ABILITIES | POWERS: I. I guess I should note that a lot of his abilities carry over to his Gundam because I don't know. G Gundam is just This Way........
• Physique: First off, I should note that he is literally an android made from the ridiculously versatile cells of a rogue evil Gundam, though apparently his cells aren't evil...? It's a mystery why he isn't evil but we're going to go with it. As such, his cells, outer shell and inner workings more or less inherited the properties of the Devil Gundam (yes, it's called that literally, see below for these properties). But also, he's like the amalgamation of these cells, a soul copy and an entirely different person, so certain parts of him still bleed and look human (most notably his head). It might be the outer layer and there's a layer of android cells under that, perhaps. Lots of guesswork here.
• Self-Regeneration, Self-Multiplication, Self-Evolution: All DG Cells (Devil Gundam cells, because we're creative here) are capable of these three properties -- essentially, he's able to self-heal to an extent, and presumably he could maybe make android copies of himself or something considering the actual Devil Gundam keeps making new heads and tails and whatnot... but he hasn't tried it. It's just one of those things. Self-evolution, or the ability to shounen digivolve into a stronger Gundam, is also an untapped resource for this guy as far as I can tell.
• German Ninja Skills: I'm serious, apparently it's German ninjutsu?? It's unconfirmed what the German fighter whose body he took over fought like, exacty, just that he was conveniently a masked fighter. Either way, Schwarz himself has demonstrated such abilities as disguising himself as an entirely different person or an inanimate object, substitution (i.e. substituting himself with an object when attacked), illusory shadow clones (you know Kage Bunshin no Jutsu? basically that), randomly standing on top of water geysers, phasing through steel walls, camouflaging himself into the landscape, throwing shuriken and kunai-equivalents, appearing out of people's shadows literally... It just keeps going. Apparently a lot of these carry over to his Gundam. I guess.
• Gundam Fighter & Martial Arts Skills: Schwarz is also capable of ridiculous martial arts things much like the rest of the Gundam Fighter cast -- powerful hits, jumping around on buildings, casually breaking through walls, moving faster than the eye can see if you're not a ridiculous Gundam martial artist, and so on and so forth. In other words, he's just as capable of taking opponents head-on as he is of subterfuge and sneaking around; his strength and force is likely helped by the fact that he's a literal android, but martial arts in G Gundam is just on a whole other level. Also he can use a state of mental serenity to make his attacks exponentially more powerful -- a big plot point was passing on this technique by demonstrating the cutting down of whole-ass trees with a rusty katana.
PERSONALITY: Schwarz is an exercise in hilarious contradictions: he's a ninja wearing a jester mask (and sometimes whole entire costume), he's a Gundam Fighter whose focus is on helping other people in the Gundam Fight, and he somehow manages to be an expert stoic and a professional circus showman at the same time. Many of these are born out of the necessity of his very specific circumstances, but also sometimes you've just gotta be a big damn ham while the world is trying to end.
The most important thing to know about Schwarz is that he's a clone. A copy! Maybe even... a shadow copy? He was created by the original Kyouji Kasshu to replace him using the body of the original German Gundam Fighter combined with cells of the Devil Gundam that was in the process of devouring OG Kyouji's free will; Kyouji wanted to rely on his double to protect his little brother Domon and the world where he couldn't, because he was kind of busy being biofuel for an evil mecha that wanted to destroy the world. As such, those two prongs make up Schwarz's primary operating motivations: protect and guide Domon through the Gundam Fight, and also ensure the Devil Gundam is thwarted and destroyed by any means necessary.
Who, then, is Schwarz Bruder? Is he simply a copy of Kyouji with the trappings of Germany's Gundam Fighter? Is he a person of his own? Or some strange mixture of all of the above? He specifies that while he is not Kyouji, he is his shadow, a complete copy of his soul in a sense. Those around him who knew Kyouji Kasshu experience an almost instinctive sense of familiarity with him. Perhaps Schwarz is indeed the essence of Kyouji -- with a few twists and tricks of his own.
