She’s just a “voice of reason” character for Ed with no autonomy or her own…but she is also a fighter? How? Ed had no fighting background until interacting with Balrog and learning to box…but Falke is questioning who taught ED to fight? WTF? Who taught FALKE to fight?
It makes no sense.
Also the whole Neo-Shadaloo thing, as pointed out, also makes no sense whatsoever. Why are they in new uniforms as if they’re making a new Shadaloo (as the name would imply) etc? It goes entirely against the actual characterization. Is Ed going to have a heel turn? Okay so that’s a heel turn from innocent kid to Balrog’s buddy to face turn as he leaves 'Rog and rescues people and back to heel turn at some point to fuck with Ryu as per the last major trailer?
Not sure of your complaint about Falke’s fighting prowess. Unlike Ed, she was trained by Shadoloo since her inception. That info was leaked before we got her trailer. Falke’s obsession with training seems to stem from her trying to get strong enough to fend of her nightmares of Bison. Ed basically saved her right when she seemed to “give up”. Her “robotic” personality is a result of her basically either trained for combat or locked in her room in isolation. Honestly, she reminds me a bit of Ruby from Agents of Shield in that way at least.
“Trained to fight by Shadaloo” means next to nothing to me. Ed was trained alongside Balrog who is literally the 3rd strongest guy in Shadaloo’s hierarchy (not counting Lord Bison, of course).
The Dolls were trained “By Shadaloo” and overseen by Vega…and they’re fodder.
We already have a blond, female clone of Bison designed to be a replacement body who was trained in Shadaloo to fight but later saved by a blond-also-Shadaloo-guy and released. She even speaks English with a European countries accent. Oh and she’s ALSO all about rescuing victims of Shadaloo.
Everything about her design, Falke stole from Ed. Everything about her concept, Falke stole from Cammy.
I wish I had more hands so I could give those titties 4 thumbs down.
As far we know Ed only received any combat training after Balrog saved him. The files on Falke indicate that she’s been receiving training since her inception. Shadaloo training is geared towards technique and agility because it was developed for the Doll program. A program filled with agile and petite woman that can’t rely on physical strength.
Balrog is a strong fighter but technique is not his strong suit. Ed would have been better being trained by Dudley. Balrog’s techniques rely’s on raw strength. He’s nearly 300lbs. He’s the size of Ed and Falke combined. Ed is more of a finesse fighter that relies on speed. He literally received a few years of training from a fighter with opposite attributes. He had to take what Balrog taught him and modify it to fit his abilities. Falke had training over a longer duration that was suited to her abilities. Not an apples to apples comparison.
This was supposed to be a quick little vid made in celebration of Falke’s release, but I ran out of time. I really dug the little reports they did and am hoping for more Shadaloo viral marketing material in the future, so I made this for fun. I’m working on something else in the meantime, but this was just a little fun experiment to keep me sane.
1 on 1 training from an acknowledged world warrior has always been more beneficial in the canon of SF over “nebulous unidentified background training”
This is why the world warriors themselves are all stronger than the Dolls.
Additionally, Ed’s Psycho Power IS power…and Ed was able to beat Balrog (of course the possibility exists that 'Rog threw the fight but I don’t think so)
I would give a uncertainty to Falke, She could be trained under special conditions which is not explored yet or given details that could have been better than what the dolls have undergone. Since she is Ed’s female counterpart and another of Bison’s valued potential vessels equivalent to Ed.
I don’t know, I think it would be better story telling if Balrog did throw the fight. Because Balrog actually matters long term, and Ed probably does not.
I’m pretty certain all the playable Slammasters and Rival Schools characters as well as the other two Neo Shadaloo guys eventually. However, even though Ed’s homies (gorilla and knife guy) are practically a lock, I’ve been wrong before. If they do decide to be more picky with RS and SNSM profiles then I think some of them have a better chance than others.
Slammasters/Muscle Bomber
Biff/Aleksey and Gunloc/Colt - Loads of SF connections
Black Widow - Ended R. Mika’s mentor’s career
El Stingray - Has the same master as El Fuerte
Titanic Tim/Titan - Tagged with Birdie when Birdie
Jumbo/Kimala - Cameo in Ken’s SFA2 stage.
Rival Schools
Batsu Ichimonji - Shoto and main character
Hinata Wakaba - Camero in SFV and Sakura’s friend
Kyosuke Kagami - The first crossover character from Rival Schools
Akira Kazama - One of the more popular characters in the series
Tiffany Lords - SFV Cameo
Natsu Ayuhara - One of Sakura’s friends
Menat visits Falke in her dreams as her attempts to help Ed are futile. She tells Falke of a man who had a similar predicament to him (Alpha-era Ryu) as a little story to convince Falke to stop Ed. Falke innocently missed the point and instead decides to look for Ryu thinking that he may help Ed. NS then decide to enter a tournament they have heard of.
The tournament/stage is some sort of “morale booster” a few months after ASF. There all the fighters take part. However it’s also a way for G to boost public opinion of him. Chun/Guile/Cammy find out about Ed/Falke and assume that they’re the sponsors of the tournament as a means to a evil plot. Menat also enters to correct the mistake.
