| “ | Here and now, Sebastian, you must make a decision. Family... or the rabble. | „ |
| ~ Gustav gives his son Sebastian a choice, his family or the rabble. |
| “ | Where's the sharpener, Sebastian? | „ |
| ~ Gustav’s famous quote. |
Gustav Schwagenwagens is the overarching antagonist of Russian comedy-drama animated web series Metal Family.
He is a well-known businessman and professional musician, as well as a strict and despotic father of Sebastian "Glam" and Lydia Schwagenwagens, who used horrific methods of physical and psychological violence to raise his children (and in particular his son) to be good musicians. It was his insane actions that caused Glam to run away from home.
He was portrayed by Russian writer, screenwriter and audio book announcer Roman Volkov in the original version of the series and an English voice actor George Hoctor in the English dub.
Appearance[]
Gustav is a middle-aged man with blond slicked-back hair, a brown mustache, blue eyes and a rectangular shaped head. He wears a strict gray suit with a white shirt and a blue tie.
Gustav has a very strong resemblance in appearance to his son, daughter and father.
Personality[]
Gustav was a successful and incredibly rich entrepreneur and professional musician. However, he was also a despotic family man and father who kept his own children in fear, teaching them obedience and classical music and frequently using corporal punishment for the slightest mistakes. Gustav considered it perfectly normal to "educate" his son, and later his daughter, by slapping them on the wrists with a ruler until they bled and scarred.
Gustav's obsession with classical music made him intolerant of any other genre and lifestyles other than his own, even insinuating the possibility of emplying unethical therapeutic methods to keep Sebastian away from any distractions.
It is heavily implied that Gustav was a military man and gets unhealthy pleasure from buying firearms to compete in its quality with his former colleague Ben.
Biography[]
S1E9-E10[]
Gustav's abuse to Sebastian.
A professional musician and a well-known and influential person, Gustav controled the lives of his wife and children, and wanted to turn his daughter Lydia and son Sebastian into famous musicians like himself to build a legacy. He sent Lydia, and later Sebastian, to study at the conservatory and also personally gave them violin lessons, during which he would be especially harsh on Sebastian, punishing his mistakes by slapping his wrists with a ruler. Sebastian would deeply resent him for it, but being too afraid to actually face him, he wrote his feelings on a secret diary he would hide in his room with a miniature diorama of the city he would also build in secret with little objects he found on the street.
That summer, Sebastian began to sneak away from home at night to play Glam Metal with Chive, a classmate from an impoverished neighborhood in the city. This liberating experience transformed Sebastian, turning him more cheerful to the point of creeping Gustav out, as he would no longer show any sign of fear for his punishments. Suspecting Sebastian was hiding something from him, Gustav began investigating until one day Sebastian forgot to properly close the spot where he had his miniature and diary to go to one of his concerts. This allowed Gustav to finally discover his son's deep hatred of him and also know about his secret night life after forcing the information out of Lydia.
Gustav's villainous breakdown.
When Sebastian returned home, he found his miniature in the trash can and Gustav waiting for him on the doorstep with his diary at hand. Gustav made Sebastian choose between his family or his rockstar life, referring to it as "the rabble". To his horror, Sebastian chose the latter and decided to live as "Glam", his stage name, before walking away. Enraged, Gustav yelled at him that they are no longer related, that this is no longer his home, and that Sebastian would have to live with his choice.
Goodbye Comic[]
In the comic Goodbye it turns out that, after Glam left home, Gustav did not look for him and also turned Lydia into the new target of his corporal punishments.
S1E5[]
Glam gets rid of the box 37.
Many years later, Gustav passed away without knowing what had become of Glam, who at the time had started a loving family with a biker named Victoria. Despite that, Glam was invited to the funeral and the reading of his will, in which he left his entire fortune and assets to Lydia, and a box with the remains of Sebastian's miniature diorama to Glam. This made Glam think of their last encounter before reaffirming his choice of a family without him and throwing the box away.
Quotes[]
| “ | A beautiful instrument. | „ |
| ~ Gustav about the revolver. |
| “ | He's laughing at me! Holding a grimace of pain, but actually smiling inside! | „ |
| ~ Gustav beats up a crying and bleeding Sebastian while drunk. |
| “ | Stop! I said STOP! Here we have it, Sebastian! You chose the rabble! Well, this isn't your home any longer! You come back and I won't let you in! Because you chose the streets, you ungrateful ratchet worm! This is not your home and I no longer your father! Because you chose the rabble! Despicable! Deplorable! YOU! CHOSE! RABBLE! | „ |
| ~ Gustav’s villainous breakdown and his final words to Glam. |
Trivia[]
- Being a co-owner of a pool ball manufacturing company and owning 89 percent of the company’s stock, Gustav had a total net worth of about 50 million dollars.
- The portrait of Gustav's eerily smiling father in one of the rooms of the mansion gave rise to the theory that in his youth Gustav was subjected to the same tortures that he later subjected his own children to. This also explains why Gustav was scared when Sebastian smiled and handed him a ruler that had fallen out of his hands during the lesson, and shows that, had Sebastian not met Chive and learnt to play music for fun, he would have probably turned out exactly like his father.
- Miguel Ferrer Originally before George Hoctor was cast as Gustav Shvagenbagen, Richard White, Dick Van Dyke, Jonathan Freeman, Mel Brooks, Gary Busey, Tommy Lee Jones, Lance Henriksen, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Walken, Jeremy Irons, Christopher McDonald, Gary Oldman, James Woods, Dustin Hoffman, Patrick Stewart, Terence Stamp, Jeffery Tambor, Alec Baldwin, J.K. Simmons, Chris O'Dowd, Jeff Bridges, Tim Curry, Kelsey Grammer, Danny DeVito, Robert De Niro, Liam Neeson, Kevin Spacey, Andy Garcia, Bryan Cranston, Kirk Douglas, Woody Harrelson, Jeff Daniels, Bill Nighy, John Malkovich, Dean Winters, Julian McMahon, Warren Beatty, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Lloyd, John Goodman, Ian McKellen, Gerard Butler, Rupert Everett, Josh Brolin, Nick Nolte, Charles Dance, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Stephen Lang, Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt, Hal Landon Jr., William Shatner, Judd Hirsch, Kevin Dunn, David Denman, Bill Pullman, Billy Zane, John Lithgow, Terrence Mann, Michael Keaton, Thomas Haden Church & Peter Green were all considered for the role of Gustav Shvagenbagen.