For a good majority of the series, Schwarz's M.O. consists of popping up wherever Domon is and handing him advice that may be more or less cryptic, tools to train himself, actual teaching spars, or some combination of the above. He in fact supports the people around Domon as a sort of come-and-go mentor figure as well -- the Shuffle Alliance and Rain, for example -- but his main concern is with his little brother. He's one of those strict mentors who isn't afraid to call out their protégé for being ridiculous, or throw them into the fire if they really won't take advice, but at the end of the day he's still always there watching over them and willing to bail them out at the cost of his own life if necessary. He did this in the Guiana Highlands, risked his life again to reunite Domon and Rain during their final match, and finally sacrificed himself to ensure the destruction of the original Kyouji and Devil Gundam. Generally, he comes across as a wise and enlightened figure who can use such ridiculous techniques as total mental serenity AKA the clearest focus of the soul before imminent death and other such high-level tricks, and he forcefully passes all of these to Domon in order to equip him to take down the Gundam Fight and Devil Gundam both. This guardian role is all Kyouji; in fact, the lesson that finally made Domon recognize him -- something Schwarz himself initiated at the eleventh hour -- was a callback to the lesson Kyouji gave once upon a time: believe in others, and you've got nothing to fear.
Funnily enough, although he extols the virtues of teamwork and connection with others, Schwarz himself has a tendency to lone wolf it. Much of his time onscreen is spent as a masked fighter -- no one, not even his Gundam support crew or the nation whose Gundam Fighter he was impersonating, had any inkling that he wasn't who he seemed. He also apparently either inherited or expanded upon the concept of 'German ninjutsu' from his predecessor -- the pilot whose body he took over -- making him even more elusive and mysterious in all his dealings. A lot of this was out of necessity: he needed to help Domon, but because those running the Japanese Gundam Fighter program were all involved in the conspiracy and cover-up that had created the Devil Gundam and also destroyed the Kasshu family, Schwarz was forced to stay undercover for most of the Gundam Fight. He was also running his own clandestine investigation into the Devil Gundam on the side, refusing to stay passive for even a moment in his pursuit of his and Kyouji's goals. In his own words, it was extremely difficult for him to stand apart from his family, friends and fellow Gundam Fighters in some very real ways -- had it been his choice, he probably wouldn't have removed himself quite so much.
That being said, there were plentiful moments where he leaned into it. There are almost no instances of him entering a scene in a normal manner, whether it's just the pilot or also his Gundam: he disguises himself as other people, pops out of shadows and camouflage, appears suddenly in the middle of the road, stands on top of a ship mast in a lightning storm, you name it. This showmanship is both a strange contrast to his ninja status and a signature of the Gundam Fighter Schwarz; most Gundam Fighters are not subtle in the least, and in this sense he is no exception. It also has the bonus effect of making it challenging for anyone to track him or observe him in daily life, which meant it was easier for him to keep up his charade until such a time as he could start revealing his true identity.
At his core, Schwarz is a pretty benevolent person who devotes his all to his family and what he sees as his duty to guard the planet from the wrath of the Devil Gundam he helped create. He doesn't appear to hold any resentment or regret for the path he took or his own bizarre existence; he's a pragmatic guy who knows what he wants, and can sometimes be downright reckless in pursuit of his goals, because he also has very little to lose. He has a strong sense of justice to go with his sense of duty -- during the Gundam Fight he would keep an eye on opponents trying shady tricks (although the shadiest ones usually came from the people in charge, unfortunately) and do his best to either expose or forestall them. Most of these were still related to his own objectives, but a masked man can't be everywhere at once.
On the other side of the coin, although he spends a lot of time onscreen being serious in a silly costume, he also has moments of levity and moments where he's just the biggest ham known to mankind, on top of the fact that Kyouji is known to be both a warm person and someone who willingly teases those close to him -- but especially his little brother. Due to his role and the fact that he's only allowed to show his eyeballs and eyebrows to the world most of the time, Schwarz comes across as the more stoic of the two -- but post-Gundam Fight, post-the defeat of the Devil Gundam (he thinks) and post-having to completely conceal his identity for a long period of time, he has a little more room to quite possibly be his own person and expand more on life as an android clone. He might still spend some time in costume, and he certainly isn't retiring from the Gundam life here, but it sure will be a journey of some kind going forward.
