Tbm24

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,002
Every Character is aggressive. Sure some can be used in defensive playstyles but it's a fighting game. Secondly, ever character comments directed at Balrog and his misuse of money is a really negative stereotype. It seems lazy in my humble opinion. He's a character in a video game. The negative stereotype goes beyond that.

Balrog was based off Mike Tyson. His name is actually M.Bison.
 

Deleted member 42

user requested account closure
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Oct 24, 2017
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4a4.gif

2nd Impact, who's the best?

They made a 3rd version of the game to KEEP HIM DOWN
 
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Neoxon

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
Member
Oct 25, 2017
86,078
Houston, TX
He also got a tiny teeny bit of character development by giving him a pinch of humanization with Ed. Would love to see them going further with that.
I was gonna say that Balrog becoming Ed's adoptive father was the best thing to ever happen to Balrog, but you beat me to it.
 

Joe2187

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,532
Has anyone else noticed that the winning comments to Balrog are always about his misuse of money or aggression? I picked him up as my main relatively recently and I couldn't help but think the responses tailored towards him are the most negative stereotypical comments I've seen.

One comment is something like "What do you do with your money?" And I'm thinking, "what?"

Dont talk to me or my son ever again

7qq0GcD1Hwv6agc-ECXGIwq1aPj0A7WhtnjbMntFlBs.png
 

Merkunt

Member
Oct 25, 2017
728
Every Character is aggressive. Sure some can be used in defensive playstyles but it's a fighting game. Secondly, ever character comments directed at Balrog and his misuse of money is a really negative stereotype. It seems lazy in my humble opinion. He's a character in a video game. The negative stereotype goes beyond that.

His design and attitude is heavily inspired by Mike Tyson.
 

Eolz

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,601
FR
Eh, kinda disagree.
SF certainly has more opportunities (which it already used in the recent and distant past as you've put in your examples), but there's also no real reason for them to expand in a direction while restricting the other direction like you want.
For the female fighters body types, like you say in the text accompanying that, the picture is actually not representative and excluding characters like Menat, Falke, Ibuki or Sakura (or even Nadeshiko). Even Mika has a pretty different bodytype from the others.
Has anyone else noticed that the winning comments to Balrog are always about his misuse of money or aggression? I picked him up as my main relatively recently and I couldn't help but think the responses tailored towards him are the most negative stereotypical comments I've seen.

One comment is something like "What do you do with your money?" And I'm thinking, "what?"
Every Character is aggressive. Sure some can be used in defensive playstyles but it's a fighting game. Secondly, ever character comments directed at Balrog and his misuse of money is a really negative stereotype. It seems lazy in my humble opinion. He's a character in a video game. The negative stereotype goes beyond that.
He'd be white, he'd have the same stereotype.
His character is one of a cheater and unlawful character. Unlike Dudley, who is his complete opposite and also black.
SFV going for the boob fighter audience was so disappointing. Hopefully they dial that back big time for 6.
Wth is a "boob fighter audience"? Let's not act like SFIV wasn't like this either (it just had a different artstyle).
heh the gap is getting closer for sure and I agree that SC6 got for the most part free of comments compared to DOA6, but DOA still have some of the stuff like the losing poses where you can ogle (dunno if 6 have them too)
SC doesn't have losing poses you can turn the camera around, but then again, DOA doesn't have a character customizer where you can rotate the camera around either.
SC6 is worse than DOA6 in that regard (not talking about DOA5 which was on the level of SC6).
 

PSqueak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,464
Maybe it continues into the future.

Maybe rog just teaches kids how to box maybe?

I'm hoping for too much

Fun fact: Capcom has been making suplementary world building posts in their blog giving backgrounds to even the most superflous NPCs in the series. In Street Fighter 1 there was a Balrog Looking boxer called Mike, which they made explicitly clear is an entirely different character and they expanded on this by saying that, contrasting with Balrog, Mike is a good guy who helps his community.

Balrog will have good possibilities with the storyline the game is building because, Ed is being prepped up to become the new Vessel for Bison, so if that ultimately happens to Ed it would be awesome to have Balrog go full good guy in his quest for vengance over Bison taking Ed over.
 

JusDoIt

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,853
South Central Los Angeles
The brand is built around stereotypes as has been stated multiple times.

Imagine if Disney took this stance and leaned into the blackface minstrel inspirations behind their iconic cartoon characters. Kill this nonsense.

