Phantasma

Multifan account... I think... she/her || adult (idk if it's the same mentally)

[phantasmadescry]

Hi! You can call me Phan!

I'm also a fan of other stuff, but I made this blog when I'm fixating on Guilty Gear fan theories so, here's my actually-but-experimental multifan blog. It'll probably have GG there too but it'll be more fangirl yap than theories or general posts.

Andddddddd, Tags below

#phan theory - my fan theories. The very reason I made this blog. Though this will include theories about other media someday (if I have any).

#phan essay - I forgot why I have this tag... I think it's just something lengthy that may or may not be a theory.

#reply blog - my replies to other blogs. And if ever you happen to remember me from elsewhere.

#gg theory - guilty gear theories

#gg fun post - guilty gear funsies

#gg quote - guilty gear funsies but about gg quotes

(I have other tags that I made for the sake of organizing my posts but it feels useless to search about them as of writing... I'll put it here when I feel like it'll be useful)

And I forgot, since I'm focused on guilty gear, my favorites there: Happy Chaos, Daryl, Raven, and Asuka or Bedman. In that order. (Updated version :p)

[phantasmadescry]

Teacher's Will

When I encountered this line again:

- Asuka to everyone during a meeting in Strive story mode, Confrontation

I kinda doubted what I've just heard, because it implies that this entire time, he's just following his "teacher's will" instead of his own. But, Asuka also likes science right? He's a (generally) good person too. Why wouldn't his past as a scientist align with what he wants? But thinking about it, I realized that I overlooked something.

Just because someone likes science, it doesn't mean that they want to find a cure for cancer. That's like assuming every artist can paint realism. Or every programmer wants to work in cybersecurity instead of game development. It just doesn't work that way, especially since not all good people want to serve everyone for their entire lives. Some professionals just wants to utilize their creativity for entertainment's sake. And that includes scientists.

In fact, there are studies made for the sake of gaining knowledge, even if it has no immediate benefit for society. And that, is Basic research.

"Basic research, also called pure research, fundamental research, basic science, or pure science, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenomena...Though often driven simply by curiosity, basic research often fuels the technological innovations of applied science."

- Portions of Wikipedia's definition

In addition, despite being an expert in life sciences, Asuka might have more interest in math based on some points, such as:

1) his major (bioinformatics) ultimately deals with computing biological data,

2) the name of his radio show is "Clear Numbers" (at least, based on how both his Japanese and English Strive page quotes on it),

3) how his voice lines made several references to physics (though it might be hard to reference biology in there anyway), and

4) based on this line:

"Just Asuka. The boring man with a fondness for math that you know so well."

- Asuka replying to Sol's question about his identity, Strive story mode, Omen

He might also have an interest in philosophy based on his philosophical discussions with Frederick/Sol in Overture Material Collection and Xrd Sign, Devastation A, and also based on, whatever Asuka R# meant by his interest in truth/reality (I'll reserve my assumptions for this one because it feels vague).

But, regardless of what his true interests are, why did Asuka chose to do stuff against his will? It's possibly because of this so called "teacher's will". Which, although not directly mentioned in the story, might be implied as "service to humanity".

"The pupils he left behind continued to await their master's return, but began searching for a way to stop the robot on their own. One chose to educate the people and help them evolve. Another thought to halt the advancement of humans, suspending them in their current state. The pupils will eventually become known as the Gear Maker and Conclave."

- A portion of Asuka's story about the Universal Will's origin, Xrd Rev story mode, Cause A

So, which of his actions are actually "his"? That's, where speculation comes in. Unless he directly states it (which is unlikely, at least for most details), we'll never really know for sure.

At most, I can only suggest which might be truly his decision or not. And I don't know about you, but I find that entertaining, so here's what I think:

Gear Project

For humanity, because it was originally made for medicinal use.

Turning Sol and Aria into Gears

Personal agenda, because the military kills witnesses, so he was desperate to save his friends (based on Guilty Gear Begin).

2nd Gear Project

For humanity, so that he will have full control over the Gear research.

"It was never my intention for Gears to become weapons of war. With the collective information system I've built, we can give orders to the weaponized Gears. We can stop the wars... In order to do that, I needed to be involved in its development. That's the reason why I've created Justice."

- Asuka explaining the nature of his past actions to Sol, Xrd Rev story mode, Cause A

Destruction of Japan

For humanity, to prevent the Universal Will from manifesting in their world. However, he did so with guilt, even during the act:

Lab Tech 1: Are you serious?! You'll vaporize Japan!

???: Fire, Cecile.

Lab Tech 1: I...I can't...

???: I'm sorry, I should never have asked you. I'll do it.

Lab Tech 1: Sir...!

???: Firing gamma ray. Aria, I'm sorry!

- A portion of Asuka's flashback before his reveal, Xrd Sign story mode, Kaleidoscope B

Accepting I-No and Raven as subordinates

Personal agenda, because he genuinely wants to help them:

"He can be a little mean sometimes, but he would never use people as pawns. He's trying to save you and Raven. That's the truth."

- Jack-O to I-No in I-No's Xrd Rev episode mode

I argue that this perspective made his relationship with them genuine instead of transactional (though I don’t know if I-No felt the same way).

Helping Sol survive

Both for humanity and personal agenda, as his friend (as seen by his care for him in the past and in Strive later) and carrier of the FoC.

"The only things that could stop me now are the Flame of Corruption or the Scales of Juno."

- I-No after turning into a god, Strive story mode, Strive

Helping defeat the Conclave, Ariels (Universal Will), Happy Chaos, and I-No

Both for humanity and personal agenda, as the world and everyone he cared about is at stake.

