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- "Now, the show's ready to begin!"
- —Poison (Street Fighter X Tekken)
- "Let's have some fun... (楽しめそうだねえ Tanoshime-sōda nee?)"
- —Poison (Street Fighter IV series)
- "Can't start the show without the star, right? (あたしが出なくちゃ……、始まらない、だろ？ Atashi ga denakucha… Hajimaranai Daro??)"
- —Poison (Street Fighter V series)
Poison (ポイズン Poizun?) is a video game character who debuted as a common enemy in the beat-em-up game Final Fight. She would later join the Street Fighter series in a non-playable capacity starting with Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, eventually becoming playable in the crossover game Street Fighter X Tekken and later joining the playable cast canonically since Ultra Street Fighter IV. She also becomes playable in Street Fighter V. She is the friend and manager of Hugo and ex-member of the Mad Gear Gang.
Biography
Appearance
Poison has long pink hair and wears a black peak cap with a chain-link design, a skimpy white midriff-revealing tank top, and a pair of skimpy denim "Daisy Dukes" cut-off shorts and high heels. She also has a chain around her waist, a studded black collar on her neck, and a pair of handcuffs hanging from the chain around her waist. Since Final Fight Revenge, she usually carries a riding crop that she uses as a weapon. This appearance later became as her "Nostalgia" costume in Street Fighter V.
There is also a palette-swap of Poison called Roxy. Roxy is identical to Poison, though she has reddish-orange hair instead of pink and has lower health. Roxy was from the same orphanage that Poison grew up at, according to Capcom Classics Collection, which also mentions that she looks up to Poison.
In her profile art in Street Fighter V, Poison's outfit has minor changes, her skimpy tank top has been replaced with a bandage styled shirt which has covered her top and has a single left long sleeve. She also has white elbow band on her left elbow. Her cut-off denim shorts are now black, from which her red thong peeks out. She has a gold band on her right thigh and her red high heels are maintained.
In her default outfit in Street Fighter V, Poison has shoulder-length coif bob in a style of disheveled spikes downward. Her peaked cap is now dark pink with a gray, heart-shaped skull design at the center. She retains her skimpy white midriff-revealing tank top, and a pair of skimpy denim "Daisy Dukes" cut-off shorts from her primary outfit as her denim shorts now had pink rips at the edge and right black straps which is connected to her shorts and a black side belt that nearly resembles a black thong. She now has a single black long fingerless glove on her right and a single black stocking on her left and her high heels are now dark pink. She now wields a long black whip instead of a riding crop.
Her story costume has her wearing a white sleeveless cocktail dress which shows a full amount of cleavage and was fastened with a black belt on her waist and black panties underneath it. The edge of her dress skirt reaches through her left knee and wears white high pumps. She retains her long hair from her previous appearance to show her fringes in each side and was tied in a high ponytail and wears pale gold, heart-shaped sunglasses.
Her second alternate costume which is her battle costume is a gray and white stripped corporate, almost mafia-like dress.
Her summer costume is a skimpy version of the female police uniform that bears a minor resemblance to the police uniform worn by Kelly in the sequel of Square's Bust-A-Move.
Personality
As shown by her design, Poison's personality fits into the classical "femme fatale" trope: confident, domineering (especially against men), with some sadistic streak. Poison frequently asserts dominance over other fighters and would bluntly critiques her opponent's strength and mannerisms. Though not without displaying her assertive tendency, as she frequently remarks about how she would "whip" those she deemed undisclosed into shape.
However, unlike Juri Han, Poison does have some restraint when it comes to her sharp tongue. While Juri would indiscriminately insult any of her defeated opponents, Poison would praise and critique her opponent accordingly. She held genuine respects to those she deems strong and compliments their strength (especially Zangief, whom she hailed as "born to be in the ring"), while also criticizing those she deems weak, too "strict", or too arrogant.
