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| “ | You can't define happiness with a single piece of glass. The only wall you're fighting is your doubt. So I say smash it into bits. Go wherever you want to go. | „ |
| ~ Sol Badguy to Ramlethal Valentine |
Frederick Bulsara better known as Sol Badguy, is the main protagonist of the fighting game series Guilty Gear and Ky Kiske's eternal rival. At first glance, he is an aloof bounty hunter, whose apparent laziness and gruffness belies his terrifying fighting ability, and the amazing genius and emotional depths beneath that brash exterior.
He was voiced formerly by Daisuke Ishiwatari in 1998, and currently by Jōji Nakata in the Japanese version, and by Troy Baker in Guilty Gear 2: Overture and David Forseth in Guilty Gear Xrd: -SIGN- and onwards.
Appearance[]
Creator Daisuke Ishiwatari designed Sol in many ways to reflect his alter-ego, and also recorded Sol's in-game voice acting (the voice acting for GGXX's Story Mode and Drama CDs however, is done by Hikaru Hanada).
Sol's normal character design depicts him as left-handed, with brown hair and reddish-brown or golden eyes with slit pupils (to indicate his Gear nature), wearing a tight, black undershirt with the top half covered by a red, sleeveless jacket along and white jeans. His headband bears the words 'Rock You', a reference to the Queen song "We Will Rock You", while his belt buckle has the word 'FREE', a possible reference to Queen's song "I Want To Break Free". Sol's character design also contains a pair of black, fingerless gloves, red shoes, a drape of red cloth hanging down beneath his buckle and a multitude of belts, including a lone one on his left forearm. Sol fights using a blunt, rectangular sword known as Fuuenken (Fireseal) through which he releases a range of fire-based attacks.
Of note is that Sol is officially left-handed. In official artwork, Sol, as Frederick, was depicted with blue eyes, shorter brown hair and a slimmer build.
Personality[]
Sullen and unrefined, Sol only speaks to others when absolutely necessary. This is reflected in everything he does, and his fighting moves, while rough and unpolished, are executed with absolute precision. He is known to be rude and impatient towards those who wish to interact with him, whether they are friend or foe. He is also quite stubborn when he is in pursuit of a goal or when he decides to take action regarding certain matters, never allowing the opinions of others to dissuade him once he's made up his mind. Overall, Sol is not a friendly man, but he is not an inherently evil one neither. He is an individual who prefers to convey his intent through actions than words. And while he cynically mocks those who speak of "justice", he has demonstrated a staunch sense of righteousness that motivates him to prevent anything that may potentially threaten the world and the peace that's been established after the horror of the Crusades.
His actions have also proven that he is quite compassionate in contrast to his unsocial persona. He refused to harm neither Dizzy nor Solaria due to their innocence and kindness, despite the fact that they are Command-Type Gears who possess enormous power that puts them on equal footing with Justice and the ability to subjugate Gears to their whim; he even gave a Gear-Cell limiter to Solaria so she can control her power and rescued Dizzy when she was possessed by Necro and went on a rampage. He has spared Testament on several occasions despite being a powerful and dangerous Gear due to him being the son of his friend and mentor, Kliff, as well as out of mutual sympathy since they are both humans that were converted into Gears. He also takes in Sin at the behest of Ky and Dizzy so that he would not be placed in danger by the Conclave. He even offered a prayer for Justice's soul to find peace in the afterlife after he defeated her for the second time. He later comes to care greatly about Elphelt, in spite of his persistent wariness of her, and has vowed to save her from her role as a tool to the Universal Will, stating that he does not wish to lose any more loved ones.
The reason behind his abrasive nature is explored significantly in Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign-. It is revealed that he maintains an emotional distance towards others out of fear of loss and betrayal. Aria, his lover, died from a TP infection and he is forced to end her life for a second time when she is reincarnated as Justice. He was also betrayed by That Man, who was once his best friend and colleague, and forcibly converted into a Gear by him against his will. This is further compounded by his personal sense of guilt, as he feels responsible for the Crusades and remorse for having to eliminate Gears, sentient beings that his research gave birth to that became biological weapons against their will. This has led to a self-loathing mentality that prevents him from forming close relations with others or allowing himself to experience happiness. He also feels disgust over his Gear body, considering himself a monster.