Creating Jack-O Valentine

Both for humanity and personal agenda, as a physical patch for Justice and a way of returning Aria.

Removing the Flame of Corruption

For personal agenda, because in time, Sol will lose control of himself (based on the implication in this scene). Though he might also hurt a lot of people in the process, Asuka's response focuses more on Sol:

Asuka: As with the Tome... Our world has no need for his power.

Vernon: Bullshit. Tell me, who is Sol gonna hurt?!

Asuka: Himself.

- A portion of the conversation about "getting rid of Sol", Strive story mode, Conclusion

This made me believe that he cares more about Sol getting hurt than... Well, in his defense, that can be solved when it happens, hopefully.

Taking the Tome (and FoC?) to the Moon

Mostly for humanity, because it's inevitable for evil people to use the Tome (and FoC?) for selfish reasons, and the moon is the safest place to hide it. In addition, having a guardian alongside it helps secure it from those people. However, I think Asuka also did this out of atonement based on what Slayer mentioned in his path in Guilty Gear XX:

"So you live only for atonement."

and based on what Asuka R# mentioned,

"Your duty, and your penance for throwing the world into chaos."

For context, Asuka R# was wondering if he was made to replace Asuka.

Clear Numbers

Both for humanity and personal agenda, because he believes in the potential of obejctive data:

"We often misunderstand each other's feelings. We don't always agree. But we can't reject the other's entirety. What we lack is accurate knowledge...The Tome teaches about the nature of our world. What we need is not a call to action... but numbers. Just numbers, free from ideology, profit, and value."

- Portions of Asuka's explanation regarding the "Accumulation of Good Will", Strive story mode, Conclusion

And arguably, as I proposed above, I think it's because he likes math. I think of it as making your hobby into a job, but that might just be me.

Creating Asuka R#

Personal agenda no doubt. It's not like he can use this on earth, and if the clone serves as his back-up like sci-fi stories does, maybe it can be useful. But he straight up created another unique human being by tweaking his personality a bit and letting him be conscious. There's three possible reasons for creating Asuka R# (wanting to try out creating an artifical human, wanting someone to talk to, or wanting a replacement for himself), but arguably, those are still under personal agendas.

Battle Method Turing Test

... Personal agenda. Because of the nature of Turing tests to determine if an AI is considered "intelligent enough". In this case, it might be meant for

1) making a human convinced that they're fighting a real person (and create better illusions?)

2) creating an AI smart enough to... have their own fighting style??...

Yeah, this is personal agenda alright. Even if there are benefits, I think it'll be just as indirect as (or arguably more indirect than) the benefits of basic research.

Lastly, his future actions—whether it's for humanity or himself—will now be done in his own terms, based on his declaration,

"I've never decided anything for myself before. I followed the influences around me, tried to adapt myself to them. My long list of aliases is a testament to that. I've never truly been myself. Thinking back on it now, it seems the same could be said for my becoming a scientist. In turn, I've always pushed the responsibility for my presence in this world... ...onto everyone else."

- Asuka to Sol in their meeting before the G4, Strive story mode, Omen

Disclaimer: I didn't include his actions in Lightning the Argent (through Raven) because there isn't a complete fan translation of the story yet. So, yeah, I had zero clue which ones were his actual commands and which ones were Raven's decisions. Well, aside from the collection of a sample, but I had zero context for what it is for: experiment? identifying the source to help Sol? I don't know. And I'm not taking my chances on machine translators.

Did I forget anything else? Probably. Will I secretly add it when I do remember? Yes–

[phantasmadescry]

I don't know if someone already pointed it out (or if it's common knowledge), but I realized where Sol's neck pain might come from (aside from working as a scientist).

Spoilers for GG Begin. Go read it. It's cool.

In the novel, Asuka shot Frederick at the neck and presumably injected the Flame of Corruption at the same time. For the rest of the story, he occasionally feels a burning sensation in his neck, notably whenever he uses the most of his superhuman abilities.

This led me to believe that the FoC might be located in his neck. And this might be why he's always cracking his neck despite having regeneration. And why Asuka held Sol to the neck when removing the FoC, because that's where he put it (though it ended up looking like he's gonna choke him or something). Still, I can never be too sure since I don’t follow much Sol lore.

[phantasmadescry]

[phantasmadescry]

Just a cool detail I've found.

After staring at this scene for a while, I noticed that the placement of the head and arc of the window looks quite similar to the halos from christian artworks.

So now, I can't help but wonder if it was coincidental or intentional. It didn't help that the camerawork just, stopped there for a second or so.

Like, it's bordering between awkward animation (in story mode) or coincidence. But if it was coincidence, I was expecting something like this:

I guess both are barely noticeable anyway, if you didn't pay enough attention. Or if you payed too much attention. Like I did...

But the shape of the window doesn't seem to be intentional, that's for sure.

But who's to say that it can't be both coincidental and intentional? Like, "Oh hey, it looks like this, might as well." Regardless, I propose that it might be intentional, because having a christian halo is somewhat related to what he just said in this scene:

"We left normal behind a long time ago."

Which, I argue to be related to his discovery of magic that earned him the title "Savior"

Or, as the title currently used by arcsys, "Gunslinging Broken Messiah"

[phantasmadescry]

its very refreshing seeing someone giving the lore of gg a genuine shot from a theorist standpoint, or even just being interested in viewing the franchise in that light.

keep at it! if you ever need help with any character, theres always at least one insane fan of the character out there who will have you need, even if most of them are gone from the public eye.

Firstly, I'm sorry for answering late. I overlooked my notifications. And while I still haven't tried reaching out to the other loreheads, I'm glad that my attempts were appreciated nonetheless. Thank you very much! And honestly, consulting other fans didn't crossed my mind. I was used to flying solo, but I suppose it doesn't have to be that way anymore.