Things escalate and the only way Falls can stop Ed going overboard with Psycho Power is
Summary
The blanka-chan doll is seen as cute by Falke so she laughs, this gets Ed to laugh which pushed away the psycho power. The clash between happiness and terror has tested the fabric of continuity:
Rose: No, 2 forces at equal levels of strength battling for supremacy. If this carries on, the fabric of reality shall be torn. But if I can stop it, no-one will have to go through that beast
Menat: What beast
Rose: Long ago, there was a violent beast bent on destroying everything. I locked it away between time+space.
A silhouette appears, she has white hair (albeit greasy), a blue school girl attire with soil over her clothes and bulbous red eyes, twitching Rose died from the strain of keeping her away, her last words were to Menat “Kill Raven-Symone”
Ingrid: You retconned me, now I shall retcon you!!! Sakura, Blanka, Falke, Ed and Menat stare at each other knowing what they must do. The sound of K-pop and a motorbike resonates, Juri and Cammy have arrived to give our heroes some assistance.
The good thing that came of this is that SFEX became canon, much to the delight of @Cestus_II !
Falke- got trained everyday under some shadaloo istructors PLUS she got perfectionist strict lifestyle regime where traininng and improve is everything.
And she did that life every day for much longer than Ed, without friends or distraction, forced only to perfect her movements/technique/mind.
Imagine her locked in some lab-gym training like an olympic athlete 10+ hours each day, with doctors doing test on her to improve her performance, everyday for years.
To that add that she got access to her avaible Psycho Power and likely already control it to it’s full avaible potential.
To begin it unlike dolls she got access to actual mini Bison-like power (we seen it a bit in Decapre beginning with SF4, but was’nt the original concept of dolls), as some quote said she’s one step above the dolls
Also unlike Ed she seem to have a very rigid/trained mind, i can see her being able to selectively use the amount of PP she need and know to be able to handle.
She is’nt evil so she can’t express to the maximum the PP she got, but i can see her being able to control the 100% of what she have access to
Ed- Ed got trained for shorter time, and does not have access to his true full power… he use (or have access to) just the minimal part he’s able to handle.
Rog as teacher is’nt automatically as elite as he is as fighter… good part of his value come from physical gifts, he can teach Ed how he box, but he can teach the technique of a 130+ kgs ripped monster able to one-shot elephants with a punch.
That’s his best trait as a fighter, and he can’t “teach it” to Ed by simple technique.
Fun thing large majority of Ed’s specials are NOT based on any Rog’s technique or boxing, but more about an intuitive (self taught?) use of his Psycho Power
Plus mindset wise Rog is much more laid back and took Ed as a friend, i can see the training together less hours x day than Falke (and Falke did it for years) or having some days without train at all.
Last but not last current Ed is someway a “good guy”, in SF lore is likely you can’t express full PsychoPower power without be evil/mad.
Is probable Ed is just sitting on a PP goldmine, but it will be used only when he turn evil (when Bison will take control of his mind) becoming a perfect conductor to PP negative ki instead try to control it.
To some extent is like Ryu limiting himself in fear of E.Ryu shit, but much less conscious.
I see Ed as SF1 Ryu, you can probably beat him close to death and suddently his mental/moral gate breaks and he one-shot his enemy with PP like Kid Ryu one-shotted Sagat
Essentially Falke is fighting at her 100%, Ed let’s say at his 25% or less lol, of course they spar and you see Falke’s years of obsessive training to perfect each movement prevail.
As said before i think Ed could be the arc-Boss of the third and last chapter of SFV
PS: of course if Falke was evil she will have a stronger PP, but i doubt even her full PP will be comparable to Ed’s full PP… essentially because Bison chosen Ed, and possibly because Bison “ghost” live inside or at least haunt Ed.
He is the perfect host, the long searched result of years of shadaloo experiments
Interesting discussion! On the topic of training, Festus pretty much said what I wanted to. While I’m fine with her I wish they didn’t skimp on the details of her training. I feel its interesting that unlike the dolls she has freewill, yet was seemingly put in worse conditions with minimal human interaction. Sadly, there’s too much left unsaid about her time there.
I feel that by doing this method, they allowed for natural fighting instincts to develop and evolve past the dolls. Heck, it seems they even let her freely choose her weapon according to the tweets.
I feel that also her psycho power developed stronger due to training and resentment and other negatives tied to get situation wheras while hidden, Ed had Rog in his life, got treated with some care, got positive renforcement, and a testé or freedom.
Ed’s got raw psycho power potential, Falke has refined, potent and diverse usage and Rog is a elephant killing locomotive.
I didn’t enjoy Falke’s story one bit. It was basically the variations of the two images on the very first post. I can see they worked on the winquotes, however.
None of the dolls or any of the clones were ever permitted to try to control Psycho Power on their own. Like Falke said, it is as if Bison wants her to struggle because only through that conflict can she become more powerful, but to what end and why?
Falke much like her nightmares imply, probably experienced the most cruel and harsh experimentation and training to date, in preparation for her to become a host body?
Generation 1 Clones: Cammy
Generation 2 Clones: Seth, Abel
Generation 3 Clones: Falke, Ed
There definitely is a difference between the science and execution of each generation, with the most recent generation being the most successful apparently at harnessing Psycho Power directly rather than through cybernetic means (Decapre, Cammy, Seth, Abel).
Also can we take a moment and appreciate Bison’s new cross over costume. Yes it isn’t Demitri, Sigma or Pyron, but it’s pretty bold, freaky, eccentric, and befitting for its canonical parallels. From a lore standpoint Astaroth and Bison are reincarnations of one another.
Astaroth in demonology is also an S-tier demon up there with the most evil of them.