Adon

"Ah, Sagat. It only took one fight to transform you into a sniveling coward. I had so much respect for you, but now you are a tiger with no fangs."

- Adon

Adon (アドン/อาดอน) is a character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games. He has appeared in the first Street Fighter game, and notably the Street Fighter Alpha series. He most recently appears in Super Street Fighter IV.

Appearance
Adon is well-built and lean with broad shoulders and a muscular back. While shorter than Sagat by quite a bit, he is still fairly tall. His hair, like Guile's, is done up in a flat-top sort of style, though Adon's is elongated, angled a bit and colored red, in contrast with Guile's blond and rather straight flat-top. His eyes are fierce, and he nearly always has a conniving, wild smile on his face, reflective of his personality.

Adon wears trunks resembling his former mentor's, though the stripe pattern on his trunks forms a V shape while Sagat's simply have two stripes running down the legs. Adon also wears wraps on his hands and feet like Sagat, though his are smaller than his master's due to his smaller size. Unlike Sagat, who apparently did away with his ceremonial Muay Thai gear, Adon wears the traditional mongkhon on his forehead and pra jiad on both biceps. These articles of clothing are worn by Muay Thai fighters in the ring as both proof of ability and good-luck charms.

Personality
Adon is shown to have a very great ego and is quite cocky, as well as boastful to the point of true arrogance, desiring to be seen as the "god" of Muay Thai. He also tends to belittle and look down upon most other fighters. Adon is not necisarrily evil or diabolical (such as M. Bison or Akuma), as he is merely a narcissist of sorts, and seeks self-aggrandization and strength above all else.

Street Fighter
Adon became Sagat's student three years after Sagat became God of Muay Thai. Frequently likened to a "lesser version of Sagat", even though he strives to differentiate himself with more acrobatic techniques, Adon enters the first World Warrior tournament to prove he is more than that. The cocky Adon lets his guard down when he faces Ryu, who takes him out with a single Shoryuken. Afterwards, Ryu goes on to defeat Sagat, which leads to Adon's eventual distancing of himself from from his teacher.

Street Fighter Alpha
Adon challenges Sagat for the title and defeats him. After Adon's victory, M. Bison, who was watching, tries to recruit Adon into Shadaloo. Adon rejects his offer and challenges him, but the outcome of the battle is unknown. The events of the game were effectively retconned by the sequel.

Street Fighter Alpha 2
Adon is not mad at Ryu for defeating Sagat, but at his teacher for being unable to uphold Muay Thai's honor (conveniently forgetting how Ryu had bested him during the World Warrior tournament). He challenges Sagat for the title of God of Muay Thai and wins, but the enraged Sagat does so much damage to him in the fight that Adon has to be hospitalized for months.

Adon's injuries eventually heal, and a new fighter captivates his attention; rumor reaches his ears of a fighter who has mastered the power that had enabled Ryu to win the first World Warrior Tournament. This fighter kills a man who was about to challenge Adon for his title. Adon sees this as a challenge; knowing only that this mysterious fighter has red hair and wears a black gi with the symbol "Ten" on his back, Adon swears to find him and test his strength.

Street Fighter Alpha 3
Traveling the world, he encounters Ken and realizes that Ken has trained in the same style as the fighter he seeks, and fights him in order to recognize this mysterious fighter by the moves Ken uses. Ken in turn recognizes Adon as Sagat's student, an identification which enrages Adon. The two fight, and Adon is victorious. Later, Rose attempts to convince him not to continue on his current path, as it will lead ultimately to destruction and ruin. Adon cannot be swayed, however, and continues on his way.

Eventually, he encounters Bison, who commends his abilities and admits that he has underestimated him. Adon rejects Bison's praise and tells him that he doesn't need him; he is searching for something else. Bison somehow knows what Adon is seeking: mastery of the Shun Goku Satsu in order to perfect the Muay Thai style. Adon is stunned, and Bison goes on to tell him that his goal is foolish; the Shun Goku Satsu is nothing when compared to his Psycho Power, which he attempts to demonstrate.

The two fight, and though Adon is technically more proficient, Bison cannot be defeated and eventually wears him down. As Bison is about to deal the finishing blow, laughing that he does not fear death, Akuma appears out of nowhere and performs the Shun Goku Satsu on him, defeating him (but not killing him, it seems) for the time being. Akuma then leaves, leaving Adon with the realization that Akuma is the fighter he is seeking. More determined than ever, Adon vows to find Akuma again and claim the power of the "Raging Demon" as his own.

Super Street Fighter IV
Returning to his changing room after a fight, Adon hears of S.I.N.'s latest fighting tournament. Knowing that Sagat will of course be taking part, and scorning him as "a tiger who has lost his fangs" he seizes the opportunity to put Sagat "out of his misery".

Adon and Sagat fight, with Adon emerging as the victor, most likely due to Sagat holding back. Satisfied with his victory and seemingly unaware that Sagat held back, he watches from above as a content Sagat returns home to his village, remarking that he has now "declawed and dethroned" Sagat and that he will show the world the power of Muay Thai by destroying all those who enter the ring with him.

Fighting style and gameplay
Adon fights with a more dynamic and acrobatic form of Muay Thai, allowing him to deliver ranged attacks effectively. Adon's special moves are generally fast-moving strikes that are counter-able if missed, requiring players to sufficiently confuse foes before overwhelming them with speed.

The Jaguar Kick is a slashing somersault kick that can be used in midair, where it is a good anti-air. The Rising Jaguar is a double knee thrust capable of intercepting airborne attackers at a low angle, and passing through projectile attacks. The Jaguar Tooth, Adon's most versatile special move, allows Adon to leap off the edge of the screen to strike his opponent, or surprise them by landing early and delivering an alternate attack. These techniques are all highly effective at countering projectile-users, so they give him a slight edge against characters such as Ryu and Ken.

When using X-ISM Adon in Street Fighter Alpha 3, pressing any kick button while jumping will execute his trademark Jaguar Kick. However, this version of the Jaguar Kick is considered a normal move, and thus does not inflict block damage.

Other appearences

 * Adon appears in the Street Fighter cartoon series as a non-speaking fighter in the episode "The Medium is the Message".
 * He also makes a brief cameo in Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation as one of the fighters accompanying Ryu to save Shun from Professor Sadler. He gets into an argument with Birdie and is later shown fighting with Rolento in the base's arena.

Stage themes
    

Trivia

 * Adon is one of 5 previously playable characters to make a non-playable appearance in Street Fighter IV. The others are Charlie, Juli, Yun, and Yang.
 * He is the only one who becomes playable in Super Street Fighter IV.
 * In Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, Adon appears in the background of a stage at a Chinese restaurant, where he is seen standing at the front gate watching the fight.
 * Adon appears in the background of a stage in Capcom Fighting Jam, where he is seen training.
 * In several games, Adon performs a Waikruu (Muay Thai ceremonial dance) at the start of a round. However, the Waikruu is a dance of respect to the performer's teacher. Considering that Sagat taught him and he hates him for being weak, it is odd that he would honor him before each round.
 * His 10th colour represents his first incarnation from the first Street Fighter game.
 * Adon and Blanka share some similarities with each other: they have reddish-orange hair, they are both voiced by the same person in English (Taliesin Jaffe), and their 10th alternate colors in Super Street Fighter IV represent their former colour schemes from when they first debuted (Adon first appeared in Street Fighter, and Blanka first appeared in Street Fighter II).
 * In King of Fighters XIII, Hwa Jai has a color-swap that is similar in color scheme to Adon's costume.

Gallery
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