Erich Von Kaiser

Erich Von Kaiser is a recurring character in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Silver Soul. He began as an antagonist but soon joined the Soul Searchers and betrayed the BOVC.

Appearance
Erich is a muscular man with a sort of slim athletic build. His hair is light brown and is styled in a neat, almost square flat top, reminiscent of a Drill Sergeant. He wears a pair of military overalls over a short-sleeved military shirt. He also wears a pair of combat boots. In his first appearance he wears a helmet reminiscent of a pickelhaube however it lacks the spike present on the pickelhaube. Most of Erich’s body is replaced with cybernetics, including his arms, legs (starting from just above the knee), most of his abdomen and part of his head.

Personality
Erich is a soldier without an enemy. He tries his hardest to accomplish any goal, complete any mission and follow any instruction in an attempt to repair his greatest failure of not being able to serve his country, no matter the physical cost, even though he never will. On some level he knows this, but a man with no purpose is hardly a man at all, so he follows orders with little to no question most of the time. He is very efficient, getting things done quickly to minimise the time that could be spent on something more productive. Despite this he’s not an unpleasant person, expressing negative emotions is detrimental to getting the job done. In his first appearance he comes off as the drill sergeant type, scrutinising his enemy and their attempts to defeat him. However after he joins the group he becomes a lot more amicable, particularly with Fidelia as they’re similar people who have both lost limbs whilst pursuing their purpose.

History
As a child, Erich’s father was less of a father and more of a drill sergeant. He scrutinised every mistake Erich made, no matter how small. Erich was told he would never make anything of himself. When he was 18 he joined the German Military, hoping to prove his father wrong and make something of himself, make himself useful. However, during his training, a malfunction with a BOVC delivery drone modified for military use led to Erich losing his leg. Erich had failed again, he wasn’t able to fulfil what he saw as his purpose, to fight for his country. Thankfully however, he was able to volunteer as a test subject for the experimental new Cybernetic Enhancements Program from the new Cybernetic Enhancement Research Division. These enhancements not only allowed Erich to walk again but also enhanced his speed and lower body strength. Erich now served as sort of a guinea pig for whatever new weapons, technologies and whatever new thing Hanz cooked up. He also carried out whatever task he was given, leading to most of his body being replaced over time, such as his arms, abdomen and part of his head. Unfortunately however, despite showing great potential, the CERD lost a lot of funding over time and was eventually on the brink of shutting down their project. That was until the BOVC offered to fund them in exchange for some work. Now that might seem weird for a vegetable company to do but this was a mega corporation with a branch is basically every field, and they needed the money to keep their project going. Erich wasn’t aware of the BOVC’s less than admirable activities either, so he was happy to accept work from them. Tasked with stopping some strange group of trouble makers seemed easy enough anyway, so Erich went off to Berlin to complete this mission. The rest is history.

Stand
Similar to another Stand, Brainstorm, Blitzkrieg Bop takes the form of a large collection of small creatures resembling a sort of bacteriophage. These creatures are not invisible to the naked eye but are still small enough to go unnoticed by most. They each possess 4 spindly ‘legs’ that can grapple onto almost anything as well as a small spike found in the centre of its mass. Their body is shaped like a thin cylinder with several small rings around it and it’s head is shaped like a icosahedron. Blitzkrieg Bop’s primary ability is the ability to ‘recruit’ things to assist the user. When the Stand penetrates something with the spike found on each individual’s underside, the user ‘recruits’ it. The user does not have complete control of the recruited individuals but can issue orders to them. The Stand can recruit a variety of things, ranging from dogs, fish, insects and humans. The Stand is not strictly limited to recruiting living things, it is a cable of recruiting machinery including computers, prosthetics and even construction equipment. When a human is recruited by the Stand they possess all the knowledge and abilities they originally had as well as retaining their personality. When issued orders from the user, recruited creatures do retain autonomy on how exactly they complete these orders. Furthermore, due to becoming part of the Stand in a way, the user can typically see through the eyes of a recruited creature. However, this does not seem to apply to human recruits. Stand Users are resistant to recruiting, however they can be successfully recruited if both them and their Stand are simultaneously affected by Blitzkrieg Bop. The user can choose not to immediately recruit what their Stand is attached to, allowing for Blitzkrieg Bop to be utilised for traps or for surprise attacks.