebellion to free the citizens from their leaders. The silly clown line references how people viewed him: a fool who tried to do something impossible, not a hero. Bridget: born into a family with twins, had to pretend to be female because it’s bad luck to have twins where she comes from. Later down the line she try’s to go back to her original male gender, but she ended up realising that her female side suits her more. The song might be referencing the town inside her- a place of happiness, that clashes with her depressing reality. And finally, my personal favourite of the 3, A.B.A: She’s a homoculus, a sort of robot, not a gear, think a cyborg but more human, all we really know is that, she’s in love with her key, Paracelus, this key is actually a demonic battle axe, and she’s still figuring out most things in the world, hence why her theme is similar to necessary discrepancy. (Sorry to the lore nerds if I got anything wrong)

You really souls react to Hellfire from this game pleaaaaaase is fire, depresed fire

Symphony will not get out of my head, it's such a big ear worm.

A.B.As theme can be read a bunch of ways, but my read is a bit of a meta contextual one. ABA debuted in Guilty Gear Isuka, which is a 'canon' spin-off game that used to be viewed as semi-canon. Daisuke Ishiwatari (the creator of the series) did not conceptualize her design or her story, but she has still been included in the GGX games and now Strive, solidifying Isuka as canon (though not all that important compared to the other games). Symphony's theme about not fitting in but still making a difference and her being a "quirky note in the symphony" reflects how she wasn't made by the creator but he still decided to include her because she adds a unique flavor to his universe.

YO MY 2 FAVORITE GIRLS!

I like the fact that Briget's song lyrics is both a metaphor of her journey in mindset, and ALSO her backstory. For Potemkin, I like that how his theme's lyric is mostly the same, but slowly change as he his doubt of his worth, and right on the last verse where he finally have the resolve that "I am worthless, but I will stay faithful in my way".

I'm not good at fighitng games, but Aba is my current favorite charcater I never fully dissected the lyrics, but I really like how Aba's theme changed the I to we like you mentioned. It could have gone the route of together they make their own symphony, but instead of being about fitting in your own way or the idea that there is no "normal, it reads more like both of them being comfortable as an outcast apart from the norm. It's a minor difference but it's one I like.

It’s always a treat when you upload these reactions! I’ll also suggest a few of my personal favorites such as: The Gravity ( Asuka theme ) Like a Weed, naturally, as a matter of course ( Testament theme ) Requiem ( I-No theme )

Aba 's theme is the most emotive song, apart of The Circle and Let Me Cave your Way... It makes me feel identificated

Ah it's good to see more reactions to SymphoPEAK

Just cause I can't not over explain everything with this when you make guesses. XD On Potemkin: You got the pronunciation of his name right the first time, so worries there. ;p As for the guess on his character, you were half right! Potemkin was a slave soldier starting out, and eventually rallied together a revolution for the people of the nation he was a slave in, and won the fight to liberate his people and nation from it's more tyrannical rule, effectively making him into a hero toward the people he fought for. In terms of his song and what it's hinting at, he quietly has self doubts about what he's achieved, questioning if everything he's done will have a lasting impact or even have meaning after he's gone, and frequently will push those doubts out of his mind by just telling himself that he needs to have faith in the people that he fought so hard to liberate and that after he's gone, future generations will continue to uphold the freedoms and values he helped bring to them. Also, literally everyone in Guilty Gear isn't sure if he's become some kind of robot over the years, but enough of him is clearly machine like enough you could at least assume he's become some kind of cyborg. =p On trans-icon Bridget that everyone is gay for: You pretty much hit the nail on the head here, 100% She was raised in a village where having twins was considered a bad omen, and when ever that were to happen, one of the twins in this village would be either killed, or given away to outsiders. So then Bridget was born the twin brother in one of the families of this village, her parents decided that instead of killing or getting rid of one of their sons, they'd simply fool the rest of the village by raising one of them as a girl. This of course, was Bridget. She sort of resented the idea that the only reason she was raised the way she was is because she would be seen as a bad omen otherwise, so she set out on her own to prove that she wasn't some kind of jinx or omen, by becoming a famous bounty hunter and bringing her earnings back to her village to give to the people... and she succeeded! She eventually became one of the best bounty hunters in the world to the point she even had celebrity status, but still felt like something was... wrong. So by the point of Strive, we basically have Bridget coming to terms with and accepting who she is! On A.B.A.: To start with... yes, her name is pronounced "Abba", so you were right on the first guess. ;p You also were pretty much right on the money with ABA as well, which honestly there isn't THAT much behind her backstory to begin with. Our darling ABA is 100% an artificial lifeform, a homunculus even. She LOOKS Human... but if the key going through her head wasn't enough of a hint to that, she very much isn't, and she spent most of her life living by herself in isolation from the rest of the world until the day she found Paracelcus, a cursed battle axe that had the form of a giant key... and was also sentient. ABA of course, immediately fell in love with Paracelcus and started carrying him around everywhere she went, eventually started to call him her husband. Starting out, Paracelcus used this as a way to goad ABA into getting into fights to satisfy his desire for destruction and blood while ABA on the other hand wanted to find a way to give Paracelcus a Human body. She never succeeded in finding him a body, and Paracelcus after a while started to think that using ABA for his own ends was wrong, given how utterly devoted she was to him... a little TOO devoted. ABA continued to get into fights on Paracelcus' behalf, but not because he was goading her anymore, but because she was so jealously in love with him she was convinced anyone they came across would try to take him away from her (which is where events in Strive begin). After a while though, Paracelcus is eventually able to calm ABA down enough to get her to actually listen to him, and the two finally reconcile their issues with each other and decide that if they're going to be partners with each other, to "meet the other half-way".

