Ok for those who don't know, let me introduce you to the truth about Zangief.
Intro: The Street Fighter canon is quite complex and many parts of it can not be found in the actual games or manuals but in Japanese books, (All About…, Gamest Mooks etc.). In fact, it was unclear to most that there actually is (or at least at some point was) ONE story connecting all games, meaning all games happen in the same universe.
Tiamat decided to collect all the information and create the famous Plot Canon guide that is now being updated by its most important contributer vasili10:
http://fightingstreet.com/folders/variousinfofolder/variousinfopages/streetfighterplotguide.txt
Only one person in the whole universe who claims to be Japanese but doesn't reply to emails since a couple of years named Saiki, said that Zangief was gay and since he provided a bunch of correct information, it was taken as fact. There was a huge mistake of stating it as a fact in the Plot Guide. It was later corrected after I had pointed it out. At the time I first saw it, I googled and not a single result but direct quotes from the Plot Guide or talks about the Plot Guide mentioned anything about Zangief being gay. And I'm tallking about all Google results up to the last page. So the only source for this whole idea is the Plot Guide and Saiki (who can’t be found anywhere and claims to have a picture of Gouken’s daughter that he was unable to scan for years, although he lived in Toyko where plenty of scanners can be found).
As proof the silliest theories came up. For example Zangief being gay because he doesn't like projectiles or because he has a similar move as Eagle from SF1 (who is gay and who Capcom has no problem to obviously make gay).
The only serious pieces of evidence are these 4 (by vasili10 and Saiki, who he got it from):
1. Zangief and “The Great Man” (Gorbachev who appears in his endings) being very close friends and wrestling partners. (Source: SF Fan Book)
2. One having “hot looks” for the other. (Source: SFII Dash account in Gamest Special of SFII Dash aka SF’ CE)
3. The Great Man’s letter to Zangief in his SFZ2/SFA2 ending.
4. Zangief not liking youg beautiful women in SFZ3.
1. The Fan Book is full of interesting info on SF characters but I personally have difficulties believing it is all facts. A lot of the info can’t be found anywhere else and has really silly cartoon images with it. I had a friend who studies Japanese and an actual Japanese read through the whole thing and they found absolutely nothing that could even hint to gayness at all.
2. The SFII Dash account is more serious but again nothing of the expected could be found neither by the Japanese stuying person nor the Japanese person.
3. This is the third one that was claimed to show that both are gay, the translated version doesn’t show anything gay but the translations are sometimes off. A Japanese who made a site about Zangief (the Red Cyclone) says it’s not true and never was and that it's a mistake by American SF fans.
4. This is the only one that could be seen as gay. What's strange however is that it was added so late in the SF saga (SFZ3/SFA3). And in that game he meets and teams up with Rainbow Mika who is a young beautiful woman (I guess). So it might have something to do with her.
Conclusion:
He was not gay until SFZ3 and most likely still isn’t. I have the books and they proof it. Plus I found no info on it from any Japanese websites when the Plot Guide claimed it, so it was always clear to me that at least half of it was bullshit. Saiki claimed that Zangief was the typical Japanese gay character but most Japanese I asked disagreed. What he has in common with gay Japanese characters is that he has an almost bald head with little hair on it and likes to pose. Shrug.
Ok sorry to those who are disappointed now, but you still have Eagle who’s a pretty cool character after all.
ps: Mike Haggar and Zangief haven’t trained together I think they never even fought, they just copied moves from each other.
For more SF related stuff refer to the (otherwise mostly spot on) Plot Guide, the Red Cyclone page and my site:
http://fightingstreet.com/folders/variousinfofolder/variousinfopages/streetfighterplotguide.txt
http://www.geocities.jp/redcyclone0601/
http://fightingstreet.com
Edited 5 months, 1 week ago