The stereotyping in Street Fighter is the result of Capcom being clumsy with their diverse cast. It's hard to blame them, because they didn't really have other examples to follow in the gaming space back in '87, '91, or even '99. Street Fighter is pioneering in that aspect. That said, there are plenty games handling diverse rosters much better than Street Fighter now. It's time for the leaders to catch up now.
 

CO_Andy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,540
Every Character is aggressive. Sure some can be used in defensive playstyles but it's a fighting game. Secondly, ever character comments directed at Balrog and his misuse of money is a really negative stereotype. It seems lazy in my humble opinion. He's a character in a video game. The negative stereotype goes beyond that.
hWIp4.gif
 

Ferrs

Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
18,833
SC doesn't have losing poses you can turn the camera around, but then again, DOA doesn't have a character customizer where you can rotate the camera around either.
SC6 is worse than DOA6 in that regard (not talking about DOA5 which was on the level of SC6).

Hmm...Yeah you're right, forgot about CaS. Not going to disagree about how bad SC turned in that regard (and well, In general, I heavily disliked 6 beta as an old fan of the series).
 
Nov 18, 2017
2,932
Imagine if Disney took this stance and leaned into the blackface minstrel inspirations behind their iconic cartoon characters. Kill this nonsense.

The stereotyping in Street Fighter is the result of Capcom being clumsy with their diverse cast. It's hard to blame them, because they didn't really have other examples to follow in the gaming space back in '87, '91, or even '99. Street Fighter is pioneering in that aspect. That said, there are plenty games handling diverse rosters much better than Street Fighter now. It's time for the leaders to catch up now.

Imagine if a company that are not currently racist, leant into some very overtly racist imagery. Yes, that would be racist.

I agree with the broader point. Capcom can do better.
 
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Joe2187

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,532
Imagine if Disney took this stance and leaned into the blackface minstrel inspirations behind their iconic cartoon characters. Kill this nonsense.

The stereotyping in Street Fighter is the result of Capcom being clumsy with their diverse cast. It's hard to blame them, because they didn't really have other examples to follow in the gaming space back in '87, '91, or even '99. Street Fighter is pioneering in that aspect. That said, there are plenty games handling diverse rosters much better than Street Fighter now. It's time for the leaders to catch up now.

Dont forget that they have taken critiscisms seriously with regards to Poisons transgender identity in SFxT for instance. Pre-release pretty much all the characters had win quotes calling her a man, referring to her as it or whatnot and other troubling statements about her gender. After talking with an LGBTQ orginization they changed and removed all of that however and instead focused on fleshing out the character instead of making her a one note transgender joke.
 

Platy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,034
Brazil
Also, don't forget that Cammy design is super close to a doll.
You know the thing the whole point of her personality is to be literally traumatized of.

The brand is built around stereotypes as has been stated multiple times.

Not exactly. Lots of characters fall outside of ethnic stereotypes. Ken, Dictator, Mika, Sean.... hell nobody even remembers where Remy is from.

For the female fighters body types, like you say in the text accompanying that, the picture is actually not representative and excluding characters like Menat, Falke, Ibuki or Sakura (or even Nadeshiko). Even Mika has a pretty different bodytype from the others.

No. I don't even know how someone can say that women in the series have "pretty different bodytypes" with a straight face where the male counterpart includes dhalsim, zangief, ryu, abigail and e-honda.

I mean look at abigail. His muscles doesn't make sense. So why not making a super bulky "muscles don't make sense" women? A fat one? An ridiculously slim and super tall one?
 

OG_Thrills

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,655
That don't mean you can't go out and actually talk to people. One of the most famous examples of this is rockstar going out and actually talking to old gangbangers to try and present them properly in san andreas

It doesn't hurt to get different perspectives


Because he's the agressive money minded guy, he's that steretype.
Because that's his entire personality and attitude. He is an overly aggressive, money-hungry dude. He literally yells out "my fight moneyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!" when he loses in IV
I'm not defending this I agree with what you are saying. I'm just stateting that steretype. Like if balrog was made today, he wouldn't be a boxer or rather he would also be a rapper.

He's that guy. Some of his alts reflect that. He's " Money all the time, money on my mind " black guy
Balrog was based off Mike Tyson. His name is actually M.Bison.
His design and attitude is heavily inspired by Mike Tyson.
Eh, kinda disagree.
SF certainly has more opportunities (which it already used in the recent and distant past as you've put in your examples), but there's also no real reason for them to expand in a direction while restricting the other direction like you want.
For the female fighters body types, like you say in the text accompanying that, the picture is actually not representative and excluding characters like Menat, Falke, Ibuki or Sakura (or even Nadeshiko). Even Mika has a pretty different bodytype from the others.