Ironically, I only made these because I thought that I was alone. Well, not in terms of being a theorist, but in terms of having a certain idea. Like, did no one really bothered to decipher Happy Chaos' speeches? Or did people really overlooked the possibility of Bedman's existence based on this and this? To think that there were other loreheads out there that could've satisfied my longing to be heard in some way, it makes me wonder if I should even continue. But I suppose, given the vagueness of the themes in Strive, alongside fans focusing on their own favorites, I'll eventually have my own idea (mostly for my own favorites :p) that's worth sharing here.

But in terms of theories, @gear-project also makes some! Go check him out! He even has theories way before Strive, records game info as well as interviews, and interpets some song lyrics. Even if I don't agree with everything, some of my interpretations (and headcanons) came from his theories too! He might be worth your time!

[phantasmadescry]

Same anon: wish I could be of help, but I'm just the messenger! Most of this stuff happens in Discord servers and private forums, not social medias :( GG loreheads get treated very poorly on an overall basis, so a lot of people are very hesitant to post anything about it and deal with the wider fanbase.

That saaid though, I did send the reply over to my friend and beelieve me when I tell you he gets how frustrating it is to not have an easily findable source! 😭 But I have personally seen all the sources myself, and can confirm them as being real :)! I can't send links over anon, sadly, but I can ask if he'd be comfy to message you if you want to talk about it more, if that's something you'd be interested in at all! (No Tumblr, but maybe I can make him make one, LOL)

(Thankfully I can answer properly). For context, the message was delivered by a friend and a continuation of this post.

So: That explains the lack of loreheads. And theorists for that matter. I've always read the lore of media that I've grown to like, so I was surprised to learn that the Guilty Gear wiki was occasionally vague, missing, or wrong. The pillar of fandom being, unstable. Not to mention, divided? (I don't think I can handle a history lesson right now though). And now, the lore masters were hated? or disliked*. or discriminated*. Makes no difference to me. If it were other fandoms, it would've been loved. It's appalling.

But knowing that the fandom were mostly adults, I understand their decision to avoid places like this. It's sensible, really. Who would want to spend hours looking for info, only to be despised for it? I have personally seen a fandom struggle with the backlash just because other fans' headcanon didn't fit the author's intent. And as if toxic fandoms didn't exist. Still, the idea left a bad taste in my mouth, but I couldn't exactly pinpoint why...

I can't really comment on the sources. I guess I could mentally categorize it among my uncited info (that is, info that I can't prove if I'm questioned). It's not my first time. And, you don't have to make an account for your friend if it was just for messaging me. I will be busy in a week anyway, so I'm planning to make the most of my time finding my rhythm again. And, I actually know a discord server, I was just afraid of joining for reasons. And I didn't expect such places to be the only way to get more info. I guess that's on me. Perhaps I'll join someday, when I have more consistent time on my hands, and when I've built up courage. or when I'm fixating again, somehow it makes me do things

Edit (2/12/2026): I... I realized that I saw a fan translation of the interview this entire time, I just missed the page number, and didn't translate the post, and can't see the replies because I didn't use twitter ahshshsjdhs

at least I saw a recorded vid after it got taken down on twitch or something :p

[phantasmadescry]

Bedman's Existence

Since Ken Miyauchi (Guilty Gear Strive Producer) confirmed that a portion of Bedman's soul (or spirit) is in the bed, I can't help but wonder if this also indicates that Bedman couldn't cross the afterlife, and therefore, still lingering elsewhere.

Though I personally believe that they initially want Bedman's existence to be ambiguous except for "this bed could be haunted," this interpretation could also imply that Bedman is somewhat present, like a ghost.

And the thing is, there's a character who was implied to be unable to move on to the afterlife because of having only half a soul, that being: Raven. Daisuke mentioned that the coin in Raven's left eye symbolizes having only half a soul (based on an uncommon interpretation of Greek tradition that both eyes needed to be placed with coins (specifically Charon's obol) during burial so that the spirit can cross the underworld).

Therefore, if a portion of Bedman's soul is in the bed, then his soul (wherever it is) was basically incomplete. And if the logic from Raven's case will be followed, then... BEDMAN IS ALI-

However, there were still some problems:

1) Will they follow that part of Raven's lore?

Retcons happen, though the fact that they maintained the coin design in Xrd improved the chances of keeping this lore. But unless they release Raven in Strive, the details were still up in the air.

2) Bedman is nowhere

It wasn't the first time for Guilty Gear to tackle the concept of souls. From the formation of Magical Foci, Zappa's ghosts, Happy Chaos' possessions during the Crusades, REI possessing Giovanna during fights, and now Lucy's existence in Guilty Gear (though still possible to be a forced explanation) all had something to do with souls, spirits, or ghosts. However, deleting his ID complicates the situation since aside from being a soul, it also turned him into a multi-dimensional being, which are closer to GG's vampires and werewolfs.

And since (to my knowledge) there isn't much information about multi-dimensional beings in general (probably because they just introduced the concept in Happy Chaos' arcade story), then it is hard to draw a conclusion on what could happen to him as both a multi-dimensional being and a soul in an unknown location. (Like, does the soul still act like a soul or a multi-dimensional being? If the soul is located in the Backyard, then it's prone to becoming a Magical Foci. But if it's near the afterlife, can it leave that area as a multi-dimensional being? There's too many possibilities).

But let's say his soul is just, out there somewhere, just staying still. Maybe someone can find him? Asuka perhaps? But again, his multi-dimensional nature may make it difficult to find his soul (in wherever he is) due to his lack of ID. It's probably like looking around blindly in the vast universe. Also, aside from the soul...

