Rubber Soul
Rubber Soul (ラバーソール, Rabā Sōru) is a tertiary antagonist featured in the third part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Stardust Crusaders, specifically the "Yellow Temperance" story arc.
Impersonating Kakyoin, Rubber Soul isolates and attacks Jotaro and Merlai Anne in Singapore. Rubber Soul is a Stand user who wields Yellow Temperance.
Appearance
Rubber Soul is an adult man with dark, curly hair styled into a mullet and a muscular build. He is bare-chested and wears pants and shoes. His Stand grants him the ability to change appearance at will. His disguise can grow when he absorbs organic matter.
Color Schemes
Personality
Rubber Soul is a vulgar and overconfident Stand user hired to assassinate the Joestar Group.
Rubber Soul has a crass and irritable personality, often bragging and insulting Jotaro Kujo during their fight. This tendency is exacerbated by his great confidence in Yellow Temperance's invincibility which protects him from harm and can digest all organic matter. This leads Rubber Soul to repeatedly claim that Yellow Temperance has no weakness.[3] Rubber Soul is also very violent; he attempts to punish a pickpocket by breaking his back[4] and remorselessly eats a dog under the eyes of its master with his Stand.[5] As Yellow Temperance needs to be fed organic matter, Rubber Soul has no qualm eating anything available, from beetles[6] to a single cherry[7] in order to grow his Stand. Rubber Soul is also quite narcissistic and considers himself to be handsome.[8]
Furthermore, Rubber Soul shows his cowardly personality when he isn't protected by Yellow Temperance anymore. With a single punch from Jotaro, Rubber Soul was intimidated into surrendering, gave away the names of his allies, and tried to suck up to Jotaro in order to escape his wrath.[9] As a last pathetic display of cowardice, Rubber Soul also tried to write off his assassination attempt and insults as jokes and tried to convince Jotaro that a broken nose and jaw were enough of a punishment, which particularly irked the student.[10]
Unlike most of DIO's Agents, Rubber Soul has no particular loyalty towards the Vampire and was lured with the promise of earning 100 million dollars as a reward for killing Jotaro.[11]
Rubber Soul does not seem to be particularly intelligent. He intended to ambush Jotaro with Kakyoin's appearance, but his unusual behavior blew his cover.[12]
Abilities
Stand
Rubber Soul's Stand is Yellow Temperance; a sticky, rubbery mass bound to and encasing his body which consumes any other organic substance it comes in contact with. The Stand defends him from all forms of brute force and allows him to effectively impersonate others.
History
Stardust Crusaders (1988)
Rubber Soul is one of the seven Stand users that Enya the Hag sends to assassinate the Joestar Group.
While the Joestar Group is in Singapore looking for tickets to travel to India, Rubber Soul uses his Stand Yellow Temperance to assume the appearance of Kakyoin under Jotaro Kujo and Merlai Anne's noses. At the same time, Joseph uses Hermit Purple on a television set so he and Avdol can anticipate DIO's next move. Through joining voice segments from different TV programs, Hermit Purple cryptically hints "Kakyoin" as a traitor just before DIO destroys the TV.
Jotaro, Anne and Rubber Soul in disguise enter a park, where a pickpocket tries to steal Rubber Soul's wallet. Rubber Soul acts suspicious from the start by acting vulgar and trying to backbreak the thief.[14] Moreover, Rubber Soul starts to consume all organic matter he can get his hands on, at one point eating beetles which freaks Anne out.
In a cable car station, Rubber Soul tries to push Jotaro above the security fence and almost kills him. Rubber Soul writes it off as a joke but Jotaro unmasks him and punches him. Rubber Soul and Jotaro both enter a cable car in which Rubber Soul reveals himself and explains how his Stand will digest Jotaro through his hand.[15] Faced with the danger of being devoured by the Stand, Jotaro jumps out of the cable car, Rubber Soul gloating that he has no need to chase him. Rubber Soul gets off and enters another cable car in the guise of a woman just to see Jotaro's futile attempts to freeze the Stand fragment. Rubber Soul reveals himself and gloats of his Stand's invincibility while it consumes a dog that happened to be in the cable car. Jotaro is forced to use his grandfather's final secret technique of running away by punching a hole in the bottom of the cable car and dragging Rubber Soul with him into the water below.
As Rubber Soul is forced to lower his Stand's guard to breathe, Jotaro gives the now powerless Stand user a broken nose and jaw[16] before interrogating him about the remaining assassins. Rubber Soul reveals their cards to be the Empress, Emperor, Death and Hanged Man, the fourth belonging to J. Geil, the man Polnareff is after.