So the funny thing is Bridget’s story is a little wierd concerning gender. Bridget born male was raised female due a wierd town superstition. So he went out to prove boy twins aren’t cursed . But during the journey realized that he really was more comfortable living as a girl.

Bridget's backstory is interesting, and also a long-time source of controversy. When Bridget was first introduced, she was self-described boy who had a twin brother. This was a problem, as there was a superstition in her home town about male twins being bad luck, so she was raised as a girl by her parents and eventually became a bounty hunter to try to prove she wasn't bad luck. It wasn't until Strive that she came out as trans, though, and as you can imagine there was some... controversy... about the announcement (if you've been on the internet long enough, you can probably imagine how that broke down). Interestingly, however, she is not the only non-cisgender character on the roster. Testament is non-binary, which itself was noteworthy at the time (but Bridget's announcement kind of eclipsed that).

22:19 this section of Symphony is actually a reference to her old theme "Keep in Gates". Fun fact her Key is a demon inhabiting a "battleaxe" his name is Paracelsius, A.B.A. insists on Paracelsius being her Husband. orriginally Paracelsius saw their relationship as purely beneficial A.B.A. gets her husband and Paracelsius got a weilder wich he can use to fullfill his demonic bloodlust, but over time he developed genuine affection for her. Their relationship was a bit weird due to A.B.A.'s extreme obsessiveness and jelousy aswell as Paracelsius's alterior motives. At the end of their Arcade mode they have a genuine talk about their relationship agreeing that it hasnt allways been the best but that theyll work on it. As a show of their love Paracelsius changes his color to sky blue, A.B.A.'s favorite, pretty wholesome imo.

You are surprisingly good at deciphering characters. You may not get everything right for obvious reasons, but you get really close for so many of them. If you don't mind, I recommend The Gravity (Asuka's theme). It is my personal favorite out of the Guilty Gear Strive OST.

How does she keep doing this, spot on once again! Potemkin is a former slave and a revolutionary hero, who alongside the now-president Gabriel freed the airborne nation of Zepp and ended its systematic slavery. He is so huge because of a genetic defect, but despite his huge frame and fighting prowess, he is actually a very artistic person who writes poetry on his free time. His song is pretty much about what you said, he fights for peace, but also worries if he has done enough or not, will the freedom he fought for stay after he is gone, or will history remember him as an idealistic clown? Bridget is just as you said, the moment she accepts herself in her arcade story is so cute, though I do want to note that fighting games as a genre actually have a surprisingly great representation in regards to transgender characters. Poison from Street Fighter is a classic and Granblue Fantasy Versus even has two, Cagliostro and Ladiva. A.B.A is a homunculus, an artificial human born in a lonely lab after her creator was taken away. She started collecting keys, as they represented freedom for her, each unlocking new places in the lab. After finally deciding to leave the lab, she came across an ancient sentient war-axe, coincidentally in the shape of a giant key, whom she named Paracelsus. She is very obsessively in love with him and pretty paranoid of people taking him away, so much so that it has become suffocating to him. Her story in Strive is about realizing this and starting to actually build a healthy relationship with Paracelsus, because he does like her back too.

