Rodia's Axe

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Stills

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Behind The Scenes Images

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Making of the Film

The Miracle

The Film That Almost Didn’t Happen

The Makeup Artist

Strange Sounds

The Perfect Casting

Deep Bonds

Unforgettable Moments

Georgy Taratorkin: A Soviet Icon's Story

Childhood

Edits

Borderline

Me Core

Ride

wutiwant

Headlock

Part 2: Acting School

Despite working three jobs and earning a modest salary, Georgy's mother always set aside money so he and his sister could go to the theater. Whenever she could spare a little more, she moved them closer and closer to the stage. 

Today, we know Georgy Taratorkin as a successful actor, but his first dream was to become a teacher. As he grew older, however, his early love for the theater drew him toward a different path. A gifted artist, he initially hoped to join his beloved theater as a set painter—but unfortunately, there were no openings for painters at the time. After finishing high school, he followed a common path in the Soviet Union and enrolled in a trade school, where he trained as an electrician. As fate would have it, the Leningrad TUZ Theater was in need of electricians, and he secured a position there—marking the beginning of his journey on the stage. 

Young Taratorkin at the TUZ

One of Georgy’s first tasks in his new role was to help change the stage backdrops between scenes—requiring him to dash out in the dark and shift the scenery swiftly and silently. Eager to make a good impression, Taratorkin took the job very seriously. The night before his debut, he asked his mother to carefully iron his best, brightest white dress shirt. But during his first shift, as he rushed onto the stage, a furious voice suddenly echoed through the theater. It was the director, Zinovy Korogodsky, shouting, “What kind of an idiot came out on stage in a white shirt?! It’s glowing like a bright stain!”

While many might have felt embarrassed, Taratorkin found himself unexpectedly thrilled by the experience—he realized he enjoyed being on stage and wanted to become an actor. One day, as he stood in a hallway, director Zinovy Korogodsky passed by and casually asked if he had forgotten to bring his documents to apply to the acting school. The phrasing stuck with Georgy. He was shy—almost monstrously so—but also deeply responsible. If Korogodsky believed he had forgotten, then he must have meant to do it. So the next time he returned to the theater, he brought his papers and submitted his application.

Taratorkin while working for the Leningrad TUZ

Despite his growing interest in the stage, Taratorkin wasn’t fully prepared for the entrance exams. All he could manage was one line from memory and an improvised Russian folk dance he had only ever seen on television. It was a far cry from polished, but it was earnest. Korogodsky, impressed by something in him, told the committee he would take Georgy. One skeptical voice in the room questioned, “Why do you need this?”—referring to the lanky, awkward young man in front of them. But Korogodsky saw what others didn’t yet see.

Georgy Taratorkin at the end of "После казни прошу"

When his teacher—who was also a close family friend—found out, she held him in the corner, propped up against the wall and explained to him that what he was doing was stupid because they’d take him, he is long and sassy after all, and he’ll go study acting but then what?But Georgy didn’t waver. Despite the doubts and warnings, he followed his instincts—and that one bold step into the unknown changed the course of his life. From those early days of running scenery in a glowing white shirt to becoming a celebrated figure of the Russian stage, Taratorkin’s journey began with a spark of passion, a touch of courage, and a mother’s unwavering support

As promised, I’m back with headcanons that I had for my ponified version of Raskolnikov. These are all just ideas I personally thought would be fitting. (When I say “design post” or “previous post” I’m referring to this post I made: Design Choices for Raskolnikov's Pony)

In my post about the design choices for his pony, I mentioned that his wings are very large, even for his frame, which made me come up with the idea that as a kid he would always step on his wings, making him trip over them. I feel like even as an adult he sometimes still trips over them, especially when he’s panicking (He definitely tripped over them during the murder). 

This headcanon deals with his flying style or lack thereof. I headcanon that Rodion and his father were pegasi while Dunya and his mother were earth ponies. Because of this family dynamic, Raskolnikov’s father started teaching him how to fly when he was a kid. It was a great bonding experience that made him associate flying with his father. We all know that his father passed away when Rodion was small, that’s canon, so in this universe Rodion stops flying both because the only other pony who could teach him to fly was gone and because it was too painful of a reminder. This isn’t to say he doesn’t know how to fly at all, he knows the very basics of flight, however, the fire that occurred prior to the events of the book, badly burned his wing and shoulder (though his wing suffered most). This led to him abandoning flying altogether. If he pushed through the injury, he would still be able to fly, albeit not as effectively as he would if he were uninjured. Because of his choice to walk everywhere (and we all know he walks a lot) coupled with his large gait, he became an excellent and very fast runner.