3) Bedman's body

Raven still has a body when he gained immortality, Bedman on the other hand...

So in order to physically return Bedman back to their world, Asuka would have to either create a new body, or use that unfinished Happy Chaos unit. However:

And based on Happy Chaos' explanation of (naturally born) multi-dimensional beings, they need to convert themselves into lower levels of information before having a physical body (at least, that's how I understand it). But since Bedman already lost the "converted version" of his body (that is, one that was already compatible with their world), he may no longer have the information/matter/unit needed to have a proper physical form (unless he steals it from other worlds, but it's not like he can do much as a soul, and I doubt he'll let the other Delilah without a brother nor steal someone else's body).

4) How will they handle his power?

His body will also need to be able to sustain Bedman's extremely high brain processing power. Delilah was only cured because of Bedman's omnipotence in his temporary Absolute World, but without that, will Asuka be able to find a solution for him? We certainly wouldn't want Delilah to die like he did just so he could live.

However, this was less of an issue given how Asuka also held the Tome of Origin, and how they could always come up with a new magical/physics rule to make it work... If they want to make it work.

5) Will he still have a narrative purpose?

His story represents a classic tragic tale. If they are going to turn back from that, it must be for a very good reason. Question is, for what? If things go south, they can make Asuka voluntarily come back to earth, Happy Chaos can call I-No, and Delilah is already stronger than Bedman. So, what else will Bedman bring?

At most, Bedman's greatest asset was his fast thinking and ability to create his own Absolute World. Without limitations, he may be able to counter a god-like being. At the very least, his mind can be used by someone other than the main cast for evil or "supposedly good" purpose (though that's adding more salt to the tragic angle, and that might make it distasteful if overdone). Regardless, I think it has to be an enemy so great to require another overpowered back-up, but too great and the series will not have much conflict left to continue the story. And that might place his speculative comeback further into the end of the series.

So, in summary:

Should they follow Raven's lore where incomplete souls are immortal, some sort of miracle must happen for them to even find Bedman. That may be Giovanna's heightened smell, Slayer's intervention, Asuka using the Tome, there's a lot of possibilities. But he's been introduced as an overpowered character with limitations, so bringing him back (with or without limitations) would also require a problem that is just as big.

Either way, one thing's for sure: Bedman is still there somewhere...

[phantasmadescry]

So I have been informed that there's an AMA in Paris Games Week that mentioned Bedman (thank you very much for that), but either I couldn't find a translated version or we're just left with YouTube's bad auto-translation (if you can translate it in either Japanese or French, preferably Japanese, we (and fans of other characters mentioned there, alongside people who asked questions there) will greatly appreciate it).

It's a shame that I can't add asks in reblogs so I'll just state it here (and respond while I'm at it):

The informant said that according to Daisuke (in that AMA), Bedman is alive and incapable of death. In addition, such info was "urasettei" or "lore they have not revealed in game yet but intend to in the future."

And uh, the rest of my reply got too long and I also hate scrolling too far so, I've hidden it below. It's mostly my personal opinion on the matter and reply to the ask.

Though I'm grateful for the info, I would've really appreciate it if it was shared elsewhere, may it be Tumblr, X/Twitter, Reddit, etc., mostly for the sake of fellow fans who are new to Guilty Gear (and fighting games in general, like me. Yes I'm new (Sept 2025 :p) but I freaking looked everywhere except every single AMA, and perhaps some untranslated Japanese sites since I don’t know where to get additional interviews about Guilty Gear).

And honestly, I can't fully trust everything you've said, mostly because at some point, the Bedman page was locked (and/or protected) in both wiki gg and wiki fandom. Wiki gg mentioned that it was due to vandalism (whose exact situation I had zero idea of) and I'm guessing the reason for wiki fandom was somewhat related (unfortunately, I can't check their Talk page without an account). That and, I had also wrongfully believed that Happy Chaos killed Bedman because that's what was used to be written in wiki fandom (unfortunately, I also can't open the unrevised history without an account) (and that's honestly a long debatable topic on itself, the proof of which I forgot and couldn't find as of writing, don't get me started I've just written this for hours). So, nowadays I'm careful with information like these (thus why I'm citing every info I state and sticking to info that can be cited as much as possible, lest I acknowledge that it's a fan theory of mine or others).

Though there's an exception. Post it. It doesn't even have to be Tumblr. Because at the very least, an account's post is easier to be held accountable than an ask. Imagine: if ever you misunderstood something, can you vouch for me? And right now, as a fellow stranger in the internet, I don't have time to double check what you've said by decoding the exact Japanese or French sentences and its context (because auto-translate sucks) without sacrificing my time for family and other plans for myself (which ironically includes learning Japanese lol, I'm still at memorizing Hiragana though).

At the very least though, I'm sharing what you've said for people who doesn't have trust issues like I do, because I'm also aware that there's nothing wrong with trusting here (this is a fan "community" after all) but I'm also new to fan community, so, that's something.

I'm also aware about the interview that mentioned Annabelle as an inspiration. In fact, here's the exact quote:

"And what I wanted to do was kind of take a little bit of inspiration from Annabelle and say the kind of fractured feeling of Bedman is still remaining inside the bed itself."

For context, the informant said that Daisuke claimed that it's only a "feeling" of him left behind and not Bedman himself, and being inspired by the Annabelle movies reaffirms it.