I would love to see you react to Perfection Can’t Please Me, The Gravity, and Just Lean! They are some of my favorite songs from Strive!

I find it incredible that you are able to decipher so many things correctly from the songs. I love it! If I had to recommend any songs for you to react, they would be: "Perfection can't please me", "Gravity" and "The kiss of death".

The ending of Town Inside Me still gets me teared up lol

If you like when GG goes into other styles, then you should check out Just Lean which is Johnny's theme. Also, for another classic GG song, Hellfire, which is Leo's, is really really good, and often overlooked for some reason

If you want some recs which ones to check out next, The Gravity (Theme of Asuka R#), Perfection Can't Please Me (theme of Jack-O Valentine), and What Do You Fight For (the theme for Nagoriyuki) are great. If you want some non-character themes, Crawl (boss theme), Talk About You (story mode credits) and Rock and Roll Rock Hard Maniac (DLC theme) are also great. And for some pre-Strive songs, Storyteller (a stage theme from Vastedge XT), Worthless As The Sun Above Clouds (Raven's theme in GG2: Overture) and Wanna Be Crazy (Opening of Xrd Revelator. If you do, why not also watch the opening in addition to listening to the full song?) are all well worth your time

Your read on ABA was pretty spot on!

Potemkin is one of my favorite characters, because at first glance at him as he is originally and his look in Xrd and Strive, it is easy to assume he is just a meathead soldier, but he is far from that - He is a former slave that got rescued by Gabriel (a resistance leader) who along with Potemkin's help, freed his nation and despite being a pacifist, agreed to become a super soldier for the sake of further protecting the peace of the newfound nation and the lives of his people and its future children. Also the reaction to the nail nipples is totally fair. Edit: I'd like to recommend checking out Rad Chad's "Guilty gear racism tier list" video, which is a half-joking exploration of the character lore for Guilty Gear characters (minus a few)

"How do we get better from here?" So a christian, a vampire and a final boss walked into a bar...

Would love to see you react to Rock Parade, Anji's theme. Not really as popular but it always hit a special cord in my heart.

Bridget and Aba's themes are AMAZING I'm so glad you got around to hearing them. Symphony was on loop a lot for me when it came out. I'm also SO excited for Slayer's theme omg

Focusing on more character themes, and maybe looking at the lore afterward sounds super fun! Id love to see more of that

We recently got the release date for the next DLC character, Slayer, coming May 30th, and based on what could be heard in the trailer I'm excited to hear his full theme

