bakfromon

This also mucks up the timeline for casuals thinking that SF takes place in present day, instead of it being in a timeline that introduces our present day technology into the world of the past.

Was there a punch line? If you need help with one I'm sure you could ask one of the boxers like Balrog, Dudley, or maybe Ed to help you out.

You mean the girl who's just as much a multibillionaire as Ken if not more with an army of ninjas and an orbital laser?... Nah Ken's a much safer bet in getting to manipulate. Also since Nayshall is this whole city being built with internet connectivity in mind to run the drones and cameras I'm guessing that's where Chun and her protege Li Fen come in. Since Li Fen was the computer hacker she's probably going to use her skills to hack into Nayshall's network helping Ken along the way and possibly clear his name.

John Peterson = Generic and definitely not evil 👼 Johann Petrovič = Savvy and possibly up to no good 🤔 JP = Initials are mysterious and definitely evil 😈

Think about these key points as well. Kalima alludes to the fact that the people of Nayshall aren't really looking forward to this fighting tournament. The rapid development of their country seems foreign to them. They feel as if they're being left behind which seems to hold some weight. In WTM Nayshall seems to be very poor in most parts while the funds from the Masters Foundation are being used to create luxury skyscrapers and vast urban areas which exclude the native population. Also the young King gives Ken the cerulean cloth which symbolizes Ken being an heir to the throne. Although JP says that this was only during ancient times, I bet some of the people of Nayshall still hold onto ancient customs and traditions. Seeing a foreigner as being heir to their throne is probably something they would frown upon. Kalima seems surprised that Ken isn't doing all of this for himself and I'm assuming that is what most of the inhabitants of Nayshall think. The foreigners are appropriating their land for their own benefit. JP is the obvious foreigner who's doing this and not Ken, but since Ken's money and name are what's on the forefront Ken's the fallguy.

Judging by the look of Ken's story intro this line from JP is basically what seals the deal for him being a classic villain. He's literally telling his plan to Ken right to his face. JP is more than likely using Ken's own money and love for fighting tournaments against him. Now that Ken's in his country JP has a scapegoat for whatever the insurgencies are uprising against, which is more than likely JP himself.

Ken's not pretending to be dead or hiding. By the time his story starts in SF6 he states that his name has been cleared but his life can't go back to the way it was because of what happened. He had to step down from being CEO and now being a construction worker is his life now. JP was initially supposed to be Russian according to the leak. Petrovich is a Slavic name therefore his accent is supposed to represent that.

To be fair I doubt a 3 year old would remember much about being at a fighting tournament since they just start forming memories at that point so raising the age a bit does make more sense Mel is literally taking after Ken. Ken didn't originally want to be apart of his family's business and just wanted to fight. Mel doesn't want to be apart of his dad's business/ fighting and just wants to do his own thing at this point.

Which makes the Japanese translation more accurate in this case. Not sure why they would change the ages though. Maybe they think English readers would frown upon taking a kindergartner to fighting tournaments so they up the age by 2 years.

Japanese translation is saying Mel was around 4 or 5 years old when he started attending his dad's tournaments. In English they're making him a bit older around 6 and 7. In general he's still a young elementary school kid during that time either in kindergarten or first grade.

Well we know one thing for sure.

Some things I noticed from this issue

We have JP's name now

Necalli was such a place holder for Akuma that they even fused the two ideas for one of Akuma's scrapped concepts This actually would have made sense if Necalli had succeded in eating Akuma instead of getting a bad case of indigestion. He would have taken on his appearance.

Yea, even Daemos mentioned that Capcom had stated they wanted to recapture Akuma's essence from his initial appearance in ST and translate that feeling into Necalli. You can't be more of a place holder than that in my eyes. His purpose in story could literally just be substituted by Akuma and not only would it have worked it would have been better. If Ryu actually had that destined match where he not only beats Akuma but also surpasses SnH and unlocks MnK it would have been what fans of Ryu want to see him accomplish. Instead we got a place holder for Akuma in Necalli so Ryu can beat him and be free from SnH to do his own thing, Necalli fades away into irrelevance, and Akuma can still be this seemingly unbeatable entity that Ryu still needs to overcome.

The difference about JP is there's already more substance to his character than Necalli and he's still shrouded in mystery. He has a backstory with main characters like Ken and presumably Bison. Necalli had no backstory with any main characters he just appeared out of nowhere and brought his own story. Is JP an evil boss character? It sure seems that way but everything is still a mystery. Even his win quotes so far don't really show any red flags. If anything we know he literally doesn't like to get his hands dirty so his whole evil persona maybe something his character keeps under wraps. Instead he goes for a calmer more sophisticated approach until he's pushed to his limit and then he's calling people cretins while choke slamming them implanting Psycho Power bombs in their chest and crucifying them on pillars of spikes

Necalli was literally just a place holder for Akuma. His story relevance was literally only for Ryu to be pushed beyond SnH, discover Fist of Wind and MnK, and to be beaten by Ryu. That should have been something Akuma represents and it makes more sense from the overall narrative. The only problem is that Akuma is basically Capcom's cash cow and they love to milk the fans for his presence in the game. So instead of just including Akuma in the main cast or first set of DLC they held him off and introduced Necalli to take his place.

JP knows about Bison and his exploits with the Thunderfoot "サンダーフット・・・・・・? そういえば、ベガが執着していた土地か。" Thunderfoot....? Come to think of it this was the land Bison was obsessed with. In canon Bison's first exploit over the Thunderfoot is before anything.

I'm assuming the reason why Luke is holding is eye on the cover is that he receives the scar on it either in this issue or during the comic series in general. Maybe all the scars he receives are from this incident since he didn't have them in 5.

It's funny because his tutorial flat out tells you this. JP as a character deems traditional physical combat as irrational. "Physical combat is a truly irrational thing. And the height of that irrationality is an exchange of blows, person to person." He's almost like he's the exact opposite of Bison in how he uses Psycho Power. The only time JP lays hands on his opponent is for his CA indicating he has to be pushed into a desperate situation to want to use his hands to fight.

The intro to Kens story gives us a general idea of what happened in Nayshall. Apparently the Masters Foundation was implicated in funding terrorist groups while Ken was the CEO. Ken is arrested obviously and steps down from his position. He says that he was cleared of suspicion but his life can't go back to the way it was before. The comic preview for SF6 mentioned that there were bombings happening around Nayshall during the time Ken had arrived for the tournament. What's interesting is that JP's CA (Interdiction) is described as this. He can basically turn people (maybe anything) into a Psycho Power bomb and cause them to explode from within.

Some Cammy gameplay. Her win quotes against JP and Juri imply that her mission revolves around tracking down Shadaloo's remnants

Apparently we're going to learn more about JP and why he abbreviates his name.

So apparently the drones that will appear and attack you (and maybe the fighting fridges) are being developed by a company called SiRN. Not sure if they're related to Seth's SIN which was defunct but it could be a possibility. They were the weapons division of Shadaloo after all. SiRN is fairly new in the SF world as people say it's an up and coming robotics company.

That and they chose to not include that she achieved her goals in defeating them… I mean we know she had a ton of help in defeating them, so much help it could be said she really didn’t do much at all besides being present for the event. 😭 I guess a better way to word it would be she witnessed her life long wishes fulfilled when Shadaloo was defeated.