CESTUS III

Btw i just noticed cool "coincidence" that i missed Just yesterday i was pointing at a very specific situation that Marisa and Hanayama had in common I just realized there's another guy that did this, in SFV shit blue tag is covering it, but you can read "smiling?" of Akuma at Ryu and now after yesterday leak we know a 4th character doing EXACTLY same shit 3 characters doing it, 3 characters who get somehow positive feedback from Akuma despite defeat, a char that 9 out 10 shit on his opponent after defeating him Feels like his last encounter with Ryu in SFV not only changed their personal relationship, but also Akuma's general perspective It's like if you face him to show off with pride shit like how strong is your punch, how sharp is your kicking technique or how hard are your muscles, after winning he will pick that trait of you and say it sucks, and since saying it in your face is same person who just one-side fucked you up, he speak with the voice of truth and it is ego crushing time Instead when facing these fighters that have absolute humble love for the fight itself and ask nothing more than a great challenge/strong opponent, a little spark of respect born in Akuma, and not only he does'nt shit on you but in his bizzarre and almost Master way he literally try to encourage them to go harder and surpass their current limits: RYU - He's confident Ryu can do more than that, so push him to get up and retry MARISA - He's telling her she's doing something right but that she needs to train harder to level up Make me almost wonder if purposely humbling them he is'nt trying to give (in his own way) an hint even to those he shits on, an attempt to set them straight lol PS: one more that may fit the list may be Cody imho Dude does'nt boast about his own abilities if i remember right, and just want a strong opponent able to pull him out of boredom of life Akuma beating the shit out of him may be one of the few things able to give Cody a true smile, like finally a not boring day lol Actually SFV one already is different from usual belittling insults ""A fist thrown wildly hits nothing and serves no one..." Tbh there is'nt saying Cody's fist itself is'nt worth of respect or would not work in teh streets (we know it does and surely Akuma knows it), he's calling out him on not training it properly to reach its maximum potential... wich we know to NOT be a false accusation, since even if he is'nt a pure untrained brawler* he likely was simply trained at Haggar's gym under some no-name istructor,and the school itself was'nt anything super elite (as let's say Guy's Bushinryu), basically nothing Cody did in the gym or in the streets truly pushed him to hone his great potential/talent, wich we know being great Like dude never had Zeku-level master training him nor Bushinryu elite techniques yet he can defeat (apparently at least more often than not) Guy in a fight, and he is'nt even overwelming brute power as Guy himself recognize his skill Cody: "And now, this is the result... Things never change..." Guy: "I don't see why you can't do positive things with such skill." *beside street gimmicks dude clearly use boxing punches mixed with karate kicks, wich make him that shit full of names... American Karate/American Kickboxing/Full contact, pick one all same lol Maybe late "American Karate" if we want imagine some Tang Soo Do is there too (his double kick?)

Interesting Akuma seems have a win cutscene where he cut the ground before his own feet, creating an huge horziontal cut (timestamped) seems to me they took it from Raoh (Hokuto no Ken) who does identical thing before fight Fudo It's curious interesting pick because that starts as great claim of power by Raoh, but end up be rare "loss"/weakness moment, and huge foreshadowing for his later defeat against Kenshiro If anybody interested on bit of context Could be absolute coincidence or maybe they just liked the overwelming powerful look of the move/stance, splitting floor with simple gesture of the hand... ...but feels bit strange, because not only as said that scene had big symbolic meaning in HnK (and not a good one for Raoh), but knowing bit the anime also offer easy parallel between Fudo's/Kenshiro's determination based on the will to protect others and Ryu's mood since SFV

My first thought was Menat as potential first S2 char, but sure may be we read to much into it lol

