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

[@robertapetroaie2766]

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

[@birdup2141]

“keep your leering eyes off my husband!”

[@Alistaircase1214]

"Isn't her weapon a husband?"

[@rafabuda0]

​@@Alistaircase1214yes

[@patchworkgolem]

@@rafabuda0 Wait, so that wasn't a key holding a husband?

[@HazeEmry]

The key IS the husband​@@patchworkgolem

[@Erblorg]

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.

[@jujujitzu6573]

Poetry

[@ISTHATAJOJOSREFERENCE]

I'm so upset about how Pot's been scaling. Dude's been doing nothing but getting his ass beat over and over again in lore. In Xrd his story was entirely about him doubting his own strength, how it's all he has. He was afraid for two reasons: 1. He had been on a losing streak, not really doing anything of value against any opponent, and 2. even if he was strong enough to defeat someone, he's afraid about whether or not it's enough for him to truly impart peace among society. GOD I JUST WANT HIM TO SCORE SOME W'S!

[@Erblorg]

@@ISTHATAJOJOSREFERENCE Well, Sol and potentialy Ky are retiring as well as I-No and Asuka, so now that the powerhouses of the series aren't present maybe in the next game he'll have his moment

[@a.r.h9919]

@@ISTHATAJOJOSREFERENCE Potemkin is an absolute unit, slayer has said how he has felt genuine fear with Potemkin

[@ISTHATAJOJOSREFERENCE]

@@a.r.h9919 Where was that ever stated? Pot is physically strong but he lacks the hacks and magic to take on the strongest of GG. If Slayer is legitimately threatened by Pot's power, then Pot should be stronger than Gabriel lore wise, but that's not the case. Gabriel is canonically much stronger than Potemkin.

[@jimmybrowny]

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

[@Envyuse]

The key is funnily enough I feel like the most normal person in ggst. Even though he isn't even a person😅

[@Hey-Its-Dingo]

As a demon axe his name was actually, originally, Flament Nagel. A.B.A. renamed him Paracelsus when she merged with him.

[@PickIeJuice]

She fell in love with Paracelsus since he was the first conscious being she met

[@senatorwilsonphillips8724]

You forgot to mention she left her home lab in order to give Paracelsus a body,which she achieves in the Story Mode of AC+ , either by giving him a full organic body or getting him stuck on a Robo-Ky head Can't blame you for this, Strive is a master at ignoring characters motivations if it doesn't suit them.

[@pedroxavier692]

Paracelsus also drinks blood.

[@LemurLegiCZ]

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.

[@freeizzy8395]

wtf you are so right Gief, Tager, Thunder, King, Tizoc it keeps going! I usually play grapplers and don't really mind the hate cuz it understandable and I know how cheap it can feel on the receiving end. I never connected that and noticed the trope til now TY!

[@Xaxan6523]

Another example is King from Tekken.

[@kaialone]

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 🤔

[@meanly4956]

Bro le puso más Backstory a Aba que ASG en toda la saga 🗿

[@RyphzonBeats]

@@meanly4956 XD

[@RyphzonBeats]

@@meanly4956 aunque basicamente esa si es la historia de aba:v

[@umbreonhyperdream]

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

[@georgieegames]

ahhhh so you started playing recently then?? how are you finding it so far? :D

[@umbreonhyperdream]

@@georgieegames I don't have the game unfortunately I just mean the series in general It does look really fun tho, I love fighting games Also pointing it out because no one else has Paracelsus (the key) is a shapeshifting demon axe. Aba was indeed isolated so she isn't good with understanding others. I'm sure someone else will go more in dept for their lore.

[@miigi-p4939]

@@georgieegames i play strive since bridget came out (and because it got a xbox version and no joke this felt like the most friendly fighting game to understand the mechanics The tutorial feels so good

[@Joebama87]

Ayyy that's also how I got into it, and now I'm madly in love with Faust

[@Depressedmochaart]

@@umbreonhyperdream same here :D I saw ABAs design when she first came out and I just has to play the game! If you do end up getting the game i could totally play with you!

