Ok, I understand. When I talk about character design, I tend to include everything in the design, not only the visual design but also the backstory, the moveset and even the stage as everything should be tied together.
So if we’re talking visual only, I mostly agree with everything you say. Indeed Abel and Juri are very good designs, and while I can consider Laura on par with Abel, more or less, both lack the little originality that Juri has that makes her something more.
I would say that Zeku has this little something, but yeah, it’s only the aged version of Zeku that is really good, the strider version s cool and all but not as good, so it would have been better, maybe, to not include his transformation.
I disagree, however, on Laura, I find her default outfit to be largely better, both in term of colors, and characterization, it might not be authentic, but it gives the right impression to make the link with Gracie Jitsu in general. I also don’t think her vest makes sense for the battle outfit.
Rufus was too round, too caricatural, and on the other hand, Fang is too thin, so I can understand the comparaison. I hated Rufus initially. He grew on me, but his fighting style still makes no sense for his body, it’s cartoony and not grounded into any reality anymore, it undermines what could have been a decent if weird design. Fang doesn’t have this issue. Yes, he’s ridiculous on purpose and some moves are really over the top, like when he’s lying like a bird, but in general it makes some sense. I would compare him more to Hakan.
I find this strange because FANG and Hakan are both characters that gives me a lot of SF2 vibes, more than any other newcomer. They certainly are on the weirdest part of SF2, with Blanka and Dhalsim but they fit.
So do I. Despite all its flaws, alpha 3 remains one of my favourites.
