Ed

"Hey, let's get out of this place already. There are plenty of folks who would pay for people like you and me."

- Ed to Balrog

"Well, ain't you a high-def picture of strength? I'm shakin' here."

- Ed (Street Fighter V)

Ed (エド), originally known as the Bandaged Boy, is a video game character from the Street Fighter series, first appearing in Street Fighter IV as a non-playable character before making his playable debut in the second season of Street Fighter V. He is the Psycho Power wielding protégé of Balrog, captured by Shadaloo to serve as a potential substitute body for M. Bison.

Appearance
Ed has short blonde hair and blue eyes. When activating his Psycho Powers from his hands, his eyes glow purple.

In Balrog's Super Street Fighter IV ending, he was seen in a patient uniform and his head was covered in bandages. In Street Fighter V, Ed is a teenager with short blond hair. He wears a white sleeveless hoodie jacket, black trousers, and red sneakers. He also has a bar code tattoo on his left arm and wears a matching set of white wristbands. He mostly wears his hood up. This outfit is his first alternate costume in Street Fighter V.

As a playable fighter, he wears a blue Neo Shadaloo uniform, which lacks sleeves, and wears white-striped black MMA sparring gloves. His physical appearance has also changed since his stunt in A Shadow Falls, becoming older, taller and a lot more muscular.

His second alternate costume consists of black boxing shorts with red trim, dark red compression tights, and navy blue boxing boots. He also wears a red military jacket resembling Bison's to cover both of his shoulders and a corresponding hat on his head. Like Balrog, he wears red boxing gloves.

Personality
Not at all like the young, defenseless boy he once was during the Street Fighter IV events, Ed has grown a large muscular body to match his ego by the time Street Fighter V takes place. He can be cocky and flashy while taking on his opponent, having his own fair share of fun in the process.

Despite his attitude, Ed can (as noted by his win quotes) be appreciative towards certain opponents, such as Balrog and Ken, as well as giving some advice to other opponents like Cammy and Chun-Li. Like-wise, other characters such as Alex, Ryu, Ken, Rashid and Dhalsim also gives Ed some good advice in their win quotes against him.

It's also possible that the win quotes hint towards a change in his personality from A Shadow Falls and the point in the story he's at, as he seems to have toned down quite a bit and shows a good side to him, possibly as a sign of him becoming more mature. It's also a possibility that he quit Shadaloo at this time, as he shows a newfound distaste for M. Bison for kidnapping him at a young age.

Concept
Ed appears to bear inspiration from SNK fighter Rock Howard, the lead character in Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Along with sharing origins stemming from their series' main antagonists, Rock was depicted in his ending to a morally ambiguous path of helping his uncle Kain R. Heinlein start a new questionable enterprise in the city of Second Southtown within Fatal Fury canon.

Ed may also represent the further nearing of a New Generation much like Rock and Alex, as he takes on his fighting style after Balrog and M. Bison.

Curiously, his name is also shared with two other Capcom characters: Edward Falcon, the main protagonist of Power Stone and Dr. Edward Bilstein, the main antagonist of Star Gladiator.

Background
First seen in Rose's Street Fighter IV ending, Ed was kidnapped at some early point by Shadaloo in order to become one of many spare bodies that will serve as a possible vessel for M. Bison. Ed was later stolen by Seth and placed within S.I.N.'s laboratory. He has the mark of Shadaloo on his hand and is able to use a small amount of Psycho Power.

Rescued by Balrog
Ed was eventually found by Balrog while the latter was searching for treasure around the S.I.N. laboratory. Although he decides to ignore Ed at first, upon begging Balrog to help him, Balrog notices a symbol glowing on Ed's hand. Balrog rescues him from the crumbling S.I.N. laboratory, believing that it was his (Balrog) lucky day. As they leave, Balrog asks Ed about his abilities, but Ed says that he has none. Nevertheless, Balrog decides to drag Ed along, knowing that Ed can be useful in the future. During this, the symbol begins glowing on Ed's hand again.

Character Story
Prologue - 'The Nimble Boxer' 

After being rescued by Balrog, Ed was taken into the Shadaloo Base by the boxer. Despite being taken into refuge, Ed would constantly suffer nightmares that would go on as he prematurely ages into a teenager. He and Balrog would then travel to India but Ed was still unsettled by the nightmares he's facing. Suddenly a fortune teller appeared behind Ed, she foreshadows that he would have difficult times ahead. Balrog would then meet Guile and Zangief and ask Ed's help in combating them.