[@TNCXero]

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.

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

Binged it last night. Very good overview!

[@Dragonecro0987]

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.

[@CHEYMIX]

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

[@FalseHerald]

Saying he manipulated her isn't really accurate. She kidnapped him and dragged him along on a quest for a body he didn't even want.

[@AdderMoray]

Gotta mention that while at first it was a predatory relationship of Paracelsus using her to its own ends, it eventually flipped into a parasitic relationship of A.B.A. feeding her desire for affection with Paracelsus while also causing him to deteriorate over time because she was, frankly, just too much for him. That's why their relationship eventually reached a mutual understanding, as they'd both wronged the other at one point. Not just Paracelsus preying on her and then deciding to be better.

[@ChronicallyTweaking]

​@@FalseHerald It's true though. The only catch is that she was just as toxic

[@KenjiTheSnek]

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.

[@FalseHerald]

Their strive storyline is basically couple's counseling lol

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

@@FalseHerald It's something I observed about much of Strive, tbh. After the extremely heavy elements of Xrd before, it feels like a lot of Strive is the cast members... moreso finding themselves instead of saving the world. Of course this is mostly speaking of the DLC cast, I dunno if that applied to base Strive or if it's another case of Sol Badguy punching apart a new big bad or not.

[@FalseHerald]

@@gratuitouslurking8610 The main story has more traditional plot elements about saving the world and such, but even then many of the characters (and their themes) touch on struggling with self doubt and finding oneself. Ky, Potemkin, Millia, and Faust all have elements of it. Personally a big fan of it, it makes it feel like an appropriate ending to the guilty gear story.

[@Diamondeye299]

LIVE BRIDGE REACTION

[@Oblivionblade25]

Basket ❤

[@Emeraldym]

Bracket 💙

[@unclekanethetiberiummain1994]

Baguette 🤎

[@reddish0214]

Brisket 🩷

[@kman060]

Bucket 🧡

[@crisperstorm]

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

[@no_woncares6618]

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.

[@Jacob32332]

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)

[@itssovalentine]

Slight correction about Bridget. She never changed her gender to female as a child, she just had to pretend to be one to avoid the superstition. Then, after breaking the superstition and living as a man for about half a decade, she found it didn't bring her happiness. So in Strive, she comes to terms with her true gender and comes out as a woman, but this time it's on her own terms for her own happiness.

[@Jacob32332]

@@itssovalentinethanks for the correction! I had a feeling I would get something wrong.

[@Oscar97o]

I think an important part of Potemkin's story is that, even though he's now a high ranking military officer, he still does the same thing he did when he was a slave and is essentially used by the country as a human weapon.

[@Nooctae]

The best way to describe what ABA is, she's kind of Frankenstein monster. But she awoke alone without her creator.

[@Jacob32332]

@@Nooctaeyeah, that’s a good way to describe her.

[@drymdryn]

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

[@treedude4246]

Your WHAT pleasure?

[@endersalasa3396]

Your what pleasure

[@darkmodeenjoyer3367]

Guilty you say?

[@ChronicallyTweaking]

Mankind knew that they cannot change society

[@crackerswithchez]

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

[@glacierwolf2155]

Johnny is a living embodiment of a Chad shitpost, and I am all for it.

[@kingvampire4583]

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

[@gyrozeppeli4862]

God, Johnny is the epitome of swag nonsense

[@ryc03]

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".

[@aidenmb7932]

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

[@hoya8968]

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!

