F.A.N.G

"Two minutes! I'll finish you in two minutes! (2分！2分で終わらせるデスよ！)"

- F.A.N.G (Street Fighter V)

F.A.N.G (ファン), known as the "Great F.A.N.G" or F.A.N.G-sama in Japanese, is a character in the Street Fighter series who first appeared in Street Fighter V. He was the fourth and last of the first new fighters confirmed for Street Fighter V and he is one of the game's bosses.

Appearance
F.A.N.G is a very thin and tall man with a medium length black hair tied in low ponytail and a goatee who wears a loose, purple Chinese qipao with round Chinese sign at the front of his qipao, black Chinese capris and a matching Chinese toe shoes and red long socks. He also wears black shades and a large black hat with red linings.

His alternate costume consist of a blue jumpsuit with the zipper going down to his pants, his fuku has yellow curly designs in each sides and has baggy sleeves with two yellow linings. Underneath is a white long sleeve button shirt with a red neck tie on the collar, a black belt to his waist and black high boots. He wears thinly rimmed eyeglasses in this costume rather than shades and his hair is longer and still in a low ponytail with a single half fringe at the right side.

Concept
The idea of a fighter who uses poison in the Street Fighter games was originally considered during development of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, when the team members had a debate on including Remy or a different, poison-using character. F.A.N.G's early design originally had him as a Shaolin Monk.

F.A.N.G's design, and several of his moves, draws comparisons to various fictional characters from a plethora of other media, such as Hsien-Ko from Capcom's Darkstalkers, Kung Lao from Mortal Kombat, the Thin Men from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and the two assassins known as the "Harpists" in the film Kung Fu Hustle.

His use of poison and fascination with the number two could be derived from the Fist of the North Star minor antagonist Alf of the Shura arc, who was a fighter boastful of his victories claimed in under two minutes and baited opponents into striking his poison laced cape.

Personality
F.A.N.G is flamboyant, but elitist and condescending towards others, an example being his interaction with Birdie, who he considers foolish and a throwaway for rejecting to serve M. Bison in Shadaloo, and with Vega, whom he insists on putting back in his hierarchical place. F.A.N.G is obsessed with protocol and order, with this apparent meticulousness being intense enough to drive Birdie to defect Shadaloo. He runs the administrative operations of Shadaloo, but he is shown to be cold and uncaring to his underlings, especially the Dolls, who he refers to by numbers rather than their names.

F.A.N.G appears to be extremely loyal to M. Bison, insisting on being his second in command. He displays a fixation on the number "2" in general, with the character on his qipao meaning "2", although written poorly (as noted by Karin and Chun-Li in their victory quotes against him, with the latter even questioning if he's Chinese at all) as he supposedly wrote the archaic character 貳, but added an extra stroke at the top, and his smug threat that he'll finish his opponents in just two minutes. His metric height, 222 cm, also alludes to this. It should be noted that the character on his qipao can also be interpreted to mean "To betray", suggesting that F.A.N.G may not be as loyal to M. Bison as one would think, although it could possibly just refer to his first interaction with Bison, which was a betrayal and assassination attempt.

F.A.N.G is mainly driven by an intense desire to survive, living his life believing every day could be his last. He grew up in harsh conditions, constantly surrounded by the death of others, so he draws strength from his indomitable will to live, a quality that impressed Bison when they first met. No matter the situation, F.A.N.G will always strive for the side that kills rather than the side that dies, as he was raised to know only these two things.

Background
F.A.N.G is second-in-command of Shadaloo, ranking below only M. Bison in the hierarchy (replacing Sagat at some unspecified point). He conducts experiments inside the doors of Shadaloo research facilities.

Story
Prologue - 'Predator and Prey' 

In his prologue story, F.A.N.G is introduced as the new leader of the Nguuhao, one of the largest cartels in Asia and one that is infamous for kidnapping children to train into assassins. As one of these children, F.A.N.G was forced to learn the ways of the Poison Hand by way of exposing him to poison in controlled environments with the hope of eventually teaching him to turn the natural poisons in his body into a weapon. F.A.N.G grew up watching children all around him die, but he emerged as the cartel's strongest ever user of the Poison Hand, being dubbed "the Fang of the Nguuhao".