He'd be white, he'd have the same stereotype.
His character is one of a cheater and unlawful character. Unlike Dudley, who is his complete opposite and also black.

I know Balrog is based on Mike Tyson but none of the heavily negative racial stereotypes should apply here. It's 2019. Perpetuating a negative racial stereotype based on a guy who lost his fortune in the 80's/ early 90's just seems wrong and out of place.

Especially when you consider the same characters victory quotes to someone like Ken who comes from money. The entire victory quote against Balrog is wrong, period. And we should be demanding better of capcom. I don't want to make a big deal out of it. I'm just stating that it's wrong.
 

Village

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,811
I know Balrog is based on Mike Tyson but none of the heavily negative racial stereotypes should apply here. It's 2019. Perpetuating a negative racial stereotype based on a guy who lost his fortune in the 80's/ early 90's just seems wrong and out of place.

Especially when you consider the same characters victory quotes to someone like Ken who comes from money. The entire victory quote against Balrog is wrong, period. And we should be demanding better of capcom. I don't want to make a big deal out of it. I'm just stating that it's wrong.
I don't disagree with you
 

lucebuce

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,937
Pakistan
Didn't Balrog adopt a small boy and literally raise him and teach him how to box?

What a horrible stereotype.
 

PSqueak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,464
Didn't Balrog adopt a small boy and literally raise him and teach him how to box?

What a horrible stereotype.

Well, he kidnapped/rescued (i mean, he technically stole him....but from a prison for bison clones) him originally to see if he could sell him and regardless of them growing fond of each other as family, Balrog did Monetize the shit out of Ed's powers.
 

PSqueak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,464
Dont forget that they have taken critiscisms seriously with regards to Poisons transgender identity in SFxT for instance. Pre-release pretty much all the characters had win quotes calling her a man, referring to her as it or whatnot and other troubling statements about her gender. After talking with an LGBTQ orginization they changed and removed all of that however and instead focused on fleshing out the character instead of making her a one note transgender joke.

While on the topic of LGBT representation, i wonder what would the reaction would be to have M. Bison straight up come out as non binary, i mean, the dude both makes female and male clones from their DNA and the good part of his soul became a woman, seems to me like Bison has a very fluid concept of their own gender.

Plus it would be quite an unexpected twist if Bison picked Falke as their new Vessel instead of Ed.
 
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Neoxon

Neoxon

Spotlighting Black Excellence - Diversity Analyst
Member
Oct 25, 2017
86,078
Houston, TX
While on the topic of LGBT representation, i wonder what would the reaction would be to have M. Bison straight up come out as non binary, i mean, the dude both makes female and male clones from their DNA and the good part of his soul became a woman, seems to me like Bison has a very fluid concept of their own gender.

Plus it would be quite an unexpected twist if Bison picked Falke as their new Vessel instead of Ed.
I mean, Bison's dead now, so they sadly won't be able to touch on the subject. But it would have been interesting if Capcom went there & handled it correctly.
 

BigWinnie1

Banned
Feb 19, 2018
2,757
While on the topic of LGBT representation, i wonder what would the reaction would be to have M. Bison straight up come out as non binary, i mean, the dude both makes female and male clones from their DNA and the good part of his soul became a woman, seems to me like Bison has a very fluid concept of their own gender.

Plus it would be quite an unexpected twist if Bison picked Falke as their new Vessel instead of Ed.

How wouod Bison even come out as none Binary? He plays with the dolls but they are substandard replacement vessels so its why he goes deep into cloning. Bison doesny care if its man or women as long its strong and can hold his insane. Spirit.

I mean Rose became a person because she is a part purged from Bison who got a body of its own to become herself.

We dont even know how old Bison is or if the body we see him in is his original body or just the body of the strongest most suitable being he could find.
 

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
39,052
Ibis Island
Juri still stands as one of my all-time favorite characters in the past decade. We don't get a lot of Villians/Anti-Hero's, so she has filled in quite a needed spot.
 

PSqueak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,464
I mean, Bison's dead now, so they sadly won't be able to touch on the subject. But it would have been interesting if Capcom went there & handled it correctly.