[@wrydfell3932]

But also, 'i never found out, what it was, i- it's my stress that's for sure'/'it tastes like vegetables i don't like'/'i hate the alarm clock i chose' all distracting herself. Listen to the background vocals. 'Lie lie lie. Boom boom. Lie lie lie. Boom boom' she's distracting herself, putting off the question

[@gyrozeppeli4862]

The most accessible but descriptive way to explain dysphoria that I've found so far

[@hoya8968]

@@psykogamerous8391 I beg you tell me you're joking Bridget is transfem, Testament is non-binary, Goldlewis does have some implications (might me a reach tho) and is an ally, in previous games Elphelt was able to use her mariage thing on every character, Venom is gay too And I insist but saying that Bridget is not transfem is transphobia, and it's basically saying that she didn't experienced anything about her identity before Strive. TLDR : You didn't played the game, did you?

[@MoonlitRose101]

@@psykogamerous8391 bait used to be believable.

[@redmage5251]

@@hoya8968 I don't think Elphelt's instant kill is necessarily proof that she ins't straight, but Jam and Millia's reactions to it are a pretty good indication that they're bi (Jam straight up says "cute girl okay maybe, too")

[@JomaXZ]

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.

[@beo3828]

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".

[@Zato1o_o]

Bridget’s a guy btw

[@ashyunderscorealt95]

@@Zato1o_o hey no offense dude how miserable do you need to be, people out there in real life aren't this stuck up nearly 3 years after a person (or in this case, character) comes out as transgender. like genuinely i think that has to be some sort of harmful habit to have i cant fathom that level of negativity even in my worst days

[@Zato1o_o]

@@ashyunderscorealt95 that’s a lot of words, to bad I’m not reading them

[@kingingrey1882]

You ever stopped to think that Bridget already served as excellent/gay representation and making him trans both erases the representation that already existed and creates an unsettling implication given afaik his backstory involved him being forcibly raised as a girl, so making him trans now kinda validates the idea of trans conversion, which I’m sure most normal people aren’t on board with in either direction

[@beo3828]

@@ashyunderscorealt95 don't feed the troll, these people don't want to make an argument. Any engagement they make out of this gives them the willpower to keep on living.

[@J.P1981]

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

[@midnightcarnivalmember]

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.

[@DissedRedEngie]

his physique is due to him just being literally being built different. He just kinda didn't stop growing muscle mass and was given limiters to stop him from not becoming a literal pile of muscles.

[@Hazzzyyyyyy]

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 )

[@kalenotoole]

if you do decide to do testaments theme, please know that they are nonbinary and use they/them pronouns. i feel like thats important to know not only to refer to them correctly but also to u derstand the weird flip-floppy pronouns in the song lol

[@BlubRuss]

🎵There is no up or down above the clouds and I can't breath🎵

[@fetusmaledory497]

These three are my least favorites 😭

[@Hazzzyyyyyy]

@@fetusmaledory497 How tho 😭 they’re so emotional and powerful dude!

[@Gatekid3]

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.

[@diegomunoz849]

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

[@umbreonhyperdream]

Depressed fire fr

[@aboveaverageidiot4950]

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.

[@icherklaredidacedward5325]

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

[@igorzharenikov1812]

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

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

As more of a casual looker into fighting games than one who plays them, I assume it's in part side effect of finding unique character archetypes and ideas to use for characters. While it's true that you could easily make a cast of nothing but burly manly-men and scantily-clad warrior women, but if you don't want your cast to get too same-ey, you have to start to reach out across the expanse of humanity. And, well, people like Bridget and Poison and others exist out there.

[@greenarchetype]

Which makes it even weirder why there was so much controversy around Bridget

[@gyrozeppeli4862]

@@greenarchetype transphobes always need to be angry at something to stay "happy"

[@Skallva]

Especially among ArcSys games. GG by itself has two, Bridget and Testament, BlazBlue has Mai Natsume, Granblue has both Ladiva and Cagliostro. And that's without getting into other forms of queer rep. The alphabet mafia is extremely prevalent there, and it's why a ton of queers end up gravitating to fighting games.

[@84C4]

@@greenarchetype Because "I'm a boy!" was pretty much his catchphrase. He kept trying to assert his true identity as a boy despite everyone telling him he was a girl, but now everyone tells him he's a girl and he just goes "ok". There's no fight left in him.