SAMPLE:
[There are two things unusual about Schwarz Bruder's existence in this strange space between a freezing rock and a hard salt place:
1. It's entirely possible to track his trajectory from being a not-so-piping legionnary hot water bottle replacement, to a drunk-staggering rebel maybe-potato-sack piping up in an attempt to defend everyone's literal skin, to the current state of affairs. He isn't loud, but he sure is there, in the probably flesh. Terrible.
2. It's somehow impossible for him to account for himself, which hasn't happened since the last time he and Kyouji had too much quality time together, and he hadn't been looking to repeat that experience. In fact, it should have been entirely impossible to repeat anything, but the Devil Gundam throws a wrench in things even when you've entirely waltzed off the mortal coil, apparently.
None of that manages to show up in his demeanor, except for the most undignified drunk-staggering portion, because for the most part Schwarz always has the brilliant idea of showing up in a jester mask no matter the occasion -- and in this case it's a double protection against the cold, so who says these things can't be practical??
Granted, he's still reduced to the somehow muffled and downgraded use of his senses and skills otherwise; it's like suddenly being moved to a colony with much harsher gravity or perhaps being trapped underwater in subzero temperatures. Despite all this, Schwarz takes it upon himself to scout -- the existence of the undead is old-hat in some ways, although here they aren't made of the same cells and don't clink and clank their ponderous way through the caves. They still go down all the same if you take their head, and accordingly he spends much of his time flitting among the stalagmites, breaking some off to try to use as weapons, sniffing at the salt to see if it's safe for use, and seeing if he can balance on one this time or fall off again like an upturned turtle instead of the respectable ninja he is. Nobody saw that.]
Ahem. It'll be to our advantage to stay between the salt formations -- they'll act as a natural guard. I'll watch the rear if needed. Move as fast and quiet as you can, and don't talk to anyone you don't know.
[The echoes of the cave and the convenient inconvenience of his mask make it hard to suss whether the timbre on that last bit is in jest or not. But hey, what else is a jester ninja to do in these trying times?]
INVENTORY:
• GF13-021NG Gundam Spiegel: The page explains everything better than I can but there's basically the Gundam, the Core Lander which is like a hovercar and a Gundam cockpit all in one wombo-combo, and all its armaments and so on. It runs on fusion energy, which appears to be self-sustaining by the time G Gundam takes place, but let me know if we want to poke at this more. Gundam Spiegel itself shares many of Schwarz's ninja skills, because... why not. Its ultimate attack is Sturm und Drang, which is when Schwarz spins his arms really fast and the Gundam itself spins like a top. Super lethal. Lots of literal Beyblade action! ☆
Armaments: 2 Spiegel Blades, 1 Iron Net that's basically like an electrified net that can capture a whole Gundam, and an unknown number of Messergranz throwing knives (which I'm going to assume are the kunai-looking things, and which can also explode)
• Jester Masks: He's a masked fighter, after all. These have a tail that ends in a pompom thing. They look really ridiculous but are great for hiding your identity and getting a terrible case of hat hair. Also, the pointy thing on the forehead? That can be detached and used as a throwing weapon. Yeah. Let me know if he can bring these and how may he can bring because he goes through them like tissue paper in canon. He doesn't really need 'em long-term I just think having a wardrobe full of jester masks is hilarious. Maybe he'll gift them to people.
• Disguises: He disguised himself as an old man one time. Also a tree. Let me know what I can bring because these are just ridiculous bonus outfits (or, idk, wallpapers in the case of the tree impersonation). I'm sure he can make or acquire more at some point, I'm just struggling to think of mundane items that might be mildly amusing to have along but he's literally a robot piloting a robot.
NOTES: I think we are mostly good unless we need to figure out Gundam power sources or other logistics.
