Alex

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

- Alex

Alex (アレックス) is a character in the Street Fighter series. He first appeared in Street Fighter III, and is the main protagonist as well as 2nd Impact and 3rd Strike. He is voiced by Michael Sommers (New Generation and 2nd Impact) and Patrick Galligan (3rd Strike). Alex returns in Street Fighter V as one of the first wave of DLC fighters,.

Appearance
Alex is a very tall, heavily-built individual with long blonde hair, 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 (sometimes wearing a white button shirt underneath it) or a sleeveless black T-shirt.

In his Capcom Fighting Evolution ending, Alex wears 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 wears the same attire as his CFE ending, except his trunks have a red stripe designed along each side.

At the time of Street Fighter V, he wears red suspenders with black linings, a red and white flannel plaid long sleeve button shirt tied on his waist, tattered military green pants and black combat boots. His hair is cut short and is styled slicked back but have short fringes in each sides which are hanging loose on his bandanna and he doesn't have the red marks on his shoulders yet. His fingerless gloves are blue and black. In his City of Chaos background cameo, he wears an openly short sleeved loose button shirt.

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. His Street Fighter V concept art bears a little resemblance to Hogan when he briefly competed in a wrestling ring in WWE Raw in 2002 and later being inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame.

Alex is also possibly based on "Mike Awesome/The Gladiator", a cult-popular pro wrestler in 1990s Japan - particularly Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW). Mike Awesome was known for being a long-haired high-flyer despite his tall, muscular frame and powerhouse attack style, used a jumping powerbomb as his finisher, and wore similar warpaint under his eyes.

Additionally, two of Mike Awesome's long-running rivals in FMW, Atsushi Onita and Masato Tanaka, were fond of using repeat headbutt combos and jumping tornado DDTs, respectively. Another recurring foe, W*ING Kanemura, favored a double-footed stomp out of the air.

Alex also bears a resemblance to Biff Slamkovich (whose name in Japan is Aleksey Zalazof) from Capcom's Slam Masters series.

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. At times, this desire to prove himself can overwhelm his common sense, leading to very dangerous situations that test the very limits of his fighting capabilities.

Despite this, 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 V
In Street Fighter V, Alex was first seen in the background of the City of Chaos stage and on October 2015, a datamining of Street Fighter V ' s PC beta test revealed fighter data and character meshes of Alex, Juri, Dhalsim, Ibuki, Urien, Guile and Balrog. On December 5th, 2015, Alex and the rest of the characters (except for Dhalsim who was confirmed earlier as a default fighter) were confirmed as DLC fighters at the PlayStation Experience. Alex was officially revealed on March 10th. At this time, no trailer was shown but screenshots and details were featured in the article. Alex will be available sometime in March.

New Generation and 2nd Impact
Alex is an American fighter from Manhattan, New York, who hasn't been with his parents since they died when he was a young boy; 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.

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.

Capcom Fighting All-Stars
Alex was intended to appear in the canceled 3D fighting game Capcom Fighting All-Stars along with Ryu, Chun-Li, Charlie and Poison.

UDON comics
Alex appears in UDON's Super Street Fighter series and Street Fighter Unlimited.

Cameo Appearances
Alex made a cameo appearance in Capcom vs. SNK 2 where he can be seen in the Nairobi stage.

One of the stages in Street Fighter X Tekken has a picture of Alex on a billboard (with the text; "I Will Be Back") to the far right of the background. In said crossover game, Tekken character King II's swap costume is based on Alex.

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.

In Street Fighter V, his moves are changed; his Hyper Bomb Super Art becomes his EX special, his V-Skill is the Overhaul where he stretches one of his arms then executing a hard hitting attack to damage his opponent if they are counter attacked. His V-Trigger is the Rage Shift where Alex empowers his wrestling fighting style and gain access to a powerful clothesline attack. His V-Reversal has him hit the opponent with a powerful foward kick.

In Street Fighter V, his Critical Art is the Heavy Hammer where he knocks his opponent with a powerful Flash Chop, then he grabs them and takes them to the highest height in a crucifix hold and viciously drops their heads down to the ground in a quick pace.

Super Arts
In the Street Fighter III games, in keeping with his wrestling style, Alex's Hyper Bomb sees him preforming a waist-lock before backward rolling into two successive German suplexes, followed by a Power Bomb. If used after a Flash Chop (due to said move's unique property of turning the opponent around), it becomes a series of Backdrop Suplexes which does slightly more damage. 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 second reigning Street Fighter champion in the main series' current timeline, the first being Ryu.


 * In the SFIII Q&A from Gamest's SFIII 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.


 * In the US translation of the Street Fighter III New Generation and Second Impact instruction manual, Alex is depicted as a former enlisted US Army soldier who lives with Tom after having moved out from his family's home at a young age.
 * Alex is the only American character in the Street Fighter III series to speak English in-game.
 * Ken and Poison are both American but speak Japanese in 3rd Strike.


 * Alex's mentor, Tom, bears a huge resemblance to French actor Jean Reno.


 * Lars Alexandersson from the Tekken series shares some similarities with Alex.
 * Both characters have at one point replaced the lead protagonists (Jin and Ryu respectively) on their respective games.
 * Both have a military theme.
 * Both characters are the first non-Japanese characters to become the main protagonist of their respective games. In Lars' case he is half-Japanese and half-Swedish.
 * Both Lars and Alex serve as a sharp contrast to the previous protagonists in terms of personality. As both Jin and Ryu are calm and indifferent, Both Lars and Alex are bold and emotional.


 * In Makoto's 3rd Strike ending, Alex can be seen among the fighters defeated by Makoto.


 * The car that Alex fixes in the City of Chaos stage is based on Daihatsu Feroza's 1994 model.

Quotes
See: Alex/Quotes.

Gallery
Alex/Gallery

Sprites
Alex/Sprites