[@dankspiderman579]

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."

[@Mrinsecure]

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).

[@FalseHerald]

To elaborate: She decided to become a bounty hunter in an attempt to prover her masculinity. She successfully became a top bounty hunter, accomplishing her original objective, but still feels "off". That's where she's at when Strive begins, she comes to accept herself as a woman over the course of the game.

[@crickson9434]

Also, daisuke has stated on multiple occasions that Bridget was always meant to be transgender, and testament was always nonbinary

[@wesleyjudson599]

A lot of good context here. Its also worth noting that in Japan, the notion and issues of transgenderism are different than in America. It was a large controversy in America when she was explicitly transgender, but much less so in Japan. The reason for the controversy in Japan is that, in their society, there's a lot more pressure to do what is "expected by society". So the issue of transgenderism isn't an issue of labeling, but an issue of presentation. I could go into more detail, since its an often overlooked aspect that not all social commentary in games is directed to an American audience, but its worth noting for Bridget that her decision to be a transwoman after "pretending" to be one for so long is actually a more conservative stance in Japan than her original position of wanting to "be a man" despite looking like a woman.

[@JazzLafayette]

@@wesleyjudson599​​⁠Just fyi "transgenderism" isn't really a term that folks use. "Transness" or simply "being transgender" work in its place.

[@astralarkgamingandmore1341]

Fuck that noise.

[@HSF_Akira]

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".

[@minmodulation]

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

[@gyrozeppeli4862]

I'm actively crying from it

[@taesto3204]

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.

[@aidenmb7932]

Ah it's good to see more reactions to SymphoPEAK

[@ImCroozy]

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

[@BreedableVaporeon0978]

YO MY 2 FAVORITE GIRLS!

[@n.p.c932]

Potemkin and Brisket ?

[@aboveaverageidiot4950]

We all love Potemkin

[@アオインク-k6v]

3 Favorite*

[@Sin_Kiske]

Yeah, Potemkin is also my best girl 🙏

[@BreedableVaporeon0978]

Yes my mistake 3 favorite girls

[@Akay4444444444444444]

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

[@jole521]

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!

[@thepokemanik3135]

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

[@vincentpey3929]

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.

[@CorpusInsanus]

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.

[@Mayhem242]

Your read on ABA was pretty spot on!

[@Rdotmop]

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

[@gatr2897]

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.

[@LadyMourne]

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!"

[@biancatorres5528]

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.

[@jellicledry1380]

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

[@jonatanp.1976]

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

[@Akay4444444444444444]

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.

[@professorgames3261]

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.

[@WynterStormYT]

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".

[@tactishovel2247]

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.

[@MoonlitRose101]

i mean, in her +R instant kill her and Roger send you to the fuckin moon. shes fuckin SCARY

[@alejandrotti10]

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

[@glacierwolf2155]

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.

[@Druid-T]

For as much as the community jokes about Anji being Baiken's wife, no, Baiken isn't part of that group. The closest you get is her talking about throwing away her humanity, but she never refutes being called a woman, and in Strive will call herself "mother" in one of her taunts. Raven might be though, just because Raven is Raven

[@redmage5251]

@@Druid-T and the ending where she says that is the non-canon ending where she becomes a serial killer

[@Druid-T]

@@redmage5251 I was pretty sure it was from the "Baiken the Killer" route, but I wasn't sure (because old Guilty Gear), thank you for confirming

[@tswrangle1000]

@@psykogamerous8391 exactly, and because gears have no gender, testament is cisgender

[@Skallva]

​@@Druid-T Yeah, Baiken is just gnc in her presentation, similarly to Anji. Besides that though, there is nothing explicit. I do think she is pretty ace-coded though. That part is also never outright stated but it would make a fun parallel to Anji, who is canonically bi.

[@AtomicRiftYT]

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!!

[@2333thgrand]

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.

[@darrylferguson3622]

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)

[@Cobalt163]

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

[@Jhas14ducks]

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

[@frostysparrow7993]

-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

[@dolgarththebarbarian2061]

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.