The thing is, if majority of Bedman's soul is not in the bed, then technically he's not in the bed, is he? Kinda like how, Jack-O isn't Aria just because a fragment of her is in Jack-O. But I do admit that my proposition was still theoretical, it seems I failed to tag it as such. And, I'm honestly confused how the Annabelle movies reaffirms your point. Was there a sequel where the doll wasn't possessed, or are you implying that something else was possessing the bed aside from usual spirits (like demons)? Isn't it supporting the other way around? Unfortunately, I don't like diving further into horror, feel free (for anyone reading) to give me context.

Overall... I forgot to tag my post as fan theory. My bad, I'll edit it. And in my defense, it still took me a while to look for that AMA even while knowing it. Why? Because I ignored the youtube results in google, then I searched for it in the youtube site. Apparently their results were nowhere near the same. How do you expect this idiot to find it without being informed? And even if found, English speakers really need help here. Do you know what the auto-translation said? "It is dead but it in fact he is not dead... It's a bit, it's a complicated story." It might have been clearer if the Japanese part was translated instead of the French part, but unfortunately youtube decides that. And as if it can properly translate nuance (it can't. It really can't. Help).

Edit: Just sharing, here's a follow-up from the same anon.

[phantasmadescry]

Bedman's Existence

Since Ken Miyauchi (Guilty Gear Strive Producer) confirmed that a portion of Bedman's soul (or spirit) is in the bed, I can't help but wonder if this also indicates that Bedman couldn't cross the afterlife, and therefore, still lingering elsewhere.

Though I personally believe that they initially want Bedman's existence to be ambiguous except for "this bed could be haunted," this interpretation could also imply that Bedman is somewhat present, like a ghost.

And the thing is, there's a character who was implied to be unable to move on to the afterlife because of having only half a soul, that being: Raven. Daisuke mentioned that the coin in Raven's left eye symbolizes having only half a soul (based on an uncommon interpretation of Greek tradition that both eyes needed to be placed with coins (specifically Charon's obol) during burial so that the spirit can cross the underworld).

Therefore, if a portion of Bedman's soul is in the bed, then his soul (wherever it is) was basically incomplete. And if the logic from Raven's case will be followed, then... BEDMAN IS ALI-

However, there were still some problems:

1) Will they follow that part of Raven's lore?

Retcons happen, though the fact that they maintained the coin design in Xrd improved the chances of keeping this lore. But unless they release Raven in Strive, the details were still up in the air.

2) Bedman is nowhere

It wasn't the first time for Guilty Gear to tackle the concept of souls. From the formation of Magical Foci, Zappa's ghosts, Happy Chaos' possessions during the Crusades, REI possessing Giovanna during fights, and now Lucy's existence in Guilty Gear (though still possible to be a forced explanation) all had something to do with souls, spirits, or ghosts. However, deleting his ID complicates the situation since aside from being a soul, it also turned him into a multi-dimensional being, which are closer to GG's vampires and werewolfs.

And since (to my knowledge) there isn't much information about multi-dimensional beings in general (probably because they just introduced the concept in Happy Chaos' arcade story), then it is hard to draw a conclusion on what could happen to him as both a multi-dimensional being and a soul in an unknown location. (Like, does the soul still act like a soul or a multi-dimensional being? If the soul is located in the Backyard, then it's prone to becoming a Magical Foci. But if it's near the afterlife, can it leave that area as a multi-dimensional being? There's too many possibilities).

But let's say his soul is just, out there somewhere, just staying still. Maybe someone can find him? Asuka perhaps? But again, his multi-dimensional nature may make it difficult to find his soul (in wherever he is) due to his lack of ID. It's probably like looking around blindly in the vast universe. Also, aside from the soul...

3) Bedman's body

Raven still has a body when he gained immortality, Bedman on the other hand...

And based on Happy Chaos' explanation of (naturally born) multi-dimensional beings, they need to convert themselves into lower levels of information before having a physical body (at least, that's how I understand it). But since Bedman already lost the "converted version" of his body (that is, one that was already compatible with their world), he may no longer have the information/matter/unit needed to have a proper physical form (unless he steals it from other worlds, but it's not like he can do much as a soul, and I doubt he'll let the other Delilah without a brother nor steal someone else's body).

So in order to physically return Bedman back to their world, Asuka would have to either create a new body, or use that unfinished Happy Chaos unit. However:

4) How will they handle his power?

His body will also need to be able to sustain Bedman's extremely high brain processing power. Delilah was only cured because of Bedman's omnipotence in his temporary Absolute World, but without that, will Asuka be able to find a solution for him? We certainly wouldn't want Delilah to die like he did just so he could live.

However, this was less of an issue given how Asuka also held the Tome of Origin, and how they could always come up with a new magical/physics rule to make it work... If they want to make it work.

5) Will he still have a narrative purpose?

His story represents a classic tragic tale. If they are going to turn back from that, it must be for a very good reason. Question is, for what? If things go south, they can make Asuka voluntarily come back to earth, Happy Chaos can call I-No, and Delilah is already stronger than Bedman. So, what else will Bedman bring?

At most, Bedman's greatest asset was his fast thinking and ability to create his own Absolute World. Without limitations, he may be able to counter a god-like being. At the very least, his mind can be used by someone other than the main cast for evil or "supposedly good" purpose (though that's adding more salt to the tragic angle, and that might make it distasteful if overdone). Regardless, I think it has to be an enemy so great to require another overpowered back-up, but too great and the series will not have much conflict left to continue the story. And that might place his speculative comeback further into the end of the series.

So, in summary:

Should they follow Raven's lore where incomplete souls are immortal, some sort of miracle must happen for them to even find Bedman. That may be Giovanna's heightened smell, Slayer's intervention, Asuka using the Tome, there's a lot of possibilities. But he's been introduced as an overpowered character with limitations, so bringing him back (with or without limitations) would also require a problem that is just as big.

Either way, one thing's for sure: Bedman is still there somewhere...

