A look at JP in Street Fighter 6, is this old money personified?

Today we are looking at another new character slated for Street Fighter 6. JP seems to be an odd choice for the lineup. The Russian appears to be an older, well-dressed man, and not a fighter at all. Of course in a universe where British teens are actually deadly spies then it’s fair to say looks can be deceiving. Let’s try to figure out this character, and his inspiration. We’ll begin with the name itself. JP is a Russian, given his choice of clothing, cape, cane, and trim, it’s fair to say he might be an oligarch. In recent news we are aware of the influence of Russian Oligarchs in international politics. The name itself may be a nod to an older tycoon. John Pierpont “J.P.” Morgan was an investment banker, and finance executive from the late 1800’s / early 1900’s. He inherited wealth from his family, along with connections. This allowed him to help form the companies General Electric, International Harvester, and U.S. Steel to name just a few. So far was his business, and political pull that economists feared he owned the country. To this day several of the monopolies he created are still around, and his company merged with Chase Manhattan as one of the premier banks in the nation. It would be interesting to see if JP is supposed to be a magnate with that kind of influence in the SF universe. The other thing that draws us to his design is the color choice. I've long said that solid color choices have historically gone over well on the main characters. JP is wearing a nice shade of orange on his suit, with white, and gold trim. These are all complimentary colors, including the white in his hair, and beard. Plus we have already covered that there are fighters in the series that use weapons. JP would be joining Lili in that regard.

I think the reason that Capcom put him into the game was twofold. First was that every Street Fighter game from SFII to today featured at least one odd character. Figures like Blanka, and Dhalsim were on the extreme end of what worked in the series. Having an older gentleman, and a big woman like Marisa in the game might be balancing out the cast. The other reason I think that he was included was because the team wasn’t happy with how G turned out in Street Fighter V. I had done a lengthy post on G, and other power-hungry characters in the genre. JP might be a second chance to get the power broker trope right. He might be a despot looking to either hire, or eliminate the best fighters in the world. We can only know for certain when Capcom officially unveils the character, and his motivation.

The sneaky-type characters, pulling the strings have been in other fighting games. Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special: Dominated Mind, was a 1998 Playstation version of the 1997 arcade game by SNK. That series was a sequel of the popular Fatal Fury line. The games usually revolved the Bogard family against Geese Howard. This time SNK added a new villain. White showed up in a white suit, bowler hat, and cane. He fought with a series of sneaky attacks, and used his cane to help extend his range. The odd-looking character was based on Alexander de Large (Malcom McDowell) from the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. I don't think JP is a nod to any specific film character, but I'm betting his cane hides a sword. Again, we won't know all of the details until Capcom releases them. I'm interested in seeing what becomes of this character. Already I think he looks better than G. What about you? Are you interested in these type of character designs, or would you rather see Capcom pushing for something more extreme? I'd like to hear your thoughts in the comments section. If you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!