[@Assassin21BEKA]

18:13 partially yes and no. Basically, Bridget was born together in a family of aristocrats with her brother in the place where having male twins was considered missfortune. So they basically raised Bridget as a girl instead of a boy, noone known that they are the boy. So, later in her life Bridget decided to become bounty hunter and try to act more manly in order to prove village that male twins is not a bad thing. So in older games Bridget is basically your standard "trap"(feminine boy that acts feminine) character. In strive Bridget understood that being feminine is part of their character, instead of trying to go against it, so she imbraced it instead of trying to go against how she was raised and etc.

[@Chaos_Vergil]

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.

[@jayr.9884]

10:05 bridget coming out as trans wasn't a net gain for lgbtq representation since she was prior thought to be a gender non-conforming guy and so still under that broad umbrella, however it is a big win for trans rep specifically in anime-adjacent media which already has a small but significant number of GNC fellas floating around but an extremely limited number of explicitly trans characters. i loved her when she was in her "actually i'm a boy" phase and i still love her now that she's out.

[@chanfyr1474]

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.

[@georgieegames]

Im so sorry 😅😅😅

[@chanfyr1474]

Don't be it's hilarious especially when they pop out

[@pandacapre9302]

"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.

[@rainyday9174]

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

[@BlightVonDrake]

Aaaaaa Bridget's theme is just so feel good, such good vibes ;u;

[@gagetheslime]

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

[@daysand123]

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.

[@cmk5498]

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

[@TheSeelieCourtier]

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.

[@he110there]

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

[@yourquinnie]

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

[@Mr.Bazamo]

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.

[@leandrojimbo7652]

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

[@blitzwulf3859]

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

[@artemi7]

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

[@wastoodistracted866]

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

[@maxcar7298]

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

[@brningpyre]

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).

[@Vinylmelody1517]

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

[@Murmarine]

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.

[@Vinylmelody1517]

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.

[@supercoolmaniajon265]

Interesting thing in Bridget's theme. "I never found out, what it was I- (insert interruption/excuse here)" Each time it's like she was going to say something, but immediately changed the subject to something childish, like vegetables, or an alarm to forget about it. Ironically, those are all things kids need but don't like. What is it that she deems so important that her sentences always circle back to it, but simultaneously so scary that she refuses to acknowledge it?

[@diablotry5154]

Blud she literally says what it was. Stress (which is literal), the fact that her physical body does not match her identity (vegetables and alarms). It's metaphorical

[@user-wx1ph8tv9k]

Paracelsus is abas key/axe. He was like that long before her so she fell in love with a key .

[@viniribr]

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

[@5mech]

YESS love these vids from you

[@Frostman411]

I'm really happy Daisuke put the kibosh on all the transphobes out there denying what was clear, that Bridget is trans. She says it in her arcade, bluntly. And they're like "but (she) wasn't this way in the old games!". Like yeah, she was a teenager then and she's 21 now. I know a lot of trans folks that didn't come to terms with being trans until they were out of their childhood home, experiencing what independence was like and how they wanted to be as adults. Folks think that characters have to be these static, unchanging creatures incapable of evolution, but Daisuke has shown time and time again that's not how he treats his characters and his story. He *wants* his characters to change, he *wants* them to strive to be something more than they are now. It's the fuckin' theme of the game, all of these warriors getting past old pain and trying to find their peaceful place in the world that fits for them. It's makes all of the characters very endearing to me.

[@cypher7385]

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.

[@WhisperWings_]

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>

[@poopoopp761]

damn bruh im sorry but it doesn't really matter that much if he/she was a boy or girl, its fictional. It just sounds like you're tryna just convince ppl abt genders which doesn't really matter, its about the character.