[phantasmadescry]

I'm kicking my feet at the fact that Happy Chaos and Asuka had a lot of interactions despite being enemies. Though it's probably because he's following Happy Chaos' (or Original's?) advise to be "open-minded," I personally thought that it's because of their closeness (in a, favorite student/teacher kind of way), given how the Original also entrusted both the Flame of Corruption and Scales of Juno to Asuka.

But then I remembered these two:

I forgot that Asuka "soft as a pillow" also lived with the most sadistic and masochistic beings in Guilty Gear. Now that I think about it, HOW DID HE CAME OUT FINE?! HOW?! No wonder why he's friendly with an enemy like Happy Chaos: he's tame!

[solradguy]

It really is faster to list the (adult) GG characters that are explicitly cisgendered heterosexual. Here it is:

Jokes aside, I really, genuinely, do think there's a lot of gender and sexuality stuff in Guilty Gear that they're only just now able to (whether by confidence or allowance from the publishers) explore in a deeper way.

There are the obvious things like Baiken having thrown away her womanhood/femininity as far back as Missing Link (1998!), Testament's gender and presentation have always been on a spectrum between vague to fully androgynous/agender, with a lot of early Japanese GG books/zines/materials either tiptoeing around their gender entirely or doing things like including them in both the male and female character polls in the ASW 25th Anniversary Official Character Collection book; Bridget's had obvious gender stuff since day one too. Even Justice has played around with gender to the point that the lone English translator of Missing Link accidentally gave her he/him pronouns. Sol Badguy is Freddie Mercury.

Then there's the more obscure stuff, like Kaihou Norimitsu (author of two GG novels, all of the Drama CDs, Guilty Gear XX, Dual Rulers, etc.) wishing to explore the possibilities of gender identity in both physical and social ways in a blog post from 2006, but lamenting being unable to because, well, it was 2006.[1] Daisuke Ishiwatari has also said things like how he's "transcended human existence" just like Testament, in regards to their androgyny (in 2002);[2] or how he gives each character "his very heart" and that Bridget was written as a cis girl until the last minute, where Daisuke changed his mind because he thought that Bridget "could become [Daisuke's] alter ego" in an interview from 2004.[3] There's more than this but I hope this is enough to illustrate my point.

I know Tumblr is the "haha everyone lgbt" headcanon firehose website, but there's just so much in Guilty Gear that I think, just this once, it's probably safe to assume there's something unique going on in that department for a very significant portion of the series' cast.

----

https://web.archive.org/web/20060902161559/http://kaiho.at.webry.info/200606/article_3.html#comment

https://web.archive.org/web/20230219230435/https://game.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/arc/1022252341/248?v=pc

https://archive.org/details/artworks-of-guilty-gear-x-2000-2004-daisuke-interview-english/page/n8/mode/1up?view=theater

[phantasmadescry]

I knew it. It wasn't just me. Daisuke's wording really stuck with me. I can't help but wonder why some didn't consider this during the discussions about the characters' gender. Because if (some?) creators are open to queer concepts back in the day, then Testament and Bridget's gender in strive would feel less like pandering or queerbaiting and instead a way to open up about the topic in general now that the culture is (partially) shifting to acceptance.

[carnsy]

I think that Bridget's case is the opposite of queerbaiting. It's the absolute recognition and acceptance of what she was meant to be and is and slipping away from the cowardice and kink bait of "It's a trap".

I am personally much less happy with how Testament's design was treated in Strive. We had a solid design of a person that is beyond gender, androgynous in their being. And they tried to visually push it but how ? By feminising their features and voice enough that they cater to cishet male fantasies thus making an easier pill to swallow. Eliminating the more masculine features was in my opinion a coward choice. I know we can excuse radical physical changes through "They re a Gear" but eh.. I'm not sure it was the right choice.

Also i can add one character to the cihet list?

• Johnny, in a painfully comical way xD

[phantasmadescry]

Those were a lot of good points (that I didn't think of. Especially for Bridget. Thank you for bringing them to light).

However, about Testament, Daisuke's description of androgyny (at least for Test) in this caption feels like it leans more into feminine non-binary. I have a feeling that it's the reason why they have a feminine portrayal now, though I'm not sure if it was actually his intent to make them look gnc or if he still wanted to keep them androgynous and beautiful without realizing that they crossed the gnc territory (if Japan even have a concept of gnc, especially gnc non-binary).

Though I'm still quite iffy at how the japanese and korean voice sounded more like a cis woman, again, it might be intentional for portraying a feminine non-binary, or unintentional by leaning too much into feminine portrayal. However, it doesn't make me any less frustrated whenever Testament gets objectified, but I blame those players more when it comes to that.

Also, about Johnny. I remembered this costume swap illustration and while I know that not everyone here is romantically connected, I feel sus about Johnny and Test's switch. It might just be fan service though...

[phantasmadescry]

I'm free but at what cost...

Anyway gimme a few days-

[phantasmadescry]

I learned... No, unlearned that you can supposedly change your primary blogs. You can't. I don't know where that tidbit of information came from. Perhaps it's from my old days. Perhaps it's from an old post elsewhere. Either way, I feel torn between using this as a personal blog or a serious blog, since I'm always on and off with my interests.

One day I'm writing essays, the next day I'm into shitposts. But before my current obsession with guilty gear, I've always been jumping between franchises. Although I'm still nowhere near done with my ideas, so was I with my old interests. I come back every now and then but immediately jump off anyway. I'm afraid that one day, when I switch interests again...

Actually, this is a non-issue. I know I'm a free person, it's just that... The organization man... I'm pissed at how there's an option to organize but I can't because I didn't know any better...