Ultimately, he fears that he will eventually become a danger to his friends and the world in general since he believes that the destructive tendencies of his Gear nature(which he acknowledges that it constantly urges him to kill and destroy everything around him) will encroach upon his humanity and inevitably turn him into an unstoppable monster that will wreak wanton havoc upon Earth. It has been subtly implied that that if he ever kills That Man, yet fail in finding a solution that can prevent his Gear nature from gaining dominance, he will likely kill himself.
As the series progresses, however, his clashes with many of the series characters slowly begin to change his outlook, especially his rival Ky Kiske; Sin Kiske, who he reluctantly takes as his apprentice and Elphelt Valentine, who he initially saw as a potential threat yet ultimately became someone he considers precious to him(though he would deny this outloud). During the final battle against St. Maximus Populi Ariels in Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- ,Sol admits to her that the world where he kept himself distant to others was worth saving and finally acknowledged that despite what he was and his fear of the future, he was no longer alone in the world.
It is seen through the course of the series that Sol has much deeper emotional depths than he normally doesn't display towards people.
Gameplay[]
Sol's gameplay consists of mainly rushdown aspects, so just about all of his damage is dealt up close. He's probably the most average character in the cast and is easy to learn, and has a couple of very useful normals and specials like 5K and Volcanic Viper, but he can be a very high risk/low reward character if some moves are used recklessly, like Grand Viper and his Overdrives for example, though this becomes less of a problem in several re-tweaks of the GGXX games. In the early days of GGXX, Sol's infamous dustloops devastated several of the cast, till as the revisions went on Sol's dustloops were more tweaked, and his Sidewinder loops as of GGXXSlash (much more so in Accent Core) become rather more character specific, forcing to higher levels of play.
Powers & Abilities[]
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Sol displays his superhuman strength by using a 50-meter statue of Abraham Lincoln as a weapon in order to smash through a blockade of Happy Chaos' soldiers.
Despite his general lazy approach to life, Sol is often noted to be one of the most powerful characters in the series. Given his past as a researcher, he is also an advanced practitioner of Magic outside of his Fire spells, being able to grasp the mechanics behind spells extremely quickly. An excellent scientist, his intellectual feats regarding magic and engineering include his involvement with the Saint Oratorio spell, and the creation of the Gear Cell Suppressor, the Outrage, and the Firewheel Mk.2. Thanks to Izuna's modifications to his magic during the Baptisma 13 incident, he is also able to manifest a masterghost of his own and create servants; given the risks involved, he does not use it often. Even then, his only issue is being able to explain it to those who need any explanation of it at all to begin with.
As the Prototype Gear, Sol has been described as a "hybrid of Gear and human cells", and is immune to the control Justice has over other Gears. Like with all Gears, he possesses increased strength and resilience, fast regenerative capabilities, and has not aged since his conversion in 2016. As the Flame of Corruption, Sol's Gear cells are pure (i.e. non-replicated), and much stronger than those of an average Gear. He maintains his human form thanks to his suppressor headband, but can use his latent Gear powers via Dragon Install to give himself a massive boost. Upon the removal of the 'divine seed', he remains a Gear, but his strength has been drastically reduced; he still retains his fighting ability, however.
Sol's weapon of choice is a blunt sword called Fireseal, an instrument which concentrates and amplifies Fire magic—that he often fashions into ground-bound projectiles—, and is able to use as it were an extension of his own body. Along with the Flashing Fang, it is part of the Junkyard Dog in Xrd, and later the Outrage MK II as of Strive.
References & Allusions[]
- Ishiwatari's favorite band is Queen, and he thus named Sol Badguy, whose "real" name is Frederick (or Freddie for short), after the late Freddie Mercury, whose nickname was 'Mr. Bad Guy'.Sol's true last name is also based off of Freddie Mercury's birth name, Farrokh Bulsara, before he had it legally changed.
- Like Ishiwatari, Sol's favorite band is also said to be Queen, with Sol's favorite album being 'Sheer Heart Attack'.
- Sol's theme song, "Keep Yourself Alive", shares the same name as the first track from Queen's debut album. Several chords are lifted from another Queen song, "Stone Cold Crazy".
- Sol's Instant Kill, "Napalm Death", shares its name with that of a thrash band.
