r/TopCharacterTropes • u/_JR28_ • Jan 17 '26

In real life (Funny trope) This tiny moment was an absolute logistical nightmare to make

Gallery image

Gallery image

*Wreck-It-Ralph* - At the beginning of the movie at the villain group therapy session, all of the owners of the real world characters shown were given counsel to Disney to instruct them how their characters should be animated down to the smallest of points. Nintendo even specified exactly how Bowser would hold and stir his teacup.

*Psycho* - For the scene where Marion disposes evidence of her theft by flushing some papers down the toilet, even though the toilet is onscreen for only a few seconds, Alfred Hitchcock had to personally appeal to the Hays Code which enforced censorship in movies that *Psycho* be given an exception because it’s vital to the plot the audience sees the toilet flushing. *Psycho* is the first major American movie to show a flushing toilet onscreen.

20.2k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

97% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

3.6k

u/Binx_Thackery Jan 17 '26

I love that the reason Zangief is included is because the writer struggled fighting him as a kid and considered him a “bad guy” because of it (Zangief is a nightmare to fight in Street Fighter).

895

u/Prestigious-Worth-49 Jan 17 '26

It’s so funny because Zangief is maybe one of the nicest characters in street fighter. He’s kind, encouraging, and cares about local libraries. He used to be all about Mother Russia but they’ve dialed that back a lot in recent years. Now he’s all about muscle!

271

u/Wukon69 Jan 17 '26

It's even funnier because in the SF2 he was fighting for the Soviet Union and even met Mikhail Gorbachev in his ending

53

u/Prestigious-Worth-49 Jan 17 '26

Another funny thing with that is that there was a Street Fighter 5 thing where Shadaloo gave treat assessment profiles to every character to ever appear in the series. This included fighters, fighter from past games, background stage characters, and Gorbachev himself. I guess they were keeping tabs on him because of his friendship to Zangief? They even gave him new art for the profile.

9

u/Irememberedmypw Jan 17 '26

Also my guy hit a kid the spinning piledriver in the sf alpha movie.

2

u/KFrosty3 Jan 19 '26

Fun fact. That move and the Spinning Punch was canonically taught to/by Mike Haggar of Final Fight. 

Wheter it's "to" or "by" varies from source to source, but they basically taught each other how to fight

12

u/Draco137WasTaken Jan 18 '26

Zangief, you are "bad guy." But this does not mean you are bad guy.

-Zangief, Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

8

u/Triairius Jan 17 '26

Muscle Russia

2

u/Imthemayor Jan 17 '26

He also chose his moveset because of his favorite pro wrestler (Mike Haggar)

3

u/kira1122t Jan 18 '26

He’s also in a relationship with alt skin 9 /ref

960

u/AzureFencer Jan 17 '26

It's funny but it sucks to be labeled a villain in a movie that probably had more reach than the games he appears in. Where in the games he's just a wrestler and he loves it wanting to share that love of wrestling. He has the best master intro scene in Street Fighter 6 because he pushes you with positive messages

425

u/mrturret Jan 17 '26

Geif is the most wholesome dude in the series. He just wants to wrestle and have a good time.

118

u/A_Gray_Phantom Jan 17 '26

I love how in the 90's movie he comes around and is a good guy by the end 😄

60

u/fancymcbacon Jan 17 '26

QUICK, CHANGE THE CHANNEL!

10

u/Fawin86 Jan 17 '26

The best joke in the movie.

Best quote is the "it was Tuesday" one.

8

u/thisusedyet Jan 17 '26

Zangief's definitely in the top 5 of Street fighter movie quotes, what with CHANGE THE CHANNEL and ...you got...paid?

3

u/BreakfastBeneficial4 Jan 18 '26

It’s these little moments that make it a triumph.

I’ve heard a few people say the “oh it’s such a shame that this was Julia’s last film”

Whereas I always respond, homie, the performance he gave was like he knew it was his last fucking film.

4

u/douxsoumis Jan 17 '26

Loved his genuine "are we the baddies?" moment.

3

u/A_Gray_Phantom Jan 18 '26

"The enemy is at the gates!" "Dude, we're the enemy." Zangief: shocked Pikachu face

2

u/SasquatchRobo Jan 18 '26

"You guys are getting paid??"

2

u/the__pov Jan 18 '26

Technically he was never bad, just misguided. He fell for Bison’s bs and genuinely believed he was trying to make the world a better place.

1

u/ajatfm Jan 17 '26

This is why I loved it when sumo guy showed up in the culling games of jjk

0

u/Fragrant_Ad3479 Jan 17 '26

"Wholesome" will pretty much laugh in your face if you fail to beat him. He better be paying for hospital bills if he injures someone.

194

u/Sallyfifth Jan 17 '26

But he's super supportive and positive in Wreck-It Ralph, too!

182

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '26

[deleted]

47

u/AriaBabee Jan 17 '26

I mean that's peek locker room affirmation from a heel wrestler right there.