That's it. It's just my perfectionism acting up, nothing to see here...

[phantasmadescry]

[guilty-gear-gonfessional]

Admin’s got a confession of his own:

“Black tech” might just be my least favorite part of the lore. At first the thought of “oh everyone is back in the dark ages because there’s a god that takes over machines” is cool as hell

BUT WHAT COUNTS AS A MACHINE ?!? At first you’d think oh it’s based on electricity or an interface but then it says guns are black tech too ?!? Guns have parts that might have batteries but those aren’t the end all be all of the firearm ! Does the UW just possess the gunpowder or smth ?!? And Robo Ky clearly runs on or atleast can use electricity as the tangerine battery proves !

So if they can somehow build a universal will proof robot, WHY DIDNT THEY GIVE THE HOLY ORDER ASSAULT RIFLES ?!? YOU CAN MAKE A WHOLE ASS ROBOT SO YOU CAN DEFINITELY MAKE UW PROOF FIREARMS the crusades would’ve been much shorter if Ky had a gun !

It’s genuinely frustrating trying to understand what is and what isn’t black tech because there’s just so many examples of technology that make no sense

[phantasmadescry]

I agree with @t9nomu 's comment about society's fear around it and it's disadvantage over magic-based technology, but I'd like to add (and otherwise suggest) some points:

1) The production of technology made by electronic machines were disrupted during the Dawn of Revival, and that includes guns. That's why guns were affected, alongside other mass-produced (or mostly machine dependent) technology at the time. Although magic did revive technology (and consequently guns), it was quite useless during the Crusades because of requiring ammo and having a lack of resources at the time. At that point though, neo-guns would be more beneficial, however...

2) Most gears seemed to be enhanced reptiles, so imagine a crocodile with thicker skin. I'm guessing (more like speculating) that there came a point where even neo-guns couldn't pierce that well into their scales, so a mixture of brute strength and magic spells had to be done to weaken them or hold them off until the weak spot was found. Plus, larger neo-guns seems to require charging based on the ones used in Xrd. Granted, the charging may be faster than those if its smaller but still, I'm guessing this is difficult to implement when Gears move all the time, requiring them to be herded. But humanity is at the disadvantage at the time, and what are they gonna use for herding in the first place? Back to the basics.

However, Zepp was mostly safe in the sky because most flying enemies can be fend off by explosives or other technology (think of Pterodactyls). If anything, they might be the only nation who benefit a lot from black tech because more defensive and sturdy gears are found in the ground (at least based on speculative biology. Like, more sturdy more heavy), and their mobile country allows them to flee if they can't handle the battle, so they didn't need to adapt much unlike countries stuck in the ground. Plus, just because they kept black tech, it doesn't necessarily mean that they disregarded some uses of magic (I think they did use magic when listening to the news in Strive, though idk if that's the only time they used it).

3) As for why the Universal Will didn't target anyone else with black tech, I think (and maybe headcanon) that it's because it's not enough to hold her power or something, unlike the Japanese. Also, back then, the entire world run on connected electronics (so like, if one country's power isn't enough there's other countries around and combined, it's stronger), but now it's just one country. And ""if"" Zepp mixed some magic with black tech, then it's even less reliable for that. And I also doubt that a single Robo-Ky can handle the power it takes to summon her large form, and the robots weren't connected to each other unlike the electronic technology back then.

In addition, UW's true plan was to replace humanity. Justice was already the perfect weapon for erasing existing humanity, she just needed a way to control her, and she also needed to start making her perfect human (with Elphelt as one of her experiments I assume, though she's also meant to control Justice?). I'm guessing she didn't experimented during the Crusades because Gears will kill it, and she can't control or protect the human that she releases (like Valentine). So the best time to continue her plans was after the rebellious gears became dormant. She also blended in after the Crusades because she a) doesn't have a way to manifest as a large powerful being (like her second attempt) when the Japanese were medicated, b) she wouldn't want to awaken Justice without finishing her perfect human, and c) the best way to understand humans better (after her failure with Valentine) is to try to be human (based on what she said to Chaos in Strive).

As for what is counted as black tech, I'm assuming that it's anything that can be replaced with magic-based technology, such as internet (and the like), electric-related technology, weapons (that rely on gunpowder or anything non-magic), and other technology that relies purely on science (mostly physics), such as radio, microwave, sonar, etc. Why science? I'm guessing it's because before the Dawn of Revival, all of these heavily relied on physical instruments powered by electronic equipments, whereas its magical counterpart may no longer require those physical instruments. You could argue that they could've just mixed both, but if magic is more efficient, why bother? However, that's exactly what Sol does as a hobby, and thanks to the power of both science and magic, he ended up creating more powerful weapons than what everyone expected.

I realized that the last few sentences sounded speculative but, eh.

[phantasmadescry]

After rewatching/reading this scene a couple times, I've come up with a speculative explanation about what Happy Chaos is saying in this scene:

"Scales... A well-calibrated scale uses counterweights to keep itself from breaking. Order, systems, stability. A scale that doesn't move is no scale at all."

The first two lines are self-explanatory, while the third line listed possible examples of counterweights for whatever the scale was meant to represent. Though the words used were still quite broad to fully guess what it could mean, since maintaining anything helps prevent it from breaking. That is, it must remain stable, often through order, that is created by systems. And whatever the scale is meant to represent, it is something that loses purpose or meaning the moment it is not used.

"That's not allowed."

And we either don't want that, or it's something that shouldn't happen for some reason. That reason being:

"The world as we see it is shaped by mankind's emotions."