- As noted above, Sol's headband bears the words 'Rock You', a reference to the Queen song "We Will Rock You".
- The "FREE" inscription on Sol's belt buckle may be a double reference— one being to Queen's "I Want to Break Free" and the other being to a lyric in English metal band Iron Maiden's song "Revelations":
- Bind all of us together
- Ablaze with hope and free,
- No storm or heavy weather
- Will rock the boat you'll see.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Other Appearances[]
Videos[]
Merchandise[]
Trivia[]
- It was originally unknown why Sol carries a violent vendetta against That Man. Fans have speculated that it is because he might've been a unwilling participant in the Gear conversion experiment. This was finally confirmed to be fact by Sol's remarks in Overture and an interview with Daisuke Ishiwatari in the GG2 Overture Material Collection. Others suspect that he is enraged at how That Man has used his research (as Sol is stated to be the lead scientist behind the "Gear Concept") to turn Gears into biological killing machines, which has resulted in the mass genocide of the human race, when the original purpose of Gear Cells was for medicinal benefits such as curing illnesses and increasing human longevity. Another idea is Sol may seeking retribution for his girlfriend Aria, who is hinted to be Justice, for possibly converting her into a Gear. It is eventually revealed that his unwitting conversion into a Gear and Asuka's attempt to kill him were major factors contributed to his hatred for That Man, with the eventual discovery of his lover's fate as the God of Destruction further exacerbating his wrath.
- More recent official art shows Sol smoking. Additionally, he can arguably be heard lighting a cigarette in the GGX Drama CD.
- Sol is officially left-handed.
- Sol's clothing brand has always been "RIOT". Sin and Bridget also use the same brand. According to text in artwork, RIOT was established in 2134.
- In the official manga, Sol is shown to have a secret hideout near the Boston Seabed where it has a laboratory with a global mapping system. He also has a picture showing him, his former lover Aria, and That Man (whose face has been intentionally damaged). This is faintly referenced in Elphelt's Win Quote when she states that if she and Sol were a couple, he would always keep a picture of her with him.
- Including Sol, there are three more characters that play guitar: Axl, I-No and Johnny.
- Sol's bounty in Overture is higher than Dizzy's in GGX.
- Similar to Ky's "coconuts", one of Sol's moves, Gun Flame, is often misheard as "girlfriend".
- On the front of Sol's "Tyrant Wave ver. α", the exact same "eye" symbol that is on Venom's hair can be seen.
- Sol is a playable character in IO Entertainment Online Fighting Game "Lost Saga".
- Sol's BlazBlue counterpart is Ragna the Bloodedge. Both characters are wanted, have harsh attitudes and tempers, possess immense powers that they usually keep suppressed since they threaten to erode away their humanity and sanity if used heedlessly, and are the main protagonists of their separate series. They have a personal connection with the main villain (Hades Izanami possessing the body of Ragna's sister, Saya, and That Man being Sol's former best friend and employer). They also have strong rivalries with blonde swordsmen affiliated with law enforcement, however Ragna's rival is his brother, Jin Kisaragi and Sol's rival is Ky Kiske, Sol's former comrade. Though while Sol and Ky settled their differences and eventually became good friends(though their rivalry remains), Ragna and Jin are still antagonistic towards one another, even when fighting on the same side. Ragna also has a habit of dining/dashing from restaurants(mostly because of Taokaka) while Sol spends his time drinking at seedy taverns, which occasionally leads to brawls (mostly because of Axl). They are also known to be splendid cooks. They also have weapons that can transfigure into different forms: Ragna's Blood Scythe can take on the form of either a giant sword or energy scythe, and Sol's Junkyard Dog MK III has the ability to function as both a sword and a long-range energy gun/cannon.
- both Sol And Ragna fought each other in a season 2 episode of ScrewAttack’s Death Battle! with Sol taking the win.
- In -REVELATOR-, Sol has designed and created his own customized motorcycle called the "Fire-Wheel Mk.II", which is named after his Servant from Overture.
- Sol Badguy's personality and catchphrase are a reference to Jotaro Kujo from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
- When he was human, Sol would actually spend his time playing baseball.
Theme Music[]
External Links[]
- Sol Badguy on the Guilty Gear Wiki
- Sol Badguy on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
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 Heroes
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