Death cannot stop Bison, he's died before and Ed's storyline right now is about how Bison's soul is still on the prowl for a new Vessel, Rose and Menat seem to believe Ed is gonna be the new Vessel, which is what caused Ed to go on his own self dicorvey journey and forming Neo Shadaloo.

But Ed is not the only possible Vessel, there Abel, Falke and even Cammy or Decapre as options, so it could be a plot twist if Bison picked Falke instead of any other Vessel.

How wouod Bison even come out as none Binary? He plays with the dolls but they are substandard replacement vessels so its why he goes deep into cloning. Bison doesny care if its man or women as long its strong and can hold his insane. Spirit.

Just picking a female Vessel could be enough of a statement but if they want to be hammy about it they just could also have a character ask why Bison picked up a female vessel and have Bison reply something along the lines of "Gender means nothing to me" or whatever.
 

Joe2187

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,532
I mean, Bison's dead now, so they sadly won't be able to touch on the subject. But it would have been interesting if Capcom went there & handled it correctly.

Bruh...bison "Died" like three times already.

and the clones, especially Ed and Falke struggle with "fighting his ghost" it seems, and FANG (at least in the comics) is trying to constantly bring him back. The dude hibernated in Rose's body for who knows how long.

Bison aint gonna die, and his "Psycho abilities" will allow him to come back again and again, dude was even laughing as he blew apart because it ultimately doesnt even matter.
 

Ferrio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,195
How will Capcom justify including different shaped women when like the only reason SFV is still alive is because people buy up female alt costumes?

I don't think they have any reason to justify it. No matter what a female character looks like there's a sizable portion of people out there that it's their waifu and they'll buy every skin for it available. Tapping in that fetish market dollars might even be smart.
 

BigWinnie1

Banned
Feb 19, 2018
2,757
Cammy is a rip/homage to battle angel Alita actually...

gunspike_motorball.jpg

cammytongue.jpg

Yeah she is Slits and a barbie doll mixed together.

Her and her sisters are Pretty much just barbie dolls for Bison to play dress up with and use as soldiers when he needs and maybe take their body if none of his clones are ready.
 

Deleted member 17658

User requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
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With that said, I feel like counting Poison as good representation is kinda cheating, considering the reason she's trans :p
not only that, but they backtracked on calling her trans once there was blow back from people who whined that they were uncomfortable with being attracted to a FICTIONAL CHARACTER because she was trans.
 

BigWinnie1

Banned
Feb 19, 2018
2,757
I don't think they have to. No matter what a female character looks like there's a sizable portion of people out there that it's their waifu and they'll buy every skin for it available. Tapping in that fetish market dollars might even be smart.

Also they seemed to have a not so small community of people who love feet going by some of the comments on the street fighter board during character announcements
 
Nov 4, 2018
486
When a large part of Capcom's revenue for these games comes from costumes, it's doubtful the sexualization will ever be toned down.

Especially when most fans of the series don't often complain about the sexualization in the first place.
 

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I'd really want to see a SF game move 7 to 8 years forward and have Sakura, Sean, and perhaps Ed be the three most important characters.
 

BigWinnie1

Banned
Feb 19, 2018
2,757
not only that, but they backtracked on calling her trans once there was blow back from people who whined that they were uncomfortable with being attracted to a FICTIONAL CHARACTER because she was trans.
They didnt backtrack though its been canon since her reappearance in SF4 that she is trans and works as a promoter for Hugo. They made mistakes but just leaned all the way into now.
 

BigWinnie1

Banned
Feb 19, 2018
2,757
I'd really want to see a SF game move 7 to 8 years forward and have Sakura, Sean, and perhaps Ed be the three most important characters.
hmm if we jump forwarf that much its going to be Kens kid who is going to be in the for front because he will be almost 16 by then. Also Sakura wouod most definitely be with Ryu by that time and have a kid as well.

We would have Fangs female apprentice, the girl from chin lis orphanage and whoever elsr she teaches to fight and at least 1 of Japan's 16 children (him and his wife must be tired as a motherfucker)
 

Deleted member 17658

User requested account closure
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They didnt backtrack though its been canon since her reappearance in SF4 that she is trans and works as a promoter for Hugo. They made mistakes but just leaned all the way into now.
I definitely remember their SF producer at the time, Ono coming out and saying how Poison is "whatever you want her to be" after he stated how she was trans initially and got complaints about it.