I like both and i'm torn on this Baki have much much higher highs and lot i can find that smell like crushing superiority over Kengan, but also sooo much Itagaki's bullshit, endless dead moments, different type of Itagaki's bullshit, different type of endless dead moments then some of the stuff you actually want see in Baki And worst part is Itagaki is becoming ever more extreme at that, for the goods but also for the bads, specially for the bads i would say Plus like some others (who said Capcom?) he's becoming ever more in love with his few favs characters and spamming then, often leaving no room to new faces to shine(unless to make them get wrecked by his favs afterward) and bring new shit And i'm not even counting his pathetic "asian superhuman" fetish growing year after year, just because Sandrovich does'nt goes much more far at that either lol Kengan is Kengan, fly lower have some silly gimmicks too and often rely on unimaginative shit (how many characters, at some point trigger silly trasformation lol) but you have to give it credit he almost never waste chapters on bullshit... he give you the fighters and give you the fights, and while does'nt have same incredible talent Itagaki have at create characters, Sandrovich invented some awesome ones too and is smart enough to ripoff hard videogames for characters inspiration, inheriting some instant charisma he did'nt necessary made himself, but who cares it works If you never read it give a chance to Itagaki's good old Garouden, it have lot of what one would love to get from Baki and very little of Itagaki thinking he's some sort of holy philosopher doing next level art lol

Capcom will be at Summer Game Fest, 7th June... hope we will get Season 2 names there, would be cool have to wait just slighty more than two weeks after Akuma day

Dee Jay calling Akuma "bad man" crack me up lol

Wow, Marisa get one of the most "positive" quotes by Akuma despite not giving me the impression of being particular strong*... in the sense, i seen characters the i find easy to consider stronger that get much more disrespect from Akuma Example we have hint Zangief>Marisa, yet Akuma belittle him much more in his quote It's like he does'nt want to crush her pride as he usually does, first part is even almost encouraging... "impressive" is not a word you see come out often from Akuma's mouth I guess he respect her spirit, her pure "pankration" view of fighting and hunger for strong opponents Once more she reminds me Hanayama Sorry for the 99th Baki parallel, but guess i kinda "proven" bunch of time ago Hanayama had huge influence on Marisa's fighting style**, and more recently we even had proof Capcom knows him as he's the only character beside Baki himself that got an official avatar formula in SF6*** Btw just like Marisa, Hanayama is not the strongest in Baki universe, yet everybody including ones stronger than him have great esteem for the young man for his stoic attitude, courage, fighting spirit and no hesitation at offer himself to stand and bang contest Even in his fight with Yujiro (who 9 times out 10 is asshole, waaay more than Akuma) still show a very very rare moment of respect for him, even if Hanayama never had 1% chance there Wonder if Akuma seen something similar in Marisa One cool thing is at the end of the vid you can see even Hanayama knocked down on his back and smiling (because he fought great opponent), an attitude shown also by Marisa in her defeat to Manon *going by arcade endings, seems to hint a fight between her and Manon can go either ways, and by Marisa's words seems defeat is something at times happens (and she enjoy it, because mean opponent is strong). We also see Zangief defeat her. **if anybody missed it, here it was (for anybody interested added 1 new point) *** https://en.anmosugoi.com/baki-come-to-street-fighter-6-epic-collaboration/

I wonder if the broken horn (wich seem clean cut) of Akuma's mask is a wink at Zodd animal form, even if is other one I'm thinking that because i think also default Akuma itself may have been influenced by Zodd (human form) Fun thing characters similarities go beyond aesthetic

I kinda like they seek some sort of uniformity in style, remind me FANG's Nguuhao roots But at same time i hated when in SFV Ed and Falke had so similar style, hope if we get anybody from Neo Shadaloo will follow Ed's route and get the official uniform as 3rd alt... i like first two costumes to keep be "personal"

Agree on Rashid's being trash, but i don't get many hating on Ed's one It's a waaaaaaay improved version of his SFV look Sure people may hate that one too, but it's unavoidable part of Ed story, whole character concept lead him to build that militaristic style for his group His solitary urban arc it's just temporary phase, he's supposed to return to lead Neo Shadaloo My 2cents we had perfect "fighting game" costume here after that i don't mind get more accurate Story costume for alts Idk if you bought the Season Pass but in that case AKI, Rashid, Akuma and Ed alts are going to be automatically unlocked iirc