Having had a rough upbringing and lived her life as a Mad Gear Gang member, Poison frequently displays her selfishness through her cutthroat business proposition, evident by her harsh commanding of Hugo and her frequent attempts at scouting new wrestlers for her stable, proclaiming that she "would do as [she] please" and was "damn proud of it.". However, Poison does have a soft side, as she sympathizes with those who have similarly harsh backgrounds, such as Abel and Decapre. She also despising those who have massive egos or are too sinister for her taste, such as her comments on Vega's twisted views of beauty, saying that the way he views it is "seriously ugly.".
Nevertheless, Poison views her underground life simply as a bygone past and is determined to live her present to the fullest, devoting her life to improving and promoting her wrestling stable.
Concept
Poison was named after the late '80s glam-metal band Poison, known for their effeminate dress sense and use of makeup, by an unnamed female employee at Capcom.[4] She was designed by Akira Yasuda to contrast against the bigger characters in the game and move about randomly. In the Street Fighter X Tekken artbook, Yasuda states that he created Poison because he wanted to introduce "a sexy female gang member" to Final Fight.[5]
Sprites of Roxy, Poison, Billy, and Sid.
Fearful of an overseas lawsuit against Final Fight for having female enemies in a beat-'em-up game, Final Fight designer Akira Nishitani thought that the company could avoid a potential lawsuit by switching the female enemies (Roxy and Poison) from cisgender to transgender.[6] Although originally conceived as cisgender females, this switch can even be seen in concept art for Roxy and Poison, where they are referred to as, "ニューハーフ," meaning, "newhalf"; this is now a derogatory term equivalent to "shemale".[7] It can also be seen post-release in the Japanese instruction manual for the SNES port.[8] Despite this switch by his own suggestion, Nishitani still personally views Poison as a cisgender female.[9] It is worth noting that fellow Final Fight designer Akira Yasuda, the creator of Roxy and Poison, personally views Poison as a cisgender female in Japan and as a transgender female in North America, presumably due to this switch during development.[5] Ultimately, when the US version of the game was ported onto the SNES in 1991, Poison and Roxy were replaced with two male thugs named Billy and Sid, presumably due to Western sensitivity towards violence against women at the time.
A later appearance by Poison as playable character in Final Fight Revenge, an American-produced 3D fighting game spin-off of Final Fight, portrayed the character in an exaggeratedly feminine manner and had her romantically interested in Cody. Commentary about her ending in the game in All About Capcom suggested that she might have gotten gender-affirming surgery to gain his affection. In the 2005 compilation game Capcom Classics Collection, the Final Fight "Cast" section acknowledges Poison's trans characterization, although it uses the outdated term, "transvestite," in place of correctly calling her transgender; it goes on to address Roxy as a female who dislikes Poison's crossdressing. This appears to be a retcon for Roxy since it contradicts the Final Fight concept art which suggests that Roxy is also transgender.[7]
Poison's gender discrepancies have been brought-up in interviews with former and current Capcom employees. Final Fight designer and Akira founder Akira Nishitani stated he supposed the character could be male, but added it was up to the viewer to decide.[citation needed] Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono stated, "Let's set the record straight: in North America, Poison is officially post-op transgender. But in Japan, she simply tucks her business away to look female."[citation needed] When Ono was asked about what female characters could be included in the game Street Fighter IV, he claimed it would be too confusing to include her due to the region-specific gender differences.[citation needed] He later declared her to be post-op in all regions for better ease on localization and consistency over past statements, but most recently decided it's best to leave things up to the fans.[citation needed] On July 10, 2014, Akira Nishitani said in a discussion on Twitter that in his personal view, Poison is a woman.[9]
In early developments of Street Fighter X Tekken, footage was shown of Ryu and Chun-Li's win quotes to Poison (i.e., "Your looks really can be deceiving. I'll be careful not to fall into your trap," and, "You're not very lady-like at all! I felt like I was fighting against a guy..."). Other characters were later revealed to have quotes along the same lines, including Kuma outright saying Poison smells like a man and doubting she's in any way a woman. Sometime after the footage was shown, a prominent LGBT rights group contacted Capcom about the dialogue, stating that it was highly offensive, ignorant, and insensitive towards trans individuals. Capcom agreed to change the quotes, leaving only Yoshimitsu's remark about her being a "freshly-recruited kunoichi", Craig Marduk's more vague comment that he doesn't sweat the small stuff and only cares that she's attractive, and Poison's mirror match quote where she tries to recall a song, "The something-or-other in the mirror", referencing Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror."
