Rashid

"I'm Rashid of the Turbulent Wind! Remember the name well! (「逆巻く風のラシード」それがオレの名だ！)"

- Rashid (Street Fighter V)

Rashid (ラシード) is a character in the Street Fighter series who first appeared in Street Fighter V. He was first officially unveiled on September 11, 2015 at a Dubai game show and was the second of the four new fighters confirmed for Street Fighter V. Rashid is also the first Middle Eastern fighter within the main games of the series and the first male Middle Eastern fighter; counting the Street Fighter EX series, he would be the second Middle Eastern fighter, following the Arabic fighter Pullum Purna.

Appearance
Rashid has black hair, light brown eyes and well groomed facial hair. He also has a yellow eyepiece on his left eye which flashes briefly when he activates his V-Trigger. His head is adorned with short white shemagh and a black agal. His outfit is a long white sleeveless trench coat with black straps at the centre of his coat and is tucked into a black sash. Underneath is a black sleeveless shirt, white military pants and black open-toed combat boots. He also wears black and dark grey battle wristbands on both of his hands.

His alternate costume is a modern type of outfit, consisting of a dark gray short sleeve loose shirt with a big golden bear emblazoned at the left side, denim khaki pants, white sandals with a gold round in the center and black soles. He also wears a gray bandanna on his head, a long golden chain necklace on his neck and a matching chain bracelet in his left wrist. His facial hair is longer.

Personality
Rashid is described as an easy goer with a laid-back attitude. He has an affinity for any kind of the latest technology and other new things. Like Elena, he also likes to make friends with other people he meets. Rashid can also mistake certain people as his relatives, as he mistook Zangief for his grandfather and his servant, Azam. He is always with Azam in during his travels. Rashid has also a bit of a goofy side, his encounters Zangief and R. Mika being good examples.

Concept
The creation of Rashid was a close collaboration between Capcom Japan, Sony, and Pluto Games. Katsuhiro Harada, the producer of rival fighting game series Tekken, also encouraged Yoshinori Ono to include a Middle Eastern fighter in the Street Fighter main games.

Background
Rashid is the eldest son of an old Middle Eastern family who's travelling the world in search of a missing friend who has been kidnapped by Shadaloo.

Prologue Story
Prologue - 'Embarkation' 

Rashid is eating with his servant Azam, discussing how his friend gone missing and how Shadaloo is involved. He sees Birdie and fights him. He later talks to his friends online and one of them, a person named Maya, tells him to fight Ryu in order to see if he can take on Shadaloo. She gives him the coordinates to his location, and also warns him to not get heavily involved with Shadaloo.

Rashid and Azam find Ryu (who is with Gouken), as the former introduces himself as a hero who travels the world. Gouken wonders why a hero like Rashid comes here. Rashid wants to test his mettle by challenging Ryu; he takes a fighting stance but Ryu does not jump into the fight. Rashid finds this odd as sources have stated that doing so will cause Ryu to immediately fight. He asks Ryu if he's not up to fight, to which Ryu accepts his challenge.

Rashid and Ryu proceeds to fight, but Ryu pulls off a Shoryuken and defeats Rashid in a single blow. Rashid accepts his defeat, and they both have a friendly handshake after the fight; Rashid is happy that he will have a great story to tell everyone in his hometown, and his grateful that he was able to learn more of his own skills. Rashid and Azam promptly depart.

After his defeat, Azam asks him whether or not he will continue to search for his friend. Rashid responds that he will not stop his search, as he realized something important to him in his fight with Ryu. He felt something in Ryu's fist about his passion to keep moving forward. Rashid decides to save his friend from Shadaloo even if he is alone in his journey. He asks Azam if he is coming along with him, in which Azam replies that he will indeed go with him to save his friend from the grasp of Shadaloo.

Other prologue appearances
Prologue - 'A Red Omen'  Rashid and Azam encounter Zangief and R. Mika during Zangief's prologue story. Azam is revealed to be an advisor of a group known as the "Muscle Soul Fighters Club", of which Zangief and Laura are a part of. Rashid is enthusiastic to meet the famous wrestler, and is in awe at his muscularity. This prompts Zangief to have a friendly match with Rashid, whom is very hesitant but reluctantly fights anyways. After, he is challenged by R. Mika, to which he tries to take his way out of; the two have an unseen match. Their fight ends with Zangief and Azam telling the two about spirit and how it pertains to them presently.

Prologue - 'The Path of a Yogi'  In Dhalsim's prologue story, Rashid and Azam meet up with the yoga master in India. He request to have a fight with Dhalsim, adamant that he will improve his skill by learning yoga from their match. He is seemingly unvictourious, and laments on the fact that he thought he could learn yoga from one quick match. Before he leaves, he asks Dhalsim if he had seen his friend, to which the yoga master replies that he did not. He thanks him and leaves with Azam.

Story Mode
At some point in the main story, Rashid is seen confronting Chun-Li.

Fighting Style and Gameplay
Rashid fights using his own unique fighting style derived from Parkour. He uses acrobatic kicks and has the ability to control winds, somewhat similar to Hokuto, to create small tornadoes similar to Cody's Criminal Upper when utilizing some of his special attacks. His V-Trigger, Ysaar, summons a giant tornado which can be used as a barrier for mixups, similar to Urien's Aegis Reflector traps. His Critical Art, Altair, enables him to be engulfed in a giant tornado that damage the opponent multiple times before dealing the final devastating kick. Rashid also is the first character to have two V-Skills.

Quotes
Rashid/Quotes

Trivia

 * The background in Rashid's official character artwork is reminiscent of the Dubai skyline viewed from out in the desert. The character was first officially revealed in Dubai.


 * Rashid is similar and has been compared to Shaheen from the Tekken series, as they are both Middle Eastern (Shaheen being from Saudi Arabia) acrobatic fighters. Rashid however speaks English in an Arabic accent (as well as having a Japanese dub voice) while Shaheen speaks actual Arabic. The name of Rashid's Critical Art, Altair, is also the name of one of Shaheen's special attacks.
 * It should also be noted that Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada encouraged Yoshinori Ono to include a Middle Eastern fighter in the Street Fighter main games (as mentioned above).


 * His way of manipulating wind is similar to Jin from the manga and anime series, YuYu Hakusho and Fuko Kirisawa from another manga and anime series, Flame of Recca. Some of his special attacks resembles Jin's Tornado Fist and Wind Barrier and Fuko's Kamaitachi.


 * Rashid's eyepiece looks similar to the Scouter eyepiece from the Dragon Ball Z series.


 * Although Rashid's concept and design bears many direct references, he also mirrors SNK's Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special Dominated Mind originated character Alfred Airhawk.


 * His Critical Art, Altair, has similarities to Akuma's Demon Armageddon Ultra Combo from the Street Fighter IV series, Messatsu Gou Rasen Super Art from Street Fighter III and Ryu's Shinku Tatsumaki Senpukyaku in its crossover appearances.


 * Most of Rashid's contacts within the social media that he uses (based on Twitter) are well-known Street Fighter characters such as Fei Long, Hakan, Abel, C. Viper, Necro, Poison and Dan.

Gallery
Rashid/Gallery