[@WhisperWings_]

@@poopoopp761 yep its about the character, you're so right ^-^ And ultimately the gender or even any aspect of any fictional character doesnt matter for the story they are telling yep you're also entirely right there. However to imply that aspects about a character doesnt influence how their story effects the readers/watchers/ players is kinda missing the point. Stories resonate with people based on their own experiences, its why you can approach 30 different people, ask them "who is the best written fictional character?" And get 30 different answers. Its why Spiderman, Myles, being black matters so much to so many people, does it matter what skin color Spider-Man is? No it doesnt Spider-Man will do what he does no matter what shade of skin the dude's got. However does Spider-Man being black do good as representation for those who dont typically see it in that field? Yes absolutely. Its the same for Bridget, trans girls now have someone to look at, see themselves in and realize that they arent the monsters the internet and society can often make them out to be, much like some kid of color reading a Spider-Man myles comic, because racism and transphobia and homophobia are still very prevalent unfortunately; which another reason why these stories matter so much. Representation of any sort will never resonate with those who are not being represented in the same way that it does for those who are. They can observe it, recognize its a well made story, or the character is written well (I dont need to be blind to understand that Toph from the Avatar series is one of the best written blind characters Ive ever seen/read in any media) but that comes down to what I said about the differing life experiences effecting how each person consumes media and thus also effecting how much something "matters" in their mind, most people dont think about it so they dont see any one aspect to a character/story mattering a whole lot, these tend to be people who feel pretty well represented in the media they consume without even realizing it. As for me trying to "convince" anyone about Bridget's gender. I just wish people who didn't even play or engage with Guilty Gear would stop attacking people who play Bridget or ya know are Trans themselves with the same tired argument over and over again and mis-siting the same resource over and over. Like I mentioned in the comment people really like pointing to a single interview that "proves Bridget isnt trans" when thats not even what it says, its like they didnt do their research or go and read the interview its insanely funny to me. Bridget's gender mainly matters to those people the ones who attack other people and try their hardest to come up with arguments for why Bridget is "definitely still a boy!" When shes not. Trans girls are happy to have literally any character in fiction to see themselves in, transphobes are mad they keep getting pressure looped in the corner/are just mad that literally anything trans exists, and the story is well written on top of all that. Bridget's is a girl by declaration of Daisuke himself, and if people dont wanna accept that and wanna believe she's still a boy, then its just fan fiction, which is fine but i just ask them please dont then go and try and convince everyone the fan fiction is actually canon.

[@poopoopp761]

@@WhisperWings_ i see, im glad you do think that being an extremist is not the right way to approach things like this, and i definitely agree with people being very annoying in terms of bridgets gender. Honestly gender doesn't even really matter, especially in a game where you're not even going to date or marry that fictional character (except if you're delusional and parasocial) im not really in the trans supporter, nor that i think that hate to any human being is righteous. So im glad that you're pretty open minded and its pretty interesting to dwell on especially how people really obsesses over just one aspect of a character. But hey, its always positive to have representation to people who choose to be something, especially if it doesn't harm other people in the process. I really dont mind anything trans nor i supoort it, as long as they mind their own business i try to treat them like a normal human being.

[@johnnyshins511]

Honestly her storyline is just so on point. Especially at the end with the "What if I make the wrong decision" part with Goldlewis saying "you've got your whole life ahead of you, gotta learn to take a hit sometime." It was something similar that made me make the decision that I'm going to transition when I get my own financial independence when I was having a breakdown about the revelation to some of my friends.

[@baronofmaggots584]

Here are some suggestions of what I personally think you should listen to! Hellfire Crawl Perfection can't please me Rock parade Or Just lean Seriously, I love when people who don't know much about Guilty Gear try to describe what they think the character is about and these personally I think you'd enjoy!

[@CBSnB2R]

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

[@KingZolem]

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

[@radiant3483]

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

[@m4y013]

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

[@VonSnootingham]

0:19 "because it's the newest song". Ooooh, poor timing. Well, sorta. The day before this video was released, they just previewed the newest character. We got to hear a snipper of the new newest song, but don't have the whole thing yet.

[@JoshuaMullins-f3j]

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