Related notes
- In the UDON comics, Cody remarks that Poison 'is not much of a lady', to which Poison responds with fury.
- In Ultra Street Fighter IV, Decapre's win quote against Poison is: "Numerous irregularities. Data acquisition suspended", which may refer to her gender.
- Poison's peacock costume from the Wild Costume DLC pack may be another hint at the ambiguity of her gender, as only male peafowl tend to possess the vivid and colorful plumage.
- Poison's card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS explicitly states that "She's a man, baby!", and Hugo's card refers to her as Hugo's "MANager".
- In the Street Fighter X Tekken artbook, a footnote from Yasuda states that he'll always personally view Poison as being a female in Japan and only being transgender overseas, due to having originally conceived her as the former.
- In Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, in the epilogue of Poison's Character Story, she says during a dialogue with Lucia: "There are some things we just can't control. You could be born to a rich family, or to a family living in a garbage dump. Whether you're a man or a woman, you can't choose how you're born into this world." This could be an allusion to the fact that she was born with a gender not matching with her inner being.
- In Lair of the Four Kings when she is thrown to the screen in the left side of the stage, her gender appears as unknown.
- One of Poison's win quotes in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition seemingly alludes to the controversy and ambiguity surrounding her gender identity, with the character saying, "Being gossiped about is proof of my popularity!".
Character Relationships
Hugo
Poison with Hugo in their tag team exclusive intro.
Poison and Hugo have both a personal and professional relationship. Hugo is usually treated as a "Monster Heel" (a bad guy in wrestling who is usually capable of defeating most opponents easily except the absolute top baby faces) and as most have managers/valets who do the talking, Poison serves this role. Poison seems to be able to get Hugo to follow her every whim, as her story in Street Fighter X Tekken and Street Fighter IV would show.
Hugo seems to have a high amount of patience when it comes to dealing with Poison, as he never raises his voice to her when she is yelling at him. In their rival battle against Hwoarang and Steve from Tekken, while Poison is scolding Hugo for his lack of chivalry, Hugo simply tells her to stop being so mean. In their ending, Hugo is seen not getting angry because their efforts were for nothing while Poison was furious.
In Street Fighter V, it was revealed that both Poison and Hugo are not on good terms after they have a massive fall out between them which she finally opens up to Lucia about it, but at the end of her character story, it is shown that Hugo was given another chance when he returns to see her again. From here, it's implied that they're back in good terms.
Cody
Even during the times when they were still enemies, Poison has a liking to Cody, and this feeling still persists. Cody flatly rejects her, especially when he and Jessica were still together. However, after being a convict and breaking up with Jessica, Cody still is standoffish against her until Street Fighter V. By this time, Cody, who has since reformed and became the new Mayor of Metro City acknowledges her for her own reformed reputation, and has also shown interest in joining her troop, preferably after his term ends. He still doesn't reciprocate her feelings however, being more interested in filling in Haggar's shoes as Mayor at the moment.
Story
Final Fight
During the kidnapping of Mayor Mike Haggar's daughter Jessica, Poison was a member of the Mad Gear Gang. Not much is known about her participation in the events, however, beyond the fact that she fought the heroes.
Street Fighter III series
Poison appears alongside Hugo in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact and its sequel Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike as his manager. She embarks with Hugo to find him a tag-team partner, making several cameos during his match intro and win animations. The duo manages to find a temporary partner, and later she and Hugo found the HWA, a wrestling stable which includes many World Warriors, however temporarily.
Ultra Street Fighter IV
After the collapse of Mad Gear, she becomes a wrestling manager. However, her charges are lackluster and the attendance at events is poor. When she realizes that her wrestlers are failing to interest the crowd and overhears people talking about how they would rather watch "the main event" (presumably referring to the S.I.N. tournament which has flyers around the place), she enters the ring herself and pummels two of her employees. She decides to go to the tournament to scout some new talent.
