Robert E. O. Speedwagon

Robert E. O. Speedwagon (ロバート・E・O・スピードワゴン) is a character featured in Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency of the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. He is depicted as a friend and ally to the Joestar Family and has continued to support them for the latter of the series via his organization, the Speedwagon Foundation.

Personality
Robert E. O. Speedwagon is a hot-blooded and honorable street thug and later businessman.

Despite his activity as a hoodlum, Speedwagon is a righteous man. Due to his ability to "smell out" the personality of people, he had recognized Jonathan's noble spirit during the events at Ogre Street and accompanies him on his further journey to defeat Dio whose facade as a cover for his naturally evil behavior was easily denied by Speedwagon. Speedwagon is incredibly loyal to his friends, befriending Jonathan was in part due to the gentleman being kind to his partners. He will try to do anything to help them, and even after Jonathan's death, Speedwagon never sought Erina as a love interest and remained friends with her out of respect for Jonathan. Regardless, Speedwagon takes care of Erina and Joseph Joestar much like a father figure or close uncle. Equipped with a courteous nature, he is familiar with giving one's privacy; this is apparent when upon trying to enter Jonathan's room, he witnesses the nurse, Jonathan's former love Erina, nurse him back to health and leaves Jonathan to Erina's care. This righteousness would be a characteristic of him throughout his life, as an elderly Speedwagon stipulate in his will that his foundation be used to fund medical and archaeological advancements, and his organization aids the Joestar family time and time again long after his death.

Apart from that, Speedwagon is an amazingly hot-blooded and enthusiastic man. Speedwagon is very extrovert and loudly conveys his feelings, from enthusiastically describe Jonathan fighting, to his despair at seeing Kars become the Ultimate Lifeform. Speedwagon constantly seeks to help his companions in various more or less convoluted ways. He notably breaks into a hospital to emotionally support Jonathan, harasses Zeppeli so that he would teach him the Ripple, or has thought of using his own belly to unfreeze Zeppeli's arm. Speedwagon also has often tried to confront zombies only for him to be frightened away.

History
Robert E. O. Speedwagon is a man who lived in darkness ever since he was born. Growing up on the dangerous Ogre Street, he stole things to live and met all kinds of bad people in his life. It reached the point of him being able to tell a good person apart from a bad person just by their smell. He eventually became the leader of the thieves in Ogre Street, and befriended a Kenpo Master and Tattoo.

Phantom Blood (1888-1889)
Speedwagon first appears as an Ogre Street thug boss attacking Jonathan Joestar, but soon realizes the young man's worthiness and dedication, and becomes his good friend. He helps to uncover Dio Brando's plot to assassinate George Joestar, and from that point onward remains by Jonathan's side, helping in whatever way he can to defeat Dio. According to Will Anthonio Zeppeli, Speedwagon could never master the art of the Ripple, a fact that greatly distressed Speedwagon. Zeppeli pushed the pressure point in Speedwagon's midsection anyway, in order to give him the ability to harness "small ripples". Though Speedwagon can hold his own in a fight - as initially demonstrated during his fight against Jonathan when he used his hat with a hidden buzz-saw - he mostly sits back and remains on the sidelines, as he is not a hamon user and cannot fight as well against zombies and vampires. He does, however, offer words of encouragement through the entire adventure. After Zeppeli's death, he takes on wearing his hat as a remembrance of their fallen ally.

Battle Tendency (1938-9)
Speedwagon had traveled to America sometime in between the events of Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency, where he discovered oil and formed the powerful Speedwagon Foundation. His team would discover the Pillar Man Santana, but during that discovery, Straizo would betray them and turn into a vampire himself, killing several researchers whose blood would awaken Santana. Speedwagon would have died from his wounds if it had not been for his rescue by Rudol von Stroheim, a Nazi general conducting experiments with the Stone Mask and Santana. After Joseph defeats Santana, Speedwagon spends most of the story accompanying Erina and Smokey, while withholding information about the Pillar Men from them at Joseph's request.

Legacy
Speedwagon dies of a heart attack at the age of 89. After his death, he dedicates the Speedwagon Foundation to biochemical science and technology, and uses it to help the Joestar family throughout Parts 3-6. His men go on to help Jotaro destroy the remains of Dio and create the prosthetic hand for Joseph Joestar, as well as study the Stand-creating Arrow, analyze Giorno Giovanna's Joestar bloodline, and maintain Jotaro's health after his Stand Discs are stolen by Whitesnake.

Steel Ball Run
Mountain Tim is most likely Speedwagon's counterpart, as they sport the same hairstyle and Tim later receives the same prominent scar across the face as the one Speedwagon has. This is further supported when comparing the possible unrequited relationship between Speedwagon and Erina, and the one of Tim and Lucy Steel, who is considered one of Erina's SBR counterparts.

The Speedwagon Foundation is also mentioned as a sponsor of the race, but its origin is not revealed.

Abilities
It is said Speedwagon couldn't master the Ripple because he wasn't pressured enough. This is different from Jonathan and Zeppeli, who both carried the mission to stop Dio and the Stone Mask on their shoulders. Zeppeli tried to help him create small Ripples by stimulating the muscles of his diaphragm, but accidentally missed the right point and just managed to hurt Speedwagon. However, due to his life on the street, he is fairly resourceful, and has mastered several useful techniques, including the ability to determine someone's moral alignment based off their smell. Saw-Hat: Speedwagon wore a bowler hat with a hidden buzz-saw built into it sharp enough to cut through bone. Speedwagon used it during his days as a thief, throwing the hat at his opponent as a projectile for a deadly attack. It was replaced with Zeppeli's hat towards the later half of Part I. Hammer: Not being able to master the ripple didn't stop Speedwagon from helping in the fight. He used a sledgehammer powerful enough to kill zombies in just one strike by smashing their heads. In an anime filler, Speedwagon tried to smash one of Dio's severed hand with it.

Following the events of Part I, Speedwagon traveled to America and got rich in the oil industry. With his fortune, he created the Speedwagon Foundation, an organization featuring studies in medical research, wild animal and plant protection, and secretly, a Supernatural Research Department with the sole purpose of aiding the Joestar Family. As head of this company, Speedwagon has full power over all employees, including several leading scientists and workers. Speedwagon often employs resources in the organization, including transportation by helicopters, submarines, cars and planes, as well as development in weapons technology.

Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden (NES)
Old Speedwagon appears in the game as one of the characters Joseph can talk with to obtain minor information during the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Story Part.

Phantom Blood (PS2)
Speedwagon makes his playable debut in the Phantom Blood PS2 game. Introduced as a boss alongside Kempo Master and Tattoo, the player fights them as Jonathan.

As a Boss character, Speedwagon uses punches and kicks as normal moves, and can throw his bowler hat at Jonathan as a special move. After being beaten, Speedwagon becomes a playable character in some chapters, changing his moveset to allow him to fight using a hammer. His special move has him spin several times, hammering nearby enemies.

All-Star Battle (PS3)
Speedwagon appears as the main host character in the game, guiding the player in the Main Menu. He also appears in the 5th PV, introducing new characters and game mechanics.

Speedwagon also appears in the background and as part of the stage hazard in Dio's Castle; he notes when the chandelier is about to fall, and warns both players.

Stardust Shooters (Android/iOS)
Speedwagon appears as one of several characters who possesses a Metal Striker. Both his Part I and Part II incarnations appear as playable Metal Strikers.

His Part I incarnation's Finishing Move throws his bowler hat at the opponent, while his Part II incarnation simply makes a "hit" effect appear on defeated opponents.

Eyes of Heaven (PS3/PS4)
Speedwagon was confirmed as a playable alongside with Jonathan Joestar and William Anthonio Zeppeli in Eyes of Heaven.

His Style is titled Ogre Street, and his playstyle revolves around summoning his allies from Ogre Street to assist him in battle with his combos or act as shields, as hitting them temporarily takes them out of the battle. He also serves as a narrator for the 1st demo's and tutorial's battles, and later narrator of PV4, EoH Characters introduction videos, where he is referred to as 'The Interfering Speedwagon'.

His GHA is throwing the Saw-Hat at his opponent as a projectile, slashing them several times and finally, hurting them down to their bones.

He appears in the game's Story Mode as his Part I incarnation, stopping Joseph and Jotaro at the Cairo airport after the final battle with DIO, and serves as a core ally within the story. In his time between the defeat of his time's DIO (Dio Brando) and before Jonathan and Erina's marriage, due to an interference by Funny Valentine, Speedwagon accidentally stumbles upon the Saint Corpse Parts, in which the universe travelling Valentine had accidentally dropped it during his travel in the original JoJo universe, gaining a knowledge about Jonathan's descendant, reviving/recovered their fallen friends (safe for the Joestars) into their old greater good-self. However, most of all, Speedwagon is told by the Saint's spirit within the corpse he found to find Jonathan's descendant and their allies, including some of the original universe's alternate counterparts through time and space to find the corpse parts for the chosen Joestar protagonist from each story parts' uses, as the new threat is about to dominate the universe, in which later to be DIO, who now gain his form thanks to Valentine's appearance and bringing the corpse part into the original universe, until Valentine reveals that the DIO they saw is actually from another universe where he completely ruled his world, while the original DIO is already dead to begin with.

Before knowing the mastermind is the alternate DIO during his journey with Jotaro and their recruited allies to find other Jonathan's descendants and many of their remaining allies, he and Jotaro travels to his and Jonathan's timeline, and soon found out that they are in Joestar Mansion, which was thought to be destroyed during the first night when his time's Dio turned into a vampire and first defeated by Jonathan. The same time he and Jotaro found an injured Jonathan, whose escaping from Dio's ambushes on sending his zombies after him, and with the help of his counterpart Diego Brando, Speedwagon takes Jonathan's place while he's recovering and aids Jotaro to defeat the vampire turned a future vampire Stand user from Jotaro's timeline, and his alternate human Stand user counterpart.

The elder Joseph Joestar of Part 3, almost forgot that he had seen a younger/Part 1 Speedwagon when he was young during a Part 2 story.

In the ending, he is seen along with an injured Will A. Zeppeli to watch a final battle between Jonathan and Dio.

Tournament
He is paired with Ermes Costello in the Eyes of Heaven tournament, but was eliminated in the preliminaries by Narancia Ghirga and Diego Brando.

Trivia

 * There are several similarities between Speedwagon and Dio. Like Dio, he came from a poor family, fights with dirty moves, believes Jonathan to be a foolish man, and is named after a prominent rock group. However, unlike Dio, he had a change of heart and became a better person. Ironically enough, he obtained the level of success that Dio desired: discovering oil in America and becoming rich as a result, as well as becoming one of the most recognized people in the world through his organization.


 * He never married, but Joseph believed him to have held some attraction to Erina. It was hinted that they remained separate due to their mutual respect for the deceased Jonathan.


 * Speedwagon's sharp hat may be based on Auric Goldfinger's henchman, Oddjob's sharp bowler hat.


 * In the anime, several of Speedwagon's attempts to help the group were cut or shortened for unknown reasons.


 * Speedwagon is the subject of the infamous "Even Speedwagon is afraid!" meme. Said meme was spawned from Phantom Blood, and it is when everyone in the Joestar mansion bears witness to Dio's resurrection as a vampire. One panel shows Speedwagon shrieking in terror whilst Jonathan, narrating, points out that even the hardy criminal Speedwagon is scared out of his wits. The line and panel are memetic not just for Speedwagon's almost comical reaction, but for Jonathan's line being an example of stating the obvious.
 * His name is reference to the rock band, R.E.O. Speedwagon.