Schwarz Bruder (G Gundam)
CONTACT:
[plurk]
[discord] FFFyre[#]4083
CHARACTER: Schwarz Bruder
CANON: G Gundam
CANON POINT: Ep. 44, post-death
BACKGROUND: Gundam Wiki-chan is good civ.
ABILITIES | POWERS: I. I guess I should note that a lot of his abilities carry over to his Gundam because I don't know. G Gundam is just This Way........
• Physique: First off, I should note that he is literally an android made from the ridiculously versatile cells of a rogue evil Gundam, though apparently his cells aren't evil...? It's a mystery why he isn't evil but we're going to go with it. As such, his cells, outer shell and inner workings more or less inherited the properties of the Devil Gundam (yes, it's called that literally, see below for these properties). But also, he's like the amalgamation of these cells, a soul copy and an entirely different person, so certain parts of him still bleed and look human (most notably his head). It might be the outer layer and there's a layer of android cells under that, perhaps. Lots of guesswork here.
• Self-Regeneration, Self-Multiplication, Self-Evolution: All DG Cells (Devil Gundam cells, because we're creative here) are capable of these three properties -- essentially, he's able to self-heal to an extent, and presumably he could maybe make android copies of himself or something considering the actual Devil Gundam keeps making new heads and tails and whatnot... but he hasn't tried it. It's just one of those things. Self-evolution, or the ability to shounen digivolve into a stronger Gundam, is also an untapped resource for this guy as far as I can tell.
• German Ninja Skills: I'm serious, apparently it's German ninjutsu?? It's unconfirmed what the German fighter whose body he took over fought like, exacty, just that he was conveniently a masked fighter. Either way, Schwarz himself has demonstrated such abilities as disguising himself as an entirely different person or an inanimate object, substitution (i.e. substituting himself with an object when attacked), illusory shadow clones (you know Kage Bunshin no Jutsu? basically that), randomly standing on top of water geysers, phasing through steel walls, camouflaging himself into the landscape, throwing shuriken and kunai-equivalents, appearing out of people's shadows literally... It just keeps going. Apparently a lot of these carry over to his Gundam. I guess.
• Gundam Fighter & Martial Arts Skills: Schwarz is also capable of ridiculous martial arts things much like the rest of the Gundam Fighter cast -- powerful hits, jumping around on buildings, casually breaking through walls, moving faster than the eye can see if you're not a ridiculous Gundam martial artist, and so on and so forth. In other words, he's just as capable of taking opponents head-on as he is of subterfuge and sneaking around; his strength and force is likely helped by the fact that he's a literal android, but martial arts in G Gundam is just on a whole other level. Also he can use a state of mental serenity to make his attacks exponentially more powerful -- a big plot point was passing on this technique by demonstrating the cutting down of whole-ass trees with a rusty katana.
PERSONALITY: Schwarz is an exercise in hilarious contradictions: he's a ninja wearing a jester mask (and sometimes whole entire costume), he's a Gundam Fighter whose focus is on helping other people in the Gundam Fight, and he somehow manages to be an expert stoic and a professional circus showman at the same time. Many of these are born out of the necessity of his very specific circumstances, but also sometimes you've just gotta be a big damn ham while the world is trying to end.
The most important thing to know about Schwarz is that he's a clone. A copy! Maybe even... a shadow copy? He was created by the original Kyouji Kasshu to replace him using the body of the original German Gundam Fighter combined with cells of the Devil Gundam that was in the process of devouring OG Kyouji's free will; Kyouji wanted to rely on his double to protect his little brother Domon and the world where he couldn't, because he was kind of busy being biofuel for an evil mecha that wanted to destroy the world. As such, those two prongs make up Schwarz's primary operating motivations: protect and guide Domon through the Gundam Fight, and also ensure the Devil Gundam is thwarted and destroyed by any means necessary.
Who, then, is Schwarz Bruder? Is he simply a copy of Kyouji with the trappings of Germany's Gundam Fighter? Is he a person of his own? Or some strange mixture of all of the above? He specifies that while he is not Kyouji, he is his shadow, a complete copy of his soul in a sense. Those around him who knew Kyouji Kasshu experience an almost instinctive sense of familiarity with him. Perhaps Schwarz is indeed the essence of Kyouji -- with a few twists and tricks of his own.