Hai! new viewer, but I wanted to say a little thing about Bridget being Trans and the FGC's relationship with LGBT reps in fighting games, from a Trans Girl ^-^ So, yes there is actually some other Trans representation in fighting games but it is *very* few and far in-between as in....I can personally think of 4 characters confirmed trans/Non-binary 2 of which are from Guilty Gear (and if there's more please correct me I need to know of more Trans/LGBT+ reps in my fighting games) and outside of 1 notable example I can think of, the character either recently been released/come from a newly released game such as Ladvia from GranBlue Fantasy VS (Yes I know GranBlue exists outside of GBVS but this is about Fighting Games specifically), or was an older character whose story arc took them this way and has recently come out as trans with Bridget. Testament is Non-binary as well and their theme constantly swaps male and female pronouns its super cool, The final character is actually Poison from Street Fighter/Final Fight. This has led to while the representation is pretty limited its also pretty varied, while yes they are all Women or gender non-conforming, Ladvia comes from a region where gender is entirely fluid and even though she's absolutely fuckin BUILT, she has a personality that she feels comfortable in and goes by she/her and everyone in the community and games respect that, she just feels better as a she/her. On the other side of the spectrum we have Poison, someone who has been Transgender I think since her first appearance and is very much a stereotype of like a dominatrix sorta deal with a whip and definitely ...female features, Confident, Bold, and VERY femme, she knows she's that bitch and flaunts it, and again its met with acceptance by its fans and the world she lives in. Bridget in comparison is constrained in design, wearing something I dubbed the "Gender Hiding Hoodie" to my friends...a common tactic for trans people to hide their torso either to hide what their assign gender at birth is or to make them feel more comfortable in even just looking at themselves because you can hide it behind the baggy hoodie and it makes shoulders look either thinner or broader based on how you wear it, but Bridget is also recent...as in only recently accepted that she feels more comfortable as a girl, and the band around her chest reads to me like a design decision to accentuate her chest. Which makes sense she hasn't been out for as long as Poison, but still is very femme so would want something *there* even if its not doing anything. Testament is weird, they look at the gender spectrum and go "Yea but...why? seems like bullshit" then just sips tea, they're great they're doing their own thing. Personally Bridget got released and I was already planning on playing her before she was released, I was going through stuff of my own in my personal life and only had very recently dealt with my own gender stuff, I wasn't able to actually purchase the dlc went it came out due to those life issues but when I saw that she was using she/her I was stoked! it helped me see myself in another even if it was only a fictional character, and actually helped me confront some of the Doubts I was having at the time. It can not be understated, Bridget helped me come to terms with accepting myself as trans, and the cherry on top the Guilty Gear fan-base was SUPER accepting of Bridget's new identity, which gave me a space to feel comfortable finally as well as the courage to come out to the remaining few friends I hadn't who I knew did play Guilty Gear. the FGC as a whole is sometimes a mixed bag when it comes to LGBT+ stuff, but often I've found that if someone is a Fighting Game player as in...actually cares about their performance and getting better, they do not care what you identify as and that's super cool coming from other gaming spaces into fighting games has done so much for my mental health beyond the personal goals I can set for myself and see myself improving at, which I can not say for other competitive games. Bridget's theme when it released, sure yea there were memes, but ultimately I think is perfectly labeled as "Dysphoria put into words" because ultimately when I listen to it Im reminded of the time I blamed Literally EVERYTHING else for why I didn't feel confident in my own skin, and why I hated looking in the mirror, Im just stressed clearly, Its the alarm clock noise, its the veggies I hate, its literally anything I can point to try and change and nothing sticks, some works better than others but Im still not physically here im dissociating, its...the town inside...but Im not there and I cant go home..., its the Me without me...and Im the one to blame, so you run you change what you can until FINALLY you accept yourself, and you start changing the things that matter. Its insane how well this song resonated with the Trans Community, it feels like they really...Truly got it..they understood the feeling they were trying to convey and nailed it with like the interments slowly getting added throughout it and finally it crescendos with the realization. Guilty Gear music is magical in that way. Bridget's story is so...real and personal to her, ultimately Strive does a lot of heavy lifting as its kinda easy for people to forget that she's been a side character in like...one other game and the manga, with a passing mention in another game, hell in strive she doesn't have story relevance at all either, but ultimately yea...its messy coming to that realization that you might be trans, its never a switch going like "oh! Im trans!" (maybe for some people but the majority of fellow trans people it wasnt) its messy you have doubt, you delay, you rationalize it away, until finally you go...maaaaybe Im trans. ***Story spoilers so skip this block of text if for some reason you dont wanna know*** I think alot of people Bridget is basically THE most successful bounty hunter we know of currently in the Guilty Gear Canon, to the point of breaking her own city's long held belief....but that still didn't make her happy, she made friends and even a life long companion over the journey and a little past that, but still Bridget didn't feel right in her own skin....so if its not success in your work that'll make you feel better...if its not having good friends who will stick with ya, or even someone who will always stick by your side....then....its something else, and she realizes...huh I feel better in the girl clothes, my hometown no longer wants me dead even with the superstition about twin boys..but I never stopped wearing the girl clothes....must be nothing! She even tries to explain it away to Goldlewis when they meet, and Gold, being the baller mf'er he is without missing a beat, provides advice seeing another lost soul. So He helps her out and when the topic of her gender comes up, he calls her cowgirl *corrects* himself back to cowboy because it was still up in the air, and she corrects him back saying that shes a girl, and Gold again corrects himself back to girl! its a great story, purely like "yea lets make you feel entirely comfortable because you deserve to" from both him and Ky. Honestly with the thing Ill bring up in the next block of text....Im honestly wondering if even the universe is like "yea the village curse didn't apply to Bridget because it wasn't twin boys it was a twin boy and girl!" (TLDR Bridget's hometown was rumored to be cursed and because of this curse thingy the villagers knew it only applied to twin boys so when twin boys were born they'd kill one, Bridget's family didn't want that to happen to her so they hide her Assigned birth gender) in which case I fear for Bridget's hometown in later stories, it'd absolutely be a great story beat to just have the universe be like "yea shes a girl, village is still cursed" and the towns people think the curse isn't real....and then twin boys REALLY get born and fuck some shit up. ***Ok done with story talk*** Last note, to anyone that says "Oh but they said Bridget's story hasn't changed and Bridget saying that HES gonna go by she/her is the bad ending" y'all are dumb, please go actually read the interview that y'all like to quote to much, cause I did, wanna know what it says? it says that Bridget is a girl, she goes by she/her, the story has not changed, there IS no bad or good ending, and "This was always the plan" in regards to her coming out as Trans, y'all just mad you got "baited" into thirsting for a trans girl. You had no problem calling Bridget a "trap" until you felt like it was ACTUALLY a sprung trap, now y'all mad that you were thirsting for a girl.... and not a boy, ...idk man that sounds pretty gay my dude. >w>