After the tournament, she meets up with her former comrade Hugo. She offers to manage him, and although he is reluctant at first, he eventually accepts.
In Poison's ending, she somehow manages to convince not just Hugo and Rolento, but also Cody and Guy, to form a KISS-style rock band with her, the "Mad Gears", with Ryu and Ken performing Hadoken pyrotechnics above the stage.
Street Fighter V
Poison is one of the few people that Rashid is in contact with.
As of August 1st, 2019; Poison was revealed through a leak alongside E. Honda and Lucia as a playable character in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition.
In her character story, Poison returns to New York after she and Hugo had a massive fall out between them. She reunites with Roxy and Abigail who now owns a scrap metal house, which leads Poison to test his strength. Despite Abigail's defeat, Poison scouts him to replace Hugo for the tour only to be scolded by Roxy for her selfish acts. Poison then apologizes after seeing Abigail's job as a owner. She then visits the city hall and spars with Cody who is now the mayor of Metro City. Cody tells her that he will hang out with her once his term as mayor is done until the arrival of Lucia who thought that Cody was attacked by a thug which he informs that it was just a "conversation" about the old days. As Cody leaves, Lucia noticed Poison was upset because of the massive fall out between her and Hugo as she explains to her about it. Poison sadly leaves after hearing Lucia's words about how she had talked to Cody is how she had talked to Hugo.
As soon as Hugo returns to see her again, Poison finally gives him another chance as her partner once again.
Crossover appearances
Beyond the Final Fight series, Poison was planned to appear in the cancelled Capcom Fighting All-Stars; though not playable in the beta test of the game, promotional material released by Capcom for the title shows that she would have retained one of her moves from Final Fight Revenge, the Poison Kiss.
She was also slated to appear in Final Fight: Streetwise, but was cut from the final game, along with Sodom.
Street Fighter X Tekken
In Street Fighter X Tekken, her tag team partner is Hugo. After Poison hears about the Pandora box, they go looking for it and try to become famous. On the way there, they encounter Steve Fox & Hwoarang. In Poison's and Hugo's arcade mode, Poison checks them out to see if they are tough enough, while Hugo backs her up. In Steve Fox's and Hwoarang's arcade mode, Poison and Hugo are arguing whether or not they want Chinese food and hot dogs. Steve and Hwoarang stop them from fighting each other, but then Poison and Hugo get angry at them for touching her breast (which was an accident). After they defeat them, and later Ogre, they finally find the box. It doesn't seem to work the way they thought, which causes them to argue and leave.
Cameo appearances
Street Fighter Alpha series
Poison makes a few cameos in Sodom's ending in the Street Fighter Alpha, and cameos in Guy's stage in Street Fighter Alpha 2 & Street Fighter Alpha 3.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Poison makes a cameo appearance in the Metro City stage of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and its update. She appears on the back of a trashed car in black attire, and also appearing near Hugo in the artwork of the stage.
Gameplay
Fighting style
Poison's fighting style utilizes a mix of acrobatic pro-wrestling moves and street fighting abilities. In the original Final Fight, Poison and Roxy both utilized standing and acrobatic flip kicks to attack the player. As one of the fighters in Final Fight Revenge, her moveset was expanded heavily, and she was armed with a whip. The whip is used primarily in her Cat Claw and Thunder Whip attacks and can be used to steal a weapon from the opponent. Additionally, her handcuffs can be thrown as a horizontal projectile move to immobilize the opponent for a short time.
Moveset
In the Street Fighter series, Poison's overall style revolves around a fierce projectile zoning game in a similar fashion to Guile's, while mixing it up with powerful overhead attacks. Poison can potentially create cross-up situations that can leave opponents reeling; however, her 'dependence' on overhead attacks put her directly in front of the opponent, allowing her overall strategy to be thwarted by grappling opponents such as Hugo and Zangief. Despite lacking in terms of defensive game, Poison's setups are solid, easy to execute, and she can be a tough opponent to counter. In Street Fighter V Poison wields a long black whip replacing her riding crop as a weapon. She also maintained her moves from Ultra Street Fighter IV and gained new special attacks which replaces her previous movements such as her Aeolus Edge. Her Whip of Love is now replaced by Avant Line which is a multi hitting whip attack.
