Seth

Seth (セス) is the main antagonist of Street Fighter IV. He is the head of Shadaloo's weapon division, S.I.N.

Appearance
Despite bearing purplish-blue skin and an extremely muscular physique, Seth is very much human. His appearance is bare except for his armor-like briefs, pushing no limit to his mobility. Around his abdomen and 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 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.

His appearance is uncanny to that of the T-078 Tyrant from Resident Evil - Code Veronica X. Another striking resemblance is to Dr. Manhattan of the graphic novel Watchmen; his laboratory location mimics Dr. Manhattan's laboratory & a '90s IBM commercial. Many fans also commented that Seth uses attacks that mimic both Gill & Urien's styles from Street Fighter III, leading fans to speculate that Seth might have been created as a prototype to those later villians. The three of them have styles simply mixed from other characters in their respective games.

Personality
Seth isn't the least bit arrogant or overconfident like most villains. He is calm and concise. However he is known to laugh and gloat when pulling off his super moves.

Story
Seth is the 15th of 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 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 telling him that in fact everything that has happened has gone according to Bison's plan. Afterwards, C. Viper would encounter a weakened Seth and finish him off. Bison brain washes the remaining copies of Seth and they wreak havoc on the fighters in and around the S.I.N. compound, as most of the characters' endings depict them defeating a version of Seth.

Fighting style
Seth employs special powers and techniques from combatants in the game and appears to be one of the more powerful characters to appear in the Street Fighter franchise. His normal techniques are similar to Urien's and Gill's from Street Fighter III.

He possesses various attacks such as a Shoryuken that can hit three times and is very similar to the one that Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Gouken, and Sakura use; Zangief's piledriver, Chun-Li and El Fuerte's wall jumps, Chun-Li's Yosokyaku and a variation of her Lightning Legs, Akuma and Gouken's Tenmakujinkyaku (Dive Kick), as well as vacuum blasts with the flick of his wrists, similar to Guile's Sonic Boom.

He also possesses a metamorphic body of sorts, being able to stretch his arms like Dhalsim, as well as teleport like him. His unique ability seems to center around space as he is able to suck in opponents from afar and pound on them afterwards. When using this ability, his body turns black temporarily.

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 lowest Defense of any character, and the lowest damaging Ultra.

Techniques

 * Sonic Boom: Motion is identical to Hadoken, but the projectile itself functions just like Guile's. Seth uses one hand for the attack, like Charlie did. EX-able. Similar to Remy from Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.
 * Shoryuken: up to 3 hits (must redo Shoryuken motion), EX-able. Resembles Ryu's Shoryuken somewhat.
 * Spinning Piledriver: Seth uppercuts the opponent into the air, then teleports above the opponent and smashes him into the ground. EX-able.
 * Hyakuretsu Kyaku: Seth does a single kick followed by a rapid flurry with his other leg if it connects. EX-able.
 * Yoga Teleport: Identical to Dhalsim's; although he cannot use this move in midair.
 * Tanden Engine: This attempts to draw the opponent closer; halves any energy in Seth's super bar when EXed.
 * Yosokyaku: While in the air, Seth kicks the opponent while upright. Can be repeated three times.
 * Tenmakujinkyaku: While in the air, Seth does a dive kick towards the opponent.


 * Focus Attack: A long range tackle similar to Urien's Chariot Tackle in Street Fighter III.

Super Attacks

 * Tanden Storm: 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 then hurls them into the screen. Can be guarded simply by holding back.  Doesn't do very much damage, but charges quick due to Seth's low defense.

Videos
Seth vs Ryu in Street Fighter IV

Seth vs Ken in Street Fighter IV

Trivia

 * Seth is named after Seth Killian, senior manager of community at Capcom, and helps run the website [capcom-unity.com].
 * Seth's ability to use all of the fighters' attacks as part of his movelist seems to be inspired by the Sheng Long rumor who was said to have movesets from every character in the game.
 * The Eight Trigrams are: Qian 天, "Heaven;" Xun 風, "Wind;" Kan 水, "Water;" Gen 山, "Mountain;" Kun 地, "Earth," Zhen 雷 "Thunder," Li 火, "Fire;" and Dui 泽, "Lake."
 * Seth's regular movesets resemble a lot like Gill and Urien. Because of that, it is speculated that Seth may be connected with them in some way.
 * Producer Yoshinori Ono stated in an interview for Super Street Fighter IV that Seth is a boss "Which everyone loves to hate", due to the fact that Seth is one of the most difficult bosses to defeat and is very annoying in battle.