YESS love these vids from you

Symphony (and A.B.A herself) just won't leave my mind, and it's so nice to watch your reaction! Your guesses were pretty spot on honestly. I would recommend "Just Lean" and "Like a weed, naturally, as a matter of course". Yes, that's a title. Testament gets the longest title because they're that cool.

Youve got a great opportunity to react to the next character’s theme that comes out at the end of the month

On may 30th the next character is coming out I highly recommend you react to his theme when he comes out since besides the fact it’s gonna be a good song probally he’s already one of the most requested and hyped characters For a good reason

Seeing your reactions on these always puts a smile on my face. Personal recommendations for next time: "Hellfire", "Like a Weed, Naturally, as a Matter of Course", and "Perfection Can't Please Me".

WE ARE SO BACK!!!! Yet again, flexing your brain muscles more than any other breakdown videos on this site. Love how you consistently understand the undertones of each song and occasionally turn omniscient like with Bedman's theme. Also hey, I did some of the combos in the ABA video :D Excited to see more of these!!

Never thought of the nails on Potemkin as nipple until now lmao. Also, Potemkin is 100% man with only a helmet, pair of gauntlets and a pair of boots, the rest is just muscle.

-I would love for you to do a retrospective reaction to do actual character’s lore after the fact would be down to make a video abridging the characters stories/personalities for you because gg lore is pretty speratic so I would be down to help compile if your down🙏 -as for trans characters/lgbtq at large in the fighting game space they definitely do exist! But have a history of either being censored in the west/ or made to be butt of joke but recently they have been getting nothing but the love and respect they deserve. -Again would love for you to react to Like a weed as natural as a matter of course (testament theme), just lean (Johnny’s theme) and I think it would be cool for you to react to the theme song of strive smell of the game so you can have a sense about the game’s themes

"i dont fit to into this world. I just want to make a difference" - if you listen closely its Pink Floyds - Another Brick in the wall. "We dont need no...education". Daisuke Ishiwatari is a huge rock music nerd. so there alot of references to well known songs in the character themes. Sol Badguy it self is kinda Freddy Mercury.

