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“ | You utter fool! German science is the finest in the world! | „ |
~ Rudol about his cyborg body while against Kars and also his most famous quote. |
Rudol von Stroheim (ルドル・フォン・シュトロハイム Rudoru fon Shutorohaimu) is a supporting character in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part II: Battle Tendency.
Although a high-ranking Nazi officer with a proud nature, after assuming mutual enemies with the allied team, Stroheim proves to be an effective ally.
He is voiced by Atsushi Imarouka in Japanese and Dan Woren in English.
Appearance[]
Stroheim is a tall, well-built man of masculine facial features (comparable to those of the contemporary Dolph Lundgren) with greenish blue eyes.
As part of the German military, Stroheim wears a range of official Nazi military attire. Later, he gained cyborg prosthetics, including his entire abdomen, and his torso houses a powerful machine gun.
Personality[]
“ | The greatness of humans is when they face fear with pride. | „ |
~ Rudol von Stroheim |
At the first glance, Stroheim is a callous and cruel Nazi Major who has the foolish idea to experiment with the Stone Mask in order to further the power of the Waffen-SS. During his mission in Mexico, Stroheim commits several heinous misdeeds such as capturing locals and forcibly turn them into guinea pigs for his vampire experiments (including women and children), or threatening to cut a maid's tongue for slightly cutting him during a shave.
However, upon being threatened with Santana's rampage, he also demonstrates bravery and does not hesitate when trapped in asking Joseph to cut off his leg; or blow himself up with a grenade to kill the invading Santana. This is seen once again when Stroheim gives him a helping hand in defeating Kars and helping Joseph drive him into the volcano with an airplane. Stroheim maintained his bravery up until the Battle of Stalingrad, 1943, where he is said to have fought bravely and died.
Likewise, Stroheim respects courage from others, no matter what ethnicity the individual may belong to. His appreciation for valor is seen when he spares one Mexican boy for being willing to sacrifice himself for his cellmates; on the other hand he executed the rest of the prisoners for not having the same spirit, making the boy's sacrifice moot.
Stroheim is an enthusiastic nationalist. He is particularly proud of his cyborg body; praising "German science" and generally loudly boasting the Germans given the occasion. His pride occasionally grows into overconfidence and arrogance. Because of it, Stroheim tends to both overestimate himself or his technology and underestimate how formidable the Pillar Men are. Thus, three times during the story, a Pillar Man gets the better of him; first Santana easily escapes his cell and attacks him, then his cyborg body is also defeated by Kars and finally Stroheim rushing to finish Kars in the battle of the Piz Bernina Ruins allows the Pillar Man to return the UV light against the humans and turn into the Ultimate Lifeform. On a regular basis, Stroheim also loudly laughs at his foes and point his finger at them when they are in a position of weakness.
Abilities[]
Weapons[]
“ | My body is the result of the most advanced technology of the German people and I'm proud of iiit!! In other words, I'm above every other human being!! | „ |
~ Stroheim to Kars. |
- Abdominal Machine Gun: A machine gun inside Stroheim's stomach region, able to shoot 600 armored bullets per minute, and capable of piercing a 30-millimeter steel plate. Stroheim first introduces this weapon against Kars.
- Ultraviolet Radiation Beam (紫外線照射装置 Shigaisen shōsha sōchi): Inside Stroheim's mechanized eye is a small laser cannon capable of firing a concentrated beam of Ultraviolet light. The beam itself is five times more intense than a set of typical ultraviolet lights and was able to pierce straight through Kars' hand.
- Ultraviolet Shoulder Cannons: Built by the technical department of the Speedwagon Foundation specifically as an anti-vampire device, Stroheim is able to fire out powerful blasts of ultraviolet light from two flood lights located on each side of his shoulders. As miniaturized searchlights, they pack the same power as the original, but are light enough to carry with ease. Stroheim used these cannons during the final battle against Kars, where he, along with his team, fought back against the army of vampires.
- Projectile Hand: Stroheim is capable of firing off his mechanical hand with enough force to impale and deeply wound an enemy. Though revealed only towards the end of the arc, Stroheim used it to prevent Kars' escape and pinned him to a plane that went crashing into an active volcano.
- Shoulder Arsenal: by the time of the Battle of Stalingrad, Stroheim has had as many as six additional small arms installed onto robotic arms that can unfold from his back, including what seem to be two submachine guns, a pistol, two general purpose machines guns, and a rocket launcher. Presumably, this gave him vast firepower against large groups of conventional opponents such as the Soviets.
