"I'll show you how we do it in Mother Russia!

"

ZANGIEF (aka "The Red Cyclone")

Created By: Akira Yasuda
First Appearance: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991)
Home Country: Mother Russia
Role: The Powerhouse, The Pro Wrestler, Patriotic Guy, Husky Russkie
Vague Martial Art Basis: Professional Wrestling (some Sambo thrown in)
PL 9 (134)
STRENGTH 5 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Acrobatics 5 (+9)
Athletics 5 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 5 (+12)
Expertise (Martial Arts) 5 (+5)
Expertise (Russia) 7 (+7)
Intimidation 12 (+11)
Perception 3 (+3)
Advantages:
Benefit (Russian National Hero), Chokehold, Daze (Intimidation), Defensive Throw, Diehard, Favoured Foe (BEARS!), Fearless, Great Endurance,
Improved Critical (Spinning Piledriver) 4, Improved Critical (Spinning Clothesline) 2, Improved Grab, Last Stand, Prone Fighting, Ranged Attack 3,
Startle

"World Warrior" Fighting Style: Accurate Attack (Jab), All-Out Attack, Defensive Roll, Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab (Grab), Improved Critical
(Unarmed) 2, Improved Defense, Improved Hold, Improved Trip (Throw), Power Attack (Roundhouse), Takedown, Withstand Damage (Block)

Powers:
"Power Strike" Strength-Damage +1 [1]
"Super Jumps" Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]

"The Russian Bear"

Movement 1 (Environmental Adaptation- Cold) [1]
Immunity 1 (Cold) [1]

"Special Moves"
"Banishing Flat" Strength-Damage +2 (Inaccurate -1) Linked to Deflect 10 (11) -- [13]
AE: "Double Lariat" Strength-Damage +2 (Inaccurate -1) & Enhanced Advantages: Takedown (total 2) (2)
AE: "Spinning Piledriver" Strength-Damage +3 (Flaws: Grab-Based) (Inaccurate -2) (1)
Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Lariat/Banishing Flat +10 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Spinning Piledriver +8 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +6 (+7 D.Roll), Fortitude +11, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Russian Pride)- Zangief is a proud Russian Bear, and he is devoted to proving Russia is great on an international level. This involves beating
the $#!& out of people.
Prejudice (Pretty Things)- Zangief hates beautiful things, especially women, which provides some interesting and highly-disturbing questions.
Weakness (Predictability)- Zangief, like all Street Fighters, cannot simply "spam" out the same attack over and over again, as the opponent will expect the
attacks, and be ready for them (and a counterattack). The third time he tries the same technique (or same combo of techniques) in a short span, he will be at
-2 to Accuracy, AND to his Active Defenses in that round. All will decrease by 2 every successive round the same move is done.

Total: Abilities: 42 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 21 + 13 / Powers: 17 / Defenses: 20 (134)

-Comrade Zangief here wrote the freaking BOOK on how to be a Powerhouse Guy in a fighting game- he was so dominantly powerful that he embodied
the whole Mighty Glacier concept. As such, guys can poke away at him with ease, and he's highly vulnerable to Ranged Attacks because he's so big and
slow, but when he DID connect, you were screwed. Unfortunately at high levels of play, Zangief can be hampered overly-much by the elite tactics faster
guys can use- he was probably the worst character in Super SF II Turbo, though like most, he was still competitive against the computer, so unless you did
Fighting Tourneys you were probably good. But he had the coolest-looking special moves in the game- his monstrous Lariat and Spinning Piledriver were
amazing, and the Siberian Bear Crusher in the "Super" games was also bad-ass.

-Zangief got a pretty sad job in the movie; all his best shots were taken with almost NO damage by Blanka (including the Piledriver!), and then he got bit
and shocked.

-Zangief is a classic Powerhouse, reduced to a human-sized scale for the "Street Fighter" verse. Tons of raw power, some fair accuracy (except for his big
moves, the most notoriously difficult in fighting games) considering he fights guys with +13-15 to Parry almost all the time, and strong defense to make
him team tough guy. He utilizes three major Specials- the Banishing Flat, a move intro'd in Super SF II Turbo to make him better against Fireballers (he can
Deflect using it- his Dodge is a paltry +9 otherwise), a Double Lariat (same damage as a Flat, but includes Takedown to hit multiple guys, and has
Improved Critical on top of it), and the Spinning Piledriver (effectively the same as a Siberian Bear Crusher in stats, I figure), a HUGE damaging attack
that requires a Grapple.

-In fact, the Piledriver shares honours with T. Hawk's Storm Hammer in being the most lethal non-Super attacks in the original SF II series (I dunno about
later games). It's a huge +9 to damage, and could be Power Attacked (presumably on a Vulnerable opponent) to an amazing +14 Damage (which would be
lethal to characters normally limited to +5-6 Toughness at-best). He's a mighty grappler, and once he gets someone in his clutches, they're toast, but he's
still the easiest Street Fighter around to score a hit on.