I mentioned in my previous post about how in my universe as a kid, there was a type of pony that was different from the regular one that we see in the show. I also mentioned that they can be distinguished by the marks on their body. I like to think that Rodion and Dunya are half of this species but on their father’s side. They were never told this but always remember being told to cover the marks on their body in any way they could.

The last headcanon for now, deals with his cutie mark. I like to think that he misunderstood his cutie mark because of the presence of the ax. He was on the right path when it came to studying law but the ax threw him off and made him believe that his destiny was to bring justice to the unfortunate through the murder of those who bring on that suffering. But to his horror, as he began to suffer through breakdowns after the murder and when he realized how much he liked to defend Sonya against Luzhin (it happens in the book), he realized that he completely misunderstood the meaning of his cutie mark. This entire time he was meant to be a criminal lawyer not the actual criminal. 

rn im thinkin, did he live in just a small apartment or was it the loft?

Not at all! Go ahead!

im making a c&p childrens book adaptation (this probably wont be published, at least for now, its more like a project for art school) and i think im gonna have the very first illustration to be him holding the axe same as in the scene in the movie, and then the very last illustration with that same composition and him in the same pose, but instead of the axe its sonya, razumihin and dunya hugging him, so symbolically his lust for power is replaced with love and compassion of his friends

anyway. im yappin

the reason im here is to ask, do you have that screencap of him holding the axe? i have one pic saved but im not sure if its The One i had in mind, maybe its lost in all the images i have saved

Hi!

This is so interesting!! And I love this concept that you have for the illustrations!

I got a pretty good amount of people wanting to see why I chose certain designs for my version of ponified Raskolnikov as well as some headcanons I had. So here it is. Just as a refresher. I’ll put the reference sheet below.

Raskolnikov's reference sheet

The first thing I’d like to mention is that my pony version of Raskolnikov is, of course, Taratorkin’s version of Raskolnikov which I think is pretty obvious given my account. However, I’d like to mention that because it’s what inspired his species. I’ve seen many others make him either a unicorn or earth pony, both of which are very good design choices as well, but I went strictly on vibe. To me, different portrayals of Raskolnikov give different feelings of what species he would be. For example, Vladimir Koshevoy’s version looks like he would be a unicorn (for me) while Georgy Taratrokin’s looks like he would be a pegasus. 

When I design characters, especially ponies, I love to make them very unique and stand out. It was a bit harder to do many unique twists with Raskolnikov since he’s already an established character but I still added some things. The first thing isn’t that unique but it makes him stand out from the crowd. In the book, he’s described as being tall with Taratorkin’s version making him stand at 6 '3 ft. 6 ‘3 today is still much taller than the average male but especially in the time period the book takes place, therefore, I made my version have a much taller stature than an average pony. I also did this because it increases the intimidation effect by a significant amount, with him towering over everyone. 

Height comparison of Raskolnikov and an average pony

Because of his size, unique additions, and for headcanon reasons, I also decided to give him very large wings. When I design pegasi, I always love to try to have different flight groups with categories ranging from flight imitating commercial aircraft to flight imitating species of animals. To me, Raskolnikov doesn’t give the vibe of being a fast flier or one who would even enjoy large speeds so I gave him large wings that would imitate that of a large bird, being able to fly for longer periods of time at slower speeds rather than a short time with large speeds. But the headcanons in the next post will explain more about that. 

When it comes to his color palette, I stuck to a very monotone scheme. The 1970 Soviet adaptation is in black and white, which was done deliberately. However, this doesn’t mean that everyone would be black and white. To me, Raskolnikov looks like he’d have a dark color scheme while someone like Razumikhin would have more colors. Raskolnikov can appear scary but is also an attractive figure, the same way that dark colors can be seen as scary or beautiful depending on who’s looking.

Going back to unique twists, I had sort of an AU when I was younger where there was a secret species of ponies that was driven out from where we usually see in the show and erased from all history books but one. So they’re now considered a myth rather than real, but it’s a bit too complex from this post to go into detail but one important thing to note is that they’re identifiable by markings on their body. I chose yellow since it’s a color that showed up in the book and which I feel matches Raskolnikov very well. (More about details of the markings in the headcanon post).