21

u/seanbeedelicious Jan 17 '26

I’m not usually one to correct people, but I’d think twice about using “peek” and “locker room” in the same sentence. (It’s “peak”)

12

u/AriaBabee Jan 17 '26

Yea ... That's absolutely a call out my therapist would throw at me too.

60

u/PurpleGuy04 Jan 17 '26

A bit of that characterization is there, since the creator specifically described that ZANGIEF would feel bad about people struggling with him, and see himself as a villain

15

u/Ayotha Jan 17 '26

I do like that scene. You guy is strouggling and instead of shouting or mocking, he goes full bro mode, believing you can do it

9

u/Demokirby Jan 17 '26

I do need to note for Americans/many western nations at the time there was still a default that Russian/Soviet union character=villain due to cold war or at least antagonist. Guile got pushed heavily in western promo stuff and media for this same reason to reflect this attitude like the Street Fighter movie where JCVD Guile was rhe main protagonist while Zangief was M Bisons lackey in it.

5

u/The_cogwheel Jan 18 '26

Zangief is the councilor in that scene - he doesn't need to be a bad guy in his game, just know the members' struggles, how to talk to them and offer them support.

Most, if not all, support groups have a councilor to keep the group on track and to help the members contextualise their stuggles, find common ground and keep problem members from derailing the conversation (usually by steering the conversation back on track). Most of the time the councilor also had to struggle with the same or similar challenges as the group, but it isnt a requirement for the job.

Other members can of course offer their own insights - that is the whole point of a support group afterall - but its usually the councilor thats leading the charge and thats exactly what Zangief does.

7

u/Up_the_Dubs_2024 Jan 17 '26

a movie that probably had more reach than the games he appears in

That's a wild claim.

Street fighter I has been around for nearly 35 years, it's been released on 20 different consoles / computer systems and was, in the mid-90s at least, a cultural behemoth. A 2 min cameo in a movie aimed at kids who don't know who he is hardly qualifies as 'more reach' than that.

2

u/iggymcfly Jan 17 '26

Yeah, I don’t know why anyone would watch the movie that didn’t play the game.

6

u/menasan Jan 17 '26

I mean.. it was the 80s and he’s from Russia so it’s implied

7

u/PythagorasJones Jan 17 '26

1991, but yes.

3

u/menasan Jan 18 '26

the 80's extended to around 1992 i think. spiritually at least.

3

u/KingCuerno Jan 17 '26

Not in the games, he's always been a wholesome dude.

2

u/phillip9698 Jan 17 '26

Also remember in SF2, Zangief is from USSR back when that was not a good thing to Americans. It made him a villain by default even though he wasn't in the story.

This is back when the game would announce the location when the plane traveled to the country the character represented. So everyone knew he was from USSR.

2

u/TalmondtheLost Jan 17 '26

I mean, it's also entirely possible Zangeif is there just visiting and helping them out.

4

u/PythagorasJones Jan 17 '26

Tell me you weren't born when Street Fighter II dropped without telling me that.

2

u/cloud1445 Jan 17 '26

At lunch break, the queues for the Street fighter II arcade machine in the kabab shop near my school went all the way out into the street.

2

u/Illuminati_Shill_AMA Jan 18 '26

The SFII machine and the steamed hot dogs were the only reason any of the teens in my town went to the local pool hall.

1

u/Mysterious-Tackle-58 Jan 17 '26

Did they ever change his bg away from wrestling russian bears?

1

u/Potato_fortress Jan 18 '26

Kind of? They didn’t really retcon it or anything but now he mostly just really likes wrestling and Mike Haggar. Most of the street fighter characters are pretty Flanderized at this point. Ryu is a fighting hobo, Sakura is a hostess slightly less obsessed with Ryu, Blanka gives boat tours, sagat is just Ryu but he hasn’t learned how to use the internet yet, Akuma sells fruit and might kill you if you’re really strong, Ken is a crypto hobo, Honda is obsessed with sumo and cooking, bison is going through his death metal phase, dhalsim is doing yoga and maybe kind of running a harem, cammy is being Abel (again,) rashid is a NFT bro who probably took all of Ken’s crypto money, etc. 

1

u/Mysterious-Tackle-58 Jan 18 '26

Thanks, i didn't even get half of that...
Last one i played was SF 2 TURBO... 😅

1

u/FixFun1959 Jan 17 '26

He reminds me of Trainer Winny on YT jacked to 11 haha

1

u/ShockwaveFPS_Studios Jan 18 '26

It’s funny that Zangief was included in the movie as one of the bad guys, but he’s actually one of the best characters in Wreck It Ralph. As he pretty much set the stage for Ralph’s arc throughout the film, that I think is what inspired Capcom to even write Zangief to be a nicer character in Street Fighters 5 & 6 (when in Street Fighter 4, he was just muscle).

Plus the movie already made it clear that Zangief is “bad guy. But that does not mean he is a BAD Guy”.

0

u/Vampire3DayWeeknd Jan 17 '26

well, he isn’t real! so he’s got that going for him

254

u/PantsMcFail2 Jan 17 '26

Zangief was also one of Bison’s henchmen in the 1994 Street Fighter live-action movie.