"A.K.I. Outfit 3 Designer Comments: We designed this while imagining A.K.I. wanting to stand next to F.A.N.G. wearing an outfit with the same materials and silhouette. She isn't simply imitating F.A.N.G's outfit, but is attempting to be close to him in her own stylish way." "Rashid Outfit 3 Designer Comments: Rashid is a FooTuber who streams himself doing parkour and extreme sports. We wanted to make this outfit sporty, with compression wear, a cap, sports sunglasses, etc. He also has some "tech-wear" since he's naturally a gadget-loving character."

"A.K.I. Outfit 3 Designer Comments: We designed this while imagining A.K.I. wanting to stand next to F.A.N.G. wearing an outfit with the same materials and silhouette. She isn't simply imitating F.A.N.G's outfit, but is attempting to be close to him in her own stylish way." "Rashid Outfit 3 Designer Comments: Rashid is a FooTuber who streams himself doing parkour and extreme sports. We wanted to make this outfit sporty, with compression wear, a cap, sports sunglasses, etc. He also has some "tech-wear" since he's naturally a gadget-loving character."

One more change spotted by @EvilCanadian https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2024/may/17/new-balance-change-lily-sf6/

She also have "Kiko" in all movest that involve use hands to generate azure ki 😄 Kikoken - her classic special fireball Kikosho - the giant ass ki explosion super Renkiko - focus ki energy on her hands (SFV V-trigger) There are also more obscure ones from lesser games like Kikoanken, Kikosho Goku, Kikou Hououken and all is stuff that in common have her generating ki with hands, they don't use this for any kick special/super You're welcome buddy, anything that make us talk during these empty SF days is good 😁 You made me think a good debate point to wait Akuma's day could be try to drop credible list of the few characters that canon wise can have that even small chance at get that W over him (even if story wise we know they will preserve him for Ryu) As said before even trying to be as "generous" as possible can't think many, to involve as many as possible would guess even particular story situations/unique scenarios up to weird theories, tell me what you think: LEGIT CHANCE ORO - dude is closest to Akuma's destructive power and similar (possibly even more extreme) figure, as far we know a SF3 fight would have ended up in mutual distruction/death GOUKEN - incredible Master, knows Akuma's power ature and style, developed techniques on his own to contrast him and got already some wins in the past (even if today i will favor Akuma for the simple reason after SF4 defeat he's training new different stuff Gouken never seen... his post-SF4 training likely has been about pierce Mu no Ken) RYU - well, we simply know at some point he will reach the level to defeat him. Unknown how decent or small his chances are in SF6, iirc speaking about himself he said something like "not there yet". I have a very lame theory on what can be his next BIG power-up (actually 2 different ones, both anime cliche af), but it would involve some story events CONSIDERING FUTURE + HUGE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT + WHAT IF/WILD THEORIES GILL- One Oro's quote have him believing Gill to possibly have potential immense enough to be his successor (only other considered for this is Ryu*) , possibly survived unscathed SGS using Resurrection. Seems also hinted we never seen him fight seriously/to his full current potential (but to be fair in SF3 Oro does'nt seem to consider him already fully "developed", more like a prospect for future growth like in Ryu's case). Plus i have very wild theory on Gill's Resurrection that if true may give him legit help against Akuma, but again that's so unproven and weak personal theory that's not even worthy mention it lol BISON - Is very likely no version of Bison we ever seen could have chance of defeat Akuma, with exception maybe of SFV one if things went differently... but that's already a "what if" that did'nt happened. But is true his character concept has been created in a way that future versions will likely have new artificial gimmicks to expand his maximum power further past limits. We must also admit he never had the chance of fight using a perfect host body NECALLI - This would require bunch of "what if", like him being still alive and him devouring bunch of fighters (becoming more powerful and absorbing some of their skills) before attempt at take on Akuma again. He seems to even have possibly some natural inclination to face SnH, but when he faced Akuma he was simply to weak to have any chance. But again point is simply that by design his char like Bison have the potential to immensely power up in ways normal human