Goldlewis Dickinson

Submission 17,466

Part of a series on Guilty Gear. [View Related Entries]

About

Goldlewis Dickinson is a DLC character from the 2021 fighting game Guilty Gear -Strive-. The right hand of president Colin Vernon, the character appears as a stout, grey-haired man with a thick beard wielding a large coffin. Following the announcement that the character would become playable, Goldlewis Dickinson gained major popularity as a subject of memes and fan art in mid-2021.

Origin

On May 16th, 2021, the story trailer for the 2021 video game Guilty Gear -Strive-, developed by Arc System Works, premiered.^[1] In the trailer (shown below, left), the character Goldlewis Dickinson (right hand of president Colin Vernon and former president Erica Bartholomew before him) first appeared.

On June 6th, 2021, Guilty Gear -Strive- launch trailer premiered.^[2] In the trailer (shown below, right), the character briefly appears, performing a fighting move with a large coffin with an "Area 51" plate attached to it.

On July 20th, 2021, Arc System Works released^[3] a trailer for Season Pass 1 for Guilty Gear (shown below), introducing Goldlewis Dickinson as a playable character.

Possible Appearance in Guilty Gear Xrd

It has been speculated^[4]^[5] that Goldlewis Dickinson is the background character that can be seen eating burgers on Sol's Stage in the previous installation of the series, Guilty Gear Xrd, released in 2014. In addition to similarities in design, Goldlewis Dickinson can be seen eating a burger in a cutscene in Guilty Gear -Strive-. The background character is colloquially known as "Burger Sheriff."^[6]

Spread

Following the release of the launch trailer on June 6th, 2021, the character achieved minor popularity online within the fighting game community, with several notable fan artworks posted by users. For example, on June 6th, 2021, artist @Serzeri tweeted^[7] a sketch that gained over 140 retweets and 630 likes in one month (shown below, left). On June 8th, 2021, artist @ByM tweeted^[8] an artwork that gained over 80 retweets and 410 likes in the same period (shown below, center). Also on June 8th, Twitter user @topherflorence tweeted^[9] about the character, with their post gaining over 2,400 retweets and 9,200 likes in one month.

Following the announcement of the character as a playable fighter, Goldlewis Dickinson found major popularity online in memes and fan art, being compared to various popular characters such as GigaChad and Johnny Bravo. For example, on July 20th, Twitter^[10] user @luulubuu posted a Venn Diagram that received over 2,600 retweets and 14,500 likes in two days (shown below, left). On the same day, Twitter^[11] user @DTerminism posted an INTJ Stare meme that received over 1,100 retweets and 3,600 likes in the same period (shown below, right).