For a good majority of the series, Schwarz's M.O. consists of popping up wherever Domon is and handing him advice that may be more or less cryptic, tools to train himself, actual teaching spars, or some combination of the above. He in fact supports the people around Domon as a sort of come-and-go mentor figure as well -- the Shuffle Alliance and Rain, for example -- but his main concern is with his little brother. He's one of those strict mentors who isn't afraid to call out their protégé for being ridiculous, or throw them into the fire if they really won't take advice, but at the end of the day he's still always there watching over them and willing to bail them out at the cost of his own life if necessary. He did this in the Guiana Highlands, risked his life again to reunite Domon and Rain during their final match, and finally sacrificed himself to ensure the destruction of the original Kyouji and Devil Gundam. Generally, he comes across as a wise and enlightened figure who can use such ridiculous techniques as total mental serenity AKA the clearest focus of the soul before imminent death and other such high-level tricks, and he forcefully passes all of these to Domon in order to equip him to take down the Gundam Fight and Devil Gundam both. This guardian role is all Kyouji; in fact, the lesson that finally made Domon recognize him -- something Schwarz himself initiated at the eleventh hour -- was a callback to the lesson Kyouji gave once upon a time: believe in others, and you've got nothing to fear.
Funnily enough, although he extols the virtues of teamwork and connection with others, Schwarz himself has a tendency to lone wolf it. Much of his time onscreen is spent as a masked fighter -- no one, not even his Gundam support crew or the nation whose Gundam Fighter he was impersonating, had any inkling that he wasn't who he seemed. He also apparently either inherited or expanded upon the concept of 'German ninjutsu' from his predecessor -- the pilot whose body he took over -- making him even more elusive and mysterious in all his dealings. A lot of this was out of necessity: he needed to help Domon, but because those running the Japanese Gundam Fighter program were all involved in the conspiracy and cover-up that had created the Devil Gundam and also destroyed the Kasshu family, Schwarz was forced to stay undercover for most of the Gundam Fight. He was also running his own clandestine investigation into the Devil Gundam on the side, refusing to stay passive for even a moment in his pursuit of his and Kyouji's goals. In his own words, it was extremely difficult for him to stand apart from his family, friends and fellow Gundam Fighters in some very real ways -- had it been his choice, he probably wouldn't have removed himself quite so much.
That being said, there were plentiful moments where he leaned into it. There are almost no instances of him entering a scene in a normal manner, whether it's just the pilot or also his Gundam: he disguises himself as other people, pops out of shadows and camouflage, appears suddenly in the middle of the road, stands on top of a ship mast in a lightning storm, you name it. This showmanship is both a strange contrast to his ninja status and a signature of the Gundam Fighter Schwarz; most Gundam Fighters are not subtle in the least, and in this sense he is no exception. It also has the bonus effect of making it challenging for anyone to track him or observe him in daily life, which meant it was easier for him to keep up his charade until such a time as he could start revealing his true identity.
At his core, Schwarz is a pretty benevolent person who devotes his all to his family and what he sees as his duty to guard the planet from the wrath of the Devil Gundam he helped create. He doesn't appear to hold any resentment or regret for the path he took or his own bizarre existence; he's a pragmatic guy who knows what he wants, and can sometimes be downright reckless in pursuit of his goals, because he also has very little to lose. He has a strong sense of justice to go with his sense of duty -- during the Gundam Fight he would keep an eye on opponents trying shady tricks (although the shadiest ones usually came from the people in charge, unfortunately) and do his best to either expose or forestall them. Most of these were still related to his own objectives, but a masked man can't be everywhere at once.
On the other side of the coin, although he spends a lot of time onscreen being serious in a silly costume, he also has moments of levity and moments where he's just the biggest ham known to mankind, on top of the fact that Kyouji is known to be both a warm person and someone who willingly teases those close to him -- but especially his little brother. Due to his role and the fact that he's only allowed to show his eyeballs and eyebrows to the world most of the time, Schwarz comes across as the more stoic of the two -- but post-Gundam Fight, post-the defeat of the Devil Gundam (he thinks) and post-having to completely conceal his identity for a long period of time, he has a little more room to quite possibly be his own person and expand more on life as an android clone. He might still spend some time in costume, and he certainly isn't retiring from the Gundam life here, but it sure will be a journey of some kind going forward.