fighters can't SETH- i consider Seth shit, i'm simply placing him/her here for very same reason of Bison/Necalli since also in this case the character has been created with special story that allow it to evolve at way faster/more extreme rate than normal humans. Like i'm not even sure where place SFV Seth on the food chain but even if "not enough" othing prevent capcom writers to have it destroyed again and give it a new further evolution G (?) - This got me even to drop a "?" because thing is i'm guessing IF part of G SFV trolling has been about hide full extent of his power, to begin with would like to know if his " "volcano form" is going to become one day canon or if is just an idea that appeared on his concept sketches but they completely dropped it.** But is also possible G is'nt even trolling about his abilities (or current abilities) and we seen full extent of his power, with it being above average but not incredible, and his secrets only conceal his motivations/knowledge Worth say due anime shonen dynamics Akuma have kinda safe plot shield from basically anybody because they will preserve him for Ryu (sure Gouken in SF4 been a thing, but still links to Ryu's life. I also believe Akuma's evolution suprassed/will surpass Gouken, forcing Ryu to completely new heights), no other boss/villain will take Akuma's head as trophy before Ryu got his waited for decades cathartic victory over ginger devilshoto. But afterward? Akuma would have -FUCKING FINALLY- fullfilled his fuction of be Ryu's finish line, wonder if that would mean loss of plot shield and becoming sacrifical meat to hype up new villains allowing them to fuck him up lol Considering capcom lack the balls to do it to Bison even if story would justify it much more, i doubt will ever happen to Akuma... but one can dream, and these angry fans tears would be delicious 😆 * i don't necessary believe Ryu and Gill are the only alive wich such high potential to be Oro's successor, but i think an hypothetic third candidate would have to fit their young age/room for learning... like despite superior power he never considered turn Akuma into Senjutsu successor and likely would not consider Gouken either, for the fact they're already estabilished Masters and past the point of trasform them into something else. He also offered to train Ken, Mel(guess because he's very young) and Alex (but not before Alex train 20 more years on his own), but in their cases he never seems to have done it in order to find his successor, just offering them to express/develop their full potential In SFV seems also to consider Luke a rare special one (even if of course as today he's nothing still) "Another chick has hatched. Shall I live to see him come of age?" As much lot people would hate read this, seems the closest to him have actual genuine interest for himself like with Gill/Ryu, rather than simply altruistic offer training **i have theory on G "volcano form" too, but again we are on personal theories bullshit, btw since we are at it, some considerations of mine First, G's power seems to come from outside rather than generated by himself... proof is he literally can recharge it by absorbing earth energy Considering G's role of Gaia's avatar wonder if in his SFV he was conceded just enough power to fullfil his duty as Gaia's Ambassador between people and try to spread a message... my guess "monster form" may be a fully overcharged G with a different duty(assuming to some extent Gaia/Earth indeed have some sentient nature to give G duties), no more ambassador but destroyer As said is wild theory, but can be considered Oro himself does'nt take him lightly "I don't know who you are, but you appear to be the manifestation of a natural disaster." also the Rose-Oro talk link him to the immense disaster that seem is coming (wich in Rose words would be "end of everything"), and would not count impossible IF G's "volcano form" it's indeed a thing it may be the being to trigger it... how Rose described it? "As if a gigantic glacer fell into ocean", and monster G looks like a fucking human volcano... maybe he can cause it with his magma based power boosted to limits we still have to see (all while his chosen people are safe in his space ship) To add theories to theories guess Gill's vision of leading humanity (the chosen ones of course) into new world is based also on Secret Society future predictions having seen this "G apocalypse" happening... worth mention Gill/SS don't claim they will be the ones causing it, only that they will lead humanity in the new world afterwards Btw linking Gill/SS to G guess may even lead us to talk about the never explained G - Q mystery in this absurd post that does'nt even link to Akuma anymore, but i'll stop here lmao