So, here's my theory: scales. Whatever the scales are meant to represent, they are nonetheless used for balance. And the world is still unbalanced, because mankind allowed emotions to run rampant. We have known that in the Guilty Gear universe, too much emotions already caused problems in the past, as Jack-O explained:

"...the world got possessed by humanity's emotions during the war. So the backyard cut off the source of the illness. That was the first mistake. The part that got cut off was given tremendous authority. And became all-powerful."

- Jack-O explaining I-No's origin in Strive story mode, Omen

Thus, seeing this problem, he commented:

"Your conclusion is meaningless."

Now, I believe that this is more personal, since he's now referring to Axl Low. What conclusion, exactly? I suggest, Chaos meant Axl's solution to problems:

"...he rarely thinks about anything deeply and generally goes with the flow..."

- GG World/Axl Low from Strive

You could say that he's the kind of person who focuses on the present, much like Sol, thus preventing them from being torn by philosophical or societal problems like Asuka and Happy Chaos. However, what if said "flow" stopped?

"Please don't stop the flow"

- Drift, Happy Chaos' battle theme in Strive

I think there's a reason why Chaos' song mentioned this line, and that being, the "flow" could indeed, stop. That is, by either letting mankind live through order to the point where they lose their humanity, or by letting the world be destroyed by mankind's emotions. Which are both possible, based on past events and insights that Ariels, Happy Chaos, and I-No gained from the future.

"Mankind will dream. He will prize his purpose. And he will love. Though the robot assumed it was those very urges that comprised a "soul," it predicted that mankind would one day strip itself of any impulse."

- Origin of Ariels' motive, Xrd Rev story mode, Cause A

"His mission is to stir up the world so that humankind does not forget its own humanity."

- A portion of Happy Chaos' description in GG World

"Something has to change. That dull gray world... Time to put it to the test."

"Now time might actually start to move a little in that awful future..."

- Some of I-No's dialogue in I-No's arcade mode, Xrd Sign

"Finally, the day is here. My chance to light up this dull future with amazing fireworks!"

- I-No's dialogue in Axl Low's arcade mode, Xrd Sign

Basically, I interpreted what he said as: "The world needs to be balanced, and you're doing nothing about it."

However, I wondered, "Why did he even have to contact Axl in the first place? Why did Chaos even discussed about scales?" Then, I thought: What if their interaction is actually a "counterweight" in itself? It could be the reason why he brought up "scales" in the first place. So, what is he balancing? What is he preventing from breaking? It's definitely not Sol's presence, since he's already willing to participate the moment they felt that something was off.

Maybe Axl at first, but when Chaos already showed himself the first time, Axl was already guarding the area, anticipating that someone will come. However, he didn't expect that something bad will happen until after that scene, during which, he managed to save people due to his prior knowledge. Was it to save people? Because it seems like that's all it does. But, why? He didn't mind killing off the guards later and letting the soldiers die, why does he seem to care here? Then I realized, he was doing it for a much, bigger picture... The G4.

Interestingly, the US president, Vernon, sounded too optimistic after the incident:

Vernon: Your former ally has been detained by the Illyrian government. It's a real weight off my shoulders.

Asuka: The I-No I know would never let herself be captured so easily.

Vernon: I imagine they're interrogating her right now... So why don't we save the anxiety-inducing conversations for after she's escaped?

- Shortened conversation between Vernon and Asuka in Strive story mode, Omen

I'm guessing this was because, on paper, the incident was handled "smoothly." A building collapsed, but everyone inside was saved by a hero and the culprit was imprisoned. However, when some people did die, they took the matter more seriously:

Goldlewis: What's the damage report?

Operator: Initial reports say 48 police and soldier casualties. But that doesn't account for the numerous civilians caught up in all this.

Goldlewis: Was this a political group? Some single idealogue?

Erica: Illyria tried to warn us. I downplayed the danger because I-No was in custody. These deaths are my responsibility.

- Discussion during their attempt to reclaim the White House, Strive story mode, Myth

Therefore, if people had died in the building, perhaps Erica (and maybe even Goldlewis) will also think twice about continuing the event, and consequently dissuading Vernon. He might even consider Asuka’s suspicion, and wait for further information from Illyria (especially since, they knew about Chaos' existence anyway. I don't even know why the US didn't know that despite knowing I-No's detainment. Plot hole I guess or they relied on the news instead of direct communication?)

In addition, if ever he was too late, Axl cannot go back in time to save those people:

"Well, you are able to access "any" world... So it's not impossible. However! If you do use your...irregular...powers, this world just becomes another possibility. Poof! Gone in a flash."

- Portion of Jack-O's explanation about Axl's power, Axl Low's arcade mode, Xrd Rev

"Two worlds. In other words, the past in which you lived, and the present. Two timelines. By reasserting one of them, the possibility of the other disappears."

- Sol reiterating Axl's dilemma, Xrd Rev story mode, Contact B

Thus, Axl Low can't travel back in time to change the past, or else the entire "present" where he came from will disappear (and somehow that counts as killing for him, which he didn't like). Thus, the most that he could do is to stop time and move alone there, like how he saved the people in the building.

Based on these info, I theorize that Happy Chaos intentionally creeped out Axl in the scene so that he could save the people in the building, which then allowed everyone in the White House to have the confidence to continue the G4, all while hinting about his plan in the same scene.

[phantasmadescry]

That's it, I'm taking a break. I've already scheduled my last analysis, so at the very least I should've contributed to my favorites by then (except Raven, sorry bro I'm new to writing fiction). Though that won't stop me from binging content/lurking. I still need my comfort content to last.

And.. I'm still happy to know that I have a freaking profile pic. I've never succeeded until now, even if it's temporary. And it's freaking cute. I made that? Really? Me? Good job self. I didn't realize how adorable it can be. wow... That's all.