Though he wasn’t my favorite to fight against (those V-Trigger comebacks still haunt from time to time) it’s undeniable that G was one of the most impactful new additions to the Street Fighter roster. Part of this was due to his interesting, Abe Lincoln-inspired design as a powerful and charismatic president of the earth with cool enough powers and abilities, but another hugely significant factor was G’s mysterious contributions to the franchise’s emerging, non-linearly told story.
Say what you will about G’s bombastic gameplay presence, but those who watched through his and some of his fellow DLC character Street Fighter 5 story threads saw that Capcom seemed to be setting up for two particularly interesting moves. The first of these was the fact that G seemed to be taking the Street Fighter story into apocalyptic waters that could not be reversed, the second was in his apparent connections (and potential to shed new light on) the franchise’s other most mysterious character: Q.
Last month we took a look at another Street Fighter 5 original character, Necalli, and found that while he had tons of potential, it was actually the revealing of his lackluster and underwhelming story that did the most to do the character in in the eyes of fans.
Capcom actually didn’t give us all the details when it came to G in the late 2010’s, and the same went for Q in the late 1990’s. They only offered a few bits and pieces for us to consider and put together (honestly perhaps with more intent to flesh it out later as opposed to writing it all to begin with) which, paired with intriguing character designs, was enough to really get these characters into fans’ good graces despite both only boasting one main roster appearance to date.
First introduced in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, Q was an enigma from the start. He looked like a human trapped in an iron mask that encased his entire head, and acted primarily as a controlled robot whose humanity would slip out to the surface from time to time.
In his Third Strike ending, Q is being discussed by the CIA as multiple, nearly simultaneous appearances of the mysterious character at crime scenes strewn all over the world puzzle them. He didn’t seem to have the power to teleport or fast travel, so did this mean there were more than one of him?
We got almost nothing on this front for some 20 years until Capcom released G and, a bit later, a few additional story snippets. G’s constant allusions to unity, togetherness, and the earth sounded benevolent on the surface, but were also saturated with political double speak.
What began sounding like a harmonious planet quickly started smacking of sinister intent, perhaps closer to the kind of forced unity science fiction has explored in such classics as 1987’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (yes I know it’s a remake, but it’s also the best version to date) or anime threads such as Dragon Ball Z’s Cell saga.
Joining the “ultimate form” might be code for everyone being assimilated and losing individuality, a cost that’s arguably too great even when the purchase is universal harmony. When G’s alternate costume came out looking almost exactly like Q’s, and with his mimicking tons of the attacks and maneuvers Q used in Third Strike, the connection between the two is all but set in stone.
What exactly is the nature of that connection? We can’t say for sure, but have a theory we’re fairly comfortable standing on. Check out the video for a more detailed dive into this particularly intriguing Street Fighter story thread as well as for the particulars on said theory. Let us know in the comments what you think of this whole G/Q story line and what you hope to see in the future.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro
01:20 – G Surprises Street Fighter
04:24 – Connections to Q
07:38 – Outro