That would at least imply some more expectation, he's more like "Y'all suck"

this chinese assassin guy from Fate Grand Order may work too, imagine it as a girl maybe for the black open "shirt" mixed with this other assassin girl ever from Fate Grand Order who is a master with poison interessing similarity are some of her descriptions "The assassins took the concept of a "Poison Damsel," a story told in ancient India, and brought it to fruition in a form of assassination tool. That is the nature of her existence. " "Her beauty is but an illusion. Her body is immune to all sorts of poisons yet is the collection of all poisons. Her nails, her skin and even her body fluids are toxic, and she has silenced many kings and generals in their bedrooms." "All that matters to her is whether those she touches live, or die. So if her Master possesses a strong resistance to poison, that would be quite the sight for her to see. Try though she might to contain herself, she would grow excited and follow her Master around, leaning on them. " Lot of AKI vibes there, last one also remember me how she threat our avatar in WTM and her being amazed by FANG

Tbh yes, i fear you're reading too much into this I admire fan dedication, but we should never go full Daemos 😁 I mean, when it comes to vs Akuma win quotes Capcom is FORCED to make up something to write for the ingame scenario where Chun Li player defeat Akuma player, but canon wise most of SF cast including Chun have simply no chance to win... I'm not talking have 1% chance, i'm saying Akuma in a normal fight by plot would simply win 100 out 100 To offer perspective SFV have win quotes for Dan defeating Akuma and Oro (in latter case even being unimpressed by Senjutsu lol), let that sink 😆 Returning to SF6 take Zangief winning one "Hah! My muscles took everything you had! Even that pesky murderous intent! Gahaha! " Now, Gief is one of my absolute favs (in combo with hate Akuma), and i absolutely loved how Capcom hyped up whole "muscle power" gimmick through SFV arc... but no, canon wise Zangief is'nt going to tank everything Akuma have, slam him the fuck out and then laugh about it as if was relatively normal feat lol. WOULD BE AWESOME and i would drink every single bad taste SF fan tear like a vampire, but is not happening As somebody who dislike him but that still have to stick to canon Capcom gave us, sad reality is we can straight consider fake shit almost any win quote gainst him, beside maybe Ryu for obvious reasons and these very very few that may have remote chance at that On the Chun being possibly on par with Gen thing, tbh i really doubt SF6 Chun is even close to SFA Gen (who was more focused on martial arts and had many more decades to train), and SFA Gen himself due his disease was doomed to inevitably lose to SFA Akuma (their interaction/narrative gimmick was based on that), and Akuma did nothing but improve since these days But i concede SF6 Chun would probably make SFA Gen sweat, surely more than any other previous Chun Li The "Akuma defeating people" quotes are kinda the opposite, considering would be almost ever the canon-compatible outcome it's relatively interesting to have Akuma's insight on this or that fighter... ...too bad Akuma is just an old asshole that will likely talk shit to play down almost anybody who is'nt Ryu*, but despite that in his assholery buried between insults we can at least get an idea of his opinion on this or that character most notable talent/strong point (followed by it sucks and is'nt enough) Recurrent gimmick seems him aiming at wreck what you're good at In Chun's case seems to be skill/ability, see "This is the extent of your abilities!? " On Zangief he mention his strenght "Your claims of strength are laughable!" With Luke beside accusing him of be still a cub i think he aim at his fighting spirit/drive (being not enough), wich for sure seems to be Luke's most surprising trait "You are lacking, child!" I'm curious to see what he will say to others His whole attitude on these in reality is interesting to me, because at least seems very rooted on his perspective of the world The whole asshole thing imho is'nt simple "well he's EVIL of course he's asshole", if we imagine his point of view all these characters considering themselves "fighters" or even "warriors" likely piss off and disgust him, for many evident reasons like lack of potential/talent/commitment/skill/conditioning etc etc We talk about a man who is frustrated 24/7 at the fact he can't get almost anybody able to offer him legit challenge** so confident "fighters" wasting his time end up growing his frustration (by confirming reality furthermore) rather than calm a bit his thirst It's also interesting his focus on talents, because hint his desperate seek/hope to find a challenge even where there's not Like even if he have more than enough skill and knowledge to do it, i doubt he would try aim at some delicate/weak vital point facing a flexing Zangief defense, he would likely rather strike where russian's superhuman muscles are thickest, just to proof himself he can break that wall too (and later be pissed at it in the win quote lol) *his vs Ryu one “This is it? Get up!” imply the greater expectations he have on him ** this piece on Yujiro's depression imho sell the idea, and despite character manners differences Yujiro have exactly same approach on fighters (even if Yujiro mask frustration with ferocious fake amusement, Akuma is straight honest on being angry)