SAMPLE:
[There are two things unusual about Schwarz Bruder's existence in this strange space between a freezing rock and a hard salt place:
1. It's entirely possible to track his trajectory from being a not-so-piping legionnary hot water bottle replacement, to a drunk-staggering rebel maybe-potato-sack piping up in an attempt to defend everyone's literal skin, to the current state of affairs. He isn't loud, but he sure is there, in the probably flesh. Terrible.
2. It's somehow impossible for him to account for himself, which hasn't happened since the last time he and Kyouji had too much quality time together, and he hadn't been looking to repeat that experience. In fact, it should have been entirely impossible to repeat anything, but the Devil Gundam throws a wrench in things even when you've entirely waltzed off the mortal coil, apparently.
None of that manages to show up in his demeanor, except for the most undignified drunk-staggering portion, because for the most part Schwarz always has the brilliant idea of showing up in a jester mask no matter the occasion -- and in this case it's a double protection against the cold, so who says these things can't be practical??
Granted, he's still reduced to the somehow muffled and downgraded use of his senses and skills otherwise; it's like suddenly being moved to a colony with much harsher gravity or perhaps being trapped underwater in subzero temperatures. Despite all this, Schwarz takes it upon himself to scout -- the existence of the undead is old-hat in some ways, although here they aren't made of the same cells and don't clink and clank their ponderous way through the caves. They still go down all the same if you take their head, and accordingly he spends much of his time flitting among the stalagmites, breaking some off to try to use as weapons, sniffing at the salt to see if it's safe for use, and seeing if he can balance on one this time or fall off again like an upturned turtle instead of the respectable ninja he is. Nobody saw that.]
Ahem. It'll be to our advantage to stay between the salt formations -- they'll act as a natural guard. I'll watch the rear if needed. Move as fast and quiet as you can, and don't talk to anyone you don't know.
[The echoes of the cave and the convenient inconvenience of his mask make it hard to suss whether the timbre on that last bit is in jest or not. But hey, what else is a jester ninja to do in these trying times?]
INVENTORY:
• GF13-021NG Gundam Spiegel: The page explains everything better than I can but there's basically the Gundam, the Core Lander which is like a hovercar and a Gundam cockpit all in one wombo-combo, and all its armaments and so on. It runs on fusion energy, which appears to be self-sustaining by the time G Gundam takes place, but let me know if we want to poke at this more. Gundam Spiegel itself shares many of Schwarz's ninja skills, because... why not. Its ultimate attack is Sturm und Drang, which is when Schwarz spins his arms really fast and the Gundam itself spins like a top. Super lethal. Lots of literal Beyblade action! ☆
Armaments: 2 Spiegel Blades, 1 Iron Net that's basically like an electrified net that can capture a whole Gundam, and an unknown number of Messergranz throwing knives (which I'm going to assume are the kunai-looking things, and which can also explode)
• Jester Masks: He's a masked fighter, after all. These have a tail that ends in a pompom thing. They look really ridiculous but are great for hiding your identity and getting a terrible case of hat hair. Also, the pointy thing on the forehead? That can be detached and used as a throwing weapon. Yeah. Let me know if he can bring these and how may he can bring because he goes through them like tissue paper in canon. He doesn't really need 'em long-term I just think having a wardrobe full of jester masks is hilarious. Maybe he'll gift them to people.
• Disguises: He disguised himself as an old man one time. Also a tree. Let me know what I can bring because these are just ridiculous bonus outfits (or, idk, wallpapers in the case of the tree impersonation). I'm sure he can make or acquire more at some point, I'm just struggling to think of mundane items that might be mildly amusing to have along but he's literally a robot piloting a robot.
NOTES: I think we are mostly good unless we need to figure out Gundam power sources or other logistics.