Potemkin was once a slave of Zepp, an airship nation that was split from India to be a bastion of banned technology but threw away ethical concerns with that (A Black and Grey System Always Dressed To Impress), and he has freakishly incredible strength, but teamed up with his superior officer that had grown sick of Zepp's corruption when entered into the tournament of the first game to revolutionize Zepp into a democratic place. Zepp's past as a militaristic state still somewhat persists but it's also been greatly changed for the better, and Potemkin is now basically one of the top dogs of its military and a close friend of its president Gabriel (the aforementioned superior officer). Despite this, he's a mostly gentle soul that prefers the arts and detests violence, but finds himself in scenarios where fighting is a necessary step in making the world a better place and he refuses to not do everything in his power to better the world. In many ways, he's either achieved or near achieved enlightenment but can't completely rid himself of his worldly concerns cause he cares too much for his fellow man. Potemkin's theme, of course, reflects that. In the story of Strive, he once again finds himself trying to help the rest of the cast, this time in preventing the situation in the White House from escalating. Bridget hasn't appeared in quite a few games. Originally part of a pair of male twins, Bridget was hidden away and raised as a girl due to a superstition regarding same sex twins. Bridget got involved with the series plot in XX, having reached early adulthood and trying to set out as a bounty hunter to prove themself and dispel the superstition, make some money, and affirm their masculinity to do so and make their parents proud. By Strive, they've done all this, having dispelled the superstition and become a popular and successful bounty hunter... but isn't quite happy with the whole masculinity part. Bridget's storyline in Strive is her essentially getting advice from Goldlewis and Ky about what do to about feelings of not being authentic to herself and eventually making a breakthrough. I like how her theme repeatedly starts to ruminate and self reflect and then pulls back with an immature excuse before finally chipping away and hitting that breakthrough. Her design is also great, like, damn, the baggy dysphoria hoodie making her silhouette less body tight as well as covering the adams apple and back of the hands but still showing off legs? Daisuke nailed it That being said, Bridget isn't the series first trans character. Testament is X-Gender. A.B.A (pronounced Abba) is such a weird character. She debuted in a spinoff game, Guilty Gear Isuka, and was made by Mori Toshimichi (who would go on to make Blazblue). She's a homunculus with minimal connection to the series main lore, is obsessed with keys, and fights with a giant talking cursed battle ax named Paracelsus (well, actually Flament Nigel, but A.B.A likes the name SHE picked out better) that she has decided her husband and is looking for a human body to put in. Her entire gameplan is switching from being one of the worst characters when normal to being a monster when in a powered up mode. She used to use blood (whether it be blood bags, enemy's blood, or her own blood) to power Paracelsus up into Moroha mode, but now her powered up mode is her flying into a Jealous Rage. Paracelsus has steadily become more and more willing to be part of the relationship and has grown to care about A.B.A. They don't fit into the series world in quite a few ways. Their story in Strive is basically them acknowledging their relationship is kinda toxic and deciding to grow better.

Everyone thinks that Bridget is cute and all, but in the lore she is SCARY. Not only is she a bounty hunter, she is a SUCCESSFUL bounty hunter.

10:09 quite the opposite. FIghting game genre has one of the highest ratio of trans to non trans playable characters in game genres. Idk why, but I'm glad that's the case

The Bridget theme honestly makes me cry, it's so beautiful

i think those screws on his pecs are either power limiters or some sort of cooling mechanism

Aba and Bridget are my favs Guilty Gear Characters ever. Whey they got into the game, I went NUTS

omg i so wanna watch you watch a guilty gear lore video for each of the characters to see how much you got right

It would be cool if you like looked at the wiki after making your guess for each character. I'd totally like to see your reaction to the confirmed lore.

As an Anji main would love to see you react to Rock Parade

I love potemkin but I just barely noticed the screw nipples a bit before you said what you were laughing at. Now I can't unsee them.

Seeing someone with such little experience with Guilty Gear fall so in love with A.B.A makes me so dang happy they brought her back after so long. Before her release in Strive she was easily the most disconnected playable character from the plot, she's still probably up there but her getting this spotlight after so long is just so amazing, and man did they go ALL OUT with it, wrapping up her and Paracelsus's arc in their arcade mode, making THIS FRRAKING JAMMER OF AN ANTHEM, goddamn. Made me into a proper fan of the character and I now main her alongside Bridget, who was the character that got me to finally buy the game when she dropped, after being a distant admirer of the game since the betas. Both of these characters are pretty far in the background of the plot but that doesn't mean they aren't deep, complex and fully fleshed out and loveable characters. Symphony might be my favorite theme in Strive, maybe even my favorite in the series, and The Town Inside Me isn't terribly far behind altho probably not number 2 but idk. That emotional piano bit with the "that's why it's beautiful" during the climax into the most savage drums I've heard in my life makes my chest swell up. I love Guilty Gear.

If you decide to go through with learning about the character, there is a video titled What Does Each Strive Character Theme Mean? by GekkoSquirrel. Which discusses the lore of each character and delves into what each of their themes are about, that I would highly recommend.

Guilty Gear has quite a bit of LGBTQ+ representation outside of Bridget. There's Venom, the former leader of the Assassin's Guild now baker who loves Zato-1, there's Testament, a non-binary Gear who hated humanity, but grew to appreciate it more while looking after Dizzy, and then there's Baiken, whom is a tomboy / takes up more masculine mannerisms, but I am unsure if she properly counts.

I have two OST suggestions for you to try! Like a Weed, Naturally, as a Matter of Course - Testament’s Theme And Perfection Can’t Please Me - Jack-O’s theme

If you want to understand the meaning behind most of these songs, I highly recommend watching GekkoSquirrel's videos about Strive Character themes. He hasn't covered all of the songs yet, but I feel like he'll cover more once Slayer comes out, which will finish season 3 of Strive's DLC characters.