Eventually, his profile grew large enough for him to be sent on a mission to assassinate M. Bison with the assistance of other Nguuhao assassins (who apparently feared and despised F.A.N.G). Attempting to lower Bison's guard by pretending to swear fealty to Shadaloo, F.A.N.G and his fellow assassins attacked M. Bison, only to be easily defeated due to Bison's immunity to their poisons. With the other assassins being slaughtered one by one, F.A.N.G continued to fight, driven by an intense desire to live.

Sensing F.A.N.G's strength after killing every other Nguuhao assassin, Bison spares his life when F.A.N.G tries to surrender, telling F.A.N.G that he does not demand loyalty, but power, and that being of use will give him a life in Shadaloo. Gaining an intense respect and devotion towards M. Bison due to his power and wisdom, F.A.N.G works his way up Shadaloo's ranks, eventually becoming one of Shadaloo's Four Heavenly Kings, and heading research and administrative operations. He is one of the masterminds behind the Dolls project and plays an integral role in the planning and initiation of Shadaloo's latest bid to take over the world: Operation C.H.A.I.N.S.

Other Prologue appearances
F.A.N.G is responsible for making Birdie defect from Shadaloo due to his irritation of putting a hat on his hairdo.

In M. Bison's prologue story, F.A.N.G, along with Balrog, Vega, Enero, Xiayu and Jianyu, wants to know the operation status during a meeting. When Bison discovers C. Viper's presence, F.A.N.G remarks her for being a spy.

In Cammy's prologue story, he recognizes Cammy by her codename (Killer Bee). He also tells her about Operation C.H.A.I.N.S before warning her if she interferes, he will kill her with no mercy.

In Nash's prologue story, F.A.N.G interuppts the confrontation between a revived Charlie Nash and Ed. After a brief scuffle, F.A.N.G uses his poison cloud to escape with Ed.

In Alex's prologue story, F.A.N.G kidnaps Alex and forces him to fight in his lab's testing room against simulated versions of fighters. When Alex's overwhelming strength starts to cause the lab to crumble, F.A.N.G knocks out Alex and has him transported back to where he was found, with Alex waking up thinking it was a dream.

Fighting Style and Gameplay
F.A.N.G is a neutral based character who introduces a series first mechanic; poison. Whenever his poison attacks connect, they continuously deal damage to the opponent’s life bar until he gets hit or the poison runs its course. Paired with his ability to poison, F.A.N.G has long range attacks and slippery movements.

His V-Skill, Nishodoku, sends out a slow moving poison-filled projectile. If it makes contact with the opponent, it will begin to slowly deal damage. His V-Trigger, Dokunomu, is his ultimate defense: F.A.N.G emits a poisonous cloud around his body that constantly deals damage to the opponent as long as they’re near him. He's not recommended for beginner players.

When he uses his Critical Art, Shishiruirui, he launch the opponent into the air and damage them by flapping his sludge covered arms like a bird.

Quotes
F.A.N.G/Quotes

Trivia

 * His name is possibly derived from the word, "fang" meaning a sharp tooth. Like his special attacks and his Critical Art, his name also derives from a snake and spider fang who are able to inject venom with their teeth.
 * Additionally, "Fang" is a Chinese family name meaning "Fragrant", which is perhaps used ironically in his case as he is able to produce and emit poison gas.
 * As can be heard in-game, the announcer correctly pronounces his name as "Fong", which is how the name "Fang" is said in Cantonese.


 * "Nguuhao" is the Thai word for cobra, which fits in with the organization's poison motif.


 * When F.A.N.G was leaked in audio files of the game's beta, it was thought that his name was 'Fan'. Even his model's name was codenamed "FAN".


 * F.A.N.G is the seventh tallest character in the whole Street Fighter franchise behind Zangief, Birdie, Sagat, Q, T. Hawk and Hugo. With the hat on, he's the fifth tallest only behind Sagat, Q, T. Hawk and Hugo.

Gallery
F.A.N.G/Gallery