Uno stand estremamente potente in grado di controllare il tempo, avendo un portatore equivalmente potente, World è un stand esoterico, venerato e temuto da ogni personaggio in Stardust Crusaders.
Prende il nome dalla carta dei TarocchiIl Mondo, l'ultima carta dei arcani maggiori e simbolo di obiettivi raggiunti e della vittoria, promettendo un periodo di riposo davanti alle difficoltà della vita quotidiana.
The World bears the appearance of a tall, heavily muscular humanoid with a strong resemblance to DIO himself in terms of build and clothing. It wears a headpiece covering its face to below the place of its nose, slanting at a steep angle from the base of its forehead to a peak situated above the rear of its head, leaving the face of an inverted triangle visible to the front, similarly to the Red Crown of Lower Egypt.
It wears small twin diving cylinders on its back, connecting via short, twin-ridged cables to the rear of its mask. Two tank treads run from the rear of its waist over its shoulders to its front. The backs of both of its hands bear the shape of a simple clock face. Its chin, the base of its abdomen, its crotch, and its knees are topped by heart shapes. It has armor plates on its shins, and its clogs bear curved, sharply-pointed toes, similar to those of DIO's.
DIO's diary reveals that he intended to engrave 14 phrases on his Stand to remember them after destroying it and subsequently birthing something new,[4] though they are never shown on the Stand itself.
Araki has stated that it was designed as a boss initially, to contrast with Star Platinum's color and other traits.[5] According to him, the purpose of the diving cylinders on The World's back is to supply oxygen within stopped time.[6]
Schema dei colori
The series is known for alternating colors between media, the information presented below may or may not be canon.
Colored MangaOVAAnimeSFC GameCapcom FightersAll-Star BattleEyes of Heaven
Corpo(Yellow body, yellow/light yellow armor)
Occhi(Yellow)
Corpo
(Corpo grigio, armatura beige con accessori marroni)
Occhi(Marrone scuro)
Corpo
(Corpo grigio, armatura gialla con accessori verde chiaro)
Occhi(Marrone)
Corpo
(Corpo giallo, armatura gialla con accessori marroni)
Occhi(Nero)
Corpo
(Corpo abbronzato, armatura beige con accessori grigi)
Occhi(Fucsia)
Corpo
(Corpo grigio chiaro, armatura gialla con accessori verde lime)
Occhi(Oro)
Corpo
(Corpo verde-grigio, armatura aurea con accessori verde lime)
Occhi(Giallo)
Personality
The World shows no particular personality, although it occasionally smiles as it pummels others, hinting that it may be a rather cruel entity that takes pleasure in causing pain.[7][8] In the anime, it frequently shows expressions of formidability and fury in its attacks. Its Stand cry is Muda Muda Muda! (無駄 無駄 無駄!, lit. "Useless, useless, useless!"),[7] however, the cry itself seems to be communicated by DIO.
The World itself doesn't make much attempts at speech. In the anime, The World makes grunting noises while fighting Star Platinum, and in the English dub, the grunting sounds are replaced with growling noises.
Abilities
The World is an exceptionally powerful close-range Stand much like Star Platinum as noted by Noriaki Kakyoin and Jotaro Kujo, but boasting an effective manifestation range of approximately 10 meters.[9] Although it lacks any ability to directly injure opponents farther than close-quarters range, its overwhelming physical might and near unstoppable control over time undeniably make it one of the most dangerous Stands in the entire series.
Extreme Physical Power: The World possesses phenomenal strength, senses, precision, and incredible speed, being able to easily punch Kakyoin right through his abdomen. DIO claims that The World is even stronger and faster than Star Platinum since it bested the latter in a clash of rapid punches between the two.[7] Its main offense is generally characterized by a flurry of speedy punches and the occasional kick.
Time Stop
The World stopping time
The World's signature power is its ability to stop time, allowing only itself, DIO, and anyone with the same power (such as Jotaro and Star Platinum), to act within the duration of stopped time.[10]
In the stopped time, DIO can move his own body freely along with any object he touches that he wishes to move, allowing him to strike his defenseless enemies, move to a superior position, and toy with his victims. All force applied by DIO during the time stop continues to exist after the time stop. This is seen when the objects that DIO throws can momentarily move during the stopped time before grinding to a halt. A flurry of thrown knives could fly for several meters before stopping near Jotaro.[11]
Another unique feature of the time stop is how DIO can seemingly levitate in stopped time. Since no forces other than the time stopper's exist during a time stop, there is no force of gravity, allowing DIO to move freely in space as he wishes, with the assistance of his stand.
It is notable that DIO needs to consciously activate Time Stop, which means that surprise attacks can prevent him from stopping time.[12]
Despite time not actively progressing, DIO quantifies the duration of The World's time stop using seconds.
Because of DIO's weakened state in Stardust Crusaders, this ability initially only works for up to 5 seconds in DIO's frame of reference before time flows again.[13] However, thanks to DIO's immortality, the duration of stopped time increases as DIO becomes more accustomed to The World and the scar around his neck heals, reaching a maximum of nine seconds towards the end of Stardust Crusaders.[14] However, had he not died, the period during for which DIO could have stopped time would have continued to grow, seemingly indefinitely.[15]
Individuals with the same power can only act within stopped time for the "duration" that they are able to stop time, but appear be able to perceive all of the stopped time, even if they have not stopped it themselves, and this applies to DIO as well. An individual with the same power does not need to immediately start acting (or 'stopping time themselves') during stopped time, and can start the duration of their time stop later on during the stopped time, and the duration of the other individual's stopped time can exceed the duration of the initial time stop, stopping the original user of the ability from acting for the remaining duration of their time stop.[16]
The information below derives from a source not written by Araki. As such, it may or may not be considered canon.
The World appears in the light novel JORGE JOESTAR. In the novel, Dio already has his Stand after he takes over Jonathan Joestar's body in the ship. He uses it to gather food and torture Erina while traveling in his coffin with her in the middle of the ocean.
When Dio wakes up from his sleep after one hundred years, he temporarily gives the Stand to Giorno Giovanna by inserting half of his soul into the boy's body. As a result, Giorno becomes a clone named DIO and acts out the events of Stardust Crusaders. After DIO's death, Dio uses the effects of Cube House to travel through time and retrieve his Stand again.
Once Dio becomes an Ultimate Thing like Kars, The World is capable of stopping time for nearly one hour.
While battling Dio, Kars develops his own enhanced copy of the Stand, known as The World Ultimate. Dio also awakens this version of the Stand after seeing Kars use it.
Una forma evoluta del Stand chiamato The World Over Heaven appare in Eyes of Heaven. Il portatore è una iterazione di DIO proveniente da un mondo parallelo che è asceso in cielo dopo aver eradicato la famiglia Joestar e aver compiuto il suo piano. Lo Stand tiene l'abilità di fermare il tempo e riceve il potere di sovrascrivere la realtà in aggiunta.
The World was notably the only Stand in Part 3 that lacked any design input from Araki's editor at the time, Ryosuke Kabashima, as he unexpectedly ended up in the hospital during the final battle.[17]
Coincidentally, the tarot card of The World was at one point referred to as "Time" in the Court de Gébelin deck.[18]