I have been playing Hawk for the last 2-3 weeks now and would like to think in a short time I have opened peoples eyes to some of the more advanced tools he might have and I am certain there will be more - these might make people feel his wake up mix ups are better than first seem and it therefore makes him more competitive in some peopls eyes. It does not help that there are not lots of people using him as more things get found out more quickly that way.
Having looked through some of the previous pages, I can see both sides of the coin.
He will always have a shout in a fight, which is why he is a competitive character IMO. His health means he can take a beating and keep coming, he hits hard so does not need to hit often and his first Ultra means that against most of the cast you have a tool to take 50% life. The amount of games I have won having 50 or so HP and my opponent has half of their life and I have won becasue of that Ultra, is way more often than I do when using Honda. Hawk is a character I simply never feel the need to panic with when using as long as I have been dishing out some damage during the fight. To top it all off, he is a grab charachter with a DP (and I am seeing his HP version is very good from crouching when used late as an AA), which is a big deal, when you know when and where to use it. He also has some excellent tools with his normals to help you read your opponents intentions and deal good damage. He also has some good OS game too it apears.
He has his limitations that will hold him back from being up at the top - not enough combo options and another mix up off a lp SPD would not hurt, but I also don’t think people have figured out how to utilise him best yet and what style you should take. I actually think he is a character you need to be defensive with and then take maximum damage off punishes using aggresive mix up occasionally as opposed to often. I don’t think he is some kind of rushdown grappler that alot of people hoped he would be. His explosiveness is about his spire (EX especially) and his dive (but not as an out and out attacking weapon). I am spending plenty of time in training right now to understand the spacing on dive so it is safe when whiffed (off neutral and forward jumps) and as a baiting tool is actually proving more and more interesting - whiff Dive EX TH or EX SPD. Getting it down for some of the best reversals n the game is proving the hardest thing right now.
There are also tactics yet to be figured out - Timing for wake up is one, off LP SPD. Take a look at the Hakan thread for “japanese strats” about whiffing moves to get the timing for meaty throws on wake up (his Oil Dive). I am looking to see if using Tomahawks on wakeup after LP SPD or whiffing certain normals will give you the perfect timing. OR if cross up dive on wake up is possible to do consistently (like blanka ball or pyscho crusher).
In summary Hawk is mid tier and on the whole competitive. He does have some really horrible matches that don’t help either - Sagat for starters (but I am used to that after hours of Honda in vanilla). In terms of the grapplers in the game and based on what we know he has as options, he is not the best, but not the worst. He won’t win lots of tournaments, but then again you never saw many Fuertes, Giefs, Abels or Hondas winning many in SF4 and that is largely down to the fact the engine favours zoning and fireball characters - but these characters are capable of winning and people should not forget that, which in itself makes them competitive by nature if in the right hands. Hawk should never get blown away, but will never blow away his opponent…a character that is always in that sort of fight is going to be competitive in my eyes.
Only other thing I will add is Hawk IMO, is the sort of character that to be competitive with him is as much about the players ability to read his opponent, as it is about simply having lots of combo options and great execution. It really helps to know what your opponent will be trying to do and understanding their view of the match up, so you can play in a way that limits their options first before you go after them (this is what leads to frustration and errors, which you can then punish). That is why I feel his style is defend, disrupt, frustrate and punish - he is a brick wall and should be used as such!