Later on, after the fall of Shadaloo and the death of Bison in A Shadow Falls, Ed and Balrog take refuge near a waterfall at New Zealand. However, Ed experienced another one of his nightmares and was about to be possessed by the spirit of M. Bison himself. Ed fought off the spirit and prevented it from possessing him before leaving the tent they're sleeping in to travel elsewhere. Balrog woke up and asked him what was troubling him. Ed somberly replied that he feared if they stay together, Balrog would eventually get hurt, to which Balrog stated that Ed is too weak to hurt Balrog and that chumps like Ed should shut up and follow orders.

Angered and annoyed, Ed retorts that he's no chump and that the boxer's nothing without him before telling him to go away, while at the same time remembering fonder times together when Balrog was training him and praising him. This erupts into a fight between the two of them, with Balrog insisting that he can't hurt, but Ed prevails. Balrog, in a very uncharacteristic moment, expresses sadness by sobbing while he tries to hide behind his usual wall of toughness and anger, revealing that he didn't want Ed to leave and genuinely cared, and likewise, so did Ed, who leaves behind his only friend and paternal figure.

Months pass and Ed would grow into a muscular young adult. He then states that his destiny is controlled only by himself, and sets out with several new companions by his side, now the commander of a new organization bearing logos similar to Shadaloo.

A Shadow Falls
In A Shadow Falls, Ed helped Balrog take Zangief's control key but it was later taken by Ibuki during the first infiltration of the Shadaloo base before he could use his power to take the piece. After Bison's defeat by Ryu and the destruction of Shadaloo, Ed was seen walking away with Balrog.

Other Prologue Appearances

 * In Urien's character story, Balrog tells Ed to use his power but Urien disperses it, with ease he appears to be intrigued that Ed has inherited M. Bison's Psycho Powers.


 * In Charlie Nash's character story, Nash would come across him and interrogate him about Shadaloo. Ed would then use his Psycho Power to remove Nash's hand off him and hurt him. F.A.N.G would then catch up to him and attempt to put him back to the Shadaloo base but fails as Ed escapes.


 * In Balrog's character story, Ed would help the boxer fight off F.A.N.G before travelling to China to do a deal with Urien where they would also encounter the ancient Necalli, who attempts to devour their souls, but would melt away after Balrog easily defeats him. They would then go back to the Shadaloo base where Balrog reveals his plan to betray Urien.

Fighting style
Ed utilizes a boxing style infused with Psycho Power; referred to as "Psycho Boxing". Like Balrog, he also uses moves not considered legal in boxing; in this case, kicking, but much "cleaner" and not replaced by hook-punches. The way Ed fights (excluding the Psycho Power-related attacks) may be based on MMA-styled kick-boxing.

Moveset
Ed is unique among the playable Street Fighter cast due to the way his special attacks are performed. Rather than using traditional inputs, Ed's moves are done by either pressing multiple buttons together, or by holding or pressing buttons repeatedly. While there are other characters who perform moves via these inputs (Zangief's Double Lariat, in comparison), Ed's entire moveset aside from his Critical Art consists exclusively of them, thus making it both easy or hard for certain players, depending on skill level.

His V-Skill is the Psycho Snatcher where he pulls his opponent towards him. His V-Trigger, the Psycho Cannon forms a ball of Psycho energy that slowly advances towards his opponent and similar to Urien's Aegis Reflector, this move also serves as his combo extender. His Critical Art is the Psycho Barrage and is the only move performed via quarter-circle motions. He unleashes a flurry of punches fused with a powerful Psycho energy towards the opponent if it connects and heavily knocks the opponent with a single uppercut. This move is nearly identical to Dudley's Rolling Thunder but with additional changes.

Quotes
Ed/Quotes

Gallery
Ed/Gallery

Trivia

 * Ed shares the same birthday as Mike Haggar. Interestingly enough, the date is a day before Balrog's birthday.


 * Ed is the third playable boxer (fourth if counting EX character Cracker Jack) in the series, the first two being Balrog and Dudley.


 * Ed is also the fifth playable character who was originally meant to be a "replacement body" for M. Bison, the first four being Cammy, Abel, Seth and Decapre.


 * Ed forming his own organization is similar to Carla Radames in Resident Evil 6 wanting to form the Neo Umbrella after she secretly plans to destroy Derek Simmons and his organization, The Family.


 * Ed's theme is first character theme in the entire series to feature lyrics, second is Abigail's theme, while the others being Dudley, Elena, and Cody. However, Ed's theme uses lyrics over the entire course of the song as a rap rather than the occasional inclusion of some lyrics in their themes, as Dudley's theme occasionally uses "get on the dance floor" or "boogie fever", Elena's theme uses "beats in my head" and Cody's theme in Super Street Fighter IV uses "1, 2, 3, 4, turn the beat back".