Rashid def Akuma "Hey, why the heck are you so angry? Did i troll you online or something?" Akuma def Akuma (lol) "You cannot compare to my strenght"

https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2024/may/15/akuma-new-outfit-3-footage/

all colors

all colors

Rashid - trash, seems shit made by modders It's strange, is as if they have trouble imagine cool Rashid alts, even in dropped concepts most were super bad lol, even if of these first two small ones (long blue headcloth and army green ones) were still better than shit we got as 3rd AKI - It's not great but love it, give me lot more FANG vibes than others two Seems also something that Bayonetta's Jeanne would approve lol Ed - i expected that, is the one he got in SF6 story artworks Pretty cool evolution of his SFV original standard design btw, plus his first alt already cover perfectly the "boxing rep" thing so it's cool alt goes somewhere else Akuma- Look's pretty extreme and make sense considering the time skip, i'm cool with it as give him SF4 Oni alt vibes without fall into actual SF4 Oni bullshit love also the fact unintentionally reminds me Ikki's master too, that dude was Akuma waaay before Akuma lol

Rashid - trash, seems shit made by modders It's strange, is as if they have trouble imagine cool Rashid alts, even in dropped concepts most were super bad lol, even if of these first two small ones (long blue headcloth and army green ones) were still better than shit we got as 3rd AKI - It's not great but love it, give me lot more FANG vibes than others two Seems also something that Bayonetta's Jeanne would approve lol Ed - i expected that, is the one he got in SF6 story artworks Pretty cool evolution of his SFV original standard design btw, plus his first alt already cover perfectly the "boxing rep" thing so it's cool alt goes somewhere else Akuma- Look's pretty extreme and make sense considering the time skip, i'm cool with it as give him SF4 Oni alt vibes without fall into actual SF4 Oni bullshit love also the fact unintentionally reminds me Ikki's master too, that dude was Akuma waaay before Akuma lol

Probably nothing but peple are noticing trailer's music is Carlos Miyamoto's WTM theme

Yeah what i was saying is essentially if parents give you 5$ you're happy kid, but if they get you used to 10$ switch to 5$ afterward will make you bitch because seems get -5 rather than +5 lol Regardless what was their original idea for seasons, now they're stuck with trasparence or people will bitch in mass Wich again have pros and cons Transparency please immature shit i am that i want to know/seen as much as possible as soon as possible, but i feel would probably prefer a season selection that was'nt "designed" to be sold in advance Like i don't even play Honda and yet i'm happy he made it to vanilla cast because otherwise i fear could have not done it (or very late as in SFV) as DLC and same goes for the kind of "uncool" characters like him, twice as much if devs don't return to 6 chars model Transparency or blind would have bought SP anyway, so was'nt any deal breaker to me