Her V-Skill is her Perfume Swing is a swinging strike that can travel one of two distances. It can be cancelled from some of her normal attacks and allows for a follow-up strike. It can also travel over most projectiles if spaced correctly. Poison's second V-Skill is Cartwheel, which allows her to flip her opponents to get them on their heels and open up their defenses. Her first V-Trigger is the Poison Cocktail where she hits her opponent with Molotov cocktails as her projectile and her second V-Trigger is the Toxic Glamor where she gains access to two new command grabs: Toxic Hold, a fast, short ranged command grab and Toxic Bind, a slow but long ranged command grab.
In Street Fighter X Tekken and Ultra Street Fighter IV, Poison's techniques include the anti-air Kissed by a Goddess; the Aeolus Edge, a projectile designed for zoning; the Whip of Love, a multi-hitting move similar to the Rekkaken; and the Love Me Tender, an axe kick with a follow-up throw based on her attack from the original Final Fight.
Super/Ultra Combos
Some of Poison's more powerful moves are borrowed and redesigned from her appearance in Final Fight Revenge. Her Thunder Whip appears as a Super Combo, where she performs a series of Shoryureppa-style whip attacks. Her first Ultra Combo is the Love Storm, first appearing as her Super Art in Street Fighter X Tekken; she performs a powerful Aeolus Edge and follows a successful hit with a Love Me Tender that brings her foe to their knees before she whips them repeatedly. Her second Ultra Combo is the Poison Kiss, another moves from Final Fight Revenge; the move is a command grab in which Poison slaps the foe and then kicks them forcefully in the groin. In Street Fighter V, her Critical Art is the Love Hurricane which is an alternate version of Love Storm, Poison ensnares her opponent to the ground with her whip and whips them repeatedly until she lands a powerful kick to heavily knocks her opponent down.
Subpages
Quotes
Gallery
Sprites
Trivia
- Poison is the only character in the series to have every one of her English voice actresses also voice a Sonic the Hedgehog character - in this case, Rouge the Bat.
- In Final Fight Revenge, Poison was voiced by Lani Minella, who voiced Rouge from Sonic Adventure 2 to Sonic Battle.
- Since Street Fighter X Tekken, Poison is voiced by Karen Strassman, who has been voicing Rouge since Sonic Free Riders.
- Since her Japanese voice actress the late Atsuko Tanaka passed away on August 20, 2024, It is unknown who will replace her to be the new Japanese voice actress for Poison if she appears in the next Street Fighter games come out. Tanaka also voiced Trish in the Devil May Cry series.
- Poison is the only Street Fighter character in Street Fighter X Tekken to have not appeared as a playable character in previous Street Fighter games until her main series debut in Ultra Street Fighter IV.
- In a sense of somewhat irony, Street Fighter V is the first and only time Poison appears as a playable character, but without Hugo.
- Poison's theme in the Street Fighter IV series has the Final Fight "Continue" theme inserted at the end.
- A model figure was made for the 2008 Capcom Girls Collection line of figurines by Mitsumasa Yoshizawa, using her Final Fight attire and at 1/6th height, standing nearly 11 inches tall. A similar model was released by REFLECT later on, identical to the previous figurine, except with her giving a thumbs down gesture and darker colors.
- Poison, C. Viper, Lucia, and Kimberly are the only playable female characters originating from the United States.
- Poison's main appearance and hairstyle in Street Fighter V bears a minor resemblance to the late Ashley Massaro in WWE where she competed in the ring from 2006-08.
- Poison's win quote towards Alex is a reference to both Maria Kanellis and Mike Kanellis (Bennett) in WWE, formerly where she dominates her own husband for his lack of experience.
- Poison's appearance in the regular Street Fighter Unlimited issue six cover might be a reference to her Unique Tag Introduction in Street Fighter X Tekken, where she is shown sitting on the massive shoulder of Hugo.
