Seth

''"Within my body lies the whole of the Universe. I am eternal!"

- - Seth upon completing a trial ''

Seth (セス) is the main antagonist of Street Fighter IV. He is the head of Shadaloo's weapon division, S.I.N. According to the official Street Fighter website, Seth is one of many genetically engineered replacement bodies for M. Bison.

Appearance
Bearing chrome skin and an extremely muscular physique, Seth is a synthetic human; whether he is android or cyborg is unclear. In his abdomen, enclosed inside a pattern consisting of the Eight Trigrams of Taoist cosmology, is an exposed area, which contains a rotating yin-yang sphere. This sphere, which he calls the Tanden Engine, appears to be the source of his power, where it copies and translates the data from Seth's opponents, and allows him to mimic the special techniques of other fighters, such as Ken's Shoryuken, Guile's Sonic Boom, and Dhalsim's unique ability to stretch his limbs. When Seth uses his Tanden Engine to create a vacuum his skin color changes to navy blue, and his eyes turn black with a white iris.

Personality
Unlike most villains, Seth is generally very calm and concise, as he only displays the least bit of arrogance, often through his annoying-by-design tendency to laugh and gloat when using his more powerful moves. However, he is just as intelligent as his creator, with ruthlessness and evil to match. Seth will not tell his workers all of his plans, in case they plan to betray him - something he refuses to tolerate.

Story
Seth is the 15th of at least 26 enhanced beings that use data collected from the world warriors to create a deadly style of mixed martial arts. Seth claims to be superior as a result of his humanity while the others are merely puppets. His storyline indicates that he plans to control the remnants of Shadaloo through S.I.N after Bison's apparent death at the hands of Akuma in Street Fighter II. He also attempts to manipulate Juri Han, a woman who possesses a bionic eye he created. She confronts him and unexpectedly offers to work for him, to which he agrees. He hosts a World Warrior tournament in hopes of luring Ryu to complete his BLECE project, but is dismayed at reports that Bison has once again returned from death. Bison finally encounters Seth and defeats him in combat, and afterwards tells him that in fact everything that has happened has gone according to Bison's plan. After Bison leaves, Juri tells Seth that she intentionally pitted the two against each other, but is disappointed that Seth was not more of a challenge for Bison. She then crushes his Tanden Engine, leaving him twitching on the floor. He is then found by C. Viper, who finishes him off. Afterwards, Ryu would encounter another "Seth" and defeat him and destroy the BLECE machine. Bison commands the remaining "puppets" and they wreak havoc on the fighters in and around the S.I.N. compound, as many of the characters' endings depict them defeating a version of "Seth". After the tournament, C. Viper informs her superiors that the "remaining 26" are in her sights. Whether this statement takes the ones defeated by various characters into account is not clear.

Gameplay/Fighting style
Seth employs special powers and techniques from various combatants in the game. His normal techniques are similar to Urien's and Gill's from Street Fighter III. He also possesses a metamorphic body of sorts, being able to stretch his arms like Dhalsim and teleport like him, although he admits he copied these techniques from Dhalsim, trying to prove there was nothing "mystic" about those techniques.

Seth puts his own "original" spin on many of the copied moves, as explained below.


 * Sonic Boom: The motion is identical to the Hadoken, but the projectile itself functions just like Guile's. Seth uses one hand for the attack, like Charlie did.
 * Shoryuken: Though it resembles Ryu's Shoryuken somewhat, Seth can land up to 3 hits with follow-up motions.
 * Spinning Piledriver: Based somewhat off Zangeif's version, Seth uppercuts the opponent into the air, then teleports above the opponent and piledrives them into the ground.
 * Hyakuretsu Kyaku: Seth does a single kick followed by a rapid flurry with his other leg (similiar to Chun-Li's) if it connects.
 * Yosokyaku: While in the air, Seth kicks the opponent while upright, similar to Chun-Li, though it can be repeated three times with follow-up motions.
 * ''Yoga Teleport:' The move is identical to Dhalsim's, although he cannot use this move in midair.
 * Tenma Kujin Kyaku: While in the air, Seth does a dive kick towards the opponent., similar to Akuma.
 * Focus Attack: A long-range tackle similar to Urien's Chariot Tackle in Street Fighter III.

The only uncopied techniques in Seth's arsenal revolve around his Tanden Engine, and seem to center around space.


 * Tanden Engine: Seth attempts to draw the opponent closer with the Tanden Engine.
 * Tanden Storm (Super Combo): Seth produces a ball of energy that draws in his opponent and hits them repeatedly before blasting them away. This move will not properly connect if your opponent is in the air, as they will be juggled, taking little damage.
 * Tanden Stream (Ultra Combo): Seth attempts to draw the opponent into his stomach and, if successful, ejects them into the screen.
 * Tanden Typhoon (Ultra Combo): Seth twists his body into an arc, with his feet and head on the ground and his stomach facing upwards. He then unleashes a violent vortex diagonally upwards.

It's notable that Seth's attack and defense are increased when fighting him in Arcade Mode. When the player actually uses him, his abilities are more balanced. His unlockable version has the least hit points (vitality) of any character, and the weakest Ultra Combos.

Trivia

 * Seth is named after Seth Killian, senior manager of community at Capcom, and helps run the website [capcom-unity.com]. He was originally named Cain, in contrast to Abel, but since the name Seth also fits into the Biblical context (as the third son of Adam and Eve, after Cain and Abel), the reference remained intact.
 * Also of note is that according to the book of Genesis, Abel and Cain were the first sons of Adam and Eve. Abel was later killed by Cain. Adam and Eve then gave birth to Seth, who they considered a replacement of Abel.
 * Seth's ability to use all of the fighters' attacks as part of his movelist seems to be inspired by the Sheng Long rumor. Sheng Long was said to have movesets from every character in the game.
 * Seth's regular moveset and appearance resemble those of Gill and Urien. Because of that, it is speculated that Seth may be connected with them in some way.
 * Seth is one of the six characters from Street Fighter IV (the others being Ryu, Guile, Cammy, C. Viper and Chun-Li) to have second rivals in Super Street Fighter IV. His second rival is Hakan.
 * Having a rather simplistic design, Seth is quite similar to some characters outside the Street Fighter universe, particularly Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen and Geegus from World Heroes.
 * If the player taunts the arcade boss Seth, his fighting abilities will increase, making it more difficult to beat him.
 * If the player gets to the final stage while playing as Seth, if it is at the normal color, the player will battle a red Seth. Any costume works.