Bridget is genuinely one of the best examples of trans representation in fighting games- video games in GENERAL. Her story was that her town had a superstition that having twin boys would bring bad luck, so they had to be either exiled or killed. Having been born as a boy with a twin brother, her parents raised Bridget as a girl. In most of the games she's off doing her own thing, and is trying to make it as a bounty hunter to prove to the town that this superstition was false. She *did* do it, but in the events of Strive, she felt incredibly conflicted about her identity. In her arcade story, both Goldlewis (the big dude that swings around a coffin with ghosts in it) and Ky (the pretty boy king) run across her and help her decide what she wants with her life. It's genuinely heartwarming how this secret service agent and a literal anime protag king make time for this confused girl to help her be who she wants to be. Her design is also a callback to some of her previous appearances, where she dressed as a nun to appear more feminine. Although now it's only a slight resemblance, showing she's accepted the identity she once used to conceal, but is now far more free with herself. Bridget: "But what if I make the wrong decision?" Goldlewis: "You got your whole life ahead of you, kid. Gotta learn to take a hit sometime." Ky: "And there are helping hands right in front of you."

I really love all the music of Guilty Gear, but I often feel so left out that no one ever covers 'Hellfire', Leo's theme. I understand that it's not always the most interesting musically, but when it come to characterization it is by far the most meaningful. At least to those of us who have a very specific kind of trauma.

Damn is it that day of the month already? Oh btw new guilty gear character will drop at may 30th

Hope you give a listen to Testament, Jack-O, Chip and May’s themes next!

Let me say something now Potemkin’s theme is genuinely so deep and dark it’s actually so amazing to see how they show his character in this theme

Would love to see you reading the oficial lore after the guess.

A.b.a. in fact is a homunculus, she calls her axe paracelsus and treats him as her husband. She is very shy, but can be very jealous with her paracelsus. The organ part in the music is her original soundtrack from the game guilty gear accent core

I suggest for your next 3 Ky, Anji, and Slayer (or if u can't find slayer's yet then Johnny) All bangers

If you do decide to watch somebody dissecting these songs and their meanings, I suggest GekkoSquirrel. He takes a really good look at each one and, alongside his deep love for the characters and their lore, gives an honest opinion on what he believes each theme is trying to communicate.

Your take on aba just by her song and gameplay is pretty accurate damm

If you watch the story modes with these games, that alone is 14 hours of movie, AND that not even the complete story just recent events of the last few months in canon. There are a bunch of games a comic book, and a pachinko machine... and more

key husband

George there is a new limited banner in arknights for vivana (candle knight ) and another sankta

It's crazy how much you were able to get right about Bridget in your analysis of the song. Kudos.

Me after watching Woolieversus's guilty gear lore series wanting Potempkins CO Gabriel as a dlc with how unexpectedly hard he pops off out of nowhere when it was not expected. To put it bluntly, he beat Bedman's ass, a character so strong he beat Slayer ny surprising him, a hard feat considering Slayer is a vampire, which are god like powerful in guilty gear lore.

Congrats on nailing Potemkin! He’s one of my favorite characters, and he truly fights for what he believes is right. He’s a powerhouse with a strong sense of responsibility and honor, but also humility and pain through his story.

Bridget's character and theme has a lot of emotional value to me. Its not that there is not a lot of trans character fighters, there's just not a lot of trans characters in gaming in general. Bridget is beyond important as we see her come to the decision to live her life as a woman. She did exactly as she wanted and proved to her village that she wasn't a curse, that her birth wasn't a sign of misfortune. Yet, she still wasn't happy as a boy. It took the effort of two other characters to basically tell her that ignoring her feelings was a path to a very sad and hard life. To which she decides once and for all that yes, she is in fact a girl, and that she is happier as one. Bridget means so much to me as a trans woman that I have her forever cheering me on when I play. shes on my custom faceplate for my hitbox with her very famous quote "Cowgirl is fine! Because... I'm a girl!"

Woooo Bridget. Still can not get over the fact that between this game, street fighter And grand blue fantasy, fighting games are the best at giving us trans rep in games. So cool.

I recommend Johnny's Theme, Leo's theme and I-no's theme.

My only issue with how Bridget came out is the characters they chose to help her figure it out. I feel like there were a couple others who went through their own transitions or awakenings that could have fit better.