Other skills[]
As a Major in the Nazi Party, most particularly the Waffen-SS Military division, Stroheim is capable of leading his own battalion, as well as any members of the party of lower rank. To this end, Stroheim enforces his rank with a strong sense of pride and most of time, his word is law. As a capable leader, Stroheim often initiates attacks upon command, though the logic behind them usually varies depending on the level of abnormality of the enemy. When cornered, Stroheim's eminent pride in his country will cause him to unquestionably sacrifice himself to take out his target. In terms of combat expertise, it is presumed he is capable of performing the most basic of military skills with ease, including assembling and disassembling military weapons, and making efficient use of said weapons. Stroheim also flaunts a very able-bodied physique and has demonstrated a very high jumping ability.
After being resurrected as a Cyborg, Stroheim's physical capabilities increased and with it his rank to Colonel status. As a Cyborg, his strength increases significantly, having been designed with the ability to crush an object with his hand at a pressure of 1,950 kg/cm2 (roughly double Santana's.) In this form, Stroheim had also gained partial immortality, being able to survive most attacks, as his mechanical limbs being damaged lessens the effect on his lifeforce. With these limbs, he is capable of bending his body unnaturally, and deflect enemy attacks due to being made of metal. Situated on one side of Stroheim's face is a magnifying device that allows Stroheim to zoom in on objects up to a point where he can study their internal structure.
History[]
“ | I may not seem it but I'm a proud German soldier. I was already prepared for this when I accepted this mission! I'm different from you cowardly British wimps. I'd easily give up 2 or 3 limbs for my country! | „ |
~ Stroheim ready to sacrifice himself to defeat Santana. |
Stroheim takes an injured Robert E. O. Speedwagon to the Nazi base in Mexico and interrogates him for information regarding the Pillar Men. He reveals that the Nazis had acquired one of them, which he named "Santana" after the warm winds of Mexico.
Stroheim eventually sacrifices himself in an attempt to stop Santana's rampage and is assumed to have died until he reappears at the border of Switzerland to retrieve the Red Stone of Aja.
Thanks to Nazi science, Colonel Stroheim was revived with cybernetic parts (including a machine gun on his chest and a monocle that presumably serves as a Terminator/Robocop-esque radar system). He challenges Kars to a duel and is quickly cut in half, but is ultimately able to separate Kars from the stone by firing an ultraviolet beam from his eye.
Stroheim appears yet again after being reconstructed with the help of the Speedwagon Foundation science division and rescues Joseph from Kars' impending vampire army just in the nick of time. Kars is defeated by Joseph soon after and is sent falling onto a spikes below, where Stroheim and his division blast him with ultraviolet light. They fail to realize, however, that Kars had donned a Stone Mask with the Aja and are dumbstruck when he achieves his ultimate form and begins killing them off with a squirrel formed from his right hand.
After Joseph hijacks a Nazi aircraft to lure Kars away, Stroheim reveals himself in the side wing of the plane just before it goes plummeting into an active volcano. After pinning Kars to the front end of the aircraft, he pulls Joseph out of the plane and cushions their fall by sacrificing his cybernetic legs. The volcano eventually erupts when Kars' Ripple collides with the Red Stone of Aja, launching both Joseph and him into the air. Stroheim eventually returns to the rest of the group and reports Joseph's supposed death.
After the battle with Kars, Stroheim had Joseph Joestar's severed left hand replaced by a mechanical one as a gift. He never meets Joseph again and is said to have died honorably at the battle of Stalingrad in 1943.
Trivia[]
- Stroheim's name comes from an Austrian-American actor named "Erich von Stroheim".
- Atsushi Imarouka's performance as Stroheim is extremely well-received by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fans internationally.
- The music that plays when Stroheim occasionally appears is named Propaganda.
- Stroheim is responsible for giving Joseph his first artificial hand; JoJo mused about asking him to "jazz it up" with gadgetry.
- Due to being an Nazi Major, Stroheim's appearance was changed when he was featured as a playable character in Eyes of Heaven. Outside of Japan, they left him shirtless and took out his alternate costumes.
- Despite this, his uniform does not hold any Nazi symbols and is in fact a generic German military uniform.
- Stroheim does return with his full uniform in All Star Battle R minus his hat.
- After he was brought back as a cyborg his rank moved up from Major to Colonel.
External Links[]
- Rudol von Stroheim on the JoJo's Bizarre Wiki
- Rudol von Stroheim on the Villains Wiki
- Rudol von Stroheim on the Villainous Benchmark Wiki
- Rudol von Stroheim on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki