Glam (character)

## Sebastian "Glam" Schvagenbagen

> I chose a family, one without you.
>
>

**Sebastian Schvagenbagen**, better known as **Glam**, is the main protagonist of the Russian cartoon *Metal Family*. He is the husband of Victoria and father of Dee and Heavy.

## Appearance

Glam is tall and thin, Has fluffy blond hair, blue eyes, and is smiling nearly all of the time. As a teenager he had bags under his eyes, which got worse after he started his secret double life during the night and had to cover them up with dark eyeliner and makeup. He also has double helix piercings in each of his ears. And was usually seen wearing a suit like the rest of his aristocratic family He kept this look well into his adult years. His hair is usually worn loose, although is worn in a ponytail when he is working or cooking.
He usually wears long shirts, coats, and black boots, while also sometimes wearing a denim vest that was given to him by Chive. The vest currently has 3 band patches: Stratovarius, Helloween, and Twisted Sister.

## Personality

Glam is a very optimistic, intelligent and educated man, who, despite his traumatic childhood, tries to be as polite as possible with everyone. However, he is very direct, he usually speaks very honestly and sharply, but does not want to offend anyone in his own words. He is typically quite calm, and it's difficult to make him lose his temper. When he does start to lose his temper he pulls himself down from it immediately, which is shown when Glam is teaching Dee guitar. Glam does not love his father and actively tries not to be like him, though it seems to be a struggle at times, as the Q&A seems to indicate that he holds those unfair opinions of Dee regardless. (Although he tries not to be like his father, Gustav, Glam states in his Q&A that he has forgiven him.) He is purposeful, morally strong, had the perseverance to get close to Vicky, and had the courage to leave his father. He’s also cunning, and is unlikely to do anything risky if he has not planned it. In the game of poker, he loses to Chive, due to the inability to predict the chaotic actions of his friend.

## Childhood

Glam's childhood is most explored in *Ideal Tone* and *Glam* where we see he has an abusive home life and a father who has an obvious favourite child. Glam, known as Sebastian at this point, seems to be in his late teens when we see him and is completely used to the physical and psychological abuse at the hands of his father when he's unable to perfectly play violin and is constantly compared to his older sister, Lydia. He is regularly struck with a ruler on his wrist until he bleeds as a punishment for his playing and maintains a relatively neutral expression until he is alone and able to express his pain and journal about his desire to get revenge against his abuser. Glam is shown to have an intricate way of hiding things from his father, even remarking there are multiple "lines of defense" against any snooping. The items he hides include a miniature model of the city, a journal, and, later on, his guitar, and a clean suit he can change into when sneaking in and out of his house.

His father expected him to get into the prestigious music course, The Conservatory and, while he was successful, his father punished him for coming in second to Ches, whom he has previously met while secretly collecting items for his model of the city. Glam is initially very irritated by Ches, likely because of this along with the optics of appearing next to someone who is visibly disheveled, but accepts a record of Bach, unbeknownst to either of them that the record was misplaced and instead he has accepted a copy of Twisted Sister's *Stay Hungry.* This music excites him and inspires a rebellious attitude in Glam, leading him to seek out Chive at The Conservatory.

The two quickly become friends and Chive becomes Glam's main guide to the outside world, helping him discover his love of metal music and natural skill on the guitar. Glam receives his name "Glam" from Chive after referred to him as such. He is at first apprehensive to take the title, finding it irritating and trying to get even by giving Chive the nickname of Chive or Ches, depending on the language it is watched in. Glam soon joins a band Chive introduces him to and is living a full on double life, going out to play guitar at night whilst enduring his father's abuse with a smile during the day. This all comes to a endwhen he is forced to trust Lydia with lying and saying he has to practice late at The Conservatory and bribes her to do so. Glam goes off to preform at a concert with his band but we see his failure to completely set up his aforementioned "lines of defense". When he returns after the concert, prepared to answer his father's questions about the fabricated music class but is greeted by the realization that his father has discovered the hidden journal, smashed the model city, and seemingly struck Lydia for information related to Glam's location.

His father informs him he will he be going to a psychologist the next day and, presently, he implies Glam will be punished for his writings where in which he describes his desire to strike his father with a baseball bat. Glam is told he must decide between his family and the rabble. Glam ultimately ends up deciding to leave everything behind, this apparently being the last time he saw his father before his death. It can be assumed that Glam went on to live with Chive for the time being.

## Band Life

The band Glam had joined with Chive as a teenager grew in popularity off screen, the episode *Who Are Those Monsters On Stage* (also called "Who Are Those Freaks On Stage") showing how popular they are with a massive crowd attending their show and Chive receiving an offer from a new manager to have a solo career. The bandmates seem to have a casual friendship, sharing jabs and jokes when they're first shown. Glam seems a bit more distant and spends his time writing in a new journal where he chronicles his life with the band. His odd behaviour leads Lordy to suggest to Bob that Glam may be a homosexual due to the fact he is shown rejecting advances from female fans. This is a running theme in the episode. The growth of the band's popularity is show cased when their manager says they have been selected to play before Twisted Sister, Glam's favourite band. Amidst the excitement, Glam is asked privately by the manager to speak to Chive about his blatant drug addictions. He speaks to him and agrees to address a letter in exchange for Chive's sobriety, to which Chive agrees but relapses in the same day. Glam writes his frustration with Chive and seems close to considering him a lost cause until Chive shows up, expresses remorse in a way nearly identical to his journal writing.

To reaffirm their friendship, Chive flushes all his remaining drugs and then assists Glam in piercing his ears, something he had previously stated wanting but being unable to due to their manager claiming there was no where to buy a kit in this city. This is over heard by Lordy and Bob who believe they're hearing a sex act and this reaffirms Lordy's belief that Glam is a homosexual and convinces Bob. Glam is optimistic about this but that is ruined when Chive leaves during their practice that day to answer a call and does not return, forcing Glam to go and discover him drunk in an alleyway. Glam initially believes Chive has relapsed again but Chive argues that this is simply alcohol, something Glam is not impressed by. This is one of the few times we've seen Glam drop his mask entirely and he reacts angrily, yelling at Chive and insulting him before Chive tells him he's here because his mother has died suddenly. Glam is still displeased but picks him up and asserts the other band members will understand if they tell them. Chive protests, slurring his words too much for Glam or the audience to know why he wishes to keep this a secret, but evidently respected his privacy.

When the other members of the band arrive, he informs them that Chive has a reason for his current state but cannot share it with them and Chive is subsequently replaced in the band. After Glam refuses to leave him, the manager reveals he had predicted this and replaces him with an eerily similar guitarist. It is unclear if the band lasted for much longer with half the members replaced but they seemed to at least intend to continue, leaving on the tour bus. As a parting gift, Bob gives Glam the keys to the band's car, a panther that apparently only Chive can start, and a condom in wrapper, expressing that he is concerned about Glam catching an STD from Chive because of his drug addictions.

Glam is surprisingly calm in informing Chive of the band's abandonment and it is revealed he still keeps his violin with him, despite Chive remarking he thought he had sold it a while ago.

## Present Life

Glam currently lives in a suburban household with his wife, Victoria, and two sons, Heavy and Dee. He works as a guitar teacher for elite kids and seems to make a fair amount as he has an at least two story house and Victoria doesn't seem to have much of an income outside of rigging bets. Glam is still in contact with Chive but it is unclear if he has any contact with Lordy or Bob. He had no contact with his biological family until the death of his father, Gustav, where he reconnected with his sister and remained civil despite her verbal abuse to him and threats of legal action if he received a yacht in the will. He is very active in his family's life, cooking for them, taking them out to places like an escape room, and keeping tabs on his sons' activities without invading their personal space too much.

## Playlist

In the official Metal Family VK page, a series of posts about the tracklists of the five main characters were made. Here are the songs that were attached to the post featuring Glam's playlist:

* Twisted Sister - The Price (2016 Remaster)
* Poison - Fallen Angel
* Guns N' Roses - You Could Be Mine
* Nitro - Freight Train
* The Poodles - Like No Tomorrow
* Kiss - Right Here Right Now (Bonus Track)
* Alice Cooper - Bed of Nails
* Dream Theater - Take the Time
* Haggard - Heavenly Damnation

## Trivia

* Glam is not apathetic, he just has the ability to conceal and control his emotions and his range of emotions and his understanding of others' emotions are both very limited.
* Glam wears a wristband in order to cover the ruler scars on his wrist.
* It was said in a Q&A that other than Victoria, Ches is one of the only people Glam truly respects. It was also mentioned that there is another person, yet their identity remains unknown.
* It is confirmed that Glam is an atheist and does not believe in the supernatural.
* Glam seems to like the color pink since his keychain, glitter bombs and some of his shirts are pink.
* Glam is the only character to wear more than one outfit at the series progresses, Vicky did wear a dress once and Heavy occassionally wears Ches's green jacket over his everyday outfit.
* It is implied Glam has taken psychiatric medication, as shown in "His Secrets", where, when Dee's history teacher tells him that his son brought a rat to school, Glam explained to him that Dee told him that he may be suffering from hallucinations, and that he could "recommend him great medicine", as seen here.
* Glam keeps his old violin in a glass showcase in his office.
* The end of "Who Are Those Freaks On Stage" seems to be leading into the original music video, implying Glam would have never met Victoria if he had gone with his band mates when they parted ways.
* In Glam's Q&A it is revealed that:
	+ He didn't buy a green rooster "because it was green".
	+ His band broke up because "they had disagreements".
		- Those disagreements are revealed in "Who Are Those Freaks On Stage (episode)".
	+ He does his hair by splitting it into sections, then brushing it, then locks it down with hairspray. This procedure takes him around 40 minutes.
	+ After leaving his childhood home he missed Lydia "a little".
	+ When Dee went off key singing a (satanic) lullaby at kindergarten Glam was so embarrassed he transferred Dee to another kindergarten.
	+ He doesn't drink nor smoke because he "doesn't need to".
	+ Victoria gets into fights because of Glam.
	+ Glam got his first piercing at 20 years old.
	+ Glam has 8 guitars and his favorite is the Gibson one.
	+ He knows Dee sneaks out of home at night.
	+ He prefers to spend his free time on self-development.
	+ He doesn't tell his family about his past since they are not interested. This means his family, besides his friend Ches, doesn’t know about Glam’s background Pre-Meeting Victoria.
	+ Besides music, his hobbies include Astronomy, History, hard science, literature and art.
	+ He prefers healthy food and his meals are planned a week in advance.
	+ When told he is creepy, strangely he takes it as a compliment.
	+ He never saw his father again after running away.
	+ Both Glam and Vicky take care of the cooking and housekeeping and he’s perfectly fine with the fact that Vicky is physically stronger than him.
	+ Vicky was the first biker woman Glam met.
	+ He charges 96 dollars per hour for guitar lessons.
	+ He works in the music industry and tutoring.
	+ The awards Glam has on his office's shelves were gifts from his students.
	+ During his first dinner with Vicky, Glam was afraid that the steak could be too dry.
	+ His favorite chess opening is the Bishop's gambit.
	+ He and Ches like Måneskin.
	+ Them getting married in leather jacket's was Vicky's idea. They were rented but the couple was unable to return them since they had left the wedding on her motorcycle and Vicky was so drunk that they crashed and ruined the jackets.
	+ Glam used to grow plants to make an herbarium from them.
	+ He found out Vicky was pregnant through a standard pregnancy test and was very happy.
	+ He can play guitar, bass, violin and keyboard.
	+ He likes how rough and hot tempered Victoria is and her "majestic frame".
	+ If he could bring something from the past he'd bring back his old diary because he forgot what he wrote in there.
	+ He claims he has a wonderful relationship with his kids and that raising kids is hard as they are too willful.
	+ He claims to dislike like people who are of the astrological Pisces because they are "too narcissistic, prone to depression among other things".
		- As established in Chive's Q&A, Chive is a Pisces.
	+ He doesn't like fish because "they are prone to die, decompose and stink".
	+ When asked to tell a funny story he related how one time when Lordy fell ill he was replaced with a guy who almost chopped off his hand at the factory he worked until his hand finally fell off when trying to play the bass and Chive slipped on his blood and broke his nose.
	+ He painted the paintings that hung around the house.
	+ He doesn't see any resemblance between his past self and Dee.
	+ He likes Warcraft and plays Alliance.
	+ He has 6 parts of his body pierced.
	+ He knows full well how badly he treated Dee during the guitar lesson and he isn't sorry, stating his actions as "not being harsh, but being straightforward."
	+ He designed the family's key holder and Vicky built it.
	+ It didn't take long for him to settle down with Ches.
	+ He didn't travel much with his band.
* It was revealed in the second Imagine episode that Glam's patronus is a unicorn.
* Glam is left-handed

ru:Себастьян Швагенвагенс