One of the better first time takes on Potemkin I've seen. It's always a shame when people see him and assume he'd be scary, or worse, evil (one guy I saw actually thought he was a Nazi of all things). In reality Potemkin is more like, "Hey, what if Gandhi was also a living superweapon?" He wants peace, and fought to free his country for it. Now his country remains a military state out of necessity and while he's saddened that the fighting continues, he remains their strongest soldier as a symbol of freedom. Bridget's a little more complicated. Her story starts as the second son of a pair of twins born in a isolated community. The community held a taboo that twins born of the same gender were a bad omen and if a pair were born, one would be killed or given to adoption. So, Bridget's parents announced her to be a girl at birth and had her raised as one. She never disliked their decision nor ever questioned being a girl, but her parents remained bereft with guilt for forcing this life on her. She decides to leave and make a successful living as a man to prove her town wrong and free her parents from hiding their secret. She succeeds, her town gives up their taboo, and her parents await the return of their son. She can't go back a man though, because she still feels like a woman. After another journey of self discovery and some insightful conversation with the supportive Ky Kiske and Goldlewis, she decides the more important thing is how she feels about herself. Is she feels like a woman, she should live as one. ABA I know less about. She's a homonculous who's obsessed with keys. She meets the demon axe Paracelcus and falls in love because he looks like a key. Her love is one-sided but now he wants the best for her and is trying to help her open up as her companion.

My favourite part of Aba's design is that her hair is made of copper, so it used to be copper in the previous games. But now that time has passed, her hair oxidized green (just like copper statues IRL).

Potemkin's story is a tragic one. Born into the nation of Zepp, a country in the series laying across our modern day russia and india, was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease that makes his body grow at uncontrollable rates. Due to this, he was forced into slavery as a hound for the system he deeply hates due to his strength and over all intimidating nature. When time came, he and a close friend of his, Gabriel, the mustached gentleman you can see in this video, with combined effort overthrew the Zeppian regime, taking controll of the entire nation, and freeing the slaves that Potemkin worked with. However Zepp didn't let go of their militaristic ways, the entire country is ran like a battalion, with Gabriel at the helm, and Potemkin as his closest advisor and right hand man. Everyone in Zepp knows at least something about being a soldier. Nowadays, with the world of guilty gear, Zepp is mostly at rest due to the complete demilitarization of the planet, and Potemkin spends most of his days training himself, recruits, or enjoying his favourite hobby of painting. Bridget is our resident topic of every month (for some ungodly reason still). Bridget story isn't as tragic, but still a bit of a heart jerker for people who have experienced this sort of thing. Bridget was born to a wealthy family in rural England, being one of two twin siblings, both boys. The village they lived in had a weird belief that if a family bore twins of the same sex it would bring misfortune to everyone around them. So as a way to protect their children, Bridget's parents dressed him as a girl, thought him as a girl and made him girly for most of his life. Somewhere around his late teenage years did Bridget ever leave home, becoming a bounty hunter to prove to his family how manly he can be. Only during Strive did she realise that maybe this whole "being a girl" thing was more up her valley than it had any right to be. So after a heartfelt conversation with Goldlewis and Ky did she, very loudly, proclaimed that she is a girl. My personal headcanon is that Faust just, magiced the penis away. Its something he would do. A.B.A is our current newcomer, returning from all the way from Guilty Gear Accent Core, she is a homunculus, an artifical human. Not short after her creation, her creator up and vanished (or died I don't really remember), leaving A.B.A all alone to wonder the manor grounds that served as her home and birthplace. During these lonely years she developed an insane fascination with keys and locks, fashioning her clothes with different keys she found around the manor. Only when she found a demonic axe stashed away in one of the hidden corners of the place did her insanity sky rocket. The axe, now taking the form of a gigantic key, she named Paracelsus, after the famed alchemist, much to his distaste for the name (oh yeah, the key is alive, btw, just throwing that out there). Now they roam the world as a weird, estranged couple, and A.B.A isn't afraid to bludgeon anyone to death with her beloved Paracelsus if she even catches a hint of (what she believes to be) jealousy.

Recommendation: Goldlewis theme, "The Kiss of Death".

The Kiss Of Death is a good song! That's the theme of Goldlewis Dickinson.

I love Potemkin. He's just such a loveable charachter.

Would love to see you react to the lore since its just complete insanity 😂