Once out of the water, Rubber Soul spots an opportunity to disable Jotaro by having his Stand travel through a manhole into a drainage pipe. He sends Yellow Temperance through the pile to cover Jotaro while gloating the subsequent reward is more than a professional boxer earns from a fight. However, Jotaro counters the attempt by using Star Platinum to punch the drain and create a high-pressure water jet, breaking the manhole open and sending Rubber Soul flying back into the water. Rubber Soul begs for mercy as Jotaro proceeds to finish him off with a barrage of punches by Star Platinum.[17]
Chapters / Episodes
- Chapter 130: Strength, Part 1 (Mentioned only)
- Chapter 136: Yellow Temperance, Part 1 (Disguised as Noriaki Kakyoin)
- Chapter 137: Yellow Temperance, Part 2 (Disguised as Noriaki Kakyoin)
- Chapter 138: Yellow Temperance, Part 3
- Chapter 139: Yellow Temperance, Part 4 (Retired)
- Chapter 154: Justice, Part 1 (Mentioned only)
- Stardust Crusaders Episode 8: Devil (Disguised as Noriaki Kakyoin)
- Stardust Crusaders Episode 9: Yellow Temperance (Retired)
- Stardust Crusaders Episode 24: High Priestess, Part 2 (Flashback)
Quotes
- “Rero rero rero rero rero rero rero rero rero rero rero rero rero rero rero rero rero rero... (レロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロレロ..., Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero Rero...)”—Rubber Soul, disguised as Kakyoin, licking a cherry, Chapter 137: Yellow Temperance, Part 2
- “What do you mean "Ora"!? I'll just digest you right down to your shit!”—Rubber Soul, Chapter 137: Yellow Temperance, Part 2
- “DO YOU UNDERSTANDDDDDD!? (ドゥーユーアンダスタンンンンドゥ!, Dū yū andasutannnndu!)”—Rubber Soul, Chapter 138: Yellow Temperance, Part 3
Creation and Development
Rubber Soul was not given a proper name until several years after Part 3's publication, where it was revealed in the PlayStation port of the Capcom fighting games and eventually documented in JOJO A-GO!GO!.
Video Games
JoJo RPG (SFC)
In the game, Rubber Soul instead briefly imitates Devo the Cursed and battles the player's group on a hotel rooftop.
Capcom Fighters (Various)
Rubber Soul or Robber Soul in the English localization, appears as a playable character in the Capcom games. He was added to Heritage for the Future as a secret unlockable character.
Stardust Shooters (Android/iOS)
Rubber Soul appears as one of the several Part 3 characters who possess a Metal Striker. His Finish Move has Yellow Temperance envelope the target Striker, melting them.
Diamond Records (Android/iOS)
Rubber Soul (ラバーソール, Rabā Sōru) appears in Diamond Records as a playable character in both the Action Battle and Tactical Battle game modes. He has a variety unlockable statues under the 'Fighting Spirit' and 'Solitary' types, ranging from 3 stars to 5 stars. Rubber Soul's moveset in both game modes is comprised of various attacks inspired by the anime, using his stand Yellow Temperance. Most of his attacks deal damage over time to opponents.
JoJo's Pitter-Patter Pop! (Android/iOS)
Cooldown: 85
Cooldown: 85
Cooldown: 80
Cooldown: 80
Cooldown: 70
Gallery
Trivia
- Steely Dan's localized name was originally "Rubber Soul", after the Beatles album. However, because Rubber Soul was given to another Stand user, it was later changed to "Dan of Steel". This is a pun on the common nickname associated with Superman, "Man of Steel", as well as a literal translation the kanji of his name, "Hagane-iri no Dan" (鋼入りのダン).
References
- ↑ Justice - Vol.3 "Shueisha Jump Remix Stardust Crusaders Edition" P70-71 The Secret of JOJO Characters
- ↑ https://twitter.com/RayChase/status/882129177310183424
- ↑ Chapter 138: Yellow Temperance, Part 3 P.4.
- ↑ Chapter 136: Yellow Temperance, Part 1 P.16
- ↑ Chapter 138: Yellow Temperance, Part 3 P.11.
- ↑ Chapter 137: Yellow Temperance, Part 2 P.5.
- ↑ Chapter 137: Yellow Temperance, Part 2 P.10.
- ↑ Chapter 137: Yellow Temperance, Part 2 P.15.
- ↑ Chapter 139: Yellow Temperance, Part 4 P.3-5.
- ↑ Chapter 139: Yellow Temperance, Part 4 P.15.
- ↑ Chapter 139: Yellow Temperance, Part 4 P.3.
- ↑ Chapter 137: Yellow Temperance, Part 2 P.11.
- ↑ JOJO A-GO!GO!: STANDS, p.104
- ↑ Chapter 136: Yellow Temperance, Part 1
- ↑ Chapter 137: Yellow Temperance, Part 2
- ↑ Chapter 138: Yellow Temperance, Part 3
- ↑ Chapter 139: Yellow Temperance, Part 4