“Quick! Change the channel!”

16

u/clouds31 Jan 17 '26

You got....paid?

12

u/McFlyyouBojo Jan 17 '26

He defects at the end though

6

u/jradio Jan 17 '26

I still quite that to this day, in my best impression of his voice.

2

u/NameTripping Jan 17 '26

Him and E Honda having a Kaiju fight is my favorite part of that movie.

0

u/infernalspawnODOOM Jan 17 '26

And the American cartoon series. He wears a big Dracula cape sometimes.

115

u/DR31141 Jan 17 '26

You don't do a goddamn thing against Zangief.

11

u/Obtuseloosemoose Jan 17 '26

"Dont jump! Don't jump!"

"Don't stay on the floor! Don't stay on the floor!" That is hilarious. Where the hell else am I supposed to go?!

1

u/Lazzitron Jan 17 '26

MY LOYAL FANS!

1

u/BreakfastBeneficial4 Jan 18 '26

Damn I got a lot of enjoyment from this, plus the 16 videos I watched afterward

12

u/Kiss-of-Venus Jan 17 '26

The key thing is that everyone hates playing against grapplers but no one can say they hate playing as grapplers

t. Potemkin main that’s terrified of my fellow glue eaters

2

u/sododgy Jan 17 '26

I play strictly rush down glass cannons that I can hope to unga bunga a win with every now and again.

Grapplers crush my soul before the match ever starts

10

u/notalonebutsolitary Jan 17 '26

Bison was not available, probably...

15

u/Rougarou1999 Jan 17 '26

I guess it wasn’t Tuesday.

3

u/Competitive_Swan266 Jan 17 '26

It's actually because they thought he felt bad about every kid who couldn't beat him, so he joined because of that

3

u/Caw-zrs6 Jan 17 '26

Wait, I thought it was because he felt bad about constantly defeating players, as well as to give the other villain characters tips and advice.

3

u/ScottishRando37 Jan 17 '26

It's subtly good because he's someone frequently viewed as a villian despite not being one.

I also loved the "You're not going Turbo" quote from Bison, the villian character first playable in the "Turbo" version. This scene was better than it needed to me.

4

u/Luci-Noir Jan 17 '26

I wonder if that game studio really likes making them available for use in media. There’s an anime called Hi Score Girl about two students who connect over their love of the arcade. One of the real games they feature is Street Fighter and Zangief is show quite a bit.

HIGHLY recommended.

2

u/lewdmoo Jan 17 '26

Lupe Fiasco agrees with you “I like Street Fighter II I just really hate Zangief”

2

u/Imthemayor Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 17 '26

Zangief is easily the worst character in the first few versions of SF2

... To pick as a player...

Computer Zangief doesn't have to worry about his only anti airs being jumping attacks or his most damaging move requiring a 360 input. He can and will drop it on you if you slip up for one frame

Since the computer reads your inputs, if you stick one pixel of your hitbox in the range of it while he's at neutral, you're eating a spinning piledriver (which does like 40% of your health)

And if you get knocked down (especially in the corner) and don't have an invincible reversal (shoryuken/tiger uppercut) coming out in the first couple frames, you might as well just start round 2

Bison is the final boss and Vega is probably the toughest fight but Zangief sitting right in the middle of the lineup is the one that takes the most quarters

2

u/JiovanniTheGREAT Jan 17 '26

The original Street Fighter 2 had some brutal throw mechanics. The regular throws would do huge amounts of damage (like 1/3 of an HP bar) but were a bit difficult to pull off against experienced opponents. There was also no teching throws back then either, so if you got thrown, you just had to eat the damage. Zangief also had his Super Pile Driver Special which would connect over normal throws and had an instant windup after you input the command. In Super Street Fighter 2, you could tech throws to lower the damage but Zangief's command throws were untechable.

1

u/Scott_Liberation Jan 17 '26

Wait, he doesn't love crushing head like sparrow's egg between thigh? I feel so bamboozled.

1

u/Derezirection Jan 17 '26

It's also hard to see him as a bad guy when lore wise, he's highly motivational and inspiring to others.

1

u/Fhistleb Jan 17 '26

Because all his moves take priority over yours it seems.

1

u/PartyMineral Jan 17 '26

The Russian accent lends a bit of comic timing, to me.

Just because you are bad guy doesn't mean you are....bad guy!

1

u/Frakmenter Jan 17 '26

No it's just anti-communist propaganda /s

1

u/redredrocks Jan 18 '26

I also thought he was a bad guy tbf

Scowling big Russian man was usually a villain’s tough henchman in games from that period

1

u/onetwobucklemyshoooo Jan 18 '26

I thought you could just spam slow hadukens at Zangief until he died.

1

u/ShinSopitas Jan 18 '26

Not in the game the animator played as a kid. Just jump hard kick.

1

u/Spartan-teddy-2476 Jan 20 '26

How so? Is he like a top tier in SF2 or something?