Alex

"Don't waste my time, I can learn nothing from you!"

- Alex

Alex (アレックス Arekkusu) is a character in the Street Fighter series. He first appeared in Street Fighter III, and is the game's protagonist as well as 2nd Impact and 3rd Strike. He is voiced by Michael Sommers (New Generation and 2nd Impact) and Patrick Gallagan (3rd Strike).

Appearance
Alex is a very well-built individual with long blonde hair, and wears camouflage green overalls with the straps down, open-fingered gloves of the same color, combat boots, and a wide red bandana. He also has red marks (most likely painted on) on both of his shoulders where his overall straps should be, and red marks under his eyes (possibly face paint). Some offical artworks also depict him wearing his default attire along with a bomber jacket or a sleeveless T-shirt.

In his Capcom Fighting Evolution ending, Alex is also shown to wear camo green MMA shorts, along with what appears to be slate colored open fingered training boxing gloves.

The event that Alex and Balrog fought in shown in an arcade flier for SFIII New Generation is called the Vale Tudo Eternal Fighting (B.E.F). He is shown to wear exactly the same attire as his CFE ending, except his trunks appear to have a red stripe designed along the each side.

Concept
Many of Alex's character traits allude to famous professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. His fighting style can be considered as an amalgamation of Hogan's repertories during his career in both the New Japan Pro Wrestling circuit and WWF back in the 80's; in Japan, Hogan used more traditional wrestling maneuvers in the ring, while in the US, Hogan was well known for his brute force and raw power brawling.

His intro actions before a fight reference quite a few of Hogan's own introductions; both are known to rip off their shirts before engaging in the match. His most notable opening is with Hugo, as this opening references the staredown between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant before their famous match at Wrestlemania III.

Personality
Often crass and abrasive, Alex's boldness tends to land him in deep trouble; he is also prone to violent outbursts of extreme aggression, especially if the people he loves are threatened. He is also very straightforward and refuses to mince words, especially when it comes to his confidence in his abilities. Alex does have a softer side that he only shows to people he cares about (such as Tom and his daughter Patricia) and/or hold in high regard (like Ryu).

Street Fighter III: New Generation and 2nd Impact
Alex is an American fighter from Manhattan, New York, who hasn't been with his parents since he was a small child; his current family consists of his father's friend, Tom and his teenage daughter, Patricia, who live under the same roof with him. Alex trains daily at Tom's gym, having learned everything he knows about fighting from Tom himself. Tom, being a military veteran and a renowned refiner of fighting moves, often visits military bases as well as maintaining his own gym.

Alex entered the third World Warrior tournament because its sponsor, Gill, had seriously injured Tom; even though he had told Alex that Gill had won fairly, Tom allowed Alex to go, letting him make his own decisions. Alex won every match and then faced Gill. Although he defeated Gill, Alex did not have a chance to kill him, and he went home to find Tom fully recovered. Meanwhile, Gill seems to notice something special about Alex that concerns and later intrigues him.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
With thoughts of revenge no longer clouding his mind, Alex encountered Ryu, who offered a match with him. Ryu won, with Alex being unable to counter any of his blows. Ryu encouraged Alex to hone his skills and seek out worthy opponents. Alex then became obsessed with fighting Ryu again. He eventually got his chance, but the outcome is currently unknown.

Capcom Fighting Evolution
Alex appears as a playable character in Capcom Fighting Evolution.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom
Alex also appears playable in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes/Ultimate All-Stars.

UDON comics
Alex appears in UDON's Super Street Fighter: New Generations comic series.

Gameplay and fighting style
Alex's fighing style makes good use of a good amount of professional wrestling maneuvers and throws, and also uses a powerhouse variation of street brawling and kickboxing. Many of his techniques revolving around maneuvering and positioning about the arena, all the while using his bulk, strength and speed to his advantage.

In-game, Alex is considered an all-around type of character. He possesses both charge moves and rotational moves, with rushing attacks, aerial attacks and grapples. His size also allows him a good reach with his heavy punches and kicks. His speed is also surprising, given his size. However, his setups are difficult and rarely used.

Alex makes use of a Power Bomb similar in appearance and in execution to Zangief's Flying Power Bomb. He also uses a Spiral DDT, leaping at the opponent and grabbing hold of them, spinning around them and slamming them headfirst into the ground, reminiscent of the later-introduced El Fuerte's lucha libre style. His Air Stampede consists of a leap into the air, landing feet-first on his opponent's head in a manner similar to M. Bison's trademark Head Stomp, with the same input (but with shorter range). His Air Knee Smash has him lumping diagonally forward knee-first, and is his anti-air move. Finally, he possesses the Flash Chop, in which he performs a short-range horizontal hand chop in a stationary position like real-life WWE wrestler Ric Flair's "Flair Chop", and a Slash Elbow, which is visually similar but has him rush forward before delivering the horizontal slash with the elbow instead of the side of the palm.

Super Arts
In keeping with his wrestling style, Alex's Hyper Bomb closely resembles Zangief's Final Atomic Buster, with a Power Bomb at the end of the two suplexes. His Boomerang Raid involves punching his opponent, then Flash Chopping, punching, Flash Chopping and finally suplexing them. His third Super Art, the Stun Gun Headbutt, sees him jump a small distance towards his opponent and headbutting them four times, always leaving the opponent stunned afterwards.

Trivia

 * Alex is the reigning Street Fighter champion in the main series' current timeline.
 * In the SF3 Q&A from Gamest SF3 Fanbook, Alex's favorite move is stated to be the back drop.
 * The book also states that he thinks about his parents from time to time, but still sees Tom and Patricia as his own flesh and blood family.
 * Alex's mentor, Tom, bears a huge resemblance to French actor Jean Reno.
 * Alex was also intended to appear in the canceled 3D fighting game Capcom Fighting All-Stars.
 * A stage for Street Fighter X Tekken set in New York has a picture of Alex on a billboard to the far right of the background.
 * Also, in Street Fighter X Tekken, King's swap costume is based on Alex.
 * Alex bears a resemblance to Biff Slamkovich from Capcom's Slam Masters series, whose name in Japan is Aleksey Zalazof.

Quotes
See: Alex/Quotes.

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