- Poison's posture in her Ultra Street Fighter IV official character art looks similar to her upper body stance when she is performing her crouching light kick in Street Fighter X Tekken.
- The tenth color of her Swimsuit outfit in Street Fighter V is possibly based on Leona Heidern from the King of Fighters series.
- Her Holiday outfit in Street Fighter V may likely be inspired by Rolling Stone magazine double feature issue #750-751, December 26th, 1996, which features actress Pamela Anderson in a Mrs. Claus inspired dress and Beavis and Butthead as special guests both on the cover and a feature article; the magazine bonus poster insert features her whipping the duo as her "reindeer".
- In contrast to most other characters, when Poison tags out with Hugo in Street Fighter X Tekken, she doesn't call him out by name, but rather simply says "You're up, big boy!", a translation of her line when she appears in Hugo's Street Fighter III intro.
Stage theme
Videos
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Ultra Street Fighter IV Profile Archived from The original
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Street Fighter: World Warrior Encyclopedia Hardcover
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Capcom 30th Anniversary Character Encyclopedia
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_(Final_Fight)#cite_ref-AkiraN_7-0
- ↑ 5.0 5.1
- ↑ https://twitter.com/nin_arika/status/487226723482624001
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://fightingstreet.com/folders/artworkfolder/artworkpics/ff_art/ff1_art/ff1_concept_art/Final_Fight_1_Concept_Art_05.jpg
- ↑ https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5iliUTgvHmE/WwxxDz3R-ZI/AAAAAAAAAjU/propA86yAdwyS_rF_oGt2A6YBe7wT3v9ACLcBGAs/s640/BIGFinalFight13.jpg
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 https://twitter.com/nin_arika/status/487230113902108672
| Final Fight Revenge Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playable | Cody · Damnd · Edi. E · El Gado · Guy · Hugo Haggar · Poison · Rolento · Sodom | |||
| CPU Only | Zombie Belger | |||
| Capcom Fighting All-Stars Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Returning | Akira · Akuma · Alex · Batsu · Charlie · Chun-Li · Haggar · Poison · Ryu | |||
| Original | D.D. · Death · Ingrid · Rook | |||
| Street Fighter X Tekken Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Roster | Abel · Akuma · Balrog · Cammy · Chun-Li · Dhalsim · Guile · Hugo · Ibuki · Juri Ken · M. Bison · Poison · Rufus · Rolento · Ryu · Sagat · Vega · Zangief | |||
| Downloadable | Blanka · Cody · Dudley · Elena · Guy · Sakura | |||
| Street Fighter IV Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | Abel · Akuma · Balrog · Blanka · Chun-Li · C. Viper · Dhalsim · E. Honda El Fuerte · Guile · Ken · M. Bison · Rufus · Ryu · Sagat · Vega · Zangief | |||
| Console | Cammy · Dan · Fei Long · Gen · Gouken · Rose · Seth · Sakura | |||
| Super | Adon · Cody · Dee Jay · Dudley · Guy · Hakan · Ibuki · Juri · Makoto · T. Hawk | |||
| Arcade Edition | Evil Ryu · Oni · Yang · Yun | |||
| Ultra | Decapre · Elena · Hugo · Poison · Rolento | |||
| Street Fighter V Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | Birdie · Cammy · Chun-Li · Dhalsim · F.A.N.G · Karin · Ken · Laura M. Bison · Nash · Necalli · R. Mika · Rashid · Ryu · Vega · Zangief | |||
| Season 1 | Alex · Balrog · Guile · Ibuki · Juri · Urien | |||
| Season 2 | Abigail · Akuma · Ed · Kolin · Menat · Zeku | |||
| Season 3 | Blanka · Cody · Falke · G · Sagat · Sakura | |||
| Season 4 | E. Honda · Gill · Kage · Lucia · Poison · Seth | |||
| Season 5 | Akira · Dan · Eleven · Luke · Oro · Rose | |||
| CPU Only | AS · Aprile · Decapre · Enero · Février · Juli · März · Peter Phantom Bison · Santamu · Satsuki · Shadow · Shadow Lady · Two P | |||